Sunday Sport
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| Richie Porte |
While you were sleeping:
In Australia, Tasmania's cycling devil Richie Porte finally took home the trophy, winning the 2017 Santos Tour
Down Under by an impressive margin. He was supported by his BMC Racing
Team, although the UniSA-Australia took the overall team
competition. Orica-Scott’s Colombian
climber Esteban Chaves took second. Australian Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott) took his
fourth stage win in this final stage of the tour in Adelaide, just edging out
World Champion Peter Sagan. While Porte won outright, the Subaru King of the Mountain prize went to
Belgian Thomas De Gendt, riding for Lotto-Soudal. Columbian Jhonatan Restrepo, (Team
Katusha-Alpecin) took the Young Rider's Jersey.
“I am very happy… this is important for me, for my team and the
sponsors,” said the 22 year old Colombian who finished in tenth place overall.
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| Zverev Brothers |
Play continued in the Australian Open of Tennis, which
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| Rafael Nadal |
continues
until next Sunday. Number One Seed Andy Murry has just followed Number
Two Seed Novak Djokovic out of the tournament, losing to unseeded Mischa Zverev
(ATP rank 50) of Germany. Rafael Nadal
narrowly escaped defeat yesterday in a very exciting match with Mischa's better
known brother, Alexander Zverev (ATP rank 24), also of Germany. Their father, Alexander Sr., played for the
Soviet Union in his day, and while Mischa was born in Moscow, Alexander Jr. was
born in Hamburg. Both brothers "represent"
Germany.
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| Angelo Mathews |
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| Theunis de Bruyn |
In South Africa, Sri Lanka Cricket continues its tour of South Africa, this
afternoon, at Johannesburg. A week ago, Sri Lanka were humiliated here,
losing 16 wickets and they succumbed to their biggest defeat of the three-Test
series. Conditions are different today, for limited-overs cricket. They may
regard the T20I series as their best chance of upsetting the hosts. Sri Lanka will need to be calmly led by an
increasingly frustrated-looking Angelo Mathews.
He is only seven runs away from 1,000 T20 international runs. South Africa's new batsmen Theunis de Bruyn
has put in some very impressive recent performances.
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| Mohamed Salah |
In Gabon, in Africa Cup of Nations Soccer today, Group A play will be held
this evening, with hosts Gabon taking on Cameroon at the Stade d'Angondjé , and
Guinea-Bissau taking on Burkina Fasso at the Stade de Franceville. In their last four meetings stretching back
to 2009, Gabon and Cameroon each took two wins.
This is the first ever meeting between Guinea-Bissau and Burkina
Fasso. In Europe, League play now has ramped back up throughout the old continent,
with the return of Bundesliga play this weekend in Germany. True fans of each team will be excited today,
but no major matches loom on today's horizon to excite the rest of us.
In the USA, NFL Football Conference Championships will be contested today
and tomorrow. Today, the National
Football Conference Championship is on the line at Atlanta, where the hosts
Atlanta Falcons will play the Green Bay Packers for the Championship, but also
for the ultimate prize, a berth in the Super Bowl. Nobody has stopped
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| Ray Edwards |
Packer's Quarterback Aaron
Rodgers during the Packers' eight-game winning streak, and the Falcons -- with
a defense that ranked 25th overall, but nonetheless having reached this game,
may be a challenge. During the winning streak, Rodgers has thrown
21 touchdowns and just one interception while completing 68.9 percent of his
passes for an average of 298 yards per game. The Pack beat the Falcons at their October
meeting.
