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No surprises at the English Open in Sheffield earlier this month with top seed Ma Long beating fellow countryman Ma Lin in a highly predictable all-Chinese final. A bigger revelation from the world of table tennis, however, comes with the approach of the...

With every team in the Barclays Premier League now having played ten matches, the table is taking a familiar shape. Thanks heavens then that Liverpool, struggling away in sixth place, are doing their best to give me grounds to retain interest.There are still many...

Another week in darts’ damaging divide comes to a close, and we’re back at square one. To recap an eventful few days in the on-going soap opera featuring Barry Hearn and Olly Croft:Tuesday: the PDC board of Directors write an open letter, signed by Barry,...

Argentina take on Uruguay tonight in the Centenario stadium in Montevideo in their final World Cup qualifying game, billed as make-or-break for Diego Maradona’s future managerial career. Amongst discussions as to whether South Africa 2010 will be...

A British hockey team battles through a tournament against the odds to face Germany in a major final. Teenagers around the country stay up all night to watch. At the final whistle a nation celebrates; the victorious players return as heroes, becoming household names....

The South African masters from Johannesburg; the World Cup in North Carolina; a man from the Philippines in the semi-final of the World Masters. Is the game of darts finally becoming a world sport?The numbers would suggest so. Players from more than seventy countries...

The South African masters from Johannesburg; the World Cup in North Carolina; a man from the Philippines in the semi-final of the World Masters. Is the game of darts finally becoming a world sport?The numbers would suggest so. Players from more than seventy countries...

A day spent in the Sussex countryside courtesy of an article for yesterday’s Observer, followed by a chance meeting with a high ranking Olympic official, have brought me briefly in touch with the intriguing world of Olympic shooting. Here’s five...

A nation will be holding its’ breath over the next fortnight to see if the barren years without a tennis Major victory can finally be broken at Flushing Meadows.The US Open is underway, and with Nadal creaking and Djokovic yet to get beyond a quarter final of a...

It is more than twenty years since I attempted to play, I have no particular interest in it, and the memories of sweating profusely and being smacked in the legs by my opponent’s racquet are going to stay locked away, but the decision to continue to omit squash...

With trophies currently arriving in Stoke-on-Trent as regularly as at any point in Phil Taylor’s twenty year reign at the head of the darting family, the battle for the epithet of second best dart player in the world appears to be lacking willing contenders. The...

I had been a darts’ fan for many years prior to my twelve months on the circuit – a visit to Purfleet at the turn of the century with my copy of The Guardian tucked nervously inside The Daily Star perhaps the catalyst for that year - but it is only since...

A huge amount of fuss followed Kevin Pietersen's dismissal in the first innings of the opening 2009 Ashes test. "You have to watch the highlights...to appreciate how ghastly a shot it was" concluded a perplexed Jonathon Agnew on TMS. "That was daft", agreed Geoffrey...

The Twenty20 World Cup is reaching a conclusion, the Lions take the field in Durban on Saturday, Wimbledon starts on Monday, Bethpage Black sees Woods and Mickelson renew rivalry at the US Open golf, the British Grand Prix says farewell from Silverstone, Royal Ascot...

The temptation to gloat at any Aussie defeat is tempered by the fact that they are better than us at sport. What goes around will surely come around faster than a koala bear on a boomerang with a tin of Castlemaine.Being put out of the Twenty20 World Cup on day four...

James Wade won the fifth instalment of Premier League darts last night at Wembley Arena, but it was Mervyn ‘The King’ King who rescued what, since it started back in February, had become an increasingly disappointing tournament.King’s semi-final...

Tucked away in the smallest possible font in my Guardian this morning were two fascinating sporting results: Hampton & Richmond 1 AFC Wimbledon 1; Afghanistan 295-8 Scotland 206 all out. Understandably lost in a weekend of penalties, pit-stops and long pots, these...

Even the staunchest curmudgeon can only be excited by the draw for the quarter finals of the Uefa Champions League. It is surely the most mouth-watering since Opal Fruits re-branded.Where to start? Liverpool v Chelsea would seem the obvious point, although recent...

Former BDO world champion Mark Webster made his debut in the PDC at the weekend with back-to-back appearances at two tournaments in Gladbeck, Germany. The draw was unkind to the Welshman, serving up early defeats to Ronnie Baxter in the German Darts Classic, and Terry...

For the second Saturday running I felt extremely uneasy as fifteen massive Englishmen lined up with their tumultuous thighs and red swooshes anticipating 80 or so minutes of intense oval-ball sport.It wasn’t just that we were hot favourites to lose comfortably...

According to a report last week from the British Beer & Pub Association, pubs are in crisis. Six of them are closing every day, a rate twenty times faster than three years ago. Last year 1,973 pubs called time for ever.I like pubs. Actually, I love pubs. Not...

It’s Christmas time and there’s no need to be afraid, unless, that is, you are sitting on a horse attempting to jump a seven foot fence.I’d never heard of ‘Puissance’ until a visit this month to the London International Horse Show....