Sporting highlights of 2021…

and what to look forward to in 2022

Football – June saw the delayed Euros won by Italy after beating England on penalties in the host nations first major final in 55 years. Manchester City regained the Premiership title from Liverpool while Brentford were promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history. The 2021/22 season could end in an enthralling climax as the aforementioned Liverpool and City appear to be in a three-way battle with a resurgent Chelsea team under the astute stewardship of the former Borussia Dortmund and PSG coach, Thomas Tuchel.   

Cricket – with the much-anticipated Ashes series between England and Australia getting underway at the Gabba in Brisbane, England will be looking to put the disappointment of being knocked out of the T20 World Cup semi final to New Zealand behind them and regain the urn after the last series was drawn 2-2 with the Aussies holding the bragging rights after a convincing 4-0 series win last time the tourists were Down Under.

2021 saw the inaugural Hundred series which was won by the Southern Brave (men’s) featuring Sussex players, George Garton, Tymal Mills and Chris Jordan (now Surrey), while in the women’s competition, the Oval Invincibles featuring Sussex’s Georgia Adams were victorious over a Southern Brave side featuring Sussex’s Danni Wyatt, Tara Norris and Carla Rudd.

Tennis – the men’s player of the year was undoubtedly Novak Djokovic, winning three out of the four Grand Slam tournaments,  but the headline of this year surely goes to Great Britain’s 18 year old star Emma Raducanu for her amazing feat in lifting the US Open title after being the first qualifier in the tennis Open era to win a Grand Slam singles title and become the first British woman to win a Grand Slam singles title since Virginia Wade 44 years ago at Wimbledon.   

Rugby Union – March witnessed Wales winning the Six Nations Championship and Triple Crown, but they were denied a Grand Slam after dramatically losing to France in their final match. The more recent Autumn Internationals have seen Ireland overcome the All Blacks and England defeating the Wallabies at Twickenham, good signs for the Northern Hemisphere teams ahead of the World Cup in New Zealand in October next year. 

Horse Racing – April this year saw the 173rd Grand National horse race at Aintree won by 11-1 ‘Minella Times’ ridden by Rachael Blackmore who became the first female rider to win the world-famous steeplechase.

Olympics – July saw the beginning of the month-long Tokyo Olympics and while the United States dominated with 113 medals, Great Britain finished fourth in the medals table after securing 22 golds, 21 silvers and 22 bronze medals. Amongst the many highlights, Adam Peaty became the first British swimmer to defend an Olympic title after winning the 100-metre breaststroke.

Paralympics – the 16th Summer Paralympics began in Tokyo at the end of August and resulted in Team GB ending with a haul of 124 medals, including forty-one golds, second in the table behind China.

Boxing – While Anthony Joshua lost his three belts to Oleksander Usyk, October saw Tyson Fury, aka The Gypsy King prove his status as “top dog” in the heavyweight division by overcoming Deontay Wilder again to retain his WBC Crown after being knocked down twice by the American in what many have described as one of the classic fights of all time. Briton Dillian Whyte is the second top boxer in the WBC rankings and is most likely Fury’s next opponent.

Moto GP – November saw the retirement of nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi after his 10th place finish in Valencia. Quite rightly regarded as the greatest superbike racer ever, the Italian bowed out after twenty-six years, where he won the Premier Class World Championships with both Yamaha and Honda and is also the only road racer to have competed in over 400 Grand Prix’s.  

… and what else to look forward to in 2022

This year will be jam packed full of sport with many of the rescheduled events due to the pandemic taking place, so if you appreciate and enjoy your fill of sport, there is no doubt you will be spoilt for choice in 2022.  

The year begins with a date that may affect the destiny of football’s Premier League as the Africa Cup of Nations takes place in Cameroon, effectively meaning some of the top stars in this country will be missing; most clubs will lose some of their star players, though Liverpool appear to be the most affected with trio Sadio Mane, Mohammed Salah and Naby Keita missing, although Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy and Hakim Ziyech and Manchester City Riyad Mahrez, along with four from Arsenal will also be away for the duration of their nation’s participation in the tournament.

Staying with football, the year will end with the FIFA World Cup taking place in Qatar in November, while the Women’s European Championships will be held in this country in July.

Women’s Cricket will see England compete in the World Cup in New Zealand from March to April, while England men will follow the Ashes with a tour of the West Indies between January and March before welcoming the visits to the UK of New Zealand in June and India in July followed by South Africa.

Meanwhile the Winter Olympics and Paralympics is scheduled to take place in February and March in Beijing, China, while for all golf fans, the Masters at Augusta USA gets underway on 7 April and the 149th British Open Championship begins on 14 July at St Andrews.

In Athletics, the Commonwealth Games will be in Birmingham, getting underway in July, while the same month will see the Women’s Hockey World Cup take place in both Spain and Holland.

World Equestrian Games will be in Denmark in August and now includes eight new disciplines – combined Driving, Vaulting, Dressage, Show Jumping, Endurance Riding, Reigning, Eventing ad Para equestrianism. 

The Rugby League World Cup will take place between 15 October and 19 November in England with the first match scheduled at Newcastle United St James Park and for the first time in RLWC history, the men’s, women’s, and wheelchair tournaments will take place together. While in Rugby Union, England’s opening fixture is on 8 October against Fiji before two huge matches against France and South Africa, respectively.