Sporting Gold from the First Half of 2018

The year 2018 will go down in history as one of the great years for sports and today my friends I present sporting gold from the first half of 2018 (in chronological order). Here are some truly classic matches and moments which I had the pleasure of watching this year.

• Deontay Wilder vs Luis Ortiz: Two unbeaten heavyweights met for the WBC World Heavyweight Championship in March. Hard hitting American Deontay Wilder defended his world title against the Cuban technical specialist Luis Ortiz. Both the heavyweights approached the bout in contrasting manners. While Wilder searched for the one punch knockout Ortiz made life difficult for Wilder by adopting a sideways stance and picking him at will with his precise lefts. Wilder finally broke through in the fifth round to knock Ortiz down only for Ortiz to recover and give Wilder the beating of his life in the seventh. Wilder narrowly escaped a certain KO and came back with ferocious rights of his own before finally finishing off Ortiz with two straight knock downs in the 10th. Fans craving for a heavyweight classic got their due as both men left everything in the ring to produce a fight of the year candidate.

Packing a Punch (Credits: talkSPORT)

• Juan Martin Del Potro vs Roger Federer at Indian Wells:  In the month of March Roger Federer was as red hot as ever. He started the year by winning his 20th grand slam, by February became the oldest ever world number one and by March was blasting every opponent he faced right off the courts. That was until he faced the 6 feet 6 inches brick wall called Juan Martin Del Potro in the Indian Wells final which will go down as one of the great tennis matches of 2018. Del Potro won the first set but Federer resisted to take the second into the tie break. Momentum swung like a pendulum in the tiebreak! First, Federer threw his set point away with a double fault then Del Potro wasted his match point with a rare forehand error. Federer finally took the set through another Del Potro error. The impetus of winning the second set continued into the third for Federer as he broke Del Potro to serve for the match. With two match points Federer was a hair's breadth away from the finish line before Delpo opened up his forehands & mind to save the match points and win the game. Federer wasn't the same again as Delpo swept a one sided third set tie break to win his first Masters 1000 title. Never had Federer been so close yet so far but the real icing on the cake was to see Del Potro walk away with the title after being sidelined for years with injuries. Sorry FedFans but the right guy won!     

 

• India VS Bangladesh Final: This is the third consecutive match I picked from March. It only goes to show what a stellar month March was for sports fans across the world. India and Bangladesh played out a tantalizing cliff hanger on the same day Delpo took on Federer in another part of the world. I wrote an entire blog about the match so I won't repeat myself here. But I will say this the Bangladeshi team played the pipe, Rohit conducted the orchestra and set the tune, Vijay Shankar played the sitar before Karthik came out to beat the opposition's drum. That my friends was the pitch perfect crescendo to close out a humdinger of a conetest.

The Champs! (Courtesy: India Today)

• Neeraj Chopra wins gold: The word Indian athlete and international gold medal don't always go hand in hand but Neeraj Chopra turned that perception on it's head when he competed in the javelin throw finals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The long haired head band wearing Adonis lost no time in asserting himself on the World Stage as he broke the national record with his very first throw. Boy what a throw it was! The tumble that Neeraj took after sending the javelin on it's way would have made Neymar proud. The skeptic in me thought that the throw would be a foul but little did I know that the first attempt alone would be enough to reserve the gold medal for Neeraj. Seeing Neeraj with the gold medal filled me with hope for the future. Maybe the dawn for Indian Athletics is here and now. We shall fervently wait for more magic to happen and report it right here on Life Etc Etc.

Bringing home the gold (Courtesy: Dna India)

• Germany vs Sweden: Yes, I had to end my countdown with a FIFA world cup match. Floundering Germany took on an in form Sweden in a must win game. A faulty pass from Toni Kroos sent Sweden into the lead but Germany equalized with the help of Marco Reus' goal. With the clock winding down, Germany searched desperately for the goal which would assure them a safe passage into the next round but were continuously denied time and again. 10 seconds before the final whistle, Germany were awarded a free kick. Toni Kroos the man responsible for Germany's woes stepped up and put the ball into the goal from an impossible angle. It was a thoroughly exciting roller coaster of a game. It would all come to an end for Germany in the game against South Korea but that Russian evening was the one sweet takeaway from this world cup for the former world champs. 

Kroos makes it count (Courtesy: BBC)

Honorable Mentions

• Argentina's jailbreak against Nigeria: Messi and Rojo's heroics were finely complimented byC Maradona's expressions as Argentina pipped Nigeria at the post. Argentina reached round two while the Argentinian legend collapsed under his own exertion and reached the hospital.

He almost threw himself over the railing <Courtesy: The Sun>

• Marin Cilic Vs Novak Djokovic: Life rarely offers a take two but when it does you gotta grab it with both hands. In 2017, Marin Cilic had a match point and was one step away from lifting the Queen's Club Championship but Feliciano Lopez would go on to deny him. Come 2018, Cilic was once again in the finals but this time around his opponent Djokovic had the match point. What did Cilic do? He promptly saved it and romped home with the Queen's Club Championship. All's Well that Ends Well.

Cilic, the king at Queen's (Courtesy: Hindustan Times) 

If you missed watching any of these matches, do catch up with the reruns. Even though you know the result now you would be pleasantly thrilled by the sharp twists and turns these sporting gems offer. So what were the sporting moments which thrilled you? Do leave a comment. Here's hoping for a second half (of 2018) which is as exciting as the first.

Until Next Time,

Your Next Door Sports Fan,
J.J. Chaitanya

Irrespective of whoever wins, Sport should win and if you support Sport you shall be a winner!