Weekend sport wrap

SBS World News Radio: On the weekend when the federal election was called, it's fitting sporting fans had plenty of choice.

Weekend sport wrapWeekend sport wrap

Weekend sport wrap

We start our look back with something of a look ahead.

With the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on later this year, there were plenty of eyes on the Australian Olympic Committee's Annual General Meeting.

And from there, came a warning: seemingly firmly directed at Australia's two controversial young tennis stars, Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic.

Kyrgios and Tomic have seen more than their fair share of headlines for bad behaviour.

Australian Olympic Team Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller warned the two - and presumably anyone else - that the AOC has the power to veto the selection of any athlete for the Olympics, particularly on character grounds.

"(We will be) Taking everything into consideration- including behaviour, including (the) disrepute clause. And we have the abiliuty to take that into consideration whether we actually then proceed to select or not the nomination."

Not that that seems to have upset Kyrgios, who took to social media to remind Ms Chiller that it's his tennis skills that make him a potential Olympic athlete.

Those skills have been in action on the clay courts of the Madrid Masters, where Kyrgios made it to the quarter-finals before falling to Japan's Kei Nishikori, although not before a spectacular between-the-legs shot to win a point in the first set.

Kyrgios and Tomic may be representing their country in August but this weekend, it was many of rugby league's best representing their countries.

Australia's men's team ground out a 16-0 win over New Zealand in Newcastle on Friday night that perhaps brought up as many questions as answers.

The result was reversed in the women's match, with New Zealand winning 26 points to 16.

Papua New Guinea upset Fiji 24 points to 22, whilst the Cook Islands beat Lebanon 30 points to 20.

But there's little that can beat what has become the annual clash in Sydney's west between Samoa and Tonga.

The Samoans took victory this year by 18 points to 6 in a game that showed all its famous physicality and spirit.

Forward Frank Pritchard flew in from England to play for his beloved Samoa.

He told Fox Sports after the win that these contests are a mix of speed, brutality and ever-present spirituality.

"Pretty fast. I forgot the game was here, mate! But it's just solid contact ... it's never easy playing the (Pacific) Island nations. It doesn't matter if we're on the field playing against each other- at the end of the day, we're all one. So we just thank the Lord that everyone's all right after the game, and give glory and thanks to him."

Samoa will play their first official Test match on home soil against Fiji in October.

No international play in the AFL, but the premiership season kept chugging along.

Another Collingwood defeat, this one to arch-rivals Carlton, and Adelaide feeling hard done by the umpires in their loss to the Western Bulldogs got plenty of attention.

But the top five teams all won including North Melbourne, who are now seven wins from seven games but not before a big scare against St Kilda, whom they only beat by seven points.

Full-forward Drew Petrie celebrated his 300th career senior game in the victory.

But, speaking to Channel Seven afterwards, he acknowledged fortune played a role in keeping his Kangaroos undefeated.

"We knew it was going to be tight. St Kilda have been going well this year, despite what their ladder position might suggest. They were fantastic all day. And...I don't know...(I feel)mixed emotions. It's good to win, but geez, we're lucky."

And finally, to the celebration of the most improbable feel-good story world sport has had in a long time.

English Premier League champions Leicester City played their first home match since clinching the title- and what an occasion it was.

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performed on the field before the match against Everton on a day of utter celebration.

After getting the job done on the pitch, beating Everton three-one, the man of the moment, Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri commented on the possibility of football's underdog heroes maybe doing it all again.

"This is a magician season, a magic season, but you imagine if Leicester start well again - what happens? I don't know, let me think only on this last match. Let me go to the sea, recharge my batteries and we will restart next season with the same ambition, with the same humility, with the same feeling."

It's a feeling millions around the world who have watched their rise from 5,000-1 outsiders to champions of England won't soon forget.

 

 


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5 min read

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By Sunil Awasthi



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