The Stagcom 15th August Round Up
Wow, that was some weekend! There was sporting action coming out of our ears between the Olympics, the football and the cricket; it was hard to decide on what to watch!
The Olympics has been especially hard to keep on top of with its unsociable hours due to the time difference in Rio. We suspect there will be a few tired people in the office today if they were up until the early hours watching the Men's 100m Final! If you were one of the more sensible ones, let us fill in the gaps.
Premier League Back
It had been a long few months without the Premier League in our lives, but it returned with a bang this weekend! To carry on from last season's unpredictability, there was a shock in the first game; 2015/16 Premier League winners Leicester suffered a 2-1 defeat to Hull.
Adama Diomande gave Hull a first-half lead, before a Riyad Mahrez penalty levelled things up just after the break. It was expected that the champions would go on and win the game from there, but Robert Snodgrass lashed home a winner for the Tigers.
Manchester City needed a late winner against Sunderland to give Pep Guardiola a win in his first game in charge. Jose Mourinho experienced a far more routine win in his first league game in charge of Manchester United; Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all scored on the way to a 3-1 win at Bournemouth.
The game of the weekend came at the Emirates, where Liverpool edged Arsenal in a pulsating 4-3 win. The Gunners took the lead through Theo Walcott, before Phillipe Coutinho levelled on the stroke of half-time with a sublime free-kick.
The visitors then struck three quick fire goals to put the game beyond Arsenal. Adam Lallana tucked a neat goal away just after the restart, and then Coutinho finished a slick move with a volley past Petr Cech. Sadio Mane scored an outstanding individual goal to make it 4-1, and despite goals from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Calum Chambers, the hosts couldn't mount a fight back.
There is one more Premier League game to complete the opening round of fixtures and that comes between Chelsea and West Ham this evening; it should be another cracker!
Super Sunday
'Super Saturday' was heralded at London 2012 as Team GB won six gold medals, but it was 'Super Sunday' this time round at Rio 2016 as five gold and three silver medals were added!
Gymnast Max Whitlock created history as he became the first ever Briton to win Olympic gymnastics gold in the men's floor exercise. Whitlock then claimed his second gold medal of the day by winning the men's pommel horse ahead of fellow Brit Louis Smith who claimed silver.
Justin Rose won gold for Team GB in the golf; it was the first time golf had been included in the Games in 112 years and its inclusion had been criticised, but Rose embraced the event to bring gold home!
Sprint cyclist Jason Kenny retained his Olympic men's sprint title to claim his fifth gold medal! He now joins Sir Bradley Wiggins and Sir Steve Redgrave in achieving five gold medals. Andy Murray became the first tennis player to retain an Olympic singles title as he beat Argentina's Juan Martin Del Potro in the men's final!
Away from the British interest, Usain Bolt claimed his third consecutive gold medal in the men's 100m as he ran 9.81 seconds to beat Justin Gatlin. There was a world record time recorded in the men's 400m final as South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk won gold in 43.03 seconds. It was quite an unbelievable weekend of Olympics action!
Pakistan Level Series
Pakistan thrashed England in a 10-wicket win at the Oval on Sunday to level the four-match Series at 2-2.
Spinner Yasir Shah was destructive yet again, as he recorded figures of 5-71 win in England's second innings. The hosts could only hit 253 before being all out, which left the tourists needing just 40 runs to win the Test.
It has been an enthralling Series between the two sides, and many would have liked to have seen a fifth and deciding Test, but attention now switches to five one-day international matches which begin on the 24th August. Let's hope that Series can be as exciting as this one has been!
Image credits: Twitter, Bet 365, England Cricket