SHE’S JESS SUPERB: The world’s smuggest belly button is 9/1 for BBC Sports Personality of the year

The BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012 will be announced this Sunday. For once, it’s more competitive than a paternity test on the Jermey Kyle Show, with a whole host of athletes who have had stellar years battling it out for the accolade.

Bradley Wiggins is the red-hot odds-on favourite after his incredible year on the bike, but with a range of successful Olympians and Paralympians, a Wimbledon finalist and the greatest Ryder Cup comeback in history, is this the toughest year to pick a winner in living memory?

Here’s our guide to the leading contenders for the award…

Bradley Wiggins – 3/10

First Brit to ever win the Tour de France and then won Gold at the Olympics in the time trial, becoming Britain’s most decorated Olympian with seven medals to his name. Somehow made sideburns fashionable. Might get a sympathy vote after some joker in a Vauxhall Astra knocked him off his bike.

Jessica Ennis – 6/1

The poster girl for London 2012 and a shoe-in for the not yet created Sports Personality and Abs of the Year. Ennis won gold in the heptathlon with a British and Commonwealth record score of 6,955 beating plenty of records on the way. She opted out of the 100 metres hurdle, but her time of 12.54 seconds would have put her right in the mix for a medal in that – which would have been quite an achievement for a non-specialist hurdler.

Mo Farah 7/1

A double Olympic champion winning the 5,000 and 10,000 metres in London. The noise in the Olympic Stadium as Farah kicked for home in the final of the 5,000m was one of the highlights of the event. On top of that, he was European Athlete of the Year for 2012, adding to the title he won in 2011. Plus, he invented the ‘Mobot’ celebration craze with some help from James Corden.

Andy Murray – 16/1

ONE GOLD IN MIND: Olympic champion Murray went on to break his Grand Slam duck (pic: Inpho)

2012 will be remembered as a year as hugely satisfying excessive fist-pumping for Murray. He won Gold for Britain in the Olympics and broke his Grand Slam duck by winning the US Open. Became the first British male to reach a Wimbledon Final since 1938 but got thumped by Rodger Federer. Broke down in tears, instantly gaining more support.

David Weir – 40/1

The Paralympic athlete won four Gold medals at the games in the 800m, 1500m, 5000m and the marathon. He won the London marathon for the sixth time and has been described as the greatest wheelchair racer of all time.

Ellie Simmonds – 55/1

The 2008 Young Sports Personality of the Year won four medals at London 2012 including two golds. The 18-year-old Paralympian broke two world records at the games on her way to outstanding success in the pool. Her tenacity and beaming smile make her hugely popular with the British sporting public.

Rory McIlroy – 80/1

Golf’s World Number One and the PGA Championship winner 2012. He won the European Tour Order of Merit, the PGA Player of the Year and the PGA Tour leading money winner. It’s been a brilliant year for McIlroy topped off with that dramatic Ryder Cup win. And things look to be going well very with Caroline Wozniacki. All in all, another great year for silly-pants wearing’s most exciting talent.

Chris Hoy – 100/1

A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER – Sir Chris carried the British flag at the opening ceremony (pic: Inpho)

Hoy’s major hurdle is that brilliance is now just expected as standard from him. But the Edinburgh native continues to deliver, winning gold in both the Team Sprint and Keirin at this year’s Olympics. Add to that bronze in the Sprint and gold in the Keirin at the World Championships and you’ve got an impressive record. The odds are against the 2008 SPOTY winner however. Only three people have one the accolade more than once (Nigel Mansell, Henry Cooper and Damon Hill) and in such a competitive year, he’ll find it hard to join them.

Katherine Grainger – 200/1

Grainger may not have to buy quite as much Brasso as some of the other contenders for this year’s award, but her story has the right mix of resilience and excellence to strike a chord with the public. After winning silver medals at the three previous Olympic games, the rower finally landed gold this time around when she partnered Anna Watkins to victory in the double sculls.

Ben Ainslie – 200/1

Ainslie became the most successful sailor in Olympic history when he claimed his fourth gold medal on the bounce this summer. We also claimed gold in the Finn class in this year’s World Championships. More important than all that bling however, he achieved something we all though was virtually impossible – he made sailing cool. The SPOTY has a habit of throwing up some surprise results and having brought the curtain down on his Olympic career, he’s an interesting outsider at a big price.

Nicola Adams – 250/1

Adams claimed a slice of history by becoming the first female boxer to win an Olympic gold medal this summer. That nugget of trivia is an achievement of scheduling rather than anything else and it’s her performances in the ExCel Arena that deserve the real attention. She dominated the flyweight division this summer (winning her fights by a combined score of 43-20), beaten her nemesis, Ren Cancan of China in the final.

Sarah Storey – 300/1

Few athletes in British sporting history have shown the versatility and dominance of Storey. She win 16 Paralmypic medals (five gold) in swimming before turning her attention to cycling in 2005 and going on to rack up the bling in that sport too. She won four golds at the London games in the Individual Pursuit C5, the Time Trial C4-5 500m, the Individual Road Time Trial C5 and the Individual Road Race C4-5 adding to the two golds she claimed in Beijing.

• BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2012 Betting

SUPERMAN: Team GB’s David Wetherill pulls off a ridiculous winner

Without question probably the best Paralympic table tennis shot you will ever see.

22-year-old David Wetherill represented Team GB at the games and has become an online sensation after pulling off an unbelievable right-handed ‘Superman shot’.

The world number five was unfortunately beaten by Italy’s Raimondo Alecci and is out of the tournament but nobody will forget this winning shot against Germany anytime soon.

The crowd at the ExCel Arena rose to their feet as Wetherill produced a moment of magic at a crucial stage of the game and was roundly applauded by both sets of coaches.

Understandably the young Briton was disappointed to be eliminated but happily tweeted about his incredible shot.

At least I might get a few YouTube hits. Superman diving forehand winner? I practice that I’ll have you know. #ProudParalympian

— David Wetherill (@Wetherill89) August 31, 2012

Watch David’s stunning forehand below.

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Will Katie make the big bucks in the pro game?

by Rob Dore | sports writer

Despite the seeming inevitability of Katie Taylor’s Olympic gold medal win, the Bray boxer had to show her battling qualities in the final to overcome the defensive Russian Sofya Ochigava. This was on top of living up to the high expectations of the boisterously supportive, success-starved Irish fans who packed the ExCel Arena in London. As ever, Katie upheld her part of the bargain.

Now that the five-time European champion, four-time World champion and Olympic gold medallist has achieved everything she can in the amateur game, talk has turned to the prospects of her turning pro. That’s something she has admitted to be considering in an this morning, live on Sky Sports News.

Katie said: “I am not really sure what I am going to do yet, it is a tough decision. I am going to take a few weeks off, but if I am offered a good contract, obviously I will have to consider it.

“It is my future, it is my career as well so I will have to consider a good professional contract or else I could stay amateur and try to defend my Olympic title.

“Either way it is going to be an exciting career, but I will make that decision in the next few weeks.”

Max Clifford backs Irish star for financial windfall

Despite her sweeping success over the last seven years, the financial rewards have been near non-existent for Katie. Only recently has the club she trains in been updated to 20th century standards with the addition of toilets and showers. Improvements which were privately funded by local businessmen.

Having given so much and received so little in return from the Irish government, the Olympic Committee of Ireland will struggle to offer a convincing argument as to why Katie should stay on for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil. The financial iron is sizzling right now in the aftermath of her win and the attention it received and she would be well advised to strike now to reap the fiscal rewards she deserves.

Celebrity agent Max Clifford came up with a figure of €6 million over the next four years should Taylor turn pro, a large chunk of that figure being made up with sponsorship and endorsements.

Why Katie is perfect poster girl for pro boxing

The reality of women’s boxing is that it has declined in popularity, at least in a commercial sense, since the days of Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammed Ali just six years ago. Currently there is very little prize money to be earned for female boxers, particularly in America to such an extent that several officials and fighters have warned Taylor about heading Stateside to launch her career.

If the offspring of one of the greatest boxers to ever live can’t ignite the public’s interest in women’s boxing then who can?

Katie Taylor, that’s who.

We wanted everyone to see how great women’s boxing was this week, and we wanted to show off to the world, and that’s exactly what we did – Katie Taylor

If marketed and managed correctly, the fervent Irish support she would enjoy wherever she fought would be enough to elevate women’s boxing in to the mass consciousness. Katie’s quarter-final fight with Team GB’s Natasha Jonas broke the record for crowd noise at the games.

Her clean-living lifestyle, modest comportment and supreme talent make her the perfect poster girl for the sport. It was the presence of Taylor which sped up the inclusion of women’s boxing at the Olympics. Without her we would have had to wait until Brazil 2016 and what a loss that would have been to the London Games.

Professional boxing is in a period of decline for men and women. This makes things tough for the average male boxer and near farcical for the lower-paid female fighters. Professional boxing needs a shot in the arm, particularly the women’s game and what better shot to give it than Katie Taylor and her green army?

• Betting: Boxing

Evening update from the Paddy Power Blog on all the latest betting moves in sport

Football

- Manchester City have won the Community Shield in a surprisingly feisty game at Villa Park. Chelsea took the lead courtesy of a Fernando Torres goal, but soon after lost Branislav Ivanovic was given his marching orders for trying to remove one of Alexander Korolov’s legs with a mid-shin studs up tackle. Andy Townsend said it was a harsh red card, but I saw some of his hairstyles during the 80s and he’s not a man blessed with impeccable judgement.

Mancini’s men played the better of the football and took the lead thanks to a thumping equaliser from Yaya Toure followed by the cracker from Carlos Tevez and a less of a cracker from Samir Nasri. Ryan Bertrand scored a late consolation for the Pensioners. Obviously this game is relatively unimportant, but it you take solace from stats with no bearing future events, four of the last five Community Shield winners have gone on to win that season’s league title. City are 5/4 to make it five from six.

- Off the pitch, it’s been a good day for City as they confirmed the signing of Jack Rodwell from Everton. The good news for the Toffees is they get £15 million for the player, but the bad news is they’ll probably be seeing a lot more Darron Gibson in their midfield this season. Everton are 7/2 to finish ahead of Liverpool.

• Betting: Premier League matches
• Betting: Premier League outright

Golf

- Rory McIlroy shortly begins the final round of the US PGA Championship in a great position after a completing an excellent third round earlier today. With a three shot lead heading into the final round, he’s in control as bids to win his second major, but as we saw at Augusta last year, that isn’t always a guarantee of success. The 8/13 favourite is three shots clear of Carl Pettersson, but a host of top players and former major winners aren’t far behind so he has limited margin for error. Tiger Woods trails McIlroy by five shots, but is the 8/1 second favourite for the title.

• US PGA Championship Betting

Darts

- The world of darts is in mourning with the news that legendary commentator, Sid Waddell has died at the age of 72. He had been battling bowel cancer since last September and a statement from his manager revealed Waddell passed away surrounded by his family on Saturday night. Waddell’s Sky Sports colleague, Dave Clark paid a glowing tribute to his friend, saying:

He was the voice of darts. Darts isn’t going to be the same without Sid Waddell. He had a child-like exuberance, he’d be bouncing round like a young puppy in the commentary box, and mix that with the intellect of Einstein. He was a brilliant man, a genius of the microphone – I’m going to miss my old mate, that’s for sure.

Olympics

It was the final day of the London Olympics, but the hosts’ sadness was lessened with yet more gold for Team GB. Anthony Joshua climbed to the top of the podium for winning the super-heavyweight division thanks to a dramatic victory over Roberto Cammarelle of Italy. It cemented Team GB’s third place on the medals table.

In other news, the Not Quite The Dream Team landed gold in the Men’s Basketball, but the hot favourites were made work for it by Spain. Team USA were matched all the way by la Roja, but kicked clear in the 4th quarter to claim the 14th Olympic tournament for the 14th time. Earlier, Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda won the men’s marathon, only the second gold medal in the African country’s history.

Horse Racing

- It’s been a good Sunday for Aidan O’Brien. Not many horses have seen as much of Frankel’s rear-end as Excelebration has, but he got his moment in the limelight by winning the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville this après-midi for the Ballydoyle team. Closer to home, things got even better soon after as Pedro The Great claimed the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh. The two year old wasn’t the stable’s big hope for the race, but he beat Jim Bolger’s Leitir Mor by a convincing two and three-quarter lengths. He’s rated a 33/1 shot to win next year’s 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Morning update from the Paddy Power Blog on all the latest betting moves in sport

Olympics

The Olympic athletics programme came to a fantastic climax last night. That’s fantastic if you’re Mo Farah or British or Jamaican. For everyone else it was probably a bit annoying. London’s East End was rocking as Farah (29) won the 5,000 metres with a performance of sheer class and determination. In the last lap and a half, it looked like he was sitting duck waiting to be picked off by rivals who had much more left in the tank, but the reigning world champion held off attack after attack to storm home cleared of the challengers. It’s his second gold of these Olympics after he claimed the 10,000 metres a week ago and it recreates the double he won at last year’s World Championship in Daegu.

- Later, there was Usain Bolt’s posing and Yohan Blake’s ‘beast’ impression that looks more like a Lady Gaga dance gone wrong aplenty as Jamaica win the men’s 4 x 100 metre relay in a world record time.

- Over at the aquatic centre, there was no need to troll Tom Daley on Twitter as he performed brilliantly to win bronze in the men’s 10 metre platform final. Watched by David Beckham and some of bizarrely named children, Daley (18) looked delighted to have podiumed. Clearly, it was the fulfilment of one of his childhood dreams, as the below picture he drew nine years ago suggests. Although he never did grow those breasts.

- Luke Campbell won gold in the bantamweight division of the boxing, beating John Joe Nevin of Ireland with a display of clean hitting and solid defence.

- It’s the final day of the Olympics and the main highlights are the men’s marathon at 11am, Team Dream Part 2 winning their inevitable gold medal. They take on Spain at 2.50pm. Team GB have the chance of a couple more boxing golds as Freddie Evans fights in the final of the welterweight division and Anthony Joshua in the super-heavyweight decider (at 2.15pm and 3.15pm respectively)

• Olympic Boxing Betting
• Olympics Betting
• Olympic Basketball Betting

Football

- With the Olympics leaving the centre stage, football begins to creep back into the limelight with the Community Shield. Manchester City will be without Joe Hart for the game as he’s been ruled out due to a back injury and considering it’s against a Chelsea team that have spent freely over the summer, Roberto Mancini has seized to opportunity to have another grumble about the lack of transfers at City this close season.

“It can happen that when a young team win the championship after many years, the new season starts very badly,” said Mancini, getting the excuses in early. The Italian have made sure not to bite the hand that might eventually feed him, by targeting the club’s sporting director, Brian Marwood rather than the owners. “City fans can be happy they have Sheik Mansour and Khaldoon. Only these two guys are important, the other people are not. They care about the club every day,” he added.

City are 5/4 favourites to defend their Premier League title and 4/6 to win their first Community Shield since it was still called the Charity Shield, forty years ago.

- Across the city, Sir Alex Ferguson is said to be fuming that Arsenal won’t accept his attempt to push the price of Robin van Persie for City up pretty paltry £15m bid for Robin van Persie. Sources are blaming the long-running feud the Manchester United boss has had with Wenger, which doesn’t make a whole load of sense as the grumpy pair have been at pains to point out the hatchet has been buried in recent seasons. Van Persie is currently 9/1 to be the Premier League’s Top Goalscorer and United are 12/5 to win the Premier League.

- Neil Warnock, January 2011

For many years I have thought he (Diouf) was the gutter type – I was going to call him a sewer rat but that might be insulting to sewer rats. ‘I think he is the lowest of the low and I can’t see him being at Blackburn much longer because I can’t see Steve Kean putting up with someone like that in the dressing room when he is trying to form a new image for Blackburn.

El Hadji Diouf, January 2011

Who is Warnock? He’s nothing to me. He’s not Alex Ferguson, he’s not Arsene Wenger, he’s not Sam Allardyce or an important manager. I know he doesn’t like me, but it’s the same for me too – I don’t like him

August 2012
Diouf signs up for Warnock’s Leeds

Leeds are 4/1 to get promoted from the Championship and there are no odds available on Diouf doing something moronic before the end of the season.

• Betting: Community Shield
• Betting: Premier League matches
• Betting: Premier League outright

Golf

- Stormy weather means we’re in for a busy final day at the US PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. Play was suspended yesterday afternoon/evening, meaning a whole host of players have to complete their third rounds before heading out for their final 18. Indeed, co-leader Vijay Singh is in for a very busy day of silly pants wearing as he has to get through 29 holes today.

Singh is on -6 and 7/1 to win the tournament, but that’s mainly because alongside him at the top of the leaderboard is Rory McIlroy who was tearing the course up when play was stopped on Saturday. McIlroy had five birdies and one bogey on his front nine and he’s now 2/1 favourite to win the final major of the year.

After his collapse at the British Open last month, Adam Scott is showing remarkable resilience and despite being a further shot back, going four under in the first nine holes of his third round has him rated a 10/3 shot to win.

After looking ominous at the halfway point, Tiger Woods has tumbled down the leaderboard thanks to going three over par through the seven holes he got to play on Saturday. He’s 14/1 to claim major number 15 this weekend, but it will require a dramatic turnaround in form for him to win it from here.

• US PGA Championship Betting

Evening update from the Paddy Power Blog on all the latest betting moves in sport

Olympics

- Despite my gloomy predictions earlier today, Tom Daley has qualified for the final of the men’s 10 metre platform. He put some poor form behind him to throw himself into the pool flamboyantly better than he was doing in yesterday’s qualifying round. He’s 14/1 to win tonight’s final (8.30pm), but in some more encouraging news, he’s third favourite, so a medal is on the cards.

- A medal is also on the cards for Mo Farah, but his chances of gold are rated considerably better than Daley’s. He goes in the final of the 5,000 metres this evening (7.40pm) and he’s 13/8 to win it.

- John Joe Nevin and Luke Campbell are making final preparations for their Bantamweight Final at the Excel Arena this evening (8.45pm). Being amateur boxing, there’s no pre-might ‘I’ll eat your babies trash talk’, just some polite mumblings about each other. “I’ve got family in Ireland who know Nevin’s family. We all know he’s great fighter, and he’s always been one of my major threats,” said Campbell whilst Nevin reckons “I’ll go out smiling and enjoy the whole thing. That’s my attitude. It’s brought me all the way to the final and hopefully it can take me one step further.” Nevin is the narrow 4/6 favourite to win the contest.

• Olympic Track and Field Betting 
• Olympic Betting 

- It was the gold medal match in the men’s Olympic Football at Wembley today. Mexico beat Brazil 2-1 and although in most countries that would be greeted with an indifferent shrug, it’ll really hurt the Brazilians as they’re a little obsessed with the Olympic title. It’s the only major tournament they compete in that they’ve never won and Oscar’s missed header from five yards out to take the match into extra time won’t help the agony. Brazil were long time favourites for the title, but they again fail to deliver and the next target is the 2014 World Cup on home soil. The Samba Boys remain 7/2 to take World Cup number six.

A regular at the top of the podium for ill-advised commentators is Mark Lawrenson, who used to occasion to come up with a prediction that makes Pele look like Nostradamus. “We might just see the best of Brazil today,” said the genius co-commentator after 24 seconds of the gold medal match at Wembley. After precisely 28 seconds it was 1-0 to Mexico.

Football

- Rangers discovered the life in Division 3 of Scottish football isn’t going to be all flogging fishermen, postmen and members of other assorted professions. The 54 times Scottish champions were held to a 2-2 draw away to Peterhead and they were a touch lucky to get that, relying on a 90th minute equaliser from Andy Little to pull level. Rangers had started well, going ahead after 27 minutes through Barrie McKay, but Peterhead scored to second half goals and forced some good saves out of Neil Alexander. It’s not likely to change their prospects of promotion however as the Glasgow side are still 1/50 to romp to the league title.

- In one of the more surreal questions and answers sessions we’ve ever seen, it’s been announced that Steve Kean will be sacked by Blackburn Rovers if he loses three games in a row with the club this season. The club’s global advisor, Shebby Singh fielded questions from supporters comprising the Blackburn Rovers Action Group. When pressed on how much patience the club would have with Kean in their promotion push, he cited three defeats in succession as being the limit of their patience, resulting in a loud cheers and chorus for ‘Kean out’ from the crowd. To avoided any claims of the ultimatum being labelled ‘lost in translation’ the MC clarified the situation with this exchange:

MC: “If the manager loses three games on the bounce, he’s gone?”
Shebby Singh: “Yes.”

Rovers are 4/1 to get promoted at the end of the season, but the odds of Kean being down the job club before that are much shorter.

• Championship Betting

Golf

- The third round of the US PGA Championship is underway. The leaders aren’t out until later this evening, but it’s been a good start for Luke Donald. Despite making the cut by the skin of his very white teeth, he’s made a move up the leaderboard. At +4, he’s still quite far behind the leaders on -4, just not as far as he was when he began this morning. British Open champion of 2010, Louis Oosthuizen is also going along well, but Tiger looks to be the man to beat and he’s 13/8 to be the one holding the oversized trophy on Sunday evening.

• US PGA Championship Betting

NO AVERAGE JOE – Nevin has the chance for Ireland’s second gold of London 2012 (pic: Inpho)

By Kenny Egan | Olympic silver medalist and boxing pundit

It’s already been a fantastic Olympics for the Irish boxing team. It’s one of the best boxing teams that’s ever travelled. At the start, all they were asked to do was perform to the best of their abilities and that’s exactly what they’ve done. Each and every one of them has been outstanding all week and it’s been a pleasure to watch them and to know them. It’s a super team.

I’ve seen a good bit of Luke Campbell from the amateur boxing circuit. I saw him when he faced John Joe in the semi-final of the World Championships in Baku and it was a very cautious fight from both fighter. Campbell came out on top by a point and went on to beat the Cuban, Alvarez, by a point. But John Joe beat Alvarez convincingly yesterday, so it’s clearly going to be a very tricky fight.

It could see this bout being cagey and low-scoring. John Joe has improved more than Luke and that might be enough to swing it in his favour. Seeing Luke last night, he looked very tired and that gave rise to some sloppy mistakes in his semi-final. This is John Joe’s time. After beating Alvarez so resoundingly, his confidence is going to be sky-high. But that’s history and put to bed. He needs to focus on today and the job at hand. John Joe is world class. At the last two World Championships, he’s come home with two bronze medals, so he’s ranked up there with the best of them.

It’ll be a tricky fight. Campbell is tall, awkward and a bit of a nightmare to fight. Nevin has the tools to beat him, but if the Englishman takes a lead early on, we’ll see John Joe on the back foot. In fairness, that’s how it’s been for most of the week and John Joe has been boxing brilliantly. He said after each fight that his confidence was growing and he has beaten this guy before, in the EU Championships in 2009, so he’s in a strong position. He deserves to be favourite. He’s had the harder route to the final and based on their two semi-finals, you’d say he’s the better boxer.

I’d hate to see John Joe get robbed at this stage. It’s on home some for Campbell and I just hope it’s fair scoring. I’m not accusing the judges of anything, but in an Olympic final, with the crowd going wild for their man, it’s sometimes tricky for the judges to score fairly. They’ll need to be focused and block out what’s going to be an electric atmosphere. The Irish supporter has been brilliant all week and it’s felt like a home bout for the Irish boxers every time. It’s been a great help to the team.

John Joe Nevin can and will win this fight. His awareness, his timing, his reflexes all need to be razor sharp, but this is all stuff he’s been working hard on. He needs to be switched on from the moment that bell rings and be ready for anything. This guy is a quick, awkward, southpaw counter-puncher and Nevin needs to be alert throughout. If he stay alert, it’ll win him this fight.

• John Joe Nevin v Luke Campbell Betting

Morning update from the Paddy Power Blog on all the latest betting moves in sport

Golf

The wind finally blew at Kiawah Island yesterday and the US PGA Championship came to life. We’re only at the halfway point, but already dreams of a Tiger/McIlroy shoot-out on Sunday evening are hard to ignore. On a tough day of silly-pants wearing, Tiger Woods managed a round of one under par, putting him level at the top of the leaderboard with Carl Pettersson and Vijay Singh on -4. The American is now 13/8 to win his first major since the time everyone thought he was a squeaky clean, if slightly grumpy family man, back in 2008.

Ordinarily, Rory McIlroy’s 75 wouldn’t be a cause for celebration, but on a breezy day, it was good enough to leave him on two under par and within one slice into the water of top spot. He’s 7/1 second favourite to win his first US PGA title. World number two, Ian Poulter (10/1) is also right in contention, with his one under par second round leaving him one shot off the pace.

Elsewhere, Lee Westwood won’t get the chance to throw it away on the final day as he has the weekend off. His seven over par score saw him miss the cut, whilst world number one, Luke Donald on six over par was lucky enough to be on the right side of the line and he will be around for the weekend. With the wind howling, 150/1 isn’t the longest 150/1 shot we’ve ever seen.

• US PGA Championship Betting

Olympics

It’s the penultimate day of the London Olympics and it’s a biggie with plenty of high-profile names in action. Usain Bolt will be going for his third gold of these games when he takes part in the 4 x 100 metre relay (9pm) as part of the Jamaica team. The Jamaicans are 1/6 to claim glory.

Mo Farah is also looking to enhance his collection of gold medals. He goes in the 5,000 metres final at 7.40pm where he’s the 13/8 second favourite behind Dejen Gebremeskel of Ethiopia.

The BBC website tells us to check Tom Daley out in the final of the men’s 10 metre platform at around 8.30pm this evening, but that’s woefully premature as he struggled to qualify for the semi-final and there’s no guarantee he’ll get through this morning’s session.

There’s some long-awaited Team GB v Team Ireland action tonight as Luke Campbell and John Joe Nevin duke it out for gold in the Bantanweight division at 8.45pm this evening. Nevin was very impressed in beating world number one, Lazaro Alvarez in the semi-final, but the odds say there’s little to choose between the two. Nevin is 4/6 favourite, but Campbell can’t be written off at 11/10.

• Olympic Boxing Betting
• Olympics Betting

Football

Brendan Rodgers’ plan to bring every player he’s ever worked with to Anfield continues nicely as Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Joe Allen from Swansea for £15 million. Allen (22) did his medical on Friday, didn’t collapse into a heap and the deal was announced on Friday evening. The signing didn’t do anything to their odds and Liverpool remain 25/1 to win the Premier League and 21/10 to land the Top 4 Finish that should see them milk the Champions League cash cow for the season after next.

In other news, Roberto Mancini has allegedly got all stereotypically histrionic and Italian about the lack of business Manchester City have done over the summer. Whilst City’s rivals have all moved to strengthen their squads, the Citizen’s cheque book has remained as underused as Arsenal’s trophy cabinet. Mancini is said to be particularly unhappy with City’s sporting director, Brian Marwood, who seems to have a bizarrely large amount of power. “I am not happy, but I won’t say anything at the moment,” said the manager, saying something at the moment. City are still 5/4 favourites to win the Premier League and 8/13 to lift the Community Shield on Sunday.

• Betting: Community Shield
• Betting: Premier League matches
• Betting: Premier League outright

Ireland’s John Joe Nevin is one fight away from a shot at gold (pic: Inpho)

With Katie Taylor securing gold on Thursday, Kenny Egan looks at Ireland’s three remaining male fighters as they all look to book their final places today. Will they be able to upgrade their bronze medals to at least a silver and maybe more? Beijing silver-medallist Kenny Egan gave us his views on all three fights.

Paddy Barnes v Shiming Zhou

It was a perfectly executed plan by Paddy in his quarter-final. He went in with a tight guard, he started off fast and got the lead in the first round. Then he had that brilliant second round. He didn’t have to do much in the third because he didn’t have to kill himself.

The Indian fighter got a little messy in the second round and he even through the head at Paddy

Although he’s a strong favorite and he did beat Paddy 15-0 at this stage in Beijing, Shiming Zhou is getting old, he’s 31 now. I watched his quarter-final fight against Birzhan Zhakypov and he didn’t look too good.

Paddy needs to stay in this guy’s face for the full three rounds, non-stop pressure all the time and this guy will get tired.

Paddy’s an all-round better fighter than he was four years ago. He’s thinking and awful lot more, he’s a better mover. His whole selection of punches is much better. This is going to be an awful lot closer than people think.

Paddy will push this guy for the entire fight and I expect it to be a close affair.

Paddy Barnes – 11/4
Shiming Zhou – 2/9

John Joe Nevin v Lazaro Alvarez Estrada

Estrada is definitely the man to beat in this division and there’s no denying he’s very, very good. However he only beat the British fight Campbell by one point at the World Championships last year. John Joe Nevin only lost to Campbell by one point so there’s not much in it.

Styles make fights and these two are counter-punchers so theres not going to be much happening in this fight for the first round or two. It is going to be a very low score and may come down to whoever makes a mistake first.

His plan against Valdez in the lst round was perfection. He fought exactly the way he wanted to. He boxed very well and is a great mover. His footwork is fabulous and he’s always on the move so he’s very hard to hit.

This fight is a different level though. Estrada is top class.

John Joe needs to start of by holding the centre of the ring. He needs to try and get a lead in the first round. Get the lead and move, drawing the Cuban out. When he attacks he’s going to be counter-punched every-time so he needs to establish a lead.

This will be another close one on the cards.

John Joe Nevin – 9/5
Lazara Alvarez Estrada – 2/5

Michael Conlon v Robeisy Ramirez

After his last fight Conlon talked about still having more in the tank but it was a tough fight against against the Frenchman Oubaali. He dug deep in the last round but that just shows you he has the fire in his belly. He wants to win.

This is going to be an exciting match-up because Conlon likes to fight. He can mix it up between orthodox and south-paw but what pleased me most against is that he stayed in the stance he’s not used to. He stuck with south-paw even though he was level going in to the last round and that shows character. He’s a really confident boxer but at this level every fight is going to be close. It’s going to be a war for the full three rounds with this Ramirez kid.

Although Ramirez is the favourite I think the two lads can do a double on these Cubans.

Michael Conlon – 3/1
Robeisy Ramirez – 2/9

Morning update from the Paddy Power Blog on all the latest betting moves in sport

Football

Liverpool will know their Europa League opponents at around lunchtime today when the draw is made for the competition proper.

The Reds overcame Gomel 3-0 last night with goals from new signing Fabio Borini, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnston to run out 4-0 winners on aggregate. Manager Brendan Rodgers expects Swansea’s Joe Allen to sign on the dotted line for the club in the next 24 hours.

Celtic face another Champions League qualifier before they know if they’ll be joining the Reds after accounting for HJK Helsinki 2-0 last night and 4-1 on aggregate.

John Terry won’t be in the England line-up for the friendly against Italy next Wednesday despite being set to lead Chelsea against Manchester City in the Community Shield at Villa Park on Sunday. Club-mate Gary Cahill is set to take his place as Roy Hodgson opts for a different back four that was dismissed by the Azzuri at Euro 2012.

• Betting: Community Shield
• Betting: Premier League matches
• Betting: Premier League outright

Olympics

A modest Usain Bolt has called himself the greatest athlete ever after winning the men’s 200m gold to add to his 100m title at the weekend. Kenya’s David Rudisha set a new world record in the 800m when claiming gold last night.

Ireland’s Katie Taylor has hinted she may turn professional after claiming gold in the women’s lightweight boxing after Britain’s Nicola Adams became the first-ever women’s boxing gold.

In the men’s division Paddy Barnes (1.30pm), John Joe Nevin (2pm), and Michael Conlan (8.45pm) try to upgrade to silver from bronze  in their semi-final clashes later.

• Betting: Boxing Coupon
• Betting: Brazil v Mexico
• Betting: Olympic coupon

Golf

Sweden’s Carl Pettersson (who recently took up American citizenship) tops the leaderboard after the opening day of the US PGA Championship at a calm and sunny Kiawah Island. Pettersson leads on six-under-par after a 66 one shot ahead of Gary Woodland, Rory McIlroy, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Alexander Noren.

Tiger Woods is tied for 14th a couple of shots back on three-under-par. 

• Betting: US PGA Championship

Racing 

Dermot Weld’s Galileo’s Choice has booked his place in the Irish St Leger at the Curragh in a month’s time after victory in the Ballyroan Stakes at Leopardstown last night. The 9/4f shot is quoted at 25/1 for the Melbourne Cup in Paddy Power’s online betting after taking the Group Three contest.

Racing today comes from Musselburgh (2pm), Brighton (2.10pm) and Lingfield (2.20pm) with action tonight at Tipperary (17.30), Newmarket (17.40) and Haydock (17.50).

• Betting: All Friday’s cards and form

A TAYL’ OF GREATNESS: Katie was too good for semi-final opponent and will fight for an historic gold medal today.

Beijing silver-medallist Kenny Egan talks to us about Katie Taylor and her Olympic final opponent the Russian Sofya Ochigava.

This is what it’s all about now, there’s no turning back so to speak. It’s a great day in Irish sport and for Katie Taylor and her family and her friends and her father.

She’s a natural talent and she’s worked so hard to get where she is today. She deserves everything she gets.

On Katie and her father:

They don’t cut corners and the pair of them have given 100% for the last ten years. Katie and Peter worked so hard together to get in to this position and you could see it in their faces after the fight that they share a great passion in what they do. Their hard work is showing off now, their in an Olympic final together.

Her games so far:

She was in third gear for her quarter-final with Chorieva and she didn’t need to go any higher. Some people were criticising her saying she didn’t box that well but that’s nonsense. she went in there and she won the fight. You have to take in to account the fact that she knew if she won she would be fighting just over 24 hours later. She couldn’t afford to pick up any silly injuries or cuts. She got in there, she got the job done and she won convincingly. That’s all Katie needed to do.

Her opponent Sofya Ochigava:

I watched her against the Brazilian and she’s not a bad kid. She’s a good southpaw with a fast right hook. Katie’s going to have to be wary of that shot. I think it’s going to be a battle of the lead hand today. It’s going to be tight in the first two rounds like it was when they met in the World Championships but Katie has what it takes to beat this girl and I think she wants it more.

There was a lot of nonsense coming from Ochigava talking about the judges being against her. That Katie Taylor has all the judges on her side. That’s all nonsense, it’s just mind-games.

She tried the same tactic before their fight in the World Championships. Her plan is probably to have Katie coming in being over aggressive and falling over herself chasing her. Katie is going to stay nice and relaxed and pick her shots.

It will be a close fight because they’re two very clever fighters and it will be a battle of the lead hands. Katie’s left hand and Ochigava’s southpaw right. I wouldn’t expect to be anything like Katie’s fight with Natasha Jonas, this is going to be tight and low-scoring.

If it is level after two rounds it’ll be down to Pete then to say to Katie to up the gears. I haven’t seen Katie up in fifth and sixth gear yet but is she’s trailing then I think she’ll be let off the reins.

Score prediction:

I think it’s going to be in the region of a 10-7 win for Katie. In the first two rounds I don’t expect much to happen, so most of the scoring will come in the last two rounds.

I expect the winning score to be low either way so it’s probably a bit much to expect Katie to win all four rounds in this fight.

• Betting: Katie Taylor v Sofya Ochigava

Lunchtime update from the Paddy Power Blog on all the latest betting moves in sport

Football

Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill is keeping mum on a possible move for Wolves striker Steven Fletcher. The 25-year-old has handed in a transfer request at Molineaux but the relegated Midlands club are not prepared to release him until their valuation is met.

Fletcher has scored 22 Premier League goals since then manager Mick McCarthy signed him in 2010.

Newly promoted West Ham have swooped for Marseilles Alou Diarra (31) who is expected to join the Hammers in the next few days. The combatative midfielder was signed by Gerard Houllier when he was at Liverpool but spent most of his two season on loan in his native France.  

Meanwhile, Portsmouth defender Tel Ben Haim will leave and allow the club in administration save on his reported £36k a week wages.

• Betting: Premier League matches
• Betting: Premier League outright

Olympics

England’s  Mark Clattenburg (37) will referee the men’s Olympic football final between Brazil and Mexico on Saturday.  The Premier League whistle-blower officiated at last season’s Carling Cup final and has been the man in the middle at Champions League and Euro 2012 qualifying games.

Nicola Adams will fight China’s Ren Cancan for the women’s flyweight title later at 4.30pm just before Ireland’s Katie Taylor is scheduled to get into the ring. Cancan has beaten the Briton in their last two World Championship bouts but is slight favourite to win Olympic gold.

• Betting: Boxing coupon
• Betting: Brazil v Mexico
• Betting: Olympic coupon

Racing 

Coral Eclipse winner Nathaniel is likely to swerve a clash with Frankel in the Juddmonte International at York in two weeks and head for the Irish Champion Stakes instead.

Trainer John Gosden is keen for his charge to run in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October and the 1m2f event at Leopardstown in September fits his training schedule better. Cirrus Des Aigles was also ruled out of the York clash in which Frankel will attempt 1m2f for the first time in his unbeaten career.

• Betting: All Thursday’s cards and form

Football

Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted that efforts to bring Robin Van Persie to Old Trafford have stalled mainly because of Arsenal’s refusal to sell to a Premier League rival.

The Manchester United manager had earlier said he didn’t have a gut feeling that RVP would be a United player come August 18. One battle he has lost is Brazilian ace Moura who’s opted to go to Paris Saint-Germain rather than ‘boring’ Manchester. Nothing to do with the money at all.

Ferguson was speaking after the Red Devils lost a penalty shoot-out to Barcelona in Gothenburg last night after the game ended 0-0.

Joe Allen is on the verge of quitting Swansea to join old boss Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool. The Anfield club have bid £15m for the Welshman which should trigger a release clause in his contract.

While in Scotland, Celtic reached the Champions League play-offs with a 4-1 aggregate win over HJK Helsinki. The Bhoys will automatically transfer to the Europa League if they fail to qualify for the Champions League proper at the end of the month.

• Betting: Premier League matches
• Betting: Premier League outright

Golf

The US PGA Championship gets underway in a couple of hours and Paddy Power are paying 1/4 the odds the first SIX each-way for the final Major of the season.

Tiger Woods heads Paddy Power’s online betting for the Kiawah Island test. And it’s going to be some test in South Carolina as practice was abandoned yesterday due to the weather. Players used to links golf may hold the advantage and there are already mutterings that the tournament will struggle to finish on Sunday.

Adam Scott plays his first Major since his collapse at the Open Championship and lifting the Wanamaker Trophy would be some consolation as he, like World No 1 Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, has yet to win a coveted Major. 

• Betting: US PGA odds

Olympics

Usain Bolt believes he can break his own Men’s 200m finals record after cruising in tonight’s final (8.55pm) with Jamaican compatrioit Yohan Blake.

Bolt who took 100m gold last Sunday night in a record Olympic time has his eyes set on his 19.19 200m best set at the World Championships in Berlin in 2009.

Ireland’s Katie Taylor is on the brink of Olympic gold in women’s boxing when she faces Russian Sofya Ochigava at 4.45pm.

• Betting: Katie Taylor v Sofya Ochigava
  Betting: Olympic coupon

Racing 

Richard Hughes has 10 rides at Brighton (2.20) and Sandown (5.40) after pulling level with Ryan Moore in the title race yesterday. Hughes rode Danz Choice (6/4f) Rising Legend (9/4) and Chasin Rainbows (3/1f) to win at Brighton as he goes all out for his first champion jockey’s crown.

Today’s action also comes from Haydock (2.10), Yarmouth (2.30), Chepstow (5.15) and Southwell (4.55). While Leopardstown (5.25) and Sligo (5.35) race in Ireland.

• Betting: All Thursday’s cards and form

RINGING THE CHANGE – Should football be afforded the Olympian spirit? (pic: Inpho)

Listen here |

The Olympics are like a drug. Living in Britain this last fortnight, you would think that there’s not only nothing wrong with the country, but the world. We’ve landed on Mars, there are thousands dying in Syria and it’s been lost completely because the Olympics are on. Every four years it seems to dominate more and more. People at the Olympic Park seem to talk about it as this happy, McDonalds’ statelet where everything is fine and that’s seeping out to the rest of the country. We’ve forgotten about the economy, we’ve forgotten about this inept coalition we’ve put in place.

Like so many millions around the world, Rory Smith from The Times is a fan of the Olympics. But, in a piece he wrote for The Anfield Wrap, he questioned the favourable coverage the event is getting in the media, particularly in sharp contrast to the bad reputation that seems to permanently dog footballers.

In this week’s Padcast, he chats to Ciaran O’Raghallaigh about the double-standard and just what needs to change when it comes to football in the media. Why won’t the goodwill and kindness afforded to virtually all the athletes at the Olympic Games not extended to the Premier League’s elite when they return to action in a couple of weeks? Why is there such animosity towards football and what needs to be done to improve the relationship?

The media are fawning over the Olympians. We’re far too belligerent when it comes to our footballers. The insistence on twirling quotes and ramping up transfer stories, it’s completely unnecessary and it doesn’t help the media’s credibility or coverage.

That’s the view of Smith, who without wanting to defend the well-paid professionals, asks some questions about the peculiar double standard.

It’s an interesting discussion, but that’s not all as the Padcast also looks ahead to this weekend’s Community Shield as Manchester City and Chelsea serve up the appetizer for the beginning of the new Premier League season.

• Padcast host Ciaran O Raghallaigh on Twitter
• Betting: London 2012 Olympics 
• Betting: Premier League 2012/13
• Community Shield Betting

Direct suggestions for the show, potential guests and compliments/complaints in the comments section below or to thepadcast@paddypower.com or follow us on twitter @paddypowerblog. We’re also on Facebook. If you’re particularly impressed/angered by the show, feel free to express your satisfaction/abhorrence with your friends using the sharing buttons below. That would be belting.

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THE HARD YARDS: The last Major of the season will be played at Kiawah Island (pic: Graphic News)

Football

Craig Bellamy could be on his way back to Cardiff City after Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers confirmed the clubs are in discussions  about the Welsh international’s future.

England have climbed to third in the FIFA World rankings despite exiting at Euro 2012 to Italy on penalties. Roy Hodgson’s side now sit behind Spain and Germany as the qualifiers for World Cup 2014 in Brazil get underway next month.

Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland side is 26th with Wales at 37, Scotland perched on 46 and Northern Ireland just outside the top 100 at 101.

Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidic has vowed that the Red Devils will be more resilient in the Premier League and Champions League next season.

The United stalwart was speaking before the  high-profile friendly with Barcelona tonight in Gothenburg. Vidic played his first game in eight months at the weekend when United’s new-found resilience was sadly lacking in a 0-0 draw against minnows Valerenga.

• Premier League Betting 
• Barcelona v Man United 7pm

Golf

Tiger Woods in 10/1 favourite in Paddy Power’s online betting for the final Major of the season the USPGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

The tournament is Woods’ last chance this season to win his first Major in four years before everyone’s thoughts begin to turn to the Ryder Cup in San Francisco in September and Paddy Power are paying 1/4 the odds the first SIX before the first ball is struck off the tee on Thursday.

Last year’s champion Keegan Bradley, who won his first Major at his first attempt underlined his well-being with a last hole win in the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone  last weekend.

Bradley came from five shots off the pace with three holes to play to deny Jason Dufner in a play-off. Dufner has won twice this year in the Byron Nelson Championship and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and would be a deserving winner after last year’s meltdown.

• Betting: US PGA odds

Olympics

Daniel Awde has sensationally been ruled out of the decathlon after injuring himself in the long jump. Awde had earlier set a personal best 10.71 in the fourth heat of the 100m to leave him in seventh place overall in the opening event of the decathlon. The Londoner went on to score 774 points at his third attempt in the long jump.  

Mo Farah (29) qualified for the men’s 5,000m final on Saturday when finishing third in the heats this morning but not before giving his supporters a scare. The 10,000m champion was clipped a couple of times on the last lap but steadied himself to make the frame.

• Olympic Track and Field Betting 
• Olympic Betting 

Racing

Frankel’s six-length stroll at Glorious Goodwood has put pressure on Derby winner Camelot in te Cartier 2012 Horse of the Year ratings.

Henry Cecil’s colt who connections want to step up to 10 furlongs at York at the end of the month is just 48 points behind the Newmarket 2,000 Guineas and Epsom and Irish Derby winner Camelot(144).  Aidan O’ Brien’s triple Classic winner is looking to make history by winning the St Leger to become the first horse since Nijinsky in 1970 to win the Triple Crown.

 Today’s racing is from Brighton, Newcastle and Pontefract with Yarmouth, Sligo and Kempton under orders tonight.

• Betting: All Wednesday’s cards and form