Local Football; Pre Season Friendly

Romanos 0 v Ergotelis 2:

A pre-season friendly between Romanos and Ergotelis brought in some entertaining football in the first half. Both teams fielding a strong side had chances at both ends of the pitch. Romanos, with their attacking spirit, had the edge in the first half and there are a couple of players I will be watching in the upcoming season as they had excellent games. Unfortunately, there were no goals in this half mainly due to the good goal keeping by both teams. The second half was a little less entertaining because both teams began to bring on substitutes, thus losing the flow of the game a little. Then the first goal came for Ergotelis after 65 minutes from a great cross and excellent header. This half belonged to Ergotelis who upped their game, but Romanos came back into the game in the last 15 minutes. Then Ergotelis were awarded a penalty in the last minute of the match and scored from the spot. This match was a good workout for both teams for the coming season.

Athletics:

The fastest man on earth, Usain Bolt (Jamaica), the man who has been nicknamed "lightening" won the World Championship 100 metres in a sensational time of 9.58 seconds which was 0.11 seconds faster than the mark he set at the Beijing Olympics last year. It was the biggest improvement in the 100 metre record since electronic timing began in 1968. In second place was the defending champion, Tysin Gay (USA) in 9.71 seconds and third was Asafa Powell (Jamaica) in 9.94 seconds.

Volleyball:

The Greek volleyball team will compete this month in the men's European Volleyball Championships in Turkey. Their games are against Spain on September 4, Slovakia on September 5 and Slovenia on September 6.

Tennis:

Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus), recovered from the injury which forced him to miss out on Wimbledon this summer, has won the Vancouver Open by beating Xavier Malisse (Belgium) in straight sets 6-4, 6-4. Baghdatis also reached the semi finals in the doubles tournament.

Cricket:

Corfu is to host the Men's European Cricket Championship Division 5 from September 7 to 12. Taking part will be Greece, Bulgaria, Sweden, Czech Republic, Estonia and Turkey.

Women's Boxing:

The London Olympics 2012 will introduce women boxers for the first time after a decision by the International Olympic Committee.

THOSE FREE THROWS
NEVER GET BETTER

As any fan will tell you, athletes in all sectors of organized sports throughout the world are playing harder and better than ever before, and they all have the statistics to prove it.

Take basketball for example.

Since the mid-1960s, basketball has changed in numerous ways, from flat-footed set shots to dunks, from crotch-hugging uniforms to baggy knee-length shorts, from the dominance of local players to the infusion of international stars. And, of course, the game scores, which are now about 20 points higher.
But one thing has remained remarkably constant: the rate at which players make free throws.
In the past 50 years, players overall have made about 69 percent of free throws, the unguarded 15-foot, 1-point shot awarded after a foul. In the professional leagues, such as America's National Basketball Association and the Greek Basketball League, the average has been roughly 75 percent since they began.
The general expectation in sports is that performance improves over time. Future athletes will surely be faster, throw farther, jump higher. But free-throw shooting represents a stubbornly peculiar athletic endeavour. As a group, players have not gotten better. Nor have they become worse.

“It’s unbelievable,” a noted statistician exclaimed, as he studied the year-by-year averages. “There’s almost no difference. Fifty years. This is mind-boggling.”

The consistency of free-throw percentages stands out when contrasted with field-goal shooting over all, which has increased, on the average, more than 10 percent.

Sport to watch:

Football:

FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: September 5: Switzerland v Greece;

September 9: England v Croatia.

Formula One:

September 13: Italian Grand Prix: Milan; September 27: Singapore Grand Prix: Singapore Marina Bay Circuit: night race.

Boxing:

September 19: Floyd Mayweather (USA) v Manuel Marquez (Mexico): MGM Grand, Las Vegas.