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Tuesday 20 May 2014

Sports Ladder (13th - 19th May)

UP - Arsenal - It was hard to avoid the disappointment on twitter. No more 'no trophies in nine years' jokes as Arsenal lifted the FA Cup this weekend. But whilst a significant portion of footballs more neutral fan base were disappointed, it was jubilation for Arsene's gunners, who recovered from an early slip-up to eventually beat Hull City 3-2 after extra-time. It was by no means a routine win but was certainly long over due. It's been over two days since Arsenal last won a trophy, how will their fans be coping?

UP - Rebecca Downie - It's become customary to see gymnastics success for Britain in recent years. Be it through the sterling efforts of Beth Tweddle or Louis Smith, medals have come in plenty and this week a new star arrived. Twenty-two year old Rebecca Downie this week claimed a gold medal in the uneven bars to go with her silver medal as part of the British team event. Downie is only the second after Tweddle to win a gold at a European Championships.

UP - Sir Bradley Wiggins - With the Tour de France rapidly approaching and Team Sky yet to announce who will be their leader the next few weeks will be extremely interesting. Sir Bradley Wiggins laid down his marker this week with a victory in the Tour of California. As well as becoming the first ever Brit to scoop up that particular title, Wiggins has also pushed for a place amongst the top of the Sky Team. Could be an almighty tussle between himself and Froome.

UP - Hannah Cockroft - From one speed demon to another as Hannah Cockroft climbs higher up the sporting ladder. The 21-year-old beat her own 200m T34 time with a new World Record of 30.86 to dip inside 31 seconds for the first time after taking 0.37 seconds off her last record. After success in Switzerland Hannah will now turn her attention towards August and this years European Championships as she seeks to win another gold medal. This weeks wheelie big cheese. I regret nothing.

UP - Ibrahim Hamato - If I said to you that it is possible to play a decent standard of table-tennis without any arms you would probably think I was bonkers. Ibrahim Hamato however has decided to smash this idea by playing with the paddle in his mouth! After an accident as a child resulting in a double arm amputation, Hamato has bounced back in quite incredible fashion. After years of training he can now hold a solid rally with some of the World's very best. Someone please give this man a medal!

DOWN - Plane Banners - This season has seen a lot of ups and downs in the Premier League but something which needs to go on holiday and never come back over the summer break is the introduction of plane banners. Manchester United fans are the prime culprits and this week, even after the season was over, decided to send one mocking Liverpool for losing the title. Realistically, I don't think after this season Manchester Untied fans are really in a position to mock anyone.

DOWN - Daniel Levy - I believe that Daniel Levy's ninth managerial sacking since taking charge should finally see blame directly firmly in his direction for Tottenham's shortcomings. There can be no doubt that he is a superb businessman but as Clive Allen said this week, Levy is "not a football man". This week saw Levy dismiss yet another manager in the form of Tim Sherwood and Tottenham's chairman will now be looking for another man who won't be in the job for more than two years. Change is needed.

DOWN - Stephen Lee - Sometimes the best thing is to just accept your punishment and move on. Stephen Lee didn't agree with this sentiment and this week his appeal against his twelve year professional snooker ban was turned down. This means Stephen will remain out of action until 2024 and his costs have also increased from £40,000 to £75,000 as a result of the failed appeal. Well the lesson we've all learnt from this is if you do happen to be a professional snooker player, just don't fix matches.

DOWN - Manchester City - It didn't last long did it. Just a few days after the blue half of Manchester claimed their second Premier League title it all went a bit wrong. Firstly, the Financial Fair Play committee confirmed that they will indeed suffer a $49 million fine for breaching rules as well as a reduction in the size of their Champions League squad next year. Then it emerged that they may struggle to reach their home grown player quota for next year. Louis Van Gaal must be licking his lips.

DOWN - Sepp Blatter - Qatar is in fact hot. That is the stunning revelation from Sepp Blatter this week as he finally admitted that hosting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is in fact a terrible idea. Surprising that. Although what is perhaps more surprising is that it has taken him this long to figure that out. What this means for the World Cup we are yet to find out, although it is very likely it will still go ahead. More importantly though, is the issue of Sepp Blatter. How can we get him to just go away?

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