Thursday 5 September 2013

Chance to shine for 'other' members of the GB Taekwondo Academy at this weekend's National Championships

By Steven Oldham

This weekend in Manchester, the National Taekwondo Championships take place at the National Cycling Centre in SportCity.

Over 600 competitors are due to take part, but only four of them are from the elite national set up: Olympic bronze medallist Lutalo Muhammad, 2011 National Champion Andrew Deer, teenager George Lee and a fit again Stephanie Allen.

While some newer fans to the sport may be disappointed that London 2012 champion Jade Jones and fellow Olympian Martin Stamper are not competing, along with prolific Open medal winners Bianca Walkden,  Michael Harvey, Reubyn Richards and Damon Sansum, it does give a chance for the 'forgotten' talents in the GB squad to take their chance in the spotlight.

Let's be realistic here - we're not talking about Muhammad, who will be among the favourites to claim a first national title in the -87kg despite an earlier than expected departure from the World Chanpionships in the last 16.

Deer, champion in this competition two years ago, has not scaled the same heights in competition since. Unfortunately he was a spare part in the battle for Olympic qualification, seemingly never really in contention for the one slot available.  As the Aaron Cook saga dragged on, Deer's name rarely appeared as a contender. 

At 26, he is by no means past it, but will be looking to hit the ground running and the small field entering from the national team gives him an opportunity to take the headlines once again.

18-year-old George Lee is definitely one for the future and could prove a real contender to the established Stamper, Harvey and Jordan Gayle in years to come in the lightweight category.  Having picked up his first senior medal in Sweden earlier this year, he will be looking to make a mark on the national set up and put himself in early contention for Rio 2016.

Finally, Stephanie Allen is only one year younger than fellow +73kg fighter Walkden but has a lot of ground to catch up.  Since missing out on qualification for London 2012, Bianca has mostly been in good form, picking up numerous Open victories across Europe. She's also a three time British Open winner.  Allen and Walkden appear to be the only two contenders in their weight class to be top girl since Sarah Stevenson's retirement and Stephanie needs to take advantage of her rival's absence this weekend.

Good luck to all the competitors this weekend. It's scandalous that taekwondo still doesn't get any TV time, even on Eurosport or the BBC Red Button, so I'll be following @TeamGBTaekwondo on Twitter for updates.

Follow me while you're there @spoldham

Sunday 23 June 2013

Easy draw for Djokovic? Tell that to Ferrer, Del Potro and Berdych

By Steven Oldham

Since the Wimbledon draws have been made, there has been some talk of number one seed Novak Djokovic getting an easy ride to the final.

It's true that the Serb cannot meet any of the 'big four' - Murray, Federer and Nadal - until the final as they're in the other half of the draw.

Djokovic, meanwhile, is in the same half as the fourth seed David Ferrer.  It's a bit disrespectful to the Spaniard to disregard him as a player with no hope of beating Djokovic.  He's won a third of their 15 meetings to date.

Among the other also rans in this side of the draw are Tommy Haas, Tomas Berdych and Juan Martin Del Potro.  All three have notable victories over the established top four, memorably Del Potro's bronze medal match victory over Djokovic at the London 2012 Olympics on Wimbledon's courts.

Indeed, the 25-year-old would be within reason to be annoyed at onlookers suggesting he will progress to the final with ease.  He has rightly pointed out that Wimbledon is a Grand Slam, and the competing players are of the quality that the grandest of tennis tournaments deserve.

There is always the chance of an upset.  Who would have thought Lukas Rosol could produce the sort of tennis that knocked out Rafael Nadal last year? Or how Federer was blown away by Berdych in 2010? This is not a closed shop.  Yes, Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal are the best of their generation.  They are not unbeatable however.

There's a chance that players like Berdych, Del Potro, Haas and Richard Gasquet will be out to prove it's not a foregone conclusion who wins Grand Slams in this era.

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Wednesday 19 June 2013

Rowing's struggle for sponsorship despite Golden Games is a big worry for minority sports

By Steven Oldham

Despite picking up their biggest ever haul of medals in last year's Olympics, Great Britain's rowers will be flying cattle class to this year's World Championships in South Korea.

The lack of a title sponsor backing GB Rowing since Siemens quietly pulled out last December have left the bean counters cutting back on goodies such as first class travel and bonuses for medallists in August.

In the six months since Siemens withdrew their support, no replacement has been found and that means one of Team GB's most consistent and successful teams have lost out on £6m of funding.

Don't get me wrong - rowing is still very well funded compared to the majority of it's Olympic contemporaries - and the success at London 2012 saw an increase of National Lottery funding of over £5m for the next cycle to the Rio 2016 Games to £32.6m.

Compared to other minority sports such as handball, basketball and men's water polo which have lost all funding, rowing is still doing very well for itself.

But the fact that one of, if not the best team in the world, cannot find a sponsor is very worrying for all Olympic sports, particularly considering it's less than a year since London 2012 enthralled the world.

Siemens are not alone in tightening their belts as the world economy still continues to drag its heels along the road to growth.  Aviva shocked UK Athletics and the watching interested by dropping their title sponsorship of the Olympics' blue riband event not long ago. 

The lack of commitment and desire shown by big business to be associated with GB Rowing is a kick in the teeth for the heroes and heroines of London 2012 with many of them treading water to stay afloat financially.  And with no sponsor for rowing, the likes of handball have no chance.  The GB team played what looks like their last game against Italy last month and with no funding available, players unable to afford to travel to games and no backing for the sort of legacy hoped for, handball sadly looks likely to be a one-summer wonder with few remembering the action from the Copper Box last summer.

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Monday 17 June 2013

Tahiti - losing but a breath of fresh air amongst the big boys

By Steven Oldham

Confederations Cup debutants Tahiti are 3-0 down to Nigeria as I write this, but their play in the first half of the Group B match has been a pleasant surprise.

It is no surprise to see Nigeria comfortably in front at half time but it could and should've been more.  Tahiti have played their part in the smaller number of goals by playing some positive attacking football.

I was fully expecting to see them park the bus in all three games - to see them pushing forwards and pressurising the African champions was an unlikely but welcome sight.  Nigeria are probably only running at 80% but by no means are mauling the islanders as widely predicted before the match.

The undoubted star of the first half has been Steevy Chong Hue.  The AS Dragon striker came so close to scoring an unlikely goal on the stroke of half time and all of Tahiti's good play involved him.  The rest of the team seem to know this and are aiming plenty of balls in his direction.

Nigeria on the other hand are in cruise control.  3-0 probably won't satisfy their coach, fans and could possibly decide whether or not they progress from the group stages.  Goal difference could come into play to decide who makes the final four, and Spain and Uruguay will be confident of knocking more past the OFC Nations Cup champions.

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Sunday 16 June 2013

Tahiti: The biggest underdogs in the history of world football

By Steven Oldham

Tomorrow in Belo Horizonte, amateurs Tahiti begin their first ever Confederations Cup campaign against Nigeria with the sole intention of keeping their almost inevitable group stage losses to a respectable level.

That Tahiti are even competing in Brazil is a surprise in itself.  The largest island in French Polynesia won last year's Oceania Nations Cup for the first time to qualify, beating New Caledonia 2-0 in the final.  Regional power, and four times winners,  New Zealand - expected to dominate the competition ever since Australia left the OFC in 2006 - underachieved and finished third having been knocked out in the semis by New Caledonia.

Drawn into Group B alongside Nigeria, Spain, and Uruguay, Tahiti face a daunting task and could score some unwanted records in their three group matches. Australia and Saudi Arabia have both lost by six goals to Brazil (6-0 and 8-2 respectively) in the tournament's history.  I don't feel it's disrespectful to say it would be an achievement for Tahiti to restrict their opponents to single figure victories.  This is the international equivalent of sending Havant & Waterlooville to a tournament including Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.

Ranked 138th in the world, below the likes of Namibia, Moldova and Vietnam, Tahiti's team includes several graduates from the side that qualified for the Under 20 World Cup four years ago.  There is evidence that Tahiti and the others are closing the gap to New Zealand, beyond the 2012 OFC Nations Cup result .  In the final round of World Cup 2014 qualifying, which New Zealand won to progress to an intercontinental playoff in November, there wasn't as many one-sided results as is common with the Oceania qualifying process.  The All Whites were restricted two-goal margins in all three of their away fixtures. In qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, New Zealand put ten past Tahiti without reply.    

So will any of the Tahiti players cause a shock and make a name for themselves? Unlikely, but their highest profile player is arguably the AS Nancy striker Marama Vahirua, who spent last season on loan in Greece.  He has scored over 70 goals in French football and played for France at under-21 level under Raymond Domenech.  He is the only player in the 23-man squad not to play his football in Tahiti's First Division.  If reports are to believed, they will adopt a 'defence first' approach in Brazil to keep events respectable.     

While it may seem pointless for a team of Tahiti's stature to be involved with some of the world's best teams in Brazil, there is no doubt they have earned their place.  The long term future of the OFC will look a lot stronger if the island nations including Tahiti and New Caledonia continue to improve and challenge New Zealand's position as regional top dog.

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