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GARY LEMKE’S WRAP: SA sides go three out of five in Europe, Drama on Tyneside and more from the sporting weekend!

And so the curatin has come down on another cracking sporting weekend. As always, Gary Lemke looks back on the all of the big talking points and highlights.

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Image Copyright - Steve Haag Sports

And so the curatin has come down on another cracking sporting weekend. As always, Gary Lemke looks back on the all of the big talking points and highlights.

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

BIG GUNS AVOID EARLY UPSETS IN MELBOURNE

The first tennis Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, is underway in Melbourne and three seeds fell on the first day. However, none disturbed any furniture in the world order with Lludmila Samsonova (No13) and Wang Xinyu (No30) packing their backs early, while Magda Linette (No20) was a set and a break down when she retired against former world No1 Caroline Wozniaki.

South Africa’s only singles representative, Lloyd Harris, also didn’t make it past the opening day. A slightly bigger result was Marketa Vondrousova (No7) exiting from the women’s singles on Monday. As usual it’s a case of “you can’t win the tournament in the first week, but you can lose it” and that’s what the bigger names will be pinning to the back of their locker room doors.

MAIN DEFENDER STICKS UP HIS HAND

There should be no disputing that Main Defender and Sandringham Summit are the two best three-year-olds in the country, and both look superior to anything we’ve seen from their Cape or KZN peers this season.

Their head-to-head record is one-all and they might bump heads again in the Gauteng Guineas. In the meantime, Main Defender made it six wins from seven starts when a cosy winner of the Got The Greenlight Stakes at Turffiontein on Saturday, a Grade 3 event over 1400m.

It was a pity neither of this Gauteng pair raided the Cape for the Cape Guineas, where the form didn’t stand up to the L’Ormarins King’s Plate inquisition. We might have to wait until the KZN season to see the fireworks the pair bring to the track in the three-year-old Grade 1’s.

DRAMA ON TYNESIDE

There were at least two high-profile robberies in Newcastle on Saturday night. While Joelinton was watching his Magpies pick-pocketed by Kevin De Bruyne, who was sensational when making his comeback from injury, his own family home was being broken into. Here is the third English Premier League star to have been targeted while away, the others being Jack Grealish and De Bruyne himself.

The latter single-handedly turned the game around when he came off the bench in the 69th minute after being out of action since August. Newcastle were leading 2-1 but in the final 20 minutes, City turned things around to win 3-2. If he is going to stay in this kind of mood, it’s easy to see why bookmakers have City as title favourites despite Liverpool being top of the table.

REMEMBER THE NAME ARTUR BETERBIEV

An indication of how far boxing’s popularity has dropped, particularly against the surge of UFC, is that household names just don’t roll off the tongue any more. I’m going to guess that the most popular choice, or guess, for the mythical pound-for-pound title would be Mexican Canelo Saul Alvarez. However, Ring magazine lists him at No4.

They’ve got Terence Crawford, Naoya Inoue and Oleksandr Usyk ahead of him. Nowhere on that list is Artur Beterbiev. However, should the Russian-Canadian face off against Russian Dmitry Vivol for the unified light-heavyweight title, fight fans will be in for a treat.

Beterbiev might be a late starter, but the 38-year-old stopped Callum Smith to retain his WBC, IBF and WBO belts and maintained his perfect 100% knockout record after 20 pro fights. There are many shrewdies who expect him to upset Vivol and enter the discussion for pound-for-pound best boxer in the world.

FIRST ONE-HANDED CATCH IN 92 SIXES

If a week is a long time in sport, then what is a weekend? We’d mentioned in our lookahead blog that the SA20 League was starting and it was a “throw a dart at the board” guess as to who would impress. Well, the first two games have seen the Durban Super Giants and Paarl Royals win both their matches, while the Pretoria Capitals are pointless after their opening two games.

The matches come thick and fast so the betting changes as rapidly as the JSE. On Monday the Durban’s Super Giants got a chance to make it a hat-trick of wins. In the six matches played, there were 92 sixes struck, with only one spectator, Jochen Grobler, claiming a one-handed catch beyond the ropes and stake his claim of a share of R2 million.

He “caught” Will Jacks off the bowling of Obed McCoy. Now he’ll be waiting to see how many others join him in splitting the R2m.

THREE OUT OF FIVE FOR SA SIDES

The Bulls and Stormers flew South Africa’s flag high in the latest round of Investec Champions Cup matches when both won to signal their intentions in club rugby’s premier competition. The Bulls were particularly impressive in winning 31-17 at Bristol, while the Stormers made home advantage count in seeing off Sale 31-24.

In the “second division” of European club rugby, the news wasn’t as positive for the South African contingent. The Hollywoodbets Sharks were full value for their 38-7 win over Oyonnax, but both the Lions and the Cheetahs were beaten.

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