Nicolas Anelka hit a hat trick Saturday to help the Blues beat visiting Sunderland 5-0 and take the Premier League lead from Liverpool. A hat-trick to be scored in the match was backed at odds of 16.5.

Manchester United’s home win against Hull was expected, but a seven-goal thriller with the brave Tigers fighting back from 4-1 down to be edged out 4-3 was certainly not. Two more goals for Cristiano Ronaldo mean he is now the favorite at 4.1 to end as the Premiership’s top scorer for the second year running. Seven goals or more in the game was matched at a high of 34.0.

Arsene Wenger’s Gunners suffered their third defeat of the season as Stoke’s long-throw expert Rory Delap caused confusion for the visitors’ jittery defence. Stoke were matched at 10.5 to beat Arsenal and the final result of 2-1 was matched at 38 on the exchange market.

Spurs were matched at odds of 38.0 to beat Liverpool after being a goal down. The game looked to be heading for a draw before substitute Roman Pavlyuchenko latched on to a Darren Bent shot that was deflected to score from close range deep in to stoppage time.

Liverpool have lost their status as the only unbeaten team in the football league and have drifted to odds of 7.0 for the Premiership from a low of 4.5.

Louis Saha scored his first goal for the club since moving from Manchester United in the summer to hand Everton a precious victory over Fulham at Goodison Park with just five minutes left on the clock.

Wigan went ahead seconds before half time when Egyptian forard Amr Zaki fired his ninth of the season from a penalty after Papa Bouba Diop brought down Titus Bramble. Egyptian striker Amr Zaki’s goal in first-half injury time was a result for those who took 15.0 on Wigan to be leading at half-time.

Gianfranco Zola saw his West Ham side end their four-game losing run but they were forced to settle for a point at Middlesbrough. The Hammers took the lead in the 21st minute with Hayden Mullins eventually finding the back of the net with a thumping drive after Luis Boa Morte’s cut-back. Another Egyptian striker, Mido, scored a late equaliser for Middlesbrough which was a result for punters who took odds of 5.3 in running as Gareth Southgate’s troops and West Ham shared the points at the Riverside.

Keith Andrews scored his first goal for 10-man Blackburn to salvage a point against West Brom at The Hawthorns. Andrews, signed from MK Dons in August for £1.3 million, drilled a low 20-yard shot past West brom goalkeeper Scott Carson.

Benni McCarthy put Blackburn ahead from the penalty spot before being sent off for two bookable offences before the interval before goals from Roman Bednar and Ishmael Miller looked to have put Albion on course for victory before Andrews’ late strike.

“For a couple of years now we have been ramping up our use of clay courts, clay court techniques and knowledge as major training tools for our developing players,” Tiley said in a statement.

“It is fair to say that this announcement is another great step for our player development program.”Tiley said Mantilla would bring world-class clay court coaching experience to aspiring Australian tennis stars.
“The expertise Felix will bring to our players will be world class. This is no part-time hobby for him,” he said.
“He has given an unequivocal, unconditional full-time commitment and will travel with several of our top younger players.”

Since finishing his playing career Mantilla has forged an impressive reputation among the international coaching fraternity for his work with some of the top Spanish juniors, Tiley said.Mantilla reached the semi-finals of the 1998 French Open and won 10 tour titles in an injury-curtailed career.
TA said Mantilla would be based in Barcelona and was passionate about working with the Australians.

“I wanted the job as it was a full-time position and I know that’s what it takes to develop a young player,” Mantilla said in the statement.

“After talking to Craig Tiley and Brent Larkham (AIS pro tour program head coach) I am convinced ,a href=’http://www.resultsfromtennis.com’>Tennis Australia has an excellent and highly-professional program which will ensure success.”

TA said Mantilla would be primarily based at the new training facility in Barcelona and would start next week under head coach Larkham.

Victories
* 2 » Rubens Barrichello
* 1 » Fernando Alonso, David Coulthard

Fastest laps
* 2 » Rubens Barrichello
* 1 » Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen

Pole Position
* 1 » Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Rubens Barrichello, David Coulthard

Podium
* 4 » Rubens Barrichello
* 2 » Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen
* 1 » Jenson Button, Robert Kubica, Lewis Hamilton, David Coulthard, Giancarlo Fisichella

Finish in points
* 8 » Rubens Barrichello
* 5 » Jenson Button
* 4 » Kimi Raikkonen, David Coulthard, Giancarlo Fisichella
* 3 » Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso
* 2 » Nick Heidfeld, Robert Kubica
* 1 » Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Takuma Sato, Heikki Kovalainen

Drivers which achieved points on Monza Grand Prix
* 43.00 » Rubens Barrichello
* 24.00 » Kimi Raikkonen
* 19.00 » Fernando Alonso
* 16.00 » David Coulthard
* 15.00 » Giancarlo Fisichella
* 14.00 » Jenson Button
* 10.00 » Robert Kubica
* 9.00 » Jarno Trulli
* 8.00 » Lewis Hamilton
* 6.00 » Nick Heidfeld
* 5.00 » Takuma Sato
* 3.00 » Nico Rosberg
* 2.00 » Mark Webber, Heikki Kovalainen

The fastest lap on Monza was set by Michael Schumacher at 1:24.125 in 2004

The world champion and number one, who ended last season by capturing the World Championship for a third time, defeated Stoke’s Dave Harold 9-3 at the Waterfront Hall.

O’Sullivan has now won 21 ranking titles, seven short of Steve Davis, with Stephen Hendry out in front on 36. It is the third time that O’Sullivan has won back-to-back ranking events. It was he who was the last player to achieve the feat when in 2004 he won the World Championship and Grand Prix.

Harold, 41, had been aiming to win his second ranking title 15 years after his first, the Asian Open. He could have become the oldest winner of a significant title since Jimmy White captured the 2004 Players Championship, also at 41.

Stoke qualifier Dave Harold reached the final of the Northern Ireland Trophy with an upset 6-4 victory over two-times world champions John Higgins in the semi-finals on Saturday having eliminated Stephen Maguire, the defending champion, 5-2 in the quarter-finals.

O’Sullivan won

She won a gold medal in the women’s 4×200 metre freestyle relay at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Taormina competed in the triathlon discipline during the last two Olympic Games, achieving a sixth-place result in 2000. Following the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Taormina began competing in modern pentathlon and quickly rose through the ranks before capturing gold at the 2005 Pan American Championship.

Taormina’s long-time triathlon coach and the U.S. modern pentathlon coach think that Taormina has a real chance to even claim a medal.

“Sheila is a very gifted athlete,” says Lew Kidder, who coached Taormina from an out-of-shape retired swimmer to the 2000 Olympic triathlon in two years. “In addition to having a great engine, she has incredible hand-eye coordination and balance, and probably could be a world-class cyclist, cross country skier, biathlete or modern pentathlete.”

U.S. modern pentathlon coach Janusz Peciak says that she is “an unbelievable athlete”, “has great coordination, is very smart and works very very hard. She is catching on so quick, so fast; she is capable of doing in three years what normally takes 10-12 years-become a world-class athlete in a very complicated and demanding sport.”

Peciak, a two-time modern pentathlon world champion who took the gold medal at the 1976 Olympics, also praises Taormina’s mental strength, besides her physical gifts.

“She is also brave,” says Peciak. “She can do everything the coach tells her. She has a man brain, thinks like a man. She is very powerful, very strong, pushes to the edge, and is not afraid of pain.”

“It’s true,” she says. “I always fell off the bike the right way and got right back up. I never crashed so badly I was put out of a race.”

Irene Jelagat, Viola Kibiwot and Nancy Lagat are very optimistic about their return to China, hoping to get some medals. Jelagat won gold during the Beijing World Junior Championships two years ago.

“I still remember that time as if it were yesterday. I would really want to win at the Olympics and write history as the first Kenyan to bag a medal at the Games,” the 20-year-old Jelagat said, according to the Daily Nation on Thursday.

“My victory in the Paris Grand Prix secured me a slot in the team. Although I won during the trials (4:12.70), I didn’t have the qualification time, hence making the race very important,” she said.

Irene Jelagat was a source of inspiration for her team mates, former junior revelations Kibiwot and Lagat. The 25-year old Kibiwot is the Kingston 2002 1,500m junior champion while Lagat won the 2000 edition in Chile.

Kibiwot competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics and finished fifth, but she is more experienced this time.

“Just as I was during my junior days in this race, so will I ensure that I’ve regained that form,” she said.

Jelagat is confident and believes she can make a podium finish at the Olympics. “I will be facing very strong competition but I believe I have a good chance of getting one of the places on offer,” she said.

During the national trials, in Nairobi, Jelagat ran 4:17.0 after having clocked 4:15.6 to win the Police championships a fortnight before. The Kenyan athlete, who took junior gold in Beijing with 4:0.88, has a personal best of 4:04.52 set last weekend at the Paris Grand Prix.

The middle and long distance races are Kenya’s main specialty. Their main competition comes from perennial rivals Ethiopia and Morocco.

“There are many runners out there who are very good. The likes of Romanian Liliana Popescu (4:00.35), Gelete Burka of Ethiopia (4:01.44) and Shannon Rowbury of US, who has run 4:01.61 as her best,” said Jelagat.

Popescu was dropped from Romania’s team for the Beijing Olympics after failing a drug test. The Romanian tested positive for an unidentified banned substance on May 29 in Algiers.

“The main problem we have with this race is that the athletes had very little time to train together, unlike other races. The three have only had two weeks to practice together and this in my view gives our opponents means of picking on us,” added head coach Julius Kirwa.

“Beijing is the host city of the Olympic Games. All of us hope we can meet our rivals there. My teammates and I will not give up trying,” said Chinese footballer Zheng Zhi, who has become a star player in the English club Charlton Athletic.

China will be supported by more than one billion people who will be expecting their national Olympic team to go further. Despite their expectations, the road for the hosts’ to advance seemed a little bumpier from the very beginning since the Chinese Football Association (CFA) sacked Serbia’s Ratomir Dujkovic as coach of its Olympic team just three weeks before the Games.

CFA vice chairman Xie Yalong explained that the Chinese players were discontented over Dujkovic’s training methods and tactics.

Last month, China’s national squad, also coached by the Serb, suffered a humiliating defeat by Iraq and was ousted of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Dissatisfaction with Dujkovic has been gradually mounting since then.

Before he was sacked, Dujkovic said that he was aiming for a top four finish, but Zheng said the initial goal was simply to reach the knockout stage.

“In the Sydney Games qualifiers in 1999, I, then 19, tried my best amid cheers from countless fans, but failed to live up to their expectation. The Olympic dream was broken,” Zheng said to his fans in a video clip aired frequently on local TV.

“These years I have grown up a lot. Now I am anticipating the Beijing Games to make up for the supporters. We are going to turn a new page on the history of the Chinese soccer.”

No Asian team so far has won the soccer gold medal since the sport was included in the Olympics 100 years ago. But Japan was the closest to achieve this goal by taking the bronze in 1968 in Mexico City, when they beat the host 2-0 in the play-off match.

Other Asian teams have achieved similar performances. India finished in fourth place in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia in 1992 in Barcelona and Iraq four years ago in Athens.

Nevertheless, the gold medal still remains the ultimate goal for Asia.

China is in a group with Belgium, New Zealand and one of the title favorites Brazil.

It is going to be a tough challenge as Brazil, the five-time World Cup winner, is going for its first Olympic soccer gold in Beijing, summoning its star player Ronaldinho to join in the squad.

“I feel very motivated and happy for having been summoned to the team,” Ronaldinho said at a charity event. The Brazilian just finished his transfer from FC Barcelona to AC Milan with an initial payment of 21 million euros.

“My aim is now to prepare myself for the Olympic Games - an honor few players have received,” the former Player of the World said.

The Brazilians have to get past their South American rival Argentina in order to win the gold. Besides winning the gold in Athens, the Argentines also defeated Brazil in the semi-finals of the Under-20 World Cup in the Netherlands in 2005.

Unlike Brazil who can’t have its top stars such as the FIFA Player of the Year Kaka to play, Argentina’s Olympic team includes all their greatest talents like Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero, Juan Roman Riquelme and Javier Mascherano.

“The Olympic Games is something I will never be able to play in again and I am very excited at the prospect,” Messi said.

The Beijing Olympics only allows footballers under the age of 23, except three over-age players for each side.

“There is no doubt that I will be there. I have really high hopes with the Olympic squad,” Messi said, although Barcelona wanted him to play for the Champions League preliminary.

The Olympic soccer tournament starts on August 6 with the final on August 23, which overlaps the Champions League preliminary that initiates from August 12.

Victories
* 2 » David Coulthard
* 1 » Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Rubens Barrichello

Fastest laps
* 2 » Kimi Raikkonen, Rubens Barrichello
* 1 » Fernando Alonso

Pole Position
* 2 » Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello
* 1 » Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen

Podium
* 5 » Kimi Raikkonen
* 4 » Rubens Barrichello
* 3 » David Coulthard, Fernando Alonso
* 1 » Lewis Hamilton

Finish in points
* 8 » David Coulthard
* 7 » Rubens Barrichello
* 6 » Kimi Raikkonen
* 5 » Giancarlo Fisichella
* 4 » Jenson Button, Nick Heidfeld
* 3 » Fernando Alonso
* 2 » Felipe Massa, Jarno Trulli
* 1 » Robert Kubica, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Heikki Kovalainen

Drivers which achieved points on Silverstone Grand Prix
* 38.00 » Kimi Raikkonen
* 37.00 » David Coulthard
* 34.00 » Rubens Barrichello
* 26.00 » Fernando Alonso
* 16.00 » Giancarlo Fisichella
* 12.00 » Jenson Button
* 8.00 » Felipe Massa
* 7.00 » Nick Heidfeld
* 6.00 » Lewis Hamilton
* 5.00 » Robert Kubica
* 4.00 » Jarno Trulli
* 2.00 » Heikki Kovalainen
* 1.00 » Mark Webber

The fastest lap on Silverstone was set by Michael Schumacher at 1:24.125 in 2004