Sub-editors: Castor Chan, Katie Siddall, Ethan Todd, Lucy Rimmer & Mitchell Hall
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Monday 28th February 2022
Sport
THE
COURIER
UFC 271: Israel Adesanya Djokovic's retains the Middleweight title career th Mitchell Hall - Sports sub-editor
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srael Adesanya, the reigning UFC Middleweight champion, narrowly won his rematch with rival Robert Whittaker last Saturday night at the Toyota Center at UFC 271. The first run of this battle saw Whittaker dropped in the second round by Adesanya at UFC 243, a result that many fans would’ve expected to see emulated by a confident and seemingly unstoppable (at middleweight at least) Adesanya. The Nigerian-New Zealander has suffered only one loss in his UFC career, when he stepped up to light heavyweight to take on Polish fighter Jan Blachowicz, against whom he suffered a decision loss of his own. The result last weekend then felt like something of a foregone conclusion for the ex-champion Whittaker, a feeling that the first round did nothing to quell. Adesanya dismantled Whittaker early on using his seven-inch reach advantage, and repeatedly punished the legs of his opponent in the first
round, culminating in a knockdown for the defender as a left hand caught Whittaker at the right time. Every judge gave the round to Adesanya and at that rate the fight would have been very comfortable for the champ. Whittaker however grew into the bout as the fight continued, landing 4 takedowns across the 5-round battle, the joint most a fighter has managed against Adesanya alongside Marvin Vettori. Whittaker continued to bring a strong pace against his opponent, landing strikes throughout and in actuality, he narrowly out landed the champ in significant strikes to the head. However, the heart and determination of the challenger won him the last 2 rounds in the eyes of 2 of the 3 judges and won him the support of fans as the bout ran into the final bell. The decision was unanimous in favour of Adesanya, although the decision drew boos from a crowd who thought Whittaker had deserved the belt. Whittaker himself felt he had “done enough” to win the belt, a sentiment that his opponent would mock, saying
“You don’t do ‘enough’ to win the title. You take the belt.” Regarding this, the statistics would hint that Whittaker and the crowd were suffering from recency bias off the last rounds, as Adesanya out landed his opponent in all but significant head strikes, and UFC president Dana White agreed with the judges’ decision. The stage appears set for Adesanya to take on Middleweight contender Jared Cannonier, who he called out in his postfight interview for a fight in June. Cannonier produced a stoppage victory earlier on the night and clearly has done enough to gain the champ’s attention. Cannonier currently holds a record of 15 wins and 5 losses, a clear discrepancy when placed next to Adesanya’s stellar 22 wins and just 1 loss; but in a sport
where a single well-placed strike can make or break careers, nothing is set in stone and could set up a very evenly contested bout.
the winning goals in three out of four Olympic gold medal games - led her team to a sensational run over the twoweek long tournament. She was one of the forwards named to the All-Star team at the end of the tournament. The other two forwards were also Canadian: Brianne Jenner, the overall MVP, and Sarah Nurse, the newest Olympic record holder for most points at 18. (counting both goals and assists) With brilliant stars like them, it was not a surprise that they were the only team to breeze through the group stage with no losses to arrive at the playoff rounds at the top of the standings. They then easily beat Sweden and Switzerland 11-0 and 10-3 respectively to meet the US for the goldmedal game. Only Canada and the US have won the women’s ice hockey title since the 1998 Olympics, where the discipline was first included. All eyes were on the highly anticipated final to determine if there would be
a 5th Canadian win or the US could continue their reign as defending champions from 2018. The Americans also had a good streak going, only losing once to the Canadians only in the tournament through the group stage and playoffs. Kendall Coyne Schofield was captain here and also when they won Pyeongchang, and goaltender Alex Cavallini was also there for both. However, Cavallini revealed soon after the game that she was fresh off an MCL injury sustained in January, and considering that, is a star for bringing the Americans to the final. She was in goal for all of the playoffs, but the group stage was shared between her, Maddie Rooney and Nicole Hensley. (Cavallini and Hensley both logged shutouts as two of four tenders to do so - the others being Canada’s Ann-Renée Desbiens and Finland’s Anni Keisala) The gold-medal game moved almost immediately into the Canadian’s
favour, with Nurse scoring a goal within eight minutes. Then Poulin essentially sealed the victory with a 2-0 lead seven minutes after that, then the gamewinning goal in the second period. The US team had to chase down a 3-0 lead, but apart from two successful goals scored by Hilary Knight and Amanda Kessel, their attempted shots on goal of which they took 40 - seemed sloppy against the Canadians’ defence. The Canadians by comparison took only 21 shots against Desbiens but seemed much more composed. Speaking after the final, Poulin said, “It feels very good – 2018 was very hard. You take some time to reflect on what you need to do better as a group and personally. It really pays off. When you surround yourself with good people, good things happen.”
Hannah Ross
A look into the potential end to the career of one of tennis' biggest stars
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Image credit: Twitter (@TheAfrican_Hub)
Canadian women's team nets winter Olympic ice hockey gold Castor Chan - Sports sub-editor
The US women's ice hockey team falls to long-time rivals Canada in the Olympic goldmedal match
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ebruary 17th marked the day Canada beat the United States to take home their 5th Olympic women’s ice hockey title. As soon as the final horn sounded, the bright red of Canada’s jerseys flooded the rink as the team immediately gathered in celebration. 21-year-old Sarah Fillier, the youngest player on the team, quoted, “It is insane, I can’t stop shaking.” Captain Marie-Philip Poulin nicknamed Captain Clutch for scoring
by vaccin
Image credit: Twitter (@BBCSport)
ennis superstar Novak Djokovic has broken his silence about his vaccination status, saying he is willing to give up all further tournaments for his beliefs in the right to choose what goes into his body in the latest episode in the saga of his vaccine controversy around the 2022 Australian Open. The Serbian was set to defend his title, making it his record 21st Grand Slam title, back in January but has faced a series of problems when trying to enter the country. Now, his vaccination status has become public knowledge and he has been forced to talk about his situation. Australia has been known for its strict covid restrictions and lockdown rules since the start of the pandemic. Currently, the law for people entering the country requires that they be double-vaccinated or that they complete a 14-day quarantine on entry. The Australian government has continuously stated that no one is exempt from their vaccination laws. Djokovic was originally granted a medical exemption, requested anonymously to avoid taking advantage of his fame, because he had a positive test on 16th December. This sparked public outrage in Australia as citizens have had to face some of the toughest restrictions of any other country over the past two years of the pandemic. The tennis player was detained at the border and his visa revoked until an appeal was made and the judge overturned the decision. However, soon after, the government went back again to revoke it, saying it was in the public interest. Djokovic has had no vaccinations, stating he believes in the "freedom to choose what you put into your body", which is especially important as an athlete. He initially kept quiet about his views because of his right to keep medical records private, but now he wants to dispel wrong conclusions. In a BBC interview, he went as far as to say he is willing to pay the price of not going to future tournaments and even forgo the rest of his career because he feels so strongly about it. The athlete said, ‘I’m trying to be in tune with my body as much as I possibly can’.
Image credit: Flickr (mirsasha)
