TV this January.">A guide to the top five sporting events on TV this January.
It’s January, it’s cold outside – no, in fact it’s very cold outside. You may have made a New Year’s resolution to get fit, but unless you’re going to bundle yourself into your car and bundle yourself out at your local heated gym (preferably with a Jacuzzi and sauna for that summer holiday effect) I’d argue that now isn’t really the time.
It’s just too cold and dark to venture out in the evening. Okay, I may be making excuses here. And my New Year’s resolution was not to get fit but to give up smoking (seven days and counting) so I don’t have anything to live up to. But far more enjoyable than donning your jogging gear and braving the ice on a cold January weekend, I feel, is watching others get physical from the comfort of your settee.
Yes, believe it or not, January isn’t an entirely dry month in the world of televised sport. There are, in fact, a fair few events to get excited about. Here’s my top five.
The first of the year’s Grand Slam tournaments opens at Melbourne Park this month, with the Women’s Singles Finals to be held on 31 Jan and the men finishing things off on 1 Feb. In 2008, Maria Sharapova of Russia beat Serbian Ana Ivanovic to the title, while fellow Serbian and third seed Novak Djokovic defeated unseeded Jo-WiFried Tsonga of France to take the Men’s Singles medal. This year, the singles winners can expect to take away AUS$1,370,000 prize money after beating the top-ranked players in world tennis.
Snooker – The Masters: 11 Jan – 18 Jan
Since moving from Wembley Conference Centre to Wembley Arena in 2007, The Masters has attracted ever bigger crowds and last year saw Mark Selby win his first major snooker championship when he beat Stephen Lee 10–3 to the title. This year, the event will feature all of snooker’s top 16 players plus two ‘wild card’ competitors – Ricky Walden and teenager Judd Trump – who won their place via qualifying tournaments at the end of last year. Trump will face either Mark King or former World Amateur Champion Mark Allen.
Motor Racing – World Rally Championship Rally Ireland: 30 Jan – 1 Feb
Voted the second best rally in the World Rally Championship (WRC) 2007, and attracting the largest television audience of the series that year, Rally Ireland has been rewarded with the honour of opening the WRC 2009. The event has replaced the traditional Monte Carlo Rally and will span eight counties both north and south of the border. With many drivers facing roads they’ve never seen before, it’s bound to be an exciting ride, and concludes on Sunday with a ’super special stage’ in Donegal.
Cycling – UCI Pro Tour – Tour Down Under: 20 Jan – 25 Jan
The Tour Down Under gives international riders the perfect opportunity to prepare for the European season and last year became the first cycling event outside of Europe to be included in the prestigious ProTour circuit. Styled on major races such as the Tour de France, the Tour Down Under consists of six stages running through South Australia. The highlight of a lean month in the cycling world, one British cycling fanatic says of the tour: “It reminds us frozen cyclists what riding in hot sunny conditions is like and you get a reasonable sprinkling of the top riders.”
Swimming – FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup: 24 Jan
Open water swimming enjoyed its first year as an Olympic sport in Beijing last summer, and has consequently won some new fans. Even more so because it seems that we Brits are quite good at it – team GB’s Keri-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten took the silver and bronze medals in the Olympic 10km open water swimming event. January sees the first event of the year-round global FINA 10km Marathon Swimming series kick off in Santos, Brazil.
For more TV sport to settle down to this January, check out the BBC’s sport calendar.
IMAGES by Flickr users
Similar Posts:
- Three reasons why the Tour De France is better than football
- Four years till 2012: get your kit on
- Bottled water sales down
- How does the cycle to work scheme work? Ride your bike to work scheme
- Collecting rain in water butts
Originally posted 2009-01-07 09:06:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
