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Disc world

Taking a stroll down London’s über-hip Brick Lane today (venue, somewhat incongruously, for a Leo Messi adidas corporate signing gig last week), I was transported back to my youth, as amongst the array of delicious smelling fast-food stalls and kitsch bagatelles, I spotted a posse of passive sportifs hunched over some gaming boards – Dominoes? Craps? No, none other than carrom, the sub-continent’s answer to billiards.

This most addictive of two-player games is contested on a square board of lacquered plywood with pockets at each corner. A striking disc, which can be placed anywhere along a baseline on one side of the board, is flicked with the finger to cannon smaller white and black pucks into the pockets; the one who pockets all his men first is the winner. At the start, the pucks are packed together in a complex formation in the centre of the board, the equivalent of the snooker triangle, which the first player breaks. A neutral red puck, the queen, can be pocketed to accrue bonus points at the end of the game, if it is followed by a man of your colour into the same pocket.

 
Shootin' discs: First date?

I spent many a happy hour (sans alcool) over the carrom board, the habitual opponent being my younger sister, who I took great delight in beating – a time-honoured ego booster for the cowardly male; defeat was, of course, always benevolence on my part.

Felix americanus victorious

The current golden girl of athletics, American sprinter Allyson Felix, won the Diamond League crown in the women's 400m with a fairly mediocre 50.37s run in the penultimate event of the Diamond League series in Zurich last night. This is her first season of doubling up in earnest in the 200m and 400m and her relative lack of experience in running the one-lap was clearly in evidence as she struggled to set an even tempo, setting off quickly and then over-relaxing before drawing upon her basic speed to see her home. Thus far she has run much better in the 4x400m relay, where things are a little bit more instinctive. She'll be looking to add the 200m overall title to this in the last event in Brussels on the 27th August.

Super-smooth Allyson Felix in action earlier in the year in Manchester (May).
 

Other US athletes who put in excellent performances last night were the bullish David Oliver in the 110m hurdles (12.93s); Wallace Spearmon in the 200m (19.79s) and the - still only 26 years old - Jeremy Wariner with a 'world lead' 44.13s in the 400m. The latter two took their respective overall titles with these wins.

Britain's Mo Farah continues to go from strength to strength after his double gold at the European Championships as he smashed David Moorcroft's 28 year-old 5000m record of 13:00.41, clocking 12:57.94, in finishing fifth to the younger Bekele, Tariku.

Liverpool: Change in the reins but not in the gait

Roy Hodgson seems to have adopted an ‘evolution not revolution’ approach to his managerial start at Liverpool. Perhaps understandable given his age and time in the game – he’s seen it all - but his pre-emptive title-dampening comments about not being a Chelsea, Manchester United or Arsenal do look a tad defeatist, given the core personnel he has at his disposal. The start of a new season shouldn’t be the time for stoicism after all.

Rafael Benitez may be gone in body, but on yesterday’s showing, his spirit lives on, for this was very much a Benitez team – well drilled and dour. I was especially disappointed to see Hodgson retain the (wholly unnecessary) square pegs in round holes approach - the persistence of playing Dirk Kuyt on the right side of midfield and Daniel Agger in left defence. Sure, they ‘do a job’ but they’re far more effectively deployed elsewhere. If Torres is fit enough to be a substitute, then he’s fit enough to start, it’s a black and white call. The absence of Alberto Aquilani from even the bench was also a sign that Benitez’s conservatism is going to hold sway for the time being. 

As for the new boys, both Joe Cole and the Serb Jovanovic found the going tough, although the former’s sending off was a sin bin offence at worst. The surprise about Reina’s gaffe for the Arsenal equaliser was not so much that it happened – every ‘keeper concedes a daft one from time to time – but that someone as professional as he is hadn’t donned a sunshade.

The positive for Reds fans was a vastly improved performance from David Ngog.

How did Gunners fans see the game?

A last hurrah for Paul Scholes

A cosy illusion was thrown up by - the traditional curtain raiser to the football season - the Community Shield yesterday, namely that the old guard are still a force to be reckoned with, as Paul Scholes picked up the MOTM award and Giggsy got a run-out too. It can’t be denied that Scholes did some good things but these days he’s almost totally reliant on that innate instep ball-striking ability rather than forward mobility - Jamie Redknapp astutely likening it to a quarterback directing play from deep. It might prove a net positive for one match in three (this being one such match) but amid the hurly burly of the average Premier League fixture, he will comfortably be overrun by more athletic if technically lesser players. Even Liverpool fans will be sorry to see him depart the stage.

WORLD CUP 2010: It's a funny old name #3

More ‘zany’ ‘fun’ and this time it’s man ragas; ten personages from arguably the dullest World Cup in history have been rendered afresh below, can you get them all?

Dine for goal
One mad “A1” God Ra
El Simon lies
Da Gun
Oh, I’m ace jowl
Car pull? O yes!
Romo silk slave
Disney jew leers
Valid (x2)
Robin van Persie