Girl Power at the Games and Ferrari Failure at the F1

The Commonwealth Games 2022

The XXII Commonwealth Games are fast approaching and 1xBet is getting ready to give you a taste of the action! This year, the Games, which start on Thursday, will be held in Birmingham, England. They are only the 7th Commonwealth Games to be held in the UK. Two other cities launched failed bids to hold the Games: Edmonton, Canada, who withdrew in 2015, and Durban, South Africa, who were struck off due to financial issues. London and Manchester were also eager to host the highly anticipated Commonwealth Games in their cities, but ultimately the organisers felt that Birmingham was the ideal location for this sporting spectacle.

The Commonwealth Games are expected to cost a whopping £750 million and will be the most expensive sporting event in the UK since the London 2012 Olympics. The council’s aim is to feature a local flavour of talent in the opening ceremony, including up-and-coming, Birmingham born singer Indigo Marshall, joined by many well-known artists such as Duran Duran and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who both hail from the West Midlands, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

This year, a new edition of the Commonwealth Games Charter has been set in place, which will have a positive influence on the diversity and inclusivity of the Games. As well as integrating three new sports into the programme (women’s cricket, 3x3 basketball and 3x3 wheelchair basketball), the charter also sets out that parasport events (events for disabled athletes) must take place as part of the four core Commonwealth Games sports: athletics, bowls, swimming, and weightlifting.

As well as including more disabled elite athletes, this edition of the Commonwealth Games will break down even more barriers by debuting a women’s cricket tournament. Cricket has only made one previous appearance at these games, where South Africa went stump-to-stump with Australia in 1998. India’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur was quoted singing the praises of women’s cricket in a recent virtual interview about its inclusion in the Commonwealth Games this year “Yes, having women’s cricket in a multi-nation event could prove to be a game changer”.

In Birmingham, however, the competition will consist of two groups of four teams batting it out for gold. England, being the hosts, have qualified automatically, followed by the five best teams on the ICC Women’s T20I leader board. Sri Lanka booked the last seat on the plane to Birmingham after defeating Bangladesh in the Commonwealth Qualifier, which was held in Malaysia.

One core sport which will provide adrenaline induced thrills and has been at the heart of the Commonwealth Games since 1938 is road cycling. It begins with the time trial (4 August) in which the athletes race one by one on local roads and the cyclist fastest time wins. Cycling is a huge part of the Games, and it brings the local community out in full force to support the athletes.

Fresh from the podium of the Tour De France, the Welshman Geraint Thomas will be eager to prove himself once again, especially against his English record-equalling counterpart Mark Cavendish. Both riders will be keeping one eye on the Australian Rohan Dennis, whose team won the previous Games held in Melbourne.

Whether you’re interested in the gentler pace of sports such as cricket or the adrenaline fuelled wheelchair basketball or road racing, we’re sure that the Commonwealth Games has something for you, so tune in for a week of athletic excellence.

Hungarian Grand Prix

Following on from Leclerc’s crashing exit from the French Grand Prix on lap 18, we are eager to see how the Hungarian race shapes up this weekend. The Formula 1 Aramco Magyar Nagydíj 2022, held at the Hungaroring track is the thirteenth round of the 2022 World Championships. The track is 4.381 km and has a lot of twists, bumps and turns, that, combined with the dry, hot weather of the Hungarian summer, is much better suited to Ferrari’s F1-75 than the Red Bull cars, giving the Prancing Horse an advantage on the corners over their bitter rivals.

In the (literal) heat of the moment at Le Castellet, Leclerc’s oversteering led to him crashing out of the race on the 11th corner. This, in turn, allowed Verstappen to ultimately win the race, not-so-closely followed by Hamilton over 10 seconds later. Perez seemed favourite to finish third but lost out due to a collision on Turn 8. 

Another issue was caused by Zhou Guanyu of Alfa Romeo, who collided with Schumacher after losing control of the rear of his car. Zhou was found to be fully at fault, and he received a five second penalty and two points on his license. Zhou’s race only got worse from this point on, as he was forced to retire on lap 49 due to a technical issue.

Verstappen now has a commanding 62-point lead in the race to be crowned Driver’s Champion and with Ferrari trailing his team Red Bull by 82-point in the Constructor’s Championship standings and it would take nerves of steel to bet against the Dutchmen retaining his title now.

What’s more, Lewis Hamilton, who missed out on the top spot in France, insists he has “plenty left in the tank” to come out on top in Hungary. However, Mercedes haven’t hit the heights of previous years this season yet and the jury is out on whether they can actually throw a cat amongst the pigeons by picking up a first win of the season.

Who will ultimately come out on top? With the unpredictable nature of F1, it’s hard to tell, but whoever wins, we know you won’t want to miss it!