The Blog Sport

O’Sullivan - Northern Ireland Trophy winner. O’SULLIVAN TAKES BELFAST TITLE
Ronnie O’Sullivan was the toast of Belfast as he was crowned Northern Ireland Trophy champion. The world champion and number one beat Stoke’s Dave Harold 9-3 at the Waterfront Hall. It was O’Sullivan’ s 21st ranking title in a glittering career and one which saw him rewrite the record books - the crowd favourite became the first player for four years to win back-to-back ranking titles. It was he who was the last player to achieve the feat when in 2004 he won the World Championship and Grand Prix. Harold, the world number 28, can rightly be proud of his progress to this year’s final, but he was well beaten by the tournament favourite. (Read the full post about ‘O’SULLIVAN TAKES BELFAST TITLE’…)

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Bullard - surprise pick. BULLARD IN ENGLAND SQUAD
Jimmy Bullard has been handed a shock England World Cup call-up as coach Fabio Capello looks to begin the road to South Africa by beating Andorra and Croatia. The 29-year-old has barely earned a mention as a potential candidate for Capello’s squad, even after the loss of Steven Gerrard, who accompanied Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick onto the injured list. But Bullard has found favour following an excellent start to the season, following his influential role in keeping the Cottagers up last term. Capello is presumably banking on Bullard’s experience helping him overcome any nerves at his first call-up and the Londoner’s chirpy character should certainly help in the England dressing room. (Read the full post about ‘BULLARD IN ENGLAND SQUAD’…)

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Poulter - wild card pick. FALDO CONFIRMS WILD CARDS
Europe captain Nick Faldo has handed Ryder Cup wild cards to Ian Poulter and Paul Casey. As a result Colin Montgomerie misses out on the match which could have seen him take over from Faldo as the event’s record points-scorer. Darren Clarke also misses out, despite his victory in Holland a week ago which made he and Casey the two favourites to be picked. Casey and Poulter will join Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose, Soren Hansen and Oliver Wilson, who all automatically qualified for the event at Valhalla next month. (Read the full post about ‘FALDO CONFIRMS WILD CARDS’…)

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Robinho - Chelsea interest. CHELSEA DEFEND ROBINHO INTEREST
Chelsea have ‘refuted’ Real Madrid’s criticism regarding their conduct in the bid to sign Robinho. Brazilian striker Robinho held a press conference on Sunday to reiterate his desire to join Chelsea before the transfer window closed. Real responded by issuing a statement which hit out at Chelsea’s behaviour, particularly an incident which saw shirts bearing Robinho’s name go on sale on the club’s website. But the Blues have now defended their interest in Robinho, having made a formal offer, and say the shirt incident was ‘a regrettable accident’. (Read the full post about ‘CHELSEA DEFEND ROBINHO INTEREST’…)

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Smolarek - adds firepower. SMOLAREK SIGNS TROTTERS DEAL
Ebi Smolarek is officially a Bolton player after penning a season-long loan deal on Sunday. The Trotters revealed on Saturday that they had reached an agreement with the Poland international’s parent club Racing Santander. The striker was in the stands at Reebok Stadium to see his new team-mates grind out a 0-0 draw with West Brom on Saturday and will be hoping to add some much-needed firepower to the Trotters attack. The 27-year old began his career in Holland with Feyenoord, before spending two seasons in Germany with Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund. His keen eye for goal then attracted the attention of Santander, with the Spaniards splashing out 4.8million euros (3.9m) last summer. (Read the full post about ‘SMOLAREK SIGNS TROTTERS DEAL’…)

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Scolari - pleased to keep Kalou. SCOLARI: GUNNERS WANTED KALOU
Luiz Felipe Scolari may have needed the option of Robinho as Chelsea failed to break down Tottenham - but he has cited Arsenal’s interest in Salomon Kalou as proof he already has enough depth in his squad. Spurs earned their first Barclays Premier League point of the season with a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, ending Scolari’s perfect start to his career in England. With Didier Drogba sidelined and Andriy Shevchenko at AC Milan, the Chelsea boss had Nicolas Anelka as a lone striker, with Kalou coming off the bench. The club are still hopeful of signing Robinho from Real Madrid but Scolari insists the forward’s arrival will not make or break their season. (Read the full post about ‘SCOLARI: GUNNERS WANTED KALOU’…)

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Parry - rows over. PARRY - ROWS ARE OVER
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry says the infighting that threatened to derail the club is now over and that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. The Reds found themselves in the headlines for the wrong reasons last season due to the ongoing row between American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The American duo were involved in a public slanging match last season, but Parry insists the problems have been resolved and stability has returned to Anfield. Parry has also found himself at loggerheads with Reds boss Rafa Benitez over transfer targets, but the chief executive insists everyone is working together to bring success to the club. (Read the full post about ‘PARRY - ROWS ARE OVER’…)

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Belletti - scored the opening goal of the game. BENT EARNS SPURS A POINT
Tottenham striker Darren Bent provided the attacking threat in the absence of Dimitar Berbatov by scoring in the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge and end Chelsea’s perfect start to the season. With Berbatov absent, deemed psychologically unfit as he edges towards a move to Manchester United, Spurs were soaking up the pressure and staring at defeat until Bent pounced to earn Juande Ramos’ men their first Barclays Premier League point of the season. Chelsea had deservedly led through Juliano Belletti, but with Roman Pavlyuchenko signed from Spartak Moscow yesterday, Bent’s first goal of the campaign provided a reminder to Ramos of what he can deliver. (Read the full post about ‘BENT EARNS SPURS A POINT’…)

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Robinho - wants to leave. ROBINHO: I’M UNHAPPY AT MADRID
Robinho believes he is paying the price for Real Madrid’s transfer failures this summer as time runs out on his ambition to join Chelsea. Speaking at a brief press conference in the Spanish capital, on Sunday, Robinho reiterated his desire to move to the Premier League club and hit out at Madrid, and in particular coach Bernd Schuster, for their role in the long-running saga. The Brazil international claims Madrid have had plenty of chances this year to tie him down to a new deal, but only started worrying about losing his services when they came up empty-handed in the transfer market. (Read the full post about ‘ROBINHO: I’M UNHAPPY AT MADRID’…)

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Saints celebrate their Challenge Cup win. SAINTS SET SIGHTS ON DOUBLE
St Helens on Sunday basked in the glory of their latest Challenge Cup triumph and immediately set their sights on the double. Daniel Anderson’s men made a heroes’ return to Knowsley Road with the famous trophy they lifted for a 12th time thanks to a 28-16 win over Hull at Wembley but insisted they have unfinished business. Saints did the double in 2006 but were heavily beaten by Leeds in last year’s engage Super League Grand Final and are determined to make amends this time. They meet arch rivals Wigan at Knowsley Road on Friday in their final game of the regular season needing to avoid defeat in order to top the table for a third successive year and will then enjoy a three-day break in Madrid before embarking on the play-offs. (Read the full post about ‘SAINTS SET SIGHTS ON DOUBLE’…)

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