Golds and Goals moments: Horror Sunday for Real Madrid

So many sports happenings, so little time – but we’re here to help. Yahoo News Singapore picks the top sporting moments of this past week, and tries to make sense of what happened.

1. Real Madrid crash to shock loss, title charge halted

The biggest football upset this past week came on Sunday (17 February) in the Spanish Primera Liga. Real Madrid had been steadily rising up to the top of the table after a poor start to the season, and were fast catching up with leaders Barcelona after a league run of seven wins and one draw. Another victory at home against struggling Girona (17th in the table before the match) and they would have been just three points behind their great rivals.

Instead, Girona embarrassed the illustrious club by coming from behind to register a shock 2-1 victory. Real captain Sergio Ramos compounded matters by being sent off in the 90th minute for a second bookable offence.

To rub salt into their wounds, Barcelona managed to pip Real Valladolid 1-0 in their league tie on Sunday, courtesy of a Lionel Messi penalty. This means that Barca are now eight points above Real Madrid in the La Liga table.

To further add insult to injury, Real’s city rivals Atletico Madrid also leapfrogged over them after a 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano.

A truly rotten Sunday for Real Madrid.

2. Unknowns star in All-Star Saturday

The NBA All-Star Weekend is all about basketball fun. An annual event held around the mid-point of an NBA regular season, it is the league’s way of thanking its fans by showcasing the various jaw-dropping skills of their players. This year’s festivities was held in Charlotte over the weekend, and while the NBA bills the Sunday All-Star Game as its headlining act, there is no doubt what fans get most excited over: the Slam Dunk Contest and Three-Point Shootout on Saturday (16 February).

The contest has made stars out of many budding basketballers, including Michael Jordan, Dominique Wilkins and Vince Carter. This year’s contest was won by a rookie – 20-year-old Hamidou Diallo of the Oklahoma City Thunder. His most talked-about move of the night? A mighty leap over retired great Shaquille O’Neal for a dunk that finished with him hanging on the rim by his elbow.

To put in perspective how high he leapt for the dunk, O’Neal’s height is 7-foot 1-inch, or 2.16 metres. And to hang on the rim with his elbow, Diallo had to leap high enough to jam his lower arm into the basketball rim. Pretty impressive, even though Carter did the dunk first (without a human obstacle) in 2000, and it was good enough for Diallo to win the contest.

Meanwhile, the Three-Point Shootout competition saw an upset. Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, widely regarded as the deadliest three-point shooter in NBA history, was the hot favourite going into the contest. However, Joe Harris of the Brooklyn Nets was the in-form player going into the All-Star weekend, having hit 50 per cent of his three-pointers this season.

And Harris stole the show, making a superb 26 out of 30 shots in the final round to beat Curry, who had 24.

3. Stars wow the crowd at All-Star Game

By now, every basketball fan knows that Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game is not terribly competitive. Both sides just want to entertain the fans, and all the players want to complete the game without suffering any injury that may jeopardise their own teams’ fortunes. So there is minimal defensive effort all around, as each team tacitly allow the other to showcase all their crowd-pleasing moves.

So, now that the secret is out, let’s just appreciate the game for just that – crowd-pleasing moves. So here are a bunch of plays during Sunday’s game that had the crowd roaring in amazement. Let’s start off with the King, LeBron James, finishing an off-the-backboard pass by one-time teammate, Dwyane Wade, with a monstrous dunk:

Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard sparked a late flourish with two long three-pointers from the NBA logo:

Oklahoma City Thunder star Paul George got the crowd rocking with a rare, 360-degree slam:

But the “piece de resistance” has to be this unbelievable play by Stephen Curry and Giannis Antetokounmpo, taking the basic bounce pass to its extreme conclusion:

4. The Kordas’ astonishing win streak in Australia

Sporting families are common; every sport has its fair share of champions coming from the same bloodline. Venus and Serena Williams are tennis icons, while the Brownlee brothers – Alistair and Jonathan – are both world triathlon champions and Olympic medallists.

Some families even have members who excel in different sports. Manchester United’s Neville brothers, Gary and Phil, have a sister Tracey, an England national netballer who represented the nation in two Commonwealth Games and is the current head coach of the national team.

On Sunday, 20-year-old golfer Nelly Korda completed quite a remarkable achievement for her family that spanned two generations.

Her father Petr was a top tennis player in the 1990s, winning his only Grand Slam event at the 1998 Australian Open. Her elder sister, 25-year-old Jessica, is a mainstay on the LPGA golf circuit and had won the Australian Open golf event in 2012. Her younger brother, 18-year-old Sebastian, had clinched the Australian Open junior tennis title in 2018.

Amazingly, Nelly became the fourth Korda to clinch an Australian Open title in her chosen sport, when she won the Australian Open golf tournament on Sunday, seven years after her sister did. And she celebrated with a family trademark which was started by her father Petr – a jumping scissor kick.

“My parents love Australia,” Nelly said after her win. “My whole family does.” This family feat will likely never be repeated again.

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