A busy year for sport events

I’m never a fan of sports and politics mixing, although unfortunately, the two worlds often collide. The New Year brings perhaps one of the most poignant examples of this in history with the Winter Olympics being hosted in South Korea, just 60 miles away from the Demilitarised Zone that protects it from the North.

However, the hospitable hosts will be determined to demonstrate from February 9 that they can avoid external distractions to deliver a Winter Olympics true to its ideals. Being one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, South Korea will be aiming to build on the reputation it gained from the memories it created the last time it welcomed the world in the summer of 1988.

If that experience is any guide then the Koreans will be unfailingly polite and will embrace the Olympic spirit, already endorsed by their choice of Soohorang as mascot, a white tiger familiar in local folk tales as a symbol of trust, strength and protection.

The brainchild of Victor Gustaf Black, the first Winter Games was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924 although were only retrospectively called the Olympics.

Pyeongchang will host the 23rd Winter Olympics, the start of an Asian swing of multi-sport events over the next four years. The International Olympic Committee has added four new events across the 15 disciplines with big air snowboarding and freestyle skiing exciting additions on the slopes. Expect additional thrills and spills on the ice with the introduction of mass-start speed skating while mixed doubles curling is included for the first time. Overall, the athletes will be competing for 102 gold medals.

Another venue to have experienced its fair share of controversy is the hosts of the football World Cup, Russia. While I have no doubt that there will be thousands of column inches dedicated between now and the start June 14 to Russian drug-taking, hopefully the main focus will be on the action.

The 32 nations participating will play in a competition of unprecedented scale. Russia is the world’s largest country geographically and spans two continents. The four furthest of the 11 host cities encompass an area the same size as the whole of Western Europe!

The host nation qualify by right which is a good job as their performances in the European Championship were disappointing although new manager, Stanislav Cherchesov, has replaced many of the senior players with youth.

They will be joined in Group A by Saudi Arabia who qualifies for the first time since 2006. Although the Green Falcons are the lowest-ranked side to qualify, manager Bert van Marwijk has adopted a pragmatic system and is expected to target the weaker teams in the group in the hope of collecting points and qualifying for the knock-out stages.

Holders Germany qualified with a perfect record with Die Mannschaft scoring 43 times and also recently added the Confederations Cup to a striking trophy cabinet while South American favourites Brazil have imposingly returned to form. Tite, their new manager, has found a way to accommodate star names including Neymar, Jesus and Casemiro.

France also boasts an impressive array of talent with Pogba, Mbappe and Griezmann. Belgium equaled the German scoring record while re-writing a number of their own in qualifying.

The filling in this chunky doorstop sandwich of major events is the Commonwealth Games held on the Gold Coast of Australia in April. The Commonwealth comprises 70 nations and 2 billion citizens spanning six continents. A mini-Olympics, sometimes referred to as the Friendly Games, will witness nearly 7,000 athletes competing across a range of 18 sports and 7 para-sports.

Australia, hosting the event for a record fifth time, will oversee the introduction of beach volleyball to the competition.

Anyone watching the US demolish Europe in the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National Golf Club would be forgiven for writing off European hopes for the foreseeable future. The score of 17 points to 11 was their largest winning margin since 1981.

However, as the Biennial competition returns to Europe, specifically Paris, the hosts will hope that the home crowds can once again turn the tide. The US may boast the majority of top-ranked players and three Major winners last year, yet they have failed to win overseas since 1993. Europe’s five consecutive victories have been achieved with a combined winning total of 19 points.

The intriguingly-named Albatros course at Le Golf National will, in late September particularly, reward accuracy. While it is not a short course at 7,331 yards there are tight greens that are well protected by bunkers and water.

Of the regular annual events, Bahrain always pays close attention to F1 and the season ahead promises much although will, I hope, be more exciting than the new logo.

The big change this season will be a further reduction in the number of available engines that teams can use. While this move assists teams in managing one of the costlier components of the car, it places greater emphasis on the top drivers suppressing their performance throughout the season. While not concerned about the expenditure, it is the grid penalty of a replacement engine that would prove costly.

Lewis Hamilton was already last season bemoaning his inability to push all the time. Add the new halo and additional weight the engine will be pulling and he is now likening the 2018 season to Nascar.

All eyes will also be on McLaren this season, particularly in testing, with the Bahrain-owned team switching engine supplier to Renault and hoping to return to the glory years.

Testing begins in Spain on February 26 with the season opener in Australia on March 25.  From there the teams will come to Bahrain for a race on April 8.

Tennis will witness the return of Serena Williams following the birth of her baby while the resurgence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will be challenged by the return from injury of Andy Murray and Novak Djokavic who will both aim to return to the Number 1 ranking.

Boxing will also be aiming to continue its re-emergence into the mainstream and it has to be hoped that Anthony Joshua is allowed (by his management team) to fight Deontay Wilder. The heavyweight division, after being dominated for a decade by the Klitschko brothers, has the opportunity to evoke memories of the classics from the glory-years by pitting together the top fighters in their prime.

Another glamour fight that would have the purists purring would be Errol Spence meeting Terence Crawford. Spence, the blistering southpaw known as The Truth claimed the IBF welterweight division by defeating Kell Brook while Crawford, a switch-hitter, became the first fighter to simultaneously win four championship belts in one division after demolishing Julius Indongo. He would need to step up a weight class although is expected to manage this easily.

One fight sure to happen is the rematch between Gennady Golovkin and Saul Alvarez. Dubious scoring has blighted boxing for decades yet, in a close fight; none could have been quite as obscure as Adelaide Byrd scoring the fight 118-110 for Canelo. GGG, as he is frequently referred to, will be determined to regain his crowns.

Aside from these I will be eagerly awaiting the Giro D’Italia to see whether Chris Froome can claim the third Major consecutively (assuming he can defend his drug-test anomaly) while, closer to home, the Asian Games will be hosted by Jakarta in August and India will welcome the mens Hockey World Cup in November.

With so much intrigue promised I hope that in 2018 sport can focus on the action and forget the politics.