Netherlands won Women Hockey World Cup 2018

Netherlands have been crowned Hockey World Cup winners for a record eighth time after a crushing 6-0 win ended Ireland’s fairy tale tournament. Four goals in a seven minute spell around the half-time break earned the Dutch an emphatic victory.

Ireland had won new fans on their unlikely road to the final but found no answer to their opponents' intensity. Despite the defeat, Ireland is expected to climb up to 10th in the world rankings for the first time. Lidewij Welten, Kelly Jonker, Kitty van Male, Malou Pheninckx, Marloes Keetels and Caia van Maasakker all scored for the Dutch, who have extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 32 matches.

The top four goal scorers in the tournament all came from Alyson Annan's squad, with van Male topping the order with an incredible eight goals for the defending champions. The only other World Cup meeting between these two teams took place in the group stages of the 2002 tournament when the Dutch crushed Ireland 6-0 on their way to the final.

The period before and after the interval firmly settled the contest and ended any chance Ireland had of getting back into the game, as the Netherlands continued their rampant form to clinically seal the gold medal. Ireland kept the Dutch scoreless in the final quarter and could have snatched a consolation at the other end as they once again showed their grit and work-ethic, giving everything right up until the final whistle.

The Open Championship

The Open Championship is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is administered by The R&A and is the only major outside the United States and held in United Kingdom. The Open is currently the third major of the year, following The Masters, The US Open, and The PGA Championship. The current champion is Zach Johnson.

Zach Johnson won the 144^th Open at the old course at St. Andrews in 2015. Johnson defeated Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen in a 4-hole playoff. The Open is a 72-hole stroke play tournament contested over four days. It starts with 156 world leading professionals along with winner of top amateur championships. Further places are given to players, amateurs and professionals who are successful in a number of qualifying events.

There is a cut after 36 holes after which only the leading 70 players play in the final 36 holes. In the event of a tie after 72 holes, a four hole aggregate playoff is held, if two or more players are still tied, it continue as a sudden death until there is a winner. There are a number of medals and trophies that are given for various achievements during The Open.

The field for Open is 156, and golfers gain a place in a number of ways. Most of the field is made up of leading players who are given exemptions. Further places are given to players who are successful in The Open Qualifying series and in final qualifying. Any remaining places, and places made available because qualified players are not competing, are made available to the highest ranked players in the Official World Golf Ranking.

World Cup 2015 - Records Breaking Match

This year in World Cup 2015, both bowlers and batsman are giving great performances. Ten days are passed and tournament is already flooded with lot of records. World Cup first match started with 300+ scores and most of the matches are ending in 300+ scores in first innings. New Zealand, Australia, India, and West Indies are giving great performances. West Indies have scored 300+ in all matches and so did India.

New Zealand beats England with 37.4 overs spare, it is the worst defeat for a test nation. Tim Southee took seven wickets in a match, which is the best bowling for New Zealand in World Cup. McCullum smashed fastest World Cup fifty against England. Ireland chased down 300+ score against West Indies. Pakistan were reduced to 1 for 4 against West Indies, the worst start in any of the World Cup match. Eoin Morgan is the only man in World Cup 2015 to play for two different countries. He played for Ireland in 2007 and now for England as a Captain.

Finally, on 24^th February 2015, many World Cup records were broken. West Indies firing machine Chris Gayle finally turned all faces towards him in a single match. He struck first double-hundreds of World Cup in in just 138 balls. He scored 215 runs, the highest by any batsman in World Cup. He broke Gary Kirsten record of 188 runs against UAE. He is the now the fourth batsman to scored double hundred in ODIs. His double century came after exactly five years, Sachin Tendulkar scored first Double-hundreds against South Africa.

Sixteen number of sixes smashed by Chris Gayle in his innings, joint most by any batsman in ODI. AB de Villiers and Rohit Sharma have also hit 16 sixes. Gayle runs tally is above 9000 in ODIs and became second West Indies batsman after Brian Lara to achieve this feat. This was his 22^nd century, equal to Saurav Ganguly and Virat Kohli. 372 runs scored by West Indies in their innings, their highest in ODI. This is also the highest score by any team in ODI in Australia.

Gayle and Samuels scored 372 runs partnership for second wicket, which is the highest any wicket partnership in ODI. The previous record was 331, between Sachin and Rahul Dravid. 298 balls faced by Gayle and Samuels, the most for any ODI stand. The partnership record for second wicket is also broken by them. Earlier record was for 165 runs between Sunil Gavaskar and Mohammad Azharuddin in 1987. Zimbabwe scored 3 number of 275+ scores in this World Cup, the most ever for them in single edition of World Cup.

These are some of the records broken in a single match and until now in this edition of World Cup. We may see more records breaking performance in remaining matches. Stay Tuned for all.