This month's sports news.

Hua Hin Pool League

The new season had just got underway at time of going to press, so no league tables as yet. This season there are 4 divisions comprising 33 teams, plus as usual, the two knockout competitions. The winners and placers in last season's competitions all received their awards at the presentations held upstairs at Crawfords on 28 th June. The list of recipients and photos of the major winners can be seen on the following pages. The fixtures for August are shown here – why not stroll along to your favourite bar and see if they can fit you into their team! For further details of the competitions please contact the organisers on huahinpoolleagues@yahoo.com or visit the website http://www.huahinpool.multiservers.com

Premier Property Center League Winners - SugarCane Runners Up – Lucky Shot

All in Hua Hin Championship Winners – P & P Runners Up (promoted) – Billy's Babes

Hua Hin Kebabs Fun League Winners – Halex SugarCane Runners Up (promoted) – Rose B Third place (promoted) –Jungle Juice 2

Halex Toby Charnaud Memorial Cup Winners – SugarCane Runners Up – P & P

Halex Shield – Octopussy Runners Up - Halex SugarCane

Wooden spoon – Bamboo Grove

Overall individual placings

1st place Toe of SugarCane

2nd place Tong of SugarCane

3rd place K of Billy's bar.

Ladies's placings

1st place Nan of Lucky Shot Bar

2nd place Pawn of Billy's Babes

3rd place Pair of Billy's Babes.

*Teams still involved in the Halex Toby Cup will have to reschedule

Hua Hin Hash House Harriers

H2H3 Birthday Run

On Saturday, July 8th, the Hua Hin Hash House Harriers had been running for six years. Appropriately, Tom Crowley, AKA TLC, a cofounder of the H2H3 took time away from his volunteer work with Father Joe Maier to come down from Bangkok and set the trail with our own Lone Ranger. The trail for the birthday run was set in the hills above Hua Hin about 6 kilometres west along Pa La-U road and a few kilometres to the north. We were in an area where we had not run in our six years of existence where teak forests from the heights come down to meet the Zephyr Valley Golf Course currently under construction. TLC and Lone Ranger started the run off right away with a thirty-degree uphill jog for the first half a kilometre until turning off into the shadows of the teak forest. From that point onward the trail ran along beneath the trees, around boulders, through waist high grass and across dry gullies which we all hoped would remain dry for the remainder of the evening. Leading the way for the runners was Domestic Violence, Boring English Cant, Mud Man, Long Ron, and MysTerry Man. At the rear of the trail, tip of the tail of the walkers stumbled Deep Throat who was far behind visiting Bangkok hasher, Stumbles. Somewhere in the middle of the pack, Double-O-Dirk and Cockfight ran hard to catch the lead as they enjoyed their first run with the H2H3. In addition to the many runners and walkers with us were lots of visiting kids from Thailand and from Norway. We also had returnees Never Run and Buzzard who came to the run with Mommy Chick, AKA Mother Hen since 69 Forever was away in the UK. After an estimated 7 kilometres, the runners and the walkers came running into the car park with the first finishers in at about 50 minutes and the last trickling in at about an hour and a quarter. Naturally there were a number who short cutted the trail in order to get back to the beer cooler more quickly. Short cutters were led by Deep Throat of course. After all of the runners and the walkers were present or accounted for and all had a chance to cool off, Ballbanger called the circle to talk hash trash, introduce visitors, welcome back returnees, and provide information related to upcoming hash runs.

Hua Cha Hash Pedalers

The Hua Cha Hash Pedalers, a bicycle hash formed just a few months ago trips monthly in the Hua Hin / Cha Am area. We are not racing. We just get together and ride a pre-determined route after which we stop for some cooling beverage and maybe a meal. We're more social than athletic and so we just ride for the fun of it. Everyone is welcome to join us. The run for August is currently scheduled for Monday, the 28th. Please call Don at 050887181 for more info.

InterHash 2006

Every two years, Hash House Harriers from around the world converge at one location for hash runs and hash fun and nonsense. This year, Thailand is the choice of the hashing world and Chiang Mai is where 6,000 hashers will meet for the event 27 thru 29 October. A train will leave Singapore with 400 hashers from all around the world and will head for Chiang Mai with several stops along the way. A very important stop will be in Hua Hin where the H2H3 will host the visitors, providing hash runs, hash fun, some great Thai food and of course, cold beer and other beverages. The venue for the event will be at Suan Soan Pratipat where the travellers will have the opportunity to enjoy the beach and the gracious hospitality provided at this Thai military recreation area. The dedicated hash train will arrive around 10 in the morning and depart about 4 in the afternoon for six hours of fast paced fun. The H2H3 will be joined by the Cha Am Hash and by members of a Bangkok Hash in hosting ‘The Great Train Rumble'.

(Singaporean Thai named ‘Term” please contact 050887181. Don lost your number)

See the KobWeb, www.huahin-hhh.com for more about the H2H3, the Hua Cha Hash Pedalers and other hash nonsense.

Darts

A new season of the Hua Hin Darts League started on Tuesday 17 th July, just before our deadline, so no results or league tables to report until next month. There will be 11 teams competing this season as listed below. All old and new players will be welcome – please contact your favoured team at the relevant bar for details. Matches are normally played every Tuesday night from around 7 pm onwards.

Jungle Juice

Jaew Bar

Cat Bar

Johnnie Walkers

Dick's Office

Butterfly Rock

Barry's Team

Thai Life Insurance

Good Friends (Khao Takiap)

Pink Flamingo (Cha Am)

Bamboo Grove

August fixtures

Barry will play their home games at Johnny Walker Bar

Thai Life will play their home games at Billy's Bar

Week 3 – 1st August 2006

Barry v Dicks Office

CAT v Johnny Walker

Bamboo Grove v Thai Life

Jungle Juice v Jaew

Good Friends v Butterfly Rock

Week 4 – 8th August 2006

Pink Flamingo v Barry

Johnny Walker v Bamboo Grove

Thai Life v Good Friends

Jaew v CAT

Butterfly Rock v Jungle Juice

Week 5 – 15th August 2006

Barry v CAT

Jungle Juice v Johnny Walker

Bamboo Grove v Good Friends

Thai Life v Jaew

Dicks Office v Pink Flamingo

Week 6 – 22nd August 2006

Thai Life v Barry

Johnny Walker v Good Friends

CAT v Pink Flamingo

Bamboo Grove v Butterfly Rock

Dicks Office v Jungle Juice

Week 7 – 29th August 2006

Barry v Jungle Juice

Jaew v Johnny Walker

CAT v Bamboo Grove

Pink Flamingo v Butterfly Rock

Thai Life v Dicks Office

Premier League Fixtures

Saturday, 19 August 2006

Sheff Utd v Liverpool, 18:45 TV

Arsenal v Aston Villa, 21:00

Everton v Watford, 21:00

Newcastle v Wigan, 21:00

Portsmouth v Blackburn, 21:00

Reading v Middlesbrough, 21:00

West Ham v Charlton, 21:00

Bolton v Tottenham, 23:15 TV

Sunday, 20 August 2006

Man Utd v Fulham, 19:30 TV

Chelsea v Man City, 22:00 TV

Tuesday, 22 August 2006

Tottenham v Sheff Utd, 01:45 TV

Watford v West Ham, 01:45 TV

Wednesday, 23 August 2006

Aston Villa v Reading, 01:45

Blackburn v Everton, 01:45

Fulham v Bolton, 01:45

Man City v Portsmouth, 01:45

Charlton v Man Utd, 02:00

Middlesbrough v Chelsea, 02:00

Saturday, 26 August 2006

Liverpool v West Ham, 18:45 TV

Aston Villa v Newcastle, 21:00

Charlton v Bolton, 21:00

Fulham v Sheff Utd, 21:00

Tottenham v Everton, 21:00

Watford v Man Utd, 21:00

Wigan v Reading, 21:00

Man City v Arsenal, 23:15 TV

Sunday, 27 August 2006

Blackburn v Chelsea, 22:00 TV

Monday, 28 August 2006

Middlesbrough v Portsmouth, 02:00 TV

All times are for Thailand and are subject to change. Matches marked TV are likely to be shown live on the ESPN and Star channels. Thai channels will also show live games. Other matches not marked will also be shown live but the TV schedule was not available at time of going to press.

With the World Cup in Germany still fresh in the mind, there has been hardly any break for the players involved (and the fans!) before the new Premier league season begins again. For some, like Michael Owen, they will be glad to see the back of 2006, but for the rest of us an intriguing season lies ahead. How will the newly promoted sides, Reading, Sheffield United and Watford get on? Will the bubble burst for the surprise teams Wigan and West Ham this season? And most important of all, who can possibly challenge Chelsea and their increasing galaxy of stars?

We will try to answer those questions here, in the Observer season preview, but before that, how did we do with our predictions last season?

Prediction Outcome

Champions – Liverpool Chelsea

Runners up – Chelsea Manchester United

C L Qualifiers – Arsenal & Manchester United Arsenal & Liverpool

UEFA Cup places – Middlesborough & Spurs Spurs & Blackburn

FA Cup winners – West Ham West Ham…oh OK Liverpool

Carling Cup winners – Aston Villa Manchester United

Relegated – Wigan, WBA, Charlton Sunderland, Birmingham, WBA

Not brilliant but close on some! See the end of the article for the new predictions.

Premier Preview

Starting off with the title challenge then, and obviously the favourites are Chelsea, who added two superstars to their already star-filled squad, namely Michael Ballack and Andrey Shevchenko, as well as the highly rated youngster John Obi Mikel. It really is hard to see how they can be caught when they are able to add players of this calibre, but it seems evident that their focus will be more on the Champions League this season, while several of their players had indifferent World Cup performances, most notably Frank Lampard. They have also released or sold several players - Carlton Cole, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Jiri Jarosik, Juan Veron and Lenny Pidgeley, while Glen Johnson has gone on loan to Portsmouth. This may allow the chasing pack to get closer than last season, with the fast improving Liverpool our main tip to push them the hardest, with Manchester United and Arsenal not far behind. Liverpool have strengthened their squad as well, most notably with the addition of Craig Bellamy, but also a new left full back, Fabio Aurelio, from Valencia, while they are linked with a whole host of players. The Red Devils have once again been enduring an apparently rocky close season, with both Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Christiano Ronaldo looking to leave, which will undoubtedly weaken their squad. At time of going to press they had not made any major signings too. Arsenal on the other hand completed the signing of Czech midfielder Tomas Rozicky, which could prove to be another shrewd bit of business by Arsene Wenger. However they have lost three experienced players in Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and Sol Campbell. It doesn't seem likely that there will be any challengers outside these four, although it is possible that Spurs could break their dominance; however their European exploits might prevent that, and rumours of Michael Carrick's departure also would leave a hole in their squad. Spurs have made some significant signings however, with striker Dimitar Berbatov, Ivory Coast midfielder Didier Zokora and 22-year-old left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto; however they have lost Mido from last season.

West Ham and Wigan are likely to find it hard to follow up last season, although the former have already strengthened for their upcoming European campaign, signing Lee Bowyer, Carlton Cole, Jonathan Spector and Tyrone Mears, while the latter are struggling to hold on to their existing players, let alone sign new ones! They have signed Emile Heskey but lost Jason Roberts to Blackburn, and some might say that given Heskey's recent seasons they have lost out in that deal. Defender Fitz Hall has also joined Wigan from Crystal Palace. Unless Wigan manage to keep their squad and team spirit together, they are likely to be fighting against relegation this time; West Ham will also face a long season but should be able to maintain mid-table safety.

The newly promoted sides, as always, are tipped to struggle by the pundits, but will have taken heart from what happened last season. All of them need to add to their squads but so far none of them have made any significant signings; of the three Reading appear to be the best equipped and financed to survive, but all of them will have done well if they stay clear of a relegation battle. Other teams that could well struggle this season are Middlesborough, Newcastle, Charlton and Aston Villa – we fully expect one of these teams to go down for various reasons. Middlesborough have a new and untested manager in Gareth Southgate and the Premiership can be a tough learning curve; as well as the manager, they have lost Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Doriva with, so far, no new faces. They do not have the distraction of Europe this year but will need to improve significantly in the league. Newcastle are also likely to have a rough ride – the loss of Alan Shearer to retirement on it's own is a big blow, but the injury Michael Owen sustained at the World Cup will keep him out for at least a third of the season. In addition their involvement in the Intertoto Cup will stretch the squad to it's limit having also sold Lee Bowyer and Michael Chopra. A new striker is an absolute must for Newcastle, and they are one of a number of clubs strongly rumoured to be after Ruud van Nistelrooy. With Glenn Roeder in charge it is possible that he is going to face the same sort of ordeal that he suffered as West Ham manager when they were relegated. Charlton also have a new man at the helm in the form of Iain Dowie, and he could well be the difference between survival or relegation for them; he has already persuaded Luke Young to stay, while he has also been very active in the transfer market, signing Hasselbaink, as well as a clutch of defenders. However several players have left, most notably strikers Shaun Bartlett, Francis Jeffers, Jonatan Johansson and Jay Bothroyd, and experienced defenders Chris Perry and Chris Powell. If they can hold onto Darren Bent and avoid major injuries Dowie should be able to steer them to safety but are likely to be in the bottom half most of the season. Aston Villa are in turmoil once more; the manager David O'Leary was under fire from the fans for most of the last two seasons, and he heads into this one facing more of the same. There had been no transfers in or out at press time, but by the time the season starts it is expected that Milan Baros, Ulises De La Cruz, Olof Mellberg and Gareth Barry will all have departed. Lee Hendrie and Juan Pablo Angel have also been linked with moves elsewhere. We expect O'Leary to be the first manager to be sacked and for Villa to face another difficult season, only saved possibly by the weakness of the other teams around them.

The remaining teams, namely Blackburn, Bolton, Everton, Manchester City, Fulham and Portsmouth could all go either way. Blackburn have an excellent manager in Mark Hughes and had a very good season last time round, but once again might find the European fixtures too much. On the transfer front so far they have lost Bellamy and Dickov, to be replaced by Jason Roberts and Francis Jeffers, and it will be interesting to see how this affects them, although we expect at least one more major signing before the season starts. Bolton consolidated their position as a top half, difficult to beat team last season, and no doubt Sam Allardyce will unearth some aging stars as his new signings, but he has lost Bruno N'goty, Jay Jay Okocha, Khalilou Fadiga and Matt Jansen. Expect them to finish mid-table. Everton also have a good manager in David Moyes, but he must have been disappointed with the last campaign. He has certainly acted in the transfer market, buying Andy Johnson and Joleon Lescott, and getting Tim Howard in on loan from Manchester United, while Duncan Ferguson and Li Tie have been released, and Nigel Martyn has retired. We expect them to show a marked improvement this season with a possible top six finish. Manchester City were disappointing after starting well last season, and while Stuart Pearce is a fans favourite, this season needs to end with a much higher finish. He has brought in the experienced Ousmane Dabo, a tough tackling holding midfielder, as well as snapping up Paul Dickov on a free transfer. However Bradley Wright-Phillips has been sold to Southampton, and a number of players released. Unless some of the other rumoured transfers come in, and none of those rumoured to be leaving don't, then it could be another poor season for City. Fulham look set to be losing their creative midfielder Steed Malbranque, with a number of clubs linked, while striker Collins John could be on his way out as well. Chris Coleman has already bought Jimmy Bullard from Wigan, and the club have been linked with a whole host of players, mainly defenders. We expect them to finish just below mid-table and flirting with the relegation battle. Finally Portsmouth and their wheeler-dealer manager Harry Redknapp. If I were a Pompey fan I would obviously delighted that he kept the club up, but extremely worried what was happening to all that money he has been given to play with! However so far in this close season he has embarked on a cost cutting exercise, with Aliou Cisse, Andrea Guatelli Collins Mbesuma, Vincent Pericard and Sander Westerveld all released, and Gregory Vignal sold, while only Glen Johnson has arrived on loan. He has also made a very shrewd appointment of Tony Adams as his assistant. The list of players that have been linked with them though is very long, and it won't be long before ‘Arry starts splashing the cash on fees and more likely wages. The most credible targets are Sol Campbell from Arsenal, Gareth Barry from Aston Villa and Stilian Petrov from Celtic. Anything is possible with the team assembled at Portsmouth, but the only thing guaranteed is that their fans will be loud and wherever they play will be entertaining! We are going to predict a mid-table position and the FA Cup - it would be quite amusing to see them in Europe!

Predictions this far before the season (still over a month to go at time of writing) are always going to be difficult as proven last year, but here goes;

Champions: Chelsea

Runners up: Liverpool

Champions League places: Arsenal and Spurs

UEFA Cup places: Manchester United and Everton

Relegated: Aston Villa, Watford and Sheffield United

FA Cup Winners: Portsmouth

Carling Cup Winners: Blackburn

Champions League: Chelsea

UEFA Cup: West Ham

Managers to be sacked, resign or retire this season: David O'Leary, Glenn Roeder, Sir Alex Ferguson

Top scorer: Andrey Shevchenko

Tennis

The United States Open tennis tournament, commonly referred to as the U.S. Open (or as simply the Open in the U.S. only), is the fourth and final event of the Grand Slam tennis tournaments. It is held annually in August/September over a period of two weeks (the weeks prior to and following Labor Day weekend). In 2006 it will run from the qualifying tournament on 22 nd August, although the main event starts on 28 th August to the finals on 10 th September. The main tournament consists of five championships: men's and women's singles, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles, with additional tournaments for junior and wheelchair players. Since 1978, the tournament has been held at the USTA National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows Park in the New York City borough of Queens. The U.S. Open has grown from an exclusive entertainment event for the high society to a $17 million prize money championship (circa $1 million for winner of the singles tournaments) for over 600 male and female professional players.

History

The U.S. Open originates from two separate tournaments: the men's tournament and the women's tournament. The event was first held in August 1881 and staged at the Newport Casino, Newport, Rhode Island (men's singles only). The championships were known as the U.S. National Singles Championship for men. Only clubs that were members of the United States National Lawn Tennis Association were permitted to enter.

In 1900, U.S. National Men's Doubles Championship was held for the first time. Tournaments were held in the east and the west of the country in order to determine the best two teams (sectional winners). These would then compete in a play-off - the winner would play the defending champions in the challenge round.

Six years after the men's nationals were held, the first official U.S. Women's National Singles Championship was held at the Philadelphia Cricket Club in 1887, followed by the U.S. Women's National Doubles Championship in 1889. The first U.S. Mixed Doubles Championship was held alongside the Women's Singles and Doubles.

The Open Era began in 1968 when all five events were merged into the newly named U.S. Open at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens. Notably, the 1968 combined tournament was opened to professionals; neither predecessor tournament allowed professionals to compete. That year 96 men and 63 women entered the event with prize money amounting to $100,000. In 1978, the event moved from Forest Hills to its current home at Flushing Meadows.

The main court is located at the 23,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium, named after Arthur Ashe, the great African American tennis player who won the inaugural men's final of the U.S. Open in 1968. (British tennis great Virginia Wade won the first woman's U.S. Open final, five months after she turned professional.) Ashe died in 1993 of AIDS, which he contracted from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. Court Number 2 is Louis Armstrong Stadium, which stood as the main stadium until the completion of Ashe stadium. The surfaces of all its courts are hard, so the U.S. Open always provides tennis at a very high speed.

Men's record holders for most wins since 1925:

All competitions:

Singles:

Before 1968: Bill Larned (USA), 8.

Since 1968: Jimmy Connors; Pete Sampras (USA), 5.

Consecutive singles titles:

Before 1968: Richard Sears (USA), 7.

Since 1968: John McEnroe (USA); Ivan Lendl (CZE/USA), 3.

Ladies' record holders for most wins since 1887:

All competitions:

Singles:

Before 1968: Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (USA), 8.

Since 1968: Chris Evert (USA), 7.

Consecutive singles titles:

Before 1968: Molla Mallory; Helen Jacobs (USA), 4.

Since 1968: Chris Evert (USA), 4.

Winners since 2000

Men's singles

2000 Marat Safin Pete Sampras 6-4 6-3 6-3

2001 Lleyton Hewitt Pete Sampras 7-6(4) 6-1 6-1

2002 Pete Sampras Andre Agassi 6-3 6-4 5-7 6-4

2003 Andy Roddick Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3 7-6(2) 6-3

2004 Roger Federer Lleyton Hewitt 6-0 7-6(3) 6-0

2005 Roger Federer Andre Agassi 6-3 2-6 7-6(1) 6-1

Women's singles

2000 Venus Williams Lindsay Davenport 6-4 7-5

2001 Venus Williams Serena Williams 6-2 6-4

2002 Serena Williams Venus Williams 6-4 6-3

2003 Justine Henin-Hardenne Kim Clijsters 7-5 6-1

2004 Svetlana Kuznetsova Elena Dementieva 6-3 7-5

2005 Kim Clijsters Mary Pierce 6-3 6-1

Men's Doubles

2000 Lleyton Hewitt/Max Mirnyi Rick Leach/Ellis Ferreira 6-4, 5-7, 7-6

2001 Wayne Black/Kevin Ullyett Donald Johnson/Jared Palmer 7-6, 2-6, 6-3

2002 Max Mirnyi/Mahesh Bhupathi Jirí Novák/Radek Štepánek 6-3, 3-6, 6-4

2003 Jonas Bjorkman/Todd Woodbridge Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan 5-7, 6-0, 7-5

2004 Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor Leander Paes/David Rikl 6-3 6-3

2005 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi 6-1 6-4

Women's Doubles

2000 Julie Halard-Decugis/Ai Sugiyama Cara Black/Elena Likhovtseva 6-0, 1-6, 6-1

2001 Rennae Stubbs/Lisa Raymond Kimberly Po/Nathalie Tauziat 6-2, 5-7, 7-5

2002 Virginia R Pascual/Paola Suárez Elena Dementieva/Janette Husarova 6-2, 6-1

2003 Virginia R Pascual/Paola Suárez Svetlana Kuznetsova/Martina Navrátilová 6-2 6-3

2004 Virginia R Pascual/Paola Suárez Svetlana Kuznetsova/Elena Likhovtseva 6-4 7-5

2005 Lisa Raymond/Samantha Stosur Elena Dementieva/Flavia Pennetta 6-2 5-7 6-3

Mixed Doubles

2000 Arantxa S Vicario/Jared Palmer Anna Kournikova/Max Mirnyi 6-4, 6-3

2001 Rennae Stubbs/Todd Woodbridge Lisa Raymond/Leander Paes 6-4, 5-7 (11-9)

2002 Lisa Raymond/Mike Bryan Katarina Srebotnik/Bob Bryan 7-6 7-6

2003 Katarina Srebotnik/Bob Bryan Lina Krasnoroutskaya/Nestor 5-7 7-5 77-65

2004 Vera Zvonareva/Bob Bryan Alicia Molik/Todd Woodbridge 6-3 6-4

2005 D Hantuchova/Mahesh Bhupathi Katarina Srebotnik/Nenad Zimonjic 6-4 6-2

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