By: Ibrahim El-Shawarby
CAIRO, Dec.29 (SEE)-
1) France Wins the 2018 World Cup
Football's FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia will go down in the history books as one of the greatest showcase of football skills in history.
This Year's world Cup proved to be bedazzling with prolific events and historic upsets. We have had rising players shinning and other players breaking out, in addition to a new and improved France team, full of young promising players, who will carry the football mantle for years to come.
France capturing this year's World Cup was the only "expected" event to take place in the tournament, as football spectators tipped the French to win this year's World Cup as a result of their well balanced team. With players such as the rising Killan Mbappe, Paul Pogba, Antoine Griezman and Hugo Lloris the French had more than enough fire power to win the tournament, defeating tournament The Tournament Dark Horses Croatia with four goals to two.
Mbappe received the best young player of the tournament award, while Luka Modric received the best player of the tournament award.
The tournaments featured many upsets, defending World Champions Germany exited the tournament from the group stages, Russia eliminated Spain in the last 16 and Belgium defeated Brazil with two goals to one.
2) Real Madrid Wins UEFA Champions League
Coming off a great 2017 campaign after winning both La Liga and the UEFA Champions League, Madrid had a bit of lackluster showing at the start of the season. Although the Spanish giants finished third in the league, they were able to win the Champions League for the third straight year by defeating Liverpool with three goals to one.
3) Canelo Defeats Golovkin
At only 28 years old, young Canelo Alvarez reached the pedestal of the boxing world when he defeated the undefeated, and who many deemed undefeatable Khazakh Champion Gennady Golovkin in their rematch.
This was arguably the biggest boxing fight of the year, as Alvarez received a record breaking historic contract post the fight with rising sponsorship company DAZN.
The deal involves Canelo signing an 11 fight contract for 365 million dollars, making Canelo the highest earning athlete in the world.
4) Novak Djokovic Wins US and Wimbeldon Open
The year 2018 certainly belonged to Novak Djokovic, who came into the season after an injury-induced six-month long hiatus and ended the season as the world number one.
The Serbian had not played competitive tennis since 2017 Wimbledon Championships, on account of injury. He began his 2018 season tentatively by playing only a handful of exhibition matches in preparation for the first grand slam of the year.
But as they say, the night is the darkest before the dawn. And that’s exactly what happened. He reached the finals of the Queen’s Club in London and narrowly lost to Marin Cilic there. At the Wimbledon Championships, he kept getting better with every passing game. His five-set win over old rival Rafael Nadal in the semi-final was an instant classic. He then demolished Kevin Anderson in straight sets to win his fourth Wimbledon title.
Though he lost to the young Stefano Tsitsipas in the third round of the Canadian Open, he was back at his very best at the next Masters event at Cincinnati. He defeated Roger Federer in straight sets in the final to win the only missing Masters title from his kitty, thus becoming the only player to complete the Career Golden Masters.
He then proceeded to win his third US Open title, defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the final. This was his fourteenth grand slam title, equaling him with Pete Sampras and he was now only behind his two great rivals – Federer and Nadal – in terms of number of grand slams won.
5) Osaka Wins US Open
Naomi Osaka shocked Serena Williams, 6-2, 6-4, in an emotional final that left both players in tears to win the 2018 US Open women’s singles titles Saturday, becoming the first Japanese player to win a major singles title in the history of the sport.
Her win inside Arthur Ashe Stadium denied Williams a 24th Grand Slam women’s singles title, which would have tied the all-time record held by Margaret Court for 45 years.
Osaka played beautiful tennis, a combination of power and poise that belied the reality of the fact that she was contesting her first major final.
While the spotlight is on everybody except the champion, take nothing away from a polished performance for a 20-year-old who came into New York with one career title to her name.
She broke the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion twice in each set, serving out the match at the first opportunity to put the bow on an 81-minute triumph that turned ugly in the latter stages.
6) Shawn Rhoden Wins Mr. Olympia
The 2018 Mr. Olympia contest was a weekend long IFBB professional bodybuilding competition that was held on September 14 to 15, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was the 55th Mr. Olympia competition celebrated.
Defending Champion Phil Heath looked strong heading into the tournament, as most expected Heath who had been winning the championship for 6 years straight to retain the coveted award. Other Bodybuilding fans also expected Big Ramy to finally topple heath of the Olympia pedestal.
It was Shawn Rhoden , who claimed the coveted prize, while Heath ranked second. The biggest upset of the tournament was when Ramy was eliminated and then had to be content with the 6th place.
7) Khabib Defeats McGreggor
The UFC 229 event was headlined by a UFC Lightweight Championship bout between the undefeated current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and former featherweight and lightweight champion Conor McGregor. McGregor captured the lightweight title at UFC 205, when he was the reigning featherweight champion.
The Fight was personally as it was physical, during the build up to the bout, Connor would bash Khabib’s religion, ethics and Avar descent. The match ended when Khabib submitted McGregor in the third minute of round 4.
Following the fight, a huge fight erupted between the Russian fans and the Irish fans, after Khabib jumped the octagon and attacked Khabib’s entourage.
8) The Philadelphia Eagles Win the SuperBowl
For the first time in their history, the Eagles became Super Bowl champions, knocking off the New England Patriots 41-33 at US Bank Stadium.
It was an improbable run for the Eagles -- especially for their quarterback, Nick Foles. He was named Super Bowl MVP after completing 28 of 43 passes for 373 yards and three touchdowns.
Despite being the top seed in the NFC, the Eagles weren't favored in any of their games this postseason. They had lost their starting quarterback, Carson Wentz, to a torn ACL in December. In his place was Foles, who had pondered retirement in 2016 after his release from the Rams.
9) The Golden State Warriors Win NBA Finals
The Golden State Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers to bring home their third NBA championship in four years. They defeated LeBron James and the Cavs with a final score of 108-85 earlier this year, completing a perfect 4-0 sweep.
The 2017–18 NBA season was the 72nd season of the National Basketball Association. The regular season began on October 17, 2017, earlier than previous seasons to reduce the number of "back-to-back" games teams were scheduled to play, with the 2017 Eastern Conference champion (and Finals runner–up) Cleveland Cavaliers hosting a game against the Boston Celtics at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
The 2018 NBA All-Star Game was played on February 18, 2018, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers was named the All-Star Game Most Valuable Player. The regular season ended on April 11, 2018. The playoffs began on April 14, 2018 and ended on June 8 with the Golden State Warriors defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 NBA Finals.
10) Tiger Woods Wins Tennis 2018 Tour
It's been a while since we've seen Tiger Woods at the top of the golfing world, but at the 2018 Tour Championship, he rediscovered his form during a thrilling weekend that saw one of the sport's greats hit the top once again.
Woods hadn't picked up a significant title for five years but at East Lake he produced a superb series of rounds to secure victory, with his walk up the final fairway one of the memorable moments of the year as he was joined by hundreds of fans, who accompanied him to the final green, where he put the seal on a win to remember.
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