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Old Trafford, Manchester, England (GenevaLunch) - Manchester United, the current holders of the Premier League Championship, moved back to the top of the table with a 2-1 victory over rivals Liverpool. A massed crowd, many wearing green and gold protest scarves, saw the home team fall behind after a beautifully headed goal by Liverpool striker Fernando Torres but after that Man United dominated play. They were rewarded with a slightly generous penalty which Wayne Rooney succeeded in converting a penalty when goalkeeper parried the ball back to him.
Fribourg, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva-Servette came from 3-1 down in the play-off series to tie 3-3. The final game of the series will be played in Geneva Tuesday 23 March, at 19:45. The Geneva Eagles were 1-0 down in the first period but scored twice in the second and then took the game 2-3 in front of 7,000 spectators. In the other play-offs Bern had already beaten Lugano 4-0, Zurich and Zug are at 3-3 while Kloten beat Davos to take the series 4-3.
Planica, Slovenia (GenevaLunch) – Swiss ski-jumping sensation Simon Ammann, winner of an historic “double double” by winning two golds at both the Salt Lake City and the Vancouver Olympics, added another title to his resumé. A week after winning the ski-jumping World Championship he took to the skies on even bigger jumps in the skiflying World Championships, soaring 236.5 metres with his final jump to leave Austrian Gregor Schlierenzauer six metres back.
Stade de France, Paris (GenevaLunch) - Saturday’s international between France and England was another game where one side tried to play attacking rugby and the other side relied on forward power and kicking penalties. The unusual feature was that it was England that scored the only try of the game, while France scored four penalties to win 12-10. The win secured the Grand Slam for France, who were already assured of the Championship.
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s Christoph Kunz won the gold medal Friday 19 March for the Men’s downhill at the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, to add to the silver medal the 27-year-old from Bern won earlier in the week for the super-G event. Second place also went to the Swiss, thanks to Michael Brugger, 27, from Fribourg.
Links to other sites: TSR (Fre), Yahoo France
Nyon, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – English Premier League football club Arsenal and Spanish Barcelona will face each other in the quarter-finals of the European Champions League. The draw was held at UEFA, the European Football head office in Nyon. French striker Thierry Henry, who is Arsenal’s highest-ever goalscorer, played for Arsenal when the two last met but he now plays for Barcelona.
The other games will feature Bayern Munich against Manchester United, an all French affair as Lyon play Bordeaux, while Inter Milan face a trip to play CSKA Moscow. The two favourites, Barcelona and Man United, cannot meet before the final in Madrid 22 May.
Head for the hills: Extreme World Championship in Verbier, balmy weather in the Alps, decent snow in Jura and an affordable new hut in Zermatt
This weekend we won't see fresh snow, but more green
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Temperatures are warming up nicely on the plain, but it remains cold enough in the mountains for skiers to find good snow. It’s not yet clear what conditions will be like for the Easter school holidays that start in a week, but for this weekend, the skiing is good if you stay above 2,000 metres.
If you’re still on the mountainside at 17:32 Saturday 20 March you can celebrate the first day of Spring there.
Snowpacks are weakening thanks to daytime sun radiation, says the Swiss national avalanche centre in its Friday 19 March bulletin, but avalanche danger is low to moderate.
Weather forecast, snow depth
The snow is disappearing in many areas, which the MeteoSwiss snow depth maps show.
Christophe Kunz, front right, first member of the Swiss Paralympics team to win a 2010 Vancouver medal (image: Swiss Paralympics, Facebook)
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) - Swiss skier Christoph Kunz, 27, has won Switzerland’s first medal at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympic Games, taking silver in the Men’s giant slalom sitting event. The race was run in rain with heavy fog and Kunz finished with a time of 2:40.35, behind Germany’s Martin Braxenthaler, who won in 2:37.40.
Kunz is a seven-time Swiss champion and, according to swissinfo, he is a favourite for the upcoming downhill and super-G events.
Kunz, who is from Bern and who works in banking, participates in all five Men’s Alpine skiing events, using a mono-ski with sled seat. He lost the use of both legs in a motorcycle accident seven years ago.
Switzerland won 11 medals at the Beijing 2008 Summer Paralympic Games.
Links to other sites: Swiss Paralympic Committee, Swiss Paralympics Facebook page
Indian Wells, California, USA (GenevaLunch) – Roger Federer won’t be starring at Indian Wells this year, after a defeat, 5-7 7-5 7-6 (7/4), at the hands of Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in the third round of the Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament.
Scot Andy Murray beat US player Michael Russell 6-3, 7-5 to move on in the tournament.
Links to other sites: AFP/Sydney Morning Herald, Lawn Tennis Association
Geneva / Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Three cities have officially put in their applications to bid for the 2018 Summer Olympic Games, the IOC (International Olympic Committee) announced. The cities are: Munich, Germany, Annecy, France near Geneva and PyeongChang, South Korea. The cities have until January 2011 to file their applications.
The winner of the 2018 Games will be announced in Durban, South Africa 6 July 2011.
Stade de France, Paris (GenevaLunch) – France beat Italy 46-20 Sunday 14 March to make it clear to all which team is the top of the northern hemisphere. Only England can stop a French Grand Slam and the English team is looking dull and undisciplined after a try free 15-15 tie with Scotland. Ireland beat Wales 27-12 at Croke Park.
Old Trafford, Manchester, England (GenevaLunch) - Wayne Rooney and striking partner Dimitar Berbatov put on a display of class Sunday 14 March to beat Fulham 3-0. Man United returned to the top of the Premier League, two points clear of Chelsea but the Blues have a game in hand. Didier Drogba scored twice as Chelsea won 4-1 against West Ham. Arsenal are in third place after a 1-2 victory at Hull. The fight for the vital fourth place features Spurs and Man City with Liverpool drifting down to sixth place.
Bahrain (GenevaLunch) - Fernando Alonso started his Ferrari career in the ideal way by leading the team to a one-two victory Sunday 14 March at the opening Grand Prix of the season on the newly designed Bahrain track. Sebastin Vettel started in pole position with Alonso and teammate Felipe Massa taking the next two spots on the starting grid, followed by Lewis Hamilton for McLaren. Michael Schumacher started his comeback race in seventh place.
Once the race was underway Vettel pulled into an early lead and held it for the first 35 laps until his car developed problems with its exhaust system.
Lillehammer, Norway (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s Simon Ammann sailed his way to his first World Cup Crystal Globe, awarded for the highest overall points during a season, winning in the second-to-last jump of 2009-2010 in Lillehammer Friday 12 March. The final jump comes in Oslo Saturday. Ammann has won six of his last six competitions, to complete a year in which he took two Olympic gold medals.
Links to other sites: More than the Games, Swissinfo
Car-gazing, sailing on Lake Geneva or skiing this weekend: you choose
We’ll start with some photos, to help the choice
click on images to view larger
Iced-up boat in Versoix near Geneva, 10 March 2010 (photo Peter Brodbeck)
Geneva Motor Show 2010 (image: Mr Kio)
Jura near Geneva, 10 March 2010 (photo: Shirley Curran)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The sun is shining, slopes are gleaming, the ice around the edge of Lake Geneva is melting and the wind has finally died down after a week’s drubbing. Skiing beckons, all the more so with Swiss skier Carlo Janka putting in a spectacular performance in Germany Friday morning, winning the World Cup’s Crystal Globe for the most points all season.
Weather forecast
Pull out your skis, but keep the warm clothes, including that rarity in the Swiss Alps, thermal underwear, handy. Friday and Saturday mostly sunny with highs of 5C on the plain and 7C in canton Valais, -8C at 2,000 metres. Sunday sunny to partly cloudy, temperatures the same.
Good news once you’re off the slopes: it should warm up to 10C Tuesday and 15C Wednesday. Welcome March spring weather!
Alpine resorts
It’s the winding down season, but the slopes are in good shape with recent snow and cold weather keeping it powdery.
Events in Alpine resorts this weekend: Read more…
Garmisch, Germany (GenevaLunch) - Carlo Janka has become the first Swiss in 18 year to win the overall World Cup ski award for the most points in a season, the coveted Crystal Globe. Friday he won the giant slalom in Garmisch, and with only one race (worth 100 points) left, he has a 106-point lead over Austrian Benjamin Raich. The 23-year-old from Graubuenden will duplicate the feat of Swiss skier Paul Accola in 1992.
Carlo Janka (photo: Swiss Ski)
Garmisch, Germany (GenevaLunch) - Carlo Janka has taken the lead in World Cup ski standings, with a total of 1,073 points after he won the downhill in Garmisch 10 March, by a hair. He came in at 1:58:45 but second place Mario Scheiber of Austria clocked 1:58:47 and Canada’s Eric Guay and Switzerland’s Patrick Kueng shared third at 1:58:52 in a remarkably close race.
Islamabad, Pakistan (GenevaLunch) - Two former captains of the Pakistan cricket team, Younus Khan and Mohammad Yousuf, have been banned indefinitely from playing on the team after they put in a series of poor performances that officials blame on a feud. An investigating committee recommended to the Pakistan Cricket Board that the two be banned and the Board, citing the “dismal tour of Australia 2009-10″, has accepted their recommendation.
During a December to Frebruary 2010 tour the team lost a Test series 3-0, the one-day matches 5-0 and the only Twenty20 match they played.
Stamford Bridge, London (GenevaLunch) – The English internationals Frank Lampard and John Terry shook off any fatigue from their mid-week match against Egypt to beat Stoke 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Aston Villa came back from 2-0 down to win 2-4 thanks to a hat-trick by their Norwegian striker John Carew. They will meet Chelsea in the semi-finals.
Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Twenty-four-year-old Dominique Gisin took full advantage of the changing wind conditions to win the Super-G on the National run above Crans-Montana. It was the third World Cup victory for the skier from Engelberg in canton Obwald: the others were in downhill. Lindsey Vonn was next, 0.15 seconds behind, while fellow American Julia Mancuso, who won two silver medals at the Vancouver Olympics, was third.
Crans-Montana, Valais, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Lindsey Vonn, fresh from winning the Olympic downhill gold medal at Whistler, notched up her sixth downhill victory out of seven starts, Saturday 6 March. This assured her the crystal globe for the season’s champion in the specialty. She is almost certain to also take the overall title. The National course at Crans-Montana, scene of Swiss skiing’s finest hour at the 1987 World Championships, was difficult because of restricted visibility and strong winds at the top.
Max Havelaar fair trade football
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Migros supermarket chain Friday 5 March starts selling a fair trade football made in Sialkot, in northeastern Pakistan, which has Max Havelaar fair trade certification. The men and women who produce the balls will receive a fair trade premium that gives them better access to healthcare and can be used to help send their children to school, says Migros.
Snowbikes, World Cup races, good snow in the Jura
Crans-Montana, Switzerland
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The season is winding down, but there is still plenty of good snow around. And with the Geneva Motor Show pulling in thousands of visitors, the slopes might be less crowded. The big news this weekend is World Cup Skiing, with the women competing in Crans-Montana.
Weather forecast and snow conditions
Bundle up and don’t fall into the trap of thinking that longer days means warmer weather: not in March in the Alps!
Vancouver, Canada (GenevaLunch) - Canada celebrated a famous victory as they beat the USA 3-2 in the final to take gold. Canada scored once in the first period. In the second period the Americans could not take advantage of their first powerplay advantage and conceded a second goal shortly afterwards. Ryan Kesler scored for the USA with seven minutes left of the second period. Canada twice hit the frame early in the third period and dominated most of the play but were kept out by US goalie Ryan Miller.
Wembley, London (GenevaLunch) - Wayne Rooney came off the substitutes bench to score the winner in the League Cup final against Aston Villa. Villa went ahead in the 4th minute with a penalty after Nemanja Vidic fouled Gabriel Agbanlahor. Vidic was lucky not to be sent off.
