Your Roundup of the Weekend’s World Sports Events

It’s been an action-packed weekend for world sports events. We’ve seen everything from tennis to football and cricket provide thrills and spills for sports bettors, with predictable results and shocks in favour of the underdog aplenty. As always, Gamesbelt takes an in-depth look at the highlights and looks forward to this week’s upcoming bets which are worth considering. Let’s dive in.

Spoiler Alert: Italy Are Out

First up, let’s start with the footy, and Italy are out. Yes, you read that correctly, European Championship holders Italy have fallen at the Round of 16 stage. In what Gary Lineker has called the “worst Italian team”, one of the stronger sides looking to go all the way have collapsed to a resurgent Swiss side. This has major implications for the rest of the tournament.

While some of the big boys sit on the other side of the draw, the Netherlands and England now have a comparatively easy route to the final, and both could go head-to-head in the semi-final, assuming they can overcome Switzerland and a much-fancied Austria.

On the other side of the draw, Germany was lucky to squeeze through to the quarter-finals. Their 2-0 win over Denmark sounds more flattering than the match was. Despite being briefly halted for lightning, the game saw Denmark have a straightforward goal ruled out for offside, incorrectly, according to our experts and to most commentators. Had the Dane’s strike stood, the outcome of the game could have been very different.

India Win the World Cup

The ICC World Cup was wrapped up this weekend, as India triumphed in a blockbuster finale. South Africa earned their spot in the final by defeating the surprise team of the competition, Afghanistan, by nine wickets, while India roared to victory over England by 68 runs, making up for the thrashing they received from England in 2022. The two teams went toe-to-toe in the final, but there was only ever going to be one winner here.

Since the tournament began, India has barely put a foot wrong. Their comprehensive seven-run win over South Africa saw things go to the wire. An exceptional performance from Rohit Sharma (despite struggling in the tournament) didn’t go unnoticed, while, as usual, Virat Kohli shone to help India win. Both Rohit and Kohli jointly announced that this was their T20 international, and they’ll depart for pastures new. India will certainly miss them and may never be the same again. For now, though, it’s all about the celebration. 

Raducanu Beaten, But Things Are Looking Up

Emma Raducanu is back, isn’t she? Not quite. After suffering what has been a miserable couple of years, it was nice to see the young Briton performing well once again. With Wimbledon right around the corner and Raducanu having a wild card entry, it was expected that she needed to up her game. Since winning her first US Open in 2021, Emma Raducanu has tumbled out of the rankings, plagued by injuries, poor performances, and a rotation policy of changing her coach every two minutes.

At Eastbourne last week, she showed glimmers of a return, charging her way to the quarter-finals. However, despite an early bright start, she was eventually taken apart 6-2 6-2 by Daria Kasatkina of Russia. On the upside, she got there by knocking world number five, Jessia Pegula. This was Raducanu’s first-ever win over a top-ten-ranked opponent, and that is promising. However, there’s a long way to go, and if she wants to triumph at Wimbledon and net her second Grand Slam trophy, she’s got plenty more work to do. 

This Week’s Betting Action

This week is the start of Wimbledon. If you’re big into tennis betting, then we hope you’ve put together a bankroll because you’re going to need it. Raducanu is in action against world number twenty-two Alexandrova in the first round, while we’ll also see Medvedev, Sabalenka, Naomi Osaka, Zheng, and many more in action at the start of the week.

Formula 1 is also back for the third part of its triple header. Running alongside Wimbledon is the British Grand Prix, taking place on July 7th. With Lando Norris in hot form, it may well be worth fancying a punt on a Brit to win the British Grand Prix.

Of course, the Euros are also continuing, and by the end of the week, we’ll be looking at the quarter-finals, where there should be some mouth-watering clashes in store. Again, watch out for those underdogs because when it comes to football – you can never tell, as Italy found out to their shock.