This week in sport: 19-25 April 2010

This week saw the semi-finals of the Champions League and Europa League,which went ahead despite travel disruption, the start of World Championship snooker, the climax of the  2010 IPL, the London Marathon and of course a busy round of league fixtures.

GOOD WEEK

West Ham: The Hammers effectively guaranteed another season in the top flight this weekend with a hard-fought 3-2 win against Wigan. Under-fire coach Gianfranco Zola may still be replaced come the end of the season, but his side showed that they weren’t going anywhere with a terrifically spirited display. They are now 6 points clear of 18th placed Hull with 2 games to play, but have a far better goal difference.

Inter: Not content with beating reigning European champions Barcelona in midweek, José Mourinho’s side also seized back top spot in Serie A. Inter’s convincing 3-1 win at Atalanta on Saturday piled the pressure on Roma, who lost 2-1 at home to Sampdoria to end their incredible 24-match unbeaten run.

Steve Davis: The 52-year old 6-time World Champion rolled back the years to defeat last year’s winner John Higgins in an epic second round match. The Nugget displayed all of his usual determination and some tidy breakbuilding to triumph 13-11. He will face Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals.

Honourable mentions: Chennai Super Kings, Chelsea, Schalke, Sampdoria, Daniel Keatings and Tsegaye Kebede.

BAD WEEK

Hull: It looks like the Tigers will be playing Championship football next season as a defeat at home to 10-man Sunderland all but condemned them to the drop. To make matters worse, the Hull chairman has publicly stated that the financial situation of the club is far from ideal, though administration is not on the cards (yet).

Franck Ribéry: Is he the John Terry of German/French football? Soon after details of his affair with an underage prostitute emerged, the still-happily-married Ribéry got himself sent off in the Champions League quarter-final against Lyon. In the next match, his Bayern team could only draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach, allowing Schalke to draw level on points with them at the top of the Bundesliga.

LaShawn Merritt: The double Olympic-gold medallist was banned for a provisional 2 years following a positive drug test. In a particularly tragic (or comic) twist, it was revealed the banned steroid was an ingredient in a penis enlargement cream. His own take on events will certainly be remembered for a while, given the ironic choice of words: “…difficult to wrap my hands around” sounds pretty unlikely if you ask me.

Honourable mentions: Burnley, Shay Given, Bruno Labbadia, Roma and Carl Froch.