On the Attack Pt. 15 - France, Taekwondo and Ian Poulter


#TSHontheattack

Allez Riblon.
Any Frenchman winning a stage on the Tour de France is pretty special, particularly when the stage is the famous Alpe d’Huez, notorious for its sheer size and imposing gradient. But for Frenchman Christophe Riblon to secure his country’s first win in this, the hundredth edition of the tour when organisers had seen fit to honour the occasion with two separate climbs of the mountain, well it was hard not to be swept up in the emotion of it all. Even the most hardnosed of sports fans must have cracked a little, as Tour leader Chris Froom did late on, when the 32 year old skipped past the hard-working American Teejay Van Garderen and allowed himself a good 500m to lap it up and become the darling of the tricolour for 2013.




The long legs of loopholes; Cook.
Aaron Cook’s omission from Team GB’s Taekwondo squad for last year’s Olympic Games sparked controversy in the sport as the world number one had been overlooked in favour of Lutalo Muhammad, who picked up a bronze medal in the end. That is not the end of the Cook saga though, the 22 year old Dorset born martial artist, who lost thousands of pounds opposing the British Olympic Authorities decision and all eight of his major sponsors (including Adidas, Allianz and British Airways), will have a shot at redemption in Mexico on Sunday. Representing the Isle of Man, despite having no family ties with the small island, Cook will aim to become World Champion. Whether he would take the chance, should it present itself, to represent Great Britain in Rio 2016 is one worth keeping an eye out for already. 



Poulter: shy and retiring
The Open has kicked off in a timely and lively fashion this week, with Britain’s Ian Poulter the most disgruntled of an unsettled bunch at Muirfield. Poulter took to social media to vent his fury after he shot one over on his opening round.


It is perhaps what golf has been calling out for in recent times, after a bit of a lull since the Ryder Cup at Medinah. Phil Mickelson explained that the course set up has “some funky pin placements”, which may not be a bad idea to break the routine and freshen things up. It didn’t work for Rory McIlroy who has hinted at a mental vulnerability to his game after admitted he felt “brain-dead” and “unconscious” on his opening round, where he carded an eight-over-par.




And while we’re at it...Did you have the bare cheek to miss Queensland’s continuing dominance of the State of Origin series as they carried their winning run to an eight series streak? The 14-12 encounter against New South Wales was an absolute peach, which will have looked good to the naked eye if you were at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night. Enough of the puns, take a look at the weighty and Vaseline-covered offender here.

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