With a pig in Kiev, an elephant in Krakow and now, believe it or not, a ferret in Kharkiv, sports prognosticating has truly gone wild.
Two years after Paul the Octopus became a household name by correctly predicting eight matches at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, several pretenders to the throne have cropped up in Poland and Ukraine, the co-hosts for the European Championship.
However, they still have a lot to prove.
“As far as we are concerned, none have the form of Paul the Octopus,” said Joe Crilly, a spokesman for British bookmaker William Hill. “And with so many to follow, there are undoubtedly going to be a few who get it wrong.”
Undoubtedly is right. After all, following in the eight footsteps of Paul is no easy feat.
Paul the Octopus, who died a few months after the 2010 World Cup, lived at the Sea Life aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany. He correctly predicted the outcome of all seven of Germany’s matches at the tournament in South Africa, as well as Spain’s win over the Netherlands in the final, by plucking a mussel out of a plastic box bearing a national flag.
Fame and, one can assume, a fortune of mussels followed.
However, for Euro 2012, there is no shortage of successors with animal instincts.
Citta the elephant, a 33-year-old female pachyderm from India, lives at a zoo in Krakow. She was chosen over a donkey, a parrot and another elephant after she correctly predicted that Chelsea would win the Champions League title.
On Wednesday, the Paul the Octopus-wannabe predicted that co-host Poland would beat Greece in the opening Euro 2012 match by choosing a melon marked Poland. She had a choice of others marked for Greece or for a draw.
In Kiev, a beer-loving pig named Khryak went under the spotlight on Friday afternoon. He was to get a chance to make his first prediction only hours before the tournament kicked off in Warsaw.
It was not known what his prediction was for the game
Fred the ferret is the newest kid on the block, but the professionals will be looking at all the all-seeing animals to see which one does the best.
“We will be keeping our eyes and ears open for any hint of a clairvoyant cat or telepathic trout,” Crilly said.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Doping fears prevented former US Open champion Emma Raducanu from treating insect bites on the eve of the Australian Open, she said, with players increasingly wary about ingesting contaminated substances. The British player was speaking in the wake of high-profile doping cases involving Iga Swiatak and Jannik Sinner. “I would say all of us are probably quite sensitive to what we take on board, what we use,” the 22-year-old said, recalling an incident on Friday. “I got really badly bitten by, I don’t know what, like ants, mosquitoes, something. I’m allergic, I guess,” she added. The bites “flared up and swelled up really a
TWO IN A WEEK: Despite an undefeated start to the year playing alongside Jiang Xinyu of China, Wu Fang-hsien is to play the Australian Open with a Russian partner Taiwan’s Wu Fang-hsien yesterday triumphed at the Hobart International, winning the women’s doubles title at the US$275,094 outdoor hard-court tournament, while McCartney Kessler lifted the trophy in the women’s singles. Fourth-ranked Wu and partner Jiang Xinyu of China took 1 hour, 15 minutes to defeat Romania’s Monica Niculescu and Fanny Stollar of Hungary, 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) at the Hobart International Tennis Centre, their second title in a week. Wu and Jiang on Sunday won the women’s doubles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland, beating Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunic and Sabrina Santamaria of the US. Their winning ways continued in Australia as they stretched
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS