ON THIS DAY
1892: James J Corbett knocked out John L Sullivan in the 21st round at New Orleans Olympic Club to become the first world heavyweight champion under Queensberry rules.
1895: Rugby league matches were first played to the new Northern Union rules. Wigan started their campaign with a 9-0 win at Broughton Rangers.
1963: Sussex, led by Ted Dexter, beat Worcestershire by 14 runs to win the first one-day cricket final at Lord's.
1999: Bobby Robson, at the age of 66, took charge of his first Newcastle training session after succeeding Ruud Gullit as manager.
2004: Andrew Flintoff was named the International Cricket Council world one-day player of the year.
2005: England suffered one of their greatest embarrassments in international football when they lost 1-0 to Northern Ireland in a World Cup qualifier in Belfast.
2008: Andy Murray completed a 6-2 7-6 4-6 6-4 win over Rafael Nadal to book a place in the US Open final against Roger Federer. He went on to lose in straight sets to Federer.
2010: Wayne Rooney scored his first England goal for a year in a 3-1 win over Switzerland in Basle. Adam Johnson and Darren Bent also netted in the Euro 2012 qualifying match.
2011: All players from the main roster of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, a professional ice hockey team, were killed in a plane crash over Russia.
2012: England won their World Cup qualifying Group H opener 5-0 against Moldova in Chisinau.
2013: Tokyo was awarded the Olympics and Paralympics for 2020 after seeing off rivals Madrid and Istanbul in a tight vote.
2014: Scotland lost 2-1 to Germany in their opening European Championship qualifier at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund. The Republic of Ireland beat Georgia 2-1 in Tbilisi, and Northern Ireland won by the same margin away to Hungary.
BIRTHDAYS
Vic Pollard (cricket) - Burnley-born former New Zealand Test batsman, born 1945.
Andreas Thom (soccer) - former Germany and Celtic forward, born 1965.
Marcel Desailly (soccer) - former Chelsea defender, winner of 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 with France, born 1968.
Stephane Henchoz (soccer) - former Blackburn, Liverpool, Celtic and Switzerland defender, born 1974.
Jon Macken (soccer) - former Manchester City and Derby striker, born 1977.
Gabriel Milito (soccer) - Argentinian former Barcelona defender, now retired, born 1980.
Pops Mensah-Bonsu (basketball) - Great Britain forward, currently serving a doping ban, born 1983.
Vera Zvonareva (tennis) - Russian who reached the 2010 Wimbledon and US Open finals, born 1984.
Farveez Maharoof (cricket) - former Sri Lanka all-rounder, born 1984.
Charlie Daniels - Bournemouth defender, born 1986.
Tommy Elphick - Bournemouth defender, born 1987.
QUICK QUIZ BLITZ
1. Against which country did Gareth Bale make his Wales debut?
2. Who won the US Masters in 1986 for a record sixth time?
3. Who was the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket?
4. Who lost the 2002 Ulster SFC final?
5. With which winter sport would you associate Billy Morgan, Jamie Nicholls and Katie Ormerod?
(see answers at bottom)
SPORT ON TV
Today (Wednesday, September 7)
PARALYMPICS: Opening ceremony - Channel 4 2100, eir Sport 1 2100.
CRICKET: International T20, England v Pakistan - Sky Sports 1 1800.
TENNIS: US Open - Eurosport 1 1630 and 0000 (Thu), Eurosport 2 1700.
CYCLING: Vuelta a Espana - Eurosport 2 from 1345; Tour of Britain - ITV4 1300.
BASEBALL: MLB, Cincinnati Reds v New York Mets - BT Sport 2 1730, Tampa Bay Rays v Baltimore Orioles followed by Pittsburgh Pirates v St Louis Cardinals and Seattle Mariners v Texas Rangers - BT Sport/ESPN 1800, 0000 (Thu) and 0300 (Thu).
Tomorrow (Thursday, September 8)
PARALYMPICS: Day one - eir Sport 1 1200, Channel 4 1300 and 2030.
TENNIS: US Open - Eurosport 1 1700 and 0000 (Fri).
GOLF: European Tour, KLM Open - Sky Sports 4 0930, 1330 and 2000.
RUGBY LEAGUE: Super League Super 8s, St Helens v Castleford Tigers - Sky Sports 1 1930.
CYCLING: Vuelta a Espana - Eurosport 2 from 1345; Tour of Britain - ITV4 1300.
AMERICAN FOOTBALL: NFL, Denver Broncos v Carolina Panthers - Sky Sports 1 1330.
BASEBALL: MLB, Cleveland Indians v Houston Astros followed by Washington Nationals v Philadelphia Phillies - BT Sport/ESPN 1700 and 0000 (Fri).
QUICK QUIZ BLITZ answers: 1. Trinidad & Tobago; 2. Jack Nicklaus; 3. Sunil Gavaskar; 4. Donegal; 5. Snowboarding.
