Super League coup attempt leaves nasty scar

AUDACIOUS plans by the dirtiest dozen clubs in Europe may have collapsed into a laughable mess within 48 hours of their announcement - but, sadly, their attempted coup will most likely leave a permanent scar on English football.

On Sunday night, six Premier League clubs - the so-called Big Six of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and, rather bafflingly, Tottenham Hotspur - took turns to confirm their intention to join a European Super League via their official social media accounts.

The English clubs were set to be joined by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain, and Juventus, AC Milan and Internazionale from Italy.

But, by the end of Tuesday night, it was clear the plans were in total disarray as Chelsea and Man City led a rapid retreat by all six of the English clubs following widespread anger from nearly all football fans.

Chelsea were first to crack, undoubtedly as a result of the fury vented by Blues supporters who protested against the plans outside of Stamford Bridge ahead of their Premier League match against Brighton and Hove Albion.

Man City quickly followed - and it never made sense quite what exactly owner Sheikh Mansour was thinking in the first place, given his almost unmatched riches already. 

Then, towards the end of the night, Man United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli had stepped down from their lofty positions.

On Wednesday morning, John W Henry - the Liverpool owner - apologised for the "unnecessary negativity" which had occurred over the previous couple of days.

And, with that half-apology from Henry, it became clear for certain that the whole idea was dead in its birthing pool waters.

A sense of relief, perhaps even elation, swept over the proper match-going supporters who have realised this week that they can still have a real influence on a sport which is being increasingly drowned by money.

The 12 original members - and three other unnamed clubs - would have received €3.5 billion to support infrastructure investment plans and to offset the impact of a pandemic which has affected everyone.

They would also enjoy a perpetual place in the competition along with five hugely disadvantaged invitees. 

Invited teams would be selected annually on some sort of merit system literally to make up the numbers with the 15 founding clubs of the Super League sharing 32.5% of all of the commercial revenues.

A further 32.5% would be distributed between all 20 participating teams and another 20% allocated based on performance in the Super League.

Finally, 15% would be shared based on broadcast audience size - and clubs would also be allowed to retain all revenues from gate receipts and club sponsorship deals.

Of course, the Premier League itself was a breakaway movement from the Football League back in 1992 - and, along with UEFA and the broadcasters, it has been accused of merely trying selfishly to protect their interests.

However, the Premier League was at least not a completely closed shop.

Rather, to begin with at least, it was an - arguably much-needed - rebranding exercise which unashamedly featured unfashionable clubs like Oldham Athletic and Wimbledon among its inaugural members. 

Furthermore, it retained direct connections to the English football pyramid via promotion and relegation, allowing the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth to recover from the depths of the basement division.

Football backwaters such as Wigan, Hull and Swansea have seen their clubs enjoy the best days in their history since 1992 - and, as it stands, 49 different teams have played Premier League football.

At the same time, it is hardly as if the criticisms of UEFA, the Premier League and the broadcasters are entirely without merit.

In Europe and in England, more and more money has been concentrated into the pockets of a select few teams, while Sky Sports and BT Sport have been more than happy to push the interests of a European elite abroad and their Big Six construct domestically.

Is it really any wonder then that these clubs have consequently felt empowered to act as disgracefully as they have this week?

Worse still, there is currently little sign of any punishment being meted out to the guilty clubs by the Premier League or UEFA - despite, in the case of the former, the rules of the organisation having clearly been breached.

Rule L9 of the Premier League rule-book states: “Except with the prior written approval of the board, during the season a club shall not enter or play its senior men’s first team in any competition other than:

L.9.1 – The UEFA Champions League
L.9.2 – The UEFA Europa League
L.9.3 – The FA Cup
L.9.4 – The FA Community Shield
L.9.5 – The Football League Cup or
L.9.6 – Competitions sanctioned by the County Association of which it is a member.”

Yet there is no genuine expectation that spineless Premier League chief executive Richard Masters will have the bottle to act as he should.

Project Big Picture - proposed by Liverpool and Man United, and supported by Tottenham - came just over six months ago. The scheme was voted down on 14 October 2020 but no sanctions followed.

Next time really might be the last time - and, indeed, it probably will be, considering the stack of bargaining chips held by the likes of UEFA and the Premier League have been rapidly reduced recently.

For now, at least, there is still an understandable sense of relief that the worst of it is over with the European Super League having been prevented.

More than ever, though, it feels as if football is quite prepared to indulge continually in gross acts of self-harm - and, one day, the cuts will simply run too deep to heal.

Clucking-mad Israel win marred by SuRie stage invader

ISRAEL won the Eurovision Song Contest for the fourth time in history on a night marred by a stage invasion during the British entry.

Netta Barzilai netted the Israeli victory in Lisbon with her gimmicky song Toy which bizarrely featured clucking chicken noises as part of its lyrics.

The competition was tight - and, thrillingly, it was not at all clear who had actually won until the final few seconds of voting.

For many British viewers, though, Netta's otherwise enjoyably quirky success was overshadowed by a shock stage invasion during the performance of United Kingdom entrant SuRie.

Nothing particularly unusual had happened at the Altice Arena until SuRie - appearing ninth in the running order - launched into the second chorus of her song, Storm.

Then, out of nowhere, a rather unkempt man assailed the Essex singer, stole her microphone and shouted some totally unintelligible diatribe.

It was later transcribed as: "Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom. War is not peace".

The culprit - a London-based Greek national called Konstantin Bouki - goes by the name of DrACactivism on social media. He has previously interrupted The Voice and the National Television Awards.

Far from advancing his cause, though, the actions of this tiresome attention-seeker only serve to alienate himself from the popular support which he presumably craves.

For SuRie, the whole experience must have been absolutely petrifying. For all she knew, the idiot could well have been carrying a knife.

Considering that, she remained amazingly calm on stage, clapping to the beat before immediately picking the lyrics back up once she had a microphone back in her hands.

Nevertheless, her Eurovision experience had been irredeemably tarnished.

In fairness, European Broadcasting Union (EBU) officials offered SuRie the chance to perform again at the end of the running order. Having recovered so well, though, the 29-year-old was perhaps sensible to decline.

The show must go on, after all - and, before long, it was time to tot up the tallies.

Sadly, SuRie finished in 23rd place with 23 points from the jury voting which was announced first and based upon a Jury Rehersal held on Friday evening.

In the public vote, meanwhile, she fared only a little better, placing 20th with 25 points.

Consequently, her overall points total (48) left her in 24th place out of 26, ahead only of Finland's former X Factor contestant Saara Aalto (46) and rock-bottom hosts Portugal (39).

Elsewhere, Norway (144) and Ireland (136) will also be disappointed by their mid-table finishing positions. 

Norwegian representative Alexander Rybak - a former winner in 2009 with Fairytale - was hugely underwhelming this time around and made little impact.

By contrast, the Irish - in a first Grand Final since 2013 - qualified having caused quite a stir in China with its entry Together by Ryan O'Shaughnessy.

Indeed, Ireland was edited out of the Chinese broadcast of the first semi-final on Mango TV because of its representation of a homosexual couple by its on-stage dancers.

As a result of the censorship, the EBU terminated its partnership with the Chinese broadcaster, a decision which pleased O'Shaughnessy himself.

Back to the results - and it was Austria (271) who emerged as the front-runner following the verdict of the jury ahead of Sweden (253) and Israel (212). Cyprus (183) took fifth place behind Germany (204).

However, it was all change when the public vote was announced. Leading nation Austria (71) could only manage 13th place, Germany (136) was sixth - while Eurovision stalwart Sweden (21) surprisingly finished way down in 23rd.

As such, it became a straight contest between two eastern Mediterranean countries - Israel and Cyprus.

Clumsily, it became apparent that Cyprus had come second overall after picking up 253 points in the public vote.

And so, Israel - with 317 votes - could celebrate a momentous victory on the 70th anniversary of the creation of the Middle East state.

Next year then, the Contest will most likely be held in Jerusalem or Tel Aviv - but the stage invasion in Lisbon surely means an unprecedented amount of security will be required whichever city is chosen.

After all, it is not as if Israel keeps a low profile on the international stage.

Of course, in likeable winner Netta, there was a little random joy on Saturday in these troubled political times.

At the same time, though, her victory has left the Eurovision apparatchiks with the sort of headache which will take more than a few painkillers to remove.

2018 EUROVISION FINAL SCOREBOARD

		Song	Artist	Points
01	Israel	Toy	Netta	529
02	Cyprus	Fuego (Fire)	Eleni Foureira	436
03	Austria	Nobody But You	Cesár Sampson	342
04	Germany	You'll Let Me Walk Alone	Michael Schulte	340
05	Italy	Non mi avete fatto niente (You haven't done anything to me)	Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro	308
06	Czech Republic	Lie to Me	Mikolas Josef	281
07	Sweden	Dance You Off	Benjamin Ingrosso	274
08	Estonia	La forza (The Force)	Elina Nechayeva	245
09	Denmark	Higher Ground	Rasmussen	226
10	Moldova	My Lucky Day	DoReDoS	209
11	Albania	Mall (Yearning)	Eugent Bushpepa	184
12	Lithuania	When We're Old	Ieva Zasimauskaitė	181
13	France	Mercy	Madame Monsieur	173
14	Bulgaria	Bones	Equinox	166
15	Norway	That's How You Write a Song	Alexander Rybak	144
16	Ireland	Together	Ryan O'Shaughnessy	136
17	Ukraine	Under the Ladder	Mélovin	130
18	Netherlands	Outlaw in 'Em	Waylon	121
19	Serbia	Nova deca (New Generation)	Sanja Ilić & Balkanika	113
20	Australia	We Got Love	Jessica Mauboy	99
21	Hungary	Viszlát nyár (Goodbye, summer)	AWS	93
22	Slovenia	Hvala, ne! (No, Thanks)	Lea Sirk	64
23	Spain	Tu canción (Your Song)	Amaia & Alfred	61
24	United Kingdom	Storm	SuRie	48
25	Finland	Monsters	Saara Aalto	46
26	Portugal	O Jardim (The Garden)	Cláudia Pascoal	39

US election 2016: Clinton on a knife-edge

THE MOST bitter and divisive US Presidential election in decades mercifully draws to a close overnight as America decides between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Democrat candidate Mrs Clinton still holds the lead in almost all of the national polls - but, as election day has got closer, so undoubtedly have those polls.

Moreover, the popular vote is not even the decisive factor. It is possible, as George W Bush proved against Al Gore in 2000, to lose in terms of the total number of votes and yet still win the election.

The reason behind this is the electoral college system in which a candidate requires 270 electoral college votes to win.

Based largely on the population of a state, demographics across America have resulted in the majority of states becoming either dependably blue for the Democrats or reliably red for the Republicans.

As such, it can be safely predicted that California (55), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), Hawaii (4), Illinois (20), Maine (4), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (11), New Jersey (14), New Mexico (5), New York (29), Oregon (7), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), Virginia (13), Washington (12), and the District of Columbia (3) will all fall into Mrs Clinton's column for a total of 204 electoral college votes.

Likewise, Mr Trump can expect to win Alabama (9), Alaska (3), Arkansas (6), Idaho (4), Indiana (11), Kansas (6), Kentucky (8), Louisiana (8), Mississippi (6), Missouri (10), Montana (3), Nebraska (5), North Dakota (3), Oklahoma (7), South Carolina (9), South Dakota (3), Tennessee (11), Texas (38), Utah (6), West Virginia (5), and Wyoming (3) for an overall tally of 164.
However, the map of swing states - where the turnout of a candidate's vote really counts - is far wider in 2016 than it was in 2012.

Also, four years ago, incumbent Barack Obama could count on holding the upper hand in nearly every single so-called 'purple' state. 

But, for Mrs Clinton this time around, that is simply not the case. 

Indeed, on the eve of the election proper, Florida (29), Nevada (6), and North Carolina (15) are complete toss-ups. 

Worse still, she trails in Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Iowa (6), and Ohio (18), all of which are thought to be up for grabs.

Fortunately for Mrs Clinton, she continues to have far more pathways to victory than Mr Trump.

Converting narrow leads in Colorado (9), Michigan (16), Minnesota (10), New Hampshire (4), Pennsylvania (20), and Wisconsin (10) would be enough for Mrs Clinton to become the first ever female President of the United States without her needing any of those other swing states.

Click the map to create your own at 270toWin.com

And if Mrs Clinton managed to pull off a win in Arizona, Florida or North Carolina, Mr Trump would find it just about impossible to succeed.

On final analysis then, Mrs Clinton is still a clear favourite in this election. 

Nevertheless, victory - if it does indeed arrive - will have been nowhere near as comfortably achieved as expected.

This has been a bruising campaign for the 69-year-old former New York senator right from the primary season when she faced an unexpectedly tough challenge from Bernie Sanders.

Having eventually won that race, Mrs Clinton has since been dogged by accusations that she may have breached federal rules during her time as Secretary of State by using a private email account for official business.

For the record, Mrs Clinton was cleared in July after a systematic analysis by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

But astonishingly, 11 days before the election, the FBI announced that newly discovered emails had come to light and it was re-opening its investigation.

On Sunday, FBI director James Comey cleared Mrs Clinton again. Nevertheless, the resurfacing of the story chimed well among some wavering voters with Mr Trump's repeated assertion that his opponent is corrupt.

And, consequently, it has dashed any possibility of a Clinton landslide, something had started to look increasingly during the month of October.

Yes, just a month ago, all the heat was on Mr Trump as a recording from 2005 was released in which he used explicit language, and claimed he could kiss and grope women because he is "a star".

Mr Trump, who had been accused of sexism on several occasions, later apologised for the remarks, claiming they did not reflect who he was.

But the damage was done and many Republicans withdrew their support including 2008 nominee, Arizona senator John McCain, and former Secretary of State in the Bush administration, Condoleezza Rice.

Somehow, it got worse for Mr Trump. In the days following the release of the tape, a steady stream of women came forward to suggest the recording did, in fact, reflect who he was.

Fighting fire with fire, Mr Trump held an impromptu press conference with women who have accused Mrs Clinton's husband, 42nd President Bill Clinton, of sexual assault.

It was the day, the BBC declared, that this election had gone down the drain - but, arguably, Mr Trump has never risen above the cesspit.

At the very launch of his bid for the presidency, he demonised Mexican immigrants as rapists and has constantly threatened to build a wall on the border between Mexico and the United States.

Meanwhile, his response to the San Bernardino terrorist attack in California was to "ban all Muslims" from entering the country. 

It is perhaps then no wonder that Mrs Clinton - despite her own imperfect campaign - still finds herself ahead.

Even then, though, an overnight victory - unless it is totally overwhelming - may not be the end of it. 

Mr Trump already on record saying he will not necessarily accept a result which does not go in his favour. Additionally, he has repeatedly claimed the election is rigged against him. 

Of course, the 70-year-old has already made so much investment, both financially and emotionally, to his tawdry campaign - and he has already suffered so much damage to his reputation. 

As such, being additionally labelled as a bad loser would, at this stage, barely make him flinch.

Ultimately then, this election may not, in fact, finish overnight after all. The best tip right now would be to brace yourself.
 

Coverage on BBC One begins at 11.15pm with the equivalent results programme on ITV starting slightly earlier at 10.40pm. Both broadcasts run through until breakfast news begins at 6am.

CLOSING TIMES All times are GMT (number of electoral votes)
00:00 Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia (60)

00:30 North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia (38)

01:00 Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, DC 01:30 Arkansas (178)

02:00 Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming (156)

03:00 Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Utah (21)

04:00 California, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Washington (82)

06:00 Alaska (3)

Rio 2016 Paralympics: On a level... aren't they?

SUPERCHARGED British athletes are set to take to the stage from tonight as the 15th edition of the Summer Paralympic Games begins in Rio de Janeiro.

The spotlight for the next 11 days will fix itself firmly on the likes of Jonnie Peacock, David Weir, Ellie Simmonds and flagbearer Lee Pearson as Paralympics GB look to emulate the overseas success of their Team GB Olympic counterparts.

Officially, UK Sport - the nation's high performance funding agency - has set Paralympics GB a target of 121 medals, one more than in London four years ago.

And, while that might sound extremely ambitious, Great Britain - as the spiritual home of the competition - has a fine Paralympics tradition.

In fact, rather impressively, the British team has always finished in the top five of the Paralympics medal table, and furthermore has finished in the top three in 12 of the 14 editions held so far.

In all-but-one of the last nine Games, Britain has won more than 100 medals - and the one occasion on which the ton was missed, at Athens 2004, there were still 94 medals collected.

Yet, despite these fine achievements, there lingers a justified feeling among some Paralympians that they are second-class athletes - and this really should not be the case at all.

After all, it goes against the whole point of the Paralympics in which the para- part simply refers to the Ancient Greek suffix meaning beside or alongside.

Far from the misconception that the word derives from paralysis or even paraplegic, the Paralympics are therefore meant to be considered parallel to the Olympics.

Unfortunately, the problem with the build-up to Rio 2016 is that this has clearly not been the case.
 
In contast to London, the Paralympics in Rio do not appear to have captured the imagination of the public. 

Reported ticket sales have been desperately slow with only 12% of an original target of 3.3 million tickets sold by mid-August.

Tanni Grey-Thompson, an 11-time Paralympic champion, wrote in the Telegraph: "The prospect of competing in front of near empty stadiums is demoralising."

But Baroness Grey-Thompson also pointed out a much bigger issue has been the way that Paralympics funding has been cut following an over-spend on the Olympics by the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee.

"Never before in the 56-year history of the Paralympic Games have we faced circumstances like this," said International Paralympic Committee president Sir Philip Craven.

The cuts mainly relate to transport services for athletes and their teams, and the closure of a number of venue media centres. Some public parties and gatherings related to the Games have also been cancelled.

At least, thankfully, all 165 competing countries will be able to attend the Games - something which did not look entirely likely at the end of July when the deadline for the issuing of travel grants had been missed by the organisers.

But, of course, it is not just in the organisation of the Paralympic Games that disabled athletes have faced discrimination. Arguably, it is still institutionally prevalent in many sectors.

Just this week, British double Paralympic champion Hannah Cockroft accused sportswear giants Nike and Adidas of not sponsoring her simply because she does not wear shoes during her wheelchair races.

"I wear a shirt, I wear trousers, I wear shoes on the podium when I'm collecting a gold medal. But apparently because that's not when I'm competing, that’s not enough.

"I've been told this by Nike, Adidas, all the big brands. I told them it was discrimination. It is discrimination."

Meanwhile, back in Britain, brutal cuts to the motability allowance by the Conservative government have directly affected Paralympic athletes, as well as thousands of other people.

Determination is undoubtedly one of the greatest strengths of an Olympic or Paralympic athlete, however.

And, if anything, the setbacks and difficulties simply add further fuel to the competitive fires burning deep inside.

Certainly, it is going to make for another great 11 days of sporting drama on television with coverage in the United Kingdom provided, for the second Games in a row, by Channel 4.

Deservedly remaining the televisual home of disability sport, the broadcaster did an excellent job in London 2012 of explaining the rules of the different events and the classifications of the athletes.

The classifications system is sometimes not too easy for the casual viewer to understand and, indeed, it has even been claimed by certain athletes that it can be manipulated by others to boost their medal chances.

IPC head Mr Craven defended the system and said it was "permanently being reviewed".

Meanwhile, British Paralympic Association boss Tim Hollingsworth said: "We are here to win medals, but within both the letter and the spirit of the Paralympics."

Clearly then, the build-up to these Games has not been straightforward in the least - and there are also much wider arguments still to be had over the treatment of disabled people in society generally.

For now, though, it is time to enjoy a bit of sport - so sit back and prepare to be amazed once again by the events in Rio.

It is time for the curtain to be raised. It is time for the Paralympic Games.
 

TEAM GB 

Paralympics team

Archery	Michael Hall, John Stubbs, Nathan McQueen, Jodie Grinham, David Phillips, Tania Nadarajah, John Walker, John Cavanagh, Jo Frith, Vicky Jenkins, Jessica Stretton
Athletics	Men - track Graeme Ballard, Paul Blake, Dan Bramall, Mickey Bushell, Richard Chiassaro, Toby Gold, David Henson, Jordan Howe, Moatez Jomni, Rhys Jones, Simon Lawson, Stephen Morris, Stephen Osborne, Jonnie Peacock, Derek Rae, Ben Rowlings, Andrew Small, Isaac Towers, David Weir, Richard Whitehead Women - track Kare Adenegan, Olivia Breen, Libby Clegg [guide: Chris Clarke], Hannah Cockroft, Kadeena Cox, Sophie Hahn, Georgina Hermitage, Jade Jones, Sophie Kamlish, Samantha Kinghorn, Maria Lyle, Polly Maton, Mel Nicholls, Julie Rogers, Laura Sugar, Carly Tait Men - field Jonathan Broom-Edwards, Aled Davies, Kyron Duke, Dan Greaves, Stephen Miller, Sam Ruddock, Kieran Tscherniawsky Women - field Hollie Arnold, Olivia Breen, Joanna Butterfield, Vanessa Daobry, Sabrina Fortune, Kylie Grimes, Abbie Hunnisett, Beverley Jones, Polly Maton, Holly Neill, Gemma Prescott, Stefanie Reid
Boccia [Competition partner]	David Smith [Sarah Nolan], Nigel Murray, Joshua Rowe, Claire Taggart, Jamie McCowan [Linda McCowan], Scott McCowan [Gary McCowan], Patrick Wilson [Kim Smith], Evie Edwards, Stephen McGuire, Kieran Steer
Cycling - Road [Pilot]	Stephen Bate [Adam Duggleby], Neil Fachie [Peter Mitchell], James Ball [Craig MacLean], Sophie Thornhill [Helen Scott], Lora Turnham [Corrine Hall], Kadeena Cox, Crystal Lane, Karen Darke, Hannah Dines, David Stone, Megan Giglia, Sarah Storey
Cycling - Track [Pilot]	Stephen Bate [Adam Duggleby], Neil Fachie [Peter Mitchell], James Ball [Craig MacLean], Sophie Thornhill [Helen Scott], Lora Turnham [Corrine Hall], Jon-Allan Butterworth, Louis Rolfe, Jody Cundy, Kadeena Cox, Crystal Lane, Megan Giglia, Sarah Storey
Equestrian [Horse]	Natasha Baker [Cabral], Anne Dunham [Lucas Normark], Sophie Christiansen [Athene Lindebjerg], Lee Pearson [Zion], Sophie Wells [Valerius]
Football Seven-a-side	POOL B Brazil, Ukraine, Ireland Michael Barker, James Blackwell, Matt Crossen, Martin Hickman, Sean Highdale, Liam Irons, Ryan Kay, David Leavy, Giles Moore, Ollie Nugent, Jonathan Paterson, David Porcher, Emyle Rudder, Jack Rutter
Judo	Jonathan Drane, Sam Ingram, Chris Skelley, Jack Hodgson, Natalie Greenhough
Paracanoeing	Ian Marsden, Nick Beighton, Robert Oliver, Jeanette Chippington, Emma Wiggs, Anne Dickins
Paratriathlon [Guide]	Phil Hogg, Joe Townsend, Andy Lewis, Ryan Taylor, David Hill, George Peasgood, Claire Cunningham, Faye McClelland, Lauren Steadman, Alison Patrick [Hazel Smith], Melissa Reid [Nicole Walters]
Powerlifting	Zoe Newson, Natalie Blake, Ali Jawad, Micky Yule
Rowing	Tom Aggar, Rachel Morris, Laurence Whiteley-Lauren Rowles, Grace Clough-Daniel Brown-Pam Relph-James Fox-Oliver James (cox)
Sailing	Helena Lucas, Niki Birrell-Alex Rickham, John Robertson-Stephen Thomas-Hannah Stodel
Shooting	Stewart Nangle, Owen Burke, Issy Bailey, Matt Skelhon, James Bevis, Ryan Cockbill, Richard Davies, Tim Jeffery, Karen Butler, Ben Jesson, Lorraine Lambert
Swimming	Men Jonathan Booth, Stephen Clegg, Josef Craig, James Crisp, Ryan Crouch, Jonathan Fox, Thomas Hamer, Ollie Hynd, Michael Jones, Sascha Kindred, Aaron Moores, Andrew Mullen, Scott Quin, Lewis White, Matthew Wylie Women Jessica-Jane Applegate, Claire Cashmore, Bethany Firth, Charlotte Henshaw, Abby Kane, Harriet Lee, Amy Marren, Stephanie Millward, Rebecca Redfern, Ellie Robinson, Susie Rodgers, Hannah Russell, Ellie Simmonds, Stephanie Slater, Alice Tai
Table tennis	Paul Davies, Rob Davies, Jack Hunter-Spivey, Paul Karabardak, David Wetherill, Will Bayley, Aaron McKibbin, Ross Wilson, Ashley Facey-Thompson, Kim Daybell; Jane Campbell, Sara Head, Susan Gilroy
Wheelchair basketball	Men - GROUP Brazil, Iran, United States, Algeria, Germany Harry Brown, Simon Brown, Terry Bywater, Gaz Choudhry, Abdi Jama, Lee Manning, Kyle Marsh, Simon Munn, Ade Orogbemi, Phil Pratt, Ian Sagar, Greg Warburton Women - GROUP Brazil, Germany, Canada, Argentina Jordanna Bartlett, Sophie Carrigill, Amy Conroy, Leah Evans, Helen Freeman, Clare Griffiths, Joy Haizelden, Judith Hamer, Robyn Love, Charlotte Moore, Katie Morrow, Laurie Williams
Wheelchair fencing	Piers Gilliver, Dimitri Coutya, Gemma Collis
Wheelchair rugby	POOL B Canada, Australia, Brazil Alan Ash, Coral Batey, Ayaz Bhuta, Jonathan Coggan, Ryan Cowling, Bulbul Hussain, Mike Kerr, Jim Roberts, Chris Ryan, Mandip Sehmi, Jamie Stead, Gavin Walker
Wheelchair tennis	Alex Hewitt, Marc McCarroll, David Phillipson, Gordon Reid; Louise Hunt, Lucy Shuker, Jordanne Whiley; Jamie Burdekin, Antony Cotterill, Andy Lapthorne; Alfie Hewitt-Gordon Reid, Marc McCarroll-David Phillipson; Lucy Shuker-Jordanne Whiley; Jamie Burdekin-Andy Lapthorne

Rio 2016 Olympics: Great expectations for Team GB

RIO 2016 OLYMPICS

Preview - Sport-by-sport - Results/table

 

THE WORLD turned its eyes towards Rio de Janeiro today as Great Britain aims to follow up the success of London 2012 with its best ever overseas performance at an Olympics.

UK Sport, the nation's high performance funding agency, has set British athletes the ambitious target of winning 48 medals, one more than what was achieved at Beijing in 2008. 

But, having won 29 golds and 65 medals overall four years ago on home soil, this year's objective actually seems reasonable enough. 

The Guardian newspaper agrees and has predicted a total of 58 medals. Meanwhile, its broadsheet counterpart, the Telegraph, reports sports data firm Gracenote Sports has made a forecast of 56.

On that basis, the upper level of the range of attainment set by UK Sport - a total of 79 medals - would clearly appear to be rather pushing it.

In fact, to achieve that level, Britain would have to buck a historic trend whereby no country which hosted an Olympics has gone onto beat their total of medals at the very next Games.

Certainly, though, Team GB - as it is officially branded - has far too much talent to suffer the same fate as the last squad which travelled to the western hemisphere for a Summer Olympics. 

Then, back in 1996, Britain won only 15 medals overall to finish the Games at Atlanta in a humiliating position of 36th in the table.

Indeed, only Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent in the men's coxless pair prevented Great Britain from returning from a Summer Olympics for the first time without a single gold medal. 

A definitive nadir had been reached. 

Thankfully, though, the British Olympic Association had a plan involving funding from the National Lottery and the set-up of UK Sport to identify the best opportunities for success. 

There was an injection of funding into sailing, cycling and rowing, in particular, while the two sports with most medals on offer - athletics and swimming - were also strategically targeted.

Immediately, there was an improved showing. At Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004, Team GB climbed up to 10th in the table with 11 and nine golds respectively.

Then came the huge success in Beijing where Britain was ranked fourth - behind only China, United States and Russia - having delivered 19 golds.

And most recently, four years ago, came those magical two weeks in London where, as hosts, Team GB achieved a top-three position for the first time since 1920 by slipping ahead of the Russians.

Of course, the strategy of UK Sport can be considered controversial in some respects.

Sports such as basketball, synchronised swimming, water polo and weightlifting had their funding withdrawn after they were seen to have underachieved at London 2012.

Critics have pointed out that such judgements can be a matter of perception and that the withdrawal of funding denies the sport any chance of improvement as it has an inevitable knock-on effect at a grassroots level.

In fairness to UK Sport, though, its funds are not limitless - and, even then, its targets are not solely just about winning.

Some of the targets refer to final placings outside of the medal positions so that it can recognise if elite performance in a sport has progressed or not.

And, overall, a majority of sports fans would probably consider that the governing body has been getting it right.

After all, since it was set up, cyclist Sir Chris Hoy has - with six golds - become the nation's most successful Olympian, overtaking the aforementioned Redgrave.

Moreover, with seven medals, Hoy also shares the lead for most medals altogether with Sir Bradley Wiggins. Hoy has now retired, of course, so fellow cyclist Wiggins can take an outright lead in Rio.

In track and field, the likes of Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah and Greg Rutherford have become household names across Britain after starring in Super Saturday four years ago.

Meanwhile, boxer Nicola Adams and taekwondo champion Jade Jones are both back looking to add to their respective happy London 2012 memories.

Team GB is again expected to perform well in anything involving a boat - such as rowing, sailing and canoeing - while the Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan, still rule the roost in triathlon.

Swimming is expected to go a lot better than it did four years ago when Britain finished with just three medals, none of which were gold.

Indeed, Adam Peaty has been widely tipped to become the first British male Olympic champion in the pool since Adrian Moorhouse in 1988.

Elsewhere, there are genuine prospects of success in diving through Tom Daley, and in gymnastics through Louis Smith and Max Whitlock.

Team GB flagbearer Andy Murray will defend his Olympic title fresh from winning Wimbledon for a second time.

And, then of course, there is golf which is making its first appearance at a Games since 1904.

It could also be its last. Concerns over the outbreak of the Zika virus have been especially prominent in the golfing world and each of the men's top-four ranked players, including Rory McIlroy, will not be in Rio.

In fairness to the golfers, a group of 150 physicians and scientists sent an open letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) in May, calling upon them to have "an open, transparent discussion of the risks of holding the Olympics as planned in Brazil".

But the WHO dismissed the request, stating that "cancelling or changing the location of the 2016 Olympics will not significantly alter the international spread of Zika virus", and that there was "no public health justification" for postponing them.

Even still, getting the show on the road in Rio has not been easy amid an economic and political crisis which has engulfed Brazil.

The Brazilian economy has officially been experiencing an economic recession since early 2014.

And this has been coupled with a political crisis which has resulted in President Dilma Rousseff facing an impeachment trial over allegations she manipulated the government budget.

Unsurprisingly, there have been the customary complaints about the accommodation facilities - most notably from the Australians - while traffic jams have clogged up the city in the build-up.

Of course, the biggest pre-Olympic storm was not something for which Rio could be blamed.

Doping in sport, and at the Olympics especially, is nothing new - but the subject became especially prominent in the run-up to these Games, with the spotlight falling on Russia in particular.

An independent investigation commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency reported that Russia's Ministry of Sport and Federal Security Service had operated a "state-dictated" system to implement an extensive doping program and to cover up positive samples.

In response, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) immediately called an emergency meeting to discuss the report.

But then, in a total cop-out, spineless IOC president Thomas Bach left it up to individual sports federations to decide whether Russian athletes should be able to compete.

Ultimately, 271 Russians were cleared for competition while 118 were removed with Russia claiming now to have the cleanest team at the Games. 

Closer to home, cyclist Lizzie Armitstead found her way into the headlines for all the wrong reasons after it was revealed she had missed three drugs tests.

Armitstead - who won Team GB's very first medal at London 2012 - has denied any wrongdoing on her part but it is difficult not to be cynical.

Hopefully then, Rio 2016 will instead provide only positive stories from now on and cynicism can take a back seat.

After all, even just as a viewer, the best thing about the Olympics is the sheer escapism of it: a two-week period every four years where the drudgery of life is put on hold and all that really matters is which men and women in this world can go highest, go fastest and be strongest.

Unfortunately, for people watching in Britain, many of the biggest events are in the middle of the night.

The men's 100m final, for instance, is scheduled to be run at 2.25am in the early hours of Monday 15 August.

Nevertheless, the BBC is providing round-the-clock coverage for nightowls and a daily highlights show at 9.15am to allow people to catch-up on anything which they have missed.

There will also be a montage or two, and - no doubt at some point - a moment for which a lump in the throat is unavoidable.

Welcome back to the Olympic Games - the greatest show on earth.

Eurovision finds its way back home

EUROVISION returns to its spiritual home tonight as the Globe Arena in Stockholm hosts the 61st Song Contest, starting at 8pm.

Winners for the first time in 1974 when ABBA launched their glittering careers with Waterloo, Sweden have tasted victory another five times since.

Only Ireland, with seven wins following their domination of the competition in the 1990s, can beat the Swedes' overall total of six.

But, whereas Sweden has sustained its success and enjoyed two triumphs in the 21st century, Ireland's last win was still back in 1996.

That is something that will not change this year either as, for Ireland, the 2016 Contest is already over.

Former Westlife member Nicky Byrne failed to negotiate his semi final on Thursday with his scratchy voice doing him few favours.

Yes - it was, sadly for him, a case of my lovely hoarse voice - and it did about as well as the fictional Father Ted entry My Lovely Horse.

As one of the Big Five contributors to the European Broadcast Union, the United Kingdom faces no such semi final worries and receives a bye to the final each year along with France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Nevertheless, duo Joe & Jake - a 21-year-old from Ruthin in Wales and a 20-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent - must turn around a dismal recent record of British failures.

Still in third place on the all-time winners list with five victories, the United Kingdom has finished in the top 10 only once since 2002 when Jade Ewen finished fifth in 2009 with It's My Time.

Indeed, in the 14 years since the UK's last top-three place, we have had to endure the likes of Jemini, Scooch, Daz Sampson, Andy Abraham, and Josh Dubovie.

That hall of shame includes three last places including an infamous set of nul points for the woefully out-of-tune Jemini.

But, at least Joe & Jake's youthfulness should ensure an energetic performance on You're Not Alone - and that can only be an improvement on sending Bonnie Tyler at the age then of 61, or a 76-year-old Engelbert Humperdinck.

In short, it would be a major surprise if Joe & Jake pulled off a victory - but there is genuine hope of the young lads achieving a respectable position.

That, at least, would be a step in the right direction. For many countries, the dire performance of the UK in recent years has come as little surprise considering the standard of entrants.

Frankly, the Eurovision is still considered a bit of a joke in the UK and some would argue that this is right to be the case.

But, for Sweden especially, the Song Contest is a serious business, a part of their cultural milieu.

Every year, the most watched Swedish programme on television is Melodifestivalen, which is a bit like the X Factor, except the winner is selected to represent the country at Eurovision instead.

It certainly worked in 2012 when Loreen won with dance track Euphoria and again last year when Måns Zelmerlöw took top spot with Heroes.

Unsurprisingly, this year's entry, If I Were Sorry by Frans, has also been well-backed.

The overwhelming favourites, however, are Russia. In fact, the Sergey Lazarev - with You Are the Only One - is likely to start the night in the unusual position of actually being odds-on, and therefore holds little value for a bet at all.

Of course, we could all just sit back and enjoy the three hours of music on BBC One - and, for this year at least, remember the contribution which Terry Wogan made to the Contest.

Wogan died from cancer in January this year, aged 77, having been the UK commentator every year from 1980 to 2008.

His successor Graham Norton has continued the tradition of adding Irish wit to the often bizarre occurrences on stage - and, this year, after Sweden sing the ninth song of the night, Norton will pay tribute to Wogan and encourage everyone to raise a glass.

Sláinte, Terry - and good luck tonight to Joe & Jake.

EUROVISION 2016 RUNNING ORDER
Click on the links for the official Eurovision videos of each of the songs. Odds supplied by Ladbrokes, subject to change. See www.oddschecker.com/tv/eurovision/winner 

	Country	Artist - Song	Odds
01	Belgium	Laura Tesoro - What's the Pressure	40/1
02	Czech Republic	Gabriela Gunčíková - I Stand	200/1
03	Netherlands	Douwe Bob - Slow Down	50/1
04	Azerbaijan	Samra - Miracle	150/1
05	Hungary	Freddie - Pioneer	200/1
06	Italy	Francesca Michielin - No Degree of Separation	66/1
07	Israel	Hovi Star - Made of Stars	80/1
08	Bulgaria	Poli Genova - If Love Was a Crime	100/1
09	Sweden	Frans - If I Were Sorry	16/1
10	Germany	Jamie-Lee - Ghost	250/1
11	France	Amir - J'ai cherché [I have searched]	12/1
12	Poland	Michał Szpak - Color of Your Life	100/1
13	Australia	Dami Im - Sound of Silence	3/1
14	Cyprus	Minus One - Alter Ego	150/1
15	Serbia	Sanja Vučić ZAA - Goodbye (Shelter)	80/1
16	Lithuania	Donny Montell - I've Been Waiting for This Night	150/1
17	Croatia	Nina Kraljić - Lighthouse	150/1
18	Russia	Sergey Lazarev - You Are the Only One	4/6fav
19	Spain	Barei - Say Yay!	100/1
20	Latvia	Justs - Heartbeat	50/1
21	Ukraine	Jamala - 1944	15/2
22	Malta	Ira Losco - Walk on Water	33/1
23	Georgia	Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz - Midnight Gold	250/1
24	Austria	Zoë - Loin d'ici [Far from here]	66/1
25	United Kingdom	Joe & Jake - You're Not Alone	33/1
26	Armenia	Iveta Mukuchyan - LoveWave	28/1

Six Nations shared between BBC and ITV

SIX NATIONS 2016

MATCHDAY 1
Sat 06-Feb	14:25 BBC	FRANCE v ITALY	Stade de France
Sat 06-Feb	16:50 BBC	SCOTLAND v ENGLAND	Murrayfield
Sun 07-Feb	15:00 ITV	IRELAND v WALES	Aviva Stadium

MATCHDAY 2
Sat 13-Feb	14:25 BBC	FRANCE v IRELAND	Stade de France
Sat 13-Feb	16:50 BBC	WALES v SCOTLAND	Millennium Stadium
Sun 14-Feb	14:00 ITV	ITALY v ENGLAND	Stadio Olimpico

MATCHDAY 3
Fri 26-Feb	20:05 BBC	WALES v FRANCE	Millennium Stadium
Sat 27-Feb	14:25 ITV	ITALY v SCOTLAND	Stadio Olimpico
Sat 27-Feb	16:50 ITV	ENGLAND v IRELAND	Twickenham

MATCHDAY 4
Sat 12-Mar	13:30 ITV	IRELAND v ITALY	Aviva Stadium
Sat 12-Mar	16:00 ITV	ENGLAND v WALES	Twickenham
Sun 13-Mar	15:00 BBC	SCOTLAND v FRANCE	Murrayfield

MATCHDAY 5
Sat 19-Mar	14:30 BBC	WALES v ITALY	Millennium Stadium
Sat 19-Mar	17:00 ITV	IRELAND v SCOTLAND	Aviva Stadium
Sat 19-Mar	20:00 BBC	FRANCE v ENGLAND	Stade de France

BOTH BBC and ITV will broadcast this year's Six Nations Championship in a £300m deal which runs until 2021.

The BBC - which has had exclusive rights since 2003 - brokered the arrangement as part of a cost-saving exercise in which its sport department has been asked to cut £35m from its budget.

At least this way all of the tournament remains on free-to-air television. The BBC will show the home matches of Scotland, Wales and France - while ITV takes charge of England, Ireland and Italy home games.

The way that the fixtures are laid out actually works out well for the BBC this year. It will show two matches on the opening day - including Scotland v England - and two of the three matches on the final matchday, including France v England.

As usual, much of the attention in the build-up has been on England - but perhaps, this year, that is even more so the case.

For, England have a new head coach - the Australian Eddie Jones - as they seek to repair their tattered reputation after a disastrous home World Cup.

Jones, of course, had a totally different World Cup experience with Japan. The Cherry Blossoms caused one of the biggest sporting shocks of all time by beating the two-time winners South Africa in the Pool stages, and England have appointed their new man expecting similar inspiration.

Nevertheless, there has been caution aired ahead of the Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland on the first day - with Jones even declaring the resurgent Scots to be favourites, given their home advantage.

That is still not something with which the bookmakers agree - and it is true that Scotland must turn the tide of recent history to be successful this spring.

Scotland have never won the Six Nations title - they have, though, collected four wooden spoons since Italy were introduced in 2000, and finished bottom last year.

But, after that, they recovered gamely, recording a series of comeback wins in the Pool stages of the World Cup before a heartbreaking and controversial defeat to Australia in the quarter finals.

Indeed, the first Six Nations after a World Cup is often seen in the context of the latter - and this year will be no different.

For Wales, this is good news. Also subject to a heartbreaking late defeat to a southern hemisphere superpower - in their case South Africa - the Welsh nonetheless produced some stirring displays and memorably beat England at Twickenham.

They can be proud of their World Cup efforts - and, certainly, the re-match against England on 12 March, again at Twickenham, should hold no fears.

Meanwhile, Ireland - who have won the last two Six Nations titles, and often in some style - are in a state of flux following their wholly unexpected defeat to Argentina in the World Cup quarters.

Former captain Paul O'Connell has joined the totemic Brian O'Driscoll in retirement and this leaves a lot of pressure on fly-half Jonny Sexton as the clearest link back to one of Ireland's greatest teams.

Indeed, the first match for the Irish - against a more settled Wales team in Dublin - promises to be the most enthralling fixture of this first weekend, even accounting for the Calcutta Cup contest.

Six Nations campaigns cannot be decided in one game - but that tête-à-tête in Dublin may nevertheless go a long way to determining the fate of those two teams this year.

For now, surprisingly, England have been classified as favourites with the money men - despite their awful World Cup and despite the fact that they have finished runners-up for the last four years.

And, while it is a new era for English rugby, it would be no surprise if they extended that record to a fifth year in finishing behind the Welsh.

Scotland will improve but Ireland will still sneak third place ahead of them by winning the match between the two teams in Dublin on the final day.

Finally, the two continentals - France and Italy - will just be there to make up the numbers, a damning indictment on the French, whose World Cup campaign was ultimately little better than that of England.

It would be no surprise, of course, if these predictions are completely wrong - but the fun part is watching and seeing what happens - on two television channels this year.

TEAM-BY-TEAM GUIDE Odds from Ladbrokes

ENGLAND Odds 13/8 fav	Coach Eddie Jones Captain Dylan Hartley
Twickenham	Fixtures Scotland (A), Italy (A), Ireland (H), Wales (H), France (A)
IRB Rank: 8	Six Nations titles 4 (2000, 2001, 2003, 2011)
FRANCE Odds 6/1	Coach Guy Novès Captain Guilhem Guirado
Stade de France	Fixtures Italy (H), Ireland (H), Wales (A), Scotland (A), England (H)
IRB Rank: 7	Six Nations titles 5 (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010)
IRELAND Odds 9/2	Coach Joe Schmidt Captain Rory Best
Aviva Stadium	Fixtures Wales (H), France (A), England (A), Italy (H), Scotland (H)
IRB Rank: 6	Six Nations titles 3 (2009, 2014, 2015)
ITALY Odds 500/1	Coach Jacques Brunel Captain Sergio Parisse
Stadio Olimpico	Fixtures France (A), England (H), Scotland (H), Ireland (A), Wales (A)
IRB Rank: 12	Six Nations titles None
SCOTLAND Odds 14/1	Coach Vern Cotter Captain Greig Laidlaw
Murrayfield	Fixtures England (H), Wales (A), Italy (A), France (H), Ireland (A)
IRB Rank: 9	Six Nations titles None
WALES Odds 9/4	Coach Warren Gatland Captain Sam Warburton
Millennium Stadium	Fixtures Ireland (A), Scotland (H), France (H), England (A), Italy (H)
IRB Rank: 4	Six Nations titles 4 (2005, 2008, 2012, 2013)

RBS SIX NATIONS 2015 TABLE

	W	D	L	F	A	(T)	Pts
IRELAND	4	0	1	119	56	8	8
ENGLAND	4	0	1	157	100	18	8
WALES	4	0	1	146	93	13	8
FRANCE	2	0	3	103	101	9	4
ITALY	1	0	4	62	182	8	2
SCOTLAND	0	0	5	73	128	6	0

Eurovision 2015: Swing and a miss

BRITISH hopes of reversing their recent wretched Eurovision form were dealt a blow by an early placing in the running order.

Electro swing duet Electro Velvet will be fifth on stage in Vienna as they seek to claim a first title in the contest for the United Kingdom since Katrina & The Waves triumphed in 1997.

But, by the time the show is over tonight, Electro Velvet - namely Alex Larke and Bianca Nicholas - could well have joined the likes of Javine Hylton, Daz Sampson, Scooch, Andy Abraham, and Josh Dubovie as largely forgotten failures.

At least, the duo should avoid the fate of Jemini who scored the infamous nul points in 2003. The bookmakers, though, have little faith in the pair delivering even a top-half performance.

Unfortunately, it is not difficult to see why. Larke is a singer in a Rolling Stones tribute band while Nicholas is a failed contestant from BBC show The Voice.

The choice, which was not open to the public, simply screams of averageness.

Worse, the music itself - though an admirably brave move away from entering another insipid ballad - is too repetitive and probably no better than many a provisional cabaret act.

All in all, the music video (see link 05 below) is probably the best part of it - but Eurovision rules restrict the number of people on stage so it cannot be replicated in all of its glory.

Instead, Sweden and Russia head the betting with wildcard entrants Australia, here to celebrate the 60th anniversary of this illustrious competition, acting as a stalking horse.

That is where the clever money will be - as, for me, this year's British entry is sadly a swing and a miss, albeit a brave one. It would be simply great to be proved wrong, though.

Tune in to BBC One at 8pm to find out.

EUROVISION 2015 RUNNING ORDER
Click on the links for the official Eurovision videos of each of the songs. Odds supplied by Ladbrokes. See www.oddschecker.com/tv/eurovision/winner 

	Country	Artist - Song	Odds
01	Slovenia	Maraaya - Here For You	50/1
02	France	Lisa Angell - N'oubliez pas (Don't forget)	150/1
03	Israel	Nadav Guedj - Golden Boy	33/1
04	Estonia	Elina Born & Stig Rästa - Goodbye to Yesterday	20/1
05	United Kingdom	Electro Velvet - Still In Love With You	100/1
06	Armenia	Genealogy - Face The Shadow	100/1
07	Lithuania	Monika Linkytė & Vaidas Baumila - This Time	150/1
08	Serbia	Bojana Stamenov - Beauty Never Lies	25/1
09	Norway	Mørland & Debrah Scarlett - A Monster Like Me	25/1
10	Sweden	Måns Zelmerlöw - Heroes	13/8 fav
11	Cyprus	John Karayiannis - One Thing I Should Have Done	100/1
12	Australia	Guy Sebastian - Tonight Again	12/1
13	Belgium	Loïc Nottet - Rhythm Inside	7/1
14	Austria	The Makemakes - I Am Yours	200/1
15	Greece	Maria Elena Kyriakou - One Last Breath	66/1
16	Montenegro	Knez - Adio (Goodbye)	150/1
17	Germany	Ann Sophie - Black Smoke	200/1
18	Poland	Monika Kuszyńska - In the Name of Love	250/1
19	Latvia	Aminata - Love Injected	33/1
20	Romania	Voltaj - De la capăt (All over Again)	100/1
21	Spain	Edurne - Amanecer (Dawn)	50/1
22	Hungary	Boggie - Wars for Nothing	150/1
23	Georgia	Nina Sublatti - Warrior	66/1
24	Azerbaijan	Elnur Hüseynov - Hour of the Wolf	33/1
25	Russia	Polina Gagarina - A Million Voices	7/2
26	Albania	Elhaida Dani - I'm Alive	100/1
27	Italy	Il Volo - Grande amore (Great love)	10/3

EUROVISION 2015 RESULT

		Artist - Song	Points (Douze)
(1)	Sweden	Måns Zelmerlöw - Heroes	365 (12)
(2)	Russia	Polina Gagarina - A Million Voices	303 (5)
(3)	Italy	Il Volo - Grande amore (Great love)	292 (9)
(4)	Belgium	Loïc Nottet - Rhythm Inside	217 (3)
(5)	Australia	Guy Sebastian - Tonight Again	196 (2)
(6)	Latvia	Aminata - Love Injected	186 (3)
(7)	Estonia	Elina Born & Stig Rästa - Goodbye to Yesterday	106
(8)	Norway	Mørland & Debrah Scarlett - A Monster Like Me	102
(9)	Israel	Nadav Guedj - Golden Boy	97
(10)	Serbia	Bojana Stamenov - Beauty Never Lies	53 (1)
(11)	Georgia	Nina Sublatti - Warrior	51
(12)	Azerbaijan	Elnur Hüseynov - Hour of the Wolf	49 (1)
(13)	Montenegro	Knez - Adio (Goodbye)	44 (1)
(14)	Slovenia	Maraaya - Here For You	39
(15)	Romania	Voltaj - De la capăt (All over Again)	35 (1)
(16)	Armenia	Genealogy - Face The Shadow	34 (1)
(17)	Albania	Elhaida Dani - I'm Alive	34 (1)
(18)	Lithuania	Monika Linkytė & Vaidas Baumila - This Time	30
(19)	Greece	Maria Elena Kyriakou - One Last Breath	23
(20)	Hungary	Boggie - Wars for Nothing	19
(21)	Spain	Edurne - Amanecer (Dawn)	15
(22)	Cyprus	John Karayiannis - One Thing I Should Have Done	11
(23)	Poland	Monika Kuszyńska - In the Name of Love	10
(24)	United Kingdom	Electro Velvet - Still In Love With You	5
(25)	France	Lisa Angell - N'oubliez pas (Don't forget)	4
(26)	Austria	The Makemakes - I Am Yours	0
(27)	Germany	Ann Sophie - Black Smoke	0