With Britain taking a bit of a battering on the sporting front at the minute, it was refreshing to see the cyclists doing so well at the Track Cycling World Championships. Nine gold medals were captured and the media attention was deservedly top class.

With all of the home nations failing to qualify for Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland (football), dismal individual performances in the world of golf for over a decade, Andy Murray our only shining light in tennis and Lewis Hamilton in Formula 1, it looks really quite bad for British sport.

The English cricket team is again not delivering and has been spasmodic at best since winning the Ashes what seems like a lifetime ago. In rugby, Wales are showing the strongest signs of late yet had a miserable World Cup. England are going through a transitional period, culminating in Martin Johnson's appointment as boss; Ireland have all of the talent necessary yet inconsistency blights them and Scotland are just not performing.

‘We do have a guy called Chris Harding who is almost Tiger Woods-esque in his own crazy way. In a 60-strong field of competitors, Harding became the World Crazy Golf Champion ... winning by a clear nine shots’


This year brings added pressure to Murray and Hamilton. Murray's chances of success depend largely on his attitude and temperament. There is no doubt whatsoever throughout the fraternity that he will come good and win big. The question is when? Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal are not yet firing on all cylinders but Novak Djokovic is looking good after winning the Australian Open. Murmurs of more upsets this year are truly unfounded. Federer has been hampered by injury and we are now heading into Nadal's favourite part of the season. Murray must beat these men to achieve anything. Nikolay Davydenko and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga may also have something to say this year. Is it too much to ask for Murray to win the French Open? Yes. Wimbledon? Well we can all hope, but one gets the feeling that Federer may just have reached his peak by the time that comes around.

Hamilton has proved himself at the highest level in Formula 1, having only had one full season. A phenomenon definitely after a quite extraordinary debut season and he has answered the very few critics that he has this term with a confident start. A win in Australia began the season perfectly for Hamilton but a 5th place and a 13th place have cast a shadow over his aspirations. The world drivers' championship is wide open this year, with Hamilton currently 3rd in the standings and Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld looking strong. Can Hamilton win it this year? Yes, he can, but just like the tracks on a Formula 1 circuit there will be many twists and turns before the final race.

So who do we have in the way of World Champions? There are many, of course, but certain sports simply don't make it into the mainstream areas for the public to see. We do have a guy called Chris Harding who is almost Tiger Woods-esque in his own crazy way. In a 60-strong field of competitors, Harding became the World Crazy Golf Champion in Hastings, winning by a clear nine shots. Fantastic!