AFTER the hiatus of the COVID years, the world of sport leapt out of the traps in 2022 to make up for lost time.
A Winter Olympics and World Cups in men's football, cricket T20, women's rugby union, men's and women's - and wheelchair - rugby league, a well as the women's Euros made for a busy 12 months, not to mention a full programme of individual sports.
All serious stuff that filled the front and back pages. However, there were a number of other tales that were a touch lighter.
Here are 'Six of the Best' bizarre stories to have touched the world of sport in 2022.
- Bug-eyed Djoko -
Scientists in Serbia made quite the buzz when they named a newly-discovered insect species after tennis star Novak Djokovic, due to the bug's "speed and tenacity".
Biologist Nikola Vesovic described the insect on Instagram as "a specialised, blind, subterranean ground beetle found in a pit near the town of Ljubovija" in the west of the country.
"It is very quick and eats other small animals," he told AFP. "It is a predator in its underground environment, just as Novak is a kind of predator on the tennis courts."
It is the second such honour to be bestowed on Djokovic who has a habit of swotting away opponents on the court - a couple of months earlier a freshwater snail in Montenegro was also named after him.
- Uganda 'cell' phone ban -
Ugandan prison staff were banned from using their mobile phones during the World Cup, apparently because inmates might exploit the "excitement" surrounding the football tournament to escape.
Frank Mayanja Baine, spokesman for the Commissioner General of Prisons, said that the prison officers phones might "distract attention and interfere with the level of alertness".
Their cellphones obviously did not have enough bars.
- Forgotten Fed -
In his heyday his was one of the most famous sporting faces in the world. Three months after his retirement, however, it seems Roger Federer is a forgotten man -- at least in London SW19.
That's the postcode of the All England Club where Federer won the Wimbledon championships eight times.
That, however, counted for nothing to a zealous security guard who refused the great man entry as he went in search of a cup of tea because he didn't have his membership card.
"I'm like, 'Uh, we have one?'" Federer told American TV programme 'The Daily Show'.
"Because when you win Wimbledon, you become a member automatically.
"Honestly, I don't know about membership cards. They're probably at home somewhere.
"I look at her one last time and I'm in a panic now...And I say, 'I have won this tournament eight times, please believe me, I am a member and where do I get in?'"
Federer was finally allowed in at another gate thanks to the back-up of a member of the public who vouched for his record on the famous grass courts.
- Wisden clips WG -
Cricket 'bible' Wisden ruffled feathers when it announced that it was cutting two of WG Grace's centuries which it no longer considers first-class.
Given that the good doctor, arguably the sporting superstar of the 19th century, died 107 years ago in 1915, one might wonder who cares. Not WG at any rate.
It does mean, however, that his historic 100th century is no longer deemed to be the one he scored for Gloucestershire against Somerset -- much celebrated at the time -- on May 17, 1895, instead coming with no fanfare at Middlesex against Lord's a fortnight later.
The change does not appear to have damaged the memorablilia market, though, with original souvenir plates, issued in 1895 to commemorate the feat, still selling on eBay for £1,020 ($1,250).
- Skiing in the sand -
With the world trying to work out how to combat global warming, it may be that Saudi Arabia has found the answer: turn the deserts to snow.
That appears to be the plan at any rate after Saudi -- which, let's be clear has an average temperature by the coast of 27°C to 38°C -- was chosen to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games.
It will be held at an under-construction $500 billion futuristic desert megacity that planners say will feature a year-round winter sports complex.
- Chestnut roasts hot dog contest -
Just as the French play petanque and the English knuckle down to their marbles, so the Americans eat their hot dogs.
Boy, do they eat hot dogs. So much so that the playfully named Joey "Jaws" Chestnut wolfed down 63 - buns included - in just 10 minutes, to win the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest on Coney Island in New York.
Multiple champion Chestnut apologised to the crowd, though, as he fell some way short of the 76 he crammed down in 2020.
"Joey Chestnut is a force from beyond who defies the laws of physics," said contest host George Shea who says the contest is "arguably the most iconic sporting event in American history".
Miki Sudo, who missed last year's event because she was pregnant, won the women's event with 40, eight shy of her own record.
ETX Studio
Sat Dec 31 2022
Roger Federer has won the Wimbledon championships eight times but a security guard at All England Club refused him entry because he didn't have his membership card. - AP/Filepic
Ribuan warga Israel gesa pilihan raya baharu
Demonstrasi yang dilakukan hampir setiap minggu itu bagaimanapun masih belum mengubah landskap politik atau menjatuhkan Netanyahu.
PM baharu Britain kata rancangan hantar migran ke Rwanda dimansuhkan
Perdana Menteri baharu Britain, Keir Starmer berkata, rancangan kontroversi kerajaan terdahulu untuk menghantar migran ke Rwanda kini "dimansuhkan".
Ribuan warga Israel gesa pilihanraya baharu
Ribuan penunjuk perasaan anti-kerajaan berkumpul di Tel Aviv pada Sabtu menggesa pilihan raya baharu yang berpotensi menggantikan Perdana Menteri Benjamin Netanyahu, yang memimpin salah satu gabungan berhaluan kanan paling dalam sejarah Israel.
Demonstrasi yang kerap dilakukan setiap minggu itu bagaimanapun masih belum mengubah landskap politik, dan Netanyahu masih menguasai majoriti stabil di parlimen.
Demonstrasi yang kerap dilakukan setiap minggu itu bagaimanapun masih belum mengubah landskap politik, dan Netanyahu masih menguasai majoriti stabil di parlimen.
Kekejaman zionis: 16 rakyat Palestin maut dalam serangan Israel di sekolah
Sekurang-kurangnya 16 orang terbunuh dalam serangan Israel ke atas sebuah sekolah yang melindungi keluarga Palestin akibat kehilangan tempat tinggal di tengah Gaza pada Sabtu.
Kekejaman zionis: UK cari keseimbangan dalam perang di Gaza
Britain mahukan kedudukan seimbang dalam perang di Asia Barat dan akan menggunakan usaha diplomatik untuk memastikan gencatan senjata dicapai dan tebusan yang dipegang oleh Pejuang Hamas dibebaskan.
Kekejaman zionis: Hamas terima cadangan A.S runding tebusan - Laporan
Hamas telah menerima cadangan Amerika Syarikat untuk memulakan perbincangan mengenai pembebasan tebusan Israel, 16 hari selepas fasa pertama perjanjian yang bertujuan menamatkan perang Gaza.
16 rakyat Palestin maut dalam serangan Israel di sekolah
Serangan ke atas sekolah di Al-Nuseirat membunuh sekurang-kurangnya 16 orang dan mencederakan lebih 50 orang.
Gajah jinak Pian, Rambai curi tumpuan pengunjung program MADANI Rakyat
Pian dan Rambai yang masing-masing berumur 50 dan 41 tahun dibawa dari Pusat Konservasi Gajah Kebangsaan Kuala Gandah, Lanchang.
EURO 2024: Belanda bangkit benam Turkiye untuk ke separuh akhir
Belanda akan berdepan cabaran skuad The Three Lions dalam saingan peringkat separuh akhir saingan EURO 2024 minggu depan.
Festival kontroversi larian lembu di Pamplona, Sepanyol sedang berlangsung
Larian lembu itu adalah sebahagian daripada Festival San Fermin selama 9 hari yang diadakan di bandar itu pada awal Julai setiap tahun.
Djokovic tewas peringkat separuh akhir Tenis Terbuka Australia
Novak Djokovic tumpas kepada pemain Itali Jannik Sinner di peringkat separuh akhir kejohanan Terbuka Australia.
Tenis Terbuka Australia: Djokovic berang provokasi 'sang pengecut'!
Djokovic sedikit terusik dengan kata-kata nista yang seakan cuba untuk merapuhkan semangat berkobar-kobar juara 10 kali kejohanan itu.
Piala Davis: Jannik Sinner bantu Itali julang kejuaraan pertama sejak 1976
Pemain nombor empat dunia itu menewaskan Djokovic dan kemudiannya Alex De Minaur pada hari Ahad untuk meraih kemenangan 2-0.
Djokovic menang jelajah akhir ATP ketujuh di Itali
Novak Djokovic memenangi kejuaraan Jelajah Akhir ATP ketujuhnya dengan penuh bergaya, menewaskan pemain tuan rumah Jannik Sinner.
Sensasi gelaran Grand Slam ke-24 Djokovic
Pemain Serbia itu menewaskan Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
Tenis Terbuka AS: Daniil Medvedev kejutkan Carlos Alcaraz untuk ke final
Daniil Medvedev mencipta kejutan dalam Kejohanan Tenis Terbuka Amerika Syarikat apabila menumbangkan juara bertahan Carlos Alcaraz.
Terbuka AS: Novak Djokovic ke final singkir wakil muda tuan rumah
Djokovic hanya dibezakan satu lagi kemenangan untuk menjulang gelaran dalam kejohanan utama buat kali ke-24.
Tenis Terbuka Amerika Syarikat: Djokovic masih berbisa
Pemain sensasi, Novak Djokovic berada dalam kelas tersendiri mara ke pusingan ketiga Terbuka Amerika Syarikat (AS).
Terbuka AS: Djokovic catat kemenangan, teratas ranking dunia
Novak Djokovic menewaskan Alexandre Muller 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 ketika kembali ke Terbuka AS pada Isnin malam sekali gus berada di kedudukan teratas ranking dunia.
Kejohanan Wimbledon: Djokovic didenda gara-gara hempas raket ketika tewas aksi final
Novak Djokovic didenda sebanyak AS$8,000 (RM36,280) gara-gara menghempas raketnya ke tiang jaring sewaktu perlawanan final Kejohanan Tenis Wimbledon minggu lalu.