Australia, Czech Republic vie for Country of the Month
The month of May 2010 recorded a Global Cup first: the USA did not score a single GSN point through the month…
and still retained their overall lead ahead of Canada, who only added 56 points to their April total.
The only movers in the top 9 behind them were Germany, up one place into 3rd thanks to valuable points picked up in such diverse sports as Ice Hockey (Men’s World Championships), Badminton and Table Tennis (World Team Championships), and Russia, up two places in 6th position.
The real leapers this month however were the Aussies and the Czechs.
In true kangaroo fashion, Australia jumped up 3 spots from April into 10th overall, which also ranks them up 6 places from the same month last year. They took the World Snooker title, the Asian Football Confederation regional title (courtesy of their ladies’ team), came 3rd in the IRB World Rugby Sevens series and picked up a handful of points at the Giro d’Italia (Road Cycling Classic).
Further down the table, the Czech Republic also made a double leap, settling into 18th place, up 5 places from April and 4 from last year. For them it was all down to one outstanding and somewhat unexpected gold medal in the World Ice Hockey Championship.
Finally, a mention for two small but very sporting nations: New Zealand are up 10 places from April, but one down from last year, and Samoa are the highest placed new entry this month, in 26th place, after winning the IRB World Rugby Sevens series.
