ANALYSE THIS: Australia overtakes Great Britain in Virtual Medal Table

GENERAL – Australia has moved into fourth position in the Infostrada Sports’ Virtual Medal Table (VMT) after the inclusion of athletics and swimming personal bests since May 2015 took projected golds away from Germany and Great Britain and added four medals to Australia’s forecast total.

ANALYSE THIS: USA, Germany, Japan & Canada expected in last four

FOOTBALL – The FIFA World rankings for women’s football have provided a good basis for our forecast so far with seven of our eight favourites in the second round progressing through to the quarter-finals. In addition, our pre-tournament forecast correctly predicted six of the eight quarter-finalists, and two of the exact match-ups (France v Germany and England v Canada) in this round. Our updated forecast for the quarter-final matches expects the United States to play Germany and Japan to play Canada in the last four. These exact semi-final pairings were also predicted in our pre-tournament forecast.

ANALYSE THIS: Germany slight favourites at FIFA Women’s World Cup

FOOTBALL – Germany are the favourites for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, but only just, according to a new analysis from Infostrada Sports. The United States are second favourites and there is nearly 50% chance of the winners being one or the other of these two teams. They are, however, most likely to meet each other at the semi-final stage of the competition.

ANALYSE THIS: Asian Cup vs African Cup of Nations – which is the strongest?

FOOTBALL – The 2015 African Cup of Nations begins in Equatorial Guinea on Saturday, 17 January and will be running alongside the 2015 Asian Cup which started eight days earlier in Australia. With 32 teams playing at these two continental tournaments, we set out to discover which has the strongest field of teams.

REVIEW: Hamilton wins 30th career F1 Grand Prix

FORMULA 1 –  By winning the Grand Prix of Japan, Lewis Hamilton raised his career total for F1 Grand Prix victories to 30. Hamilton is only the seventh driver in history to break 30. He is now one GP victory behind the most prolific Briton in this respect, Nigel Mansell on 31. Hamilton has won three Grands Prix in a row, a feat he has now achieved twice this season. He has eight victories on the year, as many as in the previous three seasons combined.

ANALYSE THIS: Brazil still favourites but Argentina closing in

FOOTBALL – After two match rounds,  Brazil remain as World Cup favourites in the Infostrada Sports’ Forecast with 24.5% chance of lifting the trophy on July 13. This has barely changed since the start of the competition but continental rivals Argentina’s chances are improving and now stand at nearly 18%. Germany are third favourites on around a 14% chance of becoming World Champions. The current chances for each team are listed below.

INFOGRAPHIC: Demchenko & Kasai make record breaking 7th appearance at Olympic Winter Games

OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES – At Sochi 2014 Russia’s Albert Demchenko (Luge) and Japan’s Noriaki Kasai (Ski Jumping) will make a record 7th appearance at the Olympic Winter Games. Click on the picture to view the FULL Infographic on the subject.

INFOGRAPHIC: Japan close to punching World Cup ticket

FOOTBALL – On Tuesday, Japan can become the first team other than hosts Brazil to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In 2006 and 2010, Japan were also the first nation besides the hosts to qualify. Our Infographic shows you when each team qualified for the last four World Cups. By using the interactive features you can toggle between years and confederations. You can access our interactive Infographic by clicking on the picture below.

 

INFOGRAPHIC: Japan and Judo at the Olympic Games

JUDO – Japan is where Judo originated and therefore Japan is considered the most powerful NOC in this sport. However, they failed to win a gold medal on Day 1 of the London Games. If Japan’s strength is dwindling, we will find out in the coming week. Click Read More to see our Infographic and then click on it to make it interactive.