• April 22 down the years

Rahman shocks Lewis and the world

Lennox Lewis tasted defeat © Getty Images

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2001
Lennox Lewis' last defeat as a professional. After losing the WBC heavyweight title on September 24 1994, Lewis won his next 14 fights - most of them defences of various world titles. Today it was the WBC, IBF, and IBO belts against Hasim Rahman in South Africa. Lewis spent the first four rounds trying to bully the underdog, who was three inches shorter and a stone lighter. Then in the fifth, just as he started showboating with his hands down, he backed into the ropes and was caught with a right hand that blasted through his guard. Lewis never looked like getting up. Ring magazine made it their upset of the year. Rahman lost the return fight on November 17, then two other title bouts, and was never world champion again. After the rematch, Lewis fought twice more before retiring.

1991
The first British woman to win the British Open squash title for 30 years - and the last to date. Guernsey's Lisa Opie had lost in the final four times, including three in a row. After the last of those three, in 1984, she was fined for giving the referee a V sign and throwing her racquet into the crowd. Now she was lucky that England's Sue Wright knocked out the mighty New Zealander Sue Devoy, champion for the last seven years, who had beaten Opie in two finals. Wright was stocky and determined and won the first game, but then Opie got her head together and took the next three by wide margins. The last British champion before her was Fran Marshall in 1961. Wright lost in the final again nine years later.

History was also made in the men's event, won for the last time by Jahangir Khan. He remains the only man to win it ten times. He beat Jansher Khan in the Final for the second time, surprising the world champion and top seed with his staying power. Like Opie, Jahangir lost the first game but won the next three. From 2-0 down in the second, he outlasted the younger man, winning the last game 9-0. Jansher won the first of his six titles the following year.

2003
Ronnie O'Sullivan's first 147 at the World Championship (April 21 1997) was the fastest ever. Today he became the first player to score two maximums in the event - but he lost his first-round match 10-6 to Hong Kong's unseeded Marco Fu, who led 6-3 overnight. On April 28 2008, O'Sullivan became the only player to make three 147s in the big event.

1947
The first official NBA finals in basketball. It was still the BAA at the time (the Basketball Association of America). The Philadelphia Warriors won the first two games, both at home and both by relatively comfortable margins. The last three games were all close, but Philadelphia's 75-72 win in the first away game was crucial. It gave them a 3-0 lead, and they could afford to lose the next one to the Chicago Stags, then mop up the series 4-1 with an 83-80 win at home. The Warriors lost in the finals the following year.

1995
In his first defence of the IBF heavyweight title he won on November 5, 46-year-old George Foreman won a controversial decision against Axel Schulz of Germany. Controversial? All three judges were American, and two of them were just about the only people who thought Foreman had won. Schulz was picked as an opponent because he hadn't fought anyone worthy of the name except Britain's Henry Akinwande, who beat him, and former WBA champion Bonecrusher Smith, who was 41. But Schulz closed one of Foreman's eyes and dominated the fight by hitting and moving. Big George was stripped of the title for not giving Schulz a rematch, but he kept the vacant WBU title they'd also been fighting for. This was Foreman's last kosher title fight, but he added the IBA belt the following year.

1880
The Amateur Athletic Association was formed when three Oxford University athletes invited representatives of the leading track and field clubs to a meeting at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford. The first AAA Championships were staged in July. The Association made athletics in Britain more organised, but for many decades it also excluded countless competitors who retired or turned professional because they could not afford to stay amateur like the university boys. Hard to say it was a force for good.

1876
The first game in baseball's National League. The Boston Braves scored two runs in the ninth innings to win 6-5 away to the Philadelphia Athletics.

1995
Fly-half Andrew Mehrtens made his international debut against Canada and scored the first 28 of his 967 points for New Zealand - a record at the time. He converted seven of the All Blacks' ten tries, scored one himself, and landed three penalties in a 73-7 annihilation.

1903
The boxing match generally recognised as the first for the world title at light-heavyweight - and a lively one to launch the division. Charles 'Kid' McCoy, who committed suicide on April 18 1940, was probably over-confident against Jack Root. He was considerably heavier than normal, whereas Root looked fit and trim. The Kid was saved by the bell in the second round and knocked down seven times. Somehow he survived all ten rounds, but the points decision was not hard to make. The story goes that Root did well to win at all as, in the ninth round, McCoy's brother sprayed him in the face with ammonia.

1969
Rajith Amunugama was born in Sri Lanka. His first-class cricket career, which lasted from 1988-89 to 2003-04, was less memorable than his full name: Amunugama Rajapakse Rajakaruna Abeykoon Panditha Wasalamudiyanse Ralahamilage Rajith Krishantha Bandara Amunugama.

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