Pogba dedicates France win to Thai cave survivors

Agencies
July 11, 2018

Saint Petersburg, Jul 11: Paul Pogba dedicated France's World Cup semi-final win against Belgium to the 12 boys who survived a harrowing ordeal trapped underground in Thailand.

The final five members of a young football team were rescued from a flooded Thai cave on Tuesday after spending 18 harrowing days trapped deep inside, completing an astonishing against-the-odds rescue mission that captivated the world.

Elite foreign divers and Thai Navy SEALs extracted the final batch of four boys, plus the 25-year-old coach, via a treacherous escape route that required them to squeeze through narrow, water-filled tunnels in darkness.

Following the 1-0 win in Saint Petersburg, Manchester United midfielder Pogba tweeted: "This victory goes to the heroes of the day, well done boys, you are so strong."

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino had invited the boys' Wild Boars football team to Sunday's World Cup final last week.

But FIFA said it had been informed "that due to medical reasons, the boys will not be in a position to travel to Moscow".

"FIFA's priority remains the health of everyone involved in the operation and we will look into finding a new opportunity to invite the boys to a FIFA event to share with them a moment of communion and celebration," a spokesman said.

The Thai footballers, aged from 11 to 16, had been stuck deep underground after setting off to explore the cave with their coach after training on June 23.

FIFA also expressed condolences to the family of a Thai Navy SEAL who died after running out of oxygen during the rescue operation on Friday. "Our thoughts are with his family," FIFA said.

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News Network
May 13,2020

May 13: With the Olympics postponed due to the coronavirus, top Japanese fencer Ryo Miyake has swapped his metal mask and foil for a bike and backpack as a Tokyo UberEats deliveryman.

The 29-year-old, who won silver in the team foil at the 2012 London Olympics and was itching to compete in a home Games, says the job keeps him in shape physically and mentally -- and brings in much-needed cash.

"I started this for two reasons -- to save money for travelling (to future competitions) and to keep myself in physical shape," he told AFP.

"I see how much I am earning on the phone, but the number is not just money for me. It's a score to keep me going."

Japanese media have depicted Miyake as a poor amateur struggling to make ends meet but he himself asked for his three corporate sponsorships to be put on hold -- even if that means living off savings.

Like most of the world's top athletes, he is in limbo as the virus forces competitions to be cancelled and plays havoc with training schedules.

"I don't know when I can resume training or when the next tournament will take place. I don't even know if I can keep up my mental condition or motivation for another year," he said.

"No one knows how the qualification process will go. Pretending everything is OK for the competition is simply irresponsible."

In the meantime, he is happy criss-crossing the vast Japanese capital with bike and smartphone, joining a growing legion of Uber delivery staff in demand during the pandemic.

"When I get orders in the hilly Akasaka, Roppongi (downtown) district, it becomes good training," he smiles.

The unprecedented postponement of the Olympics hit Miyake hard, as he was enjoying a purple patch in his career.

After missing out on the Rio 2016 Olympics, Miyake came 13th in last year's World Fencing Championships -- the highest-ranked Japanese fencer at the competition.

The International Olympics Committee has set the new date for the Olympics on July 23, 2021.

But with no vaccine available for the coronavirus that has killed nearly 300,000 worldwide, even that hangs in the balance.

Miyake said the Japanese fencing team heard about the postponement the day after arriving in the United States for one of the final Olympic qualifying events.

With his diary suddenly free of training and competition, he said he spent the month of April agonising over what to do before hitting on the Uber idea.

"Sports and culture inevitably come second when people have to survive a crisis," he said.

"Is the Olympics really needed in the first place? Then what do I live for if not for the sport? That is what I kept thinking."

However, the new and temporary career delivering food in Tokyo has given the fencer a new drive to succeed.

"The most immediate objective for me is to be able to start training smoothly" once the emergency is lifted, he said.

"I need to be ready physically and financially for the moment. That is my biggest mission now."

But not all athletes may cope mentally with surviving another "nerve-wracking" pre-Olympic year, he said.

"It's like finally getting to the end of a 42-kilometre marathon and then being told you have to keep going."

As a child, Miyake practised his attacks on every wall of his house -- and he said his passion for the sport was what was driving him now.

"I love fencing. I want to be able to travel for matches and compete in the Olympics. That is the only reason I am doing this."

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Atlanta, Jan 9: Top tennis stars like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Serena Williams will be playing an exhibition match to raise funds for Australia's bushfire relief.

Apart from these three, Naomi Osaka, Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas have also confirmed their availability for the match, CNN reported.

The match will be played on January 15 at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena. The Australian Open Rally for Relief will be donating the proceedings from the ticket sales to the bushfire relief efforts.

Tennis star Maria Sharapova had also announced on Wednesday that she had left 10 signed pairs of her tennis shoes in her Brisbane hotel that members of the public could buy with a donation to the Australian Red Cross.

"Brisbane, I have signed ten pairs of my tennis shoes, left them at the @BrisbaneTennis
desk at the Westin Hotel, alongside a donation envelope for fire rescue efforts.They're yours to keep,we just ask you to donate AUD 300 a pair. All money going directly to Red Cross," Sharapova tweeted.

Earlier, former Australian spinner Shane Warne on Monday had announced to auction his Baggy Green cap to raise funds for victims of devastating bushfires in Australia.

Taking to Twitter, Warne made the announcement and posted a statement.

"The horrific bushfires in Australia have left us all in disbelief. The impact these devastating fires are having on so many people is unthinkable and has touched us all. Lives have been lost, homes have been destroyed and over 500 million animals have died too," Warne wrote.

"Everyone is in this together and we continue to find ways to contribute and help on a daily basis. This has led me to auction my beloved baggy green cap (350) that I wore throughout my Test career," he added.

Warne joined a growing list of cricketers to raise money for the bushfire victims. Australian players Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell and D'Arcy Short have already announced that they will donate AUD 250 each for every six they hit in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) to support bushfire victims.

Athletes from other sports too joined the movement as tennis stars Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic decided to donate 25,000 dollars each for Australia's bushfire relief fund.

Wildfires have been raging across Australia for months, killing 23 people, burning about 6 million hectares (23,000 square miles) of bushland and killing a billion animals.

Naval and air rescue operations were launched on Friday as mass evacuations of towns at risk of being engulfed by flames got underway.b

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: India captain Virat Kohli has refrained from making any comments on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), without gaining full knowledge on the sensitive subject.

The CAA will grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of residence in India instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

In 2016, Kohli had termed demonetisation as the "greatest move in history of Indian politics", which met with sharp criticism from a lot of quarters, with people questioning his knowledge on the subject.

With Guwahati witnessing massive protests against the CAA till some days back, Kohli was asked about it and the Indian skipper weighed his words carefully.

"On the issue, I do not want to be irresponsible and speak on something that has, you know, radical opinions both sides. I need to have total information, total knowledge of what it means and what is going on and then be responsible to give my opinion on it," Kohli said ahead of India's first T20 International against Sri Lanka.

The skipper made it clear that he will not like to get embroiled in a controversy by commenting on a subject that he is not well aware of.

"Because you can say one thing and then someone can say another thing. So, I would not like to get involved in something that I don't have total knowledge of and it's not going to be responsible on my part to comment on it." However Kohli on his part was happy with the security arrangements and felt that the city is "absolutely safe".

"The city is absolutely safe. We didn't see any problems on the roads," Kohli said, giving his thumbs-up for the match at the Barsapara Stadium.

The Assam Cricket Association is using this match as a "curtain-raiser" ahead of their maiden IPL match this season as Rajasthan Royals have adopted this venue.

There has been deployment of Rapid Action Force for the teams and ACA secretary Devajit Saikia has said the spectators will not even be allowed to bring along handkerchiefs and towels on the match-day as the traditional Assamese scarf was used for protests against CAA.

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