Ronaldo, Messi and Mbappe on FIFA player of the year shortlist

Agencies
July 25, 2018

Zurich, Jul 25: France's World Cup star Kylian Mbappe joined regulars Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi on the shortlist for The Best FIFA Men's player award, world soccer's governing body announced on Tuesday.

Ronaldo, who has won the award for the last two years, helped Real Madrid claim a third consecutive Champions League crown before securing a close season transfer to Juventus.

Argentine forward Messi topped the scoring charts with 34 goals in Barcelona's third La Liga title win in the last four seasons.

The 19-year-old Mbappe followed up a domestic treble with Paris St Germain with a string of impressive performances in France's World Cup winning campaign.

He became only the second teenager after Pele to score in a World Cup final as France powered past Croatia 4-2 to win the sport's top prize for the second time, 20 years after their first triumph.

Mbappe was joined by compatriot Antoine Griezmann and Raphael Varane on the 10-man shortlist.

France coach Didier Deschamps and former Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane head the nominees for the men's coach of the year award.

England manager Gareth Southgate was also named on the shortlist after guiding the national team to a first World Cup semi-final in 28 years.

Four women and six men are part of the 10-candidate list for the women's coach of the year award.

The nominations include Asako Takakura, who guided Japan to the Women's Asian Cup title and Reynald Pedros, whose Olympique Lyonnais won a third consecutive Champions League and the French league title.

England full back Lucy Bronze, who won the European crown in her first season with Lyon, was nominated for the women's player of the year.

The 26-year-old is one of six Lyon players on the shortlist, featuring alongside Ada Hegerberg, Saki Kumagai, Dzsenifer Marozsan and French duo Amandine Henry and Wendie Renard.

The three finalists for each award will be revealed at a later date, with the winners to be announced in a ceremony in London on Sept. 24.

The Best FIFA Men's Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Real Madrid/Juventus); Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium/Manchester City); Antoine Griezmann (France/Atletico Madrid); Eden Hazard (Belgium/Chelsea); Harry Kane (England/Tottenham Hotspur); Kylian Mbappe (France/Paris Saint-Germain); Lionel Messi (Argentina/Barcelona); Luka Modric (Croatia/Real Madrid); Mohammed Salah (Egypt/Liverpool); Raphael Varane (France/Real Madrid).

The Best FIFA Women's Player: Lucy Bronze (England/Olympique Lyonnais); Pernille Harder (Denmark/VfL Wolfsburg); Ada Hegerberg (Norway/Olympique Lyonnais); Amandine Henry (France/Olympique Lyonnais); Samantha Kerr (Australia/Sky Blue FC/Perth Glory FC/Chicago Red Stars); Saki Kumagai (Japan/Olympique Lyonnais); Dzsenifer Marozsan (Germany/Olympique Lyonnais); Marta (Brazil/Orlando Pride); Megan Rapinoe (USA/Seattle Reign); Wendie Renard (France/Olympique Lyonnais).

The Best FIFA Men's Coach: Massimiliano Allegri (Italy/Juventus); Stanislav Cherchesov (Russia/Russian national team); Zlatko Dalic (Croatia/Croatian national team); Didier Deschamps (France/France national team); Pep Guardiola (Spain/Manchester City); Juergen Klopp (Germany/Liverpool); Roberto Martinez (Spain/Belgian national team); Diego Simeone (Argentina/Atletico Madrid); Gareth Southgate (England/English national team); Ernesto Valverde (Spain/Barcelona); Zinedine Zidane (France/Real Madrid).

The Best FIFA Women's Coach: Emma Hayes (England/Chelsea Women); Stephan Lerch (Germany/VfL Wolfsburg); Mark Parsons (England/Portland Thorns); Reynald Pedros (France/Olympique Lyonnais); Alen Stajcic (Australia/Australian national team); Asako Takakura (Japan/Japanese national team); Vadao (Brazil/Brazilian national team); Jorge Vilda (Spain/Spanish national team); Martina Voss-Tecklenburg (Germany/Swiss national team); Sarina Wiegman (The Netherlands/Dutch national team).

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Agencies
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11 Congress's performance touched a record low in the Delhi Assembly election as the party bagged less than 5 per cent of the total votes polled and 63 of its candidates lost their deposits.

The party, which ruled Delhi for 15 years on the trot under former Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, failed to open its account for the second consecutive assembly election in Delhi.

Only three of its candidates Arvinder Singh Lovely from Gandhi Nagar, Devender Yadav from Badli and Abhishek Dutt from Kasturba Nagar managed to save their deposits.

Security deposit of a candidate is forfeited if he/she fails to secure one-sixth of the total valid votes cast in a constituency.

Most of Congress candidates got less than 5 per cent of the total votes polled in their respective constituencies.

Delhi Congress chief Shubhash Chopra's daughter Shivani Chopra, who was the party candidate from Kalkaji, also could not save her deposit.

Former Delhi Assembly Speaker Yoganand Shastri's daughter Priyanka Singh also forfeited her deposit.

The party's campaign committee chairman Kirti Azad's wife, Poonam Azad, lost badly and stood fourth, polling only 2,604 (2.23) votes.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

New Delhi, Aug 6: The BCCI on Thursday suspended the IPL title sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone company Vivo for the event's upcoming edition amid heightened tensions in Sino-India diplomatic ties.

The BCCI sent out a one-line statement, without giving details, saying that Vivo would not be associated with the IPL this year. "The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd have decided to suspend their partnership for Indian Premier League in 2020," the statement said.

Meanwhile, Vivo released its own statement saying that the two entities "have mutually decided to pause their partnership for the 2020 season".

Vivo won the IPL title sponsorship rights for five years from 2018 to 2022 for a reported sum of Rs 2,190 crore, approximately Rs 440 crore per annum.

The two parties are now working out a plan in which Vivo might come back for a fresh three-year period starting 2021 on revised terms.

However, a top BCCI official offered a different view. "Here we are talking about diplomatic tensions and you expect that after November, when IPL ends and before the next IPL starts in April 2021, there would be no anti-China sentiment? Are we serious?" a veteran BCCI official said on conditions of anonymity.

The anti-China sentiment in the country peaked after the violent face-off between the Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. India lost 20 soldiers in the clash, while China also acknowledged unspecified casualties.

The stand-off at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) caused outrage across India with several calls for boycotts of Chinese companies and products.

The BCCI is now likely to float a tender for new IPL title sponsors as mandated by its constitution. The glitzy T20 league starts on Sept. 19 in the UAE, forced out of India due to the rising COVID-19 cases.

The new development is in stark contrast to what came out of Sunday's IPL's Governing Council meeting, where it was decided that Vivo, along with all the other sponsors, will remain on board.

This was after the BCCI had announced in June that all sponsorship deals pertaining to IPL will be reviewed in the aftermath of the clash in the Galwan Valley.

However, after Sunday's meeting, there was a huge backlash on social media about the BCCI holding on to Vivo.

Both parties then began thrashing out an amicable separation plan, at least for this season.

However, the end of this deal could spell losses for the franchises as they get a substantial share from the sponsorship pool. Half of the annual Vivo sponsorship money is distributed equally among eight franchises, which comes to Rs 27.5 crore.

"As of now, it will be very difficult for the BCCI to match the sponsorship amount at such short notice. Therefore, both BCCI and the franchises should be prepared to lose out on some money -- BCCI more but each franchise from Vivo's exit will potentially lose 15 crore," the official said.

"This year will be difficult for everyone but the show must go on," the official said.

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News Network
March 18,2020

Washington, Mar 18: Hundreds of distressed Indian students, stuck in the Philippines, are seeking help through video messages as they are unable to fly back home due to the travel restrictions imposed by India to contain the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus, according to friends and relatives of some of these students in the US.

The Indian government on Tuesday banned the entry of passengers from Afghanistan, Philippines and Malaysia to India with immediate effect amid stepped up efforts against the spread of COVID-19.

In a video message by one of these students Akhil Bala Nair, around 200 Indian students had booked their flight tickets for India in the next few days. But all of them have been cancelled due to the new policy.

Most of the students, she said, had booked their flights for March 17 and rest were schedule to travel to India on March 19 and 20. But the flights were cancelled and scores of Indian students are now stuck at the airport in Manila, Nair said in the video message sent to Prem Bhandari, head of the Jaipur Foot USA.

“It is need of the hour that the Indian government send a plane to bring these Indian students back home,” Bhandari, who in the past has worked for the cause of the Indian diaspora, and who was approached by these students told PTI.

According to these students, some 100 of them have been at the airport since Tuesday.

They all have confirmed tickets but the airport authorities are not allowing them to check in because of the new travel regulations.

While the airport authorities have asked them to go back to their respective place of residence, the students said they were unable to travel because of the absence of local taxi or shared ride services.

The students said that they are running out of time as the Philippines government has given them 72 hours time to exit the country, which started from March 16, after which the country will go into lockdown.

“This means we would not be able to travel anywhere outside Philippines after March 20,” Nair said in her message.

The students said that there are many of them who have applied for renewal of their visas and are unable to travel to India.

There are nearly 1,000 Indian students presently in Manila who are willing to travel back home, they said.

Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy in Manila, in a tweet, said that they, along with the Ministry of External Affairs, are trying to work out a solution.

“It is requested to all to kindly have patience,” the embassy said.

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