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Double Delight For Cristiano Ronaldo As Portuguese Star Welcomes Twins

Agencies
June 30, 2017

Jun 30: Portugal's superstar captain Cristiano Ronaldo revealed on Thursday he will not play in the FIFA Confederations Cup third-place match this weekend so he can finally meet his newborn twins.Rdino1

Hours after Wednesday's 3-0 semi-final defeat to Chile in a penalty shoot-out in Kazan, Ronaldo said he had been given permission to miss Sunday's play-off in Moscow, against either Germany or Mexico, and jetted off to meet his new arrivals. On Thursday, Ronaldo posted a picture on both Instagram and Facebook of him with a baby on each arm.

"So happy to be able to hold the two new loves of my life," he wrote.

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Ronaldo, 32, is believed to have fathered the twins with a surrogate mother in the United States.

He already has a seven-year-old son, Cristiano Ronaldo Jnr, who was also born using a surrogate mother.

According to the Portuguese press, the twins, Mateo and Eva, were born on June 8 and their mother, who lives on the west coast of the United States, received 200,000 euros ($228,610).

The four-time Ballon d'Or winner usually goes to great lengths to guard his privacy, but revealed he has become a father for the second time.

The Real Madrid forward says he gave his "body and soul" for his country in the semi-final, which finished goalless after extra time, "even though my two children were born".

"The President of the Portuguese Football Federation and the national coach have an attitude that has touched me and I will not forget," Ronaldo wrote on his official Facebook page.

"I'm very happy to finally be with my children for the first time."

At the same time, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) said in a statement that Ronaldo had been excused from playing the third-place play-off in Moscow.

FPF president Fernando Gomes and Portugal's head coach Fernando Santos decided to "free the player so that he can finally get to know his children".

According to the press in Portugal, Ronaldo could be set to expand his brood further in the coming months as his Spanish girlfriend, Georgina Rodriguez, 22, is reportedly pregnant.

As well as meeting his newborn babies, Ronaldo faces an uncertain future having threatened to leave Spain as he faces allegations of tax evasion, totalling 14.7 million euros, in a court in Madrid next month.

Ronaldo made himself unavailable to the press at the Confed Cup while his team-mates and Santos regularly fielded questions from journalists about their superstar.

The answer was always the same: "Ronaldo is a true professional and focused on helping Portugal at the tournament", which he did with two goals and an assist.

Having won man-of-the-match awards in each of their three Confed Cup group stage games, Ronaldo did not have his best match against Chile, whose defence managed to subdue the Real star.

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Agencies
March 25,2020

Lausanne, Mar 25: The World Archery has hailed as a 'brave decision' the International Olympic Committee (IOC) move to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympics until next year due to coronavirus pandemic.

"We commend the conscientious and brave decision taken by Tokyo 2020 and the International Olympic Committee to delay this summer's Games in the face of an unprecedented challenge to humanity," Ugur Erdener, the World Archery president, said in an official statement.

The decision to postpone the Summer Olympics was confirmed by the IOC, on Tuesday, after the organising body for the event and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to reschedule the quadrennial event in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"This is not an easy situation, especially for the athletes who had been training hard for Tokyo 2020. I hope that everyone understands why this decision has been made and I urge archers around the world to retain hope and reset for this new timetable," he added.

The IOC has, however, said that the original name of Tokyo 2020 will remain intact irrespective of the fact that it will take place next year.

The Tokyo Olympic Games were slated to be held from July 24 to August 9.

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News Network
May 30,2020

St John's, May 30: The Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Saturday announced a temporary 50 per cent reduction in salaries and cricket funding across the entire regional cricket system, effective from the start of July due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which resulted in the suspension of all the cricketing activities across the globe since March.

"This decision has been necessary in the face of debilitating economic challenges which have resulted from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. With no international cricket currently being played anywhere in the world, and with great uncertainty of when regular cricket activity will resume, CWI - like many other international sporting organisations worldwide - is facing a significant loss of income, whilst also being uncertain of the long-term impact of the crisis on our operations," the CWI said in a statement.

During Thursday's teleconference, CWI's Board of Directors received recommendations from the Financial Strategy Advisory Committee (FSAC). The FSAC was formed in April by CWI president Ricky Skerritt, to make recommendations on how CWI could best manage its resources in order to continue its core business over the next few months in view of the changing and uncertain economic environment created by the global pandemic COVID-19. These recommended measures followed close consultation with all stakeholders.

"Cricket is the beating heart of our region for many individuals, communities, and economies. This pandemic is hurting every West Indian and this decision to cut staff and player incomes has been a very difficult one to make; one that will impact so many members of the cricketing family around the Caribbean," Skerritt said.

"This business continuity plan, unfortunately, requires all stakeholders to make a huge sacrifice, but I am confident that it won't be long before CWI will be in a position to ensure that the sport we love can restart and be enjoyed once again by the thousands of cricket fans across the region and diaspora," he added.

CWI has kept staff, players, umpires and coaches on full-pay since the outbreak of COVID-19 and have tried our best to avoid any cuts for as long as possible. CWI hopes that these temporary measures will only be in place for not more than three to six months. These measures will also include a 50 per cent reduction in funding for Territorial Boards, Territorial Board Franchises and WIPA, as well as a 50 per cent cut in all retainers and allowances for Directors and Executive management.

Earlier in the day, CWI gave its approval for a 'bio-secure' Test tour to England.

West Indies were first slated to play three Tests against England in June, but the original starting date of the series was pushed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is looking to go ahead with the series against West Indies in July and then the Three Lions will play three Tests against Pakistan.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: 'Your character stood out for me than the number of runs you scored," said India skipper Virat Kohli while explaining his decision to give opening Mayank Agarwal a Test debut in the 2018-19 Australia series.

Mayank Agarwal had made his Test debut against Australia in the third Test of the four-match series.

Playing the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Agarwal managed to register a half-century in his very first innings in the longest format.

"I had seen you play for RCB, even then you played international bowlers with conviction and you would take them on. You were performing in first-class matches in a dominating way. That is something always stood out with you, I would say your character stood out for me than the number of runs. I knew you would be fearless without having any baggage," Kohli told Mayank Agarwal in a video posted on the official website of BCCI.

In the longest format of the game, Agarwal has managed to score 974 runs from 11 matches at an average of 57.29 with three centuries as an opening batsman.

The Indian skipper also explained as to what makes him notice in a player and added that it is important that guys in the team look to face new challenges and emerge triumphantly.

"For me, the biggest marker is how a person approaches the game, so for example when you opened and we made Vihari open with you. The first opportunity we presented Vihari to open the batting, he said yes to it and that matters me to the most," Kohli said.

"I opened in my first series for India, I said yes to this opportunity and things worked out fine for me. So, a guy who wants to get into tough situations will come out either holding his head high or learning from his mistakes," he added.

Kohli and Mayank would soon be seen in action for Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab respectively in the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from September 19 in the UAE.

The comparisons between Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar keep on growing and many have picked the current Indian skipper to break the records set by Tendulkar.

Tendulkar called time on his career after registering 100 international centuries, while Kohli currently has 70 centuries across all formats.

At present, Kohli is ranked at the top spot in the ICC ODI rankings while he is in the second place in Tests rankings. Kohli has so far played 86 Tests, scoring 7,240 runs with 27 centuries at an average of 53.62.

His knock of 254 against South Africa at Pune in 2019 remains his highest Test score to date. When it comes to ODIs, the current Indian skipper has played 248 matches and has 43 centuries.

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