Lionel Messi says golden ball award means 'nothing' after Germany kill his World Cup dream

July 15, 2014

Lionel Messi

Buenos Aires, Jul 15: Lionel Messi on Monday night revealed the full depth of his anger and devastation at failing to crown his career by winning Sunday’s World Cup final amid a bizarre row about him being awarded the tournament’s ‘golden ball’.

Just minutes after Germany had beaten Argentina to become the first European nation to lift the World Cup on South American soil, a clearly distraught Messi was obliged to collect the individual Fifa award for the best player of the competition.

The ‘golden ball’ decision was made by Fifa’s supposedly expert Technical Study Group but there was still general shock that it did not go to either Colombia’s James Rodriguez or one of Germany’s new team of world champions. Messi said that the award meant “nothing” as he digested the cost of missing a clear chance to win the World Cup for Argentina in the second half of Sunday’s final. There is a theory that Messi can never reach the same elevated status in football as Pele or Maradona without winning the World Cup and, given that he will be in his thirties by the time of the tournament in Russia in 2018, his best chance may now have passed.

“I’m very hurt at not being able to bring the Cup to Argentina,” Messi said. “I am very angry at the way we lost, so close to the penalties, especially as we had the best chances. I do not care about the ‘golden ball’. I am just upset by the wasted chances.

“We had the best chances, with [Gonzalo] Higuain, mine and [Rodrigo] Palacios. We knew we could not dominate the game but we knew what we wanted to do.

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PV Sindhu cruises to quarterfinals of Malaysia Masters

Agencies

January 9,2020

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 9: BWF World Championships defending champion PV Sindhu on Thursday cruised to the quarterfinals of the ongoing Malaysia Masters after winning a second-round match.

The 24-year-old had the upper hand in the clash and thrashed Japan's Aya Ohori in straight games 21-10, 21-15 that lasted for 34-minute. The world number six will now play in her quarterfinal match on January 10.

Earlier in the day, Saina Nehwal defeated South Korea's An Se Young 25-23, 21-12 in 38 minutes. The first game saw back and forth action between both shuttlers. In the end, Nehwal kept her cool to win the match.

On Wednesday, the 29-year-old had outclassed Belgium's Lianne Tan 21-15, 21-17 to progress to the pre-quarterfinals.

Shuttlers Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth crashed out of the tournament after losing their matches to Japan's Kento Momota and Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei respectively.

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Virat Kohli only Indian again in Forbes' list of highest-paid athletes

News Network

May 30,2020

New York, May 30: Cricket superstar Virat Kohli remains the only Indian in the Forbes' list of world's highest-paid athletes with total earnings of USD 26 million, jumping to the 66th spot from 100 in the 2020 standings.

Kohli's earnings from endorsement stand at USD 24 million and USD 2 million from salary/winnings. The 31-year-old is also the only cricketer in the top-100 list.

With earnings of USD 25 million, Kohli was ranked 100th in 2019 and 83rd in 2018 with USD 24 million.

Tennis legend Roger Federer has toped the list for the first time with earnings of USD 106.3 million, rising from fifth place last year.

Football icons Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are second and third respectively with earnings of USD 105 and USD 104 million.

The others in the top-10 are Neymar (football), LeBron James (basketball), Stephen Curry (basketball), Kevin Durrant (basketball), Tigers Woods (golf), Kirk Cousins (American football) and Carson Wentz (American football).

The athletes' earnings have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic which led to suspension of sporting activities all around the world.

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Saina Nehwal is the only Indian to feature in the world’s 20 most charitable athletes, as per a list compiled by the US based website in Athletes Gone Good.