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Lionel Messi weighs in on why Leicester City's win is so important for football

May 3, 2016

May 3: Lionel Messi spoke for the great and the good of world soccer, not to mention millions of grassroots fans, when he acclaimed Leicester City's extraordinary Premier League triumph by tweeting: "The reason why we all love football. Congratulations"

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FIFA president Gianni Infantino echoed the most common and apt description of the "beautiful story" as a "fairytale" after the 5,000-1 outsiders, who performed a miraculous escape from relegation last season, were crowned champions on Monday. Leicester's first top-flight title was secured after their only remaining challengers Tottenham Hotspur were held to a 2-2 draw at Chelsea when needing to win to keep the race alive.

Real Madrid's former Spurs player Gareth Bale, whose side are battling with Messi's Barcelona and Atletico Madrid for the Spanish title, took a similar view.

"Gutted for @SpursOfficial but congrats to @LCFC, amazing season!! Love Football," the Welshman tweeted. Ex-Leicester and England striker Gary Lineker said: "Leicester City have won the Premier League. The biggest sporting shock of my lifetime, and it's only my team." TV presenter Lineker had promised to front BBC's Match of the Day in his underpants if his old club won it but few people thought he would ever have to go through with it, even when they opened a seven-point lead with two months remaining.

"All season long people kept saying they'll lose the next one, lose the next one but they kept winning and churning out results," said Chelsea skipper John Terry after the outgoing champions' fightback from 2-0 down ended Spurs' hopes.

"To do what they've done this year has been unbelievable and given hope to the smaller teams."

Chelsea fans, who have a soft spot for Ranieri despite him being sacked 12 years ago after owner Roman Abramovich arrived, chanted his name as the clock ticked down on his first top-flight title in nearly 30 years of coaching around Europe. "It's an amazing feeling and I'm so happy for everyone," said 64-year-old Ranieri, who was appointed before the start of the season to succeed Nigel Pearson. "I never expected this when I arrived. I'm a pragmatic man, I just wanted to win match after match and help my players to improve week after week. Never did I think too much about where it would take us.

"The players have been fantastic. Their focus, their determination, their spirit has made this possible. Every game they fight for each other and I love to see this in my players. They deserve to be champions."

His squad gathered to watch the game at the home of striker Jamie Vardy, named Footballer of the Year earlier on Monday, and video phone footage posted by defender Christian Fuchs showed them exploding with joy at the final whistle.

Captain Wes Morgan, the personification of their astonishing 12-month transformation, said it was their indomitable team spirit that saw them through. "Everyone's worked so hard for this, nobody believed we could do it, but here we are, Premier League champions and deservedly so," Morgan told the club website (www.lcfc.com).

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Morgan, who spent 10 years in the lower divisions with Nottingham Forest and tasted the Premier League for the first time aged 30 last season, added: "I've never known a spirit like the one between these boys. We're like brothers. People saw it last season when everyone expected us to be relegated, but we fought back to prove people wrong.

"We've built on the momentum, but I don't think anyone believed it would come to this.

"Saturday can't come quickly enough. I can't wait to get my hands on the trophy," added the centre back, who will hoist it in front of the club's fans in the home game against Everton. Vardy, who has been transformed from a shot-shy striker last season into an England international, said: "It's the biggest achievement in the history of a great club and we all feel privileged to be part of it.

"It's even more special to have done it with these lads. Every minute of hard work we've put in on the training pitch has been worth it for this moment." Midfielder Andy King added: "I thought I'd seen everything with this club, but I never thought I'd see this.

"The story of where this team has come from to get to this point has been all over the world recently and I think the lads deserve great credit for the way they've taken it in their stride, stayed focused and kept delivering results -- especially with a great side like Spurs chasing us so hard."

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, who must have thought the race would go into the final two games when his side led 2-0 at halftime on Monday, said: "First of all I congratulate Leicester and Claudio Ranieri and his players and supporters. It was a massive season for them -- we just need to be stronger next season."

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany said: "Congratulations to the new Champions of England, Leicester City. Respect."

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News Network
April 27,2020

Lahore, Apr 27: Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal has been banned from all forms of cricket for three years for failing to report spot-fixing offers, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced Monday.

Umar, who turns 30 next month, pleaded guilty to not reporting the fixing offers which led to his provisional suspension on February 20 this year.

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News Network
May 11,2020

Mumbai, May 11: The French Open, which was postponed to September from May due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, could be held without fans, the organisers of the claycourt Grand Slam have said.

Roland Garros had been scheduled for May 24 to June 7 before the French tennis federation (FFT) pushed it back to Sept. 20-Oct 4 in a bid to save the tournament from falling victim to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week the FFT said all tickets purchased for this year's French Open would be cancelled and reimbursed instead of being transferred.

"Organising it without fans would allow a part of the economy to keep turning, (like) television rights and partnerships. It's not to be overlooked," FFT President Bernard Giudicelli told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

"We're not ruling any option out."

The tennis season was suspended in early March due to the pandemic and the hiatus will continue at least until mid-July with many countries in lockdown.

Wimbledon has been cancelled while the status of the U.S. Open, scheduled to take place in late August, is still unclear.

COVID-19 Pandemic Tracker: 15 countries with the highest number of coronavirus cases, deaths

The FFT was widely criticised when they announced in mid-March that the French Open would be switched, with players bemoaning a lack of communication as the new dates clashed with the hardcourt season.

Organisers said last week they had been in talks with the sport's governing bodies to fine tune the calendar amid media reports that the Grand Slam tournament would be delayed further by a week and start on Sept. 27.

The delayed start would give players a two-week window between the end of the U.S. Open, played on the hardcourts of New York, and the Paris tournament.

"The 20th or the 27th, that does not change much," Giudicelli said.

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News Network
July 21,2020

Melbourne, Jul 21: Cricket Australia's chief executive Nick Hockley has said that the Indian players and staff will most likely be asked to face two weeks of quarantine before the four-match Test series.

This scenario will bring the Adelaide Oval and its newly constructed hotel firmly into view as the sort of biosecure bubble, ESPNCricinfo reported.

India and Australia are slated to face each other in a four-match Test series, which is to begin from December 4 at Brisbane.

"The two-week quarantine is pretty well-defined. What we are working on is making sure that even within that quarantine environment, the players have got the absolute best training facilities, so that their preparation for the matches is as optimal as it can possibly be," ESPNCricinfo quoted Hockey as saying.

"Certainly the fact that the Adelaide Oval has a hotel. It does provide a facility not dissimilar to Old Trafford or Ageas Bowl where the hotels are integrated into the venue," he added.

Hockley also said that an exacting standard of biosecurity and testing would be applied before the series against India as the coronavirus cases are spiking in the subcontinent.

"It's widely known and it's unlikely that international travel restrictions would have lifted by the time that India will be due to come into the country. Clearly there will be testing regimes. We will be able to test people before that they get on to the plane and it is the nature of the situation of making sure we have the quarantine arrangements in line with government and health authority protocols," Hockley said.

"The key thing for the players is that there's regular testing and that we appropriately quarantine them when they come in and all of those plans are currently in development," he added.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday announced the postponement of the T20 World Cup 2020 slated to be held in Australia from October 18-November 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Following the announcement, the BCCI is likely to go ahead with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October-November window. However, it is known where the T20 tournament will be played as cases continue to rise in India.
"I think the BCCI has made no secrets that they are considering what that means for the IPL. For us, it's about getting a bit of an understanding and certainty around what that means. Clearly, in a normal course, some of our best players are obviously top picks for those IPL teams," Hockley said.

"It's a bit premature to speculate on that. We need to understand what the plans are if any and once we understand that we will make decisions accordingly," he added.

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