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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June 10,2020

Jun 10: "It is never too late to fight for the right cause," said opening batsman Chris Gayle as he came out in support of former T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy. The debate around racism in sport has kickstarted once again after former Windies T20 World Cup-winning skipper Darren Sammy alleged racism during his stint with SunRisers Hyderabad in the 2014 Indian Premier League. Taking note of Sammy's revelation, Gayle tweeted: "It's never too late to fight for the right cause or what you've experienced over the years! So much more to your story, @darensammy88. Like I said, it's in the game".

Earlier, Gayle had also revealed that he too has been a victim of racism, and added that racism is something that has been bothering cricket as well.

On Tuesday, Sammy had released a video specifying that the racial slurs against him were used within the SunRisers camp.

"I have played all over the world and I have been loved by many people, I have embraced all dressing rooms where I have played, so I was listening to Hasan Minhaj as to how some of the people in his culture describe black people," Sammy said in a video posted on his Instagram account.

"This does not apply to all people, so after I found out a meaning of a certain word, I had said I was angry on finding out the meaning and it was degrading, instantly I remembered when I played for SunRisers Hyderabad, I was being called exactly the same word which is degrading to us black people," he added.

Sammy said that at the time when he was being called with the word, he didn't know the meaning, and his team-mates used to laugh every time after calling him by that name.

"I will be messaging those people, you guys know who you are, I must admit at that time when I was being called as that word I thought the word meant strong stallion or whatever it is, I did not know what it meant, every time I was called with that word, there was laughter at that moment, I thought teammates are laughing so it must be something funny," Sammy said.

The former Windies skipper has been a vocal supporter of the protests that are currently going on in the United States over the death of an African-American man named George Floyd.

Sammy had also made an appeal to the ICC and other cricket boards to support the fight against social injustice and racism.

Ever since the demise of Floyd, protests erupted from the demonstrations in cities from San Francisco to Boston.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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January 31,2020

Wellington, Jan 31: A nervous New Zealand threw it away yet again as a perseverant India prevailed in the Super Over for the second successive time to take a 4-0 lead in the T20 International series on Friday.

Needing just 11 runs off the last two overs with seven wickets in hand, New Zealand dug a hole for themselves yet again, taking the game to a Super Over two nights after doing the same in Hamilton.

New Zealand managed 13 runs in six balls and India got there effortlessly.

KL Rahul smashed 10 runs off the first two balls before he was caught. Then, a fired-up Virat Kohli and Sanju Samson finished the game in style.

Earlier, Manish Pandey proved his value to the team with an unbeaten 50 off 35 balls, taking India to 165 for eight from 88 for six in the 12th over.

India's total wasn't enough considering the batting-friendly conditions but the hosts made life a lot tougher for themselves from a commanding position before succumbing to pressure.

The entertaining knocks from Colin Munro (64 off 47) and Time Seifert went in vain (57 off 39).

Mohammed Shami, who was rested on Friday, had bowled a brilliant 20th over on Wednesday and man of the match Shardul Thakur was up to the task this time, conceding just six runs when the opposition needed seven for victory.

With the series already in the bag, India gave opportunity to Sanju Samson, Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini for the first time in the five-match series, resting Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Shami. However, none of them was able to make an impact in the game.

Chasing 165, New Zealand lost Martin Guptill early. But Munro and Seifert put on 74 runs for the second wicket to put themselves on track.

Munro scored a half-century of 38 deliveries, inclusive of six fours and three sixes. He was out against the run of play as Kohli's direct hit surprisingly found the target after a relay throw from the deep.

It was the turning point as New Zealand lost regular wickets. Yuzvendra Chahal bowled Tom Bruce (0), but Seifert found a partner in Ross Taylor as they pushed the score past 150 in the 18th over.

Seifert scored a half-century off 32 balls, including four fours and three sixes. But the great choke was yet to come again. Needing 18 off 18, the Black Caps lost four wickets in the last over bowled by Thakur.

Taylor holed out of the first ball, while Seifert was run out two balls later. Daryl Mitchell (4) was caught next and Mitchell Santner (2) couldn't steal two runs off the last ball as the sides engaged in a tie-breaker for the second game running.

This was after New Zealand won a fourth consecutive toss and opted to field. Kane Williamson didn't take part in the match owing to a shoulder niggle.

Tim Southee was the stand-in skipper, with the Black Caps making two changes.

Put in to bat, the visitors were struggling at 88-6 at one stage before Pandey's lonesome rescue act took them to a respectable total. KL Rahul contributed 39 runs off 26 balls, inclusive of three sixes and two fours.

Leg spinner Ish Sodhi got into the act and ran through India's batting order. First to go was Shreyas Iyer (1) and then Shivam Dube (12) was caught at mid-wicket.

Sodhi finished with 3-26 while Santner dismissed Sundar for nought as the New Zealand spinners rounded up a good outing with 4-54 in eight overs.

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