A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday.
"We had a crazy coach who gave us instructions and motivated us strongly during halftime," Saudi Arabia midfielder Abdel-Ilah al-Maliki told Al-Kass TV station after the win over Argentina.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
London Olympics bronze medallist M C Mary Kom was on Monday voted the 'Most Valuable Player' of India's campaign at the Incheon Asian Games, at a felicitation for the medal winners by the contingent sponsors, Samsung India.
Besides, the BAI also recommended renowned National Institute of Sports (NIS)-certified coaches -- S Murlidharan and Bhaskar Babu -- for the Dronacharya Award.
The Sports Ministry dropped para-sports coach Satyanarayana from the list of this year's Dronacharya awardees due to a criminal case pending against him, but made no changes to the names recommended for the Khel Ratna and Arjuna awards.
Djokovic was deported from Australia, just hours after the court dismissed his effort to stay in the country to play at the Australian Open
Sadaf Khadem beat a French boxer, Anne Chauvin, in the bout, which took place in western France on Saturday.
Having headed into the match tied on 47 league goals with West Ham's former stalwart Paolo Di Canio, Antonio was delighted to have surpassed the Italian as he celebrated by lifting a cardboard cut-out of himself at the side of the pitch.
On Sunday the Ukrainian Tennis Federation urged the sport's governing body the International Tennis Federation (ITF) to immediately expel Russia and Belarus from the organisation and ban Russia from team and individual tournaments. Also, athletes from Ukraine and other nations have called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend Russia and Belarus and ban their athletes from events immediately.
Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the Paris Masters ahead of the tournament's start on Monday for "personal reasons", the French Tennis Federation announced on Friday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Tennis great and founder of the WTA Billie Jean King was among those who applauded the announcement.
Chirag and Satwik had a successful 2019, when the duo won a maiden Super 500 title at Thailand Open and then reached the finals of the French Open Super 750 event. Their consistent show was rewarded with a world No. 10 spot.
Indian freestyle wrestlers claim Asian team title in U-17 category
Sania Mirza was recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award on Tuesday. She is only the second tennis player ever to be named for the country's highest sporting honour.
The 2020 international calendar concluded with the three tournaments in the Asia leg which was conducted in Bangkok in successive weeks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the football hooligan violence at Euro 2016 a "disgrace" but questioned how Russian fans could have overpowered a far larger contingent of English supporters. "The fighting between Russian fans with the English, that is a disgrace," he said at Russia's annual economic forum in Saint Petersburg. "But I truly don't understand how 200 of our fans could beat up several thousand English," he said, to laughs and applause from the audience.
News of all that transpired on and off the football field.
The French envoy was notified about "discrimination" towards Russian citizens, it said, adding that "further fanning of anti-Russian sentiments" could damage relations between France and Russia.
India has been battling a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that has forced many countries to ban travellers from India.
'Somehow the Flying Sikh has endured in people's memory.'
European soccer's governing body, UEFA, launched disciplinary proceedings against the Russian Football Union on Sunday after violence marred the end of Russia's Euro 2016 match against England in Marseille on Saturday evening.
The bout will take place in western France on Saturday after the 24-year-old met with Frenchman Mahyar Monshipour, an Iranian-born former super bantamweight world champion.
Rafael Nadal said on Saturday "too many questions" still needed to be answered concerning Novak Djokovic's bid to play at the Australian Open, while other leading players lamented how the saga had overshadowed the year's first Grand Slam.
Tennis World No. 1 Novak Djokovic spent Orthodox Christmas in Australian immigration detention on Friday as his lawyers fought a government decision to remove him from the country that could scupper his shot at a record-breaking 21st Grand Slam.
World men's tennis No. 1 Novak Djokovic headed reluctantly home on Monday after being kicked out of Australia because of his COVID-19 unvaccinated status, but the government left the door open for a possible return to his favourite Grand Slam in 2023.
Away fans will be banned from attending Ligue 1 clashes between Olympique Marseille and Paris St Germain, the French interior ministry said on Thursday, citing security reasons following a history of violent clashes between supporters of the clubs.
Paris' Champs Elysee avenue will be pedestrianised on Sunday evening and wearing face masks will be compulsory, officials said on the eve of Paris St Germain taking on Bayern Munich in soccer's Champions League final.
Ukraine's state security service said on Monday a French citizen detained in late May on the border with Poland had been planning attacks in France to coincide with the Euro 2016 soccer championship it is hosting. The Ukrainian border guard service reported on Saturday that the unnamed 25-year-old had been arrested with an arsenal of weapons and explosives including rocket launchers and Kalashnikov assault rifles in his vehicle. SBU chief Vasyl Hrytsak said the man had made contact with armed groups in Ukraine with the aim of buying weapons and explosives. In Paris, a French police source said a raid on the suspect's home in France had uncovered ingredients for homemade explosives. His intended targets included Jewish and Muslim places of worship and buildings involved with the soccer tournament, Hrytsak said. French government administration buildings, including those dealing with tax collection, were also a target "The Frenchman spoke negatively about his government's actions, mass immigration, the spread of Islam and globalisation, and also talked about plans to carry out several terrorist attacks," Hrytsak told journalists.
England supporters at the 2016 European Championship said he and other fans had been warned by police
'I am uncomfortable that the focus of the past weeks has been on me and I hope that we can all now focus on the game and the tournament I love'
India is ready, after battling the pandemic for two years, to travel once again.
France launched an app to alert users to attacks on Wednesday, two days before the Euro 2016 soccer championship gets underway under a state of emergency imposed after militant Islamists struck Paris in November. The Interior Ministry app, called SAIP, flashes a warning on a user's mobile phone screen if there is an attack close to their location or suspicion of an imminent strike. Users can also request alerts for up to eight geographic areas, including individual districts in the capital. First impressions on social media were mixed.
International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach is arriving in India on April 26.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Saina Nehwal has gained a place to be fifth in the latest Badminton World Federation women's singles rankings released on Thursday.
European soccer's governing body warned the English and Russian football associations on Sunday that if fan violence continued their teams could be disqualified from the Euro 2016 tournament.
'The Olympic Spirit has been thrown to the wind in Xi Jinping's China.' 'The International Olympic Committee is ready to kowtow to totalitarian China,' notes Claude Arpi.
Paris' police chief said on Monday he would be receiving thousands of reinforcements ahead of the Euro 2016 soccer tournament and that his force was as prepared as it could be to face the risk of a militant attack in the French capital.
