Month: August 2023

Knight: Pay rises ‘pleasing’ but more investment to come

After reports emerged last night claiming that Ansu Fati was willing to listen to offers to leave FC Barcelona, it appears like things are moving quite swiftly, with Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea emerging as possible options.
The 20-year-old forward was adamant about staying put at Barça and turning his situation around, but has now seemingly accepted that a move away could be the best option for everyone involved.
Barça do not wish to lose control of him entirely, and as such, it will likely be a loan departure, with the chances of him leaving being very high at this point.
Now, Fabrizio Romano is reporting that Tottenham Hotspur have already made their move and are already in contact with Barcelona over a loan deal for Ansu Fati.
The Lilywhites have not adequately replaced the departed Harry Kane and are looking for attacking reinforcements, with the La Masia wonderkid emerging as an option.
Discussions are understood to be underway between the two clubs regarding the loan operation, with Barcelona wanting Tottenham to cover Ansus total salary for the season.
While things appear to be moving forward with Tottenham, fellow Premier League giants Chelsea also remain in the picture for Fatis signing.
The Blues are also on the lookout for attacking reinforcements and had been linked with Barcelona duo Ferran Torres and Raphinha before the interest in Fati materialised.
The update from Romano adds that Chelsea have been presented with an opportunity to sign Fati, whose market value stands at 35 million, but there has been no formal approach from their side as of yet.
So, it would appear that Tottenham have a slight edge as far as Fatis pursuit is concerned, although it remains to be seen whether they are successful in signing the Barcelona attacking prodigy.

Newly-crowned world champion Neeraj Chopra will look to maintain his unbeaten streak in the prestigious Diamond League meet when he competes in a star-studded men’s javelin throw field here on Thursday.Chopra on Sunday clinched his maiden World Championships title in Budapest with a throw of 88.17m. He had won a silver medal in the 2022 edition.The Indian superstar also became only the third javelin thrower in history to hold both the Olympic and World Championships titles after world record holder Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic and Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway.Zelezny clinched the Olympics gold in 1992, 1996 and 2000 while winning the World Championships title in 1993, 1995 and 2001. Thorkildsen won the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics and the 2009 World Championships.
The 25-year-old Chopra has been unbeaten this season, having won two Diamond League meetings in Doha (May 5) and Lausanne (June 30) before his World Championships triumph.
In Zurich, where he is competing four days after being crowned world champion, Chopra will be up against familiar rivals like Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, bronze winner in Budapest with 86.67m, Julian Weber of Germany and two-time world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada.
Only Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, silver medallist in Budapest, will not be there in Zurich.
Chopra, who won the Diamond League final trophy last year, sits third with 16 points from two events. Vadlejch (21 points from three events) and Weber (19 from three events), who finished fourth in Budapest with 85.79m, are on top and at second place respectively.
Peters, who has been struggling this season and failed to qualify for the final round in the World Championships, is at fourth spot with 15 points from three events.
The Zurich leg is the last one in the Diamond League series where men’s javelin throw event is on the roster before the season finale in Eugene, USA on September 16-17 where the Diamond League champion will be crowned.
Only the top six in the points table will compete in Eugene. Chopra won the title in the 2022 finale held in Zurich.
Long jumper Murali Sreeshankar will also be in action and he would be looking to redeem himself after failing to qualify for the final round at the World Championships.
Sreeshankar, who has a season’s and personal best of 8.41m, jumped a below-par 7.74m to finish 22nd overall in the qualification round. He is currently third in the long jump standings of this Diamond League season, with 10 points from two events.
Olympic and world champion Miltiadis Tentoglou (Greece), Tajay Gayle and Carey McLeod (both Jamaica) will also be action. Gayle had won silver in Budapest with a jump of 8.27m.
Tentoglou, who won gold in the World Championships with 8.52m, is leading the Diamond League standings with 21 points from three events.

The Asia Cup might be a continental tournament in cricket but it’s biggest point of attraction remains the India vs Pakistan contest. With the two teams set to face each other, potentially on three occasions, fans are understandably enthralled. In fact, the India vs Pakistan contest remains the most talked about subject of the event. While comparisons between the two teams have been coming thick and heavy, former Pakistan star Salman Butt doesn’t feel the Indian team is as prepared for the challenge his compatriots.
In a video on his YouTube channel, Butt hailed the clarity that Pakistan have in terms of squad selection whereas the topic is a lot more open for the Indian team. For Butt, India’s team is a lot more fragile, especially considering some of the star players have been injured for a long time.
“If we look at India’s fast bowling, fitness is a concern. Players have been unfit for a long time, we don’t know if they are fragile, will they go full throttle. Apart from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, they have youngsters, who have played plenty of cricket but they don’t have that much of experience.
“India have won matches only when Rohit Sharma has played well or Virat Kohli has done something spectacular. When the onus is on others they have mostly struggled,” he said.
While the Indian team has quite a few match-winners, Butt finds the batting unit ‘brittle’. In comparison to Pakistan, Butt also feels India don’t have the sort of express pacers that Babar Azam’s side has.
“Pakistan have Babar, Rizwan, Fakhar, Shadab, Shaheen, Haris Rauf. And in my opinion, Pakistan have a much larger core group. India too have match-winners like Jadeja, Shami, Bumrah, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli. But their batting is brittle, if Pakistan pick the two big wickets then the others will have a lot to prove. They have not helped India win matches against Pakistan or in their own,” the former Pakistan captain opined.
“We have bowlers who can bowl at 90mph, only one or two can touch 90mph, others don’t have that much pace. This is an added advantage. We have both types of spinners, fast bowling all-rounder, and he too touches 140kph,” he said.
Butt also took a swipe at the IPL, saying no matter how much the Indian players grind themselves in the T20 league, it doesn’t bring the sort of pressure that a match against Pakistan does.
“There are plenty of expectations from India, hence the pressure is more. And since India have not played against Pakistan for a long time for whatever reasons, their players no matter how much IPL they’ve played, they don’t have the experience of playing in such a high-voltage clash. Chahe subah, dopahar, sham IPL khel le (no matter how much you play in the IPL) it does not bring the same pressure, which is during India-Pakistan series,” he said.

Australian cricketer David Warner found himself in an embarrassing situation recently during a compulsory security check at the Los Angeles airport.
The 37-year-old, who was recently in the United States with his wife Candice to attend the wedding of Australian actor Dominic Purcell with Miley Cyrus’ mother Tish Cyrus in Malibu, California on August 25, was returning back to Australia when he was stopped at the airport after the metal-detecting machine sensed something suspicious.
“David went through the first one where you walk through and it started beeping. So, they (security) then ushered him to the full body scanner. He puts his arms up and it beeps again,” Candie told a local radio station in Australia.
What happened next left everyone around in splits as those present could see a hotspot on the Australian cricketer’s private parts with results appearing on a computer that was attached to the machine.
“The security man came up to him and said, Look, we are going to have to sort this out. But I was left confused wondering what is going on downstairs or what is going on with my husbands package,” Candice added.
Warner was later cleared by security officials at the airport and the couple boarded the flight back home.
On the cricketing front, the left-hander has been selected in Australia’s preliminary squad for the ODI World Cup in India, starting on October 5. His immediate assignment is an ODI series against South Africa, starting on September 7.
Also read: Delhi Capitals recover stolen bats and equipment, culprits found