Category: Sports

On Sunday, as the controversy over COVID-19 protocols erupted, Argentina’s football team was sensationally abandoned shortly after kick-off from Brazil’s World Cup qualifying clash. The match between the two giants was halted when Brazilian health officials ran onto the pitch and triggered a melee that involved team officials and players from both sides.

The intervention came hours after the health authorities in Brazil said that four England-based players in Argentina’s team needed to be placed in “immediate quarantine” as they breached the COVID-19 protocols. According to Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency, four players provided “false information” upon their entry to Brazil. The premier league players who were accused are Giovani Lo Celso (Tottenham), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Emiliano Buendia (Aston Villa), and Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa). Lionel Messi, captain of the Argentina team along with his teammates trooped off the field as confusion reigned over the fate of the game. Later the game was suspended till further notice and CONMEBOL did not say if the match would be replayed or either team would forfeit the game.

The premier league players were accused of not disclosing the fact that they had spent time in the United Kingdom in the last 14 days prior to their arrival in Brazil. The laws are strict as the infection has claimed more than 580,000 lives across the nation.

Sadio Mane opened the scoring as Senegal beat Togo 2-0 in the homeland and earned three points. He earned the points in their opening Group H against Africa’s second round of World Cup qualifying which began on 1 September.

Mane played a neat one-two after blazing over the bar in the first half. Mane earned before poking home just before the end of the second half as the Liverpool star took full advantage of his full potential to represent his nation. He was not bothered about the threat of having to quarantine for 10 days after he returned to England. Throughout the game, Mane was lively in a game wrapped up when Abdou Diallo lashed home nine minutes before the end of the second half.

The victory is seen as revenge by the Senegalese as they could not beat Togo as the Sparrowhawks pipped them in the World Cup 2006 where they played against each other. On Tuesday, Senegal will travel to Congo and Togo will seek their first points at home to Namibia in the Sunday game. Meanwhile, the game ended 1-1 as the neighbors Guinea-Bissau and Guinea met in the World Cup qualifier. They will compete for the first time in 25 years.

On Sunday, Lionel Messi made his much awaited PSG debut with a 2-0 win. He came on as a substitute to make his Paris Saint-Germain debut but Kylian Mbappe stole the show. Mbappe scored both the goals in 2-0 win against the Reims in Ligue 1.

Messi was seen wearing his number 30 jersey, came off the bench in the 66th minute to replace Neymar at the Stade Auguste-Delaune. His fans chanted his name in the stadium with a crowd of 21,00 as he emerged to warm up. For its first goal with the new club, the six-time Ballon d’Or winner will have to wait. His first start will come when PSG hosts Clermont in its next match on September 11.

After Messi’s low key first appearance in a PSG shirt, PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino told the broadcaster Amazon Prime that he is very happy that Messi made his debut as it was very important for him. He said that Messi is still far away from his best form but his training is going well. He will be fit in the next two weeks after the international break and he is positive that the best will come from him.

Sumit Antil wins gold in the javelin throw at the Tokyo Paralympics. On Monday, he broke the world record thrice with three of his six javelin throws in the final at the Tokyo Games.

He threw the spear to 68.55m in his fifth attempt which was at quite a distance and a new world record. He broke his previous world record of 62.88m five times on the day. However, his last throw was a foul and his series read 66.95, 68.08, 65.27, 66.71, 68.55, and foul.

He is a 23-year-old from Sonepat in Haryana who lost his left leg below the knee in a motorbike accident in 2015. Antil became the World No. 1 in the F64 category after he won India’s second gold medal in Tokyo and the first in athletics. F64 category is for the athletes with a leg amputation who compete in the game with a prosthetic in a standing position. This was India’s 7th medal in the Tokyo Paralympics.

Australian Michal Burian won the silver medal for 66.29m and Sri Lanka’s Dulan Kodithuwakku won bronze for 65.61m.

On Monday, the 19-year-old shooter Avani Lekhara scripted history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a gold medal at the Paralympics. She won the medal by equalling a total of 249.6 which is also the new Paralympics record.

Lekhara fired her way to the top of the podium in the R-2 Women’s 10M Air Rifle Standing SH1 event. The shooter from Jaipur is a law student who sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident in 2012. She made her debut for India in the 2017 World Cup in Al Ain, UAE after her father encouraged her to get involved in sports. She initially tried her hands in both shooting and archery but later found her interest more in the shooting. She is the first woman and the fourth Indian athlete to win a Paralympics gold.

Lekhara said that he can’t describe her feeling which is unexplainable and she is feeling on top of the world. She hopes for more medals to come her way in the future. This was her first major international medal after she had finished fourth in the last world championship at the Rio Paralympic in 2019.

Real Madrid made a £137million ($188m) bid for Paris Saint-Germain’s France forward Kylian Mbappe. Mbappe is out of contract at the Parc des Princes next summer and refused to sign a fresh deal. Despite PSG’s attempts to get the France international to commit to the club Mbappe refused to sign.

PSG’s position of France’s L’Equipe is maintained and will remain unchanged. The Ligue 1 club determined to keep Mbappe until the end of his contract in June next year if he could then leave nothing. Mbappe’s contract will end in the 2021-22 campaign that means Madrid can leave the French side on a free transfer next year.

With less than a week left until the deadline day, the 22-year-old’s future hangs in the balance. They continue to insist the player sign the renewal but the World Cup winner is yet to engage with any new offers to stay but PSG for their part.

Mbappe has joined the PSG at a very early age of 18 in a season-long loan from AS Monaco after which he signed a permanent four-year deal with the club in the summer of 2018.

On Friday, World number one Ashleigh Barty beat Barbora Krejcikova 6-2, 6-4 and reached the WTA and ATP Cincinnati semi-finals. Barty recovered from a breakdown recently.

Ashleigh will face two-line Cincinnati finalist Angelique Kerber. Kerber won her quarterfinal with two-time Wimbledon Champion Petra Kvitova retired during the second set because of a stomach problem. The second set was a tie with 3-3 and Kerber won the first set 6-4.

Barty has been ranked in the number one position for the last 87 weeks. She hasn’t lost a set this week in Cincinnati which is an up event for the U.S. Open. She said in an interview that this is actually why she is here, to have a lot of good matches against the best players before stepping in the US Open. She said she is even excited to play against Ash again.

Her biggest challenge of the week was from Heather Watson in the second round. Barty has since dispatched Victoria Azarenka and Krejcikova in straight sets. She won in the scorching heat and humidity in the morning’s first match at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.

On Saturday, Olympic Champion Elaine Thompson-Herah won the Women’s 100 meters. She posted the second-fastest time ever at the Prefontaine Classic, a Diamond League event, and crossed the finishing line in 10.54 seconds.

According to the champion, she surprised herself, beating Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by nearly two-tenths of a second. Shreicka Jackson finished her race in third place. American athlete Florence Griffith-Joyer is the only woman to have run faster over the distance with a world record of 10.49 seconds in 1988.

She said that to come back with a personal best after the championship was amazing and she hasn’t run that fast in five years. She had so much more in herself and she made it possible. She was seen celebrating her victory. She made a new record in the race despite coming into the games off the back of niggling injury. The injury had threatened her inclusion to win the games.

Another Jamaican to win three consecutive Olympic 100-meter was Usain Bolt, he won medals between 2008 and 2016. Thompson-Herah now has her chance to win the medal for the same at the Paris Games in 2024.

The Rugby championship began with a record victory of New Zealand against Australia and South Africa beat Argentina to claim the Bledisloe Cup in their opener. 57-22 win at Eden Park was the All Black’s highest ever points total against the Wallabies.

The world champions South Africa defeated Argentina later on Saturday by 32-12 in Port Elizabeth. To seal a 19th straight Bledisloe Cup win New Zealand ran in eight tries. Australia has beaten the All Black at Eden Park since 1986, their match doubled as the second in the three-Test series.

On 7th August, The wallabies lost 33-25 in the Bledisloe Cup which was six points behind at half-time. But the second-half score sealed New Zealand’s bonus point win in fast-paced which was an exciting encounter.

SA made the sweeping change in their team after the previous week’s Test series win against the British and Irish Lions. The win was against the tourists in the XV to face Argentina with only five of them. The host claimed a comfortable victory after missing the bonus point while scoring three tries.

Cobus Reinach covered most of the pitch in a solo effort to wing Aphelele Fassi who claimed Jantjies cross-field kick.

“The greatest striker” of Germany Football team legend Gerd Muller dies aged 75. The forward scored 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany. It included the winning goal in the 1974 World Cup final against Holland.

In his 15 years career at Bayern, Muller netted a record 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga games and 66 goals in 74 European matches. TheBayren Munich President Herbert Hainer said that today is a sad dark day for FC Bayern and all its fans. He added Gred Muller was the greatest striker there’s ever been and a fine person and character of world football. They are all united in deep mourning with his wife Uschi as well as his family. He values Muller’s contribution in making FC Bayern the club it is today. His name and memory will live on forever.

Muller started his career at TSV Nordlingen before joining Bayern in 1964. During his 15 years at Bayern, he was the Bundesliga’s top scorer seven times German footballer of the year twice. He was the recipient of the Ballon d’Or once in 1970. In 2015 Muller was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He battled Alzheimer’s disease for six long years.