The one month long football festival, Euro Cup as always was a vivacious, dynamic and throbbing experience for the football fans all across the globe. Hosted by France from 10 June to 10 July, the fifteenth Euro Cup was an exciting event. It was for the first time that 24 teams participated in the event (only 16 teams used to participate earlier). The final of the game showed that it is not necessary that the team with finest style of the play will win the tournament but the one which can survive against the odds. Portugal was not the best team contesting in the tournament and did not have a
The Indian Cricket Board has entrusted former skipper and ace spinner Anil Kumble with the responsibility to lead team India as head coach. Former Indian captain Anil Kumble will hold the post for one year. It is after 16 years that an Indian player is appointed as the head-coach of the team after Kapil Dev resigned in September 2000. Kumble’s first assignment as the Head-coach of the blue-army will be to lead them for four-Test tour of the West Indies. “I have an opportunity to make a difference. I have an opportunity to be part of the journey and if I can be part of the journey where we
The former Brazilian defender and a Real Madrid star-player Roberto Carlos reinforced the close ties between Brazil and the UAE with his attendance at the concluding night of the fourth Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Ramadan Sports Tournament. Carlos was a special guest at the final of Futsal competition in Dubai where Al Joker was crowned as the winner. Carlos was excited to be present at the nail-biting finale of the Futsal competition and asserted that he is a keen follower of the Futsal games. He emphasized on the development of Futsal at the foundation level among the young players as it can improve
Keeping the increasing popularity of Badminton in the region in view, the UAE formed a new governing body to oversee the ongoing development of the game. The UAE Tennis Association now rechristened as the UAE Table Tennis and Badminton Association will enhance the governance, administration, grassroots development and event delivery for both sports by sharing the resources. The formation of the governing body, facilitated by Falcon and Associates, was announced by His Excellency Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of Dubai Sports Council, and His Excellency Dawood Al Hajri, President of the UAE Ta
Nico Rosberg has won a fourth time this season after winning the Russian Grand Prix, which he dominated since the start. At the same time, it wasn’t easy for Lewis Hamilton as he had an engine failure in the qualifying round and consequently had to start at 10th position. However, as expected Hamilton was the best in the race, fighting back hard to gain 8 positions and finishing second. Now, Rosberg is leading with 43 points after his victory. Other happenings at the Grand Prix include Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel’s crashing out on the first lap after being hit twice by Red Bull’s Danii
Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy has been voted Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association (FWA). He is 29 years old and has scored 22 league goals so far. His achievement that propelled his selection was to help his team become an odds-on favourite as they won the Premier League title for the first time this season. He has also become the first player to score in 11 consecutive Premier League matches earlier this season. Consequently, his record-breaking feat has captured the imagination of several writers. Another fact loved by the writers is his remarkable journey from
Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 34, died recently due to a heart attack. He was the eldest son of Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai, and UAE’s Vice President and Prime Minister. He was a graduate from the Sandhurst Military Academy, Berkshire. An enthusiastic sportsperson, he was a founding member of Dubai Sports and Cultural Club; and had earned two gold medals in horse endurance races at the Asian Games 2006, Doha, Qatar. Besides sports, he was also actively involved in charitable activities: he regularly contributed to Dubai Cares, which aims to take care of child pove
Martina-Sania pair – the world’s number one women’s doubles tennis team – recently won the Guangzhou Open, defeating Shilin Xu and Xiaodi You of China with a score of 6-3 and 6-1. They did not lose even a single set in the entire championship. This was Sania Mirza’s seventh title of the season. They have also won two Grand Slams (Wimbledon and the US Open) this year. Sania Mirza has been recently conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna – the highest sporting honour of India.
Manchester United has recently become the world’s first billion dollar football brand. A recent evaluation by Brand Finance, Manchester United (MU) shows that Manchester City and Chelsea are performing better than Arsenal. Brand Finance is a leading brand valuation and strategy consultancy. It calculates both the strength and the value of a brand. Brand strength reflects the notional potential of the brand, and its value is calculated based on its ability to generate income. For that, the team or the club must have star players and it must prove itself a tactically brilliant team on the grou
Who has benefitted the most from the Indian Premier League cricket games? The players, the organisers, or the viewers? Wrong! Bookies have benefitted the most. And the reason? Just a matter of 12 seconds! If you haven’t understood, please read further. The Process The bookies are taking advantage of a glitch in the technology and in the process are earning millions of dollars. They are exploiting the extra-long gap between real-time and telecast feed that is taking place. The bookies have their men (called pitch-siders) planted in the stadium itself who keep providing a real-time ball-by-bal