SINGAPORE

ONE Championship CEO Chatri Sityodtong was quoted as saying that he was looking at a co-promoted event with rival North American promotion, UFC. In a recent social media post shared by ONE Championship, Sityodtong said: “I would definitely welcome a ONE vs UFC mega event.”

A cross-promotion between two major global mixed martial arts organizations is a rare occurrence. In fact, there have only been a handful of times in history that it has happened. But Sityodtong says it would be the biggest martial arts event of all time if it ever gets made. He believes his fighters at ONE Championship could give anyone on the UFC roster problems in the cage.

“I would definitely like to see the best of the East vs. the best of the West,” Sityodtong told media through a Facebook live Q&A in 2020. “UFC vs. ONE Championship I think would be phenomenal. I think the whole entire world would watch it. And I’d love to see world champions vs. world champions. So definitely, for sure, I’m open to it.”

The UFC has a stranglehold on the North American market, and is by far the largest and most influential MMA promotion in the region. However, ONE Championship is its equivalent in Asia, and enjoys a massive fanbase with millions of fans all over the world.

In terms of talent, Sityodtong has complete and utter confidence that his martial arts heroes are on par or even better than any UFC fighter. ONE Championship has certainly proven that to an extent without actually needing a cross-promoted event.

ONE Championship aired four shows on American prime time in April via a broadcast deal with TNT, which were wildly successful. For former UFC champions Eddie Alvarez and Demetrious Johnson, however, the results were less than ideal.

Alvarez, the former UFC lightweight champion, suffered a controversial DQ loss to Iuri Lapicus at “ONE on TNT I” (which was later overturned to a No Contest), and then was set back by a unanimous decision loss to South Korea’s Ok Rae Yoon at “ONE on TNT IV,” dashing his title hopes.

And then, former UFC flyweight king and arguably the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, Demetrious Johnson, was stopped for the very first time in his storied career by reigning ONE flyweight champion Adriano Moraes.

If the recent performances of these top-tier UFC fighters is any indication, then the talent gap between the two promotions is a lot closer than a lot of people think.

Charles Oliveira versus Christian Lee? A battle between the world’s best lightweights. Israel Adesanya versus Reinier de Ridder? The epitome of the classic striker versus grappler matchup. Rose Namajunas versus Angela Lee? Fans will finally get to see how Lee does against the UFC’s best.

Zinedine Zidane has fired back at former club Real Madrid and its President Florentino Perez following his resignation as team’s head coach. The former World Cup winner decided to leave Real Madrid after the club failed to win the LaLiga title for the 2020-21 season.

The former boss has accused Real Madrid members of not respecting him during his stint with the LaLiga club. In an open letter to fans, Zidane thanked everyone for the love and support he received while he was with Real Madrid. The former boss also explained the reason behind his decision to step down as head coach of the club. “Dear Real Madrid fans, for more than 20 years, from the first day I arrived in Madrid and wore the white shirt, you’ve shown me your love. I wanted to write this letter, to say goodbye to you and explain my decision to leave the coaching job,” Spanish publication AS published Zidane’s open letter, as reported by goal.com.

“I’m going, but I’m not jumping overboard, nor am I tired of coaching. In May 2018 I left because after two and a half years, with so many victories and so many trophies, I felt the team needed a new approach to stay at the very highest level. Right now, things are different. I’m leaving because I feel the club no longer has the faith in me I need, nor the support to build something in the medium or long term. “I understand football and I know the demands of a club like Real Madrid. I know when you don’t win, you have to leave. But with this a very important thing has been forgotten, everything I built day-to-day has been forgotten, what I brought to my relationships with the players, with the 150 people who work with and around the team.

“I’m a natural-born winner and I was here to win trophies, but even more important than this are the people, their feelings, life itself and I have the sensation these things have not been taken into account, that there has been a failure to understand that these things also keep the dynamics of a great club going. To some extent I have even been rebuked for it.

“I want there to be respect for what we have achieved together. I would have liked my relationship with the club and the president over the past few months to have been a little different to that of other coaches. I wasn’t asking for privileges, of course not, just a little more recollection.

BENGALURU

Veteran hockey player VR Raghunath feels that the current lot of Indian players are better equipped for the Olympics than the ones who took the field in Rio de Janerio in 2016.

Raghunath also said since players have been spending time together amid the coronavirus pandemic, they are more familiar with each other. “The Canada match which we drew cost us in 2016. That result put us in a different qualification group. But I feel the current batch of players can handle the Olympics a lot better. The same batch of players have been around for seven-eight years now, they are in touch with European players,” said Raghunath in conversation with Hockey Te Charcha, a podcast series launched by Hockey India in the lead up to the Olympic Games.

“They can perform much better than Rio. In the Olympics, it comes down to one or two matches and how you get your rhythm right in the arena. I have seen teams keeping it simple and playing with a free mind. I’d tell the players not to think much about the occasion.

“The players are in the same age group and have been quarantined together for a long time so they are familiar with each other and have been winning Pro League games as well. Players like Rupinder and Manpreet were around in the previous edition as well. They have covered every area well,” he added.

The former Asian Games champion was full of praise for current vice-captain Harmanpreet Singh, who took over drag-flick duties from Raghunath.

“Harman had immediately arrived after the U-21 World Cup win. There were instructions from the coaches to take him under our wing; to protect him atleast for 30-40 matches so that he could get an idea of what international hockey is all about,” said Raghunath.

“We guided him and he grasped things very quickly. We could see the results in just 3-4 months. He started scoring as well. Rupinder Pal Singh and I tried to treat him like a brother and not as a player. Our coaches have moulded us in such a way that the juniors are comfortable around the seniors.

“He has come a long way over the last four years, and I feel, he has another 8-10 years of international hockey in him. Varun Kumar and Amit Rohidas have also entered the mix. This is good for Indian hockey as we are not sure when a player will be down with an injury,” he added.

Raghunath played a huge part in India’s resurgence as a force in international hockey. The year 2014 was a turning point with the side bagging silver in the Commonwealth Games and clinching a historic gold in the Asian Games.

“In 2013, we were performing very well. We had targeted the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games that year. We had aimed for two targets — to reach the finals of CWG and to bag gold in the Asian Games. We set realistic targets and we worked out rigorously for 8-10 months,” said Raghunath.

“We trained in New Delhi. We were more like commandos before going into those two tournaments. Our homework was so good. We played some fantastic hockey during that period all the way up to the 2016 Olympics,” he signed off.

Former India pacer Ajit Agarkar has said that the Virat Kohli-led side would not underestimate New Zealand in the finals of the World Test Championship (WTC).

India and New Zealand will lock horns in the finals of WTC at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton, beginning June 18. Before that, New Zealand will also play two-match Test series against England, beginning June 2 at Lord’s. “I hope not. I don’t think the Indian team would be guilty to underestimate the Kiwis. I think the underdog tag has gone away from New Zealand. Every ICC tournament you look at – okay, this is the first of its kind, Test championship – every ICC tournament, whether it’s the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, the World Cup; they always turn up, they’re always there in the thereabout,” said Agarkar on Star Sports’ show ‘Cricket Connected’.

“If not the finals, then in the quarterfinals or the semi-finals. And that’s a testament to their consistency. So, the underdog tag should go. Yes, there are, perhaps bigger names in some of the other teams and that’s why you count them as favorites. So, I don’t think India will be underestimating them. They beat India comprehensively well when India toured New Zealand and the conditions are likely to be very similar to what India got in New Zealand. So, India will have to play well to beat New Zealand in this contest,” he added.

The Indian Men’s team will arrive in the UK on June 3, 2021 via a charter flight and carrying evidence of a negative PCR Test, ICC said in an official release. Prior to travelling, the party will have spent 14 days in a bio-secure environment in India during which regular testing is being done.

Upon landing, they will proceed directly to the on-site hotel at the Hampshire Bowl where they will be tested again before commencing a period of managed isolation.

Regular tests will be conducted during the period of isolation. Players’ activity will be allowed in a gradually increasing manner after each round of negative testing, moving from exercise in isolation to small group and then larger squad activity, whilst always remaining within the bio-secure venue.

The New Zealand team is already in the UK ahead of their bilateral series against England and the team will transition from the ECB bio-secure environment into the World Test Championship Final bubble on June 15 and will be subject to regular testing prior to and post-arrival in Southampton.

DUBAI

Indian women boxers signed off their ASBC Asian Boxing Championships 2021 campaign with 10 medals in Dubai on Sunday.

Boxer Pooja Rani successfully defended her title after outpunching in-form Mavluda Movlonova to clinch her second successive gold as Indian women ended its campaign with one gold, three silver, and six bronze medals. The seasoned campaigner Mary Kom (51kg), Lalbuatsaihi (64kg), and Anupama (+81kg) claimed silver medals after suffering narrow defeats in their respective finals.

While Simranjit Kaur (60kg), Lovlina Borgohain (69kg), Jaismine (57kg), Sakshi Chaudhary (54kg), Monika (48kg) and Saweety (81kg) are among the Indian women pugilists who secured bronze with semi-final finish.

The Olympics-bound pugilist Pooja Rani (75kg) was up against a strong Uzbekistan boxer, who came into the match beating London Olympics medallist Marina Volnova in the last-4 stage. Pooja showed great sharpness and tactical brilliance and put pressure on the opponent with timely punches.

She continued her relentless attack and left no chance for Uzbek boxer to fight back before completing a comprehensive 5-0 victory and winning her second successive gold medal at the Asian Championships.

It is also Pooja’s fourth medal at the championships after gold in 2019, silver in 2012 and a bronze in 2015.

Earlier Mary Kom, Lalbuatsaihi finished their campaigns with silver medals after going down fighting in their respective semi-finals.

While Mary Kom lost to the two-time world champion Nazym Kyzaibay by split 2-3, Lalbuatsaihi (64kg) also gave her all in another close-fought gold medal but couldn’t manage to get past Milana Safronova of Kazakhstan and suffered a 2-3 defeat to win silver medal in her maiden outing at the Championships.

In the 51kg high-octane summit clash, both Mary Kom and her Kazakh opponent started the bout with an aggressive mindset and soon exchanged powerful blows attempting to unsettle each other.

The five-time Asian Championships gold medallist Mary Kom used all her experience against Kayzaibay and made her work hard but it wasn’t enough as the later tilted the hard-fought game successfully in her favour and emerged champion with a narrow 29-28, 28-29, 30-27, 29-28, 28-29 scoreline.

It is the second silver for Mary Kom at the Asian Championships who has previously won titles on five occasions –2003, 2005, 2010, 2012 and 2017 besides silver in 2008.

Later, another Indian boxer Anupama (+81) also ended up with silver as she lost to Lazzat Kungeibayeva of Kazakhstan 2-3 in yet another nail-biting final.

The defending champion Amit Panghal (52kg) and two other pugilists Shiva Thapa (64kg) and Sanjeet (91kg) will be seen in action on Monday in the men’s finals.

Panghal will be up against the Rio Olympics and world champion Uzbek pugilist Zoirov Shakhobidin of Uzbekistan. While Assam boxer Thapa will be challenged by the Asian Games silver medallist Mongolia’s Baatarsukh Chinzorig.

Second-seeded Sanjeet will also have a strong challenge of the Rio Olympics silver medallist Vassiliy Levit, who is chasing his fourth gold medal of the Asian Championships.

Vikas Krishan (69kg) and Varinder Singh (60kg) secured bronze medals in the men’s section with their semi-final finish at the event which witnessed the presence of 150 boxers from 17 countries including strong boxing nations such as India, Uzbekistan, Philippines and Kazakhstan.

PARIS: World number two Naomi Osaka got off to a flying start in the French Open as she defeated Patricia Maria Tig 6-4, 7-6(4) on the opening day of the tournament on Sunday.

With the victory, the Japanese tennis star also extended her winning streak at the Grand Slams to 15 matches in a row. Osaka booked her spot in the second round by overcoming Tig in a tight second set ending the game which lasted for one hour 47 minutes.

The 23-year-old, who has won her last two consecutive majors but did not feature in French Open last year, is seeking a fifth Grand Slam title, and first on a surface other than hard court.

Osaka will now lock horns with another Romanian, Ana Bogdan, who knocked out Italian tennis player Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-3.

Earlier this week, Osaka said she would not be taking part in press conferences during the French Open in order to ensure better mental health.