England club Everton on Tuesday confirmed that Carlo Ancelotti has left his position as manager to take up the role of head coach at Real Madrid.

Ancelotti, who joined Everton on a four-and-a-half-year contract in December 2019, in an official release issued by Everton said: “I would like to thank the Board of Directors, the players, and the Evertonians for the tremendous support they have all given me during my time at the club.” “I have complete respect for everyone associated with Everton and hope they can achieve the exciting opportunities they have in front of them. While I have enjoyed being at Everton I have been presented with an unexpected opportunity which I believe is the right move for me and my family at this time,” he added.

Everton will now begin the process of appointing a new manager immediately.

Last week, former French World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane had decided to leave Real Madrid, the LaLiga club announced.

After failing to win the LaLiga title for the 2020-21 season, Zidane had said he was gutted and would be talking to the club about his future later on.

“Real Madrid C. F. announces that Zinedine Zidane has decided to bring an end to his current spell as head coach of our club,” the club said in an official statement.

Last season, Real Madrid had won LaLiga, but this time they failed to secure the title in the 2020-21 season.

Real Madrid won 2-1 in their last game this season against Villarreal and as a result, the side finished at the second spot with 84 points.

After joining Spanish club FC Barcelona, Argentine striker Sergio Aguero said that he is looking forward to playing alongside Lionel Messi.

Spanish club FC Barcelona and Sergio Aguero on Monday reached an agreement for the player to join the club from July 1 when his contract with Manchester City expires. The player will sign a contract until the end of the 2022/23 season and his buy-out clause is set at 100 million euros.

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal on Tuesday stormed into the second round of the ongoing French Open.

Nadal defeated Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 in the first-round match played at Court Philippe-Chatrier. The 34-year-old was seen at his best in the first set and he managed to win it easily, not giving his Australian counterpart any chance. With the victory in the first set, Nadal recorded his 300th set won at the Roland Garros.

The French Open defending champion then carried on with his momentum and he wrapped the second set in a jiffy, and he was just one set away from progressing to the second round.

Popyrin gave a tough fight in the third set and he even went on to take a 5-2 lead, but Nadal showed his class and he managed to stage a comeback to win the third set and progress to the second round.

On Monday, Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer stormed into the second round of the ongoing French Open. Federer defeated Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 in the first-round match played at Court Philippe-Chatrier.

On Sunday, Dominic Thiem was knocked out of the French Open after he lost his first-round match against Pablo Andujar.

Andujar came from behind to erase a two-set deficit to upset the Austrian No.4 seed 4-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. It was Thiem’s first loss in the opening round of the French Open.

Andujar, who is ranked 68 in the world, fought back from two sets down and it earned him the 150th tour-level match-win of his career. He had defeated Federer en route to the Geneva semi-finals two weeks ago.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) Board on Tuesday confirmed that the 50-over World Cup will become a 14-team event in 2027 and 2031.

The apex cricket body also confirmed that the Men’s T20 World Cup will be expanded to a 20 team, 55 match event in 2024, 2026, 2028, and 2030. “An eight-team Champions Trophy will be hosted in 2025 and 2029. ICC World Test Championship Finals will be hosted in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031. The ICC Women’s event schedule has already been confirmed with the expansion of both the Cricket World Cup and T20 World Cup forming part of the ICC’s long-term commitment to growing the women’s game,” ICC said in an official release.

The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup format will have two groups of seven, with the top three in each group progressing to a Super Six stage, followed by semi-finals and final. This is the same format that was used in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2003.

The format of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup will consist of four groups of five, with the top two from each group going through to a Super Eights stage, followed by the knockout stages of semi-finals and a final. The Champions Trophy will follow previous editions with two groups of four, semi-finals and final.

The ICC Board also approved the process for determining the hosts for all Men’s, Women’s, and U19 events in the next cycle. The hosts for the Men’s events will be decided in September following a selection process that will get underway this month. The hosting process for Women’s and U19 events will commence in November and will be an opportunity to engage with a wider range of Members including first-time hosts.

ICC Acting Chief Executive Geoff Allardice in an official release said: “Having the ICC event schedule confirmed through to 2031 is a significant step forward for cricket and will form the basis of our growth strategy for the next decade.

“The revised approach to selecting hosts for our events will give us much more flexibility to grow the game and engage new fans.

There is a smaller pool of countries with the infrastructure needed to host our senior Men’s events which narrows the selection process. Additionally, many of our members expressed interest in hosting Women’s and U19 events which gives us a great opportunity to stage events in established and emerging cricket nations.”

NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the sports world to an unprecedented halt. The IPL that was suspended midway, will be now played in the UAE. With remaining 31 matches, the second leg of the elite tournament will be held in the September-October window, and the news has filled the fans with fresh hope.

Ravindra Jadeja of Chennai Super Kings celebrates the wicket of Surya Kumar Yadav of Mumbai Indians during the match in May 2021.

However, the challenges before the BCCI were not less. Now the England and Wales Cricket Board has refused to change the schedule of the tour with Team India and has also made it clear that they will not allow their players to participate in the next leg of the IPL. Even Cricket Australia has not given a clear answer citing the busy FTP. When the CPL ends, and if there is a mandatory Quarantine period for players and staffers in UAE, then it is certain many players including Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris of SA will miss at least four to five opening matches. Despite all the difficulties, It is certain that BCCI will organize it under any circumstances as it has 2.5 thousand crore rupees at stake.

On the other hand, if we compare it with the Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo from July 23 this year, then the question arises whether this game will be organised in more difficult circumstances. So far the Government of Japan has spent $ 15.4 billion on organising these games. In such a situation, organising this games becomes even more challenging.

The Medical Union of Japan has warned that this time there are apprehensions of new strains of Covid-19 virus looming and emerging in the Olympics. Earlier a newspaper there has openly advocated the suspension of the Olympics. This newspaper is one of the sponsor of this games. The situation in Osaka city of Japan is going from bad to worse. Emergency has been imposed in nine parts of the country including Tokyo till 20 June.

In Japan, one of the surveys of Olympics, 70 percent were voted in support of the cancellation of this games. The current situation has made the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government alarmed. However, the possibility of cancellation is also challenging for Indian players because now if these games are postponed for next year, then will there not be any question on the participation of qualified players in 2019.

Secondly, the Olympics and Paralympics are held almost simultaneously, the presence of around 20 thousand players, officials and people from 200 countries in both the events, and providing three time meals to the people according to their taste will also be a huge challenge.

Indian sports lovers are already speculating about whether Neeraj Chopra will be able to get the medal in the javelin throw event this time? Will boxer Amit Panghal, apart from Mary Kom, be able to complete the unfinished work of the World Championship finals in the Olympics? Will weightlifter Mirabai Chanu be able to bear the burden of the hopes of 140 crore Indians? Will Bajrang Poonia and Vinesh be able to take advantage of the experience of PWL in the Olympics? Will Indian shooters reminisce about Abhinav Bindra`s golden feat and will the Indian hockey team return with their old glory.

Every Indian is hoping that India will leave behind their best performance of 2012, at least this time. But as the situation is going on at present, hope only seems to be left behind. The reason is the dark clouds of Covid-19 looming over the Olympics.

However, it can only be said that if these games are canceled this time, this will be the fourth occasion in Olympic history. Due to Two World Wars, the Olympic Games have been postponed three times.

DUBAI

India boxer Pooja Rani (75kg), who successfully defended her title at the 2021 Asian Boxing Championships on Sunday, feels the experience of featuring in the tournament will help in the preparation for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

Pooja outpunched in-form Mavluda Movlonova to hand India its first gold of the tournament. The Olympics-bound pugilist was up against a strong Uzbekistan boxer, who came into the match beating London Olympics medallist Marina Volnova in the last-4 stage.

“I am feeling very happy as I won a gold medal here. Last time too I had clinched the gold and I am very happy to win successive medals,” said Pooja in the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) video.

“This tournament will be beneficial in preparation for the Olympics and I want to thank BFI, TOPS, and SAI for the help,” she added.

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 and 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 match, 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.

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.