Madrid (Spain), July 11 (IANS) Athletic Club Bilbao president, Jon Uriarte on Thursday criticised the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) for allowing winger Nico Williams to be subjected to a continued bombardment of questions over his future. Williams, who celebrates his 22nd birthday on Friday, has been one of the outstanding players in the ongoing European Championships, with several clubs rumoured to be looking at the player who at the end of last year signed a new contract to keep him at Athletic until 2027.

FC Barcelona are one of Williams’ suitors, with Barca president, Joan Laporta stating publicly last week that despite the club’s debts of over 1,000 million euros, they could afford to sign him, reports Xinhua.

Meanwhile, the winger has been bombarded with a continued series of questions over his future during the Euros 2024, leaving Uriarte unhappy the player has been exposed to unnecessary pressure.

“Nico, a footballer who is very committed to Athletic Club, has been subjected to an excessive and uncontrolled bombardment of questions about his future, while he is at the Euros with the Spanish Football Federation, who have not known how to protect him,” said Uriarte.

The Athletic president also had a veiled criticism of Barcelona’s tactic, saying that the Basque club “does not have the formula of subjecting players with contracts to other clubs to public pressure to try to incorporate them.”

Uriarte was speaking as the club officially presented new signings Alvaro Djalo and Andoni Gorosabal at their Lezama training ground and highlighted that last season’s Copa del Rey winners had “the economic, social and sporting capacity to maintain players of William’s stature.”

–IANS

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Kadapa (A.P.), July 11 (IANS) Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh triumphed in their respective women’s matches while Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Karnataka emerged victorious in the men’s fixtures on Day 2 of the 2nd Hockey India Junior Women and Men South Zone Championship 2024 here on Thursday.

In the first women’s encounter, Hockey Kerala defeated Le Puducherry Hockey 5-0. Aadilakshmi M’s brace (16’, 60’) led the way along with contributions from Sruthi Suresh (7’), Devipriya KS (19’), and captain Piyoosha S. (34’) to wrap up a swift win for Kerala Hockey.

The next women’s clash of the day saw Hockey Karnataka defeat Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu 3-1. Manish Poonamma Cd (44’) gave Hockey Karnataka a lead that was soon nullified by Tamil Nadu’s captain Mumanja R (45’).

However, in the final quarter, Deepika R. (53’) and Rakshitha J. (56’) scored to secure victory for Karnataka.

In the final women’s fixture of the day, Telangana Hockey was downed by Hockey Andhra Pradesh 11-0. Ankitha Bommu (1’, 15’, 54’), Lalitha Kotari (12’, 41’, 53’), Bobbili Jhansi (29’, 44’, 48’) all scored hat-tricks while captain Lomata Harathi (21’) and Yuvarani Thokala (45’).

Tamil Nadu powers past Puducherry

The men’s fixtures began with the Hockey Unit of Tamil Nadu defeating Le Puducherry Hockey 7-0. Vishal S. (11’, 53’) and Sundarajith M. (54’, 58’) were the top scorers with two goals. P. Kuberan (6’), Alagu Mohana Priyan A (26’), and Manimaran V (28’) chipped in with a goal apiece.

In the second men’s fixture, Telangana Hockey defeated Kerala Hockey 3-0. Pradeep Kodapa (15’, 52’) scored two vital goals, while Captain Manoj Aggu (40’) found the back of the net as well for Telangana Hockey.

In the final men’s encounter of the day, Hockey Karnataka defeated Hockey Andhra Pradesh 4-0. Hrithik Aiyappa (6’) and Kiran Reddy (7’) scored quickly to give Karnataka a comfortable early lead. Following this, Harishit Kumar (42’) and Akhil Aiyappa BN (45’) scored for Hockey Karnataka.

–IANS

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London, July 11 (IANS) Italy’s Jasmine Paolini battled from a set down and twice a break down in the decider to outlast Donna Vekic in three sets in the longest semifinal-ever in women’s singles at Wimbledon here on Thursday. Paolini, the No.7 seed, defeated Vekic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(8) in 2 hours and 51 minutes to become the first Italian woman to reach the final at Wimbledon in the Open Era.

The previous longest Wimbledon semifinal had been Serena Williams’s 6-7(4), 7-5, 8-6 defeat of Elena Dementieva in 2009, a contest which lasted 2 hours and 49 minutes.

Around 15 years on, Paolini held her first match point at 5-4 in the third set and her second at 6-5 before edging Vekic on her third in a gripping super-tiebreak. The result was her third win in four meetings with Vekic.

The runner-up at Roland Garros a month ago to Iga Swiatek, Paolini has immediately backed up that run with her second major final. The 28-year-old is the first player since Serena in 2016 to reach both the French Open and Wimbledon finals in the same season.

Paolini is only the fifth player to accomplish that feat in the past 25 years following Steffi Graf (1999), Serena Williams (2002, 2015, 2016), Venus Williams (2002), and Justine Henin (2006).

Having never won a tour-level match on grass before 2024, Paolini’s record on the surface is now 8-1, with her sole loss coming to Daria Kasatkina in the Eastbourne semifinals two weeks ago. Currently, at a career-high ranking of No.7, she is guaranteed to make her Top 5 debut next week.

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 11 (IANS) With four very different players in the semifinals, many fans and experts are expecting defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain and Serbia’s 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic to face off in the men’s singles semifinals at Wimbledon 2024. In the semifinals on Friday, Alcaraz will take on Daniil Medvedev while Djokovic will meet Lorenzo Musetti. Former top-20 player from India and noted commentator Vijay Amritraj believes that Sunday’s final could be a repeat of last year’s summit clash in which Alcaraz overcame Djokovic in a five-set thriller.

Alcaraz defeated Djokovic 1–6, 7–6(6), 6–1, 3–6, 6–4 in an epic final last year ending the Serbian’s win-spree of four titles since 2018 (Wimbledon was not played in 2020 due to Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Amritraj feels even if Alcaraz and Djokovic meet again in Sunday’s final, their clash may not produce spectacular tennis as it did last year.

Asked who will be his pick for the title at Wimbledon, Amritraj said, “Okay, you are trying to put me on the spot, but you know, I’ll go for it anyway. Before the tournament started, I looked at the draw and my thoughts were on Djokovic to get to the final. And then my thoughts were, if it goes according to plan, it would be either Alcaraz or Sinner. But as it turns out, things obviously change along the way and Wimbledon has a habit of doing that on a regular basis.

“Could it be an Alcaraz-Djokovic final still? Yes, it could be. Could it be a final like we saw last year? I don’t know. That final was absolutely magnificent. Came down to one point in that fifth set where Djokovic, missed a high overhead with with one love to go up a break of serve in the fifth.

“So, I think when we look at who’s left in the field, Medvedev has a habit of also causing major upsets that could possibly happen as well. But on the face of it, it still looks like Djokovic would be in the final. I think he’ll get by Mussetti. Taylor Fritz might have given him a bit more trouble, but I do believe that the Alcaraz vs Medvedev match will potentially be a longer match. But I still think it’ll be an Alcaraz vs Djokovic final,” Amritraj told IANS in an exclusive interaction facilitated by Star Sports, who are broadcasting the grass-court major in India.

Asked about the women’s section of Wimbledon in which Donna Vekic of Croatia, Jasmine Paolini of Italy, Elina Rybakina of Kazakhstan, and Barbora Krejcikova of Czech Republic have reached the semifinals, Amritraj said the women’s tennis scene has been more open since the retirement of the Williams sisters.

“Women’s tennis has been a lot more open in the last, I would say, five, eight years since the time of the Williams sisters. So I think when you look at women’s tennis, we’ve got one champion left in there with Rybakina. I think she has a chance as maybe an odds-on favourite at this point to perhaps win.

“But then again, if you look at Vekic and Paolini and Krejcikova, all three of them have been in situations where they’ve beaten big players in the past. Krejcikova has won a slam. I think Vecic is playing the best tennis of her life now on grass. It’s more wide open to me, outside of Rybakina perhaps, than a Djokovic-Alcaraz final,” said Amritraj, who reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon twice in 1973 and 1981.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) The Mission Olympic Cell (MOC) of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has approved multiple proposals for assistance towards equipment by athletes and Para-athletes as they prepare for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games.

At its meeting, the MOC on Thursday approved a proposal of Paralympic medallist Bhavina Patel for assistance to compete in ITTF Para-Table Tennis Asia Training Camp 2024 in Thailand from July 16 to 20 along with her coach and escort.

It also approved the request of Para Shooters – Manish Narwal, Rudranksh Khandelwal, Rubina Francis, and Sriharsha R. Devareddy for various sport shooting-related equipment. These include an Air Rifle for Sriharsha and a Morini Pistol for Rubina and assistance towards procurement of two javelins (Valhalla 800g Medium NXB and Diana Carbon 600g) for para-athlete Sandeep Choudhary.

The MOC also approved requests for financial assistance towards the procurement of archery equipment for archers Ankita Bhakat, Deepika Kumari, and para-archers Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar.

It also approved assistance to judoka Tulika Maan, who along with her coach, will train in Valencia Judo High Performance Centre, Spain till July 25.

The members also approved table tennis player Manush Shah’s request for financial assistance for training in Gyeonggi Do, South Korea under Korean coach Taejun Kim and for procurement of physical fitness equipment.

It also okayed the inclusion of athletes Suraj Panwar, Vikash Singh, and Ankita Dhyani and swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu in TOPS Core Group while athletes Jeswin Aldrin, Praveen Chithravel, Akashdeep Singh, and Paramjeet Singh were promoted from TOPS Development to Core Group.

–IANS

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