Brazilians bid a final farewell this week to football giant Pele, starting Monday with a 24-hour public wake at the stadium of his long-time team, Santos.
Paris Saint-Germain, without World Cup winner Lionel Messi and Neymar, lost for the first time in any competition since March 20 last year when they were defeated 3-1 at Lens on Sunday.Pakistan batter Imam-ul-Haq played a major role in the first Test against New Zealand. His knock of 96 runs brought the hosts back into the game before the match in Karachi ended in a draw. Imam has always been a key player in Pakistan's lineup ever since he donned the green jersey. So far, the 27-year-old batter has played 19 Tests and 54 ODIs and scored 1322 and 2528 runs, respectively. But being a nephew of legendary cricketer Inzamam-ul-Haq, his journey had never been a simple one as he carried a big burden of expectations.
In a recent interview with Sports Central, the batter revealed that he gets frustrated at times when people compare him with Inzamam.
“Sach batau to dil kaafi dafa kiya hai ki chachu ko bolu 'meri kya galti thi'.[If I'm being honest, I felt I should tell chachu (Inzamam), ‘what was my mistake?'], Imam told Sports Central.
“But some things come unwanted in your life. People say that I handled it well, but I actually didn't. I just went with the flow because I had no other option. I came after a long process as well; I played two U19 World Cups, played in 45 first-class matches and had an average of 50 in the Qaid-e-Azam trophy when I was first picked in the team," he said in Hindi.
Imam went on to praise Pakistan skipper Babar Azam for his constant support during the tough times.
"Initially, I couldn't handle the pressure and I won't lie. I didn't know what to do. And I would like to mention Babar here. He played a very big role in supporting me. We played a lot of cricket together. And it was vice-versa, if he had doubts, we used to discuss them as well. In my family, we are all fighters and we don't give up easily. So I kept on putting the hard work and I had good people around me," he said.
Imam made his international debut in 2017, becoming the second Pakistan cricketer to score a century in first ODI game.
Graham Potter admitted Chelsea's disappointing 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest underlined the lack of consistency that threatens to shatter their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League. Raheem Sterling put Chelsea ahead in the first half at the City Ground on Sunday. But Ivory Coast defender Serge Aurier levelled after the break and Chelsea were fortunate to escape without an embarrassing defeat after Forest dominated for long spells in the second half. Chelsea are languishing in eighth place after failing to win for the sixth time in their last seven league games.
The Blues are seven points adrift of fourth placed Manchester United in the race to qualify for the Champions League via a top four finish.
"We need to be more consistent. It would help to get players back, the key ones and then you can build consistency in key places," Potter said.
"It's always tough because you have a lot of big teams with lots of top players and coaches.
"We have a long way to go so it would be a mistake to think about what could happen in five months time."
Just months after replacing the sacked Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea boss Potter is starting to come under fire as the early optimism after his move from Brighton begins to fade.
Chelsea's 2-0 win against Bournemouth on Boxing Day was supposed to offer hope of a brighter period in 2023.
But while it is surely too early for Potter to be worried about losing the first high-pressure job of his career, the 47-year-old needs an uptick in results in the new year to avoid putting Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly in an awkward position.
"Our performance level wasn't good enough to take the three points. We didn't move the ball fast enough," Potter said.
"Forest played a good game but we're disappointed with our performance and concerned we didn't deserve the win. It was overall below par for us."
Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta added to the gloom when he said: "Since the beginning of the season we have lost too many points and we are really far from where we want to be.
"We need to have a very good second half of the season if we want to play in the Champions League next season."
Forest are third bottom having won just three games all season, but boss Steve Cooper will take heart from the way his team rattled Chelsea in the second half.
The only dark cloud for Forest was the alleged homophobic chanting from home supporters that earned condemnation from LGBTQ groups.
Brennan Johnson threatened an early goal for Forest when he sprinted clear of Marc Cucurella and Thiago Silva, but Kepa Arrizabalaga spared his team-mates' blushes with a good save.
Forest fightback
If that was a lucky break for Chelsea, Potter's side enjoyed an even greater stroke of good fortune as they took the lead in the 16th minute.
Christian Pulisic's cross towards Kai Havertz was deflected by Forest defender Willy Boly's out-stretched foot, with the ball looping onto the crossbar and bouncing down perfectly for the unmarked Sterling to slam home from close-range.
It was Sterling's first league goal since August and only the sixth in all competitions for the England forward since his close-season move from Manchester City.
But Chelsea's first half superiority quickly faded after the interval.
Kepa came to Chelsea's rescue with a superb save after Johnson accelerated onto Morgan Gibbs-White's pass and unleashed a stinging shot.
Chelsea were on the ropes and Gibbs-White was inches away from an equaliser when he met Ryan Yates' pass with a sweetly-timed strike that cannoned off the bar and bounced to safety.
With Chelsea strangely subdued in the second half, Forest's pressure paid off in the 63rd minute.
Boly out-jumped Pulisic to head a corner towards Aurier, who deftly controlled on his chest before volleying through Kepa's legs from five yards.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chelsea dropped more points in their quest to climb back up the Premier League standings as Serge Aurier earned Nottingham Forest a 1-1 draw with Graham Potter's side on Sunday.After winning gold medals in the Women's World Boxing Championship in Turkey and Birmingham Commonwealth Games last year, Indian pugilist Nikhat Zareen's next target is a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Nizamabad (Telangana)-born boxer is only the fifth Indian woman to secure a gold medal at the World Boxing Championships after record six-time champion Mary Kom (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018), Sarita Devi (2006), Jenny RL (2006) and Lekha KC (2006).
"After the world championship there were a lot of distractions, events and felicitations and then we had a two-week training period in Ireland. My focus was always the gold medal and I was ready to sacrifice anything to get my hand on the gold. In fact, I want to win everything and the eventual goal has to be the Paris Olympics of 2024, " said Nikhat Zareen on Backstage with Boria Majumdar show.
The Indian pugilist had to change her weight category while competing in Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022. But the change of weight category made no difference to her performance as she went on to bag a gold medal at the quadrennial event.
"I have finally got the chance of representing my country and I am not going to let this opportunity go. Having won the world championship gold and the gold medal in front of a packed audience in Birmingham at a weight category which was two kilos less than what I competed in the world championship I now have the confidence of doing well in big events. To lose weight and compete wasn't easy," explained Nikhat.
Indian pugilist Nikhat Zareen has urged the parents to change their mentality towards a girl child and support them in whatever they want to do in their lives as she has herself brought this change in her mother. Earlier was not in favour of a girl picking up boxing as a profession and now she urges parents to encourage their children to pick up boxing as a profession.
The Nizamabad (Telangana)-born boxer is only the fifth Indian woman to secure a gold medal at the World Boxing Championships after record six-time champion Mary Kom (2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2018), Sarita Devi (2006), Jenny RL (2006) and Lekha KC (2006).
For Rajeev Ram, his first Grand Slam success came at 36 when he won the Australian Open title with Briton Joe Salisbury two years ago. Since then, the pair has added two US Open trophies, the ATP Tour Finals crown last season, three Masters titles and reached No. 1 in rankings.