Romanian
Neymar: No place for racism
Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir played their Champions League match to a conclusion on Wednesday, 24 hours after it had been suspended, with Neymar scoring a hat-trick before saying both teams had felt compelled to make a stand against racism in what was an unprecedented protest over an alleged comment by an official. PSG won the game 5-1 after it restarted where it had stopped the previous day, in the 14th minute, following a touchline argument over accusations the Romanian fourth official, Sebastian Coltescu, had described Basaksehir’s Cameroonian assistant coach Pierre Webo as “black”, or “negru” in Romanian. “Sometimes in extreme circumstances these things need to be done to see if the world can change a little,” said Neymar, who together with other players and the new team...
Aruna Quadri records third league victory with TTC in German Bundesliga
Aruna Quadri returned to winning ways with TTC RhönSprudel Fulda-Maberzell (TTC) in the Table Tennis Bundesliga as the Nigerian was instrumental to his team’s 3-1 win over TTC OE Bad Homburg at the weekend. Quadri who featured in two of the ITTF Restart Tournaments in China last week was in fine form in TTC’s third home win as the team climbed to ninth position in the 12-team league in Germany. With the match played behind closed doors, it was German international Ruwen Filus who started the day for TTC against Lev Katsman that after taking a 2-0 Filus fell behind to allow the visitor to draw 2-2. But Filus played on his experience, to get a decisive set 11: 6 and brought TTC in front with a 3-2 (11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 9-11, 11-6) win. Fan Bo Meng failed to extend the lead in the duel against R...
Zlatan Ibrahimovic ‘always wants to play’ – Milan coach
Zlatan Ibrahimovic always wants to play, AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli said on Wednesday, before their Europa League game against Sparta Prague. “I won’t ask Zlatan if he wants to play, because I already know the answer,” said Pioli amid a tight schedule of games every three days. “There will be changes, but I don’t like talking about turnover, I have many starters and I will field the best team. “If I ask Ibra if he feels like it, he will always tell me yes.” AC Milan are top of the Serie A table after five games as the 18-times champions target a first league title since 2011 when Ibrahimovic last played for the club. Pioli’s side won their Europa League opener 3-1 at Celtic and next travel to Sparta Prague before a home tie against French club Lille next week. “We have a lot of games so ...
European Union backs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for WTO role
The European Union has endorsed former Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next director-general of the World Trade Organisation, Bloomberg reported. The business news outlet cited anonymous officials familiar with the matter that all the 27 EU member countries agreed on Monday in Brussels to support Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala. Bloomberg also reported that the United States has decided to back Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea’s trade minister, for the role. The position has been fiercely contested amongst candidates of different countries since Roberto Azevedo resigned in August. Last month, Okonjo-Iweala and Myung-hee were selected as the last two candidates in the contest. The EU’s endorsement is seen as a significant boost for Okonjo-Iweala’s candidacy, with the final winner expected...
UEFA gives Romania another week to submit restart plan
European soccer’s governing body, UEFA has given the Romanian football federation (FRF) until June 1, to submit plans on how it intends to complete the domestic season, the FRF has said. UEFA last month gave European leagues an initial May 25 deadline to submit plans but the FRF requested an extension after the Romanian government said it was assessing the COVID-19 situation every two weeks. “UEFA has approved FRF’s request – the deadline for announcing the resumption plan has been extended until June 1,” the FRF said. The federation added that the extension would allow them to analyse how current medical protocols would impact team training, etc. The FRF hoped to resume the domestic top-flight on June 13 but the decision needed government approval. The FRF suspended all football competiti...
