Maradona set me up: ex-gf
Buenos Aires: Diego Maradona’s ex-girlfriend said the football legend had set a trap for her, denying she stole jewelry from his Dubai mansion as an Argentine court released her on bail. “Maradona set me up. He knows I didn’t take anything from him,” 22-year-old Rocio Oliva said with a broken voice as she left the Buenos Aires courthouse where a judge granted her conditional release after formally charging her for theft. Maradona, 53, says Oliva stole hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of watches, diamond earrings and other jewelry from him in Dubai, where he works as a sports promoter and where they lived together on Palm Jumeirah, a palm tree-shaped artificial island. Oliva denies the charges and accuses Maradona of hitting her. She was arrested late on Wednesday at Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires after the United Arab Emirates issued a warrant for her.
Fognini sorry for racist slur
Rome: Temperamental Italian tennis player Fabio Fognini has apologised after being heard hurling a racist insult at a Serb rival that later circulated on YouTube. The Italian was heard to call Serbian qualifier Filip Krajinovic a “shitty gypsy” during his straight sets defeat in the second round of the Hamburg Open on Wednesday. A video of Fognini showed him muttering the Italian word “zingaro”, meaning gypsy, while he had his back to Krajinovic during the match. After it was picked up on social media, Fognini tweeted in Italian: “I made a mistake. I didn’t want to offend anyone. ... I know Filip very well and anyone who plays sports knows that at times you get carried away saying things that make no sense.”
Kerala Hockey IS NEW MEMBER
New Delhi: Hockey India (HI) on Friday inducted Kerala Hockey as its new associate member. The approval is subject to ratification by the HI’s Executive Board. The decision to approve the application of Kerala Hockey was taken post disaffiliation of Hockey Kerala for irregularities in its functioning and not clarifying them within sufficient time. Hockey Kerala had been relegated to associate member category by HI’s Disciplinary Committee in May this year, a statement from the national federation said. The new body Kerala Hockey has HI president Mariamma Koshy as its president and Francis K Paul as the general secretary.
Siraj is Aiff’s Integrity Officer
New Delhi: All India Football Federation (AIFF) has appointed Javed Siraj as its Integrity Officer to combat corruption and match-fixing in the sport and he will take up his post from August 1. “The AIFF is focused on upholding the core values of football such as Fair Play, achievement by merit and the uncertainty of the outcome of matches and competitions,” Governing Body’s General Secretary Kushal Das said. The Integrity Officer will be the single point contact on all matters of Integrity in AIFF. Among his many roles and responsibilities in the aforementioned capacity, the Integrity Officer is expected to develop an Integrity Plan and Strategy along with developing required educational material on integrity matters. He will also report the progress of this initiative to the Executive Committee of the AIFF from time to time.
Hero named title sponsor of ISl
New Delhi: Renowned two-wheeler manufacturer Hero MotoCorp ltd was on Friday named as the title sponsor of the much-anticipated Indian Super league — the first-of-its-kind franchise-based football league in the country. Hero has signed a three-year deal with ISl. With this sponsorship, the much-awaited new football league, promoted by IMG-Reliance and Star India, will be called the ‘Hero Indian Super league’.
ISl domestic draft on July 22-23
Mumbai: The first player draft to pick domestic footballers by the eight Indian Super league (ISl) franchise teams is to be held here next week. “The draft, to be done on the lines of Major league Soccer of US, to pick the Indian players would be held on July 22 and 23. A total of 92 players will be available to the franchises at the draft,” an official of the tournament’s promoters, IMG-Reliance, said on Friday. “The list includes 32 players from the I-league clubs (on loan) and the rest are players who have been directly signed for the central pool by IMG-Reliance. Among those are players like internationals Gourmangi Singh and Nirmal Chetri,” the official added. The I-league clubs who have released their players to take part in the first edition of the tournament are Kolkata’s glamour outfits East Bengal and Mohun Bagan, Mumbai FC, United SC and Rangdajied United FC.
Hamilton on top in the heat
Hockenheim (Germany): lewis Hamilton clocked the fastest lap in Friday afternoon’s second free practice session for this weekend’s German Grand Prix, the Briton outpacing Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg. On a scorching hot day at the Hockenheim circuit, with air temperatures touching 34 degrees Celsius and the track temperature reaching 58 degrees, the Mercedes men were again in a class of their own as they continued their battle for this year’s drivers’ world championship.