England, Germany, Netherlands, Wales, Belgium, Switzerland and Denmark have released a joint statement confirming why they won’t be wearing the One Love armband at the 2022 World Cup.
The European countries wanted to wear the armband as a sign of protest against Qatar, where homosexuality is illegal. But,
under pressure from FIFA, who forced to book the players wearing the armbands at matches, the FAs have been forced to withdraw their plans.
FIFA World Cup 2022: European clubs opt out of wearing One Love armband
“FIFA has been very clear that it will impose sporting sanctions if our captains wear the armbands on the field of play,” an official statement from the national teams read.
“As national federations, we can’t put our players in a position where they could face sporting sanctions including bookings, so we have asked the captains not to attempt to wear the armbands in FIFA World Cup games,” it added.
This only adds to the drama surrounding the 2022 edition of the World Cup in Qatar. Prior to the One Love armband, the gross violation of human rights while constructing the stadiums were a major source of protest. And this has become the latest in a list of such events.
Indian Super League club NorthEast United FC have blazoned the signing of Colombian striker Wilmar Jordan Gil for the remainder of the season. The 32 time old will join the incontinently and will look to help the club turn their fortunes around. The Highlanders have lost all six of their matches in the Hero Indian Super League( ISL) 2022- 23 season.
Jordan is largely educated footballer and has played in Venezuela, Bulgaria, South Korea and UAE and has a knack for snappily conforming to new surroundings which is commodity NorthEast United FC will hope he’ll be suitable to do in India as well.
Wilmar Jordan to NorthEast United FC
Wilmar began playing football for the Nacional youth platoon. He’d colorful stints with clubs around the world, including Atl Sabana, Gyeongnam FC, Litech Lovech, TJ Teda, and Emirates Club. He signed a contract with the famed CSKA Sofia Club of Bulgaria in 2016. He also spent a lot of time playing football for notable Portuguese brigades like Chaves and Famalico.
Last season he played for Portuguesa FC of Venezuela’s top division. He played 24 matches for them scoring five pretensions. He was arbitrated the top goalscorer in the Bulgarian top division while playing for Litech Lovec where he scored 20 pretensions in the event. Wilmar primarily plays as a target man, but he’s also able of playing as a alternate striker.
“I am very happy to be here. I’d like to thank the fans for the welcome and I hope to see them during the next match,” Jordan said after signing for the club.
His strong constitution and his expectation may be a great treasure to the NEUFC team if the deal materialises. still, he’s relatively slow off the ball and he hasn’t played a single match since September 2022.
In Guwahati, Jordan is likely to give competition to Matt Derbyshire in the platoon and his experience will also help players like Rocharzela, Emil Benny, and Jithin MS to ameliorate their situations of performance. NorthEast United FC face a tough assignment in their coming match as they drink high- flying Mumbai City FC to Guwahati on Friday.
Tamil Nadu’s batter Narayan Jagadeesan scripted history by smashing five centuries in a trot in List A cricket. He achieved this while playing against Arunachal Pradesh in the sixth round of the Elite Group C match on November 21.
He broke Sri Lankan legend player Kumar Sangakkara’s South African Alviro Peterson and Karnataka’s Devdutt Padikkal’d record who had smashed four centuries in a row. He also broke Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Prithviraj Shaw, and Devdutt Padikkal’s record of hitting the highest number of centuries in one edition of the tournament. In 2008-09 Virat smashed four centuries, the same record repeated by Gaikawad in 2021-22 and Devdutt Padikkal in 2020-21.
Credits- News18
Earlier, he was released by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) before the mini-auction. He smashed 799 runs in six innings at an average of 159.70. Against Arunachal Pradesh, he mustered 277 runs off 141 with 25 fours and 15 sixes and scored the highest in List A matches.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu shattered all records and piled up an enormous 506/2 in 50 overs against Arunanchal Pradesh.
This victory of Tamil Nadu is now the biggest in List A cricket. They bettered the 32-year-old record set by Somerset in 1990 when they defeated Devon by 346 runs. Meanwhile, Jagadeesan edged past the record of Alistair Brown’s 268 for Surrey against Glamorgan in 2002. The Indian record for the highest List A score of 264 by Rohit Sharma in an ODI against Sri Lanka was also broken in the game.
The team’s consistent skipper Dinesh Karthik who didn’t participate in the Vijay Hazare Trophy congratulated Jagdeeshan but also questioned about the game’s current format.
WORLD RECORD alert
What an amazing effort by @Jagadeesan_200 . Couldn’t be happier for him. Big things await #5outta5
Sai Sudarshan what an amazing tournament so far. This opening combo is killing it .
Does it make sense to have the north east teams play the elite teams in the league phase . It just topples the run rates of teams and imagine if a match against one of these teams gets rained off!
Can’t they have a separate group and then qualify ?
He questioned if it made sense for a team from the northeast to compete against top opponents during league stages. He also mentioned how it impacts the others if their matches are washed out in order to support his claim by emphasizing how these matchups increased clubs’ run rates.
Rick Karsdorp is fully expected to leave Roma during the January transfer window. The fullback has been publicly called out by manager Jose Mourinho, and asked to find another club as well, after being branded a ‘traitor’.
The defender did not join Roma after training resumed following the trouble with Mourinho. And now, his fractured relationship with the club will end in a month when the transfer window opens.
Rick Karsdorp to leave Roma after not showing up in training
It’s over between AS Roma and Dutch fullback Rick Karsdorp. After trouble with José Mourinho, Karsdorp didn’t show up for resumption of training with AS Roma. 🇳🇱 #transfers
‘It was a team that wanted to win against a tough opponent, I am sorry that the efforts of the team were betrayed by the attitude of one unprofessional player,’ Mourinho said at the time after the game against Sassuolo.
‘An unprofessional attitude that is not fair to his teammates, that is what disappoints me. A point away from home is still not a negative result and I am happy with the general attitude of my squad.’
It was claimed that Rick Karsdorp left the city after the bust-up with Mourinho. He was signed for €19 million in 2017, becoming one of Feyenoord’s most expensive sales ever and it seems that his time is now over for sure.
The World Cup winners’ curse has been around for the last 56 years – with no country being able to retain their title over the last half century. Only two countries – Italy (1934 and 1938) and Brazil (1962 and 1966) have been able to retain their title in the history of the competition.
But since then, things have not gone well for the winners of the previous edition in any World Cup since that time. In fact, four of the last five defending champions have exited in the group stages itself. The only exception was Brazil, who made it to the quarter-finals in 2006.
World Cup winners’ curse – France set up to suffer in Qatar?
There will be no replacement for Karim Benzema, France coach Deschamps confirms. 🚨🇫🇷 #Qatar2022
After Kolo-Muani replacing Nkunku, no new changes in France list for the World Cup. pic.twitter.com/j5oELC4791
The France national team will play the World Cup without N’Golo Kante, Paul Pogba, Presnel Kimpembe, Christopher Nkunku and Karim Benzema. The two attackers suffered their respective injuries in the training ground with the national team, although Benzema was still recovering.
And despite their unbelievable squad depth, Didier Deschamps is in a difficult situation because of the injuries. France were victims of the curse in 2002, and Germany were the latest to suffer the curse after being eliminated in the group stage in the 2018.
And it now remains to be seen how the team deals with the intense pressure despite the notable absentees.
Chelsea are monitoring Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford for a potential transfer in the summer. The West London club could offload Edouard Mendy as he struggles to earn a place ahead of Kepa Arrizabalaga in the first team.
Although the Senegalese has a contract with the club until 2025, he could make the move in order to find guaranteed game time. And since Kepa has been unable to be consistent between the sticks in the past, Pickford could be an option for Graham Potter’s side.
Chelsea eyeing Jordan Pickford transfer in the summer
🚨Jordan Pickford is one of a number of goalkeepers being monitored by Chelsea at the moment. [via CaughtOffside].#CFC 🔵 pic.twitter.com/AZWbTyrSvr
With the goalkeeper situation yet to be sorted out, the Blues find themselves with two good quality goalkeepers to choose from. While this means that they have immense depth, there is also dissatisfaction over playing time.
The arrival of Jordan Pickford would help sort out matters for the club. However, they would have to let go of at least one of their current options before that.
Chelsea are also reportedly keeping tabs on Anthony Gordon, who they tried to sign this summer. However, their bid to sign the youngster failed with Everton keeping hold of the forward. Next summer, though, the two Everton players could be set for a transfer to the capital.
FDI inflows into India have expanded dramatically in recent years, owing to global supply chain diversification and a number of incentive programmes targeted at luring investors. India is eager to boost its attractiveness even more by streamlining the investment process and removing red tape.
According to an unnamed Indian government official, an inter-ministerial conference was held a few days ago, with attendees hoping to streamline the investment process when determining why some incentive policies outperform or underperform others.
Over the last two years, India has announced 14 Production Linked Incentive (PLI) programmes to attract businesses to establish plants in India, including mobile phones, low-emission autos, battery cells, solar panels, and laptop computers. Nonetheless, some PLI plans, such as mobile phones, electronics components, and pharmaceuticals, were announced a year earlier than others and are ahead of other PLI programmes in terms of progress. Because of faster approvals, the PLI scheme for the food industry is moving quickly, whereas investment in speciality steel, another PLI scheme, takes time.
Furthermore, Bloomberg reported in October that India unveiled PM Gati Shakti, a US$1.2 trillion strategy intended at providing investors and businesses with a one-stop solution for project design, smooth clearances, and quicker cost estimation.
credit: digitimes
India is eager to exploit the opportunity while China is enforcing tough COVID laws and US-China technological tensions are causing global suppliers to diversify their production bases.
Despite FDI inflows dropping from US$64 billion in 2020 to US$45 billion in 2021, 108 new international project finance deals were announced in India in 2021, compared to 20 projects on average over the previous ten years, according to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2022.
Meanwhile, according to the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking 2020, the most recent report available before the World Bank terminated it in 2021 owing to data inconsistencies, India, ranked 63rd, was one of the top 10 improvers, moving from 130 to 63 in just three years. Still, Anshuman Sinha, a partner at Kearney India, told Bloomberg that, aside from geopolitics, the only way for India to compete with China is to be cost competitive.
Team Heretics finished as runners-up and secured USD 20,000 as the Grand Finals of one of India’s biggest Valorant tournament witnessed a remarkable finish at the GMR Arena
Singapore-based pro-outfit Paper Rex showcased their mettle as they triumphed over Team Heretics in a spectacular grand final to emerge champions of the first-ever Valorant India Invitational by Galaxy Racer India powered by AMD.
With hundreds of passionate fans in attendance, Paper Rex continued the impressive consistency that they have shown in Valorant Championships throughout this year and put on a sensational display to outperform their Spanish opposition with a 3-1 scoreline in the best-of-5 clash.
Courtesy of this triumph, Paper Rex will take home USD 50,000 as prize money while their opponents Team Heretics secured USD 20,000 for finishing as the runners-up.
“The Grand Finals were a true reflection of the magnitude of the entire tournament as we witnessed some high-intensity matches from some of the best pro players in Valorant. We are very happy with the performances of every team, especially the Indian teams who went toe to toe with their international counterparts and gave their best. The support from the audience who turned out in large numbers to show their support for their beloved teams was equally encouraging. Congratulations to Paper Rex on becoming the winners and the amazing victory, we hope to see more such teams competing again in India soon.” said Siddharth Ravishankar, Chief Gaming Officer, Galaxy Racer.
The first map was a closely contested game between the two finalists in which the team from Singapore edged out their opponents 13-11. Despite Team Heretics coming back into the game by prevailing in the second map, the determination of the eventual champions did not falter one bit as they came back from behind to win the next two maps 13-10 and 13-8 respectively and clinched the coveted trophy.
This was Paper Rex’s third major Valorant success this season having won the VCT Stage 1 and Stage 2 earlier in 2022. Jason “f0rsakeN” Susanto and Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee’s heroics were vital to this victory as the duo led their team in average combat score (ACS), K:D, Kills Assists Survived Traded (KAST) %, average damage per round (ADR) and kills per round (KPR).
Khalish “d4v41” Rusyaidee, star player of Paper Rex expressed his gratitude after winning the tournament saying,“It’s definitely a great feeling to be able to win this championship as we have been on a break since the Istanbul championship. I am very happy with how we have performed given the trust all of us have in each other to go all the way and continue our winning ways. Overall I am delighted with this result and our amazing performance in this tournament.”
Apart from the two finalists, semi-finalists Bleed Esports and Team Secret each won USD 10,000 while the other four teams: Enigma Gaming, Rex RegumQeon, Boom Esports, and GodSquad secured USD 2,500 each for their efforts in the tournament.
Global Esports’ GodSquad, the sole Indian team to get a slot at the Valorant Champions Tour 2023-24 produced formidable victories against Bleed Esports and Boom Esports in the group stage but narrowly missed out on the semi-finals due to game difference.
Being the first international LAN Valorant tournament taking place in Southeast Asia, Valorant India Invitational witnessed sensational action from eight top-notch teams and was one of the biggest tournaments held in India this year. The Championship also witnessed a collaboration with Sunburn, Arena to showcase a mix of esports and music for the very first time.
While Apple is likely to buy chips from TSMC’s forthcoming Arizona fab in order to reduce its dependency on Asian manufacture in general, it does not appear that the business will ever truly rely on Taiwanese chipmaking. As a result, Bloomberg believes that the claimed decision, which has yet to be officially revealed, is more of a marketing ploy than a necessity.
But, while Apple has yet to announce its intention to employ TSMC’s Arizona fab, which is scheduled to open in 2024, let us examine what Apple would require in two years and what TSMC will offer the big corporation in a couple of years. Keep in mind that we only know of Apple’s alleged desire to use the Arizona fab through a Bloomberg report. We presume the information is correct because Bloomberg is a reliable source.
TSMC’s Arizona fab will manufacture chips utilising the company’s N5 (5nm class) process technology family, which comprises the N5, N5P, N4, N4P, and N4X. Apple currently employs N5, N5P, and N4 for a variety of system-on-chips used in smartphones, PCs, and consumer electronics. Meanwhile, according to rumours, Apple is the first company to employ TSMC’s N3 (3nm class) node for at least one of its SoCs.
Apple is TSMC’s alpha customer for leading-edge process technologies.
credit: tomshardware
However, designing chips for a cutting-edge process technology and manufacturing them on a cutting-edge node is costly. Apple only employs its N4-based A16 Bionic SoC in the premium iPhone 14 Pro, which starts at $999. Meanwhile, the more affordable vanilla iPhone 14 (starting at $799) continues to employ the N5P-based A15 Bionic SoC from 2021.
While the new technique is costly, Apple requires cutting-edge manufacturing nodes not only for its premium devices, but also for its PCs. The company’s M1-based Macs broke some performance records and clearly outperformed expectations. Meanwhile, Apple’s M1 Max, with 57 billion transistors — one of the most complex processors ever created — based on TSMC’s N5P process, reflects the company’s high performance ambitions.
OPPO Inspirational Games interviewed three witnesses to share their stories about football
OPPO today published a documentary Inspirational Games based on three witnesses’ stories of the most inspiring games in the UEFA Champions League. The 67-year history of the UEFA Champions League is an epic full of passionate and inspiring memories. Looking at the throwback highlights, we can still feel the passion encapsulated in each moment.
For fans of the UEFA Champions League to relive the strong emotions of the most exciting games in history, OPPO hosted a global campaign to vote for the competition’s top three inspiring games of all time. This was followed by actually finding those who witnessed the game during the time, then interviewing them and finally bringing these stories of inspiration to everyone. As part of the campaign “Inspirational Games”, OPPO believes that these stories strike up conversations between even strangers and unify football fans. Furthermore, it rekindles the passion for the game to inspire more people around the world.
Nam Kunn records his travel with OPPO Reno8 Pro
“Going to the stadium to watch a game always draws your best memory,” Nam Kunn, a graphic designer and photographer based in Paris told us, “Football always brings the strongest emotions and never makes you bored.” As a supporter of PSG since 2000, Nam was a field photographer that happened to witness the amazing 4-0 during the first leg between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona, and the histrionic 1-6 during the second. The strongest emotions that football gave him continue to inspire his life till this day.
As Nam puts it, supporting a club is more than a logo or a jersey. It describes your values, philosophy, and life. Deriving from his love for football, Nam was inspired to start a project to record the most inspiring moments of his travels, which include fashion, photography, and of course football. For him, football is a sport about cultural diversity. A sport for everyone to connect and share their passion.
Tonín el Torero, a hardcore fan who holds another identity as the owner of a famous pub in Madrid would agree with Nam. He shared with us the inspiring moments when his pub brought total strangers from different countries together with football. “The passion for Real Madrid builds bonds.” Tonín recalls the time fans went wild when their team scored an amazing goal. That memory was a perfect depiction of a community coming together to embrace joy and hope.
Tonín el Torero
Football invokes our emotions and inspires underdogs to outperform their opponents. We’ve heard so many stories from football fans, however, OPPO is lucky to have interviewed Mike Ferney, a visually impaired fan who enjoys matches in a different way.
“How could someone who is visually impaired enjoy a football match in a stadium?” you might ask. The answer is passion. The passion for football he had since childhood has now turned into a lifelong habit, and all of the matches that he experienced have become an unstoppable force that drives him ahead.
Mike Ferney was diagnosed with visual impairment from birth, but this has not affected his zeal for football and Liverpool which started from a young age and has continued to this day. Though life with impaired vision is difficult at times, Liverpool’s victory at Istanbul moved him deeply at the age of 13. There he learned the life lesson “never give up,” and Mike describes it as his biggest takeaway from Istanbul 2005.
“It’s being three nil down against one of the best teams in Europe,” Mike still remembers that feeling of intensity while recounting the story, “It could have been easy to roll over and give up, but they carried on. And I think the moment is short. Then things that happen help me believe that, even though it is football, it can be tied to a life lesson.”
Mike’s cousin Stephen assists him by giving him a visual description of everything that’s happening on the field, and he enjoys standing in the stadium to experience the matches. Because to Mike, there are more senses to feel at a matchup than simply watching. There is a special energy when you stand in the stadium with the crowd around, Mike calls it the “feeling of synergy,” and that goes beyond visual aspects to various sensations like the noise of fans celebrating and the ground beneath him shaking. Therefore, even with his visual impairment, Mike still experiences the games to a great extent and gains inspiration from football.
Mike Ferney (center) watches football game with his cousin and friend
For Mike, inspiration also means never giving up his passion for life and inspiring more people with his story. When life gets tough, Mike chooses to go to matches to feel the vibe. The relentless attitude is deeply rooted into his life and also encouraged a group of fans through the bond of Liverpool. Mike started a podcast named “Unfair Rap”, where he retells his story and meets new friends with shared interests and passion. It is always a pleasure for him to inspire the people around him.
There are many people like Mike who are inspired by the passion for football, and advancements in technology allow us to better enjoy and record the game with pocket-sized devices, freezing the seconds of inspiration into everlasting memories. OPPO has been exploring more ways for people to enjoy sports under the brand proposition “Inspiration Ahead”. Especially assistive technology for people like Mike who have visual impairments or other disabilities to experience more inspiration in their lives. For example, Color Vision Enhancement Technology, which made its debut on the OPPO Find X3 series, was designed to improve color identification abilities for those who suffer from color vision deficiency. Thanks to the technology, the screen displays more accurate colors.
OPPO Research Institute Innovation Accelerator, which issued a focus on accessible technology was also a success this year. The accelerator was aimed to turn world changing ideas into reality. Among the winning proposals, we were glad to see innovative ideas like “machine vision solutions for the visually impaired”, and “exclusive mobile phones for the hearing-impaired”. These proposals addressed pressing social issues that deserve our concern.
Guided by the brand proposition “Inspiration Ahead,” OPPO will continue to explore meaningful innovations regardless of the difficulties that lie ahead. The search for witnesses for “Inspirational Games” is not an ending, on the contrary, it marks a new beginning. OPPO will help more people enjoy the inspiration in life, and everyone can become a witness to their own moments of inspiration.
To watch the documentary of star witnesses, watch here:
