On 1st of December 2020, the popular IPL franchise KKR, owned by Shahrukh Khan announced its big investment in American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), A U.S Group, along with Vijay Srinivasan, one of the co-founders of ACE, that is going to launch up a major T20 league in 2020.
Shahrukh owned KKR’s investment in American Cricket can be considered as a huge encouragement to the cricketing industry in America.
Kolkata Knight Riders who also knowns a team in Caribbean Premier League – Trinbago Knight Riders, which has so far won 4 CPL titles in six editions along with Kolkata Knight Riders winning the IPL title twice is helping the T20 cricket thrive.
The investment led by Shahrukh Khan, along with his partners in Kolkata Knight Riders – Juhi Chawla and her husband, Jay Mehta will include financial investments and expertise which will help in evolve American Cricketing industry. Sources also say that they are also likely to own the Los Angeles franchise.
“For several years now, we have been expanding the Knight Riders brand globally and closely watching the potential for T20 cricket in the US. We are convinced that Major League Cricket has all the pieces in place to execute its plans and we look forward to making our partnership an enormous success in the coming years,” Shah Rukh Khan said in a statement.
“Even though cricket is not a mainstream sport in the U.S., the size of the diaspora and the appetite for cricket is so strong that the U.S. is the second-largest market to consume cricket content, after India,” Knight Riders Group CEO Venky Mysore said.
“The combination of Bollywood and T20 cricket has been extremely successful in other markets, and we’re looking to leverage that to the extent we can in content creation and the merger of entertainment and cricket,” ACE co-founder Vijay Srinivasan said in a phone call to Yahoo Sports.
Former Inter Milan and Italy international Mario Balotelli is set to join Brazilian club, Club de Regatas Vasco da Gama. Vasco Da Gama’s director of sport Fabio Cordella has confirmed that Balotelli agreed to join the club.
Mario Balotelli was a free agent after Brescia released him last summer. Mario Balotelli was a great striker in his prime. He has played for Liverpool, Manchester City, Inter Milan in his career. He has scored 151 goals in 383 appearances.
Fabio Cordella said, “He’d like to come here, don’t forget Vasco are the second club with most trophies in the world after Real Madrid.”
“I don’t think Mario needs to come to Rio to do stupid things, I think he has reached mental maturity.”
“Vasco are an institution against racism. I hope he can wait for us,” he added.
“Officially, we cannot sign anyone, but there were exchanges of mail and offers.”
“Formally, we agree on everything, we just have to formalise. I hope I can do it on January 15, Vasco need a player like Balotelli and he needs a club like Vasco.”
“For our fans he would be like [Diego Armando] Maradona.”
Vasco Da Gama is one of the oldest football clubs and also have a rich history. The club was formed by the Portuguese community of Rio De Janeiro in 1898. The club still has a huge fanbase. Mario Balotelli’s addition into the squad will surely add some firepower in the offensive part of the team.
Manchester United has started the UCL campaign with an exciting form this season. After the first 4 matches in the group, they are now leading the table with 9 points. They need 1 more point to secure the qualification to the next round. Whereas, Paris Saint Germain needs all 3 points to boost their chance to qualify.
Manchester United will take on Paris Saint Germain at Old Trafford tomorrow. United has secured 3 points against the Ligue 1 champions by defeating 2-1 at Paris. But this time it will be a tough tie for both teams.
Multiple injury issues are a concern for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer this season. United can miss 6 first team players against Paris Saint Germain.
David De Gea was substituted at half time against Southampton F.C. last weekend. Alex Telles was also replaced in the same match at the end after he took a knock. Ole said, “I don’t know how he (De Gea) will react to his knock and bang. Alex had an issue towards the end but hopefully won’t be too bad.”
Anthony Martial was also out of the game as he is ill and had to stay at the hotel for the treatment of the injury he picked before the international break. Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay may return to the training today.
“Paul and Scott hopefully can start training with us tomorrow”- Ole said yesterday.
There is good news for Ole as Jesse Lingard and Phil Jones are fit to play again.
BXP, short for, BlitzkriegXP, is India’s first-ever experiential Esports organisation which kickstarted in June 2020 with a vision to become a premier international Esports organisation. In a rather unorganised gaming industry, BlitzkriegXP recognises the massive potential the industry bears and intends to take Indian gaming talent to extraordinary heights.
Soon after its inception, BlitzkriegXP hosted a data-driven PUBGM nationwide try-out that garnered massive traction and witnessed registration slots getting full in 5 mins!
BXP also participated in the PMCO Fall Split 2020 (PUBG Mobile Club Open), the biggest PUBG tournament in India and dominated right up to the finals with its PUBGM roster under the guidance of their PUBGM head coach, Vedang Chavan. However, ever since the PUBGM ban, BXP has revamped its strategy with a drive to own the void.
BlitzkriegXP is helmed by Samin ‘AceAthena12’ Ahmed, Diksha ‘AshkidOP’ Kathayat and Pallavi ‘DarthPVader’ Venugopal – all semi-professional gamers who got together during a session of PUBG. The camaraderie then turned into a business proposition with the help of Ranjeeta Joshi as the Business Head of BlitzkriegXP– forming an organization that explores the levels of opportunities offered by the gaming industry.
In an exclusive interview with TechnoSports, Ms Samin ‘AceAthena12’ Ahmed, the Marketing Head of BlitzkriegXP has spoken about the eSports industry in India, alternatives to PUBG and BXP’s future plans
We asked few questions to which Ms Samin Ahmed has answered. Here’s what she told us:
eSports in India and its future
The eSports industry is picking up in India with a momentum like never before. With game downloads increasing by 10x, the Indian mobile gaming market is projected to reach 628 million users by the end of 2020 positioning India to be the next major gaming market. The lockdown also brought about a huge spike in mobile gaming where people were seen to spend a great amount of time playing and streaming games at home.
Since the ban of PUBG Mobile, a lot of titles like COD Mobile and Valorant have benefitted by scooping in the traction. With multiple IPs being executed for Valorant, it seems to be the most promising esports title when it comes to PC gaming.
For mobile, Garena Free Fire has been flourishing in terms of content and gaming. The Free Fire India Championship 2020, a tournament whose finals brags 6.7 million views on YouTube, featured a prize pool of 35Lakh INR. In other news, 4 Indian teams are set to represent India at the COD Mobile World Championship.
Moreover, with the easing Covid lockdown, we might even get to attend the much-awaited LAN events sooner than imagined.
Alternatives to PUBG that Indian gamers are in love with
Since the ban, an extreme change in trend was observed. Viewers were no longer tuning into live streamers just for the sake of the fandom but for the game being played and the quality of content being dished out.
Hence, games like Among us and fall guys stepped into the limelight as entertaining and engaging content creating capabilities is supported by the game’s nature itself. The viewership numbers of Garena Free Fire and COD Mobile have remained unaffected as the game already harbors a massive community since the past year.
However, with PUBGM unban news making the rounds, we are certain that if and when the comeback happens we will be putting together a PUBGM roster and resume our grind to dominate in the competitive scene.
What is the future plan of BlitzkreigXP?
BlitzkriegXP’s vision is to command the international Esports scene and house some of the most talented rosters in India. Diversifying in terms of content for the community, training and building rosters across different games and eventually competing in the biggest Esports competitions in India and then the world is the plan for the BXP’s future.
Moreover, partnering with endemic as well as non endemic brands and ensuring meaningful integrations through unique proprietary IPs is something that we are going to focus on in the next 6 months. These strategic collaborations will help build a sustainable and more credible ecosystem that opens up a plethora of opportunities for the entire Esports community!
About Ms Samin ‘AceAthena12’ Ahmed
Ms Samin ‘AceAthena12’ Ahmed is the Marketing Head of BlitzkriegXP, India’s first experiential E-Sports organisation. She recently completed her MBA in communication management from SIMC, Pune. Having had a year and a half long journey in experiential marketing she has played a key role in crafting consumer experiences for some of the biggest properties in the nation like Supersonic, Sunburn and T20 Mumbai. She has worked on various PR and activation campaigns across brands like Gulf Oil, Budweiser, Amazon Easy and Mondelez. Samin has also worked closely for the launch strategy and content curation of 7Rivers, India’s proudly homegrown beer from the house of ABInBev.
In 2020, she ventured into the E-Sports industry as the Marketing Head of BlitzkriegXP with a mission to introduce system and structure in this extremely unorganized yet highly lucrative industry by making the sport, the players, the content and the experiences more engaging and hence marketable.
She has worked intensively in the launch strategy and digital marketing campaign of BliztkriegXP which is now gearing up for a nation-wide tryout to recruit its first team.
As an extremely passionate and hardworking professional, she is always looking for newer and more challenging opportunities that foster thought leadership. Samin believes in a healthy work-life balance and being a cinema lover often blows off steam by watching films and going for a run every morning.
Equality between men and women in every aspect is highly encouraging in the last decade. FIFA is also trying to boost Women’s football. All continental organizations are also helping FIFA. It helped Women’s football to come on leaps and bounds in recent years, football remains a male-dominated sport. Not only playing and coaching, but females had come up to officiate matches in recent times as well. In, 2019 UEFA Super Cup, a female referee was appointed.
Today, UEFA Champions League is going to make a new history. According to a report by Sport face, UEFA Champions League is going to take another major step.
As per the report, Juventus vs Dinamo Kyiv in the Champions League on Wednesday will be officiated by a woman for the first time in the competition’s history.
Stephanie Frappart will be officiating the match. She was also in charge of the UEFA Super Cup – between Liverpool and Chelsea on 14th August 2019. She also became the first female referee in Ligue 1 and 2 histories. She is now ready to become the first female referee of the UEFA Champions League as well.
The 36-year-old French lady started her career in 2011. She is a highly experienced referee and officiated in some major tournaments.
The way female football is progressing, it will also get the recognition like Men’s football get. Still, now a female is taking charge of a Men’s game is newsworthy. But the scenery will be changed pretty soon.
Finally, today, after having leaked completely already, NVIDIA has made their new RTX 3060 Ti available via a press release, and it kept the rumored pricing of $399. In India, it has a sweet starting pricing of just INR 35,900.
The RTX 3060 Ti is faster than the previous generation GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER, priced at INR 65,500, and delivers blistering 1080p and 1440p gameplay.
“We’re entering a massive holiday season with ray-traced effects coming to Cyberpunk 2077, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Watch Dogs: Legion and more,” said Matt Wuebbling, VP of global GeForce marketing at NVIDIA. “There’s no better way for gamers to enjoy cutting-edge ray-traced games or powering through creative and productivity workflows than with the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, and the rest of the RTX 30 Series.”
Specifications
The new 1440p gaming GPU from NVIDIA is targeted to break the dominance of the Radeon RX 5700XT. It features 38 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), four more SMs than the previous RTX 2060 Super. The GeForce 3060 Ti comes with 4,864 CUDA cores, 152 third gen tensor cores, 38 second-gen RT cores along with a boost clock of 1,665 MHz.
The GPU features 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM, the same as that of the last-gen RTX 2060 Super, with a frequency of 7,000 MHz on a 256-bit interface and a total bandwidth of 448 GB/s. It is rated at 200 W TGP, and at its price, this could be a great deal for PC builders who need a good GPU without hurting the pocket much.
The RTX 3060 Ti supports the trifecta of GeForce gaming innovations, including performance-accelerating and image quality (IQ)-enhancing NVIDIA DLSS (NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling), NVIDIA Reflex, and NVIDIA Broadcast. Together with real-time ray tracing, they are the foundation of the GeForce gaming platform, which brings unparalleled performance and features to games and gamers everywhere.
Where to Buy
The new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti will be available on Dec. 2, i.e., tomorrow, starting at INR 35,900, as custom boards, including stock-clocked and factory-overclocked models, from top add-ins card providers such as ASUS, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY and Zotac and as a Founders Edition from NVIDIA.
The GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GPU will be made available at major retailers and etailers, and gaming systems by major manufacturers and leading system builders worldwide. Also, good news from NVIDIA, as for a limited time in select countries, gamers who purchase a new GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GPU or system will receive a one-year subscription to NVIDIA GeForce NOW™ cloud gaming service.
SERI KEMBANGAN, 30 NOVEMBER 2020 – Esports Integrated (ESI) had successfully streamedthe third event of Esports Integrated Challenge Series themed “Kaki Bola Edition” last night on Facebook Live Page ESI – Esports Integrated. The event was attended by YB Dato’ Sri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, Minister of Youth and Sports, and Ahmed Faris Amir, Chief Executive Officer of ESI at VisualThree Studio in Selangor.
Hosted by Fiera Fendi, the fun-match FIFA21 tournament featured 8 participants from four different groups of personalities namely celebrities, athletes, streamers and FIFA pro-players. The lineups are Tomok (celebrity), Francisca Luhong (Miss Universe Malaysia), Soloz (mobile games pro-player and streamer), Daddyhood (mobile games pro-player and streamer), Steffi Sidhu (futsal athlete), Sean Selvaraj (football athlete), Luqmanhaziq (FIFA Pro), and Ayen (FIFA Pro).
“Today, I am proud to see our national players representing Malaysia Football League (MFL) and eMalaysia Football League (eMFL) here competing in a friendly match to expand the awareness of our Esports industry. I hope that more Malaysians would be inspired by these talents to participate in this booming industry and make Malaysia proud,” said Dato’ Sri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.
Team Eagle (Ayen and Daddyhood) was crowned the champion to take home RM5,000 cash prize after defeating Team Panther (Luqmanhzq and Ayen) in the final match. Although it was a huge defeat for national FIFA Pro-player Luqmanhzq, it was still amazing to watch national Esports FIFA athletes like Ayen and himself to compete among casual FIFA players who are also the key opinion leaders (KOLs) of their industries.
Lucky audiences who took part in the giveaway contest will bring home the prize pool money worth up to RM3,000 and exclusive merchandise sponsored by VCMC, Football Association of Selangor (FAS), and GamesBond. ESI Challenge Kaki Bola Edition was supported by eGG Network, Team Bosskurr, CoGear Productions, Optimum Information, and Alhamra Games.
Visit Esports Integrated website at esportsintegrated.com, Facebook at @esportsintegrated, Instagram at @esportsintegrated, Twitter at @esi_tweet, YouTube at ESI – Esports Integrated and Twitch at @esportsintegrated for more information.
About Esports Integrated (ESI)
Esports Integrated (ESI) is an initiative to catalyse a vibrant, sustainable and inclusive Esports ecosystem powered by Impact Integrated under the purview of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. At ESI, we aim to create structures and programmes to support the establishment of a vibrant, sustainable and inclusive ecosystem which enables growth, ensures protection and expands diversity. As an initiative, ESI cares about nurturing and encouraging the growth and expansion of the Esports ecosystem while at the same time ensuring that the ecosystem’s environment embraces healthy values and is inclusive.
Australian big man, Andrew Bogut announced his retirement from professional basketball. He announced his retirement on his Rogue Bogues Podcast Monday. Retirement was something on Bogut’s mind for too long now and thus his decision to decamp wasn’t shocking.
The 7 feet giant started his professional career back in 2005 when the Milwaukee Bucks selected him as the number 1 pick of the 2005 NBA Draft. In his first year, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He also finished third in votes for the NBA Rookie of the Year award after averaging 9.4 points and 7 rebounds per game in his first year. Bogut went on to increasing and bettering his stats in the upcoming years.
It was in 2009-2010 that was Andrew Bogut’s breakout season. He finished the season averaging 15.9 points, 10.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, earning himself the All-NBA Third Team honours, becoming the first Bucks player to do so since Michael Redd in 2003-2004.
Andrew Bogut in action for the Australian national men’s basketball team.
Image Credits : The Australian
His great success as a professional came after a trade taking him to San Francisco playing for the Golden State Warriors. On 13th March 2012, Bogut was brought to the Warriors in a trade-in exchange for Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh and Kwame Brown.
Andrew Bogut remembers that,” I missed the Olympics that year, had all the pressure of Golden State trading a fan-favourite in Monte (Ellis), and getting me.” But Bogut had to undergo many surgeries and injuries throughout his first season with the Warriors.
Bogut signed a three-year contract extension with Golden State, in October of 2013. This set the stage for the big man emerging as an integral part of the Warriors’ dynasty.
In his 8th NBA season, Andrew Bogut won his first NBA Championship with the Warriors in 2015, after defeating LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the finals. After a few years at the Warriors, Bogut even played for the Dallas Mavericks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers where he didn’t really have a significant impact.
Andrew returned to his homeland to play for the Sydney Kings of the Australian National Basketball League. After the conclusion of the 2018-2019 NBL Regular season, Bogut was James the NBL Most Valuable Player, averaging 11.6 points per game to go along with 329 rebounds, 98 assists and 77 blocked shots. Despite being the MVP, he couldn’t lead the Kings to an NBL championship. The Kings had a third-place finish before losing 2-0 to the Melbourne United in the semi-finals.
Andrew Bogut posing with his NBL MVP trophy.
Image Credits : ESPN.com
Andrew Bogut decided to make a comeback to the NBA after signing with the Golden State Warriors again in 2019. But the Warriors lost to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals. After signing with the Sydney Kings, yet again for the 2019-2020 NBL season, he decided no to re-sign with them on May 25th, 2020.
Andrew Bogut had an above-average NBA career but had a great career at the NBL. He will definitely go down as one of the greatest Australians to play the sport. He said that he just wanted to decompress, wait till the next year and figure out what he wanted to do. With over $100 million in career earnings, the Australian choosing to enjoy the success of his hard work is only reasonable. He truly has been an inspiration for many kids around the globe.
The YouTube channel called Hardware Unboxed recently talked about the situation on Radeon RX 6800 series. The video covers the topic of non-existent Radeon RX 6800 stock and also about the inflation of prices on its custom models. Cards that were immediately sold out at MSRP were all reference models.
According to the streamers, the retailers would not take pre-orders on the cards. Even if they did manage to do it, the pricing then was simply put horrendous and extremely over the officially suggested retail pricing from AMD. According to sources, AMD has already acknowledged the problem of inflated pricing, and the manufacturer is already working on ‘enabling’ AIBs to achieve the MSRP target within two months.
“We have had a private conversation with AMD. They assured us that in 4 to 8 weeks, there would be AIB cards available at MSRP. They said they enabled the AIBs to achieve the 649 dollars [RX 6800 XT] MSRP, and they expect that to happen within eight weeks,” stated one of the speakers in the YouTube video.
The retailers offering fake MSRP creates a problem for reviewers. The early adopters of the reference’s models were put in a tough spot, as the card’s performance to dollar charts are simply misleading to customers who are unable to find these cards at such prices. One of the reasons for the high pricing of the Big Navi cards could be the limited number of GPU stock in the market. One more prominent reason could be the limited margin for AIBs, and the retailers seem to be taking advantage of this.
The popularity of online casinos continues to grow as lockdowns make more gamers and gamblers explore entertainment options. There are risks, however, to playing on iGaming platforms, especially if you are new to the industry. That said, all it takes to stay safe is caution and knowledge of how online gambling works. Below are four issues you should take into your own hands before joining a new provider.
1. Check the Casino’s Reliability
In the digital age, it is very easy to uncover a service’s reputation. Gather as much detail as possible to see whether or not they inspire confidence. To begin with, browse comparison sites, forums, and comments on social media for hints of the impression an online casino has made so far.
At the same time, read through its terms and conditions for a better idea of how organized and friendly the whole system is. Above all, make sure the casino has a valid license alongside a fun but professional presence.
2. Check the Payment and Security Systems
You should look at the more technical side of any online casino that interests you. Since iGaming involves money and personal data, playing safely mainly comes down to security. Firstly, you could go the extra mile and get to know the different types and features of SSL certificates.
Then you can check what the casino uses and judge its safety for yourself. Another important matter to investigate is how incoming and outgoing transactions happen, not to mention their speed and tracking options.
3. Choose the Best Banking Method
Apart from researching the iGaming platform, deciding how to best transfer funds would be another smart move on your end. Some countries, for example, don’t allow the use of banks, so it is handy to know exactly what is open to you.
Popular methods among online casino fans include eWallets, digital cards, and Online Payment Service Providers (PSP). But different platforms may come with restrictions for particular banking systems, another reason to explore the matter in depth.
4. Keep Payments and Data Secure
The responsibility of protecting your transactions and sensitive information should start with you. When making and receiving payments, keep track of everything. When creating copies of your ID for casinos with extra security measures, you could keep them in a local folder on your computer and protect them with a password.
In fact, the more interactions with online casinos you can encrypt the better. Think outside the box when choosing security tips to follow, like using passphrases instead of passwords or storing bank details in an external drive you can easily disconnect. There are many ways to gain peace of mind when having a good time on online casinos. Modern software for banking and security go a long way, as does simply boosting your awareness of digital gambling. Specifically, research each platform’s reputation and offerings, as well as what tricks you can employ to keep your data safe. Careful use of all these matters ensures you can make the most of iGaming.
