Athlete activists Ejike Ugboaja and Deo Kato champion change through sports
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Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Cricket loving Chessum eyes glory with an innings to spare
By James Toney in Melbourne Sydney has the Opera House, Paris its Eiffel Tower. Others have soaring cathedrals or beautiful bridges. Melbourne has a shrine to sport. Great achievements require the greatest stage, which is why wrapping up this series with an innings to spare at the birthplace of Test cricket occupies every waking moment of Andy Farrell's British & Irish Lions. History always beckons for the team in red, who stand on the shoulders of those who first made these journeys in 1888. Martin Johnson, who knows the thrill of victory and the pain of defeat on these tours, left the class of 2025 under no illusions about what they could achieve when he presented jerseys to the team this week. He was the last captain to guide his team to victory with a match to spare, on the South Africa tour in 1997. 'It's about small margins in big games,' he told a hushed room, And they don't come much bigger than a near six-figure crowd under the towering lights of a stadium that locals simply call 'the G'.' Ollie Chessum makes his Lions Test debut in Melbourne, one of three changes to the team that beat the Wallabies by eight points in Brisbane. Replacing the Irish enforcer Joe McCarthy in the second row, his brief will be to meet the expected increase in Australian physicality and match it. With both parents standing at over six feet tall, Chessum was always going to be a giant. Yet the speed at which he has shot through the ranks at Leicester Tigers, England and now the British & Irish Lions is a growth spurt of a very different kind. From Newark to Nottingham and Sleaford to Melbourne, it has been a meteoric rise for the 24-year-old, whose first sporting love was cricket. This isn't the Boxing Day Test, but Chessum is ready to deliver a knockout blow. 'You sometimes think, 'How on earth did I get here?' but you've got to believe in what you are doing,' he said. 'Australia are going to draw on every emotional aspect of this game that they can. They are at the MCG, in front of their fans, on their home soil, with the series on the line. 'This is where everyone wants to be — on the biggest stage with the chance to win a Lions series at an arena like the MCG. 'We know they're going to throw the kitchen sink at us and there's a real statement in the team they've named as well. 'Maro [Itoje] has said to us that what we produced last Saturday will not be good enough this Saturday. There's a whole different beast coming down the road and we'll have to front up and tackle it head on.' Chessum has formed a close tour friendship with Jac Morgan, who has played himself onto the bench with some stand-out performances, in particular his all-action display against the Queensland Reds in Brisbane. You can't go far in Melbourne without hearing a Welsh accent, and there'll be no louder roar should the Ospreys back row get the chance to make an impact. 'I'm really made up for Jac,' he added. 'When you spend time with him you see what a quality player he is — he deserves the opportunity for the way he's played across this tour. 'You can't say a bad word about him, even if he's hard to understand half the time.'
Business Upturn
30 minutes ago
- Business Upturn
Xavi Hernandez did not apply for Indian football team coach job, claims Spanish report
Rumours have recently swirled around football legend Xavi Hernandez and a potential move to manage the Indian national football team. However, Spanish reports have firmly denied these claims, labeling them as baseless. According to a Spanish report, Xavi did not apply for the India coach position, and the speculation appears to be a tactic by the Indian football federation to attract high-profile candidates. The Rumor: Xavi Linked to India National Team Speculation emerged suggesting that Xavi Hernandez, the former FC Barcelona midfielder and manager, had offered himself as a candidate to coach the Indian national football team. The rumor gained traction due to Xavi's global reputation as a footballing icon and his successful stint as a manager at Barcelona and Al-Sadd. The idea of Xavi taking charge of an emerging football nation like India sparked excitement among fans and media alike. However, these claims have now been categorically dismissed by sources close to the Spanish football legend. ‼️Sources close to Xavi completely deny that he offered himself to manage the Indian national team. ❌ They claim the Indian federation used his name to try and appeal to better candidates. — @sport — Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) July 25, 2025 Spanish Reports Deny Xavi's Involvement According to a report by Sport , sources close to Xavi have completely refuted the idea that he applied for the India national team coaching job. The Sport article suggests that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) may have used Xavi's name strategically to generate buzz and attract other high-calibre candidates for the vacant coaching position. Ahmedabad Plane Crash Aman Shukla is a post-graduate in mass communication . A media enthusiast who has a strong hold on communication ,content writing and copy writing. Aman is currently working as journalist at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Dakota Ditcheva details terms of new PFL contract, 'frustration' over long layoff
PFL brought out all its stars for its debut in Cape Town, South Africa this past weekend, including pound-for-pound climber Dakota Ditcheva. Now 15-0 after her dominant unanimous decision win over Sumiko Inaba, the undefeated superstar had gathered dust on the shelf since her last appearance in November — the eight-month layoff represented, by far, the longest of her MMA career. Ditcheva voiced her concerns about inactivity in recent months, which ultimately led to her getting her wish and landing the Inaba fight. Along with that in-cage return came a fresh new PFL contract as well, as Ditcheva revealed after her win. Speaking this week on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show," Ditcheva expanded on what her immediate future with the company entails. "I am happy now in the end. It took a while," Ditcheva said. "I fought last November, so it took us a while until something was right for the both of us, but I'm happy now. I've secured my future for me and my family. I'll be there until 2027. How can I not be happy with that? I'm looking forward to hopefully building the division now and challenging someone else. If I'm not champion, I don't really care about that. I care about winning. I don't really care about the belt. So, for me, I get to challenge other girls now and I'm happy to carry on doing that, but getting what I deserve out of it at the same time." Unfortunately for Ditcheva, her long-awaited return didn't land as an overall positive. In the opening minute of the third round against Inaba, Ditcheva broke her left hand on a punch. She underwent surgery this week to repair the damage, postponing any hopes of her regaining steam and maintaining a high level of activity. Ultimately, the negotiation period took as long as it did because Ditcheva stood her ground after her breakthrough run through 2024's PFL flyweight tournament. "I just know what I deserve now, and I feel like it just took a little bit of time for them to understand how serious I was about getting what I deserve. I wasn't really going to settle, as well," she said. "It's difficult. [PFL] haven't really seen where the division's going. I want to be somewhere that's active, and when you keep me out for eight months, you're not giving me any confidence for me to be active. I'm not OK with sitting out for eight months, and I'm not OK sitting out for longer. So I had to kind of sit down and get a plan with them and know that I'm going to be fighting and I'm not going to be out for another eight months, which is now part of my contract. I have dates in there now. I've got time limits where they need to keep me active, and I feel like they understood how serious I was about good opponents and making sure I'm fighting. Once we'd come to that agreement, I felt like we'd come to a good deal in place." Ditcheva, 26, has mostly been a silent but violent force throughout her career, letting her work in the cage do much of her talking. That's still the case, however she gained so much momentum in 2024 that she became a pound-for-pound player; she currently sits at No. 5 here at Uncrowned. Having that momentum halted by the promotion's decision-making in 2025 rather than her own was far from ideal. "For sure, I felt the frustration, but I wanted to stay professional," Ditcheva said. "Obviously a lot of people went online and stuff [to complain], and everyone's different. Obviously people are sat out a lot longer than I have. I just kind of wanted to make sure I had a direction first before I started moaning publicly. I felt like it was something PFL and I could solve behind closed doors, and we have in the end. "I did do that one interview that was telling everyone I don't know what's going on, then literally like the next weekend I had a fight announced, so it kind of helped at the same time. I prefer to keep everything private and work through it that way until it's necessary." Going forward, activity shouldn't be an issue for the British knockout artist thanks to her new contract. Ditcheva shared that she has a certain number of fights guaranteed to fulfill until her contract expires in 2027. So depending on how quickly she fulfills those fights, she can become a free agent earlier. In the interim, Ditcheva will heal from her broken hand. After that, who knows what could be in store, as she teased the possibility of unexpected possibilities, including non-MMA fights. "You never know what happens in the next two years," Ditcheva said. "You could see some kind of — I don't know. People might lose their mind at the top of these promotions and make us do a crossover. You just don't know. You've got to be patient. Anything can happen in two years. Don't write me off."
