La Liga sells broadcast rights for more than USD 5 bn for 5 years
Madrid, Dec 14: Spain’s top football league has generated 4.95 billion euros (USD 5.6 billion) from the sale of subscription broadcast domestic rights for five seasons. La Liga has sold games for live broadcast in Spain to a streaming service for the first time with DAZN picking up the rights to 175 matches per season. Telefonica-owned Movistar has the rights to the other 205 games, including three complete rounds. La Liga will be making 990 million euros per season from these rights packages, a slight uplift from 980 million euros a year in the current deals. More cash will be generated in Spain from live free-to-air rights, the packages to show games in bars, hotels and airports, as well as for the second division. (AP)
Sergio Aguero set to retire due to heart condition: Reports
Madrid, Dec 14: Reports in Spanish media suggested that Sergio Aguero could announce his retirement this week. The rumours about his imminent retirement have been circulating in the media since he came off in his first match for Barcelona. Aguero was diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia since he was brought off after 41 minutes of his first start for the club after suffering from chest pains. (AP)
Simone Biles named Time’s 2021 Athlete of the Year
New YORK, Dec 14: Simone Biles was named Time’s 2021 Athlete of the Year, the magazine announced. The world’s most decorated gymnast was hailed for putting her mental health first when she withdrew from four event finals at the Tokyo Olympics. Biles, a four-time Olympic medallist, later revealed that she suffered from what gymnasts called “the twisties – when you lose the sense of space and dimension in the air. Despite the setback, the 24-year-old managed to earn a team all-around silver and a bronze in balance beam at the Tokyo Games. A month after the Tokyo Olympics, Biles gave an emotional testimony at a US senate hearing into former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. Biles along with hundreds of athletes accused the FBI, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee for failing to stop the abuse. (AP)
Aishwarya wins fifth straight National Rally Championship
Coimbatore, Dec 14:Motorcycle racer Aishwarya Pissay conquered the windmill farm stages in Kethanur, Tamil Nadu to win her fifth National Rally Championship in a row. The TVS Racing factory rider secured her eighth overall national crown with a dominating performance in the Ladies class at the penultimate of the FMSCI MRF Mogrip Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) for two-wheelers 2021, organised by Coimbatore Auto Sports Club and God Speed Racing. The 2019 World Cup winner, Aishwarya, won all four stages in the Rally of Coimbatore with a commanding lead and garnered 25 points to increase her tally to 125 points from five rallies. (PTI)
Opening ceremony of Paris Olympics to be held on River Seine
Paris, Dec 14: Thousands of Olympic athletes on boats cruising along the River Seine toward the sun setting like a giant gold medal behind the Eiffel Tower. The 2024 Paris Games opening ceremony vision was unveiled on Monday as an event organizers hope will be unique in Olympic history and free for hundreds of thousands to watch on the riverside. Rethinking the ceremony that announces an Olympics to the world by taking it outside the traditional stadium setting was long hinted at by Paris officials. Details revealed for the July 26th 2024 show help explain a promise to use the City of Light, its culture and people as essential actors in the Olympics. For starters, the water-borne opening ceremony will innovate by having the parade of athletes from more than 200 teams begin the evening instead of end it. It will also be free to view for most of the expected 600,000 spectators lining the six-kilometer route. (AP)
US Open champ Raducanu withdraws from Abu Dhabi event
Abu Dhabi, Dec 14: US Open champion Emma Raducanu has tested positive for Covid-19 and withdrawn from the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition event in Abu Dhabi. The event scheduled from December 16-18 was set to see Britain’s 19-year-old star take on Olympic champion Belinda Bencic in Abu Dhabi on December 16. After her exit, organisers said that they are looking at ‘alternative top female competitors’ to replace Raducanu at the event. Men’s world number six Rafael Nadal and last year’s US Open winner Dominic Thiem are set to return from their injury layoffs in Abu Dhabi. Britain’s Andy Murray, Russian Andrey Rublev, Norway’s Casper Ruud and Canadian Denis Shapovalov will also participate in the event before the 2022 competitive season kicks off in Australia. (IANS)