Sports
EPL Champions Manchester City begin EPL title defence with win at Arsenal, Liverpool pound West Ham 4-0
Manchester City began the defence of their title with an impressive win away to an Arsenal side playing under new Spanish manager Unai Emery on Sunday.
City romped to Premier League success by 19 points last season and seem to have continued where they stopped.
Attempting to become the first team since Manchester United in 2009 to retain the title, the champions were good value with goals by Raheem Stirling and Bernardo Silva.
Sterling went past two weak challengers to put City ahead in the first quarter of an hour with his 50th league goal.
Soon after debutant Riyad Mahrez from Leicester City was substituted, Bernardo Silva added the second in the 65th minute.
Last season’s top goalscorer Mo Salah was on target again on Sunday as Liverpool began their campaign with an easy win at home to West Ham United.
The Egyptian gave Juergen Klopp’s side the lead after 19 minutes from Andy Robertson’s precise low cross.
West Ham’s new manager Manuel Pellegrini gave debuts to five of their 10 close-season signings, but his revamped team rarely threatened Liverpool’s expensive new Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson.
Poor defending cost them a second goal just before the interval, to Sadio Mane, who added a third after 53 minutes from an offside position.
Substitute Daniel Sturridge made it four just seconds after coming on.
Salah’s goal featured an important contribution from new signing Naby Keita of Guinea, who cost 50 million pounds ($63.84 million) from RB Leipzig and was excellent throughout.
Liverpool’s other debutant, Alisson, was much less involved as the London side struggled to make chances.
Their best one followed a lucky bounce off the referee but Marko Arnautovic miscued his shot.
By the interval they had conceded again after leaving three attackers unmarked in front of goal, and Mane was the one who knocked in James Milner’s pull-back.
He scored Liverpool’s third, which might have been disallowed for offside.
Sturridge then came off the bench in the final few minutes to score at the far post from a corner with his first touch.
The result continued West Ham’s dreadful record at Anfield, which now extends to one win in 46 league games.
Liverpool, meanwhile, have not conceded a goal in their last six home games in the league — since West Ham scored against them in February.
Pellegrini gave debuts to Lukasz Fabianski, Ryan Fredericks, Fabian Balbuena, Felipe Anderson and Jack Wilshere, then introduced a sixth newcomer Andriy Yarmolenko as a substitute.
Anderson and Yarmolenko had their moments but overall the visitors were comprehensively outplayed. (Reuters/NAN)
Sports
QNET and Man City Mark 10th Anniversary of their Partnership
Man City counts 28 trophies in the last 10 yearsQNET, an Asian direct selling giant and Manchester City, a top Football club in and outside England, are celebrating 10 years of partnership with great results.
The anniversary was part of the 26th V-Malaysia Conference (VCON) at Penang in Malaysia.
The long-standing partnership will see QNET continue as Official Direct Selling Partner for City’s men’s and women’s teams, according to Techeconomy report.
This partnership marked a significant milestone in May 2018 when City welcomed QNET as the first sleeve partner in the Women’s Super League.
Throughout the next phase of this partnership QNET will continue to provide City-led football clinics to communities around the world, as well as engaging with consumers and distributors through this relationship with City.
In a message to the leaders of QNET and the 8,000 VCON participants from over 30 countries, Ferran Soriano, the chief executive officer of Manchester City FC, said they are pleased to achieve great milestones that would not have been possible without the support and the commitment of everybody at QNET, “and every single one of you. I do remember back in 2014 when I met the leadership of QNET for the first time, and we discussed our plans, our ambitions, and we promised a lot.
“We promised that Manchester City would be a great football team, and that they would play beautiful football. Now, 10 years since then, we hold 28 trophies. I have to be honest and say that when we promised we were going to do well, we didn’t think we were going to win 28 trophies.
“We’re excited now we’re starting a new season, and guess what? We want to win again, and if we do, it would be another record. Maybe we can win the fifth Premier League in a row. Obviously, something that hasn’t happened before. I can promise that we will fight for all the trophies like you fight for all your objectives. Manchester City and QNET have the incredible power to engage people from every country, create a sense of community and empower individuals and teams to achieve their aspirations”.
He promised Manchester City’s support to the QNET brand to achieve even more successes in the coming years.
Trevor Kuna, the CEO of QNET said that the partnership with Manchester City has made positive impacts on the business.
QNET’s grass-roots business model enables ordinary people from all walks of life to start their own business with minimal overhead.
With hard work and dedication, QNET distributors, known as Independent Representatives (IRs) have the opportunity to become economically self-sufficient, raising the standard of life for their families and communities.
QNET is driven by two important philosophies: RYTHM (Raise Yourself to Help Mankind) and InService.
Meanwhile, the highlight of the QNET and Manchester City celebration was the presentation of a 10-year partnership anniversary plaque by John Kirton, senior partnership marketing manager, Manchester City Football Club to the QNET team.
Sports
Robinho To Serve A 9 Year Jail Term Over Gang Rape
Former Manchester City and Real Madrid striker Robinho will reportedly serve a nine-year jail sentence for gang rape – Imposed on him by an Italian court — in Brazil, judges in Brasilia has ruled.
The 40-year-old was found guilty in Italy in 2017 and according to Globo, Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (BSCJ), made the ruling on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.
The former Premier League player, whose real name is Robson De Souza, was one of six men who were found guilty of a§§aulting an Albanian woman in an Italian nightclub in January 2013.
In January 2022, the Supreme Court in Rome dismissed his final appeal against the conviction, according to the report.
Robinho claims he is innocent and has been living in Brazil for the past seven years. It came after nine of the court’s 15 ministers had voted in favour of the decision to incarcerate the footballer in Brazil.
Globo also claims that the ex-footballer, who also spent time at AC Milan and Real Madrid, will now be arrested in Santos, where he currently resides.
Robinho, who was 28 and was playing for AC Milan at the time, admitted during his appeal to having ‘contact’ with the woman, but the Brazilian insisted it was consensual.
The Milan Court of Appeals found Robinho had ‘belittled’ and ‘br¥tally h¥miliated’ the victim as it upheld his original sentence in December 2020.
Intercepted phone calls between the Brazilian and those allegedly involved in the assault were used as key evidence in his initial conviction.
Sports
Former Tennis Champion, Tania Okpala Returns To Tennis After Rehabilitation
Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, has revealed that former tennis champion, Tania Okpala, has resumed playing on the courts.
This development follows Soludo’s assurance that she would undergo rehabilitation after a video surfaced online showing her in distress on the streets of Awka, pleading for assistance.
In an update on his social media handle on Thursday, Soludo expressed his satisfaction with Okpala’s return, stating, “Tania Okpala is back on the courts!
“A few months ago, social media was flooded with a viral video showing Ms. Tania in a distressing state on the streets of Awka. I am pleased to report that we have successfully restored Tania to her winning ways.”
Okpala, who hails from Anambra and has a Belarusian mother, represented Nigeria in the 1990s.
Here are pictures of her in the tennis court.