What the Interview With Biden Showed

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Tireless Kohli's Act After Wankhede Felicitation Proves He's A Family Man

Star India batter Virat Kohli took a flight to London on Friday, hours after taking part in the team's T20 World Cup celebrations in Mumbai. The Indian players landed in New Delhi during the early hours on Thursday after travelling for 16 hours in a chartered flight from Barbados. The players then met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who felicitated them and also ate breakfast with the entire contingent. After that, the team took another chartered flight from New Delhi to Mumbai, where fans were waiting for the team.

The players took part in an open bus victory parade, with thousand gathered at Mumbai's Marine Drive to catch a glimpse of the world champions.

After the parade, the team reached Wankhede Stadium, where BCCI had organised a separate felicitation ceremony. The BCCI distributed Rs 125 crore prize money to the team, as announced after the final.

The entire danced to songs and performed a victory lap, before heading back to their respective homes. However, Kohli was spotted taking a flight to London, reportedly to meet his wife Anushka Sharma and kids -- Vamika and Akaay.

16 hours flight from Barbados to Delhi, went to team's hotel, met PM, departed for Mumbai, joined the team bus parade, reached Wankhede, had a speech, danced, had a victory lap and then departed for London.

- Virat Kohli's schedule in a single day! pic.twitter.com/m0PPAxiK0I

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) July 5, 2024

As per reports, the 36-year-old left India on a private chartered flight bound to London at 3:15 am and landed by 12:45 pm (IST).

Anushka had been spotted at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York for the iconic India vs. Pakistan game but had stayed away from the rest of the tournament.

Kohli had a disappointing run in the run up to the T20 World Cup final, but fired when it mattered the most. Prior to the final, he had only registered 75 runs. However, he scored a 'Man of the Match' worthy 76 in the all-important clash.

Kohli announced his T20I retirement moments after India were crowned champions. The batting maestro, however, will continue to play the longer formats.

(With IANS Inputs)

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AIFF Hopes To Appoint Igor Stimac's Successor By July End

The AIFF on Thursday said that it will appoint the new head coach of the national men's football team by the end of this month, insisting that the federation has received overwhelming interest from across the world for the vacant post. The window for applying for the position ended on Wednesday. The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has received a total of 291 applications from all over the world. Out of this, 100 applicants have UEFA Pro License diplomas, while 20 hold AFC Pro License diplomas and three have CONMEBOL licenses.

"We have received an overwhelming response with some of the marquee names having expressed their interest in India," AIFF chief Kalyan Chaubey said in a statement.

"We are hoping to onboard the candidate by end July, to ensure India utilise the September FIFA window participation.

"As a next step, our committee headed by AIFF Vice President Mr NA Haris (along with Committee Chairpersons of Technical, League, Competitions, Finance, Development and the Treasurer) will review the applications, before placing the select list to the Executive Committee," he added.

The position is lying vacant after the AIFF sacked Igor Stimac last month, terminating his contract in the wake of India's ouster from FIFA World Cup Qualifiers despite getting a relatively easy draw.

Stimac, who was appointed as the head coach in 2019, was in last October given an extension until 2026 by the sport's apex body.

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Erik Ten Hag Signs New Deal At Manchester United

Erik ten Hag has signed a contract extension that keeps him at Old Trafford until 2026, the Premier League club announced on Thursday. There had been intense speculation over the Dutchman's future after a terrible 2023/24 Premier League campaign but United ended the season with shock 2-1 victory against Manchester City in the FA Cup final. British media last month said Ten Hag, who has won two trophies in his two seasons at Old Trafford, would remain in his post following a performance review by club chiefs.

"Erik ten Hag has extended his contract as Manchester United men's first-team manager until June 2026," United said in a statement.

The former Ajax manager, whose deal had been due to expire in 2025, admitted there was work to be done to close the gap on United's Premier League rivals.

"Looking back at the past two years, we can reflect with pride on two trophies and many examples of progression from where we were when I joined," he said.

"However, we must also be clear that there is still lots of hard work ahead to reach the levels expected of Manchester United, which means challenging for English and European titles.

"In my discussions with the club, we have found complete unity in our vision for reaching those goals, and we are all strongly committed to making that journey together."

Dan Ashworth, Manchester United sporting director, said: "With two trophies in the past two seasons, Erik has reinforced his record as one of the most consistently successful coaches in European football.

"While the club's review of last season highlighted areas for improvement, it also reached a clear conclusion that Erik was the best partner for us to work with in driving up standards and outcomes.

"This group of players and staff have already shown they are capable of competing and winning at the top level -- now we need to do it more consistently."

- Trophy drought -

Ten Hag, 54, ended a six-year trophy drought for United in his first season by lifting the League Cup and finished third in the league, encouraging fans that they might launch a Premier League title bid in 2023/24.

But those hopes vanished quickly as the team struggled for consistency, hit by injuries and poor form.

United finished an embarrassing eighth in the Premier League -- their lowest final position since 1990 -- and crashed out of the Champions League at the group stage.

There were reports that Ten Hag would be sacked regardless of the result in the FA Cup final at Wembley but they ultimately proved wide of the mark.

British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe took control of football operations at Old Trafford following his purchase of a minority stake in the club earlier this year.

United have made sweeping changes to their backroom staff since then, including the appointment of Ashworth, who was previously at Newcastle.

Ten Hag is United's fifth permanent manager since the end of Alex Ferguson's trophy-filled reign in 2013, following David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United will launch the 2024/25 Premier League season with a home game against Fulham on August 16.

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United Kingdom 2024 Election: Live Results

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Carlos Alcaraz Advances At Wimbledon, Naomi Osaka Returns To Centre Court

Carlos Alcaraz raced into the Wimbledon third round on Wednesday to set up a mouth-watering duel with fellow crowd-pleaser Frances Tiafoe as Japanese superstar Naomi Osaka returned to Centre Court for the first time in five years. Alcaraz defeated Australia's world number 69 Aleksandar Vukic 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 6-2 on the back of 42 winners. The third-seeded Spaniard's only moments of concern came in the first set when he let slip a 5-2 lead and found himself 5-6 down with Vukic serving for the opener.

However, the three-time major winner steadied the ship to race away to victory against a player who got the better of him in qualifying at the 2020 French Open. 

Alcaraz next faces Tiafoe, the American player he defeated in five sets in the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open on his way to his first Grand Slam triumph.

"I'm going for him," said Alcaraz, who is bidding to become just the sixth man after Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win the French Open and Wimbledon titles back to back.

"I'm ready to play a really high level of tennis and hopefully take him."

Tiafoe made the third round by seeing off Borna Coric in straight sets.

'Love and hate'

Eccentric Fabio Fognini of Italy needed a clutch of match points to knock out eighth-seeded Casper Ruud 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (1/7), 6-3.

The 37-year-old Fognini, sporting bleach-blond hair, twice served for the match from 5-2 up in the third set before sealing victory over the three-time Grand Slam runner-up in the fourth set.

"It just shows why I love and hate this sport," said Fognini.

Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion, came back from dropping the first set and facing two set points in the second to see off Alexandre Muller of France 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 6-4, 7-5.

World number two and US Open champion Coco Gauff cruised into the third round with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Romanian qualifier Anca Todoni.

"I'm happy with the way I played, could have been cleaner on some points," said Gauff, who broke her 19-year-old opponent five times.

The American, who made her career breakthrough at Wimbledon as a 15-year-old qualifier in 2019, goes on to face British qualifier Sonay Kartal, the world number 298.

The last time four-time major winner Osaka appeared on Centre Court was in 2019 when she was second seed but was dumped out in the first round by Yulia Putintseva.

Five years on, she is ranked at 113 having only returned to the tour in January after giving birth to daughter Shai in July last year.

All-Italian fight

Osaka's win over Diane Parry in the first round was her first at Wimbledon since 2018.

The Japanese star takes on America's 17th-ranked Emma Navarro, who arrived in London on the back of a semi-final run at the Bad Homburg grass-court tournament.

Later Wednesday, world number one Jannik Sinner will take on Italian compatriot and former runner-up Matteo Berrettini.

Italian men's tennis has rarely been stronger, with the country boasting five players in the top 50 while the nation swept to Davis Cup glory last season.

Ten Italian men started the singles tournament this year at Wimbledon.

Sinner was the first Italian man to capture a Grand Slam title with his victory at the Australian Open in January and was also the first from his country to become world number one.

"I feel like in Italy we have so many tournaments, starting with juniors, then the Futures and Challengers," said 22-year-old Sinner.

"We have big, big ATP tournaments there. We have good facilities and great coaches."

Berrettini can boast his own breakthrough Italian moment when he was the first to make a Wimbledon men's final in 2021.

Sinner made the semi-finals at the All England Club last year where he was defeated by Djokovic.

There could be a memorable day for Chinese tennis with teenager Shang Juncheng taking on 10th-seeded Grigor Dimitrov and 32nd seed Zhang Zhizhen facing Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff.

Until Monday, no Chinese man had won a match at Wimbledon in the Open era.

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