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Day: 16 August 2017

Monaco striker makes Top 10

by: Cassandra Tanti
16/08/2017
Mbappe. Photo: Facebook AS Monaco
Kylian Mbappe. Photo: Facebook AS Monaco

UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, has announced the 10 players who got the most votes from last year’s Champions League and Europa League managers and 55 journalists –one from each member nation.

Monaco striker, 18-year-old Kylian Mbappe, has come in at number eight.

The top three’s final order will be revealed on Thursday, August 24, when the Champions League group stage draw takes place in Monaco. Players who represented Juventus, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Monaco, Bayern Munich and Manchester United all made it into the top ten.

Mbappe, who reportedly wants to play with Paris Saint-Germain, is the only Monaco player to be placed in UEFA’s top 10.

Meanwhile, AS Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim defended his decision to bench the teen superstar in the Ligue 1 Dijon match on Sunday, which Monaco went on to win 4-1.

“We never punish our players. That is not the right word. ‘Protected’ is a better word. When so many things are happening around an 18-year-old kid, it is our responsibility to protect him,” Jardim said.

“That means me, Vadim [Vasilyev, the vice-president] and the sporting director [Antonio Cordon]. It is always to protect the squad, the player and the club.”

The Ligue 1 Champion’s coach, who has extended his contract until 2020, added, “Kylian is not at 100 percent. He is not in great form. But that is to be expected of a kid who is just 18…”

Whether Mbappe, to whom Real Madrid are allegedly willing to offer a €180 million contract, will be left again out again Friday when Monaco play Metz away, is yet to be confirmed.

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McLaren wakes up to F1 promise of hometown Woking

by: Cassandra Tanti
16/08/2017

Woking in Surrey could join Monaco and Singapore as one of F1’s “most glamorous and iconic race locations”, McLaren has said.

An “absurdly ambitious plan” for a Grand Prix circuit on the streets of McLaren’s hometown has been unveiled by the Formula 1 team.

McLaren said it was a bit nervous about the local authority’s reaction to its plan, given there would need to be extensive and costly re-profiling of many roads and local landmarks.

Jonathan Neale, McLaren’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “Why not? Why not bring Formula 1 to the streets of Woking?

“Obviously, aside from the huge social and financial commitment needed to set up the infrastructure, re-profile roads, re-lay Tarmac, fit miles of Armco, build grandstands, pay for race-hosting fees and gain approval and sign-off from the FIA, we don’t see any barriers to our vision.”

The circuit would take “full advantage of the market town’s winding streets and fast multi-carriageways”, with the paddock on floatable pontoons anchored along the Woking-Basingstoke canal.

In 1998, F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen drove his McLaren car on a lap of honour around the town after winning the title in Japan.

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Monaco’s Peace and Sport spreads message in Burundi

by: Cassandra Tanti
16/08/2017

berundi1The eighth edition of the Friendship Games organised by Monaco-based Peace and Sport, in partnership with the National Olympic Committee of Burundi, has ended after a weekend filled with sport, training and intercultural dialogue in Bujumbura, Burundi.

The event brought together 200 children from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo to celebrate the role of sport in helping social change. Nine international federations joined the Champions of Peace – French Paralympic athlete Jean-Baptiste Alaize, taekwondo star Pascal Gentil and former captain of the French national rugby team Jean-François Tordo.

During the two days of sport, workshops and training, children and athletes participated in 12 disciplines, all of which used the “Sport Simple”, a concept that adapts the practice, equipment and rules of a sport to the resources and the local environment while promoting a “sport for all” approach.

Boxing demonstrations were held in a “Sport Simple” ring, handmade with old tires, ropes and moss, while an exclusive Street Baseball demonstration was proposed by the International Confederation of Baseball and Softball (WBSC), with recycled equipment.

The WSBC and the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) organised training seminars for Burundian coaches. These coaches will spread their knowledge across the country to share experiences with their colleagues.

The International Basketball Federation organised a meeting between the Congolese Promo Jeune Basket team and the national junior team in Burundi, while the World Karate Federation offered training and materials for several workshops over the two days.

Peacekeepers Pascal Gentil and Jean-Baptiste Alaize led a peace workshop in front of 60 children, through interactive conversation, testimony and exercises for self-building and conflict resolution. Jean-Baptiste Alaize, spoke about her war-torn Burundian childhood and the injuries she sustained and propelled her into her Paralympic career.

The Friendship Games are organised each year by Peace and Sport and the National Olympic Committee of the host country, on this occasion, Burundi.

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Radicalised children pose security threat

by: Cassandra Tanti
16/08/2017
Photo: Rama
Photo: Rama

As fears increase over the danger posed by recruits returning to Europe as ISIS faces battleground defeat, the French security services have said that approximately 460 children of radicalised parents are likely to return to the Hexagon.

The problem posed by returning children – under the age of 18 – is the most complex. Although men made up the majority of the recruits, almost 90 percent, women recruits were highly valued by ISIS, as a propaganda tool and as mothers of minors they took with them.

More than 5,000 Europeans joined ISIS between 2011 and 2016, and a report written for the European Union estimated that between 1,200 and 3,000 could return, presenting a serious security challenge.

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