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NBA: Celtics Jaylen Brown agreed to a $304m contract, the biggest in NBA history

1 year ago
NBA: Celtics Jaylen Brown agreed to a $304m contract, the biggest in NBA history

(Credit: WikiCommons)

Basketball

(NBA): Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown has agreed to a five-year, $304 million supermax contract extension which would be the most valuable deal in NBA history. Brown’s agent, Jason Glushon, said he and the player met with Celtics management on July 23 to finalize the contract, which will keep the 26-year-old with the team until the end of the 2028-9 season. FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup

Archery

Hyundai World Archery Championships (Berlin, Germany), July 31-August 6: Türkiye’s Mete Gazoz kept calm in torrential rain to win the recurve men’s title at the Archery World Championships in Berlin. Gazoz beat Canadian Eric Peters 6-4 in the final on August 5, becoming the first man since Darrell Pace in 1976 to simultaneously hold world and Olympic titles.

The Turkish archer edged world number one Marcus D’Almeida 7-3 in a heavyweight semifinal after drawing the first three sets, with D’Almeida going on to take bronze after a 6-4 victory over Indonesia’s Arif Pangestu in the third-place decider. The Brazilian and the Indonesian both sealed Olympic places for their countries in third and fourth, alongside Canada, courtesy of Peters’ silver. Gazoz had already helped his country secure a quota place as Türkiye won silver in the recurve men’s team event on August 5.

Cricket

Pakistan will send a team to India for October and November’s 50-over World Cup, ending months of uncertainty about their participation. The two sides have only played at World Cups and neutral venues since 2013 because of political tensions. “Pakistan has consistently maintained that sports should not be mixed with politics,” according to a Pakistan Foreign Office statement issued on August 6. They will meet in the Asia Cup on September 2 in Kandy, Sri Lanka. “Pakistan believes that the state of bilateral relations with India should not stand in the way of fulfilling its international sports-related obligations,” the statement added. The statement did not confirm, though, whether Pakistan are content to play India in Ahmedabad on October 15 as planned or whether they will ask for a change of venue. ICC World Cup Winners Info

Football

TRANSFERS: AUG 12: Paris St-Germain have signed France forward Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona for £43.5m (€50.4m). Dembele, 26, joined Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund for £135m in 2017 and scored 40 goals in 185 games, winning three La Liga titles. The 2018 World Cup winner has signed a five-year contract with the Ligue 1 champions.

AUG 11: Everton have signed teenage striker Youssef Chermiti from Sporting Lisbon on a four-year deal for £15 million. The 19-year-old Portuguese forward broke through at Sporting last season, scoring three league goals and making 22 appearances in all competitions.

AUG 1: Former Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has left Bayern Munich to join Cristiano Ronaldo at Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr. The 31-year-old scored 12 goals in 38 games for Bayern in an underwhelming season, despite initially impressing. The Senegal player was also involved in a physical altercation with Leroy Sane in the Manchester City dressing room after losing a Champions League game. Reports suggest the German champions have recouped most of the £35 million they paid Liverpool for Mane a year ago. Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said the former Southampton player, who has signed a four-year deal with Al-Nassr, had not had an “easy year” since moving from Anfield.

Southampton centre-back Mohammed Salisu has joined French side Monaco. The 24-year-old leaves St Mary’s after three seasons to join the Ligue 1 club ahead of their new campaign in the French topflight. The Ghana international, who played at the 2022 World Cup, was a regular feature for Saints after joining from Valladolid in 2020. But he only made only six league appearances in 2023 before they were relegated from the Premier League.

Sheffield United have “reluctantly accepted” a reported £20 million offer from Marseille for striker Iliman Ndiaye. The Blades had offered a new contract to the 23-year-old, but he has instead opted to join the Ligue 1 club. Senegal’s Ndiaye was instrumental in the Blades promotion last season, scoring 14 goals and registering 11 assists in 46 Championship games. Sheffield were keen to keep hold of Ndiaye and confident of agreeing a new deal. But he changed his mind deep into negotiations, with Blades manager Paul Heckingbottom adding the club had little choice but to sell with fewer than 12 months remaining on Ndiaye’s contract.

Hockey

Asian Hockey Champions Trophy, Chennai, India (August 3–12): India has secured victory in the Asian Hockey Champions Trophy after they defeated Malaysia 4-3 in a seven-goal thriller in Chennai on August 12. The Blues continued their unbeaten run in the tournament and produced a staggering comeback in the final against Malaysia.

Squash

World Junior Squash Championships, Melbourne, Australia (July 18 – 29): Hamza Khan became the first Pakistani winner of the men’s singles title at the World Junior Squash Championships in 37 years, while Egypt’s Amina Orfi defended her women’s singles crown in Melbourne. It could have been an Egyptian double as Mohamed Zakaria took the first game against Khan only to succumb to a comeback at the Melbourne Sports Centres in the Australian city. Zakaria would have become the youngest ever winner of the men’s singles crown at the age of 15 but 17-year-old Khan produced a fine recovery to take the title. Khan produced a series of winners as he edged the second game before overpowering Zakaria to complete a 10-12, 14-12, 11-3, 11-6 triumph in 70 minutes.

Egypt’s Sarwan ElShorbagy, the world’s number six squash player, will now compete for England in all future Professional Squash Association (PSA) and World Squash Federation (WSF) games. The announcement was made on the PSA World Tour Twitter account on July 30. The decision comes 13 months after his brother and former world number one, Mohamed ElShorbagy, made the same switch. “I feel I want to start a new chapter of my career by representing England and giving something back to the country that has given me everything,” ElShorbagy, a British citizen, told PSA World Tour.

Volleyball

FIVB Volleyball Boys’ U19 World Championship, San Juan, Argentina (August 2 – 11): Iran’s U-19 volleyball team has ended its campaign at the Boys’ U19 World Championship in Argentina in second place after going down to France in the summit clash. In the final encounter, the Iranian team comprising Mohammadreza Alejalil, Omran Kookjili, Morteza Narimani, Mahan Barzkar, Taha Behboudnia, Armin Qelichniazi and Morteza Tabatabaei lost to the European side 1-3 (22-25, 25-16, 18-25 and 21-25) at the Estadio Aldo Cantoni, San Juan.

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