Brazilian great Pele says he is not seriously ill, easing fears Thursday that his health deteriorated even though a hospital said he was in intensive care and undergoing renal support treatment.

The 74-year-old Pele used his official Twitter account to deny widespread reports that said his condition worsened and that he was put in intensive care to treat a urinary tract infection.

“I want to take this opportunity to let you know that I am doing fine,” he said. “I was not put into intensive care today, I was simply relocated to a special room within the hospital for privacy purposes only.”

Pele had an operation to remove kidney stones on Nov. 13, but he was readmitted to the hospital on Monday after being diagnosed with the infection. The three-time World Cup winner has remained in the hospital since.

“I am blessed to receive your love and support, and thank God this is nothing serious,” he said. “I am looking forward to spending the upcoming holidays with my family, and will start the new year with renewed health, with many international trips already planned! Thank you!”

Pele’s manager had already said that the former player was expected to make a “quick and full” recovery from the “minor” infection.

Paul Kemsley said in a statement sent to The Associated Press that reports about the deterioration of Pele’s condition and about him going into intensive care “were greatly exaggerated.”

“He was relocated to a special area of the hospital for privacy purposes only, due to having an overwhelming number of visitors which prevented him from getting the necessary care and treatment,” Kemsley said.

The Albert Einstein hospital released a statement earlier in the day saying Pele was transferred to a “special care” unit after his condition became unstable. The statement created a scare in Brazil, with local media widely reporting that Pele’s condition had deteriorated.

Jose Fornos Rodrigues, Pele’s spokesman and personal aide, told the AP that Pele “is fine,” also saying that the move within the hospital was because “he was receiving too many visitors and that wasn’t helping, so they transferred him to a calmer area.”

“He should be out of the hospital in a few days,” he said.

The hospital later released another statement saying that Pele’s condition “improved,” but for the first time mentioned that he was in “an intensive care unit” and temporarily undergoing renal support treatment. The hospital’s press office did not confirm whether the treatment meant dialysis.

The hospital’s press office had previously denied that Pele was in intensive care. Pele’s tweets and Kemsley’s statement about Pele’s condition came after the hospital’s latest report.

“Pele plans to spend the upcoming holidays with his family, and in the new year, he will recommence his busy worldwide schedule,” Kemsley said. “Trips to Australia, China, Nigeria and Azerbaijan are already confirmed for the early part of 2015.”

Pele has enjoyed good health in recent years despite needing to undergo surgeries for a hip replacement and a detached retina.

Widely known as the greatest footballer of all time, Pele is a national hero in Brazil. He remains a worldwide ambassador to football and is active with his many businesses across the globe. He still participates in many advertising campaigns and is present at most major football tournaments.

He won the World Cup with Brazil in 1958, ’62 and 1970 and is known as the game’s most prolific scorer, credited with 1,281 goals in 1,363 career matches

Margao: A keen contest is on the card when two-time champions Salgaocar will lock horns with Bengaluru FC on Thursday in the first semifinal of the 127th Durand Cup at the Raia Panchayat ground.

In the evening, another Goan side Sporting Clube de Goa will meet Pune FC in the second semifinals. The winners will meet in the finals slated on November 8.

Salgaocar FC made their way to the semifinals by topping Group ‘A’ with four points from a win and a draw. Bengaluru FC, on the other hand, also completed their league engagements with a win and a draw in Group ‘C’.

Salgaocar FC, who will be chasing their third Durand Cup, have won the 1999 and 2003 editions. Coach Derrick Pereira has won the Durand Cup twice himself, once with Salgaocar FC in 1999 and as a coach of Mahindra United in 2008.

“It would be fantastic to win this prestigious trophy on home soil in front of our fans. However, we are taking it one game at a time and don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves. All we need is your full support tomorrow and expect full house to cheer our team”, stated Pereira.

“We have prepared ourselves well and the boys are raring to go,” he added.

In what is sure to be the toughest test this season, Derrick will take heart from the fact that his side has made a near flawless start to the season, being unbeaten in 11 games, add to this the fact that nine different players have found themselves on the scoresheet over the course of 11 games. Ivorian Douhou Pierre has been the standout performer in the Durand Cup having netted thrice already in the tournament and will need to dish out another performance if the greens are to make it to their third Durand Cup final.

Margao: Churchill Brothers came from behind to hold Vasco SC to a 1-1 draw in a group D quarter-final match of the 127th Durand Cup, played at Raia Panchayat ground this morning.

The first half was drab and neither team went for the kill, confining play to midfield.

Churchill Brothers, who lost to Pune FC in their first match, came up with a couple of good moves and had the best chance to surge ahead in the 14th minute but Sunday Chizoba Nwadialu saw his effort palmed away to safety by rival keeper Francis Fernandes.

Couple of minutes later, Vasco came up with a counter move and nearly scored but Semson Fernandes’ shot was saved by rival keeper Sukhwinder Singh off a pass from Aniston Fernandes.

Churchill Brothers looked more attacking in the second half as they made inroads but conceded a goal in the 54th minute from a penalty after Keeper Sukhwinder Singh needlessly foiled substitute Emmanu Elchinedu inside the box.

Referee Maria Joseph awarded the penalty to Vasco which Emmanu himself converted it.

Churchill Brothers regrouped after the setback and after persistent effort restored parity in the 66th minute when Sunday Chizoba Nwadialu gave a pass to a better-placed Pankay Sona inside the box who guided the ball into the net.

Vasco SC, who play their last match against Pune FC on November 4, now need a win to advance to the semi-final, while Pune FC only need a draw to advance to the knockout stage.

Churchill Brothers, who finished their league engagement with one point, are out of contention.

New Delhi: A sound thrashing of Chennaiyin FC having boosted their confidence, Delhi Dynamos would look to take forward the momentum when they clash with NorthEast United FC in their Hero Indian Super League fixture here tomorrow.
After two consecutive draws, Delhi notched up their first win of the tournament on October 25 by drubbing the Chennai side 4-1 through three spectacular goals and another from the penalty spot to the huge delight of home fans and coach Harm van Veldhoven.
The Dutch coach talked about his attacking brand of football and goals that would come by before the tournament but he was finding it difficult to answer questions after his side could get just two goals in the first two matches.
Now that his players have tasted their first victory with four goals against a quality side like Chennaiyin, who have come after winning their first two matches, Veldhoven is expected to maintain the tempo tomorrow also.
NorthEast, however, would be a tough team to beat, having won two out of four matches (one match a draw and the other a loss) they have played so far and now at second spot in the league table with seven points. They have also come here on a high after defeating Mumbai City FC 2-0 in their first away match.
Delhi, on five points and fourth in league table, will have another reason to win tomorrow’s match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as after this they will be on the road for three games before returning home for their November 13 contest against FC Goa.
Veldhoven is likely to stick to the starting lie-up that played against Chennaiyin FC but Brazilian Gustavo Dos Santos, who scored a goal just after coming onto the field in the 89th minute through a solo effort, could be given more playing time.
The midfield trio of Hans Mulder, Bruno Herrero and Steven Dias did a commendable job by controlling the middle of the park for Alessandro Del Piero, Shylo Malswamtluanga and Mads Junker to look for goals.
Former India international Dias found his touch in his first start in the tournament as he supplied the inch-perfect floater for Junker to score a spectacular goal through a diving header.
The Delhi side could also be looking for Del Piero to finally come to the party as the Italian legend is yet to stamp his class in the three matches he has played so far.
NorthEast, on the other hand, are a balanced side with few well-known international and national stars. They have, however, shown that they can go a long way by beating Kerala Blasters and Mumbai City FC and holding FC Goa.
Their attack will once again revolve around former Marseille player Sergio Contreras Pardo of Spain, better known as Koke.
NorthEast defence was impressive against Mumbai City FC with 36-year-old former Spain international Joan Capdevilla marshalling the backline with aplomb to deny their opposition any goal in the first half. The NorthEast side then made a remarkable turnaround in the second half to strike twice and win the match.
It will have to be seen tomorrow how Delhi’s attacking brand of football is able to breach the NorthEast defence.
NorthEast are also expected to have a sizeable chunk of their supporters from among Delhi-based youngsters from the eight states of that region of the country.

India tennis ace, Sania Mirza finds herself at No 6 as the new WTA doubles chart was released on Monday.

Mirza is now at No 6 in the world in the women’s doubles chart after gaining two places.

The 27-year-old, who turned a professional tennis player in 2003 and overcame a career-threatening wrist injury in between, has achieved her career-best rank of No 5 in the world in July this year.

Ankita was the top-ranked Indian in singles at number 310 and was followed by Prarthana Thombare (364).

Saketh, Ramkumar climb ATP singles ranking ladder

Saketh Myneni (right) and Sanam Singh after winning the men’s doubles silver medal at the Asian Games. Photograph: PTI

Riding on his maiden Challenger title win, Saketh Myneni leapfrogged 168 places to be ranked 283 in the ATP singles chart while Ramkumar Ramanathan achieved a career-best spot of 226 following his semifinal appearance at the just-concluded Indore Open.

Saketh, who was ranked 451 coming into the Indore Open, defeated top seed Aleksandr Nedovysov to win the trophy and earn 80 ranking points on Sunday. The tall and big-serving Saketh was best-ranked 256 in March this year.

The 19-year-old Ramkumar also enjoyed an impressive run in Indore as he beat India’s No 2 Yuki Bhambri and Chiand Chinese Tapiei Davis Cupper Ti Chen en route to semifinals.

Devvarman is India’s top singles player

Somdev Devvarman continued to be India’s top singles player at 139, a gain of four places. He was followed by Yuki (179), who also climbed four spots up.

Left-handed Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan was the fifth-highest ranked Indian at number 328.

Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna topped the doubles chart for the Indians at number 28, two places above legendary Leander Paes.

Mumbai: I-League club Mumbai FC on Monday announced the signing of 26-year-old centre-back Justine Stephen for the upcoming season.

Stephen recently plied his trade at Mohammedan Sporting Club and was also part of the Mumbai FC squad in 2012-13.

“I am happy to be back here. The last time I played for Mumbai was really fun. I managed to gel with the squad well. At Mohammedan I lacked game time because of personal issues back home. I am looking forward to starting afresh at Mumbai FC. To be honest, it feels like I never left,” said Stephen.

Justine was a crucial member of the Mumbai FC squad in 2012-13 and head coach Khalid Jamil is happy to have him back.
“I have closely followed Justine’s career. He has the pedigree to perform consistently. He played a crucial role for all the clubs he has represented. He is an important addition for us,” said the coach.

Sarita Devi broke down on the podium during the Asian Games medal ceremony for the lightweight 57-60 kg category in Incheon on Wednesday, refusing to wear the bronze medal awarded to her around her neck.

Mr David B. Francis, an AIBA Supervisor, known as the Technical Delegate, submitted a report to the Olympic Council of Asia concerning the case of an Indian Boxer’s behaviour who refused the bronze medal at the Award Ceremony for the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, which took place on Wednesday at the Sunhak Boxing Competition Venue.

“The whole incident looked like a well planned scenario by her and her team, and it is regretful to watch a boxer refuse the medal regardless of what happened in the competition. In this regard, as the Technical Delegate, I had to request OCA to review this incident, so any boxer or athlete in other sports will not follow in her footsteps by respecting the spirit of fair-play and sportsmanship of the Olympic Movement,” said Mr Francis.

In early September, AIBA had provisionally recognized Boxing India as the new National Federation representing the sport of boxing in India, ending the exclusion of the previous National Federation. However, all boxers participating at the Asian Games currently were selected by the Ad Hoc Committee formed by the Indian Olympic Association, not by Boxing India. (Also Read: Sarita May be Punished for Returning Medal)

It was clear that the whole Indian Boxing Team were protesting the AIBA Referees and Judges’ system and management, which was obviously caused by a lack of understanding of the AIBA Technical and AOB Competition Rules.

Following the AIBA Technical Delegate’s letter to OCA, Ms Laishram Sarita Devi from India, who competed in the Women’s Lightweight category (60 kg) against Ms Jina Park from Korea in the Semi-Finals on Tuesday lost by unanimous decision 3-0.

Immediately after the bout, the Indian Team submitted a protest, however the Indian Team did not follow the AIBA Technical Rules and protested against the judges’ decisions, though the Rules only allow a protest against the Referee’s Decision.

Then, the boxer appeared at the Medal Ceremony which took place today after the Women’s Finals were over.

When the medal presenter tried to put the medal on her neck, she refused and grabbed the medal, walked to the Korean boxer and put the medal on her neck instead.

As the Korean boxer returned it back to the Indian Boxer, she then left the medal at the podium and left the Ceremony.

Then, after the Organizing Committee member of staff followed her and insisted she take the medal, she asked him to leave it in the protest room. When the Organizing Committee staff walked towards the protest room, all Indian journalists followed the staff and some of them shouted “Koreans are stealing their medal.”

AIBA has already preceded its Disciplinary Action Process to review this case, and the decision will be made immediately after the Asian Games.

INCHEON: Olympic bronze-medallist M C Mary Kom set her Asian Games campaign rolling in style as she out-punched Korea’s Kim Yeji to enter the quarterfinals along with two other Indian women boxers here today.

L Sarita Devi (60kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg) were the two others, who advanced to the last eight making it an all-win day for the Indian women pugilists.

First up was five-time world champion Mary Kom, who had won a bronze medal in the previous edition of the Games in 2010 .. and it was a near-perfect performance from the veteran against Yeji.

The Manipuri, a multiple-time Asian champion, was destructively precise with her punches, took her rival off guard with some sublime ring craft and displayed awe-inspiring stamina during the bout.

he 31-year-old mother of two, drained out Yeji with power-packed jabs which left the Korean quite dazed. By the third round, Yeji could barely manage to drag herself in the ring even as Mary Kom impressed by being a bundle of energy all through.

.T he Indian, who had taken a 3-0 lead, took things a bit easy in the final two minutes even as an exhausted Yeji found it tough to raise her game and resorted to holding in order to avoid being hit. Mary Kom will meet China’s Si Haijuan tomorrow.

Next in the ring was Sarita and she also drew from her huge reservoir of experience to outwit a sprightly opponent in home favourite Chungson Ri.

The 32-year-old former world champion matched her rival’s energy blow for blow in the opening two minutes before slowing down the pace by intelligently dodging and frustrating Ri.

The veteran eventually clinched the issue 3-0 to set up a clash against Mongolian Oyungerel Suvd Erdene tomorrow.

Pooja, a 2012 Asian Championships silver-medallist, was up against Erdenesoyol Undram of Mongolia in her pre-quarters bout and she also had it quite easy.

The well-built Haryana pugilist came up with a dominating performance to seal the match with a unanimous 3-0 win. She will face Shen Dara Flora tomorrow.

Indian men hardly broke a sweat as they thrashed unfancied Maldives 25-10 25-19 25-17 in exactly an hour to enter the quarterfinal of the Volleyball competition at the 17th Asian Games here today.

The male spikers had beaten Hong Kong in their first group league game and by virtue of two wins in the four-team group, find themselves earning a last eight berth.

India will play the formidable Iran (Asia No 2) in the final group league encounter. Iran are silver-medallists from the last edition in Guangzhou.

It was one of the easiest matches for India, who are ranked 37th in the world compared to a lowly 85th of Maldives.

Having rested their key spiker, the 6ft 9 inch Vaishnav, it was young Rajasthan boy Lovemeet Kataria, who played a major role in the Indian win.

The 21-year-old was a livewire on court with brilliant interceptions at net followed by innumerable number of killer spikes.

He was ably complemented by Railwayman Prabhakaran, who also executed perfect spikes. Skipper Navjit Singh and former captain Gurinder Singh also had a good game. Setter Naveen Jacob’s deft angular placements also created more trouble for Maldives.

Such was India’s domination that libero Kanagaraj Sivasubramanium did not have much retrieving to do. Maldives certainly gave a better account of themselves as they were locked 4-4 in the beginning. However Indians played the key points well winning the game at 19.

In the third set, Maldives, for a brief period, led India 4-3 but the joy was shortlived as a flurry of spikes got the winners race to a 7-4 lead. Navjit served really well and also smashed well as India took a 20-12 lead before knocking off the remaining points in style.

Saurav Ghosal today created squash history by ensuring at least the silver medal, the first-ever Asian Games medal outside of bronze won by an Indian in the racquet sport, by cruising into the semi finals of the Incheon edition here today.

Putting up a clinical performance against two-time former Games champion and top-10 player Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia, the Kolkata-born Ghosal surged to a commanding 11-9 11-4 11-5 semi final victory in 45 minutes to make the men’s final at the Yeorumal squash courts.

The 28-year-old Ghosal thus avenged his defeat against the wily Malaysian in the 2006 Asian Games at Qatar where Beng Hee went on to win the gold and defend the crown he won for the first time in 2002 at Busan.

“I have not played him much on the PSA circuit but had beaten him only once in the team event and he had beaten me 3-1 in the semi finals at Doha,” said Ghosal after he produced some top drawer squash to keep his opponent pegged on the back foot for most duration of the contest.

Ghosal will meet Abdullah Al Muzayen, the world no. 46, in the gold medal contest tomorrow following the Kuwaiti’s 3-2 (6-11, 11-8, 4-11, 11-6, 11-8) win in the other semi final against Max Lee of Hong Kong.

The Indian led 6-1 in the opening game before his 34-year-old opponent bridged the gap. Ghosal managed to keep his cool and captured it.

Thereafter the Indian world no. 16 was in total command with his excellently executed backhand drops and use of the side courts as the 35th-ranked Malaysian could not match his speed or power around the court.

In the second game, the Indian was 8-4 up with some superb play and then won it without conceding another point.

The script went on similar lines in the decider too as Ghosal jumped to an 8-4 lead before the Malaysian won a point. But the Indian snatched back the initiative and then killed the contest with a forehand winner.

Ghosal’s win compensated for the straight game defeat suffered by India’s no. 1 women’s player Dipika Pallikal against world no. 1 Nicol David of Malaysia in the women’s semi final.