Tottenham’s Son Heung-min targets Olympic gold with South Korea

Son Heung-Min

South Korea international Son Heung-Min has apologised to his Tottenham Hotspur teammates for missing the start of the Premier League season in his bid to win Olympic gold in Rio.

Son, 24, was selected as one of his country’s three players over the age of 23 and he travelled straight to Brazil from Spurs’ training camp in Melbourne following Friday’s 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid.

Although the group stage of the Olympic football tournament finishes before the start of the Premier League season, South Korea — who won the bronze medal in London four years ago — will hope to challenge for a medal again.

The final takes place at the Maracana on Aug. 20, so the forward would miss at least the opening two games against Everton and Crystal Palace should South Korea go all the way.

“First of all, I’m sorry for the team because I’m going to miss the first game of the season,” Son told Spurs’ official website. “I’ve had a very good time in the first four weeks of preseason with the team, the gaffer and the coaching staff.

“I watched the Olympics in 2012 in London and there were so many great performances there, so many people, so many sports. Everyone is excited. It’s a great feeling.”“Now I’m excited to go to Rio and to play for South Korea. This is very special for me, my first time at the Olympics.

South Korea’s first game is against Fiji on Thursday, with fixtures against Germany and Mexico to follow. But Son wants to make sure he is still in Brazil to play in one of the medal matches at the Maracana.

“If that wasn’t the case there would be no point going,” Son said. “I want to get a medal for South Korea.

“I run for South Korea every time, the same as I run for Tottenham. I’m not going there just to have fun and enjoy it, I want to win an Olympic medal as well.”

Son was given permission by Spurs to attend the Olympics earlier this summer, with the club persuaded by a South Korean policy that Olympic medalists are exempt from the country’s compulsory two-year military service.

India bridge collapse: Search for survivors after two buses plunge into river- CNN

Nearly two dozen people are missing after one of two major bridges connecting the Indian cities of Mumbai and Goa collapsed over the swollen Savitri River.

The bridge gave way at about 2 a.m. local time on Wednesday, said Rakesh Ranjan, Deputy Commandant of the National Disaster Response Force and Civil Defence (NDRF), sending two buses into flood waters below.

The state passenger buses were carrying 22 people -- 18 passengers, two conductors and two drivers.

High pressure from the flooding of Savitri River caused the collapse, Chief Minister of Maharashtra state Devandra Fadnavis said in a video statement on Facebook. The single-lane bridge was built in British-era colonial times.

A rescue effort is underway with four NDRF teams, navy helicopters, boats and divers at the scene.

#SAR @SpokespersonMoD some more pics of rescue operation...16 Divers and few Geminis already deployedpic.twitter.com/1lwXXdyMIg

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) August 3, 2016

Fadnavis said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "assured all help from the central government," and right now a desperate attempt is being made to locate the buses that have gone into the river."

PM @narendramodi offered all help in rescue and relief operations.
NDRF teams are already activated.@NDRFHQ 
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— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) August 3, 2016

A newer bridge, which runs parallel to the collapsed road, has resumed traffic, Fadnavis said on Twitter, citing a Raigad district official.

India has been hit by severe flooding in the past few days which has taken the lives of 163 and affected as many as 7.78 million, according to the NDRF.

US-backed forces control almost half of Syria’s Manbij

US-backed forces have taken control of 40 percent of Manbij after new advances against areas controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the key Syrian city near the Turkish border.

Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), with the support of air strikes, have seized much of the eastern part of the besieged city after slower advances in the western sector of the city in recent weeks, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.

SDF forces “have been increasingly besieging” and “encircling Manbij,” said Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Turkey’s Gaziantep, adding that much of the city still remains under ISIL control.

“Even though there is a semblance of relief for those thousands of people who were able to leave those ISIL-dominated areas of the city, we must remember there are still thousands trapped inside areas that are still held by ISIL,” Jamjoom reported.

“And there are a lot of fears about what coalition air strikes could bring with regards to civilian casualties in the days to come,” he said.

“[The] relief is very much contrasted by these concerns about the mounting civilian death toll from coalition air strikes.”

The Observatory reported on Sunday that at least 2,300 civilians fled the city in a 24-hour period.

The US-backed SDF, which includes a Kurdish armed group and Arab allies, launched its campaign to take Manbij, and drive ISIL from the Syrian-Turkish frontier, nearly two months ago with the backing of US special forces.

Syrian state media reported on Sunday that dozens of families, as well as some opposition fighters, have started using newly opened “humanitarian corridors” to leave rebel-held parts of Aleppo.

‘Shooting almost constantly’

Yet conflicting reports from inside the besieged city suggested that the corridors are not yet in operation.

Sources in Aleppo told Al Jazeera that the corridors had not been opened, and civilians were still coming under fire.

“Everybody that we’ve spoken with, when it comes to opposition activists and residents in the rebel-held areas of Aleppo, have told us that these humanitarian corridors have not been opened,” Al Jazeera’s Jamjoom said.

“Not only have they not been opened, but they say in several of the areas … in fact there is fighting still going on, and there are regime snipers as well that are shooting almost constantly.”

An estimated 320,000 people are under government siege in Aleppo, facing acute food and medicine shortages.

The Syrian conflict started as a largely unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011. It has since turned into a full-blown civil war between government forces and opposition fighters, with an estimated death toll of some 280,000 people, according to the Observatory.

Chuba Akpom on target for Arsenal in 3-1 win over Chivas Guadalajara

Arsenal continued their preparations for the forthcoming Premier League season with a 3-1 win over Chivas Guadalajara in Los Angeles.

Goals from Rob Holding, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Chuba Akpom had the Gunners in control, before their Mexican opponents pulled a goal back from the penalty spot with 17 minutes remaining.

Holding opened the scoring in the 34th minute at StubHub Center after Calum Chambers had created the opening for his central defensive partner — and it was 2-0 five minutes into the second half courtesy of an impressive individual goal from Oxlade-Chamberlain.

Guadalajara pulled a goal back through Angel Zaldivar’s penalty, awarded after Mathieu Debuchy had fouled Alex Zendejas.England Under-21 international Akpom, whose late goal gave Arsenal a 2-1 victory over the MLS All-Stars in San Jose on Thursday, made it 3-0 six minutes later.

The Gunners start their league campaign on Aug. 14 at home to Liverpool.

Conte reveals he nearly quit over match-fixing allegations

Antonio Conte

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte said he could have quit football after being embroiled in a match-fixing scandal in his native Italy.

An accusation of failing to report an attempt to fix a match against AlbinoLeffe during his time in charge of second-tier side Siena in 2010-2011, landed the former Italy coach in court as part of the Scommessopoli case.

Conte, who was banned from the touchline by the Italian Football Federation for four months in 2012 as part of the scandal, was acquitted of sporting fraud in May.

The 47 year-old claimed it would have been easy to leave the sport, but his desire to persist and come out on top forced him to fight the allegations.

“The story is a bad story for me and I don’t accept this. I fought a lot against this story and I risked myself to go to before a judge,” Conte said.

“I could have chosen another way. It would have been very easy for me to go, to finish a problem and then pass the time.

“In Italy, in the past, with this type of story, five years and it’s finished. But no, I wanted to be judged.

“In my heart the story was very bad for me, my family. Many people wrote bad things without knowing the reality.

“My players know me from Italy, all the people, all the managers. All the people know who Antonio Conte is. In this situation I want always to win, I work very hard to win.”

The Italian, his voice croaky from barking orders at his team during their pre-season tour of the United States, is motivated to win, but said plenty can be learned from being on the opposite side.After a woeful Premier League title defence last season ended with Chelsea finishing 10th, a top-four spot in Conte’s first campaign at the helm will be the minimum requirement.

“I find peace in myself after the game when I win. For this reason, I want to work very hard and find different solutions and to give options to my players. Only when I win am I relaxed,” Conte said.

“It’s important when you lose because you learn. You try to see why you didn’t win. You learn a lot in yourself but to win is beautiful.

“We know that when you have a season when you finish in 10th place it is not good for all. It means there are problems.

“Now it is not important to say ‘Okay we are ready to fight, we can come back very soon and win the title’ – these are just words.

“It’s important now to deal in facts, all together, because it is now not a good period for us.”

Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho’s agent rejects Roma speculation

Mamadou Sakho

Liverpool defender Mamadou Sakho will not join Roma this summer, his agent has said.

France international Sakho, 26, has reportedly been targeted by the Giallorossi, who are in the market for a new centre-back this summer after loaning Leandro Castan to Sampdoria and with Mario Rui tearing his cruciate knee ligaments while on a preseason tour of the United States.

However, agent Niakate Housseyni told LaRoma24.it: “I’ve not had any contact with Roma. He’s a Liverpool player and I don’t think Roma have any chance [of signing him] at the moment.”

That had led to the speculation he may leave this summer, but Houssenyi denied that there was “any argument with his boss Jurgen Klopp.”There had been reports of a falling out between Sakho and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp after the German sent the player home for breaking club rules while on their U.S. tour.