Looking a lot like dad, Bronny James makes NBA Summer League debut

Looking a lot like dad, Bronny James makes NBA Summer League debut

Looking a lot like dad, Bronny James makes NBA Summer League debut,m Once that second-quarter layup went in and he finally had his first NBA points after a trio of misses, Bronny James could exhale and everything began to slow down.

He hardly expects to be perfect at this early stage of his professional career, and every touch and possession will provide an opportunity for growth and learning.

He sure felt the love and support Saturday, even playing in the Bay Area ruled by Stephen Curry and the Warriors.

“The atmosphere, it was more than I expected," a grinning James said. "It's a big game for me, but I didn't know the people of Golden State would come and rep for me, so that was pretty nice to see.”

Oversized headphones on his ears and dressed in full Lakers gold as he geared up for his NBA Summer League debut Saturday, the rookie looked so much like his famous father, LeBron, it caused some at Chase Center to do a double-take.

Down to their familiar mannerisms, facial expressions and the way they run or shuffle back on defense. Bronny James took his place in the starting lineup for the Los Angeles Lakers and his professional career was formally underway, with plenty of scouts in the building to witness it as he wore jersey No. 9 — not to be confused with his dad's former 6 uniform he sported before switching to 23.

“Every first game that I step on the next level there's always some butterflies in my stomach, but as soon as the ball tips and we go a couple times down it all goes away and I'm just playing basketball,” he said. “It's always going to be there but get through it.”

The younger James wound up 2 for 9 for four points, missing all three of his 3s, with a pair of assists, two rebounds and a steal in just under 22 minutes of court time — 21:43 to be exact — as the Lakers lost 108-94 to the Sacramento Kings.

James missed his initial two shots while playing nearly six minutes in his first action — grabbing a defensive rebound 1 minute, 20 seconds into the game then missing a 21-foot jump shot moments later. He came up short on a 26-foot 3-point try at the 4:23 mark of the opening quarter before getting a breather.

There were cheers and a warm ovation when James returned to the court at the 8:17 mark of the second quarter. He was initially whistled for his first career foul on a 3-point attempt by Sacramento's Xavier Sneed on the right wing with 7:23 remaining, and James argued briefly before the play went to replay review and was overturned. James missed a 3 off the front rim from the top of the arc at 7:04.

Then, at last, James scored his first NBA points on a driving layup 5:51 before halftime.

“Moments like that can slow the game down for you especially because I wasn't as productive as I wanted to beforehand,” he said. “... I couldn’t get the 3-ball to fall, but all the reps it’s going to come more smooth.”

James missed a pair of free throws at the 4:43 mark of the third period in his first trip to the line.

At one point during his warmup routine, the 6-foot-2 guard stood with hands on hips in a resemblant position to one of his father. And during the game, the son leaned over by the baseline 3-point corner, gripping his knees while waiting for the offensive possession to begin.

The younger James was drafted by the Lakers with the 55th overall selection in the second round out of the University of Southern California.

He will get another chance to play Sunday, when the Lakers face the Warriors, again at the Chase Center. Coach Dane Johnson plans to give James plenty of chances to acclimate and gain valuable experience in the coming days and weeks.

“Hopefully he’ll play all the games, we’ll see how it goes,” Johnson said. “We’re going to try to integrate him and get him as many reps as we can. He needs more experience playing.”

Johnson applauded James' keen court awareness, noting, “we all know he has good instincts already, so finding the consistency within those he'll build as we keep going forward in the summer league and throughout the coming season. His instincts are there, we've just got to keep building habits.”

If all goes as planned, the 19-year-old James and his dad would become the first father-son pair to play in the NBA at the same time — and on the same team no less.

“What he does in the California Classic and Summer League, it doesn’t matter if he plays well and it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t play well," LeBron James said at USA Basketball's training camp in Las Vegas. "I just want him to continue to grow, practices, film sessions, his individual workouts. You can’t take anything as far as stat wise from the California Classic and Summer League and bring it once the season starts. The only thing that matters is him getting better and stacking days.”

Bronny is NBA career scoring leader LeBron's oldest son. He survived cardiac arrest last July 24 during an informal team workout at USC and it was later determined he had a congenital heart defect. The younger James signed a four-year contract that will pay him $7.9 million.

He will remind himself along the way to stay aggressive and “believe in myself knowing I can make plays for myself and my teammates.”

“Looking at my mistakes and looking at the things I did right is really good for me,” James said. “But also just game by game growing that comfort in my playing my game, I feel like that's a big part of why I come out here and get those reps in.”

Actor Dustin Hoffman and Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes among celebrities at Wimbledon

Actor Dustin Hoffman and Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes among celebrities at Wimbledon

Actor Dustin Hoffman and Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes among celebrities at Wimbledon, Actor Dustin Hoffman and Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes were among the celebrities watching Carlos Alcaraz play Frances Tiafoe on Friday in the third round on Centre Court at Wimbledon.

The 86-year-old Hoffman was sitting in the Royal Box, an area reserved for special guests invited by the All England Club, while Mahomes and his wife, Brittany, were in the stands.

The presence of Hoffman — who won an Oscar for his role in “Rain Man” — was perhaps fitting on a day when showers disrupted play at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament both in the morning and afternoon.

The match between Alcaraz and Tiafoe was played under a retractable roof, keeping everyone dry.

Hoffman is no stranger to Wimbledon. In 2012, he was in Serena Williams' player box to watch the American's fourth-round match.

Mahomes, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback who won his third Super Bowl title this year, had also attended a Morgan Wallen concert in Hyde Park in central London on Thursday.

Other famous names in the Royal Box on Friday included composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and Prince Michael of Kent.

A green flag for clean power: NASCAR unveils its first electric racecar

A green flag for clean power: NASCAR unveils its first electric racecar

A green flag for clean power: NASCAR unveils its first electric racecar, Part of the experience of a NASCAR race is hearing the engine roar, the rumble of each car’s approach and the zip when it whizzes past at more than 150 mph.

NASCAR unveiled its first electric racecar Saturday in downtown Chicago, but it doesn’t thunder when the grand marshal says “drivers, start your engines.”

It hums.

The top motorsports series in North America partnered with Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota and electrification company ABB to demonstrate a high-performance electric vehicle and gauge fan interest in electric racing.

They want to represent electric vehicles, and more broadly electrification, in racing as cool, fun and accessible, said Riley Nelson, NASCAR’s head of sustainability.

The Associated Press got a first look at the $1.5 million prototype. The only person who has driven it so far is semi-retired NASCAR driver David Ragan. The plan is to put the car on the Chicago street course for some fast laps on Sunday morning.

Ragan said the sound and smell were unlike anything he has experienced since first hitting the racetrack at age 11. He could hear squealing tires. He could smell the brakes. In gasoline-powered cars, the engine’s sound and smell and heat from the exhaust overpower everything else. But after hundreds of laps, this time Ragan’s ears weren’t ringing. It was really wild, he said.

Unlike typical sports coupes, the new car is actually a crossover utility vehicle. A huge wing on the back makes it aerodynamic enough to be a racecar.

It accelerates almost twice as fast as top gas-powered racecars and can stop almost immediately. But its lap time at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia was two-tenths of a second slower because it takes the corners slower due to being heavier. Ragan said it may go even faster; he wasn’t pushing the one-of-a-kind vehicle to its limits. Risk-taking is for racing, not testing, he said.

Eric Warren, who heads global motorsports competition for General Motors, said market research showed more than half of avid NASCAR fans surveyed would be more interested in purchasing an electric vehicle if they were exposed to it through racing. A main message is taking care with energy and optimizing it, he said.

“We’re committed to electric vehicles,” Warren said. “Racing gives a great platform to discuss a lot of those concepts and educate fans. It’s a laboratory for us to try some new technologies and learn as we educate.”

Burning gas pollutes the air and produces carbon dioxide, which warms the atmosphere and leads to more extreme weather. Burning one gallon produces about 19 pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Racing events consume thousands of gallons in a weekend.

The event would certainly be quieter with more electric cars, though many fans love the roar of engines when the green flag drops.

A group of kids, including the children of ABB employees, pulled the cover off the car as part of the unveiling before Saturday's NASCAR Xfinity Series stop. Dean Radejewski, 16, of Chicago, stopped to check out the car as he made his way through the area near Buckingham Fountain.

“I think it's pretty cool that they're stepping into the newer age, where all the stuff's going electric,” Radejewski said. “I feel like it's going to be maybe a bit more reliable, maybe a bit safer, too, since less fuel to light on fire.”

Radejewski also was intrigued by the possibility of a NASCAR EV series.

“It would be more racing to watch,” he said. “So even better.”

If NASCAR pursues electric racing, John Probst, NASCAR senior vice president and chief racing development officer said he thinks they could reinvent the fan experience. One option could be a DJ.

“It’s our goal to entertain our fans,” he said. “If our fans tell us this is what they want to see, we know how to create a racing series around pretty much anything.”

NASCAR is not the first motorsports organization to get into electric car racing. Formula E is an all-electric racing series that started a decade ago. But its fan base is far smaller than NASCAR's.

The new car is part of a broader sustainability plan by NASCAR. ABB is now NASCAR’s official electrification partner. It will help NASCAR bring in more electricity from renewable sources.

Kevin Durant discusses the trade rumors about him and his desire to play 'till the wheels fall off'

Kevin Durant discusses the trade rumors about him and his desire to play 'till the wheels fall off'

Kevin Durant discusses the trade rumors about him and his desire to play 'till the wheels fall off', Kevin Durant’s state of mind, happiness and wanderlust always seem to be up for discussion, and even though athletes like him are trained to ignore the noise, it gets to him.

Because in large part, he knows it gets to fans and how they view him. Durant is on the verge of his fourth Olympics and to let people tell it, his fifth NBA franchise isn’t far behind.

“You could just press the 'KD want to leave' button anytime you want some attention,” Durant told Yahoo Sports in an exclusive interview Saturday afternoon following Team USA’s first practice.

“Yes, it’s a button. What else is gonna get people going around this time? Besides, 'Oh, the journeyman is leaving again.' That story is always gonna hit.”

The genesis of this conversation stemmed from draft night, when rumors began to bubble about Durant — who’s barely spent over a full season with the Phoenix Suns — and teams calling for him. The Suns have three maximum salary players, and with the new luxury tax aprons that penalize the big spenders, some began to posit the Suns could be ready to move off Durant for future draft capital.

The Houston Rockets were mentioned as a team who would be a suitor. And Durant, who’s frequently online, saw the rumblings.

“It's hard not to hear what they got to say about you,” Durant said. “Because especially when you could just make up lies and everybody gonna believe you.”

Durant repeatedly called the claims “lies” and said he’s been in regular contact with the Suns' front office, coaching staff and players.

“So for somebody to say, ‘Phoenix wants to get out of the KD (business),’ I’m sitting here like, where is this coming from?” Durant said. “It bothers me that people lie like that and that the audience eats up the headline. I get sad when people buy into lies and just make up s***.

“It’s bigger than ball at that point for me. I can’t control that. I feel for people. It’s a bad practice to have when you just believe anything, for one. Just believe what you see on TV. And then it’s another bad habit when you’re just lying.”

Durant finished another uber-efficient season, playing 75 games — his most since 2018-19, when he tore his Achilles during Game 5 of the NBA Finals. He was a hair away from a 50-40-90 season, because he shot just 86 percent from the line, and put up 27 points, nearly seven rebounds and five assists.

He’s the all-time leading United States Olympic basketball scorer, surpassing Carmelo Anthony in 2021, and he holds the domestic record for points per game in a career, at 19.8.

Durant will reunite with Steve Kerr and Stephen Curry, and he thinks it’ll be an easy transition as this could be the most talented Olympic team since the 1992 Dream Team, or at the very least the 2008 Redeem Team — the latter of which played following Durant’s rookie year in Seattle.

But the conversation rarely centers around his longevity, or consistency. Part of it, he has courted. He left Oklahoma City as a free agent to join the Golden State Warriors in one of the most covered and dissected moves in the history of the game, then left the Bay Area to play in Brooklyn, in a move that underwhelmed to say the least.

2024 Paris Olympics: Russia, IOC at war with one another

2024 Paris Olympics: Russia, IOC at war with one another

2024 Paris Olympics: Russia, IOC at war with one another, On paper, Russian athletes at the 2024 Paris Olympics might look a lot like Russian athletes at previous Olympics. Some will be in Paris this summer; they have not been outright barred from the Games. In fact, when the International Olympic Committee decided last year to relax its ban on Russian participation, the move was criticized by many Westerners as further evidence of the cozy relationship between Russia and the IOC.

In reality, though, that relationship has fractured.

Only a few dozen Russians have been invited to compete at the 2024 Olympics as “Individual Neutral Athletes”; and some have declined. The rest of the hundreds who’d typically take part either have been deemed ineligible or have spurned the Games.

So there will be far fewer Russians in Paris than there were in Beijing or Tokyo. They will be entirely absent from some sports, including gymnastics and track and field. Those who do compete will don neutral colors, rather than the red, blue and white they wore in 2022, 2021 and 2018. And none are allowed to compete as part of a team.

These “strict” eligibility conditions have “outraged” Russian authorities, some of whom accused the IOC of “racism,” “neo-Nazism” and "political repression." Some argued that all Russian athletes should refuse neutral status and band together to boycott the Games.

Although a full-blown boycott hasn’t quite materialized, the athletes’ participation has been controversial within Russia — where state-affiliated actors are trying to undermine the Paris Olympics, and where officials tried to revive the “Friendship Games” as an Olympics alternative.

Why was Russia banned?

Russia was initially banned by most of the international sports community in February 2022, shortly after its military invaded Ukraine.

Its Olympic status was previously muddled by state-sponsored doping. The current sanctions, though, are mostly unrelated; they are punishment for the ongoing war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions more.

Belarus — Russia’s closest ally in the war — has been subject to the same sanctions.

How was a Russian’s Olympic eligibility determined?

The IOC then amended its policy in 2023. Russian and Belarusian flags, anthems, colors, names, diplomats and teams would remain banned, but athletes could compete as individuals under the “AIN” designation — with two core caveats:

“Athletes who actively support the war will not be eligible.”

“Athletes who are contracted to the Russian or Belarusian military or national security agencies will not be eligible.”

Both stipulations ruled out dozens of athletes in an authoritarian country where A) there can be tremendous top-down pressure to support the government’s stance, and B) some elite sports clubs, such as CSKA Moscow, are linked to the military.

The other barriers were the international federations that govern specific sports — and set Olympic qualification criteria. Each of them had its own Russia policy. Some followed the IOC’s lead and accepted Russians as neutral athletes. Others, such as World Athletics, maintained unconditional bans — thereby shutting off an athlete’s path to Paris, even if the athlete was anti-war.

For those who did qualify, the IOC put together a three-person panel — which included former NBA star Pau Gasol, now a member of the IOC Ethics Commission — to review each case. The reviews could consider “every source of information that is possible,” IOC director James Macleod said in March — meaning everything from social media posts to tips from the Ukrainian government — to determine whether an athlete supported the war or had military ties.

Which Russian athletes are eligible for the Olympics?

As of July 5, two days before the Olympic entry deadline, the IOC had extended invitations to 34 Russians and 23 Belarusians in 12 different sports — a majority of them either wrestlers or tennis players.

Of the 57 invitees, the IOC said, 39 had accepted, 15 had declined, and three judokas were apparently undetermined or undecided.

A day later, however, the Russian Wrestling Federation announced that all 10 of its qualifiers — nine of whom had previously accepted invites, according to the IOC — would “refuse to participate in the Olympic Games.”

Many others, across dozens of sports, were deemed ineligible or never even applied for neutral status. A few even appeared onstage at a pro-war rally. Many, to varying degrees, chose patriotism over personal ambition, and opted to not pursue Olympic dreams. When the first Russian swimmer approved as a neutral by World Aquatics withdrew his Olympic application in April, the president of Russia’s swimming federation said he didn’t “see a single person” requesting to participate.

Eventually, only one other swimmer emerged — Evgenii Somov, who attended the University of Louisville and is based in the United States.

Evgeniia Chikunova, a world record-holder and would-be medal favorite, spoke for many when she told Russia’s Match TV: “Will I go to the Olympics? No. … I don’t see myself as a neutral athlete. In principle, I do not understand the position of the IOC.”

How Russia turned on the Olympics

The Olympics, for decades, had been a geopolitical platform and source of national pride in Russia. As the conditions for Paris participation came into focus, though, the issue became divisive.

Some sports officials, and even Vladimir Putin, promised to support athletes who’d been training for years with their eyes on the Games. "We should not turn away, close ourselves or boycott this movement," sports minister Oleg Matytsin said. "We should, as much as possible, keep the possibility of dialogue and take part in competitions."

But they also regularly blasted the IOC’s restrictions. Viatcheslav Ekimov, the president of Russia’s cycling federation, called them “humiliating conditions”; Mikhail Mamiashvili, the wrestling federation president, said Russians should respond by “go[ing] to Paris in tanks.”

The rhetoric intensified in March when the IOC revealed the “AIN” flag and neutral anthem that would serenade Russian athletes if they won medals. The IOC also ruled that Russian athletes could not participate in the Opening Ceremony’s Parade of Nations. "This is, of course, the destruction of the idea of Olympism,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. Russia’s foreign ministry called it "wrongful, unjust and unacceptable.” Some statements personally attacked IOC president Thomas Bach. One Putin adviser even compared the “AIN” flag to the yellow star worn by Jews during the Holocaust.

That, it seemed, was the point of no return, the day the IOC ditched diplomacy and political correctness. IOC spokesman Mark Adams called Russia’s “aggressive” statements “completely unacceptable” and “a new low.” That same week, the IOC also released a lengthy statement denouncing Russia’s “Friendship Games,” an international sports competition organized to rival the Olympics, which, at the time, was slated for September (but has now been postponed to 2025).

This escalation in March accelerated Russia’s split with the Olympic movement. In the background, meanwhile, Russian propagandists waged a multi-faceted campaign to disparage and scare people away from the Paris Games. They flooded social media with disinformation, trying to stoke fears of a terrorist attack. They created a spoofed documentary, starring a deepfake Tom Cruise, called “Olympics Has Fallen,” according to a report from Microsoft Threat Intelligence.

A Russian posing as an African sports official also duped Bach into a phone call, during which an unsuspecting Bach laid out the terms for Russian athletes wishing to compete in Paris. The prankster then published the recording. Russian officials pounced to accuse the IOC of a “criminal conspiracy” with Ukraine — whose government has lobbied all along for Russians to be completely barred from the Games.

So how many Russians will be at the 2024 Olympics?

With less than three weeks to go until the 2024 Olympics open in Paris, it remains unclear how many Russians will actually participate.

The IOC has set aside at least 47 “quota places” — which were earned by Russian athletes “through the existing qualification competitions” — but not all 47 will be filled.

With the wrestlers withdrawn, as things stood Saturday, there would be at least 14 Russian athletes in Paris — three in road cycling, one in trampoline, six (including world No. 5 Daniil Medvedev) in tennis, two in canoe, up to four in judo, and one in swimming. There would be 16 Belarusians.

But the situation is still fluid. More could be added to the IOC’s approved list over the coming days; or, more could pull out between now and when the Games open July 26.

Although the reasoning behind the IOC’s sanctions has long been clear, Russia’s wrestling federation outlined a stance that many in Russian sport now seem to agree with: “We do not accept the unsportsmanlike selection principle that guided the International Olympic Committee when forming the list of eligible athletes, the purpose of which is to undermine the principle of unity of our team.”

Caitlin Clark becomes first WNBA rookie to record a triple-double as Fever surge back to beat Liberty

Caitlin Clark becomes first WNBA rookie to record a triple-double as Fever surge back to beat Liberty

Caitlin Clark becomes first WNBA rookie to record a triple-double as Fever surge back to beat Liberty, Caitlin Clark put up a historic stat line as the Indiana Fever earn a big win against the New York Liberty on Saturday. The Fever overcame a large second-half deficit to take a 83-78 victory in front of an electric crowd at home.

After the Fever started the game with a dominant run, the Liberty bounced back, outscoring Indiana in the second and third quarters. New York led by as many as 11 points early in the fourth quarter. However, the Fever pushed back, outscoring the Liberty 28-16 in the final frame to take the comeback win.

Indiana's comeback win was fueled in part by Clark's historic performance: The rookie guard put up 19 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds, becoming the first rookie in WNBA history to record a triple-double. Clark's stat line also makes her the first Indiana Fever player to record a triple-double. Her total rebounds and assists also ties her career high.

Caitlin Clark records the first triple-double by a rookie in WNBA History and the first triple-double in Indiana Fever history!

Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu led both teams with 22 points, while teammate Betnijah Laney-Hamilton tied her career high with 20 points. On the Fever side, however, four of the starters put up double digits, with Aliyah Boston scoring 18, Kelsey Mitchell scoring 14 and NaLyssa Smith chipping in 12 behind Clark's 19.

Clark spoke about the milestone in a postgame press conference, sharing the credit for the game with her team.

"I'm just happy we won. I take a lot of pride in being able to do a lot of different things for this team," Clark said. "Obviously 13 assists, that means my teammates made 13 shots off my passes, so that goes to them."

The response prompted Boston to joke about her teammate's modesty. "She's so humble, isn't she?" Boston quipped. "That's very cool, Caitlin. Great job, sister."

Andy Murray's Wimbledon career is OVER after Emma Raducanu pulls out of mixed doubles in disappointing end to his final SW19 run

Andy Murray's Wimbledon career is OVER after Emma Raducanu pulls out of mixed doubles in disappointing end to his final SW19 run

Andy Murray's Wimbledon career is OVER after Emma Raducanu pulls out of mixed doubles in disappointing end to his final SW19 run, The two Brits were set to take part in the competition together in Murray's final run at the competition after he lost in the first round of the men's doubles alongside brother Jamie earlier this week.

They had been set to face Marcelo Arevalo and Zhang Shuai on Saturday, but the match has now been cancelled.

Raducanu has cited wrist sorness as the reason for her withdrawal on the back of her dominant third round win over world No 9 Maria Sakkari on Friday.

The decision to withdraw also means Raducanu's run is now in jeopardy, with the 21-year-old winning all three of her matches so far in straight sets.

Copa America: Venezuela force shootout vs. Canada after ridiculous Salomon Rondon chip, but fail to advance

Copa America: Venezuela force shootout vs. Canada after ridiculous Salomon Rondon chip, but fail to advance

Copa America: Venezuela force shootout vs. Canada after ridiculous Salomon Rondon chip, but fail to advance, Rondon executed an amazing chip shot, but ultimately Canada are into the semifinals Canada once again struggled to take their attacking chances and came close to missing out on the Copa America semifinals before rallying to defeat Venezuela 4-3 in a penalty shootout. The match finished 1-1 in regulation thanks to a ridiculous goal from Venezuela striker Salomon Rondon. After Canada lost the ball, Rondon chipped Maxime Crepeau for the equalizer in the match to force a penalty shootout. It's the third goal of the tournament for 34-year-old Rondon, but questions need to be asked about why the Canadian keeper was so far off his line.

The play started from a Canada throw in that Venezuela recovered and immediately hoofed up the pitch toward Rondon who was in a one-on-one with defender Moise Bombito. Bombito took a wrong step to allow Rondon to get the ball before the striker showed his class. 

Canada had their chances during regulation missing various chances during the first half after Jacob Shaffelburg opened the scoring. It seemed like Canada's failure to build on their lead might cost them the match after Rondon's goal, but the 90 minutes ended 1-1 and since Copa America doesn't use extra time until the final, the match went straight to penalties.

Manchester City close to agreeing sale of defender Sergio Gomez to Real Sociedad with Pep Guardiola's side set to include buy-back and sell-on clauses in £8m deal

Manchester City close to agreeing sale of defender Sergio Gomez to Real Sociedad with Pep Guardiola's side set to include buy-back and sell-on clauses in £8m deal

Manchester City close to agreeing sale of defender Sergio Gomez to Real Sociedad with Pep Guardiola's side set to include buy-back and sell-on clauses in £8m deal, Manchester City are close to agreeing the sale of full-back Sergio Gomez to Real Sociedad.

City are negotiating a buy-back clause and sell-on clause in a deal worth around £8m.

Gomez, who was previously at Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund as a youngster, joined City in 2022 on a four-year deal.

In total Gomez made 38 appearances for City, winning two Premier League titles and the Champions League.

However, he started on just two occasions in the Premier League.Josko Gvardiol quickly established himself as City's first-choice left-back after joining the club last summer.Nathan Ake is also capable of playing at left-back, while Manuel Akanji has also filled in there at times. 

Gomez represented Spain from Under-16 to Under-21 levels and has been named in his country's squad for the Olympics as an overage player.  

India players dance to tunes of dhol after arriving at Wankhede Stadium

India players dance to tunes of dhol after arriving at Wankhede Stadium

India players dance to tunes of dhol after arriving at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 4 (ANI): The Indian team crossed the ocean of fans who came in to celebrate their T20 World Cup success, and arrived at the Wankhede Stadium to continue the night of celebration.

After their arrival at the Wankhede Stadium, the Indian cricket players danced to the tunes of dhol at the event, which is being held here after their victory parade.

The Rohit Sharma-led team kicked off the open-top bus parade from Marine Drive. Fans turned up in numbers, danced to the tune of India's success, and celebrated the arrival of the T20 World Cup-winning team.

Throughout the parade, players were seen lifting the coveted trophy high in the air and appreciating the support of their fans.

The love of the fans was clearly visible when some of them climbed on the tree and cheered for the team as the bus went past them.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Secretary Jay Shah, and Vice-President Rajiv Shukla joined the celebrations and were also seen with the players on the bus.

Virat Kohli, Kuldeep Yadav, and Yuzvendra Chahal bore the Indian flag on their shoulders as they celebrated their 13-year-long ICC World Cup trophy drought-ending triumph.

Rohit was seen holding the hands of Rahul Dravid and batter Suryakumar Yadav high in the air during the celebration.

Even before Team India's arrival, the cricket fever had gripped Mumbai, as fans had already turned up in numbers to witness Team India's victory parade.

The anticipation was in their eyes of catching a glimpse of their favourite stars, and the entire world continues to see a spectacle on the streets of Mumbai.

Before reaching Mumbai, the Indian team arrived at the airport in New Delhi in the early morning hours. After their arrival, the Indian players and team management met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence for breakfast.

During their meeting with the Prime Minister, the Men in Blue wore a special jersey sporting two stars over the BCCI's emblem. The stars represented the two T20 World Cup wins. The word 'CHAMPIONS' was written on the jersey in bold letters. (ANI)

Grim reality of what happens to bodies of Nathan's Hot Dog eaters

Grim reality of what happens to bodies of Nathan's Hot Dog eaters

Grim reality of what happens to bodies of Nathan's Hot Dog eaters, Another Fourth of July meant another round of Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest — but few people know the physical toll it takes on competitors' bodies.

Patrick Bertoletti won the title Thursday after consuming 58 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes at the event on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. 

That's the equivalent of more than 15,000 calories and quadruple the entire daily salt and fat recommendation for an adult in one sitting. 

In the women's category, Miki Sudo won her 10th title, downing 51 hot dogs and bun and setting a new world women's record.

Studies suggest wolfing down dozens of hot dogs in one go stretches the stomach by up to quadruple its normal size, turning it into 'a massively distended food-filled sac occupying most of the upper abdomen'. 

Experts warn that over time, this could eventually cause the body to stop emptying solid food, leaving competitive eaters with intractable nausea and vomiting. 

The true health effects of competitive eating are not well known - because its such a new phenomenon and studying it in the general public would be deemed unethical. 

Competitive eaters also spend months stretching their stomachs using 'dangerous' techniques like 'water loading', or downing gallons of milk and eating mountains of cabbage and fibrous foods.

According to the nutritional information on Nathan's website, one of its Original Coney Island natural casing beef hot dogs contains 170 calories, 16 grams of fat (including 6 grams of saturated fat), and 480 milligrams of sodium.

This means the male winner, Bertoletti, consumed 9,860 calories in 10 minutes, not including the bun. 

Each of the buns has 130 calories, pushing the amount to 17,400, which is double the amount of calories the CDC recommends an adult male consumes each week. 

High sodium intake is enough to send blood pressure soaring, which can trigger a heart attack or stroke. The recommended sodium level is no more than 2,300 milligrams each day, just shy of five hot dogs. 

And the high fat can lead to nausea, diarrhea and gastrointestinal distress, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson Debbie Petitpain told CBS News.

However, experts said as long as these competitors return to regular eating, their bodies should also return to normal. 

Legendary hotdog eater Joey 'Jaws' Chestnut, who won the competition 16 times, said he trains for every Nathan's contest for three months straight by performing mouth exercises to strengthen his mouth and throat.

'Every practice, I record it and I try to push a little bit harder and figure out what I can do differently,' Chestnut said in 2021. 

'You can only practice so much. If I practice too much I start gaining weight, and if I start gaining weight then I start slowing down. So it's a weird double-edged sword. You have to love to eat, but you can't eat so much that it becomes unhealthy.' 

The first Nathan's hot dog eating contest, held in 1972, was won by Jason Schechter, who ate just 14 wieners.

While it is unclear why the amount eaten has changed over the decades, it was likely due to people training for months to expand their stomachs. 

A 2007 study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania analyzed a 29-year-old man who ranked among the top 10 worldwide in competitive eating.

The man was asked to ingest an effervescent agent and high-density barium before eating hot dogs for 12 minutes, which allowed researchers to see the food move through his body.

Another group of regular eaters consumed seven franks before reporting symptoms of sickness.

Following the study, the competitive eater's stomach showed it could expand as he consumed the food.  

'The key to success in competitive speed eating is the ability to slowly train and adapt the stomach so that it can expand and dilate to a remarkable degree, enabling the speed eater to consume an extraordinary volume of food in an extremely short time (possibly superimposed on an innately compliant stomach),' according to the published paper.

The team compared a competitive eater to 'a predatory carnivore that periodically gorges itself on its kills, ingesting massive amounts of food for sustenance until it captures another prey days or even weeks later.'

However, these eaters may also lose the sensation of fullness and satisfaction when eating regularly. 

The researchers noted that there is not enough data to predict what will happen to competitive eaters.

The team wrote in the study that there is a potential risk that the dilated, flaccid stomach may eventually decompensate, becoming an enormous sac incapable of shrinking to its original size and emptying solid food.