Joan Laporta takes office as FC Barcelona president
The Hindu
With Lionel Messi watching closely, newly elected Barcelona president Joan Laporta took office and promised to do his best to convince the star playmaker to stay.
Messi was at Laporta's inauguration at the Camp Nou Stadium on Wednesday and embraced the new president during the ceremony. One of Laporta's biggest tasks will be to try to change Messi's mind after he pushed to leave the club last season. He had his request denied by former president Josep Bartomeu but can leave for free when his contract expires at the end of this season.Unlike most of the Olympic-bound athletes, who opt to train abroad before the big event, boxer Amit Panghal prefers training in home conditions prior to Paris 2024. A former World championships silver medallist and a World No. 1, Panghal won the 51kg quota place in the only chance he got. He wants to follow his own plans to script success in Paris.
The other men’s semifinal Friday is Norway’s Casper Ruud, twice the runner-up in Paris — to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and to Novak Djokovic in 2023 — against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, a finalist at the 2020 U.S. Open, an Olympic gold medalist and into the final four at Roland Garros for the fourth consecutive year.