LONDON: The UAE’s Godolphin Racing has a cluster of contenders in the big-race meeting at Ascot on Saturday, with Jack Hobbs’ involvement in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes foremost among them all.
The John Gosden-trained 5-year-old finished down the field in eighth over 10 furlongs at Royal Ascot only last month.
However, with a return to the mile and a half distance and the expected ground in the plus column this time around, hopes are high for a much improved performance — and result — upon his reappearance in Berkshire.
“It is a brilliant time of the season, particularly when you have good rides in the big races,” explained jockey William Buick in his guest column on the Godolphin website.
“Jack Hobbs — my mount in this year’s King George — has an excellent chance, especially as he is coming back to a mile and a half on rain-softened ground.
“But we will have to produce our A-game to beat (the Saudi Prince Khalid Abdullah-owned) Enable, a dual-Oaks winners, who was impressive with wide-margin victories at Epsom and the Curragh.
“Jack Hobbs, an Irish Derby winner, showed what he can do at his top when he comfortably defeated a good field in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan on Dubai World Cup night in March.
“Next time out, it is fair to say he was uncomfortable on the ground when eighth to Highland Reel in the G1 Prince of Wales’ Stakes at Royal Ascot. It was too fast for him and he never let himself down on that ground.
“He has won five of his 11 races and has been placed in another four. He will have conditions to suit this time, but he must give 14lbs to Enable.
“It’s an exciting time of the season and I’m hoping to make the most of it.”
The day could get off to a very encouraging start for those clad in the royal blue silks as Buick saddles the Charlie Appleby-trained Spring Cosmos in the Group Three Princess Margaret Juddmonte Stakes over seven furlongs. Spring Cosmos is expected to be at the front of affairs alongside the likes of Dance Diva and Nyaleti.
Appleby and Buick also have a runner in the next — the one-mile Porsche Handicap — in the form of D’bai, although the top-weighted 3-year-old is somewhat less favored to prevail in a field containing in-form duo Century Dream and Pealer.
Emirati trainer Saeed bin Suroor’s Top Score isn’t perhaps fancied to live up to that lofty billing and name in the seven-furlong Gigaset International Stakes, although favoritism is hard to establish in a wide-open contest.
Being There should be there or thereabouts for Appleby and Buick in the seven-furlong Wooldridge Group Pat Eddery Stakes, while Royal Associate has every chance of going well in the Canisbay Bloodstock Handicap over a mile and a half.
Godolphin’s Jack Hobbs primed and able to take on Enable
Godolphin’s Jack Hobbs primed and able to take on Enable
Soccer jersey dispute between Algeria and Morocco clubs over Western Sahara goes to sports court
The dispute already affected the teams’ semifinal of the CAF Confederation Cup
GENEVA: A soccer politics dispute between Algeria and Morocco over a map of disputed Western Sahara territory on a team jersey will go to a full appeal hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The court said Thursday the two sides “are currently exchanging written submissions” and set no timetable for appointing a panel of judges and setting a date for a hearing.
The Algerian soccer federation and the USM Alger club from Algiers are challenging a decision by the Confederation of African Football to let Moroccan club RS Berkane wear a team jersey that includes disputed territory on a map of Morocco.
The dispute already affected the teams’ semifinal of the CAF Confederation Cup, in which USM Alger are the defending champion. Neither semifinal game scheduled on April 21 and 28 was played and both were awarded by CAF as 3-0 wins to Berkane.
Berkane are scheduled to play the two-leg final on May 12 and 19 — against Zamalek of Egypt — and the court did not indicate Thursday if the Algerian appeal will be judged before those games.
Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1975. The United Nations brokered a ceasefire between Morocco and the pro-independence Polisario Front, which is supported by Algeria, that held until four years ago.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021.
The laws of soccer state that “equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images.”
Berkane arrived for the April 21 game in Algiers and had their team uniforms seized at the airport by Algerian authorities.
CAF refused an Algerian request to prohibit the shirts and, after Berkane refused to wear replacement shirts provided by USM Alger, the game did not go ahead.
CAF ruled the Algerian club were in breach of competition rules and Berkane were awarded a 3-0 win by default.
An urgent appeal by the Algerians to suspend CAF’s ruling on the shirt was denied last week by the sports court in Lausanne, Switzerland.
On April 28, USM Alger went to Berkane’s stadium for the second leg but refused to play if the hosts wore the jerseys with the map. CAF awarded a second default win to Berkane.
The full appeal in the case has now been brought against CAF, the Moroccan soccer federation and Berkane. One of the African soccer body’s most influential officials, FIFA Council member Fouzi Lekjaa, is president of the Moroccan federation and a former president of the Berkane club.
Saudi Smash 2024 draw held in Jeddah
- Ceremony signals start of weeklong table tennis competition
- ‘It is wonderful to be here in Saudi Arabia,’ Egyptian Omar Assar says
JEDDAH: The draw for the ITTF World Table Tennis Championships Saudi Smash 2024 took place on Thursday.
The draws for the men’s and women’s singles, each of which has 64 players, and the doubles categories, with 24 pairs in each, were held at the Infinity Arena, Sports Hall King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.
The tournament, which opens on Saturday and runs through May 11, is part of the WTT Grand Smash series.
Among the notable names in the draw were the men’s and women’s world No. 1s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha of China, Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi and Egpyt’s Omar Assar.
Assar, who made history by becoming the first Egyptian player to reach the quarterfinals of a World Championship, said: “It is wonderful to be here in Saudi Arabia and looking forward to being part of this eagerly awaited tournament.”
Wang said: “It is really a tough competition but I am ready to compete until the end.”
The competition’s total prize pool of $2 million is the highest ever for an officially sanctioned event.
Other top players taking part include Felix Lebrun of France, Shin Yubin of South Korea, Hana Goda of Egypt and Dang Qiu of Germany.
Largest ever refugee team to compete at Paris Olympics-IOC
- The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris
- IOC President Thomas Bach said: “This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world“
LAUSANNE: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday unveiled its largest refugee Olympic team to date for the Paris 2024 Games, with 36 athletes from 11 different countries.
The athletes, from countries including Syria, Sudan, Iran and Afghanistan, will compete across 12 sports in Paris, the third time such a team has formed for the Summer Olympics.
“With your participation in the Olympic Games, you will demonstrate the human potential of resilience and excellence,” IOC President Thomas Bach said during the team’s announcement.
“This will send a message of hope to the more than 100 million displaced people around the world.”
For the first time, the team will compete under its own emblem.
The IOC unveiled its first refugee team for the Rio 2016 Olympics with 10 athletes to raise awareness of the issue as hundreds of thousands of people were pouring into Europe from the Middle East and elsewhere escaping conflict and poverty.
The team that competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was already almost three times as big as the inaugural team at the Rio Games, with a total of 29 athletes competing in 12 sports.
The Paris Olympics refugee team announcement comes shortly after Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, who ran as a refugee athlete in the 1,500 meters at the 2016 and 2021 Olympics, was suspended after testing positive for a banned substance.
The continuous rise in value of the Indian Premier League
In the aftermath of the Punjab Kings’ record chase of 262 runs on April 26, team captain Sam Curran, remarked that the Indian Premier League “(is) becoming a bit like baseball, isn’t it?”
This was likely a moment that opponents of the IPL had predicted and feared — and, conversely, one that proponents of the IPL and T20 cricket in general relished.
T20 cricket is in line with the age of fast food. Instantly consumable, quickly forgotten and underpinned by mass advertising and high-profile personalities. Around the world, its sponsors include KFC for Australia’s Big Bash League, the very title encapsulating the format’s frenzy.
In England, the Hundred has a five-year deal with KP Snacks. Given governmental policy to reduce consumption of products that are high in fat, salt and sugar, the partnership has drawn criticism.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, SA20’s title sponsor is Betway, one of a growing number of betting companies associated with cricket. In the IPL, there is a myriad of sponsors. The title one, Tata, is paying $300 million between 2024 and 2028. Then there are three associate partners — My11Circle, Angel One and RUPay — plus an official broadcaster in Star Sports, official digital streaming partner JioCinema, official strategic timeout partner CEAT and an umpire partner in Paytm.
Each franchise team has a plethora of principal partners, associate partners, media partners and merchandise partners. These represent a broad range of different industry sectors which boost the brand value of the franchises. According to brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, the value of the ten franchises at the end of the 2023 season ranged from $43.7 million to $87 million. The estimated brand value of the IPL was $10.7 billion.
Estimates of brand value are derived differently by different bodies. This is because brands are not tangible assets — they are subject to beliefs, perceived reputation, trust and experience. Their value lies in how consumers associate with the brand and how it influences their behavior. Attempts to quantify these factors require measurable elements such as trademarks, logos, taglines, visual assets, digital assets, customer retention and social media engagement levels.
Since it began 17 years ago, the IPL has generated all of these in abundance. Along with experience and engagement within the stadiums, an exponential growth in viewership reached close to 500 million unique viewers in 2023. The new media rights regime in 2024 has created further growth, with the Disney Star Network acquiring broadcast rights for all IPL matches in 2024. Live broadcast of the first 18 attracted over 400 million viewers, a 17 percent like-for-like increase over 2023.
There is a big shift in live streaming, with Viacom’s JioCinema awarded digital streaming rights in the 2024-27 cycle. In 2023 it streamed the entire IPL season for free on its mobile app and website, a feature continued into 2024. The move took many by surprise but enabled it to set a record for the highest concurrent viewership for a live-streamed event — some 32 million viewers tuned in to watch the final. Now, digital streaming appears to be gaining momentum over traditional TV broadcasting with IPL viewers, depending on market segment. This can only increase as technology advances and accessibility improves.
As a result, brand value estimates after the 2024 edition are likely to be affected. Close inspection of existing estimates reveals the different methodologies in use. Cost-based valuations focus on how much it has taken to build the brand. Market-based valuations take account of how much sales of similar brands have raised. Income-based valuations focus on how much money the brand brings into the organization compared with non-branded similar products for services. Customer-based valuations analyze existing customers and predict future consumption patterns.
Another approach is the relief from royalty method, used by global investment bank Houlihan Lokey. This calculates value based on hypothetical royalty payments that would be saved by owning an asset rather than licensing it. In 2023, this produced a brand value estimate for the IPL of $3.2 billion — a difference of some $10.7 billion compared with other estimates. The methodology also produces different estimates of the franchise brand values. In this case, they are in a higher range of $83 million to $212 million, with a slightly different ranking.
Houlihan Lokey also undertook a valuation of the IPL’s value as a business, based on the standard discounted cash flow technique. This amounted to $15.4 billion in 2023, an increase of 80 percent over 2022. Most of this can be attributed to the renewal of the media rights deal covering 2023-2027, worth three times more than the 2017-2022 cycle. It is reasonable to assume that, given the year-on-year increases in viewership, the IPL will be able to command even more enhanced terms in the next cycle.
Intuitively, this makes the use of DCF techniques understandable. Under normal circumstances, the IPL can be reasonably sure of its future revenue streams. Once they are expressed in terms of present values, investors can assess what rate of return they are likely to achieve. Ultimately, returns on investment and profits are more important to stakeholders than differences in brand valuations, although the franchisees remain committed to brand enhancement through fan engagement, association with star players and top sponsors.
Since 2008, the IPL has established itself as a global phenomenon and it has done so in a relatively short time. It attracts millions of fans and viewers, providing instant entertainment. All the signs are that it will continue to grow through increased sponsorship, viewer numbers and media rights income which, in turn, proliferates advertising revenue for the media. This is big business and looks unstoppable, but it may morph into a caricature of the game from which it took its roots.
Mitch Evans relishes ‘great’ first Formula E win of the season
- The Jaguar TCS Racing driver secured top spot at the Monaco E-Prix last weekend
DUBAI: Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans said it was a “great feeling” to have secured his first victory in this season’s Formula E world championship as he looks ahead to the double-header in Berlin next weekend.
Evans reigned supreme in Monaco, leading Jaguar to a dominant one-two with his team-mate, Nick Cassidy, finishing second. The result meant Evans broke his four-race streak of leading without a win.
“I’ve always been very comfortable around this track,” said Evans. “I think I’ve had around 10 podiums in different categories and never won. It was bound to happen at some point but (it) just happened a little later than what I would have liked. It was a great feeling to finally get the victory and it was a strategic and exciting race. It was an important win and (it) was good to see the checkered flag first.”
The result leaves Evans 25 points off the top but strengthens Jaguar’s grip on the constructors’ title, in which they now have a 44-point advantage.
Evans believes there is no reason why his team will not be even better throughout the rest of the season — starting in Berlin.
“The one-two here in Monaco has never been done before so really proud of the team,” he said. “We have come on the back of trickier races so to get this strong result is fantastic. It’s good for everyone’s confidence and gaining momentum and we want to keep that going.
“We’ll be going into Berlin next where last year we got a one-two, so obviously (it) would be amazing if we repeat that, but there is a new layout so there’s a few new things to learn. The race will be quite strategic from an energy point of view so we need to do some work with the team to make sure we’re well prepared. Our Gen3 car tends to suit that circuit a bit more and hopefully we can continue from Monaco.”
