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GUYANA CHRONICLE Friday, December 23, 2016
Phil Simmons appointed Head Coach of St. Kitts & Nevis Patriots The St. Kitts & Nevis (SKN) Patriots announced yesterday that former West Indies Coach, Phil Simmons, will become the new head coach of the franchise for the 2017 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) season. “We are happy to announce that Phil Simmons is the new head coach of the SKN Patriots”, said Co-Owner & Principal, Uday Nayak. “We expect that Phil’s experience and local knowledge will help the Patriots achieve
improved performances in our 2017 Hero CPL campaign, and will bring the ultimate success that our fans and sponsors deserve”. The Patriots owner described Simmons as “the right coaching choice at this very crucial time in the development of our Franchise.” Commenting on his new role, Coach Simmons said, “I am delighted to take up the role as Head Coach of the SKN Patriots. I would
like to thank the owners and management for offering me this exciting opportunity to lead the squad. I am aware of the immediate challenges we are facing and I will do all possible to ensure that we achieve improved results”. The new Patriots coach expressed his delight that the franchise had just last week signed star batsman Chris Gayle, “I am very pleased with the recent signing of Gayle.
This is a major boost for me coming in as the new coach and I look forward to working closely with Chris to bring the desired success to the St. Kitts & Nevis franchise”. Phil Simmons is himself a former explosive West Indies batting a l l - r o u n d e r. H e r e t i r e d from being a professional player in 2002, before embarking on a successful coaching career. Simmons is former
England appoint Chelsea coach Steve Holland as assistant on permanent basis Steve Holland has been named England assistant manager on a permanent basis after an interim spell in the job. The 46-year-old, who is currently Chelsea’s assistant first-team coach, will work with England for the games against Germany and Lithuania in March. He will leave his role with the Premier League club in the summer to join Gareth Southgate’s team full-time. “If we want to be successful then we have to employ the best people and for me, Steve is the best,”
said Southgate. Holland has worked as Southgate’s assistant since 2013 - first with England Under-21s and more recently with the senior squad, following Sam Allardyce’s departure as boss in September. “We have worked very closely for three years and I have upmost respect for the way that he works, his professionalism and the detail of his preparation,” added Southgate, who was made permanent England manager in November. “I’d like to thank
Steve Holland (right) has worked with England boss Gareth Southgate for the past three years. Chelsea for allowing Steve to join up with us
over the last three years. “It’s great that Steve is able to work with us on the March camp but getting him on a full-time basis is very important and I was more than prepared to wait until May for that to happen.” Holland, who managed Crewe from 2007 to 2008, joined Chelsea in 2011. He was part of the Blues’ backroom team for their Champions League and FA Cup double in 2012, the Europa League win in 2013 and the Premier League and League Cup double in 2015.
Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey handed five-game racial abuse ban Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has been banned for five games after he was found guilty of using racially abusive language by an independent panel. He has also been fined £100,000 and ordered to attend a Football Association education course. Shelvey, 24, had a personal hearing to challenge the charge after an incident with Wolves’ Moroccan midfielder Romain Saiss in 17 September’s 2-0 defeat. The player has seven days to appeal. Newcastle said in a statement they will wait to see the FA’s written reasons “before making any further comment on the matter”. The FA’s sanctions will
Jonjo Shelvey
be set aside pending consideration for an appeal. What happened? Newcastle were losing to Wolves in their Championship match at St James’ Park, when in the 87th minute an incident occurred between Shelvey and Saiss. The breach, according
to the FA’s charge against the former Liverpool and Swansea player, related to Rule E3(1), and was an “Aggravated Breach as defined in Rule E3(2), as it included reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/ or nationality”. BBC Sport’s Pat Murphy said the matter was brought to referee Tim Robinson’s attention by one of Saiss’ team-mates immediately after the game. What will Shelvey miss? If Boxing Day’s visit of Sheffield Wednesday becomes the first game of the suspension, the England international will miss four league games and the FA Cup third-round tie at Birmingham. Newcastle boss Rafael Benitez would next be able
to name him in the squad for the Championship game against Rotherham on 21 January. Five games a ‘minimum’ punishment FA guidelines, which were revised in 2013, state any player found guilty of racially abusing an opponent or discriminating on religion, sexuality or disability, should be banned for at least five games. Prior to that, Chelsea’s John Terry was handed a four-match ban and a £220,000 fine for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand, while Liverpool’s Luis Suarez received an eight-match suspension and a £40,000 fine for his abuse of Manchester United’s Patrice Evra - both in 2011.
Phil Simmons
coach of the Ireland national cricket team from 2007 to 2015, a period of significant improvement for Ireland’s ranking in world cricket. Simmons
is best known for coaching the West Indies team to victory in the ICC World T20 in India earlier this year. (CPL Media Release)
NBA to open academy in Africa in 2017
The NBA will open an academy in Africa next year, its latest move to unearth talent from outside the United States and extend the league’s reach into new territories. The African academy will be based in Thies, Senegal, and follows similar NBA projects opened this year in China, which has three academies, and Australia. Another academy in India is set to start operating in April. The NBA aims to open the Senegal academy, its sixth, in May. The international academies, elite training centers for boys and girls at under-16 and under-18 level, are “the biggest investment the NBA has ever made in basketball development globally,” said Brooks Meek, NBA vice president of international basketball operations. “We are moving full force ahead and are really excited by the progress we’ve made,” Meek told The Associated Press. A record 26 international players were selected in the 2016 NBA draft. Along with the new players, the NBA’s push into Asia and Africa, specifically, provides significant new audiences and marketing opportunities for the league. The NBA has made two big plays in Africa over the last year-and-a-half, holding an exhibition game in South Africa in August 2015, the first on the continent, and signing a new trans-African broadcast deal in April. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was in Johannesburg for the exhibition game and said it was part of the league’s plan to have a
pre-season and then regular-season game in Africa. At the time, Silver said the NBA was on a “fast track” to build a brand in soccer-crazy Africa. The new academy in Senegal will focus on elite talent development, said Amadou Gallo Fall, NBA vice president and managing director for Africa. For the last 15 years the NBA has laid the foundation, using its international Basketball without Borders camps to develop the game at a grass-roots level in Africa and elsewhere. Those Basketball without Borders camps have already provided nine NBA players from Africa, including Luc Mbah a Moute of the Los Angeles Clippers, who is from Cameroon. For its new academy, the NBA will work with and use existing facilities set up by Sports for Education and Economic Development, an international NGO, which has also had success after producing the Minnesota Timberwolves forward Gorgui Dieng. The NBA will provide NBA-trained coaches and other support staff for the academy. “We’ve had a growing number of players coming from the continent and this is really without a concerted effort or focus on elite talent development,” Fall said. “Now we’re deciding to focus on that. Not only is the number of players coming into the league from Africa going to increase, but they’re going to come better prepared.” The NBA will begin scouting for the African academy’s first class of 12 young players this week, Fall said.