Anyone who watched Premier League football between 2008 and 2012 will remember Rory Delap’s long throws for Stoke City.
The potency of the ‘Delap special’ – when he hurled the ball into the penalty area from the sidelines – filled opposing defences with dread.
However, bar that brief spell when Delap defined an era for Stoke, throw-ins have been one of football’s untapped resources.
Delap showed what was possible. But there must be more tactical possibilities for a set-piece that operates outside both the offside and handball laws.
About 35 times every match an outfield player is allowed to throw the ball on to the pitch, often from a position only approximately close to where it went out of play. Oh, and – inexplicably – there are no offsides.
Perhaps their basic absurdity explains why throw-ins have slipped by almost unnoticed and untouched over the past century. It’s as if they are such a bizarre outlier we don’t quite register them as being part of football but rather adjacent to it, an awkward interlude before the real thing gets back under way.
Whatever the reason, it’s noteworthy that the law around throw-ins hasn’t changed since the 19th century, and neither – unlike pretty everything else in football, be it tactical or technical – has the look and feel of a throw-in scenario.
Learn Delap’s technique and make it mainstream
Getty Images
Delap’s arrow-like long throws were iconic – and terrifying.
Defences struggled to cope with the speed and flat trajectory of his deliveries, so much so that Hull City goalkeeper Boaz Myhill once opted to kick the ball out for a corner to avoid conceding a throw-in.
Stoke scored 25 goals from Delap throw-ins in four years. It’s a weapon every team could do with, and yet nobody has managed to replicate his throwing style.
Why not?
While Delap was a javelin thrower in his youth, which helped his unique delivery, there must be scope to train players to get close to the length and speed he was able to achieve with his throws.
End long-throw snobbery – they are just like corners
It’s time to end the snobbery. Thanks to Delap’s role for Tony Pulis’ Stoke, long throws are exclusively associated with direct, ugly, and defensive football.
We ought to question the logic of that. First of all, Arsenal are bringing set-piece reliance back into fashion (Mikel Arteta has previously taken comparisons to Pulis’ Stoke as a “compliment”) and set-piece coaches are all the rage right now.
More importantly, a long throw-in is no different from sending a corner straight into the box. Why are long corners seen as acceptable and long throws somehow regressive?
Again it comes back to the basic weirdness of throw-ins, their status as an after-thought. To maximise them is almost seen as bending the rules, or at least breaking the spirit of the law.
Repurpose corner routines – and reshape attacking throw-ins
Set-piece coaches have turned modern corners and free-kicks into American football-style set plays. Why not throw-ins?
There are countless corner strategies and counter-strategies out there, and yet so far this hasn’t changed throw-in tactics, which remain oddly static and improvised.
Again, the lack of innovation is staggering compared with how much has changed in other departments.
And innovation isn’t difficult to achieve – remove the snobbery, establish long throws as the norm (and the new corners), and set-piece plays can be transferred wholesale.
This comes with an added bonus. When opponents adapt and pack the box, short throw-ins will become like short corners, producing two-on-ones and a crossing situation.
Beat the offside trap – and turn innocuous throw-ins into lethal ones
So far, we’ve only focused on finessing the long-throw technique.
But with the Delap-style trajectory, there is so much more that can be achieved beyond hurling the ball towards the goal.
The offside law is the bedrock of football. Without it, you could just hoof the ball up to the goal hangers.
The spaces would be so big that tactics would become redundant… which is more or less the case at every throw-in.
It’s incredible that the offside law does not apply at goal kicks or throw-ins – even more so that clubs don’t use this to their advantage.
Why not from throw-ins? With one player hanging offside or several at once, teams could either force the opposition defensive line to drop much deeper (thus creating space in front) or simply go through on goal.
What’s noteworthy about the above image is the way Luis Diaz makes a ‘normal’ run down the wing, as if it hasn’t occurred to him he can’t be offside.
These kinds of situations repeat again and again, yet nobody thinks to goal hang.
Take risks with cross-field throws
Those offside-trap-beating throw-ins can open our minds to visualising new ways to think outside the box – for a set-piece so often associated with being boxed in.
Throw-ins in your own third, or even on the halfway line, are often awkward. If the opposition chooses to get tight to the team in possession then the throw-in taker tends to launch a looping one down the line and hope for the best.
That’s partly because throw-ins require a strange technique that, as we’ve covered, is under-practised.
It’s also partly because nobody wants to take risks. Yet in an age of high-risk passing out from the back – a tactical trend specifically designed to lure the opponent forward, then break the press – it is surely time to change that.
Teams could practise cross-field long throws and line-splitting diagonals to break out, as we show in the following examples – all taken from Arsenal’s 0-0 draw with Everton in December in which Arteta’s side struggled to play with enough speed to work through the visitors.
Later in the half, with Everton sitting comfortably in their shape, Jurrien Timber stands for 13 seconds, unsure of what to do, before Declan Rice finally comes short.
Why are these almost never seen? Throw-in technique is one reason, but another is a lack of imagination.
If this idea was to take off, the logical next step would be fully-fledged throw-in routines from anywhere on the pitch, complete with runs and decoy runs designed to pull opponents around.
We seem a long way off that in 2025. In 99% of cases the throw-in taker chucks it up the line or goes safe to a player a few yards away, who is then immediately boxed in.
The best case scenario, in an attacking situation, is a looping ball landing between the edge of the box and the penalty spot.
This surely cannot be the end point of the throw-in.
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Ben Collins
BBC Sport journalist
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The odds were stacked against Louis Rees-Zammit as he aimed to establish himself in the NFL.
And, after spending 18 months chasing his NFL dream, the Welsh star decided last week that the time was right to return to rugby.
The 24-year-old is the latest ‘crossover athlete’ unable to make the transition from another sport, most of them from rugby.
‘Playbooks are tougher to learn than law books’
Any NFL players who have come through the North American education system have grown up with American football and had years to grasp the intricacies and nuances of the sport.
Osi Umenyiora and Efe Obada are two of those who have been born overseas and proved it is possible to pick up the game late and still succeed, but you must be able to understand a playbook.
Christian Scotland-Williamson played rugby union either side of a two-year stint on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ practice squad and has since become a barrister.
During a video call with BBC Sport, the 32-year-old held up two law books – each more than an inch thick – and said: “Learning both of these was easier than learning an NFL playbook, which is absolutely absurd.
“Doing all that [legal training], I still wasn’t working as hard as I had to when I went to the NFL. It recalibrates what you think is hard.”
Speaking to the BBC after beginning his NFL journey in 2018, Christian Wade held his hands several inches apart and said “the playbook’s like this”.
“It is quite intimidating but there’s a method to it,” he added. “You have to learn the terminology and how to dissect it so that you can retain the information, then in a few hours put that into practice. Then do the same in the afternoon and the next day.”
‘You have to be unparalleled to break through’
Even if you can process a playbook, two-time Super Bowl winner Umenyiora points to something called the ‘planet theory’ as a major obstacle for NFL hopefuls like Rees-Zammit.
Espoused by late New York Giants general manager George Young and their legendary head coach Bill Parcells, the theory states there are only a few humans on the planet who have the ideal size and athleticism to succeed as offensive and defensive linemen, thereby making them more valuable.
The opposite is true at running back and wide receiver, which along with quarterback and tight end are considered American football’s ‘skill positions’.
They are the positions Rees-Zammit tried his hand at and, after last week’s decision, he mentioned how so many similar players were competing for a spot on the active roster.
“I think Rees-Zammit is a fantastic athlete, but in terms of pace and athleticism, there’s maybe 500 of those guys in Florida alone, so it’s usually a lot more difficult for players like that,” said Umenyiora.
“You have to be unparalleled. You have to be superior athletically to be able to learn the game and then break through.”
Rees-Zammit is one of the fastest players in world rugby, he registered 4.43 seconds for the 40-yard dash but that put him just joint-27th among the players eligible for last year’s NFL Draft.
But even if he was the quickest, players new to the NFL need time to catch up on the “football IQ” their rivals have already developed, says pundit Phoebe Schecter.
“The key factor is the ability to take what’s learned in the classroom and apply it at elite speed on the field because players can overthink it, there can be paralysis by analysis,” she added.
Hard work key to Mailata’s success
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Umenyiora and Obada were both defensive linemen, while Jordan Mailata is an offensive lineman who is 6ft 8in and weighs 365lbs (26st).
The former rugby league player had not played American football when he was drafted in 2018 by the Philadelphia Eagles, who no doubt had ‘planet theory’ in mind having already seen that he has athleticism to go with his size.
“There’s just not that many people on the planet like him,” said Umenyiora.
“It’s all supply and demand really. The supply of that type of athlete is very low and the demand very high, so [NFL teams] give them every chance to succeed.
“When you get a guy like that, people tend to give him more specialised attention [than players like Rees-Zammit] because he’s playing a premium position in the NFL.”
As a left tackle, Mailata is responsible for protecting the quarterback’s blind side – if they are right-handed – but it was not an immediate transition.
After learning the basics through the NFL’s International Player Pathway, he spent two seasons on the Eagles’ practice squad before playing his first game in 2020.
And British coach Aden Durde, who started the IPP programme with Umenyiora and is now the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive coordinator, stressed that Mailata’s success is not just down to his genes.
“He has a set of skills, is very resilient and very smart,” said Durde. “He learned how to develop in the sport and what he’s good at – the ability to pass protect.
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The Buffalo Bills hope that Travis Clayton develops the same way after making the 6ft 7in former rugby union player the second IPP athlete to be drafted last year, while there are an increasing number of Australian and Irish kickers and punters in the NFL.
Having grown up playing Australian rules and Gaelic football, they have already honed their kicking skills, and as they only take the field in kicking scenarios, the gap in game knowledge is much easier for them to bridge.
Madison Keys defeated Clara Tauson 6-1, 6-4, on Tuesday to reach the final four of the Canadian Open, marking only her second WTA 1000 semifinal appearance of her career.
After defeating second seed Iga Swiatek in the previous round, Danish player Tauson, who is seeded 16th in Montreal, won a significant victory.
The 22-year-old revealed she had done it while dealing with a personal tragedy after losing to sixth seed Keys.
My grandfather unfortunately passed away two days ago, so I really wanted to win for him today, Tauson said after the game.
“I really wanted to come out here and show my best tennis to him the day after I beat Swiatek,” I was told the following day.
“I’m hoping he’s watching.”
In the opening set against Keys, Tauson, who was 19th overall, was effective, turning in both of her break point victories and retiring in less than 30 minutes.
Osaka and Tauson will compete in the semis.
Images courtesy of Getty
Naomi Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, will face Tauson in the semi-finals after the Japanese star reached the final four of her career for the first time.
In the quarter-finals, Osaka defeated Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-2, 6-2 to reach her first WTA 1000 semi-final since 2022.
Svitolina attributed the “shameful” behavior to those who had staked money on the game to which she had received death threats following her defeat.
The 30-year-old wrote in an Instagram story where she attached screenshots of the messages, “I’m a mom before I’m an athlete.”
It’s shameful how you talk to women and mothers. Your mothers would be disgusted if they saw your messages.
Osaka defeated Svitolina in the top 10th-seeded match in less than an hour.
The former world number one made unforced errors, breaking twice, before putting her weight behind her to serve out after Svitolina had a chance to get one break back.
Osaka continued, “I think for me, I’m just having a lot of fun playing and I’m really glad to be here.” After adding two more break points to win in Montreal.
She is extremely tough, according to Tasson. This year, I played her in Auckland, and I had to reshuffle halfway because of my injuries. I’m so happy that I’m healthy, and I hope everyone who watches watches will find it exciting.
American second seed Taylor Fritz defeated Russian sixth seed Andrey Rublev to reach the semis of the men’s tournament in Toronto.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will “not properly fall out,” according to McLaren Formula 1 boss Zak Brown.
After Norris ran into Piastri in Canada in June, Brown, the company’s chief executive officer, predicted that the pair would “swap paint again at some point.”
He continued, “I don’t believe they’ll fall out because of the communication, trust, and respect we all have for one another.”
We have two wonderful people, they say. The challenge is our passion. I’m anticipating them to compete against one another.
This season, Piastri has won six races while Norris has five, and they have won 11 of the previous 14 races.
On August 29 and 31, Brown and the Dutch Grand Prix will resume racing, with Brown saying that he anticipates that the game will continue to be fair.
Has your team-mate ever irritated you in any way, as I’ve said to both of them individually when I had the chance? Never’. And that is what both said, “Brown added.
There is therefore brewing competition. There is no sign of tension in our household. I’m sure there will be more tension as the championship develops, but like Montreal, I’m happy we got it out of the way because Lando owned it and Oscar recognized that it was wrong.
Brown expressed his “very confident it won’t be deliberate” when he said he was “very confident it won’t happen because he expects the two drivers to collide once more.
He continued, “I’m certain they’re never going to run each other off the rails, and that’s where you get into bad blood.”
And he claimed that McLaren would handle any tension in the same way they have handled the drivers’ relationship so far.
He said, “We’ll deal with it if something bubbles up,” he said. And how we operate, which is a transparent, deal-with-it immediately [manner] approach.
When you’ve witnessed fights between other team members, it seems like from the outside, and you kind of wonder, “have they jumped on that, or are they just kind of letting it build up?”
If we think anything is bubbling up in the balloon but haven’t seen any, we’ll take the air out right away.
Because both McLaren and McLaren have long-term contracts, Brown said it was crucial for them to stay in good terms.
They both “can smell the championship,” the commentator said.
Despite being 97 points behind Piastri, Brown thinks Max Verstappen has a chance of winning the title even though he is still in with a lead over Piastri.
However, he claimed that he and team principal Andrea Stella will talk about how to deal with the unavoidable situation where one McLaren driver wins the title while the other loses it if the championship is clearly clearly between just the two McLaren drivers.
According to Brown, “Only one can win the championship, and they both can smell it,” so I’m sure it’ll be difficult on the one who doesn’t win, assuming the other does.
“We’ll just sit down and actually have a conversation and say, “Right, one of you is going to win, and it’s going to be the best day of your life, one of you is going to lose, and you’re going to be devastated,” “How do you want us to handle that, and how do we want us to act?”
Because that’s how we think, it comes back to thinking about our people, we’ll be very considerate about that.
Brown refuted the claim that the narrative “almost” Norris was mentally more fragile than Piastri because he thought it was “untrue.”
“Lando’s open, he kind of wears his emotions on his sleeve, so to speak,” Brown said. He’s in a great place, but everyone’s unique. He’s never been in a better state, in my opinion. He does a fantastic job.
After a few victories slipped away last year, he compared the current commentary on Norris to a previous one, which some observers claimed he was unable to take the lead.
New Delhi, India — Numerous Indian analysts hailed Donald Trump’s ostentation when he re-entered the White House in January, arguing that his bonhomie with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi would protect the nation from the chaos it might engender.
The two leaders had effectively campaigned for each other previously, attending joint rallies. They have repeatedly referred to one another as friends, and Modi was one of the first leaders from around the world to visit Trump in the White House in February.
But six months later, a sobering reality has hit New Delhi, with Trump punishing it with a 25 percent tariff on imports and near-daily threats to increase those levies further because of India’s oil purchases from Russia, as he tries to force Moscow into accepting a ceasefire in its war on Ukraine.
Some experts believe that there is still room for improvement in an India-US trade agreement and that bilateral relations are slipping. “US-India relations are at the lowest point in decades”, Biswajit Dhar, a trade economist who has worked on several Indian trade deals, told Al Jazeera. Lower tariffs are being applied to dozens of other nations, including those with which India has tense ties, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Addressing a public rally on Saturday, Modi took a defiant stance against Trump’s tariff assaults. “The world economy is experiencing a lot of anxiety.” There is an atmosphere of instability”, Modi said.
There should be just one scale for everything we buy, he said, adding that we will only purchase items made by Indian laborers.
Modi’s comments come as Indian officials reportedly reject stopping the buying of Russian crude.
Trump has attributed part of the Russian oil boom to India, which helped pay for Moscow’s occupation of Ukraine. “They]Indians] don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine”, , Trump said Monday. I will significantly increase the tariff that India has already paid to the USA because of this.
So, how did we get here? What are India’s and the US’s growing points of disagreement? And could India give up on Russian oil to save its relationship with the US?
What issues are the US-Indian relations experiencing?
Modi and Trump might speak highly of each other, but there is a growing number of areas where India and the US are at odds, ranging from trade agreements to strategic alignment.
No agreement on trade
Trade has long been a sticking point in US-India relations, even as strategic and defence ties have deepened. For the past several years, the US has consistently pushed for greater market access, lower tariffs, and stronger protections, particularly for its tech, pharmaceutical, and agricultural exports. India, on the other hand, has resisted what it sees as disproportionate pressure to open up its economy in ways that may harm its domestic industries and small farmers.
Despite their imbalance, India sold twice as much to the US as India did before Trump. The US wanted access to India’s growing markets, and India needed to export to the US, so keeping ties afloat was important to both.
Indian and US officials began discussions to put together a trade deal after Trump first imposed tariffs on almost all trading partners on April 1. But disagreements over e-commerce regulation, digital data flows and price controls on medical devices have reportedly stalled progress.
Officials in India were relentlessly pursuing Trump’s August 1 deadline to avoid tariffs. But despite occasional breakthroughs, like India cutting tariffs on some US goods, the two countries have not yet concluded a full bilateral trade deal.
Trump has threatened unspecified additional penalties related to India’s energy and arms purchases from Russia as a result of ongoing negotiations.
“This is a pressure tactic by Trump”, said Anil Trigunayat, a former Indian diplomat who has served as India’s trade commissioner in New York. He continued, using the acronyms “micro, small, and medium enterprises,” noting that India has not given in to what the Americans want.
Almost half of India’s population depends on agriculture for its livelihood, making the issue politically sensitive for every Indian government.
He told Al Jazeera, “Everyone is playing hardball on both sides, and it’s necessary to come to a mutually beneficial solution.”
US President Donald Trump and Indian , Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, on February 13, 2025, in Washington, DC]Alex Brandon/AP]
India’s close ties to Russia
As Trump’s frustrations with Russia mount over stalled peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, the US president has been looking for more ways to corner Moscow. Washington has become increasingly interested in India because of its long-standing relationship with Russia.
While the US views India as a key partner in countering China’s rise in the Asia Pacific, it has grown increasingly uneasy with New Delhi’s continued defence and energy ties with Moscow, analysts say.
Vladimir Putin, a Russian president, is also facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for the crimes he did in the Ukraine during his two visits to Russia last year. In July 2024, Putin conferred upon Modi the Order of St Andrew the Apostle the First‑Called, Russia’s highest civilian honour.
Russia continues to be one of India’s largest arms exporters, providing essential technologies like nuclear reactors and missile systems. And after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, India ramped up imports of discounted Russian crude oil.
ceasefire in Kashmir
After an attack by gunmen in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam resort town on April 22, in which 26 civilians were killed, India and Pakistan engaged in their most expansive military conflict in decades.
Trump claimed he intervened and demanded a ceasefire from both countries as the nuclear-armed rivals from South Asia exchanged missile and drone attacks in May.
“Fellas, come on. Make a deal, folks. Let’s do some trading. Numerical missiles should not be traded. Let’s trade the things that you make so beautifully”, Trump said a few days later in Riyadh.
“I used trade extensively to carry out [the ceasefire].” And it all stopped”, he added.
Trump’s claim that he orchestrated the May 10 ceasefire that put an end to the fighting has sparked criticism from Modi in India, which has long held the position that all disputes with Pakistan must be resolved bilaterally and without using third-party mediation.
Modi’s government has insisted that the truce was brought about bilaterally, that Modi did not speak to Trump during the conflict, and that – contrary to the US president’s claims – trade was never discussed as a factor in negotiating the ceasefire. Trump has since repeated his assertions, mentioning the phrase “broke the peace” more than 30 times.
Growing US-Pakistan ties
Asim Munir, the army chief of Pakistan, was hosted by Trump at the White House following the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May. Never before had a US president hosted a Pakistani military boss who was not also the head of state.
After years of tense ties, the US military officials credit Pakistan with aiding in the capture of wanted “terrorists” for their growing warmth.
The government of Pakistan also officially endorsed Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for “recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership during the recent India-Pakistan crisis”.
Trump called Modi a “fantastic man,” but added that Munir had been “extremely influential” in bringing about the ceasefire the day after meeting him.
“I love Pakistan”, Trump said, and repeated: “I stopped the war between Pakistan and India”.
Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim that he had reached a deal with Pakistan that would allow them to collaborate on developing oil reserves as he attacked India in his most recent tariff attack. “Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling Oil to India some day”! he wrote.
Later, the US imposed a 19 percent tariff on imports from Pakistan, which Islamabad hailed as “balanced and forward-looking”.
hiring big tech, deportation, etc.
Days before Modi visited Trump in February, visuals emerged of Indian citizens in the US, shackled in chains, parading towards a US military aircraft, prompting anger in India over the treatment of its nationals.
Returnees, who are illegal immigrants entering the US without visas, described being stranded for nearly 40 hours on the flight to India. Like trade, the issue of deportation has been at the centre of Trump’s re-election campaign.
Additionally, there are other types of illegal immigrants.
After assuming the presidency, Trump’s administration has also come under pressure from the president’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) base to crack down on H1B work visas, nearly 72 percent of which go to Indians.
Trump praised tech companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple for hiring employees from India at a summit on artificial intelligence in Washington, DC last month. Trump declared, “The days of hiring workers in India are over”, and urged companies to prioritise jobs for Americans and disconnect from outsourcing models tied to India and China.
On July 9, 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin presented Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle in Moscow, Russia. [Evgenia Novozhenina/Reuters]
What’s the latest spark in US-India tensions?
Trump tried to persuade Putin to accept a ceasefire, but now it appears that Russia is at the forefront of a new wave.
On Monday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that “India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits”.
One of the US president’s most influential aides, Stephen Miller, the deputy chief of staff at the White House, previously attributed India’s purchase of Russian crude to funding Moscow’s conflict in Ukraine.
“What]Trump] said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia”, said Miller.
“People will be shocked to learn that China and India are essentially tied to one another when it comes to buying Russian oil.” That’s an astonishing fact”, Miller told Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures.
India is the second-largest buyer of Russian oil after China, which imports nearly 2 million barrels of crude oil each day from Russia. Russia also tops the list of India’s arms suppliers.
What is India’s response to Trump?
On Monday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs responded sharply, calling the US’s targeting of New Delhi over the buying of Russian oil “unjustified and unreasonable”.
It criticized the West for using double standards, citing Russia’s increased trade with Russia in 2024 as well as US imports of fertilizers and chemicals.
It also said that the US has “actively encouraged” it to buy Russian oil, so that global crude prices would stay under control while the West could reduce its dependence on Russian energy.
The statement read, “India will take all necessary steps to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”
Will India stop buying Russian oil to please Trump?
According to experts, that is highly unlikely.
India has historically — since independence from Britain in 1947 — cherished its strategic autonomy, including during the Cold War, when it stayed non-aligned. It has strengthened its traditional friendship with Russia while preserving its strategic and military ties with the US since the end of the Cold War.
“Trump is trying to wean India off its strategic autonomy policy by going after its ties with Russia and membership in BRICS”, Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera, referring to the Trump’s threats of higher tariffs against members of the bloc that includes several leading nations of the Global South.
“But in response to Trump’s pressure, Delhi won’t abandon this policy.” On the contrary, I expect it to double down”.
Ajit Doval, India’s national security adviser, flew to Moscow late on Tuesday. Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar is expected to visit Russia later this month. Additionally, for the first time since the Ukrainian invasion of 2022, New Delhi has confirmed that Putin will be traveling to India later this year.
In recent weeks, India has also indicated that it is open to reviving a trilateral grouping including Russia and China, the West’s two big rivals.
Can America or Europe renounce their strategic autonomy? asked Jayati Ghosh, economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “India has more people than the two countries combined,” he says. It is absurd to even think that India can give up that”, she told Al Jazeera.
On the eve of the G20 summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet.
What does this mean for future of US-India relationship?
In response to Dhar, the economist, Kugelman claimed that US-Indian relations have “seen at their lowest level over the past 20 years of strategic partnership,” which began to develop in the early 21st century.
Non-alignment with foreign governments “remains a critical component of India’s foreign policy”, said Kugelman, adding that he expects that to continue.
Trump is penalizing [New Delhi] for trying to maintain the balance [between the US and Russia] because “India maintained this balance after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” he said. “]That’s] something that the Biden administration never did”, he added, referring to the previous administration of US President Joe Biden.
Former diplomat Trigunayat argued that “strategic autonomy for India is more important than ever.” India, with the world’s largest population, has its own approach to strategic autonomy that’s in the DNA of Indian foreign policy”.
Kugelman predicted that in the long run, New Delhi would have hoped that Trump’s anger would eventually subside, which would most likely happen if Russia agreed to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
When Sheffield Wednesday reached the Championship play-off final in 2016, the clubs’ fans believed they were on the verge of a new era of success under Thai owner Dejphon Chansiri.
But in the years since losing that final, Chansiri’s reputation and supporters’ morale have taken a steady hammering.
Late payments to HMRC, delayed salaries for players and staff members, and transfer embargos have clipped the club’s wings.
There were concerns about whether their first match of the season against Leicester on Sunday would go ahead, but it is understood the players will fulfil the fixture.
Now, with a skeleton squad, enforced stand closure and dire financial prospects, fans have told the BBC what they feel Chansiri’s failure to sell is doing to the club, the city, and its people.
“We’re all struggling,” says Hillsborough season ticket-holder Gaz Robinson. “It’s been terrible for everybody – mentally exhausting.
BBC Sport
In Chansiri’s early years in charge following his 2015 takeover, Wednesday spent heavily as they targeted a return to the Premier League for the first time since 2000.
But in the 2020s the level of spending has receded significantly, debts and creditors have risen sharply, and though Chansiri has indicated he is open to selling the club, no takeover has materialised.
That has led to fans worrying they might not have a club left to support if things do not change soon.
“Absolutely everything has gone wrong,” says Natalie Briggs, who has been landlady of The Park pub – a few minutes’ walk from the stadium – for 10 years.
“Twelve months ago some people were still 50/50 about whether he [Chansiri] should stay or go. But now it’s got to a stage where everyone wants him gone.
“He claims to be a family man, yet he can’t see that he is destroying the biggest family of all – the family that he bought into. He made that decision. And where is he now? Nowhere to be seen.
BBC Sport
The impact of the crisis on those who have followed the club for decades is stark, and fans are determined to face Chansiri head-on.
“There have been bad times before, but this is certainly the worst in my life,” says 84-year-old retired ambulance driver Bill Button, who first went to a match at Hillsborough 79 years ago.
“It’s doing my head in. I just don’t know where Chansiri is coming from. We won’t buy a new shirt for the simple reason that the money is going in his pocket. You’ve got to hit his pocket. If not, it won’t make any difference.”
Button’s season ticket is located in the disabled section of Hillsborough’s North Stand, which has now been closed after the Safety Advisory Group refused to renew its safety certificate until renovation work is undertaken.
The club has not provided Bill with any information about what is happening with his season ticket.
“I’ve rung up many times and just get hold music,” he says. “They can’t even give you an answer for anything.
BBC Sport
While fans’ anger is primarily directed at Chansiri, some are frustrated the club has not been protected from one man’s decision-making by the English Football League (EFL), whose owners’ and directors’ test Chansiri passed in 2015.
“What we’ve seen from the EFL is nothing,” says fan Ryan Goodison. “And we’re not alone in that. Look at what has happened at Morecambe.
“I think Chansiri would rather see no Sheffield Wednesday than Sheffield Wednesday without him, and I don’t know what the EFL can and can’t do because obviously it’s a private business. But if there is nothing they can do, then what is the point?
“I’m 40 and been coming to Hillsborough since I was five. For that to suddenly be possibly taken away is awful.”
The EFL’s measures for assessing potential owners’ credibility have been amended since Chansiri bought Sheffield Wednesday, but are based on whether individuals are able to provide proof of funds at the point of purchase, rather than whether owners can continue to fund their clubs throughout their tenure.
The incoming Independent Football Regulator (IFR) will have the power to potentially revoke operating licenses from club owners during their tenure in some circumstances.
This summer, Chansiri claimed he had turned down two potential bids for the club worth £30m and £40m.
Fans who spoke to the BBC said they believe the 57-year-old’s valuation of the club is too high, and insisted they will protest against him inside and away from stadiums for the foreseeable future.
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“We are going to be protesting in our own way,” Robinson says. “The atmosphere is going to be toxic.
“But we all have jobs and we don’t want a criminal record so we need to act appropriately. We have to show that we are above some things and have more respect than the owner has for us.
“This is our everything – to him it’s a plaything. We have to show him that his time is up, that we don’t want or need him any more, and that he needs to leave.”
Whether Chansiri will seal his own exit in time to avoid a likely points deduction, a descent down the divisions, and further misery for fans, remains unclear.
