Cristiano Ronaldo unlikely to travel to India for FC Goa clash
Margao (PTI): Saudi Arabia's top club Al-Nassr are arriving in India Monday night for their AFC Champions League 2 away match against FC Goa but marquee player Cristiano Ronaldo is unlikely to accompany the visiting team for the game scheduled on October 22.
According to Saudi Arabia's sports newspaper Al Riyadhiah, the 40-year-old Ronaldo is not going to be a part of the travelling party despite multiple requests from the FC Goa management.
Al-Nassr are bracing up for their third game in the continental club tournament after their comfortable league won over Al-Fateh, and their next match is scheduled to take place at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Fatorda.
FC Goa had defeated former AFC Cup winners, Al Seeb, to qualify for ACL 2, and were then drawn alongside Ronaldo's Al Nassr in Group D of the tournament.
Al-Nassr and Indian Super League club FC Goa being drawn in the same group of the continental tournament has raised expectations of the Portuguese superstar making a trip to India for a competitive match.
It is understood that his contract with Al-Nassr has a clause giving him the right to pick and choose matches outside Saudi Arabia.
Al-Nassr will be arriving at the Dabolim international airport.
Ronaldo, who is looking to play in next year's World Cup, is also focussed on managing his workload and give himself a chance to compete in the showpiece.
Moreover, Al-Nassr have won both their group-stage fixtures of Asian AFC Champions League 2 in the absence of Ronaldo, and are poised to advance to the next round.
After their match against FC Goa, Al-Nassr will be taking on rivals Al Ittihad in a round of 16 clash of the Kings Cup on October 28.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
