WORLD OF SPORT
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Best promise to make amends of the day Gonzalo Higuain has apologised to Juventus fans after the Serie A champions opened their domestic campaign with a surprise Italian Super Cup loss to Lazio on Sunday. Despite coming from two goals down the Turin side, who are aiming for a seventh successive league title this season, were beaten 3-2 in Rome. Argentine striker Higuain, however, was quick to say sorry. He posted on Instagram: “I want to apologise to Juve fans for yesterday’s match. They deserve more than this, I know we could have and should have done more, but this is only the beginning and now more than ever we need your support because we are much stronger when we’re all united. I promise it will be a fantastic year. Thank you very much for being there - only if we stick together can we bounce back from this.”
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Most confidence in a product of the day Dilip Jajodia, the man responsible for providing the pink balls for England’s first day/night Test this week against the West Indies at Edgbaston, is confident they will prove a success and considers scepticism about his new product “ill-informed”. Jajodia is the managing director of Dukes, the long-tenured manufacturer of choice for the England and Wales Cricket Board, and has personally overseen his company’s part in bringing floodlit Tests to this country for the first time. “As a manufacturer I am completely satisfied our product is perfectly OK,” he said. “The ECB has done detailed analysis and we’ve had a conversation that says there is no need to worry about anything. Some of the comments about the ball are ill-informed, they are personal opinions about a ball and one has to take many of these comments with a pinch of salt.” ▷▷▷ Most unwanted grand slam of the day Louis Oosthuizen was in good spirits after completing a grand slam of runner-up major finishes by ending in a three-way tie for second in the US PGA Championship. The South African has now been a runner-up in every major The 34-year-old marked his achievement by posting a video on Twitter of himself lip-syncing to a song called ‘Rise Up.’ He lost a play-off in the 2012 US Masters, finished second in the 2015 US Open and lost another play-off in the 2015 British Opens. Oosthuizen, who won the British Open in 2010, posted on Twitter: “Just finished my career grand slam second’s ... “I’ll rise up”.” Accompanying the message was a 47-second clip of him lip-syncing to the chorus of Andra Day’s 2015 song ‘Rise Up.’