Sports Update

It's a month into new football season in England. Barclays English Premier League will start in mid August. Teams are preparing their pre-season tour in their respective manner - Manchester United are in China for the Far East Trip; Bolton, Manchester City, Everton are competing for the Asia FA Cup in Thailand, where the host competes with the trio with their U-23 team; Chelsea will be playing against AC Milan next Monday.

With the preparations going on. Chelsea again, will be the centre stage of the world again, with the deep pocket provided by their Russian Tycoon owener - Roman Abramovich. (Side fact: Russian Roman Abramovich ranks top 25 in the world's richest man list, and he's the youngest among top 25 at the age of 38) Having already acquired full back Del Horno from the Spain, and a 21 million pound Shaun Wright-Phillips from Manchester City, the Blues are looking onto strengthen their squad by luring Michael Essien from the French side Lyon. Chelsea have been denied in several attempts in their search for a quality striker, they now look on to acquire the young Ghanaian in bid to their own quest of win-it-all season next term. They were already a runaway champion last term, winning the league margin ahead of top two English team for the past decades, Arsenal and Manchester United.

In contrast to the multispending Chelsea, Manchester has been considerably quiet in the transfer market, while having their own saga going on. Manchester United have recently been bought by American billionnaire Malcolm Glazer, who later delisted Manchester United from the stock market, making them from a PLC (public limited company) to a solely-owned team. So far, in their summer transaction, they have only secured veteran Dutch keeper Edwin Van Da Saar (Fulham), and South Korean midfielder, Park Ji-Sung (PSV Eindhoven). Spotlight was also on central-defender Rio Ferdinand over the halt of the contract talks.

Arsenal, meanwhile, had took a gamble by offloading their ever influencial and iconic midfield caption Patrick Viera to Juventus. Arsene Wenger seems to have been prepared for the life-after Viera, as he looks on to replace the void left by the combative midfielder. I am sure Mr. Wenger has little problem in that, as he has undoubted talent on unearthing young talents, scouting a virtually unknown player, and making them a superstar in ARsenal.

And so, the football business continues.. I can't write too much here. It'll be pages long if I go on.

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From football, we move on to basketball. Here's a quickie on what's going on with NBA. I wrote bit on the NBA Draft, where teams get to picked their rising stars from the colleges. Now, the move is to acquire free agents, signing them or re-signing them. Here are the updates:

1. Atlanta Hawks
2. Boston Celtics
3. Charlotte Bobcats
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
- Reported to have signed Toronto's Donyall Marshall
- Resigned center Z Ilgauskas
- Signed Larry Hughes of Washington Wizards, whom had performed superbly last season with the Wizards, before injury took his All Star Berth away.
5. Chicago Bulls
6. Detroit Pistons
- Larry Brown stepped down as Head Coach
- Flip Saunders was hired as Head Coach
7. Denver Nuggets
8. Dallas Mavericks
9. Golden State Warriors
10. Houston Rockets
- Captured Memphis' athletic forward Stromile Swift
11. Indiana Pacers
12. LA Lakers
- Reported to have acquired Washingon Wizard's Kwame Brown via trade, sending Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins to the opposing side.
13. LA Clippers
- Reported to have secured signature for Catino Mobley, after he had rejected Sacramento King's offer.
14. Minnesota Timberwolves
15. Miami Heats
- Re-signed forward Udonis Haslem
16. Milwaukee Bucks
- Signed Most Improved Player last term from LA Clippers -- Bobby Simmons
- Re-signed Michael Redd
17. New Jersey Nets
- Signed Shareef Abdul Rahim from Portland to fill the void left by Kenyon Martin
- Re-signed Clifford Robinson
- In talk with Atlanta's Chris Crawford
- Rumoured to have talk with Damon Stoudamire of Portland
18. New Orlean Hornets
19. New York Knicks
- Signed Seattle's center Jerome James
- Traded Kurt Thomas for Phoenix's Q Richardson and Nate Robinson (rookie from draft)
20. Orlando Magic
21. Philadephia 76ers
- Reported to make deal with Kyle Korver and Willie Green
22. Phoenix Suns
- Acquired Kurt Thomas, sending Q Richardson and Nate Robinson to NYK
23. Portland Trailblazers
24. Sacramento Kings
25. San Antonio Spurs
- Made another international acquisition, Argentine center Oberto
26. Seattle Supersonics
- Resigned Ray Allen
27. Toronto Raptors
28. Utah Jazz
29. Washington Wizards
- Signed Seattle's Antonio Daniels to replace Larry Hughes.
30. Memphis Grizzlies


* Teams are not allowed to sign or announce their signing of their players until 22 July.

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That would be all for now. More updates to come.
This weekend will be in Kuching. Nice to return home.