CAGLIARI, ITALY // Cagliari’s new teenage signing Han Kwang-song made history on Sunday becoming the first North Korean to score in Italy’s Serie A.
Han, 18, from the capital Pyongyang, made his debut for the Sardinian club a week ago, scored in the 95th minute in a 3-2 home defeat to Torino.
“I am very happy with my first goal in Serie A,” said a delighted Han after finding the net in just his second game as he revealed his hero is Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
“I thank the team, the coach and teammates. I feel at home in Cagliari.”
Torino looked to be heading for a comfortable win after Adem Ljajic, Andrea Belotti and Afriyie Acquah gave the visitors a 3-1 lead by the 53rd minute.
But Han had other ideas.
Having impressed on his Serie A debut, a 3-1 win at Palermo last week, he replaced Marco Sau in the 81st minute and added to Marco Borriello’s 19th-minute penalty for the hosts when he beat England goalkeeper Joe Hart in the fifth minute of added-on time.
“I tried to follow the coach’s instructions, I get on well with my teammates,” Han said. “My objectives? I have so much to learn, now I would go as far forward as possible.”
The
The striker is the first Asian footballer to play for the Mediterranean island outfit.
“His dribbling, eye for goal and vision of the game are his principal characteristics,” the club said.
Winner of the Under 16 Asian Championship with North Korea, Han shot to international recognition after he represented his country in the U17 World Cup.
He impressed during a trial period for the Italian club and was signed by Cagliari for their youth outfit with the possibility of being used in top-flight matches.
Han is not the first North Korean to go down in Italian football history. Pak Doo-ik scored the winning goal for North Korea at the 1966 World Cup which eliminated Italy, one of the country’s greatest humiliations.
* Agence France-Presse
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
Uber on,
Dara
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
RESULT
Argentina 0 Croatia 3
Croatia: Rebic (53'), Modric (80'), Rakitic (90' 1)
