Names In The News

French footballer LAURENT KOSCIELNY "has dug deep into his pockets to to help save France's oldest accordion factory." Koscielny "is part of an investment group" that had put up €600,000 ($830,000) "to save the factory from closure" (London GUARDIAN, 2/28). ... World Cup-winning coach MARCELLO LIPPI "has singed a new three-year contract with Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande." The club said that the salary of the coaching team "remains as much as their last contract," which is reportedly up to €10M ($13.8M) (XINHUA, 3/1). ... Former Singaporean swimmer MARK CHAY will lead the country's young athletes to Nanjing this August, "after being named chef de mission for the Youth Olympic Games" (STRAITS TIMES, 3/2). ... Israeli Basketball Super League Hapoel Tel Aviv head coach EREZ EDELSTEIN "is set to be named as the new coach of the Israel national basketball team." The 52-year-old "was unanimously recommended for the job by the Israel Basketball Association's professional committee" (JERUSALEM POST, 2/28).