Monday, June 7, 2021Shawwal 26, 1442 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

England labour to draw with New Zealand in Lord’s Test

Rashford penalty sees England past Romania

FOOTBALL FOOTBALL | Page 3 CRICKET CRICKET | Page 6

FORMULA 1

Perez wins in Baku as Verstappen, Hamilton KO’dPage 7

Qatar aim to seal top spot with win over Oman

St Mark’s Basilica gives O’Brien his fi rst Qatar Prix du Jockey Club win

‘There is pressure on both sides. It’s our responsibility to win points’

FIFA WORLD CUP 2022 AND AFC ASIAN CUP 2023 QUALIFIERS

HORSE RACING

By Sports ReporterDoha

Qatar aim to seal top spot in Group E when they clash with Oman in the Asian Qualifi ers for the

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium today.

Unbeaten Qatar have 19 points from seven matches and will just have to avoid defeat against Oman to emerge group winners and directly qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup in China.

Oman are second in the group with 12 points from fi ve matches and will have to win all their three remaining group matches to dis-place Qatar from the top.

Qatar lead Group E with 19 points from seven matches with second placed Oman seven adrift but with two games in hand – against Afghanistan and Bang-ladesh.

Felix Sanchez’s side stretched their lead at the top of the stand-ings after defeating India 1-0 on Thursday and a draw against Oman will seal top spot and con-fi rm their place in the AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Finals.

With their Matchday Two draw against India in September 2019 the only blot in their near fl awless qualifying campaign, Qatar will go into the tie having already beaten Oman once in the Asian Qualifi ers, a 2-1 win at the Al Janoub Stadium in 2019.

Head coach Felix Sanchez wasn’t overly concerned with his

team’s inability to put away their chances against India on Thurs-day but will remind his players that they can’t aff ord to squander op-portunities against an Oman side bidding to steal top spot from the reigning AFC Asian Cup holders.

Sanchez said Qatar players are motivated to perform at the best level against Oman on Monday as they seek direct qualifi cation to the Asian Cup.

“They (Oman) are our main rivals and it’s a key game. They’ve quality and are physi-

cally strong. We need to be at our best to get a good result. Hopefully, we can get the points we need to qualify for the Asian Cup,” Sanchez said at his press conference yesterday.

He added that Qatar’s perform-ance against Oman will make all the diff erence in the group.

“There is pressure but pressure is on both sides. It’s our respon-sibility to win points. This is the game that will make the diff er-ence so we have to stay focused and avoid mistakes,” he said.

“Every single detail can make a diff erence.” The Spaniard said defender Pedro Miguel is still re-covering from injury and there-fore is not part of the squad.

“Pedro is not on our list. Akram Afi f was given the green light to play in the last match but didn’t feel confi dent. So we decided not to take a risk. Hopefully, we’ll see him soon,” he added.

Meanwhile, Branko Ivankovic’s Oman are in a strong position to claim one of the qualifying spots for the best second-placed teams

should they fail to leapfrog Qa-tar after the completion of their remaining matches against Af-ghanistan and Bangladesh.

Oman will head into the tie against Qatar having regis-tered wins over Thailand (1-0) and Indonesia (3-1) in friend-lies and Ivankovic has named a strong 29-member squad for this month’s triple-header, includ-ing striker Munther al-Alawi and 30-year old Ali al-Busaidi.

Elsewhere, Bangladesh head coach Jamie Day hopes his team

will retain the same intensity which saw them rally back to hold Afghanistan last week when they clash with India today.

When the two teams met in 2019, Bangladesh were disap-pointed not to walk away with the three points as India scored late in the game courtesy of Se-iminlen Doungel’s strike.

India, who had to play with 10 men against Qatar on Thursday, will be targeting their fi rst win of the campaign as Igor Stimac’s side look to improve on their haul

of three points from six matches.India kept Qatar at bay in the

second half thanks to some solid defending and with Glen Mar-tins coming off an impressive debut in Indian colours alongside a rested Sunil Chhetri, Stimac will be optimistic of his team’s chances against Bangladesh.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE5pm: Bangladesh v India8pm: Oman v QatarVenue: Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha

Qatar head coach Felix Sanchez (right) addresses the media ahead of their FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Qualifiers match against Oman yesterday. (Right) Oman coach Branko Ivankovic (right) speaks at the press conference yesterday. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil

AgenciesChantilly, France

The Irish-trained favourite St Mark’s Basilica was the clear winner of this year’s Qatar Prix du Jockey Club, sponsored by

the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) for the fi rst time this year, in Chantilly, France.

Ioritz Mendizabal gave his mount a dream ride yet again, having also guid-ed the Aiden O’Brien ward to a win in the Emirates Poule d’Essai des Poulains (Group 1) at ParisLongchamp three weeks ago.

The QREC-sponsored Qatar Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby, reunites the best European three-year-old colts and is also known as a stallion-making race, with the likes of Lope de Vega, Shamardal, Dalakhani and Montjeu all former winners. Sheikh Ali bin Jas-sim al-Thani, Ambassador of Qatar to France, and France Galop President Edouard de Rotshchild presented the trophies to the winners.

By leading French stallion Siyouni, St Mark’s Basilica gave his rivals the slip 300m from the post. Sealiway, representing the Haras de la Gousserie and Guy Pariente, came in second for trainer Frederic Rossi. Millebosc, rid-den by Gregory Benoist in the colours of Gérard Augustin-Normand for trainer Stephanie Nigge, was a close third.

O’Brien has won the Epsom Derby eight times even as success in the Qatar Prix du Jockey-Club had eluded him.

“Ioritz rode a very good race, just like he rode in the Poule d’Essai,” said O’Brien.

“We always thought he would get the 2,100m, even if he has got a lot of speed. He had come on a lot since the Poule d’Essai des Poulains. You need to have a very good horse to win the Jockey Club. His ability to accelerate where it counts and his temperament have made the diff erence. He is able to adapt to any type of ground, even if I think that, by looking at his action, he will be bet-

ter suited by better ground. Will he get 2,400m? We can’t fully say until we have tried it. As regards the next step, the Eclipse followed by the Champion Stakes could be on the agenda.”

Mendizabal was over the moon with this Classic win for a second consecu-tive year. “It’s incredible. It’s a huge privilege to be associated with a horse trained by Aidan O’Brien. Pierre-

Alain Chereau, my agent, told me that I would win him a fi rst Jockey Club. I was surprised at this because when you look at his record we think that he has won everything already. It was the same with John Gosden last year. I won him his fi rst Jockey Club too.

“A year ago, I never thought I would get back on horses capable of win-ning Classics. It’s thanks to John Gos-

den, who trusted me with the ride on Mishriff , and the excellent work by my agent, Pierre-Alain Chereau. Without them none of this would have been pos-sible.”

Rossi, the handler of second-placed Sealiway, said, “I had the horse as well as I could for today. It’s great to fi nish second in the Jockey Club with him.”

Nigge, was running a colt for the fi rst time in her young training career, was ecstatic about third-placed Mil-lebosc. “I was shouting as loud as I

could! Millebosc picked up so strongly. I’ve always believed in him and he has proved his class there. He is still very unexposed and that was only his fourth race. It’s great to have a good horse and we can maybe step him up in distance come the Autumn. Grégory Benoist rode an excellent race. I want to thank all my team at home from the bottom of my heart. We might see him out next at Deauville in August. But I think he will be better off in the Autumn with softer ground.”

Sheikh Ali bin Jassim al-Thani (third from left), Ambassador of Qatar to France, and France Galop President Edouard de Rotshchild (second from left) presented the trophies to the winners of Qatar Prix du Jockey Club. PICTURES: Zuzanna Lupa

Ioritz Mendizabal rides St Mark’s Basilica to victory in the Qatar Prix du Jockey Club in Chantilly, France, yesterday.

2

FOOTBALL

‘Radio’ Mueller and Hummels turn up volume for Germany

Indian defender Khan recalls joy of 2019 in Kolkata

Puskas Arena hosts Hungary’s Euro 2020 revival dreams

EURO 2020

COMMENT

FOCUS

Gulf Times Monday, June 7, 2021

‘You notice that you can rely on these guys... that feeling is enormously important’

By Sports ReporterDoha

Indian defender Adil Khan hopes to make another noteworthy contribution to his team’s cause when they

take on Bangladesh in a Group E qualifi er for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup 2023 at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium today.

When the teams clashed earli-er in October 2019, it was Khan’s header with two minutes remain-ing in the match that helped India draw Bangladesh 1-1 and clinch a valuable point in Kolkata.

“The match will always be a hallmark in my life. I had fought my way back to the National team after a spell of injuries that had kept me out of football for long.

I was so motivated,” Khan wrote in a column for the AIFF website on the eve of the return match against Bangladesh.

His father was undergoing heart surgery on the day when he was playing that match.

“When I met my dad (after the surgery) I told him about my goal for India. He had never missed any match since my Academy days wherein he used to travel long distances to watch me play. I felt proud of not letting him down, and obviously, he was proud of his son making a mark for the country. Life is made of such moments.”

Khan was travelling to the sta-dium when he got the news that his father was to undergo a heart operation the same day.

“Honestly, I was a bit devastat-ed. My dad has been the biggest

football fan and my inspiration. I felt helpless. As we approached the stadium on the day, I could see the hordes of fans heading for the cauldron,” he wrote.

“I will never forget the roar that greeted us when we walked in. It made me forget everything. For a man, there are days when you feel possessed, possessed with faith and belief that you are invincible on that day. I wanted to dive deep into my National team colours — my desperation to fi nd solace — I wanted to be the son of the soil.

“I looked at the packed stands. They had come from distant cor-ners to watch us, they sacrifi ced other priorities to watch me. I needed to pay them back,” he wrote.

Bangladesh took the lead in the 42nd minute through Saad Uddin.

“Bangladesh were stubborn. It was hard to break them. We tried everything, but it didn’t pan out the way we wanted it to go, and as we headed into the half-time, we were a goal down. In the second half, we went all out. But the ball just didn’t go in. There were miss-es, defl ections, goal-line saves, and it made us start to wonder: ‘Is today one of those days?’”

With a few minutes left in the match, India found a lifeline when they earned a corner.

“Until now, [Sunil] Chhetri bhai was making the runs to the fi rst post, but he was under-standably heavily marked. In fact, just a few minutes earlier, he did manage to shake off his marker and glide a header off the fi rst post, but it went wide.

“As I watched Brandon [Fern-andes] walk up to take the cor-

ner, I gestured to him. Both of us were roommates for that trip to Kolkata, and we used to talk a lot about a goal that I had scored for Churchill Brothers from one of his corners, back in our days in the Hero I-League.”

Khan said he told Chhetri that he would make that run to the fi rst post.

“Brandon, as usual, was spot on. I somehow managed to leap and connect with the ball prop-erly, and it generated the power and the angle required. I saw the net bulging and heard the roar — some 70,000 people were re-lieved, cheering my goal, for my country. Life is certainly made of such moments — I went blind, I went deaf. That roar will stay with me forever.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to score another.”Indian defender Adil Khan. (AIFF)

AFPBudapest, Hungary

Towering over eastern Bu-dapest, Euro 2020 venue the Puskas Arena is both a monument to Prime

Minister Viktor Orban’s football fanaticism and a budding revival in once powerful Hungary’s for-tunes.

Named after Ferenc Puskas, the mercurial lynchpin of Hun-gary’s fabled ‘Magical Mag-yars’ team of the 1950s, the 68,000-capacity stadium will host four games at the tourna-ment which begins June 11.

Hungary’s group matches against title holders Portugal (June 15), and world champions France (June 19) will be played there, as well as France’s clash with Portugal (June 23), and a last-16 tie (June 27).

The only Euro 2020 venue without a spectator limit, the ground was opened in 2019 as part of a nationwide stadium-building programme under Orban since he came to power in 2010.

“The rebuilding project of Hungarian football is a decade-old story of actual physical re-construction begun by Orban,” Gyorgy Szollosi, editor-in-chief of the Nemzeti Sport newspaper, told AFP.

BUILDING BOOMHungary’s football infrastruc-ture development has been “un-precedented in Europe” Sandor Csanyi, head of the Hungar-ian Football Association (MLSZ), said last month.

Every stadium in the country’s top two divisions has been re-built, with the Puskas Arena the jewel in the crown of the building boom.

Mostly silent since it opened due to coronavirus fan restric-tions, the impressive arena was built on the same spot and partly from the rubble of the commu-nist-era “Nepstadion” (People’s Stadium).

That vast monolith was erect-ed in 1954 a year after Hungary, considered the best side in the world at the time, famously thrashed England 6-3 at Wem-bley in the so-called “Match of the Century”.

The Nepstadion, intended as a monument to Hungarian glory, was never fully completed after hot favourites Hungary lost the 1954 World Cup fi nal to West Germany.

Then after the country’s failed 1956 revolution against Soviet rule its biggest stars including Puskas left the country.

Hungary’s race to the bottom from the heyday of the Magi-cal Magyars was unparalleled in football.

UEFA statistics produced for the organisation’s 50-year-anni-versary in 2004 showed Hungary was the only European country whose vital signs of football life — number of players, pitches, clubs, and coaches — had re-gressed since 1954.

Since then, particularly since the end of communism in 1989, factors including low levels of in-vestment or TV money, decrepit grounds, and corruption con-tributed to the rot.

Failure to produce world-class players since Puskas, 1950s Bar-celona legend Laszlo Kubala, and 1967 Ballon d’Or winner Florian Albert has also kept Hungary trailing far behind neighbours like Croatia who reached the 2018 World Cup fi nal.

“I would like to see Hungary reach the same heights in foot-ball as before, that is the World Cup fi nal,” Orban, 58, a former amateur player and regular match-goer, said last December.

‘CONCRETE RESULTS’Orban’s critics complain that several of the new stadia are oversized, often saw price over-runs, and are typically expensive long-term burdens for taxpayers.

Most clubs in the top two Hungarian league divisions are also owned by or linked to fi gures close to or members of Orban’s ruling party Fidesz, fuelling con-cerns about cronyism.

But with the national team steadily improving under Ital-ian coach Marco Rossi, success-starved fans are focusing instead on Hungary’s second successive qualifi cation for the European Championships.

Euro 2016 in France was the Magyars’ fi rst participation at a major tournament since the World Cup in 1986.

“One qualifi cation might have been a one-off , but two-in-a-row signals that the team is also on the right track,” Gergely Marosi, a football journalist, told AFP.

“By getting to Euro 2020 a government that spends a lot on sport and treats it as a priority can show that there are concrete results now on the pitch, not just the new stadia,” he said.

AFPBerlin, Germany

After a two-year ex-ile from international football, 2014 World Cup winners Thomas

Mueller and Mats Hummels are set to crank up the volume on the pitch for Germany’s bid to win Euro 2020.

Germany head into the Eu-ropean Championship low on confi dence after a shock home defeat to North Macedonia in March in the wake of an historic 6-0 thrashing by Spain last No-vember, the Germans heaviest defeat in more than 80 years.

On both occasions, shell-shocked faces in the stunned German ranks exposed a lack of leadership with captain Manuel Neuer helplessly watching the crisis unfold from his goal.

Germany’s under-fi re head coach Joachim Loew, who will step down later this summer, has reacted by reversing his 2019 decision to axe Hummels and Mueller, recalling the experi-enced pair to help lead on the pitch at the Euro.

“It’s certainly true that Mats Hummels or myself are play-ers who dare to speak up,” said Mueller, who made his 101st international appearance on Wednesday after a two-year hiatus.

Loew is desperate to sign off after 15 years in charge by winning the Euro to mend his reputation, tarnished by the Germans’ 2018 World Cup de-bacle, and needs Mueller, 31, and Hummels, 32, to give his squad a boost.

As Germany left-back Robin Gosens admits “both have a spe-cial aura. You notice immediately that you can rely on these guys. And that feeling is enormously important for a football team”.

Equally, a poll of German fans by AFP subsidiary SID showed more than 80 percent are pleased to see Mueller and Hummels back on Germany duty.

‘Radio Mueller’, as he is nick-named, was the loudest German voice on the pitch in Wednes-day’s 1-1 draw with Denmark while Hummels marshalled the German defence, but his last-gasp tackle could not stop Yus-suf Poulsen’s equaliser.

“It’s not about roaring or vol-ume per se,” explained Mueller.

“The point is to distribute in-formation so that every player can react as quickly as possible to game situations. I am what I am.”

“When I see the quality that is in the team, I want to wake up German football,” he added.

There is no way of hitting the snooze button on Mueller, who wants to fi re up Germany’s bid to be crowned European cham-pions for the fourth time.

However, the Germans will

have to be wide awake to survive Group F.

They start against world champions France on June 15 in Munich, then face holders Por-tugal four days later before host-ing Hungary on June 23.

“We will have moments of suf-fering — the group won’t be a walk in the park,” Mueller admits.

Likewise, Hummels only wants to enhance Germany’s

leadership group and is wary of disturbing the fragile harmony within the team.

“Thomas and I bring addi-tional support. We don’t want to take a (leadership) role away from anyone. It’s not a problem, because we all want to win.”

The veterans have earned their recalls on merit.

Hummels was the defensive cornerstone of a Dortmund team

which won all of their last eight games to qualify for the Cham-pions League and lift the Ger-man Cup.

Mueller has not looked back since Hansi Flick recalled the at-tacking midfi elder to the Bayern Munich starting side in Novem-ber 2019.

“Hansi gave me responsibility and you have to back that up with performances,” said Mueller.

His eye for space in the pen-alty area helped create many a goal as Bayern swept up the 2019/20 treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup titles.

His form this season has also made a mockery of Loew’s deci-sion to axe him and despite 926 days in exile, Mueller and Hum-mels looked like they had never been away against the Danes.

Germany’s Mats Hummels (left) and Thomas Mueller walk off the pitch for half-time during the friendly against Denmark in Innsbruck, Austria, on Wednesday. (AFP)

Germany still need some work ahead of France opener: coach LoewReutersSeefeld, Austria

Germany still need to work on parts of their game before the start of

the European Championship, coach Joachim Loew said yes-terday at the end of their nine-day training camp in Austria.The Germans, starting their tournament against world champions France on June 15, play their last warm-up match against Latvia today. The Euros open on Friday.“I cannot fully draw conclusions from our camp just yet because our preparation continues and after the game tomorrow we have a week in Dusseldorf

to prepare for France,” Loew, going into his final tournament as Germany coach, told a news conference.Loew has been in charge since 2006 and will be succeeded by his former assistant and former Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick after the tournament.

The Germans also play Europe-an champions Portugal as well as Hungary in Group F and are desperate to deliver a better performance than their 2018 World Cup first-round exit and their two disappointing Nations League campaigns since then.The Germans also suff ered a 6-0 loss to Spain in November, their heaviest ever defeat in a competitive game.“We have certainly taken a step forward but we still have to improve,” Loew said. “We have done the basic work but on some issues for the next week we will continue to work to become more stable and stronger.”The coach said he would not use the Latvia game as a dress

rehearsal for France, with several players having had a shorter preparation time due to their participation in the Champions League final.“I plan to make some substi-tutions because the players from the English teams (from the Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea) should not be stretched too hard.”Timo Werner, Kai Havretz, An-tonio Ruediger and Ilkay Gun-dogan joined only days ago.“We have to fine-tune things but we don’t want to risk inju-ries with these players. They had a few days of rest and a lot of matches under their belt this season,” Loew said.

Puskas Arena of Budapest is the only Euro 2020 venue without a spectator limit. (AFP)

FOOTBALL3Gulf Times

Monday, June 7, 2021

Rashford penalty sees England past Romania

Portugal’s new wave of talent waiting in the wings behind Ronaldo

Qatar Airways sponsors the launch of the offi cial Euro 2020 podcastVictory for Southgate’s men is again

overshadowed by booing from fans as the players take the knee before kick-off

FRIENDLIES

SPOTLIGHT

FOCUS

AFPMiddlesbrough, United Kingdom

Marcus Rashford’s penalty earned Eng-land an unconvinc-ing 1-0 win over

Romania in their fi nal warm-up friendly ahead of Euro 2020 in Middlesbrough yesterday.

However, victory for Ga-reth Southgate’s men was again overshadowed by booing from supporters as the players took the knee before kick-off .

Southgate’s selection will also be questioned as he named an experimental line-up with fi ve players who are not part of his fi nal squad making an appear-ance at some point in the game.

There is still one place up for grabs in Southgate’s 26-man squad, though, due to an injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold.

James Ward-Prowse, Ben Godfrey and Ben White were all given the chance to further their case from the start, while Jesse Lingard and Ollie Watkins came off the bench in the second-half.

An inexperienced side could have done without the distrac-tion of more boos from the crowd at the Riverside as they took the knee before kick-off .

After similar scenes ahead of Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Aus-tria, Southgate insisted on Sat-urday that the Three Lions will continue to make the gesture against racial injustice through-out Euro 2020.

Once the action did get un-derway, a second-string home side struggled without captain Harry Kane or any Chelsea and Manchester City players due to their participation in last week-end’s Champions League fi nal.

Ward-Prowse did the most to justify a place in the squad with an all-action display in midfi eld and the Southampton skipper’s delivery from set-pieces was also on show.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin pow-ered his in-swinging free-kick against the crossbar before Jadon Sancho also struck the woodwork.

At the other end Sam John-stone had an impressive England debut as he made a smart save from Nicole Stanciu to ensure Southgate’s men did not trail at the break.

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson made his return from 106 days out injured at half-time for a much-needed 45 minutes for his match fi tness.

Jack Grealish was England’s one constant menace as the Ro-manians repeatedly resorted to hauling down the Aston Villa man.

However, that tactic cost them the only goal when Greal-ish was clipped by Tiberiu Ca-pusa as he broke into the box.

Rashford, who became the 125th man to captain England, took responsibility from the

spot to send Florin Nita the wrong way.

Johnstone then had to make a stunning stop to earn his clean sheet by turning Andrei Ivan’s fi erce eff ort over.

Henderson took the captain’s

armband from Rashford and also took control of penalty tak-ing duties 12 minutes from time with the Manchester United forward having been replaced by Lingard.

Calvert-Lewin wanted the

ball after he was chopped down by Vlad Chiriches, but Hender-son pulled rank.

However, he is still waiting to score his fi rst international goal after 59 caps as Nita made a good save low to his right.

By Sports ReporterDoha

A host of high-profi le football players, pundits and celebrities will take part in the ‘The Euro

Show’, the Offi cial UEFA Euro 2020 podcast, presented in col-laboration with Qatar Airways, the Offi cial Airline Sponsor of the fl agship summer tournament.

The podcast will be featured on all major web, mobile applica-tion and social media platforms, rounding up expert match analy-sis, behind-the-scenes inter-views, dedicated team updates, match previews and much more. Football fans will receive the lat-est insights and will be able to share content on their own social media accounts, and talk to other football fans.

Qatar Airways is also launch-ing on-ground activities at Fan Zones in London and Rome, as part of its preparations for the championship, which will be or-ganised in conjunction with the matches across all the host cit-ies. Fan Zones will be an essen-tial part of the European foot-ball festival, bringing thousands of people together to watch the matches being held across Eu-rope and to experience other en-tertainment.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive HE Akbar al-Baker said: “With excitement building ahead of the championship, Qatar Airways has a strong partnership with UEFA for an unforgettable tournament. ‘The Euro Show’ will be a must for fans to tune in for expert analysis, engage with each other and receive latest updates from the heart of the action. As the Offi cial Airline for the UEFA Euro 2020, we are also proud to see the trophy visit Doha and be taken to the most famous sites around the country.”

With the 16th edition of the tournament kicking-off on 11 June, the iconic Henri Delaunay Trophy visited all the host cities and made a special trip to Doha as part of the UEFA Euro 2020 trophy tour.

The 11 cities set to host the matches are Amsterdam, Baku, Bucharest, Budapest, Copenha-gen, Glasgow, London, Munich, Rome, St. Petersburg and Se-ville. UEFA has worked with the respective authorities to ensure a safe return of spectators to the stadiums. The local organis-ing committees in each host city have confi rmed stadium occu-pancies from 22 per cent, with the potential to raise their ca-pacities depending on the devel-opment of their mass Covid-19 testing programmes, and general health conditions.

The Fan Zones in London and Rome will incorporate a virtual reality stadium experience, pho-to opportunity, football freestyle performances and special givea-ways.

The national airline of Qatar launched a global UEFA Euro 2020 campaign to create aware-ness for the biggest football event of the summer period and demonstrate the carrier’s mis-sion of uniting fans of all ages and backgrounds through the passion of football.

Qatar Airways has an extensive global sports partnerships port-folio which includes the likes of football governing bodies such as FIFA, UEFA and CONMEBOL. As offi cial FIFA partner, Qatar Air-ways has sponsored mega events such the 2019 and 2020 editions of FIFA Club World Cup and will sponsor the FIFA World Cup Qa-tar 2022. The airline also spon-sors some of the world’s biggest football clubs including Paris Saint-Germain, Roma, Boca Juniors, Bayern Munich, KAS Eupen, and Al Sadd.

England’s Marcus Rashford scores their first goal from the penalty spot during the friendly against Romania at Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough, England, yesterday. (Reuters)

AFPLisbon, Portugal

Portugal begin the de-fence of their Euro-pean title at Euro 2020 this month boasting a

wealth of young attacking talent lining up behind veteran super-star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota, Joao Felix and Andre Silva are part of a new wave of attack-minded players who will be pushing for the Portuguese to become the second nation to retain the European Champion-ship after neighbours Spain.

After missing Euro 2016 through injury, 26-year-old Bernardo Silva has become a fi xture in Portugal’s start-ing XI, scoring seven goals in 54 appearances and providing the same dynamic, forward-

thinking presence as for his club Manchester City.

Another of Portugal’s Premier League stars Diogo Jota has re-covered from injury just in time to take part in the Euro and played in Friday’s goalless draw with Spain.

With six goals in 12 interna-tional appearances, the 24-year-old Liverpool forward has shown that he could replace Ronaldo up front just as easily as he can develop alongside the fi ve-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Despite his average height (5ft 10in or 1.78m), he also man-aged to score three headed goals in 2022 World Cup qualifying matches against Serbia and Lux-embourg in March.

FELIX’S ‘TALENT EVOLVING’Touted as the successor to Ron-aldo, Joao Felix has so far failed to fulfi l his obvious potential, ending this season out of the

Atletico Madrid starting line-up and at just 21 with the air of a player lost.

Breaks away from the Spanish capital with the national team have changed little, with Felix starting on the bench against Azerbaijan and Serbia in World Cup qualifying before being substituted before half-time by

coach Fernando Santos against Luxembourg following a dis-tracted performance.

He also made little impact in the 0-0 draw with Spain, which was played at Atletico’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium.

“I don’t think I’ve lost my tal-ent. Talent tends to evolve and as a team player I believe I’m continuing to evolve,” Felix said during preparation for the Euro.

‘BEST PERIOD OF MY CAREER’Andre Silva meanwhile comes into the tournament off the back of his best ever season that put him in some exalted company in the goalscoring charts.

The 25-year-old scored 28 Bundesliga goals this term as Eintracht Frankfurt missed out on Champions League foot-ball by just a point, and he was fourth in the chase for the Eu-ropean Golden Shoe behind Ro-

naldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski.

“I believe that I’m having the best period of my career both mentally and physically. I come here motivated and confi dent following the season I’ve just had,” Andre Silva said after join-ing up with his national team.

However despite his record of 16 goals in 38 Portugal matches, he seems to be incompatible with Ronaldo, the pair proving ineff ective against the modest resistance of Azerbaijan during a 1-0 World Cup qualifying win.

Portugal are not lacking in talent but it remains to be seen if a highly talented supporting cast can link up with its lead-ing light Ronaldo, who is just six goals short of Iranian Ali Daei’s all-time international record of 103 goals and level with Michel Platini’s record mark of nine Eu-ropean Championship strikes.

Portugal’s Diogo Jota. (AFP)

Players should be freed from Copa America obligations: league body

South American play-ers should be given the chance to opt out of

playing the Copa America this month, the World Leagues Forum (WLF) said in an open letter to FIFA and the South American Football Confedera-tion (CONMEBOL) on Saturday.The WLF, an organisation that represents more than 40 professional leagues and their clubs, said the abrupt decision to move the Copa America to Brazil after Argentina pulled out due to a surge in Covid-19 cases “directly aff ect(s) leagues, their member clubs and their players”.“As far as the WLF is concerned, given this sudden change of lo-cation and circumstances... we consider that players should be given the opportunity to with-draw from the competition and that clubs should be able to recall their players, specifically if there is a travel restriction or a quarantine obligation on their return,” said the letter seen by Reuters.It comes the day after Brazil captain Casemiro said the

squad would make a statement on Tuesday about whether or not they wish to compete in the Copa America.Brazilian media reports said the players do not want to play in a hastily arranged tourna-ment that is due to kick off on June 13. More people have died in Brazil from Covid-19 than any other country outside the United States.The Zurich-based WLF acknowl-edged the legal, organisational and financial pressures on CON-MEBOL to hold a tournament that brought in $118mn last time it was played in 2019. But it also said players’ opinions must be taken into account.“...from the leagues’ perspec-tive and for their member clubs, players have been released in the context of a competition held in Argentina, not in Brazil,” said the letter addressed to CONMEBOL’s secretary general Jose Astigar-raga and FIFA’s deputy general secretary Mattias Grafstrom.CONMEBOL did not immedi-ately respond to a request for comment. (Reuters)

England manager Gareth Southgate (left) and assistant coach Steve Holland kneel down ahead of the friendly against Romania. (AFP)

Netherlands cruise past Georgia ahead of Euro return

AFPEnschede, Netherlands

The Netherlands com-pleted their Euro 2020 preparations yesterday

with a 3-0 over Georgia which showed why they are tipped to go deep in this summer’s delayed tournament.Frank de Boer’s Dutch team will be aiming to make a big impression at their first major tournament since the 2014 World Cup and play all their Group C matches with Ukraine, Austria and North Macedonia in Amsterdam.They took the lead in the 10th minute through a Memphis Depay penalty and the Lyon for-ward was unlucky not to double his tally six minutes later, with Giorgi Loria pulling off a marvel-lous save to deny him.

Loria made another mag-nificent stop just before the break, tipping away Frenkie de Jong’s long-range drive which was arrowing into his top right-hand corner.Wout Weghorst did make it two 11 minutes after the restart when he collected impressive Depay’s well-time through ball and lashed home from close range.Loria continued his superb display between the sticks with another great save from Depay’s drilled eff ort from the edge of the area, but couldn’t stop Ryan Gravenberch from adding a third with 14 minutes left.The 35-year-old had again denied Depay, this time from close range, but Ajax teenager Gravenberch followed up to nod home and complete the victory.

GOLFGulf Times Monday, June 7, 20214

Leader Rahm withdraws due to positive Covid test‘IT’S TERRIBLE THAT THAT HAPPENED. I THINK IT’S TERRIBLE THEY TOLD HIM IN FRONT OF THE CAMERAS’

PGA MEMORIAL

AFPWashington

Defending champion Jon Rahm was forced to withdraw from the US PGA Memorial tourna-

ment following a positive Cov-id-19 test on Saturday after hav-ing seized a six-stroke lead with a stunning third round at Muirfi eld Village.

Rahm had tested negative for four consecutive days only to re-turn a positive test from a sam-ple collected Saturday morning, after he made an ace at the par-3 16th in concluding his darkness-halted second round with a two-shot lead.

World number three Rahm fi red an impressive eight-under par 64 in Saturday’s third round, matching all-time records with an 18-under 198 score for 54 holes and a six-stroke lead at the famed Dublin, Ohio, layout.

Instead, Rahm was withdrawn and left Americans Patrick Can-tlay, the 2019 Memorial winner, and Collin Morikawa, the 2020 PGA Championship winner, sharing the lead on 204.

Rahm, ranked second in the world, was given the news by PGA Tour medical personnel as he walked off the 18th green at Muirfi eld Village Golf Club, where he is the defending cham-pion.

“I’m very disappointed in hav-ing to withdraw from the Memo-rial Tournament,” Rahm said in a statement posted on Twitter.

“This is one of those things that happens in life, one of those moments where how we respond to a setback defi nes us as people.

“I’m very thankful that my family and I are all OK. I will take all of the necessary precautions to be safe and healthy, and I look forward to returning to the golf course as soon as possible.”

Unexpected co-leader Cantlay called it “the worst situation.”

“He played awesome today and it’s just really a shame,” Can-tlay said. The US PGA Tour said in a statement it had informed Rahm on Monday he had been in close contact with someone confi rmed with Covid-19 and the 26-year-old Spaniard, who was asymptomatic, chose to compete under tighter virus safety proto-cols, including daily testing and restricted access to facilities.

Rahm’s Saturday test was re-

turned as positive while Rahm was on the course in his third round, the tour said, and a sec-ond test requested by a PGA medical advisor also came back positive just before Rahm fi n-ished the third round.

When told of the result just off the 18th green, Rahm bent for-ward, his head in his hands and at his knees, then rose and yelled, “Not again.”

Rahm had dazzled on the back nine with a stretch of six bird-ies in seven holes to stand on 18-under 198 after 54 holes and six strokes ahead in Dublin, Ohio. Rahm had matched Tiger Woods from 2000 for the largest 54-hole lead in Memorial history. He was hoping to match Woods as the event’s only back-to-back

winners. His 198 matched Scott Hoch’s 54-hole tournament record from 1987.

American Scottie Scheffl er, who played alongside Rahm and Cantlay in the third round, and South African Brenden Grace shared third on 207. “My heart, it just sinks for him,” Scheffl er said. “I just feel awful.”

Scheffl er was confused by Rahm’s frustrated expression as they signed their cards, saying that when Rahm explained why “my heart just sank.

“It’s terrible that that hap-pened,” Scheffl er said. “I think it’s terrible they told him in front of the cameras.”

Cantlay said he has not been vaccinated for Covid-19.

“I’ve already had Covid, so I

got to imagine I have antibodies, so I don’t feel too concerned,” Cantlay said.

Until the shock test result, the story of the day was Rahm’s impressive shotmaking, start-ing with his 183-yard ace with an 8-iron at the par-3 16th hole in the morning fi nish of round two, the third hole-in-one of his PGA career. Rahm holed a birdie putt from just inside 17 feet at the par-4 second and blasted out of a bunker to 13 feet before holing a birdie putt at the par-5 fi fth.

Rahm’s tee shot at the par-3 eighth landed just outside fi ve feet and he rolled in the putt be-fore a bogey at the ninth left him one ahead of Cantlay at the turn.

Rahm had two runs of three birdies in a row on the back nine.

He two-putted from 12 feet to birdie the par-5 11th, angled in a 13-foot birdie putt at the par-3 12th and curled in a 15-foot putt at the par-4 13th.

He tapped in for birdie at the par-5 15th after missing a 10-foot eagle putt, then sank a 36-foot birdie putt at the 16th and holed an 11-foot birdie putt at the par-4 17th to reach 18-under before getting the devastating news af-ter a closing par.

LEADING SCORES AFTER THE THIRD ROUND (USA unless noted)204-Collin Morikawa 66-72-66, Patrick Cantlay 69-67-68207-Branden Grace (RSA) 68-72-67, Scottie Scheff ler 67-71-69210-Max Homa 69-69-72

211-Patrick Reed 71-71-69, Kim Si-woo (KOR) 73-70-68, Lucas Herbert (AUS) 71-69-71, Carlos Ortiz (MEX) 71-68-72212-Aaron Wise 72-70-70, Shane Lowry (IRL) 69-71-72, Vaughn Taylor 69-72-71, Jim Herman 72-68-72, Xander Schauff ele 68-70-74213-Adam Scott (AUS) 74-68-71, Antoine Rozner (FRA) 72-72-69, Bo Hoag 68-73-72214-Jordan Spieth 76-67-71, Lucas Glover 72-70-72, Joel Dahmen 68-73-73, Rickie Fowler 69-70-75215-Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 72-71-72, Robby Shelton 71-71-73, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 72-72-71, Adam Long 67-77-71, Chris Kirk 67-74-74, Troy Merritt 74-70-71, Danny Wil-lett (ENG) 75-71-69WD - Jon Rahm (ESP) 69-65-64

US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau said his ongo-ing feud with Brooks Koepka might be something for the PGA Tour to handle if it escalates further, adding his representative has already spoken to off icials. The bad blood between the pair has largely played out online but intensified at the Memorial Tournament on Friday when fans were removed from Dub-lin, Ohio’s Muirfield Village for heckling DeChambeau with his rival’s nickname “Brooksy.”Koepka, who is not competing this week, said in a video on Twitter that he would off er 50 cases of free beer to any fan whose time was “cut short” at the tournament. Asked if he was surprised at how the matter had escalated, DeChambeau told reporters: “Yeah, I think that’s something the Tour needs to handle, it’s something I can’t control.“I tried to take the high road numerous times and I think, from my perspective, I’ll continue to keep doing so and people are going to do what they want to do. So it is what it is.”DeChambeau said his agent had spoken to PGA Tour off icials without disclos-ing too many details about the conversation. He added he was not aff ected by the behaviour of fans. “First off ... the fans were awesome today. They came out, supported me. Obviously you’re going to have people saying things, but again it doesn’t rile me up,” DeChambeau said.“... I love what’s been going on. I’ve had no issue with it what-soever... I’d say tennis and golf are the only two sports where when you’re hitting a shot everybody’s usually quiet.“If it comes out to a point where they’re aff ecting your swing... that’s a little over the line, but everything else, I don’t care.” (Reuters)

DeChambeau says PGA Tour

may need to handle his feud

with Koepka

Amateur Ganne soaking up adulation at US Women’s OpenReutersSan Francisco

New Jersey high school student Megha Ganne said she is relishing the experience of being a

fan favourite at the US Wom-en’s Open in San Francisco and vowed to do everything possible to return next year. The 17-year-old amateur heads into Sunday’s fi nal day tied third alongside South Korea’s Lee6 Jeong-eun after carding a 72 in the third round to go three-under for the tournament and four shots be-hind leader Lexi Thompson.

Ganne, who became the talk of the tournament after taking a share of the lead on the opening day and receiving encourage-ment from New Jersey governor Phil Murphy on Twitter, said en-gaging with fans was one of the highlights of her tournament.

“I wish it wasn’t over so quickly. It’s been so much fun. I can’t wait to go back out there tomorrow... I’m already count-ing down the hours until I tee off again,” Ganne told reporters.

“I’ve always imagined myself engaging with the fans like that because when I was younger and watching events, I knew I would love it when I would see the pros just even look at the crowd or

smile or do anything like that.“So I really wanted to embody

that today and I got a chance to on a few holes, which was nice.”

Ganne, who played in the tournament two years ago as a 15-year-old, said having people chant her last name felt great.

“I’ve never felt it before, but I know I want to experience that again, so I’m going to do eve-rything in my power to be back next year,” Ganne said, adding that she was delighted to inspire youngsters. “It’s my favourite part of the week... Every small girl I saw out there I waved to and I couldn’t help but smile. They’re just so adorable and it’s crazy to think they’re here for me and want to watch me play.”

SPOTLIGHT

Jon Rahm reacts as he walks off the 18th green after completing his third round of The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. (Getty Images/AFP)

Thompson uses fl awless round to seize 1-shot leadAFPSan Francisco

Lexi Thompson fi red fi ve birdies without a bogey in a sparkling round on the Olympic Club Lake Course Saturday to grab a one-

shot lead in the US Women’s Open.The American’s fi ve-under par 66 on

the imposing layout gave her a 54-hole total of seven-under par 64 and a one-stroke edge over second-round leader Yuka Saso of the Philippines.

Saso, a 19-year-old whose pro resume features two wins on the Japan LPGA tour, scrambled to an even par 71 for 207 – leading by as many as two but dropping out of a share of the lead with her fourth bogey of the day at 18.

US amateur Megha Ganne, a 17-year-old New Jersey high school student, kept herself in contention with a one-over par 72 that left her sharing third on 210 with South Korean Lee6 Jeong-eun, who bat-tled her way to a two-over 73.

China’s Feng Shanshan was alone in fi fth after a 72 for 211.

Thompson was the fi rst player to post a bogey-free round this week at Olym-pic Club, which has hosted fi ve men’s US Opens but had never before hosted a women’s major.

The 2014 ANA Inspiration winner is seeking a fi rst US Open title in her 15th attempt. She fi rst competed in the championship as a 12-year-old amateur in 2007. “Honestly, I just thought my patience of being out there,” Thompson said of the key to her lowest career round in a US Open.

“I struck it well all day, made a few good putts out there. And I guess prob-ably just picking up the missed fairways or missed greens when I did, getting

up-and-down or just getting it as far as I could out of that rough. “It’s all about patience out on this golf course.”

Thompson climbed the leaderboard with three birdies on the front nine. She curled in a long birdie putt at the 14th and had the solo lead at seven-under after a birdie at 17 – where she tapped in after narrowly missing her eagle attempt.

Saso, who had opened the door to Thompson with bogeys at the 13th and 14th, regained a share of the lead when she got up and down for birdie at the 17th.

But she was unable to do the same at the last. Saso had made a bright start with a birdie at the fi rst, but gave that shot back at the fourth. Birdies at the seventh and 10th gave her a two-shot lead at eight-under, but she couldn’t maintain momentum coming in.

MENTAL GRIND “I started good, started with a birdie fol-lowed with a bogey,” Saso said. “But I think I holed some good putts, just a little disappointing that I misread two putts,

but I think it’s a great day.”Ganne, who held the outright lead

after the fi rst round and hasn’t folded, kept herself in the hunt with a crisp short game that made up for other troubles. “I just hit no greens, like, ever on the back nine,” said Ganne, who hit only seven greens in regulation all day and fi ve of 14 fairways. “It was really mentally a grind out there and I’ve never had to just per-form from such bad lies and situations hole after hole and still believe that I was going to do it again on the next hole,” she said. “So it was a lot, but I’m confi dent in how I’m playing.”

LEADING THIRD-ROUND SCORES (USA unless noted, a-denotes amateur, par-71)206-Lexi Thompson 69-71-66207-Yuka Saso (PHI) 69-67-71210-a-Megha Ganne 67-71-72, Lee6 Jeong-eun (KOR) 70-67-73211-Feng Shanshan (CHN) 69-70-72212-Nasa Hataoka (JPN) 72-69-71, Megan Khang 68-70-74213-Park In-bee (KOR) 71-69-73214-Angel Yin 68-79-67, Kim Hyo-joo (KOR) 72-70-72, a-Maja Stark (SWE) 71-70-73215-Brooke Henderson (CAN) 68-78-69, Amy Olson 73-72-70, Lucy Li 73-71-71, Ariya Jutanugarn (THA) 71-70-74216-Celine Herbin (FRA) 73-74-69, Celine Boutier (FRA) 72-74-70, Ko Jin-young (KOR) 70-74-72, Marina Alex 70-72-74217-Ryu So-yeon (KOR) 74-72-71, Kim Sei-young (KOR) 74-70-73, Alison Lee 74-70-73218-Maria Parra (ESP) 72-74-72, Lin Xiyu (CHN) 72-74-72, Emily Kristine Pedersen (DEN) 71-74-73, Matilda Castren (FIN) 74-71-73, Kim In-kyung (KOR) 74-70-74, Jennifer Kupcho 70-73-75, Mel Reid (ENG) 67-73-78

FOCUS

Lexi Thompson putts on the 14th green during the third round of the US Women’s Open golf tournament at The Olympic Club. (USA TODAY Sports)

Megha Ganne waves to the gallery after putting out on the 14th green during the US Women’s Open. (USA TODAY Sports)

Jon Rahm reacts as he walks off the 18th green aft er completing his third round of The Memorial Tournament at Muirfi eld Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. (Getty Images/AFP)

SPORT5Gulf Times

Monday, June 7, 2021

Durant scores 29 as Nets roll over Bucks in series opener

Mets shut down Padres

NBA

MLB

AFPLos Angeles

Kevin Durant had 29 points and 10 rebounds as the Brooklyn Nets withstood Giannis An-tetokounmpo’s 34-point per-

formance to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 115-107 in the opening game of their sec-ond round series.

The Nets won the battle between two of the NBA’s most potent off ences on Sat-urday night despite losing James Harden to a nagging hamstring injury in the fi rst minute of the game.

Harden was forced out just 43 seconds in, pulling up and grabbing the back of his leg after a drive. He did not return.

Kyrie Irving had 25 points and eight as-sists, Blake Griffi n tallied 18 points and a team-high 14 rebounds for the Nets, who beat the Bucks in six games in 2003, the last time they met in the playoff s.

Journeyman Mike James came off the bench to score 12 points in the win.

“You never want to lose a guy like James but we have been in this situation before,” said Griffi n. “I trust these guys.

“Everyone had to step up. We played like that most of the season. We got guys that step up and Kevin and Kyrie do what they do.”

Game two is today in Brooklyn.“Our defence was good, we didn’t

give them too many wide open looks. We cleaned up some things as the game went on,” said head coach Steve Nash.

Antetokounmpo, the two time reign-ing NBA Most Valuable Player, played 35 minutes, shooting 16 of 24 from the fl oor and grabbing 11 rebounds for the under-dog Bucks, who led the league by averag-ing 120.1 points per game in the regular season. “It was a little bit of everything. Shots didn’t go in. We did not compete as hard as we wanted to defensively,” said Antetokounmpo.

Both clubs came into the second round of the postseason after cruising through their opening series. Milwaukee com-pleted a four-game sweep of Miami last Saturday to reach the second round for the third straight season.

Brooklyn, who averaged 118.6 points during the regular season, needed fi ve games to get past the Boston Celtics thanks in large part to the trio of Durant, Irving and Harden. Due to injuries and rest, the trio had played just eight games together during the regular season.

Brooklyn had hoped to have the big three healthy for the playoff s but have hit another injury snag with Harden go-ing down in front of a crowd of 15,700 at Barclays Center arena.

The Nets announced later in the fi rst half that Harden would undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.

“It has happened to us all year that someone goes down,” said Nash. “We made a few plays. We hustled. It was great

to see guys who hadn’t been in the rota-tion step up.

The 31-year-old Harden has had ham-string problems before, missing 21 games in April and May. The Nets are 20-17 without Harden and 29-7 with him in the lineup. Harden averaged 27.8 points and 10.6 assists in the fi rst round against the Celtics. Antetokounmpo scored 10 points in the fi rst quarter as the Bucks led 32-30 at the end of 12 minutes. Antetokounmpo said it didn’t change things when Harden got hurt.

“We still had our game plan. We still had a game plan for Kyrie and KD and Joe (Harris),” he said. In the second quarter the teams exchanged runs as Brooklyn went on a 20-8 blitz to take a 59-48 lead but the Bucks clawed their way back with a 13-4 run of their own to get within two, 63-61, at the half.

The Nets went on another 12-4 run to end the third to take a commanding 98-84 lead into the fourth quarter.

ReutersAnaheim

Jacob deGrom added seven more score-less innings to his resume and Jose Peraza and Francisco Lindor hit solo homers in the fi fth inning as the New

York Mets scored a 4-0 victory in San Diego Saturday night to end the Padres’ 12-game home winning streak, a franchise record.

Peraza and Lindor connected off Padres starter Joe Musgrove (4-5) an inning after deGrom struck out Wil Myers and rookie Tu-cupita Marcano to pitch out of a bases-load-ed, one-out jam.

DeGrom (5-2) gave up three hits and a walk with 11 strikeouts to earn the win. He threw 85 pitches with 60 strikes. He threw 33 pitches over 100 mph, most in the pitch-tracking era. And his earned run average fell from 0.71 to 0.62. The right-hander worked out of two jams. Fernando Tatis Jr opened the second with a sharp ground-ball double in-side the fi rst base bag. But deGrom retired the next three hitters on a soft fl y to left and two grounders to strand Tatis at third.

The Padres loaded the bases in the bot-tom of the fourth on a one-out single by Jake Cronenworth, a fi elding error by Lindor and an Eric Hosmer single to left. But deGrom got Myers swinging on a wicked slider and had Marcano take a full-count slider for strike three.

Musgrove had just struck out deGrom to open the fi fth and was ahead of Peraza 1-and-2 when the infi elder hit a hanging slider into the left fi eld seats to end the scoreless tie. Lindor then hit his fi fth homer, pulling a

slider into the right fi eld seats. Musgrove de-parted after giving up back-to-back singles to Kevin Pillar and Tomas Nido to open the sixth. Pinch-hitter Jonathan Villar greeted Tim Hill with a single to make it 3-0.

The Mets added a fourth run in the top of the ninth against Nabil Crismatt. Lindor opened the inning with a double and scored on a single by Pillar. deGrom, Seth Lugo and Edwin Diaz combined on a fi ve-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts.

TIGERS GO DEEP TO EARN 4-3 VICTORY OVER WHITE SOX

Rookie left-hander Tarik Skubal struck out a career-high 11 batters in fi ve innings, Eric Haase hit a home run in consecutive at-bats

off Lucas Giolito and the Detroit Tigers de-feated the host Chicago White Sox 4-3 on Saturday afternoon.

Skubal (3-7) allowed one run four hits and won his second straight start six days after pitching six scoreless innings against the New York Yankees. It was the fi rst career double-digit strikeout game for Skubal, who picked up his fourth career victory.

Skubal pitched at least fi ve innings for the sixth straight start since May 7. He has 50 strikeouts with 12 walks in that span. His 11 strikeouts are tied for the most in a game by a Tigers rookie since 1974.

Haase hit a two-run homer in the second inning to give Detroit a 2-1 lead. He connected on a solo shot in the fourth to make it 4-1.

It was Haase’s third career multi-homer game and each has occurred since being called up from Triple-A Toledo on May 12.

Miguel Cabrera also homered for Detroit, connecting on a solo shot against Giolito (5-5) in the sixth.

It was Cabrera’s 492nd career homer, putting him one shy of Fred McGriff and Lou Gehrig for 28th on the all-time list.

Cabrera’s fi fth homer of the season also proved to be the game-winning run as Derek Holland faltered in the sixth by allowing Jake Lamb’s two-run double.

Kyle Funkhouser entered with runners at fi rst and second and ended the sixth by get-ting Tim Anderson on a double play and Nick Madrigal on a groundout.

Gregory Soto pitched a hitless eighth for the Tigers and Jose Cisnero tossed a perfect ninth for his fi rst career save less than 24 hours after allowing a game-ending hit to Yermin Mercedes.

‘IT HAS HAPPENED TO US ALL YEAR THAT SOMEONE GOES DOWN’

Brooklyn Nets power forward Kevin Durant (right) controls the ball against Milwaukee Bucks power forward PJ Tucker during the second quarter of game one in the Eastern Conference semi-finals of the 2021 NBA Playoff s at Barclays Center. (USA TODAY Sports)

Islanders knock off Boston Bruins, tie playoff series at 2-2ReutersNew York

Mathew Barzal scored the tie-breaking goal with 6:57 left in the third period

Saturday night for the New York Islanders, who beat the Boston Bruins 4-1 in Game 4 of an East Division second-round series in Uniondale, NY.

The Islanders evened the best-of-seven series at two games apiece, with Game 5 scheduled for tonight in Boston.

A shot by Scott Mayfi eld bounced near the crease and to Barzal, who batted the puck out of the air and past Tuukka Rask.

Casey Cizikas added an emp-ty-netter with 1:03 left, about 10 seconds after Rask bolted off the ice. Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored another empty-netter with 2.4 seconds remaining. Kyle Palm-ieri scored in the second period for the Islanders. Goalie Semyon Varlamov made 28 saves.

David Krejci scored in the sec-ond for the Bruins. Rask record-ed 30 saves.

The teams traded punches and misfi res on prime scoring chances during a scoreless fi rst.

Mayfi eld and the Bruins’ Taylor Hall brawled at the 7:28 mark. Just under two minutes later, Barzal was whistled for a high stick on Curtis Lazar, which yielded a scrum that fea-tured most of the players on the ice until Matt Martin and Jarred Tinordi fought and earned fi ve-

minute majors apiece. Several other minor fracases broke out the rest of the period.

Both teams squandered op-portunities in the waning min-utes. The Islanders’ Anthony Beauvillier shuffl ed the puck a beat too long and had his back-hander at the door smothered by Rask with 5:04 left.

A little more than two minutes later, Varlamov was almost com-pletely out of the crease as the puck bounced to David Pastrnak to the left of the net, but Pas-trnak’s shot rang off the far post.

The teams then swapped goals in a span of under three minutes early in the second.

The Bruins, on a power play generated when Martin was whistled for holding, took the lead following a frantic sequence in the crease.

Pastrnak’s shot was defl ected by Varlamov, and Brad March-and took at least two whacks at putting back the rebound before the puck skittered to Krejci, who tucked a shot behind Islanders defenseman Andy Greene and into the far corner of the net at the 3:57 mark.

The Islanders tied the score just 2:41 later.

Barzal, pestered along the right side of the Bruins zone by Lazar, fi nally broke free and headed behind the net, where he sent a pass beyond the out-stretched stick of Matt Grzelcyk and to Palmieri. The Long Is-land native, positioned between Lazar and Charlie Coyle, fi red a shot under Rask’s stick.

NHL

RESULTS

Mets 4-0 Padres

Tigers 4-3 White Sox

Red Sox 7-3 Yankees

Reds 5-2 Cardinals

Angels 12-5 Mariners

Blue Jays 6-2 Astros

Indians 10-4 Orioles

Phillies 5-2 Nationals

Rays 3-0 Rangers

Giants 4-3 Cubs

Pirates 8-7 Marlins

Brewers 7-5 D’Backs

Twins 5-4 Royals

Braves 6-4 Dodgers

A’s 6-3 Rockie

Mathew Barzal of the New York Islanders celebrates after scoring against the Boston Bruins in Game Four of the Second Round of the 2021 NHL Stanley Cup Playoff s at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. (Getty Images/AFP)

Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego, California. (Getty Images/AFP)

SPORTGulf Times Monday, June 7, 20216

Essential Quality wins 153rd Belmont Stakes

England labour to New Zealand drawNZ make enterprising declaration but Root’s side not enticed into final day run chase

‘Over the moon’ Porte wins Criterium du Dauphine

HORSE RACING

CRICKET CYCLING

AFPAthens

England had little to do with the challenge of-fered by New Zealand captain Kane William-

son’s enterprising last-day dec-laration as the fi rst Test at Lord’s ended in a draw yesterday.

Williamson set the hosts a target of 273 in 75 overs when he boldly closed his side’s sec-ond innings on 169-6 after rain forced an early lunch yesterday.

But the home side, in the face of some disciplined bowling and with an inexperienced middle-order, made a cautious start to their chase on a tricky pitch in a match where the whole of Friday’s third day was washed out.

England, who have not lost a home Test series since 2014, were 170-3 in 70 overs when a draw was agreed. That left this two-match series all square heading into next week’s second Test at Edgbaston.

It also meant England ended a run of three straight defeats fol-lowing a 3-1 series loss in India this year. This match was most notable for New Zealand opener Devon Conway marking his Test debut with a remarkable 200 in

the tourists’ fi rst innings 378.England opener Dom Sibley,

out for a duck in the fi rst in-nings, ground his way to 60 not out off 207 balls yesterday with just three fours.

Joe Root, in at 56-2 in the 31st over, tried to up the tempo but by that stage a draw was look-ing the likeliest result in a match that marked the return of spec-

tators to international cricket in England following last year’s Covid-19 restrictions.

England captain Root, having hit fi ve fours, the was lbw for 40 to left-arm paceman Neil Wag-ner, who fi nished with 2-27 in 16 overs.

Earlier, opener Rory Burns, who made 132 in England’s modest fi rst-innings 275, fell for

25 when he edged Wagner low to second slip.

And England’s 49-1 soon be-came 56-2. Tim Southee, who took 6-43 in England’s fi rst in-nings, had Zak Crawley out for a second two of the match via a sliced drive to gully.

New Zealand, in their fi rst match at Lord’s since an agonis-ing Super Over defeat by Eng-

land in the 2019 World Cup fi -nal, were missing left-arm quick Trent Boult, who only arrived in the UK on Friday after a period of family leave.

England, however, were with-out four batsmen well-suited to a run chase in injured all-rounder Ben Stokes, with Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes all rested follow-ing quarantine after their stints in the Indian Premier League.

New Zealand, who face In-dia in the inaugural World Test Championship fi nal at South-ampton later this month, re-sumed on Sunday on 62-2 before Ross Taylor made a brisk 33 fea-turing two sixes.

England debutant paceman Ollie Robinson took 3-26. That followed his 4-75 in the fi rst innings and the 42 he made when England batted fi rst time around.

But Robinson’s Test bow has been overshadowed by the re-publication of racist tweets he posted as a teenager, with the Sussex quick set to face discipli-nary action.

Taylor’s breezy innings ended when an edged drive off fast bowler Mark Wood was well caught by diving debutant wick-et-keeper James Bracey.

AFPLes Gets, France

Australian Richie Porte won the Criterium du Dauphine yesterday. Mark Padun of Bahrain

Victorious picked up his second stage win.

Recent Ineos recruit Porte, third in last year’s Tour de France, went into the eighth and fi nal stage in the overall lead and kept the advantage in the French Alps. Porte eventually fi nished 17 sec-onds ahead of Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko in the overall standings. For the 36-year-old Porte it was a sweet victory. He saw a potential victory in the Dauphine slip away on the fi nal day back in 2017.

“This race, having been sec-ond here twice and once year los-ing second in the last kilometre, to fi nally win it I’m just over the moon,” said Porte after the stage.

“All the sacrifi ces, time away from my wife and two kids, is worth it.”

The Australian’s Welsh team-mate Geraint Thomas, winner of the 2018 Tour, rounded out the podium, 29sec off the pace.

Thomas fell in the descent from Joux-Plane, less than 10km from the fi nish line in the ski re-sort of Les Gets, but managed to reel himself back into the group containing the race favourites.

Porte becomes just the second Australian winner of the Crite-rium, the traditional warm-up event to the Tour which gets underway on June 26, after Phil Anderson in 1985. He said he is “under no illusions” about his role for his star-studded team at the Tour. “To win this race just means so so much to me. It’s a race I’ve always enjoyed, and to fi nally win it at 36 years old is a sweet moment,” he said.

Padun won his second stage of the race the day after his victo-rious climb from La Plagne, the Ukrainian racing ahead on the fi rst slopes of the Joux-Plane, an 11.6km pass with an average incline of 8.5 percent, and never looking like being caught from then on.

The 24-year-old, who won the race’s king of the mountains

classifi cation, continued his team’s good run following a im-pressive Giro d’Italia in which Damiano Caruso fi nished second behind Egan Bernal.

RESULTS Stage1. Mark Padun (UKR/BAH) 4hr 06min 49sec, 2. Jonas Vinge-gaard (DEN/JUM) at 1:36, 3. Patrick Konrad (AUT/BOR) 1:36, 4. Ben O’Connor (AUS/AG2) 1:57, 5. David Gaudu (FRA/FDJ) 2:10, 6. Geraint Thomas (GBR/INE) 2:10, 7. Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ/AST) 2:10, 8. Richie Porte (AUS/INE) 2:10, 9. Jack Haig (AUS/BAH) 2:10, 10. Guillaume Martin (FRA/COF) 2:10Overall standings1. Richie Porte (AUS/Ineos) 29hr 37min 05sec, 2. Alexey Lut-senko (KAZ/AST) at 17, 3. Geraint Thomas (GBR/INE) 29, 4. Wilco Kelderman (NED/BOR) 33, 5. Jack Haig (AUS/BAH) 34, 6. Miguel Angel Lopez (COL/MOV) 38, 7. Ion Izagirre (ESP/AST) 38, 8. Ben O’Connor (AUS/AG2) 47, 9. David Gaudu (FRA/FDJ) 1:12, 10. Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBR/INE) 1:57

AFPNew York

Essential Quality lived up to his favourite’s status Saturday, powering past frontrunner Hot Rod

Charlie and hanging on through the stretch to win the 153rd Bel-mont Stakes.

The victory for the Godolphin-owned colt, trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Luis Saez, was a vindication after a disappointing Kentucky Derby in May - when Essential Quality also went off as favourite but endured a rocky start and wide trip on the way to a game fourth-placed fi nish.

Hot Rod Charlie, who set a blistering pace out of the gate in the 1 1/2 mile race at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, fi n-ished second, 1 1/4 lengths back.

Preakness Stakes winner Rombauer was third.

Kentucky Derby winner Me-dina Spirit was a notable absen-tee from the third jewel in US fl at racing’s Triple Crown.

The horse, trained by Bob Baf-fert, tested positive for betam-ethasone – banned on race days – after the Kentucky Derby and

Baff ert was banned by the New York Racing Association from all racing at three tracks in the state, including Belmont Park.

Baff ert, who has guided two horses to the Kentucky Derby treble, has also been banned from Churchill Downs for two years, although it remains to be seen if Medina Spirit’s Derby victory will be invalidated.

The aff air has cast yet another pall over US racing, but the Triple Crown ended with a celebratory air as 11,000 fans were allowed at Belmont, which returned af-ter last year’s pandemic-shuffl ed series to it’s traditional spot as the third race in the series.

“That was a long way around,” Cox said of the 1 1/2 mile race on the sweeping track known as “Big Sandy.”

“But it was exciting,” added Cox, who claimed a fi rst Triple Crown race win. “Obviously Hot Rod Charlie ran a tremendous race and I thought the hot pace – we were in a good spot where the would come back.

“Luis did a fantastic job of get-ting him in position turning for home. He was able to really show his stamina late.”

For Saez, it was a fi rst Belmont

Stakes win. While Hot Rod Char-lie broke away early with Rock Your World, Essential Quality and the rest of the trailing group had closed the gap as they headed into the far turn.

CLEAN BREAK WAS KEYEssential Quality made his move at the top of the stretch, edging ahead of the battling Hot Rod Charlie – trained by Doug O’Neill and ridden by French jockey Fla-vien Prat – and hanging on to hit the wire fi rst.

“In the Kentucky Derby we were so confi dent,” Saez said. “I thought we were going to win that race. He was ready for the day, but we had a little unlucky start, we got bumped breaking from there. “So today, the main thing was try to break clean and the rest I know he’s going to do it.”

Cox off ered thanks to Essential Quality owner Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

The United Arab Emirates ruler had faced calls to be banned from the Kentucky Derby fol-lowing concern over the wherea-bouts of his daughter, but Cox had only praise for an owner who had been “so important to us the last two years.”

Olympics-bound Indian wrestler suspended aft er dope test: reports

Indian wrestler Sumit Malik has been provisionally suspended after failing a dope test, mean-ing he is likely to miss the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, local media reported.Banned substance methyl-hexaneamine was found in the Commonwealth Games gold medallist’s urine sample at a qualifier event in May in Sofia, the reports said Saturday.The 125kg freestyler’s sample was collected by United World Wrestling which subsequently provisionally suspended Malik for six months until Decem-ber 2021, the Times of India

reported.The Wrestling Federation of India confirmed Malik’s suspen-sion, the Hindustan Times quoted assistant-secretary Vinod Tomar as saying.Malik has to give a B sample on June 10 and if this also returns positive, he could face a ban.“I believe that he must have taken something unknow-ingly. Maybe he was taking some medicine to treat his injured knee and that might have contained some banned substances,” Tomar told the Hindustan Times. (Reuters)

England’s Dom Sibley (centre) walks off the pitch at the end of the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London yesterday. (Reuters)

Essential Quality ridden by Luis Saez edges Hot Rod Charlie ridden by Flavien Prat to win the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park. (USA TODAY Sports)

Team Ineos’ Richie Porte wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey celebrates on the podium after the eighth stage of the Criterium du Dauphine yesterday. (AFP)

NEW ZEALAND 1st innings 378

ENGLAND 1st innings 275

NEW ZEALAND 2nd innings (overnight: 62-2)

T. Latham lbw b Broad 36

D. Conway b Robinson 23

K. Williamson lbw b Robinson 1

N. Wagner c Bracey b Robinson 10

R. Taylor c Bracey b Wood 33

H. Nicholls c Burns b Root 23

BJ Watling not out 15

C. de Granhomme not out 9

Extras (b6, l2, nb1) 19

Total (6 wkts dec, 52.3 overs,) 169

Fall of wickets: 1-39 (Conway), 2-57 (Williamson), 3-74 (Wagner), 4-105 (Latham), 5-133 (Taylor), 6-159 (Nicholls)

Bowlers: Anderson 15.3-3-44-0 Broad 12-1-34-1;

Robinson 14-5-26-3 (1nb); Wood 7-0-31-1; Root 4-0-16-1.

ENGLAND 2nd innings (target: 273)

R. Burns c Southee b Wagner 25

D. Sibley not out 60

Z. Crawley c Nicholls b Southee 2

J. Root lbw b Wagner 40

O. Pope not out 20

Extras (b8, lb10, nb5) 23

Total (3 wkts, 70 overs, 312 mins) 170

Fall of wickets: 1-49 (Burns), 2-56 (Crawley), 3-136 (Root)

Bowling: Southee 17-1-37-1; Jamieson 15-6-28-0 (2nb); De Grandhomme 7-3-12-0; Santner 13-3-38-0; Wagner 16-7-27-2 (3nb); Williamson 2-0-10-0;

Result: Match drawn

Man-of-the-match: Devon Conway (NZL)

Series: Two-match series level at 0-0

Scorecard

SPORT7Gulf Times

Monday, June 7, 2021

Perez wins in Baku as Verstappen and Hamilton KO’d

KTM’s Oliveira powers to victory in Barcelona thriller

‘Normally Baku is pretty crazy but I have to say sorry to Max’

FORMULA 1 MOTOGP

ReutersBarcelona

KTM rider Miguel Olivei-ra fended off Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo in an intense battle to claim

his fi rst win of the season at the Catalunya Grand Prix in Barce-lona yesterday.

Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco made a late charge to fi nish second as championship leader Quar-tararo dropped down to fourth after being given a three-second penalty for exceeding track limits.

Oliveira came under increasing pressure from Zarco on the fi nal stretch but held off the French-man by 0.175 seconds, while Jack Miller rounded out the podium on his factory Ducati.

“It was probably the best race of my career so far,” Oliveira said in a post-race interview. “Everything was so hard – the tyre manage-ment and Fabio was just putting pressure on me for so many laps.

“But I kept it really cool and it was a perfect race. I can’t thank KTM enough for giving me an amazing machine today.”

Miller used Ducati’s supreme launch system to take the lead on the opening lap ahead of Oliveira and Quartararo, who started on pole position for a fi fth straight time.

The Australian, however, made a mistake at the Turn 4 right-hander on the third lap to let Oliveira slip into the lead, while Quartararo dropped to fi fth fol-lowing an unsuccessful overtak-ing attempt on Miller.

Quartararo steadily improved his lap timings to pass Oliveira at the halfway stage but the Portu-guese roared back to reclaim the lead two laps later.

Oliveira preserved his tyres to extend his advantage at the top before Quartararo ran off the track with three laps remaining.

In a bizarre fi nale, Quartararo’s leathers burst open and he lost his chest protector but he continued to battle for the fi nal podium spot with Miller.

Oliveira was fl awless in the fi -nal stages to take his third vic-tory in the premier class and move up to seventh in the champion-ship standings. Defending world champion Joan Mir fi nished fi fth on his Suzuki, ahead of Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales.

Six-times MotoGP champion Marc Marquez crashed out for a third consecutive race, while Honda team mate Pol Espargaro joined him on the sidelines.

The late drama ensured Quar-tararo’s championship lead was

trimmed to 17 points by Zarco, with Miller taking third place ahead of Ducati team mate Franc-esco Bagnaia.

RESULTSMotoGP1. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 40min 21.749sec, 2. Johann Zarco (FRA/Ducati-Pramac) at 0.175, 3. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati) 1.990, 4. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) 4.815 (penalised 3 seconds for cutting a corner), 5. Joan Mir (ESP/Suzuki) 5.325, 6. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 6.281, 7. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 8.175, 8. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 8.378,9. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Yamaha-SRT) 15.652, 10. Enea Bas-tianini (ITA/Ducati-Avintia) 19.297Selected retirements: Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda), Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha-SRT), Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia), Danilo Petrucci (ITA/KTM-Tech3), Pol Espargaro (ESP/Honda)

MotoGP standings (after seven races)1. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) 118 pts, 2. Johann Zarco (FRA/Ducati-Pramac) 101, 3. Jack Miller (AUS/Ducati) 90, 4. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 88, 5. Joan Mir (ESP/Suzuki) 76, 6. Maver-ick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 74, 7. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 54, 8. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 44, 9. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 43, 10. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Yamaha-SRT) 40

Moto21. Remy Gardner (AUS/Kalex) 38:22.284, 2. Raul Fernandez (ESP/Kalex) at 1.872sec, 3. Xavi Vi-erge (ESP/Kalex) 2.866, 4. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Kalex) 3.207, 5. Augusto Fernandez (ESP/Kalex) 3.899

Moto2 standings1. Remy Gardner (AUS/Kalex) 139 pts, 2. Raul Fernandez (ESP/Kalex) 128, 3. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ka-lex) 101, 4. Sam Lowes (GBR/Ka-lex) 75, 5. Fabio di Giannantonio (ITA/Kalex) 60

Moto31. Sergio Garcia (ESP/GasGas) 1:48.852, 2. Jeremy Alcoba (ESP/Honda) at 0.015sec, 3. Deniz Oncu (TUR/KTM) 0.118, 4. Jaume Masia (ESP/KTM) 0.218, 5. Darryn Binder (RSA/Honda) 0.343

Moto3 standings1. Pedro Acosta (ESP/KTM) 120 pts, 2. Sergio Garcia (ESP/GasGas) 81, 3. Jaume Masia (ESP/KTM) 72, 4. Romano Fenati (ITA/Husq-varna) 61, 5. Darryn Binder (RSA/Honda) 58

AFPBaku

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez won a chaotic Azerbai-jan Grand Prix yesterday as both Max Verstappen

and Lewis Hamilton failed to fi n-ish.

Sebastian Vettel for Aston Martin and Pierre Gasly for Al-pha Tauri completed the unex-pected podium after the streets of Baku lived up to their reputa-tion for delivering an afternoon of drama and tension.

Verstappen crashed with fi ve laps to go and the sixth race of the season at his mercy. Hamil-ton then locked up at the restart when on target for second.

As the dust began to settle on the banks of the Caspian Sea, Verstappen retained his slen-der four point lead in the drivers standings.

His teammate Perez gained his fi rst win since joining Red Bull and the second of his career.

“I’m so happy for today. Nor-mally Baku is pretty crazy but I have to say sorry to Max.

“He deserved the win today and it would have been good for the team to get a 1-2, but the win is a fantastic result.”

Perez inherited the lead when Verstappen’s left rear tyre shred-ded triggering a high-speed crash in the straight as he was set to collect his second consecutive win and third of the season.

“Tyre!” shouted a distraught Verstappen on the team radio.

After a red-fl ag stoppage last-ing more than half an hour to clear debris from Verstappen’s stricken car, the grand prix re-sumed from the grid with a two lap sprint to the chequered fl ag.

Hamilton looked to have the measure of Perez but the Mer-cedes seven-time world cham-pion spun off at turn one, leav-ing the band to play the Mexican rather than British national an-them.

Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc came in fi fth ahead of Fernando Alonso for Alpine and Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda celebrating his highest fi nish for Alpha Tauri in seventh. Hamilton was 15th and out of the points for the fi rst time since Austria in 2018.

“Naturally it’s quite a hum-bling experience,” said Hamilton.

“We’ve worked so hard to come back into the top 10 and I put everything on the line but just lost out in the end.

“I clipped a switch that plac-es the brakes off so I just went straight on at turn one on the restart.

“I’m very sorry to the guys and girls in the team. I had no idea that I’ve even touched the ‘mag-ic’ switch.”

There was a sombre start to proceedings with a minute’s si-lence for Max Mosley, the former FIA boss who died last month, and Mansour Ojjeh, McLaren’s infl uential majority stakeholder, who died earlier Sunday.

Leclerc made a slick start, but Hamilton was lurking and the world champion surged past the pole-sitting Ferrari going into turn one at the start of lap three.

Verstappen executed an iden-

tical manoeuvre to move past Leclerc and into second on lap seven.

Hamilton came in for a pit stop on lap 12, rejoining having swopped soft tyres for hard in fourth – another car costing him vital seconds on his exit from the pits.

Verstappen and Perez followed suit, leaving Vettel in charge.

The German four-time former champion came in eventually to leave the two Red Bulls being hunted down by Hamilton ap-proaching the midway point of the 51-lap contest.

The only driver not to have pitted was Lance Stroll, but the Canadian was back in the pits in the medical car on lap 31 af-

ter a high-speed smash on the straight when his left rear tyre shredded.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Get me out of this place on the track. Puncture, I think,” he said, the crash forcing a long safety car interval.

He escaped unhurt.Racing resumed four laps later

with Verstappen and Perez lead-ing.

Vettel, enjoying his best race for new team Aston Martin, jumped Leclerc and then picked off Gasly to leave Hamilton in his cross-hairs.

With fi ve laps to go Verstap-pen’s race was cruelly over, but Perez managed to save the day for Red Bull.

Results (TOP 10)1. Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull-Honda) 2hr 13min 36.410sec, 2. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Aston Martin-Mercedes) at 1.385sec, 3. Pierre Gasly (FRA/AlphaTauri-Honda) 2.762, 4. Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) 3.828, 5. Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren-Mercedes) 4.754, 6. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Alpine-Renault) 6.382, 7. Yuki Tsunoda (JPN/AlphaTauri-Hon-da) 6.624, 8. Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Ferrari) 7.709, 9. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/McLaren-Mercedes) 8.874, 10. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Alfa Romeo-Ferrari) 9.576

Drivers standings (TOP 10)1. Max Verstappen (NED) 105 pts, 2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 101, 3. Sergio Perez (MEX) 69, 4. Lando Norris (GBR) 66, 5. Charles Leclerc (MON) 52, 6. Valtteri Bottas (FIN) 47, 7. Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP) 42, 8. Pierre Gasly (FRA) 31, 9. Sebastian Vettel (GER) 28, 10. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) 26

Red Bull’s Mexican driver Sergio Perez celebrates on the podium after winning the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit in Baku yesterday.

The artist and the machine: Musetti, Sinner ‘future of tennis’

TENNIS

KTM Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira celebrates on the podium after winning the MotoGP race of the Moto Grand Prix de Catalunya at the Circuit de Catalunya yesterday.

AFPParis

Their styles and personalities may vary considerably, but Ital-ian teenagers Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti are treading

similar routes towards the top of men’s tennis after both advanced Saturday to the French Open last 16.

Former Next Gen champion Sinner enjoyed a breakout Grand Slam perform-ance with a run to last year’s quarter-fi nals. Eight months later, he is back in the second week at Roland Garros – this time joined by fellow 19-year-old Mu-setti, making his main draw debut at a major.

Sinner, seeded 18th, faces a repeat showdown with Rafael Nadal, having held his own against the 13-time champion in a match that fi nished at 1.30am last October in the autumn chill of a French Open de-layed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The task in the next round awaiting Musetti, some six months younger than Sinner, is no less daunting, with world number one Novak Djokovic standing in his way.

“Me and Jannik, I think we are the future of Italian tennis, and of tennis in general,” Musetti said following his fi ve-set win over compatriot Marco Cecchi-nato.

“He’s a bit (more advanced) than me. I’m just living what he was living like last year.” Sinner’s maturity is noteworthy for a player of his age, and his powers of resilience were on full display as he saved a match point in his opening-round vic-tory against France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

“When you are one point (from los-ing), if I had lost that point I would be already at home,” said Sinner. “It makes things a little bit diff erent in way. (But) I am still here.”

“’Mental boost’, it’s a big word, but it can give you (that), for sure,” he added.

While Sinner’s approach has been likened to that of a machine, drawing comparisons with Djokovic, Musetti is viewed as more of an artist, and more temperamental – more prone to bursts of emotion on court.

“We are made diff erent. We come from, fi rst of all, other parts of Italy,” said Sinner. “When I have people around me who are doing one thing, he has peo-ple around him who maybe think other things.

“I think the important thing is that everyone is diff erent. He is diff erent than me, I would say. But obviously in a very positive way.

“What he’s showing on court, there’s nothing wrong with that. I mean, the op-posite, he’s doing the right things at the right moments.”

Musetti, ranked a career high of 76 fol-lowing semi-fi nal runs at both Acapulco and Lyon this year, announced himself late in 2020 by beating Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka at the Italian Open as a qualifi er.

He started this season in Challenger tournaments, but his fi rst-round upset of 13th seed David Goffi n – his sixth win from just nine matches against top-20 players – was the latest indicator of a player rapidly ascending.

“Lorenzo, I think he’s an incredible player. He can do whatever he wants with the ball. He has so many options. He’s showing that he can play very, very good tennis,” said Sinner.

“Many people are (asking) who is bet-ter, me or Lorenzo? I think it’s great to see, especially for Italian fans.

“We have two different styles of players, two different personalities on court and off court. I think he’s tal-ented, very, very talented, and maybe more than me.”

Musetti became only the sixth man since 2000 to make the last 16 at his debut Grand Slam, marking the first time in 15 years two teenagers have reached this stage of the men’s tourna-ment.

Lorenzo Musetti (L) and Jannik Sinner... rising starsMcLaren ‘devastated’ by death of stakeholder Mansour Ojjeh

Baku: Saudi billionaire Mansour Ojjeh, a major force behind the McLaren team’s success in Formula One, has died aged 68, the British team announced yesterday.Born in Paris, Ojjeh bought into McLaren in 1984 and with former partner Ron Dennis established it as one of the major forces in F1.“It is with deep sadness that McLaren Racing announces the death of Mansour Ojjeh, shareholder of McLaren since 1984,” McLaren announced ahead of Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.“Mr Ojjeh passed away peace-fully this morning in Geneva, aged 68, surrounded by his family, to whom the team sends its most heartfelt con-

dolences.”McLaren chief executive Zak Brown said his death “had devastated everyone” at the team.“Mansour has been etched into the heart and soul of this team for nearly 40 years and was intrinsic to its success,” Brown added.“He was a true racer in every sense. Ultra-competitive, determined, passionate and, above all, perhaps his defining characteristic: sporting.“No matter the intensity of the battle, Mansour always put sport first.”With Mansour on board McLaren won seven of their eight constructors world titles since 1984 and 10 of their 12 drivers’ crowns.

Federer quits French Open with eye on Wimbledon

Monday, June 7, 2021

GULF TIMES SPORT

History-chasing Serena beaten by Kazakh star

Sifan Hassan sets new women’s 10,000m world record

TENNIS MOTOGP

BOTTOMLINE

ATHLETICS

After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery

AFPParis

Roger Federer said yes-terday he was with-drawing from the French Open despite

having reached the fourth round, opting to focus on his primary objective of winning a ninth Wimbledon title.

“After discussions with my team, I’ve decided I will need to pull out of Roland Garros today,” the 39-year-old said.

“After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilita-tion it’s important that I lis-ten to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery.

“I am thrilled to have gotten three matches under my belt. There is no greater feeling than being back on court.”

Federer, a 20-time Grand

Slam title winner, who will be 40 in two months’ time, bat-tled over three and a half hours until 12:45 Sunday morning to reach the last 16 with a 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 win over 59th-ranked Dominik Koepfer.

He was due back on court today to tackle Matteo Berret-tini for a place in the quarter-finals.

However, having undergone two knee surgeries in 2020, the Swiss star had admitted there were doubts over whether he’d make it.

Federer is playing only his third tournament since last year’s Australian Open and has always said Wimbledon is his main goal.

He is chasing a ninth title at Wimbledon which starts on June 28.

He is also scheduled to play the warm-up grass court tour-

nament in Halle beginning on June 14, the day after the French Open ends.

Federer, who made his Ro-land Garros debut in 1999 and was champion in 2009, was playing a night session for the first time in his third round tie.

However, the almost emp-ty 15,000-capacity Court Philippe Chatrier was eerily si-lent due to a Covid-19 curfew.

It is likely that this was Fe-derer’s final appearance at the tournament. His return this year was only his second par-ticipation since 2015.

“The Roland Garros tourna-ment is sorry about the with-drawal of Roger Federer, who put up an incredible fight last night,” said Guy Forget, the tournament director.

“We were all delighted to see Roger back in Paris, where he played three high-level match-es. We wish him all the best for

the rest of the season.”After winning his match, Fe-

derer said that he was pacing himself in his recovery.

“All the matches I’ve played since the injury are informa-tion for the rest of the season,” he added.

“It gives me great pleasure to be able to play 3hr 30min at a high level against a very good player. It shows that I’m on the right track.”

His performance won rave reviews from rivals following the match on television.

“I’m not bothered by the outcome of this match at all,” tweeted Britain’s Andy Mur-ray, a former world number one and three-time major winner.

“Just seeing Federer at 39 off the back of 2 knee surgeries playing to an empty stadium at 12.30am getting fired up is in-spirational to me. Do what you love.”

AFPParis

Serena Williams’ latest quest for a record-equal-ling 24th Grand Slam title ended in the French Open

last 16 on yesterday, hours after Roger Federer pulled out of what was possibly his last appearance at Roland Garros.

The 39-year-old Williams, still one short of Margaret Court’s all-time record for most Grand Slam singles titles, lost 6-3, 7-5 to Kazakh 21st seed Elena Ry-bakina, while Federer withdrew as a precaution to protect his body for Wimbledon.

The American won the last of her three Roland Garros titles in 2015, and has not gone beyond the fourth round in Paris since losing the 2016 fi nal.

“It was defi nitely close. I’m so close. There is literally a point here, a point there, that could change the whole course of the

match,” said Williams.“I’m not winning those points.

That like literally could just change everything.”

Her exit leaves just two of the women’s top 10 seeds in the com-petition, reigning champion Iga Swiatek and last year’s runner-up Sofi a Kenin.

Williams, who despite arriv-ing here with just one win on clay this season, had seen her title hopes of boosted by the absence of Simona Halep, and early exits of Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Os-aka. Instead, she remains with-out a Grand Slam title since win-ning the 2017 Australian Open in the early stages of her pregnancy.

“I’m in a much better place than when I got here,” Williams said. “You know, (I was) just lit-

erally trying to win a match, be-cause it had been a really diffi cult season for me on the clay.”

Williams, who debuted at Ro-land Garros in 1998, refused to be drawn on whether this was her last French Open.

“I’m defi nitely not think-ing about it at all. I’m defi nitely thinking just about other things but not about that,” she said.

Russian-born Rybakina, 21, extended her best run at a ma-jor as she advanced to her fi rst quarter-fi nal, where she will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for a spot in the last four.

“I am so happy with my match, it was amazing,” said Rybakina, who at 22 is the highest-ranked player left in her half of the draw.

Greek fi fth seed Stefanos Tsit-sipas, fancied to reach his fi rst Grand Slam fi nal, with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the other half of the draw, sealed his return to the quarter-fi nals with a 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta.

A semi-fi nalist at the past two majors, Tsitsipas was beaten in a thrilling fi ve-setter by Djokovic in Paris eight months ago.

He will next face twice Grand Slam fi nalist and second seed Daniil Medvedev. The Russian, who hadn’t won a French Open match before this week, eased past Chile’s Cristian Garin 6-2, 6-1, 7-5.

Tamara Zidansek became the fi rst Slovenian woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-fi nal when she defeated Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.

The world number 85, con-queror of former US Open cham-pion Bianca Andreescu in round one, will meet Paula Badosa after the Spaniard beat 2019 Roland Garros runner-up Marketa Von-drousova 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova returned to the Roland Garros quarter-fi nals for the fi rst time since 2011, defeating former world number one Victoria Aza-renka 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer leaves the court after winning against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer in Paris on Saturday.

Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan celebrates after setting a world record in the women’s 10,000m during the FBK Games in Hengelo, Netherlands, yesterday.

Qatar’s Reem al-Sharshani and Rashid Saleh al-Athba display their medals after winning skeet mixed team gold at the Arab Shooting Championships in Cairo.

Mixed skeet gold for Qatar

AFPHengelo, Netherlands

Sifan Hassan of the Neth-erlands fi red a warning shot ahead of the Tokyo Olympics by setting a

new world record in the women’s 10,000m yesterday.

Hassan, 28, clocked 29min 06.82sec at the Hengelo meet, smashing the previous best set by Ethiopian Almaz Ayana (29:17.45) in winning gold at the 2016 Rio Games.

Hassan was aided by technol-ogy that lit up the track on world record pace as she ran.

“Wow! To run this world record here today in Hengelo is some-thing I could only dream of,” said Hassan, who was born in Ethio-pia, arrived in the Netherlands in 2008 at the age of 15 and received Dutch citizenship in 2013.

“It’s the perfect confi rmation of the hard work we’ve put in getting ready for Tokyo. I am so happy to share this record in front of my Dutch fans. I am so happy!”

She now tops an elite band of

just 10 female runners who have dipped below the mythical 30min mark. This was also the fourth career world record for Hassan, who was coached by the now-banned Alberto Salazar.

The reigning world champion over 1,500m and 10,000m has also posted world records over one mile, one-hour and 5km on the road.

Last October, she smashed Paula Radcliff e’s long-standing European record for the women’s 10,000m, at the same Hengelo stadium.

Bromell clocks world-leading 9.77sec in 100m in FloridaMiami: US sprinter Trayvon Bromell threw down an Olympic challenge Saturday, clocking a world-leading 9.77sec to win the 100m at a meeting in Florida and become the seventh-fastest all time.In a wind of 1.5m/sec, Bromell stormed to victory at the NACAC New Life Invitational, a World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meeting in Miramar, Florida.The world indoor 60m cham-pion in 2016, Bromell faced just three competitors in his heat,

getting off to a strong start and powering away to become the ninth man to break 9.80sec over 100m. It continues an impressive build up toward the Tokyo Olympics for Bromell, the 25-year-old who has battled injuries the past few seasons. In April he clocked a then world-leading 9.88sec at a meet in Jacksonville, Florida. Bromell’s form suggests he is firmly in the frame as a potential 100m gold medallist in Tokyo, where world cham-pion Christian Coleman will be

absent because of a doping ban. Bromell exploded onto the athletics scene in 2015, when he ran a personal best time of 9.84sec for the 100m before his 20th birthday — the fastest time ever run by a teenager over the distance — before later claiming a bronze at that year’s World Championships in Beijing. After winning 60m indoor world gold in 2016 he suffered disappointment at the Rio Olympics, finishing in eighth place in the final won by Usain Bolt.

Serena Williams of the US (R) congratulates Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina at the end of their fourth round match at the French Open yesterday.

The American won the last of her three Roland Garros titles in 2015, and has not gone beyond the fourth round in Paris since losing the 2016 fi nal