Al Duhail open campaign with impressive win over Al Shorta

Millau wins on debut for Sheikh Mohamed at Saint-Cloud

Friday, April 16, 2021Ramadan 4, 1442 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Mercedes admit Red Bull ‘edge’ ahead of Imola showdown

Mourinho focused on top four, not League Cup

FOOTBALL FOOTBALL | Page 3 FORMULA 1 FORMULA 1 | Page 6

TENNIS

‘Awful’ Djokovic knocked out as Nadal advancesPage 7

AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

HORSE RACING

AgenciesParis, France

Millau made a perfect debut in the blue silks and white stars of His Highness Sheikh

Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani at Saint-Cloud on Wednesday when winning the Prix Phebe, a newcomer’s race over 1,400m.

Trained by Francis-Henri Graff ard and ridden by Hugo Journiac, the three-year-old colt, who was also bred by Sheikh Mohamed’s Al Shahania Stud, was making his fi rst appearance on the track and faced 11 rivals in this competitive race.

The runners broke evenly from the starting stalls, and Journiac quickly took Millau to the rail, al-lowing him to smoothly progress forward to take the lead after 300m. Heartbeat, initially in the lead before relayed by Millau, sat in second by a length, with Eoin-style in third.

Millau travelled strongly through the bend and, turning down the centre of the track in

the home straight, showed a good acceleration. His rivals, previ-ously bunched in behind him in the turn, now spread across the track, with a strong run coming from Sparklia from off the pace, and Pinwheel on the far rail.

However, Millau always maintained his advantage and his rivals were unable to gain

and ground on the eventual winner. He won by three-quar-ters-of-a-length in front of Sparklia, while Pinwheel just held on to third from Jojogo in fourth. Just a short head sepa-rated the fifth place, which went to Tombecka.

“The orders weren’t to go in front, but he was a little lazy

coming out of the stalls. Hugo Journiac said afterwards that he had encouraged him to go on to get a good position, and the colt took himself up to the lead. He was tough in the fi nish, despite his immaturity. He was looking around, and the track was a bit soft, which is why he shortened up in the fi nal strides. I think the

post only just came soon enough, but he is a nice colt who will im-prove mentally and physically,” Graff ard said after the win.

By Wootton Bassett, sire of European Champion Alman-zor, Millau is out of the Sage-burg mare Sage Melody. She

was multiple Group placed for Sheikh Mohamed and Millau is her fourth foal, and her fourth winner.

A Hassam Kadhim own goal and Edmilson Junior strike installs Sabri Lamouchi’s men on top of Group C standings

Southern Lights opens his scorecard at LeopardstownAgenciesLeopardstown, Ireland

Owned by Aquis Racing and Al Mamoura Part-nership, the three-year-

old colt Southern Lights opened his scorecard in the Leopards-town Annual Members (C & G) Maiden on Wednesday. This was just his second start, having debuted in September as a two-year-old for a second place. Trained by Joseph O’Brien, Southern Lights broke well to sit behind the leaders in this 17-runner race under jockey Declan McDonogh. Running over 2,000m, there was an even pace throughout. They began racing in the final turn, with Southern Lights travelling

strongly. Once in the straight, the track opened up and he hit the lead with 200m left to run. He stretched out to pull clear, winning comfortably by two

lengths and three quarters in front of Hell Bent, the long-time leader, who is trained by Mrs John Harrington and was rid-den by Shane Foley.

Declan McDonogh (right) rides Southern Lights to victory in the Leopardstown Annual Members (C&G) Maiden. (Racing Post)

Hugo Journiac (right) rides Millau to victory in the Prix Phebe in Saint-Cloud, France. (Scoopdyga)

AFCJeddah

Al Duhail made a suc-cessful start to their 2021 AFC Champions League group stage

campaign, easing to a 2-0 win over Al Shorta of Iraq yesterday.

In control for much of the match, the Qatari club went

ahead through a Hassam Kadhim own goal nine minutes before half-time while a picturesque Edmilson Junior volley made the points all but safe in the 53rd minute.

The result installs Al Duhail as the early leaders in Group C, with only the group winners and three best runners-up to advance to the knockout stage from the West Zone.

Al Duhail began in the as-cendancy, although it didn’t immediately translate into goalmouth action in a cagey opening period.

It took until the 17th minute for the game’s first shot to ma-terialise; a scuffed effort from Al Duhail’s Michael Olunga, but they went much closer to breaking the deadlock through Ali Karimi five minutes later,

with the Iranian’s instinctive header fizzing wide from close range after he latched on Ismail Mohamed’s cross.

While those chances didn’t bear fruit, they did usher in a pe-riod of greater control for Al Du-hail, whose pressure eventually produced the opening goal in the 36th minute, when Olunga and Karimi played a neat one-two, with Olunga’s shot ending up in

the back of the net via the foot of Kadhim, who was credited with an own goal.

Unable to create a single chance of their own in the opening 45 minutes, Al Shorta now had to chase the game, and that task became considerably more difficult when Sabri Lam-ouchi’s men went further ahead eight minutes into the second half.

There were similarities with the fi rst goal, with Al Duhail’s passing and movement stretch-ing the Al Shorta defence, and Almoez Ali having a shot blocked before Edmilson Junior showed excellent technique to lash home a volley from just short of 15 yards.

Aleksandar Ilic’s side began to look more directly for a way back into the match, and they nearly

found a breakthrough of their own through Ali Husni, only for the substitute’s rasping 20-yard eff ort to rattle the woodwork in the 73rd minute.

That proved to be Al Shorta’s clearest chance at reducing the defi cit, with their attention now turning to Sunday’s clash with Esteghlal FC, while Al Duhail will face group hosts Al Ahli Saudi FC in their second match.

Al Duhail’s Edmilson Junior celebrates after scoring a goal during the match against Al Shorta yesterday.Al Duhail’s Michael Olunga (second from right) celebrates his team’s first goal that came off Al Shorta’s Hassam Kadhim (right) during the AFC Champions League Group C match yesterday.

2 Gulf Times Friday, April 16, 2021

FOOTBALL

Al Sadd, Foolad seek improvements aft er stalemate

Copa success could prove pivotal for modern-era Barca

Pressure on stuttering Atletico as rivals Real close gap in title race

AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

FOCUS LA LIGA

‘It’s not a bad point, because Al Nassr and Al Wehdat also drew. We have to keep going’

Italian FA head says good chance of stadiums reopening before Euro 2020

There is a good chance that stadiums in Italy will wel-come back fans before the European Championship kicks off in Rome on June 11, Italian Football Federa-tion president Gabriele Gravina said yesterday. The Italian capital was confirmed as a host venue for the continental championship by UEFA earlier this week after assurances were made that the Stadio Olimpico would admit at least 25 percent capacity for the three group games, including the tournament open-er between Italy and Turkey, and one quarter-final. Gravina said he was optimistic that fans would soon be allowed into stadiums after he had a meeting with the Undersecretary for Sport, Valentina Vezzali. “But now there is hope of a general reopening and there is a good chance of that before the Euros. The Coppa Italia final is one of the hypotheses, along with other events before June,” he said.

Group of Serie A clubs demand resignation of league boss Dal PinoSeven Serie A clubs have submitted a written request for league president Paolo Dal Pino to resign from his position over issues including his management of plans to sell a stake in the league. Inter Milan, Juventus, Napoli, Lazio, Atalanta, Hellas Verona and Fiorentina jointly signed the letter, seen by Reuters. An off icial at one of the seven clubs said that the move was down to several issues, including disagree-ment over plans to sell a 10 percent stake in Serie A’s media business to a consortium of private equity investors including CVC Capital Partners, Advent International and Italian fund FSI. Serie A declined to comment.

Hertha team in isolation aft er several coronavirus cases

Strugglers Hertha Berlin players and staff were sent into isolation for 13 days after coach Pal Dardai, assistant coach Admir Hamzagic and striker Dodi Lukebakio tested positive for Covid-19, the club said. Sports director Arne Friedrich, who has the appro-priate coaching licence, will provisionally take over as coach with the team living together until then and leaving their designated base only for matches and training. “We have to accept this challenge as a team and do everything so we can lay the remaining games successfully,” Friedrich said. Hertha are deep in relegation trouble with six games remaining in the season and travel to fellow strugglers Mainz 05 on Sunday. Hertha are in 15th place on 26 points, as many as 16th-placed Arminia Bielefeld who occupy the relegation playoff spot.

Czech president slams UEFA over Kudela racism ban

The Czech president’s off ice said yesterday it had complained to UEFA over the 10-match ban for Slavia Prague defender Ondrej Kudela for racially abusing Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara. Kudela cupped his hand when he made the remark to Finnish player Kamara at the end of a Europa League last 16 game at Ibrox on March 18. Kamara, who insisted Kudela had racially abused him, was on Wednesday handed a three-match ban for attacking the Slavia player after the game which Slavia won 2-0 to give them a 3-1 victory on aggregate. Vladimir Mynar, heading the off ice of Czech President Milos Zeman, said in a letter to UEFA’s disciplinary body that Kudela’s ban was disproportionately high compared to those for the Rangers players. “I want to point out the racism charges were not proven. Even a UEFA inspector questioned whether Ondrej Kudela uttered the racist remark,” wrote Mynar, who is a Slavia fan. “You have sentenced a decent man without a single proof... only to fulfil the pervert expectations of a narrow group of activists and of a club unable to win on the pitch.”

Players unions urge IFAB to trial temporary concussion substitutesThe Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and FIFPRO, the global players’ union, have called on football’s lawmakers to consider launching trials into temporary concussion substitutes to better protect players who suff er head injuries. The game’s rule-making body IFAB in December gave the go-ahead for trials of permanent concussion substitutes following which the Premier League and Women’s Super League introduced the system in February. According to the league’s protocol, team doctors make an assessment of the player who suff ers a head injury and if the player shows clear symptoms, they will be substituted and prevented from returning to the field. But concerns have been raised after West Ham United defender Issa Diop and Sheff ield United defender George Baldock were allowed to continue playing after sustaining head injuries. PFA and FIF-PRO, in a letter to IFAB on Thursday, said temporary substitutes, which would allow a player to be re-placed while the doctor examines them but return if deemed fit to continue, better protects player health and reduces pressure on medical staff to make snap decisions.

Police launch investigation aft er Real team bus damaged at Anfi eldMerseyside Police said they have launched an inves-tigation after the bus carrying Real Madrid players was damaged as it arrived at Anfield for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against Liverpool. A video posted on Instagram showed Liverpool fans, some holding flares, booing the ar-rival of the bus. A video on Twitter showed a section of the bus’s outer window frame had been damaged. “We can confirm an investigation is underway after damage was caused to the Real Madrid team bus...,” chief superintendent Zoe Thornton said in a state-ment. “Despite the advice to avoid attending the ground, approximately 400 people attended Anfield Road and as coaches approached, a number of items were thrown at the Real Madrid team bus. We are aware of images which show the outer pane of the lead coach window being damaged, the glass did not break through and there are no reported injuries.” Liverpool apologised to their Spanish opponents before the game for the incident.

AFCRiyadh

Al Sadd head coach Xavi Hernandez may have had high expectations of a win but had to see his

side fi ght for a share of the points in their AFC Champions League Group D opener against Foolad Khouzestan on Wednesday that ended in a 1-1 draw.

Foolad looked to have sealed a famous win through Brazilian striker Chimba’s 61st minute goal but Al Sadd fought back and were rewarded by Boualem Khoukhi’s 89th minute equaliser.

“We are not happy, because our target for this match was to get all three points,” said Xavi. “We started well, and then in the last few minutes of the fi rst half, they dominated a little bit with set-pieces, but we knew that was how they were going to play.

“We then conceded a goal, and it became diffi cult because their morale was high and were more organised, but we changed the sys-tem by putting Khoukhi in front,

and eventually scored.”Al Sadd had to play without the

infl uential Akram Afi f, who missed the match because of injury, but Xavi said that wasn’t an excuse and urged his side to do better. Al Sadd will face Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr, while Foolad play Jordan’s Al Wehdat tomorrow.

“It’s not a bad point, because Al Nassr and Al Wehdat also drew. We have to keep going even though we are not happy.

“I talked about how diffi cult this group was. This is the AFC Cham-pions League, and we’re playing against the best teams in Asia, this is the reality. We are going to im-prove, recover and keep going.

“We are going to miss Akram Afi f for sure, he’s one of the best players in Qatar and in Asia. But this is not an excuse for the draw today. We still dominated the game, controlled possession and created more chances than the op-ponent. We didn’t do very well, but we didn’t perform badly, and we need to improve.”

Foolad were denied a win but head coach Jesus Javier Noble be-lieves the draw will drive his inex-

perienced side to improve. “Not losing the fi rst match of

the tournament is not bad, but we would have won if our players were more experienced,” said No-ble. “We had a lot of young players, who are not really experienced in these kind of situations.

“It wasn’t that our players lost concentration, but they were not experienced enough to control the match.”

Foolad, however, can walk away with their heads held high, know-ing that they can challenge an es-tablished team like Qatar champi-ons Al Sadd.

“We went into the second half more focused than before, and scored a goal near the hour-mark. I am happy with my players, they put in a lot of eff ort against one of the tournament favourites,” said Javier Noble.

“It’s not a bad result against a team like Al Sadd, especially when they were the ones who were try-ing to equalise. We competed with 100 percent of our abilities, and all I can say now is that we will be more determined in the following matches.”

Al Sadd’s Boualem Khoukhi (left) celebrates his equaliser during the AFC Champions League Group D opener against Foolad Khouzestan on Wednesday.

Al Rayyan’s Blanc regrets missing out on Champions League win

AFCGoa, India

Laurent Blanc’s Al Rayyan had plenty of chances to score but failed to capital-

ise as FC Goa, who had limited opportunities upfront, kept their opponents at bay in the AFC Champions League Group E opener on Wednesday.Blanc cited that Goa showed re-silience and the humidity played a part in Al Rayyan’s inability to find the net in the goalless draw.“The weather and humidity played a huge impact on Al Rayyan’s level of performance today,” said Blanc. “We did not take advantage of the oppor-tunities at the beginning of the match and that made our task even more diff icult.”“Of course that gave Goa the confidence despite we control-ling 70 per cent of the match.“We could have achieved vic-tory, but there was no exploita-tion of the opportunities we had. We lost two points today, and we have to win against Persepolis.”Despite the points being shared at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Stadium, Goa head coach Juan Ferrando’s charges created history as they announced their arrival into the AFC Champions League group stage.“We played against a very good team today, against Laurent Blanc, who won the FIFA World Cup in 1998,” said Ferrando. “I’m happy with this point but overall, we need to improve in certain aspects of our game.“We need to work on our of-fensive approach. This is the AFC Champions League and it’s necessary to prepare ourselves for the best in Asia.”Ferrando has been associ-ated with the Indian football ecosystem for a year and the 40-year-old Spaniard explained the importance of this milestone for Goa and Indian football.“This is a good moment for us and especially Indian football. Five, six years ago when you’re talking about Indian football it was diff erent. We have to go step by step and continue im-proving. This is not our limit and we have to improve more.”Blanc’s men will face Iran’s Persepolis tomorrow, while FC Goa will take on UAE’s Al Wahda.

Al Rayyan’s Naif al-Hadhrami (left), Khalid Muftah (centre) and Yacine Brahimi during the AFC Champions League match against FC Goa on Wednesday.

ReutersMadrid, Spain

After a trophyless 2019-2020 season, Barcelona will be hoping tomorrow’s

Copa del Rey fi nal against Athletic Bilbao will fi nally give them a chance to not only end their barren run but also silence a growing number of critics.

So far this season their hopes of European glory were wrecked by a rampant Paris St Germain in the last 16, while they lost the Super Cup fi nal to Bilbao in January.

The Catalans, who are third in La Liga, handed Real Madrid the initiative in the title run-in following a 2-1 defeat in last weekend’s El Clasico.

With Lionel Messi’s future still up in the air, many fans and critics believe that win-ning the Copa fi nal could be of pivotal importance as Barca look to turn a corner.

They need to regain that feeling of winning trophies, which will help convince Mes-

si his future lies in Catalonia.Coach Ronald Koeman,

whose last triumph as a man-ager came with AZ Alkmaar in the 2009 Johan Cruyff Shield, also has a point to prove after many near misses.

In their way stands a Bilbao side reeling from losing last season’s delayed Copa fi nal to Basque rivals Real Sociedad only two weeks ago.

Bilbao are known for up-ping their game against the big boys, and coach Marcelino Garcia masterminded Valen-cia’s 2019 Copa del Rey fi nal triumph over the Catalans, as well as January’s Super Cup success.

Bilbao, who have not won the Copa title since 1984, will take confi dence from the way they outplayed Barca that night at the same Cartuja Sta-dium in Seville where they will face off this weekend.

Win or lose, Bilbao are mov-ing in the right direction under Marcelino. But if Barca slip up and potentially fi nish another season trophyless, the bigger question will be where do they go from here?

ReutersMadrid, Spain

Atletico Madrid will bid to get their stuttering title challenge back on track when they host bottom

club Eibar on Sunday.Atletico held a 10-point lead at

the start of February but that ad-vantage over local rivals Real Ma-drid is now just a point, with Bar-celona two back in third place, and they can ill-aff ord any more slip-ups if they are to claim a fi rst La Liga crown since 2014.

Diego Simeone’s side have won just one of their last four league games but captain Koke said if they can remain mentally strong they will be well-placed to hold off their rivals during the run-in.

“We’re still top of the league, and while we’ve got a number of injuries we can’t use that as an excuse,” he said.

“We’ve got a great squad and we’re having a great season. It’s something mental from this point on, the desire we have to win tro-phies. This is what motivates us.

“We feel strong, we’ve got a great group with top players and if were remain strong mentally then we will achieve our objectives.”

‘Atleti’ will be without forward

Luis Suarez, who has a calf prob-lem, for the visit of the Basques. Joao Felix, Thomas Lemar and Ki-eran Trippier will all undergo late fitness tests after missing training in midweek.

Reigning champions Real, who are on a run of 14 unbeaten in all competitions, look primed to take advantage of any slip ups.

They are riding the crest of a wave

after last weekend’s ‘Clasico’ vic-tory against Barcelona last weekend before seeing off Liverpool to book a place in the Champions League semi-fi nals on Wednesday.

Real travel to Getafe on Sunday without long-term absentees Sergio Ramos and Lucas Vazquez, while Dani Carvajal and Eden Hazard re-main doubtful as they continue to recover from muscle issues.

Atletico Madrid will be without their Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez (centre) when they host Eibar on Sunday. (AFP)

FOOTBALL3Gulf Times

Friday, April 16, 2021

Mourinho focused on top-four battle, not League Cup

Race for Champions League spots hots up in Serie A

Dortmund out to rescue rollercoaster season against Werder

Bielsa denies he is close to signing new contract with Leeds

PREMIER LEAGUE

SPOTLIGHT

BUNDESLIGA

FOCUS

Tottenham are seventh, six points behind fourth-placed West Ham United

ReutersRome, Italy

With the Serie A title race all but over after Inter Milan pulled 11 points clear at the top last

weekend, the chasing pack targeting Champions League spots promise to provide a thrilling conclusion to the season in Italy.

Four points separate AC Milan in second place from Napoli in fi fth, while Lazio sit four points further back with a game in hand.

AS Roma, one point behind their rivals, cannot be counted out of the top four race quite yet.

What makes the six-team battle for three Champions League spots so open is the number of head-to-head clashes that await in the fi nal eight rounds, starting with third-placed Juventus’ trip to Atalanta on Sunday.

The Bergamo club have achieved astonishing success in recent years, reaching the Champions League knockout stages in back-to-back seasons since a club record third-placed fi nish in 2018/19, a feat they

repeated the following year.Going one better and reaching

the runners-up spot is a realistic objective this season for a club with the 11th-highest wage budget in the division.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s entertain-ing side are the league’s top scor-ers this season, with 71 goals in 30 matches, and go into the game against Juventus in fourth place, one point behind the champions and on a four-match league win-ning run.

For Juventus coach Andrea Pirlo, the pressure is on to avoid a result that could plunge his team back into crisis.

Pirlo came in for fi erce criticism after picking up one point from games against lowly Benevento and Torino either side of the interna-tional break.

Back-to-back wins against Na-poli and Genoa were a good re-sponse but the critics will be ready to pounce again if Pirlo’s side fall in Bergamo.

Juventus could do with some help from their rivals Inter, who are looking for a 12th straight league win when they travel to Napoli on Sunday.

A Juve defeat would hand Gen-naro Gattuso’s side the chance to draw level with the Turin club with a win, and plunge Pirlo’s Champi-ons League qualifi cation hopes into doubt once more.

The chance of top four rivals dropping points make it imperative for AC Milan, Lazio and Roma to get wins against bottom-half oppo-nents Genoa, Benevento and Torino respectively.

Only one round of fi xtures be-tween now and the end of the sea-son will not feature a head-to-head clash between top seven teams, and coming out on top in these games will be crucial due to the league for-mat.

If two teams fi nish the season level on points, the ranking is de-termined by head-to-head record rather than goal diff erence.

This rule adds another layer of intrigue to match-ups like Juven-tus against Atalanta, as their first meeting of the season ended in a 1-1 draw.

With a single point separating the teams, a win in Bergamo could be worth more than just three points come the season’s end.

ReutersLondon, United Kingdom

This month’s League Cup fi nal off ers Tottenham Hotspur a chance to salvage something from

a season that has unravelled alarmingly but manager Jose Mourinho says fi nishing in the Premier League top four is the immediate focus.

A 3-1 home defeat by Man-chester United last weekend put a huge dent in Spurs’ hopes of fi n-ishing in the top four and today’s clash at Everton now looks like a match they cannot aff ord to lose if they are to stay in the race.

The loss to United left Tot-tenham in seventh, six points behind fourth-placed West Ham United and only one point above Everton, who have a game in hand, in the race for Euro-pean places ahead of the clash at Goodison Park.

“Of course the Goodison match is very important. The distance between the two teams is very, very short. Of course they have one match in hand,” Mourinho told reporters.

“They have similar objectives to us. They are going to fi ght with us, and with other clubs, to try the best possible position, and see if we and them can get a European position.”

After the Everton game, Spurs host Southampton in the league before the Wembley clash with Manchester City in the League Cup fi nal when the London club will be trying to lift their fi rst silverware since they won the trophy against Chelsea in 2008.

“Independent of the result at Goodison, and the result against Southampton, as you say, big nine days and the nine days are going to end with a cup fi nal,”

Mourinho, who was hired spe-cifi cally to end the club’s trophy drought, said.

“We need to separate the wa-ters. We need to say: the cup fi -nal is important, but is not the match tomorrow, we need to focus totally on a very diffi cult match.”

Tottenham took the lead against Manchester United but conceded three goals in the sec-

ond half. They have now con-ceded 18 points from winning positions this season and Mour-inho was again asked why they cannot hold on to leads.

“A team that starts matches well and starts winning match-es means something positive, means something positive that (the media) like to forget — the positive aspect of that,” he said.

“But I agree with you in the

sense that if you’re in winning positions and you lose points from winning positions, there are also negative things side-by-side to it.”

Pushed to explain, he added: “That’s what I’m not ready to discuss with you. I think it has to do with some of our qualities as a team but I’m not ready to dis-cuss with you.”

Mourinho has a virtually full-

strength squad ahead of Friday with only full backs Matt Do-herty and Ben Davies unavail-able.

“After 51 matches or so, in the last couple of months of the season to arrive in this situation with only two players injured, we cannot complain because the work has been good and the squad as a whole is in good con-dition,” he said.

Tottenham Hotspur’s head coach Jose Mourinho (second from right) reacts after Manchester United’s 3-1 win in the Premier League in London on Sunday. The home defeat put a huge dent in Spurs’ hopes on finishing in the top four. (AFP)

Everton’s Calvert-Lewin to miss Spurs clash, says AncelottiReutersLondon, United Kingdom

Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin will miss today’s Premier League game at home to Totten-

ham Hotspur as he recovers from injury, but goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and midfielders Allan and Andre Gomes are available, manager Carlo Ancelotti said yesterday.Calvert-Lewin, Everton’s top-scorer with 19 goals this season, was side-

lined for Monday’s 0-0 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion due to an abductor problem, but is expected to return in time for their trip to Arsenal next week.“Available for the game are Pickford, Al-lan, Joshua King and Gomes,” Ancelotti told a news conference. “In the next week we are going to have Calvert-Lewin, Yerry Mina, Fabian Delph and Bernard.“It will be longer for Jean-Philippe Gbamin and Abdoulaye Doucoure. Gbamin doesn’t need surgery but he will

be out for at least eight weeks.”Everton are eighth in the Premier League on 48 points from 30 games, but victory at Goodison would ensure they leapfrog seventh-placed Tottenham and move to within one point of champions Liverpool, who are sixth.Ancelotti expects the race for European qualification to go down to the wire.“All the games are vital,” the Italian said. “We have to play against teams who are fighting with us for the position.“To judge our season, we have to wait until the end. It could be fantastic if we

reach Europe. It could be a good season if we don’t. I think it will go to the last game. Lots of teams have inconsistent results.”Ancelotti also sympathised with his Spurs counterpart Jose Mourinho, who has come under increasing pressure following the London club’s slide down the standings.“Every manager tries to do his best,” he said. “I am not able to judge Mourinho’s job. In my opinion he always does a fantastic job. Pressure on a manager is normal.”

AC Milan players celebrate a goal during the Serie A match against Parma in Parma, Italy, on Saturday. AC Milan are second in the standings, and only four points separate them and fifth-placed Napoli. (Reuters)

ReutersBerlin, Germany

Borussia Dortmund have their backs to the wall in the Bundesliga and host Werder Bremen on Sun-

day knowing only a win will do if they are to have any chance of salvaging something from their rollercoaster season.

Dortmund were eliminated in the Champions League quarter-fi nals by Manchester City on Wednesday and their hopes of playing in Europe’s elite club competition next season are slipping away.

The Ruhr valley club’s incon-sistent domestic campaign has seen them drop to fi fth place on 46 points, seven off fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt, with six matches remaining.

The top four fi nishers advance to next season’s lucrative Cham-pions League group stage.

Coach Edin Terzic, who makes way for Borussia Moencheng-ladbach’s Marco Rose next sea-son, has done an admirable job in righting the ship after taking over from Lucien Favre in mid-season.

He has also led them to the Ger-man Cup semi-fi nals but is now

faced with a season-ending sprint.“We will pick ourselves up

now and pull ourselves together,” Terzic said after Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to Manchester City.

“We will collect ourselves and recover and on Sunday we will give it everything we have so that we get another chance to do this again next year.”

Missing out on the Champions League would be a major blow for the club and likely trigger the de-parture of some of their biggest players.

Striker Erling Haaland, cur-rently at the top of the transfer list for most major European clubs, is unlikely to stay for Eu-ropa League football.

England international Jadon Sancho has also been linked with a move to the Premier League next season.

Haaland’s agent and his father have already initiated talks with other clubs, including Barcelo-na, but the striker has suddenly stopped scoring.

While the Norwegian has bagged 33 goals in all competi-tions this season, he has now gone seven games without a goal for club and country and he must immediately end his dry spell if Dortmund are to have a chance of a top-four fi nish.

AFPLondon

Marcelo Bielsa pushed back yester-day on a report from his native Argentina

last weekend he is “very close” to signing a new two-year contract with Leeds United.

The 65-year-old former Ar-gentina national coach has earned plaudits for the style of football the historic club have played on their return to the elite following a 16-year hiatus.

A 2-1 win over runaway leaders Manchester City last Saturday when Leeds played with 10 men for the whole of the second-half rubber-stamped the impact they have had.

Argentinian daily newspaper La Nacion claimed last weekend the club and Bielsa were “very close” to reaching an agreement.

Bielsa signed his present 12-month contract one week be-fore this season began.

“That information is not real,” said Bielsa at a press conference yesterday. “I ignore the origin. Those things, either the club can say or I can say it, we are the ones who possess the information.

“In all cases, if there was any information to give, then I would give it.”

The victory over City lifted

Leeds into the top half of the table, 10th spot nine points off Chelsea who occupy the Europa League place.

Leeds host Liverpool at Elland Road on Monday, when they will bid to record a fourth straight win in the top fl ight for the fi rst time in 20 years.

Bielsa played down what he had achieved at the club since taking over in 2018 even though if they do fi nish in the top half it will be for the fi rst time since 2001-02.

“I have always said the dimen-sion of the institution at Leeds is very big,” he said. “The sport-ing past of Leeds is full of high points.

“To win four games in a row in the Premier League compared to all the things Leeds has achieved of course gives us great happi-ness, but if you compare it to the past, it’s not so big.

“To be able to be at the height of the past, some extraordinary things need to be done and we are quite far away from that.”

CRICKETGulf Times Friday, April 16, 20214

Big money Morris rescues Rajasthan for fi rst IPL win‘I WAS PRAYING INSIDE, MORRIS CAN YOU PLEASE GET ONE SIX’

Mulani joins Delhi as short-term Covid-19 replacement

REPORT

FOCUS

AFPMumbai

Chris Morris hit an un-beaten 36 off 18 balls to take Rajasthan Royals to an unlikely three-wick-

et victory over Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League yesterday.

Chasing 148 for victory, Ra-jasthan, who lost key player Ben Stokes due to a broken fi nger in their opening defeat on Monday, were in trouble at 104-7 when David Miller got out after his blazing 62 in Mumbai.

But Morris took charge and put on an unbeaten 46-run stand with Jaydev Unadkat, who hit 11, to smash four big sixes in-cluding two in the fi nal over off Tom Curran as Rajasthan won with two balls to spare.

“There are guys that get paid to bat and guys that get paid to slog, and I know which I am,” said Morris, who became the most expensive player in IPL history when Rajasthan bought him for $2.25 million in Febru-ary’s auction.

“For us to get as close on the day, we took a lot out of that fi rst game of ours. Nice to know we can win from anywhere after be-ing down in the dumps.”

The South African all-round-er was at the non-striker’s end on Monday when skipper Sanju Samson hit a blistering 119 but got out on the fi nal ball as Rajas-than lost by four runs to Punjab.

The 33-year-old Morris proved his worth with a wicket off his pace bowling and batting at number eight. Delhi’s Avesh Khan claimed three wickets while Chris Woakes and Kagiso Rabada took two each.

The pace trio had sent Ra-jasthan slipping to 42-5 before Miller’s 43-ball blitz. “We had Miller and Morris, but I thought it was tough,” admitted Samson. “I was praying inside, Morris can you please get one six.”

Earlier Unadkat claimed three wickets and Bangladesh’s Mus-tafi zur Rahman took two to re-strict Delhi to 147-8 despite a 32-ball 51 from skipper Rishabh Pant. “I think I have a lot of ex-perience now. This was kind of

a homecoming for me, I would like to bowl with the freedom I got with the new ball,” Unadkat said.

“This time I didn’t get the fi rst game so I knew when the chances came, I’d have to take them. Worked out really well today. If you see the stats, I think I only bowled about 4 or 5 change of pace. It was the wick-ets I got that’s why it seemed

like I bowled more, but it was about hitting the hard lengths today. There was moisture and I made use of it today. (Mar-riage) changes you as a person as whole, won the Ranji after I was engaged. I feel calmer, more settled. I think it’s working,” the pacer said.

Delhi captain Pant also praised his bowlers.

“I think the bowlers did a re-

ally good job in the start, but we let them get over us in the end. We could have bowled better. Dew got the better of us. I think we were 15-20 runs short. But there is something to gain from this match, the bowlers did well at the start. Hopefully in the future we can pull things off . I think in the second innings there was more dew than the fi rst in-nings so we had to be doing our

part, because the slower ball wasn’t stopping,” Pant said.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings face Pun-jab Kings in Mumbai today.

BRIEF SCORESDelhi Capitals 147 for 8 (Pant 51, Unadkat 3-15) lost to Rajasthan Royals 150 for 7 (Miller 62, Morris 36*, Avesh 3-32) by three wickets.

IPLHarare

Shams Mulani joins Delhi Capitals as short-term Covid-19 replacement for Axar Patel; Anirudha Joshi

replaces injured Shreyas Iyer.Delhi Capitals have brought

in Shams Mulani as a short-term Covid-19 replacement for Axar Patel for their VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 cam-paign.

Axar had tested positive for the virus during his mandatory quarantine ahead of the season and was subsequently taken to BCCI’s medical facility for isola-tion and treatment.

Mulani, a left-handed bats-man and a slow left-arm ortho-dox bowler from Mumbai, comes in as a replacement under VIVO IPL’s Player Regulations.

Under the Regulation 6.1 (c), franchises are allowed to sign a short-term replacement player

until the original squad mem-ber is permitted to re-enter the team’s bio-secure environment. Hence, Mulani will only be a part of the Delhi Capitals side until Axar recovers and is allowed to join the team.

Mulani represents Mumbai in domestic cricket and has fea-tured in 10 First-Class, 30 List A and 25 T20s so far. This will be his maiden experience at the VIVO IPL.

However, Mulani will not be permitted to represent another IPL franchise this season once he leaves the Delhi Capitals.

Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals have also signed Anirudha Joshi as a replacement for the injured Shreyas Iyer for the remainder of the VIVO IPL 2021.

Iyer was ruled out of the tournament after sustaining an injury during the recent India-England One-Day International (ODI) series.

Joshi, a middle-order bats-man and an off -spinner, joins his third IPL team, having been a part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals in the past. He represents Karna-taka in domestic cricket and has featured in 17 List A and 22 T20 matches so far.

Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli has been reprimanded after hitting a plastic chair with his bat fol-lowing his dismissal during an Indian Premier League match.Kohli made 33 in Banga-lore’s second successive win this season of the popular Twenty20 tournament after they edged out Sunrisers Hy-derabad by six runs in Chennai on Wednesday.But the star batsman was charged for breaching the IPL’s code of conduct that relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during a match”.TV cameras picked up Kohli’s tantrum as he kicked an adver-tising cushion and then vented his frustration on the chair af-ter falling to Hyderabad’s West

Indian import Jason Holder.But the Indian captain escaped a fine. Ex-India opener Gautam Gambhir was docked 15 per-cent of his match fee in 2016 for a similar off ence in the IPL.Cricket fans on social media slammed superstar Kohli’s ir-responsible on-field behaviour.“Omg. Shocking. How is [the] chair responsible for Virat Kohli’s failure in batting? I hope school level young lads don’t see these visuals as it will impact the future of Indian cricket adversely,” a fan wrote on Twitter.Kohli’s side topped the IPL table as they search for their maiden title in the 14th edition of the tournament, which is being played behind closed doors because of the coronavi-rus pandemic. (AFP)

Kohli reprimanded for IPL temper tantrum

Stokes makes English cricket history with Wisden awardAFPLondon

Ben Stokes has be-come the fi rst England cricketer to be named the prestigious Wisden

Leading Cricketer in the World twice since it came into being in 2004.

The 29-year-old all-rounder won the award for a second suc-cessive year due to scoring more Test runs than any other bats-man in 2020, with 641 in seven matches, while also taking 19 wickets.

The New Zealand-born star averaged 58.27 in Tests, includ-ing 120 against South Africa and 176 against West Indies, while his 19 wickets came at an aver-age of just 18.73.

The award may boost his spirits after he was ruled out of the lucrative Indian Premier League on Tuesday due to a bro-ken fi nger.

Australian batting specialist Beth Mooney was named the leading woman cricketer in the world.

The 27-year-old was named player of the tournament in the

2020 Women’s T20 World Cup, scoring 78 not out in the fi nal as Australia beat India.

She was also the most prolifi c scorer in the 2020-21 Women’s Big Bash League.

Kent all-rounder Darren Ste-vens became the oldest person since 1933 to be named as one

of Wisden’s fi ve Cricketers of the Year.

Stevens, 44, who made a century in last week’s opening round of county championship matches, is the fourth-oldest recipient of the award, which dates back to 1889.

England batsmen Zak Craw-

ley and Dom Sibley, Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohamed Rizwan and former West Indies captain Jason Holder join Stevens on the 2021 list.

Holder is acknowledged for being “a giant both on and off the fi eld” last summer when West Indies toured England

during the coronavirus lock-down.

He led his side’s support of the Black Lives Matter move-ment in taking a knee before each Test and also took 6-42 in the fi rst innings of the fi rst Test at Southampton, which West Indies won by four wickets.

HONOUR

Chris Morris of Rajasthan Royals plays a shot during match 7 of the Vivo Indian Premier League 2021 against the Delhi Capitals at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai yesterday. (Sportzpics for IPL)

Maxwell lives up to big Bangalore price tagReutersChennai

Glenn Maxwell proved Royal Challengers Ban-galore made no mistake in splashing out $1.89

million for his signature after the explosive all-rounder inspired them to a second successive victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday.

Maxwell’s batting incon-sistency had prompted Punjab Kings to release the Australian in January ahead of the 2021 play-ers auction, clearing a path for Bangalore to scoop him up and bolster their bid for a maiden IPL title.

The 32-year-old began re-paying his huge price tag with a breezy 39 in their tournament opening win against defend-ing champions Mumbai Indians and he followed that up against Sunrisers Hyderabad with 59 off 41 balls.

Bangalore top the points ta-ble with two wins from two, and Maxwell, who has also played for Mumbai and Delhi, was delight-ed to have made an immediate impact.

“To start like this with a new

franchise has been really nice, but to contribute to two wins has probably been the most satisfy-ing thing,” he said after being named man of the match.

It was his fi rst IPL fi fty in fi ve years and Maxwell said batting at number four, ahead of versa-tile South African AB de Villiers, allowed him to play freely.

“Having AB behind you in the order gives you a bit more free-dom to play your shots, gives me time to get myself in and that’s a very similar role I play for the Australian team – so that’s been great,” Maxwell said.

“It’s my fourth IPL team and there’s obviously a bit of pres-sure on me for me, so to turn up and make my impact straight away was really key.”

Hyderabad, led by fellow Aus-tralian David Warner, restricted Bangalore to 149-8 and looked on course to chase down the to-tal before eventually fi nishing on 143-9.

Warner tipped his hat to Maxwell but said Hyderabad’s batsmen had let the side down as they slumped to a second suc-cessive defeat.

“Obviously Maxi batted well, but our bowlers did well to re-strict them... It hurts.”

SPOTLIGHT

Delhi Capitals have also signed Anirudha Joshi as a replacement for the injured Shreyas Iyer for the remainder of the IPL

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Glenn Maxwell (right) in action against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday. (Sportzpics for IPL)

SPORT5Gulf Times

Friday, April 16, 2021

Sixers win battle for top spot, Doncic hits clutch winner

Knights drop Kings as Fleury moves up wins list

NBA

NHL

AFPLos Angeles

Joel Embiid fi nished with 39 points as the Philadelphia 76ers won the battle for fi rst place in the Eastern Conference, holding on to beat the

short-handed Brooklyn Nets 123-117 on Wednesday.

Philadelphia, who are seeking their fi rst NBA championship since 1983, are looking to earn the top seed and home court advantage in the postseason and Wednesday’s win gives them the upper hand, at least for now, over the second-place Nets. The 76ers improved to 38-17 on the season, just one game ahead of Brooklyn at 37-18. Embiid also shot 13-of-29 from the fl oor and pulled down 13 rebounds as the 76ers saw their 22-point lead slashed to just three in the fourth.

Tobias Harris added 26 points and Ben Simmons fi nished with 17 points, nine

assists and three steals for the Sixers, who won their third straight. Shake Milton had 15 points.

The depleted Nets played without of-fensive star James Harden, who is re-covering from a strained hamstring, and Kevin Durant who sits out when the team has games on back-to-back nights. Du-rant had eight turnovers in his last game, a one-sided 126-101 loss to the Los Ange-les Lakers.

Kyrie Irving led the Nets with 37 points and nine assists while Landry Shamet added 17 points and Jeff Green had 15. Bruce Brown scored 14, and DeAndre Jordan fi nished with 12 points and 14 re-bounds. Irving was a late addition to the lineup after he took time off for “personal reasons.”

The Nets have been playing with all or a portion of their “Big Three” out for most of the season but they are hoping that everyone gets healthy for the postseason. With the Sixers up by double digits in the

second half, Embiid was hoping to have an early night and rest for the fourth quar-ter. But the Nets had other plans, mak-ing a late run to cut a 22-point lead to just three. “The last three games I sat out the fourth and I thought it would be the same. We made a bunch of mistakes and turned the ball over. It can happen,” said Embiid.

Elsewhere, Luka Doncic delivered an-other clutch game winner, sinking an off -balance three pointer to beat the buzzer and lift the Dallas Mavericks to a 114-113 win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

Doncic scored 25 of his 29 points in the second half and fi nished with nine as-sists to help Dallas end a two-game los-ing streak. Kristaps Porzingis chipped in 21 points for the Mavericks. “I was kind of falling down. It’s kind of lucky, but we’ll take it,” Doncic said. Doncic scored the Mavericks’ fi nal six points of the contest

with a layup, free throw and then capping his incredible performance with a falling three pointer. “He’s a really hard cover and that why he’s an MVP candidate. He turned it on in the second half and I give him a lot of credit,” Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said of Doncic.

Seventh place Dallas gave themselves a bit of a buff er with the victory, extending their lead in the standings to 2 1/2 games over the eighth-place Grizzlies.

“The last play was amazing. You look at the last minute or so. In those situations, you pull off a miracle in a game like that once in a blue moon. It just doesn’t hap-pen very often,” said Dallas coach Rick Carlisle. Also, Khris Middleton scored a team high 27 points as the Milwaukee Bucks led wire-to-wire and won their second straight game without star Gian-nis Antetokounmpo in a 130-105 demoli-

tion of the Minnesota Timberwolves.Middleton also had eight rebounds and

seven assists in just over 25 minutes of playing time as he seized control of the off ense, with Antetokounmpo missing his sixth consecutive contest with a sore knee. The Bucks improved to 34-20 on the season and are 3-3 in games without the two-time NBA MVP.

Anthony Edwards scored 24 points to lead the Timberwolves, who lost while playing without two-time all-star Karl-Anthony Towns for the second straight day. Rookie Towns was out after he re-portedly opted out of playing against the Nets to spend time with his family on the one-year anniversary of his mother’s death due to Covid-19. Towns’ mother was one of seven family members who died from complications of the coronavi-rus in 2020.

ReutersLos Angeles

Max Pacioretty and Tomas Nosek both collected one goal and two assists to pace the visiting Vegas Golden Knights to a 6-2 victory over the Los

Angeles Kings on Wednesday.Mark Stone and Alex Tuch netted one goal

and one assist apiece in the win, and Chandler Stephenson and Alex Pietrangelo added goals as the Golden Knights won their fourth straight game.Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves for Vegas, which completed the season series with Los Angeles having won six of eight clashes.

It was also Fleury’s 485th career regular-sea-son win, moving out of a tie with Ed Belfour and into sole possession of fourth on the all-time list. He trails only Martin Brodeur (691), Patrick Roy (551) and Roberto Luongo (489). Trevor Moore scored both goals for the Kings, who lost their second straight game. Adrian Kempe had two assists.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick surrendered three goals on eight shots in the fi rst period before being pulled in favor of Calvin Petersen, who stopped 21 shots in relief.

Nosek opened the scoring with his fourth goal in seven games and the fi rst of three the Golden Knights tallied in the fi rst period. After being sprung on a rush, he blasted a shot from the wing at the 7:18 mark. A minute after the midway point of the frame, Tuch made it 2-0 by rifl ing a top-shelf shot over Quick’s glove hand to net his 15th goal of the season.

After Moore netted his fi rst of the night on a

power play thanks to a shot that ricocheted off a defender at the 13:38 mark, Pacioretty restored Vegas’ two-goal edge with a lucky tally. Pa-cioretty simply lifted a backhander from outside the blue line. The puck took a hop just before it reached Quick and bounced into the net for his team-high 21st goal of the season.

Stephenson made it a 4-1 aff air when he wired a fi ve-hole shot off the rush with 4:13 left in the second period, only to see Moore notch his sec-ond of the game late in the middle frame thanks to a partial breakaway created by a long pass from Kempe.

The Golden Knights kept pouring it on after the second intermission.

Stone extended the lead at the 5:28 mark of the third period when he took a drop pass from Pacioretty as he hit the slot and blasted a shot, and then Pietrangelo snapped a 12-game goal drought when his point shot defl ected off a de-fender up and over Petersen to round out the scoring at 10:53 of the period.

STOLARZ, DUCKS DEFEAT SHARKS FOR SECOND STRAIGHT GAME

Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves to lead the visit-ing Anaheim Ducks to their second straight win

against the San Jose Sharks, 4-1 on Wednesday night. Stolarz set a franchise record on Monday for most saves in a shutout when he stopped 46 shots in a 4-0 win against the Sharks. He has made four starts for the Ducks this season and 21 over his four-year NHL career.

Alexander Volkov and Derek Grant each had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Ducks, whose only wins in the past eight games have come in San Jose.

Erik Karlsson scored a 6-on-5 goal at 17:44 of third period to spoil Stolarz’s chance for a sec-ond straight shutout. Josef Korenar made his fi rst NHL start for the Sharks and fi nished with 23 saves.

San Jose missed a chance to pull closer in the West Division playoff race, remaining four points back of the fourth-place St. Louis Blues.

Getzlaf, who missed four of the previous fi ve games with a back injury, gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead at 8:08 of the fi rst period.

Erik Karlsson tried to pass the puck through his legs after the Ducks dumped it in deep. Troy Terry intercepted the puck, however, and brought it to the side of the net. He centered a pass to Getzlaf, who chipped it in the net.

Grant, playing in his 300th NHL game, mus-cled to the front of the San Jose net and redirect-ed a point shot from Josh Manson for a 2-0 lead at 2:29 of the second period.

Volkov also scored from in front of the net when he found an opening and slapped in a feed from Max Comtois to make it 3-0 at 13:40 of the second period.

Jakob Silfverberg scored with 30 seconds left to make it 4-1. Volkov has fi ve points (four goals, one assist) in seven games since he was acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 24.

‘I WAS KIND OF FALLING DOWN. IT’S KIND OF LUCKY, BUT WE’LL TAKE IT’

RESULTS

Memphis 113-114 Dallas

Denver 123-106 Miami

Houston 124-132 Indiana

Golden State 147-109 Oklahoma

Clippers 100-98 Detroit

Toronto 117-112 San Antonio

Washington 123-111 Sacramento

Orlando 115-106 Chicago

Milwaukee 130-105 Minnesota

New York 116-106 New Orleans

Cleveland 103-90 Charlotte

Philadelphia 123-117 Brooklyn

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (second left) celebrates with teammates after shooting a game winning three point shot against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. (USA TODAY Sports)

Nearly perfect, White Sox’s Rodon no-hits IndiansReutersChicago

Left-hander Carlos Ro-don pitched the 20th no-hitter in Chicago White Sox franchise history on

Wednesday, striking out seven and allowing one hit batsman to defeat the visiting Cleveland Indians 8-0.

Rodon (2-0) retired 27 of the 28 batters he faced, including the fi rst 25. He lost his bid for the fourth perfect game in franchise history with one out in the ninth, hitting Cleveland’s Roberto Pe-rez on the foot with a 1-2 slider.

The next batter, Yu Chang, was called out on strikes, and Jordan Luplow bounced out to third baseman Yoan Moncada to end the game.

White Sox fi rst baseman Jose Abreu preserved the mile-stone one batter before Perez reached base. Abreu lunged with his foot to touch the bag and record an unassisted putout as a sliding Josh Naylor tried to beat out a grounder down the line.

“That was awesome. A full team eff ort,” Rodon said. “I can’t believe it. I can’t.”

After scoring just three fi rst-inning runs in the fi rst 11 games of the season, the White Sox erupted against Cleveland right-hander Zach Plesac, reaching him for six runs on seven hits – including three for extra bases – in a career-low two-thirds of an in-ning.

Moncada opened the scoring with an RBI single to provide Ro-don with all the off ense he would need. Yermin Mercedes smacked a three-run home run two pitch-es later before Leury Garcia (double) and Nick Madrigal (sin-gle) punctuated the rally with run-scoring hits. So much for the dominance of Chicago that Plesac (1-2) enjoyed last season.

The native of nearby Crown Point, Ind., pitched to a 1.74 ERA in three starts against the White Sox in 2020 with 25 strikeouts and four runs allowed in 20 2/3

innings. Returning to the ro-tation two nights after he was scratched from a scheduled start due to a stomach issue, Rodon pitched eff ectively before and after Chicago’s big rally en route to the team’s fi rst no-hitter since Lucas Giolito did the trick on August 25.

Rodon pitched to contact for much of the night, as he didn’t record a strikeout until getting Luplow swinging leading off the fourth.

“He got into a rhythm and just got stronger as the game went,” said Indians manager Terry Francona.

Rodon retired Luplow on a fl y-out to left fi eld on the fi rst pitch of the game before reaching the fi rst of his six three-ball counts one batter later. Rodon appeared to be in particular peril after fall-ing behind Jose Ramirez 3-1 with

two outs in the seventh, but he recovered to get Ramirez on a fl yout to left.

“A lot of work, a lot of peo-ple, a lot of help went into this to come back,” said Rodon, who has a history of injuries and was non-tendered a contract in De-cember. “I’m happy I’m here again. I’m blessed.”

Mercedes had three hits and three RBIs to boost Chicago’s 12-hit attack. Luis Robert had two hits and an RBI.The no-hit-ter was the second of the young season. San Diego Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove beat the Texas Rangers 3-0 on Friday.

MLB

RESULTS

Golden Knights 6-2 Kings

Avalanche 4-3 Blues

Wild 5-2 Coyotes

Flames 4-1 Canadiens

Jets 3-2 Senators

Ducks 4-1 Sharks

RESULTS

White Sox 8-0 Indians

Rangers 5-1 Rays

Tigers 6-4 Astros

Brewers 7-0 Cubs

Blue Jays 5-4 Yankees

Nationals 6-0 Cardinals

Royals 6-1 Angels

Giants 3-0 Reds

Marlins 6-5 Braves

Dodgers 4-2 Rockies

Red Sox 3-2 Twins

Red Sox 7-1 Twins

Pirates 5-1 Padres

Mets 5-1 Phillies

Chicago White Sox starting pitcher Carlos Rodon reacts after delivering a final out against the Cleveland Indians during the ninth inning at Guaran-teed Rate Field in Chicago. (USA TODAY Sports)

Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (left) and defenseman Nicolas Hague celebrate their 6-2 victory against the Los Angeles Kings in Los Angeles. (USA TODAY Sports)

SPORTGulf Times Friday, April 16, 20216

Saso and Altomare set early pace at Kapolei

Mercedes admit Red Bull ‘edge’ ahead of Imola showdown

GOLF

MOTORSPORT

AFPImola

Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team expect Max Verstappen and Red Bull to bounce back and

give them a torrid test of speed at this weekend’s Emilia Ro-magna Grand Prix, the second round of this year’s world cham-pionship.

Three weeks on from the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, where Hamilton dug deep into his reserves to conjure up his record 96th Formula One victory ahead of the Dutch-man, the seven-time champion knows it will be a challenge to repeat his 2020 win at the old Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was delighted to see Ham-ilton triumph in the opener, but said Mercedes must still some-how match the superior speed of this season’s Red Bull car.

“We may have won the fi rst round, but we are under no illu-sions that this is going to be an easy season,” he said.

“Our car still lacks speed on a single lap and Red Bull have the edge at the moment.”

In Bahrain, Verstappen se-cured pole by three-tenths, but Hamilton made the most of strategy and race-craft to win, with the aid of a costly error by the Dutchman, by just seven-tenths of a second.

Hamilton’s Bahrain victory showcased not only his speed, but his experience and supreme race-management, qualities that he will need again this sea-son to fend off the challenge for his crown from Verstappen.

Hamilton rode his luck to win the 2020 Emilia Romagna race at Imola with some aplomb - and the help of a timely Safety Car intervention - last November as he roared towards the drivers’ title.

His win was the third triumph in a run of fi ve as he took advan-tage of Mercedes’ superiority and team-mate Valtteri Bottas’s ill fortune to take command of the title race on the narrow and bumpy old track, back in use for the fi rst time since 2006.

“Nothing changes,” said

Hamilton yesterday as he looked ahead to facing Verstappen again.

“We approach each weekend in exactly the same way as in the past. It is exciting for us to have such a challenge.”

Hamilton also hailed Sebas-tian Vettel as his favourite For-mula One rival over the years.

“I’ve got a really bad memory but I’m going to say mine and Seb’s battles are my favourite so

far,” said Hamilton, the sport’s most successful driver of all time, whose main rival is now Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

“Knowing that I was racing against an incredible driver, and not only that but a great man in Seb...and we were racing against another team, he was at Fer-rari who were very strong at the time.

“It took a lot out of both of us in that period of time, to remain

focused, to deliver weekend in, weekend out. Whilst it was a diffi cult period for us, I think it probably brought us closer as well because the respect we have between us is huge.”

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel summed up the Bahrain outcome. “Max was faster but Lewis was smarter,” said Aston Martin driver Vettel.

Hamilton made it plain last year that he loved the “old

school” nature of the Imola cir-cuit, set in the rolling vineyards of Emilia Romagna and Wolff shared his feelings.

“It’s where won secured our seventh constructors champi-onship that weekend,” he said.

“And it’s such an historic and iconic venue, which the driv-ers really enjoy - twisty and fast with a variety of corners.”

Apart from Hamilton, only one other driver has previously won at Imola - two-time cham-pion Fernando Alonso, who has returned to race for the Alpine-branded Renault team this year.

Alonso will be hunting an im-provement on his pointless run in Bahrain, where he retired, as will fellow veteran and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel after a laboured fi rst outing for Aston Martin.

Their experience may help at Imola, but it is likely to be Red Bull setting the pace in a thrill-ing duel with Mercedes - with McLaren, Ferrari and AlphaTau-ri in hot pursuit.

AFPLos Angeles

Yuka Saso and Brittany Altomare shared the clubhouse lead at the LPGA Lotte Championship on Wednesday as Brooke Hender-

son teed off in search of a third straight title in the event.

Saso, a 19-year-old from the Philip-pines who made history for her country with double Asian Games golf gold in 2018, was fi rst in the clubhouse on eight-under par 64, racing home with four of her eight birdies at her last four holes.

American Altomare followed with an even more impressive surge, stringing together seven straight birdies after the turn on the way to nine birdies and a bo-gey for an eight-under total.

Saso, a two-time winner on the Japan LPGA tour, said there was no real secret to her success at Kapolei Golf Club in Oahu, Hawaii. “I made some good putts, had good up and downs, my driving was very consistent today,” said Saso, who is playing this week on a sponsor’s exemp-tion.

Saso knows the going could be tougher when she tees off in the afternoon today, when the wind is likely to be more of a factor.

“Back nine the wind did get strong-er than this morning,” said Saso, who opened with a birdie on 10 and added birdies at 17 and 18 and the fourth before reeling off birdies at six, seven, eight and nine.

“I think I just have to be careful with

my drives, keep it in the fairway as much as possible, and trust the process.”

Altomare, ranked 52nd in the world and in search of her fi rst LPGA Tour win, also opened with a birdie at the 10th and was one-under at the turn after a birdie at 14 and a bogey at 15.

She then birdied seven straight from the fi rst through the seventh before fi n-ishing with back-to-back pars.

South Korean Ryu So-yeon and Amer-ican Ally Ewing were in the clubhouse on seven-under, each with seven birdies in bogey-free rounds.

World number three Kim Sei-young of South Korea, who won the tournament in 2015, fi red a 67 and was tied in the club-house with Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling and South Korean Lee Mi-hyang.

China’s Lily Muni He leads a pack of fi ve golfers all tied at four under.

Henderson, meanwhile, teed off late alongside American Angela Stanford and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn.

The Canadian has a chance to become the fi rst LPGA player to earn a three-peat since South Korea’s Park In-bee at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship from 2013-15.

FIRST ROUND LEADERS(USA unless noted, par-72)64-Brittany Altomare, Yuka Saso (PHI)65-Nelly Korda, Ryu So-yeon (KOR), Ally Ewing66-Stacy Lewis67-Stephanie Meadow (NIR), Lydia Ko (NZL), Jessica Korda, Rose Zhang, Kim Sei-young (KOR), Hsu Wei-ling (TPE), Lee Mi-hyang (KOR)

Vini Zabu team pulls out of Giro d’Italia aft er doping casesAFPMilan

Italian cycling team Vini Zabu announced yesterday it will not compete in the Giro d’Italia starting in Turin on

May 8 following two doping cas-es in recent months.

“The team has agreed with its main sponsor not to participate in the Giro d’Italia, although it has demonstrated to the compe-tent authorities to have taken the most diligent measures to fi ght against doping,” the team said in a statement.

Rider Matteo De Bonis tested positive for the blood-boosting drug EPO out of competition on February 16, after fellow Italian Matteo Spreafi co failed two tests during last year’s Giro, which took place in October because of the coronavirus pandemic.

After the De Bonis case the team announced it was pulling itself from competition awaiting possible International Cycling Union (UCI) sanctions.

Vini Zabu was one of three teams to receive an invitation to compete in the three-week Giro d’Italia from organisers RCS.

The selection of the second-tier cycling outfi t had caused surprise with the Movement for a Credible Cycling saying it had failed nine doping tests in the last 12 years.

Meanwhile, Giro organis-ers announced that Italian team Androni, winner of a stage with Fausto Masnada in 2019, would take Vini Zabu’s place in this year’s race.

CYCLING’S BOTTLE THROW BAN MAINTAINED

The International Cycling Un-

ion (UCI) said on Wednesday it had maintained its ban on rid-ers throwing used water bottles to fans, insisting it is dangerous, but has reduced the penalty for doing so.

Riders protested the new rules after Michael Schaer was disqualifi ed from the Tour of Flanders on April 4 for throwing away a bottle to a group of young spectators. The Swiss rider dis-carded the object and immedi-ately held his head in his hands realising his mistake.

The practice is long-standing in the sport with supporters col-lecting them as memorabilia.

The UCI had banned the tra-dition after incidents caused

accidents during races, such as when former Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas suf-fered a costly tumble at the 2020 Giro d’Italia.

Riders can use two or three bottles per hour on a hot day, but the UCI wants them discarded at pre-designated waste-drop zones. Under the softened rules a rider can no longer be thrown off a race for a fi rst off ence.

But the global body said throwing bottles “constitutes a danger for the public and the riders.”

“The UCI hopes to avoid situ-ations that can encourage fans, especially young ones trying to get closer to the riders and the race,” the UCI said.

A fi rst off ence is now punish-able with a fi ne of 90-450 euros ($107-$539).

A second occurrence would see a rider docked time in a Tour or thrown off a one day race.

In the case of a third off ence on a Tour, a rider would be ex-cluded from the event, the UCI said.

CYCLING

Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton (left) and Aston Martin’s German driver Sebastian Vettel talk within a press conference at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari race track in Imola, Italy, yesterday. (FIA/AFP)

Yuka Saso of the Philippines walks off the ninth green following the first round of the LPGA LOTTE Championship at Kapolei Golf Club in Kapolei, Hawaii. (Getty Images/AFP)

‘Our car still lacks speed on a single lap and Red Bull have the edge at the moment’

Seahawks, DE Aldon Smith agree on one-year deal

The Seattle Seahawks and free agent defensive end Aldon Smith have agreed on a one-year contract, NFL Network reported yesterday.The Seahawks reportedly tried to make a trade for Smith with Dallas last season, his first back in the league after missing four years due to suspension. Smith reportedly was in Seattle on Wednesday for a visit.Smith enjoyed a renaissance with the Cowboys, starting all 16 games and recording five sacks and 14 quarterback hits, 48 tackles and two fumble recoveries, including one returned for a touchdown.Smith, 31, was the No. 7 overall pick by San Francisco in 2011 and registered 33.5 sacks in his first 32 games with the 49ers, earning first-team All-Pro honours in 2012. However, following a series of arrests and

off -field issues, as well as multi-ple team and league suspen-sions, Smith was suspended by the NFL in November 2015. He wasn’t reinstated until last May.Smith has 52.5 sacks and 103 quarterback hits in 75 games (53 starts) with the 49ers (2011-14), Oakland Raiders (2015) and Cowboys.The Atlanta Falcons agreed to a one-year deal with four-time All-Pro kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson, the team announced yesterday.The deal is worth a reported $3 million. The Falcons also signed safety Duron Harmon.Patterson led the NFL in kick re-turn yardage in his two seasons in Chicago (2019-20), earning the 30-year-old All-Pro and Pro Bowl honours both seasons. He also received All-Pro honours in 2013 and 2016 with the Min-nesota Vikings. (Reuters)

Sweden’s Sorenstam to compete on home soil

for fi rst time since 2008Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam will tee off on home soil for the first time in 13 years at the Scandinavian Mixed in Gothenburg from June 10-13, the Euro-pean Tour said yesterday.The 10-times major champion, who retired in 2008 but returned to action earlier this year at the Gainbridge LPGA event, will host the innovative mixed tournament at Vallda Golf and Country Club alongside Henrik Stenson.Sorenstam, who is third on the all-time list with 72 LPGA titles, last played on home soil at the 2008 Scandinavian TPC in Stockholm.“I’m excited to tee it up at the Scandi-navian Mixed and to be back playing competitively in my home country of Sweden for the first time in 13 years,” Sorenstam, 50, said.“I felt like it was a perfect opportunity to actually play in this historic event bringing women and men together in a combined professional tournament.“It is another way to bring our game to the younger generation in Sweden and for those watching around the world, showcasing that golf is truly a game for everyone.”The event, which was due to take place last year but cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has a field of 78 men and 78 women with a prize fund of 1 million euros ($1.20 million). (Reuters)

Canadian GP cancelled for second year: CBCThe Canadian Formula One Grand Prix sched-uled for June 13 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal has been cancelled, CBC Radio reported yesterday. With the spread of new Covid-19 variants and Canada battling to contain a third wave of the virus, Montreal public health authorities concluded that even if run behind closed doors without spectators the risks were too high, reported the CBC.F1 off icials, according to the CBC, wanted to bypass the mandatory 14-day quarantine for the hundreds of staff , crew members and driv-ers and rely on private medical staff and have

the entire operation run in a bubble. “We are continuing our discussions with the promoter in Canada and have no further comment,” an F1 spokesperson told Reuters.Canada, with some of the world’s toughest travel rules, obliges its citizens and residents arriving from abroad to self-isolate for 14 days.International arrivals are required to quarantine for up to three days in a hotel.One of Canada’s biggest sporting events, it would mark the second consecutive year the grand prix has been removed from the F1 sched-ule due to the spread of Covid-19.

SPORT7Gulf Times

Friday, April 16, 2021

‘Awful’ Djokovic knocked out as Nadal advances

TENNIS

AFPMonte Carlo

Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Monte Carlo Masters yes-terday following an “awful per-formance” in a 6-4, 7-5 defeat

by Dan Evans, while 11-time champion Rafael Nadal powered into the quarter-fi nals.

World number one Djokovic was bro-ken fi ve times by the Briton in their last-16 clash and suff ered his fi rst loss of the year, having won the Australian Open for the ninth time in February.

The 33rd-ranked Evans, who dumped out this month’s Miami Open winner Hubert Hurkacz in the previous round, will play 11th seed David Goffin for a place in the semi-finals.

Goffin beat US Open runner-up Al-exander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) earlier in the day.

An out-of-sorts Djokovic produced an uncharacteristic 45 unforced errors against Evans, who hadn’t won a tour-level match on clay since April 2017 be-fore this week.

“To be honest this has been one of the worst matches from my side I can recall in the last few years,” said Djokovic, the Monte Carlo champion in 2013 and 2015.

“I felt awful on the court overall. Nothing worked. Just one of those days.

“It was just an awful performance. I can’t take any positives away from this match. It definitely leaves a bitter feel-ing exiting the court this way.”

Djokovic fell 3-0 behind after drop-ping his opening two service games but recovered to 4-all before Evans broke again, wrapping up the set in the fol-lowing game. The Serb looked to be on the road to recovery as he surged 3-0 ahead in the second, but Evans — facing Djokovic for the first time — got back on serve and defended a break point to hold when trailing 4-3. While the Evans backhand slice proved particularly ef-fective, it was a double fault from Djok-ovic that handed his opponent the key break in the 11th game and condemned the top seed to defeat. “It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Evans said in his post-match in-terview. “I couldn’t quite believe the last ball went over the net. It nearly didn’t.”

“You can never be confi dent coming into such a big match like that against Novak,” he added.

“The biggest thing is, you have got to believe you can win. I can walk on saying

it, but you have really got to believe it.“It will be one to savour for maybe af-

ter the tournament, to tell the kids and grandkids that you beat the World No. 1. It is a nice one.” Nadal required just 55 minutes to demolish Bulgarian 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-1.

“(I am) sorry for him. He played a bad match. That is the truth,” Nadal said of his opponent who was struggling with severe toothache. “He made a lot of mis-takes. I was there. I was doing the right thing, but it is true that today was more his fault than my good tennis.”

The third-ranked Spaniard is the highest seed left in the draw following Djokovic’s loss and the withdrawal of Daniil Medvedev after he tested positive for Covid-19. Nadal will meet Andrey Rublev or Roberto Bautista Agut in the next round.

Fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Chile’s Cristian Garin in straight sets.

The Greek will next take on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who put out French wildcard Lucas Pouille.

Fabio Fognini, the 2019 champion, eased past Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 7-6 (7/1).

RESULTS

3rd rd: Dan Evans (GBR) bt Novak Djoko-vic (SRB x1) 6-4, 7-5David Goff in (BEL x11) bt Alexander Zverev (GER x5) 6-4, 7-6 (9/7)Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE x4) bt Cristian Garin (CHI x16) 6-3, 6-4Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) bt Lucas Pouille (FRA) 6-2, 7-6 (7/2)Rafael Nadal (ESP x3) bt Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x14) 6-1, 6-1Fabio Fognini (ITA x15) bt Filip Krajinovic (SRB) 6-2, 7-6 (7/1)

‘It definitely leaves a bitter feeling exiting the court this way’

Hanyu wants to give fi gure-skating ‘hope’ to virus-hit OsakaAFPTokyo

Japan’s two-time Olym-pic gold medallist Yuzuru Hanyu is hoping to inspire coronavirus-hit Osaka

when he competes at skating’s World Team Trophy, as the host city struggles with rising infec-tions.

Hanyu will lead the Japan team in the biennial season-ending event, where he will again lock horns with American Nathan Chen, who beat him to the world title in Stockholm last month.

But the competition will take place against a backdrop of ris-ing infections in Osaka, where the Olympic torch relay has been banned from public roads amid fears of a wider outbreak.

Hanyu skipped this season’s Grand Prix series over concerns that his asthma would put him at higher risk if he caught Cov-id-19.

He admitted to feeling “con-fl icted” about returning to com-petition in December, but he struck a more positive note on Wednesday as he pledged to give fans something to cheer.

“I stand here fully realising that Osaka is in an extremely dif-fi cult situation,” he said during an online press conference.

“What I can do is deliver my

performance. If it brings hope or moves someone even for a second or even a fraction of a second... I have to give the kind of performance that will stay in people’s hearts.”

Six teams will take part in the three-day competition, with Ja-pan and the US joined by skaters from Russia, Canada, Italy and France — the latter a substitute for China, which dropped out of the event.

The teams will compete across men’s, women’s, pairs and ice dance disciplines, with Hanyu’s battle with Chen just one of sev-eral intriguing plotlines less than 10 months ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Russian 17-year-old Anna Sh-cherbakova will also come into the competition with a world championship under her belt, as will her teammates in the ice dance and pairs disciplines.

But it is Hanyu’s rivalry with Chen that is likely to take centre stage, after the American beat the Olympic champion into third place in Sweden behind Japanese compatriot Yuma Kagiyama.

“My legs felt a bit wobbly, but I think I was able to make adjust-ments,” Hanyu said after prac-tice yesterday

“I will do my best to contrib-ute to my team. I think my short programme is enjoyable,” he said.

SPOTLIGHT

Semenya wins 5,000m race but falls short of Tokyo Olympics qualifying timeAFPPretoria

Double Olympic 800 me-tres champion Caster Semenya moved closer to qualifying for the

2020 Tokyo Games in a new event after defending her South African championships 5,000m title in Pretoria yesterday.

Semenya trimmed nearly 15 seconds off her personal best by crossing the line in 15 minutes 52.28 sec — 42.28 sec outside the Tokyo qualifying time of 15:10.

The race was staged at an alti-

tude of 1,339m (4,393 feet) and Se-menya is considering running the same distance at sea level, where the air is less thin and times gener-ally faster.

“If the guys in Durban (sea-level city) do something in May, I might run,” Semenya said after her vic-tory.

The qualifying deadline for Tokyo is June 29 with the Games scheduled from July 23 to August 8.

Semenya cannot defend the 800m title in Japan as she refuses to abide by World Athletics’ tes-tosterone-reducing regulations covering distances from 400m to the mile.

The South African is among a minority of female athletes who have an unusually high level of tes-tosterone, which gives them added strength.

Two legal bids by the South African to overturn the ban have failed and she has taken her fi ght to the European Court of Human Rights, who have not indicated when the case will be heard.

“I am pretty happy with how I ran (today) — it is all about having fun. I can’t really focus on Tokyo if I’m still building up myself at the moment.”

The 30-year-old winner of the London and Rio 800m Olym-

pic gold medals turned the tables on her training partner Glenrose Xaba, who clocked 15:55.25 and had beaten Semenya comfortably in a regional meet two weeks ago.

Last year, Semenya announced she would pursue Olympics 200m qualifi cation.

But the three-time 800m world champion has changed her mind, believing distance races will lengthen her career.

“I am 30 years old and if I were to do sprints it would be a risk to my muscles. In distance (running), there is more time to fi nd consist-ency,” said the three-time world 800m champion.

ATHLETICS

ITF extends Tokyo Games qualifi cation window to June 14London: The International Tennis Federa-tion (ITF) yesterday said the qualification period for this year’s Tokyo Olympics would be extended by a week until June 14 to accommodate the postponement of the French Open due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The French Tennis Federa-tion last week said the claycourt Grand Slam would be held one week later than originally planned, beginning on May 24 and finishing on June 13.The ATP and WTA world rankings as of

June 14 will be used to select players eligible for direct acceptance into men’s and women’s singles and doubles in Tokyo.“The change of ranking date from June 7 to June 14 is to reflect the new dates of 2021 Roland Garros,” the ITF said in a statement https://www.itftennis.com/en/news-and-media/articles/itf-revises-entry-ranking-date-for-tokyo-olympic-tennis-event“Following this date, the ITF will inform

all National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and National Associations (NAs) of play-ers eligible for direct acceptance into the men’s and women’s singles events.“The NOCs and NAs will confirm the entry of eligible players and submit nominations for men’s and women’s doubles events. The ITF will announce the full entry lists by the end of June.”Entries for the mixed doubles event will be determined from the list of players already competing in the Olympic tennis

tournament.The Olympic tennis event features 64 players in men’s and women’s singles, 32 teams in men’s and women’s doubles, and 16 teams in mixed doubles.Each nation is limited to six men and six women, with a maximum of four singles players and two doubles teams for both genders. Nations are also limited to two mixed doubles teams.The Games will be held from July 23-Aug. 8.

Ukraine starts vaccinating athletesAFPKiev

Ukraine yesterday launched a vaccina-tion drive to inoculate its athletes against the

coronavirus ahead of the 2021 summer Olympic and Paralym-pic Games. A total of 30 athletes set to represent the ex-Soviet country in Tokyo received their fi rst jab of China’s CoronaVac vaccine in front of cameras at a hospital in the capital Kiev.

Daria Tykhova, a 35-year-old sports shooter, said her team was waiting for the vaccine impa-tiently, hoping to return to their pre-pandemic life.

“Now everything is resuming and I want to have some kind of protection,” Tykhova told AFP.

When the Olympics were postponed in 2020 “it was a tragedy for athletes and coach-es”, shooting coach Volodymyr Ivanchuk said.

“A lot of work has been done

and not put to use,” the 55-year-old added.

Ukraine’s sports ministry said it received 1,500 vaccines for athletes, who will be vaccinated on a voluntary basis.

With 99 days until the Ol-ympics, Japan will not require athletes to be vaccinated, but the International Olympic Com-mittee (IOC), is encouraging vaccination and has secured the Chinese-made jab for athletes in countries without access.

Since the start of the pandem-ic Ukraine has recorded more than 1.9mn infections and more than 38,000 deaths.

Ukraine’s vaccination cam-paign has struggled due to a lack of supplies, receiving only 500,000 doses of the Astra-Zeneca/Oxford vaccine and 215,000 doses of China’s Coro-naVac jab for its population of 40mn.

The country’s vaccination drive was launched last month and 400,000 people have so far received a fi rst dose.

FOCUS

Japan’s Yuzuru Hanyu.

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic (L) leaves the court as Britain’s Daniel Evans celebrates at the end of their third round match on day six of the Monte Carlo ATP Masters yesterday.

Friday, April 16, 2021

GULF TIMES SPORT

Virus could force cancellation of Olympics, says topJapan politician

Former gymnastics star Zhang begs on streets to survive

Aft er humbling Phelps, Schooling seeks another shock at Tokyo Olympics

SPOTLIGHT

SWIMMING

‘We need to cancel it without hesitation if they’re no longer possible’

AFPSingapore

Singapore’s Joseph School-ing famously upset the great Michael Phelps to win Ol-ympic gold but he said “my

biggest rival is myself” as he bids to return to form at the Tokyo Games.

Schooling, the Southeast Asian city-state’s fi rst Olympic cham-pion, said the year’s pandemic delay had given him extra time to prepare after a disappointing world champi-onships in 2019.

The 25-year-old caused a sensa-tion at Rio 2016, when he beat his idol Phelps – who has a record 23 Olympic gold medals – by a fi nger-tip to win the 100m butterfl y.

Five years on, Schooling again looks an outsider and although he still wants to win “more than ever”, he admitted much of his fate was beyond his control.

“It is always a never-ending pur-suit of trying to get better. Win or

lose, you’re going to give it your best,” he told AFP via email.

“In the past, I was always focused on winning, and I still am, I still want to win more than ever. But at the same time, it is also important to fi nd a balance – the push and pull, letting go of what you can and can’t control.”

Schooling hasn’t been at his best since Rio, and he crashed out in the heats of the 100m butterfl y at the 2019 world championships in South Korea.

Later that year, he won only one individual title at the Southeast Asian Games in the Philippines, and was criticised by fans for being out of shape.

“I simply wasn’t as prepared as I should have been for those two meets,” Schooling said. “Having said that, I recognised that I had to make some changes which I did.”

Schooling has been allowed to de-fer his compulsory national service – set at two years for all Singaporean men – since 2014, with an extension

granted last year when the Tokyo Games were postponed.

“Despite the Tokyo Olympics be-ing postponed, I think you can fi nd positives out of every negative,” he said.

“It gives me an extra year to get physically and mentally stronger, working on the things that can get me to where I want to be... I look at the extra year as a positive boost for myself.”

Swimming against Phelps was a clear motivator for Schooling, who was photographed with the now-retired American legend as a boy.

Now, he said: “My biggest rival is myself. I want to perform at the best of my ability.

“You can’t control what other people do, you can only control yourself and what you’re able to do,” Schooling added.

“Right now my aspirations would just be to put myself in the best po-sition possible to do the things I want, and win or lose, I’ll be happy if I give it my all.”

AFPTokyo

A senior Japanese politi-cian said cancelling the Tokyo Olympics over the coronavirus re-

mains a possibility yesterday, as a surge in cases renews concerns about the Games with less than 100 days to go.

Toshiro Nikai, the rul-ing Liberal Democratic Party’s number two, said the Olympics must be cancelled “without hesitation” if the virus situation is too severe.

A year after their historic postponement, the 2020 Olym-pics remain beset by pandemic problems, with parts of the torch relay forced behind closed doors and public support con-sistently low.

Organisers and Olympic of-fi cials insist the Games will go ahead safely, but Nikai said yes-terday that all options were on the table.

“We need to make a decision depending on the situation at the time,” he told the private TBS television network.

“We need to cancel it without hesitation if they’re no longer possible,” added Nikai, who is the LDP’s secretary general.

Asked if he considered can-cellation an option, Nikai said: “Yes of course.”

“If infection spreads because of the Olympics, I don’t know what the Olympics is for.”

He added however that he sees the Games as an “opportu-nity”, and it was “important for Japan to foster excitement with support from the public”.

“We defi nitely want to make a success. In order to do so, there are various issues to solve. It’s important to solve them one by one.”

The comments were quickly dismissed by an unnamed LDP offi cial, who told the Jiji news agency: “The Games will not be cancelled.”

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said she had “been told that the comment meant it is an option”.

“I take it as a message of strong encouragement that we contain the coronavirus by all means,” she said.

Japan’s vaccine minister

meanwhile mooted the possi-bility of a total bar on spectators at the Games.

“We’ll hold the Olympics in a form that is feasible,” the Asahi newspaper quoted Taro Kono as saying.

“There might be no specta-tors.”

Nikai’s remarks come with fresh worries in Japan about what experts have called a fourth wave of infections.

Record numbers of cases have been reported in Osaka in recent days, and the govern-ment has been forced to au-thorise new restrictions just weeks after lifting a virus state of emergency.

The surge has already forced the Olympic torch relay off public roads in Osaka, and a city in western Japan also an-nounced Wednesday that it would cancel the public event.

Compounding the problem is the comparatively slow roll-out of the vaccine in Japan, which has so far only approved the Pfi zer/BioNTech version.

Around 1.1mn people in the country of 126mn have received a fi rst dose of vaccine so far, with the roll-out only expand-ing to the elderly this week.

Despite the problems, Olym-pic organisers insist the Games can be held safely and have re-leased virus rulebooks to allay public fears.

Athletes will not be required to quarantine or be vaccinated, but will have to limit move-ments and be tested regularly.

Overseas fans are barred from attending, with a decision on domestic spectator limits ex-pected later this month.

However many fans are al-lowed to attend, the atmos-phere will be markedly diff erent from Games past, with cheering strictly banned.

Organisers note that sporting events are continuing in Japan, including some international fi xtures such as the World Team Trophy fi gure skating, which opens in Osaka Thursday.

But opinion polls show most Japanese favour postponing or cancelling of the Games, with those in support hovering be-low 30 %.

Medical professionals have also warned the Games are a risky prospect, with four ex-perts writing in the British Medical Journal this week urg-ing plans for the event “be re-considered as a matter of ur-gency”.

“International mass gather-ing events such as Tokyo 2020 are still neither safe nor secure,” they wrote. Despite the obsta-cles, International Olympic Committee vice president John Coates on Wednesday said or-ganisers were “certainly not” considering a cancellation.

HARD LANDING

AFPBaoding, China

A decade ago the plight of former cham-pion gymnast Zhang Shangwu shocked

China and made world headlines when he was discovered begging in Beijing, prompting one of the country’s richest men to give him a job.

That should have heralded a turnaround for the troubled Zhang, who had been impris-oned for theft after injury ended his gymnastics career.

But after another stint in jail, Zhang is again making a living on the streets, doing handstands and singing for a live online audi-ence in a carpark in his home city of Baoding.

It marks a second fall for the former Olympic hopeful, whose predicament cast a spotlight on the fate of Chinese athletes when he was spotted begging and street-performing in Beijing in 2011.

Athletes in China, a leading Olympic power, are often reared in special schools from a young age and can struggle to adjust to normal life once their careers are over.

Zhang appeared destined for the Olympics after he won two gold medals at the 2001 Univer-siade. But a year later a tendon injury brought his promising ca-reer to an end.

With little education, he took

jobs as a waiter and a care worker, but injuries hampered his ability to work and he turned to theft, spending nearly fi ve years in jail before being released in April 2011. Zhang’s luck changed dra-matically in July that year when he was recognised performing stunts and begging on the street. He was inundated with job off ers and took up a post as a fi tness in-structor at the company of Chen Guangbiao, a wealthy recycling magnate and philanthropist.

“In China, there are many ath-letes who have experienced the same thing as me, so I’m one of the lucky ones as the media and society uncovered my plight,” Zhang, then 27, told AFP at the time.

But in March last year, Zhang said on Chinese social media that he had again been released from prison after serving jail time for theft.

Zhang no longer talks to media – “it has been reported so many times, don’t ask me again”, he said – but on a recent evening in Baoding, he did handstands and chatted to an online audience of a few hundred people.

Decked out in a Chinese na-tional team top, he saluted and bowed to a non-existent crowd.

Online viewers send him real or virtual gifts, which can be turned into cash.

On another occasion, he rigged up a microphone and small speaker and sang for about 40 minutes, before his mobile phone ran out of data.

Australia’s Titmus, Chalmers and Larkin hit formAFPSydney

Ariarne Titmus admitted it was a relief to be racing again as she ramped up preparations for the Tokyo Olympics by storming to

the women’s 200m freestyle title at the Australian championships yesterday.

The 20-year-old, one of Australia’s top gold medal prospects, hit the wall in 1min 55.43sec, well inside the qualifying standard to make the country’s Olympic team.

Australia holds its Olympic trials in June.

“It’s a pretty tough fi eld at the mo-ment, we’ve got some really great girls coming through, which is good for our (4x200) relay,” said Titmus, who touched ahead of Madison Wilson and Brianna

Throssell. “They were pushing me along out there, it was fun.”

Rio Olympic bronze medallist Emma McKeon, the fastest qualifi er, pulled out ahead of the race to focus on her other events.

“It’s just really good for me to be back racing, it’s been a long time,” added Tit-mus, who took silver at the 2019 world championships in South Korea behind Italian veteran Federica Pellegrini.

“I’ve got 99 days now until Tokyo and everything I do between now and then is really important.”

Titmus will also race the 400m at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, where heats are in the evening and fi nals in the morn-ing, mimicking the schedule in Japan.

How she fares will be closely watched after stunning American freestyle great Katie Ledecky to win the world title two years ago.

Reigning Olympic 100m freestyle champion Kyle Chalmers clocked 1:47.03 to win the men’s 200m ahead of Alexan-der Graham and young prospect Elijah Winnington.

But his time was more than a second outside the mark needed to qualify for Tokyo, leaving him with work to do head-ing into the trials.

Elsewhere, Zac Stubblety-Cook swam under a minute (59.87) to claim the men’s 100m breaststroke crown, well shy of British Olympic champion Adam Peaty who regularly swims under 58 seconds.

Fast-rising star Kaylee McKeown nar-rowly missed a Commonwealth record in the women’s 50m backstroke, touching in 27.45, just ahead of two-time Olympic relay gold medallist Emily Seebohm, who holds that mark and is targeting a fourth Olympics. Mitch Larkin, the Rio Olympic 100m backstroke silver medallist, pow-

ered to the 50m title in 24.75. Australia won 10 medals in the pool at

the 2016 Games in Rio, matching their feat from London four years earlier, but well down on the 20 they clinched in Bei-jing in 2008. Two-time Canadian Olympic gold

medallist Alex Baumann was appointed the new head of Swimming Australia yes-terday, promoted from his current role as chief strategist.

Baumann, who won the 200m and 400m individual medley titles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, replaces Leigh Russell after she vacated the role in November.

“Alex has extensive experience both within leadership roles across other organisations and high-performance sport, and I think his credentials speak for themselves,” said Swimming Australia president Kieren Perkins.

Olympics ‘really diffi cult’ aft er virus spikes

Tokyo: Holding the postponed Tokyo Olympics this summer will be “really diff icult” given a spike in coronavirus infections across Japan, the head of the Tokyo Medical Association has warned.Haruo Ozaki sounded the alarm as rising daily cases prompt new virus restrictions in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan.“If infections spread further, in reality it would be diff icult to hold the Olympics in its regular form with athletes coming from various countries, even if the Games are held with no spectators,” the Sports Hochi daily quoted him as saying at a Tuesday press conference.On his Facebook page Wednes-day, Ozaki said the report reflected his concerns, even though recent successes by

Japanese swimmer Rikako Ikee and golfer Hideki Matsuyama had been inspiring.“I couldn’t hold back my tears watching Ikee and Matsuyama’s great performances. I want to watch their great performances at the Olympics too,” he wrote.“But, from my position as the head of medical workers, I have to say that holding the Games is really diff icult.”Ozaki called on organisers to “show concrete measures on how they can prevent the spread of infection at home and abroad.”“Then we would like to sin-cerely study if such a plan is realistic,” he wrote.The comments come as Tokyo marks 100 days until the virus-postponed 2020 Olympics open on July 23.

In this file photo taken on August 13, 2016, silver medallist USA’s Michael Phelps (L) waves next to gold medallist Singapore’s Joseph Schooling during the medal ceremony of the Men’s 100m Butterfly at the 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

Zhang singing in a car park in Baoding, China.

BOTTOMLINE