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SPORT | 06

SATURDAY 30 MAY 2020

MotoGP races in Britain, Australiacalled off

AP – MELBOURNE

The MotoGP races in Britain and Australia are the latest to be canceled on the international motorcycle racing circuit because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers yesterday said COVID-19 pandemic “and resulting calendar changes have obliged the cancellation of both events.”

The British Grand Prix had been scheduled for Aug. 28-30 at the Silverstone Circuit and the Australian Grand Prix was set to be staged at Phillip Island from October 23-25.

“I want to thank the stoic British fans for their patience and support,” Silverstone man-aging director Stuart Pringle said in a statement.

“We must now look forward to 2021 when Silverstone will once again host the fastest and most historic MotoGP race on the calendar and work hard to make it a truly exceptional event.”

Carmelo Ezpeleta, chief executive of Dorna Sports, which has the commercial and TV rights for MotoGP, said the British and Australian races couldn’t be rescheduled because there was “no way through the logistical and operational issues resulting from the pandemic and rearranged calendar.”

MotoGP is aiming to start the series in Spain in July.

The first two MotoGP events of the year in Qatar

and Thailand were canceled on March 2 because of travel restrictions. At the time, there had been 34 deaths from the COVID-19 illness in Italy and more than 1,100 people had tested positive.

The numbers of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Italy has risen to more than 33,000, which is the third-highest national toll behind the United States and Britain. Globally, there have been more than 360,000 deaths from COVID-19 among more than 5.8 million reported cases.

La Liga action set to return on June 11AFP – MADRID

The Spanish league season will resume after a three-month corona-virus lockdown on June 11 with the Seville derby, and the 2020-2021 season will start on September 12, the Spanish Sports Council confirmed yesterday.

The council released a statement saying that the Spanish Football Fed-eration (RFEF) and La Liga had agreed the format for the 11 remaining rounds in the top two Spanish divisions.

It said the season should be com-pleted by July 19, "depending on the evolution of the pandemic."

Competition will kick off on Thursday, June 11 when Betis play Sevilla. The rest of the league return to action on the weekend of June 13 and 14.

Earlier yesterday, Javier Tebas, the league president told Marca: "The important thing will be to know the end date of the 2019-20 season. The next one will start on September 12."

The Spanish government last week gave La Liga the green light to resume from the week beginning June 8.

"More than 130 people are currently working so that everything can be done

in a new format: the travel, the organ-isation, everything," said Tebas.

The German BundesLiga has already played three rounds fol-lowing its restart earlier this month, while the English Premier League and Italy's Serie A are also set to return in mid-June.

But the top-flight seasons in France, Belgium and the Netherlands have all been ended.

Barcelona led Real Madrid by two points at the top of the table when La Liga was halted in March.

Tebas also said that television viewers would be able to choose whether to watch matches, which will all be played behind closed doors, with virtual sound effects added, an option that has caused debate among fans since the BundesLiga resumed.

He said that he was taking part in a demonstration of the technology on Friday evening and that Javier Guillen, the director of the Tour of Spain, and Carmelo Ezpeleta, the boss of Dorna Sports, promoter of the MotoGP championship had also been invited.

"We want to offer an alternative for the fans - silence, or the virtual-isation of the stands. The tests I have seen are interesting, but there will be both options," said Tebas.

Federer tops Forbes listof highest-paid athletes AFP – NEW YORK

Roger Federer topped the 2020 Forbes magazine list of highest-paid global athletes announced yesterday, leading the lineup for the first time with pre-tax earnings of $106.3m.

The Swiss tennis legend, a men’s record 20-time Grand Slam singles champion, becomes the first player from his sport atop the annual list since its 1990 debut, rising from fifth in 2019.

Federer’s haul over the past 12 months included $100m from appearances fees and endorsement deals plus $6.3 million in prize money. His previous best showing was second in 2013.

“His brand is pristine, which is why those that can afford to align with him clamor to do so,” University of Southern California sports business professor David Carter told the magazine.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic that shut down sports worldwide caused the first decline since 2016 in the total income of the world’s 100 top-paid ath-letes, a 9% dip from last year to $3.6bn. Another plunge is expected next year from the shutdown.

Portuguese football star Cristiano Ronaldo was second on the list at $105m, $60m in salary and $45m from endorse-ments, with Argentine football hero Lionel Messi third on $104 million, $32m of that from sponsorship deals.

Messi and Ronaldo, who have traded the top spot three of the past four years, saw their combined incomes dip $28m from last year due to salary cuts when European clubs halted play in March.

Brazilian footballer Neymar was fourth overall on $95.5m, $25m from endorsements, while NBA star LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers was fifth

on $88.2m, $60m of that from endorse-ments. NBA star Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors was sixth on $74.4m with former team-mate Kevin Durant next on $63.9m.

Tiger Woods, the reigning Masters champion and a 15-time major winner, was eighth on the list and tops among golfers at $62.3m, all but $2.3mfrom sponsor deals.

Woods topped the Forbes list a record 12 times before an infidelity scandal helped end his run.

Two NFL quarterbacks rounded out the top 10 with Kirk Cousins ninth at $60.5m and Carson Wentz 10th on $59.1m.

The top 100 featured athletes from 21 nations and 10 sports.

Two women, tennis stars Naomi Osaka of Japan and Serena Williams of the United States, made the list, the most females on it since 2016. Osaka ranked 29th overall on $37.4m ($34m in endorse-ments), four spots ahead of Williams with $36m ($32m in endorsements).

Federer, 38, boasts the biggest spon-sorship lineup among active athletes with Moet & Chandon and Barilla among those paying from $3-30m to link him with their brands.

Federer, who spent a record 310 weeks as world number one, reached 18 of 19 Grand Slam finals from 2005-2010.

Only Woods has joined Federer in making $100m in sponsor deals in a single year.

Federer’s newest deal is with Swiss running shoe On, where he is an investor, but several sponsors have been with him for more than a decade, including Rolex, Credit Suisse, Mercedes-Benz and Wilson.

A split with Nike in 2018 opened Federer to Jap-anese apparel brand Uniqlo’s 10-year deal worth $300m.

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TCR Europe Series: Al Khelaifi impressesin Hungaroring round

THE PENINSULA – DOHA

Three-time Qatar Touring Car Cham-pionship winner Abdullah Al Khelaifi impressed among top drivers in the European circuit during the fifth and sixth rounds of the Touring Car Racing (TCR) Europe SIM Racing (Simulated racing) Series.

Al Khelaifi, competing in a virtual Seat Leon Cupra, representing the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Feder-ation (QMMF) at the digitised Hun-garoring circuit, finished 12th in Race 1 before advancing to 9th position in the second race of the day.

The Qatari champion started off from the 18th spot in the starting grid after finishing +01.807 off the fastest qualifier Daniel Nagy.

Al Khelaifi managed to advance by six posi-tions after com-pleting the 13-lap race in 24:53.338.

Series leader Nagy of Hungary, clinched the victory in the first race of the day and managed to extend his s o l i d l e a d

in the standings. It was the young driver’s fourth victory out of the six races held so far.

In Race 2, Al Khelaifi showed more courage and went on to improve his position by three more spots with a much faster time (24:38.550),

Meanwhile, pole sitter Nagy was involved in an accident early in Race 2 saw and that pushed him back as he finished in the 19th place.

His team-mate Mat’o Homola fin-ished first in Race 2 but a 10-second penalty saw him missing a podium spot.

Homola was demoted to fourth after the penalty which involved Bence Boldizs and the latter was awarded victory.

The virtual series is a competition reserved for real drivers who have signed up for this season’s TCR Europe Series.

The drivers will now move onto the next stage of the series to be run on virtual Circuit Paul Ricard track at Le Castellet on June 10. The last

three rounds will be held on June 24 (Zolder),

July 8 (Monza) and J u l y 2 2 (Barcelona).

The important thing will be to

know the end date of the 2019-

20 season. The next one will start

on September 12. More than

130 people are currently working so that everything

can be done in a new format: the travel, the organisation,

everything: La Liga President

Javier Tebas

Barcelona's Argentinian star Lionel Messi (left) and team-mater Gerard

Pique in action during a training session ahead of the resumption of

the La Liga season.

Roger Federer

05SATURDAY 30 MAY 2020 SPORT

Thiem and Zverev to headline exhibition matches in BerlinAP — BERLIN

Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Nick Kyrgios will play exhi-bition tennis matches in Berlin in July.

With professional tennis shut down during the coronavirus pan-demic, organisers said yesterday one exhibition event will run from July 13-15 on grass at Steffi Graf Stadium. The other is on a hard court in a hangar in the city’s closed Tempelhof airport from July 17-19.

Each of the Bett1 Aces tourna-ments will feature six men and six women and there will be €200,000 ($222,000) in total prize money.

Thiem, Zverev and Kyrgios will be joined by Jannik Sinner for the men’s events. Two more players will be announced later.

Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens, Julia Goerges and Andrea Petkovic will be in the women’s events. Two places are still to be confirmed.

Matches will have a super tie-breaker replacing the third set to avoid fatigue for players facing a potential six matches in seven days. There will be electronic line calls with no line judges to reduce the number of people involved on court.

Edwin Weindorfer, the CEO of the company organizing the exhibitions, said the plan was to

have 80-90 people in the stadium to h o s t games.

That includes players, umpires, TV staff a n d coaches. He added that if there’s a change in the law by July, a l i m i t e d

number of spectators could be per-mitted, perhaps with a limit of 500 or 1,000.

Organizers are working on arrangements to allow Kyrgios to travel to Germany from Australia for the events.

The exhibition week replaces a WTA tournament in Berlin which was set for June but called off.

It had been meant to mark the return of tour-level tennis to Berlin for the first time since 2008, when

the International German Championships was last

played on the WTA Tour.Some smaller exhibi-

tions have been played in Germany already during the pandemic,

with other events in the United States and elsewhere.

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Alexander Zverev

Murray to make return for charity event in JuneAFP — LONDON

Andy Murray will return from his latest injury problem on June 23 in a tournament organised by his brother Jamie to raise money for a UK National Health Service charity.

Jamie Murray has helped create the behind-closed-doors tour-nament called ‘Schroders Battle of the Brits’.

The event, which runs from June 23-28, will see the Murray brothers and fellow British players Kyle Edmund and Dan Evans go head to head at the Lawn Tennis Associa-tion’s Roehampton base in London.

It will be screened live on Amazon Prime and aims to raise at least £100,000 ($122,000) for the state-run NHS.

With the ATP and WTA seasons postponed due to the coronavirus, Murray’s first appearance since November’s Davis Cup Finals will be a welcome tonic for tennis fans.

The 33-year-old was unable to hit for three months because of what was initially diagnosed as a mild bone bruise.

LPGA stars set to compete at Texas Women’s OpenAFP — LOS ANGELES

Two-time major winner Stacy Lewis (pictured above) and former US Women’s Open winner Brittany Lang will tee it up at the Texas Women’s Open next week in Dallas.

American’s Lewis and Lang will be joined by several other US LPGA players, including Cheyenne Knight, France’s Celine Boutier, Maria Fassi, of Mexico, and Gerina Piller for the June 2-4 event.

The Texas Women’s Open used to be an LPGA Tour event in the 1950s, but is now sanctioned by the North Dallas chapter of the PGA of America.

It was first played in 1933 and previous winners include Babe Zaharias and Betsy Rawls.

The three-day, $50,000 tournament begins next Tuesday at the Old American Golf Club outside of Dallas, Texas. Both Lang and Lewis were raised in Texas.

The LPGA remains on hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It shut down in February after just four events, two in Florida and two in Australia, and isn’t scheduled to return until July.

Many of the same players had expected to be in Texas next week for the US Women’s Open in Houston before officials moved that event to December.

The Texas Open will not allow fans, but golf matches in the state with spectators may not be far away.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott plans to allow professional leagues to host fans again for outdoor sporting events at up to 25 percent capacity.

Leagues, like the LPGA, will have to apply to state health officials to be allowed to have fans. Indoor events will still be without spectators.

Williams considers full sale of struggling team

AP — OXFORD After previously enjoying sustained success, Williams is now considering selling its storied Formula One team because of financial problems.

The Williams Grand Prix Holdings group posted a loss of £13m ($16m) for the year ending in 2019, according to its latest financial results released yes-terday, after making a profit of £12.9m ($15.9m) in 2018.

“As part of this new stra-tegic direction, the WGPH board is undertaking a review of all the various strategic options available ... including a potential sale of the whole company,” Williams said in a statement.

“(The company) confirms that it is in preliminary discus-sions with a small number of parties regarding a potential investment.”

Founded by Frank Williams

in 1966, Williams is the third most successful team in the sport with nine constructors’ titles and seven drivers’ titles.

But it has struggled in recent years, finishing in last place in the constructors’ standings in 2018 and ’19. In those two seasons combined, Williams scored only eight points despite using engines provided by world champion Mercedes.

F1 is facing tough times financially because of the coro-navirus outbreak. The 2020 season has yet to start with four races cancelled and six postponed.

Williams dominated large swathes of the 1980s and 1990s, winning multiple champion-ships with the likes of Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg, Nelson Piquet, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Damon Hill.

But its competitiveness has

declined this century. Although Williams went through a brief renaissance from 2014-17, when it finished third twice and then fifth twice, the team has fallen off the pace.

Williams struggled badly last year, scoring only one point from Robert Kubica’s 10th-place finish at the German Grand Prix in July.

“The financial results for 2019 reflect the recent decline in competitiveness of the F1 operation and the consequent reduction in commercial rights income” Williams CEO Mike O’Driscoll said.

“After four years of very solid performance in the FIA F1 Constructors’ Championship during which we claimed two third and two fifth place fin-ishes, we endured a couple of very difficult seasons,” he added.

Williams’ George Russell in action with aero rakes attached to the car during testing, in this file photo.

As part of this new strategic direction, the WGPH board is undertaking a review of all the various strategic options available ... including a potential sale of the whole company: Team Williams

Alonso comeback would be good for F1: Domenicali REUTERS — LONDON

Formula One would be the winner if double world champion Fernando Alonso makes a comeback next year at the age of 39, according to the Span-iard’s former Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali.

Alonso left McLaren at the end of 2018 but has been linked, in media speculation at least, to what will be a vacant seat at Renault in 2021 after the departure of Australian Daniel Ricciardo.

“We have already fantastic young drivers... but Fernando would give another level,” Domen-icali, now chief executive of Italian luxury supercar brand Lamborghini, said.

“He would be for sure very strong. Of course he can be stronger with a good car, with a very fast car, but Fernando would be an asset for Formula One if he would come back.”

Alonso, who drove for Ferrari between 2010-14 and three times finished championship runner-up, could be up against Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for the Renault seat.

The German’s future is uncertain after Ferrari announced he would be leaving at the end of the year with Spaniard Carlos Sainz, who grew up with Alonso as his hero, moving from McLaren. Domenicali was speaking as Lamborghini announced its first foray into the world of esports with a one-make ‘The Real Race’ virtual series in partnership with Assetto Corsa Competizione.

The tournament will have five qualifier weekends, starting today, before a live final at the Sant’Agata Bolognese headquarters with the top three getting to drive a real Lamborghini racecar on track.

The game will also be used by official Lam-borghini race drivers, as well as customers and professional gamers, with strict rules of engagement to ensure races are taken seriously.

“We have a lot of young followers that are in love with Lamborghini. So I would say that is a perfect match of which we can see a really good potential for our brand into the future,” said Domenicali.

The Italian, who grew up near the Imola circuit, was principal of Ferrari from 2008 to 2014.

PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic cancelled REUTERS — NEW YORK

The John Deere Classic scheduled for July in Illinois, which was supposed to be the fifth event of the circuit’s revamped schedule, has been cancelled due to state-related challenges regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, the PGA Tour said.

The tournament, which was also the first of the PGA Tour’s revised schedule that could have potentially included fans, was due to be played July 9-12 at TPC Deere Run in Silvis.

“Because of the ongoing health and safety concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic, the difficult decision was made to cancel the 2020 John Deere Classic,” tournament director Clair Peterson said in a PGA Tour news release.

“While we considered several alternatives for the Classic, this was the choice that made the most sense for our guests, the players and the Quad City community at large.”

The PGA Tour said it will fill the July week with a new tournament that will be deter-mined in the near future.

Following a three-month hiatus because of the coronavirus, the PGA Tour is scheduled to resume with the June 11-14 Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.

The event is the first of four straight weeks of tournaments which will have no fans in attendance.

Coe urges kids to take up sport to battle virusAFP — PRAGUE

World Athletics chief Sebastian Coe (pictured) called on children to take up sports to combat “shocks” like the coro-navirus as his sport was bracing for a restart at a Czech event next week.

On Monday, “Back on Track” will bring together pro-fessional athletes, including two-time Olympic javelin champion and world record holder Barbora Spotakova, alongside kids at 173 venues across the Czech Republic, “I absolutely support this,” Coe told Czech reporters in a video press conference.

“This is the first big initiative

that has come to fruition from a member federation. We can work with governments to re-establish school sport, which is the bedrock of everything that we know, particularly as we come into a post-pandemic world,” the 63-year-old former runner said.

“Those communities that are fitter and healthier and stronger and have good immune systems are those communities that are going to be better positioned in future to deal with these shocks.” Coe, a former British Member of Par-liament, said “political will” was necessary.

“We need to really have pol-iticians properly understanding

the linkage between what we’ve all been through in the last few months and healthy commu-nities,” he said.

International athletics are due to resume with the Diamond League meeting, transformed by social dis-tancing rules into an event the organisers are marketing as the “Impossible Game”, in Oslo on June 11. Many other events have been post-poned, such the Tokyo

Olympics, or cancelled alto-gether, like the 2020 European Championships.

“I hope we can start having full stadia again with our fans because it’s part of the process of coming out of the pandemic world,” said Coe.

“Sport will be the great driver, athletics I want to see

absolutely at the forefront of that.” Coe hailed an increase in sports activ-ities during the pandemic and singled out those improvising under the lockdown, including balcony runners or backyard athletes.

“It makes me feel very reassured because

it tells me that we have the most creative, ingenious, resilient, thoughtful, funny people in our sport,” he said.

“It may just be the nature of athletics, I don’t know, maybe I’m biased but I am happy to say that.”

Coe also said he was “sad-dened” by the cancellation of the Boston Marathon over the virus, announced on Thursday.

“It’s one of the oldest mar-athons in the world and I know that it doesn’t just engage elite level runners, it’s very much part of the fabric of that great American city,” he said.

“I’m hoping that we can maintain the road programme and the marathon majors.”

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Australia: ICC T20 World Cup 'high risk' of being postponedAP — MELBOURNE

Cricket Australia is bracing for the “very high risk” of the men’s ICC Twenty20 World Cup being postponed and the resulting financial hit during the coronavirus pandemic.

Australia is scheduled to host the tournament in October and November but with global travel restrictions in place it’s very doubtful the event will go ahead. And if it does, it’s unlikely crowds will be allowed in stadiums because of social distancing requirements.

“We have been hopeful all along that it could be staged in October-November but you would have to say there’s a very high risk about the prospect of that happening,” Cricket Aus-tralia chief executive Kevin Roberts said yesterday.

Roberts is more confident about a four-Test series against India going ahead, starting at the Gabba in Brisbane on December 3. But while that would deliver much needed broadcast revenue, it would also come at a cost of

millions for extra “biosecurity measures that we need to put in place to deliver the season.”

Cricket Australia released a draft schedule for the southern summer that involves back-to-back T20 series

against the West Indies and India in October, a test match against Afghanistan at Perth from November 21-25, and four Tests against India in Brisbane (December 3-7), Adelaide (December 11-15),

Melbourne (December 26-30) and Sydney (January 3-7).

The Australians regained top spot from India in the last International Cricket Council rankings released before sport was shuttered globally in the pandemic.

India is scheduled to stay for a three-game ODI serie on January 12, 15 an 17 before the Australians take on New Zealand in three one-day games and a T20 from January 26-February 2.

The schedule depends on state borders being open and the provision for visiting foreign teams to fulfill whatever isolation or quar-antine requirements are in place at the time.

“It may be that circum-stances dictate that when the time comes maybe we can only use one or two venues, we really don’t know any of that yet,” Roberts said.

“There’s endless scenarios and possibilities (but) we’re very optimistic that we will be able to stage the Indian men’s tour and the other inbound tours for the season.”

ICC Twenty20 World Cup trophy. PIC: COURTESY ICC

Sangakkara lifts lid on two tosses at 2011 World Cup finalIANS — NEW DELHI

Former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara (pictured) revealed what actually happened during the 2011 World Cup final against India at Wankhede that led to two tosses and ‘The Islanders’ batting first.

Sangakkara jogged down memory lane and spoke about that titanic contest between the two Asian rivals during a live video session with India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Instagram.

“Tell me what happened at the toss in 2011 World Cup (final). I saw two tosses. I was standing near the dressing room, I went inside and I had no idea what just happened,” Ashwin asked Sangakkara on his show ‘ReminisceWithAsh’.

“I think it was the crowd.. the crowd was huge (at Wankhede). It never happens in Sri Lanka and it only happens in India, at least to me,” San-gakkara said.

“I remember calling on the toss and then Mahi wasn’t sure what I had called. He said did you call tails I said no I called heads. And then match referee

actually said I had won the toss and Mahi said no no no he didn’t. So there was a little bit of confusion there.

“Then Mahi said let’s have another toss. And that’s when the second one went up and it came down heads again. I am not sure if luckily I had won because if I had lost the toss, it may have been that India might have batted,” he added.

Sangakkara also revealed how an injury to their all-rounder Angelo Mathews changed Sri Lanka’s strategy.

“If Angelo was fit I am hundred percent sure that we would have chased. I am not sure if result would have changed but we would have definitely chased in the match,” Sangakkara said.

Relieved Afghanistan

looking forward to

Perth Test, says CEOREUTERS — PERTH

Relief and excitement are the overwhelming emotions for Afghanistan after Australia confirmed they would host them for a one-off Test in Perth from November 21, the chief executive of the coun-try’s cricket board has said.

Uncertainty loomed over Afghanistan’s first ever Test against Australia due to travel and other restric-tions imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

However, Cricket Australia gave the day-night match the green light on Thursday when it announced its summer schedule headlined by a marquee series against India.

“There were rumours that this Test match might not go ahead but it is a relief for us and our cricket fans that we have been given a confirmation,” Chief Executive Officer Lutfullah Stanikzai said in an interview yesterday.

“The world in general - and the cricketing world in particular - may not be the same after the coro-navirus but we have to move on and cricket has to return.”

Having had to postpone a tour of Zimbabwe next month due to travel restrictions, the impor-tance of the match against the world’s top ranked test team was not lost on the Afghan board.

“It’s going to be a fantastic opportunity for our players’ development and in general for the devel-opment of Afghanistan cricket,” Stanikzai said.

Cricket Australia faces further cost-cutting despite improved outlook

REUTERS — MELBOURNE

Australian cricket faces another round of cost-cutting to shore up finances hit by the coronavirus shutdown and no part of the game will be immune, board chief Kevin Roberts said yesterday.

Cricket Australia (CA) has already furloughed about 80% of its workforce, while state associations have also made deep staff cuts in recent weeks. CA’s financial outlook has improved with India’s four-Test tour, worth an estimated A$300m ($200m) in revenue to CA, set to go ahead in the home summer.

But Roberts said the board was still facing an A$80m shortfall due to COVID-19 and the high likelihood Australia will not be able to host the Twenty20 World Cup in October-November.

“So we’re focused on delivering the best season as possible noting that the likelihood of significant crowds is very slim,” he told reporters on a video call yesterday.

“Ordinarily that would deliver well over A$50m in revenue to Cricket Australia.

"The T20 World Cup is a big question and that’s a factor of perhaps A$20m and... it’s likely that our biosecurity measures we need to put in place to deliver the season will cost in the order of A$10m,” he said.

Most CA staff remain furloughed on 20% pay until the end of June, while the board’s executive team have taken a 20% pay-cut.

However, Roberts said further cuts were necessary to maintain investment in community cricket as much as possible.

“We’ve made a commitment to significantly reduce the cost base of Cricket Australia, unfortunately that means no area of the organisation will be untouched,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that there will be an impact on our people.”

We’ve made a commitment to significantly reduce the cost base of Cricket Australia, unfortunately that means no area of the organisation will be untouched. It’s unfortunate that there will be an impact on our people: Kevin Roberts

No place for Hales and Plunkett in England's 55-man training groupAFP — LONDON

Alex Hales and World Cup-winner Liam Plunkett were both left out of a mammoth 55-man England training group announced yesterday.

But 14 uncapped players were selected as England look to stage a full Test and limited-overs programme against West Indies, Pakistan, Ireland and Australia, despite the corona-virus delaying the start of their

home season until at least July.Among those recalled was

David Willey, who lost his place in the one-day squad to Jofra Archer shortly before England won the World Cup for the first time last year.

Official squads will be named at a later date, with three Tests against the West Indies, set to be played behind closed doors at bio-secure venues such as Old Trafford in Manchester and Southamp-ton’s Ageas Bowl, first up for England this season.

The group will not train in one place, but with individual sessions across several county venues, that started with bowlers back in the nets last week, the only form of training allowed at present.

“It’s really pleasing to be in a position to have players

returning to training and a huge amount of work has been done by many to get us this far,” said England and Wales Cricket Board performance director Mo Bobat, who helped England coach Chris Sil-verwood and the selectors compile the list.

“The pool of players will give selectors s t r o n g

options when it comes to s e l e c t i n g squads across formats further

down the line, as we move closer to our aim of playing international cricket this summer.”

Nottinghamshire opener Hales was dropped shortly before last y e a r ’ s World C u p after it

emerged he had tested positive for drugs.

There had been specu-lation that, with England likely to need separate red and white-ball squads, Hales might be recalled.

But England one-day captain Eoin Morgan dashed Hales’ hopes on Wednesday when he said “it will take more time” for him to regain the trust of the squad.

Meanwhile, 35-year-old fast bowler Plunkett has not played for England since taking three wickets in the dra-matic World Cup final victory

over New Zealand at Lord’s.

ECB pushed the start of the domestic season back until August 1 at the ear-liest but officials are determined to press ahead with a full, lucrative international pro-

gramme amid fears a can-celled cam-paign could cost the board £380m ($463m).

Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Banton, Dom Bess, Sam Billings, James Bracey, Stuart Broad, Henry Brookes, Pat Brown, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Brydon Carse, Mason Crane, Zak Crawley, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Joe Denly, Ben Duckett, Laurie Evans, Ben Foakes, Richard Gleeson, Lewis Gregory, Sam Hain, Tom Helm, Will Jacks,Keaton Jennings, Chris Jordan, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Liam Living-stone, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Matt Parkin- son, O. Pope, Adil Rashid, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Phil Salt, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes,Olly Stone, Reece Topley, James Vince, Amar Virdi, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

ENGLAND TRAINING GROUP

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A big family effort: Warner remembers 2016 IPL win

IANS — NEW DELHI

David Warner took Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) fans on a trip down memory lane by sharing a picture of their first Indian Premier League (IPL) win. Warner had led SRH to the title in 2016, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight runs in a run-feast of a final.

“So proud of all the people who were involved. Was a big family effort,” Warner said in his caption to the image.

Both captains were in extraor-dinary form with the bat throughout the tournament. While Warner had scored 848 runs in 17 matches, RCB skipper Virat Kohli scored a mind numbing 973 runs at an average of 81.03.

The match was played at RCB’s home in Bengaluru and SRH batted first. Warner led the way with 69 off 38 balls as SRH posted a target of 209 for RCB to chase. It was a mammoth total but not one that was out of reach for RCB thanks to their star-studded batting line-up.

For a while, it did look like RCB would actually chase down the total

with ease. Kohli and Chris Gayle put up an opening partnership of 114 runs that came in just 11 overs.

SRH’S comeback started when Gayle fell to Ben Cutting in the 11th over and Kohli fell to Barinder Sran in the 13th.

The very next over, the dan-gerous AB de Villiers fell for just 5 runs to Bipul Sharma.

KL Rahul, Shane Watson and Sachin Baby all came in and made runs but eventually, RCB folded on 200/7.

David Warner had led SRH to the title in 2016, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight runs in a run-feast of a final.

07SATURDAY 30 MAY 2020 SPORT

Brazil JudgesuspendsNeymar’s fine paymentAFP – BRASÍLIA

A Brazilian judge has suspended Neymar’s payment of a fine of 88 million reais ($16.28m) to tax authorities for irregularities, notably in connection with his transfer to Barcelona in 2013.

The judge, Decio Gabriel Gimenez, at a court in Sao Paulo, suspended the payment of the fine “until further notice”, on the grounds that the exact amount due to be paid by Neymar was not clarified.

According to Brazilian press reports, the state has already appealed the decision.

In September 2015, the Brazilian Treasury froze 188.8 million reais of the player’s assets, due to unpaid taxes linked to his image rights from 2011 to 2013.

Neymar had left Brazilian side Santos for Barcelona in 2013. The fine was reduced in 2017 after a tax appeals council quashed two of the five con-victions. The Paris Saint-Germain star, the world’s most expensive footballer, agreed to pay a much smaller fine, before the treasury announced in 2018 that he still owed 88 million reais. Barcelona officially said the transfer cost €57.1m ($63.6m), with €40m going to Neymar’s family and 17.1 million to Santos, but Spanish prosecutors later said it actually cost at least €83.3m.

League-by-league guide toreturn of European footballAFP – PARIS

With Switzerland following Italy’s Serie A yesterday in setting a date for its return from the coronavirus shutdown, and the English Premier League also now agreed on when to resume, AFP Sport casts a glance at the situation for football leagues across Europe:

LEAGUES RESTARTINGThe German Bundesliga was the first major European

league to return on May 16, but the Faroe Islands came back before that. Football is also being played again in Estonia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, while Belarus was the one country on the continent where it never went away during the coronavirus crisis.

On Thursday, Italy’s sports minister confirmed that Serie A will return on June 20, while La Liga in Spain will resume its season in the week beginning June 8.

Italy’s announcement was followed on Friday by neigh-bours Switzerland, whose league will resume on June 19.

The Swiss season was the first in Europe to be suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the last matches played on February 23. Clubs will play two games a week in order to complete the remaining third of the season by August 2.

CONFIRMED RESTART DATES IN EUROPEDenmark: May 28, Poland: May 29, Serbia, Ukraine: May

30, Austria: June 2, Portugal: June 3, Slovenia: June 5, Croatia, Greece: June 6, Spain: week beginning June 8, Turkey: June 12, Norway: June 16, Switzerland: June 19, Italy: June 20, Russia: June 21, Finland: July 1

ENGLAND AWAITS GREEN LIGHTThe Premier League on Thursday announced the date of

June 17 for its return, although that remains “provisional” for now, according to chief executive Richard Masters.

He admitted the date “cannot be confirmed until we have met all the safety requirements needed, as the health and welfare of all participants and supporters is our priority.”

SEASON OVERThe Netherlands was the first European country to bring

an early end to the season on April 24 as the Eredivisie was cancelled without a champion being crowned.

France then followed suit on April 30, ending the season with 10 rounds of matches unplayed. The season was not voided, though, with Paris Saint-Germain confirmed as cham-pions, European places dished out and relegation and pro-motion between the top two divisions maintained on a two-up, two-down basis. Belgium also ended its season, with Club Brugge champions, after the Belgian government announced it was suspending all sporting competitions until July 31.

In Scotland the season had already been called early in the three divisions below the top flight and the Premiership followed suit on May 18, with Celtic being crowned cham-pions for the ninth year running.

FA Cup final to be held on August 1REUTERS – MANCHESTER

The FA Cup final will be held on August 1, the Football Associ-ation announced yesterday, after the Premier League said on Thursday that its season will restart on June 17.

The quarter-finals of the FA Cup will be held over the weekend of June 27-28, with the semi-finals earmarked for the weekend of July 18-19.

The knockout competition, like the rest of English football, had been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The FA said that the dates for the games, which will be played behind closed doors, were “pro-visional” and dependent on all safety elements being in place for the games.

“We are pleased to agree the provisional restart date for the 2019/20 Emirates FA Cup,” said FA Chief Executive Mark Bullingham.

“The competition has been an integral part of the English football calendar for nearly 150 years and we’d like to thank the Premier League executive and clubs for their support in

scheduling the remaining matches during this unprece-dented time.”

Bullingham emphasised the provisional nature of the pro-posed dates, adding that “the health and wellbeing of players, staff and supporters remains our priority”.

The schedule for the FA Cup quarter-finals (originally drawn on March 4):

Leicester City vs Chelsea, Newcastle United vs Manchester City, Sheffield United vs Arsenal, Norwich City vs Manchester United

Players vie for the ball as fans and players are streamed live on to the screens on the sidelines during the 3F Super League football match between AGF and Randers FC at Ceres Park in Aarhus, Denmark, on Thursday, as the season resumed following a two-month absence due to the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

A Liverpool fan is held up as he looks over a fence to watch the team-members training at Melwood in Liverpool, Britain.

Fans could return for 20-21 season, says top PL officialAFP – LONDON

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said yesterday that fans could be allowed to attend top-flight matches in the 2020-21 season on a “phased basis”.

The Premier League plans to resume the 2019-20 campaign on June 17 following the coronavirus lockdown.

But the remaining 92 fixtures will be played behind closed doors to minimise the health risks of foot-ball’s return in a country badly hit by the pandemic.

The prospect of playing the next season with no fans is unappetising for the Premier League and Masters suggested it could be possible to being back supporters at some stage.

“No one knows when matches will move away from the behind-closed-doors model and it is right to have contingency plans in place, but there is optimism at the Premier League and at clubs that we will see fans back in the stadiums next season and it may happen on a

phased basis,” Masters told Sky Sports News.

“Hopefully it will be a huge morale boost and that is what we’ve been working towards.

“We’ve got some incredible fans in this country and we all know the Premier League as we know and love it won’t be fully back until we have fans back through the turnstiles.”

The biggest concern for ‘Project Restart’ is another wave of the virus, which could lead to the competition being suspended again.

With that in mind, Masters said it was crucial clubs agreed on a plan for what would happen if the season had to end early before games resume.

But he would not be drawn on whether an unweighted points-per-game model would be used in decide the final table in the event of the season being abandoned.

“We need to have plans in place so that we go into the start of the season knowing that if it can’t be completed, what then happens,” Masters said.

“(But) I’m not going to give away any of the details of the private dis-cussions we are having with our clubs.”

The video assistant referee (VAR) system is set to be used in the remaining matches, but Masters said it would be done remotely rather than from the officials’ usual base at Stockley Park.

“VAR has its own social dis-tancing issues but we think there is a way of completing the season with VAR, so absolutely our intention is

to complete the season with VAR in place,” he said.

“The hub itself could be a problem, so if you can’t do the hub you have to do it remotely, and that’s what we’re looking at.” Liverpool are two wins away from clinching their first English title for 30 years, but they could be forced to play at a neutral venue when the trophy is within reach on police advice.

Police chiefs are concerned about the safety risks of Liverpool fans gathering outside Anfield or any other stadium their team are playing at.

Masters said talks with the police about neutral venues for some games are on-going, but he hopes Liverpool can at least have a trophy presentation.

“They (the police) have legit-imate concerns but we think we can mitigate some of the issues they’re trying to deal with,” he said.

“We’ll do everything we possibly can to deliver a trophy presentation. It’s really important to mark that moment and to give the fans that memory to mark it.”

Police want Liverpool title decider to be played at neutral stadiumAP – MANCHESTER

Liverpool is unlikely to win the Premier League at Anfield after police included the leader’s key games among six it wants to be played at neutral venues in a bid to prevent fans from gathering outside when the compe-tition resumes.

Police originally wanted neutral venues for all 92 remaining games but the plan was opposed by the clubs - particularly those trying to avoid relegation.

The league plans to resume on June 17 after a 100-day shutdown to contain the corona-virus pandemic, pending final approval from government, which is trying to prevent a second spike in cases.

Police don’t object to the games on that Wednesday night being played at Manchester City and Aston Villa.

But police want the derby between Everton and Liverpool to be played away from Mer-seyside a few days later. The game was orig-inally scheduled at Goodison Park. Liverpool, which leads by 25 points with nine games remaining, could clinch the title by beating Everton if second-placed City loses to Arsenal.

If the 30-year title drought doesn’t end that day, police want Liverpool’s next game,

against Crystal Palace, to be played away from Anfield. Greater Manchester Police have already determined Liverpool’s third game back against Manchester City should be staged away from the Etihad Stadium.

Liverpool’s fourth game back is against Aston Villa, currently scheduled at Anfield.

The same Manchester force wants City’s game against Newcastle and Manchester United’s home game against Sheffield United played outside of the northwest location.

Police in Newcastle also don’t want the home game against Liverpool to be played at St. James’ Park on the final day of the season, which could be July 26.

One obvious neutral venue is Wembley Stadium in north London which is not the home of any club side. Only 200 of the 380 Premier League games each season are con-tracted to be broadcast live in Britain, but all remaining fixtures will be aired live because fans will not be allowed in stadiums.

A general view outside Wembley Stadium in London. The Wembley is one obvious neutral venue which is not the home of any club side, for Liverpool's title decider.

No one knows when matches will move away from the behind-closed-doors model and it is right to have contingency plans in place, but there is optimism at the Premier League and at clubs that we will see fans back in the stadiums next season and it may happen on a phased basis: Richard Masters

UEFA mulls CL final host away from IstanbulAP – NYON

UEFA is planning to move the Champions League final away from Istanbul and is considering other locations as planning and scheduling is shaken up by the coronavirus pandemic.

The UEFA executive committee will meet on June 17 to examine the findings of a working group that has been assessing how to complete competitions that were suspended in March and are likely to finish without any fans in stadiums.

UEFA is aiming to complete its elite club competition in August after the delayed domestic leagues of the remaining sides have managed to conclude. The Champions League round of 16 has yet to be fully completed. The final was due to be staged today at Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.

One person with knowledge of the planning said UEFA had already concluded using Istanbul was no longer practical this year and that one option was to stage the remaining matches in one city. The person spoke to The Associated Press on con-dition of anonymity to discuss ongoing planning.

There are ongoing restrictions for travel across Europe, with international flight arrivals currently banned by Turkey.

The priority for the location of matches is the accessibility to players and officials as there are unlikely to be any fans allowed into the remaining Champions League games.