Sunday, August 16, 2020Dhul-Hijjah 26, 1441 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Serena falls to 116th-ranked Rogers at US Open tune-up

Miami’s Jones stretcheredoff in loss to Pacers

NBA NBA | Page 3 TENNIS | Page 5

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Vinales takes Austrian pole thanks to ‘incredible bike’Page 2

Hamilton roars to sizzling Spanish GP pole ahead of BottasFORMULA 1

AFPBarcelona, Spain

Lewis Hamilton roared to a record-extending 92nd Formula One pole posi-tion of his career yester-

day when he outpaced Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in a siz-zling qualifying session for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The championship leader and six-time world champion clocked a best lap of one minute and 15.584 seconds to take the prime starting slot ahead of title rival Bottas by 0.059 seconds.

It was Hamilton’s fourth pole of the year and fi fth in Spain and brought with it his 150th front row start from a session that may have seen Mercedes enjoying their ‘party’ qualifying engine mode for the fi nal time.

“I couldn’t go quicker on my second lap, which I thought I

could, but the fi rst lap was a good job thankfully,” said Hamilton.

“I was here with my guys until 10 O’clock (2000 GMT) last night just looking all the details and how to improve because the Red Bull guys are super fast.”

Bottas said: “I knew it was go-ing to be close with Lewis — as always. The start will be my best chance.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is second in the overall standing 30 points behind Ham-ilton, was 0.708sec back in third.

The Dutchman was ahead of the two Racing Points of Sergio Perez, back in action after miss-ing two races with coronavirus, and Lance Stroll. Alex Albon took sixth place in the second Red Bull.

“This is our maximum, but I hope we can do better in the race. Tomorrow is a diff erent day again!” Verstappen said.

Carlos Sainz was seventh ahead

of his McLaren teammate Lando Norris, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri.

On a hot summer’s day at the Circuit de Catalunya, the air temperature was 30 degrees

celsius and the track a swelter-ing 50 degrees as Q1 began with the Williams drivers leading the way.

A gusty wind had arrived since the fi nal practice in the morn-ing, adding another factor to the struggle for grip experienced by most drivers.

Hamilton topped the initial runs ahead of the two rapid Rac-ing Points and stayed on top while Raikkonen, for the fi rst time this year, proceeded to Q2 leaving his Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi 20th and last.

The Italian was eliminated along with both Williams driv-ers, Nicholas Latifi and George Russell, Romain Grosjean and his Haas teammate Kevin Magnus-sen.

The Q2 segment started with both Mercedes out early on soft tyres, Hamilton pipping Bottas by one-tenth of a second before Verstappen, half a second down,

went third and Sainz fourth.The second run was preceded

by desultory preparation laps, as they preserved their soft tyres, before in the fi nal seconds Gasly jumped to fi fth and, in the proc-ess, dumped the luckless Se-bastian Vettel out of the top 10 shoot-out by 0.002 seconds.

The four-time world champi-on was 11th ahead of Daniil Kvyat of Alpha Tauri, Daniel Ricciardo of Renault, Raikkonen and Este-ban Ocon, in the second Renault.

“It must be one of the most diffi cult challenges he has faced in his career,” observed 2016 champion Nico Rosberg, talk-ing on Sky Sports F1 of Vettel’s plight as he struggles to recover his form.

In Q3, Hamilton was fastest again on the opening runs, se-curing provisional pole ahead of Bottas by 0.059 with Verstappen third, seven-tenths adrift of the champion — a gap that may be

reduced next time with the likely ban on ‘party’ modes for qualify-ing.

Bottas did his utmost on his second run, but it was not enough to overhaul Hamilton’s lap time and the Briton was on pole before he completed his fl ying lap.

QUALIFYING TIMES (top 10)1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:15.5842. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 1:15.6433. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 1:16.2924. Sergio Pérez (Racing Point) 1:16.4825. Lance Stroll (Racing Point) 1:16.5896. Alexander Albon (Red Bull) 1:17.0297. Carlos Sainz (McLaren) 1:17.0448. Lando Norris (McLaren) 1:17.0849. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:17.08710. Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) 1:17.136

AFPNew Delhi, India

MS Dhoni yesterday re-tired from India’s na-tional team ending one of the most heralded

international cricket careers ever.The 39-year-old wicketkeeper

and batsman is India’s most suc-cessful captain having won the World Cup, the inaugural T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy.

Dubbed ‘Captain Cool’ because of his unfl appable style, Dhoni is also one of India’s best loved sports personalities and his fans have been dreading this decision for months.

Dhoni posted a four minute seven second video of his career highlights on Instagram and added in a caption: “Thanks a lot for your love and support throughout. From 1929hrs consider me as retired.”

Dhoni did not say whether this meant all cricket but Chennai Su-per Kings chief executive Kasi Vishwanathan told AFP that Dhoni would still lead the team in the In-dian Premier League starting in the United Arab Emirates next month.

Dhoni arrived in Chennai on Fri-day to train with the team before they leave for Dubai next week. Dhoni’s Chennai teammate and fellow World Cup winner, Suresh Raina, also announced his interna-tional retirement.

Dhoni quit Tests in 2014 and has not played for the national side since India’s World Cup semi-fi nal loss against New Zealand in Eng-land last year — his 350th one day international.

RECORDS GALOREHe holds the record for most inter-national matches as captain, 332, and his 195 international stump-ings is also the most by any wicket-keeper.

Tributes poured in for the play-er who led India to the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, the 50-over event in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013.

He scored 10,773 runs in ODIs

and is the only captain to have led a country to victory in all three Inter-national Cricket Council trophies.

“The boy from Ranchi, who made his ODI debut in 2004, changed the face of Indian cricket with his calm demeanour, sharp understanding of the game and astute leadership qualities,” the Board of Control for Cricket in India said in a statement confi rming Dhoni’s move.

“It is the end of an era,” said Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI presi-dent and himself a former national captain.

“His leadership qualities have been something which will be hard to match.”

India skipper Virat Kohli tipped his hat to his former captain in an emotional message.

“Every cricketer has to end his journey one day, but still when someone you’ve gotten to know so closely announces that decision, you feel the emotion much more. What you’ve done for the country will always remain in everyone’s heart,” Kohli wrote on Twitter.

“But the mutual respect and warmth I’ve received from you will always stay in mine. The world has seen achievements, I’ve seen the person. Thanks for everything skip. I tip my hat to you.”

India batting great Sachin Ten-dulkar paid tribute to his former teammate under whom he won the ODI World Cup in Mumbai.

“Your contribution to Indian cricket has been immense,” Ten-dulkar wrote on Twitter.

“Winning the 2011 World Cup together has been the best moment of my life.”

Former England captain Nasser Hussain rated Dhoni as the best ever captain in limited-overs crick-et.

“Great captain. Probably the best white-ball captain there has ever been and also a cool, calm cus-tomer under pressure,” the crick-eter-turned-commentator said on Sky Sports.

“He is a great fi nisher of a game and until recently he paced the in-nings perfectly. He was involved in some of the great moments of In-dian cricket and did things his own way.

After his debut, 16 years ago, Dhoni captured the imagination of fans with his swashbuckling bat-ting. He played 90 Tests, scoring 4,876 runs.

Suresh Raina said it had been “nothing but lovely” to be in teams with Dhoni as he also announced his departure from the national team on Instagram.

“With my heart full of pride, I choose to join you in this journey,” he declared.

The 33-year-old played 18 Tests, 226 ODIs and 78 T20 internation-als, scoring 7,988 runs as a left-handed batsman.

India legend Dhoni retires from international cricket

FOCUS

‘It is the end of an era. His leadership qualities have been something which will be hard to match’

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton (right) and teammate Valtteri Bottas congratulate each other after qualifying in first and second position respectively for the Spanish Grand Prix at Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona, Spain, yesterday. (Reuters)

Name: Mahendra Singh DhoniBorn: July 7, 1981 (39 years)ODI debut: December 23, 2004, vs BangladeshTest debut: December 2, 2005, vs Sri Lanka

Honours as India captain: Won World T20 in 2007 Top Test team for 18 months

(starting Dec. 2009) Won ICC World Cup in 2011

Fielding/wicketkeeping Mat Ct StTests 90 256 38ODIs 350 321 123T20Is 98 57 34

*Mat: matches *Ct: catches

*St: stumpings

Mahi fi les

Batting averages Mat Inns Runs HS Ave SR 100 50Tests 90 144 4876 224 38.09 59.11 6 33ODIs 350 297 10773 183* 50.57 87.56 10 73T20Is 98 85 1617 56 37.60 126.13 0 2

Bangladesh want immediate return for Shakib aft er ban

Andretti tops Indy 500 speeds on eve of qualifying weekend

Vinales takes pole in Austria thanks to ‘incredible bike’

Dhoni ‘changed whole face of Indian cricket’: Misbah Rain washes out third day of 2nd Test

Australia and England stars set to miss IPL start

MOTOGP

COMMENT CRICKET / PAKISTAN’S TOUR OF ENGLAND

SPOTLIGHT

FOCUSMOTORSPORT

SPORT

Gulf Times Sunday, August 16, 20202

Ducati-Pramac’s Jack Miller will start second ahead of Yamaha-SRT’s Quartararo

AFPSouthampton, United Kingdom

Pakistan coach Misbah-ul-Haq said MS Dhoni had “changed the whole face of Indian cricket”

after the former captain an-nounced his international re-tirement yesterday.

Dhoni, a 39-year-old wicket-keeper and batsman, is India’s most successful skipper, having played a starring role in their 2011 World Cup fi nal win on home soil and also guided them to victory in the inaugural T20

World Cup fi nal and the Cham-pions Trophy.

“He’s a big name in Indian cricket, he’s served Indian cricket very well,” Misbah, who played against Dhoni, told AFP after the third day’s play in the second Test between England and Pakistan at Southampton was washed out.

Misbah added Dhoni, known for his unfl appable demeanour at the crease, had altered the mentality of the Indian team.

“One of the greats I think, the way he changed the approach and especially he achieved so much for Indian cricket, win-

ning the World Cup, winning the Champions Trophy, winning the T20 World Cup,” said Misbah.

“He’s got all the trophies in his bag,” added the former bats-man, a member of the Pakistan side that suff ered a dramatic fi ve-run defeat by arch-rivals India in the 2007 World Twen-ty20 fi nal in Johannesburg.

‘COOL CAPTAIN’Dhoni was also renowned for his ability under pressure, a talent he demonstrated during his 91 not out against Sri Lanka in the 2011 World Cup fi nal in Mumbai where he sealed a six-wicket win

in style with a towering six off Nuwan Kulasekara after promot-ing himself up the batting order.

“He was such a cool captain on the outside, but from the in-side such an aggressive player,” said former Pakistan skipper Misbah, who also paid tribute to Dhoni’s qualities as a tactician and man-manager.

“He was such a ‘shrewd’, you could say, captain — the way he handled the team, the way he just developed the team and changed the team from seniors (senior players), brought up some juniors.

“He changed the whole cul-

ture of the team, the whole face of Indian cricket — a wonderful servant of the game.”

Misbah added that under Dhoni the national side had gone on to greater heights than even the celebrated team captained by Sourav Ganguly, now the president of the Board of Con-trol for Cricket in India.

“He was the one name who really took Indian cricket from wherever Sourav left the team and then from there on he did wonders for Indian cricket,” said Misbah. “Such a wonder-ful person and a very, very good captain.”

AFPSouthampton, United Kingdom

Rain meant there was no play at all on the third day of the second Test between England and

Pakistan at Southampton yester-day in a match already plagued by stoppages for bad weather.

Play should have resumed at 11:00 am local time (1000 GMT) but light rain meant the pitch and square remained fully covered, with the fl oodlights then on full beam.

Had the players been on the fi eld, play may well have contin-ued given the rain was only of the spitting kind.

But, with no spectators present in a series being played behind closed doors because of the coronavirus, the fl oodlights were then switched off in a clear indication the umpires had de-cided there would not be any ac-tion before lunch.

The offi cials held three in-spections in the afternoon be-fore, with rain now coming down harder onto Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl headquarters, they aban-doned play for the day at 5.16pm (1616 GMT) without a ball having been bowled.

Pakistan, 1-0 down in a three-

match series, will resume today on 223-9 in their fi rst innings.

Mohamed Rizwan batted with huge skill and resolve in overcast, swing-friendly conditions, to be 60 not out at the end of a second day where only 40 overs’ play took place.

In partnership with dogged tailender Mohamed Abbas (two off 20 balls), the wicket-keeper took Pakistan past 200 in a ninth-wicket after they had come together with the tourists struggling at 176-8.

This was Rizwan’s second fi fty in eight career Tests following his 95 against Australia in Brisbane in November.

Pakistan were also indebted to opener Abid Ali (60) and Babar Azam (47) for painstaking in-nings when the conditions were stacked against the batsmen.

Meanwhile in-form paceman Stuart Broad became the fi rst England bowler since off -spin-ner Graeme Swann 11 years ago to take at least three wickets in seven consecutive Test innings thanks to a return of 3-56 in 25 overs.

Broad has taken 25 wickets in four Test so far this season at a miserly average of 12.88.

Victory in this match will see England secure their fi rst series win over Pakistan since 2010.

AFPNew Delhi, India

Top cricketers including England’s Ben Stokes and Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins risk miss-

ing the start of the Indian Pre-mier League because of a series between their countries next month.

Australia tour England from September 4 in a series that ends three days before the start of the world’s richest Twenty20 league in the United Arab Emirates.

The coronavirus pandemic pushed the tournament out of India but players will still have to undergo a week’s isolation and testing before they can join their teams.

Chennai Super Kings chief executive Kasi Viswanathan told AFP that quarantine rules will see a number of English and Australian players “will miss two or three games”.

“Only after that they will be able to join the team and start training,” he said.

Chennai, led by MS Dhoni, has Australian paceman Josh Hazle-wood and England’s Sam Curran in their team.

Rajasthan Royals captain Ste-ve Smith, Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner and Cum-mins of the Kolkata Knight Rid-ers — the most expensive foreign player for the 2020 season with a $2.17mn fee — could also be caught by the international se-ries.

Australia’s senior assistant coach Andrew McDonald has already said he will not join the team in England so that he can be with IPL side Rajasthan Royals, where he is head coach.

“Part of our agreement with him that he would be able to con-tinue as head coach of the Rajas-than Royals — and we’re really comfortable with that,” said Ben

Oliver of Cricket Australia.The Royals appear to be most

aff ected with England stars Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler and Tom Curran in their team, along with Smith and fellow Australian Andrew Tye.

A total of 29 players from Eng-land and Australia are part of the eight IPL squads that are sched-uled to start arriving in the UAE from next week.

Current UAE rules require tourists to carry a negative Cov-id-19 test report to enter without going into quarantine.

But IPL rules, still to be ratifi ed by the UAE government, involve testing players three times in the six days after arrival.

Many teams, including three-time champions Chennai, will also travel with their own set of net bowlers to maintain a bio-secure environment during the eight-week tournament.

The IPL is also expected to an-nounce a new lead sponsor next week after Chinese phone maker Vivo withdrew in the wake of lo-cal fallout from a deadly border clash between India and China in June.

Former India opener Chauhan on life support

IANSGurugram, India

Former India opener Chetan Chauhan (73) has been put on ventilator

support at the Medanta hos-pital here after a multi-organ failure.The former two-time Mem-ber of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh’s Amroha had tested positive for Covid-19 in Lucknow earlier. Yesterday, Chauhan, who has served in the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) in various capacities, was airlifted from the Sanjay Gandhi PGI hospital in Lucknow to the Medanta

Hospital in Gurugram.Chauhan had tested positive for Covid-19 on August 12. Since then, his condition has deteriorated, following which the doctors at the Sanjay Gan-dhi hospital referred him to the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram.Chauhan played 40 Test matches for India between 1969 and 1981, scoring 2,084 runs at 31.57 with 16 half-centuries. In the 179 first class matches he played for Delhi and Maharashtra, Chauhan amassed 11,143 runs at 40.22 with 22 centuries. The right-handed batsman is known for being one of the longest standing opening partners of the great Sunil Gavaskar.

England’s Sam Curran plays for Chennai Super Kings.

AFPSpielberg, Austria

Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales clinched pole for this weekend’s Aus-trian Grand Prix yester-

day.Vinales, who sits second in

the overall standings ahead of Sunday’s fourth race of the campaign, clocked one minute, 23.450 seconds to fi n-ish 0.068sec ahead of Ducati-Pramac’s Jack Miller.

Yamaha-SRT’s championship leader Fabio Quartararo was also less than a second back in third.

Vinales praised the factory outfi t after unimpressive free practice earlier in the day where he managed a top-three fi nish just once.

“I’m really happy because my objective was to be in the front row but suddenly I felt an in-credible feeling with the bike from this morning we made a really big improvement so the team has done a really good job,” Spaniard Vinales said.

“We need to try to understand for tomorrow’s race which are going to be the best tyres but anyway the bike is working fan-tastic.

“It was a lot diff erent from Brno (the Czech MotoGP last weekend), so I am very happy

and enthusiastic as we know on one lap we are very fast.”

Quartararo, who won the two fi rst races of the season and has a 17-point lead at the top of the standings, was content despite a season-low start of third.

Honestly I feel really happy because all weekend I was strug-gling to make the time attack,”

We need to check our pace, I think it’s not so bad and thanks to the team because we changed the bike quite a lot during the weekend so I’m feeling great to be back on the front-row

DEPARTING ‘DOVI’Andrea Dovizioso, who is fourth the overall standings, will start

in fourth place in Spielberg.Earlier yesterday Ducati an-

nounced the three-time cham-pionship runner-up will leave the side at the end of the cam-paign.

“Honestly, the situation was quite complicated and we asked for some time to make time in order to make up our mind for

the future,” Sporting Director Paolo Ciabatti told BT Sport.

“We met with this morn-ing with Simone Battistella (Dovizioso’s manager) and we realised they were not the con-ditions to continue, I don’t want to go into the details,” he added.

Frenchman Johann Zarco is among the favourites to replace Dovizioso.

Title holder Marc Marquez will continue to sit out after fracturing his arm in the season-opener in Spain.

Seven-time MotoGP cham-pion Valentino Rossi will start from 12th with South African Brad Binder, who won his maid-en Grand Prix in Brno last week-end, in 17th.

QUALIFYING RESULTS (top 10)1. Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) 1:23.4502. Jack Miller (Ducati-Pramac) +0.0683. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha-SRT) +0.0874. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) +0.1565. Pol Espargaro (KTM) +0.1626. Joan Mir (Suzuki) +0.2237. Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha-SRT) +0.2698. Alex Rins (Suzuki) +0.2819. Johann Zarco (Ducati/Avintia) +0.37810. Takaaki Nakagami (Honda-LCR) +0.422

Monster Energy Yamaha’s Spanish rider Maverick Vinales rides during the qualification round for the MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring circuit in Spielberg, Austria, yesterday. (AFP)

AFPDhaka, Bangladesh

Bangladesh want star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan to make an instant return to in-

ternational cricket in a series against Sri Lanka when his anti-corruption ban ends in October, the national board president said yesterday.

Shakib was banned for two years in 2019 for failing to re-port an approach by a match-fi xing syndicate but one year was suspended, meaning the 33-year-old could be available from October 29.

Sri Lanka host a three-Test tour by Bangladesh later this year, with the fi rst Test slated for October 24.

The national team will work with Shakib — once one of the world’s top rated all-round-ers but plagued by discipli-nary problems — to make him match fi t, Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Has-san said.

“We will take care of him from now on. One of our phys-ios will work one-to-one with him,” Hassan told reporters.

“We are all eagerly waiting his return. Hopefully, he will be fi t, ready and join our team in Sri Lanka and play.”

Hassan said he wanted the team to go to Sri Lanka in Sep-tember to prepare for the tour, originally planned for July but postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I have proposed that we should shift most of the train-ing to Sri Lanka,” Hassan said.

“The only reason we are sending the team to Sri Lanka is because it is one of the safe countries.”

Bangladesh cricketers re-sumed training in July, but only one player and one trainer are allowed inside Dhaka’s main stadium at a time because of coronavirus restrictions.

AFPWashington, United States

Marco Andretti, with only two Indy-Car triumphs over 15 seasons, drove

Friday’s best Indianapolis 500 practice lap, seizing bragging rights on the eve of qualifying for the August 23 race.

The 33-year-old grandson of auto racing legend Mario An-dretti and son of team owner Michael Andretti went around the famed 2 1/2-mile (4km) Indianapolis Motor Speed-way oval in 38.5454 seconds at 233.491 mph (375.767 km/hr) in his Honda-powered Dallara.

It was the fastest lap on the “Fast Friday” qualifying eve since “Flying Dutchman” Arie Luy-endyk went 239.260 mph in 1996.

Every car will try for the fast-est four-lap qualifying average to claim a spot in the 33-car fi eld, with the fastest nine ad-vancing to a shootout today to decide pole position and the or-der of the front three rows.

“We don’t need to fi nd more speed. We need to fi nd four laps,” Andretti said.

“It’s just about balance now. We have the speed. Now we need to tie it together to be fl at (out) for four.”

Andretti’s major concern will be the weight upon the tires and their grip over the warmup and four laps of qualifying.

“For 16 miles is a long time,” said Andretti. “It’s only two minutes but it feels like ages for the drivers.”

The only Indy 500 victory by the Andretti family came by Mario in 1969, but Marco marks the third generation to seek a victory on the Indy oval.

Marco Andretti has driven in 236 IndyCar races since making his series debut in 2006, win-ning only at the Grand Prix of Sonoma in his debut season and the 2011 Iowa 250. His most re-cent podium fi nish was third at Fontana, California, in 2015.

In 14 Indy 500 starts, An-dretti has reached the podium four times, taking second in his 2006 debut and third in 2008, 2010 and 2014.

His near-miss 14 years ago at age 19 was the biggest heartbreaker as he lost to fel-low American Sam Hornish by 0.0635 of a second, what re-mains the third-closest fi nish in Indy 500 history.

Andretti seized the lead with three laps remaining af-ter passing father Michael on the outside of the first turn. Hornish challenged him over the last two laps, passing on the closing straightaway about 450 feet from the finish line and winning by just over a car length.

American Conor Daly, yet to win in his seven-year IndyCar career, was second on 232.337 mph with New Zealand’s Scott Dixon, the season points leader, third on 232.290 mph.

Dixon won the fi rst three races of a Covid-19 disrupted season that saw the Indy 500 moved from its usual late May spot to August, in the middle of the series calendar.

Defending champion Simon Pagenaud of France ranked 23rd among the 33 cars that prac-ticed Friday with a top speed of 230.189 mph from 28 laps.

Spain’s Fernando Alonso, a two-time Formula One cham-pion who crashed Thursday but was unhurt, was 25th on 229.788 mph after 52 laps.

SPORT3Gulf Times

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Miami’s Jones stretchered off in loss to Pacers

Yankees’ Cole dominates Red Sox, posts 20th straight win

Canadiens thump Flyers as coach recovers from heart op

NBA MLB

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Reigning champs Toronto close out the regular season with a win over Denver

AFPLos Angeles, United States

Montreal goaltender Carey Price made 30 saves as the Cana-diens beat the Phila-

delphia Flyers 5-0 on Friday to level their NHL Eastern Confer-ence playoff series at one game apiece.

Tomas Tatar and Jesperi Ko-tkaniemi scored two goals apiece for the Canadiens, who were guided in Toronto by assistant coach Kirk Muller as head coach Claude Julien returned to Mon-treal after having a stent placed in a coronary artery on Thursday.

Julien, who had been hospi-talised because of chest pain, isn’t expected to return during the best-of-seven fi rst round se-ries, which is being played in the NHL’s Eastern Conference hub city as the league aims to crown a Stanley Cup champion after a coronavirus hiatus.

Muller said Julien “was one of the fi rst guys to congratulate us

on the big win.“For Claude, I’m sure he’s lis-

tening, this win’s for you and your family.”

Philadelphia goalie Carter Hart allowed four goals on 26 shots and was pulled at 17:57 of the second period.

Montreal had taken control early against the top-seeded Fly-ers.

Tatar put Montreal up 1-0 at 1:02 of the fi rst when he scored on the rebound of a shot by Brendan Gallagher.

Kotkaniemi made it 2-0 at 12:36, knocking in the rebound of a shot by Jonathan Drouin shot.

Montreal out-shot the Fly-ers 20-3 in the fi rst 10 minutes, Philadelphia failing to get a shot on goal until 3:36 remained in the period.

Tatar scored on a power play at 1:25 of the second period and Joel Armia made it 4-0 with 2:03 remaining in the period. Ko-tkaniemi scored on a power play at 10:35 of the third to cap the scoring.

“We got our butts kicked to-

day in all facets of the game,” said Flyers coach Alain Vigneault, whose team hadn’t lost since play resumed after a months-long pandemic pause.

“They out-worked us, they outplayed us, they out-executed us.”

To make matters worse, Travis Konecny, who led the Flyers with 24 regular-season goals, depart-ed in the third period after ap-parently taking a puck to his left ankle.

“There’s no doubt that Mon-treal’s will tonight to play the right way and to do the right things was much higher than ours,” Vigneault said.

“At this time of the year with the importance of the game, you don’t expect that.”

CANUCKS EDGE BLUES IN OTIn Western Conference action in Edmonton, Bo Horvat scored his second goal 5:55 into overtime as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the reigning Stanley Cup cham-pions St. Louis Blues 4-3 to take a 2-0 lead in their series.

The Blues’ Jaden Schwartz had knotted the score at 3-3 with sev-en seconds remaining in the third period when a redirection by David Perron went in off his leg.

Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist, Tanner Pearson scored and Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves for Vancouver.

Ryan O’Reilly and Sammy Blais also scored for the Blues.

The New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche also took 2-0 leads in their series, the Islanders downing the Washington Capitals 5-2 and the Avalanche holding off the Arizona Coyotes 3-2.

The Calgary Flames defeated the Dallas Stars 2-0 to take a two games-to-one lead in their Western Conference clash.

AFPMiami, United States

The Indiana Pacers beat Miami 109-92 on Fri-day in a preview of their upcoming NBA playoff

clash that took a frightening turn when Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. was stretchered off the court.

With top players from both teams sitting out in anticipation of their already-booked fi rst-round playoff series next week, Doug McDermott led the Pacers with 23 points in a victory that offi cially gave Indiana the East-ern Conference fourth seed to Miami’s No. 5.

With all games being played in the NBA’s quarantine bubble in Orlando, Florida, the higher seed and its “home court” ad-vantage was of little importance, making the injury to Jones much more of a concern for Miami.

“It just takes the air out of the building,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of seeing Jones go down hard in the third quarter after he crashed into Indiana’s 2.11m, 113kg Georgian center Goga Bitadze as he tried to round a screen.

Jones was on the fl oor for several minutes before he was placed on a stretcher with a neck brace, the Heat saying later Friday that MRI and CT scans showed he had a neck strain.

“He got jarred in the shoul-der-neck area,” Spoelstra said. “Obviously a little bit more than a stinger.”

It was precisely the scenario all the teams wrapping up regu-lar season action on Friday were trying to avoid, with the fi rst-round playoff series matchups virtually set.

The only thing left to be de-cided by this weekend’s play-in series is whether Memphis or Portland will claim the fi nal Western Conference berth and take on the West-leading Los Angeles Lakers.

“Even as competitors, you don’t want it on either side,” Spoelstra said. “You just want to be able to have everybody avail-able for the playoff s.”

Spoelstra had held out Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo, Goran Dragic, Jae Crowder and Andre Iguodala.

The Pacers, who were without TJ Warren, Victor Oladipo and Myles Turner, led much of the game, buoyed by 23 points from Doug McDermott.

Six Pacers players scored in double-fi gures. That included Malcolm Brogdon, the only reg-

ular Pacers starter in the lineup, who scored 16.

Second-year forward Alize Johnson got his fi rst career start and produced a double-double of 11 points and 17 rebounds.

RAPTORS BEAT NUGGETSReigning champions Toronto, the second seeds in the East, closed out the regular season with a 117-109 victory over the Denver Nuggets.

Norman Powell led the Rap-

tors with 15 points and Spanish big man Marc Gasol added two points for Toronto, who opted to rest stars Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet.

Serge Ibaka and OG Anunoby also missed the game, with Rap-tors coach Nick Nurse saying both were still battling knee in-juries.

Nuggets stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray played just 10 minutes apiece, Jokic scoring two points and Murray 11 with

reserve point guard Monte Mor-ris scoring 16.

Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers gave stars Kawhi Le-onard and Paul George the night off , but rookie Terance Mann drained a go-ahead three-pointer with 2:30 left in overtime in a 25-point performance that pro-pelled LA to a 107-103 victory.

Mann added 14 rebounds and nine assists for the Clippers, who clinched the second seed in the West on Wednesday and will

face the Dallas Mavericks in the fi rst round starting on Monday.

SIXERS EASE PAST ROCKETSOklahoma City entered the game already knowing they’ll open the playoff s against the Houston Rockets — who fell 134-96 to the Philadelphia 76ers in their fi nal regular-sea-son game.

Tobias Harris scored 18 points and reserve Alec Burks added 16 for the 76ers, who will open the playoff s against the Boston Celtics.

The Sixers and Rockets opted to play most of their usual start-ers into the third quarter, al-though Houston were without star guard Russell Westbrook — who is expected to miss the start of the post-season with a quad-riceps strain.

James Harden led the Rockets with a game-high 27 points and 10 assists.

ReutersNew York, United States

Gerrit Cole pitched sev-en strong innings to win his 20th straight deci-sion and the New York

Yankees remained unbeaten in games played at Yankee Stadium with a 10-3 rout of the slumping Boston Red Sox Friday night.

Cole (4-0) became the sixth pitcher to win 20 consecutive decisions in baseball history and the fi rst since Jake Arrieta did it for the Chicago Cubs from Aug. 4, 2015-May 25, 2016. The all-time record is 24 straight deci-sions by Hall of Famer Carl Hub-bell from July 17, 1936-May 27, 1937 with the New York Giants.

Cole allowed one run on four hits. He struck out eight, walked none in a 95-pitch outing.

Cole’s latest win helped the Yankees improve to 7-0 to start the abbreviated season at Yan-kee Stadium. It is the fourth time they have begun 7-0 or better in the Bronx since 1959 (also 2017, 1998 and 1987).

Alex Verdugo homered and drove in two runs for the Red Sox, who lost their fi fth straight and continued to struggle against the Yankees. Rafael Devers added an RBI single in the eighth.

BLUE JAYS 12-4 RAYSBo Bichette hit one of six Toronto home runs, a three-run tie-breaking home run in a fi ve-run bottom of the sixth inning, and Teoscar Hernandez added two more as Toronto beat Tampa Bay in Buff alo.

The homer extended Bi-chette’s hitting streak to eight games, and extended his streak of games with a home run to four. The Blue Jays snapped the Rays’ six-game winning streak.

Hernandez hit a three-run homer and a solo shot for four total RBIs, Rowdy Tellez added a two-run blast, and Cavan Big-gio and Randal Grichuk hit solo homers. Brandon Lowe hit a two-run homer for Tampa Bay.

PHILLIES 6-5 METSBryce Harper hit a walk-off RBI

single in the bottom of the ninth inning to score Roman Quinn from second base as host Phila-delphia defeated New York.

JT Realmuto homered and drove in three runs while Quinn and Andrew McCutchen had two hits each for the Phillies, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Dominic Smith homered in a third consecutive game, sin-gled and knocked in two runs while Robinson Cano hit a solo home run, singled and had two RBIs for the Mets.

Phillies starter Spencer Howard lasted 3 1/3 innings and left with an apparent blister on a fi nger of his pitching hand. In his second career start, Howard allowed seven hits and four runs, three earned.

REDS 8-1 PIRATESJesse Winker homered twice and right-hander Sonny Gray struck out 10, while pitching into the seventh, as Cincinnati evened its four-game home series against Pittsburgh.

Nick Castellanos’ three-run homer highlighted a four-run seventh inning for the Reds. Gray (4-1, 2.05 ERA) allowed a Bryan Reynolds home run in the fourth, plus four other hits with one walk in 6 2/3 innings. Wink-er hit a solo shot in the second and added two-run blast in the fourth.

Kuhl (0-1) took the loss after giving up the two home runs, three runs and fi ve hits with six strikeouts over fi ve innings. The Pirates have lost 14 of their fi rst 18 games.

Indiana Pacers forward Doug McDermott (left) dribbles against Miami Heat guard Kendrick Nunn (right) and forward Kyle Alexander during their NBA game at AdventHealth Arena in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, on Friday. (USA TODAY Sports) OTHER RESULTS

Orioles 6-2 Nationals

Nationals 15-3 Orioles

Brewers 4-3 Cubs

Indians 10-5 Tigers

Dodgers 7-4 Angels

D’backs 5-1 Padres

Astros 11-1 Mariners

Marlins 8-2 Braves

Rangers 3-2 Rockies

Athletics 8-7 Giants

RESULTS

Colorado 3-2 Arizona

Montreal 5-0 Philadelphia

Vancouver 4-3 St. Louis

NY Islanders 5-1 Washington

Calgary 2-0 Dallas

RESULTS

Toronto 117-109 Denver

Indiana 109-92 Miami

LA Clippers 107-103 Oklahoma

(OT)

Philadelphia 134-96 Houston

Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (centre) sprawls to make a save against the Philadelphia Flyers during game two of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoff s in Toronto on Friday. (USA TODAY Sports)

Miami Heat forward Derrick Jones Jr. is taken off the court by medical personnel after colliding with Indiana Pacers center Goga Bitadze (not pictured) during the NBA game on Friday. (USA TODAY Sports)

Performance boost through lockdown drives Cheptegei’s world record

A nation still potty for snooker’s enduring appeal

Hartley has had enough of being ‘governed’ by Jones

ATHLETICS

BOTTOMLINE

SPOTLIGHT

SPORT

Gulf Times Sunday, August 16, 20204

Cheptegei was already the 10,000m world champion from Doha last year and also the world cross country title holder

ReutersLondon

Park a snooker table inside Shef-fi eld’s Crucible Theatre and weird and wonderful things can occur.

In 1985, 18mn people across Brit-ain stayed glued to their TV screens past midnight as Dennis Taylor beat Steve Davis in the most gripping World Championship fi nal ever.

Two years earlier Canadian Cliff Thorburn made the fi rst televised maximum 147 break as compatriot Bill Werbeniuk memorably peered around a partition.

Snooker’s unpredictable genius Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins broke down in tears when he won the title in 1982 and in 1997 Ronnie ‘Rocket’ O’Sullivan swept a 147 in fi ve minutes.

On Friday, snooker’s spiritual home since 1977 witnessed more magic as England’s Kyren Wilson beat Anthony McGill 17-16 in a semi-fi nal decided in a surreal last frame.

A 33rd frame spanning an hour fea-tured nine successive failed attempts to

get out of a snooker on the last red by McGill who conceded 43 points worth of fouls in the process.

Wilson almost handed the match back to McGill in an incredible se-quence of play before fl uking a green and eventually potting the pink to reach the fi nal against O’Sullivan.

“That’s the most incredible frame I’ve ever seen at the Crucible,” seven-time world champion Steven Hendry, commentating for the BBC, said.

The Scot was almost as lost for words later in the night as O’Sullivan some-how fashioned a 17-16 win over Mark Selby by winning the last three frames having riled his opponent by crashing the cue ball around the table to lose the 30th frame rather than attempt to get out of a snooker.

Sadly there were no spectators in the Crucible to see the thrilling spectacle, with the British government having decided after one day of the two-week tournament to suspend its experiment to have fans back inside venues as part of the loosening of Covid-19 lockdown rules.

A limited number of spectators will be present for the fi nal, although for

most people it will be viewed as it has always been, from the comfort of an armchair with a regular supply of tea and biscuits, or something stronger.

When the pandemic forced organis-ers to postpone the championship in April, it deprived millions of locked-

down Britons the reassuring click of colliding snooker balls.

Thankfully this year’s event was given a new late July slot and with the country still mired in a health crisis, the kings of the green baize have provided a much-needed distraction from the

daily diet of coronavirus updates.Unlike soccer matches, in which

empty stadiums stand out like a sore thumb, snooker is the perfect lockdown sport.

By nature it is played in silence with applause traditionally reserved for the conclusion of breaks or for special shots.

Some players, the likes of O’Sullivan attract more raucous followings, as was the case with past greats Jimmy ‘Whirl-wind’ White and Higgins.

But the hushed arena creates its own energy.

Given Friday’s incredible semi-fi -nals, it would surely be asking too much for this weekend’s decider to come anywhere close to Taylor’s ‘black ball’ decider against Davis in 1985 — the cli-max of which was watched by one third of Britain’s population — still a post-midnight viewing record.

Davis had led underdog Taylor 8-0 but the Northern Irishman, sporting comical-looking upside-down glasses for better vision, hauled himself back.

After two gruelling days the fi nal went down to the fi nal black of the fi nal frame.

At one point Taylor even approached the trophy and said a prayer and when Davis missed a black he would have made 99 times out of 100, it seemed di-vine intervention was at work.

The 36-year-old duly sunk the black and as the crowd erupted he brandished his cue above his head in a celebration that has become part of British TV folklore.

It was the peak of snooker’s popular-ity when the players were as popular as today’s Premier League footballers.

They even made a hit record with much-loved pop duo Chas and Dave called Snooker Loopy.

Those heady days of table-top pan-tomime when players wore suits like the Bee Gees, dragged on cigarettes and downed pints of beer while sitting at their chairs have gone for good.

These days its the preserve of clean-cut, ultra-professional cuemen don-ning sponsors’ logos on their tailored suits.

Televised snooker no longer stops the country in its tracks but, as Friday proved, the geometric wizardry of the world’s top potters is still an addictive spectacle.

DPAFrankfurt

Joshua Cheptegei reached to his wrist to stop his watch at the end of his run on Friday — an action mirrored by millions of people

across the globe every day.But Cheptegei’s run varied from eve-

ry other in two ways.Firstly the Diamond League meeting

in Monaco would provide precise tim-ing down to a hundredth of a second for the Ugandan and everyone else in-volved.

And secondly Cheptegei’s had just broken the 5,000m world record of the legendary Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, whose mark had stood for an astonish-ing 16 years.

After stopping his timepiece, Chep-tegei raised his hands in the air at the Stade Louis II stadium with the clock behind him showing 12 minutes 35.36 seconds, nearly 2 seconds better than Bekele’s 12:37.35 minutes from 2004.

It was the fi rst world record on the athletics track since the coronavirus shutdown earlier this year and the new star was hailed by only 5,000 socially distanced fans for his eff orts.

“It took a lot of mind setting to keep being motivated this year because so many people are staying at home but you have to stay motivated,” Cheptegei said.

“I pushed myself, I had the right staff with me, the right coach. I’m also usu-ally based in Europe, but being based in Uganda with my family was actually great.” Cheptegei, 23, was already the 10,000m world champion from Doha last year and also the world cross coun-try title holder.

But he found himself helping out like

everyone else during the lockdown.“I did some gardening at my grand-

parents’ house,” he said. “But mainly, I

worked at my school in town. It’s a pri-mary school, and I worked on some reno-vations there, like painting the walls.”

Cheptegei required a specially char-tered fl ight to get out of Uganda and his journey to Monaco from his home dis-

trict of Kapchorwa took some 80 hours.The epic trip was worth it though

as he followed the frantic start of his

pacemakers and continued to churn out 400m laps at a fraction over 60 seconds a piece — roughly 4 minute mile pace — in the second half of the race when solo.

Cheptegei set the world record over 10 kilometres on the road in December last year and claimed the 5km mark in the streets of Monaco in February.

“I think Monaco is a special place and it’s one of these places where I could break the world record,” he said of the traditionally fast meeting.

“I honestly really missed compet-ing. It’s something I love doing, it’s in my blood.” Cheptegei has endured setbacks in his young career with a col-lapse while leading the 2017 world cross country in Ugandan capital Kampala and a 2018 car crash overcome.

And in the near future he intends to rule on the track ahead of traditional powerhouses Kenya and Ethiopia with Bekele’s 10,000m world record of 26:17.53 minutes next in his sights.

“My ambition is to dominate the track for the next fi ve or six years,” said Cheptegei.

The three-time Olympic and fi ve-time world champion Bekele congratu-lated Cheptegei on his achievement but the veteran has now lost his chance to make a further piece of running history.

The successor to his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie had hoped to be the fi rst to hold the world records in 5,000m, 10,000m and marathon si-multaneously having previously fallen two seconds short of Eliud Kipchoge’s best mark over 42.1km.

Bekele could yet claim the marathon record should he triumph in a duel over his Kenyan rival in London on October 4 — but at 38 years old and long moved on from the track, regaining his 5,000m blue riband is impossible.

Australian rugby league probes racist taunt claims

AFPSydney

Australian rugby league chiefs y e s t e r d a y vowed to come

down hard on any fans racially abusing players after an “ugly” incident overshadowed weekend action.A group of people were thrown out of the Central Coast Stadium, north of Sydney, on Friday night after allegedly hurling racist taunts at indigenous winger Brent Naden during Penrith Panthers’

victory over the New Zealand Warriors.It was not known what was said by the young men, who were reportedly Warriors fans, but police and stadium authorities were investigating.National Rugby League’s acting chief Andrew Abdo said the governing body took the matter extremely seriously.“If the allegations are proven to be of a racial na-ture or vilification nature or of a bullying nature, we’ll take the strongest possible action the game can take against those individuals,” he said.

AFPLondon

Former England captain Dylan Hartley said yes-terday he had no regrets watching England play in

last year’s Rugby World Cup fi nal comparing coach Eddie Jones’s re-gime to “brutal dance marathons in the Great Depression of the 1920s.”

The 34-year-old New Zealand-born former hooker enjoyed some good times under Jones who some-what controversially appointed him his fi rst skipper when he took over following the 2015 World Cup debacle.

Hartley led England to the 2016 Six Nations Grand Slam, a 3-0 series victory over Jones’s former side Australia and the 2017 Six Na-tions title — Ireland dashed their

hopes of successive Grand Slams beating them in the fi nal match.

However, a knee injury even-tually saw the 97-times capped Hartley miss out on last year’s World Cup but he told The Daily Telegraph he did not feel any sad-ness even when England lined-up for the national anthems with South Africa in the fi nal.

The Springboks eased to a 32-12 victory in Japan.

“I’d had enough of being gov-erned by Eddie,” he said. “Playing for England felt a bit like taking part in one of those brutal dance marathons in the Great Depres-sion of the 1920s, where penniless couples kept going until they col-lapsed.”

Hartley said in his biography Jones delivered the news he would not be selected for the World Cup in typically blunt fashion on the phone. The former Northampton Saints front-rower, who quali-fi ed to play for England due to his English mother, said he felt like a “piece of meat that had been thrown in the bin because it was past it’s sell by date.”

“Even by the standards of the 6am texts he delivers while run-ning on the treadmill, which make the recipient’s brain melt, this phone call was brutal,” Hartley wrote in his new book.

“He was eff ectively ending my England career with three words.”

However, Hartley no shrinking

violet himself with a poor discipli-nary record, said he owes Jones a huge amount.

“He (Jones) didn’t revive my ca-reer. He gave me a career,” Hartley said, who made his Test debut in 2008. “I had a shit career before that.”

Hartley does not spare the gov-erning bodies either accusing them of treating players like “widgets.”

“My generation of players have been crash dummies for a sport in transition from semi-profession-alism,” said Hartley, England’s third most capped player.

“It’s being reshaped, subtly but relentlessly, by money men, geo-politicians, talking heads and tel-evision executives.

A general view of the World Snooker Championship trophy at The Crucible Theatre, Sheff ield.

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, wearing an Uganda national flag on his shoulders, poses for pictures next to the timer screen after breaking the world record in the men’s 5000 metre event during the Diamond League Athletics Meeting at The Louis II Stadium in Monaco on Friday.

SPORT5Gulf Times

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Serena falls to Rogers at USOpen tuneup

Halep through to Prague Open fi nal against Mertens

Horschel, Kim among leaders at Wyndham Championship

Venus still packs a punch at 40

TENNIS FOCUS

SPOTLIGHT

COMMENT

Rogers, who will return to the WTA top 100 next week, was in her first quarter-final since May 2017, due in part to a long absence after a 2018 left knee injury

By Tumaini CarayolThe Guardian

At the turn of the mil-lennium as the 2000 tennis season arrived, Venus Williams was

nowhere to be seen.She was the third best player

in the world and just 19, but for three months she had with-drawn from all tournaments in sight, citing a wrist injury.

By March, a curious rumour began to spread: people won-dered if she was on the verge of retirement.

The rumours soon reached her family, which they respond-ed to by simply tossing a gallon of petrol all over the fl ames: “I would like to see her retire now.

I would love to see her do that,” said her father and coach, Richard Williams.

He argued that tennis careers are short and a greater future awaited her as an entrepreneur.

Serena, her sister, was coy: “Rumour has it she’s retiring,” she said, smiling.”I have the in-side information.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to release that.”

It seems absurd now with the hindsight of Williams’s endur-ing career, but this talking point was a refl ection of the times.

It was partly because, months earlier, a hooded Wil-liams watched bitterly as her younger sister leapfrogged her to win the US Open, a failure that seemed to hang over her until she disappeared in 2000.

More signifi cantly, both sis-ters were often criticised for having too many outside inter-ests, not competing in enough events and withdrawing from tournaments at a whim.

While their ability was never in question, so much discussion

centred around whether they were truly committed like their peers.

Instead of retiring, Williams returned from her six-month lay-off transformed.

She shed the beads from her hair and she strutted around the court on a mission.

Four tournaments into her comeback, one of the great summers in tennis history be-gan as she won Wimbledon, the US Open and two Olympic gold medals and compiled a 35-match winning streak.

It was a tone-setter for the rest of their careers — the fi rst of many comebacks to follow.

This year, before coronavirus tore the tennis calendar apart, Williams was struggling.

She had not won a match since September and she start-

ed the year with three losses, including a second sour defeat to then-15-year-old Coco Gauff at the Australian Open.

On the court, her move-ment was laboured, her strokes had lost their potency and op-ponents she once would have brushed aside now hit her clean off the court.

By March, her record was 0-3 in 2020 and she was ranked 67th.

Although few were willing to say it aloud given how fre-quently she has made people eat their own words, it was fair to wonder whether she really had any more sustained quality tennis to give.

Venus often tends to fade into the background behind her more extroverted and celebrat-ed sister, but she was ubiqui-

tous on social media through-out the quarantine period.

Her interview with recently retired Caroline Wozniacki was particularly important.

Williams has lived with Sjogren’s syndrome since 2004 and Wozniacki navigated the fi nal years of her career with rheumatoid arthritis.

They discussed living with their auto-immune diseases, at times not even being able to get out of bed in the past and the struggle of even just trying to obtain a diagnosis.

While some doctors thought Wozniacki was “crazy”, it took seven years of Williams’s life and career to fi gure out why she was so exhausted: “I went through doctors telling me that maybe I should see a psychia-trist,” she said, sighing. “Some-

times I want to write them back. If you don’t know what’s wrong, just say ‘I don’t know.’”

Behind the scenes, away from the camera, she was still doing the work.

Williams arrived at the Top Seed Open in Lexington this week having completely recon-structed her game with her rel-atively new coach, Eric Hecht-man.

Her serve, renowned for its revolutionary power but also a fl awed motion, has been re-modelled as an abbreviated, simpler swing.

Her forehand has been trans-formed into a whippier, more compact and modern stroke. It is an astounding eff ort.

Even for a malleable, ambi-tious 15-year-old, such chang-es would require long practices, endless banal drills and an enormous leap of faith to trust the changes.

Williams had never previ-ously made a signifi cant change to any stroke, but she is still do-ing all she can to be successful.

In Lexington, Williams evis-cerated former No 1 Victoria Azarenka in the fi rst round be-fore she lost her 31st meeting with Serena 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in an intense, competitive match.

It was comfortably the best level she has exhibited in more than a year and it off ered hope for her fans that, at 40 years old and after 26 years as a profes-sional, there are still more good days to come.

It is too early to tell what is next, but perhaps that is irrel-evant this time.

More important is the simple example of an athlete who, af-ter so many years and obstacles, has retained the joy required to step on the court every day with the aim of being as good as she can be.

AFPWashington

Serena Williams suff ered her fi rst loss since 2012 to a rival outside the WTA’s top 100, falling to

fellow American Shelby Rogers in a Friday quarter-fi nal at the Top Seed Open.

Rogers, ranked 116th, outlast-ed ninth-ranked Williams 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) after two hours and seven minutes, fi nishing the 23-time Grand Slam champion with a service winner.

“It’s every kid’s dream grow-ing up to be able to do something like that,” Rogers said. “Weird circumstances.Weird surround-ings. But a win is a win.”

The US Open hardcourt tuneup event at Lexington, Kentucky, is being staged in a quarantine bubble due to the Covid-19 pandemic that had kept Williams idle since a Feb-ruary Fed Cup appearance.

Top seed Williams had not lost to a player outside the top 100 since falling to France’s Vir-ginie Razzano in the fi rst round of the 2012 French Open.

Williams, who ousted sister Venus on Thursday, was playing matches to prepare for the US Open, which starts August 31.

She will seek a seventh title on the New York hardcourts to match Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam crowns.

“I have only good things to take,” Williams said. “I can play a lot better.”

Rogers reached her fi rst WTA semi-fi nal since Rio in 2016. She’ll face 63rd-ranked Swiss left-hander Jil Teichmann, who ousted American Catherine Bellis 6-2, 6-4.

The other semi-fi nal will

send American Jen Brady — who ousted Czech Marie Bouz-kova 6-1, 6-2 — against US teen Coco Gauff , who won 10 of the last 11 games to rally past Tu-nisian eighth seed Ons Jabeur 4-6, 6-4, 6-1. A rain delay of two hours and 45 minutes post-poned her match, but Williams showed no sign the wait had put the 38-year-old mother off her game.

Williams broke for a 2-0 lead by forcing an errant Rogers backhand, broke again in the sixth game when Rogers netted a forehand and held on a service winner to claim the opening set after only 26 minutes.

“Defi nitely a little over-whelmed in the fi rst with that pace,” Rogers said of Williams and her powerful serve. “Tried to hit a few more volleys in the

second, just hit one more ball.”Rogers, who never faced a

break point in the last two sets, broke on her third chance in the last game of the second set when Williams netted a forehand.

Both players held serve into the tie-breaker, where Wil-liams jumped ahead 3-1, only to have Rogers run off four straight points, two on Serena’s serve, to seize the lead for good.

Williams netted a backhand to give Rogers two match points, but saved the fi rst with a service winner only to fall when Rogers answered with a service winner of her own.

Rogers, who will return to the WTA top 100 next week, was in her fi rst quarter-fi nal since May 2017, due in part to a long absence after a 2018 left knee injury.

AFP Prague

Romanian top seed Simona Halep ad-vanced to the WTA Prague Open fi nal after

beating her compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu in straight sets yesterday.

Halep won 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 in an hour and a half to set up a fi nal clash against 23rd-ranked Belgian Elise Mertens, who beat Czech Kristyna Pliskova 7-5, 7-6 (7/4) in the other semi-fi nal.

World number two and reign-ing Wimbledon champion Halep took a while to warm up against the 82nd-ranked Begu who had played her quarter-fi nal match — a three-setter — earlier Sat-urday morning.

After a two-hour break, Begu was back on court and took a

5-3 lead in the fi rst set as Halep struggled for pace.

Halep drew level and Begu then took a medical break to re-ceive treatment for calluses on the palm of her right hand.

Halep won the set in tie-break, but Begu kept fi ghting in the second before Halep fi nally prevailed.

Halep said the medical break had helped her as Begu “was playing re-ally well at that point and she was kind of dominating the match”.

“I didn’t play my best tennis but...

probably she was a little bit more tired than me in the sec-ond set,” Halep told Czech tel-evision.

The tournament is being played behind closed doors to avoid Covid-19 contagion, and the players have to wear face masks any time they are not playing, training or eating.

AFPWashington

Billy Horschel fi red a six-under par 64 on Friday to join a four-way tie atop a jammed lead-

erboard at the US PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship.

Horschel, chasing a sixth tour title and his fi rst since the 2018 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, hit 13 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens in regulation to fi nish 36 holes on 10-under par 130 — tied with former Wyndham champion Kim Si-woo of South Korea and Americans Tom Hoge and Talor Gooch.

Kim, who notched the fi rst of his two tour titles at the 2016 Wyndham, had six birdies in his fi ve-under 65. Gooch also post-ed a 65 while Hoge followed up a fi rst-round 62 with a 68.

Harold Varner, who shared the overnight lead with Hoge and Canadian Roger Sloan, carded a 69 to join a group on 131 that also included Ireland’s Shane Lowry (63), Harris Eng-lish (67), Andrew Landry (65) and Doc Redman (64).

Sloan was among another seven players a further stroke back on 132 — with a total of 25 players within three strokes of the lead at Sedgefi eld Coun-try Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Horschel, who out-dueled Rory McIlroy in the fi nal round of the 2014 Tour Championship to claim that year’s FedEx Cup playoff crown, said work on his game over the past two years

was paying off in the fi nal event before this season’s tour playoff s begin.

“I just put the ball in the fair-way, which is a big key,” he said. “If you can put the ball in the fairway around here you can be aggressive to these pins.

You’ve got a lot of scoreable clubs into it.

“I don’t think I made a lot of putts,” added Horschel, whose longest birdie putt was a 16-footer at the sixth — his 15th hole of the day.

That followed two-foot bird-ies at the fourth and fi fth and he capped his round with a seven-foot birdie at the ninth.

“I hit a lot of close shots and easy birdies. I twas a really nice, solid round of golf — eff ortless 64.”

Kim also teed off on 10 and parred his fi rst nine holes before a birdie from the fringe at the fi rst.

He followed a bogey at the second with birdies at four, fi ve and six and capped his round with birdies at eight and nine.

He didn’t miss a putt from within 10 feet.

After thunderstorms halted play early on Thursday, tour-nament offi cials were bracing for more bad weather on Satur-day, with tee times moved up in hopes of completing the third round before storms arrived.

Despite the wealth of low scores on the rain-softened course, well-known names who failed to make the cut included world number seven Brooks Koepka and England’s 17th-ranked Justin Rose.

Shelby Rogers plays a backhand during her match against Serena Williams during the Top Seed Open at the Top Seed Tennis Club in Lexington, Kentucky.

Billy Horschel of the United States plays his shot from the fifth tee during the second round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Venus Williams serves during her match against Serena Williams at the Top Seed Tennis Club on August 13 in Lexington, Kentucky.

SPORT6 Gulf Times

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Man United’s Fernandes wants trophies to back up Cantona comparisons

Evenepoel plunges off bridge as Fuglsang takes victory

FOOTBALL

TOUR OF LOMBARDY

AFPCologne, Germany

Bruno Fernandes wants Manchester United to learn from the pain of two semi-fi nal defeats already this sea-son to cap the Portuguese’s trans-

formational impact on the club by winning the Europa League.

United, who lost to Manchester City and Chelsea in the last four of the League Cup and FA Cup earlier in the campaign, face fi ve-time winners Sevilla in the fi rst semi-fi nal today behind closed doors in Cologne.

Fernandes did not arrive at Old Traff ord until after the League Cup exit to City in January and has made a massive diff erence to drag United into the Premier League top four and secure a place in the Champions League next season. The former Sporting Lisbon midfi elder’s impact has earned com-parisons to Eric Cantona, who led United to a fi rst league title in 26 years after join-ing from Leeds in November 1992. “For me Cantona was an amazing player for the club. I need to do much, much better to be com-pared to him,” said Fernandes.

“For me coming to Manchester is about winning trophies. I will be happy if we win

the Europa League. It is time to step up for big players. You have to have 100% focus. We have learnt it is very painful to lose a semi-fi nal.”

Fernandes has fl ourished where other big-money signings have fl oundered as United have failed to win a league title since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 despite spending nearly £1bn ($1.3bn) in transfer fees. But the Portuguese international, who has scored 11 goals and provided eight assists in 21 appearances, said his own £55 mn price tag was a source of confi dence rather than a burden. “When a club pays for a player £55 mn you have confi dence,” he added. “All the conversations I had with my coach and my teammates has helped me. When you have that voice on your own back telling you to do your own game it is easier for you.”

United have had six days to prepare for the semi-fi nals after Fernandes’s extra-time penalty saw off FC Copenhagen 1-0 in the last eight. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer welcomed the extra rest, but is wary that the drawn-out format of the competition to not clash with the Champions League latter stages in Lisbon will give his side precious little prep-aration time for next season.

The 2020/21 Premier League season is due to get underway in four weeks, although

clubs still in European competition have been assured they will get at least a 30-day break. “We have had a few good days pre-paring, recovering and training. It’s not very often we have six days between games, so we are ready,” said Solskjaer.

“It’s almost a pre-season for next season because it is not very long before we have to get going again. “It’s just the time we are in. We can’t complain because this is the world we are in now.”

United will have to be on their toes and fi nd ways to break Sevilla’s press if they are to beat the Spanish side said Solskjaer. Se-villa have made Europe’s second-tier com-petition their own in recent years, winning the title three times in a row between 2014-2016, and they fi nished fourth in La Liga un-der Julen Lopetegui after two seasons with-out a top-four fi nish.

Solskjaer said he hoped his team would be third time lucky this season after falling at the semi-fi nal hurdle in the League Cup to Manchester City and in the FA Cup to Chel-sea. “We have to play our best game, play out of their press, be clever, be creative, step up in those big moments,” Solskjaer told. “These games will be decided on a set-piece or a piece of individual brilliance. It’s time to step up for big players, big game moments.”

AFPComo, Italy

Race favourite Remco Evenep-oel was taken to hospital after crashing over a bridge before plunging several metres down

into a ravine in a horrifying accident yesterday at the Tour of Lombardy, the one-day classic won by Denmark’s Jakob Fuglsang.

Belgian Evenepoel, 20, lost control on the steep descent from the Colma di Sor-mano that leads to the race fi nish at Lake Como, hitting a parapet and plunging six metres over the bridge. The Deceuninck-QuickStep rider was taken to the Sant-Anna hospital in Como.

“We want to reassure everyone,” said Deceuninck-QuickStep sporting direc-tor Davide Bramati. “For now we can say that Remco only has a severe bruise on his right leg, but we are waiting for the test results.”

Fuglsang, 35, crossed the line alone after the 231km race from Bergamo to Como, fi nishing 31 seconds ahead of New Zealand’s George Bennett, riding for Jumbo-Visma. The Dane’s Russian Astana teammate Aleksandr Vlasov was third at 51sec. “George Bennett told me while we were riding that Remco had fall-en,” said Fuglsang. “I hope he’s okay, it’s not the way you want the race to fi nish for anyone.”

Photographs showed Evenepoel con-scious but grimacing in pain before be-ing evacuated by ambulance, some 20 minutes after his fall, wearing a neck brace. The young rider had been among a group of seven at the top of the Wall of Sormano, about fi fty kilometres from the fi nish line.

The descent was at high speed with Evenepoel losing control under pressure from two-time race winner Vincenzo Nibali of Italy. Evenepoel was favourite to win his fi rst ‘Monument’ classic after claiming four stage race wins in the Tour de San Juan, Tour of the Algarve, Tour de Burgos and the Tour of Poland where he also took overall victory last weekend.

It was the second serious crash in just over a week for the Deceuninck-Quick Step team with Dutch rider Fabio Jakob-

sen badly injured in a horrifying fall on the opening day of the Tour of Poland. Jakobsen was placed in a medically-in-duced coma but returned home to the Netherlands this week after undergoing surgery.

Meanwhile, German rider Maximilian Schachmann was struck by a car a few kilometres from the fi nish line on Satur-day but managed to get back in the saddle despite a shoulder injury with the Bora-Hansgrohe rider fi nishing seventh.

The ‘Race of the Falling Leaves’ which

is normally held in October, took place in the heat of August because of the re-scheduled calendar. Starting in Bergamo, the epicentre of the coronavirus pan-demic in Italy, with over 16,000 deaths in the Lombardy region, a minute’s silence was observed before the race started.

After Evenepoel’s fall, six riders battled for victory. But Fuglsang attacked on the fi nal climb towards San Fermo della Batt-aglia denying Bennett a second win this week after the GranPiemonte. “I knew I had a good chance today,” said Fuglsang

after his second ‘Monument’ win after the Liege-Bastogne-Liege last year. “It’s never easy to win and you need to be lucky to be in the right place at the right time.”

Bennett added: “I can’t help but feel disappointed. I really thought I could win today.”

Defending champion Bauke Mollema of the Netherlands fi nished fourth. Ni-bali, winner in 2015 and 2017, fi nished sixth with reigning Giro d’Italia winner Richard Carapaz of Ecuador 13th at 8min 15sec.

‘Remco has a severe bruise on his right leg, but we are waiting for the test results’

Klopp named Premier League manager of the season

Roglic survives carnage as Kamna seals solo win

Jurgen Klopp has been named Premier League manager of the season after guiding the club to

their fi rst league title in three decades. The 53-year-old Ger-man beat Chelsea’s Frank Lam-pard, Leicester City’s Brendan Rodgers, who Klopp replaced at Liverpool in 2015, and Sheffi eld United’s Chris Wilder.

Liverpool coasted to the title, they narrowly lost out on to Manchester City in the previ-ous campaign. They garnered 99 points, winning 32 of their 38 league games, to fi nish 18 points clear of Manchester City.

Klopp — who coached Liver-pool to the Champions League trophy in the 2018/19 season — picked up in July the League Manager’s Association manager of the year award. The Premier League award — Liverpool de-fender Trent Alexander-Arnold won the young player gong — is a cumulation of votes from the public combined with those of a panel of football experts.

ARSENAL HEAD OF FOOTBALL SANLLEHI

LEAVES CLUBArsenal’s head of football Raul Sanllehi is leaving the club with managing director Vinai Venkatesham set to take over, the Premier League side announced.

Sanllehi, who was formerly Barcelona’s director of foot-ball, was initially appointed the club’s head of football relations before taking on the role of head of football in 2018 following a restructure.

“We have no doubt that Vinai is the right person to take the club forward. He has shown out-standing leadership during the current crisis and is held in high

regard internally and externally,” Stan and Josh Kroenke said in a statement on behalf of owners, Kroenke Sports & Entertain-ment. “We know everyone will rally round him so we can move forward successfully.”

India-born Venkatesham, who has been at the club since 2010, said there was “much work to do” to ensure Arsenal were com-petitive again. “While this will not happen overnight, I believe we have many of the critical ingredients to do so. There are many positives to build on across the club,” Venkatesham said.

Arsenal sparked a social media backlash this month when the club announced plans to lay off 55 staff less than a week after winning the FA Cup and qualify-ing for the Europa League.

“I’m proud and pleased with the contribution I’ve made at Arsenal over the past three years, and look forward to enjoying the club’s future success. Arsenal is a true footballing institution,” Sanllehi said in the statement.

NANTES CAPTAIN TOURE TESTS POSITIVE FOR VIRUS

Nantes captain Abdoulaye Toure has tested positive for coronavirus, AFP learned from the Ligue 1 club yesterday, just a week before the new league season is set to get underway.

Midfi elder Toure, 26, is the seventh Nantes player to con-tract Covid-19 since the end of last month and did not fi gure in his side’s 3-1 friendly win over Le Havre yesterday. His absence will be keenly felt when Nantes start the 2020-21 Ligue 1 season at Bordeaux.

They could be without their skipper and several other play-ers for weeks thanks to a strict medical protocol put in place by the club. In addition to having to be in isolation as long as the player is positive for the disease, the club’s protocol requires extensive cardiac examinations at least one month after the fi rst positive test, even in the absence of symptoms, before the player can even recommence training.

ROUND-UP

CRITERIUM DU DAUPHINE

Astana Pro Team Denmark rider Jakob Fuglsang (left) rides during the 114th edition of the giro di Lombardia (Tour of Lombardy), a 231km cycling race from Bergamo to Como, Italy, yesterday. (AFP)

AFPMegeve, France

Germany’s Lennard Kamna of Bora-hans-grohe soared to a solo victory on the Criterium

du Dauphine yesterday as Primoz Roglic survived a nasty fall to hold on to the overall lead. Roglic arrived at the Megeve summit fi nish line three minutes adrift of the winner in the main pack with the surviving overall contenders all taking the same time.

But the Slovenian former ski jumper was badly grazed after a fall and he lost a key team-mate as Jumbo-Visma’s Steven Kruijswijk pulled out early on. The Dutchman was third in last season’s Tour de France and suf-fered a dislocated shoulder here, appearing disconsolate at the roadside two weeks ahead of the Grande Boucle.

“It was a hard fall for Primoz and he didn’t feel well,” Jumbo’s Grischa Niermann said after the race. “We need to look at the damage and see how it goes in the morning.”

It was a day of mixed emotions for German team Bora despite their stage win as in the same downhill crash they lost three men, including Emanuel Buch-mann, who came fourth on the 2019 Tour. The day started with raised eyebrows as British team Ineos general and reigning Tour de France champion Egan Bernal

pulled out of the race with a bad back.

After the race Ineos sports director Gabriel Rasch said he took Bernal out of the race as a precaution to make sure he’s 100% for the start of the Tour de France in Nice. “He rode back to the hotel and he could have done the stage today for sure. He had a back injury that’s he’s had be-fore, so we wanted to make sure that we had enough time be-tween here and the start of the Tour to treat it,” he said.

Stage winner Kamna revealed he had originally escaped so as to help his teammate Buchmann, who started the day in third and had planned to attack. “He was going to attack on the penulti-mate summit,” Kamna revealed. “I hope he’s okay for the Tour. This is my fi rst pro win, so I want to keep something of it for my-self,” said the 23-year-old Kam-na, who dropped everyone in a powerful escape group including Julian Alaphilippe and Michal Kwiatkowski.

There were around 40km of climbs on this run through southeastern France’s Haute-Savoie region, known for its mountains, lakes and Evian min-eral water, and which culminated with a view of Mont Blanc at the fi nish line. Today’s fi nal stage features almost 50km of climbs and begins and ends in the ski re-sort of Megeve with its charming wooden chalets, health spas and panoramic views of the Alps.

Team Bora rider Germany’s Lennard Kamna celebrates after winning the fourth stage of the 72nd edition of the Criterium du Dauphine cycling race, 153km between Ugine and Megeve in France. (AFP)

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (left) and midfielder Bruno Fernandes attend a press conference on the eve of their Europa League semi-final against Sevilla in Cologne, Germany, yesterday. (Reuters)

FOOTBALL7Gulf Times

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Now not time to focus on own future: Setien aft er painful loss

Flick’s ‘brutal domination’ makes Bayern Munich new favourites

Mueller steals show from Lewandowski and even Messi

SPOTLIGHTFOCUS

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

ReutersLisbon

Barcelona coach Quique Setien preferred to avoid discussing wheth-er or not he would re-

main at the club after Friday’s tortuous 8-2 defeat to Bay-ern Munich in the Champions League quarter-fi nals but ad-mitted big changes would have to be made. “Right now it’s too soon to say whether I will continue or not. It’s not up to me and the club will have to have a deep refl ec-tion that corresponds to such a humiliating and painful defeat,” Setien told reporters.

“This defeat has hurt me a lot. It’s such an overwhelming defeat and I’m not just worried about my future, I’m thinking about what an awful defeat this is for the club and for the fans.”

Predecessor Ernesto Valverde was sacked in January partly for his role in Barca’s two previ-ous exits from the Champions League and Setien admitted his stock will have fallen after pre-siding over Barca’s heaviest ever defeat in Europe.

“I know what a defeat of this calibre means but we have to analyse what has happened to-day from a wider perspective,” Setien added. “I know that the credibility of a coach decreases when you have a defeat like this. We were over-powered by a very,

very good team. Save for the fi rst few minutes, they completely overwhelmed us.”

Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu did not reveal what consequences such a seismic defeat would have on the squad and coaching staff , but he im-plied that the scale of the result would ensure some were moved on quicker than fi rst thought. “We were not at the level we want to be today. It was a disaster

and soon we will take some deci-sions,” he said.

“We had been thinking about some of them already and we will inform the aff ected people in the coming days. Some of those deci-sions had already been made, oth-ers will be made in the next few days. But right now is a time to re-fl ect, not to make decisions in the heat of the moment. Above all, we want to apologise to all Barcelona fans for this heavy result.”

AFPLisbon

In the space of 90 minutes of devastating attacking football, Bayern Munich to-tally changed the narrative around this Champions League ‘fi nal eight’ tourna-

ment and the impact of their 8-2 humili-ation of Barcelona will have an even bigger resonance.

Manchester City were the bookmaker’s pre-tournament favourites but although Pep Guardiola’s side have yet to kick a ball, they have already lost that status to Hansi Flick’s Bavarians. How could Bayern not be favourites after systematically ripping apart a team which has been the symbol of football excellence for most of the past decade?

City were taking on Olympique Lyonnais in the last of the four quarter-fi nals late last night but whoever emerges victorious from that clash, their celebrations will be tem-pered by the knowledge that the Germans will await them in the semi-fi nals.

One of the reasons that Bayern were con-sidered merely one of the contenders in Lis-bon was the sneaking suspicion that they have it too easy in the Bundesliga, where this season they won their eighth consecutive domestic league title and may not be battle-hardened enough for the European elite.

That seems a ridiculously fanciful notion now. Quique Setien’s Barcelona is clearly not the Barca of Guardiola or even a match for the more modest teams of more recent years, but they still fi nished second in the Spanish league and beat Inter Milan, Borus-sia Dortmund and Napoli on their way to the last eight.

And yet, inspired by the rejuvenated

Thomas Mueller, and playing a brand of aggressive, high pressing football, Bayern were simply too much for the Catalans. “We started pretty well but the power of the op-ponents, in many phases of the play, overran us,” said Setien.

Indeed Bayern made Barcelona look si-multaneously an old and jaded team and naive, as they tried to pass their way out against a relentless press. Flick’s approach was to go for the kill from the outset. Clearly sensing Barca’s defence was fragile and their midfi eld lacking the steel to compete eff ec-tively, Bayern swarmed players into the for-ward areas.

In the fi rst half, that was all about the

brilliant Mueller but it said much that their sixth goal was the result of a pass from their left-back Alphonso Davies fi nished by the right-back Joshua Kimmich. Flick has not, until this game, been considered one of the new wave of German coaches epitomised by Liverpool’s Juergen Klopp, who won the Champions League last year and Paris St Germain’s Thomas Tuchel and RB Leipizig’s 33-year-old Julian Nagelsmann, who will meet in the other semi-fi nal.

Before he replaced the sacked Niko Kovac in November, Flick was known for his de-tailed planning and meticulous data analysis but had no experience as a Bundesliga head coach, having been surprisingly appointed as Kovac’s assistant at the start of the sea-son. A former Germany assistant coach to Joachim Loew who helped guide them to the 2014 World Cup title, Flick had then gone over to a German Football Association sports director position.

When Kovac was sacked with the Bavar-ians outside the leading positions and the team in disarray, Flick’s promotion was merely to be a temporary two-game solution before a big-name replacement was found.

That search was postponed by Flick’s positive start which led to him earning the job on a full-basis. He now has a record of 31 wins, one draw and only two defeats as Bay-ern coach. Flick’s approach was summed up by Mueller.

“Today we wanted to dominate our oppo-nents with our way of playing football right from the start.

We were just brutally dominant, espe-cially against the ball,” he said. Barcelona might not be the only team in Lisbon who fi nd Flick’s brutal domination just too much to cope with.

AFPLisbon

Record-breaking Thomas Mu-eller said Bayern Munich’s 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-

fi nal on Friday topped the 7-1 hammer-ing Germany handed Brazil at the 2014 World Cup as he stole the limelight from Robert Lewandowski and Lionel Messi.

Man-of-the-match Mueller netted twice in Lisbon as Barcelona conceded four goals in the fi rst-half of a Cham-pions League game for the fi rst time as Bayern led 4-1 at half-time. Substitute Philippe Coutinho, on loan from Barce-lona, also scored twice after the break, alongside goals from Joshua Kimmich and Lewandowski, as Barcelona suf-fered their heaviest defeat in Europe.

“When we (Germany) played against Brazil we were not as in control as we were tonight,” insisted Mueller who also scored in the historic World Cup semi-fi nal. “You can never completely turn Barcelona off , but we gave their mid-fi eld practically no room, we did what we wanted to do.”

The 30-year-old Mueller capped an outstanding display by passing Philipp Lahm’s record to become the German with the most Champions League ap-pearances with 113 games. “We need to stop talking about the record, it’s just a statistic,” Mueller insisted.

“There were a lot of nicer things to say about the game. Our team spirit is extremely good and the main thing is we are doing what we want to do on the pitch, everyone is torturing themselves to put the work in.”

After Bayern threw down a marker to their remaining Champions League rivals, Mueller warned that nothing has been achieved yet. Up next is a semi-fi nal against either Manchester City or Lyon. “I am just happy we could put in a performance like that under such pres-sure,” he said.

“My experience is that it gets more diffi cult now, it starts again at 0-0 and, in a semi-fi nal, the teams tend not to get worse, but better. We can go to bed with a smile and enjoy the atmosphere, but we want to stay in the tournament.”

In the build up, there had been fi erce debate as to whether Lewandowski or Messi is the better player. However Mueller stole the show by underlining his status as Barcelona’s nemesis with

six goals in fi ve games against the Span-ish giants.

Mueller scored against Barcelona when Bayern bowed out in the Cham-pions League semi-fi nals in 2014/15. He also netted three goals over two legs against Barcelona seven years ago when Bayern romped to a 4-0 win in Munich and 3-0 away in the semi-fi nals on the way to winning the 2013 Champions League title.

After creating a record 21 assists in the Bundesliga last season — many of them fi nished by Lewandowski — Mu-

eller outshone the Champions League’s top-scorer in Lisbon with two superb fi rst-half goals. He took a return pass from Lewandowski with just four min-utes gone to fi re past Barca’s Germany goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

After Bayern defender David Alaba turned the ball into his own net on sev-en minutes, Bayern emphatically re-es-tablished their lead by bossing the Barca midfi eld with goals by Ivan Perisic and Serge Gnabry.

Mueller made it 4-1 on 31 minutes when he fi red in Joshua Kimmich’s low

cross at the far post to leave Barcelona shell-shocked at the break. “It was a special evening,” Mueller added, “from the result alone and the way it felt on the pitch.”

His form in 2019/20 had already proved that Germany head coach Joachim Loew arguably wrote Mueller out of his plans far too soon. Follow-ing Germany’s disastrous 2018 World Cup campaign, when the holders went out in the group stages, Mueller was unceremoniously dumped by Loew in March 2019 alongside defenders Mat

Hummels and Jerome Boateng.However, Mueller has responded and

proven emphatically why former Bay-ern coach Niko Kovac was also wrong to start him on the bench this season. When Kovac was sacked in November, his replacement Hansi Flick reinstated Mueller, who has been a key factor with 14 goals this season.

He has been the central cog in attack as Bayern romped to an eighth straight Bundesliga title, lifted the German Cup and remain on course to add the Cham-pions League title.

'When we (Germany) played against Brazil we were not as in control as we were tonight'

Barcelona: Mauricio Pochet-tino once said he would rather return to his ranch in Argen-tina than coach Barcelona, yet he is now the top candidate to be their next manager as they look to the future after Fri-day’s 8-2 drubbing by Bayern Munich.

Quique Setien is certain to be sacked after Barca were humiliated in the Champions League quarter-final, a result which completed a miserable season, as for the first time since 2014 they failed to win a major trophy.

Pochettino, who had previ-ously ruled out taking charge of Barcelona after spending a number of seasons with city rivals Espanyol as a player and coach, leads a short list of candidates to succeed Setien. Media reports suggest Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman, former player Xavi and Thierry Henry are also being considered for the role by the club’s hierarchy.

Pochettino was reported to have been approached by Barca alongside Koeman and Xavi when they sacked Ernesto Valverde in Janu-ary, barely two months after the Argentine was fired by Tottenham Hotspur. At the time he declined the off er as he was taking a break after spending an intense five years revolutionising Tottenham, who he led to four consecu-tive top-four finishes in the Premier League and a first ever Champions League final in 2019.

But after nine months out of work, Pochettino could be on the verge of taking charge of the Camp Nou dugout as he admitted he has softened his stance on coaching Barcelona. “I didn’t mean to disrespect Barcelona (but) Espanyol gave me a platform...,” Pochettino said earlier this month. “Per-haps I wouldn’t say that now because you never know what will happen in life.”

Pochettino has admitted to being on good terms with Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu from when he lived in the city. He has met Bar-tomeu for dinner when he has returned to the city, where he still owns a home. Although the Argentine has never won a trophy as a manager and is from a diff erent school of thought to the brand of foot-ball Barca have been famed for since the days of Johan Cruyff , several factors make him a wise choice to lead the club. He also fostered a spirit of hard work and energetic pressing, something Barca have been lacking in recently.

Once a sworn enemy, could

Pochettino be Barca’s next

manager?

Bayern Munich’s Thomas Mueller (right) celebrates with Serge Gnabry after scoring against Barcelona during the Champions League quarter-finals in Lisbon. (AFP)

Bayern Munich’s German coach Hans-Dieter Flick. (AFP)

Sunday, August 16, 2020

GULF TIMES SPORT

Recovery or separation for Messi as Barca face up to change

FOOTBALL

By Sports ReporterDoha

Omar al-Mannai looked relaxed and pleased as he watched the Longines Hathab Qatar Equestrian Tour action unfold at the Qatar

Equestrian Federation’s indoor arena. The popular equestrian series, which is into its’ third season, was left with three rounds to be completed when the coronavirus pandemic outbreak forced the suspension of the se-ries in March. But the determination of the organisers and al-Mannai, who is the vice-Chairman of the Organising Committee, has meant that the series would be completed. The 11th leg was held this weekend, while the 12th and fi nal leg will be conducted from Au-gust 27-29.

Al-Mannai said the organisers were fi rm in their commitment to fi nish the season as the series highlighted the popularity of the sport in the country. He credited the success

of resumption of the Hathab to the organising committee members, the riders, horses and those working around the event.

“This is a continuation of our commitment to the riders, horse owners, sponsors that the season is completed also in keeping with Qatar Equestrian Federation’s collabora-tion with the Qatar Olympic Committee and as per the protocols and measures set by the

Ministry of Public Health,” said al-Mannai. “Normally our season ends in April but since we had an enforced break due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) situation of over four months we’ve been working very hard to fi nd safe solutions to complete the season without any harm or risks to our riders and the people who are working around the event,” he added.

The restart of the series has missed the buzz of the fans, who have been kept away from events. But al-Mannai said the fans could return to watch the action when the new season begins in October. “We don’t have a plan as yet to have audiences to be able to watch the events as we are really focused on the riders and the horses to be safe and to fi nish the season in the best way possible. The fi nal round of Longines Qatar Equestrian Tour Hathab 2019-20 is in two weeks’ time in the end of August. We shall have the new season later in October and maybe by then the opening of phase 4 (by the Ministry of Public Health and State of Qatar) will see the return of fans at equestrian venues as well,” he said.

By Sports ReporterDoha

Mohamed Saeed Haidan tasted his fi rst Big Tour victory of the season during the 11th and penultimate round of the Longines Hathab

Qatar Equestrian Tour yesterday.At the Qatar Equestrian Federation’s In-

door Arena, Haidan astride 12-year-old mare Miss Chili were in hot form as the pair clocked the fastest time of 40.52 seconds in the round two of the competition. Earlier, Haidan and Miss Chili were also the quickest in the fi rst round despite conceding eight faults. “This is my fi rst win of the Big Tour this season and I’m very happy with my horse’s performance. I am more focused on the Medium Tour and I will look forward to the grand fi nale two weeks from now. It was a tight competition and I enjoyed it immensely,” Haidan, who pocketed QR9,625 in prize money, said.

Meanwhile, Hamad Nasser al-Qadi (180 points) jumped into the overall lead in the Big Tour after fi nishing second yesterday. Ha-mad was third in the points tally coming into the 11th leg of the series, but now has taken a three-point lead over Faleh Suwead al-Ajami (177) with just one round remaining. Yester-day, Hamad and 15-year-old gelding SIEC Lonnie came home in 43.70secs and ended up runner-up. Saeed Nasser al-Qadi was third with Andreas SPB Z in 49.21secs.

Al-Ajami, meanwhile, could only come seventh with Ulano. The pair had won Big Tour class in the 10th leg. Khalid Mohamed al-Emadi, who fi nished fi fth with Zorro Z, is third in the overall tally with 175 points, fi ve behind al-Ajami. Salman Mohamed al-Emadi (173) has slipped to fourth after fi nishing a lowly ninth with The Toymaker. In fact, Sal-man had led the standings when the Hathab

resumed last weekend after a four-month break forced due to the outbreak of coronavi-rus pandemic.

Earlier, Jaber Rashid al-Amri won the Open Class with Canavaro De Muze (E.T.). The pair put on a faultless round in 46.30secs to top the 125cm class. Nasser al-Ghazali was sec-ond with Hurry Up in 51.24 secs, while Mar-yam Ahmad al-Boinin came third with Vol De Nuit Tardonne in 58.32 secs. The 12th and fi nal and 12th leg will be a three-day aff air and will be conducted from August 27-29.

RESULTS

Big Tour 130/145cm | Prize Money: QR35,000

1. Rider: Mohamed Saeed Haidan; Horse: Miss

Chili; Faults; 8 Time: 63.57secs; Winning Rd faults: 0; Time: 40.52secs; Prize: QR9,625

2. Hamad Nasser al-Qadi; SIEC Lonnie; 9; 85.45secs; 0; 43.70secs; QR7,875

3. Saeed Nasser al-Qadi; Andreas SPB Z; 0; 65.68secs; 0; 49.21secs; QR5,250

Open Class 115/125cm | Prize-Money QR15,000

1. Rider: Jaber Rashid al-Amri; Horse: Canavaro De Muze (E.T.) ; Faults: 0; Time: 46.30secs; Prize: QR3,750

2. Nasser al-Ghazali; Hurry Up; 0; 51.24secs; QR3,000

3. Maryam Ahmad al-Boinin; Vol De Nuit Tardonne; 0; 58.32secs; QR2,250

AgenciesSan Sebastian, Spain

His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al-Thani had a new winner yesterday

when Antar ran out the im-pressive winner of the Premio Sheikh Mansoor Festival Maid-en, a mile for three-year-old and older Purebred Arabians at San Sebastian in Spain. The three-year-old colt is trained in France by Didier Guillemin and this was his fi rst win, following

two promising second places and a fi fth in the Qatar Coupe de France des Pur-Sang Arabes (Group 2 PA).

The runners were sharp-ly away over 1,600m on the Spanish track of Sebastian, with Antar sitting just behind the leaders with no cover. The jockeys took the fi eld towards the outside of the track to fi nd better ground. Coming into the turn, the pace steadied and they came back to the rail, with Antar sitting on the rail behind the pace setter Bovary De Pom-padour. Perfectly placed com-

ing off the turn into the straight, jockey Emilien Revolte sat qui-etly with plenty of confi dence in his mount before unleashing him in the fi nal 200m. With great ease, Antar took the lead, and won by almost two lengths under top weight from a fast fi nishing Rannan. The bay colt, also bred by Sheikh Abdullah, is by Al Shaqab Racing Purebred Arabian sire Al Mamun Monlau, who stands at Haras du Grand Courgeon. He is out of the pro-lifi c Al Dahma, the winner of 25 races, including Group 1s PA from the ages of 3 to 8.

AFPMadrid

Lionel Messi’s body lan-guage said it all as Bar-celona were sent into full-blown meltdown in

their historic Champions League quarter-fi nal humiliation at the hands of Bayern Munich on Fri-day. He could only look on help-lessly as the club to which he has brought so much glory suc-cumbed to a record 8-2 defeat in Lisbon.

By the end, even with the ball he could not make anything hap-pen — he was robbed of posses-sion in his own half to start the move which brought Bayern’s seventh goal at the Estadio da Luz. Earlier, in a photo taken through the door of what appears to be Barca’s changing room at half-time and which has widely circulated online, Messi can be seen sitting alone at the end of his bench, turned away, wearing both the captain’s armband and a look of total resignation.

He looked beaten as he stared at the fl oor with his shoulders drooping, defl ated, done, ex-hausted, perhaps even, old. Bay-ern were 4-1 up at that point, but there was no chance of a comeback in the second half and instead it became Barcelona’s worst ever defeat in Europe.

The hope had been that Messi would erase all logic by beating

arguably the most formidable club team in the world right now on his own, and in spite of eve-rything around him. How did it come to this? And more press-ingly, what now? At 33, Messi has to decide if he wants to be part of the overhaul that is surely now unavoidable at the Camp Nou.

“No-one is essential,” said Gerard Pique, one of the last sur-vivors along with Messi of Bar-celona’s glorious era under Pep Guardiola a decade ago. “New blood has to come in and change this dynamic. If I am the fi rst to go, so be it because now we have reached rock bottom.”

Pique, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Ar-turo Vidal are all 31 or over, but if there is to be a purge of the old guard, Messi would survive it. Yet it is not clear who would re-place them given Barca’s fi nan-cial problems mean this is not a recovery that can be driven by a string of new signings.

Instead, a new coach, assum-ing Quique Setien is replaced, would have to turn to the acad-emy, where Barcelona’s creation of young talent is not as effi cient as it once was. Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati and Riqui Puig could lead the way but others will need patience, time to bed in, perhaps even a transition season or two.

It is the kind of job that might suit Mauricio Pochettino — a coach who is on the market — even if he thought he had left

behind the days of precious few signings and an emphasis on bringing through youth. Tro-phies during that period would prove harder, not easier, to come by. Is Messi prepared to spend the fi nal years of his career as a men-tor rather than a winner?

The alternative would be to keep faith with the senior play-ers, many of whom might prove impossible to shift anyway, given their expensive contracts in the current market, badly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

But that would amount to continuity not change and per-haps only one candidate could persuade Messi that this cur-rent crop can be rejuvenated. The problem is Xavi Hernandez, a club legend as a player, has just signed a new contract with Al Sadd in Qatar and he will not work under the present board.

It means no option is without risk for Messi, whose silence af-ter the game on Friday suggested he needs time to refl ect. Leaving might still be the riskiest op-tion of all, given nobody can of-fer guaranteed success in the Champions League, particularly in the short period Messi would be operating. A new country and culture would bring considerable upheaval for his wife and three young sons. A new team would also dim, if only slightly, his star at Barcelona, the club he joined almost two decades ago and is now undeniably failing him.

Messi could only look on helplessly as the club to which he has brought so much glory suff ered a record 8-2 loss to Bayern

Haidan triumphs in Big Tour

Al-Mannai delighted with restart of Hathab

Antar a new winner for Sheikh Abdullah in Spain

Qatar Racing’s Lost In Space wins

HATHAB

SPOTLIGHT

HORSE RACING

FOCUS

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is dejected after his side’s defeat to Bayern Munich in Champions League quarter-finals in Lisbon on Friday. (AFP)

Emilien Revolte rides Antar to victory in the Premio Sheikh Mansoor Festival Maiden at San Sebastian in Spain yesterday. (Hippodromo San Sebastián)

AgenciesLingfield, United Kingdom

Lost In Space justifi ed his favourite status to run out the impressive winner of the Betway

Novice Stakes over seven fur-longs at Lingfi eld in the United Kingdom on Friday. In the col-ours of Qatar Racing and rid-den by their retained rider Oisin Murphy, Lost In Space was on his fourth career start, having never been out of the fi rst four in his young career.

The two-year-old colt was quickly out of the gates and picked up the running on the rail. The turf track was good-to-fi rm and he set a good pace. Asked by a cool-headed Mur-phy to accelerate at the 400m post, the colt responded will-ingly and came smoothly up the

rail to hold all his challengers at bay. He won by two lengths and three quarters for trainer John Gosden in front of Alba Rose, with Power Station another two lengths further back.

Lost In Space was purchased by Qatar Racing as a yearling at

the Tattersalls December Year-ling Sale. He is out of the King’s Best mare Alexander Queen, dam of seven winners from her seven foals of racing age includ-ing Stakes performer Alkasser. She is a sister to speedy sire Dandy Man.

Oisin Murphy rides Lost In Space to victory in the Betway Novice Stakes at Lingfield in the United Kingdom on Friday. (John Hoy)

Mohamed Saeed Haidan astride 12-year-old mare Miss Chili en route to victory in the Big Tour during the 11th and penultimate round of the Longines Hathab Qatar Equestrian Tour.