Record-breaking night for Bolt, Van Niekerk Record

ATHLETICS | Page 2
FOOTBALL | Page 10
Bahrain’s
Jebet takes
gold in
steeplechase
Suarez strike
gives Barca
edge over
Sevilla
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
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OLYMPICS
Murray carves his
place with the greats
with second gold
Page 7
FOCUS
Record-breaking night
for Bolt, Van Niekerk
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt
celebrates after he won
the men’s 100m final at the
Olympic Stadium in Rio de
Janeiro on Sunday. (AFP)
Jamaican star storms to third straight Olympic 100m title,
South African breaks Michael Johnson’s 400m mark
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa
U
sain Bolt stormed to an unprecedented third straight
Olympic 100m title as Wayde
van Niekerk smashed Michael
Johnson’s long-standing 400m record
in Rio on Sunday.
On a night of high drama Sunday,
Bolt galloped past drug-tainted US
rival Justin Gatlin to cross in 9.81sec
and become the first athlete to win the
100m three times in a row.
The victory set the Jamaican showman off on his quest to complete the
‘triple triple’ — 100m, 200m and
4x100m gold medals at three consecutive Olympics.
“Somebody said I can become immortal. Two more medals to go and I
can sign off. Immortal,” said Bolt.
Minutes earlier, jaws dropped as van
Niekerk timed a lightning 43.03sec in
the 400m, breaking Johnson’s 17-yearold record set in 1999.
Van Niekerk, running in the unfavoured lane eight, blasted off the final
corner to time 0.15sec quicker than
Johnson’s previous world best set in
Seville in 1999, a record that had taken
on mythical-like standing.
“I believed I could get the world
record,” the 24-year-old South African
said. “I’ve dreamed of this medal since
forever. I am blessed.”
Defending champion Kirani James of
Grenada took silver in 43.76sec, with
American Lashawn Merritt bronze
(43.85).
“Congrats to Wayde on the new world
record. I’m happy to be part of a race that
made history. We have put this sport on a
pedestal,” James said, adding that 400m
runners normally have the habit of tying
up as they hit the home stretch. “Usually that’s what happens, the guys slow
down a bit! But when you keep going like
that, there’s going to be world records. It
shows that there’s always room for guys
to improve. He just did that and exemplified that.”
“I have never seen anything like
that,” Johnson told the BBC. “That was
a massacre by Van Niekerk. This young
man has done something truly special.”
Today’s Star of the Day is South Africa’s
Wayde van Niekerk, who ran the fastest
single lap in history to win the 400m gold
medal in 43.03 seconds and break a 17-yearold world record at the Olympic Games.
Running in lane eight, the 24-year-old world
champion got off to a flier and was streaking
clear on the back straight but he upped his
pace even further in the second half of the
race to better American Michael Johnson’s
1999 mark of 43.18 seconds. Van Niekerk
crossed the line a good five metres ahead
of 2012 champion Kirani James and held his
hands to his head in disbelief at his time before being embraced by the Grenadian, who
took silver in 43.76. “Oh my God! From lane
eight, a world record,” Johnson said on the
BBC. “He took it out so quick. I have never
seen anything from 200 to 400 like that.”
Wayde van Niekerk
of South Africa
celebrates his win
in the men’s 400m
final on Sunday.
(Reuters)
Although way short of his 9.58sec
world record, Bolt was happy with the
performance but admitted he had been
“shocked” at booing from the crowd
directed at Gatlin, who has twiced
been banned for doping.
He started slowly but reeled in Gatlin
within 70 metres and eased up, thumping his chest as he crossed the line. Canada’s Andre de Grasse took bronze.
“I didn’t go so fast but I’m so happy I
won,” he said.
Bolt, who is desperate to better his
2009 world best of 19.19sec, said a new
record could be on the cards as he geared
up for today’s opening round of the 200.
“I think if I can get a good night’s
rest after the semi-finals, it’s possible,” Bolt said. “I’m going to leave it all
on the track and do the best I possibly
can,” he added.
Bolt has repeatedly said he wants to
be the first man to dip under 19 seconds
for the 200m. That goal will probably
remain elusive in Rio — Bolt’s fastest
time for the 200m this year is 19.89sec,
set in London last month.
Four men have run quicker over the
distance this season, with LaShawn
Merritt of the United States leading the
times with a best of 19.74sec, set at the
US Olympic trials in Eugene on July 8.
Gatlin is second fastest, clocking
19.75 last month.
Medals tally
Country
1. United States
2. Great Britain
3. China
4. Russia
5. Germany
6. Italy
7. France
8. Japan
9. Australia
10. South Korea
G
26
16
15
9
8
7
7
7
6
6
S
21
16
14
12
6
9
8
4
7
3
B
23
8
17
11
5
6
7
16
9
5
T
70
40
46
32
19
22
22
27
22
14
STAR OF THE DAY
Country
11. Hungary
12. Netherlands
13. Spain
14. New Zealand
15. North Korea
16. Canada
17. Kazakhstan
18. Colombia
19. Poland
19. Switzerland
G
5
5
3
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
S
3
2
0
6
3
2
2
2
1
1
B
4
3
2
0
2
9
4
0
2
2
T
12
10
5
8
7
13
8
4
5
5
Country
21. Belgium
21. Thailand
23. Croatia
24. Greece
24. Iran
24. Jamaica
27. South Africa
28. Sweden
29. Brazil
30. Denmark
G
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
S
1
1
1
0
0
0
5
4
3
3
B
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
4
3
T
4
4
3
3
3
3
7
6
8
7
2
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
STEP CLOSER
Qatar’s Barshim in tonight’s high jump final
Q
atar’s Mutaz Barshim made
it to tonight’s high jump final
after a 2.29m effort in yesterday’s qualifying competition.
As many as 43 men started the high
jump qualifying competition with ambitions of either clearing the automatic
qualifying height of 2.31m to make tonight’s final, or being among the top 12.
The critical height was 2.29m with
12 men in each of the two groups still in
contention.
Only 11 cleared this height so there
was no need to raise the bar further and
the four men who were flawless up to
and including 2.26m also progressed to
the final.
Four men had no failures in the qualifying competition: 2015 world champion Derek Drouin and his predecessor
Bogdan Bondarenko, Barshim and, perhaps surprisingly, Bulgaria’s Tikomir
Ivanov, who provided a delighted jig
for the crowd upon clearing the height
which equalled his personal best.
Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim competes during the preliminary round of the men’s high jump event on Sunday. (Reuters)
Nearly all the expected medal contenders progressed but, almost inevita-
bly in such a large field, there were a few
notable casualties.
IAAF World Championships Beijing
2015 silver medallist Zhang Guowei,
from China, could go no higher than
2.22m and nor could his compatriot
Wang Yu, both men having cleared
2.33m this year.
Recent European Championships
medallists, Chris Baker from Great
Britain and Eike Onnen from Germany,
were also eliminated. Both men cleared
2.26m but had failures during the competition.
An interested, and somewhat disconsolate spectator was Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, who had won the 2016
world indoor and European titles, who
many a month ago would have considered the gold medal favourite.
He cleared an Italian record of 2.39m
when winning at the IAAF Diamond
League in Monaco last month before
injuring himself while attempting
2.41m and subsequently being ruled
out of Rio.
He was moved to tears of frustration
on several occasions and had to be consoled by his girlfriend.
(IAAF)
FOCUS
SPOTLIGHT
Bahrain’s Jebet
leads from front for
steeplechase gold
Jebet runs Asian record of 8min 59.75sec, narrowly missing out on world record
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
B
ahrain’s Kenyan-born Ruth
Jebet produced an astonishing piece of front running
to win gold in the Olympic
women’s 3000m steeplechase yesterday.
Jebet timed an Asian record of
8min 59.75sec, missing out on the
world record by less than a second.
Reigning world champion Hyvin
Kiyeng Jepkemoi of Kenya took silver in 9:07.12, with American Emma
Coburn claiming bronze (9:07.63).
US champion Coburn set the
early pace before Jebet, who transferred her allegiance to Bahrain from
her native Kenya in February 2013,
surged with five laps to run of the
seven-and-a-half lap race.
As temperatures hit 35 degrees
Celsius (95F), her pace immediately
split the field, Jepkemoi and fellow
Kenyan Beatrice Chepkoech just
about staying in touch, with Coburn
in fourth.
Jebet, the former world junior
champion who is the second-fastest
woman ever and only the second to
run the event in less than nine minutes, maintained her punishing pace
as the bell rang for the final lap.
Chepkoech fell off as Coburn
moved up in her own battle for silver
with Jepkemoi.
Ahead of them, Jebet pushed for
Russian Gulnara Galkina’s world
record of 8:58.81, just failing in her
quest as she landed the Gulf state of
Bahrain its first Olympic gold.
Bahrain’s Morocco-born Rashid
Ramzi was initially awarded gold in
the men’s 1500m at the 2008 Beijing
Olympics, but he was stripped of
that after testing positive for doping.
Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi cries as he
watches the preliminary round of the
high jump event on Sunday. (AFP)
Felix runs
season’s
best to reach
400m final
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
A
llyson Felix sounded a
warning to her 400 metres rivals with a season’s best run of 49.67
seconds to reach the final of the
one-lap sprint at the Rio Olympics on Sunday.
The American’s time was the
second fastest of the year behind
only the 49.55 clocked in London
last month by Shaunae Miller,
who was second in the third
semi-final behind Felix in 49.91.
Felix, seeking her fifth Olympic gold, got off to a strong start
and ran down Miller on the back
straight but the Bahamian came
back at her on the final bend and
might have caught the world
champion had she not eased up
approaching the line.
“I wanted to get a solid effort
and try to make a run at a good
lane tomorrow. I wanted to bump
up the intensity tonight,” the
30-year-old Felix told reporters.
Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson
ran the second fastest time of
the night, a personal best 49.83,
to win a tight semi-final ahead
of American Natasha Hastings,
whose time of 49.90 was also her
best of 2016.
The United States and Jamaica
also filled the automatic qualifying spots in the opening heat with
American Phyllis Francis making
up five metres on Stephenie Ann
McPherson on the home straight
to win in 50.31.
Jamaica’s McPherson ran
50.69 for second place. Italian Libania Grenot (50.60) and
Ukraine’s Olha Zemlyak (50.75)
will also line up in the final after
qualifying as the fastest finishers
outside the top two.
“It was my coach’s birthday
yesterday,” said Zemlyak, whose
time was a personal best. “Every
day I make him presents. Tomorrow I want to give him the final.”
Felix, who suffered an ankle
injury in a gym accident earlier
this year, was unable to defend
her 200 metres title in Rio after
failing to finish in the top three at
the US trials.
The London 400 metres
champion Sanya Richards-Ross
was also unable to defend the
Olympic crown after suffering a
career-ending injury at the same
meet.
Ruth Jebet of Bahrain competes in the women’s 3000m Steeplechase final in Rio de Janeiro yesterday. (Reuters)
BOTTOMLINE
Dibaba eases into 1500m final with quickest time
World champ Bett crashes out of 400m hurdles
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
E
R
eigning world champion Nicholas Bett
of Kenya crashed out of the first round of
the men’s 400m hurdles yesterday.
Bett, who was the event’s surprise
winner in the Beijing world championships last
year, clipped the last hurdle and jogged the final
metres.
Also missing from today’s semi-finals will be
American Michael Tinsley, who won silver at the
London Olympics in 2012.
Two of Bett’s teammates, Haron Koech and
Boniface Tumuti, qualified with no such problems.
Jamaican Annsert Whyte led the qualifying
times with 48.37sec, while his teammate Roxroy
Cato looked comfortable and Javier Culson of
Puerto Rico, bronze medallist in London four
years ago and twice a world silver medallist, also
advanced.
The US flag will be flown by Kerron Clement,
world champion in 2009 and silver medallist at
the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and Byron Robinson.
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
Kenya’s Nicholas Bett (left) stumbles during the first round of the men’s 400m Hurdles at
the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro yesterday. (Reuters)
thiopian world record holder Genzebe
Dibaba qualified for the women’s 1,500
metres final with the fastest time on
Sunday, comfortably winning her heat in four
minutes 3.06 seconds to justify her tag as
favourite for Olympic gold.
Dibaba stormed clear of the field at the bell in
the second semi-final, with the top five runners
in both races advancing, and eased down on the
home straight to finish ahead of Sifan Hassan of
the Netherlands and Britain’s Laura Muir.
Kenya’s Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon won the
first semi-final in 4:03.95 on a day when a majority of the 10 qualifiers for today’s final were
trying not to exert themselves and advance
with the minimum of fuss.
After setting a new world record of 3:50.07 in
Monaco and winning the world 1500m title in
Beijing last year, Dibaba has had a mixed 2016
campaign and arrived in Rio carrying a niggling toe injury.
Adding to the her troubles, Dibaba’s coach
was arrested in Spain on doping charges just
weeks before the Olympics.
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
FOCUS
SPOTLIGHT
Wlodarczyk breaks
world record for
hammer gold
‘It was worth giving it
a go... parents in the
stands, fans cheering...’
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
P
oland’s Anita Wlodarczyk underlined her absolute dominance of
the women’s hammer by throwing a world record 82.29 metres
to win the Rio Olympic gold by an incredible 554 centimetres yesterday.
The only woman to have thrown the
hammer further than 80 metres, the
31-year-old world champion had already
broken the Olympic record with a second
throw of 80.40 when she entered the ring
for the third time.
Whipping the hammer around her
body eight times before launching it into
the sunny morning sky, Wlodarczyk was
screaming in delight before the ball even
pitched on the grass of the infield, well
beyond the 80 metre tape.
It was far enough to better the mark of
81.08 she set in Cetniewo in Poland this
month, as was her fifth throw of 81.74.
“Competition of my life,” she told Poland’s TVP. “After the first round I knew
that I would get the gold medal and after
the second one I went for it all. Massacre.”
“I think that no one made such a surprise during Olympics. I was close to
beating the record for the second time. I
didn’t want to hold back.”
“I thought, this is that day. It was worth
giving it a go, because you never know if
it’s going to happen again — parents in
the stands, fans cheering... I think I’m the
happiest woman in the world right now.”
Unbeaten since June 2014, Wlodarczyk
now owns the 11 best throws of all time.
Her winning margin was by far the largest
in the history of the women’s event.
She was the second Pole to win the title
after Kamila Skolimowska, who won the
inaugural women’s hammer at the Sydney
Olympics in 2000 before dying at the age of
26 of a pulmonary embolism while training.
“Everyone thought I’d win the gold
medal,” said Wlodarczyk. “But the best
thing for me is the world record, because I
talked a lot about it.”
“I didn’t fail the fans, I didn’t fail Poland so that’s just great. It’s time to celebrate.”
Wlodarczyk finished runner-up to
Tatyana Lysenko at the London Games
four years ago but the Russian was unable to defend her title in Rio after being
banned for doping for the second time in
her career earlier this year.
China’s Zhang Wenxiu threw 76.75 to
add a silver medal to the bronze she won on
home soil at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Former world junior champion Sophie
3
Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk competes in the women’s Hammer Throw final at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro yesterday. (AFP)
Schippers through,
Campbell-Brown
in early exit
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
W
orld champion Dafne Schippers shook
off injury to reach
the 200 metres
semi-finals but twice Olympic
gold medallist Veronica Campbell-Brown made an early exit
from her fifth Games yesterday.
Campbell-Brown, back-toback champion in 2004 and
2008, finished third in the ninth
heat and her time of 22.97 was
not enough to get through to Friday’s semis.
The 34-year-old, who will also
run in the 4x100 relay, blamed
poor execution but did not rule
out returning for a sixth Games
in Tokyo in 2020.
“I’ve been through worse in
my life,” she said. “This is not
such a crazy hurt to get over,
I’ve never been in this position
before. I don’t know why things
happen but sometimes you don’t
get your desire.”
Trinidad
and
Tobago’s
Michelle-Lee Ahye, sixth in the
100, ran the fourth fastest time
of a sunny morning to win heat
three in 22.50, one-hundredth of
a second ahead of Schippers who
won heat one.
With champion Allyson Felix
unable to defend her title after
failing to finish in the top three
at the US Trials, Dutchwoman
Schippers came to Brazil with high
hopes of adding the Olympic title
to the world title she won last year.
A leg muscle injury prevented
her from running freely as she
finished fifth in the 100 metres
on Sunday but she said at one
stage it looked like she would not
compete at all in Rio.
VERY DISAPPOINTED
“Last Wednesday I was ready to
go home because of the injury,”
she explained.
“But I carried on. All I could do
was to run and have treatment.
I was very disappointed that I
wasn’t able to show what I’m capable of doing.”
“I was broken. I didn’t come
here to finish fifth but that was
the maximum I could do,” said
Schippers.
The 24-year-old said she was
feeling “better” on Monday after
winning her heat easing up.
“I’m glad it went so well in the
200,” she added. “I’ve now got
the chance to show what I am capable of doing.”
Elaine Thompson proved
on Saturday that the Jamaican
sprint production line is still going strong and the 100 metres
champion progressed in 22.63.
She had to settle for second
place in heat four behind Ivorian
Marie-Josee Ta Lou though.
African champion Ta Lou
missed out on a bronze medal in
the 100 by a few thousandths of
a second and looked like she had
a point to prove back on the blue
track of the Olympic Stadium as
she topped the timesheets with a
personal best 22.31.
Just behind her were two
Americans in Deajah Stevens
(22.45) and Tori Bowie who
backed up her silver medal in the
100 by winning her heat in 22.47.
Colombia’s Ibarguen wins triple jump gold
Triple jumper Caterine Ibarguen won
Colombia’s first Olympic gold medal in
athletics on Sunday, building on several
years of dominance by sweeping to
victory with a season’s best leap of
15.17 metres. “It’s the biggest dream to
achieve this,” said Ibarguen. “I’m very
happy and proud.”
The two-time world champion Ibarguen was hot-favourite going into the
Rio Games after winning 36 of her last
37 competitions excluding qualifying
events.
The 32-year-old soared past 15m twice
and appeared in total control after
producing her best jump in the fourth
round, though she failed in her plan to
Hitchon was third with a British record
74.54 from her final throw to claim a first
medal for her country in the women’s
hammer.
“To get a bronze medal, I am over the
break Ukraine’s Inessa Kravets’s world
record of 15.50m set in 1995.
Ibarguen’s young challenger Yulimar
Rojas took silver with a 14.98m jump
and became the first woman from the
South American country to win a medal
in athletics.
The 20-year-old also became the
youngest female winner of a triple jump
Olympic medal, capping her meteoric
rise in an event she only started two
years ago.
Kazakhstan’s London Olympics champion Olga Rypakova pulled off the
two best jumps of her season, but her
14.74m in the fifth round was only good
enough for bronze.
moon. I didn’t expect that I would hold
third, I just wanted to throw further,” the
comparatively diminutive Hitchon said.
“I had to double take a little bit. It was
just incredible to see the number three
there and a national record, I couldn’t be
happier.”
Betty Heidler of Germany, the former
world champion and world record holder,
finished fourth with a best throw of 73.71.
OPINION
CLOSE CALL
Britain’s Ennis-Hill calls
for global doping rethink
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
B
ritish heptathlete Jessica EnnisHill called for a worldwide rethink
on doping on Sunday after the Rio
Olympics were plagued by drugs
scandals including the suspension of Russia’s
entire athletics team.
Ennis-Hill, speaking a day after she added
a silver medal to her 2012 Olympic gold, said a
vigorous testing regime needed to be “standardised across the world”.
The British star was beaten at both the
2007 and 2011 world championships by athletes who were later exposed as drug cheats.
“Definitely it needs to be reviewed,” EnnisHill told AFP during an appearance for Olympics timekeeper Omega at Ipanema in Rio de
Janeiro.
“I think our testing system in Britain is
great. We have lots of tests, we have outof-competition tests and we’re tested really
regularly and that needs to be standardised
across the world.”
Ennis-Hill came up just short against Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam, 21, late on Saturday after a battle that came down to the final
event, the 800m.
World athletics chief Sebastian Coe has
said he hoped fans have faith that Olympic
athletics is clean, but Ennis-Hill had sympathy with their concerns.
Coe’s IAAF came down hard on the unearthing of a state-run Russian doping conspiracy, suspending the team en masse while
the country cleans up its act.
Kenya, another powerhouse of the sport,
also flirted with suspension and remains in
Netherlands’ Dafne Schippers (right) competes in the women’s 200m
Round 1 heat in Rio de Janeiro yesterday. (AFP)
the spotlight after an official was sent home
from Rio over allegations he demanded bribes
to warn athletes of impending drug tests.
“I can understand that fans have that element of disappointment,” said Ennis-Hill,
30. “As an athlete, I look at the sport and
when I hear these stories of doping scandals
it’s devastating.”
“But there are some amazing true performances, athletes have trained incredibly hard
and so many athletes that you see compete
here are true, performing athletes.”
“So it’s to not take that away from the athletes that are doing it right, and hope that
the federations and the monitoring system
within drug-testing worldwide is sorted out
and cleaned up.”
RETIREMENT ‘TOUGH QUESTION’
The Sheffield athlete finished fourth at the
Osaka world championships in 2007, before
silver medallist Lyudmyla Blonska of Ukraine
was banned for life a year later for her second
doping offence.
She also took silver at the 2011 Daegu world
championships behind Russia’s Tatyana
Chernova, who was later banned for two years
for doping.
Wheels are in motion to intensify the antidrugs fight with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) planning
an independent integrity unit to oversee doping and disciplinary matters.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has indicated it’s open to an update after the International
Olympic Committee called for a sweeping review in the wake of the Russian crisis.
Ennis-Hill said everything needs to be on
the table as athletics searches for a way forward after a torrid period in its history.
“It is for the monitoring system and for
everything to be looked at. We have to put
trust in the federations and people that monitor the drug-testing worldwide and hope
that we find a solution,” she said.
Ennis-Hill, who spent two hours in antidoping after Saturday’s competition “waiting
to go to the toilet”, reiterated that she is undecided about whether to retire or push on to
next year’s world championships in London.
“I’m not sure what my next goal is going to
be,” she said, adding that returning to athletics after the birth of her son, two-year-old
Reggie, had been a “huge challenge”.
“I definitely like to set goals and like to have
things that I want to achieve and work towards but I’m not sure at this stage. That’s a
tough question.”
Tribunal lets Klishina
back into Rio Games
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
T
he world sports tribunal
yesterday overturned a
last-minute IAAF ban
on long-jumper Darya
Klishina taking part in the Rio
Olympics.
Klishina, 25, was the only Russian accepted for the Olympic
track and field but the sport’s
world body suspended her on
Friday after new information on
her doping record emerged.
After a day of hearings, the
Court of Arbitration (CAS) announced that Klishina’s appeal
had succeeded and she “remained eligible to compete in
the Olympic Games in Rio.”
The decision came just in
time for Klishina, a former European indoor champion, to
resume her campaign for the
women’s long-jump competition which starts today.
Russia’s Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko welcomed the decision, saying “you cannot punish
her for what she did not do.”
The appeal was the latest fallout from the inquiry by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren for
the World Anti-Doping Agency
which accused Russia of mass
“state-sponsored” doping.
The CAS said it was McLaren
who provided the “new factual elements” about Klishina
which led the International As-
sociation of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to revoke her Rio
eligibility.
The IAAF doping board rejected 67 athletes entered by
Russia but accepted Klishina,
who is based in Florida, because
she lived abroad and had been
through regular international
doping checks after a cutoff period starting January 1, 2014
The doping review board told
the CAS hearing that “certain
of the athlete’s samples has
been subject to tampering and
manipulation,” according to the
tribunal’s statement.
‘PROVOCATIVE MOMENTS’
Media reports have said two
bottles of Klishina’s urine samples had been tampered with
and one of the samples contained two different kinds of
DNA.
The CAS panel decided how-
ever that despite McLaren’s
new information, Klishina
“complied with the relevant
criteria (to compete at Rio) because of her permanent residence outside Russia.”
It added that Klishina “established that she was subject
to fully compliant drug-testing
in- and out-of-competition
outside of Russia” from 2014
onwards.
Klishina had insisted in a
statement after the ban was announced that she is “clean”.
Her lawyers have argued
that no evidence had been presented, only that McLaren had
told the IAAF about the sample
bottles which reportedly had
scratch marks on them.
Speaking to Moscow’s Interfax news agency Sports Minister Mutko said justice had been
done. “This decision proves
that justice can be fair,” he said.
4
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
GYMNASTICS
Whitlock calm after
double gold triumph
‘It’s such a proud feeling to hear your national anthem being played’
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
M
ost athletes would be floored by the realisation they had just won a historic
double Olympic gold medal, but Britain’s
Max Whitlock says he was just doing
his job and is keen to get back in the gym. Whitlock
ended Britain’s 120-year wait for an Olympic gymnastics gold medal by winning the men’s floor title at
the Rio Games on Sunday before claiming a second
gold less than two hours later in the pommel horse.
Making it even sweeter for Britain, compatriot
Louis Smith grabbed silver in the pommel horse —
a repeat of their one-two finish at the 2015 world
championships in Glasgow. “It was really cool to see
two flags rise up there, it’s just an amazing feeling,”
Whitlock told reporters.
“It’s such a proud feeling to hear your national anthem being played and just stand there with Louis,
one and two again like the world championship.”
Whitlock, 23, is no stranger to record-setting
wins. Last year’s gold ended Britain’s 112-year hunt
for a men’s world champion. He also took bronze this
week in the all around, which was won by his idol
Kohei Uchimura of Japan.
Despite the weight of his first gold in the floor exercises, he did not have time to enjoy the moment as
his day was only half over. “I couldn’t really take in
what I’d done on the floor. I had another job to do on
pommel horse and I had to go back and refocus and
get warmed up for that,” he said.
Now that he has time to take it all in, Whitlock said
he would take a short break but would soon be back
in the gym. “There’s always stuff for me to learn. As
I say after every competition, it motivates me even
more to get back in the gym and learn more stuff, and
I feel that way now,” he said.
Whitlock does have one regret from Rio, however.
The gymnast said he does not watch others compete,
in order to keep his focus and stay calm, and that left
him unable to view Uchimura’s final routine.
“He’s one of those elite superstars. The reason why
I idolise him is he delivers every time,” Whitlock said.
“That’s quite tough, (not having) the pleasure of
watching him finish off his all-around title with his
high bar routine.”
Max Whitlock ended Britain’s 120-year wait
for an Olympic gymnastics gold by winning
the men’s floor title at the Rio Games on
Sunday before claiming a second gold less
than two hours later in the pommel horse.
(AFP / Toshifumi Kitamura)
Petrounias flexes
his muscles to
win rings gold
Rio de Janeiro: Greek muscle
man Eleftherios Petrounias
showed off his superior power
in the strongman’s event as he
edged out local favourite and
2012 champion Arthur Zanetti
to win the rings gold medal
at the Olympics yesterday.
Petrounias added the Rio
Games title to the world and
European crowns he holds with
a score of 16.000.
Zanetti lost out on the top
prize by 0.234 of a point while
Russia’s Denis Abliazin had
to settle for bronze. Petrounias showed off his bulging
muscles, and the Olympic rings
tattooed on his upper back, as
he smoothly moved from one
difficult element to another.
There was not a wobble
in sight as he held on to the
Maltese cross — where a
gymnast holds the rings with
his body lined up horizontally
— for what seemed an eternity
before flowing into a number
of handstands.
When he nailed the dismount, he saluted the crowd
with a raised fist confident
that he would become the
first Greek since Dimosthenis
Tampakos in 2004 to win the
rings. It was Greece’s second
gold in Rio.
There were six more competitors to follow but none of
them came close to breaching
the 16-point barrier, despite
Zanetti being roared on to the
rings with chants of “BrazilBrazil-Brazil”.
China’s You Hao, silver medallist behind Petrounias at last
year’s world championships,
had been expected to push
him all the way with a routine
that had the highest 7.000
difficulty score. However, when
he almost stumbled off the
mat from his double twistingdouble layout somersault dismount, his medal hopes were
dashed and he finished sixth
out of the eight finalists.
Yuri van Gelder, the 2005
world champion, had qualified for the final but was a no
show after he was expelled
from the Olympics for violating
Dutch team rules on alcohol
consumption following the
qualifying competition last
weekend.
Silver medallist Brazil’s Arthur Zanetti (left) and gold medallist
Eleftherios Petrounias of Greece celebrate after the men’s rings
event final at the Olympic Arena. (AFP / Thomas Coex)
FOCUS
North Korea’s Ri wins vault title
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
R
(From left) silver medallist Denis Abliazin of Russia, gold medal winner North Korea’s Ri Se Gwang and bronze
medallist Japan’s Kenzo Shirai pose on the podium after the men’s vault final. (AFP)
ROUND-UP
A
Brazilian judge yesterday ordered the
arrest of four executives at international
sports hospitality company THG Sports
accused of fraudulent ticket sales at the
Olympics, widening an investigation into ticket
overcharging at the Games. THG rejected the accusations against the company and its director
Kevin Mallon, saying that more than 1,000 tickets
seized by police were being held legally on behalf
of authorised Irish reseller Pro 10 and criticising
local Olympic organisers.
The police did not name the four executives but
said they were directly involved in a scheme to
overcharge for tickets. Last week police detained
Mallon and a translator employed by the company, alleging that they could have made 10mn reais
($3mn) from buying tickets and reselling them
at a higher price. THG and Pro 10 said that Mallon was holding authorised tickets for collection
by European clients in Rio and both accused Rio
2016 organisers of spreading misinformation. “It
appears that (organisers) and the local authorities
have an agenda to impede the legitimate activities
of THG in order to support the activities of their
locally approved hospitality provider,” said THG.
Pro 10 added that it had suffered commercial
losses due to the seized tickets and declined to
Fallen idol Douglas exits
Rio Games on a low
Gabby Douglas, the golden girl of gymnastics at the 2012 Olympics, exited Rio on a
low on Sunday slumping on uneven bars
amid claims she has been the victim of online social media abuse. Douglas became the
first African-American to win the Olympic
title in London 2012 and first US gymnast
to claim both the team and all-around gold
medals in a single Games.
But the 20-year-old finished seventh in
the eight-woman uneven bars final on Sunday with Russia’s Aliya Mustafina retaining
her title ahead of American Madison Kocian. “I wanted to finish on a stronger note,”
said Douglas, who has been overshadowed
by star teammate Simone Biles.
Biles is set to become the greatest woman
gymnast ever and on course for a record haul
of five gold medals in Rio. Douglas slammed
‘hurtful’ comments about her hairstyle and
smile and suggestions that she bleaches her
skin. Douglas took time off after London and
since then 19-year-old Biles has dominated
women’s gymnastics. Douglas had already
come under fire for her inclusion in the Olympic team despite struggling in US trials.
In Rio, she failed to defend her all-around
title after qualifying third behind Biles and
Aly Raisman, with a two-per-country limit.
Despite helping the US defend their team title, she was forced to apologise after a backlash for failing to put her hand on her heart
during the American national anthem.
BOXING
Brazil judge orders four
THG executives arrests
for ticketing fraud
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
i Se-gwang became the first North
Korean man to win the Olympic
vault title as he soared to victory
with an average score of 15.691 yesterday. The double world champion also became only the second man from his country
to win an Olympic gymnastics title following the success of Pae Gil-su on the pommel
horse at the 1992 Barcelona Games.
Ri beat Russia’s Denis Abliazin by 0.175 of
a point. Japan’s Kenzo Shirai, who missed
out on a medal on his signature floor exercise event on Sunday, won bronze with
15.449 as he edged out 35-year-old Romanian Marian Dragulescu on the tiebreak rule
after both earned the same average score.
comment further on the issue. In their statement
last week, police noted that the chief executive of
THG, James Sinton, was detained in Rio in 2014,
accused of forming part of a World Cup “ticketing mafia.” THG Group is owned by Marcus Evans
Group, which also controls English football club
Ipswich Town. In 2010, the Olympic Council of
Ireland appointed THG as its official ticketing
agent for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014
Winter Games in Sochi.
Overhead TV camera falls in Olympic
park, injures two: Report
Two people were lightly injured when a television
camera suspended by cables fell to the ground in
the Olympic Park on Monday outside the basketball arena, Globonews reported. Television images
showed one woman who was treated by medics
walk from the scene wearing a neck brace, while
the other victim was carried off on a stretcher.
Wrestler Borrero wins Cuba’s first gold
Greco-Roman wrestler Ismael Borrero claimed
Cuba’s first gold medal of the Rio Olympics when
he won in the 59kg category. Borrero beat Japan’s
Shinobu Ota 8-0 to add Olympic gold to his world
title won last year. Later, Russia’s Roman Vlasov
successfully defended his 75kg title with a 5-1
victory over Denmark’s Mark Madsen.
Venezuela boxer, who lost sister
to murderous world champion
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
Venezuela’s Yoel Finol (right)
beat Muhammad Ali of
Britain yesterday. (Reuters)
B
oxing has always attracted characters
with hard-luck stories, bad boys who
earned redemption or fighters who
beat the odds for shock glory. But
the disturbing story of Venezuela’s Olympic
boxer Yoel Finol takes some beating.
He was lured into boxing by his brother-inlaw Edwin Valero, a two-weight world champion professional who was to later end his
career and life unbeaten with 27 wins, all by
knock-out. Valero taught Finol, now 19 and
a winner on Monday in his second flyweight
bout in Rio, his first punch and trained him.
Valero would even parade Finol through the
rough streets of the Venezuelan city of Merida
looking to get into fights “to become a man”.
And then, six years ago, Valero killed his own
wife, who was Finol’s sister.
He was locked up and two days later killed
himself at age 28 and unbeaten as a pro.
Somehow Finol says he does not carry
around hate for Valero, even though his tenacious displays at the Games suggest a burning within. “I have forgiven him. Although
he killed my sister, I forgave him,” said Finol,
speaking in Rio.
“At first I did not understand why he did
it. I felt anger, but I found God and learned to
forgive him.” Finol started boxing at age nine,
encouraged by his uncle, and then by Valero.
“He taught me to throw punches, taught
me the basics, and took me street-fighting
to make me a man. He wanted me to become
world champion and be my agent.”
But Valero’s life began to disintegrate in a
blur of drugs and alcohol. Then, on April 17,
2010, Valero stabbed Finol’s sister Carolina
to death with three savage thrusts of a knife.
Two days later, Valero was found hanged in
his jail cell. “The drugs damaged him and
changed him because he was not a bad person,” said Finol, displaying a maturity beyond
his teenage years, underlined by the fact that
he now cares for the tragic couple’s two young
children. “These things happen in life and
only God knows why.”
Finol recalls how Valero would always tell
him that the ultimate ambition was to be a
professional world champion. But after the
trauma of six years ago Finol had a new dream
— Olympic glory. Finol’s journey to Rio was —
predictably — a turbulent one.
He joined a boxing gym and scraped together funds by the only method he knew
how: street fighting for money. “The road
is long and uphill, but I have taken the first
step,” he said, crossing himself and looking to
the sky in wonder.
“God took from me my dear sister and my
brother-in-law Edwin, but he gave me something in return — to be better.”
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
CYCLING
FOCUS
Kenny masters
teammate Skinner
to win sprint gold
‘It was weird because we finished the semis yesterday which were a real scrap’
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
Britain’s Jason Kenny (left) and teammate
Callum Skinner celebrate after winning gold
and silver respectively, in the cycling track
sprinting on Sunday. (Reuters / Eric Gaillard)
J
ason Kenny proved conclusively he is
still top dog in the British team, and
the world, when it comes to track
sprinting, leaving compatriot Callum
Skinner in his slipstream to power to a fifth
Olympic gold medal on Sunday.
The training partners — who put the
wheels of the British cycling juggernaut in
motion with team sprint gold on Thursday —
had set up a head-to-head in the individual
final in the Rio velodrome but the 28-yearold Kenny dished out a harsh lesson.
Using all his experience, Kenny responded
to the challenge from within the ranks with
two dominant rides, winning both heats with
something to spare. Kenny has now won as
many gold medals for Britain as fellow cyclist
Bradley Wiggins and could take his tally to
six when he contests his final event, the keirin, today.
The two finalist have been sharing digs in
the Olympic Village and know each other’s
race styles inside out after thousands of
training session together. But come the real
thing there was only going to be one winner
with world champion Kenny at his devastating best.
“It’s really special, it’s not really sunk in,”
Kenny told reporters. “It was weird because
we finished the semis yesterday which were a
real scrap and had 24 hours to sit on it. It’s a
bit strange and it feels like a bit of a lull now.”
Asked whether the previous night had
been awkward, Kenny said he and Skinner
had chatted about the progress of other British athletes at the Games. “(Andy) Murray,
heptathlon and (Greg) Rutherford,” he said.
Skinner’s emergence has prompted comparisons with six-times Olympic gold medallist Chris Hoy, his fellow Scot who was
commentating on the race at trackside. Kenny said the past few days had reminded him
of Beijing eight years ago when he was the
new kid on the block and Hoy was at the peak
of his powers.
On that occasion he won the team sprint
alongside Hoy but had to play second fiddle
to his superior in the individual event where
Hoy won gold and he took the silver.
“It took me back to Beijing a little bit,” he
said. “I remember sitting having breakfast
with Chris that morning and it was a bit the
same this time.
“But I enjoyed it, it was a bit lonely in
London with only one (rider) per nation and
being on my own in the finals. I tried to convince myself that I would probably be feeling better as I have a few more years training
than Callum, but in reality I was hurting this
morning, I knew it would be a fight.”
Britain have dominated the track cycling
programme in Rio, winning four of the six
events completed and with Kenny’s fiance
Laura Trott targeting a second gold as she
begins the defence of her omnium title.
Australian great
Meares blows
medal hopes
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
A
ustralian track cycling
great Anna Meares will
be a spectator when
the Olympic sprint
gold is decided today after failing to qualify for the quarterfinals. Reigning sprint champion
Meares, who claimed a sixth Olympic medal when she finished
third in the keirin on Saturday,
was narrowly beaten by Hong
Kong’s Lee Wai Sze in the Rio
velodrome yesterday. Then she
failed to make it through the repechage.
It meant Meares, 32, was battling for ninth place later last
night, rather than a medal 24
hours later. Meares, who made
her Olympic debut in Athens
in 2004, struggled all the way
through the competition and lost
her qualifying heat on Sunday to
Simona Krupeckaite before surviving the cut by coming through
a repechage.
The 11-times world champion,
who has yet to say whether this
will be her Olympic swansong,
looked off the pace in Monday’s
repechage as her medal hopes
disappeared — losing out to China’s Tianshi Zhong in the dash
to the line. Two British riders,
Rebecca James and Katie Marchant, qualified for the last eight
as the country’s domination of
the Rio boards showed no sign
of weakening. James will face
world champion and Olympic
team sprint gold medallist Zhong
Tianshi while Marchant faces
Lithuania’s Krupeckaite. Former
world champion Kristina Voegel
is also in contention for a first
Olympic gold in the sprint.
Viviani leads as omnium
heads for thrilling climax
Italy’s Elia Viviani took the lead
after of the track cycling men’s
omnium as the multi-discipline
event headed towards a thrilling
conclusion later last night.
After four of the six disciplines, Viviani was leading with
140 points, 14 more than overnight leader Thomas Boudat of
France and Britain’s Mark Cavendish.
Reigning Olympic champion
Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark, who gained a maximum
points haul in Sunday’s 60-lap
scratch race and 4km individual
pursuit but messed up the elimination race, was fourth with
world champion Fernando Gaviria fifth. Yesterday’s early action was the individual time trial
covering four laps of the track.
Viviani’s time of 57.749 seconds was good enough for third
of 17 starters, the best among the
medal contenders. Cavendish,
who won four stages of the Tour
de France last month and who is
chasing a first Olympic medal,
was looking ominously strong
and focused.
He put himself right in the
mix on Sunday with a scintillating 4km individual pursuit,
going second fastest, 11 seconds
quicker than at the London world
championships when a poor ride
in the IP left his Rio selection
hopes in danger.
Cavendish was sixth fastest in
the time trial. The flying lap is
the penultimate discipline before
the climax in the 160-lap points
race where riders can earn points
in sprints every 10 laps. At the
London world championships in
March, Gaviria, Roger Kluge and
Australian Glenn O’Shea all ended on 191 points in a nerve jangling finale, with Gaviria taking
the title by virtue of having won
two of the six elements.
An equally tight battle is likely
to decide gold here. Britain have
won four of the six track golds at
Rio Olympics.
Australia’s Anna Meares competes in the women’s sprint qualifying
track cycling event at the Velodrome in Rio. (AFP / Greg Baker)
EQUESTRIAN
Britain’s Dujardin wins
dressage gold again
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
G
reat Britain’s CHARLOTTE DUJARDIN
won her second individual dressage gold
in her final Olympic performance on horse
Valegro yesterday, though she came short
of breaking her own world record. Dujardin led with
the top Freestyle score of 93.857 out of 100, below
her 2014 record of 94.30.
Isabell Werth claimed silver after helping Germany win the team dressage title on Friday. Fellow
German Kristina Broring-Sprehe took bronze. Dujardin, 31, won individual and team gold four years
ago in London and has broken numerous dressage
records.
A former groom who worked her way up in an
elite sport, she counts Queen Elizabeth II among
her fans. The top 18 individual riders started with
a clean slate to ride for individual medals in the
Freestyle competition, a routine of choreographed
moves to music that is essentially the equine version of a gymnastics floor routine.
Yesterday’s competition featured a Swedish
horse and rider pair performing extended trots to
the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations. Dujardin’s music was Brazil-inspired. Severo Jurado Lopez from
Spain cantered to Santana’s Smooth, before coming
down centre line to Bon Jovi’s It’s My Life to thunderous applause. His score of 83.625 was widely
booed by an audience that thought it was too low.
American Laura Graves, a former hair stylist
riding a horse she trained herself, came in fourth,
5
meaning the top dressage scores were claimed by
women in an Olympic event in which they compete
against men.
VAN ROUWENDAAL WINS 10K GOLD AS MORE
OPEN WATER CONTROVERSY FLARES
Rio de Janeiro: Dutch swimmer
SHARON VAN ROUWENDAAL romped to
10km open water gold at the Olympics
yesterday as the course layout sparked
more controversy at the under-fire Copacabana beach venue. Van Rouwendaal,
whose training was hindered by a shoulder
injury for eight months earlier this year,
made it look easy as she powered to victory in 1hr 56min 32.1sec.
Behind her there was a fierce battle
for silver raging, and her French training
partner Aurelie Muller appeared to have
nabbed it. But Muller was disqualified for
impeding Italian Rachele Bruni, who ended
up in second ahead of bronze medallist
Poliana Okimoto of Brazil.
Muller departed the picturesque crescent beach in tears after she swam into her
rival in the finishing chute, French team
officials saying she was confused because
the tall buoys marking the start of the lane
were improperly aligned with the buoys at
the finish line.
Disoriented, world and European champion Muller veered into Bruni when she
realized she wasn’t headed for the timing
board. Bruni, who only knew that Muller
pushed her arm down at the finish, clocked
1:56:49.5 — a whopping 17.4sec behind van
Rouwendaal.
Okimoto snared bronze — a first Olympic
swimming medal for a Brazilian woman
— in 1:56:51.4 — 19.3 seconds off the lead.
Okimoto expunged the bitter memory
of the London Games, where she had to
be fished out of the water suffering from
hypothermia.
“Today I was prepared to do everything
and this was the best event of my life,”
she said. “God is Brazilian.” The margin of
victory dwarfed those in the two previous
Olympic editions — it was less than one second in London and 1.5 seconds in Beijing.
“I felt so good, I swam so easy,” van Rouwendaal said. “I didn’t feel any fatigue so
after 6km I changed my mind and thought I
should push on,” she said. “I kicked hard for
about 200m and looked back to see that
I’d opened a gap. From there I just used my
arms and paced the race. I didn’t feel any
fatigue until the very end.”
The open water competition in Rio
marked a return to Olympic swimming’s
ocean roots. Swimming in the first modern
Games, in 1896, was held in the Bay of Zea.
But the sport moved to the pool in 1908
and since marathon swimming was added
to the programme in 2008 it’s been held
in contained bodies of water — the rowing
center in Beijing and the Serpentine in
Hyde Park in London, rather than the sea.
Copacabana provided one of the most
beautiful backdrops Rio has to offer, but the
sewage-tainted wanters of Guanabara Bay
raised fears of health dangers for swimmers as for sailors and rowers.
The venue suffered another disaster on
Saturday, when the starting platform was
destroyed by strong currents 48 hours
before the start of competition.
With no time to replace it, the field of 26
strode across the sand, waded into the surf
and swam out to the starting marker as a
crowd of fans, teammates and assorted
beach-goers cheered. It made for a festive
show, even though FINA’s open water rules
stipulate that races “must start with athletes jumping into the water from a fixed
platform, above water level”.
6
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
WEIGHTLIFTING
The draw of gold brings tainted
lifters back to Olympic battle
Gold medallists Nijat of Kazakhstan, Iran’s Moradi and Srisurat of Thailand all spent two years banned from the sport
CHINA TOP TABLE AGAIN;
ROBLES ENDS LONG US WAIT
Kazakhstan’s Nijat Rahimov, who was
representing Azerbaijan when was
caught doping, won gold in the men’s
77kg in Rio on Thursday. (AFP)
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
E
ight weightlifters who previously
served doping bans have won medals at
Rio, while others have been sent home
for failed tests, highlighting again the
scandal-plagued sport’s battle with drugs.
Gold medallists Nijat Rahimov of Kazakhstan, Iran’s Sohrab Moradi and Sukanya
Srisurat of Thailand all spent two years banned
from the sport after testing positive for illegal
substances.
Another four weightlifters caught doping
earlier in their careers have claimed bronze
medals in Brazil, as has one silver medallist. Four athletes, including a Polish Olympic
champion, were withdrawn from the competition for testing positive. Thirteen golds have
been awarded, with two still to come.
“People do cheat,” said American weightlifter Kendrick Farris. “Hopefully, they’ll continue to do the work they’re doing and we’ll
get more athletes competing clean,” he added,
referring to governing body the International
Weightlifting Federation.
Weightlifting has long been afflicted by
doping scandals and the IWF has undertaken
a major crackdown on performance-enhancing drugs. It has led the way on anti-doping
measures that are now being adopted by other
sports, such as publicly naming athletes after
their initial ‘A’ sample tests positive.
The IWF banned Russia and Bulgaria, both
traditional powerhouses, from competing in
weightlifting at the Rio Olympics for repeated
doping offences. It punished North Korea, Romania, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Moldova as
well by reducing their allocation of lifters.
The IWF had also wanted to bar Belarus and
Kazakhstan over high-profile drugs scandals
but the International Olympic Committee was
unable to complete retesting of samples from
the Beijing and London Games in time.
Kazakhstan and Belarus have been free to
compete at the 31st Olympiad and have picked
up four and two medals respectively, although
there is absolutely no evidence of foul play.
“We are doing everything in our power to
change the mentalities of some countries that
might be more affected (by doping) than others,” an IWF spokesperson told AFP.
A weightlifter has yet to fail a doping test
after competing in Rio, but two brothers from
Poland, a Taiwanese athlete and a Cypriot were
prevented from taking part after failing drugs
tests before their competition started.
Adrian Zielinski, a 2012 Olympic champion,
tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone just three days after his brother Tomasz
suffered the same fate, Poland’s anti-doping
committee said on Friday. The Zielinskis, who
trained for the Olympics individually, outside
the Polish federation framework, had both
been due to compete in the 94kg competition
the next day and denied any wrongdoing.
Earlier in the week, Taiwan’s former weightlifting world record holder Lin Tzu-chi was
suspended and withdrawn from the women’s
63kg category after a routine dope test ‘detected an abnormal reaction.’ Cypriot lifter Antonis Martasides was reportedly sent home on
the eve of the Games after after testing positive
for a banned substance following an out-ofcompetition test in July in Athens.
Kazakhstan’s Rahimov, who was representing Azerbaijan when was caught doping, won
gold in the men’s 77kg on Thursday just over a
year after returning from his ban in June 2015.
Iranian Moradi insisted his gold in the men’s
94kg on Saturday had not been diminished by
his two-year suspension for testing positive for
the painkiller methadone, insisting he’d always
been “100 percent” clean.
Thailand’s Sukanya said her 58kg Olympic
gold was redemption for her two-year ban,
which ended in May 2013. She claimed she had
never knowingly taken the anabolic steroid
found in her system.
Silver medallist Kim Kuk-Hyang of North
Korea and bronze medallists Farkhad Kharki
of Kazakhstan, Romania’s Gabriel Sincraian,
Lithuanian Aurimas Didzbalis and American Sarah Robles also spent 24 months out of
the sport for testing positive for banned substances. Retesting of samples from Beijing and
London recently unearthed at least 20 positive results in weightlifting, including Kazakhstan’s double Olympic champion Ilya Ilyin.
Several lifters are waiting to be upgraded to
medal status after those who failed drugs tests
are stripped of their podium finishes from the
past two Games.
Didzbalis, the 94kg Rio bronze medallist,
told reporters he was hurt by continued questions over the legitimacy of weightlifting results. “There have always been people who understand this sport and those who don’t. There
are always haters but I cannot do anything
about it. It’s just the way it is,” he said.
FOCUS
Guoxin, made the change.
His decision was influenced, he said, by the
absence of Tatiana Kashirina of Russia, the
world record holder who beat Meng in the
past two IWF World Championships. She was
excluded when the entire Russian team was
banned from Rio for state-sponsored doping.
The ban was not confirmed until the week
before the Games started. Kashirina’s world
record total of 348kg is way beyond the winning total in Rio. “It’s a pity she was not here,”
said Meng. “She is a very strong competitor.”
Both Robles, 28, and Kim have served twoyear doping bans. Kim’s total 306kg was 1kg
behind Meng. She was in tears afterwards and
said, “I am happy to win silver but also sad that
it was not gold.”
At 143kg Robles was 20kg or more heavier
than her rivals and turned that to her advantage to become the first American on the
weightlifting podium since Tara Nott won at
Sydney 2000. “This means a lot, to be on the
podium and give exposure to our sport at a
time when it’s already growing,” said Robles.
“It’s good not just for me, but for women of
size, for women who want to get up off the
couch and do something different.”
Her two-year ban, she said, was the result of
unknowingly taking an over-the-counter supplement that contained a banned substance.
Life was hard for Robles.
She lost her funding, took three or four
menial jobs, kept training and strove to return.
“I know I’m a good and honest person and if I
put hard work in I would be able to reach my
goals.”
Gold medal winner China’s Meng Suping (centre), silver medallist North Korea’s Kim Kuk Hyang
(left) and bronze medallist Sarah Elizabeth Robles of USA pose during the podium ceremony for
the women’s weightlifting +75kg event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. (AFP / Goh Chai Hin)
SPOTLIGHT
US swimmer Lochte
says he challenged
armed robbers in Rio
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
R
YAN LOCHTE initially resisted a group
of armed men posing
as police who robbed
the Olympic gold medallist and
three fellow American swimmers in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil,
Lochte said in an interview.
The robbery of Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and
Jimmy Feigen early Sunday, as
they returned in a taxi to their
hotels after a night of partying, has fed concern over safety
at the first Olympic Games in
South America. “We got pulled
over in our taxi and these guys
came out with a badge, a police
badge,” 32-year-old Lochte said
in his first interview about the
crime. “They pulled out their
guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground,
they got down on the ground.”
But Lochte, among the most
successful male swimmers in
Olympic history, said he initially refused. “I was like, we didn’t
do anything wrong, so I’m not
Rio de Janeiro: China ensured top place in the
weightlifting medals table for the fifth successive Olympic Games when Meng Suping won
her nation’s fifth gold on Sunday. Sarah Robles,
in third place in the +75kg, won the first weightlifting medal for the United States since 2000.
Meng had to make her last clean and jerk
of 177kg to edge out Kim Kuk Hyang of North
Korea, who lifted more than 300kg for the first
time. Meng did it and justified her last-minute
selection for the Rio team.
Meng occasionally looked shaky, missing
her first snatch and her first clean and jerk, but
did enough.
“I was at home in China training hard when
I heard I had been selected,” she said. “It was
a personal challenge for me and I know there
was a lot of weight on me, but it was my duty
to perform well for my country and I did it. I
was a bit nervous on my first lift but I stabilised. I didn’t think about how much I had to lift,
I just followed my coach’s directions and the
end result was pretty good.”
Meng’s gold takes China’s weightlifting tally
to 28 in the five Games this century. They have
never won fewer than five in a single Games
since women’s contests were added to the
schedule in 2000. Their total in Rio is five golds
and two silvers with one lifter yet to compete
— Zhe Yang in the men’s 105kg last night. No
other team can overtake them.
A knee injury to the 48kg favourite Hou
Zhihui prompted the decision to call for Meng,
27. Hou thought she had recovered sufficiently
in a pre-Games training camp in Sao Paulo but
China’s head coach of the women’s team, Wang
getting down on the ground,”
Lochte said in the interview
conducted at a Rio beach.
“And then the guy pulled out
his gun, he cocked it, put it to
my forehead.”
At that point, Lochte said
he complied. “I put my hands
up, and was like, ‘Whatever.’”
The gunmen stole their cash
and wallets, he said. They let
the swimmers keep their cell
phones and credentials. Lochte
released a statement on Sunday,
in which he said: “What is most
important is that we are safe
and unharmed.”
Witnesses said the four
swimmers left a club hosting a French Games delegation
party early on Sunday, bought
popcorn from a street vendor
and then got into a taxi cab. Rio
police have said they plan to interview the swimmers as part of
their investigation into the robbery. Lochte has won a total of
12 Olympic medals, six of which
are gold, behind teammate
Michael Phelps’s 28 medals, 23
of them gold. He said he was
looking forward to returning to
the United States and starting
training with an eye to competing at the Tokyo Games in 2020.
The incident stoked worries
over the safety of competitors
and visitors to Rio, which has
a long history of violent crime,
though Brazil’s sports minister
insisted that athletes who remained on the Olympic site had
experienced no problems.
In addition to the swimmers,
Swedish tourists were briefly
abducted when they visited a
slum, Portugal’s visiting education minister was robbed at
knife point, bullets flew into the
equestrian centre and a Games
bus was attacked with stones.
Campriani becomes shooting supremo
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
A
rmed with his girlfriend’s rifle, Olympic champion Niccolo Campriani narrowly won his second gold of
the Games on Sunday at the men’s
50 metre rifle three positions event, making
Italy the most successful country in the Rio
shooting competition.
The 28-year-old Campriani, won gold in
three positions in London 2012 and gold in 10
metre air rifle last Monday, said he was depleted when he shot a disappointing 9.2 (out
of 10.9) in his last standing target in the final
shooting event of the Games.
But it was enough to scrape past Russia’s
Sergey Kamenskiy, who was making his Olympic debut and lost the gold with a devastating 8.3 in the last of 45 shots in kneeling,
prone and standing positions.
Campriani won his third gold by just 0.3 of
a point to become the only shooter to win two
golds here. Under the weight of their stability
clothing, the two exhausted men embraced.
“The gold medal of London was a relief, the
gold medal on Monday made me angry, and
the gold medal today, I would say I enjoyed
it,” said Campriani, who had to use the rifle of
girlfriend and fellow Italy shooter Petra Zublasing after having problems with his own.
“My heart gave up, I was so tired after this
week,” he added. “My matches, three finals, I
was watching Petra shoot, it was just such a
long week.”
Over nine days and 15 events, Italy finished
at the top of the shooting medals table, with
four golds and three silvers, and was followed
by Germany. Powerhouses like the United
States and China had disappointing shows.
Italy’s Niccolo Campriani waves after winning the 50m Rifle 3 positions men’s gold at the
Olympic Shooting Centre in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. (AFP / Pascal Guyot)
American Matt Emmons, the world No. 1
and three positions event favourite, failed to
qualify, finishing in 19th place. Campriani
said he was sad Emmons did not make it, calling the 35-year-old ‘the best shooter of the
year, the century.’
Kamenskiy, 28, said he felt blessed with the
silver because he was the least experienced of
the finalists. “You know, the last shot is like
a lottery,” said Kamenskiy, adding “I was unlucky, unfortunately.”
France’s Alexis Raynaud took the bronze in
his first Olympics at the age of 21. Campriani
said Rio might be the end of a 16-year shooting career.
“Life is long and there are so many things
I can do,” he said.“But if I quit now it would
piss me off that my last shot was a 9.2.”
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
7
OLYMPICS
TENNIS
Murray carves his
place with the greats
Podium to proposal as
Chinese pair Zi & Kai
‘dive’ into marriage
No other tennis player, man or woman, has defended an Olympic singles
crown. And now Murray has two Olympic golds—a status unmatched by
any of those peers with whom he is often less than favourably compared
C
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
F
or Andy Murray, there
have been highs. Then
there was this. On a
small, green patch of
scorched acrylic some 9,000 kilometres (5592 miles) from home,
the Scot achieved a unique Olympic feat, converting heart and
guts and sweat into Rio gold.
With victory over Juan-Martin del Potro, the 29-year-old
claimed a status unmatched by
any of those peers with whom
he is often less than favourably
compared—two Olympics singles crowns.
Forget the five Australian Open
runners-up finishes and the
French Open final defeat. Forget
that his three Grand Slam titles
is 14 shy of Roger Federer’s record
haul, or 11 short of Pete Sampras
and Rafa Nadal.
No matter that among the
‘Big Four’ Federer, Nadal, Novak
Djokovic and Murray, the Scot
is the only one not to have completed the full collection of Grand
Slam crowns.
Now he has eclipsed them,
though the man himself would
never be so immodest. “I don’t
think I would say that,” he smiled.
But still, no other tennis player, man or woman, has defended
an Olympic singles crown.
And now, Murray has two
Olympic golds.
He did it with a typically dynamic display of baseline tennis
seasoned with smart forays to
the net, pinpoint serving when
it mattered, and ironman fitness.
Del Potro, conqueror of both
Djokovic and Nadal here, at 6ft
6ins (1.98m) was somehow a fitting giant to fell. The Argentine
put up a valiant fight before going
down 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
It was not always pretty, played
out in front of a noisy, chanting Latin crowd, in a sometimes
soccer stadium atmosphere, but
it was a compelling spectacle in
which, from one perspective,
Murray elevated himself above
his illustrious peers and predecessors.
Little wonder he clutched his
head in the centre of the court
and fought back tears when he
finally clinched victory after a
four-hour-two-minute battle.
Burying his head in his towel,
Murray shook with emotion as
the Olympic podium was hastily
assembled, and dozens of photographers swarmed the net like
camera-wielding hornets jostling
for place.
The crowd roared ‘ole ole ole’
as Murray walked to the side of
the court to greet fans, many of
whom were clad in Argentine soccer shirts and had been screaming
against him all evening.
Now though, they hailed him,
leaping high to catch soaking
sweatbands thrown by the player, and lifting iPads, phones and
other tablets to capture the moment digitally. Something for Facebook, and Twitter and to prove
to friends and family that they
had been there.
“Tonight was one of the hardest matches I have played,” Murray said in the bowels of the tennis stadium, a British flag draped
round his shoulders.
“I know the fact it has not been
done before means it is very hard
to do, and I am very, very proud to
be the first one to have done it.”
“Four years is a long time, a
lot can happen. I had back surgery between London and now...
I’ve gone through some tough
times on court.” Sunday night in
Rio was undoubtedly one of his
greatest times.
Hingis adds silver medal to rich career storyline
T
hey should make a movie out of
Martina Hingis’s tennis career.
First the meteoric rise, five Grand
Slam singles titles while still a teenager, the world number one ranking
and her dazzling smile adorning
magazine covers around the world.
Then there were the accidents,
injuries, relationship bust-ups, retirements, two comebacks and a twoyear suspension for testing positive
for cocaine in 2007.
Older and wiser, the former ‘Swiss
Miss’ added another line to an already
rich plot on Sunday when, 20 years
after playing in her only previous
Games in Atlanta, she added an Olympic medal to her collection in Rio.
It was not the colour Hingis wanted
Rio Olympics women’s doubles silver medallists Martina as she and partner Timea Bacsinszky
Hingis (right) and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland. (AFP) were beaten to gold in a 6-4, 6-4 de-
feat by Russians Ekaterina Makarova
and Elena Vesnina and there were
plenty of tears shed at the end.
But a while later the 35-year-old,
who came out of retirement for a second time in 2013 and has won three
Grand Slam doubles titles to add to
the nine she managed earlier in her
career, reflected on her achievement.
“Of course, you are a little disappointed (not to win gold), but looking back it’s
been an incredible journey,” said Hingis,
who had hoped to partner Roger Federer in a dream mixed doubles match-up
until he was forced out by injury.
The Swiss, who recently announced that she had split with
doubles partner Sania Mirza, said the
tears were a mixture of joy and relief
after a tension-packed week.
“It’s different when you are winning
Grand Slams at 16, you think you
have another 10 years, at least, at the
top of the game,” said Hingis. “But
now that I know it’s coming towards
the end and everything is behind me,
today is the way it is.”
Back in the 1996 Olympics, Hingis
lost in the second round of the singles and reached the quarter-finals
of the doubles with Patty Schnyder.
She went on to establish herself as
the leading player of her generation,
winning five Grand Slam singles
titles between 1997 and 1999. But she
retired in 2003 with a knee injury
before returning to the Tour in 2006.
Hingis has yet to commit to playing
at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo when
she’ll pushing 40. “I think if you asked
me 10 years ago if I would be here in
Rio, I would say you’re crazy...”
hinese diver He Zi had a
day to remember as no
sooner had she stepped
down from the podium than
boyfriend and fellow Olympic
medallist Qin Kai got down on
one knee to propose.
He grabbed silver in the
women’s 3m springboard on Sunday, but Qin — who won bronze
in the men’s 3m synchronised
springboard last week — won
gold for bravery as he popped the
question in front of a global TV
audience. Thankfully, she said yes.
“We’ve been dating for six
years, but I didn’t expect him to
propose today,” said He, proudly
sporting the sparkling new ring.
“He said a lot of things, made a
lot of promises, but I think the
thing that touched me the most
is I think this is the guy I can
trust for the rest of my life.”
Qin climbed up to the stage after He received her silver medal,
getting down on one knee while
holding a red box with the ring
and a glass-encased rose.
“I didn’t expect myself to
marry myself out so early,” said
He, who tearfully accepted the
proposal with a big hug.
“I saw him during the afternoon and he seemed to be memorising something, so I asked
him ‘what are you doing?’ and he
said he was singing,” added He,
who also won silver in London
four years ago. “I didn’t know he
was (practising) the proposal.”
“I’ve forgotten most of what
he’s said (during the proposal),
but it’s largely what you can
expect like promises, but what
touched me the most is that he
said he was willing to be bullied
by me for life,” she laughed.
Shi Tingmao claimed gold for
China in the 3m springboard
diving final, but was relegated
to third wheel by the newly engaged teammates. The engagement is the second of the Games,
after Brazilian women’s rugby
player Isadora Cerullo accepted a
marriage proposal from her girlfriend at the medals ceremony
for the first Olympic rugby sevens competition last week.
Ali suffers the sting of defeat
T
here was no rhyme or rhythm, no talk of bees or butterflies,
only the savage sting of defeat as British flyweight Mohamed
Ali lost on his Olympic debut yesterday.
With cheers of ‘Ali, Ali’ echoing around the arena from a home
crowd enjoying the chance to hail his late heavyweight world
champion namesake, Ali was outmanoeuvred 3-0 by Venezuelan
southpaw Yoel Segundo Finol. Questions about the name are
well worn by now — his father is a boxing-mad taxi driver — and
reporters were warned by a team official not to land any more as a
distraught Ali struggled to come to terms with what had happened.
The last of the heavily-fancied British boxers to fight, the 20-yearold from Bury — home town of 2004 silver medallist Amir Khan —
Ali had been waiting for his moment.
“I thought I’d been here too long. I was just itching to get in there,”
he said, with his rival going through to the quarter-finals and one step
away from a medal. “I just tried too hard and nothing was flowing. It’s
going to be heartbreaking to see them on the podium and I’m just
here. I just feel like it’s the end of the world. I was just too anxious.”
Finol, 19, was given several warnings for holding and effectively
manhandled Ali around the ring while falling back on his ringcraft
to stay out of danger and landing scoring combinations.
“Another clinch, another clinch and the referee wouldn’t say anything,”
said the Briton bitterly. “A warning or something at least. He just kept
doing it for the full three rounds. I just couldn’t get any rhythm going. He
was just being clever, holding and hitting and moving and moving.”
The Venezuelan, whose late brother-in-law Edwin Valero was a
two-time WBA and WBC world champion and committed suicide in
prison in 2010 after being arrested for the murder of Finol’s sister,
said the tactic had worked. “He is a young boxer with great talent
and also a great name,” he said of Ali.
BASKETBALL
US men, women close out pool play unbeaten
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
T
he US men’s basketball team closed
out pool play with an unbeaten
record but a nervy 100-97 win
over France on Sunday confirmed
that getting to the top step of the Olympic
podium will not be an easy climb.
“Personally I felt we were going to dominate these games that they were going to
come easy,” American guard Paul George told
reporters. “But you start playing better competition, you see these teams are pretty good.”
After a pair of blowout wins over China
and Venezuela to open the tournament, the
United States have received a wake-up call
in the way of narrow three-point wins over
France and Serbia and a battling 10-point
victory against Australia.
The alarm bells continued to ring on
Sunday as the United States allowed France,
playing without talismanic point guard
Tony Parker, to rally from a 16-point deficit
late in the third quarter to turn a predicted
rout into another nail-biter.
Despite their troubles, the United States
finished top of Group A with a perfect 5-0
record to run their Olympic winning streak
to 22 games and remain the favourite to
claim what would be a third straight gold
on the final day of the Games. “Today they
did not play very well and still won so they
are still the favourites,” said 7-foot, 1-inch
(2.16) French centre Rudy Gobert, also
known as the ‘Stifle Tower’.
The United States will not know their
quarter-final opponent until after the final
Group B matches but are well aware that
they need to raise their game considerably if
they hope to make it to the final.
While the performance has been uneven,
Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski remained
unconcerned, insisting there is only one
statistic that matters and that is the win
column, where his team is perfect.
“At the end of the day, no one will ask
you anything else except if you have won,”
Krzyzewski said.
“While you are approaching that winning you are asked a bunch of other things.
I think we are getting better offensively and
we have to get better defensively.”
Like most nations lining up against the
United States, France came into the contest
still searching for a first-ever Olympic win
over their opponents.
The two had met five times previously with
the closest France coming to a victory before
Sunday being a 10-point loss in the gold medal game at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
France came closer to ending that run
in their sixth encounter and fancied their
chances, but to beat a US team still not firing
on all cylinders will take something special.
“You’ve seen the past three games,
against Serbia, against Australia and we
thought we had a chance too,” said Frenchman Boris Diaw.
“We played pretty well but we didn’t play
perfectly and you have to have a near perfect
game to beat them. They haven’t been dominating but they haven’t lost either. They are
struggling but they are winning.”
In other Group A action, Australia (4-1)
locked down second place after easing past
Venezuela 81-56, while France (3-2) finished
third. Serbia (2-3), playing in the final pool
game, thumped winless China 94-60 to finish
fourth and grab a spot in the knockout round.
Meanwhile, the US women’s team
wrapped up Olympic preliminary round
play in familiar blowout style by routing
China 105-62 on Sunday, storming into the
quarter-finals unbeaten and on course for a
sixth straight gold medal.
Serbia also secured a spot in the last
eight, grinding out a 95-88 victory over
winless Senegal, while Spain beat Canada
73-60 in the final Group B clash to set the
matchups.
Group B top-seeded United States have
their next opponent, 16th ranked Japan, in
their crosshairs while Serbia get unbeaten
Australia, Group A’s top seed. The other
games, all scheduled for today, will see 2012
London silver medallists France take on
Canada and Spain face Turkey.
No nation faces a more daunting task
than fourth-seeded Japan, who will try to
end the Americans’ 46-game Olympic winning run that dates back to the 1992 Barcelona Games.
With an overall record of 63-3, Olympic losses are rare for the US, but Japan can
claim one of them, although it occurred 40
years ago at the 1976 Montreal Games.
Zou Yuchen of China tries to grab a loose ball from Stefan Bircevic of Serbia during their Group A match on
Sunday. Serbia thumped winless China 94-60 to finish fourth and grab a spot in the knockout round. (Reuters)
8
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
OLYMPICS
FOCUS
After the initial doubts,
golf a big winner in Rio
‘I think it was very important for Olympic golf going forward. I don’t know who wouldn’t
want to be a part of great competition. I love competition at the highest level and for
me, that’s what the Olympics is all about — the best of the best, going head to head’
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
British golfer Justin Rose celebrates his
Olympic title-winning birdie on Sunday. (AFP)
W
hen the International
Olympic Committee examines every Olympic
event next year to decide
its fate beyond 2020, golf will make a
simple case to offset absent stars —
remember the golden duel.
Golf’s 112-year hiatus from the
Olympic lineup ended with Britain’s
Justin Rose edging Sweden’s Henrik
Stenson for the gold medal, pitching
the ball inches from the cup on the
72nd hole to set up a title-winning
birdie after a day of intense drama.
Australia’s top-ranked Jason Day,
Americans Dustin Johnson and Jordan
Spieth and Rory McIlroy of Northern
Ireland—the world’s four top players—
didn’t play, heading a list of about 20
top golfers who skipped Rio, many of
them citing the threat of the Zika virus,
which causes severe illness and has
been linked to certain birth defects.
But 2013 US Open champion Rose,
ranked ninth this week, and new
world number four Stenson, who won
his first major at last month’s British
Open, staged a shotmaking classic
where the lead swung back and forth
and displayed world-class golf skills.
“I think it was very important for
Olympic golf going forward,” Rose
said. “I don’t know who wouldn’t
want to be a part of great competition. I love competition at the highest
level and for me, that’s what the Olympics is all about — the best of the
best, going head to head.”
Stenson settled for silver but like
Rose had put a priority on the Olympics in a crowded schedule that offered two major titles in three weeks
last month. “It’s a whole new experience for us golfers,” Stenson said.
“It’s the opportunity of a lifetime and
I’m thrilled I came here.”
American Matt Kuchar, who took
bronze after a final-round eight-under
par 63, said the Rose-Stenson showdown spoke volumes about why golf
and the Olympics were good for each
other ahead of the 2017 IOC rethink.
“I’m not sure much more needs to
be said except what transpired this
week. What a great showdown for
these two guys,” said 15th-ranked Kuchar of his podium neighbors. “This
event has gone over fantastically well.
It’s a clear winner going forward.”
IOC president Thomas Bach questions whether top players skipped Rio
to rest for the US PGA’s season-ending playoffs and the chase for a $10
million top prize, Zika used only as a
convenient excuse.
“We see now in the discussion in
the golf community, there are obvi-
STANDING TALL, BOTH
ously very different reasons for not
going to Rio, not related to Zika,” Bach
said. “We are also following with interest the discussion in the golf community how they themselves are
considering these decisions and what
judgements they are making.”
It could mean the IOC wants to
see how a revamped Olympic-year
events calendar might look to prioritize Games golf and better ensure participation by all top stars. That would
mean golf governing bodies working
up a new solution sooner rather than
later for campaigns when the Olympics
could pinch two major tournaments,
the tour playoffs and the Ryder Cup.
Golf pre-dates the modern Olympics as a major sports offering, the
first British Open in 1860 coming
nearly 30 years before France’s Pierre
de Coubertin first considered the idea
of reviving the multi-sport spectacle.
Scotsmen Old Tom Morris and
Young Tom Morris were multiple major winners well before Greece’s Spyridon Louis won the first marathon in
the 1896 Athens Olympics.
So it’s somewhat fitting that another Briton, this one passionate
about the notion of his place and
golf’s place in the pantheon of sport,
made the case for bringing the two
19th Century ideas together again for
the first time since Canada’s George
Lyon won gold in 1904 at St. Louis.
“I made it a big deal in my schedule,” Rose said. “I made it a highlight. I
felt very inspired this week. I felt very
focused. It’s definitely something I’ve
been looking forward to a long, long
time. I was very motivated.”
Brazil’s Nagl
tees off first in
women’s golf
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
B
razil’s Miriam Nagl will hit the first
Olympic golf shot by a woman since
1900 tomorrow while world number
one Lydia Ko begins her quest for gold in
the final group.
Pairings for the first two rounds of the
Rio Olympic women’s golf tournament
were released yesterday with Nagl being
accorded the same honour as compatriot
Adilson da Silva in the men’s event, the
host nation heroes making historic tee
shots marking golf’s return.
Golf had not been played in the Olympics since 1904 in St. Louis when men’s
team and individual events were staged.
But the only prior women’s Olympic event
was a nine-hole tournament at Paris in
1900 won by American Margaret Abbott,
the first US woman to win Olympic gold.
Nagl will be joined in the opening
group tomorrow at 7:30 am (1030 GMT)
by Malaysia’s Kelly Tan and Ireland’s Leona
Maguire, one of three amateurs in the field
of 60 for the 72-hole strokeplay event.
New Zealand teen star Ko will tee off in the
last group alongside Britain’s 27th-ranked
Charley Hull and Sweden’s 11th-ranked
Anna Nordqvist.
“We’re all going to have a good time,”
Ko said. “It’s fun... us golfers can be among
these other great athletes. It celebrates
each athlete and their countries.”
The 19-year-old, who moved from
South Korea as a child and became a New
Zealand citizen at age 12, won her first major title at last year’s Evian Championship.
She captured her second major in April at
the ANA Inspiration, one of five titles Ko
has won this year.
The group in front of Ko will also be
one to watch, with Thailand’s secondranked Ariya Jutanugarn joined by
seventh-ranked American Stacy Lewis and
South Korea’s sixth-ranked Kim Sei-Young.
The last group in Thursday’s second
round and 10th trio in round one will be
a showcase triumverate as well featuring third-ranked Canadian teen Brooke
Henderson, fourth-ranked American
Lexi Thompson and Norway’s Suzann
Pettersen, who was among those championing golf’s case to the International
Olympic Committee for inclusion in Rio.
South Korea’s fifth-ranked Park In-Bee
is in the group just ahead of that alongside
Spain’s Azahara Munoz and American Gerina
Piller. Maguire will have twin sister Lisa as her
caddie, just as she did when she shared 25th
at last month’s British Women’s Open. “It’s a
dream come true and I aim to enjoy every
single moment,” Maguire said. “To have my
sister as caddie, and being able to share the
experience with her, is extra special.”
Other amateurs in the field include
Swiss Albane Valenzuela, who plays along
Taiwan’s Teresa Lu and Norway’s Marianne
Skarpnord in Thursday’s first group of the
day, and Hong Kong’s Tiffany Chan, who
will be joined by Brazil’s Victoria Lovelady
and Swiss Fabienne In-Albon.
INDIA ROUND-UP
Srikanth shines, athletes flop
IANS
Rio de Janeiro
S
US gymnast Simone Biles with compatriot and swimmer Michael
Phelps. The 19-year-old Biles, standing at 4-ft 8-in, looks tiny next
to the 6-ft 4-in Phelps. The gymnast, who won her third gold medal
on Sunday night, posted on Twitter: “Size difference in Olympians
doesn’t matter, depending on what sport you do 6’8” & 4’8””.
huttler Kidambi Srikanth’s entry into the quarter-finals kept
India’s medal hopes alive as the
athletes continued to cut a sorry
figure while wrestler Ravinder Khatri also
flopped in his bout at the Rio Olympics
yesterday.
World No. 11 Srikanth continued his rollicking form to register a 21-19, 21-19 triumph in 42 minutes over world No. 5 Jan
O Jorgensen in their pre-quarter-final tie.
In a hard fought first game, both shuttlers started on an attacking note but it
was Srikanth who managed to maintain
the lead with some bodyline smashes. Jorgensen, bronze medallist at the 2014 World
Championships, gave a tough fight at the
end but it was the Guntur lad who proved
superior to clinch the first game 21-19.
In the second game, the Denmark player upped the ante and played a disciplined
game to maintain the lead from the start.
But with some swift court movement, the
Indian diminished the lead to stay at 1717 and then took a one-point lead to make
it 19-18 before wrapping up the game to
advance into the quarter-finals.
Srikanth had entered the pre-quarterfinals after topping Group H. In the quarters, he will face the tough task of beating
two-time defending champion and fivetime world champion Lin Dan of China.
Meanwhile, it was heartbreak for the
athletes who endured another dismal day
at the Games.
Lalita Babbar, competing in an individual track event for the first time since PT
Usha in 1984, finished 10th in the final of
the women’s 3,000-metre steeplechase.
Lalita clocked nine minutes and 22.74
seconds—nearly three seconds behind
her national record timing in the water
and barrier race.
The Maharashtra athlete was inside the
top eight competitors midway but was
not able to push as much as she would
have liked to towards the closing laps.
More disappointment was in store
Kidambi Srikanth will meet two-time
defending champion and five-time
world champion Lin Dan of China in
the quarter-finals tomorrow. (AFP)
from the track and field events as Srabani
Nanda failed to qualify for the semi-finals
of the women’s 200 metres after finishing
55th among 72 athletes.
Srabani clocked 23.58 seconds, way
below topper Cote d’Ivoire’s Marie-Josee
Talou (22.31 seconds).
In men’s triple jump, Renjith Maheshwary finished a disappointing 30th
to crash out of the qualification stage.
Competing in his second Olympics, Maheshwary found himself at the 11th spot
in the qualifiers, after an effort of 15.80
metres in his first attempt, which was
way short of the qualification mark.
In his second attempt, the Indian
jumped 16.13m, which still was short of
the qualification mark of 16.95m.
Placed at 23rd spot, he was under pressure to hit the qualification mark in the
final attempt. He could only manage a
jump of 15.99 in the third and final attempt to negate any chances of qualifying
for the final round.
To add salt to the wounds, wrestler
Ravinder Khatri lost to Hungary’s Viktor
Lorincz by technical superiority in the
men’s Greco-Roman 85kg 1/8 finals.
The 24-year-old Indian failed to provide any resistance during a 0-9 loss to
the World Championship bronze medallist. Khatri started the first round poorly
as he had no answers to the 26-year-old’s
moves. Leading 4-0, the Hungarian took
one more point to seal the first round in
two minutes and 55 seconds.
Lorincz then sealed his place at the 1/4
finals, effecting a huge take-down to gain
four more points.
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
9
SPORT
RUGBY
TENNIS
Favourites New
Zealand brace for
vengeful rivals
Sharapova could
return in January,
says Russian Tennis
Federation chief
New Zealand travel to Sydney to face Australia on Saturday for what promises to be
a feisty meeting of old foes, before South Africa host Argentina later in Nelspruit
Reuters
Cape Town
New Zealand coach Sreve Hansen.
W
orld champions New Zealand must battle the loss of
some of the game’s greats
and a desire for revenge from
their opponents as they prepare for the
start of the Rugby Championship this
weekend.
But even in the face of change and some
adversity, the All Blacks remain favourites to regain the title they lost to Australia last year after and impressive first
hit-out of their revamped side with a 3-0
series win over Wales in June.
New Zealand travel to Sydney to face
Australia on Saturday for what promises
to be a feisty meeting of old foes, before
South Africa host Argentina later in Nelspruit.
New Zealand defeated Australia 34-17
in last year’s World Cup final and there
has been plenty of chatter since between
coach Steve Hansen and counterpart
Michael Cheika after the Wallabies suffered a humiliating 3-0 loss to England
in June.
It is likely, therefore, the All Blacks
will face a vengeful, hurting Australia,
who have brought back a number of their
overseas-based, experienced players to
bolster the squad that competed against
England.
In contrast, Hansen is rebuilding following the retirement of players who
have become synonymous with All Black
jersey over the past decade in influential
captain Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Keven
Mealamu, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith.
The recent Super Rugby competition,
won by the Wellington Hurricanes, was a
great indicator of the depth of New Zealand rugby though and Hansen’s biggest
decision may be over who to pick at flyhalf between Beauden Barrett and Aaron
Cruden.
It’s a problem his coaching counterparts in the competition would be delighted to have and Cheika irked the New
Zealand coach last week when he suggested this would be a difficult poser for
Hansen.
Reuters
Moscow
F
ive-times grand slam
winner Maria Sharapova, banned in June for
two years for doping offences, may be allowed to return
in January, according to Russian
Tennis Federation president
Shamil Tarpishchev.
“Everything will be decided
in September. It is impossible
to say for certain but I think she
will start playing again by January,” Tarpishchev was quoted as
saying by the TASS news agency
yesterday.
Former world number one
Sharapova was suspended following a positive test for the
“It’s good of the Australian coach to
start picking our team,” a testy Hanson
told reporters when his side arrived in
Sydney on Sunday.
“I’d say he’s got enough problems of
his own, probably. But we’ll pick ours and
he can pick his and he’ll have a lot to say,
no doubt.”
Australia’s loss to England has seen a
cavalry call from Cheika as they face their
longest losing streak in 11 years.
Defeat against New Zealand on Saturday would be a fifth in a row, their worst
run since they lost seven tests in succession in 2005.
The Toulon pair of Matt Giteau and
Drew Mitchell, as well as Bordeaux’s
Adam Ashley-Cooper and Will Genia
from Stade Francais have 352 test caps
between them and will bolster the decision-making significantly.
South Africa had a wobble in the home
series with an injury-depleted Ireland in
June, claiming a 2-1 success in unconvincing fashion.
They are still finding their feet under
new coach Allister Coetzee, who is trying
to gradually move the side away from the
forward-dominated style of play that has
characterised the team.
“Lots of other international sides understand that they have to match South
Africa’s physicality and we’ve got to be a
bit smarter and more accurate now,” Coetzee told Barbarians News recently.
“I believe in a balanced style of play.
We don’t want to go all-out attack and
neglect our forward style, our dominance
at set-piece and the maul, but we want to
be more effective.”
The Boks have their own wish for revenge over the All Blacks having been
edged by their great rivals in the World
Cup semi-finals last year.
Argentina showed at last year’s World
Cup, where they finished fourth, how
competing in the Rugby Championship
since 2012 had polished the rough edges
of their game.
The majority of the squad comes from
the Jaguares Super Rugby franchise that
endured a difficult maiden season in
the competition, but with coach Daniel
Hourcade back at the helm they have high
hopes of continuing their international
improvement.
SPOTLIGHT
All Blacks give Wallabies ‘no chance’, says Cheika
AFP
Sydney
C
oach Michael Cheika fired
up the war of words with his
New Zealand counterpart
Steve Hansen on Monday,
saying the All Blacks rate the Wallabies as having no chance of winning
this weekend’s Rugby Championship
opener.
The Wallabies are the defending
Rugby Championship title holders but
have won just one of their last 13 encounters with the world champions.
On arrival in Sydney at the weekend, Hansen was told Cheika had
suggested he faced some interesting All Blacks selection decisions and
responded by saying the Wallabies
coach had enough problems of his
own to worry about.
Cheika hit back on Monday as the
tensions began to rise ahead of Satur-
day’s Test in Sydney, which also doubles as a Bledisloe Cup match.
“I don’t know what he’s upset
about,” Cheika told reporters.
“It’s up to him. For us, I think we
know how we’re thought of.
“We know they think we’re no
chance to do anything and they’re
validated, I suppose, we haven’t
beaten them for ages in the series so
it’s understandable that they would
think that.” The Wallabies have a 13year Bledisloe Cup drought and New
Zealand’s rugby ascendancy remains a
thorn in Australia’s side.
“We’ve been working hard for a
few weeks to get ourselves together,”
Cheika said.
“We’ll just get our stuff together
and do our absolute best when we get
out there on Saturday night.”
The Wallabies are coming into the
Rugby Championship on the back of
a 3-0 home series loss to England,
while the All Blacks won all three Tests
of their home series against Wales in
June.
Cheika said he had worked on
building belief among the Wallabies,
but the All Blacks provided the ultimate test for his players.
“We’ve come off the back of a fair
few years of indifferent performances,” Cheika said.
“Over the last 18 months we’ve
been trying to build it (belief) in not
just the guys who are starting, but in
the bigger group of players.
“When you are doing that you will
come up against resistance some
times or things that may not go right,
but that doesn’t mean you stop,
you’ve got to push through it.
“You need mental fortitude and
there’s no better place to test mental
fortitude than against New Zealand.”
South Africa face Argentina in the
other opening round match of the
Rugby Championship in Nelspruit on
Saturday.
Australia coach Paul Cheika
Moore mows down field at John Deere Classic
A
merican Ryan Moore shot a
closing round of 67 at the John
Deere Classic Sunday to earn a
two-shot victory and claim his
fifth career PGA Tour title.
The 33-year-old Moore finished in
near darkness after a marathon Saturday
session but he returned Sunday morning
none the worse for wear and managed to
hold off the rest of the field.
Moore finished at 22-under 262 at
Deere Run course after shooting 65s in
Ryan Moore acknowledges the crowd
after his winning putt on Sunday.
each of the first three rounds.
“It’s one I’ve grown to like more over
NFL
Pats prepare to
welcome back
US Olympic rugby
player Ebner
The Sports Xchange
New York
T
he New England Patriots
released offensive lineman Kyler Kerbyson on
Sunday to open a roster
spot ahead of safety Nate Ebner
returning to the team after competing for the US Olympic rugby
team at the Rio Olympics. The
27-year-old Ebner, entering his
fifth NFL season, was placed on
the reserve/did not report list
last month so he could participate in the Olympics.
Ebner missed the first three
weeks of training camp to be
with Team USA Rugby. Ebner
scored a try in a 26-0 win last
week over hosts Brazil for the
Americans, who finished in
ninth place. Ebner was an AllAmerican rugby player at Ohio
State before the Patriots selected him in the sixth round of the
2012 NFL Draft.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick
supported Ebner’s participation in the Olympics and said he
trusted him to be ready when the
season starts — but not without
a lot of work.
“Football. Not training. Football. He hasn’t played football,”
Belichick said Sunday when
asked what the biggest adjustment for Ebner will be.
“You can go out there and run
around a track all you want, but
put 21 guys out there it’s a whole
different ballgame. You can’t
train for that. You have to have
him out there. It’s not his fault.
It’s not anybody’s fault. It just is
what it is.
“He just hasn’t played football coming up on eight-plus
months, whatever it is.... He has
a long way to go. Nobody will
work harder at it than he will.”
Ebner had 13 tackles in 15
games last season. He also had
11 special teams tackles, which
ranked third on the team. He has
played in 57 games over his four
NFL seasons.
Golfer Allenby arrested outside American casino
GOLF
AFP
Los Angeles
banned drug meldonium during
January’s Australian Open.
The 29-year-old was named in
Russia’s official entry list for the
Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro
but the Court of Arbitration for
Sport (CAS) decided in July to
defer its decision on her appeal
against the ban until Sept 19.
Sharapova is seeking to have
her suspension, which was
handed down by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in
June, wiped out or reduced.
The postponement of the ruling came because Sharapova and
the ITF needed more time to
“complete and respond to their
respective evidentiary submissions”, the CAS said in a statement.
the past few years,” Moore said of the
Deere Run. “I’ve come to appreciate how
well it fits me and suits my game.
“I think that’s where a lot of the good
play comes from — just being comfortable and confident, and when I show up
here, I feel like I can win.”
Runner-up Ben Martin tried to make a
run with three consecutive birdies on the
back nine but fell short with a 68 in the
fourth round.
Tied for third at 267 were Kim Whee of
South Korea and Morgan Hoffmann who
shot a closing 71. Kim wrapped up the
weekend with a 67.
In winning for the fifth time on the US
Tour, Moore was steady coming in. He
recorded eight consecutive pars to complete 72 holes on top of the leaderboard,
including a two-putt from 46 feet on the
final hole. He led by five shots after Hoffmann bogeyed No. 12, and no one could
mount a challenge.
Moore had birdies on the second,
fourth, ninth and 10th holes on Sunday.
“I liked how steady it was,” Moore said.
“I feel like this is the kind of golf I can
play — just really solid and really steady,
no bogeys on the weekend.”
Defending champion Jordan Spieth
was not entered this week after also deciding to skip the Olympic Games.
AFP, Los Angeles: Australian
golfer Robert Allenby was arrested for disorderly conduct
outside an American gambling casino, just hours after
missing the cut at the John
Deere Classic tournament.
The 45-year-old from Melbourne was also charged with
criminal trespassing after the
early Saturday incident at
Jumer’s Casino in Rock Island,
Illinois. He was eventually
released on $1,500 bail and
returned to his US home in
Jupiter, Florida, USA Today
reported Sunday.
“I don’t know anything that’s
going on, so you can say
whatever you want,” Allenby
told the newspaper.
He said he was playing cards
at the casino with his golf and
caddie buddies.
“There’s nothing to be said
or done about. Nothing happened,” Allenby said.
Saturday’s arrest isn’t the
first time the two-time Tour
of Australasia Order of Merit
winner has encountered US
law authorities after a missed
cut.
In January 2015, Allenby
missed the cut in the Sony
Open in Hawaii and said he
was abducted and beaten
after visiting a Honolulu wine
bar. His story came under
scrutiny when witnesses said
they saw the Australian at a
strip bar.
Allenby said he didn’t remember much of the night until he
was pushed out of a car more
than 10 kilometres (six miles)
from the wine bar without his
wallet and cell phone.
An arrest eventually was
made and a Honolulu man
was given five years in jail for
using Allenby’s credit cards.
Allenby shot even-par 142 at
the John Deere event in Silvis,
Illinois, and missed the cut by
three strokes.
10
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
FOOTBALL
SUPERCUP
CHANGE
Suarez strike gives
Barcelona edge
over Sevilla
‘This is not decided. In the second half we played very well. It’s important to win away
from home against an opponent as good as Sevilla’
Turkey’s Fenerbahce
choose Advocaat to
reverse fortunes
This file photo shows then Zenit’s Dutch coach Dick Advocaat.
AFP
Istanbul
D
Barcelona’s Uruguayan forward Luis alberto Suarez celebrates after scoring during the first leg of the Spanish Supercup football match between Sevilla FC and FC Barcelona.
AFP
Madrid
L
uis Suarez insisted the Spanish
Super Cup is not Barcelona’s yet
after helping his team shoot down
Sevilla 2-0 to give them a comfortable lead after Sunday’s first leg of
the final.
The Uruguayan opened the scoring early
in the second half, making amends for two
earlier misses, before Munir El Haddadi
sealed the win when he ran on to a Lionel
Messi through-ball and fired home.
Having been beaten 4-0 by Athletic Bilbao in the first leg of last year’s final, Barcelona were determined to improve on that
showing, setting themselves up nicely for
the return at Camp Nou on August 17.
“This is not decided,” Suarez told
Spanish television after the game.
“In the second half we played very well.
It’s important to win away from home
against an opponent as good as Sevilla.”
He was not impressed with some of
the home supporters who shouted insults
at him from the stands at the Ramon
Sanchez-Pizjuan.
Suarez added: “They can keep talking,
I’m going to do my thing, which is to play
football. It’s not a problem, we are the
protagonists, not them.”
Luis Enrique was thrilled with the performance, which puts his team halfway
towards the first trophy of the season.
“We continue with the same ambition
as always,” he said in his post-game press
conference. “This team knows how to
sacrifice and compete, because we want
all the titles and we’ve ended up with a
magnificent result.
“We played a good game, as much defensively as in attack, and in the second
half we were able to connect with the
forwards and open the scoring. I am very
happy with everything.”
The coach sprang a surprise with his
selection, picking Jeremy Mathieu at
left-back and Arda Turan at left-wing in
place of the absent Neymar, with all four
summer signings left out.
Sergi Roberto was also chosen out of position at right-back, ahead of Aleix Vidal.
However, by the 35th minute both
Lucas Digne and Denis Suarez had to be
brought on for their official debuts, with
Mathieu and Andres Iniesta injuring
their hamstring and knee respectively.
Iniesta was making his 594th appearance for Barcelona, taking over from
Carles Puyol as the player with the second most appearances for the club, behind Xavi Hernandez, but it was ended
prematurely after a fierce challenge by
Gabriel Mercado.
The first period saw few chances created, although the best of them fell to Luis
Suarez in the sixth minute.
Sergio Busquets played him in and after spinning masterfully away from the
defence his low strike was saved well by
goalkeeper Sergio Rico.
At the other end Jorge Sampaoli’s team
worked their way into the game but despite plenty of possession in dangerous
areas, they couldn’t worry Claudio Bravo.
Luis Suarez spurned another good
chance at the start of the second half
when Rico saved his flicked effort, but it
was third time lucky for the Uruguayan.
Denis Suarez lofted a neat ball into the
area and Turan chested it home for the
forward to finish with aplomb.
Messi should have doubled the lead
moments later, but Rico made a fine stop
from his dinked effort, after good work by
Turan and Suarez carved the Argentine
an opening.
Eventually substitute Munir put the
game and probably the tie to bed sliding
the ball past Rico with the outside of his
left boot after Messi fed through an inviting pass. It was evident that neither team
were as fit as they would have liked, with
Sevilla energy levels falling away in the
second half, no doubt as a result of playing 120 minutes in a heartbreaking last
gasp 3-2 defeat Real Madrid in the UEFA
Super Cup earlier in the week.
Now Sampaoli needs to pick them up
ahead of the second leg tomorrow, where
a monumental effort will be required if
they are to overturn the deficit.
BOTTOMLINE
Podolski retires from national team
DPA
Berlin
T
welve years, seven major tournaments and
one World Cup crown
proved to be enough for
Lukas Podolski as the veteran
striker announced yesterday
that he has stepped down from
the “Mannschaft” - the German
national team.
“The time has come,” Podolski
wrote on his Instagram account.
“I want to tell you today, that I
have called Coach (Joachim) Loew
to inform him that I’ll not be part
of the national team any longer.
I’m at a point in my career where
I want to cut it back a bit.
“Now, my focus shifts to other
aspects. My club. My foundation. Obviously my family, my
wife and my two kids.”
The
31-year-old,
who
this weekend starts his second season with Turkish club
Galatasaray, bows out of international play after appearing
in three World Cups and four
European Championships, with
This file photo Germany’s forward Lukas Podolski.
the biggest highlight being the
2014 World Cup crown.
“It was a hard decision to
make,” he wrote. “For me, the
Mannschaft always has been
and always will be an affair of
the heart. I feel a great deal of
pride. What an amazing time it
has been, all that we achieved
in these 12 years. It was an incomparable experience with so
much joy, passion, emotion and
togetherness.”
Podolski, who made his German debut in June 2004 just
two days after his 19th birthday,
scored 48 goals in 129 caps - the
latter which ranks him third all-
time for Germans behind Lothar
Mattaeus’ 150 caps and 137 from
Miroslav Klose.
“We won so much with the
DFB (German Football Federation) team. I have seen so many
countries and cities, have met so
many people, had so many unforgettable moments. It’s been
quite a journey,” Podolski said.
The Gliwice, Poland native
thanked the DFB, his former
team-mates and his former
coaches. He also praised the
ever-present support from the
German fans.
“My appreciation for all the fan
support could not be greater. You
guys have been amazing,” he said.
“You always kept the faith.
You just never wavered, I could
always rely on you. This connection has been so important for
me. As I leave the Mannschaft,
this is what I’ll miss the most:
the closeness with the fans. For
all and everything: Thank You.”
Podolski’s retirement comes
barely over two weeks after
Bastian Schweinsteiger stepped
down on July 29.
German football fans watched
“Schweini” and “Poldi” grow up
in front of their eyes together.
Schweinsteiger earned 120
caps from 2004 to 2016.
“You can and could always
rely on him. For all the looseness
and easiness that he stands for,
he is a model of professionalism
and attitude,” Loew said about
Podolski on the DFB website.
“With Poldi, the national
team loses a passionate footballer and a huge personality
who will be missed by us and the
fans,” German national team
manager Oliver Bierhoff added
on the DFB site.
Podolski’s final appearance for
Germany came in the Round of
16 at Euro 2016 against Slovakia
as he came on in the 72nd minute.
“Poldi” said he will now support the national team as a fan.
“For the German team, my
best wishes. Let’s defend this
great title in 2018 and keep this
marvelous trophy,” he wrote.
“Starting today, I’ll keep my
fingers crossed - as one more fan
of the Mannschaft. Take care.
It’s been an honour.” Thank you
for your days with Arsenal.
utch coach Dick Advocaat yesterday arrived in
Istanbul to take over as
manager of Turkish giants Fenerbahce and reverse the
club’s fortunes after it failed to win
silverware last season and exited
this year’s Champions League.
Advocaat’s rapid appointment follows the sacking of Vitor
Pereira in an acrimonious parting
that ended with the club unilaterally terminating the contract of
the Portuguese.
He arrived late afternoon at
Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport
for final talks, Fenerbahce’s television channel said.
In a lightning fast process,
he could be taking charge of the
team’s training as soon as Tuesday, the NTV channel and Fanatik sports daily reported.
In a statement to Fanatik, Advocaat, 68, appeared to confirm the
appointment, saying he thought
he would not return to club management but Fenerbahce made an
offer he could not refuse.
“Fenerbahce made me an unbelievable offer. And I agreed.
You don’t turn down such an offer from such a big club,” he was
quoted as saying.
In a colourful managerial career spanning over three decades
that has seen spells with some
two dozen clubs and countries,
Advocaat had most recently
managed clubs including Zenit
St Petersburg and Sunderland.
Fenerbahce decided to part
company with Pereira after the
team’s defeat at the hands of
Monaco in the third qualifying
round of the Champions League
earlier this month.
The board are keen to have a
new manager in place for when
Fenerbahce take on Grashopper
of Zurich in the first leg of playoffs for the Europa League in Istanbul on Thursday.
Advocaat has stepped down
from his position as assistant to
Netherlands national manager
Danny Blind for the move, the
Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) said in a statement. “I am surprised and disappointed,” it quoted Blind as saying.
“When I first approached Dick
to be an assistant he gave me
the impression he would engage
himself for the long term.”
Pereira, a former Porto and
Olympiakos boss, was appointed
Fenerbahce coach in June 2015.
But the club lost out to local
rivals Besiktas in the race for the
league title last season despite
boasting talent like former Manchester United stars Robin van
Persie and Nani.
Peirera’s sacking had been
reported by Turkish media on
Thursday but was only confirmed
by Fenerbahce on Monday, with
the Portuguese clearly unhappy
with the manner of his dismissal.
The club said that Pereira had
left the country on Saturday
along with his assistants, without informing Fenerbahce.
It said his contract had been
“terminated” and the legal
consequences would be handled in coordination with FIFA
and the Court of Arbitration for
Sport (CAS).
ANALYSIS
Napoli, Juventus fans
have different takes
on big transfer fees
DPA
Rome
T
he departure of Gonzalo
Higuain from Napoli
sparked bitter feelings
of betrayal while sadness
prevailed after Paul Pogba left
Juventus as the Italian champions set spending and selling
records in the transfer window
due to close at the end of August.
Last week’s sale of Pogba to
Manchester United, whence he
arrived on a nominal fee in 2012,
brought Juve 110 million euros (122.8 million dollars). That
an all-time transfer fee record
mitigated fans’ disappointment
to see the French ace leave after
lifting four Serie A titles.
But while a lucrative sale of
Pogba had been rumoured already a year ago, very few in
Naples expected a goodbye from
Higuain after he closed his third
season with an all-time Serie A
record of 36 goals, helping Napoli clinch second place.
Juve paid Napoli 90 million
euros, the highest ever amount
in Italy and a record for players
transferring within any domestic league. But fans’ anger toward
the Argentine erupted in social
media, often degenerating to
make him a public enemy.
The classic Neapolitan song
“Core ‘ngrato,” meaning “ungrateful heart”, a love tune made
famous by Luciano Pavarotti and
other star tenors, became the
soundtrack to the affair.
After the late-July signing, Higuain’s first press conference at
Juve fuelled the controversy saying
that his bad relationship with Napoli owner Aurelio De Laurentiis
was his main reason to leave.
“I did not have a relationship
with him,” the 28-year-old said.
“He was ill at ease with me and I
was ill at ease with him. I did not
File picture of Gonzalo Higuain
during his time with Napoli.
feel like staying one more minute
with him.”
Higuain’s agent, his brother
Nicolas, explained that Napoli’s
projects failed to meet the ambition of a player who in 2013 left
Spain’s giants Real Madrid, and
played down money issues.
De Laurentiis, a noted film
producer, replied that Higuain
“is either a false person or a poor
actor” and that Neapolitans can
be cheated but not mocked.
As a result, fans who have often accused their president of
not fulfilling his commitment to
the club seem now to have buried
the hatchet.
Higuain “succeeded in the titanic task of making president
De Laurentiis likeable,” veteran
commentator Mimmo Carratelli
wrote in the Naples daily newspaper Il Mattino.
The Argentine, meanwhile, is
approaching top form after playing the Copa America Centenario in June and looks to debut with
Juve in Saturday’s league opener
with Fiorentina.
He signed a five-year contract
said to be worth 7.5 million euros
per season, two million higher
than his pay at Napoli, who,
however, seemed ready for a rise
to 6.5 million euros.
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
11
FOOTBALL
SPOTLIGHT
CHALLENGE
Ibrahimovic treads
in Cantona’s Man
United footsteps
‘For the next two seasons I think he can be phenomenal for the team... Cantona was
here at the best moment in his career. This guy (Ibrahimovic) is more than a player’
Conte urges Costa to
aim high at Chelsea
File picture of Chelsea’s Diego Costa.
The Guardian
London
A
Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic celebrates scoring their third goal against AFC Bournemouth during their Premier League clash.
AFP
London
I
t is very early days in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s Manchester United career,
but the Swedish striker’s initial successes have already evoked memories
of Old Trafford legend Eric Cantona.
Cantona made an extraordinary impact when he arrived from Leeds United
in November 1992, inspiring Alex Ferguson’s team to end the club’s 26-year wait
for the English title.
United have not fallen anywhere near
as low in the three years since Ferguson
retired in 2013, but after the gloom of
David Moyes and Louis van Gaal’s managerial tenures, Ibrahimovic has given
them a major lift.
“For the next two seasons I think he
can be phenomenal for the team and the
Premier League,” said United manager
Jose Mourinho after Ibrahimovic scored
in Sunday’s 3-1 win at Bournemouth.
“Eric Cantona was here at the best
moment in his career. This guy (Ibrahimovic) is more than a player.”
Ibrahimovic began the season by scoring in the Community Shield, heading
home an 83rd-minute winner as FA Cup
winners United overcame Leicester City.
Cantona also decided a Community
Shield, netting a hat-trick in a 4-3 win
over Liverpool in August 1992, but he was
playing for league champions Leeds.
He joined Manchester United in a
shock move three months later.
Winning the league in his first season
gave Cantona a third straight national
title, following previous successes with
Marseille and Leeds.
He would go on to win a further three
with United, plus two FA Cups. Ibrahimovic, 34, hopes to win a fifth consecutive title, after four with Paris Saint-Germain, and 12th in total (the two he won at
Juventus having been revoked due to the
Calciopoli referee-rigging scandal).
As much as his title-winning knowhow, Ibrahimovic was signed from PSG to
inject some panache and self-belief into
a United changing room that had lost the
self-assurance of the Ferguson era.
Discussing Cantona’s arrival, Ferguson
said: “He swaggered in, stuck his chest
out, raised his head and surveyed everything as though he were asking: ‘I’m
Cantona. How big are you? Are you big
enough for me?’”
BREAKFAST PEP TALKS
Ibrahimovic’s arrival at United has been
described in comparable terms, with
captain Wayne Rooney and midfield
teammate Morgan Schneiderlin both
speaking about his “aura”.
On the pitch, Ibrahimovic has made an
assured start with two goals in two games.
At Bournemouth he showed a willingness
to drop deep from his number nine role
and allow Rooney to take his place at the
tip of the attack. Ibrahimovic is also having an impact behind the scenes.
Ferguson has often spoken about how
Cantona’s dedication on the training
ground inspired a young generation of
United players including David Beckham
and Paul Scholes to raise their game.
Mourinho made a similar observation
about Ibrahimovic.
“The first thing I can tell you is at his
table for breakfast and for meals he is
surrounded by the kids, the younger ones
like (Marcus) Rashford and (Luke) Shaw,”
said the Portuguese.
“He knows what he can be for them as
well as what he does with his performances.”
The main difference between the players is that whereas Cantona was 25 and
in the last-chance saloon when he came
to England after disciplinary problems in
France, the experienced Ibrahimovic is a
proven medal magnet.
If he wins the title with United, it will
be the seventh time that he has ended his
first season at a club with a league winner’s medal around his neck.
Informed by Cantona, in a tonguein-cheek video message, that there
could only be one ‘King’ of Old Trafford, Ibrahimovic responded that he
would be the ‘God’.
BOTTOMLINE
‘We’re not ready,’ says Wenger
many players are injured today.
“Can they recover for next
week? I don’t know. But we are
not stupid. We prepared well the
players we have in, but I think
you have to consider we have
been a bit unlucky as well.
“We have lost Mertesacker
and Gabriel in preparation, and
Koscielny is not fit. You have
to sometimes accept that you
cannot control absolutely everything, even if you try to be as
intelligent as possible.”
AFP
London
A
rsenal manager Arsene
Wenger said his team
were not physically
ready for the Premier
League season after opening the
campaign with a chaotic 4-3 defeat at home to Liverpool.
With Per Mertesacker and
Gabriel injured and Laurent Koscielny short of match fitness,
Wenger deployed Calum Chambers, 21, and 20-year-old debutant Rob Holding at centre-back
in Saturday’s game.
Like Koscielny, Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil are returning to fitness after Euro 2016
and to compound matters,
Aaron Ramsey and Alex Iwobi
were both forced off by injury
in the second half.
“Physically we are not ready,”
Wenger told reporters at the
Emirates Stadium.
“You are in a Catch 22 situation with the Euros — do you
give the players a rest and start
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
the season without many of your
players? Or do they play in this
kind of game and get injured, like
Ramsey today?
“We had many players that
played very late in the Euros.
Ramsey, Koscielny, Ozil, Giroud,
they went to the semi-finals (at
least). We had four players who
went very late.”
Arsenal visit defending champions Leicester City on Saturday
and Wenger is unsure whether
Koscielny, Ozil and Giroud will
be ready to return to action at
the King Power Stadium.
“We will try, but when they
have not enough preparation,
they get injured,” he said.
“We have to be ready next
week because we go to Leicester.
But we’ll see first what we can
do with the players who are preparing at the moment and how
KLOPP APPLAUDS TEAM
Visiting manager Jurgen Klopp
blamed himself for his team’s
lapses in concentration, saying
that his exuberant reaction to
Mane’s goal in the 63rd minute
had made his players feel the
game was already won.
Klopp has been tipped to lead
Liverpool into title contention
this season, but he said it was far
too early to start thinking about
silverware. “It’s a little bit like
our behaviour after 4-1, or my
behaviour,” said the German.
“If you celebrate too early, life
“Only then you have a
chance in the Premier
League. 4-3 is obviously a
spectacular result, but it’s not
the result you want to have a
lot of times in a season”
gives you always a knock.”
While Klopp applauded the
quality of his team’s attacking
football, he warned that they
will not achieve anything this
season if they do not learn to defend more cohesively.
“The game was intense for all
of us. We made our mistakes together and we scored wonderful
goals,” he said. “That’s really important. It gives us on one side
confidence and the knowledge
that we can score goals. On the
other side, there’s no alternative
to defend together.
“Only then you have a chance
in the Premier League. 4-3 is
obviously a spectacular result,
but it’s not the result you want
to have a lot of times in a season.
“When you’re good enough
to score four goals, you need to
avoid (conceding) three.”
ntonio Conte has thrown
down the gauntlet to
Diego Costa on the eve
of Chelsea’s Premier
League season opener at home
to West Ham United on Monday
night, telling him to concentrate
on playing as a penalty box finisher
and to score 30 goals.
The new manager, who is
keyed up and in his own words
“not relaxed” before his first
competitive game with the club,
was asked whether he would set
Costa the target of 20 goals for
the season. “Why 20 and not
30?” he shot back, with a smile.
Conte qualified the remark
by saying that he never gives his
strikers specific goal targets but
the ambition was clear; he wants
Costa to aim high and put his
heart and soul into the collective
effort. Costa, who arrived from
Atlético Madrid in 2014, scored
20 league goals in his first season
as Chelsea won the title. But he
managed only 12 in the competition last time out, in what was a
testing campaign.
The 27-year-old felt his goal
touch evaporate as the club imploded under José Mourinho
and, having been left out of the
team, an example of his frustration came when he threw his
training bib in the direction of
Mourinho, after he was left as an
unused substitute at Tottenham
Hotspur on 29 November.
Costa’s form improved dramatically after Guus Hiddink took
over as the caretaker manager
following Mourinho’s sacking in
mid-December but he was not selected by Spain for the Euro 2016
finals and has endured a summer
of speculation over his future.
Atlético made no secret of their
desire to re-sign him and Chelsea even threatened to take action
against the Spanish club in two
written warnings. But Costa has
stayed at Stamford Bridge, and it
sounded as though Conte wanted
to send him a message.
“Diego is a forward and he
knows that, in my idea of football,
the forward must be a point of reference for the team,” Conte said.
“I don’t like that a forward moves
around the pitch. I like him to stay
there [in the box] because you are
a forward and your commitment
is to score goals and to stay in the
right position. You are a forward
– not a midfielder, not a defender.
“I don’t like to speak about
single players but I will make an
exception. Diego is a great player.
I know that he is a fantastic finisher but I think he can still improve a lot. I hope for this. I try to
improve all of my players. Their
past is not important to me and
now, I am seeing a good attitude
from Diego – to work and to improve in different situations.
“I am happy that Diego stays
here to work with us. We know
that we can improve through the
work and the most important
thing is that the players have put
themselves into this idea. Diego
can give a lot to this team and I am
sure he will have a good season.”
Conte’s passion and work ethic has underpinned everything
he has done in the game. He said
it was why he was able to remain
as a player at Juventus for 13 years
and also coach the club for three
years and the Italy team for two
years. It is what has carried him
to Stamford Bridge. Costa, too, is
known as a fiery competitor and
Conte said he likes his spirit.
“Diego always shows a great
passion and I am the same,” Conte said. “He doesn’t want to lose.
I like this passion and I want to
put it in the team. It’s important
to have passion for your work,
for your football. It can help you
to get over difficulties. I like this
commitment – that the players
work very strongly for the team.
“I ask Diego for this and I demand this of him. I never ask
[specific goal targets] of my
strikers but I ask Diego and all
the players to have a great attitude. Then, the goals arrive. I am
sure of this. It’s important that
the players play our football, not
their own football.”
CONTROVERSY
Malaysia loses FIFA
event over Israel visas
AFP
Kuala Lumpur
M
alaysia has relinquished the rights to
host the 2017 FIFA
Congress, a sports
official said yesterday after the
predominantly Muslim country
refused to issue visas to Israeli
delegates.
“We were advised by the government to withdraw from hosting the congress due to security
issues,” said Affandi Hamzah,
deputy president of the Football
Association of Malaysia.
Affandi declined to elaborate
on the “security issues” but said
the move was tied to comments
by Deputy Prime Minister Zahid
Hamidi over the weekend.
Zahid had said Malaysia was
unable to provide visas to Israeli
officials because it did not have
diplomatic ties and could rile up
local sensitivities.
“Some of the conditions of
hosting the event include placing
the (Israeli) flag on the table during the congress,” he was quoted
as saying by the New Straits
Times online.
“After comparing the benefits
and the risks, it is better for Malaysia to avoid playing host.”
Affandi said the FAM had in
July written to FIFA informing
them it was withdrawing from
hosting the event on “government advice” and the world
football body accepted Malaysia’s decision.
Muslim-majority
Malaysia
has no diplomatic ties with Israel
but has stood up for the rights of
Palestinians.
Malaysia’s move also follows
speculation of snap elections in
the first half of next year.
The presence of Israeli officials
could stir anger among Muslim
voters against the ruling Barisan
Nasional coalition led by Prime
Minister Najib Razak which traditionally depends on them to
stay in power.
The country has been rocked
by a scandal over allegations that
billions of dollars were stolen
from a state wealth fund founded
and overseen by Najib.
Former Asian Football Confederation general secretary Peter Velappan described Malaysia’s failure to host the event as
“painful”.
“Suddenly Malaysia puts restrictions. Violating the FIFA
conditions and losing the hosting rights at this stage is very
painful,” he said.
Israel missed the 2015 Youth
Sailing World Championships
in Malaysia, reportedly after a
similar row over visas and flags.
In 1997, when Israel played the
International Cricket Council
Trophy competition in Malaysia,
hundreds of people took part in
angry demonstrations.
Protestors also took to the
streets and burned Singapore
and Israeli flags when the then
Israeli president Chaim Herzog made an official visit to the
neighbouring city-state in 1986.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
CRICKET
GULF TIMES
CRICKET
COLOMBO TEST
‘Homeless’ Pak
deserve to be
No 1, says Misbah
Pakistan’s achievement is all the more impressive as they have not played a Test
series on home soil since an armed attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore in 2009
Smith, Marsh
tons give Australia
slender lead
SCORECARD
AFP
Colombo
C
enturies from skipper
Steve Smith and Shaun
Marsh gave Australia
hope of a consolation
victory in the final Test against
Sri Lanka yesterday before being
pegged back by their bogeyman
Rangana Herath.
Smith and Marsh put on a
record 246 runs for the second
wicket, raising Australian hopes
of building a match-winning
lead in response to Sri Lanka’s
first innings total of 355 before
the veteran Herath put the brakes
on with a six wicket haul.
Australia were eventually all
out for 379, a lead which was
reduced to just two runs by the
close of play as Sri Lanka reached
22 at stumps, albeit with the loss
of opener Dilruwan Perera who
was lbw to Mitchell Starc for
eight.
Dimuth Karunaratne was
unbeaten on eight, alongside
Kaushal Silva who has so far
made six at the Sinhalese Sports
Club ground in the final match
of the series. Australia are trailing 0-2.
Herath — who took a hat-trick
in the last Test and 10 wickets in
the first match of the series —
again brought the hosts back into
contention by taking six for 81.
The 38-year-old veteran ran
through the Australian tail with
help from fellow spinner Dilruwan Perera’s two wickets.
Medium-pacer Suranga Lakmal struck with the second new
ball in the second session to get
the wicket of Marsh and break
the dangerous partnership.
Marsh, who had hit his 19th
boundary off the previous delivery, was bowled on 130 after he
chopped Lakmal’s good length
delivery onto his stumps.
Smith, who hit 10 fours and
a six during his 119-run knock,
departed after being stumped
off Herath, with the third umpire
ruling in favour of the bowler in a
close decision.
The marathon partnership between Smith and Marsh was the
highest second-wicket stand between the two countries.
The pair ensured that Australia did not lose a wicket in the first
session as the visitors took lunch
on 235 for one.
Marsh, who was drafted into
Sri Lanka 1st innings: 355 (D.
Chandimal 132, D. de Silva 129;
M. Starc 5-63, N. Lyon 3-110)
Australia 1st innings:
D. Warner c Kusal Perera b de
Silva ..................................................................... 11
S. Marsh b Lakmal .........................130
S. Smith st Kusal Perera b Herath..................................................................... 119
A. Voges lbw b Herath .................22
M. Henriques st Kusal Perera b
Herath .............................................................. 4
M. Marsh c Mendis b Herath 53
P. Nevill lbw b Dilruwan Perera ..
..................................................................................14
M. Starc not out ......................................9
N. Lyon c Mendis b Dilruwan
Perera ................................................................ 3
J. Hazlewood b Herath ................... 0
J. Holland c Mathews b Herath 1
Extras: (b4, lb9) ................................. 13
Total: (all out, 125.1 overs) .... 379
Fall of wickets: 1-21 (Warner),
2-267 (S. Marsh), 3-275 (Smith),
4-283 (Henriques), 5-316 (Voges),
6-353 (Nevill), 7-367 (M. Marsh),
8-376 (Lyon), 9-377 (Hazlewood),
10-379 (Holland)
Bowling: Perera 44-4-129-2, de
Silva 7-0-27-1, Herath 38.1-11-81-6,
Sandakan 19-0-70-0, Lakmal
13-0-54-1, Mathews 4-1-5-0
Sri Lanka 2nd innings
D. Perera lbw b Starc ........................ 8
D. Karunaratne not out .................. 8
K. Silva not out ........................................6
Extras: ........................................................... 0
Total: (1 wicket; 5 overs) ...........22
Fall of wickets: 1-8 (Perera)
Bowling: Starc 3-0-19-1, Lyon
2-0-3-0
the Australia side because of
his long experience of Asian
conditions, survived a dropped
catch on 67 early in the morning against Herath but soon took
control.
He brought up his hundred
with an inside edge off Dilruwan
Perera that went for a boundary
and celebrated the milestone by
hugging his skipper at the other
end.
Smith, who resumed the day
on 61, reached his 15th Test century to improve on his previous
best of 55 in the series.
Mitchell Marsh, who registered his second Test half-century, contributed a useful 53 to
help Australia surpass Sri Lanka’s first innings score.
Top-ranked Australia are bidding to avoid a series whitewash
after losing the first two Tests.
England captain Alastair Cook (R) chats with Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq as they stand with the shared trophy after the series ended in a 2-2 draw on Sunday.
AFP
London
P
akistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq
said his side will deserve to be
the world’s top-ranked Test team
after they came from behind to
draw a four-match series 2-2 in England.
Their 10-wicket thrashing of the hosts
in the fourth and final Test at The Oval on
Sunday gave Pakistan, currently third in
the standings, a chance of climbing to the
top of the table.
But for that to happen later this month
they need Sri Lanka to win 2-0 or 3-0 at
home to Australia, coupled with a 2-0 or
2-1 series win for India away to the West
Indies.
Pakistan’s achievement is all the more
impressive as they have not played a Test
series on home soil since an armed attack
on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore in 2009
turned the country into a no-go area for
the world’s leading Test nations.
The United Arab Emirates has since
become their adopted base.
But for all their success in conditions
similar to those on home soil, Pakistan
often find themselves facing in the dispiriting position of playing before meagre crowds rather than in front of their
own passionate supporters.
“This team deserves that (going to
number one) for six years of no cricket at
home, sometimes people think it’s easy
— the UAE suits us, we win — but just
getting every day away from the country,
without family and friends and all games
out of Pakistan, it’s really difficult,” Misbah told reporters at The Oval on Sunday
after Pakistan won with more than a day
to spare.
“It’s mentally tough — I’ve only seen
my mother and sister once in a year, some
friends I haven’t seen for three or four
years.
“It’s not easy, given those circumstances but the team is playing competitive cricket.
“I am really proud of them and this
team really deserves to be number one.”
Pakistan’s success at The Oval —
which was achieved on the 69th anniversary of the country’s foundation as an independent state — was built on a brilliant
218 by Younis Khan, a hundred from Asad
Shafiq and five second-innings wickets
for leg-spinner Yasir Shah.
It was an especially impressive result
given that after their 75-run win in the
first Test at Lord’s — where 42-year-old
skipper Misbah made a hundred — Pakistan had suffered heavy defeats, by 330
and 141 runs, at Old Trafford and Edgbaston respectively.
But Misbah was even happier with his
side’ conduct on their first tour of England since a controversial trip in 2010
saw often strained Anglo-Pakistani
cricket relations sink to an all-time low.
That tour featured the infamous ‘spotfixing’ Test at Lord’s where then captain
Salman Butt, pace bowler Mohamed
Amir and Mohamed Asif were all given
five-year bans and jail terms for deliberately bowling no-balls.
This year’s series saw Amir make his
Test return at Lord’s and he had to deal
with the odd crowd shout of “no-ball”.
But there were no on-field flare-ups
between Misbah’s men and an England
side led by Alastair Cook.
“Cricket matches are won and lost but
to win audience, people, supporters —
that’s important,” said Misbah, who took
over as captain six years ago soon after
the spot-fixing scandal.
“This series has been (played) in good
spirits, both teams fought well.
“There were no off field issues — we
are happy to conclude on a pleasing note,
2-2, everyone enjoyed it, we made friends
on and off the field.”
Cook added: “It’s been a great series
to be part of, two good teams playing
good cricket and for once with Pakistan
and England we’ve just talked about the
cricket.”
Amir took 12 wickets in the series at
an expensive average of 42 but his figures
would have been far better had Pakistan
held all the chances the left-arm quick
created.
Australia’s Mitchell Marsh plays a shot on the way to his century
against Sri Lanka in Colombo yesterday.
BOTTOMLINE
England face ‘tough decisions’ ahead: Bayliss
AFP
London
E
ngland coach Trevor Bayliss has accepted “tough decisions” will need to be
made when the selectors pick the Test
squad for the upcoming tour of Bangladesh and India.
The most pressing problem that England face
following Sunday’s 2-2 series draw at home to
Pakistan concerns their top order batting.
While England captain Alastair Cook and
number three Joe Root scored a combined 935
runs at an average of 66.78 over the four Tests,
the rest of the top five — Alex Hales, James Vince
and Gary Ballance — managed 498 runs at 22.63
between them.
Bayliss’s preference is to make sure players
have time to prove themselves, but following
England’s 10-wicket loss at The Oval on Sunday,
he made it clear that his patience with England’s
Bayliss’s preference is to make sure
players have time to prove themselves,
but following England’s 10-wicket loss at
The Oval on Sunday, he made it clear that
his patience with England’s
underperforming specialist batsmen
was not limitless
underperforming specialist batsmen was not
limitless.
“They’ve definitely had a decent run at it,”
said Bayliss.
“We’ve probably got around a month before
we get together and discuss the next Test series, so there will be some tough decisions to be
made,” the Australian added.
Hales has yet to score a century in 11 Tests and
has a meagre average of 27.
At The Oval, he managed just 18 runs in the
match, dropped a routine catch and annoyed
the England management by getting himself
fined after confronting the third umpire about
his first-innings dismissal to a controversial low
catch.
However, no one in county cricket has yet
made an overwhelming case to take over one of
England’s problem batting positions.
“There doesn’t seem to be anyone crying out
to be selected above anyone else,” added Bayliss.
“There’s a number of guys we’ve seen score
some runs earlier this season, under a bit of
scrutiny when their names are mentioned about
the possibility of getting into the team.
“Some of them have dropped off.”
Bayliss added: “I think I heard Cookie say
the two or three guys we’ve got in the team
have been very good players over the last two
or three years, experienced players at county
level, and they have found it tough to jump up
to this level.
“They have shown bits and pieces, but I think
it just proves that the jump between first-class
cricket and Test cricket is a big one.”
With Bayliss also coaching England’s one-day
England head coach Trevor Bayliss.
side he has few chances to watch any of the contenders himself by attending county fixtures.
“Certainly, I’ll be trying to get there when I
can,” he said.
“There might be a chance in the next few
days, but you’ve got to be lucky enough that
whoever you are going to watch is actually batting or bowling on that day,” he said.
Meanwhile England are due to announce today their squad for a five-match one-day international series against Pakistan starting next
week.
Few changes are expected from the side that
defeated Sri Lanka earlier in the season but the
Durham duo of all-rounder Ben Stokes and
paceman Mark Wood could return from injury.
Stokes has been sidelined with knee and calf injuries this season while Wood has undergone two
ankle operations since last playing for England in a
Test against Pakistan in Dubai in October.
Eoin Morgan, England’s ODI captain and
wicket-keeper Jos Buttler have been out of action recently with hand injuries, but they are
both understood to be fit for selection.