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GULF TIMES
SPORT
Page 5
GOLF
Walker holds off Jason Day
to win first major of career
Walker had to return to the classic championship course early Sunday morning to play his entire third round after heavy
rain and thunderstorms suspended play on Saturday, and shot two-under 68 for a one-shot lead going into the final 18
Reuters
Springfield, New Jersey
Serena Williams serves to
Russia’s Elena Vesnina during
their semi-final match at
Wimbledon yesterday.
A
merican Jimmy Walker broke
through for his first major title with
a one-shot win over Jason Day in the
PGA Championship after playing 36
grueling holes at water-logged Baltusrol on
Sunday.
The 37-year-old Texan calmly canned a
three-foot par putt to cap a wire-to-wire win
with steely precision, shooting a final-round
67 to finish on 14-under-par 266.
His victory was far from routine, however.
“It was a battle the whole day,” said Walker,
a five-time winner on the US tour.
Walker had to return to the classic championship course early Sunday morning to play
his entire third round after heavy rain and
thunderstorms suspended play on Saturday,
and shot two-under 68 for a one-shot lead
going into the final 18.
He then had to fend off major winners Day
and Henrik Stenson breathing down his neck
in the final round, but came out shining with
a one-two punch after the turn to set up victory.Holding a one-shot lead over both world
number one and defending champion Day and
British Open winner Stenson, Walker holed
out from a greenside bunker to birdie the 10th.
Walker then rolled in a left-to-right curling,
30-foot uphill putt for birdie at the 11th to extend his lead to two over Australia’s Day. He
widened the lead to three with a birdie putt
that curled around the lip and in at the 17th.
JIMMY WALKER FACTFILE
Jimmy Walker (L) of the United States celebrates with the Wanamaker Trophy
alongside his wife, Erin, after winning the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol
Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey.
Jimmy Walker (USA)
Born — January 16, 1979
Age — 37
Birthplace — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Home — Boerne, Texas, USA
Height — 6ft 2in (1.89m)
Turned pro — 2001
Joined PGA Tour — 2006
PGA Tour victories — 5
Major championship wins — 1 (2016
PGA Championship)
Ryder Cup: 2014-L
Walker’s victory completes a year of
first-time major champions, joining
Masters champion Danny Willett of
England, American US Open winner
Dustin Johnson and British Open
champion Henrik Stenson
But Day put on the pressure, reaching the
par-five 18th in two. He rolled in the eagle putt
for 67 to close the gap to one, as Walker, playing in the final pairing, looked on from back in
the fairway.
“I made the birdie (on 17) but sometimes
things just don’t come easy and golf is not
an easy game, and Jason is a true champion,”
Walker said. “I wouldn’t expect anything less,
an eagle at the last. That’s unreal. So it really
put it on me to make a par (on 18).”
The American sprayed his approach to
18 into thick rough right of the green before
punching his third safely onto the green but 35
feet beyond the hole.
He rolled his first putt three feet past, leaving himself with a testing par putt, which he
sank under enormous pressure in the fading
light for his first major triumph.
“Sometimes pars are hard but we got it,”
Walker said before lifting the gleaming silver
Wanamaker Trophy.
Said Day: “It was nice to get the eagle, just
to try and make Jimmy think about it, but
obviously Jimmy just played too good all day.
The birdie on 17 was key for him.”
“Yeah, a little disappointed,” the Australian added about his first defence of a major.
“(But) I’m very, very happy with how I played
all week.”
Walker’s victory completes a year of firsttime major champions, joining Masters
champion Danny Willett of England, American US Open winner Dustin Johnson and British Open champion Henrik Stenson.
In third place on 10-under was American Daniel Summerhays, who fired a closing
66, with South African Branden Grace (67),
Hideki Matsuyama (68) of Japan and American Brooks Koepka (70) another shot back.
With the threat of more bad weather, officials set up the marathon Sunday to try to
finish the tournament, sending players back
out for the final round without re-pairing the
groups to save time.
The gamble paid off as the storms held up
and the championship was settled.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber
celebrates beating Venus
Williams.
Jason Day reacts to making an eagle putt on the 18th hole during
the final round of the 2016 PGA Championship golf tournament at
Baltusrol on Sunday. PICTURE: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
LEADING FINAL SCORES
266 - Jimmy Walker (USA) 6566-68-67
267 - Jason Day (AUS) 68-6567-67
270 - Daniel Summerhays
(USA) 70-67-67-66
271 - Branden Grace (RSA)
70-68-66-67, Hideki Matsuyama
(JPN) 69-67-67-68, Brooks
Koepka (USA) 68-67-66-70
272 - Henrik Stenson (SWE) 6767-67-71, Martin Kaymer (GER)
66-69-71-66, Robert Streb (USA)
68-63-72-69
273 - Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)
71-68-66-68, Paul Casey (ENG)
69-69-68-67, William McGirt
(USA) 70-67-66-70
274 - Padraig Harrington (IRL)
71-70-65-68, Webb Simpson
(USA) 69-69-66-70, Jordan Spi-
eth (USA) 70-67-69-68, Patrick
Reed (USA) 70-65-70-69, Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 66-67-73-68
275 - Kevin Kisner (USA) 7169-65-70, John Senden (AUS)
68-70-69-68, Gregory Bourdy
(FRA) 69-68-69-69, Adam Scott
(AUS) 70-67-69-69
276 - Justin Rose (ENG) 70-7266-68, Francesco Molinari (ITA)
71-70-68-67, Kyle Reifers (USA)
70-70-70-66, Russell Knox
(SCO) 70-70-67-69, Jhonattan
Vegas (VEN) 68-71-70-67, Russell Henley (USA) 68-72-68-68,
Kevin Na (USA) 71-68-71-66,
David Lingmerth (SWE) 68-7069-69, K.J. Choi (KOR) 68-7071-67, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)
68-70-70-68, Billy Hurley (USA)
72-65-69-70
BOTTOMLINE
Kuwaiti soldier refuses to carry Olympic flag
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
L
egendary Kuwaiti shooter Fehaid alDeehani has refused to carry the Olympic neutral team flag at the Rio Games
opening ceremony, where the Gulf state’s
athletes cannot march behind their own emblem.
Kuwait is suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other leading federations such as FIFA, football’s world body, over
government interference in sport.
Despite last-minute calls for dialogue to get
the Kuwait government to make a concession,
al-Deehani, winner of Kuwait’s only Olympic
medals, and seven other athletes are resigned to
having to compete in Rio as so-called Independent Olympic Athletes.
According to Kuwaiti media, the IOC asked alDeehani, who took trap shooting bronze medals
at the 2000 Sydney and 2012 London Games, to
carry the Olympic neutral team flag.
But the Kuwait army officer turned down the
request.
“I am a military man and I will only carry the
Kuwait flag,” he said. “I cannot carry the IOC
flag.”
The IOC and FIFA have now suspended Kuwait
three times since 2007 over government interference.The latest dispute has caused anguish
across the Gulf state, pitting the government
even against global sporting powerbroker Sheikh
Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah, a member of the IOC
and FIFA, who is from Kuwait.
The government has launched court action in
Switzerland seeking $1bn in damages from the
IOC over its suspension, which Youth and Information Minister Sheikh Salman al-Humoud alSabah has called “unjustifiable”.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has already
ruled against the government, and a UN envoy’s
efforts to mediate have also come to nothing.
The Kuwait parliament amended its controversial sports law in June, but the government
still has the power to dissolve sports associations
and federations. The Kuwait Olympic Committee
on Sunday called on the government to start dialogue in a last-gasp bid to get the Kuwait flag in to
the Rio opening ceremony.
Hussein al-Mussallam, vice chairman of the
committee’s legal and international relations
commission, told AFP it was time “to sit down
together and review things in a positive way”.
He said “the interests of Kuwaiti athletes
should come above all else”.
“I am speaking on behalf of the KOC and not
in the name of international organisations,” alMussallam added.
“The time has come in front of everyone, the
Kuwaiti government and the ministry for youth
and sports, the Kuwait Olympic Committee and
the Olympic Movement Kuwait to sit together for
the national interest and for Kuwait to return as
it was.”
Al-Mussallam also appealed for all sides to
“stay away from personal issues”.
“The Olympic movement has a role to deal
with the government in the interest of sport. The
government has to hear the point of view of international organisations and the United Nations
and the opinion of the Kuwaiti Olympic movement.” The official said that Kuwaiti athletes
want to compete in Rio “under the flag of our
country, so and we demand the sports minister
respond to the advice of the International Olympic Committee and to stop the implementation of
the conflicting articles in the Kuwaiti sports law”.
2
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
GOLF
SPOTLIGHT
RUNNER-UP
Walker clicks
into winning form
in a major way
Day happy with
performance after
another close call
‘Just to be in it and be there and have a chance and
then to finish it off is just so gratifying. It’s amazing’
Reuters
Springfield, New Jersey
J
Jimmy Walker of the United States plays a shot to the 18th green during the final round of the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey.
AFP
Springfield, New Jersey
J
immy Walker said he never would
have dreamed after missing the British Open cut two weeks ago that he
would be the next man to hoist a major golf trophy.
But the 27-year-old American pulled
off the astonishing feat Sunday at the
PGA Championship, sloshing 36 holes
across soggy Baltusrol and outdueling
top-ranked defending champion Jason
Day down the stretch to win.
“It’s surreal,” Walker said. “I just had
not quite played as well as I would have
liked to this year.”
“Just to be in it and be there and have
a chance and then to finish it off is just so
gratifying. It’s amazing.”
Walker had not won since the US PGA
Texas Open 16 months ago, falling from
the top 10 to 48th in the world rankings.
But when he shared 21st at the Canadian
Open between the British Open and PGA,
Walker had an epiphany.
“Some stuff kind of clicked last week,
literally in the last like nine holes,” Walker
said. “Everything felt good. I kept it going. Finished off the round. Finished off
the nine holes. It felt big to me. Like everything worked, like my head was there. I
was in every shot.”
In the final round, Walker chipped in
from 45 yards to birdie the 10th hole.
When Day answered with a 22-foot birdie
at the 11th, Walker rolled in a 30-footer
on the same hole minutes later to reclaim
a two-shot lead.
Walker sank an eight-foot birdie putt
at 17 only to have Day eagle the 18th, forcing Walker to save par from the greenside rough. He sank a tense 3-foot par
putt and the Wanamaker Trophy was his,
along with $1.8mn (1.6mn euros).
“Incredible finish, it really was. Just
puts a smile on my face,” Walker said.
“Has not even really sunk in yet. It has
been a whirlwind. But it’s awesome.”
And totally unexpected, Walker said.
“I wouldn’t have called this, but it’s
huge,” Walker said. “It’s nice to get in the
position and keep the hammer down and
keep making birdies and keep playing
well.
“Kept working hard. It’s just nice to
see it pay off.” It helped that Baltusrol was
where he met his caddie, Andy Sanders,
at a US Amateur practice round.
“We’ve been together a long time. And
to win our sixth event, first major, here
where we met, that’s just cool,” Walker
said. “It’s special for both of us. It’s pretty
emotional. He grinded it out this week.
He did a great job.”
“He reads putts great. Didn’t let me hit
a shot until I was ready. Made sure everything was good. We did a great job this
week communicating and talking shots.
Just we were in sync.”
Adding to the chemistry — Day is an-
other of Walker’s pals as the two park beside each other at events in their motor
homes.
Day is a happy member of the bus buddies club.
“Me and him have been like bus partners for awhile now,” Day said. “We text
each other all the time about him getting
a new bus and I’m showing him mine.
We’re always parked right next to each
other, always hanging out. We see each
other all the time. He’s a top bloke.”
Walker joined Masters winner Danny
Willett of England, British Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden and fellow American Dustin Johnson, the US
Open winner, as the first foursome of
first-time major winners in the same year
since 2011.
“It shows that everybody is really good
and everybody’s got a chance to win,”
Walker said. “It’s just a matter of time.
That’s what I felt about myself and winning something like this.”
BOTTOMLINE
What a difference a year makes for winner Ariya
Reuters
Woburn, England
A
lot can happen in 12 months of
top-level sport — just ask Ricoh
Women’s British Open golf
champion Ariya Jutanugarn.
Exactly one year ago the youngster
missed the cut at the women’s major,
the 10th successive tournament in which
she had failed to qualify for the final
two rounds. Fast forward to Sunday at
Woburn and Ariya’s family and friends
were spraying her with sparkling water on
the 18th green to celebrate the 20-yearold becoming the first player from Thailand to win a major championship.
“Everything in the past was good for
me because I learned from that, especially when I missed 10 cuts in a row,” she
told reporters after a closing 72 gave her a
16-under total of 272 and a three-stroke
victory.
“I know how to come back, I know how
to be patient. Everybody is going to have
bad times in their life and I think I have
had that already,” added Ariya.
“I’m pretty young, I’m lucky, I have a
lot of chances to get better, a lot of time
to work.”
Ariya suffered more misfortune in April
when she led another major, the ANA Inspiration in California, by two shots and
frittered away her opportunity to win
with three bogeys in each of the last three
holes.
“I’m pretty sure I learned a lot from
that because when I feel nervous I now
know what to do,” she said. “The last
few holes here I tried to be patient and to
commit to my shots.”
Since the ANA Inspiration, Ariya has
decided to start her pre-shot routine by
smiling in order to feel less uptight on the
course.
“I really want to try to feel relaxed and
I feel like whatever is going to make me
happy is to smile,” she explained.
Ariya will now take a break from the
game before preparing for next month’s
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
“I have played four weeks in a row so
I want to rest but I still want to practise
because I really want to play good in Rio,”
she said.
ason Day had another near miss at a major
championship, but not
before he gave a major
scare to eventual winner Jimmy
Walker on the 72nd hole of the
Australian’s defence of the PGA
Championship.
Trailing by three shots, the
world number one crushed a
two-iron approach from 258
yards to 14 feet at the par-five
18th and made the putt for eagle
to force Walker to make par to
win by one.
“The two-iron into the green
was probably one of the best
two-irons I’ve ever hit into a
par-five, especially under the
circumstances,” Day told reporters.
“Emiliano (Grillo, Day’s playing partner) came up to me and
said the ball was scared of me
when I hit it.”
Day was making his first defence of a major, having claimed
his maiden major in last year’s
PGA Championship at Whistling
Straits.
“It was nice to get the eagle,
just to try and make Jimmy think
about it, but obviously Jimmy
just played too good all day,” said
Day, generously, after posting 67
for 13-under 267.
Day has endured several close
calls at the majors.
In just his second major start,
at the 2010 PGA, he contended
for the title in the final round
before slipping back into a tie for
10th, then went on to post runner-up spots at the Masters and
the US Open the following year.
In 2013, he placed third at the
Masters before tying for second
at the US Open just two months
later at Merion.
Heading into last year’s PGA
Championship, Day had recorded nine top-10s at the majors before he finally entered the
winner’s circle.
“Yeah, a little disappointed,”
he said about falling short on
Sunday. “But you know what, at
the end of the day, I came in here
with not the greatest preparation. I’m very, very happy with
how I played all week.”
The big-hitting Australian
had an unusual run-up to his
PGA title defence that limited
his preparation.
Day did not set foot on the
Baltusrol course until the eve
of the championship because
of a planned day’s rest, a bug he
caught from his children and a
late night spent at hospital after
his wife needed treatment for an
allergic reaction.
The weather-interrupted PGA
ended with a marathon Sunday
as the leading players all completed 36 holes after having their
third round scrubbed on Saturday by heavy rain and lightning.
“I really honestly didn’t think
we were going to get it in today,”
Day said, figuring that the tournament would have to be concluded on Monday.
“At the end of the day, I’m
happy that we got it in. It was
actually quite an exciting finish.”
As gruelling as the day was,
the Australian said he had enjoyed the challenge.
“It’s really quite fun to see
how far you can actually push
yourself mentally, more so than
physically. Playing 36 holes
today, especially under the
pump... and finishing that way,
was pretty special,” said Day.
“I’m very happy with the defence. But at the end of the day, it
wasn’t good enough.
“But I’m going to sleep pretty
well tonight I think.”
FOCUS
Grace continues
to make presence
felt at majors
Reuters
Springfield, New Jersey
T
he pressure of contending in majors certainly
agrees with South African Branden Grace, even
if he has yet to close the deal.
With a tie for fourth at the
PGA Championship on Sunday, Grace recorded his fourth
top-five finish in golf’s biggest
events in just two years.
Ranked 12th in the world, he
rebounded superbly from an
opening level-par 70 at Baltusrol to shoot 66 and 67 in the final
two rounds and finish at nineunder 271, five strokes behind
winner Jimmy Walker.
“I came here this week and
thought this is a place I can do
well,” Grace told reporters after
setting the clubhouse lead before being eclipsed by eventual
champion Walker and others.
“Played great the first day,
was just unlucky... when I tee it
up now, I feel I can win a major.
If you are coming into a major
with that mindset, you know
you are going to do well.”
Grace tied for fourth in last
year’s US Open at Chambers Bay
after his title hopes evaporated
with a double-bogey at the 16th
where his tee shot ended up on
train tracks out-of-bounds.
Two months later, he placed
third in the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, having
pulled within a shot of eventual
“Played great the first day,
was just unlucky... when
I tee it up now, I feel I can
win a major. If you are
coming into a major with
that mindset, you know
you are going to do well”
champion Jason Day’s lead after
making four birdies in five holes
from the third before losing
ground.
He tied for fifth at this year’s
US Open before suffering a rare
bump in the British Open at
Royal Troon earlier this month
where he wound up in a share
of 72nd. “I feel I’m progressing
pretty nicely,” said Grace, a seven-times winner on the European Tour who clinched his first
PGA Tour victory at the Heritage in South Carolina in April.
“I think I’m getting more confident as the majors go on.
“I was a little bit disappointed
with the (British) Open this year.
I thought I played some decent
golf, but it wasn’t one of those
golf courses that really suited
me. I couldn’t get my eye around
the place.
“It was good here. Starting
the final round I managed to
make a couple birdies and give
myself a chance coming down
the stretch. It was fun.
“On Friday, kind of looking like missing the cut at some
stage. It shows I’m capable of
fighting back and playing some
great golf today just to finish the
way I did.”
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
ROAD TO RIO
SPOTLIGHT
IN SHORT
‘The Incredible
Harting’ ready to
rip up Rio
‘I am no longer the hunted, now I’m the hunter. The other boys haven’t seen me on
the big stage for a while, I’m a factor they can’t control, that is my advantage’
Nadal still doubtful over his
participation in the 2016 Olympics
Rafael Nadal has conceded
he is not yet sure that he will
be able to represent Spain at
the Rio Olympics as his fitness
concerns linger.
The 2008 gold medallist withdrew from the French Open
with a wrist injury and missed
Wimbledon.
“I will not be at the best
level in any of the categories,”
Nadal told journalists after
arriving in Brazil on Sunday.
“I have not competed for two
months and I have not trained
a lot.”
“I will train a few days here to
see what I can do and then
decide what is best, to be
more positive for me and the
team,” he said.
Nadal’s Spanish team mate
David Ferrer acknowledged
last week that the 14-time
grand slam champion’s fitness
situation was “delicate”.
World number five Nadal,
who is due to be Spain’s flag
bearer, was absent from the
2012 Olympics due to injury
and should he withdraw, it
would come as a significant
blow for tennis at the Games
with several other high-profile
players also missing.
Roger Federer sits out due to
a knee problem and Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic
withdrew citing fears over the
Zika virus.
Top-ranked Lee under pressure for
final badminton bid
Badminton’s veteran world
number one Lee Chong Wei
said Sunday he is feeling the
pressure ahead of his final bid
for an elusive Olympic gold
medal.
Malaysia’s Lee lost the last two
Olympic finals to his arch-rival
Lin Dan of China.
And at 33, he knows Rio will be
his last shot at Games gold.
“I feel more pressure on my
shoulders as after the next
four years I think I have no
chance, so this is my last
chance,” Lee said in Rio.
Lee, who has never won a
world or Olympic title, has
fought his way back to the top
of the rankings after returning
from a doping ban last year.
He is seeded to meet Lin in the
semi-finals in Rio, with China’s
world number two Chen Long
playing in the other half of the
draw. Lee has plenty of time
to acclimatise to conditions in
Rio, as the Olympic badminton
competition doesn’t start until
August 11.
Jamaican medal contenders given
week to prove fitness
File picture of Germany’s Robert Harting, an Olympic discus champion.
AFP
Berlin
O
lympic discus champion Robert Harting is Germany’s
version of the ‘The Incredible Hulk’ — and he has sharp
words for anyone who makes him angry.
The 31-year-old’s trademark celebration after his numerous victories on the
big stage is to rip his competition shirt to
tatters. His jersey-tearing joy saw the UK
media dub him ‘The Incredible Harting’,
albeit minus the green look, when he won
gold at the 2012 Olympics.
At 2.01m, the German giant has been
a force on the discus scene having won
three consecutive world titles from 2009
and 2013, plus the London Olympic title
four years ago.
And, as International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach discovered recently, you do not want to make
him angry.
Harting has long been a critic of his
countryman and has no qualms about
speaking his mind.
When the IOC opted not to blanket ban
all Russian athletes from the Rio Olympics, despite evidence of a state-led doping system, Harting let the IOC president
have both barrels.
“As far as I am concerned he is part of
the doping system, not the anti-doping
system. I am ashamed of him,” Harting
told reporters.
“I have often expressed my disappointment in Thomas Bach, but this is a
new dimension of disappointment.”
Harting has never been afraid to make
a stand.
In 2014, the German had himself removed from the list of candidates for
world athlete of the year, in protest
against the nomination of US sprinter
Justin Gatlin, who has twice been banned
from athletics over positive drug tests.
Injury saw him miss the entire 2015
season with injury and he has struggled
with knee and shoulder problems this
season.
He says he is no longer the favourite,
with Poland’s Piotr Malachowski arriving in Rio as the world champion, — a
state of affairs Harting enjoys.
HUNTED TURNED HUNTER
“In 2012 I was at a totally different, much
higher level. I have to accept that,” Harting told SID, an AFP subsidiary.
“I am no longer the hunted, now I’m
the hunter — I like that.
“The other boys haven’t seen me on
the big stage for a while, I’m a factor they
can’t control, that is my advantage.
“I’ll give it my all and have never had
the thought ‘what if?’, that just costs
energy.”
Harting loves a challenge and thrives
on pressure.
When the 2009 world championships
were held at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium,
which he regards as his home turf, he was
in his element.
His long-time rival Malachowski
threw 68.77m with his opening throw
and extend his lead with 69.15m on his
fifth and penultimate throw.
Enter Harting, who saved his best
for last by launching a personal best of
69.43m to win the gold with his final
throw.
Harting’s shirt did not stand a chance
as he ripped it to shreds in euphoric cele-
“Life will go one without a gold
medal. The pressure to perform
before London was terrible. I have
always said the last six weeks of
training are always my strongest,
we’ll see whether it will be enough.
Of course, I want to win gold, but I
had it once and I know how quickly
the medal loses it’s shine”
bration and the Berlin crowd lapped it up.
Having finished fourth at the Beijing Olympics, Harting got a monkey off his back
by winning the 2012 Olympic title which he
says made him a ‘complete athlete’.
But four years on and the wrong side of
30, the German knows this is likely to be
his last crack at another Olympic medal.
“Life will go one without a gold medal,” he said.
“The pressure to perform before London was terrible.
“I have always said the last six weeks
of training are always my strongest, we’ll
see whether it will be enough.
“Of course, I want to win gold, but I
had it once and I know how quickly the
medal loses it’s shine.”
BOTTOMLINE
India’s Yadav cleared of doping
to keep his Rio hopes alive
tional Anti-Doping Agency
(NADA) director general, Navin
Agarwal, told Reuters by phone.
The freestyle wrestler had
said his supplements and water
had been sabotaged and lodged a
police complaint against a junior
wrestler accusing him of contaminating his food at the Sports
Authority of India training centre in Sonepat..
“I want to thank everyone who
supported me. It’s a triumph for
truth,” Yadav told reporters.”
Now I want to go to Rio and bring
back a medal for India.”
Reuters
Mumbai
I
ndia’s Narsingh Yadav was
exonerated of doping charges yesterday after an Indian
anti-doping
disciplinary
panel ruled that there was no
fault or negligence on the part of
the wrestler and he was a victim
of “sabotage”.
Yadav, who secured India a
berth at the Rio Games in the
74kg category by winning a
bronze medal at last year’s world
championships in Las Vegas,
tested positive for a banned steroid last month but now waits to
hear whether he has been granted an Olympics lifeline.
“There is no fault or negligence on the athlete’s part and
he is a victim of sabotage,” Na-
File photograph of Indian
wrestler Narsingh Yadav.
ISSUES GALORE
Yadav’s Olympic berth was initially put in jeopardy when Sushil Kumar, who won bronze
in the 66kg category in Beijing
in 2008 and silver in London,
moved up a weight after his cat-
egory was scrapped and sought
a court order for a bout between the pair to determine who
should go to Rio.
Last month, the Delhi High
Court ruled against Kumar, the
only Indian athlete to win two
individual Olympic medals,
clearing the way for Yadav to
compete in Rio.
The qualification row divided
opinion in the country and Yadav was provided police security, a rare measure for an Indian
athlete, at the Sports Authority of India training centre at
Sonepat due to possible threats
to his life.
Following the positive test,
the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) had provisionally sent
the name of Parveen Rana as replacement for Rio to the United
World Wrestling (UWW) but
“I want to thank everyone
who supported me. It’s a
triumph for truth,” Yadav
told reporters.” Now I want
to go to Rio and bring back a
medal for India”
said it would now approach the
governing body to allow Yadav
to compete at the Olympics.
“We will write to both WADA
and the UWW to allow Narsingh Yadav to compete at the Rio
Games,” Brij Bhushan Sharan
Singh told reporters.
“I am sure Narsingh Yadav
will go to Rio and win a medal
for India.”
Men’s freestyle wrestling
starts in Rio from August 19,
which the WFI said gives ample
time for the wrestler to be reinstated. Now to see if the officials
can work quickly enough.
Jamaican sprinter Elaine
Thompson and 400 metre hurdler Janieve Russell have been
given until Aug. 8 to prove their
fitness for the Rio Olympics after getting medical exemptions
from the national trials, team
bosses said.
Thompson, 2015 world
200 metre silver medallist,
withdrew from the Jamaican
200m final with a hamstring
niggle, two days after clocking
a world leading 10.70 seconds
to win the 100 metres.
Commonwealth Games
bronze medallist Russell set a
season best of 53.96 seconds
on June 2 in Rome, the current
third fastest in the world.
She did not compete in the
trials. Ludlow Watts, manager
of Jamaica’s 59 member track
and field delegation, said they
would be assessed at the
team’s pre-Olympic training
base in Rio de Janeiro by the
Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association technical
committee. “These athletes
have a deadline of Aug. 8 to
prove fitness and that will be
done with the medical team
by the JAAA,” Watts told the
Jamaica Gleaner.
“They will determine whether
the athletes are medically fit
to compete and, in terms of
preparation, if they are ready to
compete in the races.”
A third athlete with a medical
exemption, Hansle Parchment, who won bronze in the
110 metres hurdles at London
2012 and clocked 13.53 seconds just over a week ago, will
also need further tests.
“They have to show that
they are injury-free or quite
relieved of the injury they suffered,” Watts said. Now to see
what happens next.
Americans want politics-free Games
Most Americans want Olympic
athletes to keep their political
views to themselves in Rio de
Janeiro, according to a new
Reuters/Ipsos poll, despite
one of the most intense political build-ups to the Games in
recent decades.
Host nation Brazil has been
roiled by a domestic political
crisis. And in a tense summer of fatal shootings by and
against U.S. police officers,
American activists from the
Black Lives Matter movement recently extended their
campaign to Rio de Janeiro,
marching through the city
with Brazilian partners to protest against violent discrimination by Brazilian police.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll of
3,015 people, interviewed
online over July 22-26, found
that a majority of Americans,
whether they identify as white
or as belonging to a racial
minority, felt that it was best
to keep politics out of the
Olympics.
The poll has a credibility
interval of 2 percent. Overall,
65 percent wanted politics
to play no part in the Games
while about a quarter felt
athletes should express their
political views if they wish.
Forty-eight years after
American-American runners
Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave a Black Power salute
on the medals podium at the
Mexico City Games, Americans from racial minorities are
only slightly more willing to
accept political gestures.
Asked if Olympic athletes
should express their political
views, 52 percent of those
from racial minorities answered no, with about a third
taking the opposite view.
The Rio Games have also been
tinged by a Russian doping
scandal with Cold War overtones, with Russian officials
accusing the West of a political conspiracy to ban dozens
of Russians from competition,
including 67 track and field
athletes.
The poll found 29 percent of
Americans believe that at least
half of all Olympic athletes
use performance-enhancing
drugs, though most think
cheats are a minority.
They were also suspicious of
Chinese athletes, but almost
a third of Americans also felt
their own athletes were more
likely to cheat.
Most British athletes to shun Rio
opening ceremony
Most of Britain’s Olympic
athletes will stay away from
Friday’s opening ceremony
for the Rio Games at the Maracana Stadium, team officials
said yesterday.
“It will be a fairly small delegation of athletes marching,”
British Olympic Association
(BOA) chief executive Bill
Sweeney told reporters at the
Olympic Park in Barra.
“We’ve got a big crew still up
in Belo Horizonte training and
athletes who are competing
24 or 48 hours after the opening ceremony.
“So we expect the marching
athletes to be in the region of
about 55 or so. Given the fact
that we’ve got a total team
size of 366, it’s quite a small
number but their priorities are
on competition.”
British team head Mark England expected golfer Justin
Rose and tennis player Andy
Murray, the 2012 Olympic
champion, to be among those
who did attend the ceremony.
TeamGB is hoping for the
country’s best away Games,
with a target of at least 48
medals — one more than
Beijing in 2008.
Brazil’s interim president,
Michel Temer, will declare
the first Games held in South
America open on Friday after
the televised ceremony that
culminates with the lighting of
the Olympic cauldron.
3
4
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
ROAD TO RIO
SPOTLIGHT
IN SHORT
South Korean
women on tee to
drive for golf gold
‘Our goal is to bring back the gold, silver and bronze medals, but honestly I don’t
want to pressure the players’
Fast car sped Webster on road to Rio
A Porsche parked outside an
inner-city gym provided a fast
solution for British weightlifter
Sonny Webster’s Olympic
funding problems.
The sports car stood out in the
gritty St Paul’s neighbourhood
of Bristol that day in 2011 and
Webster, now preparing for
his first Games, recalled how
he enquired at the door about
the owner.
“I asked the guy on the door
who the car belonged to and
was told, ‘That’s Jeff ’s’. So I
walked into the gym and just
shouted out, ‘Who’s Jeff?’,”
said the 22-year-old.
“This guy stuck his hand up
and said, ‘Me’. I just shouted
back if he fancied sponsoring
me for 500 pounds ($661.10).
I only meant it as a one offpayment but he shouted back,
‘500 a month? OK, sure’.”
Webster said the money from
businessman Jeff Dovey
allowed him to train full time
and realise his dream of qualifying for the Olympics.
He will compete in the 94kg
division in Rio.
No luck of the Irish on Behan’s road
to the Olympics
The luck of the Irish has
not often been with artistic
gymnast Kieran Behan who
has once again overcome
seemingly impossible odds to
represent Ireland at the Rio de
Janeiro Olympics.
Injury, illness and financial
worries have all conspired at
different times to keep Behan
from realising his Olympic
dreams but the determined
27-year-old would not be denied a return appearance on
the Summer Games stage.
There is never a shortage of
inspiring stories at an Olympics but Behan’s is hard to top.
At 11 years old he was told he
would never walk again when
botched surgery to remove a
tumour in his left leg resulted
in severe nerve damage.
Behan would indeed walk
again and even return to the
gym and gymnastics.
The plucky Irishman’s determination was put to the ultimate
test a few years later, however,
when he slammed his head
on the horizontal bar during
a training session, suffering a
traumatic brain injury that left
him in a wheelchair for most
of the next three years.
There were more obstacles to
overcome after that, including a fractured wrist and
torn knee ligaments before
he finally achieved his goal
of qualifying for the London
Games, becoming just the
second gymnast from Ireland
to compete at the Olympics.
“Never, never, ever, ever lose
hope,” said Behan following a Rio training session.
“Everyone has their struggles
— whether it’s economical,
whether it’s physical, whether
it’s absolutely anything.”
Behan’s road to Rio was filled
with more pot holes.
He would undergo a fifth
knee operation and the grind
of working in two jobs while
training.
“I’ve been through a hell of a
lot worse, in terms of being
told you’d never walk again or
you’re not going to get out of
a wheelchair,” said Behan. “I’m
made of some strong stuff.
“Everybody has that fire in
them. I think you have to
realise what it takes to light
it for yourself and to never
lose hope.”
Willett looks for another chance to
shine, at Olympics
File picture of Korean
golfer Park In-Bee
AFP
Seoul
A
s golf returns to the Olympics after more than a century,
South Korea’s women golfers
are targeting a medal sweep and
the start of a golden dynasty to match
their archery compatriots.
The decision to bring golf back as an
individual event should suit the Korean
players who are products of an ultracompetitive domestic tour that continues to churn out world-class players.
The qualifying rules for Rio de Janeiro
were based on global rankings, with the
world’s top 15 players on July 11 getting an
automatic berth, with a maximum of four
of those from any one country.
The rest of the 60-woman field is
made up from those next in line on the
world rankings list up to a maximum of
two players per country.
At the cut-off date, South Korea accounted for half the women’s top 10 slots
and had four more players in the top 20.
But the restriction to four competitors
meant some seriously talented golfers
missed out.
“It shows how great those players
are playing week in, week out,” world
number one Lydia Ko said in a recent interview with ESPN.
“I’m kind of glad I’m not amongst
that,” said Ko, who is South Korean by
birth but represents New Zealand, where
she has lived since the age of six.
FEARLESS FOURSOME
South Korea are the only country eligible
to send the maximum four women golfers
to Rio, with world number three Park InBee leading the medal hopes.
She is joined by the fifth-ranked Kim
Sei-Young, Amy Yang (seventh) and
Chun In-Gee (ninth).
The depth of talent is such that the
world number 10, Jang Ha-Na, failed to
make the cut as did Ryu So-Yeun (12th),
Park Sung-Hyun (16th), Lee Bo-Mee
(17th) and Kim Hyo-Joo (19th).
Not only that, South Korea boast another 11 in the women’s official world
rankings top 50.
The depth of talent echoes that in the
South Korean women’s archery team,
where competition for Olympic spots is
always intensely fierce.
The women archers have won 14 of the
15 golds on offer since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
The golfers will have to overcome some
stiff competition to achieve that level of
dominance, but coach Pak Se-Ri is setting the bar as high as it will go.
An iconic sporting figure in South Korea,
Pak won 25 LPGA titles, including five majors, and is widely credited with inspiring
the “Korean wave” in women’s golf.
“Our goal is to bring back the gold,
silver and bronze medals, but honestly I
don’t want to pressure the players,” she
told a press conference last week.
Among those standing in the way of a
Korean podium sweep are the formidable figures of top-ranked Ko and world
number two Brooke Henderson of Canada.
There are also concerns over the form
of world number three Park who has
spent months battling a thumb injury
that forced her to withdraw from multiple events, including last weekend’s British Open.
If any further incentive were needed,
the Korea Golf Association has offered a
cash prize of 300 million won ($265,000)
to anyone bringing back gold.
“It’s not mandatory for us to give prize
money but we want to motivate our players,” said KGA official Ko Sang-Won.
Unlike the men’s side of the golf event,
the women’s field has been largely unaffected by fears over the Zika virus.
The world’s four top-ranked men -Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy -- have all opted to
avoid Rio, citing the virus which has been
linked to birth defects.
While Pak acknowledged some health
concerns, she said they were overcome by
the lure of a possible Olympic medal.
“Korean players seem to attach different meaning to playing in the Olympics
than others,” she said.
The South Korean athletes in Rio have
been given special uniforms infused with
mosquito repellent to combat the Zika risk.
BOTTOMLINE
‘Manx Missile’ targets elusive gold
aim is to win an Olympic medal
and I’m so pleased to have been
given this opportunity.
“I’m proudly patriotic and I
love every time I get to pull on
the Great Britain jersey and the
Olympics is the biggest thing I
can do.
I wouldn’t have done it unless
I thought I could medal in my
two events,” added Cavendish,
who is also a reserve for the team
pursuit.
AFP
London
I
t’s now or never for British
cycling great Mark Cavendish in his goal to at last win
an Olympic medal.
In theory everything appears in mint condition for the
31-year-old ‘Manx Missile’ to
fill the one hole in his CV as he
arrives in Rio fresh from four
stage wins in the Tour de France
— taking his total to 30, just four
shy of Eddie Mercx’s record.
However, Cavendish — who
pulled out of the Tour de France
early so as to preserve his
strength for the Games — will
have to adapt quickly as he is
not competing on the road but
reverts to the track, something
he has not competed at in the
Games since 2008.
Cavendish teams up with
Wiggins in the six-discipline
Omnium in Rio — the duo having won the world title this year
in the Madison — and hope for
a happier outcome than when
File picture of British cyclist Mark Cavendish.
they finished ninth in the 2008
Beijing Games.
“Olympic gold is one thing
left - I’ve tried it twice and I was
in superb form on both days and
they eluded me,” said Cavendish, whose other appearance at
the Games saw him squeezed
out of contention in London.
“I’ve made no secret that my
BORN TO RACE
Cavendish, who won the world
road race title in 2011 when the
team was captained by one of his
idols as a boy David Millar, fell in
love with competitive cycling at
an early age.
He would often compete in
mountain bike races while racing
an ordinary BMX.
Frustrated at his failure to
compete, he pestered his parents
for a mountain bike to level the
playing field.
“I got one for my thirteenth
birthday. The very next day I
went out and beat everyone,” he
said in a 2008 interview.
Cavendish, though, has had to
battle hard to make it as a professional and despite sometimes
being accused of arrogance, is
described as down-to-earth by
those closest to him.
Indeed Cavendish showed
his sensitivity when he won the
opening stage of this year’s Tour
de France, which climaxed at
Utah Beach, one of the landing
sites for the Allied Forces on DDay in 1944.
After collecting the yellow
jersey, Cavendish was part of a
moving ceremony to remember
the war dead.
“I wanted to be involved with
the armed forces in the UK and to
finish here at Utah Beach was an
incredible opportunity to remember and respect not just D-Day
but those who’ve fought and died
in all wars for our freedom in the
western world,” said Cavendish.
“I wanted to (dedicate) this
victory and say thank you to
those great men and women
and friends back in the UK who
served in the armed forces.”
Masters champion Danny
Willett said he was looking forward to the Rio Olympics next
month and another chance to
shine on the world golf stage.
Willett birdied his last two
holes to close with a level 70
on the drenched Baltusrol
layout at the PGA Championship on Sunday, but finished
on five-over 285, hurt by a
third-round 74 for another
2016 major disappointment
since his Augusta triumph.
“It’s a little disappointing, obviously,” Willett told reporters
after leaving the scoring tent.”
After a memorable opening
it’s not quite come down as we
have hoped.”
Willett tied for 37th at the US
Open at Oakmont and tied
for 53rd at the British Open at
Royal Troon after collecting
his maiden major title.
The 28-year-old Englishman
now looks ahead to some
down time to recharge and
then to play in golf’s return
to the Olympic stage after an
absence of 112 years.
“Going down to Florida for a
week, chill out for a few days
and then off to Rio on Saturday or Sunday,” Willett said.
“I think everyone going to Rio
is looking forward to it. It’s getting close now, a lot of guys
heading down there already,”
he said.
“A lot of athletes are already
in the villages. By the time
we get there the place will
be absolutely buzzing. I’m
looking forward to watching
the opening ceremony on TV
because I won’t be there yet.
But watching on TV, you kind
of get the scale of it.”
Willett said he felt he was
striking the ball well, but not
getting good results with his
putting, taking 32 putts in
each of the four rounds.
“The putting is not great,” he
said. “I struggled a little bit.
“It’s just not all quite come
together the same time. Every
miss today led to bogey. I
missed three fairways, made
three bogeys. “Now to see
what happens.
Zika will not be issue at Olympics,
says Rio health official
The risk of Zika virus infections at the Olympic Games
in Rio de Janeiro is low and
has been overcome, health
officials in Brazil said on
Sunday, five days before South
America’s first Games are due
to begin.
Rio de Janeiro’s health secretary, Daniel Soranz, said Zika
should not deter travellers
from coming to the Games, as
cases of the virus had dipped
significantly in recent months.
The mosquito-borne virus has
been linked to microcephaly,
a birth defect among babies
of pregnant mothers infected
by Zika, and its discovery in
Brazil last year led to concern
over the Games, which are
expected to attract some
500,000 visitors.
However, with dry and cooler
weather in Rio amid the southern hemisphere winter, the
incidence of Zika and other
mosquito-borne diseases such
as dengue and Chikungunya
has declined sharply in recent
months. “Since November
of last year, we have already
been showing projections and
scientific studies that show
this won’t be an issue during
the Olympics,” Soranz told a
news conference.
“Since two weeks before the
Games, the number of cases
were almost non-existent. In
the city, cases are very rare
and for us it is an issue that we
“Since two weeks before
the Games, the number of
cases were almost nonexistent. In the city, cases
are very rare and for us it
is an issue that we have
more than overcome.”
have more than overcome,”
he said.
Some 500,000 people are
expected to visit the Rio
Olympics, which have been
overshadowed not only by
Zika but also by concerns over
crime and delays to infrastructure.
The metro line due to carry
visitors from the city centre to
the distant western neighbourhood of Barra de Tijuca
that is hosting the Games was
inaugurated only on Saturday.
Despite the alarm over Zika,
US government epidemiologists estimated in June that
the Olympics presented only
tiny risks of propagating the
epidemic, which has spread
rapidly through the Americas
since it was discovered in
Brazil last year.
They noted that an estimated
240 million people travel
yearly to areas infected with
the virus, and said 500,000
more in Rio was not a major
threat. Zika is spread primarily
through the bite of an infected
mosquito, although it can
also spread through sexual
transmission.
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
5
ROAD TO RIO
SPOTLIGHT
The modern legends, from
Phelps to that man Bolt
We take a look at five great athletes who achieved greatness for their country in the Olympics between 1984 to 2012
Johnson, always a vehement voice
against doping, returned his medal as
he felt he had not won it legitimately.
He was nevertheless the only man to
win 400m gold twice (1996, 2000) and
also won a 4x400m relay gold in 1992
and a 200m gold in Atlanta four years
later when he smashed his own world
record (19.66) by more than threetenths of a second with a scarcely
believable 19.32sec in the final – the
largest improvement in a 200m world
record in history.
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
T
he 31st Summer Olympics
starts on August 5 in Rio de Janeiro. Here AFP Sport takes a
look at the modern legends of
the Games:
STEVE REDGRAVE
The awesome oarsman
The
message
couldn’t
have
been any clearer
when, at Lake
Lanier
outside
Atlanta in 1996,
Britain’s Redgrave
declared: “Anybody who sees
me in a boat has
my permission to
shoot me.” Redgrave had, at the age of 34, just won
rowing gold for the fourth Games in a
row and on live TV, he announced his
retirement in unequivocal fashion.
Yet four years later – after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 1997,
and suffering with debilitating ulcerative colitis since before the 1992
Barcelona Games – he put his ailing,
38-year-old body through a punishing training regime one last time and
achieved another Olympic triumph, as
a member of the coxless fours.
In doing so Redgrave became the
only endurance sport athlete to win
five golds in five consecutive Games:
1984 (coxed fours), 1988, 1992, 1996
(coxless pairs) and 2000 (coxless
fours).His secret? “I decided that diabetes had to live with me, not me live
with it,” he said.
MICHAEL PHELPS
The most decorated Olympian
A hyperactive child, Phelps was encouraged into swimming aged seven
to give his boundless energy an outlet,
and became the most decorated Olympian of all time.
The “Baltimore Bullet” came home
empty-handed from his first Games at
Sydney 2000 when just 15.
But a slew of world records over the
next three years led to a dominant display at Athens 2004 as Phelps took six
gold and two bronze medals, the sec-
ond-best performance at an Olympic
Games after fellow US swimmer Mark
Spitz’s seven golds in 1972.
At Beijing four years later, Phelps
claimed the all-time record when in
the 4x100m medley relay he completed a haul of eight golds in one Games —
seven of them with world record times.
Australian arch-rival Ian Thorpe
had prior to Athens said it would be
“impossible” to win eight golds – a
statement which Phelps kept on his
locker as a motivation.
At London four years later he became the most decorated Olympian of
all time, taking his total to 18 golds, two
silvers and two bronzes.
Having just turned 31, he is aiming
to extend his record in his fifth Games
this year, having qualified for three individual events at the recent US trials
by winning the 100m butterfly, 200m
butterfly and 200m individual medley.
IAN THORPE
The freestyle king
“Thorpedo” won five gold medals,
the most by an Australian, with three in
his home Sydney 2000 Games (400m
free, 4x200m and 4x100m freestyle
relays) and two more in Athens (400m
free, 200m free) four years later.
At the 2004 Games, Michael Phelps
opted to compete in the 200m freestyle
in a quest to win a record eight gold
medals, which Thorpe called “impossible”. The 200m final was dubbed the
“Race of the Century” as Thorpe and
Phelps lined up against two former
world record-holders, Pieter van den
Hoogenband of the Netherlands and
Australia’s Grant Hackett.
It proved Thorpe’s greatest victory.
Van den Hoogenband turned more
than a second ahead of world record
pace at 100 metres but Thorpe was
never more than a body length away
and chased the Dutchman down in
the final 50 metres to take gold in an
Olympic record 1min 44.71sec, with
Phelps third.
Thorpe could not contain his emotion at his victory as he tore off his cap,
punched the air wildly and screamed at
the top of his lungs.
Thorpe also won three Olympic silvers and a bronze in his only two Games
before retiring at the age of 24 in 2006.
An ill-fated comeback attempt saw
him fail to make the cut for London
2012.
MICHAEL JOHNSON
The one-lap master
The American dominated the 200m
and 400m sprints in the final decade
of the 20th century, winning four gold
medals in the Barcelona (1992), Atlanta
(1996) and Sydney (2000) Games.
His tally could have been five as he was
part of the 4x400m US relay team that
crossed the line first in Sydney but was
stripped of the title eight years later, after Antonio Pettigrew admitted doping.
Usain Bolt has since lowered the
mark, but Johnson’s 400 metres world
record of 43.18sec set in Seville in 1999
still stands to this day.
USAIN BOLT
Lightning that struck twice
The fastest man the world has ever
seen, the “Lightning Bolt” shot to
worldwide fame in Beijing in 2008 as
the first man to do the 100m-200m
sprint double since American Carl
Lewis in 1984, and then became the
first in Olympic history to repeat the
feat with his London triumphs.
Not only that, in Beijing the lanky,
laid-back Jamaican smashed world
records in both sprint finals and he
went on to lower the 100m and 200m
marks a year later, to 9.58sec and
19.19sec respectively.
He also anchored Jamaica’s 4x100m
sprint relay team to gold in both
Games, also in world record times.
With six golds already, Bolt is aiming
at an unprecedented “treble-treble”
in Rio which, if achieved, may never
be matched. He has also won a record
11 world championships gold medals
since 2009.
OLYMPIC LEGENDS: 1976 - 1988
From Nadia Comaneci to Carl Lewis, the original
superhumans who inspired generations
W
ith the 31st Summer Olympics set to begin in a
few days, here are a few
athletes who captured our
imagination back in the days with their
remarkable feats.
NADIA COMANECI
The perfect 10
Perfection is a rare commodity but
40 years ago in Montreal, Romanian
gymnast Comaneci achieved it seven
times, in the eyes of the judges, when
she was just 14.
Belarussian Olga Korbut had paved
the way for Comaneci’s success four
years earlier in Munich, when her spectacular feats on the beam and uneven
bars won her three gold medals, ignited
gymnastics’ popularity and set off a
fierce rivalry with the tiny Romanian.
The result was Comaneci, then only
4ft 11in (1.50m) tall, scoring the first
ever perfect 10.00 scores — four times
on the uneven bars, and three times
on the beam, as she won gold in both
events plus the all-round title.
Another two gold medals were to follow at the Moscow Games in 1980.
Fellow gymnasts detailed abuse
and beatings at the hands of coach
Bela Karolyi, and while under his care
Comaneci was once rushed to hospital
after reportedly drinking bleach.
Comaneci competed until 1981, and
fled Romania just before the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989.
She now lives in the United States,
where her business interests include a
gymnastics academy.
GREG LOUGANIS
The greatest diver?
America’s Louganis dominated his
sport in the 1980s when he won two
gold medals at Los Angeles in 1984 and
defended both titles at Seoul in 1988,
despite famously smashing his head on
the springboard.
File picture of
Nadia Comaneci.
Louganis may have finished his career with more Olympic titles if not for
the USA boycott of the Moscow Games
in 1980.
The enduring image of Louganis is
when he painfully hit the back of his
head during a reverse two-and-a-half
somersault in pike in the preliminary
rounds at Seoul — the stuff of nightmares for divers.
But after stitches, he recovered his
composure to reach the final and then
win the title, cementing burnishing his
golden-boy image.
However, life had never been easy for
Louganis, the adopted son of a Swedish-Samoan teenage couple who was
bullied at school, abused by his business manager and found out he was
HIV positive six months before the
Seoul Games.
He came out publicly as gay in an Oprah Winfrey interview in 1995, prompting criticism in some quarters about the
bloody head-injury incident in Seoul.
EDWIN MOSES
The man no one could beat
For nine years, nine months and nine
days, nobody finished in front of Moses,
who set four world records in the process. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, his
first international event, 20-year-old
Moses won the 400m hurdles by eight
metres, the largest margin of victory
in the event’s history, also breaking the
world record.
Moses missed the 1980 Games because of the US boycott, but won a second gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 and a bronze at the 1988
Seoul Olympics, when he was 33.
When asked how he wanted to be remembered, Moses once said: “Hopefully,
as the guy nobody could beat.” His final
world record of 47.02sec was set in 1983
and was only broken by the current holder, Kevin Young, in 1992, when he ran
46.78 in the Barcelona Olympics final.
DALEY THOMPSON
King of the decathletes
Thompson was a child at boarding
school when his father was shot dead
in an argument in the street, but he
overcame the tragedy to become the
most celebrated decathlete in history,
winning two Olympic gold medals and
setting four world records in his career.
The Briton, whose fierce competitive drive and irreverent attitude divided opinion, won his first Olympic
title at the 1980 Moscow Games, which
were overshadowed by Cold War tensions and were boycotted by the United
States and West Germany.
But he won over the normally proSoviet Moscow crowd, who gave him a
standing ovation at his victory ceremony.
Four years later in Los Angeles,
Thompson had to dig deep in a hardfought battle with Germany’s Jurgen
Hingsen, the world record-holder, until
strong performances in the discus, pole
vault and javelin made him championelect before the final event, the 1,500m.
Thompson could afford to finish 11
seconds below his personal best and
still break Hingsen’s decathlon world
record, but instead he cantered down
the final straight to finish a whisker too
slow to set a new mark.
At the press conference, he wore a Tshirt emblazoned with the message, “Is
the world’s 2nd greatest athlete gay?”, a
provocative reference to rumours about
Carl Lewis. He also made jokes about
fathering a child with Princess Anne,
another incident which created negative headlines in his hour of triumph.
Thompson’s athletic achievements
are not in doubt: between 1979 and
1987, he was undefeated in all competitions, and he is the only decathlete
to hold the world, Olympic, Commonwealth and European titles at the same
time.”All I ever wanted to be was the
best. I don’t enjoy fame,” he told the Independent in 2008.
CARL LEWIS
The heir to Owens
Lewis stole the show at the 1984 Los
Angeles Games, when he matched Jesse
Owens’ achievement of winning four
gold medals in the 100m, the 200m,
the long jump and the 4x100m relay, in
front of his home fans.
In 1988, Lewis gained a second gold
medal in the 100m after Ben Johnson
was disqualified for doping, and also
defended his long jump title and picked
up a silver in the 200m.
And in Barcelona in 1992, the American was a winner again as he anchored
the 4x100m relay team to victory and
picked up a third long jump gold medal,
stunning world record-holder Mike
Powell in the final.
Four years later, Lewis defended his
long jump title for a fourth time, when
as a 35-year-old underdog he summoned up one last golden leap to reach
a career tally of nine Olympic titles.
He was named male athlete of the
century by the IAAF in 1999, and
sportsman of the century by the International Olympic Committee.
But despite his successes, Lewis’s aloof
attitude rankled with rivals and spectators alike, puncturing his popularity.
Worse was to come when in 2003, it
was revealed that he failed three drugs
tests for small amounts of stimulants at
the US Olympic trials before the 1988
Seoul Games, where Canada’s Johnson
was vilified for doping. “The climate
was different then,” Lewis said later.
“Over the years a lot of people will sit
around and debate that (the drug) does
something. There really is no pure evidence to show that it does something.
It does nothing.”
6
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
FOOTBALL
Austria to look into banned
coach and cellphone incident
Wolfsburg sign Poland
midfielder Blaszczykowski
Sane undergoes medical
check with Man City
Menez set to join
Bordeaux from AC Milan
Guarin brace helps Shanghai
Shenhua win Yangtze derby
Austrian football authorities said yesterday they
will be investigating allegations that a trainer who
had been banished to the stadium seats had
illegally used a mobile phone to continue coaching
his side. The Austrian Bundesliga league said its
disciplinary board was to take up the allegations
against Damir Canadi, coach of the first-division
club SCR Altach, in the incident during his team’s
1-0 victory on Sunday against Rapid Vienna. Canadi had been banished to the stands after he had
run out onto the pitch to celebrate with his players
following the goal against Rapid. The 46-year-old
trainer was then seen speaking animatedly on his
mobile phone, the suspicion being that it was with
someone on the bench, in order to give further
directions to his team. This would be a violation of
league rules prohibiting such contact and could
result in a suspension of the coach.
Wolfsburg have signed Poland midfielder Jakub
Blaszczykowski from Borussia Dortmund on a
three-year contract, the Bundesliga side confirmed
yesterday. The 30-year-old spent last year on loan
at Fiorentina and featured for Poland at Euro 2016,
scoring against both Ukraine and Switzerland
before missing the decisive penalty in the Poles’
quarter-final shootout defeat by Portugal. Blaszczykowski, who twice won the Bundesliga with
Dortmund and was a defeated Champions League
finalist in 2013, moves for an undisclosed fee, having signed a contract until 2019. “Jakub is a great
fit for the team, not only because of his footballing
qualities but also because he leads by example
when it comes to determination, commitment and
passion,” Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs
told the club’s website. “He’s someone who completely identifies with the club he plays for."
Leroy Sane underwent a medical check with Manchester City yesterday, his club Schalke 04 has confirmed, with the imminent deal reportedly worth a
record 50mn euros ($55.8mn). If the transfer goes
through, and hits the 50mn mark, it would make
Sane the most expensive German signing of all
time. The 20-year-old is a rising star in the Germany
squad. The fleet-footed forward made the last of his
four international appearances for the world champions as a replacement in last month’s 2-0 defeat
to hosts France, when he played the last 11 minutes
of the semi-final of Euro 2016. Sane, who scored
eight goals in 33 Bundesliga games last season,
was missing when Schalke flew to their pre-season
training camp in Austria yesterday. The Royal Blues
of Gelsenkirchen confirmed he is in Manchester
where he is expected to sign a five-year deal to
work under city’s new coach Pep Guardiola.
France international Jeremy Menez is set to join
Bordeaux from Italian giants AC Milan, pending a
medical, the Ligue 1 club announced yesterday.
Menez would be Bordeaux’s third signing ahead
of the new season following the arrivals of veteran midfielder Jeremy Toulalan and Guinea striker
Francois Kamano. The 29-year-old spent the past
two seasons in Italy after joining Milan from Paris
Saint-Germain, making an instant impression with
16 league goals in 33 appearances during the
2014-15 campaign. But the winger struggled with
injury last term as Milan limped to a disappointing
seventh-place finish in Serie A. Menez has been
capped 24 times at international level but last
played for France in 2013. Bordeaux had been
looking to reinforce their attack after losing Mali
striker Cheick Diabate, the club’s leading scorer
last season, to Turkish side Osmanlispor.
A brace from ex-Internazionale midfielder Fredy
Guarin helped Shanghai Shenhua triumph 3-2
over Jiangsu Suning at the weekend in the
first ever Chinese Super League match to be
broadcast live in Britain. Guarin sealed victory
for Shenhua with a deflected drive from outside
the box 10 minutes from time in a nail-biting
Yangtze delta derby. Visitors Suning had taken the
lead at 21 minutes with a fortuitous header from
Colombian international striker Roger Martinez,
which bounced freakishly over home goalkeeper
Li Shuai and into the net. The Chinese league was
long known for scandals and corruption but has
drawn attention more recently for paying vast
sums to secure foreign talent, including around
$61mn for Brazilian forward Hulk last month. The
match at Shanghai’s Hongkou stadium was the
first CSL contest to be televised live in Britain.
FOCUS
‘Finally, let’s go...’,
tweets Goetze on
Dortmund return
‘It’s primarily about one thing for both of them: performance, performance and
performance. Neither Mario nor Andre have had top years behind them and they
have not taken the easy path. It’s clear they will be scrutinised in the public eye’
AFP
Berlin
PRE-SEASON WARM-UP
Arsenal wrap up US
tour with Chivas win
AFP
Los Angeles
A
lex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored a secondhalf goal on a brilliant
solo effort as English
giants Arsenal earned their second win of their US tour by defeating Chivas Guadalajara 3-1.
Oxlade-Chamberlain scored
just five minutes into the second half, using a back heel flick
to loose a Chivas defender, and
then cut to the middle before
hammering a left-footed shot
into the far corner.
England Under-21 striker
Chuba Akpom out-muscled a
Chivas player in front of the goal
in the 56th minute to make it 3-0
in front of a crowd of 24,000 at
the StubHub Center stadium in
south central Los Angeles.
Akpom also scored the winner in Arsenal’s 2-1 victory over
the Major League Soccer allstar team on Thursday in San
Jose, California.
The 20-year-old is hoping to
establish himself in Arsenal’s
first team squad this season
and was impressive during the
Gunners pre-season tour of the
United States.
Rob Holding opened the scoring for Arsenal off a free kick in
the 34th minute. Holding tapped
into an empty net from in close
after Calum Chambers redirected the long kick with his left foot
to the unguarded Holding.
Angel Zaldivar scored late for
Mexico’s Chivas to make it 3-1,
but the Premier League side remained in command.
Chivas, who play in Liga MX,
Mexico’s top division, is one of
the most winning teams in the
history of Mexican soccer, with
11 league titles and a CONCACAF
Championship. Arsenal’s Joel
Campbell was fortunate that
he didn’t get slapped with a red
card after he confronted a Chivas
player in the midfield. Both players received yellow cards.
G
ermany’s World Cup winner
Mario Goetze relished his return to Borussia Dortmund’s
pre-season training yesterday
for the first time after three barren years at
Bayern Munich.
Alongside fellow new signings Andre
Schuerrle and Raphael Guerreiro, Goetze
was put through his paces with a series
of fitness tests at Bochum University by
Borussia’s backroom staff.
The trio joined a group of six players
returning from their holidays after international duty including Poland’s Lukasz
Piszczek, Julian Weigl and South Korean
Park Joo-Ho.
“Finally, let’s go...,” wrote Goezte on
his Twitter account under a picture of the
Germany star on a treadmill.
His first training session with the full
Dortmund squad takes place tomorrow with Borussia to host his former club
Bayern for the German Super Cup on August 14.
Goezte left Dortmund for arch-rivals
Bayern at the end of the 2012/13 season and
lived up to his billing as a rising Germany
star by volleying home Schuerrle’s cross in
extra-time for the winning goal in the 2014
World Cup final against Argentina.
But he has endured three unproductive
years at Bayern, mainly spent on the bench
or injured, having failed to impress coach
Pep Guardiola or hold down a first-team
place, despite collecting three back-toback Bundesliga winner’s medals.
Having paid 37mn euros ($41.31mn) for
Goetze in 2013, Bayern sold him back to
Dortmund for 26mn last month and the
24-year-old has plenty to prove again in
the black and yellow shirt.
Likewise, Schuerrle needs some good
performances after 18 months at Wolfsburg, having failed to impress on his return
from an unsuccessful spell at Chelsea, and
has been signed by Dortmund for around
30mn euros.
“At the end of the day, it’s primarily
about one thing for both of them: performance, performance, performance,” Dortmund’s director of sport Michael Zorc said.
“Neither Mario nor Andre have had top
years behind them and they have not taken
the easy path. For them, it’s clear that they
will be scrutinised in the public eye.”
Having come up through Dortmund’s
academy, only to turn his back to join Bayern, Goetze could encounter some hostility from Dortmund’s fans, at least initially.
“If some people feel compelled to boo
him, they should do it,” Dortmund CEO
Hans-Joachim Watzke said on the subject
of Goetze’s return, with their first game
of the league season at home to Mainz on
August 27. “We have a democracy. But I’ll
react like an allergy when someone is personally insulted. That doesn’t do anyone
any good.”
Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel says
his goal is to see Goetze ‘laugh again’ with
good performances, after scowling his way
through the last few months in Munich.
Tuchel has also added Portugal leftback Guerreiro, midfielder Sebastian
Rode, former Barcelona defender Marc
Bartra and exciting teenage striker Ousmane Dembele.
Schuerrle is a direct replacement for
Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has left to join
Manchester United, as Dortmund try to
end Bayern’s four-year stranglehold on
the Bundesliga title with Carlo Ancelotti
now in charge of the Munich giants.
Arsenal's (from left) Alex Iwobi, Theo Walcott, Rob Holding and
Calum Chambers celebrate a goal against Chivas de Guadalajara in
their pre-season clash in Carson, California. Arsenal won 3-1. (AFP)
SPOTLIGHT
Sunderland boss
Moyes happy
with EPL return
AFP
London
S
underland boss David
Moyes insists he has
been revitalised by his
spell out of management
as he looks to bring stability to
the Stadium of Light.
Moyes had been out of work for
eight months after being sacked
by Real Sociedad last November,
but the former Manchester United and Everton manager feels reinvigorated after returning to the
Premier League. The 53-year-old
Scot was hired last month to replace Sam Allardyce, who left
Sunderland to take the England
job, and yesterday he held his first
press conference in his new role.
Moyes’ reputation was tarnished by his nightmare spell at
Old Trafford, which ended with
his sacking after less than a season in charge of United, and his
underwhelming spell in Spain.
But he is adamant his sabbatical has helped give him a
fresh outlook and more insight
into the keys to success at a club
who have narrowly avoided relegation for the last two seasons.
“It was great to play golf and
spend time with my family but
this is what I do and I want to get
back and get on with it,” Moyes
said. “I think modern management means that more managers will take breaks in their career with the way it is.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been
away from the game, I watched
as much football as I can. I’ve
been to watch training from
other sides of the world and
I’ve involved with UEFA a lot,
whether it’s been watching the
Euros or whether it’s been taking the Pro Licence coaches. I’ve
been out but I’ve been busy.
“This has now got to be a
building job. I’m here for four
years and I want to bring a level
of stability back to the club.”
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
7
FOOTBALL
INTERVIEW
Rooney detects return of
the ‘old’ United, blames
Hodgson for Euro debacle
‘It was Roy’s decision to make changes against Slovakia and either way, the team he put out should have been
able to win. But, right or wrong, I wanted to play and I can’t deny that. When I came on it was difficult to change the
game, impossible really. I was running around just trying to get the energy back into the team. Watching, I felt we
lacked aggression—in the running, in the passing, we didn’t have the tempo, so that’s what I was trying to create’
The Guardian
London
Manchester United forward
Wayne Rooney in action during
the pre-season friendly against
Galatasaray of Sweden, in
Gothenburg on Saturday.
United won 5-2. (Reuters)
W
ayne Rooney believes there
is a sense of the “old”
Manchester United around
the Premier League club
and that the squad is confident they can
compete strongly for the title.
United have already added to Zlatan
Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly and Henrikh
Mkhitaryan to last season’s side and
the return of Paul Pogba appears to be a
matter of time.
Rooney, the team’s captain, says the
feeling in the dressing room is that they
have turned a corner. “I think the players
feel this is more like the old Manchester
United,” he told the Daily Mail. “It’s not
just the new signings, we’ve got Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford from
last season who made such an impact.”
“We’re in a very good spot now, we
think we can challenge for the Premier
League, and we want to put a marker
down in the Community Shield with
Leicester (on Sunday),” he added.
The arrival of Pogba, who left for
Juventus in 2012, will energise United
further and Rooney thinks the France
international will feel he still has work
to complete at Old Trafford.
“He had great ability, some of the
things he could do, and he’s gone up a
level since he left us,” Rooney said. “I
hope he is going to want to return to
United and prove he’s a top-class player. If he’s excited to play for us, we’ll be
excited to have him back. I’m sure he’ll
feel there is unfinished business, and
it would be a very big statement by the
club if they can make it happen.”
Rooney is expected to contribute
from a forward role this season, one
more familiar than the midfield position
he occupied for the bulk of 2015-16. He
says José Mourinho’s plans should give
him the freedom he enjoys and have led
to a switch in his mentality.
“He wants us to play with a lot of
freedom, a lot of rotation in the forward
positions, lots of opportunities to score
goals – and I think I can do that, score the
goals to help us be successful,” he said.
“Getting that mentality back, from
being a midfield player to being a goalscorer again is what I’ve been working on
all pre-season. I’d known for a long time
I could play midfield if I had to, and the
way United were playing as a team at the
time it was the role I most enjoyed.”
Among the changes Rooney would
make to the England set-up is the
amount of downtime afforded to the
players, with the intensity of an international tournament denying them the
breaks from football that are built into
the domestic schedule.
“If you’re watching football, talking
football, thinking about football 24/7,
then your head’s constantly working,
you never get those moments to have
a coffee or go to a restaurant, have a
game of gold like you would the rest of
the time,” he said. “And I think that’s
the start, really, to try and get the lads
working more like they do at home.”
‘Faulty team selection
led to early Euro exit’
Wayne Rooney also blamed England’s
Euro 2016 humiliation on Roy Hodgson’s unsuccessful selection gamble.
Hodgson made six changes for England’s final group match against Slovakia and the subsequent goalless draw
cost England first place in their group.
England captain Rooney was one of
those rested by Hodgson and the Manchester United forward says the loss of
momentum caused by Hodgson’s decision was instrumental in the team’s
stunning last 16 defeat against minnows Iceland.
“I wouldn’t have rested six players.
It’s more than half the team. It was a
gamble and it didn’t pay off,” Rooney
told the Daily Mail. “We had lost momentum from the Slovakia game and
tournament football is about confidence. You get that from winning. We
didn’t play great in the friendlies, but
we won. So you try to build, even from
before the tournament, but we couldn’t
get that consistency once it began.”
“It was Roy’s decision to make changes against Slovakia and either way, the
team he put out should have been able
to win. But, right or wrong, I wanted to
play and I can’t deny that,” he added.
Rooney came on as a substitute
against Slovakia, but the 30-year-old
insists Hodgson, who stepped down
immediately after the Iceland debacle,
should have retained the team that de-
feated Wales in the previous fixture.
“When I came on against Slovakia it
was difficult to change the game, impossible really. I was running around
just trying to get the energy back into
the team,” he said. “Watching, I felt we
lacked aggression — in the running, in
the passing, we didn’t have the tempo,
so that’s what I was trying to create.”
Sam Allardyce has replaced Hodgson
as England boss and he has so far refused to confirm if Rooney will remain
as national team captain. Allardyce has
said he will reveal his decision when
the squad meet up for their World Cup
qualifier against Slovakia in September.
But Rooney is adamant he will continue playing for England for at least
two more years whether he is captain or
not. “I’ll carry on until the World Cup
in 2018 and then I might have a decision
to make,” he said. “But for the next two
years, captain or not captain, I’ll turn up
and be available to play if I am wanted.
I’ve spoken to him. Not at length about
how we’re going to play or my role, but
he seems very excited about the job and
he’ll have his own way of doing it.”
TRANSFER RUMOURS
West Brom’s Evans, Internazionale’s Icardi on Arsenal radar
By Gregg Bakowski in London
theguardian.com
T
here was a time when a club
would not have dreamed of
buying back a player they had
sold for a larger fee from the
team they had sold the said player to.
Many moons ago, football clubs had
pride—an alien word these days—and
managers, chairmen and chief executives would rather save face than go
sniffing around one of their cast-offs.
Not these days. Nope.
Where once shame would come
shuddering up through the shoes of
club head-honchos who had seen a
player go elsewhere and develop into
a fearsome star, now it appears there is
only excessive self-pride and self-congratulatory back-slapping at the idea
of being able to spend so much cash to
ward off rivals and secure a player once
deemed surplus to requirements. Hello
Chelsea. Hello Romelu Lukaku.
Word is that Antonio Conte has instructed Roman Abramovich to dig
deeper into his pockets to come up with
a bid better than £57mn and closer to
the £75mn that Everton are demanding
for the striker they bought from Chelsea for £28m just two years ago.
It seems Everton have used a
revolutionary new technique of
valuing each of the goals scored since
his purchase at around £1m, meaning
Chelsea should really bid £74mn for
the striker rather than the expected
improved offer of £68mn if they
want to show their fans how, when it
comes to torching cash, they’re still a
European heavyweight.
They’re not in Manchester United’s
league, mind. Ed Woodward is preparing to crack open the bubbly in anticipation of bringing Paul Pogba back to
Old Trafford for only £99.2mn more
than they let him go for. Sterling work
Ed. Just please make it end. The Mill
really has had enough.
On the subject of Manchester United, the ‘Chosen One’, David Moyes,
wants Marouane Fellaini’s elbows and
hide-and-seek’s Adnan Januzaj to join
him at Sunderland, with beancounters
at the Stadium of Light busy trying to
locate £45mn for the pair.
And José Mourinho has made it clear
that he wants a new centre-back before the season starts. And it says here
he may try to hijack Everton’s £9mn
raid for Southampton’s José Fonte so
he has someone Portuguese to natter to
in Alderley Edge. If that happens, then
Toffees boss, Ronald Koeman, will look
alluringly in the direction of Swansea’s
Ashley Williams.
Mourinho will resist the urge to buy
back Jonny Evans for a fee greater than
the £6mn he was sold to West Bromwich Albion for, though. But in what is
a sure sign that the end of days are upon
us, Arsenal are weighing up a £15mn
bid to bring Evans to north London to
replace Per Mertesacker, who has been
ruled out for ages with a knee injury.
If Tony Pulis refuses to let go of the
Northern Irishman then Wenger will
turn his attention to Swansea’s Federico Fernández instead. Wenger hasn’t
forgotten about that illusive striker
though. He is still hopeful of giving his
forward line another gear other than
the one that Olivier Giroud has been
stuck in for the past four seasons.
And it seems that if a deal for Lyon’s
Alexandre Lacazette can’t be struck
then he may seriously consider the
idea of shoving £50mn in a suitcase and
leaving outside the gates of San Siro
until Mauro Icardi is released by Internazionale. But come on. We all know
he’ll end up signing a £2mn prospect
from Ligue 2 though don’t we?
West Ham have hung some nice new
curtains, painted the hallway and put all
their favourite pictures up at their new
gaff but to really make it feel snug they’d
like to place André Ayew on the Olympic
Stadium turf like a homely gnome. They’ll
have to send £20mn to Swansea, mind,
but that shouldn’t be a problem. They
also plan to bring Cameron BorthwickJackson to east London from Manchester
United on a season-long loan. Swansea,
meanwhile, would like to sign 2014’s Nacer Chadli from Spurs for £10mn.
Elsewhere, Lucas Leiva is on the
verge of joining Galatasaray from Liverpool for £2.3mn, which appears so
low when juxtaposed with the general
transfer madness of the day, that a better deal would appear to be a bag of
tracksuits and some used traffic cones.
Zinedine Zidane has confirmed that
Real Madrid’s Jesé has been in talks with
PSG about winning Ligue 1 there next
season, while his son, Enzo Zidane, may
be on his way to Middlesbrough.
Jonny
Evans
8
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
SPORT
MLB
Orioles beat Blue Jays 6-2
to end 5-game losing streak
The win for the Orioles put them in first place in the American League East of the Major League Baseball
CUBS 7, MARINERS 6 (12 INNINGS)
The Chicago Cubs rallied from an early six-run
deficit, tied the game with three runs in the
ninth and won it on pinch hitter Jon Lester’s
bunt in the 12th during a 7-6 victory over the
Seattle Mariners. Lester, a pitcher with an.051
career batting average, bunted on a 2-2 count
with a runner at third base and one out.
He perfectly placed the ball near the first base
line, allowing Jason Heyward to score. Lester
never previously appeared as a pinch hitter in
his 11-year major league career. Robinson Cano,
Nelson Cruz and Lee Dae-ho homered in the
first three innings for the Mariners, who have
lost 12 of 21. The Cubs won two of three in the
weekend series.
Reuters
Toronto
J
onathan Schoop broke in a tie with an
RBI single in the 12th inning, Adam Jones
added a three-run homer in that inning
and the Baltimore Orioles defeated the
Toronto Blue Jays 6-2 on Sunday to regain first
place in the American League East of the Major
League Baseball.
The win ended a five-game losing streak for
the Orioles and put them a half-game ahead of
the Blue Jays. Left-hander Franklin Morales (01) walked Pedro Alvarez to open the 12th inning.
He committed a balk on a pickoff throw to first
and Alvarez was awarded second base. Alvarez
scored when Schoop singled to left with one out.
JJ Hardy then walked and Jesse Chavez replaced
Morales.
REDS 3, PADRES 2
Right-hander Homer Bailey won while making
his first start in 15 months to lead Cincinnati to
a 3-2 victory over San Diego in the rubber match
of a three-game series at Petco Park. Jose Peraza
belted his first major league homer to pave the
way for Cincinnati.
Bailey had made only two starts since April
2014 while undergoing two rounds of elbow surgery, including “Tommy John” surgery on May
8, 2015. He allowed two runs on four hits and
three walks with six strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings.
INDIANS 8, ATHLETICS 0
Corey Kluber pitched seven scoreless innings
and Mike Napoli homered to lead Cleveland over
Oakland to sweep the three-game series. Kluber
(10-8) gave up five hits, with seven strikeouts
and two walks.
Oakland starter Sonny Gray came into the
game with a record of 2-0 and a 0.64 ERA in four
career starts against the Indians. But Gray (5-10)
was removed from the game after 3 1/3 innings,
having given up seven runs and eight hits. His
5.43 ERA, which was already the highest in the
American League, climbed several more points
to 5.84.
MARLINS 5, CARDINALS 4
Adeiny Hechavarria scored from first on a twoout triple by Derek Dietrich in the bottom of the
ninth inning as Miami rallied to defeat St. Louis.
Until he scored the winning run Hechavarria
had been the Marlins’ goat due to a throwing error in the eighth.
But with none on in the ninth, he fouled off
several pitches before hitting a single on a 3-2
pitch from Matt Bowman. Hechavarria then
scored on Dietrich’s triple that deflected off the
glove of center fielder Tommy Pham.
METS 6, ROCKIES 4
Neil Walker hit a long go-ahead three-run homer in the seventh inning as New York avoided
being swept in the season series by Colorado.
The Mets won for just the second time in the
last seven games to remain 2 1/2 games behind
the Miami Marlins in the race for the National
League’s second wild card, but it may have been
a costly victory.
Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera, who has
played in a team-high 100 games, had to be
helped off the field after suffering a strained left
patellar tendon while scoring a run in the first
inning.
RANGERS 5, ROYALS 3
Mitch Moreland hit his fourth homer of the
four-game series against Kansas City as Texas
completed a sweep. The Rangers moved six
games ahead of Houston in the American League
West with the win, their largest lead since July 9.
The Royals have now dropped eight of their last
nine games.
Moreland’s two-run homer in the fourth off
Dillon Gee (3-5) gave the Rangers a 4-1 lead and
enough cushion for Lucas Harrell (3-2) and the
Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis
hits a single during the eleventh inning
against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers
Centre in Toronto. (USA TODAY Sports)
Texas bullpen to get the job done.
TIGERS 11, ASTROS 0
Miguel Cabrera hit two home runs worth three
runs in a four-RBI day, James McCann belted his
first career grand slam and five Detroit pitchers
combined on a seven-hit shutout and the second straight sweep of a three-game series.
Cabrera hit his 22nd home run of the season
with nobody on and one out in the fifth off Dallas Keuchel (6-11) and added his 23rd after reliever Scott Feldman hit Cameron Maybin with
a pitch to open the seventh. Justin Upton hit his
13th home run of the season with two outs and
the bases empty in the seventh.
RAYS 5, YANKEES 3
Hours after trading away reliever Andrew Miller
to the Indians, New York’s struggles continued,
as last-place Tampa Bay completed a threegame sweep.
Rays rookie Blake Snell (3-4) struck out nine
NFL
S
tandout Houston Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins ended
a brief holdout from
training camp, due to unhappiness over his rookie contract, and returned to the team
on Sunday. Hopkins began
his holdout on Saturday but
was back in uniform just one
day later after the Texans said
they would work with him on
a possible deal if he returned.
Houston reinstated their pass
catcher to the active list after
previously placing him on the
reserve/did not report list.
“I, too, am disappointed that
the Texans organisation has
elected not to enter into contract negotiation to secure my
future as a Texan,” Hopkins
said in a statement. “I have
expressed my sincere position
regarding my contract status
and I, too, with sound mind
have expressed my stand to the
Texans organisation. My focus
also is on the 2016 season and
to help my team reach our ultimate goal. Having said that,
I am returning to the Houston
in 5 1/3 innings, and the deciding runs came on
a two-out, two-run single from catcher Luke
Maile after the Yankees intentionally walked
the No. 8 hitter in the Rays’ lineup. The Rays
matched their season high with a four-game win
streak, while the Yankees are back at.500 after
dropping their fourth straight.
TWINS 6, WHITE SOX 4
Brian Dozier homered twice and scored three
runs as Minnesota beat Chicago. Dozier’s
home runs came after the White Sox had cut
the Twins’ lead to 4-3 in the fourth inning. The
first homer hit the facing of the third deck in
left field, an estimated 421-foot shot, to put the
Twins up by two.
Two innings later, Dozier added another insurance run by just clearing the fence in left field
for a 6-3 lead.
It marked the fourth career multi-homer
game for Dozier. Three of those have been
against the White Sox.
BRAVES 2, PHILLIES 1
Jeff Francoeur hit a two-run homer to the opposite field in the seventh inning as Atlanta beat
Philadelphia.
Jimmy Paredes homered in the eighth inning
to draw the Phillies within a run, but Jim Johnson induced a double play after a leadoff walk in
the ninth inning while recording his sixth save.
The Phillies had five hits against six Atlanta
pitchers. Rookie Mauricio Cabrera (2-0) got
credit for the victory after pitching the seventh
inning.
BREWERS 4, PIRATES 2
Matt Garza allowed just one earned run in five
innings and Milwaukee relievers pitched four
hitless innings to stop Pittsburgh.
The Brewers won their ninth straight home
game against the Pirates and are now 64-17 at
against Pittsburgh at Miller Park since 2007.
Garza (2-4) allowed two runs on four hits
through five innings.
GIANTS 3, NATIONALS 1
Pitchers Madison Bumgarner and Jeff Samardzija came off the bench to tag-team on a key run,
helping San Francisco salvage a four-game split
with Washington in a victory in the series finale.
Matt Cain pitched five innings of no-hit ball for
his 100th career win as a Giant.
Ahead just 1-0 and with his starter having already thrown 93 pitches, Giants manager Bruce
Bochy elected to pinch hit for Cain in the fifth
inning even though he had yet to allow a hit.
The strategy paid dividends when Bumgarner,
a.164 hitter entering the at-bat, doubled off the
right-field fence off Nationals left-hander Gio
Gonzalez.
RED SOX 5, ANGELS 3
Dustin Pedroia hit a three-run home run and
Xander Bogaerts followed with a solo blast to
lead a five-run rally in the ninth inning that gave
Boston a 5-3 win over Los Angeles Angels in
front of 39,553 at Angel Stadium.
Right-hander Clay Buchholz earned the victory with three hitless innings of relief. Buchholz (4-9) permitted just one baserunner on a
walk and collected one strikeout. Brad Ziegler
received his second save.
MLB ROUND-UP
Texans’ Hopkins
ends brief holdout
Reuters
Houston
DODGERS 14, DIAMONDBACKS 3
Los Angeles banged out 17 hits, including home
runs by Yasmani Grandal, Joc Pederson and
Corey Seager, in a rout of Arizona at Dodger
Stadium. With speculation persisting that the
Dodgers will acquire a starting pitcher before
Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline, righthander Bud Norris lasted only 13 pitches before
leaving the game with back muscle tightness.
The Dodgers had already shortened their rotation to four pitchers with a glut of three off
days in an eight-day span ending yesterday.
At the same time, ace Clayton Kershaw (out
since late June with a back injury) has not been
cleared to start a throwing program, making the
Dodgers a good bet to add someone like Tampa
Bay’s Chris Archer or Matt Moore by trade.
Texans to play for a Super Bowl
in Houston, Texas. I am excited
about returning to the team
and grind this camp.”
Hopkins, 24, has two years
remaining on his rookie contract and is set to make just $1
mn in base salary this season.
During his third season in 2015,
Hopkins emerged as an AllPro player as he produced 111
catches for 1,521 yards and 11
touchdowns to carry the Texans offense.
COLTS SIGN REULAND
The Indianapolis Colts signed
free agent tight end Konrad
Reuland and waived tight end
Nick Truesdell on Sunday.
The 6-foot-5, 254-pound
Reuland has played in 30 career
NFL games (four starts) with
the Baltimore Ravens (2015)
and New York Jets (2012-13).
In 2015, he spent time on the
Ravens’ active roster and practice squad and saw action in
four games with one start.
The 6-5, 245-pound Truesdell signed with the Colts. He
most recently spent time in
the Arena Football League with
the Portland Steel, where he
recorded 15 receptions for 200
yards and eight touchdowns.
Indians land reliever Miller from Yankees
Reuters
New York
T
he Cleveland Indians acquired
left-handed All-Star reliever
Andrew Miller from the New
York Yankees on Sunday in a fiveplayer trade to bolster their bullpen. In
exchange, the Yankees received a package of four prospects — outfielder Clint
Frazier, left-hander Justus Sheffield and
right-handed pitchers Ben Heller and JP
Feyereisen. The Yankees had been entertaining offers for Miller after they traded
closer Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago
Cubs last week. Miller, 31, has gone 6-1
with nine saves and a 1.39 ERA over 45 1/3
innings in 44 relief appearances this season for the Yankees.
He currently owns the sixth-lowest
relief ERA. He owns an 11-to-1 strikeoutto-walk ratio, is averaging 15.3 strikeouts
per nine innings pitched and is second in
the league with 77 relief strikeouts. He has
allowed runs in just eight of 44 outings
and has not allowed multiple runs in an
appearance this season.
----------------------------The Yankees added bullpen help after
trading Miller, acquiring right-handed
reliever Tyler Clippard from the Arizona
Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks received minor league right-hander Vicente
Campos in return for Clippard.
Dellin Betances is expected to take over
as the Yankees’ closer, with Clippard being in the setup spot. Clippard, 31, was 2-3
with one save and a 4.30 ERA over 37 2/3
innings in 40 relief appearances with the
Diamondbacks in 2016. Prior to the season, he signed a two-year contract with
Arizona as a free agent.
----------------------------Milwaukee Brewers All-Star catcher
Jonathan Lucroy vetoed a trade to the
Cleveland Indians. The Brewers and Indians had agreed on a trade Saturday night
that would have sent Lucroy to the Indians in exchange for four prospects.
The centrepiece being switch-hitting
catcher Francisco Mejia, the Indians’
sixth-ranked prospect.
Lucroy sat out Saturday’s game as the
trade talks were completed and was not in
the lineup Sunday despite the trade being
off. The Indians were one of eight teams
on Lucroy’s no-trade list.
----------------------------Kansas City Royals All-Star closer Wade
Davis was placed on the 15-day disabled
list with a flexor strain in his pitching arm,
the team announced. The right-hander
underwent an MRI exam earlier Sunday,
and a Grade 1 strain was discovered.
Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters
that Davis’ elbow looked “fine” during the
exam. Kansas City recalled left-hander
Matt Strahm from Double-A Northwest
Arkansas to fill the roster opening.
----------------------------Newly acquired Miami Marlins right-
hander Colin Rea was placed on the 15day disabled list after being injured in his
first outing with the squad. Rea departed
after 3 1/3 scoreless innings on Saturday
night with a sprained pitching elbow.
The Marlins recalled right-hander Nefi
Ogando from Triple-A New Orleans to fill
his roster spot. Rea was obtained from the
San Diego Padres on Friday.
----------------------------The St. Louis Cardinals acquired veteran
left-handed reliever Zach Duke from
the Chicago White Sox. In exchange, the
White Sox get minor league outfielder
Charlie Tilson. Duke, 33, is 2-0 with a
2.63 ERA in an American League-leading
53 appearances this season. He has 42
strikeouts in 37 1/3 innings pitched.
----------------------------The St. Louis Cardinals suffered a potentially damaging loss in the first inning of
Sunday’s game against the Miami Marlins
when rookie shortstop Aledmys Diaz was
hit by an Andrew Cashner fastball. Diaz,
who was hit on his right thumb, was removed from the game.
A valuable rookie, Diaz is batting.312
with 14 home runs and 57 RBIs this season. There was no immediate announcement from the team regarding his status.
----------------------------New York Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera had to be helped off the field when
he suffered a strained patellar tendon in
his left knee while scoring a run in the first
inning against the Colorado Rockies at
Citi Field. It is uncertain whether Cabrera
will be placed on the disabled list.
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
9
SPORT
TENNIS
FORMULA ONE
Djoko warms up for
Rio with Toronto win
‘It’s gonna be a great honour and pleasure to be part of such a renowned and recognised
sporting event. The Olympics are really special. I will give my best to fight for a medal’
Novak Djokovic of
Serbia with his trophy
after beating Kei
Nishikori of Japan to
win the Rogers Cup
on Sunday. (AFP)
Agencies
Toronto
N
ovak Djokovic sealed his winning return to tennis a month
after an early Wimbledon exit as
he beat Kei Nishikori 6-3, 7-5 on
Sunday at the Toronto Masters. The world
number one claimed a fourth Canadian title
with a victory in just under 90 minutes.
His previous match was a third-round
disappointment on grass in London
against Sam Querrey.
Djokovic finished off victory with 13
winners on his third match-point a game
later with a service winner. He now heads
to Rio to compete for Serbia.
“It’s gonna be a great honour and pleasure to be part of such a renowned and
recognised sporting event,” he said. “The
Olympics are really special. I will give my
best to fight for a medal.”
“The overall sensation (of Rio) is not
going to be the same as the other tournaments, because it’s Olympic Games. Of
course you represent your country. You get
to feel that you’re part of something much
larger than just the tennis event. I look forward to that,” the Serb added.
Djokovic extended his lead atop the list
of ATP Masters 1000 winners as he earned
his 30th honour in the elite series. Rafael
Nadal stands second with 28.
Djokovic claimed a seventh title of the
season as he repeated his defeat of Japan’s
Nishikori from the Miami final in April. He
leads the series with the top Asian 10-2.
“I hope I can step it up a little more and
win some titles, but I think still Novak is
biggest challenge for me,” Nishikori said.
“On hard court he’s been beating me, not
easy but two sets (in) Miami, now here.
I need more experience in these kind of
matches. This was still a great week even
though I lost. But I’m think getting closer
and closer. So hope I can get a Masters title
as soon as possible.”
The convincing Djokovic win followed
up Saturday’s dispatch of Gael Monfils as
the Serb lifted his level at the business end
of the week. “That’s what I had to do, realise my performance,” Djokovic said. “At
the start of the week I was not feeling that
comfortable on the court.
But I made progress and gained in confidence at the right time.”
Djokovic has a solid first-serve percentage of 80 per cent and said he was proud
that he was able to use his delivery to get
out of trouble as Nishikori made a latematch charge. “I’m glad I had that weapon
today,” Djokovic said. “Kei is one of the
best returners on the circuit and a very fast
guy — I had to serve well to win.”
Djokovic dominated the first 55 minutes of play before Nishikori rose up with a
break-back in the sixth game of the second
set for 3-all. The Japanese world number
six led for the first time 4-3 before Djokovoic reined him in with a break for 6-5.
Halep downs erratic Keys for title
In Montreal, fifth seed Simona Halep
of Romania took advantage of an errorprone display by American Madison Keys
to claim her 14th WTA title with a 7-6(2),
6-3 victory in the Rogers Cup final. Halep,
24, won an erratic opening set that featured eight breaks of serve after breezing
through the tiebreak, and then broke her
10th-seeded opponent again in the second
game of the second to tighten her grip.
Keys was unable to break the Romanian
in the concluding set and Halep served out
to seal the win in one hour 16 minutes after the 21-year-old American dumped a
forehand into the net. It was an especially
sweet victory for Halep, who reached last
year’s Rogers Cup final in Toronto against
rising Swiss talent Belinda Bencic but had
to retire in the third set due to a leg injury.
“It means a lot, it was really nice to win
today,” Halep said. “I had, I can say, bad
memories from last year that I had to finish the match and to stop it, so I am happy
that I could win. I feel tired, I feel that I
have no more power but it’s a nice feeling
and I gave it everything to win this title.”
Halep improved her career record
against Keys to 3-1, having beaten the
American over three sets in their most
recent meeting at Wimbledon earlier this
month, and rose to third in yesterday’s latest world rankings.
The match was effectively decided in
the first set tiebreak after both players had
produced nervy, erratic tennis over the
first 12 games. The big-serving Keys, who
is also known for her powerful game from
the baseline, made a string of unforced errors to gift Halep a 6-1 lead in the tiebreak
before losing the opening set after hitting a
backhand wide.
Halep never looked back, winning the
first six points of the second set on her way
to a third WTA title this year. “She hits very
strong and it’s really tough to return her
balls but I knew that I have to be strong on
my legs,” counter-puncher Halep said of her
strategy against Keys. “I tried, I just wanted
to be a little bit aggressive but I couldn’t. In
the end, I just wanted to be solid. I did it and
it was a great win for me against her.”
It’s advantage
Hamilton as
F1 takes break
for summer
Reuters
Hockenheim, Germany
T
riple
champion
Lewis Hamilton is no
stranger to speed but
the rapid turnaround
in his title prospects has left
even the blindingly quick Briton stunned, as he heads into
Formula One’s annual summer
break firmly in control of the
race for the championship.
Hamilton goes into the fourweek holiday having extended
his lead over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg to 19 points,
after sweeping to a dominant
victory, leading from the first
corner in his rival’s home German Grand Prix on Sunday.
The win was Hamilton’s sixth
from the last seven races, matching the hottest streak of his career so far, and his fourth in a row.
The speed at which Hamilton has caught and overhauled
Rosberg has been remarkable.
The 31-year-old trailed his
former childhood friend by 43
points following May’s Spanish
Grand Prix, yet just over a week
ago, in Hungary, he seized the
overall lead.
“Kind of crazy,” said Hamilton after Sunday’s race at the
Hockenheim track. “It’s gone
by so quickly. It was almost like
it was only a couple of weeks
ago that we were in Barcelona
and I was 43 points behind
thinking, jeez, I might come
away 50 points behind.”
Hamilton has scored a total
of 160 points from a maximum
175 on offer since claiming his
maiden win of the year in the
sixth race of the season in Monaco, following a difficult start
to his bid for a third straight title.
By contrast, Rosberg, who
won each of the opening four
races, has scraped together just
98 points and finished on the
podium only three times in the
seven races since Hamilton hit
his purple patch of form.
“Lewis doesn’t just seem
strong in the recent grands
prix,” Rosberg said after his latest defeat. “Lewis is strong — a
big difference there. It’s always
going to be a battle against him.”
Despite the rate at which
Hamilton has caught and
passed Rosberg, the Briton
cannot afford to ease off and
needs to put more distance between him and his rival. He is
set to collect a grid penalty or
start in last place, most likely
in next month’s Italian Grand
Prix, after breaching rules on
the number of engine components used during the season.
A race win is worth 25 points
and victory in the next grand
prix in Belgium would give him
enough of a cushion to stay in
front in the event of such a sce-
nario, putting him 26 points
clear and just tantalisingly out
of reach of Rosberg, even if the
German finishes second.
“Do I feel like I’m properly
ahead? Still not enough because
I’m not a race win ahead yet,” said
Hamilton, who won at Belgium’s
iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit last year and has got to be
the favourite to repeat the feat
when the season resumes on August 28. “So I need to hope that
I get the chance to get a race win
ahead. I think then I would feel
like I was ahead.”
Faulty stopwatch adds
to Rosberg’s woes
The stopwatch never lies, they
say in Formula One, but in Nico
Rosberg’s case it did and that
was one of several things which
went wrong for the German in
a woeful home race on Sunday.
Rosberg was hit with a fivesecond time penalty for forcing
Max Verstappen off the track in
his bid to overtake the Red Bull
on lap 29 of the 67-lap race at
Hockenheim. But when the Mercedes driver pulled into the pits,
he was stationary for eight seconds instead of the required five.
“Stopwatch failure,” team
boss Toto Wolff explained after the race. “The damn thing
failed, it didn’t function like
it should have done. Once we
realised, we had to take it safe
and this is why it took longer
than normal.”
Rosberg, who started on
pole after putting in a scorching lap under pressure in Saturday’s qualifying session,
finished a disappointing fourth
on Sunday. But the delay made
little difference to his race.
The German lost the lead
off the line to teammate and
title rival Lewis Hamilton,
who started alongside him on
the front row, and was also
swamped by Red Bull’s Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.
The race only got worse from
there for Rosberg, with the
31-year-old struggling to make
up the lost ground and collecting the penalty for his pass on
Verstappen, which he was surprised to get.
“I’m very disappointed because I had an awesome qualifying yesterday and I was feeling good,” said Rosberg. “So I
was really optimistic and thinking that I can bring it home today so just really disappointed
that everything went wrong.”
However, Rosberg, winner of
the opening four races, said he
was confident he could turn the
momentum back in his favour.
“I have enough evidence to show
myself that I’m always strongest
after difficult moments time and
time again,” said the German.
“So no issues there.”
RUGBY
Dunes, lagoons as Fiji’s village boys eye gold at Rio
AFP
Hong Kong
F
iji has never won Olympic gold
but that could change in Rio
with a rugby team drawn from
the Pacific nation’s humble villages which takes the simple approach of
training in sand dunes and coral lagoons.
A back-to-basics programme with
few resources or staff has taken Fiji to
the pinnacle of world sevens, and could
now put them on top of the Olympic
podium as rugby ends its 92-year absence from the Games.
Fiji’s approach also includes breathalysers and bans on mobile phones at
tournaments, while their players will
spend as little time as possible at the
distraction-laden Rio athletes village.
The ragtag squad includes prison
wardens, policemen, navy and army
officers and the unemployed who live,
usually with their wider families, in
Fiji’s traditional villages.
Despite this, Fiji have won the last
two sevens world series and are favourites for gold in Rio — a result which
would put the remote Pacific resort nation firmly on the sporting map.
“We’ve got a team at the moment
which is one of the best teams Fiji have
ever had. They’re current world champions... so this is Fiji’s time really,”
This file photo dated May 23 shows Fiji being crowned Series Champions of the World Rugby Sevens Series at Twickenham
in south west London. Fiji have never won Olympic gold but that could change in Rio with a rugby team drawn from the
Pacific nation’s humble villages which takes the simple approach of training in sand dunes and coral lagoons. (AFP)
coach Ben Ryan told AFP.
Apart from a few key exceptions, Ryan
has largely eschewed Fiji’s army of overseas-based players, even ignoring a late
bid by rugby league star-cum-American
football hopeful Jarryd Hayne.
It contrasts with rival teams who
have tried — and often failed — to integrate 15-a-side stars this year, a transition that requires a huge amount of
fitness conditioning to keep up with
fast-running sevens.
“I’ve always had the idea that going
to the Olympics with all these localbased boys that are from the villages
might just give us an advantage over all
these other teams that are bringing in
guys from all over the place,” Ryan said,
at this year’s Hong Kong Sevens. “Perhaps our culture will be a little bit tight-
er and hungrier than everyone else.”
Fiji’s distinctive, free-flowing style
has long been admired in sevens rugby,
but they have taken a decisive step forward under Ryan, England’s former
sevens coach.
Training sessions are built on Fiji’s natural advantages: running up
100-metre (yard) sand dunes, and
swimming in natural lagoons formed
by coral reefs, all in the Pacific’s stamina-building humidity.
“Everything’s there — it’s simple, but
it’s all there for us and the natural environment really helps us,” Ryan said.
It’s an approach that was partly born
from necessity, as when Ryan arrived in
2013 Fiji had no sponsors, no facilities,
their funding had been stopped by World
Rugby and many of their best players
had been lured abroad by big contracts.
Three years later, the results are
plain to see: increased fitness and
a more professional outlook, turning local players who are paid about
US$7,000 a year into potential Olympic champions.
Fiji’s community has responded
by swinging behind the team, whom
many will have known since birth and
who are still visible presences in their
traditional villages.
“We were coming through for this tournament (Hong Kong) and Masivesi Dakuwaqa is airport security, and all the airport
staff were so proud that one of their own
was getting on a plane,” Ryan said.
“It’s crazy really that this is happening at the very highest level of world
sport, these are potential gold-medallists in the Olympics, yet they’re still
going back and doing these jobs.”
Ryan contrasts Fiji’s simple approach with his seven-year stint with
England, which he said was so well re-
sourced and staffed that “blind spots”
can easily appear.
“Whilst we have disadvantages in not
having money... (and) not having resources or large numbers of staff, we can
turn that all into an advantage,” he said.
“Because we have good players, we
have resources that are simple but effective, and the whole programme
is based around being a very simple,
hard-working programme.”
Ryan keeps a tight rein on his players, collecting their phones at tournaments and giving them breathalyser
tests to make sure nobody breaks the
strict no-alcohol rule.
“We’re a bit old-school,” he admitted, adding: “But they want all this because they know it’s going to help them
to get better.”
The approach will extend to the Olympic village, where Ryan fears the charms
of wifi and fast food, and the presence of
some of the biggest names in sport, could
take his players’ eyes off the ball.
As a consequence, the squad will fly
in late and spend just three days in the
village before the competition — where
they hope to etch their names in Olympic history. “For a tiny little island in
the middle of the Pacific we have some
amazingly genetically gifted male and
female athletes, and this might be the
thing that starts to propel Fijian sport
to the next level,” said Ryan.
10
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
SPORT
picture perfect
Aaron Wise plays an approach shot on
the 17th hole during the final round of the
Country Championship at the Glendale Golf
and Country Club in Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada on Sunday. PIC: (AFP / Robert Laberge)
Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers hold the Grey Cup while posing with Ottawa Redblacks cheerleaders after Ottawa is announced as the
host of the 2017 Grey Cup championship in Ottawa, Canada on Sunday. PICS: (Reuters / Chris Wattie)
Toronto Argonauts’ Corey Watman (lfet) and Ottawa Redblacks’ Damaso Munoz scramble for a fumbled
ball during the second half of their CFL American football game in Ottawa.
Russia’s Elena Vesnina (left) and Ekaterina Makarova pose with trophies after winning the Rogers Cup
doubles final against Romania’s Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu in Montreal. PIC: (AFP / Geoff Robins)
Edwin Hernandez (left) of Chivas de Guadalajara and Joel Campbell
of Arsenal clash during the friendly match at StubHub Center in
Carson, California on Sunday. Arsenal won 3-1. PIC: (AFP / Jeff Gross)
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger kicks a ball during a
friendly match against Chivas de Guadalajara in Carson,
California on Sunday. PIC: (Reuters / Mario Anzuoni)
England cricketer’s Jake Ball (left) and Ben Stokes are all smiles during
the net session in Edgbaston yesterday. PIC: (Reuters / Paul Childs)
Gulf Times
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
11
SPORT
SPORT
picture perfect
Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys takes a selfie during a practice session, on the eve of the 2016 Rio Olympics, at
the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio De Janeiro. PIC: (Reuters / Edgard Garrido)
The cruise 'Silver Cloud', where the USA men and women’s basketball teams will be staying during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, remains
docked at the Maua Pier port in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, yesterday. PIC: (AFP / Vanderlei Almeida)
Syrian refugee team's Yusra Mardini, 18, practices at the swimming venue. Pic: (Reuters / Michael Dalder)
Sailors return from a training session in Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, on Sunday. PICS: (AFP / Willima West)
Windsurfers train in Rio's Guanabara Bay.
Salvadoran husband and wife race walkers
Luis Lopez (right) and Yesenia Miranda
train in San Salvador. Lopez and Miranda
will compete in the race walk event at the
Rio Games. PIC: (AFP / Marvin Recinos)
Workers watch cyclists from Australia train at the Rio Olympic Park. PIC: (Reuters / Pilar Olivares)
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
SPORT
GULF TIMES
SECOND CRICKET TEST
Arthur
wants to
see return
of Pak
‘warriors’
Rahul, Rahane put India
in control in Jamaica
India led by 260 runs in reply to the hosts' first-innings total of 196 when rain halted play on third day
AFP
Kingston
W
est Indies captain Jason
Holder earned a richlydeserved wicket at the
end of an excellent spell of
bowling, but India remained firmly in
control at 456 for six before rain halted
play on the third day of the second Test
at Sabina Park in Jamaica yesterday.
That gave the tourists a lead of 260
runs. On Sunday, Lokesh Rahul’s Testbest 158 anchored India’s formidable
reply to the West Indies first innings
total of 196. Yesterday, Ajinkya Rahane
survived a searching examination from
medium-pacer Holder and benefited
from a dropped chance off leg-spinner
Devendra Bishoo to be unbeaten on 83
when the heavens opened up. Amith
Mishra was giving him company on 21.
The West Indies had finally enjoyed
a bit of success for their discipline and
persistence with the ball when wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha was
ruled leg-before to Holder for 47 on the
stroke of lunch interval. Their sixthwicket partnership was worth 98 runs
and further solidified India’s already
dominant position in the match, even
though they were again kept to a pedestrian scoring rate with only 67 runs
added in the two hours of play in the
morning session.
Holder, who had gone wicketless
through 54 overs in the series, troubled Rahane consistently in a nine-over
spell after replacing fast bowler Shannon Gabriel 40 minutes into the session. In one particularly testing over, he
had three vehement lbw appeals turned
down and twice beat the outside edge of
the well-set batsman.
Bishoo should have claimed a wicket
at the other end but Rajendra Chandrika failed to hold on to a low diving effort
at backward-point when Rahane, on 65,
top-edged an attempted cut. Rahane
and Mishra then put up 31 runs, before
rain halted India’s progress. More rain
is forecast on the fourth day and Indians needed to pursue quick runs to put
the hosts under greater pressure in their
second innings by the close of play.
On Sunday, Rahul made most of a recall to the team as replacement for the
injured Murali Vijay. The Karnataka
batsman interspersed moments of rare
aggression with long periods of watchful defiance over his near seven-hour
occupation of the crease in compiling his third hundred in just six Tests.
“It was hard to get runs today and it
was also really, really hot,” said Rahul
reflecting on his first Test innings in a
Ajinkya Rahane of India was
unbeaten on 83 when rain halted
play during the second day of
the second Test at Sabina Park in
Kingston, Jamaica. (AFP)
year.”I was really enjoying my batting
even though they were bowling a lot
better today.”
He put on 121 for the second wicket
with Pujara, who was run out for 46 after lunch by Chase’s direct throw to the
stumps at the non-striker’s end.
Virat Kohli helped Rahul add 69 runs
for the third wicket going into the final
session of the day when the latter’s innings ended in somewhat controversial
circumstances as lengthy deliberation
involving the television umpire was
needed before he was ruled caught by
wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich down
the leg-side off fast bowler Shannon
Gabriel.
Chase snared his second wicket, the
prized scalp of Kohli, when the Indian
captain fell to a sharp catch by Rajendra
Chandrika at short-leg for 44 and legspinner Bishoo earned an lbw verdict
against Ravichandran Ashwin.
At that stage, India had lost three
wickets for 50 runs at 327 for five, a
veritable collapse in the context of their
virtual impregnability through the first
six hours of the innings. “I’m a batsman more than a bowler but I’m looking at developing my all-round game,”
said Chase at the end of the day when
he again featured prominently with his
off-spin.”The selectors spoke to me
about it and advised that I shouldn’t be
a one-track player so I’m working on
my bowling especially.”
SCOREBOARD
WEST INDIES I INNINGS 196
INDIA I INNINGS (OVERNIGHT 358 FOR 5)
KL Rahul c Dowrich b Gabriel
158
S. Dhawan c Bravo b Chase
27
C. Pujara run out
46
V. Kohli c Chandrika b Chase
44
A. rahane batting
83
R. Ashwin lbw Bishoo
3
W. Saha lbw Holder
47
A Mishra batting
21
Extras (b-8, lb-3, w-6, nb-10)
26
Total (162 overs, 6 wkts)
456
Fall of wickets: 1-87 (Dhawan), 2-208
(Pujara), 3-277 (Rahul), 4-310 (Kohli), 5-327
(Ashwin), 6-425 (Saha)
To bat: A. Mishra, M. Shami, I. Sharma, U.
Yadav
Bowling: S Gabriel 28-8-62-1 (7nb),
M. Cummins 23.4-4-82-0 (1w), J Holder
34.2-12-72-1 (1nb, 1w), R Chase 32-4-96-2,
D Bishoo 35-5-107-1, K Brathwaite 9-0-26-0
India lead West Indies by 260 runs
Birmingham, United Kingdom: Pakistan coach Mickey
Arthur wants to see his “warriors” of Lord’s return for the
third Test against England at
Edgbaston. The tourists won
the first Test at ‘the home of
cricket’ by 75 runs, only to
see England square the fourmatch series with a crushing
330-run win at Old Trafford.
“We’re going to have to
raise our game considerably
from Old Trafford — without a
doubt,” Arthur told reporters
at Edgbaston yesterday.
“I was really disappointed
with our performance at
Old Trafford — really disappointed with the way we lost
there,” the South African
added ahead of the third
Test, which starts at the Birmingham ground tomorrow.
“There are credible losses,
and there are losses when
you lie down and are steamrollered Old Trafford was
clearly that. I told the guys I
thought we were warriors at
Lord’s. We were completely
the opposite at Old Trafford.
We’re doing everything we
can to get us back on the
right track and I’m 100 %
(sure) we will be come the
first ball on Wednesday.
We had some good, hard
conversations around our
performance. So we’ve dissected Manchester, the guys
are in good spirits and we’re
ready to play again. The overriding feeling is still one of
confidence.”
England captain Alastair
Cook and Joe Root both
made hundreds in Manchester but the rest of the
home top order have yet to
post a big score this series,
with James Vince and Gary
Ballance both in need of runs
to cement their respective
places.
“They are all quality players...(but) at this level, confidence is such an important
thing,” Arthur said. “They
clearly know when they walk
out to bat that they are playing for their Test places. So
that provides another level
of pressure. It’s not just the
opposition running in and
bowling a cricket ball at you.
Suddenly that pressure is
intensified, because they’re
playing for their places as
well. We feel if we can get
into them with the new ball,
we’ve got a real good chance.
Clearly Cook and Root are
the beacon of England batting at the moment.”
WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Kuwait’s al-Shaheen upsets former champion Appleton
By Sports Reporter
Doha
Qatar’s Waleed Majid in action during
his match against Austria’s Mario He
at the Al Arabi Sports Club yesterday.
K
uwait’s Omar al-Shaheen stormed into
the knockout stage of the World 9-ball
Championship in Doha, after a massive upset of former champion Darren
Appleton at the Al Arabi Sports Club yesterday.
Appleton, one of pool’s giants, was the heavy
favourite, but the 23-year-old Kuwaiti played
flawlessly and completely carefee, while the Brit
couldn’t find the measure of the break shot and
looked tight. Al-Shaheen won 9-5, putting Appleton out of the tournament, and himself in the
money rounds of pool’s biggest event.
Al-Shaheen didn’t even have a spot in the
tournament a few days ago. He entered the brutally tough qualifiers last week, reached the finals two times, only to lose to two top players.
But as he was lamenting what could have been
this year, he got the call that another player had
dropped out and, as the leading point holder of
the qualifiers, he got the very last spot in the
World Championship.
Al-Shaheen then lost his very first match and
was forced over to the losers’ side of his group
bracket. But then the Kuwaiti found his groove,
handily beating Sweden’s Marcus Chamat, to
set up a showdown with Appleton. This time he
was prepared for his moment.
“I think it’s good that I lost many times,” an
ecstatic al-Shaheen said after disposing of Appleton. “In the qualifiers I lost three times, two
of them in finals to very good players. In the
group stages I lost my first match. So that’s four
times. So now I can accept losing. And it was
good practice. Today I just played my game and
I was relaxed. Darren is a very good player and I
feel very good right now.”
Another 31 players left the Al Arabi with similar wide grins yesterday as they booked their
spots in the Final 64, which begins today. They
join the 32 players who qualified on Sunday in
what is a stellar field, ready to do battle over the
next three days for pool’s most prestigious prize.
Leading the way, as usual, are the Taiwan-
Kuwait’s Omar al-Shaheen
ese and the Filipinos. Taiwan brings 10 heavyweights into the knockout stages, including
defending champion Ko Pin Yi, Chang Yu Lung
and Chang Jun Lin. Filipino fans will have nine
players to get behind including Dennis Orcollo,
Warren Kiamco, Lee Vann Corteza, Carlo Biado,
Jeffrey De Luna and Johann Chua. Filipino Alex
Pagulayan, who won the World 9-ball crown
in 2004, plays out of Canada and also made it
through to the knockout rounds.
Play in the first day of the group stages begins
today at 10am. All matches will now become
race to 11, alternate break. The round of 64 and
32 will be played today itself. The round of 16
and quarter-finals will be played tomorrow. The
semi-finals and final will be played on Thursday.
The final will be a race to 13, alternate break.
The winner of the Championship will receive
$40,000. The runner up will receive $20,000.
The total prize fund is $200,000. The championship is being hosted by The Qatar Billiard and
Snooker Federation(QBSF), and is sanctioned by
the World Pool Billiard Association, the governing body of the sport of pool.
RESULTS
Group 1
Jeong Young Hwa (KOR) 9 – 1 Mazen Berjuai (LEB)
Mario He (AUT) 9 – 4 Waleed Majid (QAT)
Group 2
Karol Skowerski (POL) 9 – 8 Petri Makkonen (FIN)
Jeffrey Ignacio (PHL) 9 – 7 Francis Crevier (CAN)
Group 3
MD Alim (BAN) 9 – 8 Bruno Muratore (ITA)
Omar al-Shaheen (KUW) 9 – 5 Darren Appleton
(GBR)
Group 4
Daryl Peach (GBR) 9 – 7 Antonio Gabica (PHL)
Roberto Gomez (PHL) 9 – 3 Francisco Sanchez (ESP)
Group 5
Artem Koshovoj (UKR)9 - 8 Luong Chi Dong (VIE)
Yang Ching Shun (TPE) 9 – 6 John Morra (CAN)
Group 6
Jeffrey De Luna (PHL) 9 – 1 Naoyuki Oi (JPN)
Ali M Saeed Hamzaa (ERI) 9 -7 Wang Can (CHN)
Group 7
Irsal Nasution (INA) 9 – 5 Imran Majid (GBR)
Dennis Orcollo (PHL)9 – 7 Christian Goetmann
(GER)
Group 8
Abdul Rahman al-Amar (KSA) 9 – 8 Konard Juszczyszym (POL)
Jayson Shaw (GBR) 9 – 7 Justin Campbell (AUS)
Group 9
Niels Feijen (NED) 9 – 3 Shaun Wilke (USA)
Satoshi Kawabata (JPE) 9- 7 Jalal Yousef (VEN)
Group 10
Ali Maghsoud (IRN) 9 – 7 Hiroshi Takenaka (JPN)
Mieszko Fortunski (POL) 9 - 5 Ruben Bautista (MEX)
Group 11
Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) 9 – 5 Skyler Woodward
(USA)
Ralf Souquet (GER) 9 – 7 Oliver Ortmann (GER)
Group 12
Muhammad Bewi (INA) 9 – 4 Nick Van Den Berg
(NED); Carlo Biado (PHL) 9 - 8 Hayato Hijikata (JPN)
Group 13
Oscar Dominguez (USA) 9 – 6 Ali al-Obaidli (QAT)
Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) 9 – 5 Ryu Ceung Woo
(KOR)
Group 14
Yukio Akagariyama (JPN) 9 – 1 Marco Teutscher
(NED); Shane Van Boening (USA) 9 - 3 Francisco
Felicilda (QAT)
Group 15
Salah Eldeen al-Remawi (UAE) 9 – 5 Rogelio Selleca
Sotero (PHL)
Chang Yu Lung (TPE) 9 – 3 Abdulla al-Shemmari
(KSA)
Group 16
Cheng Yu Hsuan (TPE) 9 – 3 Joshua Filler (GER)
Ahmed Mohammad Salah (JOR) 9 – 5 Bashar
Hussain (QAT)