Thursday, August 19, 2021Muharram 11, 1443 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Warholmwarns shoe tech could hurt credibility

England recall Malan as Sibley dropped for 3rd Test

CRICKET CRICKET | Page 2 ATHLETICS ATHLETICS | Page 3

FOOTBALL

Chelsea’s record signing Lukaku ready to face ArsenalPage 4

28th GCC Aquatics Championships kicks off today in Doha

FOCUS

SPOTLIGHT

Qatar’s first Olympic gold medallist eyes ‘something never done before’

QNADoha

The 28th Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) Aquatics Championships, organised by the Qatar Swimming Asso-

ciation, will kick off today at Hamad Aquatics Centre with the participation of six Gulf countries.

The competitions will be held from Aug. 19 to 22, and will include three aquatic sports: swimming, diving and water polo. All competitions will be

held in accordance with the laws of the International Swimming Federa-tion (FINA) and the regulations of the technical committee of the organising committee of the GCC Championships.

The fi rst day’s programme includes 24 races. The 800m freestyle, 50m freestyle, 400m medley, 100m butter-fl y and 4x200m freestyle races will be held in the morning for the 15-17 year category, 50m freestyle, 200m medley, 100m butterfl y and 200m backstroke for class 13-14 years age, and 50m free-style, 200m medley and 100m butterfl y for the 11-12 year category, while the

evening session will witness the 400m freestyle, 50m butterfl y, 100m breast-stroke, 200m backstroke, 4x100m freestyle races for the 15-17 year cat-egory, and 400m freestyle 50m but-terfl y, 100m breaststroke and 4x100m for 13-14 years, 50m butterfl y, 100m breaststroke and 4x100m freestyle for 11-12 years.

Diving competitions also will be held for age groups (11 years and below, 13 years and below, 14-15 years, and the public), while water polo competitions will be held for the age group 18 years and below.

The Qatari teams have completed their preparations for the tournament, with the swimming and water polo teams attending two camps in Bulgaria, and the diving team setting up camp in Belarus.

The three teams seek to achieve results that refl ect the development of the level of Qatari water sports and their promi-nent presence in the Gulf champion-ships. The Qatari team won fi rst place for the age groups categories in the last four editions of the tournament.

The last edition of the GCC Aquat-ics Championships was held in Kuwait

in 2019, in which the Qatari team won the title of the age groups after winning 34 medals, including 17 gold, in addi-tion to 10 silver and 7 bronze medals. They also won 9 medals (7 gold, a silver and a bronze) in the general stage com-petitions, and 4 medals (a gold and 3 bronze) in the ten-year stage.

The 28th GCC Aquatics Champion-ships was scheduled for last year, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the GCC Swimming Organizing Commit-tee decided to delay all the champion-ships included in the 2020 calendar to be held this year.

By Mikhil BhatDoha

Picture a brawn paradise. Music blaring. Metal weights clang-ing. The trainer mouthing motivational nothings to get

his wards to do that extra pull-up.And in that sea of frantic activ-

ity, Fares Ibrahim stands out. He is the centre of attention at the gym, smil-ing, obliging every selfi e and photo request, handing out fi st bumps to one and all.

Shouldn’t surprise anyone, though, given the 23-year-old is Qatar’s fi rst Olympic gold medallist, who lifted an Olympic record total of 402kgs in To-kyo on July 31 this year.

At the Tokyo International Forum, the weightlifter, nicknamed Meso, lifted 15kgs more than the silver and bronze medallists overall, courtesy an Olympic record clean and jerk lift of 225kgs.

Back in Doha, as he gives crossfi t a go at Erada Fitness, the man was chal-lenged with multiple reps of 50lbs lifts, something that he is not used to.

“We could be lifting 50lbs, which would mean nothing to us weightlift-ers, but doing it 50-60 times is the challenge here. It’s not lifting heavy, it’s cardio. It’s tough for us, but it is fun,” Fares says.

“We are at one of our friends’ gym, and they are into crossfi t. It is diff er-ent in every aspect from what we as weightlifters do. We love to come and join friends, it is so much fun; mixing up fi tness routines.”

Even if he isn’t carrying the yel-low metal around his neck, Fares understandably becomes the guy for others to watch at the gym. But his humility shines far brighter than the

gold medal he proudly won for Qa-tar. Asked if he feels like the big guy when he walks into a gym, he breaks into a smile, “No no, it is all just very friendly, fun. No such thing as a big guy, come on.”

His win in Tokyo gave Qatar its fi rst Olympic gold since the country’s fi rst participation in the Summer Games in 1984 in Los Angeles. He, along with fellow Team Qatar medallists — gold medallist high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, and bronze-winning beach volleyball duo Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan, were given a hero’s wel-come on their arrival in Doha with His Highness Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani receiving the successful delega-tion from Tokyo on August 7.

The attention he gets is palpable.“It’s beautiful that people care

about you, care about the sport, wel-

come you, welcome your victory, (I am) happy about it. Of course I love it, love the support, it gives me a boost to keep training. That’s who we are, we do all of this hard work, and when we came back home, to Qatar, I saw peo-ple around me happy for me, for what I have achieved,” he tells Gulf Times.

The story goes that an 18-year-old Fares told Qatar Olympic Committee President HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani during a session at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games that he would win gold at Tokyo 2020.

“He (Sheikh Joaan) was really happy with our results (at Tokyo), he con-gratulated us. He has always support-ed us, before the competition, after the competition. Of course one of the reasons we got to this great results, we would like to thank him for all the be-lief he had in us. We promised him that

this is not the end, and there is more coming.”

Promise kept, Fares found himself sleepless with his medal. “The fi rst three nights after I won the gold, I couldn’t sleep. I was just lying down on the bed, holding my gold medal, and I am just like ‘I have it, I have it, it’s gold’. I did just that for three nights,” he chuckles.

And what about before the compe-tition? “I slept well. We have a pro-gramme that we follow in everything and we follow it really well. We had a little bit of a stress but we managed that and everything went really well after that,” he says.

Right after the Olympic win, he was asked about the people who infl uenced him. Fares had replied, “The weight-lifting federation supported me great-ly, and the Qatar Olympic Committee headed by HE Sheikh Joaan bin Ha-mad al-Thani. His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani remains the greatest supporter, and his call has given me motivation to prepare for the Paris Olympics.”

But as the calm grows after celebra-tions, and Fares looks to the future, he only promises great results. “We have the Asian championships, World championships, we are looking for some great results. This time, we don’t want to talk about winning gold and this and that. We are only looking for great results. Something never done before,” he says.

Fares’ frequent use of “we” is un-mistakable. As he undergoes his rou-tine, his father and coach, Ibrahim, a weightlifter himself in his hey days, and brother Hassouna keep a watch-ful eye over the athlete’s every move in the gym. It’s perhaps Fares’ way of ac-knowledging the team eff ort that has taken to win an individual gold.

Fares continues quest for ‘great’

Qatar’s Olympic gold medallist weightlifter Fares Ibrahim (centre, also left and below) with his father and coach Ibrahim (left), and brother Hassouna. PICTURES: Mikhil Bhat

AFPLondon

England recalled Dawid Malan yesterday and dropped opener Dom Sibley from their squad as they looked to bolster their fal-

tering top order for next week’s third Test against India at Headingley.

India are 1-0 up in the fi ve-match se-ries after a 151-run win in the second Test at Lord’s where Sibley made scores of 11 and nought as his average dipped to 19.77 in 10 Tests this year.

That led England to call-up Malan, the world’s number one-ranked Twenty20 batsman.

“Dawid Malan deserves his oppor-tunity in the Test arena,” said England coach Chris Silverwood in an England and Wales cricket Board statement.

“He has a lot of experience across all formats and, if called upon, I am confi -dent that he can come and do well.”

The former England paceman added: “Dom Sibley needs some time away to regain his confi dence after a challenging period... Dom off ers a lot of value to the Test environment and some time away should help him. However, he remains part of our plans.”

Malan won the last of his 15 Test caps in August 2018 but has been in good white-ball form recently while the 33-year-old’s only fi rst-class match of the season saw him make 199 at Headingley for Yorkshire against Sussex in June.

Malan, however, normally bats no higher than number three.

And with the struggling Zak Crawley, who did not play at Lord’s, also dropped from the squad, Haseeb Hameed may now open alongside Rory Burns when the third Test starts a week on Wednesday.

That would leave Malan vying with Ollie Pope for the number three berth, although England could promote Jonny Bairstow up the order instead given his previous experience of batting at fi rst-wicket down. Hameed returned to Test duty at Lord’s with scores of nought and

nine, but at number three rather than in his favoured position of opener.

Meanwhile, paceman Saqib Mahmood, drafted in ahead of the second Test af-ter veteran quick Stuart Broad suff ered a series-ending calf injury, remains in a 15-man squad after Mark Wood hurt his shoulder while fi elding at Lord’s, al-though the fast bowler did return to the attack on Monday’s fi nal day.

England are also without the in-jured Jofra Archer, Olly Stone and Chris

Woakes, with star all-rounder Ben Stokes still unavailable due to mental health is-sues. Mahmood, uncapped at Test level, has impressed in white-ball formats and was England’s man of the series in their 3-0 one-day international campaign suc-cess against Pakistan earlier this season.

“We are hopeful that Mark Wood will be fi t after injuring his right shoulder in the second Test,” said Silverwood. “We will monitor where he is at when we get to Leeds. “We also have the services of Saqib

Mahmood, who has been brilliant across all formats this summer. He is confi dent, highly-skilled and will not be overawed if he is to make his Test debut.”

England squad for the third TestJoe Root (capt), Moeen Ali, James Ander-son, Jonny Bairstow, Rory Burns, Jos But-tler (wkt), Sam Curran, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood.

England recall Malan as Sibley dropped for 3rd Test against India

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‘We are hopeful that Wood will be fit after injuring his right shoulder in the second Test’

‘Coach Grumpy’: Cricket Australia defends Langer’s leadershipCRICKET

AFPSydney

Cricket Australia chief Nick Hockley defended Jus-tin Langer yesterday after mounting concern over his

management style sparked uncertainty around his position heading into the Twenty20 World Cup and a home Ash-es series. The Australian head coach was forced to address negative feed-back earlier this year when discontent surfaced about his “headmaster-like” leadership and shifting moods.

He took the criticism on board and admitted he had been “grumpy and in-tense” most of his life.

Langer faced controversy again last week after reports of a heated argument with a Cricket Australia journalist fol-

lowing a poor white-ball tour of the West Indies and Bangladesh.

The confrontation is said to have tak-en place in the team hotel, with players and staff watching, leading to feverish media speculation over his future.

Hockley praised the “incredible job” Langer had done in rebuilding the cul-ture of Australian cricket since being hired in the aftermath of the notorious “Sandpaper-gate” ball-tampering tour of South Africa in 2018.

“His eff orts have restored public faith in the national team, which is a side all Australians can be incredibly proud of,” he said in a statement.

Hockley didn’t directly address Langer’s management style but noted it had been an “extremely disruptive and challenging 18 months” during the pandemic with border closures and cricketers living in bio-secure bubbles.

“Despite those challenges the side has had great success in one-day, Test and T20 cricket, when all players were available,” he said. “Justin, his coaching staff and the leaders within the team

have an equally important part to play in ensuring a successful summer ahead for the Australian cricket team.”

Earlier this week, Langer’s friend and former teammate Adam Gilchrist said

growing speculation around his posi-tion could “derail the summer”, while urging Cricket Australia to stamp out leaks to the media.

“The bigger issue... is the fact these journalists have a direct line of contact with people within the inner sanc-tum there, and the people in that inner sanctum are happy to let it get out,” he said.

White ball skipper Aaron Finch said he believed Australia’s recent poor form had amplifi ed tension related to Langer, but it wasn’t “a great look” that teammates were leaking details.

“There’s always tension when results don’t go your way,” he told SEN com-mercial radio yesterday. “It’s disap-pointing that things are coming to the front the way that they are.”

While Langer has been widely praised for restoring the culture of the

Australian team, rumours of dressing-room friction have never been far away.

Malcolm Conn, who was media manager for the Australian team dur-ing their 2019 Ashes tour of England, said he respected Langer but quickly learned to stay out of his way.

“You were never certain whether your question was going to be met with an answer or an explosion,” he wrote in an opinion piece for the Sydney Morn-ing Herald.

Conn detailed players walking on egg shells around Langer and his “sud-den obsession with things that... didn’t seem to matter”.

“Like many of these minor incidents, Langer’s latest blow-up at a Cricket Australia digital journalist during the recent tour of Bangladesh is nothing in isolation, but contributes to a pattern of erratic behaviour,” he added.

In this file photo taken on July 8, 2021, England’s Dawid Malan plays a shot during the first One Day International against Pakistan at Sophia Gardens Stadium in Cardiff , Wales. (AFP)

SPORTGulf Times Thursday, August 19, 20212

Japanese Grand Prix cancelled for second year over virusAFPTokyo

The Japanese Grand Prix has been cancelled for a second year over “ongoing complexities” with Cov-

id-19, Formula 1 said yesterday.The race was due to take place

at Suzuka on October 10, but F1 said the Japanese government had pulled the plug due to the country’s pandemic situation.

Japan is currently battling record coronavirus infections, with Tokyo, which successfully held the recent Olympics behind closed doors, and other regions under a state of emergency.

“The decision has been taken by the Japanese government to cancel the race this season due to ongoing complexities of the pandemic in the country,” F1 said in a statement. The move follows Grand Prix cancellations this season in Australia, China, Can-ada and Singapore. F1 said it had yet to decide how to fi ll the gap but one option may be to hold a second US race in Austin, Texas.

“Formula 1 is now working on the details of the revised calen-dar and will announce the fi nal details in the coming weeks,” the statement said.

“Formula 1 has proven this year, and in 2020, that we can adapt and fi nd solutions to the ongoing uncertainties and is excited by the level of interest in locations to host Formula 1 events this year and beyond.”

Japan’s MotoGP, which was also scheduled to take place in October, was scrapped in June.

The cancellation of the Japa-nese GP is especially disap-pointing to Honda who will be deprived of a last farewell in front of their home fans before withdrawing from the sport at the end of the season.

Honda engines currently power Red Bull and its sister

team Alpha Tauri. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is

currently second in the world drivers’ championship, engaged in a thrilling tussle with Lewis Hamilton whose Mercedes team are also edging the constructors’ championship. Honda is also, via a subsidiary, owner of the Suzu-ka circuit which has hosted the Japanese GP since 2009.

“It is unfortunate that, for a second consecutive year, it has not been possible to hold the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix at Suzuka,” the team said in a state-ment. “As Honda, we are partic-ularly disappointed, because this is the fi nal year of our Formula 1 project and we know that so many fans were looking forward to attending the event.”

The fi gure-of-eight Suzuka circuit, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2022, has hosted 31 GPs since 1987, with the drivers’ world title being de-cided there on 11 occasions.

In April, Japanese GP promot-ers and F1 chiefs announced that the race would remain at Suzuka until 2024. Japan has just hosted the Olympic Games, with no spectators allowed in the stadi-ums, and is preparing to do the same, under similar conditions, for the Paralympic Games, which begin next week.

Since the end of June, the country has been experiencing its worst wave of coronavirus to date, due in particular to the Delta variant. A state of emer-gency has been re-established since mid-July in part of the country, including the capital Tokyo, for the fourth time since the beginning of the pandemic.

But the system, which was extended on Tuesday, seems to be losing its eff ectiveness. Dai-ly cases of Covid-19 continue to increase and exceeded the 20,000 mark across the country for the fi rst time on Friday and Saturday.

MOTORSPORT

Revitalised Ko eyes glory at Women’s British Open

Lydia Ko hopes to make it third time lucky in the Women’s British Open at Carnoustie this week after the New Zealander ended her poor run of form.Following a disappointing spell, South Korea-born Ko is back on track and she goes into today’s final major of the season on a hot streak. The 24-year-old finished third at the Olympic Games in Tokyo and then second at the Women’s Scottish Open. Now she wants to get her hands on the trophy in Scotland.“It’s been a tough few weeks and it would be nice to end on a real high before taking a break,” she said. Ko became the young-est world number one aged 17 in 2015, but slipped down the rankings before ending a three-year victory drought in Hawaii earlier this season. “I don’t really set goals any more,” said the two-time major winner. “I just try and do my best every week. “I used to be the youngest out here but now there are players three or four years younger.“Golf is great because you can play for a long time, but I have always said I intend to retire at 30. There are lots of other things I want to do. “But it would be great to do well this week. The course is very tough, but I am hitting it longer than a few

years ago so that helps.”Park Inbee, a seven-time major champion, has happy memories of Scotland after winning the Women’s British Open at Turn-berry in 2015. “It’s always good to be back. I played here in 2011 and I think I did quite well (tied seventh),” she said. “The course does seem longer and I think there are a few changes.”Park finished fourth last year at Royal Troon and the former world number one still rides high in third place in the world rankings. The South Korean won in rough conditions at Turnberry and is hoping the unsettled weather doesn’t spoil her latest title bid. “I recall that it wasn’t very windy at all when we were here 10 years ago. But if it blows it is going to be very tough,” she said. Yuka Saso won the Women’s US Open this season, earning a first trip to Scotland and a debut in the Women’s British Open.The 20-year-old Filipino said: “It is a very diff icult course. The wind, the bunkers, the burns. So diff erent. It is summer in Scot-land but I am wearing a warm jacket. It is certainly diff erent.”A lot has changed since Saso became the first from her country to win the Women’s US Open, but she is enjoying the experience.

Philipsen wins stage fi ve, Elissonde takes overall leadAFPAlbacete, Spain

Belgian sprinter Jasper Philipsen won stage fi ve of the Vuelta a Es-pana yesterday, edging

a mass dash for the line after a fl at 184.4km run from Tarancon to Albacete.

Frenchman Kenny Elissonde is the new overall leader after red jersey wearer Rein Taara-mae was caught in a mass fall, with race favourite Primoz Roglic in second place just fi ve seconds adrift. After two days in the lead, Taaramae, who al-most avoided the crash, was downhearted to lose the jersey through bad luck.

“Riders behind ran into me. I changed bikes and started to

chase the peloton. It was impos-sible to close the one-minute gap. It is a pity to lose the jersey in this way,” said the Estonian. Elissonde was close to taking the overall lead on stage three, and admitted he felt for Taaramae.

“It’s still incredible to wear the jersey. After the Tour de France and Olympics I took it easy. My team said ‘Kenny, go to the Vuelta and see day by day’, and look. It’s incredible. It’s su-per cool,” the Frencman said.

Expected cross-winds never really emerged and instead the stage was once more contested in baking heat.

It was a second stage win on this Vuelta for Philipsen of Al-pecin-Fenix, who also snatched back the sprint points green jersey from Deceuninck-Quick Step’s Fabio Jakobsen, who won

Tuesday’ stage and has also twice been a close second.

Unlike Jakobsen, Philipsen contested the intermediate sprint garnering a crucial 13pts.

Philipsen was unlucky at the Tour de France in July fi nishing on the podium six times with-

out bagging a win. In Spain, he leads Jakobsen by a single point on 131pts in a rivalry that looks set to go some distance.

“It’s not particularly that I’m already thinking about the end of the Vuelta and the green jer-sey, but it’s nice to wear it day by

day and then we’ll just see how far we can get,” said Philipsen.

Philipsen was again swift to credit his team after they re-grouped after a late crash to lead him to the line. “It makes it even more beautiful if you see the fi -nal fi ve kilometres and how we were there together all with the team. I cannot describe that,” said the 26-year-old.

Frenchman Romain Bardet was the biggest victim of the late crash and trundled home, some 12 minutes after Philipsen.

Elissonde will have his wok cut out to keep hold of the red jersey as today’s stage six ends atop a climb at Alto de la Mon-taña de Cullera, a fortifi ed sum-mit overlooking a valley where Irish rider Sean Kelly won one of his 16 Vuelta stages back in 1980.

CYCLING/ VUELTA A ESPANA

Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen celebrates as he wins the 5th stage of the 2021 La Vuelta yesterday. (AFP)

SPORT3Gulf Times

Thursday, August 19, 2021

Warholm warns shoe technology could hurt credibility

ATHLETICS

ReutersOslo

Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm is not against innovation in sports but feels the new

carbon-technology shoes are hurting athletes’ credibility, the men’s 400 metres hurdles cham-pion at the Tokyo Olympics told Reuters.

Karsten Warholm shaved off his own world record by .76 of a sec-ond - a massive margin in a one-lap race - to hold off American Rai Benjamin to win in Tokyo in what would be remembered as one of the all-time great Olympic races.

Benjamin took silver in 46.17, also half a second inside Warholm’s previous record of 46.70 while Brazilian Alison dos Santos took bronze in 46.72 as six of the fi rst seven fi nishers set na-tional or continental records.

Following his victory Warholm spoke out to criticise the thick-soled shoes of Benjamin, despite also wearing spikes with a carbon plate that unquestionably im-proves performance.

“What I said was misunder-stood in some way, because I had one comment about it after the race and it just blew up and that wasn’t my plan at all,” the 25-year-old said during an inter-view.

“To be honest I don’t know if that shoe (Nike) is the best shoe. My shoe (Puma) is maybe just

as good, but that’s not what it is about, necessarily. I haven’t done the science.

“When somebody does a great performance now, everybody will question if it’s the shoe, and that is the credibility problem.”

With a super-speedy track at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium to aid, Sydney McLaughlin also shat-tered her own world record ahead

of fellow American Dalilah Mo-hamed also inside the old mark in the women’s race. The sprints also witnessed fast times.

Warholm said he wanted ath-letes and not technology to get more credit and would want whoever breaks his record in fu-ture to be simply better than him.

“Hopefully somebody is doing the research and hopefully World

Athletics are there to protect both athletes but also the audi-ence,” he said.

“People sitting at home. I don’t want them to feel like they’ve been fooled or tricked. I want there to be credibility.

“And that’s what I feel the sport of track and fi eld is all about. You can compare things. Yes there will always be small dif-

ferences... even though I’m all for technology pushing it a little bit forward, in all sports.”

EMOTIONAL CELEBRATIONWhen he saw the astonishing time after going past the fi nish line in Tokyo, Warholm looked in shock. He ripped his vest apart and beat his chest in celebration before sinking to his knees.

“I was just a bit embarrassed that I wasn’t able to rip the shirt like fully off ,” he said with a smile.

“But it was a lot of emotions... it’s something that I wanted re-ally bad. Also with the Olympics it’s not a medal that you can go out and fi ght for every year.

“I knew that this was the mo-ment that I really just had to grab with both hands because it’s not that many times you get the chance to be in perfect shape during the Olympics and it was very important for me to win.”

Warholm, a two-time world champion in 400m hurdles, said he was ready to try new events.

“The fi rst natural one would be the 400m without hurdles, and I’m going to do that already at the end of this month in Swit-zerland,” he said. “And you know probably do one or two more before the season ends. But I haven’t decided.

“I’m also dreaming about do-ing a great 800 once, but that’s going to take some years and it’s going to take a diff erent type of training. So I’m not ready to go there just yet.”

‘I don’t want them to feel like they’ve been fooled or tricked. I want there to be credibility’

Wrist injury rules defending champ Thiem out of US OpenAFPParis

Defending champion Dominic Thiem an-nounced on social media yesterday the

“tough decision” to pull out of this month’s US Open after fail-ing to recover suffi ciently from a wrist injury he picked up in Mal-lorca in June.

The 27-year-old Austrian, who will also miss the remainder of the 2021 season, said he had been making a good recovery before feeling renewed pain last week.

“Unfortunately, I’ve had to withdraw from the US Open and will miss the rest of the 2021 sea-son,” he posted on Twitter.

“I’m really disappointed not to be able to defend the title in New York but I haven’t recovered from the wrist injury I suff ered back in June at the Mallorca Open. The past six weeks, I’ve been follow-ing medical advice, wearing the wrist splint, doing exercise to stay in shape before starting to train back on the courts.

“My recovery was going re-ally well but then last week I hit a ball during training and started to feel some pain again. I went straight to see the doctors.

“After some tests, they said

that my wrist needs more time, so we’ve agreed on being con-servative and to give my wrist some time to recover. I’ll wear the wrist splint for a couple more weeks before starting with exer-cises and then training with the racquet again.

“It has been a tough decision but I know this is what I have to

do. I have a long career ahead of me nd it’s important not to take risks and rush back.”

Thiem staged a memorable comeback in New York last year, losing the fi rst two sets in the fi nal before beating Alexander Zverev in fi ve. The world number six went on to reach the quarter-fi nals of the delayed 2020 French

Open and the fi nal of the season-ending Masters in London.

However, he struggled with form this year, losing in straight sets to Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round of the Australian Open. He duly took a break from tennis to “recharge” and on his return reached the semi-fi nals in Madrid.

That was followed, however, by another defeat at Roland Garros where he lost in the fi rst round after squandering a two-set lead against Pablo Andujar.

His wrist injury in Mallorca, where he had to abandon against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, meant missing Wimbledon and the Tokyo Olympics.

On Sunday, another former champion Roger Federer also pulled out of the US Open.

The 40-year-old, who has fi ve US Open titles to his name, said he needed further knee surgery and admitted he “will be out for many months”.

The other two members of the “Big Three”, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, are both ab-sent from the ongoing Masters tournament in Cincinnati which traditionally serves as a dress re-hearsal before the US Open.

The 35-year-old Nadal has been suff ering from a left foot injury since his semi-fi nal exit at the hands of Djokovic at the French Open in June.

The Serb, meanwhile, who has won all three majors this sea-son and is eager to make a clean sweep in New York, has not tak-en to the court since the Tokyo Olympics, which he left mentally and physically exhausted after his losses in the semi-fi nal and in the bronze medal match.

TENNIS

beIN SPORTS to showcase allure of 2022 FIFA World Cup host nation with Schmeichel and Chippobein Media Group’s flagship sports channel beIN SPORTS will broadcast the fifth episode of its exclusive programme Welcome to Qatar with Danish and former Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel and Moroccan football legend Yousef Chippo tomorrow.As the off icial broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), beIN SPORTS monthly program takes viewers on an incredible jour-ney across Qatar as the country

prepares to host one of the biggest sporting competitions in the world. In the fifth episode of the series, Schmeichel and Chippo invite viewers on an exclusive tour around Qatar as they visit fascinating landmarks in the country including Lusail City, Msheireb Downtown Doha, and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 final stadium in Lusail.beIN SPORTS analyst Chippo said: “I believe the Qatar World Cup will be the biggest World Cup in history. As Arabs, we were thrilled when Qatar was

awarded the right to host, and we hope this will be the greatest event in history. I’ve experienced the World Cup as a player and an analyst; it’s a diff erent atmosphere which we await passionately. The tournament combines various cultures and gives us the op-portunity to learn from them; and, as Arabs, we’re known for our warm hospitality”. The fifth episode will be broadcast exclusively on beIN SPORTS Premium 1 at 21:00 Makkah Time (GMT +3).

Norwegian hurdler Karsten Warholm clocks 45.94sec to win 400m hurdles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. (AFP)

ATP and WTA inch closer to merger aft er combining marketing ops

The first major project to come out of the combined ATP and WTA marketing operation was launched yesterday as the streamlining of the governance of tennis gathers pace. The Covid-19 pandemic decimated the 2020 tennis calendar and prompted calls for a merger of the vari-ous bodies that run the game, a suggestion well received by both the women’s (WTA) and men’s (ATP) tours. Yesterday, the ATP and WTA announced the second season of their digital show - Tennis United: CrossCourt - which will feature newly-married couple Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils in the first episode on Aug. 25.“This is an exciting time for professional tennis,” WTA President Micky Lawler told Reuters. “This past year, we gave the WTA a new visual identity while we simultane-ously built a more formal col-laboration with the ATP. Both initiatives have resonated with our audience. We’re extremely pleased to announce our mar-keting alignment with the ATP and look forward to delivering a new era of storytelling that celebrates the best of our sport.”Tennis enjoys a massive worldwide following, but its governance is fractured with seven organisations - ATP, WTA, the four Grand Slams

and the International Tennis Federation - running diff erent parts of the game.The unprecedented chal-lenge of the global health crisis helped forge closer links between the bodies and chart a roadmap for an unified calendar, shared commercial off erings, sponsorship and TV deals. ‘Tennis United’ was first launched in 2020 and by the end of the year the WTA rebranded its website and changed its tournament naming system to align with the ATP. The two marketing departments have been work-ing together since January and in June they announced a joint commercial deal with e-learning platform TopCourt and a combined partnership with mobile game Tennis Clash. The two tours, however, still have diff erent ranking systems, logos and websites while viewers need diff erent pay-TV platforms to watch matches. ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, a strong advocate of governance reform, says tennis overly relies on ticket sales and needs structural change. The Italian presented a plan to revolutionise the sport soon after taking over as the ATP chief at the start of 2020, but the pandemic quickly forced all sporting bodies into crisis mode.

Halep earns injury comeback win; Gauff to face Osaka

AFPLos Angeles

Simona Halep earned her fi rst victory since last May’s calf injury pause as the three-time

fi nalist defeated Magda Linette 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 on Tuesday at the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Masters.

American teenager Coco Gauff lined up a contest with second seed Naomi Osaka through a 6-1, 6-2 hammering of Hsieh Su-Wei.

On a day when rain forced a reorganisation of the after-noon and evening schedule, women’s top seed Ashleigh Barty and Olympic gold med-allist Alexander Zverev never made it onto court.

Halep only returned to the Tour last week in Montreal, losing in the opening round. She remained confi dent that progress was not far away af-ter her injury in Rome three months ago. The Romanian defeated her Polish opponent for a second time, taking just over two hours.

“It was a strong match. In my opinion, both of us played really well,” the 29-year-old said. “Maybe the rain delay helped me a little bit to fi nd energy. I was a little bit strong-er physically and mentally in the third set.

“It means a lot, I’m really happy to win. It’s always im-portant to have victories when you come back from an injury.

“This was the fi rst time in my life that I’ve had this kind of problem, and I didn’t really know how to manage it. But I’m happy to be back, happy to play pain-free. I’m just trying to build my confi dence back.”

The 12th seed, a former number one, played Cincinnati fi nals in 2015, 2017 and 2018. She dominated her 44th-ranked opponent with 11 aces and four breaks of serve.

Gauff won her last match with four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka at the Aus-tralian Open last year. Gauff , 1-1 in the series, will play Osa-ka for the fi rst time outside of a Grand Slam.

“I’ve learned (from their past matches) to just focus on me and not on the expecta-tions of others,” she said of the high-profi le meeting with the former number one.

Montreal champion Camila Giorgi fell 6-2, 6-2 in her open-ing match to Jessica Pegula in a re-run of the pair’s semi-fi nal last Saturday in Canada.

Hopes ended for Britain’s Johanna Konta in a 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 loss to Czech Karo-lina Muchova. Konta has now lost in the Cincinnati fi rst round in three of her last four appearances at the tourna-ment, reaching the semi-fi -nals in 2020 when the event was staged in New York under strict Covid-19 protocols.

In the men’s draw, Wimble-don fi nalist Matteo Berrettini returned from a thigh injury layoff but only just managed a 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-5 defeat of Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas. The Italian fi fth seed showed rust after last play-ing the All England Club fi nal against Novak Djokovic,

But he prevailed after saving fi ve break points in the fi nal set to end it on a drop shot winner on match point.

Last week’s Toronto quar-ter-fi nalist Gael Monfi ls was untroubled by Serb Dusan La-jovic in a 7-6(7/0), 6-2 win in 91 minutes as the Frenchman overcame nine double-faults.

Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the second round as he eliminated 13th seed Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-4. Amer-ican Sebastian Korda won his 23rd match this season as he quickly brushed aside Serb Laslo Djere 6-4, 6-4 to line up against second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Weekend Toronto semi-fi -nalist John Isner was bothered by back pain throughout but relied on his huge serve to wrap up a 4-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 come-back over Brit Cameron Nor-rie. Isner fi nished off with his 26th ace as Norrie lost in a fi rst round for the second week in succession. The 36-year-old American moved into the sec-ond round to play Italy’s 11th seed Jannick Sinner.

FOCUS

Simona Halep of Romania plays a backhand during her match against Magda Linette of Poland at the Western & Southern Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. (Getty Images/AFP)

Thursday, August 19, 2021

GULF TIMES SPORT

Chelsea’s record signing Lukaku ready to face ArsenalAFPLondon

Romelu Lukaku is in line to make his second Chelsea debut against Arsenal on Sunday after

the club record signing revealed he has been given the number nine shirt.

Belgium striker Lukaku re-joined Chelsea in a £98 million ($135 million) move from Inter Milan last week.

The 28-year-old missed Chel-sea’s win over Crystal Palace in their Premier League opener on Saturday while he quarantined.

But Lukaku trained with his new teammates on Wednesday in front of Chelsea fans during an open session at Stamford Bridge. He is in contention to feature in the London derby at the Emir-ates Stadium this weekend.

Asked if he could face Arsenal, Lukaku told reporters: “Yeah, I’ve done a full pre-season. For now, I just want to get to know my teammates better.

“Then at the end of the day I’m available for the manager if he wants to play me.”

The number nine shirt at Chelsea has been something of a poisoned chalice in recent years, with Gonzalo Higuain, Fernando Torres, Alvaro Morata and Rad-amel Falcao all enduring long goal droughts while wearing the jersey.

But Lukaku jumped at the

chance to take the number af-ter the jersey was vacated when Tammy Abraham joined Roma earlier this week.

“Yes, I have the number nine. I am happy and fortunate to be in this situation,” he said.

“The dream is reality so I have to prove on the pitch. It’s time to get to work and let my perform-ances do the talking.”

Lukaku spent three years at Chelsea between 2011 and 2014, but rarely featured before being sold to Everton. Now, almost 10 years after arriving in west Lon-

don as an unknown teenager, Lukaku has returned as one of the world’s top strikers.

His superb form, including 27 goals and 11 assists, helped Inter win Serie A last season.

– ‘Higher standards’ – Despite his star turn at Inter, Lukaku still has some doubters in England following some lethargic displays during a two-year stay at Man-chester United that ended acri-moniously in 2019. Lukaku insists he is a diff erent character after his transformative time in Italy.

“Maturity has been impor-

tant. I think I’ve learned much more about myself, setting high-er standards,” he said.

“As a player, it’s about be-coming more complete. In Italy, the game is diff erent, there are tighter spaces, it’s more techni-cal and tactical, which helped me a lot.

“The English game is diff er-ent but for me it’s not something new. Whatever plan the coach has, I can adapt myself and help the team.

“I’m one of the players who likes to connect everybody and

make everyone feel comfortable and give them confi dence.”

Lukaku’s revival has been aided by advice from Chelsea and Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba.

“He kept it really simple, to be honest. He was really happy with the improvements I’ve made in the last couple of seasons but said there is always work to be done,” Lukaku said.

“I think that’s the right mind-set. I really want to achieve the maximum as a football player, it’s all about improving week in, week out.

“I think the last two years have been great for myself, both at club and international level.

“Now I get the chance to join a team that’s very hungry and ambi-tious and I can’t wait to add some-thing new to their playing style.”

Although Chelsea won the Champions League last season, they struggled for goals at times as Timo Werner fl opped on his debut season with the Blues.

Lukaku is confi dent he can fi ll any role required by Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel and he ex-pects to hit the ground running.

“It’s a good feeling. The guys are hungry, they want to keep winning, I can see from the last couple of training sessions that there is a good intensity,” he said.

“The coach is very clear with his ideas, everybody wants to work hard and keep improving. Those things really fi t with my ambitions.”

Batshuayi hails Besiktas move as an ‘incredible opportunity’

Michy Batshuayi’s spell at Chel-sea added another chapter yes-terday when he announced he had signed a season-long loan at Turkish side Besiktas.

The 27-year-old Belgium striker hailed it as an “incredible opportunity” at the fourth club he has been loaned out to since signing for Chelsea in 2016 from Marseille for a reported £33 mil-lion ($45 million).

Batshuayi’s chances of getting more fi rst team football this sea-son at Stamford Bridge dimmed when they signed his compatriot

Lukaku from Italian champions Inter Milan last week. He did though extend his contract at Chelsea to 2023 before he left for Turkey. “Very, very happy to join Besiktas,” he tweeted. “An in-credible opportunity for me and I’m already looking to play.

“Thank you to all the fans for the crazy welcome at Istanbul.

“See you at the stadium very soon.”

Previously Batshuayi has been loaned out to German side Borussia Dortmund, Span-ish outfi t Valencia and then two spells at Chelsea’s Premier League rivals Crystal Palace.

FOOTBALL

‘The dream is reality so I have to prove on the pitch. It’s time to get to work and let my performances do the talking’

AFPDortmund, Germany

Julian Nagelsmann joked that he wants to hoard titles like a ‘hamster’ af-ter winning his fi rst tro-

phy at Bayern Munich with his debut victory as head coach of the Bundesliga giants. Bayern swept aside league rivals Borus-sia Dortmund 3-1 on Tuesday to win the German Super Cup with Robert Lewandowski scoring twice in a stellar performance.

Nagelsmann, 34, is under pressure to win a tenth straight Bundesliga title for Bayern in only his fi rst season in charge – the champions drew Fri-day’s opening league game at Moenchengladbach.

He celebrated with his team after captain Manuel Neuer lift-ed the Super Cup in Dortmund and joked that he hopes to hoard titles in the way hamsters store

food. “You can see that I have such small hamster teeth – I’d like to be a title hamster,” joked Nagelsmann. “The title is a re-ward for our pre-season work.

I am still happy, but it belongs more to others than to me,” Nagelsmann added after Bay-ern’s impressive display.

Their head coach is not the

only one who covets titles in his fi rst season. “This title is just the beginning, we still have a lot to do,” wrote Bayern’s new CEO Oliver Kahn on Twitter. Never-theless, Bayern’s sixth straight win over Dortmund was a clear reminder of their status as Ger-many’s top club. Dortmund striker Erling Braut Haaland, who dazzled last Saturday with three assists and two goals in a 5-2 thrashing of Frankfurt, had a frustrating night against the Bayern defence.

The towering Norwegian had a goal ruled off side, as did Dort-mund striker Youssoufa Mou-koko, 16, while the hosts pulled a goal back when their captain Marco Reus curled a long-range shot inside the post. Nagels-mann described Robert Lewand-owski, who turns 33 on Saturday, as “better” than Haaland.

The Polish goal-machine has now scored 24 times in as many games against his former club

Dortmund. Dortmund were left licking their wounds as defen-sive mistakes contributed to Bayern’s goals.

Dortmund head coach Marco Rose acknowledged there are certain mistakes “you can’t make” against Bayern and there were “one or two too many of them”.

Both teams wore black arm-bands in honour of legendary Bayern striker Gerd Mueller who died last Sunday, aged 75.

Before kick-off , Lewandowski – who broke Mueller’s record by scoring 41 Bundesliga goals last season – held up an old jersey of the Bayern icon.

“He meant so much to the whole world and to the history of football,” said Lewandowski, who has now scored in 14 con-secutive competitive games.

The only player to top that was Mueller, who scored in 16 straight games for Bayern in 1969/70.

Nagelsmann wants more trophies at BayernBUNDESLIGA

Arsenal set to sign Real Madrid’s Odegaard: reports

Arsenal are on the verge of a permanent deal for Real Madrid midfielder Martin Odegaard, ac-cording to reports yesterday.Odegaard joined Arsenal on loan for the second half of last season after failing to break into the Real Madrid team.The 22-year-old scored just two goals in 20 appearances for the Premier League club, but impressed Gunners boss Mikel Arteta with his composed per-formances. Odegaard was hop-ing to get a chance under new Real manager Carlo Ancelotti this season, but Arsenal look set to bring the Norway internation-al back to the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal have reportedly agreed a fee in the region of £30 million ($41 million) for the Norway international. Odegaard joined Real as a highly-rated 16-year-old from Stromsgodset in 2015.But he has never established himself in Madrid, spending two seasons on loan at Heerenveen before temporary stints with Vitesse Arnhem, Real Sociedad and Arsenal. Arteta has already signed Ben White, Nuno Tavares and Albert Sambi Lokonga since the end of last season.But Arsenal opened the Premier League season with a woeful 2-0 loss at promoted Brentford on Friday.

In this fi le photograph taken on April 18, 2021, Inter Milan’s Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku warms up prior to the Italian Serie A match against between Napoli at The Diego Maradona (San Paolo) Stadium in Naples. (AFP)

Qatar Racing’s Swoon doubles up in style at Carlisle

AgenciesCarlisle, England

Progressive fi lly Swoon put up a fi ne front-running performance when carrying the col-

ours of Qatar Racing Limited to success in the MansionBet Proud To Support British Rac-ing Fillies Novice’ Stakes in Carlisle, England, on Tuesday.

Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Swoon took her tally to two wins from only three starts and was following up an easy success at Wolverhampton three weeks ago.

Ridden on this occasion by Cieren Fallon, Swoon was sent straight into the lead for the four-runner one mile four-furlong contest. Travelling well, the three-year-old never looked in trouble even when being briefl y pressed by Tres

Speciale inside the fi nal two furlongs. Despite hanging to the left, Swoon was clear inside the fi nal furlong and went on to score by an easy three-length margin at the line. Outsider of the four Tykenwear took third place though far away behind with an extra nine-and-a-half length margin.

Bred by Qatar Bloodstock Limited, Swoon is by Frankel, who stands at Banstead Man-or Stud in Newmarket. She is out of Marine Bleue, who was trained in Chantilly by Nico-las Clement. Both a Listed and a Group 3 winner over a mile, Marine Bleue has pro-duced nine individual winners including the Group 2 winner Military Law, Marina Piccola a Listed winner and dam of the Group 1 winner French King, the Group 3 placed Wednaan and Marine One a Listed win-ner over hurdles.

HORSE RACING

Cieren Fallon rides Swoon to victory in the British Racing Fillies Novice’ Stakes in Carlisle, England, on Tuesday. (Stephen Davies)

Italian Locatelli joins JuventusItaly’s Euro 2020 winner Manuel Locatelli has joined Juventus on a two-year loan deal from Sassuolo, the Serie A giants announced yesterday.Midfielder Locatelli scored twice in five games as the Azzurri lifted the European Championship trophy in July.Juve will have to sign Locatelli permanently in 2023 for 37.5 million euros ($43.8 million), which includes bonuses, after his loan deal ends.

The 23-year-old made his top-flight debut with AC Milan in 2016 after coming through Atalanta’s academy before joining Sassuolo two years later. “In addition to his goals, Manuel is an absolute quality and security in midfield, bring-ing a level of class that few have,” Juve said.“The giant steps he has made in the top flight, after a period at Atalanta and Milan’s youth teams, only confirms this.”

Bayern Munich’s German head coach Julian Nagelsmann hands the trophy to Bayern Munich’s forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting after Bayern won the German Super Cup beating Dortmund. (AFP)

QCTF announces calendar for season 2021-2022By Sports ReporterDoha

Qatar Cycling and Tri-athlon Federation (QCTF) has announced its calendar for the

upcoming 2021-2022 season. As QCTF is responsible for two sporting disciplines, both ex-periencing a surge in growth of participation, with huge demand for events.

There will be nonstop action-packed weekends plus night events through the week, organ-ised by the QCTF and local clubs, from mid-September until end of March and onward into Ramadan.

The season will start with the very popular evening time trial series races. They will take place on the Olympic Cycling Track which has been a catalyst for cycling growth in Qatar. Ad-ditionally, there will be fi ve road races in the season spread out across Qatar but mainly in the prime terrain around Dukhan. The races cater for diff erent levels of riders, with the novice category serving to introduce new blood to road racing. The pinnacle of both disciplines will

be the Qatar National Road and Time Trial championships at the beginning of February, both recognised by the International Cycling Union (UCI). New for this season, QCTF will provide a focus for women’s cycling and boost participation by initiating events specifi c to them. ‘Women on Wheels’ race nights will cater for developing cyclists seeking a challenge or competitive outlet for their cycling fi tness.

Off road – mountain bike en-

thusiasts will compete in fi ve diff erent races across Qatar. Most being organised by United Filipino Mountain Bikers with the support of QCTF. The main event of the MTB season will be the UCI recognised Al Adaid Desert Challenge, organised by Qatar Cyclists.

‘Al Adaid’ has evolved from a pure cycling event into a sport-ing festival and is one of the most anticipated events in the calendar for cyclists, runners,

and multisport enthusiasts. The triathlon has also seen immense growth, thanks to Qatar Olym-pic Committee (QOC) support and the very popular Qatar Na-tional Triathlon Series organised by QCTF. Each season, the series consists of fi ve triathlons organ-ised in the most iconic locations of Qatar. This season is set to be one of the most exciting for triathletes, as QOC and QCTF are planning to organise The Ultimate Race – a triathlon for

the toughest athletes out there – which will take place on October 30, 2021. One month later, QCTF will host a World Triathlon elite race for the fi rst time; the Asia Cup Triathlon. Members of the public can watch the World’s best triathletes and compete over the same course in the pub-lic race. In February 2022 it is hoped to see the return of the Doha Triathlon. Qatar’s largest and most prestigious race was cancelled due to the pandemic last season.

Thani al-Zarraa, QCTF Sec-retary-General: “We are thrilled with the growth of the number of cyclists and triathletes in the country. With the number of events we off er, we are confi dent that there will be even more sport enthusiasts wanting to join our Federation. We would like to thank all the clubs and Qatar Olympic Committee supporting our plans and stepping in as organisers.”

Qatar Cycling and Triath-lon Federation’s full calendar of events can now be found on their websites at www.qatarcycling.org and www.qatartriathlon.org where you can also join the fed-eration to receive reduced race fees and other member benefi ts.

SPOTLIGHT