SPORT | 09

Lakers star

LeBron James

wants to play

again

SPORTIndia’s Kohli

credits change

in stance for

versatility

SPORT | 10

WEDNESDAY 20 MAY 2020

UK quarantine could make British GP impossibleREUTERS – LONDON

Formula One says the UK government’s quar-antine plans would rule out a British Grand Prix and affect tens of thousands of F1-related jobs if exemptions are not granted for sport.

Ministers have said they plan a 14-day quarantine for most people arriving in the country in the coming weeks to try to prevent a second peak in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Formula One is planning two grands prix without spectators at Silverstone, which this year marks the 70th anniversary of hosting the first world championship race, immediately after two in Austria in early July.

“A 14-day quarantine would make it impos-sible to have a British Grand Prix this year,” a Formula One spokesman said yesterday.

“It has a major impact on literally tens of thousands of jobs linked to F1 and the supply chains. If all elite sport is to return to TV, then exemptions must be provided.”

Seven of the 10 Formula One teams are based in England and plans for the season, which has yet to start due to the pandemic, would be disrupted by teams being forced into two weeks’ quarantine every time they return from abroad. Formula One plans to hold the Austrian races within a controlled ‘bubble’, with all team members tested repeatedly for the virus, travelling on charter flights and avoiding contact with anyone outside the paddock.

Austria is one of Europe’s least affected countries by COVID-19 but everyone going on to Silverstone would be similarly isolated.

Formula One has yet to publish a revised 2020 calendar but chairman Chase Carey has said venues not previously due to host races are being considered as part of contingency planning.

ITF plans on new relief fund to support lower-level playersREUTERS – MUMBAI

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has said it is working on additional measures, including a new relief fund, to support lower-ranked professionals who have been left in the lurch due to coronavirus-led lockdowns.

The professional tennis season was halted in early March and will remain shut until at least July end due to travel restrictions that numerous countries have implemented to contain the spread of the virus.

Earlier this month, the ITF, ATP, WTA and the governing bodies of the four Grand Slams raised over $6m to help about 800 lower-ranked players, who depend solely on tour-nament winnings earn a living.

The ITF World Tennis Tour consists of lower-rung tournaments and serves as a transition circuit between the junior and senior games, allowing more professionals to make money as well as improve their rankings to qualify for the men’s ATP Tour or the women’s WTA Tour.

The ITF said its new measures will include a relief fund to help tour players ranked between 501 and 700, and are not covered under other relief programmes. Further details will be announced following its board meeting on June 2.

“We are doing everything within our power to ensure that the talented players climbing the ITF pathway receive the support they need and continue their development during these uncertain times,” ITF President David Haggerty said in a statement late on Monday.

Eligibility for the previous program took into account a player’s ranking as well as pre-vious prize money earnings, according to cri-teria agreed by all stakeholders.

QSL reveals new football guidelinesTHE PENINSULA – DOHA

Hani Ballan, CEO of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) and member of the Executive Committee of the Qatar Football Association (QFA),

has provided a detailed explanation after

the ruling body’s decision to

r e s u m e f o o t b a l l

a c t i v i t y from July

24 to August 26.

The decision to resume football was made after a circular issued by the Qatar Olympic Com-mittee urging sports bodies to complete com-

petitions of the current sports season after July 20.

The details were announced during a response to inquiries from local journalists that were transmitted through the media office in QFA.

Ballan said the decision to resume football are based on an integrated plan developed in consultation between all concerned parties – whether in the QFA and Qatar Stars League – or the relevant authorities in

Qatar especially the Ministry of Health.

In the beginning, the national plan reviewed the decisions that were taken in line with the directions adopted by Qatar to combat the spread of the corona-virus as it was indicated by the decision to hold matches without fans s i n c e March 1 1

before football activity was completely stopped on March 15.

Then there was a decision to extend the sus-pension of activity until May 31 before the QFA announced its decision to resume football activity from July 24 to August 26.

Also, it was announced that as club players were given leave from May 17 to June 7 before appearing for the COVID-19 detection tests on 8 and June 9. The players will start their training from June 10, according to the cir-cular issued by Qatar Stars League.

QUESTION: When is the completion date of the Qatar Stars League?ANSWER: The Qatar Stars League will be completed by August 26. The League will issue circulars regarding the dates and determine the venues after coordination

with the Supreme Com-mittee for Delivery & Legacy and the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Q: Will the league be com-pleted with promotion and relegation?A: We will complete the remaining five rounds of the Qatar Stars League. At the same time, the promotion and relegation will be applied in accordance with the provisions of the Qatar Footbal l Associat ion statutes.

Q: Will the five-sub rule of FIFA applied and use of VAR seen at matches?A: The Qatar Football Asso-ciation will make use of the five substitutions approved by FIFA recently. Also, QSL will continue make use of the VAR technology during the matches.

Q: What are the media measures to be applied during matches?A: No press conferences are to be held before and after the matches. The club social media platforms will be used to share news of players and coaches. The post-match interviews will be delivered only on the pitch by TV crew that will maintain distance during an interview. Other than host broadcaster screw, no journalists will be allowed inside the match venue. Pho-tographers on the other hand will be allocated a separate zone in the media tribune where adequate distancing will be maintained.

Q: What are the medical procedures or medical protocols that will be followed?A: Our medical protocol has been approved by the Min-istry of Public Health. The QFA and QSL will implement the protocols strictly. First of all, the player tests will be conducted on June 8 and 9.

Match officials, referees and backroom staff at clubs will also be tested according to a timetable of events before training sessions are resumed after June 10. In case of somebody emerging as pos-itive, those cases will be dealt with according to the medical procedures approved by the Ministry of Health.

Q: What are the chances of fans attending matches in the future?

A: This is subject to an assessment of the situation during the months of July and August.

An appropriate decision that preserves the safety of everyone will be taken later. We hope that the matches could be held in the presence of fans in the future.

Q: What about signing of new players ahead of the new season?A: The competent author-ities will determine the transfer of players and the registration of new players for the next season 2021/2020.

A circular explaining all aspects regarding the reg-istration mechanism and its dates will be issued in this regard later.

FIFA's 5-sub rule to be implemented during last five rounds of the league

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Iraqi legend Mahmoud to appear on Generation Amazing's Instagram live

THE PENINSULA – DOHA

Iraq football legend and Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) ambassador Younis Mahmoud (pictured) will be the special guest during this week’s Generation Amazing Instagram Live stream today at 8pm Doha time (GMT+3).

The former striker, who col-lected 148 international caps and played for several clubs in Qatar, will outline how he has sup-ported the SC to deliver key mes-sages during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He will also discuss his illustrious football career, which included spells with top Iraqi side Al Talaba and five Qatari teams, including Al Gharafa, where he won a host of honours during a notable five-year spell.

On the international front, Mahmoud won the AFC Asian Cup with Iraq in 2007, scoring the most goals in the tournament and picking up the best player award. He became an ambas-sador for the SC in 2019, which led to him attending a Gener-ation Amazing activity with local schoolchildren at one of the Qatar 2022 training sites.

Speaking ahead of Mah-moud’s appearance on @GA4Good, Generation Amazing’s Marketing & Communications Director, Moza Al Mohannadi, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Younis Mahmoud to our series. He is an important and leg-endary figure of Arab football. Younis is also an icon of the Asian Cup and Qatar Stars League and we are proud he is

a part of our Generation Amazing school programme ini-tiatives. We look forward to hearing about his inspiring career – which we are sure will interest our audience.”

Generation Amazing’s online sessions were launched in April in order to continue the pro-gramme’s football for devel-opment sessions during the ongoing pandemic. Broadcast daily via Instagram Live, the sessions have reached 100,000 viewers over the past six weeks.

The sessions have featured a variety of special guests, including Xavi Hernández, Cafu, Tim Cahill, Samuel Eto’o and Hernán Crespo.

In addition, health and fitness tips have been shared by Generation Amazing master coaches Hamad Mohamed and Michael Richardson.

There have also been live

discussions about football development with representa-tives from partners such as AS Roma, KAS Eupen and the Inter-national Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. The live sessions will take a break over the Eid period before resuming on June 1.

Generation Amazing is the SC’s core social and human development legacy programme. It has reached half a million ben-eficiaries since being launched in 2010 and aims to reach 1 million people by 2022.

Fans can tune into @GA4Good on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for the latest on the Generation Amazing Live schedules. Share photos of you and your family enjoying the live broadcasts, tagging @GA4Good and using the hashtag #GALive, for a chance to be reposted.

Al Sadd's Algerian star Baghdad Bounedjah is seen in action in this file photo.

09WEDNESDAY 20 MAY 2020 SPORT

Star LeBron James wants to play again

Not players’ job to help fellow professionals, says Berrettini

REUTERS – MUMBAI

Matteo Berrettini thinks tennis players should not be put in a position where they have to provide financial aid to fellow professionals and it should be the responsibility of those governing the sport, the Italian world number eight has said.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic had urged players to con-tribute to a fund set up by the sport’s governing bodies to help the lower-ranked professionals affected by the tennis shutdown which began in March and will continue at least until end of July.

“I took a moment to reflect on my priorities, not because I don’t respect the other players, because I believe that no player - in any kind of sports - should be put in the position of helping another player financially,” Berrettini told Eurosport Italy’s Call-azione show.

“I think that this responsibility belongs to the federa-tions, ITF, ATP, WTA... they are the ones who make tourna-ments happen, and us, the players, pay them back with our performances.

“They have to take care of us. The real problem is deeper.”

The governing bodies recently raised over $6m to help the lower-level players, who depend solely on tournament winnings to earn their living, during the shutdown caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The International Tennis Federation has said it is working on additional measures, including a new relief fund, to help players ranked between 501 and 700, and are not covered under other relief programmes.

World No. 3 Dominic Thiem had earlier rejected the notion that top tennis players should chip in to help the lower-ranked competitors, saying he felt there were sec-tions of society that needed more urgent help.

Bautista Agut still eyeing elusiveATP Finals spot

REUTERS – MUMBAI

Qualifying for the season-ending men’s ATP Finals, which features the world’s top eight singles players and doubles teams, is one of the goals for Roberto Bautista Agut before he retires, the Spaniard has said.

The 32-year-old came close to ticking that off his wish list when he rose to a career-high world ranking of ninth last year and served as a reserve player for the 2019 edition of the event in London.

“It is one of the goals I would like to achieve before retiring,” Bautista Agut told ATPTour.com.

“I know how difficult it is, I know that I have been very close some seasons. It’s not something I’m obsessed about, but it remains a goal I’d like to achieve some day.” Bautista Agut was ranked 12th when the tennis season was suspended in early March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The tennis shutdown will continue at least until the end of July and the fate of the 50th edition of the ATP Finals, scheduled for November 15-22 in London, is expected to be decided later.

The Spaniard made a strong start to the season by winning all six of his singles matches for Spain in the ATP Cup before reaching the third round of the Australian Open, where he fell to Croatia’s Marin Cilic after a gruelling five-setter.

In November, Bautista Agut, who has 11 career wins against top 10 opponents, returned to Spain’s Davis Cup squad a day after his father’s funeral and delivered an emotional win over Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime to help his country to a sixth title.

“What keeps me motivated is my com-petitiveness. I’m very competitive both as

an athlete and person,” he said. “I’m always trying to improve and win,

adding minor details to my game, because

it’s a feeling I love.”

e Spa a d ade a st o g sta t to t e seaso bywinning all six of his singles matches for Spain inthe ATP Cup before reaching the third round of the Australian Open, where he fell to Croatia’s Marin Cilic after a gruelling five-setter.

In November, Bautista Agut, who has 11 career wins against top 10 opponents, returnedto Spain’s Davis Cup squad a day after hisfather’s funeral and delivered an emotional win over Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime to help his country to a sixth title.

“What keeps me motivated is my com-petitiveness. I’m very competitive both as

an athlete and person,” he said. “I’m alwaystrying to improve and win,

adding minor details to my game, because

it’s a feelingI love.”

AFP – LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James said yesterday he’s eager for the NBA season to resume, as long as the health of players and their families won’t be endangered amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

James, speaking on the “WRTS: After Party” pro-gramme on the Uninterrupted multi-media platform, said he hoped the NBA season resumes sooner rather than later.

“Definitely not giving up on the season,” said James, whose Lakers led the Western Conference when the NBA suspended play on March 11 after Utah Jazz centre Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus.

The virus brought global sport to a virtual standstill, but as lockdowns aimed at pre-venting its spread have begun to ease, sport has begun to re-emerge.

Germany’s Bundesliga became the first top European football league to resume after a two-month hiatus at the weekend.

In North America the

popular NASCAR stock car series resumed without spec-tators on Sunday and golf stuck a toe in the water with a made-for-TV charity event featuring Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson.

The NBA, along with Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League and Major League Soccer are still formu-lating plans to return, while the NFL tries to stay on course for an on-schedule season opening in September.

“Not only myself and my teammates, the Lakers organ-ization, we want to play,” James said.

“There’s a lot of players that I know personally that want to play. And obviously, we don’t ever want to jeop-ardize the health of any of our players or any of the players’ families and so on and so on.

“This is a pandemic that we have no idea -- we can’t control it,” James said.

“We’re going to listen to the people that’s been fol-lowing this pandemic, fol-lowing the numbers, following the data.” The Lakers own the second-best record in the l e a g u e b e h i n d

Eastern Conference leaders the Milwaukee Bucks and were already assured of a spot in the playoffs -- which were due to start in April.

Among the uncertainties surrounding an NBA return is whether all of the remaining games of the regular season will be played and whether teams will play in their home arenas or at sites that will better allow the league to limit access for safety reasons.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told players last week that he expected the league to study outbreak and testing developments for another two to four weeks before making a decision about resuming competition.

James has said he doesn’t relish the idea of playing without fans in attendance, but he said Monday he just wants to be back on court.

“You know, I want to get back to playing,” James said.

“I love to play the game of basketball. I know how

inspiring the game of basketball is. I k n o w h o w

inspiring sport is, itself.

“As soon as possible, when we can get back out there, we’d love to bring

the game of bas-ketball back to

our fans.”

NBA lottery expected to have same format as ’19AGENCIES – LOS ANGELES

Regardless of how the remainder of the NBA season plays out, the draft lottery is expected to remain unchanged from last year, ESPN reported yesterday.

When the NBA suspended the season on March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic, teams had played between 63 and 67 games. In the eyes of some executives, that discrepancy in games would make it difficult to hold a lottery in the same fashion as before. But according to the ESPN report, enough games have been played to constitute a representative sample.

Another reason for the lottery to remain unchanged, per ESPN, was the change the league made prior to last year’s lottery. The first four slots are determined via lottery, with the teams with the three worst records each having a 14 percent chance of getting the first pick, and the teams with the fourth- through 13th-worst records seeing their odds decrease on a sliding scale.

Under the previous format, the first three spots were determined by lottery, but the team with the worst record held a 25 percent chance of winning, and the odds decreasing beginning with the second-worst record.“I wouldn’t expect changes,” one executive with a team headed for the lottery told ESPN.

The lottery originally was scheduled to take place Tuesday night. The scouting combine was also supposed to take place this week, in Chicago. According to the report, the NBA is still hoping to hold the event later this year.

The league last week reportedly asked teams to vote for up to 70 players they would like invited to the combine. It is believed that should a combine take place, it most would likely be a virtual combine, with teams watching players work out from afar.

NHL vetting neutral sites for restart AGENCIES – LAS VEGAS

The NHL is zeroing in on a return to action with neutral-site games.

Commissioner Gary Bettman said yesterday that the league is eyeing “probably eight or nine different places” that each would play host to approximately 12 teams.

Multiple media outlets have indicated that Las Vegas is one of the front-runners to be a host site. ESPN also reported that Min-nesota, Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver also have submitted proposals to the NHL. According to Sportsnet, Columbus is another possibility.

The NHL suspended play on March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with teams having between 11 and 14 games left in the regular season. The structure of the season, if and when it resumes, remains uncertain.

“Do we complete the regular season when we’re given the opportunity?” Bettman said while speaking online as part of the Leaders Week sports business conference. “Do we do an abbre-viated regular season, because our competitive balance is so extraordinary, it’s hard to tell how the season would have ended? Do we go right to the (Stanley Cup) playoffs and in what form? “And if we’re not playing in front of fans, which at least in the short term seems (likely), do we do it

in a centralized location or loca-tions? And if so, what places might be suitable from a COVID-19 standpoint in terms of the communities that you’re in and how big the outbreak is? And what is the availability of testing? And so that requires a collabo-ration with our medical advisers.

“And I believe that all of the major sports in North America are going through this same exercise, and while the medical and health issues are probably to some extent the same for all of us, the logistics of what we do and how we do it may be a little different depending on the sport.” Multiple media outlets have reported that the NHL is weighing the possi-bility of a 24-team playoff tour-nament instead of the usual 16-team field.

In terms of when play might resume, Bettman said, “I don’t think anybody has a fixed time-table, particularly in North America right now. We have been working very hard since we took the pause on March 12 to make sure that whatever the timing is, whatever the sequencing is, whatever physical ability we have in terms of locations to play, that we’re in a position to execute any or all of those options. There is still a great deal of uncertainty.”

The league and the NHL Players Association reportedly have been in regular consultation regarding restart proposals. Com-plicating potential proposals is the fact that, according to Bettman, 17 percent of the players live outside of North America, and travel restrictions amid the

pandemic will make returning difficult.

In addition, the border between the United States and Canada is closed to travel with the exception of essential business.

The league almost must devise a plan to secure the necessary COVID-19 testing for players and staff.

“I am told that there can be enough (testing) capacity, and cer-tainly over the next couple of months, there will be more capacity,” Bettman said. “But that is a fundamental question, and we certainly can’t be jumping the line in front of medical needs. ...

“Everything we’re hearing from our fans is that they’re (eager) to get back, and we don’t take that for granted, which is why we will do what the medical people tell us is necessary and appropriate for us to do to bring fans back. And again, everything we do is going to be gov-erned by the doctors, the medical people and by governments at all levels, which will tell us what is and isn’t appropriate for us to do.

“So a lot of our planning and a lot of the issues we’re con-fronting ultimately are going to be resolved for us by other people, whether it’s physicians or whether it’s governmental leaders, and that’s why we have to be doing a lot of contingency planning so we can react to whatever they’re telling is us appropriate and permissible.”

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman

When the NBA suspended the season on March 11 because of the coronavirus pandemic, teams had played between 63 and 67 games. In the eyes of some executives, that discrepancy in games would make it difficult to hold a lottery in the same fashion as before. But the report says enough games have been played to constitute a representative sample.

LeBron James

Roberto Bautista Agut says qualifying for the season-ending men’s ATP Finals is one of the goals for before he retires.

Players union slams Cricket Australia’s COVID-19 cost-cuttingREUTERS – MELBOURNE

The chairman of Australia’s professional cricketers’ union has lambasted the national board’s cost-cutting measures in response to the new coronavirus outbreak, saying they could have “disastrous” consequences for the game over the long term.

Cricket Australia furloughed about 80% of its staff and said it had suffered a A$20m ($13m) fall in revenue due to COVID-19, despite the pandemic hitting at the end of the season.

The board is also pushing member states to agree cuts to their grants and is in talks with players about adjusting pay.

Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) Chairman Greg Dyer questioned the board’s gloomy financial outlook, saying the game had “yet to experience a significant negative revenue event.”

“It should be in a relatively strong financial position, particularly relative to the winter sports, and with the benefit of time should emerge with a distinct advantage to other sports who’ve been caught directly in COVID’s cross-hairs,” Dyer said on the ACA’s website.

“Now is not the time to diminish the game, but instead.... seize the moment and improve it.”

CA Chief Executive Kevin Roberts said last month the board could suffer a revenue hit of hundreds of millions of dollars if India were unable to tour in the home summer.

However, the tour’s chances of going ahead have been boosted by Australia’s success in reducing COVID-19 infections to a trickle over the past month. Dyer said cost-cutting at state and grass-roots levels would have “disastrous long-term consequences on the health of the game” and took aim at CA’s centralised high performance programme.

“That at the first sign of a headwind states are being asked to take significant cuts, which are in turn filtering down to local cricket, sug-gests that something is horribly wrong with the current model,” he said.

CA did not provide immediate comment when contacted by reporters.

10 WEDNESDAY 20 MAY 2020SPORT

Cricket: Old Trafford ground plans for social-distancing fansAP - MANCHESTER

The Old Trafford cricket ground is spearheading plans in England to try to bring fans back into a sports venue during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lancashire Cricket Club chief executive Daniel Gidney believes social distancing can be applied in their 26,000-seat ground to allow in at least 2,000 fans.

Not only are mass gatherings still banned by the government, but sports teams aren’t allowed to play or train together. A cricket season that was due to start in April won’t begin until July at the earliest.

“I’m hopeful that we can get some domestic cricket away in the back end of August and September, at least behind closed doors, but possibly even with some small crowds,” Gidney said.

“Sometimes you can get into this negative box. And when I’m being positive, I’m not being reckless or saying things that can’t happen from a safety perspective.”

Gidney’s plan for the northwest England cricket ground could form a tem-plate that facilitates the return of much-needed revenue from fans attending sports venues. Taiwan is hoping up to 1,000 spectators will be allowed to attend baseball games from July.

“We could have domestic cricket with 2,000-3,000 people in with seats separated out in the stadium, Perspex bar-riers on counters,” Gidney said in an interview by video link. “There are ways that we can make a sani-tised, smaller crowd, domestic cricket envi-ronment possible at the back end of the year based on the current trajectories that we’re looking at from the science and the infection rate keeping down.

“As long as the infection rate continues to drop, then I believe that we should be able to get some form of

domestic cricket back and hopefully with some small crowds.”

Financial successes last year for Lancashire help to ease the financial

burden caused by the shutdown of sport, and the conference and event business in the hotel adjacent to the cricket ground.

Lancashire reported a record turnover of £34m ($42m) and net profit of £2m in 2019, with half generated from staging Cricket World Cup matches, and a Test in England’s Ashes series against Australia. Cash reserves are at £1.7m, while liabilities have dropped below £500,000.

Lancashire is hoping the presence of a 150-bed Hilton Garden Inn on site will also facilitate the return of inter-national cricket this summer by creating a bubble the players don’t leave once they have been tested for the coronavirus.

“If you’re negative, you go into the bubble,” Gidney said.

“Then, in theory, it’s a bit like going to lockdown with your family and over a period of time, as long as you don’t step outside of the bubble, then that’s possibly as safe as you can be.”

The club is still waiting to learn whether it will receive England Tests this

year against the West Indies and Pakistan.

The England and Wales Cricket Board want them to be hosted in “bio-secure” environments, without elaborating so far.

Pakistan captain Babar Azam is still keen to play matches in England in July and August.

“The environment needs to be safe and secure as no event or match is bigger than life,” Azam said on a media call.

“My family will be more worried than me but if the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) tells me that it’s safe to go, I will definitely travel.”

Britain has Europe’s highest known virus death toll - around 35,000 - as well as the most con-firmed cases.

“If people are scared and worried about COVID-19, they will naturally be nervous travelling into a territory that has one of the highest reported cases and casualties,” Azam said.

“But on the other side of the coin, I completely understand and accept normal services also need to resume.

“The difficult decision for the administrators is what is the right time to resume sport activities,” Azam said.

“Also, we still need to know what guidelines the UK government will provide in terms of foreigners’ travel and quarantine.”

A general view of the Old Trafford cricket stadium in Manchester in this photo posted on @EmiratesOT, the official twitter handle of the club.

In this file photo taken on August 04, 2017, Lancashire County Cricket Club Chairman David Hodgkiss makes a presentation to England’s James Anderson on the first day of the fourth Test at Old Trafford Cricket Ground in Manchester, north-west England.

India’s Kohli credits change in stance for versatilityREUTERS - NEW DELHI

Virat Kohli’s wide range of shots makes him one of the most versatile batsmen of his era and the India captain says it was a tweak to his stance that brought him a deluge of runs in recent years.

Kohli made his India in 2008 as a flashy batsman but has since combined compact tech-nique with elegant shotmaking.

In a Facebook live chat with Bangladesh one-day captain Tamim Iqbal, he said ditching his earlier stance opened up scoring options for him.

“I changed because I wanted to score all over the ground. The static position was limiting my shotmaking options,” said the 31-year-old, who goes back-and-across in his current stance.

“It works for many, Sachin Tendulkar for instance. He had no issues because of his superior technique and hand-eye coordination.

“I had to tweak it to suit my game. When someone first told me it could open up my options,

I thought of giving it a try. Luckily, it clicked and I immediately started executing shots which I never thought I could.”

Kohli averages 50-plus in all three formats, has smashed 70 international centuries and boasts an exquisite cover drive.

Among his contemporaries, Australian Steve Smith has an unorthodox but effective stance, standing open to the bowler and shuffling across the off-stump line, and Kohli said batsmen had to find out what worked for them.

“I always feel you should be open to changes... You can’t stagnate, you have to keep learning,” he said.

“If you keep playing in the same manner, opposition will figure out your game. You have to be ahead of the game.

“So try it and drop it if it doesn’t work, but any batsman should be open to positive changes,” added Kohli.

During the same chat, Kohli also revealed how how his late father refused to pay a bribe to get

him into a Delhi state junior team when he was a teenager.

The world’s top ranked one-day batsman did not identify who had demanded the bribe but said he was rejected by the team, a rebuff that left him “broken”.

“In my home state... sometimes things happen that are not fair,” the Times of India newspaper and other media quoted Kohli as saying.

“On one occasion, a certain person did not play by the rules for selection criteria,” the skipper added. “He told my father while I had the merit, a little extra (bribe) was needed to confirm my selection.”

But Kohli said his father had insisted the selection had to be on merit alone.

“My father simply said, ‘If you want to select Virat then let it be purely on merit. I will give you nothing extra.’”

Kohli said he was in tears after being told he had not made the team. “I cried a lot. I was broken,” he declared.

“That incident taught me a lot. I realised that this is how the world is run,” he was quoted as saying.

“If you want to progress, do something that no one else is doing. If I had to become successful, I needed to be extraordinary.

“And I had to achieve this purely through my own effort and hard work. My father showed me the right way through his actions and not merely words. Those little things had a great impact on me,” Kohli was quoted as saying.

Kohli’s father, a lawyer, died when he was 18 and playing in a Ranji Trophy state match for Delhi. He returned to bat the day after his father’s death.

“I accepted his death as I was focused on moving forward with my career,” Kohli said. “His death made me realise I had to make something of my life. Now I think about how nice it would be if I could have given my father the peaceful retired life he deserved. At times I get emotional thinking about him.”

Saliva ban could change the swing of things in cricketAP - WELLINGTON

A move to ban the use of saliva to shine a cricket ball because of the danger of transmitting COVID-19 may force bowlers to relearn or reinvent one of the sport’s most prized but troublesome skills.

The International Cricket Council’s cricket committee, comprising a roll call of former top players, has recom-mended on medical advice that spit polishing the ball should be prohibited while the coronavirus outbreak per-sists. Unlike baseball, where the spitball has long been illegal, some methods in cricket are a well-established part of the game.

The cricket decision was based on evidence from Dr. Peter Harcourt, the chair of the ICC’s medical advisory committee, of “the elevated risk of the transmission of the virus through saliva.”

It found at the same time that it is “highly unlikely that the virus can be transmitted through sweat and saw no need to prohibit the use of sweat to polish the ball.”

The decision of the committee, chaired by former India captain Anil

Kumble and comprising high-profile ex-international stars such as England captain Andrew Strauss, Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene, India’s Rahul Dravid and South Africa’s Shaun Pollock, seems a straight-forward hygiene precaution as cricket considers a path to resumption amid the coro-navirus pandemic.

But nothing to do with swinging a cricket ball is ever simple.

Even the science around outswing, inswing and reverse swing bowling isn’t generally agreed or understood, nor are the conditions that favour swing bowling or the means that allow a bowler to cause the ball to deviate in the air as it travels towards the batsmen.

Inducing swing is one of cricket’s most desired skills but also a minefield threaded by a narrow path which divides legality from illegality.

Spit-polishing by the bowler or the fielding team has been for decades the accepted method of shining one side of the ball to create the aerodynamic asymmetry which, in conjunction with the position and angle of the seam and the grip and delivery action of the bowler, causes the ball to swing.

Licking the fingers, applying the saliva to the ball and rubbing it vigor-ously on the trousers to improve the shine has become an ingrained, almost instinctive action by players between deliveries - one that will be hard to resist or unlearn.

Whether sweat can be as effectively employed as saliva is uncertain but it is likely every swing bowler in the world will be working to find out as the ban on spit-polishing passes through the ICC machinery.

The recommendation of the cricket committee moves now to the chief executives committee where likely it

wil l be quickly endorsed. The use of saliva was always fraught because by chewing gum, sucking boiled candy or some other confectionery it was possible to apply to the ball some combi-nation of saliva and another agent that enhanced the shine.

Ball tampering - the use of illegal methods or substances to change

the condition of the ball - has been one of cricket’s most chronic or intractable problems.

The former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis was twice sanctioned for ball tampering: first for rubbing the ball on the abrasive zip of his trousers and later for applying to the ball saliva mixed with a mint or other candy.

Ex-Australia captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were banned for 12 months and batsman Cameron Bancroft for nine months by Cricket Australia for their involvement in an attempt to use sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball in a test in

South Africa in 2018.For that reason the cricket committee cautiously con-sidered whether, in the absence of saliva, the use of an artificial substance such as wax to shine the ball should be temporarily approved.

The committee found the question too fraught: at present the use of any artificial substance constitutes ball tampering and members felt any relax-ation or variation of the rule might be problematic.

However, amid fears that an ina-bility to swing the ball might tip the balance of cricket matches too far in favor of batsmen, various methods to reproduce swing in the absence of saliva have been promoted.

The Australian cricket ball manu-facturer Kookaburra last month sug-gested the use of a small sponge or applicator to apply wax to the ball with the oversight of the umpires.

The great Australian Test leg-spinner Shane Warne suggested weighting the ball to create swing.

Moves are underway for cricket to resume in Darwin, in Australia’s north, as early as next month and local cricket chairman Lachlan Baird said experi-mentation would be necessary.

It should be in a relatively strong financial position, particularly relative to the winter sports, and with the benefit of time should emerge with a distinct advantage to other sports who’ve been caught directly in COVID’s crosshairs: ACA Chairman Greg Dyer

11WEDNESDAY 20 MAY 2020 SPORT

Cardboard cut-outs with portraits of Moenchengladbach’s Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer (centre) next to his partner Alina and football supporters are seen at the Borussia Park football stadium in Moenchengladbach, western Germany, yesterday amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Bundesliga restart draws criticism from German sports communityAFP - BERLIN

The restart of the Bundesliga last weekend has drawn criticism from the sports community in football-mad Germany with world champion rower Oliver Zeidler branding it “a joke” and criticised an “insane system”.

“It’s a joke,” Zeidler said.“If children cannot go to daycare and caterers are

not allowed to use their full capacity, then allowing millionaires on the pitch sends the wrong signal.”

The 23-year-old, the 2019 world champion in single sculls, said he would like fans to turn their backs on the “insane system” and the “increasingly drifting par-allel world” in which football exists.

The German Bundesliga became the first top European league to resume after the restart plan was approved by Angela Merkel’s government.

Regular testing of players, games played behind closed doors and replacements wearing face masks are part of the strict hygiene measures.

Germany currently has 175,210 cases of the coro-navirus, which has so far claimed over 8,000 lives.

However, Bundesliga clubs want the season com-pleted by June 30 in order to claim 300m ($327m) in television money.

While other sports are in the dark about when they can resume competitions, the restart of top tier football is controversial.

Zeidler says he is allowed to train “relatively nor-mally” again, as Germany relaxes restrictions.

However, he feels the current situation is just con-firmation of the preferential treatment football enjoys in Germany.

Reigning Olympic javelin champion Thomas Roehler agrees.

“It seems that it’s more important to politicians that the ball is allowed to roll than all sports being treated the same,” Roehler, who won Olympic gold for Germany in Rio de Janeiro, told Sport1 last month.

However, top sprinter Gina Lueckenkemper says the Bundesliga’s restart gives most Germans the sense of a return to normality more than any other sport can.

“Even the ancient Romans knew how to make people happy: food and games,” Lueckenkemper, the 2018 European 100m silver medallist, said.

Nevertheless, the 23-year-old finds criticism of the league’s restart “justified and sensible”.

Fencer Max Hartung said the return of football gives other sports hope of a restart.

“When you see that football is being played again, it makes your fingers itch to go back to the planche,” said the 30-year-old, who was part of the Germany team which won the 2014 world title.

“Of course, football is now the only live sport on TV,” he added.

“As a fencer, I have always been concerned that there is more to the media than just football.”

His sentiments were echoed by Zeidler.“For the time being, football will stand alone in a

wide open field,” said the rower.“It’s only about money, not about who will become

German champions. Nobody cares about that anyway during the coronavirus,” Zeidler added.

League-by-league guide to the return of football in EuropeAFP - PARIS

With the German Bundesliga having become the first major European league to resume following the two-month coro-navirus shutdown and more and more countries now planning to follow suit, AFP Sport casts a glance at the situ-ation across the continent:

LEAGUES RESTARTINGThe German Bundesliga

returned at the weekend to play out the final nine rounds of the season with all matches going ahead behind closed doors.

It was not the first European league to return, however. That honour went to the Faroe Islands, which resumed its league a week

earlier. Not forgetting Belarus, which was the only European country where football carried on throughout the last two months.

On Tuesday football also returned in Estonia, with the top-flight Meistriliiga making its comeback behind closed doors.

CONFIRMED RESTART DATES ELSEWHERE

Czech Republic: May 23Denmark: May 28

Serbia: May 30Austria: June 2

Portugal: June 4Slovenia: June 5Croatia: June 6Turkey: June 12Norway: June 16Russia: June 21Finland: July 1

STILL AWAITING GREEN LIGHT

England, Spain and Italy all remain hopeful of completing the season but ongoing concerns about the health crisis mean nothing is set in stone.

The UK and Italy have been the worst affected countries in Europe by the pandemic and Spain is not far behind.

Six positive cases for corona-virus were detected at three English Premier League clubs after players and staff were tested ahead of a return to training, it was revealed on Tuesday.

Premier League clubs are aiming for a return to action by the middle of next month despite concerns from some players over their welfare.

The Italian Football Feder-ation (FIGC) has said all its competitions, including Serie A, will remain suspended until at least June 14.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said he needs “more guarantees” before the green light could finally be given for football to resume.

In Spain, players are now

training in groups of up to 10 with La Liga targeting a restart on June 12.

OTHER HOPED-FOR RESTART DATES

Romania -- May 27Poland -- May 29

Greece - June 6Switzerland -- June 20

SEASON OVERThe Netherlands became

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

France then followed suit on April 30, ending the season with 10 rounds of matches to be played.

The season was not voided, though, with Paris

Saint-Germain confirmed as champions, European places dished out and relegation and promotion between the top two divisions maintained on a two-up, two-down basis.

Belgium has also ended its season, with Club Brugge cham-pions, after the Belgian gov-ernment announced it was sus-pending all sporting competi-tions until July 31.

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

Luxembourg and Cyprus also called an end to their seasons but without naming a champion.

German FA, Bayern urge salary cap for ‘credible’ football AFP - BERLIN

German FA president Fritz Keller and Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge want to propose a salary cap to UEFA pres-ident Aleksander Ceferin, it was revealed yesterday.

“There are absurd salaries and transfer fees that are no longer credible,” Keller, boss of the German Football Association (DFB), told reporters.

“We have to talk about salary caps. I am glad that I agree with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge on this point.

“Therefore we will write a letter to UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.”

Rummenigge touted the idea at the weekend in an interview with broadcaster Sky.

“(Former UEFA president) Michel Platini had the idea years ago to introduce a salary cap in Europe based on the American model,” Rummenigge said.

While the Frenchman allegedly had the support “of all the big clubs in Europe. However, we were told from the outset that this could not be brought into line with com-petition laws,” Rummenigge added.

Now Keller wants to write a combined letter to persuade Ceferin.

The restricting of wages, which are cur-rently “partly from another world”, can only be achieved with UEFA’s help, he added.

“The end result must be a regulation that conforms to European law and also applies to Britain,” Keller said, referring to England’s big spending Premier League clubs.

The DFB boss also wants a reform of the Financial Fair Play rules.

“We must bring professional football closer to the people again,” said Keller.“The current crisis (coronavirus pandemic) has brought to light problems in football that were previously overshadowed by ever new (transfer) records.”

News that Keller and Rummenigge are joining forces means their recent spat has been resolved.

“I spoke to him on Tuesday morning and the matter has been resolved,” said Keller.

On Sunday, Rummenigge attacked Keller because he was “irritated by his populist choice of words”.

In an interview with magazine Spiegel, Keller had complained about the “bigotry” of nouveau riche football millionaires, which Rummenigge felt was aimed at Bayern.

Leverkusen’s German midfielder Kai Havertz (centre) scores the opening goal during the German first division Bundesliga football match against Werder Bremen on Monday in Bremen, northern Germany, as the season resumed following a two-month absence due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Connah’s Quay Nomads named Welsh champions after season cancelledREUTERS - LONDON

Wales’ top soccer league has been called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Connah’s Quay Nomads have been crowned champions for the first time, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) said yesterday.

The Cymru Premier League season was brought to a halt with Connah’s Quay holding a four-point lead over eight-times defending champions The New Saints with both teams having played 26 matches.

An unweighted points-per-game system was used to determine the final standings, the FAW said, adding that promotion and relegation places will be determined in “due course”.

“The FAW Board took into consideration the health and safety of all those involved with these leagues,” Welsh soccer’s governing body said in a statement yesterday.

“Furthermore, the board also considered specific economic and financial impacts of attempting to finish the season during the pandemic and felt it was imperative not to risk the long-term financial stability of the leagues and their clubs.”

Wales’ second to fourth tiers have also abandoned their seasons.

Bucharest says it is ready to host Euro 2020 matchesREUTERS - BUCHAREST

Romania has reconfirmed its capital Bucharest remains ready to host matches at next year’s rescheduled Euro 2020 tournament through a guarantee letter sent to the continent’s soccer governing body UEFA, the sports ministry said yesterday.

On Monday, UEFA postponed an Executive Committee meeting scheduled for May 27 because of some unresolved issues regarding “a small number of proposed venues” for the tournament. That meeting will now take place on June 17, it said.

“The Romanian Football Federation submitted to UEFA the last guarantee letter of the 24 nec-essary to re-affirm the availability to host the UEFA’s European Football Championship,” the ministry said in a statement. “Thus, Romania offi-cially re-confirmed its commitment to organ-ising this important sporting event.”

The Euro 2020 championship, due to be staged in 12 cities across the continent, was post-poned until June 11 to July 11 next year because of the novel coronavirus pandemic that shut down soccer in March. The championship has tradi-tionally been hosted by one country or with co-hosts, but UEFA opted for a multi-city approach to celebrate the event’s 60th anniversary.