AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER-FINALS: Al Nassr (KSA) beat Al Ahli (KSA) 2-0, Persepolis (IRN) beat Pakhtakor (UZB) 2-0

THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER 2020

Athletics: New course, old rivals as Kipchoge and Bekele face off in LondonI respect the man (Kenenisa Bekele), the success and the men-tality of being able to train with such discipline even after such huge success. We are rivals, we beat each other a few times and such a rivalry has helped keep us in the sport for so long.

Sport |09

AKI tahsu

World record holder Eliud Kipchoge

Sport

S LEAGUE QUARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTEEER-FINALS: Al Nassr (KSKK A) beat Al Ahli (KSKK A) 2-0, Persepolis (IRN) beat P

AFP – PARIS

Serena Williams suffered another blow in her bid for a 24th Grand Slam title as the American withdrew from the French Open yesterday with an Achilles injury, while 12-time champion Rafael Nadal and women’s top seed Simona Halep eased into the third round.

The 39-year-old Williams, a three-time winner at Roland Garros, pulled out ahead of her second round match against Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova citing the injury that prompted her to skip the Rome tune-up event.

“The Achilles didn’t have enough time to heal after the US Open,” said Williams, who admitted last week she was not fully fit after her run to the semi-finals in New York.

“I’m struggling to walk, so that’s kind of a telltale sign that I should try to recover.”

The injury likely means she will miss the rest of 2020, leaving the Australian Open in 2021 as her next chance to equal Margaret Court’s all-time majors record.

“I need four to six weeks of sitting and doing nothing,” she said. “It’s more than likely that I won’t play another tournament this year.”

Her decision to pull out handed Pironkova a walkover and left Williams searching for a first major since the last of her 23 titles at Melbourne in 2017.

“I always give 100 percent, everyone knows that. Maybe even more than 100 if that’s pos-sible. I take solace in that,” she told reporters.

Nadal looked in ominous form as he stepped up his pursuit of Roger Federer’s 20 major titles with a crushing win over 236th-ranked American Mackenzie McDonald.

The Spaniard batted aside McDonald 6-1, 6-0, 6-3 in exactly 100 minutes and will meet Japan’s Kei Nishikori or Stefano Travaglia of Italy for a spot in the last 16.

“The aim was to play as well as possible. I’m very happy. I have another difficult match next,” said Nadal.

The 34-year-old needs one more major to pull level with long-time rival Federer and owns an astonishing 95-2 record in Paris going back to his triumph on debut in 2005.

Women’s favourite and 2018 champion Simona Halep beat compatriot Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-4 to extend her career-best winning streak to 16 matches.

However, her next opponent is American 25th seed Amanda Anisimova, the

teenager who dumped Halep out in straight sets in last year’s quarter-finals.

US Open champion Dominic Thiem swept into the third round with a 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) victory over American qualifier Jack Sock, saving three set points to close out the match.

The Austrian third seed will play Norway’s Casper Ruud for a place in the last 16.

“I’m very happy with my game in the first two rounds. It was not an easy draw at all and I’m very happy not to drop a set,” said Thiem, who defeated 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic in round one.

Dutch fifth seed Kiki Bertens had to be taken off court in a wheelchair after a fiery win over former finalist Sara Errani.

Bertens triumphed 7-6 (7/5),

3-6, 9-7 in a three-hour 11-minute clash which left her in cramps and Italian Errani screaming an obscenity as she left the court.

Ukrainian third seed Elina Svitolina overcame Mexican qualifier Renata Zarazua 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.

Svitolina is coming off a title at Strasbourg last week and will next play Russian 27th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, but was briefly taken aback by a sonic boom over Roland Garros.

The thunderous noise that panicked residents of Paris was caused by a French fighter jet that broke the sound barrier.

Stan Wawrinka, the 2015 French Open winner, followed up his demolition of Andy Murray with a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat of Germany’s Dominik Koepfer.

Nadal, Halep cruise as injured

Serena withdraws

TODAY'S ORDER OF PLAY(Play begins at 0900 GMT, prefix number

denotes seeding):COURT PHILIPPE CHATRIERJelena Ostapenko (Latvia) vs 2-Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic)Ana Bogdan (Romania) vs 4-Sofia Kenin (U.S.)1-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) vs Ricardas Berankis (Lithuania)Pablo Cuevas (Uruguay) vs 5-Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece)COURT SUZANNE LENGLEN9-Denis Shapovalov (Canada) vs Roberto Carballes Baena (Spain)Kristyna Pliskova (Czech Republic) vs 11-Garbine Muguruza (Spain)Lloyd Harris (South Africa) vs 7-Matteo Berrettini (Italy)14-Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) vs Fiona Ferro (France)COURT SIMONNE MATHIEU7-Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) vs Jasmine Paolini (Italy)Andrej Martin (Slovakia) vs 18-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria)Alize Cornet (France) vs Zhang Shuai (China)Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (Spain) vs 13-Andrey Rublev (Russia)

FRENCH OPEN RESULTS

MEN'S SINGLES: SECOND ROUNDTaylor Fritz (27), United States, def. Radu Albot, Moldova, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.Stan Wawrinka (16), Switzerland, def. Dominik Koepfer, Germany, 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.Sebastian Korda, United States, def. John Isner (21), United States, 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.Hugo Gaston, France, def. Yoshihito Nishioka, Japan, 6-4, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2.Diego Schwartzman (12), Argentina, def. Lorenzo Giustino, Italy, 6-1, 7-5, 6-0.Rafael Nadal (2), Spain, def. Mackenzie McDonald, United States, 6-1, 6-0, 6-3.Pedro Martinez, Spain, def. Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0.Dominic Thiem (3), Austria, def. Jack Sock, United States, 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (6).Norbert Gombos, Slovakia, def. Jurij Rodionov, Austria, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.Lorenzo Sonego, Italy, def. Alexander Bublik, Kazakhstan, 7-6 (8), 6-1, 7-5.Casper Ruud (28), Norway, def. Tommy Paul, United States, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.Federico Coria, Argentina, def. Benoit Paire (23), France, 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.Stefano Travaglia, Italy, def. Kei Nishikori, Japan, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-2.

WOMEN'S SINGLES: SECOND ROUNDTsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria, def. Serena Williams (6), United States, walkover.Elina Svitolina (3), Ukraine, def. Renata Zarazua, Mexico, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.Ekaterina Alexandrova (27), Russia, def. Astra Sharma, Australia, 6-3, 6-3.Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova, Slovakia, def. Victoria Azarenka (10), Belarus, 6-2, 6-2.Nadia Podoroska, Argentina, def. Yulia Putintseva (23), Kazakhstan, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.Amanda Anisimova (25), United States, def. Bernarda Pera, United States, 6-2, 6-0.Barbora Krejcikova, Czech Republic, def. Barbora Strycova (32), Czech Republic, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.Kiki Bertens (5), Netherlands, def. Sara Errani, Italy, 7-6 (5), 3-6, 9-7.Katerina Siniakova, Czech Republic, def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia, 6-3, 6-4.Eugenie Bouchard, Canada, def. Daria Gavrilova, Australia, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.Iga Swiatek, Poland, def. Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, 6-1, 6-4.Elise Mertens (16), Belgium, def. Kaia Kanepi, Estonia, 6-4, 7-5.Simona Halep (1), Romania, def. Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania, 6-3, 6-4.

Romania’s Simona Halep returns the ball to compatriot Irina Begu during their women’s singles second round match on Day 4 of The Roland Garros 2020 French Open in Paris, yesterday.

Wawrinka ready to challengefor title

REUTERS – PARIS

Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka said he was ready to chal-lenge for his second French Open title after a comfortable 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 win over German Dominik Koepfer to advance to the third round yesterday.

The 2015 Roland Garros champion put his muscular build to good effect to hit 51 crunching winners despite the slow conditions on Court Suzanne Lenglen in his first career meeting against the 61st-ranked German.

The 16th seeded Swiss suffered his only service break in the third set, which he went on to lose, and broke his opponent’s serve five times during the match to complete the victory in 2 hours and 8 minutes.

“I’m happy so far with my start at the French Open,” Wawrinka told reporters.

“I’m ready for it. I’ve been practising right. I’m feeling good. I like the con-dition here. I enjoy being back playing Grand Slam. It’s great to be able and have the chance to play this year French Open.” “Let’s see what will happen in the next two weeks,” he said.

The Swiss gave a good account of his title chances by crushing multiple major winner Andy Murray 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 in his opening round and will next face French wild card Hugo Gaston, who earlier beat Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-4, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-2.

“My conclusion is that I’m ready,” said Wawrinka, who spent most of the pro-fessional tour’s lengthy shutdown in Switzerland with his daughter.

“It can be long two weeks. It’s match after

match. You need to s t a y into it.”

match. You need tos t a yinto it.”

The US tennis queen, a three-time winner at Roland Garros, suffers another blow in her bid for a 24th Grand Slam title as her decision to pull out hands Bulgaria’s Pironkova a walkover.

Spanish superstar needs one more major to pull level with long-time rival Federer and owns an astonishing 95-2 record in Paris going back to his triumph on debut in 2005.

It's never easy to play against a Romanian and against Irina (Camelia Begu), we played so many times. It's never easy, she's a very strong opponent and she's also powerful, the serve is really strong. Today I really felt it's very slippery at the back of the court because there was no roof. It's different, I have to say it. But anyway it is nice here, every court is beautiful so I am ready to face anything.French Open top seed Simona Halep after defeatingcompatriot Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-4

RAFAEL NADAL SERENA WILLIAMS

Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Mackenzie McDonald of the US.

Qatar Olympic Academy announces 2021 agendaQNA – DOHA

Qatar Olympic Academy (QOA) announced the agenda of its courses and programs for 2021, which will start on January 3 and continue till December 16.

The 2021 agenda includes a variety of 21 programs, courses and work-shops, accredited by a number of inter-national and continental bodies, foremost among which is the Olympic Solidarity Commission of the Interna-tional Olympic Committee.

The Academy’s programs will include postgraduate programs, Olympic education workshops, training and management programs in the

sports field and sports psychologist preparation, in addition to various courses in many sports and Olympic fields.

The Academy is keen on diversi-fying its agenda every year in order to reach the largest segment of those interested and to achieve its goals aiming at spreading sports and Olympic culture in the State of Qatar and abroad. Its agenda includes a mas-ter’s program in sports law for the fourth year in a row, which is one of the strongest programs in the region in general.

The agenda also includes the launch of the tenth edition of the advanced diploma for management of

Olympic sports institutions, accredited by the International Olympic Com-mittee, as well as a number of Olympic education workshops.

The distance learning system has been adopted in a number of agenda programs. The system achieved a great success and an unparalleled turnout, therefore, the Academy decided to adopt it for many courses in order to provide an opportunity for those wishing to join the course but unable to attend.

Executive Director of Qatar Olympic Academy, Saif Mohammed Al Nuaimi underlined the keenness of the Academy on diversifying the agenda every year to contain many programs

that focus on the benefit of the sports community and those interested in the field of rehabilitation and sports science in its various fields, in addition to the Academy’s interest and focus on educating the community about the Olympic and sports culture, which is one of the most important goals of the Academy.

For his part, Head of the Sports Development Department and Director of the Sports Management Program accredited to the International Olympic Committee, Dr. Ali Abdulrahman Al Bakri, underlined that Qatar Olympic Committee always strives to provide distinguished programs and sciences that benefit the sports system in

particular and the whole society in general.

Dr. Al Bakri noted that the Academy started in recent years offering intensive and specialised courses in the sports field in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee. The beginning was with the Arab Trainers Program at the foundation level, and then the advanced level, in addition to the sports psychologist preparation program (in both theoretical and applied parts) in cooperation with Qatar University. These programs con-stituted a great and strong addition to those working in the sports community and to preparing professional sports cadres in all sports disciplines.

11THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER 2020 SPORT

Al Nassr blank Al Ahli SFC; Persepolis down Pakhtakor to reach semi-finalsAFC — DOHA

Al Nassr reached the AFC Champions League semi-final for the first time in their history after a convincing 2-0 win over compatriots Al Ahli Saudi FC at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium yesterday.

Both teams went into the quarter-final game with their strikers looking to extend per-sonal scoring runs; Al Ahli’s Omar Al Soma had scored 10 goals in his 10 league starts against Al Nassr, while Abder-azzak Hamdallah was level with Shanghai SIPG’s Hulk in scoring in nine consecutive AFC Cham-pions League matches, and was hoping to make the record his.

Al Nassr started on the front foot and within 60 seconds they had created their first big chance as Khalid Al Ghannam advanced down the left, exchanged passes with Pity Martinez, and chipped Al Owais from close range, but Abdel-baset Al Hindi interfered at the last moment, producing a goal line clearance to deny Al Nassr an early opener.

The two players combined again in the 13th minute, with

Al Ghannam dribbling his way centrally and found Martinez inside the box. The Argentinian midfielder showed nimble feet to pass his marker and slot

home his maiden goal in Al Nassr colours.

The Riyadh-based side con-tinued their dominance and came close to doubling their

lead halfway through the opening 45 minutes when former Al Ahli player Abdulfattah Asiri cut inside from the right and unleashed a pow-erful effort that narrowly missed the target.

Hamdallah missed a golden opportunity at the half-hour mark. The Moroccan striker latched onto a defence-splitting Asiri pass to go through on goal before drilling an effort that crept inches wide of the post.

Al Ahli came back from the halftime break with desire to find an equaliser, and came close seven minutes

after the restart when Lucas Lima bent a cross from a free-kick into the far post for Al Hindi whose header missed the target. After weathering the early storm, Al Nassr responded clinically with right-back Sultan Al Ghannam finding Asiri with a low cross and the winger con-trolling expertly to evade his marker and fire in against his former club to make it 2-0.

Al Ahli huffed and puffed but did not get a clear-cut chance until two minutes from time when Al Soma got on the end of an Abdulrahman Ghareeb cross, beating goal-keeper Brad Jones but hitting the crossbar.Persepolis see off Pakhtakor

to book semi-final spotMeanwhile, a second-half

brace from Isa Al Kasir earned Persepolis FC a 2-0 win over Pakhtakor in the quarter-final of the 2020 AFC Champions

League and a place in the semi-final for the third time in four years.

Yesterday, Pakhtakor suf-fered a huge blow just 15 minutes into the match when talisman Jaloliddin Masharipov saw straight red following a chal lenge on Kamal Kamyabinia.

Jordanian referee Adham Makhadmeh referred to VAR before sending Masharipov off, making it the first VAR-reviewed red card in the history of the AFC Champions League after the introduction of the technology at the quarter-final stage of the competition.

After the break, coach Yahya Golmohammadi looked to take advantage of his side’s numerical superiority, piling the pressure on Pakhtakor and the plan yielded results within four minutes as Hossein Kanaani supplied a through pass for Siamak Nemati down the right and the number 88 squared for Kasir who converted first time past Eldorbek Suyunov to put Persepolis in the lead.

Pakhtakor had a rare chance in the 63rd minute after Dragan Ceran capitalised on some sloppy passing at the back, snatching the ball and squaring for OdiljonKham-robekov at the edge of the box to send an effort that was deflected off the defender and behind for a corner.

Persepolis doubled their tally in the 66th minute and again it was Kasir on the scoresheet. The striker got on the end of an Aghaei cross, beating goalkeeper Suyunov at the near post for his fourth goal of the 2020 AFC Champions League.

The result means Persepolis face Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr in the semi-final on Saturday, having faced their city rivals Al Hilal SFC at the same stage in 2018 and going on to reach the final.

Al Nassr’s players celebrate their opening goal against Al Ahli Saudi FC during their AFC Champions League quarter-final at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, yesterday.

Portugal limit fan numbers at Spain and Sweden friendlies

A view of Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon.

AFP — LISBON

A limited number of fans will be allowed to attend Portugal friendlies with Spain and Sweden, the country’s football federation (FPF) said yesterday.

The decision was taken after consultations with the government and health authorities the FPF said.

Lisbon’s Jose Alvalade Stadium will operate at five percent of capacity for the match with Spain on October

7, with that percentage rising to 10 percent for the match with Sweden a week later.

The Jose Alvalade stadium has a capacity of almost 50,000 spectators and is the home of Sporting Lisbon.

The two matches will serve as a test run to assess the possibility of fans attending domestic matches, with the FPF planning to submit a report on the games to the Portuguese health authorities.

On Tuesday, the country’s

football league announced a test match at the weekend in the Azores islands, which will be the first game in front of spectators since the corona-virus pandemic shut football down in March.

The clash between Santa Clara and Gil Vicente in the third round of the 2020/21 Primeira Liga season, will be played at the Sao Miguel stadium in the presence of around 1,000 spectators, or 10 percent of the stadium’s capacity.

Koeman praises Messi for making call for unity at BarcelonaAP — MADRID

Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman praised Lionel Messi (pictured) yesterday for making a call for unity at the embattled club.

Koeman’s comments came after Messi told the daily Sport newspaper that he wanted to put his dispute with the club behind him and said “we must unite” to help Barcelona succeed again.

“It’s positive when the captain of the team calls for unity,” Koeman said. “It’s very positive.

H o p e f u l l y things will be calmer now than they were recently.”

Messi w a s

forced to stay at Barcelona after telling the club he wanted to leave in the offseason. He openly criticized the club and its officials after having his request to leave denied.

Koeman said he will try to make Messi happy by making the team competitive.

“We have to find the best team for him, the best position for him, so he can shine and perform at his best,” Koeman said.

“You can tell that he lives for football and is always trying to win, even in the practice ses-sions. The best way to make Leo happy is to win matches.”

Barcelona visits Celta Vigo today for its second Spanish league match. It routed Vil-larreal 4-0 on Sunday, with Messi scoring one of the goals.

The Argentina great told Sport on Tuesday that

the only

way for the

club to reach its goals was to keep “united and rowing in the same direction.”

positive. H o p e f u l l y

things will be calmer now than they were recently.”

Messi w a s

sions. The best way to makeLeo happy is to win matches.”

Barcelona visits Celta Vigotoday for its second Spanishleague match. It routed Vil-larreal 4-0 on Sunday, withMessi scoring one of the goals.

The Argentina great toldSport on Tuesday that t

the only

way for the

club to reach its goals was to keep “united androwing in the same direction.”

Injured Bale to miss Wales' forthcoming matches AFP — LONDON

Gareth Bale has been left out of the Wales squad for their forthcoming matches as the on-loan Tottenham forward recovers from a knee injury, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) announced yesterday.

Bale is still waiting to make his first appearance for Spurs since rejoining the Premier League club on a season-long loan from Real Madrid earlier this month.

The 31-year-old suffered a knee problem while playing for Wales in their Nations League matches last month.

Bale will miss the friendly against England at Wembley on October 8 and their Nations League games against the Republic of Ireland and Bul-garia on October 11 and October 14 respectively.

“We’ve had conversations with both Gareth and the medical team and he’s not quite right for this camp,” Wales coach Ryan Giggs said.

“It’s nothing serious but it’s just one to keep an eye on. It has just taken a bit of time to settle down and he’s not quite right.

“Of course Gareth always keeps himself fit so he’s able to come back as soon as the injury is right. He will be back pretty soon I would imagine.

“He was close but I think with the circumstances, with him going to a new club, we had to think seriously about not only the short term but the long term.

“We want to have Gareth back fit, get him playing at a club he knows well. He will be playing regularly and I look forward to seeing him in the Premier League.”

Bale has played just 235 minutes for club and country since February.

Giggs’ decision to allow Bale to rehabilitate with his the north London side during the international break has gone down well with Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho.

“It looks like Giggs cares about the player and under-stands how important the period is for Gareth,” Mourinho said.

“He’s not ready to play, he couldn’t play for them. But to be there, and lose the work he can do with us, would be very important for the player.

“The player belongs to Tot-tenham, the player belongs to the Welsh national team, and it looks like he’s going to have this opportunity to work spe-cifically and to be back in good conditions.”

Gareth Bale

Lisbon’s Jose Alvalade Stadium will operate at five percent of capacity for the match with Spain on October 7, with that percentage rising to 10 percent for the match with Sweden a week later.

Kolkata bowlers set up thumping victory over RajasthanIANS — DUBAI

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowlers set the Dubai Interna-tional Cricket Stadium on fire as they came out all guns blazing to help their team to a thumping 37-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 12th IPL match in Dubai yesterday.

It was RR’s first defeat of the tournament while KKR regis-tered their second win in three games.

While defending 174/6 in 20

overs, the KKR bowlers not only picked wickets at regular intervals but they were also quite economical as most of the RR batsman faltered.

Barring Tom Curran, who scored a 36-ball 54 not out, the other RR batters succumbed against the clinical KKR bowlers.

For KKR, Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Varun Chakravarthy scalped two batsmen each and the trio received good support from Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins, and

KuldeepYadav, who all settled with a wicket each.

Put into bat by RR, KKR scored 174 for six wickets in 20 overs and while Steve Smith’s Rajasthan team made 137/9 wickets in 20 overs.

Chasing the target, half of the RR side was back to the pavilion with just 42 runs on board.

The RR side suffered a top-order collapse as all their in-form batters -- Smith (3), Sanju Samson (8), Jos Buttler (21), Robin Uthappa (2), and

Riyan Parag (1) -- fell cheaply.Moreover, RR’s young

batting sensation Rahul Tewatia, who was one of the architects of their previous win, failed to replicate the show as he fell for 14. That left RR reeling at 66/6.

Curran tried his best to avoid a humiliating defeat with some fireworks down the order, but lack of support from the other end couldn’t help RR cross the line.

Shreyas Gopal (5), Jofra Archer (6) and Jaydev Unadkat

(9), too, couldn’t do much while Ankit Rajpoot remained unbeaten on seven runs as RR went down by 37 runs.

Curran’s fighting innings was laced with two boundaries and three sixes.

Earlier, KKR openers Subhman Gill (47) and Sunil Narine (15) started the pro-ceedings cautiously.

However, the partnership couldn’t last long as Jaydev Unadkat trapped the latter in the fifth over with the scorecard reading 36/1.

Brief Scores

KKR 174/6 in 20 overs

(Shubman Gill 47, Eoin

Morgan 34 not out; Jofra

Archer 2/18) beat RR

137/9 in 20 overs (Tom

Curran 54 not out, Jos

Buttler 21; Kamlesh

Nagarkoti 2/13) by 37

runs

Persepolis’ defender Saeid Aghaei (right) is tackled by Pakhtakor’s defender Khojiakbar Alijonov during the AFC Champions League quarter-final, yesterday.

AFC Champions League

10 THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER 2020SPORT

Holders Bayern, rivals await CL draw as virus impact remains

City sign Dias from Benfica

REUTERS – MANCHESTER

Manchester City have completed the signing of Portugal defender Ruben Dias on a six-year deal from Benfica, the Premier League club said on Tuesday as they moved to strengthen their defence two days after a 5-2 home defeat by Leicester City.

Argentine defender Nicolas Otamendi moved the other way as part of the deal, ending a five-year spell with City.

Benfica announced earlier that 23-year-old Dias, who has played 19 times for Por-tugal, had moved for a transfer fee of €68m ($79.83m) plus 3.6 million in variables while they agreed to pay 15 million euros for Otamendi.

City will hope Dias can help solve their problems at the back with six goals con-ceded in their first two games of the Premier League cam-paign, having conceded 35 last season which was their worst defensive record in the last three years.

“Ruben is a player we have admired for some time and we have been impressed with how he has progressed at Benfica. He has developed into a real leader and as a defender, he has all the attributes we are looking for,” director of football Txiki Begiristain said in City’s statement.

“He is strong in the air, good in one-v-one situations and technically he is very good, so we are confident he can thrive in our system.”

Dias added: “To have the opportunity to join a club like Manchester City is a fantastic opportunity for me and one I couldn’t turn down.

Otamendi returns to Por-tugal after spending four years at Benfica’s rivals Porto. He made 210 appearances for City, scoring 11 goals and winning two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and four League Cups.

Tottenham optimistic about bringing in new striker: MourinhoREUTERS – LONDON

Tottenham Hotspur are hopeful that they can sign a striker as a backup for Harry Kane before the transfer window closes on Oct. 5, manager Jose Mourinho said yesterday.

Kane, who struggled with a hamstring injury last season, was on the bench and came on late in Tues-day’s penalty shootout win over Chelsea that earned Tottenham a spot in the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

Spurs are already without winger Son Heung-min after the South Korean injured his hamstring in their 1-1 Premier League draw with Newcastle United while new loan signing Gareth Bale will not be match-fit before the October international break.

“I’m optimistic (of signing a new striker) but more than that I like the feeling that we’re trying everything to do it,” Mourinho told reporters before Thursday’s Europa League play-off against Israel’s Maccabi Haifa.

“My club and structure is trying everything to do it. If we succeed, great, I believe so and if we don’t, that’s football. Sonny of course is not playing tomorrow. He’s a doubt for Sunday (in the league against Manchester United), a big doubt. I don’t want to say he doesn’t play and then he does because my position is in doubt.” Bale’s return to his former club from Real Madrid has cast doubts on the future of midfielder Dele Alli, who has lost his place in Mourinho’s side.

“I cannot confirm if Dele is playing or not. The only thing I can say is that he’s being very professional,” Mourinho added.

“I have respect for him. Even yesterday he trained well and hard. He has the respect of his team mates.”

FA Cup trophy fetches £760,000 at auctionREUTERS – LONDON

West Ham United co-owner David Gold has sold the oldest surviving FA Cup trophy for £760,000 ($978,044) at an auction.

Gold bought the trophy, which was the second version of the FA Cup presented to winners of the com-petition between 1896-1910, 15 years ago for 478,000 pounds during his time as chairman of Birmingham City.

The original version of the trophy was stolen in 1895.“The trophy charts the transformation of the game

from one dominated by public school players to the popular mass participation sport that it became and remains,” auction house Bonhams said.

The cup had been on display in the National Football Museum in Manchester.

Sheffield United were the first winners of the new trophy in 1896, defeating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 in the final.

Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were among the other first-time winners of the trophy.

Solskjaer calls for clarity on handball ruleREUTERS – LONDON

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says managers need more clarity on the Premier League’s handball rule following a series of contro-versial decisions in the opening weeks of the season.

Tottenham Hotspur were denied a victory on Sunday after Newcastle United were awarded a penalty in stoppage time for handball by Eric Dier, who was facing in the opposite direction to the ball when he jumped. Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof was also on the receiving end of a harsh penalty decision during their 3-1 defeat by Crystal Palace in their season-opener.

“I think football has changed. There are

no fans, it’s a different game. Pre-season we were at different stages, the new handball rule… you never know what’s going to happen," Solskjaer said.

“You can discuss it all day long but we need some clarity on what’s a foul and what’s a penalty. Now it looks like you can chip the ball into someone’s hand, like what happened to us against Palace, and Victor got a penalty against him.

“Then the header against Tottenham, he’s got no idea the ball hits him. You see the goal scored against West Brom at the end by Chelsea, is that not handball? Much of the controversy focuses on handballs by players where the referee rules their arm or hand is an “unnatural position” or

making the body bigger. The pre-vious, established law relied on referees making a judgment as to whether a handball was intentional or not.

“We need to get that clarity. It’s a whole spectrum of things that aren’t normal. There have been so many changes and nuances to different rules,” Solskjaer added.

AFP – PARIS

Less than six weeks Bayern Munich won last season’s delayed final behind closed doors, the draw for the group stage of the next Cham-pions League takes place today with the threat of the coronavirus pandemic again hanging over the competition.

Bayern were crowned European champions for the sixth time after beating Paris Saint-Germain beating Paris Saint-Germain at an empty Estadio da Luz in Lisbon in August.

The surreal occasion repre-sented a triumph of sorts for UEFA.

European football’s governing body succeeded in playing its flagship competition to a conclusion despite the long shutdown caused by the health crisis, but the final rounds were not the same.

“A game like this without sup-porters is not the football that we

know,” lamented Bayern coach Hansi Flick.

Today's draw is part of a cer-emony which will also see the best men’s and women’s player of last season crowned.

UEFA had to ditch plans to stage the event in Athens and instead moved it to its own headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, where the draw will go ahead without guests.

It is further evidence that, after the battle to get last season finished, things are not about to return to normal in Europe yet, and virus cases are exploding again.

But this time the football, it seems, will go on.

Both Bayern and PSG will be in the first pot of seeds along with Liv-erpool, Real Madrid, Juventus, Porto, Zenit Saint-Petersburg and Sevilla, the Europa League winners.

There is the prospect of plenty of enticing match-ups, with Bar-celona, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea,

Borussia Dortmund and both Man-chester clubs all in the second pot, and Inter Milan, Atalanta, RB Leipzig and Marseille among the lower seeds.

But the excitement of the draw will be quickly tempered.

First, there is the realisation that almost all the leading clubs will make it through to the last 16 anyway, as they always do, removing much of the jeopardy from the early games.

As the pandemic continues to cast a shadow, it seems hard to imagine the final going ahead as scheduled in Istanbul next May in a full stadium.

UEFA experimented with the return of fans when around 15,500 attended last week’s Super Cup between Bayern and Sevilla in Budapest.

“Health is the number one pri-ority but we want to bring hope,” said UEFA President Aleksander

Ceferin. He added: “Fans and players are the essential part of football.”

But with rules on large gath-erings varying considerably from country to country, UEFA must decide how to approach the issue of crowds attending games in the Champions League and Europa League, the draw for which is on Friday.

UEFA’s current stance is that games will be behind closed doors “until further notice”.

The group stage starts on October 20, more than a month later than usual, and all six rounds of games will be packed into eight weeks.

However, in the event of more delays, UEFA has set January 28 as the deadline to complete the group stage.

Pitfalls lie ahead, but the draw offers a brief return to something like normality.

Mourinho bemoans ‘dangerous’ schedule as Spurs see off ChelseaAFP – LONDON

Jose Mourinho believes players are being put in danger by the football authorities after Tottenham beat Chelsea 5-4 on penalties to progress to the quarter-finals of the League Cup after a 1-1 draw.

Mourinho’s men were playing the second of four games in eight days in three different competitions.

Eric Dier was the only outfield player retained in the Tottenham team that started Sunday’s 1-1 draw in the Premier League against Newcastle and the England defender had to dash from the field for a comfort break in the second-half.

“The number of minutes played is dangerous. What I did with Eric Dier today is very dangerous,” said Mourinho, suggesting that dehy-dration could have led to the defender’s problem.

“It should be forbidden to play two matches in 48 hours. What Eric Dier did is not human.”

Timo Werner’s first goal for Chelsea compounded Mourinho’s woes in a dominant start from Frank Lampard’s men.

But Erik Lamela deservedly levelled for Spurs seven minutes from time and new Chelsea goal-keeper Edouard Mendy was unable to stop Dier, Lamela, Pierre-Emile

Hojbjerg, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane scoring from the spot.

Tammy Abraham, Cesar Azpilicueta, Jorginho and Emerson also converted their penalties as the first nine of the shootout were successful.

But Mason Mount’s effort clipped the post to the delight of the watching Gareth Bale, who could be fit to feature in the last eight with the quarter-finals not till late December.

Mourinho claimed the fixture pile up gave him no choice but to prioritise today’s Europa League tie against Maccabi Haifa given the financial incentive on offer for the club.

“I told the players they should only think about this game, but I have to think about three games,” added Mourinho, who faces another of his former clubs Man-chester United in the Premier League on Sunday.

“I cannot believe in 48 hours we are playing a European game. The boys were absolutely phenomenal.”

Lampard made eight changes, but Werner was one of those retained from the 3-3 draw at West Brom on Saturday and he took the opportunity to get his first goal for the club after a big money move from RB Leipzig.

Tottenham debutant Sergio

Reguilon was twice at fault in the build up as he gifted possession to Azpilicueta and then dived in trying to block the Spaniard’s cross, which allowed the Chelsea captain to pick out Werner at the edge of the box to arrow a shot into the bottom corner.

Lampard had won his previous three meetings against his former manager Mourinho and the ten-sions between the two flared during the first-half as they exchanged angry words on the touchline.

On the field, Spurs were the better side as Mendy made important saves from Lamela and Reguilon either side of half-time.

Mourinho showed his intent by introducing Kane from the bench with 20 minutes to go.

Moments later the Portuguese was marching down the tunnel after Dier as the defender made a dash to the dressing room before quickly returning.

Chelsea did not make the most of a brief period with an extra man as Callum Hudson-Odoi fired over and Werner’s fierce effort was saved by Lloris.

Chelsea were punished when Lamela slotted home at the far post from Reguilon’s cross to send the game to a shootout and ultimately Spurs into the last eight.

Tottenham Hotspur’s English striker Harry Kane scoring his penalty past Chelsea’s French goalkeeper Edouard Mendy during the English League Cup fourth-round match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, on Tuesday.

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ndball? Muchhandballs by les their armposition” or

making the body bigger. The pre-vious, established lawrelied on referees making a judgment as to whether a handball was intentional or not.

“We need to get that clarity. It’s a whole spectrum of things that aren’t normal. There have been so many changes and nuances to different rules,” Solskjaeradded.

The number of minutes played is dangerous. What I did with Eric Dier

today is very dangerous.

I told the players they should only think about this game, but I have to

think about three games. I cannot believe in 48 hours we are playing a

European game. The boys were absolutely phenomenal.

Jose Mourinho believes players are being put in danger by the authorities and the fixture pile up gave him no choice but to prioritise today’s Europa League tie against Maccabi Haifa given the financial incentive on offer for the club.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Bayern Munich’s players celebrate with the trophy after winning the Champions League final against PSG in Lisbon, in this August 24 file photo.

09THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER 2020 SPORT

Athletics: New course, old rivals as Kipchoge and Bekele face off in LondonREUTERS - LONDON

An unfamiliar course, poor weather and the absence of 750,000 cheering fans suggest a world record is unlikely in Sunday’s London Marathon but long-standing rivals Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele could still produce a race for the ages.

After the cancel-lation of the original race in April due to COVID-19, organisers have pulled together an elite-only event, featuring almost 20 laps of St James’s Park, behind high fences and watched only by a handful of journalists, coaches and event officials.

For Kenya’s Kip-choge, this will feel familiar after he became the first man to break two hours on a similar multi-lap course in Vienna last year, his one hour, 59.40 minutes time ruled unofficial due to pacemaker and drink station anomalies.

There is no getting around his official record, however, posted 2:01.39 in Berlin in 2018 to destroy the existing mark by 78 seconds and seal his position

as the sport’s greatest-ever over the 26.2 mile distance.

Ethiopia’s Bekele had his own “GOAT” claim after winning multiple world and

Olympic track titles and setting long-standing world records.

His marathon best seemed to be behind him until he somehow found a 2:01.41 in

Berlin last year to miss Kip-choge’s mark by two seconds. That made the East African duo the only men to have broken two hours, two minutes for the

distance.It is remarkable

that both won dis-tance world titles on the track in 2003 and now, 17 years on, are still top of the pile and breaking new ground.

Bekele, who still holds the 10,000m world record having lost his 5,000m mark last month, is 38 to Kipchoge’s official 35 - though many believe the Kenyan to be several years older.

“It should be a great race and I’m really looking forward to it after almost a year since I last competed,” Kip-choge, seeking a record fifth London title, told a remote news conference yesterday.

Asked what he thought of his chief rival, he said: “I

respect the man, the success and the mentality of being able to train with such discipline even after such huge success.”

Bekele, who must have

thought his podium days were over after a series of poor runs and failed finishes in the two years before his Berlin renais-sance, repaid the compliment.

“We are rivals, we beat each other a few times and such a rivalry has helped keep us in the sport for so long,” he said.

“Of course I respect him as an athlete and for his discipline to stay in the sport for such a long time. We have the same management and share many things but we will race.”

Kipchoge will wear the latest version of Nike’s carbon-plated Alphafly Next% shoe,

which comply with World Ath-letics’ new restrictions on cush-ioning height but are still widely perceived to give a considerable advantage over traditional shoes.

Bekele has opted for the older Vaporfly version that served him so well last year.

A handout picture released by the London Marathon shows Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele (right) training with his Dutch coach Peter Eemers within the grounds of the official marathon hotel. This year’s London Marathon will be an elite-athlete only event run in an enclosed looped course in St James’s Park.

In this file photo released last year in October by Nike shows Eliud Kipchoge holding a pair of shoes. Kipchoge will be using the latest version of Nike’s carbon-plated Alphafly Next% (pictured below).

NASCAR championship-winning crew chief Knaus gets VP jobAP - CHARLOTTE, NC

Chad Knaus will move into a management role with Hendrick Motorsports after the season, ending his crew chief career after a record-tying seven NASCAR champion-ships.

Hendrick yesterday announced Knaus will become vice president of competition. He will replace Jeff Andrews, who has been in the role since 2017 but was elevated to executive vice president and general manager.

Knaus will oversee the technical devel-opment of Hendrick’s entire Chevrolet stable of race cars and lead the implemen-tation of the “Next Gen” car set to debut in 2022.

Knaus will also oversee all crew chiefs, pit crews, engineering, fabrication, assembly and other team-related staff.

He guided Jimmie Johnson to seven Cup Series championships and won 82 races, most recently the August regular-season finale at Daytona with William Byron.

Knaus built the No. 48 team around Johnson in 2002 and the duo was paired through the 2018 season.

They won a record five consecutive titles from 2006 to 2010, and only Hall of Fame crew chiefs Dale Inman and Leonard Wood have more race victories than Knaus.

“In life, it’s rare to witness true excel-lence first-hand, but that’s precisely what we’ve been treated to with Chad,” team owner Rick Hendrick said.

Hendrick split Knaus and Johnson at the end of 2018 and Knaus has spent the last two years as crew chief for Byron and

the No. 24 team, which is where Knaus began his career under Ray Evernham in 1993. Knaus has taken a driver to the play-offs 17 times and is the all-time leader playoff race wins with 29.

Earlier this month, Knaus called his 700th career Cup-level race.

“Starting at a young age, I wanted to win every race we entered and battle for every championship. Mr. Hendrick has given me the chance to do exactly that, and I could not be more thankful to him,” Knaus said.

A father of two young children, the 49-year-old Knaus said the move will grant him family time for the first time in his life. Johnson is retiring from full-time compe-tition at the end of the season.

“After all these years, my competitive desire has not changed at all, but now I have a family that deserves my attention,” Knaus said.

Knaus will report to Andrews, who has been with Hendrick Motorsports since 1992. He previously held a variety of leadership positions in the team’s engine department, including director of engine operations.

Andrews will now oversee all compe-tition-related departments, including pow-ertrain, manufacturing and racing operations.

He is Hendrick’s primary liaison with NASCAR’s competition group. Andrews and Knaus have more than 50 years of com-bined experience with Hendrick Motorsports.

NASCAR Cup Series driver Kurt Busch (1) leads the restart during the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in this September 27, 2020, file photo taken in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Kentucky Speedway says it’s off NASCAR’s scheduleAP - SPARTA, KY

Kentucky Speedway has lost its spot on NASCAR’s schedule, the racetrack said yesterday night ahead of NASCAR’s announcement of venues and dates for next year.

Kentucky held its first Cup Series race in 2011 and has hosted a tripleheader in recent years with races in NASCAR’s Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series. Its last NASCAR race was this past July.

“We’re disappointed the Bluegrass State is not on NASCAR’s schedule,” Kentucky Speedway executive vice president and general manager Mark Semindinger said yes-terday night. “There are still wild adventures ahead.”

The 1.5-mile track opened in 2000. Semindinger said it would look to host other racing series, special events and music festivals.

South Africa pull teams from Super Rugby to play in EuropeAP - CAPE TOWN

The South African Rugby Union has decided to withdraw its top club teams from Super Rugby in favour of playing in Europe’s PRO14 league, and blamed New Zealand for the sudden breakup of the southern hemisphere competition.

The decision was made after a vote of SARU’s provincial unions and the defection could come into effect as soon as next year if an agreement is reached with PRO Rugby Championship, which runs the PRO14.

It would mean the top four teams in South Africa - the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks and Lions - will now play their domestic rugby against clubs from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy instead of their traditional rivals in New Zealand and Australia.

South Africa’s top teams have only ever played club rugby against fellow southern hemisphere opposition and have been part of Super Rugby since the tournament’s informal inception in the early 1990s, when rugby was still an amateur sport.

The world champion Springboks would still play tests against New Zealand, Australia and Argentina in the four-nation Rugby Championship, SARU said.

Realistically, however, South Africa’s participation in that championship might also be reconsidered once its top domestic teams’ seasons align with the northern hemisphere.

SARU said the decision to abandon Super Rugby in favour of playing European teams was forced by New Zealand’s “unilateral” decision to organize its own domestic competition, or possibly a trans-Tasman competition involving Australian and other teams for next year. That decision appeared to be made because of uncertainty over if a traditional Super Rugby tournament could go ahead amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Still, SARU said it considered it a slight to not be consulted.“Our members are excited about the prospect of closer

alignment with PRO Rugby Championship and seeking a northern hemisphere future, but we would not have been taking this decision but for actions elsewhere,” SARU chief executive Jurie Roux said.

“We will advise our SANZAAR partners of the general meet-ing’s decision.”

Despite Roux’s comments blaming New Zealand, there have been strong rumours for years that South Africa was seeking to leave its southern hemisphere partnership and play club rugby against European teams.

There are seemingly two clear advantages for South African rugby: Similar time zones that would lessen the impact of traveling and, perhaps crucially, access to a much richer television market.

South Africa may still have one team in a reduced future Super Rugby tournament, it said. SARU would negotiate with SANZAAR, the body that runs Super Rugby, to put the Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs in any new version of the tournament. The Cheetahs have been part of the PRO14 since 2017 after being cut from Super Rugby but will go the other way and rejoin Super Rugby if an agreement is reached between SARU and SANZAAR.

The departure of the top four South African teams is a body blow for Super Rugby and SANZAAR. South Africa, with a popu-lation of 58 million, is by far the biggest television audience for Super Rugby, leading some to conclude it is the most important member of the southern hemisphere partnership despite the fact that New Zealand teams have dominated on the field.

In recent years, Super Rugby has added teams from Argentina and Japan in an attempt to increase its reach, with very limited success. The Japanese team was dropped this year.

This news also means there will likely be a frosty atmosphere between the countries when - or rather if - this year’s virus-delayed Rugby Championship is held in November and December in Australia.

08THURSDAY 1 OCTOBER 2020SportBairstow loses Test deal as England look to futureAFP — LONDON

England wicketkeeper-batsman Jonny Bairstow has lost his Test central contract but Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley have been added to the red-ball retainer list announced by cricket chiefs yesterday.

The move by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was not unexpected as Bairstow, 31, has played just one of the past 12 Test matches since the 2019 Ashes.

The World Cup winner has been handed a specialist lim-ited-overs deal, with Pope, Crawley and Sibley all pro-moted after scoring their maiden Test centuries over the past year.

England managing director Ashley Giles said he hoped Bairstow, who has played 70 Tests, scoring six centuries, would stay hungry to play a role in English Test cricket.

“It’s a knock for him, I’m sure,” he said.

“Jonny’s played one Test match in a year. We only have so many contracts that we award and it’s a tough call to make because Jonny’s been a very good servant for the team.” Giles said the contracts for the three young batsmen showed England’s top-order was “starting to function”. “When I came into post about 18 months ago, one of my

aims was to have a bigger group of players capable of playing at the highest level and I guess this is a demonstration of that -- three fine players,” he said.

Fast bowler Mark Wood,

thought to be a key part of Eng-land’s plans to retain the Ashes, has also been named in the white-ball only list. There are a dozen names in each group, with just five -- Joe Root, Ben

Stokes, Jos Buttler, Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes -- appearing in both.

Pay cuts?On the 2019/2020 terms,

red-ball deals were understood to be worth around £650,000 ($835,000) before bonuses, with white-ball contracts worth about £275,000, but the financial impact of the corona-virus means there is uncertainty over this year’s payments.

The ECB estimates the pan-demic has already cost £100m, with further losses likely, and is currently undergoing a round of redundancies.

Giles was asked during a press conference whether it was inevitable that players would have to take a pay cut.

“If our revenues are decreasing, if pay was to stay the same, then clearly it would squeeze other areas so it’s about all of us doing our part across the business,” he said.

Giles added: “Although the players have been in a bubble for the majority of the summer, they are not blind to the reality of what’s going on out in the world and I think they under-stand they have to play a part in that.”

England are due to travel to South Africa, Sri Lanka and India in the coming months.

Giles said he was confident the tours would take place but that it was important to remain “flexible and agile” due to the global uncertainty.

England Contracts For 2020/21

Test and white-ball: Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Ben

Stokes, Chris Woakes

Test only: James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Zak

Crawley, Ollie Pope, Dom Sibley, Sam Curran

White-ball only: Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Tom Curran, Eoin

Morgan, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy, Mark Wood

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Tampa Bay Lightning to celebrate Cup win with boat paradeREUTERS — TAMPA

The Tampa Bay Lightning are not going to let the COVID-19 outbreak get in the way of celebrating their Stanley Cup triumph as the team announced plans on Tuesday for a socially-distanced boat parade and fan rally.

Unlike typical Stanley Cup parades where players pile into vehicles that slowly wind through streets lined with hundreds of thousands of people, the Lightning will instead have a boat parade on the Hillsborough River on Wednesday.

Fans of the Lightning are encouraged to safely gather along the Tampa Riverwalk, following proper social dis-tancing guidelines, including the wearing of face coverings.

Following the parade, there will be a free fan rally at the 65,000-seat home of the National Football League’s Tampa Bay Bucca-neers where socially distant pod seating will apply, with groups available for up to six people.

“Despite every challenge this past year, Tampa con-tinues to ensure that our comeback is even greater than any setback,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said in a news release.

“Thank you to our team

for working hard, playing hard, and giving our com-munity something to cele-brate. We cannot wait for Stanley to get that tan.”

The Tampa Bay Lightning clinched the Stanley Cup on Monday with a win over the Dallas Stars in Edmonton, which was the site for the whole series and one of two cities used for the entire NHL postseason to help limit spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, the New York Rangers have bought out the contract of star goal-tender Henrik Lundqvist.

The Rangers parted with one of the greatest net-minders in franchise history yesterday when they paid off the final year of his contract.

Since joining the team in 2005-06, Lundqvist has won the Vezina Trophy (2011-12), led the Rangers to the Stanley Cup Finals (2014), and been selected to the All-Star game five times. He also helped Sweden win gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

The 38-year-old Lun-dqvist played in 887 games, posting a 459-310-96 record with a 2.43 goals against average. The man referred to as "The King” was limited to 30 games in this past season and had a 10-12-3 record with a career-worst 3.16 goals-against average.

Tampa Bay Lightning fans celebrate as the winning side arrives at Amalie Arena. The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars four games to two to win the 2020 Stanley Cup.

Quarantine rules delay SL's Premier LeagueAFP — COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s cricket Premier League tournament has been put off a second time due to strict quarantine rules for foreign players, the game’s national governing body said yesterday.

The 23-match Lanka Premier League (LPL), origi-nally due to start in August, was rescheduled for November 14, but has now been delayed by one more week, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said.

It said the shift was to “ensure that participating players have adequate time to

meet quarantine requirements as per the government’s health regulations”.

Sri Lanka’s insistence on two weeks’ quarantine for any visitor to the country forced the Bangladesh national team to call off its three-Test tour of the island due to start next month.

The Tests in October-November were meant to mark the two nations’ return to inter-national cricket after a months-long lockdown halted profes-sional sports worldwide.

SLC said the auction of players for the LPL, which was due today, had also been post-poned, to October 9.

Five teams -- named after the Sri Lankan cities of Colombo, Kandy, Galle, Dambulla and Jaffna -- are due to take part in the tournament.

SLC said 30 f o r e i g n e r s , including Chris Gayle, Darren Sammy, Darren Bravo, Shahid Afridi and Shakib A l

Hasan, would be available for the LPL.

International cricket came to a halt in Sri Lanka on

March 13. The visiting England

team pulled out on the second day of a practice match ahead of their two-Test

series as the corona-virus pandemic spread.

Since then, South Africa has also

cancelled a scheduled tour of Sri Lanka.

he Sri Lankan cities of olombo, Kandy, Galle,ambulla and Jaffna are due to take

art in theurnament.

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BinckBank Tour sees Dutch stages scrapped over coronavirus rules

AFP — THE HAGUE

Organisers of the 2020 BinckBank Tour have called off all Dutch stages of the interna-tional road cycling race following new measures taken by the Dutch government to fight Covid-19.

The decision by event organisers Golazo came late on Tuesday after three Dutch municipalities blocked access for the peloton in the wake of new measures announced by top Dutch officials to fight a renewed surge of the corona-virus pandemic.

“BinckBank Tour organisers learnt shortly after 10 pm on Tuesday evening that three municipalities where the tour would start or finish, have made a combined decision not to allow a cycle race on their ter-ritories,” Golazo said in a statement.

“The decision follows extra and stricter measures in the Netherlands announced on Monday,” it said.

The Dutch government on Monday tightened some of Europe’s most relaxed anti-virus measures as the country reported almost 20,000 new infections in one week.

Measures included recom-mending that people wear masks in shops, closing all sports canteens and holding outdoor sporting matches without spectators.

Golazo said it regretted the

decision, and announced an unscheduled rest day Wednesday for cyclists, who were supposed to ride a time-trial in the southern Dutch harbour city of Vlissingen.

“It is impossible to come up with an alternative at such short notice and therefore Wednesday is an inevitable rest day.”

There also will be no start in the Dutch border town of Philippine and the ride to Sit-tard-Geleen, in the southern

Limburg province, also will not go ahead.

“Alternatives are rapidly being worked out,” the organ-isers said, adding “for the sake of clarity, the BinckBank Tour will continue until Saturday.

After yesterday’s rest day, rides will take place for three consecutive days from Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve to Geraardsbergen, the organisers said.

“We are of course very dis-appointed that this decision was

taken, especially given the late hour,” Golazo spokesman Gert Van Goolen said.

“We are convinced that we have found a safe and respon-sible solution to organise a good BinckBank Tour, but unfortu-nately this has not been heard,” Van Goolen said.

Tuesday’s first stage between the Belgian towns of Blankenberge and Aardoie was won by Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen of UAE Team Emirates.

Riders at the end of first stage of the UCI World Tour 2019 Binckbank Tour cycling race, 132,1km from Blankenberge to Ardooie, on Tuesday.

Bagnaia to join Miller at works Ducati, Zarco to Pramac

Titans home game versus Steelers postponed

REUTERS — LONDON

Italian Francesco Bagnaia will join Australian Jack Miller at Ducati’s factory MotoGP team next season with Frenchman Johann Zarco moving to Pramac Ducati as a fully-supported works rider, the I ta l ian manufacturer announced yesterday.

Andrea Dovizioso, runner-up in the championship for the past three seasons, announced in August that he would not be staying at the main Ducati team beyond the end of the season.

The Italian has yet to detail his plans for next year.

Bagnaia and Miller, whose move was announced in May, are currently team mates at Pramac.

Double Moto2 champion Zarco, 30, will leave Avintia Ducati to team up with pro-moted Spanish Moto2 rider Jorge Martin, 22, in a fresh pairing.

Martin, the 2018 Moto3 champion, was a strong con-tender for the Moto2 title until he contracted COVID-19 and had to miss two races.

Avintia are expected to announce Italian Enea Bas-t i a n i n i a s Z a r c o ’ s replacement.

Ducati said all four official riders will ride the latest version of the Desmosedici bike with the same technical specifications.

AP — NASHVILLE

The Pittsburgh-Tennessee NFL game will be played either Monday or Tuesday due to positive coronavirus test results among the Titans.

The NFL announced the switch yesterday. The previous day the NFL said that three Titans and five other team per-sonnel had tested positive for COVID-19.

The Titans have closed their facility at least through tomorrow and will not be able to practice in any fashion together until Saturday at the earliest.

Both the Titans and Steelers are 3-0 and among the NFL’s seven undefeated teams.

Tennessee beat Min-nesota 31-30 on Sunday, and the Vikings’ team facility is closed at least through yesterday.

“The Steelers-Titans game, originally scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, will be rescheduled to allow addi-tional time for further daily COVID-19 testing and to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel,” the NFL said in a statement.

“Details on the new game date and time on either Monday or Tuesday will be announced as soon as possible.”