SPORT | 05

Hamilton can

expect a quicker

car at Austrian

Grand Prix

SPORTNew Surrey

coach Solanki

glad of Kohli

time

SPORT | 07

SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020

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Abbes wins Qatar Coupe de France des Chevaux Arabes

Sheikh Abdullah’s colt extends unbeaten streak at QREC eventTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Bred and owned by H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani, all eyes were on the regally bred Abbes (FR) coming into the Qatar Coupe de France des Chevaux Arabes (Gr2 PA) spon-sored by the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC).

The mile race, which brings together the most promising three-year-old Purebred Ara-bians in France, took place at La Teste de Buch, France on Thursday evening.

Abbes, who is trained by Thomas Fourcy, was making just his second career start in this race, having been an impressive winner on his maiden in Toulouse on May 11.

There were six runners lining up in this race. Abbes played up in the stalls prior to the gates opening, but broke well nonetheless.

Settled towards the rear by

jockey Olivier Peslier, the grey colt relaxed into his stride despite the slow pace, though always travelling on the bridle and Peslier clearly had plenty in hand. Once in the straight, the runners came into the middle of the track.

The front runners began to sprint and for a moment it looked as if they might have put the race to bed.

Abbes, however, showed he was a different class when pro-ducing a second turn of foot one

furlong from the line, leaving his rivals in his wake. He won by one and a half lengths in front of Alhafar (FR), trained by Elizabeth Bernard and ridden by Jean-Bernard Eyquem for Al Shaqab Racing.

Majd’Or (FR) (Majd Al Arab x Case D’Or), in the colours of Sheail bin Khalifa Al Kuwari, also trained by Thomas Fourcy, was further three quarters of a length behind third under Julien Augé.

Fourcy commented: “I have

always thought very highly of Abbes, as I said to Alban de Mieulle, who manages His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani’s racing interests. He is a lovely colt who is still changing. I think that he is a bit sensitive about the stalls due to his immaturity as he is very easy at home. He just needs experience. He will have a quiet summer and we will bring him back for the Autumn, once we have discussed with his connections. He has shown

quality and precocity, but phys-ically he is still changing so we have to do what is best for him. He is a lovely model, and will improve with age.”

Bred at Haras du Grand Courgeon, Abbes is of a champion mare, Raqiyah, a multiple PA Group winner in France, England and Qatar. He is by one of the most exciting young sires in France, TM Fred Texas, who stands under the banner of Al Shaqab Arabians in France.

Abbes, who is trained by Thomas Fourcy, was making just his second career start in this race, having been an impressive winner on his maiden in Toulouse on May 11 .

I have always thought very highly of Abbes, as I said to Alban de Mieulle, who manages His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani’s racing interests. He is a lovely colt who is still changing: Thomas Fourcy

QRL’s The Lir Jet wins Norfolk Stakes Gr2 at Royal AscotTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Lir Jet (IRE) (Prince Of Lir x Paper Dreams), in the colours of Qatar Racing Limited (QRL), stayed unbeaten landing the Norfolk Stakes (Gr2) yesterday at Royal Ascot.

The bay colt was ridden to his second straight victory by Oisin Murphy, following an impressive win on debut earlier this month. The preco-cious colt was the only capable runner in the five-furlong race for two-year-old following Golden Pal in the closing stages.

The pace was very strong throughout and The Lir Jet came to snatch victory by a neck in the final strides.

The Ranlo Investments LLC-owned and Wesley A Ward-trained Golden Pal (USA) (Uncle Mo x Lady Shipman) was the runner-up under Andrea Atzeni. The M A R Blencowe-owned and Andrew Balding-trained Imperial Force (IRE) (Camacho x Cafetiere) was further three and a quarter lengths behind in third under James Doyle.

Michael Bell, the winning trainer, commented: “When

he won at Yarmouth, he broke the track record, but didn’t learn a lot. He had to work today. He’s all speed. He’ll definitely get six [fur-longs], but I don’t know about further. Prince of Lir won the Norfolk on soft ground, so that wasn’t a worry and he’s won on fast ground so he’s one of the lucky horses that goes on anything.

"He’s won a Group 2 now, so if he runs in another Group 2 he’d carry a penalty. I’d be inclined to aim him at some-thing like the Prix Morny, but we’ll speak to H E Sheikh Fahad and David Redvers and come up with a plan.”

The Lir Jet came to snatch victory by a neck in the final strides.

The bay colt was ridden to his second straight victory by Oisin Murphy, following an impressive win on debut earlier this month.

The pace was very strong throughout and The Lir Jet came to snatch victory by a neck in the final strides. Dettori hits Royal Ascot landmark

AFP — LONDON

Frankie Dettori (pictured) brought up a landmark 70th Royal Ascot win 30 years to the day since he rode his first winner at the historic meeting, as Fanny Logan won the Hard-wicke Stakes yesterday.

The 49-year-old Italian, whose first victory came on MarkofDistinction in the Queen Anne Stakes, donated the signed saddlecloth with the number 70 on it to Ascot’s #StyledWith-Thanks fundraising campaign, supporting frontline workers and those affected by COVID-19.

He and his fellow jockeys are also to donate their riding fees today to Britain’s National Health Service (NHS).

Dettori, though, had to be happy with second best on

American raider Kimari in the Group One feature race the Commonwealth Cup to Adam Kirby on Golden Horde.

Kimari’s trainer Wesley Ward also suffered frustration earlier in the day as Golden Pal was collared close to the line by Oisin Murphy on Lir Jet in the Norfolk Stakes.

Fanny Logan was another high profile win this week for the formidable pairing of Dettori and trainer John Gosden.

Gosden and Dettori had col-lected a third successive Ascot Gold Cup on Thursday with the remarkable Stradivarius.

QBF sacks national team’s coach PanayiotisQNA — DOHA

Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF) yesterday decided to dismiss the national team coach Panayiotis due to poor results.

The decision was taken during the QBF’s meeting headed by Ahmed Al Moftah. The meeting was held in accordance with the precau-tionary measures set by the Ministry of Public Health for the safety of all.

Secretary of the Federation Ali Al Maliki said in a statement after the meeting that the Cypriot coach did not achieve the desired results throughout his tenure as coach of the Qatari team, adding that the QBF will look for a new coach, especially since the team is participating in the qualifiers for the Asian cup finals, and plays in the fifth group with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

The new coach will have a difficult task as he will prepare the team for a match in Doha with Syria, before facing Saudi Arabia in November 2020.

Southampton thrash basement side Norwich

REUTERS — NORWICH

Southampton hammered bottom side Norwich City 3-0 after scoring twice in five minutes soon after the break and adding another late on in their Premier League game at Carrow Road yesterday.

Danny Ings, Stuart Arm-strong and Nathan Redmond all netted as Saints kept up their strong record on the road, notching a seventh away win of the season, and left Norwich on 21 points, five adrift of 19th-placed Aston Villa, who have a game in hand.

Ings struck the bar in the first half but made no mistake with a curling effort inside the penalty area in the 49th minute to open the scoring with his 16th league goal of the season.

Armstrong finished with an accurate shot in the 54th and Redmond put the seal on an impressive victory by the mid-table visitors with a fine effort in the 79th minute.

Southampton’s Nathan Redmond kneels in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign before the match, yesterday.

05SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020 SPORT

Hamilton can expect a quicker car in AustriaREUTERS — LONDON

Six times world champion Lewis Hamilton (pictured) can expect a quicker car when the Formula One season finally starts in Austria next month, with Mercedes promising plenty of updates.

The W11 car unveiled in February has yet to race, with the season delayed since March by the COVID-19 pandemic, and team technical director James Allison said months’ worth of improvements were in the pipeline.

“There was the whole of January, the whole of February, March, a l l making the car quicker in the wind tunnel and also in the design d e p a r t -ments,” he said in a video on the Mercedes YouTube channel yesterday.

“So we’ve got quite a lot of ideas about how to make it quicker... our chal-lenge now is to make sure that that quarter of a year of development can get off the drawing boards and onto the car as swiftly as possible.

“We hope to have a chunk of that for the first race in Austria, and the season that follows will of course take as much of the development as fast as we can get it onto the car in turn.”

Mercedes have won the last six drivers’ and constructors’ championships and were fastest in pre-season testing in Spain in February.

A seventh title for Hamilton would equal Michael Schu-macher’s all-time record.

The season will start with two races at Austria’s Red Bull Ring on July 5 and 12. and

Allison said that already felt ‘desperately close’.

He said Mercedes were ‘utterly paranoid’ about ensuring they kept their ‘balance and poise’ while blowing away the cobwebs and ramping up to go racing.

Eight races in 10 weekends, all in Europe, have been scheduled initially with the second part of the campaign yet to be finalised.

Allison expected Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas to return strongly after the blow

of going all the way to Aus-tralia only for the season-opener to be cancelled in

March.“It will be a sign of

their resilience and their competi-

tiveness to see them

bristle back to work full of the vim and vigour that is necessary to be right on it from the start,” he said.

Engine changes could take twice as long under new measures

Formula One mechanics could take twice as long to change an engine under new measures to protect them from COVID-19 and reliability will be key, according to Racing Point

technical director Andrew Green. The new protocols come into force when the season starts in Austria on July 5 and Green told reporters his team was coming to terms with the new reality of everything taking more time.

The procedures restrict the number of mechanics and engi-neers working on the car together. Team members must also wear protective equipment such as masks.

“It’s very different and it’s going to be a real challenge going forward,” Green said after t h e t e a m

conducted a limited mileage test at Silverstone on Wednesday with Canadian Lance Stroll.

“Jobs now take a lot longer, and we have to try and manage that,” he added.

Teams are already subject to curfews during a race weekend, aimed at ensuring mechanics do not work through the night, which adds to the headache. They face eight races in 10 weekends once the delayed season starts and Green said drivers needed to be aware of how long it could take to fix damage from any practice incidents.

“I suspect changing an engine now will take quite some time,” said Green.

“We can only have certain members of the crew working on the car at any one time, and that does limit the speed in which you can do a power unit change.

“When we get into the real meat of the car, and centre

around the power unit, we’re probably looking at, in some cases, it taking twice as long.”

Haas F1 principal Guenther Steiner told r e p o r t e r s h i s mechanics and engi-neers would be going through the protocols

at the factory rather than a track before

they flew to Austria.

Six times Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton can expect a quicker car when the Formula One season finally starts in Austria next month, with Mercedes promising plenty of updates.

The W11 car unveiled in February has yet to race, with the season delayed since March by the COVID-19, and team technical director James Allison said months’ worth of improvements were in the pipeline.

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Engine changes could take twice as long under new measures

Formula One mechanics could take twice as long to change an engine under newmeasures to protect them fromCOVID-19 and reliability will be key, according to Racing Pointkey, according to Racing Point

Green told reporters his teamwas coming to terms with the new reality of everything taking more time.

The procedures restrict thenumber of mechanics and engi-neers working on the car together. Team members mustalso wear protective equipment such as masks.

“It’s very different and it’s going to be a real challenge going forward,”Green said after t h e t e a m

said drivers needed to be aware of how long it could take to fix damage from any practice

incidents.“I suspect changing an

engine now will take quite some time,” said Green.

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that does limit the speed in which you can do a power unit

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mem at of the car, and centre around the power unit,

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Haas F1 principal Guenther Steiner told

r e p o r t e r s h i smechanics and engi-neers would be going through the protocols

at the factory rather than a track before they flew to

Austria.

Poulter shares first-round lead at RBC HeritageAFP — WASHINGTON

Ian Poulter fired seven birdies, including a 31-footer at the 17th, to share the first-round lead at the RBC Heritage at seven-under par 74.

England’s Poulter and American Mark Hubbard set the early pace at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and a raft of afternoon challengers failed to get past them.

Plenty came close however, with seven players tied on six-under 65 and another six on five-under par 66.

“Any time you shoot seven-under par around this golf course, it’s obviously a pretty solid day,” said Poulter, who won the last of his three US PGA Tour titles at the 2018 Houston Open.

“It’s very important being bogey-free. It’s a fiddly, testing, tricky golf course,” Poulter added of the par-71 layout.

Poulter said he needed to improve off the tee, but his solid iron play included a 213-yard five-iron to five feet for a birdie at 18, and he didn’t miss a putt from within 10 feet.

The highlight for Hubbard, whose best PGA Tour finish was a tie for second at the Houston Open earlier this season, was a 10-foot eagle on the second hole.

Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz, Norway’s Viktor Hovland, South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli and Americans Webb Simpson, Michael Thompson, Brice Garnett and Ryan Palmer shared third on 65.

Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth was the unlikely leader of the group on five-under par 66, overcoming a triple-bogey at his third hole, the 12th, with eight birdies -- seven of them on his second nine.

“It’s not a great feeling,” Spieth said of finding himself three over through three holes after going right off the tee at 12.

His ball hit a tree and ended up out of bounds, but the American was able to regroup, stringing together six birdies in a row from the second through the seventh holes before

capping his round with a birdie at nine. Former world number one Brooks Koepka and South African veteran Ernie Els were among another big bunch on 67.

It was a “little bit of a struggle” for world number one Rory McIlroy, whose one-over 72 left him with work to do to make the cut.

Second-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain carded a 71.

McIlroy, coming off a dis-appointing 74 in the final round at the Charles Schwab Chal-lenge, said there wasn’t much change from Sunday’s round at Colonial.

“Just missing tee-shots,” the Northern Ireland star said, “Didn’t get it in play enough to give myself looks at hitting it close into greens.”

The tournament is the second since the US PGA Tour resumed play after a 91-day hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Poulter gave his Twitter followers an inside glimpse of some of the tour’s health pro-tocols when he posted a video of himself undergoing a nasal swab COVID-19 test on Wednesday -- calling it a “bizarre sensation.”

Poulter tested negative, as have all players, caddies and officials for two straight weeks.

“It’s a great start,” Poulter said of the negative tests.

“I don’t think the PGA Tour would have expected that.

“They definitely would have expected a few people, certainly from as far and wide as people are traveling to come in and play golf.”

Ian Poulter hits his tee shot on the 17th hole during the first round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links.

64 - Ian Poulter (ENG), Mark Hubbard 65 - Sebastian Munoz (COL), Viktor Hovland (NOR), Michael Thompson, Webb Simpson, Dylan Frittelli (RSA), Brice Garnett, RyanPalmer 66 - Matthew NeSmith, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG), Erik vanRooyen (RSA), Mackenzie Hughes (CAN) 67 - Harris English, Patrick Rodgers, Vaughn Taylor, Daniel Berger, Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Ernie Els (RSA), J.T.Poston, Sepp Straka (AUT), Christiaan Bez- uidenhout (RSA), Bryson DeChambeau,Max Homa

RBC HERITAGE SCORES

MLB: Players Association counters with 70-game proposalREUTERS — WASHINGTON

The Major League Baseball Players Association offered a counter proposal to the league that includes a 70-game regular season and expanded play-offs in 2020 and 2021.

The schedule would run from July 19 through September 30. According to ESPN, the union’s latest offer also calls for $50m in play-off bonuses, a 50/50 split of new postseason television revenues in 2021, sal-ary-advance forgiveness, use of a universal designated hitter and a mutual waiver of the right to file a grievance.

“We believe this offer rep-resents the basis for an agreement on resumption of play,” MLBPA union chief Tony Clark (pictured) said in a statement.

The MLPA proposal comes

in response to the 60-game framework that MLB officials reportedly thought both sides had agreed to earlier this week.

Commissioner Rob Manfred had sounded optimistic fol-lowing face-to-face talks Tuesday with Clark in Phoenix. The groundwork for a deal, which would have made July 19 or July 20 Opening Day fol-lowing a three-week training camp, was set in Manfred’s opinion.

“At my request, Tony Clark and I met for several hours in Phoenix,” Manfred said Wednesday. “We left that

meeting with a jointly developed framework that we agreed could form the basis of an agreement and subject to conversations with our respective constituents.”

The union disagreed with Manfred’s assessment of the negotiations, however, with many players saying that a 60-game season was too short.

According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, several owners were “incensed” by the terms in the 70-game proposal by the MLBPA, which includes forgiving $170 million in upfront money players received before May 24.

We believe this offer represents the basis for an agreement on resumption of play: Tony Clark

London Marathon still looking to hold race on October 4, says Race DirectorREUTERS — LONDON

London Marathon Race Director Hugh Brasher said yesterday that organisers are working to ensure the rescheduled race is held on October 4 despite the cancel-lation of September’s Great North Run due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The cancellation of the annual half marathon had raised doubts about the London Marathon going ahead due to the challenges faced by organ-isers in implementing social distancing protocols.

Brasher added that they would be providing a further update on the status of the race on July 28. The marathon was initially postponed from its original April 26 date due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

“There has been much speculation that this means the 2020 Virgin Money London Marathon will also be cancelled. However, it doesn’t,” Brasher said in an open letter to runners.

“The team at London Mar-athon Events has been looking at the logistics... and coming up with innovative ways to socially

distance the event. “We have also been working with other mass participation event organ-isers in the UK, including the Great Run Company and Human Race, to make recom-mendations to the UK gov-ernment on how mass partici-pation events can return.”

Brasher also urged runners to maintain their fitness goals ahead of the event with 15 weeks to go before the race.

“There is still plenty of time to train and there is neither a need, nor should there be a desire, to be at your peak fitness yet,” he added.

A file photo of London Marathon.

NBA marks Juneteenth as paid holidayREUTERS — NEW YORK

Juneteenth was a paid holiday for NBA employees for the first time in league history yesterday.

Multiple teams also afforded employees the day off in recognition of the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States dating back to June 19, 1865.

ESPN reported that NBA employees were invited to a virtual screening of “John Lewis: Good Trouble,” a film chronicling Georgia Rep. John Lewis’ 60-plus years of social activism and legislative action including civil rights, voting rights, gun control.

The Golden State War-riors, Atlanta Hawks, New York Knicks and Sacra-mento Kings were among the teams planning to rec-ognize Juneteenth formally in the community.

What Roger and Rafa are doing is epic.

Both of these guys are legends: Novak

Djokovic

06 SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020SPORT

This file photo taken on September 28, 2019 shows Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus (bottom) serving against Alison Riske of the US during their singles final match at the Wuhan Open in Wuhan. Staging the Wuhan Open later this year in October 2020 will send a powerful message about the city’s recovery from coronavirus and have an impact that stretches beyond tennis, the tournament’s co-director says.

Wuhan Open ‘hugely symbolic’ for coronavirus-scarred city

AFP - SHANGHAI

Staging the Wuhan Open later this year will send a powerful message about the city’s recovery from coro-navirus and have an impact that stretches beyond tennis, the tournament’s co-director said yesterday.

The central Chinese city was the original epicentre of the pandemic and nearly 4,000 people died from the disease there before it spread worldwide.

But the annual Wuhan Open is now pencilled in for October 19-25 after the WTA (Women’s Tennis Asso-ciation) this week released its provisional calendar for the rest of the year.

The schedule “is conditioned on several key factors” including player safety, government approvals and relaxation of travel restrictions, the WTA said. At present, most foreign nationals are barred from entering China.

Wuhan Open co-director Brenda Perry said the tournament will not go ahead if overseas players cannot come, and that a final decision will be made around early August.

But she added: “I’m thrilled for all my colleagues and friends in Wuhan, and what this will mean to the city and the people of the city.

“It’s hugely symbolic of overcoming a hugely chal-lenging moment. They went through what seemed to

me one of the most stringent lockdowns in the world,” said the 62-year-old, speaking by telephone from Auckland.

“To come through that and then hold an interna-tional professional tennis event would be amazing for morale and show the world the great job they’ve done on recovery.”

Last year’s Wuhan Open had a nearly $3m prize fund and a high-quality field, with world number one Ashleigh Barty losing in the semi-finals to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

But just a few months later Wuhan’s 11 million people were subjected to a harsh lockdown that lasted 76 days and put the city in the global spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Perry, a former player who was New Zealand’s number one, hopes that staging the tournament for a seventh year can help change perceptions.

But she can understand why some players may have reservations about signing up for the tournament, even though Wuhan is now largely back to normal.

“We probably need to educate, to be honest, what is the reality in Wuhan compared to other cities around the world,” said Perry, who gave assurances that Wuhan’s tough anti-virus measures have made it a safe place to visit.

“They’ve followed such a stringent lockdown and

the recovery process has been so cautious and they still have so many protocols in place.”

“I would be the very first person to put up my hand if I thought it was not safe to be going there,” she added.

Like other WTA tournaments when the corona-virus-ravaged season resumes, starting at Italy’s Palermo on August 3, Wuhan will have no spectators under current guidelines.

Significant hurdles still lie ahead if Wuhan is to see tennis in October.

China is now experiencing a fresh outbreak of infec-tions in Beijing and the ATP Japan Open scheduled for October was cancelled on Thursday over fears of a second wave.

As part of measures to prevent imported corona-virus cases, China has indefinitely closed its borders to most foreigners. International air travel is also badly disrupted.

For all tournaments, from Wuhan to Roland Garros and the US Open, officials are keeping their fingers crossed.

“The tournament is four months from now and if you think back four months, to February, and what has changed and happened for better and worse round the world,” said Perry.

“Four months is still a long time for things to change and know what’s going to happen.”

'Big Three' rivalrygreat promotionfor sport: DjokovicREUTERS - BELGRADE

Novak Djokovic still feels inspired by Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, the men’s world number one tennis player has said, adding that the rivalry between the so-called ‘Big Three’ is a great promotion for the sport.

The “GOAT” (greatest of all time) debate in men’s tennis has divided opinions in the last decade and still remains a hot topic as the triumvirate continue to dominate the field, sharing the last 13 Grand Slam titles among them.

Federer, who will be 39 in August, leads the race with 20 Grand Slam singles titles, with Spaniard Nadal close on his heels with 19.

Djokovic is three behind the Swiss with 17 majors under his belt and is the youngest of the trio - at 33 he is a year younger than Nadal.

“What Roger and Rafa are doing is epic. Both of these guys are legends,” the Serb told Tennis Channel. “They do inspire me and I have said this millions of times and I will say it again. They made me the player I am today. They still continue to inspire me and motivate me to be even better.

“I think these rivalries that we have are great promotion for our sport. They are really

good for tennis in general and also for the upcoming generations.

“Hopefully we give a positive example and inspire younger guys to be the best they can possibly be.”

Djokovic has previously said he believes he will win the most Grand Slam titles and become the longest-reigning world number one by the time he retires.

“I like to have the long-term goals and be devoted to them. But at the same time have my daily goals, daily routines, the weekly routines, the season goals and understand what is best for me and my team,” he said.

“I love this sport. I’m very passionate and devoted to it. As long as there is that flair in me I am going to keep going.”

Learning while not earning: Bellis hails WTA UniversityNEW YORK - MUMBAI

The online educational platform launched by the Women’s Tennis Association in March has been a boon for American Catherine ‘CiCi’ Bellis, who feels the resources have been “extremely” helpful for the players during the tour’s COVID-19 shutdown.

The tennis season screeched to a halt in early March, leaving those solely dependent on tournament winnings in financial crisis. While the governing bodies built a players relief package, the WTA and its long-time technology partner SAP also expedited the rollout of the WTA University to help the athletes

gain new skills and knowledge. The platform is tailor-made for profes-sional players and include financial coaching by certified specialists, guided fitness classes and lead-ership inspiration from Billie Jean King among others.

“The WTA University is incredible and has been such an amazing resource during this time,” Bellis, 21, said in an email interview.

“It has been extremely helpful for the players during this time to learn about things off the court for real-world situations. There are a ton of mental health courses that can help players deal with mental challenges.”

Bellis, a former junior number one, was 15 when she earned a wild card into the main draw of the 2014 US Open and made a splash with a victory over 12th seed Dominika Cibulkova.

Her career started building momentum and she was named the WTA’s Newcomer of the Year in 2017, during which she also reached a career-high ranking of 35. But multiple surgeries to fix problems in her right arm forced her to sit out for 20 months during 2018 and 2019 and she was told she might never play again.

“I considered quitting because of the injuries, yes, but my love for the game pushed me through,”

says Bellis, who returned to tennis in November and reached the third round at the 2020 Australian Open.

After choosing to turn pro instead of going to college on a scholarship, a decision she calls “one of the hardest”, Bellis enrolled herself in an online bach-elor’s degree program during the injury break.

She has also made the most of courses on the WTA University platform, which has had more than 150 players enrol.

“The business courses attracted me the most,” she said. “I will be able to easily incorporate them into my business classes.”

Top tennis quotes this

week“I would like to con-

gratulate the US Open on their hard work and vision in getting to this point and for putting player safety at the centre of their plans. Hopefully the COVID-19 numbers and conditions around travel restrictions continue to improve in order to make the decision to play an easy one.”

Petra Kvitova

“For the US Open we know ... athletes will most likely decide two to three weeks before. We are ready. The plan is ready. If the athletes are ready, we will be ready for them to come to New York, to train and compete in both events ... everything definitely is flexible.”

US Open tournament director Stacey Allaster

“People that live in the US of course are pushing the Open to go ahead 'Selfish’. I'll get my hazmat suit ready for when I travel from Australia and then have to quarantine for 2 weeks on my return,”

Nick Kyrgios

“It has been a truly col-laborative effort and we hope to add more events to the calendar as the situ-ation evolves. I would like to recognise our tourna-ments’ efforts to operate during these challenging times, as well as our players who will be competing under tough conditions.”

ATP chief Andrea Gaudenzi

“Ultimately, I really cannot wait to return to New York and play the US Open 2020. I feel like the USTA is going to do a really good job of ensuring eve-rything is amazing and eve-rything is perfect and eve-ryone is safe.”

Serena Williams

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Tennis Australia, IPC offer Alcott supportREUTERS - SYDNEY

Tennis Australia offered their support to Dylan Alcott over his disappointment at the wheelchair events being cut from the US Open while the International Paral-ympic Committee (IPC) urged the Grand Slam’s organ-isers to reconsider their decision.

Australian Alcott, who has won 10 Grand Slam wheelchair singles titles including two at Flushing Meadows, on Thursday slammed organisers for cutting his events from the Aug. 31-Sept 13 tournament, describing it as “disgusting discrimination”.

“Dylan Alcott is a tre-mendous ambassador for

tennis and has done a huge amount for our

sport both here and around the world,” Tennis Australia chief executive Craig Tiley said of the Paralympic champion yes-terday. “We

understand how disappointed he is

at not being able to compete at the US Open

this year and we look forward to seeing him back on the court soon.”

IPC President Andrew Parsons said they recog-nised the challenges for organisers to host sports events amid the pandemic but that they were ‘disappointed’ at the US Open’s decision.

“Such challenges should not be used as an excuse to discriminate against a group of players and not offer inclusive competition for all,” Parsons said in a statement. “(The) decision... has left a lot of the athlete community rightly upset and angered,” adding that it could undo years of work to promote and showcase wheelchair tennis.

Parsons also said he was grateful that the Interna-tional Tennis Federation was in discussions with organ-isers to find a solution. US Open organisers have also eliminated the mixed doubles and juniors competi-tions, while reducing the number of teams in men’s and women’s doubles events by half in a bid to cut the number of players at the tournament for health reasons.

With New York still reporting hundreds of COVID-19 cases each day, the tournament will be the first Grand Slam staged without fans. Tennis Australia said they were optimistic of running a full programme at January’s Australian Open.

“In terms of our plans for the Australian Open ... we’re optimistic about having an AO in January with all the events and all the players,” Tiley added.

Novak Djokovic

QNA - DOHA

Dutch football legend Ronald de Boer (pictured right) appeared on this week’s Generation Amazing Instagram Live to discuss his football career and the importance of staying positive during the ongoing

global pandemic. The former Ajax, Barcelona, Rangers, Al Rayyan, and Al Shamal midfielder spoke about his club and international experiences and shared advice on developing positive affirmations during adverse times.

Generation Amazing’s

Marketing & Communications Director, Moza Al Mohannadi, said: “Ronald de Boer is well respected as a great midfielder of his time, so we were extremely excited to have him join us for this online session. He had some invaluable insight to share with our youth

participants, as well as the many people tuning in worldwide.”

The live chat was the latest in a series of interviews with football legends. Previous guests have included Xavi Hernandez, Cafu, and Samuel Eto’o. The series has been organized to engage the Generation Amazing community during the pandemic.

Commenting further about this week’s schedule, Generation Amazing Programs Director, Nasser Al Khori, said: “This week was very interesting for youth and families. In addition to our chat with Ronald de Boer, we were also treated to the first in a new series of ability-friendly live workout sessions held in collaboration with our partners at Qatar Foundation. Families will be able to enjoy these ses-sions over the coming weeks.”

This week’s ability-friendly session centered on the core Generation Amazing value of

inclusion. It was led by Gener-ation Amazing Master Coach, Michael Richardson, and Qatar Foundation Senior SEN/ASD Football Specialist,

Ryan Moignard, who pre-sented an introductory talk on exercises that people of all abil-ities can do. The ongoing activity is intended to help everyone keep active at home while teaching key life skills including

communication, teamwork, and leadership.

Generation Amazing is the Qatar 2022 social and legacy program aimed at positively impacting youth and under-privileged communities using football for development. So far, the program has reached 500,000 people in Qatar and globally and is aiming to reach 1 million people by 2022.

07SATURDAY 20 JUNE 2020 SPORT

Surrey coach Solanki glad of Kohli timeAFP - LONDON

New Surrey coach Vikram Solanki (pictured) said working with Virat Kohli in the Indian Premier League had given him an insight into the mindset of cricket’s “superstars” as he prepared to take up the reins at the Oval.

Former England batsman Solanki, who fin-ished his playing career with Surrey before joining their backroom staff, succeeds Australia’s Michael Di Venuto at the London-based club.

He is set to start his new post next week when group training resumes.

The coronavirus pandemic has delayed the start of the English domestic season until August at the earliest.

Last year Solanki worked with star batsman Kohli when an assistant coach under former India boss Gary Kirsten at the Royal Challengers Ban-galore in the IPL.

The 44-year-old, whose Surrey squad con-tains several England internationals including Rory Burns, Ollie Pope, Ben Foakes and the Curran brothers, said his experience with Kohli had showed him how top players deal with pressure.

“Just to see how people react to pressure sit-uations, the likes of Virat... gave me an insight into the superstars of the game,” he said.

“I’d like to acknowledging the outstanding con-tribution of Michael Di Venuto during his time at the Club. I am now really excited to be taking over as Head Coach. We have a very talented group of

players at Surrey CCC and will be looking to compete in all formats – both in any competitions that are able to be staged this summer and in the future.”

Solanki, born in India, but brought up in England, is believed to be the first British Asian head coach of a first-class county.

The worldwide Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd in the United States has led to a debate about the lack of non-white players and coaches in English cricket.

Solanki started his career being coached at Worcestershire by Basil D’Oliveira.

The former Test batsman was rejected by the apartheid government of his native South Africa for an England tour in 1968 because he was clas-sified as “Cape Coloured” -- an incident that

contributed to South Africa’s decades of sporting isolation.

Solanki said he was unsure if his promotion constituted a “watershed moment”, saying while he abhorred racism and felt sympathy for anyone discriminated against, it had not been an issue in his career.

“There certainly is a great degree of movement throughout the world,” said Solanki, who made 54 limited-overs international appearances for England.

Domestically, he played 325 first-class games with a further 484 white ball appearances, scoring over 31,000 runs in all formats.

Further to his coaching and playing careers, Solanki has also acted as Chairman (2009-2012) and – in 2012 – interim Chief Executive of the Professional Cricketers’ Association.

He is also President of the Federation of Inter-national Cricketers’ Associations (FICA), a role he has held since 2017.

Solanki, however, was at a loss to explain why he was believed to be the first British Asian head coach at one of England’s 18 first-class counties.

“I couldn’t possibly answer that. I’ve not been party to any of the decisions that appoint coaches. I couldn’t tell you. But at Surrey, with the numerous programmes to encourage involvement of people from different backgrounds, I consider it as some-thing that’s ongoing.

“If this (his appointment) accelerates all those matters, then great.”

India’s current pace attack ‘the best’ in history: ShamiAFP & IANS - NEW DELHI

India fast bowler Mohammed Shami (pictured) has claimed they may have the best pace attack in Test history, brushing aside the feared West Indies quicks of the 1970s and 1980s.

Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have become leaders of the Indian attack, which has traditionally relied on spinners.

“You and everyone else in the world will agree to this -- that no team has ever had five fast bowlers together as a package,” Shami said in an online chat for ESPNcricinfo.

“Not just now, in the history of cricket, this might be the best fast-bowling unit in the world,” he added.

When reminded of the West Indies pace packs of the 1970s and 1980s, Shami said India still has fast bowlers waiting on the sidelines to take over.

“We have a bowler on the bench who can work up speeds of 145-48 kph (over 90mph),” said Shami, who has 180 wickets from 49 Tests.

The 29-year-old, who has come back a more potent bowler from a career-threat-ening knee injury, said there was no rivalry for the new ball between the Indian bowlers.

“We surround Virat Kohli and ask him to make the decision,” Shami said of the support for the Indian captain.

“But he normally says, ‘Don’t get me involved in all this; you decide among your-selves, I don’t have an issue’.

Shami said he is normally happy to let two other bowlers start with the new ball.

“We support each other whether we’re getting wickets or not,” he said.

Shami battled weight issues, injury and a legal quarrel with his estranged wife before making a comeback in the Indian team that reached the 2019 World Cup semi-finals.

He took 14 wickets in four games at the World Cup, including a match-winning hat-trick.

Shami also took 13 wickets during India’s 3-0 home Test sweep over South Africa last year.

Meanwhile former opener Gautam Gambhir believes that Ravindra Jadeja is one of the best fielders in the world.

Speaking on Star Sports show, Cricket Connected,

Gambhir explained why Jadeja is the best fielder in world cricket.

“I think, in world cricket, there is no better fielder than Jadeja, an overall fielder. Maybe he doesn't field at slip and gully, but no one is better than him in throwing.

“No one covers the outfield like him. Put him at point or cover, you can get him to field anywhere. No one has a safer pair of hands than him. Ravindra Jadeja, probably is the best fielder in world cricket."

South African fielding great Jonty Rhodes earlier rated Jadeja among the best fielders in the world, saying the Indian all-rounder has great com-mitment and anticipation skill.

“Jaddu has taken some fan-tastic catches. The key is he is very committed. He is very good at anticipating the ball also,” Rhodes told veteran India batsman Suresh Raina during an Instagram Live chat.

Asked to name the best fielders in the world at the moment, the 50-year old, who changed the definition of fielding, said: "I love to watch AB (de Villiers) batting or fielding. (Martin) Guptill is there. Jaddu. Also Michael Bevan, he had excellent speed. Also Jaddu has great speed on the field.”

Rhodes had also lavished praise on 2011 ODI World Cup winner Raina, who himself is a brilliant fielder.

“You remind me of me. I know how hard fields are in India and I have always have been a big fan (of you),” he said.

Labuschangne signs new Glamorgan deal

AFP - LONDON

Australia batsman Marnus Labuschagne has extended his contract with Glamorgan until the end of the 2022 season, the Welsh county announced yesterday.

Labuschagne had initially signed a two-year deal that encompassed both the 2020 and 2021 seasons but with the current campaign delayed by the coronavirus, it has been agreed that he won’t return to Cardiff this term.

“It was an easy decision to extend my contract for another year and commit to Glamorgan and Wales long term,” Labuschagne, 25, told Glamor-gan’s website.

“I was gutted not to be returning to Glamorgan for the 2020 season after I loved my first year here, so I’m delighted to be recommitting myself to the club for the next couple of years.

“I loved my first year at the club and the dressing-room environment and I’m looking forward to playing cricket with them again.”

Labuschagne scored 1,114 County Champi-onship runs at an average of over 65 last season, including five centuries and five half-centuries.

His Glamorgan form helped him gain a place in Australia’s team for the 2019 Ashes series, during which he scored 353 runs at an average of 50.42 after becoming Test cricket’s first concussion substitute when he replaced star batsman Steve Smith at Lord’s.

Australia is ready for a woman to run the game: Ellyse PerryREUTERS - MELBOURNE

Australian cricket is ripe for a woman to run the board for the first time and has excellent candidates within easy reach, according to star all-rounder Ellyse Perry.

Cricket Australia (CA) have appointed Nick Hockley as interim CEO to replace Kevin Roberts, who resigned this week after months of criticism over his leadership, but the board will conduct a global search for a permanent boss.

Perry suggested recruiters need only look as far as Western Australia Cricket Asso-ciation boss Christina Mat-thews, or at senior women in head office, for a long-term solution.

“I think Cricket Australia has been ready for a female CEO for a long time,” Perry told

reporters in a video call yesterday.

“I know Chris (Matthews) was in discussions for the last round of hiring for the role.

“I don’t think it’s something that’s new.

“We’ve got a number of women working in high exec-utive roles in Cricket Australia, Belinda Clark and Steph Bel-trame to name a couple.”

Both Clark and Beltrame are long-time staffers at CA, with former Australia captain Clark running community cricket and Beltrame the broadcasting and commercial portfolio in the executive team.

“They are absolutely pivotal in the way that we operate. So, yeah, I think there’s some really strong representation,” said Perry.

Australia’s peerless women’s team won the

Twenty20 World Cup on home soil in March only days before the coronavirus suspended all domestic cricket.

Fears the women’s game might be diminished as part of a cost-cutting restructure to deal with the impact of COVID-19 were allayed this week, with the board con-firming the full summer schedule would be retained in the 2020-21 season.

The Australian men’s team lost batting coach Graeme Hick among 40 redundancies announced this week, but Perry confirmed the women’s pro-gramme had kept all its staff.

“We’ve been incredibly for-tunate in that sense,” said the 29-year-old.

“I know from a player and staffing perspective, we feel very grateful given everything that’s been going on.”

Australia’s Ellyse Perry celebrates taking the wicket of England’s Sarah Taylor during the third One Day International at the Spitfire Ground, Canterbury, Britain, in this file photo taken on July 7, 2019.

The 29-year-old says no rivalry among bowlers

Dutch football legend Ronald de Boer appears on Generation Amazing Instagram Live