Tuesday, May 25, 2021Shawwal 13, 1442 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Man City only need one shot at CL glory: Guardiola

Bach says Games will go ahead despite opposition

OLYMPICS OLYMPICS | Page 6 FOOTBALL FOOTBALL | Page 7

CYCLING

Bernal wins Giro ‘Queen stage’ to extend race leadPage 3

Doha return for World C’ships medallists Chepkoech, Coburn and Krause

Bahrain’s Hamad appointed member of top FIFA committee

50-year-old bags PGA Championship to become oldest major winner

GOLF

ATHLETICS FOOTBALL

By Sports ReporterDoha

Bahrain’s Mohannad Hamad has been ap-pointed member of world football body

FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee for a four-year term.

The appointment was made during the General Assembly meeting of FIFA which was held last Friday in Zurich.

Hamad was a member of FIFA’s Governance Committee for the past four years before it was merged with the Audit and Compliance committee starting from this year.

In the past Hamad has served

as a member of the committees supervising the elections of sev-eral continental federations.

Hamad has also performed various roles in the meetings of

the General Assemblies of FIFA and the Asian Football Confed-eration (AFC), where he is the Chairman of the Audit and Com-pliance Committee.

Beatrice Chepkoech (Kenya), the reigning world 3,000m steeple-chase champion and

world record holder, will return to the Qatari capital alongside Emma Coburn (USA) and Gesa Felicitas Krause (Germany) — second and third respectively in the 2019 World Championships — for a thrilling rematch at the Wanda Doha Diamond League on Friday.

Chepkoech has already en-joyed success this year, most notably when achieving a 5k (road) world record in Monaco (14:43) and an indoor personal best for 3,000m (8:31.72), both in February. Her 3,000m SC world record, also achieved in Monaco (2018), is an incredible

8:44.32.Coburn, Olympic bronze

medallist in Rio and 2017 world champion, has a 3,000m SC best of 9:02.35 from the 2019 World Championships. She re-corded an indoor personal best over 3000m this year clocking 8:39.19 in New York, and ran

15:24.76 for 5000m in Febru-ary – her fastest time ever over the distance. More recently, she clocked 4:04.28, just outside her PB, to fi nish fourth at the Track Meet in California.

Krause is the German national record holder in the 3,000m SC courtesy of her World Champi-

onships bronze medal-winning performance in 2019 (9:03.30). She raced extensively through-out the 2021 indoor season and opened her outdoor season with a 2:05.76 800m in Germany on 21 May. She will compete in her fi rst 3000m SC of the year in Doha as she prepares for her third Olympic Games this sum-mer.

Chepkoech, who fi nished third over 3,000m in the 2020 Wanda Doha Diamond League, said: “I’m looking forward to competing in Doha. It’s the place where I became World Champion. 2021 is a special year with the Olympics coming up and I would like to start my out-door season in a nice way.”

(Diamond League)

AFPKiawah Island, United States

Phil Mickelson became the oldest major winner in golf history on Sunday, the 50-year-old left-

hander capturing the PGA Cham-pionship by two strokes for his sixth and most iconic major title.

The age-defying American took the $2.1mn top prize with an epic victory for the ages, producing a dazzling shotmaking display at windy Kiawah Island’s while younger rivals faded.

“It has been an incredible day,” Mickelson said. “Certainly one of the moments I’ll cherish my entire life.”

Mickelson erased the major age win mark set by American Julius Boros when he captured the 1968 PGA Championship at age 48.

“I don’t know how to describe the feeling of excitement and ful-fi lment and accomplishment to do something of this magnitude when very few people thought that I could,” Mickelson said.

Mickelson grinded out a fi nal-round one-over par 73 to fi nish 72 holes on six-under 282 with South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, and American Brooks Koepka, a four-time major winner, sharing second on 284.

It was the fi rst major victory for Mickelson since the 2013 British Open.

“This is just an incredible feel-ing because I believed that it was possible but yet everything was saying it wasn’t,” Mickelson said. “I hope others fi nd that inspira-tional.”

Spectators created a surreal scene at the 18th hole, swarming around Mickelson after his second shot as he tried to walk to the 18th green, needing to three-putt from 16 feet for the epic triumph.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had an experience like that, so thank you for that,” Mickelson told the crowd as he accepted the Wana-maker Trophy.

“Slightly unnerving, but excep-tionally awesome.”

The crowd, limited to 10,000 people by Covid-19 safety meas-ures, roared with every success-ful swing by Mickelson, creating an electric atmosphere all day on the punishing Ocean Course, the longest layout in major history at 7,876 yards.

On the front nine, Mickelson answered three bogeys with three birdies in a roller-coaster start, his most astonishing eff ort a 50-foot chip-in from the sand at the par-3 sixth, for a two-stroke lead at the turn.

World number 115 Mickelson sank a 12-foot birdie putt at the 10th while Koepka and Oosthui-zen made bogeys to leave ‘Lefty’ with a four-stroke edge.

Koepka fell back with three bogeys in the fi rst four holes on the back nine. When Oosthuizen

made double bogey at the 13th, Mickelson owned a fi ve-stroke lead with six holes remaining.

Mickelson found water at the 13th and made bogey on Sun-day’s hardest hole, then missed a seven-foot par putt at the par-3 14th for a bogey that increased the tension, leaving Oosthuizen two adrift and the week’s toughest holes remaining.

But Mickelson hit his longest drive of the week, 366 yards, into the 16th fairway, then went over the green, pitched within inches from the cup and tapped in for birdie to restore his three-stroke edge.

Mickelson took a bogey at 17 and drove left at 18 near a hospitality tent then put his approach on the green to spark the chaotic fi nish.

45TH US PGA TOUR TITLEIt was the 45th career US PGA Tour triumph, his fi rst since 2019 at Pebble Beach.

Mickelson improved to 4-for-6 in majors with 54-hole leads or shared leads, winning at the 2004 and 2006 Masters and the 2005 and 2021 PGA but sharing second at the 2006 and 2013 US Opens.

His other major wins came at the 2010 Masters and the 2013 British Open.

With 16 years between PGA Championship triumphs, Mickel-son owns the longest gap between wins at the same major.

Koepka, fi ghting through pain to play after right knee surgery two months ago, won the 2018 and

2019 PGAs and could have become the fi rst player to win the same major three times in four years since Tom Watson at the 1980, 1982 and 1983 British Opens.

Irishmen Padraig Harrington, Europe’s 49-year-old captain for September’s Ryder Cup, and Shane Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion, shared fourth with American Harry Higgs and England’s Paul Casey on 286.

American Jordan Spieth, trying to win to complete a career Grand Slam, closed on 74 to fi nish on 290.

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, who won the 2012 PGA at Kiawah, grinded out a 72 to fi nish on 293.

LEADING SCORES AFTER ROUND 4282 — Phil Mickelson (USA) 70-69-70-73284 — Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 71-68-72-73, Brooks Koepka (USA) 69-71-70-74286 — Shane Lowry (IRL) 73-71-73-69, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 71-73-73-69, Harry Higgs (USA) 72-71-73-70, Paul Casey (ENG) 71-71-73-71287 — Abraham Ancer (MEX) 74-72-76-65, Justin Rose (ENG) 72-75-73-67, Collin Morikawa (USA) 70-75-74-68, Jon Rahm (ESP) 72-75-72-68, Will Zalatoris (USA) 71-74-72-70, Scottie Scheff ler (USA) 72-74-71-70, Tony Finau (USA) 74-72-70-71, Rickie Fowler (USA) 71-76-69-71, Kevin Streelman (USA) 70-72-70-75

Mickelson wins one for the ages

Phil Mickelson of the US celebrates with the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the PGA Championship in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, United States, on Sunday. (AFP)

Nicklaus, Woods congratulate PGA Championship winner MickelsonReutersKiawah Island, United States

Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods off ered their congratulations to Phil Mickelson on Sunday

after the 50-year-old became the sport’s oldest major champion by winning the PGA Championship.Nicklaus holds the record for

most men’s majors with 18 and Woods is second on the all-time list with 15, and while both have won far more than Mickelson’s six his performance clearly impressed them.“Fantastic golf this week at Kia-wah,” Nicklaus, who won the last of his majors at the 1986 Masters aged 46, said in a video posted on Twitter.

“You played great, you didn’t make any dumb mistakes, which is the whole key to winning major championships.“There is something strikes me; 50-years-old is older than 46. Well done my friend.”In collecting his first major since the 2013 British Open, Mickelson, who turns 51 next month, sur-passed Julius Boros as the oldest

major winner. Boros was 48 when he won the 1968 PGA Champion-ship.“Truly inspirational to see @PhilM-ickelson do it again at 50 years of age. Congrats!!!!!!!,” Woods tweeted.Woods is recovering from serious leg injuries suff ered in a February car crash and was unable to com-pete in the PGA Championship.

2

GOLF

Diet, brain training help Mickelson to major history

Koepka angry aft er getting ‘dinged’ in gallery frenzy

Hsu tops Pure Silk C’ship for fi rst LPGA title

TOP OF THE LINE

SPOTLIGHT FOCUS

‘There’s no reason why golf can’t be the game for a lifetime if you take care of your body and do it the right way’

Gulf Times Tuesday, May 25, 2021

ReutersKiawah Island, United States

Phil Mickelson is not the fi rst middle-aged person to change his diet and engage in brain train-

ing in a quest to feel and perform better, but he is the fi rst to win a major golf championship after turning 50.

While Mickelson’s perform-ance at the PGA Championship might not open the fl oodgates to a sudden glut of Senior Tour-eligi-ble winners, it at least will provide further evidence to those creep-ing up in age that it is not too late to pad those career resumes with another major victory.

“There’s no reason why golf can’t be the game for a lifetime if you take care of your body and do it the right way,” the Califor-nian said after beating Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen by two strokes at Kiawah Island on Sunday.

Old geezers leading deep into majors is not exactly rare. Con-sider Tom Watson had one hand on the Claret Jug at the age of 59 until he bogeyed the fi nal hole and then lost a playoff at the 2009 British Open.

Mickelson describes that per-formance by Watson as “inspir-ing” and “one of the greatest in the sport”.

The previous year, super fi t

Greg Norman, then 53, had the 54-hole lead at the British Open.

And back in 1998, Jack Nick-laus contended deep into the fi nal round of the Masters at the age of 58 after having won it at age 46 in 1986.

On Sunday, while Mickelson was rewriting history, 49-year-old Padraig Harrington quietly earned a share of fourth place.

These were all great players

and multiple major winners, ca-pable of rising to the occasion for one last shot at glory when the stars aligned.

Mickelson is a young 50, not just by virtue of his health-con-scious lifestyle, but also because he has avoided for the most part serious injury, notwithstanding some arthritis, as well as a broken leg incurred in a skiing accident in 1994.

The six-time major winner is supple and strong enough to still generate prodigious clubhead speed, a prerequisite for keeping up with the youngsters as courses stretch ever longer, close to 8,000 yards. He hit the longest drive all day at the 16th hole on Sunday.

Mickelson’s unsurpassed short game also remains as sharp as ever.

As he returns his focus to next month’s US Open, where he will

have another chance to become the sixth player to win the mod-ern grand slam of all four ma-jors, Mickelson will continue the practices that got him across the fi nish line at Kiawah.

Asked how his brain training had helped, he said: “Just the ability to kind of quiet my mind and get rid of all the exterior noise. I don’t want to get all spir-itual, but that’s kind of been the

biggest thing for me.”And his diet?“I’ve got to eat a lot less and

I’ve got to eat better. I just can’t eat as much and I have to let my body recover,” he said. “But it’s also been a blessing for me be-cause I feel better and I don’t have infl ammation and I wake up feeling good.

“It’s been a sacrifi ce worth making.”

Mickelson never lost the desire, will to win, says caddie/brother

ReutersKiawah Island, United States

Phil Mickelson has never doubted himself over the course of his 30-year PGA

Tour career and still has the hunger and desire to win that drives all great players, the six-time major champion’s brother and caddie Tim said on Sunday.Phil carded a one-over-par 73 to finish on six-under at the PGA Championship and become golf’s oldest major winner. It was also his first major title since the 2013 Brit-ish Open.Tim has been on his brother’s

bag since 2017 so Sunday’s tri-umph was the first time he has been able to share victory in a major from inside the ropes.“He never doubted himself,” Tim said after Phil’s two-shot win over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen at Kiawah Island.“His will and desire to win now is as high as it’s ever been in my opinion. Certainly it’s probably higher than when I started cad-dying for him.“I think the best players in the world all have that, and Phil has just carried that on for 35 years.”Phil’s manager Steve Loy predicted there was much more to come.

“He’s healthier than he’s ever been,” Loy said.“I think he’s going to win five more times, maybe 10. You can’t tell him no. Every time I try to tell him, ‘look, we are running out of time’, he’s going, ‘I don’t want to hear it.’”Loy described Mickelson’s ca-reer in chapters — the first when he won on the PGA Tour as a 20-year-old amateur, second when he got his first Masters title in 2004 and the third when he captured the British Open at Muirfield.“This is, I don’t want to say, the final finale,” Loy said.“It ain’t. He thinks he’s 25 years old again.”

Phil Mickelson of the United States celebrates with brother and caddie Tim on the 18th green after winning the 2021 PGA Championship at the Ocean Course of Kiawah Island Golf Resort in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, United States, on Sunday. (AFP)

Mickelson eyes elusive US Open aft er historic PGA win at 50AFPKiawah Island, United States

Ageless wonder Phil Mick-elson is taking aim at an elusive US Open title to

complete a career Grand Slam after becoming golf’s oldest major winner by capturing the PGA Championship.The 50-year-old swiped an

iconic victory for the ages on Sunday, grinding out a two-stroke triumph at windy Kiawah Island for his sixth major title.“I’ve believed for some time now without success that I could play at my best and com-pete in major championships still,” Mickelson said. “But until this week, I haven’t proven it to myself or anyone else.”This year’s US Open is next

month at Torrey Pines, near Mickelson’s San Diego home, and he turns 51 on June 16, the eve of the opening round.“I do believe that if I stay sharp mentally I can play well at Torrey Pines,” Mickelson said. “I know I’m playing well and this could very well be my last really good opportunity to win a US Open, so I’m going to put everything I have into it.”

ReutersKiawah Island, United States

Brooks Koepka reacted angrily after being buf-feted by spectators when offi cials lost control of

the gallery at the fi nal hole of the PGA Championship on Sunday.

After Koepka and champion Phil Mickelson had played their shots to the fi nal green, hundreds if not thousands of spectators swarmed the fairway in scenes reminiscent of British Opens of a previous era.

Mickelson was shepherded through the heaving masses by a few police and marshals, and soon emerged into a pro-tected area near the green, but it was some time before Koepka emerged to sanctuary.

Koepka, who is recovering from a dislocated kneecap, seems to have been collateral damage, and was left wondering if some of the bumps may even have been deliberate.

“It would have been cool if I didn’t have a knee injury and got dinged a few times in the knee in that crowd because no-one really gave a s***, personally,” he said.

“If I was fi ne, yeah, it would have been cool. It’s cool for Phil but getting dinged a few times isn’t exactly my idea of fun.

“I don’t mind waiting or be-ing in that crowd. I don’t know, it felt like somebody tried to, I don’t know what the deal was. Be putting it in ice (tonight). It feels like s*** right now.”

Koepka was speaking after fi n-ishing equal second with South African Louis Oosthuizen, two strokes behind Mickelson, who at age 50 became the game’s old-est major champion.

Koepka already has four major victories and claiming a fi fth on a dodgy knee would have been perhaps the most impressive yet.

But second place hurt, though maybe not as much as his knee.

“It got bumped a few times,” he said.

“Somebody jammed Rickie (caddie Rickie Elliott). Rickie stopped unintentionally because he got drilled in the face, and then I got drilled in the bag be-cause he got stopped so quickly.

“But I don’t know what some-one tried to (do) or what the deal was. There were so many people around.”

Mickelson, speaking with-out apparently being aware of Koepka’s comments, joked of his rival’s slow emergence from the throng.

“I thought he was slow play-ing me there,” Mickelson said, acknowledging that he too had found the scene a “little un-nerving”.

AFPWashington, United States

Hsu Wei-Ling rode an eagle at the 15th hole to an emotional two-stroke victory

in the Pure Silk Championship on Sunday, capturing a long-awaited fi rst LPGA title.

“I thought I wouldn’t cry,” said the 26-year-old, who in-deed broke down in tears after a two-putt par at the fi nal hole to seal the win.

But the emotion had been building since her eagle at the par-fi ve 15th, where her second shot kicked onto the green and she made the putt and suddenly fi nd herself with a two-shot lead.

Playing partner Moriya Jut-anugarn — who started the day tied with Hsu for the lead — had arrived at 15 with a two-stroke lead, but the Thai found a fair-way bunker with her second shot and ended up with a double bogey at the easiest hole on the Kingsmill Resort course in Wil-liamsburg, Virginia.

“On 15, I knew there was a good chance,” Hsu said.

“I thought, I’ve been wait-ing seven years for this, I don’t want to wait anymore,” added the 26-year-old, who gradu-ated from the Symetra Tour to play her rookie LPGA season in 2015, had 10 top-10 fi nishes, in-cluding one runner-up, on her resume.

She padded her lead with a birdie at 16, fi nishing with a three-under par 68 for a 13-un-der total of 271.

Moriya rebounded with her fi fth birdie of the day at the 17th on the way to a one-under par 70 and solo second on 11-under 273.

She was one stroke in front of American Jessica Korda, who had three birdies and two bogeys — including a three-putt at the last — in a one-under 70.

Hsu became the fi rst Taiwan-ese player to win on the LPGA

tour since fi ve-time major win-ner Tseng Yani won the 2012 Kia Classic.

She said she hoped the win would off er something positive for fans in Taiwan to enjoy amid the ongoing coronavirus pan-demic.

“I don’t know like what this win means for (Taiwan), but I really hope that I can give them some positive thought and a good energy to believe some-thing,” she said.

“I know people are against the virus right now, sports are shut

down, but there is something that the players or the people or the Taiwanese playing a diff er-ent sport... they can still cheer for.”

Hsu came into the week without high expectations, ex-hausted from the travel from the LPGA event in Thailand two weeks ago in a journey broken by a 36-hole qualifi er for the US Women’s Open.

“I think this is the happi-est thing ever, how my caddie cried and somehow I just cried so hard the last hole,” she said. “But I feel happy.”

LEADING SCORES AFTER ROUND 4271 — Hsu Wei-Ling (TPE) 66-72-65-68273 — Moriya Jutanugarn (THA) 71-67-65-70274 — Jessica Korda (USA) 70-67-67-70275 — Sarah Kemp (AUS) 69-67-69-70276 — Wichanee Meechai (THA) 70-68-69-69, Lizette Salas (USA) 73-68-64-71277 — Kim Sei-young (KOR) 67-71-70-69, Elizabeth Szokol (USA) 68-72-67-70, Lauren Stephenson (USA) 71-68-67-71278 — Brooke Henderson (CAN) 70-70-71-67, Mina Harigae (USA) 69-72-69-68, Pajaree Anannaru-karn (THA) 71-69-68-70279 — Albane Valenzuela (SUI) 71-70-70-68, Ally Ewing (USA) 73-68-69-69280 — Kristy McPherson (USA) 69-74-69-68

Hsu Wei-Ling of Chinese Taipei celebrates with the trophy after winning the Pure Silk Championship in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States, on Sunday. (AFP)

Phil Mickelson of the US is congratulated by compatriot Brooks Koepka after the former’s PGA Championship win on Sunday. (AFP)

Bernal wins Giro ‘Queen stage’ to extend race lead

Dixon seizes 4th career Indy 500 pole position

CYCLING

MOTORSPORT

AFPCortina d’Ampezzo, Italy

Colombian Egan Bernal tightened his grip on the Giro d’Italia pink jersey with a win in the rain-hit 16th stage yesterday in the Dolo-

mites before the fi nal rest day.Ineos’ Bernal crossed the line alone

in the ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo to fi nish 27 seconds ahead of French-man Romain Bardet and Italian Dami-ano Caruso. The 2019 Tour de France winner now leads Caruso by 2min 24sec with Britain’s Hugh Carthy third at 3min 40sec, before today’s rest day.

The race ends in Milan on Sunday.“Today I wanted to do something spe-

cial, to show I am back in the game,” said Bernal.

“It was a hard stage also because of the weather, but I had the right mental-

ity from the beginning of the stage. I was ready to suff er and we did it.”

The stage had been shortened because of rain and freezing weather with two of the days’ climbs scrapped and the dis-tance cut back to 153km from the origi-nal 212km. The fi nal climb of the day, the Giau Pass, the highest point in this year’s race at 2,233 metres altitude, was kept on the route, along with the opening one, up La Crosetta.

The main risk to riders would have been on the slippery descents, during the ‘Queen stage’, considered the hardest of the race, to Cortina d’Ampezzo, which will host the 2026 Winter Olympics.

- Yates drops off -Bernal was wearing a rain jacket over the leader’s pink jersey as riders headed out for the day 40 minutes late, because of the conditions.

The 24-year-old attacked twice and broke clear 4km from the fi nal summit, arriving at the top with a 45sec advantage

on Caruso with and 1min 13 sec over Bar-det. Bardet powered back on the descent to catch Caruso, but could not reach Ber-nal, who took off his jacket to show his jersey as he triumphantly crossed the fi n-ish line.

“This is a great victory, winning wear-ing the Maglia Rosa is special and I want-ed to show it,” said Bernal.

Britain’s Simon Yates dropped from second overall to fi fth after losing over two-and-a-half minutes on the day.

Belgian Remco Evenepoel also slipped behind in the fi nal 30km and the climb to the Giau Pass, with the Deceuninck-Quick Step rider now half an hour behind Bernal.Before the stage Lotto Soudal’s Belgian Thomas De Gendt pulled out with a knee problem.

De Gendt fi nished third in the 2012 edi-tion and has won stages on all three Grand Tours, the Giro, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana.

RESULTS STAGE1. Egan Bernal (COL/Ineos) 4hr 22min 41sec, 2. Romain Bardet (FRA/DSM) at 27sec, 3. Damiano Caruso (ITA/BAH) 27, 4. Giulio Ciccone (ITA/TRE) 1:18, 5. Hugh Carthy (GBR/EF1) 1:19, 6. Joao Almeida (POR/DEC) 1:21, 7. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS/AST) 2:11, 8. Gorka Izagirre (ESP/AST) 2:31, 9. Davide Formolo (ITA/UAE) 2:33, 10. Tobias Foss (NOR/JUM) 2:33. 11. Simon Yates (GBR/BIK) 2:37.

OVERALL1. Egan Bernal (COL/Ineos) 66hr 36min 04sec, 2. Damiano Caruso (ITA/BAH) at 2min 24sec, 3. Hugh Carthy (GBR/EF1) 3:40, 4. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS/AST) 4:18, 5. Simon Yates (GBR/BIK) 4:20, 6. Giulio Ciccone (ITA/TRE) 4:31, 7. Romain Bardet (FRA/DSM) 5:02, 8. Daniel Martinez (COL/INE) 7:17, 9. Tobias Foss (NOR/JUM) 8:20, 10. Joao Almeida (POR/DEC) 10:01.

AFPWashington

Reigning IndyCar series champion Scott Dixon grabbed pole posi-tion for the 105th Indianapolis 500 Sunday, holding off a pair of

young pretenders for his fourth career pole in the fabled race.

The New Zealand veteran, gunning for a record seventh IndyCar series title this season, posted a four-lap average speed of 231.685mph (372.86kph) on his qualifying run on the 2.5-mile (4km) oval at Indiana-polis Motor Speedway.

He was the fi nal driver to make a run in Sunday’s Fast Nine Shootout, in which the top nine drivers from Saturday’s qualify-ing session vied for pole position and the remaining spaces on the front three rows of the grid. “That was sketchy,” admitted Dixon of a gutsy run in which he felt his Honda-powered Chip Ganassi team car get “pretty loose the last lap.”

“I was hoping I was going to make it through turn three,” he said. I kind of turned in too early - I was holding on.”

Dixon, who won the Indianapolis 500 from pole in 2008, was under pressure from rising stars Colton Herta and Rinus VeeKay. Dutch driver VeeKay - coming off his fi rst IndyCar series win on the road course at Indianapolis last week - had put himself atop the times with a scintillating run at an average speed of 231.511mph only for Herta to shoulder him aside with an at-tempt a 231.655mph. VeeKay pushed his Ed Carpenter Racing car to its limit, con-

tinuing to press through a shaky moment in turn one of his fourth lap.

“I felt the car was, like, edgy,” VeeKay said. “But I’m, like, I’m not going to change the bar. I want to be as much on the limit as possible. I kept the power in and it was wiggling, wiggling, wiggling. “I

got a quite decent snap, but I just kept the power in,” he said.

Team boss Ed Carpenter qualifi ed fourth fastest to head the second row ahead of Brazilian Tony Kanaan and Spain’s Alex Palou. Ryan Hunter-Reay, Brazilian Helio Castroneves and Sweden’s Marcus Erics-

son fi lled the third row. Also at stake on Sunday were three spots on the fi nal row, with fi ve cars vying for the spots in Last Chance Qualifying. American Sage Karam went out fi rst and with a four-lap average of 229.156 mph was never in danger of be-ing bumped.

‘This is a great victory, winning wearing the Maglia Rosa is special and I wanted to show it’

Overall leader Team Ineos rider Colombia’s Egan Bernal celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the 16th stage of the Giro d’Italia 2021 cycling race, 153km between Sacile and Cortina d’Ampezzo, yesterday. (AFP)

Former FIA president Mosley dies aged 81AFPLondon

Max Mosley, the former president of motorsport’s world governing body the

FIA, has died aged 81, ex-For-mula One supremo Bernie Ec-clestone announced yesterday.

Mosley became FIA president in 1993 after serving in previous administrative roles in the sport, including within Formula One.

The former racing driver, who had been suff ering from cancer, served three terms as president before standing down in 2009.

Ecclestone told the PA news agency: “Max was like family to me. We were like brothers. I am pleased in a way because he suf-fered for too long.”

“I could tell him if I felt he was wrong and he would accept it and he could do vice versa.”

Ecclestone, 90, said Mosley did not get the credit for what he had done in the sport.

“He was interesting and a character,” said Ecclestone.

“He had a Corinthian spirit.“He was the sort of guy who

was hard to get to know.“Those who did not know

what he was really made of found it easier to criticise him than try and get to know what made him tick.

“Thus they would rather re-member him making one mis-take than for all the good he did.”

Ecclestone said Mosley having been a driver had the best inter-ests of the sport at heart.

“He was genuinely interested in doing what he could to make

the sport more accessible and easier for people.

“Personally I think they were pretty good changes.”

Mosley was the son of 1930s British fascist leader Oswald Mosley.

Mosley experienced a fam-ily tragedy in 2009 when his son Alexander died aged 39. The coroner ruled Alexander’s death was due to non-dependent drug abuse. Mosley senior studied at Oxford University, where he read physics, but later trained as a lawyer and became a barrister whose specialism was patent and trademark law.

His love of motor racing began in his youth and he was involved in Formula 2 for Brabham and Lotus before retiring in 1969.

He founded a car manufactur-ing company, March Engineer-ing, and oversaw its legal and commercial aff airs from 1969 to 1977. He became president of FISA, F1’s governing body at the time, in 1991 and two years later took over unopposed at the FIA.

He oversaw the safety reforms in the sport that followed the death of Ayrton Senna at the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994.

Jean Todt replaced Mosley as FIA president in 2009. Since then, Mosley had campaigned for tougher regulation of the press.

The Williams Racing team were one of the fi rst to pay trib-ute, tweeting from their offi cial account: “We are saddened to learn of the passing of former FIA president, Max Mosley.

“Our condolences go out to his family and friends at this dif-fi cult time.”

LOSS

Chip Ganassi Racing driver Scott Dixon celebrates winning the pole position for the 2021 Indianapolis 500 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. (USA TODAY Sports)

THE STARTING GRID Fast Nine pole position qualifying on the 2.5 mile oval at the Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayRow 11. Scott Dixon (NZL/Honda) 2:35.3837min (231.685 mph 4-lap avg speed)2. Colton Herta (USA/Honda) 2:35.4034 (231.655)3. Rinus VeeKay (NED/Chevrolet) 2:35.5000 (231.511)Row 24. Ed Carpenter (USA/Chevrolet) 2;35.5047 (231.504)5. Tony Kanaan (BRA/Honda) 2:35.8229 (231.032)6. Alex Palou (ESP/Honda) 2:36.1039 (230.616)Row 37. Ryan Hunter-Reay (USA/Honda) 2:36.1827 (230.499) 8. Helio Castroneves (BRA/Honda) 2:36.2804 (230.335)9. Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Honda) 2:36.3054 (230.318)Row 410. Alexander Rossi (USA/Honda), 2:35.8132 (231.046)

11. Ed Jones (GBR/Honda), 2:35.8148 (231.044)12. Pato O’Ward (MEX/Chevrolet), 2:35.9360 (230.864)Row 513. Pietro Fittipaldi (BRA/Honda), 2:35.9481 (230.846)14. Felix Rosenqvist (SWE/Chevrolet), 2:36.0168 (230.744)15. Takuma Sato (JPN/Honda), 2:36.0417 (230.708)Row 616. James Hinchcliff e (CAN/Honda), 2:36.1395 (230.563)17. Scott McLaughlin (NZL/Chevrolet), 2:36.1435 (230.557)18. Graham Rahal (USA/Honda), 2:36.1680 (230.521)Row 719. Conor Daly (USA/Chevrolet), 2:36.2314 (230.427)20. Jack Harvey (GBR/Honda), 2:36.3922 (230.191)21. Josef Newgarden (USA/Chevrolet), 2:36.4735 (230.071)Row 822. JR Hildebrand (USA/Chevrolet),

2:36.5354 (229.980)23. Santino Ferrucci (USA/Honda), 2:36.5563 (229.949)24. Juan Pablo Montoya (COL/Chevrolet), 2:36.5961 (229.891)

Row 925. Marco Andretti (USA/Honda), 2:36.6089 (229.872)26. Simon Pagenaud (FRA/Chevrolet), 2:36.6732 (229.778)27. Sebastien Bourdais (FRA/Chevrolet), 2:36.6964 (229.744)Row 1028. Stefan Wilson (GBR/Honda) 2:36.7166 (229.714)29. Max Chilton (GBR/Chevrolet) 2:36.9195 (229.417)30. Dalton Kellett (CAN/Chevrolet) 2:37.6717 (228.323)Row 1131. Sage Karam (USA/Chevrolet) 2:37.0982 (229.156)32. Will Power (AUS/Chevrolet) 2:37.2905 (228.876)33. Simona de Silvestro (SUI/Chevrolet) 2:37.6504 (228.353)

In this file photo taken on November 24, 2011, former F1 chief Max Mosley arrives to attend the Leveson Inquiry in central London. (AFP)

SPORT3Gulf Times

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

SPORTGulf Times Tuesday, May 25, 20214

Asher-Smith stuns Richardson in 100m as Duplantis fails‘THE ONLY WAY TO GET RACE-FIT IS TO RACE THE BEST IN THE WORLD’

ATHLETICS

AFPGateshead, United Kingdom

Dina Asher-Smith shocked US sprint sensation Sha’Carri Richardson to win the

women’s 100m as Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis suf-fered a rare defeat in the fi rst Diamond League meet of the season on Sunday.

The northeastern English city of Gateshead stepped in to host the pre-Olympic event after Ra-bat pulled out because of coro-navirus restrictions in Morocco.

There are only six Diamond League meetings after Gates-head before the Olympic Games in Japan, which start on July 23.

And after a 2020 season badly disrupted by the global Covid-19 pandemic, there is no shortage of athletes in search of top-quality competition.

Britain’s Asher-Smith, 25, started the fi nal strongly in wet and cool conditions and crossed the line to take gold in a time of 11.35 seconds, with Richardson second in 11.44.

The Ivory Coast’s Marie-Jo-see Ta Lou was third in 11.48.

Richardson is fresh from clocking 10.72sec at the Mira-mar Invitational last month, making her the sixth-fastest fe-male sprinter ever.

The strong fi eld for the fi nal in Gateshead also included Ja-maican 100m world champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who fi nished fourth, and Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria.

It was the kind of statement Asher-Smith desired after tak-ing a prolonged absence from the track following her 200m gold at the 2019 world champi-onships in Doha.

“I was really happy to start my 100m season with a win,” she said. “It was far from ideal con-ditions (but) this is good prac-tice for staying in the moment.

“It is essential to race the best. The only way to get race-fi t is to race the best in the world. These are the type of races you want to be in.”

The vanquished Richardson, 21, lived up to her bold perso-na afterwards, insisting: “I’m happy with the execution of the performance, knowing what I have to work on, and just con-tinuing to grow and show the world I’m here to stay.

“I’m excited to show the world that my times aren’t a fl uke. I can run, I am pretty, and I am a force to be reckoned with. I want all the women and the world to watch out.”

American Sam Kendricks beat Sweden’s Duplantis – who set a pole vault world record of 6.18m in Glasgow last year – clearing

5.74 metres. Duplantis was sec-ond with a jump of 5.55m.

INGEBRIGTSEN WINDouble European gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway justifi ed his favourite tag in the men’s 1500m, winning in a time of 3min 36.27sec.

Ingebrigtsen, 20, said he was used to the wind and the rain from racing in Norway.

“I want to race as much as possible, that’s why I’m doing this,” he said. “At the same To-kyo is my main focus so I need to be smart and do what I can.

“There are not too many competitions in the near future so I have to race what I can and hopefully be prepared when To-kyo comes.”

Poland’s Kamila Licwinko won the women’s high jump with a best of 1.91m, with three-time world champion Mariya Lasitskene trailing in fourth place.

In-form American Kenny Bednarek won the men’s 200m in 20.33sec, coming home ahead of Canadian pair Aaron Brown and Andre de Grasse.

Home favourite Laura Muir destroyed her rivals in the wom-en’s 1500m, charging down the home straight to take victory in 4:03.73.

Joseph calls up Japan WC heroes for Lions, Ireland gamesAFPTokyo

Japan boss Jamie Joseph yester-day named 19 of Japan’s World Cup heroes in his fi rst squad since their historic 2019 exploits for

“huge” matches against the British and Irish Lions and Ireland.

Japan have not played since losing to South Africa in the quarter-fi nals on home soil more than a year and a half ago, but will face the Lions in Edinburgh on June 26 before taking on Ireland in Dublin on July 3.

Joseph warned that limited prepara-tion time means he will have to “keep things very simple” when the squad meet for a training camp this week ahead of the blockbuster clashes.

“Both Test matches are huge – if you thought about Japan embarking on a mission to play the British Lions and Ireland a couple of years ago, it would be untenable,” he told reporters.

“It’s new landscape for us as a team, and we’ll just keep things very simple but at an intensity that we think we’re going to get overseas, which is very high, very physical and very fast.”

Joseph’s 36-man squad contains 19 of the players who featured in Japan’s run to the World Cup quarter-fi nals two years ago, including captain Michael Leitch. Loose forward Kazuki Himeno, who played this season for the Otago Highlanders in Super Rugby Aotearoa, and Clermont winger Kotaro Matsushi-ma were both named, and will join the squad when it arrives in Europe.

“We need players that are experienced in playing Test matches,” said Joseph.

“Where we felt that those players were in good form or had the necessary experience with minimal time to pre-pare, we selected those guys.”

Japan will warm up for the Lions game with a match against a select side on June 12 in Shizuoka, the site of their his-toric World Cup win over Ireland.

They will return to Murrayfi eld in No-

vember to face Scotland, who they also beat en route to the World Cup last eight.

“This tour is really just the starting point for us to reconnect and see how it’s going – how the mix is going to end up by the time we get to the World Cup,” said Joseph.

THE SQUAD Forwards: Keita Inagaki, Asaeli Ai Valu, Shinnosuke Kakinaga, Jiwon Koo, Craig Millar, Yukio Morikawa, Atsushi Sakate, Shunta Nakamura, Kosuke Horikoshi, Mark Abbott, Wimpie van der Walt, Uwe Helu, James Moore, Naoki Ozawa, Ben Gunter, Jack Cornelsen, Pieter Labuschagne, Michael Leitch, Tevita Tatafu, Amanaki Lelei Mafi, Kazuki HimenoBacks: Koki Arai, Naoto Saito, Kaito Shigeno, Yu Tamura, Rikiya Matsuda, Shota Emi, Siosaia Fifita, Semisi Ma-sirewa, Kotaro Matsushima, Lomano Lava Lemeki, Shane Gates, Ryoto Na-kamura, Timothy Lafaele, Gerhard van den Heever, Ryohei Yamanaka.

RUGBY

Teenager Gauff sets sights on Paris aft er success on Italian clayReutersParis

American Coco Gauff is brimming with con-fi dence ahead of the French Open, buoyed

by strong results in Italy on clay in the past two weeks that have helped the 17-year-old climb 10 places to a career-best 25th in the rankings.

Gauff has already made the fourth rounds of the Australian Open and the Wimbledon in her nascent career and this week she will be seeded at a Grand Slam for the fi rst time in her career when the clay court major starts on Sunday.

This month the American reached her fi rst WTA 1000 semi-fi nal in Rome and followed it up with her maiden title on clay the week after in Parma.

“I feel really good about go-ing into the French,” Gauff told reporters after her second career WTA title. “I hope I can continue to build and keep getting better.

“I feel like I’m hitting good,

moving good, my body feels good, my mentality and emo-tionally I feel good. So I think it will be a good tournament for me.”

At the French Open, Gauff will be the youngest seed at a major in 15 years since Nicole Vaidisova was seeded at the Wimbledon Championships in 2006.

The American also won the doubles title with Caty Mc-Nally on Parma’s clay courts to become the youngest player to complete the sweep in nearly 17 years since Maria Sharapova won both titles in Birmingham in 2004.

“It’s not a surface that peo-ple associate me with, so it feels good,” added Gauff , the 2018 junior Roland Garros winner. “I like the dirt now. I always talk about how I don’t like it, but I like it now.

“Clay shows you a little ex-tra love than the other surfaces do. It’s just going home, taking a shower, and I have clay com-ing out of me from all diff erent places, or clay still in my clothes from weeks later.”

SPOTLIGHT

Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith celebrates after winning the women’s 100m final during the Diamond League athletics meeting at Gateshead International Stadium in Gateshead, England. (AFP)

Confi dent Tsitsipas heads to Paris with ‘best’ Slam preparationReutersParis

Greek Stefanos Tsitsi-pas is brimming with confi dence and will be heading to Roland Gar-

ros this week with his best Grand Slam preparation after picking up his seventh ATP Tour title in Lyon on Sunday.

Basking in the glow of his maiden ATP Masters 1000 ti-tle last month at Monte-Carlo, the 22-year-old added the Lyon crown for his second title in 2021 and leads the 2021 season with most wins at 33.

“I’ve been feeling my game well; I’ve been using my pat-terns really well,” Tsitsipas told reporters.

“I’ve been pressing a lot with my serve. Just consistent on court, consistent with my power and the way that I attack and way I (take) risks.

“I think it would be consid-ered my best (preparation) so far pre-Grand Slam and now all the attention is on next week. I love playing in Paris. I fi nd it mes-merising.”

Patrick Mouratoglou, the long-time coach of Serena Williams, who is often seen in Tsitsipas’ player box at tourna-ments, is pleased with the con-sistency displayed by the Greek.

“He’s developing really well,” Mouratoglou said of Tsitsipas, who is coached by his father Apostolos. “He’s always been able to beat the best players,” the Frenchman, who often works in an advisory role with Tsitsipas, told Reuters recently.

“He beat Rafa (Nadal) on clay several years ago already. He beat Roger at a Grand Slam, beat No-vak at a Masters 1000 on hard-

court. But he was a bit up and down, and there were several reasons for that.

“And I think he’s getting more and more solid. He’s losing less and less. He’s slowly but surely, imposing himself as a top guy who doesn’t lose to guys who are ranked under. He’s gained a lot of consistency in everything he is doing in his game.”

Tsitsipas reached the semi-fi nals on the red clay at Roland Garros last year before falling to Novak Djokovic in fi ve sets and Mouratoglou believes the two-time Australian Open semi-fi nalist was getting closer to a maiden major title.

“Rafa and Novak are still at the top of the game. But I think their margin is getting smaller and smaller. Several young guys can beat them now. The margin is getting thinner,” Mouratoglou added.

“Every year I’m asked about Roland Garros and I answer that the only thing we don’t know about Roland Garros is who Rafa is going to beat in the fi nal.

“This year I can say Rafa is the favourite but some guys can beat him.”

TENNIS

Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen competes in the men’s 1500m fi nal during the Diamond League at Gateshead International Stadium in Gateshead, England. (AFP)

Japan coach Jamie Joseph. (AFP)

SPORT5Gulf Times

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Booker shines as Suns sink Lakers, Grizzlies stun Jazz

Urias strikes out 10, drives in three in Dodgers win

NBA

MLB

AFPLos Angeles

Devin Booker made the most of his playoff debut, scoring 34 points as the Phoenix Suns beat the reigning NBA champion Los

Angeles Lakers in their Western Confer-ence series opener on Sunday.

Booker spearheaded the 99-90 win for the second-seeded Suns over the Lakers, rallying his team after an injury restricted Phoenix veteran Chris Paul’s infl uence.

Booker was backed by Deandre Ayton, who contributed 21 points and 16 re-bounds, while Mikal Bridges and Cam-eron Johnson added 10 points apiece for Phoenix.

A physical encounter saw the Suns’ Cameron Payne ejected in the fourth quarter after a shoving match which saw players and backroom staff stream onto the court as tempers fl ared.

The Lakers, meanwhile, struggled to hit their stride throughout, with LeBron James fi nishing with 18 points and An-thony Davis with 13 points after making only fi ve-of-16 from the fi eld.

Barring an early spell in the fi rst quar-ter when the Lakers led by fi ve points, the Suns led throughout, maintaining a dou-ble-digit cushion for much of the second

half and leading by 16 points early in the fourth.

“It was a big win for us,” Booker said, revealing that the early injury to Paul had galvanised the Suns.

“Chris went down early and I think that got our team locked in and under-standing that every possession matters. We huddled up and said we’ve all got to give a little bit more.”

BRACING FOR BACKLASH Booker said the Suns would be bracing for a Lakers backlash in game two in Phoenix on Tuesday. Lakers star Davis meanwhile took responsibility for the defeat follow-ing a below-par performance.

“There’s no way we’re winning a game, let alone a series, with me playing the way I played,” Davis said. “This was on me. I take full responsibility. I’ll be better in game two.”

In other games on Sunday, Dillon Brooks and Ja Morant combined for 57

points as the eighth-seeded Memphis Grizzlies stunned the top-seeded Utah Jazz 112-109 in their series opener in Salt Lake City. Canada’s Brooks had a team high 31 points and American Morant poured in 26 for the Grizzlies, who upset the NBA’s top team just two days after

making the playoff s. “They had a cou-ple of guys that couldn’t guard me,” said Brooks. Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and 12 rebounds while Kyle Anderson added 14 points for the Grizzlies, who are in the postseason for the fi rst time in four years.

Guard Mike Conley fi nished with 22 points and 11 assists, and forward Bo-jan Bogdanovic scored 29 points for the Jazz, who were missing all-star Donovan Mitchell for the 17th straight game.

The fi rst-place Jazz rested through the play-in tournament but not the Grizzlies who had to win twice in a row to grab the fi nal playoff spot.

In New York, Trae Young made a short jumper with one second left to lift the Atlanta Hawks to a 107-105 win over the New York Knicks in the fi rst game of their East series.

Young scored a game high 32 points, 10 assists and went nine-of-nine from the free throw line Sunday at Madison Square Garden as Atlanta edged the Knicks after losing all three games to them during the regular season.

“It’s fun. In the Mecca, New York City, Times Square,” said Young. “It is about letting the game come to me and reading the game as it goes.”

The series appears to be evenly matched as the fourth-seeded Knicks and fi fth-seeded Hawks each fi nished 41-31 on the season.

Young was the diff erence Sunday, get-ting the last shot and draining a seven-foot fl oater just before the fi nal buzzer.

Bogdan Bogdanovic fi nished with 18 points and Lou Williams came off the bench to score 13 for Atlanta, who are a young team but have a deep bench.

Meanwhile Tobias Harris erupted for 37 points as the top-seeded Philadel-phia 76ers shut down the Washington Wizards’ high-powered off ense to win their NBA Eastern Conference fi rst round playoff series opener 125-118 on Sunday.

Harris delivered a 28-point fi rst half display to get the Sixers off to a fl ying start and Joel Embiid added 30 points from just 30 minutes on court to steer the Sixers to a home victory in the best-of-seven series.

Seth Curry had 15 points and Danny Green added 11 for Philadelphia. Ben Simmons was restricted to just six points but hauled down 15 rebounds and handed out 15 assists.

After just one point separated the teams at half-time, the game swung de-cisively in the Sixers’ favour in the third quarter, when the hosts overturned a fi ve-point defi cit before stretching away to lead by 11 early in the fourth.

“Tonight just coming out here being aggressive – I wanted to set the tone early on,” Harris said of his explosive fi rst-half scoring display.

“We wanted to show what we’re about all year. We know this playoff run is going to be as tough as they get and we’ve just got to bring the energy and bring the fi re each and every night.”

ReutersSan Francisco

Julio Urias became the fi rst pitcher in more than two years to drive in three runs and strike out 10 batters in the same game and Gavin Lux added his second grand slam in

six days as the Los Angeles Dodgers completed a three-day demolition of the host San Francisco Giants with an 11-5 victory on Sunday afternoon.

Coming on the heels of 2-1 and 6-3 victories, the sweep-completing win pushed the Dodg-ers past the Giants in the National League West standings after San Francisco had overtaken the defending champions on April 30.

Comforted by a huge lead that he had a big hand in building, Urias (7-1) breezed through six innings, allowing two runs and three hits. He struck out 10 and did not allow a walk.

Meanwhile, Urias had the big blow in a three-run second inning against Giants starter Antho-ny DeSclafani (4-2), a two-out, two-run double after the Dodgers had already gone up 1-0 on an RBI single by Yoshi Tsutsugo.

The visitors broke the game wide open with a seven-run third. Urias came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs after the Giants, down 5-0, had elected to walk DJ Peters.

Urias kept the inning alive with an infi eld sin-gle, making it 6-0, before Lux ended DeScla-fani’s day with a 413-foot blast over the wall in right-center fi eld. Lux also had a grand slam Tuesday in a 9-1 home win over Arizona. Coin-cidentally, Urias also pitched that game.

Urias fi nished 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and in doing so became the fi rst pitcher with the three-RBI/10-strikeout combination since Zack Wheeler for the New York Mets against

the Philadelphia Phillies in April of 2019. Zack Greinke also accomplished the feat earlier in April of 2019. Lux and Will Smith joined Urias in the two-hit column for the Dodgers, who won

their seventh straight. Smith, Max Muncy and Matt Beaty scored twice for Los Angeles. Muncy had his 10th homer of the season, a solo shot, in the fourth inning. Austin Slater accounted

for the Giants’ two runs off Urias with a sixth-inning home run, his fi fth of the season. Slater scored twice in the game, as did teammate Mike Tauchman. Mike Yastrzemski later laced a two-run double in a three-run eighth inning that capped the game’s scoring for San Francisco, which had entered the showdown series on a fi ve-game winning streak.

DeSclafani, who was pulled immediately after Lux’s grand slam, was charged with 10 runs on nine hits in 2 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out three.

BAEZ HR IN 10TH LIFTS CUBS OVER CARDSJavier Baez’s two-run home run to straightaway center fi eld in the 10th inning lifted the Chicago Cubs to a 2-1 victory over the host St. Louis Car-dinals on Sunday night.

Baez’s 11th homer came off Cardinals’ reliever Alex Reyes (2-1), helping the Cubs win two of three games against their longtime rivals in their fi rst series against one another this season.

The Cubs, who now trail the Cardinals by two games for fi rst place in the National League Central, did not have a runner in scoring posi-tion until Willson Contreras took his spot at second base to start the 10th inning.

Anthony Rizzo moved Contreras to third with a ground out to fi rst, setting up Baez’s 417-foot blast. The Cardinals answered with a run in the bottom of the 10th on a sacrifi ce fl y by Nolan Arenado that scored Paul Goldschmidt, who started the inning at second base.

Craig Kimbrel (1-2) walked Yadier Molina with one out, but recovered by striking out Har-rison Bader and Justin Williams. St. Louis left 12 runners on base and went 0-for-10 with run-ners in scoring position. The Cardinals squan-dered a gem from veteran Adam Wainwright,

who tossed eight scoreless innings, allowing only one hit – a Kris Bryant single in the fi rst

inning. Wainwright threw 101 pitches, struck out seven, walked one, and kept the ball on the ground the majority of the game, inducing 14 ground ball outs and only three fl y ball outs.

The Cardinals hit four doubles off Cubs start-er Zach Davies over the fi rst four innings, but failed to score. But Davies, who threw 76 pitches in fi ve scoreless innings, struck out three and walked three, kept the Cardinals from scoring each time.

‘This was on me. I take full responsibility. I’ll be better in game two’

RESULTS

Grizzlies 112-109 Jazz

Suns 99-90 Lakers

76ers 125-118 Wizards

Hawks 107-105 Knicks

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker slam dunks the ball against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first half of their game one in the first round of the 2021 NBA Playoff s at Phoenix Suns Arena. (USA TODAY Sports)

Bergeron leads Bruins to series-clinching win against CapsReutersWashington

Patrice Bergeron scored twice while teammate David Pastrnak added a goal and an assist and

goalie Tuukka Rask made 40 saves as the visiting Boston Bru-ins clinched their East Division first-round playoff series with a 3-1 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 5 on Sunday night.

The Bruins won this series 4-1 and now will play the win-ner of the Pittsburgh-New York Islanders series in the second round. That series is deadlocked at 2-2, with Game 5 set for Mon-day night in Pittsburgh.

Rask was up to the task once again as Boston seemed con-tent to play defense most of the time after it took the lead in the second pe-riod. Washington outshot the Bruins, 41-19, and Rask remained steady throughout. The Washington power play again couldn’t cause trouble. They were 0-for-4 in this game and just 1-for-10 in the past two.

Washington had problems fi nding good scoring chances against a Bruins’ defense that seemed to be faster than the Caps, which slowed the usu-ally high-scoring team down throughout the series. The Bru-ins held an early 8-2 lead in shots before Washington began step-ping up its off ense, especially in the second period. That’s when the Capitals outshot Boston 20-4 but couldn’t score.

Meanwhile, the Bruins scored twice and took the lead for good.

Pastrnak gave Boston a 1-0 lead 2:28 into the second pe-riod. He got the puck near the left boards in Washington’s end and made two slick moves – the first coming when he slid the puck between his legs – that beat two Capital defenders and put a quick shot past goalie Ilya

Samsonov (16 saves).Bergeron made it 2-0 later in

the period after a Washington turnover near the blue line. Pas-trnak pushed it to Mike Reilly, who fed Bergeron, and the for-ward ripped a hard shot past Samsonov with 5:55 left in the period.

Reilly also assisted on Pas-trnak’s goal. Washington fi nally broke through when Conor Sheary scored on a rebound just 11 seconds into the third period, cutting the lead to 2-1.

Bergeron then put one past Samsonov with 7:35 left for some insurance. The Capitals ap-peared to score about two min-utes later but the offi cials waved it off due to goaltender interfer-ence. This is the third straight year Washington has lost in the fi rst round of the playoff s.

JETS STAGE COMEBACK, EDGE OILERS IN OT

Nikolaj Ehlers scored his sec-ond goal of the game in over-time to complete an incred-ible comeback from three goals down in the third period as the host Winnipeg Jets claimed a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday and took a commanding 3-0 lead in their opening-round North Division playoff series.

The Jets will look to complete the sweep at home on Monday.

Mathieu Perreault, Blake Wheeler and Josh Morrissey all scored in a frantic 3:03 span to force overtime. Goaltender Con-nor Hellebuyck made 44 saves.

Ehlers, who returned to action after missing the last 11 games due to injury, gained the puck in the left circle after Paul Stastny won a faceoff in Edmonton ter-ritory, and then he ripped a top-corner shot for the winner 9:13 into the extra period.

NHL

RESULTS

Bruins 3-1 Capitals

Avalanche 5-2 Blues

Jets 5-4 Oilers

Predators 4-3 Hurricanes

RESULTS

Dodgers 11-5 Giants

Cubs 2-1 Cardinals

Nationals 6-5 Orioles

Phillies 6-2 Red Sox

Yankees 5-4 White Sox

Rays 6-4 Blue Jays

Marlins 5-1 Mets

Twins 8-5 Indians

Braves 7-1 Pirates

Brewers 9-4 Reds

Royals 3-2 Tigers

Rangers 3-2 Astros

Rockies 4-3 D’BacksPadres 9-2 Mariners

Angels 6-5 Athletics

Boston Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron (centre) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Washington Capitals during the third period in game five of the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoff s at Capital One Arena. (USA TODAY Sports)

Starting pitcher Julio Urias of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits an RBI single in the top of the third inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco. (Getty Images/AFP)

SPORTGulf Times Tuesday, May 25, 20216

Japan’s strict gun laws trigger problems for Olympic shooting

Bach says Games will go ahead despite oppositionMuch of Japan is under a state of emergency to combat coronavirus infections

BOTTOMLINE

SPOTLIGHT

AgenciesGeneva

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has reiter-ated the Tokyo Games will

go ahead this summer despite overwhelming public opposi-tion in Japan, where much of the country is under a state of emergency to combat spiralling coronavirus infections.

In statements reported by Japan’s News Agency (Kyodo), Bach said “sacrifi ces” would be necessary to ensure the games can be held.

The IOC chief touted the

vaccination of athletes among a range of measures to ensure “a safe environment” at the games.

During an online conference held Friday, senior IOC offi cial John Coates indicated the July 23 to Aug 8 Olympics would be held even if the Japanese capital remained under a state of emer-gency.

In the middle of this month, the Japanese government an-nounced the expansion of the state of emergency imposed in the country, due to the Corona virus pandemic, while activists submitted a petition calling for the cancellation of the event bearing the signature of more

than 352,000 people.More than 352,000 people

signed an online petition en-titled “Cancel the Tokyo Ol-ympics to Protect Our Lives,” launched in early May by Kenji Utsunomiya, an attorney and former candidate for governor of Tokyo.

“The particularly high speed with which signatures were collected in Japan refl ects pub-lic opinion,” Utsunomiya said, with polls conducted since last year showing that 60 to 70 % of residents are against holding the Games this summer.

Meanwhile, Olympic or-ganisers are fully focused on delivering the Tokyo Games

and there is no internal debate on whether they will happen, Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England said yesterday.

England sits on an IOC Na-tional Olympic Committee working group that met virtu-ally on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday last week.

“The mood 100% is we are now in delivery mode for the Games,” he told reporters at the announcement of Britain’s male artistic gymnastics squad.

“There’s no debate or discus-sion around whether the Games will take place.

“It’s just how do we make the Games safe and secure for not just the overseas delegations

but for the Japanese public as well,” he added.

Britain plans to vaccinate all athletes and staff before they head to Tokyo for the Games that are due to run from July 23 to Aug 8 and England said he was hopeful all would have had at least one dose.

The global sporting event faces mounting opposition from the Japanese public with the country’s medical system under heavy strain due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nearly 70% of respondents to a Reuters company survey released last Friday said they wanted a cancellation or fur-ther postponement.

AFPTokyo

Some of the world’s toughest gun-control laws are posing unusual problems at the Tokyo Olympics, from the coach who can’t touch

a fi rearm to strict limits on ammunition.For Goran Maksimovic, the extent of

Japan’s restrictions only became clear when he arrived to coach the national team and found he couldn’t lay a fi nger on a gun, let alone fi re one.

“I was very surprised in the beginning,” said the Serb, a 10m air rifl e gold-medal-list at the Seoul 1988 Olympics.

“It’s very diffi cult for the coach because sometimes you need to check that the trigger is clear, or check the weight of the trigger or help the shooter to adjust some parts,” he added. Just 500 people can own an air pistol in Japan, whose history of controlling guns and other weapons dates back hundreds of years. Today, Japan’s

gun laws are among the strictest in the world, and annual deaths from fi rearms in the country of 125mn people are regularly in single fi gures.

Getting a gun licence is a long and complicated process even for Japanese citizens, who must fi rst get a recommen-dation from a shooting association and then undergo strict police checks.

It is even more diffi cult for foreigners, with Maksimovic having to use Japanese assistants as intermediaries when he is coaching the shooting team.

But as the coronavirus-delayed Olym-pics loom, offi cials have moved to head off the worst of the problems by coming up with a series of work-arounds.

During the Games, coaches will be able to help with “minor repairs”, so long as the athlete is holding the weapon.

And rules have been relaxed so that technical offi cials can handle fi rearms and inspect ammunition under International Shooting Sport Federation rules.

It’s been a complicated process, Na-

tional Rifl e Association of Japan president Kiichiro Matsumaru told AFP.

“We were involved in negotiations with the police and government so that teams coming here wouldn’t have any com-plaints,” he said.

But despite their eff orts, he fears “if they come here and feel it’s inconvenient, they might complain afterwards”.

Other obstacles required more com-plicated solutions. Japan has a limit of 800 rounds of ammunition per shooter at any one time, fewer than at previous Olympics and other international com-petitions.Organisers had to come up with a “complex plan” to stop competitors potentially running out of bullets, Tokyo Games shooting sport manager Peter Un-derhill told AFP.

“This has been introduced specifi cally for Tokyo 2020, in order to help mitigate the eff ects of this particular piece of leg-islation,” he said. There will be a few op-tions, including shipping bullets to Japan through a designated contractor, but the

rounds must be stored outside the shoot-ing venue and brought in to replenish supplies.

Teams will also be able to buy ammu-nition at the Olympic shooting range, though they’ll have to settle for whatever is available, which may diff er from their usual specifi cations. National Rifl e As-sociation of India executive Ajay Singh said his shooters were happy with the solution.“It’s top-quality ammo,” he told AFP.

“They specify the quality standards, so it’s pretty much on track.” A 16-page guide for teams warns of “very strict legal regulations”, and Matsumaru said Japan’s gun laws make it diffi cult to host inter-national shooting events. They also hold back Japan compared to Asian heavy-weight shooting nations China, South Korea and India, and getting youngsters into the sport is a particular challenge, he said.Children must be 10 before they can start using an air gun, and minors are subject to strict checks.

Team GB in good shape for Tokyo aft er best ever Euro medals haulLondon: British swimmers looked in good shape for the Tokyo Olympics after topping the medals table at the European swimming championships in Budapest on Sunday.The team won the final men’s and women’s 4x100 metres medley relays in championship record times to take their medal haul for the week in the pool to 26, with 11 golds — their best ever perform-

ance.Russia finished second with nine golds and Italy were third with five and the most medals (27).“In general, the whole week, GB have just been smashing it,” said 200m breast-stroke champion Molly Renshaw.World and Olympic champion Adam Peaty, dominant in breaststroke, took his fourth gold of the championships in the

relay with Luke Greenbank, James Guy and Duncan Scott.Seven of Britain’s golds came from the nine relays, with the other two yielding silver.“For us to be able to do that on the last night, it really is exciting for what is to come in the summer,” said Scott.“You can look at so many diff erent areas of that that we can improve on individu-

ally but then also as a team as well. We can’t wait for Tokyo.”Britain said last month it was sending its strongest ever swim team to Tokyo, without setting a medal target.British swimmers had their best Olympics since 1908 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games with six medals, placing the coun-try sixth overall on a table dominated by the United States (33 medals, 16 golds).

Soft Bank CEO Sonslams Games as Japan races to catch up on vaccinationsReutersTokyo

Japanese tycoon Masay-oshi Son warned of sig-nifi cant dangers around holding the Olympics in

Tokyo, where the government yesterday kicked off a mass vac-cination drive to catch up with other countries and ensure a “safe and secure” Games.

In a series of tweets, the infl u-ential SoftBank Group CEO ex-pressed bewilderment and con-cern about the Tokyo Olympics, calling Japan a “vaccine laggard” and saying the slow inoculation drive less than two months be-fore the start of the Games could put people’s lives at risk.

“Currently more than 80% of people want the Olympics to be postponed or cancelled. Who and on what authority is it being forced through?” the billionaire executive, wrote in a tweet in Japanese over the weekend.

In a follow-up tweet late on Sunday, Son, who has 2.8mn followers, wrote: “Does the IOC (International Olympic Com-mittee) have the power to decide that the Games would go ahead?

“There’s talk about a huge penalty (if the Games are can-celled). But if 100,000 people from 200 countries descend on vaccine-laggard Japan and the mutant variant spreads, lives could be lost, subsidies could result if a state of emergency is called, and gross domestic prod-uct could fall. If we consider what the public has to endure, I think we could have a lot more to lose.”

Son’s tweets followed com-ments on Friday from IOC Vice President John Coates that the games would “absolutely” go ahead even if Tokyo was under Covid-19 restrictions.

Earlier this month, Son said in a TV interview he was “afraid” of having the Olympics, partly due to the severity of the pandemic in some countries.

Japan remains under state-of-emergency curbs that have progressively been expanded as a fourth wave of infections rips through the population. Several

sources with knowledge of the decision told Reuters the gov-ernment was leaning towards extending the emergency status — set to end on May 31 in most regions, including Tokyo.

That contrasts with some oth-er major economies that are be-ginning to ease lockdown meas-ures as vaccinations race ahead. The Games begin on July 23.

Japan has delivered vaccina-tions to just 4.4% of its popu-lation, the slowest among the world’s larger, rich countries, and has recorded 711,360 infec-tions and 12,232 Covid-19 deaths from the virus.

The military began mass vac-cinations in Tokyo and Osaka yesterday with the newly ap-proved Moderna Inc dose. The medical system in the western city of Osaka is particularly feel-ing the pressure of surging in-fections.

While opinion polls show strong opposition to the Games, public protests have been lim-ited. On Sunday, a group of fewer than 20 gathered in To-kyo’s Shinjuku district, calling on the government to cancel the Games, holding placards like “No Olympics”.

Meanwhile, more aspiring Olympians saw their dreams dashed due to the virus that has killed more than 3mn worldwide.

A team of Australian skate-boarders was disqualifi ed from a qualifying event in the United States after three positive Cov-id-19 tests in their group.

FOCUS

Shinichiro Sekozawa, 89, a pensioner and former captain of a cargo ship, poses for a portrait as he visits the Sugamo district, an area popular with the Japanese elderly, in Tokyo. Sekozawa remembers the 1964 Games fondly and hopes the 2020 Olympics will take place - although he thinks they’re too expensive. “It’s fun to watch sports, to see all the athletes trying hard in competition,” he said. “The smiles on their faces when they win give all of us energy.”

ReutersNew Delhi

India’s shooters will have to be bang on target if the country is to achieve its goal of a double-digit med-

al haul at the Tokyo Olympics and the federation chief has no doubt they will be up to the task.

The world’s second-most populous nation has had little success at the Olympics, win-ning just 13 medals combined at the last fi ve Games. The six medals the team won in London 2012 was their best outing.

Shooting has provided some rare Olympic joy for India, with Abhinav Bindra’s air rifl e gold in Beijing the country’s only in-dividual Olympic gold, the rest coming from fi eld hockey.

The National Rifl e Associa-tion of India (NRAI) reviewed its Olympic preparations after the shooting team drew a blank in Rio fi ve years ago and its chief Raninder Sing has high hopes for Tokyo.

“Preparation wise, we did what we could, and the shooters are doing everything they can,” the NRAI president told Reuters by telephone.

“I can’t predict how many medals they will win but I know

they will try their best and that they won’t let down the coun-try.”

India’s 15-member shooting contingent in Tokyo will be its largest at an Olympics.

The pistol and rifl e shooters, including teenage medal pros-pects Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary, left for Croatia last week where they will compete in next month’s ISSF World Cup.

Eight of them are also partici-pating, as guest shooters, in the European Championship in Osi-jek this week. They will compete in the early rounds but will not be eligible for the fi nals, Singh said.

India’s skeet shooters are training in Italy and both groups will fl y to Tokyo from their re-spective training bases.

“We arranged the Croatia training to give them some match practice before the ISSF World Cup,” Singh said.

“It’s a great opportunity for them, because not all athletes are lucky to get high-quality training when a pandemic is raging on.” Barring three shoot-ers who recently recovered from Covid-19, all others members of the team had received their fi rst dose of a vaccine and would re-ceive their second at their train-ing bases, Singh added.

India’s shooters on target for medals, says federation chief

HOPEFUL

FOOTBALL7Gulf Times

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

Man City wins give Chelsea boost: Tuchel

Aguero close to Barcelona deal, says Guardiola

From Conte to Gattuso, Serie A winners and losers

Man City only need one shot at Champions League glory: Guardiola

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

ROUND-UP

FOCUS

SPOTLIGHT

AFPLondon

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said yesterday his side can approach this weekend’s Cham-

pions League fi nal against Man-chester City with confi dence after recent victories against Pep Guardiola’s Premier League win-ners. The Blues will face City in Porto on Saturday after securing a top-four fi nish in the English top-fl ight despite a 2-1 defeat at Aston Villa.

Tuchel outfoxed Guardiola in last month’s FA Cup semi-fi nal before infl icting a rare home league defeat on City but his side have lost three of their past four games in all competitions.

The German, who replaced Frank Lampard in January, said reaching the top four, despite Sunday’s loss at Villa Park, was an “outstanding achievement” and his players were now hav-ing a short mental break. “I want them to be here on Wednesday full of joy because this is maybe one of their most exciting weeks in their whole life as professional players,” he said.

Tuchel, whose Paris Saint-German side were beaten last year by Bayern Munich in the Champions League fi nal, said the recent victories against City had proved they were beatable. “I think it helped us to bond, to grow and to arrive with a lot of self-confi dence,” he said.

“Manchester City are the benchmark, they are the cham-pions. They are the benchmark in Europe and in this league and we are the guys who want to hunt them and want to close the gap. The experience helped,” he add-ed. “It gives you not an advan-tage but it helps us to arrive with confi dence, to be well aware of what is needed to have a chance to beat them.”

Tuchel insisted his side had

been playing well despite losing three of their past four match-es, including the FA Cup fi nal against Leicester. “It concerns me because it always concerns me when we lose and this is not so easy to get a grip on these loss-es because the data we produce, the statistics we produce, the performances we produce, do not indicate that it’s necessary or even logical to lose,” he said.

“We simply have not been lucky enough in these games. We maybe didn’t push it too much or whatever and we’re looking for reasons but we cannot deny we had good performances,” he added.

Midfi elder Mateo Kovacic, who won the Champions League three times with Real Madrid, said the game held no fears for Chelsea, despite the quality of the opposition.

“City are obviously a great team,” he said. “They won the Premier League this year, had a great season, Maybe we are the underdogs in the fi nal but I think it’s one game. We need to show our best and we have equal chances so we will be confi dent to try to be at our highest level.”

AFPMilan

Antonio Conte orchestrated a shake-up in Serie A this sea-son with Inter Milan denying his former club Juventus a 10th

consecutive title to lift a fi rst Scudetto in 11 years. Here is a look at the winners and losers of the 2020-2021 campaign which ended on Sunday.

CONTE PERFECTLY CONDUCTS INTER ‘ORCHESTRA’

Runners-up last season, Inter Milan powered to a 19th Serie A title with just one defeat to Juventus in a blistering second half of the season. Conte’s right-hand man Gabriele Oriali, the common factor in Inter’s last six Serie A titles, hailed Conte’s managerial skills. “With-out spectators even on TV it was obvious to see that Inter were super organised,” said 1982 World Cup winner Oriali. “An orchestra that Conte conducts to perfec-tion, getting the best out of everyone.”

Oriali won two Serie A titles as a player with the club, and more on the coaching staff alongside Roberto Mancini and Jose Mourinho. “The greatness of a coach is also linked to the ability to surround him-self with the right people,” said Oriali, who returned to the role of technical di-rector in 2019. “Conte and I came to bring Inter back to the summit. We were asked to win in three years. The fi rst we went close; the second we succeeded.”

MILAN SURVIVE ‘IBRA’ ABSENCESMilan shrugged off Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s

absences to fi nish second in the league, 12 points behind Inter Milan and return to the top table of European football. Ib-rahimovic scored 15 goals in 19 games, missing the remainder through injury and coronavirus.

The 39-year-old played just 10 of 19 games in the second half of the campaign. Milan won just two games in his absence in that time.

A tense 2-0 win over Atalanta in their fi nal game put Milan through to the Champions League for the fi rst time since 2014, and set a new record for away wins in a Serie A season with 16.

RONALDO GOALS BOOST FOR DETHRONED JUVE

Juventus’s Serie A reign ended but Cris-tiano Ronaldo made more history becom-ing the fi rst player to fi nish the season top scorer in three major leagues — England, Spain, and Italy. The 36-year-old scored 29 goals this campaign, fi ve more than second-placed Belgian Romelu Lukaku for Inter Milan.

The Portuguese striker was top scorer in England with Manchester United in 2008, and three times in Spain with Real Madrid, 2011, 2014 and 2015.

In all competitions, he has now scored

101 goals for Juventus.Coach Andrea Pirlo paid for an erratic

debut season, but recovered after a 3-0 defeat at home to AC Milan on May 9. A 4-1 win over Bologna on the fi nal day with Ronaldo on the bench, and Napoli’s draw, was enough to seal a top-four fi nish.

ATALANTA MISS OUT ON HISTORIC HIGH

Gian Piero Gasperini’s Atalanta missed out on their bid to fi nish the season an historic high of second place in Serie A, days after losing out on their fi rst tro-phy since 1963 in the Coppa Italia fi nal. A third consecutive season of Champions League football beckons despite the dis-appointment of dropping to third place after a 2-0 defeat to AC Milan at home.

“We’re fi ghting against the top clubs who have a bigger budget than us. Money isn’t everything but it helps a lot,” said Gasperini. Atalanta equalled their best-ever points tally, with 78. They fi nished the season with the top attack in the league for a third straight campaign with 90 goals scored with Luis Muriel their top scorer with 22 goals, and fellow Colom-bian Duvan Zapata hitting 15.

GATTUSO FALLS SHORT AT NAPOLIGennaro Gattuso missed out on Cham-pions League football with Napoli by just one point, as he did with former club AC Milan two years ago. Victor Osimhen’s return from injury had pushed the club towards elite European football but a 1-1 home draw against Hellas Verona on the fi nal day saw them miss out. Afterwards club president Aurelio De Laurentiis con-fi rmed Gattuso’s exit on Twitter.

AFPManchester, United Kingdom

Pep Guardiola believes Man-chester City’s desire to lift the Champions League outweighs any inexperience as they pre-

pare for their fi rst fi nal in the compe-tition against Chelsea on Saturday. A decade of heavy investment from City’s Abu Dhabi owners has delivered fi ve Premier League titles, three of which have come since Guardiola arrived in Manchester fi ve years ago, including the season that has just fi nished.

But the Champions League has elud-ed both City and also Guardiola since he won the last of his two European Cups as a coach at Barcelona in 2011. “Sometimes you need time. The impor-tant thing is the way we are going to ap-proach the fi nal. We are going to play to win the game,” said Guardiola yesterday.

“Sometimes clubs need more fi nals to win one, others need just one shot to be champion. Hopefully it will be the case. This club is new for many things, but in this period we won back-to-back titles for the fi rst time, we broke many records, we arrived in the fi nal for the fi rst time. As a club, as an organisation, we are not old in this case. But in terms of how satisfi ed and delighted we are to be there, nobody can beat us in that.”

Until this season, City had not even made it beyond the quarter-fi nals of the Champions League under Guardi-ola. Defensive frailties, missed chances and controversial refereeing calls were consistent features of unexpected exits to Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham and Lyon in the previous four seasons.

But Guardiola’s men have got the breaks when they have needed them this season. City were 35 minutes away from bowing out on away goals to Borussia Dortmund in the last eight before a fa-vourable penalty award was converted

by Riyad Mahrez.Mahrez also scored three goals in

the semi-fi nals in a 4-1 aggregate vic-tory over Paris Saint Germain, with the French side guilty of missing chances and generous defending. “We are quite a similar team from in the past when we were out,” said Guardiola. “The mar-gins are little details. This year it fell on our side when for many years it was the opposite. Now we are quite satisfi ed to get to the fi nal but we know if you don’t

have a huge desire to win it, a huge de-sire to know what we have to do, it will not be possible to win the game, to win the Champions League.”

Centre-back Ruben Dias was award-ed the English Football Writers’ Asso-ciation player of the year last week for his transformative impact since joining from Benfi ca in September.

Midfi elder Ilkay Gundogan said City’s defensive improvement as the key diff erence in Europe this season. “I

feel this year a couple of crucial things changed for us,” said Gundogan.

“Against Monaco a few years ago we conceded three goals at home, against Tottenham when they knocked us out we conceded again three goals at home, against Lyon we conceded three goals. This year it seems we are so stable, we concede a few amount of goals. This helps us to win even more. I feel like we are very strong, very stable. This is so important in these crucial moments,

being able to defend well, not to con-cede is obviously a big advantage.

“Same as well for Chelsea to be hon-est, they seem also to be very stable, to concede a few amount of goals. Maybe on Saturday it is going to be about who is able to deal better with a team that will defend on a very high level.”

Gundogan, City’s top scorer this sea-son, also confi rmed he will be fi t for the fi nal after suff ering a leg injury against Brighton last week.

‘Sometimes clubs need more finals to win one, others need just one shot to be champions’

London: England manager Gareth South-gate has told his players they should not be afraid to voice their ambition of win-ning Euro 2020 as he prepares to name his squad.

England, who reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, were crowned world champions on home soil in 1966 but their record in tournaments since then has been patchy. Southgate’s side host Croatia, Scotland and the Czech Republic in next month’s group matches, which are being held across Europe.

The semi-finals and final are also being held at Wembley. He will name his 26-man tournament squad today, with the England chief acutely aware of how the pressures and expectations will now rap-idly ratchet up. “I said ahead of the World Cup in Russia, we wanted the country to have pride in the team, and I think we achieved that,” he said.

“Some of that is about results, and some of that is about the way the team connect with the fans. Now of course if you don’t win the matches then that

pride isn’t there, that’s the reality. And of course now we’ve been to two semi-finals (including the Nations League semis) and we are as keen as everybody else to go further. So we understand ex-pectations change, and we shouldn’t be afraid of saying we want to go and win.”

Southgate said he was anxious not to look too far ahead in the tournament but he added: “We have to allow everybody to dream, we want to dream ourselves. But we’ve got to make sure we won’t just win because we’re at home, we won’t

just win because we’re an exciting team. We’ve got to get all the parts right, and that’s got to be our aim.”

England’s overall European Champi-onship record is poor — they have only once reached the last four, at Euro 96, which they also hosted. At the 2016 tournament in France Roy Hodgson’s England suff ered an embarrassing defeat to Iceland in the last 16.

“We’ve only been to one European semi-final as a country, never mind to a final or winning,” said Southgate.

SOUTHGATE TELLS ENGLAND PLAYERS ‘DON’T BE AFRAID OF EURO 2020 GLORY’

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (centre) poses with the trophy and staff as they celebrate after winning the Premier League in Manchester on Sunday. (Reuters)

Gennaro Gattuso missed out on Champions League football with Napoli by just one point, as he did with former club AC Milan two years ago. (Reuters)

Sergio Aguero is close to agreeing a move to Barcelona that would unite him with fellow

Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, according to Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

City’s record goalscorer, who has spent a decade at the Etihad, scored a quickfi re double in the champions’ 5-0 win over Ever-ton in his fi nal Premier League appearance for the club on Sun-day. The goals took his Premier League tally to 184 — the most by any player for a single club.

The 32-year-old forward is set to leave the Etihad as a free agent after Saturday’s Champi-ons League fi nal against Chel-sea. “Maybe I reveal a secret,” Guardiola told the BBC. “Maybe he is close to agreeing a deal for the club of my heart — for Bar-celona. He is going to be playing alongside the best player of all time, Messi.”

If the move goes ahead it would be Aguero’s second spell in Spain — he made his name at Atletico Madrid before the move to Manchester in 2011. Aguero’s fi nal season at City was dogged by injury and a coronavirus infection but Guardiola believes the striker has a lot to off er the Catalan giants.

ITALIAN SUPER CUP WILL RETURN TO SAUDI ARABIA

NEXT SEASONThe Italian Super Cup will re-turn to Saudi Arabia next season when champions Inter Milan face cup winners Juventus, the Italian League announced. “The next Super Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia, with fans, as stipulated in our contract,” league president Paolo Dal Pino told Italian radio.

The 2017-18 Super Cup was played in Jeddah in January 2019 and the following season was held in Riyadh in December 2019, before being staged in Reggio Emilia this season.

The decision to hold those two matches in Saudi Arabia provoked protests in Italy over human rights and women’s rights.

No date has yet been set, but the Super Cup could take place in January 2022, according to Italian media reports.

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

GULF TIMES FOOTBALL

Lille win Ligue 1 title for fourth time

FOCUS

By Sports ReporterDoha

HE Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani, Presi-dent of the Qatar Football As-sociation (QFA), chaired the

Ordinary General Assembly of the fed-eration virtually yesterday.

The meeting was attended by QFA’s Executive Committee members Saud Abdul al-Aziz al-Mohannadi, Ahmed Abdulaziz al-Buainain, Hani Talib Ballan, Ibrahim Khalil al-Muhannadi, Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad al-Thani and Abdul Rahman al-Qahtani, in addition to members of the General Assembly from the clubs, directors of depart-ments and heads of the various com-mittees of the federation.

The General Assembly’s agenda in-cluded a number of important matters, such as approval of fi nancial statements and review of the budget approved by the Executive Committee besides pres-entation of the report on various activi-ties of Qatar Stars League.

In addition, election was held for the vacant seat on the QSL Executive Com-mittee, with Mohamed Ali al-Marri, CEO of Al Sailiya football club, and Faisal Ali al-Shuaibi, CEO of Qatar SC, contesting for it. The voting process resulted in the victory of al-Shuaibi as a representative of the clubs on the Ex-ecutive Committee.

Sheikh Hamad in his opening address emphasised that the vision of the QFA

during the past decade was to become a football association characterised by leadership, creativity and victory. “And this vision has inspired us to work hard, persevere and strive to achieve our goals. Our aim was to encourage and

expand the football fan base through communication and participation with the local community, improving the football infrastructure and creating a professional football culture through a professional league (Qatar Stars

League) and more importantly discov-ering, developing and preparing young talents for the national teams,” the QFA chief said.

Sheikh Hamad said the QFA has set six strategic goals on which the an-

nual plans and interim goals are based so that “we can measure the progress made objectively and scientifi cally’

“Our goals for future are as follows: Building and developing successful national teams at all levels; Provide an

eff ective system of governance for the game of football; Technical develop-ment for leagues, competitions, clubs and referees; Increase the rate of par-ticipation in football activities in the community; Increase revenue ratio to create sustainable growth over the long term; Active communication with the football community at the internation-al level and building strong and fruitful relationships,” he added.

The QFA president addressed several key aspects of the federation’s previous work plan, especially with regards to the national teams’ success. “The youth team won the Asian Cup in 2014 and qualifi ed for the World Cup twice, while the Olympic team won the third in Asia, although the ambition is to play in the Olympic Games. The fi rst team won the AFC Asian Cup title for the fi rst time in 2019 and took a giant leap in the FIFA rankings. Our players too won many in-dividual awards,” he added.

Sheikh Hamad also referred to the national team’s participation in major events such as the Copa America, the European qualifi ers and the next ap-pearance in the Golden Cup, calling it as in idea preparation for the 2022 World Cup at home.

On the QNB Stars League, he said: “We will make a plan to develop the league and this will be in co-ordination with the clubs through the presence of experts. We seek to expand the circle of professionalism by joining the second-class clubs of the Qatar Stars League foundation.”

AFPParis

Lille won the Ligue 1 title on Sun-day night thanks to a 2-1 victory at Angers which ensured they were crowned French champions for

the fi rst time since 2011 on the fi nal day of the season. An early Jonathan David strike and Burak Yilmaz’s penalty in fi rst-half stoppage time ensured that Chris-tophe Galtier’s Lille fi nished one point ahead of second-placed Paris Saint-Ger-main, who won 2-0 at Brest.

Angelo Fulgini pulled one back in added time at the end of the match, but the hosts couldn’t stop Lille becoming champions for the fourth time in their history. The match was played behind closed doors due to Covid-19 restrictions but fans poured into the streets of Lille to celebrate at the fi nal whistle.

Supporters lit fl ares and chanted songs in the northern city’s central Place Charles de Gaulle in jubilation at a his-toric triumph against far wealthier op-position.

“This is exceptional. It’s been a long day and a lot of pressure. To beat Paris Saint-Germain to the league title is something exceptional,” a jubilant Galtier said. “The players were amazing... the credit goes to the players, they are the heroes.”

The title triumph came after another away success for Lille, who fi nish the season unbeaten on the road since No-vember, and ends a three-year league winning streak for PSG. It was fi tting that it was David and Yilmaz who scored

the crucial goals at Angers, as both have been key to an improbable run to the ti-tle that has also held signifi cant pressure from Monaco. Canadian young gun David latched on to a superb Renato Sanches pass to coolly slot home his 13th of the

league season with nine minutes on the clock, immediately calming any nerves after last week’s disappointing draw with Saint-Etienne left them needing a win to make sure of the title.

David was the man who won the penal-ty that secured the points and the cham-pionship just before the break, Paul Ber-nardon bringing the 21-year-old down and allowing Yilmaz to score his 16th league goal of a remarkable season for the veteran Turkey striker.

Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG will have to settle for the French Cup in a disappoint-ing season for the mega-rich club. They lost eight times — a record since they were taken over by Qatar Sports Invest-ments in 2011 — and took only one point from their two matches with Lille.

Neymar had already missed a pen-alty when they took the lead in the 37th minute at Brest thanks to a freak own goal from Romain Faivre, who somehow diverted Angel Di Maria’s corner into his own goal from way out near his own touch line. Kylian Mbappe made sure of the win in the 71st minute but by that time the destination of the title was al-ready as good as certain. “There are no worries. We lost the title and now we have to focus on the future,” said Mbappe, who was crowned Ligue 1 top scorer for the third year in a row.

Monaco won the race for the fi nal Champions League position despite only managing a goalless draw at Lens, as Lyon lost 3-2 at home to mid-table outfi t Nice and allowed the Principality club to claim third spot. Rudi Garcia revealed he will step down as Lyon coach after only

leading his team to the Europa League. “I wanted to quit the club with them in the Champions League, but it’s not hap-pened,” said Garcia, who led Lille to the 2011 title. “I will speak to the president (Jean-Michel Aulas) on Monday but I de-cided a long time ago that I will not con-tinue here.”

Lyon will be in the Europa League alongside fi fth-placed Marseille, who scraped a 1-1 drew at Metz thanks to a penalty from Arkadiusz Milik in the 14th minute of added time. Milik struck from the spot in an incredible ending to a match which came seven minutes af-ter Farid Boulaya had given 10th-placed Metz the lead with a stoppage-time spot-kick of his own. Nantes fi nished in the relegation play-off place after losing 2-1 at home to Montpellier. The 18th-placed team will play Toulouse to decide wheth-er they stay in the top division. Nimes and Dijon were already relegated going into the fi nal round of matches.

FRENCH LIGUE 1 RESULTS

Saint-Etienne 0 Dijon 1 (Kamara 39); Metz 1 (Boulaya 90+7-pen) Marseille 1 (Milik (90+14-pen); Nantes 1 (Kolo Muani 33) Montpellier 2 (Laborde 30, Delort 76); Lyon 2 (Toko Ekambi 14, 40) Nice 3 (Dol-berg 27, Kamara 50, Saliba 57); Lens 0 Monaco 0 Strasbourg 1 (Diallo 18) Lorient 1 (Chalobah 55); Brest 0 Paris SG 2 (Faivre 37-og, Mbappe 71); Rennes 2 (Guirassy 24, Bourigeaud 51) Nîmes 0; Reims 1 (Toure 15) Bordeaux 2 (Adli 44, Kwateng 58); Angers 1 (Fulgini 90+2) Lille 2 (David 10, B. Yilmaz 45+1-pen)

Christophe Galtier’s side end a three-year league winning streak for PSG

QFA president Sheikh Hamad chairs Ordinary General Assembly

Spain leave Ramos out of youthful Euro 2020 squad

SPOTLIGHT

ANNOUNCEMENT

QFA president HE Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani and other off icials at the General Assembly of the federation, which was held virtually yesterday.

Lille’s players celebrate with France’s Ligue 1 trophy at the cub’s headquarters in Camphin-en-Pevele yesterday. (AFP)

P W D L GD Pts

Lille 38 24 11 3 41 83

Paris SG 38 26 4 8 58 82

Monaco 38 24 6 8 34 78

Lyon 38 22 10 6 38 76

Marseille 38 16 12 10 7 60

Rennes 38 16 10 12 12 58

Lens 38 15 12 11 1 57

Montpellier 38 14 12 12 -2 54

Nice 38 15 7 16 -3 52

Metz 38 12 11 15 -4 47

Saint-Etienne 38 12 10 16 -12 46

Bordeaux 38 13 6 19 -14 45

Angers 38 12 8 18 -18 44

Reims 38 9 15 14 -8 42

Strasbourg 38 11 9 18 -9 42

Lorient 38 11 9 18 -18 42

Brest 38 11 8 19 -16 41

Nantes 38 9 13 16 -8 40

Nîmes 38 9 8 21 -31 35

Dijon 38 4 9 25 -48 21

Note: Top three qualify for Champions League; fourth and fifth go into Europa League; sixth-placed team into Europa Conference League

FINAL STANDINGS

AFPMadrid

Spain coach Luis Enrique yesterday left veteran defender Sergio Ram-os out of his Euro 2020

squad but called up centre-back Aymeric Laporte, who recently switched his football national-ity. Ramos, the 35-year-old Real Madrid captain has struggled with injuries this season and has played just fi ve times since the start of the year.

“It was a very diffi cult deci-sion but he has not been able to play this season and has hardly trained since January,” Luis En-rique said as he announced a 24-man squad. “I called him on Sunday), it was hard, diffi cult. I feel bad, because he is very pro-fessional and he helps the na-tional team a lot. And he can still help it in the future. But I have to look for the best for the squad,” the coach said. This season Ram-os has missed games after catch-ing Covid-19 and also because of injuries to his right thigh, his left calf and, most recently, his left hamstring. He was in Madrid’s squad for Saturday’s fi nal game of the season against Villarreal but did not start.

The absence of Ramos means there is not a single Madrid play-er in the Spain squad. “It pains me not to have been able to help my team more and not to play for Spain but, in this case, the best thing to do is rest, fully recover and come back next year like we’ve always done. It hurts not to represent your country, but I have to be honest and sincere,” he wrote on Twitter. “I hope we have a great Euros. I’ll be another fan cheering on from home.”

Spain have also qualifi ed for the Olympics where they are scheduled to kick off the tourna-ment against Egypt on July 22 in Sapporo their Olympic July 21, ten days after the Euros end. Ra-mos could be selected as one of three overage players. Luis En-rique refused to comment on the possibility because he does not select Olympic squad.

Laporte, a 26-year-old Man-chester City defender, was born in southwest France and was called up three times for Les Blues but never made it onto the pitch. Luis Enrique said Laporte’s selection “has noth-

ing to do” with the absence of Ramos.

While France coach Didier Deschamps has a wealth of cen-tral defenders to choose from, Luis Enrique has had fewer op-tions since Gerard Pique retired in 2018. Ramos has been an au-tomatic starter when fi t with a number of players, including Villarreal’s Pau Torres, Real So-ciedad’s Inigo Martinez and Eric Garcia of Manchester City, play-ing alongside him.

After an impressive start at City, Laporte suff ered a knee in-jury in 2019 and has not been a regular under Pep Guardiola this season. In the absence of Ramos, two 32-year-old Barcelona play-ers, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba, become the veteran leader-ship in a rejuvenated squad.

Luis Enrique has been able to test many young talents in recent months, and has called up a large number of them for the Euro, including Garcia, Pau Torres, Ferran Torres, Mikel Oyarzabal, Pedri and Dani Olmo.

Spain established themselves as one of the favourites with a 6-0 thrashing of Germany in the Nations League in November when Manchester City’s Fer-ran Torres hit a hat-trick and Oyarzabal of Real Sociedad also scored.

SPAIN SQUAD

Goalkeepers: David De Gea (Manchester United/ENG), Unai Simon (Athletic Bilbao), Robert Sanchez (Brighton/ENG)

Defenders: Jose Gaya (Valen-cia), Eric Garcia, Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City/ENG), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Diego Llorente (Leeds/ENG), Marcos Llorente (Atletico Madrid), Pau Torres (Villarreal), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea/ENG)

Midfielders: Fabian Ruiz (Na-poli/ITA), Pedri, Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Rodri Hernan-dez (Manchester City/ENG), Koke,(Atletico Madrid), Thiago Alcantara (Liverpool/ENG).

Forwards: Dani Olmo (Leipzig/GER), Mikel Oyarzabal (Real So-ciedad), Ferran Torres (Manches-ter City/ENG), Gerard Moreno (Villarreal), Alvaro Morata (Juventus/ITA), Adama Traore (Wolverhampton/ENG), Pablo Sarabia (PSG/FRA).