Wednesday, September 1, 2021Muharram 24, 1443 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Root calls on England to be ruthless against India in 4th Test

Jakobsen sprints to third Vuelta stage victory

CYCLING CYCLING | Page 2 CRICKET CRICKET | Page 3

FOOTBALL

Ronaldo dedicates Utd move to former boss FergusonPage 4

Zverev advances, will try to foil Djokovic Slam bid

Stage set for thrilling Asian qualifi ers for Qatar 2022

Conscience is clear, insists Kane over Man City fl irtation

Sanchez’s Qatar ready to face strong Serbia today

TENNIS / US OPEN SPOTLIGHT

FOCUS

FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022 — EUROPEAN QUALIFIERS

World No 1 Barty beats Zvonareva in straight sets; Pliskova downs wildcard McNally

QNADebrecen, Hungary

Reigning Asian champi-ons Qatar are set to face Serbia today as part of the European qualifi -

ers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the Nagyerdei Stadion in the Hungarian city of Debrecen.

The Qatar national team enters today’s match with high spirits, self-confi dence, and an incentive to win after impressive results in the Gold Cup. Qatar had earned a victory each over Luxembourg and Azerbaijan, besides a draw with Ireland earlier in the com-petition.

Qatar, who playing as a guest team in the competition, have prepared well for the next stage of the qualifi ers with a camp in Austria that lasted for two weeks,

plus participation in the Gold Cup, during which the Al Annabi qualifi ed for the semi-fi nals be-fore losing to the United States.

Qatar national team coach, Felix Sanchez, focused on set-pieces, corner kicks, tactical and technical aspects in the last training session.

Serbia, on the other hand, has seven points, same as Portugal, and has an eff ective line-up in attack, midfi eld and defence.

“We will play against a very strong team that has great results in the qualifi ers,” Sanchez said yesterday.

Qatar captain Hassan al-Hay-dos said that the team is ready for the matches of Serbia, Portugal and Luxembourg, adding: “We have the capabilities to compete and benefi t from encounters in order to gain experience from strong European teams.”

Al-Haydos said in a press statement yesterday that the national team’s match with Ser-bia today will not be easy due to the high technical level of the Serbian team, its global ranking, “but we will try to our best in

order to know the strengths and weaknesses of the team”.

Teammate Almoez Ali said: “The Serbian team is very strong, and includes stars who play in the European leagues. However, we have prepared very well, espe-

cially given our performance in the Gold Cup, our abilities, and high morale.”

This week, the Qatar squad is expected to be in the limelight of fans after Qatar Football As-sociation launched a nationwide

marketing campaign in Hungary ahead of the Serbia clash.

The marketing campaign has been launched on the ground and social media platforms of QFA. Qatari flags around the stadium and posters of the

match at the training venues have been set up.

Match posters have also ap-peared at the Debrecen train station, and advertisements promoting the matches against Serbia and Portugal can also be seen at Budapest Airport.

QATAR SQUAD: Saad al-Sheeb, Meshaal Barsham, Mahmoud Abu Nada, Youssif Hassan, Salah Za-karia, Pedro Miguil, Abdul Karim Hassan, Tariq Salman, Ahmed Suhail, Musaab Khidir, Bassam al-Rawi, Homam al-Amin, Khouki Boualem, Mohamed Waad, Assim Madabo. Karim Boudiaf, Ismail Mohamed, Abdullah al-Ahraq, Ab-dullah Marafiya, Abdulaziz Hatim, Jassem Jaber, Akram Afif, Hassan al-Haydos, Khaled Mohamed, Sultan al-Braik, Ali Asad, Ahmed Moein, Yusuf Abdurisag, Almoez Ali and Ahmed Alaa.

Qatar coach Felix Sanchez.

AFCKuala Lumpur

The fi nal round of the AFC Asian Qualifi ers – Road to Qatar begins tomorrow as the atten-

tion shifts to the leading 12 Asian countries vying to be among the world’s elite contending at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Following a gripping Prelimi-nary Joint Qualifi ers Round 2 for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023, Asia’s heavyweights will play for four coveted tickets to the global showpiece.

he 12 teams are divided into two groups of six, with the win-ners and runners-up of each group qualifying, while the third-placed teams will advance to the Asian playoff to determine the side that will advance to the intercontinental playoff

The action begins tomorrow with an exciting clash in Group A when FIFA World Cup regulars South Korea host Iraq in what is expected to be a thrilling duel at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.

Iran, who are aiming for their sixth appearance in the FIFA World Cup, then face Syria, who will be aiming to maintain their

fi ne form from Round 2 of the Asian Qualifi ers, at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran.

Meanwhile, Bert van Mar-wijk’s United Arab Emirates side will host Lebanon at the Zabeel Stadium in Dubai at 7.45pm.

Group B is poised for more cap-tivating battles when Japan, who were undefeated in Round 2 of the Asian Qualifi ers, begin their bid to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for the seventh consecutive time against Oman at the Suita City Football Stadium in Osaka.

Saudi Arabia, a fi ve-time FIFA World Cup participant, welcome the tenacious Vietnamese side who will be appearing in this decisive stage for the fi rst time at the King Saud University Sta-dium in Riyadh at 9pm.

At the same time, Australia, looking to qualify for their sixth FIFA World Cup, go up against a resurgent China team at the neu-tral venue of the Khalifa Interna-tional Stadium in Doha.

The AFC Asian Qualifi ers – Road to Qatar is scheduled to be played on 10 match days starting on September 2 and 7 followed by October 7 and 12, and November 11 and 16, 2021, as well as January 27 and February 1, 2022, before reaching its climax on March 24 and 29, 2022.

AFPLondon, England

Tottenham striker Harry Kane insists his “con-science is clear” after his failed attempt to force a

move to Manchester City.Kane returned late to pre-

season training as he tried to convince Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy to let him join the Premier League champions.

The England captain believed he had a gentleman’s agreement with Levy which allowed him to be sold once Tottenham failed to win a

trophy and missed out on a Cham-pions League place last season.

However, City refused to meet Levy’s £150 million asking price for Kane and last week the 28-year-old tweeted he would stay at Tottenham “this summer”.

Asked if he was concerned his reputation could be tarnished, Kane told TalkSport: “No, I don’t think so. Anyone involved in the football industry knows the ins and outs and I was calm with the situation.

“It was between me and the club, when you know the truth and you know what it going on, your conscience is clear.”

AFPNew York, United States

Tokyo Olympic cham-pion Alexander Zverev stretched his win streak to 12 matches yesterday

at the US Open and warned he’s aiming to deny top-ranked No-vak Djokovic the calendar-year Grand Slam.

Fourth-seeded Zverev, com-ing off Japan gold and a title two weeks ago at Cincinnati, dis-patched American Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 in a fi rst-round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

“I hope in two weeks’ time I’ll be on an 18-match winning streak,” said Zverev, who would claim his fi rst Grand Slam title if he creates such a run.

The 24-year-old German, who lost to Austrian Dominic Thiem in last year’s US Open fi -nal, hit 18 aces and 40 winners while never facing a break point in advancing after an hour and 40 minutes.

“It’s great to be back,” Zverev said. “Hopefully I’ll play a few more matches here and it will be even more entertaining.”

Djokovic, seeking a US Open title to complete the fi rst men’s singles Slam since Rod Laver in 1969, was scheduled to open later against Danish teen quali-fi er Holger Rume in the night feature at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The 34-year-old Serbian also seeks his 21st career Grand Slam title, which would break his tie for the all-time record with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, both absent due to injuries, as is Thiem.

Zverev is a potential semi-fi -nal foe for Djokovic and beat him in an Olympic semi-fi nal, rally-

ing from a set and a break down.“Novak is chasing history,”

Zverev said. “But the young guys are going to try and get in the way of that. I’m going to try to give him a challenge as well.”

Next in Zverev’s path is either France’s Lucas Pouille or Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Djokovic is unbeaten in 15 US Open fi rst-round matches en-tering his encounter with 145th-ranked Rune, who has a 13-match win streak in US Open qualifying and Challenger events.

But the 18-year-old is a big underdog to history-chasing Djokovic, who has won eight of the past 12 Grand Slam events.

World number one Ashleigh Barty started her chase for back-to-back Slam titles with a 6-1, 7-6 (9) victory over 36-year-old Russian Vera Zvonareva, the 2010 US Open runner-up.

The 25-year-old Australian is coming off a victory at Wimble-don in July and a title two weeks ago at Cincinnati.

Czech fourth seed Karolina

Pliskova, the runner-up to Bar-ty at Wimbledon and the 2016 US Open runner-up, defeating 130th-ranked US teen wildcard Catherine McNally 6-3, 6-4.

“I started really well, lost my focus a little bit at the end of the fi rst set,” Pliskova said. “My serve was not really there today. It would be better if I could serve better.”

Japan’s Kei Nishikori, the 2014 US Open runner-up, elim-inated Italy’s 113th-ranked Sal-vatore Caruso 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-3.

Next up for the 56th-ranked Asian star is 61st-ranked Amer-ican Mackenzie McDonald — who ousted Belgian 27th seed David Goffi n 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 — with Djokovic a possible third-round opponent.

MURRAY’S TOILET HUMOURBritain’s Andy Murray, who com-plained about an extended toilet break by Stefanos Tsitsipas in his loss on Monday to the Greek third seed, took his displeasure to social media yesterday.

The three-time Grand Slam champion posted a tweet com-paring Tsitsipas’s seven-minute hiatus with the brief space fl ight of billionaire Jeff Bezos.

“Fact of the day. It takes Ste-fanos Tsitipas (sic) twice as long to go the bathroom as it takes Jeff Bazos to fl y into space. In-teresting,” Murray tweeted.

During the match, Murray

said: “It has never once taken me that long to go to the toilet, ever.”

Australian Nick Kyrgios also brought up long bathroom breaks in his loss to Spain’s Rob-erto Bautista Agut, wondering why he incurred a time violation over retrieving a towel when there were “20-minute bath-room breaks” by other players.

Germany’s Alexander Zverev hits a return to Sam Querrey (not pictured) of the US during their US Open first round match at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York yesterday. (AFP)

Ashleigh Barty of Australia hits to Vera Zvonareva (not pictured) of Russia on day two of the US Open yesterday. (USA TODAY Sports)

SPORTGulf Times Wednesday, September 1, 20212

Mental health issues began before Olympics, says Biles

FOCUS

AFPSanta Cruz de Bezana, Spain

Fabio Jakobsen’s remarkable comeback from a brush with death continued apace yester-day as the Dutchman won a third

stage of this year’s La Vuelta a Espana on his 25th birthday.

The Deceuninck Quick-Step sprinter underwent fi ve hours of emergency sur-gery after a high speed crash on the Tour of Poland a year ago, but he appears fully recovered at his comeback Grand Tour, holding a fi rm grip on the sprinters’ points green jersey after this fi nal sprint stage of the 21-day race.

Norwegian Odd Christian Eiking re-tains his surprise overall lead after stage 16, fi nishing safely in the main pack to take his run in red to a week, with two mountain slogs on stage 17 and 18 stand-ing between him and an unlikely victory on this Vuelta.

Eiking said he felt tired early yesterday after “sleeping all day” on Monday’s rest day with today’s stage in mind.

“Lagos De Covadonga is going to be re-ally decisive in the overall standings and it will be really hard racing from the start tomorrow. It will be really fun to race it,” said the 26-year-old all-rounder.

Jakobsen powered to his latest win in front of the visiting Deceuninck CEO, who Briton Mark Cavendish also credited for nurturing his comeback at the Tour de France in July.

“A birthday is always a good day, but I’m over the moon with this win. I was dropped on the climb, the guys waited for me, they brought me back and I won the race.

“The only thing I can do is win a short, fast sprint – they did everything else to-day,” said Jakobsen, who seemed to cruise to victory.

The Dutch sprinter has 250 points in the green jersey rankings, with Matteo Trentin trailing in second on 123.

His Vuelta is already a resounding suc-cess given there were fears for his life in Poland when he fl ew over barriers and into a metal pole, losing all his teeth in

the process.Few expect Eiking to hold onto the red

jersey until Sunday but he has a 54sec lead on Guillaume Martin, 1min 36sec on

Primoz Roglic, 2min 11sec on Enric Mas and 3min 04sec on Miguel Angel Lopez.

Giro d’Italia champion Egan Bernal also stands an outside chance of at least

getting on the podium at 4min 21sec.“I feel good, I’ve never been on such

good form,” said Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert’s Eiking.

Double defending champion Roglic will be rubbing his hands in glee with a long fi nal day time-trial, as he is Olympic champion in the discipline.

So Mas, Lopez and Bernal have stage 17 and 18 to try and pulverise the Slovenian.

If not few would bet against Roglic tak-ing the honours in Santiago de Compost-ela on Sunday.

Jakobsen sprints to third Vuelta stage win

CYCLING

‘A birthday is always a good day, but I’m over the moon with this win’

FIA head Todt says Formula 1 to review points ruleMOTORSPORT

ReutersLondon

Formula One’s governing body announced yes-terday a review of how points are awarded after

last Sunday’s farcical Belgian Grand Prix saw drivers score by completing two laps behind the safety car.

The rain-hit race at Spa-Fran-corchamps was only the sixth in Formula One history to award half-points.

The sporting regulations say this can happen “if the leader has completed more than two laps but less than 75% of the original race distance”.

FIA President Jean Todt con-fi rmed the rules were being re-viewed.

“The FIA, together with For-mula One and the teams, will carefully review the regulations to see what can be learned and improved for the future,” the Frenchman said in a statement on Twitter.

“The fi ndings, including the topic of points allocation, will be added to the agenda of the next F1 Commission meeting on Oc-tober 5.”

Todt said the race had present-

ed “extraordinary challenges” and the windows in the weather predicted by forecasters had not materialised.

He said he was sorry for the spectators who waited for hours

in the wet and cold but the ex-isting regulations had been cor-rectly applied.

The race was Formula One’s shortest ever, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen taking the win and 12.5 points to cut Lewis Hamilton’s lead to three.

Several teams and drivers questioned the decision to award points when there had been no actual racing.

Alfa Romeo, one of the biggest losers after rivals Williams took 10 points thanks to George Rus-sell’s second place and Nicholas Latifi ’s ninth, were particularly aggrieved.

“This outcome hurts us all, but in particular it hurts fans of the sport, who didn’t get the show they came to see,” the ninth-placed team, now 17 points be-hind Williams, said in a state-ment.

“We hope lessons were learnt... lessons that will im-prove the way we operate in the future and that put the support-ers of our sport in the position they deserve to be.”

AFPLos Angeles

Simone Biles said on Mon-day the mental health concerns that led to her dramatic withdrawal

from several events at the Tokyo Olympics had begun before she even arrived in Japan.

The US gymnastics superstar caused a sensation at the Olym-pics last month after pulling out of the team fi nal competition before later withdrawing from the individual all-around com-petition.

Biles, 24, regarded by many as the greatest gymnast of all time and who had been strong-ly tipped to win multiple gold medals in Japan, said she had withdrawn in order to prioritise her mental health. In a video conversation with her mother released by sponsors Athleta on Monday, Biles said her problems had built up over time.

“I wouldn’t even say it started in Tokyo. I feel like it was prob-ably a little bit deeper-rooted than that,” Biles said.

“I think it was just the stress factor. It kind of built up over time, and my body and my mind just said no. But even I didn’t know I was going through it until it just happened.”

Biles was plagued by an at-tack of the “twisties” in Tokyo – a potentially dangerous phe-

nomenon that causes gymnasts to lose their sense of direction when in the air. She later re-turned to the Olympic arena to compete in the balance beam fi -nal, where she won a bronze.

Biles said while she was disap-pointed not to be able to deliver her usual gravity-defying form on the biggest stage of all – she had no regrets about putting her health and safety fi rst.

“It just sucks. Like, train fi ve years, it doesn’t go the way you wanted,” Biles said in the video. “But I know that I helped a lot of people and athletes speak out about mental health and saying no. Because I knew I couldn’t go out there and compete. I knew I was going to get hurt.”

Biles added she had been sur-prised by the broadly supportive reaction to her withdrawal from competition in Tokyo.

“I obviously was expecting to feel a lot of backlash and embar-rassment,” she said. “But it’s the complete opposite. That’s the fi rst time I felt human. Besides Simone Biles, I was Simone, and people kind of respected that.”

The Texan said she hopes now her case will encourage others to ask for help if they are concerned about their mental health.

“I know it’s not easy, but it really is helpful,” she said. “And I know most of the time you’re scared you might feel dumb. But as I have learned over the years, it’s OK to ask for help.”

World Esports Champ to join Osborne

Deceuninck-Quick-StepWorld Tour team Deceuninck-Quick-Step have announced that UCI Cycling Esports World Champion Jason Osborne will join their team as a stagiaire – an amateur who rides with a professional team – until the end of the season. Osborne came to the attention of team bosses by winning the 50-kilo-metre route on the Esports platform Zwift, beating several professional riders to claim glory at the inaugural Esports Worlds last December. It is not the German’s first foray into elite sport. The 27-year-old won a gold medal at the 2018 World Rowing Champion-ships and also picked up a silver in the sport at this year’s Olympics in Tokyo. “Cycling has always been part of my training ritual in rowing. I have done a lot of base training on the bike since 2012, when I bought my first road bike, then over the years I became more passionate about it, did some races, got into the competitive side of the sport and tried to develop,” Osborne said. “I am aware there are a lot of things I need to learn, but I want to take it one step at a time and see what I can achieve.”

Team Deceuninck’s Dutch rider Fabio Jakobsen celebrates as he wins the 16th stage of the La Vuelta in Santa Cruz de Bezana, Spain, yesterday. (AFP)

Time for Formula One to ease Covid-19 protocols: BrownFormula One is considering easing some of its strict Covid-19 ‘bubble’ protocols, in force since last year, so teams can enter-tain sponsors and guests more freely at races. McLaren Racing chief executive Zak Brown told Reuters change was overdue and the situation was discussed in Belgium last weekend.He hoped something could be done in time for the September 10-12 Italian Grand Prix.“It was a topic this weekend and (F1 chief executive) Stefano (Domenicali) and the FIA ac-knowledge this and suggested they are going to come back and make some further changes. I think the sport is going to react,” he said.“Now that it’s been tabled and discussed and all the teams agree that we need to start loosening it up, I’d like to think maybe we could get something done for Monza.”

Brown, who had Covid-19 in July, suggested Formula One needed to look at what some other sports and series were doing and move in line with govern-ment policy in countries the sport visited.“We all think this (Covid-19) is going to be here for a long time now so everyone’s starting to learn how to deal with it and live with it responsibly and I think that’s what we need to do,” he added.“We still pretty much have almost the same protocols as when this was going on a year ago. It’s started to loosen up but I think we need to make sure we’re taking care of our corpo-rate partners.“I think I should be able to go up to the Paddock Club, socially distanced, and talk to my guests and bring the drivers up. And on a limited basis bring the partners down to see the car in the ga-

rage, socially distanced.”Formula One teams are operat-ing in a protective ‘bubble’ to reduce the risk of contagion.They can bring key sponsors and others into the paddock inner sanctum only within their total allocation of 115 passes and guests cannot come and go from the elite Paddock Club hospitality.Brown pointed out that the paddock was “pretty much vac-cinated” and golf’s PGA Tour and the US-based IndyCar series had now stopped regular Covid-19 testing for all participants.He questioned why vaccinated staff or a driver should still have to isolate, with a potential impact on the championship, if a close contact tested positive when that is not government policy in some countries.Formula One sources said the sport was still a long way off ending its testing regime.

In this file photo taken on July 27, 2021, USA’s Simone Biles gestures during the artistic gymnastics women’s team final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Ariake Gymnastics Centre in Tokyo. (AFP)

Russian Olympic medallists made to quarantine before meeting Putin, says athleteRussian Olympic medallists are being made to quarantine for a week after returning from the Tokyo Games so that they can meet President Vladimir Putin, one of the team’s athletes said yesterday.Russians won 71 medals, including 20 golds, at the Olympics, a result feted as a victory at home despite the country competing without its flag and anthem because of Doping sanc-tions.Putin, 68, had two doses of Covid-19 vaccine, one in March and one in April, according to the Kremlin, but Moscow has continued to take pandemic precautions with regards to his health.Before being vaccinated, Putin spent much of the pandemic running the country from his residence rather than the Kremlin, chairing

video conference meetings instead of face-to-face encounters. People who meet him in person have reported being required to quarantine.“All Olympic champions and medallists have a meeting with the president when they return home,” gymnast Angelina Melnikova, who won gold in the women’s team event and bronze in the all-around and floor exercise, wrote in her Instagram stories. “The meeting is planned for September 10, and because of Covid, which we are all fed up with, we have to be in quarantine for seven days.”Melnikova said athletes would undergo three Covid tests in the hotel where they will be self-isolating.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not im-mediately respond to a request for comment.

Patriots dump Newton, opt for rookie JonesThe New England Patriots released quarterback Cam Newton yesterday in a surprise move which came as the NFL’s roster deadline loomed.Newton, who joined the Patriots in 2020 after nine seasons with the Carolina Panthers, had been expected to begin the season as New England’s first choice quarterback.However the 32-year-old was released by the team yesterday meaning that rookie Mac Jones will be handed the starter’s jersey for the upcoming season, according to multiple reports.In a statement on Instagram, Newton told followers not to

“feel sorry” for him over the decision. “I really appreciate all the love and support during the time, but I must say, please don’t feel sorry for me,” Newton wrote. “I’m good.”Newton had a mixed first sea-son with New England last year, showing flashes of the form which helped him win the NFL’s Most Valuable Player award in 2015 but ultimately failing to lead the team into the playoff s.Newton finished the 2020 campaign with 2,657 yards and eight touchdowns with 10 interceptions. He also added 592 rushing yards with 12 touchdowns.

CRICKET3Gulf Times

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Root calls on England to be ruthless against India in fourth Test

COMMENT

By Ali MartinThe Guardian

Joe Root has called on Eng-land to strive for a ruthless performance in the fourth Test against India, start-

ing on Thursday at the Oval, with Ollie Pope, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood all pushing to enter the captain’s swirling selection thoughts.

England’s innings victory at Headingley on Saturday leaves the summer’s marquee series locked at 1-1 but an unforgiving schedule of three Tests in three weeks, plus Jos Buttler’s pater-nity leave, could force as many as three changes to a winning team.

“Now is when the hard work starts,” said Root, who, after his third successive century last week, his sixth in 2021 – is poised to rise to the top of the Interna-tional Cricket Council Test

batting rankings when the points system is updated today.

“We’ve got to look to go even further, dig deeper, and really start to go through the gears. A world-class side like India, led by Virat Kohli, I expect nothing less than a response. It would be na-ive to think otherwise.

“We’ve just got ourselves back to level and if we fi nd ourselves ahead of the game at any stage, we must get ruthless again.”

Buttler’s absence at the Oval leaves Jonny Bairstow to keep wicket and opens up at spot at No 5 for Pope, the Surrey right-hander who averages more than 100 in fi rst-class cricket on his home ground.

England are also trying to gauge whether Ollie Robinson or the 39-year-old Jimmy Anderson are starting to run on empty and need a breather.

Wood is fi t again after sustain-ing a shoulder injury during an impressive second Test at Lord’s; so, too, Woakes after what Root called a “nightmare” 12-month absence caused by a catalogue of misfortunes that included vari-ous Covid isolation periods and a recent bruised heel from slipping on some stairs.

Woakes may well replace the misfi ring Sam Curran if England want an all-rounder at No 8. But any decision over resting Ander-son or Robinson – Wood’s pos-sible route back after Craig Over-

ton’s six-wicket return in Leeds – is not easy given the new-ball rapport the pair have struck up in Stuart Broad’s absence.

“Trying to manage workloads alongside performance is some-thing in the current climate, with the games coming thick, that is always going to be tricky,” said Root.

“You come off a win like last week and the continuity of confi -dence – trying to replicate a sim-ilar performance – you’re trying to balance that with making sure you don’t blow someone out and injure them. It’s really tricky.”

Playing the fi nal three Tests of the series would be a signifi -cant ask of Robinson during the 27-year-old’s fi rst season of in-ternational cricket, but six wick-ets at Headingley makes him the form horse.

The evergreen Anderson will simply not want to miss out this week, nor the fi nale at his

home ground of Old Traff ord. It remains to be seen if Buttler, another Lancashire cricketer al-beit seldom seen wearing the Red Rose, will be back by then.

Having voiced concerns about going on the Ashes tour – the issue of quarantine for players and their families is still yet to be re-solved – the 30-year-old’s Test future appears uncertain.

Asked if Buttler may have just played his last Test, Root replied: “I don’t see that being the case. I see someone that is desperate to perform well in the Test arena. He loves the Test game and he’s a big part of our team.”

On the question of whether Bairstow could make a bid for the gloves full-time, Root said: “We all know what he is capable of with the gloves.

He’s never let anyone down. (But) Jos has been our No 1 keeper for a long time now and he’s made absolutely the right decision to

be at the birth of his child.”Root said his side would be

required to keep India skipper Virat Kohli quiet in the next two Tests if they want to win the fi ve-match Test series.

“The credit needs to go to our bowling attack, Virat is a world-class player hence the credit needs to be given to the bowling group. We have been able to keep him quiet, it is an extremely good eff ort from our bowling group and it is something we have to continue if we have to win this series. We have found ways to get him out, he is a fi ne player and has done tremendous things in Test cricket, we will have to look at ways to get the best players out,” said Root.

“Absolutely, world-class side like India led by Virat Kohli, I expect nothing less than a re-sponse. We would be naive to think otherwise, it is important that we do not get to deluded.

We have gotten to the level play-ing fi eld, we have to work harder now. If we fi nd ourselves ahead of the game at any stage, we have to consolidate,” he added.

After resuming innings at 215/2 on the fourth day, Team In-dia would have hoped to continue the remarkable comeback. How-ever, the England bowlers came out all guns blazing and wrapped the game up in the opening ses-sion itself, bundling out the visi-tors for 278.

“I think it was a brilliant per-formance, nice template for us to work with really. The challenge is to replicate it and go one bet-ter. From a bowling perspective, I think we were fl awless, we hit the right lengths early on and we managed to do it for long peri-ods of time. With bat in hand, Headingley was our best outing till now and hopefully, we can go on,” said Root.

(With inputs from agencies)

ENGLAND COULD MAKE UP TO THREE CHANGES WITH JOS BUTTLER ABSENT

South Africa’s pacer Steyn retiresAFPJohannesburg

Dale Steyn, South Af-rica’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker, an-nounced his retirement

from all cricket yesterday. Steyn, 38, made the announcement on social media, saying he was “bit-tersweet but grateful”.

“It’s been 20 years of train-ing, matches, travel, wins, loss-es, strapped feet, jetlag, joy and brotherhood,” he said.

“Thank you to everyone, from family to team-mates, journal-ists to fans, it’s been an incred-ible journey together.”

Steyn took 439 wickets in 93 Test matches before announcing his retirement from the fi ve-day format in 2019.

He said at the time that he wanted to continue playing white-ball international cricket and was selected for the 2019 cricket World Cup in England.

But he had to withdraw from the tournament without playing a match because of a shoulder injury and failed to add to his 196 one-day international wickets.

He played in a T20 interna-tional series against Australia in February 2020 and was ex-

pected to play in the T20 World Cup later that year before it was postponed because of Covid-19. He took 64 wickets in the short format. He had not played any cricket since March this year when he made the last of three appearances for the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League in Karachi. At his peak, Steyn was a master of late away swing with the new ball and re-verse swing with the old ball, de-livered at high pace.

He spent six years as the number one bowler in Test cricket according to the Inter-national cricket Council’s rank-ings. Arguably his greatest per-formance was when he made his highest Test score of 76 and had match fi gures of 10 wickets for 154 runs in helping South Africa beat Australia in Melbourne in 2008/09 to clinch their fi rst se-ries win in Australia.

Steyn’s announcement drew immediate tributes on Twitter.

“Great player, great man, amazing memories,” former Proteas team-mate AB de Vil-liers said. England’s James An-derson described Steyn as “The Best”, while Australia’s Pat Cummins wrote Steyn had “set the standard” for fast bowlers “for 20 years”.

SPOTLIGHT

IPL opens expansion campaign seeking bids for new teamAFPNew Delhi

The Indian Premier League yesterday launched its campaign to expand the world’s

richest cricket tournament by seeking bids to run a new team.

The IPL had said it would increase the tournament from eight to 10 teams for the 2022 season, but its tender an-nouncement only put one of those up for grabs. Sports in-dustry experts have said a back-er may have to commit to a $300 million budget to get a franchise as well as pay fees up front.

But major Indian groups in-cluding the Adani mining and trading conglomerate are said to be waiting to enter.

“The governing council of the IPL invites bids to acquire the right to own and oper-ate one of the two new teams proposed to be introduced to take part in the Indian Premier League from the IPL 2022 sea-son, through a tender process,” the IPL said in a statement.

Candidates have until Oc-tober 5 to ask for tender details and a decision could be made the same month. The IPL did not say when the competition for the second team would be launched. The IPL, which is said to bring billions of dollars to the Indian economy each year, has battled with the coro-navirus pandemic for the past two years. In 2020, the whole tournament was moved to the United Arab Emirates. This

year the event was suspended in April as a devastating Cov-id-19 wave hit India and it will now be fi nished in the UAE from September 19.

The IPL and its Board of Control for Cricket in India masters stand to make more than $100 million a year from the expansion through in-creased fees and media rights.

But increasing the IPL to 10 teams will mean more matches and making the foreign stars who come from around the world commit to a longer tour-nament. The International Cricket Council and other major cricket nations have ex-pressed some concerns that a longer IPL will eat into an al-ready crowded international calendar. The eight teams cur-rently play each other twice and then the top four go into playoff s for the fi nal.

Media reports said IPL chiefs will probably split the league into two fi ve team groups and hold playoff s for the fi nal, which would mean the current 60 match tournament would be spread over 74 matches.

Ahmedabad, Kochi, Luc-know, Pune, Ranchi have been spoken of as the cities likely to be the base for the new teams. Adani is based in Ahmedabad.

The IPL’s ambitions to become a global leader have been boosted by deals such as the move made in June by Redbird - a US capi-tal fund which has stakes in the owners of Liverpool football club and the Boston Red Sox baseball side - to buy 15 percent of the Ra-jasthan Royals.

FOCUS

In this file photo taken on February 14, 2019, South Africa’s Dale Steyn celebrates the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Kusal Perera (not in the picture) during Day 2 of the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Kingsmead Stadium in Durban.

New Zealand ready for Bangladesh Twenty20 series

AFPDhaka

New Zealand’s youth-ful Twenty20 squad is raring to go against Bangladesh in their

upcoming series, stand-in captain Tom Latham said yes-terday, as the hosts come off their fi rst-ever series win against Australia.

Latham will lead a sec-ond-string New Zealand side against Bangladesh in the fi ve-match series starting today, with none of the players in the squad selected to play for their country in the T20 World Cup in October-November.

The matches will be held be-hind closed doors on Septem-ber 1, 3, 5, 8 and 10 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

“The way the world is at the moment, what NZC (New Zea-land Cricket) is doing for player welfare... has presented an op-portunity for a lot of the guys including myself,” Latham told reporters.

New Zealand is set to face a full-strength Bangladesh side fresh from a 4-1 victory over Australia in their T20 series earlier this month.

“Things won’t be easy over here, looking at the Australia series,” he said, but added that there was a “good vibe” in the squad.

“Most of the guys have ex-perience at this level before. (A) couple of guys haven’t been in the squad before. It is exciting for them to get in the group and try to keep things as relaxed as possible,” he added.

“We have had two camps

so from a preparation point of view, it has been a long time. Everyone is pretty excited to get going tomorrow.”

Bangladesh dominated Aus-tralia in low and slow wickets, with left-arm pacer Mustafi zur Rahman appearing unplayable at times. But Latham refused to single out any particular bowl-er as a potential threat in the spin-friendly conditions.

“They all present their chal-lenges. Mustafi zur at the top of the innings is renowned for his slower balls. We saw how he bowled against Australia,” he said.

“The spinners at the top and through the middle will present the challenges. (Our) guys have been working really hard for the last fi ve days to come up with plans best to negate them.”

Bangladesh captain Mah-mudullah Riyad said his team had to remain “focused and hungry as we did against Aus-tralia”.

“The team that reads the conditions well and has the hunger to do well on the day usually comes out on top in T20s,” he told reporters.

“Having said that, they are a very disciplined side in their homework and execution level.

“It is a very good opportuni-ty for our team. We are eager to prove that we are good at home. I am hopeful that the boys will be up for it.”

New Zealand are ranked third in the world and Bangla-desh tenth in T20s.

The home side have never beaten their opponents in a T20 in 10 attempts. New Zea-land won the only one of those games played on Bangladesh territory, by 15 runs in 2013.

PREVIEW

New Zealand’s captain Tom Latham during a training session at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka yesterday. (AFP)

England’s head coach Chris Silverwood (left) and England’s captain Joe Root chat during a training session ahead of the second Test against India at Lord’s cricket ground in London, on August 11, 2021. (AFP)

Ronaldo dedicates Man United move to former boss Ferguson

Alderweireld not worried about Belgium place despite leaving Spurs

Qatar’s passion for football is there for everyone to see: De Boer

Wednesday, September 1, 2021

GULF TIMES SPORT

FOCUS

SPOTLIGHT

TOP OF THE LINE

‘History has been written in the past and history will be written once again’ReutersManchester, England

Cristiano Ronaldo de-clared he was back where he belonged after he re-joined Manches-

ter United from Juventus on a two-year deal yesterday, with the forward dedicating the move to his mentor Alex Ferguson.

United announced that they had agreed a deal with Juventus to bring the 36-year-old back to Manchester last week, with the transfer now complete after the Portuguese forward passed a medical, secured a visa and agreed personal terms.

“Everyone who knows me, knows about my never ending love for Manchester United. The years I spent in this club where absolutely amazing and the path we’ve made together is written in gold letters in the history of this great and amazing institu-tion,” he wrote on Instagram.

“It’s like a dream come true, after all the times that I went back to play against Man. Unit-ed, and even as an opponent, to have always felt such love and respect from the supporters in the stands.”

Juve said the transfer fee agreed was 15mn euros ($17.74mn) plus eight mn euros in performance-related add-ons as Ronaldo returns to the club where he won eight major trophies from 2003-2009.

“My fi rst domestic League, my fi rst Cup, my fi rst call to the Portuguese National team, my fi rst Champions League, my fi rst Golden Boot and my fi rst Ballon d’Or, they were all born from this special connection between me and the Red Devils,” added Ronaldo, who spent the last 12 years winning a glut of trophies at Real Madrid and Juventus.

“History has been written in the past and history will be written once again! You have my word!

“I’m back where I belong. Let’s make it happen once again... Sir Alex, this one is for you.”

Ferguson signed Ronaldo when he was a teenager in 2003 and British media had reported last week that the Scot con-vinced Ronaldo to return to United.

Ronaldo has often spoken

in glowing terms of his time at the club and has previously de-scribed Ferguson as his “father in football”.

The club responded to the post, saying: “Welcome home, Cristiano.”

Ronaldo is set to join up with

the squad after the international break and could make his fi rst start on Sept. 11 when they host Newcastle United, if he returns unscathed from his duties with Portugal.

He spent six seasons at Old Traff ord between 2003 and

2009, where he won the Ballon d’Or as the world’s best player in 2008 alongside his team ac-colades, before sealing a then world record 80mn pounds ($110mn) move to Real Madrid.

During his fi rst spell in Man-chester he scored 118 goals and won the Premier League Golden Boot in the 2007-08 season, the year Ronaldo helped Unit-ed claim their last Champions League title.

He then went on to capture two LaLiga and four Champions League titles with Real Madrid, as well as four further Ballon d’Or awards, ending his stint at the Spanish club as their all-time top scorer with 451 goals.

JUVE’S 100 MILLION EURO SIGNING

Ronaldo was signed by Juventus in 2018 for 100mn euros from Real Madrid in the hope he could help the Italian team secure their fi rst Champions League title since 1996.

While that goal never came to fruition, Ronaldo leaves Turin with 101 goals, two league titles

and a Coppa Italia triumph.He informed Juventus coach

Massimiliano Allegri that he wanted to leave the club last week. The Serie A club con-fi rmed his departure earlier yes-terday.

Media reports in Italy and England said the forward’s agent, Jorge Mendes, had agreed personal terms with Premier League champions Manchester City.

But in the end it was United who secured his services, insti-gating much excitement around the club.

“You run out of words to de-scribe Cristiano. He is not only a marvellous player, but also a great human being,” United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.

“To have the desire and the ability to play at the top level for such a long period requires a very special person.”

United goalkeeper Dav-id de Gea said it would be a “dream” to have Ronaldo back at the club. Former captain Roy Keane said the 36-year-old is a “born winner”.

SC Legacy Ambassador Ronald de Boer, the Dutch former midfi elder, talks about Qatar’s fan-

tastic run at the Gold Cup and looks forward to 2022 World Cup.

The Qatar national team con-tinued to show progression at this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup. Have you been im-pressed with their develop-ment?

The Qatar national team is do-ing unbelievably well. They went over to the Gold Cup and played some incredible games. I think they were unlucky not to beat the USA in the semi-fi nal. They missed a penalty and conceded late in the game, but the progres-sion is there for all to see.

They are improving so much so I am very impressed, especially as we continue to build up to their participation as the host nation

at next year’s World Cup. I’m re-ally looking forward to watching this group of players compete at next year’s tournament, where I think they will impress the rest of the world with their level – and have the potential to secure some positive results.

Qatar will play Serbia and Por-tugal in this month’s UEFA FIFA World Cup qualifi ers. How important are games like this for Qatar as they prepare for next year’s World Cup?

I think it’s unbelievably im-portant because the Qatar team and their coach Felix Sanchez will be able to measure them-selves against some top Euro-pean teams and see what level is needed [during the World Cup]. They will learn which areas they need to raise their game, whether that be their speed of play or tac-tics. I think they have showed

already against other opponents that they are ready to compete at this level, but these games will only improve the team so I think it’s great that they will get this experience.

From your experience, what is football culture like in Qatar?

Has it changed much since your days as a player?

Qatar is crazy about football. Not only local football and the Qatar Stars League – but the lo-cals follow club leagues from all over the world. Football is the biggest sport in Qatar, so it is possible to watch almost every

league on TV, so if you talk to a Qatari, they know basically all the important games coming up, the standings and the best play-ers, so a full knowledge of world football. And as a player myself, I’ve seen that passion when I was there, especially when I was walking on the streets or in a shopping mall for example. Peo-ple would always approach me to chat about football and my most recent game. I’ve seen the na-tional team playing at home and they always have a full stadium. So, the Qataris are really sup-porting their own boys, so that’s great to see. People will get to see this passion for themselves in 2022 of course when they host the fi rst World Cup in the Middle East and Arab world.

What can fans expect when they reach Qatar in 2022? Do you have any advice for those

considering travelling next year?

I think they can expect an amazing tournament that will be the most compact in history, making it easier than ever for fans to watch more live football. The fans are really going to feel that there is a World Cup going on as they will be in the heart of the action throughout. They will feel the festivity and all the vi-bration of the World Cup from close range, and I think that this is something that has never hap-pened before at the tournament.

They will also experience dif-ferent cultures from all over the world together in one place. For me, that is what makes the World Cup so special, the fact that it is a global celebration. Everybody will be welcome in Qatar, people from every background, culture and religion. For me that’s the beauty of the World Cup and the

most precious thing. I think af-ter the World Cup, every fan will leave Qatar with a happy face and some with a diff erent opinion of the place than before. I think the world will see that it is a welcom-ing country, with a great culture, and a place they would love to come back to with their kids. I am 100% sure of that.

I have lived in Qatar for many years and people do not need to worry about things such as women being treated diff erently or people not being able to drink alcohol as this is not the case. Everything is possible in Qatar. Of course, as when you visit any new country, you must respect the culture and traditions of the country you are in and Qatar is no diff erent in this regard. But there will be plenty of things for fans to do and enjoy while in Qatar, and this includes enjoying the hospi-tality of the Qatari people.

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (right) attends a training session with teammates in Oeiras,

outside Lisbon, yesterday. (AFP)

In this October 22, 2005, picture, Ronaldo (left) speaks to Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson before playing Tottenham at Old Traff ord in Manchester, England. (AFP)

Brazil abandons plans to have fans at Argentine qualifi er

Brazilian authorities have abandoned plans to allow a crowd of 12,000 to watch Sunday’s World Cup qualifier with Argentina due to what the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said was a lack of time to prepare. The CBF had promised a 12,000 crowd would be the first step to the possible reopen-

ing of stadiums in Brazil after almost a year-and-a-half of games without fans due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, only 1,500 invited guests will be allowed inside the 48,234-capacity Neo Quimica Arena, home of Sao Paulo club Cor-inthians, for the match. Brazil top the South American qualifying group after six games, six points ahead of second-placed Argentina. The top four teams qualify automatically for Qatar 2022.

Leeds sign winger James from Man United on permanent deal

Leeds United have signed Welsh winger Daniel James from Manchester United on a five-year deal, the Premier League clubs announced yesterday. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed but British media reported the transfer was worth 24mn pounds ($33.11mn). “It is no secret that Daniel is a player we have

been keen to acquire for a number of years and today we achieved our goal,” said Victor Orta, director of football at Leeds. “As a player we feel Daniel is an excellent fit for a Marcelo Bielsa team, he is quick, direct and works hard — we look forward to him joining up with the squad, finally!” James was signed by United in 2019 from Swansea City for some 18mn pounds and made 33 league appearances in his debut season.

Qatar SC win Federation CupQatar SC won the Federation Cup table tennis defeating Al Sadd 4-3 in the final at Lusail Sports Hall on Monday. Secretary General of the Qatar Table Tennis Association (QTTA) Mohamed Abdul-lah Saleh and member of the board of directors Thani al-Zaraa crowned the winners with gold medals and the cup. Al Arabi defeated Al Rayyan 4-0 to win the bronze medal.

Doha Marine Sports Club honours jet ski team

Doha Marine Sports Club organised a celebration to honour Qatar’s jet ski team which achieved remarkable results in the European Championship held recently in Poland’s Ostrow Warcki. Qatar’s Khaled al-Mohannadi was crowned with the title in the junior stock category, while Walid al-Sharshani finished eighth in the ‘Pro GB’ category for professionals. Vice President of the Doha Marine Sports Club Salah Ibrahim al-Mannai praised the distinguished results achieved by Qatar’s jet ski team in the Euro-pean Championship.

ReutersBrussels, Belgium

Belgium defender Toby Alderweireld does not fear for his place in the national team despite

leaving Premier League team Tottenham Hotspur for club football in Qatar.

The 32-year-old central de-fender, who has 113 caps, made the surprise move after this year’s European Championship.

“I will, of course, continue to do my very best to keep up my best level. I’m convinced that this is also possible in Qatar. But I don’t feel like I have to prove my-self anymore. I’ve had to do that my whole career,” he told a news conference yesterday.

Alderweireld joined Al Duhail in July for a reported 15mn euros ($17.71mn) 18 months after sign-ing a contract extension at Spurs.

“The level in Qatar and at Al Duhail is higher than I expect-ed. Of course, it’s not a Premier League, but the level is better than

expected,” added Alderweireld.“I had a diff erent view myself

at fi rst, but I gathered the neces-sary information beforehand and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Well, I could hardly refuse this adventure, also fi nancially.”

But Alderweireld said leaving Spurs had a lot to do with spend-ing more time with his young family.

“I have two children and at Tottenham I saw them very little. That hurt more and more. In Qa-tar I will see them more and that is very important to me,” he said.

“I want to see my children grow up and that can be done much better at my current club. At Tottenham it frustrated me that I had to leave my family be-hind too often. Sometimes we played three times a week, with a night in a hotel before each game.”

Alderweireld is expected to feature for Belgium when they visit Estonia tomorrow, host the Czech Republic on Sunday and travel to Belarus next Wednesday in World Cup qualifi ers.

Belgium’s Toby Alderweireld attends a training session yesterday. (AFP)