PSG wait impatiently for Messi as Barcelona weeps

Tuesday, August 10, 2021Muharram 2, 1443 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Bottles thrown, match held-up as Marseille fi ght back

Tokyo counts cost of $15bn pandemic Games

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FOOTBALL

AFPParis

France was waiting impatiently for Lionel Messi with support-ers gathering outside Paris Saint-Germain’s ground yesterday hop-

ing to see the Argentine who is expected to join the Qatar-owned club after his exit from Barcelona.

PSG fans stood at the entrance to the Parc des Princes in the hope the 34-year-old superstar might appear, while others gathered at Le Bourget airport to the north of the French capital just in case Messi landed there.

Paris is expected to be Messi’s next des-tination after his tearful departure from the club he has represented throughout the 17 years of his glittering professional career. However yesterday journalists spotted him still at his home near Barcelo-na alongside his family as well as his friend and former teammate, Luis Suarez.

Following last week’s announcement by Barca that they could not aff ord to keep their all-time top goal-scorer, PSG emerged as the favourites to sign Mes-si. They see him as the missing piece in their jigsaw as they chase the Champions League, the trophy they want more than anything else.

The club have been ready since Sun-day to welcome Messi and French media

reported yesterday that it was a matter of when, not if he arrives. “It only seems to be a matter of hours,” suggested sports daily L’Equipe, which proclaimed “we are entering into the most incredible days in the history of the French championship.”

Before signing any contract in Paris, Messi will fi rst have to undergo a medical examination.

The player conceded at his tearful fare-well news conference in Barcelona on Sun-

day that joining PSG was a “possibility”.In reality, with Abu Dhabi-owned Man-

chester City having ruled themselves out, they are about the only club who can af-ford what is expected to be a deal worth 35mn euros ($41mn) a year. “I gave every-thing for Barcelona from the fi rst day that I arrived right to the last. I never imagined having to say goodbye,” Messi said. “I have still not come to terms with the reality of leaving this club now — I love this club.”

He leaves Barcelona with 672 goals in 778 appearances, a record tally for one club. Messi won 35 trophies at the Camp Nou after joining Bara aged 13 and de-served a better farewell — his last appear-ance came in May’s 2-1 home defeat be-hind closed doors against Celta Vigo.

His trophy tally includes four Cham-pions League and 10 La Liga titles. “The greatest of all, you can surpass me when-ever you want,” wrote Messi’s old Barce-lona teammate Dani Alves — who won the 43rd honour of his career with Brazil at the Olympics — in an Instagram message.

Yesterday morning, the images of the Argentinian in tears leapt out from the pages of all the Spanish sports dailies such as Marca, AS and Sport.

One group of Barcelona fans, represent-ed by a Parisian lawyer, announced their intention to lodge a complaint with the European Commission in connection with the rules of fi nancial fair play that Barce-lona and PSG must follow.

Despite off ering to cut his salary by half to seal a new fi ve-year contract which a club carrying debts of 1.2bn euros and the player had agreed on, the deal foundered on strict Spanish league salary cap rules. Messi’s arrival would make PSG even more obvious favourites to reclaim a French ti-tle they missed out on last season to Lille. Some in Ligue 1 have mixed feelings about the impending arrival of arguably the greatest player of all time.

“It’s extraordinary for Ligue 1,” said Metz coach Frederic Antonetti. “But for a purist like me, Messi should have fi nished his career at Barcelona.”

This summer PSG have already added veteran Spanish defender Sergio Ramos from Real Madrid and Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, the star of Euro 2020. They have also signed Liverpool midfi elder Georginio Wijnaldum, snatch-ing the Dutchman from under the noses of Barcelona, and spent 60mn euros on In-ter Milan right-back Achraf Hakimi, who scored on his league debut at the weekend.

An added attraction in moving to Paris is that coach Mauricio Pochettino, like Messi, started his career at Newell’s Old Boys in Rosario, Argentina.

All going to plan he could be unveiled to supporters on Saturday, when PSG play at home to Strasbourg and a full house of nearly 48,000 will be allowed in for the fi rst time since the coronavirus pandemic struck 18 months ago.

TENNIS

Sinner outlasts McDonald to win in WashingtonPage 3

Paris is expected to be Messi’s next destination after his tearful departure from the club he represented for 17 years

EXPLAINED: WHY BARCELONA HAD TO LET SUPERSTAR MESSI GOParis: Barcelona were desperate to keep Lionel Messi and the Argentine wanted to stay at the Camp Nou — as his tears at a farewell press conference on Sunday attested. So why, then, is he leaving the only club he has ever represented in his 17-year professional career?

LA LIGA SALARY CAP Barcelona say they had no choice other than to off load the 34-year-old — on a free transfer with his contract

having ended in June — as they battle to slash a 1.2 billion-euro ($1.4 bn) debt mountain. Messi had agreed to take a 50% wage cut, and studies suggested his commercial value to the club far exceeded the astronomical cost of his salary. However, those debts and the need to comply with a strict Spanish league salary cap have forced Messi out. The Catalans squandered the 222mn euros they received from PSG in 2017 for Neymar by committing fees of over 100mn euros each on the likes of

Philippe Coutinho, Antoine Griezmann and Ousname Dembele.

President Joan Laporta admit-ted that losses for last season alone totalled almost 500mn euros and insisted he could not “mortgage” the club’s future for any player, Messi included.

Clubs in Spain’s top two divisions suff ered a loss of earnings totalling 2.013bn euros ($2.43bn) for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

La Liga rules say no Spanish club can go over a totally salary limit which the league itself has set: in Barca’s case that was 348mn euros for last season, down from 671.4mn euros in the previ-ous term.

Barca went over that reduced limit last season and now La Liga will not tolerate a further lapse. Laporta admit-ted that Barca’s wage bill with Messi would amount to 110% of income. Even with him it would have been too high, at an untenable 95 %.

NO NEW SIGNINGS ALLOWED, INCLUDING MESSI

Some have asked why Messi, if he loved the club so much, couldn’t stay and play for free. Ignoring the fact that it is ludicrous to think the best player in the world could or should agree to that, it would have been impossible.

Without being in line with the salary cap rules, Barcelona are not allowed to register any new signings. With Messi’s previous deal having expired in June, he would have been considered a new

signing. That also raises questions about the summer signings the club had already announced, with Memphis Depay, Sergio Aguero and Eric Garcia having already been recruited on free transfers. Some may ask why La Liga could not be more flexible, given the receipts Messi pulls in while he is a huge global draw for the Spanish game. UEFA has already relaxed its own financial fair play rules to help clubs aff ected by the pandemic, but the Spanish league is standing its ground.

Paris: Barcelona could not aff ord to keep Lionel Messi but Paris Saint-Germain have made their move for the 34-year-old and, while the cost of the deal may be astronomical, it is still likely to be a very smart bit of business if or when it goes through. Barca — swimming in debt of 1.2bn euros ($1.4bn) — ultimately found themselves in a no-win situation with their talisman. Keeping him would have maintained salaries at an untenable 110% of revenue.

Even letting him go leaves that figure at 95% with the Catalan club a prime example of how living beyond one’s means eventually ends in the tears Messi shed Sunday in confirming his departure, Barca unable to defy financial gravity any longer.

An annual salary north of 70mn euros ($82mn) net per season, while breaking Spanish league salary cap requirements, was a price that made sense for Barcelona. Marc Ciria, director general of Diagonal Inversiones consultancy, recently calculated Messi generated some 235mn euros more than he earned over the past four years.

Qatari-owned PSG, who bought Messi’s close friend Neymar from Barcelona for 222mn euros in 2017, can aff ord the Argentinian wizard, who they see as the final piece in the jigsaw to land a first Champions League crown.

Messi, who had agreed to a 50% wage cut with Barcelona and a five-year deal taking him to the age of 39, is reputedly being off ered some 40mn euros a year over two seasons in Paris with the possibility of a third.

Neymar, whose transfer will ultimately cost PSG more than 500mn euros wages included, earns an after-tax salary of 30mn euros annually according to documents released in 2018 by Football Leaks. Messi boosts overall annual earnings to around 110mn euros thanks to lucrative sponsorships with the likes of Pepsi and Adidas, ahead of the likes of long-time La Liga rival Cristiano Ronaldo, LeBron James or Roger Federer.

“We’re on another planet here — it’s stratospheric” with Messi, says sports marketing

analyst Virgile Caillet, adding a putative arrival at the Parc des Princes would constitute “an event such as (has happened) only once or twice in football — with (Diego) Maradona when he signed for Napoli or (Zinedine) Zidane going to Real.”

PSG have essentially taken over the Real Madrid mantle of the home for “galacticos” — megastars whose global status lifts their clubs to another level.

The recent relaxation of UEFA’s financial fair play rules because of the pandemic helps too. “That leaves more margin than previously,” says Christo-phe Lepetit, director of France’s Centre for the Law and Econom-ics of Sport in Limoges.

Getting Messi aboard would mean PSG “developing new marketing approaches. That dovetails perfectly with the PSG strategy,” says Caillet. “Messi is a cast-iron guarantee.

From the moment you recruit him you have a number of ad-ditional revenue streams which flow almost automatically: de-rivative merchandise, ticketing, partnerships. It’s an unmissable opportunity.”

A further plus compared with the 400mn euros shelled out in 2017 to buy Neymar and Kylian Mbappe is the fact PSG don’t have to pay a transfer fee for the out-of-contract Messi. “In terms of amortisation (costs) there is just the salary — I’d say that makes it much more aff ord-able,” smiled Caillet.

A decade into their owner-ship of PSG, Qatar Sports Invest-ments have pushed a policy of capturing big names — even those in the twilight of their careers, notably David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. PSG are the seventh-richest club in the world according to the most recent Deloitte Football Money League, still trailing the likes of Barca, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.

For Caillet, Messi will lift them to even greater heights on and off the pitch. “A second stage was needed for the PSG rocket. Messi will bring an accel-eration,” says Caillet. “It seems paradoxical given his age — but Messi incarnates PSG’s future both economically and in sport-ing terms,” says Caillet.

COST-BENEFIT WEIGHS IN FAVOUR OF MESSI AT PSG

People gather outside the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris yesterday for the expected arrival of Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi. (AFP)

FOOTBALL2 Gulf Times

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Bottles thrown, match held-up as Marseille fi ght back

LIGUE 1

AFPParis

Marseille came back from two goals down to win 3-2 at Montpellier in their French Ligue 1 opener on Sunday but

the game was held up when fans pelted the pitch with bottles. The clash at the Stade Mosson was halted in the 89th minute after Marseille substitute Valen-tin Rongier had been hit on the head with a bottle.

Montpellier’s Florent Mollet was also targeted as he readied to take a corner. Referee Jeremie Pignard led both teams off the pitch while appeals were made for calm. The game was eventually restarted after a delay of 10 minutes.

“It’s always unfortunate because it pe-nalises everyone. The referee did what he had to do. It’s always a little sad to see this kind of thing,” said Montpellier coach Ol-ivier Dall’Oglio.

The derby was played in front of 13,500 fans as the fi rst weekend of the new sea-son witnessed the return of spectators after seven months of matches played behind closed doors due to the pandemic. An own-goal by Luan Perez and a strike by Gaetan Laborde had given Montpellier a 2-0 lead at half-time. But Cengiz Under pulled one back for Marseille in the 67th minute before two goals in fi ve minutes by Dimitri Payet completed the recovery.

Earlier, Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz was hailed “a true leader” after forcing home a last-gasp goal as Lille fought back to a 3-3 draw at Metz as the French cham-pions opened their title defence. The surprise champions, who also beat Paris Saint-Germain in the French Super Cup last week, were trailing 3-1 before late goals from Nanitamo Ikone and Turkish national team captain Yilmaz gave them a hard earned away point.

It was a cautionary tale for Metz who foolishly gave the ball away with a shot on goal deep into injury time. Yilmaz then rampaged the full length of the pitch with the seconds running down to dribble into the area from the left wing and squeeze a shot home from a tight angle.

“That is a true leader,” Lille coach Joce-lyn Gourvennec said of Yilmaz. “He’s a real professional, a real athlete and works so hard when the chips are down.”

Lille captain Jose Fonte was furious af-ter giving up three goals. “It’s not right and I’m not happy. But after that we showed why we are champions,” said the Portuguese international.

Christophe Galtier led Lille to the title last season but quit and joined ambitious south-coast outfi t Nice. However, there was to be no champagne reception in his

fi rst game as the Ineos-bankrolled side were held 0-0 at home by Reims.

In Brittany 18,000 fans were on hand to see Rennes draw 1-1 with promoted Lens, where teenage winger Kamaldeen Sule-mana from Ghana opened the scores with a snap-shot before Lens drew level late on after a goalmouth mix-up.

Promoted Clermont got off to a fl yer beating Bordeaux 2-0 away thanks to late goals from top scorer in Ligue 2 last season Mohamed Bayo, and Jodel Dossou with the last kick of the game. Strasbourg

also suff ered a 2-0 home defeat as Ismael Traore and Stephane Bahoken bagged second half goals for visitors Angers.

Lorient took the lead with a Vincent Le Goff strike in a tight game at Saint-Etienne, who levelled from the spot with a Wahbi Khazri penalty. Paris Saint-Germain might be closing in on signing Lionel Messi but another Argentinian was their match-winner on Saturday as Mauro Icardi’s goal secured a 2-1 victory against newly-promoted Troyes. Lyon were held to a 1-1 draw by Brest.

‘It’s unfortunate because it penalises everyone. The referee did what he had to do’

Lukaku undergoes Chelsea medical aft er €115mn fee agreed with Inter Milan

Ex-FIFA boss Blatter meets Swiss prosecutor in payment probe

Grealish relishing £100mn tag as he targets Champions League, World Cup

Romelu Lukaku has completed the main part of his Chelsea medical in Milan after the Premier League club agreed to pay Inter €115mn

(£97.5mn) to re-sign the striker. Lukaku fl ew by private jet to London yes-

terday evening to complete a move which will bring to about £285mn the transfer fees – excluding for loans – spent on the Belgium international over his career.

The amount to be paid by Chelsea falls just shy of the Premier League record £100mn spent by Manchester City to buy Jack Grealish from Aston Villa.

Thomas Tuchel has made a striker his priority and Chelsea moved for Lukaku after concluding that targets such as Erling Haaland and Harry Kane were out of reach. Lukaku said in June that he would be stay-ing at Inter after winning Serie A but told the club last week that he wanted to rejoin Chelsea. He is expected to earn about £250,000 a week there. Inter have been under pressure to raise funds because of their fi nancial situation but had intended to hold on to Lukaku. His impending move means they plan to keep Lautaro Martinez, for whom Tottenham have off ered €70mn. Lukaku is well acquainted with the Premier League having joined Chelsea from Ander-lecht in 2011 and also played for West Brom, Everton and Manchester United.

KANE QUARANTINING AT SPURS’ TRAINING COMPLEX, SAYS NUNO

Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane has reported back to the club and is isolating at its training complex while fulfi lling quar-antine requirements following his holiday in the Bahamas and Florida, manager Nuno Espirito Santo said on Sunday.

Kane, 28, did not show up for pre-season training last week but maintained he “never refused” to train amid reports that he was trying to force a move to Premier League champions Manchester City. Nuno said that he has not yet spoken to the club’s cap-tain, who will train alone until Thursday in order to comply with protocols enforced to reduce the risk of coronavirus infections.

“Harry is with us. He has to quarantine. He is in The Lodge but he is training,” Nuno

said, referring to the luxury residential facility for players at the training complex. “We expect to integrate Harry when he fol-lows all the protocols that we have to apply. “I will speak with Harry probably as soon as possible... we have a training session tomorrow and with social distancing hope-fully I will speak with Harry.”

Nuno made the comments following Tot-tenham’s 1-0 pre-season friendly win over north London rivals Arsenal. On Friday, City boss Pep Guardiola confi rmed that the

club were still keen to sign the England cap-tain after an initial off er reportedly worth 100mn pounds ($138.66mn) was turned down by the London club in June. Totten-ham, who fi nished seventh in the Premier League last season, will host City on Aug. 15 in the opening game of their 2021-22 campaign.

SPARTA HEAD TO MONACO MAKING AMENDS FOR RACIST CHANTS

Sparta Prague made amends yesterday for racist chants from their fans targeting AS Monaco players during a Champions League game last week as they brace for the second leg trailing 2-0.

Ahead of today’s Champions League third qualifying round return at Monaco, Sparta also said they had identifi ed the culprits and vowed to ban them.

“We are deeply saddened by the incident that occured during the game last week,” Sparta said in a letter to AS Monaco and midfi elder Aurelien Tchouameni, published on its website. The Frenchman was targeted by monkey chants as he scored the fi rst goal on 37 minutes in Prague last week, and the game was briefl y held up before Monaco players decided to play on.

The incident led UEFA to start disci-plinary proceedings against Sparta over “discriminatory behaviour, injurious chanting and the throwing of objects at the player”.UEFA has yet to announce its verdict. “Thanks to the CCTV recordings and TV recordings the persons involved in the incident have already been identifi ed by the club, are under the investigation procedure and will be banned from all AC Sparta Prague matches,” Sparta said. “The investigation procedure will be fi nalised in a short time.”

Sparta also vowed “zero tolerance of any kind of discriminatory behaviour.” Under UEFA rules, no fans of visiting teams will be allowed to attend the third qualifying round games. Last week, the Czech League Foot-ball Association slapped a fi ne on Sparta and threatened to close its stadium follow-ing racist chants from Sparta fans targeting French defender Florent Poulolo during a Czech league game.

AFPZurich

Former world football chief Sepp Blatter yes-terday met with a Swiss prosecutor investigating

suspected fraud surrounding a FIFA payment to Michel Platini, as the long-running probe inches towards a conclusion.

Former FIFA president Blatter, 85, is being investigated over a 2mn Swiss franc ($2.2mn, 1.85mn euro) payment in 2011 to Platini, who was then in charge of Euro-pean football’s governing body UEFA. After the interview at the federal prosecutor’s offi ce in Zu-rich, the city where FIFA has its headquarters, Blatter said he would return today to resume the fi nal hearing in the investigation.

“It is a normal audience. It’s the fi rst part. The second part will be tomorrow,” he told jour-nalists waiting outside. “It was in a good spirit.”

Blatter, who was accompa-nied by his lawyer Lorenzo Erni, said he would spend the rest of the day resting and working. He smiled and waved as he was driv-en away. The hearing with a fed-eral prosecutor from the Offi ce of the Attorney General (OAG) of Switzerland was postponed to August due to the retired Swiss football administrator’s health.

He spent two months in hos-pital in December and January after undergoing heart surgery, and in March was convalesc-ing in a clinic. Due to Blatter’s condition, he was only meant to spend around 90 minutes with the prosecutor yesterday. But he spent more than two and a half hours inside and said he would return today. Joseph “Sepp” Blat-ter joined FIFA in 1975, became

its general secretary in 1981 and the president of world football’s governing body in 1998. He was forced to stand down in 2015 and was originally banned by FIFA for eight years, later reduced to six, over ethics breaches when he authorised what prosecutors termed a “disloyal payment” to Platini — in other words, one made in his own interests rather than FIFA’s.

Blatter and Platini, 66, found themselves at the centre of a Swiss federal investigation. “Specifi cally, the criminal pro-ceedings against Joseph Blatter are now being conducted on sus-picion of fraud, breach of trust and unfaithful business manage-ment,” the OAG said in a state-ment ahead of yesterday’s hear-ing. “The criminal proceedings against Michel Platini are being conducted on suspicion of fraud, participation in breach of trust, participation in unfaithful man-agement and false documents.”

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, in lengthy and com-plex proceedings, suspects “are

questioned one last time before the investigation is concluded, and asked to comment on the results of the investigation”, the OAG added. “Conducting fi nal interviews does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the outcome of criminal pro-ceedings (discontinuation, pen-alty order or indictment).”

While Blatter’s fi nal hearings with the prosecutor were post-poned to August, Platini’s took place in March. Blatter’s spokes-man Thomas Renggli told AFP that FIFA had a lawyer present at Monday’s meeting.

“It’s over for today, but it will continue tomorrow. Mr. Blatter is happy. He said it has gone well so far,” Renggli said. “He hopes the hearing ends tomorrow.”

In a statement ahead of the hearing, Blatter said he was going into the session with optimism. He insisted the payment to former France and Juventus at-tacking midfi elder Platini, con-sidered among world football’s greatest-ever players, was above board.

AFPManchester, United Kingdom

Jack Grealish said yes-terday he is enjoying the tag of becoming Eng-land’s fi rst ever £100mn

($139mn) player after join-ing Premier League champions Manchester City from Aston Vil-la. Grealish left his boyhood club last week in a transfer that saw him become the most expensive player in Premier League history, surpassing Paul Pogba’s move to Manchester United in 2016.

“I actually like it, I think it is a good tag to have,” said the 25-year-old as he was unveiled at the Etihad Stadium. “It means so much to me that the club were willing to spend that much on me, it fi lls me with confi dence. It just shows me how much the club and the manager value me. I just hope now I can repay this football club by winning as many titles as possible and that trophy we all want.”

That trophy is the Champions League with City still to conquer Europe despite winning fi ve Pre-mier League titles in the past 10 years. Grealish said the lure of playing at the highest level in Eu-rope, allied to the chance to learn from City boss Pep Guardiola was too good an opportunity to turn down.

“It was one of the tough-est (decisions) I’ve ever had to make,” he added on leaving Villa, who he joined at the age of six. “It came down to something

I felt I couldn’t turn down. To play Champions League football, challenge for trophies, play next to people like Kevin de Bruyne and play for the best manager in the world.”

Grealish played a bit-part role as England reached their fi rst major tournament fi nal for 55 years at Euro 2020 last month, only to lose on penalties to Italy. The 2022 World Cup is just over a year away and Grealish admitted his ambitions at international level also played a part in his de-cision to move.

“We have so much talent at the national team,” he added. “If I’m performing for Man City week in, week out, I feel like it could set me up to have a brilliant future for the national team and start in these (World Cup) games and the qualifi ers.”

Grealish will team up with his international colleagues Ra-heem Sterling, Phil Foden, John Stones and Kyle Walker at City and could end up supplying the ammunition for England captain Harry Kane at club level.

Kane issued a statement on Friday denying he refused to re-turn to pre-season training with Tottenham last week as he tries to force his way out of Spurs.

City are keen for Kane to be Sergio Aguero’s long-term suc-cessor at the Etihad, but the striker still has three years left on his Tottenham contract and the clubs, who face each other on the opening weekend of the Premier League on Sunday, are not yet close to agreeing a fee.

ROUND-UPFOCUS

SPOTLIGHT

Marseille’s players celebrate after scoring a goal against Montpellier during the French Ligue1 match at the Mosson stadium in Montpellier, southern France on Sunday night. (AFP)

Jack Grealish speaks to Manchester City fans outside the Etihad Stadium during his unveiling in Manchester yesterday. (AFP)

Former president of world football’s governing body FIFA, Sepp Blatter leaves the building of the Off ice of the Attorney General of Switzerland to attend a hearing in Zurich. (AFP)

SPORT3Gulf Times

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Sinner outlasts McDonald to win in Washington

South Africa’s van Rooyen ‘over the moon’ aft er winning Barracuda golf

Collins bags second WTA title

Ancer wins WGC St. Jude with playoff birdie

ATP’s top-ranked teen has now won his third career title

TENNIS

BOTTOMLINE

FOCUS

GOLF

AFPWashington, DC, United States

Italy’s Jannik Sinner, the ATP’s top-ranked teen, cap-tured his third career title on Sunday, outlasting Ameri-

can Mackenzie McDonald 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in the Citi Open fi nal.

World number 24 Sinner, a 19-year-old who won at Sofi a last year and Melbourne in Janu-ary, took the top prize of $350,755 on the Washington hardcourts.

“I’m very happy about this tournament and win,” Sinner said.

McDonald, ranked 107th and playing in his fi rst ATP fi nal, denied Sinner on 16 of 21 break chances, 10 in the fi rst set, and battled from 5-2 down to level the fi nal set before falling.

“A big fi ght... in every single part of the game,” Sinner said. “I tried to stay calm and work for my chances.”

Sinner became the youngest ATP 500-level champion in 146 events since the category was created in 2009, breaking the mark 20-year-old Alexander Zverev set at Washington in 2017.

“I don’t put much weight on that,” Sinner said. “There are a lot of players who have done much better than me. It’s not about the youngest. I just want to work hard and play good matches.”

Eight days shy of his 20th birthday, Sinner became the third-youngest Washington champion after 18-year-old Andy Roddick in 2001 and 19-year-old Juan Martin del Po-tro in 2008.

“I’m not looking if I’m the youngest because the road is long,” he said. “There’s still much work to do. I’m already fo-cusing on next week.”

Sinner, who made the last eight at the 2020 French Open, was the fi rst Italian fi nalist in the US capital event’s 52-year his-tory.

Sinner will jump to a career-high 15th in Monday’s rankings while McDonald will rise to 64th.

In the third set, Sinner broke

for a 2-0 edge, saved three break points to hold for a 4-1 lead and held again to 5-2.

Sinner dropped two match points in the eighth game — the Italian netting a forehand and McDonald hitting a forehand winner — and made four un-forced errors in the ninth, allow-ing McDonald to break back and

hold again to reach 5-5.Sinner held at love on his ninth

ace and broke to claim the match after two hours and 53 minutes when McDonald netted a back-hand.

“In the third set, I tried to get a little bit up with the rhythm, go faster, tried to serve it out,” Sin-ner said. “We were both there

trying to stay mentally strong.”

‘A ROLLER COASTER’Sinner, broken only three times in his fi rst four matches, was broken three times in the fi rst two sets by the 26-year-old American.

“It was physical but also men-tal,” Sinner said. “I had a lot of chances. First he was playing better in crucial moments. I tried to work for one more chance and one more chance. It was a little bit of a roller coaster.”

After breaking at love in the sixth game, Sinner served for the fi rst set in the ninth, but McDon-ald broke again on a forehand winner.

McDonald saved six break points in a tense 10-minute 10th game before holding to pull level and, after Sinner held at love to 6-5, saved four more break points in the 12th game before netting a backhand to fi nally surrender the set.

In the second set, McDonald saved two break points to hold for 3-3, then broke Sinner, and held twice to force a third.

Jannik Sinner (also above) of Italy holds the championship trophy after winning the Citi Open at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center in Washington, DC, United States, on Sunday. (USA TODAY Sports)

AFPWashington, United States

Mexico’s Abraham An-cer birdied the sec-ond playoff hole to win the World Golf

Championships St. Jude Invita-tional on Sunday, denying Hideki Matsuyama and Sam Burns for his fi rst US PGA Tour title.

It was an unlikely trio in the playoff at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, where overnight leader Harris English — two-up with nine to play — had two double-bogeys on the back nine and last-group play-ing partner Bryson DeChambeau was six-over on the back nine to fall out of contention.

“This is surreal,” said Ancer, who carded a two-under par 68 that featured three birdies and a bogey to fi nish on 16-under 264.

“I felt I left so many shots out there on the back nine, but you never know.”

Masters champion Matsuyama — coming off a bitterly disap-pointing failure to medal at the Tokyo Olympics — charged into the playoff with a bogey-free seven-under par 63 and Burns had eight birdies in his six-under 64 to make the playoff .

All three parred the fi rst play-off hole, where Matsuyama watched his 18-foot birdie at-tempt burn the edge.

They returned to play the 18th one more time, Matsuyama again leaving himself a long birdie try that he couldn’t convert.

Ancer stuck his approach six feet from the pin and Burns’s ap-proach settled just inside that.

After Ancer drained his birdie putt, Burns stepped up, but his birdie try circled the cup and failed to fall, leaving Ancer to hoist the trophy.

“I went right at it, and the shot played perfectly in my mind and it came out just how I pictured it,” Ancer said of his bold ap-proach into the second hole of sudden death.

The 30-year-old, who played college golf at the University of Oklahoma, claimed his fi rst US PGA Tour title in his 121st start — a run that has included four

runner-up fi nishes.English, who was trying to be-

come the fi rst wire-to-wire win-ner on the PGA Tour this season, fi nished alone in fourth on 265 after a three-over par 73.

American Daniel Berger (66), England’s Paul Casey (67) and Australian Cameron Smith (72) shared fi fth on 266.

Smith was 16-under through 17 holes but made a double-bo-gey at the 72nd hole to fall out of the playoff . The Aussie hit into the crowd off the tee and tried to advance the ball through a nar-row gap in the trees only to hit a branch.

“I wanted to make sure I had a good look at birdie and I just didn’t execute it,” Smith said.

DeChambeau, who started the day alongside Smith two shots off the lead, carded a four-over par 74 to fi nish tied with Will Za-latoris on 268.

“It’s tough to lose in a playoff , but I wasn’t able to hit the fair-way with either tee shot,” said Matsuyama, who was in the right rough off the tee on both playoff holes. “I want to congratulate Ab-raham, he played great all week.”

ON THE CLOCKEnglish, who was seeking a third win of the season, admitted that he was unsettled after he and De-Chambeau were warned for slow play.

“(It) felt like we were running

pretty much the whole round and that really caught up (with us),” English said. “You defi nitely start the day in one rhythm and then you kind of get out of that hav-ing to walk faster, having to do everything a little faster, because you don’t want to get a bad time.”

The 11th with its island green played tough all day, with South Korean Olympian Kim Si-woo making dubious history there with fi ve balls in the water. Four of those shots were from within 11 yards.

He fi nished with a 10-over 13 at the hole, the highest score ever at TPC Southwind, on the way to a fi nal-round 78.

LEADING SCORES AFTER FINAL ROUND(x-won at second playoff hole)264 — x-Abraham Ancer (MEX) 67-62-67-68, Sam Burns (USA) 66-64-70-64, Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 68-69-64-63265 — Harris English (USA) 62-65-65-73266 — Daniel Berger (USA) 66-67-67-66, Paul Casey (ENG) 68-66-65-67, Cameron Smith (AUS) 67-62-65-72268 — Will Zalatoris (USA) 66-66-67-69, Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 65-66-63-74269 — Dustin Johnson (USA) 69-65-65-70, Ian Poulter (ENG) 64-66-67-72270 — Rory McIlroy (NIR) 72-66-66-66, Jordan Spieth (USA) 71-69-63-67

Abraham Ancer poses with the Gary Player Cup after winning the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational golf tournament in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, on Sunday. (USA TODAY Sports)

AFPSan Francisco, United States

American Danielle Col-lins grabbed her second WTA tour title just two weeks after claiming

her fi rst with a hard-fought vic-tory over Daria Kasatkina in San Jose, California, on Sunday.

Collins, the 27-year-old who became the tour’s 14th fi rst-time champion of 2021 with her clay-court title in Palermo last month, kept the momentum going on the hardcourts of California with a 6-3, 6-7 (10), 6-1 victory.

It took longer than it might have, seventh-seeded Collins serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set but letting fi ve match points go begging as fourth-seeded Kasatkina forced a decisive third set.

Collins had lost her two pre-vious matches against Russia’s Kasatkina, including a semi-fi nal defeat at the Phillip Island Tro-phy in Melbourne this year.

But after Kasatkina grabbed the second-set tiebreaker on her fi fth set point, Collins, ranked

36th in the world and projected to return to the top 30 after the victory, was able to settle herself and regain the upper hand.

Collins converted fi ve of her eight break points in the match, breaking Kasatkina at love for a 5-3 lead in the fi rst set.

Three aces in a row and a serv-ice winner in the next game gave her the opening frame, and Col-lins went up an early break in the second.

But when Collins was un-able to convert two match points against Kasatkina’s serve in the ninth game of the second set, the Russian began to gain ground.

She broke Collins to level the set, and seized a 4-0 lead in a tiebreaker that would eventually feature three more match points for the American before Kasat-kina fi nally levelled the match.

Collins gained the advan-tage for good with a break for 3-1 in the third, fi nally sealing the match on her seventh match point.

The exhausted American couldn’t even summon a celebra-tory fi st-pump and was checked out by a trainer at courtside be-fore addressing the crowd and hoisting the trophy at the victory ceremony.

AFPLos Angeles, United States

South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen birdied the 18th hole with the help of a lucky bounce to win the

2021 Barracuda Championship on Sunday for his fi rst victory on the US PGA Tour.

The 31-year-old from Cape Town scored 16 points in the fourth round for a 50 point total and a fi ve-shot win over runner-up Andrew Putnam of the United States at the Old Greenwood Course in Truckee, California.

“When it is your day, it is your day,” said van Rooyen.

Van Rooyen becomes the third

South Africa to win on the PGA Tour this year, joining Branden Grace and Garrick Higgo. This is the fi rst time three diff erent South African’s have won in the same season since 2010 when Ernie Els, Tim Clark and Louis Oosthuizen did it.

“This means everything,” van Rooyen said. “It is everybody’s dream to play here (North Amer-ica). Look at my career. I started in South Africa. I won in South Africa and Europe and now here. I am over the moon.”

Putnam scored 11 points on Sunday as did third place fi nisher Scott Piercy at the event which uses the modifi ed Stableford scoring system.

Players receive eight points

for an albatross, fi ve for eagle, two for birdie and none for par. A point is subtracted for a bogey, and three points are taken away for a double bogey or worse.

Van Rooyen got a lucky break on 18 when his tee shot sailed way left into a clump of trees. It smacked into one of the saplings with a resounding thud and rico-chetted back onto the middle of the fairway.

He hit his 194-yard approach on the green, and drained a 10 footer for birdie, celebrating with a fi rst pump and a scream.

“I got a massive break on 18,” he said. “It was probably the worst shot I hit all week but I got a really great bounce. Sometimes you need a little luck.”

The 2017 runner-up at the Joburg Open already had one vic-tory on the European Tour, cap-turing the Scandinavian Invita-tional in 2019.

Van Rooyen dedicated this win to his wife and baby, who was born a month ago. He has been so busy travelling for work that he’s hardly spent any time with his new daughter.

“We had a baby a month ago. I have only been with her for a week so this one goes out to my wife and daughter.”

Putnam, who was seeking to become just the third player to win this event twice, got off to a roaring start by going birdie, ea-gle, birdie, birdie on his fi rst four holes.

He sank his fourth and fi nal birdie of the day on the par-four 16th but then ran into trouble on 18 when his wayward tee shot landed in a fairway bunker. He won this event in 2018 for his lone PGA title.

LEADING SCORES AFTER FINAL ROUND(Modified Stableford Scoring System awards and subtracts points for birdies and bogeys)50 — Erik van Rooyen (RSA) 7-17-10-1645 — Andrew Putnam (USA) 10-15-9-1144 — Scott Piercy (USA) 10-15-8-1143 — Adam Schenk (USA) 8-19-11-541 — Brandon Hagy (USA) 9-9-5-1840 — Roger Sloan (CAN) 11-4-11-14

Erik van Rooyen of South Africa celebrates with the trophy after winning the Barracuda Championship in Truckee, California, United States, on Sunday. (AFP)

Tsitsipas calls for coaching to be allowed during matchesReutersToronto, Canada

Stefanos Tsitsipas said on Sunday coaching during matches still takes place on the ATP Tour and that rules

in place banning such instruction need to be changed.Tsitsipas, speaking in Toronto where he is the third seed for the Masters 1000 hard-court event, feels there needs to be a way to allow communication between coaches and players that is not overly intrusive to the flow of a match.“Some referees have been catching the coaches that have been coaching, some others haven’t,” said Tsitsipas. “It has been there all these years, it’s never going to change, it’s not going to stop.“My opinion on that is that coaching

should be allowed, there should be certain regulations and certain ways to enhance it into players performance without it becoming too much.”The issue of players receiving instruction during matches came to the forefront at the 2018 US Open final when Serena Wil-liams was warned by the chair umpire after

her coach gestured from the stands during the showdown against Naomi Osaka.The penalty infuriated Williams and she was later docked a point and a game for further code violations before falling in straight sets.In 2020, the WTA decided existing rules were diff icult to regulate and so decided to allow, on a trial basis, coaching from the stands.While such moves may upset traditional-ists, Tsitsipas feels the game needs to evolve.“What’s the point of having a coach with you if you can’t get the whole benefit out of it,” said Tsitsipas.“I know tennis is a sport where you get to make the decisions and you can decide for yourself, but sometimes an eye from the outside it can always help and maybe change certain outcomes of matches.”

Tokyo counts cost of $15bn pandemic Games

Bangladesh skittle out Australia for 62 in T20 series triumph

Riders criticise Red Bull Ring safety

QREC announces 70-raceday programme for new season

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

GULF TIMES SPORT

OLYMPICS CRICKET

MOTOGP

HORSE RACING

While off icials have been bullish, it will take longer to ascertain impact

By Sports ReporterDoha

The Racing Department of the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) held a meeting with horse owners and train-

ers yesterday to discuss and announce the racing programme for the 2021-22 season. QREC was represented at the meeting by Racing Manager Abdulla Rashid al-Kubaisi, Racing and Techni-cal Adviser to Chairman Sami Jassim al-Boenain and Handicapper Marcus Weedon.

The productive meeting covered several matters, including some of the suggestions provided by owners and trainers both before the programme was developed and after its initial draft. Other suggestions made will be consid-ered in due course of time.

QREC issued two separate pro-grammes — one for the Al Rayyan race-course including 55 racedays and other for the Al Uqda racecourse including 15 race days — for a total of 70 race days. The new programme represents

a quantum leap in the number of race days per season, and will feature 531 races, 83 races more than the last sea-son.

Following the meeting, owners and trainers praised the development of the upcoming season’s programme, both in terms of quantity and quality. They

expressed their aspirations for a suc-cessful season, which will serve as a basis for their accurate preparations for future seasons.

Al-Kubaisi lauded the cooperation of owners and trainers. “In line with the QREC’s strategy, the programme focuses on race variety and enhancing

racing standards. In fact, we started to prepare the programme as soon as the last season ended. Our ideas have been based on the numbers and categories of horses as well as the requirements and suggestions of owners and trainers. We have also been keen to complete the programme as soon as possible in order

to give them the opportunity to prepare for the next season. We look forward to a successful new season for all parties,” he said.

Al-Boenain was pleased with the discussions at the meeting. “We are pleased with this comprehensive development in the programme to

meet and reflect the aspirations and requests of owners and trainers,” he said.

“Their suggestions were made in previous meetings and after the issu-ance of the fi rst draft of the programme, and these were taken into account in the fi nal version. The new programme takes into account the gradual progres-sion of weekly race meetings to ensure horses reach their peak potentials in the major meetings, topped by His High-ness The Amir Sword Festival. It fur-ther accommodates all horse categories as well as their various age groups and ratings and off ers fair opportunities to all over a variety of distances ranging between 1,000 and 3,200 metres at Al Rayyan, and 1,200 and 2,300 metres at Al Uqda.”

The 2021-22 racing season will kick off on Wednesday, October 13, 2021, at Al Rayyan racecourse and conclude on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at the same venue.

Races at Al Uqda racecourse, on the other hand, will start on Saturday, No-vember 13, 2021, and come to a close on Thursday, February 24, 2022.

QREC Racing Manager Abdulla Rashid al-Kubaisi, and Racing and Technical Adviser to Chairman Sami Jassim al-Boenain attend the meeting with the owners and trainers yesterday.

AFPDhaka, Bangladesh

Shakib Al Hasan took four wickets as Bangladesh skittled out Australia for their lowest ever Twen-

ty20 total of 62 to seal the series 4-1 yesterday.

Chasing 123 for victory, the visitors crashed out in 13.4 overs with Shakib returning fi gures of 4-9 with his left-arm spin in the 60-run rout in Dhaka.

Australia’s previous lowest was 79 all out against England in 2005.

Bangladesh, who had secured their fi rst series win over Aus-tralia after winning the opening three matches, bounced back from their previous loss to fl atten the opposition batting.

“The boys showed a lot of character and hunger to win a se-ries against a team like Australia,” home skipper Mahmudullah Riy-

ad said after the triumph.“We executed our plans really

well. Obviously it was hard for the batters, but we did well to keep getting 120-130. All the bowlers worked really well together.”

He said, “We always felt that in our backyard we are a very good team. We can’t let anything go past.

“Though the ranking doesn’t show it, I have always felt we have very good potential to be a very good team in T20 internationals.”

Pace bowler Mohamed Saifud-din combined with Shakib to rattle Australia with twin strikes in one over and send back Alex Carey and Moises Henriques, both for three.

Shakib, who got Ashton Turn-er out for his 100th T20 scalp, wiped off the tail with the wick-ets of Nathan Ellis and Adam Zampa as Bangladesh celebrated.

The 34-year-old Shakib, a veteran of 58 Tests, 258 one-day

matches and 84 T20s, said he is “still enjoying the game”.

Spinner Nasum Ahmed had done the early damage when he bowled Dan Christian for three and then trapped the in-form Mitchell Marsh for four in suc-cessive overs.

Skipper Matthew Wade (22) and Ben McDermott fought back with a 21-run stand for the third wicket but Mahmudullah broke the partnership. He got McDer-mott caught and bowled for 17.

Earlier Mohamed Naim made 23 in Bangladesh’s 122 for eight after electing to bat.

Christian, who took an inter-national scalp after seven years, and Nathan Ellis took two wick-ets each.BRIEF SCORES: Bangladesh 122 for 8 (Mohamed Naim 23; Nathan Ellis 2-16, Dan Christian 2-17) beat Australia 62 all out (Matthew Wade 22; Shakib Al Hasan 4-9, Mo-hamed Saifuddin 3-12) by 60 runs

Bangladesh’s cricketers pose with the series winners’ trophy after winning the fifth Twenty20 match against Australia at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh, yesterday. (AFP)

AFPTokyo, Japan

Tokyo awoke to a huge bill and soaring coro-navirus cases yester-day after pulling off a

mid-pandemic Olympics that at times looked impossible and had a mixed reception to the end.

Olympic offi cials have been predictably bullish, saying the Games off ered hope and up-lifting moments, and went off without any major coronavirus outbreaks.

“These Olympic Games have been a powerful demonstration of the unifying power of sport,” International Olympic Com-mittee chief Thomas Bach said at his closing press conference.

But it will take longer for Ja-pan to reckon with a Games that were highly controversial and unfolded as virus cases explod-ed in Tokyo and elsewhere.

The Asahi Shimbun daily, which had called for cancella-tion despite being a sponsor of the Games, said the nearly $15bn event was a “gamble” with peo-ple’s lives.

“This gamble went ahead, making the situation worse,” it said yesterday.

A poll conducted by the pa-per over the last two days of the Games found 56 percent of Japanese supported holding the event, with 32 percent opposed. Just 32 percent said they felt the Games were “safe and secure”, with 54 percent unconvinced.

Tokyo’s 2020 Olympics were unlike any other, starting with last year’s historic postpone-ment that upturned years of planning for athletes.

Restrictions at the Games themselves meant masks for all, cheering for none, and fans banned from almost all venues for the fi rst time.

‘HIGH PRAISE’Despite everything, as the Games opened there were signs that Japan’s public might be having a change of heart.

Thousands fl ocked to the Ol-ympic Stadium for a glimpse of the opening ceremony fi reworks and a chance to take their photo in front of the Olympic rings.

When the sport got under way, people defi ed requests to stay away from events held on public roads, and snapped up Olympic merchandise in stores across Japan.

“If you see these athletes running in front of you, you can’t help but cheer for them,” Hirochika Tadeda told AFP along the route of the triath-lon, which passed in front of his home.

Tributes to the athletes were

a key theme of editorials in Ja-pan yesterday, with the Yomiuri Shimbun off ering “high praise for competitions into which they poured all their eff orts.”

There had been concerns about what the pandemic and the postponement would mean for sport at the Games.

But despite some high-profi le disappointments, performanc-es remained impressive, with world records broken and the successful introduction of sev-eral new sports including skate-boarding and surfi ng.

The coronavirus cast a long shadow over the Games from

the start, and several athletes’ Olympic dreams were shattered by the results of a PCR test.

Most though were just happy the Games went ahead at all.

“Mid-pandemic they success-fully held an amazing Olympics. Always greeting us with a smile and so much kindness. Thank you,” wrote Australian footballer Alanna Kennedy on Twitter.

The Olympics were also a tri-umph for Japanese sport, with a record 27 gold medals in eve-rything from baseball to skate-boarding.

Japanese Olympic offi cials said they felt the gold rush drove

public support for the Games, pointing to the families who brought children to venues to cheer outside or hung fl ags in their windows.

But behind the cheering, there is a looming sense of crisis over the sharp rise in virus cases during the Games.

For some though, the sport-ing highlights swept away con-cerns about the pandemic.

“It’s true that I was a little worried,” 21-year-old university student Reita Goto told AFP.

“But in the end the Olympics has brightened up not only Ja-pan but also the world.”

A worker moves the barricades in front of the Olympic Rings, a day after the end of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, yesterday. (Reuters)

Riders on the MotoGP circuit, including world champion Joan Mir and seven-time champion

Valentino Rossi have labelled the Red Bull Ring “dangerous” after another serious accident on the track during Sunday’s Styrian GP.

Mir and Rossi both criticised Turn 3 in particular, site of Sun-day’s crash which saw a red fl ag coming out for the third succes-sive race at the Red Bull Ring.

The track will also host next Sunday’s Austrian GP.

“T3 is critical, really dangerous especially in the wet,” said Mir, who fi nished second in Sunday’s

race. “What is also very dan-gerous on this track is T1 and T3 because at the exit of these cor-ners there is an uphill and then it drops down. And if something happens there, you don’t see it.”

On lap three, KTM rider Dani Pedrosa fell on Turn 3. Several riders narrowly missed him be-fore Lorenzo Savadori of Aprilia hit his bike.

Pedrosa, returning to Mo-toGP as a test rider, walked away but Savadori was removed on a stretcher and will have an opera-tion on a broken right ankle.

The crash was reminiscent of the accidents at last year’s two

races, which again saw the Styr-ian and Austrian GPs raced back-to-back.

During the fi rst, Franco Mor-bidelli collided at high speed with Johann Zarco at Turn 2. Then, a week later, Maveruck Vinales’ Yamaha crashed into the safety barriers after a brake problem.

“What happened today could have happened everywhere,” said Rossi on Sunday. “This track has three or four wild braking points. The most dangerous is Turn 3. It’s dangerous also for the brakes.

“It explains what Maverick had last year. I don’t know what we can do.” (AFP)

Holder, Brooks return for Windies against Pakistan

AFPKingston, Jamaica

Fast bowler Chemar Holder and middle-order bats-man Shamarh Brooks

have both been recalled to the West Indies squad announced yesterday to face Pakistan in a two-Test series.

There is no place however for bowling spearhead Shannon Gabriel, who is continuing his recovery from injury, and left-handed batsman Darren Bravo who has been given a break after being Covid bubbled for a lengthy period. Holder made his Test debut in New Zealand last year but has not featured since then.

Brooks last played in New Zealand and has earned a recall following a polished century in the Best v Best four-day match last week. The two-match series, which forms a part of the new cycle of matches in the World Test Championship, will be played at Sabina Park from August 12-16 and August 20-24.

President of the Paris Organising Committee of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games Tony Estanguet (centre) stands next to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo (fourth from right) holding the Olympic flag, as French athletes arrive in Paris from the Tokyo Olympic Games yesterday. (AFP)

Over to Paris