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Thursday January 4, 2018

PROFESSIONALS will be given greater importance and offered more important positions in the ongoing reform of the Chinese Football Association (CFA), media reported Tuesday.

The association is expected to announce the largest-ever reform on personnel at the plenary meet-ing, and a reshuffl e of leadership is expected to be made, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

The Beijing Youth Daily predicted that the reshuffl e will include more professional personnel from soccer clubs, as well as retired national soccer players.

Former soccer stars Sun Wen and Zhao Junzhe, former club manager Lin Lefeng, and former coach Li Shubin have already been involved in the CFA, accord-ing to the Beijing Youth Daily.

Previous reforms of the CFA shows that the association will focus on youth training, mar-keting and operating, as well as efforts to improve the national soccer team, said the report.

“This act is expected to improve the administrative capability of the CFA,” said Liu Xiaoxin, chief editor of Guangzhou-based newspaper Soccer News.

“More attention and impor-tance could be placed on soccer due to the reshuffl e,” Liu said.

However, the focus of Chinese fans seems more simple and straightforward.

“We will cheer as long as the national team makes improve-ments in its performance on the fi eld,” a fan surnamed Guo said.

(Global Times)

Reform highlights national soccer team, leadership

THE Cavaliers got a glimpse of what to expect from Isaiah Thomas on Tuesday as their new point guard made his Cleveland debut in one of the most antici-pated nights of the NBA season.

They surely liked what they saw.

Thomas, acquired in a block-buster offseason trade that saw a disgruntled Kyrie Irving shipped to the rival Boston Celtics, was limited in action off the bench, but showed fl ashes of the offen-sive jolt the Cavs hoped for from their dynamic new point guard in a 127-110 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

He fi nished with 17 points and 3 assists on 6-of-12 shooting, all in 19 minutes off the bench.

Even more than the stat line, the best news for the Cavs is that Thomas looked fearless and ath-letic coming off an offseason hip injury. He moved well with the ball, looked to make plays and did not hesitate to shoot.

With Derrick Rose injured, the Cavs have leaned heavily on Jose Calderon to handle the ball when LeBron James isn’t running point forward. While Calderon is a steady, veteran presence on the court, he’s not the difference maker on offense that Thomas is.

Thomas launched eight 3-pointers in his limited time, hitting three.

How Thomas impacts the Cavs in the win/loss column will be an

interesting watch. His strength mirrors where Cleveland already excels, on offense, while there is no denying that he is a defensive liability.

“I couldn’t sleep last night,” Thomas told Yahoo Sports. “This was a crucial moment for me to step foot on the fl oor. New team, new arena … I’ve felt like I didn’t know what to expect, what it felt like to be on an NBA court. I felt like a rookie. Not being on the fl oor in seven months, I haven’t had a rhythm. Today, it felt like I had a rhythm. I’m still rusty, but I feel good, I feel comfortable out there.

“Once I took that fi rst shot, it felt normal again.”

(SD-Agencies)

Isaiah Thomas explosive in Cavs debut

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Isaiah Thomas (3) shoots over the defense of Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard during the fi rst half at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Tuesday.

SD-Agencies

PEP GUARDIOLA was eager to discover how Manchester City would react to seeing its long winning run in the Premier League come to an end.

A goal after 38 seconds — the quickest of the season — and a convincing 3-1 win over Watford on Tuesday was an emphatic response.

City ended its grueling, four-match festive program with a 15-point lead after 22 games. It could be reduced to 14 points if Chelsea wins at Arsenal in a later match, but City is showing no sign of wobbling as it closes in on a fi rst league title under Guardiola.

Sunday’s 0-0 draw at Crys-tal Palace, which ended City’s record 18-match winning run, tested the character of Guardiola’s side. But the visit of out-of-form Watford to Etihad Stadium offered the perfect chance to bounce back.

Raheem Sterling gave City lead inside a minute — he has now scored the earliest and latest goals in the league this season — before Christian Kabasele’s own goal and a close-range fi nish from Sergio Aguero put City 3-1 up. Andre Gray grabbed an 82nd-minute consolation goal.

“We played really well,” Guardiola said. “After dropping two points, we spoke about our reaction because big teams drop points, but not too much.”

“I think the team showed a lot of good things today. After two days, it means a lot for us.”

Meanwhile, Fernando Llor-

Man City extends lead with win

ente’s fi rst start for Tottenham came against his former club, Swansea. Almost inevitably, he scored.

The Spanish striker headed in the opening goal in Spurs’ 2-0 win that lifted them to fi fth place, four points off fourth-place Liverpool with a game still in hand. Dele Alli added the second in the 89th minute at Liberty Stadium.

Llorente’s 15 goals last season were arguably the main reason why Swansea stayed up. He moved to Tottenham in the summer transfer window and has mostly had to settle for appearances as a substitute.

It was a third victory over the

festive period for Tottenham, which plays West Ham today.

Andy Carroll scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time as West Ham fought back to win 2-1 against West Brom-wich Albion, whose winless run stretched to 20 games.

Carroll had already equal-ized, canceling out West Brom’s opener by James McClean, when he slid in to fi re home Marko Arnautovic’s low cross.

West Ham moved a point above the relegation zone and fi ve points above West Brom. Only three clubs have endured longer runs without a victory in the Premier League than West Brom: Derby (32), Sun-

derland (26) and Norwich (21).Without a point or a goal after

seven games, Crystal Palace is in sight of mid-table in the Premier League after a 2-1 win at South-ampton.

Palace came from behind at St. Mary’s Stadium, bouncing back from Shane Long’s fi rst goal in 11 months with strikes by James McArthur and Luka Milivojevic.

Palace moved up to 14th place, just three off 10th-place Watford, and is much improved under Roy Hodgson since he came in as manager after four games of the season. Southampton is only out of the relegation zone on goal difference. (SD-Agencies)

Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling (L) shoots at goal against Watford during their match at Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Tuesday. SD-Agencies

FIVE-TIME Grand Slam cham-pion Maria Sharapova came back from a set down to defeat Ameri-can Alison Riske at the Shenzhen Open on Tuesday and book a spot in the quarterfi nals.

Riske, who had been hoping for her fi rst win against the former world No. 1, proved to be a tough opponent early in the match before the Russian fi nally overcame her 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in just under two and a half hours.

“I’m glad I got this kind of match. Although I would’ve wanted a quick and easy victory, these are the kind of matches that you need, especially with such a short preparation going into the Australian Open in terms of match play,” Sharapova said.

“I’m just glad that I came back. She played a really great match and as I said to her at the net, I thought it was a great quality match. In the end, I won it so I have another opportunity to keep going.”

Despite Riske’s early lead, Sharapova hit 34 winners, nearly three times Riske’s total.

The world No. 59 was helped by 11 aces, and managed to save seven out of 10 break points.

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, meanwhile, slumped to a shock defeat only days after beating Serena Williams in the American’s comeback match.

No. 2 seed Ostapenko of Latvia lost to the big-serving Czech Krystina Pliskova 6-1, 6-4 in just an hour and 20 minutes.

Ostapenko had beaten Wil-liams via a super tiebreaker 6-2, 3-6, 10-5 in Abu Dhabi on Sat-urday, but she had no answer to the power of Pliskova, identical twin sister of former world No. 1 Karolina.

“I felt a bit nervous in the second set, but my serve was really working today, which was a big help,” Pliskova said.

Pliskova, third on the WTA Tour’s ace charts last season, raced out to a 5-0 lead to start the match.

“My serve was great today, especially in the fi rst set. I feel like it’s really fast here, so that can be tricky for both of us, and the fi rst of us playing fast won the point.”

It was not the start to 2018 that Ostapenko wanted, with the fi rst Grand Slam of the year — the Australian Open — starting in 13 days’ time.

(SD-Agencies)

Sharapova downs Riske in tough test

Maria Sharapova of Russia takes a selfi e after her win over American Alison Riske at the Shenzhen Open on Tuesday.

SD-Agencies