SPORT | 08

Mickelson grabs

one-shot lead at

Travelers

Championship

SPORTRoot reminds

England of West

Indies' bowling

depth

SPORT | 09

SUNDAY 28 JUNE 2020

QNB Stars League: Preparing

for tough competition ahead

TOP: Al Duhail players during a team's training session yesterday. Al Duhail are leading the QNB Stars League (QSL) points standings with 42 points and are expected to face stiff resistance from second-placed Al Rayyan (38 points) in their title hunt when the league resumes on July 24. BELOW: Al Rayyan player takes part in team's training session.

Title blow as Barca draw with Celta despite Suarez's doubleAFP — MADRID

Barcelona’s title hopes suffered a hammer blow yesterday as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Celta Vigo, handing Real Madrid the chance to move two points clear at the top of La Liga.

Luis Suarez twice put Barca in front at Balaidos with his first goals since January but Iago Aspas bent in a late free-kick to earn Celta a draw, in what could prove a pivotal moment in the title race.

Barcelona edge a point ahead of Madrid but Zinedine Zidane’s side will hope to take a big step towards becoming champions by winning away at bottom club Espanyol today.

Madrid own the superior head-to-head against Barca and have won four out of four since La Liga restarted earlier this month. With a kinder run-in than the Catalans, who play Atletico Madrid next on Tuesday, the trophy appears to be Madrid’s to lose.

“The feeling is a negative one,” said Suarez afterwards. “If we want to stay in the title race and have it in our hands we have to win all our games. But we now have to rely on Madrid to drop points.”

Suarez played his best game since undergoing knee surgery in January, his first goal coming from a surprise free-kick from Lionel Messi, who crossed when eve-ryone expected him to shoot.

Yet Barcelona’s defensive frailties hurt them again and Celta should even have won it in injury-time, only for Nolito to miss a golden chance at the back post.

Celta climb to 16th, eight points clear of the bottom three.

Quique Setien answered calls

to start 20-year-old Riqui Puig and 17-year-old Ansu Fati, and the duo impressed, injecting energy and speed into Barca’s attack.

Antoine Griezmann was left on the bench and when he came on, he was on the side of the wall that Aspas breached with his free-kick to find the bottom corner.

Messi was at the heart of eve-rything going forward and it was his early corner that Gerard Pique headed against the crossbar.

With a free-kick on the edge of the area in the 20th minue and a 700th career goal in sight, Messi sized up the sprawl of Celta defenders in front of him.

But with everyone expecting a shot, Messi clipped a cross towards the post, where Suarez headed in. Messi even tried to score from a corner but Celta had

chances too on the break. A poor clearance from Marc-Andre ter Stegen went unpunished by Fedor Smolov, who then overhit his pass when Aspas was clear. Brais Mendez slid through and hit the

post. The warnings went unheeded and when Arturo Vidal played a careless pass early in the second half, Celta capitalised.

Aspas sent Okay Yokuslu sprinting in behind and he squared for Smolov to tap in.

Celta look invigorated but Barca landed a sucker-punch. Denis Suarez lost possession under pressure from Fati, Messi played into Luis Suarez, who backed in, turned and drove into the far corner. It looked like they had weathered the storm but Celta hit back again, Aspas curling around the side of the wall and into the corner with two minutes left.

They should even have won it in injury-time as Denis Suarez teed up Nolito at the back post but a scuffed finish let Ter Stegen save on the line.

Barcelona’s Luis Suarez (foreground) celebrates with team-mates after scoring their first goal, yesterday.

Barcelona edge a point ahead of Madrid but Zinedine Zidane’s side will hope to take a big step towards becoming champions by winning away at bottom club Espanyol today.

Madrid own the superior head-to-head against Barca and have won four out of four since La Liga restarted earlier this month.

Vettel expects tight margins at Austria double-headerREUTERS — LONDON

Sebastian Vettel (pictured) believes the back-to-back races in Austria at the start of the Formula One season will be decided on slim margins and his Ferrari team will need to fine-tune their racing strategy to remain competitive over two weeks.

Four-times world champion Vettel and team mate Charles Leclerc hit the track in Ferrari’s 2018 car, the SF71-H, earlier this week in a test at Mugello as the Scuderia stepped up their preparations for the 2020 campaign.

The season will kick

off with the A u s t r i a n Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, fol-lowed a w e e k later by a second race at the s a m e

track, as part of an eight-race European leg. “I have no expe-rience heading back to the same track just a week after and having a second race, but I’ve been around for a while,” Vettel told Ferrari in an interview.

“I guess the level of per-fection will be even higher the second weekend, the level of errors will be even smaller.

“I think there will be a chance to look at the race in par-

ticular, review the strategy and we get another

chance just seven days after, so

that’s a first, and we’ll see how we

tackle that challenge.” The eight races on the initial calendar will be held without fans present and in controlled conditions due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, which has killed over 493,000 people globally.

Vettel, who has already con-firmed his departure from Ferrari at the end of the season, says racing in front of empty stands will be an unusual expe-rience for all the drivers.

“I’ve never done it. I can’t really imagine how it will be,” the 32-year-old German said.

“I think it’s good to race. It’s good to get going but if I could choose, obviously I would race with fans.”

Meanwhile, Australia's Daniel Ricciardo insisted that he doesn't see his preparations being hindered when the delayed Formula One season finally gets underway in Austria next weekend.

"Next weekend, I don't see any preparations being hin-dered," said the 30-year-old.

"We've got our driver space to warm up and to prepare for the race itself so... I guess it's more from a general hygiene point of view.

"But as far as getting into the car ready to go, I believe I'll still be able to use everything I have before to make sure I am hopping in the car one hundred per cent."

I think there will be a chance to look at the race in particular, review the strategy and we get another chance just seven days after, so that’s a first, and we’ll see how we tackle that challenge: Formula 1 star Sebastian Vettel

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Harry Maguire (left) celebrates his match-winning goal.

FA Cup: Maguire sends United into semisAFP — NORWICH

Manchester United moved into the FA Cup semi-finals as Harry Maguire’s strike late in extra time clinched a 2-1 win over 10-man Norwich yesterday.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side had to work hard for their place in the last four as Todd Cantwell forced extra time by cancelling out Odion Ighalo’s opener at Carrow Road.

Norwich defender Timm Klose was sent off for hauling down Ighalo in the 89th minute and that eventually tipped the balance in United’s favour.

They gradually wore Norwich down and England defender Maguire pounced to extend their unbeaten run to 14 games in all competitions.

Solskjaer made eight changes as only Maguire, Luke Shaw and

Bruno Fernandes survived from the midweek Premier League win against Sheffield United.

United’s stand-ins were out of sync for much of a first half that followed the pattern of many post-lockdown matches, both teams lacking energy and invention.

In a rare threat, Maguire had to stop Lukas Rupp’s shot with an alert block after Cantwell’s run opened up the visitors’ defence.

Solskjaer’s team finally awoke from their slumber after the

interval and grabbed the lead in the 51st minute. Luke Shaw’s cross was helped on by Juan Mata and Ighalo sniffed out the chance, flicking an agile finish past Tim Krul from inside the six-yard box.

The Nigerian has scored in each of his four United starts, making it five goals in 11 appear-ances since he arrived from Shanghai Shenhua in January.

Norwich kept pressing and drew level in the 75th minute when Cantwell’s 20-yard strike swerved away from slow-to-react United keeper Sergio Romero.

Suddenly in the ascendency, Norwich almost won it in the final minutes when Buendia shot just past the far post.

But with extra time looming, Fernandes’ superb flick found Ighalo on the edge of the area and Klose’s panicked response, hauling

down the Nigerian, triggered a red card from referee Jonathan Moss.

Krul made good saves to keep out efforts from United substitutes Paul Pogba and Mason Greenwood in a frantic finale.

With five subs allowed since the lockdown and an additional one given to teams who go to extra time in the FA Cup, United become the first English side to make six changes in the same game when Anthony Martial replaced Eric Bailly.

United dominated extra time and Marcus Rashford’s strike was pushed over by Krul, who made an even better save to stop Maguire’s header.

Maguire wasn’t to be denied and in the 118th minute United’s pressure finally told as the England defender poked home from close range after Ighalo flicked on.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side had to work hard for their place in the last four as Todd Cantwell forced extra time by cancelling out Odion Ighalo’s opener at Carrow Road.

08 SUNDAY 28 JUNE 2020SPORT

NBA releases schedule, Silver admits risk existsREUTERS — NEW YORK

Even as the NBA was unveiling its schedule for the conclusion of the regular season, commis-sioner Adam Silver admitted that the league’s “bubble” in central Florida can’t be made totally safe from the corona-virus pandemic.

The league is bringing 22 of its 30 teams to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, for the resumption of play. Each team will compete in eight “seeding games” to complete the regular season, and the playoffs will follow, all at the Disney site.

Action will commence on July 30 with the Utah Jazz opposing the New Orleans Pel-icans, and the Los Angeles Clippers facing the Los Angeles Lakers in a doubleheader that will air on TNT.

The Jazz get to be one of the first teams returning after they were the team that prompted the NBA’s shutdown when All-Star center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus on March 11.

The season has been in hiatus since, but teams are set to arrive at the Disney campus for training by July 11.

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association

finalized the protocols for the Disney “bubble.”

The agreement comes at a time when COVID-19 cases are spiking in Florida.

Silver said on a conference call.

“We know that COVID-19 will be with us for the fore-seeable future, and we are left with no choice but to learn to live with this virus. No options are risk-free right now....

“My ultimate conclusion is that we can’t outrun the virus, and that this is what we’re gonna be living with for the foreseeable future -- which is why we designed the campus the way we did. And so it’s a closed network; and while it’s not impermeable, we are in essence protected from cases around us. At least, that’s the model.

“So for those reasons, we’re still very comfortable being in Orlando.”

The NBA and NBPA

announced in a joint statement on Friday that 16 of the 302 NBA players who were examined Tuesday tested positive for the coronavirus.

Silver added that Florida setting a record with around 9,000 new COVID-19 cases reported Friday is worrying.

“The level of concern has increased, not just because of the increased levels in Florida, but throughout the country,” he said.

The commissioner wasn’t ready to reveal the NBA’s inten-tions should a COVID-19 out-break occur among players.

“I think we want to get down on the ground and start to see how our testing’s working and how the protocols are working and then we’ll make decisions as we go,” Silver said.

Because only 88 of the 259 games remaining on the league’s schedule will be con-tested, the league had to figure out a way to determine which

games to play. The matchups were chosen chronologically, beginning with games that would have been played March 11, with four caveats:

--A matchup couldn’t feature a non-participating team. (The non-contending Charlotte Hornets, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors will not participate.) --A matchup couldn’t result in either team going beyond the maximum of eight games.

--A matchup couldn’t prevent any participating team from having eight possible matchups.

--If two teams facing off head-to-head twice in the sea-son’s resumption would prevent either team from having a single matchup against another team that it was due to play twice, the league set up one matchup against each of the other teams.

Utah Jazz’s players celebrate after win over the Houston Rockets in this February 9, 2020 file photo. Action will commence on July 30 with the Utah Jazz opposing the New Orleans Pelicans, and the Los Angeles Clippers facing the Los Angeles Lakers in a doubleheader.

We know that COVID-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future, and we are left with no choice but to learn to live with this virus. No options are risk-free right now: Adam Silver

Phil Mickelson reacts on the second green.Mickelson grabs one-shot lead at Travelers

REUTERS —NEW YORK

Phil Mickelson used a solid finish to seize a one-shot lead following the second round of the Travelers C h a m p i o n s h i p i n Cromwell, Connecticut, where a third PGA Tour player tested positive for COVID-19.

Mickelson closed with a birdie at the last hole of the TPC River Highlands course for a seven-under-par 63 that brought him to 13 under on the week and one shot clear of first-round leader Mackenzie Hughes (68) and sponsor invite Will Gordon (62).

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy (68) and Xander Schauffele (68) were among a pack of five golfers a further three shots back. Mickelson, in his first tournament since turning 50 last week, will have a short turnaround as third round action will feature threesomes off split tees starting at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) due to expectations for inclement weather later in the day.

“It’s probably a little bit difficult as you get older, but when you’re playing well, you have that extra momentum, and it should be okay,” said Mickelson.

Gordon, in only his eighth PGA Tour start and playing on a sponsor exemption, made the most of his opportunity as he mixed six birdies and one bogey over his opening eight holes before adding another three birdies after the turn.

“I knew that (the course) was going to be gettable this morning,” said Gordon. “Just tried to come into today with a really positive mindset and aggressive mindset and I was able to do that.”

Collin Morikawa came into this week riding a streak of 22 consecutive cuts made to begin his

professional career but finally ran out of gas, falling

three short of matching the record held by Tiger Woods.

“Just couldn’t get the ball in the hole,” said Morikawa.

“That’s the name of the game, right? So it was bound to happen at some point.” Denny McCarthy withdrew ahead of his second round after he became the third PGA Tour player to test positive for COVID-19.

“Last night, I woke up in the middle of the night with additional aches and soreness and sensed some-thing was off,” said McCarthy.

127 - Phil Mickelson 64-63 128 - Will Gordon 66-62, Mackenzie

Hughes (CAN) 60-68 131 - Xander Schauffele 63-68, Brendan Steele 69-62, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 63-68, Brendon Todd 66-65, Marc Leishman(AUS) 66-65

132 - Kevin Streelman 66-66, Kevin Na 66-66, Kang Sung Kang (KOR) 65-67, Zach Johnson 68-64, Viktor Hovland(NOR) 63-69, Patton Kizzire 66-66, Ab- raham Ancer (MEX) 67-65, Troy Merritt68-64, Bryson DeChambeau 65-67, Bri- an Stuard 65-67, Noh Seung-yul (KOR)64-68

TRAVELERS SCORES

Hamilton hurt by Ecclestone’s racism commentsAP — PARIS

Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has criticised “ignorant and uneducated” comments by former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

Hamilton, a six-time world champion and the only Black driver in F1, was shocked by Ecclestone’s claim during an interview with broadcaster CNN on Friday that “in lots of cases, Black people are more racist” than white people.

“Damn, I just don’t even know where to start on this one ... so sad and disappointing to read these comments,” Ham-ilton posted on Instagram.

“This is exactly what is wrong - ignorant and uneducated com-ments which show us how far we as a society need to go before real equality can happen.”

Ecclestone made his

assertion when he was asked his opinion on Hamilton setting up a commission to increase diversity in motorsport.

“I don’t think it’s going to do anything bad or good for Formula One. It will just make people think, which is more i m p o r t a n t , ” E c c l e s t o n e replied.

“People ought to think a little bit and say ‘what the hell’,

somebody’s not the same as white people and that Black people should think the same about white people. Because I think in lots of cases, Black people are more racist than what white people are.”

Challenged to give evidence, Ecclestone replied: “Things over

the years I’ve noticed and there’s no need for it.”

Hamilton recently attended a Black Lives Matter march in London. He has spoken widely

about racism in recent weeks after saying he felt “so much anger,

sadness and disbelief” fol-lowing the killing of George Floyd - a hand-cuffed and unarmed Black man - by a police

officer in Minne-apolis last month.

“Lewis is a little bit special. First he’s very,

very, very tal-ented as a driver and

he seems to be now extremely talented when he’s standing up making speeches,” Ecclestone said.

“This last campaign he’s doing for the Black people is wonderful. He’s doing a great job and it’s people (who are) easily recognizable that people listen to.”

Ecclestone insisted Ham-ilton had never discussed this, and was surprised Hamilton took offense.

“Well, he knows people have been against him because he said they have, but I’m sur-prised that it concerns him even,” Ecclestone said. “I’m really unhappy if he took it seri-ously, I never thought he did. I didn’t think it affected him.”

Ecclestone was evasive about whether he should have done more to condemn those incidents, considering he was in charge.

“Well, I think I did behind the scenes a little bit,” he said. “What else could you do?”

Asked if F1 should have

done more over time to fight racism, Ecclestone replied “they’re too busy trying to win races or find sponsors, so really other things have little if any interest.”

Hamilton said those com-ments were indicative of a deep-seated problem.

“It makes complete sense to me now that nothing was said or done to make our s p o r t m o r e diverse or to address the racial a b u s e I r e c e i v e d throughout

my career,” Hamilton said. “If someone who has run

the sport for decades has such a lack of understanding of the deep rooted issues we as black people deal with every day, how can we expect all the people who work under him to under-stand? It starts at the top.”

F1 distanced itself from Ecclestone.

“At a time when unity is needed to tackle

racism and inequality, we completely dis-agree with Bernie Ecclestone’s com-ments that have no place in F1 or society,” F1 said.

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F1 distanced itself from Ecclestone.

“At a time when unity is needed to tackle

racism and inequality,we completely dis-agree with Bernie Ecclestone’s com-

ments that have no place in F1 or society,”

F1 said.

Lewis Hamilton

Bernie Ecclestone

THE RACE FOR 8 There are six teams in the race for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference - Memphis, Portland, New Orleans, Sacramento, San Antonio and Phoenix. (Technically, Dallas is also in that race, though the Mavericks need only one win and one Memphis loss to clinch no worsethan the No. 7 spot.) There are seven games where those six teams will go head-to-head, including four featuring the Pelicans - who play Sacramento twice, Memphis once and San Antonio once. The othergames: Sacramento vs. San Antonio, Memphis vs. San Antonio and Portland vs. Memphis.Phoenix doesn’t play any of the other five teams in the race for eighth. The Grizzlies start with a 3 1/2-game lead over Portland, New Orleans and Sacramento, along with a four-game edge on San Antonio. Unless the Grizzlies open up space on all four of those clubs, it seems likely that there will be a best-of-two play-in series for the final spot in the West playoffs and a probable first-round matchup with LeBron James and the LosAngeles Lakers. The play-in games will take place if the ninth-place team in either conference is within fourgames of eighth when the seeding round ends. In the East, it’s a bit simpler. No. 7 Brooklyn is six games ahead of Washington and No. 8 Orlando is 5-1/2 games clear of the Wizards in the race to clinch a berth and avoid a play-inseries. None of those teams can move past the No. 7 spot on the East bracket.

MAGIC NUMBERS Milwaukee needs a combination of two wins or Toronto losses to clinch the No. 1 seed in the East. The Lakers need a combination of three wins or Los Angeles Clippers losses to clinch the No. 1 spotout West. Denver also has a mathematical chance at the No. 1 seed out West - but would need to go 8-0 andhave the Lakers go 0-8 for that to happen. Most of the races at Disney will be for seeding. Milwaukee cannot finish lower than No. 2 in the East and Toronto needs only one win to be assured of a top-four seed. The West can still see someshakeups, with four games separating second place from sixth place and only 2 1/2 games separat-ing fourth place from seventh.

HEAT CHECK Miami had a league-high eight games remaining against the eight teams that didn’t qualify for theDisney restart.Now the Heat will have a fight on their hands just to hang onto the No. 4 spot in the East. Miami plays Boston, Denver, Indiana twice, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Toronto and Phoenix in the seeding games. That schedule ranks harder than Indiana’s or Philadelphia’s - the Pacers and 76ersboth will head to Disney two games behind the Heat in the East standings.

Orlando and the Lakers both saw seven games against the eight Disney-non-qualifiers canceled, tied for second-most in the league behind Miami. Memphis had the fewest such games lost, withjust one - a matchup against New York.

HOME ON THE ROAD All 22 teams will be staying at the Disney campus for the rest of their seasons. Yes, that includes theOrlando Magic - whose home arena is about 20 miles from Disney World.The Magic simply see it as doing their part to make the restart happen. “We appreciate the leadership of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, our longtime partner, Disney, andour local leaders in this unprecedented time,” Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins said. “We look for- ward to providing assistance as needed in restarting the NBA season in Orlando, while using ourcollective platform to drive meaningful social impact.”

THEY WILL BE MISSED Milwaukee has the NBA’s best record, and one of the reasons the Bucks hold that mark right now is because of how good they were against the eight teams (Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland,Atlanta, New York, Minnesota and Golden State) that didn’t qualify for the Disney restart. The Bucks were 22-0 against those eight teams - one of three NBA teams to go unbeaten against that group. Oklahoma City was 15-0 and the Lakers were 12-0. Toronto and Boston were both 19-1and Utah was 15-1.Only one remaining team had a losing record against those eight clubs: San Antonio went 7-8.

LAKER BREAKThe schedule means that the Lakers won’t play a back-to-back-to-back after all. The Lakers would have played home games on April 7, 8 and 9 against Golden State, Chicago and the Clippers - the last of those coming because a game that was scheduled to be played shortlyafter Kobe Bryant’s death was moved until later in the season.

THINGS TO KNOW AS NBA IS COMING BACK

09SUNDAY 28 JUNE 2020 SPORT

Young guns Musa, Rohail on plane for England tourAP - ISLAMABAD

Pakistan fast bowler Musa Khan and under-19 captain Rohail Nazir will be among the 20 cricketers flying to England today for a tour whose dates are still to be confirmed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Khan and Nazir were added to the squad after 10 players were forced to miss the flight following positive tests for COVID-19.

The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed the tour on Friday, saying only that the three Tests and three Twenty20s will be without spectators.

The tour was originally to begin on July 30, but the pan-demic delayed all tours, and England’s three-test series against the West Indies next month isn’t scheduled to end until July 28.

Pakistan’s itinerary “will be announced in due course,” the ECB said.

“This was a challenging and unprecedented process that we have conducted and I am pleased that following a second round of testing, we are able to confirm 20 players and 11 player support personnel will travel to Manchester on Sunday,” Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Wasim Khan said.

Upon arrival in England, the players will go into isolation for 14 days in Worcester before transferring to Derbyshire’s Incora County Ground on July 13. During the isolation period, the team will be allowed to train and practice.

Pakistan had some good news yesterday when its Test captain Azhar Ali and limited-overs skipper Babar Azam were among players with negative results from a second round of testing. Khan and Nazir were among five reserve players and both tested negative.

Out of the 10 players who tested positive in the first round of PCB testing, six tested

negative in the second round on Thursday. Fakhar Zaman, M o h a m m a d H a s n a i n , M o h a m m a d H a f e e z , Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan and Wahab Riaz will now have to pass another test next week before they could join the team in England.

Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Kashif Bhatti and Imran Butt again tested positive in the second round of testing.

PCB official Wasim Khan said Hafeez and Riaz both underwent testing at a private lab after their first PCB test was positive earlier this week.

“Due to the increasing

number of national cases and availability of testing labs in some players’ hometowns, I think the PCB medical panel have done a good job to get us through this process.

“Based on the national spread of players, there were always going to be some logis-tical challenges; we have taken a number of learnings from the process that we will take forward with us.

“With the Test series being played first in August, Misbah is satisfied with the group of players that are travelling on Sunday as the focus will be on red-ball preparation. Misbah

understands that flexibility and adaptability will be needed with his training and practice schedule while operating under various guidelines.’

“I want to reassure the players and the official left behind that the PCB will provide them best support and look after them during the quar-antine period.

“It needs to be remembered that these players were asymp-tomatic, which means their chances of regaining complete fitness are higher and brighter than most.

“As soon as these players test negative twice through the PCB testing process they will be flown to England to join the squad.

“I am aware Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz took personal tests outside of our process prior to the second PCB testing. While their results came up negative, as per the PCB testing programme, they are deemed to have one negative test following a positive test. Therefore, once they are retested and receive a second negative result under the PCB testing programme, they will be available to join the squad in England,” Khan said.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez celebrates a half century during an ICC Cricket World Cup match against England at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Britain, in this June 3, 2019, file photo.

Pakistan’s paceman

Muhammad Musa (right) bowls past Australia’s

David Warner on day two

of the second cricket Test

match between Australia and Pakistan in Adelaide in

this November 30, 2019, file

photo.

Captain Root reminds England of West Indies’ bowling depthREUTERS - LONDON

England batsmen must prepare well if they are to get the better of a “formidable” West Indies bowling attack in the three-Test series next month, captain Joe Root has said.

West Indies will be banking heavily on their pace attack in England to defend the Wisden Trophy which they won after triumphing 2-1 on home soil in the 2019 series.

Root said England could not afford to lower their guard against an attack which featured three bowlers - Jason Holder, Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel - who are among the top 20 in official test rankings.

“We are very aware of the skill West Indies have and what they will bring to this series,” Root told BBC Sport.

“One thing that stood out was how formidable their bowling attack can be. It is really important we prepare well and we are ready for all of that.”

Holder is also the top ranked Test all-rounder, followed by England’s Ben Stokes, and West Indies head coach Phil Simmons has predicted their rivalry would light up the series.

“Jase is one of the most well-respected guys in interna-tional cricket,” Root said.

“He took the job at a young age and we are starting to see him at the peak of his career.

“He comes across as a very good bloke. I am looking forward to chatting to him from a social distance.”

Pakistan's management has more experience of English conditions than others: AzharIANS - LAHORE

Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali said that he hopes the expe-rience that the team management has of playing in England and away conditions in general would come handy in their tour of the country next month. Pakistan’s tour of England is set to start on August 5 with a three-match Test series.

Pakistan go in with a star-studded backroom staff headed by head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq. Batting great Younis Khan is the batting coach while former captain Waqar Younis is the bowling coach. Former spinner Mushtaque Ahmed is the spin bowling coach of the team.

“I don’t think we have any problems as far as experience is concerned,” said Azhar in a videoconference with reporters yesterday.

“Misbah has captained the team for seven years, Younis bhai has been a captain and a player for so many years around the world. The experience that Waqar bhai or Mushi bhai have is more than any other bowler could have and in terms of crick-eting knowledge.”

Azhar said that the coaches and himself had played a lot of county cricket and so they have experience of playing in England.

Wuhan’s spot on 2020 calendar offers hope for all, says officialREUTERS - WUHAN

When the WTA announced a provisional list of tournaments for the remainder of a season that will be forever defined by the COVID-19 outbreak last week, one name above all stood out -- the Wuhan Open.

It was in the central Chinese city, the home of China’s first Grand Slam champion Li Na, that the novel coronavirus first emerged before spreading to the rest of the world, forcing the suspension of professional tennis in early March.

Wuhan has accounted for the majority of China’s corona-virus deaths to date and the city was subject to one of the strictest lockdowns in the world for 76 days.

“To go through that, to overcome that, I think it’s huge,” the tournament’s co-director Brenda Perry said from her home in Auckland.

“It’s huge symbolism and I think very inspiring for eve-rybody there.

“At the moment that’s one

of the first to experience the closest to being back to normal that we see around the world. It’s a very hopeful story for not just Wuhan but for China, for the world, of overcoming a huge challenge.”

After a cluster of new cases of the virus in May sparked fears of a second spike, Wuhan tested 9.9 million people out of a pop-ulation of 11 million.

“I feel that Wuhan did some incredible job on recovery,” Perry said. “I don’t think we hear much about that. Not as much as the fact that COVID-19 started in Wuhan. And they have almost everything back to normal, whether it’s transport or restaurants or cinemas, people going back to work in the offices or their industries.”

Perry said she had been in touch with the local organising team on a daily basis as they prepare to start the tournament on Oct. 19, pending government approval and confirmation that players will be able to travel. “I’ve never heard from Wuhan, ‘we can’t do this’,” she said,

adding that a final call on the event was expected by early August. “In many ways Wuhan is fortunate that the tournament is towards the end of the cal-endar and it’s got the maximum time for recovery.”

There are many roadblocks still and Perry concedes that convincing players to sign up will be a tall order.

The current top three in the rankings - Ash Barty, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova - were in the 2019 field of the event.

Perry appreciates that ath-letes will have health concerns but she hopes to use her back-ground as a former professional and a player representative on the WTA board to help convince them to play.

“It’s going to be very important that we communicate to the players,” she said. “(If it’s unsafe) I’ll be the first one to go ‘Hey, you shouldn’t be going there’.

“I have zero hesitation right now about going to Wuhan... I believe it’s one of the safest

cities to go to anywhere in the world because it’s probably the most tested city in the world.”

Because of the financial impact of the COVID-19 shutdown on sport, Wuhan, like all of the WTA’s Premier 5 events, will see a 32% cut in

prize money. The Wuhan Open is currently committed to having no fans -- 13,500 of them turned out for the 2019 final -- and negotiations with sponsors are expected to be tricky. “It’s a very different con-versation now and we are

looking at trying to be inno-vative as to what we can offer,” Perry said. “One of the things could be being associated with such a positive comeback. I think that will hopefully be a story of interest for our sponsors to be associated with.”

Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic plays against

Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia during the

Wuhan Open final clash in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in this October 1,

2016, file photo.

Australians flock to tennis courts after lockdown restrictions are relaxedREUTERS - SYDNEY

Australians have flocked to tennis courts in record numbers since social distancing measures put in place to contain the COVID-19 outbreak were relaxed, Tennis Australia (TA) said yesterday.

Australia has been generally successful in containing the new coronavirus, even if the populous southern state of Victoria on Friday experienced a 10th straight day of double-digit new infections.

The relaxation of restrictions began in some parts of Australia in early May and the government has pledged to remove the bulk of them by the end of July, although each state and territory is determining its

own pace. TA said data from its “Book a Court” online system showed a record 32,234 bookings made last month, with traffic doubling from a year earlier among venues that were using the system in May 2019.

“We’ve always known that tennis is a unique sport – it can be played by anyone no matter their age or ability – and now, during the pandemic, we are seeing more people enjoying the social, mental and physical benefits of (tennis) while main-taining strict physical distancing measures,” TA chief executive Craig Tiley said in a statement.

“The increase in bookings we’ve seen across the country is not accidental. Safety

and trust have been the most important factors as clubs and coaches across the country have prepared for the return to tennis and the team has done a remarkable job to give everyone the information and bio security protocols they need to get players back on court as safely as possible. As restrictions in most of the country con-tinue to ease over the coming months, we hope to build on these results as we approach our summer.”

Professional tennis also returns to Aus-tralia this weekend with the A$450,000 ($311,000) UTR Pro Series getting underway under strict biosecurity protocols at closed venues in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Anisimova rallies to beat Dolehide in CharlestonAFP - WASHINGTON

Amanda Anisimova saved a match point en route to a 5-7, 7-5, 10-2 victory over fellow American Caroline Dolehide at the invi-tational women’s tennis tournament in Charleston, South Carolina.

Anisimova, 18, was staring at defeat when she trailed 5-7, 3-5 against her hard-hitting opponent, but the 2019 French Open semi-finalist blasted a forehand down the line to save match point and turned the tide, eventually triumphing in a 10-point tiebreaker.

With the WTA slated to resume play in Palermo on August 3, this week’s 16-player team event in Charleston -- on the green clay courts that normally host a WTA event each year -- is a chance for players to gain a little match experience in the disrupted year.

“That’s why I miss being out here, just trying to face chal-lenges on court and get yourself back together mentally as quick as possible,” said Anisimova, who won 25 of the match’s final 28 points.

10 SUNDAY 28 JUNE 2020SPORT

Bayern demolish Wolfsburg 4-0 to end season on highREUTERS - BERLIN

Bayern Munich, already crowned Bundesliga champions last week, lifted the league trophy in an empty stadium yesterday after crushing hosts VfL Wolfsburg 4-0 on the final matchday.

The Bavarians, who have matched a club record of 25 matches in all competitions without defeat and are unbeaten in the Bundesliga in 2020, went ahead in the fourth minute with Kingsley Coman netting from Thomas Mueller’s 21st assist, a league record.

Mickael Cuisance then rifled in from 25 metres for a sensa-tional goal in the 37th and the 20-year-old Frenchman earned a penalty, which resulted in Joshua Guilavogui being sent off with a second booking. Bun-desliga top scorer Robert Lewandowski converted it for his 34th goal of the season.

The Polish striker earned his fifth Bundesliga top scorer award and his third in a row. Mueller then made it 4-0 in the 79th minute as Bayern took their season goal tally to 100, one less than the league record set by them in the 1971-72 season.

“I am just proud of the way we have presented ourselves in the past months,” said coach Hansi Flick, who took over as interim coach in November.

Flick has since signed a deal to 2023.

“Obviously we were relieved to resume play after the

coroanvirus break. So in a way it is a special league title for us,” he said of his first title in his debut season as head coach in the Bundesliga.

For Wolfsburg the defeat denied them a direct Europa League group stage spot, leaving them in seventh place.

The bizarre trophy ceremony in the empty Wolfsburg stadium was a reflection of the season that was interrupted for more than two months in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

With no families, fans or friends in the stands to share their joy, the Bayern players were left to celebrate lifting the spar-kling trophy with a handful of club bosses in the stands.

Bayern can win more sil-verware next week with the German Cup final against Bayer Leverkusen.

They are also still in the Champions League.

“It is a special but strange moment,” said German football League CEO Christian Seifert in

an address before the trophy ceremony.

“We have never experienced a season ending in such a way, no fans, no whistles, no cheers,” he said.

“It is not the Bundesliga we want but the only Bundesliga that could be played under the circumstances.

This championship title belongs a bit to all of us to have played the season out and it ends with a sporting champion,” he added.

Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer celebrates with team-mates after winning the Bundesliga title following their match against VfL Wolfsburg at Volkswagen Arena yesterday.

1986 WC winning former Argentina manager tests positive for COVID-19IANS - BUENOS AIRES

Carlos Bilardo, the former Argentina manager who led the team to victory in the 1986 World Cup, has tested positive for coronavirus. According to reports in the Argentine media, the 82-year-old Bilardo is asympto-matic and lives in a nursing home where 10 other occu-pants have tested positive for the virus. He suffers from a brain disorder.

Estudiantes La Plata, the club where he played and managed later, sent a message of encouragement for him on their Twitter page. “We are in this match with you Carlos!” they tweeted on Friday.

Bilardo was famous for bringing the 3-5-2 formation to mainstream success with his world champion Argentina side that featured the legendary Diego Maradona. Apart from leading the team to the title in 1986, he also led them to the final in 1990.

In Europe, he managed Spanish side Sevilla after leaving Argentina. He then went on to manage Argentine giants Boca Juniors before spending brief periods as manager of Guatamela and Libya. He returned to Estudi-antes to lead them for a year between 2003 and 2004.

Bilardo was admitted to intensive care in July 2019 with Hakim-Adams syndrome. Since his discharge, he has been residing in the nursing home.

Argentinian football legend Diego Maradona (right) and 1986 World Cup winning coach Carlos Bilardo are seen in this file photo.

Real Madrid’s French coach Zinedine Zidane gestures during the Spanish League football match against Real Sociedad at the Reale Arena-Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastian in this June 21, 2020, file photo.

Coaching wears you out, I won’t do it for 20 years, says Zidane

AFP - MADRID:

Real Madrid’s Zinedine Zidane says being a coach is exhausting and insists he has no intention of doing it for 20 years.

Zidane took charge of Real Madrid in 2016 before resigning two years later, explaining he felt the club needed a change. In his goodbye press conference, Zidane said he had not forgotten “the hard moments” of the job.

But he returned towards the end of last season and has revi-talised a struggling team, with Madrid beating Real Mallorca on Wednesday to go top of La Liga with seven games left.

“I won’t coach for 20 years, I will retire before that,” said Zidane in a press conference yesterday.

“I haven’t planned anything in my head. What keeps me going is the day-to-day. In my head I have always been in football, I spent almost 18 years as a player and I said I would never be a coach. Now I am and it wears you out a lot. We will see but not for 20 years, that’s for sure.”

Madrid’s resurgence has been

based on a solid defence, which conceded nine goals during a 21-match unbeaten run earlier this season. Since La Liga resumed, Madrid have let in two goals in four.

The core of the defensive unit has been Thibaut Courtois in goal, with Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane in front and Casemiro pro-tecting in central midfield.

“Ramos and Varane are excep-tional,” said Zidane.

“I don’t like to talk about indi-viduals but this duo has an excep-tional record.

“They give us a lot of security. For me, even as someone who likes to play more, the defence is the important thing these days.”

Madrid play away today against La Liga’s bottom club Espanyol, who are on their fourth coach of the season after sacking Abelardo Fern-andez and putting sporting director Francisco Rufete in charge.

Zidane will be without Luka Modric and Ferland Mendy, who are both suspended. “We aren’t going to be complacent,” Zidane said. “It’s first against last but that doesn’t mean anything.”

Robben comes out of retirement to sign for boyhood side Groningen

REUTERS - AMSTERDAM

Arjen Robben is seeking to make a sensational comeback to profes-sional soccer after signing with his boyhood club FC Groningen for the 2020-21 season, the Dutch Eredivisie side said yesterday.

Robben, 36, retired last year after winning his eighth Bun-desliga title with Bayern Munich, but will now return to Gron-ingen, where he made his professional debut as a 16-year-old in 2000.

The former Netherlands international, who has also played for Chelsea, PSV Eindhoven and Real Madrid, has won 12 league titles in a glittering career, and 96 caps for his country including playing in the 2010 World Cup final in Johannesburg.

Groningen confirmed Robben has been back in training for the past few weeks in order to be ready for the next season and Robben told the club’s website the potential of a comeback had been on the cards for some time now.

“In recent weeks I have had many discussions with people within the club, but perhaps I listened most to the words of the supporters, who said: ‘Arjen, follow your heart!’

“It started as an itch and now it’s become my mission. I’m working on a comeback as a footballer,” he said.

But Robben admitted he was not sure whether he can still do it. “I don’t know yet whether this will work. What I do know is that it will not depend on my commitment and motivation. It is now my dream to play in the shirt of FC Groningen again,” he said.

More details are expected at a news conference, planned by the club for today.

The Dutch season is set to start on Sept. 12, giving Robben more than two months of training.

Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben in action with AEK Athens’ Niklas Hult during a Champions League, Group Stage, match at OAKA Spiros Louis, Athens, Greece, in this October 23, 2018, file photo.

Liverpool slam fans’ ‘wholly unacceptable’ title celebrationsAFP - LONDON

Premier League champions Liverpool were forced to criticise their fans’ “wholly unac-ceptable” behaviour after police claimed glasses and bottles were thrown at them during title celebrations that turned violent.

Liverpool supporters have ignored coronavirus social distancing guidelines since Jurgen Klopp’s side were crowned English champions for the first time in 30 years on Thursday.

Thousands have flocked into the city centre to party after many initially gathered around Anfield.

With many drinking to excess, the title celebrations have turned ugly.

Merseyside Police Assistant Chief Con-stable Jon Roy said two officers needed medical treatment for injuries to their backs after bottles were thrown as they went to help an assault victim in a crowd of sup-porters on Friday.

A group of about 100 people threw glasses and bottles at riot police as they tried to stop them committing acts of disorder

in the city’s Pier Head waterfront area, according to Roy.

Deputy chief executive of the North West Ambulance Service Mick Forrest said crews were sent to 34 emergencies as a result of the violence.

Twenty-seven people were taken to hospital, three in a serious condition.

“The crowd largely dispersed by about 1.30am and a short time later officers were confronted by a group of people more than 100 strong who sought confrontation with the police,” Roy said.

“They were committing acts of disorder and then threw glasses and bottles at the police when they tried to intervene,” he said.

“Specially trained officers in protective kit had to disperse them and we then had a number of really violent, absolutely unac-ceptable, incidents of violence and disorder throughout the city centre.”

Fifteen people have been arrested for public order offences and one man was arrested on suspicion of assault, he said.

In a joint statement with Merseyside

Police and Liverpool City Council, the club condemned supporters who ignored social distancing advice.

“Our city is still in a public health crisis and this behaviour is wholly unacceptable,” read the statement.

“The potential danger of a second peak of COVID-19 still exists and we need to work together to make sure we don’t undo eve-rything that has been achieved as a region during lockdown.”

Liverpool’s mayor, Joe Anderson, also condemned the scenes, claiming on Twitter they had brought a “negative focus” on the city.

Social media images showed a firework hitting the Liver Bird building, one of the city’s most famous landmarks, during a second night of celebrations on Friday.

Vast amounts of rubbish were cleared by the council yesterday morning.

“Seeing thousands of people congre-gating at the Pier Head into the early hours and the ugly scenes shared on social media afterwards was heartbreaking to see,” Anderson said.

Gladbach reaches Champions League, Düsseldorf relegatedAP - BERLIN

Borussia Mönchengladbach qualified for the Champions League and Fortuna Düsseldorf was relegated by a single point on the last day of the Bundesliga yesterday.

Germany becomes the first major European league to com-plete a full season after restarting during the coronavirus pandemic.

Gladbach secured its return to the Champions League for the first time since 2016-17 by beating Hertha Berlin 2-1 to finish fourth ahead of Bayer Leverkusen.

Werder Bremen avoided automatic relegation in dramatic style by demolishing Cologne 6-1 to overtake Düsseldorf, which leaves the Bundesliga after two seasons after losing to Union Berlin 3-0. Playing its 1,900th Bundesliga game, Werder scored more goals yesterday than in all of its other home games in 2020.