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England hope diff erent mindset will conquer penalty cursePage 3

Brazil forward Neymar celebrates with Paulinho after scoring the opening goal against Mexico at the Samara Arena in Samara yesterday.

Referee duped by Neymar play-acting: Mexico coach

Samara: Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio hit out at Italian referee Gianluca Rocchi’s handling of their 2-0 World Cup quarter-final loss to Brazil, claiming Neymar play-acted.Neymar broke the deadlock with a 51st minute opener at Samara Arena and set up Roberto Firmino for a late second.But tensions flared following a tussle with midfielder Miguel Layun as Mexico battled to stay in the tour-nament. Brazil coach Tite said Layun had “stepped” on Neymar. But Neymar’s exaggerated reaction — the player dramatically writhed on the turf after Layun approached him — suggested a repeat of the play-acting that marred his play in the group phase.The 56-year-old Osorio refused to identify Neymar by name following the defeat but claimed the play-acting, and the ensuing delays in play, had been badly handed by Rocchi.“I think it’s a shame for football,” said Osorio.“We wasted a lot of time because of one single player... we lost our style in the second half, because of the referee.“There were too many stoppages and my players got more and more tired of that situation. At one point there was a four-minute stoppage.“I think this is a very bad example for the world and the world of football.”Neymar, voted man-of-the-match, was stopped by Tite afterwards as he was about to reply to report-ers’ demands to clarify the incident.Tite was adamant: “They stepped on him. I saw it on the screen.”Neymar attempted to play down the incident.“Look, I think it’s more an attempt to undermine me than anything else,” said the Brazilian.“I don’t care much for criticism, or praise, because this can influence your attitude.“In the last two matches I didn’t talk to the press because I don’t want to I just have to play, help my teammates, help my team.”

Neymar the hero as Brazil surge past Mexico into last 8

REPORT BRA 2-0 MEX

Reuters/AFPSamara

Neymar barged his way into the World Cup limelight with a goal, an assist and another helping of histrionics as Brazil roared into the quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over Mexico

yesterday that inflicted a seventh straight last-16 exit on the central Americans.The PSG forward was both architect and executioner for Brazil, sliding home in the second half and then teeing up Roberto Firmino late on, but he also writhed on the floor, seemingly in agony, after Mexico’s Miguel Layun had made slight contact with his ankle.That should not overshadow his generally positive dis-play however, as the five-times champions beat an oth-erwise stubborn Mexico, whose World Cup began with such promise with a victory over champions Germany, but ended in familiar fashion in the first knockout round.It was the seventh World Cup running that Brazil have reached the last eight, while Mexico have not made it to that stage since they hosted the tournament in 1986.Mexico, who enjoyed an enviable recent record against Brazil having won seven of their previous 15 matches against them, were a threat on the counter in the first half but then faded without ever really being put to the sword.For all their quasi-mythological attacking traditions, this Brazil side have a pragmatism that keeps them in check in such a way that you cannot see them ever truly cut-ting loose at this tournament.Having kept clean sheets in seven of their previous eight games, they were never going to commit men forward and allow Mexico to pick them off on the counter in the same way that Germany did in the group stage.Mexico sought to isolate the Brazilian fullbacks Fagner and Filipe Luis, who both looked vulnerable as Carlos Vela and Hirving Lozano bore down on them.Lozano had an eff ort blocked after two minutes as did Hector Herrera, but as the first half wore on Brazil got on top in the stifling Samara heat.A glaring spotlight had been on Neymar after his open-ing three performances saw him miss a litany of chances, frequently squander possession and spend far too long on the turf. Yet he answered a number of questions with his performance and a decisive finish early in the second half from a move that he had started himself.Minutes after the restart Brazil took the lead in exquisite fashion with Neymar starting and ending the move.He darted across the edge of the area before a perfect backheel released Willian, whose low cross fizzed into the danger area where Neymar slid in to turn the ball home.It was a choking blow for Mexico, who had been the bet-ter side for the opening half an hour, pegging Brazil back and creating several half chances.Brazil had to wait until the 88th minute to put the match to bed when Neymar was the architect, crossing for Firmino to tap the ball home.They will have to do without defensive midfielder Casemiro in the quarters, however, after he picked up his second booking. “We have to learn to suff er and we did suff er, it was a tough match,” said Neymar. “We knew they were a high-quality opponent.”Mexico made a bright start in their attempt to beat Brazil in a World Cup match for the first time. But after dominating the first 20 minutes of an enter-taining opening period, Brazil came back into the match, bossing the final stages of the half.The match had been billed as a duel between Neymar and Javier Hernandez, but the West Ham striker was more noticeable for his platinum-dyed blond hair, a choice also made by central defender Carlos Salcedo, before being replaced in the second half.Brazil awoke from their early slumber late in the opening half, but Neymar’s angled drive was blocked by Guill-ermo Ochoa and striker Gabriel Jesus saw the ‘keeper block his drive after a smart one-two.After the interval Mexico lost drive and focus and Ney-mar broke the deadlock on 51 minutes.The Paris Saint-Germain star drew several defenders as he ran across the edge of the area with the ball at his feet.

The PSG forward was both architect and executioner for Brazil, sliding home in the second half and then teeing up Roberto Firmino late on

Cheryshev sheds tears as team heads to quarter-fi nals

Blame game begins as Spain pay the penalty

FOCUS

BOTTOMLINE

Belgium become the fi rst team in 48 years to successfully overturn a 2-0 defi cit in a World Cup knockout game

Gulf Times Tuesday, July 3, 2018

2

ReutersMoscow

Russia forward Denis Cheryshev said he got quite emotional af-ter his team upset the

odds to eliminate highly fancied Spain at the World Cup and move unexpectedly to the last eight, sending football fever to sky high levels in the host country.

“I cried a little bit. And I think I might cry again. But these were good tears,” he said in a video re-leased by the Russian team yes-terday, less than a day after their penalty shootout victory over Spain in the round of 16.

Cheryshev, 27, has endured a litany of injuries in his career, limiting his time in the national side but three goals at this World Cup have turned him into one of the team’s leading players.

“We worked a long time for this, I was striving for this a long time. We are really pleased. We really want to keep it like that,” he said.

“The whole country deserves it. I hope everyone is proud of

us, is proud of our team. Now we have to go forward.”

Russia next play Croatia in the quarter-fi nals in Sochi on Satur-day and penalty shootout hero Igor Akinfeev says the squad must stick to a proven formula for success.

“We agreed with the coach when we arrived at the training camp that we would take it one match at the time. We don’t look ahead and we don’t look back,” said the goalkeeper who made a dramatic save with his foot to ensure Russia’s progress on Sun-day, setting off fanatical celebra-tions across the country.

“You can’t look back and you can’t look forward. You have to live day by day. We said because of the World Cup that we need to unite. I think that we did this but we can’t stop at this (victory).”

“We endured. We wanted it,” he added as he refl ected on the shock triumph.

“I’m not saying that the Span-iards didn’t want it, they were practically controlling the match the whole time. The most im-portant thing is that people are happy.”

AFPSaint Petersburg

Spain’s World Cup roller-coaster ride fi nally ground to a halt on Sunday and the fi nger-pointing began after their third consecu-tive failure at a major tournament.

Following humiliation at the hands of the Neth-erlands in 2014 and a limp defeat to Italy at Euro 2016, this was perhaps the most galling exit of all, given it came at the hands of Russia, ranked 70th in the world, just above Macedonia and El Salvador.

It would be a stretch to say Russia deserved their win, with 26 per cent possession and only six at-tempts at goal compared with Spain’s 25, but they had a plan, stuck to it, and fought to the bitter end.

A 4-3 victory on penalties, after the sides were locked at 1-1 at the end of extra time, sends the hosts through to their fi rst World Cup quarter-fi nal since 1970.

Spain’s dominance will do nothing to ease the disappointment following what can now be judged

as a truly farcical World Cup campaign. Julen Lopetegui, the coach fi red two days be-

fore Spain’s opening match, and Luis Rubiales, the Spanish Football Federation president who fi red him, will be circled as the key off enders.

But Fernando Hierro, Lopetegui’s replacement,

and David de Gea, who endured a torrid tourna-ment in goal, will take their share of the blame too.

It was a pity that the last match of Andres Ini-esta, who later confi rmed his international retire-ment, in the end became little more than a foot-note.

“What started badly, ended badly,” wrote Mar-ca. “All the problems began with the dismissal of Lopetegui and then continued with a team lacking in form and ideas.”

Rubiales was quick to make clear he felt no re-morse for sacking Lopetegui, who was clumsy in the way he handled his pending move to Real Madrid, but seemingly dismissed because of hurt, personal pride.

“Today there is pain, as we have been eliminat-ed,” Rubiales said. “But you can be calm when you know you have acted with responsibility, convic-tion and values. You cannot later look in hindsight because of a result on the pitch.”

Many would argue it was clear at the time that changing the coach two days before Spain’s open-ing game was unlikely to benefi t the team.

With Hierro in place, however, there were posi-tive signs against Portugal, when Cristiano Ron-aldo’s free-kick overshadowed an assured Spain performance in a 3-3 draw.

But defensive errors and tactical rigidity soon came to the fore as poor displays followed against Iran, Morocco and Russia.

Sergio Ramos and Gerard Pique were both guilty, the latter because of a handball that gave Russia their equaliser, but De Gea left as the prin-cipal villain.

Against Portugal, he allowed Ronaldo’s shot to slip through his hands. Against Russia, Igor Akin-feev starred in the shootout while he failed to save at least two spot-kicks he might have kept out. By the end, De Gea had made only one save all tourna-ment. As the late stand-in, Hierro may be spared such stinging criticism but he dropped Iniesta and Dani Carvajal against Russia in Moscow, only to bring both on as substitutes, and then replaced Diego Costa with Iago Aspas, who arguably should have been on from the start.

Rubiales sidestepped questions about who will

be the coach long-term but Hierro is surely un-likely to continue. Whoever it is, they will now face the same two-pronged brief that Lopetegui was tasked with two years ago: to restore confi dence and blood the younger generation.

Of the starting eleven against Russia, only Mar-co Asensio will be younger than 30 by the time the next World Cup comes around. Pique, Ramos, David Silva, Costa and Sergio Busquets will be 33 or older.

It means those left from the triple triumph of Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 will either be gone or down to the last few and that could pave the way for an evolution of style too.

A debate has emerged during this tournament around Spain’s possession game and it might be that a new manager decides to update the old, winning formula.

But for all the talk of tactics and generational change, Spain’s 2018 World Cup will be remem-bered for a simple act of self-sabotage. This was the team that was ready and then on the eve of the tournament, sacked their coach.

Russia’s midfielder Denis Cheryshev celebrates scoring during the penalty shootout against Spain at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow on Sunday.

Super Schmeichel proud of Danes despite shootout loss

Moscow: Kasper Schmeichel could hardly have done more for his team in their World Cup clash with Croatia on Sunday but the Denmark goalkeeper ended up in the unusual position of being both man of the match and a loser.Watched from the stands by his father Peter, Schmeichel saved a Luca Modric penalty late in extra time and another two spot kicks in the shootout only for Croatia to progress to the quarter-finals.“It’s a strange feeling — huge disap-pointment, but also enormous pride about our team,” the 31-year-old told a news conference.“I’m talking not only about the 11 on the pitch, but everyone involved with the team, those who work for the team.”After the match finished dead-locked at 1-1 after 120 minutes in large part due to Schmeichel’s save from Modric, Christian Eriksen, Lasse Schone and Nicolai Jorgensen all missed from the spot as Denmark went down 3-2 in

the shootout.The goalkeeper was not about to start apportioning blame, however.“No, anyone who is brave enough to stand up and take penalty is a hero,” he said.“Anyone who has the balls to take a penalty has my respect. This is a fantastic team. We will be back. It is important that we remember this feeling now and that we use it in the future.”Denmark’s Norwegian coach Age Hareide also praised his goalkeeper’s eff orts.“Kasper did all he could to ensure we won the match, both in extra time and the penalty shootout,” he said. “When you have a penalty shootout, normally it’s our three best players at taking penalties, but they missed today.”The 64-year-old said his players had been practising their penal-ties after training and referred to research in his home country that likened the stress of penalty-taking to being in a war zone.

Spain coach Fernando Hierro

AFPRostov-on-Don

Nacer Chadli scored a stunning injury-time winnner as Bel-gium fought back from 2-0 down to defeat Japan 3-2 and

advance to a World Cup quarter-fi nal showdown with Brazil here yesterday.

Chadli’s superbly worked goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time was the fi nal act of an epic last-16 battle that saw Belgium become the fi rst team in 48 years to successfully overturn a 2-0 defi -cit in a World Cup knockout game.

The Red Devils will face fi ve-time champions Brazil in Kazan on Friday af-ter scoring three second-half goals with-out reply to break Japan’s dogged resist-ance.

Goals by Genki Haraguchi and Ta-kashi Inui in four devastating minutes had put Japan 2-0 up early in the second half to leave Belgium reeling.

However, the Red Devils responded with quick goals of their own as Jan

Vertonghen, at fault for Haraguchi’s goal, and Marouane Fellaini both scored headers before Chadli’s dramatic win-ner in Rostov.

Relieved Belgium manager Roberto Martinez saluted his side’s resolve.

“No negatives today, it was about getting through,” Martinez said. “It is a day to be very proud of these players.

“Keep believing in Belgium. In the World Cup you want to be perfect but it’s about getting through, it’s about winning.”

Having also exited the last 16 in both 2002 and 2010, Japan suff ered knock-out stage heartbreak for the third time.

From the start, the Blue Samurai’s tactics were clear — harass and hurry their opponents every time they were on the ball, while living off scraps.

It almost paid off .A long-range shot from Eden Hazard

was Belgium’s brightest chance in the fi rst 45 minutes as Japan kept close tabs on Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku.

After a goalless fi rst-half, the game exploded into life after the break.

Japan took the lead when they won possession deep in their own half.

The ball was moved downfi eld quickly and when Vertonghen failed to intercept the fi nal pass, Haraguchi sprinted clear.

He placed his shot just past Thibaut Courtois’ despairing glove and inside the far post on 48 minutes to delight Japanese fans.

Falling behind rattled the Belgians as Hazard clattered the post moments later.

Japan doubled their lead on 52 min-utes when Inui unleashed a thunderbolt shot off his right boot which fl ew past the despairing Courtois.

Desperate for a goal to get them back in the game, Lukaku headed wide with an hour approaching.

Confi dence grew in the Japanese ranks with attacking midfi elder Kagawa calling the shots.

With 25 minutes left, Martinez swapped Fellaini and Chadli for Dries Mertens and Yannick Carrasco, which sparked the Belgium response.

Vertonghen made amends for his mis-

take in the build-up to Japan’s opening goal when his speculative header from out wide looped over Eiji Kawashima’s grasp on 69 minutes.

Then Belgium drew level when Haz-ard’s pin-point ball found Fellaini in the middle and the Manchester United midfi elder unleashed an unstoppable header on 74 minutes.

It was end-to-end stuff for the fi nal quarter of an hour.

As his defence started to tire, goal-keeper Kawashima kept Japan in the game his side with two saves in quick succession to deny Chadli and Lukaku.

At the other end, Courtois saved Kei-suke Honda’s wickedly curling free shot which led to the winning goal.

The Belgium goalkeeper cleared the ball, Kevin de Bruyne spotted Thomas Meunier unmarked out wide and the Paris Saint-Germain winger whipped in a superb cross.

Lukaku, who was marked, left it for Chadli to tap home and cap Belgium’s stunning win right before the fi nal whis-tle.

Belgium on a high as Chadli powers them into quarters

REPORT BEL 3-2 JPN

‘Keep believing in Belgium. In the World Cup you want to be perfect but it’s about getting through, it’s about winning’

Belgium’s midfielder Nacer Chadli (R) scores his team’s winning goal past Japan’s goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima in Rostov-on-Don yesterday.

Swiss are unbeaten in Russia and a defeat against Portugal last October is their only blemish over the past two years

Gulf Times Tuesday, July 3, 2018

3

England hope diff erent mindset will conquer penalty curse

Alli can help England write their own history says Southgate

Switzerland bid to summon spirit of 1954 World Cup

PREVIEW

SPOTLIGHT

PREVIEW

ENG vs COL SPARTAK STADIUM, MOSCOW, 9PM

SUI VS SWE NIZHNY NOVGOROD, 5PM

Penalties have been the death of England at six of the last 12 major tournaments and in that time, they have won only once, against Spain at Euro ’96

AFPSaint Petersburg

England have projected this World Cup as a fresh start for a new generation but the team’s record of failure in penalty shoot-outs

may not be so easy to forget. Penalties have been the death of England at six of the last 12 major tournaments and in that time, they have won only once, against Spain at Euro ‘96.

Gareth Southgate’s playing career was defi ned by the shot he side-footed into the hands of Andreas Kopke as England then lost in the semi-fi nals at Wembley to Germany. “I have had a couple of decades thinking it through,” Southgate said.

His experience has informed his own approach now as coach, with a last 16 tie against Colombia today and the possibil-ity of penalties looming again. Southgate was in the World Cup squad in 1998 un-der Glenn Hoddle, who believed shoot-outs were a lottery, impossible to repli-cate in training and therefore not worth any form of practice.

England duly lost to Argentina on spot-kicks and missed out on the quar-ter-fi nals. If there is one thing South-gate has been determined to drill into the preparation of his players, it is that penal-ty shoot-outs are not decided by chance.

“It’s defi nitely not chance,” Marcus Rashford said from England’s training base in Repino on Sunday. “It’s a skill and every skill takes time to learn and to perfect. It’s never a chance. It’s just about being able to perform it with pressure.”

England have been practising penal-ties since March. The players rehearse the walk from the halfway line as well as their shot. Southgate has deployed video ana-lysts and psychometric testing to gauge his most reliable takers. “There have been occasions where you even tell the goal-keepers which way you’re going so it has to be the perfect penalty,” Rashford said.

England’s goalkeeper Jordan Pick-ford has saved fi ve out of 30 penalties faced during matches, a similar record to his two back-ups, Jack Butland, whose record is four from 25, and Nick Pope, who is three from 13. It is standard prac-tice now for keepers to study their op-ponents’ habits, even if Pickford was left stumped when Tunisia’s Ferjani Sassi stepped up in England’s opening match.

“The lad who scored it had never taken a pen before. I was struggling with where to go,” Pickford said. “I got fi ngertips on it and went the right way, which is promising.”

Belgium’s Thibaut Courtois has sug-gested Pickford, at 1.85 metres tall, car-ries a disadvantage but Colombia’s stop-per David Ospina is even smaller at 1.83 metres. England might take heart too

from Ospina’s record.In spot-kicks awarded during games,

he has saved only three out of 38 and one in his last 15. In shoot-outs, he helped Colombia past Peru in the Copa America two years ago by blocking Miguel Trau-co’s eff ort with his legs.

For England, half the battle will sure-ly be mental. How heavy will the past weigh on the present? “We can’t change the past, it’s gone now,” Rashford said. “All we can look forward to is what is in front of us and I don’t think we ever think about that type of thing with England. It would put you on a bit of a downer. We understand it but that record is defi nitely not something that is on our minds.”

Rashford said he would be willing to put his hand up, as did Dele Alli when he was asked on Saturday. Harry Kane, who slammed two penalties into the top cor-ner against Panama, would certainly be one of the fi ve, while Jamie Vardy, who takes them for Leicester, is an option off the bench.

Jordan Henderson, Kieran Trippier and Kyle Walker could also be on Southgate’s list. “You have to control it, you have to own it,” Alli said. “I’m confi dent in my-self and what’s meant to be will be. We’ve got to try to work hard on the penalties and we have been, we’re trying to own the situation, not let it own us. It’s changed the whole mindset for us.”

Colombia’s last two meetings with European opponents at the World Cup have ended in 3-0 wins — against Poland at the current tournament and against Greece four years ago.

All 23 members of England’s squad are based at English clubs. Colombia have just three home-based players in their squad.

England have not won a knockout match at a major championship since they beat Colombia’s neighbours Ecuador 1-0 in 2006.

Colombia coach Jose Pekerman fielded 45 diff erent players dur-ing his team’s 18-match qualifying campaign. Pekerman is coaching at a World Cup for the third time and reached the quarter-finals on both previous occasions — with his native Argentina in 2006 and with Colombia in 2014.

KEY FACTS

Previous meetings: The two sides have met five times, with three wins for England and two draws. Their only competitive match was at the 1998 World Cup, when England won 2-0. Their most recent match was a 3-2 win for England in 2005.

Previous meetings: The European rivals have faced each other 27 times, with both winning 10 games each and seven ending in a draw.

AFPNizhniy Novgorod

Switzerland have made headlines in Russia for their players’ controversial goal celebrations but the team stands on the verge of matching their best-

ever run at a World Cup. If Vladimir Petko-vic’s side beat Sweden in Saint Petersburg today, they will become the fi rst Swiss team in 64 years to qualify for the quarter-fi nals of football’s biggest tournament.

Although they have largely gone under the radar in Russia — double-eagle scoring cel-ebrations against Serbia aside against — the unheralded team are enjoying an impressive tournament.

Marshalled by skipper Stephan Lich-tsteiner, driven by Valon Behrami’s energy, and able to call on Xherdan Shaqiri’s creativ-ity, Switzerland emerged from a tricky Group E that included tournament favourites Brazil.

They are unbeaten in Russia, have scored in every game and a defeat against Portu-

gal last October is the only blemish in an impressive run of results over the past two years. Add in impressive goalkeeper Yann Sommer, who writes a gourmet food blog when not playing international football, and Switzerland are becoming a formidable unit.

“We want more and more,” Petkovic said after his team made the last 16. “We are used to making history, we have big ambitions and

the next big ambition is to beat Sweden.”The last time Switzerland reached the

quarter-fi nals of the World Cup, in 1954, they were hosts and the 16-team tournament was a very diff erent beast — they lost their last-eight clash to Austria 7-5 after being three up early on. But as they look to match or even better that showing, there is a sig-nifi cant cloud on the horizon for the Sweden

match. Switzerland’s defence have excelled so far but will be without key defenders Li-chtsteiner and Fabian Schaer against Sweden after both picked up two yellow cards in the group stage. Between them, Arsenal new boy Lichtsteiner and Schaer have played more than 150 times for the country.

Lichtsteiner was one of three players who escaped with a fi ne — Shaqiri and Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka were the others — after their politically motivated celebrations in the 2-1 win against Serbia. They celebrated goals with a pro-Kosovo double-eagle gesture.

The double-eagle symbol represents the Albanian fl ag and is viewed as a symbol of defi ance in Kosovo, which declared inde-pendence in 2008 in a move that Serbia still refuses to recognise. Potential replacements for the Sweden game include another player with an Arsenal connection, Johan Djourou, and Sommer’s Borussia Moenchengladbach colleague, Michael Lang.

Switzerland and Sweden have not met since 2002 so there are recent no indications of who could have the edge today.

KEY FACTS Switzerland’s two draws and one win in Group E was

the first time the team have gone unbeaten in the group stages of a World Cup since 2006.

Group F winners Sweden have now progressed to the last 16 in all of their World Cup appearances since 1990.

The Swiss have scored at least once in six of their last seven World Cup matches. Sweden’s 3-0 win over Mexico was their biggest World Cup victory since their 4-0 trouncing of Bulgaria in 1994.

Defender Andreas Granqvist is the first Swede to score two or more goals in a single World Cup campaign since Henrik Larsson scored three in the 2002.

Switzerland have lost one of their last 25 matches, a 2-0 defeat by Portugal in October. The Swiss last reached the quarter-finals at their home World Cup in 1954 while Sweden reached the semi-finals in 1994.

Sweden have won three of their five World Cup meet-ings with Switzerland, with Swiss winning the other two.

ReutersMoscow

The return of attacking midfi elder Dele Alli to full fi tness could help England’s squad “write

their own stories” at the World Cup, manager Gareth Southgate said ahead of today’s last-16 clash with Colombia.

Alli was impressive in Eng-land’s opening group game, a 2-1 win over Tunisia, until he picked up a thigh injury which kept him out of the 6-1 crushing of Pana-ma and 1-0 loss to Belgium. Ru-ben Loftus-Cheek deputised for the Tottenham Hotspur man in those games but, while South-gate has yet to name his team, it is likely Alli will return alongside Jesse Lingard and Raheem Ster-ling as part of a trident support-ing striker Harry Kane.

“For any player to miss match-es at this level when you have worked so hard to get to this stage is very diffi cult,” Southgate said when asked about Alli’s ab-sence. “We didn’t see any point in bringing him back too early — he is absolutely fi ne now,” said the England manager who be-lieves Alli has the ability to pen-etrate the Colombia defence.

“What does he bring? The timing of his runs, that ability to see spaces in opposition defenc-es, time his runs into the box and fi nish. That hasn’t always hap-

pened for us as much as for (his) club up to this point but there is no doubt he has the ability and the techniques to do that. I thought his performance against Tunisia was really top, the way he pressed, his work without the ball was outstanding,” Southgate added.

That is an aspect of the game that the England manager’s tactics requires given his use of three forward-looking mid-fi elders. “We are a team where we don’t carry any passengers, everybody has to really press and work for the team, and if our midfi eld players, our creative midfi eld players, are doing that as well then that is a really good sign,” said Southgate.

He repeated the mantra that his team were not looking at the possible fi xtures beyond Colom-bia but said they were aware they had a historic opportunity. “It is over 10 years (2006) since we won a knockout fi xture so for this team this is a brilliant opportu-nity to go beyond where more experienced teams have gone before.

“I think they are relishing that chance, the energy in training today was really good... we are viewing the game as one against an opponent we really respect. These are the games you want to be involved in, the games that matter, the lads have the chance to write their own stories now,” he said.

England’s Danny Rose (left), Dele Alli (centre) and Jamie Vardy fool around during a training session in Saint Petersburg, Russia, yesterday. (Reuters)

Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri controls a ball during training yesterday. (AFP)

England manager Gareth Southgate looks a happy man during a press conference in Moscow yesterday. (Reuters)

James Rodriguez has been involved in 10 of Colombia’s last 14 World Cup goals

Gulf Times Tuesday, July 3, 2018

4

AFPNizhniy Novgorod, Russia

Luka Modric was meant to be the man to win the match for Croatia against Denmark but he almost ended up costing his team a place in the last

eight. Billed beforehand as a clash between Modric and Christian Eriksen, his rival number 10 in Nizhny Novgorod on Sunday, the Croatian skipper had the perfect chance to ensure he fi nished the winner in the 116th minute.

As an extremely tense game drew to a close, tied at 1-1 with seemingly no one capable of winning, an exquisite defence-splitting pass from Modric sent Ante Rebic goalwards. Rebic rounded Danish keeper Kasper Sch-meichel but before he could score he was brought down by Mathias Jorgensen.

Penalty to Croatia. Here was Modric’s chance to complete the pre-match script. He picked the ball up and waited patiently — be-fore seeing his tame spot kick saved by Sch-meichel. Four minutes later the game ended and a penalty shootout was the only way to separate the two teams, Modric’s chance seemingly gone.

Croatia, and Modric, who had impressed so much in the group stages, stood on the verge of elimination, their fate to be determined by the lottery of a shootout. After fi ve penalties, Denmark led 2-1 and Modric again held the ball and wandered towards the penalty spot.

The tension in the stadium was palpable. It is fair to guess that the 40,000 or so in the crowd were thinking the same thing — will he miss again? No doubt the thought crossed his mind as Modric walked to the spot. His fi rst

penalty had been to Schmeichel’s left, the second went down the middle and — just — avoided the Dane’s trailing leg.

Modric’s penalty redemption had been in-stantaneous. His fi rst spot kick will now be remembered only as a footnote to the game, not its defi ning moment. Denmark were to score no more penalties and minutes later Modric was celebrating on the pitch with his children as Croatia won 3-2 on penalties.

Coach Zlatko Dalic said Modric had volun-teered to take the second penalty. “Can you

imagine what would have happened if he had not scored,” asked Dalic afterwards.

His rival Eriksen fared no better. He took Denmark’s fi rst penalty and saw his eff ort saved by Danijel Subasic, setting the tone for the shootout, the fi rst of three spot kicks to be missed by the Danish.

Modric said afterwards he had been study-ing Schmeichel’s technique in case of a pen-alty. He complained that the match and heat had been diffi cult. “But we survived,” said Modric. They certainly had.

No Zlatan, no problem as Sweden thrive on collective spirit

Rodriguez still an option against England: Coach Pekerman

‘Remember you’re one of us’, Uruguay tell Griezmann

In keeping with his squad, no-frills coach Janne Andersson is not a big name, having spent his entire playing and coaching career in his homeland

SPOTLIGHT KEY MAN

FOCUS

Croatia’s Modric fi nds penalty redemption in shootout drama

BOTTOMLINE

AFPSaint Petersburg

Shorn of a superstar since Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s retirement, Sweden were not expected even to make it to the World Cup but now they are

within reach of their fi rst quarter-fi nal for 24 years.

After eliminating the Netherlands and Italy in qualifying, Sweden played their part in sending defending champions Germany home early by topping Group F with victories over South Korea and Mexico. In keeping with his squad, no-frills coach Janne Andersson is not a big name, having spent his entire playing and coaching career in his homeland.

But the 55-year-old is credited with creating the collective spirit that has helped Sweden thrive despite a lack of standout individual talent. “Sweden are

defi nitely thriving as a collective right now, the like of which we have not seen since 1994,” when they reached the World Cup semi-fi nals, Swedish football jour-nalist Kristopher Karlsson said. “Its been a perfect storm for Sweden with Zlatan fi nishing his international career and Janne Andersson coming in at the same time. Every single player has bought into Andersson’s ideas of working hard for each other and having fun together as a bigger group outside the pitch.”

Arguably Andersson’s biggest decision came when he decided not to welcome back Ibrahimovic when the striker opened the door to a possible return after Sweden saw off Italy in a two-legged playoff in November. Ibrahimovic claimed “a World Cup without me wouldn’t be a World Cup” when Sweden failed to qualify four years ago.

Sweden’s all-time top scorer angered many of his former fans with character-

istically self-obsessed comments in the lead-up to the tournament from across the Atlantic, where he now plays his club football for Los Angeles Galaxy.

“I think it’s the biggest party in foot-ball, playing in the World Cup. All the best players are there. Zlatan is not there... he should have been there,” he told reporters on the eve of the tournament.

“The media says they are better with-out me so that’s why I believe in them. This is the Swedish media mentality. I don’t have a typical Swedish name. I’m not the typical Swedish attitude, behav-iour and that and still I have the record in the national team.”

However, it is not just the media but those inside the Swedish squad who rec-ognise the value in playing as a unit rather than hoping for moments of magic from one individual. “As a team, we play as a collective, all the players together,” said goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson. “With

Zlatan, as a person, as a player he’s an individualist, and the play goes around him. Instead, now, we play more the team all together.”

That strong team spirit has also been shown off the fi eld. The entire Swedish squad stood alongside midfi elder Jimmy Durmaz as he denounced the messages of racial hatred and death threats he re-ceived after conceding a late free-kick from which Germany’s Toni Kroos scored to seal a 2-1 win. Sweden have now gone as far as they ever did with Ibrahimovic at a World Cup and could go much fur-ther in a wide open half of the draw. Beat Switzerland and they will face England or Colombia, with Croatia or Russia waiting as potential semi-fi nal opponents.

“People are delighted with getting this far but beating the teams we’ve beaten thus far and in qualifying, people think this World Cup is far from over for Swe-den,” said Karlsson.

ReutersMoscow

Colombia’s James Ro-driguez could be fi t in time for their World Cup round of 16 game

against England as he races to recover from a leg injury, coach Jose Pekerman said yesterday. The Golden Boot winner at the World Cup four years ago lasted only 30 minutes in their dramatic 1-0 victory over Senegal that saw them advance through the group stage but he could recover for to-day’s match.

“We had good news after his medical test (two days ago).After the MRI scan it was clear there was no serious injury,” Pekerman told reporters. Rodriguez did not start the training session with the team yesterday but instead did stretching exercises. It was not clear if he would join in once the media had left.

“We still have a day and a half until the game to see how he feels and we hope that he will be fi t to play for the games that we have to play here,” the coach said.

Pekerman said Luis Muriel, who had replaced Rodriguez against Senegal, was an option once more should the midfi elder be ruled out. Rodriguez has been involved in 10 of Colombia’s last

14 World Cup goals.“Of course Luis Muriel is

an option. He was great dur-ing match against Senegal and his skills were really valuable. He changed the pace, he is very gifted technically, very fast he can play really well,” Pekerman said. “I think the most important thing is to keep creating possibil-ities without losing possession. My team has managed to develop in this sense. We are quite stable even when things turn diffi cult,” said the 68-year-old.

The Argentine praised Eng-land, saying they were favourites and had the advantage of having rested many players in their fi nal group match as they had already secured their knockout spot ear-ly. Colombia’s qualifi cation went down to the wire in their last group match with Senegal. “This tournament has many games and not much time to recover so this is obviously an advantage for England,” he said.

“But we have played tough matches that have made us stronger, more confi dent and with more belief in ourselves. We are very self-confi dent and that will compensate for the fact that they are more rested. Even if they are considered favourites and they are very good players and fast, we believe our team is in a very good moment.”

ReutersNizhny Novgorod

Uruguay’s players urged France forward Antoine Griezmann yesterday to re-member his links and aff ection for their country ahead of Friday’s World Cup

quarter-fi nal. The Frenchman plays with Uru-guayan defenders Jose Gimenez and Diego Godin at Atletico Madrid, met them at Madrid airport in a Uruguayan shirt when they sealed qualifi cation for Russia, and even enjoys the ‘mate’ tea loved by the South Americans.

“Griezmann is very Uruguayan, he passes him-self off as a Uruguayan. For him, it’s going to be a special game, like for us,” midfi elder Nahitan Nandez told reporters at the Uruguayan base out-side Nizhny Novgorod where they will play Fri-day’s game. “All I can say is that we hope he be-haves well on the pitch and remembers he is half Uruguayan!”

Such is the close relationship that Godin is godfather to Griezmann’s daughter. As usual, the Uruguayans looked chilled off the pitch — a con-trast with their hard tackling and famous “garra” or fi ghting spirit on it.

After beating Portugal 2-1 to secure a quarter-fi nal spot, they celebrated with a barbecue and family visits. The only cloud in the Uruguayan camp was a calf injury to two-goal hero Edinson Cavani, who was helped off the pitch by Cristiano Ronaldo and is now fi ghting to get fi t for Friday.

“He’s very happy with qualifying and with his own performance and the team the other day,” said midfi elder Rodrigo Bentancur. “Today he worked on his recovery. His mood is very good. We have just have to wait and see how his recov-ery goes each day, and how he feels.”

The players are under no illusion of the enormi-ty of their challenge against France, who dumped

out Argentina in a 4-3 thriller featuring two goals from pacy teenager Kylian Mbappe. “They look good, their speed play is incredible. We’ll try and stay tight,” said Bentancur. “They have good players... but if there’s something we know, it’s how to turn a game in our favour,” added Nandez.

Bentancur looked bemused when a Russian journalist informed him a street near Nizhny Novgorod Stadium carried his name. “What a co-incidence. Let’s hope it brings luck!” he said.

Another local feature that initially irked the Uruguayans was the fact their hotel is painted in Brazil colours. But after four wins in four, maybe that is becoming a lucky omen too.

Sweden’s coach Janne Andersson (centre) addresses his players during a training session in Saint Petersburg yesterday. (AFP)

Colombia’s forward Falcao (left) with coach Jose Pekerman during a training session at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow yesterday, on the eve of their round of 16 match against England. (AFP)

France’s forward Antoine Griezmann plays with Uruguayan defenders Jose Gimenez and Diego Godin at Atletico Madrid. (AFP)

Croatia captain Luka Modric saw his spot-kick saved late in extra time before they held their nerve to defeat Denmark in the penalty shootout on Sunday night. (Reuters)

LeBron James to join Lakers in four-year, $154mn deal

NBA

The blockbuster contract sends the 33-year-old four-time NBA Most Valuable Player to one of the league’s most iconic clubs, adding to the legacy of such legends as Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson

AFPLos Angeles

LeBron James is to join the Los Angeles Lakers in a four-year $154mn deal, his agents said on Sunday, ending months of fren-

zied speculation about the NBA super-star’s next career move.

The blockbuster contract sends the 33-year-old four-time NBA Most Valu-able Player to one of the league’s most iconic clubs, adding to the legacy of such legends as Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson.

“LeBron James, four time NBA MVP, three-time NBA fi nals MVP, 14-time NBA All-Star, and two-time Olympic gold medallist, has agreed to a four-year $154mn contract with the Los Angeles Lakers,” James’ management company Klutch Sports Group said in a statement.

James is considered a rival of retired Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan for the title of greatest player in NBA his-tory. However, he had endured frustra-tion with the Cleveland Cavaliers, cul-minating in last month’s clean sweep defeat to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals.

James and the Cavaliers have been beaten in three out of four NBA Finals against the Warriors since 2015. James had been linked to several franchises, with the Philadelphia 76ers and Hou-ston Rockets reportedly in the running.

US media reports said the Lakers move was sealed following a meeting late Saturday between James and the team’s president of basketball opera-tions, Magic Johnson. James, who has a home and production company in Los Angeles, now joins a club with money to spend and a desire to rebuild into a championship team.

The Lakers have failed to reach the playoff s for the past fi ve seasons. News of James’ arrival at the Lakers sparked a delighted response on Sunday, with

basketball legends and Hollywood ce-lebrities lining up to welcome the move.

“Welcome to the family @King-James #lakers4life #striveforgreat-ness,” wrote Lakers legend Kobe Bryant

on Twitter. “I am sure the Lakernation is rejoicing. The acquisition of LeBron James means that the Lakers are just a smidgen away from being real contend-ers,” Lakers icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

added.Former Hollywood action hero

and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger also weighed in. “It’s so exciting that you’re coming to the

city of stars,” Schwarzenegger said. “And you’re without going to be the biggest star of all, on the court and off the court. I love it.”

James, a two-time Olympic champi-

on, left Cleveland before in 2010 for the Miami Heat, where he reached the NBA Finals four times, going 2-2, before departing for the Cavaliers, vowing to bring a title to Cleveland, his home re-gion having grown up in nearby Akron.

That mission was accomplished when the Cavaliers won the 2016 crown with James in the starring role as Cleve-land celebrated a sports champion for the fi rst time in 52 years. “Thank you Northeast Ohio for an incredible 4 sea-sons. This will always be home,” James posted on Instagram with a photo of the Cavaliers’ championship parade.

But the Warriors obtained Kevin Du-rant after that loss and Golden State has gone 8-1 against the Cavs in the two NBA Finals since. “To be able to be a part of a championship team two years ago with the team that we had and in the fashion that we had is something I will always remember,” James said after the Cavs’ last loss of the fi nals.

James informed the Cavaliers on Friday that he would not exercise his $35.6mn contract option. And he also snubbed what could have been the most money and longest deal available, the Cavaliers being able to extend James a fi ve-year contract worth $209mn.

But money and years of security were less a concern than being able to play for a title contender. The Lakers can off er top money plus talent and draft picks in order to surround James with competitive players enough to chal-lenge the Warriors, who suddenly must contend with James as a Pacifi c division rival rather than a foe to be faced only twice a season and for the NBA title.

The Lakers have reportedly been in talks with San Antonio for unhappy star Kawhi Leonard. And while such big names as Chris Paul of Houston and Paul George of Oklahoma City have agreed to terms to stay with their teams, nothing can be signed until Fri-day — leaving lots of time for players to consider what sort of situation the Lakers with James could off er.

Salah’s new contract shows belief in Liverpool: KloppAFPLondon

Egyptian international Mohamed Salah’s sign-ing of a new long-term contract is a major boost

for Liverpool’s ambitions of de-livering trophies, said manager Jurgen Klopp yesterday.

Klopp added the fact the 26-year-old striker — who scored 44 goals in just 52 appear-ances last season — had signed such a deal refl ected his belief the club were on course for a successful era. Liverpool have been praised for their freefl owing style of football under Klopp, but the fact remains the charismatic German has taken them to three fi nals in his tenure and fallen short on each occasion.

Salah’s goals, after joining last year from Italian outfi t AS Roma for an initial £37mn ($48.7mn), played a large part in Liverpool reaching the Champions League fi nal against Real Madrid. How-ever, that proved a rare sour note for the player as Salah was slammed to the turf by Real Ma-drid’s Sergio Ramos, causing a painful separation of his left shoulder.

Salah returned to action for the fi rst time in three weeks against Russia at the World Cup in their group match last month but was a shadow of the player that had dazzled for Liverpool despite scoring against both the Russians and then the Saudi Arabians.

“(The new contract) demon-strates two things very clearly — his belief in Liverpool and our belief in him,” Klopp told the Liv-erpool website. “I think this news can be seen for what it is; reward-ing a person who performed and contributed greatly for the team and the club last season,” said Klopp. “We want world-class talent to see they have a home at Anfi eld where they can fulfi l all their professional dreams and ambitions — we are working hard

together to achieve this. When someone like Mo Salah commits and says this place is my home now, it speaks very loudly I think. Equally, our commitment to him says we see his value and want him to grow even more and get even better within our environ-ment.”

Salah’s exploits both for Liv-erpool and Egypt — in inspiring them to their fi rst World Cup fi -nals since 1990 — brought him several awards including Afri-can player of the year. However, Klopp said the refreshing thing about Salah is that he is a team man through and through which will make progressing and win-ning trophies easier.

“The key thing to remember is the best thing about Mo is that he never sees himself as being more important than the team or any-one else within it,” said Klopp. “He recognises his teammates and this club helped him achieve individual success last season. He sees the individual awards come because he is part of some-thing bigger that is special.”

Klopp — who is taking charge

of his fi rst day’s pre-season training including Guinean ar-rival Naby Keita signed last year but under the agreement re-mained with his German club RB Leipzig — said the club needed to answer their fans demands for continual progress.

“Mo refl ects where we are as a team, I think,” said Klopp. “Last season was special with many special moments — but we want more. We want to be more suc-cessful and achieve more togeth-er — as the supporters sang so loudly, ‘we’re never gonna stop’. This has to be the attitude indi-vidually and collectively.”

Salah registered the second-highest total of goals in a season in Liverpool’s history, just three behind Ian Rush’s record of 47 and surpassing Roger Hunt’s haul of 42. Thirty-two of those came in the Premier League, setting a new record in a 38-game sea-son and earning him the Golden Boot. Salah was named as both the PFA Players’ Player of the Year and the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year for his eff orts in 2017-18.

FOOTBALL

SPORT5Gulf Times

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Mariners complete sweep of RoyalsReutersSeattle

Canadian left-hander James Pax-ton pitched eight scoreless innings on Canada Day as the host Seattle Mariners defeated the Kansas City

Royals 1-0 on Sunday, completing a sweep of the three-game series. The Mariners won their season-high seventh consecutive game. Edwin Diaz struck out the side in the ninth inning for his major-league-leading 32nd save of the season. The Mariners are 39-0 this season when Diaz enters the game with a lead, including 21-0 when he’s sum-moned with a one-run lead. Paxton (8-2) allowed only two hits and two walks while striking out 11. It was the seventh time in 18 starts this season that Paxton has posted a double-digit strikeout total.

BRAVES 6, CARDINALS 5Freddie Freeman hit his 16th homer to high-light a fi ve-run rally that propelled Atlanta to a win at St. Louis and a sweep of a three-game series. After Ozzie Albies opened the sixth inning with a single to extend his hit-ting streak to 11 games, Freeman connected against John Gant (2-3) for a two-run shot to centre fi eld.

The Braves went on to get RBIs from Charlie Culberson, Dansby Swanson and pinch-hitter Ryan Flaherty.

It was the fi rst three-game sweep for At-lanta in St. Louis since 2012. Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz (6-4) pitched fi ve score-less innings and allowed only one hit and three walks. He struck out nine.

GIANTS 9, DIAMONDBACKS 6Brandon Belt and Joe Panik each had two hits and drove in two runs and San Francisco pounded out 16 hits for a victory over Arizo-na to complete a three-game sweep in Phoe-nix. Nick Hundley had three hits and an RBI, Brandon Crawford and Austin Slater had two hits and an RBI, and Hunter Pence had a two-run double for San Francisco, which has won three in a row and 10 of 12.

Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer and Jarrod Dyson had two singles, two sto-len bases and two RBIs for Arizona, which was swept at home for only the second time this season. The Diamondbacks have lost three in a row after winning seven of eight.

YANKEES 11, RED SOX 1Aaron Hicks hit three homers as New York rolled to a rout of Boston at Yankee Stadium. Hicks hit two of New York’s six homers off

David Price (9-6) while batting from the right side of the plate, a two-run homer in the second and a solo drive in the fourth.

The switch-hitting center fi eld added his third homer in the eighth off Hector Velazquez while batting left-handed. It was New York’s fi rst three-homer game by one player since Alex Rodriguez on July 25, 2015, at Minnesota.

PIRATES 7, PADRES 5Colin Moran’s second grand slam of the sea-son was one of three homers allowed by Tys-on Ross as Pittsburgh won the rubber match of a three-game series at San Diego. Corey Dickerson and Elias Diaz also homered for the Pirates, while Hunter Renfroe homered for the Padres in a 3 1/2-hour marathon that numbered 13 pitchers, 18 hits, 10 walks, fi ve mound visits, 16 stranded runners and two errors.

Reliever Kyle Crick (1-1) was credited with the win for the Pirates. Felipe Vazquez was credited with his 17th save.

INDIANS 15, A’S 3Cleveland’s off ense vented two days’ worth of frustration, producing 15 runs and 20 hits in a sweep-preventing victory at Oakland, Calif., that snapped the Athletics’ six-game winning streak. After being held to a total of three runs in narrow losses during the fi rst two games of the series, the Indians got home runs from Francisco Lindor and Edwin

Encarnacion in the seventh inning before blowing the game open with an eight-run eighth in which the fi rst 10 batters reached base safely.

In the eighth, Michael Brantley had a two-run single and Lonnie Chisenhall had two hits, including a two-run double. The Indians tagged Oakland relievers Chris Hatcher and Josh Lucas for seven hits in the frame while also collecting two walks and a hit baseman.

DODGERS 6, ROCKIES 4Matt Kemp had four RBIs, including a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning, as Los Angeles rallied for a victory over visiting Colorado. Yasiel Puig added an insurance run in the eighth when he scored from sec-ond base on an infi eld single by Joc Peder-son, who had three hits.

Nolan Arenado had a home run and two RBIs for the Rockies. The homer to center was Arenado’s National League-leading 21st of the season and his eighth in his past 12 games.

WHITE SOX 10, RANGERS 5Jose Abreu went 2-for-3 with a triple and matched a season high with three RBIs, and Chicago earned a win in Arlington, Texas. Avisail Garcia had four hits and scored three runs, and Matt Davidson added three hits and three RBIs as the White Sox avoided a three-game sweep.

MLB

LeBron endured frustration with the Cleveland Cavaliers, culminating in last month’s clean sweep defeat to the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. (AFP)

Liverpool’s Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Salah’s new deal, which runs until 2023, does not contain a release clause. (AFP)

Atlanta Braves left fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. (left) slides safely past the tag of St. Louis Cardinals catcher Francisco Pena during the MLB game. (USA TODAY Sports)

SPORT

Gulf Times Tuesday, July 3, 20186

ReutersLondon

Chris Froome is free to race in this year’s Tour de France, which starts on Saturday, after cy-

cling’s world governing body cleared the four-time winner of any wrongdoing over his positive test for an asthma drug

Froome, 33, had tested posi-tive for excessive levels of Salb-utamol following a urine sample at last September’s Vuelta a Es-pana.

“On 28 June 2018, World An-ti-Doping Agency (WADA) in-formed the UCI that it would ac-cept, based on the specifi c facts of the case, that Mr Froome’s sample results do not constitute an Adverse Analytical Finding,” the International Cycling Union (UCI) said in a statement yester-day.

“In light of WADA’s unparal-leled access to information and authorship of the salbutamol re-gime, the UCI has decided, based on WADA’s position, to close the proceedings against Mr Froome.”

In a release of its own, WADA said it accepted the UCI’s deci-sion and it would not appeal the ruling which they believed to be “the right and fair outcome for what was a very complex case”.

Salbutamol is a common asth-ma medication that opens up the medium and large airways in the lungs. Some have argued that it off ers performance-enhancing benefi ts, however medical stud-ies have shown that to be a de-batable claim.

Explaining their process, WADA said: “Mr. Froome pro-vided the UCI with explanations, supported by expert opinions, in order to attempt to explain that the concentration of Salbuta-mol found in his sample resulted from the use of inhaled Salb-utamol within the permissible maximum dose of 1600 mcg/24 hours, not to exceed 800 mcg per 12 hours...

“Based on a number of factors that are specifi c to the case of Mr. Froome...WADA concluded that the sample result was not inconsistent with the ingestion of inhaled Salbutamol within the permitted maximum dose.”

The Briton had always denied any wrongdoing and has now been cleared to race in this year’s Tour de France by the organisers, who had tried to prevent the rid-er from competing while under investigation.

“We started a procedure three weeks ago claiming that Chris Froome taking part in the Tour de France would damage the reputation of the race. But now that the UCI has cleared him there’s no reason for us to pre-vent him from participating in the race,” Tour de France direc-tor Christian Prudhomme told

Reuters. “Obviously the rules need to be changed, when there is an adverse analytical fi nding a rider should be provisionally suspended,” he said.

‘EXONERATED’Froome welcomed the news

which means he can attempt to win a record-equalling fi fth Tour when the race gets underway in Noirmoutier.

“I am very pleased that the UCI has exonerated me. While this decision is obviously a big deal for me and the team, it’s also an important moment for

cycling,” Froome said in a state-ment.

“I understand the history of this great sport - good and bad. I have always taken my leader-ship position very seriously and I always do things the right way. I meant it when I said that I would never dishonour a winner’s jer-sey and that my results would stand the test of time.

“I have never doubted that this case would be dismissed for the simple reason that I have known throughout I did noth-ing wrong...I appreciate more than anyone else the frustration

at how long the case has taken to resolve and the uncertainty this has caused. I am glad it’s fi nally over.”

The Team Sky rider won the Giro d’Italia in May while the in-vestigation was ongoing.

“We have always had total confi dence in Chris and his in-tegrity. We knew that he had followed the right medical guid-ance in managing his asthma at the Vuelta and were sure that he would be exonerated in the end, which he has been,” Team Sky’s team principal Dave Brailsford said.

Froome cleared of doping, free to race in Tour de France

CYCLING

South Korea’s Park wins Women’s PGA ChampionshipAFPChicago

South Korea’s Park Sung-hyun birdied twice in a weather-disrupted playoff on

Sunday to win the Women’s PGA Championship, captur-ing the second major women’s golf title of her career.

The 24-year-old from Seoul, last year’s US Women’s Open champion, defeated compatriot Ryu So-yeon, de-nying her bid to reclaim the world number one ranking, and Japanese teen star Nasa Hataoka in the playoff to cap-ture the $547,500 top prize.

“It was a really long round today and I still can’t believe I’m sitting next to this trophy,” Park said.

Hataoka and the South Ko-reans each fi nished 72 holes at Kemper Lakes deadlocked at 10-under par 278.

Fifth-ranked Ryu and sixth-ranked Park each bird-ied the fi rst playoff hole, the par-4 18th, while Nataoka was eliminated with a par.

The Koreans, who shared LPGA Player of the Year hon-ours in 2017, reached the green at the par-4 16th, the second playoff role, when play was suspended for dan-gerous weather in the area, halting the drama at its peak for 20 minutes as the tension mounted.

When play resumed, Ryu missed her birdie putt and Park sank hers for the victory then broke into tears.

“I got less nervous during the playoff . I was even joking,” Park said.

“I was a little worried, but even though it was a tough week, I feel like I played really well. All the hard work paid off and that’s what made me cry.”

Park, last year’s LPGA Rookie of the Year, won her second title of the year af-

ter the LPGA Texas Classic in May. It was her fourth LPGA title overall after last year’s US and Canadian Women’s Open crowns.

Seeing positives

Ryu, who won last year’s ANA Inspiration and the 2011 US Women’s Open, took her fi rst title of the year two weeks ago at the LPGA Meijer Clas-sic and hoped to more one step closer to a career Grand Slam.

“I did my best,” Ryu said. “If I look back, nothing I can do any better than that. I just did 100 percent eff ort. Every shot, every putt and still look-ing at the positive side. This is my best fi nish for this tourna-ment, so hopefully it’s going to keep improving, and one day I want to lift that trophy.”

Ryu, who turned 28 on Fri-day, would have overtaken Park Sung-hyun atop the rankings with a victory after starting the day with a three-stroke lead.

Hataoka, 19, won her fi rst LPGA title last week in Ar-kansas and with more than $546,000 in the past eight days has eclipsed her prior ca-reer earnings.

In the fi nal round, Ryu stumbled with a double bogey at the par-4 second and Park birdied the par-3 third and par-5 fourth to seize a share of the lead. But Ryu birdied the par-3 sixth and par-5 seventh to restore a two-stroke edge at 11-under.

Ryu added a birdie at the par-5 11th but took a bogey at the par-3 13th to stand only one ahead of Nataoka, with Park closing to within one af-ter a birdie at 14.

Ryu responded with a birdie at the 16th, giving her a two-shot lead, but found water at the par-3 17th and made a double bogey, falling back level with Nataoka and Park, who both parred 18 to force extra holes.

SPOTLIGHT

British rider cleared of any wrongdoing by UCI, WADA accept ruling and will not appeal

Molinari ends Italian PGA drought with National winGOLF

In this file photo taken on July 09, 2017 Great Britain’s Christopher Froome thumbs up as he celebrates his overall leader yellow jersey on the podium at the end of the 181.5km ninth stage of the 104th edition of the Tour de France cycling race between Nantua and Chambery. (AFP)

AFPPotomac, United States

Francesco Molinari be-came the fi rst Italian in 71 years to win a US PGA event, fi ring an eight-

under-par 62 Sunday to cap-ture the Quicken Loans National while Tiger Woods settled for sharing fourth.

Molinari, a runner-up at last year’s PGA Championship for his best major showing, eagled the 10th hole and followed with four consecutive birdies on his way to fi nishing 72 holes on 21-under 259 at TPC Potomac.

“Amazing. I played great to-day. The start of the back nine was incredible,” Molinari said. “I’m very proud of the way I played, some of the best golf I’ve ever played and I’ll ever play in the future. It’s hard to play bet-ter than this.”

The 35-year-old from Turin became the fi rst Italian to win a US PGA event since the late Ton-ey Penna took the 1947 Atlanta Open.

“This win feels special,” Mo-linari said. “Hopefully there are more to come.”

Tournament host Woods, chasing his fi rst victory since 2013, fi red a 66 to fi nish 10 shots back, sinking six birdies but foiled by two back-nine bogeys and missed opportunities.

“I’m glad I gave myself a chance,” Woods said. “It was nice to make a couple birdies coming in. Evidentally I’d have

had to shoot 24 on the back nine. What Francesco is doing out there is phenomenal.”

Woods, playing his 11th US

PGA event in a comeback from spinal fusion surgery, has not won a title since the 2013 WGC Bridgestone Invitational. Moli-

nari matched the 18-hole course record with the lowest fi nal round by a US PGA winner this season and did so in sweltering heat.

“It was probably as hot as I’ve experienced in my career,” Mo-linari said. “I’m even prouder of my mental toughness in those conditions.”

The European Ryder Cup vet-eran skipped this week’s event at Le Golf National, where this year’s Cup will be played in Sep-tember, for a 121st US PGA start on a course he said suited his game perfectly.

“It was not easy to skip the French Open,” Molinari said. “But I think I made the right de-cision.”

American Ryan Armour was second on 267, one stroke ahead of South Korea’s Kang Sung with Woods next on 269, one ahead of Americans Bronson Burgoon and Beau Hossler.

Ancer, Kang, Armour and Burgoon claimed fourth Brit-ish Open berths on off er to top fi nishers. The year’s third ma-jor showdown starts July 19 at Carnoustie.

Woods sees ‘turnaround’Woods produced the second-

best fi nish of his comeback, hav-ing shared second at the Valspar in March, in his fi rst week with a new mallet putter that paid divi-dends.

“This is the week where I

turned it around,” Woods said.The 14-time major winner will

not play again until the British Open, where he hopes to crack the world rankings top-50 and earn a spot in the WGC Bridge-stone Invitational ahead of next month’s 100th PGA Champion-ship.

Molinari, who won his fi fth European Tour crown last month at Wentworth, became the sixth European player to win a US PGA event this year.

When co-leader Ancer opened with a bogey, fi nding sand with his fi rst two shots, Molinari took the lead for good.

Molinari birdied the par-5 second par-4 sixth to stretch his lead, then began the back nine by rolling in a 48-foot eagle putt.

Molinari’s birdie run include a tap-in at 11, a seven-foot putt at the par-3 12th, a 12-footer at 13 and a two-foot putt for a sand save at 14.

Woods began six adrift and birdied the par-5 second. He dropped a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-4 seventh, then curled in a 28-footer for birdie at the par-4 eighth.

The fi ghtback fi zzled when Woods missed a six-foot birdie putt at the par-5 10th, then missed the green on his ap-proach and made bogey at 11.

Woods, 42, sank an eight-foot birdie putt at the 12th but missed a three-footer for birdie at 14. He sank an eight-foot birdie at 15 and a 14-footer at 16, but it was too little too late.

Leading scores aft er fi nal round259 - Francesco Molinari (ITA) 67-65-65-62267 - Ryan Armour 66-65-68-68268 - Kang Sung (KOR) 72-64-68-64269 - Tiger Woods 70-65-68-66, Abraham Ancer (MEX) 65-70-62-72270 - Bronson Burgoon 68-70-65-67, Beau Hossler 65-66-71-68271 - Ryan Palmer 70-67-67-67, Brian Gay 67-64-72-68, Chesson Hadley 71-64-68-68, Andrew Landry 63-72-65-71272 - Rickie Fowler 70-66-69-67273 - Anirban Lahiri (IND) 67-74-65-67, Stephan Jaeger (GER) 67-73-65-68, Ben Crane 70-68-66-69, Marc Leishman (AUS) 67-67-69-70274 - Billy Horschel 64-68-75-67, Joaquin Niemann (CHI) 68-67-74-65, Charles Howell 70-67-70-67, Dylan Meyer 70-67-70-67, Troy Merritt 68-68-66-72, CT Pan (TPE) 67-67-68-72275 - Ted Potter 72-66-68-69, Stewart Cink 68-69-69-69, Joel Dah-men 66-69-69-71, Ryan Blaum 67-72-64-72

Sung Hyun Park poses with the trophy after winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship golf tournament at Kemper Lakes Golf Club. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

Francesco Molinari of Italy celebrates with the trophy and Tiger Woods after winning the Quicken Loans National during the final round at TPC Potomac in Potomac, Maryland. (Getty Images/AFP)

Stanlake blitz sets up easy Australia win over Pakistan

AFPHarare

Australia fast bowler Billy Stanlake redis-covered his aggres-sive streak to demolish

Pakistan’s top order and set up a nine-wicket win for his side in the second match of the T20 tri-series in Zimbabwe.

“The boys have been talking to me in the last few days about being a little more aggressive, so that’s why I came out and tried to do that,” said Stanlake.

The tactic brought almost im-mediate success, and he went on to record fi gures of four for 8 in his opening burst, the most eco-nomical spell by an Australian in T20I cricket, and second only to James Faulkner’s 5 for 27 the last time these two teams met. His ef-forts were a complete turnaround from Australia’s last T20, against England, when Stanlake was carted for 47 in just three overs.

“In the last game at Edgbaston I probably got away from that a little bit, JL [Australia coach Jus-

tin Langer] was getting in to me at training the other day about get-ting a bit more aggressive at our boys in the nets, and he kept rein-forcing that so I really wanted to make an emphasis on that today.”

Stanlake’s wickets, backed up by three quick strikes from An-drew Tye at the death and one each for Jhye Richardson and Mar-cus Stoinis, kept Pakistan to 116 all out, a score which Australia chased down with ease, captain Aaron Finch registering an unbeaten 68 as they cantered home with more than nine overs to spare.

“There have been times where I have been (both fast and ac-curate), but it’s been a little in-consistent,” admitted Stanlake. “The challenge for me is being able to do that game after game.

“England was a challeng-ing tour for all of us, but the key message was doing the simple things well and sticking to our strengths.

“And I probably got away from that at times during England, so that’s why I came back today just trying to be aggressive with the new ball and take wickets.”

Shoaib Malik, who became the fi rst male cricketer to play 100 T20Is in this game, briefl y rallied alongside Asif Ali before a horri-ble mix-up led to his run out for 13. It was left to Pakistan’s lower order to guide the team beyond 100.

Hasan Ali hurried D’Arcy Short’s pull to provide Pakistan with an early wicket, but Finch ensured there were no further slip-ups for the Australians.

He countered Pakistan’s spin threat with faultless attacking strokes, twice launching Mo-hammad Nawaz over long on and leathering legspinner Shadab Khan for three more sixes as the game ended in a fl urry of runs.

Finch hit six sixes in all, and the game ended with a dropped catch at long on that went for four, summing up Pakistan’s day.

“Credit goes to Finch, he played really well,” said Ali, who was the only bowler to break through for Pakistan. “The pitch was also really good in the sec-ond innings. We’re a good team, we’re no. 1, and Inshallah we’ll bounce back in the next game.”

CRICKET

‘England was a challenging tour for us, but the key message was doing the simple things well’

AFPLondon

India will provide far stiff er opposition for England than Australia did when it was whitewashed 5-0 in a one-

day series then thrashed in a Twenty20 match, Indian captain Virat Kohli said yesterday.

Kohli said his squad was ex-pecting a tough battle against England in their upcoming three-match T20 series, which begins at Old Traff ord today, as well as in fi ve Tests and three ODIs that will keep them in Eng-land until September.

While England impressed against Australia, the tourists were without a raft of fi rst choice players including former cap-tain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner, who are serving one-year bans for their roles in March’s ball-tampering scandal.

“We defi nitely are,” Kohli said when asked whether India had a stronger outfi t than Australia at his eve-of-match press confer-ence. “We believe in our abili-ties, and we obviously have a lot of Twenty20 experience. We’ve just come off the IPL and a cou-

ple of games against Ireland as well – where the team has looked great.”

Kohli, who scored 455 runs in 11 limited overs matches in the 2017-18 season, expects a confi -dent England to burst out of the blocks. “We expect England to come hard at us, and we certain-ly want to play some positive and hard-fought cricket,” said Kohli.

“It’s going to be an exciting series, and we believe we have the side to put up a great fi ght – and if we win the crucial mo-ments then anything can hap-pen,” added the 29-year-old.

His England counterpart Eoin

Morgan said regardless of Aus-tralia’s side being under-strength, his side had come out of it with many positives to take into the In-dia series. “I don’t think it’s a case of putting (victory over Australia) to one side when there are huge positives to take from the series,” said the 31-year-old Irishman.

“I think you can use a lot of that, confi dence and experi-ence-wise. Having had a few days off and time to refl ect on the series, it’s something we can call upon – and might need to win either series, the Twenty20 or the ODIs, when our backs are against the wall.”

Mercedes lick their wounds aft er Austrian debacle

MOTORSPORT

‘England will fi nd India tougher than Aussies’PREVIEW

Former captains Rahul Dravid of India and Australia’s Ricky Ponting have been inducted in the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame together with England women’s wicketkeeper-batter Claire Taylor, the world governing body said Monday.Dravid and Ponting both scored more than 10,000 runs in Tests and one-day internationals for their respective nations. They and Taylor were given the honours at a glittering cer-emony in Dublin on Sunday.“Only the very best players in the world are recognised for their contribution to cricket in this way and I would like to con-gratulate Rahul, Ricky and Claire who are wonderful additions to the list of cricketing luminaries in the Hall of Fame,” Interna-tional Cricket Council chief executive Dave Richardson said.Dravid became only the fifth player from India to be included in the list after Sunil Gavaskar, Bishan Singh Bedi, Kapil Dev and Anil Kumble.Ponting is the 25th from Australia while Taylor is the seventh woman overall and the third from England to be named in the list. The 45-year-old Dravid, who amassed 13,288 runs in 164 Tests with 36 centuries, is now mentoring Indian youngsters as coach of India ‘A’ and the Under-19 side.Ponting, 43, ended his career in 2012, accumulating 13,378 runs in 168 Tests with 41 centuries and 13,704 runs in 325 ODIs with 30 centuries.

‘Hall of Fame’ for Dravid, Ponting and Taylor

AFPSpielberg, Austria

Team chief Toto Wolff defended strategist James Vowles yester-day as the Mercedes

team licked their wounds and regrouped after Sunday’s dou-ble retirement at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Just days ahead of the British Grand Prix, home race for de-fending four-time champion Lewis Hamilton and the team, Wolff praised Vowles for his “guts” in admitting his mis-take after Mercedes’ worst re-sult since re-entering Formula One in 2010.

Only the debacle of the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix where Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collided on the opening lap, ironically gifting victory to Sunday’s winner Max Verstap-pen of Red Bull, could com-pare.

“We don’t need to make changes,” said Wolff , admit-ting it was another wake-up call. “The most important thing is to understand why an error happens and go back into the situation and analyse it.

“I don’t think that we would make an error twice. It’s just that the situation is very com-plex. We are fi ghting, six cars, and it’s just a tough situation.

“For me, James is one of the best ever and it needs guts to come out and, in order to save the best possible result, say in front of millions of people ‘that was my mistake, now you can still do this with the car you have’.”

Vowles admitted his deci-sion not to pit Hamilton for new tyres under the Virtual Safety Car was an error and would have cost him a race vic-tory, if he had not been forced to retire for the fi rst time in 34 races due to fuel pressure prob-lems. Hamilton was leading comfortably, but was the only

front-runner not to be called in when teammate Valtteri Bottas retired with hydraulics problems. That missed oppor-tunity meant that when he did pit, he dropped to fourth.

Taking to team radio, Vowles told the understandably dis-gruntled Hamilton: “It was my mistake. I’ve thrown away the win.”

It was the third time this season that Mercedes had dis-carded a race lead with a stra-tegic error, having done the same in Australia and China.

‘Peace of mind’

“For Lewis, leading the race comfortably and coming out in P4, it was a moment where he was really suff ering,” added Wolff . “We thought that it wasn’t all over. We wanted to recover the maximum points that we could...

“James coming on the radio is the mind-set that we have. We are able to say that we’ve done a mistake in order to close the matter.

“And, also, to give him (Hamilton) peace of mind that there’s complete acknowl-edgement within the team that it has gone wrong and it was our mistake – in order to make him park the thought.”

Wolff said the admission of error helped Hamilton and the team to avoid falling into a spiral of recrimination, adding that the driver had been com-mendably positive later in the team de-brief.

“He said we had ‘the fastest car in the race’ and ‘the best reliability’,” said Wolff . “He said also that we are ‘the best team I’ve driven for.’”

After four consecutive years as constructors’ champions, it may be that Mercedes lack the hunger to maintain their standards as rivals Ferrari and Red Bull close the gap.

“We don’t have excuses,” said chief engineer Andrew Shovlin.

England’s Eoin Morgan (left) and India’s Virat Kohli pose with the T20 series trophy yesterday. (Reuters)

SCOREBOARDPakistanM. Hafeez c Finch b Stanlake .................................................................................0F. Zaman c Carey b Stanlake ..................................................................................6H. Talat c Finch b Stanlake ..................................................................................... 10S. Ahmed c Finch b Stanlake .................................................................................. 4S. Malik run out (Maddinson/Carey) .................................................................13A. Ali b Stoinis ...............................................................................................................22S. Khan c Head b Tye ............................................................................................... 29F. Ashraf c Tye b Richardson .................................................................................21M. Nawaz c Agar b Tye ..............................................................................................6H. Ali c Agar b Tye ........................................................................................................0U. Khan not out .............................................................................................................0Extras (lb1, w4) ...........................................................................................5Total (10 wkts, 19.5 overs) ................................................................... 116Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Hafeez), 2-12 (Talat), 3-19 (Zaman), 4-24 (Ahmed), 5-47 (Malik), 6-61 (Ali), 7-91 (Ashraf, 8-114 (Khan), 9-116 (Ali), 10-116 (Nawaz)Bowling: Stanlake 4-0-8-4 (1w); Richardson 4-0-22-1 (1w); Stoinis 3-0-17-1 (1w); Tye 3.5-0-38-3 (1w); Agar 4-0-27-0; Maxwell 1-0-3-0

AustraliaD. Short c Talat b Ali .................................................................................................. 15A. Finch not out ..........................................................................................................68T. Head not out .......................................................................................................... 20Extras (lb5, w9) ....................................................................................... 14Total (1 wkt, 10.5 overs) ........................................................................117Fall of wickets: 1-35 (Short)Bowling: U. Khan 3-0-31-0, Nawaz 2-22, Ali 2-0-18-1, S. Khan 3.5-0-41-0Result: Australia won by 9 wickets.

Australia pace bowler Billy Stanlake (centre) celebrates a wicket with teammates during the 2nd match of the T20 tri-series against Pakistan at Harare Sports Club yesterday. (AFP)

Du Plessis calls for tougher ball tampering punishments

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has called for the International Cricket Council (ICC) to dish out tougher punishments for players found guilty of ball tampering. “I know they (ICC) met a while ago but it doesn’t look like anything has changed. It’s still the same rules and stuff , so they need to change that,” Du Plessis, who has twice been found guilty of ball tampering, told reporters ahead of South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka. “The penalties needs to be harsher for ball tampering.”Ball tampering incidents have rocked the sport this year, prompting the ICC to contemplate stricter punishments after admitting that fines were not enough to serve as a deterrent. “I have probably said it too much but there are too many grey areas when it comes to the ICC and the rules,” the 33-year-old right handed batsman added.

SPORT7Gulf Times

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

GULF TIMES SPORT

Federer cruises to victory, Serena battles through

AFPLondon

Eight-time champion Roger Federer and sev-en-time winner Serena Williams shrugged off

30-degree heat to breeze into the Wimbledon second round yesterday.

Federer, the defending champi-on and seeking a 21st major, marked the start of his 20th successive Wimbledon with a new look and a comfortable 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic.

Williams, like Federer, 36-years-old but chasing a 24th Slam title, enjoyed a hard-fought 7-5, 6-3 victory over Hol-land’s Arantxa Rus.

It was the American’s fi rst match at the All England Club since lifting the 2016 title. She missed the 2017 edition as she prepared for the birth of her fi rst child.

Top seed Federer marched out on Centre Court dressed for the fi rst time in gear designed by Japanese giant Uniqlo in a deal reported to be worth $300 mil-lion after a two-decade associa-tion with Nike.

But everything else was famil-iar for the Swiss star who cruised past world number 57 Lajovic in

just 79 minutes.It was the second successive

year that Federer had knocked out the Serb at Wimbledon.

“I’m very happy, I felt good from the start too which was nice and that was not the case last year against him. I remem-ber I struggled early on a lot,” said Federer.

After just 20 minutes to com-plete the fi rst set, Federer went on to fi re 35 winners past Lajovic, breaking serve fi ve times, setting up a second round encounter against either Lukas Lacko of Slovakia or French qualifi er Ben-jamin Bonzi.

Out on Court One, Serena, seeded 25 this year despite a ranking of 181, had too much power for Rus, the world 107 who made the third round in 2012 but failed to get out of qualifying on her last three visits.

Williams, looking to move within one title of Martina Na-vratilova’s Open era record of nine Wimbledon titles, fi red 23 winners past Rus and broke serve four times.

Victory was sealed on a fi fth match point. She next faces ei-ther Bulgarian qualifi er Viktori-ya Tomova or Czech wild card Tereza Smitkova.

“I don’t know if I’m relieved, more motivated, but I am happy

to get through that,” said Wil-liams, whose return to Slam ten-nis after pregnancy at Roland Garros last month ended in a fourth round injury withdrawal.

“It’s a great feeling to be back, it’s been a couple of years since I played on grass, so it is diffi cult trying to fi nd the rhythm.”

US Open champion and fourth seed Sloane Stephens became the tournament’s fi rst big name casualty when she slumped to a 6-1, 6-3 loss to Croatia’s world 55 Donna Vekic.

For Stephens, fresh from mak-ing the French Open fi nal last month, it was her second suc-cessive fi rst round loss at the tournament.

“There isn’t too much I can do - I’m not going to go and cry. Life goes on,” said Stephens, who was followed out of the tournament by Bulgarian sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov.

The 2014 semi-fi nalist was stunned by three-time Slam winner Stan Wawrinka 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5), 6-4. Wawrinka, whose ranking has slumped to 225 after knee surgery, had lost his last four matches against Dimitrov. But at the same tour-nament where he played what proved to be his last match of 2017, the 33-year-old was reju-venated.

“It’s a great feeling to win like this on Centre Court,” said

Wawrinka, twice a quarter-fi -nalist at Wimbledon. Third seed and 2017 runner-up Marin Cilic enjoyed a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka.

Cilic, who won the Wimble-don warm-up event at Queen’s Club last month, fi red 21 aces and 44 winners past his 259th-ranked opponent.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki, who has never got to the quarter-fi nals at Wimbledon, built on her Eastbourne title at the weekend with a 59-minute, 6-0, 6-3 win over Varvara Lepchenko.

Venus Williams, a fi ve-time champion and runner-up last year, made the next round with a 6-7 (3/7), 6-2, 6-1 win against Johanna Larsson of Sweden.

Serena’s fellow tennis-play-ing mother, Victoria Azarenka, a former world number one and two-time semi-fi nalist, de-feated Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.

Ivo Karlovic, 39 and the oldest man in the draw, made the sec-ond round by seeing off Mikhail Youzhny, just three years young-er, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (9/7), 6-3.

But Karlovic’s Croatian com-patriot Borna Coric, who de-feated Federer for the Halle ti-tle last week, was a fi rst round loser against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev 7-6 (8/6), 6-2, 6-2.

WIMBLEDON

US Open champion and fourth seed Stephens out of Wimbledon after straight-sets defeat by Croatia’s World No 55 Vekic

Switzerland’s Roger Federer in action during the first round match against Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic yesterday. (Reuters)

Roger Federer boosted his bank balance by a reported $300 mil-lion yesterday, marking his 20th straight Wimbledon appearance with a new clothing deal. The 36-year-old eight-time Wimbledon champion penned a contract with Japanese giants Uniqlo, virtu-ally severing a two-decade association with Nike in the process.His deal has been widely estimated to be worth $300 million over 10 years, compared to the $10 million he was reportedly making each year from US heavyweights Nike.Curiously, he was still wearing Nike shoes for his 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 win over Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic on Centre Court yesterday.Reluctant to discuss figures, Federer is now in a league of his own when it comes to career earnings.Forbes recently ranked him as raking in around $77 million last year alone in endorsements and prize money. According to Forbes, only basketball superstar LeBron James and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo are in the same earnings bracket.“I was excited to wear Uniqlo today. I must tell you, it’s been a long time coming,” said Federer.For the moment, Nike retain the rights to Federer’s iconic ‘RF’ logo but the Swiss star anticipates ownership of that too in good time.“The RF logo is with Nike, but it will come to me at some point,” he added. “I hope rather sooner than later, that Nike can be nice and helpful in the process to bring it over to me. It’s also something that was very important for me, for the fans really. They are my initials. They are mine. The good thing is it’s not theirs forever.”Federer insists that he has not had a full divorce from Nike – hence the US company’s shoes on the feet of the 20-time Grand Slam winner.“I don’t have a shoe deal. I’m looking forward to see what shoes I will be wearing in the near future. “For now, I will be wearing Nike. They have shown interest to have a shoe deal with me, as well. Ties are not broken there. I have deep roots with Nike. “I’ve had a great relationship over the last 20 years. But every-thing is open.”It may have been all change on the commercial front, but it was business as usual for Federer on court. The defending champion cruised past world number 57 Lajovic in just 79 minutes.

Federer marks 20th Wimbledon with ‘$300 million’ windfall

Qatar defeated Iraq 84-79 in the Group D match to qualify for the second round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China. Qatar put in a strong performance in the game as Mansour Atif El Hadary netted scored 21 points and Trey Johnson scored 15 points, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out five assists for the winners at the Al Gharafa sports hall in Doha yesterday. PICTURES: Ramchand

QATAR BEAT IRAN TO ENTER SECOND ROUND OF THE ASIAN QUALIFIERS FOR FIBA WORLD CUP

Serena Williams of the US celebrates a point during the first round match against Netherlands’ Arantxa Rus yesterday. (Reuters)

Sloane Stephens of the US waves after loosing to Donna Vekic of Croatia in the first round yesterday. (Reuters)