SPORT | 05

Birthday boy

Djokovic to

organise

Balkan event

S

Bi

D

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SPORTSaeed Al Sulaiti

wins inaugural

QORC MotoGP

Championship

SPORT | 07

SATURDAY 23 MAY 2020

Leeds chief says incomplete league season would be a ‘national embarrassment’ REUTERS – LONDON

Failure to conclude the Premier League and second-tier Champi-onship seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic would be considered a “national embar-rassment”, Leeds United chief executive Angus Kinnear has said.

Professional soccer has been suspended since mid-March due to the coronavirus outbreak but the Premier League plans to restart the season next month while the Championship will vote next week to decide on how to end their season.

The German Bundesliga resumed last weekend without fans in attendance while other top European leagues are planning to restart their campaigns and

Kinnear said it was time English leagues came up with solutions.

“England had some of the finest sports scientists and football administrators in the game and the time has come for us as a sport to stop repeatedly framing the challenges and start delivering on the solution,” Kinnear wrote in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

“It would be a national embar-rassment if the Bundesliga, La Liga or Serie A were to be able to complete safely and the first and fifth biggest leagues in the world were not able to follow suit if the context remained comparable.”

Premier League clubs started training sessions with small groups this week with a view of a possible return to normal ‘contact’ training next week.

Osaka tops Serena as world’s highest-paid female athleteAFP – NEW YORK

Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka has become the world’s highest-paid female athlete, making $37.4m in the past 12 months for an earnings record, Forbes magazine reported yesterday.

The 22-year-old Asian star, a two-time Grand Slam champion, edged US rival Serena Williams by $1.4m in prize money and endorsement income over the past year.

Both shattered the old single-year earnings mark of $29.7m set in 2015 by Russia’s Maria Sharapova, who retired in Feb-ruary with five Grand Slam titles, including a career Slam.

“To those outside the tennis world, Osaka is a relatively fresh face with a great back story,” Uni-versity of Southern California sports business professor David Carter told Forbes.

“Combine that with being youthful and bicultural -- two attributes that help her resonate with younger, global audiences -- and the result is the emergence

of a global sports marketing icon.”

Osaka, whose father was born in Haiti and whose mother is Japanese, ranks 29th on the 2020 Forbes list of the world’s 100 top-paid athletes, four spots ahead of Williams, who has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

The complete list, due to be released next week, has not fea-tured two women since 2016, according to the magazine.

Williams, 38, had been the world’s highest-paid female athlete in each of the past four years. Sharapova ruled for the five years before that.

Williams had annual incomes from $18m to $29m and has col-lected nearly $300m, much of it in endorsement deals.

Osaka won back-to-back Grand Slam titles at the 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian Open, her controversial and historic victory over Williams in the Flushing Meadows final the first Slam singles crown for a Japanese woman.

Osaka was a popular endorsement figure in Japan ahead of the now-postponed

Tokyo Olympics and figures to remain a sponsorship dream through next year’s rescheduled Games.

Nike signed a apparel deal with Osaka last year that paid her $10m in the past year and runs through 2025. Other endorsement deals include Nissan and Yonex racquets.

Since Forbes began tracking women athletes’ income figures in 1990, tennis players have topped the annual list of female top income earners every year.

eting

Serena Williams

$36m

Naomi Osaka $37.4m

WADA study finds no meaningful link between TUEs and Olympic medalsAFP – MONTREAL

There’s no meaningful link between an athlete having a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) and winning an Olympic medal, a study unveiled by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) found.

US tennis stars Serena and Venus Williams and reigning Olympic and world all-around gymnastics champion Simone Biles are among athletes who have used TUEs, special per-mission to take otherwise banned substances for medical needs.

Their WADA medical data, including use of TUEs, was revealed publicly by a hacker in 2016.

The WADA study examined athletes with TUEs at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Summer Olympics and the 2010 Van-couver, 2014 Sochi and 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics to see if athletes with TUEs won more medals than those without.

“The number of athletes competing with valid TUEs (in individual competition) at the selected Games was less than 1%,” said WADA medical

director Dr. Alan Vernec said.“The analysis suggests

there’s no meaningful associ-ation between competing with a TUE and the likelihood of winning a medal.

“The results of this study provide objective data to dispel some of the misunderstandings and misgivings surrounding TUEs.” Biles said in 2016 that she had been taking medicine since childhood for Attention D e f i c i t H y p e r a c t i v i t y Disorder.

Serena Williams defended her use of TUEs in 2018, saying she regularly used them but “I

am never, ever going to take an advantage over someone else. That is not who I am.” Athletes are given TUEs only after a review process and evaluation by a physicians panel on the medical relevance of the request. WADA and other anti-doping organizations then conduct further evaluation.

“The TUE Program is a nec-essary part of sport, allowing athletes with legitimate medical conditions to compete on a level playing field,” Vernec said.

“It has overwhelming acceptance from athletes, phy-sicians and anti-doping

stakeholders and there is a stringent process in place to avoid abuse of the system.” Researchers calculated risk ratios for the probability of winning a medal with and without TUEs and adjusted for the fact athletes from nations with greater resources might produce better performances due to other factors.

There were 181 TUE users among 20,139 athletes who won 21 of 2,062 medals awarded, 0.9% in all. The ratio for winning a medal with a TUE was 1.13 compared to a 1.07 adjusted risk ratio.

US tennis stars Serena

and Venus Williams and

reigning Olympic and world

all-around gymnastics

champion Simone Biles

are among athletes who

have used TUEs, special

permission to take otherwise

banned substances for

medical needs.

There were 181 TUE users

among 20,139 athletes who

won 21 of 2,062 medals

awarded, 0.9% in all.

Mexican season called off with no championAFP – MEXICO CITY

Mexico’s top flight Liga MX cancelled its Clausura campaign with no title winner yesterday in a bid to protect the football community in the country.

Mexico has two champion-ships per year, the Apertura and the Clausura, and the latter was halted by coronavirus in March with 10 of the 17 rounds of matches completed.

At a general meeting Liga MX decided to end the term “to make sure nobody in the football family, players, coaches, directors, referees, fans or media, get hurt”.

No start date for the next Apertura has been decided.

The move comes a day after attempts to restart the league were hampered when eight Santos Laguna players tested posit ive for coronavirus.

In mid-April the league had already decided to tackle issues of stability by suspending pro-motion and relegation for its top two divisions for five years.

With more than 6,000 fatalities, Mexico has the second highest COVID-19 death toll in Latin America after Brazil.

No quarantine exemption puts British Grands Prix at risk

Drivers in action during the 2019 Formula One British Grand Prix at the Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Britain in this file photo.

AFP – LONDON

Formula One’s hopes of hosting two races at Silver-stone were dealt a blow yesterday as elite sport was not handed any exemption to the UK government’s plans to introduce a 14-day quarantine period for those entering the country.

The measures will be introduced from June 8 to help curb the spread of corona-virus, but will reviewed every three weeks meaning an agreement could still be found in time for the Grands Prix to go ahead in July.

F1 stressed the need earlier this week for a quarantine exemption by highlighting the impact the new rules will have on “tens of thousands of jobs linked to F1 and supply chains.” However, Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle is hopeful that an agreement

can be reached that allows both races to go ahead.

“I am very clear that the importance of the industry is understood by government,” he told Sky Sports.

“So I remain optimistic that a sensible and pragmatic solution, which puts the onus on the sport quite rightly to come up with the right solution, can be found.” Seven of the 10 teams on the Formula One grid have bases in England.

“This isn’t just 90 minutes of an exciting sporting race. This is about getting an industry back to work,” added Pringle.

“This is about 40-plus thousand people’s livelihoods being ignited.

“The racing is at the very top of the pinnacle. Formula 1 is absolutely the top of the motorsport tree, it’s

the bit that we see and it’s the most visible bit.

F1 organisers are hoping to start the season with the Austrian Grand Prix on July 5 behind closed doors, followed by a second race at the Red Bull Ring a week later.

It was hoped Silverstone could then host two races in back-to-back weekends, also behind closed doors.

The quarantine restric-tions could also have a major impact on the participation of British sides in European football competition.

Manchester City, Man-chester United, Chelsea, Wolves and Rangers are all still involved in the knockout stages of the Champions League or Europa League. UEFA is planning for both competitions to be finished in August.

Liverpool’s midfielder Mohamed Salah arrives at Melwood in Liverpool, as training resumes after the Premier League was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Naomi Osaka

The 22-year-old Asian star, a two-time Grand Slam champion, edges US rival Serena Williams by $1.4m in prize money and endorsement income over the past year. Both shatter the old single-year earnings mark of $29.7m set in 2015 by Russia’s Maria Sharapova,

05SATURDAY 23 MAY 2020 SPORT

Olympics followed up by three mega events -- all in ChinaAP — TOKYO

Uncertainty grips next year’s postponed Tokyo Olympics: Will there be fans or empty stadiums in 14 months? And how will thousands of athletes, staff, and technical officials travel, be housed, and stay safe amid COVID-19?

And Tokyo is not alone.China - where the

COVID-19 outbreak was first detected - will hold three mega-sports events within a year after Tokyo is set to close.

The World University Games in Chengdu in western China open 10 days after the Tokyo Games close, with up to 8,000 athletes. Next come the Beijing Winter Olympics beginning on Feb-ruary 4, 2022, and the Asian Games in Hangzhou starting on September 10.

The previous edition of the Asian Games in Indonesia drew 11,000 athletes and featured more sports than the Olympics.

A fourth major event, soccer’s 24-team Club World Championship, was to open in China in June of 2021, but has been postponed because of scheduling conflicts created by the pandemic.

China is a go-to country for these mega events, through expertise gained from the 2008 Beijing Olympics and because it absorbs the massive costs. It spent at least $40bn to organise the 2008 Olympics, and there was no national debate since the authori-tarian state prohibits voting or referendums.

Voters in Europe and North America have repeatedly said “no” to ref-erendums to hold the games. China landed the 2022 Winter Olympics when several European bidders withdrew. Beijing won nar-rowly in a vote by the IOC a g a i n s t A l m a t y , Kazakhstan.

“Telling the citizens of Bavaria or Switzerland that another Winter Olympics would benefit them greatly doesn’t work,” Jonathan Grix, who studies sports policy at Manchester Metropolitan University, wrote in an email. He said voters sense that “cit-izens rarely benefit the most from such events.”

“Authoritarian states have no need to ask the pop-ulace, they have no need to compromise on policy, there

is no political opposition (by definition) and most delivery services are state-run, ensuring the smooth running of the event,” Grix added.

Japanese and Interna-tional Olympic Committee officials have given few details about how the Tokyo Olympics will be staged, the cost of postponement, and who will pay for it. They’ve teased the problems and floated tenuous solutions. They’ve agreed on one thing: If the games can’t open on July 23, 2021, they’ll be cancelled.

In a joint news con-ference last weekend, the director general of the World Health Organization cau-tioned it would not be “easy” to make the Olympics a safe global gathering spot.

But Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed con-fidence: “I think it’s possible,”

IOC President Thomas Bach has been cautious in speculating how the Olympics can be held. He’s suggested a possible quar-antine for athletes, hinted at limited fan access to venues, and has not ruled out events in empty stadiums. Of course, he says that’s not his preference.

IOC member John Coates, who oversees preparations for Tokyo, has been direct.

“We’ve got real problems because we’ve got athletes having to come from 206 dif-ferent nations,” Coates said, speaking at a News Corp Australia digital forum and reported in The Australian newspaper.

“We’ve got 11,000 ath-letes coming, 5,000 technical officials and coaches, 20,000 media.”

There’s also about 4,000 working on the organising committee and an expected 60,000 volunteers.”

Some scientists in Japan and elsewhere believe a vaccine is needed to guar-antee safety for athletes. But some have asked if young, healthy athletes should be a priority for vaccination.

The biggest challenge might be guaranteeing the safety of fans who have already bought millions of tickets. If there are no fans, will there be refunds? Will there be lawsuits? Tickets provide at least $800m income for local organisers with the added cost of post-ponement estimated in Japan at $2bn to $6bn.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist track-and-field sprinter Natasha Hastings works out at home in Cedar Park, Texas.

Birthday boy Djokovic to organise Balkan eventAFP — BELGRADE

Novak Djokovic will gather some of the world’s best players for a tennis tour-nament in the Balkans next month, with the profes-sional season on a corona-virus-enforced hiatus.

In a statement, a spokesman for world number one Djokovic said that the Adria Tour will be held between June 13-July 5 in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia.

Along with Djokovic, who was cele-brating his 3 3 r d b i r t h d a y yesterday, w o r l d n u m b e r t h r e e Dominic Thiem and Bulgarian Grigor Dim-itrov, ranked 19, will also participate in the tournament, the statement said.

The ATP and WTA Tours have been

suspended since March and will not resume until at least the end

of July, while Roland Garros was post-

poned to Sep-tember and Wim-bledon was can-celled for the first time since the Second World War.

The money gathered

from the Adria Tour, which starts in Belgrade on June 13-14, will be used for various regional humani-tarian projects, the statement added.

It is unknown if the tournament will be open to

spectators or will be only broadcast on television. Balkan countries coped with the COVID-19 pandemic with rel-ative success, with fewer than 20,000 people infected and around 650 deaths in a region of some 22 million people.

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In a statement, a spokesman for world number one Djokovic said that the Adria Tour will be held between June 13-July 5 in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia.

Along with Djokovic, who was celebrating his 33rd birthday yesterday, world number three Dominic Thiem and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, ranked 19, will also participate in the tournament, the statement said.

Australian tennis great Cooper dies at 83

AFP — SYDNEY

Eight-time Grand Slam tour-nament winner Ashley Cooper has died aged 83, Tennis A u s t r a l i a a n n o u n c e d yesterday, with Rod Laver hailing him as a “wonderful champion”.

The former Australian, Wimbledon and US singles titleholder, was part of the golden era of Australian men’s tennis in the 1950s, winning four major singles titles and four in doubles.

Competing against fellow Australian greats Laver, Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall and Neale Fraser, Cooper won three of those singles titles in 1958, when he triumphed at Wim-bledon and the Australian and USA championships.

“Ashley was also the most humble of champions and a great family man,” said Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley in a statement.

“Our hearts go out to his wife Helen and his family, along with his wide and inter-national circle of friends, including so many of our tennis family.”

Men’s depth stronger than for a decade, says CilicREUTERS — MUMBAI

With a wave of fast-maturing young players ready to chal-lenge the established greats of the game for Grand Slam honours, Marin Cilic says men’s tennis will be stronger than it has been for a decade when the coronavirus shutdown ends.

While Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal have won the last 13 majors between them Cilic says the likes of Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev are getting closer to breaking the hegemony.

“The health of tennis has grown a lot in the last 12-18 months. This mix of the younger generation, they’re maturing much more,” the former US Open champion said in an interview from Croatia.

“You now have at least 10 guys that are promising and really strong and they’re showing their strength and their potential on the court and the big tournaments. And there’s also this older generation still.

“I believe health of the tennis tour is extremely strong at the moment. I believe com-petition has come back to the situation we were in, around 2008-

2010, where we had so many great, great names in our sport.” As well as his 2014 Flushing Meadows triumph, Cilic made the final at Wimbledon in 2017 and the Australian Open the fol-lowing year -- no mean feat in a period boasting the likes of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka.

Things were leaner in 2019 when he failed to win a title for the first time since 2007 and the 31-year-old currently lan-guishes at number 37 in the world.

Cilic showed he still has what it takes when, unseeded, he made the Australian Open fourth round this year and says he can climb the ladder again.

“ I a l w a y s b e l i e v e d t h a t there is a

place for me at the top of the tennis world and you have to earn it,” added the Croatian, who peaked at number three in the world in 2018.

“I also believe there is still space for me at the top in these next several years -- at top 10, top 15 and I believe I can be there.” His bid to clamber back up the rankings is on hold until the circuit resumes after the coronavirus shutdown, which has seen lower-level profes-sionals, who depend on tour-nament winnings for their income, struggling to pay the bills.

Cilic, who has banked almost $28m in career win-nings, said the situation was unfair.

“Tennis is one of the biggest, best sports glo-

bally but... basically 100-250 players, are making a living and earning something from it,” said Cilic.“The governing

bodies, especially Grand Slams, need to allocate enough funds to support

lower-ranked p l a y e r s ,

low-level tournaments,

futures, chal-lengers and I believe

there is enough funds for those too.” While the

shutdown has exposed the financial plight of players in the lower ranks it is also being seen by some as a chance to remedy structural issues within the

game, such as the duplication o f men’s international

team competitions.The new-look

Davis Cup finals and inaugural ATP Cup took place within six weeks

of each other around the new year

and Cilic, who played a part in both competitions, says

fans should be the main con-sideration when resolving the issues.

“It became such a huge number of tournaments, don’t want to say a mess, but it’s a lot, and difficult to follow for a regular tennis fan, or maybe a fan that watches tennis here and there,” he said.

“There needs to be focus in which way we want the tour to go and how to make the best out of it.”

The health of tennis has grown a lot in the last 12-18months. This mix of the younger generation, they’re maturing much more,” the former US Open champion said in an interview from Croatia.

“You now have at least 10 guys that are promising and really strong and they’re showing their strength and their potential on the court and the big tournaments. And there’s also this older generation still.

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fourth round this year and sayshe can climb the ladder again.

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almost $28m in career winnings, said the situation was unfair.

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bally but... basically 100-250 players, are making a living andearning somethingfrom it,” said Cilic.“The governing

bodies, especiallyGrand Slams, needto allocate enough funds to support

lower-ranked p l a y e r s ,

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futures, chal-lengers and I believe

there is enough fundsfor those too.” While the

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game, such as the duplicatioo f men’s internation

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Marin Cilic

Players’ union mulls protocols for starting the MLB seasonAFP — LOS ANGELES

Major League Baseball players have concerns about corona-virus testing protocols that the owners have proposed in an exhaustive new 67-page health and safety plan, The Wash-ington Post reported.

The draft of the safety pro-tocols was delivered to the 30 teams and the Major League Baseball’s Players Association on May 15.

“The union has spent the past several days carefully reviewing the manual and gath-ering feedback from its medical

experts and players across the league, including a 3.5-hour video conference with 100-plus player leaders on Monday,” a spokesman for the union told the Post.

Before the planned start of the delayed season due to the coronavirus outbreak, the union is seeking answers on several key issues including testing fre-quency, player compensation, protections for family members and social distancing guidelines.

Baseball is seeking to begin the season around July 4. Before that there is a mini-spring

training planned which would start in mid-June.

MLB hopes to open play without spectators, but in as many of the teams’ home sta-diums as possible.

Under the new safety plan, players would be banned from spitting or exchanging high-fives, taking showers after games, and not allowed to move around outside their hotels while on the road. They would also have to arrive at the stadium in uniform.

MLB has modified one of its drug testing labs in Utah to be used as a Covid-19 testing

facility. Testing is a big issue with the players. MLB said they would be tested several times a

week but some players, like Los Angeles Angels Mike Trout, are asking to be tested every day.

Major League Baseball players have concerns about coronavirus testing protocols that the owners have proposed in an exhaustive new 67-page health and safety plan.

The draft of the safety protocols was delivered to the 30 teams and the Major League Baseball’s Players Association on May 15.

Novak Djokovic

South Africa plan for resumption by isolating players in bio-bubble

06 SATURDAY 23 MAY 2020SPORT

BCCI won’t push for T20 World Cup delay to open IPL window: OfficialREUTERS — NEW DELHI

India’s cricket board will not push for the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia to be post-poned but would consider staging the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the October/November slot if it becomes available, a senior BCCI official has told Reuters.

This year’s IPL, which is worth almost $530m to the BCCI, has been indefinitely postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic while the World Cup, which is scheduled to begin on October 18, is also in jeopardy.

Reports in Australian media have suggested India’s influ-ential board may look to push for the World Cup to be post-poned to open up a window for the IPL.

World Cup contingency plans are on the agenda at next week’s International Cricket Council (ICC) board meeting but BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal said India would not be recommending it be pushed back.

“Why should the BCCI suggest postponing the Twenty20 World Cup?” Dhumal said.

“We’ll discuss it in the meeting and whatever is appro-priate, (the ICC) will take a call.

“If the Australia government announces that the tournament will happen and Cricket Aus-tralia is confident they can handle it, it will be their call. BCCI would not suggest anything.”

While Australia has seen new infections of the novel coronavirus slow to a trickle and is gradually easing travel curbs and social distancing restrictions, hosting a 16-team World Cup would be a Her-culean task for Cricket Australia.

Dhumal questioned

whether the tournament should go ahead if it had to be played without spectators and said the Australian government would play a key role in any decision.

“It all depends on what the Australian government says on this - whether they’d allow so may teams to come and play the tournament,” he added.

“Will it make sense to play games without spectators? Will it make sense for CA to stage such a tournament like that? It’s their call.”

Cricket Australia chief exec-utive Kevin Roberts was guarded about the prospects of staging the tournament as scheduled yesteray.

“We don’t have clarity on that one, yet. But as the situation continues to improve, you never know what might be possible,” he said. “It’s ultimately a decision for the ICC.”

The ICC has said it was unlikely to make a final call on the fate of the World Cup until August but some boards are in the process of making contin-gency plans in the event of a postponement.

While the BCCI recognised an open October-November window would suit the IPL, Dhumal said there was no point in making plans until there was some certainty about the World Cup.

“If we have the window available, and depending on what all can be organised, we’ll decide accordingly,” he added.

“We can’t presume that it’s not happening and go on planning.”

A file photo of a Twenty20 International match between Australia and England in Sydney.

If the Australia government announces that the tournament will happen and Cricket Australia is confident they can handle it, it will be their call. BCCI would not suggest anything: BCCI treasurer Arun Singh Dhumal

CSA refuses to back Smith’s support of Sourav GangulyAFP — JOHANNESBURG

The divisions in South African cricket were exposed again when Cricket South Africa (CSA) president Chris Nenzani said Graeme Smith’s call for Sourav Ganguly (pictured) to become International Cricket Council chairman did not have official approval.

“We must respect both the ICC protocol and our own pro-tocol in deciding which can-didate to back,” Nenzani, a con-troversial figure who has stayed in office despite several calls for his resignation, said on Thursday night.

“There have been no can-didates nominated as yet and once such nominations have been made the Board of CSA will take its decision in terms of its own protocol.”

Smith, CSA’s director of cricket, said at a press con-ference on Thursday that he believed India’s Ganguly, a fellow former Test captain, was the best man to succeed another Indian Shashank Manohar, whose term as ICC chairman is about to expire.

“We have the highest regard for the opinions of our director of cricket, Graeme Smith, who is a well-respected figure in world cricket and has already made an immense con-tribution in fulfilling his mandate to make our cricket teams world leaders again,” said Nenzani.

“At the moment we don’t w a n t t o a n t i c i p a t e

any candidates who may be nominated for this important position to lead the game we all love.”

The administration of cricket in South Africa has been in turmoil since the constitution of CSA was changed at the annual meeting last September to allow Nenzani an extra year in office after he had already served the maximum two three-year terms.

The extension was osten-sibly to guide the organisation through a new system headed by then-chief executive Thabang Moroe.

But Moroe proved a divisive figure and was suspended in December on charges of mis-conduct. Before his suspension he had alienated the country’s players’ association and created a storm when he withdrew the accreditation of five journalists who had been critical of him.

Sri Lanka scraps $40m cricket stadium on advice of top playersAFP — COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s prime minister scrapped plans for a $40m cricket stadium after local legends of the game warned it would end up a white elephant.

Former captains Sanath Jayasuriya and Mahela Jaya-wardene slammed the pro-posed grounds near the capital Colombo, saying the money would be better spent sup-porting young players.

“It was decided at a meeting with former top players today that instead of the proposed Homagama stadium it was better to spend money on building school cricket,” the PM

Mahinda Rajapaksa’s office said in a statement. Information and Higher Education minister Bandula Gunawardana had proposed the controversial stadium, which was to be built in his local constituency.

The governing body Sri Lanka Cricket had backed his plan and there was speculation

it could fund the project using international loans.

D u r i n g s t r o n g m a n Rajapaksa’s decade as president between 2005 and 2010, he built a 35,000-capacity inter-national cricket stadium in his home constituency of Hambantota.

But the arena in the south of the island nation has become a white elephant, with no Test matches played on the grounds.

The stadium, named after him, hosted a one-day interna-tional between Sri Lanka and West Indies in February after Rajapaksa became prime min-ister in November under his president brother Gotabaya.

Australia confident of hosting India, could tour England

REUTERS — MELBOURNE

Australia are a “nine out of 10” chance to host India for a Test series in the home summer and could also tour England for limited overs series beforehand, Cricket Australia boss Kevin Roberts said.

Cricket has been shut down since March due to the novel coronavirus out-break and while travel curbs remain Australia has begun easing social dis-tancing restrictions after infections slowed to a trickle.

“I guess there’s no such thing as certainty in today’s world so I can’t say 10 (out of 10), but I’m going to say nine out of 10,” Roberts told a round table held by Aus-tralia’s News Corp when asked about the prospects of India touring.

“I’d be really surprised if we can’t get the Indian tour away. But I wouldn’t, hand on heart, suggest we’ll have full crowds from the start.

“We’ll just have to wait and see how that goes.”

Australia had planned to tour England in July for one-day and Twenty20 series before the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the international schedule into doubt.

England are looking at hosting the West Indies and Pakistan in July and August.

Roberts said he had spoken to the England and Wales Cricket Board on Wednesday and there was “some chance” Australia could tour England after the West Indies and Pakistan tours.

“Obviously we won’t jeopardise the safety of the players, but the best test of that is that the West Indian and Pakistan tours... go off without a hitch,” he said.

Roberts was less opti-mistic about Australia’s chances of hosting the Twenty20 World Cup, scheduled to start in October, given the logistical challenge of bringing in 15 teams.

“We don’t have clarity on that one, yet. But as the situation continues to improve, you never know what might be possible,” he said.

“It’s ultimately a decision for the ICC (Inter-national Cricket Council).”

Sri Lanka’s coach Mickey Arthur walks along the Galle Face Green promenade in Colombo, yesterday.

Former captains Sanath

Jayasuriya and Mahela

Jayawardene slammed

the proposed grounds

near the capital Colombo,

saying the money

would be better spent

supporting young players.Roberts was less

optimistic about

Australia’s chances of

hosting the Twenty20

World Cup, scheduled

to start in October,

given the logistical

challenge of bringing in

15 teams.

REUTERS — CAPE TOWN

Cricket South Africa (CSA) plan to isolate players and support staff in a “bio-bubble” to minimise their exposure to COVID-19 and hasten a return to play.

CSA has studied the best practises used by the German Bundesliga, which resumed last weekend, and hope to implement them when India are scheduled to visit for three lucrative Twenty20 Internationals in late August.

But the tour remains in doubt as government models suggest the virus could peak

in South Africa during August or September. It poses the question of how to minimise exposure for players, coaches and support staff. Team doctor Shuaib Manjra said they have worked on a plan, having also liaised with the cricket boards in England and Australia.

“The bio-bubble would be a sanitised cricket bio-sphere with strict entry standards and limited movement out of this cordon,” he told reporters via a teleconference.

“This will require regular testing of all of those within

the bubble. “We want to create a sanitised cricket eco-system that will ensure we account for the entire chain of operations that are sanitised and grant pro-tection to all role-players.

“We have drawn from our colleagues in England and Australia, and we have learned from (soccer’s) La Liga and the Bundesliga.” Manjra said they are facing unknown risk factors, including what effect COVID-19 has on the health of infected athletes once they have recovered.

“What is the impact of

intense physical activity on players infected with COVID-19 when they return to play?

“What happens when one of our players contracts COVID-19, and I have no doubt that many will. When are they safe to return to play and what are the (health) risks to them when they do? We need to under-stand this.”

All South African sports are preparing to petition gov-ernment to allow them to renew activities, with the country still under a tight lockdown.

Cricket enthusiasts practice in the cricket nets in Brockwell Park in south

London. Hot balmy weather across much of Britain have tested the nation’s

resolve in maintaining social distancing in parks and open spaces. The

mercury climbed to 27.8C (82F) near Heathrow Airport on May 20 to

record the hottest day of the year so far.

Cricket enthusiasts practise in nets in London

07SATURDAY 23 MAY 2020 SPORT

Former Sevilla star raises $1m to build mosqueANATOLIA – ANKARA

Spanish football club Sevilla’s veteran forward Frederic Kanoute helped raise $1m to build a mosque in Spain’s southern city of Seville.

Starting more than one year ago, the French-born Malian player raised $1m in an online mosque cam-p a i g n c a l l e d Kanoute4SevilleMosque.

“When I played for

Sevilla, I helped the Muslim community with their temporary musallah. They now need your help to build a masjid in Seville, a city that hasn’t had the masjid for over 700 years,” Kanoute shared a video on Twitter.

“I feel honored to be part of this project which I believe is worth supporting. A place like this will be a shining example of the life of Islam in our day

Insha’Allah. We all know that one player alone doesn’t win the match. Join our team we need your support,” he added.

Kanoute said that the campaign reached $1m as of Wednesday as he thanks to people who donate money or just spread this message.

“So thank you very much. May Allah reward you and elevate you all t h o s e w h o

have participated to that campaign, or those who have contributed, whether it is with donating money or just spreading the message”.

Kanoute, 42, converted to Islam at the age of 20.

Winning two UEFA Cup and two UEFA Super Cup with Sevilla in 2006 and 2007, Kanoute became one of the top scorers in the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations with his nation.

FA Cup could be played after league wrapped up: CarragherREUTERS – LONDON

The final three rounds of the FA Cup could be played after the Premier League season is wrapped up, with the remaining seven matches staged over eight days, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has said.

Eight Premier League teams have made it to the quarter-finals, which were scheduled to be played on March 21-22 before the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I would love to see this season’s FA Cup rescheduled to resemble the final stages of a World Cup, all the remaining games played after the con-clusion of the Premier League,” Carragher wrote in his column in the Telegraph.

“Quarter-finals could be played on the Friday and Sat-urday after the last Premier League weekend. Midweek semi-finals could then be immediately followed by the final, the competition con-cluded in eight days.”

“It is preferable to prior-itise the Premier League games and ensure they are completed as quickly as pos-sible,” Carragher said.

Finland aims to restart action and relive Euro 2020 euphoriaAP – GENEVA

A stellar 2019 for soccer in Finland was meant to hit a new peak in the 2020 season.

The national team qualified last November for its first major tour-nament and Finland was going to spend mid-June obsessed by the European Championship.

Another Nordic nation making a long-shot debut dressed in blue and white, Finland was aiming to follow Iceland’s inspiring run to the Euro 2016 quarterfinals.

“It was really, really positive. The country has never been so enthu-siastic,” Finnish league CEO Timo Marjamaa told The Associated Press of his home country that is world champion in its top sport, ice hockey.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced Euro 2020 - where Finland was set to play against top-ranked Belgium, Denmark and neighbor

Russia - to be postponed for one year.

On June 16, instead of preparing to face the Russians in nearby St. Petersburg, Finnish fans are looking to restart the national cup compe-tition stopped in March.

July 1 is the target, pending gov-ernment approval, to start the 12-team Veikkausliiga season. That’s almost three months after the league’s planned opening day and more than eight months since a memorable 2019 title was sealed.

The league trophy won by KuPS in October was the team from Kuo-pio’s first in 43 years, and the first decided in a six-team championship group after the regular season.

The backdrop was the antici-pation of Finland advancing to Euro 2020 with group leader Italy by winning its home games in October and November.

Star striker Teemu Pukki scored twice in each 3-0 win against

Armenia and Liechtenstein to seal qualification with a game to spare.

“It was the best situation that I have ever had,” said Marjamaa, who played in the league and Finland’s national team 20 years ago. That era had stars like Jari Litmanen, a Cham-pions League winner at Ajax, and Liverpool captain Sami Hyypia.

“Now it might be the worst,” the league official said during a pro-longed shutdown that has frozen the industry’s income.

“In the worst scenario, some of the clubs will be out of business if this will last a long time.” A typical Veikkausliiga club budget is around €1m ($1.09m). Around half might be earned on match days from ticket sales, sponsorship, food and merchandise.

“The income from matches is really, really important,” Marjamaa acknowledged, though he hopes empty stadiums can be avoided. A 500-person limit could be allowed,

and the league is working on plans to allow in up to 400 fans.

Finland has earned a reputation of coping well in the health crisis, with a government led since December by a 34-year-old woman, Prime Minister Sanna Marin.

The nation of 5.5 million people had 306 deaths due to COVID-19 up yesterday, according to the count by Johns Hopkins University.

The soccer league plans a late finish for such a cold northern climate, on November 21.

Marjamaa said it could revert to just a 22-game regular season if fixture dates are lost to more waves of infections. Soccer players have not been prioritized for testing by public authorities The delays in play have one upside for young Finnish players, with extra time to impress coach Markku Kanerva for Euro 2020 selection.

“You have one more year to get your game up,” Marjamaa said.

Danish club opensfirst-ever ‘virtualgrandstand’ for fansREUTERS – LONDON

Fans may not be allowed to support their club at stadiums when Denmark’s Superliga season resumes amid the COVID-19 pandemic but AGF Aarhus will allow them to be present at Ceres Park to cheer their team on, albeit virtually.

Third-placed Aarhus play Randers in the first match on the league’s return on May 28 and the club will allow fans to be present via the video conferencing tool Zoom, with their feed displayed on several screens that face the pitch.

Fans can apply for free ‘tickets’ and will be allowed to pick a virtual grandstand, with 22 dif-ferent sections to choose from.

Zoom has proven to be a popular platform among millions of people who have been in lockdown across the globe due to the novel coro-navirus outbreak.

Former Inter coach Simoni dies at 81REUTERS – MILAN

Former Inter Milan coach Gigi Simoni, winner of the UEFA Cup with a side which included the Brazilian Ronaldo, has died at the age of 81, the club said yesterday.

In all, Simoni coached a dozen sides in Italy, some of them more than once, plus Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia in a coaching career that spanned more than 30 years.

He joined Inter before the start of the 1997-98 season at the same time they signed Ronaldo from Barcelona and led them to second place in Serie A behind Juventus and to the UEFA Cup final, where they beat Lazio 3-0.

“I learned more from Ronaldo than he did from me that season,” said Simoni, who had been ill since suffering a stroke last June.

However, he was sacked by Inter the following November after a poor run of results, on the same day that he was awarded the Panchina d’Oro award for the coach of the year. A midfielder in his playing days, he had three stints at Genoa, two at Napoli and Pisa also coached Lazio, among others.

Slovakia may resume top league on June 13REUTERS – BRATISLAVA

Slovakia’s top-tier soccer league will resume on June 13 in a shortened format of five rounds of championship and relegation groups if state authorities approve proposed conditions, the Union of League Clubs (ULK) said yesterday.

The competition was halted in early March after 22 games of the regular season when the government banned all sporting events as it aimed to curb the new coronavirus outbreak.

“I would like to thank clubs that they had fans in mind in these difficult times,” the pres-ident of ULK Ivan Kozak said.

The rules for hygiene proposed by the union have yet to be approved by the country’s top public health official. All players and selected team members will be tested, Kozak said.

Holders Slovan Bratislava have a 10-point lead over Zilina, which went into liquidation in March but will be able to finish the competition as its financial situation does not affect its sporting activities.

Al Sulaiti wins QORC MotoGP titleTHE PENINSULA – DOHA

Qatari rider Saeed Al Sulaiti shrugged off an early mishap to win his third consecutive final of the Qatar Online Racing Championships’ MotoGP class to clinch the inaugural title at a virtual Losail International Circuit.

The 35-year-old three time Qatar Superstock 600 champion who started from pole position in

Thursday’s third and last final, suffered an early crash but soon caught-

up with the leading pack before overtaking his closest rival Soud Al Thani in the seventh lap

The former WorldSBK and Moto2 rider never looked threatened from that point onwards and went on to win the 15- lap race at his ‘home track' with a 11 second lead ahead of Soud who fin-ished second behind him for the third consecutive time.

The podium finish

also earned Soud the second place in the final standings.

Sulaiti bagged the top prize of QR1,5000 with 120 points. Soud collected 108 points and got richer by QR13,000.

Mohamad Al Zaidan finished third in the final leg while Hade Ahmed secured the fourth spot with a massive lead over the reigning Qatar Superstock 600 champion Abdulla Al Qubaisi who booked the fifth place.

Kuwaiti gamer Khalid Al Maraghi won the third place of the championship, conducted by Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) on Play-Station 4 platform of MotoGP 19 game.

Al Maraghi won QR10,000 in prize money while Zaidan bagged QR6,000, Ahmed bagged the fifth prize of QR5,000.

The 'Flying Frenchman' Jeremy Parola was sixth in the final standings ahead of Al Qubaisi who had to settle at the seventh spot.

Ali Ahmed Boushehri, Jassim Al Thani and Hamad Al Sahouti completed the top 10.

The organiseres will deliver the trophies and medals to residences of the respective winners.

THE PENINSULA – DOHA

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Barcelona’s Xavi Hernandez applauds the Camp Nou crowd after a 2-2 draw against Deportivo La Coruna in his final home game in this May 23, 2015 file photo. The former Spain international won 25 trophies in 17 seasons with Barca, making a record 767 appearances. He left his boyhood club to join Al Sadd in 2015 and remained with the Qatari team for four years before being appointed their head coach in 2019.

On this day, in 2015

QORC MOTOGP FINAL STANDINGS# RIDER R1 R2 R3 PTS1 Saeed Al Sulaiti 40 40 40 1202 Soud Al Thani 36 36 36 1083 Khalid Al Maraghi 33 33 29 954 Mohamad Al Zaidan 29 31 33 935 Hade Ahmed 31 28 31 906 Jeremy Parola 30 30 28 887 Abdulla Al Qubaisi 28 27 30 858 Ali Ahmed Boushehri 27 29 27 839 Jassim Al Thani 26 24 26 7610 Hamad Al Sahouti 25 26 25 76

Saeed Al Sulaiti

RACE 3: FINAL STANDINGS (TOP 5)