www.ntnews.com.au Wednesday, January 8, 2014. NT NEWS. 35

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Plea for Schumacher privacy

MICHAEL Schumacher’s wife Corinna has called onreporters to stay away from the French hospital wherehe is being treated for life-threatening injuries from askiing accident, and to leave her family alone. Theformer German champion remains in amedicallyinduced coma since the accident on December 29 in theFrench ski resort of Meribel, where he owns a chalet.Schumacher’s fall has generated hugemedia interest,with his hospital under siege by reporters.

Walcott tomissWorld Cup

ENGLAND forward TheoWalcott will miss this year’sWorld Cup in Brazil after being ruled out for at least sixmonthswith a knee injury, his club, Arsenal, saidyesterday. Walcott suffered a ruptured anteriorcruciate ligament of his left knee during PremierLeague leaders Arsenal’s 2-0 FA Cup third-roundwin athome to arch north London rivals Tottenham at theweekend. Walcott, 24, jarred his knee towards the endof thematch andwas carried from the field.

Bresciano freed up for Brazil

STARmidfielder Mark Bresciano is free to representthe Socceroos at the Brazil World Cup, although hisappeal against a four-month FIFA ban continues.Bresciano receivedmixed news over theweekend,with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) rejectinghis application for a stay of proceedings. But they tookinto account his World Cup aspirations; hence themidfielder will serve his ban until March 13, though he’sfree to play in friendlies for club and country.

Holmes prepares to defend her world titleMOTORSPORT

By JESSWEBSTER

I never thought I

would be aWorld

Champion, ever.

I was absolutely

stoked

TOP END motocross riderMelissa Holmes will tackle2014 as a defending WorldChampion after blitzing thefield at the recent VeteranMX Championship in the US.

The 36-year-old’s dreamcame true when she domi-nated in all four races at themeet in Glen Helen, Califor-nia, last month.

Holmes, who has raced for13 years, didn’t know any ofher opponents pre-race butsaid sheer determination gother over the line.

‘‘I missed the hole-shot inthe first race and it took me alittle bit to find my rhythmbut I overtook the leader onthe third lap and then I justheld on,’’ she said.

‘‘I was going to win it if itwas the last thing I did.

‘‘All the other races I hole-shotted and won so it wasreally, really good.

‘‘I never thought I wouldbe a World Champion, ever.

‘‘I was absolutely stoked.’’Holmes will look to race

in Iceland this year at theinvitation of one of hercompetitors and also wantsto return to America to de-

fend her world champ title.‘‘I’ve been riding the best

I’ve ever done throughoutmy career lately and I’vegotten to a really confident

level and I feel that I can do itconsistently,’’ she said.

‘‘My husband (Glen) hasbeen a massive supportof mine.

‘‘Without him, there is noway anything I’ve ac-complished would havecome true.

‘‘I really encourage anyother women in Australiato make the trip over to Am-erica to make the compe-tition stronger.’’

Locally, Holmes’ next chal-lenge is the Top EndMotocross Thumpernatsseries, which is scheduled tokick off in March.

Motlop determined to roll diceFromBackPage

His AFL and QAFL suspen-sions weren’t originally in-cluded on his record, and aone-match ban for strikingTiwi Bomber DonaldMungatopi pushed him overthe 16-week limit in the NTFLalone and alerted AFLNT tothe deregistration rule.

The rule was introducednationwide in 2007, and adop-ted by AFLNT in 2008.Only two Territory playershave ever been deregistered— Wanderers’ Danny Miskinand White.

The deregistration policystates a player or official can-not be eligible for re-regis-

tration unless they gain anexemption from the relevantstate body, granted under ‘‘ex-ceptional circumstances’’.

A deregistered player whosuccessfully appeals, butfinds themselves suspendedagain, will be immediately de-registered for life with no fur-ther right to apply for exemp-tion or appeal.NT News football writerJess Webster will provideupdates on the tribunalhearing at TIO Stadiumfrom6pmtonight.Follow @JessWebster21 onTwitter, or get all the up-to-date news on ntnews.com.au

Harris eyed operationCRICKET

By JOEBARTONin Sydney

Australian stars Nathan Lyon, Chris Rogers, Mitchell Johnson,Ryan Harris, Michael Clarke, David Warner, Shane Watsonand James Faulkner celebrate their Ashes success with thefans at the Opera House yesterday Picture: SAEED KHAN

TIRELESS quick Ryan Har-ris has revealed he con-sidered having knee surgerythat would’ve ruled him outof the Boxing Day and Syd-ney Ashes Tests.

The veteran paceman willnow delay surgery on hisdodgy knee to ensure hisplace in Australia’s pace at-tack for next month’s three-Test tour of South Africa.

He admitted to having haddiscussions with his surgeonbefore Christmas, with his

body feeling the effects ofback-to-back Tests in Ade-laide and Perth.

But that would’ve endedhis Ashes summer after justthree Tests, something Har-ris wasn’t ready to consider.

Ultimately, he playedthrough the pain and earnedman-of-the-match honours inSydney with match figures of8-61 as Australia completedan historic 5-0 sweep.

‘‘There’s bits of bone float-ing around (and) we werethinking about doing it thenand there and missing therest of the series,’’ he said.

‘‘But I wanted to play five

games. I wanted to be a partof it for the whole thing.’’

Harris most certainlyneeds a clean out of his rightknee to remove fragments offloating bone caused by pre-vious injuries which haveleft him with precious littlecartilage.

The lack of cartilage iswhat causes Harris’s knee toswell up after a day’s play butthe world No. 3-ranked bow-ler insists it will not keephim from tearing into theworld’s No.1-ranked team.

‘‘My knee is no differentnow than it was a month agoor six weeks ago,’’ he said.

‘‘Unless something reallybad goes wrong, which Idon’t think it will, after Af-rica we’ll get back and wehave got enough time off toget it cleaned up and we’ll gofrom there.’’

Following the tour ofSouth Africa, which wrapsup in March, Australia don’tplay another Test series untilOctober when they travel tothe UAE to face Pakistan —giving Harris plenty of timeto have a clean out.

The reasoning behind Har-ris’s decision to put off sur-gery midway through the As-hes, and then spurn it once

again in favour of touringSouth Africa, is simple.

At 34, having been some-thing of a late bloomer whodebuted in Test cricket at 29,he knows he doesn’t have aslong left at the top as some ofhis teammates.

Every minute with theteam counts, no matter howsore he is when he gets out ofbed each morning.

‘‘But you either decidewhether you want to gothrough the pain or youdon’t,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s as sim-ple as that. And I want to bein this team as long as I can.(So) I’ll put up with it.’’

Fireworks nowaim at ProteasAUSTRALIA have no plans tosoften their bully-boy ap-proach on next month’s tourof South Africa, confident theintimidation game can dis-mantle the best Test side inthe world.

David Warner claims mem-bers of South Africa’s worldNo. 1 team are ‘‘on the backfoot as players’’ and saysAustralia will look to repeatthe dose they gave Englandand get inside the heads oftheir opponents.

Warner said a combinationof sledging and express pace-man Mitchell Johnson’s thun-derbolts melted the mindsetof England’s experiencedbatsmen with Alastair Cook,Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersenall averaging under 30.

The Proteas top order fea-tures some of the most estab-lished and successful run-scorers in cricket, but even ontheir home soil Warner be-lieves the South Africans areripe for the picking.

Caught on hopafter late driveAUSTRALIA have celebratedtheir Ashes triumph withthousands of fans at the Syd-ney Opera House but openerChris Rogers nearly missedthe party.

The veteran left-hander,who finished the back-to-backAshes series as the leadingrun-scorer across both coun-tries with 831 runs, wasn’tpresent when the Australiansquad were introduced onstage alongside Prime Min-ster Tony Abbott.

The rest of the squad weregiven a heroes’ welcome bythe crowd yesterday, withsome players looking slightlyworse for wear after two daysof partying since Sunday’sSCG triumph which sealed a5-0 series whitewash.

According to the MC, Ro-gers had ‘‘other commit-ments’’ but the sheepish36-year-old batsman admittedupon arrival he had ‘‘justslept in’’ following anotherbig night of celebrations.