SPORT | 06

QORC WRC8:

champion driver

Adel Abdulla

dominates Round 1 d

SPORTStokes does

not need extra

captaincy pressure:

Kevin Pietersen

SPORT | 07

TUESDAY 9 JUNE 2020

QSL begins COVID-19 tests ahead of restartTHE PENINSULA – DOHA

Players, coaches, technical and administrative staff underwent tests for coronavirus (COVID-19) as Qatar Stars League began first phase of protocol in its restart plan yesterday.

The coronavirus tests developed by the Qatar Stars League and approved by the Ministry of Public Health, started at the Ali bin Hamad Al Attiyah Stadium yesterday, according to the general plan and in preparation for the resumption of training and matches of 2019-20 season QNB Stars League (QSL).

The testing procedure aims to reduce and control the risk of virus spreading between team members and players, as they return to training and action. It follows all preventive and precautionary measures.

A number of players as well as technical and administrative staff underwent tests on the first day. After completion of tests, they will return to their homes under self-quarantine

until the test results come.The schedule of QSL matches

in Weeks 18, 19 and 20 of the 2019-20 was announced on Sunday after co-ordination with the authorities concerned.

The matches will be played at three stadiums having cooling technology - Education City, Al Janoub and Jassim bin Hamad.

The kick-off timings and venues of matches in the last two weeks (21 and 22) will be finalised later based on the results and standings of teams in the table, as the QSL is keen to provide all clubs with equal opportunities.

In first QSL match after hiatus, Qatar SC will play their ‘home’ match against Al

Rayyan on July 24 at Education City Stadium - brand new Edu-cation City Stadium, a venue that will host the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup matches, with kick-off set for 4:45pm.

Also on July 24, former champions and currently placed fourth on the points table, Al Gharafa will take on Al Arabi at Al Janoub Stadium

- another 2022 FIFA World Cup venue that was inaugurated with fanfare for the Amir Cup final in May 2019. Al Janoub Stadium hosted matches during the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup held in November-December last year.

In the day’s last match, a round 18 clash between hosts Al Sadd and Al Khor will be

played at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, another venue with state-of-the-art cooling technology.

Al Duhail (42 points after 17 rounds) lead the points standings, with Al Rayyan (38) and Al Sadd (32) occupying second and third place. Al Gharafa (28) are in fourth spot.

African legend Gomaa to feature in GenerationAmazing Instagram LiveTHE PENINSULA – DOHA

Three-time Africa Cup of Nations champion, Wael Gomaa, will appear on this week’s Generation Amazing Instagram Live tomorrow, at 4.00pm Doha time (GMT+3).

Gomaa will speak about his health and wellness routine during COVID-19 and share insight on the football values which helped him reach mile-stone achievements in the game.

The Egyptian star was named the best defender in all three Africa Cup of Nations victories, while at club level he claimed 26 major trophies with Al Ahly, including six CAF Champions League titles.

After retiring from playing in 2014, Gomaa served as manager of Al Ahly for one season. Since 2019, he has been an ambassador for the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy – the organi-sation responsible for delivering the infrastructure and legacy for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

Speaking ahead of his live appearance, Gomaa said: “I look forward to joining Generation Amazing on their Instagram Live sessions and am certain we will have a lot of fun talking about the many great ways football can help us keep active and informed. It has been a joy to see their live pro-grammes and I encourage eve-ryone to join us for this special chat.”

Gomaa is familiar with the Generation Amazing programme after taking part in a football for development activity with Doha schoolchildren during last year’s

Arabian Gulf Cup. He also attended the inaugural Generation Amazing Festival, which gathered 140 youth from 22 countries.

Generation Amazing’s Mar-keting and Communications Director, Moza Al Mohannadi, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Wael Gomaa to our Generation Amazing Live streams. He has had a highly impressive career and we are certain that we will gain a lot of wonderful insight into the foot-balling values which have made him such a great success. Wael has been a tremendous support to the programme both online and through our youth engagement initiatives.”

The Generation Amazing Instagram Live streams were launched in April with the intention of extending the Qatar 2022 social and legacy pro-gramme to audiences who are at home during the COVID-19 pan-demic. More than 100,000 viewers have watched the streams, which include workout sessions, infor-mation about football for devel-opment and interviews with legends such as Samuel Eto’o, Cafu and Xavi Hernández.

Since its launch a decade ago, Generation Amazing has reached 500,000 youth globally, positively impacting their lives with football for development sessions that teach social and life skills.

Generation Amazing requests their fans to follow @GA4Good on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates and connect with them online, and share photos while enjoying the broad-casts by tagging @GA4Good and using the #GALive hashtag.

Barca, Real renew close-run title raceREUTERS – BARCELONA

Barcelona and Real Madrid resume one of the tightest title races in recent memory when La Liga kicks back into action this week in empty stadiums, after a three-month pause due to the coro-navirus pandemic.

Just before the season was postponed on March 10, former Real great Jorge Valdano had likened the two teams’ inconsistent form to a race between two limping men, but both sides are set to be refreshed and stronger after the long break.

Barca are boosted by the return of Luis Suarez from a knee injury that looked set to rule him out for the season, and his aggression and power should help them ease their problems in breaking down sides.

Real will again enjoy the services of Eden Hazard after he was sidelined with a frac-tured ankle in February. Also back is Spain forward Marcos Asensio, who should ease the burden on Karim Benzema, their runaway leading scorer with 14 strikes.

Barca, targeting a third consecutive Spanish title, led Real by two points when

the season was postponed.The break has also given

their ageing squad some much-needed rest, while the extra time on the training ground should help them further adapt to the ideas of coach Quique Setien, who succeeded Ernesto Valverde in January.

With no fans allowed into venues and Real playing their home games at the 6,000-capacity Alfredo Di Stefano stadium while the Santiago Bernabeu is being refurbished, it will be a title race unlike any other.

“We will miss that boost and support you get from the crowd, who have a huge influence,” said Setien.

Barca have a slightly more comfortable run-in in their remaining 11 fixtures in the space of five weeks, with home games against Athletic

Bilbao and Atletico Madrid plus trips to Sevilla and Vil-larreal looking like their toughest games.

Real, who beat Barca in March only to blow their lead at the top by losing to Real Betis, have five potentially tricky fixtures: Valencia, Getafe and Villarreal at home, plus trips to Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao.

“It would be strange to say we are worse than Barca after we beat them just before we went into confinement,” said Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

“Even though we then lost to Betis, I think we’re in good shape. We’re all really excited about starting the league season again and fighting for the championship and winning it.”

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi in action

with Real Madrid’s Casemiro during

their La Liga match played

at the Santiago Bernabeu in

Madrid, in this March 1, 2020 file

photo.

LA LIGA STANDINGSRANK TEAM POINTS1 Barcelona 582 Real Madrid 563 Sevilla 474 Real Sociedad 465 Getafe 466 Atl Madrid 457 Valencia 428 Villarreal 389 Granada 3810 Ath Bilbao 37

Mbappe tops European footballvalue list

ANATOLIA – ANKARA

With an estimated €259.2m ($292m), Kylian Mbappe of Paris St-Germain yesterday topped a list of the foot-ballers in Europe’s banner leagues with top transfer values.

The biannual list from the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) Football Observatory fea-tures footballers from top five European Leagues: the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1.

Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling took the number two spot with €194.7m ($219m) and Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund came third with €179.1m ($202m).

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, valued at 100.1 €m ($113m), took 21st place, while Cristiano Ronaldo of Juventus was rated at €62.8m ($70m) to take the 70th spot.Here is the CIES Football Observatory’s top 10 most valuable football players list: 1. Kylian Mbappe (PSG): €259.2m 2. Raheem Sterling (Man-chester City): €194.7m 3. Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund): €179.1m 4. Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool): €171.1m 5. Marcus Rashford (Man-chester United): €152.3m 6. Mohammed Salah (Liv-erpool): €144.9m 7. Sadio Mane (Liverpool): €139.2m 8. Antoine Griezmann (Bar-celona): €136.4m 9. Alphonse Davies (Bayern Munich): €133.5m

10. Harry Kane (Tot-t e n h a m ) : €118.7m

vely ball hahatt

ests d onooknect are add-d

Munich): €133.5m 10. Harry Kane (Tot-

t e n h a m ) : €118.7m

Kylian Mbappe

La Liga kicks back into action this week in empty stadiums, after a three-month pause due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Barca, targeting a third consecutive Spanish title, lead Real by two points.

Al Sailiya coach Sami Trabelsi undergoes a PCR test for COVID-19 ahead of the restart of the QNB Stars League, yesterday. RIGHT: Players maintaining distance between themselves as they wait for their PCR tests yesterday.

THE PENINSULA – DOHA

Qatar's champion T2 rally driver Adel Abdulla was the fastest among 28 compet-itors as the third edition of the Qatar Online Racing Championship (QORC) flagged off in a virtual WRC8 Rally of Sweden event.

The popular driver, com-peting in Group A in the Motor and Motorcycle Fed-eration (QMMF)-organised series, easily outlasted all of his opponents and enjoyed a comfortable lead of three minutes, 09.312 seconds over his closest Group A rival, Misfer Al Hajri.

The former FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies T2 winner, was also the only driver across all groups to top all seven stages during the event on Sunday.

Sunday's event was the first of three qualifying rounds before the grand finale in which top drivers from each group will

compete against each other.

Although Group A saw a clear winner, the rest of the groups saw several pul-sating battles

In Group B, Ahmed El Khouly, the QORC Touring Car Series champion, and Mansour Dbeissy were involved in a fierce battle for the top spot.

El Khouly won four out of seven stages to secure a narrow 1.383-second lead over the latter to emerge the pool champion.

Qatari driver Hamad Al Sulaiti held off Omani rally champion Zakariya Al Aufi to top Group C by over 30 seconds.

Group D saw Omani Ammar Al Balushi winning

the opening round ahead of Khalid Al Maraghi.

The next WRC event takes place today.

Fans can watch action on t he o f f i c i a l Y o u t u b e and Vimeo channels of QMMF.

06 TUESDAY 9 JUNE 2020SPORT

QORC WRC8: Abdulla dominates Round 1

pening roundof Khalid Al Maraghi.e next WRC event place today. ns can action

t he c i a lu b e meo els

MF.

Boxing: Sydney makes audacious bid for Fury-Wilder rematch

AFP – SYDNEY

Australian city Sydney has made an audacious bid to host a block-buster heavyweight rematch between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder, with promoters eyeing Boxing Day for the trilogy super-fight.

Promoter Dean Lonergan has tentatively booked Bankwest Stadium in the city’s west for the bout, The Australian reported yesterday. Semi-autonomous Chinese city Macau is also in the running.

“I put a proposal to (Top Rank promoter) Bob Arum about six weeks ago by way of email to bring down here the world heav-yweight title fight between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury,” Lon-ergan told the newspaper.

“The day I suggested was December 26 here so we would (broadcast) to the USA on Christmas night.”

Lonergan wasn’t immediately available to confirm the comments.

Following a controversial draw in December 2018, Britain’s Fury, unbeaten as a professional, overpowered American Wilder in Las Vegas in February, beating him in seven rounds.

Wilder has activated the rematch clause in his contract, with a time yet to be fixed after the original date of July 18 was scrapped because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Arum confirmed in a Sky Sports interview at the weekend that Sydney was in the mix, along with Macau. Both cities have got on top of COVID-19, and appear more likely to allow fans than the US or Britain.

Las Vegas could still host the fight if spectators are allowed back into venues.

“Our friends in Australia are talking about doing this fight, probably in Sydney. That’s a possibility,” said Arum, who previ-ously promoted ring great Manny’s Pacquiao’s bout against Aus-tralian Jeff Horn in Brisbane.

Former IAAF chief on trialfor Russian doping cover-upREUTERS – PARIS

Lamine Diack, the former head of the governing body for world athletics, was at the heart of a corruption scam that saw Russian athletes pay six-figure sums to have their names erased from doping lists, prosecutors told a French court yesterday.

Wearing a dark grey suit, Diack, 87, who led the Interna-tional Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from 1999 to 2015, stood before the French judges on the first day of trial as charges of corruption, money laundering and breach of trust were read out.

Prosecutors allege Diack solicited bribes totalling €3.45m ($3.9m) from athletes suspected of doping to cover up test results and let them continue com-peting, including in the 2012 London Olympics.

They also say Diack obtained $1.5m of Russian funds while negotiating sponsorship and tel-evision rights to help finance Macky Sall’s campaign for the 2012 Senegal presidential election, in exchange for slowing anti-doping procedures.

Diack has previously denied wrongdoing. He spoke yes-terday only to confirm his identity and is due to testify tomorrow.

His lawyer William Bourdon described him as “serene and determined”.

“The fact financial exchanges took place is not enough on its own to prove cor-ruption,” Bourdon told reporters at the end of the first session.

Diack, who has been under house arrest ahead of the trial, faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted.

His son, Papa Massata, who fled France for his native Senegal after the French inves-tigation began, is also accused of playing a role in the plot, and is being tried in absentia.

The court rejected a request

by Papa Massata’s French lawyer that the trial be post-poned because coronavirus border restrictions meant his Senegalese lawyers could not be present. Senegal has refused to extradite him.

Four other defendants have been charged in the case: Habib Cisse, Diack’s former lawyer at the IAAF; Gabriel Dollé, who oversaw doping tests at the IAAF; former head of Russian athletics Valentin Bala-khnitchev, and former Russian athletics’ head coach Alexei Melnikov.

Balakhnitchev and Mel-nikov were not in court.

Dollé denied taking bribes in order to allow Russian athletes to compete. He told the court he had agreed only to keep a low profile on the large number of positive Russian doping tests to help the IAAF find sponsors.

“Mr Diack had asked me to consider the fact that the IAAF was in a perilous financial state and needed sponsors,” he told the court. “There was never any question of allowing the Russian athletes to participate in inter-national competitions.”

Evans dismisses Djokovic’s US Open concerns over COVID-19 protocolsREUTERS – LONDON

Britain’s Dan Evans believes Novak Djokovic’s concerns about players having only one member of their support staff at the US Open does not apply to the majority of the field and compromises should be made when action resumes.

The US Open organisers are assessing safety measures for the tournament scheduled to begin on Aug. 31 without spectators after the COVID-19 pandemic stalled the season in March.

World number one Djokovic said hosting the tournament would be impossible due to “extreme” COVID-19 protocols, but Evans said there has to be some “give and take” from the players.

“I don’t think having one person of your team only allowed is such a big deal - the majority of the draw would only travel with one coach,” Evans told BBC 5 Live.

“Not everyone’s travelling with physios and fitness trainers like Novak said, so I think his argument there is not really valid for the rest of the draw, apart from the real top guys.”

The US Open will be the first Grand Slam to be played after the novel coronavirus outbreak, and will be followed by the French Open which was moved to September.

Defending champion Rafa Nadal is also not keen on travelling to New York, one of the cities hardest hit by coronavirus, in present circumstances.

But Evans has urged both Nadal and Djokovic to take part in the event in order to help lower-ranked professionals in financial crisis due to the shutdown.

“This is the point where I think the players should really come together and Novak and Rafa should really be looking to help those players with lower ranks so they get a good pay day,” Evans added.

Decathlon record holder Mayer wins garden clashREUTERS – LONDON

France’s decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer beat world champion Niklas Kaul and world silver medallist Maicel Uibo in the latest edition of the Ultimate Garden Clash where the trio competed simul-taneously in three different countries.

The three athletes on Sunday participated in a unique live ‘triathlon’, which included the pole vault, shot put and a shuttle run, with Frenchman Mayer competing in Montpellier, German Kaul in Mainz and Estonia’s Uibo in Florida.

The event was streamed live on World Athletics’ social platforms and Mayer -- silver medallist at the 2016 Rio Olympics -- won two of the three events to come out on top.

The challenge began with the trio attempting to clear four metres in the pole vault as many times as they could in 10 minutes and although Mayer was 25 seconds late to start, he won the event with 17 clear-ances to Uibo’s 15 and Kaul’s 14.

The shot put challenge required the athletes to clear 12 metres as often as possible in 10 minutes and Mayer showed no signs of tiring as he produced 28 throws while Kaul and Uibo finished with 22 and 20 respectively.

“In the shot put I think I made the difference because my personal best is 17 (metres) so it was easy for me to throw 13 every time and I got in a rhythm that felt good,” Mayer said.

“I was really, really tired at the end but it was a good effort for me.” The final challenge was a five-minute shuttle run between cones placed 20 metres apart. Mayer and Uibo completed 26 circuits but Kaul pulled ahead to win with 27.

World Athletics president Sebastian Coe said he was in “total awe” of the athletes. “Be under no illusion, that was a lot tougher than they made it look,” he added.

Last month former Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie of France and Sweden’s world record holder Mondo Duplantis shared the spoils in a pole vault garden challenge after clearing five metres 36 times in 30 minutes.

Former President of the IAAF, Lamine Diack, gestures

as he arrives for his trial at the Paris courthouse,

France, yesterday.

Britain’s Dan Evans in action during his ATP 500 - Dubai Tennis Championships semi-final match

against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in this February 28, 2020 file photo.

NBA totweak standingsAGENCIES - NEW YORK

The NBA continues to fine tune the structure and rules it will follow when the season resumes July 31 at the Disney World campus in Orlando, including tweaks to the standings and potential roster changes.

ESPN reported on Sat-urday that the league will use win percentage -- rather than a measure of games relative to .500 -- to set the order of the standings, a clarification that is necessary because teams have played a different number of games thus far.

Before the season paused in March, NBA teams had played anywhere from 63 to 67 games. The 22 teams returning in Orlando will each play eight “regular season” games for seeding, main-taining the disparity in total games and thus making win percentage the first tiebreaker.

The league’s restart plan features 13 teams from the West and nine from the East, with the possibility of play-in series for the final playoff spot in each conference. Memphis (currently eighth in the West) and the Orlando Magic (eighth in the East) must finish at least four games ahead of the ninth-place team in their conference to avoid a play-in series.

QORC - WRC 8RESULTS (TOP 3 FROM EACH GROUP)

GROUP ARank Driver Time1 Adel Abdulla 32:19.9242 Misfer Al Hajri +3:09.3123 Patrick Roux +3:19.391Group B1 Ahmed El Khouly 32:30.3972 Mansour Dbeissy +1.3833 Mohammed Al Attiyah +1:54.518Group C1 Hamad Al Sulaiti 32:30.5082 Zakariya Al Aufi +30.4723 Khalid Saadon +1:49.769Group D1 Ammar Balushi 32:32.3562 Khalid Al Maraghi +59.103

3 Hade Patel +1:14.548

Adel Abdulla

Kevin Mayer

AFP — LONDON

Kevin Pietersen does not think Ben Stokes (pictured) should captain England if Joe Root is forced to miss a game against the West Indies because it would heap too much pressure on the all-rounder.

Root’s wife is due to give birth in July, meaning he risks missing one of the three behind-closed-doors Tests against the Caribbean side next month.

Root has backed vice-c a p t a i n S t o k e s to do a good j o b in his absence, but former England skipper Pietersen is wary about the all-rounder assuming e v e n m o r e responsibility.

Pietersen, who said he “hated” the responsibility of being captain of England for a brief spell, would prefer wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler to take over.

“Do I want to see Ben Stokes change from who he is and the current player he is? Probably not. Jos Buttler would be my guy,” he told talkSPORT.

“The entertainers and the

guys that have to carry the mantle in the team

sometimes aren’t the best captains and

sometimes struggle with the extra

a d d e d pressure.”

Pietersen said the cap-taincy changed how players were viewed in the dressing room.

“I struggled with it, I absolutely hated it and I was rubbish,” he said. “You have to change and I couldn’t command the respect of the dressing room.”

England begin their summer of cricket, which has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic, on July 8 with the first Test against the West Indies.

Further inter-national matches against Pakistan, A u s t r a l i a a n d

Ireland are all pencilled in, but they are all likely to be played in empty stadiums.

“I would rather be in the broadcaster chair than in the players’ chair because enter-tainers like atmosphere and you are going to have to build your own atmosphere and dig as deep as you can to try your best and perform in front of a whisper,” Pie-tersen said.

“It is going to be hard,

especially f o r cricket. S i x h o u r s , w h e n

you’re in the field

and guys are bat t ing and

you’re 100 overs into an innings,

England a r e going to

have to dig deep

because it is going to feel

l i k e a warm-up game,

with no one watching.”

07TUESDAY 9 JUNE 2020 SPORT

Algorithm to decide Serie A fate in case of another suspensionREUTERS — ROME

Italy’s football federation (FIGC) decided yesterday to use an algorithm to calculate final rankings in the top-flight Serie A soccer championship if a new surge in COVID-19 cases made it impossible to complete the season.

Serie A, which was sus-pended on March 9 as part of a government lockdown to curb the novel coronavirus outbreak, is due to resume on June 20 and finish on August 2.

Italy has gradually eased restrictions since early May, with new cases and deaths

falling across the country. However, there is still a fear infections may pick up, stopping football again.

In the case of a new sus-pension, the FIGC would aim to set final league positions through a play-off system,

without rescheduling the 12 rounds of matches remaining, although the exact details have not yet been decided.

If this proved impossible because the government banned all matches, the FIGC general council agreed to use a

highly contentious algorithm based on teams’ home and away results. This would determine which teams qualify for Europe and which are rele-gated but it would not be used to decide who wins Serie A. Instead the title would not be awarded this year.

Juventus, chasing a ninth successive title, lead the standings with 63 points from 26 games followed by Lazio (62), Inter Milan (54) and Ata-lanta (48). The three teams in the relegation zone are Lecce, SPAL and Brescia.

The meeting did not address another question troubling clubs regarding what happens if any players test positive.

As things stand, new cases within clubs will cause the whole squad to be quarantined for 14 days, severely disrupting the championship and raising the prospect it may not be completed.

“If the trend of infections allows it, I hope the govern-ment’s experts can review the rules,” FIGC president Gabriele Gravina told newspaper La Verita yesterday.

After the meeting, Gravina said clubs that do not comply with the government’s strict regulations to keep the virus in check will face sanctions and could be excluded from the league.

In this file photo taken on February 02, 2019, the Serie A official ball and logo are pictured prior to the match between Juventus and Parma at the Juventus stadium in Turin.

Italy’s football federation (FIGC) decided yesterday to use an algorithm to calculate final rankings in the top-flight Serie A soccer championship if a new surge in COVID-19 cases made it impossible to complete the season.

Serie A, which was suspended on March 9 as part of a government lockdown to curb the novel coronavirus outbreak, is due to resume on June 20 and finish on August 2.

City’s Sterling backs anti-racism protestsREUTERS — MANCHESTER

Manchester City’s England international Raheem Sterling has backed anti-racism protests in Britain after the death of unarmed black man George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis.

“The only disease right now is the racism that we are fighting,” he told the BBC in an interview to be broadcast yesterday.

“Just like the (new corona-virus) pandemic, we want to find a solution to stop it.

“At the same time, this is what all these protesters are doing. They are trying to find a solution and a way to stop the injustice they are seeing and they are fighting for their cause,” he added. “As long as they are doing it peacefully and safely and not hurting anybody and not breaking into any stores, they continue to protest in this peaceful way.”

Thousands of people have taken part in Black Lives Matter protests held in London and other British cities following Floyd’s death on May 25.

It has sparked demonstra-tions around the world over police treatment of ethnic minorities. A white police officer detaining Floyd knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Asked whether speaking out makes his job as a footballer more difficult, Sterling, 25, said: “First and foremost, I don’t really think about my job when things like this happen. I think about what is right.

“And at this moment in time, there’s only so much people can take. There’s only so much communities and other backgrounds can take - especially black people.

“It’s been going on for hun-dreds of years and people are tired and people are ready for change."

Raheem Sterling

Liverpool midfielder Wilson extends Bournemouth loan dealREUTERS — LONDON

Liverpool midfielder Harry Wilson (pictured) has extended his loan agreement with Bournemouth to stay at the Vitality Stadium until the end of the season, the Premier League clubs said yesterday.

Wilson’s initial deal was set to expire at the end of this month but, with the season extended due to the disrup-tions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bournemouth said the Wales winger will be available for the last nine games of the season.

The 23-year-old has been one of the most influential members of Eddie Howe’s squad, scoring seven league goals in 23 appearances during his first year playing in the top flight. Bournemouth sit in 18th place -- the final relegation place -- but are level on points with Watford and West Ham United who are above them on goal dif-ference. They restart their quest to avoid the drop at home to Crystal Palace on June 20.

Bremen’s Swedish defender Ludwig Augustinsson (left) and Wolfsburg’s French defender Jerome Roussillon vie for the ball during their Bundesliga match on Sunday.

Time running out for Bremen’s survival bidREUTERS — BREMEN

Werder Bremen have spent only one season outside the Bundesliga since it was launched in 1963 and while their run of 13 home matches without a win has left them deep in relegation trouble club officials are not throwing in the towel.

Werder, who have played more Bundesliga games (1,896) than any other team, are second from bottom with 25 points from 30 games, three points behind Fortuna Duesseldorf in the promotion-relegation playoff berth.

They are also six points away from safety -- Mainz in 15th place.

Werder went down 1-0 at home to VfL Wolfsburg on Sunday and their next home

game does not offer much hope -- against Bayern Munich on June 16 where the leaders could secure the title.

But before that Bremen travel to bottom side Pad-erborn on Saturday and coach Florian Kohfeldt knows the turnaround must start there.

“We have four games to achieve the realistic goal of avoiding relegation,” said the 37-year-old.

“What gives us courage -- as strange as it may sound -- is the... table. We are not seven or eight points behind, but only three. And we still have four games, so you can catch up three points.”

Frank Baumann, the clubs’ sporting director, has not lost faith in his young coach. “I think our chances are still alive, but the bottom

line is that only the results count,” he added.

“We’ll give everything and fight until the last game.”

Bremen won the last of their four championships in 2004 and narrowly missed out on a Europa League place last season. Kohfeldt said he expected Milot Rashica to return from an ankle injury, and Niclas Feullkrug is also set to return next week for the first time since September.

The 27-year-old made a good start to the season with two goals and one assist in the first four games before suffering a cruciate ligament injury.

“It’s the strikers who we are looking to, to make the difference,” added the coach.

Stokes does not need extra captaincy pressure: Pietersen

The entertainers and the guys that have to carry the mantle in the team sometimes aren’t the best captains and sometimes struggle with the extra added pressure. I struggled with it, I absolutely hated it and I was rubbish: Kevin Pietersen

Pakistan paceman Hasan doesn’t require surgery, say doctorsAP — I SLAMABAD

A panel of doctors has concluded Pakistan cricketer Hasan Ali (pictured) will not require surgery to recover from a back injury after the fast bowler responded posi-tively to a virtual rehabilitation session.

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s medical team panel, which includes renowned Australian spinal therapist Prof. Peter O’Sullivan, supervised Hasan’s two-hour online session last week.

“The panel was encouraged with the outcomes of the opening

session and will continue to closely monitor Hasan’s

progress over the next f ive weeks

b e f o r e

deciding next steps,” the PCB said in a statement yesterday.

Hasan was left off the PCB’s list of centrally con-tracted players last month after he was diagnosed with excessive stress in his lower back in April.

The fast bowler, who has played Nine test matches, 53 ODIs and 30 Twenty20s first developed

the injury in September, forcing him to miss out on Pakistan’s tour of Australia. He eventually recovered ahead of this year’s Pakistan Super League, which was postponed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, before aggravating it again.

“One thing is for certain, he (Hasan) is under the treatment of the very best in the business and hopefully he will return fitter and stronger to competitive cricket without any surgery,” said Dr Sohail Saleem, the PCB director of medical and sports sciences.

The PCB also said that despite missing out on central contract, Hasan will get financial support

from the cricket board until he regains full fitness.

“Hasan is a young and ener-getic cricketer who has a lot of

cricket left in him,” PCB chief

e x e c u t i v e W a s i m

K h a n said.

c a pto do a goin his absebut foEngland sPietersenabout roundere v e n responsib

Pieter“hated” thbeing capa brief swicketkeButtler to

“Do Stokes chand the cProbablywould betalkSPOR

“The

O’Sullivan, supervised Htwo-hour online session last week.

“The panel was encouraged with the outcomes of the opening

session and will continue to closely monitor Hasan’s

progress over the next f ive weeks

b e f o r e

deciding next steps,” the PCB said in a statement yesterday.

Hasan was left off the PCB’s list of centrally con-tracted players last month after he was diagnosed with excessive stress in his lower back in April.

The fast bowler, who has played Nine test matches, 53 ODIs and 30 Twenty20s first developed

Sohail Saleem, tmedical and sports sciences.

The PCB also said that despite missing out on central contract, Hasan will get financial support

from the cricket board until he regains full fitness.

“Hasan is a young and ener-getic cricketer

fwho has a lot of cricket left in

f him,” PCB chief e x e c u t i v e

W a s i m K h a n

said.

the all-rounder.wife is due to give

meaning he risks ne of the three sed-doors Tests

Caribbean side

s backed vice-n S t o k e s d j o b e,

mer pper

s warye all-

assuming m o r e

ty.n, who said he responsibility of

in of England for ll, would prefer

per-batsman Jos ke over.

want to see Ben ge from who he is rent player he is? not. Jos Buttler my guy,” he told

tertainers and the

guys that have to carrythe mantle in the team

sometimes aren’t the best captains and

sometimes strugglewith the extra

a d d e dprp essure.”

command the respect of the dressing room.”

England begin theirsummer of cricket, which has been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic,on July 8 with the first Test against the West Indies.

Further inter-national matches against Pakistan, A u s t r a l i a a n d

build your own atmosphand dig as deep as you to try your best and perfoin front of a whisper,” Ptersen said.

“It is goto be ha

especiaf ocrickS ih o uw h

you’rethe fi

and guys bat t ing a

you’re 1overs ian innin

Englaa rgoing

have dig de

because going to f

l i k e warm-up ga

with no owatching.”

the team sometimesaren’t the best captains and sometimes struggle with the extra addedpressure. I struggled with it, I absolutely hated it and I wasrubbish: Kevin PiP etersen