Madrid

AFP

Neymar’s world record move to Paris Saint-Ger-main is set to be completed when

the player jets into France today after the Brazilian paid his €222m ($263.6m) buyout clause to Barcelona yesterday.

Barca confirmed Neymar’s lawyers “made the payment of 222 million euros in the play-er’s name” to release him from the five-year contract he signed just last year.

Earlier, Spain’s football league threatened to stall the saga by refusing to accept a cheque presented by Neymar’s representatives at its Madrid headquarters.

La Liga president Javier Tebas has accused the French club of breaching UEFA’s finan-cial fair play rules.

Clubs can be sanctioned by European football’s governing body for making a loss of more than €30m over a three-year period.

However, UEFA insisted the move will not automatically trigger a failure to comply with FFP regulations.

“The transfer of Neymar to PSG will have an effect on the club’s finances over several years but the impact of such an operation cannot be judged in advance, notably as PSG could well sell several players for a significant amount,” UEFA said in a statement.

Barca added that they will aid UEFA in any future enquiry into whether the French side fall foul of regulations.

“The club will pass on to UEFA the details of the above operation so that they can determine the

disciplinary

responsibilities that may arise from this case,” continued the Barca statement.

Neymar is due to arrive in Paris today, according to airport sources, and could be presented at PSG’s Ligue 1 opener at home to Amiens tomorrow although he is unlikely to play.

His new mark is more than double the previous record set by Manchester United’s capture of Paul Pogba from Juventus last year for €105m, leaving many commentators aghast at the rampant inflation in football transfer fees.

Leading coaches such as Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger and Manchester United’s Jose Mour-inho lamented that the move could cause even greater infla-tion in transfer fees and player wages.

“It also looks like the infla-tion is accelerating,” said Wenger, whose 21 years at Arse-nal have been characterised by prudent spending.

“It’s beyond calculation and beyond rationality.”

However, in the French capital there is huge excitement at PSG’s Qatari-backed project landing a star name to finally make them feared among Euro-pean football’s elite with even French president Emmanuel Macron enthused.

“It adds attractiveness. Yes, it’s good news,” said Macron.

“Neymar to PSG -- the transfer of the century”, splashed Le Parisien’s front page yesterday with the first five pages devoted to his impending arrival.

The mood is understanda-bly more sombre in Barcelona where attention has turned to who the Catalans can sign to replace Neymar in the month before the transfer window closes.

Neymar’s Brazilian interna-tional teammate Philippe Coutinho of Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele have both been linked.

But whilst La Liga protests at losing one of its biggest stars,

Barca’s players have continued to wish their now former teammate well.

“My friend I wish you the best in everything that comes!!!” Luis Suarez posted on Insta-gram alongside a picture of the two hugging.

“Also thank you for your support, for everything that I learned with you and for the unique moments that we spent together!!!! Keep like this and never change love you little bro.”

SPORT16 FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017

Neymar free to join PSG in ‘transfer of the century’

MOST EXPENSIVE SOCCER

TRANSFERS OF ALL TIME

€222m: Neymar

€105m: Paul Pogba

€100.8m: Gareth Bale

€94m: Cristiano Ronaldo

€90m: Gonzalo Higuain

€86.2M: Neymar

€81.7m: Luis Suarez

€79.8m: James Rodriguez

€75.7m: Kevin De Bruyne

€75m: Angel Di Maria

Barcelona to Paris Saint Germain, (2017)

Juventus to Manchester United, (2016)

Tottenham to Real Madrid, (2013)

Manchester United to Real Madrid, (2009)

Napoli to Juventus, (2016)

Santos to Barcelona, (2013)

Liverpool to Barcelona, (2014)

AS Monaco to Real Madrid, (2014)

Wolfsburg to Manchester City, (2015)

Real Madrid to Manchester United, (2014)

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The Peninsula

The six-furlong Group Two Qatar Richmond Stakes was won by Barraquero,

trained by the Manton-based Brian Meehan for Manton Thor-oughbreds sporting the late Robert Sangster silks. It is a third win in the race for the trainer, previously successful with Car-rizo Creek (2003) and Easycall (1996). The winning margin over Nebo was a length and a quarter.

Meehan won the Group One Prix Morny with Arcano in 2009 and Bad As I Wanna Be in 2000.

The Group Two five-furlong £312,100 Qatar King George Stakes (3.35pm) is the highlight of today’s Qatar Goodwood Fes-tival card. It is a race that has been won twice (2014 & 2016) in the last three years by Take Cover (he was second in the mid-dle year, 2015), and the admirable 10-year-old sprinter is due to line up again.

The David Griffiths-trained gelding remains in good heart - last time out he won the Listed John Smith’s City Walls Stakes,

having previously finished fifth, five lengths adrift of Lady Aure-lia, in the G1 King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot. The improving Charlie Hills-trained Battaash comes here seeking a hat-trick after Listed and Group Three successes at Sandown.

The Clive Cox-trained Prof-itable won the 2016 running of the Group One King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot on soft ground and finished second in Deauville’s Prix de Saint-Georges in May on going reported as “very soft”.

Marsha has been a superstar for Elite Racing Club and won the Group One Prix de l’Abbaye last year.

She beat Washington DC then, and again first time out this spring when taking the Group Three Palace House Stakes at Newmarket. Washington DC has already been beaten by most of the more fancied runners, but as a son of Zoffany he might be one for the ground.

One at a longer price is Final Venture. He has proven form on soft ground, having won the Listed Achilles Stakes at Haydock

(Kyllang Rock second) in June on soft.

Oisin Murphy was aboard then, and he renews the partnership.

The Amanda Perrett-trained Royal Hunt Cup winner Zhui Feng at the top of the handicap. He has gone up 6lb for his Ascot victory and, although he has run on good to soft, his best form has come on a faster surface.

The early market is siding with Godolphin’s Blair House, who finished second to Perrett’s horse at Ascot. Master The World has form on a softer sur-faces and finished second in this last year, while Birchwood, despite being largely out of form this year, was the winner of a soft ground Listed sprint at Chester in 2016.

Godolphin’s Birchwood is

trained by Richard Fahey, who also fields Withernsea. The six-year-old has a marked preference for some give in the ground - he was third in a seven-furlong International Stakes at Ascot on Saturday on good to soft - and all of his four victories have come on soft or heavy ground.

The seven-year-old George Baker-trained Boomshacklacker has finished mid-division in a number of this year’s big hand-icaps ¬- the Royal Hunt Cup and the Bunbury Cup - and last year finished seventh in the Cam-bridgeshire and fifth in this race.

The draw for tomorrow’s £250,000 Qatar Stewards’ Cup took place ahead of racing yes-terday. The event was hosted by Nick Luck, and the horses drawn by racehorse owner and ex-foot-baller Michael Owen and Abdulla Rashid Al Kuabisi, QREC Racing Manager, with trainers or their representatives then able to select their own stall.

After the near 50mm deluge of rain that fell on Wednesday, yesterday’s 9.00am reading on the Going Stick gave the ground as 5.8 overall and in the straight

5.5 on the stands’ side, 5.6 in the centre and 6.0 on the far side.

Those able to get early selec-tions, and so with all options open, tended to head to the rails on both sides - opinion split as to where the best ground might be come Saturday.

Abdulla Rashid Al Kubaisi, QREC Racing Manager, described this edition of the Qatar Good-wood Festival as one that has seen several surprises, especially with the condition of the Good-wood course following the heavy rains yesterday, as the very soft ground had its effects on a most horses.

“The Festival is being held according to plans and the heavy rains didn’t affect the order or the running of races”, he said, “However, they had affected the results as many favourites, including Al Shaqab’s Zelzal in the Qatar Sussex Stakes, didn’t win, which is still normal in the world of horseracing. We’ve also noticed that a good number of horses were withdrawn today because of the ground following the heavy rains which continued for the whole day.

Qatar Goodwood Festival: Trainer Meehan bags third win

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€94m: Cristiano Ronaldo

€90m: Gonzalo Higuain

€86.2M: Neymar

€81.7m: Luis Suarez

€79.8m: James Rodriguez

€75.7m: Kevin De Bruyne

€75m: Angel Di Maria

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Jockey W Buick astride Barraquero (centre) extends lead on his way to win the Qatar Richmond Stakes (Group 2) event at the Qatar Goodwood Festival in West Sussex, England yesterday.

My friend I wish you the best in everything that comes!!! Also thank you for your support, for everything that I learned with you and for the unique moments thatwe spent together!!!! Keep like this and never change love you little bro: Luis Suarez on Twitter

Paris Saint-Germain ’s Qatari President Nasser Al Khelaifi applauds after PSG beat Montpellier at La Mosson Stadium in this file photo. Barcelona player Neymar is set for world record move to Paris Saint-Germain when the player jets into France today.

17FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017 SPORT

Golf: Star McIlroy sacks caddie after ‘build-up of stuff’Dublin

Reuters

Rory McIlroy sacked his caddie of nine years after “a build-up of stuff” over

the past year or so, the four-times major winner said on Wednesday.

McIlroy parted company with JP Fitzgerald last week after the British Open and will have his best friend Harry Diamond on his bag for the next two weeks.

“Player/caddie relationships have their ups and downs. There was probably a few too many of

those over the past year or so,” McIlroy told reporters in Ohio on the eve of the World Golf Cham-p i o n s h i p s B r i d g e s t o n e Invitational.

“I’d been putting this line out there for a while that I’m trying to take ownership of my game a little bit more and trying to take more responsibility.

“It was one of those times I felt I needed to mix something up a bit ... It was just a build up of stuff that I felt I needed to make that change.”

The 28-year-old Northern Irishman said he decided to use Diamond this week at Firestone

Country Club and at next week’s major, the PGA Championship in Charlotte because he was looking for familiarity.

He has not made a long-term decision about who to use after that.

“I just needed someone that knew me and that’s why I took Harry for the next couple of weeks.”

McIlroy, who won his last major at the 2014 PGA Championship, employed Fitzgerald in 2008 shortly after turning professional. The pair enjoyed a brilliantly successful part-nership as McIlroy took over from Tiger Woods as the game’s

dominant force and became world number one.

At the British Open at Royal Birkdale earlier this month, McIl-roy again heaped praise on Fitzgerald, who delivered some blunt words to his boss after the Northern Irishman started the tournament with a string of bogeys.

After fighting back to shoot one-over 71 in the first round, McIlroy told reporters that Fit-zgerald had done a “great job”.

McIlroy eventually finished equal fourth in what turned out to be the swan song for Fitzgerald.

Rory McIlroy (right) of Northern

Ireland and new caddie

Harry Diamond look on during the World Golf Championships

at Firestone Country Club South Course in Akron, Ohio

yesterday.

Sharapova pulls out of Rogers Cup with injury Montreal

AFP

Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharap-ova (pictured) withdrew

yesterday from next week’s WTA Rogers Cup tournament in Toronto with a sore left fore-arm, Tennis Canada announced.

The move came a day after the former world number one from Russia withdrew from the WTA event in Stanford, Califor-nia, before a second-round match.

“I am so sorry to be missing the Rogers Cup this year,” Sharapova said.

“I am so appreciative to the tournament for the wild card and my fans in Toronto for their support.

“I am disappointed that injury is keeping me from the tennis court once again and I will work as hard as I can to return to the game I love as soon as possible.”

The injury will cast further doubt over Sharapova’s partic-ipation at the US Open, the last Grand Slam event of the season which starts in New York on August 28.

Due to her low ranking, Sharapova would also need a wild card to play in the main draw of the tournament.

Sharapova suffered the injury while playing in her first US match in more than two years, defeating American

Jennifer Brady 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 in her Monday opener at Stanford.

She had not played in the US since March of 2015 due in part to a 15-month doping sus-pension for the use of meldonium.

“Toward the end of the Monday night’s match, I felt pain in my left forearm,” Shara-pova said on Wednesday.

“After yesterday’s scan, the doctor has recommended I don’t risk further injury.”

Canadian 17-year-old Bianca Andreescu will receive the wildcard entry vacated by Sharapova.

“We wish Maria the best and hope she is able to return to the court 100 percent healthy soon,” said Karl Hale, Rogers Cup Toronto tournament director.

“We know many of our fans were excited to see her play,” Hale added.

Citi Open: Kyrgios retires after shoulder injury Washington

Reuters

Injuries continued to plague Australian Nick Kyrgios, who retired with a shoulder

injury while losing 6-3, 3-0 to American Tenny Sandgren at the Citi Open on Wednesday in Washington DC and left the court to a chorus of boos.

It marked the third succes-sive tournament in which the 22-year-old retired during a match.

“Just struggling, mentally, physically,” said Kyrgios.

He had called out the med-ical trainer for treatment on his

shoulder before retiring and looked in obvious discomfort.

Kyrgios was playing in the second round after receiving an opening round bye and was seeded to play Germany’s Alex-ander Zverev in a keenly anticipated third-round match.

Earlier, Zverev needed three sets to overcome serve-and-volleyer Jordan Thompson 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) to advance as the Australian dropped the last three points of the decisive tie-breaker including his first double fault of the match.

“I’m just happy to get through that one,” said the fifth-seeded German.

Nick Kyrgios of Australia receives treatment during an injury timeout during his Citi Open match in Washington DC on Wednesday.

Real Madrid top MLS All-Stars in shootout

Chicago

AFP

Marcelo scored a the decisive pen-alty kick as La Liga and Cham-pions League

title holders Real Madrid took a shootout victory on Wednes-day over the Major League Soccer All-Stars.

Real Madrid played to a 1-1 draw in regulation time in the MLS All-Star Game before tak-ing the shootout 4-2 before a sellout crowd of 61,000 at Sol-dier Field, the home stadium of the NFL’s Chicago Bears.

Borja Mayoral opened the scoring in the 59th minute for Real Madrid, which controlled possession of the ball through-out the contest.

Mayoral found open space in front of the goal before tak-ing a short pass. His well-timed

shot deflected off the leg of a diving defender and into the back of the net for the Spanish giants, who were playing with-out superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

Dom Dwyer, an England-born member of the US national team, equalized for the MLS squad in the 87th minute with a header from in close.

Dwyer was in the right place for the rebound after Dax McCa-rty’s header off a corner kick bounced off the post, winning a foot race with Real Madrid’s 19-year-old goalkeeper Luca Zidane, who entered late in the second half.

“It was important to go back with a win but now we are look-ing forward to the UEFA Super Cup,” said Mayoral, who was named player of the match.

Real Madrid will now return to Europe to meet Manchester United in the UEFA Super Cup in Macedonia on August 8, then take on Barcelona in the two-legged Spanish Super Cup on August 13 and 16 before open-ing the La Liga season on August 20.

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane rotated his squad liber-ally during the contest. The stars made their appearances but he also inserted several youngsters and fringe players who are try-ing to make the club.

At times when the stars were on the field it was a humbling affair for the MLS. Left back Greg Garza had to leave the game in

the first half with a possible sep-arated shoulder that will cost him some time with Atlanta United.

“What an amazing experi-ence! It was an honor to share the field with such great play-ers!” tweeted MLS forward David Villa.

The All-Star match marks the end of a four-match, 11-day pre-season US tour for Real Madrid that included a 3-2 loss to rival Barcelona in a Clasico matchup at Miami on Sunday.

Real Madrid also drew Man-chester United before falling in

penalties to the English side in San Francisco on July 23 and lost to Manchester City in Los Ange-les on July 26.

Real Madrid has captured back-to-back Champions League titles and a record 33 La Liga championships.

Ronaldo, the reigning FIFA player of the year and the world’s highest-paid athlete at a reported $93m per year, was ordered before a Spanish court on Monday to answer to tax fraud charges.

Ronaldo denies the allegations.

Marcelo scores decisive goal

Real Madrid played out a 1-1 draw in regulation time in the MLS All-Star Game before taking the shootout 4-2 in front of a sellout crowd of 61,000 at Soldier Field, the home stadium of the NFL’s Chicago Bears.

Neuer edges closer to Bayern Munich return Berlin

AFP

Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer took a sig-nificant step towards his

comeback yesterday by resum-ing goalkeeper training for the first time since foot surgery.

The 31-year-old Bayern and Germany goalkeeper took part in 20-minutes worth of exercises at the Bundesliga champion’s training ground in Munich hav-ing only been able to run in training on Monday.

“It felt so good to be back in training,” said Neuer, who is expected to be fit for Bayern’s first league game of the season on Friday August 18 against Bayer Leverkusen.

Neuer missed the Confeder-ations Cup win in Russia last month with Germany after frac-turing his left foot at the end of the season. Neuer is expected to miss Bayern’s German Super Cup showdown at Borussia Dort-mund on Saturday.

Terry targets Aston Villa’s return to Premier League London

AFP

John Terry (pictured) has pledged to lead Aston Villa back into the Premier

League as the Championship season kicks off with a host of big-spending clubs gear-ing up for a frenzied promotion battle.

After winning 15 major honours in 22 years with Chelsea, Terry had to search for a new club following his release at the end of last sea-son and rejected interest from several Premier League clubs to sign a £60,000-per-week deal with Villa.

Terry’s presence in the second tier will keep Villa in the spotlight while Steve Bruce’s side battle to return to the top-flight after a two-year absence.

But the former England star knows he won’t have an easy ride as he plays his first matches outside the Premier League since a brief loan spell

at Nottingham Forest in 2000. Given Villa’s abject fail-ures in recent years and the cut-throat nature of the Cham-pionship, the 36-year-old believes winning promotion at a club that finished 18 points adrift of the play-offs last sea-son would rank among the finest achievements of his glit-tering career.

“It would be really spe-cial, it would be up there for me. To step out of my com-fort zone was a big decision,” Terry said.

“It’s probably one of the

most unpredictable leagues within world football.”

“Does that bring more pressure on you? Probably. Do we like that as a group? Yeah. With the history of this club, it deserves to be back in the Premier League.”

All three teams relegated from the Premier League have undergone painful changes as they try to bounce back at the first attempt.

Garry Monk’s £30m investment on Jonny Howson, Ashley Fletcher and Britt Assombalonga has convinced the bookmakers Middles-brough are promotion favourites in their new man-ager’s first season after leaving Leeds.

In contrast, Sunderland are still mired in recriminations, as Darron Gibson proved when the former Manchester United midfielder was filmed in a bar making a foul-mouthed rant about his team-mates follow-ing a friendly thrashing against Celtic last weekend.

Gareth Bale (left) of Real Madri in action against Matt Hedges of the MLS All-Stars during the 2017 MLS All-Star Game at Soldier Field on Wednesday in Chicago, Illinois.

18 FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017SPORT

Truce: Australian players and CA end long stand-off Melbourne

AFP

Australia’s bruising and protracted cricket pay dispute was finally

resolved yesterday with play-ers and management agreeing on a new “in-principle” deal, ensuring upcoming series against Bangladesh, India and England can go ahead.

The players appeared to be the winners in the five-year agreement, worth an estimated Aus$500m (US$396m), as they retained the revenue-sharing model they had been fighting for -- with women cricketers also included for the first time.

The bad-tempered stand-off had been rumbling for months, rattling the game and badly straining the players’ relation-ship with governing body Cricket Australia (CA).

Some 230 cricketers had been unemployed since the end of June when their contracts expired, putting this month’s Test tour to Bangladesh under serious threat.

“Today’s agreement is the

result of sensible compromises by both parties,” said CA chief James Sutherland, adding that the “core issues” had been worked out. He said the five-year deal would “restore much certainty to the game of cricket”.

“It will allow all players -- state and international players -- to be contracted immediately and it will also allow the all-important tour of Bangladesh to proceed as planned.”

Captain Steve Smith wel-comed the deal on Twitter, adding: “It’s been a long and challenging process and it’s great that we can now get on with playing the game that we all love.

“I’m excited that we can all start working together again to continue to grow our great game.”

At the heart of the dispute had been the divisive issue of revenue-sharing.

CA wanted to scrap the model that has governed play-ers’ salaries since their first memorandum of understand-ing was brokered 20 years ago.

Players have been paid a per-centage of gross revenue for the past two decades, and they argued that changing the system would make them employees rather than partners with incen-tives to grow the game.

CA wanted to pay them from a set pool instead, with only sur-plus revenue shared, to give it more cash to invest in grassroots programs and facilities.

In the end, it was the play-ers who came out on top, with the revenue-sharing model retained.

Under the new deal, they will share up to 30 percent of agreed revenue -- 27.5 percent of forecast revenue streams, and a 2.5 percent performance pool.

This is estimated to be worth Aus$500m over the next five years.

Under the previous system, male players had been sharing up to 26 percent of revenues.

In a significant move, the format will also apply to female players in what the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) said was “the biggest pay rise in the history of women’s sport in

Australia”.Players also won a greater

say on scheduling.“The new MOU is a great

achievement for the players and the game,” said ACA president Greg Dyer.

“Like anything worthwhile it’s been hard to achieve. But what has been agreed is ground-

breaking for Australian sport.“One MOU for men and

women, the maintenance of the partnership model, and record investments for grassroots cricket is what we wanted and it’s what has been achieved.”

Smith can now lead his team to Dhaka on August 18 with their futures secured. It also ensures

that a one-day tour to India in September and October and the showpiece home Ashes series against England, beginning in November, are now safe.

An Australian A tour to South Africa last month was called off after players announced a boy-cott, and Sutherland admitted relationships within the game had been “tested”.

“Both parties acknowledge and regret that,” he said.

“We are restoring certainty and beginning to repair rela-tionships, especially with the fans. We want the focus to be back on the cricket.”

Sutherland had warned that unless negotiations produced a compromise this week, he would take the matter to arbi-tration and let the industrial umpire sort out the mess.

This sparked new urgency to strike a deal, with talks con-tinuing over the weekend.

An announcement was widely expected on Tuesday or Wednesday, but it took longer than expected for the two sides to sign off on the formalities for the agreement.

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland (left) and Australian Cricketers’ Association CEO Alistair Nicholson attend a press conference in Melbourne, yesterday.

Indian cricketer Ajinkya Rahane (centre) and team-mate Cheteshwar Pujara run between the wickets during the first day of the second Test against Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo, yesterday.

Pujara, Rahane hit tons as India dominate first day Colombo

AFP

Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane hit centu-ries as India took opening

day honours on 344-3 at stumps against Sri Lanka in the second Test in Colombo yesterday.

Pujara (128) and Rahane (103) put on an unbeaten 211-run partnership for the fourth wicket to thwart Sri Lankan bowlers who struck two crucial blows in the afternoon session.

The in-form Pujara regis-tered his 13th Test century in his

landmark 50th game as Rahane fired his ninth Test hundred.

The visitors, who lead the three-match series 1-0, wobbled slightly when Lokesh Rahul went for 57 and skipper Virat Kohli followed for 13 soon after lunch.

Rahul, who scored his eighth Test fifty despite only just recov-ering from a virus, was run out in a mix-up with Pujara.

“I was disappointed because I have been away from the game so long and I didn’t want to get out at all,” he told reporters at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground.

He said knowing the team

was waiting for his return post recovery “made a big difference and I came back with a lot more confidence”.

“The pitch was on the slower side and would turn as the Test went on,” he added.

Veteran left-arm spinner Rangana Herath sent Kohli trudging back to the pavilion with a tossed-up delivery that got the edge of the captain’s bat and went to slip.

Pujara and Rahane ground out the runs to deny Dinesh Chandimal’s side any more wickets during the day.

Pujara, who scored 153 in the

first innings of the opening Test, hit 10 fours and a six.

Rahane also tackled the spinners with aplomb, using his feet to great effect during his 168-ball stay at the crease so far.

Sri Lanka’s interim coach Nic Pothas praised Rahane for his gritty knock but conceded the squad didn’t maintain pressure on the world’s top Test team.

“Rahane came and played very well. From that point onwards we didn’t perhaps exe-cute as well as we had done up to that point,” said the former South Africa player.

“We just released the pres-sure a little bit. That was the turning session. India got momentum back. This is the day one and it’s Test match cricket. It’s about how you bounce back.”

In the morning session, off-spinner Dilruwan Perera had Shikhar Dhawan trapped lbw for 35 after the tourists elected to bat first.

Debutant left-arm spinner Malinda Pushpakumara was still searching for his first Test scalp as paceman Nuwan Pradeep had to leave the field due to a sus-pected pulled hamstring.

The hosts need at least a draw to stay alive in the series.

India (I innings):S Dhawan lbw b Perera ...............................35

L Rahul run out (Chandimal/Dickwella) ..57

C Pujara (batting) ........................................128

V Kohli c Mathews b Herath ....................... 13

A Rahane (batting)......................................103

Extras (B4, NB1, LB3) ..................................8

Total (3 wkts) ............................... 344To bat: H Pandya, W Saha, R Ashwin, R Jadeja,

U Yadav, M Shami

Bowling: Pradeep 17.4-2-63-0, Herath 24-3-

83-1, Karunaratne 3-0-10-0, Perera 18-2-68-1,

Pushpakumara 19.2-0-82-0, De Silva 8-0-31-0.

Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-109, 3-133

Sri Lanka: D Chandimal, U Tharanga, D Karu-

naratne, K Mendis, A Mathews, D de Silva, N

Dickwella, D Perera, R Herath, M Pushpaku-

mara, N Pradeep

SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka’s captain Dinesh

Chandimal and Rangana

Herath celebrate

the wicket of India’s captain

Virat Kohli.

Philander fit, ready to aid South Africa revival

Sigh of relief for BD after Australia pay deal

Manchester

AFP

Vernon Philander is con-fident both he and South Africa will be fir-

ing on all cylinders as they look to draw their Test series with England at Old Trafford.

Philander was unable to be at his best during England’s 239-run win in the third Test at the Oval after being struck down by a mystery stomach virus which meant he could only bowl 32 overs in the match.

What made it worse for the Proteas was that the over-cast conditions appeared ideal for accurate seamer Philander, renowned for his ability to make the most of any assistance from either cloudy skies or a pitch with some ‘juice’ in it.

The man-of-the-match in the Proteas’ second Test suc-cess at Trent Bridge, Philander even spent one night of the Oval match on a hospital drip.

The best South Africa can hope for now, at 2-1 down in this four-match series, is a share of the spoils.

And Philander is eager to play his full part when the Manchester fixture starts today.

“It was either something I picked up or something I ate that really ‘drilled’ me for a couple of days,” Philander told reporters at Old Trafford on Wednesday as he recalled his illness.

“It was a tough week per-sonally, but I’m looking forward to this one,” he added.

Philander was already unwell come the toss in south London but, with few other options at his disposal, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis decided a half-fit Philander was better than none at all.

“I think it probably got a lot worse having to bowl after losing quite a lot of fluids,” the 32-year-old Philander explained.

“The night in hospital, being on a drip, really revi-talised me. But then in the morning, it was (not good) again.”

Dhaka

AFP

Bangladesh breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as Australia ended its

protracted pay dispute with their cricket board, ensuring Steve Smith’s side can visit later this month for a long-awaited tour.

Australia were due to arrive in Dhaka on August 18 for their first Test series in Bangladesh since 2006 but a row between players and management had cast doubt over the tour.

But the bruising dispute was resolved yesterday as players and management agreed to a new “in-princi-ple” deal, ensuring upcoming series against Bangladesh, India and England can go ahead.

“It’s great news for Bang-ladesh. Definitely we are very happy to see the problem has resolved,” Bangladesh Cricket Board head Nizamuddin Chowdhury said.

“Their next commitment is in Bangladesh. Now after the dispute is resolved, we can look forward to hosting them.”

The bad-tempered stand-off had been rumbling for months, rattling the game and badly straining the players’ relationship with the sport’s governing body.

Some 230 cricketers had been unemployed since the end of June when their con-tracts expired, putting this month’s Test tour to Bangla-desh under serious threat.

Bangladeshi authorities grew increasingly anxious as the spat dragged on, espe-cially when a home series against Pakistan slated for July-August was cancelled.

Australia was scheduled to play two Tests in Bangla-desh in late 2015 but the tour was cancelled after a wave of attacks by Islamist extremists in the Muslim-majority nation.

Bangladesh’s first Test against Australia will be held at Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium from August 27. The second starts in Chittagong on September 4.

19FRIDAY 4 AUGUST 2017 SPORT

End of an era as Klitschko hangs his glovesKiev

Reuters

Wladimir Klitschko (pictured) ruled the heavyweight scene

with a steel glove for more than

a decade yet it was a defeat by Anthony

Joshua which ensured the Ukrain-

ian retired yesterday with the

universal respect that

eluded him for so long.

Often denigrated for

a robotic style, short on

flair, Klitschko reigned

supreme in a heavy-

weight era suffering

from a dearth of

box office names.

The 41-year-

old dispatched a

regular supply

of average

fighters to reach 64 career victories yet

few, if any of them, will feature in a show-

reel of the sport’s greatest contests.

Instead it will be his final fight, against

Britain’s Joshua, that will be define

Klitschko’s legacy.

Despite a 14-year age gap and fight-

ing in front of a partisan 90,000

Wembley Stadium crowd, Klitschko pro-

duced arguably his best performance

before being stopped in the 11th round

of a sensational fight.

Had he finished off a wobbling

Joshua in the sixth round Klitschko would

have become only the second fighter

after George Foreman to win a recog-

nised version of the world title as a

40-something.

Yet, even in defeat, a global audi-

ence finally gave the Germany-based

fighter the acclaim he deserved for a

career in which he carried the a sport so

often dragged into the gutter with pro-

fessionalism and dignity.

An eagerly anticipated Las Vegas re-

match with Joshua was in the pipeline,

yet Klitschko, who had lost his WBA, IBF

and WBO heavyweight belts in a disap-

pointing defeat by Britain’s Tyson Fury

in 2015, has decided enough is enough.

“Twenty-seven years ago I started

my journey,” he said in the video

announcing his decision to retire yester-

day. “And it was the best choice of

profession I could have ever made.

“At some point in our lives we need

to, or just want to, switch our careers and

get ourselves ready for the next chapter

and chart a course towards fresh chal-

lenges. Obviously I am not an exception

to this and now is my turn.”

Klitschko turned professional in 1996

shortly after winning super-heavyweight

gold at the Atlanta Olympics.

He won his first 24 fights before los-

ing to American Ross Puritty in 1998 - his

only fight in his native Ukraine.

Klitschko won his first world title in

2000, beating American Chris Byrd to

claim the WBO title.

He suffered defeats at the hands of

South Africa’s Corrie Sanders and Amer-

ican Lamon Brewster in 2003 and 2004.

After teaming up with trainer

Emanuel Steward, Klitschko became a

far greater all-round fighter and went 11

years unbeaten before losing to Fury.

It was an era dominated known as

the “Klitschko era” with his older brother

Vitali also holding the WBC belt from

2008 to 2012 before retiring in 2013.

Klitschko is second on the all-time

list for successful title defences with 23,

behind the 25 of Joe Louis, while his 29

heavyweight title fights remains a

record.

London

QNA/The Peninsula

The 16th World Athlet-ics Championships will kick off today at the London Olympic Stadium with more

than 1,900 athletes from around 200 countries vying for honours.

The Qatari team for the World athletics extravaganza consists of champion high jumper Mutaz Essa Barshim, hammer thrower Ashraf Al Saifi, javelin thrower Ahmed Bader and sprinters Abdulrah-man Samba and Abdalelah Haroun.

Barshim, the national and Asian record holder with a best mark of 2.43m, enjoyed podium finishes at the last two Olympics, having won a silver medal in Rio and a bronze at the 2012 Games in London. The former Asian Indoor and world Junior champion, Barshim is one of the top favourites to win his pet event in London on August 13.

The Qatari Athletes are already in London and first to arrive was Haroun who will compete in the men’s 400m event. Haroun is the 2015 Asian champion in the event, is the proud holder of the Asian indoor record.

Samba will take part in the preliminaries of the men’s 400m hurdles on Sunday and is expected to join from his training camp.

Bader was the youngest competitor in his discipline at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and the first-ever Qatari to compete in the javelin throw at Olympics.

The young javelin thrower has proven to be a formidable competitor after qualifying to Rio with an incredible throw of 84.74 metres.

Qatari hammer thrower, world junior record-holder and world leader Elseify won a gold medal at the 2012 Asian Junior Athletics Champion-ships in Colombo, Sri Lanka, establishing a new Asian jun-ior record. Elseify is also the holder of the youth record after clearing a distance of 85.57 metres during the World Championships held in Bar-celona 2013 and defended his crown at Eugene 2015 Games.

Meanwhile, the Qatar del-egation, headed by Secretary-General of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and Chairman of Qatar Ath-letics Federation Dr. Thani Abdulrahman Al Kuwari will take part in the General Assembly meeting of the Inter-national Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The meeting in expected to take a number of important decisions, most notably the amendment of some articles of Athletics international law, in addition to discussing per-formance and financial reports as well as adopting the plans for the coming years and other items on the agenda.

In a statement, Dr. Al Kuwari expressed his pride in the active participation in the IAAF General Assembly meet-ings and the World Athletics Championships, at the end of which, the Qatari delegation will officially receive the Games flag as the host of the next (17th) world champion-ship, Qatar 2019.

Dr. Al Kuwari said: “We are participating in London with a distinguished Qatari delegation comprising a number of the presidents of the Doha 2019 committees, who came to attend the event and gain experience through workshops and daily contact with the championship committees.”

The Secretary-General of the QOC affirmed Qatar’s abil-ity to organise a high-quality, internationally-acclaimed event that honours and excites every Qatari. “Our youth are competent and able to win the challenges,” he said wishing success to the Qatari champi-ons participating in the global sports event.

Officials of the Qatar Ath-letics Federation have started several meetings and side con-tacts with the IAAF President Sebastian Coe and a number of friendly associations, informing them of the efforts and activities of the Qatari Athletics Federation and the preparations for the Qatar 2019 Championship.

De Grasse out with injury and misses Bolt duelLondon

Reuters

Andre de Grasse, the triple Olympic sprint medallist, has pulled out of the World Athletics Championships

in London with injury, boosting Usain Bolt’s chances of a golden swansong.

The Canadian was expected to be Bolt’s main rival for his 100 metres crown in the Jamaican’s farewell championship but he suffered a hamstring strain in training on Monday and will miss the rest of the season.

“The entire year this 100m race in Lon-don was my focus. I am really in the best shape of my life and was looking forward to competing against the best in the world,” 22-year-old De Grasse said in a statement.

“To not have this opportunity is unim-aginable to me but it is the reality I am now faced with.

“I am sad to miss this chance but I am young and with treatment and rehabilita-tion I will be back and better than ever in the near future.”

De Grasse, who won the Olympic 200m silver and bronzes in the 100m and 4 x 100m relay, had been due to line up in the 100m heats on the Championships’ open-ing day on Friday as the first part of another triple medal bid.

He had recorded the fastest time of the year, albeit strongly wind-assisted, of 9.69 seconds in Stockholm in June and had been shaping up as the man most likely to spoil the script in Bolt’s final Championship.

De Grasse first came on Bolt’s radar last year at the Rio Games when the con-fident Canadian pushed him hard in the 200m semi-finals, prompting the Jamai-can to wag his finger at the youngster.

There had been a claim from De Grasse’s team that Bolt had tried to get the Canadian ousted from the 100m that he was running at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco - a suggestion of ‘run-ning scared’ that the Jamaican vehemently denied.

De Grasse’s absence from the 100m unquestionably boosts Bolt’s chances of ensuring he adds an eighth individual World Championship gold to his incredi-ble tally in his final solo race on Saturday.

© GRAPHIC NEWS

Ceremonies

100m

200m

400m

800m

1500m

5000m

10,000m

Marathon

100m Hurdles

110m Hurdles

400m Hurdles

3000m Steeplechase

20km Race Walk

50km Race Walk

4 x 100m Relay

4 x 400m Relay

TR

AC

K

High Jump

Pole Vault

Long Jump

Triple Jump

Shot Put

Discus Throw

Hammer Throw

Javelin Throw

Heptathlon

Decathlon

FI

EL

D

4FRI

13SUN

12SAT

11FRI

10THU

9WED

8TUE

6SUN

5SAT

7MON

Source: IAAF

AUG

EVENT

London London show show beginsbegins

Felix ready to forget 2016 nightmare and win London

Reuters

After a nightmarish 2016, Allyson Felix is hoping for “a redo” this year as the American defends her 400 metres title at the World Athletics Championships.

“I feel like I am in really good shape right now,” Ameri-ca’s most decorated female sprinter said following a US news conference yesterday. “So I am looking forward to seeing what I can do.

She goes into the championships the favourite and holder of the outdoor season’s fastest 400 metres, 49.65 seconds.

“I wish I could have a redo of last year,” she said.“I think it is a different year, and I try not to bring any of

that into this year.”“That” was tearing ligaments in her right ankle in a freak-

ish gym accident that put her 2016 season in jeopardy before she rebounded to make the US Olympic team in the 400 metres but narrowly missed out on a Rio spot in her favour-ite event, the 200 metres.

Then Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas lunged across the finish line in the 400m Rio final to deny Felix a second indi-vidual Olympic gold medal.

Already with nine world gold medals, she hopes to round that total up to an even dozen with victories in the 400 and the 4x100 and 4x400 metres relays, where she also won gold in the Rio Olympics.

Now aged 31, she hopes to continue her career through the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, which means she will have an opportunity to earn more world gold at the 2019 championships.

There might also be an opportunity to return to the 200 metres, where she was the London Olympic champion and three-times world champion.

But never will she try the 400 hurdles as a questioner hinted might happen.

Three-time world ChampionAllyson Felix

Andre de Grasse

Qatari star Qatari star athlete Mutaz athlete Mutaz Essa Barshim Essa Barshim

competes in the competes in the men’s high jump at the men’s high jump at the World Indoor Athletics World Indoor Athletics

championships in championships in Sopot, Poland in this Sopot, Poland in this

file photo. file photo.

Barshim leads Team Qatar at Barshim leads Team Qatar at IAAF World Championships IAAF World Championships