Ecclestone rules out summer race in Bahrain

40 Gulf Daily News Friday, 4th March 2011
Pele backs Platini as candidate for Fifa presidency
SINGAPORE: Brazilian football legend Pele yesterday said
he had recommended UEFA
supremo Michel Platini as a
candidate to run against Sepp
Blatter for the Fifa presidency in June.
Speaking to reporters in Singapore, Pele
said he had put forward Platini’s name
n Captain Afridi,
who bowled
Pakistan to
victory with a
five-wicket haul,
hits a boundary
against Canada
when he and former Germany captain
Franz Beckenbauer were approached to
run for Fifa’s top job.
“Myself and Beckenbauer, we were
approached to be candidates, then I said
no, I am out of that. I want to rest,” he said,
without specifying who had made the suggestion to him.
“But everybody knows, Platini... it is
important for him to be, you know, president of Fifa,” added Pele, who was in
Singapore to help officially kick off the
2011 Asia tour of the newly-revived New
York Cosmos.
“Maybe as a (former) player, the player
who has a chance, maybe Platini because
he is already president of Uefa.”
Platini won the 1984 European
Championship with France and the
European Cup with Italian club Juventus
the following year.
However, Pele was non-committal
about Platini’s chances against Blatter for
football’s top job.
PAKISTANIS
SURVIVE
SCARE
COLOMBO: Skipper Shahid
Afridi took five wickets to
help Pakistan overcome a
scare at the hands of Canada
and clinch a hard-fought 46-run win in
their World Cup Group A match at R.
Premadasa stadium yesterday.
SCOREBOARD
Pakistan, bowled out for just 184 in 43
overs under overcast skies, hit back with
the ball by dismissing Canada, who at one
point were 104-3, for 138 in 42.5 overs,
with Afridi finishing with 5-23 in his 10
overs.
Afridi now has 14 wickets in three
wins in as many matches and is the leading wicket-taker in the World Cup with
14 victims as his side edged closer to the
quarter-finals.
But Afridi was angry at his team’s
sloppy performance with the bat.
“I think sometimes we need some partnerships and that’s what we were missing.
We’re not going to repeat this batting
performance again,” he said.
Canada captain Ashish Bagai, whose
team have yet to make a total of 150 in the
tournament, said his team had let themselves down.
“Fighting is one thing but getting over
the line is obviously taking it to another
level. We had a good chance today to
show everybody what we’ve put in and
Pakistan
M Hafeez lbw Osinde 11
A Shahzad c Gordon b Baidwan 12
K Akmal c Kumar b Cheema 16
Y Khan lbw b Baidwan 6
Misbah c Bagai b Rao 37
U Akmal lbw Rao 48
S Afridi c Kumar b Cheema 20
A Razzaq lbw b Hansra
8
U Gul not out 2
W Riaz c Rao b Hansra
0
S Ajmal b Baidwan
0
Extras (b4, lb3, nb1, w16)
24
Total (all out; 43 overs) 184
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-42, 3-55, 4-67,
5-140, 6-165, 7-181, 8-181, 9-181.
Bowling: Chohan 3.3-0-10-0 (nb1), Osinde
7-1-25-1 (w5), Gordon 0.3-0-1-0 (w1),
Baidwan 8-1-35-3 (w6), Cheema 8-0-33-2
(w3), Rao 10-0-50-2 (w1), Hansra 6-1-23-2.
Canada
R Gunasekera lbw Gul
8
N Kumar b Razzaq 2
Z Surkari lbw Ajmal 27
A Bagai lbw Afridi 16
J Hansra b Afridi 43
R Cheema b Afridi 4
T Gordon c Riaz b Afridi 9
J Baidwan b Afridi 0
K Chohan not out
5
B Rao run out 1
H Osinde b Riaz
0
Extras (lb4, w19)
23
Total (all out; 42.5 overs) 138
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-16, 3-44, 4-104,
5-111, 6-114, 7-114, 8-130, 9-134.
Bowling: Razzaq 7-2-16-1 (w1), Gul 7-1-201 (w6), Afridi 10-0-23-5 (w3), Riaz 5.5-0-23-1
(w2), Ajmal 8-0-31-1 (w7), Hafeez 5-0-21-0.
Standings – Pages 38-39
we fell short.”
With Canada well placed after
Jimmy Hansra (43) and Zubin Surkari
(27) adding an invaluable 60 for the
fourth wicket, Afridi returned for his
second spell to take four wickets in
17 deliveries to seal victory.
In his first spell of six overs he had dismissed Canada skipper Ashish Bagai (16).
Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, who
took 1-31, dismissed Surkari to give
Pakistan the first breakthrough before
Afridi ran through the remaining batting.
Afridi, who recorded Pakistan’s
all-time best World Cup figures of 5-16
against Kenya, bowled Rizwan Cheema
(four) with the last ball of the 35th over,
LONDON: The Bahrain Grand
Prix could be re-scheduled at the end
of the year after Formula One supremo
Bernie Ecclestone ruled out an August
date yesterday.
“August – forget. Too hot. Too hot for
the public to sit in the grandstand, it’s
40-odd degrees,” the 80-year-old Briton
told the BBC.
Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit had been due
to open the season on March 13 but
the race was called off due to bloody
civil unrest in the Gulf kingdom, with
anti-government protesters taking to the
streets.
The season will now start in Australia
on March 27.
Ecclestone said earlier in the week
that he hoped to reschedule the race and
a summer date had not been ruled out,
despite it being earmarked as a muchneeded break for F1 personnel in a year
that could yet have a record 20 races.
Yesterday he suggested it was most
likely to be slotted in at the end of the
season.
“We’ll have a look and see what we
can do, how we can swap things round a
bit. Maybe we can change with Brazil or
something like that,” he said.
Brazil is scheduled to end the season
on November 27, after a race in Abu
Dhabi.
before bowling Hansra and Jimmy
Baidwan off successive deliveries.
The 31-year-old Pakistan skipper took
4-34 in Pakistan’s 11-run win over Sri
Lanka on Saturday.
His effort averted another upset in the
tournament, just a day after Ireland chased
down a mammoth 328-run target to shock
England in Bangalore.
The win gives Pakistan six points after
three matches, setting them atop of Group
A with Sri Lanka and Australia behind.
Earlier, Canada bowled a disciplined
line and length with Baidwan (3-35),
Cheema (2-33), Hansra (2-23) and Balaji
Rao (2-50) combining to bowl out Pakistan
for a below-par score.
Umar Akmal (48) and Misbah-ul-Haq
(37) added 73 for the fifth wicket to repair
the Pakistan innings, but once both departed the 1992 champions lost their last five
wickets for a mere 19 runs in five overs.
Opener Mohammad Hafeez (11) was
trapped leg-before by Henry Osinde in
the fourth over before Baidwan dismissed
Ahmed Shahzad (12) and Younis Khan
(six) in the space of 13 runs.
Cheema made it 67 for four when he
had Kamran Akmal (16) caught in the
covers in the 16th over, leaving the task of
building the innings to Misbah and Umar
Akmal.
Ecclestone rules out summer race in Bahrain
Decision
Ecclestone hoped a decision would
be taken next week, before a meeting of
the International Automobile Federation
(FIA)’s World Motor Sport Council, and
hoped Bahrain could be re-scheduled.
“The people there have been big supporters for us and are becoming bigger
and bigger. We get more support in
Bahrain, much more than we did when
we first started there and if they want
the race we want to be able to supply it
for them.
“If there’s peace in Bahrain, we will be
there,” added the Briton.
In other comments, Ecclestone made
clear he was against the introduction of
the new moveable rear wing this season.
“I don’t support it at all, there will be
more and more protests and upheaval
because of that, in my opinion,” he said.
He also said Formula One would be
better off with fewer teams than the current 12.
“Twelve teams is too many,” he said.
“Ten’s enough.”
n Barcelona coach
Guardiola in hospital
BARCELONA: Barcelona coach
Pep Guardiola entered hospital
yesterday with acute back pain and
was diagnosed with a slipped disc,
the club said. The 40-year-old had
been in obvious discomfort when
he attended Barcelona’s 1-0 away
victory over Valencia the previous
evening and he later had to seek
hospital treatment, said a statement
on the club website. Medical tests
found he had a herniated disc, in
which a rupture allows the soft
core of a spinal disc to bulge out,
often pressuring nearby nerves.
n West Ham get approval
LONDON: West Ham’s bid to take
over the 2012 Olympics stadium
was given formal approval by
the British Government and
Mayor of London Boris Johnson
yesterday. The green light
allows the Olympic Park Legacy
Company (OPLC) to enter into
negotiations with West Ham and
their consortium partners to agree
a lease for the facility. The OPLC
had given its backing to West
Ham last month after a bitter
battle for the stadium venue with
Premier League rivals Tottenham.
n Ferguson charged
LONDON: Manchester United
manager Sir Alex Ferguson was
charged with improper conduct by
the Football Association yesterday
following his criticism of referee
Martin Atkinson in the defeat at
Chelsea. Ferguson appeared to
question Atkinson’s impartiality
following United’s 2-1 loss at
Stamford Bridge on Tuesday,
which saw the Red Devils manager
hit out at Atkinson’s failure to
dismiss Blues defender David Luiz.
Ferguson has until 4pm (7pm
Bahrain time) on Tuesday to
respond to the charge, which could
lead to a fine or a touchline ban.
n City suspend Toure
MANCHESTER: Manchester City’s
Ivory Coast international defender
Kolo Toure has been suspended
after failing a drugs test, his club
announced yesterday.
A statement on City’s official
website read: “Manchester City
confirm that the FA has informed
Kolo Toure that an ‘A-sample’
provided by him has tested
positive for a specified substance.
“As result of this, he has been
suspended from participating in
all first team and non-first team
matches pending the outcome of
the legal process.”
LATE SOCCER
Spanish League:
Almeria
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