Ecclestone rules out summer race in Bahrain
Transcrição
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 1 Racing Published and printed by Dar Akhbar Al Khaleej Press and Publishing House (WLL). Editorial: P.O. 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