HAN Takes on Chan AS Olympic SEASON Looms

44 Sports FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2013 Perez: Harshly treated or wrong man for McLaren? LONDON: Sergio Perez arrived at erwise and snapped him up to fill series title and a McLaren protege fell out with then team principal Ron McLaren in January desperate for suc- Hamilton’s shoes. “We undoubtedly whose performance has turned heads. Dennis, and found it hard to accept that cess, talking of fighting for wins and believe we can develop him into a world Whitmarsh has described the Dane Hamilton - a rookie - could be given Formula One titles, and less than a year champion in fairly short order,” team as “pretty special” and “lightning quick” equal treatment to him. However, later the Mexican will walk away with his principal Martin Whitmarsh told and reports from Woking have suggest- McLaren stuck with Finland’s Heikki goals more distant than ever. reporters at the time. ed his performances in the simulator Kovalainen for two seasons, even Questions will be asked about More ominously, in retrospect, he have backed up the belief. though he was never in Hamilton’s whether the 23-year-old was ever the added: “You come to McLaren and McLaren took a risk with Hamilton league on the racetrack. right man for McLaren, a driver signed in you’ve got the scrutiny and the pres- and it paid off handsomely. The possibil- In their first season together in 2008, a hurry late last year when 2008 world sure. And you either do well and survive, ity that Magnussen could be another when McLaren had a title-winning car, champion Lewis Hamilton decided to or he will struggle. “You ask me if we are such talent is incentive enough to give Kovalainen scored 53 points to jump ship and join Mercedes. 100 percent sure that he’s the right man him the nod over Perez. Hamilton’s 98. Perez has scored 35 so There will be others, particularly in for us - I can’t be.” Had McLaren been The fact that the sport is going far to Button’s 60 and both have had Mexico, who will wonder just how much able to offer Perez a winning car, the through significant change next season, fifth places, the team’s best result so far of a chance he was really given to prove marriage might have lasted. Instead, with all the drivers having to come to this year. himself. with their worst since 1980 bringing an terms with a new V6 turbocharged When Perez was signed, some saw it Formula One is a cruel arena, a world unexpected tension into the team, it has engine, also makes it arguably a better heralding a move by Telmex - the fixed- where harsh commercial realities stamp ended in divorce. time to bring in a rookie than if the rules line telephone company owned by the on sentiment, but Perez might have In a dignified and restrained state- were stable. world’s richest man Carlos Slim that has expected more time after being handed ment posted on Twitter in English and Sometimes it works and sometimes backed him throughout his career - to one of the worst racing cars McLaren Spanish on Wednesday, Perez made not. McLaren signed Kimi Raikkonen in replace Vodafone as title sponsors. have built in decades. clear he had been shown the door but 2002 with just one season under his belt For whatever reason, the talk of He arrived at Woking as the first thanked the team for giving him the at Sauber and they knew immediately incoming Mexican money has died Mexican in more than 40 years with a opportunity to drive for them. “I will he was special. They took Perez after away while Mexico’s return to the grand real chance of winning a grand prix. At always be a fan of McLaren,” he said. “In two seasons at Sauber and clearly the prix calendar now looks unlikely to hap- mid-table Sauber, he had finished on the meanwhile, I will be looking at my feeling has been different. pen until 2015 after being listed provi- the podium three times last year. future to ensure my position in the best The last driver to stay for only a year sionally for next year. McLaren mean- Ferrari, who had brought him up possible package to fight for wins.” at McLaren was Spaniard Fernando while are on the cusp of a new era with through their academy, had said he was He is now expected to be replaced Alonso, a double world champion when an engine partnership with Honda start- not ready for them as a replacement for by 21-year-old Danish hotshot Kevin he joined for what proved a stormy ing up from 2015. The future for them, Felipe Massa but McLaren thought oth- Magnussen, winner of the Renault 3.5 2007 season alongside Hamilton. Alonso at least, looks bright. —Reuters England seek to Han takes on Chan as repeat 2012 Olympic season looms victory over NZ PARIS: Rising Chinese star Yan Han The women’s event will be with- will be looking to press his claim as out the top skaters with Olympic LONDON: The rugby World Cup might be two years away an Olympic challenger by toppling champion Kim Yu-Na of South Korea, but England’s clash against New Zealand at Twickenham three-time world champion Patrick who withdrew because of a foot tomorrow is a significant waymarker for both sides’ psycho- Chan as preparations for the Sochi injury, set to return to competition in logical approach to the 2015 tournament. New Zealand Games heat up at the Trophee the Golden Spin in Zagreb next ended a 24-year wait for a second World Cup triumph when Bompard starting in Paris today. month. Olympic silver medallist Mao they emerged victorious on home soil in 2011 and, under Olympic favourite Chan, 22, head- Asada of Japan is already through to the new management of Steve Hansen, they have contin- lines the field in the fifth of the six- the Grand Prix final after winning ued to dominate global rugby. round ISU Grand Prix series at Paris- Skate America and the NHK Trophy. The only blot on the landscape since their triumph in Auckland is last year’s 38-21 thrashing by England and they Bercy, in a line-up that also includes In their absence, Russians Anna will be desperate to avenge that record defeat on Saturday hot challengers Han and Japanese Pogorilaya and Adelina Sotnikova as they seek to complete 2013 with 13 wins from as many champion Yuzuru Hanyu, runner-up will be looking to boost the hopes of matches. to Chan in Skate Canada last month. the Olympic hosts. Pogorilaya,15, That win was also of huge importance for Stuart Seventeen-year-old Han, the first surged to her first senior title at the Lancaster’s England, who were at a low ebb having lost pre- Chinese man to win the world junior Cup of China when she took gold vious home games to Australia and South Africa but were title in 2012, proved that he is ready ahead of world junior champion then able to go away and plan for the Six Nations full of to challenge after winning his first Sotnikova, 17. A trio of Americans confidence that, on their day, they were a match for anyone. senior title at the Cup of China last compete, led by US champion The All Blacks fear nobody in the game, least of all any- month. Chan will be bidding to win a Ashley Wagner, defending her Paris one from Europe, but another defeat on Saturday would fourth Paris title and along with Han title after finishing second in Skate really plant a seed of doubt in terms of the World Cup, with and Hanyu qualify for the elite six- America. She is joined by compatri- the final at Twickenham in 2015. Significant as it may be, skater Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka, ots Christina Gao and Samantha Saturday’s match is only the first of five between the two Japan, next month that will serve as Cesario. teams over the next 13 months as England tour New a preview of the Olympic contest In pairs, two-time world champi- Zealand in June before the All Blacks return to Twickenham that will unfold in Sochi in February. ons China’s Pang Qing and Tong Jian next November. New Zealand are likely to have much the better of those games and could quite easily win them all. Chan will be looking to iron out will be challenged by Canada’s However, if England can get to them, and stop them problems in his short programme to Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, playing the way they want to play while improving their Rachmaninov encountered in Skate silver medallists in Paris last year, own game all the time, the psychological advantage might Canada with his free skate to and Russia’s Vera Bazarova and Yuri just be theirs should they meet again for the ultimate prize Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Corelli’s Larionov. Olympic champions Tessa in 2015. Concerto Grosso. Han will skate to a Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada will Last year’s result has been dismissed in some quarters selection of waltzes as 18-year-old be looking to follow their Skate because of a perceived tiredness among the tourists, exac- Hanyu, who finished off the podium Canada win with another Paris title erbated by illness in the camp, but Hansen was having none in fourth at the worlds earlier this faced with the challenge of home of it when he named his team yesterday.

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