Babar Azam ruled out of second Test against New Zealand SUNday, JANUARY 3, 2021 page 14 Attiyah wins Dakar Rally prologue, sends out early warning to rivals
AFP Jeddah
Qatari driver Nasser Al Atti- yah sent out an early warning to his rivals in the Dakar Rally by winning the car prologue on Saturday while defending champion Ricky Brabec of the USA took the early motorbike honours. The prologue, being run for the first time in the Dakar’s history, took place on a mainly sandy 11-kilometre route near Focused the Red Sea city of Jeddah. Toyota driver Attiyah, a Our target is to win... It’s three-time winner of the most my dream to win again. gruelling event in motorsport, Nasser Al Attiyah, whose busy earned the right to start first in Sunday’s opening stage, a 2021 also includes targetting 622km run from Jeddah to a seventh Olympics and going Bisha in the southeast of the better than his skeet shooting kingdom. bronze in London in 2012 Attiyah faces stiff competi- with gold at the Tokyo Games. tion from reigning champion Carlos Sainz of Spain. The Qatari faces a busy tory on his Monster Energy 2021 as he is also aiming for Honda Team bike. a seventh appearance in skeet The 29-year-old was in shooting at the rearranged To- confident mood after a “wild kyo Olympics. Toyota’s driver Nasser Al year”, saying he was “com- It is the second consecu- Attiyah of Qatar and his fortable” with the unforgiving tive year that the rally is being co-driver Mathieu Baumel Saudi desert terrain because it held in Saudi Arabia. of France compete during was so similar to his Southern Launched in 1979 between the prologue near the California base. Paris and the Senegalese Saudi city of Jeddah, on “Where I live, my home- capital Dakar, the celebrated the eve of the 2021 Dakar town looks more or less simi- endurance challenge moved Rally, on Saturday. (AFP) lar to almost everything we to Saudi Arabia for the first covered last year,” he said. time last year after a decade in “I can go as fast as we South America. need to go and not really think Defending champion Car- about what’s ahead of me be- los Sainz summed up the gen- cause it comes natural from eral mood of relief in being the training at home.” able to actually race after a Levelling out competition season ruined by the coronavi- are two further rule changes. rus pandemic. Firstly, roadbooks used “I’m happy to be here after to navigate each stage will be such a difficult year,” said the distributed 20 minutes before Spaniard, a three-time Dakar each daily start rather than the winner. night before, allowing com- Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah, petitors much less time to map like Sainz also a three-time out their route. winner (2011, 2015, 2019) said And secondly, riders in the it was “very important to be bike class will only be able to here and to race”. use six rear tyres, with tyre “Our target is to win... It’s management usually playing a my dream to win again,” said decisive role in how hard bikes the Qatari whose busy 2021 can be pushed in the quest for also includes targetting a glory. seventh Olympics and going “I’m not sure that’s a good better than his skeet shoot- way to go about it,” Brabec ing bronze in London in 2012 responded, before adding: with gold at the Tokyo Games “Strategy is definitely going postponed a year because of to come into play. We’ll see COVID-19. how it goes when we get to our The 43rd Dakar sees a new sixth tyre.” class joining the collection of Brabec will be up against cars, bikes, quads, trucks, bug- a formidable array of previous gies and SSVs - with the Dakar winners in Australian Toby Classic category limited to ve- Price (2019, 2016), Briton Sam hicles from the 1980s and 90s. Sunderland (2017) and Austri- Nasser Al Attiyah and his co-driver an Matthias Walkner (2018). Safety measures Mathieu Baumel are waved at by “There’s a lot more than The Dakar is no stranger to local fans as they compete during four riders who can win the tragedy, with last year’s rally the prologue near Jeddah, on eve Dakar,” said Brabec. “It’s go- claiming the lives of motorcy- of the 2021 Dakar Rally, ing to come down to the last clists Paulo Goncalves and Ed- on Saturday. (AFP) couple of kilometres.” win Straver. Price acknowledged that it In total, 26 participants, was a “tough class”. including 21 motorcyclists, A raft of new safety meas- ers, warnings that will notify ignated “slow zones” limiting Defending motorbike win Dakar last year, breaking “There are 10 solid dudes have been killed since the in- ures include compulsory air- competitors in the approach the speed to 90km/h in espe- champion Ricky Brabec be- KTM’s 18-year winning mo- in there who can get the win,” augural rally in 1979. bag vests for motorbike rid- to potential dangers with des- cially tricky sectors. came the first American to nopoly as he streaked to vic- the Australian said.
Mauricio Pochettino named new coach of Paris Saint-Germain AFP on December 24, reportedly for His priority will be to sate the Earned plaudits He arrives in the French capital Paris comments viewed as critical of the Qatari-backed club’s quest for Cham- Then, on February 16, he will be after being linked with a number of Qatari owners. pions League glory. plotting the downfall of his compa- high-profile clubs, including Manches- Mauricio Pochettino was officially “This club has always held a Tuchel, who oversaw the club’s triot Lionel Messi’s Barcelona at the ter United, Real Madrid and Barca. named the new coach of French special place in my heart. I have first ever Champions League final Camp Nou, with the return leg on He is due to meet up with champions Paris Saint-Germain on wonderful memories, especially of appearance last season, guided March 6. the world’s most expensive player Saturday following the sacking of the unique atmosphere of the Parc Neymar and company into the knock- Like Tuchel, Pochettino was Neymar, France’s World Cup-winning Thomas Tuchel. des Princes,” Pochettino said in the out stages this season before being sacked after leading Spurs to their forward Kylian Mbappe and their PSG announced on its website PSG statement. axed. first ever appearance in a Champi- teammates at PSG’s first post-Christ- that former Tottenham manager Po- “I return to the club today with Pochettino’s first major test ons League final, against Liverpool in mas training session on Sunday. chettino had signed a contract until a lot of ambition and humility, and will be the Champions League last- 2019. Although he has yet to win any His first coaching position was June 30, 2022 with an option for an am eager to work with some of 16 away leg at Barcelona silverware the former PSG defender’s at struggling Espanyol, where in additional year. the world’s most talented players,” next month. stock is high in managerial circles. 2009 his first match in charge was Mauricio The 48-year-old Argentine was Pochettino said, adding he would Pochettino will take charge of his Pochettino made Tottenham against Barcelona. Pochettino the only name in the frame to take do his utmost “to give our team first match next Saturday at Saint- a consistent Champions League He earned plaudits for saving the (AFP) over at the club where he played the combative and attacking play- Etienne as Ligue 1 resumes after qualifier in four years at the Premier Spanish outfit, where he played un- from 2001 to 2003 after PSG ing identity that Parisian fans have the winter break with PSG one point League club before his departure der fellow Argentine Marcelo Bielsa abruptly ended Tuchel’s involvement always loved.” off the leaders in third. in 2019. in 1998, from relegation.