THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2016 SPORTS

Evans’ conviction for Less than half tickets Hamilton fastest as rape to be reviewed sold for Rio Olympics Mercedes dominate LONDON: BARCELONA: British footballer Ched Evans’s conviction for rape will be reviewed LAUSANNE: With five months to go before the World champion Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time for the by leading judges on March 22, a body that investigates alleged miscarriages of Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian organizers have first time this season on the second morning of the second pre-season test justice announced yesterday. The former Wales striker, who maintains his inno- sold less than half the available tickets for South in Barcelona yesterday. Hamilton was released onto the faster soft tyres after cence, was released from prison in 2014 after serving half of a five-year sen- America’s first games. Rio organizers say about 47 per- days of piling out huge mileage on the medium compound to register a best tence for raping a 19-year-old woman in a north Wales hotel room in May 2011. cent of the total 7.5 million tickets have been bought so His case has been referred to London’s Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases time of 1min 23.622 from his 73 laps. However, the far. Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates possible miscarriages of Englishman’s time was six tenths of a second down on the Rio organizing committee spokesman Mario justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The CCRC best lap posted by Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg on announced last October that it had unearthed new evidence that Andrada says the revenue from ticket sales stands at the soft tyres on Tuesday. Rosberg will take over driving $194 million, or 74 percent of the total target. Andrada could have supported Evans’s defence. Court of Appeal judges duties for the afternoon with Mercedes choosing to split will now consider how safe his conviction is. Evans previously lost says tickets for “premier events” and the Aug. 5 opening ceremony at the Maracana Stadium are essentially sold each of the four days at the Circuit de Catalunya between his case at the Court of Appeal in 2012. Following his release, their two drivers. Kevin Magnussen was second fastest for Evans, 27, saw an attempt to resurrect his career with English out. third-tier club Oldham Athletic collapse amid a public outcry. He says most tickets for the foreign market have , three tenths behind Hamilton despite being on Evans came through the youth ranks at Manchester City and been sold, leaving domestic sales as the main priority. supersoft tyres. Sebastian Vettel posted Ferrari’s best time of after a loan spell at Norwich City, he joined Sheffield United Speaking to reporters after Rio reported to the IOC testing so far on the medium compound in third. At the in 2009 for a fee of £3 million ($4.2 million, 3.9 million executive board, Andrada says organizers plan to set up other end of the paddock, both Haas and Sauber ). —AFP electronic ticket sales booths across the city. — AP suffered reliability problems.—AFP

No surprises in 2016 team list PARIS: will go up against familiar faces when he attempts to win a third Tour de France title in July, after the same 22 teams from last summer were named by race organisers yesterday. The route seems perfect for Briton Froome, with individual time trials set to play a much bigger part in deciding the winner of the than in previous editions. The Team Sky man edged out Colombian Nairo Quintana by 1min and 12secs last year, having also taken the 2013 title. Froome, Quintana and all likely to line up alongside each other more, with Sky, Movistar and all unsurprisingly on the team list. “It’s a selection without surprises,” Tour general direc- tor Christian Prudhomme told AFP of a list that includes four invitees, three of them French and one German (Bora-Argon). “Bora is a very strong team that will be in the Tour for the third time. “They have the German champion, the young Emanuel Buchmann, who did an excellent climb at Cauterets last year (he finished third) and a good sprinter in Irishman Sam Bennett,” he added. 2014 Giro D’Italia champion Quintana is expected to be one of Froome’s main challengers for the yellow jersey again this year, with the mountain finishes at Mont Ventoux and Saint-Gervais-les-Bains expected to produce HH the Amir’s Fifth Annual Grand exciting battles between the top climbers. For the second year in a row bonus seconds will be handed out to the top three on each stage, after seven Prix awarding ceremony today years with no seconds on offer for stage finishes. That did not prevent Slovakian from win- ning the points classification for the fourth year in a row By Abdellatif Sharaa Czech, Egypt, UAE, Estonia, ing committee’s announcement last summer, despite not winning a stage. Hungary, India, Iraq, , Jordan, that prizes will be doubled for Sagan will face competition for the green jersey from KUWAIT: The first gold medal will Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Mauritania, those who break world records. the in-form and Norway’s , be awarded today during HH the Morocco, Nepal, Holland New Meanwhile, Secretary General of while will be competing with Team Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al- Zealand, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Arab and Kuwait Shooting Dimension Data in the Tour for the first time. The South Jaber Al-Sabah, Fifth Annual Grand Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Federation Obeid Al-Osaimi said African outfit impressed as the first African team to race Prix in the women’s trap event. Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Tunis, the Arab Shooting Federation the Tour de France in 2015 under their previous guise of Competition will start at 9 am, Britain and Kuwait, the host coun- Board of Directors decided to MTN-Qhubeka, and they will return for a second attempt. while the finals will be at 3 pm. try. reduce the fees for some Arab Teams announced by race organisers on Wednesday Today, the pre-event-training for The Grand Prix enjoys the partic- countries who are unable to meet to contest this year’s Tour de France which takes place the men’s trap will be on 50 targets, ipation of Olympic Champions from their commitments, in order to help from July 2-24: as the finals will be tomorrow on 75 Gulf, Arab and European countries, those brotherly countries who one Teams qualified through International Cycling Union targets. Thirty one countries are making competition very strong, suffering from some difficulties rules: AG2R La Mondiale (FRA), Astana Pro Team (KAZ), participating: Algeria, Bahrain, especially after the higher organiz- these days. BMC Racing Team (USA,) Cannondale Pro (USA), Dimension Data (RSA), Etixx-Quick Step (BEL), FDJ (FRA), IAM Cycling (SUI) Lampre-Merida (ITA), Lotto Soudal (BEL), Movistar Team (ESP), Orica GreenEDGE (AUS), Team Giant-Alpecin (GER), Team Katusha (RUS), Team Lotto NL-Jumbo (NED), Team Sky (GBR), Tinkoff (RUS), Trek-Segafredo (USA). Invited teams: Bora-Argon 18 (GER), (FRA), Direct Energie (FRA), Fortuneo-Vital Concept (FRA.). — AFP Elder statesman Wiggins feels heat as Rio looms MANCHESTER: admits that he is feeling the effects of time as he aims to end his glittering career with a World Championship and Olympic gold medal dou- ble. The former Tour de France champion returns to London this week, scene of his Olympic time-trial triumph in 2012, as part of the British men’s team pursuit squad seeking victory in the World Track Championships. The 35-year-old says rac- ing the sons of some of his former rivals has brought home to him the size of the task he faces in attempting to win selection for the Rio Olympics later this year. “I do sometimes feel a little bit like the elder statesman because there’s a lot of guys riding the track now whose dads I rode with,” Wiggins told reporters in Manchester. “Philippe Ermenault-we rode against each other for the bronze in the team pursuit in Sydney (the 2000 Olympics) and now his son is in the French team, riding the Worlds this year. “And then Rick Zabel, although Erik rode until he was 50, so that’s not so hard! But I notice it more. When you start racing people’s sons, you know you are getting old. “I’m just trying to get to the Worlds. I don’t think about the end because I haven’t made the end. I haven’t made the team for the end. “It has got harder. The training has got harder. It’s quite different. The first time I rode the event in the Olympics in 2000, 16 years ago, we broke the Olympic record in qualification with 4min 04sec. “We are now plan- ning on going 3:50, or quicker. It’s 15 seconds faster. The whole thing has just evolved and snowballed.” ‘CUT-THROAT’ He added: “The event has got faster and faster and we are now training like sprinters through the winter, in the gym and everything. “It’s brutal. Compare it to the speeds we were going eight years ago. It’s moved on that much. The good thing about here is the fact that you come in and it’s a numbers game. “You get shown the numbers after every ride and if you’re not up to scratch, you go home. Reputations and results have got nothing to do with it. “It’s brutal, really, quite cut- throat. But it’s quite evidential as well. You can see on the board who’s slowing and who’s picking it up.” Wiggins, who is targeting a fifth Olympic gold in Rio, has already made his mark on the track in the past 12 months by setting a new World Hour Record at London’s Lee Valley Velodrome, the venue for this week’s Worlds. The veteran believes that another world record could be broken in London, with the British pursuit team aiming to beat their own mark of 3min 51.659sec, which they set at London 2012.—AFP