SUNDAY, MARCH 13, 2016 SPORTS

Cecchinato faces Yorke wants Giggs in Karanka’s future match-fixing probe charge of Man Utd shrouded in doubt SINGAPORE: Manchester United should sack Louis Van MILAN: Italian Davis Cup player Marco Cecchinato is reportedly under investi- Gaal and install his assistant Ryan Giggs as manager, : Aitor Karanka’s future as Middlesbrough manager is shrouded in gation by his national tennis federation over suspicions of match-fixing during according to former striker Dwight Yorke who wants to doubt after the Championship promotion contenders announced he will not a tournament last October. Cecchinato was the fourth seed at a Challenger launch his own managerial career at struggling Aston Villa. be in charge for today’s trip to Charlton. Karanka is believed to be unhappy tournament in Morocco where he coasted to victory in his first two matches The former striker said changes were with his players after some poor performances in recent weeks and the before losing the quarter-final 6-1, 6-4 to 19-year-old Polish qualifier Kamil needed at United, with the 20-times English champions Spaniard stormed away from Middlesbrough’s training ground on Friday fol- Majchrzak, who is ranked 338th by the ATP. Suspicions were raised sixth in the , out of the Champions League lowing a heated meeting with the squad. The 42-year-old ques- further by the existence of inconsistent betting patterns relating to and suffering a 2-0 loss to arch-rivals Liverpool in the tioned the players’ desire to win promotion to the Premier League their quarter-final meeting on the day of the match. The Italian fed- Europa League this week. “At the end of the day, it’s all following their midweek loss at lowly Rotherham and is said to eration was notified and, according to widespread reports, is about results,” Yorke was quoted as saying by Singaporean have told them he no longer wanted to manage them during expected to discipline Cecchinato at a hearing that has yet to be daily The New Paper on Saturday after a promotional event the training ground showdown talks. Karanka’s dramatic announced. Riccardo Accardi, a friend of Cecchinato and a fellow in the Southeast Asian citystate. “In the two years that he’s departure triggered speculation that he is set to quit and that tennis professional, has also been implicated in the affair. The (Van Gaal) been there, he’s spent tons of money, brought in outcome remains likely after Middlesbrough confirmed assis- news will come as a huge blow to the 23-year-old Cecchinato, tons of players, and simply hasn’t got the results that he tant coach Steve Agnew will take charge at Charlton today. who, ranked 89th in the ATP rankings, made his Davis Cup and everyone else had hoped to. “You see a lot of young “Middlesbrough Football Club can confirm that Aitor debut last week. Italy had already qualified for the quarter- managers, Zinedine Zidane’s been given the opportunity at Karanka did not take training on Saturday morning,” finals after racing to a 3-0 lead over Switzerland when Real Madrid, you got Luis Enrique at Barcelona, Pep the statement read. “Assistant Head Coach Steve Cecchinato won his team’s fourth point in a 6-3, 7-5 sin- Guardiola who’s coming to Manchester City, Tottenham’s Agnew will take charge of the team for Sunday’s fix- gles win over Adrien Bossel. — AFP Mauricio Pochettino, they’re all ex-players. —Reuters ture at Charlton Athletic.—AFP

Ooredoo launches new advertising campaign with Messi

KUWAIT: Following on from the remarkable www.standforgood.com The game asks play- , football star and Ooredoo success of Ooredoo’s “Simply Do Wonders” ers to digitally “capture” a football pitch in Global Brand Ambassador, said: “The Leo Messi advertising campaign with Lionel Messi, the locations across Ooredoo’sfootprint, and then Foundation is pleased to work with Ooredoo company yesterday launched “Together We asks them to hold the pitch for 12 hours in on a wide range of programmes to support Do Wonders”, a sequel to the award-winning order to be entered into a draw to win a return people around the world, and I’m delighted campaign, which will again feature Ooredoo’s flight to Barcelona to meet Messi and watch this new campaign enables fans to make a Global Brand Ambassador, Lionel Messi. him play. contribution to and raise the profile of these Ooredoo’s new commercial received its As well being able to enjoy the online efforts.” world premiere at a special event in Barcelona, game, players will also have the opportunity Ooredoo’s CSR initiatives supported by the attended byLionel Messi; Waleed Al Sayed, to champion some of the key community proj- campaign include its work with the Leo Messi Group Deputy CEO, Ooredoo, and other senior ects supported by Ooredoo, such as the Foundation on its mobile health clinic pro- Ooredoo executives. It was held in parallel Mobile Health Clinics in , Myanmar, gramme, which provides healthcare services with the GSMA Mobile World Congress event Algeria and Tunisia in partnership with the Leo for remote areas in Indonesia, Myanmar, taking place that week. Messi Foundation. Algeria, and Tunisia. The commercial, which features the same Speaking at the launch event in Barcelona, The programme, which brings healthcare young cast as the previous film, plays on Waleed Al Sayed, Deputy Group CEO, to disadvantaged communities, delivered Ooredoo’s keythemes of teamwork, techno- Ooredoo, said: “Our first campaign encour- brand-new mobile health clinics in Algeria in logical skills and striving to do your best. aged young people to ‘simply do wonders’ - to 2015, and provided services to 73 villages in This time around, as well as highlighting be the best they could be, which is something Myanmar, with 75% women as beneficiaries. the possibilities that technology can bring, we hope to inspire across our footprint. Our The Mobile Health clinics have also been high- Ooredoo is also using the campaign to show- new ‘Together We Simply Do Wonders’ cam- ly active in Indonesia with 16 mobile clinics case its global CSR initiatives and its support paign aims to inspire young people to help travelling across the region. for sport across its footprint. those in need, and support sport for the less You can play “Stand for Good” at As part of the campaign, Ooredoo has fortunate. We’re very proud to continue our www.standforgood.com You can see Ooredoo’s launched a dedicated micro-site with an great work with Leo Messi, and thank him for new “Together We Do Wonders” advert at: online strategy game, “Stand for Good”, at his on-going support for our initiatives.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToTHkjEEjFE pumped to reach All England semifinals

BIRMINGHAM: Lin Dan gave a double fist quarters. Tian Houwei, ’s third-best player pump and primal scream. Then he yelled after Chen and Lin, progressed after beating again. That’s how much beating Jan O of Japan 19-21, 21-15, 21-16. Jorgensen in the All England Championships Tian will face the unseeded Hans-Kristian quarterfinals meant to the super- Vittinghus, who made up for the exit of Danish star on Friday. teammates Jorgensen and Axelsen by saving Humbled by Jorgensen in the quarters of two match points in beating Marc Zwiebler of the world championships last August, Lin was Germany 21-15, 13-21, 22-20. up for their first meeting since then, and Marin lost all four of her previous matchups showed his enduring class by winning 10-21, with Ratchanok, and labored for nearly an 21-9, 21-15 in 67 minutes. hour for a 21-17, 21-19 win she described, Meanwhile, women’s defending champion probably because of their history, as “really Carolina Marin of Spain overcame bogey play- good.” In the semis she will play Nozomi er of to advance, Okuhara of Japan, who rubbed out 2009 but 2015 finalist of India and for- champ Yihan of China 21-9, 21-13. mer champs Li Xuerui and of Okuhara has beaten Marin in their last two China lost. matches. Jorgensen ran over Lin so easily in the first The other semifinal pitches two-time game that a repeat of their worlds result was champ of China against Tai Tzu- on the cards. But Lin suddenly tuned in, end- ying of . Wang Shixian somewhat ing rallies quickly with smash winners, pulling avenged her lopsided loss to Li in the German the Dane at his whim, and making play look Open final last Sunday when she won their easy. Lin jumped to 10-1 in the second game high-quality quarterfinal 16-21, 21-18, 21-17 to and 8-0 in the third, leaving Jorgensen remon- even their head-to-head at 77. Wang Shixian strating with the referee and gradually taking has a 6-2 record against Tai, who won their last AVONDALE: , driver of the #18 Skittles Toyota, poses for a photo after winning the Coors Light Pole Award during qualifying for the on the air of a man who knew he was being meeting in the quarterfinals a year ago. Tai NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Good Sam 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Friday in Avondale, Arizona. — AFP outclassed. “Jan was consistent and really beat third-ranked Nehwal for a fifth straight aggressive in the first game, and I was making time, 21-15, 21-16. “I was not that surprised,” Tai a lot of mistakes,” Lin said. “I was really happy said. Her ranking dropped from No. 3 to 9 in how I regrouped. My movement and instinct the last four months, which meant she was the Kyle Busch gets NASCAR pole became much better. best player not to be seeded. She’s heading “I was really excited when I won, it was spe- back up the rankings. — AP cial. He beat me at the world champs so I was AVONDALE: Kyle Busch earned the pole at get to the bottom of it,” Johnson said. “Just a real- streak at Phoenix, failed to advance past the first extra focused.” Lin won the last of his five All Phoenix International Raceway and Jimmie ly hard impact to the outside wall. Thankful that round and will start 26th. The first round of England titles in 2012, then came out of semi- Johnson escaped serious injury after a scary we have SAFER barriers and soft walls. But very qualifying including a bizarre red flag after Kasey retirement last year to prepare for a gold- crash in NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying Friday. disappointed because we had such a fast race Kahne’s car began smoking near the dash while medal tilt at a third consecutive Olympics. He Johnson was on his second lap in the final round car.” After the red flag to clean up the wreck, he was running second. The Hendrick driver said won the last weekend, and has on the mile oval when he had an issue on the Busch won his 18th career pole and his first at he tried to turn the car off and it kept running. reached the All England semifinals for a sec- left side of his car and rammed into the second- Phoenix since 2012. Kahne’s car was towed to the garage. He ond straight year. A different Chinese team- turn wall at full speed. The right front of the No. qualified second and Daytona earned the 24th spot, but will need a new mate stands in his way: Top-ranked 48 car took the most damage and Johnson was 500 champion third, giving engine and will start at the rear Sunday. stopped Lin last year, but this time he faces able to climb out after the car slid onto the grass. Toyota the top three spots for the race today. Harvick, who has dominated at Phoenix, , the latest prodigy. Lin won their The six-time Cup champion was examined was fourth, and Johnson fifth on a complained of a loose car in practice, qualified only tour match in mid-2014. and released from the infield care center. rough day for . Dale 18th at the mile tri-oval., filling in for the Unseeded Xue dispatched Chen on “Certainly a lot of straight in an area of the track Earnhardt Jr., who won November’s rain short- injured , scraped the wall in the first Thursday, then took out sixth-ranked Viktor that I didn’t need to have straight. We’ll have to ened race to end ’s four-race win round and will start 28th. —AP Axelsen of Denmark 21-19, 23-25, 21-11 in the Lin Dan