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TTENNISENNIS | Page 3 FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 4 Injury fells ‘Generation Nadal as Amazing’s Medvedev legacy will be felt advances long aft er 2022’ CRICKET Thursday, August 12, 2021 Muharram 4, 1443 AH Anderson injury GULF TIMES scare for England, Broad ruled out for summer SPORT Page 2 FOCUS ‘Dream is to win another Champions League and I think I am in the ideal place to do it’ Fans gather outside Parc des Princes for a glimpse of their new hero Messi unlikely to make PSG debut this weekend against Strasbourg Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi greets supporters gathered outside the Parc des Princes stadium yesterday. (AFP) Agencies known. We expect great achievements Paris, France PSG chairman says Mbappe ‘has no from him and his friends, our players, who are also top players in Europe. reason’ to leave club aft er Messi arrival “Our goal and path is clear, which is ionel Messi set his sights on to win the UEFA Champions League.” more Champions League glory AFP “Kylian is a Parisian, he’s very Messi made no secret of his sadness after being unveiled as a Paris Paris, France competitive. He said he wanted a at leaving Barca, the only club he has so Saint-Germain player yester- competitive team,” al-Khelaifi said. far represented in his 17-year profes- Lday as hundreds of fans gathered out- “Now there’s no-one more competi- sional career, as he gave a tearful news side the club’s stadium hoping to see aris Saint-Germain chairman tive than us. He has no reason to do conference at the Camp Nou last week- their new idol. Nasser al-Khelaifi said yester- anything else,” other than stay, he end. The 34-year-old Argentinian super- Pday forward Kylian Mbappe has added. star was presented to media from all “no reason” to leave the club after In May the 22-year-old told broad- ‘CAN’T WAIT TO START’ over the world at a news conference at Lionel Messi signed a two-year deal caster Canal Plus he wanted to be in However yesterday he said he was look- the Parc des Princes after arriving in with the French side. a place where he “could really win, ing forward to getting started in his new the French capital the previous day and Mbappe is in the final year of his where there is a solid project”. home. penning a two-year contract with the contract and has been linked with Mbappe is yet to sign a new deal at “Everyone knows that my depar- option of a third season. a move away from PSG with Real the Parc des Princes, unlike Neymar, ture from Barca was very hard because PSG quickly emerged as the favour- Madrid interested in the 2018 World whose recently-agreed contract runs I spent so many years there, but as ites to sign Messi following the shock of Cup winner. until 2025. soon as I arrived here I felt enormously his departure last week from Barcelona happy,” said the player who scored 672 and he arrives eyeing a fi fth Champi- goals in 778 games for the Catalans. ons League, with the most recent of his Yesterday, he appeared unfazed as “Now I can’t wait to start training.” four victories with his old club coming he emerged, immaculately turned out, We know how diffi cult Messi has had no pre-season having in 2015. to talk to media, although he did seem the Champions League been on holiday since winning the Copa “I have said many times that my slightly uneasy at times, not least when is but Paris know that too America with Argentina a month ago. dream is to win another Champions one member of the audience started — they have come very He is therefore unlikely to make his ‘close in recent years but it is a League and I think I am in the ideal chanting his name. debut for PSG soon, and certainly not place to have that chance and to do it,” Paris Saint-Germain’s Qatari President Nasser al-Khelaifi (left) poses with new Unlike when Zlatan Ibrahimovic competition in which the best this weekend when Mauricio Pochet- Messi told reporters inside a packed au- signing Lionel Messi as they hold up latter’s number 30 shirt at the Parc des Princes signed for PSG in 2012 there was no teams take part and the best team tino’s team play Strasbourg in Ligue 1. ditorium, with the audience including stadium in Paris yesterday. (AFP) glitzy unveiling in front of the Eiff el doesn’t always win. PSG are now even more obvious fa- his wife Antonella, their children, and Tower, but Messi was photographed on — Lionel Messi, vourites to run away with the French his father and agent, Jorge. Mbappe in Paris. the number 30 jersey — disbelieving the pitch before greeting the support- Paris Saint-Germain’s Argentine forward title, having missed out last season to Messi and Barcelona were knocked “We know how diffi cult the Cham- fans were already queueing up outside ers who had waited at the stadium en- Lille. out of the Champions League last sea- pions League is but Paris know that too the club’s diff erent shops in the capital trance, watching his press conference However, despite concerns about son by PSG, who went on to reach the — they have come very close in recent yesterday morning to buy the shirt with on a big screen. stuff .” a lack of competitive balance, French semi-fi nals following their run to the years but it is a competition in which his name and number on the back. “I had to come here with my young “I’m very proud to present Leo League president Vincent Labrune fi nal in 2020. the best teams take part and the best Messi was given a hero’s welcome children,” said one supporter, called Messi as a PSG player,” said Nasser al- hailed the arrival of the six-time Ballon “Sometimes you can have the best team doesn’t always win.” when he arrived in Paris on Tuesday, Wesley. Khelaifi , the president of the Qatar- d’Or winner as “extraordinary news for team in the world and not win. That’s greeting supporters at the airport and “They don’t know about everything owned outfi t, earlier. “It is an amazing the exposure of Ligue 1 internationally”. football,” Messi, who won 35 trophies in MESSI-MANIA then waving from the balcony of the Messi has done in his career but I hope and historic day for the club, for the “The arrival of Lionel Messi will in- total with Barca, added as he prepares PSG are reportedly paying 35mn euros plush hotel where he is staying near the they will remember this for a long time football world. crease the attractiveness and visibility to team up with Neymar and Kylian ($41mn) a year to Messi, who will wear Champs Elysees. because Messi coming to PSG is crazy “Messi and his capabilities are well- of our league on all continents,” he said. Gulf Times Thursday, August 12, 2021 3 SPORT TENNIS SPOTLIGHT Australian Olympic Injury fells Nadal as athletes face ‘cruel’ 28 days’ quarantine AFP treatment,” he said. Sydney, Australia “They are being punished for proudly representing their country with distinction at the Olym- top seed Medvedev group of Austral- pic Games.” ian Olympic athletes The entire Australian team, were yesterday facing who won 17 gold medals and 46 28 days in quarantine in total, are fully vaccinated and Aon return from Tokyo in a move were tested for Covid-19 almost slammed as “cruel” and “un- daily in Japan. caring” as concerns mount over Carroll said this made them their mental well-being. “extremely low risk”, yet their wins in Toronto All overseas travellers, in- application to South Australia to cluding the nearly 500-strong be exempt from the extra 14 days Russian top seed beats Bublik in three sets while Tsitsipas outlasts Humbert Australian team, are required to was rejected. spend 14 days’ isolation in a hotel AIS chief medical offi cer David AFP or special outback camp on ar- Hughes called the decision “pro- Toronto, Canada rival in the country, under strict foundly fl awed”. coronavirus rules. “To have individuals quaran- But some will have to endure tined for such a lengthy period of nagging left foot injury double that after the South Aus- time is in my opinion unreason- forced Rafael Nadal tralian government ruled those able and cannot be scientifi cally out of the ATP Toronto who could not get direct fl ights justifi ed,” he said. Masters on Tuesday as to Adelaide from Tokyo must “It poses a signifi cant risk to Atop seed Daniil Medvedev rallied serve another two weeks of home the physical and mental well- to reach the third round. quarantine when they arrive in being of the individuals con- Yesterday, he also withdrew the state. cerned.” from the Cincinnati Masters, There are 56 athletes return- The South Australian govern- organisers said, casting further ing to South Australia with 16 ment was not immediately avail- doubt on his fi tness for the US already undergoing quarantine able for comment. Open. in Sydney, which is currently in a Australia had dodged the Nadal, a fi ve-time cham- lockdown to try and stem a Delta worst ravages of the pandemic pion in Canada, pulled the plug variant outbreak. through a strategy of closed on his participation before his Australian Olympic Commit- borders, lockdowns, mandatory scheduled second-round opener tee chief Matt Carroll said it fl ew travel quarantine, and aggressive with plans to return to Spain for in the face of medical advice from testing and tracing.

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