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THURSDAY, JUNE 2, 2016 SPORTS Redemption at hand for Egypt after qualifying troubles CAPE TOWN: Egypt are within a point of finally The top team in each of the 13 qualifying brother Jordan in their squad, will win Group H if court ruling in the country blocked upcoming foot- qualifying for the African Nations Cup again after a groups plus the two best runners-up join hosts they avoid defeat in Mauritius on Sunday. Senegal ball federation elections. Unless the vote is allowed lengthy absence for the tournament’s most suc- Gabon at the finals. Algeria, Ghana and Senegal are have a 100 percent record in Group K and a draw to proceed the ban stays in place and Benin will cessful team. A draw away to Tanzania in Dar-es- also all one point away from securing a place at the away to Burundi on Saturday would ensure their effectively be disqualified from the qualifiers, hand- Salaam on Saturday will ensure Egypt finish top of finals as the penultimate round of qualifying is progress. Cheikhou Kouayte captained the team last ing leaders Mali the chance to go through from Group G and qualify for the finals in Gabon next hosted from Thursday through Sunday. Algeria play Saturday when they beat Rwanda 2-0 in a warm-up Group C. “We are training as we would normally as if January. It will be their first appearance since they the tiny Seychelles away on Thursday without Riyad match with Sadio Mane leading the attack. In Benin, nothing has happened and the game is going won the last of three back-to-back Nations Cups in Mahrez, Yacine Brahimi and suspended striker Islam the squad have been preparing since the start of ahead,” Benin coach Oumar Tchomogo told local 2010. Since then they have suffered calamitous Slimani but are still expected to have far too much the week for their key Group C qualifier at home to reporters. Morocco are the only team so far through qualifying setbacks and surprisingly missed out on firepower for their island hosts and secure top Equatorial Guinea, which is scheduled for Sunday to the finals and the majority of places in the 16- the 2012, 2013 and 2015 finals despite having won place in Group J. but likely to be cancelled. team finals will be decided when the last round of Africa’s top prize a record seven times. Ghana, who have Andre Ayew and his younger Benin were suspended by FIFA last month after a qualification is hosted in September. — Reuters China’s Suning leads race for soccer ‘super agent’ Stellar SHANGHAI: China’s Suning Commerce Group is announced as early as this weekend, one source Big spenders leading a race to buy UK-based Stellar Group, said. Inter is now majority-owned by a group led An acquisition would give a Chinese buyer one of the world’s leading soccer agencies, a by Indonesia’s Erick Thohir. Another Chinese access to some of the most connected soccer person with knowledge of the talks said, even as consortium is in talks with former Italian Prime agents and a list of high-profile players just as the retail giant is set to also invest in Italian club Minister Silvio Berlusconi about buying a majori- China ploughs money into soccer, including big Inter Milan. Reuters reported last month that at ty stake in Inter’s rivals AC Milan. Suning money signings of top players to the Chinese least four Chinese investor groups, including declined to comment. Calls to Evergrande went Super League. China’s premier division, still way model car maker Rastar, were interested in buy- unanswered. Rastar had no immediate com- behind European leagues in terms of quality and ing Stellar, which has masterminded some of ment when contacted by Reuters. prestige, spent around 340 million euro ($382 soccer’s biggest transfers including Wales inter- A successful bid for Stellar would be anoth- million) in the latest winter transfer window, national Gareth Bale’s record 86 million pound er sign of intent by China to expand in global more even than the cash-flush English market. ($126 million) move to Real Madrid. Other soccer, with interests ranging from overseas China’s President Xi Jinping is a keen soccer Chinese suitors for Stellar, which could fetch clubs to sports media rights and sponsorship. fan and wants China to one day host, and win, around 900 million yuan ($136.6 million), Stellar founder Jonathan Barnett, one the the World Cup. He has set out an ambitious plan include property developer Evergrande Group sport’s leading power brokers, was recently in to create a sports industry worth $850 billion by and private investors, according to the person China meeting potential suitors, said the per- 2025. Barnett is one of football’s so-called and documents reviewed by Reuters. son, who did not want to be named as the “super agents”, who broker multi-million dollar Headed by entrepreneur Zhang Jindong, negotiations have not been made public. deals to trade players between clubs. Stellar Suning is one of China’s biggest private firms, Stellar did not immediately respond to Group represents hundreds of athletes, includ- with annual revenue topping $20 billion. It owns requests for comment. A final deal is likely to ing footballers Bale and current England inter- local club Jiangsu Suning and is closing in on a see a strategic investor such as Suning taking a nationals Joe Hart, Luke Shaw, Phil Jagielka and deal to buy into Inter Milan, one of Italy’s top majority stake in Stellar backed by banks and Danny Drinkwater, according to clubs, several sources have said. A deal could be private investors, the person added. transfermarkt.com. — Reuters UEFA’s Final loser Partey hopes to become winner JOHANNESBURG: UEFA Champions League Mexico’s forward Alan Pulido final loser Thomas Partey of Atletico Madrid hopes to become a winner this week and help Ghana qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. Soccer player’s relative Partey came off the bench in Milan last Saturday, but could not prevent Madrid neighbors Real ordered his kidnapping winning the European club football showpiece on penalties after a 1-1 draw. However, his first national squad call-up should end happily as MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities arrested on tell them that the player had left the event and Ghana visit Mauritius, an island state they Tuesday a man married to a cousin of football the type of car he was driving, the prosecutor trounced 7-1 last June when qualifying for star Alan Pulido, accusing the suspect of order- said. Pulido, who was part of Mexico’s 2014 Gabon began. ing the player’s high-profile kidnapping over World Cup team, had left the party with his girl- Partey arrived in Accra Tuesday boosted by the weekend. Osvaldo Velazquez Garcia, 29, friend when they were intercepted by four gun- recent praise from hard-to-please Atletico coach was wounded and detained in a house in the men, who let the woman go. and former Argentina star Diego Simeone. northeastern city of Ciudad Victoria after a Authorities say Pulido was freed after he was “Thomas is on his way to becoming a top foot- shootout with federal police, said Tamaulipas left alone with one kidnapper in a two-story baller and I hope to help him achieve that goal,” state prosecutor Ismael Quintanilla. Velazquez home and seized on the opportunity to beat up Simeone said of the 22-year-old central midfield- started shooting after he was surrounded, the suspect, take his phone away and call an er. “He is developing as a footballer all the time Quintanilla said. He was hit in the right shoul- emergency number. Police found Pulido within and, although young, has strength, movement der and lightly wounded in the neck, but he is minutes, barely 24 hours after he was kid- and can play between the lines.” In the hyper- out of danger. napped. Pulido’s brother, Armando, who plays competitive Spanish La Liga, Partey made 13 He was identified as the alleged master- for Greek second division team Kissamikos, told appearances last season for third-place Atletico, mind of the kidnapping by a 38-year-old Radio Imagen that there were about 40 people including three starts. accomplice who was arrested late Sunday after at the party. The brothers sat at a table with a An astute distributor of the ball, the Ghanaian Pulido managed to punch one captor and call dozen friends and siblings of friends. Alan lists Manchester City star and Ivory Coast cap- the police. “He’s the husband of a cousin” of Pulido left with his girlfriend before his brother, tain Yaya Toure among the midfielders who have Pulido’s, Quintanilla said, adding a twist to a and he was kidnapped minutes later. inspired him. The Black Stars welcome back case that has shocked the country. The prose- He said the brothers do not hire security Swansea midfielder Andre ‘Dede’ Ayew, who will cutor said Velazquez was a member of a crimi- when they visit their hometown “because the lead the team in the absence of injured captain nal organization linked to drug trafficking, kid- people of Ciudad Victoria have always been and striker Asamoah Gyan. Ghana are among 10 nappings and extortion. He did not identify the very affectionate with us.” “We never thought nations who could secure places at the 2017 group, but the Zetas drug cartel is a force in that something of this magnitude could hap- finals after four days of qualifying, which start one of the most dangerous regions in Mexico, pen,” he said.