TUESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2017 SPORTS SWIMMING A star is born — Dressel emerges from Phelps’ shadow BUDAPEST: With Michael Phelps back freestyle, 4x100m mixed medley and cially his jaw-dropping treble of golds nearest rivals Britain, who have seven. Sjostrom underlined her status as in retirement, Caeleb Dressel stepped Sunday’s 4x100m medley. It put him over 98 minutes on Saturday night-is all Katie Ledecky also made history in the world’s best sprinter with freestyle out of his idol’s shadow to match the US level with US legends like Phelps, Ryan the more remarkable given that he was Budapest as she finished with 14 world world records over 50m and 100m. legend’s tally of seven golds at the Lochte, who won five worlds golds in virtually unheard of, even in the swim- golds in her career to eclipse Missy Sjostrom also set a new world record in world championships in Budapest. 2011, and Mark Spitz, who win seven ming community, before these Franklin, who has 11, as the most deco- the semi-finals of the 50m freestyle Dressel became the first swimmer to golds at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Budapest championships. rated female in championships history. with a time of 23.67sec bettering the win three world gold medals in one ses- “This is probably one of the top-five The 20-year-old freestyle queen won old mark of 23.73sec set by Germany’s sion on Saturday, then claimed his sev- best swim meets ever by an American HISTORY five golds, but by her own admission Britta Steffen in 2009. enth of the week in the men’s 4x100m male-the other four going to Michael “I don’t even know if he went to the the medal which stood out was her sil- “I’m really happy I could erase one of medley relay on Sunday to match Phelps and Ryan Lochte,” said the USA’s Olympics last year? He has definitely ver in the 200m freestyle-her first those textile-suit records,” said Phelps’ record tally from the 2007 world Olympic backstroke champion Ryan taken a really big step this year,” admit- defeat in 15 finals at a worlds, spanning Sjostrom. “A lot of people thought championships. Murphy. ted Sweden’s sprint queen Sarah three championships. those times from 2009 would be impos- Dressel’s tally includes three individ- “To be in that company is no small Sjostrom. Dressel’s performances have “That will light some fire under me sible to beat.” Sjostrom claimed two of ual titles in the 50m, 100m freestyle and achievement, hopefully this is just the been the icing on the cake for the USA, for the next couple of years,” said the seven individual world records 100m butterfly, plus four relays golds in beginning for him and he can have a who finished with 38 swimming medals Ledecky after losing to Italy’s Federica which fell at these world champi- the 4x100m freestyle, 4x100m mixed really great career.” Dressel’s feat-espe- in Budapest-over five times more than Pellegrini over 200m. onships.—AFP Juventus top Roma on penalties in friendly NEW YORK: Juventus closed out the from Alex Sandro, dribbling around Roma International Champions Cup friendly tour- goalkeeper Allison and firing to make it 1-0 nament with a 5-4 win on penalties over in the 29th minute. Roma after the Italian clubs played to a 1-1 Roma’s Diego Perotti and Dzeko com- draw. Mario Mandzukic’s opening goal for bined for three promising exchanges but Italian champions Juventus was cancelled were unable to break through and Roma out by Edin Dzeko’s second-half strike. went into the break a goal down. The match, between last season’s top But Dzeko delivered the equalizer in the two teams in Serie A, offered a tantalizing 74th, tapping in a cross from Aleksandar glimpse of the upcoming domestic cam- Kolarov from close range. paign. Managers Massimiliano Allegri and But in the shootout, Marco Tumminello’s Eusebio Di Francesco named strong start- miss proved too much to overcome and ing lineups. Juventus handed Roma a second shoot-out Juventus were more active in the open- defeat of the tournament. The match drew ing minutes and were rewarded in the 29th some 33,000 fans to Gillette Stadium, home when Croatian forward Mario Mandzukic of the NFL’s Super Bowl champion New beat Federico Fazio onto a through ball England Patriots. —AFP Neymar in Shanghai as transfer rumours grow SHANGHAI: Neymar greeted fans in where he was scheduled to appear at an Shanghai yesterday as speculation mount- event for a fashion brand later. ed that the Brazil star could be set to quit Separately, China’s biggest online travel Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain for a company Ctrip had said it was cancelling world-record 222 million euros. an event with Neymar yesterday in The 25-year-old striker is at the centre of Shanghai because he and his advisers an apparent tug of war between the two were “busy with transfer issues”. People BAVEL: Denmark’s players take part in a team training session in Bavel, on Sunday, ahead of Denmark’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 semi-final football European giants in what would be the close to the player subsequently told match against Austria on August 3, 2017. — AFP most expensive transfer fee in football his- media there had never been an arrange- tory. A training spat with new Barcelona ment with the firm. signing Nelson Semedo during a pre-sea- Even after the training-ground bust-up SOCCER son tour in Miami ramped up chatter that in the United States, after which Neymar Neymar could be about to swap Spain for appeared to storm off, his Barcelona team- the French capital. mates said they wanted him to stay at the Germany win not enough for Neymar, who has remained tight-lipped Camp Nou. “Neymar and I, we are very about the transfer rumours, posted a mes- close and I want him to stay and I know sage for Chinese fans on Weibo, China’s the situation,” defender Gerard Pique told equivalent of Twitter, after arriving for a ESPN FC. us, says Denmark’s skipper promotional visit. “Ni Hao China! I’m “Right now he doesn’t know what to Neymar Jr. and I’ve just arrived in China,” he do and we are trying to help him-the BAVEL: A day after a stunning win over eight- wrote yesterday. ones (on the team) that are more close to time champions Germany at the women’s Euro, “I’m in Shanghai at the moment. I would him-to take the right decision.” PSG’s pur- Denmark skipper Pernille Harder said the scalp like to send a huge hug to all my Chinese suit of Neymar has angered some in had left her team were hungry for more. “It was Liverpool supporters give fans, thank you very much for your sup- Spain, where football league chief Javier such a nice win, but now we’re looking forward port.” He posted messages in English and Tebas says he will file a complaint with also,” the 24-year-old forward told AFP at thumbs-up to standing areas Chinese and asked for suggestions as to UEFA for financial fair play breaches by Denmark’s training centre in Bavel. “It’s not what he should do while in Shanghai, the French club. —AFP enough for us, just to win against Germany.” LONDON: English Football fans pressing for decision.” However, McKenna added further Having conceded on three minutes, Denmark standing areas to be re-introduced received a discussions should take place given the sensi- came back to nix Germany’s dreams of a sev- major boost yesterday when Liverpool sup- tivity of the issue to those who lost loved ones enth title in a row with second-half headers by porters voted by a landslide majority for it to at Hillsborough. Nadia Nadim and Theresa Nielsen. happen. Their support is especially significant “We say to anyone who is campaigning for Harder, who plays for Bundesliga champions given the 1989 Hillsborough disaster which this to understand sensitivities and respect the Wolfsburg, said this was the biggest win of her resulted in 96 Liverpool fans being killed in views of those who disagree,” he said. “Those career. “When I play in Germany it’s more spe- crushes caused by over-crowding in the who have been through incredible heartache cial, but it was just so nice to win the game so Leppings Lane standing area. and tragedy have every right to be heard and we reached the semi-final,” she added. In a week-long poll run by the club’s to ask important questions about safety. Germany were unbeaten at Euro since July 3, biggest independent supporters’ group Spirit “It was important in our conversations to 1993 when they lost to Denmark 3-1 in the of Shankly (SoS), 88 per cent of the nearly have these answered. It would be wise for that bronze medal game. 18,000 fans who took part voted in favour of to take place elsewhere.” The vote comes in By making the semi-finals, Denmark have rail seating. Rail seating can be flipped down the wake of last week’s approval of third tier equalled their result from 2013. Harder said or locked into an upright position, with safety English side Shrewsbury’s move to create a this was due to “hard work and good discipline barriers separating each row, safe standing area, which would have a capac- in defence and then a lot of speed in the Clubs in England’s top two divisions have ity of around 500, in their Montgomery Waters offence.” been legally required to have all-seater Meadow arena.