FOOTBALL | Page 2 RUGBY | Page 3 Third Brighton Less is more player tests for Mitchell positive for when game coronavirus resumes Monday, May 11, 2020 CRICKET Ramadan 18, 1441 AH Cummins wants GULF TIMES to carry on shining, swinging SPORT Page 5 CRICKET Players must play, crowd or no crowd — Pietersen Reuters play a charity event on May 17 and English Always a big favourite with fans, Pi- Mumbai soccer’s Premier League plotting a return etersen hit 23 centuries and scored more for mid-June, Pietersen finds in unfathom- than 8,000 runs in 104 tests for England able that any top athlete would not want to before finally hanging up his bat in 2018 af- he resumption of sport will lift mo- be plying their trade as soon as possible. ter a few years playing for club teams across rale for people around the world “Some sportsmen are in the prime of the world. during the Covid-19 crisis and their life. Why would they not want to be South Africa, where he was born and cricketers owe it to fans to play be- playing?” he added. raised, remains close to Pietersen’s heart hindT closed doors if that hastens the process, “So what if the crowds are not there? The and along with his work as a cricket pun- former England captain Kevin Pietersen crowds may not be there in person but the dit and business interests, he has become has told Reuters. broadcasting numbers will be massive.” closely associated with the conservation of The spread of novel coronavirus has Looking more broadly at a possible silver endangered animals in the country. brought sport across the world to a stand- lining to the crisis, Pietersen said it was an He is particularly identified with the bat- still over the last two months and Pietersen opportunity for his sport to have a serious tle to preserve the rhinoceros and the char- thinks every effort should be made to resume look at solutions to problems shared by the ity he founded, SORAI or Save our Rhino professional cricket as soon as it is safe to do entire cricketing world. Africa/India, rescues abandoned, injured so. “The nice thing, if you can have a look at or orphaned rhinos. “Fans, the public, need a morale boost. something that’s nice about this coronavi- “When we come out of this global crisis, Their morale at the moment is so negative, rus, is it’s affecting absolutely everybody,” as humans we have to play a bigger and more so down in the dumps,” the 39-year-old said Pietersen said. significant role in making sure we protect in an interview. “Virat Kohli is in the same position as the planet and protect all the species,” said “Sport is so uplifting and so positive for Kane Williamson as Joe Root to Steve Smith Pietersen, who will relaunch the brand at the so many people. New sport will have to be as Quinton de Kock... we’re all in this to- end of June. played behind closed doors until we find gether. “So we’ve all got to come together, “There’s no way we can afford to let ani- a vaccination for coronavirus. Sportsmen understand what’s important to us, work mals like the rhino go extinct, the pangolin have got to deal with it.” together, get through this together and go extinct. It’s just incomprehensible to even With golfer Rory McIlroy preparing to make good decisions together.” think that something like that can happen.” FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT Roland Garros could be behind La Liga players test closed doors, says French tennis boss AFP positive for virus Paris They have been quarantined and will be allowed back only after 2 negative tests rench tennis chief Bernard Guidicelli admitted yesterday that Roland Garros, already controversially pushed back AFP four months due to the coronavirus, could be staged be- Madrid hind closed doors. FGuidicelli, who said that the French federation (FFT) had “no regrets” over its unilateral decision to move the clay court ive players from Spain’s top two leagues have Grand Slam from May 24-June 7 to September 20-October 4, tested positive for coronavirus, La Liga con- insisted all options remain on the table. firmed yesterday. “We haven’t ruled out any option. F Players in Spain’s top-flight and Segunda divi- Roland Garros is first and foremost a story of matches and play- sion were allowed to carry out individual work at training ers,” he told the Journal du Dimanche. grounds last week. “There is the tournament taking place in the stadium, and the The move was the beginning of a staggered training tournament on TV screens. programme, with the aim to restart competitive games in “Millions of viewers around the world are waiting. the middle of June. Organising it behind closed doors would allow part of the La Liga insist identifying infected players through business model — television rights (which account for more positive tests are part of that plan. than a third of the tournament’s revenues) — to go ahead. They will be allowed to rejoin their club’s training pro- This cannot be overlooked.” gramme only after obtaining two consecutive negative The spread of the coronavirus has halted all tennis since mid- test results. March and will not resume until July 13 at the earliest. A La Liga statement read: “Among La Liga Santander Wimbledon has already been cancelled for the first time since and La Liga SmartBank (Segunda) clubs, five positive the Second World War. cases were detected in players, all of them asymptomatic The US Open, due to take place in New York from Aug 31- and in the final phase of the disease.” Sept 13, is also in question with a decision expected in mid- “One of the objectives of these medical tests, accord- June. ing to the La Liga’s protocol for returning to training, Close to 500,000 fans regularly attend Roland Garros every according to recommendations of the CSD (Supreme year. Sports Council) and the Ministry of Health, was pre- However, an indication as to the thinking around the 2020 edi- cisely to detect the denominated or asymptomatic, that tion came on Thursday when the FFT decided to reimburse all is, those people who tickets bought for the original date of the tournament rather than Portuguese side are infected and that, transfer them. Guimaraes report without presenting Guidicelli admitted that the start of the rescheduled French three positive cases symptoms, they can Open could even be pushed back a further week to begin on Sep- for coronavirus infect other people,” tember 27. the statement added. That would allow a two-week break between the US Open and Three players from Portu- “In this way, we Roland Garros. guese top-flight side Vitoria guarantee everyone’s “I have regular discussions with Andrea Gaudenzi (president of Guimaraes have tested posi- safety when returning the ATP), Steve Simon (president of the WTA) and David Haggerty tive for Covid-19, the club said to work according to (head of the ITF) and another call is planned next week to see how in a statement yesterday the occupational risk we have progressed. The statement added that regulations.” “We are working well together, but it is still a bit early to pre- the three players were La Liga’s training cisely determine the schedule.” asymptomatic and had plan includes players A handout picture released by the Real Betis football club shows Real Betis’ Spanish midfielder Carles Alena taking part in Guidicelli is adamant that the FFT was right to shift the tourna- been advised by the club to initially carrying out a training session at the Luis del Sol training ground in Sevilla yesterday. ment back by four months with the death toll from the coronavi- self-isolate, while the rest of work individually be- rus in France standing at 26,310 by Saturday night. the squad would continue to fore then expanding players arriving already changed and at specific times to being allowed to go ahead in their fourth and final phase, “Roland Garros is the driving force of tennis in France, it is what carry out individual training into small groups and avoid contact with others. They wear masks and gloves, as long as they are attended by fewer than 400 people. feeds the players in our ecosystem (260 mn euros in revenue, or after returning to work last finally taking part in and have their temperatures taken before entering the Football matches are expected to be staged behind 80% of the turnover of the FFT),” added Guidicelli, describing week. larger team sessions. premises. closed doors for several months. himself as the “good father”. Vitoria’s decision contrasts Barcelona’s play- At the end of training, they take away a bag of fresh kit La Liga president Javier Tebas has said “it is not an “We think of them first, protecting them. with German second-tier club ers were back for their for the next day and shower at home. option” to cancel the top flight given he estimates the We made a courageous choice and today, no one regrets it.” Dynamo Dresden, who decid- first session on Friday The league have not officially announced the timing economic fallout would cost clubs around a billion eu- “A tournament without a date is a boat without a rudder — we ed to place their entire squad while Real Madrid’s for the resumption of competitive matches although ros ($1.08bn). But the third and fourth tiers in Spain will don’t know where we’re going.