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46 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, JANUARY 30, 2020
RAF AND TUMBLE
Nadal’s hopes of matching
Federer’s Grand Slam haul
crushed by Thiem
HOT and bothered
Rafael Nadal will not
equal Roger Federer’s
Grand Slam record in
Melbourne after crashing out
of the Australian Open
quarter-finals.
The world No1 was
desperate to stand alongside
Federer in the Slam pantheon
on Sunday evening – he has
spent his whole career
chasing his Swiss rival – but
those hopes were cruelly
dashed by the inspired
Dominic Thiem.
As Nadal lost his
composure over a time
warning and also felt hot
under the collar, the Austrian
played the match of his life,
progressing 7-6 7-6 4-6 7-6 in
a thrilling four-hour-tenminute
clash on the Rod Laver
Arena.
Nadal, 33, will remain
stranded on 19 majors – one
shy of Aussie
Open semifinalist
Federer –
and his best
chance of
drawing level
will come on his
favoured clay
court home of
Roland Garros.
ormer Manchester United
Fstriker Danny Webber hailed
the predatory instincts of Kelechi
Iheanacho after the red-hot
Leicester City number 14 found
the net against Aston Villa in the
Carabao Cup semifinal second
leg at Villa Park on Wednesday
night.
A superb play from Aston Villa
on the break ended with a
tremendous finish from Matt
Targett after lovely play by Jack
Grealish in the 12th minute before
Iheanacho’s equalised with 18
minutes left on the clock.
In stoppage time, a dramatic
goal from Egypt star Trezeguet
saw Aston Villa beat The Foxes 2-
1 on the night (3-2 on aggregate)
to progress to the final of the
Carabao Cup.
Speaking during commentary
Pablo Mari becomes Arteta’s first Arsenal
signing
Flamengo centre-back
Pablo Mari has agreed a
move to Arsenal on loan until
the end of the season,with the
option to make the deal
permanent in the summer.
The move ends what turned
out to be a topsy-turvy transfer
deal that initally stalled and
saw the defender return to
Brazil.
The clubs seemingly
agreed to the deal last
weekend, with Mari traveling
from Rio de Janeiro to London
That, of course, is if Federer
doesn’t do the unthinkable
and beat Novak Djokovic and
then win a seventh title Down
Under.
Of the four Grand Slams,
this is the one that has caused
Nadal the most issues and it
is 11 years since he lifted his
one and only Norman
Brookes Challenge Cup.
But credit to Thiem who
played magnificently
throughout, especially in
the three tie-breaks.
He said: “The whole
match was on a good level,
and we were both in good
form. We had this epic
match in New York two
years ago. I had a feeling I
would be lucky. The net
cord was on my side.
“He is one of the greatest
all time, one of the biggest
legends this sport has had,
and you need luck to beat
him.
“It came to 5-4, a special
situation, I am
serving for
the match
against
Rafa for
my first
semi-final
at the
•Iheanacho
Webber hails Iheanacho’s
predatory instincts
of the game for the world feed
(Super Sport), Webber said : “We
spoke about his record before the
game and it’s him who just sets
the move.
“It’s all about Harvey Barnes, I
think it is a shot but it doesn’t
matter because Kelechi
Iheanacho senses there’s an
opportunity at the back
post, he comes in.
“It’s not actually an easy
finish , it bubbles up, very,
very good finish. It puts
Leicester back in the game
against the run of play.”
Iheanacho’s strike vs
Aston Villa saw him
continue his remarkable
record of scoring in every single
Cup game he has featured in this
season - five goals in five
appearances.
to undergo a medical and
sign with the Premier League
side.
However, negotiations
suffered a setback on Monday
with Mari then returning to
Brazil.
Mari put pressure on the
Flamengo’s hierarchy to
accept Arsenal’s offer and
sources told ESPN the deal
was never dead despite
Flamengo putting out a
statement criticising
Arsenal’s attitude.
Nonetheless, the deal now
•Nadal
Australian Open, and it
mentally tough situation. I
couldn’t handle it, but turned
it around in the tiebreaker.
“I am happy I
won the tie break
otherwise we
would be in a fifth
now. I feel good so
far. I am full of
adrenaline and
happy moments, so
we will see when
that is off, how I feel
•Ronaldo
•Pablo
sees Mari reunite with
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
Mari, 26, was on Manchester
City’s books between 2016
and 2019 — where Arteta
served as an assistant for Pep
Guardiola — but never
actually played for the first
team.
Ronaldo hits 200 million
followers on Instagram
uventus talisman
J Cristiano Ronaldo
is certainly neither
tired of making the
headlines nor
breaking records.
The former Real
Madrid ace has
flagged off history
making achievements
in the new decade 2020
hitting a massive 200
million followers on
Instagram.
American singer,
songwriter, actress and
television producer Selena
Marie Gomez, his closet
rival and the one he
overthrew to become
‘King of social media’
back in October 2018, is
W
some 32million follows
away from reaching
Cristiano.
According to Forbes,
Ronaldo makes staggering
$47.8million dollars per
year from paid-instagram
posts.
He will be looking to
continue his free-scoring
form when Juventus hosts
Fiorentina on Sunday after
a disappointing result last
time out.
Ronaldo has scored 33
goals in all competitions
for club and country this
campaign and would be
looking to increase his
tally come Sunday.
Some have predicted
that the rise and rise of the
Portugal international is
bound to continue and he
has a finger in virtually
every pie thus making him
a regular item on social
media.
Only recently the former
Manchester United ace
hinted that he might
venture into movies when
he parts ways with the
round leather game.
But the parting ways
with the round leather
game some also say will
not be come soon for
Ronaldo who continues to
dazzle his followers both
on and off the pitch.
Ronaldo has so far made
2,752 posts followed by 200
million people but follows
434 people.
Coronavirus threatens athletics world
Indoor Championships
orld Athletics officials
are set to take a
decision whether to hold the
World
Indoor
Championships billed for
March 13-15 in Nanjing,
China.
Shaquille O’Neal breaks down
in tears over Kobe Bryant
SO’NEAL HAQUILLE
has paid
an emotional tribute
to his former teammate
Kobe Bryant
after the 41-year-old
tragically died in a
helicopter crash
alongside his
daughter and seven
others on Sunday.
The pair played
together for eight
years with the LA
Lakers before O’Neal
left
for the Miami Heat in
2004.
O’Neal, 47, had been due to be a pregame
pundit for TV network TNT ahead of
the game between the Lakers and local
rivals the LA Clippers.
But with Tuesday night’s game postponed
in the wake of the tragedy, Shaq and his
colleagues instead sat on court at the Staples
Center and paid tribute to Bryant.
O’Neal said: “The fact that we lost
probably the world’s greatest Laker, the
world’s greatest basketball player is just -
listen, people are going to say take your time
and get better, but this is going to be hard
for me.
“I already don’t sleep anyway, but I’ll
figure it out.”
Upon hearing the news, O’Neal
desperately hoped it wasn’t true: “I didn’t
want to believe it. I said to my son, ‘I hope
some buttface made this up and it’s not true’.
“But then after getting all the calls... my
spirit just left my body. I never could have
imagined nothing like this.
“I was thinking the other day I’ve never
seen anything like this. All the basketball
idols that I grew up [watching], I see them.
They’re old.”
•Shaq
SHAQ TRIBUTE
Nigerian athletes and
those from other countries
are building up to the
season opener ahead of the
2020 Olympics in Japan, but
the health scare situation in
China threatens to mar their
expectations. Already Team
Despite still texting regularly, O’Neal
revealed that he hadn’t seen Bryant since
the day of his final Lakers game in 2016.
Kobe Bryant’s helicopter
lacked recommended
warning system
T
he helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant
didn’t have a recommended warning
system to alert the pilot he was too close to
the ground but it is unclear it would have
averted the crash that killed the former NBA
star and eight others on Sunday, federal
regulators and experts said.
Pilot Ara Zobayan had been climbing out
of the clouds when the aircraft banked left
and began a sudden 1,200-foot descent into
a hillside that lasted nearly a minute. Local
conditions on the day of the crash were
foggy.
“This is a pretty steep descent at high
speed,” Jennifer Homendy of the National
Transportation Safety Board said on
Tuesday. “We know that this was a highenergy
impact crash.”
The aircraft was intact when it hit the
ground, but the impact spread debris over
more than 500 feet.
Determining what caused the crash will
take months, but investigators may again
recommend that helicopters carrying six or
more passenger seats are equipped with a
Terrain Awareness and Warning System
(TAWS) that sounds an alarm if an aircraft
is in danger of crashing.
The agency made that recommendation
after a similar helicopter, a Sikorsky S-76A
carrying workers to an offshore drilling ship,
crashed in the Gulf of Mexico in 2004,
killing all 10 people on board.
GB are
reportedly set
to pull out of
t h e
Championships,
following
advice from
the Foreign
Office to
avoid travel to
China.
A
spokesperson
for World
Athletics
hinted that
•Kobe
they were monitoring the
situation closely and were
in contact with the World
Health Organisation.
The coronavirus has now
infected more than 6,000
people and the death toll
has risen to 132.
The virus originated in
Wuhan but has since spread
to other regions of the
country.
The Department of Health
announced that British
nationals returning from the
Chinese city will be put in
quarantine for 14 days.
Coronavirus is still
spreading and unless it can
be quickly brought under
control other sporting
events could be under
threat.