12-01-2022

WeDneSDAY, JAnuArY 12, 2022
9
Since 2010, 40 meetings have brought 16 Barcelona victories, 10 draws and 14 wins for real
Madrid.
photo: Ap
Real Madrid dominance leaves Barca hoping
for Clasico upset in Spanish Super Cup semi
SportS DeSk
It is traditional to say
there are no favourites in
the Clasico but this time
even Real Madrid coach
GD-74/22 (13 x 3)
Carlo Ancelotti was
unable to keep up the
pretence, reports BSS.
For the past decade,
there has been some
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InvItatIon for e-tenders
justification in the usual
platitudes, the assertion
that games between Real
Madrid and Barcelona
have a rhythm unto
themselves, that form is
no measure and the victor
will be the one that holds
firmer in the heat of the
battle.
Any superiority has been
fleeting, a strong run of
form here, a vulnerable
coach there. Sometimes
the dynamic has
depended simply on the
competition the game has
been played in.
Since 2010, 40 meetings
have brought 16 Barcelona
victories, 10 draws and 14
wins for Real Madrid.
Pep Guardiola's
Barcelona team were the
last to enjoy real
dominance, beginning a
run of five consecutive
wins in 2008 that
included a 6-2 thrashing
at the Santiago Bernabeu
and a 5-0 humiliation at
Camp Nou. Across those
five games, Barcelona
claimed an aggregate
score of 16-2.
Since then, neither club
had put together four wins
on the bounce against the
other, until this season,
when Madrid ground out a
2-1 victory in the rain at
Camp Nou in October, in
what was the first meeting
of the two clubs since
Lionel Messi departed last
summer.
Japan's golden
oldie ‘King
Kazu’ joins new
team at 54
SportS DeSk
Japanese football star
Kazuyoshi Miura extended
his decades-long playing
career at the age of 54 on
Tuesday with a move to a
fourth-tier club managed by
his older brother, reports
BSS.
Miura, known as "King
Kazu", said he would "strive
to help the team win on the
pitch" after joining Suzuka
Point Getters.
The move was announced
at 11:11am on January 11 --
with the former
international forward set to
wear the number 11 shirt
next season.
Miura, who turns 55 in
February, said last month
that he had offers from
several clubs in Japan and
overseas, after turning out
for Yokohama FC last
season in the J-League's top
flight. He managed just one
minute of league action as
his team finished bottom of
the table.
He is hoping to make
more of an impact for his
new side, who are managed
by brother Yasutoshi.
Miura has been at more
than a dozen clubs spanning
Brazil, Japan, Italy, Croatia
and Australia.
"I'm thankful that I've
been given the chance to
play here," he said in a
statement released by his
new club. Miura said last
month that he had been
offered a new deal by
Yokohama but wanted more
playing time.
Japanese
gymnastics
legend
Uchimura
retires at 33
SportS DeSk
Two-time Olympic gymnastics
all-around champion Kohei
Uchimura has retired aged 33,
his management said
Tuesday, ending the career of
one of the sport's all-time
greats, reports BSS.
Uchimura claimed gold at
the 2012 and 2016 Games,
won the Olympic team title
with Japan in Rio and was
crowned all-around world
champion six times. But he
suffered disappointment in
his Olympic swansong,
falling off the horizontal
bar and failing to reach the
final at last year's Tokyo
Games. Uchimura's final
competition was at the world
championships last October in
Kitakyushu, the Japanese city
where he was born.
He finished sixth in the
horizontal bar final but was
given a rapturous reception
by the home crowd after
sticking a textbook landing
from his dismount.
He told AFP after that
event that he would take
time to consider his next
move, but acknowledged
there was "a new generation
emerging" in gymnastics.
Revered in Japan,
Uchimura was also a crowd
favourite because of his
easy-going personality and
love of chocolate.
At the Rio Games in 2016
he made headlines by
racking up a 500,000 yen
($4,500) phone bill playing
Pokemon Go.
But he was strictly
business when it came to
competition, winning silver
in the all-around and team
events in his Olympic debut
in 2008.
He then became the first
man to win back-to-back
Olympic all-around golds, in
2012 and 2016, and also
claimed the world title every
year in between. But
shoulder injuries began to
take their toll and in 2019 he
described his chances of
appearing at the Tokyo
Games as "a fairytale".
West Indies,
Ireland agree
to postpone
second ODI
SportS DeSk
West Indies and Ireland have
decided to postpone the
second ODI, scheduled for
Tuesday (January 11) after
the emergence of three new
Covid cases in the visitors'
camp after the latest round of
testing. That combined with
two injuries in the squad has
left Ireland severely depleted
to compete, reports BSS.
The boards of the two
participating teams issued a
joint statement confirming
the postponement of the
game at Sabina Park, Jamaica
and stated that they were in
discussions and "working to
explore all possibilities for the
series to be completed."
Ireland have been hit by a
raft of Covid cases in the
last month, forcing the
abandonment of their ODI
series against USA. While
cases had emerged among
the support staff and family
members, the players
themselves were deemed
close contacts.
Paul Stirling and Shane
Getkate subsequently tested
positive after that series was
cancelled and were
quarantined in Florida.
Ireland, who trail the threematch
series after a 24-run
loss in the first ODI, also have
Andy McBrine and Mark
Adair currently out injured.
The former displayed some
symptoms of concussion after
being hit in the the first ODI.
As per schedule, the teams
were to play the third ODI on
January 14 before rounding
off the tour with a one-off
T20I on January 16.
Jahanara Alam writes to BCB, alleges
mismanagement and bias
SportS DeSk
Bangladesh Cricket Board chief executive
Nizamuddin Chowdhury revealed that
national-team discard Jahanara Alam has
submitted a letter to the board, accusing
selector Manjurul Islam of mismanagement
and bias, reports AP.
Jahanara submitted her observation
before she was dropped from the national
squad for the ICC Commonwealth Games
Qualifier 2022, set to be held in Malaysia.
Confirming the development to Cricbuzz,
Chowdhury said the board would look into
the matter raised by the senior player.
"Yes, we have received a letter from her
(Jahanara) and will look into it and we will
take required steps after taking everything
into consideration," said Nizamuddin.
"When a cricketer of Jahanara's stature
tells us anything naturally it will be taken
seriously and we will try to find out the truth
about her observation."
Cricbuzz understands that in the letter,
Jahanara has labelled national selector
Manjurul Islam along with a few other
members of the team management as being
"biased".
Jahanara Alam was left out of the Commonwealth Games qualifier.
photo: BCB
Millions more locked down as
China battles Omicron spread
SportS DeSk
Five million residents of a central Chinese
city started home confinement Tuesday in a
new lockdown to curb the spread of the
highly transmissible Omicron variant of the
coronavirus, according to state media,
reports BSS.
Beijing is on high alert for new outbreaks as
it prepares to host the Winter Olympics next
month, sticking to a "zero-Covid" strategy of
targeted lockdowns, border restrictions and
lengthy quarantines. While those measures
have kept the number of new cases far lower
we`ÿ r/Rb- 515(2)/11/01/2022
GD-73/22 (7 x 3)
19
Jahanara has also apprised the board
about different incidents that took place
within the team from their camp at the
residential camp in Sylhet last year till the
ICC World Cup qualifier.
A BCB official had insisted that the former
Bangladesh skipper had been left out due to
disciplinary issues following several
instances of misbehaviour with the team
management during the ICC Women's
World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe, a tour on
which she took nine wickets from six games
(including a three-match ODI series)..
Jahanara, who made her T20I debut in
2011, is the fourth-highest wicket-taker for
Bangladesh in the shortest format, having
claimed 38 wickets in 40 matches.
Meanwhile, the team management has
claimed that Jahanara was responsible for
there being different groups within the team
and that she was not supportive to new
national skipper Nigar Sultana Joty.
"We have decided to exclude her as we
wanted to give a message to everyone but
this does not imply all is gone for her as she
is very much in our World Cup plan," an high
official of BCB women's wing confirmed
Cricbuzz.
than virus hotspots in the United States and
Europe, Beijing is currently battling local
flare-ups in multiple cities.
The fast-spreading Omicron strain presents
a fresh challenge, with two cases in Anyang --
the newly locked down city in Henan province
-- linked to a growing infection cluster in the
northern metropolis of Tianjin, some 400
kilometres (250 miles) away.
Authorities in Anyang announced the
lockdown late Monday, issuing a notice
ordering residents not to leave their homes or
drive cars on the roads, state news agency
Xinhua reported.