News brief

Published April 2, 2020

POA seeks lists of needy sportspeople

LAHORE: The Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) has instructed all its affiliated federations and sports commissions’ members to prepare a list of needy athletes and officials, donors and of volunteers in order to help out the victims of the sports community due to the Covid-19.

In a detailed letter sent to all the affiliated members, the POA president retired Lt Gen Arif Hasan has advised all the stakeholders to send lists to the POA latest by April 6.

He said after having the availability of the three lists separately, the POA would be in a better position to channelize the efforts to help out the victims. He said the POA would also make contact with charity’s organisations as well as the government institutions, besides using its own financial resources to meet the requirement of deserving athletes and the officials.

Arif also advised the stakeholders to prepare the list very carefully so that the POA could reach out to maximum deserving athletes and officials, while adding confidentiality and ethical reporting must be ensured. The POA president said it was a high time for all to help each other in this testing time. He also advised all to strictly follow the prevention measures to combat with the virus.—Sports Reporter


De Bruyne defers retirement

MANCHESTER: Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has deferred his retirement by “two more years” after the coronavirus lockdown made him realise how much he will miss football when he finishes his career.

The pandemic has brought global sport to a virtual standstill with events postponed, suspended or cancelled. The Premier League season has been suspended until at least April 30 after several players tested positive for the virus.

After an injury-plagued 2018-19 campaign, De Bruyne was back to his best this season, leading the league with 16 assists and on course to break the Premier League record of 20 in a season before the league was suspended last month.

“I told my wife I’m going to play a little longer,” De Bruyne, 28, said in a live video on his Instagram page. “After this lockdown, I cannot stay at home. I told her I’m going to take two years more.

“It’s time to play football again. I miss it and it’s difficult. But we are not important, football is not important. People love football... but you need to stay safe.”

De Bruyne said he and his family were in self-isolation after his children fell ill last month, which is why he did not travel back to his native Belgium.

“I’ve been at home now for two weeks,” De Bruyne added. “At the beginning, my family and my kids were a little bit sick so that was a little bit worrying but they are alright now.

“It took eight or nine days... but now they’re better luckily as you never know what is going to happen.

“People ask why I’m not in Belgium. It’s because I’m self-isolating in England. I live here so I’m here with my kids and wife.”—Reuters


‘Ryder Cup should go ahead on time’

LONDON: Europe captain Padraig Harrington says it would be better to stage the Ryder Cup on schedule this September with a shortened qualification period than postpone the biennial showpiece.

The coronavirus pandemic has already forced the postponement of the first two majors of the year, the Masters and the US PGA Championship.

Paul Casey, a member of the winning Europe team in France in 2018, has called for the tournament to be put back 12 months.

Three-time major winner Harrington is set to skipper Europe at Whistling Straits in the United States and would rather the event took place this year, even if it means changing the qualification criteria.

“We’re playing on, if at all possible, because the merit of getting out there and showcasing our sport far outweighs a perfect qualifying system,” the Irishman told the Daily Mail. “It wouldn’t worry me if we were the first tournament back and I had to go with 12 picks with no qualifying.

“In many ways it would be perfect if the Ryder Cup was the first tournament back. Just 12 guys from Europe and 12 guys from America, with no prize money at stake and competing just for the glory.

“Wouldn’t that be a nice way for the sport to start back?”

The Ryder Cup is scheduled to take place at Whistling Straits on the shores of Lake Michigan from Sept 25 to 27.

The event was postponed by 12 months in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.—AFP


PSA rankings to be frozen during tour suspension

LEEDS: The Professional Squash Association on Wednesday announced freezing the PSA World Rankings during the ongoing suspension of the PSA tour due to the global outbreak of coronavirus.

Both PSA World Tour and PSA Challenger Tour were currently suspended until the end of April and these frozen rankings would stay in place until the tour resumes, said a press release issued by the PSA.

The rankings are frozen on March 16 to take into account the fact that there were three tournaments taking place over the weekend the announcement was made to suspend the tour.

The frozen rankings mean that points accrued from the 2019 edition of tournaments postponed or cancelled due to the suspension of the tour, for example the Grasshopper Cup and El Gouna International, would remain on players rankings as the 2020 edition of those events cannot take place at present. An expiry date for these points would be finalised when the tour resumes.

The same would apply for tournaments later in the year if the suspension of the tour is extended.

Egyptian duo Mohamed ElShorbagy and Raneem El Welily would stay at the summit of the PSA Men’s and Women’s World Rankings, respectively, until the tour resumes.

Published in Dawn, April 2nd, 2020

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