MOTORSPORTS
Palou clarifies future
Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou announced he would be joining McLaren next year, hours after his current employers, Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR), said that he was staying with them. Ganassi said in a statement they had exercised an option to retain the Spanish driver and quoted him saying it was “a great feeling knowing I’ll be back with Chip Ganassi Racing next season.” The 25-year-old wrote on Twitter he had found out about that press release from the media and it had been issued without his approval. He added that the quote, which also spoke of how Ganassi had welcomed him with open arms from day one, had not come from him. “As I have recently informed CGR, for personal reasons, I do not intend to continue with the team after 2022,” the Spaniard said. British-based McLaren, who are rivals of Ganassi in IndyCar with the Arrow McLaren SP team, then issued a statement saying Palou would race for them next year and also test their 2021 Formula One car.
ATHLETICS
Mo Farah expresses relief
Olympic great Mo Farah yesterday expressed relief after receiving fulsome backing from the British government, despite revealing that he was illegally trafficked into Britain as a child. The revelation in a new BBC documentary could have raised questions about Farah’s UK citizenship, but the British Ministry of the Interior said it was taking no action. London’s Metropolitan Police said it was “assessing” the allegation that Farah was trafficked, after his mother sent him away to escape civil war in their native Somalia. Asked in a follow-up interview on BBC radio how he felt about the government’s response, Farah said: “I feel relieved: this is my country. No child wants to be in that situation. I had that choice made for me.”
RUGBY UNION
‘Smart’ guards offered
The 12 teams at the women’s Rugby World Cup are to be offered the use of “smart” mouthguards to help better understand and reduce concussions in the game, World Rugby said. The initiative was part of an official supplier deal with the US-based developer of the mouthguards, Prevent Biometrics, World Rugby said. “The technology within the mouthguards will allow researchers to assess the frequency and magnitude of head contact and head accelerations, providing reliable, objective measures of both match and training head impact and contact load to players, coaches and academics,” it said.
CRICKET
SA decision hits chances
South Africa’s quest to achieve automatic qualification for next year’s Cricket World Cup became more difficult yesterday when the country’s board agreed to forfeit a series against Australia. Cricket South Africa withdrew from a scheduled three-match World Cup Super League series in Australia in January next year to have their best players available for a domestic Twenty20 league. South Africa are in 11th place in the Super League, with the top eight qualifying automatically for the World Cup in India next year. The loss of the 30 points available for the series means South Africa will almost certainly have to win their remaining series against India and England, plus two postponed matches against the Netherlands, to avoid playing in a qualifying tournament.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
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