Sports

LONDON — A new all-female racing series, launched on Wednesday and supported by former Grand Prix driver David Coulthard and top designer Adrian Newey, is aiming to help women racers get to Formula One.

No woman has competed in Formula One since 1976 but organisers of the “W Series” hope to provide a platform for them to develop skills before taking on the men further up the motorsport ladder.

With a planned start in May 2019, the series said it will offer a prize fund of $1.5 million and free entry for 18-20 competitors who will be selected purely on merit after tests and appraisals.

The overall winner will collect $500,000, with prize money down to 18th place.

Organisers said they aimed to stage six 30 minute races at top circuits in Europe, most of which were past Formula One venues, with identical 1.8 litre Formula Three cars.

Future seasons would see the series expand to America, Asia and Australia.

“At the heart of W Series’ DNA is the firm belief that women can compete equally with men in motorsport. However, an all-female series is essential in order to force greater female participation,” organisers said in a statement.

Coulthard, winner of 13 grands prix between 1995 and 2003, is on the advisory board along with Red Bull’s technical head Newey and both will be involved in the driver training programme.

Former McLaren team manager Dave Ryan has been appointed racing director, while the chief executive is lawyer and corporate finance banker Catherine Bond Muir.

The idea of an all-female series is not new but has been controversial in the past, with top women racers adamant they want to compete against the men rather than be separated.

Spaniard Carmen Jorda caused a storm last year when she advocated a women-only series on the grounds that they had a physical disadvantage and could not compete equally with men at the top level.

Claire Williams, deputy principal of the Williams Formula One team, said this year that an all-female championship would be a “regressive step”.

Coulthard said, however, that women tended to reach a “glass ceiling” at Formula Three level, often due to a lack of funding.

He saw no reason why women could not ultimately compete with men on level terms.

“In order to be a successful racing driver, you have to be skilled, determined, competitive, brave and physically fit, but you don’t have to possess the kind of super-powerful strength levels that some sports require,” said Coulthard.

“You also don’t have to be a man.”

Newey hoped W Series would create “a platform on which women drivers can improve by racing one another and from which they may then springboard their careers forward and ... ultimately race successfully in F1”.

Former McLaren and Renault driver Kevin Magnussen, now with Haas, expressed support in a quote provided by the series organisers.

“When I was karting as a boy, I raced a few girls who were talented and quick. But there weren’t many of them; a lot more boys than girls go karting and that’s a fact,” said the Dane.

“So I welcome W Series and hope it’ll help female racers progress their careers.”

No woman has scored a point in Formula One, although Italian Lella Lombardi scored a half point in the shortened 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, and only two have started races since the championship began in 1950.

Lombardi started 12 races between 1974 and 1976. The last to attempt to enter a race was Italian Giovanna Amati, who failed to qualify in 1992.

AMMAN — Jordan have launched their campaign at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires with a medal for rising taekwondo star Zaid Mustafa, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

After receiving a bye into the quarter-finals, the 17-year-old charged past Spain’s Hugo Arillo 25-5 to guarantee a medal for Jordan on their first day of competition.

His semifinal match was against the impressive Korean, Kangmin Kim, who showed his class to win 31-16 and reach the final.

For Mustafa, he settled for a bronze medal and showed glimpses of why he is rated as one of Jordan’s brightest prospects.

He becomes only the third Jordanian to win a Youth Olympic medal. “I am obviously disappointed to have lost in the semi-final but taking the bronze medal means a lot to me,” said Mustafa.

“I will be cheering on my teammates now to hopefully help them also reach the podium.” Taekwondo’s Natalie Al Humaidi will launch her campaign on Wednesday against Ireland’s Yalda Valinejad in the -63kg category.

LONDON — Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho survived a wild weekend at Old Trafford to escape what he described as a “manhunt” after a terrible start to the season.

But a thrilling comeback from 2-0 down to beat lowly Newcastle 3-2 could prove to be little more than a stay of execution for Mourinho, with a run of tougher fixtures looming.

He said he had received a text message from a senior board member, believed to be the club’s Executive Vice Chairman Ed Woodward, before kick-off on Saturday telling him to ignore reports that the axe was set to fall regardless of the result against Newcastle.

“There is a lot of wickedness and a clear manhunt,” said the 55-year-old Portuguese boss in a post-match rage despite the late turnaround.

“I think life is made of experiences and some are new and some are deja vu. This is new but I think it makes me a better manager and a better person.”

The concern for United is that this is not new for Mourinho.

His third seasons in his second spell at Chelsea and Real Madrid also ended in acrimonious departures after poor results and falling out with key players.

In saving Mourinho’s job, at least for now, a rousing second-half display at Old Trafford was in some ways an indictment of his time in charge.

So often criticised for preaching a cautious approach, it was only when Mourinho’s men threw caution to the wind when 2-0 down that they began to look like the United of old.

It was almost a replica of arguably the standout result of the Mourinho era, when United roared back from 2-0 down at half-time to Manchester City to win 3-2 at the Etihad in April to delay Pep Guardiola’s title party.

Just like that day, when Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez showed why United have invested heavily in bringing them to the club, it was some of those most harshly criticised or shunned by Mourinho who pulled United out of the mire against Newcastle.

Substitute Juan Mata, who has had to content himself with a bit-part role under Mourinho recently, got United’s comeback under way with a sumptuous free-kick.

Anthony Martial, at odds with the Portuguese this season, scored the equaliser and Sanchez, left out of the squad against West Ham last week, headed a 90th-minute winner.

Turning point?

Whatever their differences, these were not players happy to lie down and watch their manager take the bullet.

“We couldn’t afford another defeat, we couldn’t afford another disappointment, especially for the fans,” Mata told MUTV.

“I think they saw today we tried everything, and we came back and from the mental point of view it’s a very important three points.”

But is the victory short-term balm or a turning point in United’s season?

Former United midfielder Paul Ince says it is too early for United to believe they have turned the corner.

“We all know one swallow doesn’t make a summer,” he told the BBC. “So are we papering over the cracks because they came back? To some extent, yeah, we are but it was an important result because they had to win after all the reports of Mourinho leaving.”

Presuming he is still in charge, Mourinho returns to Chelsea after the international break, where he has lost in all three visits as United manager, with no goals scored.

Two Champions League clashes with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus and meetings with high-flying Bournemouth and Everton follow before United travel to City for the Manchester derby on November 11.

This time City could deliver the final nail in the coffin. Not for the title, but Mourinho’s tenure at Old Trafford.

TOKYO — Russian qualifier Daniil Medvedev stunned home favourite Kei Nishikori in the final to claim the Japan Open title after a comfortable 6-2, 6-4 victory in Tokyo on Sunday.

Medvedev came out of the blocks fast and Nishikori, aiming for his third title at this event, could not cope with the big-hitting Russian who broke his serve at the second time of asking.

After that it was a story of mistakes by World No. 12 Nishikori — 11 unforced errors in the first set — and consistent serving by Medvedev who strolled to a 6-2 first set in just 25 minutes.

Nishikori corrected issues with his own serve in the second set but still could not have an impact on Medvedev’s service games, winning only one point on the Russian’s serve during the entirety of the second set.

Medvedev bided his time and broke a tired Nishikori, whose final shot was another wild miss, to wrap up the victory and secure a third ATP title of the season.

“I was playing amazing and I am so happy to come out on top,” said Medvedev, who will jump to 22nd in the world rankings, after winning in just over an hour.

“To play seven matches and losing only one set, this makes me extremely happy.”

Medvedev has defeated Milos Raonic and Diego Schwartzmann en route to Sunday’s final, and did not drop a single service game in his last three matches.

“The serve is the most important thing in tennis right now,” the 22-year-old added.

Nishikori has now lost eight ATP finals since his last victory, which came at the Memphis Open in February 2016.

“He’s serving great. I didn’t have any chance on his first serve, even second serve,” Nishikori said. 

“His ball was skipping a lot on this surface and he was hitting good enough flat shots and he was serving great, so it was tough to play against Daniil today.”

“It’s been a great couple months. After the US Open, I think I’ve been playing well,” he added.

“I’ve got to keep playing the same in Shanghai.”

A misfiring Nishikori, who won the last of his 11 career titles in Memphis two years ago, continued to struggle as his towering opponent grew in confidence. Chasing a first tournament victory after recovering from a lengthy wrist injury, Nishikori never really threatened Medvedev’s serve and went out in a flurry of unforced errors.Medvedev completed the upset with a drilled forehand to join an eye-popping list of Japan winners that includes Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Ken Rosewall.

AMMAN — Jordan’s record delegation for the Youth Olympic Games, which got under way in Buenos Aires on Saturday, just got bigger, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

Swimmer Amro Al Wir received an 11th hour notification from FINA, the sport’s governing body, that he will be competing in breaststroke events in South America later this week.

He becomes the 13th athlete to join Team Jordan, which already includes freestyle swimmer Mohammed Bedour.

LIVERPOOL  — Billions of pounds of investment from Manchester City’s Abu Dhabi owners over the past decade has reaped three Premier League titles and transformed the blue half of Manchester from “noisy neighbours” into the dominant side in the city.

However, the Premier League champions travel to Liverpool on Sunday, hoping to finally achieve something that has so far been beyond City’s cash-rich era — a win at Anfield.

City were last victorious at Anfield in 2003 and have lost 12 of their last 17 visits.

The most recent of those saw City’s Champions League dreams ended for another year in the cauldron of a European night on Merseyside with a 3-0 quarter-final first leg defeat.

A coach not accustomed to losing, City boss Pep Guardiola has been defeated on all three of his visits to Anfield and in Jurgen Klopp faces one of the few managers who can boast a winning record against the Catalan.

Just seven games into the Premier League season, no knockout blow can be landed this weekend.

But with both sides only separated by City’s superior goal difference at the top of the table having dropped just two points each so far this season, the clash will go a long way to telling if Liverpool are capable of knocking Guardiola’s men off their perch.

“It’s very tough, probably the toughest away game of the season in the Premier League,” admitted City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who worked under Klopp for four years at Borussia Dortmund.

While City are seeking to consolidate themselves as the dominant force in English football by becoming the first side in a decade to retain the title, Klopp’s task is to end Liverpool’s near three-decade wait to win the league.

When Kenny Dalglish led the Reds to an 18th league title in 1989-90, Liverpool were streets ahead as England’s most successful club.

The intervening years have seen Manchester United storm ahead. But with United already nine points adrift and Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea also playing catch-up, Liverpool know beating City is the key to ending that long wait.

Liverpool were the biggest spenders in this summer’s transfer market in a declaration of intent to win the title.

AMMAN — Jordan’s U-19 squad left Amman for Doha on Saturday to play Qatar in a friendly ahead of the upcoming Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Championship hosted by Indonesia as of October 17.

Jordan will play in Group C alongside Australia, South Korea and Vietnam, as 16 teams compete in four groups with the eventual semifinalists advancing to the FIFA U-19 World Cup.

This week, Jordan’s squad returned home from Saudi Arabia where they held a training camp drawing 2-2 and beating their hosts 1-0. 

Jordan had failed to qualify to the championships in 2014 and 2016 after earlier qualifying four times and reaching the FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada in 2007. Jordan finished fourth in 2006, but exited the first round in 2008 and 2010 and reached the quarters in 2012.

So far three national team were eliminated from their respective Asian events. Playing at the 2018 AFC U-16 Championship, the team had a relatively easy Group B but bowed out in the first round after crashing out to Yemen 5-1 after holding Oman and North Korea 2-2.

Held once every two years for Asian U-16 teams, the competition serves as a qualification tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, with the top four countries qualifying. Iraq is the reigning champ.

Earlier, the U-16 women’s football squad was eliminated from Group A AFC U-16 Women’s Championship Round 1 qualifiers finishing second in the group. Jordan beat Guam 9-0 and Sri Lanka 7-0, held Uzbekistan 0-0 and crashed 9-0 to China.

In addition, Jordan’s U-23 men’s team was knocked out of the first round of the 3rd AFC U-23 Championship which acts as a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In 2016, Jordan reached the quarterfinals and in 2014 Jordan finished third.

Other than the men’s U-19, there are now two other national teams left in contention. The U-19 women’s squad has concluded a training camp in Iran in preparation for the AFC U-19 Championship Round 1 qualifiers set for October 20-28. A total of 27 teams will play in six groups with Jordan in Group E alongside Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore, who replaced the Northern Mariana Islands.

The group winners and the top two second placed teams move to Round 2 set for April 2019 where the teams will play in two groups with the group winner and runner up advancing to the finals to join Japan, North Korea and China.

The women’s senior team will play the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers in Group D alongside the Maldives, Palestine and Indonesia in  November.

AMMAN — Jazira maintained their lead atop the Jordan Professional Football League, which headed into a 10 day break as the national team regrouped to play two friendlies this week.

Jazira were eliminated from Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup West Asia zone final when they lost on aggregate, losing to 1-0 and 3-1 to the Iraqi Air Force team, thus failing to reach the continent’s final. Faisali had lost earlier in the event’s semifinals. Previously Faisali won the AFC Cup twice and Shabab Urdun once.

Likewise Ramtha lost to Tunisia’s Etoile Sportive Du Sahel and were eliminated from the preliminary round of the Arab Club Champions Cup, losing 3-1 in both legs.

Last year, Faisali finished runner-up to Tunisia’s Tarajji in the Arab Club Champions Cup after an impressive performance which included two wins over Egyptian veterans Ahli. 

This year, league titleholders Wihdat will represent Jordan in the 2018/19 AFC Champions League. In 2017/18 edition, Faisali failed to reach the group stages of Asia’s elite club competition and settled to play the AFC Cup. Jordanian teams have never before made it past the ACL preliminary round. Wihdat were knocked out in 2017, 2016 and 2015, while Shabab Urdun were eliminated in 2014.

As the league halted, Jazira are top after beating That Ras 2-1. They are followed by Shabab Urdun in second spot after a 1-0 win overly last placed Sarih.

Faisali are third, six points behind the runner up with their only win was over Aqaba, while they drew in the rest of matches against relatively weaker teams.

Wihdat now have Qais Yacoubi of Tunisia as coach after the team’s inconsistent pulled them down to 8th in the standings. Their last goalless draw with Faisali followed a defeat to Shabab Urdun, after they lost to newcomers Salt 1-0 and drew 0-0 with lowly Sarih.

Salt held Ahli 1-1 to move up to fourth while Baqaa dropped to fifth after losing 1-0 to Ramtha who moved up to 7th. Hussein are 6th after beating Aqaba 1-0.

 The national team has regrouped to play Albania on October 10 and the World Cup runner-up Croatia on October 15 as they gear up for the 2019 Asian Cup. Jordan’s coach Jamal Abu Abed has been relieved of his duty by the Jordan Football Association after the team only managed a 0-0 tie with Oman and earlier lost to Lebanon 1-0.