Sports

AMMAN — Jordan’s Alya Bushnaq qualified to the semi-final of the 400m at the World Youth Athletics Championship taking place in Kenya, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The 16-year-old has also set a new national record by finishing fourth in Heat 2 in 55:38s to be the first Jordanian athlete to reach a world semifinal.

She will run again at 6:15pm Jordan time on Thursday looking to reach the final. Meanwhile her teammate Sharif Al Atawneh will compete in the 1500m at 9:50pm Jordan time.

AMMAN — Jordan on Tuesday announced the team that will compete in the 14th Arab Junior Volleyball Championships to be hosted by the Kingdom from July 27–August 5, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service. 

Under the supervision of coach, Fawwaz Zahran, the team is being put through a tough final schedule to be ready to host some of the best young players in West Asia.

“We have been training solid for a month already,” Zahran said. “The focus has been on bringing together the team in harmony and building the fitness levels as well as preparing tactics.” The youngsters will play friendly matches building up to the start of the tournament which will see seven nations joining Jordan for the two-group format.

Jordan will compete in Group A alongside Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Palestine, while Group B includes Oman, the UAE, Bahrain and Iraq.

“It is a fairly balanced group with each team capable of beating the other so it will be very open and hard to qualify for the semifinals,” added Zahran. “But as the host nation we will be doing everything we can to get through and compete for the title.”

Zahran believes that this event lays the foundations for the sport to flourish in Jordan by developing this group of players for years to come. Jordan open the tournament against Palestine on July 27 and will face Saudi Arabia two days later and Qatar on July 31.

LONDON — Evergreen Roger Federer kept his quest for a record eighth Wimbledon crown on track on Monday, dispatching Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 6-2 6-4 in a match-up of classic styles that had the purists purring.

The Bulgarian 13th seed, nicknamed "Baby Fed" when he was a junior on the basis of a single-handed backhand as silkily smooth as the Swiss master's, looked sharp in the early exchanges.

It was close to mirror-image tennis as the two men exchanged searing groundstrokes, gliding to the Centre Court net when they saw an opening to dispatch clinical volleys.

But the difference between the greatest ever player on grass and the man who has struggled for years to emerge from his shadow told on the big points.

Third seed Federer, who missed the clay court season to better prepare for his favourite tournament, took a decisive lead in the ninth game, converting his third break point. The Swiss then served out the first set to love. 

"[Dimitrov] did give me some opportunities... but most important was for me to really focus on my game," Federer told the BBC after the match.

"I thought it was a terrific match and I didn't expect it to go that easy for me."

Now 26 and seeking his first win against Federer in six matches, Dimitrov sought to up the pace in the second set.

But as he did so the Bulgarian's error count also rose, and he conceded the second set on a break of serve, punctuating a double fault with two forehands that flew long.

That pattern continued in the third set as another forehand error from Dimitrov handed Federer victory on his second match point in just over an hour and a half.

The Swiss faces either Alexander Zverev or Milos Raonic in Wednesday's quarter-final.

"[Winning Wimbledon] is going to be a tough one regardless if I played the French Open or not. The good thing is I am not trying to heal something like last year's [injured knee]," Federer said.

AMMAN — Jordan is sending a big delegation to compete at the Asian Karate Championships that will be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, through July 18, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.  With recent Islamic Solidarity Games gold medalist Bashar Al Najjar among the ranks, head coach Ibrahim Abu Al Edam believes the team can return with medals.

“We had intensive training over the past weeks,” he said. “We focus on raising the fitness levels for the athletes who have all worked extremely hard building up to this.” For the first time, the seniors’ event will be held alongside the various age categories making this one of the biggest celebrations of the sport this year.

“It will be a great opportunity for our youngsters travelling there to be able to witness a full senior event,” Abu Al Edam added. “Kids will get to meet some of the best Karate fighters in the world from the likes of Japan and Iran, but I am confident we will also reach the podium.” The Asian Championships represent an early milestone for preparing the karate team towards the 2020 Olympic Games, so the fighters know the pressure is already on to produce results. 

SPIELBERG, Austria — Valtteri Bottas won a cliffhanger Austrian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finishing a mere 0.6 of a second behind to increase his lead over Lewis Hamilton to 20 points after nine races.

Hamilton, Bottas’s teammate, started in eighth place after a grid penalty triggered by an unscheduled gearbox change and finished fourth.

Vettel now has 171 points to Hamilton’s 151. Bottas is third overall on 136. 

“I had a bit of deja-vu in the end from Russia,” said Bottas, referring to his first Formula One win at Sochi in April when Vettel again almost reeled him in at the finish and also crossed the line 0.6 behind.

“At the beginning I could control the race but it was trickier towards the end.”

Australian Daniel Ricciardo finished third for Red Bull, at a circuit owned by the energy drink brand, for his fifth successive podium finish with Hamilton pushing him hard to the chequered flag. 

The victory from pole position was the second of the season and of his career for Bottas, who joined Mercedes in January as a replacement for retired 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg.

Apart from the closing laps, with Vettel reeling in the Mercedes in a nail-biting finish and Bottas looking anxiously in his mirrors as he wrestled with blistered tyres, the Finn’s biggest scare came at the start.

Bottas reacted with split-second precision, his getaway so blindingly quick that Vettel alongside immediately questioned whether the Mercedes had jumped the lights. Stewards investigated and took no further action.

“I think that was the start of my life. I was really on it today,” he said.

“I was pretty sure he jumped it,” said Vettel, who felt he would have won with one more lap.

“How would you feel if you were just shy of half a second behind the winner? It was very close.”

As Bottas led away, bits of bodywork went flying behind him in a three-car coming together that drew a groan from some 10,000 orange-shirted Dutch fans around the circuit as Ricciardo’s teenage teammate Max Verstappen was shunted off.

It was the 19-year-old Dutch driver’s fifth retirement of the season.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth with Frenchman Romain Grosjean sixth for Haas and Force India drivers Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon following behind. 

The Williams pairing of Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll completed the points places after starting 17th and 18th. 

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso joined Verstappen in retiring without completing a lap, the Spaniard hit from behind by Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and pushed into the Dutch driver. Kvyat was given a drive-through penalty.

AMMAN — Veteran driver Husam Salem on Friday was crowned champion of the 3rd round of the Speed Test Championship held at Royal Automobile Club of Jordan racetrack with the participation of 33 drivers.

Salem clocked 1m16.98s in his Mitsubishi Evo 9 followed by Ghaith Wraikat, with 1m17.16s, in his Mitsubishi Prototype and Ayman Najjar, with 1m17.75s, in his Mitsubishi Prototype.

Mohammed Tayseer settled in fourth place (1m18.40s) in his Mitsubishi Evo 6 and Mustafa Attari came in fifth spot in his Mitsubishi B22 (1m21.30s).

“It was a great event which was really challenging and very competitive especially that everyone wanted to increase his points and take the lead. I managed to have a good strategy and fight for the first place and I won,” Salem told The Jordan Times.

“Now I believe that the next event will be even more challenging as the first places are very close in the points and we all need to concentrate a lot,” he added.

There are two events left for the title.

Meanwhile Jordan Motorsports announced that the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the Karting Championship will be held next week.

AMMAN —The third round of the Speed Test Championship kicks off on Friday at the Royal Automobile Club of Jordan racetrack with the participation of 33 drivers headed by Mohammed Tayseer, who is topping the standings with 47 points.

Tayseer is followed closely by Ayman Najjar, with 45 points, while Husam Salem in third spot has 40 points and Ghaith Wraikat, with 38 points, comes in fourth. Najjar, who won the second round after clocking 1m14.57s, will try to beat Tayseer and go up the standings.

Tayseer will exert a lot of pressure to stay in the lead which may give veteran driver Salem an opportunity to win first place.

“We expect a very heated round between the three top places, but this does not mean that other drivers will not have a good chance in the final heat which gathers 13 best drivers for the advanced places,” Othman Naseef, Jordan Motorsport CEO, told The Jordan Times. “We hope that everyone is ready to take up the challenge and enjoy,” he added.

BARCELONA – Lionel Messi has agreed to stay at FC Barcelona until 2021 in a deal that all but commits the star striker to playing out the rest of his top-flight career at the Spanish giants.

The megastar who joined Barcelona as a teenager 17 years ago will remain at the club until he is 34 under the new deal, the Catalan club announced on Wednesday, ending months of speculation about the future of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

“The deal will be signed in the coming weeks, when Messi returns to the team for pre-season training,” the club said in a statement, as the 30-year-old enjoyed his honeymoon just days after he wed his childhood sweetheart in Argentina.

Messi has hinted in the past that he would like to return in the future to Argentina to play for his very first club, CA Newell’s Old Boys in his hometown of Rosario, where he wed last week. But he has also said that his priority is to win more honours with Barca, the club he has called his home since he was 13.

No financial details of Messi’s new contact were disclosed, but Spain’s Marca sports daily reported on Tuesday that the deal included a 300-million-euro ($340-million) termination clause.

Under his current contract, due to run out in June 2018, Messi earns around 20 million euros a year in salary, according to Spanish media — and this did not include millions of euros in revenues earned from ads and performance-linked bonuses.

Messi joined FC Barcelona in 2000 when he was just 13 years old in the youth training centre.

“He made his first team debut at just 16 years of age in a friendly against FC Porto, before making his debut the following season against Espanyol at 17,” the club said in a statement.

“Shortly after, he scored his first senior goal with a clever lob against Albacete at the Camp Nou.”

The deal announcement is likely to reassure fans and members of FC Barcelona, which has had a disappointing season by the club’s own high standards.

The club was eliminated from the Champions League in the quarter finals by Juventus, and came second behind arch-rivals Real Madrid in La Liga, though Barca did win the Copa del Rey.

Leading scorer

Messi’s contract extension consolidates the much-feared “MSN” striking trio which also includes Brazil’s Neymar and Uruguay’s Luis Suarez.

Both have also renewed their contracts until 2021.

With 507 goals scored in 583 official matches, Messi is the club’s all-time leading scorer and is widely considered the world’s best player along with Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, his Real Madrid rival.

“He’s the best player I’ve ever seen on the pitch,” said Ernesto Valverde, Barcelona’s new coach, of Messi.

Now 30, Messi could have been tempted by other horizons — having been courted by clubs like PSG and Manchester City — particularly as he was found guilty last year of tax fraud in Spain.

But he has lived in Catalonia since his early teens, and currently resides in Barcelona with his now-wife Antonella Roccuzzo, their son Thiago, four, and Mateo, one — both of whom were born in Spain.

And Messi himself said in May that his aim as a footballer was to “try and win the most titles possible” with FC Barcelona.

AMMAN — Jordan will host the 14th Arab Junior Volleyball Championships from July 27 — August 5, the Jordan Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday.

Eight teams have been divided into two groups with the host nation to be joined by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Palestine in Group A, while Oman, the UAE, Bahrain and Iraq will compete in Group B. Palestine will meet Jordan in the opener on July 27 at 7pm.

The Jordan Volleyball Federation met under the presidency of HRH Princess Ayah Bint Feisal to discuss the latest preparations for the championship, and said that they are on track to hosting a successful event.

LONDON — Roger Federer pleaded with Grand Slams not to be panicked into reducing matches to best-of-three sets after injured players were accused of taking the money and running on Tuesday.

Federer reached the Wimbledon second round when Alexandr Dolgopolov quit when trailing 6-3, 3-0 after just 43 minutes on Centre Court complaining of an ankle injury.

Earlier, title rival Novak Djokovic booked his second round spot in just 40 minutes when Martin Klizan, suffering from a calf injury, retired at 6-3, 2-0 down.

It meant that the Centre Court crowd had seen just 83 minutes of action involving the two men who have won 10 Wimbledon titles between them.

“I feel for the crowd,” said Federer. “They’re there to watch good tennis, proper tennis. At least they see the two of us who gave it all they had. They saw other players that tried at least.”

Five men have retired from the first round — on Monday, Victor Troicki quit after just 20 minutes.

First round losers all receive £35,000 ($45,220).

There is a rule on the main ATP Tour, but not at the Slams, that an injured player can give up his place to a ‘‘lucky loser’’ from qualifying while keeping the prize money.

The thinking behind the move is to preserve the integrity of a tournament and prevent fans from feeling short-changed.

But Federer does not want to see the Slams opt for the best-of-three sets format rather than the traditional best-of-five.

‘Give up their spot’

“I hope it doesn’t happen. But I believe that more players clearly would finish their matches,” said Federer who is bidding for a record eighth Wimbledon title.

“A player should not go on court if he knows he should not finish. The question is, did they truly believe they were going to finish. 

“If they did, I think it’s okay that they walk on court. Otherwise, I feel they should give up the spot. 

“The ATP has adjusted its rule. Maybe the slams should have a look at what they could do for the players to make it just a little bit easier.”

Federer believes that players who insist on competing in the first round despite obvious physical ailments should not necessarily be damned.

“For some, they just want to be out there because they feel like miracles happen: maybe the other guy retires, or maybe the other guy is carrying an injury. 

“If I win, I have a day off, maybe I will feel better on Thursday. All these things play into the equation as well. Don’t forget those things as well. Could be rain, come back the next day. You never know what the player’s motives are.”

Djokovic said he backed the ATP rule being used at the Slams but also refused to criticise opponents who fail to finish.

“If you walk out on the Centre Court, there is a responsibility. I’m sure they tried their best, but it is what it is,” said the Serb.

Federer now has 85 match wins at the All England Club, passing the mark he shared with Jimmy Connors.

He also hit his 10,000th career ace in the eighth game of the first set on Tuesday, as he set up a clash against Dusan Lajovic of Serbia for a place in the last 32.

The 35-year-old Federer, seeking a 19th Grand Slam title and bidding to become the oldest champion at the All England Club, played down the tag of favourite for a trophy he last lifted in 2012.

“Just because I haven’t played the clay court season doesn’t make me the favourite,” he said.

You would think that somebody who has played well, like Rafa [Nadal] on the clay courts, he would be feeling really good about his chances here and I’m sure he does feel that way. 

“The same for [defending champion] Andy Murray, same for Djokovic.

“Everybody’s got a chance to win Wimbledon and for me it’s no different. I already achieved my dream to be back here healthy. Now we’ll see how far I can go.”