Sports

ROME — As David Popovici has accelerated past his older rivals in the pool this summer, it seemed inevitable that the skinny 17-year-old would threaten world records, the only surprise when he broke the 100m freestyle mark in Rome on Saturday was that he got so quick so fast.

On Friday, the Romanian had become only the fourth man in history to swim under 47sec as he set a European record to win his semifinal at the European Championships in Rome.

That was more than half a second faster than his gold-medal time at the World Championships in June.

On Saturday, he was even quicker, swimming 46.86sec to slice 0.05sec off the record set by Brazilian Cesar Cielo in the 2009 World Championships, also in Rome, in the era of buoyant body suits.

“Yesterday I said that the European record was just one step in the right direction — and I was right. There was no rush and I had to be extremely patient about the world record,” he said after his victory.

In the World Championships in Budapest, Popovici outpaced Caeleb Dressel, who had swum the fastest 100m in a textile suit, in the heats. The Olympic champion withdrew from the competition before the semis.

“It’s nice being able to say that I am the fastest to ever do it and it’s a good thing to know I clashed with all of the titans of this race.” 

His coach, Adrian Radulescu said that he too was surprised by the speed of Popovici’s progress. 

“It’s amazing that it is happening so early,” said Radulescu, just 32.

Asked on Thursday what makes him succesful, Popovici acknowledged that success comes at a price.

“When Erling Haaland, a football player, was asked the same question, he replied ‘hard work’ So, it’s just really a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice and it all comes down to the question of how badly do you want it; and I really do want it, badly!”

“What are you willing to do that others aren’t? This includes living a completely different lifestyle.” 

This summer, Popovici has dominated the World Championships and the European Junior Championships in his hometown, Bucharest. After Rome he plans to head to the world junior championships in Lima

“Really, all I want to get out of this meet and out of world juniors in Peru is simply having fun. The medals, the records, everything, the good times are simply a bonus. If we manage to have fun, that’s very satisfying,” he said.

Not everyone might share his idea of fun. 

“Everything in sport is fun. Getting extremely tired and then wanting to vomit,” he said. 

“Having all sorts of lactate problems... that’s fine. It’s not fun at the time but after half an hour you don’t want to kill yourself anymore and you feel as if it’s all worth it.”

Popovici was nine when he joined the swimming club where Radulescu coaches. 

“He wasn’t the easiest to train, he was mostly looking for fun, to skip his turn... But there was something special about him, he was very competitive.”

“He must have been ten years old, we were organising a competition for swimmers of the same age,” recalled the coach. “A 25-metre swim and the last one was eliminated...Each time, David finished second last. Ahead of him, they wanted to prove that they were good, they got tired. In the final race, the other survivor was so tired, David won.”

Popovici is unusually thin for a top swimmer.

“David has a keen sense of water,” said Radulescu. “It’s not about how much force you can generate, but how you can put it into the speed you develop. So, yes, he is very thin, but he has enough strength to swim at higher speeds.”

But, added, the coach, Popovici’s physique will change.

“He’ll be 18 in September, his body will grow, evolve to a man’s size. It’s a challenge... to get the right balance between strength and efficiency.” 

Popovici already has a nickname: ‘The Magician’. 

“I was passionate about magic when I was younger, the card tricks and illusions and stuff but not anymore. It was a little hobby before swimming,” he explained.

“But yes, some people have called me The Magician because of what I do in the pool but again, I don’t think it represents me. I like to think of myself as a simple guy who just swims fast.”

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom — Tottenham lived up to pre-season hype they could challenge for the Premier League title by going top of the table on the opening weekend of the season, but face a truer test of their credentials away to Chelsea on Sunday.

Antonio Conte has been heavily backed in his first full season as Spurs boss with the signings of Richarlison, Yves Bissouma, Ivan Perisic, Djed Spence, Clement Lenglet and Fraser Forster in the transfer window.

But none of the six new faces started in an impressive 4-1 win over Southampton to underline the strength in depth now on offer to Conte.

Spurs, though, have only won once in the league at Stamford Bridge in 32 years and beating the Blues would send an early season statement of intent that they can bridge the gap to Manchester City and Liverpool.

Chelsea also got off to a winning start in less flamboyant fashion as they needed a Jorginho penalty to see off Everton 1-0.

Thomas Tuchel has demanded an improvement this weekend, but believes Chelsea will get better as the season goes on after a turbulent 2022 that saw the club suffer sanctions before Todd Boehly’s consortium took control from Roman Abramovich.

The American has not held back in backing Tuchel with the signings of Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella and Carney Chukwuemeka.

And Sterling believes Chelsea are also on the up as he outlined his reasoning for leaving Manchester City on Thursday.

“You look at Chelsea in the last couple of years, it’s four or five finals that they’ve been in,” said the England international. 

“It’s a team that shows that they are competing and they’re only going to get better. So with the new ownership and the takeover it made a lot of sense.”

Steven Gerrard won his first managerial clash with former England teammate Frank Lampard as Aston Villa beat Everton 2-1 to get off the mark in the Premier League.

Goals from Danny Ings and Emi Buendia eased the pressure on Gerrard after a run of two wins in their previous 12 games dating back to last season.

However, Villa had to survive a nervy finish as Lucas Digne’s own goal gave Everton hope before Emi Martinez denied Anthony Gordon an equaliser in stoppage time.

“I always expected when we conceded that sloppy goal that there would be a bit of nervousness towards the end. That was a big test of our character and resilience and we managed to stay firm,” said Gerrard.

“We did enough to get over the line and I think we deserved the win.”

Gerrard was in the firing line after a 2-0 defeat to newly-promoted Bournemouth on the opening weekend of the season.

The former Liverpool captain had also controversially dropped Tyrone Mings last weekend after stripping the England centre-back of the club captaincy.

Mings was restored at the heart of the Villa defence, but their problems defending set-pieces persisted.

Lampard’s men are badly missing the presence of the injured Dominic Calvert-Lewin up front, but were a constant threat from dead balls.

Manchester United had arguably the worst opening weekend of all as Brighton won 2-1 on August 7 for the first time at Old Trafford to burst any bubble of optimism for a fresh start under Erik ten Hag.

The Dutch coach’s decision to start Christian Eriksen in an unfamiliar role as a false nine has been criticised after the Dane shone once he was restored to his normal midfield role in the second-half.

Ten Hag is badly in need of a response at Brentford this weekend and has a big decision to make on whether to recall Cristiano Ronaldo to the starting line-up.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner started on the bench against Brighton due to a lack of pre-season training as he looks for an exit to join a Champions League club before the end of the transfer window.

HONG KONG — Jiri Prochazka was a football hooligan in his native Czech Republic until martial arts and an ancient Japanese text inspired him to turn from street fighting to cage fighting — and become a UFC world champion.

“The Book of Five Rings” was written in 1645 by the master Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, and when Prochazka was handed a copy about eight years ago he finally found the focus to “become a warrior” after a wildly misspent youth.

“You have to look into yourself, and you have to follow the rules — be honest, be brave, be calm in hard situations,” said the 29-year-old Prochazka, of what he has learned from the book and from the “Bushido” Samurai code of discipline that it encourages.

Prochazka became the UFC’s first Czech world champion after a thrilling back-and-forth battle with Brazilian light heavyweight Glover Teixeira that went deep into the fifth and final round in Singapore in June. 

A battered Prochazka seemed on the verge of defeat to Teixeira, but somehow drew on reserves of strength to apply a choke hold and force the Brazilian veteran into submission.

“Some people say my style is unpredictable,” Prochazka told AFP.

“But I’m not doing unpredictable things. I am calm and I just look for the space for attack — where is the weak point of my opponent — and I attack.”

Spartan surroundings

Prochazka was speaking via video phone call from a remote cottage in a forest retreat 30 minutes drive away from his birthplace in the southern Czech city of Brno. 

His spartan surroundings, Prochazka explained, are so he can be alone with his training. The cottage has electricity but no running water, forcing Prochazka to take daily trips to a well.

Prochazka pointed his phone outside the cottage to show the Dojo, or fight ring, he has carved out of the forest floor and the gym equipment frames he has fashioned from local timber.

“You have to find the way that is best for you and this is what’s best for me,” said Prochazka, whose hair is styled in the “chonmage” top-knot favoured by Japan’s ancient Samurai warriors.

“I meditate, and I train, and I live the life I want to be living.”

‘Never stop learning’

The sense of calm and purpose wasn’t always with Prochazka.

As a teenager he fell in with the local Ultras — football hooligan gangs — supporting FC Zbrojovka Brno and fought in more than 100 street battles with rival fans.

“It was a part of my life and without that there would be no me like I am today,” said Prochazka of his youth. “I had to be that guy to become the guy I am now.”

At 17, Prochazka discovered Muay Thai kickboxing at a local gym and that he could fight legally. 

After winning a national title at 19 he turned to MMA as the sport began to grow in global popularity.

Prochazka’s talent led him to Japan with the Rizin Fighting Federation where he was advised by a coach to read Musashi and the history of the ways of the Samurai.

Prochazka started winning in Japan and his life turned around. A Rizin MMA title was followed by a call from the Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship in 2020.

Two straight knockout wins gave him the chance to face the 42-year-old Teixeira for the world title at UFC 275 in Singapore and Prochazka grabbed it.

Back in his cottage, recovering from a knuckle break suffered against Teixeira, Prochazka was plotting the next phase of his career and a possible rematch with the Brazilian.

“I am still going forward,” said Prochazka.

“In our lives we all have to fight at some time, in different ways. So I am still learning and I think we should never stop learning.”

TORONTO, Canada — Serena Williams, who said this week she will soon call time on her storied tennis career, departed the WTA Toronto Masters for the last time Wednesday with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Belinda Bencic.

The second-round defeat by Switzerland’s reigning Olympic gold medallist was hardly unexpected, with the 40-year-old Williams competing in only her third match of 2022.

Bencic fired eight aces and broke Williams twice in the first set and once in the second, advancing on her first match point after 78 minutes.

But as Bencic herself said in the post-match interview on court: “Tonight is about her.”

Williams’s farewell on-court interview was threaded with emotion.

“I love playing here, I’ve always loved playing here,” she said, choking up as fans who cheered her throughout the match called out their appreciation.

“I wish I could have played better tonight, but Belinda was playing so well.”

Williams, who turns 41 next month, had beaten Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Diaz on Monday for her first singles victory since the 2021 French Open, 14 months ago.

But it sent shockwaves through the sport when she revealed in an essay in Vogue magazine and an Instagram post on Tuesday that “the countdown has begun” to her retirement from the sport.

Williams didn’t specify an actual retirement date but is expected to compete next week in Cincinnati before travelling to the US Open, which starts on August 29.

She has lifted the US Open title six times, including her first Grand Slam triumph at the age of 17 in 1999.

“It’s been a pretty interesting 24 hours,” said Williams, who remains one shy of the all-time record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles won by Margaret Court.

“Like I said in my article, I’m terrible at goodbyes,” she said, her voice breaking. 

“But, goodbye,” she said, then adding with a laugh “Toronto”.

‘A joy playing here’

“It’s been a joy playing here all of those years.”

Bencic said the occasion was “Overwhelming”.

Williams’s match was preceded by a video tribute played for fans. Before she left the court she was presented with jerseys from the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs — and with a child’s version of the same for daughter Olympia.

In explaining that she was “evolving away” from tennis in the Vogue article, Williams said she wanted to focus on family life and new business ventures.

Bencic said the occasion was “really overwhelming”.

“It definitely felt very special to be on court with her today again,” she said “For me it was great, great, opportunity”.

Williams’s appearance highlighted a day that saw US teenager Coco Gauff — who says Williams was “the reason why I play tennis” — overcome 13 double-faults to battle past Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina and into the third round.

Gauff beat Rybakina 6-4, 6-7 (8/10), 7-6 (7/3) while World No. 1 Iga Swiatek — who beat Gauff in the French Open final this year — sailed past Australian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 6-2 in 55 minutes.

Swiatek, 21, said she was “pretty sad” that she’s never had a chance to play Williams, even if in the American’s heyday “I would probably be the player that loses in the quarter-final against her”.

The Polish player has won six titles this year, and when she lost in the third round at Wimbledon it ended a 37-match unbeaten run.

But she’s not sure she will ever scale the kind of heights reached by Williams.

“Being able to kind of do business and tennis at the same time, but also be a mother and play well and do four Grand Slam finals, it’s amazing,” Swiatek said. “I think nobody is going to repeat that. I would be happy to have that belief that maybe I can do that.”

MADRID — The 2022/23 La Liga season kicks off this weekend with Real Madrid the reigning champions, but Barcelona determined to dethrone their bitter rivals after an eye-catching summer spending spree.

Aurelien Tchouameni

Monaco to Real Madrid for reported 80 million euros ($81.6m) plus 20 million euros in potential bonuses

Once upon a time Real Madrid reportedly wanted Paul Pogba, but in his compatriot Tchouameni they have bought a player who represents the future of the France midfield, alongside his new club colleague Eduardo Camavinga.

The 22-year-old Tchouameni moved to the European champions from Monaco for a fee that could reportedly reach 100 million euros. He has signed a six-year deal after an outstanding two-and-a-half years at Monaco.

Tchouameni, whose father is a pharmacist, began his career at Bordeaux. He made his full international debut for France last year and has already won 12 caps. He will help ease the burden on Madrid’s veteran midfield trio of Casemiro, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.

Robert Lewandowski

Bayern Munich to Barcelona for 45 million euros plus 5 million euros in add-ons

Barcelona’s close-season transfer business has been remarkable given the enormous debt crippling the club. President Joan Laporta has overseen a fire sale of Barcelona’s present and future assets to enable them to strengthen the squad now, including 25 per cent of their domestic television rights for a quarter century to an American investment fund.

And so they have gone into the market to make five major signings, topped by that of The Best FIFA men’s player for 2021, Lewandowski. The Pole will turn 34 later this month but Barca agreed to pay Bayern up to 50 million euros for him. The player has signed a five-year deal.

Barcelona are getting a striker who scored 344 goals in eight years at Bayern, as they target a first Spanish title since 2019 and a first Champions League since 2015. They just need to make sure they can register him and the rest of their new recruits, but La Liga’s strict financial control rules are complicating that.

Jules Kounde

Sevilla to Barcelona for reported 50 million euros plus 10 million in bonuses.

It was arguably Barcelona’s defence that was in more urgent need of reinforcements and the Catalans had already swooped to sign Chelsea’s Andreas Christensen before committing another large transfer fee to sign Kounde from La Liga rivals Sevilla.

The 23-year-old French international centre-back — who played with Tchouameni at Bordeaux — signed a five-year deal at the Camp Nou after three outstanding seasons in Andalusia. His arrival could accelerate the phasing out of Gerard Pique from coach Xavi Hernandez’s first-team plans.

Isco

Real Madrid to Sevilla, free transfer. Out of contract after nine seasons at Real Madrid, Isco has returned to his native Andalusia to sign for Sevilla on a two-year deal. The 30-year-old former Malaga attacking midfielder played in four Champions League final wins with Real but by last season his influence had been reduced to such an extent that he did not feature at all in their run to another European title, and he started only three games in La Liga.

However, Isco will now hope to relaunch his career with a Sevilla side who finished fourth last season and need to add depth as they prepare for a Champions League campaign. He intends to repay the faith shown in him by coach Julen Lopetegui. “I need to show him that he did not make a mistake,” he said.

That said, it is in defence where Sevilla really needed to strengthen this summer, after losing Diego Carlos to Aston Villa as well as Kounde.

Axel Witsel

Borussia Dortmund to Atletico Madrid, free transfer. The 33-year-old Belgian international joins Atletico on a one-season deal after four years in Germany. Witsel should be a perfect fit in a Diego Simeone side, boosting an Atletico midfield that has seen Hector Herrera depart to Major League Football. However, he has also been employed in central defence in pre-season.

Whether he can make a team who have also seen Luis Suarez depart into genuine title contenders again may be another matter altogether.

AMMAN — Wihdat’s lead has been slashed to two points as they head into Week 14 of the Jordan Pro Football League after they were held to a draw by Aqaba in the final minutes of the match as standings began to take shape at both ends.

Wihdat could not hold on to their lead as the ambitious team from the south playing in their second season in the Pro League scored the draw in the last minutes to move up to fourth.

Wihdat will next pay Sahab who lost to Faisali 1-0 as the latter moved within two points of their traditional rivals at the top. Faisali will next play Shabab Urdun who lost 1-0 to titleholders Ramtha who moved up to 9th.

Salt also scored a 2-1 win over Ma’an who are trying to keep their spot in the Pro League.

They will next play Hussein who beat Sarih 2-0 as the latter dropped to last.

Ramtha who won the league last year have begun to move up the ladder while, Ma’an dropped while Jazira, who finished in top five in last few years, moved from last after they scored their second win of the season and beat Mugheer Sarhan 1-0 ahead of their match against Aqaba.

In two of the 2022 competitions played so far, Faisali won the season opening 35th Jordan Football Association (JFA) Shield title when they beat Ramtha who in turn upset Jordan Cup titleholders Faisali 2-0 in the 39th Jordan Super Cup. 

In the 2021 season, Ramtha won the league title for the third time in their history ending a 39-year drought. Newcomers to the Pro League, relatively unknown Jalil, overcame Wihdat to win the 34th JFA Shield; Wihdat beat one-time winners Jazira in the 38th Jordan Super Cup, while Faisali beat Salt to win the Jordan Cup.

Last year, Baqa’a were relegated in their worst season yet and were accompanied by Jalil. Mugheer Sarhan and Sarih were promoted from the First Division.

Since the league kicked off in 1944 with only Faisali, Ahli, Urdun and Homenetmen competing, Faisali are 34 time record league champs while Wihdat won 17 times since they joined in 1980. Although Faisali are the all-time record holders, Wihdat’s record is quite impressive. After four years in the Pro League, they won their first title in 1980 and have gone on to win the majority of titles since then. Ahli won eight times, Ramtha and Jazira three times each, Shabab Urdun twice, Amman and Urdun clubs once each.

BERLIN — A new-look Bayern Munich will enter the 2022/23 season as firm favourites to win their 11th straight Bundesliga title, despite one of the more tumultuous off-seasons in recent memory.

Bayern lost star striker Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona, but the 31-time German champions have strengthened across the park, adding Liverpool forward Sadio Mane alongside Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt, Ajax pair Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui, and French attacking starlet Mathys Tel.

AFP Sport takes a look at five new faces to watch in the Bundesliga as the season kicks off.

Matthijs de Ligt

Bayern wasted no time in reinvesting the 50 million-euro transfer fee Barcelona paid for Lewandowski, bringing in one of Europe’s hottest defensive talents in De Ligt from Serie A side Juventus.

Bayern spent a reported initial fee of 70 million euros ($71.3m) to bring the former Golden Boy winner to Saebener Strasse, making De Ligt the second most expensive transfer in the club’s history.

In addition to adding De Ligt’s defensive strengths, Bayern have secured a leader by signing the 22-year-old. The Dutch international became the youngest captain in Champions League history when he led Ajax against Real Madrid at the age of 19 in 2019.

Karim Adeyemi

Borussia Dortmund managed to secure the services of forward Adeyemi from Red Bull Salzburg early in the close season, despite interest from several of Europe’s elite clubs.

Dortmund paid a reported 30 million euros for the former Bayern Munich junior, who can play as a lone striker or on either wing.

While not a like-for-like replacement, Adeyemi’s nose for goal should see him at least in part replace the departed Erling Haaland’s output in black and yellow this season.

Adeyemi, who topped the Austrian scoring charts with 19 goals as Salzburg won their ninth consecutive title, opened his account with a goal in his first competitive appearance for Dortmund as they beat 1860 Munich in the first round of the German Cup on Friday.

David Raum

New RB Leipzig addition Raum may just be the addition the German Cup holders need to claim their first ever Bundesliga title in the 2022/23 season.

In just his first season in the top division after being signed from Greuther Fuerth, left-back Raum provided 11 assists and scored three league goals for Hoffenheim.

His performances earned him a first national team call-up, with the 24-year-old quickly establishing himself as a crucial component of coach Hansi Flick’s Germany side ahead of this year’s World Cup in Qatar.

Raum was also heavily courted by both Bayern and Dortmund after his stellar 2021/22 performances but said “coming to Leipzig is absolutely the right step for me” when making the move in late July.

Mario Goetze

Far from a Bundesliga newcomer, World Cup-winning attacking midfielder Goetze makes his return to Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt after a successful two-year stint at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.

Goetze won the Dutch Cup and the Dutch Super Cup during his time with PSV, showing the type of form which won him the Golden Boy award in 2011 and had him marked as one of Europe’s top prospects.

Europa League winners Frankfurt will be hoping the five-time Bundesliga champion can bring some much-needed experience and guile to the Eagles, who enter their first ever Champions League campaign this season.

Maya Yoshida

Promoted giants Schalke took a major step in ensuring they stay in the top division when they secured Japanese centre-back Yoshida on a free transfer from Serie A side Sampdoria. 

Yoshida, who has captained Japan since 2019 and will lead them into their opening-round clash with Germany at the Qatar World Cup later in the year, played for Premier League side Southampton from 2012 to 2020.

Yoshida, 33, replaces fellow Samurai Blue representative Ko Itakura in Schalke’s defence, after Itakura made the move to Bundesliga rivals Borussia Moenchengladbach in July.

On his arrival in the Bundesliga, Yoshida said he was “delighted to wear the Schalke shirt” and declared himself a long-time fan of the Royal Blues, having first watched Atsuto Uchida during his time at the Veltins Arena between 2010 and 2017.