WORLD OF SPORT
▷▷▷ Indian football fans shortchanged Manchester United heroes Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes have angered Indian fans by failing to turn out for a futsal tournament in which they billed as the star attractions. The Hindu newspaper said the pair were “understood to be ‘tired’“on their arrival in Bangalore for the event on Tuesday. Scholes, 42, is meant to be captain of the Bangalore team and Giggs, 43, for Mumbai in the Premier Futsal tournament. But the pair were not even on the bench for the first game and fans were not impressed. With the tickets priced as high as 10,000 rupees (Dh573), including a “meet-and-greet session with the legends”, disgruntled fans were quick to dismiss the event as a money-making exercise. “The tickets I bought were for 2,000 rupees a day. I am not wasting any more of my time here,” one disappointed fan was quoted as saying.
▷▷▷ Sri Lanka last in through the qualifying door Sri Lanka made automatic qualification for the 2019 edition in the UK after West Indies’ seven-wicket loss to England on Tuesday. With September 30 set as the cut-off date for automatic qualification for the International Cricket Council’s 50-over showpiece tournament, two-time champions West Indies (78 points) now cannot move ahead of Sri Lanka (86 points) in the ODI team rankings regardless of other results in the remainder of their five-match series in England. As a result the 1996 World Cup winners Sri Lanka – also the losing finalists in 2007 and 2011 – have become the eighth and last team to qualify directly. They join Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa. “I want to say a big, big thank you to our fans who’ve kept faith with us when things looked bleak,” captain Upul Tharanga said.
▷▷▷ Counterpunch of the day The man 800 metre world champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse said attacked him has himself filed a complaint that the athlete provoked him, his lawyer said yesterday. Bosse, 25, was the victim of a late night attack in a car park in his one-time training base of Gujan-Mestras in France that left him with “multiple facial fractures” and 18 days of sick leave. French police arrested a 24-yearold man in connection with the assault, which forced Bosse to put an early end to his season. But the alleged aggressor, while not denying he punched Bosse, has lodged a complaint saying that the altercation started when the athlete threw a beverage can at his head, which he managed to deflect with his arm – that was left bruised.