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Fri/Sat/Sun June 16~18, 2017

Sven-Goran Eriksson

SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON was sacked by Chinese second-tier side Shenzhen on Wednesday after just six months following a poor start to the season.

The 69-year-old couldn’t muster up a win in the club’s last eight games as it sits fourth in the table.

The former England manager only took charge of the Chinese side in December, but has been swiftly removed from his posi-tion.

Shenzhen was tipped for promotion to the Chinese Super League at the start of the season, but is languishing after a below-par start to the campaign.

Despite being the division’s highest scoring team with 26 goals, the side has only won fi ve times in 13 league games, and have been defeated three times.

Eriksson replaced Dutch legend Clarence Seedorf as Shenzhen head coach, as the latter could only muster up four victories in 14 games managing the team.

The club has already announced former Chinese international Wang Baoshan as its head coach, who has the daunting task of appeasing the club’s owners before they wield the axe once again.

The ex-Lazio and Roma boss is now on the lookout for the 17th managerial role of his career, and could look for another lucrative deal in China.

He was previously head coach of Guangzhou R&F and Shang-hai SIPG — now managed by Andre Villas-Boas, where he guided both sides to third place fi nishes. (SD-Agencies)

Eriksson sacked by Shenzhen

A LONG-AWAITED indepen-dent report published Wednes-day looking into British Cycling says the sport’s domestic governing body lacked “good governance” and there was a “culture of fear” within the track cycling team.

However, the report — com-piled by a fi ve-member panel headed by British Rowing chair Annamarie Phelps — is not as damning about British Cycling as the draft that was leaked to the Daily Mail in March, although the “culture

of fear” conclusion remains.The panel — which began work

in April 2016 after allegations of sexism and bullying were made about the then British Cycling technical director Shane Sutton by female track rider Jess Var-nish and then by several other cyclists — took evidence from more than 100 former riders and staff.

The report — seven pages shorter than the leaked ver-sion — said that Sutton, who subsequently resigned prior to the 2016 Olympics in Rio, was

allowed to operate within a “power pocket” without having to really answer to anybody.

Sutton resigned after the alle-gations by Varnish, who said he told her to “get on with having a baby” after she was cut from the team last year.

Varnish and her teammate Katy Marchant both lashed out at the British set-up after they failed to qualify for last year’s Olympics, where the British team went on to enjoy huge suc-cess on the track.

(SD-Agencies)

‘Culture of fear’ existed in British cycling team

Female track rider Jess Varnish (C) lashed out at British Cycling after she failed to qualify for last year’s Olympics. SD-Agencies

PREMIER League champion Chelsea will be the fi rst visitor to Tottenham’s temporary home of Wembley Stadium as part of a tough-looking start to its title defense.

The Premier League schedule for the 2017-18 season was pub-lished Wednesday, with Chelsea playing Burnley at home in the opening round in mid-August.

It then gets more diffi cult for Antonio Conte and his team, which takes on Tottenham in the second round before games against Leicester away and Manchester City, Arsenal and Everton at home as part of their fi rst seven games.

Tottenham, which was runner-up to Chelsea last season, is playing its home games in the Premier League at Wembley this season while a new stadium is being constructed on the site of the club’s old White Hart Lane.

Tottenham lost to Chelsea in an FA Cup semifi nal match at Wembley last season, and also lost two of its three games at the national stadium in the group stage of the Champions League.

Its poor record at Wembley has raised questions about whether playing there will hamper the team’s title chances, at a time when Tottenham has perhaps its best lineup in a generation.

The Manchester derbies between United and City are on the weekend of Dec. 9-10, at Old Trafford, and the weekend of April 7-8, at Etihad Stadium.

There will be a typically intense schedule of games over the Christmas period, with teams potentially facing four matches in nine days from Dec. 23-Jan. 1.

In the opening round, Brigh-ton’s fi rst ever Premier League game is at home against Man City, while Huddersfi eld’s fi rst top-tier game since 1972 is at Crystal Palace. Newcastle, the other promoted club, starts out at home against Tottenham.

West Ham faces playing its fi rst three games away from its home at the London Stadium — the centerpiece of the 2012 Olympics — because the venue will be hosting the world ath-letics championship from Aug. 4-13.

West Ham’s fi rst home game is scheduled for Aug. 19 against Southampton but the stadium will not be ready to host soccer matches at that time. The club said the game will be resched-uled, potentially with South-ampton hosting the match.

The Premier League season begins Aug. 12.

(SD-Agencies)

Chelsea 1st to visit Tottenham at Wembley in Premier League

Xi meets FIFA president Infantino PRESIDENT Xi Jinping met with FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Wednesday at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.

Xi, an avid soccer fan, noted that the Chinese Government attached great signifi cance to the development of soccer and provided strong and consistent support for the sport, although China has lagged far behind tra-ditional soccer powerhouses for years in terms of both the sport’s domestic popularity and compe-tence on the pitch.

China’s central reform group, which is chaired by President Xi, approved a reform plan in Feb-ruary 2015 in an effort to inject life into its soccer culture. The reforms involve almost every aspect of the sport, including the management system, pro-fessional clubs, professional leagues, the national teams and grass-roots soccer.

China’s blueprint for soccer includes plans to make the game accessible to over 30 million primary and secondary school children by 2020, as well as cre-ating up to 20,000 soccer schools and laying 70,000 pitches. The Chinese Government’s target is to ensure that there will be one soccer pitch for every 10,000 people by 2030.

“We are promoting the phi-losophy of soccer among the whole society. The reform of the sport’s management system is also well under way. More efforts are being made in youth soccer

programs, the construction of soccer pitches and international exchanges. We hope to raise the standard of Chinese soccer step by step, and lend support to Chinese people’s pursuit of the Chinese dream,” said Xi.

Xi also thanked Infantino for his support for soccer develop-ment in China.

“President Infantino, since becoming the president of FIFA, you have provided great support to the development and reform

of soccer as a sport in China,” said Xi. “I wish to express my appreciation for what you have done.

“We are aware of the fact that FIFA is paying more attention to the development of soccer in China these days, and I do believe that China-FIFA coop-eration has a good future,” he added.

Speaking after the meet-ing, the FIFA president said: “I was very honored to meet

with President Xi today and we shared many opinions and ideas about the development of football, not only in China, but throughout the world. Today marks the kickoff of a new and closer cooperation between China and FIFA. China will play an important role in improving access to the game and we are grateful to President Xi for his support in this matter. We look forward to many future projects together.” (SD-Xinhua)

President Xi Jinping meets FIFA president Gianni Infantino at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday.Xinhua