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Al-Sadd coach Xavi Hernandez was cleared to rejoin training with his charges on Wednesday following his positive coronavirus test, the Qatari club confirmed.
The former Barcelona great had revealed on Saturday that he would be unable to accompany Al-Sadd in their Stars League clash against Al-Khor after contracting the disease.
“Today I will not be able to accompany my team in the return to official competition,” Xavi wrote on his Instagram account.
“David Prats, reserve coach, will take my place as head of the technical team.
“A few days ago, following the QSL protocol, I tested positive in my most recent Covid-19 test.
“Luckily, I feel perfectly fine, but following the protocol, I will remain isolated until I have overcome it.
“When the medical authorities allow me, I will return to my daily routine and work more eagerly than ever.
“I thank all the authorities, especially those which allowed us the means for an early detection that avoids more spreading of the virus and guarantees the normal continuation of the season. A hug, and see you soon on the football pitch!”
On Wednesday the coach was able to resume normal activities, with Brazil-born Qatar international Rodrigo Tabata also joining training with his new club.
“The first football team of Al-Sadd Club continued its training today, Wednesday, at the club’s sub-stadium, in preparation for the upcoming Al-Ahly match in the nineteenth round of the Stars League, which will be held next Monday, the third of August at the South Stadium,” Al-Sadd revealed in a statement released on the club’s official website.
“On Wednesday, Maran witnessed the return of Coach Xavi Hernandez after he recovered from infection with the Corona virus (Covid 19), which he was exposed to about 14 days ago.
“Everyone within the team was keen to welcome the coach, especially the leader is facing strong challenges during the next stage. This also welcomed the team members to the newcomer Rodrigo Tabata, who joined the leader one a season-long contract.
“Tabata underwent special training under the supervision of fitness trainers in order to prepare him to participate in group exercises during the next stage.”
Major or no major, Rory McIlroy believes there is a line you do not cross, regardless of your ambition in any given week. The Northern Irishman re-emphasised his belief on Sunday night by calling out Brooks Koepka for disrespectful “mind games” against Dustin Johnson before the final round of the 102nd USPGA Championship. Koepka was on the first hole at Harding Park and trying to become the first player to win three strokeplay Wanamaker Trophies when McIlroy made his comments. After his 68 to close on two under, McIlroy was asked what he thought about Koepka’s sideswipe at his Ryder Cup team-mate the previous evening, saying that “he’s only won one”. Koepka also implied that Johnson had found the second major the hardest to win. “I was watching the golf last night and heard the [Koepka] interview and was just sort of taken aback a little bit by what he said and whether he was trying to play mind games or not – if he’s trying to play mind games, he’s trying to do it to the wrong person,” McIlroy said. “It’s a very different mentality to bring to golf that I don’t think a lot of golfers have. Just different. I try to respect everyone out here. Everyone is a great player. If you’ve won a major, you’re a hell of a player.” Then McIlroy delivered his own biting barb towards Koepka. “It’s sort of hard to knock a guy that’s got 21 wins on the PGA Tour, which is three times as many as Brooks,” McIlroy said. Koepka has a burgeoning reputation as an elite golfer willing to put down his peers. Apart from his many jibes at Bryson DeChambeau, Koepka was dismissive last year when asked if he felt there was a rivalry between him and McIlroy. “I’ve been out here for, what, five years – Rory hasn’t won a major since I’ve been on the PGA Tour,” Koepka said. ”So I just don’t view it as a rivalry.” McIlroy shrugged it off at the time, but was known privately to be unimpressed. In some ways McIlroy’s attitude towards Koepka’s irreverence is curious seeing as he, himself, declared that the European golfers such as Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari were wrong to skip the early PGA Tour restart events following lockdown and stated they should be there “if they cared about their careers”. Except McIlroy did not name anyone directly and climbed down from those comments recently. There is plainly a distaste of Koepka’s discourtesy. As it was, it was another quote in McIlroy’s post-major press conference on Sunday night that will make the eyebrows rise the most in some quarters. Monday is the six-year anniversary of the 31-year-old’s last major win – the 2014 US PGA win. He was quizzed by an Irish journalist “why you find it’s difficult to hang around for 54, 63 holes in recent seasons compared to say earlier in your career?” McIlroy replied: “Maybe I’m just not as good as I used to be. I don’t know.” The world No 3 was being prickly and does not truly believe that. “I feel like the golf that I’ve played in the majors has been sort of similar to the golf I’ve played outside of them, and I’ve won some big events and played well and had a good season last year,” McIlroy said. “I can’t really put my finger on it. I go out there and try my best every single day. Some days I play better than others, and I just have to keep going and keep persisting and see if you can do better the next time.” It was a legitimate query on the reporter’s behalf. Something is plainly missing when it comes to the majors for McIlroy, seeing as he won four by the age of 25 and all too often it is slow starts and/or sloppy errors at crucial times. This was a satisfactory end to his San Francisco quest, but a finishing time before the leaders had even teed-off obviously fell far short of what he expects. For now, McIlroy is simply trying to rediscover the consistency that saw him chalk up seven successive PGA Tour top-fives before the coronavirus hooter sounded. In his six events since the resumption, McIlroy has not recorded a single top-10 finish and only one top 20. “This was one of the tougher tests that we’ve faced since coming back, together with the Memorial a few weeks ago,” he said. “I’ve sort of gauged those two events as the barometer of where my game is, and I’m going to pretty much finish in the same spot around 30th. There’s been enough good stuff in there, I’m just making a few too many mistakes. Try to clean that up going forward.”
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“Sort of hard to knock a guy who’s got 21 wins on the PGA Tour.”
Running back Derrius Guice, officially released by Washington on Saturday, officially is out of the NFL. At least for now. Possibly for good. Guice cleared waivers, making the 2018 second-round pick a free agent. Washington released Guice after he was arrested on multiple domestic-violence allegations, including a felony count of strangulation. Guice’s lawyer has released [more]
Los Angeles Angels right fielder Jo Adell went back on a deep fly ball in the fifth inning Sunday. Adell was charged with a rare four-base error when the ball popped out of the rookie’s glove and flew the few remaining feet over the fence in the Texas Rangers’ 7-3 victory. Nick Solak hoped the original ruling of a home run would stand, but knew right away it hadn’t when he saw a Texas hit replaced by a Los Angeles error on the scoreboard two innings later.
The Lakers, the West’s top seed, lost 116-111 to the Pacers amid talk that other teams are trying to set L.A. up with a playoff matchup vs. Portland.
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After the pitcher made his teammates and staff uncomfortable, he was reportedly sent home.
Kang, who won last week’s Drive On Championship, looked out of contention as she trailed New Zealander Ko by five shots with six holes to play but a few words of encouragement from her caddie turned things around. Ko led by four heading into Sunday’s finale and looked on course to end her two-year wait for a title before bogeys at 14 and 16 and a double-bogey at the 18th tripped her up.
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Derrick Lewis took his next step toward another heavyweight title shot with a record-setting knockout of Aleksei Oleinik at UFC Vegas 6 (aka UFC on ESPN+ 32) on Saturday night at the Apex in Las Vegas.Lewis came out firing, landing a few big punches before clinching and pressing Oleinik against the cage. He then powered Oleinik to the ground and unloaded with several hard left hands.Oleinik tried to clinch form the bottom, but Lewis spun into half guard.Oleinik again held tight, trying to force a stalemate and a stand-up. He eventually slipped out and regained his footing, immediately taking Lewis to the canvas and landing in side control with a scarf hold.Lewis scrambled back to top position, but Oleinik easily reversed him and again took side control with a scarf hold. Lewis remained calm and kept pressing on Oleinik’s face, eventually forcing the Ukrainian fighter to give up on the scarf hold and move to side control, where he applied an Americana lock, but it wasn’t enough to finish the fight before the horn.The former UFC heavyweight title contender Lewis opened the second round with a jumping knee to the chest and floored Oleinik with a right hand. He then dropped to the canvas, unloading with a brutal onslaught of right hands that put Oleinik in another time zone, forcing referee Herb Dean to call the fight just 21 seconds into the round.The finish earned Lewis the record, at 11, for most heavyweight knockouts in UFC history. By knocking out Oleinik, Lewis surpassed Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.“It feels good. He had that British Bulldog, whatever the hell submission he had on me, I couldn’t breathe at all,” Lewis said after the fight.Coming into the fight, Lewis marveled at how much better he felt after really focusing on his conditioning. He took things a step further on Saturday, declaring he didn’t want to return to the cage until he could shed a few more pounds.“I’m not gonna take any more fights until I can get down into that 250, 245 (pound) range,” said Lewis, who weighed 265 pounds for UFC Vegas 6.“Hopefully (I will return) in December. Some time in December. Right now, that’s all I’m focused on, trying to get my weight down.” Chris Weidman victorious in return to middleweightFormer middleweight champion Chris Weidman likely staved off the demise of his UFC tenure with a dominant decision victory over Omari Akhmedov in the UFC Vegas 6 co-main event.Having gone 1-5 in his last six fights, Weidman desperately needed to win this fight, his return to middleweight following a losing effort at light heavyweight.It wasn’t the most exciting performance of Weidman’s career, but he out-wrestled Akhmedov to get a much need victory after going the full three rounds. “It was huge,” said Weidman. “(There was) a lot of pressure on (me) and I’m happy to get my hand raised. I’m not too happy with that performance but I needed a win.“I’m back, All the top tier guys, I’m coming for you.”* * *TRENDING > Michael Chandler knocks out Benson Henderson in Bellator 243 main event* * * UFC Vegas 6: Lewis vs. Oleinik resultsMain Card * Derrick Lewis def. Aleksei Oleinik by TKO (punches) at 0:21, R2 * Chris Weidman def. Omari Akhmedov by unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28) * Darren Stewart def. Maki Pitolo by submission at 3:41, R1 * Yana Kunitskaya def. Julija Stoliarenko by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-27, 30-27) * Beneil Dariush def. Scott Holtzman by TKO (spinning backfist) at 4:38, R1Prelims * Tim Means def. Laureano Staropoli by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28) * Kevin Holland def. Joaquin Buckley by TKO (punch) at 0:32, R3 * Nasrat Haqparast def. Alex Munoz by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) * Andrew Sanchez def. Wellington Turman by KO (punch) at 4:14, R1 * Gavin Tucker def. Justin Jaynes by submission (rear-naked choke) at 1:43, R3 * Youssef Zalal def. Peter Barrett by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-27) * Irwin Rivera def. Ali Al Qaisi by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Former Lions coach Jim Caldwell says that General Manager Bob Quinn wanted to fire him from the moment Quinn arrived in Detroit in January of 2016. Caldwell said on former Lions safety Glover Quin’s podcast that he believes Quinn wanted him gone from the beginning. “I think without question that had he been left to [more]
Here is how the field finished behind winner Kevin Harvick, who swept the weekend.
“I was waiting to hit off of him, one of the hitters there was like, ‘Dude, you know he throws like 100, right?’ I was like ‘What?'”
The 24-year-old has raced with Gibbs and Toyota Racing Development since 2013.