Doha wins bid to host 2030 Asian Games
DUBAI • Doha beat Riyadh to clinch the hosting rights for the 2030 Asian Games at the general assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) in Muscat yesterday.
Riyadh would host the Games four years later in a move to prevent a diplomatic dispute between bitter neighbours Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Chairman of the OCA advisory committee and vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Ng Ser Miang said the solution was akin to the IOC decision to award the Olympics to Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028.
REUTERS
Williams founder admitted to hospital
LONDON • Frank Williams, who built the Williams team into a dominant Formula One force in the 1980s and 1990s, is in a stable condition after being admitted to hospital, the team announced on Tuesday.
After establishing the team in 1977, Williams went on to win nine constructors’ world championships and seven drivers’ titles, but their last triumph came in 1997.
Williams, who has been in a wheelchair since being injured in a car crash 34 years ago, was hospitalised for pneumonia in 2016 and seldom makes appearances at races, although the 78-year-old attended last year’s British Grand Prix.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Alonso quickest in ‘young driver’ test
ABU DHABI • Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, 39, lapped fastest in a controversial appearance for Renault in Formula One’s post-season “young driver” test at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit on Tuesday.
The Spaniard, winner of 32 grands prix, is not a young driver by any stretch of the imagination but has not raced in F1 for two years and was given special dispensation despite complaints ahead of a comeback next year. He completed 105 laps, nearly two race distances, with a best time of 1min 36.333sec.
REUTERS
PFA chief calls for rethink of heading
LONDON • The role of heading in football should be “seriously considered” amid concerns of a link to an increased risk of dementia, according to outgoing Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor.
Taylor said the union was doing research to establish a casual link between the number of players getting dementia and the number of times in training players are heading the ball. England World Cup winners Nobby Stiles and Jack Charlton died from dementia earlier this year, while Bobby Charlton has also been diagnosed with the disease.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE