SOCCER
A Schalke player and backroom staff member tested positive for the coronavirus less than a week after the team was attacked by its own fans following relegation from the Bundesliga, the club said Tuesday.
Schalke said a first round of PCR tests on Monday returned the two positive results for COVID-19. Both individuals are in quarantine and neither is showing any symptoms. All other PCR tests taken Monday were negative, but Tuesday’s training session was canceled as a precaution, the club said.
Schalke’s hygiene measures were breached early last Wednesday when angry fans violently confronted the players and staff on their return from having relegation confirmed with a loss at Arminia Bielefeld. Team coordinator Gerald Asamoah told German broadcasters he saw a colleague lying on the ground being kicked. Media reports said some players were chased by fans.
Schalke next plays Hoffenheim on May 8, four days before hosting Hertha Berlin in a game rescheduled because of an outbreak of COVID-19 at Hertha. Authorities had ordered the Hertha team into quarantine for two weeks.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Real Madrid and visiting Chelsea drew 1-1 in the first leg of the semifinals, with Christian Pulisic becoming the first American to score in the tournament’s last four.
Karim Benzema equalized for Madrid on a rainy night at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium.
The second leg is on May 5 in London. Manchester City hosts Paris Saint-Germain in the other semifinal on Wednesday.
GERMANY: German soccer federation President Fritz Keller says he will not step down from his role after comparing one of his vice presidents to infamous Nazi judge Roland Freisler.
Keller said he made a “serious mistake” after making the remark about Rainer Koch at a federation meeting on Friday, but he stopped short of apologizing again.
“I assumed that the apology I made to him in writing and on the telephone would be accepted immediately. This assumption was wrong, based on his written answer to me yesterday,” Keller said in a statement on the federation’s website.
Despite widespread criticism from others across German sport, including from within the federation itself, Keller told news agency dpa, “I rule out resigning.”
Koch, who has yet to accept Keller’s apology, also works as a judge at the higher regional court in Munich.
The South German soccer federation called Keller’s remark “completely unacceptable,” a reaction shared by the German soccer league, which represents the country’s 36 professional teams, and others.
“Regardless of the fact that I don’t know the context in which the undisputed remark of the DFB (federation) president was made, comparisons with one of the most terrible judges of the Nazi era are inexcusable,” said Dagmar Freitag, who heads the German Bundestag’s sports committee.
Freisler, as a participant in the Wannsee Conference of 1942, was one of the Nazis responsible for the organization of the Holocaust. He became president of the People’s Court, where he issued around 2,600 death sentences to opponents of the Nazi regime.
Keller was appointed head of the German soccer federation in September 2019. The former Freiburg president was seen as the best candidate to help it emerge from years of scandal.
“The only way to further develop German football from the bottom to the top is together, as a team,” Keller said at the time.
Keller’s predecessor, Reinhard Grindel, resigned after accepting a luxury watch amid allegations of undeclared earnings and general discontent with his leadership.
Former federation presidents Wolfgang Niersbach and Theo Zwanziger were both forced out amid allegations of corruption concerning Germany’s 2006 World Cup bid.
LIVERPOOL LOSSES: Liverpool reported a pre-tax loss of 46 million pounds ($64 million) for the last financial year, mainly because of the impact the coronavirus outbreak had on the English champion’s media revenue and matchday income.
The losses for the financial year ending May 2020, a period covering the first three months of the pandemic when the Premier League was suspended, equated to a negative swing of 88 million pounds ($122 million) from Liverpool’s position a year ago. Media income dropped by 59 million pounds ($82 million) and the four fewer Premier League home games during this period saw matchday revenue decrease by 13 million pounds ($18 million). Commercial revenue rose by 29 million pounds ($40 million) to 217 million pounds ($300 million) on the back of eight new partnerships being announced.
In March 2020, Liverpool announced a profit of 42 million pounds ($58 million), the fifth time in the previous six years the club had been in the black under its American ownership, Fenway Sports Group.
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS: Teams at the European Championship are set to be increased to 26 players for this year’s tournament, three more than usual. UEFA’s national teams committee recommended the change on Monday and it is set to be ratified by UEFA by the end of the week, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the decision, which was first reported online by The Times of London, ahead of its final approval.
The congested schedule following the shutdown of the sport at the start of the pandemic last season is believed to be the reason to provide teams with more options. The workload on players has been a concern for coaches ahead of the Euro 2020 tournament, which was due to be played last year before being postponed.
The 24-team tournament is scheduled to start on June 11 and end on July 11. UEFA had already decided to let teams use five substitutes in regulation time instead of three. The five-subs rule is being used by most competitions amid the pandemic to protect players from injury.
TENNIS
WIMBLEDON CHANGES: For all of the pandemic-related planning discussed for this year’s return of Wimbledon – much still to be determined, including fan capacity and prize money – Tuesday’s biggest news out of the All England Club takes effect in 2022: There will be play on the Grand Slam tournament’s middle Sunday.
In addition to creating a 14-day event by eliminating the traditional break at the midpoint, the historic decision forever alters what has come to be known as “Manic Monday,” the opening of Week 2 that made Wimbledon the only major tennis championship with all 16 women’s and men’s fourth-round singles matches scheduled for the same day. Instead, under a plan organizers “intend to make a permanent part of the schedule,” the fourth round will be split between Sunday and Monday next year, All England Club chairman Ian Hewitt said during a video conference.
Next year marks a century since Centre Court was opened in 1922. Middle Sunday has hosted competition only four times, when rain disrupted the schedule and created a backlog of matches: in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2016.
This year’s Wimbledon singles main draw is scheduled for June 28 to July 11.
YASTREMSKA APPEAL DENIED: Dayana Yastremska’s latest appeal of her provisional doping suspension was denied Tuesday, keeping her sidelined. The 20-year-old Ukrainian, who has been ranked as high as No. 21, originally was suspended in January for failing an out-of-competition drug test. She tested positive for mesterolone metabolite, a prohibited substance that can be used to boost testosterone.
Yastremska has denied using performance enhancers or prohibited substances. She has filed multiple appeals of her ban, without success.
Yastremska has won three WTA singles titles. Her best showing at a Grand Slam tournament was reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon in her main-draw debut there in 2019.
MUNICH OPEN: Fifth-seededed Nikoloz Basilashvili defeated Thiago Monteiro 6-2, 6-3 to move into the second round.
Basilashvili, who clinched his fourth ATP title in Qatar last month, had little difficulty as he started his bid for a fifth, converting five of his seven break point opportunities.
American qualifier Mackenzie McDonald upset the sixth-seeded Dusan Lajovic 6-4, 6-4 for a second-round meeting with Ilya Ivashka.
BOXING
FIGHTER DIES: An 18-year-old boxer from Jordan has died after being seriously injured in a bout at the world youth championships, the International Boxing Association said Tuesday. Rashed Al-Swaisat was treated in the ring and then hospitalized after being knocked out in his preliminary-round light-heavyweight fight against Estonian boxer Anton Vinogradov on April 16 in Kielce, Poland.
“It is with deep sadness that we learned of the passing of Rashed Al-Swaisat of Jordan, who had been admitted to hospital on April 16 further to his fight during the AIBA Youth World Championships,” AIBA said. “Rashed is in our hearts and in our prayers. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and teammates, to whom we offer our sincere condolences.”
AIBA did not immediately provide more information about the time or circumstances of Al-Swaisat’s death. Polish broadcaster Radio Zet Sport reported that he died Monday at a hospital in Kielce.
BASKETBALL
WNBA: New Connecticut Sun president Jennifer Rizzotti plans to keep her second job this summer as an assistant coach on the United States’ women’s Olympic basketball team.
The former UConn player and longtime college coach was introduced by the Sun a week after being named to lead the organization.
She said she plans to juggle her time this summer between the WNBA team’s front office and her on-the-court responsibilities with USA Basketball.
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