Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/987872
maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 30 MAY 2018 22 SPORTS TENNIS OLYMPICS Carrefour to end French football, Tour de France sponsoring from 2019 FRENCH supermarket chain Carrefour (CARR.PA) said yesterday it would end its con- tracts as official sponsor of the French Football Federation and of the Tour de France, the world's most famous cycling race, from 2019. The group wishes to refocus its sponsoring policy on events linked to food and retail. We will make some announce- ments along these lines soon," the spokesman said, confirm- ing earlier media reports. Carrefour has been official sponsor of the French Foot- ball Federation since 1998 and of the Tour de France since 1993. The contracts, which come up for renewal every four year, will not be renewed from 2019, the spokesman said. This will therefore not impact the World Soccer Cup in Russia in June 2018 nor the Tour de France that starts in early July. Under pressure to increase profits, Europe's largest retail- er announced in January cost savings of two billion euros (1.7 billion pounds) by 2020, including a voluntary redun- dancy plan for 2,400 employ- ees at its French head office. Sharapova marks Paris comeback with see-saw victory THERE was the usual pre-toss skipping routine, an abun- dance of shrieks and the oft- seen mid-match wobble as Ma- ria Sharapova returned to the French Open following a two- year hiatus with a 6-1 4-6 6-3 win against Richel Hogenkamp yesterday. The former world number one ended up spending more time than she would have wanted on court Suzanne Len- glen in defeating the Dutch qualifier but the only thing that mattered was that she was into round two. "I really dug deep but some- times you need to go through these types of matches where things don't go the way you want," Sharapova said court- side. "Happy the way I came back in the third set. "I'm so fortunate to be back in this position, I formed so many great memories here." Sharapova, seeded 28th, missed the 2016 tournament while serving a doping ban and failed in her bid to se- cure a wildcard entry into last year's event. After being given a warm welcome by the Roland Garros crowd when she arrived on court, the Russian raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set. She wrapped it up in just 24 min- utes as she mixed her powerful game with a couple of delicate dropshots. The five-times Grand Slam champion broke early in the second set too, only for Hogen- kamp to level for 3-3. Another trade of breaks en- sued and Hogenkamp broke again in the 10th game to level the match when Sharapova netted a backhand. Things then got much worse for Sharapova. She peppered the court with unforced errors, falling 3-0 down in the decider as Hogen- kamp bagged six games in a row. But the double French Open champion's never-say-die atti- tude resurfaced and she pock- eted the remaining six games to set up a second-round meeting with Croatia's Donna Vekic. Ex-fencer Pozdnyakov elected Russian Olympic chief FORMER fencer Stanislav Pozdn- yakov was elect- ed president of the Russian Olympic Com- mittee yesterday as the country works to regain the trust of inter- national sports bodies after a string of doping scandals. P o z d n y a k o v , who had served as the com- mittee's first vice-president since 2016, led the Russian delegation at this year's Pyeo- ngchang winter Olympics. The country was banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as punish- ment for alleged state-spon- sored doping at the 2014 Sochi winter games. But some Rus- sian athletes with no history of doping were cleared to com- pete as neutrals. Pozdnyakov, a five-time Olympic medallist, replaces Alexander Zhukov, whose eight-year tenure coincided with the wave of allegations of doping in Russian sport. Days after Pyeongchang, the IOC lifted the ban against Russia despite two Russian athletes testing positive for banned substances at the South Korean games. Pozdnyakov beat former Olympic swimmer Alexander Popov, the only other candi- date for the post, in a vote at Russia's Olympic Committee in Moscow, the committee said. Pozdnyakov said the com- mittee would focus on retriev- ing the trust of the interna- tional sports community. "Our main task is to mend relations (with global sports bodies) through the return of trust in the Russian Olympic Committee," Pozdnyakov told reporters after the vote. "We will pay the most careful at- tention to this." Pozdnyakov added that the committee was preparing an educational programme to persuade athletes starting at the grassroots level not to take performance-enhancing sub- stances. Zhukov, who was suspended as an IOC member last year when Russia was banned, said this month he would not seek re-election. Russia has denied state- sponsored doping and has pledged to work with inter- national sports bodies to help curb doping. The country's athletics fed- eration, its anti-doping agency RUSADA and its Paralympic Committee remain suspended by international sporting bod- ies over doping allegations.