WIGGO TAKES A BOW
The concern over his taking the corticosteroid triamcinolone under therapeutic use exemptions are clearly not going to go away anytime soon but the chances to see Sir Bradley Wiggins on a bike are running out. He is currently set to compete in only two more events before retiring, the Ghent Six Day in November and his last on British soil – the London Six Day (from Tuesday, Eurosport). He will race with Mark Cavendish back at the Lee Valley Velopark where the pair won the Madison world title in March (eight years on, a reprise of their 2008 victory at the world championships in Manchester) and where Wiggins took gold in the time trial in 2012. The Belgians Kenny De Ketele and Moreno De Pauw will defend their Six Day title and Britain’s team pursuit gold medallists Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald will take part in a three-day omnium competition – tickets available from sixday.com.
CHAMPIONS TROPHY TICKETS
There were 417,000 applications from 60 countries for the first tranche of tickets for next year’s ICC Champions Trophy, which takes place across England and Wales in June. Disappointed fans, and there are likely to be many with 11 of the 15 matches already subject to a ballot for places in certain price bands, have another shot at attending when the remaining tickets go on sale on Thursday at 2pm from www.icc-cricket.com/ticket. There is still availability at the following games: New Zealand v Australia at (Edgbaston, 2 June), Sri Lanka v South Africa (The Kia Oval, 3 June), Australia v Bangladesh (The Kia Oval, 5 June), England v New Zealand (Cardiff Wales Stadium, 6 June), Pakistan v South Africa (Edgbaston, 7 June), India v Sri Lanka (The Kia Oval, 8 June), New Zealand v Bangladesh (Cardiff Wales Stadium, 9 June), Sri Lanka v Pakistan (Cardiff Wales Stadium, 12 June), semi-final A1 v B2 (Cardiff Wales Stadium, 14 June) and semi-final A2 v B1 (Edgbaston, 15 June). The first batch of tickets for the 2017 women’s World Cup, taking place in England in late June to July, are also now on sale at the ICC website, with the ballot to apply for places at the final open until 1 November.
MURRAY TIE-BREAKER
On a ten-match winning streak after taking titles in Shanghai and Beijing, Andy Murray continues his attempt to become world No1 on Sunday but in a shift from the full game at the tennis equivalent of Twenty20. He competes in the Tie Break Tens event in Vienna (Sky Sports 4, 6pm), where players face off in a first-to-ten-points tie break format with a $250,000 prize on offer. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Dominic Thiem and Tommy Haas are drawn in one group, with Murray facing the former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and Britain’s Marcus Willis, who while ranked No 772 in the world earned great acclaim this summer by winning seven matches to meet Roger Federer in the second round at Wimbledon. He is pleasingly optimistic about the tournament. “It’s 10 points. Accrington Stanley would lose to Manchester United over 90 minutes, but in a 10-minute match they would stand a chance. I think it will suit my game,” he said.
GOLF FINALE
The last round of the World Golf Championship begins on Thursday (Sky Sports 4, 4am) and has attracted a remarkable entry list. Forty-three of the top 50 players will be competing, including eight of the top 10. All four of 2016’s major winners will be there, from the US Open, Dustin Johnson, who won the 2016 PGA Tour Player of the Year award last week, the Open champion, Henrik Stenson, the Masters Champion, Danny Willett, and the US PGA winner, Jimmy Walker. Rory McIIroy also joins the party, all looking to topple the defending champion, Scotland’s Russell Knox.
LOOK OUT FOR …
A TEMPEST IN STRATFORD
We’re previewing Shakespeare now? The other Stratford. The east London one, where locals are battening down and tensing up before this week’s EFL Cup tie: West Ham v Chelsea at the Olympic Park.
That could be lively. That’s the fear. It’s not a draw the stadium operator needed – Chelsea weren’t due to visit until March next year. As it is, they’re coming on Wednesday, and the “security fears grow” headlines are everywhere.
These tough stories for West Ham just keep coming. They do. They’ve been collecting controversies like Panini stickers since the summer. Ticketing complaints? Got. State-aid accusations? Got. Safety concerns? Got. Crowd trouble? Got. Atmosphere complaints? Got. A sense of optimism and belonging? Need.
Still not feeling like home then? Fans have spent most of their time in the new ground singing: “We should have stayed at the Boleyn”, and “Stratford’s a shithole, we want to go home.” So no, not really.
How are the club preparing for Wednesday? The focus is all on the stewarding, as provided by the landlord. Stadium staff have struggled this season at low-risk games with only 3,000 away fans – this week there will be 5,182 from Chelsea. And the police, hampered by the ground’s Airwave radio system not working, will be staying outside – although, they say, will enter if called on “in an emergency or where crime and disorder occur” – with “tactical measures taken to meet operational communication requirements“. In essence, though, what happens inside the ground on Wednesday is up to the stewards. They need to be organised.
Any other measures in place? Plenty – including efforts to stop Chelsea fans buying seats in home sections by only selling to fans who have bought tickets in the last five years; attempts to improve segregation; and bans for fans involved in disorder this season. But there have been some mixed signals from the club, too. Co-owner David Sullivan says the problems have been overstated and most fans have been “behaving impeccably … I’m increasingly fed up with negative campaigning against the stadium by some sections of the media”.
What are the home fans feeling about the game? Hard to be sure. “Sections of the media” reported last week that lots have decided to skip it, describing “thousands of cut-price seats unsold”. The club website’s official version: “Chelsea seats selling fast!“
West Ham v Chelsea, Wednesday 7.45pm
