PARIS, (Reuters) – European soccer chief Michel Platini, one of the most prominent figures to vote four years ago to hold the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, has called for the vote to be held again if allegations of corruption in Qatar’s bid are proved. World soccer governing body FIFA is investigating the bids that awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar and the 2018 Cup to Russia, including allegations that bribes were paid to secure the Qatari bid. A former U.S. prosecutor is due to deliver a report in July, about a week after the end of the upcoming World Cup in Brazil, which could see Qatar stripped of the Cup. “Should corruption be proven, it will take a new vote and sanctions,” Platini, a French former soccer legend who now heads European soccer governing body UEFA, told sports daily L’Equipe, the first time he has backed potentially moving the Cup. Qatar’s 2022 bid has long been under fire because the tiny country has no soccer tradition, few domestic fans and summer temperatures of more than 50 degrees Celsius (120 Fahrenheit) during the months when the World Cup is played.

PARIS, (Reuters) – Andy Murray will draw on the experience of being a grand slam champion and Ernests Gulbis is to rely on his “unhealthy diet full of ketchup” as they attempt to prevent a Rafa Nadal-Novak Djokovic French Open final.

The last time Murray faced eight-times champion Nadal at Roland Garros, in the 2011 semi-finals, the Briton was still one of the many also-rans on the tour.

Since then, however, the Scot has captured the U.S. Open title and sent 60 million Britons into delirium by winning Wimbledon last July.

That success has made Murray believe he can pull off a feat achieved only once in the past decade – beating Nadal in a five-set match on the Spaniard’s beloved red clay.

“I obviously know how to win these tournaments now so hopefully that will give me a little bit more confidence and belief when I go on the court on Friday,” said the seventh seed who has not won a title since that surreal July day in southwest London. “I’ll give 100 percent of what I’ve got on Friday and see how it goes.” Even that might not be enough against a man who hates leaving Roland Garros without landing the Musketeers’ Cup.

When Robin Soderling designed the blueprint for beating Nadal at Roland Garros in 2009, someone should have told him to copyright the plans and sell it on the open market.

Had he done so, the Swede would have had a bestseller on his hands but instead, more than five years later, he astonishingly remains the only man to have beaten Nadal at the home of claycourt tennis. While most pundits are not convinced Murray has the firepower to stop Nadal extending his French Open win-loss record to 65-1 today, the Spaniard refused to write off the Briton’s chances.

 

BIG CHALLENGE

“He’s a candidate to win Roland Garros. It will be a big match and big challenge for me,” the 28-year-old Nadal, who has won 14 of their 19 meetings, told a disbelieving audience.The only man considered to have the stamina, belief and weapons to finally knock Nadal off his lofty pedestal is Djokovic.

However, the Serb first needs to show his ketchup-loving childhood friend Gulbis that an indisciplined lifestyle does not lend itself to tennis success