Monday, January 29, 2018Jumada I 12, 1439 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

‘Special’ time as Pakistango top ofT20 world

China’s rising star Li beats McIlroy to win in Dubai

CRICKET CRICKET | Page 3 GOLF GOLF | Page 4

TENNIS

20 majors down,Roger’s fairytalecontinuesPage 2

KINGS OF ASIAQatar, who have already qualified for Worlds, beat Bahrain in the final to complete a hat-trick of Asian handball titles

ASIAN HANDBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

By Sports ReporterSuwon, South Korea

Bertrand Roine and Frankis Marzo scored eight goals each as Qatar produced a sensational

late surge to overcame a tough challenge from Bahrain and com-plete a hat-trick of Asian Hand-ball Championship titles here at the Suwon Gymnasium yester-day.

In a match that would go down in history as a classic, Qatar won 33-31 after Marzo hit a purple match over the fi nal 11 minutes that helped give them a decisive four-goal advantage (30-26) that proved the turning point.

Coach Valero Rivera had warned his players that title matches could throw up sur-prises, and the Bahrainis almost proved him right by staying in the match for its better part be-fore Qatar were able to break free and make history of their own, having won the title in 2014 and 2016 too.

“Our team deserved to win the title. This achievement has not come from a vacuum but as a re-sult of the hard work put in both by the team and the management over the past few years,” a visibly thrilled Rivera said after the fi nal.

“I am very happy with this achievement and naturally proud of the players as they not only displayed tremendous stamina and discipline but were also technically better than any oth-er team in the tournament,” he added.

Rivera conceded that Bahrain proved a tough customer.

“The game was not easy. I was not happy with the team’s per-

formance in the fi rst half. But in the second half we played well and managed to raise our game considerably and win the title.”

The Spaniard, however, added that no team deserved the title more than Qatar.

“There is no doubt that we are the best in Asia. Our third straight title proves it beyond doubt. Winning the Asian title was an ambitious project for us. I thank all the players for their ef-forts.”

Bahrain, who had suff ered heartbreaks in the fi nal in 2014 and 2016 editions of the tourna-ment, were determined to avoid a third straight defeat and played out of their skins to dominate the early exchanges.

They were fi rst on the score-board, and by the time the match was 12 minutes old, had taken a 9-6 lead forcing Qatar to play catch-up.

But Rafael Capote and Yousef Ben Ali rose to the challenge and cut down the lead to just one point. Bahrain, however, didn’t allow Qatar to sneak ahead at any point of time, with a goal by Jassim al-Salatna on the left wing with just a second remaining helping them take a one-goal advantage (17-16) into the second half.

Qatar were off the blocks in style when play resumed with a right-wing shot from Allaedine Berrached on an assist by Roine helping them pull level.

Roine then put Qatar 18-17 up, only for the second time in the match, with a seven-metre shot off an assist from Youssef Ben Ali.

The lead kept changing hands after that, but with the scores tied at 24-all in the 17th minute of the session, a fast break goal by Berrached from an assist by Ahmed Madadi put Qatar ahead once again.

At this point, Ben Ali produced a crucial steal, passing to Hassan Mabrouk, who stunned the Bah-rain defence with another fast break goal as Qatar posted a two-goal lead (26-24) for the fi rst time in the match.

Although Hussain al-Sayyad pulled one back for Bahrain with a 9m shot past goalkeeper Dani-jel Saric, Marzo soon restored Qatar’s two-goal advantage with a 6m shot (27-24).

With the clock ticking, the Bahrainis needed to come up with something extraordinary to prevent Qatar from running away with the match.

But that didn’t happen as Mar-zo literally turned into a one-man demolition squad, scoring three times more in as many minutes, including a brilliant eff ort from nine metres, to enable Qatar take a 30-26 lead.

Bahrain tried their best and pulled close (31-29), but a fi ne eff ort from Roine coupled with Marzo’s fi fth goal in a matter of 11minutes, gave Qatar a four-goal cushion (33-29). Marzo was ad-judged MVP of the fi nal for his impressive eff orts.

With only a minute and two seconds left for the hooter to sound, Bahrain summoned their last reserves in a bid to produce something magical.

But they just managed two goals, the last one from Ab-dulqader Ali coming with six seconds on the clock remaining, as the Qatari camp erupted in joy.

Yousef Ben Ali with fi ve goals, and Berrached and Kamaleldeen Mallash with three apiece were the other main scorers for Qatar.

In the third place playoff , hosts South Korea defeated Saudi Ara-bia 29-21.

By Sports ReporterSuwon, South Korea

Qatar Handball Federation President Ahmed al-Shaabi dedicated Qatar’s Asian Handball Championship title to His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim

bin Hamad al-Thani, Qatar Olympic Committee President HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani and to all the people of Qatar.

“Thanks to their support and to the great per-formance of our players we were able to win our third straight Asian title,” said al-Shaabi.

“What is important is that we were unbeaten in eight matches of the tournament, which itself shows that we are the undisputed kings of Asian handball,” he added.

Al-Shaabi said winning the continental title was not a walk in the park by any measure.

“There were many good teams in the tourna-ment and Qatar had to be at their best. It was by no means an easy job to do.”

Qatar’s ambassador to South Korea, HE Mo-

hamed bin Abdullah al-Dehaimi, who wit-nessed the fi nal, was all praise for the team and thanked His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani for the support the govern-ment gives to sport.

“I am very happy with this achievement. I was in the stadium to watch the fi nal and see the team shine on such a big stage,” said al-Dehaimi.

“I congratulate the Qatar Handball Federa-tion, especially its President Ahmed al-Shaabi, the board and all the technical and administra-tive offi cials.”

When asked for his opinion on the fi nal match, he said: “The game was very tough. It underlines the level of all the teams. But Qatar managed to win the title, which makes every Qatari happy.”

Badr Diab, Vice President of the International Handball Federation, said Qatar fully deserved the title.

“The tournament witnessed some great com-petition but Qatar deserved to win the title. They were simply the best,” the Kuwaiti said. “I am very happy with the quality of the matches that was on display in the tournament.”

Victory dedicated to Emir, people of Qatar

Qatar handball players, Qatar Handball Federation president Ahmed al-Shaabi, national team coach Valero Rivera and other off icials celebrate with the trophy after winning the Asian Handball Championship in Suwon, South Korea, yesterday.

AFPMelbourne

Caroline Wozniacki said “no-body knows” how much hard work and sheer guts she had to put in before realising her

Grand Slam dream.Twelve years, 67 weeks at world

number one, 149 Grand Slam matches, three major fi nals and countless dis-appointments were all made worth-while on Saturday night when she was crowned Australian Open champion.

An epic 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4 win against Simona Halep in a near-three hour match in brutal heat and humidity also elevated her back to the top of the world rankings after a six-year hiatus, the longest gap in history between spells at the top.

“Honestly, nobody knows how much work, dedication you put into it,” she told reporters with the winner’s Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy by her side.

Following Wozniacki’s second Slam fi nal in New York in 2014, where she lost to Serena Williams, her fi tness and form went on the slide.

Many observers believed she was fi n-ished and would retire, but the deter-

mined Dane had other ideas.“All I could tell myself was: ‘You

know what, you’ve given it everything you have. If it’s going to happen, it’s go-ing to happen’.”

She went into the US Open in 2016 at a lowly 74th in the world, but with her desire undiminished.

“I think just I’d been through a lot of injuries at that point,” the 27-year-old refl ected. “Then you start losing

to some players who you’re not really thinking you should lose to. It’s frus-trating. I was, like, hoping eventually it’s going to turn around.”

‘IT’S SURREAL’Unseeded, she reached the semi-fi nals at Flushing Meadows that year, losing to eventual champion Angelique Ker-ber, and it kickstarted her climb back up the rankings.

WTA titles at Tokyo and Hong Kong followed in the next two months and she ended the 2016 back in the top 20.

“Since then I’ve been playing really consistent and really well,” she said.

In 2017 the resurgence continued and she reached six fi nals, eventually get-ting over the fi nish line by retaining her Pan-Pacifi c title in Tokyo in September.

Her biggest win followed at the WTA Tour fi nals in November — that was un-

til Saturday in Melbourne. “Being here tonight as a Grand Slam

champion, Australian Open champion, it’s very special,” she said.

Wozniacki became the fi rst Dane to win a Grand Slam and moved behind only Jana Novotna (45), Marion Bartoli (47) and Flavia Pennetta (49) for the most major appearances before claiming one.

It is 12 years since Wozniacki fi rst came to notice, winning junior Wim-bledon.

A fi rst Grand Slam fi nal defeat came against Kim Clijsters in New York in 2009 and on October 11, 2010 she be-came world number one for the fi rst time.

Even if she hadn’t won on Saturday, Wozniacki said she would be able to hold her head high.

“To be honest with you, regardless, I think I’ve had an incredible career. The end of the day, I think a lot of people would like to be in my position,” she said. “Obviously adding a Grand Slam to my CV is what caps it off .”

And she revealed she had received a royal seal of approval for the victory.

“I’ve heard from the (Danish) royal family — they’ve congratulated me, they were very thrilled for me,” she said as she paraded her new trophy in Melbourne’s

botanical gardens yesterday morning.“It’s still pretty surreal. It’s been

a crazy last 10 hours or so. I think I’m overwhelmed, I had an hour and a half sleep last night,” she added.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

Gulf Times Monday, January 29, 20182

Wozniacki’s long, hard road back to the topBOTTOMLINE

Pavic, Dabrowski win mixeddoubles titleCroatia’s Mate Pavic and Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski beat India’s Rohan Bopanna and Timea Babos of Hungary 2-6 6-4 (11-9) to win the Australian Open mixed doubles title yesterday. Pavic and Dabrowski saved a championship point before closing out the match tiebreak under a closed roof at Rod Laver Arena. It was Pavic’s second title of the tournament after winning the men’s doubles title with Austrian Oliver Marach. “It feels pretty good, I have to say,” Pavic said of his two titles. “I did not imagine that I’m able to do that. If somebody would have told me, I wouldn’t believe him.”

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark poses with the women’s singles trophy in a gondola during the winner’s photoshoot at the Botanical Gardens in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. (Reuters)

MAJORS DOWN,ROGER'S FAIRYTALE CONTINUESFederer survives a second set ‘freeze’ and a late rally by Cilic to win in five sets

ReutersMelbourne

Roger Federer savoured the latest chapter of a late-ca-reer fairytale that delivered a sixth Australian Open crown

yesterday and a very “special” 20th Grand Slam title.

Federer, a nervous defending cham-pion, survived a second set ‘freeze’ and a late rally by sixth seed Marin Cilic before winning 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 under the closed roof of Rod Laver Arena.

After a fi ve-year drought, a rejuve-nated Federer has bagged three Grand Slam titles in the past 12 months, em-ulating Australia’s Ken Rosewall who claimed the same number after his 35th birthday.

Since his maiden major title at Wimbledon in 2003, several genera-tions of young pretenders have come and gone, yet Federer has outlasted them all.

He has now shared the last fi ve Grand Slam titles with 31-year-old Spanish great and long-time rival Ra-fael Nadal, a state of aff airs, the Swiss said, he could scarcely believe.

But with his other ‘Big Four’ rivals — Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray — struggling with inju-ries and the ‘Next-

Gen’ talents yet to make a breakthrough, the tally could well rise if he manages his body and schedule correctly.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I have no idea. I’ve won three Slams now in 12 months. I can’t believe it myself,” the 36-year-old Federer told reporters.

“I just got to keep a good schedule, stay hungry, then maybe good things

can happen. Then I don’t think age is an issue, per se. It’s just a number.

“But I need to be very careful in my planning, really decide beforehand what are my goals, what are my pri-orities.

“I think that’s what’s g o -

ing to dictate how successful I will be,” added Federer, whose decision to skip the entire claycourt season last year despite being fi t paid off when he claimed a record eighth Wimbledon title last July.

“Exciting times ahead.”Although speeding to vic-

tory in the deciding set, Federer came

into the match a b u n -

dle of nerves, having been denied a proper semi-fi nal against South Ko-rea’s Chung Hyeon, who retired hurt in the second set.

“I didn’t fall asleep very well after the Chung match,” said Federer.

“I think it surprised me that at this stage of a competition in semis, to get a walkover, that was very odd for me. I couldn’t fall asleep until about three in the morning.

“All of the next day I was already thinking about how should I play Marin, ‘how cool would it be to win

20?’, but no, don’t think of it, ‘but

h o w

horrible would it be to lose it’.“I had it for over 36 hours, to be

honest. It was a lot.”Cilic roared back into the match

after the opening set and had break points on Federer’s serve early in the decider.

The Swiss said experience and “a bit of luck” had got him over the line to equal Djokovic and Roy Emerson’s record of six Australian Open titles.

“Defending my title from last year, sort of the fairytale continues,” he said. “That’s what stands out for me, maybe not equalling Emerson or Novak. They had their own unbelievable careers.

“It’s defi nitely a very special mo-ment in my life again.”

Cilic blames closed roof for slow start against FedererReutersMelbourne

Australian Open runner-up Marin Cilic queried the decision to close the roof at

Rod Laver Arena for the men’s final yesterday and said it had contributed to his slow start in defeat to Roger Federer.Having prepared for the match ex-posed to the elements on a scorching hot day, Croatian Cilic lost 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the much cooler indoor

conditions in the evening match.Federer, who trained indoors earlier in the day, wrapped up the opening set in 24 minutes as a flustered Cilic struggled to find his range and fret-ted about his racket tension.“Throughout the tournament I played all my matches outdoors, also preparing (for) a hot day, 38 de-grees,” the sixth seed and former US Open champion Cilic told reporters.“Then (for) the first match for the final to play with the roof closed, it’s diff icult. I have to say that decision, could it have been diff erent?

“I guess so. I think that it was just little bit diff icult to adjust, especially the beginning of the match.

“With the roof closed, it was way, way cooler than I expected. That was very, very diff icult, especially for the final to be in that kind of a situation.”Tournament organisers cited the ‘wet bulb globe temperature’, its humidity measure, as being above the thresh-old of 32.5 as their reason for the roof closure.The roof closure triggered a barrage of criticism from current and former play-ers, with former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash saying it played right into 36-year-old Federer’s hands.“The way Roger plays, he swings so

hard at the ball and takes it so early, any wind or variation of the ball moving will take it away from him. It’s why he’s one of the best players ever indoors,” the Australian said during commentary for BBC radio.“I can’t believe they’ve closed the roof,” British doubles player Jamie Murray tweeted.“Absolutely ridiculous that the roof is closed for the Australian Open. GS are outdoor events. Yes it’s hot but the court is under shade and an evening match,” tweeted British former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski.

CRICKET3Gulf Times

Monday, January 29, 2018

‘Special’ time as Pakistan go top of Twenty20 world

Raina returns to India’s T20 squad

Pacer Unadkat joins Stokes team in $1.8mn IPL deal

ACHIEVEMENT

COMEBACK

AFPNew Delhi

India yesterday recalled vet-eran batsman Suresh Raina to their Twenty20 squad for a three-match series in

South Africa next month.The 31-year-old left-hander,

who last played a T20 against England in February last year, was included in the 16-member squad led by Virat Kohli, the In-dian cricket board said Sunday. The series starts February 18 in Johannesburg.

The selectors kept faith with young wrist spinners Yuzvendra

Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav ahead of seniors Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.

India, who lost the Test series against the Proteas 2-1, have six one-day internationals starting February 1 before the T20 games.

India’s squad for the T20I series:Virat Kohli (capt) Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Lokesh Rahul, Suresh Raina, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Manish Pandey, Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuv-neshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Jaydev Unadkat, Shardul Thakur.

‘They worked really hard and now we are again number one’AFPMount Maunganui, New Zealand

Pakistan laid claim to being the best Twenty20 side in the world Sunday after beating New Zea-land in the series-deciding fi nal

Twenty20 match in Mount Maunganui.The 18-run victory gave Pakistan a

come-from-behind 2-1 series win that will see them overtake New Zealand at the top of the world T20 rankings.

An animated captain Sarfraz Ahmed leapt with delight and punched the air after the fi nal ball as Pakistan pulled off back-to-back wins over the hosts.

It marked an incredible comeback for the tourists who were whitewashed in the fi ve-match one-day series on arrival in New Zealand and lost the fi rst Twenty20.

“It was a tough tour for us because... we lost the (ODI) series but T20s is a to-tally diff erent format,” said speedster Mohamed Amir, who won the man-of-the-series award.

“It is very special for all Pakistani peo-ple.”

Ahmed praised the team eff ort and the way his side refused to be bowed after a disappointing start to the tour.

“They way we came back after 6-0, credit goes to my boys. They worked re-ally hard and now we are again number one.”

Batting fi rst on a friendly wicket, Pa-kistan reached 181 for six with opener Fa-khar Zaman making 46 off 36 at the top of the innings.

With wickets in hand, Umar Amin was able to lead a late charge that saw 58 runs scored in the fi nal four overs.

New Zealand, in reply, were never up with the run chase, and managed 163 for six in their 20 overs.

The defeat followed a 48-run loss in the second Twenty20, which ended a 13-match winning streak across all for-mats, and put a dampener on New Zea-land’s preparation for next month’s trian-gular series with Australia and England.

Zaman was the architect at the start of the Pakistan innings with a sharp 46 before being dismissed in a debatable decision when Tom Bruce took a catch at ground level.

Television replays were inconclusive on whether the ball touched the grass, and after lengthy deliberations the third umpire ruled in favour of the on-fi eld de-cision.

New Zealand managed to arrest Paki-stan’s brisk early run rate in the middle of the innings until Amin lashed out. His 21 came off the fi rst fi ve balls in an over from Ish Sodhi before the New Zealand spinner claimed the wicket off the fi nal delivery.

Haris Sohail chipped in with 20 off 12 balls while Aamer Yamin, replacing the injured Hasan Ali, faced six deliveries for his 15. New Zealand struggled from the start of their reply to get near the required run rate of more than nine an over, and were in early trouble when Williamson was out for nine.

Martin Guptill attempted to bully the bowlers but it was primarily a lone stand. When he was removed for 59 off 43 balls in the 13th over, the required run rate had shot up to 13.57.

Ross Taylor put the ball over the boundary fence three times in his 25 off 10 balls.

But with his dismissal in the 17th over, New Zealand were 128 for fi ve and their hopes of a miraculous comeback were over.

PakistanFakhar Zaman c Bruce b Santner ...........................46

Ahmed Shehzad c Blundell b de Grandhomme 19

Babar Azam c Williamson b Sodhi ..........................18

Sarfraz Ahmed c Sodhi b Santner ..........................29

Haris Sohail not out .......................................................20

Umar Amin c de Grandhomme b Sodhi ...............21

Faheem Ashraf b Boult ...................................................8

Aamer Yamin not out ..................................................... 15

Extras: (lb2, w2, nb 1) ......................................................5

Total: (for 6 wickets; 20 overs) ............................. 181

Fall of wickets: 1-30 (Ahmed), 2-66 (Babar),

3-106 (Fakhar), 4-123 (Sarfraz), 5-156 (Umar),

6-164 (Faheem)

Bowling: Southee 4-0-39-0, Boult 4-0-33-1 (w1),

de Grandhomme 4-0-36-1 (1w), Sodhi 4-0-47-2

(1nb), Santner 4-0-24-2

New ZealandM. Guptill c Fakhar b Shadab ....................................59

K. Williamson c Babar b Faheem .............................. 9

A. Kitchen st Sarfraz b Shadab ..................................16

T. Bruce b Rumman ........................................................ 22

C. de Grandhomme b Aamer ........................................1

R. Taylor c Sarfraz b Amir ........................................... 25

T. Blundell not out ..............................................................3

M. Santner not out ..........................................................24

Extras: (w3, nb 1) .................................................................4

Total: (for 6 wickets; 20.0 overs) ......................... 163

Fall of wickets: 1-32 (Williamson), 2-84 (Kitchen),

3-87 (Guptill), 4-89 (de Grandhomme), 5-128

(Taylor), 6-134 (Bruce)

Bowling: Aamer 4-0-25-1 (1w), Rumman 4-0-41-1

(1w), Amir 4-0-23-1 (1w), Faheem 4-0-55-1 (1nb),

Shadab 4-0-19-2

Toss: Pakistan

Result: Pakistan won by 18 runs

Series: Pakistan 2-1

Umpires: Wayne Knights (NZL), Shaun Haig

(NZL)

AFPBangalore, India

Pace bowler Jaydev Unadkat joined Ben Stokes in the Rajasthan Roy-als for $1.8mn yesterday but a host of foreign stars went unsold

in the Indian Premier League auction.The Royals made Unadkat the second

most expensive player in the auction be-hind England’s Stokes who they bought for $1.96mn on the opening day.

Stokes — still facing an assault crimi-nal case in England — and Unadkat will join Australian captain Steve Smith at the Royals as they return to the lucrative T20 league after a two-year illegal gambling ban.

The Royals were inaugural IPL cham-pions in 2008 but were barred for two seasons with Chennai Super Kings in 2015 over an illegal gambling scandal.

The team also spent almost $1mn for uncapped Indian off -spinner Krishnappa Gowtham but were on top of the world after getting Stokes.

Royals executive chairman Ranjit Borthakur shrugged off any doubts about Stokes’ legal troubles preventing him from playing in India.

“We are prepared for legal conse-quences too. He will be a very important part of the team. We are like a start-up company. We are restarting,” Borthakur said.

There was disappointment though for England Test skipper Joe Root, South Af-rica’s Hashim Amla amd Sri Lanka pace-man Lasith Malinga who all failed to fi nd bidders on the second day.

Root, Amla and Malinga did not attract bids in Saturday’s fi rst round and were not even called back for the second day.

South Africa quick Dale Steyn, Aus-tralia batsman Shaun Marsh and New Zealand’s Corey Anderson and Martin

Guptill were called back but did not at-tract an off er.

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle only found a place in the third round of bid-ding when Kings XI Punjab claimed him at the reserve price of $314,000.

Gayle is one of the T20 league’s most prolifi c scorers but disappointed last year

with just 200 runs in nine games for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The second day belonged to Indian and lesser-known talent with the 26-year-old Unadkat, who has played one Test and seven one-day internationals, drawing bigger bids than big home names.

Indian batsmen Manish Pandey and

Lokesh Rahul both pocketed $1.7mn after being sold to Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab respectively on Saturday.

Mumbai Indians yesterday took West Indies’ left-handed opener Evin Lewis for $600,000.

Among other foreign players to draw bids was Australia all-rounder Dan Chris-tian, who was sold to Delhi Daredevils for $238,000 and and England’s Sam Billings went to Chennai for $158,000.

Teenage leg-spinner Sandeep Lamich-hane became the fi rst Nepalese to land an IPL deal. Delhi Daredevils paid $318,000 for him.

Lamichhane, 17, took 14 wickets in the under-19 World Cup last year when Ne-pal came eighth.

Some 581 players were up for auction ahead of the season which runs from April 7 to May 27. The IPL has been boosted by a new fi ve year $2.5-billion media deal.

The two-day Indian Premier League auction ended Sunday with eight teams spending almost $70mn for the 2018 sea-son. Here are the top 10 buys by value:

Ben Stokes (England — allrounder) Rajasthan Royals $1.96mnJaydev Unadkat (India — paceman) Rajasthan Royals $1.8mnManish Pandey (India — batsman) Sunrisers Hyderabad $1.7mnLokesh Rahul (India — batsman) Kings XI Punjab $1.7mnChris Lynn (Australia — batsman) Kolkata Knight Riders $1.5mnMitchell Starc (Australia — paceman) Kolkata Knight Riders $1.47mnGlenn Maxwell (Australia — all-rounder) Delhi Daredevils $1.41mnRashid Khan (Afghanistan — spin bowler) Sunrisers Hyderabad $1.41mnKrunal Pandya (India — all-rounder) Mumbai Indians $1.38mnSanju Samson (India — wicketkeeper-batsman) Rajasthan Royals $1.25mn

Pakistani players celebrate winning the series after the third Twenty20 international cricket match against New Zealand at Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui yesterday.

BOTTOMLINE

Jaydev Unadkat...1.8 million dollar man.

ReutersPerth

Paceman Tom Curran claimed a career-best fi ve for 35 to derail Aus-tralia’s chase in the in-

augural match at Perth’s new stadium and help England win the fi fth and fi nal one-dayer by 12 runs yesterday.

England squandered a strong start and were all out for 259 in-side 48 overs. Curran then came up with a lethal spell of reverse swing to help England bowl out Australia for 247 and complete their 4-1 series victory after fail-ing to win a single test in the pre-ceding Ashes series.

“We’re spoilt for choice at the moment, guys are fi ghting for positions left, right and centre... to win while we’re learning, I think is pretty special,” victori-ous captain Eoin Morgan told the host broadcaster.

England openers Jason Roy (49) and Jonny Bairstow (44) capitalised on the fast outfi eld, putting on a 71-run opening stand in quick time.

The middle and lower orders failed to make an impact though, as Andrew Tye (5-46) and fellow paceman Mitchell Marsh (2-24) restricted the tourists.

Man-of-the-series Joe Root ensured his team reached a de-fendable total with a determined 62.

Marcus Stoinis anchored Aus-tralia’s reply with a fl uent 87 but it was otherwise a disappoint-ing batting performance by the world champions.

Glenn Maxwell and Tim Paine both scored 34 but it was not enough in the end and Australia collapsed in the penultimate over.

Curran and spinner Moeen Ali (3-55) were England’s chief destroyers, ensuring that Aus-tralia’s fi rst win at Perth Stadium will have to wait at least another season.

The dazzling $1.3bn Colosse-um-like stadium is now West-ern Australia’s premier sporting venue for cricket and Australian

Rules football, taking over from both the WACA Ground and Subiaco Oval.

England J. Roy c Hazlewood b Tye ...... 49 J. Bairstow b Starc ..................... 44 A. Hales c Maxwell b Marsh ...35 J. Root c Warner b Tye ............. 62 E. Morgan c Stoinis b Marsh ..... 3 J. Buttler c Warner b Tye ..........21 M. Ali c Tye b Zampa .....................6 A. Rashid run out ...........................12 D. Willey c Marsh b Tye ............... 2 T. Curran not out ............................ 11 J. Ball b Tye ........................................0 Extras (b4, lb2, nb1, w7) ........... 14 Total (all out, 47.4 overs) ......259 Fall of wickets: 1-71 (Roy), 2-117 (Bairstow), 3-151 (Hales), 4-157 (Morgan), 5-192 (Buttler), 6-214 (Ali), 7-238 (Rashid), 8-245 (Wil-ley), 9-258 (Root) 10-259 (Ball) Bowling: Starc 9-0-63-1 (1w,1nb), Hazlewood 9-0-51-0 (1w), Marsh 7-0-24-2, Tye 9.4-0-46-5 (4w), Zampa 10-0-46-1 (1w), Maxwell 3-0-23-0 Australia D. Warner b Curran .......................15 T. Head run out ..............................22 M. Stoinis c Curran b Rashid...87 S. Smith st Buttler b Ali ..............12 M. Marsh c and b Ali.....................13 G. Maxwell lbw Curran ............. 34 T. Paine b Curran ......................... 34 M. Starc c Buttler b Curran ........0 A. Tye c Morgan b Ali....................8 A. Zampa b Curran ....................... 11 J. Hazlewood not out ...................0 Extras (lb7, w4) ............................. 11 Total (all out, 48.2 overs) .....247 Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Warner), 2-86 (Head), 3-119 (Smith), 4-133 (Marsh), 5-189 (Stoinis), 6-192 (Maxwell), 7-192 (Starc), 8-203 (Tye), 9-236 (Zampa), 10-247 (Paine) Bowling: Willey 9-1-37-0 (2w), Curran 9.2-0-35-5 (1w), Ali 10-0-55-3, Rashid 10-0-55-1, Ball 10-0-58-0 (1w) England won by 12 runs, take series 4-1 Toss: Australia Umpires: Simon Fry (AUS), Chris Gaff aney (NZL) TV umpire: Kumar Dharmase-na (SRL) Match referee: Ranjan Madu-galle (SRL)

Curran fi ve-for secures England’s thrilling Perth win

SPOTLIGHT

Mashrafe fi ned for yelling at opponent

Dhaka: Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza was fined 20 per cent of his match fees yes-terday for aggressive behaviour during his team’s loss in the tri-nation one-day international tournament final against Sri Lanka.Match referee David Boon fined Mashrafe after his on-field run in with Sri Lankan batsman Kusal Mendis during Saturday’s title clash in Dhaka.The incident happened in the sixth over of the Sri Lankan innings when Mortaza ran close to Mendis after the batsman’s dismissal, the International Cricket Council said.He yelled loudly and looked directly at the opener “in a man-

ner that could have provoked an aggressive reaction,” the ICC said. The match referee also warned Sri Lankan cricketer Dhanuska Gunathilaka for a similar reaction in the sixth over of the Bangladesh innings fol-lowing the dismissal of batsman Tamim Iqbal.While it was Gunathilaka’s first off ence, Mortaza has been sanc-tioned for the second time since the introduction of a revised code in September 2016, the ICC added. “Both the players admit-ted the off ences,” said the ICC.Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will now play a two-Test series with the first match beginning in the port city of Chittagong on Wednesday.

SPORT

Gulf Times Monday, January 29, 20184

China’s rising star Li beats McIlroy to Dubai title

McCarthy wins Aussie road race

Wild Woods battles to two-under 70 at Torrey Pines

GOLF

BOTTOMLINE

SPOTLIGHT

AFPLa Jolla, United States

Tiger Woods was all over the map Saturday, but the 14-time major champion managed to

salvage a two-under par 70 in the third round of the Farmers Insur-ance Open.

“I didn’t hit it worth a darn all day,” said Woods, who was playing the weekend of a US PGA Tour event for the fi rst time since August of 2015. “I was re-ally struggling out there, trying to fi nd anything that was resem-blance of a golf swing.

“But I was scoring. I was chip-ping, putting. I was grinding,” added Woods, who hit just three of 14 fairways on the Torrey Pines South Course, where his eight wins include his 14th and most recent major title at the 2008 US Open.

Some deft work around the greens, four birdie putts ranging from a tap-in to a 15-footer, and a few clutch par-saving putts in the bargain saw Woods fi nish with a three-under par total of 213 — eight shots off the lead held by Sweden’s Alex Noren.

Noren, a nine-time winner on the European Tour, rolled in a 38-foot eagle putt at the sixth, and after a double-bogey at the 12th he grabbed three birdies in his last six holes.

That included a two-putt birdie at 18 which capped a three-under par 69 for 11-under 205.

“I got it around in three-un-der, which I was happy about,” Noren said. “I hit a lot of greens. Made a mistake there on 12, made a double. It’s a tough hole but a double felt pretty rough after just lipping out the hole before and having good chances.

“So I’m happy coming back

from that.”He was one stroke in front of

Ryan Palmer, the fi rst-round leader who bogeyed 14 and 16 to fall back with a one-over 73 for 206.

Defending champion Jon Rahm, his eye on Dustin John-son’s world number one ranking, was in the mix, but a double-bogey seven at the 18th left him sharing 12th, four shots off the pace.

While the likes of Noren, Palmer and Rahm jockeyed for the lead in relative quiet, Woods again attracted a large and bois-terous gallery.

“I haven’t had people yelling like that in a while,” Woods said. “I’ve played well here over the course of my career and I think a lot of these fans just want to see some of that. And trust me, I’m trying.”

The 42-year-old superstar is making his return to the PGA Tour for the fi rst time since missing the cut at Torrey Pines last year.

He had missed all of 2016 bat-tling back trouble, and last year’s comeback bid was cut short by recurring pain and spinal fusion surgery in April.

Woods, who says he’s playing without pain for the fi rst time in years, was trending in the right direction, with rounds of 72-71-70.

“It would be nice to shoot something in the 60s,” Woods said. “I would like to do some-thing a little bit easier than I did today, hit some more fairways, more greens, make it more con-ventional.”

Woods’s fused spine got a workout as he repeatedly hit out of dense rough.

“I was trying to miss the ball on the correct sides because I knew I didn’t have it,” he said.

It was 22-year-old Li’s second win on the European Tour following his triumph at the 2016 China Open

AFPGeelong, Australia

Jay McCarthy became the fi rst local rider to win the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race yesterday, bat-tling through extreme heat to fi n-

ish in a sprint ahead of Italian Elia Viviani.McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) took

the fourth edition of the 164-kilometre (102-mile) race in Victoria in four hours and four minutes.

Viviani (Quick-Step Floors) and South Africa’s Daryl Impey (Mitchel-ton-SCOTT), who won the UCI season-opening Tour Down Under in South Australia last week, were in second and third place respectively with the same time.

McCarthy, 25, who was second in the Australian Road Race Championship earlier this month, said he was speech-less at fi nishing his last race in Australia with a win before heading back to Eu-rope.

He had talked up his chances of a win before the race — named after Australian cycling great Cadel Evans — as teammate and three-time world cycling champion Peter Sagan had left Australia after the

Tour Down Under. Viviani said he was disappointed to have fi nished second but pleased with the start to his season.

“If the fi nish line was one metre later I would have won,” the 28-year-old said.

“Not easy for me this course. I’m happy about my shape. Sometimes during the season I never fi nish in front of race like that one. So in January my shape is good.”

The peloton caught the leaders with 15 kilometres to go, and a breakout of nine riders went clear in the fi nal city circuit including Gerrans (BMC Racing Team), Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-SCOTT), Impey and McCarthy.

McCarthy eventually proved too strong in the sprint to the fi nish. Danish rider Lasse Norman Hansen (Aqua Blue Sport) claimed the King of the Mountain jersey, while 20-year-old Belgian Bjorg Lam-brecht (Lotto Soudal) won the inaugural Gerry Ryan Award for best young rider.

AFPDubai

China’s Li Haotong displayed nerves of steel to beat Rory McIl-roy in a head-to-head battle and win the $3mn Dubai Desert Clas-

sic yesterday.In an intense battle played out between

the two players in the fi nal group, Li managed to protect his one-shot lead at the start of the day by shooting a three-under-par round of 69 to tally a tourna-ment-record 23-under total of 265.

McIlroy, who had surged ahead just af-ter the turn, also made a 69 but a three-putt par on the par-5 13th hole, followed by a bogey on the par-4 16th, proved cru-cial as he fi nished on 266.

It was 22-year-old Li’s second win on the European Tour following his triumph at the 2016 China Open, and he is sure of becoming the fi rst Chinese player to crack into the top 50 of the world rank-ings today.

“It was incredible to play with Rory. I gained a lot of experience from him. This win gives me a lot of confi dence and will help me do better in the majors this year,” said Li, who came third at last year’s Brit-ish Open at Birkdale.

He is now expected to rise to number 32

in the world. Li started the day one ahead of McIlroy, but a bogey on the fi rst hole brought them level. Both then birdied the third and seventh holes to make the turn at 21 under par, way ahead of the fi eld.

England’s Tyrrell Hatton briefl y threatened to join the party with four birdies in six holes starting from the ninth, but he fi nished on 20-under after missing a birdie putt from four feet on the 17th and then hitting his second shot into the water on the 18th hole.

There was a two-shot swing in McIl-roy’s favour on the 10th hole when Li had

to take an unplayable from the bushes after a wayward drive and made a bogey, while the Northern Irishman got his bird-ie. The situation remained the same after McIlroy made a bogey from the bunker on the par-3 11th, followed by a Li bogey on the 12th.

It was then that the four-time major champion made his mistakes on the 13th and 16th holes, while Li made a stunning 20-feet birdie putt from the back fringe on the 15th.

“This is incredible. I just didn’t think I could make that putt on 15. That was

huge. I think that was the turning point. And also on 18, I didn’t think I would make that one, either. Was quite happy in the end,” said Li, who made a 10-feet birdie putt on the fi nal hole to ensure the tournament did not go into a play-off .

McIlroy remains winless since August 2016 when he won the Tour Champion-ship.

“From being two ahead standing on the 11th tee, to being, you know, level going into 16th, I don’t know, it was a couple of bad shots, a couple of poor decisions, a couple of mental errors, a few tentative putts out there, as well,” said McIlroy, who fi nished third in Abu Dhabi last week in his comeback tournament.

“But I tried until the very end. Made two good birdies. Made him win it in the end, which was all I could do, and he played very well on the way in, birdieing three of the last four. I just wish I could get a couple of those holes back.

“Having two close calls the fi rst couple of weeks of the year, it’s a little diffi cult. The competitor in me is very disappoint-ed right now.”

Hatton’s 66 saw him move to third place on 268, 20 under par. He was fol-lowed by France’s Alexander Levy (70) in sole fourth place at 19-under 269, while Chris Paisley (69) continued his remark-able form and fi nished fi fth on 17-under.

Reuters, Miami: Canada’s Brooke Henderson battled another day of windy conditions on Saturday to finish her second round five-under par overall and with a one-stroke lead at the season-opening Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic.Strong winds, which have already forced organisers to cut the competition from 72 to 54 holes, returned on Saturday, delaying the start of play at the Paradise Island Ocean Golf Club before the second round was suspended due to darkness.After winds that pushed balls around on the greens prevented play on Friday, half of the field still have nine holes of their second round to play and the tournament may have to be completed today.After posting a bogey on the only hole that she was able to com-plete on Friday, the 20-year-old Henderson mixed four birdies with four bogies to end at an even par 73 for her second round.“There were a couple of bogeys I would like to take back, but having four birdies is really good,” she said.On the last shot of the day before play was suspended for darkness, Shanshan Feng sank a two-foot putt on the par-five 18th for birdie to give her sole possession of second place with nine holes of her second round left to play.World number one Feng is attempting to win her third tournament in her last four tries going back to last year.Ryann O’Toole shot a 69 to gain a share of a five-way tie for third place that includes fellow Americans Lexi Thompson and Danielle Kang as well as Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling and rookie Luna Sobron Galmes of Spain.

Tiger Woods plays his second shot from the rough on the 12th hole during the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines South in San Diego, California.

Henderson keeps lead in windy conditions

Australian rider Jay McCarthy of Bora-Hansgrohe (R) celebrates as he wins the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road cycling race in Geelong yesterday.

LEADING DESERT CLASSIC SCORES

265 — Li Haotong (CHN) 66-66-64-69

266 — Rory McIlroy (NIR) 65-64-68-69

268 — Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) 64-72-66-66

269 — Alexander Levy (FRA) 67-67-65-70

271 — Chris Paisley (ENG) 65-69-68-69

272 — Richie Ramsay (SCO) 70-69-69-64, Chris

Hanson (ENG) 67-70-70-65, Jason Scrivener

(AUS) 70-68-68-66, Henrik Stenson (SWE)

70-64-70-68, An Byeong-hun (KOR) 72-67-65-

68, Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 69-69-66-68,

Alexander Bjork (SWE) 65-68-70-69, Ian Poulter

(ENG) 68-70-65-69, Wang Jeung-hun (KOR)

69-66-67-70, Rafa Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 69-69-

64-70, David Lipsky (USA) 69-66-67-70, Dylan

Frittelli (RSA) 69-67-66-70, Andy Sullivan (ENG)

67-70-63-72

273 — Martin Kaymer (GER) 68-69-67-69,

Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 66-68-69-70,

Haydn Porteous (RSA) 66-68-65-74

274 — Adrian Otaegui (ESP) 70-69-69-66,

Anthony Wall (ENG) 63-73-72-66, Sam Brazel

(BRA) 68-70-68-68, Alejandro Canizares (ESP)

67-68-70-69, Dean Burmester (RSA) 67-69-69-

69, Thomas Detry (BEL) 68-66-69-71, David

Horsey (ENG) 63-70-68-73

Selected others 276 — Sergio Garcia (ESP) 67-69-69-71

McCarthy, 25, who was second in the Australian Road Race Championship earlier this month, said he was speechless at fi nishing his last race in Aus-tralia with a win before heading back to Europe

Li Haotong of China poses with the winner’s trophy while celebrating his victory in the Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai yesterday.

Curry scores 49 as Warriors hold off pesky Celtics

AFPSan Francisco

Stephen Curry scored a season-high 49 points and the defending cham-pion Golden State War-

riors outlasted the Boston Celt-ics 109-105 Saturday in an NBA showdown of conference leaders.

The Celtics sought a third win in as many seasons on the War-riors’ home court and could have become the fi rst team since the 2013-14 season to sweep a sea-son series from Golden State.

But Curry seized command in the second half, outbattling Celtics star Kyrie Irving in a game that could be a preview of June’s NBA Finals. Curry went 16-of-24 from the fl oor, includ-ing 8-of-13 from 3-point range, while Irving led Boston with 37 points on 13-of-18 shooting, making 5-of-6 3-pointers.

“We bring the best out of each other,” Curry said. “He’s

an amazing type of player who can do some crazy things on the fl oor. That’s what the NBA is all about every night.”

The Celtics, down 10 points in the fourth quarter, rallied to lead briefl y before Curry took charge. Curry sank a 3-pointer to put Golden State ahead 98-95 and, after an Irving miss, sank a layup for a 100-95 Warriors’ edge with 68 seconds remaining.

Late free throws by Curry put the Warriors ahead 105-101 but Terry Rozier’s 3-pointer pulled Boston within a point with 7.7 seconds remaining, forcing Cur-ry to sink four more in the fi nal seconds to seal the triumph.

“This is like a playoff -type game,” Curry said. “This pre-pares us for what it’s going to be like in April, May and June.

“I’d like to say we sent a mes-sage that we’re still going to be in it but we have got a lot of work to do.”

The Warriors are trying to reach the NBA Finals for the

fourth consecutive season and capture their third crown in four tries. “We’ve got the rhythm and we’re trying to do something special again this year,” Curry said.

Kevin Durant had 20 points and Draymond Green added 15 points and 11 rebounds for Golden State while Jaylen Brown had 20 points and Al Horford contributed 15 points and 13 re-bounds for the Celtics.

Boston led 54-50 at half-time but Curry scored 18 points in the third quarter and the Warriors outscored Boston 30-19 in the period to grab an 80-73 edge.

“We played defense,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said in explain-ing the surge. “Finally started getting some stops so we could get out in transition.

“They made a ton of shots early. We just stayed with it and got going.”

Boston opened 6-of-7 and 10-of-13 from the fl oor against the NBA’s top defensive club, Irving

starting out 7-for-7.

Triple Double for WestbrookRussell Westbrook had a tri-

ple double with a game-high 31 points plus 11 rebounds and 13 as-sists in Oklahoma City’s 121-108 victory at Detroit.

Paul George added 26 points and Carmelo Anthony had 21 for the Thunder. Anthony became the 21st player in NBA history to reach the 25,000 career-point mark. Victor Oladipo scored a game-high 24 points and the host Indiana Pacers rallied from a 21-point defi cit to defeat Or-lando 114-112.

The Magic had their chances late but Aaron Gordon, who led Orlando with 22 points and 11 re-bounds, missed two free throws with 7.9 seconds remaining and Jonathan Simmons missed a fi -nal 3-point attempt.

Markleff Morris scored 23 points and Mike Scott had 19 to lead Washington over host At-lanta 129-104.

Miami, powered by 19 points from Josh Richardson and 17 from Wayne Ellington, closed the game with an 8-1 run to beat visiting Charlotte 95-91.

Richardson followed back-to-back layups with a free throw to give the Heat a 92-90 lead.

Kemba Walker, who scored a game-high 30 points, made 1-of-2 free throws to pull the Hornets closer but Ellington sank a 3-pointer with 4.6 sec-onds to play to seal the victory.

Jimmy Butler and Andrew Wiggins each scored 21 points to lead Minnesota over visiting Brooklyn 111-97 and Gary Har-ris scored 24 points to lead host Denver over Dallas 91-89.

Results Oklahoma City 121 Detroit 108

Indiana 114 Orlando 112

Washington 129 Atlanta 104

Miami 95 Charlotte 91

Golden State 109 Boston 105

Denver 91 Dallas 89

Minnesota 111 Brooklyn 97

NBA

‘He’s an amazing type of player who can do some crazy things on the floor’

SPORT5Gulf Times

Monday, January 29, 2018

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (left) dribbles the basketball against Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving during their NBA game at Oracle Arena. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

AFPTampa

Connor McDavid had plenty of spring in his step and Johnny Gaud-reau showed off his

smooth hands at the 2018 NHL All-Star Game skills competi-tion on Saturday night.

Edmonton Oilers forward Mc-David became the fi rst back-to-back winner of the fastest skater competition, ahead of Sunday’s All-Star Game in Tampa Bay, Florida.

The 21-year-old McDavid fi nished his lap around the rink in 13.45 seconds, just ahead of Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brayden Point who clocked 13.57. Buff alo Sabres Jack Eichel was third in 13.83.

McDavid joins Scott Nieder-mayer, Mike Gartner, Peter Bon-dra, Sami Kapanen, and Sergei Federov as the only players to

win the event more than once.Calgary Flames star Gaudreau

easily claimed the puck control relay title after fi nishing in 24.65 seconds.

He was more than three sec-onds faster than runner-up John Tavares, of the New York Island-ers, who fi nished in 28.24.

The event featured players controlling the puck through a series of obstacles and then shooting into an empty net.

Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin won the hardest shot title at 101.3 miles per hour (162 kilometeres per hour) while Ve-gas Golden Knights Marc-Andre Fleury was the top goaltender by making 14 straight saves in a shootout competition.

The league also held a board of governors’ meeting earlier on Saturday and announced that San Jose would host the 2019 NHL All-Star game.

Commissioner Gary Bettman also announced tentative plans

for next season’s international games.

The Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks played ex-hibition games in China in 2017 and the league intends to return there next September.

Details are still being worked out but Calgary and Boston have been discussed as possible can-didates.

In September, New Jersey will visit Switzerland and Edmonton will go to Germany to play local teams. The Devils and Oilers will then face each other in a regular-season opener in Sweden. Win-nipeg will play Florida in Finland for two regular season games in November.

The topic of goaltender in-terference also came up with a number of high-profi le cases this past week involving McDav-id and Toronto’s Auston Mat-thews, where seemingly good goals were not allowed because of contact with the netminder.

Brady focused on preparation, glad to see Gronk back at practiceReutersLos Angeles

Tom Brady isn’t look-ing to reinvent the wheel with the clock-ing ticking down until

the New England Patriots face their biggest test of the season against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII next Sunday.

As any properly-trained Pa-triot would, Brady said Satur-day that he isn’t taking the Ea-gles lightly, but New England’s four-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback conveyed that the team’s most important focus is on itself.

Simply put, Brady just wants the Patriots to be the best team they can be.

“I think after 18 games, it’s hard to reinvent your en-tire team in two weeks, and for what reason would that be? I think they have their strengths, we have ours,” Brady said in his weekly meet-ing with reporters in Foxbor-ough, Mass.

“It’s going to come down to who plays the best, and that starts with being who’s the most prepared. There’s a lot of time to prepare still (and I think we should) use that time wisely.”

A big part of the Patriots’ off -week preparation has been

getting healthy, and they got some good news on the injury front when star tight end Rob Gronkowski returned to the practice fi eld Saturday after suff ering a concussion in last weekend’s AFC Champion-ship Game.

Gronkowski missed the en-tire week of practice and still hasn’t offi cially cleared the NFL’s concussion protocol, but his presence alone was enough to bring a smile to the faces of Brady and his teammates.

“I think he’s got a great per-sonality and a great way about him,” Brady said of Gronkowski.

“He defi nitely has a joyful-ness to him and he brings that to the team, and it’s just a great attribute of his. It always has been since he got here.”

The Patriots won the Su-per Bowl without Gronkowski just last year, but his absence against an Eagles defense that ranked fourth in total de-fense (306.5 yards per game) and points allowed (18.4) this season would make winning much more diffi cult.

Diffi cult, but not impossi-ble. “They’ve got a great de-fense, as good as we faced all year,” Brady said. “... They’ve been playing well all year, and that’s why they’re in this game - and that’s why we’re in this game. It’s going to be a great game.”

NFL

McDavid, Gaudreau shine at skills competitionNHL

The Carolina Panthers will kick off their search for a new general manager next week by interviewing interim GM Marty Hurney and Houston Texans assistant GM Jimmy Raye III, according to multiple reports Saturday. The Panthers will also interview Buff alo Bills assistant director of college scouting Lake Dawson and are expected to reach out to Tennessee Titans director of player personnel Ryan Cowden, according to a report from NFL Network. Chief operating off icer Tine Becker will lead the committee conducting interviews.The Panthers have not had a full-time general manager since firing Dave Gettleman, who was recently named GM of the New York Giants, in July. Hurney stepped in to fill the role on an interim basis; he was Carolina’s GM from 2002-12 before being fired after a 1-5 start to the 2012 season and replaced by Gettleman. With Hurney now a candidate to have the interim tag removed, he will no longer assist in the team’s process of finding a new GM, as originally planned.“I love what I’m doing,” Hurney said after the season. “I just come to work every day with a smile on my face. That’s a big change from the last time.” Raye interviewed for the Texans’ GM opening before the team hired Brian Gaine. Raye is a na-tive of Fayetteville, N.C., and has also held executive positions with the then-San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts.Dawson previously served as a scout for the Cleveland Browns and had nine years of front-off ice experience with the Titans, advancing as high as vice president of player personnel.Cowden was with the Panthers for 16 years before joining the Titans. The last position he held in Carolina was assistant direc-tor of scouting.

Panthers to begin GM search with Hurney, Raye

Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers competes in the Enterprise NHL Fastest Skater during the 2018 GEICO NHL All-Star Skills Competition at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. (Getty Images/AFP)

Mertens brace puts Napoli top, Inter extend winless run

ReutersMilan

A brace from Dries Mertens took Napoli straight back to the top of Serie A with a 3-1 win

over Bologna yesterday while In-ter Milan conceded a last-minute goal at SPAL to extend their win-less run to nine games.

The video replay system (VAR) denied Crotone a last-minute winner at home to 10-man Cagliari, the game ending 1-1, and a bizarre miss by Genoa forward Luca Rigoni cost his team a point at home to Udinese as they lost 1-0.

Napoli, briefl y dislodged by Juventus who played on Sat-urday and won 2-0 at Chievo, now lead with 57 points from 22 games, one ahead of the Turin side.

Napoli were stunned when Rodrigo Palacio took advantage of dreadful marking to give Bo-logna the lead after 25 seconds but they were gifted an equal-iser by Ibrahima Mbaye who turned an attempted clearance

into his own goal.The hosts were then awarded

a soft penalty which Mertens converted in the 37th minute but there no questions about the Belgian’s second goal in the 59th when he cut inside a de-fender and curled an exquisite eff ort into the net.

Inter, leaders in early Decem-ber, slipped further behind after a game in which both goals were scored by their opponents.

SPAL’s Francesco Vicari turned Joao Cancelo’s cross into his own net to gift Inter the lead and the visitors were on the verge of their fi rst win in all competitions since December 3 until Alberto Paloschi’s diving header levelled the scores.

“When you concede a goal like that in stoppage time, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth,” said Inter coach Lu-ciano Spalletti.

“It doesn’t change anything though. There is certainly work to be done better. I wouldn’t say I’m worried, even when we were winning I didn’t see big improvements. Now the results are worse, we’re losing easy

balls and at other times we’re not fi ghting.”

The VAR system was used three times at Crotone, fi rstly to award the hosts a penalty which was converted by Mar-cello Trotta in the 29th minute and then to confi rm a red card for Cagliari’s Fabio Pisacane for a late tackle.

Luca Cigarini levelled for the Sardinians with the last kick of the fi rst half and they held out until the fi nal minute when Fe-derico Ceccherini headed in for Crotone but the referee changed his mind and disallowed the goal after consulting the pitch-side monitor.

Valon Behrami’s second-half goal gave Udinese a 1-0 win at Genoa although they had to cling on after Samir was sent off shortly afterwards - the referee changing the card from yellow to red after checking with the VAR.

Genoa should have equalised in the 88th minute when Adel Taarabt’s cross found Rigoni who only had to tap the ball in at the far post but instead con-trived to clear it off the line.

Fiorentina’s season took a

turn for the worse with a 4-1 home defeat by next-to-bottom Verona and Torino thumped bottom club Benevento 3-0 in the other afternoon game.

On Saturday Sami Khedira and Gonzalo Higuain scored as champions Juventus went top with a 2-0 win at nine-man Chievo. The side from Verona played the last half hour two men down after Samuel Bastien and Fabrizio Cacciatore were both needlessly sent off at the Bentegodi Stadium.

Juventus had diffi cultly get-ting past Chievo, who despite their 13th position held on in the fi rst half before Bastien was sent off on 36 minutes after two yellow cards in the space of just two minutes, both for fouling Kwadwo Asamoah.

Cacciatore followed on the hour mark for dissent, after infuriating the referee with a handcuff s gesture.

Five minutes later Khedira picked up a Federico Bernard-eschi cross to fi re in the opener with Higuain breaking his goal drought, meeting a Douglas Costa cross to head in his tenth

goal of the campaign with two minutes to go. Chievo coach Rolando Maran was furious with Cacciatore’s sending off .

“The gesture he made was wrong, but there was no need to send him off ,” said Maran.

“A player can lose his head in a tense moment, but when down to nine men, you are left with frustration and anger.”

Juventus captain Gianluigi Buff on sat on the bench on his return after two months out with a calf injury on the eve of his 40th birthday.

“What will I give to Buff on for 40 years?” said Allegri.

“That the next 40 are better than the previous ones.

“Gigi is an extraordinary champion. We’re happy that he’s back and on Tuesday (Ital-ian Cup) he will start.”

Earlier Atalanta, who Juven-tus meet in next week’s Italian Cup semi-fi nals, maintained their push for Europe with a comfortable 3-0 win at Sassuo-lo. “Atalanta are in a great pe-riod of form and we need to put in a strong performance,” added Allegri.

SERIE A

AFPBerlin

Winger Leon Bailey showed why Arsenal and Chelsea are reportedly tracking him with another stunning goal in

Bayern Leverkusen’s 2-0 win over Mainz on Sunday in the Bundesliga.

Bailey gave Leverkusen the lead at the BayArena when he hit the back of the net from 20 metres with a left-footed strike.

The 20-year-old is fast becoming the revelation of the Bundesliga season after arriving as a relative unknown from Bel-gium’s Genk this time last year.

“It was Leon’s idea. Leon wanted to move to the right-hand side. Turned out he was correct,” a smiling Brandt told Sky.

“At the moment we are enjoying a really great season.”

There was nothing on when Bailey looked up on the edge of the area, but his shot across goal gave Mainz goalkeeper

Robin Zentner no chance three minutes into the second half.

After also scoring last weekend with an audacious backheel, it was his eighth league goal this season.

Leverkusen could ask Chelsea or Arse-nal for double the 13.5 million euros ($17.8 million) they paid Belgian club Genk for Bailey in January 2017.

However, the German side have ruled out selling him in January’s transfer win-dow and the Jamaican is under contract until June 2022. It was the latest eye-catching display from Bailey who scored and created a goal in last weekend’s 4-1 thrashing of Hoff enheim.

Leverkusen made sure of the three points against strugglers Mainz when Brazilian left-back Wendell converted a 68th-minute penalty, after Mainz de-fender Giulio Donati brought down strik-er Lucas Alario. The win sees Leverkusen climb to second, 16 points behind runa-way league leaders Bayern Munich, who thrashed Hoff enheim 5-2 at home on Sat-

urday.The Bundesliga’s top-scorer Robert

Lewandowski scored for the 18th time in the league this season as Bayern fought back from two goals down in style.

VfB Stuttgart sacked coach Hannes Wolf on Sunday, after Saturday’s 2-0 de-feat by third-placed Schalke saw them slip to 15th in the table.

Leverkusen are above Schalke on goal diff erence, with Eintracht Frankfurt a point behind in fourth.

Borussia Dortmund are sixth after needing a 93rd-minute equaliser by left-back Jeremy Toljan to salvage a 2-2 draw with Freiburg.

Arsenal target Pierre-Emerick Aubam-eyang produced a poor display and was whistled on his return after being dropped for the previous two games. Dortmund were whistled by their own fans and Stoeger admitted he was also unimpressed with what he saw.

“I didn’t whistle, but I wasn’t happy,” he quipped.

Bailey strikes again as Leverkusen go secondBUNDESLIGA

‘When you concede a goal like that in stoppage time, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth’

AFPMelbourne

Brazilian striker Bobo nabbed a double as Syd-ney FC came from behind to beat A-League rivals

Melbourne Victory 3-1 and go nine points clear after the week-end’s 18th round of matches.

Victory hit the front with a Besart Berisha penalty on 58 minutes, but Bobo’s double and a third goal from David Carney wrapped up Sydney’s win over the 10-man Victory in Mel-bourne. Jason Geria was red-carded for bringing down Bobo and the Brazilian’s penalty left Victory in fourth spot.

The Newcastle Jets are in out-right second place after a 2-2 away draw with Melbourne City.

Scottish striker Ross McCor-mack was denied a fairytale fare-well even though Melbourne City twice came from behind to rescue a point. The on-loan striker had a goal-bound attempt at a dra-matic winner cleared off the line in stoppage time.

Ernie Merrick’s Jets had led for a second time in the match

with a goal from Jason Hoff man before Dario Vidosic - a transfer window signing - equalised for third-placed City eight minutes from regulation time.

Adelaide United are one point behind Victory in fi fth spot after George Blackwood’s strike gave them a 1-0 win over Wellington Phoenix in New Zealand.

Brisbane Roar rebounded from a diffi cult week to leapfrog Central Coast Mariners in the standings with a 2-1 win.

Former Socceroos Brett Hol-man and Matt McKay put Roar ahead, capitalising on defensive errors as Roar recovered from their midweek AFC Champions League exit to Philippines side Ceres-Negros.

Blake Powell pulled one back but the Mariners fi nished a man down when Dutchman Wout Brama was sent off for a danger-ous studs-up tackle.

Perth Glory broke their run of outs with a 3-1 win over a 10-man Western Sydney Wanderers in Perth on Sunday.

Keanu Baccus was shown a straight red for giving away a penalty which Spaniard Diego Castro converted.

Bobo scores a double as Sydney go nine clear

A-LEAGUE

FOOTBALL

Gulf Times Monday, January 29, 20186

Napoli’s Dries Mertens (left) celebrates with Jorginho after scoring a goal against Bologna yesterday. (Reuters)

Khaydarov looks to the future aft er Uzbekistan triumphReutersHong Kong

Ravshan Khaydarov paused mid-sentence as he checked his emo-tions, pondering the

signifi cance of Uzbekistan’s fi rst title win at the Asian U-23 Championship with victory over Vietnam in Saturday evening’s snow-aff ected fi nale.

“We made history today and it’s one of the greatest victories for Uzbekistan football and for our country,” said the head coach of the Central Asian nation’s un-der-23 squad.

“This team is the future of our senior team. Over the last few years we didn’t see any trophies and we can’t say that we have played in a satisfactory way at the tournaments that we have played. “So this is very impor-tant for us.”

Khaydarov’s delight stands in marked contrast to the disap-pointment and frustration so often felt within Uzbek foot-ball during the 24 years since the country emerged from the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Expectations were high when, in 1994, a nation that is home to more than 30 million people joined the Asian Football Con-federation.

A gold medal-winning per-formance at the Asian Games in Hiroshima later the same year - the country’s fi rst time compet-ing in Asian competition - only heightened the belief the Uzbeks could challenge the continent’s established hierarchy.

But since then Uzbekistan have fallen short, failing to qual-ify for the World Cup despite a near-miss in 2006 with only a run to the semi-fi nals of the 2011 Asian Cup to show for their ef-

forts. Those struggles prompted an increase in investment in youth development, with Uz-bekistan winning the Asian Un-der-16 Championship in 2012 having also reached the fi nal two years earlier.

The country has, subsequent-ly, qualifi ed for a succession of FIFA U-17 and U-20 World Cup tournaments and Saturday’s win over Vietnam was another sign that Uzbekistan are moving closer to establishing themselves as a power of the Asian game.

The Vietnamese, too, are ben-efi ting from a renewed focus on development and the progress of coach Park Hang-seo’s team to the country’s fi rst-ever fi nal in a continental competition cap-tured the imagination of fans at home. Several thousand fl ew from Vietnam - and many thou-sands more took to the streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - to watch as Nguyen Quang Hai and Luong Xuan Truong established themselves among the stars of the competition, and of Asian football’s near future.

With qualifi cation for the Ol-ympic Games not at stake in this edition, the focus for each par-ticipating nation at the 16-team tournament in China diff ered.

For Qatar, the ticking of the countdown clock towards their hosting of the 2022 World Cup grows ever louder, with coach Felix Sanchez satisfi ed with his team’s third place fi nish after their second semi-fi nal appear-ance in a row.

“It was a very tough in all six games but we’re satisfi ed,” said the Spaniard after his side de-feated South Korea, who made their customary strong showing, in the third place playoff .

“We won fi ve and drew one, losing on penalties. We are leav-ing here with a good feeling.”

SPOTLIGHT

Stuttgart sack coach Hannes Wolf

VfB Stuttgart sacked head coach Hannes Wolf yesterday after a 2-0 home defeat to Schalke 04 that left the club just three points above the Bundesliga relegation places.“After intensive discussions late into the night, it has been decided that Hannes Wolf is no longer the coach of VfB Stuttgart,” a state-ment on the club’s website said.It said a successor would be named in the next few days.The 36-year-old Wolf, who helped Stuttgart win promotion back to Germany’s top flight last season, has paid the price for picking up just four points in his last eight league games. Stuttgart are 15th in the table and just three points from the relegation places.Having been in charge since Sep-

tember 2016, Wolf is the seventh head coach to be sacked by a Bundesliga club this season.He was one of four Bundes-liga coaches under the age of 40 alongside Hoff enheim boss Julian Nagelsmann, 30, Werder Bremen’s Florian Kohfeldt, 35, and Schalke’s Domenico Tedesco, 32.“This is a development that nobody wanted, so we are all disappointed, but in the end we all agreed that things could not go on like this,” said Stuttgart President Wolfgang Dietrich.Former Wolfsburg coach Andries Jonker, ex-Schalke boss Markus Weinzierl and veteran Felix Magath, who won the 2009 Bundesliga title at Wolfsburg, have been linked to the vacancy. Stuttgart signed vet-

eran German international striker Mario Gomez, 32, in the winter break, but his arrival has failed to halt the slide.The burly forward, back at the club where he started his career before joining Bayern Munich in 2009, is still waiting for his first goal after three games.

City keep quadruple dream alive, Bluesalso throughAFPLondon

Kevin De Bruyne starred as Manchester City stayed on course for an unprecedented quad-

ruple of major trophies in the one season with a 2-0 win at Cardiff yesterday that saw the runaway Premier League leaders into the last 16 of the FA Cup.

City, 12 points clear at the summit of English football, are bidding to bring the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League titles to the Etihad.

They made short work of second-tier Cardiff , with Bel-gian star De Bruyne putting them ahead just eight minutes when he deceived the home side with a brilliant free-kick that he struck under, rather than over, the defensive wall.

Bernardo Silva appeared to have doubled the visitors’ lead with a thunderous 26th-minute shot but his goal was ruled out because the offi cials deemed Leroy Sane to be off -side and interfering with play.

It appeared a harsh call but, with the controversial video assistant referee system that is being trialled in some English cup ties this season not in use for this match, there was no way of reviewing the decision.

But the second goal that Pep Guardiola’s men had threatened arrived in the 37th minute when Silva’s superb curling cross from the left was glanced in by Raheem Sterling.

Sane was the victim of a bad tackle by Joe Bennett in fi rst-half stoppage time and was re-placed at the break by Sergio Aguero.

Cardiff defender Bennett was sent off in injury time at the end of the match when he received a second yellow card for another poor challenge, on Brahim Diaz.

Batshuayi double Earlier, Michy Batshuayi

scored twice as Chelsea beat Premier League rivals Newcas-tle 3-0 to also advance into the fi fth round.

Batshuayi’s goals in the 31st and 44th minutes and a Mar-

cos Alonso free-kick 18 minutes from time were enough for Pre-mier League champions Chel-sea to see off Rafael Benitez’s struggling side.

The Belgian’s striker’s fi rst was the result of a neat team move, Pedro’s superb through ball splitting the Newcastle defence and leading to Eden Hazard slipping a pass inside to Alonso, who set up Batsh-uayi for a fi nish from eight yards out.

The Belgian forward scored

his second goal shortly before half-time when his shot took a huge defl ection off Newcastle’s Jamaal Lascelles.

Alonso sealed Chelsea’s com-manding win with a well-struck free-kick.

“When I have a chance I take the chance and I work every day to be here,” Batshuayi, who has been linked with a move away from Chelsea during the trans-fer window, told BT Sport.

Following their League Cup semi-fi nal loss to Arsenal, the

FA Cup off ers Chelsea their best chance of a domestic tro-phy this season. By contrast, Premier League survival is the priority for a Newcastle side that are currently just one point above the relegation zone.

Newcastle manager Beni-tez, asked if he would be able to bring in a new striker before the transfer window shuts on Wednesday, replied: “I don’t think so but we will see. We will try to do something.”

Benitez’s former club Liver-

pool have also missed out on the last 16 after a 3-2 defeat by top-fl ight strugglers West Brom at Anfi eld on Saturday where Jay Rodriguez’s two goals for the Baggies were overshadowed by several controversial incidents involving VAR rulings.

Tottenham Hotspur remain in the fi fth-round draw, but only after an equaliser from Harry Kane eight minutes from time saw them to a 1-1 draw away to fourth-tier Newport on Saturday.

FA CUP

‘When I have a chance I take the chance and I work every day to be here’

FOOTBALL7Gulf Times

Monday, January 29, 2018

Real Madrid bade a fond farewell to Al Kass 2018 with a convinc-ing 4-0 victory over fellow giants of European game AC Milan. The Spaniards had taken a shock exit from the knockout stage after fall-ing victim to a smash-and-grab raid by Kashiwa Reysol in the quarter-finals, and seemed determine to demonstrate their true pedigree this tie round. Indeed, Real were al-most in front with the game’s very first attack, with Alex Mendoza running clear through the middle, only for a last-ditch tackle to check his progress as he shaped to round keeper Niccolo’ Zanellato. On 10 minutes, the Milan stopper again had to be alert to keep out a first-time snapshot from Mendoza, as the two technically accom-plished sides went head to head in a thoroughly competitive encoun-ter. But Zanellato was helpless to prevent his side from going behind on 16 minutes despite diving acrobatically to touch a flicked-on corner onto the post, as Javier Lancho was on hand to convert the rebound before the keeper could recover.Madrid were in the ascendancy, creating a succession of present-able chances as Milan struggled to gather momentum although, in a rare foray forward on 27 minutes, Daniel Maldini saw his decent eff ort from the left go just wide of

the post. Despite having endured a rather disappointing campaign thus far at Al Kass 2018, culminat-ing in a 6-0 hammering at the hands of the imperious Benfica, it was to Milan’s enormous credit that their players were giving their all in this match, with little more than pride to play for. In the finest Italian tradition, the Rossoneri’s defence was particularly well organised, providing a platform that allowed the team to grow into the game as half time approached. However, on 39 minutes, their steady progress was halted when Madrid launched a rapid counterat-tack. David Franco got to the byline on the left and cut the ball back for Jorge Ramirez to apply a straight-forward finish and double Los Blancos’ lead. Madrid maintained their dominance as the second half got underway, and impressive cen-tre back Sergio Santos was inches away from scoring a third with a ferocious strike from all of 30 yards that flew just wide.Milan’s life was made all the more diff icult by Real’s highly disciplined approach, which ensured they had a minimum of eight players behind the ball whenever the Italians were in possession. In order to penetrate this formi-dable defensive unit, AC needed to commit numbers to attack but seemed reluctant to do so, with

their forward players often isolated and unable to hold the ball up.With Madrid now looking comfort-able, coach Manuel Fernandez withdrew captain Javier Diez on the hour mark, with Julio Escorcia slotting in at centre back as Los Blancos switched to a back three. Further forward, Real continued to fashion opportunities and, on 67 minutes, Cristian Garcia conjured a wonderful strike from wide on the left, his curling eff ort rattling the crossbar as Milan fought to hold back the tide. Their eff orts were in vain, however, and on 72 minutes Real were three goals to the good when Garcia stole the ball from Tommaso Merletti inside the area and planted the ball through the keeper’s legs. Milan’s misery was compounded five minutes later when Madrid won a free kick wide on the right. Substitute Alvaro De Frias swung in a high cross which keeper Zanellato rose to claim, only for the ball to somehow slip through his fingers and into the net. The goal encapsulated AC’s poor fortune throughout a tournament where results have not matched the side’s potential. Madrid, meanwhile, will rue the late goal conceded against Reysol last time out, as they again showed that they are a team with all the necessary attributes to have triumphed at Al Kass.

Majestic Madrid plunder four against Milan

Torres, Griezmann make up for absent Costa in Atletico winReutersMadrid

Atletico Madrid over-came the absence of injured striker Diego Costa to beat struggling

Las Palmas 3-0 yesterday, with goals from Antoine Griezmann, Fernando Torres and Thomas Partey, to go eight points behind Liga leaders Barcelona.

Atletico went into the game with their confi dence knocked down a peg by their King’s Cup elimination to Sevilla in mid-week and their disappointing draw at home to Girona in their previous league outing, but in the end they had too much qual-ity for Las Palmas, who are 19th in the league standings.

The visiting side deployed a high defensive line and al-though they managed to cause Atletico problems they paid the price for their risky approach when Griezmann latched on to a rolled pass from Juanfran to race unchallenged towards goal and score in the 61st minute.

Griezmann had hit the post twice before scoring and was the catalyst for the second goal, intercepting a pass high up the pitch to help work the ball to-wards Torres, who beat a de-fender before producing a confi -dent fi nish high into the net.

Partey nudged a Yannick Car-rasco pass into an empty net in the 88th.

“It wasn’t easy because of the circumstances of the previous games and we lost (Kevin) Ga-meiro to illness last night as well as Costa but the team dug deep to overcome these diffi culties,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone told reporters.

“Las Palmas pressed us very

well and when we recovered the ball we couldn’t attack quickly, we still had chances but overall we lacked a bit of pace so in the second half we brought in Car-rasco and he gave us the space we were looking for and we were able to make the most of the team’s collective eff orts.”

Atletico took advantage of Va-lencia’s defeat to Real Madrid to move six points clear in second place and they trail Barcelona by eight, although the Catalans can restore their lead to 11 if they

beat Alaves at home later on Sunday.

LA LIGA

By Sports ReporterDoha

Aspire Football Dreams overcame Aspire Academy by a single goal to nil in a Al Kass Cup match where the windy conditions infl uenced

proceedings as much as any one player.In their previous game, Aspire Acad-

emy had stood up well to the unashamedly physical approach of Espérance de Tunis, and were unfortunate to have suff ered a single goal defeat despite playing the better football. Meanwhile, less than 24 hours after suff ering a heartbreaking de-feat to Paris Saint-Germain in a dramatic quarter-fi nal penalty shootout, AFD had to pick themselves up and go again. It said much about the professional approach of both sides that the youngsters seemed to have put previous disappointments be-hind them as they quickly resumed their precise, high-energy passing games.

In the opening stages, AFD’s Isaac Nuhu looked particularly lively and, on 12 min-utes, he carved out the fi rst chance of the game. His strong run down the left was abruptly halted, and the tricky winger dusted himself down and took the result-ant free kick himself, curling an eff ort to-wards the top corner that Academy keeper Mahmoud Abunada did well to keep out.

Five minutes before half time, Nuhu got away from his marker once more and ad-vanced into the penalty area, but Abunada was again equal to his shot.

A stiff breeze blew across Aspire Zone, requiring both sides to keep the ball on the ground and play close possession football. It also provided an opportunity for the Academy, with the wind at their backs in

the fi rst half, to attempt shots from dis-tance, but they were largely unable to es-cape the attentions of AFD’s combative backline in order to do so.

If anything, the wind speed increased as the second half began, making it increas-ingly diffi cult for either side to retain pos-session, with long balls going astray and crosses sailing beyond their intended tar-gets. It seemed that only a moment of indi-vidual skill would break the deadlock and, on 64 minutes, this proved to be the case.

Academy keeper Abunada rolled the ball out to Abdulla al-Ali but, as the cen-tre back attempted to get away from Sibiry Keita, the AFD midfi elder robbed him of

possession, cut inside and thrashed a low eff ort into the right-hand corner.

With a quarter of an hour remaining, AFD coach Serine Dia withdrew midfi eld captain Leslie Adeniah for defender Salim Diaby, in an attempt to preserve the slen-der advantage that his side held.

In truth, progress was becoming more challenging for the Academy players as they attempted to build attacks in the face of increasingly blustery conditions.

As the fi nal whistle approached, Fahad al-Abdulla went on a mazy run through the middle, evading several challenges be-fore letting fl y, only for the wind to carry his shot high above the goal.

Aspire Dreams secure narrow win over AcademyAL KASS CUP

Aspire Football Dreams and Aspire Academy players in action during their Al Kass Cup match yesterday.

Al Gharafa gear up for Pakhtakor gameBy Sports ReporterDoha

QNB Stars League’s sixth-placed team Al Gharafa are gearing up for their AFC Cham-

pions League home play-off against Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor tomorrow.

If Al Gharafa win, they will be clubbed in Group A, which also comprises the UAE’s Al Jazira, Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli and Iran’s Tractorsasi.

The players, under the guid-ance of Turkish coach Bulent

Uygun, are going through their paces in earnest as the team management and fans are ea-gerly looking forward to see The Cheetahs in action in the tour-nament proper.

Al Gharafa had lost 0-4 to Al Sadd in Week 14 of the QNB Stars League and are on 17 points.

Al Gharafa’s Deputy Football Head Saad al-Shammari said, “The Al Sadd chapter is closed and the disappointment is be-hind us. We are now preparing well for the Pakhtakor match.”

Qatar’s Al Duhail, Al Sadd and Al Rayyan had qualifi ed directly for the group stage.

AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Atletico Madrid’s Fernando Torres (right) celebrates a goal with teammate Angel Correa during the LA Liga match against Las Palmas in Madrid. (AFP)

Manchester City’s Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring the opening goal in the FA Cup fourth round match against Cardiff City at Cardiff City Stadium in Cardiff , yesterday. (AFP)

Monday, January 29, 2018

GULF TIMES SPORT

Top international fi eld for Emir’s Sword fest

HORSE RACING

The three-day racing event at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club will be held from Feb 22-24By Mikhil BhatDoha

Six international races. 266 total entries. 78 overseas entries from eight countries.

HH The Emir’s Sword Festi-val next month is expected to be a true blue global racing event with the pre-liminary entries showing a huge inter-est from some of the top trainers of the UK, France, the USA, Oman, Germany, Japan, Ireland and Italy.

The three-day racing event at the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club will be held February 22-24, 2018, with the two USD1mn races — HH The Emir’s Sword (Gr1 PA) and HH The Emir’s Tro-phy (Gr1) — the highlight of the extrava-ganza.

French trainer Thomas Fourcy has en-tered Al Shaqab Racing’s Almaa, winner of the French Arabian Breeders’ Chal-lenge Classic (Gr2 PA) in Toulouse, in the 2400m Arabian feature, with as many as eight other runners from Oman, includ-ing three wards of Sultan bin Moham-med bin Rashid al-Hajri.

The entry sheet for the race, won by a Julian Smart ward for two straight years, Ebraz last year and Gazwan the year before that, has the two HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani-owned horses listed again along with Umm Qarn’s Yazeed, in smashing form having won the Derby in December, and Tayf, winner of the Qatar International Stakes at Goodwood.

Alban de Mieulle-trained Yazeed has

beaten Ebraz the last couple of times, including in the Derby, setting up a fi ne clash for the big one on February 24.

Qatar Derby topper Mac Mahon, like the Italian trainer Alduino Botti had told Gulf Times after the win in December, has been entered for the Thoroughbreds feature. Parviz, the Waldemar Hickst-trained colt from Germany who was third behind Ramonti colt in the Derby, has also been entered.

Qatar Racing Limited’s Chemical Charge will be the fi rst runner in Qatar for UK trainer Ralph Beckett and the six-year-old is the top-rated entry. Last year’s runner-up, Al Wasmiyah Farm’s Noor Al Hawa, from the stables of German han-

dler Andreas Wohler, is on the list too. Qa-tar’s Champion Trainer Jassim Mohamed Ghazali as the 2016 winner The Blue Eye and Al Biddah Mile topper Opera Baron on the preliminary entry list.

Two Japanese bred horses are also in the list, including Mondo Intero and Toshin Monstera, while Ireland trainer Jim Bolger has Qatari Hunter and Glam-orous Approach, and US trainer Chad Brown has Money Multiplier.

Tip Two Win, winner of the Al Rayyan Stakes in December, has been listed by UK trainer Roger Teal for the Group 2 Al Biddah Mile. Simon Dow, who had won the USD250,000 race last year with Mr Scaramanga, has Albishr on the list.

Mr Scaramanga, now four-year-old, is on the entry list for the Group 2 Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup. The mile-long race, to be held on February 23, has some top quality entries, includ-ing Harry Dunlop-schooled 114-rated Robin Of Navan, while German trainer Mario Hofer, who had won the Qatar Derby with Rogue Runner in a dead heat two years ago, has entered Diplomat, fourth last year.

Among the 50 entries for Group 3 Dukhan Sprint (Sponsored by Breed-ers’ Cup) are nine runners from eight UK handlers, including multiple Group 1 winner Gordon Lord Byron, trained by Tom Hogan.

Caspian Prince, who fi nished third last year, has moved yards since and has been entered by Tony Coyle. Ghazali’s two successful sprinters, Iz-zthatright and My Sharona, are among the leading local horses entered in the race.

In the mile-long Qatar International Cup (Gr1 PA), Alban de Mieulle-trained TM Thunder Struck, last year’s winner for Umm Qarn, and runner-up Zikreet, trained by Fourcy for Al Shaqab Racing, are among the contenders.

Fourcy’s compatriot, Francois Ro-haut, has entered 2016 Qatar Derby winner Ateej, while there are nine run-ners from Oman in the list.

Allouh claims Qatar National Baja title

MOTORSPORT

By Sports ReporterDoha

Ahmed Allouh claimed the Qatar National Baja title, beating Kha-lid al-Mohannadi by over six minutes on Saturday.

Allouh and co-driver Nasser al-Kuwari completed the 108km long stage in 1hr 30mins 21secs in a Can-Am to top the overall standings in the T3 class.

Al-Mohannadi and his Jordanian co-driver drove a Polaris fi nishing second in 1:36.33. The third place in the category went to Qatar’s Nayef al-Nasr and co-driver S al-Geraini, also in a Can-Am.

The T2 class was won by Mohamed al-Meer and Firas Allouh. They fi nished the timed stage in 1:42.10. Overall, they were in the third spot. Jamal al-Fakhroo (Qatar) and Australian co-driver D Nikitopoulus were runners-up in the T2 class, driving a Nissan Patrol and clocking 1:46.53.

Rashid Juma al-Mohannadi and his Kiwi co-driver A Hassan Ali were third, clocking 1:55.59. The top honours in the Bike category and Quads were grabbed by Sheikh Jassim al-Thani and South African M Beyers.

Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation President Abdulrahman al-Mannai was the chief guest at the closing ceremony and gave away the cash prizes and trophies. Results Cars (T3): 1. Ahmed Allouh (Qatar) and

Nasser al-Kuwari (Qatar) Can -Am 1:30.21 2. Khalid al Mohannadi (Qatar) and Saeed Shwareb (Jordan) Polaris + 6:12 3.Nayef al-Nasr (Qatar) and S al-Geraini (Qatar) Can-Am Cars (T2) 1.Mohamed al-Meer (Qatar) and Firas Allouh (Jordan) Nissan Patrol 1:42.10 2. Jamal al-Fakhroo (Qatar) and D Niki-topoulus (Australia) Nissan Patrol 1:46.53

3.Rashid Juma al-Mohannadi (Qatar) and A Hassan Ali (New Zealand) 1:55.59 Bikes (450cc) 1.Sheikh Jassim al-Thani (Qatar) KTM 1:29.10 2.M Anderson (South Africa) 1:32.07 3.A al-Kuwari (Qatar) 1:37.04 Quads 1.M Beyers (South Africa) Polaris 1:41.49 2.B Abuswaileh (Palestine) Canam 2:25.24 3.M al-Mansoori (Qatar) Yamaha 2:27.17

Ogier claims season opener

ReutersParis

Sebastien Ogier of France opened the defence of his rallying world title with a commanding victory in

the Rally Monte Carlo, his 41st in WRC, yesterday.

The M-Sport Ford driver, win-ner of the last fi ve world titles, started the fourth and fi nal leg with a 33.5-second lead over Toyota’s Ott Tanak and it proved a comfortable enough cushion.

He extended his lead over the Estonian up to almost a minute ahead of the fi nal stage and Tan-ak ended up second 58.3 seconds behind at the end of the four days.

Finn Jari-Matti Latvala took third place, one minute 52 sec-onds off the pace.

Ogier joined M-Sport last season after Volkswagen, with whom he won his fi rst four titles, pulled out as part of a strategic shift to help the German car-maker overcome a costly emis-sions scandal.

The Frenchman won only four of the 17 stages, including three of the fi rst four, but always had his rivals in check in sometimes muddy conditions.

RALLYING

Australia thrash S Africa in Sydney

AFPSydney

Australia won their fi rst World Sevens Series title since 2012 by de-molishing South Africa

29-0 in the Sydney fi nal yester-day, The Australians were in sub-lime form as they ran in fi ve un-answered tries against the more favoured South Africans.

Playing in front of a boisterous home crowd, Australia’s win was also their fi rst on home soil in 16 years, their last success coming at Ballymore in Brisbane in 2002.

“The boys backed up from game one to game six and we de-veloped and we grew,” Australian captain Lewis Holland said.

“It wasn’t the prettiest at the start but it’s how you fi nish, and I think putting in a good score on South Africa proves that... when we put it together we’re pretty unstoppable.”

South Africa were always one of the favourites to reach the fi nal but the Australians pulled off a major upset when they beat New Zealand in the quarter-fi nals, playing some inspired sevens rugby. Both teams reached the fi nal with relative ease after big wins in their semi-fi nals.

South Africa easily disposed of the USA 35-7 while Australia downed Cape Town runners-up Argentina 28-0. The two teams boasted the best defen-sive records of the preliminary rounds but in the fi nal, the Aus-tralian tackling was relentless as they pressured the South Afri-cans into uncharacteristic errors.

The Blitzboks absorbed the early pressure and looked certain to open the scoring in the fi fth minute when Rosko Specman collected a Justin Geduld kick ahead and raced for the corner, only for man of the match Lachie Anderson to force him into touch with a desperate covering tackle.

From that point on, it was all Australia.

Holland crossed 40 seconds before the break and from the ensuing kick-off , veteran James Stannard, playing his last tour-nament on home soil, found some space and scored under the posts.

RUGBY 7s

Qatar Baja winners pose with their trophies as Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation President Abdulrahman al-Mannai applauds. Below: a quad driver in action.

AFPDubai

Saudi and UAE football authorities confi rmed yesterday their teams will play Asian Champions

League away matches in Qatar despite a travel ban they have im-posed on their Gulf neighbour.

The decisions by the Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emir-ates football federations came after the Asian Football Confed-eration (AFC) decided overnight in Kuala Lumpur that their teams were required to play in Qatar and also host Qatari teams.

The four nations had also im-posed a travel ban on Qatari citi-zens and barred their nationals from travelling to Qatar, which will host the 2022 World Cup fi -nals.

The Asian Football Confed-eration (AFC) ruled all matches would be played on a home-and-away basis as planned, after Sau-di Arabia had called for fi xtures against Qatari teams to be shifted to a neutral country.

AFC said the decision to main-tain the home-and-away format was made after an independent safety and security assessment was completed.

Based on the AFC decision, “the Saudi Federation will fa-cilitate the participation of Saudi clubs in the competition,” said a statement by the Saudi federation yesterday. It however expressed “strong reservation” at the way the AFC decision was made, say-ing it was not neutral and had been infl uenced by head of the

competitions committee who is from Qatar.

The UAE Football Federation issued a similar statement in which it said its clubs will play in Qatar but also expressed reserva-tion at the way the AFC decision was adopted.

Both Saudi and UAE federa-tions said they will co-ordinate with AFC to ensure the safety of their teams when they play in Qatar.

Saudi authorities previously insisted that their clubs would only play against Qatari sides on neutral territory amid reports they may boycott the tourna-ment.

With the AFC ruling that “clubs from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should be played on a home and away basis in 2018 as per the AFC Regulations”, Saudi club football teams are due to travel to Qatar for away matches beginning next month.

AFC Secretary General Wind-sor John told AFP that Saudi Ara-bia has not lifted the travel ban imposed on its nationals against going to Qatar.

Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal have been placed with Qatar’s Al Rayyan in Group D of the AFC Champions League beginning February 12.

Qatar’s Al Sadd are in Group C along with the UAE’s Al Wasl, while in Group B Qatar’s Al Du-hail are pitted against the UAE’s Al Wahda.

The AFC Asian Champions League is the top continental competition for football clubs in Asia.

Saudi and UAE confi rm their club teams will play AFC games in Qatar

FOOTBALL

Pedrosa leads opening day of Malaysia testing

Sepang: Spanish Honda rider Dani Pedrosa set the quickest pace while teammate and reigning champion Marc Marquez finished seventh on the timesheets on day one of the 2018 test season at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit. Pedrosa clocked 1min 59.427 seconds — 0.343 seconds faster than Italian Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso who was the 2017 season runner-up.The first round of testing got off

at a slow pace due to rain but track conditions improved after lunch and riders often hit 300 kph. Riders in general focused on how their bikes’ electronics, sus-pensions and engines functioned and on ways to improve stability and agility. Dovizioso, 31, enjoyed a superb campaign with Ducati last year, winning six grand prix and taking the championship battle with Spain’s Marquez down to the final race..

Thomas Fourcy has entered Al Shaqab Racing’s Almaa (left) for HH The Emir’s Sword (Gr1 PA). Picture on right shows Alduino Botti-trained Mac Mahon, who won the Qatar Derby in December 2017. He is a contender for HH The Emir’s Trophy (Gr1).