Sunday, February 11, 2018 FOOTBALL GULF TIMES

Sunday, February 11, 2018Jumada I 25, 1439 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Dhawan tonin vain as South Africa fi ght back

Swiss beatunifi ed Korean women’s ice hockey team

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FOOTBALL

Neymar lifts PSGpast Toulouse ahead of Real Madrid tripPage 3

Gharafa land in Abu Dhabi for AFC Champions League matchFOOTBALL

Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki leads a field that will see nine of the top 10 players vie for honours

By Sports ReporterDoha

The Al Gharafa football team landed in Abu Dhabi yes-terday ahead of their open-ing AFC Champions League

Group A match against Emirati Pro-League champions Al Jazira tomor-row.

This is the fi rst instance of a sports team from Qatar travelling to the Emirates since the unjust siege im-posed on the country by Saudi Ara-bia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in June last year.

Al Gharafa, however, were strand-ed at the Muscat International Air-port for several hours as their con-necting fl ight to Abu Dhabi was delayed due to fog in the UAE capital.

The team eventually landed in Abu Dhabi more than 12 hours after they started their journey in Doha on Friday night, having had to spend the entire morning yesterday at the Muscat airport.

Al Gharafa coach Bulent Uygun cancelled a scheduled training ses-sion yesterday because he wanted the players to rest following their travel ordeal.

Saad al-Shammari, Al Gharafa’s head of delegation, posted a video from Muscat in which he said: “We were supposed to leave Muscat at 2.30am but due to bad weather in Abu Dhabi, we couldn’t travel. We sat in the plane for 45 minutes after which we talked to the cabin crew and told them we would rather spend time inside the airport.

“They agreed to our request and

now we are at the airport and as you can see the players seem to be tired. But God willing we will leave for Abu Dhabi at 8 in the morning as we have been informed.”

Al Gharafa President Sheikh Jas-sem bin Thamer al-Thani earlier gave a pep talk to his players at Hamad In-ternational Airport in Doha.

“This being the fi rst match of the championship is very important for the team. Playing outside the coun-try needs lots of concentration and calmness,” he said.

He added it was a “very positive development that we are the fi rst club playing an away game this sea-son”.

“I am sure not only Al Gharafa fans but the whole of Qatar will watch the match and support you.”

Al Gharafa are making their fi rst

appearance in the AFC Champions League since 2013, securing quali-fi cation this year by beating Uzbek giants Pakhtakor in a playoff in Doha earlier this week.

Al Jazira have exited at the group stage in the previous two years and will be looking to improve, while all eyes will be on Al Gharafa’s former Real Madrid and Internazionale mid-fi elder Wesley Sneijder who will be making his AFC Champions League debut.

Meanwhile, Qatar champions Al Duhail will take on Iran’s Zobahan in a Group B match in Doha tomorrow, while Al Sadd will travel to Dubai to take on the UAE’s Al Wasl on Tuesday in Group C.

Another top Qatar team, Al Rayy-an, will meet Iran’s Esteghlal in a Goup D clash on Tuesday.

By Sahan BidappaDoha

It’s going to be a blockbuster week of tennis in Doha as nine of the top 10 women’s tennis stars have as-sembled in Doha for the Qatar Total

Open. “There will be no easy matches here,” the 20-year-old rising star Dar-ia Kasatkina declared yesterday after the draw ceremony. While the Russian World No. 23 could aff ord a smile after she drew a qualifi er in the fi rst round, she knows the challenges that lie ahead of her.

The stellar fi eld includes new world no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki, fresh off after winning her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last month. While the top seed received a fi rst round bye, so did the other seven seeds, Wozniacki fi nds herself in the same quarter as An-gelique Kerber and Maria Sharapova of a stacked draw.

Denmark’s Wozniacki is set to face Sharapova in round of 16, if the latter wins her fi rst two matches. Sharapova will begin her campaign against a qual-ifi er. For the fi rst time in years, fi ve-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova is competing throughout the Middle East swing after she received wildcards for both the Qatar Total Open and Du-bai event, which will begin from Febru-ary 18. This is the Russian’s fourth ap-pearance in Doha, having won the title back in 2005 and 2008.

Kerber, who has been in fi ne form as well having won in Sydney and reached the Australian Open semi-fi nals, could face big-serving Sam Stosur or Irina-Camelia Begu in the second round with world no. 11 Johanna Konta or 2016 Doha champion Carla Suarez Navarro projected third-round opponent. Ker-ber routed Sharapova at the Austral-ian Open and also has a better record against Wozniacki and will be eager to assert her dominance.

Defending champion Karolina Plisk-ova, meanwhile is seeded fi fth, and as would likely face 2014 winner Simona Halep in the quarters.

However, there has been a question mark over the availability of Halep, who is struggling to recover from an ankle injury that she picked up in her Aus-tralian Open fi nal loss to Wozniacki.

Romanian pulled out of weekend’s Fed Cup and has arrived in Doha, and will be hoping to recover in time for her

second round match against Ekaterina Makarova or Zhang Shuai after a fi rst-round bye.

Pliskova, who also skipped Fed Cup for Czech Republic, will face Anett Kontaveit or Alize Cornet in her fi rst match, with Madison Keys (should she get through Wang Qiang in the fi rst round) a potential third-round oppo-nent.

Kasatkina, who beat Wozniacki in the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy last week, could be Pliskova’s last 16 oppo-nent. Kasatkina had a poor start to the season and was also knocked out in the second round at the Australian Open.

But a run to the semi-fi nals in her home country has lifted her spirits and is keen to square up against big guns in Doha.

“The beginning of the season was not that good for me. But I did well in St. Petersburg, where I reached the semi-fi nals. I have been hitting the ball well and my confi dence is better now,” Kasatkina said after last night’s draw ceremony.

“Of course it’s a very strong tourna-ment. The best players in the women’s tour are here. It’s one of the best tour-naments we have. There is no easy op-ponent here. I am happy that I am here. It’s my third time here and I am really

looking forward to playing here,” the 20-year-old Russian added.

In a tournament that is hard to predict, third seed Elina Svitolina is the one to watch out for. The Ukrainian won three Premier-5 titles in 2017 and has already pocketed one this year in Brisbane. On her day, Svitolina can beat anyone and has a fairly decent draw here.

Having received a fi rst round bye, she will be up against Yulia Putintseva or a qualifi er. She could face Petra Kvi-tova, the St Petersburg champion, in the third round and a potential quar-ter-fi nal with French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, who is seeded sixth. The 20-year-old Ostapenko, a fi nalist in Doha in 2016, has not been in best of form and will face Lesia Tsurenko or Mihaela Buzarnescu in the second round.

Wimbledon champion Garbine Mu-guruza, who has reunited with coach Conchita Martinez, has a fairly good draw. The Spaniard will face wildcard Ons Jabeur of Tunisia or a qualifi er in the second round.

Frenchwomen Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic are Muguruza’s potential rivals in last 16. Garcia has a very tough opener against either Do-minika Cibulkova or Anastasia Pavly-uchenkova.

Mladenovic will face either Ele-na Vesnina or Peng Shuai in her fi rst match. Vesnina, who is also in the dou-

bles fi eld with her Russian mate Ekat-erina Makarova, can spring a surprise on her day. But the key for her will be to manage her workload.

“Playing both the singles and dou-bles can be really tough. When you play one match a day its fi ne, but when you have two matches a days it’s not easy. You need to recover and be ready for the next game,” Vesnina said.

“I am playing doubles this week with Ekaterina Makarova so we will see how it goes. It’s a strong tournament. It’s would be an honour to win the tourna-ment. That’s why I am going to try my

luck in both singles and doubles, why not?” she added.

Vesnina, world No. 23 in singles and no. 3 doubles, is one of the top play-ers to play both. “Only few players in the top 10 doubles and top 20 singles can do that now (play both singles and doubles). It makes me feel special, it makes me feel I am in good shape as well. It’s really a strong tournament. I am looking forward to play here. It’s a very prestigious event, big history and big players are here. It would be great to win this title. One of my goals defi -nitely,” the Russian said

Al Gharafa’s former Real Madrid and Internazionale midfielder Wesley Sneijder (second from left) will make his AFC Champions League debut against Al Jazira tomorrow.

Russia’s Maria Sharapova takes part in a practice session at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex yesterday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil

Players Elena Vesnina, Daria Kasatkina, Ons Jabeur, Fatma al-Nabhani, Qatar Tennis, Badminton and Squash Federation(QTBSF) board director Karim Alami, QTBSF secretary-general Tariq Darwish Zainal, tournament director Saad al-Mohannadi and Total off icials pose after the off icial draw ceremony yesterday. PICTURE: Jayan Orma

Blockbuster on cards as stars battle for Qatar title

Osaka wins qualifying openerBy Sports ReporterDoha

Japan’s Naomi Osaka got her qualifying campaign underway at the Qatar Total Open with a

solid 6-3, 6-4 win over Lu Jing-jing of China yesterday.American Catherine Bellis was even more impressive, powering to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Mubaraka al-Naimi in just 38 minutes.Marketa Vondrousova also secured a straight-sets win, beating Sabine Lisicki 6-1, 6-3. The Czech will next face Kristina Kucova, who shocked Océane Dodin 6-4, 6-1.Meanwhile, Vera Zvonareva beat Hsieh Su-Wei 6-4, 6-4; and 18-year-old Sofya Zhuk sprang a surprise on Francesca Schiavone, triumphing 6-3, 6-2.

QUALIFYING SINGLES RESULTS FIRST ROUND: [1] C. Bellis (USA) d [WC] Mubaraka al-Naimi (QAT) 6-0 6-0; [2] N. Osaka (JPN) d J. Lu (CHN) 6-3 6-4; [3] M. Vondrousova (CZE) d [WC] S. Lisicki (GER) 6-1 6-3; V. Zvonareva (RUS) d [4] S. Hsieh (TPE) 6-4 6-4; [5] C. Mchale (USA) d [WC] A. Vasylyeva (UKR) 6-3 6-0; [6] K. Bondarenko (UKR) d S. Karatantcheva (BUL) 6-3 4-6 6-3; [7] E. Alexandrova (RUS) d Ar. Rodi-onova (AUS) 6-4 7-5; [8] M. Niculescu (ROU) d R. Ozaki (JPN) 6-1 6-0; S. Zhuk (RUS) d [9] F. Schiavone (ITA) 6-3 6-2; K. Kucova (SVK) d [10] O. Dodin (FRA) 6-4 6-1; [11] Y. Duan (CHN) d B. Krejcikova (CZE) 7-6(3) 6-4; [12] A. Petkovic (GER) d X. Han (CHN) 6-3 6-1; [13] S. Sorribes Tormo (ESP) d N. Broady (GBR) 6-4 6-7(1) 7-5; [14] B. Pera (USA) d T. Martin-cova (CZE) 6-2 6-4; A. Blinkova (RUS) d [15] J. Fett (CRO) 6-1 6-1; [16] D. Kovinic (MNE) d M. Honcova (SVK) 6-4 5-7 6-1.

TENNIS / QATAR TOTAL OPEN

Aguero hits four for City, Kane returns to haunt Arsenal

AFPLondon

Sergio Aguero scored four second-half goals as Manchester City’s march towards the Premier

League title continued unabated with a 5-1 thrashing of Leicester yesterday to move 16 points clear of Manchester United.

Aguero now trails Harry Kane by just two goals in the race for the golden boot, but just one from Kane was enough to win the North London derby as the Tottenham striker’s seventh goal in as many games against Arsenal secured a 1-0 win.

Riyad Mahrez made his Leicester return after ending his self-imposed exile at protest after the Foxes turned down a transfer deadline day advance by City for the Algerian.

However, the damage had al-ready been done for the visitors by the time Mahrez entered as a substitute just after the hour

mark thanks to another Aguero masterclass. Kevin De Bruyne’s teasing low cross was turned home by Sterling for his 20th goal of the season inside three minutes, but there was a rude awakening for City’s record signing Aymeric Laporte on just his second appear-ance for the club as Jamie Vardy skipped beyond the £57 million defender before his defl ected shot found the bottom corner.

Leicester were powerless to stop Aguero after the break as the Argentine took advantage of two more wonderful De Bruyne passes and then an errant clear-ance from Leicester ‘keeper Kasper Schmeichel to complete his hat-trick. The best was yet to come as Aguero smashed a 20-yard drive in off the under-side of the bar.

Spurs soar to thirdKane towered above the Ar-

senal defence to head home his 32nd goal of the season four minutes into the second half, as only some wayward fi nishing

and stunning goalkeeping from Petr Cech saved the visitors from further embarrassment in

front of a Premier League record crowd of 83,222 at Wembley.

“He is the present and the fu-ture,” said Mauricio Pochettino when quizzed whether Kane’s dominant header possessed traits of an old-fashioned Eng-lish centre-forward.

“It is amazing all that he is achieving, (I’m) so proud and happy he is in our side.” Victory moved Spurs up to third above Liverpool and Chelsea, while sixth-placed Arsenal now lie six points off the top four.

And more questions will be asked of Alexandre Lacazette’s future role at the Emirates in the wake of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s arrival as the Frenchman missed a great late chance to snatch a point after coming off the bench.

“Kane made the diff erence, that is what he is about,” Arse-nal boss Arsene Wenger said.

“Once they scored you could see we were wobbling for a while and they could have scored one or two more, but in the last 10

minutes we should have come back to 1-1.”

Kane spoke this week of how being released from Arsenal’s academy as an eight-year-old left him with a “chip on his shoulder”. The man now chris-tened ‘one of their own’ by the Spurs faithful hasn’t let Arsenal forget that decision as he pow-ered Ben Davies’ cross into the bottom corner. At the other end of the table, Swansea’s stunning revival under Carlos Carvalhal continued as Ki Sung-Yueng’s fi ne strike nine minutes from time earned a 1-0 win over Burnley to moved up to 14th.

West Ham also eased their relegation fears as goals in ei-ther half from Javier Hernandez and Marko Arnautovic ensured they moved fi ve points clear of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win over Watford. Stoke remain in the bottom three as Charlie Adam saw a stoppage-time penalty saved in a 1-1 draw against Brighton, while Everton eased past Crystal Palace 3-1.

EPL

AFPBerlin

Bayern Munich star Rob-ert Lewandowski scored in his 11th consecutive home league match in

yesterday’s 2-1 win over Schalke to equal the Bundesliga record.

The Poland striker, who now has 26 in all competitions, has netted in all of Bayern’s league games this season at the Allianz Arena.

He equalled the record of Jupp Heynckes, Bayern’s head coach, who missed yesterday’s game with fl u. Heynckes also scored in 11 consecutive home games for Borussia Moenchengladbach in 1972/73.

Despite Lewandowski’s feat, Bayern captain Thomas Muel-ler scored the goal of the day in Germany to seal the win which restored Munich’s 18-point lead as Schalke drop to sixth.

With barely fi ve minutes gone, Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Faehr-mann blocked Mueller’s fi erce shot, but Lewandowski was on

hand to tap in his 19th league goal of the season to equal the record.

Schalke drew level when Ger-many midfi elder Leon Goretzka, who will join Bayern next sea-son, mistimed a bicycle kick from a cross, but Franco di Santo fi red home on 29 minutes.

However, Mueller then scored one of his fi nest goals in the fa-mous red shirt on 36 minutes.

He sprinted onto a Arjen Rob-ben pass in the area, but instead of passing inside as the defence expected, fi red home from the tightest of angles past the de-spairing Faehrmann.

Bayern have now won 21 of their last 22 games in all compe-titions.

Batshuayi nets again Earlier, Belgium striker Michy

Batshuayi, on loan from Chel-sea, scored his third Bundesliga goal in two games in Borussia Dortmund’s 2-0 home win over Hamburg.

Dortmund signed the 24-year-old on loan for the rest of the season after selling top-

scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubam-eyang to Arsenal last month.

Batshuayi is supplying the goals after marking his debut by netting twice in a 3-2 win at bot-tom side Cologne a week ago.

“I’m very happy, the most important thing is we won and remain high in the table,” said Batshuayi with Dortmund third.

As promised, the Belgian cel-ebrated with a somersault after scoring on his home debut.

US winger Christian Puli-sic threaded a pass through the Hamburg defence, which Batsh-uayi met at the far post for a tap in on 49 minutes.

A dull match was lit up by Dort-mund’s second in the dying stages when Germany’s World Cup win-ner Mario Goetze netted after coming off the bench. Dortmund’s injury-prone Germany winger Marco Reus returned after 259 days sidelined by a torn knee ligament.

The win left Dortmund third, a point behind second-placed RB Leipzig, who won 2-0 at home to Augsburg on Friday with Liv-erpool-bound Naby Keita ham-mering home a free-kick.

Eintracht Frankfurt stormed up to fourth with a 4-2 thrashing of bottom side Cologne.

Ante Rebic gave Frankfurt an early lead, but Cologne striker Simon Terrode equalised with a second-half penalty.

Frankfurt defender Marco Russ headed the hosts back into the lead for his fi rst goal since overcoming cancer in 2016. French defender Simon Falette and midfi elder Marius Wolf scored in quick succession to stretch Frankfurt’s lead to 4-1 before Terrode grabbed Co-logne’s second with a header.

Bayer Leverkusen dropped to fi fth after a shock 2-0 defeat at home to Hertha Berlin as Val-entino Lazaro and Ivory Coast veteran Salomon Kalou scored. Hoff enheim earned their fi rst win in six games with a 4-2 thrashing of Mainz as strikers Adam Szalai and Andrej Kra-maric scored twice.

Freiburg lost for the fi rst time in nine league games, crashing to a 2-1 defeat at Hanover 96, whose midfi elder Felix Klaus scored the winner.

Lewandowski equals home scoring recordBUNDESLIGA

AFPMadrid

Antoine Griezmann scored after just 39 seconds as Atletico Madrid won 1-0 away

at bottom side Malaga yesterday to move to within six points of La Liga leaders Barcelona.

The French striker fi red home his eighth league goal of the campaign from inside the box after a Saul Niguez shot was de-fl ected into his path.

It was Atletico’s eighth victory by a 1-0 margin in La Liga this season and it puts some pres-sure back on Barcelona, although they can again move nine points clear at the top by beating Getafe at the Camp Nou on Sunday.

Griezmann marked his goal by holding up a shirt carrying the name of Nacho Barbera, in a tribute to the 15-year-old Atleti-co fan who died suddenly during a youth game near Valencia last weekend.

Once again Atletico – for whom recent signing Vitolo made his fi rst La Liga start –

were reliant on Jan Oblak, with their Slovenian goalkeeper mak-ing one fi ne save from a Roberto Rosales free-kick.

Malaga remain rooted to the foot of the table after the defeat.

Elsewhere yesterday, Villar-real squandered an opportunity to climb above Real Madrid into the top four, for a few hours at least, as they lost 2-1 at home to Alaves.

Rodrigo Ely and substitute Ibai Gomez scored for the visitors at the Estadio de la Ceramica, with Carlos Bacca pulling one back.

Villarreal’s second straight defeat left them fi fth in the table, two points behind Real Madrid in fourth, having played two games more. Zinedine Zidane’s side en-tertain Real Sociedad later yes-terday in their fi nal outing before the Champions League last-16 showdown with Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday in the Spanish capital.

A win will lift Madrid into third above Valencia, who host local rivals Levante today evening looking to end a run of six straight defeats in all compe-titions.

FOOTBALL

Gulf Times Sunday, February 11, 20182

Early Griezmann goal enough for Atletico Madrid

LA LIGA

Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann celebrates with Sime Vrsaljko and Lucas Hernandez after scoring a goal against Malaga. (Reuters)

Zlatan nears return as Man United vow to keep fi ghting

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is nearing a return to fitness as Manchester United seek to strengthen their grip on second place in the Premier League when they visit Newcastle today. The former Paris Saint-Germain striker has struggled to get back to his best since suff ering cruciate knee ligament damage during a Europa League victory over Anderlecht last April. He made his comeback in the reverse fixture against Newcastle at Old Traff ord in November, a match that Jose Mourinho’s side won 4-1, but has not played since late Decem-ber due to concerns over his knee.“Zlatan started training with the team two days ago,” said Mourinho. “So he has been two days with the group and is improving.”Mourinho would be extremely cautious about throwing him straight back into action today, although his squad is otherwise in reason-ably good health. Defenders Eric Bailly and Daley Blind are both expected to return from ankle injuries before the end of February, although midfielder Marouane Fellaini will not make his comeback until March as he recovers from knee surgery.Last month’s defeat to Tottenham is the only blemish on United’s 2018 to date, with no goals conceded in their other six league and cup games so far this year, all of which have been won.A 2-0 victory over Huddersfield last week, in which new signing Alexis Sanchez was outstanding, helped United make minor inroads into Manchester City’s colossal lead, although the gap was still 13 points going into this weekend’s fixtures.Making up that ground in 12 matches is a near-impossible task but full-back Antonio Valencia has made it clear that United must keep up the fight, even if only to delay the inevitable.Valencia referred to the remarkable title race of 2012, when United led by eight points with six games left but ended up losing the title to Manchester City on the final day.

Results & standings

Tottenham Hotspur .. 1 Arsenal ...........................0

Everton ...................................3 Crystal Palace ...........1

Stoke City .............................. 1 Brighton ..........................1

Swansea City .................... 1 Burnley ..........................0

West Ham United ......2 Watford .........................0

Manchester City ..........5 Leicester City ............1

Standings P W D L F A Pts

Manchester City 27 23 3 1 79 20 72

Manchester Utd 26 17 5 4 51 18 56

TottenHotspur 27 15 7 5 52 24 52

Liverpool 26 14 9 3 59 31 51

Chelsea 26 15 5 6 46 23 50

Arsenal 27 13 6 8 51 36 45

Burnley 27 9 9 9 21 24 36

Leicester City 27 9 8 10 39 40 35

Everton 27 9 7 11 32 46 34

Bournemouth 26 8 7 11 30 37 31

Watford 27 8 6 13 37 47 30

West Ham Utd 27 7 9 11 34 46 30

Brighton & Hove 27 6 10 11 22 36 28

Crystal Palace 27 6 9 12 25 42 27

Swansea City 27 7 6 14 20 37 27

Southampton 26 5 11 10 28 38 26

Newcastle Utd 26 6 7 13 24 36 25

Stoke City 27 6 7 14 27 53 25

Huddersfield Tn 26 6 6 14 19 46 24

W Brom Albion 26 3 11 12 21 37 20

Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski celebrates scoring a goal against Schalke in their Bundesliga match yesterday. (Reuters)

Manchester City’s Argentinian striker Sergio Aguero (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring the team’s fourth goal during the EPL match against Leicester City at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester yesterday. (AFP)

‘It is amazing all that he is achieving, (I’m) so proud and happy he is in our side’

Neymar lift s PSG past Toulouse ahead of Real tripAFPParis

Neymar scored the only goal as Paris Saint-Germain ground out a 1-0 victory at

Toulouse yesterday in their fi -nal tune-up for next week’s Champions League showdown against holders Real Madrid.

The runaway French league leaders stretched their advan-tage over Marseille to 13 points courtesy of Neymar’s 19th Ligue 1 goal of the season mid-way through the second half in Toulouse. Unai Emery’s team will now turn their focus to Wednesday’s fi rst leg of their heavyweight last-16 tie against Cristiano Ronaldo’s faltering Real in the Spanish capital.

Neymar returned to the PSG line-up after sitting out Tues-day’s French Cup win over So-chaux, but Edinson Cavani, the league’s leading scorer with 21 goals this term, missed the trip south with a hip complaint.

Lassana Diarra came in for his fi rst start in the league as Unai Emery elected to rest both Mar-co Verratti and captain Thiago Silva ahead of the visit to the Bernabeu.

Presnel Kimpembe, fi lling in for Silva in central defence, forced 19-year-old Toulouse goalkeeper Alban Lafont into a terrifi c early save from point-blank range after latching onto a low cross from Neymar.

Former Arsenal striker Yaya Sanogo also threatened for Tou-louse as Alphonse Areola par-ried his diving header following a left-wing cross by Max Gradel who had escaped beyond Dani Alves.

But the fi rst half was largely played in the Toulouse half, with Lafont producing an ex-cellent fi ngertip save to deny Kylian Mbappe and then stick-

ing out his right boot to keep out Neymar. The home keeper was almost caught out by an Angel Di Maria corner just before the break but was relieved to see the ball smack against the crossbar and away to safety.

Cruel deflectionPSG again went close 10 min-

utes into the second half when Neymar screwed a shot across goal that rolled agonisingly out of the reach of a lunging Di

Maria at the far post.But Neymar delivered the

breakthrough on 68 minutes when he gathered Di Maria’s crossfi eld ball, twisted his way past Steeve Yago, and fi red in a shot that took a wicked defl ec-tion off Issa Diop to beat Lafont.

Only the woodwork prevent-ed the Brazilian from adding to his tally, as Neymar planted an eff ort against the base of the post before curling a sublime 25-yard shot against the bar.

Julian Draxler, who came off the bench in place of Di Maria, was thwarted by the legs of an inspired Lafont late on as the Germany international sought to kill the game off in the closing minutes.

Monaco can climb to second later on Saturday with victory away to Angers, although the champions will be without the injured Radamel Falcao as well as the suspended Keita Balde.

Lyon will attempt to snap a

run of back-to-back league de-feats at home to Rennes on Sun-day, while Marseille lost keeper Steve Mandanda to injury dur-ing Friday’s 2-2 draw at Saint-Etienne.

The France international is expected to be sidelined for two to three weeks after hurting his hamstring and faces a race against time to recover for the league and French Cup double-header with PSG at the end of the month.

LIGUE 1


The Qatar football fam-ily, which includes the Qatar Football Asso-ciation (QFA), the Su-

preme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) and the Qatar Stars League (QSL), are joining forces once again this National Sport Day (NSD) on February 13 and are set to organise a staff football tournament at Aspire which will see teams from the football fam-ily compete for the title in a fun and non-competitive environ-ment.

The collaboration is an an-nual tradition which falls on the country’s National Sport Day and sees the employees of the three entities take part in pro-moting sports and healthy living through playing football.

The QFA will also be partner-ing with Qatar Shell this year by celebrating the National Sport Day through their award-win-ning corporate social responsi-bility programme “Koora Time”.

Additionally, the QFA will also organise activities and events at Al Quds Model School with the participation of a number of

schools from around Qatar. The QFA has completed its

preparations for the National Sport Day this year by organising several events and activities in partnership with diff erent local entities and organisations which QFA has been keen to take part in since the fi rst National Sport Day in 2012.

Since the inauguration of the National Sport Day, football has become an essential tool in bringing people together and stimulating their enthusiasm for taking part in sports. National Sport Day will foster a sense of community amongst everyone taking part; create an oppor-tunity for sports enthusiasts to meet new people, and raise awareness about the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle which all are in line with the country’s 2030 vision and 2021 vision of the QFA.

QFA’s activities in Aspire will instil a culture of football

within the communityThe Qatar football fam-

ily’s celebration of the country’s sports day is a commitment to all sporting events organised in the country where employees and their families are looking for-

ward to enjoying a day of fun ac-tivities with their colleagues and family members. The celebration demonstrates the commitment of the QFA to play an important role in promoting a healthy life-style among the community.

A lasting and fruitful partnership with Qatar Shell

The QFA will be partnering with Qatar Shell this year by cel-

ebrating the National Sport Day through their award-winning corporate social responsibility programme “Koora Time”.

The all-day event will off er visitors a variety of football ac-tivities, including a ‘head-to-head’ dribbling challenge, a ‘Dive and Save’ goalkeeping competi-tion, a virtual reality goal keeper game, open play football, all day aerobics classes.

QFA participates in schools’ celebration of Sport Day

QFA will also organise a school-related event organised by Jerusalem Model School, which will see the participation of school students and promote the positive values of sports in general and football in particu-lar. The event will take place to-morrow.

Collaborating with the educa-

tion sector through organising a sports event at the school is an integral part of QFA’s interest in promoting football among the schools in Qatar. Schools play a big part of community-based events that are organised by QFA.

Ali al-Salat, Head of Media and Communications at the Qatar Football Association said: “The QFA’s celebration of the country’s sports day is a step in the right direction for the whole society to practice sport as a way of life and to spread this culture to all levels of society.”

He added: “There is no doubt that the idea of a national sports day also indicates the keenness of the wise leadership to pro-mote the concept of sport for all.

“This is the direction of the nation as the Emiri Decree No. 80 of 2011 designated the second Tuesday of February of each year shall be a Sport Day for the State, when everyone is encouraged to participate in sporting activities with colleagues and family.

This decision comes from His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Ha-mad al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, who always gives importance to sports in Qatar and allocated a sports day for the country in which citizens and residents

participate in a wonderful ex-perience which brings everyone together.”

He added: “This is a great op-portunity for all of us to prac-tice sports and contribute to our country’s commitment to en-courage sports participation by attracting diverse segments of the community. Increasing par-ticipation in sports will contrib-ute to bringing the community together and encourage people to improve their lives by ensur-ing a healthy future for current and future generations.”

He also said: “We have invited all employees and staff members of the football family along with their families to participate in all activities and events held this sports day. This is an opportu-nity for employees to meet out-side of the offi ce environment and take part in the eventful day.

QFA’s participation in the country’s national sports day instils and promotes the idea of leading a healthy lifestyle through organising a variety of football events and activities for both the QFA employees and the community. Organising and tak-ing part in several events this year further strengthens the role of QFA within the community.”

QFA invites all to take part in its NSD activitiesFOCUS

Emery’s team will now turn their focus to their Champions League tie against Real

SPORT3Gulf Times

Sunday, February 11, 2018

AFPMilan

Patrick Cutrone hit a double with Lucas Biglia and Fabio Borini also scoring as AC Milan

crushed SPAL 4-0 yesterday to boost their European ambitions.

Cutrone, 20, took centre stage with Nikola Kalinic injured and Davide Calabria suspended, opening after two minutes in Fer-rara off a rebound and doubling from close range on 65 minutes. Argentine Biglia got his fi rst Mi-lan goal on 73 minutes with Borini coming off the bench to fi nd the fourth to give Milan a fourth win in their last fi ve Serie A games.

But Milan coach Gennaro Gattuso warned that the result was not as easy as the scoreline suggested. “We musn’t think that this result will solve our problems,” said Gattuso.

“We have to keep working to improve. The only thing I ask the lads is not to stop believing in our possibilities.”

“We put in a good perform-ance. The 4-0 result didn’t refl ect how much we suff ered when only 1-0 up.”

Gattuso’s side move up to sev-enth, still just outside the Eu-ropa League places. “We knew it would be a diffi cult game and in fact, immediately after scoring, we suff ered,” said Italy forward Cutrone. “We did well to resist and like a great team fi nd a way to kill off the game.”

The result has also improved Milan’s slim Champions League hopes, with city rivals Inter Mi-lan, seven points ahead in the fi -

nal spot for elite European action next season, hosting Bologna on Sunday.

“The Champions League? We have to focus on one game at a time and the next one is an Eu-ropa League game next Thurs-day. We want to move forward in Europe,” said Cutrone.

SPAL had their chances with Federico Viviani missing two fi rst half eff orts and Mirco Ante-nucci also threatening.

Milan’s Ivorian midfi elder Franck Kessie was booked and will be suspended for next week’s game with Sampdoria.

SPAL remain rooted in the drop zone with just three wins this season.

Napoli will bid to reclaim top spot later when they host Lazio after Juventus moved two points ahead on Friday.

Federico Bernardeschi and Gonzalo Higuain scored for the champions in a 2-0 win at Fiorentina overshadowed by a video assistant referee (VAR) fi -asco. A decision to award a pen-alty to Fiorentina after 21 min-utes when Juventus’s Giorgio Chiellini’s arm blocked a Marco Benassi cross was overturned after consultation with VAR.

Referee Marco Guida instead decided to award the visitors a free-kick for a supposed Benassi off side in the run-up. Ex-Fioren-tina player Bernardeschi curled in a free-kick after 56 minutes for his fourth goal in six Serie A games started for Juventus.

Higuain sealed the win four minutes from time with his 14th Serie A goal this season and 50th for Juventus. Fiorentina remain in 11th position on 31 points.

Cutrone scores double as Milan hit four past SPAL

SERIE A

Striker Han relishing Cagliari returnAFPMilan

Korean international striker Han Kwang-Song said Friday he was relishing his return to

Serie A side Cagliari following a loan spell in Perugia.

The 19-year-old Han was loaned to Serie B side Perugia early this season where he fl our-ished, scoring seven goals, and attracted the interest of clubs including champions Juventus.

Han has returned to his Medi-terranean side to help Sardinian outfi t Cagliari who are just seven points above the drop zone.

“The biggest emotion since I came in Italy? Honestly, fi rst goal on Serie A,” Han told Cagliari’s TV channel of his fi rst goal fi ve minutes into stoppage time in a 3-2 home defeat to Torino on April 9 last year.

“I thank Perugia which gave me the chance to grow up as a

player,” he said. “I didn’t expect to come back now, I am happy! I also thank Cagliari and Chair-man Giulini, who believed in me and gave me the chance to play in Serie A. I am living a dream.

“I work every day to improve more and more, I am young, I have to learn a lot. I listen to the advice of (coach Luis Diego) Lopez and of my teammates.

“Here in Cagliari everybody loves me, I feel like I am at home,” added the striker whose idols are Real Madrid star Cristiano Ro-naldo and Juventus’s Paulo Dy-bala. Born in Pyongyang, Han, spent some of his youth at a Football academy in Barcelona before returning to his homeland to join FC Chobyong.

He returned to Italy in 2015 playing with Cagliari’s academy side before joining the fi rst team last season, making his Serie A debut, and scoring his fi rst goal.

One of the biggest challenges for him has been learning the Italian language.

SPOTLIGHT

Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian forward Neymar Jr celebrates after scoring against Toulouse (TFC) during their Ligue 1 match at the Municipal stadium in Toulouse yesterday. (AFP)

Forrest hat-trick sends Celtic into Scottish Cup quartersJames Forrest netted a hat-trick as Celtic remained on course for a domestic treble by reaching the Scottish Cup quarter-finals with a 3-2 win over Partick Thistle yesterday.The Scottish champions paid their respects to former midfielder Liam Miller with a minute’s silence before kick-off for the Irishman, who died on Friday aged just 36 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.“It is incredibly sad and to get the news last night puts

life in football into perspective,” said Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.“The thoughts of everybody at Celtic will be with his family. He was a fantastic player.”The sombre mood at Celtic Park was lifted by a fast start from the hosts when Forrest prodded home the opener after just two minutes.A brilliant solo run and finish from Forrest doubled his tally and Celtic’s lead just 10 minutes in, but a slack back

pass from Jozo Simunovic allowed Kris Doolan to pull a goal back for Partick before half-time.Forrest showed quick feet to complete his hat-trick nine minutes into the second-half and despite Conor Salmon’s strike six minutes from time, Celtic held on to book their place in the last eight.Rodgers’s men won the League Cup back in November and enjoy an eight-point lead over Aberdeen at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

Dhawan century in vain as SA fi ght back in ODI series

AgenciesJohannesburg

India opener Shikhar Dha-wan scored a century in his 100th One-Day Inter-national but scintillating

South Africa claimed a fi ve-wicket Duckworth-Lewis vic-tory in a thrilling rain-curtailed clash at the Wanderers in Jo-hannesburg yesterday.

India lead the series 3-1 head-ing into the fi fth match, to be played in Port Elizabeth on Tues-day. Dhawan’s brilliant 109 from 105 balls lifted India to 289 for seven in their 50 overs, but after rain intervened in the contest, South Africa were left chasing 202 from 28 overs, a target they passed with 15 balls to spare to stay alive in the six-match series.

The home side had previous-ly had to battle against India’s wrist-spinners Kuldeep Yadav

and Yuzvendra Chahal in the series, but tore into them with a vicious assault that yielded 119 runs in just 11.3 overs to ease them past their victory target.

Captain Aiden Markram was trapped in front by Jasprit Bum-rah and JP Duminy was also out leg before to Kuldeep. While Hasim Amla made 33 from 40 deliveries, AB de Villiers went on the off ensive, smashing Kuldeep for consecutive sixes before whipping a ball from Hardik Pandya straight down the throat of Rohit Sharma on the fi ne leg boundary for 26 from 18 balls.

However, David Miller smashed 39 from 28 balls, and shared a quick-fi re 72-run stand for the fi fth-wicket with man of the match Heinrich Klaasen, who ended unbeaten on 43 off just 27 balls with fi ve fours and a six. Earlier, Dha-wan upstaged his captain, Vi-

rat Kohli, who played another valuable innings, hitting 75 in a second wicket stand of 178.

His 83-ball innings took Kohli to 393 runs for a series

in which he has only been dis-missed twice. It was the third successive big partnership be-tween Dhawan and Kohli.

They put on an unbeaten 93

in chasing down a small target in the second match in Centu-rion and added 140 in setting up a win in the third match in Cape Town.

FOCUS

AFPDhaka

Off -spinner Akila Dan-anjaya claimed fi ve wickets in an innings on debut as Sri Lanka

beat Bangladesh by 215 runs in the second Test to win the two-Test series 1-0 in Dhaka yesterday.

Set a target of 339 runs, a col-lapse-prone Bangladesh were all out for 123 in 29.3 overs in their second innings in the second session of the third day, without off ering much of a challenge.

Dananjaya fi nished with 5-24 to take his match haul to eight wickets while experienced Ran-gana Herath claimed 4-49.

Sri Lanka bowled out Bang-ladesh for 110 runs in the fi rst innings to take a 112-run lead after they made 222 runs in their opening innings.

“It was a really good series. The fi rst Test was a nightmare for the bowlers and this one was a night-mare for batsmen,” said Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal.

“We executed all our plans and credit goes to the entire team. We felt that this pitch could as-sist spinners, but we were a bit surprised at the way it played.”

Bangladesh captain Mah-

mudullah Riyad was dejected af-ter the loss.

“Feeling really disappointed. It was a result-oriented pitch and our batsmen let us down. We should have been more care-ful with the choice of shots on

this wicket. First innings became crucial,” he said. “Their bowlers were very good, always kept us under pressure. We let them off the hook at times.”

The visitors’ victory was never in doubt after they posted 226

runs in their second innings, re-suming the third day’s play on 200-8. Roshen Silva remained unbeaten on 70, adding 48 runs with fellow overnight batsman Suranga Lakmal for the ninth wicket to extend their lead on

a diffi cult pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam bowled Lakmal for 21 to end the partnership before he trapped Herath leg-before off the next ball to wrap up the Sri Lanka innings.

Taijul fi nished with 4-76 tak-ing his tally to eight wickets in

the match but Bangladesh were always in the back foot once they started their second innings on a massively turning wicket.

Sri Lanka began their victory push as Dilruwan Perera removed opener Tamim Iqbal for two in just the second over of the in-nings. Herath got rid of Imrul

Kayes before the lunch break as wicketkeeper Niroshan Dick-wella took a catch, just a ball after he hit the left-arm spin-ner for a six. Herath added Mo-minul Haque (33) and Mushfi qur Rahim (25) after the lunch break before Dananjaya stepped on to the scene and did the rest.

Dananjaya claims fi ve wickets in Sri Lanka’s winSECOND TEST

South Africa win by five wickets (Duckworth-Lewis), India lead six-game series 3-1

SCOREBOARD

EnglandJ. Roy c Carey b Richardson ... 8A. Hales c Finch b Stanlake ......3D. Malan run out (Warner) ..... 10J. Vince b Tye .................................21J. Buttler c Agar b Richardson .. .............................................................. 46S. Billings c Warner b Stanlake ...............................................................29D. Willey c Warner b Richardson ............................................................... 10C. Jordan not out ........................... 1Extras (b2, w7) ........................ 9Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 137 Fall of wickets: 1-12 (Hales), 2-16 (Roy), 3-34 (Malan), 4-70 (Vince), 5-113 (Billings), 6-133 (Willey), 7-137 (Buttler)Bowling: Richardson 4-0-33-3 (2w), Stanlake 4-0-28-2 (2w), Stoinis 4-0-18-0, Tye 4-0-29-1 (3w), Agar 4-0-27-0 AustraliaD. Warner c Buttler b Willey .... 2D. Short not out ...........................36C. Lynn c Buttler b Jordan ......31G. Maxwell c Buttler b Jordan ...............................................................39A. Finch not out 20Extras (lb2, w8) 10Total (3 wickets; 14.3 overs) 138Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Warner), 2-51 (Lynn), 3-116 (Maxwell) Bowling: Willey 3.3-0-30-1 (1w), Curran 2-0-23-0 (1w), Jordan 3-0-26-2 (1w), Rashid 4-0-34-0 (1w), Dawson 2-0-23-0.Result: Australia won by 7 wickets.

AFPMelbourne

Australia cruised to a sev-en-wicket victory over England with more than fi ve overs to spare to re-

main unbeaten after three games in the triangular Twenty20 series in Melbourne yesterday.

The Australians restricted England to 137 for seven off their 20 overs with paceman Kane Ri-chardson taking three wickets and then the home team knocked up the runs off just 14.3 overs.

A match-winning partner-ship of 65 between Glenn Max-well (39) and D’Arcy Short (36 not out), plus cameos from Chris Lynn (31) and Aaron Finch (20 not out from fi ve balls), got Aus-tralia comfortably home.

The win ensured Australia will play in the tri-series fi -nal in Auckland on February 21 with preliminary matches now switching to New Zealand.

The game-defi ning sequence came when Maxwell and Short accelerated the score from 65 for two at the end of the ninth over to 104 for two after the 11th, 39 runs fl owing over just two overs.

“Our players have been in tremendous form coming off the Big Bash League and they are playing with freedom and they’re playing fearless,” Aus-tralia skipper David Warner said.

“The bowlers executed their game beautifully and the way the batters fi nished it off was abso-lutely clinical.”

But Warner’s form is again in the spotlight after his relentless playing schedule. This time he lasted just four balls, nicking a David Willey outswinger on two.

Warner is the only member of the Test side to have played for Australia in every format this summer and has struggled for form in the ODIs and T20s.

He is expected to travel with the T20 side to New Zealand before heading straight to South Africa for the fi rst of four Tests.

It was a second drubbing for England after going down by fi ve wickets to Australia in Hobart on Wednesday. “It was another poor performance for us,” stand-in captain Jos Buttler said.

“We didn’t quite soak up the pressure early on with the bat losing early wickets to back it up for the end and none of us kicked on. “Again the power of Australia

proved too much.”Buttler was deputising for in-

jured skipper Eoin Morgan, who missed the match after straining his right groin during training on Friday. Pacemen Kane Richard-son and Billy Stanlake claimed fi ve wickets between them after Australia was sent into bat.

England were reeling at 34 for three in the fourth over when David Warner ran out Dawid Malan with a brilliant direct hit.

James Vince was skittled by a slower ball from Andrew Tye before Buttler (46) and Sam Bill-ings (29) steadied the ship.

Billings struck the only six of England’s innings when he smashed Ashton Agar over long on in the 14th over, but he fell to Stanlake with Warner taking the fi rst of two catches at mid-off .

Stanlake (2-28) and Richard-son (3-33) did the damage for Australia.

Australia hammer England by sevenwickets in T20 win

SPOTLIGHT

Sri Lanka’s Akila Dananjaya (left) celebrates after taking the wicket of Bangladesh’s Mehidy Hasan during the third day of the second Test at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka yesterday. (AFP)

CRICKET


SCOREBOARDSri Lanka first Innings: 222 (K. Mendis 68, R. Silva 56; Abdur Razzak 4-63, Taijul Islam 4-83, Mustafizur Rahman 2-17)Bangladesh first innings: 110 (Mehedi Hasan 38 not out; A. Dananjaya 3-20, S. Lakmal 3-25)Sri Lanka second innings (200-8 overnight)D. Karunaratne c Kayes b Mehedi ............................... 32K. Mendis lbw b Razzak .......................................................7D. de Silva b Taijul ................................................................28D. Gunathilaka lbw b Mustafizur ................................... 17D. Chandimal lbw b Mehedi ............................................30R. Silva not out .......................................................................70N. Dickwella c Mahmudullah b Taijul ..........................10D. Perera c Liton b Mustafizur ..........................................7A. Dananjaya c Liton b Mustafizur ................................ 0S. Lakmal b Taijul ................................................................... 21R. Herath lbw b Taijul ........................................................... 0Extras (lb 4) ................................................................. 4Total (all out; 73.5 overs) ............................................... 226Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Mendis), 2-53 (de Silva), 3-80 (Gunathilaka), 4-92 (Karunaratne), 5-143 (Chandi-mal), 6-170 (Dickwella), 7-178 (Perera), 8-178 (Danan-jaya), 9-226 (Lakmal), 10-226 (Herath)Bowling: Razzak 17-2-60-1, Mustafizur 17-3-49-3,

Taijul 19.5-2-76-4, Mehedi 20-5-37-2

Bangladesh second inningsTamim Iqbal lbw b Perera ...................................................2Imrul Kayes c Dickwella b Herath ................................ 17Mominul Haque c Dickwella b Herath ...................... 33Mushfiqur Rahim st Dickwella b Herath .................. 25 Liton Das c Mendis b Dananjaya ................................... 12Mahmudullah c Karunaratne b Dananjaya ...............6Sabbir Rahman c Mendis b Dananjaya ........................1Mehedi Hasan c Dickwella b Dananjaya .....................7Abdur Razzak st Dickwella b Dananjaya ....................2Taijul Islam c Gunathilaka b Herath ...............................6Mustafizur Rahman not out ..............................................5Extras (b6, lb 1) ........................................................... 7Total (all out; 29.3 overs) ................................................123Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Tamim), 2-49 (Kayes), 3-64 (Mominul), 4-78 (Liton), 5-100 (Mahmudullah), 6-102 (Mushfiqur), 7-102 (Sabbir), 8-104 (Razzak), 9-113 (Mehedi), 10-123 (Taijul)Bowling: Lakmal 3-0-11-0, Perera 10-0-32-1, Herath 11.3-1-49-4, Dananjaya 5-1-24-5Result: Sri Lanka won by 215 runs.Series Result: Sri Lanka won series 1-0

Australia’s batsman Glenn Maxwell plays a shot as England’s wicketkeeper Jos Buttler looks on during the Twenty20 International Tri-Series match at the MCG in Melbourne yesterday. (AFP)

South African batsmen Heinrich Klaasen (left) and Andile Phehlukwayo celebrate after winning the fourth ODI against India in Johannesburg yesterday. (AFP)

SCOREBOARDINDIAR. Sharma c and b Rabada ..............................................5S. Dhawan c De Villiers b Morkel ............................ 109V. Kohli c Miller b Morris ................................................ 75A. Rahane c Rabada b Ngidi ...........................................8S. Iyer c Morris b Ngidi ....................................................18M. Dhoni not out ................................................................42H. Pandya c Markram b Rabada .................................. 9B. Kumar run out (Duminy) .............................................5Kuldeep Yadav not out ..................................................... 0Extras (lb6, w12) .....................................................18Total (7 wkts, 50 overs) .................................... 289Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Sharma), 2-178 (Kohli), 3-206 (Dhawan), 4-210 (Rahane), 5-247 (Iyer), 6-262 (Pandya), 7-282 (Kumar)Bowling: Morkel 10-0-55-1 (4w), Rabada 10-0-58-2 (3w), Ngidi 10-0-52-2 (1w), Morris 10-0-60-1 (2w), Phehlukwayo 6-0-38-0 (2w), Duminy 4-0-20-0

South Africa(target 202 in 28 overs)A. Markram lbw b Bumrah ........................................... 22H. Amla c Kumar b Kuldeep Yadav .......................... 33J. Duminy lbw b Kuldeep Yadav ................................ 10A. de Villiers c Sharma b Pandya ..............................26D. Miller lbw b Chahal .....................................................39H. Klaasen not out ............................................................43A. Phehlukwayo not out ................................................ 23Extras (lb3, nb2, w6) 11Total (5 wkts, 25.3 overs) 207Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Markram), 2-67 (Duminy), 3-77 (Amla), 4-102 (De Villiers), 5-174 (Miller)Bowling: Kumar 4-0-27-0, Bumrah 5-0-21-1, Kul-deep Yadav 6-0-51-2 (1w), Pandya 5-0-37-1 (2w), Chahal 5.3-0-68-1 (2nb, 3w)Result: South Africa won by five wickets (Duckworth/Lewis/Stern method)

England hang on for narrow win over Wales

RUGBY

England claim a 15th successive home victory in the competition to stay joint top of the standings

ReutersLondon

Two fi rst-half tries by winger Jonny May were enough for holders England to beat a gutsy Wales side 12-6 in an absorb-

ing Six Nations battle at Twickenham yesterday. On a freezing wet day in west London, May took advantage of two moments of magic to race over as England claimed a 15th successive home victory in the competition to stay joint top of the standings with Ireland.

England led 12-3 at the interval and although Wales threw everything at them in the second half, Eddie Jones’s disciplined side produced a resolute rearguard action. Gareth Anscombe’s late penalty gave Wales a glimpse of vic-tory but England held out. Ultimately the outcome was decided by tiny mar-gins over 80 brutal minutes and Wales could feel justifi ably hard done by.

Anscombe, playing at fullback in place of the injured Leigh Halfpenny, had a try controversially disallowed before the break after the video referee adjudged he had not grounded the ball. England were also indebted to an aston-ishing try-saving tackle by replacement fl anker Sam Underhill who denied Scott Williams what looked like being a cer-tain score in the corner.

“It was a good old-fashioned arm wrestle today but we’re getting good at winning those arm wrestles,” Jones said. “It’s great to see that when we’re not quite at our best we are getting the results. Wales are tough, well-coached and a good side.”

England got off to a fl ying start and were a try to the good with only three minutes on the clock. Anthony Watson got the better of Rhys Patchell to knock back a 50-50 high ball and when Owen Farrell gathered he instantly spotted a yawning gap behind Welsh lines.

His grubber kick was perfect and there was only going to be one winner as May raced through to gather and dive

over. Farrell missed the conversion and Patchell failed with a long-range pen-alty for Wales before England launched a concerted assault on the Welsh line.

Wales defended desperately for phase after phase in front of their own posts but eventually were breached in the corner when an audacious offl oad by lock Joe Launchbury opened the door

for May to dash over for his second try. This time Farrell kicked the conversion.

Patchell’s grubber kick put Ans-combe in a race with Jonathan Joseph and although the Welshman appeared to have got the touchdown the video referee saw it diff erently. Patchell’s simple penalty was all Wales had to show for their eff orts at halftime. Eng-

land made a change at the interval with Underhill replacing Sam Simmonds in the back row and they were forced into another substitution when Watson tweaked a hamstring and was replaced by Jack Nowell. Wales could make little headway as handling errors and fero-cious England tackling frustrated their eff orts. Winger George North replaced

Patchell with 25 minutes left and Wales were in the ascendancy without ever opening up the hosts.

Even when they did Williams was denied by Underhill’s heroic last-ditch tackle and England, with all eight re-placements on the pitch, had just enough in the tank to hang on for their 24th win in 25 games under Jones.

Wade wins in return, Clippers contain Griffi nAFPLos Angeles

Lou Williams scored a team-high 26 points as the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Detroit Pistons 108-95, spoiling Blake Griffi n’s bid to beat his former team on Friday night. Montrezl

Harrell came off the bench to score 18 points and De-Andre Jordan added 17 rebounds as the visiting Clippers snapped the Pistons’ fi ve-game winning streak.

“With the style Doc (coach Rivers) has put into place, we got some pretty solid pieces and we have shown that in the last few games. So far so good,” said Williams.

One longtime piece was missing for the Clippers, but it didn’t matter. They dealt Griffi n to Detroit last month and Friday was his fi rst opportunity to get even, but in-stead it turned into his fi rst loss.

Griffi n had re-signed with the Clippers in July with the understanding that he’d be a ‘Clipper for life.’ His tenure with the Clippers after inking a $171 million con-tract lasted just over half a season. Griffi n, who said he found out about the trade on Twitter, struggled from the fl oor against his former teammates, making just seven of 19 shots and fi nishing with 19 points in front of a crowd of 16,700 at Little Caesars Arena.

During his time with the Clippers, Griffi n was some-times criticised for being too soft. On Friday he tried to establish a physical presence early, receiving a technical foul in the fi rst quarter after jostling with one of the Clip-pers. “I have seen him compete night in and night out. This is a game he wanted, so the magnifying glass is on him,” said Williams, who was playing his fi rst game since signing a three-year, 24 million contract extension.

In fairness to Griffi n, the whole Pistons team was out of sync with the game on the line. Detroit scored just 15 points in the fi nal quarter after leading by three, 80-77, after three quarters. Tobias Harris scored 12 points and Avery Bradley had 10. They were the key players the Clippers acquired in the deal that sent Griffi n to Detroit. They both received loud cheers when the starting line-ups were announced.

Elsewhere, Hassan Whiteside had 12 points and 16 rebounds and Dwyane Wade got a warm welcome in his return to south Florida as the Miami Heat beat the Milwaukee Bucks 91-85. Wade scored just three points but still made his presence felt by delivering a key block late in the game as the Heat snapped a fi ve-game los-ing skid. Wade fi nished with 22 minutes of fl oor time in his fi rst game since being acquired in a trade from the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday.

He played 13 seasons and won three NBA champi-onships in Miami before leaving as a free agent for his hometown Chicago Bulls in 2016. Wade did not start but entered halfway through the fi rst quarter and re-ceived a standing ovation from the crowd of 20,010 at the AmericanAirlines Arena.

Tyler Johnson scored 19 points and Bam Adebayo added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Josh Richard-

son chipped in 16 points for Miami. In Atlanta, LeBron James had a triple-double and Kyle Korver scored a season-high 30 points as Cleveland defeated the Atlan-ta Hawks 123-107 for a successful start after retooling their roster at the trade deadline. “It felt like we played together,” said James, who had 22 points, 17 assists and 12 rebounds in 41 minutes. “Off ensively and defensively the communication was really high. The ball was mov-ing around. The ball was popping and everybody felt like they were in a good rhythm.”

One day after unloading six players, including guards Isaiah Thomas and Wade, in three trades, the Cavaliers used a patchwork roster against the Hawks.

Korver helped make up for a short bench, making seven of 13 from beyond the arc and fi nishing two points shy of equalling his career high of 32 points.

NBA

SPORT5Gulf Times


Big Dolphin lead as stars tumble out

McIlroy has putting meltdown as Johnson takes Pebble Beach lead

FOCUS

GOLF

England’s Jonny May (right) attempts to get past Wales’ Gareth Anscombe during the Six Nations Championship at Twickenham Stadium in London. (Reuters)

Ireland run riot over ItalyAFPDublin

Ireland secured a bonus point in running in eight tries to outclass hapless Italy 56-19 in their Six Nations clash at

Lansdowne Road yesterday. Rob-bie Henshaw and Jacob Stockdale scored a brace of tries apiece but the former was one of two costly injuries — prop Tadhg Furlong the other — to the hosts, land-ing heavily on his shoulder in his second touchdown and having to have oxygen administered.

Ireland — recording their ninth successive Test victory — face a far tougher challenge in a fortnight at home to Wales. “It was good at times. The fi rst half we started really well but in the second half we were a bit sloppy and forcing things rather than sticking to our gameplan,” Keith Earls, the scorer of Ireland’s fourth try, said. “We’re happy but we’ll always fi nd something to work on. We scored some re-ally good tries and a few from turnovers.”

Italy for their part fought to the end, scoring three second-half tries but slipped to their 14th successive Six Nations defeat, equalling their previous worst run in the tournament. “A very diffi cult day for us. The fi rst-half we just didn’t get the ball, it al-ways ended up in an Irish pair of hands, which is a compliment to the way they played,” said Italy’s Irish head coach Conor O’Shea.

“We asked for a reaction for the second-half and we got a positive one and I think if we have more of the ball in next three matches we can win because we take our chances. When we had the ball we looked good.”

Ireland made their intent clear early on as Johnny Sexton went for touch instead of the posts, but the Italians managed to hold Conor Murray up as he crossed the line. However, there was nothing the Italian defence could do to prevent Henshaw going over from a few metres out for his third Test try.

SPOTLIGHT

Dwyane Wade (centre) of the Miami Heat shoots during the first half of the game against the Milwaukee Bucks in Miami, Florida on Friday. (AFP)

ReutersPebble Beach, California

Rory McIlroy four-putted from six feet while Dustin Johnson avoid-ed any similar mishaps to move into the halfway lead at the Peb-

ble Beach Pro-Am in California on Friday. Johnson birdied his fi rst three holes to set a strong base for a seven-under-par 64 second round on the Monterey Peninsula course, one of three used for the event.

Fellow American Beau Hossler, a PGA Tour rookie, had a bogey-free 67 at Spy-glass Hill, joining Johnson at 12-under, though Johnson has a lower total, 131 against Hossler’s 132. Monterey Peninsu-la is a par-71, while Spyglass and the host Pebble Beach courses are par-72 layouts.

Fellow Americans Troy Merritt and Ju-lian Suri are at 10-under, while Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson and Australia’s Jason Day are among a formidable group at nine-under. McIlroy, meanwhile, has some work ahead to make the 54-hole cut after a 74 at Monterey that included a stagger-ing double-bogey at the par-four fi fth.

After almost driving the green, the Northern Irishman used his putter from the fringe and stroked the ball to within six feet of the cup, from where he took four putts and probably ended his hopes in the tournament in a matter of seconds.

He is at one-under heading to his third

round at Pebble. Johnson, who won the opening event of the year at Kapalua in Hawaii on a course that suited his long-hitting game, said his form is close to where it was at this stage last year, when he was about to embark on a stretch of three successive victories. “I don’t know if it’s quite as good as it was during that stretch,” he said. “That was probably some of the best golf I’ve played in my career, but parts of the game are just as good. I would say that I’m driving it well,

but I’m probably not quite as good as I was when on those three wins, but every-thing else feels like it’s really good.”

World number two Rahm, playing for the fourth consecutive week, used a four-iron approach shot in the par-fi ve sixth to set up a two-putt birdie and get his round at Pebble Beach going. “Hasn’t been a great year on par-fi ves,” said Rahm. “I have had a lot of frustration but it all went away when I hit those two shots into six. I’m going to take a couple of weeks off .”

Dustin Johnson lines up a putt on the 18th green during the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California on Friday. (AFP)

AFPPerth

Overnight leaders Brett Rumford and Lee Westwood crashed out of the $1.75 million Handa Su-per 6 tournament in Perth yes-

terday. On a dramatic day during which strong prevailing winds played havoc with the fi eld, seven diff erent players held the lead at diff erent stages.

When the dust settled, little-known Thai journeyman Prom Meesawat, nick-named “The Big Dolphin” because of

his penchant for swimming, had topped qualifying at 12 under after shooting 67 in the third round. He was followed by three players at 10 under – big-hitting young Australian Lucas Herbert, American Sean Crocker and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen, who won in Perth in 2014.

All of the top four held the lead at some point during the day, but nonetheless start on a level footing on the fi nal day.

The unique tri-sanctioned European Tour tournament sees the top 24 after the fi rst three rounds of strokeplay undertake matchplay on the fi nal day to decide the winner, with the top eight qualifi ers hav-

ing a bye in the fi rst round on Sunday.Having been the top two after both of

the opening two rounds, Westwood and Rumford suff ered a stunning demise to miss the last 24, leaving the tournament without any of its marquee players on the fi nal day. Starting the day joint leaders at eight under, Westwood and Rumford had horrendous rounds, both shooting 78 as they tumbled down the leaderboard to fi nish equal 40th at two under.

Former world number one Westwood struggled all day with wayward driving and heaved his club in frustration after teeing off into the bush on the 14th.

Swiss overpower unifi ed Korean women’s team

Tears for Kvitova as Serena waits on return

Wellinger takes gold on normal hill

Energetic Basic shocks Wawrinka in Sofi a to reach maiden fi nal

WINTER OLYMPICS

TENNIS / FED CUP

SPOTLIGHT

ROUND-UP

SPORT


Alina Muller scores four goals in Switzerland’s 8-0 ice-hockey victory

ReutersPyeongchang, South Korea

Germany’s Andreas Wellinger fl ew through the freezing midnight air to win the Olympic gold medal in the

men’s normal hill individual ski jump-ing yesterday.

Wellinger’s leap of 113.5 metres, earning 259.3 points, edged out Nor-way’s Johann Andre Forfang with Rob-ert Johannsson, also from Norway, picking up bronze.

The 22-year-old Wellinger won gold in the team large hill in Sochi four years ago but it was his team mate Richard Freitag, with 10 World Cup podium fi n-ishes this season, who most Germans expected to be their contender for gold.

After his huge jump, Wellinger had to watch from the fi nish area as four other competitors tried to catch him, praying that his distance would be enough.

Freitag’s jump of 102.5 metres was only enough for ninth place and there was disappointment for Poland’s Kamil Stoch, seeking to become the fi rst man to defend the title, who fi nished fourth.

Another Pole, Stefan Hula, who had led going into the fi nal round, was last to go but fi nished in fi fth place.

That left Wellinger staring into the now mainly empty stands in near dis-belief.

“Its unbelievable, I think I need a few

more days to realise it. The conditions all in all were pretty fair and if you did your best you could be close to the top,” Wellinger told reporters.

“My second jump was really, really good. Waiting for four more competi-tors was not easy but it was unbeliev-able at the end,” he added.

Wellinger said, though, that he had felt in qualifying that he was capable of producing something special.

“I knew in last few days that I was at a high level, I won in qualifi cation, you have to have the right feelings, show the best jump, but Olympic gold medal? I don’t know what else to say,” he said.

The late fi nish was partly the result of television scheduling designed for European audiences, with the fi nal round starting at 10.30 pm local. But the wind also caused delays throughout the fi nal round.

Bronze medallist Johansson, with his distinctive handlebar moustache, ad-mitted the bitter cold, around -12 de-grees, had been tough to handle.

“It was challenging in the second round, started to lose the feeling in my feet, but I ended up with a fantastic jump and managed to get on the po-dium. I will happily lose the feeling in my feet again if that happens,” he joked.

Switzerland’s 36-year-old Simon Ammann was unable to add to his record of four individual gold medals and had to settle for 11th place.

ReutersSofia

Bosnian qualifi er Mirza Basic bludgeoned his way to a shock 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over top seed Stan Wawrinka to set up

an intriguing title clash against big-serving Romanian Marius Copil as the two players reached their maiden ATP fi nal.

Wawrinka, looking to play himself back into form after a long layoff due to a knee surgery, saved two set points in the opening tiebreak but Basic won it with a thundering serve that gave the 32-year-old Swiss no chance.

The aggressive Bosnian, playing his sixth match this week, showed no nerves in the second set, sending fi zz-ing forehands across court and down the lines beyond Wawrinka.

“It’s a big win for me but there’s one more game and now I have to focus on the fi nal,” 26-year-old Basic said in a courtside interview after his fi rst vic-tory over a player ranked among the top 20 in the world.

Basic will face world number 93 Copil in the fi nal in Armeets Arena on Sunday.

The Romanian put on a clinical dis-play to power past Slovakian qualifi er Jozef Kovalik 6-4 6-2 in one hour and

34 minutes and also reached his maiden ATP fi nal.

“After Australia, where I lost in the fi rst round, I was very disappointed. I went back home and I had two weeks of very hard practices. I practiced a lot, especially my serve,” the 27-year-old Copil said after his fourth consecutive straight-sets win in Sofi a.

“Not losing a set here gives me a lot of confi dence.”

GASQUET IN MONTPELLIER FINALLocal favourite Richard Gasquet up-set top seed David Goffi n of Belgium 6-4 0-6 6-3 to reach the Open Sud de France fi nal for the sixth time in a row in Montpellier yesterday.

Gasquet, born in neighbouring Bez-iers, was solid in the fi rst set but suf-fered a dip in concentration in the second as world number seven Goffi n raised his level.

The Frenchman, however, broke de-cisively in the seventh game of the third set and again in the ninth to seal the win.

Gasquet, who won the title here in 2013, 2015 and 2016, will face Lucas Pouille in an all-French fi nal today as he benefi ted from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulling out in the other semi-fi nal.

Tsonga was 6-1 5-5 up when he sus-tained a thigh injury after having had two match points.

ReutersGangneung, South Korea

Switzerland’s Alina Muller al-most single-handedly spoiled Korea’s Olympic unity mo-ment yesterday, scoring four

goals to power the Swiss to an 8-0 win over Korea’s unifi ed women’s ice hockey team.

The game, played before South Ko-rean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, was the fi rst ever played by a Korean hockey team at the Olympics.

It drew international attention for featuring players from both North and South Korea, who wore white jerseys with an image of a united Korean pe-ninsula emblazoned in pale blue.

There was a carnival atmosphere as the near-capacity crowd cheered hard for their home team from the moment the puck dropped and roared each time a Korean player held possession. Some 100 North Korean cheerleaders were on hand, decked in red track suits, leading chants for the spectators and singing North Korean pop songs.

In addition to Moon and Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong, the game was attended by Kim Yong-nam, North Korean tit-ular head of state, and International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach.

The Koreans proved no match for a Swiss team ranked sixth in the world by the International Ice Hockey Fed-eration and winners of a bronze medal four years ago in Sochi, Russia.

Switzerland went up 1-0 midway through the fi rst period with a short-handed goal when Muller broke up the left wing and ripped a wrist shot under the glove of Korean goalie Shin

So Jung. By the end of the period she would have a hat trick, netting her third with just 12 seconds remaining in the period.

Muller scored her fourth early in the second period. Phoebe Staenz and Lara Stalder added two goals each to round out the Swiss scoring.

In all the Swiss peppered Shin with 52 shots, and she stopped 44.

The Korean chances were few, and they managed just eight shots on goal.

They missed a chance to take an

early lead when forward Han Soojin broke into the Swiss zone on a break-away and beat netminder Florence Schelling but then ricocheted her shot off the cross bar.

Korean coach Sarah Murray, a 29-year-old Canadian, dressed three of the 12 North Korean players as-signed to her team for the game — forwards Kim Un Hyang, Jong Su Hyon and Hwang Chung Gum. To ac-commodate the North Koreans, she scratched three of her South Korean

players — Lee Eunji, Lee Yeon Jeong and Jung Siyun.

North Korea’s Jong had one of the team’s eight shots on the night.

After the game, Moon and the two Kims came down to the Korean team bench to meet and speak with the players gathered on the ice as the cheerleaders sang in the background. They then posed for a team photo with the players sitting or kneeling on the ice and the dignitaries behind them on the bench.

AFPParis

Petra Kvitova made a tearful return to the Fed Cup yester-day while the United States were beginning their title de-

fence without Serena Williams whose widely-hyped reappearance in the sport has been delayed 24 hours.

Kvitova helped 10-time champions Czech Republic into a 2-0 lead over Switzerland in Prague with the two-time Wimbledon winner admitting her team had been inspired by a mov-ing tribute to fellow All England Club champion Jana Novotna.

“We went onto the court and held the minute’s silence which made us cry,” 27-year-old Kvitova told report-ers after beating Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 1-6, 6-3.

The tribute to fellow Czech Novotna, who died aged 49 last No-vember after a long battle with can-cer, came just before Kvitova’s fi rst Fed Cup rubber since a knife-wielding

burglar cut her racquet hand in De-cember 2016.

“We thought, what a beginning, it’s not ideal to go out there and play ten-nis right now.”

Under a large portrait of 1998 Wim-bledon champion Novotna holding the trophy, the Czech team remained silent for a while, then started a round of applause which was shared by the

crowd in Prague’s O2 Arena.“It was very sad... but a nice ges-

ture,” said Kvitova.Barbora Strycova then eased past

Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-4 to put the Czechs in charge of the fi rst round tie.

Lying in wait in April’s semi-fi nals will be either 2017 runners-up Belarus or Germany who were level at 1-1 after the fi rst day in Minsk.

Antonia Lottner, making her Fed Cup debut for Germany, downed Aliaksandra Sasnovich 7-5, 6-4 after Aryna Sabalenka had earlier seen off Tatjana Maria 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

In La Roche sur Yon, France, like Germany two-time winners of the Fed Cup, fought back to 1-1 against Bel-gium.

Elise Mertens, who made the Aus-tralian Open semi-fi nals last month, gave Belgium the fi rst point by eas-ing past Pauline Parmentier 6-2, 6-1 before Kristina Mladenovic pulled France level with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Kirsten Flipkens.

Later yesterday, 18-time champions United States were scheduled to start the defence of their title at home to the Netherlands, even if drawcard Serena Williams won’t play until later today.

Williams hasn’t played a competi-tive match since lifting her 23rd Grand Slam crown at the 2017 Australian Open since when she took time out to have her fi rst baby and get married.

Serena is scheduled to play doubles today alongside Lauren Davis.

‘Thanks Victor’ — Korean short-track hero hails banned AnAFPGangneung, South Korea

Short-track speed skater Lim Hyo-jun paid tribute to banned Victor An after claiming host

nation South Korea’s first gold medal of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics yesterday.Lim got Korea off the mark on the first full day of action in the men’s 1500m, to the delight of an ecstatic, near-capacity 12,000 crowd at the Gangneung Ice Arena.And his first thoughts were for the Korean-born naturalised Russian An, the sport’s most decorated Olympian who was ruled ineligible after Russia were banned for systemic doping.“Victor told me that I could do this, I’ve had lots of advice from him,” said Lim. “When I first saw him rac-ing I dreamed of becoming a gold medallist.“When I heard the news, (of An’s exclusion) it was really dreadful, it

would be an honour to race against him. I thank Victor for this win,” said the 25-year-old.In a frenetic final, Lim saw off Dutch world record-holder Sjinkie Knegt with Semen Elistratov, one of the Russians competing as a neutral, in third.“I dedicate this bronze to all the guys

who could not make it here,” said Elistratov, referring to the Russians — including An — who were not invited to the Games.“I’m very grateful to the Russian fans who managed to come to these Games to support our team because right now it is indeed a diff icult situa-

tion we are experiencing.”With South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in watching, together with Ameri-can Vice-President Mike Pence, Lim delivered the goods to further embel-lish Korea’s dazzling record in the sport with their 22nd short track title.Korea had two shots at the target but Hwang Dae-heon crashed out of the final, causing a collective groan from the homex supporters.Canada’s Sochi 2014 champion Charles Hamelin scraped into the nine-skater climax in a four-way photo-finish in his semi-final, but there was to be no repeat for the bearded 33-year-old as he picked up a penalty.Also yesterday, South Korea’s skating golden girl Choi Min-jeong remained on target for a potential four-gold medal haul. The 19-year-old set a new Olympic record in her 500m heat to progress to next week’s quarter-finals.And she also helped her country win the 3,000m relay semi-final.Choi is also fancied for gold in the 1,000m and 1,5000m.

North Korea’s cheer squad wave the unification flag during the preliminary round ice hockey match between Switzerland and Unified Korea in Gangneung, South Korea, yesterday. (Reuters)

Lim Hyo-jun (foreground) of South Korea leads during the men’s 1500m short track Speed Skating final in Gangneung, South Korea, yesterday. (Reuters)

G S B T1. Germany 2 0 0 22. Netherlands 1 2 1 43. South Korea 1 0 0 14. Sweden 1 0 0 1

G S B T5. Norway 0 3 1 46. Czech Republic 0 0 1 17. Finland 0 0 1 18. OA from Russia 0 0 1 1

2018 Winter Olympic Games Medals table

Kharaitiyat rally for thrilling win over Markhiya

AZF to introduce Qatar’s fi rst-everdodgeball event

French U-18, U-20 teams train at Aspetar

Losail Training Day grows in popularity

SPORT7Gulf Times


QNB STARS LEAGUE FOCUS

RUGBY

BOTTOMLINE

Tursunov, Mohy and Diba score after Solaka and Saleh had put Markhiya ahead


Al Kharaitiyat bounced back brilliantly from two goals down to beat Al Markhiya 3-2 to earn three valuable points in

Week 16 of the QNB Stars League at the Al Khor Stadium yesterday.

Sanjar Tursunov (43rd minute), Josue Mohy (86th) and Anwar Diba (90+3) scored for Al Kharaitiyat. Rebin Solaka and Mohamed Saleh netted in the 21st and 22nd for Al Markhiya.

Al Kharaitiyat, who were without ace Moroccan striker Rachid Tiberkanine, now have 13 points. Al Markhiya stayed rooted to the bottom with eight.

Al Markhiya fought initially as if they were waging a do-or-die battle. They dominated the proceedings in the open-ing session and created chances one af-ter the other.

The Oryxes were rewarded for their hard work in subsequent minutes

around midway through the fi rst half through Solace and then through Mo-hamed Salah.

Solaka opened the scoring off a free-kick, while Salah found the net slotting home a rebound when rival goalkeeper Ahmed Sofi yan fumbled with a shot from Eric de Oliveira.

Tursunov’s goal came off a corner kick taken by Diba when the Al Markhi-ya defence least expected it.

Al Kharaitiyat were in the game a bit more after the break and they missed out on a golden chance to equalise when Diba’s penalty was saved by goalkeeper al-Bakri. The penalty was awarded when Al Markhiya defender Mohamed Shaban handled Tursunov’s shot.

But The Thunders were not to be de-nied as their persistent eff orts paid off in the form of a header by an unmarked Mohy as Al Markhiya paid the price for failing to close the game.

Then came the climax as Diba’s long-ranger went in after kissing the under-neath of the horizontal.

Al Kharaitiyat player celebrates a goal against Al Markhiya. PICTURE: Othman Iraqi

Ahli blank hosts Arabi 4-0


Al Ahli defeated hosts Al Arabi 4-0 in Week 16 of the QNB Stars League yesterday.

Hamza Younes (31st-min penalty), Simao Mate (49th) and Meshaal Abdul-lah (90+3) scored for Al Ahli, while Saad Natiq had an own goal as the Brigadiers moved to 19 points to stay seventh in the standings. Al Arabi have 12 points in the kitty.It was a much-needed fifth victory for Al Ahli, their first in the second phase and also under Spanish coach George Jorge who replaced compatriot Joaquin Caparros. They had not won a match after their upset 2-0 win over Al Rayyan in Week 11 on December 7.Al Ahli achieved the victory in the ab-sence of their midfield stalwart Yassine Chikhaoui. Ali Qadri made up for it with a good display and even set the stage

for their second goal before being sub-stituted by Abdullah Taleb Afifa after one hour. It was from Ali’s corner kick that Mate headed in their second goal.In hindsight, Al Arabi, who had held Al Sailiya, Umm Salal and Qatar SC in the second phase, were not at their best even though Khalfan Ibrahim and Diego Jardel did try hard.As the game progressed, Al Arabi played second fiddle to their rivals. They had a chance to reduce the margin 10 minutes from time, but Mo-hamed Kanneh hit his shot against the right post. Similarly, Ghanaian striker Kwame Karikari was thwarted by Al Ahli goalkeeper Yazan Naim soon after the first goal.The five-minute stoppage time saw hectic action as Al Ahli added two more goals. Meshaal Mubarak’s cross from the left was accidentally guided into his own net by Iraqi defender Saad before Meshaal Abdullah beat a shattered Al Arabi defence.

Al Ahli players celebrate a goal during their QNB Stars League match against Al Arabi yesterday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil


A year and half since it was launched, Losail Training Day (LTD) has turned into a major mass activity. Losail Circuit

Sports Club launched the programme, supported by the Qatar Sports Federa-tion for All, Qatar Cyclists and Lexus, at the end of 2016 and since then it has been drawing about 300 enthusiasts in each session.

During a press conference held at Losail International Circuit, Khalid al-Remaihi, Vice-President and General Manager of Losail Circuit Sports Club, said: “The growth of the Losail Training Day has been incredible and we’re very pleased with the increasing popularity of this event.”

Also present during the press confer-ence were Qatar Sports Federation for All President Abdulrahman Masalam al-Dosari, QSFA CEO Ahmad al-Ajme, Qatar Cyclists Director Dr Abdulaziz al-Kuwari and Lexus Senior Marketing manager Firas Mufti.

“I think what we have achieved here is a milestone. The collaboration between diff erent institutions and government organisations has helped us achieve this. As Losail Circuit Sports Club, we are not specialised in cycling or preparing the training programmes, but I have had the opportunity to be a partner with the right people to deliver this unique programme to the community,” said Remaihi.

LCSC hosted the fi rst general training day in October 2016. It was scheduled on every Wednesday unless any other im-portant activity was happening on that particular day. Then on December 13, the Ladies Training Day was introduced.

“Initially, the plan was to have two track days in a month for ladies. But soon it became a very popular activity and as the demands for more such days started coming in, we were forced to host it every Tuesday from October last year,” Remaihi said.

“This year, we have planned the NSD event at a grand scale. It will be open only

to females and kids (only over nine years of age allowed). No men will be permitted on the track. Activities will start at 8am and fi nish at 5pm. Except for the rent for bicycles, everything else will be provided free of cost. Sports vendors like Rasen and Carbon Wheels will also be present. We’re also having food stalls so nobody will have to go home feeling hungry,” Re-maihi added.

The track was closed during mid-June to October 10. During the activity peri-od, LCSC conducted 40 general training days and 27 ladies training days. Overall, 13,273 persons recorded their presence at that Losail track (Qataris 4,718 and non-Qataris 8,555).

“We’re really very pleased to note that the number of female participants has been on the rise. We received 4,718 Qa-tari females during the ladies training days, while there were 1,613 non-Qataris among 13,273. We have high hopes that the number will grow in this term with more awareness through our partners and sponsors,” Remaihi said.

Qatar Cyclists are providing bicycles to

all those who come to the track without them. A nominal rent is charged, while rest of the facilities are free. Also LCSC has made special arrangements during the la-dies training days like making Abaya avail-able at the circuit, bag check-in counter, female marshals and volunteers to help the participants. All these steps have contrib-uted to the growth of the training days.

QSFA President Abdulrahman Masa-lam al-Dosari expressed happiness at the rising number of cyclists in Qatar. “The growth of cyclists encourages the gov-ernment to work together with the Min-istry of Transport and Communication. There is a committee, which is headed by his HE Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti and has members from diff erent minis-tries, including the Ministry of Culture and Sports. The plan is to have a place for cycling and walking along all the roads around Doha,” Dosari said.

ACTIVITIES FOR LADIES: Women and kids races, organised by

Qatar Cyclists Go Karting Clinic sessions with Nour

Daoub (Red Bull) Free track open for cycling, running,

walking and rollerblading Fitness classes for ladies Zumba Kick boxing Yoga General fitness class Aerobic excercises Pilates

ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS Pedal cars Karting kids Traff ic circuit Zumba Yoga Kids boot camp Bouncy Castle Face painting Balloon twisting Basketball, football and table soccer

Also there will be express massage, health workshops, PT booths and free BMI tests for all those who are coming to Losail during the NSD celebrations.

Losail Circuit Sports Club vice-president and general manager Khalid al-Remaihi, Qatar Sports Federation for All (QSFA) president Abdulrahman Masalam al-Dosari, QSFA CEO Ahmad al-Ajme, Qatar Cyclists director Dr Abdulaziz al-Kuwari and Lexus SeniorMarketing manager Firas Mufti pose after a press conference held at Losail International Circuit.


Year after year, Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) collaborates with vari-ous local and interna-

tional entities to introduce a myriad of unique and exciting activities for its visitors, particu-larly around key events in Qatar. This year, AZF teamed up with the World Dodgeball Association to introduce Qatar’s fi rst-ever dodgeball competitions, due to take place on the seventh Na-tional Sport Day celebration on Tuesday.

Speaking about the mile-stone, Nasser Abdullah al-Hajri, chairman of the NSD Organising Committee at AZF, said, “Ever since the National Sport Day was announced, AZF has been keen to make each year more memo-rable than the previous one, by introducing new and unique sporting activities for all com-munity members. In previous years, we’ve also launched Qa-tar’s fi rst-ever Japanese Kendo demonstrations and Nordic Walking exercises as well as rug-by tournaments, which encour-aged the establishment of the Qatar Rugby Federation.”

Dodgeball joins the wide range of activities that visitors have come to expect from AZF. It’s similar to a handball game in which players on two teams try to throw balls at each other while avoiding being hit them-

selves. There are many varia-tions of the game, but generally the main objective of each team is to eliminate all members of the opposing team by hitting them with thrown balls, catch-ing a ball thrown by a member of the opposing team, or forcing them to move outside the court boundaries when a ball is thrown at them. The ball that is used for the game is made up of diff erent types, the most common ones are foam, rubber and cloth.

The offi cial launch of the event will be attended by representatives from the World Dodgeball Associ-ation (WDA), which is expected to announce the offi cial launch of the Qatar Dodgeball Federation, along with representatives from Qatar’s Ministry of Culture and Sports. The event’s activities comprise dodgeball demonstrations, the unveiling of the Qatar Dodgeball Federation banner and the launch of the fastest arm in Qatar compe-tition.

The establishment of the Qa-tar Dodgeball Federation will encourage the growth of dodge-ball’s popularity across the coun-try among communities, clubs, schools, colleges and universi-ties and help bring international dodgeball events to Doha. It will also contribute to the creation of a new National Dodgeball Com-petition Framework, including national championships, and na-tional teams for men and women.

The event will take place on Aspire Zone’s Outdoor Pitch 10 from 9am until 3pm.


In preparation for the upcom-ing 2018 season, the French U-18 and U-20 national rugby teams recently conducted a

training camp at Aspetar, where they benefi ted from state-of-the-art Altitude Rooms, the fi rst fully-integrated dormitory of its kind in the world.

Designed specifi cally for elite training camps, the facility al-lows athletes to improve endur-ance by stimulating the body to increase production of red blood cells, thus increasing the propor-tion of oxygen in the blood.

The rooms can replicate an al-titude range of 500m to 5,500m, enabling athletes to “live high, train low” by replicating high al-titude training from sea-level. The facility also uses advanced tech-nology that enables conditions to be monitored remotely from any-where in the world. It houses up to 50 athletes at one time.

Commenting on their training camp at Aspetar, Antonin Berru-yer, U20 team’s blindside fl anker, said, “The infrastructure here is world class; we have the gym, cycling in the heat chambers, and swimming pools for recovery. I do not think that I have seen an-ything similar in France, not this

level of quality; even the training pitch is of a very high quality.

“This is very important be-cause we cannot achieve Asp-etar’s level of quality in France, especially during winter, when it is cold and our grass pitches are easily damaged. Accessing such facilities is a great advantage.”

Berruyer’s colleague, fl y-half Romain Ntamack, said, “I came to Aspetar to enhance my training and my physical aptitudes and it really worked. We have been wel-comed very well here. These are excellent facilities and the staff are taking good care of us. The rooms are very well cleaned, the food is well served, and the staff are great. The weather is also perfect and the pitches are excellent.”

Meanwhile, Sébastien Piquero-nies, the U20 team’s manager, said, “We came to Doha for a de-velopment training camp for our best U20 Rugby XV players and U18 Rugby 7 players. The objec-tive is to prepare the U20s for the upcoming Six Nations and World Cup tournaments in June 2018, and the U18s for the Euro-pean Championships in May 2018 and the Youth Olympic Games in South America in October. We select the best U18, U19, and U20 players, and bring them to this de-velopment stage here at Aspetar, where we can benefi t from the wonderful infrastructure here.”

Action from the 50-over-a-side cricket match between Qatar (in maroon and yellow) and Uganda (black and red) at Asian Town Cricket Stadium on Friday. Uganda won the thriller by five runs after Riaz Shah held his nerve and gave away only 7 runs from the final over, even as Qatar needed 13 to reach the 192-runtarget. Uganda opener Simon Ssesazi scored 62 runs on hisdebut. Tamoor Sajjad (52) and Inam Ul-Haq (44) were thepillars of Qatar chase, but it all unravelled once DeusMuhumuza picked up those two wickets.

Uganda win 50-over game

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Sunday, February 11, 2018 FOOTBALL GULF TIMES