Saturday, December 12, 2015Rabia I 1, 1437 AH

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Cricket fans in Qatar can now cheer for Lahore Qalandars!

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Qalco buys Pakistan Super League Twenty20 team for $25mn

By Anil JohnSports Editor

Can cricket, money and Sufi sm mix? Yes, according to Fawad Rana, the CEO of Qatar Lubricants Company (Qalco), the fi rm that has created a buzz around the

cricketing world by paying $25mn to buy the Pa-kistan Super League’s (PSL) Lahore franchise for 10 years.

It’s the fi rst instance of a company boasting full ownership of a Twenty20 team playing in a foreign tournament, and yesterday Rana re-vealed the name of the franchise, for the fi rst time, to Gulf Times. For him, Lions, Rams and Tigers are passe – the Qalco-owned team will be known as the Lahore Qalandars, the ‘Q’ repre-senting both Qatar and Qalco.

In an exclusive interview with this newspaper, Rana said the name was chosen to highlight the Sufi culture of Lahore which is all about love, understanding and peace. ‘Qalandar’ is a term commonly used in India and Pakistan for Sufi mystics or saints whose shrines attract millions of devotees, regardless of their religious affi lia-tions.

“As you are probably aware, Lahore and in-deed other parts of Pakistan have numerous Sufi shrines which are symbols of peace and harmo-ny. We wanted to project this aspect of Lahore and Pakistan’s traditions,” he added.

Lahore, of course, is the second-largest city in Pakistan after Karachi and the capital of the Punjab province from where Rana belongs, and the idea to get involved with the PSL came about when the Pakistan Cricket Board was trying to get Qatar to host the event after the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) had initially refused per-mission because of logistical problems.

“When the PCB initially got in touch with the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) we at Qalco were quite thrilled and decided Qatar should own a team. Thankfully, our chairman HE Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim al-Thani is a great sports lover and he immediately approved of the idea,” said Rana.

However, despite the fact that the PCB later reached an agreement with the ECB about the PSL dates and decided not host the tournament in Qatar, Qalco still went ahead with its bid for the team.

“It’s great for Qatar to own a cricket team. As everyone is aware, South Asians are crazy about the game. The success of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been phenomenal. I am confi -dent that the PSL would also prove a great suc-cess.”

The Pakistan board is keen to avoid some of the issues that have plagued the IPL where absolute money power rules. “In the PSL we have a salary cap with no team allowed to spend more than a total of $1.2mn on players, coaches and support staff , with each squad consisting of 16 players se-lected from fi ve diff erent categories - Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, and Emerging.”

Rana added the move makes sense as because otherwise it would mean the richest owners would get to buy the best players by paying them obscene amounts of money.

“By maintaining a strict salary cap we want to ensure fair competition. Otherwise one or two teams would have the best players while the others would have to make do with players of lesser ability.”

Rana also added that he would be trying his best to host a PSL game in Qatar in 2017. “Absolutely, we will try to host an exhibi-tion game early next year and one or two actual PSL matches involving Lahore down the line.”

More than 300 players are up for grabs for the PSL. Some of those included in the Plati-num category are Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Shane Watson, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Lasith Mal-inga, Angelo Mathews, Kevin Pietersen, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Alastair Cook, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan. The teams will be fi nalised shortly.

While Rana is proud of his company, he rues the fact that the PSL won’t be played in Pakistan because of security concerns.

“Pakistan’s security situation has dramati-cally improved after the military started going after the terrorists. There is also political stabil-ity in the country now and I am confi dent that top international players would start playing in Pakistan in a couple of years. After all, logically it’s a Pakistani tournament and should be played in Pakistan. ”

A staunch advocate of India-Pakistan peace, he is also keeping his hopes high of a resumption of cricketing ties between the two nations.

“After all what is cricket without India and Pakistan playing against each other? I hope both countries sit down calmly and talk cricket in-stead of always talking politics. Cricket should not be the victim of politics.”

WHO SPENT WHAT FOR THE TEAMSSeveral companies made the bidding for the five franchises with the PCB managing to earn $93mn in total.Karachi, bought by Salman Iqbal, the CEO of the Abdul Razzak Yaqook (ARY) Group, went for $26mn, was the most expensive, with La-hore coming a close second with $25mn.Consumer electronics and home appliances company Haier Group acquired Peshawar for $16mn, while Islamabad was bought for $15mn by Leonine Global Sports, an entity created specifically for the PSL by a group of Pakistani investors.Omar Associate, a Karachi-based holding company with several businesses won Quetta for $11mn.

PLAYER SELECTION PROCESSPlayers won’t be bought in an IPL-style ac-

tion. Instead, they will be picked through a draft. Each franchise will have a salary- cap of $1.2 million, including the signing of players, coaches and support staff . A total of 16 players will be picked up from five diff erent catego-ries - Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver, and Emerging. Each team will have a right to pick five foreign players, with only four allowed in the playing XI. Each of the five PSL teams will get one selection per round to pick a player, and there will be 16 rounds. The draft will be accordingly managed to ensure that one team does not get to pick all the top players from the two top categories. Apart from the 16 players, a team is also allowed four supplemental picks to add to their 20-man squad. Normally, the team with the worst regular-sea-son record gets to pick first. But since this will be the first edition of the PSL, a lottery system

will be used to determine which team gets op-portunity to pick first and in the later rounds, the order will be set randomly accordingly to the strength of the prior picks.

WHO OWNS THE BROADCASTING AND TITLE SPONSORSHIP RIGHTS? The PSL’s title sponsorship belongs to Habib Bank Limited for three years, while Ten Sports and state broadcaster PTV Sports are the of-ficial broadcasters.The value of the broadcasting deal is $15 million, with the PCB selling the production rights to Sunset + Vine. The PCB itself will bear all costs. Global television rights have been given to Tech Front, a UAE-based media rights acquisition company. The sponsorship deal, including the title sponsorship, is estimated to be more than $6 million. (Cricinfo)

All about Pakistan Super League

Fawad Rana: passionate about cricket

Lasith Malinga, Shahid Afridi and Chris Gayle are some of the Platinum category players up for grabs in the Pakistan Super League.

AFPLausanne

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) yesterday backed a 90-day FIFA ban against Michel Platini (pictured), in

a new blow to the Frenchman’s hopes of entering the FIFA presidential race.

Platini, head of European confed-eration UEFA and a FIFA vice president, had been the favourite to succeed out-going FIFA president Sepp Blatter, until he was named in a Swiss criminal in-vestigation in September.

FIFA suspended Platini and Blatter in October.

CAS Secretary General Matthieu

Reeb said judges considered whether Platini suff ered irreparable damage from the temporary suspension while an investigation over a 1.8 million euros ($2 million) payment was completed.

In its appeal, Platini’s camp insisted the ex-Juventus star had done nothing wrong and was being unfairly blocked from campaigning for FIFA’s presidency.

In a unanimous decision, the three CAS judges found that no irreparable damage had been caused, but urged FIFA to quickly reach a fi nal decision in the case.

The court ruled out an extension of the temporary ban, saying it would breach Platini’s rights.

“Mr. Platini has lost a round, but it’s not fi nal,” Reeb told journalists.

FIFA’s ethics watchdog reportedly wants to ban Platini for life, and Blatter is also facing further punishment.

FIFA’s in-house court is expected to issue its fi nal verdict this month, a statement said on Thursday.

Platini’s temporary suspension ex-pires on January 5 and CAS noted that even if it were lifted, there was no guar-antee that FIFA’s electoral committee would approve Platini’s candidacy be-fore the temporary ban runs out.

STILL HOPEFUL? Platini’s camp voiced optimism after the ruling.

“Michel Platini knows he will ul-timately be exonerated,” his lawyer Thibaud d’Ales told AFP. D’Ales also

highlighted CAS’s order against FIFA extending the provisional ban.

He claimed that given the emergence of new evidence in Platini’s favour—a 1998 UEFA document seen by AFP this week—FIFA’s ethics judges would not be able to issue a ruling before January 5.

The FIFA statement said the ethics court “intends to come to a decision during the month of December,” with-out mentioning a possible delay.

FIFA opened the investigation into Platini after Swiss prosecutors said he had been questioned over a 2 million Swiss franc ($2 million/1.8 million euro) payment Platini received from FIFA in 2011 for work done a decade earlier.

Blatter and Platini acknowledge there was no contract for the fee, but

insist that their “oral contract” is valid under Swiss law.

According to Platini’s entourage, the new evidence proves the legitimacy of the oral contract with Blatter.

With the possibility of a lifetime sus-pension pending, a victory on Thurs-day would not have marked the end of Platini’s problems.

But it would have been a symbolic win for the man who seemed on track to become the most powerful fi gure in the world’s most popular sport.

It also would have left him free to take part in Saturday’s draw for the 2016 European Championships in Paris. France is hosting the tournament and Platini has been a key organiser as UEFA president.

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CRICKET

Gulf Times Saturday, December 12, 20152

By Ali Martin in LondonThe Guardian

The England and Wales Cricket Board has defended its discipli-nary procedure and denied in-terference after it emerged that

promising England seamer Craig Over-ton (pic) was found to have told Sussex’s Pakistan-born batsman Ashar Zaidi to “go back to your own ****ing country” during a county match last season.

Overton, who came close to selection for England’s winter Test tour to South Africa, was reported to have made the remark by both the umpire Alex Wharf, at the bowler’s end, and the non-strik-ing batsman, Mike Yardy, in the 57th over of Somerset’s four-day Division One match away to Sussex at Hove that began on 14 September.

The Guardian understands Wharf included this in his report, with Yardy giving a written statement in support. Zaidi, who was playing for Sussex on his British passport before being released by the club at the end of the season, told the match offi cials he had not heard an-ything beyond the “usual” comments that did not upset him.

Sent the evidence from Yardy and Wharf by the ECB, the Cricket Dis-cipline Commission went on to give Overton a level one breach for using abusive language, the lowest of the four in the ECB directives. A level three breach is the fi rst that covers “language that vilifi es another person on the basis of race or national origin”.

The verdict stands in contrast with the case of Yorkshire’s captain, Andrew Gale, in 2014, in which the ECB appealed for a longer ban after a similar exchange between Gale and Lancashire’s South African batsman Ashwell Prince.

The announcement of the charge

against Overton, which incurred an au-tomatic two-match ban because of two previous minor off ences on his record, came only two days after Overton had been named on England’s performance programme—the overseas winter train-ing camp for players considered next in line for international selection.

Despite this squad being picked after the ECB had learned of the incident at Hove—but before his punishment was announced—the board has denied any suggestions that an emerging player on the radar of the selectors was spared a greater ban that would have followed, had the more serious level three breach been handed down.

An ECB spokesperson told the Guardian: “Following the incident, the on-fi eld umpires sought advice from the ECB’s Cricket Department, who re-ferred the matter directly to the chair-man of the Cricket Discipline Commis-sion, Mr Gerard Elias, QC.

“After reviewing the umpires’ report, the chairman of the CDC gave clear guidance that this should be reported as a level one off ence and that no fur-ther action would be taken by the CDC. The automatic penalty for a level one of-fence was subsequently applied and this took Craig Overton to nine points, the threshold for an automatic suspension.

“The Cricket Discipline Commission is an independent body which operates at arm’s length from ECB. Craig Over-ton’s selection for the EPP squad would have played no part whatsoever in the CDC’s ruling in this matter.

“ECB refutes any suggestion of in-terference or bias in the proper discipli-nary process.”

Overton, who denied Wharf and Yardy’s claim in his submission, sat out of Somerset’s fi nal match of the season and will miss his side’s 2016 opener at Durham. With this ban akin to chalking

up points on a driving licence, a previ-ously clear record for Overton would have seen this incident met with only a reprimand.

The issue has raised the questions over consistency in punishments hand-ed out by the CDC, as well as the ECB’s response.

In 2014, Yorkshire’s captain Andrew Gale was banned for two matches after telling Lancashire’s Ashwell Prince to “fuck off back to your own country, you Kolpak fucker”, only for the ECB to later make an appeal over the CDC’s decision and see this suspension extended by a further two games as a result.

Gale was also barred from lifting the

County Championship trophy at Trent Bridge when Yorkshire sealed the title that September, a decision that con-tinues to rankle at the club, despite their successful defence last summer in which the 32-year-old fi nally got his hands on the silverware.

There was no offi cial response to the Overton case from Yorkshire but, pri-vately, senior fi gures are concerned by what they perceive as double standards.

Somerset have declined to comment on the Hove incident publicly, although a club offi cial told the Guardian that, in their view, it diff ered to that of Gale at Old Traff ord as Overton had already turned away from the batsman, who

did not hear it, while their player also denied the comment in his evidence.

In Overton’s case, according to docu-ments seen by the Guardian, it was only Wharf and Yardy who heard the alleged comment. Yardy, batting with Zaidi at the time, challenged Overton’s use of language immediately, telling him “you can’t say that”, with Wharf then con-sulting with his senior colleague Ian Gould at the end of the over.

Because of the nature of the com-ments, and without wanting to disrupt the game, they agreed to discuss the matter after the close of play before contacting the ECB head of cricket op-erations, Alan Fordham, at Lord’s, via telephone, to make him aware of the situation and request advice.

The following morning Wharf, Gould and the ECB cricket liaison offi cer Gra-ham Cowdrey met Overton and Somer-set’s head coach, Matthew Maynard, in the indoor school at Hove to outline the off ence in person.

While Overton did not speak, May-nard suggested the comment could have been aimed at his own Somerset team-mate Tom Cooper, an Australian crick-eter who plays for the club on a Dutch passport, following an earlier mis-fi eld. Both were given a player conduct report in order to fi ll out the relevant player’s comments section.

After this meeting the umpires met Yardy, who provided a written state-ment in support of what Wharf reported he had heard on the fi eld. Zaidi was then asked whether he had heard the words “go back to your own fucking country” but replied that he had not heard any-thing beyond “the usual” comments.

Given the nature of the incident, Somerset advised Cowdrey that Over-ton would not take the fi eld for the re-mainder of the match, with his 14th over, in which the incident took place,

his fi nal contribution; a 12th man re-placed him, with the all-rounder’s ab-sence later explained to the attending media as a “hand injury”.

The player conduct report, complet-ed by the umpires Wharf and Gould, and Yardy’s statement were then sent to Fordham at the ECB offi ces. From there, the day after the match concluded, the CDC announced, via a press release, that Overton had incurred a level one breach of the directives—“using lan-guage that is obscene, off ensive or in-sulting and/or making an obscene ges-ture”—therefore avoiding a hearing and a possible extra ban.

With Overton having chalked up two previous off ences in 2015—the fi rst for physical contact on the fi eld away to Worcestershire in May, the second for abusive language in the match prior to the Hove incident, at home to Hamp-shire—he was automatically suspended for Somerset’s next two matches.

Uncapped Overton took 43 champi-onship wickets last season as Somerset avoided relegation and was nominated for the PCA Young Player of the Year.

He was recently revealed to have been “close” to being named for the upcom-ing Test tour to South Africa by the na-tional selector James Whitaker.

Overton was one of seven emerging fast bowlers to feature in a 12-day Eng-land training camp in Potchefstroom, South Africa, in November before an elbow injury resulted in him being withdrawn from the current Lions squad playing in the ongoing Twenty20 series against Pakistan A in the United Arab Emirates.

Both he and his twin brother, fast bowl-er Jamie Overton, are considered future internationals, with the pair both added to the England one-day squad that beat New Zealand 3-2 in the early part of the summer but not featuring in the series.

ECB denies double standards aft er Overton tells Pakistan-born player to ‘get back to own country’

SPOTLIGHT

Himalayan town of Dharamsala to host Indo-Pak World T20 clash

The sleepy hillstation of Dharam-sala will host arch-rivals India and Pakistan at next year’s cricket

World Twenty20, while the final will be staged at Kolkata’s historic Eden Gar-dens, organisers said yesterday.

The bitter foes will meet in the group stages on March 19 in remote Dharam-sala in the Himalayan foothills whose stadium houses just 23,000 fans, the International Cricket Council (ICC) an-nounced in India’s Mumbai.

World cricket’s governing body said eight venues across India would host the showpiece event, which runs from March 8 to April 3, with Mumbai and New Delhi staging the semi-finals and Kolkata the final.

“The ICC and BCCI are fully commit-ted and will work together to make this a memorable event,” said ICC chairman Shashank Manohar, who also heads the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

India versus Pakistan is set to be one of the most anticipated clashes of the tournament but fans could find tickets hard to come by, with organisers over-looking larger stadiums in favour of Dharamsala, home to the Dalai Lama.

Eden Gardens, in comparison, can accommodate more than 60,000 spectators while Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, which is likely to have been ruled out because of security reasons, has a capacity of around 35,000.

“We, as hosts, are fully prepared to organise one of the most entertaining spectacles in world cricket,” said BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur, who is also president of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association which runs the Dharamsala stadium.

India had suspended bilateral cricket with Pakistan in the aftermath of the deadly 2008 attacks on Mumbai, which New Delhi blamed on militants based across the border.

A recent thaw in relations has raised hopes for a bilateral series, which is currently awaiting the Indian govern-ment’s approval.

India, Pakistan, New Zealand and Australia are placed in Group 2 of the second round Super 10s stage, the ICC announced.

South Africa, England, West Indies and Sri Lanka are in Group 1. Two qualifying teams will join the Super 10s stage after the first round.

The second round gets under way with hosts India taking on New Zealand on March 15 in Nagpur, in the western state of Maharashtra.

Defending champions Sri Lanka be-gin the defence of their title against a qualifying team on March 17 in Kolkata.

India open campaign again NZ on March 15ReutersMumbai

Hosts and inaugural champions In-dia will kick off the Super 10 stage of the World Twenty20 with a March 15 match in Nagpur against New Zealand

in the sixth edition of the tournament off ering a record $5.6 million in prize money.

Mumbai and New Delhi will host the two semi-fi nals while Kolkata’s Eden Gardens will stage the fi nal of the March 8-April 3 tourna-ment, to be played across eight venues in India, the International Cricket Council (ICC) an-nounced yesterday.

Defending men’s champions Sri Lanka have been placed in Group One of the Super 10 stage along with South Africa, 2010 winners England, 2012 champions West Indies and a qualifi er.

Group Two will include India, 2009 cham-pions Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and a second qualifi er.

“India has hosted World Cups in 1987, 1996 and 2011. We can assure you this time it will be bigger, better and most entertaining,” Indian board (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur said at the launch ceremony in Mumbai yesterday.

Eight teams have been split into two groups for the qualifying stage from March 8-13.

Two of them will progress to the Super 10 stage of the event, which will see a 86 percent jump in total prize money for the men’s com-petition from the last edition in Bangladesh in 2014. The total prize money for the women’s event, to be played simultaneously with the men’s, is $400,000, a 122 percent increase from the previous tournament.

Bitter neighbours India and Pakistan, who have been wrangling over a bilateral series this month, will clash in a March 19 contest in pic-turesque Dharamsala, against the backdrop of Northern Indian mountains.

“We need a cooler climate for such a high-voltage contest,” Thakur quipped.

ICC chairman Shashank Manohar promised a successful tournament in the game’s fi nancial powerhouse. “India is a country where cricket is a religion and not many places can match the passion for the game like (in) India,” said Mano-har, who is also the BCCI president.

“I am fully confi dent that the BCCI will de-liver an outstanding world cricket event.”

Kohli plays down favourites tag Meanwhile, Indian Test skipper Virat Kohli

played down India’s status as favourites for the

World Twenty20, saying their rivals’ experience of playing in the IPL had robbed the tourna-ment’s hosts of home advantage.

Speaking at a promotional event for the tro-phy, the swashbuckling batsman said many play-ers expected to star in the tournament had grown familiar with local conditions through the annual Indian Premier League (IPL).

“So many players all around the world have played in the IPL for eight-nine years now, so they are pretty familiar with the Indian condi-

tions,” he said. “It’s not such a big home ad-vantage anymore and, especially with formats like T20 where the cricket is so quick, any team could be a favourite.”

Kohli said that India’s recent defeat against South Africa in a T20 series that preceded the just-completed Test series showed that foreign players “know where to bowl and which shots to hit in Indian conditions”.

Bookmakers have India as 3-1 favourites to win the tournament, with Australia priced at 5-1.

The IPL is also usually held in April, featur-ing players from most of the leading countries in world cricket.

Kohli was part of the team which won the 50-overs World Cup on home soil in 2011 but he was on the losing side when India lost the last World T20 against Sri Lanka in Bangladesh in 2013. Although he skippers the Test side, he is expected to be back in the ranks during the World T20 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

WORLD TWENTY20

Mumbai and New Delhi to host the two semi-finals while Kolkata’s Eden Gardens will stage the final of the March 8-April 3 tournament, to be played across eight venues in India

Indian cricketers (from left) Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane pose with the ICC World Twenty20 trophy during the tournament’s launch event in Mumbai yesterday. A total of 58 matches, including 35 men’s matches and 23 women’s matches, will be played in the 27-day tournament in eight Indian cities—Bangalore, Chennai, Dharamsala, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi. (AFP)

CRICKET3Gulf Times

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Bravo wages lone battle for WI aft er Aussie runathonAFPHobart

Nathan Lyon put the skids under the fl ailing West Indies as Australia set course for an overwhelming early victory despite Darren Bravo hold-

ing on in the fi rst Test in Hobart yesterday. At the close of a stop-start day through

showers, the Windies were 207 for six with Bravo off ering spirited resistance on 94 and Kemar Roach in support on 31.

Bravo and Roach kept the Windies in-nings pulse beating with an unbeaten sev-enth-wicket stand of 91.

“I think the guys are confi dent in Darren and me at the crease. We’ve done a pret-ty good job so far, hopefully we can carry on tomorrow and do a much better job,” Roach said.

Lyon claimed two wickets in one over to trigger a middle-order collapse to have the West Indies in familiar trouble in their chase after a mammoth declaration of 583 for four on the second day.

The probing off -spinner snared the wickets of Marlon Samuels and Jermaine Blackwood in his seventh over along with opener Rajendra Chandrika for 175 Test wickets to leave the hapless Caribbean tour-ists struggling to avoid a heavy defeat with three days left.

“I’m really confi dent in my skill set to get the job done. The ball is coming out beau-tifully out of my hand in the nets and I’ve been working hard,” said Lyon, who is play-ing in his 50th Test match.

The Windies sticky predicament was ac-centuated by the dismissal of skipper Jason Holder, the last of the recognised batsmen at the crease with Bravo.

Holder refused to seek a referral after be-ing struck high on the pad by Peter Siddle and walked off for 15, leaving his side in deep strife at 116 for six.

Replays showed that the ball was missing the stumps and the towering Holder may have stayed on as the players left the fi eld for a brief rain break.

The West Indies eff orts were in sharp contrast to Australia’s run spree, propelled by a record 449-run fourth-wicket stand by Adam Voges and Shaun Marsh.

The West Australian pair eclipsed the fourth-wicket Test record of 437 set by Sri Lankans Thilan Samaraweera and Mahela Jayawardene against Pakistan in 2009.

It was also the biggest Test stand by Aus-tralians at home, bettering the 405-run fi fth-wicket partnership by Sid Barnes and Don Bradman against England in Sydney in 1946.

But the duo fell two runs short of Aus-tralia’s all-time highest partnership for any wicket of 451 held by Bill Ponsford and Brad-man against England at The Oval in 1934.

Voges also posted Australia’s high-est score against the West Indies with an unbeaten 269, eclipsing Doug Walters’ 242

in 1969. Marsh holed out just before lunch for 182,

caught on the ropes by Bravo off spinner Jomel Warrican, ending a day’s occupation of the crease as he compiled his highest Test score.

Australia hammered 145 runs in the ses-sion to go to lunch at 583 for four enabling Steve Smith to declare the innings during the break.

“That partnership between Voges and Marsh was unbelievable and to have those guys out in the middle for that long and to do that job has put us in a pretty good posi-tion as bowlers,” Lyon said. “It’s now up to us to go out and take 20 wickets.”

The Windies made a steady start after lunch, but soon began to unravel.

Kraigg Brathwaite lasted 26 balls before Josh Hazlewood trapped him leg before wicket for two in the ninth over.

Chandrika followed in the 20th over when he was deceived by a drifting Lyon delivery and got an outside edge to Smith at slip for 25. Samuels lasted only 14 balls before he was splendidly caught and bowled by Lyon for nine.

Blackwood didn’t see out Lyon’s over and was gone fi ve balls later, caught at bat-pad by Joe Burns, giving the spinner three for 18.

The Windies attack went down a bowler when quick Shannon Gabriel left the fi eld with what a team spokesman said was a stress reaction in his left ankle, putting him in doubt for the rest of the series.

Scoreboard

Australia (1st innings; overnight 438-3)J Burns b Gabriel .............................................33D Warner c Ramdin b Warrican ................64S Smith c Blackwood b Warrican .............10A Voges (not out) ............................................269S Marsh c Bravo b Warrican .......................182M Marsh (not out) ...........................................1Extras (b-4, lb-3, nb-14, w-3) .......................24Total (4 wickets decl., 114 overs) .............583Fall of wickets: 1-75, 2-104, 3-121, 4-570Bowling: J Taylor 17-0-108-0 (nb-2, w-1); K Roach 16-1-99-0 (nb-4, w-1); S Gabriel 10-1-59-1 (nb-4); J Holder 24-3-75-0 (nb-4, w-1); J Warrican 28-1-158-3; K Brathwaite 13-0-52-0; J Blackwood 6-0-25-0

West Indies (1st innings)K Brathwaite lbw Hazlewood ....................2R Chandrika c Smith b Lyon .......................25D Bravo (batting) .............................................94M Samuels c&b Lyon .....................................9J Blackwood c Burns b Lyon ......................0D Ramdin b Hazlewood ...............................8J Holder lbw Siddle ........................................15K Roach (batting) ............................................31Extras (b-7, lb-10, nb-5, w-1) ........................23Total (6 wickets, 65 overs) ....................... 207Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-58, 3-78, 4-78, 5-89, 6-116Bowling: J Hazlewood 16-4-43-2; J Pattin-son 15-0-68-0 (nb-5, w-1); P Siddle 12-5-22-1; N Lyon 19-6-43-3; M Marsh 3-1-14-0

AUSTRALIA vs WEST INDIES/ 1ST TEST

Spinner Lyon strikes for hosts after Voges and Marsh put on record stand of 449

AFPDunedin

Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karu-naratne spearheaded a gritty Sri Lan-ka fi ghtback on the second day of the fi rst Test against New Zealand in Dun-

edin yesterday. They came together with the tourists looking

fragile at 29 for two, and put on 122 for the third wicket in reply to New Zealand’s fi rst innings 431. At stumps, Sri Lanka were 197 for four with Chan-dimal on 83 and Kithuruwan Vithanage on 10.

Karunaratne was out for 84 after providing stubborn resistance with Chandimal, which was desperately needed after Sri Lanka failed to make the most of the conditions when they won the toss and sent New Zealand in to bat.

With six wickets in hand, Karunaratne be-lieved Sri Lanka were in a position to save the Test from what had been a very tough situation.

“We’re slightly in a good position,” he said, adding patience would be key. “The wicket is a bit slower than we expected and it’s not turning much. It’s two-paced and we have to wait for the loose ball and get runs.”

But New Zealand quick Trent Boult thought there was still enough in the wicket to keep the advantage with the home side.

“It’s going to be a big push in the morning. If we can get one early, the cliche of one brings two and we’ll be into the tail,” he said.

Boult saw signs of reverse swing developing “and that’s going to become a big factor with

four seamers that can all exploit that”. After the New Zealand innings wrapped

up early on Friday, the outlook for Sri Lanka darkened when Test novices Kusal Mendis and Udara Jayasundera fell cheaply, both caught be-hind by BJ Watling.

But Karunaratne and Chandimal stepped up, curtailing their attacking instincts.

They delicately negotiated their way to bring up the 100 in the 45th over just before tea.

The middle session produced only 65 runs, but while the New Zealand bowlers sent down a series of dot balls they seldom looked threaten-ing. As the pitch fl attened in the fi nal session, Sri Lanka upped the tempo and cracked 48 in 13 overs before left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner made the breakthrough.

Karunaratne, a century-maker against New Zealand a year ago, had played patiently for 198 balls before he slashed at a drifting delivery and

gave Watling his third catch. Skipper Angelo Mathews only made two be-

fore he added to Watling’s collection and gave Tim Southee a 27th birthday present with the fi nest of edges to a bullet heading down leg side.

Umpire Nigel Llong said not out but a New Zealand appeal showed the faint edge picked up by the Hotspot technology and Sri Lanka were four down for 156.

Vithanage had a life fi ve overs before stumps when he drove Doug Bracewell hard at Kane Williamson at short cover and was dropped.

Chandimal, who played a chanceless innings, has faced 208 deliveries for his 83.

When on one, he kept out a yorker from Neil Wagner which the speedgun clocked at 160 kil-ometres (99.4 miles) per hour—close to Mitch-ell Starc’s Test record of 160.4.

But the seamer has never bowled anywhere near that speed before, and offi cials suspected a low-fl ying bird caused a misreading. Wagner was one of four wicket-takers with Trent Boult, Tim Southee and Santner also sharing in the dismissals.

Kusal Mendis, in his second Test, was the fi rst to fall when he edged Boult to be gone for eight and provide Watling with his 100th Test dis-missal. Udara Jayasundera, on debut, made one.

At the start of the day, New Zealand added a further 22 runs to their overnight score 409-8.

Doug Bracewell reached 47, his highest Test score, before he was the last wicket to fall being trapped lbw by Nuwan Pradeep.

Pradeep, the less threatening Sri Lankan pace bowler on the opening day, was ultimately their most successful with four for 112.

ScoreboardNew Zealand (1st innings; overnight 409-8)M Guptill c Chandimal b Mathews .......................156T Latham c&b Lakmal ................................................22K Williamson c Karunaratne b Pradeep ............88R Taylor lbw Pradeep .................................................8B McCullum c Vithanage b Siriwardana ...........75M Santner c Chandimal b Chameera .................12B Watling c Vithanage b Chameera ....................5D Bracewell lbw Pradeep .........................................47T Southee c Siriwardana b Lakmal ......................2N Wagner c Jayasundara b Pradeep ..................7T Boult (not out) ...........................................................0Extras (b-4, lb-3, nb-1, w-1) .......................................9Total (all out, 96.1 overs) ..........................................431Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-229, 3-245, 4-334, 5-359, 6-365, 7-394, 8-399, 9-426Bowling: S Lakmal 16-1-69-2; N Pradeep 23.1-2-112-4; A Mathews 9-2-28-1; D Chameera 20-2-112-2 (w-1); R Herath 19-1-46-0; U Jayasundara 5-0-33-0 (nb-1); M Siriwardana 4-0-24-1Sri Lanka (1st innings)D Karunaratne c Watling b Santner ....................84K Mendis c Watling b Boult .....................................8U Jayasundara c Watling b Wagner ....................1D Chandimal (batting) ...............................................83A Mathews c Watling b Southee ...........................2K Vithanage (batting).................................................10Extras (b-1, lb-4, nb-4) ................................................9Total (4 wickets, 81 overs) .......................................197Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-29, 3-151, 4-156Bowling: T Boult 16-5-38-1; T Southee 16-4-35-1; D Bracewell 16-4-29-0 (nb-4); N Wagner 13-2-53-1; M Santner 19-6-37-1; K Williamson 1-1-0-0

Chandimal, Karunaratne lead Lanka fi ghtbackNEW ZEALAND vs SRI LANKA/ 1ST TEST

West Indies batsman Darren Bravo fends off a delivery during his unbeaten 94 against Australia on the second day of the first Test in Hobart yesterday. (AFP)

Is it a bird, or a 100mph delivery?

A low-flying seagull was blamed for interfering with the speed gun yesterday when New Zea-land’s Neil Wagner bowled a ball clocked at 160

kilometres (99.4 miles) per hour—one of the quickest on record. The surprise missile from Wagner, whose normal bowling speed is in the low 130s, lit up social media before the speed radar’s operators said the read-ing may have been aff ected by a passing bird.

The left-arm seamer’s ball came on a blustery day at Dunedin’s University Oval when he was bowling to Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal on day two of the first Test.

However, members of the television production team operating the speed radar said a bird had probably caused an inaccurate reading from one of two monitors at the ground. The alternative reading was 133kph, more in keeping with Wagner’s usual pace.

If Wagner did in fact send down a ball at 160kph, he would have been just a shade off Mitchell Starc’s Test world record of 160.4, set last month in Perth. The fastest recorded delivery is 161.3 by Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar, nicknamed the “Rawalpindi Express”, against England in a 2003 World Cup limited-overs match.

“If Neil Wagner is hitting 160km, then the drinks cart is doing 150km and West Indian cricket is nosediving at warp,” quipped Twitter user @eld2_0.

Dinesh Chandimal (right) was unbeaten on 83 while opener Dimuth Karunaratne scored 84 in Sri Lanka’s 197-4 in reply to New Zealand’s first innings total of 431 in the first test at Dunedin. (AFP)

‘Veteran’ Karunaratne holds fi rm at the topReutersDunedin

Dimuth Karunaratne had recognised prior to the fi rst Test against New Zealand that he was now the senior man in the top order for Sri Lanka and he needed to

stand up and be counted to guide his younger teammates. The 27-year-old left hander was considered a veteran in the top of the order, having played 23 previous Tests, with his opening partner Kusal Mendis playing just his second, while number three Udara Jayasundera was making his debut.

“There is no (Kumar) Sangakkara and Mahela (Jaya-wardene) so we have to put our hands up and play big knocks,” Karunaratne said in a televised interview after he made a pa-tient 84 in Sri Lanka’s 197 for four at the close of play at Uni-versity Oval in Dunedin of the second day. “We have to play with the youngsters and hang on with them, rotate the strike and try to get a big one and (for me) to play a senior role.”

Unfortunately, Mendis and Jayasundera were unable to put that advice into action, with the side slumping to 29-2 before the opener combined with fellow ‘veteran’ Di-nesh Chandimal, also playing his 24th Test, to patiently re-build Sri Lanka’s innings.

The opening batsman, who had a previous reputation as a dashing player who needlessly gave his wicket away chasing the shot that was not quite on, buckled down with Chandimal and thwarted, then frustrated, New Zea-land’s attack.

He took 136 deliveries to reach his sixth Test half century, though it was brought up with a elegant straight drive off Neil Wagner for his fi fth boundary.

After tea he had looked set to secure his fourth test cen-tury but he fell tantalisingly close and it was something of a surprise given the way he had blunted the eff orts of New Zealand’s disciplined four-pronged pace attack.

“I did all the hard work in the fi rst few overs and unfortu-nately I didn’t get to bat through the innings and get a big one,” Karunaratne added. “I missed out on a golden opportunity.”

FOCUS

SPORT

Gulf Times Saturday, December 12, 20154

China’s Feng takes command in Dubai with 5-stroke leadAFPDubai

Even a storming fi nish by Thai LPGA Tour star Thidapa Suwan-napura, who made six birdies in her last six holes, wasn’t enough to

stop defending champion Shanshan Feng of China from taking a fi ve-shot lead at the end of the penultimate round of the Dubai Ladies Masters yesterday.

World number six Feng, the highest ranked player in the fi eld and two-time winner of the season-ending champion-ship of the Ladies European Tour, shot her third successive round of fi ve-under par 67 to move to 15-under par for the tournament.

At one stage, she led the fi eld by a whopping margin of ten shots, but that was whittled down to fi ve as she failed to maintain the momentum on the back nine, while Suwannapura caught fi re.

Despite playing in pain—the 23-year-old Thai star has been experiencing shoot-ing pain from her glutes down to the right leg since the middle of the year—Suwan-napura fi nished with a seven-under par 65 to move to 10-under par 206.

France’s Jade Schaeff er was in solo third place following a 70 at six-under par, while Germany’s Caroline Masson (67) and Eng-land’s Melissa Reid (70) were tied fourth at fi ve-under par 211.

The 26-year-old Feng had surged to six-under par for the day with six birdies in 11 holes, before making the fi rst bogey of the tournament on the 48th hole with a tee shot that she pulled to the left waste area on the 12th. She quickly followed it up with another bogey on the 14th.

“I played really well on the front nine. Made a couple bogeys on the back, but I birdied the 17th to come back. I think fi ve-under is still a pretty good score because the day was a little bit more windy,” said the Chinese star.

“I think the back nine, maybe I mis-judged the wind a couple of times. And then there was one poor drive on the 12th hole, so I made a bogey there. I’m not re-ally thinking about any score tomorrow. On the course, every time I’m just focusing shot by shot. Tomorrow, I’m just going to do the same thing as the past three days.”

Suwannapura’s round went the other way of Feng’s. She started with a bogey and was just one-under par after 12 holes when she started her birdie run. Except for the 17th, where she two-putted for a birdie and the 18th, where she was left with a fi ve-feet birdie putt, her other birdies were all result of putts from 15-20 feet range.

“I don’t know what happened. Today, I just see the line and my caddie, Matt, he can see the same thing as me. I was like ‘just knock it’, and it’s in,” said Suwannapura. “I was really not expecting anything. I was just hitting balls and try to knock it on the green. Just par was fi ne for me.

“Can I catch Shanshan? No, I don’t think so. I know she’s pretty good and she hits it a hundred percent. I’m just going to have fun tomorrow and try to fi nish my round again.”

British 52-year-old legend Laura Davies, who was second behind Feng at the half-way stage with two successive rounds of 68, faded away with a 77.

English, Kuchar grab lead Americans Matt Kuchar and Harris English

combined for a 14-under par 58 in a scramble format to seize a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the 27th annual Franklin Templeton Shootout in Naples, Florida. The three-day invitational event hosted by re-tired Australian star Greg Norman matches 12 pairs of golf’s top men’s players in three dif-ferent styles, with the second day featuring a modifi ed alternate shot and the fi nal round utilizing a better-ball format.

Kuchar and English, the only pairing to have played the event together more than once, won the Shootout in 2013 and fi n-ished second last year.

Kuchar comes off a win in October at the Fiji International event on the Australasia PGA Tour while English has a best fi n-ish of second this year, losing a playoff at Torrey Pines. Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, who won a US PGA Tour event last month in Mexico, and American Gary Woodland were one stroke adrift, sharing second with the US duo of Hunter Mahan and Billy Horschel.

Americans Daniel Berger and Charley Hoffman shared fourth on 60 with Co-lombia’s Camilo Villegas and American Cameron Tringale. Last year, Tringale won the title alongside Aussie Jason Day, who last week pulled out of defending the title.

Ko to defend Australian title Teenage world number one Lydia Ko

said yesterday she will defend her Austral-ian Open title against a strong fi eld next year, including local hope Karrie Webb.

Ko was just 17 when she became the youngest player to win the title in Mel-

bourne last February, her fi rst tournament win after topping the rankings.

The New Zealander, now 18, said she was eager to take part in the US$1.3 mil-lion event, co-sanctioned by the USLPGA, which moves to a new home at Adelaide’s Grange Golf Club next February.

“(The Australian Open) really helped to jump-start a great year for me in 2015 and I am thrilled to be the defending champion,” Ko said. “It’s always fun for us to play in front of our fans in Australia and we are already hearing good things about the Grange.”

Australia’s former world number one Webb, who has won the tournament a record fi ve times, said she was pleased the tournament was returning to South Aus-tralia for the fi rst time in 21 years.

“It’s fantastic for the tournament to get back to South Australia and I can’t think of a better way to start a big year than by get-ting into contention on Sunday afternoon in Adelaide,” she said. While the fi eld is yet to be fi nalised, organisers said rising star Minjee Lee, 19, from Perth, would add fur-ther local interest to the event.

GOLF ROUND-UP

‘I played really well on the front nine. Made a couple bogeys on the back, but I birdied the 17th to come back. I think five-under is still a pretty good score because the day was windy’

AFPBangkok

On a day in which the oppressive heat sapped the strength of even the strong-

est players, Jamie Donaldson held on to a two-shot lead in the second round of the Thai-land Golf Championship at Amata Spring Golf and Coun-try Club yesterday.

The Welsh Ryder Cup star fi red a four-under 68 to keep two clear of a charging Mar-tin Kaymer who moved into second spot with an excel-lent seven-under 65, the best round of the day.

Spain’s Sergio Garcia, who shot 69, led the chasing pack a further two strokes behind, along with the impressive English youngster Matthew Fitzpatrick who shot an excel-lent 67 and Thailand’s Chin-narat Phadungsil with a 69.

In joint sixth place were Ko-rea’s Byeong-Hun An with a 67, and Thailand’s Panuphol Pittayarat who shot 66.

Donaldson, who fi red a magnifi cent 63 in the opening round, admitted the tropical heat was a factor.

“It was a great temperature to start with, but it got really hot on the back nine,” he said. “It was tough out there and a case of trying to stay hydrated and not drop sweat on the ball.”

The Welsh star said he was pleased with his performance, considering the conditions.

“I dropped a couple of shots out there today, but overall, I have been playing nicely. I’ve just got to keep doing what I’ve been doing.”

Kaymer also had problems with the heat, although it did not seem to aff ect his play.

“It was like a sauna out there,” he said. “They say you

get nicer weather in the morn-ing, but that was not really the case today. But the good thing is that the ball goes further.”

The German, who was run-ner-up in this event last year and would dearly love to win the trophy, said he was very pleased with his performance.

“I played really well. I think seven-under today is a very good score.”

Kaymer said his strategy for the weekend would be hitting the fairways. “Driving will be the key,” he said.

Garcia said the key to his round was “having plenty of water to drink. I got through a lot of bottles.”

The Spanish star said he re-ally felt the heat on the last six holes. Garcia said he was rela-tively happy with his score. “I gave myself plenty of chances but did not put them all away. But I felt I played pretty good through the round.”

One of the pre-tournament favourites, big-hitting Bubba Watson, was some way back after shooting a 70. He admit-ted he was not at his best and was happy to make the cut.

“The best moment was at the 17th island green. I almost hit it in the water, but then sunk a much-needed birdie,” he said.

Defending champion Lee Westwood felt he was still in with a chance after shooting a 68, although he is well behind the leaders.

“I’ve played pretty well,” he said. “But I’ve been wasting too many putts. I still have a chance for a weekend charge up the leaderboard.”

Thai fans were pleased to see their local hero Thongchai Jaidee have a much better sec-ond round, ensuring he would make the cut and climb the leaderboard after shooting a fi ve-under 67.

Donaldson braves heat for 2-shot lead

THAILAND GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

Shanshan Feng of China studies the fairway during the third round of the Dubai Ladies Masters in Dubai yesterday. (AFP)

AFPDubai

Saina Nehwal said her body had let her down as she missed out on an unexpected place in the Super Series semi-fi nals in Du-

bai yesterday. The former world number one from

India got the chance to progress against the odds because Carolina Marin, the world champion and favourite to win the Super Series fi nals for the fi rst time, was pushed to the edge of exit by a second defeat in two days.

But when Nehwal was faced with an opponent, the former holder Tai Tzu Ying, who had not won a game let alone a match in her two previous en-counters, her physical resources failed her as she fell to a painful 16-21, 21-18, 21-14 loss.

Just a handful of extra points in the second game, in which Nehwal repaired an eight-point defi cit to reach 16-16, would have scraped her through. Instead it was uncomfortable to watch her attempts at dragging her heavy limbs around the court as the ef-fects of recent injuries took their toll.

“I thought I could make it but my legs just wouldn’t let me,” she said.

“I’ve not been able to train since the China Open three weeks ago and after the fi rst game I could feel I was getting tired. It was a very, very big match and it was tough. But I am happy with how I tried. And I will look back on what’s been a very good year.”

It means Marin could yet win the Super Series title for the fi rst time, de-spite a 21-9, 21-15 loss earlier yesterday to the almost overlooked but brilliantly mobile Japanese player Nozomi Oku-hara, which it seemed might have put paid to her chances.

This followed the Spaniard’s stun-ning three-game loss to Nehwal on Thursday, an encounter which may have undermined her belief that she can deliver her best in Dubai in slow-ish conditions which do not suit her attack-minded game.

Her formidable smash hardly ever found the fl oor and after one long rally which Marin nearly but not quite won several times, she ended fl at on her back for several seconds.

This left Okuhara 13-11 up, and after her third straight win she announced that she was just trotting off for a bit more training as she really hoped to get still fi tter.

Okuhara and Marin will be joined in the semi-fi nals by Wang Yihan, the

former world champion from China who did not need to win to qualify, and Ratchanok Intanon, the former world champion from Thailand, who played enterprisingly well to deny Wang Shix-ian, the former world number one from China, by 21-14, 21-19.

The men’s semi-fi nalists are Chen Long, the titleholder and world cham-pion from China, Kento Momota of Japan, and two Danes, Jan Jorgensen, the world number two, and Viktor Ax-elsen, the world number six.

Chen completed his unbeaten three-match sequence with a 21-14, 21-17 win over Jorgensen. As both were already sure of qualifying they just “enjoyed themselves out there,” Chen said.

That did not prevent him from ac-celerating impressively from a 10-13 defi cit to win the fi rst game, or from producing another well-timed surge of fi ve points out of six in the middle of the second game, which ensured his control of the match. He still looks an odds on favourite.

Earlier the tournament saw a pre-mature exit for Zhao Yunlei, the Ol-ympic champion in both women’s and mixed doubles, with a knee injury, ending hopes of Super Series titles here for her great partnerships with Tian Qing and Zhang Nan.

Saina misses out on unexpected semis chance BADMINTON

India's Saina Nehwal went down to Tai Tzu Ying 16-21, 21-18, 21-14 to to miss out on a Super Series semi-final berth yesterday.

SPORT5Gulf Times

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Formula E could develop driverless element, says Agag

FOCUS

ReutersLondon

Imagine a motor race where the cars drive themselves from the garage to starting grid and then park up, ready for the drivers to jump in.

Sounds like science fi ction? Not for Alejandro Agag, the chief executive of the Formula E electric series whose latest brainchild is an entirely driverless cham-pionship to be known as ‘Roborace’.

If the Spaniard concedes that robot racing is not sport as the world knows it, he believes the technology could also fi nd a home in more conventional competi-tion—and maybe not in the too distant future.

“Maybe...(Formula E) cars could drive themselves to the starting grid and the drivers can just walk and do interviews on the way,” Agag told Reuters when asked about potential crossover between Rob-orace and his main series.

“I think that is a transfer we could or-ganise quite soon, actually,” he added.

“I kind of just came up with it but...the cars could just go and place themselves on the grid and then we start the race. This is the kind of technology every car will have in the future,” he added.

Agag, an entrepreneur whose offi ce in Hammersmith, West London, overlooks a particularly traffi c-choked part of the capital, is a big fan of ‘disruptive’ tech-nology that changes the existing order.

He also likes to think out loud, the con-versation free-wheeling from the dawn of classical civilisation to the realms of science fi ction, but his series has pushed boundaries from the start.

The ‘Roborace’ concept was conceived less than two months ago when Agag fl ew back from Beijing with Denis Sverdlov, founder of investment fund Kinetik.

It was unveiled last month as a pro-posed support package for Formula E’s 2016-17 season, with 10 teams each fi elding two identical all-electric cars in hour-long races.

Every ‘car’ will have a name, so that fans—and particularly gamers—can en-gage even without the human element.

For those who say robot racing is a long

way from sport, Agag can only concur. “This is a competition of technology

which is not necessarily motorsport or sport at all. Sport is Formula E. Driverless racing is probably not sport,” he said.

“People will always want to see drivers racing. Driverless is never the end of mo-torsport. Motorsport will always be there. From the Roman times, or before, we’ve been watching humans racing each other.”

PROTOTYPE PRODUCTION Driverless technology is, however, a ma-jor focus for manufacturers and others such as Google and Apple.

“Formula E wants to be where the in-dustry is going. This is one of the places where the industry is going and we want to add value to the industry,” said Agag.

The Spaniard recognised, however,

that the technology was still only 90 per-cent complete.

“I think we can have a prototype ready in September (2016), so we will do test-ing...in October, November and Decem-ber and then start producing in January and you can have 10 or 20 cars by end of March and do the fi rst race in April (2017),” he said.

“This car is more or less going to be like a skateboard. So you have a fl at battery in the fl oor, four motors - one on each wheel - and that’s it.

“It may not look like a car. But cars of the future may not look like cars. Or the cars today won’t look like cars of the fu-ture,” he added.

The driverless cars will be truly auton-omous, reacting to rivals through sensors and guided by radar or satellite position-

ing. Once out of the garage, they are on their own.

Agag said tests conducted by Audi, who compete in Formula E, had shown already that driverless cars could be a match for anything driven.

“The driverless car, one car on its own, now can go faster than any driver because it takes the corners exactly at the maxi-mum limit and calculates with the com-puter,” he said.

“When you have another 10 cars, you crash. Because you don’t know where the other cars are. So the diffi culty here is to create a system that can recognise where the other cars are and beat them, overtake and so on.

“It’s going to take time,” said Agag. “Probably in the fi rst race a lot of cars will crash against each other.”

‘Maybe...cars could drive themselves to the starting grid’

Teenage Britishjunior championadmits EPO doping

Namibia to play in S.Africa’s Currie Cup

CYCLING

RUGBY

ReutersLondon

Fears that the use of per-fo r m a n ce - e n h a n c i n g drugs in amateur cycling are on the rise increased

with a confession by a Brit-ish junior national champion to having used the banned blood booster EPO.

Eighteen year-old Gabriel Evans said in a statement on a time-trialling website (www.timetriallingforum.co.uk) and an interview with Cycling Week-ly magazine that he had been tempted to dope after losing the national 25-mile time trial title in August and having watched a BBC documentary on doping.

“A lot of it was curiosity. On 3 August 2015 I bought EPO for the fi rst time,” he wrote. “On 11 Au-gust 2015 I travelled to France for a week’s training camp with the family of a then-teammate.

“With me I brought one vial of EPO. This was found by the teammate’s father who presented evidence to UK Anti-Doping.

“UKAD contacted me shortly after to arrange a deposition, in

which I promptly admitted to all wrongdoing.”

Evans won the national junior 10-mile time trial in September but has been stripped of the title and dismissed by two amateur clubs, London Dynamo and Cat-ford CC Equipe/Banks.

He has refused to say who supplied him with the EPO but off ered a warning to anyone con-sidering using performance en-hancing drugs.

“Know that my choice has turned out to be immensely de-structive,” he said.

UKAD have not yet revealed his punishment.

In a further blow to the sport, British Masters champions An-drew Hastings, 35, was banned on Thursday for using anabolic steroids despite coming up with a novel excuse.

Hastings tested positive at the National Time Trial Champi-onships in May and the follow-ing day won the British Cycling Masters 35-39 age group title.

He said he had borrowed a used syringe from a stranger at a gym to inject a vitamin and that the steroids detected must have come from that needle.

ReutersCape Town

South Africa’s domestic rugby competition, the Currie Cup, will include the Namibia national team

in 2016 and be expanded to a sev-en-month long tournament which overlaps the Super Rugby season.

The South African Rugby Un-ion (SARU) confi rmed yesterday that the world’s oldest domestic rugby championship, fi rst con-tested in 1889, would contain 15 teams and 166 matches, up from 76 games in 2015. It will be played between April and October.

Namibia have played in fi ve Rugby World Cups but failed to win any of their 19 matches at the global showpiece tournament.

The fi rst round will see the 14 South African provincial sides

and Namibia play in a round-robin format, with the unions that host the six Super Rugby franchises automatically ad-vancing to the second stage.

They will be joined by the three other unions with the most points on the log table.

Those nine will form the Pre-mier Division for the remainder of the competition, while the six teams that do not fall into that bracket will contest the First Di-vision title.

“The enthusiasm for the Cu-rie Cup remains intense among our members and the new format was driven by their desire to see all teams playing each other once again,” Jurie Roux, CEO of the South African Rugby Union, said in a statement.

The Premier Division matches will start after the completion of the Super Rugby season.

Former Formula One racer Ralf Schu-macher (pictured) announced yesterday he will run a Formula 4 team next season, perhaps pitting him against his famous brother Michael’s son Mick. Ralf Schumacher will co-run the HTP Junior Team in the category intended for junior drivers alongside partner Gerhard Ungar. “Running a team to encourage young talent has always been a common objective for us,” said Schu-macher, the younger brother of record seven-time F1 champion Michael, who continues to recover from a skiing accident in 2013. Ralf Schumacher may not be in competition with his 16-year-old nephew Mick, though, as the latter could step up to Formula 3 next season.

ReutersLondon

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) are prepar-ing to enter Formula E with the electric racing series also set to

confirm more manufacturers in its 2016-17 season. “We have some really important news coming up that will reinforce the mo-mentum of the championship. We are an-nouncing more OEMs (original equipment manufacturer) coming,” Formula E chief executive Alejandro Agag told Reuters.

While the Spaniard gave no names, an informed source told Reuters sepa-rately that Jaguar, owned by India’s Tata Motors, were planning to enter in the 2016-17 season. Jaguar have also scheduled a news con-ference for an “exciting announcement” on Tuesday. Sky television reported that JLR, who are expected to commit to launching an electric car, had decided to join Formula E to develop green technol-ogies for their road cars in conjunc-tion with the Williams Formula One group.

Williams F1 chief executive Mike O’Driscoll is a former managing director of Jaguar, leading the company through the sale to Tata in 2008. Formula E currently has a maximum 10 teams, so any manufacturers looking to come in would have to replace or take over an existing entity. Five of the current teams already have links to manufacturers with Renault, Cit-roen’s DS brand and Audi among those represented. “Jaguar Land Rover is continuously evaluating new opportunities for the business,” the company said in a state-

ment in response to speculation. “As part of that process we consider a wide range of activities including mo-torsport. At this point we have no new announcements to make and any news is speculation only.” Jaguar’s last major foray into motor-sport ended at the end of 2004 when the then-Ford owned company sold their unsuccessful Formula One team to Red Bull, who turned them into world beaters. The company is rapidly expanding its model line-up and announced on Friday that it will build a car plant in Slovakia.

Ralf Schumacher to run F4 team

Jaguar poised for Formula E move

Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club general manager Nasser Sherida al-Kaabi (fourth from right) with the winners of Muraikh Cup at the QREC yesterday. Injaaz Stud-owned Al Safi, trained by Mohamed Jassim Ghazali (third from left) and ridden by Stephan Ladjadj (third from right), won the feature race of yesterday’s card. PICTURES: Juhaim

Ladjadj rides Al Safi to Muraikh Cup win

In this September 12, 2014, picture, Chinese workers look at engineers moving a Mahindra Racing car as they prepare for the upcoming Formula E Championship race in Beijing. (Reuters)

Gasol, Bulls hold off Clippers, stop three-game slide DPALos Angeles

This time there would be no late game collapse, as Derrick Rose rescued the Chicago Bulls.

Spaniard Pau Gasol poured in 24 points and Rose had nine of his 11 in the fourth quar-ter Thursday, as the struggling Bulls held off the visiting LA Clippers 83-80 to stop a three-game slide.

“I’m just happy we were able to win the game,” Rose said. “It’s all about winning and I don’t have to go to sleep think-ing about another loss.”

Chicago had been outscored 102-70 in the fourth quarter of their previous three setbacks and appeared to be headed for another after blowing a 16-point third-quarter cush-ion and a 10-point bulge in the fourth. But Rose has been wearing a clear protective face mask since fracturing his left eye socket on the fi rst day of practice, but shed the mask and found his stroke.

“When I went out there they told me I could play without my mask, so I took it off in the fourth quarter,” the former league MVP explained. “Actu-ally, I forgot it and said I’m going to leave it off .”

Jimmy Butler had 14 points with eight assists, while Taj Gibson netted 12 and eight re-bounds for the Bulls (12-8) who ended a seven-game home slide to the Clippers.

“Actually, I didn’t even notice Derrick wasn’t wearing a mask in the fourth quarter but I like it,” Butler said. “Derrick was aggressive. He was huge for us, mask or no mask.”

Blake Griffi n had 18 points and 11 rebounds, Chris Paul netted 12, while DeAndre Jor-dan fi nished with 10 and 14 re-bounds for the Clippers (13-10), who hit 10-of-22 triples but had their three-game winning streak snapped.

The Clippers played the fi nal 18 minutes without Griffi n, who was hit with an automatic ejec-tion midway through the third quarter after being whistled for a fl agrant-2 foul when he un-intentionally whacked Gibson across the face with his right arm on a layup attempt. Griffi n quickly helped Gibson up.

“I wasn’t trying to hit him in the face,” Griffi n said. “There

was no intent to hurt, or intent to even really hit him. I was go-ing to try to hit the ball and he pump faked me.”

Los Angeles trailed by 16 when Griffi n exited but used it as a rallying cry. Led by their second unit, the Clippers went on a 25-9 tear capped by a pair of 3-pointers by Josh Smith to square the contest at 66-apiece with 7:19 left. The Bulls re-sponded and regained the lead, 81-75 on triples by Rose and Gasol, and three free throws by Aaron Brooks with 2:28 to go.

A fl oater by Rose put the Bulls ahead, 83-77 with 45 seconds remaining, before a Wesley Johnson triple draw the Clip-pers to within three.

Butler had a chance to seal

the outcome but missed a wide-open fi ve-foot push shot and the Clippers grabbed the re-bound with six seconds left.

Paul looked to send the game into overtime but his 3-point attempt bounced off the back of the iron and the Bulls escaped.

“I like the way we fought back but we didn’t play too smart the last few minutes of the game,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “That’s when I want to be great and we weren’t great.”

Elsewhere: Oklahoma City Thunder

107, Atlanta Hawks 94: Kevin Durant collected 25 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his seventh career triple-double, and the Thunder rolled the visiting Hawks for their third straight win. Russell Westbrook had 23 points with 10 assists while Serge Ibaka fi nished with a season-high tying 23 and 10 boards as OKC (14-8) domi-nated the boards, 52-34. Kent Bazemore scored 22 points for Atlanta (14-9) which had its modest two-game streak stopped

Sacramento Kings 99, New York Knicks 97: De-Marcus Cousins had 27 points and 11 rebounds, Rajon Rondo

added 16 points, 12 assists and nine boards, and the Kings (9-15) held off the visiting Knicks after nearly blowing a 19-point third-quarter cushion. Carmelo Anthony had 23 points and 14 rebounds but missed a potential game-tying triple at the buzzer as the Knicks (10-14) lost their fourth in a row.

Brooklyn Nets 100, Phila-delphia 76ers 91: Italy’s An-drea Bargnani scored a season-high 23 points, Thaddeus Young added 18 with 11 rebounds, and the Nets (7-15) pulled away to beat the league-worst Sixers for their sixth home win in the last seven games. Jahlil Okafor had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Philadelphia (1-22) outscored 30-17 in the fourth quarter.

NBA

‘Derrick was aggressive. He was huge for us, mask or no mask’

By Matt VenselStar Tribune

On Thursday night, the short-handed Vikings found themselves in an-other showcase game, this

time against the fi rst-place Arizona Cardinals.

Prime time was not kind to them in their season opener, when they got steamrollered by the San Francisco 49ers on “Monday Night Football.” And they played poorly in high-pro-fi le, nationally televised, late-after-noon losses to Green Bay and Seattle.

But this time, the Vikings did not wilt in the spotlight. They went into halftime with the score tied at 10-10 and threatened to take a third-quar-ter lead when running back Adrian Peterson fumbled in Cardinals terri-tory. In the end, though, the Cardi-nals’ off ensive fi repower and one de-cisive fourth-quarter drive resulted in a 47-yard fi eld goal by Chandler Catanzaro with 1 minute, 23 seconds remaining to give Arizona a 23-20 victory at University of Phoenix Sta-dium.

The Vikings looked poised to tie

the game late. But Teddy Bridge-water was sacked from behind on third down deep in Cardinals terri-tory with just seconds remaining by Dwight Freeney. Bridgewater fum-bled, and the game was over.

Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer threw for 310 yards and tossed two touchdowns by late in the fourth quarter against an under-manned and overmatched Vikings defense.

Injuries forced the Vikings to start four rookies against the league’s top-ranked off ense and they moved vet-eran cornerback Terence Newman to safety to start in place of Harrison Smith, who missed his second game in three weeks.

They were also missing nose tackle Linval Joseph and outside linebacker Anthony Barr.

Palmer completed his fi rst eight pass attempts for 54 yards on the game’s opening drive, including a 19-yard catch by Michael Floyd and a 17-yarder by fellow wideout Larry Fitzgerald Jr. But the Cardinals had to settle for a 27-yard Chandler Catan-zaro fi eld goal after their rookie run-ning back, David Johnson, dropped a would-be touchdown on third down.

The Vikings responded right away with a seven-play, 80-yard touch-down drive. Peterson slalomed through the Cardinals defense for a 9-yard touchdown run to fi nish off the drive. He also had a 21-yard run earlier in the drive, gaining 3 more yards on that play than he did in Sunday’s 38-7 drubbing against the Seahawks.

After grumbling about the off en-sive play-calling after rushing for a season-low 18 yards against the Sea-hawks, Peterson had 69 yards on 23 carries late in the fourth quarter.

The Cardinals reclaimed the lead with a 65-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver John Brown. Palmer shuffl ed around in the pocket to buy time for Brown to get open on a deep crossing route. Brown pulled away from cornerback Captain Munner-lyn, caught the pass then sprinted down the right sideline for the go-ahead score.

Still trailing 10-7 late in the second quarter, quarterback Bridgewater completed a 32-yard pass to rookie tight end MyCole Pruitt to put kick-er Blair Walsh in position to boot a game-tying fi eld goal from 44 yards just before halftime.

But the Vikings lost two fumbles in Cardinals territory. Wide receiver Jarius Wright gave the ball away in the red zone in the second quarter and Peterson coughed up another fumble in the third. Peterson has fumbled seven times this season.

After Peterson’s latest fumble killed a promising drive, the Car-dinals went ahead for good. Palmer tossed a quick pass out to Floyd, who got a key block by Fitzgerald and went untouched down the right sideline for a 42-yard score that made it 17-10.

On Arizona’s next drive, cor-nerback Xavier Rhodes dropped a would-be interception that he likely would have returned for a touch-down. The Cardinals would keep on driving downfi eld to go up 20-10 with a fi eld goal early in the fourth quarter.

Walsh booted a 54-yard fi eld goal with 12:15 remaining in the game to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 20-13, then the Vikings tied the score again with an impressive 11-play, 88-yard drive that ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bridgewater to underuti-lized wide receiver Mike Wallace be-fore the Cardinals countered.

Catanzaro’s late goal lift s Cardinals to win over Vikings NFL

ReutersHouston

Houston Texans defen-sive end J.J. Watt once again lived up to his ironman image when

he said he planned to play in to-morrow’s home game against the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots despite a broken hand.

The reigning defensive player of the year did not practise with the team on Thursday, and in-stead worked with trainers on the side fi eld wearing a cast on his left hand.

“I broke my hand in practice and will play in the game Sun-day,” Watt, a three-time Pro Bowl selection who has started 76 consecutive games since making his National Football League debut in 2011, told re-porters.

“I’ve played with worse than this before. Football is a game where things happen.”

Asked how he would respond if Patriots players targeted his injured hand, the 26-year-old replied: “Let ‘em try. Come at it. I’ll take advantage of whatever you try to do.”

Watt was also limited in prac-tice on Wednesday, when he was listed with injuries to his groin and hand on the offi cial report.

“I don’t think it will aff ect him,” said Texans coach Bill O’Brien.

Watt, who ranks third among active NFL defensive ends with his unbroken 76-game run, has 70-1/2 career sacks, 42 passes defended, 11 fumble recoveries and 13 forced fumbles.

The Texans (6-6) will bid for a fi fth win in six games on Sunday when they face the formidable challenge of the (10-2) Patriots.

Coach Madden recovering from open-heart op

Hall of Fame NFL coach John Madden, 79, is out of hospital and on the road to a full recov-ery from open-heart surgery, the NFL said in a statement on Thursday.

“I spoke to John yester-day,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “He sounds great, but is frustrated about being on

injured reserve for the time be-ing. He is anxious to return to action soon doing the important work he does for our game.”

Madden, who had surgery on November 30, moved to an in-patient rehabilitation facil-ity in Oakland, California, on Wednesday.

He made his name as head coach of the fabled Oakland Raiders teams of the 1970s, guiding them to a Super Bowl ti-tle after a 13-1 1976 season.

After an award-winning ca-reer as a NFL broadcaster, Mad-den lent his name and beloved personality to the hugely popular EA Sports gridiron video game Madden Football.

Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006, Madden continues to serve the NFL as co-chair of the player safety ad-visory panel and chairman of the coaches’ subcommittee to the competition committee.

Cutler’s brother-in-law believed dead

A body thought to be that of the brother-in-law of Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has been found, a fortnight after Michael Cavallari disappeared, US authorities said.

The remains were found by a crew searching in a steep, rocky area in southern Utah, the Grand County Sheriff ’s Offi ce said.

The Utah medical examiner was to confi rm the identity of the victim and cause of death.

Cavallari is the brother of re-ality TV personality Kristin Cav-allari, who married NFL quar-terback Cutler in 2013.

He has been missing since No-vember 27, when his abandoned car was found alongside a dirt road with the engine running and the air bag deployed in Utah.

Four days earlier, the 30-year-old Cavallari had been arrested in Southern California on an al-legation of threatening a woman. He was released on bail and it’s not clear if the incident and his disappearance were related.

Kristin Cavallari, who gained fame appearing on the MTV re-ality series Laguna Beach and The Hills, mourned her brother on an Instagram post.

“My heart is in a million piec-es,” she said.

RESULTSBrooklyn .......100 Philadelphia ......91 Chicago .............83 LA Clippers ......80 Okl. City .......... 107 Atlanta................... 94 Sacramento 99 NY Knicks...........97

SPORT

Gulf Times Saturday, December 12, 20156

Pau Gasol (R) of the Chicago Bulls blocks a shot by Luc Richard Mbah a Moute of the Los Angeles Clippers at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The Bulls defeated the Clippers 83-80. (Getty Images/AFP)

Texans ‘ironman’ Watt to play Sunday, despite broken hand

SPOTLIGHT

Arizona Cardinals kicker Chandler Catanzaro (No 7) kicks a field goal in the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at University of Phoenix Stadium. PICTURE: USA TODAY

JJ WATT

Flyers race past Blues for 4-2 victory

By Jeremy P. RutherfordSt. Louis Post-Dispatch

In the past week, the key phrase around the Blues’ locker room has been “building good minutes.”

They admit they’re not go-ing to erase a month’s worth of sub-par play in one night, but stringing together some pro-ductive periods would be a start.

On the heels of Tuesday’s win, the Blues added more good minutes in the fi rst period against Philadelphia Thursday night at Scottrade Center.

But what the Blues had been building fell apart in the sec-ond period, as the Flyers scored three unanswered goals in a 4-2 win in front of a disappointed crowd of 14,028.

It’s now been exactly one month since the Blues last won back-to-back games, and it won’t be any easier to turn things around with Central Di-vision-leading Dallas headed to town Saturday.

The Blues said Thursday morning that they would have extra incentive later that night with goaltender Brian Elliott in net, looking for his fi rst win since Oct. 18. In his last fi ve ap-pearances, Elliott had a record of 0-2-1, but in that stretch had a 1.60 goals-against average and

a .942 save-percentage.Elliott made 26 saves, but

the Blues couldn’t fi nd more than two goals from Robby Fab-bri and David Backes despite putting 37 shots on Philadelphia goalie Michal Neuvirth, who played outstanding.

The Blues had the look of a determined club in the fi rst period. Though the game re-mained scoreless after 20 min-utes, the team registered 10 shots, 11 hits and had no givea-ways. Paul Stastny’s bid for his third goal of the season was de-nied early in the period, other-wise the Blues would have taken a lead into the fi rst intermission.

The night continued to look up when Robby Fabbri did give the Blues the lead just 1:35 into the second period, scoring his fi fth goal of the season. Dmitrij Jaskin had the puck behind the Philadelphia net and fl ipped it in front to Robby Fabbri, who wasted no time punching it past goalie Michal Neuvirth.

Against Philadelphia, at Scot-trade Center, one goal has been enough in the teams’ recent his-tory. The Blues had blanked the Flyers three times in their last four trips to St. Louis.

Philadelphia made up for that with three goals before the end of the period.

Michael Raffl started it off with his third goal of the sea-

son. Brayden Schenn passed the puck to the front of the net, where Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester couldn’t fi nd the positioning or the muscle to prevent Raffl from putting a de-fl ection past Elliott for a 1-1 tie.

The goal was Philadelphia’s fi rst in 171 minutes in this build-ing. The visitors would only need 3:21 for the next one.

Matt Read handed the Flyers their fi rst lead of the game, 2-1, with 13:24 remaining in the sec-ond period.

Following a turnover by Blues defenseman Petteri Lindbohm, Michael Del Zotto put a blis-tering shot on net. Lindbohm blocked that, but the rebound was left laying in the slot. Read corralled it and whiff ed on his fi rst attempt but then wrapped the puck around the out-stretched of Elliott.

The Blues were slipping quickly. Raffl and Read had goals and captain Claude Giroux was looking for his. The captain

came into the game with a goal against every club in the NHL except the Blues.

Sound familiar?Pittsburgh captain Sidney

Crosby was also looking fi rst his fi rst-career goal against the Blues in the teams’ recent meet-ing November 25. Crosby came up with two in the Penguins’ 4-3 overtime win.

Giroux got his on Thursday, and it was a dandy. Taking a pass from Schenn, Giroux entered the off ensive zone with a head of steam, which wasn’t good news for the nearest defender, Magnus Paajarvi. He blew past Paajarvi and then deked Elliott before beating him with a back-handed shot.

Like that, a 1-0 lead had dis-integrated, with three Phila-delphia goals against the Blues’ top line. Paajarvi and Vladimir Tarasenko were each minus-3 and Paul Stastny was a minus-2 as the Flyers took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission. The Blues made a strong push in the third period and pulled to with-in 3-2 on Backes’ eighth goal of the season. It came on the pow-er play with 12:23 left in regula-tion. But that’s all the Blues had, as they dropped to 1-3-1 in their last fi ve home games.

Patrick Kane extended his Chicago Blackhawks’ record point-scoring streak to 24

games with a third-period goal in a 5-1 loss to Nashville on Thursday. Kane’s 18th goal of the NHL season wasn’t enough to overcome the Predators’ strong fi rst period off ensively and goalie Pekka Rinne’s superb play in the fi nal period.

Rinne made 35 saves in win-ning for just the second time since November 17. He turned away at least six quality Black-hawks scoring chances in the second period, denying centre Andrew Shaw four times and robbing Kane twice.

However, the Chicago right winger poked a rebound under a prone Rinne at 5:43 of the third period to continue a streak that started October 17 in a 4-1 win over Columbus. Kane pumped his fi st in the air after scoring as the Blackhawks fans in the building cheered loudly.

Kane’s streak is at 24 and counting but he still has a long ways to go to catch Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record 51-game points streak. American Kane is living on the edge with this streak. He had back-to-back games where he needed points on home ice in empty-net situations to keep his streak go-ing—one against the Winnipeg Jets with a hand-pass to Artemi Panarin who scored and one he scored himself earlier this week against the same Predators.

NHL

Kane extends streak but Hawk’s lose 5-1 to Predators

By Mike DiGiovannaLos Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Angels left the winter meet-ings Thursday without a slugging left fi elder, but

they did add a hard-hitting in-fi elder in Yunel Escobar, who was acquired from the Washington Nationals for reliever Trevor Gott and minor league pitcher Michael Brady. The Angels also received about $1.5 million in cash.

Escobar, 33, is coming off his best off ensive season, when he hit .314 with a .375 on-base percentage, .415 slugging per-centage, nine home runs and 56 runs batted in. He has a ca-reer slash line of .281/.350/.385 with 78 homers and 449 RBIs in nine seasons. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Escobar has made 986 of his 1,159 career starts at shortstop but probably will play third base for the Angels, who did not make a qualifying off er to veteran free agent David Freese.

Escobar, who has been traded six times and will be playing for his fi fth organization, has one year remaining on a contract that will pay him $7 million next season and includes a team op-tion for $7 million in 2017.

Gott, 23, was called up by the Angels last July and went 4-2 with a 3.02 earned-run aver-age in 48 games, striking out 27 and walking 16 in 47 2/3 in-nings. Armed with a fastball that touches 98 mph and a develop-ing slider, he worked his way up to a seventh-inning role.

Brady, a 28-year-old right-hander, went 7-7 with a 3.77 ERA at double-A Arkansas.

Escobar’s salary will bring the Angels’ 2016 payroll to within $9 million to $14 million of the $189 million luxury tax threshold, and it is unclear how it will aff ect the team’s pursuit of a left-fi eld bat. General Manager Billy Eppler left the winter meetings’ hotel before the trade was announced.

Eppler said Thursday he is “still having conversations” with representatives for the top free-agent outfi elders _ Jason Heyward, Yoenis Cespedes, Jus-

tin Upton and Alex Gordon _ and talking with teams on numerous trade fronts. There was a grow-ing sense this week that owner Arte Moreno might be reluctant to push the team’s payroll past $189 million, potentially putting a crimp in the team’s pursuit of a big bat.

The four top outfi elders fi g-ure to get long-term deals worth more than $20 million a year, so signing one would push the An-gels over the soft cap.

The Angels could spend big on such a player now and shed salary — most likely that of $20 million pitcher C.J. Wilson or $5 million pitcher Hector Santiago — during the season. Luxury tax is based on end-of-the-year payrolls. There is also a chance the price of one of the sluggers could drop into a range Moreno is comfortable with as the winter progresses.

Moreno is impulsive, as his pursuit of Josh Hamilton, who signed a fi ve-year, $125 mil-lion deal with the Angels before the 2013 season, showed. If he is waffl ing on paying premium dollars for a big bat this week, he could change his mind if the right deal presents itself next week. Moreno loves to lie low be-fore making a big splash, as evi-denced by his surprise signing of Albert Pujols to a $10-year, $240 million deal at the winter meet-ings before the 2012 season.

So it was not really surpris-ing that Fox Sports reported Wednesday afternoon the An-gels are “a fi nalist” for Heyward, who could command a deal in the 10-year, $200 million range, along with the St. Louis Cardi-nals and Chicago Cubs.

The Angels selected two players in the major league portion of the Rule 5 draft, reliever Deolis Guerra from Pittsburgh and Korean fi rst baseman Ji-Man Choi from Balti-more. Asked whether he thought both could make the team next spring, Mike LaCassa, the team’s director of minor league opera-tions, said, “Yeah ... how often do you see a team, especially one with the expectations we have, take two guys in the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft?”

RESULTSDetroit .......................3 Montreal ...........2 Tampa Bay ..........4 Ottawa ..................1 Florida .......................4 Washington.....1 Philadelphia .......4 St. Louis .............2 Nashville .................5 Chicago ...............1 Winnipeg ...............6 Columbus .......4 Calgary ....................4 Buff alo .................3

SPORT7Gulf Times

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Angels get hard-hitting infi elder Escobar

BASEBALL

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Matt Read (No 24) scores past St. Louis Blues goaltender Brian Elliott in the second period at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. PICTURE: Chris Lee/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS

SUNDSTEDT CLAIMS QATAR CHAIN REACTION-FUWAIRIT TROPHY

Olympian and former MTB world champion Pia Sundstedt claimed the Qatar Chain Reaction-Fuwairit trophy by winning the mountain bike race held at Fuwairit, The event was presented by Qatar Extreme Sports founder patron Farhan al-Sayed. Michelle Guerin, who flew from Dubai for the event, finished second and Eulogy Van Dyk claimed the third spot. Juan Botha won the men’s title, while Dubai rider Tom Little and Denrei Catalan finish second and third. This was the most successful which attracted big number of participants and crowds.

YUNEL ESCOBAR

SPORT

Gulf Times Saturday, December 12, 20158

Opening shots fi red in SA with Smith’s comeback talk By Vic MarksThe Guardian

The titbit that Graeme Smith is apparently contemplating coming out of retirement has

no direct impact on England’s tour, but it tells us something: in South Africa they are even more perplexed than England about their opening batsmen.

Smith’s musings – that he might use the Masters Champi-ons League to launch a comeback – will probably come to nothing. They conveniently highlight the Dubai venture, taking place be-tween 28 January and 14 Febru-ary, which is towards the end of England’s tour. The notion that a few runs against some creak-ing old superstars in a Twenty20 tournament unlocks the creden-tials for a comeback for South Africa against New Zealand next August is fanciful, to say the least. But the idea would surely never have surfaced if South Africa had been able to fi ll the hole left by Smith, who retired in March 2014 with 9,265 Test runs to his name.

The opening batsmen will have a crucial role in the series in South Africa, which begins in Durban on Boxing Day. The Eng-land players, having celebrated Christmas prematurely, will set off on Thursday. This series will provide a clear contrast to the ones both nations have recently experienced.

In India, where South Africa were defeated 3-0, and in the UAE, where England lost to Pa-kistan 2-0, opening the batting was, theoretically, a boon. It should have been easier to score runs at the top of the order be-fore the spinners held sway – al-though the fi gures do not always refl ect that. In South Africa it will all be rather diff erent. There we anticipate a contest dominated by pace bowlers with a couple of spinners on hand to off er backup. Both sides will be more comfort-able with these conditions.

The ball will swing and bounce far more readily than in Nagpur or Sharjah, which means that opening the batting will be a tricky proposition.

For South Africa the openers’ role is to keep their world-class batsmen, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers, protected from the new ball for as long as possible. In the absence of a monumental fi gure like Smith this is likely to be a struggle.

The men in possession are Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma. Elgar is a gritty 28-year-old left-hander, who has played 21 Tests averaging 34. He moved up the order since this was where the vacancy arose in the national team.

Bavuma, 25 years of age and 5ft 3in tall, is another converted opener, who shunned his ag-gressive instincts when scoring

34 from 117 balls in his last Test innings in Delhi (although his strike rate exceeded that of all the other batsmen in that re-markable, yet ultimately vain, blockathon).

The likely alternatives are about the same age as Smith but are lacking his vast reservoir of experience. Stephen Cook, 33 and son of Jimmy, and Andrew Puttick, 34, have impressive do-

mestic records, but neither has ever played a Test match.

England have one banker at the top of the order. Alastair Cook, who has always opened the batting, has a record that is almost identical to Smith’s but he is not yet ready for the Mas-ters Champions League. Who accompanies him has yet to be decided and this will remain the trickiest topic for the tour selec-

tors.Cook has had more part-ners than Tony Curtis (not to be confused with Tim, who opened the batting for Worcestershire a couple decades ago).

This time two out of Alex Hales, Nick Compton and Gary Ballance will probably occupy the No2 and No3 position in the England team, with James Tay-lor likely to slot in at fi ve. Hales is the favourite to start as Cook’s

partner, though we will know more when England announce their lineup in Potchefstroom on 15 December, the venue for the fi rst of two three-day warm-up matches.

He has been on the verge for a while and he off ers an aggres-sive counterpoint to Cook. But there are doubts about his tech-nique for Test cricket, which ex-ist within the England camp as

well as beyond. Hales is the bold choice and Trevor Bayliss’s incli-nation often seems to be a shrug of the shoulders followed by a laid-back “well, let’s fi nd out”. Compton off ers an alternative and, unlike Ballance, he has the advantage of being experienced as an opener as well as a No3.

There is the conundrum – unless Andrew Strauss contem-plates coming out of retirement.

CRICKET

South Africa struggling to find settled partnership at top of order as 4-match Test series against Engalnd begins on Boxing Day

DPAParis

Heads turn as a siren sounds and the fi re brigade speed down the Boulevard Gou-vion-Saint-Cyr and past

the Palais des Congres where Sat-urday’s Euro 2016 draw will take place.

An hour later yesterday there is a sudden commotion and shouting match on the Metro 8 platform at Franklin D Roosevelt station.

Regular-looking men reveal red armbands out of nowhere, identify-ing themselves as police. Two of the offi cers do not mince their words as they argue with three youths and another man on the platform, while another offi cer looks under one car-riage of the east-bound train, prob-ably in search of suspicious objects.

A few stops onwards, at the Place de la Republique, the mount of the national monument is still a sea of fl owers, candles, drawings and fl ags. Dozens of locals and tourists look and read in silence, interrupted only by a sob or a clicking camera.

But 30 yards on the clatter of skateboards on concrete gives a re-minder that life is going on almost a month after the November 13 at-tacks by Islamic militants which left 130 people dead.

The packed metro 8 also contin-ued on soon after the incident, and

tourists in front of Notre Dame ca-thedral seem to make nothing of the heavily armed military forces guarding this landmark and others.

The attacks, some 11 months af-ter that against the Charlie Hebdo magazine, have left France scarred and edgy but at the same time defi -ant amid the ongoing state of emer-gency.

“To rock’n roll” says the writing on a paper heart hung next to a cut out paper guitar on a string above more fl owers, wreaths and candles outside the Bataclan club where most of the victims lost their lives.

And a young girl tortures her electric guitar to the sound of punk rock at the Chatelet metro sta-tion; while platters of fresh oysters make their way to hungry diners in packed restaurants from racks out-side in the chilly Paris air.

The militants attacked the French way of life by fi ring into restaurants and a concert hall, but also foot-ball as three suicide bombers blew themselves up outside the Stade de France on that fateful night.

At least one of them is said to have had a ticket to the game France were playing against Germany at the time, with French President Francois Hollande in attendance, but he was stopped outside.

As a result, the trip to Paris for the 24-team draw means a whole lot more to the world champion Ger-mans than to the other delegations,

and their visit serves the purpose of remembering but also looking for-ward.

“The return to Paris for the draw will be special for me. I think that I will pay my respects for what hap-pened on November 13 and to the immediate family of those lost,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said.

“I hope that our French hosts can return to normality as soon as pos-sible. They are a big and traditional footballing nation. With the Euro draw at the weekend, football will come more into focus again.

“To look ahead, the European Championships are also something to look forward to.

“As with all the participants in Paris, we want to represent our way of life, meaning openness, toler-ance, respect, solidarity and free-dom. We will not surrender these values.”

France never considered can-celling the draw or Euro 2016 even though the event will create plenty of security headaches in and out-side the stadiums for the 51 matches in nine cities attended by hundreds of thousands of fans. “If we put Euro 2016 in doubt we will be bow-ing to he rules of the terrorists,” or-ganizing committee chief Jacques Lambert said right after the attacks.

“We will take the necessary steps so that Euro 2016 takes place with the best possible security meas-ures.”

Edgy but defi ant Paris awaits Euro 2016 draw FOOTBALL

An aerial view shows the Parc des Princes soccer stadium in this picture taken July 14, 2013 in Paris. The French capital is one of the ten host cities for the Euro 2016 soccer finals that will be played from June 10, 2016 to July 10. (Reuters)

GRAEME SMITH

FOOTBALL9Gulf Times

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Bayern out to exorcise Gladbach defeat in derby

BUNDESLIGA

‘We have to play well and fight for everything... We have to keep our concentration and score the first goal, that should lay the foundations for us to have some fun’

AFPMunich

Bayern Munich host Ingolstadt in the fi rst Bundesliga derby between the clubs today full of respect for their Bavarian neigh-

bours, but determined to bounce back from their shock defeat at Moencheng-ladbach.

Pep Guardiola’s Bayern crashed to their fi rst German league defeat of the season last Saturday when they were humbled 3-1 by third-placed Gladbach.

It was only Bayern’s second loss of the season, following a Champions League defeat at Arsenal, and Bayern are deter-mined to protect their fi ve point lead in the table.

“We have to play well and fi ght for eve-rything, it won’t be an easy game,” said Robert Lewandowski, whose goals sealed a 2-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb on Wednes-day with Bayern in the last 16 in Europe.

“We have to keep our concentration

and score the fi rst goal, that should lay the foundations for us to have some fun.”

Ingolstadt deserve Bayern’s respect with a symmetrical record of fi ve wins, fi ve draws and fi ve defeats in their fi rst season in Germany’s top-fl ight and are 11th in the table with 20 points.

Coach Ralph Hasenhuettl has kept most of the side which won last sea-son’s second-division title and they have drawn with top side Wolfsburg, Schalke and Moenchengladbach so far.

“They deserve to be where they are in the league and I hope they stay up,” said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm, who played alongside Hasenhuettl in the Bavarian youth football.

“They don’t just play defensively and don’t just stand at the back.”

Between them Poland’s Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller have scored 27 league goals so far this season, but the Germany forward expects a tussle.

“We have a task on Saturday which will clearly be a diffi cult thing,” said Mueller.

Bayern are set to be without centre-

back Medhi Benatia, who suff ered a sus-pected torn left thigh in Zagreb.

Second-placed Borussia Dortmund, who lag fi ve points behind Bayern, want to keep the pressure on Munich with a win at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Au-bameyang has scored 17 of Dortmund’s 42 goals in 15 games this season, while German striker Marco Reus has weighed in with eight more.

Chicharito’s goal haul -Mid-table Frankfurt have won just one of their last ten games, while Thomas Tuchel’s Dort-mund have lost just twice all season in Germany’s top fl ight after being drubbed 5-1 by Bayern and stumbling to a shock defeat at Hamburg.

Fresh from their Champions League exits in midweek, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Moenchengladbach meet at the BayArena with the teams in contrasting form.

Roger Schmidt’s Leverkusen have won one of their last eight games in all com-petitions while Gladbach are unbeaten in their last nine German league games un-der new coach Andre Schubert.

Unlike the team he plays for, Leverkusen’s Javier Hernandez is in form and the ex-Manchester United and Real Madrid striker ‘Chicharito’ has scored 12 goals in the last 11 games. Bayer have only failed to score twice in their last 32 games against Gladbach, one of which was a 3-0 defeat when the sides last met.

Euro places the focus in Ligue 1BOTTOMLINE

AFPParis

Runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain put their undefeated record on the line at home to

Lyon tomorrow. Few would have expected

Caen, whose best top-fl ight fi n-ish was fi fth in 1992, to be chal-lenging for Champions League places but while PSG have been, as expected, the dominant force, the battle for European spots is now the main point of interest in France.

Newly-promoted Angers cur-rently hold second spot having lost just three times in 17 out-ings, although they are a whop-ping 15 points behind PSG al-ready with the season not yet at its halfway stage.

Angers are not in action until Sunday when they host strug-gling Bordeaux while, elsewhere, Monaco and Saint-Etienne meet at the Stade Louis II in a battle of two sides who were expected to

compete towards the top of the table from the outset.

Monaco have revived their fortunes after a slow start and have climbed to fourth, just one point behind Caen in third while

Angers are a further point ahead. After an awful run of form,

Lyon caused a surprise when they beat Gary Neville’s Valen-cia side 2-0 on Wednesday in the Champions League.

They are currently fi fth, three points adrift of the podium so still very much in contention despite poor recent results that have piled pressure on coach Hubert Fournier.

“We showed a diff erent face (on Wednesday) and if we had played this way in some previous games we probably would have fought to be in this competition for longer,” said Fournier, whose team fi nished bottom of their group and so must now focus purely on domestic matters for the rest of the campaign.

“That’s life. Elite football is not forgiving. However, this game gives us hope, and shows us the path we must take in the league, which is our bread and butter.

“We have a diffi cult match in Paris on Sunday night,” he added.

Last season’s Ligue 1 player of the year Alexandre Lacazette is a major concern for Lyon after hurting himself while scoring his side’s second goal against Valencia.

“He felt something at the back of his thigh on the run that led to his goal,” said Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas.

Laurent Blanc’s PSG side will be in relaxed mood as they con-tinue a stunning start to their campaign that has seen them drop just six points.

Paris have not lost a domestic game since March and a fourth straight title already appears a formality while the Champions League is the biggest priority with passage through to the last 16 already guaranteed.

AFPMilan

Napoli host Roma and Fiorentina are away to Juventus in a su-per-charged Serie A

weekend in which all four title contenders will have one eye on leaders Inter Milan.

Although designed to provide some pre-festive thrills, the pe-nultimate round of games before the league stops for the winter break has been made even more enticing by the current state of aff airs in Italy’s top fl ight.

Inter travel to Udinese today with a one-point lead on Fioren-tina, with Napoli two points be-hind and Roma in fourth at fi ve points off the pace. Champions Juventus are only one-point be-hind Roma in sixth.

Inter could go four points clear of Fiorentina with a win today but their trip to the Friuli comes with a twist, 38-year-old striker Antonio Di Natale hinting Wednesday it could be his last home game for the club that has been his home since 2004.

“The fans are always behind us and always fi ll the stadium. I want to show my thanks in our last home game of the year by giving them a special gift,” said Di Natale.

Having seen Udinese lose to both Napoli and Fiorentina in re-cent weeks, either side of two wins against Sampdoria and Chievo, Di Natale expects no-frills Inter to be tough to beat today.

He added: “Their game is not exceptional, but they’re winning consistently and conceding few goals. We’ve been working hard in the past days for this game.”

Inter have scored the fewest goals (18) from the top six teams, but Roberto Mancini’s men have conceded only nine times in 15 games and their reverse at Napoli a fortnight ago was their lone de-feat in nine successive outings.

The visitors should welcome back Felipe Melo, who spent a night in observation last week after a head clash with team-mate Gary Medel in their 1-0 win against Genoa.

“I’m fi ne, thank God. I don’t

remember much about the game but luckily I’m okay,” said Brazil midfi elder Melo, who does not expect an easy run-in to the fes-tive break.

“It’s important we fi nish this fi rst half of the season strong-ly, but we know it’s going to be tough at Udinese and against Lazio after that.”

Napoli host Roma on Sunday in the ‘Derby del Sole’, with the hosts fi rm favourites at the San Paolo three days after hammer-ing Legia Warsaw 5-2 in the Eu-ropa League to record six wins out of six in the group stage.

Last week’s 3-2 reverse at Bo-logna left scars, and Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri said: “There are a lot of title contenders this sea-son, but that doesn’t mean we have to settle for seventh place.”

Roma, unconvincing in a 1-1 Champions League draw at home to BATE Borisov on Wednesday that secured passage to the last 16, travel south on the back of a league defeat to Atalanta and last week’s 1-1 draw at Torino—and likely to be without injury-hit Ivorian Gervinho.

Super-charged Sunday puts focus on Inter

SERIE A

Ajax exit Europa League, Augsburg strike late to advance

DIFFERENT STROKES

ReutersLondon

Four-times European Champions Ajax Am-sterdam were felled at the fi rst hurdle of the

continent’s second tier Europa League on Thursday, exiting in the group stage two days after rivals PSV Eindhoven celebrated long-awaited success.

Dutch football was in a jubi-lant mood after PSV became the fi rst club in eight years from the Netherlands to reach the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday, but Ajax’s failure to make it out of Group A following a 1-1 draw at home to Molde will have dampened enthusiasm.

Ajax were pipped to second place by Fenerbahce, whose 1-1 draw with Celtic added their name to the lengthy list of quali-fi ers for the knockout rounds.

Joining Fenerbahce in the draw were Olympique de Marseille, Sion, Midtjylland, Lokomotiv Moscow, Sporting, Fiorentina, Anderlecht and Augsburg, who wrapped up their place thanks to a dramatic late goal against Par-tizan Belgrade.

Ajax, one of Europe’s most decorated teams, won four straight domestic titles between 2010 and 2014 and currently lead the table, but they are no longer

the force they once were on the continent.

They came into their fi nal group match needing to win and hoping Fenerbahce would slip up against Celtic, beginning with promise by taking the lead through Donny van de Beek’s looping header after 14 minutes.

Yet Norwegian outfi t Molde, under the guidance of former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, have proved surprisingly impressive in the Europa League and Harmeet Singh levelled with a low shot 15 minutes before halftime.

Bayern Munich’s coach Pep Guardiola gestures during his team’s Champions League match against Dinamo Zagreb at the Maksimir stadium, Zagreb, Croatia.

Ajax players react after their 1-1 draw against Molde FK.

Inter coach Roberto Mancini.

File picture of Paris Saint-Germain coach Laurent Blanc.

Fixtures (GMT)TodayBayern Munich v Ingolstadt, VfL Wolfsburg v Hamburg, Werder Bremen v Cologne, Hoff enheim v Hannover 96, Darmstadt v Hertha Berlin, Bayer Leverkusen v Borussia Moenchengladbach (1730) TomorrowAugsburg v Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund v Eintracht Frankfurt (1630)

Results

Key Results

Fixtures (GMT)

TodayReims v Nice (1500 GMT), Lille v Lorient, Troyes v Bastia, Montpellier v Guingamp, Nantes v Toulouse TomorrowMonaco v Saint-Etienne (1300 GMT), Marseille v Gazelec Ajaccio, Angers v Bordeaux (both 1600 GMT), Paris Saint-Germain v Lyon (2000 GMT)

Group A Ajax (NED) 1 Molde (NOR) 1 Fenerbahce (TUR) 1 Celtic (SCO) 1

Group B Sion (SUI) 0 Liverpool (ENG) 0 Group C Borussia Dortmund (GER) 0 PAOK (GRE) 1 Group J Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) 4 Monaco (FRA) 1

Group L Partizan Belgrade (SRB) 1 Augsburg (GER) 3

Today Genoa v Bologna (1300), Palermo v Frosinone, Sassuolo v Torino (both 1600), Udinese v Inter Milan (1845) TomorrowChievo v Atalanta, Empoli v Carpi, AC Milan v Verona (all 1300), Napoli v Roma (1600), Juventus v Fiorentina (1845) Monday Lazio v Sampdoria (1845)

FOOTBALL10 Gulf Times

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Neymar-less Barcaaim to stave off chasing Madrid

LA LIGA

‘We are going there to compete. They drew in their last match, but they are playing great football and are in their best form with the return of Messi’

AFPBarcelona

European champions Barcelona will have to do without the in-jured Neymar for their fi nal La Liga game before Christmas at

home to Deportivo La Coruna before jet-ting off to the Club World Cup in Japan.

The Brazilian star’s absence due to a groin problem is a huge miss as he has been Barca’s player of the season given Lionel Messi’s recent two-month layoff due to a knee ligament injury, scoring 14 goals in just 13 league appearances.

Messi also missed training on Thurs-day due to personal reasons and was seen heavily stretching his hamstring towards the end of a depleted Barca side’s 1-1 against Bayer Leverkusen on Wednesday, but is expected to be fi t to start.

Luis Suarez was left on the bench for the trip to Germany as the holders had already qualifi ed for the last 16 of the Champions League, and will return seeking to score for his ninth consecutive game.

Barca were left to rue a host of missed chances last weekend as they conceded

late to draw 1-1 at Valencia and allow Atletico Madrid to cut the gap at the top to two points with Real Madrid two points further adrift.

And they face another stiff test at the Camp Nou against a revitalised Depor-tivo la Coruna side that are enjoying a re-turn to their glory days after a number of seasons bouncing between the top-fl ight and the second division.

Lucas Perez’s 10 goals have propelled the Galicians up to sixth in the table and he is happy for Barca to be distracted by their upcoming trip to Japan.

“It seems like Barca will be without Neymar which benefi ts us. If Messi, Sua-rez and (Andres) Iniesta also want to stay at home and save themselves for the Club World Cup, we’d accept it,” said Perez.

“We are going there to compete. They drew in their last match, but they are playing great football and are in their best form with the return of Messi.”

In contrast to Barca’s injury problems, Real Madrid coach Rafael Benitez fi nally has a fully-fi t squad to choose from as he is expected to welcome back Sergio Ram-os and Marcelo for Sunday’s demanding trip to fi fth-placed Villarreal.

Madrid’s problems have continued this week as the club’s appeal against their ex-pulsion from the Copa del Rey was turned down and star striker Karim Benzema sus-pended from playing for France due to his alleged part in a blackmail scandal.

However, on it they are fi ne form hav-ing smashed Malmo 8-0 to equal the big-gest ever margin of victory in the Cham-pions League on Tuesday with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring four and Benzema hit-ting his fi rst hat-trick in fi ve years.

That win was Madrid’s fi fth in a row since being humiliated 4-0 at home by

Barcelona last month and Ronaldo be-lieves they are on the right track.

“It is normal at a club like Real Madrid when things don’t go well everyone is criti-cal,” said the World Player of the Year.

“We are used to that, but little-by-little we are improving, the team is bet-ter and more confi dent. Five consecutive victories, we are on a good run and we need to continue like this.”

Barca’s brilliance and the madness at Real Madrid has taken the attention away from Atletico Madrid. However, Diego Simeone’s men can be top of the league at Christmas should they win their next two league games due to Barca’s Club World Cup commitments next weekend.

Atletico face a tough test themselves at home to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, though, as Europe’s best defence faces up to the triple threat of Aritz Aduriz, Inaki Williams and Atletico old boy Raul Gar-cia, who have already combined for 30 goals this season. Meanwhile, after a dis-appointing start to his managerial career as Valencia crashed out of the Champi-ons League in midweek, Gary Neville gets his fi rst taste of La Liga action as Los Che travel to Eibar.

Spanish confi dent of a Euro trebleBOTTOMLINE

AFPMadrid

Still reeling from the so-bering experience of being knocked off their perch at the 2014 World

Cup, Spain’s golden generation head to Euro 2016 seeking re-demption in an unprecedented third consecutive European Championship triumph.

Coach Vicente del Bosque kept his job to the surprise of many despite the debacle in Bra-zil that saw the then defending world champions sent packing after just two games.

Now, in what seems certain to be his fourth and fi nal tourna-ment in charge of La Roja, Del Bosque is hoping to roll back the years to Spain’s three con-secutive major tournament wins between 2008 and 2012 with a balanced squad of decorated veterans and talented new blood.

The suddenness of Spain’s fall from grace in Brazil caused a series of aftershocks. Beaten 2-1

early in qualifying by Slovakia, Spain also lost in friendlies to France, Germany and the Neth-erlands without even scoring a goal.

That led to outcries for more signifi cant generational change from the ever loyal Del Bosque. Yet, ahead of Saturday’s Euro

2016 draw, the mood music has changed.

Those points lost in Slovakia were the only three dropped in Spain’s whole qualifying cam-paign. Moreover, the mesmer-ising passing ‘tiki-taka’ style that propelled their recent suc-cess was back in evidence as Del

Bosque’s men took revenge over Slovakia in September, winning 2-0 in Oviedo.

“This style is defi ned, it is what has allowed us to experi-ence many unique things we have never experienced before,” said the hero of the 2010 World Cup fi nal Andres Iniesta.

A reserve team of Spain’s next generation then won in Ukraine in October and the run of friend-ly defeats against Europe’s upper class was ended with another impressive display in seeing off England 2-0 last month.

“The Spanish national team is always a contender for any ti-tle,” said captain Iker Casillas at the launch of Spain’s kit for next year’s fi nals. People know that Spain has a very well-formed team and will be among the fa-vourites for the Euros.”

CASILLAS OR DE GEA Spain haven’t conceded a goal in a competitive game for over a year, bringing back memories of their unbreachable defence in the knockout stages in all their

recent tournament wins. Yet, a major question remains

over who should ensure that run continues in France next year. Del Bosque has vacillated be-tween his confi dant Casillas and the much younger and on-form David de Gea for the past year without naming a number one.

Casillas was one of those most at fault for Spain’s collapse at the World Cup and was also to blame in the defeat to Slovakia. He has even taken a step down at club level by moving to Porto after a 16-year career with Real Madrid.

By contrast, De Gea starred in the win over Ukraine and has been in sensational form for Manchester United over the past two years.

However, the sensation is that Del Bosque will once again side with those that have won for him in the past and stick with Casillas.

Should Del Bosque get it right at both ends of the fi eld, Spain still have all the other com-ponent parts to be champions again in Paris come July 10.

AFPBarcelona

Barcelona are aiming to become the world’s highest earning club in the next six years and are

determined to counter England’s Premier League, club president Josep Maria Bartomeu said in an interview published yesterday.

The Spanish giants will make about 600 million euros ($658 million) this year but Bartomeu told the Financial Times news-paper he was aiming to lift this to one billion euros ($1.1 billion) by 2021.

“We want to be the fi rst club to reach one billion euros in rev-enues,” said Bartomeu, who won an election for a six-year term in July after Barcelona overcame team divisions to win the Cham-pions League.

A Deloitte survey said that Real Madrid (549 million euros) and Manchester United (518 mil-lion) were the of top world foot-ball revenue earners in 2014.

The president said he wants to increase Barcelona’s presence

abroad and embark on a 600 million euro renovation of the 93,000 capacity Camp Nou sta-dium.

It has one overseas offi ce in Hong Kong and plans to open more in New York, Sao Paulo and Shanghai by 2017, Bartomeu said.

Barcelona, which is owned by its 145,00 members, also wants to set up its own university and move into women’s sports.

But the Barcelona boss ac-knowledged that the shadow of England’s Premier League hangs over his club’s plans.

“Our rival is the Premier League. It is not a specifi c club, it is the strength of the Premier League itself,” Bartomeu said.

He insisted that Barcelona has the fi nancial power to hold off any English challenge for its three top stars Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. But Bartomeu said Barcelona acad-emy teenagers were being lured by big money English off ers.

“The 16-year-olds constantly receive off ers from the Premier League that are very tempting. Every year there are some who go,” the Barcelona chief said.

Barcelona aim for one billion euro goal

FOCUS

‘Big Phil’ back on big stage at Club WC

SPOTLIGHT

AFPTokyo

Well-travelled coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has become an un-likely fi gurehead

for China’s soaring football am-bitions as he takes Guangzhou Evergrande into the Club World Cup this week.

Just a year after leading Brazil’s ill-fated World Cup campaign on home soil, the mustachioed “Big Phil” is thriving with the meg-abucks club after helping them secure their second Asian title in three years.

The ebullient Brazilian has brought a dash of Latin passion to the touchlines and military rigour to his team, who are un-beaten since he arrived in June and won their fi fth straight Chi-nese title in October.

The ex-Portugal and Chelsea boss now returns to the global stage at the Club World Cup, where Evergrande will meet Spanish uber-team Barcelona if they win their opening match against Mexico’s Club America tomorrow.

In the background are moves to revolutionise football in Chi-na, a country which has so far been better known for watch-ing rather than playing the sport with huge viewing fi gures for European leagues.

But under football fan Presi-dent Xi Jinping, China has its eyes on hosting and even win-ning a World Cup, while football has been mandated at more and more schools.

China’s most ambitious club—full name Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao—have proved a good fi t for the resurgent Scolari, 67, who departed the Selecao after their thumping 7-1 World Cup semi-fi nal defeat to Germany, before a brief stint at Gremio.

‘FEEL QUITE EXTRAORDINARY’ “The winners are those that will not give up,” said the jubilant Brazilian, after hoisting the AFC Champions League trophy last month.

“My next target is the (Club World Cup). Why not? I have a

great team at a great club and great players—I can realise this dream,” he said.

“In life we have happy days and not so happy days, but to-night it has been a wonderful night. I’ve had a few great mo-ments before and tonight, I feel quite extraordinary.”

Scolari is handsomely com-pensated for his work in Guangzhou, a bustling metropo-lis of 8.5 million people not far from Hong Kong, where he rakes in a reported salary of $5 million.

Money seems no object for some clubs in the world’s second biggest economy, where Mano Menezes this week arrived at Shandong Luneng as the third ex-Brazil boss in China—report-edly on even more money than Scolari.

But Evergrande, jointly owned by Internet giant Alibaba and one of China’s biggest real es-tate fi rms, have been in a league of their own when it comes to splashing out on foreign talent.

Former Real Madrid striker Robinho arrived in July, follow-ing in the footsteps of ex-Spurs midfi elder Paulinho (14 million euros, $15.4 million) and another Brazilian, striker Ricardo Gou-lart, who signed for a Chinese record 15 million euros in Janu-ary.

Scolari is also Evergrande’s third big-name coach of recent times, after fellow World Cup-winner Marcello Lippi, who led them to the 2013 Asian crown, and the brief tenure of Fabio Cannavaro.

File picture of FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (right), Neymar and Luis Suarez during a training session.

File picture of China’s Guangzhou Evergrande head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

File picture of Spain’s coach Vicente Del Bosque.

Standings

TodayBarcelona v Deportivo la Coruna (1500), Celta Vigo v Espanyol (1715), Levante v Granada (1715), Sevilla v Sporting Gijon (1930), Las Palmas v Real Betis (2105) Tomorrow Rayo Vallecano v Malaga (1100), Eibar v Valencia (1500), Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao (1715), Villarreal v Real Madrid (1930)

Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter (right) insisted that a $100 million bribery case in which he is report-edly implicated “is over”, and pleaded ignorance over alleged corruption by top off icials at the scandal-hit world body. Blatter, speaking to Japan’s Nikkei business daily, also protested that he should have been warned before Swiss police arrested seven FIFA off icials in May, and said he hoped to return to his job in the coming weeks. “It was a tsunami,” he said of the May arrests on behalf of US authorities, which plunged the world body into crisis, in the interview published yesterday.

The 79-year-old’s problems deepened this month when the BBC said US authorities are investigating evidence indicating he knew about $100 million in bribes paid to former FIFA members. Blatter said that the bribery case “is over, it is finished. It was solved in court. And it was solved by the FIFA ethics committee”. Asked whether he knew about the payments to Havelange, his former boss, Blatter reiterated: “It is settled. It was settled by a tribunal in Switzerland. They even went to the highest court. (There) was no harm to me on ethics, nothing.”

Suspended FIFA president Blatter says $100mn bribery case is ‘over’

FOOTBALL11Gulf Times

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Coach Van Gaal defi ant in face of Man United crisis

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

‘We are now in the Europa League and we have to win the Europa League but that is not easy. I can say that in advance but nobody hears me because they don’t want to hear’

AFPManchester

Louis van Gaal played down the scale of the storm gathering around Manchester United and claimed that expectations of the

Old Traff ord club need to be re-assessed. Van Gaal’s management of United has

come under closer scrutiny following his team’s exit from the Champions League at the group stage following their 3-2 de-feat at Wolfsburg on Tuesday night.

The former European champions are now heading for the Europa League but Van Gaal insists that winning that competition will not be straight-forward with the status of United, and the level of European com-petition, much changed in recent years.

Van Gaal said: “We are now in the Eu-ropa League and we have to win the Eu-ropa League but that is not easy. I can say that in advance but nobody hears me be-cause they don’t want to hear.

“A club as Manchester United has to

win. That’s the past. You have to analyse the club now and you cannot compare it with 10 years ago. There is an evolution in European football.

“We have to work hard to win that. I have already won the Europa (UEFA) Cup with Ajax in my fi rst season, and I was very proud of that. For me, the Europa League is a big competition.”

United have failed to win any of their last four games following their defeat in Wolfsburg but remain fourth in the Pre-mier League, three points behind lead-ers Leicester City ahead of their trip to Bournemouth on Saturday evening.

However, their results and style of play continue to come in for criticism from former players, pundits and supporters.

United have not a won a trophy since the last of their 20 top-fl ight titles in 2013 but Van Gaal insists there is no tur-moil within the club.

The Dutchman added: “You can lose and you can win in sport, and you have to accept that, as a player and as a manager.

“But you have to work very hard and I

am working very hard and my players are working very hard and doing everything we can do.

“The problem is that we have to meet the expectations and the expectations at a club like Manchester United are very high, and that’s our problem.

“I work here and my players are work-ing here, I have a board who works here, so you have to manage that you have good results and that you are progressing.

“We are doing that, but in the outside world I think it’s more of a problem than in our inside world.”

Meanwhile, Van Gaal said he will wait to hear from Ryan Giggs whether there is any truth in the speculation linking United’s assistant manager with the va-cancy created at Swansea by the sacking of Garry Monk.

United are without nine players for their trip to Bournemouth with Bastian Schweinsteiger starting a three-match ban after the Germany international accepted an FA charge of violent con-duct for putting an arm into the face of West Ham defender Winston Reid in last Saturday’s 0-0 draw with West Ham.

‘Sadd controlled the game and deserved to win ’QATAR STARS LEAGUE

By Sports ReporterDoha

Al Sadd head coach Jesual-do Ferreira (right) praised his players after the Wolves claimed a famous Qatar Clas-

sico victory over Al Rayyan in Round 12 of the QSL.

The Wolves’ 2-1 success at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium brought Al Rayyan’s record-breaking winning run to an end on Thursday. Hamza Senhadji and Muriqui grabbed the goals for Sadd on what proved to be a memorable night.

Ferreira, in charge for only his second Sadd game, said: “I’m delighted with the victory and the huge spirit shown by the players. We controlled the match and deserved to win.”

The victory ended Sadd’s two-game losing run and helped the Wolves to second place in the QSL after collecting

24 points from 12 games.Ferreira added: “The players were

given the freedom to show their skills against the league leaders, and they didn’t disappoint.”

For Rayyan, it was a fi rst loss of a remark-able season. The Lions had won 11 games out of 11 to set a new QSL record for con-secutive wins going into the match.

Following the defeat Rayyan head coach Jorge Fossati refused to be down-hearted after what he felt was a strong performance.

Fossati said: “The winning run was always going to end at some point. I’m proud of my players and what they have achieved this season – to lose their fi rst match in December is outstanding.

“The level of performance tonight was high. If we keep playing like that we will win plenty more games.”

Fossati felt Rayyan were unlucky to lose the high-tempo, and at times fre-netic match, against their fi ercest rivals.

“We created a lot of chances and on another day we would have scored a lot more goals. We lacked a bit of luck to-night, including losing Victor Caceres to injury – someone who is a key player for us.

“The timing of the second Sadd goal was crucial. We created a lot of chances before half-time and could easily have been in front when they scored.”

Fossati went on to say there is still a long way to go in the title race, which his side currently leads by nine points.

He added: “After every win I told the fans that the title has not been settled. There are still a lot of matches to be played.”

‘Generation Amazing’football pitch launched in Jordan

ACROSS BORDERS

By Our CorrespondentAqaba, Jordan

Generation Amazing, the Supreme Com-mittee for Delivery & Legacy (SC)’s landmark

football-focused corporate so-cial development programme dedicated to using the power of football for generational change today celebrated the opening of its second community football pitch in Jordan, with the formal launch of a pitch in Al-Sham-eyeh, Aqaba.

The launch event took place at the newly constructed ‘Pitch of Goals’ which is at the centre of the community of Al-Shameyeh on the outskirts of Aqaba. It was attended by senior SC repre-sentatives, including SC Chief of the Advisory Unit & Special Projects, Khalid al-Kubaissy; Generation Amazing strategic partner Right To Play’s CEO, Kevin Frey; and Mr Abdullah Yaseen, Commisioner at ASE-ZA, which donated the land on which the pitch is built, as well as other dignitaries and com-munity representatives from the region, including representa-tives from the AFDP.

Generation Amazing was launched in 2010, with a com-mitment to bring about positive change to the region using the power of football. The current phase of the programme was launched in 2014 in disadvan-taged communities across Jor-dan, Nepal and Pakistan with the support of strategic partner Right To Play on the ground. In these communities, through the engagement of people, the con-struction of pitch infrastructure and the delivery of comprehen-sive Football for Development programmes, Generation Amaz-ing is bringing about long term benefi ts to thousands of children and young people each year.

The event in Al-Shameyeh highlighted the importance of the new pitch to the local area, which suff ers with isolation from nearby Aqaba, as well as lack of utilities and general services. It is the fi rst safe play space in the area, giving schoolchildren and young people access to a facility that will en-courage them to leave the streets and engage in football activities. Starting in early 2016, Right To Play will provide daily support in the delivery of the Football for Development programme includ-ing tournaments, play days and leagues, which will use football drills to help young participants to learn new skills. All activities will be open to both girls and boys, who will be given access to segre-gated activities. In this way, Gen-eration Amazing will reach 3,125 benefi ciaries every year.

Speaking at the event SC Chief of the Advisory Unit & Special Projects, Khalid al- Ku-baissy said, “We are delighted to be here in Aqaba today. The warmth welcome and support we have received made us feel at home. The people and the Leadership of Jordan have al-ways shown support and stood

by our side on our way to host the fi rst ever FIFA World Cup in the region. I want to take this chance to extend my gratitude to our strategic partners at Right to Play and to the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, who played a vital role in the delivery of this project.

“Opening our second Gen-eration Amazing pitch in Jordan emphasises the regional nature of a Qatar World Cup and comes as part of our ongoing endeav-ours to create a lasting legacy for this tournament for the coming generations”.

On his part Right To Play’s CEO, Kevin Frey said, “Today’s launch event of the “Pitch of Goals” is the culmination of many months of preparation and hard work so that Right To Play can share one of two Generation Amazing pitches in Jordan. The contributions from the Supreme Committee for De-livery and Legacy and the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Author-ity (ASEZA) have helped us ensure that the local children and youth of Aqaba have a safe place to play football. I am sure many goals will be scored right here on this fi eld. Even more importantly, through our programs the children and youth in Aqaba will also learn im-portant life skills, like how to work as a team and how to accept and understand one another”.

Also present at the event were Jordan’s young Generation Amazing Ambassadors, Ashraf Marwan Salameh, Yazeed Ab-dallah al-Khalayleh, Zaid Ahmad Alkhalayfeh, Hadeel Athamneh and Moayad Mor-shed, who have been engaged in the delivery of the programme in Jordan since early 2014, includ-ing raising awareness of the pro-gramme’s activities and coach-ing others in their community on the importance of Football for Development for bringing about positive and lasting change. The male Generation Amazing Ambassadors played a friendly match against the under 18 Na-tional Olympic Football Team of Jordan, and then all fi ve of them helped to deliver Football for Development exercises for 80 children and youth present at the event. The Ambassadors had a similar role to play at the last Generation Amazing pitch launch event in Al Baqa’a refu-gee camp in Amman in August, and will continue to fl y the fl ag of the programme right up to 2022 and beyond.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal and assistant manager Ryan Giggs look dejected after their team’s loss to Wolfsburg in their Champions League match.

FixturesTodayNorwich City v Everton (1245)Crystal Palace v Southampton (1500)Manchester City v Swansea City (1500)Sunderland v Watford (1500)West Ham United v Stoke City (1500)AFC Bournemouth v Manchester United (1730)

TomorrowAston Villa v Arsenal (1330)Liverpool v West Bromwich Albion (1600)Tottenham Hotspur v Newcastle United (1600)

MondayLeicester City v Chelsea (2000)

Qatar Stars League (QSL) on Thurs-day hosted members of Entrepre-neurship Organization at Qatar Clas-sico clash between soccer giants Al Rayyan and Al Sadd.QSL Executive Director of Market-ing & Communications Khalifah al-Haroon welcomed members of Entrepreneurship Organization at the game won by Al Sadd 2-1 at Jas-sim Bin Hamad Stadium.“The Entrepreneurship Organization is a global entity with a branch in Qatar as well as several companies,” Al-Haroon said on Thursday.“We had invited them to the sea-son’s biggest QSL game given their interest in the QSL. All guests at the game were enthralled by the quality of football on the pitch and the fine organization off it,” he added.“The huge turnout of fans was a real spectacle at Al Sadd Stadium,” al-Haroon added.Entrepreneurship Organization is a glo-bal foundation with a branch in Qatar.

Before the clash, the members of the organization were given a guided tour of Al Sadd Stadium, a venue that uses eco-friendly cooling system to play football during hot weather.Al-Haroon added: “I renew my invita-tion to the football fans to come to the venues as we in the Marketing & Communications Department always ask the fans…. Who do you support? We would like the fans to support the QSL clubs by establish-ing a huge fans base across all com-munities living in Qatar.”Al-Haroon pointed out to the fact that QSL is trying to help the clubs in establishing genuine fan base.“The clubs are already exerting keen eff orts but we are looking forward to attracting more spectators to the venues,” al-Haroon said.He indicated that there is a 40 per-cent increase in fan turnouts at QSL games this season.

QSL hosts members of Entrepreneurship Organization at Qatar Classico

“The winning run was always going to end at some point. I’m proud of my players and what they have achieved this season – to lose their fi rst match in December is outstanding”

Ferreira, in charge for only his second Sadd game, said: “I’m delighted with the victory and the huge spirit shown by the players. We controlled the match and deserved to win”

“The warmth welcome and support we have received made us feel at home. The people and the Leadership of Jordan have always shown support and stood by our side on our way to host the fi rst ever FIFA World Cup in the region. I want to take this chance to extend my gratitude to our strategic partners at Right to Play and to the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, who played a vital role in the delivery of this project

Saturday, December 12, 2015

GULF TIMES SPORT

UAE’s al-Mansoori wins fi rst stage of GCC Seniors event

Tickets on sale for Inter-PSG clash

Round two ofQatar International Endurocross today

Best of 3x3 basketball honoured in Doha

CYCLING FOCUS

SPOTLIGHT

TOP OF THE LINE

By Sports ReporterDoha

The best 3x3 basketball players, organisers and personalities were rewarded at the inaugural edition of the FIBA 3x3 Awards,

presented by the Qatar Basketball Fed-eration (QBF) on Thursday in Doha.

Dusan Domovic Bulut (Serbia) re-ceived the World’s No 1 player award after leading the FIBA 3x3 Individual World Ranking at the end of the sea-son. The list of decorated players also included Patricia Vicente (Andorra, World’s No 1 Player - Women), Nina Aho (Hungary, World’s No 1 Player - U18 Women) and Nedim Muslic (Qa-tar, World’s No 1 Player - U18 Men). Last but not least, Terrence Romeo (Philippines) was named the most spectacular player of the year by the fans following a social media contest held on all FIBA 3x3 social media ac-counts.

In the organisers’ categories, the Brazil Basketball Federation (CBB) won the Best Performing Federation award after leading the FIBA 3x3 Federation Ranking at the end of the season, while the Netherlands Basketball Federation (NBB) received the award for the Most Active Federation after organising more than 3,000 games involving over 4,000 players in 2015.

The Turkish Basketball Federa-tion (TBF) took home the Best CSR Project award for their social activi-ties around 3x3. Hungarian private promoter B33 received the Most Valu-able Promoter award for attracting over 5,000 players to their 3x3 tour-naments over the year.

QBF president Sheikh Saoud bin

Abdulrahman al-Thani was presented the Outstanding Contribution Award. Under his leadership, Qatar became the host of the FIBA 3x3 All Stars, estab-lished a nation-wide 3x3 programme and built a team that won the 2014 FIBA 3x3 World Championships.

With the third edition of the FIBA 3x3 All Stars scheduled for late last

night, 3x3 continues to be in spotlight in Doha. The season-ending event for 3x3 basketball brings together the best teams from the FIBA 3x3 Individual Ranking.

WINNERSWorld’s No 1 Player - Men: Dusan Domovic Bulut (Serbia)

World’s No 1 Player - Women: Patricia Vicente (Andorra)World’s No 1 Player - U18 Men: Nedim Muslic (Qatar)World’s No 1 Player - U18 Women: Nina Aho (Hungary)Most Spectacular Player: Terrence Romeo (Philippines)Best Performing Federation: Brazil

Basketball Federation (CBB)Most Active Federation: Netherlands Basketball Federation (NBB)Most Valuable Promoter: B33 (Hungary)Best CSR Project: Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF)Outstanding Contribution: Sheikh Saoud Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani (Qatar)

Winners from the inaugural edition of the FIBA 3x3 Awards pose with the Qatar Basketball Federation president Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

By Sports ReporterDoha

Tickets for the much-awaited friendly match between Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain,

which will be held here in Doha, are now on sale online.

The match will take place at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, home of Al Sadd Sports Club, on Wednesday, December 30, with the kick-off scheduled for 7:30pm.

Qatar Football Association chief executive offi cer Mansour al-Ansari said: “I am pleased to announce that tickets are now on sale for this friendly match between two of Europe’s most prestigious sides.

“Both Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain are fl ying high in their respective leagues, so it promises to be an exciting match and occasion. The squads of both

teams contain some of the most gifted players in the world and we are sure that every football fan in Qatar will be eager to attend this prestigious game.”

Tickets are limited to fi ve per person and can only be bought on-line via www.qfa.com.qa, which is the only offi cial source to purchase tickets for this match.

This will be the latest high-profi le match involving famous European clubs to take place in Doha. In 2014, Qatar hosted the Supercoppa Italiana between Juventus and Napoli, while Bay-ern Munich faced the Qatar Stars League All Stars during their winter break in January 2015.

VIP tickets are available for QAR250, Category 1 for QAR150, Category 2 for QAR50 and Family Category 2 for QAR50.

Fans are urged to buy tickets early to avoid missing out on this great opportunity to see an ex-citing clash between two giants in world football.

By Sports ReporterDoha

The second round of Qatar International Enduro-cross will take place to-day at Sealine with Mo-

hamed Jaff ar, Ross Runnalls and Tomi Sarivaara leading in their respective categories while Brit-ish rider Paul Holmes leads the quads.

In the E1 class, Kuwaiti KTM rider Jaff ar leads his class with 47 points and his compatriots Me-shari Abou Shaibah and Moaath al-Ansari are second and third with 42 and 38 points respec-tively.

Jaff ar, who was compet-ing in the E2 class last year and changed to E1 this season, is very confi dent after a good start to the season and is looking forward to the coming round.

“I had a great start in the championship but I have to be well prepared and strong for this season as the competition and the level is higher. I had a fi erce battle with Meshari in the last round and for sure this coming round we will compete again for the lead,” the Kuwaiti said.

The newcomer in this cham-pionship in the E2 class, South African Ross Runnalls, won both the races in the opening round and is leading with 50 points. Emirati rider Moham-ed al-Balooshi came second in both the races and with 44 points is second in the stand-ings. Runnalls’ compatriot

Michael Anderson is in third position.

In the Veterans class, Tomi Sarivaara from Finland and Luc Dubois from Canada are tied for the fi rst spot in the standings with 47 points.

Holmes leads the quads stand-ings with 47 points and Qatari rider Mohammed Abu Issa is second with 43 points.

In the opening round, Holmes won the fi rst moto as Abu Issa had some problems with his quad and fi nished in fourth place. In the second moto, the Qatari rider fi nished in fi rst place and Holmes second. Kuwaiti rider Fahad al-Musallam is third in the standings.

Free practice starts at 9:05am and the fi rst race for the bikes is scheduled at 10:35am and the second one at 12:25pm. For the quads, the fi rst race will be at 11:30am and the second one at 1:20pm. Podium ceremony will be at 2:15pm.

By Sports ReporterDoha

Ahmed Yusuf al-Mansoori of UAE claimed the fi rst stage of the Qatar leg of the 14th GCC Seniors Cycling Championship

at Losail International Circuit yesterday.Qatar’s Khaleel Abduljanan fi nished

second, while his compatriot Ahmed Bassam al-Bourdainy clinched the third spot.

The riders completed seven laps around the Losail International Circuit covering the roads outside Losail Shoot-ing Range and the Losail Sports Arena for 80.5kms long stage.

Al-Mansoori said he enjoyed the battle with Qatar riders. “Qatar team gave us a tough competition today,” he said.

“It was a tough stage because it was fairly windy and it is very diffi cult when the wind was against you,” he said.

“I did this for my team. We have a great bunch of riders. They do well as a team,” al-Mansoori said.

“I think I did well and I hope I can con-tinue to ride well in the next two days also as today was a good start for us in Qatar,” he said.

Qatar’s al-Bourdainy also said the windy conditions made riding tough.

“It was very windy and cold as well at the start,” al-Bourdainy said.

“The UAE riders did well today, but I am confi dent we will come back well in the next two stages. We have done well at this event and we will be stronger over the course of the next two days,” he said.

Today, the riders will start and fi nish the second’s day’s action in Madinat Al Shamal.

The riders will cover a distance of 103.3kms, Qatar Cycling Federation (QCF) said.

The third and fi nal day of action will be held in Dukhan where the riders will cover a distance of 98.4kms.

After a break of two days, QCF will stage the hugely popular Tour of Zubarah that will start on December 16 and end on the 19th of this month.

This week’s Tour of Zubarah will be the third edition of the four-day event de-signed to promote the country’s rich her-itage and historical sights.

The fi rst day’s action will be held at As-pire Zone (3.3km prologue). The second day’s action will commence at Al Thak-

ira and conclude at Madinat Al Shamal after the riders complete a distance of 129.9kms.

The third stage will begin at Camel Race Track in Dukhan (119.8kms) while the fourth and fi nal stage begins in Si-maisma and ends at Al Zubarah Fort (119.8kms).

At the end of the prize distribution ceremony yesterday, Qatar Cycling Fed-eration (QCF) president Sheikh Khalid bin Ali al-Thani presented a souvenir to former secretary general of QCF Majid al-Naimi.

The ceremony held at venue of yester-day’s race was staged to thank al-Naimi for his ‘outstanding contributions’ to promote cycling in Qatar and the region. GCC cycling offi cials also presented a special plaque to al-Naimi.

Sheikh Khalid said: “The Qatar leg of the GCC Championships is popular among the riders. We usually see great contests among the riders and that was the same case today as well. Qatar team is doing well and I am confi dent they will come back with stronger performances over the next two days.

“We have a busy week with two events and then we will prepare for the Tour of Qatar events next year.”

Qatar’s Abduljanan and al-Bourdainy complete the podium

Ahmed Yusuf al-Mansoori of UAE (second from left) celebrates his win in the first stage of the Qatar leg of the 14th GCC Seniors Cycling Championship on the podium along with Qatar’s Khaleel Abduljanan and Ahmed Bassam al-Bourdainy (left), who finished second and third respectively, as Qatar Cycling Federation president Sheikh Khalid bin Ali al-Thani (right) looks on. PICTURES: Jayaram

Sheikh Khalid presented a souvenir to former secretary general of QCF Majid al-Naimi (right) for his ‘outstanding contributions’.

“We usually see great contests among the riders and that was the same case today as well. Qatar team is doing well and I am confi dent they will come back with stronger performances over the next two days,” QCF president Sheikh Khalid bin Ali al-Thani said