Tuesday 13 December 2016

SPORT7-star Hosszu steals the show in Montreal

PAGE | 27 PAGE | 28

Warriors rebound

from loss w

Barca, Al Ahli ready for actionArmstrong VasThe Peninsula

Spanish giants FC Barcelona will be looking to maintain their perfect record against a club from

the Arab region when they take on Al Ahli, the current champions of the Saudi Pro-fessional League, in Doha today.

For Barça, this will be their first ever appearance in Qatar, and fans from around the world will con-verge at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium, home of Al Gharafa Club, where the two hugely popular teams compete in the first ever Match of Champions, to win the Qatar Airways Cup.

The Catalan club have also never faced a team from Saudi Arabia but it will not be the first time Barce-lona have played against a team from an Arab country.

This will be Barça's sev-enth such game and in the previous six they have a record of five wins and one draw from five friendlies and one official fixture (See Box).

Enrique's team will thus aim to maintain their unbeaten record.

The Catalans, which boast of one of the impres-sive striking trio in the form of Luis Suarez, Neymar Jr and Lionel Messi, will be missing just one player from the first team Jeremy Math-

ieu, on account of injury.Manager Enrique has

selected his 23 players for the trip to Qatar and has opted for 21 first team play-ers plus two from Barça B team, Carles Alena and Borja Lopez.

Barca’s rival are reign-ing Pro League champion Al Ahli who are currently in third place in the Saudi Ara-bian first division.

The Saudi Arabian club are already in Doha and had a practice session on Sun-day evening while the Spanish club will arrive late on Monday night.

For Enrique's side the match comes a few days after the Liga trip to Osasuna which they won 3-0 as they currently lay in the second position behind Real Madrid in the standings.

The two previous matches before the Osasuna one had resulted in draws.

Barca drew goalless with Malaga and later shared points in the one-all draw in the derby match with Real Madrid.

The two football giants are sponsored by Qatar Air-ways, and the airline carrier is happy to bring the mam-moth match to Doha, the GCC’s ‘home of interna-tional football’.

Speaking at a press con-ference, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Al Baker said: “Qatar Airways believes in sport as a source of inspiration and a symbol

of international unity, as teams and their supporters come together from around the world to celebrate the determination and spirit that is required to win. We are exceptionally proud to not only support two iconic teams through our sponsor-ship of FC Barcelona and Al Ahli Saudi FC, but to bring these two beloved teams together for what we are sure will be a phenomenal match – a Match of Cham-pions, no less – with the

worthy winner able to lay claim to the Qatar Airways Cup.

Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) Sec-retary General Hassan Al Thawadi and vice-president of the organising commit-tee, said high profile matches help the FIFA 2022 World Cup hosts to analyse the shortcomings and pre-pare for the mega event which is six years away.

“The enormity of this match is a testament to Qatar’s growing standing as the home of international football in the GCC, where the world’s greatest players are converging to bring world-class competitions to the region. It is also a signif-icant marker in our journey towards 2022 when we will proudly host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

“Through the Social Development pillar of the Qatar National Vision 2030, our leadership aims to promote sport as a phys-ical activity, particularly amongst the nation’s youth. By bringing such popular sporting heroes to their doorstep – such as the legendary players of FC Barcelona and Al Ahli Saudi FC – we are enabling sports fans to live their football dreams, and are inspiring them to follow in the footsteps of their favourite players. For this, I would like to thank Qatar Airways for their contin-ued support in not only facilitating global-level

events such as these, but for contributing to the well-being and social development of Qatar,” he added.

Earlier, Al Tha-wadi and Al Baker unveiled the stunning design of the Qatar Airways Cup trophy for the first time.

Designed by a team from Qatar Airways, taking i n s p i r a t i o n from the mod-ern aircraft they fly, the Cup

was handmade in Doha, cast in 18 carat gold. It is designed to reflect the glo-bal unity that sport inspires, and signifies the reward for teamwork, effort and determination.

Tickets for the match sold out within hours of release, with purchases made from around the world, with a full capacity stadium of 18,000 people set to attend the match. Football fans from as far-flung as Thailand and Singapore will fly into Doha especially for this premium match, truly cementing Qatar’s position as a leader in sporting entertainment.

Qatar Airways seeks to

extend links with Barca

Reuters

Qatar Airways hopes to maintain commercial ties with Barcelona

despite ending its contract to spon-sor the Spanish champions' shirts, CEO Akbar Al Baker said yesterday.

Barca signed the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal in world soc-cer last month by agreeing a four-year deal with Japanese inter-net retailer Rakuten worth €55m ($58.9m) a year.

Qatar Airways will cease to be the club's shirt sponsor from next season.

"Our contract finishes next June but we are having conversations about being the club's main air-line partner," Al Baker told a news conference yesterday ahead of Barcelona's friendly with Al Ahli Saudi FC in Doha tomorrow.

"When we finish discus-sions and things are clearer we'll decide if we stay together or not. Right now

we have various teams that want us to sponsor

them so we'll take our time to decide what

direction we take."

Barcelona have never faced a team from

Saudi Arabia, but have played against a

team from an Arab country before.

This will be Barça's seventh game against a

club from the Arab region, and in the previ-

ous six they have a record of five wins and

one draw from five friendlies and one official

fixture

The only official game took place in Yokoha-

ma in Japan against the Qatar’s Al Saad in

the 2011 Club World Cup. Barça claimed vic-

tory with a 4-0 win which took the Catalan

club into the final against Santos.

The rest of the games were friendlies in the

opposition's country of origin: the first game

was a 6-1 Barça victory against Al Ahly in

1961 in Cairo, Egypt; the following game was

in Casabalanca in Morrocco which ended in a

3-0 victory over W.A.C.

The other games took place in Cairo against Al

Ahly again in 2007 a mere 46 years on form

their first meeting. This time the Catalans won

4-0. Two years later the Blaugranas travelled

to Kuwait to play Kazma Sporting Club, in the

only game which Barça hasn't won with the

game ending in a 1-1 draw.

In 2011, the already mentioned Club World

Cup game against Al Saad took place. Finally,

the last fixture was in Tangier in Morroco in

2012 and saw Barça face Raja Club Athletic

Casablanca. The game ended with an 8-0

scoreline for the visitors. In total they have

played six games with a record of five wins,

one draw, 29 goals for and two against.

Big test for La Liga giants

Barcelona players board the flight as they prepare to leave for Doha to play against Al Ahli Saudi FC in the Match of the Champions at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium, starting at 7.00pm today. Picture courtesy www.fcbarcelona.com

vents such as these, but or contributing to the

ell-being and social evelopment of Qatar,”e added.

Earlier, Al Tha-adi and Al Baker

nveiled the stunningesign of the Qatarirways Cup trophy

or the first time.Designed by a

am from Qatar irways, taking n s p i r a t i o nom the mod-rn aircraft hey fly,he Cup

as handmade in Doha,

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Al Ahli Saudi FC players train at the Al Arabi SC Stadium in Doha on Sunday. Picture by: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula

MATCH OF CHAMPIONS

BARCELONAvs

AL AHLI SAUDI FC

Venue: Thani Bin Jassim Stadium

Kick-off: 7.00pm.

27TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016SPORT

Warriors rebound from loss

Los Angeles

AFP

Russell Westbrook had his streak of triple-double scoring snapped but he still scored a game high 37

points to power the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 99-96 victory over the Boston Celtics yesterday.

Westbrook saw his streak of consecutive games with triple-doubles end at seven as he shot 14-of-26 and tallied 12 rebounds and six assists in front of a crowd of 18,400 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

"We have got to be able to close the door," Westbrook said. "We are not going to be able to blow teams out like we used to. We have got to grind it out."

Steven Adams added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Thunder who improved to 15-9. Enes Kanter came off the bench to score 14 points.

Al Horford led Boston with 19 points and six rebounds. Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley each finished with 18 points as Bos-ton dropped to 13-11.

Westbrook, who leads the NBA in fourth quarter scoring, had 13 in the quarter.

"I'll say this about the triple-doubles, because I always find this interesting," Thunder coach Billy Donovan said.

"On a night like tonight, does it make it any less special if he

had a couple of more assists. He did a lot of different things that impacted the game at a high level."

With 3:20 left in the fourth, Oklahoma City's Adams com-pleted a three-point play to cut the deficit to 90-89. Bradley responded with a jumper on the other end.

Westbrook then sank a three-pointer to tie the game. But once again Bradley answered with a basket off a missed shot.

Westbrook tied the game with 1:20 remaining in the fourth. Boston gave the ball to Horford, but he had his shot blocked by Adams.

The Thunder got the ball with 39 seconds left and

Westbrook carried down the lane to the front of the rim for a layup and Oklahoma City grabbed a 96-94 lead.

Westbrook won a tip ball and tapped it ahead to Anthony Mor-row. He pushed it to Jerami Grant for an impressive two-handed dunk with 14 seconds left in the game.

The Celtics were able to cut the lead down to two, but West-brook nailed one-of-two free throws. Marcus Smart had a chance to tie, but his three-point attempt missed.

In Minneapolis, the Golden State Warriors rebounded from a road loss to beat the rebuild-ing Minnesota Timberwolves 116-108 and extend their

NBA-record streak of not losing back-to-back games.

The Warriors delivered in the fourth quarter to fend off the Timberwolves and make sure their 111-game streak of not los-ing consecutive regular season games continued.

"It's really one of the most impressive streaks that I've ever seen," said Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

"That's a lot of games." One night after a road loss to

the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State trailed by 10 after three quarters but outscored Minne-sota 38-20 in the fourth to pull away for the win.

Golden State began the fourth quarter with a 25-4

surge. Warriors guard Klay Thompson scored 12 of his 30 points during that fourth-quar-ter run.

Kevin Durant added 22 points and eight rebounds, Stephen Curry had 22 points and nine assists, and Draymond Green scored 18 for the Warri-ors, who improved to 21-4.

M i n n e s o t a ' s K a r l -Anthony Towns tallied his 15th double-double of the season with 25 points and 18 rebounds.

In Detroit, TJ McConnell had 12 points and 10 rebounds and finished one assist shy of a tri-ple-double as the Philadelphia 76ers defeated the Detroit Pis-tons 97-79.

Janawicz of US dominates at Qatar Open

Team USA member John Janawicz led the third qualifying squad (fifth

overall) with 1, 475 total and an average of 245.83 for six games to take the lead in the qualifying of the Qatar Open at the Qatar Bowling Center in Doha.

The Kegel lane expert, who won the gold medals in singles, trios and masters at the 2015 Pan American Bowl-ing Confederation Men’s Championships, posted games of 254, 229, 279, 263, 214 and 236. Janawicz leads a field of 109 bowlers from 40 countries.

Janawicz earned a $300 bonus for the highest series awarded by the Qatar Bowl-ing Federation.

Diana Zavjalova of Latvia, who previously held the lead, slipped to second place with 1454 total, including 48 pins handicap. The 2013 USBC Queens started squad 4 with back-to-back 267 and closed with 201, 234, 216 and 221 for 1406 scratch, an average of 234.33.

Zavjalova was the best of 19 women in the field and one of four in the top 8. Reigning Qubica AMF World Cup champion Jenny Wegner of Sweden led the first squad (third overall) with 1402 scratch, including high games of 278 and 270, and 1450 total to finish the second qualify-ing day in third position.

Overnight leader Oliver Morig of Germany skipped to fourth place with 1434 and was followed by South Afri-can Francois Louw in fifth place with 1430, including four games in the 250s.

15-time PBA champion Mika Koivuniemi of Finland, who now serves as head coach of the UAE national team, fell from second to sixth place with 1429.

Places seven and eight belonged to world and Asian champion Esther Cheah of Malaysia and PWBA cham-pion and multiple Central American Championships gold medalist Rocio Restrepo (right) of Colombia with 1419 and 1416, respectively.

Rounding out the top 10 were Rafiq Ismail of Malay-sia and Chris Via, United States. Ismail, who won the silver medal at the World Sin-gles Championships here in Doha last week, hit 1400 on the nose and Via, who lead the WSC qualifying portion, was mere two pins behind with 1398. The top 10 at the end of the qualifying will receive a first-round bye.

With five out of 17 quali-fying squads completed, Ziyad Alkhalewi of Saudi Ara-bia holds the 34th and last spot to advance from the overall standing with 1274 or an average of 212.33. For the records, last year’s qualifying cut was 1355 (225.83).

Qualifying continues today.

The 2016 Qatar Bowling Open is the 16th and last stop of the 2016 European Bowl-ing Tour and also the 6th and last event of 2016 World Bowling Tour.

The EBT “Platinum” tour-nament, the highest of four categories, will end on December 16.

The tournament offers total prize fund of $155,000 with $40,000 going to the winner, $20,000 to the run-ner-up and a last-to-cash payout of $1,200 for 43rd place.

Total 43 players will advance to the finals on Fri-day, December 16, including the top 34 in the overall qual-ifying standings,

The podium winners at the 'Swim-for-a-Cause' event - organised by Sharq Village & Spa in Doha - pose for a picture. The event was held in three categories. Enis Kefl topped in the 100m category followed by Maisie Gilford and Samvel Valdez. In the 500m class, Michael Berendt took the top honours while Anthony Abdo and Danushka Hansaka grabbed the first and second runner-up awards. In the 250m, Kyan Galvin finished in front followed by Liza Leschenko and Marek Olewski.

'Swim-for-a-Cause' podium winners

Kristaps Porzingis of the New York Knicks blocks an attempt to score from D'Angelo Russell of the Los Angeles Lakers during their NBA match in Los Angeles, California, yesterday.

Thunder win

Westbrook's streak of triple-double scoring ends but he still scored a game-high 37 points to power Oklahoma to victory

Giants edge Cowboys, Broncos in perilNew York AFP

The New York Giants ral-lied to sneak past Dallas 10-7 in a defensive battle

on Sunday, snapping the Cow-boys' 11-game win streak and giving the Giants' play-off hopes a boost.

Not only did the Giants sweep the season series by handing the Cowboys just their second loss of the campaign but they also prevented Dallas from clinching the NFC West.

"At some point you got to wake up," said Giants receiver Odell Beckham. "We all knew what was on the line. We just weren't doing enough in the first half but the defence is really what held us together."

Beckham said the Cowboys

had a celebration all planned with commemorative hats and shirts to put on if they clinched the division title on Sunday night at the Giants MetLife Stadium.

"The coach talked about it all week. Them having their box of goods, the hats the shirts and he said it is not going to happen on this field. Sure enough it didn't happen. We came out and did what we had to do," Beck-ham said.

The win follows a 20-19 New York win in September as the Giants swept the Cowboys for the first time in five years.

The Giants overcame a 7-0 halftime deficit by scoring 10 unanswered points in the sec-ond half.

Dallas was sloppy with their ball handling as receiver Dez Bryant fumbled on his first

catch of the game which came in the fourth quarter. Moments later Giants Leon Hall inter-cepted a pass intended for Bryant and New York was off to the races.

Elsewhere Sunday, Aaron Rodgers threw for three touch-downs to reignite the Green Bay Packers postseason push in a 38-10 rout of the Seattle Seahawks.

Rodgers made 18 of 23 for 246 yards as the Seahawks were sent spinning to their heaviest defeat of the season at a frigid Lambeau Field where every-thing went wrong for quarterback Russell Wilson.

In Tennessee, reigning Super Bowl champions Denver suf-fered a blow to their hopes of a playoff berth after slumping to a 13-10 defeat at Tennessee.

Dak Prescott (4) of the Dallas Cowboys is pressured by Romeo Okwara (78) of the New York Giants in the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday.

28 TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016SPORT

7-star Hosszu steals the show in MontrealMontreal

AFP

Katinka Hosszu brought the curtain down on a week of dominance at the Short

Course World Swimming Cham-pionships on Sunday by clinching her seventh gold medal of the meet.

The Hungarian swimming star, affectionately known as the "Iron Lady" surged to victory in the 100m butterfly to cap a superb campaign at the cham-pionships in Windsor, Ontario.

Hosszu touched the wall 55.12sec, taking gold ahead of Kelsi Worrell of the United States (55.22) and Japan's Rikako Ikee 55.64.

The 27-year-old Hosszu had already stamped her class on the championships with wins in the 100m, 200m and 400m medley as well as the 200m butterfly and 100m and 200m backstrokes.

Sunday's final win at the WFCU Centre completes a phe-nomenal 2016 for Hosszu, who also lit up the Rio de Janeiro Olympics with three gold medals.

There was more gold too on Sunday for South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan, who added the 1,500m title to the 200m and 400m crowns won earlier in the week.

The win ensured Park fin-ishes the year on a triumphant note after a tumultuous season which saw him battle to com-pete in Rio after serving a drugs ban only to come away from Brazil empty-handed.

Park finished well clear of his rivals in 14:15.51, ahead of Ita-ly's Gregorio Paltrinieri, who

clocked 14:21.94 for silver and Poland's Wojciech Wojdak, who took bronze in 14:25.37.

Elsewhere Sunday, South Africa's 2012 Olympics breast-stroke champion, Cameron van der Burgh, won gold in the 50m discipline.

Van der Burgh took the title in 25.64sec, finishing ahead of Peter Stevens of Slovenia (25.85) and Brazil's Felipe Lima (25.98).

But there was more disappoint-ment for US teenager Lilly King. King, one of the ris-ing stars of US swimming who won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the Rio Olym-pics, f inished outside the medals in the 200m breaststroke.

King, pipped for gold in the 100m breaststroke on Saturday, fin-ished fourth in a race won by Brit-ain's Molly Renshaw, who clocked 2:18.51.

Canada's Lauren Wog took silver in 2:18.52 while another Briton, Chole Tutton, won bronze with a time of 2:18.83.

Triple Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo mean-while won gold in the 50m freestyle. The Dutch sprinter, who winner of Olympic gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay in the 2008 Games before a 50m/100m double in London four years later, took first in 23.60sec.

Italy's Silvia Di Pietro won silver in 23.90 with Madison Kennedy of the United States bronze in 23.93.

'Iron Lady' shines

The Hungarian star storms to her 7th gold medal win by topping the field in the women's 100m butterfly to cap her dream run in Canada.

South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan adds to her overall medals tally, winning the gold in the 1,500m after an intense pool battle.

Qatar Masters: Tickets go on sale for top golf eventThe Peninsula

Tickets for the historic 20th anniversary edition of the world-renowned Com-

mercial Bank Qatar Masters, have gone on general sale to the public.

Part of the iconic January ‘Desert Swing’ trio of European Tour tournaments in the GCC, the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, organised by The Qatar Golf Association (QGA), the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), Doha Golf Club (DGC) and long-term title sponsor, Commercial Bank, will return to Doha Golf Club from Thurs-day 26th through to Sunday 29th January 2017.

For 20 years the Commer-cial Bank Qatar Masters has witnessed the best talents DGC’s Championship course and vie for the Mother of Pearl trophy and the $2.5m prize purse.

Over the past 20 years the Championship has played host to many of the world's favour-ite golfers, and its illustrious list of winners features many who have since gone on to reach the very pinnacle of the game.

They include two-time defending champion, Branden Grace; four-time Major runner-up and perennial crowd favourite, Sergio Garcia; , 2016 Race to Dubai winner and Open Champion Henrik Stenson, and two time winner in Doha, Adam Scott, who went on to claim the world number one spot and a famous Masters green jacket.

"There have been some spectacular performances here at the Doha Golf Club over the past 20 years, from great moments of on-course rivalry, to final hole excitement and drama," Joseph Abraham, CEO of Commercial Bank, said.

"Every year we've hosted golf stars that have lit-up Doha and helped evolve this event to

what it is today – a world-class golf championship that contin-ues to possess quality and excitement for everyone involved."

The highly anticipated tour-nament will once again feature a star-studded line-up for its 20th edition on one of the most challenging golf courses in the region.

The 2016 tournament was yet another scorcher and saw Branden Grace become the tournament’s third two-time winner and the first to success-fully defend his title (2015, 2016), following former Open champion Paul Lawrie (1999, 2012) and former World No. 1 Adam Scott (2002, 2008).

“History is made on the Doha Golf Club course every year and the 20th edition is set to be the best one yet," Hassan Al Naimi, President of QGA, said.

"This is a golf fan's chance to get incredibly close to the action and watch legendary golfers at the peak of their craft on a truly unique golf course. We are privileged to be involved in such a prestigious tournament that has grown exponentially year on year, and has created a legacy in Qatar to inspire local golfers and future stars,” he added.

QCA hosts coaching camp for school kids The Peninsula

The Qatar Cricket Association (QCA) hosted a coaching camp for junior boys in Pakistan Inter-

national School to boost the game at grass-root level. The camp, according to QCA General Secretary, Manzoor Ahmad, was a big success as 175 stu-dents, aged between 8 and 11 years, took part seriously in each session.

Talking about the camp, which was hosted on December 6, Ahmad said: “The QCA contacted various expatri-ate schools in Qatar with playing facilities. We short-listed some schools and then the decision to hold the camp in Pakistan International School was taken and the remaining 5 schools will be conducted as per their schedule.

“The QCA provided its officials and qualified coaches whose sole aim was to create interest in the students about

the game and physical activities. We’re really delighted that we offered coach-ing to 175 boys.”

Two groups were created and the students were given training, which covered various aspects like physical fitness, batting, bowling, throwing the ball, running between the wickets, wicket-keeping and match exposure.

The QCA team consisted of the fol-lowing persons:

Aminu Islam, Head of Schools coordination

Mohammad Asif Raza – Junior camp organizer and Logistic manager

Aruna De Silva – Head of Program

Abdul Salam – CoachOmran - CoachHaider – CoachDr Sohail – CoachSenora De Silva

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary

celebrates her gold medal in the

100m Butterfly on day six of the 13th FINA

World Swimming Championships

in Windsor Ontario, Canada.

LEFT: Chad Le Clos of South Africa competes in the 50m Butterfly

final on day five of the 13th FINA World Swimming Championships

(25m) at the WFCU Centre in Windsor Ontario, Canada. BELOW: Le Clos of South Africa

celebrates his gold medal.

Ticket prices:Thursday 26 JanuaryGeneral ticket QR 150

Friday 27 JanuaryGeneral ticket QR 200Saturday 28 JanuaryGeneral ticket QR 200Sunday 29 January

General ticket QR 200Season Pass

Thursday to Sunday (4 days) Includes general admission on

all four days QR 450

29TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016 SPORT

Kohli's India too good for EnglandMumbai

Reuters

Off-spinner Ravichan-dran Ashwin blew away England's lower order resist-ance to spin India to

a crushing series-clinching vic-tory on the final day of the fourth test at the Wankhede Stadium yesterday.

The touring side, who resumed the final day on 182 for six, were only able to add 13 runs to their total as Ashwin (6-55) took all four remaining wickets in a little more than half an hour and the hosts won by an innings and 36 runs.

The five-wicket haul was the 24th for the world's top-ranked test bowler and his seventh 10-wicket haul, after the 30-year-old also took six

wickets in England's first innings, inspired India to an unassailable 3-0 lead.

England had beaten India in their last three test series includ-ing a 2-1 triumph on their last visit to the South Asian country in 2012 but the tourists have been thoroughly outplayed by the hosts since drawing the opening match in Rajkot.

"This series win is probably the sweetest of all we've won so far in the past 14-15 months," India captain Virat Kohli said at the presentation following his side's fifth series victory in a row. "It could not get any better.

"To win at Wankhede, going three-nil against a top quality side that has beaten us convinc-ingly last two times, it feels really good."

Trailing by 49 runs entering the final day, England's hopes of making India bat again rested on a pair of wicketkeeper-bats-men -- Jonny Bairstow, who was

unbeaten on 50 overnight, and Jos Buttler.

Bairstow, however, misread Ashwin's 'carrom' ball, a finger-spinner delivered with the knuckle, to be struck in front of the wicket after adding just a run to his overnight score and was unable to overturn the leg before decision on review.

Ashwin then claimed a wicket in each of his next three overs to bring about a quick end to proceedings as England's lower order capitulated meekly.

There were some angry words exchanged between James Anderson and the India players

when the England number 11 walked in to bat with the umpires forced to intervene to prevent the incident from escalating further.

On what has been a gener-ally dismal tour for England, they also picked up an unwelcome statistic of becoming just the third side in Test history to com-pile 400 in the first innings and still lose by an innings.

"Historically on this ground 400 is a good score in the first innings and in the second innings, we had our chances," rued England captain Alastair Cook. "We've just not taken those

chances. We were in the game for three days but not good enough to take those opportuni-ties and that's what cost us."

Ashwin, who has won the man of the series awards in each of India's last four Test series, took his tally to 27 wickets from the four matches against Eng-land. Man of the Match Kohli, who hit 235 in India's massive first innings total of 631 for his third double century of the year, leads the run-scoring list with 640 at an average of 128.

The fifth and final Test will be played in Chennai from Friday.

Hosts win big

India beat England by an innings and 36 runs in the fourth Test at Mumbai to go 3-0 up in the five-match series.

Top off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bags 6 wickets to take his tally to 27 with one more Test to play.

England (I innings): ..................... 400India (I innings): ............................ 631England (II innings):A Cook lbw Jadeja ......................................... 18

K Jennings lbw Kumar ...................................0

J Root lbw J Yadav .........................................77

M Ali c Vijay b Jadeja ......................................0

J Bairstow lbw Ashwin ................................. 51

B Stokes c Vijay b Ashwin ........................... 18

J Ball c Patel b Ashwin ....................................2

J Buttler (not out) ............................................6

C Woakes b Ashiwn ........................................0

A Rashid c Rahul b Ashwin ...........................2

J Anderson C Yadav b Ashwin ......................2

Extras (B-15, LB-2, NB-2) ............................ 19

Total (all out) ................................. 195Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-43, 3-49, 4-141, 5-180,

6-182, 7-185, 8-189, 9-193, 10-195.

Bowling: Kumar 4-1-11-1; U Yadav 3-0-10-0;

Jadeja 22-3-63-2 (1nb); Ashwin 20.3-3-55-6; J

Yadav 6-0-39-1 (1nb).

SCOREBOARD

Mumbai

Reuters

England no longer have the world class spin options available to them that they

enjoyed when they stunned India in 2012, captain Alastair Cook said after his side fell 3-0 behind the hosts in the five-match series yesterday.

England are the last team to win a series in India when they beat the hosts 2-1 four years ago with spinners Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar revelling in the conditions, and ably sup-ported by prolific wicket-taking paceman James Anderson.

During that series, Panesar took 11 wickets at the Wankhede Stadium while Swann picked up eight more to help England thrash India by 10 wickets.

However, leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who is England's high-est wicket-taker in the ongoing series with 22 victims, and off-spinner Moeen Ali have failed to match those performances.

"No disrespect to Mo and Rash but Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar were world class bowlers in 2012," Cook told reporters after England's defeat by an innings and 36 runs. "In these conditions you need that.

"Mo and Rash have bowled well but they are not yet in that league... I do not mean that dis-respectfully at all and that is why we need a slightly different bal-ance to the side. In 2012, we could play the four bowlers, two seamers and two spinners, but in this side we need more options."

Cook admitted England had erred by picking an extra seamer in Jake Ball while overlooking Gareth Batty as the pitch had nothing in it for the pacers.

"Here we knew it was going to spin," Cook said. "But one thing we have strength in depth in is our seamers and we can get control with our seamers if it is not spinning a huge amount.

"Generally here in Mumbai it spins slightly later on in the game but it spun pretty much from ball one and last time in 2012 it didn't and the pitch looked exactly the same."

Cook was also left to rue England's failure to take the chances that came their way.

Jonny Bairstow missed a stumping opportunity of Murali Vijay on 45, while Rashid dropped a difficult return catch from India captain Virat Kohli on 68 and Joe Root also put down Jayant Yadav at slip on eight. Vijay scored 136, Kohli went on to make 235 and Yadav 104.

Kohli turns peacemaker to douse Ashwin-Anderson fire Mumbai

Reuters

Virat Kohli adopted an uncharacteristic role as peacemaker yesterday

when the India captain acted to pacify an angry exchange between off-spinner Ravichan-dran Ashwin and England paceman James Anderson on the final day of the fourth Test.

The incident occurred when England number 11 Anderson walked out to bat and was greeted by a volley of angry words by Ashwin, whose views were echoed by his team mates in the innings and 36 runs vic-tory for the hosts.

Ashwin appeared irked by Anderson's comments on Sun-day that Kohli's technique was not being thoroughly tested on

the docile pitches in India after he hit 235 at the Wankhede Sta-dium for his third double hundred of 2016.

England's record wicket-taker in Tests dismissed Kohli four times during India's tour of England in 2014 but the batsman has flayed Anderson and his bowling partners this time, already amassing 640 runs in the ongoing series at an average of 128.

"For the first time I was try-ing to calm things down in the middle at a time when James Anderson is involved," a grinning Kohli, who is often very demon-strative on the field, told reporters after India moved 3-0 ahead in the five-match series.

"Ashwin wasn't pleased with what he (Anderson) said in the press and I didn't even know

about it. He told me on the ground.

"So I didn't know what to make of it, I was laughing about it, Ashwin wasn't too impressed and he let him know without using any bad words, honestly," Kohli added.

"I think he (Ashwin) told me he was pretty disappointed with what he said and it is important to accept defeat as it is. Later on, I told James these things happen and let's move on."

Anderson has a history of disputes with India and the team filed a charge against him for pushing Ravindra Jadeja during the Trent Bridge test in 2014.

He was later cleared by the governing body International Cricket Council (ICC).

Yesteday, the contretemps between Ashwin and Anderson

threatened to boil over with Eng-land captain Alastair Cook saying it was unnecessary and left a "sour" taste.

"It was a bit of a sour end really. A disappointing end in terms of how well the spirit's been between both sides," Cook said.

"It was clearly reference to

what Jimmy said yesterday which has kind of been blown out of all proportions, which it can do here. He was just stating a fact which if you asked Virat is probably quite true.

"But yes it was obviously just sticking up for their captain which I thought was slightly unnecessary."

Skipper says it was hard workMumbai

Reuters

India's unassailable 3-0 lead over England has not been achieved as comfortably as

it might appear against quality opposition, captain Virat Kohli said yesterday.

India thrashed England by an innings and 36 runs just over half an hour into the final day at the Wankhede Stadium to clinch the series with a match to spare.

England were the last team to win a test series in India, 2-1 four years ago, and they made a strong start in the drawn test in Rajkot this time round.

"I don't think it's been easy. We have been put under pres-sure many times. I think I would give my team a lot of credit for bouncing back from those tough

situations," Kohli said. "We haven't got anything on the plat-ter. We have had to work hard for it and it's been a result of constant pressure that we have forced the opposition to make mistakes."

Trailing 2-0 in the series, England posted 400 in their first innings in Mumbai and had the hosts, ranked number one in the world, in trouble by reducing them to 307 for six.

But Man of the Match Kohli hit 235 to rescue his team and led them to a massive first-innings total of 631.

"With the bat as well we have shown really good char-acter to come back into the game, showing enough patience, more than the opposition," the 28-year-old said, adding it was the best out of his five series

wins as captain. "No series win is easy, especially not this one, we know England is a quality Test side and we knew that they will try to bounce back.

"Even in this game after being 2-0 down, they put 400 runs in the first innings. This is not a team that will throw in the towel. We were tested but we came out on top."

It was the fifth consecutive series win for India following triumphs in Sri Lanka and West India and home victories over South Africa and New Zealand.

"A lot of the times, you have an hour in the Test match where you can take the game away and you are still not willing to go for it because you are close to your milestone or things like that," he said.

Mumbai

AFP

England captain Alastair Cook said yesterday Joe Root was ready to take

over as skipper but that no decision on his own future would be taken until the new year.

India humiliated England in the fourth Test in Mumbai to clinch the series 3-0 with a match to spare, raising ques-tions about how long Cook can remain in the job. His future was called into question just before the tour started when he admitted he could quit at the end of the series and he was finding it difficult to be apart

from his family for long periods.

"Those comments I made don't change," Cook told reporters following England's innings and 36-run loss at Mumbai 's Wankhede Stadium.

"It sticks true to the end of this series. Then I'll sit down with Straussy (England's Direc-tor of Cricket Andrew Strauss) in the new year, like we made that pact to always talk openly and honestly about stuff."

"My position hasn't changed whether we won this game or lost," said Cook, 31, who admitted though that the nature of the defeat could influence his thinking.

India captain Virat Kohli (second left) celebrates with his teammates during a victory lap after winning the fourth Test against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai yesterday.

India captain Virat Kohli

shakes hands with Ben Stokes in Mumbai yesterday.

Root 'ready' to captain England team: Cook

Cook bemoans weakened spin options in Mumbai loss

30 TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016SPORT

Nyon, Switzerland

AFP

Manchester United will take on Saint-Etienne in the last 32 of the Europa League,

with Jose Mourinho's side host-ing the French club in the first leg, after yesterday's draw.

The tie will see United and France midfielder Paul Pogba, the world's most expensive player, come up against his elder brother Florentin, the Guinea international defender.

"That's a nice thing," said Mourinho at a press conference yesterday. "Paul was already laughing about it and for sure his brother is also laughing.

"It has happened a few times in the history football and it's a nice thing."

The teams met in the now defunct Cup Winners' Cup first round in 1977, with United win-ning 3-1 on aggregate.

On that occasion, United were forced to host the second leg in the southern English city of Plymouth, 450 kilometres

away, following crowd trouble in the first leg in France.

Mourinho's men finished second in Group A behind Fen-erbahce of Turkey while Saint-Etienne topped Group C. After also having to go to Ukraine to face Zorya Luhansk in the group stage, United's Por-tuguese manager is pleased that there will be no long away trip this time.

"The good thing is the travel distance. We were very unlucky in the group phase, we had to go very far, it was very difficult to go to Turkey, Ukraine," he said.

"Now we go to France because the flight is easy and it's not an easy period, there are lots of games, so that is good."

Saint-Etienne, 10-time French champions and

European Cup runners-up in 1976, are currently eighth in Ligue 1.

"Saint-Etienne is an historic old club with lots of tradition. People of my generation will never forget that (Michel) Platini team and it will be dif-ficult because every team now is a good team in the competition.

"For sure, Manchester United is one of the big names in the competition but we have two months without the Europa League, two months to forget it, then we will see."

The other Premier League representative, Tottenham Hot-spur, will face Gent of Belgium after being eliminated from the Champions League at the group stage.

Villarreal of Spain will face Italian giants Roma in one of the standout ties, while Bundesliga club Borussia Moenchenglad-bach were drawn against Fiorentina of Italy.

The first legs will be played on Thursday, February 16, with the return matches a week later.

First legsTuesday, February 14Benfica (POR) vs BorussiaDortmund (GER)Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) vsBarcelona (ESP)Wednesday, February 15Real Madrid (ESP) vs Napoli (ITA)Bayern Munich (GER) vs Arsenal (ENG)Tuesday, February 21Manchester City (ENG) vs Monaco (FRA)Bayer Leverkusen (GER) vs AtleticoMadrid (ESP)Wednesday, February 22FC Porto (POR) vs Juventus (ITA)Sevilla (ESP) vs Leicester City (ENG)

Second legsTuesday, March 7Napoli (ITA) vs Real Madrid (ESP)Arsenal (ENG) vs Bayern Munich (GER)Wednesday, March 8Borussia Dortmund (GER) vsBenfica (POR)Barcelona (ESP) vs Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)Tuesday, March 14Juventus (ITA) vs FC Porto (POR)Leicester City (ENG) vs Sevilla (ESP)Wednesday, March 15Monaco (FRA) vs Manchester City ENG)Atletico Madrid (ESP) vs BayerLeverkusen (GER)

- Final to be played in Cardiff on Saturday, June 3.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE LAST 16 DRAW

Pogba brothers on collision course

Sun sets on Chinesetrailblazer

Beijing

AFP

Former Manchester City defender Sun Jihai, one of the first

Chinese footballers to play in the English Pre-mier League, has announced his retirement from the sport.

"Today I am retiring, bidding farewell to 22 years of campaigning on the football pitch," the 39-year-old wrote in a statement posted on his verified Weibo social media account over the weekend.

A pioneer for his country, Sun's first foray into English football came in 1998, when he signed for Crystal Palace with countryman Fan Zhiyi, together becoming the first Chinese players in the English leagues.

He was recalled the following year by Dalian Shide, but signed with Manchester City in Feb-ruary 2002. The club were promoted at the end of that season and in October that year he became the first Asian player to score in the Pre-mier League.

After six years with City he joined Sheffield United in 2008, but opted to return to China the fol-lowing year after missing his family. He played in the top-tier Chinese Super League for several years before joining second division Beijing Renhe last December.

"It's truly hard to say goodbye, football still brings me happiness," the veteran player wrote in his post. A hero to Chinese fans and a great popular-iser of English football, Sun was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the National Football Museum in Manchester in 2015, during President Xi Jin-ping's visit to Britain.

Real Madrid hit Japan at sunrise Tokyo

AFP

Real Madrid's early birds swept into Tokyo at t h e c r a c k o f

dawnyesterday to contest the Club World Cup and were greeted by hundreds of bleary-eyed Japanese fans.

The European champi-ons, led by talisman Cristiano Ronaldo, arrived a little after 5am local time and, despite the presence of around 300 supporters wait-ing for their idols to appear, were quickly ushered onto a team bus by security officials.

Sporting dapper dark suits, Real's superstar play-ers and French coach Zinedine Zidane smiled and waved as they passed fans -- several in team jerseys and some sporting Ronaldo masks -- before leaving for their hotel in Yokohama.

The Spanish giants, who beat Deportivo la Coruna at the weekend to set a new club record of 35 games unbeaten in all competitions, face Mexico's Club America on Thursday for a place in the Club World Cup final.

Zidane was able to rest Ronaldo as the La Liga table-toppers battled to a 3-2 victory, thanks to a late win-ner from captain Segio Ramos.

Real, who are chasing a second world title in three years, were expected to hold a light training session in Yokohama later yesterday.

They will be without Gareth Bale as the Welsh wizard recovers from ankle surgery, but have been boosted by the return of Ger-man Toni Kroos after a metatarsal fracture.

Klopp demands cool heads after more defensive woes

Liverpool

AFP

Liverpool manager Jur-gen Klopp bemoaned his side's defending and

lack of composure after they fell behind in the Premier League title race with a 2-2 draw at home to struggling West Ham.

Divock Origi scored for the fourth consecutive match after Darren Randolph's blunder to save a point for frail Liverpool, who sit third, six points behind leaders Chelsea.

Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius last week gifted Bournemouth a winner and Klopp's side -- so good going forward and top of the table last month -- are being reg-ularly undermined by their defensive failings.

Karius' positioning on Sunday for West Ham mid-fielder Dimitri Payet's equaliser, which cancelled out Adam Lallana's opener, was questionable.

Michail Antonio then capitalised on a mistake made by Joel Matip to put the visitors 2-1 up before Origi's fortuitous 48th-minute leveller.

Klopp was hardly con-vincing in his defence of the German stopper Karius, 23, saying merely that he had "no idea" about whether his summer signing was at fault for the Payet free-kick strike because he had only seen it once.

Cavani double saves PSG against Nice Paris

AFP

A second-half brace from Edinson Cavani saw champions Paris

Saint Germain come from two down to earn a 2-2 draw with Ligue 1 leaders Nice at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.

The visitors withstood an early onslaught to go into the break 2-0 up after a sumptuous free-kick from Wylan Cyprien on 32 min-utes and a slick left-foot shot from Alassane Plea right on the break.

The result puts Nice on 40 points from 17 games, one clear of second placed Monaco, who beat Bordeaux 4-0 on Saturday and four clear of under-pressure Unai Emery's champions.

Nice coach Lucien Favre looked relieved with the point after Cavani had fin-ished from close range on 46 minutes and then on the hour mark before the cham-pions ripped into the Ligue 1 leaders all the way to the final whistle.

Cavani had the ball in the back of the net again with 15 minutes to go but Blaise Matuidi was offside

when receiving the ball to provide the final pass. The PSG front line's assault saw Nice 'keeper Yoan Cardinale produce seven saves, the last a brilliant stop on the line from a Layvin Kurzawa header in stoppage time.

But earlier Cavani was in the right place at the right time to prod home the equaliser after Cardinale had punched away a cross right into his captain Dante and the Uruguayan pounced on the loose ball.

The opening goal came when Cyprien whipped a ferocious free-kick round the PSG wall into the top right hand corner against the run of play.

And then, just before the break, Plea beat both Thi-ago Silva and Marquinhos at the edge of the PSG area to dispatch a deft left-foot shot that saw the home side booed off at the break.

In the second half, Paris concentrated on the flanks and the two Cavani goals, which took his league taly to 16 so far, came from wide crosses from Serge Aurier and Kurzawa.

Mario Balotelli came on as a late substitute and quickly produced a snap

shot that PSG keeper Alphons Areola saved well. Hatem Ben Arfa, who switched to PSG from Nice in the summer, also made a late cameo.

Cyprien said after the game his side had never expected to be top at this stage.

PSG players refused to speak to reporters after the game having decided to impose a media blackout.

On Saturday, second-placed Monaco impressed as Radamel Falcao netted a hat-trick in the 4-0 crush-ing of 10-man Bordeaux.

Earlier ON Sunday a goal from Romain Hamouma and a series of saves from Stéphane Ruff-ier saw Saint-Etienne beat Guingamp 1-0 at home to climb to eighth after quali-fying for the Europa League last-32 in midweek.

After a tiring Champions League game with Sevilla in midweek, Lyon held firm for a 1-0 home win over Rennes thanks to a first-half goal from Mathieu Valbuena which sees them sit fourth.

Goalkeeper Anthony Lopes, however, was their man of the match with five notable saves.

Edinson Cavani of Paris Saint-Germain celebrates after scoring a goal during the French Ligue 1 football match against OGC Nice at the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris, France on Sunday.

UEFA deputy secretary general Giorgio Marchetti shows the name of defending champions Real Madrid during the draw for the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League football tournament at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon yesterday.

31TUESDAY 13 DECEMBER 2016 SPORT

Al Sadd trounce Umm Salal 8-0

The Peninsula

Four time Qatar Stars League (QSL) champions Lekhwiya left it late to

secure a 2-1 win over bottom of the table Al Kharaitiyat last evening.

Djamel Belmadi’s side came from a goal behind and domi-nated throughout to register their eighth win of the season thanks to goals from Yusef Msa-kni and a Yusef El Arabi penalty.

Lekhwiya welcomed back Yusef Msakni back to the start-ing line up after a injury, the Tunisian international hit a shot from a tight angle to test Ahmed Soufiane on the fifth minute, it proved to be a signal of intent from the Red Knights.

Lekhwiya looked more and more likely to find the opener as the tie progressed. Al Kharaitiyat had the woodwork and reactions of Ahmed Soufi-ane to thank on the 30th minute. Lekhwiya put together a slick

passing move which resulted in a good save from Soufiane to deny Luiz Martin the opener. Seconds later a cross fell to Ismael Mohammed who saw hit shot rattle the woodwork.

Al Kharaitiyat registered their only chance of the first half on the 37th minute. On a rare foray forward Brazilian defender Domingos headed just wide from a Anouar Diba free-kick.

In first half injury time Lekhwiya were denied again thanks to a strong save by Sou-fiane who was fast becoming Al Kharaitiyat’s best player. A cross by Ismael Mohammed found the head of Yusef El Arabi and his header looked destined for the bottom left hand corner, how-ever the Moroccan was denied again by the Qatari keeper who pulled off another fine save. The first half ended honours even at 0-0.

Al Kharaitiyat made a dream start to the second half, after being rewarded a penalty two

minutes after the restart. Lekhwiya striker Yusef El Arabi was adjudged to have handed the ball and the referee promptly pointed to the penalty spot.

Thunders number ten Anouar Diba stepped up and placed the ball into the right hand corner to give Ahmad Al Ajlani’s side the most unlikely of leads.

Lekhwiya pushed hard to find a leveller and eventually broke the Al Kharitiyat resist-ance on the 57th minute. Khaled Muftah swung in a accurate cross which found Yusef Msa-kni who headed the ball in from close range.

Predictably the tie swung in the favour on the four time QSL champions Lekhiwya as the ref-eree awarded his second penalty of the match with ten minutes left to play. Yusef El Arabi stepped up to dispatch the pen-alty, which went in off keeper Ahmed Soufiane to score his thirteenth goal of the season.

Lekhwiya secure 2-1 victory

The Peninsula

Al Sadd hammered down Umm Salal, scoring eight goals against none in their Qatar Stars League

(QSL) round 11 fixture at the Al Sadd Stadium yesterday.

Star striker Xavi had three assists to his name while Bagh-dad Bounedjah scored a brace to keep himself as the league’s top scorer. Hassan Al Haidos and Meshaal Al Shammari scored from the spot, while Pedro, Kha-lfan Ibrahim, Morteza Pouraliganji and Ibrahim Majid all scored a goal each in a foot-ball masterclass from the former QSL champions.

Al Sadd scored the first of eight goals in the eleventh minute of the game courtesy of the league’s top scorer Baghdad Bounedjah. Xavi’s long ball picked out Abdelkarim Hassan on the left, who then played the ball to Bounedjah, who con-verted the ball into the goal from close range.

The Wolves continued their attack and were awarded with a second goal in the twenty fourth minute when Xavi’s free kick was headed into the goal by Morteza Pouraliganji. The Iranian inter-national connected with the free kick and sent a looping header over the keeper to make it 2-0.

Just a minute later defender Pedro added a third goal to the

score line. The Qatari interna-tional intercepted a clearance before curling the ball into the far corner from just inside the box.

Al Sadd kept on exploiting the Umm Salal defence and in the thirty third minute they won a penalty when Ali Assad was fouled by Umm Salal captain

Jawad Ahnash. Hassan Haydoos stepped up for the spot kick duty and chipped it into the net for a show stopping finish.

Jesualdo Fereira’s men ended the first half with four goals to their favour and dom-inating possession with more than sixty percent of the ball. Al Sadd had five shots on target

and four goals while Umm Salal had no shots on target in the opening 45 minutes.

Five minutes into the sec-ond half Baghdad Bounedjah scored his second goal of the night after an assist by Xavi. The Spanish superstar caught Bounedjah’s run and played an inch perfect pass to the

Algerian striker who just guided it into the net on the near post to compound Umm Salal’s defensive woe’s.

In the eighty second minute Khalfan Ibrahim’s shot from outside the box deflected off a defender into the net to make it 6-0. A minute Meshaal Al Shammari won a penalty and he also stepped up to take it. The super substitute slotted the ball bottom left corner to make it 7-0. Al Sadd were not done yet as Ibrahim Majid’s free kick in the last minute of the game went under the wall and into the goal deceiving the goal keeper. The game ended with the score board reading 8-0 for the home team who dominated the entire game and did not give their opponents a chance.

Al Arabi rally for hard-fought win against Al Khor The Peninsula

Visitors Al Khor grabbed the lead yesterday but home side Al Arabi turned

around things in admirable fash-ion, winning the Qatar Stars League (QSL) clash 2-1 at Grand Hamad Stadium.

Al Arabi's Bualem Khoukhi (37) and Wagner Renan (41) scored in the first half to nullify the advantage of Al Khor who had opened through Sultan Al Enazi (7) in the round-11 clash.

It was Al Arabi's fourth win of the 2016-17 QSL season.

Visitors Al Khor grabbed the lead through a field goal in the 7th minute through a well-coor-dinated move as Al Enazi deflected an easy ball into the net from close range.

Al Khor defender Abdulrah-man Ruban - on the right flank - chipped in a long ball towards teammate Abdulkarem Ali who failed to deflect the ball into the net as the running momentum forced him to lose his balance.

However, Al Khor's man of the moment Al Enazi - who was unmarked inside the box

- punched the ball into the net with consummate ease, easily beating the out-stretched hands of goalkeeper Rajab Kassim.

It was Al Enazi's second goal of the season for the men in blue.

In the 23rd minute, Al Ara-bi's Reza Najafi curled in a swinging shot inside the Al Wak-rah box but the ball hit teammate Ali's leg and slipped away from thee goalpost.

At the half-hour mark, Al Arabi's Assie Koua Vivien - the tall defender from Ivory Coast - produced a snap-header inside the Al Khor box but his deflec-tion was pouched by goalkeeper Baba Djibril on his goal-line.

Three minutes later, Al Ara-bi's Nigerian forward Ezekiel easily volleyed a close-range ball into the net but the goal was dis-allowed as off-side by the linesman.

In the 37th minute, Khoukhi scored his first the goal of the season off a penalty kick.

Al Khor's Sultan Mohammed Alenezi brought down Al Arabi's Paulo Sergio inside his own box with a reckless tackle.

Referee Abdulrahman

Al-Jassim quickly pointed to the spot kick and Khoukhi easily converted from the penalty spot in the 37th minute.

With four minutes to go in the first half, Al Arabi grabbed the lead with a slick finish by Renan - who fired a bullet from close range hitting the top of the net with a fast-paced shot.

It was Renan's first goal of the season.

Despite conceding the first goal, hosts Al Arabi rallied in fine style, maintaining an impressive 66-34 percentage of ball posses-sion in the first 70 minutes of play.

Two minutes from the final whistle, Renan - with only goal-keeper to beat - misfired on the of the Al Khor box as the ball sailed above the head of 'keeper Djibril.

Seconds later Al Arabi benched star player and captain Khoukhi as the home side played out the remaining minutes with stout defending.

Struggling in the first four months of the season, Al Khor have only two wins from 11 games.

Qatar Stars League StandingsPOSITION CLUB MATCHES WIN LOSE DRAW GF GA GD POINTS1 El Jaish 11 9 1 1 26 15 11 282 Al Sadd 11 8 0 3 38 12 26 273 Lekhwiya 11 8 0 3 33 18 15 274 Al Gharafa 11 6 3 2 26 21 5 205 Al Rayyan 11 5 2 4 16 14 2 196 Al Arabi 11 4 6 1 19 24 -5 137 Umm Salal 11 3 4 4 13 21 -8 138 Al Sailiya 11 3 5 3 13 18 -5 129 Al Ahli 11 2 4 5 16 18 -2 1110 Al Shahaniya 11 2 4 5 12 20 -8 1111 Muaither SC 11 3 8 0 8 18 -10 912 Al Khor 11 2 7 2 10 14 -4 813 Al Wakrah 11 1 6 4 11 17 -6 714 Al Kharaitiyat 11 1 7 3 8 19 -11 6

Al Sadd players celebrate after scoring a goal against Umm Salal, one of eight goals in their Qatar Stars League Round 11 match played at Al Sadd Stadium yesterday.

Lekhwiya midfielder Youssef Msakni (top) jumps over an Al Kharaitiyat player during their Qatar Stars League match played yesterday. Lekhwiya won 2-1.

Mendes injury blow for El JaishThe Peninsula

El Jaish have confirmed that their key defender Lucas Mendes is set for a spell on the sidelines after pick-ing up a knee injury that ruled him out of his sides

2-1 victory last night against Muaither.The club revealed the news via their official website,

noting that Mendes will begin his rehab with the medical team before making his way back to training.

The injury of the Brazilian defender adds to an ever growing injury list for the current QSL league leaders. Cur-rently Sabri Lamouchi’s side is without a host of key players including Seydou Keita, Abdulgadir Ilyas and Khalid Abdul-raouf. Lamouchi will now be hoping that his players can return in time for their round 12 match against Al Gharafa on Thursday evening at Lekhwiya Stadium.