16 FRIDAY 24 MARCH 2017SPORT

Faster F1 car means bigger, stronger drivers for 2017

The helmets of Torro Rosso's Russian driver Daniil (extreme left), Haas F1's Danish driver Kevin Magnussen (second left), Sauber's Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson (third left) and Sauber's German driver Pascal Wehrlein are displayed in Melbourne ahead of the Formula One Australian Grand Prix. The season's first Grand Prix will be held on Sunday.

Ricciardo seeks end to 37-year Aussie droughtAFP

Daniel Ricciardo called his strong support at the Australian Grand Prix

"kind of overwhelming" yester-day, but said it gave him extra motivation to become the race's first Aussie winner in 37 years.

The 27-year-old from Perth, Western Australia, is lining up for his sixth crack at the race in Melbourne on Sunday, after placing fourth last year, his best performance yet.

Ricciardo is seeking to become the first domestic driver to win the Australian race since it became part of the world championship calendar in 1985.

Alan Jones was the last Aus-tralian to win his home Grand Prix in 1980, when he was also the last Australian to win the world title.

But Ricciardo, the Red Bull driver with the neon smile who finished third in last year's world championship, said he isn't burdened by national expectations.

"It's not a weight on my shoulders," Ricciardo said at the official media conference yesterday.

"It means more work, for sure. This week is easily the busiest F1 week of the year for me.

"But it's all positive support, it's kind of overwhelming actu-ally. I'm surprised so many people are getting behind me and the event.

"It won't last forever."In 2014, Ricciardo crossed

the line second behind Mer-cedes driver Nico Rosberg, but cruelly he was disqualified for breaching fuel rules.

"It's demanding, it is a tir-ing week, but it's pretty cool to see so many people supportive of me and the event... it's pretty much just a bit of extra motiva-tion for me," Ricciardo said.

"I don't see it as pressure in terms of, if I don't win on Sun-day, I know they're not all going to leave the track and say I'm hopeless and never come back.

"They want to see me do well and that's how I see it, pretty much. I think at the (pre-race) drivers' parade on Sunday, I'll see that and feel it and get me jacked up for the race."

Ricciardo has won four races from 109 GPs, but he said a win in Australia would top them all.

"If anyone could win just one race, they would always say their home (race)," he said.

"I would love to. I'm pre-pared, we have all done our work in the pre-season and we feel like we're coming in as well prepared as possible."

Melbourne

AP

Renault driver Niko Hulkenberg has the kind of name that sounds like big could be his thing.

In Formula One seasons past, muscle bulk hasn't really been the

key requirement for drivers, with work on endurance being the focus of training in the gym. The new regulations in F1 have made the cars bigger and faster, prefacing an era that has the drivers and fans more excited than usual, and so the pilots have to follow suit.

"The cars are like driving a very fast and spectacular roller-coaster and it's a lot more demanding than before," Hulkenberg said ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. "Now you have to wrestle these cars!

"The tires allow you to push harder every lap, so you can exploit and be on the limit. It's a lot more work and a lot more demand-ing. There's a lot that's new, but the game is still the same."

Lewis Hamilton has worked out the game, winning three drivers' titles, so he's more than ready to up the ante.

"As racing drivers in general you want to drive the quickest cars in the world and I think you always want to go faster," the Mer-cedes driver said.

"The cars are faster than what they were last year. The challenge of exploiting that speed with your car on the track is a great challenge and it's more in the direction of how F1 should be in the sense of the physi-cality side of it."

Hamilton, who won back-to-back titles with Mercedes in 2014 and '15 and narrowly missed out to teammate Nico Rosberg last season, considers himself as much an ath-lete as a driver.

"F1 should be the most physically demanding sport in terms of all the driving series," he said. "In previous years that hasn't been the case — it hasn't been to the level that we train to, is relatively easy for us to do — now you have to really push the bound-aries, which I like."

The F1 rule changes means wider tires, greater aerodynamics, bigger fuel loads and increased downforce, which have made the cars heavier but also significantly faster.

The tires, which are 25 percent wider, have more grip and are more durable, ena-bling drivers to push harder through the corners. Even though Mercedes dominated under the previous regulations, Hamilton was a big advocate for the changes.

"Doing drastic changes kind of spices it up," he said. "I have never seen the fans so excited about a season as they are this sea-son ... we don't know where the cars and teams are, so more of these kind of experi-ences would be welcome."

Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, said Hamilton and his team-mate Valterri Bottas were in prime shape to make the most of the changes.

"It's an exciting time for them because these new cars are a real physical challenge," he said. "Both felt from testing that the G-Forces are enormous and they are embracing the new challenge."

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel expects his '17-edition Ferrari to be the fastest car he's driven.

"For us, what really gives us a good feel-ing is cornering speed — I think we're back to the level we've been 10 years ago, maybe a bit faster," he said. "Nice to have the feel-ing that you're in the fastest cars that you've ever driven."

Vettel is among the drivers who have been working on neck and shoulder strength

in particular, to handle the extra load. Dan-iel Ricciardo finished third in the season standings for Red Bull last year, behind the two Mercedes.

He's put in extra work to ensure he's stronger physically, knowing that it could make a serious difference. And while he's no hulking ball of muscle, he's noticeably big-ger than he was in 2016.

"It's more physical this year," he said. "We've all done our work in the offseason — it's been fun to put more emphasis on the training."

Fernando Alonso is one of the veterans of the circuit, having won back-to-back titles for Renault in 2005-06 and having stints at McLaren, Renault and Ferrari after that and before he rejoined McLaren. He's had two tough seasons, finishing 17th and 10th, so he doesn't mind doing the extra gym work as long as his car grows with him.

"I'm incredibly motivated and I can't wait to see what kind of racing this new shake-up of the sport will bring," he said. more challenging to drive — from a driver's point of view this is exactly what we were look-ing for in the new regulations. I really hope this will translate to good battles on track."

Melbourne

Reuters

There are "too many dudes" in the paddock at Formula One races and the series needs to improve

access for women, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton said yesterday.

In the leadup to Sunday's Austral-ian Grand Prix, the three-times champion Briton, and other leading drivers, were asked for their wish-lists for the championship and Hamilton had little hesitation cham-pioning a more inclusive track-side environment.

"A Miami race and more ladies in the paddock," the 32-year-old said at the pre-race media conference.

"More access for the women, there's too many dudes in the paddock."

Hamilton was more for turning back the clock when it came to the series' power units, however, agree-ing with Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo's wish for no more "electric engines" in Formula One.

The current generation of quieter and more fuel-efficient V6 turbo hybrid power units, while technolog-ically impressive, have failed to win over some fans who miss the noisier V8 engines.

Hamilton was less sold on McLaren driver Fernando Alonso's ironic suggestion that teams be given "equal engines".

The 35-year-old Alonso was frus-trated with the poor performance of the Honda-powered McLaren cars during winter testing, having already endured two bleak seasons since returning to the team in 2015.

"I don't agree with that one," Ham-ilton said of Alonso's wish.

"Not electric and not Honda," he quipped, drawing a murmur from reporters yesterday.

Most Formula One fans will wish for a more competitive series this year after Mercedes swept the drivers' and constructors' championships for the last three seasons running.

The only serious on-track rivalry has been between Hamilton and his now-retired team mate Nico Rosberg.

Hamilton won 10 of 21 races last season, including the last four in suc-cession, but was still runner-up behind German champion Rosberg, who has been replaced by former Wil-liams driver Valtteri Bottas.

A raft of technical changes, includ-ing fatter tyres and aerodynamic enhancements, have raised hopes rivals can bridge the gap with the Sil-ver Arrows.

Bookmakers are less convinced, with many installing Hamilton as unbackable favourite to win a fourth world title and also the race at Albert Park on Sunday.

Hamilton has deflected the hype onto Ferrari, which had fast lap times and impressive reliability during win-ter testing.

He said he would relish a title fight from Ferrari's four-times world cham-pion Sebastian Vettel this season.

"It's interesting to see, Sebastian is usually a lot more hype," Hamilton said, eliciting a half-smile from the German sitting a metre away from him at the media conference.

"I can tell he's trying to keep a lid on it.

"More teams and more drivers up the front fighting for wins, that's what racing is all about. I'm hoping that's the case."

Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton speaks during a press conference in Melbourne yesterday (left). Hamilton's helmet is also seen (inset).

Williams' Brazilian driver Felipe Massa takes part in a press

conference yesterday.

Hamilton calls for more women Hamilton calls for more women in 'dude' dominated paddockin 'dude' dominated paddock

17FRIDAY 24 MARCH 2017 SPORT

Qatar's Al Behaih w ins gold at Special Olympics Winter Games Vienna

QNA

Qatar's Hamad Jaber Al Behaih won the gold medal in the speed skating 222m event at

the Special Olympics World Win-ter Games in Vienna, Austria.

He finished the race in 54.429 seconds, 0.3 seconds ahead of Jamaica's Dave Oddman. The Qatari champion expressed his delight at winning gold and dedicated the win to the Qatari people.

Meanwhile, Executive Director of Qatar Special Olympics Amir Al M u l l a e x p r e s s e d h i s

delight regarding the victory and the performances of Qatari athletes so far.

He also added that the success was a result of the support of Pres-ident of Qatar Olympic Committee H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani. Al Mulla also said that was a testament to the ability of Qatari people to excel in all fields. He thanked members of the delega-tion for the effort they have put in so far, and praised the athletes as wel l for their s t rong performances.

Al Gharafa through to GCC Handball Club Cup semis Doha

QNA

Al Gharafa secured their place in the semifinals of the 37th GCC men hand-ball club cup winners championship

thanks to a 24-19 win over Al Sharjah in the second round of the group stage.

The match was good overall with Al Gharafa assuming control of the most part of it despite recurring attempts from the UAE side to return to the game.

Al Gharafa ensured their semifinal berth after Bahrain's Al Ahli and Saudi side Al Noor drew their match earlier today to give Al Gharafa the top place on four points from two wins ahead of Al Ahli on three points,

Al Noor on a single point and Al Sharjah bot-tom without points.

The Qatari side will face Al Ahli in the last match of the group stage today. Group winners will face the second-placed team from Group B. Some key players are expected to be rested for the Friday match ahead of semifinals.

Following their draw against Al Ahli in the other match, Asian champions Al Noor must score a big win against Al Sharjah and hope for Al Gharafa win against Al Ahli if they are to stand any chance of qualifying for the semifinals. The tournament is played in one-round league format, with the group stage set to conclude on Saturday and teams take Sunday off.

Johnson rolls as McIlroy and Spieth stumble at Match Play Austin

Reuters

World number one Dus-tin Johnson rolled and Rory McIlroy and Jor-

dan Spieth stumbled, while Jason Day left to be with his ailing mother in Wednesday's opening day of the WGC-Dell Match Play in Austin, Texas.

Johnson won the first three holes and was 5-up after nine holes and steamrolled Webb Simpson 5&3.

"When you get up real early, you just want to keep the momen-tum on your side," said Johnson.

Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spi-eth were surprise losers in their

first round-robin matches at Aus-tin Country Club.

McIlroy, who reached last year's semi-finals, fell 2&1 to Dane Soren Kjeldsen while Japan's Hideto Tanihara, making his first appearance at the tournament, routed Spieth 4&2.

Kjeldsen was 1-down with five to play but rattled off four succes-sive birdies, knocking his last four approaches inside nine feet, with the last three inside four feet.

"I played well. If I had played anyone else, I might have won. Soren played great," said McIlroy.

Northern Irishman McIlroy will play Gary Woodland on Thursday and Argentine Emiliano

Grillo today. Woodland beat Grillo 3&2.

Twice major champion Spi-eth never led against Tanihara, who has 13 career titles overseas. The American played his last nine holes in three over, hitting only one green.

"I knew if I brought my 'A' game, I could probably compete against him," said Tanihara. "I wanted to see how a top player would play and I was just looking forward the whole day."

Next up for the Texan is a clash with Japan's Yuta Ikeda on Thurs-day and Ryan Moore today. Moore halved his match with Ikeda.

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama and U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Jim

Furyk halved, while Brooks Koepka was lights out with the putter in a 6&5 trouncing of fel-low American Kevin Kisner.

Day, last year's winner, walked off the course after six holes, revealing to reporters that he was leaving to be with his mother, who is having lung can-cer surgery today.

The event is comprised of 16 four-player groups who play round-robin matches from Wednesday through Friday with the winners of each group advancing to a single-elimination bracket at the weekend.

Players receive one point for a win and a half-point for a halved match.

Dustin Johnson tees off during round one of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas on Wednesday.

Al Kharaitiyat and Sharjah draw in Doha friendly The Peninsula

Qatar Stars League (QSL) side Al Kharaitiyat registered a 2-2 draw with Arabian Gulf League side Sharjah FC in a friendly game

as the Thunders ramp up their preparations for their round 24 clash against Al Ahli.

Goals from Mahmoud Saad and Moroccan striker Rachid Tiberkanine ensured that the game ended honors even.

The tie which took place on Wednesday evening at Al Kharaitiyat’s training ground saw the majority of the squad play a part in the game. One noticeable absentee for Ahmad Al Ajlani’s side was defender Mohammed Abdurahman who sat out of the tie after suffering a minor injury.

Speaking on the result, Al Kharaitiyat’s head of football Mansour Moussa added; “The game against Sharjah was a useful exercise for the club, the match means that we are at full fitness ahead of three decisive games to end our QSL season.”

The Thunders are currently tenth in the QSL standings with a tally of twenty five points from twenty three games.

Media mogul Eisner in Portsmouthtakeover talks London

AFP

The billionaire former chairman of US enter-tainment giant the Walt Disney Corporation is in talks to buy English fourth-tier club Port-

smouth, the south coast side has confirmed.Following a report in The News, Portsmouth's

local newspaper, that American media mogul Michael Eisner was looking to complete a takeo-ver, the Portsmouth Supporters Trust, which owns the club, said in a statement issued Wednesday.

The News said Eisner, 75, was eager to become involved in English football, while the FT said Thursday that talks were at an "advanced stage".

Portsmouth won the FA Cup as recently as 2008 when they were a Premier League club.

But following their relegation from the lucra-tive top flight in 2009, they were hit with points penalties for repeatedly falling into administration under a succession of foreign-based owners and this contributed to their falling down the league pyramid with several relegations.

Podolski smashes Germany winner to sign off in style Dortmund

AFP

Lukas Podolski signed off his Germany career in style on Wednesday

smashing home the winning goal with his trusty left boot to seal a 1-0 friendly victory over England.

It was only fitting that the Galatasaray forward, who joins Japan's Vissel Kobe next season, should claim his 49th goal on his 130th -- and final -- inter-national appearance.

Podolski captained the world champions to their first win over old rivals Eng-land on home soil since 1987.

The 31-year-old received a standing ovation in Dort-mund after a pre-match presentation to mark his 13-year international career.

After his winning goal lit up an otherwise dull friendly on 69 minutes, Podolski came off to more thunder-ous applause with six minutes to go.

Before kick-off England manager Gareth Southgate paid tribute to the victims of Wednesday's London "ter-ror" attack and said there was no question of cancel-ling the match.

Southgate, who took the brave decision to drop Man-chester United star Wayne Rooney from his squad, fielded a new-look side who had the better of the Ger-mans in the first half.

West Bromwich Albion's Jake Livermore came in for injured Jordan Henderson while Leicester's Jamie Vardy took Harry Kane's place up front.

Gary Cahill captained the team as part of a back t h r e e w h i l e

James Ward-Prowse, Nathan Redmond and Michael Keane all made their debuts for the visitors.

Germany coach Joachim Loew also experimented by starting just three 2014 World Cup winners in Toni Kroos, Mats Hummels and Podolski.

A fourth, Sami Khedira, dropped out hours before kick-off with a swollen ankle.

Striker Timo Werner, 21, earned his Germany debut after scoring 14 goals for RB Leipzig this season.

Keane fired over in the early stages as England made a bright start and Adam Lallana's powerful shot hit the post with 30 minutes gone.

Podolski fired over Ger-many's best first-half chance after being set up by Man-chester City's Leroy Sane.

W i t h h a l f - t i m e approaching Dele Alli forced Germany goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen into a reflex save as it stayed goalless at the break.

Germany took control at the start of the second half with winger Julian Brandt

firing wide. Podolski tested England goalkeeper Joe Hart, while Eric Dier forced ter Stegen, in for injured Manuel Neuer, into a diving save on 52 minutes.

But Podolski steered the friendly Germany's way with the superb winner on 69 minutes.

A Kroos pass found replacement Andre Schuer-rle, who laid the ball off for Podolski, whose bullet shot off his left foot gave Hart no chance from 25 metres out.

The goal breathed life into the hosts and only a good save denied Sane after a storming run into the area

and the City midfielder had another late chance.

Meanwhile, in Edin-burgh, Scotland had to come from behind to snatch a 1-1 draw with lowly Canada in their friendly international at Hibernian's Easter Road ground on Wednesday.

In what was a warm-up for Scotland's potentially decisive 2018 World Cup qualifier against Slovenia at Glasgow's Hampden Park on Sunday, it took the hosts just 10 minutes to fall behind.

Canada, 50 places below the Scots in the FIFA world rankings, went 1-0 up when Fraser Aird, a midfielder with Scotland's second-tier

Falkirk, capitalised on a mix-up in the hosts' defence.

Aird also had a chance to make it 2-0 but volleyed wide in the 26th minute, with Scotland manager Gor-don Strachan not fielding his strongest side. Scotland, however, saw Steven Nai-smith equalise 11 minutes before half-time when he turned a stray shot from debutant Tom Cairney into the visitors' net.

But Canada -- 117th in the rankings compared to Scotland's 67th -- more than held their own in a match where boos rang out from disappointed Scotland fans at full-time.

International friendly results

At Usti-nad-Labam, Czech RepublicCzech Republic 3 (Horava 48-pen,

Jankto 64, Krmencik 79) Lithuania 0

At NicosiaCyprus 3 (Mytidis 56, Katedaris 62,

Christofi 66) Kazakhstan 1 (Nuserba-

jev 29)

At DortmundGermany 1 (Podolski 69) England 0

At EdinburghScotland 1 (Naismith 35) Canada 1

(Aird 11)

Team-mates throw Germany's midfielder Lukas Podolski in the air

after the friendly football match played in Dortmund, western Germany, on Wednesday. Podolski signed off his Germany career in style, smashing

home the winning goal .

18 FRIDAY 24 MARCH 2017SPORT

Former champ Lorenzo optsfor step-by-step approach Rizwan Rehmat The Peninsula

Former world champion Jorge Lorenzo hopes to build up pace with his red

Ducati bike when he steps out for the season's first race at this week's Grand Prix of Qatar.

The affable and yet feisty Spaniard knows the switch from the blue of Yamaha to the red of Ducati is a pleasing thought but not so easy to manage.

Lorenzo, a three-time premier class champion, was just recently reminded by Ducati predecessor Andrea Iannone to expect a tougher transition in the way the Spaniard rides.

After initially struggling at Sepang testing in Janu-ary, Lorenzo produced improved times at the Qatar testing less than two weeks ago.

“It’s a new era for me so I’m really looking for-ward to starting. Step by step and little by little, that’s how the preseason has been going and here in Qatar we made a big step forward, but more on one lap," Lorenzo said looking ahead to the week at Losail International Circuit.

"So our main goal before the race is to improve the pace little by little. The first day in Sepang was a little bit of a shock because I was used to being competitive from the beginning and it takes time, but on the final day I made a big step and was quite competitive," the 29-year-old added.

"Here in Qatar we’ve been much better so that makes me optimistic for the future," the Spaniard, with 44 MotoGP wins, said at the season's first press conference.

"But you never know what can happen," Lorenzo said during his testing at Losail International Circuit. "It depends on the condi-tions and lot of (other) things. The tyres will be important to us," he added.

Meanwhile, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s new recruit Iannone, 27, was lightning fast at Sepang testing though the Italian struggled for a bit of pace at Phillip Island.

When asked about his

goals in the new season, Iannone said: “Recover-ing the gap, and adjusting the bike and getting it to my style. We believe we have a lot of potential and we want to reduce the gap."

The Suzuki Ecstar star added: "At the moment it’s difficult because from the test we don’t have a great feeling; we didn’t get to a good compromise. The pace isn’t bad but isn’t so close to the top four or five. I hope to improve and fight at the top.”

British Independent Team rider Cal Crutchlow, who took two stunning vic-tories last season, is pleased going into the new season after showing impressive form in pre-season testing.

“We’ve been quite pleased. At the moment it’s proving difficult to find the right balance but we’ve been quick at every track, which is good for me and the team," Crutchlow said.

"I don't think a motor-cycle racer is ever uninjured…we’re always trying to be 100% fit, but when you throw yourself off these things as often as I did last year you’re never quite fully fit however hard you try!

"But it was nice to have a winter off for some fam-ily time, and now it’s great to be back. March gets your brain in racing mode," he 31-year-old added with his trademark smile.

Curtchlow, who expe-rienced problems with electronics during the race,

leading to a crash on the 7th lap in Qatar last year, tweeted yesterday: "I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do. Good luck and a safe year to all competitors."

Valentino Rossi's new team-mate at Yamaha, Maverick Vinales was rar-ing to go after his impressive runs in pre-season testing.

Fastest in every test and immediately at home on the Yamaha, the young Spaniard said: “At the moment it’s only been pre-season but we’ve found a good setup in all tests, on all tracks. So we’ll just try to bring that into the sea-son. We improved the bike a lot over winter! The rid-ing style change from Suzuki to Yamaha isn’t so different.”

MOTOGP

2016: Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda)

2015: Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha)

2014: Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda)

2013: Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda)

2012: Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha)

2011: Casey Stoner (AUS/Honda)

2010: Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha)

2009: Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha)

2008: Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha)

2007: Casey Stoner (AUS/Ducati)

MOTO2

2016: Johann Zarco (FRA/Kalex)

2015: Johann Zarco (FRA/Kalex)

2014: Esteve Rabat (ESP/Kalex)

2013: Pol Espargaro (ESP/Kalex)

2012: Marc Marquez (ESP/Suter)

2011: Stefan Bradl (GER/Kalex)

2010: Toni Elias (ESP/Moriwaki)

2009: Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN/Honda)

2008: Marco Simoncelli (ITA/Gilera)

2007: Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Aprilia)

Note: 250cc category until 2009

MOTO3

2016: Brad Binder (AFS/KTM)

2015: Danny Kent (GBR/Honda)

2014: Alex Marquez (ESP/Honda)

2013: Maverick Vinales (ESP/KTM)

2012: Sandro Cortese (GER/KTM)

2011: Nicolas Terol (ESP/Aprilia)

2010: Marc Marquez (ESP/Derbi)

2009: Julian Simon (ESP/Aprilia)

2008: Mike Di Meglio (FRA/Derbi)

2007: Gabor Talmacsi (HUN/Aprilia)

Note: 125cc category until 2011

TODAY

13:00-13:15 - Qatar Superstock 600 - Superpole 1

13:25-13:40 - Qatar Superstock 600 - Superpole 2

13:55-14:25 - Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup - Free Practice 2

15:35 - Qatar Superstock 600 - Race 1 (12 laps)

16:40-17:10 - Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup - Qualifying

18:00-18:45 - MotoGP - Free Practice 2

19:00-19:40 - Moto3 - Free Practice 3

19:55-20:40 - Moto2 - Free Practice 3

20:55-21:40 - MotoGP - Free Practice 3

TOMORROW

14:25 - Qatar Superstock 600 - Race 2 (12 laps)

16:00 - Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup - Race 1 (14 laps)

17:00-17:45 - MotoGP VIP Village Pit Lane Walk

17:20 / 17:30 - Medical Inspection / Track Inspection

18:00-18:40 - Moto3 - Qualifying

18:55-19:40 - Moto2 - Qualifying

19:55-20:25 - MotoGP - Free Practice 4

20:35-20:50 - MotoGP - Qualifying 1

21:00-21:15 - MotoGP - Qualifying 2

SUNDAY

13:50 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup - Race 2 (14 laps)

14:45-15:30 MotoGP VIP Village Pit Lane Walk

15:50-16:10 - Moto3 - Warm Up

16:25-16:45 - Moto2 - Warm Up

17:00-17:20 - MotoGP - Warm Up

18:00 -Moto3 - Race (18 laps); 19:20 - Moto2 - Race (20 laps); 21:00 - MotoGP - Race (22 laps);

WORLD CHAMPIONS

GRAND PRIX OF QATAR: SCHEDULE

��The MotoGP grid for 2017 consists of 19 riders who have previously

competed in the class, together with the addition of four ‘rookies’.

�� Out from last year are: Eugene Laverty, Stefan Bradl and Yonny

Hernandez.

��Joining the grid in 2017 are five riders who have all been grand prix

winners in the smaller categories: Karel Abraham, returning to MotoGP after

a year in the WorldSBK championship, and the following rookies: Johann

Zarco, Sam Lowes, Alex Rins and Jonas Folger.

��There are 10 Grand Prix World Champions on the full-time MotoGP

entry list in 2017. These 10 riders have won a total of 29 World Champion-

ships titles between them; a new record for the full-time MotoGP entry list.

��Nine of the riders on the list have won races in the premier-class.

��Twenty riders on the MotoGP entry list have had race victories in

at least one of the three classes of

Grand Prix racing, with a combined

total of Grand Prix victories of 434.

�� The oldest rider on the

MotoGP full-time entry list is Valen-

tino Rossi, who celebrated his 38th

birthday in February.

�� The youngest rider is Alex

Rins who will be 21 years 108 days

old when he lines up on the grid in

Qatar.

GRAND PRIX OF QATAR: FACTS AND FIGURES

© GRAPHIC NEWS

4

12

910

11

6 13

8

714

18

5

162

17

1513

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

14

13

15

16

17

18

Qatar GPArgentinaU.S.SpainFranceItalyCatalunyaNetherlandsGermanyCzech RepublicAustriaUK

Venue: LosailRio Hondo

Austin, TexasJerez

Le MansMugello

BarcelonaAssen

SachsenringBrno

SpielbergSilverstone

Mar 26Apr 9Apr 23May 7May 21Jun 4Jun 11Jun 25Jul 2Aug 6Aug 13Aug 27

San MarinoAragonJapan

MisanoAlcañiz, Spain

Motegi

Sep 10Sep 24Oct 15

AustraliaMalaysiaValencia

Phillip IslandSepang

Cheste, Spain

Oct 22Oct 29Nov 12

Source: MotoGP Picture: Getty Images

MarcMárquez ESP

World Champion 2016

European races

World races

MotoGP bikes are seen lined up at the Losail International Circuit ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix of Qatar.

MotoGP riders pose for a family portrait at the Losail International Circuit ahead of Sunday's Grand Prix of Qatar.

Former world champion Jorge Lorenzo of Team Ducati in action during a free practice session at the Losail International Circuit yesterday.

SPORTFriday 24 March 2017

Johnson rolls as McIlroy and Spieth stumble

at Match Play

Former champ Lorenzoopts for step-by-step

approach

PAGE | 16 PAGE | 17 PAGE | 18

Hamilton calls for more women in 'dude' dominated paddock

Friday 2

Jo

PAG

e'

Games star Ponor heads into Doha finalsFawad HussainThe Peninsula

Romania's triple Olym-pic gold medallist Catalina Ponor along

with rising Chinese stars Zou Jingyuan and Liu Tingting grabbed second day’s hon-ours at the 10th FIG Artistic World Cup with sparkling performances at the Aspire Dome yesterday.

The day marked the end of qualification rounds with the finals, spread over two days, getting under way today.

Ponor, 29, who won three gold medals in 2004 Olym-pics, sailed into the final of women’s balance beam after accumulating 13.766 points.

However, she was sur-passed by teenager Tingting who displayed an impressive performance in the qualifi-cation round.

The 16-year old Chinese topped the round with 13.933 points while Australia’s Emily Little secured third position with a total 13.233 points.

Huan Luo (China) Emma Nedov (Australia), Uctas Sanli (Turkey), Zsofia Kovacs (Hun-gary) and Ana Derik (Croatia) also qualified for the final.

Earlier, Jingyuan who

won silver medal in the Mel-bourne leg of the contest last month continued his fine form to finish the men’s par-allel bars qualification on top with a sizzling show that secured him a huge tally 16.166 points.

Pablo Braegger of Swit-zerland finished second with 15.033 points. Arican Ferhat claimed third spot after securing 14.933 points on a day in which he also quali-fied for the final of men’s vault event. The 24-year-old Turkish sensation also

qualified for the finals of two events – floor exercise and pommel horse on the open-ing day of the event on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Marcel Nguyen (Germany), Tomas Dinh (Lithuania), Phuong

Thanh (Vietnam) and Davtyan Artur (Armenia) also qualified for the final of men’s parallel event.

In the men’s vault quali-fication, Vietnam’s national champion Le Thanh Tung reigned supreme after

collecting a total of 14.750 points followed by Armenia’s Davtyan Artur who got 14.716 points. Australia’s Christo-pher Remkes came in third position with a tally of 14.416 points.

Romania’s Marian Dragu-lescu, Ferhat, Stephens Clay (Australia), Heikki Saarenketo Heikki (Finland) and Felix Remuta (Germany) also qual-ified for the final.

A total of five titles will be decided today with the men competing in floor exercise, pommel horse and rings finals. The female athletes will compete for gold medals in vault and uneven bars.

Stars who will be seen in action in the finals today include Hungary's 2012 Lon-don Olympics gold medallist Krisztian Berki and Rio Games bronze medallist Yan Wang of China along with Uzbek veteran Oksana Chus-ovitina and Little.

Chusovitina, 41 was hop-ing to do well in the women’s vault final today.

“It’s going to be a tough competition but I will do my best to earn a good position,” the veteran Uzbek told reporters after qualifying for the final of women’s vault yesterday.

Qualification results (Top 3)

WOMEN’S BALANCE BEAM

Liu Tingting (China) 13.933 points

Catalina Ponor (Romania) 13.766

Emily Little (Australia) 13.233

MEN’S PARALLEL BARS

Zou Jingyuan (China) 16.166

Pablo Braegger (Switzerland) 15.033

Arican Ferhat (Turkey) 14.933

MEN’S VAULT

Le Thanh Tung (Vietnam) 14.750

Davtyan Artur (Armenia) 14.716

Christopher Remkes (Australia) 14.416

MEN’S HORIZONTAL BARS

Xiao Ruoteng (China) 14.433

Mitchell Morgans (Australia) 14.100

Tin Srbic (Croatia) 14.100

India call up Iyer as cover forinjured KohliBengaluru

Reuters

India have called up uncapped batsman Shreyas Iyer for the fourth and final Test against Australia as cover for cap-

tain Virat Kohli who has not recovered fully from a shoulder injury.

Kohli damaged his right shoulder when diving to save a boundary on the first day of the penultimate Test in Ranchi and was off the field during most of Aus-tralia's first innings in the drawn game.

The 28-year-old did come out to bat at his usual number four position and took the field for Australia's second innings. There is no suggestion he has yet been ruled out of the winner-takes-all fourth Test in Dharamsala.

"Shreyas Iyer is joining the squad as back-up," an Indian cricket board (BCCI) source told Reuters.

India's batting mainstay Kohli has scored only 46 runs in his five innings against Australia after scoring a double century in each of the previous four series.

The decision to call up Iyer has more to do with the difficulty involved in flying out a last-minute replacement to Dhar-amsala, which is situated in the Himalayan foothills.

Iyer, 22, was Mumbai's highest scor-ing batsman in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy and struck an unbeaten 202 in a first-class match for India A against Australia last month.

The four-match series is level at 1-1 going into the decider which starts tomorrow.

Bangladesh add Mehedi for Sri Lanka ODIsDhaka

AFP

Bangladesh yesterday included teen-age off-spinner Mehedi Hasan to their one-day international line-up

for a three-match series against Sri Lanka, an official said.

The 19-year-old was part of the squad that defeated Sri Lanka at the weekend in Colombo to draw the two-Test series 1-1.

Mehedi and several other Test spe-cialists have returned home since the historic win, which was Bangladesh's 100th Test since their elevation to full sta-tus 17 years ago.

Mehedi has played seven Tests since making his debut against England last year but is yet to feature in a limited-over game.

Chief selector Minhajul Abedin said team management felt an off-spinner would work against Sri Lanka's left-handed batsmen in the ODI series opener in Dambula tomorrow.

"The composition of the Sri Lanka team suggested that we would need an extra off-spinner in the series," he said.

Mehedi will join the 16-man Bangla-desh squad already in Sri Lanka.

The three-match ODI series will be followed by two Twenty20 internation-als next month.

Bangladesh Squad

Mashrafe Mortaza (Capt), Tamim Iqbal,

Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur

Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman,

Mahmudullah Riyad, Mosaddek Hossain,

Mustafizur Rahman, Rubel Hossain, Taskin

Ahmed, Subashis Roy, Sanjamul Islam,

Shuvagata Hom, Nurul Hasan and Mehedi

Hasan.

Iran edge Qatar in Doha battle Chinthana WasalaThe Peninsula

Asian giants Iran yesterday retained their top position by beating Qatar 1-0 in their 2018

FIFA World Cup qualifying game at Al Sadd Stadium.

Mehdi Taremi struck the only goal of the match in the 52nd minute as the visitors - coached by Carlos Quieroz - picked up their second win against Iran in recent months.

Forward Karim Ansari's neat through ball found Taremi in ample space inside the Qatari box. The Persepo-lis striker made no mistake with his finish as the ball slipped past the Qatar goalkeeper.

Iran now have 14 points from six games whereas sixth-placed Qatar - coached by Jorge Fossati - have only 4 points after six games.

Korea are in second spot (10 points) followed by third-placed Uzbekistan (9 points) and Syria (8 points) in fourth place. China are in fifth spot with 5 points.

In a game of fumbled up chances, Qatar striker Rodrigo Tabata yesterday missed a couple of chances to score when his booming free-kicks narrowly missed the Iran goalpost in the first half.

Fellow striker Sebastian Soria failed to connect with his header off a Tabata free-kick in the 26th minute of the match.

Despite the misses Qatar goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb pre-sented a good exhibition in the game - he twice produced quality saves before half-time

to deny Iranian forward Sardar Azmoun.

Earlier yesterday, China beat South Korea while Syria stunned Uzbekistan 1-0 in two Group A matches.

In Group B Asian Zone qualifying matches, Iraq fought back for a 1-1 draw against Australia while Japan crushed the UAE 2-0.

Saudi Arabia yesterday eased past Thailand 3-0 in another Group B match.

Qatar take on Uzbekistan on March 28.

Iran's goalkeeper Alireza Safar Beiranvand (left) and Milad Mohammadi (second right) defend as Qatar's Rodrigo Tabata (second left) tries to score during the World Cup 2018 Asian qualifier played at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha yesterday. Iran beat Qatar 1-0. BOTTOM: Players vie for the ball procession during yesterday's game. Pictures: Salim

Matramkot

Asian zone World Cup Qualifying Results

GROUP A�� China 1 (Yu Dabao 34) South

Korea 0

��Syria 1 (Omar Kharbin 90+1-pen)

Uzbekistan 0

��Qatar 0 Iran 1 (Taremi 52)

GROUP B�� Thailand 0 Saudi Arabia 3

(Mohammed Al Sahlawi 25, Tanaboon

Kesarat 84 OG, Salman Almuwashar

92)

��Iraq 1 (Yaseen 76) Australia 1

(Leckie 40)

��UAE 0 Japan 2 (Kuba 13, Kunno

51)

Qatari gymnast Jana Elkeky in action during the second day of 10th FIG Artistic World Cup at the Aspire Dome yesterday.