SPORTThursday 26 October 2017

Garcia keeps campaign alive with win; Wozniacki in

NBA: James leads revamped Cavaliers

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PAGE | 32-33 PAGE | 34 PAGE | 36 Dhawan, Karthik help India prevail in Pune to level series

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Al Rayyan determined to break Al Sadd jinx Armstrong VasThe Peninsula

Al Rayyan coach Michael Laudrup said his team is eager to break the jinx of losing to Al Sadd when they clash in the

Round 6 match of the QNB Stars League (QSL) dubbed the Qatar Clasico.

The Lions haven’t won against Al Sadd in the league for a while and the clash between the two teams always evoke a keen inter-est among all stakeholders. Both sides have stand-out players in all departments to make the game really electrifying on the pitch.

“Of course, it is a big game and a big date. We’re keen to take on Al Sadd mainly because we want to reverse the trend of defeats against them in recent times. We must be playing at our best, with or without the ball. There are some outstanding players on both sides and it must be nice for the players to showcase their skills and also for others to watch them in action,” said Laudrup.

“From the league standings’ point of view too, this is an important match for us. We want to finish in the top four and play in the AFC Champions League. We’ve to be really, really strong on the field. If not, players like Xavi (Hernandez), Baghdad (Bounedjah), Jugurtha Hamroun and Hassan Al Haidos will kill us. We should be creating

more opportunities to score,” he added.

T h e D a n e expressed confi-

dence that Al Rayyan has the right arsenal which is capable of penetrating the Al Sadd defence.

“We’ve a strong squad. Even if we

change t h r e e

or

four main players, the squad is still stronger this season. When the going is good, things are smooth in the team camp as well. We’ve already played seven games, including in the QSL Cup, and won six of them,” said the Dane.

Meanwhile, Al Gharafa coach Jean Fernandez admitted they have an uphill task when they take on leaders Al Duhail.

“We know it’s a difficult task against Al Duhail. They’re the champions and leaders with an all-win record. However, we’ll be desperate to get some points. We’re trying to put behind the disap-pointment of losing to Al Kharaitiyat by a big margin in the last round,” Fernandez said.

Al Duhail top the league stand-ings with 15 points from five matches.

“We took on Al Kharaitiyat in a confident manner, having regis-tered our first victory in this season’s league, against Al Khor. But things didn’t work our way and we ended up disappointed. We just couldn’t sustain the momentum. All that is past and we look forward to this match. We won’t get over-awed by Al Duhail’s status. They’ve some dangerous players and (Youssef) El Arabi is scoring at will. It all will depend on how well we contain their attacks.”

Fernandez said his back four need to tighten the loosed ends.

“Our defence needs to improve. If you defend well, then you’ve more chances to win. We’ve many positives to draw from our games so far and we’ll try to build on them,” said the Frenchman.

Al Gharafa are sixth in the table with five points.

The Peninsula

The Qatar Football Association (QFA) signed a cooperation agreement with the Japan Football Association

(JFA) at QFA’s headquarters in Doha yesterday.

The agreement was signed by QFA President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani and by JFA President Kohzo Tashima.

The signing ceremony was also attended by Saoud Al Mohannadi, Vice President of the QFA.

The agreement focuses on coopera-tion in several key areas, mainly: technical and professional exchanges, national teams, exchange of expertise (including coach education and youth development), game development, player development and referee development.

Through the agreement, the QFA and JFA will focus on joint efforts to explore the possibility of organising friendly matches between the two associations.

The JFA President, Kohzo Tashima commented: “I am delighted to come to my second home Qatar and thank Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani for the warm welcome and hospitality. The official signing of the agreement with the QFA is a very positive step towards football development, especially since I have a close relationship with the Presi-dent of the QFA. I am pleased to sign this cooperation agreement today, which is an illustration of the existing brotherly

relations and I look forward to imple-menting this cooperation in the near future.”

He added: “This agreement will ben-efit both countries, especially as Qatar has become a great football power in Asia, and is preparing to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar in five years’ time. By follow-ing the size of the great achievement reached by Qatar I am certain that Qatar has sufficient time to host and stage a unique tournament. I had pleasure of vis-iting the Qatar national teams centre at Aspire, which is a world-class centre with great facilities and is set to open its doors soon for the teams which will definitely help the teams achieve great results.

He also said: “Through this agree-ment, the JFA and QFA will focus on joint efforts to explore the possibility of organ-ising matches for the first teams and age group teams. Other aspects of the agree-ment will see both associations focus on the exchange of knowledge and exper-tise in the technical, administrative, sports science and sports medicine fields espe-cially as Qatar has Aspetar, the global sports medicine hospital that is known for its world-class facilities and services.”

QFA has now signed agreements with Oman Football Association (OFA), Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF), and the Korea Football Association (KFA) as part of its strategy to develop football in Qatar and enhance its relationship with its various Asian counterparts.

Qatar and Japan sign MoU at Doha meeting

Qatar Football Association (QFA) President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani (right) and Japan Football Association (JFA) President Kohzo Tashima pose for a photograph during the cooperation agreement signing ceremony at Al Bidda Tower yesterday.

them in action,” said Laudrup.

gmore opportunities to

score,” he added.T h e D a n e

expressed confi-dence that AlRayyan has theright arsenalwhich is capableof penetratingthe Al Sadddefence.

“We’ve astrong squad.Even if we

changet h r e e

or

p pp jcouldn’t sustain the momentum. All that is past and we look forward to this match. We won’t get over-awed by Al Duhail’s status. They’ve some dangerous players and (Youssef) El Arabi is scoring at will. It all will depend on how well we contain their attacks.”

Fernandez said his back four need to tighten the loosed ends.

“Our defence needs to improve. If you defend well, then you’ve more chances to win. We’ve many positives to draw from our games so far and we’ll try to build on them,” said the Frenchman.

Al Gharafa are sixth in the table with five points.

Of course, it is a big game and a big date. We’re keen to take on Al Sadd mainly because we want to reverse the trend of defeats against them in recent times: Michael Laudrup

Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Chairman H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani poses for a photograph with special invitees and schoolchildren at the launching ceremony of the first stage of Kun Riyadi (‘Be an Athlete’) programme in Doha yesterday. The programme is conducted by the QOC in collaboration with Ministry of Education and Higher Education. See also page 31

QOC, Ministry of Education and Higher Education launch ‘Kun Riyadi’

30 THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017SPORT

The Peninsula

The Qatar Football Association (QFA) and the Korea Foot-ball Association (KFA) signed a

cooperation agreement yes-terday in QFA’s headquarters at Al Bidda Tower in Doha.

The agreement was signed by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, President of the QFA and by Chung Monggyu, President of the KFA.

The agreement is set to establish a framework to strengthen cooperation between the two associations, to encourage knowledge exchange and to enhance football growth in the respec-tive countries.

The signing ceremony was also attended by Saoud Al Mohannadi, VicePresident of the QFA, Mansoor Al Ansari, General Secretary of the QFA, Hani Ballan, QFA Board Mem-ber and Sung Ho Sin, International Affairs Manager at the KFA.

This upcoming period will witness the establishment of a joint working group, which will study in detail the legal framework of the memoran-dum in order to activate this agreement.

A plan of action will also be prepared, which will include a report on the most important achievements, schedule of activities and events that will bring together the two associations in the coming period.

QFA recently signed a series of cooperation agree-ments in mid-October, which

focus on areas of cooperation with counterparts from the Asia region, those were with the Oman Football Associa-tion (OFA) and the Uzbekistan Football Federation (UFF), and is set to sign more in the upcoming period.

In recent years, QFA has also signed several agree-ments with its Yemeni, Palestinian, German, Italian, Pakistani, and Kyrgyz coun-terparts, which demonstrates Qatar’s openness and ongo-ing cooperation with all nations aiming at strengthen-ing its’ relations with various federations across all continents.

The purpose of this agree-ment is for both associations to invest in the brotherly and bilateral relations between the two countries and further explore areas of interest between them.

The memorandum signed will see both federations share expertise and experiences in the areas of training of tech-nical personnel, sports science, and sports medicine.

Additionally, the memo-randum will also focus on exchanges of information and technical material to serve the development of football in both countries, which acts as a milestone aimed at facilitat-ing the growth and development of football in Qatar and South Korea.

A meeting was also con-ducted between the two associations’ Presidents, which aimed to discuss sev-eral important issues and mutual interests, and stressed the importance of football development in the Asian continent.

During the meeting, they also discussed mutual rela-tions between the two parties and several aspects of the joint cooperation.

Talks were held on enhancing bilateral relations, and ways for QFA to benefit from the vast experience of South Korean football.

Commenting on the occasion, President of the KFA, Monggyu said: “I am very happy to be here in Qatar and thank Sheikh

Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani for the warm welcome and hospi-tality. I am also happy to sign this cooperation agreement with the QFA, which is an extension of the existing brotherly relations. We have a long history of joint work and this agreement will undoubtedly have a great pos-i t ive inf luence on strengthening the relations between us and the QFA.”

He also said: “This is my second visit to Qatar and I have already noticed the tre-mendous stadium and infrastructure progress being achieved to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar. I am confident that Qatar will stage a unique and successful tournament.”

“Qatar does not only rep-resent the Middle East, it represents the whole of Asia too. Therefore, staging the World Cup in Qatar means that this is the second time Asia gets the opportunity to stage such a prominent and important tournament, which is truly a great honour for all of us in the region,” he added.

Commenting on the deep relations between the QFA and KFA, while pointing to the role that football plays in pro-moting relations between different countries, Al Ansari, General Secretary of the QFA commented: “The cooperation agreement comes in light of the common interests between both parties in order to achieve the desired results and objectives, which ensures the overall long term devel-opment of football for both countries.”

This is my second visit to Qatar and I have already noticed the tremendous stadium and infrastructure progress being achieved to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar: President KFA Chung Monggyu

Qatar, Korea boost ties with new agreement

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, President of the QFA and Chung Monggyu, President of the KFA during the cooperation agreement signing ceremony at Al Bidda Tower yesterday.

Qatar and India juniors to lock horns in Doha friendly Armstrong Vas The Peninsula

Qatar and India Under-19 teams will clash in a friendly match in Doha on

Saturday as part of their respec-tive preparations for the 2018 AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers.

Qatar are placed in Group C in the Asian qualifiers along with Iraq and Lebanon and will kick off their campaign at home against Lebanon on November 6 followed by the match against Iraq, two days later.

Iraq and Lebanon will begin proceedings in the group with a match on November 4.

India have been clubbed with

hosts Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Turkmenistan in Group D for the continental qualifiers.

They play their first match against Saudi Arabia on Novem-ber 4 followed by matches against Yemen and Turkmeni-stan on November 6 and 8 respectively.

The Indian team, consisting of a large chunk of players who did duty during the ongoing under-17 World Cup taking place in India and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) U-19 Academy, arrived in Qatar yes-terday and were accorded

warm welcome by the fans at the Hamad International Airport.

Portuguese coach Luis Nor-ton de Matos, who was in charge of the team during the Under-17 World Cup, is the chief coach and will be assisted by Floyd Pinto, AIFF U-19 Academy coach.

After the Qatar U-19 friendly the Indian team will proceed to Dammam, Saudi Arabia for the AFC U-19 qualifiers.

Matos said the brief stopover in Qatar will serve as a prepara-tion for the tough AFC qualifiers in Saudi Arabia.

“The team is a mixture of players from the Under-17 and under-19 squads. We hope to acclimatise with the weather and

some match practice ahead of the AFC qualifiers,” said the 63-year old former Benfica youth coach.

The Portuguese said the Under-17 boys need to play in more competitions to get use to the big match temperament.

“For the Under-17 boys play-ing in the World Cup was there their first competitive matches, so the boys need a lot more com-petitions and all I can say that Indian football has a fantastic future ahead of them in the com-ing years,” added the Indian coach.

In the Under-17 world Cup, India lost 3-0 to USA, went down fighting 2-1 to Colombia and were outplayed 4-0 by Ghana

India Under-19 team’s players and officials pose for a group photo upon their arrival at Hamad International Airport in Doha yesterday.

League Cup: Bravo stars as City see off Wolves in shoot-out London AFP

Manchester City goal-keeper Claudio Bravo was the Premier

League leaders’ hero as they beat Championship leaders Wolves in a penalty shoot-out to book their place in the quar-ter-finals of the English League Cup on Tuesday.

Despite chances at both ends, the Etihad Stadium clash was still scoreless after 30 min-utes of extra time, sending the tie to spot-kicks.

Bravo, much criticised after some unconvincing displays last season and making just his third appearance of this cam-paign, saved successive penalties from Alfred N’Diaye and Conor Coady in a shoot-out where the kicks were taken using the ABBA formula.

Sergio Aguero, just one goal away from becoming City’s all-time leading goalscorer, sealed a 4-1 shoot-out success with a cheeky Panenka chipped penalty.

But as the Argentina strik-er’s effort was scored in a shoot-out he remains level with Eric Brook’s City record of 177 goals for the Manchester club that has stood since 1939.

Arsenal, who changed their entire side from the 11 that beat Everton 5-2 in the Premier League last weekend, were five minutes away from losing to second-tier Norwich City at the Emirates.

But England Under-19 striker Eddie Nketiah equalised for the Gunners just 15 seconds after coming off the bench to send the game into extra-time at 1-1 with his first senior goal after Josh Murphy’s chip had given the visitors the lead.

And the 18-year-old Nke-tiah ensured Arsene Wenger’s men would be in the quarter-final draw when he headed home the winner.

Premier League basement club Crystal Palace were knocked out after suffering a

4-1 loss away to Bristol City despite taking the lead at Ash-ton Gate.

Bakary Sako put the Eagles ahead in the 21st minute. But second-tier Bristol City hit back through goals from Matt Tay-lor, Milan Djuric, Joe Bryan and Callum O’Dowda.

Managers at both ends of the Premier League table often regard the League Cup as an inconvenience and Palace’s lat-est loss was not so surprising given Roy Hodgson, the former England boss, had made 10 changes to the London club’s line-up.

Elsewhere, Jesse Lingard scored twice as League Cup holders Manchester United saw off Premier League rivals Swansea 2-0, a result that saw Jose Mourinho’s men bounce back from a shock league defeat by Huddersfield.

Bournemouth, fresh from just their second Premier League win of the season last weekend, enjoyed a 3-1 victory at home to Middlesbrough.

Jack Simpson put the Cher-ries ahead with a goal on debut before Marcus Tavernier equal-ised for Boro.

Leicester had to come from a goal down to beat another Championship club Leeds United 3-1. The Foxes, without a manager after sacking Craig Shakespeare, fell behind at home to a 26th-minute goal from Pablo Hernandez. But they needed just four more minutes to be back on level terms, Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho scoring the equaliser.

Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero (right) and Claudio Bravo celebrate after the match League Cup match against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Etihad Stadium, Manchester on Tuesday.

Fourth roundArsenal 2 (Nketiah 85, 96) Norwich 1 (Murphy 34)

Bournemouth 3 (Simpson 49, Wilson 75-pen,

Afobe 83) Middlesbrough 1 (Tavernier 56)

Bristol City 4 (Taylor 34, Djuric 39, Bryan 60,

O’Dowda 66) Crystal Palace 1 (Sako 21)

Leicester 3 (Iheanacho 30, Slimani 71, Mahrez 88)

Leeds 1 (Hernandez 26)

Swansea 0 Manchester United 2 (Lingard 21, 59)

Manchester City 0 Wolves 0

Manchester City win 4-1 on penalties

LEAGUE CUP RESULTS

Match to be played at Al Arabi Stadium

31THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017 SPORT

QOC launches ‘Be an Athlete’ programme

The Peninsula

The Qatar Olympic Commit-tee (QOC) and Ministry of Education and Higher Edu-

cation yesterday launched the first stage of Kun Riyadi (‘Be an Athlete’), Qatar’s unique Athlete Development Pathway that aims to produce Qatari sporting champions.

The first phase, ‘Quality’ focuses on sports development amongst 0-7 year olds and will be rolled out across Qatar’s nurs-eries and schools, instilling enjoyment and interest in sport from the earliest possible age.

Speaking at the launch event, Secretary General of the Qatar Olympic Committee, Jassim bin Rashed Al Buenain, said: “The first phase of ‘Kun Riyadi’ aims to provide the opportunity for sports participation and devel-opment to start from very earliest stage of childhood.

“Our unique Athlete Devel-opment Pathway (ADP) is a fundamental part of the QOC’s new vision and direction for sport, which strives to achieve Qatari sporting success at every level. Identifying, developing and nurturing talented athletes at every stage of their career is key to ensuring that they reach their full potential but before that, it is vital that we instil an enjoy-ment and love for sport at the youngest possible age,” he added.

“This is exactly what we aim to achieve through the Quality stage of our ADP version and it has been wonderful to see today how much fun and enjoyment

these young children have had participating in the activities. We look forward to watching the programme grow and develop over the months and years ahead.”

Deputy Minister of the Min-istry of Education and Higher Education, H E Rabea Mohamed Al-Kaabi, said: “We are very pleased to work with the Qatar Olympic Committee on this project and we will work hard to ensure its success. Our schools are incubators of talent and sporting skills and it is the vision of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to provide innovative and high-quality opportunities for our students. The Ministry has made physical education as one of the basic subjects within the school sylla-bus and has used the highest international standards when

creating its curriculum, thereby helping the success of this program.”

The ADP was launched in November 2016 by the QOC and Aspire Academy, and was a result of a three-year project involving the input of multiple stakehold-ers, sporting entities and world-class sport development experts from the Aspire Acad-emy to create a framework unique for Qatar.

The ‘Quality’ phase of the ADP was launched with partic-ipating schools at Qatar Foundation’s Student Centre, with coaches from Qatar’s national federations supporting schoolteachers in running fun and engaging lessons focussing on gymnastics and athletics. Also participating in the launch activ-ities were Team Qatar gymnasts Duha Al Habshi and Abdulla Al Hareth, who inspired the school-children by demonstrating their skills and answering questions about their successful sporting careers.

This stage of Kun Riyadi has been designed to encourage active play and exploration to help children develop motor skills that will help them become effective at running, jumping and throwing later on in life.

Lessons and activities will focus on demonstrating sport to children and providing a joyful and supportive environment where children enjoy sport and have fun playing it.

The programme will be ini-tially rolled out in three sports – gymnastics, athletics and swimming, across 12 schools in Qatar and progress will be mon-itored and reviewed on a regular basis to ensure goals are being met. Further schools and sports will then be incorporated until eventually all schools and sports in Qatar are involved by 2022.

Commenting on Kun Riyadi, participating female gymnast Al Habshi said: “I think it is so important that all children espe-cially girls are given the opportunity to try a range of dif-ferent sports from as young as possible so that they can see what they are interested in and where their talents lie. Kun Riy-adi is a fantastic initiative to ensure that all Qatari sporting talent is identified and developed and that every child can enjoy as

much sport as possible.” The Qatar ADP is a five-stage model that provides a comprehensive framework for developing skills at critical periods in an athlete’s development from early child-hood to post-retirement.

The next phases after Qual-ity see participants aged 8-12 develop a foundation of differ-ent skills to serve them in a range of sports, before a tailored pro-gramme is provided specific to children’s individual needs from 13-18 years of age.

At 19, tailored practice, train-ing, competition, and recovery regimes and provided ensuring that athletes maximise their potential. The final stage of development ensures that ath-letes remain active after their careers and impart their knowl-edge and experience to future generations participating in the pathway.

Athletes can enter this stage at any age depending on whether

they decide to revert to playing sport at a recreational level or remain in the professional sphere as a coach or official.

The Qatar Olympic Commit-tee has previously contributed to the investment of a number of distinguished athletes through scholarship programs. The ath-letes would return after receiving their university degrees to work for the institution, continuing to contribute to the development of the national sports movement.

The ADP framework includes 39 sport specific mod-els, each tailored to enable optimum development within different sports and disciplines, including para-sport and women in sport. It will be rolled out with an innovative Athlete Management System that cen-tralises data gathering of all athletes, including sport science data, learning progress and injury history.

This will enable insights into athletes’ training to be gathered, which will also help to shape and improve future training programmes.

An in-depth ADP encyclo-paedia has also been produced to support its delivery, which includes background informa-tion, guidelines, processes and techniques.

Kun Riyadi is the result of a three-year project which was completed last year involving the input of multiple stakeholders, sporting entities and world-class sport development experts from the Aspire Academy to create a framework unique for Qatar.

Led by the QOC, it enables Qatar to have a fully unified approach producing future Qatari sporting champions, with the involvement of Qatar’s National Federations, Aspire Academy, Ministry of Education and all stakeholders and sport-ing entities.

A young student tries gymnastics during the launch of Kun Riyadi.

Students take part in athletics during the launch of Kun Riyadhi.

Team Qatar Gymnasts Duha and Abdulla demonstrating skills for the young students during the launched of the first stage of Kun Riyadi (‘Be an Athlete’), Qatar’s unique Athlete Development Pathway that aims to produce Qatari sporting champions.

Champion stuffThe first stage of Kun Riyadi (‘Be an Athlete’), Qatar’s unique Athlete Development Pathway that aims to produce Qatari sporting champions.

The first phase will be rolled out across Qatar’s nurseries and schools, instilling enjoyment and interest in sport from earliest possible age.

32 THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017SPORT 33THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017 SPORT

Defiant Pakistan eye another clean sweep against Lankans Abu DhabiAFP

Pakistan will look to transfer the momentum from their one-day whitewash against Sri Lanka

into the three Twenty20 internation-als starting in Abu Dhabi today and ending in Lahore three days later.

Pakistan blanked Sri Lanka 5-0 in the preceding one-day series and start the Twenty20 fixtures as strong favourites as the number two-ranked side, with Sri Lanka a lowly eighth.

If Pakistan sweep the T20 series they will come within a point of first-place New Zealand and could go top if India beat the Black Caps in a three-match series next month.

Aside from winning nine straight ODIs since lifting the Champions Tro-phy in June, Pakistan have also won nine of their last 11 Twenty20 inter-nationals -- all since Sarfraz Ahmed took over as captain.

Off the field too, Pakistan will hope to build on their efforts to revive international cricket back home with the last match to be played in Lahore on Sunday.

That contest will see the return of Sri Lanka to Pakistan, eight years after their team bus was ambushed by gunmen on the way to the ground in Lahore on March 3, 2009.

Despite Pakistan hosting the Pakistan Super League final in March and three T20 internationals against a World XI -- with players from seven

countries -- last month, regular Sri Lanka skipper Upul Tharanga and five other players, as well as coach Nic Pothas refused to travel to Lahore.

That forced Sri Lankan selectors to hand all-rounder Thisara Perera,

part of the World XI, the captaincy and choose a new-look side.

But Ahmed said his team will not underestimate Sri Lanka.

“It’s satisfying to win the ODIs and we will target that same winning momentum but definitely we will not take Sri Lanka lightly,” said Ahmed.

“Maybe they don’t have big names but their players have played in the past and have done well. No team is weak in T20s, so we have to be at our best.”

Pakistan’s pace bowling will be further boosted by the return of Mohammad Amir who missed the ODIs with a shin injury.

Fill-in Sri Lanka skipper Perera hopes his team will put up a good fight.

“I am really happy to be leading the team,” said Perera. “It’s a dream come true for me and I hope this team can do something special in this series.”

Pakistani cricketers celebrate their victory at the end of the fifth one day international match against Sri Lanka at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah, UAE in this file photo.

T20 SquadsPAKISTAN: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Aamer Yamin, Mohammad Amir, Usman Shinwari, Umar Amin

SRI LANKA: Thisara Perera (capt), Dilshan Munaweera, Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Ashan Priyanjan, Mahela U d awa tte , D a s u n Shanaka, Minod Bhanuka, Sachith Pathirana, Vikum Sanjaya, Lahiru Gamage, Seekkuge Prasanna, Vishwa Fernando, Isuru Udana, Jeffrey Vandersay, Chaturanga de Silva

ColomboAFP

Sri Lanka’s sports minister announced yesterday he would join the national

cricket team on their first match in Pakistan since gunmen attacked their team bus in Lahore eight years ago.

Dayasiri Jayasekara (pictured) said Sri Lanka was satisfied with security preparations for the Twenty20 final in Lahore later in October despite reservations from some players.

“It is safe for our team. I am accompanying them to demon-strate that it is safe for us,” Jayasekara told reporters in Colombo.

“The ICC (International Cricket Council) has also said it is safe for us to tour Pakistan.”

Several top players have pulled out of the three-match series start-ing Thursday in the United Arab Emirates, concerned about

security when the final shifts to Lahore on October 29.

Sources close to Sri Lanka’s cricket board say coach Nic Pothas will also not join the squad in Lahore.

It will be Sri Lanka’s first visit to Pakistan since 2009 when gun-men opened fire on their squad bus, killing eight people and injuring seven visiting team members and support staff.

No top international side has played in Pakistan since the attack.

Players who expressed concerns

about security -- including batsman Chamara Kapugedara and bowler Suranga Lakmal, who survived the 2009 assault -- have been dropped from the series.

Skipper Upul Tharanga, fast bowler Lasith Malinga and batsmen Niroshan Dickwella have also been left out of the squad.

On Saturday Sri Lanka made 28-year-old all-rounder Thisara Perera the captain of the T20 squad.

He had toured Pakistan as a member of a World XI for a three-match Twenty20 international series played in Lahore last month.

That series was part of Pakistani efforts to bring international cricket back to the country.

Pakistan hosted Zimbabwe for a five-match limited overs series in 2015 but top teams have refused to tour there, forcing Pakistan to play home matches in neutral venues in the UAE.

Sri Lanka Cricket chief Thi-langa Sumathipala will also travel to Lahore with the team.

Sri Lanka sports minister joins historic tour

Maybe they don’t have big names but their players have played in the past and have done well. No team is weak in T20s, so we have to be at our best: Sarfraz Ahmed

Bangladesh hope to end winless streak BloemfonteinAFP

Shakib Al Hasan will be Bang-ladesh’s third captain on a disappointing tour of South

Africa as they seek to regain some pride in two Twenty20 internation-als, starting in Bloemfontein today.

Bangladesh’s all-time leading all-rounder was reappointed T20 captain after a seven-year gap fol-lowing the retirement from the format of Mashrafe Mortaza.

He takes over a squad that has already suffered humiliating defeats in two Test matches and three one-day internationals.

So poorly have Bangladesh per-formed that Test captain Mushfiqur Rahim and one-day skipper Mor-taza were unable to hide their frustration in comments to Bang-ladesh media.

“I am not able to motivate my players or guide my bowlers,” Rahim was quoted as saying after the Tests.

Mortaza said after the one-day games that “neither the batsmen nor the bowlers took responsibilities”.

While Bangladesh’s batsmen were always expected to struggle in South African conditions, the bowlers have been the most con-spicuous failures on the tour.

In two Tests and three one-day internationals, the bowlers have captured only 23 wickets at a com-bined average of 100.21.

With no new faces in the T20 squad and leading bowler Mustafi-zur Rahman having returned home because of injury, Shakib appears to have the odds stacked against him.

South Africa, though, will be without inspirational captain Faf du Plessis, who suffered a lower back disc injury in the final one-day international, which will keep him out of action for six weeks.

JP Duminy, who had a win and two losses against Australia in his only previous experience of cap-taincy three years ago, will take over.

The hosts have rested two of their leading bowlers, Kagiso Rab-ada and Imran Tahir.

The South Africans lost a T20 series against Sri Lanka last season despite outclassing them in the Tests and one-day games.

With South Africa fielding an unusually inexperienced bowling line-up, Bangladesh’s batsmen will hope to seize the opportunity to

make a strong finish to the tour.South Africa’s batting looks for-

midable, however, and the Bangladesh bowlers will need to perform far better than they have in previous matches if they are to contain them.

SydneyAFP

Australia captain Steve Smith and star opener David Warner say they have no desire to play four-

day Tests in a setback to international cricket chiefs who have floated the idea.

At a board meeting in Auckland this month, the International Cricket Coun-cil unveiled plans for a long-awaited, nine-nation Test championship in a bid to preserve the five-day format’s status following the rapid growth of Twenty20.

Among a raft of other reforms, it also agreed to experiment with four-day Tests, with South Africa and Zimbabwe set to trial the first in December.

But Smith and Warner are not keen, even if the hours and over

requirements of each day are extended to reduce disparity with the traditional format.

“Personally, I like five so I would

like to keep it at five,” Smith said in an interview with cricket.com.au.

“Just the traditional way that Test cricket has been played, I think it’s great when you get into that fifth day and enter that last hour, I think it’s a really cool part of the game.”

Warner was even more strident in his opposition, saying: “I have no inter-est in four-day cricket”.

“You have so many variables in Test match cricket -- you’ve got

weather, some games might be only getting three days but it just takes one day to have that

weather come in and it can ruin it,” he told the same website.

“Then on the flip-side, it’s a Test.“It’s the longevity, being out there

on your legs, it’s grit, determination, those things come to my mind to actu-ally want to keep playing five-day cricket.

“Like a timeless Test (a feature of Test cricket in the 1920s and ‘30s), it’s basically survival of the fittest.”

Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland has expressed support for the trial, but indi-cated earlier this month it was unlikely Australia would take part any time soon.

“We were support-ive of the trial... I think it’s about learning, it’s about innovation, it’s about understanding whether these sorts of things can work,” he told reporters.

“Our Test schedule over the next couple of years before the Test Championship starts has us playing against Eng-land this summer, South Africa, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka.

“I don’t foresee us play-ing any four-day Test cricket in that window. But that’s not to say we don’t support the trial. We’ll certainly be interested observers.”

Smith, Warner not in favour of four-day Tests

opener David Warner say have no desire to play four-

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SquadsSOUTH AFRICA: JP Duminy (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, Robbie Frylinck, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wkt), Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi

BANGLADESH: Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan

PuneReuters

Tight bowling and f i f t i e s f r o m Shikhar Dhawan a n d D i n e s h Karthik helped

India secure a series-level-ling six-wickets victory against New Zealand in the second one-day interna-tional yesterday.

Opener Dhawan top-scored with 68 and Karthik remained not out on 64 down the order as the hosts reached the 231-run victory target with four overs to spare at the Maharashtra Cr icket Associat ion Stadium.

There was drama before the match when the ground curator was suspended fol-lowing a TV sting operation in which he allegedly agreed to tamper with the wicket.

Indian bowlers, espe-cially new ball colleagues Bhuvneshwar Kumar (three for 45) and Jaspreet Bumrah, laid the foundation for their comprehensive victory by restricting New Zealand to 230 for nine after the tour-ists opted to bat.

On a slow track, the pace duo combined slower balls with bouncers, conceding 83 runs in 20 tidy overs while sharing five wickets between them.

New Zealand were reduced to 58 for four in the 16th over and none of the touring batsmen managed a 50, crawling to the 100 mark in 26 overs.

Following their poor start, Tom Latham (38) and

Henry Nicholls (42) tried to rebuild the Kiwi innings and Colin de Grandhomme sub-sequently made 41 off 40 balls to lend some respecta-bility to the New Zealand total.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed de Grand-homme and Adam Milne off successive deliveries but New Zealand, who won Sun-day’s series opener in Mumbai by six wickets, somehow avoided being bowled out in the contest.

India lost Rohit Sharma early in their reply but Dha-wan added 57 runs with skipper Virat Kohli to help them overcome the early loss.

Kohli fell for 29 but the left-right combination of Dhawan and Karthik thwarted the tourists, mix-ing caution with aggression during their 66-run association.

Dhawan, who was adjudged caught behind on 46 before the decision was overturned, hit five bound-aries and a couple of sixes before falling to Milne.

Karthik then combined with Hardik Pandya, who chipped in with a 30-run cameo, to keep India on course, and Karthik went on to hit Tim Southee for his fourth boundary to seal India’s victory.

K a n p u r hosts the third and deciding one-dayer on Sunday.

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New Zealand:

M Guptill c Dhoni b Kumar ....................................11

C Munro b Kumar ....................................................10

K Williamson lbw b Bumrah .................................. 3

R Taylor c Dhoni b Pandya ...................................21

T Latham b Patel .....................................................38

H Nicholls b Kumar ...............................................42

C de Grandhomme c Bumrah b Chahal ............41

M Santner c Kohli b Bumrah ............................... 29

A Milne lbw Chahal ...................................................0

T Southee (not out) ................................................25

T Boult (not out) .......................................................2

Extras (LB3, W5) .....................................................8

Total (9 wkts) ....................................... 230

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-25, 3-27, 4-58, 5-118, 6-165,

7-188, 8-188, 9-220

Bowling: Kumar 10-0-45-3 (w1), Bumrah 10-2-38-2,

Jadhav 8-0-31-0 (w1), Pandya 4-0-23-1 (w2), Patel

10-1-54-1 (w1), Chahal 8-1-36-2

India:

R Sharma c Munro b Southee ................................ 7

S Dhawan c Taylor b Milne ................................... 68

V Kohli c Latham b de Grandhomme ............... 29

D Karthik (not out) ................................................64

H Pandya c Milne b Santner ................................ 30

M S Dhoni (not out) .................................................18

Extras (LB7, W9) .................................................... 16

Total (4 wkts) ....................................... 232

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-79, 3-145, 4-204

Bowling: Southee 9-1-60-1, Boult 10-0-54-0, Milne

8-1-21-1, Santner 10-0-38-1, de Grandhomme 7-0-40-

1, Munro 2-0-12-0

Did not bat: K Jadhav, A Patel, B Kumar, J Bumrah,

Y Chahal

SCOREBOARD

Dhawan, Karthik help India prevail in Pune to level series

ICC probes suspended

Pune curator after

TV sting operation New DelhiReuters

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has launched a probe after a curator in Pune

was caught in a TV sting operation allegedly promising to manipulate the pitch ahead of yesterday’s sec-ond one-dayer between India and New Zealand.

Pandurang Salgaonkar has been suspended but the match at the Maharashtra Cricket Associa-tion (MCA) Stadium began on schedule after ICC match referee Chris Broad cleared the pitch.

“We are investigating the alle-gations from Pune this morning,” an ICC spokesman said.

“As with all international cricket, the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit has an ICC ACU Manager on the ground in India and we are in close contact with him.

“We are now looking to estab-lish the facts and will make no further comment whilst this is ongoing.”

India Today TV showed

Salgaonkar allegedly telling their undercover reporters -- who posed as bookies -- he could manipulate the pitch and sharing information about the playing surface in vio-lation of ICC’s anti-corruption code.

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) has sought a detailed report from the local host MCA.

“A strict action has been taken against the pitch curator and the employment relationship between Pandurang Salgaonkar and MCA stands terminated,” BCCI Chief Executive Rahul Johri said in a statement.

“The BCCI is in touch with the MCA and appropriate measures will be taken with regards to the matter. The BCCI will continue to enforce strict measures in case of such misconduct in the future.”

New Zealand clinched the first one-dayer in Mumbai by six wickets, but India secured a series-levelling six-wickets victory in the second one-day international yesterday.

LondonAFP

England all-rounder Moeen Ali has signed a fresh five-year contract with newly promoted

Worcestershire, the club announced yesterday.

The 30-year-old, set to jet out to Australia ahead of the Ashes series on Saturday, joined the county from neighbouring Warwickshire in 2006.

“It’s happy days,” said Ali, whose deal keeps him at New Road until the end of the 2022 campaign. “To com-mit my future and probably the rest of my career to Worcestershire is a fantastic feeling.”

Ali, who had one year remaining on his current deal, is one of Eng-land’s key players, meaning he played little for Worcestershire this season as a result.

He only made three county championship appearances in Worcestershire’s promotion cam-paign and participated in six one-day matches.

But director of cricket Steve Rhodes said the left-handed batsman and off-spinner was a central figure for the county, who will play in divi-sion one of the championship next year after being crowned division two winners.

“Moeen is our England player and it’s important for us to have an Eng-land player,” said Rhodes. “It’s also important for our dressing room, our players, our staff and our members and supporters and everyone involved at the club.

“It sends a message to other clubs that our better players don’t feel the need to be elsewhere.

“He is in such a rich vein of form internationally and on the back of a wonderful season, he is turning him-self into one of the best all-rounders in the world in international cricket.”

Moeen Ali signs

new long-term

deal with

Worcestershire

Indian batsman cricketer Shilhar Dhawan jumps in air as he plays a shot during the second ODI cricket match against New Zealand at The Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune yesterday.

Australia captain

Steve Smith

David Warner

34 THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017SPORT

Garcia keeps campaign alive with win; Wozniacki in semis

Singapore AFP

World number eight Caroline Garcia kept h e r W T A Finals cam-

paign alive with an epic three-set victory over Elina Svi-tolina in Singapore yesterday.

Down 5-3 and on the brink of elimination, Garcia dug deep and reeled off four straight games to prevail 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 44 minutes. It was the pair’s second consec-utive marathon following Svitolina’s victory earlier this month in Beijing.

Garcia turned the tide through her high-voltage groundstrokes, enjoying a size-able 58-33 advantage in winners. It means Garcia, Svi-tolina and Garbine Muguruza will battle for the final semi-final position from the Red Group with Caroline Wozniacki having booked a berth.

France’s Garcia looked set to be eliminated after being bro-ken in the eighth game of the final set but the Ukrainian was unable to serve it out. Garcia broke again and ran out with the contest.

The 24-year-old had earlier lost two first set points to squan-der a tense tie break but rebounded during a dominant second set to reignite her confidence.

In the first match of the evening, a rampant Wozniacki said a more assertive approach fuelled her spectac-ular start to the WTA Finals after she thrashed world number one Simona Halep in straight sets.

The 27-year-old stunned Halep 6-0, 6-2 in just 63 min-utes in Singapore to storm into the last four of the year-end tournament for the loss of just four games.

The sixth-seeded Dane also crushed Elina Svitolina in her opening match, winning the last 10 games en route to a 6-2, 6-0 victory.

Wozniacki, a renowned counter-puncher, said she has enjoyed playing a more aggres-sive game in the round-robin format.

“Even if you lose the first match, you still have nothing to lose,” she told reporters.

“It’s just a nice cushion to have. I think that kind of moti-vates me to start off strong and just go for it.

“I just ran a lot of balls down and I played aggressive and I mixed up the pace. Everything I wanted to do was going my way.”

It was a bitterly disappoint-ing evening for Halep, who was impressive in her opening vic-tory over Garcia.

Halep believes she needs to regain her composure after suf-fering a shock straight sets defeat.

The 27-year-old stunned Halep 6-0, 6-2 in just 63 min-utes in the Singapore Indoor Stadium to storm into the last four of the year-end tournament.

It was a bitter disappoint-ment for Halep after an impressive opening victory over Caroline Garcia.

The 26-year-old now finds herself in a battle to reach the semi-finals, and next plays Elina

Svitolina in a crunch match tomorrow. A rattled Halep said she needed to regroup from the one-sided rout.

“During the points, I missed too many and I wanted to over hit the ball,” she told reporters after the match.

“So maybe next round I have just to calm down and keep the ball in play more and make the opponent run.”

Halep lost the opening seven games of the match before she finally got on the board early in the second set.

But the Romanian was bro-ken in the fourth game and then again on match point, capitulat-ing with a meek forehand into the net.

Halep admitted to struggling on the slower Singapore court but was hopeful of rebounding from the defeat.

“The court is a little bit slow and I felt a little bit heavier on court,” she said.

“I’m not thinking about qual-ifying. I’m thinking about playing better than today. I missed too much, if I could have kept the ball in, I could have played better.

“Everything I have in my head, I need to shake it off and play better next round.”

Caroline Garcia of France reacts on a point against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine during the WTA Finals tennis tournament in Singapore yesterday.

Hartley cleared to lead EnglandLondon AFP

Captain Dylan Hartley was yesterday cleared to lead England in next month’s

autumn Tests but prop Joe Marler will be suspended for two of the three matches.

An independent disciplinary panel decided Hartley, who pleaded not guilty, should receive no further sanction after being sent to the sin-bin for striking Clermont prop Rabah Slimani during Northampton’s 24-7 European Champions Cup defeat on Saturday.

But England coach Eddie Jones will be without Marler for next month’s matches against Argentina and Australia after the Harlequins front-rower pleaded guilty to striking Wasps player Will Rowlands with his forearm during his side’s loss in Coventry.

“It was found Hartley had committed a reckless act of foul play in that he had struck Slim-ani in the face. However, the committee was not satisfied that the offence had warranted a red card,” said a statement from tournament organisers Euro-pean Professional Club Rugby (EPRC). The entry-point sanc-tion for striking with the hand is a two-week ban, rising to eight

weeks and above according to severity. Although the offence was deemed minor, Hartley’s dismal disciplinary record, which has robbed him of 60 weeks of his career, threatened to increase any sanction given and prevent him from captain-ing England next month.

Argentina, Australia and Samoa visit Twickenham on suc-cessive weekends starting on November 11, and while the Northampton hooker is under pressure from Jamie George for his place in the front row, he is set to be retained in the role he has performed throughout

Jones’s reign. After the defeat at Clermont, Hartley received sup-port from the unlikely source of his French counterpart Benjamin Kayser.

“Rugby is rugby and if you say that any hit on the head is a red card, there will be 25 a match,” the France hooker said.

Epic victoryGarcia dug deep and reeled off four straight games to prevail in two hours and 44 minutes in an epic three-set victory over Svitolina.

Matsuyama under pressure in ShanghaiShanghai AFP

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama admitted yesterday that

he is under pressure to repli-cate the storming performance that propelled him to WGC-HSBC Champions glory in Shanghai one year ago.

The Japanese opens his defence of “Asia’s major” today alongside world number one Dustin Johnson of the United States and fast-rising Spaniard Jon Rahm.

The trio are among the headline attractions of a star-studded field at the $9.75 million showpiece event at Sheshan International Golf Club.

Other leading contenders at the tournament, which is on the US PGA Tour and European Tour, include last year’s run-ner-up Henrik Stenson, Olympic champion Justin Rose and a clutch of current and former major winners in Phil Mickelson, Jason Day and Brooks Koepka.

The 25-year-old Mat-suyama became the first Asian to win a World Golf Champion-ship a year ago, and it was the

catalyst for a brilliant run that also delivered the WGC-Bridge-stone Invitational title in August. Matsuyama and John-son have a stranglehold on WGC events, splitting the last five between them -- two for the Japanese and three to the American.

“It is different coming back as defending champion,” said Matsuyama, the world number four, who seared his way to vic-tory last year by a comprehensive seven shots from the Swede Stenson and Daniel Berger of the United States.

“I don’t want to put a lot of pressure or expectation on myself, I just want to let the tournament come to me, like it did last year.

“All I can do is try to play my best and hopefully I will play well.”

Making Matsuyama’s task all the harder, he will also have to contend with a growing chal-lenge from the home golfers.

Prime among the Chinese who will hope to be in the mix on the final day on Sunday are Li Haotong, a rising talent who underlined his potential with an eye-catching third-place fin-ish at the British Open in July.

England’s Dylan Hartley celebrates with the Old Mutual Wealth Cup after the game at Twickenham Stadium, London in this May 2016 file picture.

35THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017 SPORT

Los Angeles AFP

Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scorching innings to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-1 vic-

tory over the Houston Astros in game one of the World Series on Tuesday.

Backed by Justin Turner’s two-run home run and Chris Taylor’s lead-off homer, Ker-shaw steamrolled the vaunted Astros offense.

The temperature at first pitch of 103F (39C) was a record for a Major League Baseball play-off game, and a fitting cauldron for the open-ing clash in the best-of-seven series between teams that each won more than 100 regular-season games.

Kershaw set the tone by retiring the first three Astros batters.

Then Dodgers centrefielder Taylor smacked a towering homer off the first pitch thrown by Astros starting pitcher Dal-las Keuchel to put Los Angeles up 1-0. It was only the fourth leadoff homer ever recorded in a World Series game one.

Keuchel, the 2015 Ameri-can League Cy Young award-winner, settled down to retire Turner, Cody Bellinger and Yasiel Puig and the duel

between Kershaw and Keuchel was on.

“I felt good,” Kershaw said. “CT getting that monkey off our back and getting that first run across the board was huge.”

Three-time Cy Young award-winner Kershaw, mak-ing his first World series start, had faced just one batter over the minimum through the first three innings when Astros third baseman Alex Bregman broke through with a solo homer to lead off the fourth.

Bregman pounced on a waist-high fastball and pow-ered it over the left field fence, drawing a grimace from Ker-shaw, who promptly struck out the next three batters.

It was the only hiccup for Kershaw, who surrendered three hits in seven innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts -- one shy of his playoff record of

12. He threw 57 of his 83 pitches for strikes.

“I think Houston is a really good hitting team. They hit a lot of homers and don’t strike out. There’s little room for error,” Kershaw said.

“So it’s important for me to establish pitches, be able to throw multiple things for strikes, and I’m thankful I was able to do that tonight. I made a few mistakes,” he added.

“Obviously Bregman got me ... For the most part, though, I’ll take it.”

After Bregman’s homer, Ker-shaw struck out the next three batters to get back on track.

“Tonight was one of those nights, I think the first time in awhile, where we’ve seen all three of his pitches synched up,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

“He just was repeating the

delivery, held the velocity. Was throwing the baseball where he needed to, where he wanted to.

“Very talented team over there,” Roberts added.

“For him to get ahead, keep them off balance work them from front to back, up and down, to all quadrants -- this was a special night for Clayton.”

Keuchel delivered a solid performance himself. After giv-ing up the first-pitch homer he retired 12 of the next 15 hitters he faced. But after walking Tay-lor with two outs in the second he surrendered a two-run home run to Turner -- the walkoff hero of the Dodgers’ game-two win over the Chi-cago Cubs in the National League Championship series.

“I didn’t know if it was going to be a home run or not,” said Turner, who said he thought the heat made the ball travel further.

“That was a good at-bat,” Roberts said. “Grinded, got two strikes, behind the count and Keuchel tried to come in with a cutter and left it out over (the plate) a little bit. “Really took a great swing.

Astros manager AJ Hinch lifted Keuchel with two outs in the seventh, after he gave up a deep single to Corey Seager.

“Keuchel was really good tonight,” Hinch said.

Dodgers relief pitcher Brandon Morrow retired the side in the top of the eighth and closing pitcher Kenley Jansen

set down three in the top of the ninth to send the crowd of 54,253 at Dodger Stadium into a frenzy.

I think Houston is a really good hitting team. They hit a lot of homers and don’t strike out. There’s little room for error: Clayton Kershaw

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw throws a pitch in the first inning against the Houston Astros in game one of the 2017 World Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

NBA: James leads revamped Cavaliers line-up to victory Los Angeles AFP

LeBron James scored 34 points and passed out 13 assists to spark a revamped

Cleveland Cavaliers line-up to a 119-112 NBA victory over visit-ing Chicago on Tuesday.

Four-time NBA Most Valua-ble Player James, whose 13-of-20 shooting included four 3-point baskets, was shifted from forward to point guard for the first time in five seasons as Cavs coach Tyronn Lue juggled his lineup in moving guard Dwyane Wade to a reserve role.

“I’m looking for my guys a little bit more starting at the point, especially in transition. I’m being more of a precise, preci-sion passer and I’m not kind of full speed ahead in transition,” James said.

“I’m kind of looking at what’s going on and getting my guys the ball, but for me, I just try to stay in attack mode when need be and, if I see the hot hand, start going for my guys and getting them the ball.”

While they struggled early, particularly defensively, the Cavaliers (3-1) came together to snap a five-game losing streak in meetings with the Bulls (0-3).

Wade, a former James team-mate on two NBA championship teams in Miami who joined the

Cavs after playing in Chicago last season, was benched at his own request after struggling as a starter.

JR Smith moved back into the starting backcourt with James while the frontline saw Kevin Love moved from centre to forward with Jae Crowder and Tristan Thompson took over in the middle.

The lineup move came in part because the Cavs are with-out Derrick Rose due to a sprained left ankle. Love added

20 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland while Wade scored 11 off the bench in only his 12th game as a reserve in 919 games over 15 NBA seasons.

Justin Holiday led the Bulls with 25 points while 20-year-old Finnish rookie forward Lauri Markkanen scored 19 and became the first rookie in NBA history with 10 3-point baskets in his first three games.

Meanwhile, Aaron Gordon scored a career-high 41 points and sank the go-ahead 3-pointer

with 35 seconds remaining to lead the host Orlando Magic to a 125-121 victory over Brooklyn.

Evan Fournier scored 28 points, 12 of them in the game’s last 5:22, and Gordon also con-tributed 12 rebounds. D’Angelo Russell led the Nets (2-2) with 27 points.

CJ McCollum scored 23 points, four of them in a game-ending 9-0 run, to power the Portland Trail Blazers over New Orleans 103-93.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (left) drives the ball during the fourth quarter of NBA game against Chicago Bulls at Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday.

LA Clippers 102 Utah 84

Portland 103 N’ Orleans 93

Indiana 130 Minnesota 107

Boston 110 NY Knicks 89

Cleveland 119 Chicago 112

Orlando 125 Brooklyn 121

NBA RESULTS

Dansk shines as Knights overcome Blackhawks 4-2Las Vegas Agencies

Rookie Oscar Dansk, Vegas’ third goaltender in only its eighth game,

helped keep the expansion Golden Knights’ dream start going in a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tues-day night at T-Mobile Arena.

Dansk, making his first career NHL start, finished with 29 saves as the Golden Knights (7-1-0) continued the best start of any expansion franchise in NHL history.

Vegas can tie the record of five consecutive games won by an expansion team when it hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Friday to conclude its seven-game homestand. The Edmonton Oilers set the record in the 1979-80 season.

Jonathan Marchessault, a forward playing his first game after returning from injured reserve, put the Golden Knights ahead 4-1 on a power-play goal with 9:40 remaining.

Meanwhile, Phil Kessel scored off of a two-on-one with Evgeni Malkin 42 seconds into over-time to give Pittsburgh a victory over Edmonton.

It was Kessel’s 299th career goal. Ian Cole scored on the Penguins’ 32nd shot, at 3:24 of the third.

Connor McDavid tied it 1-1 at 17:07 of the third when he lofted a shot from the left dot over the glove of goaltender Matt Murray.

Las Vegas 4 Chicago 2

Colorado 5 Dallas 3

Calgary 3 Nashville 2

Vancouver 1 Minnesota 0

Montreal 5 Florida 1

Los Angeles 3 Ottawa 2

Buffalo 1 Detroit 0

NY Islanders 5 Arizona 3

Anaheim 6 Philadelphia 2

Pittsburgh 2 Edmonton 1

Tampa Bay 5 Carolina 1

NHL RESULTS

World Series: Kershaw pitches Dodgers to lead over Astros

Vegas Golden Knights goalie Oscar Dansk is recognised as first star of the game after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

36 THURSDAY 26 OCTOBER 2017SPORT

Hathab Tour continues at Al Shaqab The second round of Hathab Equestrian Tour, part of the 12-leg Series, will get underway at the indoor arena of Al Shaqab equestrian centre tomorrow and Saturday.The competition this weekend will feature showjumping and dressage contests, the organisers have announced.

Al Sadd, Al Rayyan brace for ‘El Clasico’

Football giants Al Sadd take on arch-rivals Al Rayyan tomorrow at Al Sadd Stadiumin a blockbuster clash that is set to attract thousands of football fansto the round 6match of the QNB Stars League.

DOHA GETS SET TO HOST TOP CLASS EVENTS Record entries for 2nd

edition of RAM LeagueRizwan Rehmat The Peninsula

More than 300 rid-ers in various age brackets have registered for the second edition of

the hugely popular Royal Air Maroc (RAM) League, organis-ers said yesterday.

Last year more than 150 cyclists featured in the 10-round league that saw competitions held from November until March this year.

This year the number of entries has exceeded 300, Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federa-tion (QCTF) official Adrej Filip announced at a press conference yesterday.

Top airline Royal Air Maroc also extended their sponsorship of the league by another season, details showed yesterday.

“We are thrilled to have the support of Royal Air Maroc,” QCTF President Dr Mohammed Al Kuwari said. “We tasted

resounding success as partners of the first edition last season. We are looking forward to another edition of fun and fit-ness,” he added.

Dr Al Kuwari said: “QCTF is also appreciative of the support provided by Qatar Chain Reac-tion (QCR) and Qatar Cyclists (QC). It is a team effort that has translated into a success sports story.

“This is a plat-form to unearth the next generation of cyclists in the coun-try,” Dr Al Kuwari said. “The cycling community is growing and we are thrilled to see the positive results such events are having on the minds of the riders,” he added.

J a m a l A l Kuwari, Secretary General, QCTF, said at the press confer-ence: “Our objective is to help young rid-ers learn from the seniors. A sense of

competition is crucial for riders of all ages. I am sure the second edition of the league will be another success story.”

He added: “We are also reaching out to schools so that young riders can know more

about our league and how to fea-ture in the races. We will also introduce races for kids in the future. That is in our long-term plans.”

Abderrahman Brahimi, Chief of MENA Department for Royal Air Maroc, thanked QCTF for their endorsement of the air-line’s support for the league.

“We see the league as an opportunity to back sports events in Qatar. We applaud QCTF for promoting cycling around the country,” Brahimi said. “QCTF is busy organising quality races and this helps the

riders in devel-oping their sense of com-petition,” he added.

“Cycling is an integral part of general fitness. We can see more and more people taking up cycling. That bodes well for the sport’s growth in Qatar,” he added.

Filip, the QCTF Techni-cal Secretary, said: “The number of riders has i n c r e a s e d

manifold. We have been busy looking for new routes. Some-times it is not easy to find routes since there are road-works going on. But then we also get to find some interest-ing routes that we may have never used before.”

He added: “Clearly we are moving in the right direction.

Our races are getting the right amount of coverage and promo-tion. We can build on this amazing start.”

Last year’s league champion Aday Alvarez said: “Thanks to the RAM league races, I have started taking my racing very seriously. The competition is get-ting higher and higher with each

round. I will try to defend my title.”

QCTF rider Farhan Al Farizi said: “I thank the federation and the sponsors for their support. This is a very important league for us. The participants love to feature in these races. The riders have been coming out in large number.”

He added: “I think cycling is on the way up in Qatar and that is a great news for riders a c r o s s t h e country.”

I can’t wait for my comeback match: Coach YousefThe Peninsula

Al Markhiya coach Yousef Adam yesterday said he could barely wait for his team’s round 6 match

against Al Kharaitiyat.Today’s QNB Stars League clash will

be played at Al Arab Stadium.“I’m looking forward to yet another

stint as Al Markhiya coach after being named to replace Ayman Mansour. I’ve always been a part of Al Markhiya

family and I can’t wait for my comeback match against Al Kharaitiyat. I also look forward to once again working closely with the team management and play-ers,” Yousef said yesterday.

“Ayman did a good job in between, leading the side to its first victory last week. He did well at both training and matches, and I thank him for that. Tech-nically, the players are now more ready for the top flight and there’s more har-mony among them. They needed time

to perform well as a unit among the big sides.

“Some of our players weren’t in a position to attend our pre-season train-ing camp. My players aren’t under pressure to perform. If you can’t han-dle pressure, then football isn’t your cup of tea! We’re optimistic and hope to stay in the first division. We target 25 points to achieve that goal.

“Al Kharaitiyat are also coming off their first win, so let’s look forward to

an interesting game,” Yousef added. Al Kharaitiyat coach Ahmad Al Ajlani said: “We know Al Markhiya are also on a high following their first victory in this season’s league. This is an important game for both teams and I hope we con-tinue to win. I think our confidence should be more high, having beaten Al Gharafa by a big margin in the last round. We’ll still put in a lot of efforts.

He added: “The delay in registering the first victory in a league competition

will put you in a spot. The same hap-pened to us. The sooner it happens, the better. Negative results will erode the fighting qualities of players. If you take our first four matches, we put up a strong showing against Al Rayyan and Umm Salal. Then we conceded a late equaliser against Al Khor and lost to Al Sailiya after taking the lead. Our strong point is counter-attack. However, in the last match, the situation demanded that we attack.”

If riders want to know more about the races in the league, they can follow the Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation’s (QCTF) Facebook page where they publish all the upcoming events and race results. The interesting points are that QTCF will organise one or two races in Doha also this season. The winners of each category will have an organised visit of Morocco. During two or three events, QCTF will include races in the youth categories U-14 and U-16 (without the national team riders).QCTF President Dr Mohammed Al Kuwari is seen with Royal Air Maroc

officials Abderrahman Brahimi and Adil Khalloufi.

QCTF President Dr Mohammed Al Kuwari is seen with Royal Air Maroc officials Abderrahman Brahimi and Adil Khalloufi. Also in attendance were QCTF Secretary General Jamal Al Kuwari and Andrej Filip, the QTCTF Technical Secretary.

Aday AlvarezFarhan Al Farizi

Losail Circuit to host WorldSBK next week

The Losail International Circuit once again will host the final round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship under floodlights from November 2-4.

Top stars in action at Qatar Classicp

World No.1 Gregory Gaultier of France will be

hoping to get his hands on the winner’s trophy and

the top prize of $24,225 at the Qatar Classic 2017

Squash Championship to be held from October

29-November 3. Gaultier will have his task cut out

as he will be joined by defending champion Karim

Abdel Gawad, two-time winner Mohamed El

Shorbagy and 2009 champion Nick Matthew in Doha.