SPORTTuesday 19 September 2017

Rooney handedtwo-year driving ban

Indian attack more than just spin, warns Aussie skipper Smith

PAGE | 30 PAGE | 31 PAGE | 34Mbappe makes winning debut at PSG

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Saad, Ngombo to lead Qatar charge at Ashgabat Games

Ashgabat

The Peninsula

Qatar, who have included key players Abdulrah-man Mohamed Saad and Tanguy Alban Ngo-mbo, will be hoping for

a big confidence-boosting win tomorrow when they take on Samoa in their opening clash of the 3x3 basketball competition of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games.

Qatar, along with Turkmeni-stan, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Iraq are the favourites for the men’s title at the September 17-27 Games which got underway in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

Qatar, who were 2014 FIBA World Cup winners, claimed sil-ver at the Islamic Solidarity Games in May this year after edg-ing past Turkmenistan in the semi-final in Baku, Azerbaijan. In June, the Qataris finished sixth at the FIBA 3x3 World Cup in Nantes, France.

Around 50 Qatari athletes are competing in a number of sports events including athletics, chess, billiard, swimming, weight lift-ing, equestrian, taekwondo, bowling and basketball.

A crowded arena in Ashgabat will become the stage of a fasci-nating competition when the 3x3 Basketball tournament raises its curtain today.

It is the third time 3x3 Basket-ball has appeared in the schedule of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games and a format that will become an Olympic sport at Tokyo 2020 is rapidly growing in popularity worldwide.

Sixteen teams in the men’s tournament and 12 in the wom-en’s promise to offer spectacular action for spectators and make the competition the hottest ticket in town.

Turkmenistan are among the favourites to claim gold in both tournaments but will not find it easy.

Indonesia, Syria and the Islamic Republic of Iran will vie

for glory in the women’s competitions.

Mongolia’s men won the chance to participate in the 2017 FIBA World Tour by qualifying through the challenger in Chinese Taipei.

Iraq have strong players with international experience in 5x5 Basketball but they lack 3x3 experience.

Aleksandr Paskov of Turkmen-istan, Tsenguunbayar Gotov of Mongolia and Dulguun Enkhbat of Mongolia are also among the men to watch.

Turkmenistan, 21st in the FIBA ratings, are the highest-ranked team in the women’s competition.

At the Islamic Solidarity Games this year, they downed a powerful Syria team after overtime in the quarter-final thanks to a free throw scored by Ayna Gokowa of Turkmenistan.

Gokowa, Alicia Magarian of Syria and Lea Elvensia Wolobubo Kahol of Indonesia are among the players to watch. The latter led Indonesia to gold-medal success

at the U-18 Asia Cup in May and was named best player of the tour-nament in Malaysia.

Earlier on Sunday night, H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the President of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) attended the

opening ceremony of the prestig-ious event. The event on Sunday saw a colourful opening ceremony unfolding the country’s high organ-isational abilities in hosting major sport events and reflecting its rich culture and history.

Rally star Al Naimi unveils ‘Tamim Al Majd’ portrait on car ahead of European challengeQatari rally driver

Rashid bin Abdulah Al Naimi’s Mitsubishi

Lancer Evo 10, adorned with the

hugely popular portrait of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim

bin Hamad Al Thani. Al Naimi will

partner Portuguese co-driver Hugo Ismael

Magahlaes for races across Europe to

prepare for the 2018 season.

Rashid bin Abdulah Al Naimi

Young Qatari athletes to make their presence feltThe Peninsula

Five promising Qatari athletes are likely to have a strong influence on proceedings at the Indoor Athletics Arena during the Ashgabat 2017 5th Asian Indoor and Mar-

tial Arts Games.Abdalelah Haroun, Tosin Joseph Ogunode, Abderrah-

man Samba, Yaser Salem Bagharab and Mahamat Allamine Hamdi have all performed impressively in recent months.

Haroun, a 400m specialist, won bronze a month ago at the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London and a sil-ver medallist at the IAAF Indoor World Championships in Oregon in the United States a year earlier.

Ogunode, younger brother of four-time Asian Games gold medallist Femi Ogunode, made his international sprint-ing debut in 2014 and set a 60m Asian indoor record during an event at the Northern Arizona University in the USA.

The 23-year-old’s time of 6.50 seconds broke a 20-year-old mark set by Qatari sprint legend Talal Mansour and is a top contender for 60m gold at Ashgabat.

Samba, 22, has also enjoyed a good season this year. He started by winning the 400m hurdles title at the sea-son-opening Doha Diamond League and went on to contest the 400m hurdle final at the 2017 World Championships in London. In Ashgabat, he will take part in the 400m and 4 x 400m relay and will be a firm medal favourite.

Baghrab may be a teenager and the youngest in the Qatari indoor athletics squad, but the 19-year-old, who recently won two silver medals at the 2017 Asian Champi-onships, will be a strong chance to round off his season with a podium finish in the 3,000m at Ashgabat.

Completing the list is high jumper Hamdi, whose sil-ver-medal-winning performance at the recent Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, marks him as an emerging talent. The 20-year-old also won a bronze at the 2016 IAAF World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the President of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) speaks with Turkmenistan officials ahead of the opening ceremony of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on Sunday.

The Qatari contingent takes part in the opening ceremony of the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on Sunday.

30 TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2017SPORT

Mbappe makes winning debut at PSGParis

AFP

Kylian Mbappe played a decisive role on his Parc des Princes debut for Paris Saint-Germain on

Sunday in a thrilling 2-0 win over Lyon with both goals accreditated to the visitors.

Lyon’s youngsters proved more than a match for PSG who had to wait until the last quar-ter of an hour before Lyon defender Marcelo deflected the ball into his own goal.

Then four minutes from time Mbappe rushed onto Neymar’s assist with his close range shot bounding off Jeremy Morel to settle the electric encounter.

This sixth successive league win pushed Unai Emery’s side three points clear of defending champions Monaco who had maintained their title push with a 3-0 win over Strasbourg 24 hours earlier.

Lyon’s visit on paper had looked to be PSG’s toughest test of the Ligue 1 season so far, and so it proved.

Despite their 466m euro strike force of Neymar, Edinson Cavani and Mbappe seven time

former champions Lyon emerged with plenty of honour, if not the three points.

PSG were restricted to just a handful of shots in the first period as Lyon’s defence dog-gedly refused to roll over.

PSG’s best chances came a minute from the break when on a counter attack Mbappe, appearing before his home sup-porters for the first time after outings at Metz and Celtic, fed Neymar with the Brazilian’s rasping shot boxed away by Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes.

On the restart Mbappe was switched to take Neymar’s place on the right.

The second half was only minutes old when Lyon striker Nabil Fekir troubled PSG keeper Alphonse Aerola with a tight-angled shot.

On 55 minutes Neymar, brought down outside the box by Fekir, flicked the ensuing freekick over the wall only for a diving Lopes to parry the ball away from the top far corner.

The PSG crowd then had its collective heart in its mouth as Lyon launched attack after attack on Aerola in the home goal in a thrilling passage of play.

PSG captain Thiago Silva had

to use his head to stop Lucas Tousart’s header, then seconds later Tanguy Ndombele unleashed a superb strike from 30m which had sparks flying off the crossbar.

On 72 minutes Emery intro-duced Giovani Lo Celso for Julian Draxler, and the move proved decisive when Lo Celso crossed from the left with Cavani nudg-ing the ball towards goal with the outside of his foot before its deflection off Lyon defender Marcelo.

Lopes then did brilliantly to save a Cavani penalty awarded after Ferland Mendy had felled Mbappe.

Cavani struck the spot kick low and left with Lopes’ inter-vention sending it ricocheting off the upright and to safety.

With four minutes

remaining and Lyon looking for a deserved equaliser Neymar passed to Mbappe with the 18-year-old Monaco recruit’s close range shot hitting Lopes and bouncing off Morel into the Lyon goal.

Lyon, losing for the first time this season, left Parc des Princes in fifth place, eight points adrift of the leaders.

Lyon coach Bruno Genesio reflected: “I don’t think there’s a club in France that can compete with PSG for the title, but for one match, yes.”

Earlier a sizzling Mario Balo-telli strike ten minutes from time gave Nice a 1-0 win at Rennes and Marseille pulled out of an early season slump when a Clin-ton Njie brace gave the ambitious southerners a 2-0 win at Amiens.

On Saturday a revitalised Radamel Falcao grabbed a brace in Monaco’s 3-0 win over Stras-bourg and Saint-Etienne moved up to third with a 1-0 win over Dijon. Nantes continued their good form under Claudio Rani-eri, as they beat Caen 1-0 to make it four games unbeaten without conceding a goal while Bordeaux stayed unbeaten with a 1-0 victory at Toulouse.

PSG forward Edinson Cavani (left) and team-mate Neymar react during the French Ligue 1 match against Lyon at the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris on Sunday.

Napoli hit Benevento for sixMilan

AFP

Napoli bounced back from Champions League dis-appointment to keep

their Serie A perfect record and join Inter Milan at the top of the table on Sunday.

A Paulo Dybala hat-trick lifted Juventus to a 3-1 victory at Sassuolo making it four wins out of four for the champions, while Dries Mertens also scored three goals as Napoli demolished Ben-evento 6-0. Inter Milan beat Crotone 2-0 on Saturday for a maximum 12 points in the campaign.

Benevento were no match for Napoli, looking for a strong response after their 2-1 Cham-pions League defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk.

“We were unlucky in Ukraine,” said Belgian forward Mertens.

“Against Shakhtar we made mistakes and didn’t play our game, but today we showed we can do damage.”

Brazilian Allan opened after three minutes and Lorenzo Insigne added a second after quarter of an hour in Naples.

Mertens kicked off his hat-trick with a 27th-minute volley, and then converted two penal-ties, with Jose Callejon also getting on the scoresheet in the

first half. Napoli are the new leaders on goal difference, but Mertens played down title talk.

“It’s still a long journey, Inter and Juve are doing well but we’ll see game after game,” he added.

Dybala’s heroics helped Juve bounce back after their 3-0

Champions League flop in Barcelona.

The Argentine left the pitch ten minutes from the end to a standing ovation at the Mapei Stadium following a masterclass performance by the 23-year-old, who has now scored eight goals

in four league games. His first was a left-footed volley from the edge of the box to beat Andrea Consigli on 16 minutes, the sec-ond a close-range effort again surprising the Sassuolo goal-keeper just after the break and the third a sublime free-kick on 63 minutes.

Sassuolo managed to get a consolation through Matteo Pol-itano after a Stephan Lichtsteiner error on 51 minutes.

“I wanted to score one and three came along,” said Dybala after his second hat-trick of the season and his 52nd goal in his 100th match for Juventus.

“The team gives me confi-dence and I also compliment the coach who gives me the freedom to play where I want.”

But despite Dybala’s hero-ics, Massimiliano Allegri said there was room for improvement.

“He (Dybala) is very young and has much room for improvement. When he plays like that he is unstoppable,” said Allegri. Behind the leaders, Lazio are fourth after struggling to get past Genoa 3-2 in Liguria to bring their tally to ten points.

The Romans could once again count on Ciro Immobile, who scored a double, in reply to a brace from Genoa’s 16-year-old forward Pietro Pellegri.

Wolfsburg fire coach Jonker, hire SchmidtBerlin

AFP

Andries Jonker became the first Bundesliga head coach to be sacked this season when Wolfsburg replaced him with ex-Mainz boss Martin Schmidt yesterday.

The 50-year-old Schmidt will be thrown straight into action as Wolfsburg host Werder Bremen on Tuesday, then face defending champions Bayern Munich away on Friday in key Bundesliga matches.

“I am very much looking forward to this task, even if there is not much time left to get used to it, since we have two important games in front of us,” said Schmidt ahead of his first training session on Monday night.

The Swiss coach spent seven years at Mainz, where he was promoted to head coach in February 2015, but was dismissed in May after poor results meant the team finished just clear of the relegation places.

Wolfsburg have opted for a quick change in their coaching team, sacking Jonker after just 203 days in charge.

The 54-year-old Jonker took charge in February, when he quit as boss of Arsenal’s youth academy, and managed to keep Wolfsburg up last season after winning a relegation play-off in May. However, Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at VfB Stuttgart proved to be the last straw.

Jonker’s entire backroom staff, including assistant coach and Arsenal legend Fredrik Ljungberg, have also been fired after taking four points from their first four games this season.

“We have two difficult games ahead of us this week, but we didn’t want to implement a caretaker solution, rather install a new head-coach with immediate effect,” explained director of sport Olaf Rebbe. A statement by Wolfsburg’s supervisory board said they felt the team’s development had stagnated under Jonker.

“Decisive for us in taking this step was not just the impression made upon us during the game against Stuttgart, but rather based upon the perception of stagnated development amongst the team, which was to a great extent newly formed during the summer,” said Wolfsburg’s board.

Paris Saint-Germain’s French forward Kylian Mbappe (left) scores a goal past Lyon’s Portuguese goalkeeper Anthony Lopes during the French L1 match against Olympique Lyonnais at the Parc des Princes Stadium in Paris yesterday.

Napoli’s Belgian striker Dries Mertens scores a penalty kick during the Italian Serie A match against Benevento at San Paolo Stadium in Naples on Sunday.

Three points clearSixth successive win pushes Unai Emery’s side three points clear of defending champions Monaco who had maintained their title push with a win over Strasbourg

31TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2017 SPORT

United Kingdom

AFP

Former England captain Wayne Rooney was yes-terday banned from

driving for two years and ordered to perform 100 hours of unpaid community work after p l e a d i n g g u i l t y t o drink-driving.

The Everton striker apolo-gised for an “unforgivable lack of judgement” following his sen-tencing by a court in northern England for being nearly three times over the drink-drive limit while his pregnant wife and their three sons were on holiday.

He was stopped by police when driving a woman’s black Volkswagen Beetle at around 2:00 am (0100 GMT) on Sep-tember 1 and later arrested and bailed.

Stockport Magistrates’ Court was told a breathalyser test showed Rooney’s alcohol level was 104 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath.

The drink-drive limit in England and Wales is 35 micro-grammes per 100 millilitres of breath.

Rooney, 31, was banned from driving for two years and

ordered to perform 100 hours of unpaid work as part of a 12-month community order.

His legal team asked the judge to consider not imposing a community order because of his ongoing charitable work but he said he was “not convinced” that imposing a large fine “would have the same effect”.

Rooney, who rejoined boy-hood club Everton after 13 trophy-laden years at Manches-ter United in July, tweeted an apology to his 16.4 million followers.

“Following today’s court hearing I want publicly to apol-ogise for my unforgivable lack of judgement in driving while over the legal limit. It was com-pletely wrong,” Rooney said in a statement.

“I have already said sorry to my family, my manager and chairman and everyone at Ever-ton FC. Now I want to apologise to all the fans and everyone else who has followed and sup-ported me throughout my career.

“Of course I accept the sen-tence of the court and hope that I can make some amends through my community service.”

Earlier, Rooney entered

court in a dark blue suit and black tie and sat in the public gallery next to his agent Paul Stretford.

When asked how he pleaded to the charge that he drove under the influence of alcohol while over the prescribed limit, he replied guilty.

Michael Rainford, defend-ing, said Rooney accepted the facts of the prosecution case in full and highlighted his charity work.

“He is not somebody who pays lip service to the charities as so many often do,” he said. “This is somebody who is actu-ally hands-on with the work he carries out. It is something that is very close to his heart.”

Following the hearing, the footballer left court with his lawyers again followed by a media scrum of TV cameras, press photographers and report-ers. His entourage fought their way through the throng to a waiting people-carrier with tinted windows and Rooney was driven away.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman said earlier this month the matter would be dealt with internally, adding that he was “disappointed” by the drink-driving charge.

Rooney has been married to his high-school sweetheart Coleen since 2008 and they are expecting their fourth child.

He was given a warm wel-come at Old Trafford on his return to former club Manches-ter United on Sunday but it ended in disappointment with a 4-0 defeat for Everton.

Rooney, England and Man-chester United’s record goalscorer, made a successful start to his second Everton spell following his return, scoring on his first two Premier League appearances.

His form moved England manager Gareth Southgate to offer him an international recall,

but he decided to call time on his England career.

Rooney first burst onto the scene aged just 16 at Everton and went on to score 17 goals in 77 appearances for the “Toffees” before moving to Manchester United, where he won multiple trophies, including the Cham-pions League.

Rooney handed two-year driving ban

Wayne Rooney, Everton striker and former England captain leaves Stockport Magistrates Court, in Stockport, Britain, yesterday.

Bale strikes in vital Madrid win Barcelona’s Dembele to undergo surgery todayBarcelona

AFP

Barcelona’s record $125m signing Ousmane Dem-bele will undergo

surgery on the torn hamstring that has ruled him out of action for up to four months in Helsinki today.

“Dembele travelled on Monday morning to Helsinki, Finland, where he will undergo surgery to repair a rupture of the biceps femoris tendon in his left thigh,” Bar-celona said in a statement yesterday.

“Dembele was accompa-nied by team physician, Dr. Ricard Pruna. Dembele will be operated on Tuesday by Dr. Sakari Orava.”

In pictures published by Spanish sports daily Marca, Dembele needed the aid of a wheelchair as he left Barce-lona airport for the Finnish capital.

The French international has made just three appear-ances for Barca since sealing his move from Borussia Dort-mund last month for a fee that could rise to as much as 145m euros based on performance-related bonuses.

Madrid

AFP

Gareth Bale responded in style to his critics with a fine finish as Real Madrid got back to winning ways with

a 3-1 win at Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Borja Mayoral rewarded a bright start by Real with his first Madrid goal before Sociedad’s Kevin Rodrigues scored at both ends to give the visitors a 2-1 half-time lead.

And Bale secured the three points as he sped past Rodrigues and dinked the ball over Geronimo Rulli for just his sec-ond goal of the season on the hour mark.

Victory moves the European champions up to fourth and within four points of leaders Barcelona.

Bale had received stinging criticism from the Spanish press and Madrid fans for his under-whelming displays in Ronaldo’s absence in recent weeks as Real dropped points at home to Valencia and Levante.

“It’s great to always score, but the most important thing was to get the three points for the team, get back on track and get back to winning ways,” Bale told Spanish TV station Movistar.

“I just have to try to keep my head down and keep working

hard and that’s all I can do.“I can’t control what goes on,

I can only control how hard I work on the pitch.

“You go through ups and downs in your career -- it is how

you bounce back.” Without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo, as he completed a five-game ban, and injured Karim Benzema, Zinedine Zidane handed 20-year-old Mayoral a shock

start up front. And the French-man’s faith was rewarded inside 20 minutes when Mayoral swept home a loose ball with a classy finish from close range.

Mayoral’s strike meant

Madrid have now matched a world record of scoring in 73 consecutive games set by Pele’s Santos in the 1960s.

However, the visitors’ joy lasted just nine minutes as Rod-rigues levelled thanks to a blunder from Keylor Navas.

Rodrigues fired Alvaro Odri-ozola’s cross towards goal on the volley, but the Real ‘keeper should have made a comforta-ble stop rather than letting the ball slip under his grasp.

The match was then held up as a cameraman had to be stretchered off with his leg heav-ily strapped as he was injured from fans surging forward from a temporary stand behind the goal Sociedad were defending.

Once the game got back underway, a crazy 60 seconds for Rodrigues swung the match back in Madrid’s favour.

The left-back was inches away from bagging a second when his looping effort came back off the bar.

However, Real broke straight up the other end and the unfortunate Rodrigues turned Mayoral’s cross into his own net.

Bale sealed the points after the break by scoring for the fifth straight match at Anoeta as his pace took him beyond the Socie-dad defence before coolly chipping over the advancing Rulli.

Real Madrid’s forward Gareth Bale (centre) celebrates his team’s third goal with team-mates Casemiro (right) and Borja Mayoral during the Spanish league match against Real Sociedad at the Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastian on Sunday.

Al Sadd and Al Rayyan drawn in same group for QSL CupDoha

QNA

Emir Cup and Qatar Cup win-ners Al Sadd were drawn in the same group along with Al

Rayyan for the upcoming QSL Cup. At yesterday’s draw ceremony

held in the presence of represent-atives from all the 12 QNB clubs, Al Sadd, which started the season by winning the Sheikh Jassim Cup, were placed in the same group along with Al Rayyan, Umm Salal, Al Arabi, Al Ahli and Al Markhiya in Group B.

Group A consists of Al Duhail, Al Gharafa, Al Kharaitiyat, Al

Sailiya, Al Khor and Qatar SC.The club ranking were decided

according to the QSL standings of last season.

Al Duhail, the champions of the 2016-17 league, were top seeds of Group A, and Al Sadd, the runners-up, top seeds of Group B.

The tournament is set to take place after the third week of QNB Stars League action

when the competition will take a two-week break for interna-tional football.

The schedule will be announced in the coming days and the matches will be played on a league cum knockout format.

The match venues will be decided in coordination with the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

The tournament is independ-ent of the QNB Stars League.

The yellow and red cards are separate from the league, and the player who receives the fourth yellow card or red card will be suspended in the competition itself.

Group A: Al Duhail, Al Gharafa,, Al Kharaitiyat, Al

Sailiya, Al Khor, Qatar SC.

Group B: Al Sadd, Al Rayyan, Umm Salal, Al Arabi,

Al Ahli, Al Markhiya.

QSL CUP DRAW

Under-23 League

Players of Al Duhail celebrate after scoring a goal against Markhiya in the Under-23 QNB Stars League in Doha yesterday. Al Duhail won 6-0. In the other match, Al Rayyan beat Al Kharaitiyat 5-2.

Singapore

Reuters

Red Bull rekindled memo-ries of their pomp at the Singapore Grand Prix, but

team driver Daniel Ricciardo doesn’t expect a three-way tus-sle at the top in Formula One just yet.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit went into the weekend with their sights set squarely on vic-tory, as the tight twists of the 23-turn Marina Bay street circuit played to their strengths.

Ricciardo couldn’t quite pull off the triumph he had been cov-eting, instead finishing second for the third year in a row, while team mate Max Verstappen was wiped out in a first-corner crash within seconds of the start.

But Red Bull, who won four straight drivers’ and constructors’ titles at the turn of the decade, did find a purple patch of form around the Singapore track rem-iniscent of their glory years.

Ricciardo topped both ses-sions on the opening day of track action before Verstappen dislodged the Australian during Saturday’s final hour of prac-tice in the build up to qualifying.

The Dutch 19-year-old also topped the opening two phases of qualifying and would have been Formula One’s youngest ever pole-sitter but for a sensa-tional lap by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

“Coming here, I really felt the package we were coming with (a win) was a realistic goal of ours that we thought we could achieve,” said Ricciardo, who was

targeting a dominant weekend for Red Bull.

“(I’m) A little bit disappointed to miss out on a win, but I’ve still got to be pretty grateful and happy with another podium,” the ever-smiling Australian, who has finished in the top three on seven occasions this year, added.

Formula One next heads to Malaysia, where Ricciardo led Verstappen in a one-two last year, after Lewis Hamilton retired his Mercedes from a comforta-ble lead with a blown engine.

But while Red Bull — who had been expected to be Mer-cedes’ closest challengers this season — have made progress after a slow start to the year, Ric-ciardo feels the form they showed in Singapore is a one-off for now.

The 28-year-old, who scored the team’s most recent triumph at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in June, remains confident however of scoring at least one more vic-tory before the season ends in Abu Dhabi in six races’ time.

“I think we can be podium cars, probably Malaysia, Japan, Austin,” said Ricciardo.

“But yeah, we might need some alternate conditions to really give us raw pace to fight for a win.”

32 TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2017SPORT 33TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2017 SPORT

SingaporeAFP

Lewis Hamilton warned the Formula One championship was far from over after Ferrari’s first-lap disaster in Sin-gapore put him in the driving seat for his fourth world title.

The Mercedes driver said he was expecting a strong response from Ferrari after both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raik-konen went out after a crash at the first corner.

Hamilton had laboured in qualifying, starting from fifth, but he drove brilliantly in the wet and under lights to open up a potentially decisive 28-point lead over Vet-tel in the standings.

The 32-year-old Briton has now won the last three races, but he said there was still a long way to go with six grands prix left in the season, starting with Malaysia next week.

“Honestly, I think it’s going to be very close in the next races,” he said, warning that Ferrari would be particularly strong in Japan and Brazil. “It’s hard to predict.”

Hamilton was one of only 12 drivers to

finish the first wet race on the floodlit streets of Singapore, which started with a game-changing smash and saw three safety cars.

Pole-sitter Vettel and third-placed Raikkonen sandwiched Red Bull’s Max Ver-stappen going into the first corner, resulting in a crash which took out all three and also ended the race of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

Asked whether it was karmic retribu-tion for Azerbaijan, when Vettel finished ahead of Hamilton despite driving into him, the Briton told Sky Sports: “I don’t know if it’s karma but whatever it is I will definitely take it.”

Verstappen said Vettel’s move to cut him off at the start was an unnecessary risk by the German, who held a 20-point lead in July but may now have seen his season go up in smoke.

“If you are fighting for the world cham-pionship you shouldn’t take those risks squeezing someone that much. You can see what happens,” Verstappen told Sky Sports.

For Vettel, a four-time winner in Sin-gapore, it was a miserable night and

contrasted with his joy after qualifying, when he pulled out a mesmerising lap to grab pole.

With his 60th win, Hamilton is slowly closing on Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 -- but he said the great German’s haul of seven world titles was far from his mind.

“It’s hard enough to get these cham-pionships won one at a time, it’s hard enough just to get this fourth one,” he said.

“I’m loving driving more than ever. I feel like I’m driving better than ever. I feel the most whole as a driver that I’ve ever been, which is a great feeling.”

He added that his priority this year, after team-mate Nico Rosberg narrowly beat him to last season’s title, was simple: keep errors to a minimum.

“For me (Singapore) was just about staying focused and not making any mis-takes. Something I’m very set on this year,” he said.

“Coming from last year, where there were lots of mistakes, this is a year I try to make sure that, if I’m going to grow anywhere, in any space, that’s going to be it.”

Hamilton warns of Ferrari F1 fightback

FORMULA ONE DRIVER STANDINGS

1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 263

2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Fer-

rari 235

3. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes 212

4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red

Bull 162

5. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 138

6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red

Bull 68

7. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India 68

8. Esteban Ocon (France) Force India 56

9. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso 48

10. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany)

Renault 34

11. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams 31

12. Lance Stroll (Canada) Williams 28

13. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas 26

14. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) Haas 11

15. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 10

16. Jolyon Palmer (Britain) Renault 8

17. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium)

McLaren 7

18. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany) Sau-

ber 5

19. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso 4

20. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber 0

21. Antonio Giovinazzi (Italy) Sauber 0

Luck rains on Hamilton Singapore

Reuters

Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton needed a miracle going into Sunday’s Singa-pore Grand Prix and the Briton certainly got it on his

way to an against-all-odds win at the Marina Bay street circuit.

The triple champion, starting fifth with three cars between him and pole-sitting title-rival Sebastian Vet-tel, had expected a tough evening of damage limitation.

Instead, the 32-year-old was granted rain that levelled the playing field, carnage at the start that took out Ferrari’s Vettel and a big break in the championship fight.

“God blessed me today, for sure,” Hamilton, who went into the race three points ahead of Vettel but came away with a 28-point cushion, said on the podium.

“As soon as it rained I knew where I was going to finish.”

Hamilton’s Mercedes had suffered from a distinct lack of pace around the twists of the 23-corner Singapore circuit in qualifying.

The layout played to Ferrari’s and Red Bull’s strengths and as the two teams fought for pole position, Ham-ilton never realistically looked like being in contention.

Heading into the weekend as the

season’s first back-to-back winner, the Briton had been forced to put his hopes of a third consecutive triumph on ice.

But in the damp conditions, with Sunday’s race the first to be hit by rain in the decade that Singapore has hosted it, Hamilton’s Mercedes came into its own.

“It seemed to work in those trick-ier, cooler, slippier conditions,” Hamilton, who now has seven wins to Vettel’s four, told journalists.

He was even told at one point not to open too big a gap over Daniel Ric-ciardo’s pursuing Red Bull for strategic reasons.

Vettel’s failure to finish turned what Hamilton already expected to be a good day into a perfect one.

The German made a clean start but, veering left, squeezed Red Bull’s front-row contender Max Verstap-pen into Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Contact between the pair sent

Raikkonen spearing into the side of Vettel’s car and all three drivers were forced to retire.

The gap between Hamilton and Vettel is now bigger than it has ever been this season with six of the 20 races still to run.

The Briton will hold on to the overall lead even if he fails to finish the next race in Malaysia on Oct. 1 and Vettel wins.

“It couldn’t be a more perfect sce-nario, really, for us,” Hamilton said.

Verstappen blames Vettel for reckless driving Singapore

AP

After being on the receiving end of reckless driving at the Singa-pore Grand Prix, Max

Verstappen was quick to blame Sebas-tian Vettel.

Verstappen was forced to retire from Sunday’s race after the first lap, the seventh time in 14 races that the Red Bull driver has failed to finish.

This time it wasn’t engine failure, like on several occasions this season, but Vettel causing a first-lap crash that was easily avoidable.

“When you’re fighting for a world championship you shouldn’t do that,” an upset Verstappen said of Vettel. “It was not very clever.”

Race stewards cleared Vettel,

whose miscalculated move ultimately forced his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raik-konen and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso out of the race.

“You shouldn’t take those risks to squeeze someone that much,” contin-ued Verstappen, who clearly felt Vettel had transgressed. “I don’t think it was a racing incident.”

Although he had good cause to question Vettel, it was somewhat ironic coming from Verstappen.

The Dutch teen turns 20 at the end of September, but he already has a rep-utation of his own in Formula One. His aggressive, unapologetic, fearless — and even borderline dangerous — approach thrust Verstappen into the spotlight last season, almost as much as his superb driving highlighted his potential as a future world champion.

He became the youngest to win a race in Spain and to start from the front row of the grid in Monaco — at just 18 years old.

Then, at the Brazilian GP near the end of last season, he produced one of the finest performances in years. It was a sheer masterclass in overtak-ing as he carved his way through the field in driving rain, and had F1 observers in awe at the sheer bril-liance of his driving.

But he also strongly upset drivers along the way in 2016 — none more so than Vettel and Raikkonen.

Raikkonen criticized him sternly at the Hungarian GP and even more heavily at the Belgian GP.

At the Mexican GP in October, Vet-tel completely lost his cool, delivering a barrage of expletives

about Verstappen over race radio. On Sunday, Verstappen was the one complaining.

After trudging back to his garage, he lamented his bad luck.

“I was in the middle without doing anything wrong,” he said of Sunday’s chaotic Turn 1 incident. “If I make a mistake myself and go off, that’s a dif-ferent story.”

Yet just two months ago, even his own Red Bull teammate Daniel Ric-ciardo publicly criticised Verstappen at the Hungarian GP.

Ricciardo’s race was over after Turn 2 with Verstappen the perpetra-tor, recklessly swerving into him and unable to contain his urge to overtake.

Verstappen subsequently apolo-gized to Ricciardo.

Vettel loses huge ground in title race after Singapore blip Singapore

AP

In the space of three races, Sebastian Vettel has dropped twice as far behind Lewis Ham-ilton as he was ahead of him.After winning the Hungarian Grand Prix in

late July, Vettel led by 14 points, with both driv-ers on four wins heading into the summer break.

But after crashing out on the first lap in Sun-day’s Singapore GP, the Ferrari driver trails Hamilton by 28.

“That was very disappointing and it was definitely not the result we were expecting,” Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said. “But it doesn’t mean that the battle is all over, just that it has become more difficult.”

Yet it might seem to Mercedes that, for all of his experience, Vettel is throwing away the Formula One title.

“Clearly we would not feel comfortable in Ferrari’s shoes,” Mercedes head of motorsport Toto Wolff said. “But this is not the time for cheering.”

Hamilton has won all three races relatively comfortably since the championship resumed in August, and with only six GPs remaining Vet-tel faces a huge task to stop Hamilton.

“We guarantee that we will be fighting right to the final corner of the very last Grand Prix of the year,” Arrivabene said.

Mercedes is still expecting a challenge.But it will be abundantly harder now for

Vettel because, unlike last season, Hamilton has so far not retired from any races. Although he has failed to finish on the podium four times for Mercedes this season, that is the same number as Vettel’s finishes outside the top three.

After winning three of the first six races, Vettel’s grip has loosened with only one win in the past eight.

Points have been thrown away, too.At the British GP in July, Vettel looked at

least assured of a podium finish until an unex-pected tire problem at the end of the race bumped him down to seventh.

On Sunday, he had a great chance to win starting from pole position on a hard-braking track much more suited to Ferrari than Mercedes.

A few seconds later, he was out of the race.Vettel made a hasty error of judgment try-

ing to cut off Max Verstappen heading into the first turn and ultimately caused a crash that also took out Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikko-nen — who had made a blistering start — Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.

Vettel apologized to his Ferrari team afterward.

With both Ferraris out, Mercedes had a clear path as Hamilton won his 60th career race and teammate Valtteri Bottas took third.

Within Mercedes, Hamilton’s title charge is now the priority.

Although team orders are very unlikely to be imposed, it is clear — unofficially at least — that Bottas will be racing to help Hamilton equal Vettel on four world titles.

Bottas has had a fine first season since join-ing as an emergency late replacement for Rosberg, who retired days after winning the 2016 title. Bottas has even exceeded expecta-tions with 10 podiums in 14 races, including two wins, and sits in third place overall.

With Hamilton ahead and Bottas closing behind, Vettel is under pressure to deliver at the Malaysian GP in two weeks’ time.

Ricciardo aims high as Red Bull rekindle past memories

Singapore GP attendance rises 19 percent in 2017 Singapore

Reuters

Attendance at the Sin-gapore Grand Prix rose 19 percent in

2017, underscoring the pop-ularity of the race, whose contract was extended last week for four years.

Overall attendance hit 260,400, higher than the event’s 10-year average, event organiser Singapore GP said in a statement on Sunday. The 2016 edition attracted about 219,000

spectators.The sport’s first night

race marked its 10th anni-versary this year and has established itself as one of the most popular and glam-orous of Formula One’s events. Last week, the sport and race organisers con-firmed that the Singapore Grand Prix would stay on the Formula One calendar until 2021.

Sunday’s race, which was won by Lewis Hamilton, would otherwise have been the last in the city-state.

Singapore GP

260,400

10 years

Sunday’s event attracted an overall attendance of 260,400.

Formula One’s first night race marked its 10th anniversary this year.

Ferrar i ’ s K imi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen walk away after crashing out of the Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on Sunday.Verstappen ran into Raikkonen in the first lap of the race and the contact between the pair sent Raikkonen spearing into the side of Vettel’s car and all three drivers were forced to retire.

Red Bull’s Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton drives during the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix in Singapore on Sunday.

Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates after winning the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix in Singapore on Sunday.

34 TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2017SPORT

Leishman pips Rose to win BMW trophy Chicago

AFP

Marc Leishman fired a final-round 67 on Sun-day to complete a wire-to-wire victory in the BMW Champion-

ship, beating Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler by five strokes.

Australia’s Leishman had seized control of the penultimate event in the US PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup play-offs with a scintillating 62 on Thursday.

He started the fourth round at Conway Farms with a five stroke lead that twice dwindled to two shots over Rose before Leishman finished con-fidently, with birdies in three of the last four holes.

He rolled in a 19-footer from the fringe at the 72nd hole to celebrate his third US PGA Tour title with a 23-under par total of 261.

The victory was a vindication after Leishman was unable to close out a win two weeks ago at TPC Bos-ton, where his challenge was doomed by five bogeys on the back nine.

“There’s probably a few little scars from two weeks ago,” Leish-man said.

“I was really determined to not let that happen again, to try and give myself a big enough buffer that I could get it done.

“And I got it done.”Leishman’s 261 was a record total

for the tournament and his 23-under tied the tournament low in relation to par, set by Dustin Johnson last year.

England’s Rose had seven bird-ies -- and an ill-timed bogey at 17 -- in a 65 for 266.

Fowler had five birdies in his four-under 67 to join Rose on 18-under. Former world number one Jason Day of Australia was alone in fourth after a 69 for 268.

Leishman, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, moved to fourth in the FedEx Cup standings going into the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.

Only the top 30 players in the standings advance to the season finale, where a $10m play-off bonus will be up for grabs.

The four players who moved into the top 30 this week included Mas-ters champion Sergio Garcia, who jumped from 34th to 25th in the standings with a tie for 12th.

Five-time major winner Phil Mickelson came up just short in his bid to book a Tour Championship berth.

Garcia was embroiled in a lengthy rules discussion at the 18th, where his second shot landed on the rocks aside a creek.

Eventually the Spaniard took a drop and made a par that was enough to punch his Tour Championship ticket.

“I had the possibility of playing it against the rock because it was flat,” Garcia said.

“The grandstand on the right side of the green was in my way, so I was able to get relief from that. So, (I) dropped inside the hazard.”

Garcia played alongside Mickel-son, whose bid to book his trip to East Lake included an eagle at the 15th. The American played the final three holes in one-under par, but finished 34th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Asked if the delay as Garcia con-sidered his options bothered him before his own birdie attempt, Mick-elson quipped: “No. I needed that extra 38 minutes to read that putt.”

1. (1) Dustin Johnson (US) 12.03

2. (2) Jordan Spieth (US) 10.41

3. (3) Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 9.00

4. (4) Justin Thomas (US) 7.94

5. (5) Jon Rahm (Spain) 7.70

6. (9) Jason Day (Australia) 6.60

7. (10) Rickie Fowler (US) 6.58

8. (6) Rory McIlroy (Britain) 6.57

9. (7) Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 6.46

10. (8) Sergio Garcia (Spain) 6.30

11. (11) Brooks Koepka (US) 5.88

12. (12) Alexander Noren (Sweden) 5.62

13. (13) Matt Kuchar (US) 5.57

14. (15) Justin Rose (Britain) 5.47

15. (22) Marc Leishman (Australia) 5.18

GOLF: WORLD RANKINGS (TOP 15)

PGA golfer Marc Leishman kisses the Wadley Trophy and holds the BMW Championship Trophy after winning the BMW Championship golf tournament at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest on Sunday.

Indian attack more

than just spin, warns

Aussie skipper Smith Chennai

AFP

Australia were undone by spin in the first one-day international but

skipper Steve Smith has warned his side need to be ready for India’s other bowl-ing weapons.

The tourists were frus-trated by wrist spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Kul-deep Yadav, who took five wickets between them, to go down by 26 runs as they chased a rain-shortened tar-get of 164 in 21 overs.

Australia had brought in local bowler KK Jiyas ahead of Sunday’s game to practise facing a left-arm wrist spin-ner and Smith said the performance in Chennai was disappointing but that his side have got to be ready for more.

“We certainly haven’t just been focusing on wrist spin. We’ve been facing our fast bowlers in the nets and other net bowlers as well,” Smith said.

“There hasn’t just been that focus on spin bowling, that’s for sure. India have

some quality seamers as well,” he added.

It was fast bowlers Jas-prit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya who rattled the Aus-tralian top order before the spinners moved in.

Leg-spinner Chahal and Yadav also slipped in a few knuckle balls -- bowled with fingertips and released in a way to reduce any kind of rotation on the ball -- for shock value.

Smith insisted there were no surprises in the game, as Australia had prepared for all challenges.

“The guys knew what they were going to come with before this game. Everyone had seen the footage and watched a bit of the series in Sri Lanka where they bowled quite a few (knuckle balls),” said Smith.

“It wasn’t any surprise to us. Batting for 20 overs is dif-ficult when you’re losing wickets and trying to go quite hard.

“It didn’t work out as we would have liked but we’ve got to turn things around in a couple of days’ time in Kolkata,” he added.

Australian cricket captain Steve Smith (right) and his wife leave the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata yesterday.

Kaino in line for recall against Pumas Wellington

Reuters

Veteran loose forward Jer-ome Kaino is in line for an All Blacks recall after

missing the opening four rounds of the Rugby Championship due to a “personal issue”.

The 34-year-old dual World Cup winner played all three tests against the British and Irish Lions but flew home

to New Zealand shortly before the Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies in Sydney.

New Zealand Rugby said at the time that an Australian media report about his private life had necessitated his return to Auckland.

Kaino has been included in a 28-man tour squad for the September 30 clash against Argentina in Buenos Aires along with flanker Matt Todd and lock Patrick Tuipulotu.

Following the All Blacks’ record 57-0 humiliation of South Africa on Saturday, Hansen has rested locks Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick, loose forwards Liam Squire and Sam Cane, and backs Beauden Barrett and Ryan Crotty for the Pumas match.

Another group will return home after game against Pumas, ahead of the final away match against the Springboks as the All Blacks staff look to manage play-ers’ workloads at the back end of the season.

“We struggled at times last year, this is the hardest time of the year for us, so we are just trying to think outside the box and think of ways to keep the players fresh,” Hansen said in a

media release yesterday. “This also gives us a chance to build player depth and experience,” he added.

“It puts a lot of pressure on us going to Argentina because they are a good side and we’ll need to play well to perform there, but we’re confident that the group we are taking there will be able to do the job.”

Kaino returned to training last week but missed the match at North Harbour Stadium where the All Blacks subjected South Africa to their worst test defeat.

The All Blacks are undefeated after four rounds of the Rugby Championship and can success-fully defend their title with victory over the winless Pumas.

Forwards - Wyatt Crockett, Kane

Hames, Nepo Laulala, Jeffery

Toomaga Allen, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Dane

Coles, Codie Taylor, Nathan Harris,

Scott Barrett, Luke Romano, Patrick

Tuipulotu, Vaea Fifita, Jerome Kaino,

Kieran Read (captain), Ardie Savea,

Matt Todd

Backs - Tawera Kerr-Barlow, TJ Pere-

nara, Aaron Smith, Lima Sopoaga,

Anton Lienert-Brown, Ngani Lau-

mape, Sonny Bill Williams, Rieko Io-

ane, David Havili, Damian McKenzie,

Nehe Milner-Skudder, Waisake Naho-

lo

ALL BLACKS SQUAD

Steve Hansen (left) is thinking outside the box to keep his players fresh.

Cup organisers told to hasten preparations London

Reuters

Organisers of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan have not made suf-

ficient progress in key areas and must pick up the pace of prepa-rations, Tournament Director Alan Gilpin has said.

With Asia’s first Rugby World Cup just two years away, Gilpin expressed his concerns after a third round of tournament review meetings this year in Tokyo on Sunday.

Gilpin and his team evalu-ated operational areas, team services, venues, ticketing, tournament budgets and host city operations for the Septem-ber 20 to November 2 2019

tournament. “There are areas where the organising commit-tee has not progressed as much as we would expect by this stage,” Gilpin said in comments published by Kyodo news agency.

“We have reminded our friends at the organising com-mittee that there is no time to lose with two years to go.

“The Japan Rugby 2019 Organising Committee recog-nise that they need to

accelerate the selection of training venues,” he said, stressing that the next two months would be critical to the success of the important event.

Wednesday marks the two-year countdown for the event and Japan will mark the mile-stone by parading the Webb Ellis Cup in 12 host cities and the country’s Top League clubs over 46 days.

“All stakeholders, including government and host cities, will need to continue to play their part to ensure a successful event that advances rugby on the domestic and global stage and shows the best of Japan as a host to the world,” added the Tour-nament Director for the 2019 Cup.

All stakeholders, including government and host cities, will need to continue to play their part to ensure a successful event, says Tournament Director Gilpin

35TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2017 SPORT

NFL: Brady and Pats bounce back; Chiefs and Falcons win Los Angeles AFP

The New England Patri-ots’ early-season struggles didn’t last long.

Quarterback Tom Brady threw for 302 of his 447 passing yards in a 30-point first-half burst and the Super Bowl champion Patriots bounced back from a season-opening defeat with a 36-20 rout of the Saints in New Orleans on Sunday.

Brady, who had completed just 16 passes in a 42-27 loss to Kansas City last week, connected on 19 of 25 with three touch-downs in the first half alone.

It was the first time in the 40-year-old superstar’s career that he completed three TD passes in the first quarter.

“We were 0-1, and with the 10-day break, it felt like a year,” Brady said.

“It was a good four quarters of great competition. We got off to a good start with some situa-tional things, but we still left some things out there.”

Brady hit Rex Burkhead for a 19-yard TD, connected with Rob Gronkowski on a 53-yard score and threw a 13-yard touch-down pass to Chris Hogan.

The Patriots led 30-13 at halftime and handed a Saints team led by prolific quarterback Drew Brees their second defeat in as many games this season.

It wasn’t all good news for

New England. Gronkowski, lim-ited to eight games last season because of injury, appeared to have shaken off the rust as he caught six passes for 116 yards, but he departed the game in the fourth quarter with an apparent groin injury.

Hogan was limping in the second half and receiver Phillip Dorsett left late with a knee injury.

The Patriots’ final three scor-ing drives ended in field goals by Stephen Gostkowski.

Coming off their big season-opening win over the Patriots, the Chiefs got off to a slow start but came alive in the second half for a 27-20 win over the Phila-delphia Eagles.

Kareem Hunt got loose for a 53-yard touchdown run with 1:20 left in the third quarter to put the Chiefs up 13-10.

Philadelphia tied the game with 11:57 seconds left in the fourth quarters with a 40-yard

field goal from rookie Jake Elli-ott. But the Chiefs took the lead for good with a 15-yard TD pass from Alex Smith to tight end Travis Kelce before Hunt plunged over for another touch-down from two yards out.

The Atlanta Falcons, who collapsed spectacularly in the Super Bowl against New England in February, improved to 2-0 with a 34-23 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

In their first game at their $1.5bn Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Falcons built a big lead and made it stand up.

Matt Ryan threw for 252 yards and a touchdown and Dev-onta Freeman rushed for 84 yards and two short TDs for Atlanta.

Falcons safety Desmond Trufant, who missed the second half of last season, had a 15-yard fumble return for a touchdown and set up another TD with an interception in the rematch of

last season’s NFC championship game. The Arizona Cardinals erased a 10-point fourth quar-ter deficit to post a 16-13 overtime victory over the Colts in Indianapolis.

Phil Dawson, who missed a potential game-winning field goal from 42 yards on the final play of regulation, booted a 30-yard field goal with 8:02 left in the extra period to win it.

He got the chance after Tyr-ann Mathieu intercepted Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett at the Indianapolis 22 yard line on the first play of overtime.

In Los Angeles, Kirk Cousins connected on an 11-yard touch-down pass to receiver Ryan Grant with 1:49 to play to lift the Washington Redskins to a 27-20 victory over the Rams.

There was disappointment for Los Angeles’ other team, too, as the Chargers, newly relocated from San Diego, dropped their first home game at the StubHub Center 19-17 to the Miami Dolphins.

Cody Parker kicked four field goals, including a 54-yarder with 65 seconds left, for Miami.

San Diego’s South Korean-born rookie Younghoe Koo missed a 44-yard field goal attempt with nine seconds left.

Atlanta 34 Green Bay 23

Seattle 12 San Francisco 9

Washington 27 LA Rams 20

Denver 42 Dallas 17

Oakland 45 NY Jets 20

Miami 19 LA Chargers 17

Baltimore 24 Cleveland 10

Tampa Bay 29 Chicago 7

Pittsburgh 26 Minnesota 9

New England 36 New Orleans 20

Kansas City 27 Philadelphia 20

Tennessee 37 Jacksonville 16

Arizona 16 Indianapolis 13

Carolina 9 Buffalo 3

NFL RESULTS

New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski (87) is tackled by New Orleans Saints safety Kenny Vaccaro (32) during the first quarter of their game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans on Sunday.

New Orleans Saints linebacker Hau’oli Kikaha (left) sacks New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) in the second quarter of their game on Sunday.

Unsung hero

Kokoskov still

humble after

Slovenia feat Ljubljana

Reuters

Slovenia’s historic tri-umph at the European basketball championship

left their coach Igor Kokoskov (pictured above) as the unsung hero after the Alpine country’s impressive 93-85 win over Serbia in a rip-roar-ing final in Istanbul.

Miami heat guard Goran Dragic, who poured in 35 points on Sunday, grabbed all the headlines after what he said was his final interna-tional game but the Slovenians have as much to thank Serb exile Kokoskov.

The 45-year-old spent a solitary year in the 1990s as a senior head coach in his country at nondescript sec-ond-tier side OKK Belgrade before building a career as an assistant at six different NBA outfits, most recently the Utah Jazz.

Overlooked by Serbia’s ruling basketball echelons, Kokoskov learnt his trade across the Atlantic and applied it with such devastat-ing effect against his compatriots, as the Sloveni-ans capped a magnificent tournament with a 9-0 record.

They blew away 2015 champions Spain 92-72 in the semis before overpowering Serbia and Slovenia’s popu-lar Ekipa sports website (www.ekipa24.si) paid trib-ute to Kokoskov.

“Graceful and humble in victory as he’s always been, Kokoskov is a man of few words who came through with sheer hard work and deserves all the accolades as the greatest hero and creator of Slovenia’s basketball suc-cess,” it said.

Having started as an assistant at the Los Angeles Clippers 2000-2003, Koko-skov spent the next five years at the Detroit Pistons before spells at the Phoenix Suns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Orladno Magic.

Kokoskov took on a dual role as he transformed also-rans Georgia into a respectable side during his 2008-2015 spell at the former Soviet republic before he took over as Slovenia’s head coach last year.

Having arrived to the 24-nation Eurobasket 2017 as no more than one of many dark horses, the Slovenians romped to their first basket-ball podium finish as an independent nation and a first gold medal in any team sport.

Kokoskov heaped praise on his staff, the officials and players, who won the hearts of neutral fans with entertain-ing and free-flowing basketball instilled into the side by their American-styled coach.

“We had an incredible tournament and a memora-ble final which we will savour for the rest of our lives,” he told Ekipa.

Houston Astros starting pitcher Justin Verlander pitches against

the Seattle Mariners in the

first inning of their game in Houston

on Sunday.

Verlander stars as Astros

win AL West division title Los Angeles AFP

Justin Verlander pitched seven strong innings and the Astros belted four home runs

in a 7-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday that lifted Houston to the American League West division title.

It’s the Astros seventh divi-sion title -- but their first AL West pennant. They won National League Central crown in 2001 for their most recent previous division champion-ship, prior to moving to the American League in 2013.

Verlander allowed one run on three hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts over seven innings.

In three starts with the Astros since he was acquired from the Detroit Tigers on

September 1, Verlander is 3-0 with an 0.86 ERA and 26 strikeouts over 21 innings.

Derek Fisher and Marwin Gonzalez belted two-run home runs in the fifth inning to help Houston erase a 1-0 deficit.

Fisher socked his fifth homer off Mariners right-hander Andrew Moore and Gonzalez greeted Mariners reliever James Pazos with his 22nd homer this season.

In the seventh inning, George Springer bashed his team-leading 32nd home run of the season into the box seats in left field. Two batters later, Carlos Correa hit his 21st home run to straightaway center field.

The Astros moved into first place in the AL West on April 14 with a 7-2 win over the Athlet-ics and had remained atop the division ever since.

MLB: Heyward steers Cubs to 4-3 victory over CardinalsNew York Agencies

Jason Heyward hit a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the seventh to help Chicago com-

plete a sweep of St. Louis.Heyward finished with three

hits for the Cubs, who have won six straight and climbed 17 games above .500. They also moved to six games ahead of third-place St. Louis in the National League Central.

Pedro Stop (5-4) earned the victory after throwing a score-less inning, and Wade Davis secured his 31st save in as many chances.

Meanwhile, Matthew Boyd fell one out short of pitching

Detroit’s first no-hitter since 2011.

Boyd yielded a two-out

double to right-center in the ninth by Tim Anderson.

He also got home run sup-port from Nicholas Castellanos, Mikie Mahtook and rookie Jeimer Candelario.

Elsewhere, Corey Kluber pitched seven scoreless innings and Edwin Encarnacion belted his 36th home run as Cleveland defeated Kansas City.

Kluber (17-4), who struck out nine and did not walk a bat-ter, has pitched 22 consecutive scoreless innings over his last three starts. Cody Allen pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up his 28th save.

Ryan Zimmerman hit a go-ahead in 7-1 win for Nationals over Dodgers.

Chicago Cubs Jason Heyward (right) scores past St Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina during their MLB game on Sunday.

Washington 7 LA Dodgers 1

San Francisco 7 Arizona 2

Texas 4 LA Angels 2

San Diego 4 Colorado 3

Chicago Cubs 4 St. Louis 3

Milwaukee 10 Miami 3

Houston 7 Seattle 1

Minnesota 13 Toronto 7

NY Mets 5 Atlanta 1

Oakland 6 Philadelphia 3

Cincinnati 5 Pittsburgh 2

Tampa Bay 3 Boston 2

Detroit 12 Chicago White Sox 0

Cleveland 3 Kansas City 2

Baltimore 6 NY Yankees 4

BASEBALL RESULTS

36 TUESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2017SPORT

Darcis, Goffin take Belgium into final Paris

AFP

Australia’s hopes of reaching a first Davis Cup final in 14 years were shattered on Sunday when Belgium fought back from an overnight deficit to

win their semi-final 3-2 and set-up a title showdown with neighbours France.

Steve Darcis, the 33-year-old world number 77, held his nerve in the decid-ing rubber in Brussels, coasting to a 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Jordan Thompson, a last-minute call-up by Australia skip-per Lleyton Hewitt to replace John Millman.

David Goffin had levelled the semi-final earlier Sunday by coming back to defeat Nick Kyrgios 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, claiming his 15th win in 16 Davis Cup singles rubbers.

Nine-time champions France made the final by seeing off Serbia 3-1 in Lille and will host the Belgians in the Novem-ber 24-26 championship match.

France won their most recent Davis Cup in 2001 before losing the 2002, 2010 and 2014 finals. Belgium made the final in 2015, losing to Britain.

Darcis won his 22nd Davis Cup tie but Goffin laid the foundation by winning both of his singles matches against Australia who claimed the last title in 2003.

“When David Goffin plays like that, he’s one of the best in the world,” said Kyrgios, whose own record in the tour-nament now stands at seven wins and two losses.

Goffin admitted he was in peak form, firing 20 aces and 39 winners past Kyrgios.

“This was probably my best ever Davis Cup match,” said the world number 12. “It was also the best match I have served in my career.”

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga fought back from a set down against Dusan Lajovic to lead France into the final.

Yannick Noah’s hosts went into the day needing just one victory from the final two singles rubbers to take an unassail-able 3-1 lead against an understrength Serbia, who were missing Novak Djoko-vic, Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki.

Lajovic had stunned Lucas Pouille in the opening match on Friday and he eased to the opening set, only for Tsonga to find his rhythm and eventually cruise to a 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 win.

In the play-offs, where the winners will feature in the World Group next sea-son, 2016 champions Argentina suffered the embarrassment of being relegated to the zonal groups after a 3-2 defeat to Kazakhstan in Astana.

Switzerland, the 2014 winners, edged Belarus 3-2 in Biel despite the absence of Roger Federer and injured Stan Wawrinka.

Boris Becker’s first outing as head of tennis with Germany ended with a 3-2 win over Portugal in Lisbon while the Netherlands overturned an over-night 1-2 deficit to beat 2012 and 2013 champions Czech Republic to win 3-2 in The Hague.

It is the first time in 11 years that the Czechs have lost their World Group sta-tus. Hungary stunned Russia 3-1 in Budapest while 2005 champions Croatia, who were runners-up last year, also stay

in the World Group with a 4-1 win against Colombia in Bogota.

Rising star Denis Shapovalov, 18, led

Canada to victory over India in Edmonton thanks to a 6-3, 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 win over Ram-kumar Ramanathan.

Davis Cup: France to host Belgians in clash for title

This was probably my best ever Davis Cup match. It was also the best match I have served in my career, says Goffin

Electronic calls

to replace line

judges at Next

Gen Finals

London

Reuters

Line judges face an uncertain future after the ATP announced that

they will be replaced by “electronic line calls” at this year’s inaugural Next Gen Finals in Milan.

For the first time at an ATP event, the chair umpire will be the only official on court, with ‘Hawk-Eye Live’ technology used to judge whether shots are in or out.

Decisions will be final with players unable to chal-lenge calls as they do at most tournaments via Hawk-Eye playback.

Marginal calls will, how-ever, still be accompanied by a visualisation on video screens around the stadium.

Foot-faults, usually called by judges positioned in line with the baseline, will be determined by a ‘review offi-cial’ who will monitor the feet of servers via cameras.

The Next Gen ATP Finals in November, which will be contested by the top eight players aged 21 and under, will feature a range of new innovations including a shot clock and short sets.

Electronic line calling, however, raises the possibil-ity of judges being phased out for good -- ending the ritual of players scowling at officials when decision go against them.

“This could be a landmark moment for officiating in our sport,” Gayle David Brad-shaw, executive vice president of the ATP’s Rules and Competition department, said.

“Our athletes work incredibly hard and they deserve the very best and most accurate officiating we can offer. The technology is now in a place where we feel comfortable trialling this new system in a real tournament environment.

“The Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan is the perfect place to do this, and we look for-ward to monitoring the results and assessing the mer-its of this new system.”

Hawk-Eye Live technology has been tested for 18 months and Sam Green, Director of Tennis at Hawk-Eye, believes it will become “the future of tennis officiating”.

1. Rafael Nadal (ESP) 9.465

2. Roger Federer (SUI) 7.505

3. Andy Murray (GBR) 6.790

4. Alexander Zverev (GER) 4.470

5. Marin Cilic (CRO) 4.155

6. Novak Djokovic (SRB) 4.125

7. Dominic Thiem (AUT) 4.030

8. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 3.690

9. Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 3.575

10. Pablo Carreno (ESP) 2.855

ATP RANKINGS (TOP 10)

1. Garbine Muguruza (ESP) 6030

2. Simona Halep (ROU) 5965

3. Elina Svitolina (UKR) 5640

4. Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 5520

5. Venus Williams (USA) 4756

6. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 4640

7. Johanna Konta (GBR) 4520

8. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 4410

9. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 3770

10. Jelena Ostapenko (LAT) 3502

WTA RANKINGS (TOP 10)

Kerber gets Osaka revenge in Tokyo Tokyo

AFP

Former world number one Angelique Kerber thrashed Japan’s Naomi Osaka 6-3,

6-4 at the Pan Pacific Open women’s tennis tournament in Tokyo yesterday to avenge a humiliating loss at the US Open.

Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic suffered an epic Tokyo meltdown, meanwhile, as she was pulverised by Chi-na’s Wang Qiang, who inflicted the dreaded “double bagel” on the eighth seed to win 6-0, 6-0 and reach the second round.

Kerber, seeded seventh, crashed to a shock 6-3, 6-1 first-round defeat by Osaka in New York last month as defending champion. But a repeat never seemed likely on Monday as the German quickly took control.

Kerber, who has slipped

back to 14th in the world since winning last year’s Australian and US Open titles, ripped forehands past her teenage opponent seemingly at will in the first set.

Osaka’s game unravelled

completely in the second, giv-ing Kerber a welcome opportunity to work her way back to form after a poor run of results and to seal victory in an hour and 23 minutes.

“I was trying to come out,

focus on every single point and make it better than last time,” said Kerber.

“Naomi is a tough opponent and a great talent. For sure she will have great success in the future.”

The 19-year-old Osaka, born of a Haitian father and a Japa-nese mother, went on to reach the third round of the US Open after stunning Kerber.

But the world number 44 almost appeared to be tanking at times at the venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, such was her lack of gusto. She commit-ted 38 unforced errors -- including a wild forehand on match point -- in a performance she will want to forget in a hurry.

Elsewhere, Japanese wild-card Kurumi Nara beat Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Belgium’s Steve Darcis (left) and captain Johan Van Herck celebrate after Darcis defeated Australia’s Jordan Thomson during their Davis Cup semifinal in Brussels on Sunday. Inset: Belgium’s David Goffin celebrates after beating Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.

Angelique Kerber of Germany in action against

Naomi Osaka of Japan.

The Peninsula

Omar Mohamed and Pia Hampel topped in the men’s and women’s cat-

egory of the 1km open water swimming challenge - Swim for a Cause - organised by Sharq Village & Spa at Sharq Village & Spa Beach.

Michael Berndt finished first runner-up in the men’s sec-tion while Mohd Syafei Bin Ahmad and Ebrahim Yusuf Alromaihi finished second runners-up.

In the women’s section, Georgia Twigg took the first runner-up spot followed by Sarah Neeson in the second runner-up spot.

The popular swimming ini-tiative, aims to contribute to provide safe and clean

drinking water to those in need. Sharq Village & Spa, a Ritz-Carl-ton Hotel, has embarked on a year-round of a series of activ-ities to contribute, engage and inspire the community, through Community Footprints with Swim for a Cause, part of the program.

The Ritz-Carlton pro-gramme focuses on child well-being; hunger and poverty relief; and environmental responsibility.

The Community Footprints programme, well known throughout the community, aims to raise awareness about environmental issues and encourages individuals to actively initiate change in soci-eties around the globe.

As part of the programme, guests were invited to swim at

the hotel’s private beach for dis-tances ranging from 500 meters to 1Km, and over 65 participants took part in the initiative, including members of the region’s largest spa, and com-munity supporters.

In the 500 metres category, Michael Berndt topped in the men’s section while

Maisie Gilford reached the finish line first in the women’s section.

Paul Crooks and Francis Hasek, clinched the first run-ner-up and second runner-up places in the men’s section while Jenisha Barretto finished behind the winner in the wom-en’s section while Melanie Wolicki completed the podium line-up.

The proceeds of the event were donated towards

increasing access to clean water in developing countries through the Qatar Charity Foundation. Partners of the community program include Six Senses Spa, H20 Swim Club, MAD Triathlon and TriClub Doha.

Asela Jayaweera, Recreation Manager of the hotel, thanked all the partners and participants.

“At Sharq Village & Spa, we are committed to actively sup-port our community and leave an imprint on them. The com-mitment from the community, our loyal guests and our Ladies and Gentlemen, ensured the event was a success and allows us to come together to initiate a difference,” Jayaweera said.

The next event will be held on October 21.

Omar and Pia claim top honours

The winners of 1km open water swimming challenge - Swim for a Cause - pose for a photograph on the podium at Sharq Village & Spa Beach.

Swim for a Cause