SPORTWednesday 7 March 2018

I am a victim of smear attempt, says Wiggins

As Serena returns, Venus says her game hasn’t left

PAGE | 32-33 PAGE | 34 PAGE | 35

All-rounder Aguero better than ever for

Guardiola

A ns,

Al Duhail maintain perfect start as gutsy Al Rayyan hold Al HilalFAWAD HUSSAIN

The Peninsula

DOHA: Al Duhail continued perfect start with a 3-2 win over Uzbekistan’s PFC Lokomotiv while Al Rayyan displayed a brave show to earn an 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal as Qatari clubs enjoyed a good day at AFC Champions League yesterday.

At Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Al Duhail, who are in golden form, overcame a fightback from Loko-motiv to maintain their 100 percent record and stay top of Group B.

The QNB Stars League (QSL) lead-ers got off to a blistering start, with Youssef El Arabi scoring twice inside the first 20 minutes after being set up by Al Moez Ali on both occasions.

The Moroccan’s first goal came via a fierce low shot following a swift pass-ing move in the ninth minute. In the 19th minute, El Arabi doubled the hosts’ lead by tapping in to an empty goal after Ali’s squared pass for his fourth

AFC Champions League goal of the season.

El Arabi then turned provider to captain Youssef Msakni for Al Duhail’s third goal in the 25th minute. Msakni latched onto El Arabi’s precise through pass and deftly chipped Ignatiy Nes-terov to give his side a firm 3-0 lead going into the break.

Lokomotiv looked a different side after the restart and duly pulled a goal back in the 57th minute, with substi-tute Nivaldo scoring with his first touch just moments after coming on. Two minutes later, Marat Bikmaev made it 3-2 after a lobbed finish over Al Duhail keeper Amine Lecomte.

However, despite pushing hard for an equaliser, Lokomotiv were unable to complete what would have been an impressive comeback.

Lokomotiv slumped to third place following the loss. The Uzbek side will now look to take revenge when they host Al Duhail in Tashkent on Match-day Four. In Riyadh, Michael Laudrup’s Al Rayyan held their nerves to share spoils with Al Hilal, spurred with packed home spectators at King Saud University Stadium.

The visitors came off the blocks racing and found the back of the net just three minutes into the game after captain Rodrigo Tabata’s pass found Mohsine Moutouali who fired a pow-erful strike from outside the box that went in off the post to put Al Rayyan in front.

Al Hilal regrouped quickly and

came close to levelling the score in the ninth minute when Achraf Bencharki’s close range shot from a narrow angle was blocked by defender Ahmed Yasser.

Al Rayyan thought they had dou-bled their lead just before the half hour

mark when Abderazak Hamdallah beat the goalkeeper, only to see his goal ruled out for offside. The Saudi side started the second half brighter and in the 58th minute, Bencharki sent an intelligent pass into the box for over-lapping left-back Al Zori who struck

with venom into the top right corner to earn his side a point on the night.

The 2017 runners-up remain without a win in the group and will next travel to Doha to face Al Rayyan, who have now drawn all their three games.

Al Duhail 3 Lokomotiv 2

Al Hilal 1 Al Rayyan 1

Zob Ahan 2 Al Wahda 0

Al Ain 2 Esteghlal 2

Guangzhou 5 Jeju United 3

Jeonbuk 6 Tianjin Quanjian 3

Reysol 1 Kitchee 0

Buriram 2 Cerezo Osaka 0

AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS

Al-Duhail’s Youssef Msekni kicks the ball past Lokomotiv’s goalkeeper Ignaty Nesterov during their AFC Champions League match yesterday.

Real, Liverpool into last 8AP

PARIS: Cristiano Ronaldo punished Paris Saint-Germain’s slack defending once again, scor-ing a powerful second-half header as Real Madrid cruised into the Champions League quarterfinals with a 2-1 win yesterday.

Trailing 3-1 from the first leg, PSG’s fragile defense crumbled and its attack offered little threat without the injured Neymar. The biggest bang from this PSG side was from the fireworks con-stantly let off by a section of fans behind one goal.

Edinson Cavani’s close-range goal gave PSG some hope with 20 minutes left. But with mid-fielder Marco Verratti already sent off, scoring two more to force extra time was beyond a lackluster PSG side.

Instead, midfielder Casem-iro’s deflected shot looped past stranded goalkeeper Alphonse Areola in the 80th to make it 5-2 on aggregate.

He was gifted the ball after midfielder Adrien Rabiot dealt poorly with Lucas Vazquez’s cross.

To compound a miserable night for PSG fans, who so badly

want to believe this side can con-quer Europe, Verratti showed terrible composure to in getting sent off midway through the sec-ond half. He got a second yellow card, having protested vehe-mently with referee Felix Brych after not getting a free kick his way.

Ronaldo had already done his usual damage.

The Champions League’s all-time leading scorer was given far too much space and leapt trium-phantly to beat goalkeeper Alphonse Areola with a down-ward header in the 51st minute. It took his tournament-leading tally to 12, including two in the first leg.

After a slow start this season, Ronaldo is hitting top form at a crucial time for a Madrid side looking to win the competition for the third straight time and 13th overall. He has scored in

nine Champions League games in a row, matching Ruud van Nis-telrooy’s record.

This was a huge test for a PSG side desperate to prove it belongs among Europe’s elite, especially after spectacularly failing last year - becoming the first team eliminated after winning the first leg 4-0. Barcelona won the return 6-1.

This time, there was simply not enough belief shown and too many sloppy mistakes.

Meanwhile, Liverpool eased

into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a goal-less draw against Porto yesterday, completing a routine aggregate victory after their 5-0 first-leg win in Portugal.

In a predictably low-key game, Liverpool striker Sadio Mane, whose hat-trick in Porto helped ensure there was little at stake at Anfield, came closest to breaking the deadlock.

Mane was off target with an effort at full-stretch from a Joe Gomez cross in the 18th minute

and then hit the post in the 31st minute after taking down a ball from James Milner and releas-ing a low diagonal drive.

Porto’s best effort came in the 52nd minute when Ghana-ian winger Majeed Waris’ shot from the edge of the box was pushed wide by Liverpool keeper Loris Karius.

Substitute Danny Ings then forced a fine save out of Porto’s veteran Spanish keeper Iker Casillas with a looping header in the final stages.

Porto’s Diogo Dalot in action with Liverpool’s Joe Gomez at Anfield yesterday.

Last 16, second legsIn Paris

Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) 1 (Cavani 71)

Real Madrid (ESP) 2 (Ronaldo 51,

Casemiro 80)

Real Madrid win 5-2 on aggregate

In LiverpoolLiverpool (ENG) 0 FC Porto (POR) 0

Liverpool win 5-0 on aggregate

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Real Madrid’s Brazilian midfielder Casemiro (left) celebrates with Cristiano Ronaldo (centre) and Gareth Bale after scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in Paris yesterday.

30 WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH 2018SPORT

QWSC plans yoga session on International Women’s DayTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Qatar Women’s Sports Committee (QWSC) will celebrate the International Women’s Day tomorrow by staging a one-hour yoga session as its headquarters, a top official confirmed yesterday.

“We will be celebrating March 8, the International Wom-en’s Day, with a special yoga session for all. The special ses-sion will be held from 4:30pm to 5:30pm,” Lulwa Al Marri, QWSC Chairperson, said.

“It will be conducted by female instructors. Interested

parties can come and be part of this hugely popular segment at QWSC. We will be happy to host all those who want to be here. Registration details are there on our social media platform. It will be an outdoor activity at our headquarters.”

The QWSC Chairperson said a huge crowd was expected to be part of the yoga session, she added.

“We have been getting a lot of calls with people inquiring about our activities. We want the parents to come and visit our headquarters. We want them to come and see our activities.

Every year we also run and sup-port campaigns on breast cancer. So we are busy interacting with the communities living in Qatar through sports and otherwise also,” Al Marri said.

“We also open our doors on National Sports Day so that peo-ple are most welcome. I think you are lucky if you a girl and if you love sports in Qatar. We have some of the world’s best facili-ties here,” she added.

Registration details can be obtained from the following link: http://qwsc.org.qa/eregister/

In January, the QWSC hosted Bayern Munich’s

women’s football team for friendly with the Qatar national team when the German giants spent a week in Doha for their winter camp.

“It was a week full of activi-ties for the visitors and our young team. Our girls are young. They are U-14. But to play with against the Bayern Munich women’s team was a life-time opportu-nity to mix with the top players. They were very happy and excited. Bayern Munich were here with their top side. We were happy to see our girls play with them,” the QWSC Chairperson said.

Lulwa Al Marri, Chairperson

of Qatar Women’s Sports

Committee

‘Challenging Beyond Expectation’ to celebrate achievement of Qatari women in sportTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Six inspirational indi-viduals will be sharing their incredible stories of achieving success in women’s sport and health in a panel session open to all tomorrow.

This will be immediately fol-lowed by sporting activities led by Qatar’s leading health and lifestyle professionals for female guests of all ages and abilities. Both activities are free to attend and no registration is necessary.

Organised by the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) in collaboration with the Aspire Zone, the event aims to highlight and celebrate the extraordinary women in Qatar who are break-ing down barriers and changing perceptions of women in sport in honour of International Wom-en’s Day 2018.

The event will provide an opportunity to create a conver-sation about what more can be done to inspire and empower more females to achieve their sporting dreams, whilst encour-aging more females to live healthy and active lifestyles through the free sporting activ-ities on offer.

Commenting on the event, Sheikha Asma Al Thani, panelist and Director of Marketing and Communications at the Qatar Olympic Committee, said: “Inter-national Women’s Day is a chance to shine a spotlight on the incredible achievements of women in Qatar and around the world so that more women are inspired and empowered to

achieve their dreams. The QOC is organising this event not only to celebrate our successful women in sport and health but also to create a conversation about what we can all be doing as a society to further support the participation of more women in sport at any and every level. We invite everyone, men and women, to come down and par-ticipate in what we hope will be a fascinating and inspirational session.”

In addition to her role at the QOC, Sheikha Asma will later this month attempt to be the first Qatari to ski to the last degree of the North Pole as part of an inter-national team of women from Western and Arabian cultures. The expedition aims to foster greater dialogue and under-standing and inspire all women

to reach beyond the expectation of others and fulfil their own ulti-mate life ambitions.

Sheikha Asma will be joined on the panel by Youth Activist at Education Above All and Educa-tion Excellence Award winner Dana Al Anazy, who together with Sheikha Asma became one of the first Qatari females to summit Mount Kiliminjaro in 2014.

Also participating will be entrepreneur Jawaher Al Fardan, who co-founded Qatar’s first-ever vegan café and first-ever Qatari-owned yoga studio, swimmer Nada Mohamed, who is the first Qatari female to com-pete at two Olympic Games,

Mariam Farid, 2019 IAAF World Championships Ambas-sador and a member of Qatar’s national athletics team and

Suhail Choukou from the Qatar Paralympic Committee who closely supported Qatar’s first-ever global medallist Sara Masoud, who won para-athlet-ics silver medals in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and London 2017 World Championships.

The event’s theme, ‘Chal-lenging Beyond Expectation’ was inspired by the powerful women in Qatar that are motivating oth-ers, changing perceptions and are united to make a change and go beyond what they previously thought possible. Men also are welcomed to the panel session to create a united front in sup-porting gender inclusivity and women’s equality in sport.

International Women’s Day

takes place annually on March 8 and is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

Following the panel session, professional Lifestyle Coach Carla Mantoani and professional Personal Trainer Althia Malliaros will join Jawaher Al Fardan in leading sporting activities, including cycling, yoga, boxing and more, and providing advice and guidance. The event aims to support more women across Qatar lead healthy and active lifestyles, whilst increasing their confidence and raising aware-ness about the opportunities

available to participate. The ses-sion is for women only and it’s is free of charge.

Guests are requested to arrive to Al Shulaa Hall in the Aspire Zone across from Villag-gio Mall at 5:45pm tomorrow for e the panel session. Sporting activities will begin immediately afterwards at 7:15pm.

You can keep up to date with all news and information on the event and activities on the Team Qatar social media channels, as well as by signing up to the Team Qatar Club, where you will also have access to exclusive content, offers and competitions.

It is free and one can sign up at www.olympic.qa/en/teamqatarclub.

Nada Mohamed, who is the first Qatari female to compete at two Olympic Games.

Mariam Farid, 2019 IAAF World Championships Ambassador and a member of Qatar’s national athletics team runs at Khalifa Stadium.

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Sweden’s Mattias Karlsson beat China’s Liu Dingshuo by the very narrow-est of seven games margins to keep his aspirations of a place in the main draw of the Men’s Singles event of the 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open in Doha very much alive.

Earlier in the day, Liu Dingshuo had beaten French-man, Can Akkuzu in four straight games 11-6, 13-11, 12-10, 11-4; success against Mattias Karlsson would secure top spot in the group. It was not to be the scenario but he came mighty close.

Leading three games to two, in the sixth game he led 6-3, in the deciding seventh, he was ahead 10-9; he was not able to make the most of the advantage but make no mis-take, great credit must go to Mattias Karlsson who pro-ceeded to win the next three points.

He saved the match point by staying close to the table, Liu Dingshuo maintained a tirade of top spin strokes but he was a step back; Mattias Karlsson controlled the point.

Speak to any player in the world and they will tell you that when confronting an adversary from China, become involved in rallies and they are the clear favourites. In that

department, at the crucial stages, Mattias Karlsson more than matched Liu Dingshuo, the 2015 World Junior champion.

Furthermore, it was to some extent a welcome return to action for the Swede; he had been forced to withdraw from the recent 2018 ITTF Team World Cup owing to an ankle injury.

“It was the left ankle but now all is fine, otherwise I would not be here. Certainly it was a disappointment to miss the Team World Cup. Today I felt good, losing 9-10 in the sev-enth, throughout the rally I had the advantage; eventually, he played wide to the forehand, he missed. I felt good, I felt strong but believe me it was really tough,” Karlsson said.

Karlsson scripts thrilling win at Qatar OpenA player returns the ball during the 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open in Doha yesterday.

A player serves during the 2018 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open in Doha yesterday.

31WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH 2018 SPORT

Golf: Exciting action on the cards as Europe take on Asia-Pacific at DGCARMSTRONG VAS

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Bonallack Trophy has historically been a spring board for some of the talented amateur men players to hog the spotlight and take a big step into the highly demanding profes-sional circuit.

Come March 8, Europe’s 12 best amateur men and women players will square off to the best of players from Asia-Pacific team in match-play format at the Doha Golf Club in a three -day event.

The European Golf Associa-tion (EGA) feels that many a potential pro champion are wait-ing in the wings and the Qatar event will be a perfect stage for the promising players to dazzle the golf fans.

“It is great fun to come together and play this matches every two years. We have 24 players who are eager to go (and play). We love the rivalry and we

know we are coming with a stronger and stronger team from Asia-pacific. The challenge is getting more and more difficult for us. So, we are prepared for that,” said Richard Heath, Gen-eral Secretary of EGA while addressing a press conference here yesterday.

“We are proud of our sport and proud of our players. It is an exciting part for us to see this amazing talent and who is going to be the greatest golfer in the world,” he added.

“We are bringing them along and we are helping them to be the stepping stone in their careers. To be selected as one of the 12 best players from Europe gives them the confi-dence,” Heath said.

The Bonallack Trophy, started in 1998 in the name of Englishman Michael Bonallack, has seen the likes of Rory McLroy, Chris Wood, Jon Rahm and Hideki Matsuyama dazzling at the biannual event in the past editions.

The men will be vying for the Bonallack Trophy while the women will try to lay their hands on the Patsy Hankins sil-verware in the two events, to be held from March 8-10, at the Peter Harradine designed course.

The World Amateur Golf Ranking will be used as the main reference in addition to a number of captain’s picks. According to the match condi-tions, no more than two players may be selected from the same

country. “The format is very similar

to the Ryder Cup. The first two days, of the three days format, will comprise five foursomes matches each morning and five four-ball matches each after-noon. On the final day, all twelve team players will com-pete in singles match play. A win will count as one point, a half yields half a point and a lost match will return zero. In the event of a tie, the trophy shall be retained by the holders,”

Heath said. Asia Pacific Golf Confederation Chairman Keis-uke Muratsu said EGA is a ‘big brother’ association.

“We are learning a lot from them. Not only for the players, but the administrators, leaders of the European golf, so we are following what they have fol-lowing over the years. Asia Pacific is producing great play-ers and the gap between the teams is getting narrower.”

Fahad Nasser Al Naimi, Qatar Golf Association (QGA), General Secretary said all the logistics for hosting the event are in place.

“We are looking forward to an exciting event. It will be help promote golf among out youth and make it more popular.” Mohammed Faisal Al Naimi, Executive Director, QGA was also present for the press conference.

From left: Mohammed Faisal Al Naimi, Executive Director, Qatar Golf Association (QGA), Janet Turner, Area Director for Sales and Marketing, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain-InterContinental Hotels Group, Richard Heath, General Secretary, European Golf Association; Keisuke Muratsu, Chairman of Asia Pacific Golf Confederation; Fahad Nasser Al Naimi, General Secretary, QGA; and Nick Shan, Assistant Director Asia Pacific, R & A, pose for a picture during the 2018 Michael Bonallack and Pastry Hankins Trophies press conference at the Doha Golf Club yesterday. Pictures: Qassim Rahmatullah/The Peninsula

Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Men’s team

Min Woo Lee (Australia), Shae Wools-Cobb

(Australia), Rayhan Thomas (India), Takumi Ka-

naya (Japan), Kazuya Osawa (Japan), Jaemin

Han (Korea), Dong-min Kim (Korea), Daniel Hillier

(New Zealand), Lloyd Jefferson Go (Philippines),

Gregory Foo (Singapore), Sadom Keawkanjana

(Thailand) and Kammalas Namuangruk (Thai-

land)

Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation Women’s team.:

Grace Kim (Australia), Liu Wenbo (China), Du

Mohan (China), Ya-Chun Chang (Chinese Taipei),

Yu-Chiang Hou (Chinese Taipei), Yuna Nishimura

(Japan), Riri Sadoyama (Japan), Seo-yun Kwon

(Korea), Hae-ran Ryu (Korea), Yuka Saso (Philip-

pines), Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Thailand) and

Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand)

ASIA-PACIFIC TEAM

European Men’s Team: Edgar Catherine (France), Todd Clements

(England), Robin Dawson (Ireland), Oliver

Gillberg (Sweden), Marc Hammer (Germany),

Rasmus Hojgaard (Denmark), Matias Honka-

la (Finland), Angel Hidalgo Portillo (Spain),

Matthew Jordan (England), Frederic Lacroix

(France), Kristoffer Reitan (Norway), Sami

Valimaki (Finland).

European Women’s Team: Gudrun Bjorgvinsdottir (Iceland), Zhen Bon-

tan (Netherlands), Bianca Fabrizio, (Italy),

Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio (Spain),

Annabell Fuller, (England), Paula Grant (Ire-

land), Frida Kinhult (Sweden), Amanda Lin-

ner, (Sweden), Clarisse Louis, (Belgium),

Elena Moosmann, (Switzerland), Puk Lyng

Thomsen (Denamark) and Isobel Wardle

(England)

EUROPE TEAM

Left: Mohammad Salem Al Kuwari, (fifth left) Competition Co-ordinator, Christian Schemeth, FIVB Technical Supervisor and Roberto Reggiani, pose for a picture during a press conference of the 4-Star Katara Beach Volleyball Cup at Katara Beach yesterday. Pics: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula

4-Star Katara Beach Volleyball Cup

32 WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH 2018SPORT 33WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH 2018 SPORT

Coach Pochettino eyes defining Spurs momentAFP

LONDON: Mauricio Pochet-tino faces a defining moment as the Tottenham boss aims to joins the managerial elite by masterminding a famous Champions League triumph against Juventus today.

Long regarded as one of the sport’s brightest young managers, Pochettino can use this season’s Champions League to reach the rarified air inhabited by the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho and Diego Simeone.

Like his former Argentina team-mate Simeone, Pochet-tino is coveted by some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

But while Simeone has defied the odds to lead Atletico Madrid to La Liga and Europa League titles, as well as reaching two Cham-pions League finals, Pochettino is still waiting for his breakthrough moment of career.

Despite earning plaudits throughout his nine-year managerial career with Espanyol, Southampton and now Tottenham, the 46-year-old has failed to lead any of his clubs to a major trophy.

Clearly, silverware isn’t the only measure of a man-ager and no one would doubt Pochettino overachieved at Espanyol and Southampton given the lack of financial backing available.

Although Tottenham

have greater resources than either of Pochettino’s other teams, they largely steer clear of the huge fees paid by their top four rivals in the Premier League.

Since arriving in north London 2014, Pochettino has deftly navigated those con-straints to turn Tottenham into a genuine top four force a f t e r y e a r s o f underachievement.

But the crucial black mark on Pochettino’s CV remains his failure to push Tottenham across the finish line when they have been on the brink of landing a trophy.Having reached the League

Cup final in 2015, Pochetti-no’s side slumped to a disappointing 2-0 defeat against Chelsea, while in 2016 a late-season swoon allowed Leicester to coast to the Premier League title.

A vital loss at West Ham cost Tottenham dearly last season when they were una-ble to keep pace with eventual champions Chelsea, who also knocked out their rivals in the FA Cup semi-finals.

Tottenham’s struggles in away games against their main rivals have been a con-stant problem throughout Pochettino’s reign, dooming

them to also-ran status in this season’s title chase.

But Tottenham’s Cham-pions League exploits over the last few months suggest any inferiority complex is being eroded at last.

That certainly seemed the case when they crushed European champions Real Madrid 3-1 at Wembley with a vibrant display that show-cased the best of the Pochettino’s high-tempo philosophy.

That impressive result came after a draw in Madrid and recovering from two goals down to draw 2-2 in the last 16 first leg against

Juventus was another step in the right direction. With Tot-tenham hoping to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2011, eliminating the Italian champions would be another step towards the top table for Pochettino.

His appetite for success is driving him on and, after admitting he once thought of quitting management by the time he was 50, the Argen-tine now plans a long career on the bench.

“When I started as a manager I was 36, I said, ‘Okay, I will be a manager and my limit is 50’,” Pochet-tino said.

“Now, I don’t know if I will be longer like Roy (Hodg-son) or (Sir Alex) Ferguson or Wenger or maybe I will stop before.

“When I watch football and the manager always crit-icises everyone and sees the phantom and tries to defend himself and fight with you and fight with the fans and fight with this. That is no life.

“I want to improve and try to enjoy doing my job but if I am going to suffer or cre-ate drama in my life, I would prefer to go away.

“Football is a joy. The most quiet I am is when we are going to compete. It’s not a drama. For other people it’s different but for me football is not a drama - it is a joy,” he said.

Tottenham Hotspur’s head coach Mauricio

Pochettino takes a training

session at Enfield Training

Centre in London yesterday.

Tottenham Hotspur’s players take part in training session yesterday.

Aguero better than ever for GuardiolaAFP

MANCHESTER: Sergio Aguero’s next goal will his 200th for Manchester City, but it is the Argentine’s willingness to do much more than just score that has won the confidence of his manager Pep Guardiola.

The Catalan embraced Aguero in a bear hug as he left the pitch having ran himself into the ground in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Chelsea, which edged City to within four wins of the Premier League title.

It was the first time in eight home games Aguero had failed to find the net, but that mattered little to Guardiola, who is now seeing the all-round game from Aguero he demands of his strikers.

“Since we were together here with Sergio, I think the last month, two months is the best Sergio I have seen,” said Guardiola, preparing his team for the visit of Basel in the Champions League today.

“Not just scoring goals, but he doesn’t lose one ball.

“He makes a movement for runs in behind, he is the first guy to make a high pressing, to help that second line be more comfortable with the ball.”

Those words contrast sharply with a reportedly frosty relationship between the coach and his star striker during Guardiola’s trophy-less first season in the northwest of England.

Aguero, 29, still scored 33 goals in all competitions, more than he ever had for City in a single season, but often found himself on the sidelines in the sec-ond half of the season as Guardiola opted instead for Gabriel Jesus.

“In the first year at times we didn’t adapt,” Aguero admitted to Spanish radio station Cadena SER.

“But this year, with all we have learned from last year, I think we have learned what he wants -- how to play out from the back, the movements, so it makes it much easier on the pitch.” - Sanchez shunned - Aguero has also been aided by injury to Jesus. The Brazilian suffered medial ligament damage to his left knee on January 31 and has only returned with three short cameos off the bench in the past week.

During Jesus’s two-month layoff, Aguero doubled his tally for the season to move onto 30 goals and re-establish himself as City’s number one striker.

The club’s decision not to get involved in a bidding war with local rivals Manchester United for Alexis Sanchez despite long-standing interest, and even though Guardiola had previ-ously worked with the Chilean at Barcelona, was another vote of City’s confidence in their all-time top goals-corer. That trust is mutual, with Aguero now backing Guardiola as the best coach he has ever had.

“I’ve had a lot of coaches and they all had different thoughts and obviously differing tactics,” said Aguero.

“The truth is yes (he’s the best).” Yet, for all his goals and all he has achieved since arriving in Manchester in 2011,

Aguero is still to taste Champions League glory.

City, with the League Cup in their trophy cabinet and the Premier League virtually sewn up, have certainly never been as well-equipped to do so in Ague-ro’s time.

Guardiola’s team look assured of progress to the quarter-finals at the Eti-had, with the luxury of a 4-0 win against their Swiss opponents in the first leg of their last-16 tie.

“If we keep going like this we have a very good chance,” said Aguero.

“The club has invested a lot of money to win the Champions League, so hopefully it is our year.”

Manchester City’s Argentinian striker Sergio

Aguero during Premier League match against Chelsea at the Etihad

Stadium in Manchester on Sunday.

City boss bows to FA rules despite disagreementAFP

MANCHESTER: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (pictured) insisted he will live by the English Football Association’s (FA) rules even if he doesn’t agree with an FA charge for wearing a yellow ribbon in support of imprisoned pro-inde-pendence campaigners in his native Catalonia.

On Monday, Guardiola admit-ted the FA charge of wearing a political symbol, which he has sported since a number of Catalan politicians and civil society leaders were remanded in custody in October.

“They are the rules, they have them and they apply them so I accept the decision because I have to,” Guar-diola said yesterday as he addressed the media ahead of City’s Champi-ons League clash with Basel once again wearing the yellow ribbon.

Guardiola will still be free to wear the ribbon in Champions League games as UEFA have a dif-ferent set of rules to the FA.

“I am in this country working and under the rules, but that doesn’t mean that I agree whether they are right or wrong,” added Guardiola.

“Many times in history after some time we see that decisions taken were not just.” Guardiola also rebuked FA chief executive Martin Glenn for failing to understand the significance of the yellow ribbon.

Glenn publicly apologised for controversial comments compar-ing the Jewish Star of David with symbols such as the Nazi swastika as the FA’s reasoning for banning

political symbols worn by players or coaches.

However, he also claimed the yellow ribbon was “a symbol of Cat-alan independence”, which Guardiola strongly denied.

“The first impression when I hear that is because he doesn’t understand what that means the yellow ribbon, what is symbolises,” added Guardiola.

“Maybe now he will realise what it means. It’s not about independ-ence or not independence, it is not about that.

“It is about the four people or more people that are in jail and they didn’t do absolutely anything.” The former Barcelona manager has been a long-standing campaigner for Catalonia to be handed a refer-endum on the issue of independence.

His high-profile stance has become a major talking point and, according to Spanish media reports, the City manager’s private plane was even searched at Barcelona’s El Prat airport two weeks ago by police looking for exiled Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont.

Sergio makes a movement for runs in behind, he is the first guy to make a high pressing, to help that second line be more comfortable with the ball: Guardiola

A boy gives the captain’s armband to Fiorentina’s player Davide Astori in this file photo.

Fiorentina, Cagliari retire number 13 shirt in memory of AstoriREUTERS

FLORENCE: Fiorentina and Cagliari will retire the number 13 shirt worn by defender Davide Astori after the Italy international died of a sudden illness over the weekend at the age of 31, the Italian clubs said yesterday.

Astori, who made 289 Serie A appearances in 10 seasons and played 14 times for the national team, joined Fiorentina on loan in 2015. The club signed him outright one year later and he went on to become their captain.

He previously spent six seasons at Cagliari and one on loan at AS Roma.

“In honour of Davide #Astori’s memory, @CagliariCalcio and #ACFFiorentina have decided to retire the No. 13 shirt. #DA13,” Fiorentina said on Twitter. Cagliari posted a similar message.

Astori was found dead in his hotel room on Sun-day in Udine where Fiorentina had been due to play Udinese. Serie A postponed all Sunday’s matches.

Italian public prosecutors said on Monday they are to open proceedings to determine whether Astori’s death could be considered as manslaughter.

Cahill, 38, gets nod in Aussie squadAFP

SYDNEY: New Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk named his first squad since taking the job yesterday, with 38-year-old Tim Cahill included after the Dutch-man and his scouts monitored 100 players.

Van Marwijk was appointed in late January following the sudden departure of Ange Postec-oglou and with the World Cup fast approaching, he has spent the ensuing time keeping tabs on Australians playing at home and in Europe and Asia.

With friendlies against Norway in Oslo and Colom-bia in London this month, he named a 29-strong pre-liminary squad which will be slimmed down next week.

Cahill, Australia’s most prolific international scorer with 50 goals, left the domestic A-League in Jan-uary to join Championship side Millwall to get more game time and keep alive his dream of playing in a fourth World Cup in Russia. “Since my appointment with the Socceroos, my staff, scouts and I have monitored over 100 Aus-tralian players in the

A-League, as well as in leagues across Europe and Asia,” said van Marwijk.

“We are pleased with the initial 29 players we have picked for our upcom-ing games against Norway and Colombia and will finalise the squad next week”.

Aziz Behich (Bursaspor/TUR), Joshua

Brillante (Sydney FC/AUS), Tim Cahill

(Millwall/ENG), Milos Degenek (Yokoha-

ma Marinos/JPN), Alex Gersbach (Racing

Club de Lens/FRA), Jackson Irvine (Hull

City/ENG), Mile Jedinak (Aston Villa/ENG),

Brad Jones (Feyenoord/NED), Tomi Juric

(FC Luzern/SWI), Matthew Jurman (Su-

won Bluewings/KOR), Robbie Kruse (VfL

Bochum/GER), Mitchell Langerak

(Nagoya Grampus/JPN), Mathew Leckie

(Hertha BSC/GER), Massimo Luongo

(Queens Park Rangers/ENG), Jamie Ma-

claren (Hibernian/SCO), James Meredith

(Millwall/ENG), Mark Milligan (Al Ahli/

KSA), Aaron Mooy (Huddersfield Town/

ENG, Andrew Nabbout (Urawa Red Dia-

monds/JPN), Dimitri Petratos (Newcastle

Jets/AUS), Josh Risdon (Western Sydney

Wanderers/AUS), Tom Rogic (Celtic/SCO),

Nikita Rukavytsya (Maccabi Haifa/ISR),

Mathew Ryan (Brighton/ENG), Trent

Sainsbury (Grasshopper Club Zurich/

SWI), Aleksandar Susnjar (FK Mlada Bole-

slav/CZE), James Troisi (Melbourne Vic-

tory/AUS), Daniel Vukovic (Genk/BEL),

Bailey Wright (Bristol City/ENG).

SQUAD

Putin, Infantino play football 100 days before World CupAFP

MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin played football with FIFA boss Gianni Infantino in the Kremlin yesterday as a festive Russia marked 100 days before the start of the World Cup.

The footage from Putin’s recep-tion office was released by football’s world governing body in a tweet fea-turing legends of the beautiful game juggling the ball and doing tricks.

The clip ended with Putin head-ing one back to Infantino after a heavily edited kickabout set to Rim-sky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee.

“Some people just can’t wait for the greatest show on earth,” FIFA said in the tweet.

Others playing around with the official Telstar 18 World Cup ball included ex-England midfielder Wayne Rooney and Argentina’s Diego Maradona.

Brazil’s Ronaldo juggled by the beach while Sweden’s Thomas Bro-lin had his fun in the snow.

Putin is known for his sporting prowess, taking part in Judo matches, skating, diving and playing ice hockey.

A judo black belt and all round sports fan he is hoping to use the World Cup to showcase Russia and boost its image at a time of fraid rela-tions with the West.

Russia is hosting its first World Cup on June 14-July 15 in 11 host cit-ies stretching from its western exclave of Kaliningrad near Poland to Yeka-terinburg in the Urals.

Numerous Russian cities are plan-ning events to commemorate 100 days before the start of the 32 team tournament.

Moscow is staging an open air concert for 6,000 volunteers while Russia’s northern capital Saint Peters-burg is unveiling a countdown clock.

“It is important to show Russia the way it really is: open, hospitable and modern,” Sports Minister Pavel Kolob-kov was quoted as saying on Tuesday by RIA Novosti.

Russia’s preparations for the showpiece event are going largely according to schedule but still being clouded by scandal and global disputes.

Fan violence that made Russians infamous at the Euro 2016 in France returned last month during a Europa

League match in Spain between Spar-tak Moscow and Athletic Bilbao.

Organisers hope the February 22 insident in which a handful of Rus-sians were arrested and a policeman died of a heart attack does not frighten away global fans.

Tensions with the West have been compounded by the ignomy of Rus-sians being forced to perform under a neutral Olympic flag at the Winter Games in Pyongyang over doping allegations.

But Russian national team coach Stanislav Cherchesov said he hoped that the World Cup would improve people’s attitude toward his country.

“The most important thing is to come to Russia with an open heart and to try to understand our country and the places you are visiting,” Cher-chesov said in an interview released by FIFA.

“As we say in Russia, better to see something once than to hear about it a hundred times.”

The tournament kicks of when Russia hosts Saudi Arabia in Moscow’s renovated Luzhniki Stadium on June 14.

A photo taken on the evening of March 5, 2018 shows the digital FIFA World Cup 2018 countdown clock placed in front of the Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow marking 100 days to the beginning of the tournament.

Barcelona’s Spanish midfielder Andres Iniesta leaves the pitch at the Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona on Sunday.

Iniesta injury leaves Barca looking for a new hero

REUTERS

BARCELONA: Barcelona’s Champions League tie against Chelsea is poised on a knife edge but the Catalans will have to cope without their inspirational captain Andres Iniesta, the man who has pedigree when it comes to beating the Blues.

Barring what the Spanish media have called a “miracle recovery”, the hamstring injury Iniesta suffered on Sun-day in Barcelona’s 1-0 La Liga win over Atletico Madrid will keep him out of the last 16 sec-ond leg on March 14.

The Barcelona skipper scored a dramatic 93rd minute goal at Stamford Bridge in 2009 against Chel-sea in the semi-finals to send his side through on away goals. Pep Guardiola’s men went on to beat Manchester United 2-0 in the final, becom-ing the first Spanish side to complete a treble, having won La Liga and the King’s Cup.

However, it was Iniesta’s stoppage time goal in London that stood out as many fans’ highlight of the campaign.

The captain also helped salvage a 1-1 draw for Barce-lona in last month’s first leg, when he teed up Lionel Messi to equalise, in one of the few chances Ernesto Valverde’s side mustered.

Although the odds are

against Antonio Conte’s stut-tering Chelsea in the second leg at Camp Nou, where Bar-celona are unbeaten in all three major competitions this season, Iniesta’s absence is a setback for the hosts.

In La Liga, Barcelona’s record signing Philippe Coutinho can fill in for the 33-year-old playmaker but the Brazilian is cup-tied in the Champions League after join-ing from Liverpool in January.

That leaves Valverde with a tough decision to make, over which of Paulinho, Andre Gomes, Denis Suarez or Ous-mane Dembele steps in for Iniesta.

None of the options have convinced. Paulinho started the season well but since Christmas has looked jaded and was widely criticised for a poor performance in the first leg.

Gomes came on as a sub-stitute for Iniesta during the win over Atletico but was whistled by some Barcelona fans during another disap-pointing display.

Denis has the most simi-lar style to the captain but has not played for Barca since their 1-0 King’s Cup defeat by Espanyol on Jan. 17, while Ousmane Dembele is a for-ward and his inclusion would see the formation change from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3.

Tim Cahill

34 WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH 2018SPORT

In this file photo taken on July 22, 2012 overall leader’s yellow jersey and British Bradley Wiggins, celebrates on the podium at the end of the 120 km and last stage of the 2012 Tour de France cycling race starting in Rambouillet and finishing in the famous Paris-Champs-Elysees Avenue. Wiggins yesterday said it was “so sad” after he and his former team were accused by MPs of manipulating drug rules before major races, including Wiggins’ 2012 Tour de France victory on March 5, 2018.

I am a victim of smear attempt, says WigginsAFP

LONDON: Former Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins says he is the victim of a “malicious” attempt to smear his reputation, vehemently denying he has cheated during his glittering career which also features five Olympic gold medals.

A damning report by lawmakers on Monday said Wiggins and Team Sky had crossed an “ethical line” by using drugs to enhance performance and not just to treat medical need.

It comes after Russian computer hackers revealed in 2016 that the British rider had applied for therapeutic use exemp-tions (TUEs) to have injections of the powerful corticosteroid triamcinolone before three of his biggest races, including the 2012 Tour de France, which he won.

But Wiggins said in an interview with the BBC that he only used prescribed drugs for valid medical reasons and when asked if he categorically denied cheating, added: “A hundred per cent. Never, throughout my career.”

“This is malicious,” said the five-time Olympic champion, who was the first British cyclist to win the Tour. “This is some-one trying to smear me. These allegations, it’s the worst thing to be accused of.

“It’s also the hardest thing to prove you haven’t done. We’re not dealing in a legal system. I’d have had more rights if I’d murdered someone.”

The Commons digital, culture, media and sport commit-tee report centred around the team’s use of triamcinolone.

Triamcinolone, used to treat asthma, is an anti-inflam-matory steroid that can also help cyclists shed weight without losing power. Wiggins, 37, denied the team had crossed an ethical line by using the medication.

He said he had only used triamcinolone on one occasion other than the three TUEs, which had already been made pub-lic, but the report said he may have taken it nine times in four years.

“I don’t know where that’s come from,” Wiggins said. “I really would like to know. This is an anonymous source, this is an anonymous person who has said this.

“I refute that 100 per cent. This is malicious. This is some-one trying to smear me.”

Wiggins said he had adhered to the rules in place at the time and had been granted permission by cycling’s govern-ing body to take the drug. When asked if he would have won the Tour de France without it in 2012, he replied: “Well, had I had an asthma attack, no, probably not. No.”

Team Sky said they took full responsibility for mistakes that were made but strongly refuted the claim that medica-tion was used to enhance performance.

Wiggins said he would try to repair his damaged legacy.“I don’t know how I’m going to pick the pieces up with

the kids and stuff, and I’m left to do that as well as trying to salvage my reputation from this,” he added.

“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” he added.

Spurs send Grizzlies to 14th straight lossREUTERS

NEW YORK: Tony Parker scored a season-high 23 points off the bench as the San Antonio reserves were the difference in a taut 100-98 Spurs’ victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

San Antonio got 67 points from its bench, including 17 from Davis Bertans and 15 points from Danny Green. The Spurs ended a two-game losing streak but won for just the second time in eight games.

Kyle Anderson, with 11 points, was the only Spurs starter in double figures.

LaMarcus Aldridge returned to the lineup for San Antonio after missing a game and a half with a sprained right ankle and was largely ineffective, scoring seven points and grabbing eight rebounds in more than 31 minutes of court time.

Marc Gasol, originally listed as out in the pregame injury report, led the Grizzlies with 23 points and took 10 rebounds. Memphis, who owns the NBA’s worst record, has lost 14 games in a row and 12 straight contests on the road, dating back to December.

Celtics 105, Bulls 89Jaylen Brown scored 21 points, and Bos-

ton thrived despite the absence of Kyrie Irving to notch a victory over host Chicago.

Jayson Tatum added 14 points, Al Hor-ford and Terry Rozier scored 13 apiece and Greg Monroe contributed 10 points and nine rebounds as Boston won for the fifth time in the past six games.

Irving was held out due to a sore left knee, but the Celtics built a 26-point halft-ime lead and were never threatened by the Bulls.

Denzel Valentine matched his career best of 20 points for Chicago, which lost for the sixth time in the past seven games. Lauri Markkanen added 12 points, and David Nwaba and Cameron Payne scored 10 apiece.

Cavaliers 112, Pistons 90LeBron James racked up 31 points, seven

rebounds and seven assists in three quar-ters, and Cleveland pounded struggling Detroit in Cleveland.

Larry Nance Jr. supplied 22 points and 15 rebounds after being inserted into the starting lineup.

He replaced starting center Tristan Thompson, who suffered an ankle sprain against Denver on Saturday that will side-line him for multiple games.

Blake Griffin led the Pistons, who have lost three straight and nine of their last 11

games, with 25 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Andre Drummond contributed 15 points and nine rebounds, and Reggie Bul-lock tossed in 11 points for Detroit.

Pacers 92, Bucks 89Bojan Bogdanovic matched a season high

with 29 points to help Indiana hang on for a victory against Milwaukee in Indianapolis.

Victor Oladpio added 14 points, both Lance Stephenson and Domantas Sabonis had 11 and Thaddeus Young totaled 10 and seven rebounds as the Pacers won for the third straight game and the seventh time in nine contests.

Eric Bledsoe scored 26 points and Gian-nis Antetokounmpo had 18 with 12 rebounds for Milwaukee, which fell back to the loss column after Sunday’s come-from-behind win against Philadelphia snapped a season-high-tying four-game skid.

Trail Blazers 108, Lakers 103Damian Lillard scored 19 of his 39 points

in the fourth quarter as visiting Portland came from behind to defeat Los Angeles.

Lillard knocked down four straight 3-point shots, as the Trail Blazers rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final 5:26 to win their seventh game in a row.

CJ McCollum added 22 points and Jusuf Nurkic collected 16 points and 16 rebounds, as Portland beat the Lakers for the 15th con-secutive time dating to March 2014.

Julius Randle had 21 points and nine rebounds and Isaiah Thomas chipped in 19

points despite a 5-for-21 shooting perform-ance for the Lakers, who saw the end to a five-game win streak.

Heat 125, Suns 103Hassan Whiteside scored 24 points,

grabbed 14 rebounds and blocked three shots as host Miami defeated Phoenix.

Suns star guard Devin Booker scored a game-high 31 points. It was his eighth straight game scoring at least 20 points. It was also his 21st game this season scoring at least 30 points.

Point guard Goran Dragic, a former Suns star, scored 17 points as Miami tied the Mil-waukee Bucks for seventh place in the Eastern Conference. Miami has the tie-breaker over Milwaukee, having won the season series.

Jazz 94, Magic 80Rudy Gobert scored 21 points and col-

lected 17 rebounds for his third straight double-double to help lead Utah past Orlando in Salt Lake City.

Donovan Mitchell tallied 19 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Jazz. Joe Ingles added 18 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Utah won its third straight game.

Nikola Vucevic scored 15 points and col-lected 12 rebounds while Aaron Gordon chipped in 13 points to lead Orlando. The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Magic, who shot just 29-of-85 (34.1 per-cent) from the field.

NHL: Penguins top Flames on Schultz’s extra-time winnerREUTERS

NEW YORK: Justin Schultz was the hero and Evgeni Malkin netted one goal and two assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 in over-time in NHL action Monday night at PPG Paints Arena in Pitts-burgh.

With the goalie slightly out of position anticipating him to shoot, Phil Kessel passed over to Schultz, and he buried the win-ner at 2:36 of overtime.

Not only was it a tough end-ing, but it was a tough start for the Flames and rookie goalie Jon Gillies, who was victimized on two of the first three shots on goal. Chad Ruhwedel opened the scoring at the 2:10 mark when his long wrister made it’s way past Gillies, who got a piece of the puck.

Things went from bad to worse for Gillies at 3:05 when he attempted to pass the puck from behind his own net, only to see Malkin knock it out of the air.

The puck bounced toward the front of the net, where Mal-kin was on the spot to slip it into an open cage to give the Pens a 2-0 lead. To their credit, the Flames drew even by the end of the first period.

Senators 3, Stars 2 (OT)Erik Karlsson scored the

game-winning goal on a break-away with 2:19 remaining in

overtime as Ottawa defeated host Dallas.

Karlsson’s winning rush began with a great defensive play on the opposite end of the ice by Bobby Ryan that barely denied the Stars. Karlsson out-raced Dallas’ Tyler Pitlick and found a small hole between the legs of Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen for the goal.

Tyler Seguin scored twice for the Stars, who currently hold the first wild card from the Western Conference and are fourth in the Central Division, one point behind Minnesota.

Sabres 5, Maple Leafs 3Sam Reinhart, Ryan O’Reilly,

Johan Larsson and Jason

Pominville each had a goal and an assist while Chad Johnson made 38 saves as Buffalo dumped struggling Toronto in Buffalo, N.Y.

In the first of four meetings between division rivals in the season’s last five weeks, Buffalo scored two goals before the game was four minutes old. Reinhart bagged his 16th at 1:53, and Pominville made it 2-0 at 3:43 with his 11th tally.

Leo Komarov brought the Maple Leafs even with an unex-pected display of offense. After going 13 games without a goal, the one-time All-Star bagged two goals in an 11-minute span bridging the periods before the

Sabres went on to regain the lead for good.

Oilers 4, Coyotes 3 (OT)Oscar Klefbom scored his

first goal in 34 games, and Edmonton regrouped after blowing a two-goal, third-period lead to beat visiting Arizona in overtime.

Klefbom was set up by Con-nor McDavid for a chance and buried the shot just 50 seconds into the extra period to cap a see-saw tilt.

Cam Talbot made 32 saves for the Oilers to snap a three-game losing skid, while Darcy Kuemper stopped 32 shots for Arizona.

Canucks 4, Islanders 3 (OT)Brendan Leipsic scored two

goals, including the overtime winner, and added an assist as host Vancouver came back to beat New York.

Leipsic gave the Canucks the win 2:47 into overtime as he stole the puck from the Isles’ Anthony Beauvillier in the New York zone and went around goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who inexplicably came way out of his net and left it open for an easy goal.

With the tally, Leipsic made up for taking a penalty with just over a minute left in the third period and enabling the Island-ers to force overtime.

John Tavares scored a goal and added an assist for the Islanders.

New York Islanders’ forward Cal Clutterbuck (15) reaches for the puck against Vancouver Canucks’ defenceman Troy Stecher (51) during the third period of their NHL game at Rogers Arena.

Boston Celtics’ guard Shane

Larkin (8) steals the ball

against Chicago Bulls’ forward David Nwaba

(11) during the second half of

their NBA game at the United

Centre.

35WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH 2018 SPORT

Federer joins Gates in first career Bay Area appearanceAP

SAN JOSE: From his knees at the middle of the net, Roger Federer struck volley after volley right back at Jack Sock until the Amer-ican star finally faltered.

Federer just smiled. It was all in fun.And how could Federer not be loving

life?He’s the best in the world at age 36. That

even sounds a bit strange to Federer himself.

“Those are definitely special times in my life and my career,” Federer said.

“The dream as a little boy was to make it one day to world No. 1, but not at 36 years old I can tell you that. It was probably at some point at 25 maybe if things went really well.

“I had a tough year in 2016 with my knee and stayed positive, was resilient and fought to come back and really believed I could actually win again.

“I didn’t think it was going to be at this level. It’s been an unbelievable journey the last 14 months and my team has been incredible.

“I’m loving every moment that I can still stay on tour because you never know when it’s going to end.”

While this doubles match didn’t officially count Monday night, it sure mattered to all of the children in Africa who Federer is com-mitted to helping through his foundation.

Federer emerged from the tunnel of smoke and walked onto the court greeted by roars and thousands of camera phones held high for the first Bay Area appearance of his career.

Federer waved every which way, held his racket in the air and beamed when intro-duced during warm-ups with the announcement at the sold-out SAP Center that he had regained the No. 1 world ranking.

“For me to stand right here as world No. 1 in San Jose is very, very special for me,” Federer said.

He entertained from the start, too, prais-ing Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates (pictured above with Federer) as a perfect partner.

“He knows numbers very well. He never makes mistakes on the scores,” Federer cracked. “I’ll do the running and Bill does the thinking.”

He joked to opponent Savannah Guthrie of NBC’s “Today” show: “You have to start looking at the ball and stop looking at me.”

Federer called off Gates with, “That’s mine ... that’s mine, too,” before Sock lobbed a winner over Gates that Federer couldn’t chase down.

Federer’s “The Match for Africa” exhibi-tion sold more than 15,000 tickets to benefit his foundation that supports education for children in Africa.

At the end of the night, the foundation had raised another $2.5m.

The Swiss star, who at 36 is the oldest

men’s player to be No. 1, won the Aus-tralian Open in January for his 20th Grand Slam title.

Federer and Gates also teamed up last year in Seattle.

After the dou-b l e s , t h e 25-year-old Sock - ranked 10th in the world - pushed Fed-erer to an 11-9 tiebreaker in the first set before drop-ping the second set 6-4.

At one point in the opening set,

Sock showed his respect by overturning a fault call.

He walked toward the service line, pointed that it was an ace and went to the changeover.

Sock joked beforehand, “Don’t hit it to Roger ... I’m winless against him for my career.”

“This match for Africa is something extraordinary,” Sock said.

A video promoting the match featured Federer training the 62-year-old Gates, from weightlifting - lunges with a heavy bar over his shoulders - to studying a tennis book and both pingpong and tennis practice to work on his reflexes and skills.

“You’ll train like I do,” Federer said. “You are ready.”

And Gates, dressed in a bright pink polo, drew oohs and aahs as he impressed with his shot-making and hustle to keep points alive.

“I think I’m good at picking partners,” Gates said after he and Federer won 6-3.

As Serena returns, Venus says her game hasn’t leftAP

NEW YORK: Venus Williams gave a scouting report on her warmup partner that sounded the same as always.

Serena Williams is back, and her game hasn’t left.

“She’s got power, depth. She knows how to play,” Venus said. “Yeah, awesome game.”

The Williams sisters were the headliners last night in the Tie Break Tens tournament in Madison Square Garden, an eight-woman event in which all matches were 10-point tiebreak-ers, instead of the usual games and sets.

Serena won her first match but lost in the semi-finals.

Elina Svitolina of Ukraine dominated the event, winning 17 straight points during victo-ries over Venus and CoCo Vandeweghe before defeating China’s Zhang Shuai 10-3 to win $250,000.

Serena was playing singles for the first time this year as she prepares to return to the WTA Tour for the first time since giv-ing birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr, on Sept. 1.

The 23-time Grand Slam sin-gles champion would later tell Vogue Magazine in an interview that she developed several small blood clots in her lungs after giv-ing birth.

She had played just once this year, losing a Fed Cup doubles match with Venus last month, and hasn’t played a singles match on tour since winning the 2017 Australian Open, where she beat Venus in the final.

Serena won her first match against Marion Bartoli of France, the former Wimbledon cham-pion who is ending a 4 1/2-year retirement, but lost 13-11 to Zhang in the semi-finals.

She said she was having fun playing again and was excited for the future.

“I think everyone should

have high expectations,” Wil-liams said in an on-court interview after her loss. “You should always believe in your-self even if no one else does.”

Her coach certainly does. With Serena returning this week in Indian Wells, California, Patrick Mouratoglou told WTATennis.com he had high expectations for the three remaining Grand Slam tourna-ments this season. He said he sees the same determination in practice, but wouldn’t know if being a mother had changed her until he saw her competing.

Venus already knows what to expect.

“I mean, the matches are definitely a good way to know where you are, but obviously she knows how to play,” the 37-year-old Venus said. “She’s going to bring that instinct on the court with her, so I don’t think she’s too worried about that.”

Tie Break Tens held its first tournament in the US after five events in Europe and Australia. The remainder of the field

included Sorana Cirstea of Romania and Daniela Hantu-chova of Slovakia, who retired last year.

Svitolina, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 4, con-tinued her strong play to start the season after a winning a tour-high five titles in 2017. The winner of two tournaments already this year, she won the last seven points to break away from a 3-3 tie against Venus, then swept Vandeweghe 10-0.

“Of course, winning the first tournament of the year was a great start for me,” Svitolina said. “It’s always tough to transfer the work we do in the off-season, so this was a good sign that I’m moving the right way and I’m very, very happy that I played good tennis throughout the beginning of the year and just from here I can go only up.”

Vandeweghe, a New York native, jumped at the chance to play at MSG. Her grandfather, Ernie, and uncle Kiki, now an NBA executive, both played for the New York Knicks.

“I didn’t have to think too long,” he said. “Once I was asked by my coach, Pat (Cash), if I was going to be available around that time, I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll make myself available.’ So it didn’t take much thinking.”

She was on the US team in last month’s victory over the Netherlands in North Carolina and enjoys seeing both Williams sisters still playing well. Venus reached two Grand Slam finals in 2017 and returned to the top five of the rankings.

She competed just a few days after the 20th anniversary of her first WTA Tour title in Oklahoma City as a 17-year-old. Many players have taken up the sport in years since because of the Williams sisters, and Venus hoped more might be interested in this format since they were.

“If that’s the result, yeah, that would be great,” she said. “I hope that is the result, that this is a lot of excitement and more people start playing. It’s a great sport. The sport is great for everyone of all ages.”

Serena Williams (left) of the US speaks with her sister Venus before their matches in the Tie-Break Tens New York tournament at Madison Square Garden on Monday. The event featured eight of the WTA Tour’s top female players competing for the $250,000 winner’s prize.

Mickelson wants more titles after Mexico winAP

MEXICO CITY: Phil Mickelson (pictured) knew this was coming, even when he had so little to show for it.

Mickelson had gone 101 tournaments around the world since he last won at Muirfield in the 2013 British Open, which moved him to No. 2 in the world and gave him the third leg of the career Grand Slam. In more than two decades on the PGA Tour, he had gone only two seasons without winning.

And then it was up to four straight years and counting.There was more frustration than self-doubt. And with Mick-

elson, even at age 47, there was never a loss of confidence.“I knew that wasn’t going to be my last one, no,” he said Sun-

day. “And this isn’t either.”The most recent one came in the high altitude of the Mex-

ico Championship, and it was another pulsating performance, as often is the case with Mickelson.

Five birdies in the opening 10 holes gave him the lead. Right when he was on the verge of taking control, he went for the green on the par-5 11th hole only for the shot to carom off a tree and into the bushes near the edge of Chapultepec Golf Club.

Deep in the bushes, he blasted out and hit the crowd. He wound up making bogey. Then came another wild drive that bounced along the cart path, forcing him to scramble for par.

Three groups ahead of him, Justin Thomas delivered the shot of the tournament. Eleven shots behind going into the weekend and sud-denly tied for the lead, Thomas holed out from 119 yards on the final hole for eagle to cap off a 62-64 weekend as he went for his second straight victory.

“I didn’t know that he holed out,” Mickelson said. “I just saw that he finished at 16 under when I was playing the 15th, and that meant that I needed to birdie two to get even with him.”

And that’s what he did. A perfect drive and a 6-iron for a two-putt birdie, and then a 20-foot birdie on the 16th.

Mickelson closed with a 66 and headed to a sudden-death playoff with Thomas, a duel between players separated by 23 years of age.

Missing from the group was Tyrrell Hatton, who delivered his own charge with four straight 3s on his card, the last one an eagle to tie for the lead. But he missed the 18th green with a wedge, chipped strong and missed the par putt.

The sudden-death playoff ended quickly. Thomas went long with a gap wedge to the par-3 17th and chipped to 10 feet short of the hole. Mickelson hit the green, narrowly missed the birdie putt and walked off a winner - finally - when Thomas missed his putt.

The disappointment was tempered by the guy who beat him.Mickelson took interest in Thomas before he even reached

the PGA Tour. They played a practice round at the 2014 US Open, and Mickelson said that day to the media, “You’ll get to know Justin Thomas soon enough.”

Thomas, the PGA Tour player of the year last season and already a two-time winner this season, moved to No. 2 in the world.

He is the type of player - along with Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy - who represent a powerful young generation that Mickelson now has to beat if he wants to reach one of his goals.

Mickelson, who captured his third World Golf Champion-ship, now has 43 victories on the PGA Tour. The first was in 1991 - before Thomas, Spieth and Rahm were even born - when he was an amateur. He has long said he wants to get to 50.

The more pertinent number might be 48. That’s how old Mickelson will be in June. No one has won more than five times on the PGA Tour after turning 47.

“Oh, I will,” Mickelson said about reaching 50 titles. “I’ll get there.”

That’s not all he wants. One of his chief goals for the year was to be on his 12th consecutive Ryder Cup team for a chance to win in Europe, which he has never done. The victory should be enough to move him to No. 4 in the standings.

Given his value in the team room, winning the Mexico Cham-pionship makes it hard to overlook Mickelson.

Left unsaid is the US Open, the only major keeping him from the career Grand Slam. It returns this summer to Shinnecock Hills, where Mickelson was on the cusp of winning the last two times in 1995 and 2004.

For now, the focus is on the Masters and a chance to add a fourth green jacket.

“I needed to get a win before Augusta so I wasn’t trying to win for the first time in four-and-a-half, five years at that event,” he said.

He got his validation in Mexico City. It was meaningful because it was the first victory since he began working with Andrew Getson, and the first victory with his younger brother, Tim, as his caddie. And it was the next victory, no matter how long it took. “I don’t think this is the peak,” he said. “I think I’m going to continue to get better.”

36WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH 2018

SPORTI cannot tell you half of the things I told my team

at half-time because there would be lots of bleeping

on television 10.45pm10.45pm

Manchester City vsFC Basel

Tottenham Hotspurvs Juventus

FOOTBALL FOOTBALLJose Mourinho, Manager of

Manchester United

club

PAKISTAN SUPER LEAGUE

Perera leads Sri Lanka to big T20 win against IndiaAFP

COLOMBO: Kusal Perera hit a blazing half-century to power Sri Lanka to a five-wicket win over India in the opening Twenty20 international of the tr i-nation tournament yesterday.

Chasing 175 for victory, the hosts rode on Perera’s 37-ball 66 to achieve their target with nine balls to spare at Colombo’s R Premadasa Stadium.

The left-handed Perera, who hit 6 fours and 4 sixes, overshadowed Indian opener Shikar Dhawan’s career-best 90 that saw the visitors post 174-5 after being put into bat first.

Spinners Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar hurt Sri Lanka’s chase by picking up two wickets each but Perera’s fiery start made sure the hosts stand tall.

The islanders lost an early wicket but a 58-run second-wicket partnership between Perera, who notched up his

eighth T20 fifty, and Danushka Gunathilaka put their innings back on track.

Perera, who hit paceman Shardul Thakur for 27 runs with 5 fours and a six in the third over of the innings, took the steam out of the inexperienced Indian bowling attack.

Perera though faltered after getting stumped to Sundar’s off spin as the Sri Lankan chase wobbled with the Indian bowlers coming back with some disciplined effort.

Thisara Perera, on 22, and Dasun Shanaka, on 15, then put on an unbeaten 39-run stand to keep up the spirits of a rau-cous home crowd.

Earlier Dhawan’s 49-ball blitz, laced with 6 fours and 6 sixes, lifted India from a pre-carious 9-2 to put up a respect-able total.

Dhawan put on a crucial 95-run third-wicket stand with Manish Pandey, who made 37, to test the Sri Lanka bowling but missed out on a ton after falling to Gunathilaka’s off-spin.

Sri Lankan cricketer Thisara Perera (right) celebrates with team-mate Dasun Shanaka after winning the opening Twenty20 international against India for the Nidahas Trophy Tri-nation Twenty20 tournament at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, yesterday.

Gayle storm hits UAE in HarareAFP

HARARE: Chris Gayle hammered his 23rd one-day international hundred to lead the West Indies to victory in their opening World Cup qual-ifier against the United Arab Emirates yesterday, while Afghanistan collapsed to defeat by Zimbabwe.

Windies opening batsman Gayle struck 11 sixes in a blis-tering 91-ball 123 in Harare as the two-time World Cup win-ners racked up 357-4 in their Group A clash, with the UAE falling 60 runs short.

Afghanistan’s hopes of taking one of the last two places for next year’s tournament in England and Wales are hanging by a thread, after following Sunday’s shock loss to Scotland with an agonising two-run defeat by the hosts.

Elsewhere, Ireland and Scotland both made it two wins from two by seeing off Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong respectively. The 38-year-old Gayle became only the third batsman in ODI history after Hashim Amla and Sachin Ten-dulkar to score hundreds against 11 different countries.

After captain Jason Holder elected to bat first, Gayle quickly got into his stride along-side big-hitting youngster Evin Lewis in an opening partner-ship of 88.

Lewis fell for 31, but Shimron Hetmyer outdid even Gayle, plundering 127 to score his maiden international ton.

The UAE, who had beaten Papua New Guinea in their opening match, never

threatened a famous run chase after slipping to 69-3, but an excellent unbeaten 112 from Rameez Shahzad carried them to a respectable 297-6.

Windies skipper Holder ensured his side got off to a winning start, taking 5-53 after fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell’s day was cut short by injury.

- Afghanistan dream in tat-ters - Afghanistan came into the qualifiers as favourites to qualify alongside the West Indies, but will now probably need five consecutive wins to have any chance of reaching a second straight World Cup.

With the defeats against Scotland and Zimbabwe set to count in the Super Six stage, should Afghanistan get there, their chances are all but over.

Rashid Khan and co put in a much-improved display with the ball as they limited Zim-babwe to 196 all out in Bula-wayo. Teenage stand-in cap-tain Khan took 3-38 to reach 90 wickets in ODIs, while 16-year-old fellow leg-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman finished with 3-49. But Brendan Taylor’s 89 and 60 from Sikandar Raza proved crucial as Zimbabwe won in dramatic fashion.

At 156-3 with almost 17 overs remaining, Afghanistan were cruising to victory, but the pressure proved too much as they lost six wickets for only 21 runs. Last-wicket pair Dawlat Zadran and Shapoor Zadran dragged the Asian outfit to within four runs of their target heading into the final over, but the latter was caught behind off Brian Vitori to secure Zimba-bwe’s second win.

Steyn eyes return in third Test against AustraliaREUTERS

CAPE TOWN: South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn is targeting a return to Test cricket in the third match of the series against Australia this month, he said yesterday.

The 34-year-old, plagued by injury over the last two years, is three wickets away from becoming South Africa’s leading Test wicket taker.

“I’m looking at trying to get into the third Test, get back with the boys. It’s been a long time - shoulder, foot, all that kind of stuff. Watching the cricket and seeing some of the things that are happening on the field, I just want to get out there,” Steyn told local radio.

Steyn made a comeback after 13 months out due to shoulder problems when he opened the bowling in January’s first Test victory over India at Newlands, only to hurt his heel.

“I’ve had a bit of an unlucky one with my foot. It seems like every injury I get is really bad. I’m probably another two or three weeks away,” Steyn said.

“I have to play one or two warm-up games. So hopefully everything goes according to plan, and by the end of next

week, I should be back on the cricket field,” he added.

Steyn’s shoulder problems began in December 2015 and about a year later he broke his right shoulder and tore three major muscles during the first Test against Australia in Perth.

He went home to Cape Town for surgery, followed by lengthy rehabilitation before he was gently eased back in Twenty20 action in November.

Steyn was due to return in

the one-off Test against Zim-babwe in December but on the opening morning of the day-night match he was ruled out with flu. Steyn, whose Test average is an impressive 22.32, can point to a prolific record at Newlands with 67 wickets in 14 Tests. His tally of 419 Test vic-tims is just shy of Shaun Pol-lock’s record 421 wickets for South Africa. South Africa take on Australia at Newlands from March 22-26.

Kumar Sangakkara of Multan Sultans bats during the Pakistan Super League match against Peshawar Zalmi in Dubai yesterday.

Taylor expected to be fit for fourth ODIREUTERS

W E L L I N G T O N : N e w Zealand’s troubled middle order is likely to be boosted by the return of Ross Taylor from a quadriceps injury for the crucial fourth one-day international against England in Dunedin today.

Taylor, who appeared to hurt himself while diving to avoid a run out in the second game at Mount Maunganui, missed the third game in Wel-lington, which England won by four runs to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

The 33-year-old said he had been hit several times by the ball while batting, which prevented him from turning fast enough after some superb fielding by David Willey cut off his chances of running a quick single.

“Should be fine for tomorrow. It’s nice to be ready to play,” he told reporters in Dunedin ahead of the game at University Oval. “I’ve had massages on it, acupuncture, stretching and swimming.

“I got hit during the game in Hamilton, then hit on the same spot in training twice..”

IndiaR Sharma c Mendis b Chameera ............................0

S Dhawan c Perera b Gunathilaka .......................90

S Raina b Pradeep ......................................................1

M Pandey c Gunathilaka b Mendis ......................37

R Pant c Pradeep b Chameera .............................23

D Karthik (not out) .................................................. 13

Extras (B1, LB3, W6) ............................................10

Total (5 wkts) ........................................ 174Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-9, 3-104, 4-153, 5-174

Did not bat: W Sundar, V Shankar, S Thakur, J Unad-

kat, Y Chahal

Bowling: Chameera 4-0-33-2 (w1), Pradeep 3-0-38-1

(w2), Dananjaya 4-0-37-0 (w1), Perera 3-0-25-0,

Mendis 3-0-21-1 (w2), Gunathilaka 3-0-16-1

Sri LankaD Gunathilaka c Pant b Unadkat .........................19

K Mendis c Dhawan b Sundar ................................11

K Perera st Karthik b Sundar ...............................66

D Chandimal b Chahal ............................................ 14

U Tharanga b Chahal .............................................. 17

D Shanaka (not out) ............................................... 15

T Perera (not out) ................................................... 22

Extras (LB4, NB1, W6) ..........................................11

Total (5 wickets) ....................................175Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-70, 3-98, 4-127, 5-136

Bowling: Unadkat 3-0-35-1 (w2), Sundar 4-0-28-2

(w1), Thakur 3.3-0-42-0 (nb1, w1), Chahal 4-0-37-2

(w1), Shankar 2-0-15-0 (w1), Raina 2-0-14-0

Result: Sri Lanka won by five wickets

SCOREBOARD