sport - the peninsula · sport monday 26 february 2018 late heroics seal ... -15 gonzalo...
TRANSCRIPT
SPORTMonday 26 February 2018
Late heroics seal New Zealand’s dramatic win
Suarez hits hat-trick as Barca trounce Girona
PAGE | 30 PAGE | 31 PAGE | 32Late Kane header
gives Tottenham victory
Late give rca
a
Pepperell edges Fisher to win maiden European Tour title ARMSTRONG VAS THE PENINSULA
DOHA: England’s Eddie Pepperell held his nerve over the closing stages to claim his first European Tour victory at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
The 27-year-old carded a final round 70 at Doha Golf Club here yes-terday to fend off fellow Englishman and friend Oliver Fisher by a single stroke and collect the winners’ cheque of $291,660.
Pepperell and Fisher were tied for the lead going into the final round, with the former making a steady start by posting eight straight pars.
However, playing partner Fisher could only reach the turn in a three-over-par 39, following three successive bogies from the fourth - which left him four shots adrift halfway through the round.
But back came the 29-year-old Londoner with five birdies on the back nine and, when he stood on the final tee, was just one stroke behind his compatriot.
Fisher could have forced a play-off at Doha Golf Club but missed a birdie putt from 10 feet on the 18th.
At the closing 589-yard, par-five 18th, both reached the green in three shots, with Pepperell 25 feet from the pin, while Fisher was just over three yards away.
The Englishman entered the final day at Doha Golf Club level with his compatriot at the top of the leader-board and while he opened up a
three-shot lead at the turn, an impressive fight-back by Fisher meant the pair were separated by a just single stroke as
they went up the par five last.It was advantage Fisher after two
shots with Pepperell in the rough after both men laid-up but the 27 year old hit an excellent third to set up a par which his playing partner could only match.
Pepperell’s closing round of 70 got him to 18 under, with Fisher sign-ing for a 71, one shot back, and Swede Marcus Kinhult finishing at 16 under after a 68. Spanish duo Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and Pablo Larrazábal, Frenchman Grégory Havret and Italian Renato Paratore tied fourth at 15 under.
“What a day,” said Pepperell after receiving the iconic Pearl Tro-phy for winning his maiden European Tour title in his 129th appearance on the European Tour which saw him rocket from 188th to 13th in the season-long rankings. “Oli made it really tough and I made it tough for myself at the end there with the second shot at 18.
“I felt good all day, I felt comfort-able. I didn’t feel that comfortable with my swing but I was in a great place mentally and I kept telling myself that I’m going to win this.
“Oli certainly made life more interesting. Relief is the number one emotion as is always the case with a win, although I haven’t had many.
The victory was just reward for Pepperell’s mental fortitude and hard work after fighting back from losing his Tour card and returning to Q-School in 2016.
“This will give me confidence,” he said.
“When you win, you know you can win. I’ve always felt and believed I will win out here but it hadn’t hap-pened before today. You’ve always got to take that step and that’s uneasy but at some point in everyone’s career they’ve got to do something for the first time. Hopefully this is not my last.”
Pepperell won the ALLIANZ Open Côtes d’Armor Bretagne en route to graduating from the Chal-lenge Tour in 2012 and then enjoyed three consistent seasons but before losing his card, leading to a success-ful trip Q-School to regain it immediately.
His bounceback season was a tri-umph, securing four top fives and three top tens from his last ten events
in 2017 before a slow start to the cur-rent season saw him miss cuts in his first two outings before signs of improvement at last week’s NBO Oman Open.
For Fisher, it is a first top three since the 2014 Africa Open but he will have to wait a little longer to add to his 2011 Czech Open title despite taking confidence for the way he fin-ished his round, coming home in 32 blows after a forgettable front nine of 39. It was Fisher’s first top-three finish since the 2014 Africa Open and he will have to wait a little longer to add to his 2011 Czech Open title.
Sweden’s Marcus Kinhult took third place after finishing at 16-under with 68 in the final round, one stroke ahead of Spanish duo Gonzalo Fern-andez-Castano and Pablo Larrazabal, Frenchman Gregory Havret and Italian Renato Paratore. South African George Coetzee and German Sebastian Heisele finished the week at 14-under, a shot clear of England’s Matthew Baldwin, French-man Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Adrian Otaegui of Spain.
Meanwhile Englishman Josh White of the MENA Golf Tour, who qualified through winning the Pro-fessional Division of the Qatar Open, shot a final round 75 for a four round score of four under par to finish in tied 61st position alongside two time Commercial Bank Qatar Masters champion Paul Lawrie (Scotland), former Ryder Cup player David
Howell (England) and six other players.
Golf fans take a selfie with Eddie Pepperell (left) of England, winner of the final round of the Qatar Masters golf tournament at the Doha Golf Club in Doha, yesterday.
Eddie Pepperell (centre) of England receiving the winner’s cheque from officials during the awards ceremony at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters golf tournament at the Doha Golf Club in Doha, yesterday.
Scores from the European Tour Commercial Bank Qatar Masters yesterday-18 Eddie Pepperell (England) 65 69 66 70
-17 Oliver Fisher (England) 66 69 65 71
-16 Marcus Kinhult (Sweden) 68 69 67 68
-15 Gonzalo Fdez-Castaño (Spain) 68 68 69 68
Grégory Havret (France) 65 69 70 69
Pablo Larrazábal (Spain) 68 67 70 68
Renato Paratore (Italy) 71 66 70 66
-14 George Coetzee (South Africa) 69 66 71 68
Sebastian Heisele (Germany) 67 68 71 68
-13 Matthew Baldwin (England) 68 70 68 69
Michael Lorenzo-Vera (France) 68 68 69 70
Adrian Otaegui (Spain) 67 66 73 69
-12 Mark Foster (England) 71 68 68 69
Seung-Su Han (Korea Republic) 69 71 69 67
David Horsey (England) 71 68 65 72
Matthew Nixon (England) 69 68 69 70
Andrea Pavan (Italy) 68 69 67 72
Chris Wood (England) 68 69 68 71
-11 Alexander Bjork (Sweden) 70 69 69 69
Scott Fernandez (Spain) 69 70 71 67
Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 66 70 70 71
Aaron Rai (England) 65 73 69 70
Jason Scrivener (Australia) 70 70 67 70
Callum Shinkwin (England) 68 69 70 70
Matt Wallace (England) 69 71 67 70
Paul Waring (England) 68 70 70 69
Romain Wattel (France) 71 69 71 66
-10 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa) 68 72 71 67
Sean Crocker (USA) 67 68 67 76
Matthieu Pavon (France) 68 69 71 70
Marcel Siem (Germany) 73 66 68 71
Hideto Tanihara (Japan) 70 69 66 73
Ashun Wu (China PR) 69 70 70 69
-9 Rak Cho (Korea Republic) 69 70 67 73
Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 71 69 69 70
Lorenzo Gagli (Italy) 67 70 67 75
Nicolas Geyger (Chile) 71 69 69 70
Andy Sullivan (England) 69 70 73 67
-8 Steven Brown (England) 69 69 70 72
Thomas Detry (Belgium) 67 70 70 73
Nacho Elvira (Spain) 71 69 71 69
Oliver Farr (Wales) 70 70 69 71
Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 68 66 74 72
Jacques Kruyswijk (South Africa) 70 68 70 72
-7 Ashley Chesters (England) 72 68 71 70
Bradley Dredge (Wales) 70 68 74 69
Sébastien Gros (France) 69 70 69 73
Joakim Lagergren (Sweden) 68 71 66 76
James Morrison (England) 72 66 67 76
Richard Sterne (South Africa) 72 68 70 71
Justin Walters (South Africa) 68 71 72 70
Fabrizio Zanotti (Paraguay) 70 69 69 73
-6 Grant Forrest (Scotland) 70 70 74 68
Chris Hanson (England) 73 67 71 71
Raphaël Jacquelin (France) 70 66 72 74
Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 70 70 69 73
Chase Koepka (USA) 71 68 74 69
Marc Warren (Scotland) 68 70 70 74
-5 Jamie Donaldson (Wales) 72 65 70 76
Erik Van Rooyen (South Africa) 68 66 76 73
-4 Ryan Evans (England) 69 67 71 77
COMMERCIAL BANK QATAR MASTERS RESULTS
I felt good all day, I felt comfortable. I didn’t feel that comfortable with my swing but I was in a great place mentally and I kept telling myself that I’m going to win this: Pepperell
I hit a lot of good shots coming down the back nine and gave myself a lot of good chances, but there were just too many bogeys today – four in total – so you’re never going to win a tournament making that many mistakes: Fisher
ARMSTRONG VAS THE PENINSULA
DOHA: Germany, Austria, Croatia and Brazil boy’s and girl’s teams qualified for the next stage of the 24th ISF World Schools Handball Championships here yesterday.
Four other countries quali-fied for the second round of the nine-day championship played at three venues in Doha and organized by Qatar School Sports Association (QSSA), in technical collaboration with Qatar Hand-ball Federation.
In boy’s section, France, Tur-key, Poland and Israel moved to the next round while in the girl’s section, Hungary, Slovenia, Den-mark and Romania complete the eight teams which have quali-fied for the second phase of the championships.
Yesterday hosts Qatar defeated Denmark 19-18 to reg-ister their second win in Group A, but the two wins were not suf-ficient for Qatar to qualify for the next stage.
Austria and Poland qualified from Group A while Qatar fin-ished third followed by Denmark and Morocco.
n Group B, France and Croatia qualified at the expense of Serbia and Bulgaria
n Group C, Turkey and
Brazil qualified while Germany and Israel made it from Group D.
In the girl’s section, besides Germany, Austria, Croatia and
Brazil, the four other teams which will get a chance to have a shot at the title on February 28 are Hungary, Slovenia, Denmark and Romania.
In Group A, Germany and Romania made it past tough competition while Hungary and Slovenia qualified from Group B, while Slovenia and Brazil saw
off tough competition but qual-ified for the second phase.
Denmark and Croatia com-plete the qualified team, qualifying from Group D.
30 MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2018SPORT
Action from ISF World Schools Handball Championships match between Qatar and Denmark yesterday.
Handball: Double delight for Germany, Austria, Croatia and Brazil in Qatar
Asenjo saves 2 penalties as Villarreal win AP
MADRID: Sergio Asenjo saved two penalty kicks as Villarreal held on to a 1-0 win against Getafe in the Spanish league yesterday, ending a five-match winless streak and moving to fifth place.
Enes Unal scored from close range three minutes into the match for the hosts, and Asenjo stopped a penalty taken by Angel Rodriguez in the first half and another by Jorge Molina in the second.
“Asenjo was key,” Villar-real coach Javier Calleja said.
“He is the type of player who gives you points. He gave us three points today with his penalty saves.”
Villarreal, which had lost four of its last five matches in all competitions, moved two points ahead of Sevilla, which hosted second-place Atletico Madrid.
Villarreal is five points behind fourth-place Valen-cia, the last team in the Champions League qualifica-tion zone. Valencia hosts Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Getafe, which hadn’t lost in six consecutive matches, stayed 10th in the 20-team standings.
Late Kane header gives Tottenham victory REUTERS
LONDON: Harry Kane headed a late winner to give Tottenham Hotspur a deserved 1-0 victory at Crystal Palace that lifted them into fourth place in the Premier League on Sunday.
Kane headed home from Christian Eriksen’s corner in the 88th minute to make up for two glaring misses earlier in the match at Selhurst Park.
He should have put Totten-ham ahead early on when the ball fell to him in the middle of the box after a mistake by Patrick van Aanholt but Wayne Hennessey spread himself well and the striker’s shot ballooned over the bar.
The England striker was guilty of a more glaring miss early in the second half when Eriksen passed from the right and Kane, with time and space on the left, shot wide of the far post.
“We left that very late,” Kane said. “I thought it wasn’t going to be our day because we had a few chances, especially me, and Serge Aurier had one at the end too. But we kept going until the end and eventually got our rewards.
“We have had a tough patch, with a few tough games recently, now we have to keep that momentum going, into the next games.” It was Kane’s 35th goal of the season and made him the Premier League’s leading scorer this season with 24, one ahead of Liverpool’s Mo Salah.
Spurs manager Mauricio
Pochettino felt his team deserved the victory after hav-ing more than 75 percent of possession.
“It was difficult today but we always knew we could score,” he said.
“We had great players on the pitch; when you have them it’s
always possible to score.” Speaking about one of those players, Kane, who has now reached 150 goals for his vari-ous clubs, he added: “He’s incredible, and his achievements in this season, and the previous seasons too, have been great. So congratulations to him.”
Manchester United fight back to beat ChelseaAFP
MANCHESTER: Romelu Lukaku broke his barren run against top six Premier League opposition and provided the winner for Jesse Lingard as Manchester United came from behind to beat Chelsea 2-1 at Old Trafford.
Victory against his former club was particularly sweet for
Jose Mourinho as he got one over on Chelsea boss Antonio Conte, but more importantly moves United back above Liverpool into second place in the Premier League.
Defeat allied to Tottenham Hotspur’s late win earlier in the day at Crystal Palace sees Chel-sea slip to fifth.
The visitors enjoyed the
better of the first period but failed to build on Willian’s 32nd minute opener.
Lukaku levelled seven min-utes later from close range and then crossed for substitute Lin-gard to head home as a ruthless United took full advantage of their limited chances.
The spectre of another fiery clash between Mourinho and
Conte, who have publicly bick-ered in recent months, hogged the headlines before kick-off, but there was a peace offering when the pair shook hands before the action got underway.
Mourinho recalled Paul Pogba to his starting XI after dropping the £89 million (100 million euros, $124 million) mid-fielder for Wednesday’s
stalemate at Sevilla in the Cham-pions League.
But it was one of Conte’s two changes from his side’s 1-1 draw with Barcelona in midweek who nearly made an immediate impact. Alvaro Morata started for the first time in six weeks, but saw his side-footed volley from Marcos Alonso’s driven cross come back off the bar just four
minutes in. Chelsea dominated possession in the opening quar-ter, but much like they did to Barcelona on Tuesday with lim-ited time on the ball, United restricted them to few other clear-cut chances.United had offered little going forward themselves until Anthony Mar-tial’s low cross picked out Alexis Sanchez inside the area.
Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany celebrates scoring their second goal with Nicolas Otamendi during the League Cup final against Arsenal at Wembley Stadium, London, yesterday.
City thrash Arsenal to win League CupREUTERS
LONDON: Pep Guardiola claimed his maiden English silverware as goals by Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva gave his Manches-ter City side an easy 3-0 victory over Arsenal in the League Cup final yesterday.
The first ever domestic final clash between the sides was a
largely disappointing affair at a freezing Wembley Stadium but runaway Premier League lead-ers City had far too much for an Arsenal side who suffered a for-gettable afternoon.
Aguero’s 18th-minute goal gave City a halftime lead and Arsenal withered after the break as Kompany prodded in from close range after 58 minutes before Silva effectively ended
the contest seven minutes later with a left-foot finish.
After a trophy-less first sea-son in charge of City, Guardiola’s career trophy haul as a manager now stands at 19, having won 11 with Barcelona and seven at Bayern Munich.
Arsenal have now lost a record six League Cup finals while City have won it three times in five years.
Tottenham Hotspur’s English striker Harry Kane (right) scores the opening goal as his header loops over Crystal Palace’s Welsh goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey during the English Premier League football match at Selhurst Park in south London yesterday.
Late heroics seal New Zealand’s dramatic win
AFP
HAMILTON: A century by Ross Taylor and lusty late hitting by Mitch Santner delivered a last-over victory to New
Zealand against England in their first one-day international in Hamilton yesterday.
In a match filled with twists and turns, the outcome hung in the balance until Santer smacked a six in the final over
to get New Zealand home with four balls to spare.
Rival captains Kane Williamson and Eoin Morgan both said the initia-tive “ebbed and flowed” throughout the match.
“There wasn’t much between the sides and I think that’s reflected in the result,” added England skipper Morgan.
Taylor with 113 and Latham (79) paved the way for the New Zealand win and when England produced a middle-order collapse Santner hit a match-winning 45 off 27 deliveries.
Ben Stokes celebrated his return to international cricket with the cru-cial wicket of Latham to snap a 178-run stand with Taylor and have New Zealand at 205 for four in the 40th over.
They slipped further to 244 for seven before Santner lashed out to chase down England’s 284 for eight.
Williamson, who won the toss and elected to bowl, expecting the dew to have an effect late in the day-night match, singled out key moments which went New Zealand’s way, particularly with bowling late in the England innings.
New Zealand were in trouble at the start of their run chase as they fell
to three for 27 in the 10th over.Taylor, with his 18th century, and
Latham clawed the home side back into the game with their 178-run stand before Stokes stepped up to remove Latham for 79.
Latham’s dismissal sparked a mid-dle-order collapse with three wickets falling for 10 runs.
As Taylor started to run out of partners, he tried to up the pace to get New Zealand home but with 25 balls remaining and New Zealand needing a further 45 runs, he was stumped on 113.
But if England had a whiff of vic-tory, Santner had other ideas with a rapid two fours and four sixes to get New Zealand home.
Stokes, returning for his first inter-national since a nightclub incident five months ago, had an undistinguished turn at bat after New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl.
The all-rounder lasted 22 balls and was gone for 12 while the foundation of the England innings was laid by Root, with 71 off 75 deliveries and But-tler who belted 79 off 65 before he was run out off the penultimate ball.
England were looking at a score of more than 300 until tight New Zea-land bowling restricted them to just 31 runs between the 42nd and 48th overs. New Zealand were immediately in trouble at the start of their chase when Colin Munro belted a six off the second ball he faced and was gone two balls later without adding to his score.
Kane Williamson only managed eight off 23 balls and Martin Guptill went for 13.
Stokes, discarded by England for five months after a nightclub incident, had an economical four-overs in his
first bowling spell that only cost 15 runs.
When he was recalled with Tay-lor and Latham in full flight and New Zealand 187 for three, he went for 11 in his first over before having Latham caught by Root at mid-on.
31MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2018 SPORT
EnglandJ. Roy b Santner .................................................................................. 49
J. Bairstow c Taylor b Boult .................................................................4
J. Root b Munro .................................................................................... 71
E. Morgan c Southee b Sodhi ..............................................................8
B. Stokes c Taylor b Santner .............................................................. 12
J. Buttler run out (Southee) ..............................................................79
M. Ali c Guptill b Sodhi ........................................................................28
C. Woakes c and b Boult ..................................................................... 11
D. Willey not out ...................................................................................11
T. Curran not out ....................................................................................0
Extras: (b1, lb4, w6) .......................................................................... 11
Total (8 wkts, 50 overs) .............................................284Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Bairstow), 2-89 (Roy), 3-104 (Morgan), 4-139
(Stokes), 5-181 (Root), 6-228 (Ali), 7-253 (Woakes), 8-284 (Buttler)
Did not bat: A. Rashid
Bowling: Southee 10-1-47-0 (2w), Boult 10-0-64-2 (3w), Santner
10-0-54-2, de Grandhomme 4-0-20-0, Sodhi 10-0-63-2 (1w),
Munro 6-0-31-1
New ZealandM. Guptill c Stokes b Woakes .............................................................13
C. Munro c Buttler b Woakes ..............................................................6
K. Williamson c Buttler b Willey ........................................................8
R. Taylor st Buttler b Rashid ............................................................113
T. Latham c Root b Stokes ..................................................................79
H. Nicholls c Roy b Curran ....................................................................0
C. de Grandhomme c Buttler b Stokes .............................................2
M. Santner not out ..............................................................................45
T. Southee not out .................................................................................8
Extras: (lb5, w8) .................................................................................13
Total (for 7 wickets; 49.2 overs) ............................... 287Fall of wickets: 1-6 (C Munro), 2-27 (Williamson), 3-27 (Guptill),
4-205 (Latham), 5-206 (Nicholls), 6-215 (de Grandhomme), 7-244
(Taylor)
Bowling: Willey 6-1-26-1, Woakes 8.2-0-47-2 (1w), Curran 10-0-
65-1 (2w), Stokes 8-0-43-2 (2w), Ali 5-0-30-0, Rashid 10-0-55-1
(1w), Root 2-0-16-0 (2w)
Toss: New Zealand
Result: New Zealand won by three wickets
SCOREBOARD
AFP
CAPE TOWN: Indian captain Virat Kohli refused to bask in his team’s success in South Africa as he received the International Cricket Council Test champion-ship mace for the second year running.
Somewhat incongruously, the mace was presented to Kohli on Saturday at the end of a trium-phant limited overs campaign. India won a one-day interna-tional series 5-1 and a Twenty20 series 2-1.
Perhaps it was a reminder to Kohli that second-ranked South Africa had won a Test series at the start of the tour.
“I’d say we are still 80 per-cent,” Kohli said of the Test team as he looked forward to major challenges in coming tours of England and Australia later this year.
“When we are able to achieve what we want to in the two tours, we’ll be more content. But our 80 percent is also exciting. To be a world-class side, you have to be 100 percent.”
Although the cut-off date for
the ICC rankings only comes in April, India cannot be overtaken. Apart from the mace and the glory India will collect a million dollars in prize money.
Kohli will leave South Africa on Sunday having dazzled with his batting artistry and his no-holds-barred captaincy style.
It is doubtful whether any vis-iting captain in modern times has made a greater impact than Kohli, who stated on arrival that his India team feared no opposition nor any conditions. “We look at the pitch and adapt to the condi-tions,” he said. “Every game is a home game. It’s as simple as that.”
His early press conference set the tone for the tour. Articulate, occasionally combative with
journalists who challenged, for instance, his selection policies, Kohli stayed true to his mantra of playing positive cricket and not taking a backward step.
He did not complain about the seam-friendly Test pitches prepared for South Africa’s fast bowlers, even though ICC match referee Chris Broad rated the pitches for the first two Tests “average” and his successor Andy Pycroft condemned the pitch used for the third Test at the Wanderers as “poor”.
Kohli’s response was that sub-standard pitches helped his bowlers as much as they helped the South Africans. Although India lost the first two Tests, they were competitive in both and
made the best of the worst con-ditions by winning the third Test.
Then they outclassed South Africa in the white ball games.
Kohli was the leading run-scorer for either side in both the Tests and one-day games. He showed resolve, sound technique and courage in difficult conditions in the Tests, scoring 286 runs, including the only century of the series, at an average of 47.66.
He exploded on more bats-men-friendly pitches in the one-dayers, striking a world record bilateral series total of 558 runs at a staggering average of 186.00, scoring at a fraction under a run a ball.
His teammates responded to Kohli’s example. The bowlers, in
particular, were outstanding. Given his chance in the Tests, Jas-prit Bumrah showed he was much more than a good one-day bowler, while Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar all troubled the South African batsmen.
In the one-day games, India’s bold gambit of picking two wrist spinners in Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal proved a mas-ter stroke.
Kohli’s form obscured flaws in the rest of the Indian batting. None of the other specialist bats-men averaged 30 in the Tests but Shikhar Dhawan shone in the one-day matches. Rohit Sharma managed a single impressive innings, a century in the fifth one-day international after Kohli was out for 36, his lowest score of the series.
Although Kohli bristled at the suggestion that India did not select their best possible side for the first two Tests, Ajinkya Rahane’s batting in the third Test suggested he should have played earlier, while Kumar’s omission for the second Test was baffling.
Kohli wants more from his team
AFP
HAMILTand lustydeliver
ZeafirstHa
tofou
Rivaand Eointive “ebthe matc
“Thesides anresult,”Morgan
Taylpaved thwin andmiddle-match-w
Ben to interncial wic178-runNew Ze40th ove
Theyseven bchase do
Willielected thave anmatch, swent Ne
ith bNew Zealand’s Ross Taylor bats during the first One-Day International (ODI) cricket match against England at Seddon Park in Hamilton yesterday.
Brilliant Bounedjah nets four for Al SaddTHE PENINSULA
DOHA: Star striker Baghdad Bounedjah scored four goals as Al Sadd notched up three more crucial points with a 5-0 victory over Al Ahli in their QNB Stars League (QSL) Round 18 clash yesterday
The Algerian scored in the fifth, 55th, 75th and 81st minutes of the game which was domi-nated by The Wolves, especially in the second session, in front of home crowd. Jugurtha Hamroun scored the other goal (90+2).
Al Sadd, who had won their first two matches in the AFC Champions League, started with-out some of their key players Xavi Hernandez, Hassan Al Haydous and Boualem Khoukhi. And Pedro
sat out serving a suspension. It is true that Algerian
Bounedjah, who now has 12 goals to his credit in the QNB Stars League, gave Al Sadd an early advantage, but the game was slow-paced in the first half.
Akram Afif then had the dis-appointment of being thwarted by Al Ahli goalkeeper Yazan Naim.
Al Sadd started the second session by introducing Xavi, in place of Ali Asad, and Khoukhi for Yasir Abubakr.
Yassine Chikhaoui fought like a one-man army in the Al Ahli midfield. On the other hand, Xavi made some impact with his cre-ative moves.
Bounedjah’s second goal came in training-session fashion
as he flicked in the ball off a cross from Abdelkarim Hassan. Al Ahli, who were without Meshaal Abdullah, brought in striker
Mohammed Muntari, back from a long injury layoff, soon after one hour, but The Brigadiers could not find the net for once.
Khoukhi almost made it 5-0, but cracked his rising shot against the horizontal. After Bounedjah added two more goals, Hamroun
completed the tally with literally the last kick of the match.
Yesterday’s win took Al Sadd’s points tally to 46 points, two less than table toppers Al Duhail who had beaten Al Khor 4-0 on Saturday. Al Ahli remained on 19 points.
Later, riding on Abderrazaq Hamdallah’s two goals, Al Rayyan defeated hosts Qatar SC 4-0 yesterday.
Al Rayyan took their points tally to 39, while Qatar SC stayed on 18 points.
Hamdallah (25th and 37th minutes), Mohsine Moutouali (62nd) and Rodrigo Tabata (83rd) scored the goals.
The total number of goals netted by Hamdallah in this sea-son’s QSL thus stands at 15.
Al Sadd’s Bhagdad Bounedjah celebrates after scoring a goal.
Islamabad United win low-scoring thriller
THE PENINSULA
DUBAI: A quick-fire knock of 48 by Hussain Talat which came in 34 deliveries helped Islam-abad United secure their first win in a low-scor-ing thriller in Pakistan Super League 2018 yesterday.
The victory came against high-flying Mul-tan Sultans who had won both of their previ-ous matches.
Multan failed to pro-duce an impressive total when they were put into bat, and were eventually bowled out for 113. How-ever, Multan fought back in the initial stage of their reply and had reduced Islamabad to 63 for 5 at the half-way stage.
But Talat kept on scoring and with Faheem Ashraf, (12 not out) put on an invalua-ble 54 runs in 7.1 overs to ensure the victory with 14 balls to spare.
Despite the loss, Multan still stay top of the table, while Islama-bad opened their account with today’s win.
Earlier, on Saturday, Quetta Gladiators pro-duced a magnificiant batting show to crush Lahore Qalandars by nine wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Put into bat, Lahore were just able to post 119 for nine wickets and Gladiators waltzed to their target with nine wickets and six overs to spare.
Brief Scores:
Multan Sultans 113 in 19.5 overs (Shoaib Malik 35; Rumman Raaes 3-13) lost to Islamabad United 117/5 in 17.4 overs (Hussain Talat 48 n.o.; Imran Tahir 3-19) by 5 wickets.
Lahore Qalandars: 119/9 (B McCullum 30, SP Narine 28; JC Archer 3 for 23, Mohammad Nawaz 2 for 4) lost to Quetta Gladiators 120/1 in 14 overs (Asad Shafiq 38 n.o., SR Watson 66) by nine wickets.
32 MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2018SPORT
Qatari driver Alaa Taraweh in action in his Subaru BRZ during the Class M1 event.
ROUND 2 QATAR NATIONAL SPRINTSPRINT ROUND 2 - RESULTS (Classification on the best lap)
CLASS: 1MPosition Driver Make/Model Best Lap1 Abdullah Al Khelaifi Westfield Sport 1:07.5272 Alaa Tarawneh Subaru Brz 1:18.812 3 Mack Cortel Toyota GT86 1:19.905 4 A Aziz Aljabri Toyota GT86 1:19.982 5 Yousef Al Jabri Honda Civic Type R 1:20.244CLASS: 3M1 Mohammed Al Khayarin Chevrolet Corvette 1:11.864 2 Mohammed Al Jabir Chevrolet Corvette 1:14.501 3 Ali Emadadhi Chevrolet Corvette 1:15.586 4 Khaled Salama Volkswagen Golf 1:18.134 5 Maher Serre Volkswagen Golf 1:19.253CLASS: 3S1 Francesco Fornaciari Lotus Exige 1:12.941 2 Martin Staffel Porsche 911 1:13.940 3 Daniel Mc Carthy Ford Shelby 1:20.419CLASS: 4M1 Mohammed Aldelaimi EVO 10 1:15.068 2 Ibrahim Al Mannai Mitsubishi EVO 10 1:15.354 3 Nadim Ziade EVO 8 1:15.7654 Mohammed Al Khayarin Mitsubishi Evo 8 1:15.8075 Saad Al Dosari AUDI S3 1:18.893
Al Khelaifi fastest at Qatar National Sprint Round 2
Abdullah Al Khelaifi in action during the Class M1 event of Round-2 of the Qatar National Sprint held at the Losail Car Park on Saturday.
The podium winners and participants pose for a photograph with QMMF officials following the presentation ceremony of the Qatar National Sprint - Round 2 at the Losail Car Park on Saturday.
Suarez hits hat-trick as Barca trounce GironaREUTERS
BARCELONA: Barcelona forwards Lionel Messi, Philippe Coutinho and Luis Suarez combined to devastating effect to hammer Girona 6-1 on Saturday as they went 10 points clear at the top of La Liga and set a club record of 32 games unbeaten in the League.
Visiting striker Portu gave Girona a sur-prise lead in the third minute of their first league game at the Nou Camp.
However, Suarez quickly levelled down the other end, while two goals from Messi and another from the Uruguayan saw Barca march into a 4-1 lead at halftime.
Barca’s record signing Coutinho had set up Suarez’s second goal and then struck for the first time in La Liga with a spectacular long-distance shot from well outside of the area in the 66th minute. Suarez completed a hat-trick in the 76th, tapping in a cut-back from Ousmane Dembele.
Earlier on Saturday, Real Madrid’s ‘BBC’ strikeforce hit back with a vengeance when Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema all scored in a 4-0 win at home to Alaves, a fifth successive win in all compe-titions for Zinedine Zidane’s side.
Barca lead the standings on 65 points, 10 clear of Atletico Madrid who visit Sevilla on Sunday and 14 ahead of champions Real.
Ernesto Valverde’s side also surpassed the club’s longest run without a defeat in the league, which had stood since April 2011 when Pep Guardiola was in charge of the Catalans.
Valverde has favoured a 4-4-2 formation
for most of the season but after his side had struggled to a 1-1 draw at Chelsea in the Champions League on Tuesday the coach opted for an ultra-attacking 4-3-3 against Girona, with Dembele often joining the South American trio to create a ruthless four-man attack.
“We were nervous from the start and they were very sharp. Messi is always the one who makes the difference and he was especially good tonight.”Ronaldo put Real ahead on the stroke of halftime, taking advantage of a clever backheel from Ben-zema and before celebrating the goal he pointed to his maligned French team mate, who had been subjected to plenty of criti-cism from the home fans in recent weeks.
Benzema was also the catalyst for Real’s
second goal which came under a minute into the second half, with the striker winning the ball back in midfield and tearing towards goal, slipping it into Bale’s path for the Wales international to slot it inside the near post.
Ronaldo struck Real’s third goal of the day and his 299th in La Liga in the 61st minute, meeting a cutback from in-form winger Lucas Vazquez first time and send-ing it under the reach of former Real goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco.
Ronaldo then surrendered the opportu-nity to score a hat-trick by offering Benzema penalty-taking duties after Bale was brought down, and the Frenchman made no mistake, converting from the spot in the 89th minute.
“I’m very happy with Ronaldo’s gesture,” Real coach Zinedine Zidane said.
Ronaldo praised for selfless gesture
REUTERS
MADRID: Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane praised Cristiano Ronaldo for his double show of solidarity with Karim Benzema after the Portuguese allowed the Frenchman to take a penalty in the 4-0 win over Alaves on Saturday and asked fans to show him respect.
Benzema has been one of the main scapegoats for Real’s incon-sistent campaign and has felt the wrath of the highly critical Santiago Bernabeu faithful on several occasions this season for his wastefulness in front of goal.
Benzema set up Ronaldo’s opening goal against Alaves with a stylish backheel and the first thing Real’s all-time top scorer did after finding the net was to point towards Benzema, appearing to ask the supporters to show him more respect.
Ronaldo scored Real’s third goal after Gareth Bale had struck the second -- also created by a pass from Benzema -- and the Por-tuguese had a chance to bag a hat-trick when his side were awarded a late penalty.
Instead Ronaldo presented the spot-kick to Benzema, who rounded off the scoring.
“I’m very happy with Ronaldo’s gesture. This is a team game and it was a wonderful gesture. Karim played very well and he deserved to score as he contributed so much in our build-up play,” Zidane told a news conference.
Benzema had snapped a run of nearly three months without a League goal by scoring against Real Betis last weekend and although he squandered a couple of chances he was one of Real’s best performers in what was a fifth consecutive win in all com-petitions for Zidane’s side.
Barcelona’s Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez
celebrates after scoring one of his three goals during
the Spanish League football match against Girona FC at
the Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona on Saturday.
CHINTHANA WASALA THE PENINSULA
LOSAIL: Qatari driver Abdullah Al Khelaifi drove his Westfield Sport to
complete the fastest lap of the day to win the Class 1M event of the
Qatar National Sprint Round 2 at the Losail Car Park on Saturday.
Al Khelaifi completed the distance of one kilometer in 1:07.527.
Alaa Tarawneh, driving a Subaru Brz, came second in the event follow-
ing his one-minute and 18.812 second run while Mack Cortel finished
third in his Toyota GT86 with a time of 1:19.905.
Mohammed Al Khayarin was the second fastest of the day, com-
pleting his lap in 1:11.864. Al Khayarin who drove a Chevrolet Corvette,
was joined by Mohammed Al Jabir (1:14.501) and Ali Emadadhi (1:15.586)
on the podium. Class 3S saw Francesco Fornaciari clocking the winning
time of 1:12.941 with his Lotus Exige. Martin Staffel and Daniel Mc Carthy
finished second and third respectively.
Mohammed Aldelaimi, driving a Mitsubishi EVO 10, completed the
fastest lap in Class 4M, and clocked a time of 1:15.068. Ibrahim Al Man-
nai finished the lap in 1:15.354 to be placed second ahead of Nadim
Ziade (1:15.765) who came third.
Caldwell-Pope’s season-high 34 points help Lakers top KingsAP
SACRAMENTO: During a five-minute span in the third quarter, everyone in the Golden 1 Center knew where the ball was going when the visiting Los Angeles Lakers were on offense. That didn’t mean the Sacramento Kings could do anything to stop Kentavious Caldwell-Pope from putting on a one-man shooting show.
Caldwell-Pope scored 17 of his season-high 34 points in the third and the Lakers snapped a three-game road losing streak with a 113-108 win on Saturday night against the Kings.
Caldwell-Pope hit eight 3-pointers and the Lakers had 17 overall. Isaiah Thomas added 17 points off the bench in his fifth game since Los Angeles acquired him in a trade with the Cleve-land Cavaliers.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been that hot,” said Caldwell-Pope, who is in his first season with the Lakers after spending his first four NBA seasons with
Detroit. Buddy Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic each had 21 points to lead the Kings, who have lost eight of their last nine home games. Willie Cauley-Stein added 18 points and 15 rebounds.
The Kings took a 64-54 lead with two minutes gone in the third quarter, but Caldwell-Pope then hit five 3s in a five-minute span to lead the Lakers on a 33-19 run for the rest of the period.
“He got a couple in transition, but he’s 6-foot-6 and he just shot it over the top of us,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said. “So once he got a catch, he could just get it up and he sent it over the top.”
The teams traded the lead early in the fourth before the Lakers took control, though the Kings pulled within a point in the final minute. Thomas and Josh Hart each hit a pair of free throws in the final 12 seconds to seal it. “Those are easy points. I’m always willing to be that guy who takes those free shots,” Thomas said.
Lakers rookie guard Lonzo
Ball was held out after returning to the lineup and playing 17 min-utes Friday night against Dallas. He had missed the previous 15 games with a sore left knee.
Lakers: Caldwell-Pope’s eight 3s were his most in a game this season and tied his career high. He also hit eight while scor-ing a career-best 38 points against New Orleans last season.
Kings: Sacramento is strug-gling at home over the last seven weeks, winning just once there during that stretch to fall to 8-19 at the Golden 1 Center this sea-son. The Kings are 10-22 on the road.
Even though the Kings and Lakers had some epic Western Conference playoff battles a dec-ade and a half ago, the Lakers have dominated the series since both teams landed in their cur-rent homes, with the Lakers now holding a 94-45 advantage.
Kings rookie point guard De’Aaron Fox returned after missing a game with conjuncti-vitis. He started and played 30
minutes, scoring 13 points and handing out six assists without committing a turnover.
Lakers: Play at Atlanta today. Los Angeles won its only
previous game against the Hawks this season, 132-113 on Jan. 7 at home.
Kings: Wrap up a three-game homestand against
Minnesota today. Sacramento has lost its two previous games this season against the Timber-wolves, both of which were played in Minneapolis.
Oilers hold off Kings for hard-fought 4-3 win AP
LOS ANGELES: Edmonton coach Todd McLellan figured he was due to win a chal-lenge. He was right, and that allowed the Oilers to hold on for a win they nearly gave away.
Ryan Strome’s empty-net goal at 19:01 of the third period and a successful coach’s challenge to overturn an apparent goal by Dustin Brown with less than 10 seconds left gave Edmonton a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
Brown tipped in Drew Doughty’s shot to cut it to 4-3 with 18 seconds remaining and appeared to tie it with 9.8 seconds to play when he batted the puck over the line while making contact with goalie Cam Talbot’s pads. The play was ruled no goal on the ice and changed after a video review, but the Oilers challenged for goaltender interfer-ence and the goal was waived off.
“Not one that we wanted to be challeng-ing,” McLellan said. “I thought we could have done a better job, obviously, in those last few minutes. But not going to dwell on that a lot. We haven’t won in this building in a long, long time, so we’ll take any type of win.”
Kings coach John Stevens was angry about the reversal, saying Brown never impeded Talbot’s opportunity to make a save.
“I think the league is so confused that I’m confused, right? I don’t think they know what it is, so how the hell are we supposed to know what it is, right? There’s a loose puck
sitting in the crease and he jams it in the net. I sure as heck would like to see it count as a goal. I think that’s just a good, hard, hockey goal,” Stevens said.
Anton Slepyshev, Leon Draisaitl and Jujhar Khaira scored for the Oilers, who won for the third time in four games and kept the Kings from moving back into playoff posi-tion. Talbot made 30 saves.
Michael Cammalleri, who started the season with the Kings before being traded to the Oilers on November 14, recorded three assists and has 10 in his last 11 games.
Tyler Toffoli and Tobias Rieder also scored for the Kings, who are two points behind Calgary for third place in the Pacific Division and two points behind Anaheim for the second Western Conference wild card. Jonathan Quick stopped 21 shots.
Kings center Jeff Carter returned after
missing 55 games following surgery to repair a cut on his leg in October. He had four shots and won 11 of 16 faceoffs in 17:36.
After getting walloped 5-0 and 5-2 in their first two games against the Kings, the Oilers needed 51 seconds to take a 1-0 lead on Slepyshev’s fourth goal. Strome found Slepyshev for a one-timer during a delayed penalty, giving Edmonton its first lead over Los Angeles this season.
The Oilers had to kill three penalties in the first, including 1:06 of 5-on-3 play after Darnell Nurse put the puck over the glass. Talbot stopped all five shots during the Kings’ power plays, including two dangerous shots by Toffoli from close range.
Draisaitl gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead at 6:16 of the second, finishing off Cammalleri’s pass with a one-timer from the slot for his ninth point in his last eight games.
Toffoli scored his 20th goal to get Los Angeles on the board at 14:26, but Khaira darted through two Kings and scored into the top netting to restore a two-goal lead at 3-1 with 2:56 left in the period. Rieder bat-ted in his first goal for the Kings since being acquired from Arizona in a trade, making it 3-2 at 7:51 of the third. Strome scored an empty-netter for a 4-2 lead with 59 left, set-ting the stage for a frantic final minute.
“It got a little nerve-wracking there at the end,” Oilers Adam Larsson said. “Who knows how the call is going to go? I didn’t really know what to expect, but it ended up good.”
NHL Results PHILADELPHIA 5 OTTAWA 3
CALGARY 5 Colorado 1
NEW JERSEY 2 NY Islanders 1
WINNIPEG 5 DALLAS 3
TORONTO 4 Boston 3
TAMPA BAY 4 MONTREAL 3
DETROIT 3 CAROLINA 1
FLORIDA 6 PITTSBURGH 5
WASHINGTON 5 BUFFALO 1
COLUMBUS 3 CHICAGO 2
ARIZONA 2 ANAHEIM 0
Edmonton 4 LOS ANGELES 3
Dickson Chumba of Kenya holds up the winner’s trophy during the awards ceremony following his victory in the Tokyo Marathon yesterday.
Golden State Warriors’ forward Kevin Durant (35) drives past Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams (12) in the third quarter of their NBA game at Oracle Arena.
Edmonton Oilers’ center Leon Draisaitl (29) moves the puck against the Los Angeles Kings’ during the first period of their NHL game at Staples Center.
Kenya’s Chumba reigns supreme at Tokyo Marathon REUTERS
TOKYO: Kenya’s Dickson Chumba cruised to victory at the Tokyo Marathon, beating Japan’s Yuta Shitara who set a national record yesterday.
Chumba, who previously won the event in 2014, sprinted clear from the lead pack near the 36-km mark and held off a late charge from Shitara to cross the line in two hours, five minutes and 30 seconds.
Shitara was 41 seconds adrift as he finished ahead of Kenya’s Amos Kipruto, who timed 2:06:33.
The 26-year-old Shitara’s 2:06:11 becomes the fastest time in history for a Japanese man ahead of Toshinari Takaoka’s 2:06:16 finish in Chicago in 2002.
In the women’s category, Ethiopia’s Birhane Dibaba and Ruti Aga claimed the top two positions in 2:19:51 and 2:21:19, respectively.
American Amy Cragg came across in 2:21:42 to take third spot. Hiroko Yoshitomi was the first to cross the line among Japanese women, claiming sixth place in 2:30:16.
NBA Results Minnesota 122, Chicago 104
Miami 115, Memphis 89
New York 112, Boston 121
Sacramento 108, LA Lakers 113
Phoenix 104, Portland 106
Utah 97, Dallas 90
Golden State 112, Oklahoma City 80
Philadelphia 116, Orlando 105
Second-placed Ruti Aga (left) of Ethiopa and third-placed Amy Cragg (right) of the US pose with first-placed Birhane Dibaba of Ethiopia during the awards ceremony after the Tokyo Marathon.
33MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2018 SPORT
34 MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2018SPORT
35MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2018 SPORT
South Korea brings curtain down on ‘Peace Games’ with spectacular showREUTERS
PYEONGCHANG: South Korea brought the curtain down on its “Peace Games” yesterday, with winter sports athletes dancing and singing together at a vibrant closing ceremony, though there was little warmth between digni-taries from the United States and North Korea.
South Korea President Moon Jae-in, who hopes to use these Games as an opportunity to engage with the North, warmly greeted US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka before offering a brief handshake to North Korean delegation leader Kim Yong Chol.
Despite the cool body lan-guage, Moon’s efforts may be bearing fruit. The South’s presi-dential office said on Sunday that members of the North Korean delegation had expressed the North’s openness to talks with the United States.
Trump sat front and centre, beside Moon’s wife, while North Korea’s Kim was seated a row behind, decked out in a long black jacket and furry hat. Sit-ting two seats along from him was General Vincent Brooks, the commander of US Forces Korea.
Kim’s appearance at the clos-ing ceremony has been greeted with outrage by some in South Korea. The former North Korean
intelligence chief is accused of having been behind a deadly 2010 attack on a South Korean warship.
South Korean protesters tried to block Kim’s motorcade to the closing ceremony earlier in the day.
Despite the divisions and dis-trust between the two Koreas, they agreed to have their athletes march together at both the open-ing and closing ceremonies under a banner of unification. They also fielded a unified women’s ice hockey team.
International Olympic Com-mittee (IOC) President Thomas Bach paid tribute to the athletes, saying they were an example to the world. “You have shown how sport brings people together in our frag-ile world; you have shown how sport builds bridges,” he said. “The IOC will continue this Olympic dia-logue, even after we extinguish the Olympic flame.
“In this, we are driven by our faith in the future.”
During his speech, Bach invited several athletes to join him on stage, including South Korea’s gold medallist skeleton rider Yun Sung-bin, North Korean figure skater Ryom Tae Ok, American skier Lindsey Vonn and Tongan flag car-rier Pita Taufatofua. Bach signed off by calling upon the youth of the world to gather in Beijing in four years’ time for the 2022 Winter
Games.With the ceremony showcas-
ing cutting-edge South Korean technology and a remarkable drone show that dotted out the image of the Games mascot Soohorang, a white tiger, in the
night sky, athletes marched into the stadium, many wearing their medals.
The Russian flag, absent at the opening ceremony, was again nowhere to be seen after the IOC decided not to lift the
suspension on their country.It was a bitter-sweet day for
Russian athletes, who after savouring the high of winning a nail-biting men’s ice hockey final yesterday then had to march without their flag.
Russians were forced to compete as neutral athletes at Pyeongchang, an IOC punish-ment for years of drug scandals involving allegations that Russia ran a systematic, state-backed drug-cheating programme.
A general view during the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Pyeongchang Stadium yesterday.
Mayor of Beijing Cai Qi waves the Olympic flag during the handover from Pyeongchang to Beijing during the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Pyeongchang Stadium yesterday.
With no flag, Russians end Olympics with goldAP
GANGNEUNG: They weren’t allowed to fly their flag or play their anthem. That didn’t mean there were no celebrations for the Russians in Pyeongchang.
A drought-breaking hockey victory yesterday and a wom-en’s figure skating title provided a prestige boost for a team of athletes who arrived at the Win-ter Games amid the humiliation of International Olympic Com-mittee sanctions for a doping scheme in Sochi four years earlier.
“You know it was only 7 a.m. in Russia when we start play, but I think now everybody’s up and they’re celebrating. Today will be a holiday in Russia,” forward Ilya Kovalchuk said after help-ing the Russians edge Germany 4-3 in overtime to win the Olympic gold medal.
The “Olympic Athletes from Russia” - the name they were designated as part of the IOC’s sanctions - also collected six sil-ver medals and nine bronze.
That ranked the OAR team sixth in terms of total medals but an unfamiliar 13th in terms of gold medals won, the measure for success used by most Russians.
Team Russia won 13 gold at the Winter Games it hosted in Sochi in 2014, but later lost two for doping.
For those watching in Rus-sia, Pyeongchang was an
Olympics marked by legal bat-tles rather than sports.
On top of that, they had to wait two weeks for their first gold medal. The champion of the games for many Russians was the 15-year-old figure skater Alina Zagitova, a graceful com-petitor with incredible jumping ability, and a powerful symbol of a post-Sochi generation.
Of the 168 Russians invited to compete in Pyeongchang - the third largest team - most hadn’t been in Sochi. That was because of a mix of retirements, doping bans and a vetting proc-ess which ruled out dozens of athletes including some gold-medal contenders because an IOC commission said it couldn’t be sure they weren’t involved in past doping schemes.
The opening ceremony was preceded by legal challenges as 45 Russian athletes appealed against the IOC’s refusal to invite them. Hours before the opening ceremony, the Court of Arbitra-tion for Sport ruled in favor of the IOC. At the ceremony, Rus-sia marched in gray coats behind the Olympic flag, which was held by an Olympic volunteer, not an athlete.
Significantly, the first Rus-sian to compete at the Winter Games since the Sochi doping scandals later failed a doping test. After days of denials and allegations of drink-spiking, mixed doubles curler Alexander Krushelnitsky was disqualified
and had to surrender his bronze medal, which was later awarded to Norway. The lawyers were called in again for bobsledder Nadezhda Sergeeva, who accepted a disqualification on Saturday after testing positive for a banned heart medication.
The out-of-competition focus overshadowed some sur-prising medal achievements. A team of young cross-country skiers won three silver and four bronze medals, almost half the Russian total, but attracted scru-tiny because four skiers are coached by a man once sus-pended over doping.
At the closing ceremony, Russia again marched without its flag, likely for the last time. The IOC had agreed to reinstate Russia if no more drug tests from Pyeongchang come back positive. Despite the lack of logos and flags, it seemed eve-ryone knew who the “Olympic Athletes from Russia” were.
After weeks of chafing under IOC rules that barred them from criticizing the doping sanctions or wearing Team Russia uni-forms, the hockey players ended the Olympics on a note of defi-ance. As the Olympic anthem played for their medal cere-mony, the players joined hundreds of spectators in belt-ing out the Russian anthem.
It was “freedom of speech,” defenseman Bogdan Kiselevich explained.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in (centre) and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach (right) chat with the King of Sweden, Carl Gustaf (second left) during the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games.
Olympics not ‘tainted’ by Russian doping, says BachAFP
PYEONGCHANG: Olympics chief Thomas Bach denied the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics had been “tainted” by the Russian doping scandal as offi-cials voted to keep Russia’s suspension in place for the clos-ing ceremony yesterday.
Bach said Russia’s ban from Olympic participation will auto-matically be lifted if anti-doping officials do not find any more Russian drug cases at Pyeongchang, where two Rus-sians tested positive.
Russia’s national Olympic Committee hailed yesterday’s IOC vote and said it expected its suspension to be lifted “within the next few days”.
“According to the standing order, it takes 72 hours to imple-ment the test procedure,” a statement said.
The Russian men’s ice hockey team also sang the Rus-sian national anthem after winning gold yesterday, contra-vening guidelines over Russia’s participation as neutrals.
The Russian question has hung over Pyeongchang. The country was banned for sys-temic doping but 168 “clean” Russians were allowed to com-pete -- only for a curler and a
bobsledder to fail drugs tests. But Bach said the IOC had sent a “clear message” on Russia, who competed as “Olympic Ath-letes from Russia” (OAR) and are unable to fly the national flag at the closing ceremony following yesterday’s vote.
“I don’t think, quite frankly, that these Olympic Winter Games have been tainted by the Russian affair because we had no Russian team here. This was a clear message,” Bach said yesterday.
The vote to keep Russia’s ban in place for the time being followed a recommendation from the IOC’s executive board, which met on Saturday and early yesterday to thrash out Russia’s fate.
The IOC chief said the pos-itive tests from curler Alexander Krushelnitsky, and women’s bobsleigh pilot Nadezhda Sergeyeva, were the “key fac-tor” in the decision not to immediately lift the ban.
But he added: “These are cases of negligence. There is no indication whatsoever of sys-temic or systematic doping here, or of any involvement of the OAR leadership or... the Russian Olympic Committee.”
Neither Krushelnitsky or Sergeyeva contested the
findings of their doping tests, but both are free to challenge any eventual suspensions from their sports. Both are provisionally suspended.
Stanislav Pozdnyakov, head of the Russian delegation, ech-oed Bach when he blamed “negligence rather than mali-cious intent” for the positive tests.
But Francesco Friedrich, a German bobsledder who won his second gold of the Games yesterday, had little sympathy.
“What should I say? I think they have two more positive doping tests. It’s their own prob-lem, they don’t have to do it,” he said, just after the IOC made its announcement.
“It’s not fair for all the other guys, we fight for the medals,”the IOC added.
Australia’s chef de mission Ian Chesterman called the Rus-sian doping conspiracy, which culminated at Sochi 2014, an “absolute disgrace”.
“I think it’s appropriate that the world remembers for a long time what they did to the Olym-pic movement,” he said.
“I think it’s appropriate that even if we forgive them, we should not forget the actions that they did during those Games.”
36MONDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2018 SPORTMy goal is to be better with each match. This
is what I did last week, the week before. I feel
this is the key.
6:00PM 6:00PM
Live on Al Kass 7 HD Live on Al Kass 3 HD
Al Suwaiq vsAir Force Club
Al Jazeera vsMalkiya
FOOTBALL CRICKETGrigor Dimitrov, The Rotterdam Open
finalist says he is
feeling his way back
to full fitness.
Live on TUBE
Well-rested Dimitrov hopes to go all the way after Open loss AFP
DUBAI: Grigor Dimitrov will count on a complete recovery from a brief illness as he plays as top seed at the upcoming Dubai Championships.
“I’m getting out there. It’s still been a little up and down,” said the Bulgarian, who arrived on Wednesday. “I came here a little bit earlier to acclimatise to the conditions.
“I’m still talking a little nosey here,” Dimitrov said yesterday, still hoarse from the virus which left him out of energy as Roger Federer dominated last week’s final in Rotterdam.
“But I’m better, overall better. Pretty much been prac-tising every single day. That helps me just push through days. Hopefully with each day, I’m going to be better and better.”
The world number four heads the field at the Aviation Club and said that despite the absence of world number one Federer, the event still presents opportunities and challenges.
Federer, a seven-time winner of the event, will concen-trate on his March title defences at Indian Wells and Miami and will not make the trip this month
to his winter training base in the Gulf.
“I think always these kind of draws are creating very big opportunities for everyone to do their best, to do better, to push themselves more,” said Dimitrov, who heads Lucas Pouille and Roberto Bautista Agut in the seedings.
“One of the most important things for me has been to really focus on myself, to start to build up again.
“My goal is to be better with each match. This is what I did the last week, the week before. I feel like this is the key that I really need to focus on,” said the A u s t r a l i a n O p e n quarter-finalist.
“Anyone here can come out and play unbelievable. Maybe it’s their day. On any given day they can just produce a different tennis.”
As top seed, Dimitrov is wary of an ambush at an event where he has never won a match after losing in the 2011 first round.
He said his long absence was not planned, it just happened.
“It’s always nice to mix and match a little bit. I always like my routines. I’ve played certain tournaments throughout all the
years. There comes a time that it’s good to improvise, to try something new. It’s a big tour-nament. It’s a 500 event.
“I’m here to play, to win. I need points. I need everything. Also it’s warm conditions, out-doors. It’s great also to prepare for Indian Wells, Miami.”
Dimitrov said that with such an open field, there are no solid
predictions about what could happen on court.
“In a way, players have nothing to lose when they play against a higher seed. They’re a bit more loose, a bit more freely swinging. All these things are adding up to the occasion. That’s why I think you have to be ready. You should never underestimate an opponent you play.”
The top seed opens against Tunisian Malek Jaziri, in a first-time meeting.
“For sure I need to be ready. Every opponent you play, you cannot underestimate.
“I’m just really, really focused even a bit more on myself, on the way I’m going to recover, just position myself this week.”
Spain’s Fernando Verdasco (left) and David Marrero hold the trophy as they celebrate after their ATP World Tour Rio Open final doubles match win against Austria’s Alexander Peya and Croatia’s Nikola Mektic at the Jockey Club in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday
Tiafoe and Gojowczyk to meet in Delray final
AFP
MIAMI: US wildcard Frances Tiafoe will be gunning for his first ATP title when he takes on Germany’s Peter Gojowczyk in the final at Delray Beach, Florida.
The 20-year-old Tiafoe, ranked 91st in the world, defeated 46th-ranked Cana-dian Denis Shapovalov 7-5, 6-4 to reach his first final.
Gojowczyk defeated American Steve Johnson 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.
Tiafoe’s semi-final victory came hours after he finished off eighth-seeded South Korean Chung Hyeon 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 in a quarter-final halted by rain the night before.
Tiafoe led that match 5-3 in the third when play was halted, and the players were kept until after midnight before organizers decided to postpone the finish until Sat-urday. “The stress level was pretty high today,” admitted Tiafoe, who had three chances to finish his quarter-final on Friday night and finally dispatched Chung on his eighth match point on Saturday.
Stage set for Al Adaid Desert ChallengeTHE PENINSULA
DOHA: The third edition of Al Adaid Desert Challenge, sched-uled for March 2nd, 2018, is promising to be the biggest and most exciting in the history of the event with a more challenging route and the introduction of a running event.
Participants of this year’s cycling race will need to over-come seven grueling sand dunes and several flat sandy patches with a total distance of 38.5 km - a route that boosts the reputa-tion of the UCI Class 3 event as the toughest off-road mountain bike race in the region.
The event is organized by Qatar Cyclists under the patronage of Qatar’s Ministry of Culture and Sport, and in coop-eration with Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation (QCTF) and International Cycling Fed-eration (UCI).
The start line will be at Mawater Sand Dune area near Sealine Beach Resort while the finish line is at the Doha Bus Desert Adventures Camp.
The participants at the run-ning event will use the first and last third of the cycling route, and they will need to cross four sand dunes and complete a total dis-tance of 26.7 km.
Dr Jamal Al Khanji, Managing Director of Al Adaid Desert Chal-lenge said: “In a very short period, Al Adaid Desert Chal-lenge became one of the top one-day cycling events in the region – the turnout has reached record levels this year. We are keen on organising another successful edition and we are putting the finishing touches to welcome all the participants and fans.”
He added: “This year, we added a running race for the first time. We invite everyone to join us on March 2nd to enjoy the event and various related activ-ities” he added.
After winning last year’s edi-tion, Dutch cycling legend Erik
Dekker was announced as an official ambassador for the Al Adaid Desert Challenge.
Dekker will not be the only international rider taking part in this year’s UCI Elite Category. The 47-year-old Dutch legend will once again face competition from last year’s runner up, New Zealand’s Roman Van Uden and third-placed finisher in the Elite category, Frederic Gombert of France.
All three riders will take part in a community cycling event at Lusail International Circuit on Wednesday.
Iran’s Faraz Shokri, the best positioned rider in UCI Asia MB Cross-Country Elite Ranking, is also among the notable names taking part in this year’s
edition.In the women’s Elite Cate-
gory, 2017 Champion Pia Sund-stedt of Finland will attempt to defend her title.
This year, the number of Qatari riders is set to reach more than 60 participants and they will battle for a new title, Qatar’s MB Cross Country Champion.
Dr Mohammed Jaham Al Kuwari, President of Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federa-tion said: “It is amazing to see the rapid progress of this event, mountain bikes are more pop-ular than ever in Qatar, and the addition of Al Adaid Desert Chal-lenge to UCI calendar last year was a proof that we are heading in the right direction.”
He added: “We are building o n t h e legacy of the W o r l d Champion-ships, the number of Q a t a r i cyclists is increasing, more young kids are taking on the sport,
the future looks bright. This year we have more than 60 Qatari riders taking part in the event as we decided that it will also act the Qatar National Mountain Bike Cross-Country C h a m p i o n -ship.”
Spectators will be able to cheer the par-ticipants at the start line before moving to the finish line on a special route that doesn’t include the sand dunes.
A non-competitive kids race at the finish area and several family-oriented activities is expected to attract huge crowds.
Rashed Al Qurese, Chief Mar-keting & Promotion Officer at QTA, said: “QTA is proud to be once again supporting the Al Adaid Desert Challenge, a home-grown event which has steadily developed over the years.”
He added: “Leveraging Qatar’s world-class sports facil-ities and unique natural assets is a key area of focus for us as we implement the Next Chapter of the National Tourism Sector Strategy 2017-2023. We are par-ticularly proud of this sporting event as a public-sector event which promises to contribute to the growing sports tourism sub-sector in Qatar.”
With a total prize money of around QR 150,000, the 2018 Al Adaid Desert Challenge is expected to see record number of participants from Qatar and abroad. Already more than 300 male and female participants, from more than 45 different nationalities, have registered for this year’s challenge and the reg-istration is still open until Feb-ruary 28th, 2018.
Dr. Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, President of Qatar Cyclists, said: “Cycling has seen enormous growth in the past few years. The number of Qatar Cyclists mem-bers reached levels that we have never imagined when we launched the initiative few years ago, and Al Adaid Desert Chal-lenge is one of the big events that is eagerly awaited by every cycling enthusiast in Qatar.”
Qatar Tourism Authority are the platinum sponsor of this year’s edition, with the ever-increasing list of sponsors also including, Ooredoo and Doha Insurance Group as Gold Sponsors.
Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director PR and Corporate Communications at Ooredoo, said: “We are glad to be the Gold Sponsor of this special event and to continue our partnership with Qatar Cyclists Center by organ-ising another memorable edi-tion of Al Adaid Desert Challenge.”
Jassim Ali A Al Moftah, Chief Executive Officer of Doha Insur-ance Group, said: “We are a national group with a construc-tive vision, our slogan is Pio-neering Spirit, and to translate this into action, we were keen on being at the forefront when it came to be sponsoring and sup-porting this special sporting event.”
The official event partners are Rayyan Mineral Water Com-pany, GMC, Garmin, Qatar Red Crescent and Doha Bus, while the official event supporters are Rasen Adventure Shop, Mawater,
Jamal Al Kuwari (third left), General Secretary, QTCF; Dr Mohamed Jaham Al Kuwari (fourth left), President, Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation (QCTF); Dr Abdulaziz Al Kuwari (fourth right), President, Qatar Cyclists Center; Dr Jamal Rashid Al Khanji (third right), Managing Director, Al Adaid Desert Challenge; and Manar Khalifa Al Muraikhi, Director PR and Corporate Communications, Ooredoo, after a media briefing on Al Adaid Desert Challenge at the St Regis Hotel in Doha yesterday. Picture by: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula