Sunday, October 29, 2017Safar 9, 1439 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Sri Lankans back in Pakistan for T20 match

Federer into 13th Basel fi nal, faces Del Potro

CRICKETCRICKET | Page 4 TENNISTENNIS | Page 7

FOOTBALL

England come from behind to beat Spain 5-2 in U17 W Cup fi nalPage 2

Sailiya extend Qatar SC misery as Duhail held

Vettel takes Mexico pole as Hamilton awaits glory

FOOTBALL/QNB STARS LEAGUE FORMULA 1

DPA Mexico City

Sebastian Vettel (pictured at bot-tom) took pole position yester-day for the Mexican Formula One Grand Prix, giving him the best

base to try to thwart a coronation for championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was second quickest in qualifying with Mercedes driver Hamilton only third. The Briton holds a 66-point lead over Ferrari’s Vet-tel going into the 18th of 20 races and would take his fourth world title today with a top-fi ve fi nish if Vettel wins the race. If Vettel is second, Hamilton would only need a top-nine fi nish. If Vettel comes outside the top two then the Mer-cedes driver will win the championship regardless of his fi nish.

Hamilton won from pole in Mexico last year and has his work cut out to again triumph at the Autodromo Her-manos Rodriguez as he looks to win the title in style on the top of the podium.

“I gave it everything in the last lap,” he told Sky Sports. “I could’ve been a cou-ple of tenths of a second quicker but it wouldn’t be enough to match these guys. We’re still in for the win — I hope to have a battle with at least one of them.”

He complained of power issues in fi nal practice, where he was second quickest for the third session in a row, and was slightly off the pace at the crucial mo-ment in qualifying despite being fast-est in Q1. Four-times champion Vettel, who racked up his 50th pole in F1, is not giving up on another title just yet. “I’m really happy. It’s diffi cult and slippy and diffi cult to get everything in one lap,” the German said.

“I had a moment in turn six, I nearly lost it there. But I knew if I could keep it clean in the last sector it would be enough. The race pace should be good.”

Valtteri Bottas was fourth in qualify-ing in his Mercedes ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen with Force India’s Es-teban Ocon, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo,

the Renaults of Nico Huelkenberg and Carlos Sainz and Force India’s Sergio Pe-rez on home tarmac completing the top 10.

It was a bad day for Torro Rosso with Brendon Hartley’s car grinding to a halt in Q2 where Williams pair Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso and Stoff el Vandoorne in the McLarens also bowed out.

By Sports ReporterDoha

Qatar Sports Club’s misery continued yesterday as they suff ered a crushing a 5-1 rout at the hands of Al Sailiya,

while Al Gharafa halted leaders Al Du-hail’s winning streak by forcing a 1-1 draw in the QNB Stars League.

Once a formidable side – they have won the league eight times – Qatar Sports Club have been in decline over the years with only sporadic signs of revival.

A huge defeat against Al Sailiya, who are relative newcomers to the league, will surely hurt their morale further as they languish at the bottom of the table with just three points from six matches.

On the other hand, Al Sailiya have been impressive this season, picking up their fourth win in six matches to be placed fi fth behind Duhail Al Sadd, Al Rayyan and Umm Salal.

Yesterday, Al Sailiya thoroughly dominated their rivals and scored at will as they made their intentions clear of pushing for a top four spot.

Uzbek international Temurkhuja Ab-dukholiqov (14th and 49th) and Roma-nian Valentin Lazar (45 and 62) scored a brace each while Brazilian Wagner Ribeiro netted once (23rd) to complete the rout.

Michael Babatunde (90th-min pen-alty) reduced the margin for Qatar SC.

After a series of attacks in the fi rst few minutes, Al Sailiya’s Brazilian midfi eld-er Wagner broke free of his marker and slipped a near-perfect ball to teammate Abdullah al-Marri who had charged into the Qatar SC box. However, the Under-23 player fumbled. Five minutes later, they opened the scoring through forward Abdukholiqov, who fi red in a bullet from close range.

With Qatar Sports Club struggling to counter Al Sailiya’s pace, the lat-ter doubled the lead with the help of

Wagner’s spectacular shot from the edge of the box. With seconds to go for the half-time whistle, Valentin headed home after Qatar SC goalkeeper Rajab Hamza completely mistimed his charge to punch away a free-kick.

Abdukholiqov scored off a penalty in the 49th minute and Al Sailiya went 4-0 up. Soon after the hour mark, they scored their fi fth goal through Valentin, who headed home from close.

In the late match, former champions Al Gharafa held Al Duhail to a gutsy 1-1 draw at the Al Duhail Stadium on Satur-day. The Red Knights still led the stand-

ings after Round 6 with 16 points, while Al Gharafa have six.

Youssef El Arabi opened the scoring for Al Duhail in the 25th minute, but Al Gharafa hit back through Amro Abdull-fattah Seraj in the 56th.

Following a cagey start, star striker El Arabi produced a near-perfect header inside the Al Gharafa box, but his de-fl ection from close range rebounded off the post, much to the dismay of Al Du-hail camp.

Al Gharafa’s seasoned goalkeeper Qassim Burhan was quick to pounce on the rebound in the 22nd minute. A

minute later, Qatar international mid-fi elder Luiz Martin Junior charged into The Cheetahs box, but his shot from close range narrowly missed the goal-post.

El Arabi and Burhan were engaged in a battle again, but this time, the former was not to be denied. South Korean striker Nam Tae-Hee, sweeping in from the right fl ank, found El Arabi with a slick low volley. El Arabi, just a few me-tres away from Burhan, found the net from close with a quick tap into the goal in the 25th minute. It was the Moroccan striker’s 11th goal of the season.

Al Gharafa produced the equaliser through Amro, who picked up a re-bound off the crossbar following a pow-erful shot by Martin. Two minutes later, Nam produced a bullet from the edge of the box. However, his shot sailed past the goalpost, with Burhan well beaten.

RESULTS (HOME TEAMS FIRST):Qatar Sports Club 1 (Michael Bab-batunde 90) Al Sailiya 5 (Temurkhuja Abdlkholiqov 14, 49 pen; Wagner Ribeiro 23, Valentin Lazar 45, 62)Al Duhail 1 (Yousef El Arabi 25) Al Gharafa 1 (Amro Surag 56)

Once a formidable side – they have won the league eight times – Qatar Sports Club have been in decline over the years with only sporadic signs of revival

QNB STARS LEAGUE STANDINGS

Team MP W D L F A D PAl Duhail 6 5 1 0 21 8 +13 16Al Sadd 6 5 0 1 15 7 +8 15Al Rayyan 6 5 0 1 17 10 +7 15Umm Salal 6 4 1 1 11 6 +5 13Al Sailiya 6 4 0 2 17 9 +8 12Al Gharafa 6 1 3 2 7 8 -1 6Al Kharitiyath 6 1 2 3 8 10 -2 5Al Ahli 6 1 2 3 7 13 -6 5Al Khor 6 1 1 4 5 10 -5 4Al Arabi 6 1 1 4 7 15 -8 4Al Markhiya 6 1 1 4 4 13 -9 4Qatar SC 6 1 0 5 6 16 -10 3

Wagner Ribeiro celebrates his goal as his Al Sailiya teammate Temurkhuja Abdukholiqov, who scored twice yesterday, reacts.

Al Duhail coach Djamel Belmadi reacts on the sidelines.

THE GRID 1st row Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari) Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull-TAG Heuer) 2nd row Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Mercedes) 3rd row Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari) Estéban Ocon (FRA/Force India-Mercedes) 4th row Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull-TAG Heuer) Nico Hülkenberg (GER/Renault) 5th row Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Renault) Sergio Perez (MEX/Force India-Mercedes) 6th row Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams-Mer-cedes) Lance Stroll (CAN/Williams-Mercedes) 7th row Brendon Hartley (NZL/Toro Rosso-Renault) Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Sauber-Ferrari) 8th row Pascal Wehrlein (GER/Sauber-Ferrari) Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas-Ferrari) 9th row Romain Grosjean (FRA/Haas-Ferrari) Fernando Alonso (ESP/McLaren-Honda) 10th row Stoff el Vandoorne (BEL/McLaren-Honda) Pierre Gasly (FRA/Toro Rosso-Renault)

AFPKolkata

Manchester City star-let Phil Foden scored twice as England came from behind to

crush Spain 5-2 in the Under 17 World Cup fi nal yesterday.

Victory added to England’s growing list of youth honours - they have won the Under 20 World Cup and European Under 19 championship this year - and was revenge for losing the Under 17 European Championship fi nal to Spain in May.

On top of Foden’s second half brace, Liverpool’s Rhian Brews-ter scored his seventh goal of the tournament and Morgan Gibbs-White and Marc Guehi also pierced the normally solid Spanish defence at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata.

Gibbs White’s low shot in the fi rst minute of a fi erce-paced fi -nal in front of 66,600 fans pro-duced a lightning refl ex save from Alvaro Fernandez in the

Spanish goal. But Spain captain Abel Ruiz masterminded the fi rst goal in the 10th minute, head-ing the ball down in the goal area for Barcelona teammate Sergio Gomez to push the ball in the net.

On 31 minutes Ruiz again opened the England defence and laid the ball on for Cesar Gela-bert who found Gomez on the other side of the area waiting to rocket a shot past goalkeeper Curtis Anderson.

England fought hard to get back into the game. Callum Hudson-Odoi fi red a right foot shot onto the post with Fernan-dez beaten. The pressure paid off in the 44th minute when Ste-ven Sessegnon crossed from the right and an unmarked Brewster headed past Fernandez. With the fi nal action of the half, Brewster sent a 22-metre free kick at the goal which Fernandez just tipped over the bar.

The second resumed at a furi-ous pace with England pushing hard for an equaliser. The break-through came in the 58th minute when Foden took the ball into the

Spain penalty area and laid it on to Sessegnon who found Gibbs-White with plenty of space to fi re the ball past Fernandez.

Hudson-Odoi set up the cru-cial third goal in the 69th minute, crossing from the left after beat-ing two Spanish defenders and Foden shot in unmarked.

Guehi chested the ball in amid a goalmouth scramble to seal victory and set up a niggly fi nale in which Brewster was booked.

Earlier Brazil beat Mali 2-0 in the third-place playoff to earn a consolation after they lost to England in the semi-fi nal. Alan scored in the 55th minute when

Mali goalkeeper Youssouf Koita fumbled the Palmeiras striker’s shot which went past him into the net. Substitute Yuri Alberto scored the second in the 88th minute. With the Mali defence tiring, Brenner crossed from the right and Yuri was unmarked to fi re in from close range.

Manchester City starlet Phil Foden brace helps England clinch maiden Under-17 title

England rally to beat Spain 5-2 in Under-17World Cup fi nal

SPOTLIGHT

FOOTBALL

Gulf Times Sunday, October 29, 20172

AFPParis

Suspended Neymar watched from the stands as Edinson Cavani’s brace inspired Paris

Saint-Germain to a 3-0 win over Nice on Friday to send Unai Em-ery’s side seven points clear in Ligue 1.

Cavani’s fi rst half double, both assists provided by Angel Di Maria, earned unbeaten PSG their ninth league win of the season.

It pushed them up to 29 points, seven clear of defending champions Monaco who face Bordeaux on Saturday.

And it was the ideal warm-up ahead of Tuesday’s clash with Anderlecht when they can se-cure a place in the Champions League last 16.

The win also served to erase the memory of last week’s drain-ing 2-2 draw with hated rivals Marseille.

Neymar was absent for only the second time since his world record signing, the Brazilian copping a one-match ban after being sent off in that stormy visit to the south coast.

“All matches are diff erent. Against Marseille, it was more complicated because the pitch was diff erent and there were many things we could have done better,” said Cavani.

“Tonight, we got the goal as early as possible in the fi rst half and that allowed us to play more relaxed and close out the game.”

Di Maria fi lled Neymar’s ex-pensive shoes on only his second start since August.

Emery introduced centre back Presnel Kimpembe for Marquin-hos with Spanish left-back Yuri Berchiche replacing Layvin Kur-zawa.

Rightback Dani Alves returned but veteran midfi elder Thiago Motta was absent because of a knee complaint

Mario Balotelli was a wel-come starter for the visitors after

missing last week’s 2-1 loss to Strasbourg with a calf knock.

Nice coach Lucien Favre was forced into an unscripted last minute change when keeper Yoan Cardinale suff ered an in-jury in warm-up with Walter Be-nitez summoned off the bench.

The Argentine stand-in keeper was quickly put to work by PSG as Di Maria fi red in an inch perfect freekick from the

left with the match barely three minutes old. Cavani dived low to head past Benitez by the near post to bring a smile to the face of Neymar and to secure a place in his club’s history with their 2,500th league goal.

Balotelli tested PSG keeper Alphonse Areola with a long range eff ort down at the other end but that proved a rare respite for Benitez.

On 31 minutes Cavani claimed his 99th Ligue 1 goal when the Uruguayan ran onto Di Maria’s neat fl ick to round the on-rush-ing Benitez and slide the ball into an empty net.

Benitez then had to act sharply to deny Di Maria getting his fi rst goal of the campaign off an assist from Kylian Mbappe.

The second half was only sev-en minutes old when a defensive blunder by Nice led to Cavani heading into the box with Alves getting a touch before the ball was helped on its way past Beni-tez by Nice captain Dante.

Mbappe then showed why he will become the world’s second most expensive player when his loan deal is completed at the end of the season, the teenager sprinting round a cluster of Nice defenders before fi ring into the side netting.

As PSG refl ected on a job well done Nice were left contemplat-ing their fourth league loss on the bounce to keep them hover-ing above the relegation zone.

Cavani double sends PSG seven points clearLIGUE 1

Paris Saint-Germain’s Uruguayan forward Edinson Cavani celebrates after scoring a goal during the French league match with Nice at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. (AFP)

England’s players celebrate with their trophy after winning the FIFA U-17 World Cup final against Spain at the Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan stadium in Kolkata yesterday. (AFP)

Celtic in 62-match unbeaten runAFPGlasgow

Celtic’s lead at the top of the Scottish Pre-miership has been cut to one point after

they were held to a 1-1 draw by Kilmarnock on the day they equalled a 100 year old UK record.

With Tuesday’s Champions League match against Bayern Munich looming, Brendan Rodgers rested several stars and his side took a 43rd minute lead through Leigh Griffi ths.

However, Kilmarnock showed more purpose in the second half and Jordan Jones fi red home a 60th minute equaliser.

Despite disappointment at dropping points at home, the Celtic fans were cheered by the fact their side created another piece of history in the match.

The champions extended their unbeaten record to 62 in domestic matches - equalling their own UK record set by Willie Maley’s Celtic side be-tween 1915 and 1917.

“It was a frustrating game for us,” Rodgers admitted.

“The players gave abso-lutely everything but we just lacked that fi nal bit of quality and pass in the fi nal third.”

‘Simple little principles’

Aberdeen closed the gap at the top with a 2-1 win over Ross County while Rangers moved up to third as they be-gan life after Pedro Caixinha with a 3-1 win away to Hearts.

Former Rangers striker Kyle Laff erty gave Hearts the lead but veteran Kenny Miller – frozen out under Caixinha – equalised before the break.

Miller headed Rangers in front and Josh Windass sealed the win for caretaker manager Graeme Murty.

At Celtic Park, Rodgers

made six changes to the side that defeated Aberdeen in midweek with captain Scott Brown rested and 18-year-old Michael Johnston handed a debut.

The Celtic support were presented with a FIFA fans award before kick-off , but there wasn’t a lot for them to cheer in the fi rst half until Griffi ths’ opener just before the break.

Celtic had Kilmarnock pinned in their own half but the visitors dogged defending kept them at bay until Griffi ths grabbed the opener.

Eboue Kouassi’s fl oated pass played the Scottish striker through and he fi red his fi rst-time shot through the legs of the advancing MacDonald.

Kilmarnock started the sec-ond half with more purpose equalised on the hour.

A surging run from Jones ended with his shot cannoning off the base of Craig Gordon’s post but he was quickest to re-act to collect the rebound and after a clever one-two he slot-ted the ball beyond the Celtic ‘keeper.

Kilmarnock continued to limit Celtic’s chances but of-fered more of a threat going forward and Chris Burke stung the palms of Gordon with a long-range strike before Grif-fi ths and Moussa Dembele spurned late chances for the hosts.

The result means former West Bromwich Albion man-ager Steve Clarke has started his spell as Kilmarnock boss with back-to-back draws against both sides of the Old Firm after their midweek match with Rangers.

“It’s been good but the players have got to take all the credit not me,” Clarke said.

“They’re the ones who go on the pitch. All I’ve introduced is one or two simple little princi-ples and some organisation.”

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP

Business as usual for Catalonia trip: Zidane

Real Madrid will travel “as normal” coach Zinedine Zidane insisted for their La Liga clash at Girona today (1515GMT) despite the political turmoil engulfing Catalonia. Spain moved yesterday to assert direct rule over the deeply divided region, whose parliament voted in favour of unilateral declaration on independence from Spain on Friday.“It doesn’t need to be a special game for us,” insisted Zidane yesterday.“It’s a league game we’re going to play tomorrow, and that’s it. You have to think about the game, not the context.“Of course, we follow and we look at the situation, but we are only focusing on tomor-row’s match.”The city of Girona just over 100 kilometres (62 miles) northeast of Barcelona is a hotbed of pro-Independence support and the birthplace of deposed regional leader Carles Puigdemont.However, on Madrid’s first

appearance in Catalonia since a violence-marred referen-dum on independence that sparked weeks of political cri-sis on October 1, Zidane tried to play down the significance of the European champions’ visit.“I see only one thing, the game tomorrow and noth-ing else,” the Frenchman continued.“There is a lot of noise on the outside, which I am not going to get involved in.“I am only concentrated on the game, we will travel and what matters to me is what we do on the pitch.”Madrid will fly to Catalonia later on Saturday, but their off icial team bus will not be making the journey to carry them from the hotel to the stadium as is common on trips to Catalonia.“It won’t be the first time that this has happened and there is no need to give it any further importance,” Real’s Director of Institutional Rela-tions, Emilio Butragueno, told Spanish sports daily Marca.

Monaco win comfortably in Falcao absenceMonaco shrugged off the absence of leading scorer Radamel Falcao as they eased to a 2-0 victory away at Bordeaux in Ligue 1 yesterday. Keita Balde and Thomas Lemar scored second-half goals for the defending champions, who close back to within four points of league leaders Paris Saint-Germain. PSG, without the suspended Neymar, had maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign by brushing aside Nice 3-0 on Friday thanks to a brace from Edinson Cavani and a Dante own goal.Cavani now has 99 Ligue 1 goals and 11 this season, leav-ing him just two point behind Falcao at the top of the scorers’ charts. The Colombian scored a hat-trick when Monaco won 4-0 in Bordeaux last season but missed this trip due to a thigh injury - he hopes to return

for Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Besiktas in Istanbul. In his absence here, coach Leonardo Jardim select-ed former Lazio forward Balde to spearhead the principality side’s attack and he opened the scoring just before the hour mark. Brazilian left-back Jorge delivered a ball into the box that was met by Moutinho with a cushioned header down for Balde to finish. It was his second goal in as many matches after he netted the opener in the 2-0 win over Caen last weekend.France winger Lemar then made it 2-0 on 65 minutes, col-lecting a long ball forward by Kamil Glik and cutting in from the left before firing home.Bordeaux could not get back into the game and have now taken just one point from their last four outings as they sit seventh.

England’s midfielder Phil Foden greets spectators after England’s win over Spain in the final FIFA U-17 World Cup match in Kolkata yesterday. (AFP)

ReutersLondon

Manchester City maintained their charge towards the Premier League title

with a 3-2 win at West Bromwich Albion as Manchester United kept within fi ve points of their neighbours with a 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur yesterday.

Goals from Leroy Sane, Fern-andinho and Raheem Sterling moved the leaders on to 28 points - equalling the best return after 10 matches of a Premier League season - as irresistible City took their campaign’s tally of league goals to a remarkable 35.

Earlier, Jose Mourinho re-ceived the response he had de-manded from his United side following their humbling defeat at Huddersfi eld Town as an 81st-minute goal from substitute An-thony Martial preserved their perfect home record.

The win, their sixth straight victory in the league at Old Traf-ford without conceding a goal, moved United on to 23 points, three clear of Spurs as champi-ons Chelsea and Arsenal both marched to within a point of their London rivals.

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte, who had shown unusual irrita-tion last week when asked about stories linking compatriot Carlo Ancelotti with his job, seemed rather happier after Eden Haz-ard’s 51st minute goal earned his side a 1-0 win in the late game at Bournemouth to maintain their fourth spot.

Arsene Wenger celebrated a successful 800th Premier League match in charge as Arse-nal fought from one down to beat Swansea City 2-1 with second-half goals from Sead Kolasinac and Aaron Ramsey.

Liverpool’s Juergen Klopp got the better of his best friend, Huddersfi eld boss David Wagn-er, in a 3-0 win at Anfi eld where second-half strikes from Daniel Sturridge, Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum pushed the Reds to sixth on 16 points.

Watford’s giddy ascent, though, was checked with a 1-0 home defeat by struggling Stoke City - Darren Fletcher hit the target in the 16th minute - that dropped them to seventh on 15.

At the other end of the table, Crystal Palace escaped with an astonishing 2-2 draw with West Ham United, coming back from two down and earning a draw in the seventh minute of stoppage time through Wilfried Zaha.

Pep Guardiola’s Man City continue to look unstoppable at

domestic level, having opened up in brilliant fashion with Sane scoring his sixth goal in seven league games after 10 minutes.

COMPLETE CONTROLThough Jay Rodriguez equal-

ised quickly, City were in com-plete control once Fernandinho’s defl ected eff ort put them ahead after 15 minutes.

Substitute Sterling scored his ninth of the season in all competitions four minutes af-ter coming with City’s only late moment of concern en route to a 13th straight win coming when careless defending from Nicolas Otamendi let in Matty Phillips for a consolation.

City’s 28 points equalled the tally accrued by Chelsea in 2005 and Manchester City themselves in 2011 - and both those sides went on to win the title - but neither of those teams could match the plus-29 goal diff er-

ence of Guardiola’s charges.The manager reserved special

praise for Sane, describing him as a “special talent” after City extended their unbeaten record in all competitions to a club record 21.

“You cannot win all the time by four, fi ve, six goals, that is un-realistic,” said Guardiola, whose side have won 28 points from a possible 30 in their opening 10 league games this season.

“It’s important when you make a good performance you win comfortably and when you don’t play at the high level you’re able to win.”

Mourinho hailed United’s win in diffi cult windy and rainy con-ditions in the lunchtime fi xture between the second and third-placed teams as “deserved” after they had created the lion’s share of chances.

Martial struck 10 minutes af-ter coming on, latching on to Lu-

kaku’s fl icked header from David de Gea’s goalkick.

It was a scruff y left-foot fi n-ish from the Frenchman, leav-ing Mourinho to smile: “Martial scores with a bad shot - but the bad shots can be the most beau-tiful.”

“Today, every ball looked like the last ball of their careers,” said United manager Mourinho, who slammed his players’ atti-tude following a shock 2-1 loss to Huddersfi eld last week.

Wenger was in bullish mood after Arsenal’s win, saying the Gunners had proved their critics wrong by overturning a lead for a third time in a week.

“Again we have showed the mental strength to come back and win the game,” said Wenger, now just 10 matches short of former Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson’s landmark of 810 Premier League matches as manager.

Man City surge on, United sink Spurs to stay second

EPL

Arsenal rally to mark manager Wenger’s landmark with Swansea win

FOOTBALL3Gulf Times

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Deja vu again as Bayern beat 10-man Leipzig againReutersBerlin

Champions Bayern Munich notched their second victory over 10-man RB Leipzig in

four days yesterday with a 2-0 win to go three points clear at to the top of the Bundes-liga after Borussia Dortmund slipped up again.

First-half goals from James Rodriguez and Robert Lewandowski gave Bayern a comfortable victory, their third straight league win un-der coach Jupp Heynckes, with Leipzig depleted after the 13th-minute dismissal of cap-tain Willi Orban.

The Bavarians, who had edged past 10-man Leipzig on penalties in the German Cup second round on Wednesday, moved up to 23 points, three ahead of Dortmund, beaten 4-2 by Hanover 96.

Leipzig, last season’s run-ners-up, are third on 19. Bay-ern had possession from the start but their task was made much easier when Orban was dismissed with a straight red card for a last-man foul on Arjen Robben. Only six min-utes later Rodriguez drilled in for the lead and Lewandowski doubled it with his 10th league goal of the season although the Poland striker was then

taken off injured. The hosts stepped off the gas after the break but were never worried with toothless Leipzig, having taken top scorer Timo Werner off in the fi rst half after the red card posing no threat.

Hannover forward Ihlas Be-bou struck twice to hand them a 4-2 victory Dortmund, who are without a win in their last three league matches. The 23-year-old Togo international twice out-sprinted the Dortmund defence and left the Ruhr valley club mired in a form crisis after a fi ne start to their campaign.

Peter Bosz’ team have only one win in their last fi ve matches in all competitions and despite twice coming back from a goal down could not stop Hanover’s quick breaks.

VfL Wolfsburg notched their record-breaking sixth straight draw in the league under coach Martin Schmidt thanks to Di-vock Origi’s stoppage-time equaliser against Schalke 04, with the match ending 1-1. Schmidt became the fi rst Bun-desliga coach to draw his fi rst six matches at a new club.

RESULTSHoff enheim ................. 1 Borussia

Moenchengladbach ............................................ 3

Hertha Berlin ............2 SV Hamburg .........1

Schalke ............................. 1 Wolfsburg.................1

Bayer Leverkusen ...2 Cologne......................1

Hanover......................... 4 Dortmund ..............2

Bayern ..............................2 Leipzig ......................0

BUNDESLIGA

AFPMilan

Gonzalo Higuain scored in either half to bring his tally of Serie A goals to 101 as Juventus went top of the Italian league with a 2-0 win

that plunged AC Milan further into crisis yesterday.

Higuain opened after 23 minutes in front of a capacity crowd at the San Siro Stadium and grabbed a second on 63 minutes for the six-time reigning champions. Juventus move provisionally top with 28 points from 11 games just ahead of Napoli - who host Sassuolo on Sunday - on goal diff erence.

“When they disallowed the goal against SPAL, we said it was my destiny to score the 100th at San Siro! Now it’s 101, not bad,” Hi-guain told Sky Sport Italia.

“We’re a strong team and when we play like that it’s diffi cult to beat us,” said Hi-guain. “It was essential not to concede a

goal. “I don’t listen to criticism, I just always try to be myself and today we had a great team eff ort.”

Vincenzo Montella’s Milan, who had end-ed their run of three consecutive defeats at Chievo midweek, had little answer for their northern Italian neighbours.

The future looks increasingly bleak for Montella whose side are now in eighth po-sition, 12 points behind the leaders, and far below their objective of Champions League football next season. Milan captain Leon-ardo Bonucci was absent as he completed his two-match ban against his former club.

After early pressure from the hosts, Ju-ventus got into their stride with Paulo Dy-bala weaving his way through for fellow Argentine Higuain to blast in his 100th league goal after 22 minutes. Juventus de-fender Giorgio Chiellini risked an own goal as he nodded just wide when anticipating Nikola Kalinic. Croatian striker Kalinic had Milan’s best chance just before the fi rst half whistle but his eff ort was defl ected by goal-

keeper Gianluigi Buff on onto the crossbar. Higuain’s second came after Kwadwo Asa-moah crossed to Dybala who let the ball pass between his legs for the Argentine marks-man to trick Ricardo Rodriguez and rifl e past Gianluigi Donnarumma after 63 minutes for his sixth league goal of the season.

“Milan perhaps started stronger, but we played like a great team, we deserved the vic-tory. The coach said games never end at San Siro and that is absolutely true. We stayed focussed for the full 90 minutes and made only one mistake, when they hit the bar.

“Now we have to recuperate and focus on the Champions League in Lisbon.”

Leaders Napoli can reclaim top spot when they travel north to Sassuolo, who are just two points above the relegation zone, on Sunday. Inter Milan two points behind the leaders travel to lowly Verona tomorrow.

AS Roma host Bologna later without Dutch international Rick Karsdorp, who picked up a ruptured cruciate ligament dur-ing the week.

Higuain breaks 100-goal barrier as Juve bury Milan

SERIE A

Qatar players celebrate after scoring against India during their Under-19 football friendly yesterday. The match was part of their preparations for the 2018 AFC Under-19 Championship qualifiers. Qatar are placed in Group C in the Asian qualifiers along with Iraq and Lebanon and will kick off their campaign at home against Lebanon on November 6 followed by the match against Iraq, two days later. India have been clubbed with hosts Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Turkmenistan in Group D for the continental qualifiers.

QATAR BEAT INDIA 1-0 IN U-19 FRIENDLY

City’s Fernandinho, Leroy Sane (C) and Raheem Sterling (R) celebrate after winning the EPL match against West Bromwich Albion’. (Reuters)

Results & standings

Manchester Utd ........ 1 Tottenham Hotspur ....0

Arsenal ................................2 Swansea City ........................ 1

Crystal Palace .............2 West Ham Utd ...................2

Liverpool...........................3 Huddersfield Town ......0

Watford ..............................0 Stoke City .................................. 1

West Brom Albion .2 Manchester City ..............3

Bournemouth ............0 Chelsea ........................................ 1

Standings P W D L F A Pts

Mancter City 10 9 1 0 35 6 28

Mancter Utd 10 7 2 1 23 4 23

Tottenham Hr 10 6 2 2 19 7 20

Chelsea 10 6 1 3 18 10 19

Arsenal 10 6 1 3 19 13 19

Liverpool 10 4 4 2 17 16 16

Watford 10 4 3 3 15 18 15

Newle Utd 9 4 2 3 10 8 14

Burnley 9 3 4 2 8 9 13

Southampton 9 3 3 3 8 9 12

Huddfld Town 10 3 3 4 7 13 12

Brighton & Hove 9 3 2 4 9 10 11

Stoke City 10 3 2 5 11 20 11

West B A 10 2 4 4 9 13 10

Leicester City 9 2 3 4 12 14 9

West Ham Utd 10 2 3 5 10 19 9

Swansea City 10 2 2 6 7 12 8

Everton 9 2 2 5 7 18 8

Bournemouth 10 2 1 7 6 14 7

Crystal Palace 10 1 1 8 4 21 4

Valencia extend winning run, Atletico draw again

ReutersBarcelona

Valencia moved to within a point of La Liga leaders Barce-lona by winning 2-1

at lowly Alaves yesterday and recording a sixth consecutive league victory while Atletico Madrid’s inconsistent run continued as they drew 1-1 at home to Villarreal.

Simone Zaza opened the scoring for Valencia in the 34th minute for Marcelino’s high-fl ying side to grab his ninth strike of the campaign and score for the sixth game in a row. Their excellent run came under threat when veteran de-fender Alexis Ruano headed the hosts level soon after halftime.

Former Valencia loanee Munir El Haddadi nearly put Alaves in front but was denied by Brazilian goalkeeper Neto, and the visitors restored their lead in the 66th minute when Spain forward Rodrigo Moreno converted from the penalty spot, making it seven wins and three draws for Valencia.

“If you had told me when I took over in May that we would be in this position I wouldn’t have believed it,” Marcelino

told reporters. “We never imagined having this many points and being unbeaten af-ter 10 games, especially when we saw the fi xture list. We’re in a situation we couldn’t have predicted but which we de-serve to be in.”

Barca can stretch their lead at the top of the standings back to four points when they visit Athletic Bilbao later on Sat-urday, while champions Real Madrid, who have 20 points, are at Girona on Sunday.

Villarreal striker Carlos Bacca’s towering header from a corner cancelled out Angel Correa’s brilliant opener and boos rang around the Wanda Metropolitano stadium after another disappointing result from Simeone’s side, who have won one of their last seven games in all competitions. Atletico dominated the game and fi red 18 shots at Mariano Barbosa’s goal, fi nally break-ing through in the 61st minute when Correa expertly control-led a sweeping pass from An-toine Griezmann and squeezed the ball inside the near post from the tightest of angles.

RESULTSAlaves .........................1 Valencia ............ 2 Atletico Madrid 1 Villarreal ..............1

LA LIGA

Sri Lanka bring top-level cricket back to Pakistan

NZ have challenged us, says Bhuvneshwar ahead of decider

Batting aces key to Ashes outcome, says Boycott

Rwanda gets fi rst cricket stadium

FOCUS

NEW ZEALAND’S TOUR OF INDIA

SPOTLIGHT

NEW BEGINNING

CRICKET

Gulf Times Sunday, October 29, 20174

Pakistan have won the first two Twenty20 matches in Abu Dhabi

AFPLondon

England great Geoff rey Boycott believes the star men in two “wobbly” batting units could decide the fate of the upcoming

Ashes series in Australia.England are heading ‘Down Under’

with a top order where only opener Alastair Cook and captain Joe Root are proven performers at Test level.

But Boycott reckons the hosts’ bat-ting is as dangerously reliant on opener David Warner and skipper Steve Smith.

“If England are to do well it’s vital the two main batsmen, Root and Cook, play well. Absolutely vital,” Boycott said Friday.

“Both sides have wobbly batting units,” the 77-year-old former York-shire and England opener added in a conference call with reporters.

“Even Australia only have two qual-ity players: Warner and Smith...Both sides depend on two batsmen.”

As for the bowling Boycott, an Ashes pundit with broadcaster BT Sport, be-lieves Australia have the edge in raw pace over an England attack that will be headed up by the experienced pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

‘AUSTRALIA FAVOURITES’But with injury-prone Australia pace-man James Pattinson ruled out of the series before the opening ball of the fi rst Test at Brisbane on November 23, there are doubts over whether the remainder of the home quicks will be able to last the course of a gruelling campaign.

“If everyone stays fi t, Australia are defi nitely favourites,” said Boycott. “The crucial question is which of the bowlers is going to stay fi t for fi ve Tests in seven weeks?

“If one of the other side’s best bowl-ers break down the advantage turns around.”

England, however, could be with-out key all-rounder Ben Stokes for the whole series.

Stokes, England’s vice-captain, was suspended from international duty following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in September.

He remains under investigation after being arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm and did not fl y out with the rest of the England squad yes-terday.

Stokes, who has a broken fi nger, is still a member of the tour squad as he and England wait to discover if the 26-year-old will face criminal charges.

“I think we’ve got to accept the home side in recent times wins a high per-centage of games,” said Boycott.

“On top of that is the Stokes issue. Before that I thought Australia were 55-45 to win, maybe 60-40, mainly because if Mitchell Starc and Pat Cum-mins stay fi t they have more pace.”

‘PAPER DOESN’T WIN TESTS’He added: “With Stokes in the side the diff erence between the sides wasn’t as great deal. He gives England great bal-ance...So I go with Australia on paper.

“But you have to remember paper doesn’t win Test matches.”

England suff ered a humiliating 5-0 series loss on their last tour of Aus-tralia in 2013/14, but Broad — targeted by fans and opponents after refusing to ‘walk’ when it seemed obvious he had been caught during a 2013 Ashes Test in Nottingham — still took 21 wickets at just over 27 apiece.

“The last Ashes, Stuart was the one player who got more abuse than any-body,” said Boycott. “I remember (Aus-tralia coach) Darren Lehmann coming out asking the public to abuse him and they did.

“The kid stood up with fantastic character, bowled his bollocks off .”

“It will be demanding and Broad and Anderson have to be at their best.”

IANSKanpur

On the eve of the third and fi -nal One-Day International (ODI) against New Zealand at the Green Park here today,

India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar con-ceded that unlike the other recent se-ries (against Sri Lanka and Australia), the Kiwis have posed a strong chal-lenge to clinch the brief rubber.

The series is currently locked at 1-1, after India bounced back to win the second game in Pune. The tourists had won the opening game in Mumbai.

“We have not been challenged like this in a while and it is a short series. So there was pressure in the last game that we could lose the series (having lost the fi rst match),” the 27-year-old told reporters at the pre-match press conference here.

“But the way we came back shows the character of the team. Sunday’s match is also about handling pressure. We will try to play like we played the last game,” he added.

Asked about the approach in a brief three-match rubber in comparison to a longer one, the pacer said: “It is a short series but mental approach is the same as any other series. But as I said, we have not been challenged in a while at home, so everyone is looking forward to the challenge.”

Bhuvneshwar currently forms a po-tent force in the company of Jasprit Bumrah, emerging as skipper Virat Kohli’s go-to bowlers both up front and in the death overs.

“As a player, I feel I have grown in the

past couple of years. I have improved my pace without losing on the swing. That is something I am really happy about. In batting also I have improved a bit,” the Meerut-born player said.

The right-arm pacer also credited India bowling coach Bharat Arun for helping him get his swing back.

“So he (Bharat Arun) shared some fi ne points that helped me get my

swing back. His role in the team is in-valuable,” Bhuvneshwar said.

With most of the top Kiwi players, including skipper Kane Williamson, Martin Guptill and Trent Boult play-ing in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Bhuvneshwar felt it was tough to plan against them.

“Last series I played against New Zealand the planning was easy, it is the same for them also. Knowing them well and vice versa makes planning tougher. So it is a positive as well as a negative,” said Bhuvneshwar, who plays for the Sunrisers Hyderabad alongside Williamson.

India will rely heavily on Kohli to lead the side from the front in the batting department alongside opener Shikhar Dhawan, and middle-order batsmen Dinesh Karthik and Hardik Pandya who have looked in good nick throughout the series.

Batsmen Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav will only add further depth to the Indian batting.

New Zealand who started the series on a positive note will look to bounce back and clinch the series under the likes of experienced batsmen Guptill, Williamson and Ross Taylor.

Middle-order batsman Tom Latham who has proved his mettle in the series will be one of the key in the visitors’ batting.

In bowling, the Blackcaps will hope experienced pacers Tim Southee and Boult to provide their side with early breakthroughs.

Spinner Mitchell Santner will be the key to halt the fl ow of runs for India in the middle overs.

AFPLahore, Pakistan

Tens of thousands of security will be deployed in Lahore to-day when Sri Lanka become the fi rst major cricket team to

visit Pakistan since they were targeted in a deadly ambush in 2009.

Several Sri Lankan players and of-fi cials, including survivors who came under gunfi re in 2009 and their head coach, have opted out of the Twen-ty20 fi xture, after some voiced con-cern about security following ongoing militant attacks.

But manager Asanka Gurusinha and batting coach Hashan Tillakaratne — both part of the Sri Lankan team which won the 1996 World Cup fi nal against Australia in Lahore — will be with the squad.

Pakistan’s Ahsan Raza, a reserve umpire in 2009 who was among those shot — and needed emergency surgery to repair a collapsed lung and damaged liver — will also be on the fi eld.

Eight people were killed and eight wounded in the March 3, 2009, attack on Sri Lanka’s bus convoy near the Gaddafi Stadium, an incident which brought cricket tours to Pakistan screeching to a halt.

Eight years later, Sri Lanka will be-come the fi rst top cricket nation to play in Pakistan since the incident, acceler-ating a gradual resumption of interna-tional fi xtures as security improves.

Today’s game, the third and fi nal Twenty20 — with the other two played in UAE — comes after Lahore also host-ed this year’s Pakistan Super League fi -nal and a one-off fi xture between Paki-stan and a World XI last month.

Raza was wounded when Taliban militants targeted a bus carrying offi -cials, killing the driver. Another bus’s driver was hailed as a hero after shep-herding the players to safety under a hail of bullets.

“It’s a great honour that I will be um-piring in the match which is bringing Sri Lanka back to Lahore,” he told AFP. “They have set their every fear aside... their tour will have a great impact on the

revival of cricket in Pakistan.”

‘NEW BEGINNING’Today’s Twenty20 international is be-ing hailed as a brave decision by Sri Lanka and a milestone for Pakistan as it attempts to end its sporting isola-tion.

Thousands of security personnel will guard routes to the stadium, and air surveillance and intelligence moni-toring is also in place as Pakistan rolls out head-of-state level measures.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Na-jam Sethi called it a “historic moment”, pointing out that a generation of fans in the cricket-mad country have grown up without seeing any international games in their home stadiums.

“Our stadiums have remained emp-ty. Now all that is poised to change, for the better... I foresee a full fl edged restoration in the next two years,” he

told AFP.PCB offi cials are already setting

their sights on bringing the West In-dies to Pakistan for three T20 interna-tionals next month.

But Sri Lanka’s visit was not fully backed by its players: regular skipper Upul Tharanga, Lasith Malinga, Niro-shan Dickwella, Dushmantha Cham-era, and Akila Dananjaya all pulled out, as did their South African head coach Nic Pothas and physiotherapist Nir-malan Thanabalasingham.

Suranga Lakmal, who still carries the splinter from a bullet wound in his leg, and fellow 2009 survivor Chamara Kapugedara also stayed away.

Stand-in skipper Thisara Perera, who played in Lahore last month as part of the World XI team, praised the security arrangements and said he had no concerns about safety.

“I am really satisfi ed with the secu-

rity, so no problems there,” he told AFP.Fans are also applauding Sri Lanka’s

decision to return to Lahore, and this week many headed out to buy last-minute tickets for Sunday’s game.

“I am very happy really, as I have purchased tickets for me and my family members,” one woman said in Lahore’s upscale Gulberg neighbour-hood.

The country’s most famous sup-porter, Sufi Jalil, fondly known as “Chacha Cricket” (Uncle Cricket), who aims to attend every Pakistan match regardless of the venue, was himself on the way to Gaddafi Stadium when the attack took place in 2009.

“They are welcome,” he said of Sri Lanka.

“What happened in the past is be-hind us, this match will be a new be-ginning and we are all united in this cause.”

Pakistani policemen stand guard at an entrance of the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium ahead of the last T20 cricket matchbetween Pakistan and Sri Lanka, in Lahore, Pakistan, yesterday. (AFP)

AFPLondon

England all-rounder Ben Stokes has been hailed a “real hero” for stepping in and protecting a gay

couple in the incident which threatens his place on the Ashes tour.The 26-year-old will not travel to Australia with the rest of the England squad when they fly out as he waits to learn whether he will face criminal charges over an incident outside a nightclub in Bristol in September.However, Kai Barry and Billy O’Connell told The Sun yesterday that Stokes had been their white knight by stepping in to stop a group of revellers hurling homophobic abuse at them.Barry and O’Connell said Stokes bought them drinks when they met him and fellow England team-mate Alex Hales in a club that evening.

“We were so grateful to Ben for stepping in to help. He was a real hero,” 20-year-old O’Connell told the newspaper.“Kai feared he could be attacked. If Ben hadn’t intervened it could have been a lot worse for us.”Barry added things could have got ugly if the England star hadn’t intervened.“I’m not a fighter and we didn’t want a fight,” said Barry, 26. “We could’ve been in real trouble. Ben was a real gentleman.”Barry said they hadn’t realised the fall out for Stokes until they received a visit from a police off icer this week.O’Connell said he hoped Stokes would get to play in Australia.“Ben is a really nice guy and I hope he can still play for England in the Ashes,” said O’Connell.“It would be awful (if) his career was ruined over this. He was just trying to help defend Kai.”

Stokes ‘real hero’, say couple he defended

India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni (left) talks to his teammates during a practicesession at Green Park Cricket Stadium in Kanpur, India, yesterday. (AFP)

AFPKigali

Rwanda’s fi rst cricket stadium was inaugurated yesterday by President Paul Kagame as a permanent home for develop-

ing the sport in the country.Gahanga Cricket Stadium in the

capital Kigali is built on a 4.5 hectare (11 acre) ground and cost $1.3mn (1.1mn euros), the majority of the funds raised by international cricket players eager to see the game take off in Rwanda.

The Rwandan Cricket Stadium Foundation was set up by Alby Shale, the son of a late British politician and cricket lover who visited Rwanda to do aid work.

“We are very happy to have this cricket pavilion and ground built, and by that we remember Christopher Shale, in whose memory this has been built,” Kagame said at the opening.

“It is a great pleasure for us to have this facility which will see more young men and women playing and improv-ing their skills. It is also good for us to have partners in the United Kingdom,” he said.

Eric Dusingizimana, the national team captain, helped raise funds for the stadium by setting a Guinness World Record by batting for 51 hours straight last year.

“This is an exciting development for us and the younger generation is going to benefi t heavily from this,” said the 31-year-old captain.

Rwanda also holds the world record for women after Cathia Uwamahoro, a national team cricket player, became the fi rst woman to bat for 26 hours.

Rwanda’s national cricket associa-tion estimates that only around 4,000 people currently play cricket.

The new stadium has been built to international standards, making it a rarity in east Africa.

England’s Joe Root. (Reuters)

AFPHouston

Yuli Gurriel smashed a home run off Yu Darvish to spark a four-run outburst that

led the Houston Astros over the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 Friday in the World Series.

But it’s what the Cuban slug-ger did when he returned to the Astros dugout that sparked post-game controversy and could lead to discipline from Major League Baseball.

Television cameras showed Gurriel using his fi ngers to pull the outer edges of his eyes wide in what appeared to be a racist gesture aimed at Darvish, who lasted only 1 2/3 innings, the shortest outing of his career, and allowed four runs on six hits.

“Acting like that was just dis-

respectful to people all over the world,” Darvish said through a translator. “I feel like the Astros have Asian fans too.”

The Astros took a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven champion-ship series ahead of game four Saturday in Houston, where major league commissioner Rob Manfred is expected to meet with Gurriel over the gesture.

“I know he’s remorseful,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “But other than that, I don’t know a lot.”

The Astros, who unleashed a 12-hit barrage against Los An-geles, seek the fi rst crown in their 55-year history while the Dodgers are trying for a seventh championship and their fi rst since 1988.

With the victory, the Astros matched the best home playoff start in major league history, Philadelphia’s 7-0 run from 2008.

“The energy in the building is second to none. It’s loud,” Hinch said. There’s great en-thusiasm around our fanbase. They’ve fallen in love with this team.”

Darvish, obtained in a July trade with Texas, became only the second Japanese starting pitcher in a World Series game after former Boston Red Sox star Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2007.

But after Gurriel’s homer, he surrendered two doubles and two singles and issued a walk before being removed by Dodg-ers manager Dave Roberts.

“The fastball command wasn’t there and the slider was backing up. So he just re-ally didn’t have the feel and couldn’t get any type of rhythm going,” Roberts said.

Darvish threw 31 strikes in his 49 pitches but only one was a bat-ter’s swinging miss, that a botched bunt attempt by Gonzalez.

Houston stranded 12 base runners, at least one in every inning, and left the bases load-ed in the seventh when George Springer’s fl y out was only a few feet shy of a grand slam.

The Dodgers scored a run in the third after Astros starter Lance McCullers Jnr walked three batters to load the bases with none out. Corey Seager’s run-scoring double play and a Justin Turner ground out ended the threat.

“I didn’t have much from the get-go. I was not really able to locate pretty much anything. So in the third inning just wasn’t making my pitches,” McCullers said.

Houston stretched the lead to 5-1 in the fi fth when Reddick singled and scored from fi rst on an error by Dodgers relief pitcher Tony Watson.

The Dodgers answered in the sixth when Seager walked,

took third on a Turner dou-ble and scored on Yasiel Pu-ig’s ground out to shortstop. Turner later scored on a wild pitch from Astros reliever Brad Peacock to pull Los An-geles within 5-3.

But Peacock baffl ed Dodg-ers batters over the fi nal 3 2/3 innings, allowing no hits with four strikeouts.

“I don’t think I was going to make the team in spring train-ing... and I just had a save in the World Series. It’s unbelievable,” Peacock said. “I’m never going to forget this, ever.”

McCullers was impressed by Peacock’s shutdown eff ort with the game on the line.

“I grinded through every out I had. Pea just absolutely fl our-ished with the opportunity,” McCullers said. “To see the way Pea was throwing the ball, I can’t say enough. He was un-believable.”

Astros beat LADodgers to grab World Series edge

BASEBALL

“The energy in the building is second to none. It’s loud. There’s great enthusiasm around our fanbase. They’ve fallen in love with this team”

SPORT5Gulf Times

Sunday, October 29, 2017

AFPLos Angeles

The Golden State Warriors shook off an “awful” start and the ejection of Draymond Green to rally for a 120-117 NBA

victory over the Washington Wizards on Friday.

The reigning NBA champion War-riors missed 17 of 20 three-point at-tempts in the fi rst half and lost Green when he and Washington guard Bradley Beal got into a fi ght with 19.5 seconds left before the interval.

Washington pushed their lead to 18 points twice in the third quarter before the Warriors broke out for 33 points in the fi nal period.

“We were just awful for 2 1/2 quar-ters,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “We fi nally climbed back in it. It took our bench to settle us down.”

Andre Iguodala’s layup with 3:13 re-maining, off a pass from Stephen Curry, put the Warriors ahead for good.

Washington had a chance to tie the game on an inbounds play with 1.1 sec-onds remaining, but John Wall missed a 25-foot jump shot as time expired.

Kevin Durant led the Warriors with

31 points and Curry added 20 to go with eight assists.

But the bench, with nine points from Kevon Looney, 16 from David West and eight from Omri Casspi were key.

“I just thought we got a little bit more aggressive,” West said. “We got our composure during that second half.”

Both teams had to regroup after the departures of Green and Beal who tan-gled after Beal appeared to slap Green after both went for a loose ball. Green tried to wrap up Beal and before they were separated Beal had Green in a headlock and both were tossed.

Green, who received his second tech-nical for the incident, looked disgusted as he departed the court with his jersey shredded.

“I thought Draymond defended himself and bit the bullet of being ejected for the game,” West said.

The upstart Orlando Magic handed the San Antonio Spurs a fi rst defeat of the season, dominating the perennial contenders 114-87 in Orlando.

The Magic, paced by French for-ward Evan Fournier’s 25 points, got off to a quick start and never looked back. They led by 14 points after the fi rst quarter and 27 at halftime. After lead-ing by as many as 36 points in the third

period, they were up by 31 going into the fourth.

Magic reserve Jonathon Simmons, who played in San Antonio the past two seasons, chipped in 17 points against his former team as the Magic improved to an Eastern Conference-leading 4-1.

“I thought we were sloppy, but they took us out of what we wanted to do, and they did it for 48 minutes,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They out-played us in just about every facet of the game.”

As the Spurs digested their fi rst de-feat of the season, the New York Knicks were celebrating their fi rst victory, a 107-86 triumph over the Brooklyn Nets. Kristaps Porzingis scored 30 points to help the Knicks avoid their fi rst 0-4 start since they dropped the fi rst fi ve games of the 2005-06 cam-paign – when they lost 59 games.

The third-year forward from Latvia produced his third 30-point game of the season as the Knicks bounced back from a 110-89 loss at Boston on Tues-day.

New York’s French rookie Frank Nti-likina scored his fi rst career points in the third quarter, fi nishing with nine points and fi ve assists.

“I thought our guys helped each

other out,” Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said. “It is a continual work for us, but they showed some progress tonight.”

In Charlotte, James Harden had a triple-double of 27 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds to lead the Houston Rockets to a 109-93 victory over the Hornets.

The Rockets connected on 22 of 57 three-point attempts, making six more three-pointers than two-pointers.

The Oklahoma City Thunder en-dured their third defeat in four games, falling 119-116 to the Minnesota Tim-berwolves.

Jimmy Butler, who missed two games with a respiratory infection, played 38 minutes and led the Timberwolves with 25 points – 13 in the fourth quarter.

Warriors down Wizards as Green, Beal scuffl eNBA

RESULTS

GOLDEN STATE 120 Washington .............. 117

Toronto .........................101 LA LAKERS ............... 92

MINNESOTA ............ 119 Oklahoma City ......116

Denver ........................ 105 ATLANTA ..................100

NY KNICKS ..............107 Brooklyn ......................86

Houston .................... 109 CHARLOTTE ............ 93

ORLANDO ................ 114 San Antonio ..............87

Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel (10) celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the second inning in game three of the 2017 World Series at Minute Maid Park. PICTURE: Thomas B Shea-USA TODAY Sports

ReutersHouston

Houston Astros first baseman Yuli Gur-riel apologised for making what ap-

peared to be a racist gesture about Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish during Game Three of the World Series on Friday.

After putting the Astros ahead 1-0 with a solo homer off the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher in the second inning, the 33-year-old Cuban was in the dugout laughing with team mates when he was caught on camera using his hands to make a slanted-eye gesture.

Gurriel, who spent time playing with the Yokohama DeNA Baystars of Japan before signing on with Houston in July 2016, said he never meant to offend Darvish.

“I didn’t want to offend him

or nobody in Japan because I have a lot of respect, I played in Japan,” said Gurriel. “Japan opened my doors to the game of baseball and I didn’t mean to offend them.”

Gurriel’s actions drew im-mediate scrutiny across social media and, according to re-ports, Major League Baseball is looking into the incident with a view to potential disci-pline.

After the game, which the Astros won 5-3 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven se-ries, Darvish called the gesture “disrespectful.”

“I try not to care much about it, but he played in Japan and I have a lot of respect for him, so I try not to think about it too much against him,” Darvish said.

“He made a mistake and we’ve just got to learn from it. We are all human beings, that’s what I’m saying.”

Gurriel apologises for Darvish gesture

AFPLos Angeles

Houston Texans owner Bob McNair’s apol-ogy for comparing NFL players to prison

inmates in discussing contro-versial national anthem protests drew bitter reaction on Friday.

“I think it was ignorant,” Texans off ensive tackle Duane Brown told reporters. “I think it was embarrassing. I think it an-gered a lot of players, including myself. We put our bodies and minds on the line every time we step on that fi eld, and to use an analogy of inmates in prison, that’s disrespectful.”

ESPN The Magazine reported that McNair, in discussing the controversial protests with oth-er NFL owners on October 18, said the league “can’t have the inmates running the prison.”

“I regret that I used that ex-pression,” McNair said in a statement. “I never meant to off end anyone and I was not re-ferring to our players. I used a fi gure of speech that was never intended to be taken literally.

“I would never characterize our players or our league that way and I apologize to anyone who was off ended by it.”

ESPN reported Friday, citing an unnamed source, that some Texans players considered a walkout in response to the com-ment.

About 10 players, including Pro Bowl wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, left the facility Friday.

Texans coach Bill O’Brien said Hopkins had taken a “per-sonal day” as the team prepares for Sunday’s game at the Seattle Seahawks.

But Texans players weren’t

the only ones who were angry.“I don’t think he could have

picked a poorer choice of words, referring to us as prisoners,” San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid said. “Welcome to America 2017.”

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said he be-lieved McNair said exactly what he meant to say.

“Some of these owners are showing their true colours,” Sherman said.

The meeting at which McNair made the comment came a day after 13 current or former play-ers, 11 owners, commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith met in New York to discuss the anthem con-troversy.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick launched the protests in 2016, refusing to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner” to draw at-tention to racial injustice by law enforcement agencies.

Some players around the league followed his example in kneeling during the anthem, but the demonstrations had largely fi zzled out until last month, when US President Donald Trump reignited the is-sue by decrying any player who kneeled during the anthem as a “son of a b****” who should be fi red.

Athletes angry aft er Texans owner’s ‘inmates’ remark

SPOTLIGHT

CONTRITE

Washington Wizards guard Tim Frazier (8) shoots the basketball against Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. PICTURE: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

SPORT

Gulf Times Sunday, October 29, 20176

AgenciesLos Angeles

The Vegas Golden Knights’ spectacular arrival in the NHL continued with a record-equalling win on Friday.

David Perron, Oscar Lindberg, Cody Eakin and James Neal all scored goals during an 8 1/2- minute stretch in the second period and Oscar Dansk had 32 saves to lead the Knights to a 7-0 vic-tory over the Colorado Avalanche in Las Vegas.

The fi fth straight win for the Gold-en Knights matched the longest win streak by any team during its inaugural season in the 100-year history of the league.

The record was set by the New York Rangers in 1926-27 and equaled by Ed-monton Oilers in 1979-80.

Vegas had already set an NHL record for best start by an expansion club by winning its fi rst three games.

The 23-year-old Dansk, recalled from the Chicago Wolves of the Ameri-can Hockey League on October 19 after injuries to starting goalie Marc-Andre

Fleury and backup Malcolm Subban, produced the fi rst shutout in team his-tory as he made just the second start of his NHL career.

The contest featured few scoring chances in the fi rst 30 minutes before Perron stole the puck at the Avalanche blue line and backhanded a shot over Semyon Varlamov on a breakaway to give Vegas a 1-0 lead at the 9:50 mark of the second period.

Lindberg made it 2-0 just 2 1/2 min-utes later with another unassisted goal.

Eakin made it 3-0 and Neal notched his team-best seventh goal of the sea-son a few minutes later, redirecting a shot from the point by defenseman Colin Miller.

Blues 2, Hurricanes 1 Brayden Schenn scored the go-

ahead goal midway through the third period and backup goalie Carter Hut-ton stopped 26 shots as St. Louis de-feated Carolina.

Hutton improved to 3-0 this season and 11-2 in his last 13 regular-season road games.

Blue Jackets 2, Jets 1 (OT)Josh Anderson scored with 2:22 re-

maining in overtime and Columbus rallied for the win.

The Jets lost an overtime game on the road for the second night in a row after falling by the same score in Pitts-burgh on Thursday.

The Blue Jackets scored the tying goal at 10:23 of the third period when Cam Atkinson batted a loose puck in front of the net past Jets goaltender Steve Masons with a backhand shot.

Devils 5, Senators 4 (SO)For the second time in eight days,

New Jersey defeated Ottawa, as rookie Jesper Bratt scored the winning goal in the fourth round of the shootout after veteran winger Drew Staff ord had tied it up with a goal in the third round.

Trailing by two with under two minutes to play, the Senators scored twice after goaltender Mike Condon was pulled for a sixth attacker to force overtime. Mark Stone’s seventh goal at 18:45 brought the Senators within one before rookie Christopher DiDomenico scored with 36.6 seconds remaining in regulation, tying the game with his fi rst goal in the NHL.

Predators 2, Blackhawks 1Goaltender Pekka Rinne set a season

high with 43 saves, and Nashville out-lasted Chicago.

Calle Jarnkrok and Craig Smith each scored for the Predators, who snapped a two-game winless skid and avenged an overtime loss to Chicago two weeks earlier.

Artem Anisimov scored the lone goal for the Blackhawks. Chicago lost its second game in a row and dropped to 1-3-1 in its past fi ve contests. Black-hawks goaltender Corey Crawford turned aside 28 shots, but drew his third loss in the past four games.

Stars 2, Flames 1Alexander Radulov’s third-period

power play goal helped Dallas snap a two-game losing skid.

Radulov beat Mike Smith with a wrist shot with 7:10 remaining. It was Dallas’s second power play goal of the night. Defenseman Esa Lindell also scored for Dallas.

Kari Lehtonen got his second start of the season for Dallas, and he fi nished with 29 saves.

Knights rout Avalanche to tie winning streakNHL

Big winsfor NZ, PNG and Fiji

AFPSydney

New Zealand over-ran Samoa in the second half to open their Rugby League

World Cup campaign with a 38-8 win in Auckland yester-day.

Elsewhere, Papua New Guinea scored 10 tries to swamp Wales 50-6 in Port Moresby and Fiji hammered the United States 58-12 in Townsville.

The second-ranked Kiwis, tournament winners in 2008, held a 10-4 advantage at half-time but ripped open the fi fth-ranked Samoan defence with fi ve tries.

Scrum-half Shaun Johnson fi nished with 14 points from a try and fi ve goals with other tries scored by Jordan Rapana, Brad Takairangi, Kodi Niko-rima, Isaac Liu, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Nelson Asofa-Solo-mona.

Tuivasa-Sheck (202 metres) and Asofa-Solomona (181 me-tres) ran the most metres in the game.

New Zealand’s win in Pool B was soured by an apparent se-rious leg injury to Gerard Beale.

Brisbane Broncos fullback and skipper David Mead scored

a hat-trick of tries as Papua New Guinea crushed Wales in their tournament opener in Pool C.

The 16th-ranked Kumuls thrilled their capacity home crowd with 10 tries to one in a dominant performance over the number 9-rated Wales.

Wales wilted in the stifl ing tropical heat and struggled with fi eld position as the Ku-muls enjoyed 62% possession.

The Welsh fi nally got on the board as the full-time si-ren sounded with Regan Grace scoring off a Matt Seamark kick.

Fiji totted up 11 tries in rout-ing the United States to take early control of Group D.

The seventh-ranked Fijians showed USA no mercy and were seven tries to one up by halftime, before running in another four tries to post the tournament’s biggest win so far.

NRL stars Kevin Naiqama and Suliasi Vunivalu scored two tries each, while Gold Coast Titans superstar Jarryd Hayne launched his World Cup by scoring next to the posts following a mid-fi eld break by Akuila Uate.

Fiji’s big win may have come at a cost, with prop Kane Evans coming off clutching his wrist after scoring a fi rst-half try.

RUGBY LEAGUE WC

Prokhorov to sell stake to Alibaba co-founder: reportAFPNew York

Joseph Tsai, one of the founders of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is set to buy 49% of the

NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, US media reported Friday.

ESPN and Newsday both re-ported that Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who pur-chased controlling interest in the cub in 2009, has agreed to the sale. Although the Nets had the worst record in the NBA last season, a source told Newsday that the deal values the fran-chise at $2.3bn.

That tops the $2.2bn sale of the Houston Rockets earlier this year in a deal that included their Toyota Center arena.

Under terms of the Nets sale fi rst reported by ESPN, Tsai can choose to purchase a control-ling interest in the Nets after four years, but not necessarily 100 % ownership. Prokhorov, who re-tains full ownership of Barclays Center arena, could retain a mi-

nority stake in the team in the future and remain in control of team operations and the man-agement team he installed more than a year ago headed by general manager Sean Marks and head coach Kenny Atkinson.

ESPN reported that it ob-tained NBA fi nancial docu-ments that show the Nets lost $144mn on basketball-related activities in the 2013-14 sea-son, a fi gure more than $100mn higher than any other fran-chise. The Nets’ operating loss of $23.5 mn last season was higher than any other team ex-cept the Detroit Pistons.

This season the outlook is brighter for the team thanks to an increase in television rev-enues of nearly $50mn, in part the result of increases in the NBA’s national television con-tract.

SPOTLIGHT

Pedrosa grabs the pole in Malaysia as Marquez crashes

AFPSepang, Malaysia

Dani Pedrosa snatched pole position in the dying sec-onds of a thrilling qualify-ing session for the Malay-

sian MotoGP yesterday as world title hopeful Marc Marquez recovered from a crash to fi nish seventh.Marquez looked on course to set the fastest pace of the weekend in a real fast lap when he fell off his Honda.Pedrosa, the Spanish Honda rider, came out on top after a furious finale which saw five successive pole laps set in the last two minutes — leaving the top seven riders covered by less than half a second.Pedrosa’s time of 1min 59.212sec was 17-thousandths quicker than Yamaha’s Johann Zarco, with Andrea Dovizioso of Ducati another seven-thousandths behind to complete the front row.Pedrosa at the trackside later said said he was happy with his machine, adding that starting in the front was important to get a podium finish.“We hope Sunday’s race will be dry. We hope to focus on the race and hopefully we will do our best,” he said.“Starting from the front is very

important,” he added.It is Pedrosa’s third pole position of the season and he is fifth in the champion-ship standing.Pedrosa will aim for his second win of the season and first since Jerez in May.“I made a couple of mistakes... but I am happy because it is my third pole of the season,” he said.But the Spaniard admitted that the sweltering heat would be the biggest challenge on Sunday.“You will have to drink a lot. The sun is heating the helmet and the bike,” he told reporters.

Dovizioso’s hopes of stopping Marquez clinching a second straight world title were buoyed when the Honda rider, who crashed at the end of one flying lap, finished outside the top six.Dovizioso, riding a Ducati, said he was glad to start the race from the front ahead of Marquez who sits in the third row.“I set a fast lap and it seems the bike is competitive in both wet and dry track,” he said.Dovizioso later told reporters that while he will be happy to win the second position in the world championship, he

was determined to snatch the world title crown. “We are here to win the championship. We are focussed to get the 25 points tomorrow. But we know it will be dif-ficult,” he said.The Italian declined to reveal his strat-egy for the race, saying he didn’t know in advance as weather conditions in Sepang was unpredictable. “But we are happy to race. The bike has allowed me to push it. I riding in a good way. We are ready to fight,” he said.Last year, Dovizioso won the race at Sepang on a wet track.Meanwhile, Zarco of France on a Yamaha said he used medium tyres during the qualifying to record a strong lap time.“I am ready to fight (for a podium finish). I am quite positive. I feel good,” he said.It will a big task for Marquez to overtake from the 3rd back row for a podium finish.If Marquez comes first or second, regardless of the result that Dovizioso achieves in Malaysia, he will win his fourth MotoGP title.Spain’s Marquez leads Dovizioso by 33 points going into the year’s penulti-mate race, meaning he will be crowned world champion if he finishes first or second today.

GRID POSITIONS

1st row 1. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 1:59.212 2. Johann Zarco (FRA/Yamaha Tech3) at 0.017 3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Ducati) at 0.024 2nd row 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) at 0.286 5. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) at 0.326 6. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Ducati) at 0.410 3rd row 7. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) at 0.482 8. Alex Rins (SPA/Suzuki) at 0.780 9. Andrea Iannone (ITA/SUZUKI) at 0.907 4th row 10. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/LCR Honda) 0.969 11. Jack Miller (AUS/Honda) 1.114 12. Pol Espargaro (SPA/KTM) 1.558

Repsol Honda’s Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa powers his bike during the qualifying session of the Malaysia MotoGP at the Sepang International circuit yesterday. At bottom, Pedrosa (C) poses with Zarco (L) and Dovizioso.

Although the Nets had the worst record in the NBA

last season, a source told Newsday that the deal values the franchise at

$2.3bn

Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov (1) makes a save against Vegas Golden Knights right wing Alex Tuch (89) during an NHL game at T-Mobile Arena. PICTURE: Stephen R Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

SPORT7Gulf Times

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Federer to face del Potro in Basel Venus and Wozniacki set for fi nal

WSBK all set for season fi nale at fl oodlit Losail

Srikanth enters French Open fi nal, Sindhu out

TENNIS / SWISS INDOORS TENNIS / WTA FINAL

MOTORSPORTBADMINTON

Imperious Johnson takes six-shot lead

GOLF / WGC-HSBC CHAMPIONS

Fellow American Koepka shoots error-strewn one-over 73 for second placeBy Sports ReporterDoha

For the fourth year in a row, Lo-sail International Circuit will host the fi nale of the FIM Su-perbike World Championship

from November 2-4.The Qatari track debuted on the

WorldSBK calendar in 2005 until 2009 when the event was run in day light but a couple of seasons ago the same race returned to the circuit for the fi rst time under lights drawing huge crowds.

The season, which has once again seen Great Britain riders dominate, has been another successful one for Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki.

The WorldSBK at Losail is expected to be a spectacle, not only for rac-ing enthusiasts, but also for the entire family with loads of activities happen-ing away from the track.

For fi nal round, Qatari riders Saeed al-Sulaiti and Mashel al-Naimi will participate in the World Superspot Category as wild cards in the team QMMF Racing with a Kawasaki ZX-6R.

As part of the WorldSBK event pro-gramme, all the fans can enjoy and get closer to the riders and teams in the Pad-dock Show activities during the week-end. The Paddock will also feature a food court with favourites from Shake Shack, Nando’s, Popcorn Girl, Amazing Waffl es, and Camel Cookies, besides a motor-bikes exhibition and car simulators.

The grandstand and paddock area will have giant screens with live race commentary.

This year, the spectators, who are

above the age of 16 years, will also have the chance to win access to the Grid and the Pit Wall Canopy for all WorldSBK races simply by purchasing a ticket, fi lling up a ballot form which can be found at the LCSC offi cial mer-chandising tent at the Paddock Show.

Following the great success of last year, the 2017 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship – Prize Giving Show will be again held at the Pad-dock after the Podium Ceremony of the WorldSBK Race 2 and the fi rst 2,000 guests with grandstand ticket will have the honour to share this important mo-ment with the championship winners.

There will be an exclusive motorbike parking inside the Paddock for all the bikers that come to the event with any ticket of the event.

Grandstand tickets are priced at QR100 for the 3 days with free Paddock entry. Tickets for children 11-years-old and under are free.

WorldSBK VIP Lounge tickets are QR1,200 for Friday and Saturday, and QR700 for Saturday only (children 8 years-old and under are free).

On Thursday, WorldSBK and WorldSSP Free Practices are scheduled from 16:30 until 22:00 and on Friday both Superpoles will be from 18:30 to 19:55.

Race 1 of WorldSBK is scheduled for 21:00 on Saturday, while Sunday will be dedicated to Warm Up sessions be-fore WorldSSP Race starts at 19:30 and WorldSBK Race 2 at 21:00.

Tickets can be purchased at www.lcsc.qa, www.q-tickets.com, Virgin Megastore shops and during the event at the ticket booths at the circuit.

Armour enjoys rare 36-hole lead at PGA Tour tournamentRyan Armour notched four succes-sive birdies on his way to a second-round 68 and a one-shot lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi on Friday. Armour got a little tentative on fast greens on his back nine but made it home safely to post a 10-under-par 134 halfway total at the Country Club of Jackson. Tyrone Van Aswegen overcame a double-bogey and a

bogey by reeling off 10 birdies, including two chip-ins, for a day’s best seven-under 65 to trail Armour by a stroke. Vaughn Taylor shot 66 to sit two back on a day when 30 players failed to complete the round before a series of afternoon thun-derstorms halted play for the day. Irishman Seamus Power was best placed, two shots behind with two holes left. Armour once took Tiger Woods to 19 holes in the final of the 1993 US Amateur Championship, but as professionals their careers went in different directions. While Woods went on to win 14 major champion-

ships, Armour has never finished better than fourth in 104 starts on the PGA Tour, and only once before has enjoyed the 36-hole lead.

‘Blessed’ Kerr seizes lead in MalaysiaAmerica’s Cristie Kerr said her putting skills were a gift from God as she holed seven birdies to seize a one-shot lead over China’s Feng Shanshan at the LPGA Malaysia yes-terday. Kerr’s six-under-par 65 came after she birdied nine holes for a

63 on Friday at par-71 TPC Kuala Lumpur to move into position for her first title in six months. Feng, the defending champion, shot 68 but former world number one Lydia Ko’s title drought looked set to con-tinue when she carded 70 to lie tied 12th. South Korea’s Kim Sei-Young lies third in the $1.8 mn tournament, followed by American pair Stacy Lewis and Jacqui Concolino in joint fourth. Feng, who is seeking her third win in the tournament, carded her third bogey-free round to re-main firmly in contention heading into the final day.

AFPBasel, Switzerland

Roger Federer and Juan Mar-tin del Potro crushed op-ponents in quick-fi re wins yesterday to set up their third

fi nal in six years at the Swiss Indoors.Top seed Federer, bidding for a record

eighth title at his hometown event, was merciless with third seed David Goffi n, dismissing the Belgian 6-1, 6-2 in one hour as he reached his 13th Basel fi nal and eighth of the season.

The victory was his third straight-set rout from four matches this week at the St Jakobshalle and propels him to 6-0 over Goffi n.

Del Potro fought off fatigue to win a battle of former champions 6-4, 6-4 over Marin Cilic.

“He may be tired and have some (minor) issues but that will not keep him out of the fi nal. I’ll be ready for a diffi cult match against an almost ful-ly-fi t Del Potro,” said Federer.

Federer said he overcome the rigours of Friday’s three-set quarter-fi nal win over Adrian Mannarino.

“I’m happy I was able to turn it around today. Yesterday’s match was complicated in terms of match-ups. I went through some diffi cult mo-ments,” said the 19-time Grand Slam title winner.

“Everything changed completely in

this match. I had a better mindset, I wanted to take it to the opponent.”

Del Potro won his previous titles in 2012 and 2013 at the expense of world number two Federer.

“I’m surprised to be in the fi nal, it’s my fourth week in a row after many years,” Del Potro said. “My body is still there.

“I’m doing well, but in the fi nal, an-ything can happen. I need to play bet-ter against Roger than I did today.

“I’m having a good end of year, it’s giving me motivation looking forward to next year. Roger is the favourite to win — but I will see what I can do.”

Federer has been powering through the week as he tries to overhaul rival Rafael Nadal to fi nish the year as world number one.

The battle is provisionally sched-uled to continue next week at the Paris Masters, but the 36-year-old Swiss

will make a late decision on whether or not to take up his second-seeded posi-tion at Paris Bercy after the Basel fi nal.

Del Potro, who played a Shanghai semi-fi nal a fortnight ago and won the Stockholm title last weekend, admits that he is tiring, but intends to carry on.

“I’m tired and that is a little bit of a factor, but the only way to play Roger is to be aggressive all the time. Some-times, even that is not enough to beat him.”

The Argentine claimed his 10th win in 12 meetings with Croatian Cilic.

Del Potro has now won his last seven meetings with Cilic, who was the los-ing fi nalist to Federer at Wimbledon in July. “I’m happy to be in the fi nal, I hope to play good tennis for the crowd and for myself,” added Del Potro.

“Not many players can beat Roger, the greatest in history. It’s always a pleasure to play him, and to do it in his hometown is amazing.”

The Argentine took 45 minutes to win the opening set against Cilic, the second seed.

A break in the penultimate game of the opener followed by a hold from 0-30 down gave Del Potro the lead.

In the second, the South American broke early but lost his serve in the sixth game, as Cilic levelled at 3-3.

But Del Potro gathered his resources to break straight back, fi nishing off victory with his seventh ace of the af-ternoon.

IANSParis

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth bounced back to win 14-21, 21-19, 21-18 in a three-setter against compatriot HS Prannoy and enter

the men’s singles fi nal but PV Sindhu crashed out of the women’s singles at the $325,000 French Open Superseries here yesterday.

Srikanth now has taken a 3-1 lead in the head-to-head statistics against Prannoy.

In the fi rst game, after Srikanth took the fi rst point of the match, Prannoy bounced back to take a 9-7 lead in the fi rst game.

However, the Guntur man quickly brought things level 10-10. Later, Pran-noy took charge to take a 17-13 lead and convert it into his fi rst game victory.

The second game started with Pran-noy taking a slender 11-10 lead at the breather. Later Srikanth managed to come back and dominate things to clinch the second game and push the match to the third and decisive game.

In the third game, Prannoy had an

early 11-10 advantage but failed to maintain it giving away easy points to Srikanth who capitalised on the situa-tion and clinched the match.

Srikanth will take on the winner of match between Anders Antonsen and Kenta Nishimoto in the fi nals.

Earlier, Sindhu failed to fi nd any momentum in a women’s singles semi-fi nal against Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi that lasted 37 minutes, go-ing down 14-21, 9-21.

The fi rst game saw a close contest between both the shuttlers with the Japanese taking a slender 11-10 lead at

the breather.The World No.5 gave little away to

the Rio Olympics silver medallist from India, as she gathered seven straight points to take the opening game with ease.

The second game witnessed com-plete domination from the Japanese shuttler, who opened up a 6-0 lead before heading to the break at 11-2.

After the break, Akane continued to hold the upper hand and took full advantage of Sindhu’s numerous un-forced errors to easily pocket the game and the match.

AFPShanghai

Dustin Johnson charged into a handsome six-shot lead at the $9.75mn WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai

yesterday after an anticipated third-round battle with close friend Brooks Koepka failed to materialise.

In breezy conditions Johnson’s four-under-par 68 stretched his one-shot overnight lead on his fellow American, who shot an error-strewn 73, leaving the world number one in pole position for the fi nal day today.

Third at Sheshan International Golf Club, on 206 overall and seven shots off the imperious Johnson, was last year’s runner-up Henrik Stenson of Sweden.

American Brian Harman and Eng-lishman Justin Rose, the Rio 2016 Ol-ympic champion, were joint fourth.

“I’m not worried about what any-one else is doing, I’ve got enough to worry about with just myself,” said Johnson on his mindset going into the decisive day with such a big lead.

“I’m not going to change my game plan playing no matter what Brooks does, Henrik, whoever is out there playing.

“I’m going to stick to it and hope-fully execute.”

Johnson and Koepka live near one another in Florida and are fi shing and

gym buddies.But the niceties were left in the

clubhouse and reigning US Open champion Koepka was immediately on the front foot, grabbing a birdie at the fi rst while Johnson carded just his third bogey of the week.

That immediately wiped out John-son’s slender overnight lead and was the fi rst of three birdies on the spin for the 27-year-old Koepka to propel him briefl y into the lead.

But that was as good as it got for Koepka.

Johnson made birdies at holes two, four, seven and then at eight, where Koepka’s challenge faltered badly with a horror triple bogey.

The 33-year-old Johnson, the 2013 Shanghai champion and 2016 US Open winner, made the turn having opened up a four-shot lead on his rival.

Johnson gave a subtle shake of the head after a double bogey at the par-four 10th, but Koepka failed to capital-ise with a bogey of his own and John-son was always in control after that despite the tricky wind.

Hideki Matsuyama, the reigning champion from Japan, had another poor day with a 72 to leave him fi rmly out of the reckoning.

‘VERY BLAH’Johnson identifi ed the eighth hole as the turning point and Koepka called holes eight to 12 “a disaster”.

“I don’t know what happened from eight on,” said a defl ated Koepka, ranked 11 in the world.

“It was kind of very disappointing — very blah. I didn’t really make any putts, like those momentum putts. I didn’t make one of those.”

Koepka also said he had been put off on the 18th hole, where he stumbled to a third bogey of the day, by multiple cameras going off .

Rose carded a 72 and similarly strug-gled in the wind, having started the day in tied third and still in the hunt.

“Wasn’t good enough, is what it was, but it was tricky out there,” he said. “But all in all, DJ (Johnson) played great golf today and obviously stretched out a little too far ahead.”

The 37-year-old at least had the consolation of a birdie at the fi nal hole, but said he was only really chas-ing second behind Johnson on Sunday.

“You kind of walk away, the course didn’t beat me today,” he said of mak-ing a last-gasp birdie.

“I feel like that birdie can hopefully make dinner taste good and come out and try and do something special.”

Dustin Johnson tees off during the third round of the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai yesterday. (AFP)

Mashel al-Naimi with LCSC general manager Khalid al-Remaihi.

Saeed al-Sulaiti with QMMF president Abdulrahman al-Mannai at last year’s edition.

AFPSingapore

Ageless Venus Williams con-tinued her remarkable ren-aissance with a three-set semi-fi nal victory over Caro-

line Garcia to set up a mouthwater-ing WTA Finals decider with in-form Caroline Wozniacki.

Williams, 37, came from a set down to triumph 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 in two hours and 29 minutes at the Singapore In-door Stadium. She will be aiming to end a nine-year WTA Finals title drought when she plays Wozniacki today.

Garcia, playing in her WTA Finals debut, looked gassed at times, having played a two hour and 19 minute mara-thon against Wozniacki on Friday.

Williams claimed the decisive break in the eighth game of the third set be-fore her clutch serving saw her over-came three break points and claim a memorable victory.

Williams said she was able to come to terms with Garcia, an opponent she hadn’t played since 2014. “I think in the second and third (sets) I was able to fi gure it out a little more,” she told reporters after the match. “I haven’t played her in a long time. She’s im-proved her game so much.”

The American has a command-ing 7-0 record over Wozniacki but they haven’t clashed for two years. “I

haven’t played her in ages,” Williams said. “I have to gauge how it goes and try to fi gure out the solution.”

Garcia admitted she battled fatigue as the match wore on. “I was miss-ing a little bit of energy in the second and third set,” she said. “It was very intense this match. The match from yesterday was very diffi cult physically and mentally.”

Williams looked in grave trouble when she faced two break points in the fi rst game of the second set but she fought back to hold serve and then broke Garcia in the next game.

Williams’ trademark serve and her powerful groundstrokes started dic-tating, as she stormed through the second set in just 41 minutes.

OLDEST FINALISTThe seven-time grand slam winner will be the oldest fi nalist in WTA Fi-

nals history when she plays Wozniacki. Even though she had a stellar season reaching two grand slam fi nals, the world number fi ve will be seeking her fi rst title of the year.

Earlier, a tireless Wozniacki stormed into the fi nal with a straight sets vic-tory over Karolina Pliskova, ending the Czech’s dreams of fi nishing world number one.

The world number six prevailed in a rollercoaster match 7-6 (9), 6-3 in one hour and 57 minutes to reach the decider of the WTA Finals for the fi rst time since 2010.

Wozniacki said she kept “fi ghting” through a marathon 82-minute fi rst set, where she held off three set points in the 10th game and almost blew a 6-1 lead in the tieback.

“It went back and forth,” she told re-porters after the match.

“It was very important to win the fi rst set. I think that broke her a little bit. I think it was important for both of us to get that fi rst one.”

Pliskova said she would not stew over missing out on the top ranking. “I’m absolutely fi ne with that,” she said. “This is the last thing that I’m thinking about now.”

Pliskova needed to lift the trophy today to overtake world number one Simona Halep in the rankings.

Even though she didn’t make the semis, Halep has now secured the year-end world number one ranking.

Sunday, October 29, 2017

GULF TIMES SPORT

Impressive Hamad al-Qadi notches a double

HATHAB EQUESTRIAN SERIES

Hamad rides two horses in feature class for top spots, brother Saeed wins Medium Tour

By Sahan BidappaDoha

It was a double delight for Hamad Nasser al-Qadi as the impressive rider clinched both the fi rst and second place in the feature class

of the second leg of Hathab Equestrian series yesterday.

At Al Shaqab’s indoor arena, Hamad was in great form as he piloted two of his horses to podium fi nishes in the Big Tour 130/140 class. Riders were allowed to compete with two horses and Hamad grabbed the opportunity with both the hands.

First, in the company of 12-year-old gelding SIEC Lonnie, Hamad fl ew around a tricky course to stop the clock in 44.67 seconds. Then he returned with St. Lu-cia, a 15-year-old grey mare, to snatch the second place as well, clocking 45.21 seconds. To make it a grand celebra-tion for al-Qadi family, Hamad’s brother Saeed completed the podium, taking the third place with Daydreamer, the pair coming home in 45.41 seconds.

It was an excellent two days for Ha-mad, who leapfrogged the overall leaderboard. He had also fi n-ished second and third in two separate events on Friday. “I’m very thrilled with my results today,” said Hamad, who scooped a combined prize money of QR 15,300 for the double fi nish.

“I was fi rst and second today. Also yesterday I fi nished second and third, which has put me on the top of points table. All the riders today were very strong com-petitors and were well prepared. I am really honoured to compete against with such riders,” he added.

Hamad praised Hathab series for giving an opportunity to rid-ers like him to gain val-uable experience. “All the riders were really strong and ready to

compete. Someone like Faleh al-Ajmi (who fi nished fi fth and seventh) has

a great experience in such cham-pionships and I admire him. This competition gave a great opportu-

nity to exchange experience with well-established national riders. I am looking forward for the next leg o f Hathab,” the Qatari noted.

Al-Qadi family domi-nated in the Medium Tour

120/130cm class too, as Saeed emerged trium-phant with Jessico 4.

Mohamed Sultan al-Suwaidi (Numero

Uno T) came second, while

Bandar Mansoon al-Hoban (Tagfart 111 Z) was third.

In the Dressage competition, women riders excelled as fi ve of them fi nished on the podium in two events.

In the Level 1 class, Amana Ah-mad al-Saff ar (Drum Mousse) topped the score sheets with 69.792 points. Iris Nijboer (Wait and

Seeze, 68.958) and Jessica Waldon (Jac-quard, 68.750) took the second and third place respectively

Amana was delighted with her win. “I am very happy with my results.

I would like to thank the organ-ising committee for this great

opportunity as this is the fi rst na-tional dressage event in Qatar,” she

said.Meanwhile, Saad Ahmed al-Saad

(Toberlina T) bagged the fi rst place in the Level 2 class. He was followed

by Mennatallah Hesham Mourad (Quick Dance) in second place and

Aisha Ahmed al-Ahmadi (Juste D’adaelle) in third.

RESULTSBig Tour Table A, Special

two phases 130/140cm Prize money: QR 30,0001. Hamad Nasser al-

Qadi (SIEC Lonnie) Time: 44.67 seconds. Prize money: QR 8,40002. Hamad Nasser al-Qadi (St. Lucia)

45.21 secs. QR 6,9003. Saeed Nasser al-Qadi

(Daydreamer) 45.41 secs. QR 5250

Medium Tour: Table A, One round against the clock 120/130cm1. Saeed Nasser al-Qadi (Jessico 4)

Time: 64.36 seconds. Prize money: QR 5,0002. Mohamed Sultan al-Suwaidi (Numero Uno T) 62.27 secs. QR 4,0003. Bandar Mansoon al-Hoban (Tagfart 111 Z) 68.18 secs. QR 3,000Dressage level 11. Amana Ahmad al-Saff ar (Drum Mousse) 69.792 score. Prize money: QR, 2,800

2. Iris Nijboer (Wait and Seeze) 68.958. QR 2,3001. Jessica Waldon (Jacquard) 68.750. Q 1,750Dressage Level 2-Results1. Saad Ahmed al-Saad (Toberlina T)2. Mennatallah Hesham Mourad (Quick Dance)3. Aisha Ahmed al-Ahmadi (Juste D’adaelle)

By Sports ReporterDoha

The 2017 edition of the Qatar Classic be-gins at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex today.

The PSA World Series event is the second stage on the Road to Dubai series – after the US Open US Open – which will culminate with the World Series Finals in Dubai next year. With the top eight players on the Road to Dubai standings earning a place in the end-of-season Dubai fi nale, the Qatar Classic off ers another chance to the world’s top squash players to ac-crue points and qualify for the lucrative season-ender.

Former World No 1 Ramy Ashour with-drew last week due to illness, but there are still enough top names, led by defending champion Karim Abdel Gawad from Egypt. The other stars in the fray are - three-time World Champion Nick Matthew from England, former world No 1 Mohamed El Shorbagy and current World No.1 Gregory Gaultier – who is the only player out-side of England and Egypt to lift the title – all triumphing in Doha.

El Shorbagy is hoping to become the fi rst player to win the Qatar Classic title three times, after lifting the title in 2013 and 2015. Last year, he also missed a chance to claim three back-to-back titles when he lost the fi nal to Gawad in the fi nal.

World Champion Gawad is also aiming to come back stronger after a mixed start to the 2017-18 season. Gawad has had an up-and-down beginning to the new season, with a run-ner-up fi nish to ElShorbagy at the Oracle Net-Suite Open last month followed by a shock fi rst round defeat at the hands of World No.10 Paul Coll at the US Open.

The 26-year-old from Giza is determined to put that defeat behind him though as he targets a third successive World Series title to go with his triumph in Qatar last year and the JP Mor-gan Tournament of Champions crown he picked up in January inside New York’s stunning Grand Central Terminal.

“For me, that loss will just make me stronger and hungrier to win,” said the former World No 1.

“I know I didn’t perform my best, I know los-ing in the fi rst round is not what I am supposed to do. That will make me learn from it and come back as strong as I can.”

Second seed Gawad has a tricky fi rst round tie against Spain’s former World No 5 Borja Go-lan in store. Golan had got the better of Gawad in their Windy City Open quarter-fi nal clash in February. Matthew, the 2009 winner, is also on Gawad’s side of the draw and is making his last ever appearance at the tournament after last month’s announcement that he will be retiring at the end of the season.

The world No 5 Ali Farag, who is leading the race to Dubai points table, is also aiming for

his fi rst Qatar Classic after his exploits at the US Open where he made history alongside wife Nour El Tayeb earlier this month in Philadelphia by winning the same major singles title on the same day.

World No 37 Abdulla Mohamed al-Tamimi represents local hopes in the main draw as wild-card.

It was a good day for the top seeds in the as qualifying round as six of the eight favourites clinched the main draw spots. Top seeded Scot Alan Clyne was fi rst to qualify, fending off a late challenge from former 2016 world junior cham-pion Eain Yow Ng, and eighth seed Chris Simp-son was the last, winning a close all-English en-counter with Declan James to fi nish the day two.

There were two seeding upsets as Germany’s Raphael Kandra winning a tight fi ve game con-

test to record his fi rst ever win over training partner Nicolas Mueller and Adrian Waller add-ing to the English contingent as he edged past third seed Omar Abdel Meguid in four games. There were wins for Hong Kong pair Leo Au and Tsz Fung Yip, a solitary Egyptian in Karim Ali Fathi, and India’s in-form second seed Saurav Ghosal.

The Qatar Classic is the second men’s World Series tournament out of seven this season and will see players battle for points on the PSA World Series Standings.

Entry to the tournament is free of charge up to the semi-fi nals and fi nal. Semi-fi nal tickets are priced at QR20 for back wall tickets and QR15 for side wall seats. For the fi nal, ticket prices are QR30 for back wall seating and QR20 for side wall seats. Tickets can be purchased at the kiosk

in front of the spectator gate on both days.QUALIFYING ROUND RESULTS [1] Alan Clyne (Sco) 3-1 Eain Yow Ng (Mas)

11-4, 11-2, 13-11 (31m) [5] Tsz Fung Yip (Hkg) v Charles Sharpes

(Eng) 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8 (77m) Karim Ali Fathi (Egy) 3-1 [10] Campbell Gray-

son (Nzl) 11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-5 (55m [11] Adrian Waller (Eng) 3-1 [3] Omar Abdel

Meguid (Egy) 11-2, 7-11, 12-10, 11-9 (47m) [15] Raphael Kandra (Ger) 3-2 [4] Nicolas

Meuller (Sui) 13-11, 7-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7 (61m) [7] Leo Au (Hkg) 3-1 Richie Fallows (Eng) 9-11,

11-4, 11-7, 11-1 (51m) [8] Chris Simpson (Eng) 3-0 [9] Declan

James (Eng) 13-11, 11-9, 11-6 (57m) [2] Saurav Ghosal (Ind) 3-0 Ammar al-Tamimi

(Kuw) 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 (29m)

India’s Saurav Ghosal (left) in action against Kuwait’s Ammer al-Tamimi during the qualifying round for the Qatar Classic squash yesterday. PICTURES: Jayan Orma Scotland’s Alan Clyne (foreground) plays a shot against Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng yesterday.

Off icials pose with the winner of feature class, Hamad Nasser al-Qadi, and third-placed Saeed Nasser al-Qadi during the second leg of Hathab series at Al Shaqab’s indoor arena yesterday. PICTURES: Lotfi Garsi

Hamad Nasser al-Qadi after his impressive win in the feature

class of the second leg of Hathab Equestrian series yesterday.

Saeed Nasser al-Qadi, Mohamed Sultan al-Suwaidi and Bandar Mansoon al-Hoban on the Medium Tour podium yesterday.

Amana al-Saff ar poses with her trophy after winning the dressage competitionyesterday. PICTURE: Mohamed Tinakicht

Qatar Classic squash action begins todaySPOTLIGHT