SPORTSunday 30 April 2017

Sunderland relegated, Vardy makes Leicester safe

Al Gharafa's fight delights Emir Cup final hero Sammy

PAGE | 25 PAGE | 26 PAGE | 27Frittelli storms past Larrazabal to take lead at China Open

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Madrid

AFP

Real Madrid needed another late winner to edge closer to the La Liga title as Marcelo

was the hero in a 2-1 home win over Valencia yesterday.

Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring midway through the first half, but also saw a penalty saved by spot-kick specialist Diego Alves early in the second period.

Former Madrid man Dani Parejo looked to have handed Valencia an unlikely point with a stunning free-kick eight minutes from time.

Real stormed forward and needed just four minutes to find the winner when Marcelo cut inside and fired into the far corner.

Real now lead Barcelona by three points at the top of the table with four games to go for both sides.

Barca, though, can move back to the summit of La Liga with vic-tory in the Catalan derby later at Espanyol.

Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane

recalled eight of the side that started last weekend's 3-2 El Clasico defeat to Barcelona and had been rested for a 6-2 thrashing of Deportivo la Coruna in midweek.

However, the habitual first team nearly got off to the worst possible start. Captain Sergio Ramos was returning from suspension after his 22nd career red card in the Clasico and his weak header allowed Santi Mina through on goal inside the first minute.

Keylor Navas came out to block the Valencia striker's first effort before his follow-up hit the outside of the post.

Fabian Orellana also screwed a great chance wide as Valencia enjoyed the better of the early stages.

However, Ronaldo punished their profligacy in characteristic fashion as he bulleted Dani Carva-jal's cross into the far corner on 27 minutes.

That goal took Ronaldo's tally in league football to 367 goals to sur-pass legendary English striker

Jimmy Greaves in Europe's top leagues.

However, even the four-time World Player of the Year struggles to beat Alves from the spot.

Madrid were awarded a penalty when Luka Modric went down under slight contact from Parejo 11 minutes into the second half.

And for the third time in four penalties against Alves, Ronaldo was denied by the Brazilian.

Ronaldo then missed an even easier chance as he bundled over and then crashed into the goalpost from Marco Asensio's enticing cross.

At the other end Navas's search for a clean sheet continues as for the 15th straight game the Costa Rica international was beaten, this time by Parejo's dipping free-kick to set up a grandstand finish.

Yet, for the seventh time in La Liga this season, Madrid struck late to maintain the upper hand in the title race as Marcelo used his weaker right foot to fire across and past the helpless Alves to joyous scenes of relief at the Bernabeu.

Marcelo's late winner helps Real keep title bid on track

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo (right) heads the ball to score against Valencia during the Spanish League football match played at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium yesterday.

Al Sadd dethrone El Jaish to lift Qatar CupChinthana WasalaThe Peninsula

Hosts Al Sadd, captained by Barca legend Xavi, yesterday scored once in

each half for a 2-1 win over El Jaish in the final of the Qatar Cup.

It was Xavi's first trophy in Qatar following his move from Barcelona at the end of the 2015 season.

Playing on home soil, Al Sadd opened the scoring through Baghdad Bounedjah in the 21st minute.

Defending champions El Jaish, coached by Sabri Lamouchi, found the equal-iser when Uzbek forward Sardor Rashidov found the net in the 39th minute.

It was Rashidov's 17th goal this season for El Jaish.

However, Al Sadd put the record straight, getting the game-winner from Jugurtha Hamroun in the 73rd minute. Hamroun fired a bullet from the edge of the Al Sadd box for the match-winner.

"We had to do some-thing for our fans. They have been supporting us through-out the season," Hamroun said.

"It always feels good to do well in front of the home fans," he said.

"We worked extremely hard to reach this point. We are happy with our per-formance," the Algerian added.

A near-packed Al Sadd Stadium celebrated with coach Jesualdo Ferreira who was thrown in the air by jubilant Al Sadd players at the end of regulation time.

Sheikh Joan bin Hamad Al Thani, Chairman of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), gave away the tro-phies and the medals at the end of the final.

QFA President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmad Al Thani and QSL chief Hani Ballan were also present.

The competition's pre-vious three editions were dominated by El Jaish and Lekhwiya who faced one another in all of the previ-ous three finals.

The two sides met in the semi-final this time around, where El Jaish won 3-2 to reach the final. Al Sadd met with Al Rayyan at the same stage and won by the exact same scoreline.

Al Sadd and El Jaish met in the semi-final of the pre-vious three editions, where El Jaish dominated each time. The first time was in 2014 and El Jaish managed to win courtesy of a single goal.

In 2015, the margin grew to two goals when El Jaish won 301. Last year, El Jaish won 3-2 and went on to win the title.

Players vie for the ball possession during the final of the Qatar Cup Football Tournament played at Al Sadd Stadium yesterday. INSET: Al Sadd's Hassan Al Haydos, coach Jesualdo Ferreira and skipper Xavi Hernandez celebrate with the Qatar Cup.

We had to do something for our fans. They have been supporting us throughout the season. It always feels good to do well in front of the home fans, says Al Sadd's Jugurtha Hamroun who scored the game-winner in the 73rd minute.

Al Sadd players and officials celebrate with the Qatar Cup Trophy.

QATAR CUP CHAMPIONS

2014 El Jaish 2015 Lekhwiya 2016 El Jaish 2017 Al Sadd

Beijing

Reuters

Dylan Frittelli continued his impressive recent form yeserday after

carding a bogey-free eight-under-par 64 to take a three-shot lead into the final day of the China Open.

Challenge Tour graduate Frittelli, who finished a season best tied for fifth at Shenzhen last week, followed up his club-house record-equalling 63 at Topwin Golf and Country Club on Friday with a eight birdies to finish 19-under.

Overnight leader Pablo Lar-razabal stretched the lead to four shots early in the day but two bogeys on the front nine saw him slip behind the South African Frittelli, who is in search of his first European Tour title.

"I like to think I would keep the same game plan tomorrow and maybe adjust on the back nine depending on the situa-tion," Frittelli said.

"Pablo played great out there today as well. He's not going to lie down, he is one of

the toughest guys to get into a dog fight with on the European Tour. So I'm definitely going to be wary of him tomorrow."

The 33-year-old Spaniard recovered with three consecu-tive birdies from the 10th to post 70 on day three, the nearest challenger on the leaderboard.

He was followed by 2014 win-ner Alexander Levy of France at 12-under-par for the tournament.

Levy stuttered in the begin-ning, losing two shots on the fourth-hole and needed birdies on the eighth, 11th and 15th to finish with 71.

Chris Wood, who has strug-gled during the early part of 2017, found his groove on day three by firing six birdies on the front nine to card 65 and get up to 11-under-par.

The Englishman finished one shot clear of South Korean Moon Kyong-jun and last week's winner Bernd Wiesberger of Austria.

Moon was spotless in his round of 66, while world number 30 Wiesberger finished with a 69 after a mixed bag on the front nine which included two bogeys and an eagle.

Defending champion Li Haotong and Yi Cao shared the seventh spot and remained in contention alongside South Afri-can George Coetzee, England's Ross Fisher and Lee Soo-min of South Korea.

25SUNDAY 30 APRIL 2017SPORTCeltics, Wizards advance to second roundLos Angeles

AFP

Avery Bradley led a balanced offensive attack as the Boston Celtics advanced to the second round of

the NBA play-offs with a 105-83 rout of the Chicago Bulls on Friday.

Bradley led the way with 23 points as all five Celtics starters scored in double figures to close out their best-of-seven Eastern Conference series in six games.

It was an emotional series victory for Boston. The Celtics had to win four straight after dropping the first two games of the first round matchup. In addi-tion they had to rally around teammate Isaiah Thomas who lost his sister in a fatal car accident.

"I said this a couple of times -- bigger things than basketball happen and that takes prece-dence," Boston coach Brad Stevens said. "I was really proud of our guys how they treated each other and how they stuck together."

With the victory, the Celtics advance to face the Washington Wizards, who eliminated the Atlanta Hawks with a 115-99 victory.

Gerald Green tallied 16 points for the Celtics, while Jae Crow-der, Thomas and Al Horford each scored 12 in the series clinching victory.

"(After the first two games), the team wasn't right," Horford said. "But after that second game

going into third, I thought we were in a better place and that helped us get over the hump."

Jimmy Butler scored 23 points for the host Bulls, who squandered a 2-0 lead after a pair of lopsided victories in Bos-ton. Butler posted a team-high

point total in game six despite being hampered by a knee problem.

Robin Lopez also scored 10 points for the Bulls. Bulls star Dwyane Wade appeared to aggravate an elbow injury he suffered late in the regular

season. The veteran struggled in Friday's contest, hitting only one-of-10 shot attempts.

Isaiah Canaan scored nine points, Michael Carter-Williams added eight points off the bench and Paul Zipser had seven for the Bulls. In Atlanta, guards John Wall and Bradley Beal combined for 73 points and the Wizards easily defeated the Hawks to also clinch their East series four games to two.

"John is a heck of a player," said Washington coach Scott Brooks.

"He's carried us with his leadership.

"His leadership, and with Brad's leadership, has been great.

"For young players in this league, I couldn't ask for two bet-ter guys to lead our team."

Wall scored 20 points in the first half and finished with 42 points, while Beal had 17 in the first half and finished with 31 points. The dynamic duo com-pleted the series with 332 of the team's 640 total points in six games -- 52 percent of Washing-ton's offense.

Washington's Markieff Mor-ris added 17 points and eight rebounds, and Bojan Bogdanovic scored 10 points off the bench.

Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Dennis Schro-der had 26 points and 10 assists while Tim Hardaway added 13.

In the night game, the Los Angeles Clippers staved off elim-ination by beating the Utah Jazz 98-93 behind a 29-point per-formance from Chris Paul.

DeAndre Jordan chipped in 13 points and 18 rebounds as the Clippers tied the series 3-3 with game seven set for Sunday in Los Angeles. With Los Angeles ahead by three points, Utah's Joe John-son had a chance to tie it, but he missed a three-pointer with about six seconds remaining.

Paul hit a pair of free throws with one second left to seal the victory.

Utah Jazz guard George Hill (3) controls the ball against LA Clippers guard Raymond Felton (left) during the fourth quarter in game six of the first round of the 2017 NBA Play-offs at Vivint Smart Home Arena on Friday.

Leading scores after the third round of the

European Tour Volvo China Open at the Top-

win Golf and Country Club in Beijing yester-

day:

197 - Dylan Frittelli (RSA) 70-63-64

200 - Pablo Larrazabal (ESP) 64-66-70

204 - Alexander Levy (FRA) 63-70-71

205 - Chris Wood (ENG) 72-68-65

206 - Moon Kyongjun (KOR) 69-71-66, Bernd

Wiesberger (AUT) 69-68-69

207 - Cao Yi (CHN) 68-72-67, George Coetzee

(RSA) 67-69-71, Ross Fisher (ENG), 73-70-64,

Lee Soomin (KOR) 69-65-73, Li Hao-tong

(CHN) 69-71-67

208 - Jorge Campillo (ESP) 68-70-70, Johan

Carlsson (SWE) 70-70-68, Ricardo Gouvela

(POR) 74-67-67, Benjamin Hebert (FRA) 70-

72-66, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 71-67-70, Jaco

Van Zyl (RSA) 68-69-71, YE Yang (KOR) 69-

68-71

CHINA OPEN SCORES

US PGA Zurich Classic scoresLeading scores after Friday's better ball second

round of the PGA Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a

two-man team event with alternate shot play in

rounds one and three and better ball play in rounds

two and four (USA unless noted):

129 Jonas Blixt/Cameron Smith (SWE/AUS) 67-62

130 Patrick Reed/Patrick Cantlay 68-62

131 KJ Choi/Charlie Wi (KOR/KOR) 67-64, Troy

Merrit/Robert Streb 69-62

132 Brian Stuard/Chris Stroud 68-64, Alex Cjeka/

Soren Kjeldsen (GER/DEN) 70-62, Charley

Hoffman/Nick Watney 67-65, Jordan Spieth/

Ryan Palmer 66-66, Xander Schauffele/Tag

Ridings 68-64, Kyle Stanley-Ryan Ruffels

(USA/AUS) 66-66

133 Angel Cabrera/Julian Etulain (ARG/ARG) 70-

63, Tyrone Van Aswegen/Retief Goosen

(RSA/RSA) 73-60, Jason Dufner/Patton

Kizzire 69-64

LPGA Texas Shootout scoresLeading scores on Friday after the second round of

the LPGA Tour's Texas Shootout at the Las Colinas

Country Club in Irving, Texas (USA unless noted):

133 Haru Nomura (JPN) 68-65

134 Ariya Jutanugarn (THA) 67-67

135 Suzann Pettersen (NOR) 70-65

136 Moriya Jutanugarn (THA) 70-66, Park In-Bee

(KOR) 69-67, Marina Alex 67-69

137 Cristie Kerr 68-69, Angela Stanford 68-69,

Hur Mi-Jung (KOR) 65-72, Charley Hull (ENG)

71-66

138 Nelly Korda 70-68, Jessica Korda 68-70, a-

Seong Eun-Jeong (KOR) 69-69, Minjee Lee

(AUS) 68-70, Jacqui Concolino 69-69

139 Dori Carter 76-63, Amy Yang (KOR) 68-71,

Chella Choi (KOR) 68-71, Park Sung-Hyun

(KOR) 67-72, Mel Reid 73-66

GOLF SCORES

Results from Friday's first-round NBA play-off

games (all series best-of-seven):

Eastern ConferenceAt Atlanta

Washington 115 Atlanta 99

(Washington wins series 4-2)

At ChicagoBoston 105 Chicago 83

(Boston wins series 4-2)

Western ConferenceAt Utah

Los Angeles Clippers 98

Utah 93

(Series tied 3-3)

NBA PLAY-OFF RESULTS

Frittelli storms past Larrazabal to take lead at China Open

Dylan Frittelli of South Africa plays a shot during the second round of the Volvo China Open golf tournament in Beijing yesterday.

Lexus dominates at first round of 2017 Autobacs Super GT seriesThe Peninsula

Lexus Gazoo Racing made a memorable start to the 2017 Autobacs Super GT

series, sweeping the top six posi-tions in the opening round of the GT500 race class in a dominant performance at the Okayama International Circuit, Japan.

The Lexus LC 500 KeePer TOM’s driven by Ryo Hirakawa and Nick Cassidy clinched the top spot in the season’s inaugu-ral race, with Lexus LC 500 WAKO’S 4CR finishing runner-up and No. 1 Lexus LC 500 Denso Kobelco Sard claiming the third position.

Rounding off the top six were Lexus LC 500 ZENT Cerumo, No. 36 Lexus LC 500 au TOM’S and No. 19 Lexus LC 500 WedsSport ADVAN, who finished in the fourth, fifth and sixth positions

respectively to make sure that Round 1 of the new season was a Lexus show all the way. The race got off to a delayed start after a pair of cars from a rival

manufacturer experienced mechanical problems during the formation run.

The race finally started around 2:45 in the afternoon,

with the delay causing one lap to be cut from the race distance, leaving the teams to compete for over 81 laps.

Racing into the lead at the

start was Lexus LC 500 WAKO’S 4CR, with the Lexus LC 500 KeePer TOM’S closely behind. Shortly after, on the hairpin turn of the second lap, the vehicle with Cassidy at the wheel – made a decisive move going into the turn with tires smoking and grabbed the lead.

From there, Cassidy contin-ued to run strongly in the front until the sixth lap when more mechanical trouble – again involving a competitor car – interrupted the race.

After the race restarted, the Lexus LC 500 KeePer TOM’S continued to hold the lead, with the other LC 500 cars also run-ning strongly toward the front.

From around the 30th lap, the teams began to make their routine pit stops. When all of the GT500 class cars had completed their pit stops and returned to the

race, the battles between the LC 500 cars intensified again, with the Lexus LC 500 au TOM’S and Lexus LC 500 WAKO’S 4CR fight-ing hard for second place.

The contest turned into a hot sprint race to the goal.

Eventually, despite stiff com-petition from Lexus LC 500 WAKO’S 4CR in the final stages, the Lexus LC 500 KeePer TOM’S – now with Hirakawa at the wheel – was able to maintain its lead until the checkered flag and secure the win.

Takayuki Yoshitsugu, Chief Representative, Middle East and North Africa Representative Office, Toyota Motor Corpora-tion, said, “We are immensely proud that the team was not only able to make a clean sweep of the podium positions, but claim the first six positions in the race.

Action from the 2017 Autobacs Super GT series at the Okayama International Circuit, Japan.

Berlin

AFP

Bayern Munich will be crowned Bundesliga champions for the fifth

straight season by beating Wolfsburg away yesterday after second-placed RB Leipzig were held to a goalless draw by 10-man Ingolstadt.

Leipzig's result at their Red Bull Arena, where defender Alfredo Morales was sent off with four minutes left to play, left Bayern seven points clear with the Bavarians still having four games to play.

Leipzig, meanwhile, can only claim a maximum nine further

points. A 22nd league win this season, and three more points at Wolfsburg's Volkswagen Arena, will confirm Carlo Ance-lotti's team as champions for the 27th time.

It would be consolation for Wednesday's 3-2 German Cup semi-final defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund which robbed Ancelotti the chance of emulating predecessor Pep Guardiola with the domestic double in his first season.

Dortmund, who face Eintra-cht Frankfurt in the German Cup final on May 27, hold onto third place, which would mean a direct Champions League place next season, despite their goal-

less draw at home to Cologne.Both Dortmund Pierre-

Emerick Aubameyang, the league's top-scorer with 27 goals, and Cologne's Anthony Modeste, who has 23 league goals, drew blanks at Signal Iduna Park.

Hoffenheim, coached by Julian Nagelsmann, 29, the youngest coach in Bundesliga history, can leapfrog Dortmund if they beat Eintracht in Frank-furt on Sunday.

Werder Bremen's remarka-ble finish to the season continues as they earned a 2-0 win to home to Hertha Berlin to stay sixth. Bremen remain on course for a Europa League

place having risen from bottom in September after losing their first four games.

Werder striker Max Kruse's dream April continued as he net-ted Bremen's second after Fin Bartels's opener for his eighth goal in six games this month.

Bremen are now unbeaten in their last 11 games.

Mainz remain just a point from the bottom three after Japan striker Yoshinori Muto scored their consolation goal in a 2-1 home defeat as Lars Stindl and Nico Schulz scored for Borussia Moenchengladbach.

Bottom side Darmstadt again delayed their relegation with a 3-0 win at home to Freiburg.

26 SUNDAY 30 APRIL 2017SPORT

EPL: Sunderland relegated, Vardy makes Leicester safe

Gujarat Lions cricketer James Faulkner (right) celebrates the wicket of Mumbai Indians Parthiv Patel with captain Suresh Raina during the IPL Twenty20 cricket match against Mumbai Indians at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot, yesterday.

Mumbai defeat Gujarat by five runs in Super OverMumbai

Agencies

Mumbai Indians pulled a thrilling five-run win over Gujarat Lions in

the Super Over in the IPL match at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot yesterday.

Gujarat Lions, defending a lowly 153 against Mumbai Indi-ans, made a stunning comeback to bowl out the opponents for 153 in 20 overs to force a super over, the first of the IPL 2017.

But in the Super Over, Jas-prit Bumrah defended the 12 runs for Mumbai as they pulled off an incredible vic-tory to continue their winning run in IPL.

In Pune, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) hopes of qual-ifying for the IPL play-offs virtually ended after they lost by 61 runs to Rising Pune Supergiant.

Pune, on the other hand kept their play-off dreams alive to stay at the fourth spot after registering their fifth win from nine matches.

Chasing a decent 158, RCB were in self-destructive mode losing wickets at regular inter-vals with skipper Virat Kohli (55) fighting a lone battle to take the team through.

Kohli failed to find the sup-port at the other end as the Pune bowlers seized the momentum to their favour.

Medium pacer Jaydev Unadkat started the downfall for the visitors with the wick-ets of Head, Lockie Ferguson and the dangerous AB de Vil-liers (3).

New man Kedar Jadhav (7) looked good in the middle before a lack of communica-tion between him and the skipper cost Bangalore their third wicket.

Rookie off-spinner Wash-ington Sundar immediately jolted the visitors with the wicket of Sachin Baby (2), bril-liantly caught by a diving Steve Smith before Furguson saw the back of Stuart Binny (1) to reduce the men in red and black to 49/5.

Struggling at 82/8, Kohli, who by then had reached his half century, the lone RCB bats-man to get to the double figures.

Brief Scores:Rising Pune Supergiant 157

for 3 (Smith 45, Tiwary 44*) beat Royal Challengers Ban-galore 96 for 9 (Kohli 55, Ferguson 2-7) by 61 runs.

Match Tied (Mumbai Indi-ans win the one-over eliminator)

Gujarat Lions First Innings 153 for 9 (20.0 overs)

Mumbai Indians First Innings 153 all out (20.0 overs)

Mumbai Indians Second Innings 11 for 2 (0.5 overs)

Gujarat Lions Second Innings 6 for 0 (1.0 overs).

London

AFP

David Moyes's sorry Sunderland were relegated from the Premier League after a 1-0 home

defeat by Bournemouth at the Stadium of Light yesterday.

Allied to Hull City's 0-0 draw at Southampton, the result left Sunderland 13 points adrift of safety with only 12 points to play for this season.

"I'm really disappointed," said Sunderland manager Moyes. "I feel for the supporters. They put their heart and cash into the team and my thoughts are mainly with the supporters."

Josh King scored the goal that condemned Sunderland to the Championship, converting a pass from Ryan Fraser after a sweeping counter-attack in the 88th minute.

Southampton had a chance to give Sunderland a stay of exe-cution, but Dusan Tadic's stoppage-time penalty was saved by Hull goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic.

Ask if he will remain in his post, Moyes replied: "To think about it and talk about it now is just too quick.

"They're questions for a week or two down the line. I'm not sure it's for now. I'd like to make sure we get Sunderland back in the Premier League."

Sunderland have been in the Premier League since 2007, but their return to the second-tier Championship has long appeared only a matter of time.

They have been in the rele-gation zone since September and have not moved off the foot of the table since January.

"The league table never lies,"

said Sunderland captain John O'Shea. "Performances and results are the obvious thing that have brought us down."

Victory effectively secured Bournemouth's safety, catapult-ing Eddie Howe's side up the table to 10th place, 10 points above the relegation zone.

Hull's draw at Southampton left Marco Silva's side three points clear of danger, ahead of third-bottom Swansea City's trip to Manchester United today. After a forgettable encounter at

St Mary's, Southampton were awarded a penalty at the death when Alfred N'Diaye was penal-ised for holding Maya Yoshida.

Tadic drilled his spot-kick towards the bottom-right cor-ner, but Jakupovic plunged low to his left to turn the ball away and condemn Sunderland to the drop.

"It's a really important moment. If they had scored, they would not deserve it," said Hull manager Silva.

"It is a good result. You

want more, but it's a good point."

With Stoke City and West Ham United also drawing 0-0, the only other goal in the four afternoon games came in out-going champions Leicester City's 1-0 victory at West Bromwich Albion. Jamie Vardy settled the game in the 43rd minute, rifling home his 15th goal of the season from Shinji Okazaki's pass down the inside-right channel.

After an arduous season for Leicester, last season's fairytale champions have now reached the 40-point mark that usually guarantees survival.

"I want Jamie Vardy to fin-ish on a high," said Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare, whose side sit 11th. "He's scored quite a few of late and I want that to continue.

"It will be a difficult end to the season and we have to try and win every game we can."

Burnley, two points above Hull, visit Crystal Palace in Sat-urday's late game.

Leaders Chelsea travel to Everton today looking to pre-serve their four-point lead over second-place Tottenham Hot-spur, who host Arsenal in the last north London derby at White Hart Lane.

Leicester City's Jamie Vardy celebrates scoring their first goal with team-mate Danny Simpson during the English Premier League match against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns Stadium in West Bromwich, central England, yesterday.

English Premier League results yesterday:

Southampton 0 Hull 0

Stoke 0 West Ham 0

Sunderland 0 Bournemouth 1 (King 88)

West Brom 0 Leicester 1 (Vardy 43)

Playing todayEverton vs Chelsea (1305 GMT), Manchester

United vs Swansea (1100 GMT), Middlesbrough

vs Manchester City (1305 GMT), Tottenham vs

Arsenal (1530 GMT)

Playing TomorrowWatford vs Liverpool (1900 GMT)

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

The podium winners at the third round of the Qatar National Sprint pose for a picture at Losail International Circuit.

Qatar National Sprint Round 3Profit-seeking South Africa could take home Tests abroadJohannesburg

AFP

Staging home Test matches abroad is among the options South African rugby bosses are considering in a

bid to make the national body profita-ble again.

South African Rugby (SAR) posted a 23.3 million rand (about $1.750 million, 1.610 million euros) loss last year.

Dwindling sponsorship in a harsh economic climate, rising costs and help-ing fund 14 professional provincial teams were among the reasons for the deficit.

A 130 million rand reduction in sponsorship included the withdrawal of a major South African

bank as backers of the Springboks. One possibility to increase revenue is play-ing an occasional high-profile Test abroad to boost the bank balance, as Ire-land and Argentina did last year.

"We could move an attractive Test overseas if it makes commercial sense," SAR chief executive Jurie Roux told a media group.

"Within a four-year cycle, one year could be set aside to play the New Zea-land All Blacks aboard for the commercial good of domestic rugby.

"One would have to weigh the finan-cial benefits against the fact that some of our supporters might miss a chance to watch the All Blacks in South Africa.

"It would be a delicate balancing act," admitted Roux about a proposal

that could come into effect from 2020 when a global rugby calendar is intro-duced. Brazil reportedly wanted to host a match between South Africa and New Zealand -- one of the biggest fixtures in world rugby -- before staging the 2016 Rio Olympics.

However, the proposal for a clash between countries who have won five of the eight World Cup tournaments came too late.Ireland moved a Test against stunned world champions New Zealand to Chicago last November and ended a world-record 18 straight victo-ries by the All Blacks. Argentina switched a Rugby Championship fixture against Australia to London a month earlier and although they lost, the decision was financially rewarding.

Bayern on verge of fifth straight title

27SUNDAY 30 APRIL 2017 SPORT

Al Gharafa's fight delights Emir Cup final hero Sammy Rizwan RehmatThe Peninsula

Al Gharafa's come-back win in the Emir Cup final on Friday was due to the team's

resolve to 'fight till the end', American star Sammy Mon-roe Jr. said.

On Friday, Al Gharafa beat defending champions El Jaish 92-82 in a gritty display of attacking basketball despite trailing in the first two quarters of the title clash at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall.

Sammy produced an impressive tally of 41 points for the champions who also won the Qatar Cup earlier this month.

"I always expected us to win this game. Not one sec-ond did I feel we'd lose. We stayed focused. We stayed poised. I trusted my team-mates and my coach," Sammy said in an interview after helping his team pro-duce an electrifying comeback win.

Sammy, 32, said the presence of his family in Doha helped him 'do it for them'.

"I feel great. My mum is in Qatar and she got to see me play here. I love winning and I do it for the family. This is my son (holding his son). It is a great feeling," Sammy said.

"My mum being present here gave me the motivation

to do well and especially this guy (pointing to his son)," he added.

Michael Taylor of Al Gharafa said his team played as one unit.

"I just want to give a shout out to my team-mates. They kept believing. They stayed active (on court) and they kept the game close for me to do well. So I did what I normally do. I am just glad that I was able to help my team win," Taylor, the former LA Clippers star, said.

FIBA Asia President Sheikh Saud bin Ali Al Thani said Al Gharafa exploited the mistakes committed by El Jaish in the final.

"The game of basketball depends largely on the

mistakes. A team that can exploit the mistakes of the opponent is usually the win-ner. Al Gharafa did exactly that during the last two quar-ters of the final," Sheikh Saud said.

"Clearly Al Gharafa deserve to be the champi-ons," Sheikh Saud, the Vice President of the Qatar Olym-pic Committee (QOC), added.

"In terms of offense and defense, Al Gharafa emerged as the better side as they had all the bases covered," he said.

"Overall it was a great season of basketball for the winning teams of other titles too - the Qatar Basketball League and the Qatar Cup," he said.

"One could sense that the teams with titles played bet-ter than they did last season," Sheikh Saud said. "Overall, the clubs exhibited better all-round development," he said.

"When these clubs pre-pare for the next season, they

will be in a bet-ter position to assess and plan for trophies in 2017-18 season," he said.

"There is a group of players who have benefit-ted from intense games and they have a bright future, profes-sionally and with the national team," he said.

Ahmed Abdulrahman Al Muftah, President of the Qatar Basketball Federation (QBF), said: "It was a great final. It was a final that would have delighted the purists. It was one of the best games of the last t h r e e seasons."

He said: "We are confi-dent of calling upon the players who impressed us this season. The national call-ups will be made soon. We feel we are moving in the right direction."

The QBF President said: "I congratulate Al Gharafa on a great run that ended with the Emir Cup title. Al Gharafa is one of the stronger sides in the region and they deserve this win."

He also praised the QBF staff for 'their hard labour' in putting together three major tournaments.

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Vettel on pole for RussianGP in Ferrari one-two

Sochi

Reuters

Formula One frontrunner Sebastian Vettel stunned Mercedes to take Ferrari's

first pole position since 2015 yes-terday with team mate Kimi Raikkonen completing a front row lockout at the Russian Grand Prix.

The pole, Vettel's 47th, ended a run of 18 in a row for once-dom-inant world champions Mercedes, who had Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton right behind the two red cars in third and fourth places.

The German, a four-times world champion with Red Bull, has won two of the first three races and leads triple champion Ham-ilton by seven points in the championship.

As a measure of Ferrari's achievement in breaking the Mer-cedes stranglehold and returning to form, the pole was only the Ital-ian team's sixth since 2008.

It was also Ferrari's first front

row sweep since Brazilian Felipe Massa, now with Wil-liams, and Raikkonen qualified first and second at the French Grand Prix -- a race no longer on the calendar -- in June 2008.

Statisticians would have to thumb back to the 2015 Singa-pore Grand Prix, 31 races ago, to find the last time Mercedes had no car on the front row.

"The first run was not really tidy, so I left it to the end, and I improved some time in the last sector," said Vettel, who had to wait before confirma-tion came over the radio that Mercedes were beaten.

Bottas was fastest in the first two phases of qualifying, with the choice of tyres com-ing into play, and those who had suspected the champions were hiding their pace in practice appeared to be justified.

But that too was a false dawn, with glum looks and shaking

heads in the Mercedes garage as the reality of the situation emerged.

"I just wasn't quick enough today, it was all in the last sector... so there's some work to do," said

Hamilton, who had racked up six poles in a row before Bottas took his career first in Bahrain two weeks ago.

Bottas, who has yet to win a Grand Prix and joined from Wil-liams in January, recognised Mercedes had expected far more from a circuit where they have led every lap since the race first appeared on the calendar in 2014.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth with Massa sixth and between the two Red Bulls with Max Verstappen behind in seventh.

Renault, who have struggled to score points, again had a car in the top 10 on the grid with Germany's Nico Hulkenberg qualifying eighth.

Hulkenberg's British team mate Jolyon Palmer compounded a miserable day, after an overnight chassis change and then a replace-ment engine, by crashing out of the first phase.

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F1 GP RUSSIA STARTING GRID 1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari

2. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari

3. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes

4. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes

5. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull - TAG Heuer

6. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes

7. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull - TAG Heuer

8. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Renault

9. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes

10. Esteban Ocon (France) Force India - Mercedes

11. Lance Stroll (Canada) Williams-Mercedes

12. Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso - Renault

13. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) Haas - Ferrari

14. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso - Renault

15. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren

16. Jolyon Palmer (Britain) Renault

17. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany) Sauber - Ferrari

18. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber - Ferrari

19. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas - Ferrari

Al Gharafa players celebrate their Emir Cup victory with young fans at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall on Friday.

I always expected us to win this game. Not one second did I feel we'd lose. We stayed focused. We stayed poised. I trusted my team-mates and my coach, says Sammy.

Al Gharafa's American forward Sammy Monroe Jr. (right) defends against an El Jaish player during the Emir Cup final on Friday.

Ferrari's German driver Sebastian Vettel steers his car during the third practice session of the Formula One Russian Grand Prix at the Sochi Autodrom Circuit in Sochi yesterday.

Mladenovic ends Sharapova's comeback and advances to finalStuttgart

Reuters

Former world number one Maria Sharapova crashed out of the Stuttgart Grand Prix semi-final in her first event back after a 15-month

doping suspension, losing to France's Kristina Mladenovic 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 yesterday.

Wildcard entrant Sharapova, a five-time grand-slam winner, squandered a 6-3, 2-0 lead as Mladenovic clawed her way back into the game to win after two hours and 38 minutes.

Sharapova had not lost a set in the previous three matches of her comeback this week.

Her defeat means she will finish outside the top 200 when the rankings are released on Mon-day, ruling out a qualifier spot for the French Open.

Sharapova, who was banned for using mel-donium after testing positive at the 2016 Australian Open, has also received wildcards for forthcom-ing tournaments in Madrid and Rome.

The Russian was in complete control at the start, with her French opponent showing nerves, and a second double fault allowed Sharapova to race 4-1 clear.

She sealed the first set when Mladenovic sent a crosscourt backhand into the net after just 38 minutes.

Sharapova, a three-time champion in Stutt-gart, broke Mladenovic again at the start of the second set and looked to be cruising to victory as she took a 2-0 lead, attacking her opponent's sec-ond serve.

But despite conceding 11 double faults, Mlad-enovic improved her baseline game, chasing Sharapova with powerful ground strokes across the court.

She almost paid the price for her weak sec-ond serve -- a liability throughout the match -- but Mladenovic survived three break points to move into a 6-5 lead.

She took the set when Sharapova sent a fore-hand wide on Mladenovic's first break opportunity.

The pair traded blows early in the third before the Frenchwoman grabbed a break to go 4-2 up.

The 23-year-old world number 18 stood her ground when she found herself 0-40 in the next game, moving to 5-2, but a disastrous service game allowed the Russian briefly to come back before Mladenovic completed a memorable win to reach her first Stuttgart final with another break.