SPORTThursday 8 February 2018

Maxwell century powers Australia to

T20 win over England

Nadal signs on for Queen’s challenge

PAGE | 32-33 PAGE | 35 PAGE | 36

Over-analysis ‘killing’ football, says

Pochettino‘killi

QNB STARS LEAGUE: ROUND 16TODAY

Al Gharafa vs Al Duhail At Al Gharafa Stadium 4.40pm

Al Rayyan vs Al Sadd At Al Sadd Stadium 6.50pm

TOMORROWAl Sailiya vs Qatar SC At Al Ahli Stadium 4.40pm

Al Khor vs Umm Salal At Al Khor Stadium 6.50pm

SATURDAYAl Kharaitiyat vs Al Markhiya At Al Khor Stadium 4.40pm

Al Arabi vs Al Ahli At Al Arabi Stadium 6.50pm

National Sport Day: Qatar ready to lock horns with Uganda in one-day, T20 seriesFAWAD HUSSAIN

DOHA: As the country celebrates the National Sport Day, fans will enjoy international cricket action in the next five days with Qatar taking on Uganda national team for a couple of one-dayers and Twenty20 each on home soil.

Qatar Cricket Association (QCA), under the Presidency of Yousef Jeham Al Kuwari has organised the series to celebrate National Sport Day while the series will also help the team to prepare for the forthcoming tour of Kuwait.

The series between Qatar and Uganda will start tomorrow with a 50-over match to be played at Asian Town Cricket Stadium, which will also host all the matches involving the tour-ing side. After the opening match, both the teams will lock horns in a T20 match on Saturday, fol-lowed by second one-day game on February 11 with the final T20 to be played on National Sport Day on February 13.

Uganda arrived in Doha on Tuesday night and were received by top QCA officials. The visitors will start their tour with a T20 game against President XI today.

“We welcome the Uganda national team for the Bilateral Cricket Series,” President of

Qatar Rugby, Hockey and Cricket Federation (QRHCF) Yousef Jeham told a press conference yesterday.

“We are looking for an excit-ing series and expecting a lot of fans to come to the venue to watch live action. We will do our best to host the series in a befit-ting manner on the occasion of

National Sport Day,” he said. The president added the

series will help to prepare Qatar for the Kuwait tour where the team will feature at Asian regional qualifiers for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in April.

“Our team is working hard for the future competitions and I hope they will benefit from the

series against their African coun-terparts,” he said.

Most of the Qatar’s play-ers are engaged in domestic tournaments with their respective teams. Apart from that, the national team has also been undergoing exten-sive training sessions.

“The players are in good

shape and are ready for the series,” said QCA Operations Manager Manzoor Ahmad.

“We are hoping for good results against the side which is higher in the international rankings. The series will help the team to gain confidence for Kuwait assignment,” he added.

Al Sadd, Al Rayyan in Qatar Clasico showdown

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: The Qatari giants in the field of football, Al Rayyan and Al Sadd will be seeking honours in the QNB Stars League (QSL) standings when the two sides meet in the Qatar Clasico today.

At the Al Sadd Stadium today, stakes will be high for both teams which possess equally strong line-ups, reputation, history, performance, popularity and fan support.

Al Sadd are second in the table with 37 points, two behind Al Duhail and as many more than third-placed Al Rayyan.

The Wolves have the likes of Spanish great Xavi Hernandez, Jugurtha Hamroun, Morteza Mohammad and Hassan Al Haid-ous to match The Lions’ Abderrazaq Hamdallah, Rodrigo Tabata, Sebastian Soria and Mohsen Moutaouli.

Moroccan striker Hamdallah is Al Rayyan’s top scorer with 12 goals and is the third highest in the list, after Al Duhail’s Youssef El Arabi (20) and Youssef Msakni (14).

Al Rayyan’s playmaker Rod-rigo Tabata has scored 11 goals and striker Sebastian Soria nine.

Al Sadd’s top scorers are Qatar international Hassan Al Haydous and Algerian attacking midfielder Jugurtha Hamroun (eight goals each). The Algerian attacking mid-fielder, who had netted a brace in their victories in Weeks 13 and 14 and missed their last match due

to suspension, will be back in action.

Al Rayyan are coming off their 3-1 win over Al Markhiya, while Al Sadd got the better of Qatar SC by the same score.

Al Rayyan’s first-choice goal-keeper Omar Barry is experienced enough, but will find it hard to contain the Al Sadd offence, where Algerian ace Baghdad Bounedjah is a doubtful starter even though he trained with the team on Sunday.

Al Sadd custodian Saad Al Dossari has also proved his met-tle, but if Hamdallah and company have their way, he will also be at the receiving end.

In defence, The Lions are served by Gonzalo Vieira, Mousa Haroun, Mohammed Alaelddin and Mohammed Juma, whereas Morteza Mohammad, Pedro Miguel, Abdelkarim Hassan and Hamed Ismail man The Wolves’ defence.

Xavi leads the charge in Al Sadd’s midfield, also consisting of Al Haydous and Hamroun, while Al Rayyan have in-form Mohsine Moutaouli and Daniel Goumou to assist Tabata.

The Wolves will miss Boualem Khoukhi through an injury, but have at their disposal the services of Akram Afif, signed on loan from Villarreal, Spain.

Al Sadd coach Jesualdo Fer-reira (Portugal) and his Al Rayyan counterpart Michael Laudrup (Denmark) are both master tac-ticians and have produced excellent results. And that makes the ‘Qatar Classico’ a battle for technical supremacy as well.

Al Rayyan won the first-phase of Qatar Clasico 2-1, so Al Sadd will look to settle the score.

Speaking during a pre-match press conference, Al Sadd coach Ferreira said: “The game is cru-cial and we know the importance of winning it though we still have seven games remaining. The play-ers are aware of it. We had not been playing with a full squad for a long time. However, we won many matches.

“I have great confidence in my players and we have a policy to groom youngsters. Al Duhail and Al Sadd must keep winning as Al Rayyan are close behind. I am also happy that Akram Afif has joined us.

“Our strength is team work and not individual players. Ours is a squad consisting of many star players. The return from injury of Baghdad Bounedjah means another player would be on the bench,” said Ferreira.

His counterpart, Laudrup said: “The players are excited about the Qatar Clasico. There can’t be a better motivation for them than the prospects of playing in this match. So far, we have 11 wins and we are still four points behind leaders Al Duhail.

“So it’s important to win and gain more and more points as we will be playing quite often now with the AFC Champions League coming up. We must stay focused. We are happy with our perform-ance so far.

“Al Rayyan do not have play-ers in the Qatar national team due to age factor. Our players like Ahmed Abdul Maqsoud and Mohammed Alaaeldin have the potential to make it to the squad,” said Laudrup.

Today’s other match will also see two top sides taking on each other in a crunch tie. QSL Table leaders Al Duhail are sure to make life tough for Al Gharafa when they face off on the latter’s home turf. The Red Knights, leading the table with 39 points, will be looking to reg-ister their 13th victory and remain as the only unbeaten side so far in this season’s league competition.

SQUADSQATAR: Inam-Ul-Haq, Mohamed Rizlan,

Mohamed Awais, Malik Faisal, Javed Khan, Iqbal

Hussain Chaudhry, Dharmang Hasmukh Patel,

Qalandar Khan, Mohamed Nadeem, Kamran

Khan, Tamoor Sajjad, Zaheeruddeen Ibrahim,

Mohamed Tanveer, Mohamed Imran Ashraf and

Khurram Shahzad

UGANDA: Roger Mukasa, Hamu Kayondo

Bagenda, Zephania Arinaitwe, Simon Sseazi,

Shahzad Ukani, Lloyd Paternott, Deusdedit

Muhumuza, Brian Masaba, Frank Nsubuga,

Kenneth Waiswa, Fred Achelam, Irfan

Sahibzada, Henry Senyondo, Charles Waiswa,

Trevor Bukenya, Bilal Hassun and Riazat Ali

Shah Officials: Jackson Kavuma, Stephen Ogonji

Tikolo, Habiba Kulusumu Anguyo

PRESIDENT’S XI: Ushantha (HBK), Gayan

(Galfar Al Misnad), Anoop (Tusker), Phillip

(CBQ), Khalid Khateeb (Royal Stars), Mujeeb-Ur

Rehman (Feroz Youngsters), Shahid (Royal

Stars), Noman Sarvar (Feroz Youngsters),

Mansoor Khalid (Qatar Airways), Mohamed

Mirza (Police), Moiz Siddiqui (ex-under-19

player), Awais Junior (Royal Stars), Omran

Hussain (Qatari Diar), Mugheeb (HBK), Waleed

(CBQ), Harris Butt (Al Feroz), Nafees (Qatari

Diar) and Hussain Khan (ex-under-19 player)

Yousef Jeham Al Kuwari, President of Qatar Cricket Association QCA (centre) presenting a memento to Ugandan team manager Jackson in the presence of QCA and Uganda cricket officials during a press conference held in Doha yesterday. Picture: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula

QATAR VS UGANDA

FIXTURES:

Today: President’s XI vs Uganda (T20) 6pm

Tomorrow: Qatar vs Uganda (50-over match) 1pm

February 10:Qatar vs Uganda (T20) 6pm

February 11:Qatar vs Uganda (50-over) match 9am

February 13: Qatar vs Uganda (T20) 8am

Al Sadd and Al Rayyan players vie for the ball possession during a QNB Stars League match in this file photo.

Al Sadd are second in the table with 37 points, two behind Al Duhail and as many more than third-placed Al Rayyan. Al Rayyan won the first-phase of Qatar Clasico 2-1.

30 THURSDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2018SPORT

World champ Bailey rips IOC, biathlon bosses over Russia doping mess

AFP

PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA: World 20km individual champion Lowell Bailey was doubtful yesterday of fair and clean biathlon events at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, hammering slow and inadequate responses to the Russian doping scandal.

The 36-year-old American called upon the International Olympic Committee, World Anti-Doping Agency and International Biathlon Union for tougher pun-ishments in the wake of systemic doping at Sochi 2014.

“It’s clear to me our sport is not completely clean and that doesn’t live up to the Olympic ideal,” Bailey said.

“We all -- the IOC, WADA, IBU -- need to work harder to make sure the athletes have the fundamental right to compete on a level playing field.” Russia has been banned from the Pyeongchang Games, although some Russians will compete as “Olympic Athletes from Russia” under a neutral flag.

But asked if the biathlon events will be clean and fair at

Pyeongchang, Bailey was uncertain.

“It’s my hope that’s the case,” he said. “We have maybe the best chance of it being a clean field we’ve ever had.” He said IOC efforts to ban cheats had “robust criteria” and added: “It’s my hope that’s enough to create clean sport.” Bailey said the probe into Russia’s doping schemes at Sochi should have been expedited and included Moscow lab data still unseen.

“The IOC was right to take away Russian participation,” Bai-ley said. “There have been some startling transgressions from Russia. It’s clear the Sochi Games were compromised by their actions.” But the current system of safeguarding fair play is inad-equate, Bailey said.

“It did fail clean athletes. It did not protect fair play and we’re at a critical moment right now,” he said.

“It’s up to the IOC, WADA and the (sport governing bodies) to take a stance. Are you coming down on the side of clean sport and fair play, or be on the side of ‘it’s unclear’? It’s not unclear.” Bailey also dismissed any idea of

anti-Russian politics in the situation.

“It’s not revisiting the Cold War,” he said. “Unfortunately the political rhetoric is this is a clash between the West and Russia. It’s not. It’s about clean sports. We all have to abide by the WADA code.” Bailey, who backs life bans for doping, noted the World Cup events will still have Pyeongchang-banned biathletes, and the IBU World Cup final remains scheduled to be held in Russia.

“We’ll be in a country respon-sible for the worst doping scandal in the history of our sport and our federation thinks that’s fine,” Bai-ley said.

“They need to take stronger actions, the first being we can’t have a World Cup final in Russia this year. It sends the wrong mes-sage. This is the first step they have to do to earn back the respect of athletes.” - ‘You feel violated’ - Bailey said athletes are unhappy at sharing World Cup podiums with Olympic-banned rivals, and spoke of his own feel-ings at finishing behind athletes later proven cheats.

“You feel violated. I don’t

think there’s any other way to feel about it,” he said. “I don’t think you ever really get over it. It just sort of taints the way you look back at that competition.

“When you are retroactively awarded a higher place, no mat-ter what they do, if they award you a medal, if it’s four years or four days later, you’ve lost that moment.” Recalling a World Cup third that was later upgraded to second, Bailey said: “I was retro-awarded the higher spot. But a letter in the mail doesn’t make up for a moment lost. He served his two years and was welcomed back. The Russians don’t seem to have a problem with that.”

Bailey was also annoyed at the delays in dealing with the scandal.

Two days before the opening ceremony, 47 Russians barred from the Games still have appeals pending before the Court of Arbi-tration for Sport.

“The timing of all this is ridic-ulous. It should have been done in a much more expedited way,” he said. “If you look at the evi-dence out there, there’s enough proof to make judgements at that point.”

Final countdown begins for Qatar Total OpenTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: With less than five days to go, the final countdown has begun for the Qatar Total Open 2018, the 16th edition of the annual WTA Premier 5 category tourna-ment.

Already, the Khalifa International Ten-nis & Squash Complex, the venue of the seven-day event which will be held from February 12-18 is wearing a new look with attractive branding reflecting the mood of the tournament.

This year’s tournament carries a total cash prize of $2,666,000 with singles draw of 64 players and doubles of 32.

Tennis fans will have the wonderful opportunity of witnessing their favorite stars on parade with Australian Open champion, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark (World No.1), Simona Halep of Romania (No. 2), Elina Svitolina of Ukraine (3), Garbine Muguruza of Spain (4), defending cham-pion Karolina Pliskova from Czech Republic (5), Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia (6), Angel-ique Kerber from Germany (9) and Julia

Georges of Germany (10) headlining a strong field from the top-ten list besides many other world ranked players.

Ticket sales are on and more impor-tantly, the best women’s tennis players are warming up ahead of their big dash in Doha.

The stars are expected to be touching down from today with Muguruza being the first to arrive in the country. Next to arrive will be two-time champion and a strong contender for the Diamond Ball trophy, Maria Sharapova of Russia.

Other players are expected in the coun-try before the commencement of the tournament on February 12.

“The expectations for this year’s tour-nament are quite high considering the caliber of players on parade. We are delighted to play host to such a strong field. Tennis fans in the country are set for a week-long feast of great games which is something we are happy about. Ticket sales have been quite encouraging and we believe Qatar Total Open 2018 will be the best ever,” says Tournament Director Saad Al Mohannadi.

Russia’s Maria Sharapova sits on a motorcycle after defeating compatriot Vera Zvonareva in the final of the Qatar Open tournament in Doha in this 2008 file picture.

France a ‘must-win’ game for Scots,says MaitlandAFP

EDINBURGH: Scotland wing Sean Maitland is in no doubt about the importance of Sunday’s Six Nations clash against France, labelling the Murrayfield match a “must-win” game for both sides.

The Scots entered the tournament with high hopes after a promising November campaign, only to be overwhelmed 34-7 by Wales in a lop-sided opener in Cardiff last weekend.

France too were beaten first-time out, although in their case they suffered the agony of succumbing to a last-ditch Johnny Sexton drop-goal against Ireland in Paris, when it seemed they would give Jacques Brunel a win in his first game as boss of Les Bleus.

It’s a moot point which of the two teams now feel more deflated -- Scotland for being thoroughly outplayed in a game where they were almost ‘nilled’ or France for having victory snatched from their grasp at the finish.

“They (France) were very unlucky,” Maitland, in line to replace the injured Byron McGuigan, said Wednesday.

“If you take a spank-ing or lose like that, I’m not sure how you’d like to lose -- those (French) boys looked like they were hurting after the game. They’re in a simi-lar situation to us, both picked up losses first up and we can’t afford to lose a second game.”

The New Zealand-born flyer, who plays his club rugby for European champions Saracens, added: “We know this is a really important game. The good thing for us is we’re playing at home,

our form over the last two years has been really good playing at home.

“It’s a must-win game.”

There were many who felt Maitland was unlucky to be omitted from Scotland coach Gre-gor Townsend’s starting XV against Wales in favour of McGuigan, a Six Nations debutant, in Car-diff. But the Sale back’s injury means Maitland, in the side that beat Aus-tralia in November, is poised to regain his place and win a 31st Scotland cap this weekend.

“When you’re in the team you want to have competition and over the last few years there has always been competition in the back three with me, Tommy (Seymour), Viss (Tim Visser) and now Byron has come on the scene,” said Maitland.

“He was absolutely class in the Australia game and that’s what Gregor said, he deserved another chance.

“It’s a shame what happened to Byron with his hamstring, but there’s still a lot more competi-tion with Lee Jones who played really well against the All Blacks. You need that to drive yourself.”

When you’re in the team you want to have competition and over the last few years there has always been competition in the back three with me, Tommy (Seymour), Viss (Tim Visser) and now Byron has come on the scene: Maitland

31THURSDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2018 SPORT

Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury trainsin Freestyle Skiing for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics at the Moguls Training in Phoenix Snow Park, Pyeongchang, South Korea, yesterday.

Competitors to watch for in Pyeongchang AFP

PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA: About 3,000 competitors will take part in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea from February 9-25. A look at some of the big names expected to shine.

- Nathan Chen (USA, figure skating) - The 18-year-old quadruple jump prodigy has

positioned himself among the favourites for gold after winning his first Grand Prix Final title. The US champion has shown he can line up five four-rotation quad jumps in a four-and-a-half-minute routine. But the son of Chinese immigrants knows that the quad jump alone will not land him Olym-pic gold and has worked to improve his artistry and skating skills to challenge reigning Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu. From October to December, Chen won three Grand Prix compe-titions and defeated Hanyu, who has been out injured since November but is back to defend his title at Pyeongchang.

- Choi Min-Jeong (KOR, short-track speed skating) - In her first Olympics, 19-year-old Choi is South Korea’s potential golden girl and the favourite over three distances in short-track speed skating -- 500m, 1,000m and 1,500m. A fourth gold is not out of reach on home soil if she can help the host nation win the 3,000m relay. The Chinese women will hope to stand in her way.

- Martin Fourcade (FRA, biathlon) - The 29-year-old brings to Pyeongchang all the cre-dentials for achieving more success. An 11-time world champion and six-time overall World Cup winner, Fourcade won two golds and a silver at Sochi 2014 having also claimed silver in 2010. The French army officer has been in imperious form this season, but so has Norwegian Johan-nes Boe, the only man capable of stopping his golden charge. It all makes for a thrilling show-down in South Korea.

- Yuzuru Hanyu (JPN, figure skating) - Reigning champion Hanyu -- the first Japanese man to win Olympic figure-skating gold -- started the season as favourite to become the first man since American Dick Button in 1952 to win back-to-back titles. However, the 23-year-old damaged right ankle ligaments attempting a quadruple lutz in training in November and although he is back on the ice, his form is in doubt. Widely consid-ered to be the greatest skater ever, Hanyu has the complete package, combining immense techni-cal skill with emotional and interpretive performances which have earned him world-record marks for the short programme, free skate and total score. But the crown of the “Ice Prince” could slip if he isn’t in top form against Ameri-ca’s Chen.

- Marcel Hirscher (AUT, alpine skiing) - The Austrian is a record six-time winner of the over-all World Cup crystal globe and looks well set to extend that after notching up a string of victories this season. The 28-year-old has 55 World Cup wins, equal to legendary compatriot Hermann Maier and bettered only by one man -- the great Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden. Hirscher has not enjoyed the same success on the Olympic stage, a slalom silver medal to his name from Sochi being his sole medal. He finished a heart-break-ing fourth twice in the giant slaloms in 2010 and 2014, and fifth in the Vancouver slalom. But now, Hirscher looks in the form of his life in Pyeongchang, where a first individual gold

beckons. - Kjetil Jansrud (NOR, alpine skiing) - The

Norwegian heads up a powerful national team also boasting the likes of speed king Aksel Lund Svindal and slalom expert Henrik Kristoffersen. Jansrud won super-G gold and downhill bronze in Sochi in 2014 and giant slalom silver in 2010. His versatility is legendary and he has history in South Korea, having won the downhill on the Olympic course in February last year.

- Chloe Kim (USA, snowboarding) - Aged just 17, Chloe Kim is tipped by many to become the breakout star of the Winter Olympics in Korea, her parents’ homeland. Too young to compete in Sochi four years ago, she’s a halfpipe snowboard specialist who has racked up some impressive performances over the past few months. She is a four-times Winter X Games champion and was America’s flag-bearer at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics, where she won the halfpipe and slope-style titles.

- Alina Zagitova (RUS, figure skating) - The sensational 15-year-old could become a house-hold name at Pyeongchang. She arrived in South Korea as European champion after beating two-time world and European champion Evgenia Medvedeva in January in Moscow. Zagitova has lutzed and axeled her way into contention for Olympic glory after a breathtaking debut season on the senior circuit. However the 18-year-old Medvedeva -- unbeaten in two years until Janu-ary -- will still be a major obstacle. Returning after time off to recover from a broken foot, she was only narrowly eclipsed by her training part-ner and close friend Zagitova, and is keen for revenge in Korea.

- Mikaela Shiffrin (USA, alpine skiing) - At just 22 years old, the Colorado native has already racked up 41 wins on the World Cup circuit, mainly in the slalom. But this year has seen Shif-frin add a further string to her bow as she branches out into the speed disciplines. She streaked to a first downhill victory in Lake Lou-ise and given Pyeongchang’s favourable schedule, Shiffrin could realistically medal in four events.

- Lindsey Vonn (pictured) (USA, alpine ski-ing) - The 33-year-old American has won four World Cup overall championships as well as an Olympic gold in the downhill at the 2010 Games. Despite missing the 2014 Games through injury she has become one of the most recognisable sportswomen in the world. She has 81 World Cup wins to her name, closing down on Ingemar Sten-mark’s record of 86, and is aiming for a last Olympic hurrah in South Korea.

Athletes, organisers locked in cold warREUTERS

PYEONGCHANG: Even for cold weather warriors hardened by years of winter sports training, the icy chill of South Korea’s frigid February has come as a shock to the system in the leadup to this month’s Pyeongchang Olympics.

Plunging to minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) at night and rarely breaking above freezing in the day, the temperatures have put Pyeongchang on track to be the coldest Olympics in decades and present athletes with a very dif-ferent set of conditions from the sunshine and slushy snow of Sochi four years ago.

The 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, where temperatures dipped to minus 11 Celsius, are currently the coldest Olympics on record but recent Games in Turin, Vancou-ver and Sochi have all been significantly warmer.

Sporting and digital equip-ment appears no match for the biting cold either, with skis warped to such an extent coaches are tossing them out like “garbage” while cellphone and TV camera batteries are being rendered lifeless in minutes.

Austrian Alpine skier Mar-cel Hirscher said athletes were using a different pair of skis on every run as the frigid temper-atures sharpened snow crystals.

“Snow crystals get really

sharp when temperatures go to minus 20 degrees and the base burns,” he added.

“It’s the same as lighting a fire and burning your (ski) base because the snow crystals get such sharp edges.” Health con-cerns too have risen to the fore.

Norway’s cross-country team have brought some of their training indoors to prevent cold air from damaging athletes’ air-ways while fears that an outbreak of norovirus, known as the ‘winter vomiting bug’, would sweep through the Games prompted organisers to keep infected security staff away from work.

But it is the threat of hypo-thermia at Friday’s opening ceremony that has set organis-ers on edge, with presidents, prime ministers and some 35,000 spectators scheduled to gather under the stars at Pyeongchang’s $58m open-air Olympic stadium.

The ceremony has been slimmed down to a brisk two-hour march from the typical four-hour procession and organisers plan to dish out hats, blankets and seat-warmers to combat the cold, though that has not been enough to reassure some spectators as a number of tickets have already been returned.

Sadie Bjornsen, a cross-country skier on Team USA, told Reuters they were taking the cold threat seriously.

“We’ve got these heated jackets from Ralph Lauren, and

we’ve also been told that there’s going to be a warm area that we can stand in,” she said. “After it’s over it’s about getting back on the bus as quickly as possible.” ‘PYEONGCHANG COLD’ The Korean Meteorological Admin-istration (KMA) may just have provided a ray of sunshine for organisers on Wednesday, however.

“According to our forecast the temperature will not be problematic to have the open-ing ceremony,” KMA Deputy Director Choi Heung-jin told reporters.

Temperatures would range from minus 2 to minus 5 Celsius (28.4-23 F) which would not be overly concerning, he added.

Yoon Hee-dong, director of the KMA’s forecast bureau, said spectators coming to Gangwon province should realise that it was colder than other parts of Korea and that they should “bundle up” and take other pre-cautions to keep the cold at bay.

A hardy construction worker at the media centre in Pyeongchang, layered up with only his eyes and nose exposed to the elements, said the cold was “different” here.

“This is not Seoul,” he said. “This is Pyeongchang cold.” The current cold snap is the latest to blanket the country over the past few months, prompting the Korea Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention to issue warnings about cold weather injuries such as hypothermia and frostbite.

Nathan Chen of the US with compatriot Adam Rippon during Figure Skating practice at the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung Ice Arena, Gangneung, South Korea, yesterday.

32 THURSDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2018SPORT 33THURSDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2018 SPORT

Di Maria hat-trick powers PSG;Marseille hit nine

AFP

PARIS: Angel Di Maria scored a hat-trick as holders Paris Saint-Germain defeated second-tier Sochaux 4-1 on Tuesday to reach the French Cup quarter-finals, while Marseille demolished Ligue 2 outfit Bourg-en-Bresse 9-0.

The Argentine winger headed PSG, who were playing without the rested Neymar, ahead inside the first minute at the Stade Bonal in eastern France, but twice former winners Sochaux levelled through Florian Martin before the quarter hour.

Edinson Cavani restored the lead for Unai Emery’s team on 27 minutes when he turned in a Lay-vin Kurzawa cross at the far post, and Thiago Silva then rattled the crossbar with a header from a corner.

Di Maria added a third just prior to the hour with a composed finish after he was released in behind the home defence by a pass from Italian midfielder Marco Verratti.

He completed his hat-trick just three minutes later by forcing home a rebound from close range after Sochaux goalkeeper Law-rence Ati Zigi parried a fierce shot from Cavani.

Dani Alves finished the game in goal for PSG after Kevin Trapp was sent off in the closing stages for a foul outside his area on Sochaux striker Thomas Robinet.

“The goal today was to advance beyond this round of the French Cup without injuries,” said Emery, whose side travel to Real Madrid next week for the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.

“We’re very happy with (Di Maria),” added the Spaniard, who has seen the revitalised Argentine score nine goals in 10 matches since the turn of the year.

“He deserves to be in the squad, in the starting XI, like all the other players. My opinion of him hasn’t changed today, he’s an important player for us.”

Earlier, both Kostas Mitroglou and Lucas Ocampos scored hat-tricks as in-form Marseille crushed a hapless Bourg-en-Bresse in a heavily lopsided last 16 tie.

Rudi Garcia’s side, who are sec-ond in Ligue 1 after thrashing Metz 6-3 last week, romped into a 4-0 lead inside 20 minutes at the strug-gling Ligue 2 side and showed no mercy against hapless opponents.

“We had an actual nightmare, the two sides were a world apart,” admitted Bourg-en-Bresse coach Herve Della Maggiore. “We watched them play.”

Despite making six changes to the starting XI, Marseille ended the tie as a contest with early goals from Luiz Gustavo, Dimitri Payet, Ocampos and Mitroglou.

Greek international striker Mitroglou has struggled to nail down a place in the team since join-ing from Benfica last year, but he

strolled through the vacant home defence to score the fifth before half-time.

Argentinian Ocampos grabbed his second early in the second half, although he was made to wait to complete his treble as Marseille went a game-high 23 minutes without scoring before he headed home.

Mitroglou quickly got back in on the act as some more awful defending allowed him to nod in his seventh goal for the club, before Clinton N’Jie wrapped up the scor-ing with number nine from the penalty spot.

Marseille have now won eight and drawn one of their last nine matches in all competitions, scor-ing 30 goals in the process.

But they fell well short of their record win -- a 19-0 French Cup victory over Stade Raphaelois in 1933.

REVISED FA CUP FIFTH ROUND DRAW

Sheffield Wednesday vs Swansea CityWest Bromwich Albion vs SouthamptonChelsea vs Hull CityLeicester City vs Sheffield UnitedHuddersfield Town vs Manchester UnitedRochdale vs Newport County or Tottenham HotspurBrighton & Hove Albion vs Coventry CityWigan Athletic vs Manchester CityTies to be played Feb. 16-19

Bayern reach German Cup semisREUTERS

MUNICH: Bayern Munich dismantled third-tier Paderborn to sweep into the German Cup semi-finals with a thumping 6-0 win on Tuesday.

The lower league side, who suf-fered successive relegations after playing in the Bundesliga three years ago, began brightly but were swiftly outclassed by visiting Bayern, who have won the competition a record 18 times.

Kingsley Coman gave Bayern the lead after 19 minutes, sweeping home from close range after Arjen Robben had missed his kick, and the France forward then teed up Robert Lewand-owski with a delightful pass for the second.

Bayern effectively ended Pader-born’s resistance four minutes before halftime when a beautiful long ball from Mats Hummels found Joshua Kimmich, who beat the keeper at his near post with a calm finish.

Bayern landed a further blow 10 minutes into the second half when Corentin Tolisso headed home unmarked from a corner. Robben curled the ball home from the edge of the area and then tapped in from close range to complete an emphatic win late on.

Bayer Leverkusen also reached the last four after fighting back from 2-0 down to beat Werder Bremen 4-2 after extra time.

Max Kruse and Aron Johannsson

had given Bremen a two-goal lead inside seven minutes, but Julian Brandt scored either side of halftime to drag Leverkusen back into the match.Karim Bellarabi and Kai Havertz then scored late in extra time to complete a superb turnaround.

The semi-final lineup will be com-pleted on Wednesday when last year’s runners-up Eintracht Frankfurt host Mainz 05 and VfL Wolfsburg visit Schalke 04 in the remaining quarter-final ties.

Paris Saint-Germain’s Argentinian forward Angel Di Maria celebrates after scoring a goal against Sochaux (FCSM) on Tuesday.

Marseille’s Greek forward Konstantinos Mitroglou (centre) heads the ball to score against Bourg-en-Bresse (FBBP) during their French Cup round of 16 football match played at the Marcel Verchere Stadium in Bourg-en-Bresse, central-eastern France on Tuesday.

Bayern Munich’s Corentin Tolisso scores their fourth goal against SC Paderborn 07on Tuesday.

Swansea City’s English midfielder Wayne Routledge (centre) celebrates with team-mates Tammy Abraham and Nathan Dyer after scoring their sixth goal during the English FA Cup fourth round replay football match against Notts County at The Liberty Stadium in Swansea, south Wales on Tuesday.

Swansea run riot in FA Cup replay

REUTERS

LONDON: Rampant Swansea City thrashed fourth-tier Notts County 8-1 in a replay to reach the FA Cup fifth round on Tuesday as they chalked up their biggest victory in the competition.

Swansea’s fellow Premier League side Huddersfield Town fought back against second-tier Birmingham City to progress with a 4-1 extra-time replay win and will host Manchester United.

Third-tier Rochdale knocked out Championship club Mill-wall 1-0 thanks to Ian Henderson’s 53rd minute goal to set up a tie at home to Tottenham Hotspur or Newport County.

Tammy Abraham, on loan from Chelsea, and Nathan Dyer both scored twice as Swansea, rejuvenated since the appoint-ment of manager Carlos Carvalhal at the end of December, scored four times in each half against beleaguered County.

Kyle Naughton, Wayne Routledge, Tom Carroll and Daniel James were also on target for the Swans, who drew 1-1 at Meadow Lane in the first game and now face Carvalhal’s old club, second-tier Sheffield Wednesday who the Portuguese left on Christmas Eve.

Birmingham took the lead through Che Adams early in the second half, but Huddersfield drew level with an own goal from Marc Roberts after Tom Ince’s shot was parried by the keeper.

Town pulled clear in extra time with Steve Mounie heading the visitors into the lead before Rajiv van La Parra slotted in a rebound and Ince added a fourth with a fierce drive.

Spurs play their fourth round replay against fourth-tier New-port County at Wembley on Wednesday after a 1-1 draw away.

Conte won’t be sacked for nowAFP

LONDON: Antonio Conte won’t be sacked as Chelsea manager in the short term at least after being granted a stay of execution by Roman Abramovich, according to reports on Tuesday.

Conte’s future with the troubled Premier League champions was cast into doubt on Monday after a dismal 4-1 defeat against Watford.

Fourth-placed Chelsea are lan-guishing 19 points behind leaders Manchester City after a turbulent campaign marred by Conte’s squab-ble with his club’s hierarchy over their transfer policy.

Blues owner Abramovich has never been shy about wielding the axe when his managers under-per-form and it was suggested the debacle at Vicarage Road, coming hot on the heels of a wretched home loss to Bournemouth, could prompt Conte’s dismissal.

But widespread reports in the British media on Tuesday claimed former Juventus and Italy manager Conte is now expected to remain in charge for Monday’s game against West Bromwich Albion.

While there were meetings between various Chelsea board members on Tuesday, it is under-stood they were non-football related, over other corpo-

rate and commercial issues, with the future of the manager not on the agenda.

Former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique is among the big names who have been linked with the Chelsea job, but Conte is said to be refusing to con-template resigning after less than two years in charge at Stamford Bridge.

The Italian is believed to have irri-tated his squad with his demanding training schedule and intense personality.

And Conte has now given Chel-sea’s players three days off to recover after the Watford defeat.

Having publicly complained about Chelsea’s failure to land his top transfer targets this season, Conte risked angering Abramovich last week when he questioned why the club hadn’t given him a vote of con-fidence amid speculation over his future.

Chelsea backed their manager, who still has 18 months of his con-tract to run, during the January transfer window by bringing in defender Emerson Palmieri from Roma and France forward Olivier Gir-oud from Arsenal.

Meanwhile, Chelsea defender Gary Cahill admits the squad needs to be held accountable for the per-formance against Watford.

“Whatever is decided, the play-ers have to take responsibility. The manager has done an absolutely unbelievable job,” Cahill told the Lon-

don Evening Standard.“This is the worst I’ve felt for

quite a while. Performance-wise, I didn’t recognise us or myself.

“It was abysmal. It hurts a lot when you come off after a per-formance like that.

“We just need to keep strong. I’ve been here before

at this club - it’s about staying

calm.”

Over-analysis ‘killing’ football, says Pochettino

AFP

LONDON: Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino fears English football’s obsession with over-analysis of deci-sions and a fixation with diving could kill the sport.

Pochettino’s side drew 2-2 at Liverpool on Sunday in a match marred by con-tentious penalty decisions by referee Jon Moss.

T o t t e n h a m w e r e awarded two penalties which have been the source of fierce debate in the past two days, while Spurs midfielder Dele Alli was also booked for diving.

Pochettino felt all three calls were correct, but Liver-pool counterpart Jurgen Klopp was left fuming as his side were pegged back in stoppage time when Harry Kane converted the second controversially awarded penalty.

Tottenham’s impressive performance has subse-quently been overlooked as the decisions of the officials are analysed with a fine-tooth comb, and Pochettino believes paying so much attention to such issues takes away from the essence of the game.

“Football is a creative sport, in which you need the talent, that grows in a

very intelligent person, a very smart brain,” he said.

“And now we are so focused on minimal details. I don’t know. I am worried that in a few years, if the sport that we love now (will still be) a passionate sport that the people love to watch around the world.

“If we are not pushing that sport into a very rigid structured (one) - with the VAR, with being focused too much on the small actions like this.”

In what will be seen as supporting Alli’s constant issue with diving, Pochettino also claimed the England star’s problem isn’t worth worrying about.

“To stop the game, to punish people that... 20 years ago, 30 years ago, it was like all congratulate the player when he tricks the referee or like this. If you remember the football 30 years ago,” he said.

“That is the football that I was in love with when I was a child. Football is about try-ing to trick your opponent. You know? Yes or no? Tactic - what does tactic mean?

“When you do some tactics it is to

try to trick the opponent. You say, ‘Oh I play on the right but I’m going to fin-

ish on the left’. “It’s a mix

that I am worried that maybe we are

going to kill the game. We love this

game.”

Absent Mahrez set to miss Man City matchAFP

LONDON: Riyad Mahrez looks likely to miss this weekend’s match against Manchester City, with Leicester’s star player report-edly absent from training since he failed to force through a move to the Premier League leaders.

It would be the third consec-utive league game the Algeria winger has missed since Pep Guardiola’s City failed to get their man on January 31, transfer dead-line day.

Despite a second transfer request from the player in eight months, Leicester reportedly held out for a deal worth £80m ($111m), with even City’s cash-rich Abu Dhabi owners unwilling to go beyond £60m.

The Times newspaper reported on Wednesday that Leicester were considering ask-ing the Professional Footballers’ Association to mediate in their dis-pute with the forward if no agreement could be reached.

It said the 26-year-old, who has missed Leicester’s past two matches, against Everton and

Swansea, was absent for a fourth successive training session on Tuesday.

It is understood that even if Mahrez reports back for duty, it is unlikely he will feature against Guardiola’s team on Saturday.

Mahrez is unhappy that Leicester were determined to secure such a huge profit on a player they bought for a reported £350,000 from French second-division side Le Havre in 2014 and who played a pivotal role in the club’s rise from the Champion-ship to Premier League champions.

He was crowned players’ player of the year during Leices-ter’s remarkable title-winning campaign in 2015-16, scoring 17 Premier League goals, and then signed a four-year deal to help lead their Champions League charge.

Adding to Mahrez’s anger is that other heroes of Leicester’s title-winning triumph -- N’Golo Kante and Danny Drinkwater -- have been allowed to leave the club and join Chelsea with far less resistance.

believes paying so muchattention to such issues takes away from theessence of the game.

“Football is a creative sport, inwhich you need the talent, that grows in a

- what does tactic mean?“When you dosome tactics it is to

try to trick theopponent. Yousay, ‘Oh I play on the right butI’m going to fin-

ish on the left’.“It’s a mix

that I am worriedthat maybe we are

going to kill thegame. We love this

game.”

Mueller plays down injury fears

AFP

BERLIN: Thomas Mueller (pictured) has played down fears he could miss Bayern Munich’s home Champions League last 16 match against Besiktas in a fortnight after limping out of a German Cup win.

Mueller, Bayern’s captain with Manuel Neuer currently injured, badly bruised his thigh colliding with Paderborn’s goalkeeper Michael Ratajczak in the build-up to Kingsley Coman’s opening goal in a 6-0 cup quarter-final away win on Tuesday.

Mueller played on, but came off after 32 minutes raising fears he could miss Bayern’s home Bundesliga match against Schalke this Saturday, plus their key home European match against Besiktas on February 20, with the last 16 return in Istanbul on March 14.

Mueller took to Twitter to allay fans fears.“The medical staff took good care of me

after I was taken off and I will be able to play again soon. No worries! Thanks for all the well wishes,” wrote Mueller on the social media platform.

Bayern head coach Jupp Heynckes was

more conservative when asked about the health of Germany’s forward.

“We’ll have to see how things go in the next few days. But we hope that he will be back with us on Saturday - Thomas is a very important man for us,” said Heynckes.

Mueller is the lynchpin in Bayern’s attack and in great form with three goals in his last five Bayern games.

He is due a break after making an appear-ance in all of Bayern’s last 11 games.

The Bavarian giants are 18 points clear in Germany’s top flight.

Fifth-placed Schalke are in the pack look-ing to bridge the gap and hinder Bayern’s march to a sixth straight Bundesliga title.

members on Tuesday, it is under-stood they were non-football related,over other corpo-

formance against Watford.“Whatever is decided, the play-

ers have to take responsibility. Themanager has done an absolutelyunbelievable job,” Cahill told the Lon-

don Evening Standard.“This is the worst I’ve felt for

quite a while. Performance-wise, I didn’t recognise us or myself.

“It was abysmal. It hurts a lotwhen you come off after a per-formance like that.

“We just need to keepstrong. I’ve been here before

at this club - it’sabout staying

calm.”

Antonio Conte

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino

34 THURSDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2018SPORT

Cavs buried by Orlando ‘avalanche’AFP

LOS ANGELES: LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers crashed to yet another humili-ating defeat against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday as James Harden scored his 15,000th career point to extend Houston’s winning streak to five games.

In Orlando, James scored 25 points but it was not enough to prevent the Cavs from slump-ing to a 116-98 loss in a roller coaster game.

Cleveland looked to be in the mood for an emphatic win after piling on a massive 43 points in the first quarter and powering to 67-51 at half-time.

But Orlando dominated the second half, outscoring the Cavs 65-31 in the final two quarters to complete a crushing win before their home fans.

A grim night for Cleveland also saw coach Tyronn Lue leave courtside midway through the second quarter with an undisclosed illness. Lue did not reappear and report-edly watched the remainder of the game from the locker room.

Orlando were sparked by 34 points from Jonathon Sim-mons, on a night when all of Orlando’s starters cracked dou-ble digits.

Cavs star James pinpointed a disastrous third quarter -- when Orlando poured on 41 points -- for the loss.

“They hit some big-time shots in the third quarter,” James said. “The snowball turned into an avalanche in the third. A 41-point quarter is hard to come back from.” James said Lue’s illness had also affected the team.

“Unfortunately he’s sick and that’s all we heard,” James said. “He’s the captain of our ship so it’s a tough blow.” The Cavs face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday back in Cleve-land, who have already beaten the Cavs this season.

“We’ve got a great oppor-tunity tomorrow against a team that beat us up pretty good before,” James said.

“We look forward to the challenge. We’ve got to come out and sustain the challenge.” - Harden MVP? - In New York meanwhile, Rockets star Harden brought up 15,000 career points on as Houston swept to a 123-113 win over the

Brooklyn Nets to maintain pres-sure on Golden State at the top of the Western Conference.

Harden finished with 36 points as the Rockets bagged a fifth straight victory to improve to 39-13, two wins back from the Warriors.

Chris Paul had 25 points, with Clint Capela adding 18 and Gerald Green contributing 16 points from the bench.

Harden was bombarded with chants “M-V-P!” during the game but said afterwards he was not thinking about per-sonal honours.

“Just want to win, and put ourselves in the best position that we can for post-season and then we’ll take it from there,” Harden said.

In Toronto, Kyle Lowry scored 23 points as the Raptors closed to within two games of the Boston Celtics at the top of the Eastern Conference with a 111-91 victory.

Raptors ace Lowry made eight rebounds with four assists while C.J. Miles came off the bench to score 20 points in 15 minutes on court.

DeMar DeRozan had 15 points, with six assists and three rebounds. Kyrie Irving had 17 points for the Celtics on his return from injury.

Irving later shouldered blame for the loss.

“As one of the veterans on this team, I’ve got to be better than that,” he said.

“This one is on me. Kind of just taking responsibility and trying to be better going for-ward.” The Raptors’ win puts Toronto at 37-16, second over-all in the East. Boston remain in top spot on 39-16.

In New York, Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis suffered a season-ending knee injury as his team were downed 103-89 by the Milwaukee Bucks.

Porzingis landed awk-wardly after a dunk and twisted his left knee. An MRI scan later confirmed a torn anterior cru-ciate ligament.

LeBron won’t waive no-trade clause despite rocky relationship with CavsREUTERS

NEW YORK: If any teams had hopes of prying LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers before Thursday’s trade dead-line, it seems they can disregard that possibility.

James will not waive his no-trade clause and is commit-ted to seeing this season through with the Cavs, despite the club’s recent struggles.

“I owe it to my teammates to finish the season out,” James said following the Cavs’ 116-98 loss to the Magic in Orlando on Tuesday night. “I would never waive my no-trade clause.” However, that doesn’t mean all is well between James and the Cavaliers.

The Athletic’s Jason Lloyd reported Tuesday that James has “no relationship” with the team’s front office. The rift reportedly stems from James’ view that the club is not heed-

ing his personnel requests.James reportedly backed

former Cavs general manager David Griffin, but the team let him go last summer.

Lloyd also reported that James didn’t want the Cavaliers to trade Kyrie Irving, believing he could patch up his relation-ship with the star guard. However, the team dealt Irv-ing to the Boston Celtics last summer, only telling James when the swap was finalized.

Cleveland has lost 14 of its last 21 games to slip into a tie for third place in the Eastern Conference with the Washing-ton Wizards. The Cavs are 6 1/2 games back of the second-place Toronto Raptors and 7 1/2 back of the first-place Celtics.

James, 33, has the option to become a free agent this off-season, fueling speculation that he will leave Cleveland for the second time in his career, with-out the Cavs receiving anything

in return. Per Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, the Cavaliers have been looking to buy at the deadline and have not talked with James about the idea of rebuilding, which would mean trading away core players.

James would be due $35.6 million in 2018-19 if he opts into the final year of a three-year, $100 million pact signed in August 2016.

James finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the defeat against the Magic. He is averaging 26.3 points, 8.6 assists and 8.0 rebounds per game across 52 games in his 15th NBA season.

Meanwhile, The defending champion Golden State Warri-ors don’t just lead the NBA in wins. They also are the runa-way leader in ejections.

Forward Draymond Green got tossed from the Warriors’ 125-105 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday in

Oakland, Calif., Golden State’s ninth ejection of the season.

The Washington Wizards, Phoenix Suns, Houston Rock-ets, Toronto Raptors and New Orleans Pelicans share second place with three ejections.

Green is the league leader with 13 technical fouls after picking up two Tues-day night.

His first technical against the Thunder came late in the second quarter for arguing over a non-call.

The second, and automatic ejection, occurred with 8:13 left in the game. Green was whis-tled for an offensive foul, and he subsequently softly tossed the ball in the direction of the ref who made the call. Another ref called the technical.

Green didn’t immediate realize he was ejected. When he did, he dismissively waved his hand at the refs and smiled while heading to the tunnel.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (23) knocks the ball from Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) during the second half of thier NBA game at Quicken Loans Arena on Monday.

NHL: Penguins spoil Fleury’s homecomingREUTERS

NEW YORK: Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel each had a goal and an assist during a five-goal spurt to rally the Penguins to a 5-4 victory over the Golden Knights on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, spoiling the homecoming for Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Ryan Reaves, Ian Cole and Jake Guentzel also scored goals and Matt Murray finished with 21 saves for Pittsburgh, which won its eighth straight home game. Sidney Crosby added two assists.

William Karlsson, James Neal, Ryan Carpenter and Jonathan Marchessault scored goals for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, who lost for just the second time in 24 games when scoring the first goal of a game.

Fleury, a key member on three Stanley Cup championship teams in 13 seasons with the Penguins, finished with 33 saves. The No. 1 pick of the 2003 NHL Draft, who set team records for

games, minutes played, wins and shutouts, picked up his 2017 Stanley Cup ring from owner Mario Lemieux before the game and also received a special video tribute and lengthy standing ovation during the first break in the first period.

Capitals 3, Blue Jackets 2 Nicklas Backstrom scored his 200th career goal with 43 sec-onds left to give Washington a victory over host Columbus.

Alex Ovechkin began the game-winning play by sending the puck toward the net, and T.J. Oshie got it in the left circle and made a blind pass to the right side. Backstrom was waiting and fired it past Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.

Backstrom, who also had an assist in the game, became the fifth Washington player to reach the 200-goal mark. Ovechkin added two assists.

Flyers 2, Hurricanes 1 (OT) Jordan Weal’s goal with 3.1 sec-onds remaining in overtime gave Philadelphia a victory at Carolina.

Weal’s goal came on only the

second overtime shot for the Fly-ers after the Hurricanes dictated play for much of the extra ses-sion. The center’s seventh goal of the season ended his eight-game stretch without a point.

Wayne Simmonds scored the Flyers’ earlier goal. Elias Lind-holm scored for the Hurricanes, who dropped to 2-2-1 on a sea-s o n - h i g h , e i g h t - g a m e homestand.

Ducks 4, Sabres 3 (OT) Adam Henrique scored the

overtime winner for visiting Anaheim, and Ducks goalie Ryan Miller earned a victory in a return to the city in which he spent the bulk of his career.

Miller, the all-time winnin-gest goalie in Sabres history, made 30 saves to help snap his team’s three-game losing streak.

Anaheim’s Ondrej Kase and Buffalo’s Jack Eichel each had a goal and an assist.

Panthers 3, Canucks 1 Rookie goalie Harri Sateri

made 26 saves to win his fourth consecutive game, and Ale-ksander Barkov scored twice as Florida defeated visiting

Vancouver.Barkov scored the go-ahead goal for the Panthers and added an empty-netter with 42 seconds remaining. Florida’s Jamie McGinn was also credited with a goal that actually went in off the stick of Vancouver’s Christopher Tanev.

Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom, a former Panthers draft pick and player, made 37 saves. Markus Granlund scored a short-handed goal for the Canucks.

Bruins 3, Red Wings 2 Sean Kuraly and Danton

Heinen each had a goal and an assist as Boston edged host Detroit to win for the eighth time in nine games.

David Krejci scored the other goal for the Bruins. Boston goalie Tuukka Rask stopped 26 shots and has given up just four goals over the past three games.

Martin Frk had a power-play goal and an assist for Detroit, which has lost four of its past six games. Frans Nielsen scored the other Red Wings goal while Jimmy Howard made 28 saves.

Detroit Red Wings left wing Darren Helm (43) takes a shot in the second period against the Boston Bruins during their NHL game at Litttle Caesars Arena.

Orlando 116 Cleveland 98

Toronto 111 Boston 91

Atlanta 108 Memphis 82

Houston 123 Brooklyn 113

Milwaukee 103 New York 89

Philadelphia 115 Washington 102

Oklahoma City 125 Golden State 105

La Lakers 112 Phoenix 93

NBA RESULTS

35THURSDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2018 SPORT

Maxwell century powers Australia to T20 victory

AFP

HOBART: Glenn Maxwell slammed a last-ball six to score a masterful century and lead Australia to a five-wicket victory over England in the second tri-series Twenty20 international in Hobart yesterday.

Maxwell, who earlier took three wickets in two overs, was man of the match with an unbeaten 103 as the Australians chased down England’s 155 for nine in the 19th over.

Maxwell, who was contro-versially dropped from Australia’s one-day team for the recent series against England, responded with a 58-ball cen-tury including 10 fours and four sixes at Bellerive Oval.

“It was nice to get one over the rope and finish the job,” Max-well said.

“For us to start the series the way we have has been outstand-ing. We haven’t had a lot of success in T20 cricket for the last few years.

“Missing out on the one-day squad and not playing any part in the Ashes, it was obviously where I wanted to be this summer.

“I had to do a lot of work behind the scenes and I feel I’ve done that and got back into the Aussie colours.”

Maxwell had a big moment on 59 when his lofted drive found the fingertips of long-off fielder Jason Roy.

But Maxwell stood his ground and although umpire Gerald Abood’s soft signal was out, the television umpire deemed Roy did not complete the catch.

Australia had a rocky start to their run chase when David Wil-ley dismissed David Warner and Chris Lynn in the space of three balls. But Maxwell rebuilt the innings with stands with D’Arcy Short (30), Travis Head (6) and Alex Carey (5 not out) to secure victory.

Willey finished with three wickets for 28 off three overs.

England, troubled by Aus-tralia’s spinners, lost their last six wickets for 33 in registering a below-par total of 155.

Dawid Malan cracked 50 off 36 balls with five fours and two sixes but England fell away after reaching 94 for two in the 10th over.

Maxwell captured three for 10 and Ashton Agar took two for 15 as Australia sent England’s middle order tumbling.

Kane Richardson (1-27) began the damage by removing dangerous opener Jason Roy for nine, before Malan hit his lively half-century. He was supported by Alex Hales with 22 from 15 balls, and captain Eoin Morgan,

also 22 from 14 balls. Hales was the first of two caught-and-bowled wickets for Agar. When Morgan went, caught by Warner off Maxwell, it sparked a mid-dle-order collapse.

Jos Buttler (5) fell cheaply, caught by Maxwell off Marcus Stoinis (1-16), while Sam Billings (10) popped a return catch to Agar.

Malan was caught in the deep by Andrew Tye for Max-well’s second wicket and David Willey (3) was dismissed next ball to give Alex Carey his first international stumping.

Maxwell’s hat-trick ball was wide of the leg-stump line.

Adil Rashid (1) got the toe end of the bat on a shot off paceman Billy Stanlake and was well caught by Stoinis, while Tom Curran (6) was well held by a back-pedalling Warner after failing to pick Tye’s knuckle ball.

Chris Jordan hit the final ball for six to finish with 16 from 11 balls, with Mark Wood on five not out. Tye finished with 1-28.

Australian batsman Glenn Maxwell celebrates after scoring his century in Hobart yesterday.

EnglandJ Roy c Tye b Richardson ..........................................9

A Hales c&b Agar .................................................... 22

D Malan c Tye b Maxwell ....................................... 50

E Morgan c Warner b Maxwell ............................ 22

J Buttler c Maxwell b Stoinis ...................................5

S Billings c&b Agar .................................................. 10

D Willey st Carey b Maxwell ...................................3

C Jordan not out ......................................................16

A Rashid c Stoinis b Stanlake ................................... 1

T Curran c Warner b Tye ...........................................6

M Wood not out ........................................................5

Extras (LB2,W4) ......................................................6

Total (9 wkts) ........................................155 Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-60, 3-94, 4-109, 5-122, 6-126,

7-126, 8-127, 9-137

Bowling: Stanlake 4-0-43-1 (2w), Richardson 4-0-27-1,

Tye 4-0-28-1, Stoinis 2-0-16-1 (2w), Agar 3-0-15-2, Head

1-0-14-0, Maxwell 2-0-10-3

AustraliaD Warner c Hales b Willey .......................................4

D Short c&b Rashid ............................................... 30

C Lynn b Willey ...........................................................0

G Maxwell not out .................................................103

M Stoinis c Billings b Wood ..................................... 6

T Head b Willey ..........................................................6

A Carey not out ..........................................................5

Extras (LB4, W3) ..................................................... 7

Total (5 wkts) ........................................161Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-4, 3-82, 4-98), 5-127

Did not bat: A Agar, A Tye, K Richardson, B Stanlake

Bowling: Willey 3-0-28-3 (1w), Wood 3.3-0-26-1, Jor-

dan 4-0-34-0, Curran 4-0-39-0, Rashid 4-0-30-1 (2w)

Result: Australia won by 5 wickets

SCOREBOARD

Sangakkara calls for Test pay minimum to stop T20 exodusAFP

HONG KONG: Sri Lankan veteran Kumar Sangakkara has called for Test cricket to intro-duce a minimum match fee for all countries to stop young play-ers ditching the long-form for lucrative Twenty20 leagues.

Sangakkara, the fifth-high-est run scorer in the history of Test cricket, retired from the first-class game last year but has continued playing for domestic T20 franchises around the world, including in this week’s Hong Kong T20 Blitz.

The 40-year-old praised the shorter format for spreading the game’s popularity to new mar-kets but warned that without change Test cricket could face a battle to remain relevant for young players and fans.

“T20 is the ideal format to introduce -- you talk about the Americas, with China,” San-gakkara said yesterday.

“Since its inception it’s been a huge pillar of strength for world cricket.

“But there are a few nega-tives ... a lot of young players taking up T20 instead of playing international cricket.

“There are various things that have been discussed, about parity of pay, especially when it comes to match fees for Test cricket.

“Shouldn’t there be a blan-ket minimum pay for Test cricketers?

“The top countries are being paid a certain Test match fee -- shouldn’t that be reflected all throughout the Test-playing countries?”

Currently, international match fees paid to cricketers

from different Test nations vary wildly, with the sport’s so-called “Big Three” -- India, England and Australia -- far ahead of the rest.

According to a survey last year by ESPN CricInfo, Austral-ia’s captain Steven Smith was due to earn $1,469,000 in 2017 while Zimbabwean skipper

Graeme Cremer pocketed just $86,000.

Twenty20 competitions have sprung up around the world, from Australia’s Big Bash League and India’s IPL which stretch out over many weeks to smaller competitions in Hong Kong, Bangladesh, and the UAE which last just a few days.

Players from poorer nations can often earn more in the Twenty20 world than by repre-senting their countries at Test level.

The MCC world cricket com-mittee last month endorsed calls for wage reform at its annual meeting.

Fans as well as players need to be canvased on the changes required to keep Test cricket as the sport’s pinnacle, including day-night and four-day Tests, said Sangakkara.

“We need to understand what Test cricket means to play-ers and what it is to fans,” he said.

“Relevance in sport is so important in terms of not just growing the sport but also sus-taining it.

“I think international cricket is very strong still. For any player, I think the honour of rep-resenting their country be it in Test, one-dayers or T20 cricket, it’s still the pinnacle of the game.”

Sangakkara, who is appear-ing for Galaxy Gladiators Lantau in this week’s Hong Kong tour-nament, also praised the shorter format for extending his career.

“T20 is definitely the easi-est format at my age to stay competitive in,” said San-gakkara, who retired from the f i r s t - c l a s s g a m e i n September.

Sangakkara went out at the top with a remarkable final flourish for Surrey in the Eng-lish county championship, finishing as the competition’s top scorer with 1,491 runs at an aver-age of 106.50.

“I’m definitely a has-been!” he joked.

Kumar Sangakkara

Chandimal to lead Sri Lanka T20 squadAFP

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka yester-day named a 15-member squad captained by Dinesh Chandimal (pictured below) for next week’s Twenty20 matches against Bangladesh.

Angelo Mathews, who normally captains the island-ers in limited-overs cricket, has been ruled out with a hamstring injury for the rest of Sri Lanka’s tour of Bangladesh.

The two T20 matches are slated for February 15 and 18 following a two-match Test series.

Dinesh Chandimal (captain),

Upul Tharanga, Danushka Gu-

nathilaka, Kusal Janith Perera,

Thisara Perera, Asela Gunaratne,

Niroshan Dickwella, Dasun

Shanaka, Isuru Udana, Shehan

Madushanka, Jeffrey Vandersay,

Akila Dananjaya, Amila Aponso,

Jeevan Mendis and Asitha Fern-

ando.

SRI LANKAN SQUAD

SCOREBOARDIndiaR Sharma c Klaasen b Rabada ................................0

S Dhawan c Markram b Duminy ...........................76

V Kohli not out ....................................................... 160

A Rahane c Phehlukwayo b Duminy ....................11

H Pandya c Klaasen b Morris .................................14

M Dhoni c Ngidi b Imran Tahir ...............................10

K Jadhav c Klaasen b Phehlukwayo .......................1

B Kumar (not out).................................................... 16

Extras (LB3, W12) .................................................... 15

Total (6 wkts) ........................................ 303Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-140, 3-160, 4-188, 5-228,

6-236

Bowling: Rabada 10-1-54-1 (3w), Ngidi 6-0-47-0

(2w), Morris 9-0-45-1 (1w), Phehlukwayo 6-0-42-1

(5w), Imran Tahir 9-0-52-1, Duminy 10-0-60-2

Did not bat: Kuldeep Yadav, J Bumrah, Y Chahal

South AfricaHashim Amla lbw Jasprit Bumrah .......................... 1

Aiden Markram st MS Dhoni b Kuldeep Yadav .32

JP Duminy lbw Yuzvendra Chahal ....................... 51

Heinrich Klaasen lbw Yuzvendra Chahal ..............6

David Miller c MS Dhoni b Jasprit Bumrah ........ 25

Khaya Zondo c (Sub) b Yuzvendra Chahal ......... 17

Chris Morris lbw Kuldeep Yadav ...........................14

Andile Phehlukwayo c V Kohli b Kuldeep Yadav 3

Kagiso Rabada (not out) ........................................12

Imran Tahir c Virat Kohli b Yuzvendra Chahal ..... 8

Lungi Ngidi lbw Kuldeep Yadav .............................6

Extras (0b 2lb 0nb 0pen 2w) ...............................4

Total (all out) .........................................179Fall of Wickets: 1-1, 2-79, 3-88, 4-95, 5-129, 6-150,

7-150, 8-158, 9-167, 10-179

Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 7-0-41-0; Jasprit

Bumrah 7-0-32-2 1w; Hardik Pandya 8-0-35-0 1w;

Yuzvendra Chahal 9-0-46-4; Kuldeep Yadav 91 23 4

2.56

Kohli magic leads India to big win over SAAGENCIES

CAPE TOWN: India captain Virat Kohli (pictured above) continued his excellent recent form to smash a sparkling unbeaten century and lead his side to a comprehensive 124-run victory over South Africa in the third One-Day International at Newlands yesterday.

Kohli made 160 not out from 159 balls as India, who had been put into bat, posted 303 for six in their 50 overs, before restricting their hosts to 179 all out to take a 3-0 lead in the series.

South Africa’s brittle bat-ting lineup, without injured stalwarts Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock, were stifled once more by the Indian spinners as Kul-deep Yadav, who took career-best figures (4-23 in 9 overs), and Yuzvendra Cha-hal (4-46 in 9 overs) strangled their innings.

Earlier, Kohli took a rel-atively sedate 119 balls to reach his 34th one-day inter-national hundred, hitting only seven fours, but added another five fours and two sixes off 40 more balls in a blazing finish to the innings.

The 29-year-old was con-tent to play the supporting role in a second-wicket stand of 140 with Shikhar Dhawan, who pounded 12 fours in making 76 off 63 deliveries.

The pair came together after Rohit Sharma was caught behind off Kagiso Rabada in the first over with-out a run scored.

South Africa clawed their way back before Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar added an unbeaten 67 for the sev-enth wicket in the last 7.2 overs of the innings.

South Africa, with an injury-weakened batting line-up, were required to make the highest successful run chase in ODIs at Newlands.

The fourth match will be played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Saturday.

36THURSDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2018

SPORTThe top countries are being paid a certain Test match fee – shouldn’t that be reflected

all throughout the Test-playing countries?”

T20: Uganda vs President

XI at Asian Town Cricket

Stadium

Second Test between

Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

starts in Mirpur

CRICKET CRICKETKumar Sangakkara while calling for Test pay

minimum to stop T20

exodus

Today’s action

Rafael Nadal in action.

‘Excited’ Nadal signs on for Queen’s Club challenge

It is going to be the 10th anniversary of my victory in 2008, it’s a great memory, winning there and three weeks later winning Wimbledon, says Rafael Nadal

Nastase’s ban trimmed on appealAFP

PARIS: An independent tribunal yesterday reduced Ilie Nastase’s suspension for racist and aggres-sive behaviour before and during a 2017 Fed Cup tie between Romania and Great Britain, but increased his fine.

The 71-year old former world

No. 1 appealed after the Interna-tional Tennis Federation (ITF) suspended him from all official involvement in either the Fed Cup or Davis Cup until the end of 2020 and from attending any matches in either event until the end of this year.

The tribunal cut both pun-ishments by eight months: to

April 23 2020 and April 23 this year. The tribunal increased Nas-tase’s fine from $10,000 (8,100 euros) to $20,000.

On April 22 last year, Nas-tase, the captain of the Roma-nian team, insulted a journalist, British player Johanna Konta and the umpire and the match referee.

He also harassed British cap-tain Anne Keothavong before the tie and insulted her during it.

In the press conference the day before the tie in Constanta, Romania, he also made racist remarks about Serena Williams’s unborn baby asking: “Let’s see what colour it has. Chocolate with milk?”

Nastase later apologised but said the media had “exaggerated.”

The organisers of Wim-bledon, where Nastase appeared twice in the men’s singles final, and Roland Garros, where he is a former champion, have made clear he would be unwelcome in the future.

Olympic star Kenny to be back in actionAFP

LONDON: Britain’s four-time Olympic champion Laura Kenny announced yesterday she is returning to competi-tive cycling at this month’s Track Cycling World Cham-pionships just six months after giving birth to her first child.

The 25-year-old and her husband Jason Kenny have both been named in Britain’s squad for the event, which begins in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands on February 28.

Laura and Jason Kenny, a six-time Olympic gold medallist, announced the arrival of their son Albert in August.

“So there we go... I’m excited to announce that I’m going back to where it all began. I have been selected to ride for GB at the world championships at the end of the month!” Laura Kenny posted on Instagram.

Jason 29, returned to competitive action in January, while Laura, whose maiden name was Trott, has been back in training for the past four months.

“I’m looking forward to getting back into the Great Britain skinsuit and racing at the world championships again,” said Laura, who will ride in the team pursuit.

“The last five months since Albie was born have been amazing and my life has changed a lot, but Jason and I are loving every minute of being parents.

“I returned to training about four months ago, and I’ve been really pleased and I guess a bit shocked by how fast my form has started to come back.”

Football, cricket and golf suffering from UK climate change: Study

REUTERS

OSLO: Golf, cricket and football are suffering from wetter weather linked to climate change in Britain, the nation which laid down the modern rules for the games, a study said yesterday.

More downpours meant pitches and fairways were more likely to be soggy or unplayable while sea level rise was also aggravating erosion of coastal golf courses in Scotland, such as Montrose which dates back to 1562, it said.

The Climate Coalition, of 130 non-governmental groups in Britain, said its report under-scored that warming threatens sports beyond those dependent on snow and ice on display at this month’s Pyeongchang Olympics.

A main problem is that six of the seven wettest years on

record in Britain have been since 2000, said Piers Forster, a professor of climate change at the University of Leeds who contributed to the study.

“Britain is particularly sus-ceptible to storms coming in from the North Atlantic,” he said.

Rain, extreme weather and

and erosion meant “cancelled football matches, flooded cricket grounds and golf courses crumbling into the sea,” it said.

Steve Isaac, director of golf course management at the R&A, the governing body for golf out-side the United States and Mexico, said in the report that he reckoned golf was “more

impacted by climate change than any sport aside from skiing”.

Coastal golf courses were suffering from storm surges and a rise in sea levels, caused by a melt of ice from Greenland to the Himalayas.

Montrose, for instance, has moved tees and fairways inland because of erosion, said Chris Curnin, director at the Montrose Golf Links. Dredging and nat-ural shifts in the North Sea explained some of the erosion, of 70 metres in places.

“Climate change and rising seas are accelerating the retreat,” he said.

US President Donald Trump, who doubts that greenhouse gas emissions are the prime driver of climate change, owns two courses in Scotland. The England and Wales Cricket Board said it was suffering from less predictable weather. Twenty seven percent of England’s home One Day Inter-nationals were played with reduced overs since 2000 due to rain disruptions, the study said.

And for soccer, extreme weather events caused the can-cellation of 25 Football League fixtures during the 2015-16 season, the study said. It did not give comparisons to other years.

Wet outfields have been affecting cricket matches more in recent years.

Twenty seven percent of England’s home One Day Internationals were played with reduced overs since 2000 due to rain disruptions,

Extreme weather events caused the cancellation of 25 Football League fixtures during the 2015-16 season

Zimbabwe hire coach De VilliersAFP

HARARE: Former Springboks coach Peter De Villiers has been appointed to lead Zimbabwe as it seek to qualify for next year’s Rugby World Cup, the union boss said yesterday.

The Zimbabwe Rugby Union CEO Sifiso Made con-firmed De Villiers’ appoint-ment on a two-year contract.

“As you are aware Peter de Villiers was Springboks coach at both senior and junior level and he is the first guy to beat New Zealand,” Made said.

“He brings depth, knowl-edge and a wealth of interna-tional experience at the highest level which we didn’t have in our local coaches. This is the World Cup quali-fier year and we need to win all the five games.”

De Villiers who coached South Africa between 2007 and 2011 takes over from Zimbabwean national Cyprian Mandenge.

Zimbabwe’s Sables play Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Tunisia and Uganda in the qualifiers for the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

AFP

LONDON: World number one Rafael Nadal has confirmed he will play in the Wimbledon warm-up event at Queen’s Club later this year.

Nadal has missed the grass-court tournament in west London for the last two years after suffering a wrist injury in 2016 and then prior-itising rest after his French Open victory in 2017.

But the Spaniard, who won the Queen’s title in 2008, intends to participate in this year’s event, which begins on June 18.

“I am very excited to com-municate that I am going to come to Queen’s in 2018,” Nadal said.

“It is going to be the 10th anniversary of my victory in 2008, it’s a great memory, winning there and three weeks later winning Wimbledon.

“It was an unforgettable year. I am very excited to be

coming back and playing Queen’s again.”

Nadal’s best performances at Wimbledon have always come after he has played at Queen’s. He reached the Wim-bledon final five times between 2006 and 2011, win-ning in 2008 and 2010, and making the quarter-finals at Queen’s prior to each of those appearances at the All England Club.

Stephen Farrow, Queen’s

tournament director, said: “We are delighted that Rafa is plan-ning to return to The Queen’s Club in 2018.

“His run ten years ago, when he won at Roland Garros, Queen’s and Wim-bledon, will never be forgotten.

“To see him back at the top of the world rankings a decade later is a testament to his greatness and desire to achieve even more,” the offi-cial said.

Nadal was forced to retire from his Australian Open quarter-final against Marin Cilic because of a thigh injury. But he said this week he could return to action at the Mexican Open in Acapulco at the end of the month.

Former Wimbledon cham-pion Andy Murray has a con-tract to play Queen’s for the rest of his career and is hoping to use the tournament to mark the start of his return from hip surgery in January.