RAAJIV TRIPATHIDOHA

THE year 2016 was revisited as Gazwan wrested HH the Emir’s Sword, the third leg of the Doha Triple Crown, while The Blue Eye clinched HH the Emir’s Trophy in a thrilling finale to the HH The Emir’s Sword Festival on Saturday.

The Emir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani presided over the clos-ing ceremony and presented the trophies to winners.

At the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club Racecourse, as the skies went overcast and a slight cold breeze swept the New Al Rayyan facility, with just 300m to go in the $1-mil-lion race for the Purebred Ara-bians (Group 1), sponsored by Total, Gazwan leapt to the front from the third spot.

Yazeed, ridden by Olivier Peslier, chased the 2016 win-ner hotly. But rider Christian Demuro let the HH Sheikh Mo-hammed bin Khalifa al Thani-owned seven-year-old gray horse gallop in full flow and he kept sustaining his charge.

With about 100m or so left, defending champion Ebraz overtook Yazeed and tried to come closer to Gazwan, who held on to his push and came home by one and a quarter lengths to complete a superb 1-2 for trainer Julian Smart. Last year, Gazwan was fourth when Alan Munro guided Ebraz to the victory.

Earlier, the race was paced by Al Dawoodea but soon Ba’sil came to the fore and Gazwan kept following the two. And af-ter the final bend, there was no stopping for Gazwan and he re-gained one of the most prestig-ious horse races in Qatar.

Umm Qarn’s Yazeed was third, beating Spaghetti (Har-ry Bentley) by well over five lengths and Almaa (Jerome Cabre) completed the top five.

Trainer Smart was over-joyed with the one-two finish by horses and said, “Gazwan went through an awful lot and had a lot of issues last year.

But he is an absolute beast. “Christian knows well

how to ride him and I am very happy with Ebraz for the one-two. This is very lucky race for me and I wish there are more such long races for my horses,” Smart added.

Rider Demuro said, “It was a good race and I got the revenge after the Longchamp defeat. The pace was easy and Gazwan showed a good turn of foot after the final turn. It is really an amazing feeling to win this race.”

This was the first race for Gazwan in Doha this season and the result completed a dozen of wins in 22 races for him. Also this was his second win in the Arabian World Cup after the Chantilly success. The first leg was won by Tayf in the Goodwood Festival.

The second big race of the day was HH the Emir’s Trophy for Thoroughbreds (Group 1), presented by Longines. Fort Moville (Faleh Bughanaim) and Money Multiplier (Frankie Dettori) paced up the race. The

Qatar Derby winner Mac Ma-hon (Dario Vargiu) was also in the pursuit of the leaders, along with Noor Al Hawa (Andreas Wohler), the runner-up last year behind Chopin, and Zman Awal (Andrea Atzeni).

After 800m, Money Multi-plier overtook Fort Moville and tried to open a gap. But Mac Ma-hon and Noor Al Hawa caught up with him. And it was here that Bentley started to work up with The Blue Eye, who was set-tled in the middle of the pack initially, from outside.

First, Money Multiplier and Noor Al Hawa battled for the lead and Mac Mahon started to fade. From outside, The Blue Eye launched a mas-sive dash and within a flash, he overtook them before register-ing a half-length triumph to a huge roar from fans.

Bentley said: I’ve to say that The Blue Eye is a real champion. It was beaten last year and was very disappoint-ed. I know that he can bounce back. Jassim will train him to get back in shape for the race.

“It (the racecourse) has been a great place for me and The Blue Eye is a special horse for me,” said the winning jockey.

Trainer Jassim Moham-med Ghazali Jehromi, who recorded a record sixth win in the race, commented: “It is easy for outside people to say that they can come to Qatar and beat local horses.

“Two days before I had pre-dicted that we would win and the The Blue Eye did that. It is not easy to beat the local horses at home. I am really grateful to God for this victory,” added the No. 1 trainer of Qatar.

Owner Khalifa bin Sheail al Kuwari said about The Blue Eye’s win, “We want to win all the races, not just this one. In the last race, we came second to Barwod but today, we were prepared and confident about his victory.”

This was the 14th victory in 25 races for The Blue Eye and the third of the season. With this winner, Bentley complet-ed a double for the day.

Earlier, the British jock-ey enabled Easter De Faust to bag HH the Emir’s Silver Sword, sponsored by Al Hazm. The four-year-old chestnut filly was pulled off the win over Jethjath (Oisin Murphy) by over one length for a 1-2 for trainer Jahromi. Evolu-tion Du Croate (Tomas Lu-kasek) was third more than six lengths behind.

This was the third straight victory for Easter Du Faust in Doha and overall fourth in a row and five in six runs.

Jockey Cristian Demuro rides Gazwan to winning finish ahead of Ebraz, ridden by Theo Bachelot, in HH The Emir’s Sword Festival’s Group I feature race for the Purebred Arabians at the QREC on Saturday.

Gazwan, The Blue Eye seal premier titles againHigh quality action brings down curtains on grand event as the two horses underline Qatar’s racing depth

The Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani and Qatar Olympic Committee President HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al Thani with the winning connections of Easter De Faust after the HH The Emir’s Trophy race at the Racing & Equestrian Club (QREC) on Saturday.

The Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani presents The Emir’s Sword to Gazwan-owner HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Thani at the Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club (QREC) on Saturday.

HH THE EMIR’S SWORD FESTIVAL CONCLUDES

The Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani during the presenta-tion at the Racing & Equestrian Club (QREC) on Saturday.

The Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani with HH Sheikh Ab-dullah bin Khalifa al Thani during HH The Emir’s Sword Festival races at the Racing & Equestrian Club (QREC) on Saturday.

Tip Two Win representative receives the owner’s trophy from Ibrahim Abdulrahman al Muftah at the QREC on Saturday.

HH THE EMIR’S SWORD (GR1 PA) (SPONSORED BY

TOTAL) 2,400M

Total PM: $1,000,000 - 1st 570,000 2nd 220,000 3rd

110,000 4th 60,000 5th 40,000

1. Gazwan (Cristian Demuro), 2. Ebraz (Theo Bachelot), 3. Yazeed (O.Peslier), 4. Spaghetti (Harry Bentley), 5. Almaa (Jerome Cabre)Won by 1.25, 2, 5.75, 5, 0.5. Time 2:38.63Owner: HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Thani. Trainer: Julian SmartHH THE EMIRS TROPHY (GR 1) (PRESENTED BY

LONGINES) 2,400M

Total PM: $1,000,000 - 1st 570,000 2nd 220,000 3rd

110,000 4th 60,000 5th 40,000

1. The Blue Eye (Harry Bentley), 2. Noor Al Hawa (Eduardo Pedroza), 3. Money Multiplier (Lanfranco Dettori), 4. Mac Mahon (Dario Vargiu), 5. Elbereth (David Probert)Won by 0.5, 0.74, 1.25, 0.75, 0.75. Time 2:29.41Owner: Khalifa bin Sheail al Kuwari. Trainer: Jassim Mohammed Ghazali JahromiHH THE EMIR’S SILVER SWORD (SPONSORED BY AL

HAZM) 1,850M

Total PM: $250,000 - 1st 142,500 2nd 55,000 3rd

27,500 4th 15,000 5th 10,000

1. Easter De Faust (Harry Bentley), 2. Jethjath (Oisin Murphy), 3. Evolution Du Croate (Tomas Lukasek), 4. AJS Dhabi (Gerald Avranche), 5. Thamer (Eduardo Pedroza)Won by 1.25, 6.25, 0.75, 6.25, short head. Time 2:03.02Owner: Khalifa bin Sheail al Kuwari. Trainer: Jassim Mohammed Ghazali JahromiHH. THE EMIR’S SHALFA (SPONSORED BY MANATEQ)

2,000M

Total PM: $250,000 - 1st 142,500 2nd 55,000 3rd

27,500 4th 15,000 5th 10,000

1. Pazeer (Eduardo Pedroza), 2. Shabbab (Marc Lerner), 3. Khataaf (Jimmy Quinn), 4. Tamih (Gerald Avranche), 5. Opera Baron (Harry Bentley)Won by neck, 1, head, 2.25, 0.75. Time 2:02.99Owner: Abdulatif Hussain al Emadi. Trainer: Ibrahim Saeed Ibrahim al MalkiAL BIDDAH MILE (GR 2) (SPONSORED BY ALMUFTAH

GROUP) 1,600M

Total PM: $250,000 - 1st 142,500 2nd 55,000 3rd

27,500 4th 15,000 5th 10,000

1. Tip Two Win (David Probert), 2. Anima Rock (Oisin Murphy), 3. Mualah (Harry Bentley), 4. Poets Dream (Gerald Avranche), 5. Es’hail (Stephan Ladjadj)Won by 2.25, neck, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75. Time 1:35.95Owner: Mrs Anne Cowley. Trainer: Roger Teal (UK) DUKHAN SPRINT (GR 3) (SPONSORED BY BREEDER’S

CUP) 1,200M

Total PM: $250,000 - 1st 142,500 2nd 55,000 3rd

27,500 4th 15,000 5th 10,000

1. Intisaab (Martin Harley), 2. Izzthatright (Harry Bentley), 3. Gulliver (Andrea Atzeni), 4. Binzart (Cristian Demuro),

5. Risk Adjusted (Theo Bachelot)Won by head, 1, 1.75, head, 0.25. Time 1:09.98Owner: Stuart Graham. Trainer: David O’Meara (UK)QATAR INTERNATIONAL CUP (GR1 PA)(SPONSORED BY

MCLAREN) 1,600M

Total PM: $250,000 - 1st 142,500 2nd 55,000 3rd

27,500 4th 15,000 5th 10,000

1. Molheb Al Naif (Gerald Avranche), 2. Ateej (Christophe Soumillon), 3. Carab (Harry Bentley), 4. Samaa (Stephan Ladjadj), 5. Rasi (Theo Bachelot)Won by 1, 3.75, 0.25, 1.25, 1. Time 1:42.59

Owner: Al Naif Racing. Trainer: Youseb Ben TaherAL RAYYAN BREEDERS CUP (SPONSORED BY GERMIN

TRADING & CONTRACTING) 2,000M

Total PM: $250,000 - 1st 142,500 2nd 55,000 3rd

27,500 4th 15,000 5th 10,000

1. Cannon (Cristian Demuro), 2. Moaddie (Theo Bachelot), 3. Asaaf (Christophe Soumillon), 4. Salman Bu Thaila (Gerald Avranche), 5. Al Ajdal (Carlo Fiocchi)Won by 4.75, 1, 0.75, 1.5, 1.75. Time 2:02.90Owner: Mubarak bin Saeed Aljafai al Naimi. Hadi Nasser Rashid al Ramzani

RESULTS

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2018

Salmeen rules showjumpingYoung rider Salmeen Sultan al Suwaidi wins Emir’s Sword in equestrian PAGE 31

Jose, Conte calm ahead of clashUnited’d Jose Mourinho and Chelsea’s Antonio Conte play down feisty war of words PAGE 27

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

MAN UNITED VS CHELSEA

AFPLONDON

ANTONIO Conte and Jose Mourinho played down their bitter war of words on Friday ahead of Manchester United’s potentially feisty meeting with Chelsea at Old Trafford.

Blues boss Conte has clashed numerous times with United manager Mourinho since arriving at Stamford Bridge in 2016.

The feud deepened this sea-son when the United boss said he did not need to “act like a clown” on the touchline, a com-ment perceived to be aimed at the animated Conte, who re-sponded by claiming Mourinho must have “demenza senile” -- senile dementia.

When Mourinho then ap-peared to allude to a suspen-sion Conte served in relation to match-fixing, the Italian, who was later cleared of any wrong-doing on that issue, responded by accusing his rival of being “fake” and “a little man”.

The recent row culminat-ed in the pair saying they felt “contempt” for each other.

But Conte would not be drawn on questions about his relationship with his predeces-sor as Chelsea boss at his press conference ahead of Sunday’s match.

“In the past, both of us said things. For me, it’s OK,” said Conte. “I’m not interested to speak about this topic.”

Asked if he intended to shake Mourinho’s hand this weekend, Conte replied: “I’m not interested in this. I’m not interested in this.”

Mourinho was also anxious to move on from the row.

“I don’t want to speak about it,” he said.

“I told you before I’m not going to speak about it. Not at all. That’s not the point. Very good manager, fantastic team and that’s what is im-portant for me. Just that.”

Sun-

day’s match could have a sig-nificant bearing on the race for Champions League football.

Second-placed United are currently three points and two places above the Blues and Conte acknowledges that there is fierce competition to qualify

for Europe.“We have to look

at ourselves and understand that, from now until the end, every game is

very important,” said the Italian.

Conte, Mourinho play down war of words ahead of Old Trafford clash

AFPLONDON

PEP Guardiola is anxious to play down suggestions that winning his first piece of sil-verware for Manchester City in Sunday’s League Cup final against Arsenal would herald a period of dominance.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach takes his side to Wembley with the Premier League title virtually in the bag and a place in the Champions League quarter-finals looking certain.

But despite City’s domi-nance this season, Guardiola will be eager to get his hands on a trophy, even if it would have been fourth on the list of his priorities when the cam-paign began.

City are clear favourites to beat Arsenal but Arsene Wenger’s men have made a habit of cup success in recent years, winning the FA Cup in three of the past four seasons.

“Not even in Barcelona when we won the first title in the cup did I expect to win 14 titles in four years,” said Guar-diola, anxious not to over-burden his players. “I’m more pragmatic. “I think in football it’s a big mistake to think what might happen in the next three years. It’s a big mistake for our heads, our targets, it makes no sense.

“When people asked in the beginning, about winning four titles (this season), I said of course we’ll try, but the big teams have not been able to do that -- the big Liverpools, the

big Uniteds, the big Arsenals, the big Chelseas.”

Defeat for City could lead to a certain feeling of anti-cli-max at the Etihad as it would follow hot on the heels of their FA Cup exit at the hands of lowly Wigan Athletic -- end-ing their quest for an historic quadruple.

Striker Gabriel Jesus could make a shock return at Wem-bley after being out with a knee injury since the end of Decem-ber, although there are doubts over Raheem Sterling’s fitness.

Guardiola confirmed sec-ond-choice goalkeeper Claudio Bravo will start, having done so in all domestic cup matches this season, but Fabian Delph is suspended after being sent off against Wigan.

The Catalan boss earlier this season questioned the val-ue of the League Cup, saying “you waste a lot of energy” but it could serve as a springboard to further success, as it has

done previously for the likes of Jose Mourinho.

Wenger has won the FA Cup a record seven times since he took the helm at Arsenal but has twice been beaten in the fi-nal of the League Cup, by Chel-sea in 2007 and Birmingham City in 2011.

The French manager was asked at his pre-match press conference what the key was to beating City.

“To first of all have a strong belief that we can do it, be well-organised and take every opportunity to go forward and play our offensive game,” he said.

He acknowledged the threat from players such as Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne but said it was difficult to focus on shutting down in-dividuals.

“One of the big strengths of Man City is De Bruyne of course, because he has be-come a very complete player,”

Wenger said.“He is a modern midfielder

for me, he can be decisive in the final third, he works very hard, he is right-footed, left-footed and he is a fighter as well so overall I am not sur-prised he has done well.

“They have so many play-ers that you have to stop that it is better to focus on the team plan rather than on any indi-vidual.”

Alexandre Lacazette is un-available because of injury and Henrikh Mkhitaryan is ineli-gible because he played in the competition for Manchester United earlier this season.

Wenger said David Ospina would play in goal at the ex-pense of Petr Cech, continuing his role as the go-to ‘keeper for cup matches.

He said Mesut Ozil was likely to play and he would make a decision on Aaron Ramsey on Saturday.

Arsenal stand in a way of Pep’s first City silverware

United are currently three points and two places above the Blues

City are clear favourites to beat Arsenal Wenger’s men

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger ahead of the League Cup final match scheduled to be held on Sunday at Wembley Stadium. (AFP) Chelsea manager Antonio Conte during a press conference at Chelsea FC Training Ground, in London, on Friday. (REUTERS)

Can Wenger weave his magic against City?

Zidane, Valverde condemn violence after policeman killed in Bilbao trouble

AFPMADRID

REAL Madrid coach Zined-ine Zidane and his Barcelona counterpart Ernesto Valverde on Friday strongly condemned the violence which led to a police officer dying before a Europa League game in Spain between Athletic Bilbao and Spartak Moscow.

“Our thoughts are with his family. I don’t like violence, and it is very hard to under-stand when these things hap-pen. Let’s hope these things don’t happen again in a football stadium,” said Zidane of the in-cidents which took place prior to Thursday evening’s match.

Nine people were arrested, including three Russians and a Pole, during clashes outside San Mames in which a police officer died of a heart attack.

The incident also raised fears over hooliganism at this summer’s World Cup which will be hosted by Russia.

“Football was invented to be enjoyed, for people to expe-rience happiness or suffer with their teams,” said Barcelona coach Valverde, formerly in charge in Bilbao.

“But others use football as an excuse for other things, because football is seen by so many. It sullies football but it is not a problem for football, it is a wider problem. And of course we absolutely condemn that.”

FIFA said it “deeply re-grets” the clashes in Bilbao but had “complete trust” in Russia’s ability to ensure a safe World Cup -- despite this being just the latest incident of hooligan violence involving Russians.

A minute’s silence will be held before all games in Spain’s top two divisions this weekend in memory of the dead police-man. “La Liga reiterates its strongest condemnation of the violence and continues to work to eradicate it from football,” La Liga said in a statement.

Spanish Prime Minister

Mariano Rajoy earlier offered his condolences for the death of the 51-year-old Basque po-lice officer as he also “strongly condemned” the violence in the northern Spanish city.

The officer was one of over 500 deployed to San Mames for

the high-risk Europa League last-32 tie.

He “suddenly felt ill during the serious incidents... despite being taken quickly to hospital, he suffered cardiac arrest,” the Basque government’s secu-rity department said in a state-

ment, adding his death was not “directly” linked to an injury he suffered in the clashes.

The trouble began as Spar-tak ‘ultras’ arrived at the stadi-um. Some lit and threw smoke bombs and bins towards Ath-letic supporters, before police charged them.

Police detained five Span-iards, three Russians and a Polish man over the clashes, a spokesperson for the Basque security department said. They face charges of causing public disorder, rioting and disrespect for authority.

Five other police officers were injured, none of them seriously, and treated on the scene, the spokesperson added.

There was concern ahead of the match because of the reported presence of hardcore Russian fans in Bilbao, and po-lice seized knives, bags full of rocks and brass knuckles from supporters of the two teams, the Basque security depart-ment said.

FA charges Guardiola over Catalonia political symbol

AFPLONDON

MANCHESTER City man-ager Pep Guardiola was Friday charged by the Football Associa-tion over his wearing of a yellow ribbon in support of jailed Cata-lan independence leaders.

The FA said in a statement that the symbol worn by the former Barcelona boss on his jacket was in breach of its kit and advertising regulations.

Guardiola, whose side face Arsenal in the League Cup final on Sunday, has until March 5 to respond to the charge.

“Pep Guardiola has been charged for wearing a political message, specifically a yellow ribbon, in breach of the FA’s kit and advertising regulations,” the FA statement said. “He has until 6:00 pm (1800 GMT) on Monday 5 March 2018 to re-spond to the charge.”

Following events last year surrounding Catalonia’s bid to break away from Spain, which included a referendum and a proclamation of independence, both deemed illegal, authori-

ties jailed several leaders of the movement. The City manager, who was born in Catalonia, has previously explained his reasons for wearing the ribbon.

Referring to the first two in-dependence leaders to be jailed, he said in December: “I do that because in Spain two specific people who defend something like the vote, something the peo-ple in command do not agree (with), are in prison. It’s unfair. “To make a rebellion on some-thing like that, you have to be something tough to be in pris-on. And they are still there. So, while they are not out, always here (points to ribbon) will be shared with me. “Because, OK, they can suspend me for doing that, but the other people are in jail. If they want to suspend me -- UEFA, Premier League, FIFA -- it’s OK.”

The City boss explained his stance in response to comments from Manchester United man-ager Jose Mourinho, who ques-tioned whether the ribbon was within the rules and claimed he would not be allowed to do a similar thing.

Basque riot police observe fans during clashes between Athletic Bil-bao and Spartak Moscow fans before a UEFA Europa League match, in Bilbao, Spain, on Thursday. (REUTERS)

Bad bloodThe feud deepened this season when the United boss said he did not need to “act like a clown” on the touchline, a comment perceived to be aimed at the animated Conte, who responded by claiming Mourinho must have “demenza senile” -- senile dementia.

IANSRIO DE JANEIRO

NEYMAR has surpassed Cris-tiano Ronaldo and Lionel Mes-si as the world’s best player, according to Brazilian football great Pele.

Pele believes the 26-year-old is ready to take that form into this year’s World Cup, to be played in Russia from June 14 to July 15. “Neymar has changed the way he plays with

the national team,” Pele, the only player to have won three World Cups, told FIFA’s web-site, Xinhua reported.

Brazil’s Paris Saint-Ger-main forward has scored 28 goals in 29 matches since leaving Barcelona for a world record transfer fee of 222 mil-lion euros ($263 million) in Au-gust last year.

“He has had to. At his club side, he normally plays as a left-sided attacker, whereas for Bra-

zil, he plays more centrally, as a more traditional number 10.

“He’ s ready to lead this team, yes. He might find that the tactical switch from his club to the national team isn’t straightforward, but Neymar is Brazil’s key player. He has to prepare himself for that. And I would go further: for me, tech-nically, he is already the best player in the world. I’m abso-lutely sure of that,” Pele said.

Neymar is already fourth on the list of Brazil’s all-time lead-ing scorers with 53 goals in 83

matches since his international debut in 2010.

Above him is Pele, with 77 goals, Ronaldo (62) and Ro-mario (55).

Pele said Neymar, Ronaldo and Messi stood apart as the best players in the game today. “If you look around the world, the ones who stand out are Li-onel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar. There are no oth-er superstars,” the 77-year-old added.

Neymar already world’s best player, says Pele

Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar

Man United coach Jose Mourinho

Sports26 Sunday, February 25, 2018

Sports

IKOLI VICTORDOHA

AL Duhail stretched their un-beaten run in the QNB Stars league to 18 games and opened up a five points lead after yet an-other outstanding performance at Duhail gave them a 4-0 win over Al Khor on Saturday.

The irrepressible Youssef El Arabi scored his 31st goal in all competitions after scoring from the penalty spot. Ismail Mohammed scored the opener, Youssef Mskani added the third and Murad Naji made it 4-0. It was the Red Knights 15th win from 18 matches with four matches still to go in the season.

Ismail Mohammed put the league leaders in front on 24 minutes from Karim Boudiaf’s floated pass to open space for the winger who shot straight in between the legs of the keeper Ghayth Jumaah.

Things got worse for the Knights when Msakni was brought down inside the box by Ahmad Yousef and the referee blew for a penalty. El Arabi dis-patched the resultant kick neat-ly in the half-hour mark for his 22nd goal of the season. It has been a familiar scene this sea-son with El Arabi taking most of the kicks even when skipper Msakni is the player fouled. The Moroccan has converted d

eight of his nine spot kicks in the league.

Msakni grabbed the third for Duhail, latching on to Lucas

Mendes’ long ball to shoot with his left foot past the Khor keep-

er in the 34th minute. Mendes saw red in the closing stage of the encounter. It was Msakni’s 19th league goal, his best career haul.

Murad Naji completed the rout for the Red Knights with a long-range strike from out-side the box to beat the hapless Jummah.

Without star player Mad-son, Ahmed Yusuf skewed the ball wide for Khor’s second only shot at goal in the 83rd minute.

Duhail’s domination saw Al Khor found themselves at the receiving end with the legaue leaders having 71 per cent of possession at full time. Al Du-hail’s next match could well be the league decider when they take on Al Sadd at Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Stadium on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Wesley Snei-

jder’s double for Al Gharafa amounted to nothing as bottom of the table club Al Markhiya came from behind to beat the four-time champions 3-2 on Saturday.

Smarting from their AFC Champions League victory over Tractor Sazi, Gharafa had taken a two-goal lead after 23 minutes. But erstwhile El Jaish striker Abdulqadir Ilyas cut the deficit in the 27th minute.

Then in the second half, 32-year-old Eric de Oliveira scored twice in two minutes to give Markhiya an unlikely lead for only their second win of the season. The win is massive for the club with 12 points, one behind Kharaitiyat and three adrift of Arabi as they fight to avoid relegation. Meanwhile, Gharafa stay in mid-table with 23 points from 18 matches.

Rampant Duhail open up five points lead after 4-0 win over Khor

AFPLIVERPOOL

MOHAMED Salah contin-ued his incredible goalscoring streak as Liverpool eased to a 4-1 victory over West Ham United to move up to second in the Premier League on Sat-urday.

The Egypt international took his tally to 18 in his last 17 top-flight games for Liver-pool with his 31st goal of the season in all competitions as the Reds won by the same scoreline as when the two sides met in the reverse fix-ture in November.

Salah scored twice in that match and while his display was not quite as sparkling on a bitterly cold day at An-field, he still managed to find the net to edge closer to Ian Rush’s club record of 47 in a single season which has stood

since 1983-84.Emre Can, Roberto Firmi-

no and Sadio Mane also got their names on the scoresheet for the hosts, while Michail Antonio netted a consolation for the Hammers.

Liverpool are a point clear of rivals Manchester United, who host Chelsea at Old Traf-ford on Sunday.

Jurgen Klopp’s side have now scored 103 goals in all competitions this season, and showed their intent early on when Firmino cut the ball back for Salah, who clipped a low effort at goal which re-bounded back out off the post.

Marco Arnautovic carried the sporadic first-half attack-ing threat for the Hammers and attempted an audacious chip from the corner of the box only to see Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius get fingertips on the ball before

it struck the underside of the crossbar.

Liverpool’s persistence paid off just before the half-hour mark as they took the

lead from a Salah corner.His high in-swinging de-

livery was met by Can who outjumped and outmuscled French veteran Patrice Evra on his West Ham debut to

head the ball into the net.Arnautovic drew a fine

diving save from Karius with a second spectacular effort from distance to nearly draw West Ham level against the run of play before the break.

However, Liverpool added their second six minutes after half-time as Salah benefitted from some determined play by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The Reds midfielder bun-dled his way through the Hammers defence and fortui-tously passed it to Salah, who clinically found the far corner of the net.

Shortly afterwards Liver-pool’s grip on the game tight-ened further when Can won the ball immediately from Adrian’s kick up field and lifted it over the top of the West Ham defence for Firmino to chase.

Adrian raced off his line to try to intercept, but Firmino

was too quick and his touch took him past the visiting goal-keeper before he slotted into an empty net in front of the Kop.

That should have sealed it for Liverpool but within a minute of Michail Antonio’s introduction, the substitute pulled a goal back to create a few nerves.

This time Can was caught in possession and Cheikhou Kouyate released Antonio who angled a fine finish low past the dive of Karius.

However, Liverpool reas-serted their authority and some fine individual play by Oxlade-Chamberlain created an open-ing for Mane but he could only strike the post.

The Senegal forward made amends 13 minutes from time when he tapped in Andrew Robertson’s low cross from close range to round off the scoring.

Salah’s hot streak continues as Liverpool go second

Eric Oliveira brace helps Markhiya come from behind to beat Gharafa 3-2

Murad Naji (left) of Al Duhail celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during a QSL match on Saturday.

Liverpool are a point clear of rivals Man United, who host Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday

Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah sscores his goal during a Premier League match at Anfield in Liverpool on Saturday. (REUTERS)

AFPMADRID

A Cristiano Ronaldo double and Gareth Bale’s first goal in seven matches helped Real Madrid thrash Alaves 4-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sat-urday to strengthen their grip on a top-three spot in La Liga.

The reigning champions’ title hopes are all but over, with Real 11 points adrift of leaders Barcelona in third, but a run of four straight wins has ended any worries of missing out on a Champions League spot.

Coach Zinedine Zidane brought Bale back into the starting XI after dropping the Welshman to the bench for the midweek victory over Leganes, but the reunited ‘BBC’ of Bale, Ronaldo and Karim Benzema were left frustrated for much of the first half.

The deadlock was finally broken shortly before the in-terval, as Benzema’s delight-ful flick found Ronaldo, who duly drilled the ball into the corner.

The Portuguese forward’s return to top form has been key to Real’s climb up the ta-ble, with the opening goal his 13th in the league this season.

Benzema was again the creator as Bale made it two less than a minute into the second period.

The Frenchman powered forward and laid the ball off for Bale, with the 28-year-old winger finishing with aplomb to end a run of six games without scoring.

Ronaldo has been having no such problems in front of goal, though, and the five-time Ballon d’Or winner wrapped up the points just after the hour mark.

He ran onto Lucas Vazquez’s pass to slot home his 13th goal in his last seven

games in all competitions, in-cluding the vital two in last week’s Champions League first-leg win over Paris Saint-Germain.

Benzema was rewarded for his earlier selflessness with a late penalty as Ronaldo passed up the chance for a hat-trick.

Barcelona can open up a 10-point lead over Atletico Madrid when they host Gi-rona later on Saturday, with

Diego Simeone’s capital club not playing until their Sunday visit to Sevilla.

Elsewhere, Celta Vigo gave their hopes of qualifying for the Europa League a boost as Iago Aspas scored in a 2-0 win over Eibar.

Deportivo La Coruna had to settle for a goalless draw against Espanyol in a La Liga match that saw the home side hit the post twice and fail to convert on a penalty.

Deportivo, winless in their last 10 matches, remain in the La Liga drop zone, 10 points from safety after 25 matches after the goalless draw at A Coruña’s Riazor stadium on Friday, reports Efe.

For Espanyol, it was their four straight draw and sev-enth consecutive game with-out a victory, but they remain fairly comfortable in the 15th spot, with 28 points.

Ronaldo strikes twice as Real thump Alaves in La LigaThe Portuguese forward’s return to top form has been key to Madrid’s climb up the table

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring his goal with Gareth Bale during a Spanish league match in Madrid on Saturday. (REUTERS)

Shot on target

News in brief

BERLIN: Bayern Munich were held to a 0-0 home draw by Hertha Berlin, who denied the runaway Bundesliga leaders for the second time this sea-son on Saturday. Bayern, who failed to score in a league game at home for the first time since May 2015, went 20 points clear at the top with 60 from 24 matches. But second placed Borussia Dortmund can cut that advan-tage to 17 if they beat Augsburg at home on Monday.

VILLARREAL: Villarreal’s defender Ruben Semedo was suspended by the Spanish football club following his imprisonment on several charges. The club’s statement on Friday pointed out that Villarreal had assumed Semedo’s innocence after court charg-es were filed against him on Thursday, reports Efe. The judge in the case charged Semedo, 23, with attempted murder, illegal detention, illegal possession of firearms and violent robbery. “The club would like to express its disappointment following the serious charges from the judge of court No.6 of Lliria against player Ruben Semedo.”

Bayern frustrated by Hertha in 0-0 draw in Munich Villarreal announces Ruben Semedo’s suspension

Winning run continues

The reigning champions’ title hopes are all but over, with Real 11 points adrift of leaders Barcelona in third, but a run of four straight wins has ended any worries of missing out on a Champions League spot.

ResultsLeicester 1 Stoke 1 Bournemouth 2 Newcastle 2Brighton 4 Swansea 1 Burnley 1 Southampton 1Liverpool 4 West Ham 1West Brom 1 Huddersfield 2

SundayCrystal Palace v Tottenham Manchester United v Chelsea

27Sunday, February 25, 2018

AFPPYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA

ESTER Ledecka completed a historic Olympic double on Saturday when the Czech star romped to snowboard-ing parallel giant slalom gold to add to her shock super-G title in alpine skiing.

The 22-year-old world champion became the first woman to capture gold med-als in different sports at the same Winter Games after beating Germany’s Selina Joerg by almost half a second in the Pyeongchang final.

“It was quite tough to change myself back into a snowboarder today,” said Ledecka, already the first athlete to compete in snow-board and alpine skiing at a Winter Olympics.

“But suddenly the snow-boarder girl showed up and today was a big day for snow-board Ester!

“It was something very special,” added Ledecka, who wore her goggles throughout her press conference as she had after her astonishing ski victory.

“I’ll think about this mo-ment until the end of my life.”

One week ago, Ledecka stunned a strong field in-cluding defending champion Anna Veith and American Lindsey Vonn to win the super-G, becoming one of the fairytale stories of the Games.

Ledecka now joins Nor-wegians Thorleif Haug and Johan Groettumsbraten as the only athletes to do a mul-ti-sport double at the same Olympics.

Haug did the cross-coun-try and Nordic combined double at the 1924 Olympics and Groettumsbraten won the same events at the 1928 Games.

Ledecka never looked threatened in a giant parallel slalom competition she was expected to dominate, be-ginning the day by overpow-ering 2014 gold medallist Patrizia Kummer to avenge her loss to the Swiss in the

Sochi quarter-finals.The Czech, dubbed a

“miracle on snow” by her national media, dealt equal-ly ruthlessly with Austrian Daniela Ulbing, who had narrowly avoided running over a squirrel in winning her first race.

Ramona Hofmeister was no match in the semi-final, wiping out as she tried to keep up with Ledecka. The German finished with the bronze.

“In the super-G I re-ally didn’t believe what hap-pened,” said Ledecka when asked which gold tasted sweeter.

“My plan is to stay with my heart, so for now I think I’ll continue to do both be-cause I love both,” she add-ed. “I’m in my skin and doing what I love.”

Ledecka started skiing aged two and first strapped on a snowboard at five, go-ing on to compete at world championships in both disci-plines -- though she had nev-er medalled on skis before the Pyeongchang Games.

Two other athletes have won multi-sport gold med-als at the Winter Olympics -- Finland’s Heikki Hasu

won the Nordic combined ti-tle in 1948 and cross country four years later, while Rus-sian Anfisa Reztsova bagged cross country gold in 1988 and biathlon titles in 1992 and 1994.

Ledecka’s snowboarding coach Justin Reiter revealed that the Czech snow queen had been under intense strain all week.

“The amount of pressure that was on her was pretty incredible,” said the Ameri-can.

“But she’s very focused on her goals. She’s once in a lifetime and she’s got a great heart. She’s not just like a champion that’s kind of a jerk -- she’s a really incred-ible human being.”

Joerg also paid tribute to Ledecka.

“She’s incredible! I’ve heard of people competing in summer and winter Olym-pics, but never in two sports in one Olympics,” said the silver medallist.

“It’s more than a full-time job. I think she shows what’s possible in sports, she’s an amazing athlete and she deserves it. She’s the girl for the future and the world is looking to Ester now.”

Sports28 Sunday, February 25, 2018

The 22-year-old becomes the first woman to capture gold medals in different sports at the same Winter Games

‘Miracle on snow’ Ledecka seals Olympic snowboard, ski double

AFPPYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA

WENDY Holdener led a strong Switzerland team to alpine team skiing gold on Saturday, as Norway took bronze to set a new record of 38 medals at a Winter Olympics.

Switzerland won the final 3-1 against an Austrian quartet missing double gold medallist Marcel Hirscher for the inau-gural title as the event made its debut.

Holdener, who had already won slalom silver and com-bined bronze, Denise Feier-abend, Daniel Yule and men’s slalom runner-up Ramon Zen-haeusern held their nerve after the two Austrian men failed to finish the mixed-sex final.

Holdener and Zenhaeusern were both undefeated in racing at the Yongpyong Alpine Cen-tre as the Swiss overcame Hun-gary, Germany and France on their run to the final.

Austria, boasting individ-ual slalom bronze medallists Michael Matt and Katharina Gallhuber, Katharina Liens-berger and Manuel Feller over-came South Korea, Sweden and Norway before the match-up with the Swiss.

Sweden had been fancied for a podium spot given they fielded individual slalom gold medallists Frida Hansdotter and Andre Myhrer, but they went down 3-1 to the Austrians in the quarter-finals.

Norway won bronze, Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen

beating France’s Clement Noel in the fourth and final run to win by a tie-breaking 0.12sec after two victories to each team.

It was a record 38th Winter Olympics medal for Norway, beating the record set by the United States in 2010. Norway and Germany top the medals table on 13 golds, although the Norwegians have more medals overall.

Alpine team skiing, in which racers of the same gen-der go head-to-head down a short 26-gate course, has been a fixture at the world champi-onships for the last decade.

But the debut of the event at the Pyeongchang Olympics was hit by the withdrawal of a large number of leading skiers such as Hirscher and US star Mikaela Shiffrin.

They pointed at the poor scheduling of the event at the end of the Games, with compe-tition on the World Cup circuit

starting back in Europe next weekend.

There is no doubt, however, that the quickfire nature of the event is a draw for the public and a large number of racers.

“These are really fun events. It’s great for TV, it’s great for the crowd. I think it’ll be a big sell in the future,” said Nolan Kasper, whose Shiffrin and Ted Ligety-less US team was surprisingly beaten by Britain in the opening round-of-16.

Lindsey Vonn, who also skipped the event, said many skiers thought it wasn’t worth the risk of injury.

“The reason most athletes don’t want to do it is because they fear injury. There are quite a few people getting in-jured doing it and don’t think it’s worth the risk,” Vonn said.

“I don’t know the answer about what could make it more appealing for us. It’s a tricky one.”

Swiss win inaugural team gold, Norway set medals recordNorway set a record 38th Winter Olym-pics medal, beating the record set by the United States in 2010

From (left) Silver medallist Selina Joerg of Germany, gold medallist Ester Ledecka of Czech Republic and bronze medallist Ramona Theresia Hofmeister of Germany celebrate their podium finish after the Wom-en’s Parallel Giant Slalom Finals of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Saturday. (REUTERS)

Canadian athlete charged with car theft: SK police

REUTERSPYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA

CANADIAN skier David Dun-can was arrested on charges of stealing a car in South Korea, where he was competing at the Winter Olympics, officials and Canadian media said on Satur-day.

Duncan’s wife, Maja, and manager, Willy Raine, also were arrested, the Canadian Olym-pic Committee said. Raine was charged with impaired driving, CBC News and the Canadian Press reported.

The three were released on Saturday but restricted from leaving South Korea, CBC re-ported.

A police official in charge of international crime at Gang-won Provincial Police Agency told Reuters on Saturday that a Canadian athlete, his wife and manager had gotten into a car in Pyeongchang that had been left unlocked and unoccupied with the engine running.

Once the investigation is complete the results will be sent to the prosecution, the official said, adding that unless the al-leged offence was deemed a se-rious crime, they would be able to leave the country after paying a fine.

In a statement on Saturday, Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Overholt said the Korean police had concluded their investigation and that the team members had been re-leased.

“We expect our athletes and team members to conduct themselves responsibly and in keeping with our Canadian and Olympic values,” Overholt said. “We are deeply disappointed in the behaviours of these indi-viduals.”

The Duncans issued a joint statement saying that they were deeply sorry.

“We engaged in behaviour that demonstrated poor judg-ment and was not up to the standards expected of us as Members of the Canadian Ol-ympic Team or as Canadians,” they said.

Bronze medalist Norway’s team on the podium after the Alpine Skiing team event on Saturday. Norway set a new Games record with 38 medals at a Winter Olympics. (REUTERS)

Tiger on prowl at PGA National, List and Lovemark leadAFPMIAMI

TIGER Woods was in the thick of things Friday after a one-over par 71 at windy PGA National left him four shots off the Honda Classic halfway lead held by Luke List and Jamie Lovemark.

Former world number one Woods, playing the third tournament of his latest comeback bid, shook off an early bogey with two birdies on the front nine.

He had moved into the top 10 with five pars to open the back nine before his tee

shot at the par-three 15th found the water.

He walked away with a double-bogey and surren-dered another shot at the 16th, where his long birdie attempt went past the hole.

But he rallied with a birdie at the par-three 17th -- the hardest hole on the course -- where he found the middle of the green with his tee shot and drained his 12-foot birdie putt to a massive roar from the gallery.

Woods’s one-over total of 141 put him in a group of 10 players sharing 14th place.

List had posted an early

target, firing a 66 for 137. He was joined on three-under by Lovemark, who carded a 69.

List had five birdies and a bogey in his four-under ef-fort, which was the lowest round of the day.

Only 10 players were un-der par for the tournament through 36 holes.

“I’m really pleased with the way I played -- a bunch of pars and just kind of hanging on,” List said. “This golf course is winning this week so far, and I think who-ever hangs on the hardest is going to come out on top on

Sunday.”The leaders, both seek-

ing a first US PGA Tour title, were one stroke in front of Webb Simpson (72), Russell Henley (70), Rory Sabbatini (69) and Tommy Fleetwood (68).

The halfway cut fell at five-over par, and those who missed it included defending champion Rickie Fowler.

Four-time major-winner Rory McIlroy made it after firing his second straight two-over 72.

Woods said his spot four off the pace put him “right in the ball game.”

“It was a good grind to-day,” said the 42-year-old 14-time major champion, who is vying to become a contender again after spinal fusion surgery in April.

“I feel like I’m right there. I’m right where I can win a golf tournament. Four back on this golf course with 36 holes to go? Anybody can win this golf tournament right now. It’s wide open.”

Woods had struggled off the tee in finishing tied for 23rd at Torrey Pines last month and in missing the cut at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles last week.

Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic competes in the Women’s Paral-lel Giant Slalom Finals. (REUTERS)

Tiger Woods lines up a putt on the 1st during the second round of The Honda Classic golf tournament at PGA National (Champion) in Florida on Friday. (USA TODAY SPORTS)

REUTERSWASHINGTON

PHIL Kessel scored a pair of second-period goals after the Pittsburgh Penguins already had the lead in a 6-1 victory against the Carolina Hur-ricanes on Friday night in Raleigh, NC.

Jake Guentzel, Olli Maatta, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Mal-kin also scored for the Pen-guins, who have a six-game winning streak. Kessel assisted on the game's first goal, so he had a three-point game. Guent-zel, who assisted on both of Kessel's goals, and Malkin also each had three points.

It continued a special week for the Kessel family. The Pitts-burgh right winger's sister, Amanda Kessel, was one of the standouts for the US goal med-al team in the Olympics.

The Hurricanes have gone 0-3-1 across their last four games after they had moved into playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

Jets 4, Blues 0Connor Hellebuyck had 34

saves en route to his sixth shut-out of the season to help lead Winnipeg past host St. Louis.

Hellebuyck, making his 10th straight start, also fin-ished with his 32nd win of the

season, second only to Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has 35. It also was the 12th shutout of his career. Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor each had a goal and an assist, Patrik Laine and Nic Petan scored goals and Mark Scheifele add-ed a pair of assists for Winni-peg, which was playing its first

road game since a 4-3 shootout loss at Anaheim on Jan. 25, a span of 28 days. The Jets re-mained in second place in the Central Division but closed to within two points of first-place Nashville.

Wild 4, Rangers 1Eric Staal and Mikael

Granlund registered two goals and assists apiece as Minne-sota beat New York at Madison Square Garden.

Staal recorded his 13th ca-reer game with at least four points and first since March 8, 2015, when he played for Caro-lina. Granlund tied a career high with his second career

four-point game.For most of the game,

Granlund had his third career hat trick. He was credited with Minnesota's second first-peri-od goal until a scoring change with about a minute left gave the tally to Staal.

Blackhawks 3, Sharks 1Goaltender Jean-Francois

Berube made 42 saves to earn his first victory in more than a year, and host Chicago held off San Jose.

Jan Rutta, Nick Schmaltz and Artem Anisimov each scored one goal apiece for the Blackhawks. Chicago won back-to-back games for the first time since January.

Timo Meier scored the lone goal for the Sharks. San Jose lost its second game in as many nights.

Golden Knights 6, Canucks 3

William Karlsson scored two goals and Reilly Smith had three assists as Vegas cruised past Vancouver in Las Vegas.

Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and an assist and To-mas Hyka, Tomas Nosek and David Perron also scored goals for Vegas, which moved one point ahead of Eastern Con-ference-leading Tampa Bay for most points in the NHL.

Penguins rout Hurricanes for 6th straight win

Bucks beat Raptors in OT, Rockets and Cavs win

AFPLOS ANGELES

THE Milwaukee Bucks turned the tables on Eastern Confer-ence leaders Toronto on Friday, winning 122-119 in overtime to snap the Raptors' seven-game NBA winning streak.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 26 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Bucks.

"We did a really good job just moving the ball, defending, just playing together," Antetok-ounmpo said. "We were able to stay calm down the stretch and get a tough win."

Raptors center Jonas Valan-ciunas slammed down a dunk at the buzzer in regulation to send the game to overtime.

But the Bucks, with 21 points apiece from Eric Bledsoe and Khris Middleton, emerged with the victory over a Raptors team that had won 15 of their 17 prior encounters.

"You've got to understand, this team sent us home last year," Bucks guard Jason Terry said in a halftime television in-terview. "This game is personal. This is a pride thing."

Toronto and Milwaukee also went to overtime on Janu-ary 1, when DeMar DeRozan set a Toronto franchise record with 52 points in the Raptors' 131-127 victory.

It looked like the Raptors would pull it off again when To-ronto scored the first five points of overtime, but Terry and Mid-dleton made three-pointers in an 8-0 Bucks scoring run that gave Milwaukee a 118-115 lead with 1:58 remaining and they wouldn't fall behind again.

"We showed growth as a team tonight," Antetokounmpo said. The Raptors remained one game ahead of the Boston Celt-ics atop the East.

The Celtics returned from the All-Star break with a 110-98 victory over the Pistons in Detroit.

The Celtics were hurting heading into the break, losing three straight and four of five to fall two games behind the Rap-tors.

It appeared the break, and the return of guard Marcus

Smart, who missed 11 games with hand lacerations, were just what the Celtics needed.

Leading 77-73 with 2:47 left in the third quarter, Boston mounted a 22-6 scoring run to seize control, limiting the Pistons to three field goals in

the span. Western Conference leaders Houston notched their 11th straight victory as James Harden scored 31 points in a 120-102 victory over the Min-nesota Timberwolves.

The defeat was even more bitter for the Timberwolves,

who lost All-Star Jimmy Butler to an apparent right knee injury late in the third quarter.

Butler had seized a re-bound, turned and planted his right foot when he fell to the court, clutching his right knee. He was carried from the court by two teammates.

"The only thing we know is it's a right knee injury," Minne-sota coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game, adding that But-ler would have an MRI exam on Saturday.

The Rockets were up 79-68 when Butler went down and stretched their lead to as many as 17 points before the third quarter ended.

Minnesota would whittle the deficit to nine in the fourth period, but with three minutes remaining the Rockets had pushed the advantage back to 15 as they cruised home.

In New Orleans, the Peli-cans edged the Miami Heat 124-123 in an overtime thriller.

Anthony Davis scored nine of his 45 points in the extra peri-od and guard Jrue Holiday pro-duced the game-winning jump shot with 7.3 seconds left as the Pelicans dealt the Heat their eighth defeat in nine games.

It was close in Denver, where Nuggets center Nikola Jokic posted a triple-double to lead the hosts to a 122-119 victo-ry over the San Antonio Spurs.

Jokic finished with 28 points, 11 rebounds and 11 as-sists before fouling out with 1:46 to play -- when Denver were leading by just one point.

With Jokic off the floor, Gary Harris drained a jump shot and broke away for a dunk and Mason Plumlee added a dunk as the Nuggets held on for the victory.

Antetokounmpo scores 26 points with 12 rebounds; Wolves Butler suffers knee injury

REUTERSWASHINGTON

FOUR days after agreeing to a reported five-year, $110 mil-lion deal with the Boston Red Sox, outfielder JD Martinez has yet to be introduced by the club or take the field with his teammates.

And now, the speculation as to why is heating up.

MLB Network on Friday reported the club is still stud-ying the free-agent slugger's physical, which took place on Wednesday. Red Sox presi-dent of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told ES-PN's Scott Lauber via text that Martinez "continues to take his physical."

The delay sparks particular interest considering Martinez's injury history, plus the size of

the contract and the amount of time it took to get done. A knee sprain and wrist injury limited Martinez to 86 games with the Astros in 2013, and he's also missed more than 40 games in each of the last two seasons. In 2016 he suffered a broken el-bow crashing into a wall, and a foot injury sustained in spring training cost him the first six weeks of last season.

--Tampa Bay Rays right-handed pitcher Brent Honey-well was diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow and needs Tommy John ligament replacement surgery.

The Rays announced the diagnosis Friday morning, one day after Honeywell shouted expletives and marched off the mound in pain after releasing a pitch.

AFPNEW YORK

THE New York Islanders and forward Josh Bailey agreed to a six-year, $30 million ex-tension on Friday. Bailey had been set to become a free agent this offseason.

"It's a fun time of year to be playing hockey and it's kind of nice to have this done with and make the sole focus be on this stretch run," Bailey said in discussing his new deal. "It's nice to have it done with and obviously we are happy and excited that we get to stay in New York."

The 28-year-old is in the midst of a breakout campaign, already reaching a career high with 62 points (15 goals, 47 as-sists) and being named to his first All-Star Game last month. His previous career high was 56 points set last season.

In all, Bailey, a 2008 first-round pick, has 121 goals and 247 assists in his 10 NHL sea-sons, all spent with the Island-ers. "

Josh has become one of the core members of the New York Islanders," team president and general manager Garth Snow said in a statement.

"He has developed within our system for several years and it's exciting to see him ma-ture into the player we always had confidence he would be-come."

The Isles can now focus on signing John Tavares to a new deal, as the star center is headed toward free agency this offseason.

"He's been here a long time and has developed into an All-Star and a great player and a leader in the locker room," Tavares said of his linemate, Bailey, per NHL.com.

Red Sox still evaluating Martinez’s fitness after $110mn deal

Isles ink Bailey to 6-year extension ‘No stopping us’

Toronto Raptors forward Serge Ibaka (left) takes a rebound away from Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) as Toronto Raptors centre Jonas Valanciunas (17) helps out during the first half at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Friday. (USA TODAY SPORTS)

NBA RESULTSBoston 110 DETROIT 98INDIANA 116 Atlanta 93Charlotte 122 WASHINGTON 105Milwaukee 122 TORONTO 119 (OT)HOUSTON 120 Minnesota 102Cleveland 112 MEMPHIS 89N/ORLEANS 124 Miami 123 (OT)DENVER 122 San Antonio 119LA Clippers 128 PHOENIX 117Portland 100 UTAH 81

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jake Guentzel (right) skates with the puck past Carolina Hurricanes forward Justin Williams at PNC Arena in New Carolina on Friday. (USA TODAY SPORTS)

Cowboys’ Bryant mum on salary talk but wants to stayAFP

DALLAS

DALLAS Cowboys wide re-ceiver Dez Bryant cannot im-agine playing for another team in the NFL.

"It don't seem right," Bry-ant, 29, told Dallas radio station 105.3 The Fan on Friday. "It wouldn't be right."

But what if the Cowboys asked Bryant to take a pay cut entering the 2018 season? Bry-ant is scheduled to make $12.5 million next season and count $16.5 million against the salary cap, which could make him a candidate for a salary renegoti-ation or an outright release. He struggled at times last season, finishing with 69 catches for

838 yards and six touchdowns."That's a discussion for me,

for myself and my agent and Mr. Jones and the Joneses, the Dal-las Cowboys," Bryant said to the station when asked about the possibility of agreeing to a pay cut. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound standout said injuries limited his performance in 2017. He did not miss a game during the sea-

son, but he said knee tendinitis affected his ability to dominate.

"I don't even want it to sound like an excuse, but it is the truth," Bryant said. "It's like one thing that I know -- [athletic trainer Jim Maurer] will tell you -- I hate going in that training room. I don't like going in that training room, especially when I needed to be in that training

room. "But this time around, I want to take care of my body. I want to get it all the way right. I want it to be right. I promise you I ain't having nobody ques-tioning me again. This is what I love, and I accept everything that's coming my way right now. That's OK. That's fine. I just want to work. That's all I want to do.

Good times are coming, says Alonso after new McLaren impresses

REUTERSNAVARRA, SPAIN

DOUBLE world champion Fernando Alonso sounded an optimistic note after driv-ing the first Renault-powered McLaren Formula One car in Spain on Friday.

The Spaniard, who has endured three hard years with unreliable and under-performing Honda engines, drove the MCL33 as part of a limited mileage pre-season filming day at the Navarra circuit in northern Spain.

“It felt great. It’s always a special moment when you drive the car for the first time. Everything felt good,” he told Sky Sports television. “The car is running, we’re all happy.

“I think good times are coming,” he added when asked whether he had a mes-sage for the long-suffering fans.

“We kept the motivation very high, I think the team is stronger now than three years ago. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.”

McLaren have not won a grand prix since 2012 and fin-ished last season ninth of the 10 teams.

The new orange and blue car was unveiled online ear-lier on Friday and will test properly for the first time on Monday in Barcelona.

“It’s an important mo-ment for McLaren. After a couple of years of not fight-ing for the championship, it’s time to come back to that po-sition,” said Alonso.

“Now in winter testing we need to make sure that we op-timise this package but so far

I’m very happy and very opti-mistic, I think the team did an amazing job in the last couple of months,” added the former Renault and Ferrari driver.

Alonso, who will also be racing at Le Mans and in the World Endurance Champion-ship (WEC) this season, said fighting for podiums and race victories could again be the aim.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier said everything had gone well.

“The drivers looked hap-py. Fernando was smiling this morning, which is a good sign,” said the Frenchman.

“We want to be competi-tive, we have to be competi-tive and I hope we are back to at least fight with the top boys. It’s going to take time. We don’t need to build now wrong expectations, we have to be humble as well.”

Former teammate Lewis Hamilton also saluted the new McLaren car, and ex-changed best wishes with former foe Fernando Alonso.

With his well-docu-mented social media sab-batical a thing of the past, the McLaren’s attention-grabbing new look prompted Hamilton, who made his F1 debut as a McLaren driver, to exchange pleasantries across Instagram with Alonso when the Spaniard posted an im-age of the new car.

“Looks dope bro, McLaren looking as it should,” posted an approving Hamilton.

“Looks good man, hope to be closer to you guys,” re-sponded Alonso in reference to Hamilton’s Mercedes team.

The season starts in Aus-tralia on March 25.

Fernando Alonso in the new Mclaren MCL33 during testing at Navarra Circuit in Northern Spain.

Sports 29Sunday, February 25, 2018

REUTERSDUBAI

TOP seed Elina Svitolina be-came the third woman to de-fend the Dubai Duty Free Ten-nis Championships title on Saturday, defeating Russia’s Daria Kasatkina 6-4 6-0 in the final.

World number four Svi-tolina, who had won both her previous meetings against Ka-satkina, dominated the early phase and went on to record a break of serve in the fifth game.

Kasatkina, ranked 24 in the world, saved three set points but was inconsistent with her groundstrokes as Svi-tolina wrapped up the opening set in the 10th game.

The 23-year-old Ukrainian made the most of the momen-tum and produced a spotless display in the second set, re-cording three more breaks of serve and 18 winners to claim

the victory in an hour and 10 minutes.

The victory puts Svitolina in the company of Justine Henin and Venus Willliams as the third women’s player to win successive Dubai titles.

“It’s amazing... coming back and playing as defending

champion,” Svitolina said.“I was just trying to hit

the ball in the court and was happy with how I handled the pressure throughout the week.

“Congrats to Daria for her performance. We will definite-ly see her winning more this year.”

It was an evening to forget for the 20-year-old Kasatkina, who committed 34 unforced errors, but her victories over world number three Gar-bine Muguruza and Johanna Konta this week reflected her remarkable progress on the WTA Tour this season.

Svitolina races past Kasatkina to in straight sets to retain titleThe Ukrainian becomes the third player to retain the trophy

Elina Svitolina of Ukraine holds up the trophy after defeating Daria Kasatkina of Russia in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday. (REUTERS)

Qatar lose to Austria, Poland cruise

AYENI OLUSEGUNDOHA

AUSTRIA edged past Qatar 17-20 in their Group A clash at the ISF World Schools Handball Championships at Ali Bin Hamed Al Attiyah Arena on Saturday. Austria had beaten Poland earlier in the day 29-21and showed no signs of fatigue against the hosts to all but confirm a spot in the knockout stages.

Qatar had all to play for going into the match after los-ing 24-18 to Poland on Friday. The team started the competi-tion on a winning note, brush-ing aside Morocco in their group opener. Team manager Ali Meddi now has an up-hill task with just Denmark left for the hosts, a match in which they need a win to keep any hopes of survival alive.

Poland redeemed their chances in the group after an

earlier defeat to Austria as they thrashed Morocco 29-17. The North Africans also lost their final match against Po-land in what confirmed their exit from the competition.

Defending boys’ cham-pion Turkey were handed down a beating as Germany dominated the Turks 30-18. Germany had earlier dropped 41 against Georgia. Czech Re-public had earlier beat Geor-gia 36-12. Meanwhile Israel

managed to get a win in the competition as they pip Czech Republic 27-23 for a shot at the next stage.

In the girls draw, France made light work of Georgia with a comprehensive 35-6 victory in their Group D clash at Aspire Dome. Denmark put 30 past Croatia who were only able to manage 18 in the other Group match.

Serbia fell to champions Hungary 35-15 in a largely

one-sided match. The Ger-man girls were also in action and cruised past Israel 39-10, while Romania torched Tur-key 35-18.

Former handball star and Poland national team coach Bogdan Wenta was the star attraction for the players.

Wenta dubbed one of the greatest handball players, visited the Polish and team before their match against Austria.

Action from the Group A match between Qatar and Austria of the ISF World Schools Handball Championship at the Ali Bin Ahmed Al Attiyah Arena on Saturday.

A Turkey player takes a shot against Greece.

The Czech Republic and Georgia in action on Saturday.

Smith to lead IPL’s Rajasthan RoyalsAFP

NEW DELHI

AUSTRALIA captain Steve Smith will lead the Rajas-than Royals in the 2018 In-dian Premier League season, the club announced Satur-day.

Smith will join Aus-tralian spin legend Shane Warne, who was announced as the team’s mentor earlier this year.

The eight teams in the cash-rich IPL -- boosted re-cently by a new five-year $2.5-billion media deal -- spent almost $70 million at an auction for players ahead of the Twenty20 tourna-ment, which runs from April 7 to May 27.

“We came to the conclu-sion that Steve Smith would be the ideal candidate for the

job,” Zubin Bharucha, Rajas-than Royals’ head of cricket, said Saturday.

“Smith has been incred-

ible as captain of Australia. He is someone who leads the team by example.”

The Australian skipper,

in a statement released by the club, said he was looking forward to leading the team.

“It’s an honour and privi-lege to be leading (the) Roy-als and I’m looking forward to working with the King (Shane Warne),” Smith said.

In 2008, Warne cap-tained the Royals to vic-tory in the inaugural season of what is now the world’s most watched domestic T20 league.

The Royals, along with the Chennai Super Kings, were banned for two IPL seasons over an illegal gam-bling scandal.

They have put together a strong squad ahead of their return for the 2018 season, bagging top names like Eng-land allrounder Ben Stokes at the player auction last month.

Steve Smith

India women clinch T20I series against South Africa in style

IANSCAPE TOWN

INDIA clinched the women’s Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket series 3-1 af-ter crushing South Africa by 54 runs in the fifth and final match here on Saturday.

India, who also pocketed the One-Day International (ODI) series, rode on superb all-round show during which they scored 166/4 before bowling out the hosts for 112 in 18 overs.

India had won the first two matches before South Africa bagged the third match, while the fourth match was called off midway due to rain.

In the fifth match, vet-

eran opening batter Mith-ali Raj (62 off 50 balls) and young Jemimah Rodrigues (44 off 38) shared a 98-run stand for the second wicket to give India a highly com-petitive total.

Mithali, who scored her 12th fifty, hit eight fours and three sixes before be-ing caught by wicket-keeper Lizelle Lee off medium pacer Shabnim Ismail in the fifth ball of the 16th overs as the visitors lost their second wicket for 130.

Captain Harmanpreet Kaur played a brisk knock of 27 not out off 17 deliveries to take India to 166/4. While defending the tota, medium pacers Rumeli Dhar, Shikha Pandey and left-arm spin-

ner Rajeshwari Gayakwad picked three wickets each as India bowled out South Af-rica for 112.

Marizanne Kapp (27) and Chloe Tryon (25) and Mignon du Preez (17) gave some hopes to the home side, which lost first five wickets for only 44 runs in-side the nine overs.

Scores: India: 166/4 (Mithali Raj 62, Jemimah Rodrigues 44; Marizanne Kapp 1/22) vs South Africa: 112 in 18 overs (Marizanne Kapp 27, Chloe Tryon 25; Shikha Pandey (3/16), Rumeli Dhar (3/26), Rajeshwar i Gayakwad (3/16).

Raina shines as India claim Twenty20 series against SA

REUTERSCAPE TOWN

SURESH Raina scored a quick-fire 43 and grabbed the key wicket of David Mill-er as India defeated hosts South Africa by seven runs to claim a 2-1 victory in their Twenty20 International se-ries at Newlands on Satur-day.

Sent in to bat, India, without injured captain Vi-rat Kohli, posted 172 for sev-en in their 20 overs before restricting South Africa to 165 for six.

Raina’s runs came from just 27 balls as he caressed five fours and a six, putting on 65 for the second wicket with opener Shikhar Dha-wan (47 from 40 balls).

Seamer Junior Dala (3-35) was the pick of the home bowlers as he posted career-best figures.

South Africa made a sluggish start to their reply and were always behind the required run-rate.

Explosive Miller (24 from 23 balls) was elevated to open the batting, but was bogged down by the line of the Indian bowlers and fell to Raina (1-27 in three overs)

as he tried to up the tempo.Only captain JP Duminy

(55 from 41 balls) and debu-tant Christiaan Jonker (49

from 24 balls) were able to muster innings of substance.

South Africa required 19 off the final over bowled by the excellent Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-24), but were restricted to just a single boundary to fall short of their target.

India’s two-month tour of South Africa is now at an end. The home side won the test series 2-1, but were thumped 5-1 in the One-Day Internationals.

South Africa start a four-test series at home to Aus-tralia on Thursday.

India

R. Sharma lbw b Dala 11S. Dhawan run out (Dala) 47S. Raina c Behardien b Shamsi 43M. Pandey c Miller b Dala 13H. Pandya c Klaasen b Morris 21M. Dhoni c Miller b Dala 12D. Karthik lbw b Morris 13A. Patel not out 1B. Kumar not out 3Extras (lb2, nb1, w5) 8

Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 172

Did not bat: S. Thakur, J. BumrahFall of wickets: 1-14 (Sharma), 2-79 (Raina), 3-111 (Pandey), 4-126 (Dhawan), 5-151 (Dhoni), 6-163 (Pandya), 7-168 (Karthik)Bowling: Morris 4-0-43-2 (1nb, 1w), Dala 4-0-35-3 (1w), Duminy 3-0-22-0, Phehlukwayo 3-0-26-0 (3w), Shamsi 4-0-31-1, Phangiso 2-0-13-0

South Africa:

R. Hendricks c Dhawan b Kumar 7D. Miller c Patel b Raina 24J. Duminy c Sharma b Thakur 55H. Klaasen c Kumar b Pandya 7C. Jonker c Sharma b Kumar 49C. Morris b Bumrah 4F. Behardien not out 15Extras (b1, lb1, w2) 4

Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) 165

Did not bat: A. Phehlukwayo, A. Phangiso, J. Dala, T. ShamsiFall of wickets: 1-10 (Hendricks), 2-45 (Miller), 3-79 (Klaasen), 4-109 (Duminy), 5-114 (Morris), 6-165 (Jonker)Bowling: Kumar 4-0-24-2 (1w), Bumrah 4-0-39-1 (1w), Thakur 4-0-35-1, Pandya 4-0-22-1, Raina 3-0-27-1, Patel 1-0-16-0Result: India won by seven runsSeries: India won the three-match series 2-1

SCOREBOARD

Magnificent RainaRaina’s runs came from just 27 balls as he caressed five fours and a six, putting on 65 for the second wicket with opener Shikhar Dhawan (47 from 40 balls).

ISF World Schools Handball Championship

Sports30 Sunday, February 25, 2018

VINAY NAYUDUDOHA

QATAR’S promising rider Salmeen Sultan al Suwaidi came up with an authoritative show on Saturday to claim the prestigious HH Emir’s Sword for equestrian competition at the Qatar Equestrian Fed-eration’s outdoor arena on the third and final day of the championship.

Under an overcast sky and on a floodlit course, the 23-year-old Suwaidi sizzled with his old and trusted com-bine – the grey gelding -- Can-taro 32 of Qatar Armed Forces to surge to the top in a field of nine challenging riders in the third and final round of Table A, One round against the clock, Art. 238.2.1 (140/150cm) fea-ture class of showjumping.

A delighted Suwaidi, who later received the sword from the Emir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, said, “It’s a pleasure for anyone to shake HH Emir’s hand and receive the sword from the Emir, es-pecially when we are under blockade. It’s such an honour.”

Suwaidi had finished third in the first round and was runners-up in the sec-ond. But his pristine and swift show in the final saw him leave the rest behind.

Suwaidi clocked the fast-est 78.16secs and accumulated the least total faults of 1.785 to win the best prize of QR68,750 on the day.

Given the tough field, Su-waidi was overjoyed with his excellent show.

“It my first Emir’s Sword win. It was a big challenge as there were strong competitors. I have an 18-year-old horse who refuses to give up and was pushed hard too today. So I am very happy,” said the rider, who has been representing Qatar at various international meets.

On his plan going into the final round, he said, “I held up my points since the first day. It was three days of jumping. I made sure that I had very good time on the first day because it would help me on the last day if I jump clean then I can win title. Today, I was under pres-sure but it ended nicely.”

Suwaidi, who has been rid-ing Cantaro 32 now for two and half years now has also been excelling in the on-go-ing national equestrian series Hathab and is set for more fu-ture challenges.

“I had two-three good re-sults in Hathab. I jumped in the World Cup qualifiers in the Arab league. I jumped here in Doha in World Championship qualifiers and I qualified for

the World Equestrian Games in Tryon, North Carolina this year. I hope do well in America as well,” he explained.

But doing well at the pres-tigious HH Emir’s Sword Fes-tival is every rider’s dream and Suwaidi too was delighted. “This is the main show for us here. After this we usually go to Europe. We will then get ready for the Asian Games in Indonesia and also for the World Equestrian Games in September.”

Hamad Ali al Attiyah, who finished as the runners-up on his 10-year-old bay gelding Clinton clocking 74.78secs (Total faults 2.220pts) also praised Suwaidi’s effort.

“I was bit unlucky the first day. But thank God, I was fifth and held my ground in key round today and finished sec-ond. I’m very happy. Salmeen is a very good rider with a re-ally good horse. Both of them deserve it as they worked hard so hard the whole season to achieve this victory. I want to congratulate him.

“This is my best result in Emir Sword. Every year I have come with my second horse,

this year I had a good horse. We were not ready for the show but we did what we could and we ended up second. We could have won but I was my mistake that cost us and not my horse’s,” said Attiyah.

Salman Mohammed al Emadi on chestnut gelding Zorro Z had the fastest time of 71.74secs in the final round but an error on one of the ob-stacles saw him pick up more total faults forcing him to set-tle for the third place.

The Medium Tour (125/135cm) was clinched by Khalid Mohammed al Ema-di, who rode Fiji to victory in 74.85secs. Mohammed al Ghazali astride Michael Jack-son won the Small Tour with a time of 71.08secs.

The Dressage Level 1 Test was won by Hassan Has-san al Nuaimi, who put up an impressive exhibition of horse expression with Les-lie Ann 2 tallying a score of 69.615points.

Mennatallah Hesham Mourad on Quick Dance scored 67.692 points to emerge best in Dressage Level 2 Test event.

Salmeen claims HH Emir’s Sword for showjumping with Cantaro 32

Khalid Mohammed al Emadi rides Fiji to victory in the Medium Tour Table A, One round against the clock,

Young rider comes up with swift and flawless show in final round of Big Tour feature class

The Big Tour podium finishers Hamad Ali al Attiyah (left), Salmeen Sultan al Suwaidi (centre) and Salman Mohammed al Emadi during the prize-presentation ceremony at the QREC on Saturday.

Salmeen Sultan al Suwaidi in action in the final round of the Big Tour Table A, One round against the clock, Art. 238.2.1 (140/150cm) class at the QEF’s outdoor arena in Al Rayyan on Friday. (PICS: GARSI LOTFI)

BIG TOUR: Table A, One round against the clock, Art. 238.2.1

(140/150cm) Prize-money QR250,000

1. Salmeen Sultan al Suwaidi (Cantaro 32); Faults: 0; Time: 78.16secs Total Points: 1.785 Prize: 68,750; 2. Hamad Ali al Attiyah (Clinton); 0; 74.78secs; 2.220; QR 56,250; 3. Salman Mohammed al Emadi (Zorro Z); 4; 71.74secs; 1.925; QR 43,750

MEDIUM TOUR: Table A, One round against the clock, Art. 238.2.1

(125/135cm) Prize-money 150,000

1. Khalid Mohammed al Emadi (Fiji); 0; 74.85secs; 7.160; QR41,250; 2. Sheikh Abdulla bin Nasser al Thani (Dollar Van Ze Zuuthoeve); 4; 76.10secs; 7.565; QR30,0003. Cyrine Cherif (Gerlin VD Waterkant); 8; 70.73secs; 6.365; QR22,500

Small Tour: Table A, One round against the clock, Art.238.2.1

(110/120cm) Prize-money:100,000

1. Mohammed al Ghazali (Michael Jackson); 0; 71.08secs; 0.560; QR25,0002. Saeed Hamad al Rashdi (Graffiti De Lully CH); 0; 68.38; 4.530; QR20,0003. Mohammed Nasser al Qadi (Vlacido); 0; 62.79secs; 5.475; QR15,000

Dressage Level 1 Test Prize-money QR50,000

1. Hassan Hassan al Nuaimi (Leslie Ann 2); Scores; 69.615; QR13,7502. Saeed hamad al Rashdi (Graffiti De Lully CH); 68.654; QR11,2503. Amna Ahmad al Saffar (Rhythm); 67.692; QR8,750

Dressage Level 2 Test Prize-money: QR30,000

1. Mennatallah Hesham Mourad (Quick Dance); 67.692; QR8,4002. Aisha Ahmed al Ahmadi (Wait And See Ze); 63.846; QR6,7503. Maha Matar al Kuwari (Fokke Van Orshof D’17); 61.731; QR5,250.

RESULTS

VINAY NAYUDUDOHA

EVENT Director of HH Emir’s Sword showjumping and dressage competition Ali al Rumaihi was a happy man at the end of the prestigious three-day competition at the Qatar Equestrian Federation (QEF) on Saturday.

The man who himself as a rider has represented Qatar at the Olympics is now playing an effective role as an admin-istrator. Speaking about the competition, Rumaihi said he was glad that the federation had put up a successful event.

“The good thing was that we had the Italian course de-signer Uliano Vezzani, who provided a nice and challeng-

ing path here for the riders. It is difficult to win this com-petition after all it is the HH Emir’s Sword so the riders were really put to tough test.

The fences were re-ally high and all the horses jumped good. It was a good and successful event,” he said.

On Salmeen Sultan al Suwaidi winning HH Emir’s Sword, Rumaihi said, “The horse (Cantaro 32) has been doing very well since the last season and this year too (thank god) he has been jumping well and clearing fences superbly. Salmeen also rode with aplomb. He has also grown with this horse who has served for a long time in big competitions. Salmeen deserved the title.

“Hathab (the ongoing na-tional equestrian series) has been helpful in making the riders and their horses top competition ready at all times. Most of these riders and hors-es have been competing in the national equestrian series and when it came to this big championship they showed their skills and merit.”

On the road ahead for Qatar’s top riders at the forthcoming Asian Games in Indonesia, Rumaihi said, “It depends on the trainer Jan Tops on which horses would

be the best for Qatar to jump at the 2018 Asian Games. I personally see three or four we saw in the competition to be ready to go to Jakarta for the Asian Games.

“About the riders, Sheikh Ali bin Khalid al Thani, Bassem Mohammed and a few others could well be there. They all seem ready.”

Rumaihi was also delighted

with the growing interest of people in Qatar in equestrian.

“The sport is growing. There is a lot of spectator in-terest and young riders are coming into equestrian, some are also buying their own horses. Very soon you will see many more riders coming up in competitions,” he said.

On the big turn out of spectators for the HH Emir’s Sword competition at the QEF’s Al Rayyan arena, Ru-maihi said, “The QEF made a lot of arrangements for the spectators and people love to

see horses jumping so it was nice to see a packed house during the weekend. Thanks and kudos to the QEF and all the team members for making the event a successful one.”

Meanwhile, the QEF President Hamad Abdulrah-man al Attiyah also congratu-lated Suwaidi. “I congratulate Salmeen Sultan al Suwaidi for winning the championships and his crowning with the precious sword HH Emir’s Sword, after strong a com-petition of three days. In this tournament everyone is con-sidered a winner with their presence participation in this great event,” he said.

He also thanked Qatar Olympic Committee Presi-dent for the big support to equestrian. “The great boom in equestrianism is due to the strong support of the coun-try’s wise leadership and the support of HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al Thani, Presi-dent of the Qatar Olympic Committee, who is following and supporting Qatari Eques-trian and his continuous guid-ance,” he said.

Qatar riders are ready for top international competitions: RumaihiQEF President Hamad al Attiyah congratulates Salmeen for his super show

Qatar Equestrian Federation President Hamad Abdulrahman al Attiyah (2nd right) and Asst Secretary and Event Director Ali al Rumaihi (3rd right) with the dressage event podium finishers on Saturday.

The great boom in equestrianism is due to the strong support of the country’s wise leadership and the support of HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al Thani, President of the Qatar Olympic Committee.QEF President Hamad Abdulrahman al Attiyah

Sports 31Sunday, February 25, 2018

Mennatallah Hesham Mourad (Quick Dance) Dressage Level 2 Test event at QEF’s indoor arena on Saturday.

RAAJIV TRIPATHIDOHA

A desert duel is set to hot up as Englishmen Oliver Fisher and Ed-die Pepperell were locked at the top of the $1.75-million Commer-cial Bank Qatar Masters leader-board with 16 under par 200 after the third round play on Saturday.

Fisher, continuing from tied sixth with nine under par total, scorched four birdies off the final four holes at the Doha Golf Club to match the lowest score of the 21st edition so far with a 65 to set the clubhouse target at 16 under 200.

Pepperell, who was locked in the second spot with three others after two rounds, began the day with a gain and saved three more shots off the first 10 holes. Despite dropping shot on the 12, he scored three birdies in the remaining six holes to finish with a 66 and get the share of the lead.

The two English players, with just one Tour title between them, equaled the three day’s lowest ag-gregate, achieved by double Doha winner and former Major champi-on Paul Lawrie in 1999 and Alvaro Quiros in 2009 when the latter won here.

It would now be a little surprise if the pair or any other player goes on to beat the course record of 20 under 268 that Lawrie carded in 1999 and Australian Adam Scott repeated it in 2008 on the way to becoming the first man to claim the Qatar Masters twice.

Both Fisher and Pepperell, who is yet to savour the taste of a title on the Tour, are two shots ahead of American Sean Crocker, who punched five under par card.

Five players are tied for the fourth spot two shots further down – Marcus Kinhult (Sweden), Gregory Havret (France), David Horsey (England), Italians Andrea Pavan and Lorenzo Gagli. Horsey (65) was the biggest mover of the day, improving 31 places at 12 un-der.

Two bunches of seven players each have two previous champions tucked in. The 2013 winner Chris Wood of England got four under par card to share the ninth spot

five shots off the leaders. One stroke adrift is the other

bunch with Spaniard Alvaro Qui-ros, the 2009 champion, who managed a 70 to get a share of the 16th spot. Overnight leader Adrian Otaegui, also from Spain, occupied one of the spots with a two under par card.

Fisher sounded pleased with his round and said, “I’m very pleased with my day today and looking forward to tomorrow.”

“The important thing for me is to make sure I give myself enough time with things and I'm aware of what I'm doing. I’ll try and enjoy it as much as I can. I did that today. My caddie was great.

"I gave myself some chances coming in and thankfully I made them,” Fischer added.

Pepperell, ranked 154th in the world after a strong finish to his 2017 season, has been playing quite consistency after a change in

coach. He was driving and putting well till the par-4 12th.

His approach shot came up short and landed in the rocks. His third bounced back off the rocks, and he duffed his fourth shot to stay in the waste area.

But just when a double bogey or worse looked imminent, Pep-perell holed his fifth shot for what was a remarkable bogey. And he celebrated that escape with a 40-feet birdie putt on the 13th.

But just when a double bogey or worse looked imminent, Pep-perell holed his fifth shot for what was a remarkable bogey. And he celebrated that escape with a 40-feet birdie putt on the 13th.

Pepperell may have had trou-ble with the rocks earlier but he got a fortunate bounce on the 16th and got up and down for birdie to cut the lead back to one before a nice third set up a closing birdie.

“When I saw Oli was on 16 un-

der I said that I wanted to birdie the last. I’ve managed to do that so mentally I feel like I’m up for it, my game is there and it’s just going to be a case of holing putts and get-ting into the rhythm of the round, keep on doing what I’m doing because I’m hitting a lot of good shots,” said Pepperell.

“It's always a strange course because you can play okay around here and not do too much. I felt

like I missed some opportunities on the first and nine and ten. Al-though they can play a bit tricky at times, I was really pleased to birdie 18.

"We've still got one round to go and a lot of golf to be played out there but I've certainly put myself in a good position,” the British player said.

The long-hitting Crocker is playing on invites on the Europe-an Tour. He made a third eagle in three days - on the par-4 16th for the second successive round.

MENA Golf Tour professional Josh White of England, who quali-fied by winning the professional division of the 2018 Qatar Open, performed superbly. Having made the cut with rounds of 67 &,73, White shot an impressive third round of 69 to sit in a share of 43rd place at seven under par.

The final round, with a double tee start to avoid rains or thunder-storm, gets underway at 6.30am with the lead group of Fisher, Pep-perell and Crocker off at 8.30am.

FISHER & PEPPERELL scorch DGC course

21st Commercial Bank Qatar Masters likely to see a course total record today

Oliver Fisher (left) lines up his putt and Eddie Pepperell drives the ball from the 18th hole during the third day of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters at the Doha Golf Club on Saturday. (PHOTOGRAPHS: HANSON K JOSEPH)

THE LEADERS IN THE BUSINESS

Eddie Pepperell (left) hits a shot and Sean Crocker tees off the 18th hole during the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters third round in Doha on Saturday.

Adrian Otaegui (left) hits out of the bunker and former champion Chris Wood drives the ball.

On birdie binge“The important thing for me is to make sure I give myself enough time with things and I’m aware of what I’m doing. I’ll try and enjoy it as much as I can. I did that today. My caddie was great. — Oliver Fisher

Sports32 Sunday, February 25, 2018