SPORTThursday 23 March 2017

Spieth just wants Masters to be over

Ageless Rossi ready to give it

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PAGE | 25 PAGE | 26 PAGE | 27 Hamilton eyes fast start to new season

March 2017

FIG Artistic World Cup: Berki, Chusovitina cruise into finals Fawad HussainThe Peninsula

Top stars including Krisztian Berki, Oksana Chusovitina and Emily Little got off to

a flying start as they entered the finals of their respective compe-titions on the opening day of the 10th FIG Artistic World Cup which got under way at the Aspire Dome in Doha yesterday.

The 2012 London Games gold medalist Berki topped qualifica-tion round for the men’s pommel horse final as the Hungarian col-lected 14,833 points with China’s Jingyuan Zou finishing second with 14,433 points. Croatia’s Filipe UDE was third with a card of 13,800 points.

China’s Ruoteng Xiao, Artur Davtyan (Armenia), Robert Tvo-rogal (Lithuania), Kilchi Takenaka (Japan), Ferhat Arican (Turkey) also qualified for the final.

However, it was a tough day for the hosts as Qatar’s Ahmed Al Dayani failed to qualify for the final after finishing 23rd with 11,600 points.

Al Dayani, though may be seen in action in the final as a wild card entrant with a decision expected after qualification round, according to an organiser.

Meanwhile, as expected, an intriguing action was witnessed in the women’s vault qualifica-tion which saw star-studded line-up in action.

It was Rio bronze medalist Yan Wang of China who topped the contest with a tally of 14,566 points.

Uzbek veteran Chusovitina took the second spot as the 41-year-old earned 14.249 points to finish ahead of Aussie Olym-pian Emily who finished third after registering 14, 100 points.

Teja Belak (Slovenia), Tjasa Kysselef (Slovenia), Zsofia Kov

(Hungary), Yuliya Inshina (Azerbaijan), Chaimaa Zemzami (Mauritania) also qualified for the final in the discipline.

Pablo Braegger of Switzer-land finished the men’s floor exercise qualification on top by accumulating 14, 133 points. The

24-year-old Swiss outsmarted Chia-Hung Tang of China (14,000) Romanian Marian Dragulescu (14,000) to finish on top.

Also qualified for the final in the event include Ferhat Arican (Turkey), Milad Karimi

(Kazakhstan), Kilchi Takenaka (Japan) Artur Davtyan (Armenia) and Oskar Kirmes (Finland).

The qualification round will continue today, with the male gymnasts to compete for finals of vault, parallel bars and hori-zontal bar. Today’s final day of

qualification also includes wom-en’s events of balance beam and floor. The entry for fans willing to catch live action will remain free.

Qatar's Ahmed Mosa and Jana Elkeky will also be seen in action today.

Qatar eye home winArmstrong Vas The Peninsula

Coach Jorge Fossati has made a rally-ing call to Qatar fans to come in large numbers

and back their team in the crucial FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifying match against Group A leaders Iran at the Al Sadd Stadium here today.

Carlos Queiroz’s side, favourites to book a place for the show piece event in Rus-sia, enjoy a slender one-point lead over second placed Korea Republic going into today’s match, while the hosts are in a do-or-die situation.

The Al Anabi have to win all their reaming five matches in the third phase, including the match against Iran, to keep their qualify-ing hopes alive for next year’s World Cup in Russia.

“I call upon the Qatar team fans to come in large numbers and fill up the entire Al Sadd Stadium, and cheer for the team. This is the time to rally behind the players and support the team,” said the 64 year- old, who took over from Jose Daniel Carreno, who was in charge of the team during the 2-0 loss in Tehran.

Qatar lost the away match on September 1 in Tehran, with both goals coming in second-half stop-page time.

Qatar are currently at the fifth spot with four points from five matches in the group which includes also includes South Korea, Uzbekistan, China, and Syria.

“We have big trust we can do it. We are confident of achieving the target. We have planned well and hopefully it will come off on the pitch,” said the Uruguay tactician on the eve of the match.

“All my players are con-fident and ready for the big

task and the very very important task ahead,” he added.

Asked as to how difficult it will be to break into the rival defense which are yet to concede a goal in the third phase of qualifying Fossati said: “Iran has a compact defense and it is quite an achievement not to concede a goal.”

The Iranians currently lead Group A by a solitary point (11 points) from sec-ond-placed Korea Republic while Uzbekistan remain hot on their heels in third place in the group with 9 points.

Fossati’s opposite number, Queiroz on the other hand wish his oppo-nents luck ahead of the qualifier and is hoping they join his team in the World Cup in Russia.

“Hope Qatar qualifies for the World Cup in Russia but not at the expense of Iran,” the Portuguese said.

“The Qatar authorities have been doing a good job in prompting football in the region and bringing the 2022 World Cup to Qatar is a good

move which will lift the pro-file of the game in the country and in the region,” he said.

Syria lead the chasing pack but sit four points adrift of the Central Asians, while Qatar and China urgently require victories if they are to stand any chance of securing a top-three position.

Qatar got off to the worst possible start on the Road to Russia by suffering three defeats on the bounce but responded well by defeating

Syria 1-0 and claiming a point in China.

On the other hand, Que-iroz’s side are the only unbeaten team in Group A and are yet to concede a goal

The home side will be without four players through suspension with Khalid Muf-tah, Ahmed Yasser, Abdelkarim Hassan and Meshaal Abdulla all unavail-able for selection.

For Iranians fans in Qatar, the cynosure of all eyes will be young Sardar Azmoun, Iran's top-scorer in

the qualifying campaign with eight goals.

However, the experience of Reza Ghoochannejhad can't be understated consid-ering his major contribution in firing Team Melli to Bra-zil 2014.

Despite starting on the bench, the 29-year-old for-ward showed a glimpse of his genius by coming on and breaking the deadlock against Qatar with an injury-time strike, which set them on the road to a 2-0 win.

After the Iran match, Qatar travel to Tashkent to take on Uzbekistan on March 28. Qatar next three matches are on June 13 against Korea Republic, Syria on August 31 while they conclude their engagements with a match against China on September 5.

The winner and runner-up of each group (four teams in total) will qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, while the third-placed teams of each group (two teams in total) will head to the play-off round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Qualification results (Top 3)

POMMEL HORSE

Berki Krisztian (Hungary) 14,833

Jingyuan Zou (China) 14, 433 points

Filipe UDE (Croatia) 13,800 points

WOMEN’S VAULT

Yan Wang (China) 14,566 points

Oksana Chusovitina (Uzbekistan) 14,249

Emily Little (Australia) 14, 100 points

MEN’S FLOOR EXERCISE

Pablo Braegger (Switzerland) 14,133

points

Chia-Hung Tang (China) 14,000

Romanian Marian Dragulescu 14,000

Experience will be key for Qatar in 2022 FIFA World Cup: Ali AsadThe Peninsula

Qatar midfielder Ali Asad (pictured) believes that

experience and an inventory of skills will be his assets as he aspires to be an ‘Al Anabi’ mainstay during the 2022 FIFA World Cup on home soil.

Speaking to www.sc.qa ahead their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Iran today, the 24-year-old Al Sadd player called the game at the home of his club “one of the most important in my career” and added that he is prepared for even bigger occa-sions that will beckon in the future.

“The 2018 FIFA World Cup could be the last for some of my teammates if we qualify, but I have age on my side and can play in front of my country-men in the dream-come-true tournament in 2022,” said Asad, who has scored 10 international goals in 40 appearances.

“Everyone in the QFA and Aspire Academy are doing their best to prepare a good team for 2022 – which should contain a mixture of youth and experience. I will be 28 then, which is when mid-fielders peak. As one of the experienced players in the squad, I will take on more responsibility and guide the youngsters.”

“Iran might be the highest-ranked team in Asia, but this bunch is not as good as their side that came here for the 2014 qualifiers and drew. Iran and South Korea have more experience playing in these big-match situations, but we can surprise them.”

The attacking midfielder shed some light on Qatar’s tactics ahead of the game. “We will attack, as we need at least four points from the next two games to remain in contention for World Cup qual-ification. A win at home is easier to achieve, even if the opponents are Iran, than claiming three points in Tashkent,” he said.

“I am happy to have contributed significantly in the win against Syria in October,” said the man who is equally comfortable manning the central midfield and the left wing.

“Even more satisfying was that the perform-ance came after I had not started against Uzbekistan in Doha in September, and then I missed out totally against South Korea, both due to tactical reasons. External circumstances affected our performance during the draw in China in November, but I am now focused for the immediate challenges ahead.”

The bigger challenge, Asad recognises, lies in surprising the world’s best teams in five years’ time in Qatar. And he says he has given some thought to the nature of his preparations.

“I would like to play in the English Premier League after 2018,” said the man noted for his ball control and passing.

Qatar SquadHassan Al Haydos, Saad Abdullah Al

Sheeb, Ibrahim Abdul Magid, Pedro

Miguel, Hamid Ismail, Ali Asad, Mo-

hammed Kasola, Karim Boudiaf,

Ahmed Yasser, Asim Umar, Moham-

med Musa, Luis Martin, Ali Hassan

Afif, Ali Zainabuddin, Khizar Kamal,

Abdul Matal, Sebastian Soria, Rod-

rigo Tabata, Umar Bari, Mishal Ab-

dullah, Ahmed Mohammed, Yasser

Abubakr, Khalifa Abubakr, Al Hadi

Ali, Yusuf Hussain, Bualem Khoukhi,

Akram Ali Afif and Fahad Ali.

Coach: Jorge Fossati

Iran SquadAlireza Beiranvand, Mohammad-

reza Akhbari, Rashid Mazaheri,

Ramin Rezaeian, Vouria Ghafouri,

Jalal Hosseini, Pejman Montazeri,

Morteza Pouraliganji, Ezatollah

Pourghaz, Milad Mohammadi, Mo-

hammad Ansari, Ehsan Hajsafi,

Saeid Ezatollahi, Ali Karimi, Omid

Ebrahimi, Masoud Shojaei, Sardar

Azmoun, Reza Ghoochannejhad,

Karim Ansarifard, Mehdi Taremi,

Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Vahid Amiri,

Sasan Ansari

Coach: Carlos Queiroz

Qatar national team players taking part in a training session under the watchful eyes of coach Jorge Fossati in Doha, on the eve of their FIFA 2018 World Cup qualifying match against Group A leaders Iran.

Qatar coach Jorge Fossati. Iran coach Carlos Queiroz.

Qatari gymnast Ahmed Al Dayani in action during the men's Pommel Horse competition of the 10th Artistic Gymnastics World Cup at the Aspire Dome yesterday.Picture: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula

25THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017SPORT

F1: Mercedes look to make early statement in Australia Melbourne

Reuters

Beefier cars and bulked-up driv-ers will hit Albert Park cir-cuit on Sunday

for Formula One's season-opening Australian Grand Prix where many fans will be hoping at least one team can strike an early blow a g a i n s t d o m i n a n t Mercedes.

Revised aerodynamics and fatter tyres are among a raft of technical changes that pundits feel could bring the Silver Arrows back to earth after they swept the drivers and con-structors' championships for the last three years running.

Ferrari's strong per-formance during winter testing has added to expec-tations that the sport is in for a shake-up, even as F1's new American managers seek to rejuvenate a series plagued by inertia.

And yet Mercedes, once again, appear primed to ride roughshod over new-season hopes for a changing of the guard.

Nico Rosberg vacated his Mercedes seat in a shock retirement from the sport shortly after winning the drivers' world cham-pionship but his old team mate and three-times champion Lewis Hamilton stands poised to take the title back.

German Rosberg thwarted Hamilton's bid for a third successive title and the pair's heated rivalry took its toll on both drivers.

Rosberg's Finnish replacement, Valtteri Bot-tas, is not seen as someone who will create as many headaches for Hamilton, who will be going for his third victory in Melbourne and 54th overall after win-ning the last four races of 2016.

"I think he's one of those guys who is not going to be that difficult to manage, especially in the battle with Lewis," Rosberg said of former Williams driver Bottas in a video posting for Formula One sponsor UBS.

"I don't know if he will be able to challenge Lewis or even beat Lewis. That remains to be seen."

Bookmakers predict

Hamilton will be a heavy favourite to win at Albert Park, although the Briton has deflected the hype onto Ferrari and four-times F1 champion Sebastian Vettel.

"I think Ferrari are bluffing and that they are a lot quicker than they are showing," Hamilton said at testing in Barcelona.

German Vettel has been busy playing down expectations of a Ferrari renaissance and has become a master of it since crossing to the 'Scuderia' from Red Bull in 2015.

Great expectations fol-lowed he and team mate Kimi Raikkonen to Mel-bourne last year after a similarly promising

testing in the leadup but neither driver won a race all season.

Red Bull are the other team seen snapping at Mercedes' heels if they can avoid reliability problems of the past and drivers Daniel Ricciardo and teen-ager Max Verstappen, seen as a champion-in-waiting, can keep their growing rivalry from spoiling their racing.

"We’ve been on six dinners already this week. He brought me breakfast yesterday morning. We don’t share a room ... not yet," Aus-tralian Ricciardo joked to reporters on Wednesday when asked about their relationship.

© GRAPHIC NEWS

4

Melbourne

Lap: 5.303kmMar 24-26 Distance: 58 laps – 307.574km

Source: FIA DRS = Drag Reduction System

Gear Km/h Timing sector DRS detection DRS activation zone1 1111

1

23

5

67

8

9

10

11

12

13

1415

16

3

12

Whiteford Senna

Ascari

Marina

Clark

Lauda

Waite

JonesChicane

PitLane Prost

Hill

ALBERT PARK CIRCUIT

4 150 7 270 7 290

3 120

8 300

6 235 7 290

8 305

4 150

5 190

4 160 8 325 4 160 2 90

5 190

4 140

3 100

8 310

6 235

MILESTONEFormula One has no reigning champion on the

grid for the first time since 1994, the season after

French great Alain Prost retired.

RACE LAP RECORD: Michael Schumacher

(Germany) 1:24.125 (Ferrari, 2004)

2016 POLE: Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes

1:23.837

2016 WINNER: Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Mercedes

START TIME: 0500 GMT (1600 local)

POLE POSITIONHamilton was on pole 12 times last season and

now has 61, four short of the late Ayrton Senna's

career total and seven behind Schumacher's

record 68.

Mercedes were on pole in 20 races last year and

have been on pole in 56 of the last 59.

WINSMercedes won 19 of 21 races last season. The

champions have won 51 of 59 races since the

introduction of the 1.6 litre V6 turbo hybrid power

units in 2014.

Red Bull, with Australian Daniel Ricciardo and

Dutch teenager Max Verstappen, were the only

non-Mercedes winners last season.

Triple world champion Hamilton has won at least

10 races in each of the last three seasons. He won

11 in 2014 and 10 in 2015 and 2016. He is the

only driver to have won 10 races in a season and

not taken the championship that year.

Hamilton has 53 career victories, putting him

second in the all-time list behind Schumacher

(91). Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel has 42, McLaren's

Fernando Alonso is on 32 and Ferrari's Kimi

Raikkonen 20.

Ferrari have won 224 races, McLaren 182,

Williams 114, Mercedes 64 and Red Bull 52.

McLaren have not won for 78 races, a run that

dates back to Brazil 2012.

ROOKIESThere is only one complete newcomer this season

- Canadian Lance Stroll at Williams.

McLaren's Belgian rookie Stoffel Vandoorne did

one race last year and scored on his debut,

finishing 10th.

STATISTICS FOR THE AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

Hamilton eys fast start to new season

Melbourne

AFP

Lewis Hamilton will look to put his stamp on the new Formula One season at this week's Aus-

tralian Grand Prix, as he seeks to regain the world title following the shock retirement of reigning cham-pion Nico Rosberg.

Ten years after his F1 debut at Albert Park, Hamilton arrives at the downtown circuit as the leading light of a sport now under new manage-ment and featuring wider and faster cars.

Hamilton, 32, was beaten to last year's title by Mercedes team-mate Rosberg, who quit the sport five days later citing the intense pressures of competing.

This year, Hamilton will be face renewed competition from Ferrari and Red Bull, who are expected to close the gap on dominant Mercedes, as well his new team-mate Valtteri Bottas of Finland. Hamilton is revelling in the new generation of quicker cars, which coincides with American group Lib-erty Media's takeover and the exit of long-time ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone.

"I'm finding the car is much more physical to drive than in the past," said Hamilton, who is seeking his fourth world title after victories in 2008, 2014 and 2015.

"Having spoken to the drivers, these machines are violent -- just like Formula One cars should be," said Mercedes chief Toto Wolff.

While the Silver Arrows have dominated F1, winning the drivers and constructors titles over the last three years, pre-season testing pointed to other teams pushing hard.

Ferrari topped the timesheets at testing in Barcelona, with Kimi Raik-konen fastest ahead of team-mate Sebastien Vettel.

Anderson concerned about future of Test cricket London

Reuters

England fast bowler James Anderson (pic-tured) is worried that

Test cricket is losing popu-larity as attendances for the longer format are declining, with younger crowds prefer-ring to watch Twenty20.

Anderson, England's all-t ime leading test wicket-taker, said the launch of Twenty20 - the first international was in 2005 - and its growing young fan-base had hit crowds for test matches.

"There is a concern. I think if you look at attend-ances around the world, in Test cricket they're on the decline and it's probably only in England that we sell out most days for test matches," the 34-year-old

told Sky Sports yesterday."Obviously, it's great to

see Twenty20 the way it is, drawing crowds and getting young kids into the sport, but there are still a lot of players out there who want to play test cricket and see it as the pinnacle.

"In the future, it's some-thing that has got to be looked at," he added.

Anderson, recovering from a shoulder injury, is set to join Lancashire on the county circuit for the next three months before England host the first test against South Africa in July.

Runs will come, says Warner New Delhi Reuters

David Warner has never suf-fered from a lack of confidence and his

experience of battling through previous run droughts has the Aus-t r a l i a n o p e n e r convinced he will soon be getting big scores on the board again.

The 30-year-old left hander has been an almost singular disappointment for the tourists so far in their enthralling Test series in India, having scored just 131 runs in six i n n i n g s . W a r n e r

experienced a similar downturn in fortunes during the last Australian summer and he started the second

test against Pakistan on Boxing Day without a Test century to his

name for almost a year.He responded with a

match-turning 144 in Mel-bourne and followed that

up with an astonishing cen-tury in a single session in

the third Test in Sydney.

"You've got to keep telling yourself you've done the hard yards,

you just don't lose it overnight," he said.

"There were tough periods where I kept on th inking to

myself, 'Am I actually doing the work at training?' You always ques-tion yourself, are you doing the right things at training and are you pre-paring as well as you can?

Warner's track record means his position at the top of the order is in no way under threat for the fourth and decisive Test at Dharamsala, but the old questions about his ability to score runs away from home have been raised yet again.

"Everyone in world cricket, greats and legends of the game, have had stints overseas or at home where they've had some form slumps, and that's just the game of cricket. I feel fantastic, I couldn't be hitting the ball any better but it's just that the runs aren't coming for me at the moment. That will come, it will turn around."

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"ThtoughwhertthinDavid Warner

Mercedes British driver Lewis Hamilton motoring through the pits at the Formula One Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in this March 18, 2016 file photo.

26 THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017SPORT

The Peninsula

A world-class field of Olym-pic and World Champions will kick off their outdoor

seasons in Doha with an action-packed evening of exhilarating athletics expected in Doha on May 5.

Tickets are on sale now at www.q-tickets.com to witness athletics’ biggest stars go head to head in the Doha 2017 IAAF Diamond League at Qatar Sports Club in this unmissable fixture on the Doha sporting calendar.

Qatar’s most successful-ever athlete, Mutaz Barshim, will ensure an electric atmos-phere as he returns to compete in front of a home crowd for the first time since winning sil-ver at last year’s Olympic Games.

The 2014 World Indoor Champion cleared the second highest jump in history in the 2014 Diamond League season before claiming the 2014 and 2015 Diamond Race titles. He lost the title to Erik Kynard of the USA in 2016 and the two will go head to head once again in Doha this year in a bid to get their 2017 seasons off to a suc-cessful start.

One of the most highly-anticipated events of the evening will be the Women’s

200m where 100m and 200m Olympic Champion, Elaine Thompson of Jamaica, will face a showdown against last year’s Diamond Race winner, 2015 World Champion and 200m Rio 2016 silver medallist, Dafne Schippers of The Netherlands.

Multiple World Champion-ships medallist, Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica, and Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, who finished fourth in the Rio 2016 200m

final are the other stars who will compete in the 200m.

The Men’s 400m also promises to set Qatar Sports Club alive with a thrilling head-to-head between London 2012 Olympic Champion and 2011 World Champion, Kirani James, and Beijing 2008 Olympic Champion and 2009 and 2013 World Champion, LaShawn Merritt. Merritt, winner of last year’s Diamond Race, is the sixth fastest man in history over

400m and is one of only four men in history to have broken 20 seconds for the 200m and 44 seconds for the 400m. The Doha Diamond League will provide an early opportunity to see the form of both sprint sensations at the beginning of a World Championship season.

Doha’s large Greek commu-nity will be able to cheer on their Olympic hero, Rio 2016 Champion Katerina Stefanidi

in the Women’s Pole Vault event. The 2016 Diamond Race winner will face tough compe-tition from Rio 2016 silver medallist Sandi Morris of the USA and 2015 World Champion, Yarisley Silva of Cuba in what promises to be one of the most riveting events of the evening.

Speaking ahead of the Doha 2017 IAAF Diamond League meeting, President of the Qatar Athletics Federation, Dr Thani Abdulrahman Al Kuwari, said:

“We are very excited to welcome so many world-class athletes to Doha once again this year, including freshly crowned Olympic Champions. There will be some enthralling rivalries ensuring a thrilling evening of memorable athletics. With so many nationalities represented, Doha’s diverse community will all have athletes to cheer on creating which promises to cre-ate a phenomenal atmosphere for people of all ages to enjoy.

Doha Diamond League: Star-studded line-up unveiled

Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim will compete in front of a home crowd for the first time since winning silver at last year’s Olympic Games at the Doha 2017 IAAF Diamond League at Qatar Sports Club on May 5.

Crunch time for Argentina in World Cup qualifiersMontevideo

AFP

The unthinkable pros-pect of a World Cup without Argentina or Lionel Messi could move a step closer to

becoming reality today as the South American giants prepare to face arch-rivals Chile in a cru-cial battle on the road to Russia 2018.

Argentina, who last failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1970, saw their progress towards next year's finals go awry in 2016 when back-to-back draws with Venezuela and Peru were fol-lowed by defeats against Paraguay and Brazil.

Although they bounced back to beat Colombia 3-0 in a home qualifier last November, they remain outside the automatic qualifying places in fifth place, with 19 points from 12 games.

A defeat against fourth-placed Chile on Thursday in Buenos Aires would leave Argentina further adrift of the automatic qualifying spots.

And if Colombia beat lowly Bolivia in their home game, as expected, Argentina could even

finish the day further down the pecking order, outside of the fifth-place playoff berth they currently occupy.

With a trip to face Bolivia in the thin air of La Paz awaiting them next Tuesday -- where Argentina have rarely performed well -- it means the two-time World Cup-winners can ill afford to slip up against the Chileans.

Argentina defeated Chile in Santiago earlier in the qualifi-ers, winning 2-1 in March last year.

However since then Chile inflicted another soul-destroy-ing defeat on the Argentines in a major final, winning the Copa America Centenario final on penalties last June, a year after an identical outcome in the 2015 tournament.

The Copa America Cente-nario defeat prompted the departure of Gerardo "Tata" Martino as Argentina coach in July, triggering the slump in form which has left their World Cup qualifying campaign in the balance.

The only consolation for new Argentina coach Edgardo Bauza is that opponents Chile are grap-pling with their own set of

problems, notably the suspen-sion of Arturo Vidal and a fitness concern surrounding Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez.

Sanchez trained with the team in Santiago this week despite suffering an ankle injury while on Arsenal duty last weekend.

Today's other showpiece game in South America sees Bra-zil take on Uruguay in Montevideo.

Brazil have transformed their qualifying campaign with six straight victories since new coach Tite took over last year following the Copa America Centenario debacle, where the five-time World Cup winners were eliminated in the group stage.

The Brazilians are now motoring towards qualification for Russia, four points clear at the top of the standings from second-placed Uruguay.

A seventh straight victory today will all but guarantee Bra-zil's place at the finals in Russia.

Tite's biggest headache will be attempting to find an ade-quate back-up to Manchester City starlet Gabriel Jesus, who is

injured. Jesus proved to be the catalyst for Brazil's resurgence last year, scoring five goals in six games.

Though there is no obvious like-for-like replacement, Tite still has plenty of attacking options with a strike force led by Neymar.

Liverpool duo Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho could also provide attacking thrust.

Uruguay coach Oscar Taba-rez admitted he would have his hands full dealing with Neymar.

Asked how he planned to shackle the Brazil star, Tabarez replied: "If I had a formula I cer-tainly wouldn't share it."

Uruguay also have a prob-lem in attack with Barcelona star Luis Suarez suspended.

That is likely to mean that Edinson Cavani will shoulder the goalscoring threat for Uruguay with support from Diego Rolan.

Elsewhere Thursday, Ecua-dor will attempt to maintain their place in the automatic qualifying spots as they travel to Asuncion to face Paraguay.

Bottom team Venezuela host Peru.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland practises on the driving range prior to the first round of the World Golf Championships Dell Technologies Match Play at the Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas on Tuesday.

Spieth just wants Masters to be overMiami

AFP

Former world number one Jordan Spieth says he can't wait to get next month's

Masters out of the way -- because he's fed up with being asked about his nightmare col-lapse at Augusta in 2016.

Spieth appeared to be cruis-ing to back-to-back Masters titles 12 months ago after open-ing up a five-shot lead with nine holes to play on the final Sun-day in Georgia.

But Spieth's bid for history went up in flames with consec-utive bogeys followed by a quadruple bogey on Augusta's 12th, allowing England's Danny Willett to grab the famous green jacket.

Spieth's meltdown has been described as the biggest col-lapse in Masters history, and a year later the 23-year-old Texan is looking forward to the time when he is no longer asked about his implosion.

"No matter what happens at this year's Masters, whether I can grab the jacket back or I miss the cut or I finish 30th, it will be nice having this Masters go by," he said ahead of this week's World Golf Champion-ship-Dell Match Play tournament in Austin, Texas.

"The Masters lives on for a

year. It brings a non-golf audi-ence into golf. And it will be nice once this year's finished to be brutally honest.

"It would be best if I could reclaim the jacket but I believe I'll be back up there sooner or later because of the way I play the golf course, the success I've had and the comfort level I have there. "Whether it happens this year or not it will just be nice when it's over, because that tournament, it's a 365 day thing. There's no other Masters.

"I won in Colonial three starts later. So as far as affect-ing me when I'm in a tournament, I think that answer is clear, it doesn't do that.

"But as far as just having all the questions be done, I'm pretty sure they will be."

Spieth faces Ryan Moore and Japan's Yuta Ikeda and Hideto Tanihara in his first round group this week. The American admitted Ikeda and Tanihara represented some-thing of an unknown quantity. "I've got a tough group. I don't know much about two of my players, which is somewhat of a disadvantage to not know much about their games," Spi-eth said.

World number three Jason Day meanwhile is backing Spi-eth not to be unduly affected by last year's Augusta collapse.

South Korean players gather for a training session on the eve of their World Cup football qualifying match against China in Changsha, China's central Hunan province.

China seek to lift fading campaignChina

Reuters

China coach Marcello Lippi has sought to bol-ster player confidence

ahead of a do-or-die World Cup qualifying clash with South Korea today as the Ital-ian attempts to encourage his squad to display more self-belief.

China have picked up just two points in five games to sit bottom of Group A in AFC third round qualifying and defeat

against Uli Stielike's side in Changsha's Helong Stadium would all but end any hope of a top-three spot for Lippi's side. "Tomorrow's game is the most important and our men-tality is crucial," the 6 8 - y e a r - o l d f o r m e r Guangzhou Evergrande coach, who took over the job after Gao Hongbo stepped down in October, told reporters.

"I have repeated that very often to the players since day one and they have to forget about all the pressure and fear."

27THURSDAY 23 MARCH 2017 SPORT

Rizwan Rehmat The Peninsula

Italian star Valentino Rossi heads into his 18th year of bike racing with the inten-tion of dominating the new MotoGP season which

starts on Sunday at Qatar's iconic Losail International Circuit.

Rossi, riding for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, will launch the

2017 season with new team-mate Maverick Viñales at

the night race in four days' time.

“I'm very happy that the

season finally starts. It‘s

been a b u s y

winter and it

was

challeng-ing, and now I really need to race," Rossi said. "You know I start every race with the inten-t i o n o f winning. I feel the same way now."

"Our bike has improved

a lot during the winter and,

although we are not yet OK, we

will work hard dur-ing the next few days

in Qatar to be ready for the start of the first race of

the season," the 2015 Grand Prix of Qatar champion said.

Rossi, 38, and Vinales, 22, will have four practice sessions, the qualifying session and the warm up run before the lights go out on Sunday.

"We will see what the weather conditions will be like and then we will try to find the

best set-up possible. I‘m confi-dent that together with the team we will be ready for Sunday," Rossi said.

MotoGP World champion Marc Marquez - the Repsol Honda Team star - yesterday said he was happy with his bike settings.

"This pre-season was bet-ter than last year. I am happy where we are. My team feels more comfortable at the start of the new season. We will see how things are. We want to do a good job. I feel good with the bike," Marquez, the youngest-ever rider to win three premier-class World Champi-onship titles, said.

He added: "This winter, we had some changes o the engine side, We are working hard to find the best set-up. We will know more in a few races.The first race of the season is always a special one because you’re a bit more nervous than usual! The Qatar track is also one of the most special circuits on the calendar and one of the main things to consider is the sand, which can make the surface quite slippery as soon as you get off the best line. The limit is very narrow."

Former world champion Dani Pedrosa, who finished in top 5 of every pre-season test session this year, said there were improvements to be made.

“We worked well with the team during the entire pre-sea-son, including the last test here in Qatar, and little by little we improved our bike and our per-formance," Pedrosa said yesterday.

"There are still things we want to improve here and there but they never stop working in Japan, and we’ll also do our best to continue in a good direction. The track is very dusty and the place is quite windy, so the grip is generally not very good," the Repsol Honda Team rider added.

"There’s a long long straight where we typically have a

headwind and therefore you need a strong engine. It’s diffi-cult to make any predictions for the race as the level of competi-tion is very high, but we’re about to start the weekend with good confidence and the desire to do our best," the 31-year-old Span-iard said.

Rossi's new team-mate Vinales - who impressed at Valencia, Sepang, Phillip Island and Qatar during ore-season testing - feels happy with his new start in the Yamaha camp. Vinales said he is ready to mount a strong challenge in 2017

“I'm really happy to start the first Grand Prix, especially after the tests during the winter were so positive for us. We are really motivated to start this new era," Vinales said.

"After the amazing pre-sea-son, we can‘t wait to finally start racing and work hard over the next 18 rounds. I'm very curious to see how the Yamaha will respond at the track during a race and to see if we are going to be as strong during the race as during the test. I'm so excited to start,” he added.

British rider Cal Cutchlow (Team LCR) said: "We are quite pleased in the direction we are going. We have to find the right balance. I guess that goes for all the riders. We look forward starting the new season."

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The Peninsula

A nine-time motorcycle racing World Champion and a two-time Dakar

Rally winner go skeet shooting? Yes! That was the pre-event ahead of the QatarGP, as Qatar's multi-talented hero Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah met the ‘Doc-tor’, Valentino Rossi ahead of the first race of the year.

Al Attiyah, who won the Dakar in 2011 and 2015, is also an Olympic medalist in skeet shooting – taking the Bronze at London 2012, and competing for his country since 1996.

So the impressive Qatari athlete joined up with another multi-talented sportsman - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Rossi - ahead of the first

race of the year at Losail Inter-national Circuit, showing the Italian the ropes and both men doing some shooting under the desert sun.

Italian star Rossi heads into his 18th year of bike rac-ing with the intention of dominating the new MotoGP season which starts on Sun-day at Qatar's iconic Losail International Circuit.

Rossi takes on skeet shooting with Qatari star Al Attiyah

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi and

Qatar's multi-talented hero Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah pose for a photograph

following a shooting session at Losail

yesterday.

MotoGP riders pose for a photograph during a press conference held at Losail International Circuit yesterday. The riders will begin their hunt for the title when the new MotoGP season starts on Sunday at Qatar's iconic Losail International Circuit. BOTTOM: Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi (left) speaks during the press conference while MotoGP World champion Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda Team looks on.

Valentino Rossi in action during the 2016 MotoGP Grand Prix of Qatar in this file photo.