SPORTSunday 5 November 2017

Rosberg sees genetics as a big part of F1 success

NBA: James dazzles in win for Cleveland

Cavaliers

PAGE | 23 PAGE | 24-25 PAGE | 27 McGrath unsure of Ashes whitewash for Aussies

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QFA disciplinary body suspends, fines 3 Umm Salal players QNA

The disciplinary committee of the Qatar Foot-ball Association (QFA) has suspended three Umm Salal players for a month for insult-

ing the match referee. The trio of players include Abdul Aziz Al Yihri,

who was also fined QR15,000. Abdulrahman Al Khater and Ghadir Al Shammari who were also suspended got a fine of QR 10,000 each.

The committee also decided, at its meeting, which was held on Thursday, to draw the atten-tion of Al Arabi and impose a fine of QR 10,000 on the club because of the delay of players to get to the stadium ahead of the start of the match with Al Ahli in the sixth round of the QNB Stars League (QSL).

Also, the disciplinary committee drew the attention of Al Rayyan’s player Sebastian Soria for not cooperating with the organisers of his team’s match with Al Sadd.

It was also decided to draw the attention of Al Mesaimeer coach Dragan Tadic, and fined him QR 5,000 because of his objection to the deci-sions of the referee in the last game.

All smiles: Celebrating the Asian award

The President of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani and star Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim (centre) pose for a group picture along with other officials, after the National Olympic Committee (ANOC) Awards Ceremony in Prague last weekend. Barshim was named ‘Best Athlete in Asia’ for his outstanding run throughout the 2017 in which he also claimed the world title. Pics: Twitter: @mutazbarshim

ANOC General Assembly ends with Qatar’s participation Prague

QNA

The General Assembly of the Association of the National Olympic Com-

mittees (ANOC), hosted by the Czech Republic, Prague, concluded on Friday with the participation of Qatar’s dele-gation headed by President of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, and officials from 206 countries.

In the closing statement, the Congress praised the efforts of the International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach to arrange the agenda for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, saying he supports Pyongyang’s efforts to host

the Winter Games next year. The General Assembly of the

Association of National Olympic Committees criticised the call for

a complete ban on Russian ath-letes from participating in the Winter Olympics in 2018, at the backdrop of doping issues.

Brilliant Al Sailiya

climb to 4th spot Fawad Hussain The Peninsula

Al Sailiya snatched fourth spot at the QNB Stars League (QSL) points stand-ings from Umm

Salal after imposing a thrilling 3-2 victory over their counter-parts in their Round 7 game at Al Ahli Stadium yesterday.

With the victory, Al Sailiya leapfrogged to fourth position in the points standings with 15 points, pushing Umm Salal (13 points) to fifth position. Al Duhail, Al Rayyan and Al Sadd respectively occupy the first three positions.

Brazilian Wagner Renan Ribeiro scored a brace within a span of eight minutes in crucial stage of the match to turn out Al Sailiya as eventual winners. The sea-saw battle witnessed stiff action from both the sides.

Al Sailiya started the match strongly and took lead before Umm Salal scored twice to turn the match in their favour.

Abdulkarem Al Ali opened up the scoring in 36th minute with a clinical left footer from a fair distance as Al Sailiya took the lead which they retained till the breather.

Umm Salal levelled the score through Youcef Sekour who executed a brilliant goal from a header in the 48th minute cor-ner. The goal lifted Umm Salal and their repeated attacks cul-minated in another goal with Mahmoud Kamal finding the

cage this time, just eight min-utes later.

Al Sailiya, though, held their nerves after conceding two quick goals and soon took con-trol of the match back.

Their repeated attacks in the 79th minute earned them a pen-alty and Ribeiro was lucky enough to get goalie’s rebound after the first attempt, and he made no mistake the second time to secure a leveller for his side.

Seven minutes later, Ribeiro struck another goal to secure a 3-2 lead. Umm Salal made var-ious attempts in the next six minutes but Al Sailiya’s defence was strong enough to ensure the 3-2 win.

At Al Khor Stadium, Al Arabi and Al Kharaitiyat played out a 1-1 draw. , Mardek Mrdkian (78) scored for Al Arabi while Goun-erou Mohy (93) scored the leveler for Al Kharaitiyat.

Al Sailiya player Nadir Belhadj (right) and Umm Salal’s Youcef Sekour vie for the ball possession during their QNB Stars League (QSL) match at Al Ahli Stadium yesterday. Picture: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula

Mutaz Barshim takes a selfie.

Al Sailiya 3 (Abdulkarem Al Ali 36, Wagner Re-

nan Ribeiro 79, 87) bt Umm Salal 2 (Youcef

Sekour 48, Mahmoud Kamal 56)

Al Arabi 1 (Mardek Mrdkian 78) draw with Al

Kharaitiyat 1 (Gounerou Mohy 93)

QSL RESULTS

22 SUNDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT

Fawzy and Kraatz top in ‘Swim for a Cause’ racesThe Peninsula

Simone Franceschi, Omar Fawzy and Justin Kraatz bagged the top honours in

the men’s section of ‘Swim for a Cause’ open water swimming races organised by Sharq Vil-lage and Spa at the Sharq Village & Spa Beach.

In the women’s section, Jana Rada, Georgia Twigg and Marse Glifore, finished on top in their respective races.

The contest, held in collabo-ration with Qatar Charity, while H2O swim club, Six Senses Spa, MAD triathlon and Tri Club Doha, saw over 130 swimmers contest-ing in three categories over a distance of 250m, 500m and 1000m, in both the men’s and women’s section.

In the men’s 250m race, Franceschi took the top hon-ours followed by Leonardo Bettoni and Marek Olewski.

In the women’s section of 250m, Rada crossed

the finishing line first leaving Allegra Gasparri and Alice Tranceschi to take the remain-ing two spots on the podium

In the men’s 500m, Fawzy beat the challenge of Justin Kraatz and Michael Berndt to finish first leaving Kraatz and Berndt to take the first runners-up and second runners-up positions.

In the women’s 500m, Twigg emerged on top while Kyna Galvin and Laica Radi clinched the remaining spots on the podium.

In the 1000m men’s section, Kraatz set up a lighting pace from the start leaving Michael Berndt, and Matteo Franceschi behind. Berndt finished second followed by Franceschi.

In the women’s section Gli-fore beat off stiff competition from first runner-up Andrea Stadler and Givlia Da Corte, the second runner-up to finish first.

The next Swim for a Cause open swimming challenge will be held on November 25.

‘The podium winners at the Swim for a Cause’ open water swimming races organised by Sharq Village and Spa at the Sharq Village & Spa Beach pose for a group picture.

Leicester stretch unbeaten runLondon

AFP

Leicester City extended their unbeaten run yesterday with a draw at Stoke while strug-gling West Brom’s

winless run stretched to nine league matches against 10-man Huddersfield, cranking up the pressure on manager Tony Pulis.

With five of the top six sides not in action until tomorrow, the focus was on the battle lower down the Premier League table before Liverpool were due to kick off in the late match against struggling West Ham.

In the early game, former England striker Peter Crouch came off the bench to rescue a point for Stoke City in a 2-2 draw, denying new Leicester manager Claude Puel another victory after he won his first match at the helm against Ever-ton last week.

The 2015-16 Premier League champions are now unbeaten in six games in all competitions after early season struggles but will be disappointed they twice let their lead slip, and in the end were indebted to goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who made a fantastic flying stop in the dying seconds.

Leicester parted company with Craig Shakespeare last month after slipping into the rel-egation zone but have recovered strongly under caretaker boss Michael Appleton and ex-South-ampton manager Puel.

“I am happy with the attitude of my players, it was a good game, good intensity and pas-sion,” said Puel.

“We had a lot of chances

today. It is difficult to accept one point but Kasper saved well at the end so then OK, we take a point. It is an encouraging game which is important for the future.”

Huddersfield’s Rajiv van La Parra broke the deadlock at home to West Brom, lighting up a match devoid of real quality with a stunning strike on the stroke of the interval that lifts them up to 10th.

West Brom, struggling for goals, have not won a Premier League match since mid-August and remain just two points clear of the relegation zone, with Pulis’s proud record of never being relegated under threat.

Huddersfield were forced to play for more than half an hour with 10 men after Christopher Schindler was shown a second yellow card, prompting three

substitutions from Pulis but the visitors failed to force an equaliser.

“The fact they went down to 10 men should’ve meant the game swung in our favour but we couldn’t find the goal,” said West Brom defender Jonny Evans

“It’s been a while since our last win but we keep our heads up into the international break.”

Elsewhere, Sean Dyche’s Burnley extended their impres-sive unbeaten away record with a 1-0 win at Southampton cour-tesy of a late strike from substitute Sam Vokes to climb to sixth in the table.

With three wins and two draws, Burnley have already won more games and points on the road than they amassed in the whole of 2016-17, when they garnered just seven.

Cavani reaches milestone as PSG win 5-0 against AngersParis

AFP

The injured Neymar was left at home as Edinson Cavani reached a cen-

tury of goals in Ligue 1 with a brace in Paris Saint-Ger-main’s 5-0 romp away to Angers yesterday.

The world’s most expen-sive player sat out the game at the Stade Raymond Kopa with a minor thigh problem picked up in the midweek Champions League win over Anderlecht but he was not missed as PSG went provi-sionally seven points clear at the top of the table from Monaco.

Kylian Mbappe and Julian Draxler both scored early goals and Cavani netted his 100th in France’s top flight on the half-hour mark.

The Uruguayan scored again on the hour mark before Mbappe grabbed his second of the day late on to take him to six goals in 12 appearances for the club.

A second successive five-goal victory for PSG means they remain unbeaten in all competitions this season, while Angers are still without a win at home.

As well as Neymar, PSG were without Marquinhos and Angel Di Maria, whose partners have both given birth in recent days. Coach Unai Emery therefore opted to give a first start since August to Javier Pastore.

PSG’s opener arrived inside five minutes as Mbappe turned in a Dani Alves cross from the right, and it was 2-0 before quarter of an hour had been played.

Again Alves was the pro-vider with a delightful through ball for Draxler, who beat Mathieu Michel with a clipped first-time finish.

The third goal that allowed Cavani to reach his century came at the end of a brilliant move, with Alves finding Adrien Rabiot, who released Mbappe to show-case his lightning pace and set up Cavani to blast home.

Cavani, signed from Napoli in 2013, reached the landmark on his 145th Ligue 1 appearance and joins a select club in hav-ing scored 100 times in two of Europe’s big five leagues having also achieved the feat in Serie A.

Valencia put pressure on Barcelona Madrid

AFP

Valencia swept aside Leganes 3-0 yesterday as they continued their stun-

ning form with an eighth straight win to close to within a point of La Liga leaders Barcelona.

Marcelino Garcia Toral’s side also moved ahead of Barca as the league’s top scorers with 30 goals in their first 11 games as Dani Parejo, Rodrigo and Santi Mina found the net.

Barca can reopen a four-point gap at the top of the table when they host Sevilla.

“No one will go undefeated through 38 games, but we are

going to enjoy the moment,” said Marcelino.

“In the dressing room there is no euphoria, there is realism and constant analysis.

“We know how difficult it will be to keep this up, it’s prac-tically impossible.”

After travelling to Espanyol following the international break, Valencia host Barca at Mestalla on November 26.

Parejo has been one of many players rejuvenated by Marce-lino’s arrival at Mestalla after two seasons in the doldrums for Valencia.

The captain’s clever free-kick that skidded underneath the Leganes wall got Valencia off to

a perfect start on 14 minutes.On loan Paris Saint-Germain

winger Goncalo Guedes has been Valencia’s star performer in recent weeks and the Portuguese was inches away from his fourth goal of the season when he struck the post early in the sec-ond period.

The hosts had to wait until 19 minutes from time to seal the points with a blistering counter-attack that ended with Spanish international Rodrigo heading home Manchester United loanee Andreas Pereira’s cross.

And the team-spirit in this Valencia side was demonstrated when habitual penalty-taker Parejo let Mina take

responsibility from the spot eight minutes from time to round off the scoring. “It was a phenome-nal (gesture). They worked it out themselves and I prefer it like that,” added Marcelino.

“It goes to show the atmos-phere there is within the group, which is the foundation for us to perform like this.”

By contrast, Atletico Madrid’s struggle for goals continues but Diego Simeone’s men were bailed out by Thomas Partey’s 91st-minute winner in a 1-0 vic-tory at Deportivo la Coruna.

A 1-1 draw at home to Azerbaijani champions Qarabag all but ended Atletico’s Champi-ons League campaign in

midweek amidst a run of one win in eight games.

And they suffered from a familiar lack of creativity at Ria-zor with Simeone even substituting star frontman Anto-ine Griezmann 10 minutes from time.

However, a relieved Sime-one punched the air in delight when Ghanaian midfielder Partey curled home Gabi’s lay-off from a free-kick on the edge of the box to pass Griezmann and join Angel Correa as Atletico’s top scorer this season on four goals.

Victory moves Atletico three points clear of cross-city rivals Real Madrid in third.

Leicester City’s Vicente Iborra celebrates scoring their first goal with Jamie Vardy during the English Premier League match against Stoke City in Stoke-on-Trent, Britain, yesterday.

23SUNDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2017 SPORT

Stoneman, Vince start well as Root, Cook out cheaply for England

Ton-up Munro helps Kiwis level series Rajkot

AFP

Opener Colin Munro hit a blis-tering century to help New Zea-land down india

by 40 runs in the second Twenty20 international and level the series at 1-1 yesterday.

Munro smashed an unbeaten 58-ball 109 to pro-pel the Kiwis to 196-2 and in reply, the hosts could only manage 156-7 at the batting-friendly Rajkot Stadium.

Kiwi fast bowler Trent Boult claimed four wickets to flatten the Indian chase despite a valiant 42-ball 65 from Indian skipper Virat Kohli, who got little help from the other end.

Boult hurt India’s reply with his left-arm pace to get

two wickets in his very first over and send the openers trudging back to the pavilion.

The left-handed Shikhar Dhawan was bowled for one while Sharma, who scored five, was caught behind as India were left struggling at 11-2 after two overs.

Kiwi bowlers kept chip-ping away with regular wickets as Munro, who bowls right-arm medium pace, also contributed with Shreyas Iyer’s crucial scalp.

Kohli tried his level best during his fifty-plus partner-ships with Iyer, who made 23, and then Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who scored 49, but the climbing run-rate got to him.

The star batsman finally fell to Mitchell Santner’s left-arm spin and with him India’s hopes faded away.

Earlier, Munro put on 105

runs for the opening wicket with Martin Guptill (45), to lay a solid foundation after the Kiwis elected to bat first.

Guptill hit Yuzvendra Cha-hal for two sixes and a four in the leg-spinner’s first over to make his intent clear.

Chahal finally got his revenge after denying Guptill, who smashed 3 fours and 3 sixes in his 41-ball knock.

Munro made the most of his two reprieves, on 45 and 79, to register his second T20 ton -- in just 54 balls -- and pulverise

the Indian bowling attack.Debutant paceman

Mohammed Siraj gave away 53 runs in four overs but got his maiden international wicket in skipper Kane Wil-liamson for 12.

The left-handed Munro, who hit 7 fours and 7 sixes, and Tom Bruce, who scored 18, signed off with a 56-run unbeaten stand for the third wicket. The action now moves to the third and deciding match in Thiruvanan-thapuram on Tuesday.

Perth

AFP

Mark Stoneman and James Vince were in the runs but skipper Joe

Root was dismissed cheaply as England made a solid start to their Ashes tour in Perth yesterday.

Stoneman hit 85 off 113 balls while Vince compiled 82 off 129 balls as the tourists reached 349 for six at the close of the first day after winning the toss in their two-day game against a Western Australia XI.

But Root fell for just nine and experienced opener Alastair Cook was out on the second ball of the innings in set-backs for the England team ahead of the Ashes series.

Root looked annoyed when he was given out caught behind when it looked like the ball had flicked his leg rather than his bat.

Stoneman fell 15 runs short of his century when he was picked up at second slip as he attempted to drive paceman Lance Morris.

That ended a 153-run stand for the second wicket with Vince, who was caught at mid-wicket off Aaron Hardie.

“It was good to get that time in the middle,” Stoneman said.

“There was enough there to keep the opening bowlers inter-ested with the new ball and there’s that bit of extra bounce here, which always has the catchers in play.

“It was nice once we got through that new-ball period to settle in and get into some rhythm.

“Cook and Root are the bankers -- it’s a shame for them on a personal note but it gave other guys the chance to get

time in the middle,” he added.Vince had a charmed life

and gave three chances in his knock on 47, 63 and 67, twice at slip by Nathan Coulter-Nile and once at mid-wicket from a pull. Dawid Malan and Gary Ballance spent valuable time in the middle with Malan scoring 56 and Ballance 51, before they both retired to give others fur-ther down the order batting practice.

Malan was impressive in his time at the wicket. He stroked his first delivery through mid-off for four, and looked fluent on front and back foot and dis-ciplined outside off stump.

Jonny Bairstow (36) and Chris Woakes (25) guided the tourists to stumps.

It was an underwhelming start to the Ashes tour for former captain Cook, who was out for a first-ball duck to Ryan Harris the last time he played at the WACA Ground back in 2013.

Cook prodded at a good ball from Ashes Test pace aspirant Coulter-Nile just outside the off stump and nicked to wicket-keeper Calum How.

Coulter-Nile proved a handful for Stoneman and Vince in his opening spell before they settled into the groove. Coulter-Nile, who finished the day with one for 43 off 16 overs, is attempting to force his way into the Aus-tralian squad for the first Test against England, start-ing in Brisbane on November 23.

England decided to field 13 players in the tour match, with only Steven Finn (jarred left knee), Moeen Ali (side strain) and back-up wicketkeeper Ben Foakes missing from the 16-man touring squad.

McGrath unsure of whitewash for Aussies London

AFP

Legendary Australian pace-man Glenn McGrath is fond of predicting Ashes

whitewashes for his compatri-ots over England - but this time round he is not so sure.

The 47-year-old, who brought the curtain down on his stellar Test career 10 years ago with a 5-0 cleansweep of England, told yesterday’s Daily Mail newspaper everyone is expecting him to say 5-0.

“Well, it would be rude of me not to, wouldn’t it?” jested McGrath. “If our bowlers can stay on the park and bowl well there could be a good chance of that again.

“It’s always up to the bats-men. Bowlers will win matches as long as the batsmen score enough runs. That’s coming from a bowler.”

However McGrath -- who took 563 Test wickets in 124

Tests over a 14 year period -- admits that prediction could be tempered by a couple of per-sonnel issues the Aussies are facing.

“I think it will be a fascinat-ing series and I don’t think there’s a real stand-out win-ner,” said McGrath, not just a Test bowler but an integral part of the Australian side that won three successive One Day World Cups,

“Both teams have got issues, there’s no doubt about that, and looking at the England squad,

half the guys I haven’t really seen play before to be honest.

“I don’t think the Austral-ians have settled on their team.

“The No 6 position and the keeper are up in the air at the moment so we’ll see what hap-pens. It’s still special. It’s still the ultimate.”

McGrath says the Ben Stokes affair has obviously affected the balance of power between the two sides.

Talismanic all-rounder Stokes has had to remain in E n g l a n d a s h e

awaits the outcome of a police investigation into an incident in Bristol in September

“Being vice-captain you do have to set the standards both on and off the field and what happened there was not good, you can’t say anything but that,” said McGrath.

“The great shame of it is that he has the world at his feet. He’s such a good player.

“He’s two players in one so it’s a big blow to England. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s not here for the entire series.

“If he did come out here it will be interesting to see how the fans warm to him but there’s a lot to happen first before we see whether that can happen.

“It could be a distraction.“Of course it’s a blow to the

series. You want to play against the best players. For Australia to win you want the opposition to be at full strength and that’s the way it’s always been.”

England’s Mark Stoneman plays a shot

against a Western Australia XI during a two-day Ashes tour

match at the WACA in Perth, yesterday.

I think it will be a fascinating series and I don’t think there’s a real stand-out winner: Glenn McGrath

Flanagan wants New York Marathon show of ‘resilience’ New York

AFP

American runner Shalane Flanagan hopes today’s New York Marathon will

be a show of resilience as the city recovers from the deadly truck attack that left eight people dead in Manhattan.

Blanket security will line the route of the world-famous race, which will see an estimated

50,000 runners pound the pave-ments of the Big Apple.

Flanagan, the 2008 Olympic silver medallist over 10,000m, said Tuesday’s carnage in New York had hit her hard as a vet-eran of the 2013 Boston Marathon targeted by bombers.

“It’s obviously devastating and very concerning,” Flanagan said of the New York attack, which also left 12 people injured.

“I’ve been in a terrorist attack in 2013 in Boston. I was there that day and had just completed my race. So it very much hits home and is very personal to me having been a part of a terrorist attack.”

Flanagan, who finished sixth in last year’s Olympic marathon in Rio de Janeiro, said she hoped Sunday’s race would provide an opportunity to put on a show of strength.

“What I do know, 100 per-cent, is that we’re a very resilient nation and I don’t think there are many tougher people than New Yorkers, and marathoners are pretty tough too,” Flanagan said.

“So I think it’s an opportu-nity to show resilience and strength and coming together.

“And when you come together as a community it really empowers people and helps peo-ple heal.”

Flanagan, 36, meanwhile said she may consider retiring if she stuns the field with a victory today.

“I can think of no better way to end my career and my story with a major win,” she said.

“If I was in the position of winning on Sunday, this would be my last marathon. That’s how I want things to end.”

Standing in Flanagan’s way however is defending champion

Mary Keitany of Kenya. Keitany is chasing a fourth consecutive victory in New York after wins in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The men’s race meanwhile will see Eritrea’s Ghirmay Ghe-breslassie return hoping to make a successful defence of his title.

The 21-year-old is likely to face a tough challenge from Ken-ya’s Wilson Kipsang, the 2014 champion.

New ZealandM Guptill c Pandya b Chahal ................................ 45

C Munro (not out) ................................................. 109

K Williamson c Sharma b Siraj ............................. 12

T Bruce (not out) ......................................................18

Extras (LB2, W10) ................................................. 12

Total (2 wkts) ....................................... 196Fall of wickets: 1-105, 2-140

Did not bat: G Phillips, C de Grandhomme, H Ni-

cholls, M Santner, A Milne, I Sodhi, T Boult

Bowling: Kumar 4-0-29-0 (w2), Siraj 4-0-53-1

(w1), Bumrah 4-0-23-0, Chahal 4-0-36-1 (w2),

Patel 3-0-39-0 (w5), Pandya 1-0-14-0

IndiaR Sharma c Phillips b Boult ...............5

S Dhawan b Boult .................................1

V Kohli c Phillips b Santner ............. 65

S Iyer c & b Munro ............................ 23

H Pandya b Sodhi ................................ 1

M.S Dhoni c Santner b Boult ..........49

A Patel c Williamson b Boult ............5

B Kumar (not out) ..................................2

J Bumrah (not out) ..................................1

Extras (B2, LB1, W1) .........................4

Total (7 wkts) ....................... 156Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-11, 3-65, 4-67,

5-123, 6-130, 7-154

Did not bat: M Siraj, Y Chahal

Bowling: Milne 4-0-30-0 (w1), Boult

4-0-34-4, Grandhomme 1-0-10-0,

Santner 4-0-31-1, Sodhi 4-0-25-1,

Munro 3-0-23-1

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand batsman

Colin Munro plays a shot during the second T20 international

against India at the Saurashtra

Cricket Association

Stadium in Rajkot

yesterday.

24 SUNDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT 25SUNDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2017 SPORT

QMMF announces new-look QSTK Championship It was a very good season. We are very happy to see new Qatari faces in our championship and this was one of our goals. Last year we tried to reduce the cost on our competitors and we are happy with the results. Of course, there are some areas to improve and we are going to work on them in the next season and make this championship bigger and better: QMMF President Abdulrehman Al Mannai

I want to thank QMMF and the Losail Circuit Sports Club for supporting all the riders in the championship. Also thanks ‘Team Saeed’ and all the people who are behind me as I could not have achieved this without them. They were motivating me from the start until the last lap: Saeed Al Sulaiti

MF and the Club for

ders in thethanks ‘Team eople who are d not have ut them. ng me the laiti

I am happy with my overall performance in the last season as I

improved in every race. A big thanks to QMMF and LCSC because they made a

very good championship. We hope we do better in the next season.

Congratulations to Saeed and all riders. They made a good performance to show

everybody how is motor sport in Qatar: Mashel Al Naimi

I am happy with mperformance in the last se

improved in every race. A big QMMF and LCSC because the

very good championship. Wedo better in the nex

Congratulations to Saeed and They made a good performanc

everybody how is motoQatar: Mashe

QATAR SUPERSTOCK 600 CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR:Official Practice: December 8-9Round 1: December 15-16Round 2: February 2-3, 2018Round 3: February 16-17, 2018Round 4: March 15-17, 2018Round 5: April 6-7, 2018

Rizwan RehmatThe Peninsula

The Qatar SuperStock 600 Championship (QSTK) will have races in two separate classes in the 2017-18 sea-son, it was announced at

Losail International Circuit (LIC). Last year, popular rider Saeed Al

Sulaiti clinched the SuperStock 600 title ahead of compatriot and arch-rival Mashel Al Naimi by just 5 points.

However, in an effort to create a level playing field for those challeng-ing Al Sulaiti and Al Naimi, the Qatar Motor and Motorcycling Federation (QMMF) have decided to make two classes of racing especially for those starting out in bike racing.

The new class - the QSTK Trophy - will be contested with 600cc bikes.

“We will have races in two cate-gories in the new racing season,” QMMF President Abdulrehman Al Mannai said yesterday at LIC.

“As you know, Saeed and Mashel were very fast last season. Keeping that in mind we don’t want to discourage the other young riders competing against them,” Al Mannai added.

“So we decided to create a differ-ent category based on lap-time. Anybody who could get to 2 minutes and 9 seconds or lower will be with these guys (Al Sulaiti and Al Naimi). But anybody who has a longer lap time will be in the new category (the 600cc class),” the QMMF President explained.

“The new category will have its own podium and prizes. This way we can balance the championship between young riders and the experi-enced ones. We are hoping that the championship will be at two levels,” he said.

“Last season was our first attempt with a new championship set-up. We had one bike, one engine, one chassis and we wanted to make the competi-tion equal for every rider.

“That brought a lot of excitement to the championship. As you saw Saeed and Mashel produced very exciting battles. This year we expect the cham-pionship to be just as exciting. We cannot wait for the start of the 2017-18 Championship and this is the perfect venue for it,” Al Mannai said.

Losail Circuit Sports Club (LCSC) Vice-Chairman and Secretary-Gen-eral Khalid Al Remaihi said: “The major objective we have been working on is to get a quality set of riders. This year we want to build on the success of the championship staged last season.”

He added: “We had fun on track and in the stands throughout the sea-son. That was our drive and we did it. The QMMF President has shed light on the second new class that we are intro-ducing. It will be a class for the beginners.”

Al Remaihi said high quality of rac-ing last season made the championship a battle between two top riders - Al Sulaiti and Al Naimi. He also said that QMMF’s training programme to groom youngsters was making an profound impact on new riders.

“Last year the competition level

was very high. But then we got to see that the newcomers improved dramat-ically last season. That is partly because QMMF have developed a training pro-gramme that is parallel to the championship,” Al Remaihi added.

“We are bringing everybody to a higher level. We believe these guys can deliver and rest of their colleagues will

be in the same level in the new sea-son,” he added.

“This is a championship for eve-rybody but of course our aim is to support home-grown riders,” Al Remaihi explained.

The QMMF President, in a quick response, said: “I think LCSC have done a fantastic job hosting the final round of the WorldSBK Championship. They have stitched together added attrac-tions for this week. The organisation is amazing.”

When asked about his perform-ance last season, Al Sulaiti said: “First of all, I want to say ‘Thank you’ to Mashel. We both were consistently improving last season. We managed lap times we did not expect on a stock bike. We had a clean competition and it was very close.”

Al Sulaiti, who featured in the

SuperSport class in the final round of the WorldSBK on Friday, said: “To be honest, I had a smooth ride. I had decided that I would give it all. I was surprised to see myself do so well. I want to thank my team for the way they set up the bike to suit my rid-ing style. We did it. Hopefully we can do well in the coming days and weeks.”

Al Naimi, the runner-up in the Qatar SuperStock 600 Championship, said: “I would like to thank my team who work very hard for me. Every time I do well, it is because of the support I have. I enjoyed myself in the Super-Sport qualifying (on Friday). I am happy when I am on my bike. I hope we can do better. I feel I can be better as I used just one tyre. I want to thank the QMMF and the LCSC for their support.”

The Qatar Supertock 600 Championship and the QSTK Trophy will consist of 5 rounds each and both classes are open to international riders. The deadline to register is December 3, 2017.

Saeed Al Sulaiti (left) and Mashel Al Naimi (right) at the Losail International Circuit.

Qatar Motor and Motorcycling Federation (QMMF) President Abdulrehman Al Mannai (second left) addressing the gathering during a press-conference held at the Losail International Circuit yesterday. Losail Circuit Sports Club (LCSC) Vice-Chairman and Secretary-General Khalid Al Remaihi (third left), popular Qatari riders Saeed Al Sulaiti (left) and Mashel Al Naimi also look on.

London

Reuters

Retired 2016 Formula One world champion Nico Rosberg says genetics,

mind management and being less self-enamoured than some of the other drivers all played a part in his success.

The German retired abruptly at the end of last sea-son after beating Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton to the title and becoming the sec-ond son of a champion to win the championship.

Finnish father Keke was world champion in 1982.

“I just from my dad genet-ically inherited a natural gift to drive racing cars,” Rosberg, who is now looking at tech-nology startup companies, told an event in London organised by Wired magazine.

“I’m a firm believer that genetics are quite a big part of this...I would probably say 66 percent genetics, 33 percent

nurtured,” he added. “I would go to that extreme. In our sport it’s very clear...”

Referring to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, whom he dubbed “the crazy Dutchman”, Ros-berg cited the 20-year-old triple race winner as an example.

“His dad (Jos) was a suc-cessful driver too and now his

son is a successful driver because it’s the genes that pass on,” he added.

Hamilton, who became Britain’s most successful driver and a four times world cham-pion in Mexico last Sunday, goes against that narrative, however, as someone with no family background in motor racing.

Without giving examples, Rosberg said many Formula One drivers had personality traits that were both a strength and weakness.

“The general Formula One driver is a big narcissist, in love with himself and he thinks he’s the best in the world and it’s always the other guy’s fault,” he said.

“That gives you a certain strength in this crazy environ-ment where you are judged by millions of people every little moment but it’s also a weak-ness because you don’t question yourself as much.

“I was more on the other side, the more sensitive, less narcissistic. Questioning myself all the time, trying to improve step by step.”

Rosberg said he had to show total dedication to win the title. He hired a mental trainer and learned to simplify life, practising meditation to bring greater clarity and focus to his racing.

NICO ROSBERG

Country: GermanyDate of Birth: June 27,

1985(Age 32)

F1 statisticsRaces: 206Drivers' Titles: 1Victories: 23Pole positions: 30Podiums: 57Career points: 1594.5Fastest laps: 17Laps: 11160

KEKE ROSBERG

Country: FinlandDate of birth: December

6, 1948 (Age 68)

F1 statisticsActive years:

1978–1986Races: 128 (114 starts)Drivers' Titles: 1Victories: 5Pole positions: 5Podiums: 17Career points: 159.5Fastest laps: 3

Former Formula One World Champion, Nico Rosberg (left) talks to his father, former World Champion Keke Rosberg, before the practice session for the Canadian Formula One Grand Prix in Montreal, Canada in this file photo .

Former champion R osberg sees genetics as a big part of success

26 SUNDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, winner in the Skeet event at the Qatar Shooting and Archery Olympic Cup, poses for a picture with second placed Sayed (left) and third place winner Rashid during the victory ceremony at the Losail Shooting Range yesterday. Right: Youth winners in the Skeet event pose for a picture with officials of Qatar Shooting and Archery Association.

Qatar Shooting and Archery Olympic Cup: Nasser tops in Skeet event

The Peninsula

Al Shaqab has added a new dimension to the 2017 Longines Global Cham-

pions Tour (LGCT) —which will be held from November 9 to 11 by including fun-filled recrea-tional activities targeted at family audiences.

Thus, beyond attracting the equestrian enthusiasts, LGCT Doha will not only feature world class show jumping competi-tion, but the Al Shaqab arena will be transformed into day full of activities to cater to every member of the family.

Tailored especially for fam-ilies and children, a line-up of activities such as pony rides, jumping castles, horse riding simulator, face painting and roaming magician are some of the offerings at this year’s LGCT.

And, just like Doha, the old and the new exist side-by-side as areas have also been set aside for Qatari traditional games as well as virtual reality sets which will allow children to experience

both old and modern activities. One of the highlights of the fun activity is an art workshop con-ducted by renowned Cuban

artist Juan Arel Ruiz Contino.Contino, a graduate of the

higher Institute of Arts in Cuba, also studied at the higher

Institute of Arts in Boston, United States. His works are in private collections in many countries around the world and

he has held personal and col-lective exhibitions in Qatar, Germany Portugal, Algeria and Tunisia. The workshops will be

held for the duration of the LGCT from 4 to 6 pm for chil-dren aged between 4 to 10 years. Al Shaqab has also tied up with Bedaya to support local Qatari entrepreneurs opportunities to sell and promote local products and services in the form of savoury food and beverage out-lets and outdo or cafes.

This year’s event will be particularly special for Al Shaqab, which is marking the 25th anniversary of the prestig-ious, cutting-edge equestrian facility. To celebrate the auspi-cious anniversary there will be a special program during the GCT competition on November 10 at 5:45 pm. In addition Al Shaqab, a member of the Qatar Foundation, will host national riders who have the opportu-nity to compete alongside their country’s heroes such as Olym-pians Sheikh Ali Bin Khalid Al Thani and Bassem Hassan Mohammed, as well as the majority of the top international show jumpers from around the world.

Al Shaqab line up fun activities at Global Champions Tour

A section of the crowd during an equestrian event at the Al Shaqab Arena. Al Shaqab has added a new dimension to the 2017 Longines Global Champions Tour -- which will be held from November 9 to 11-- by including fun-filled recreational activities targeted at family audiences.

England fight off LebanonSydney

AFP

England wore down Leba-non for their first win at the Rugby League World Cup while New Zealand and Tonga set up an explo-

sive showdown with victories yesterday.

England downed Brad Fittler’s Lebanon 29-10 in Sydney in a match marred by a biting allegation lodged by Lebanon’s skipper Robbie Farah against England winger Jermaine McGillvary in the second half.

McGillvary was placed on report for allegedly biting Farah’s arm after Farah made an official complaint on-field.

Wayne Bennett’s team led early after a try by centre Kallum Watkins before Lebanon hit back with a Farah grubber kick leading to Nick Kassis pouncing on the loose ball to level at 6-6.

The prospect of a possible boilover soon dissipated when Eng-land scored three tries in eight minutes, setting up England’s 16-point advantage going into the break.

Lebanon can make the quarter-finals out of Pool A if England down winless France in Perth next weekend.

Tonga set up a combustible Pool B showdown with New Zealand next week when they held off fast-finish-ing Samoa to take the much-anticipated clash of the Pacific island heavyweights 32-18 in

Hamilton. The star-studded Tongans remain unbeaten after they put 50 points on Scotland last week and have already qualified for the last eight along with New Zealand.

Tonga were in control at 26-6 midway through the second half but the Samoans closed the gap to eight points with two converted tries before Manu Ma’u scored three min-utes from time to secure the outcome for Tonga. After a week of street vio-lence involving fans from both sides

in the lead up to the match, the play-ers calmed tension when they hugged and joined in prayer before kick off and the match was played in a lively atmosphere. New Zea-land’s classy off-loading proved too much for a hapless Scotland as they ran in 14 tries in a commanding 74-6 victory in Christchurch.

The Kiwis pulled off an amazing 40 off-loads, with Martin Taupau and Nelson Asofa-Solomona prom-inent, to inflict the heaviest defeat

ever suffered by a Scotland team.“We worked on playing smart,

playing through the middle and off-loading opportunities and the boys got happy a few times,” man-of-the-match Roger Tuivasa-Sheck said.

After a slow start, New Zealand hit top gear in the 10th minute when they started a run of three tries in six minutes, and they went on to score six tries in the first half and eight in the second.

Kiradech and Lowry share Turkish leadAntalya, Turkey

AFP

Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Ireland’s Shane Lowry share a two-shot lead head-ing into the final round of the Turkish

Airlines Open in Antalya.Neither player dropped a shot on Saturday

with Kiradech signing for a five-under par 66 and Lowry a six-under 65 to move to 14-under par in the $7 million (6 million euros) event on the Regnm Carya course.

Three players share third place on 12-under par -- Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and England’s Justin Rose, who both shot a seven-under par 64, along with Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts, the first and second round leader who posted a disappoint-ing 73.

“I am very pleaed to come from five strokes behind at the start of my round to be at the top of the leaderboard,” said Kiradech, who has his eyes on the $1.6m first prize.

The affable Thai golfer has enjoyed three wins on the European Tour and while runner-up last month in the Italian Open he has not tasted suc-cess since winning twice in 2015, first in China and then later that year for a first time on Euro-pean soil in Scotland.

Kiradech, however, is clearly benefitting from two big decisions this season: firstly to begin work-ing with the renowned Peter Cowen, long-time coach to 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson; and secondly dropping 18kg from a high of 108kg.

The third round was also the occasion of his father’s birthday and Kiradech celebrated by arranging a number of fellow Tour colleagues, including Stenson who is his father’s idol, to extend birthday wishes.

“I asked five top players this morning if they would let me video a message and I especially have to thank Henrik, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Nicolas Colsaerts,” Kiradech said.

New Zealand’s Sam Cane (left) runs away from Barbarians’ New Zealand full-back George Bridge to score a try during the international rugby union match between Barbarians and New Zealand at Twickenham in south west London, yesterday.

Qatar Shooting and Archery Olympic Cup: Nasser tops in Skeet event

27SUNDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2017 SPORT

Washington

AFP

Four-time league MVP LeBron James poured in 57 points for the second-best scoring performance of his career as the Cleve-

land Cavaliers busted out of a slump with a 130-122 win over the Washington Wizards.

James also delivered 11 rebounds and seven assists on Fri-day for the Cavaliers, who shot 56 percent from the field and improved to 4-5 on the season.

The 32-year-old American sank 23 of 34 shots -- including two three-pointers -- and made all nine of his free throw attempts in front of a crowd of 20,100 at the Capital One Arena in the US capital.

“I don’t want to give myself a ceiling. I don’t want to cap myself,” said James, who recorded his first 50-point game since returning to

his hometown Cavaliers. “I want to be as complete a basketball player as I can be.

“Even rounding 33 I feel I am in the best shape of my career. I am out here, I might as well keep get-ting better.”

Derrick Rose added 20 points for the Cavaliers, who lost three games during their four-game los-ing skid by double digits.

Both teams were struggling heading into Friday’s game as the Wizards only added to their woes, having now lost four of their last five.

Bradley Beal scored 36 points for Washington. John Wall had 13 points and 15 assists as the Wizards shot 53.6 percent from the field.

James, who is in his 15th NBA season, finished just four points shy of his career-high 61 set in 2014 against the Charlotte Bobcats.

But there is also something about playing the Wizards that

seems to bring out the best in James. In February, James banked home the game-tying three point shot in the closing seconds of reg-ulation and Cleveland went on to beat Washington 140-135 in over-time in a contest that some considered to be the league’s 2016-17 regular-season game of the year.

Wall and Beal told reporters earlier on Friday that they believe Cleveland purposefully dropped out of the top seed in the playoffs last season to avoid facing Wash-ington in the early rounds.

James played like someone who took that slight to heart. On Friday, he scored 24 points and Cleveland shot 65.8 percent from the field in the first half for a 74-66 lead. Elsewhere, Kyrie Irving fin-ished with 25 points as the Boston Celtics rallied from a double digit deficit to defeat the Oklahoma City Thunder 101-94 and extend their winning streak to seven games.

James dazzles in Cavaliers win

LA Lakers 124 Brooklyn 112

Boston 101 Oklahoma City 94

Denver 95 Miami 94

Toronto 109 Utah 100

New Orleans 99 Dallas 94

San Antonio 108 Charlotte 101

Houston 119 Atlanta 104

NY Knicks 120 Phoenix 107

Detroit 105 Milwaukee 96

Chicago 105 Orlando 83

Philadelphia 121 Indiana 110

Cleveland 130 Washington 122

NBA RESULTS

Astros celebrate World Series winChicago

AFP

Hundreds of thousands of revellers poured into Houston’s streets on Fri-

day to celebrate the baseball team’s first-ever World Series title win, just two months after America’s fourth-largest city was hit with historic floods.

The celebration was tinged with uncertainty, as the team said it had not decided about a potential White House visit, con-sidering its controversial occupant.

Such a visit is traditional for a championship team, but Pres-ident Donald Trump has had a testy relationship with sports fig-ures, including calling for the firing of protesting American football players who kneel dur-ing the national anthem.

Trump also disinvited this year’s NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors, when players hesitated over a visit.

As the Astros celebrated their win, countless fans lined the streets -- many clad in the team colors of orange, navy blue and white.

“What comes out of this moving forward on the political side, what we do or don’t do, what sports has turned into rep-resenting the country’s tone, will have to be decided in time,” team manager AJ Hinch told reporters.

“We’re not going to allow anything to polarize this moment that we want to celebrate with our fans.”

The Astros won the coveted Major League Baseball champi-onship title Wednesday, in a 5-1

triumph over the Los Angeles Dodgers, bringing home a World Series trophy for the first time since the team’s inception in 1962.

The games in the best-of-seven series featured dramatic swings of momentum between the two teams and breathtaking rallies -- energizing the Texas city still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Harvey.

Two months ago, Harvey brought record-setting flooding to Houston, killing 88 people and submerging vast swaths of land.

Every waterway overflowed in the area’s intricate network of natural drainage into the Gulf of Mexico.

Many Harvey victims are still working to return to normalcy. Their damaged or destroyed homes and belongings have not yet been replaced or rebuilt.

“This is meant to be,” Har-vey victim Joe Eaton Jr told local television station KHOU. “We are all champions now. We are root-ing for one thing.”

So many turned out for the celebration that public transpor-tation was overwhelmed. There

were reports of long lines for train and bus service to down-town -- with some unable to reach the parade in time.

Friday became an unofficial city holiday, with many taking the day off work and the school district even canceling classes for the afternoon parade and rally at the city hall.

The festive parade snaked through downtown streets with floats, politicians waving at crowds and the University of Houston marching band blast-ing music. One group marched with giant inflated baseballs.

The headliners were the Astros team, lifting the World Series trophy as loud adulation accompanied their ride atop fire trucks and double-decker buses while confetti rained down upon them. At the exuberant rally fol-lowing the parade, Mayor Sylvester Turner alluded to the city’s recent travails and the importance of the championship victory.

“When the city needed a pickup, when the city needed someone to elevate us to another level, the Houston Astros stepped in,” Turner said.

Houston Astros centre fielder George Springer (4) talks to the crowd during the World Series championship parade and rally at Houston City Hall on Friday.

Josi, Predators hold off Ducks 5-3 in rematch of West finalsAnaheim

Reuters

Roman Josi scored one goal and assisted on another as the Nash-

ville Predators built a three-goal lead before hold-ing off the Anaheim Ducks 5-3 on Friday night in a rematch of last season’s Western Conference finals.

Scott Hartnell, Matt Irwin and Viktor Arvidsson also scored for the Predators in the first meeting between the teams since Nashville won their 2016-17 playoff series in six games to reach the Stanley Cup Final. Pekka Rinne made 35 saves and P.K. Subban added an empty-net goal with 18 seconds left.

The Predators had lost four straight in Anaheim since their previous victory on April 4, 2014.

Antoine Vermette, Ham-pus Lindholm and Jakob Silfverberg scored for the Ducks, who cut it to 4-3 in the third period after trailing by three late in the second.

Meanwhile, Connor McDavid had three assists and Edmonton handed New Jer-sey its first road loss of the season.

Drake Caggiula, Ryan Strome, Oscar Klefbom, Milan Lucic, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for the Oilers. They snapped a two-game skid to improve to 4-7-1.

28 SUNDAY 5 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT

London

Reuters

Brazilian driver Felipe Massa announced his retirement from Formula One at the end

of the season, and for the second time, yesterday.

The 36-year-old had been due to retire last season but was recalled by the Williams team after Valtteri Bottas left for Mercedes following the surprise retirement of 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg.

After an emotional send-off in Brazil last year, Massa was back in the cockpit a few months later.

“As you know, last year I decided to announce my retirement in Formula One but because of the Williams request I decided to do another season,” the former Ferrari driver said in a video message posted on social media.

“But this time will be my last race in Brazil of Formula One and my last race in Abu Dhabi,” he added, thanking his family, fans and sponsors and making clear he was not retiring from racing entirely.

“I really hope that you can sup-port me next year or maybe in the future in other races and in other

categories,” he said. The Brazilian Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the season, is next week with Abu Dhabi ending the season on Nov. 26.

Williams have yet to announce their 2018 lineup, with several can-didates in the frame including Poland’s Robert Kubica. Canadian rookie teenager Lance Stroll is sure to stay, however.

Massa won 11 races with Ferrari and finished runner-up to Lewis Hamilton, now a four-times world champion, by a single point in the 2008 season.

His last victory was at the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, where he won new fans for his dignified and sport-ing response when Hamilton seized the title by taking fifth place on the last corner of the last lap.

In 2009, he suffered a severe head injury and was in a coma for several days after being hit on the helmet in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying by a spring shed from the Brawn of compatriot Rubens Barrichello.

Massa joined Williams in 2014, helping the former champions to take third place in the construc-tors’ championship that year and in 2015.

“It has been an absolute pleas-ure to work with him,” said deputy principal Claire Williams in a team statement.

“We are especially grateful that he agreed to postpone his retire-ment from Formula One for a year, after Valtteri joined Mercedes, which demonstrated the depth of the relationship we built during our time together.

“We appreciate that it wasn’t an easy decision for him to return, after having such an emotional send-off at the end of last year.”

FELIPE MASSA

Country: BrazilDate of birth: April 25, 1981

Place of birth: Sao Paulo, Brazil

F1 statisticsTeam: Williams

Podiums: 41Points: 1160

Grands Prix entered: 268Highest race finish: 1 (x11)

Highest grid position: 1

Massa to retire from F1 for second time Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Williams celebrates on the podium after finishing third at the Formula One circuit in Monza, Italy in this September 2014 file photo .

Unstoppable Rea rules as Mahias grabs world title

Rizwan RehmatThe Peninsula

World Champion Jonathan Rea last night produced his second suc-

cessive win at the floodlit-Losail International Circuit (LIC) to wrap up the final round of the WorldSBK Championship with convincing back-to-back wins.

The Kawasaki rider, who started the second race of the final round from 9th spot on the grid, weaved his way through a clutch of riders to seal his 16th win of the season.

The 30-year-old, who arrived in Qatar seeking his first career win at LIC, ended the week with two wins, the sec-ond one coming ahead of long-time rival Chaz Davies and Alex Lowes in a time of 33’39.718.

British rider Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) was 1.961 seconds slower than Rea while compatriot Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) was 4.185 seconds off the day’s best mark.

Dutchman Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) finished in fourth spot (5.843 seconds behind) while Spain’s Xaxi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) completed the top five riders. Forex was 8.987 seconds behind Rea.

“I am happy with my week in Qatar,” Rea said last night. “It was a matter of keeping the bike straight and fast. There were no mistakes this week,” the star from Northern Ireland added. “I have had some great compe-tition this week. It was fun to complete a good week,” he said.

“I don’t have words to describe. I just want to thank my family, my team and most of all my rivals Chaz and Tom (Sykes) because they pushed me to improve, gave me motivation to work better, to get smarter. I’ve really enjoyed it.

“I now want to get back home and enjoy the moment because these times don’t come along every day. I want to

savour it with my family and my team,” Rea said.

Earlier in the evening, French star Lucas Mahias sealed a spectacular win to bag his maiden World SuperSport title.

Mahias, the Yamaha star, needed to finish 11th or above to stop arch-rival Kenan Sofuoglu from winning the world title and did so in style.

Turkish sensation Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) fin-ished the 15-lap race in third spot, a notch behind France’s Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda).

Mahias showed pace and purpose as he clinched the SuperSport world title under lights ahead of Cluzel and Sofuoglu.

The Yamaha rider, who started the final race of the sea-son from pole position, sealed his win in a time of 30 minutes 39.805 seconds.

Cluzel finished the 15-lap race just .023 seconds behind Mahias as the two riders ended

the spectacular race in a photo-finish.

Sofuoglu - despite not 100 percent for the season’s final round - wrapped up his cam-paign in 2017 with a third-place finish and a huge smile. The Kawasaki star was 3.788 sec-onds adrift of the time set by Mahias. Sofuoglu suffered a tri-ple hip fracture at Magny-Cours just a little over a month ago.

Federico Caricasulo of Italy also ended with a smile as he finished in 4th spot on his Yamaha YZF R6. Caricasulo was 3.845 seconds slower than the time set by Mahias.

Australian veteran Anthony West - who has raced the cir-cuit for a few years in recent times - grabbed the fifth spot on his Kawasaki ZX-6R.

West was 7.946 seconds behind Mahias on the 5.37km circuit.

After the race, Mahias put on a specially-designed t-shirt with words ‘world champion 2017’ emblazoned on it, rode the

bike into the paddock area for the final presentation.

“It feels really incredible. I thought this was impossible to do. I started racing when I was 10 years old and to win this feels great. I couldn’t have imagined of winning the world title,” Mahias said.

“It was a crazy race. Some-times I pushed and sometimes I couldn’t. But I was good on the bike. I was good in the mind and it was my day,” he added. “I was a little scared in the straight as the engine was not very fast. The last lap was very good,” he added. “I want to thank my team and my family,” the French star said with a smile.

Second-placed Cluzel was pleased with his performance.

“I don’t know if you saw the race or not but I tried every-thing. I didn’t really feel great on the front wheel. I just tried not to make any mistakes as I merely tried to finish the race strongly,” Cluzel said.

“I kept on pushing because

it was the last race. I gave some good show and enjoyed myself,” Frenchman said. “I came sec-ond and there were no crashes today. That was good.”

Third-placed Sufuoglu said he enjoyed his races in 2017.

“Today I am very happy. I didn’t lose the championship as there were so many races this season that I could not start,” Sofuoglu said. “I am just happy. There was potential for me to

win the race but I took my time to get the rhythm as I was kind of scared of every rider.

“Podium is good. I am sec-ond in the championship. It has been a good year and I am happy,” he said.

Qatar riders Saeed Al Sulaiti - who started the race from 18th spot on the grid - and Mashel Al Naimi - who was in the 22nd place - could not complete the race due to technical issues.

WorldSSP: Qatar Round

Laps 15 = 80.700 Km - Race 2

1. L. Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official Worldssp Team)

30:39.805

2. J. Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) +0.023

3. K. Sofuoglu(Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +3.788

4. F. Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official Worldssp Team)

+3.845

5. A. West (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +7.946

6. N. Tuuli (Kallio Racing) +8.112

7. S. Morais (Kallio Racing) +8.336

8. L. Stapleford (Profile Racing) +10.435

WorldSBK: Qatar Round

Laps 17 = 91.460 Km - Race 2

1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing) Time: 33:39.98 2.

Chaz Davies (Racing Ducati Panigale) +1.961s

3. Alex Lowes (Crescent Yamaha) R1 +4.185s

4. Michael van der Mark (Yamaha)+5.843s

5. Xavi Fores (Barni Ducati Panigale) R +8.987s

6. Marco Melandri (Racing Ducati Panigale) +14.675s

7. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) +16.251s

8. Sylvain Guintoli (Kawasaki Puccetti) +19.675s

9. Leon Camier (Agusta RC) +20.607s

10. Roman Ramos (Kawasaki Go Eleven) +20.628s

British WorldSBK World champion Jonathan Rea poses for photographs with his sons Jake and Tyler after winning the second successive race at the floodlit-Losail International Circuit (LIC) yesterday. RIGHT: French rider Lucas Mahias celebrates on Podium after bagging his maiden World SuperSport title.