SPORTMonday 2 October 2017

Wozniacki wobbles on way to round two

Al Attiyah looks to seal

FIA title

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Messi brace helps Barca win behind closed doors

Verstappen ends run of bad luck in Sepang Sepang

Reuters

Max Verstappen (pictured) hoped his luck had turned yesterday after putting a

run of race retirements behind him with victory in Malaysia a day after his 20th birthday.

The Red Bull driver was not the only one breathing a sigh of relief after a drive to victory that had team-boss Christian Horner crossing his fingers and nervously jiggling his feet on the pitwall.

“Hopefully from now onwards it will be OK,” said Verstappen, who had crashed out of the pre-vious race in Singapore after a

three-way shunt with the Ferraris.

“I’m not saying we’re going to win every race but at least (we can) score some good points. Up until now, it was really a season to forget.”

The victory was the second of his career, after he became For-mula One’s youngest winner in Spain on his Red Bull team debut last year.

Red Bull had already won once this season with Australian Dan-iel Ricciardo, who was third on Sunday after winning in Malaysia last year, in Azerbaijan.

But while Ricciardo has scored eight podiums in 15 races,

technical problems and first lap collisions have forced Verstappen out of seven of them.

“As soon as we called this car RB13, I’ve been reasonably uncomfortable,” joked Horner, referring to the belief in some countries that the number 13 is unlucky. The car is the 13th that former champions Red Bull have built.

“He’s endured so much bad luck this year. I’ve always said when it turns for him, it’ll turn in a major way and that’s exactly what’s happened today.”

Red Bull had made light of superstition at their pre-season launch which featured a neon sign

declaring ‘RB13 - unlucky for some’ with the ‘un’ part flickering on and off.

Accompanied by the hashtag #breaksuperstition, the former champions had intended to sug-gest that the car would prove unlucky for rivals rather than one of their own drivers.

But yesterday, Verstappen was completely in control of his own fate as he made a clean start, pulled off a daring move to seize the lead from Mercedes pole sit-ter Lewis Hamilton and never looked back.

Unlike Spain, where he cashed in after the two Mercedes collided, he won in Malaysia on pace.

Gazwan wins Qatar Arabian World Cup as Enable steals the show in Chantilly

Chantilly

The Peninsula

HE Sheikh Moham-med bin Khalifa Al Thani’s Gazwan (Amer) brought home the 2017

edition of the Qatar Arabian World Cup (Gr1) and succeeded the great Al Mourtajez (Dahess). After his third attempt in this race, Gazwan finally imposed himself in the Qatar Arabian World Cup.

Second in 2015, fourth in 2016, the third one was the good one. A tough horse, Gazwan cantered not far from the lead and fought well until

the end with Yazeed (Munjiz) and Ebraz (Amer). Gazwan took a short head advantage on the line.

Meanwhile, the Sheikh Kha-lid Abdullah-owned Enable (Nathaniel) showed how amaz-ing she is by winning this 2017 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Frankie Dettori placed her in the back of Idaho and Order of St George and did not give a chance to her rivals. On a sim-ple turn of foot, she left them all behind, imposing herself by two lengths and a half in front of the André Fabre-trained Cloth of Stars (Sea The Stars). On this occasion, Enable won her fifth Gr1 in a row.

The Total Prix Marcel Bous-sac – Critérium des Pouliches (Gr1) opened the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe day and it was won by the Godolphin-owned Wild Illusion (Dubawi). Supplemented to participate in this first Gr1 on Sunday, she had done well lately in the Prix d’Aumale (Gr3) when taking the third place. Today, she cantered on the outside, right behind Soustraction (Lope de Vega). Entering the home straight in front, Wild Illusion did not leave her place and only pushed fur-ther away by the two French Polydream (Oasis Dream), sec-ond, and Mission Impassible (Galileo), third.

Only one filly was entered in this Qatar Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère (Grand Critérium) sponsored by Al Hazm (Gr1) and she won! Happily (Galileo) made her owners happy by showing her superiority against the colts in this Gr1. Winner of the Moy-glare Stud Stakes (Gr1), she confirmed her abilities in good to soft ground here at Chantilly. The Coolmore representative attacked the first horses in the last 200m and after a short bat-tle, she managed to impose herself in front of Olmedo, who came second.

Coolmore and Aidan O’Brien signed a double win in this Prix de l’Opéra Longines

(Gr1), since Rhododendron (Gal-ileo) and Hydrangea (Galileo) took the first two places. Both fillies fought for victory until the end. Rhododendron travelled on the outside of the field just behind her training partner, Hydrangea. Both jockeys asked their fillies to accelerate 300m from the post and did not let go until the final post came. Only a head separated Rhododendron and Hydrangea from the gold medal in this “Arc” for fillies.

Battaash (Dark Angel), owned by Hamdan Al Maktoum, imposed himself brilliantly in the Prix de l’Abbaye de Long-champ Longines (Gr1), defeating the title holder Marsha

(Acclamation) and Profitable (Invincible Spirit). Both horses came second and third respec-tively. Quick in front, Battaash controlled the race from pillar to post. When his jockey asked him to accelerate, he showed an incredible turn of foot and left his rivals behind, flying towards the post.

The Canning Downs & Part-ner-owned colt Aclaim claimed victory in this Qatar Prix de la Forêt (Gr1). He travelled in the back of Al Shaqab Racing’s Karar (Invincible Spirit) along the rail. Brought as far as possi-ble by Karar, Aclaim could then come back strongly in the last metres.

Owner of Enable, which won the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Group 1), Sheikh Khalid Abdulla receiving the QPAT Trophy from H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani (left). CENTRE: H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Thani, owner of Gazwan which won the Qatar Arabian World Cup (Arab Group 1), celebrates after receiving the winner’s trophy. RIGHT: H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa Al Thani poses for a photograph with Gazwan and the members of the winning team at Chantilly Racecourse in France yesterday.

Jockey Frankie Dettori guides Enable (left)

towards the victory in the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Group 1) race at Chantilly Racecourse

yesterday.

30 MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2017SPORT

Barcelona

AFP

Lionel Messi scored twice as Barcelona beat Las Pal-mas 3-0 in a match played

behind closed doors after the Spanish league refused Barca’s plea to postpone the game on the day of the highly-charged Catalonia referendum.

At least 91 people were injured as Spanish riot police fired rubber bullets and forced their way into activist-held polling stations over the inde-pendence vote deemed illegal by the Spanish government yesterday.

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu said the club made the decision to play behind closed doors as a pro-test against the violent clashes rather than security concerns.

“FC Barcelona condemns the events which have taken place in many parts of Catalo-nia today in order to prevent its citizens exercising their demo-cratic right to free expression,” Barcelona said in a statement.

“We have done it behind closed doors so that everyone can see our opposition at what is happening,” added Bartomeu.

In a statement, La Liga insisted “there was no motive for the game to be abandoned”.

Had Barca refused to play the game they could have faced a three-point deduction from La Liga on top of forfeiting the match against Las Palmas.

“La Liga’s refusal to cancel

the game and play it another day... would mean the loss of six points for the team,” said Bartomeu.

A section of Barcelona fans’ groups had threatened a peace-ful pitch invasion to show their disgust at events at the polling stations if the game was not suspended.

“It was strange, I didn’t like it at all,” Barca midfielder Ser-gio Busquets, a Catalan and World Cup winner with Spain, told BeIN Sports Spain.

“We were aware of what had happened. I think the club evaluated the possibility (of not playing) but on a sporting level that penalised us a lot.”

Indeed, despite the closure of the stadium, one fan did make it onto the pitch after Bar-ca’s second goal before being quickly hauled off by stewards.

Huge queues of fans waited outside the 99,000 capacity Camp Nou for hours until a final decision was made less than 30 minutes before kick-off.

A Barca spokesperson con-firmed that all fans who bought tickets would be reimbursed.

The match itself was an understandably low key affair as Barca opened up a five-point lead at the top of La Liga and moved 10 points clear of Real Madrid.

Barca’s players entered the field wearing a training top in the colours of the Catalan Seny-era flag over their traditional blue and red home kit.

Meanwhile, Las Palmas wore a small Spanish flag on their shirts as a show of support for a united Spain.

However, all the off-field distractions seemed to affect the hosts in the first-half as Jonathan Calleri came closest to opening the scoring when he hit the post for Las Palmas.

Busquets settled Barca early in the second-half by heading

home the opener from Messi’s corner.

Messi then took over him-self as he calmly rounded Leandro Chichizola from Denis Suarez’s excellent pass to make it 2-0.

And the five-time World Player of the Year then smashed home Luis Suarez’s through ball for already his 14th goal of the season.

Barca have long supported Catalonia’s right for a vote on independence, without throw-ing their weight behind the yes or no camp.

Last week the club released a strongly-worded statement condemning arrests of regional Catalan government figures in “the defence of the nation, to democracy, to freedom of s p e e c h , a n d t o self-determination”.

According to Spanish media reports, Barca vice-president Carles Vilarrubi has resigned over the club’s decision to play the game.

Outspoken Barca defender Gerard Pique posted a picture of him casting his vote early on Sunday.

“I have voted. Together we are unstoppable defending democracy,” said Pique.

Messi brace helps Barca win behind closed doors

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi (left) celebrates with team-mates Ivan Rakitic and Andres Iniesta after scoring a goal during the Spanish League match against UD Las Palmas at the Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona, yesterday.

Arsenal stroll past BrightonHamsik closes in on Maradona record Milan

AFP

Marek Hamsik moved closer to Diego Mara-dona’s scoring record

as Napoli stayed top of Serie A with a 3-0 win over Cagliari yesterday as Inter Milan pulled ahead of Juventus with a 2-1 win at Benevento.

The pressure will now be on Juventus who travel to Ata-lanta with the champions looking to match Napoli’s unblemished seven wins in as many games.

Skipper Hamsik opened the scoring for Napoli after just four minutes at the Sta-dio San Paolo with his first goal of the season and 114th for the club, just one short of Maradona’s all-time record.

Dries Mertens contributed to the opener and then added a second from the spot on 40 minutes before Kalidou Koulibaly sealed the perfect seventh victory two minutes after the break.

“Scoring is always great, I’m near Maradona’s record, now we know it will come, but what matters is the team’s performance. Seven wins from seven means a lot, and today we enjoyed the fans. October will be decisive,” said S lovak internat ional Hamsik.

Napoli coach Maurizio Sarri conceded he was relieved after coming through the early afternoon match in a week when they earned their first Champions League points with a 3-1 win over Feyenoord.

But he dismissed prema-ture talk of challenging for the title.

“Its been six years that I’ve heard talk that we can bother Juventus but in the end they’re the ones who win,” said Sarri.

“That means they are a level above everyone else.”

For Cagliari it was a fifth loss in seven games as they stay 14th with just six points.

Marcelo Brozovic scored a quick-fire first half brace as Inter moved provisionally second on 19 points after a tight win at tailenders Benevento.

London

AFP

Arsene Wenger celebrated the 21st anniversary of his arrival at Arsenal in win-

ning style as the Gunners cruised to a 2-0 victory over Brighton yesterday.

There are many reasons for Arsenal fans to look back fondly on the day Wenger was hired but, after several years of under-achievement, the Frenchman finds himself engaged in a fight to restore his tarnished reputation.

It is too early to predict whether Arsenal can end their 13-year wait to win a fourth Pre-mier League title under Wenger, but there were some encourag-ing signs as Brighton were put to the sword at the Emirates Stadium.

Nacho Monreal opened the scoring in the first half before Alex Iwobi, converting Alexis Sanchez’s majestic assist, wrapped up the points after the interval.

Arsenal’s sixth win from their last seven matches in all com-petitions moved them to within six points of leaders Manchester City heading into the interna-tional break.

Fittingly, Wenger marked his milestone date with a notable record of his own.

Brighton are the 45th differ-ent Premier League club to be defeated by Arsenal since Wenger took over in 1996, breaking the record he shared with Manchester United legend Alex Ferguson.

Just 64 hours after winning at Belarus’s Bate Borisov in the Europa League on Thursday, Arsenal were back in action and Wenger freshened up his side by making nine changes.

Wenger this week claimed Arsenal are a more unified team

since the transfer window closed just after their humiliating 4-0 defeat at Liverpool.

There was ample evidence to support that theory as his team tore into Brighton right from the start.

Alexandre Lacazette almost gave them the perfect start after just 65 seconds when his fierce drive flashed past Albion goal-keeper Mat Ryan, only to cannon

back off a post. Albion striker Tomer Hemed was serving the first of a three-game suspension, so Izzy Brown started up front and the youngster went close with a header from Pascal Gross’s free-kick.

That effort aside, it was one way traffic as Wenger’s men left Brighton trailing in their wake time and again.

Meanwhile, A remarkable

goal from Philippe Coutinho secured a 1-1 draw for Liverpool at Newcastle United but it was another hugely frustrating match for their manager, Jurgen Klopp.

On a day when victory would have lifted them above reigning champions Chelsea and into the top four in the Pre-mier League, Liverpool struggled yet again to turn their superiority into goals.

Post-Ancelotti Bayern surrender two-goal leadBerlin

AFP

Bayern Munich again sur-rendered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at Hertha

Berlin yesterday in their first match since Carlo Ancelotti’s shock sacking, slipping to five points behind leaders Borussia Dortmund.

With Willy Sagnol in tempo-rary charge after Ancelotti’s dismissal on Thursday, Bayern went 2-0 up at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium with goals from Mats Hummels and Robert Lewandowski.

But Berlin roared back with two goals inside five minutes from Ondrej Duda and Salomon Kalou to share the spoils.

“That’s a bit annoying for us,” said Sagnol, whose team none-theless moved up to second.

“We have to play with more

concentration and discipline.“When we don’t concentrate,

then we aren’t the strongest team in Germany any more,” admit-ted the Frenchman.

Bayern threw away a two-goal lead for the second league game in a row after being held 2-2 at home to Wolfsburg ten days ago.

Ancelotti was dismissed after 15 months in the wake of Bay-ern’s 3-0 drubbing at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champi-ons League.

Hoffenheim’s 30-year-old boss Julian Nagelsmann and ex-Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel are amongst the favourites to take over permanently.

Sagnol responded to Ance-lotti’s sacking by starting forwards Thomas Mueller, Franck Ribery, Arjen Robben and Lewandowski.

The quartet had all criticised

the club in recent weeks, play-ing a role in undermining Ancelotti’s authority.

Bayern made a bright start

when Hummels headed Munich ahead on 10 minutes.

The game burst into life early in the second-half as Lewand-owski fired home on 49 minutes after robbing Hertha defender Niklas Stark.

However, Berlin responded with two goals in five minutes.

Japan’s Genki Haraguchi beat Robben, Hummels and Joshua Kimmich before playing in Duda to fire home on 51 minutes.

With Bayern in disarray, Kalou scored from eight yards out to equalise on 56 minutes.

Earlier, Hoffenheim crashed to their first Bundesliga defeat of the season with a shock 3-2 loss at strugglers Freiburg.

Hoffenheim dropped to third, but level with Bayern on 14 points.

Dortmund ground out a 2-1 win at Augsburg on Saturday,

even though star striker Pierre-E m e r i c k A u b a m e y a n g squandered a second-half pen-alty. 0In Freiburg, the game against Hoffenheim got off to a bang with all three goals com-ing in four crazy minutes.

Teenager Robin Hack scored just 14 minutes into his senior debut, but Freiburg responded immediately when striker Flo-rian Niederlechner equalised a minute later.

The hosts took the lead on 18 minutes when Turkey interna-tional defender Caglar Soyuncu headed home from a corner.

The match finished with two goals in the dying stages as Freiburg sealed their first win of the season when Pascal Stenzel scored on 87 minutes.

Freiburg midfielder Julian Schuster turned the ball into his own net two minutes into added-on time but the hosts held on.

English Premier League results yesterday:

Arsenal 2 (Monreal 16, Iwobi 56) Brighton 0

Everton 0 Burnley 1 (Hendrick 21)

Newcastle 1 (Joselu 36) Liverpool 1 (Coutinho 29)

Played on SaturdayChelsea 0 Manchester City 1 (De Bruyne 67)

Huddersfield 0 Tottenham 4 (Kane 9, 23, Davies

16, Sissoko 90+1)

Manchester United 4 (Mata 3, Fellaini 35, 49, Lu-

kaku 86) Crystal Palace 0

Bournemouth 0 Leicester 0

Stoke 2 (Diouf 40, Crouch 85) Southampton 1

(Yoshida 75)

West Brom 2 (Rondon 18, Evans 21) Watford 2

(Doucoure 37, Richarlison 90+5)

West Ham 1 (Sakho 90) Swansea 0

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

German Bundesliga results yesterday:Freiburg 3 (Niederlechner 15, Soyuncu 18, Strenzel

87) Hoffenheim 2 (Hack 14, Schuster 90+2-og)

Hertha Berlin 2 (Duda 51, Kalou 56) Bayern Munich

2 (Hummels 10, Lewandowski 49)

Cologne 1 (Osako 82) RB Leipzig 2 (Klostermann 30,

Poulsen 80)

On SaturdayBorussia Moenchengladbach 2 (Ginter 67, Hazard

90+4-pen) Hanover96 1 (Harnik 71)

Eintracht Frankfurt 2 (Rebic 42, Haller 90+3) VfB

Stuttgart 1 (Terodde 61)

Augsburg 1 (Caiuby 11) Borussia Dortmund 2 (Yar-

molenko 4, Kagawa 23)

VfL Wolfsburg 1 (Guilavogui 55) Mainz 1 (Muto 74)

Hamburg 0 Werder Bremen 0

On Friday

Schalke 04 1 (Goretzka 34) Bayer Leverkusen 1

(Bailey 61)

BUNDESLIGA

Arsenal midfielder Mohamed Elneny (left) vies with Brighton’s midfielder Davy Propper during the English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium in London, yesterday.

Abu Dhabi

AFP

Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah grabbed the key wicket of Dinesh Chandimal to leave Sri Lanka fight-

ing to avoid defeat after the fourth day of the first Test in Abu Dhabi yesterday.

The prolific wicket-taker took 2-25 as Sri Lanka struggled to 69-4, needing a rearguard action to save the Test.

Pakistan will be expecting to push for victory in the open-ing match of a two-Test series on the fifth and final day.

It was tough to negotiate spin on a fourth-day Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch, but despite a 32nd Test five-wicket haul for veteran Sri Lankan spinner Ran-gana Herath, Pakistan posted 422 to take a slender three-run lead.

Sri Lanka had made 419 in their first innings.

At the close, Kusal Mendis was batting on 16, with night-watchman Suranga Lakmal on

two, after a day of fluctuating fortunes.

Herath’s 5-93 in 40 overs were well foiled by a brilliant 76 by Test debutant Haris Sohail, as initially it looked as though Sri Lanka would take a first-innings lead.

Pakistan then hit back in the second innings through Shah, who first had opener Dimuth Karunaratne caught for 10 and then dismissed first-innings centurion Chandimal, caught at

slip, for seven. Sohail followed his responsible knock by claim-ing Kaushal Silva’s wicket, whom he trapped leg before for 25, while part-timer Asad Shafiq had Lahiru Thirimanne for seven.

The 28-year-old Sohail’s impressive Test bow has come despite a career-threatening knee injury which required sur-gery in 2015.

“The last two years were tough for me as there was a lot of talk on my injury,” he said.

“But thankfully I am here and played a responsible knock. I was under pressure because we needed to take the lead, so I had to play a responsible knock which I did.”

Earlier in the day, Pakistan too were struggling at 316-6 and were in danger of conceding a healthy lead with Herath using all his experience and guile.

The 39-year-old left-arm spinner, who now has 394 wick-ets in 84 Tests, gave his team the much-needed wicket of a reso-lute Azhar Ali, luring him into an uppish drive which was bril-liantly caught at short mid-wicket by a diving Mendis.

Azhar’s defiant knock of 85 lasted more than five hours and included four boundaries.

31MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2017 SPORT

Spinners raise hopes of Pakistan victory

South Africa turn the heat on BangladeshPotchefstroom, South Africa

AFP

South African fast bowler Morne Morkel took two wickets for no runs in the

first over of Bangladesh’s second innings before an injury to the fast bowler and a thunderstorm hit South Africa’s hopes of an early win on the fourth day of the first Test yesterday.

Bangladesh were reeling at 49 for three after being set to make 424 to win when a storm hit Senwes Park during the tea break and no further play was possible.

More showers are possible on the final day on Monday and Mor-kel, who took two for 19, is not expected to bowl again.

“It’s a massive blow. Morne is the leader of our attack and he was hot out there,” said batsman Temba Bavuma, whose innings of 71 helped South Africa to declare on 247 for six in mid-afternoon.

Bangladesh wicketkeeper

Liton Das, who took a remarka-ble catch to dismiss Bavuma, anticipating a lap sweep by the batsman and moving sharply to his left to hold the ball in his left hand at close range, said he expected left-arm spinner Kes-hav Maharaj to be the main threat to Bangladesh’s hopes of saving the game.

“The South African bowlers did a very good job but the pitch is slow so the challenge will be Maharaj. It’s also a fifth-day

wicket,” said Das. Morkel’s sensational start

could have been even better. He was denied a third wicket because of a no-ball. Morkel, bowling around the wicket, bowled Tamim Iqbal with his fourth ball, a superb delivery which straight-ened off the pitch and hit the off stump. Two balls later he won a leg before wicket decision against another left-hander, Mominul Haque, who made top score of 77 in Bangladesh’s first innings.

Sri Lanka (I innings): ............................ 419Pakistan (I innings): Shan Masood b Herath .......................................... 59

Sami Aslam lbw b Perera ....................................... 51

Azhar Ali c Mendis b Herath ................................. 85

Asad Shafiq c Thirimanne b Herath ....................39

Babar Azam c Dickwella b Pradeep ................... 28

Haris Sohail c Lakmal b Pradeep .........................76

Sarfraz Ahmed b Lakmal .......................................18

Mohammad Amir lbw b Lakmal ............................4

Yasir Shah c Thirimanne b Herath .........................8

Hasan Ali st Dickwella b Herath .......................... 29

Mohammad Abbas (not out) ..................................1

Extras: (B5, LB9, NB8, W2) ............................... 24

Total: (all out) ....................................... 422 Fall of wickets: 1-114, 2-116, 3-195, 4-266, 5-294,

6-316, 7-326, 8-340, 9-390

Bowling: Lakmal 22-5-42-2 (1nb, 1w), Pradeep 25.3-

1-77-2 (6nb, Perera 37-10-92-1 (1nb), Sundakan 35-7-

98-0 (1w), Herath 40-12-93-5, Karunaratne 3-1-6-0

Sri Lanka (II innings): D Karunaratne c Masood b Shah .........................10

K Silva lbw b Sohail ................................................ 25

L Thirimanne c Sarfraz b Shafiq ............................. 7

K Mendis (batting) ..................................................16

D Chandimal c Shafiq b Shah ................................. 7

S Lakmal(batting) ......................................................2

Extras: (B1, NB1) ........................................................2

Total: (for 4 wkts) .................................. 69To bat: Dickwella, Perera, Herath, Sandakan, Pradeep

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-33, 3-51, 4-65

Bowling: Amir 7-2-14-0, Abbas 6-2-7-0 (1nb), Shah

14-2-25-2, Hasan 4.2-0-8-0, Shafiq 3.4-0-7-1, Sohail

5-2-7-1

SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka’s Kaushal plays a shot during the fourth day of the first Test cricket match against Pakistan at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, yesterday.

Rohit Sharma’s ton helps India to win ODI series 4-1

South Africa (I innings): ............496-3 declBangladesh (I innings): ....................... 320South Africa (II innings): A Markram c Liton Das b Mustafizur Rahman .. 15

D Elgar lbw b Shafiul Islam ...................................18

H Amla c Liton Das b Mustafizur Rahman ....... 28

T Bavuma c Liton Das b Mominul Haque ........... 71

F du Plessis lbw b Mominul Haque .....................81

Q de Kock st Liton Das b Mominul Haque ........... 8

A Phehlukwayo (not out)......................................... 6

K Maharaj (not out) .................................................19

Extras (NB1) ............................................................... 1

Total (6 wkts decl) ............................... 247Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-38, 3-70, 4-212, 5-217, 6-222

Bowling: Mehidy Hasan 11-1-69-0, Shafiul Islam 13-1-

46-1, Mustafizur Rahman 11-2-30-2, Taskin Ahmed

6-0-29-0 (1nb), Sabbir Rahman 5-0-25-0, Mahmudul-

lah 4-0-21-0, Mominul Haque 6-0-27-3

Bangladesh (II innings): Tamim Iqbal b Morkel ...............................................0

Imrul Kayes c De Kock b Maharaj .........................32

Mominul Haque lbw b Morkel ................................0

Mushfiqur Rahim (batting) ....................................16

Extras (NB1) ...............................................................1

Total (3 wkts) .......................................... 49Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-49

Bowling: Morkel 5.2-2-19-2 (1nb), Rabada 5-1-23-0,

Olivier 2.4-0-5-0, Maharaj 2.3-0-2-1

SCOREBOARD

Nagpur, India

AFP

Opener Rohit Sharma hit a dominant century as India thrashed Australia

by seven wickets in the fifth and final one-day interna-tional yesterday, clinching the series 4-1.

Chasing 243 for victory, the hosts rode on Sharma’s 109-ball 125 to achieve their target in 42.5 overs at Nagpur and move to the top of the ODI world rankings table.

The Virat Kohli-led side had slipped behind South Africa after their loss in the fourth game but are now number one in the Inter-national Cricket Council ratings for ODIs. They were already the top Test team.

It was a disciplined bowling effort led by spinner Axar Patel, who claimed three wickets, that

set up India’s comfortable vic-tory after restricting the visitors to 242-9.

In reply, Sharma and Rahane made batting look easy on a two-paced track and extended the

teams’ dominance in the match and the series.

Sharma, who opened his account with two successive boundaries after 14 deliveries, was the first to get to his fifty

with a double off Marcus Stoinis.

Rahane also got his fourth successive 50-plus score before being trapped lbw by paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile.

Sharma went on to register his 14th ODI ton during his 99-run partnership with Kohli, who made a sedate 39. He got to his hundred with a six off Coulter-Nile.

Leg-spinner Adam Zampa sent Sharma and Kohli back to pavilion. Kedar Jadhav, unbeaten on five, and Manish Pandey, 11 not out, then saw the team through.

Earlier, opener David Warn-er’s 62-ball 53 was not enough to inspire Australian batting as they ended on 242-9 after elect-ing to bat first.

Travis Head and Stoinis tried hard to counter a persistent Indian bowling with their 87-run

fifth-wicket partnership, but their departure spelt further trouble for the visitors.

Head, who made 42, and Stoinis, who scored 46, failed to convert their starts into bigger scores as Australia totally lost steam in the final five overs.

Left-arm spinner Patel returned impressive figures of 3-38 while fast bowler Jasprit B u m r a h c l a i m e d t w o wickets.

The action now shifts to the three Twenty20 internationals starting Saturday in Ranchi.

Australia:D Warner c Pandey b Patel ...................................53

A Finch c Bumrah b Pandya ..................................32

S Smith lbw b Jadhav .............................................16

P Handscomb c Rahane b Patel ........................... 13

T Head b Patel .........................................................42

M Stoinis lbw b Bumrah ........................................46

M Wade c Rahane b Bumrah ...............................20

J Faulkner run out (Pandya/Dhoni) ..................... 12

P Cummins (not out) ................................................ 2

N Coulter-Nile b Bumrah .........................................0

Extras (B1, LB2, W3) ...............................................6

Total (9 wkts) ....................................... 242Fall of wickets: 1-66, 2-100, 3-112, 4-118, 5-205

(Head), 6-210, 7-237, 8-242, 9-242

Did not bat: A Zampa

Bowling: Kumar 8-0-40-1, Bumrah 10-2-51-2, Pan-

dya 2-0-14-1, Yadav 10-1-48-0, Jadhav 10-0-48-1

(w2), Patel 10-0-38-3 (w1)

India :A Rahane lbw b Coulter-Nile ................................. 61

R Sharma c Coulter-Nile b Zampa .....................125

V Kohli c Stoinis b Zampa ......................................39

K Jadhav (not out) ....................................................5

M Pandey (not out) ................................................. 11

Extras (lb1, w1) ...........................................................2

Total (3 wkts) ........................................ 243Fall of wickets: 1-124, 2-223, 3-227

Did not bat: M.S Dhoni, H Pandya, A Patel, K Yadav, B

Kumar, J Bumrah.

Bowling: Cummins 7-1-29-0, Coulter-Nile 9-0-42-1,

Stoinis 4-0-20-0, Faulkner 5.5-0-37-0 (w1), Zampa

8-0-59-2, Head 6-0-38-0, Finch 3-0-17-0

Result: India beat Australia by 7 wickets

SCOREBOARDIndia’s Rohit Sharma (left)

celebrates after scoring a century

as captain Virat Kohli watches

during the fifth one-day international

match against Australia at the

Vidarbha Cricket Association

Stadium in Nagpur, yesterday.

Abbas Zab of Pakistan wins squash event in QatarThe Peninsula

Abbas Zab of Pakistan claimed the first place in boys under-19 years category of the Doha Asian Junior squash tournament organised

by Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Feder-ation at the Khalifa Tennis and Squash Complex which concluded yesterday.

In the final match, Zab defeated compatriot Mansour Zaman. Alereza Champly of Iran fin-ished third.

The tournament featured the participation of players from Qatar, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran. In

boys under-13 years event, Mohammad Khan of Pakistan defeated Yousef Faraj of Qatar to take the first place.

The Qatari players dominated the boys under-11 years event as Mohammad Awdah led the standings ahead of Jassim Talal Al Thani in the second place and Khalid Al Hamadi in the third place.

Saad Al Mohannadi, Executive Director of the Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation said that the event will help develop the skills of our players as they competed with players from other squash schools.

Qatar Shooting Federation Cup

Shooters taking part in the rifle events on the first day of the Qatar Shooting Federation Cup which kicked off yesterday at the Losail Shooting Range. The event ends on October 7.

South African bowler Morne Morkel (left) celebrates the dismissal of Bangladeshi batsman Mominul Haque (not in picture) during the fourth day of the first Test match against Bangladesh, yesterday.

32 MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2017SPORT 33MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2017 SPORT

The Peninsula

David Nicholas secured the victory ahead of Qatar’s star rider Ahmed Al

Bourdainy in a test event held at Al Thakira on Friday as Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federa-tion (QCTF) warmed up ahead of the new season. The new sea-son will be officially launched on October 13.

Nicholas finished with a time of 1:35:06 in his winning attempt while Al Bourdainy grabbed the silver ahead of Mohammed Farhan Al Farizi who completed the top three podium finishes a t the Al Thak-ira Youth Centre.

The test event was con-ducted under three categories for men and two for women.

The race started at 6.30am and 115 local and foreign riders pedalled over a distance of 61km in their bid to warm up for the busy season ahead.

Lain Garnell from team Rasen Velostar won the gold medal in the second category in 1:46:56 ahead of his team-mate David Jones who bagged the sil-ver while Khalid Hammouda who rides for the Qatar national junior team won the bronze medal.

The third category saw the largest number of cyclists taking part, including members of the

junior team of Qatar Cycling & Triathlon Federation.

Walberto De La Cruz won the gold after clock-ing 1:52:46 while Qatar Junior rider Zaid Hamza

finished second. Mohammed Nab-han was third.

Jamal Al Kuwari, General Sec-retary of the Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation, said: “The Board of Directors of QCTF have discussed the agenda of sports sea-son (2017-2018). Fans will get to see a number of cycling and triathlon events, including road race and mountain bike events, in the new season. The federation has paid much attention on Triathlon events and is encouraged to see the rise in the number of new participants”.

“The federation also encourages and support riders to participate in international triathlon events.” He said.

“We would like to thank Royal Air Maroc for sponsoring the Cycling League. This is a reflection of the depth of partnership and coopera-tion between the federation and Royal Air Maroc and the successes achieved by the two sides, which were supported by the local and for-eign press, and by the media people during the ongoing coverage, which will continue to underline the suc-cesses of the Federation and its official partners and sponsors (Rayyan natural water)” he added.

The Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation have included triathlon (swimming, cycling and running), mountain and criterium races in the sea-son this time.

Qatari swimmers eye glory as global stars head for Doha

Hassan Mohammad Al EbaidanMohammad MahmoudYossef Hesham MohammadAbdullah Mohammad Abu GhazallahYaqoub Abdulaziz Al KhelaifiNasser Yasser HassanAbdulraheem Abdulali HussainFeras Murad Al SaidiAbdulrahman Hesham MohammadMusalam AbdullahAbdulaziz Hassan Al Obaidli Nada Mohammad Arakji

QATAR SQUADThe Peninsula

A star cast of swimmers will be in action when the FINA/Airweave Swimming World Cup (25m) Doha edition sets waves at the Hamad Aquatic

Complex on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) yesterday announced the line-up of its swimmers for the event which will bring together 153 swimmers.

The Qatari squad includes; Hassan Mohammad Al Ebaidan, Mohammad Mahmoud, Yossef Hesham Mohammad, Abdullah Mohammad Abu Ghazallah, Yaqoub Abdulaziz Al Khelaifi, Nasser Yasser Hassan, Abdulraheem Abdulali Hussain, Feras Murad Al Saidi, Abdul-rahman Hesham Mohammad, Musalam

Abdullah, Abdulaziz Hassan Al Obaidli and the country’s first female swimmer to compete in the Olympics, Nada Mohammad Arakji.

The FINA airweave Swimming World Cup 2017 includes eight legs in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.

This year, the competition kicked off on August 2 in Moscow and will con-clude on November 19 in Singapore. Berlin, Hong Kong, Doha, Beijing, and Tokyo complete the list of host cities for 2017.

The swimmers, who will arrive in Doha following the Hong Kong leg which concluded yesterday, will be targeting to earn maximum points as the compe-tition will reach the mid stage, which promises thrilling competitions during the two-day contest.

The Qatari swimmers also

participated in the previous legs of the event. Abdullah Abu Ghazallah took part in the first leg in Moscow ( August 2-3). Abdulrahman Hesham abd Abdulaziz Al Obaidli participated in the second leg in Berlin (August 6-7) while Abdulaziz Hassan, Abdulrahman Hesham and Feras Al Saidi competed in the third leg in Eindhoven (August 11-12).

Yaqoub Al Khelaifi and Yousef Hesham took part in the fourth leg in Hong Kong.

Ibraheem Al Rumaihi, Head of Swimming section at the Qatar Swim-ming Association (QSA), said that the participation in FINA/ Airweave Swim-ming World Cup championship – Doha Tour acts as a considerable opportu-nity for local swimmers to interact with the world champions and to gain inter-national experience.

“Our swimmers are ready for the world swimming event in Doha, they had already shown impressive perform-ances in the both 9th Asian Age Group Championship took place in Uzbekistan and the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in Turkmenistan,” said Al Rumaihi.

“We have a great ambition to hon-our the country in the event, we are looking for new records to prove the progress of Qatari swimming move-ment,” added Al Rumaihi.

Top favourites for the Doha leg, the most successful man in the competition’s history with 116 gold medals under his belt, Chad le Clos of South Africa as well as Olympic and Swedish world cham-pion Sarah Sjostrom accounted for top honours at the Hong Kong leg of the event which concluded yesterday.

Le Clos and Sjostrom maintained their overall series leads following the closing night of the event in Hong Kong.

Sjostrom bagged a hat-trick on Sat-urday and took the first event yesterday, the 100m free, from Ranomi Kromow-idjojo (NED).

She then finished runner-up to three-time Olympic and seven-time world champion Katinka Hosszu of Hungary in the 100m IM before jump-ing back in the pool 10 minutes later to sprint home in 24.62 in the 50m fly. Hosszu had beaten Emily Seebohm (AUS) into second place in all three of their clashes on Saturday, and it was a similar story in yesterday’s 100m back/100m IM.

The five-time World Cup series champion went on to land the 400m IM to complete a clean sweep from her six events to close the gap marginally on Sjostrom in the standings.

Le Clos twice denied Tom Shields of the USA, in the 200m free and 100m fly, then finished runner-up to Russian star Vladimir Morozov in the 50m free. Shields had got the better of Le Clos in the 200m fly on Saturday.

Qatari swimmer Yaqoub Abdulaziz Al Khelaifi in action in this file photo.

Qatar’s first female swimmer to compete in the Olympics, Nada Mohammad Arakji in action in this file photo.

The Hamad Aquatic Centre which will host the FINA/Airweave Swimming World Cup (25m) Doha edition.

QCTF conducts successful test event as riders warm up for new season

Participants of the cycling event conducted by the Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation (QCTF) pose for a photograph along with officials at Al Thakira Youth Centre on Friday.

Pocium winners of the first category, gold medallist David Nicholas (centre), Qatari national team’s rider Ahmed Al Bourdainy (silver) and Mohammed Farhan Al Farizi (bronze) pose for a photograph during the medal ceremony at Al Thakira Youth Centre on Friday.

Riders compete during a test event conducted by the Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation (QCTF) ahead of the official launch of the new season.

34 MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2017SPORT

Russia, China among countries suspended over doping

Budapest

AP

Russia and China were among nine countries suspended from weight-

lifting for a year on Saturday in an attempt to combat an epi-demic of doping.

The sport has been under pressure to clean up or face being dropped from the Olympics.

The decision by the Inter-nat ional Weight l i f t ing Federation (IWF) followed the retesting of anti-doping sam-ples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Countries with at least three doping offenses from those Olympics were suspended. The IWF started pursuing the sus-pensions before last year’s Olympics, but the process was held up by legal challenges.

Also suspended were Kaza-khstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Turkey, and Ukraine.

“We have made it clear that the incidence of doping in some areas is totally unacceptable and that our members have a responsibility to ensure clean sport in their countries,” IWF president Tamas Ajan said in a statement.

“If they do not fulfill their responsibilities to ensure their lifters are clean then they will lose their right to participate.

But we will not turn our backs on them; we will continue to work with them, (the World Anti-Doping Agency), and their national anti-doping agencies to support their anti-doping activities and help make cultural change.”

The suspensions could mean a drastically weakened world championships, scheduled from November 28 through Decem-ber 6 in Anaheim, California.

The IWF said there wouldn’t be any exceptions from the ban to allow individual athletes from the suspended countries to compete, regardless of whether they’ve ever failed a drug test.

Athletics has allowed some athletes from Russia to compete as independents during its ban from that sport for systemic

doping. “The countries will receive official notification about the suspension mid-Octo-ber and at the IWF there is no

possibility to compete as neu-tral or independent,” IWF spokeswoman Lilla Rozgonyi said in a text message.

It’s not the first time the IWF has kicked countries out of major competitions for doping. Bulgaria and Russia were both barred from last year’s Olym-pics — Bulgaria after eight of its athletes tested positive for ster-oids ahead of the European championships, Russia after WADA accused it of widespread drug use and cover-ups.

In June, the International Olympic Committee warned weightlifting to do more to fight doping or risk being cut from the 2024 Paris Games. IOC presi-dent Thomas Bach demanded the IWF “address the massive doping problem” and report

back by December. There have been more than 50 failed tests in weightlifting from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics combined, putting it second only to athlet-ics, which had many more competitors.

In some weightlifting events, all three original medalists were disqualified.

The men’s 94-kilogram cat-egory from the 2012 Olympics saw seven lifters fail retests, putting the original ninth-place finisher in line for an upgrade to bronze.

Those banned include some of the sport’s biggest stars, such as Ilya Ilyin from Kazakhstan, a four-time world lifter of the year who was stripped of his 2008 and 2012 gold medals for tak-ing anabolic steroids.

Also suspended were Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova, Turkey, and Ukraine.

Weightlifting body launches crackdown

Istomin clinches Chengdu title

Chengdu

AFP

Marcos Baghdatis retired in agony from the final of the Chengdu Open yesterday

after suffering severe back spasms, handing the title to Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin.

Istomin was leading 3-2 in the first set when the Cypriot collapsed on the court and was unable to continue.

Baghdatis had to be helped carefully back to his seat, where he buried his head in his towel.

“I was feeling a bit of pain in my back during the week, but late after my match last night I felt some spasms,” said the 32-year-old.

“This morning I woke up a bit the same. After my warm-up, it got worse.”

Baghdatis said the spasms held off for the first few games of the final at Chengdu in south-west China after intensive physiotherapy, before striking again.

“I’ve had back issues before, but not like this,” he said.

Despite the retirement Bagh-datis is set to return to the top 100 in the world.

Istomin, for whom this was a second ATP crown, is projected to rise to 53 in the rankings from 78.

“Of course I want to win the title, but not this way. I hope he gets better and will be okay for the rest of the season,” said Istomin, 31.

Ranking boost for Uzbek

Istomin is projected to rise to 53 in the rankings from 78 after winning the title.

Baghdatis retired in agony from the final to hand the Uzbek his second ATP crown

Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin poses with the trophy after defeating Cyprus’ Marcos Baghdatis during their men’s singles final at the ATP Chengdu Open in Chengdu, yesterday.

Wozniacki wobbles on way to round two Beijing

AFP

Caroline Wozniacki had a fright against a local favourite in the China

Open first round yesterday before she composed herself to go through 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-1.

The Dane, ranked six in the world, made an early exit from the Wuhan Open last week, stunned by Maria Sakkari of Greece.

She appeared determined to put that disappointment behind her in making a lightning-fast start in Beijing, punishing Chi-na’s Wang Qiang in the first set.

But if the fifth seed thought she was going to have it easy, she was mistaken, as the 55th-ranked Wang harnessed the support of the crowd to fight back.

The 25-year-old Wang sprang a surprise in taking the second set on the tie break to level the match.

But former number one Wozniacki, the 2010 China Open champion, regained her poise to seal the deciding set with ease.

The 27-year-old faces Anas-tasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in round two.

Also through is reigning China Open champion Agnieszka Radwanska, who defeated the German qualifier Carina Wit-thoeft 7-5, 6-3.

“When you’re defending so many points it’s always a little more pressure,” Radwanska said.

“There are no easy matches and you’re going to have to play your best game from the first round. I’m very happy with a two-set win.”

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark hits a return during her women’s singles match against Wang Qiang of China at the China Open in Beijing yesterday.

China Open: Rising Zverev seeks sixth title Beijing

AFP

Rising star Alexander Zverev said yesterday that he is blocking out

the growing hype surrounding his fast emergence, as he makes his tilt at China Open glory this week.

The 20-year-old German is seeking his sixth title of a breakthrough season and with the old guard of Roger Federer,

Novak Djokovic and Andy Mur-ray all missing in Beijing, Zverev fancies his chances.

The second seed starts his assault on the open-air hard courts in the Chinese capital against Britain’s Kyle Edmund and could face seventh seed Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals.

The Australian Nick Kyr-gios, who on his day can compete with the best, is a potential semi-final opponent,

with world number one Rafael Nadal looming in the final if the Spaniard successfully navigates his tricky side of the draw.

Zverev, the world number four, said his aim for next sea-son is to go further in the Grand Slams -- his best showing is reaching the fourth round this year at Wimbledon.

But he is prepared to bide his time. “I’m still only 20 years old, you can’t have it all, unfor-tunately, but it’s not going bad,”

he said. Asked about the pres-sure that comes with his growing fame, he replied: “I’ve been dealing with expecta-tions from a very young age so I’ve learnt how to deal with them.

“But it gets more and more the higher you are ranked, but look, I try not to listen too much to what other people expect from me or think of me.

“I do care about the people that are close to me, my team

and my family, but everyone else I try not to focus on too much.

“Of course it’s nice to hear from great players what they think I might become one day, but this is still in the future and it’s a work in progress.”

Nadal, the 31-year-old Spaniard who is enjoying a late-career resurgence, is in action this week for the first time since winning his third US Open in September. Alexander Zverev

Djokovic will benefit from long break: New physioLondon

Reuters

Novak Djokovic is recovering from a “significant” elbow

injury and is keen to get back on the tour again, the 12-time Grand Slam cham-pion’s new physiotherapist Ulises Badio has said in an interview.

A prolonged dip in form before the injury earlier this year forced Djokovic to cur-tail his season after retiring against Czech Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals at Wim-bledon in July.

The former number one, who retained legend Andre Agassi as his head coach, added Argentine Badio and Italian fitness coach Marco Panichi to his team and is expected to return early next year ahead of Australian Open.

“Novak had a significant injury and we are bringing it under control,” Badio told Argentine daily La Nacion, adding that the Serb’s deci-sion to take time off had helped.

“Time was required to improve it. The decision he took allowed us to have a time table and not go back and forth about treatment,” he said.

He has a lot of eagerness to return,” the stars new physio added.

Badio, a kinesiologist (concerning body movement) and physiotherapist special-ising in acupuncture and Chinese therapy, said he also looked forward to working with former American super-star Agassi.

“I read his book, which I found emotional. Now I’ve met him, and he seems a cap-tivating person.”

35MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2017 SPORT

Ruthless United States edge closer to Presidents Cup win Jersey City

Reuters

The International team’s Presidents Cup hopes were hanging by the slimmest of threads after the United States

claimed six of eight matches in a cut-throat display on Saturday to sit on the brink of a seventh successive title.

Only a one-up victory by India’s Anirban Lahiri and South Korea’s Kim Si-woo over Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman denied the United States a sweep of the afternoon four-balls to put celebrations at a breezy Liberty National on hold.

It also kept the Internation-als of suffering the ultimate embarrassment of watching the trophy claimed on a Saturday for the first time.

The United States have a commanding 14-1/2 to 3-1/2 lead and need just one point from Sunday’s 12 singles matches.

“We’ve just come up against a juggernaut of an American team that has not put a foot

wrong,” said International cap-tain Nick Price.

“They have had all the

momentum and we’ve had nothing.

“There’s an outside shot tomorrow and the guys all know that.

“They are going to go play for their pride, they are going to play for themselves, they are going to play for the team and they are going to play for us.

“You’re not going to be able to take the spirit away out from our team, that’s for sure,” he added.

Despite failing to clinch, it was another ruthless perform-ance from the US, who won three of four foursomes matches and halved the other then followed up by prevailing in three of the four-ball contests.

The US had looked poised to run the table on Saturday after Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed claimed a 2&1 decision over Aus-tralian Jason Day and South African Louis Oosthuizen, before Daniel Berger and Justin Thomas beat Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas and Japan’s Hideki Mat-suyama 3&2.

Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka then secured a 3&2 vic-tory over Australian Marc Leishman and South African Branden Grace before the spot-light fell on Chappell and Hoffman in the last match of the day.

With the Americans cling-ing to a one hole lead, Kim sent a charge through the chilled crowd when he drained a nervy seven-foot birdie putt at the 15th to leave the match all-square.

Lahiri rolled in a 16-foot birdie effort on the next hole to take the lead.

Chappell generously con-ceded a four-foot birdie to Lahiri at the last, handing the Interna-tionals just their second match victory.

US captain Steve Stricker sent out British Open champion Spieth and Reed first who over-came a rules blunder at the 12th that appeared to open the door for the Internationals.

With their match all-square Spieth was disqualified from completing the hole and denied an opportunity to match Day’s birdie putt when Oosthuizen’s eagle attempt scooted past the cup and he scooped up the ball before it had stopped.

The error allowed the Inter-nationals to grab a one-up lead but in the end it proved only a minor setback as Spieth and Reed rallied with three birdies from the 15th to steal the point.

Spieth assured there will be no such complacency when they arrive at Liberty National.

“Our goal is still to stay

focused,” said star Spieth. “It’s easy to get complacent

with the way things are right now and it’s easy to come out tomorrow lazy.”

USA 14.5 International team 3.5Fourball

USA 3 Internationals 1Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed (USA) bt Jason

Day/Louis Oosthuizen (AUS/RSA) 2 & 1

Justin Thomas/Daniel Berger (USA) bt

Hideki Matsuyama/Jhonattan Vegas (JPN/

VEN) 3 & 2

Anirban Lahiri/Kim Si-Woo (IND/KOR) bt

Charley Hoffman/Kevin Chappell (USA)

1-up

Dustin Johnson/Brooks Koepka (USA) bt

Branden Grace/Marc Leishman (RSA/AUS) 3

& 2

FoursomesUSA 3.5 Internationals 0.5Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed (USA) bt Jason

Day/Marc Leishman (AUS) 4 & 3

Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar (USA) bt

Adam Scott/Adam Hadwin (AUS/CAN) 4 &

3

Phil Mickelson/Kevin Kisner (USA) bt Jhon-

attan Vegas/Emiliano Grillo (VEN/ARG) 2 &

1

Justin Thomas/Rickie Fowler (USA) v Louis

Oosthuizen/Branden Grace (RSA) halved

Friday FourballUnited States 4.5 International team 0.5Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed (USA) v Hideki

Matsuyama/Adam Hadwin (JPN/CAN)

halved

Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas (USA) bt Louis

Oosthuizen/Branden Grace (RSA) 3 & 2

Phil Mickelson/Kevin Kisner (USA) bt Jason

Day/Marc Leishman (AUS) 1-up

Kevin Chappell/Charley Hoffman (USA) bt

Charl Schwartzel/Anirban Lahiri (RSA/IND)

6 & 5

Dustin Johnson/Brooks Koepka (USA) bt

Adam Scott/Jhonattan Vegas (AUS/VEN) 3

& 2

Thursday FoursomesUnited States 3.5 International team 1.5Rickie Fowler/Justin Thomas (USA) bt

Hideki Matsuyama/Charl Schwartzel (JPN/

RSA) 6 & 4

Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar (USA) bt

Adam Scott/Jhonattan Vegas (AUS/VEN)

1-up

Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed (USA) bt Kim

Si-Woo/Emiliano Grillo (KOR/ARG) 5 & 4

Louis Oosthuizen/Branden Grace (RSA) bt

Brooks Koepka/Daniel Berger (USA) 3 & 1

Kevin Kisner/Phil Mickelson (USA) v Jason

Day/Marc Leishman (AUS) halved

PRESIDENTS CUP RESULTS Kevin Chappell of the US Team celebrates as he walks off the 10th green during Saturday four-ball matches of the Presidents Cup at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey on Saturday.

Daniel Berger of the US team celebrates on the 10th green during four-ball matches on Saturday.

Karlsson takes control at British Masters Newcastle

AFP

Former European number one Robert Karlsson has a chance to end his seven-

year winless drought after taking a one-shot lead into the final round of the British Masters on Saturday.

The 48-year old capped his round of a 67 with a ninth-hole eagle to move to 12 under par in cold and rainy conditions in Newcastle.

Sweden’s Karlsson has not

won since capturing the 2010 season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

“I didn’t hit the ball very good, so I put myself in a lot of trouble but I managed to keep it together very nicely and I’m very proud of the way I scored in the end,” Karlsson said.

English trio Ian Poulter (68), Tyrrell Hatton (71) and Graeme Storm (67), along with Scotland’s Richie Ramsay (65) and Ireland’s Paul Dunne (65), all share sec-ond place at 11 under par.

Poulter also ignited hopes of his first win in nearly five years as the world number 55 strives to climb back inside the top 50 after slipping outside the top 200 earlier this season.

“I’ve come here this week to do a number of things. One is to get back in the top 50 and two is to win this golf tournament,” he said.

“I’m now in position going into Sunday. I realistically have to feel I’m in with a shout. Just one back at the minute.

“I need to play better tomor-row than I did today, that’s for sure. I’m going to go to the range just now and work on it for

maybe an hour, get rid of the frustration.

“Come out tomorrow feeling somewhat refreshed, and hope-fully I can be aggressive to those targets out there tomorrow.

“Hopefully I can hold a tro-phy and get back in the top 50. That would be lovely.”

However, looming large over the final day is world number six Rory McIlroy, who is looking to

win for a first time this season and keep alive a run of having won at least one event a season since 2009.

McIlroy’s 64 for a five-way share of seventh place at 10 under par leaves him only two from the front.

The effort was McIlroy’s low-est European Tour round since a second-round 64 on day two at the 2015 Dubai Desert Classic.

“You get yourself into con-tention and you start to think about things and it would be nice to get a win,” said McIlroy, who chipped in for a birdie on the fifth hole and carded three more birdies in a front nine of 31.

“The last couple of tourna-ments, I’ve been off pretty early on the weekends and had 50 people following me, where there’s thousands out there.”

198 - Robert Karlsson (SWE) 66 65 67

199 - Ian Poulter 66 65 68, Graeme Storm

65 67 67, Tyrrell Hatton 63 65 71, Paul

Dunne 66 68 65, Richie Ramsay 67 67 65

200 - Rory McIlroy 67 69 64, Shane Lowry

68 66 66, Chris Hanson 64 67 69, George

Coetzee (RSA) 63 72 65, David Lingmerth

(SWE) 68 70 62

201 - Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN) 67 67 67,

Chris Wood 67 68 66, Lee Westwood 66

65 70, Matthew Fitzpatrick 66 69 66

202 - Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) 66 70

66, Marc Warren 70 67 65

BRITISH MASTERS SCORES

Robert Karlsson in action during the penultimate round of British Masters at Close House, Newcastle on Saturday.

Springboks promise to be ready for All Blacks Bloemfontein

Reuters

South Africa have been given little chance of exacting

revenge on New Zealand in their Rugby Champi-onship finale by Springboks coach Allister Coetzee (pictured above), who says anyone expecting a rousing home win is “living in a fool’s paradise”.

He did, however, vow that the Springboks would be better prepared for next weekend’s clash against the world cham-pions after their 57-0 drubbing in Auckland last month, despite the disappointment of fail-ing to beat Australia on Saturday.

The two sides drew 27-27 for a second stale-mate between them in this year’s southern hemisphere champion-ship to hand New Zealand the title for a fifth time in six years.

South Africa and New Zealand complete their programme at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.

“We’ll be playing against a really good All Blacks side, but it’s just been a few months since this team has got together, so to think that we can just go and top-ple the All Blacks easily would be living in a fool’s paradise,” Coetzee told reporters.

“I think we have to look at the strides we’re taking and build on what we have.

“We are still hurting obviously from the pre-vious result against them, but we will pre-pare as well as we can and we will be ready for them at Newlands,” he said.

He will be looking for a positive finish after Elton Jantjies missed a last-minute penalty that would have handed the Boks a morale-boosting victory over the Wallabies.

“When you draw at home it actually feels like a loss, but I’m very proud of this team and the effort. After a tough two weeks, it just shows the character of the side, and that was tested,” he added.

“It’s been an emo-tional week and we spoke of turning it around. Although the Wallabies got off to a fast start and scored first, we got stuck in.

“We created oppor-tunities and that was the pleasing thing. The fact that we did not convert all of those, was not. This was a fantastic test match, with the physical-ity right up there and the skill set on display was very good and we were part of that.”

36 MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2017SPORT

Al Attiyah looks to seal FIA title Fez, Morocco

The Peninsula

Personnel at Overdrive Racing have their hands full this week when the Belgian car preparations company

runs seven Toyota Hiluxes in the OiLibya Rally of Morocco, the 10th and penultimate round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies.

The event starts in Fèz on October 5 and finishes in Erfoud on October 10.

The team running under the management of Jean-Marc For-tin has already won seven rounds of the series this season and Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and French navigator Matthieu Baumel have won six of those rallies in a memorable season thus far.

Al Attiyah is currently 81 points clear of his nearest cham-pionship rival, Jakub Przygonski, and nine points from his Moroc-can adventure would be sufficient for the Qatari to retain his FIA World Cup title with a round to spare.

Al Attiyah and Baumel have won the last three Moroccan ral-lies but face fierce competition on this occasion. While Al-Atti-yah concentrates on the job in hand to secure the title, Over-drive Racing will run a further

six Toyota Hiluxes for Poland’s Aron Domzala, the Dutch duo of Peter van Merksteijn and Bern-hard Ten Brinke, Frenchman Ronan Chabot, Dane Jes Munk and Chinese driver He Zhitao.

Domzala, the winner of Rus-sia’s Northern Forest round of the series back in February, returns to action with Maciej Marton after running alongside navigator Szymon Gospodarc-zyk to finish fifth in last month’s ORLEN Baja Poland.

He holds fourth in the points’ standings and knows that a strong finish to the season would catapult him into the top three behind Al Attiyah and Przygon-ski in the final standings.

Chabot returns to action with fellow Frenchman Gilles Pillot and Ten Brinke continues his working relationship with the experienced Belgian navigator Stéphane Prevot, with whom he finished on the podium in Poland in early September.

Van Merksteijn and French-man Pascal Maimon teamed up in Poland to finish eighth and they continue to work together in Morocco, while Munk and Poland’s Rafal Marton crew the sixth team entry with additional support from Bewa and M-For Sport.

They will be hoping for a bet-ter run after technical issues sidelined the crew last time out.

The all-Chinese crew of He Zhi-tao and Zhao Kai round off the impressive seven-car line-up.

Overdrive Racing’s CEO Jean-Marc Fortin said: “It has already been a very long and busy season but we are getting to the point where champion-ships are won and lost and we begin to look ahead to the next Dakar. We have a strong line-up in Morocco. Nasser and Matthieu will be hoping to retain the FIA

World Cup against strong com-petition and all our team will use the event as a useful test as well as obtaining great experience over some very difficult terrain and demanding stages.”

Organised by the Neveu-Pel-letier Organisation (NPO), the competitive action on this ever-popular African round of the series gets underway on Thursday (Octo-ber 5) with a super special stage at 12.30hrs in Fèz.

The meat of the competition then takes place over five selec-tive sections through the varied Moroccan deserts. The route heads from Fèz to Erfoud on October 6 and includes a com-petitive section of 460.39km in a day’s timetable of over 820km.

The second section moves on from Erfoud to the Erg Chebbi with a stage of 354.45km through the notorious dunes that have made the area so popular with

teams for pre-Dakar Rally testing.

Competitive sections of 435.11km and 142.79km are included in a gruelling agenda for day three and two further specials of 191.56km and 263.51km are on the cards for the penultimate day.

The rally finishes in Erfoud after a further two timed sections of 179.5km and 8.65km on Octo-ber 10.

Josoor Institute holds high profile workshop for QFA delegatesThe Peninsula

Josoor Institute recently com-pleted the delivery of a bespoke workshop for dele-

gates of the Qatar Football Association (QFA) held at the National Team’s offices at Aspire Academy.

The two-day workshop titled - Leading the Qatar National Teams towards Excellence - took place from 14 to 15 September 2017 and focused on the Qatar national teams’ four core values - honour, loyalty, respect and victory.

The workshop, which was led by Neil Doncaster, Chief Executive of the Scottish Profes-sional Football League provided a number of interactive sessions.

Delegates were given team-bonding exercises to spark their creative thinking and problem solving skills.

With media interactions (local or international) being a core part of the roles, delegates were also put under the spotlight and provided with challenging scenarios, which they were then

asked to dissect and analyse, all while being filmed.

Speaking on the QFA’s par-ticipation, Ahmed Khellil Abbassi, Director of Operations at the Qatar National Teams, said: “We are constantly striv-ing to motivate our players on

the field but the only way to achieve success is if everyone on and off the field lives and breathes the same vision. This workshop was a great opportunity to re-align ourselves towards our vision and encourage us to always think outside the box.”

“Qatar has a number of tal-ented and competent football managers and administrators, all working towards establish-ing the fundamental pillars that will help the QFA reach and exceed its objectives. Workshops such as this are a key part of that journey,” said Abbassi.

Commenting on his partici-pation as a speaker, Doncaster said: “It is always a pleasure to w o r k w i t h f o o t b a l l

professionals in Qatar. Although there may be many differences in the challenges we face every day, we are all working towards having effective teams.”

“Within this workshop, we exchanged global case studies where the national team’s four core values were brought to life. I am confident that the hard work the delegates are doing now will make a great impact in 2022,” he added.

Josoor Institute is a centre of excellence for the sports and events industries, inspired and developed by the Supreme Com-mittee for Delivery & Legacy (SC). Since its inception in December 2013, it has engaged with over 2,600 delegates.

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah in action with Overdrive Racing in this file photo. The Qatari rally star will be looking to seal the title at Rally of Morocco, the 10th and penultimate round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies starting later this week. INSET: Al Attiyah (right) with French navigator Matthieu Baumel (centre).

1. Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (QAT) 240pts

2. Jakub Przygonski (POL) 159pts

3. Khalid Al-Qassimi (ARE) 105pts

4. Aron Domzala (POL) 98pts

5. Yasir Saeidan (SAU) 96pts

6. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) 84pts

7. Martin Prokop (CZE) 72pts

8. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE) 57pts

9. Adel Abdulla (QAT) 45pts

10. Leeroy Poulter (ZAF) 42pts

FIA WORLD CUP FOR CROSS-COUNTRY RALLIES – STANDINGS

Neil Doncaster, Chief Executive of the Scottish Professional Football League and Director of Operations at the Qatar National Teams, Ahmed Khellil Abbassi along with QFA delegates pose for a group photo following the conclusion of workshop at Aspire Academy recently.

Qatari squad for friendlies named The Peninsula

Qatar’s coach Felix Sanchez has named a total of 34 players for the upcoming

friendly matches to be played in Doha.

Qatar will take on Singa-pore, Curacao and Mexico from October 5 to 10 in the friendlies to be played under lights.

The Al Anabi will first meet

Singapore (October 5) before taking on Curacao on October 10. It was also revealed that the U-23 squad is scheduled to host Mexico on October 8.

The three international friendly games will be held at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium. The kick-off time has been set for 7:00pm for all friendlies.

Six other U-23 players will also join the Qatar squad.

Felix Sanchez

Squad: Hassan Al-Haydos, Salem Al-Hajri, Boualem Khoukhi, Pedro Miguel, Ali

Asad, Fahad Shanein, Meshaal Issa and Musab Khader (Al Sadd) Ismail Moham-

med, Bassam Hisham Al-Rawi, Abdullah Abdul Salam Al-Ahraq, Karim Boudiyaf,

Mohamed Ahmed Bakri, Moaz Ali (Al-Duhail), Ahmad Al-Saadi and Omar Bari (Al

Rayyan) Ahmed Alaa, Tamim Al Muhaizah, Abdul Aziz Hatem, Mahdi Ali (Al

Gharafa) Abdul Karim Salem Al Ali (Al Sailiya) Omar Ahmed Al Emadi (Qatar SC)

Sultan Al Barik (Al Wakra) Khaled Munir and Tarek Salman (Atletico) Asim Madibo

and Akram Afif (Belgium) Ahmed Yasser Mohammadi (Spain).

U-23 players to join Qatar squadAbdulrahman Mohammed Fahmi, Salah Alawi Al-Lahri (Al-Duhail), Abdul

Hameed Al-Dari and Sultan Bakhit Al-Kuwari (Al Rayyan) Abdulaziz Khalid Saad

(Qatar SC) Jassim Ahmed Al-Jalabi (Al Wakra).

QATAR SQUAD

I am confident that the hard work the delegates are doing now will make a great impact in 2022: Neil Doncaster