SPORTWednesday 20 December 2017

Thomas tips Woods to have strong 2018 Masters

Gulf Cup: Qatar to begin title defence

against Yemen

PAGE | 30 PAGE | 35 PAGE | 36Root’s team faces post-mortem after Ashes capitulation

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Al Gharafa secure second QSL Cup titleRizwan Rehmat The Peninsula

Goalkeeper Qassim Burhan yesterday stopped a second-half penalty kick by feared striker

Rodrigo Tabata to guide Al Gharafa to a deserving QSL Cup final victory over Al Rayyan.

In the tense title clash, experienced ‘keeper Burhan punched away Tabata’s weak penalty kick in the 82nd minute to help Al Gharafa retain his team’s 3-2 lead at Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Earlier, Al Gharafa opened the scoring through captain Luiz Jimenez in the 3rd

minute of the match. Al Rayyan’s high-scoring striker Abderazzaq Hamadallah produced the equaliser in the 12th minute with a neat clip from close range.

Amro Seraj, the Qatar U-23 star, gave Al Gharafa the lead for the second time in the match in the 36th minute.

Ahmed Allaeldin (64) helped Al Gharafa jump to a 3-1 cushion. However, Al Rayyan hit back when Mohammed Kasola produced a snap-header off a corner kick in the 70th minute.

It was dramatic stuff when Tabata misfired with his spot kick smartly punched by

Burhan just when Al Rayyan fans thought the match could go into extra time. Al Gharafa players repeatedly quarrelled with the referee over his deci-sion to award the penalty kick.

Al Gharafa, coached by Jean Fernandez, managed to defend doggedly for the remainder of the time to bag

their second QSL Cup glory.

Former Al Gharafa star Saad Al Shammari said: “We are thrilled with this win. It was a great team effort. This win will boost the con-fidence of the players. The fans will be very happy.”

QSL CEO Hani Bal-lan handed over the medals to the players of the two sides. QFA Vice President Saud Al Mohannadi gave the winner’s trophy to Al Gharafa captain Jimenez.

The players go into a break as Qatar team eyes their next assignment - the 23rd Gulf Cup - to be held in Kuwait from Dec 22 to Jan. 5.

The Peninsula

The Presidents of the Hellenic Football Federation (HFF), Football Federation of

Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI), and the Football Association of Serbia (FAS) visited Aspire Acad-emy recently.

President of HFF, Evangelos Grammenos, Mehdi Taj (FFIRI), and Slavisa Kokeza (FAS) were welcomed by Aspire Academy’s Director General, Ivan Bravo, Director of Football Performance and Science, Valter Di Salvo, and Director of Sport and Strategy, Markus Egger.

The visiting President were and accompanied them on guided tours of the premises, including a

sneak peek of the Academy’s new Football Performance building.

The FFIRI President was accompanied on the visit by his predecessor, Ali Kafashian. Speak-ing on the sidelines, Taj said: “I have been very impressed by what is going on at this marvellous sports development institution. The possibilities that Aspire offers to the current and future genera-tion of Qatari athletes is excellent. These world class facilities, com-bined with the right vision for the education and nurturing of sports talent in the country, will leave a lasting legacy for Qatar. Qatar should indeed be proud of Aspire Academy.”

HFF President Grammenos said: “It is quite evident that this

country has a vision and well-thought-out plans about sport development. l firmly believe that it will reach its objectives in the years to come. Aspire Academy is really impressive and has embarked on a good sports devel-opment philosophy which is backed up by world class facili-ties. Sport in Qatar, particularly football, has a bright future ahead and Aspire Academy has a major role to play to help the country achieve its sporting ambitions.”

After his tour of Aspire Acad-emy, Grammenos proceeded to visit the Academy’s sister organi-sation, Aspetar specialised orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital.

FAS President Kokeza, joined

by his association’s Sport Direc-tor, Goran Bunjevcevic, said: “We can exchange notes on youth coaching and development meth-ods as we’ve both scored some successes in this area, given that our U-20 national team were win-ners of the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand and Qatar’s won the 2014 AFC U-19 Championships.

“I am sure even our coaching programmes can build on each other’s experiences and strengths. Judging from the efforts that l see here at Aspire Academy, I am sure that Qatar will put together a com-petitive team in 2022. One that will represent the country well at the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar,” he added.

Iran, Greece and Serbia federation Presidents visit Aspire Academy

Aspire Academy’s Director General, Ivan Bravo (left) presents a memento to Football Federation of Islamic Republic of Iran (FFIRI) President Mehdi Taj.

QSL CUP FINALS

2009: Al Gharafa SC 5-0 Al Ahli SC2010: Al Sadd SC 1-0 Umm Salal SC

2012: Al Wakrah SC 0-0 (10-9 pens) Al Kharitiyat SC2013: El Jaish 2-0 Al Arabi

2014: Qatar SC 3-2 Al Sadd SC2017: Al Gharafa SC 3-2 Al Rayyan SC

Al Gharafa players and officials celebrate after receiving the QSL Cup Trophy at Qatar SC Stadium yesterday. Pictures: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

30 WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2017SPORT

Aussies look to Ashes rout over EnglandPerth Reuters

Victorious Australia will head to Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test against England brimming with confidence after reclaim-ing the Ashes in Perth and on

a mission to subject the tourists to another 5-0 series whitewash.

Captain Steve Smith was a member of the Michael Clarke side that swept the last series Down Under in 2013/14 and will feel good about his chances of emulating his former skipper by defeating Joe Root’s demoralised team in the final two matches.

“It’d be fantastic to do that and we’ll talk about Melbourne when we get there,” Smith said after their innings and 41-run win at the WACA saw Australia take back the urn.

“Right now, I’m just really satisfied with what we’ve achieved in these first three Test matches. I’d love to do that again, but we will just take it one step at a time.”

Australia were able to pick the same team throughout the series sweep in 2013/14 but Smith may not have that lux-ury due to an injury doubt over Mitchell Starc.

The pace spearhead carried a heel injury through the final day at the WACA and could be rested for Melbourne, which may open the door to a recall for squad seamer Jackson Bird.

With Josh Hazlewood in top form after grabbing five wickets to rout England for 218 in their second innings at the WACA, Australia are unlikely to be overly con-cerned about Starc’s possible absence.

Coach Darren Lehmann said he was eager to see how the team would play with the pressure of winning the series on home soil behind them.

“It’s highly pressurised, Ashes cricket,” he told reporters at the WACA.

“Everyone is nervous every ball, every session – it’s been that way for 15 days so far.

“So they can go and express themselves a little bit more now, so we’ll be playing the same brand of cricket but with less pressure on us.”

Since an acrimonious series defeat at home to South Africa a year ago, Australia have won nine of their past 13 Tests, with their captain leading the way with over 1,000 runs in the calendar year.

Smith’s 239 the WACA, following an unbeaten 141 in the series-opener at the Gabba, has given him an astonishing aver-age of 142 for the Ashes series.

Long saddled with the burden of scor-ing in a vulnerable batting lineup, Smith has enjoyed ample support in the series.

Mitchell Marsh smashed 181 at the WACA and his older brother Shaun scored

an unbeaten 126 in the second Test in Adelaide. Mitchell’s maiden ton in his 22nd Test came after years of failing to deliver with the bat, so it was hugely encourag-ing for a team who have searched in vain for a decent all-rounder to help support their young pace attack.

The challenge for him is to back it up again, to be perfectly honest, and one innings doesn’t make a cricket career,” said Lehmann.

“So for him he’s got to back it up next game and do the right thing. He’s here to make runs.”

London Reuters

All-rounder Craig Overton said England have not been good enough in the

Ashes series but insists the chas-tened tourists will be throwing everything at the last two Tests to avoid a whitewash.

Australia regained the urn on Monday when they polished off Joe Root’s side to win the third Test at the WACA by an innings and 41 runs and take a 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

All England have left to play for is pride in Melbourne and Sydney, but Overton says the series is not over as they try to halt an eight-match losing sequence in Tests in Australia.

“We have not been good enough for long enough in this series and have let chances slip, and because of that we have lost the Ashes before Christmas,” he said in The Times yesterday.

“We are gutted but don’t for a second think that there will be divisions in the camp or that we see the series as over.

“We will be throwing eve-rything we have at the Melbourne and Sydney Tests -- we are desperate to make a mark on the series, even if it’s too late to win.

“We will fight until the very last to do so.”

Whether or not Overton will

be fit to play a part is another matter entirely after he suffered a hairline fracture of a rib while diving in the field at Perth.

“I am nursing a hairline fracture to my rib but the doc-tor warned me it could become much worse if I landed the wrong way -- a proper fracture, or even a punctured lung. No one needs that,” Overton said. “I’ve been brought up to fight through the pain, and I’m not the sort to leave the field for nothing.”

Somerset seamer Overton enjoyed a dream start to his Test career when he picked up the wicket of Australian captain Steve Smith in the second Test in Adelaide.

With six wickets to his name in his two Tests and an impres-sive 41 not out with the bat in Adelaide, Overton was one of the few England players to emerge with much credit.

He said he is desperate to play in the Melbourne Test which begins on Dec. 26.

“I won’t rule myself out of Melbourne. I accept it’s unlikely, but I’m so desperate to play that I won’t accept I’m not going to until the doctors tell me abso-lutely otherwise.

“I’ll be weaning myself off the strong painkillers, just a few paracetamol to help me sleep.

“And no golf! It’ll be beach time for me.”

England will fight until the last in final two Tests: Overton

De Villiers, Steyn back in Test squadJohannesburg AFP

AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn were on Tuesday named in a 14-man

squad for South Africa?s one-off day-night Test against Zimbabwe, starting in Port Eliz-abeth on December 26.

Batsman De Villiers has not played Test cricket since Janu-ary 2016 while fast bowler Steyn suffered a fractured shoulder in a Test against Aus-tralia in November 2016 and only returned to competitive cricket last month.

New ball bowler Vernon Philander is also back after missing a recent series against Bangladesh because of a back injury.

South Africa?s top four fast bowlers are reunited, with Morne Morkel having recovered from an injury he suffered dur-ing the first Test against Bangladesh.

AB and Dale bring loads of experience to the side apart from being two of the South African all-time greats,? said selection convener Linda Zondi.

Faf du Plessis was named as captain, although he has been out of action recently fol-lowing a shoulder operation.

Although De Villiers is set to return to Test action, he was withdrawn from the South Afri-can Invitation team which starts a three-day match against the Zimbabweans in Paarl on Wednesday because of lower back stiffness. Zondi said the withdrawal was a precaution and that De Villiers would be available for the Test.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe

cricket coach Heath Streak said yesterday he wanted his play-ers to play “winning cricket” when they meet South Africa in a one-off day-night Test next week.

“We’d rather lose trying to play a winning brand of cricket than just compete,” said Streak of a Test South Africa are expected to win comfortably.

“The main thing is belief and shaking off that underdog mentality we had,” he said in Paarl, the western Cape town where Zimbabwe begin a three-day warm-up match against a South African Invitation team on Wednesday.

Zimbabwe have played just ten Tests since they last met South Africa in Harare in August 2014, losing nine and drawing one.

“It’s well documented how little Test cricket we play,” said Streak. “I think for us it’s less about the type of cricket than about playing at international level.

“Whether it’s playing Tests or one-day internationals, it’s the gaps in between that are the biggest challenge for us.”

The contest with South Africa will be Zimbabwe’s first day-night Test and captain Graeme Cremer admitted: “We haven’t played with a pink ball and we haven’t played a lot under lights.”

South African Test squad: Faf du Plessis (captain),

Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Andile Phehlukwayo, Vernon Philan-der, Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn.

Root’s team faces post-mortem after Ashes series capitulationPerth Reuters

England will have to make some tough decisions about the futures of some

of their most decorated senior players after they were ruth-lessly exposed by Australia in a 15-day Ashes capitulation.

Joe Root’s team head to Mel-bourne 3-0 down in the five-match series after being subjected to an innings and 41-run hiding in the third Test at the WACA, where opener Alastair Cook and paceman Stu-art Broad failed to deliver yet again.

English hopes that Cook could channel the Herculean effort that saw him score 766 runs in their 2010/11 triumph Down Under have proved for-lorn. The veteran left-hander has instead reprised his form from the away series of 2013/14 when

he stumbled through a 5-0 whitewash under the yoke of captaincy.

Despite being relieved of the leadership burden this time around, Cook has ‘supported’ his successor Root with only 83 runs at an average of 13.83 this series, comfortably the lowest of Eng-land’s specialist batsmen.

Broad, meanwhile, has man-aged only five wickets at an average of 61.80 and suffered the worst Test figures of his career at the WACA, where he went wicketless for 142 runs.

His pace partner James Anderson has battled manfully through a difficult campaign, but at the age of 35 the long-serving Lancastrian may not be able or willing to lead England’s pace attack far into the future.

Australia has often proved to be a tour too far for veteran England players, as was shown by the 2013/14 debacle which

ended the careers of Graeme Swann, Matt Prior and Kevin Pietersen.

That whitewash also led to the departure of director Andy Flower, but current coach Trevor Bayliss says he is still the right man to lead the team.

“You may not (think that), but I think our performances have gone pretty well over the last couple of years,” he told reporters at the WACA.

“That’s for people above my pay grade to make that decision.”

Bayliss has, however, offered no bright ideas on how to reju-venate England or find faster bowlers that can compete on Australian pitches where they have now lost eight straight matches.

“I haven’t got the answers,” said the Australian.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve certainly been on the

lookout for a few positions in the team and no one until this tour has stood out.”

In Somerset seamer Craig Overton, who bowled with vig-our in Adelaide and Perth until suffering a rib injury, England have at least unearthed an encouraging prospect. But the raw 23-year-old can scarcely be expected to cover the gaping hole which the absence of Anderson and Broad’s 900-odd wickets of Test experience would leave.

Middle order batsman Dawid Malan staked his place in the team with his maiden Test cen-tury at the WACA, backing up his 140 with a half-century in the second innings. Cook, by com-parison, contributed only 21 runs in his two innings at the WACA.

A fine servant of English cricket with over 11,000 Test runs, Cook will be 33 when he lines up for the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day.

Australian players celebrate the dismissal of England’s Dawid Malan on day five of the third Ashes Test match in Perth on Monday. Inset: England captain Joe Root

Australian bowlers Pat Cummins (left) and Mitchell Starc (right) hug coach Darren Lehmann after winning the third Test of the Ashes series against England in Perth on Monday.

Boston Celtics edge past Indiana Pacers on Rozier’s steal and lay-up

31WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2017 SPORT

Los Angeles AFP

Terry Rozier’s steal and lay-up with 1.2 sec-onds remaining on Monday gave Boston a 112-111 NBA victory

over the Indiana Pacers after the Celtics squandered a 19-point lead.

Kyrie Irving led the Celtics with 30 points while Al Horford scored 14 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and passed off nine assists.

Jayson Tatum contributed 16 points and Marcus Smart added 15 and the Celtics made their first 10 shots and improved the best record in the Eastern Conference to 26-7.

“That was one hell of a of a game to be a part of,” Irving said.

Victor Oladipo led the Pac-ers (17-14) with 38 points, 30 in the second half.

His 3-pointer and layup on back-to-back possessions gave Indiana a five-point edge with 31 seconds to play.

An Irving 3-pointer pulled Boston within 110-109 with nine seconds remaining.

Rozier followed by inter-cepting a Bojan Bogdanovic pass intended for Oladipo and raced

the opposite way for the win-ning layup. “It’s a tough, tough loss,” Oladipo said.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win and we competed with the best team in the East-ern Conference. We can be that good. We just have to keep on getting better.”

Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook scored a season-high 38 points on 16-of-28 shooting from the floor and sank the winning free throw after being fouled later in the host Thunder’s 95-94 victory over Denver.

The league-leading Houston Rockets stretched their win streak to 14 games with a 120-99 rout of visiting Utah as Eric Gordon scored 33 points, mak-ing a career-high seven 3-pointers, and James Harden added 26 points, six rebounds and six assists with Chris Paul contributing 18 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.

Clint Capela returned from injury and had 24 points and 20 rebounds for the Rockets (25-4) while Rodney Hood led Utah with 26 points.

On the night when the Los Angeles Lakers retired Kobe Bryant’s two jersey numbers, the defending champion Golden State Warriors stole the show

with a 116-114 over-time tri-umph. Kevin Durant scored 36 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and passed out eight assists.

He netted 12 of Golden State’s 14 points in over-time to spark the victory, including the deciding jumper with 6.4 sec-onds to go.

Lonzo Ball, who scored seven of his 16 points in the extra five minutes, had a potential tying layup blocked by David West to snuff the Lakers’ last chance.

Minnesota’s Jimmy Butler, who scored 37 points, hit two free throws with 2.5 seconds left and Damian Lillard missed a 3-point shot at the buzzer as the host Timberwolves held off Portland 108-107.

Lillard had 17 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds while Jusuf Nurkic and CJ McCollum

each scored 20 for the Trail Blazers.

Nikola Mirotic and Kris Dunn each scored 22 points and Justin Holiday added 20 to power the host Chicago Bulls to their sixth consecutive victory, a 117-115 triumph over Philadelphia.

Dario Saric led the 76ers with 27 points while Australian rookie star Ben Simmons added 19 points.

Kent Bazemore’s two late baskets among his 16 points halted a Miami rally as the host Atlanta Hawks beat the Heat 110-104.

Taurean Prince matched a career high with 24 points and Dennis Schroder added 21 for the Hawks. Josh Richardson had 26 points for Miami.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 19 points and Tony Parker added 16 as the San Antonio Spurs cruised past the visiting Los Angeles Clippers 109-91 while TJ Warren scored 19 points and Isaiah Canaan added 17 to power the Phoenix Suns over host Dallas 97-91.

At Charlotte, reserve Frank Kaminsky scored 24 points and the host Hornets snapped a three-game losing streak with a 109-91 victory over New York.

Golden State 116 LA Lakers 114 Phoenix 97 Dallas 91 San Antonio 109 LA Clippers 91 Chicago 117 Philadelphia 115 Houston 120 Utah 99 Minnesota 108 Portland 107 Oklahoma City 95 Denver 94 Atlanta 110 Miami 104 Charlotte 109 NY Knicks 91 Boston 112 Indiana 111

NBA RESULTS

NFL: Falcons dump Bucs to stay in NFC South chase New York Agencies

The Atlanta Falcons pulled within a game of the NFC South lead thanks to a

24-21 victory against the injury-plagued Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night at Raymond James Stadium.

Tampa Bay kicker Patrick Murray was wide right on a 54-yard field-goal attempt as time expired.

The defending NFC cham-pion Falcons (9-5) would win the division title if they defeat the New Orleans Saints (10-4) on Sunday and the Carolina Panthers (10-4) on December 31.

The Bucs (4-10), who entered the game without three injured defensive starters, had six more players ruled out after getting hurt on Monday night.

Falcons running back Dev-onta Freeman (22 carries, 126

yards) provided a 24-14 margin with a 32-yard touchdown run on third-and-2 with 7:58 remaining. The Bucs answered on Jameis Winston’s 16-yard pass to Adam Humphries with 4:07 to play.

From there, Tampa Bay eventually regained possession when Bucs defensive tackle Clinton McDonald dumped quarterback Matt Ryan for a 3-yard sack on third-and-9 just past the two-minute warning.

Winston completed three passes on Tampa Bay’s final drive, driving the Bucs from their 29-yard line to Atlanta’s 36, setting up Murray’s unsuccess-ful attempt to force overtime.

Winston completed 27 of 35 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns in his most efficient effort of the season. Ryan was 17 of 31 for 212 yards and one score.

In the third quarter, the Bucs

pulled within 17-14 on Winston’s 42-yard pass to Mike Evans, who outfought two defenders in the end zone.

Tampa Bay preserved that three-point deficit when Will Gholston blocked Matt Bryant’s 33-yard field-goal attempt.

The Falcons led 17-7 at half-time, pulling away with a 10-point second quarter.

Atlanta gained its advantage when Freeman lost a fumble at the 1-yard line, but tight end Levine Toilolo recovered in the end zone for a touchdown.

The Bucs tried to answer back, but Peyton Barber lost a fumble at Atlanta’s 5-yard line and Falcons defensive tackle Dontari Poe recovered.

The Falcons tacked on a 57-yard field goal by Bryant with 3:12 remaining in the half for a 17-7 lead. Atlanta opened the scoring with Ryan’s 6-yard pass to Justin Hardy.

Kempe, Toffoli power Kings to big victory New York Agencies

Adrian Kempe and Tyler Toffoli scored third-period goals, and the Los

Angeles Kings leaned heavily on their top-ranked penalty kill in a 4-1 victory over the Phila-delphia Flyers on Monday night.

Alec Martinez and Trevor Lewis also scored for the Kings, and Jonathan Quick turned aside 36 shots as Los Angeles ended a four-game road trip with a win, snapping a three-game losing streak. The Kings killed off five of their six penalties.

Jakub Voracek scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who had their six-game win streak snapped. Brian Elliott (21 saves) took his first defeat since Dec. 2.

Bruins 7, Blue Jackets 2Three rookies played key

roles, as Danton Heinen and Jake DeBrusk both had a goal and two assists and Charlie McAvoy recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick with a goal, an assist and a fight, helping Bos-ton rout lifeless Columbus.

Brad Marchand, Patrice

Bergeron and David Backes added a goal and an assist each, and Torey Krug also scored for the Bruins, who snapped a two-game losing streak and finished 1-1-1 on a three-game homestand.

Josh Anderson and Seth Jones scored for the Blue Jackets.

Devils 5, Ducks 3Stefan Noesen scored off a

scramble at 15:53 of the third period to lift New Jersey to a come-from-behind victory over Anaheim.

Noesen’s tiebreaking goal ruined the homecoming of former Devils center Adam Hen-rique, who had a goal and an assist in his first game against his old team since New Jersey traded him to Anaheim for defenseman Sami Vatanen on November. 30. Noesen iced the game with an empty-net goal at 19:53.

Colorado 4 Pittsburgh 2 Edmonton 5 San Jose 3 Boston 7 Columbus 2 New Jersey 5 Anaheim 3 Los Angeles 4 Philadelphia 1

NHL RESULTS

Welsh ‘warrior’ Hibbard to end career with Dragons London AFP

Veteran Welsh hooker Richard Hibbard will return to Wales and

join ambitious region Drag-ons at the end of the present season from Premiership out-fit Gloucester, he announced on Monday.

The 34-year-old -- capped 38 times and a member of the British and Irish Lions Test side that beat Australia 2-1 in 2013 -- joins compatriot Ross Moriarty in making the same move.

Hibbard, described by Gloucester’s director of rugby David Humphreys as an “abso-lute warrior”, had another year on his contract to run but wanted to bring down the cur-tain on his stellar career back in his homeland. “It’s been an incredibly difficult decision,” he told the Gloucester website.

“The reason it’s been so tough is that I’ve become so attached to Gloucester dur-ing my time here.

“I’ve probably played some of my very best rugby in Cherry and White and I’ve enjoyed it so much.

“Finishing my career in Wales is important to me, though, and this opportunity has probably come a little sooner than I expected.”

Hibbard said he had been impressed by the plans Drag-ons head coach and former Ireland hooker Bernard Jack-man had in mind for the region, who have been the lowest fin-ishing Welsh side in all but one of the last 12 seasons. “I spoke to Bernard, who shared his plans for the Dragons and the direction he wants to take the team and I really want to be part of that,” said Hibbard.

Terry Rozier 12 of the Boston Celtics dunks the winning basket during the 112-111 victory over the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Monday in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman (second left) runs the ball for a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half of their NFL game at Raymond James Stadium on Monday.

Adrian Kempe of the Los Angeles Kings skates against the Philadelphia Flyers during their NHL game at Wells Fargo Center on Monday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

32 WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2017SPORT 33WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2017 SPORT

La Liga eyes big money in Asia with early El Clasico kick-off

LondonAFP

Eleven points clear atop the Pre-mier League and on an unprecedented 16-game win-

ning run, Manchester City have produced one of the most stupen-dous half-seasons in English football history.

At the same stage last season, City were seven points below even-tual champions Chelsea in third place and finished the campaign 15 points off the pace.

Here is a look at what manager Pep Guardiola has done to turn City from also-rans into world-beaters.

Finding the right goalkeeperThe boldest move Guardiola

made in his maiden season at the Etihad Stadium -- axing long-serv-ing goalkeeper Joe Hart -- proved his least successful.

Hart’s replacement, Chile inter-national Claudio Bravo, proved ill-suited to the unforgiving cut and thrust of the English game and his error-strewn displays cost City mul-tiple points.

Guardiola took a punt in the close season, authorising a £35m ($46.8m) move to sign uncapped Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson from Benfica, but it has been a masterstroke.

The 23-year-old is a sturdy pres-ence between the posts and, perhaps more importantly, his superb distri-bution has enhanced City’s capacity to play out from the back.

Making an ally of adversityAfter City shelled out close to

£100m to sign Kyle Walker and Ben-jamin Mendy, Guardiola began testing out systems in which the width in his team was provided by the full-backs.

But when Mendy ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in a 5-0 win over Crystal Palace in late Sep-tember, he had to change tack.

Guardiola recalibrated his team by deploying Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane wide on each flank and the pair have responded with some scintillating performances.

Mendy’s misfortune has also opened the door to Fabian Delph, who has excelled in an unfamiliar left-back role.

Having faith in his methodsIn a prophetic remark from the

end of last season, Guardiola said: “The team understands the ideas clearer now and next season we will go all out.”

His first season in England was a gruelling experience as he finished a campaign without silverware for the first time in his managerial career.

One-sided mid-season defeats against Leicester City (4-2) and Everton (4-0) exposed City’s short-comings and Guardiola was mocked for saying he was “not a coach for the tackles”.

A less storied coach might have gone back to the drawing board, but Guardiola responded by going fur-ther in the same direction, convinced City could succeed playing his kind of football.

His conviction has paid off spectacularly.

City’s dazzling possession-based

approach, orchestrated by the bril-liant David Silva and the peerless Kevin De Bruyne, has yielded some huge wins and a staggering 56 league goals.

Improving key playersJohn Stones endured a difficult

first season at City, but Guardiola stood by the elegant centre-back, defending his right to take risks in possession and praising his courage on the ball.

Guardiola’s faith has been rewarded this term as Stones has blossomed into one of the finest defenders in the Premier League, decisive in the tackle and authori-tative in possession.

Nicolas Otamendi, long derided for his propensity for going to ground too easily, has prospered alongside him, meaning Vincent Kompany’s ongoing injury prob-lems have not unduly affected the team.

Sterling, meanwhile, is belatedly fulfilling his vast potential, his new-found effectiveness in front of goal making him City’s top scorer with 15 goals.

Instilling beliefCity’s football over the season’s

first three months was jaw-drop-ping and when they lost momentum, the players’ belief in Guardiola’s methods allowed them to continue grinding out results.

Between late November and early December they eked out four 2-1 wins in succession, with three of those secured by goals scored in the 83rd minute or later.

“The most important thing within this team is probably the belief in the dressing room,” Ster-ling told the BBC recently.

“The manager sets a plan for each game. He gives us the blueprint. Then you can see everyone else buy-ing into it. Everyone is on board.”

© GRAPHIC NEWSPictures: Getty Images

Manchester City chase winning recordUnstoppable Manchester City claimed their 16th successive Premier

League victory with a 4-1 triumph over Tottenham, and are now only fourwins away from eclipsing the European record held by Bayern Munich

CITY: PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES

Man City coachPep Guardiolaholds recordsfor longestwinning streaksin Spain’s La Liga,German Bundesligaand English Premier League

Dec 23

Dec 27

Dec 31

Jan 2

Jan 14

Jan 20

Bournemouth (h)

Newcastle United (a)

Crystal Palace (a)

Watford (h)

Liverpool (a)

Newcastle United (h)

Longest winning streaks in Europe*City have scored 56 goalsthis season – 17 more thanManchester Utd – with Kevinde Bruyne (below right) scoringsix and providing eight assists

*In top five European leagues – EnglandFrance, Germany, Italy and Spain

19

17

16

16

16

16

Bayern Munich GEROct 2013 – Mar 2014

Internazionale ITAOct 2006 – Feb 2007

Barcelona ESPOct 2010 – Feb 2011

Real Madrid ESPMar-Sep 2016

Monaco FRAFeb-Aug 2017

Manchester City ENGAug 2017 –

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE TABLE

Team Played Won Drawn Lost GF GA PTSMan City 18 17 1 0 56 12 52 Man Utd 18 13 2 3 39 12 41 Chelsea 18 12 2 4 32 14 38 Liverpool 18 9 7 2 38 20 34Arsenal 18 10 3 5 31 20 33 Burnley 18 9 5 4 16 12 32 Tottenham 18 9 4 5 31 18 31 Leicester 18 7 5 6 27 26 26 Everton 18 7 4 7 24 30 25 Watford 18 6 4 8 27 33 22Huddersfield 18 6 3 9 16 30 21 Southampton 18 4 6 8 17 24 18 Brighton 18 4 6 8 14 23 18 Crystal Palace 18 4 5 9 15 28 17West Ham 18 4 5 9 17 32 17 Bournemouth 18 4 4 10 15 24 16 Stoke 18 4 4 10 19 39 16 Newcastle 18 4 3 11 16 27 15 West Brom 18 2 8 8 13 24 14 Swansea 18 3 3 12 10 25 12

How Guardiolatransformed Manchester City

Liverpool Reuters

Everton’s revival under Sam Allardyce continued with a 3-1 victory over bottom club

Swansea City helped by a stun-ning Gylfi Sigurdsson goal at a foggy Goodison Park as they moved up to ninth in the Premier League on Monday.

The hosts went behind after a sluggish start but goals from Dominic Calvert-Lewin before halftime, Sigurdsson’s outstand-ing strike just past the hour and a late penalty by Wayne Rooney, who hit the post with an earlier spot kick, secured the points.

The Merseyside club are unbeaten in four league games since Allardyce took charge this month and, while it was hardly a sparkling display by his side against the struggling Welsh out-fit, the manager’s trademark organisation was evident.

Swansea, who have now lost six away games in a row, suffered an early blow when striker Wil-fried Bony, their only scorer in the last seven games, limped off after four minutes with a muscle prob-lem to be replaced by Tammy Abraham.

Despite that setback, the vis-itors went ahead in the 35th minute, taking advantage of poor

defending as Leroy Fer lost his marker to slot home a Tom Car-roll corner from close range.

Everton looked short of inspi-ration but they got on level terms just before the break when they were awarded a penalty after Aaron Lennon went down under Roque Mesa’s challenge.

Rooney’s spot kick was pushed against the post by Lukasz Fabianski but Calvert-Lewin reacted quickly and drove home the rebound to the relief of the former England captain.

Sigurdsson’s move from Swansea to Everton in August, for a reported fee of 45 million pounds ($60.23 million), has been questioned, in terms of its value, by many observers but the Ice-land forward showed his quality with a superb solo goal.

After Rooney found him on the left flank, Sigurdsson cut inside on to his right foot and unleashed an unstoppable drive past Fabianski and into the far corner of the net in the 64th.

Everton were awarded a sec-ond penalty after 73 minutes, which Swansea complained about with some justification. Martin Olsson was ruled to have tripped Jonjoe Kenny but replays showed the foul had been committed out-side the area.

Rooney, undeterred by his

earlier miss, strode up to blast the ball home from the spot and wrap up the points for Everton, who now have 25 points from 18 games.

The defeat left Paul Clement’s Swansea side rooted to the foot of the table with 12 points, four points adrift of the safety zone and facing battle for top-flight survival.

Everton adds to Swansea woes with 3-1 victory

Everton’s Gylfi Sigurdsson scores their second goal against Swansea City during their English Premier League match played at Goodison Park in Liverpool, England on Saturday.

Silva targets return for PSG’s final matchof the year

Russia to relay World Cup pitch for third time

ParisAFP

Paris Saint-Germain coach Unai Emery is hopeful captain Thiago Silva will return from injury for today’s final match of the year at home to Caen

before the French league heads into its winter break.The Brazil international hasn’t featured since hob-

bling off during a 3-1 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Champions League a fortnight ago, but has resumed full training and could replace the suspended Presnel Kim-pembe in central defence.

“I believe and hope, like Thiago Silva and the doc-tor, that he will be okay to play,” Emery said on Monday, as PSG look to remain unbeaten at the Parc des Princes under the Spaniard.

After today’s fixture, the runaway Ligue 1 leaders will then have 18 days until their next match -- against Rennes in the last 64 of the French Cup on January 7.

But with PSG looking to balance their books follow-ing the August arrivals of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, January could prove a busy month for the club in the transfer market.

Emery has already spoken with Lucas Moura and Hatem Ben Arfa about possible exits, while Argentine pair Javier Pastore and Angel Di Maria continue to be regularly linked with moves away from Paris.

PSG have mooted recruiting a holding midfielder to replace the oft-injured Thiago Motta, but sporting direc-tor Antero Henrique has ruled out any further acquisitions for the time being.

“Right now, we have no need to dip into the winter transfer market. An opportunity may always arrive but at the moment the answer is no,” Henrique told Le Paris-ien newspaper.

Caen are without a win in four matches ahead of the trip to PSG -- their total of 11 goals scored is the sec-ond worst tally in France, although only PSG and Montpellier have a better defensive record this term.

Neymar excelled on his return, after missing games against Lille and Strasbourg, with two goals and two assists in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Rennes, but PSG will also be without Marco Verratti and Dani Alves as both serve one-match bans.

Second-place Monaco, who trail PSG by nine points, go in search of a fourth straight win against Rennes at the Stade Louis II, where coach Leonardo Jardim is enjoying rebuilding last year’s title-winning side.

“I’m passionate about this project, it’s sort of my project,” said Jardim. “It’s my fourth season here. I’m passionate but realistic. I believe we can succeed with this project.

“Other challenges were offered to me but I didn’t leave because I’m driven by this project. I’m happy to work here. I’m going to continue, even if we don’t know what the future holds.

“There are two years left on my contract and I’m making the most day after day of the club and Monaco.”

Lyon are level on points with Monaco after Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Marseille and will bid to keep pace with the defending champions when they travel to Toulouse.

Marseille will look to regroup at home to Troyes after a howler by Steve Mandanda contributed to Rudi Garcia’s team’s 12-match unbeaten run coming to an end.

Mario Balotelli has scored eight goals in his last eight games in all competitions to help Nice recover from a dreadful start, but the Italian will be absent against Lille due to suspension.

Saint PetersburgAFP

The troublesome pitch at the 2018 World Cup venue in Saint Petersburg will be relaid for a third time, officials said on Monday.

The state of the art 68,000-capacity stadium hosted this year’s Confederations Cup final, but the pitch was so cut up it was changed ahead of the tournament.

Further work began 10 days ago to relay the surface again after the pitch deteriorated once more leaving it dangerous to play on.

During the World Cup the stadium will host group games, a last-16 game, a semi-final and the third-place play-off.

Regional politician Igor Albine said the change was necessary to deliver a pitch that could “withstand all challenges”.

Russian football has just entered its extended win-ter break.

Construction of the scandal-hit arena, Zenit St Petersburg’s new home ground, began in 2007 but was only finished in December last year.

Paulinho is evolving and raising his level: Tite MadridReuters

When Paulinho signed for Barcelona in August from Chinese

side Guangzhou Evergrande the deal was widely viewed with derision, with both fans and the media doubting the Brazilian had the quality to thrive at Camp Nou.

The months since have seen his detractors eat hum-ble pie.

Paulinho has earned his place in the Barcelona side and has become a crucial part of manager Ernesto Valverde’s system, meaning he is likely to line up against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in Sat-urday’s Clasico.

With Neymar leaving for Paris St. Germain, a gap in the side opened up and although Ousmane Dembele was signed from Borussia Dortmund to fill it, the Frenchman’s hamstring injury has kept him sidelined.

Although Paulinho, a rug-ged box-to-box midfielder, does not occupy the same space on the pitch as wingers Neymar and Dembele, he has forced his way into the side.

Valverde has changed Bar-celona’s formation from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2, with Paulinho’s pres-ence giving the Catalans far greater defensive security, meaning Sergio Busquets does not have to do the midfield’s dirty work alone, and making them difficult to break down.

That does not mean the attacking threat has been badly diminished though, with Paulinho contributing six La Liga goals, more than any player at Real Madrid, includ-ing vaunted forwards Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale. Paulinho, 29, who failed to make a mark at Tot-tenham Hotspur in the Premier League and rejuvenated his career in China with Guangzhou has been one of the revelations of the season.

“I’ve not come here to shut any mouths, but to work hard for the team, and that’s what I am doing,” said Paulinho in November. Instead he has left them agape, forming an unlikely but profitable partner-ship with Lionel Messi which has been a big factor in Barce-lona’s unbeaten start to the season. The Argentine has enjoyed playing off Paulinho when he bursts forward from midfield to unsettle defences, creating space for Barca’s leg-endary playmaker.

“I think that Paulinho is evolving and he is raising his level,” said Brazil coach Tite, who will call on the midfield dynamo next year at the World Cup, barring injury.

If Paulinho can continue his excellent form against Madrid and help Barcelona open up a 14 point lead over their arch-rivals, he will be one step closer to arriving in Russia with a La Liga winners’ medal around his neck.

MadridAFP

For the first time, Spanish foot-b a l l ’ s s h o w p i e c e event, El Cla-

sico between giants Real Madrid and Barce-lona, has been scheduled for a l u n c h t i m e k i c k - o f f (1200GMT) on Satur-day as La Liga seeks

to capture Asia’s attention and its cash.

“We are keen to provide our fans in Asia the opportunity to watch Real Madrid and Barce-lona face off at a time that is convenient to them,” La Liga’s Chief Communica-tions Officer Joris Evers said.

With a potential tele-vision audience of 650 million people, accord-ing to La Liga, El Clasico is the most watched club match around the world thanks to its unique mixture of star protagonists and a fierce rivalry fos-tered over decades both on the field and off it by the distinct

cultural differences between Catalonia and Madrid.

“It is the ideal shop win-dow, the marquee match to

show to people Spanish foot-ball,” Jose Maria Gay de

Liebana, professor of economics at

Barcelona Univer-

sity and an expert in

Spanish football finances, said.

However, it is not just a boom in

lucrative television rights that La Liga and its

two biggest clubs are seek-ing with an early start this

weekend, but a showcase for all of their lucrative sponsorship

contracts.Last year Barcelona signed a

club record shirt sponsorship deal worth a minimum of 220m ($258m) over four years with Japanese online retailer Rakuten.

“They want to sell their products to international markets, above all in Asia,” added Gay de Liebana.

According to a study carried out by consumer analytics specialists Nielsen Sports, last season’s corre-sponding first La Liga Clasico of the season generated more than $42.5m in media value for sponsors.

“The kick-off of the next El

Clasico on December 23 is at 1300 Madrid time, 2000 in Shanghai, 1900 in Jakarta and 1730 in New Delhi,” continued Evers.

“These are all locations where we know there are many La Liga fans and where we will be hosting events to celebrate El Clasico.

“Additional events are being held in various locations around Asia. Through this and other initiatives we want to make existing fans even big-ger La Liga supporters and, of course, we want to attract new supporters as well.”

Such events are a sign of La Liga’s awareness of how the

Spanish top flight lags behind England’s cash rich Premier League in the battle for Asian based fans.

T h e P r e m i e r League’s estimated $3.9bn

income from domestic and international TV rights a season dwarfs La Liga’s $1.9bn revenue.

Moreover, whilst Asia is the Pre-mier League’s biggest international market, it trails behind the Americas and the rest of Europe in La Liga’s rights deals.

“We have changed kick-off sched-ules so that they can be seen at reasonable times here in Asia and we will continue to take steps to ensure that this part of the world can enjoy La Liga as much as possible,” La Liga president Javier Tebas said at the opening of the league’s new Singa-pore office earlier this year, just one of a series of new La Liga bases across the world.

Tebas is acutely aware that Spain’s privileged position at the top of the European game is coming under threat from the Premier League’s eco-nomic power.

He has repeatedly warned the Premier League could become the NBA of European football, capable of poaching Barca and Madrid’s stars like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in the same way Barca were power-less to stop Qatar-backed Paris Saint Germain paying a world record €222m for Neymar in August.

Madrid and Barca have com-bined to win the Champions League in seven of the past 12 years.

However, for the first time ever England will have five of the

last 16 of the competition in 2018.However, Gay de Liebana believes

La Liga’s focus shouldn’t rest solely on Asia, but take advantage of the cul-tural and linguistic advantages they have in Latin American markets, from where many of its current stars like Messi and Uruguay’s Luis Suarez hail.

“They have to gamble and look towards South and Latin America. They are emerging countries where there is a rising middle class and

greater spending power,” he added.

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La Liga keen to provide Asian fans the opportunity to watch Real Madrid and Barcelona face off at a time that is convenientto them.

With a potential television audience of 650 million people, according to La Liga, El Clasico is the most watched club match around the world.

According to a study carried out by consumer analytics specialists Nielsen Sports, last season’s corresponding first La Liga Clasico of the season generated more than $42.5m in media value for sponsors.

Real Madrid’s star attraction

Christiano Ronaldo

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi

34 WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2017SPORT

35WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2017 SPORT

London AFP

World 100 metres cham-pion Justin Gatlin says he is “shocked and

surprised” by allegations in a British newspaper that his coach and an athletics agent offered to sell performance-enhancing drugs to undercover reporters.

Anti-doping officials have launched an investigation into the claims about Gatlin’s coach Dennis Mitchell (pictured) and an agent, Robert Wagner while IAAF President Seb Coe says changes are needed.

“We are looking at who we want in our sport,” Coe, the 1500m gold medallist from the 1980 and 1984 Games, said in a statement.

“The IAAF recognises as an industry we need to do more,” said the Englishman.

“Focusing on the influences that surround athletes is a crit-ical area of work,” Coe insisted.

The 35-year-old American sprint star, who has twice served bans for doping, said he had sacked Mitchell after hearing of the claims.

The report alleged Mitchell and Wagner offered to provide undercover reporters with false prescriptions for banned per-f o r m a n c e - e n h a n c i n g substances and smuggle the drugs into the United States.

The claims are being inves-tigated by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), set up this year by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

Gatlin said on Instagram: “I was shocked and surprised to learn that my coach would have anything to do with even the

appearance of these current accusations. I fired him as soon as I found out about this.”

He said he was “not using and have not used” perform-ance-enhancing drugs.

He added: “All legal options are on the table as I will not allow others to lie about me like this.”

IAAF president Sebastian Coe said the claims were concerning.

“These allegations are extremely serious and I know the independent Athletics Integ-rity Unit will investigate in accordance with its mandate,” Coe said.

That came even as the 2017 world champion, who beat Usain Bolt in the 100m final in London, had legal advisers release five years of official drugs tests that showed he was clean.

Gatlin has long been a con-troversial figure after being banned for doping in 2001 for one year and in 2006 for four years.

His long-time agent, former sprint hurdler Renaldo Nehe-miah, told the newspaper that Wagner had represented Gatlin only two to three times and that Gatlin was not present when banned substances were alleg-edly discussed with Mitchell or Wagner.

Mitchell and Wagner alleg-edly offered to supply and administer testosterone and human growth hormone for an actor training for a film on ath-letics at a price of $250,000, according to the report.

The newspaper said it began its investigation in July after hearing of agents and trainers involved in supplying drugs to athletes.

Gatlin ‘shocked’ by allegations about coach

Ferrari could lead others out of Formula One, warns MarchionneParis Reuters

Ferrari could lead other For-mula One teams into an alternative championship

if the sport becomes too much like the US-based NASCAR series but hope it does not come to that, chairman Sergio Marchionne has said.

Speaking to reporters at the Italian team’s pre-Christmas lunch in Maranello, the Fiat Chrysler chief executive said his previous threats to take Ferrari out of the sport after 2020 should not be taken lightly.

He also announced a Feb. 22 launch date for the team’s 2018 car and said Ferrari should be challenging for the title after fin-ishing runners-up to Mercedes this year.

Marchionne said Liberty Media, the US-based company which took over Formula One in January and sidelined former commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone, was learning the ropes.

He took issue, however, with the approach taken by former Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn, the Formula One man-aging director who won titles with his own Brawn GP in 2009 before serving as Mercedes F1 team boss.

“The thing that most annoys me is that there is an experi-enced man like Ross Brawn there who is looking for ways that go against the DNA of For-mula One,” the Gazzetta dello Sport website quoted Mar-chionne as saying.

“Making cars all the same with simpler and cheaper engines is like NASCAR, it doesn’t interest us,” he added. “We need to find a balanced solution for the future that sat-isfies everyone and I think we will do it in time.

“Otherwise Ferrari will

leave. If they (sceptics) think we are bluffing, they are playing with fire.”

Most of the Formula One teams have contracts that expire at the end of 2020 and Mar-chionne said Ferrari would be able to walk away.

“I think that Ferrari has the strength to drag others as well to an alternative championship,” he added. There have been sim-ilar threats in the past from Ferrari, before Marchionne’s time, without any of them com-ing to anything.

Marchionne is a very

different character to former Ferrari chairman Luca di Mon-tezemolo, however, and Ecclestone said in November that he did not consider it an empty threat. The Gazzetta quoted Marchionne as also say-ing Maserati could follow Alfa Romeo back into Formula One in some capacity, but not yet, while Fiat Chrysler (FCA) would have a presence in some form in the Formula E electric series.

Alfa Romeo, part of the FCA stable, have teamed up with Swiss-based Sauber as title part-ners for 2018.

Anti-doping group urges Sky team to suspend FroomeParis AFP

The movement for clean cycling MPCC implored Team Sky on Monday to

suspend Tour de France win-ner Chris Froome (pictured) over his adverse doping test.

Last week Froome and Sky revealed the 32-year-old had tested for elevated levels of the asthma medication salbutamol during the Vuelta a Espana, which he won for the first time, in September.

Although salbutamol is per-mitted in certain doses, Froome gave a urine reading of twice the allowed limit.

However, as the medication can be taken legally, four-time Tour winner Froome was not suspended by cycling’s govern-ing body the UCI but merely asked to explain the elevated reading.

Sky are not one of the 43 World Tour and Continental Pro teams (the top two levels in cycling) signed up voluntarily to the MPCC.

According to MPCC rules, signatory teams must immedi-ately suspend a rider who has returned a positive doping test.

“These measures imposed

on MPCC member teams were taken in the obvious aim of transparency for the benefit of everyone in cycling,” said the MPCC.

“That’s why the MPCC and its board of directors ask Team Sky, without prejudice to the final decision, to suspend their rider until the end of the procedure.

“That would allow the rider and his team to proceed with their defence in tranquility and avoid tensions with many team principles and riders.”

As Sky are not MPCC mem-bers, they have no obligation to follow such a request.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel is pushed to the garage during the Formula One Test session at the Catalunya racetrack in Montmelo, Spain in thisMarch 2017 file photo.

North Carolina Reuters

Justin Thomas reckons a healthy Tiger Woods (pictured) will have a good chance of chal-lenging at April’s Masters, while at the same time reserving

judgment over the 14-times major champion’s comeback.

Pointing out that several vet-erans have superb records at Augusta National, Thomas said on Monday that Woods could follow the example set by the likes of Bernhard Langer and Fred Couples.

“If he’s healthy, there’s no rea-son he wouldn’t (play well),” Thomas said in a teleconference call.

“There’s a reason Freddie played so well there for so long

(and) Langer... because it’s such an advantage knowing the course and the more you play, the world of dif-ference it makes.”

Woods, who turns 42 on Dec. 30, has won the Masters four times, most recently in 2005.

Couples, the 1992 champion, now aged 58, has continued to per-form well at Augusta into his 50s, finishing in the top 20 on six of his past seven appearances.

Germany’s twice Masters champion Langer, meanwhile, was in contention at the age of 57 going into the final round in 2014, before finishing equal eighth.

Woods is attempting a come-back after multiple back surgeries. He has hardly played over the past two years and while few expect him to recapture his previous greatness, the jury is still out.

“If he plays healthy, I think he’ll have a great year,” said Thomas, who played with Woods in the final round of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas two weeks ago.

“It’s hard to not hype it up or talk about this or that but in real-ity we need to see what happens because no one knows.

“He was just so happy (at the World Challenge), which was cool to see. I’ve spent some time with him the last couple of years and I’ve never seen him so happy ... having so much fun and grinding it out and playing well.”

World number three Thomas is coming off a brilliant year high-lighted by his major breakthrough victory at the PGA Championship in August.

He won four other events in 2017 and has set new goals for

2018, though he is not sharing them publicly. Thomas has enjoyed some time off recently recharging his bat-teries for the new season, which he will kick off in two weeks’ time by defending his title at the season opening Tournament of Champi-ons at Kapalua in Hawaii.

The 24-year-old said he had done little during his break and outlined a typical day that consists of loung-ing on the couch at his south Florida home, punctuated by trips to the gym and a dip in the swimming pool.

“When you do win, it takes so much out of you,” he said.

“It was such a crazy end of the year. It caught up to me.”

Golf: Thomas tips Woods to have strong 2018 Masters

36 WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2017SPORT

23rd Gulf Cup: Qatar to begin title defense against Yemen The Peninsula

De f e n d i n g champions Qatar will begin Gulf Cup title

defense against Yemen as the Arab Gulf Cup Foot-ball Federation (AGCFF) yesterday announced schedule for the 23rd edi-tion of prestigious tournament starting in Kuwait on Friday.

Al Anabi, who over-came Saudi Arabia 2-1 following an exciting final of 2014 edition in Riyadh, will kick off their campaign on December 23 – the second day of t h e r e g i o n a l competition.

The hugely popular event will get under way with a match between hosts Kuwait and Saudi Arabia at Jaber Al Ahmad Stadium on Friday.

The second match of the opening day will see Oman and the UAE in action.

After meeting Yemen, Qatar who are bracketed in Group B along with Bahrain and Iraq besides Yemen, will clash with Iraq in their second match on December 26. Group A comprises ten-time champions Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman.

Coach Felix Sanchez’s

side will meet Bahrain their last group match on Friday.

Top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals which will be played on January 2, 2018 with the final scheduled on January 5.

Meanwhile, coach-Sanchez is expected to announce the Qatari squad tomorrow follow-ing which the team will leave for Kuwait.

The squad is expected

to be a mix of youth and experience with Al Sadd likely to contribute five players while four play-ers from giants Al Duhail are expected to be part of national team.

Qatar had an encour-aging preparations for the important assignment as Al Anabi produced impressive performances in the friendly matches against big teams like Czech Republic and Iceland.

Qatar team’s players during training session in Doha yesterday. The national squad for 23rd Gulf Cup is expected to be announced tomorrow.

FIXTURES

GROUP AKuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman,

United Arab Emirates

December 2218:30

Kuwait vs Saudi Arabia21:00

Oman vs United Arab EmiratesDecember 25

17:30United Arab Emirates vs Saudi

Arabia20:00

Oman vs KuwaitDecember 28

18:30Saudi Arabia vs Oman

18:30Kuwait vs United Arab Emirates

GROUP BQatar, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain

December 2317:30

Qatar vs Yemen20:00

Bahrain vs IraqDecember 26

17:30Yemen vs Bahrain

20:00Iraq vs Qatar

December 2918:30

Qatar vs Bahrain18:30

Iraq vs Yemen

1ST SEMI-FINALJanuary 2, 2018

Winner Group A vs Runner-up Group B

2ND SEMI-FINALJanuary 2, 2018

Winner Group B vs Runner-up Group A

FINALJANUARY 5, 2018

23RD GULF CUP

Gulf Cup trophy arrives in Kuwait Kuwait QNA

The Gulf Cup trophy arrived in Kuwait on Monday with a

Qatari delegation com-prising Qatar Football Association’s head of

competitions, Hamad Al Mannai.

Kuwait Football Association (KFA) Secre-tary General Mohamed Khalil and a number of KFA members received the Qatari delegation and thanked them for the swift response to

bringing the trophy of the tournament, which con-cludes on January 5.

Qatar will host the 24th edition of the tour-nament after the executive committee of the Gulf Cup Football Federation approved its request.