Casamento leads Arguya to victory

Friday, October 29, 2021Rabia I 23, 1443 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Qatar cruise past Sri Lanka, Yemen hold Syria

Second round of Hathab from today

FOOTBALL FOOTBALL | Page 3 EQUESTRIAN EQUESTRIAN | Page 4

HORSE RACING

By Sports ReporterDoha

Jockey Marco Casamento wrapped up a successful week, riding Injaaz Stud’s Arguya to Umm Bab Cup triumph at Al Rayyan Racecourse

yesterday.Mohamed Ghazali-trained fi ve-year-

old mare prevailed over Al Naama – rid-den by Soufi ane Saadi – by a half-length to win the feature race at the 6th Race Meeting, giving Casamento a major title after his hat-trick of victories on Wednes-day. Ahmed Kobeissi-schooled Battash De Faust with Tomas Lukasek in the saddle was third in the QR100,000 race.

Eng. Osama Omer al-Dafea crowned the winners of Umm Bab Cup, who pock-eted a prize purse of QR57,000.

Earlier, Umm Qarn’s homebred Aahil took his wins tally to 9, claiming the Local Purebred Arabian Conditions victory. It was a 1-2 for the owner and trainer Alban Elie De Mieulle with Sealine fi nishing sec-ond. Carlos Henrique rode Aahil in the 1½ length success.

In Thoroughbred Handicap (Class 2), Ali bin Khalid al-Mosallam’s Gangland reigned supreme with Lukas Delozier steering the Hamad al-Jehani-trained six-year-old gelding to victory by 1½-length.

AJS Beirut, owned by Al Jeryan Stud, also entered the winners’ list yesterday, clinching the Purebred Arabian Handicap title. The Rashid al-Ali’s four-year-old ward was guided by Lukasek in a neck win.

Admiral (Local Thoroughbred Handi-cap), War Order (Thoroughbred Handi-cap), S K Shawaheen (Local Thoroughbred Novice Plate) and Al Mooj (Purebred Ara-bian Maiden Plate) also notched up victo-ries yesterday.

WINNERS Horse, Trainer, Jockey 1 - Umm Bab Cup - Purebred ArabiansArguya, Mohamed Ghazali, Marco Casa-mento2 - Local Purebred Arabian ConditionsAahil, Alban Elie De Mieulle, Carlos Henrique

3 - Thoroughbred Handicap (Class 2)Gangland (GB), Hamad al-Jehani, Lukas Delozier4 - Purebred Arabian HandicapAJS Beirut, Rashid al-Ali, Tomas Lukasek5 - Local Thoroughbred HandicapAdmiral, Ibrahim Saeed al-Malki, Tomas Lukasek6 - Thoroughbred Handicap (Class 5)War Order, Ahmed Kobeissi, Soufiane Saadi7 - Local Thoroughbred Novice PlateS K Shawaheen, Mohamed Hamad al-Attiya, Anas al-Seyabi8 - Purebred Arabian Maiden Plate (3yo Only)Al Mooj, Eric Lemartinel, Faleh Bughanaim

CRICKET

Warner, Zampa star in Australia’s win over Sri LankaPage 2

Five-year-old mare prevails over Al Naama by a half-length to win Umm Bab Cup

QNADoha

Qatar Armed Forces signed yesterday a mem-orandum of understanding with the Qatar Olympic Committee, related to sports de-velopment, in the presence of HE the Dep-

uty Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Aff airs Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah and HE the President of the Qatar Olympic Committee Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani.

The memorandum aims to support and facilitate co-operation between the two parties, defi ne the framework for co-operation programmes in the fi eld of sports, and support and develop talented Qatari athletes who possess the necessary sports and physi-cal qualifi cations and abilities in accordance with high standards to qualify them to represent the country.

It also aims to exchange experts, consultants, train-ers and specialists in the fi eld of sports and physical education and share experiences. It also focusses the organisation of sports events, sports medicine and anti-doping, support and development of women’s sports and the rehabilitation of women’s cadres in various fi elds and sports activities. The agreement was signed by HE the Secretary-General of the Qatar Olympic Committee, Jassim bin Rashid al-Buenain, and President of the Military Sports Association of the Qatar Armed Forces, Staff Brigadier General Yousef Dasmal al-Kuwari.

AgenciesDoha

As speculation swirled that he was about to re-turn to Barcelona, Xavi Hernandez insisted

yesterday that he was thinking only of his current job, coaching Qatar champions Al Sadd. “I am currently focused on my work with Al Sadd, and I cannot talk about anything else,” Xavi told a press conference ahead tomor-row’s match against Al Ahli in the QNB Stars League.

Barcelona fi red coach Ronald Koeman after losing 1-0 at Rayo Vallecano on Wednesday to stay ninth in La Liga, six points be-hind the leaders. Spanish media reported that Barca president Joan Laporta was in talks with Xavi about the vacant position yesterday morning. Barca’s B team coach Sergi Barjuan was put in temporary charge follow-ing the sacking of Koeman.

Barca have three games to ne-gotiate before the international break, against Alaves and Celta Vigo in La Liga, as well as a cru-cial Champions League trip to Dynamo Kiev in between. Barca had won only two of their last seven league games under Koe-man, a run that included losing to Real Madrid in Sunday’s Cla-sico at Camp Nou.

A poor start to the season has raised the possibility of the team even failing to qualify for next season’s Champions League, which would have enormous consequences for the club’s al-ready dire fi nancial situation. The club is 1.35 billion euros in debt and had to watch Lione Messi join PSG in August after failing to renew the Argentine’s contract. Other key players like Antoine Griezmann also de-parted without being adequately replaced as Sergio Aguero and Memphis Depay both arrived on free transfers and Luuk de Jong came from Sevilla on loan.

Koeman spent six years at Bar-celona as a player and is consid-ered a club legend after scoring the winning goal in the 1992 Eu-ropean Cup fi nal against Samp-

doria. He was appointed coach by Barca’s previous president Josep Maria Bartomeu in August 2020 and enjoyed some suc-cess in his fi rst season, winning the Copa del Rey and bringing a disillusioned Lionel Messi back onside. But a disappointing fi n-ish in La Liga and a heavy defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16 cast doubt over Koeman’s ability to navigate the biggest games, a criticism that was aimed at him again last weekend following the loss to Real Madrid.

Laporta was re-elected as president in March and while he allowed Koeman to continue as coach, there was never much trust between the pair.

Xavi is one of the club’s great-est ever players and there is huge excitement about his potential as a coach, because of his play in midfi eld in the iconic Barca team managed by Pep Guardiola. The 41-year-old is from the suburbs of Barcelona, came through the famed youth system and played 17 seasons and more than 750 games for the club before leaving for Qatar in 2019.

After playing four seasons for Al Sadd, he took over as manager in 2019 and led them to a league title last season. They won the Amir Cup last week beating Al Rayyan on penalties in the fi nal. Al Sadd have won all seven of their league games this season to lead the table.

Ministry of Defence signs MoU with Qatar Olympic Committee

Despite Barca talk, Xavi insists he is focused on Al Sadd

SPOTLIGHT

FOOTBALL

HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defence Aff airs Dr Khalid bin Mohamed al-Attiyah, HE the President of the Qatar Olympic Committee Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, HE the Secretary-General of the Qatar Olympic Committee Jassim bin Rashid al-Buenain and President of the Military Sports Association of the Qatar Armed Forces, Staff Brigadier General Yousef Dasmal al-Kuwari pose after signing the memorandum of understanding.

Jockey Marco Casamento rides Arguya to Umm Bab Cup victory at the Al Rayyan Racecourse yesterday. PICTURES: Juhaim

Eng. Osama Omer al-Dafea crowned the winners of Umm Bab Cup.

CRICKETGulf Times Friday, October 29, 20212

De Kock apologises for refusing to take kneeSPOTLIGHT

AFPDubai

David Warner’s return to form was the icing on the cake as Australia thumped Sri Lanka by

seven wickets yesterday for their second successive victory at the Twenty20 World Cup.

Chasing the only major global trophy to elude them, Australia restricted Sri Lanka to 154-6 at the Dubai International Stadi-um. When they returned, Warn-er, aided by some luck, made 65 as Australia chased down the target with three overs to spare to join Ashes rivals England as

the only two teams in Group I with a perfect record.

Earlier, Finch won the toss and elected to fi eld against 2014 world champions Sri Lanka.

Pat Cummins dismissed opener Pathum Nissanka early but Sri Lanka fi nished the six powerplay overs at 53-1 look-ing on course for a big total on a

batting-friendly track. For Aus-tralia, Adam Zampa (2-12) and Mitchell Starc (2-27) applied the brakes by claiming four wickets between them.

“Sri Lanka got away to a fl yer with the bat and the way that Adam Zampa, in particular, was able to drag that back through the middle, and then Mitchell

Starc to have a real impact ... he was fantastic,” Australia captain Aaron Finch said. Zampa was adjudged player-of-the-match for his tidy four overs which in-cluded 12 dot balls.

Charith Asalanka’s unbeaten 80 in Sri Lanka’s Super 12 open-er against Bangladesh had se-cured a thrilling victory on Sun-

day. The left-hander followed it up with an entertaining 35 be-fore spinner Zampa cut short his stay. Kusal Perera also made 35 but he fell to Starc immediately after hitting the left-arm quick for a massive six.

Avishka Fernando and Wanindu Hasaranga did not last long but Bhanuka Rajapaksa

provided some fi reworks in his unbeaten 33. Rajapaksa hit Mar-cus Stoinis for two consecutive fours and followed it with a six but Sri Lanka could not make the most of their strong power-play display.

“We got the start that we re-ally needed but in the middle phase we were not able to capi-talise,” Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said. “I felt we were 25-30 runs short on that wicket.”

Australia did even better in their fi rst six overs cruising to 63 for no loss. Finch made 37 be-fore he and Glenn Maxwell, who could not justify his promotion in the batting order, fell in quick succession. Warner’s form had been a major concern for his team and the opener was on 18 when Perara dropped a regula-tion catch behind the stumps.

It proved a costly mistake as the left-hander went on to com-plete his fi fty and fell only with Australia’s victory in sight.

“We knew that spin was going to have such a big impact outside the powerplay ... so we knew we had to take a chance on their quicks and we got away with it, but Davey played a beautiful knock,” added Finch.

Steve Smith, unbeaten on 28, also manoeuvred the ball around with characteristic deftness to frustrate Sri Lanka.

BRIEF SCORESAustralia 155 for 3 (Warner 65, Finch 37, Hasaranga 2-22) beat Sri Lanka 154 for 6 (Perera 35, Zampa 2-12) by seven wickets

Warner, Zampa star in Australia’s 7-wktwin over Sri Lanka

T20 WORLD CUP

‘I FELT WE WERE 25-30 RUNS SHORT ON THAT WICKET’

AFPDubai

South African star Quinton de Kock has apologised for refusing to take the knee in his team’s Twen-

ty20 World Cup match and said he would be “happy” to do it.”

“I would like to start by saying sorry to my teammates, and the fans back home,” de Kock said in a statement yesterday.

“I never ever wanted to make this a Quinton issue. I under-stand the importance of stand-ing against racism, and I also un-derstand the responsibility of us as players to set an example.

“If me taking a knee helps to educate others, and makes the lives of others better, I am more than happy to do so.”

De Kock explained he comes from a mixed race family with his half-sisters being coloured and his stepmother is black.

“For me, Black lives have mattered since I was born. Not just because there was an inter-national movement,” said the 28-year-old.

De Kock pulled out of Tues-day’s match against hold-ers West Indies for “personal reasons”, defying orders from Cricket South Africa (CSA) to their players on following the anti-racism gesture.

They acted after pictures

emerged from the team’s fi rst game against Australia at the weekend where some players knelt and some stood.

Cricket South Africa wel-comed the move and said, “The Proteas men’s team agreed to align and unify in taking the knee for the remaining fi xtures of the World Cup campaign.”

The board added their stance against racism “is a moral issue, not a political issue”.

De Kock, a former national captain, refused to take a knee in South Africa’s Test series in the West Indies earlier this year.

Temba Bavuma, the national cricket team’s fi rst ever black African skipper, said de Kock’s decision and the events that fol-lowed made it the toughest day of his life.

The Proteas though went on to win the match convincingly by eight wickets in Dubai.

They next play Sri Lanka in Sharjah tomorrow and de Kock is expected to be back in the team.

“I did not, in any way, mean to disrespect anyone by not playing against West Indies, especially the West Indian team them-selves,” said de Kock.

“Maybe some people don’t understand that we were just hit with this on Tuesday morning, on the way to a game.

“I am deeply sorry for all the hurt, confusion and anger that I have caused. I was quiet on this

very important issue until now.”

‘FLIPPING AMAZING LEADER’Bavuma had expressed his “sur-prise” over de Kock’s decision after the board instructed the players to stand by the move-ment on the morning of their second group match.

Bavuma revealed he was ap-prised of de Kock’s refusal in the team bus, but said he had “re-spect” for his teammate’s con-viction.

The South African team took the knee in unison alongside the West Indies players prior to the match.

“Since our chat with the board last night, which was very emo-tional, I think we all have a better understanding of their inten-tions as well,” said de Kock.

“I wish this had happened sooner, because what happened on match day could have been avoided.”

“I’ve been called a lot of things as a cricketer. Doff. Stu-pid. Selfish. Immature. But those didn’t hurt. “Being called a racist because of a misun-derstanding hurts me deeply. It hurts my family. It hurts my pregnant wife.”

The board admitted, “the

timing of its directive earlier this week may have been un-settling for the players in the lead-up to the match against the West Indies.”

De Kock is one of his coun-try’s star players and a regular choice across all three formats.

The wicketkeeper/batsman has made over 10,000 inter-national runs and was briefly captain of the Test side before stepping down earlier this year.

De Kock thanked his team-mates for their support and called Bavuma, “a flipping amazing leader”.

Almost all the teams partici-pating in the T20 World Cup have taken the knee including England, India and Pakistan.

In August this year, South Africa assistant coach Enoch Nkwe resigned after appar-ent disagreements with un-der-pressure head coach Mark Boucher.

Nkwe’s resignation came against a backdrop of wide-spread criticism of Boucher following revelations made at hearings into racism in South African cricket.

The criticism intensified when black former players al-leged they were not made to feel welcome in the national team environment during the period in which Boucher was a prominent member of the team.

Unfazed by uncertainty, Afghans chase semis dreams

Afghanistan players are not fretting over what the future may hold for the team and are instead pre-occupied with the task of making the semi-finals of the Twenty20 World Cup, spinner Rashid Khan said yesterday. The governing International Cricket Council (ICC) will meet next month to discuss the game’s future in the south Asian country under the Taliban rule. Cricket Australia has threat-ened to postpone next month’s one-off test against Afghani-stan in Hobart if the Taliban government, which took power in August, did not allow women and girls to play the sport.“To be honest, at the moment, we don’t have anything in mind,” Rashid, Afghan cricket’s brightest star, said ahead of today’s Super 12 Group II match against Pakistan.“We have only this thing in the mind that we’re here for the World Cup and we’re playing five games and we need to win three games.“No, we don’t think about what’s

happening in the future. We don’t think about what hap-pened in the past. That is some-thing which is not in our hands, that is not in our control...”The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has requested the sup-port of other full members of the ICC ahead of the board meeting soon after the World Cup. Mohamed Nabi’s team thumped Scotland in their opener and the players know their performance could lift the pall of gloom back home.“What is in our hand is to play the five games of this group stage and try to qualify to the semi-finals and make the coun-try proud,” Rashid said.“...what’s going to happen in the future, that will come with time,” added the 23-year-old, one of franchise cricket’s most sought-after players.“If we have so many things on our mind, that might aff ect our performance, and the fans will be upset when you don’t perform as a team.” (Reuters)

Australia’s David Warner plays a shot during the ICC men’s Twenty20 World Cup match against Sri Lanka at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai yesterday. (AFP)

Bullish Pakistan have mindset of T20 champions: SaqlainAFPDubai

Pakistan’s interim head coach Saqlain Mush-taq declared that his team have “the mind-

set of champions” as they play Afghanistan in the Twenty20 World Cup in Dubai today.

The 2009 champions thumped arch rivals India by 10 wickets in their opening match followed by a nervy fi ve-wicket win over New Zealand, making them well placed for the semi-fi nals. “We are playing with the mindset of world champions,” Saqlain said yesterday.

“The two wins have given us the confi dence and belief to achieve that goal.”

Saqlain replaced Misbah-ul-Haq, who resigned last month, and is bringing his experience as a spin-bowling consultant for England, Bangladesh and New Zealand in the past.

Saqlain said his team needed to be wary of a dangerous Af-ghanistan.

“We know Afghanistan is a very good team but our plans are well-placed and we need to exe-cute those plans as we have done in the fi rst two games,” he added.

Afghanistan crushed quali-fi ers Scotland by 130 runs in their fi rst Group 2 game with off -spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman taking 5-20 and leggie Rashid Khan 4-9.

Himself a great off -spinner

who played 49 Tests and 169 one-day internationals for Pa-kistan, Saqlain called Afghani-stan’s spinners “world class”.

“Rashid and Mujeeb are qual-ity spinners and have been doing well for their team as well as in the private leagues around the world, but we have plans against them,” said Saqlain.

He praised the unity of his players, saying it has helped them achieve good results.

“Our theme is ‘together we achieve’ and it’s not ‘I did well’ or ‘he did well’, but it’s ‘we did well’ sort and that has helped us gel well.”

Saqlain pointed out that Pa-kistan have played most of their cricket in recent years in the United Arab Emirates.

“These conditions of the UAE are very familiar for my players and we have been playing home international matches and Pa-kistan Super League games here and that has, and will, help our players.”

Pakistan will play Namibia on November 2 and Scotland fi ve days later in the Super 12 stage.

But looking farther ahead, Saqlain hopes to meet India again at the World Cup – this time in the fi nal.

“If India comes in the fi nal, then it would be very good for the International Cricket Coun-cil, fans around the world and for world cricket,” he said.

“That will bring the two coun-tries closer. For me, it should be a win for love and defeat for hate.”

FOCUS

CHAMPIONS WINDIES BACKING THEMSELVES TO BOUNCE BACK AGAINST BANGLADESHChampions West Indies believe they can bounce back from their two consecutive Super 12 defeats when they clash against Bangladesh in their must-win Twenty20 World Cup match in Sharjah, batsman Nicholas Pooran said yesterday.The two-time champions, who won the trophy in the shortest format of the game in 2012 and in 2016 when the last edition of the tournament was held, suff ered heavy defeats by England and South Africa in their first two matches in Group One.

They find themselves at the bottom of the group, which also has teams like Sri Lanka and Australia, and with only two teams to progress to the semi-finals, another defeat will surely rule them out of contention.West Indies’ opponents today are also in the same situation with Bangladesh going down to Sri Lanka and England in their Super 12 matches so far.“I definitely think it’s a good opportunity for us to bounce back,” Pooran told re-porters. “It’s just another game of cricket.

Anyone can win. But... it’s a do-or-die game for us. And we believe that we’re going to be successful tomorrow.”The West Indies side, teeming with power-hitters, have been let down by the batters in both their matches in Dubai with the team getting bundled out for 55 against England and managing a sub-par 143 for eight against South Africa.Sharjah’s shorter boundaries could be a welcome relief for them today.“We’re not sure how Sharjah is going to play tomorrow. But our focus is not

on the small boundaries, to be honest,” he said, adding that the team’s batting lacked intent in the first two matches.“We just want to execute our skills. And once we can do that, then the results can take care of itself.“If you can accept that we weren’t good on the first two games, I think as bats-men, as a team, we already accepted that we didn’t come to the party. And we’re looking forward to moving forward and hopefully we can do much better.” (Reuters)

South Africa’s Quinton de Kock hits a six against England in the second T20I in Durban on February 14, 2020. (Reuters)

ReutersCluj-Napoca, Romania

US Open champion Emma Raducanu eased into the Transyl-vania Open quarter-

fi nals with a controlled 6-3 6-4 win over home favourite Ana Bogdan in the second round yesterday. Raducanu followed up her maiden WTA Tour win over Polona Hercog – a battling three-set victory on Tuesday – with a much improved perform-ance against Bogdan and looked steady on serve, winning 87.5% of her fi rst serve points.

“It was so good to play a Ro-manian here. All the volunteers who go into making this tour-nament possible, we really ap-preciate their support. Ana was a great opponent,” Raducanu said after the match.

“It’s defi nitely taking me some time to fi nd my feet still. I’m tak-ing some learnings from every match I play. I still don’t think I’m the fi nished product yet.”

Raducanu, who announced

herself on the grandest stage when she claimed the Flushing Meadows title as a qualifi er last month, added that she has gifted her US Open trophy to the Lawn

Tennis Association (LTA).“I just thought the LTA had

done so much for me and I just wanted them to have it as a sign for everything they had done for

me. It’s a little gift,” the British number one said.

Raducanu will next face 19-year-old Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk.

SPORT3Gulf Times

Friday, October 29, 2021

West Ham end Man City’s four-year hold on League Cup

FOOTBALL

AFPLondon

West Ham ended Manchester City’s four-year hold on the League Cup on

Wednesday night as Liverpool and Tottenham booked their places in the quarter-fi nals.

City’s record run in the com-petition came to an end at the London Stadium as the Ham-mers emerged 5-3 winners from a penalty shootout after both sides were guilty of missing plenty of chances in a 0-0 draw.

Phil Foden was the only man to miss from the spot as Mark No-ble, Jarrod Bowen, Craig Dawson, Aaron Cresswell and Said Ben-rahma all found the net for David Moyes’ men.

“Nothing is eternal,” said City boss Pep Guardiola. “We fought a lot to win and win and win this competition. Four times in a row is a fantastic achievement and next season we come back to try and win it again.”

Nathan Ake, John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan and Raheem Sterling all wasted big opportunities to extend City’s 21-game unbeaten run in the competition as the scoreline belied a contest which raged from one end to the other. Foden was thrown on along with Jack Grealish in an attempt to win the game from Guardiola.

But the England international pulled City’s fi rst penalty wide and stand-in goalkeeper Zack

Steff en could not bail his team-mate out despite getting a hand to Bowen and Benrahma’s strikes. Liverpool will now fancy their chances of winning the League Cup for the fi rst time in nine years, but had to overcome a poor start to win 2-0 at Preston.

The Reds had scored 30 goals in eight previous away games this season, but a much-changed side from Jurgen Klopp failed to hit the heights of Sunday’s fa-mous 5-0 win at Manchester United.

“As a team we can play better,

but individually I saw a few really nice performances and that’s ab-solutely OK,” said Klopp. “It’s all about getting through to the next round, that’s what we did. That it would be diffi cult with 11 changes was clear.”

Preston had by far the better

of the fi rst-half as Adrian made a point-blank save from Sean Maguire, Neco Williams cleared off the line and Brad Potts fi red over within a matter of seconds. Liverpool were clinical as they went in front with their fi rst shot on target just after the hour mark as Williams’ cross was acrobati-cally fl icked home by Takumi Mi-namino.

Klopp’s men then controlled the fi nal half hour and doubled their lead in spectacular fashion when Divock Origi’s backheel dinked the ball over Declan Rudd.

Tottenham’s bid for a fi rst trophy since they last won the League Cup in 2008 remains on course as Nuno Espirito Santo was rewarded for naming a strong side with a 1-0 win at Burnley.

Lucas Moura scored the only goal 22 minutes from time with a powerful downward header from Emerson Royale’s cross.

Leicester also needed penalties to see off Brighton after an en-tertaining game ended 2-2. The Foxes twice pounced on Bright-on gifting possession away in dangerous areas to take the lead through Harvey Barnes and Ad-emola Lookman in the fi rst-half.

Adam Webster and Enock Mwepu levelled for the Seagulls, but Mwepu and Neal Maupay failed to beat Danny Ward from the spot.

Brentford reached the last eight for the second consecutive season with a 2-1 win at Stoke thanks to fi rst-half goals from Sergi Canos and Ivan Toney.

‘NOTHING IS ETERNAL. NEXT SEASON WE COME BACK TO TRY AND WIN IT AGAIN’

Qatar sizzle against Sri Lanka, Yemen Syria play out drawAgenciesDoha

Qatar stayed perfect af-ter beating Sri Lanka 5-0 at the AFC U23 Asian Cup Uzbekistan

2022 Qualifi ers yesterday, while Yemen and Syria played out to 0-0 draw. Qatar lead Group A with six points and only need to avoid defeat against Syria on Sunday to qualify.

Syria, on four points, will have to defeat Qatar to book the sole automatic spot to the Finals from the group while Yemen and Sri Lanka’s dreams were dashed. Qatar took con-trol of the match from the refe-ree’s fi rst blow of the whistle as they dominated possession but were unable to beat goalkeeper Gimhana as the South Asians defended in numbers.

Sri Lanka, who suff ered a 5-0 loss to Syria in their open-ing match, defended resolutely but their eff orts were undone in the 27th minute when Mo-hamed Mushfi r brought Hash-im Ali down in the box, with the Qatari defender scoring from the resultant spot-kick.

Nicolas Cordova’s Qatar side scored their second goal in the 39th minute after Abdul Ba-sith’s poor clearance saw Yu-suf Abdurisag let loose a half-volley strike into the top right corner.

Qatar continued their com-mand over the match after the break and were three goals up in the 54th minute when Ahmed Alganehi’s cross into

the box was met by a diving header from Naif Alhadhrami.

Alganehi turned goal scorer seven minutes later when he surged down the pitch to col-lect a through pass before fi r-ing past ‘keeper Gimhana from a tight angle.

Qatar kept searching for more goals and got their fi fth of the night when Ali slotted home from the penalty spot in the 90th minute after being brought down by Gimhana in the box.

The match got off to a fre-netic pace with Yemen – hav-ing lost 3-0 to Qatar in their opener – having the fi rst glimpse at goal with Nasser Ahmed al-Gahwashi’s long-range strike that whiff ed over the crossbar by mere inches.

Syria, who defeated Sri Lan-ka 5-0 on Monday, should have scored in the 17th minute when goalkeeper Ali Fadhl Ahmed was out of position from an initial save, but Mohamed Malta’s eff ort from point blank range lacked the fi repower.

Yemen continued to create the better chances but Syria’s disciplined defence held them at bay with goalkeeper Mo-hamed Anas al-Bittar hardly tested.

Mohamed Alhallak had an opportunity for Syria in the 79th minute but his strike de-fl ected off a teammate. Syria upped their tempo towards the end with Aimn Akil fi ring their last shot of the match, but goalkeeper Fadhl denied him, leaving his side with all to do against Qatar on Sunday.

FOCUS

Qatar Airways Division B T20: United Challengers, Doha Bank maintain winning spreeUnited Challengers and Doha Bank continued their dominant run in the popular Qatar Airways T20 Cricket Tournament with easy victories over their respec-tive opponents and maintaining their unbeaten status in the group league. At the West Bay Grounds, Sunil’s rampaging 89 off 42 balls lifted United Challengers to a huge 236 for six in 20 overs. Midas Club could manage only 161 for five and lost the match by 75 runs. Sunil smacked 10 sixes and three boundaries and Rifan added 53, which included four sixes and four hits to the rope. Riyaz took 17 balls to collect 35 with a six and four boundaries. During the chase, Skindal posted a fine 63 in 27 deliveries, getting

five sixes and three fours, but his knock failed to inspire his team. This was the third victory for United Challengers in as many matches, while Midas Club suff ered the fourth successive setback. Manjula set up the base for Doha Bank’s 48-run victory,

the third in a row for the bank men. He slammed 94 in just 41 balls in his team’s 94 in 41 balls with five sixes and 11 boundaries against Qatar Super Kings ‘Blue’. Pushpe, with 25 not out off 14 balls, was another big contribu-tor. Furqan bagged four wickets.

Younus (40 in 24 balls with a six and four boundaries), Rizwan (27) and Furqan (29 not out in 30 balls) were the chief scorers but QSK ‘Blue’ were hit hard by Marsu, who bagged four scalps. Manjula was adjudged the man of the match for his batting and one wicket. Waseem’s four-wicket haul was the highlight of the tied match between Blaster Guns and Hadico. After Gaurav K cracked two sixes and eight fours in 67 and Mohsin’s 55 with three sixes and five boundaries enabled Blaster Guns to a chal-lenging 175 for four, Waseem grabbed four scalps for 30 runs to force the rivals share points. Asif, who hit 47 with half a dozen fours, got the highest runs for Hadico, who were looking for

their second win three matches. Blaster Guns have been winless after three matches.

BRIEF SCORES United Challengers 236 for 6 (Sunil 89, Rifan 53, Riyaz 35; Ali Nazeer 2 wkts) bt Midas Club 161 for 5 (Skindal 63, Kashif 37, Bilal Riaz 35; Imran 2 wkts) by 75 runs.Doha Bank 201 for 8 (Manjula 94, Pushpe 25 not out; Furqan 4 wkts) bt QSK Blue 153 for 7 (Younus 40 off 24, Rizwan 27, Furqan 29 not out; Marsu 4 wkts) by 48 runs.Blaster Guns 175 for 4 (Gaurav K 67, Mohsin 55). Hadico 175 for 7 (Asif 47, Atif 25, Hasnain 32; Waseem 4 wkts) match tied.

West Ham United’s Algerian midfielder Said Benrahma (centre) celebrates with teammates after he scored in the penalty shoot-out against Manchester City in the League Cup match at the London Stadium. (AFP)

Nice, Marseille draw 1-1, two months aft er game kicked-off

Nice and Marseille drew 1-1 in French Ligue 1 on Wednesday, two months after the original fixture was abandoned due to crowd trouble. The rescheduled game, played behind closed doors at Troyes, saw Nice take the lead through Amine Gouiri after just six minutes. Dimitri Payet levelled for Marseille just before the half-time interval. However, Nice coach Christophe Galtier said he was disappointed not to have take all three points. “There is frustration and disappointment for my boys. With our scoring chances, I believe that my players deserved to win,” said Galtier. In the first game between the two sides on August 22, hosts Nice led the Mediterranean derby 1-0 at the Allianz Riviera with 15 minutes left when Payet fell after being struck by a bottle as he went to take a corner. Payet threw a bottle back into the crowd as team-mates came across to remonstrate with home fans behind the goal.Supporters streamed onto the pitch and a melee ensued involv-ing players, staff , fans and stewards. The match was halted for more than an hour and finally abandoned just before midnight local time after the away side refused to return to the pitch. Nice were eventually docked one point by French league off icials.

Raducanu beats Bogdan to reach quarter-fi nalsTENNIS

Sunil Manjula

Just a matter of time before I break through: MurrayAndy Murray said his defeat in the second round of the Vienna Open on Wednesday was just another bump in the road and the former world number one is convinced it is just a matter of time before he is going deep into tournaments and winning again. Murray had secured his first win over a top 10 player in 14 months after beating Hubert Hurkacz in the opening round, but the 34-year-old failed to advance further as he was outplayed 6-3 6-4 by Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz.Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray, who had hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019 and is currently ranked 156th, was also knocked out in the second round in Antwerp, third round at Indian Wells and second round in San Diego earlier this month.“I’m not going to keep losing in the second and third round of tournaments,” said Murray.“I will get better and I will improve and I will break through in one week, or two weeks, or a few months. It will happen. I obviously would like it to be happening quicker than what it is.“If I continue on that path and build up a little bit more consistency, be that little bit more clinical and a bit more ruthless, I will start winning more and have some deep runs, but it’s tough.”Murray reached the third round at Wimbledon this year and suff ered a first-round exit at the US Open. He has not won a single’s title since his 2019 triumph in Antwerp.

Minister advises Thiem to get vaccinatedFormer US Open champion Dominic Thiem was yesterday advised by Austria’s health minister to get jabbed against Covid-19 as controversy over who hasn’t been vaccinated continued to occupy the sport ahead of the 2022 Australian Open. Thiem, 28, and ranked nine in the world, said earlier this month that he was waiting for a vaccine from American pharmaceutical company Novavax, that uses an ‘inactivated’ protein-based formula. He did, however, insist that he would opt for one of the vaccines already approved if he had no other choice. “I can only ask Dominic Thiem to get vaccinated,” health minister Wolfgang Muckstein, a practising doctor, told Austrian media.“The inactivated vaccines may not be available until 2022, and there is no indication that they have any advantages over current vaccines.” He also warned of the risk of “long Covid”, including for young people and athletes, with symptoms of fatigue, decreased concentration, body pain and respiratory problems. “We also have patients barely 30 years old in inten-sive care,” he added as Austria faces a sharp rise in contamination. The minister said he had written to Thiem to off er him a meeting “in order to remove his uncertainties”. (Agencies)

Qatar’s Hashim Ali celebrates after scoring against Sri Lanka during the AFC U23 Asian Cup 2022 Qualifiers in Doha yesterday.

Friday, October 29, 2021

GULF TIMES SPORT

Mueller apologises to Bayern fans for German Cup rout

FOOTBALL

By Sports Reporter Doha

Bahrain beat Saudi Ara-bia by 18 runs at the Asia Qualifi er Group A for the ICC T20 Men’s World

Cup at the Asian Town Stadium yesterday. Their second victory in four matches, thanks to a blis-tering 67 off 47 balls by Abdul Wahid, took them to the top of the table with six points and a healthy net run-rate of 2.409.

Today, Qatar and Kuwait, who are also in the race with two wins each, will face off in the fi nal league match. For both team to seal the qualifi cation spot, they will need to win big to get past Bahrain’s superior net run rate.

Saudi Arabia, who defeated Kuwait and added suspense to the fi ve-team contest, fell out of the contention after their second loss and are holding the fourth spot, while Maldives are at the bottom with zero points. Only the champions will gain the right to play in the one of the two global qualifi er for the mega event, to be hosted by Australia next year.

Bahrain, asked to bat fi rst, piled on 179 for 9 in 20 overs with Sarfaraz making a blistering 67. In reply, Saudi Arabia could only manage 161 for 6 despite Abdul Wahid’s unbeaten 40-ball 72.

In another match, Kuwait routed Maldives by fi ve wickets. Adnan Idrees took three for 27 as Maldives were bundled out for just 102 in 20 overs.

BRIEF SCORESMaldives: 102 all out in 20 overs (Ahmed Hassan 42 off 38; Nawaf Ahmad 2/14, Edson Silva 2/15, Mohamed Aslam 2/18, Adnan Idrees 3/27) lost to Kuwait: 107 for 5 in 12 overs (Edson Silva 58 off 29; Mohamed Mahfooz 2/14) by 5 wickets Bahrain: 179 for 9 (Sarfaraz Ali 67 off 45, Mohamed Younis 33 off 24; Ishtiaq Ahmad 2/26, Imran Arif 2/47, Abdul Wahid 2/25) bt Saudi Arabia: 161 for 6 (Abdul Wahid 72 not out off 40; Sathaiya Veerapathiran 2/24, Anasim Khan 2/22) by 18 runs

Today’s fixture: Qatar vs Kuwait (9am)

AFPBerlin

Bayern Munich veteran Tho-mas Mueller has apologised to their fans and admitted the 5-0 thrashing at Moenchengladbach

in the German Cup was the worst defeat he has experienced during 13 years play-ing in the famous red shirt.

“We were picked apart from A to Z in the fi rst half,” the 32-year-old Mueller, who made his Bayern debut in 2008 and is approaching 600 appearances for the Bavarian giants, said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced anything like that before in an FC Bayern shirt. We have to apologise to our fans.”

A full-strength Bayern team was pole-axed on Wednesday when Gladbach took the lead at Borussia Park with barely a minute gone. After Kouadio Kone’s early goal, Algerian defender Ramy Bensebaini netted twice to make it 3-0 at half-time. Bayern’s bright start to the second-half was obliterated when Swiss striker Breel Embolo scored two rapid-fi re goals.

Furious Bayern sports director Hasan Salihamidzic described the visitors’ per-formance as “a collective blackout — we simply didn’t turn up”. Gladbach fans started celebrating long before the fi nal whistle as the song ‘Oh, wie ist das sch-oen’ (Oh, how beautiful this is) echoed around the stands.

“Of course, this was a disgrace for us,” added Mueller who said the Bayern team sat stunned in the dressing room after-wards. “We had a lot planned. We tried to somehow pick ourselves up, but I don’t think you saw that on TV.”

Bayern had plenty of off -fi eld distrac-tions in the build-up. Head coach Julian Nagelsmann was sidelined at home, iso-lating after testing positive for Covid-19. Defender Lucas Hernandez discovered the morning of the second-round cup tie that he will escape jail in Spain despite violating a restraining order in 2017.

Midfi elder Joshua Kimmich has been heavily criticised in the German media after opting against being vaccinated for Covid-19. Nevertheless, those factors do little to explain a dreadful team perform-ance as Bayern suff ered their heaviest cup defeat in club history. A backlash is ex-pected away tomorrow in the Bundesliga

when Bayern play at Union Berlin, who are unbeaten in their last 21 home league games. “People are used to us showing a reaction after negative experiences. But that’s easy to say,” said Mueller. “Nor-mally, we are also used to reacting diff er-ently after falling behind.”

Nagelsmann’s assistant coach Dino Toppmoeller promised improvement. “We will certainly have to live with gloat-ing and ridicule in the next day or two. That’s the business,” he said. “But we have to brush ourselves off and show a reaction on Saturday. That will come — for sure.”

In contrast, Bayern, top of the Bundes-liga table while Gladbach are 12th, failed

to get a shot on target in the opening 20 minutes.

Gladbach took an early lead when a sloppy pass by Alphonso Davies near his own area was snapped up by Kone, who traded passes with Embolo and fi red home. There was pure delight in the stands at Borussia Park when Bensebaini fi red the hosts’ second goal past Manuel Neuer on 15 minutes.

A penalty was awarded when Hern-andez went in high against Embolo and Bensebaini sent Neuer the wrong way to make it 3-0 at half-time. This is the second time Bensebaini has terrorised Bayern after the 26-year-old scored both

goals in Gladbach’s 2-1 home Bundesliga in December 2019.

Embolo then compounded Bayern’s misery with two rapid-fi re goals within six minutes of each other to make it 5-0 after 57 minutes.

Earlier, Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen also suff ered a cup upset when they were beaten 2-1 at home by second division Karlsruhe. Leverkusen were stunned as South Korean forward Choi Kyoung-rok hit the winner in the second-round tie. Holders Dortmund are already into Sunday’s draw for the third round after their 2-0 win at home over second-tier Ingolstadt.

‘I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced anything like that before in an FC Bayern shirt’

Three-way race for qualifi cation spot as Bahrain beat Saudi Arabia

CRICKET

Second round of Hathab from today

EQUESTRIAN

By Sports ReporterDoha

The Longines Qatar Equestrian Tour Hathab will be held this weekend with the second round

scheduled at the Qatar Eques-trian Federation’s Indoor Arena. Today, the Small Tour and Me-dium Tour competitions will take place, with Open Class and Big Tour events set for tomorrow.

In the opening round of the fi fth edition, Mohamed Saeed Haidan sprung a surprise claim-ing the Big Tour class. In fact, Haidan bagged the top two plac-es with Miss Chili and D Sauce-do. Mubarak Yousuf al-Rumaihi, astride SIEC Lonnie, came third. Haidan will hope he can carry the winning mo-mentum into second round.

Hathab, the most popular domestic eques-trian series, has been extended by two extra rounds from this season taking the total number of legs to 14. The popular event which runs from October to April every year was launched in 2017 and carries a total prize of over QR1mn.

Hathab meaning ‘Canter’ in Arabic, is aimed at improving the standard of horse riding among Qatari youths while encouraging the involvement of private sta-bles and individual horse owners to grow awareness of horseman-ship as part of Qatar’s history and tradition. The vision for Hathab is to inspire Qatar’s next genera-

tion of international champions.Meanwhile, Ali bin Yousef

al-Rumaihi, Tournament Di-rector of Hathab, expressed his happiness with the launch of the championship for the fi fth consecutive season amid fruit-ful co-operation between the Qatar Equestrian Federation and Al Shaqab. The former rider said the last year’s championship witnessed disruption due to the pandemic but the praised the ef-forts of the organising commit-tee to fi nish the competitions.

He said the organisers were keen to keen to launch champi-onship on time for the current season. “We have added two more rounds this season which makes it total 14 rounds. The in-crease in the number of rounds is a result of the popularity

achieved by the to u r n a m e n t , since its launch in 2017. This is evidenced by the high level of partners and sponsors at-tracted to the to u r n a m e n t , whom we thank for their

support of the equestrian sport in Qatar,” al-Rumaihi said.

He said that the Qatar Eques-trian Tours plays a vital role in the equestrian community as a series of leading local competi-tions in the country, and seeks to inspire new generation of riders in Qatar and encouraging them to become global champions, as well as raising awareness of the importance of equestrianism as part of the history and ancient traditions of Qatar.

Real Sociedad stay top of La Liga aft er win over Celta VigoMadrid: Real Sociedad have continued their excellent form with an away win over Celta Vigo in the La Liga yesterday. Sociedad went into the match sitting top of the table, and that’s where they will remain following a 2-0 win in Galicia.

Alexander Isak put them ahead in the 54th minute, tapping a rebound into an empty net, and Artitz Elustondo made sure of the three points 11 minutes from time.

Celta had their chances, but La Real keeper Matty Ryan put in a superb display to ensure his side kept a seventh clean sheet of the season. La Real are now un-beaten in 13 games across all competitions, while Celta are 14th with only three wins from 11 outings.

Real Sociedad are now three points ahead of the likes of Real Madrid and Sevilla – albeit they have played a game more. Injuries continue to hamper Imanol Alguacil‘s men, but they continue to find a way to defy expectations and remain at the

top of the tree.On Wednesday, Real Madrid were held

to a goalless draw by Osasuna. Karim Ben-zema struck the bar in the second half at the Santiago Bernabeu but Osasuna could have won it too, with Kike Garcia missing the best chance of the game when he hit the post from five yards.

Madrid are ahead of Sevilla and Real Betis — all three of them with 21 points — on goal diff erence while Osasuna sit sixth after extending their strong start to the season. Three days after eclipsing rivals Barcelona in the season’s first Clasico, Real failed to reproduce the fireworks against high-flying Osasuna. Real were repeatedly frustrated by Osasuna, who played with 11 men behind the ball as they focused all their energy on blocking their opponents from scoring and their gamble paid off as they left the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium with a valuable point.

Despite dominating the game with 76%

of ball possession, Real failed to break the deadlock. Osasuna, who have only lost twice in 11 league games this season, are now unbeaten in their last five La Liga matches. “People will say that I’m crazy but I liked the game and I think our team played well but couldn’t find a way to score”, said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti. “La Liga is very even, there are lots of teams up there. I don’t think it’s going to take 100 points to win it this season,” said Carlo Ancelotti.

After a frustrating first half, Ancelotti brought on Rodrygo in the hope of open-ing up more scoring chances. But his pres-ence failed to make any diff erence.

Real were almost caught off -guard in the 50th minute when a Jon Moncayola strike ricocheted off the post. At the other end Benzema also hit the bar following a cross from Vinicius Jr but with every passing minute, Real’s frustration mounted as they could not find a way into the net.

Qatar swimming team pose with off icials after their return from Abu Dhabi where the athletes put on a fine performance at the Arab Short Course (25m) Swimming Championships. Top Qatar Swimming Association off icials including President Khaleel al-Jabir and Secretary-General Talal Mohamed al-Darwish welcomed the heroes at the Hamad International Airport. Qatar clinched 11 gold, nine silver and 10 bronze medals at the four-day meet.

Moenchengladbach’s Kouadio Kone (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring against Bayern Munich during the German Cup second round match in Moenchengladbach, western Germany, on Wednesday. (AFP)

A young rider with his horse during the vet check at the Qatar Equestrian Federation’s Indoor Arena yesterday.

Qatar swimmers return home after fine showBahrain’s Sarfaraz Ali plays a shot during the match against Saudi Arabia at the Asia Qualifier Group A for the ICC T20 Men’s World Cup at the Asian Town Stadium yesterday.