SPORTThursday 7 December 2017

Follow-on decision left Steve Smith sweating

NBA: Westbrook bags another triple double

as Thunder win

PAGE | 30 PAGE | 32-33 PAGE | 35

Real deal Ronaldo set for fifth Ballon d’Or

NBAanot

ACL 2018: QSL leaders Al Duhail drawn in Group BChinthana WasalaThe Peninsula

Qatar football giants and QNB Stars League leaders Al Duhail will begin their AFC

Champions League (ACL) quest in Group B next year, details showed yesterday.

At the draw ceremony held at the AFC Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia yesterday, coach Djamel Belmadi’s team was drawn along with Al Wahda (UAE), Lokomotiv Tashkent (Uzbekistan). The winners of the West Region play-off between Zob Ahan Esfahan FC (Iran) and Aizawl FC (India) will also be able to enter group B.

Meanwhile, the reigning Emir’s Cup champions, Al Sadd, led by Barcelona legend Xavi Her-nandez, will compete in Group C alongside Iran’s Persepolis, the UAE’s Al Wasl and Jordan’s Al Faisaly or Uzbekistan’s Nasaf.

Coach Michael Laudrup’s Al

Rayyan will compete in Group D along with last year’s runner-up, Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, Iran’s Esteghlal and the winner of Al Ain vs Bahrain’s Al Malkia match which will be played on January 30, 2018.

There could be a fourth Qatari team at next year’s tournament if Al Gharafa beat Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor in Doha on the same day. If Al Gharafa win, they will be clubbed in Group A, which also comprises the UAE’s Al Jazira, Al Ahli Saudi FC and Iran’s Tractor-sazi Tabriz.

Al Duhail’s first team man-ager Ismael Ahmed Hashim and the media coordinator Mohamed Bashir Al Sulaiti took part in the draw ceremony yesterday.

“Al Duhail is ready for the task ahead and our experience will play a big role in the tournament,” Hashim said.

Ismail continued by saying that they welcome all the clubs and the fans to Doha and will be

ready to make necessary arrange-ments to make their stay in Doha as pleasant as possible.

Chinese FA Cup winners Shanghai Shenhua will go on as favourites in Group H, but are expected to face a tough test against top Japanese club

Kashima Antlers and Australian A-League leaders Sydney FC.

Shenhua upset their rivals Shanghai SIPG in last month’s FA Cup final, without the services of Argentine forward Carlos Tevez.

Two-time winners and

Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande will face South Korea’s Jeju United, Thai-land’s Buriram United and the winner of Japan’s Emperor’s Cup, following the draw held in the Malaysian capital.

However, a notable absentee

will be the winners of the previous edition, Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan who failed to qualify.

Group F includes Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale, Ulsan Hyundai FC of Korea, Melbourne Victory of Australia and the win-ner of Play-off 3.

GROUP A: Al Jazira (UAE), Al Ahli (KSA), Tractorsazi Tabriz (IRI), Winner

of Playoff 3

GROUP B: Al Duhail SC (QAT), Al Wahda (UAE), PFC Lokomotiv (UZB),

Winner of Playoff 2

GROUP C: Persepolis FC (IRI), Al Sadd SC (QAT), Al Wasl (UAE), Winner

of Playoff 4

GROUP D: Al Hilal SFC (KSA), Esteghlal FC (IRI), Al Rayyan SC (QAT), Win-

ner of Playoff 1

GROUP E: Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC (KOR), Kitchee SC (HKG), Winner

of Play-off 4, Winner of Play-off 2

GROUP F: Kawasaki Frontale (JPN), Ulsan Hyundai FC (KOR), Melbourne

Victory (AUS), Winner of Playoff 3

GROUP G: Guangzhou Evergrande FC (CHN), Japan 2nd Club, Jeju United

FC (KOR), Buriram United (THA)

GROUP H: Sydney FC (AUS), Shanghai Shenhua FC (CHN), Kashima Ant-

lers (JPN), Winner of Playoff 1

AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 2018 DRAW

Kuwait City

AFP

World football governing body FIFA announced yesterday it was lifting its suspension of Kuwait, after the

Gulf state’s parliament adopted a law meant to end government interference in the sport.

“The suspension of the Kuwait football association is lifted,” FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino announced alongside a Kuwaiti offi-cial in a short video shared widely on Twitter.

Infantino was visiting Kuwait to announce the eagerly anticipated decision.

World sports bodies led by FIFA and the International Olympic Committee suspended Kuwait in October 2015 for the second time since 2010 over alleged government med-dling in sports.

The suspensions meant Kuwait missed out on the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup and the 2019 Asian Cup, and before that the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

On Sunday, the Kuwaiti parliament passed a new law in line with FIFA’s requirements and on Tuesday, Kuwaiti clubs elected the head of a new football federation.

Analysts say the crisis in Kuwaiti sports was the result of a power struggle within the ruling elite.

FIFA ends Kuwait’s suspension

This handout picture released by the press office of the Emir of Kuwait Diwan yesterday shows Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah (right) presenting FIFA president Gianni Infantino with a Kuwaiti national team kit, bearing his name at Bayan palace in Kuwait City.

AFC National Team Competitions

Director Shin Man Gil shows the draw

for Al Duhail SC during the official

draw in Kuala Lumpur yesterday .

Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho scores the first goal from a penalty during their UEFA Champions League match against Spartak Moscow at Anfield, Liverpool, Britain yesterday.

Coutinho nets hat-trick as Liverpool crush Spartak Liverpool

Reuters

Brazilian Philippe Coutinho struck a hat-trick as Liv-erpool crushed Spartak Moscow 7-0 to move into the knockout stages of the

Champions League as Group E winners.

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp fielded an attacking line-up and it was too much for the Russians to handle with a fourth- minute Coutinho penalty, a tap-in from the Brazilian and a close-range Roberto Firmino effort making it 3-0 inside 18 minutes.

Sadio Mane’s blistering volley two minutes after the break made it 4-0 and a deflected shot from Coutinho completed his hat-trick.

Mane scooped in a low cross from Georginio Wijnaldum in the 76th minute and the outstanding Mohamed Salah made it 7-0 as the Reds con-demned Spartak to third place in the

group and a spot in the Europa League.

Meanwhile, Shakhtar Donetsk booked a Champions League knock-out stage berth after first-half goals by Brazilians Bernard and Ismaily gave the Ukrainian side a 2-1 win over Manchester City in Group F yesterday.

City finished top with 15 points,

three more than Shakhtar and nine ahead of third-placed Napoli who dropped into the Europa League after a 2-1 defeat at bottom team Feyenoord.

A City side missing several reg-ular starters was on the back foot in the first half as Bernard rifled a superb shot into the top corner in the 26th minute before Ismaily added the second in front of a full house in Kharkiv. Substitute Sergio Aguero netted a stoppage-time penalty for City after Gabriel Jesus was tripped but coach Pep Guardiola had little to cheer about on his milestone 100th Champions League appearance as manager.

Sevilla stuttered into the last 16 of the Champions League after being held to a 1-1 draw by Group E’s bot-tom side Maribor.

ernando Llorente scored his first goal for Tottenham Hotspur as they rounded off their impressive group stage campaign by strolling to a 3-0 home win over APOEL Nicosia.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Yesterday’s Results

GROUP ELiverpool 7 - 0 Spartak Moscow

NK Maribor 1 -1 Sevilla

GROUP FFeyenoord 2 -1 Napoli

Shakhtar Donetsk 2 - 1 Manchester City

GROUP GFC Porto 5 -2 Monaco

RB Leipzig 1- 2 Besiktas

GROUP HReal Madrid 3 - 2 Borussia Dortmund

Tottenham Hotspur 3 - 0 Apoel Nicosia

Ronaldo sets new recordReuters

Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ron-aldo set a record for scoring in every Champions League

group game as his side won an entertaining encounter 3-2 yes-terday at home to Borussia Dortmund, who clinched a spot in the Europa League.

Real were guaranteed a place in the last 16 as Group H runners up behind Tottenham Hotspur, but coach Zinedine Zidane still fielded a strong side for the game, only resting Marcelo, Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.

30 THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER 2017SPORT

Real deal Ronaldo set for fifth Ballon d’OrParis

AFP

Cristiano Ronaldo (pictured) looks set to match his great rival Lionel Messi

today by claiming a fifth Ballon d’Or as recognition for leading Real Madrid to a La Liga and Champions League double last season.

Barcelona’s 30-year-old Argentinian superstar won the coveted award from 2009 to 2012 and in 2015. Portugal’s Ronaldo, who is 32, took the honours in 2008, 2013, 2014 and last year.

The man who came to matu-rity under the watchful eye of ex-Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson clinched his fourth Ballon d’Or after an unforgettable season, first spear-heading Real to the Champions League title before also leading his homeland to Euro 2016 glory in Paris.

The France Football maga-zine award is decided upon by a journalists ballot (with 173 vot-ing in 2016) with each naming a top five from a list of 30.

British bookmakers have stopped taking bets on Ronaldo, who is a cramped 10-1 on favourite to win, with Messi, tro-phyless last season, at 6-1.

Behind this pair the bookies round out their own top five with Paris Saint-Germain’s gifted Brazilian forward Neymar, the veteran Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and the prolific England centre-forward Harry Kane all at 33-1.

The 2016-2017 season was in a way just as glorious for Ron-aldo, who started the season slowly before Real shaded Bar-celona to the domestic title and then became the first side in the modern era to defend their European crown.

After seeing off Napoli, Bay-ern Munich and Atletico Madrid in the knock-out rounds Ron-aldo scored twice in a 4-1 win over Juventus in the final, tak-ing his tally to 12 goals in the competition that season.

“Last season was excep-tional. We won the league and the Champions League, where I was again the top scorer,” Ron-aldo told French daily L’Equipe.

Real have a staggering seven players on the shortlist of 30 with Karim Benzema, Marcelo, Isco, Luka Modric, Sergio Ramos and Toni Kroos all nominated alongside their talisman Ronaldo.

The only other Barca player other than Messi, is the Uru-guayan centre-forward Luis Suarez. On the prospect of equalling Messi’s five wins Ron-aldo quipped: “I want seven. Five is good but seven is my lucky number so seven would be great.”

“I want seven children and seven Ballons d’Or.”

Despite his position as out-sider Messi can take heart from the award’s history of upsets with Messi himself clinching the title against the odds in 2010.

That season purists pointed to the achievements of Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder, win-ner of the Champions League, Serie A and Italian Cup and indeed a World Cup finalist with the Netherlands.

Also, in the run up to the vote Ronaldo has only scored twice in La Liga so far this season

-- although he has netted eight goals in five games in the Cham-pions League -- and Real are already eight points behind Mes-si’s Barcelona.

Messi in contrast tops the Liga scoring charts with 13 goals and also secured a brilliant hat-trick for Argentina against Ecuador to clinch a last-gasp World Cup place in October, earning wide praise.

“Leo is like Maradona for those of our generation,” said Messi’s compatriot, Juventus striker Paulo Dybala, himself tipped as a future winner.

“He dragged us to the World Cup with the hat-trick in Ecua-dor. He is a born leader.”

Aside from Messi and Ron-aldo the Ballon d’Or, originally conceived to honour only Euro-pean players before going fully global in 2007, has three triple winners -- Johan Cruyff, Michel Platini and Marco van Basten.

This year’s winner is being announced live on the L’Equipe television channel, the French sports daily being owned by the same company as France Football.

Roma proved doubters wrong Rome

AFP

Eusebio Di Francesco hailed his Roma side for proving the doubters wrong after the Serie A runners-

up qualified for the Champions League last 16 top of their group ahead of Chelsea on Tuesday.

There was double celebra-tions for Di Francesco’s side on the night after it was announced just before kick-off that the con-struction of their new stadium had been given the green light.

“It’s satisfying because nobody believed we could qual-ify at all, they assumed we’d be eliminated, but we worked hard, proved ourselves and won the group,” said Di Francesco who took over this season.

Roma edged out Azeris Qarabag 1-0 to top Group C with Diego Perotti’s second-half header ensuring they finished ahead of Chelsea who were held 1-1 by Atletico Madrid

in London with the Spaniards -- finalists in 2014 and 2016 -- eliminated.

Roma’s path to top spot fol-lowed a solid campaign which included maximum points against Qarabag, beating Chel-sea 3-0 in Rome, and coming away with a 3-3 draw from Lon-don, with their only loss 2-0 to Atletico Madrid in Spain.

“It was a great victory, a dif-ficult one, especially as I have no Champions League experi-ence,” continued Di Francesco, whose side will now be seeded for Friday’s draw, where they could face teams including Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as they bid for a first quarter-final appearance in 10 years.

“We’re through and it’s with a great sense of pride. But in Italy we have the tendency to sit back. We have to change that mentality and not to be satisfied with what we have. We’re first ahead of Chelsea and Atletico. We won by suffering, it’s a sign of great mental strength.

“We are among the best 16 teams in Europe and we have to think like a big team, that means not being afraid of anyone. Of course Real Madrid or Bayern Munich that could be a little more difficult than other rivals.”

In the first half Roma failed to find a way through despite Edin Dzeko, Stephan El Shaarawy and Kostas Manola’s efforts with Bosnian goalkeeper Ibrahim Sehic doing well to keep out a Radja Nainggolan strike and an Aleksandar Kolarov fol-low-up just before the break.

But Perotti’s goal on 53 min-utes after a Dzeko rebound turned the tide with the Romans dominating the remainder of the game although Qarabag came very close to an equaliser on 83 minutes with Michel’s header stopped by Alisson.

At the final whistle the play-ers waited for the end of Chelsea-Atletico along with their fans at the Stadio Olym-pico with the result greeted with joy.

Chelsea don’t fear European superpowers, says ConteLondon

AFP

Antonio Conte insists Chelsea have nothing to fear in the Champi-

ons League last 16 even though his side could face a crunch clash with Barcelona or Paris Saint Germain.

Conte’s team blew their chance to finish top of Group C as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. That allowed Roma to clinch pole position with a win over Qarabag, the Ital-ians moving above Chelsea because of their better head-to-head record.

Turkish side Besiktas or Sevilla, if they win a group currently topped by Liver-pool, are other possible opponents for the English champions.

But Chelsea boss Conte is adamant his players shouldn’t be scared about taking on one of the big guns because they are strong enough to trouble any team.

“When you play this com-petition and you go through to the next round you must be ready to face the best teams,” he said.

“In this case we know we could play Barcelona, Paris Saint Germain or Besiktas.

“We must be ready. At the same time I think our oppo-nent won’t be happy to play against us.

“It is a fantastic competi-tion. We reached the next round and we must be happy with this.” Already lagging well behind Premier League leaders Manchester City, Chelsea can’t rely on Europe for silverware despite Con-te’s fighting talk.

But while City, Tottenham Manchester United have cruised through to the last 16, Conte claims Chelsea had to battle through a much harder group. And the Italian warned Chelsea’s English rivals that it won’t be easy to maintain that form in the latter stages of the competition.

“Last season we won the league but it was a surprise. This season we are trying to do our best in the league and the Champions League,” he said.

“We have to show we deserve to go through to the next round and to fight until the end for the title.

“Our group was really tough. It was easy for a lot of these teams to go to the next round. “But this season is very tough. You have to play a lot of games, then you arrive at the final stage. For this rea-son is can be problematic to win it.

“The English teams are very good, they have the pos-sibility to reach the final. The only question is what physi-cal condition.” Chelsea’s downfall against Atletico was poor marking by Tiemoue Bakayoko, who allowed Saul Niguez to head home in the second half before the hosts equalised through Stefan Savic’s own goal.

Conte refused to blame Bakayoko, saying: “He is a young player. He is working to try to improve.

“In this case it’s important to have patience. Mistakes are normal.” After finishing as Champions League runners-up in 2014 and 2016, Atletico missed out on the last 16 for the first time since 2010 and are consigned to the Europa League.

Final knockout places up for grabs at Europa League todayParis

AFP

There will be some jangling nerves as the Europa League group stage con-cludes today - but not many, with

the likes of Arsenal, AC Milan and Lyon already through.

Of the 48 teams in the 12 groups, 16 have already ensured qualification and 15 are eliminated.

That leaves 17 clubs scrapping for the remaining eight spots in the round of 32 draw on December 11.

For some of those qualified, first place, and a seeding that ensures they avoid one of the eight teams dropping down from the Champions League, are still in play but that might not be enough incentive to put out their strongest teams for a December midweek game.

The stars are even less likely to come out for the big clubs who have already won their groups.

For Lazio’s trip to Belgium, manager Simone Inzaghi could make 10, or even 11, changes, from the line-up that won at Sampdoria on Sunday. Suso and Nikola Kalinic, who started in attack for Milan in Serie A on Sunday, are not even in the squad for the visit to Rijeka. Even if Arse-nal’s Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil appear

at the Emirates, they will be sitting and watching and safely and warmly wrapped up.

But Arsene Wenger insisted his approach won’t change too much for the visit of BATE Borisov despite having wrapped up top spot in Group H.

“I have many players available who need competition. Next week we go into a week with three games and so some players need competition, some experi-enced players. We’ll play quite an

experienced team tomorrow,” Wenger said.

Three groups end with a second ver-sus third showdown. In Group A, Slavia Prague need only draw at home against Astana. The Kazakh team need to win to take second. In Group D, Austria Vienna must win at home against AEK Athens, otherwise the Greeks go through. In Group J, Athletic Bilbao will advance with a draw away to Zorya Luhansk in Lviv where the Ukrainians must win to nab second place.

Europa League fixtures today (all kick-offs GMT)

Group ASlavia Prague (CZE) vs Astana (KAZ) (1800)

Villarreal (ESP) vs Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR) (1800)

Group BYoung Boys (SUI) vs Skenderbeu (ALB)(1800)

Dynamo Kiev (UKR) vs Partizan Belgrade (SRB) (1800)

Group CIstanbul Basaksehir (TUR) vs Braga (POR) (1800)

Hoffenheim (GER) vs Ludogorets (BUL) (1800)

Group DRijeka (CRO) vs AC Milan (ITA) (1800)

Austria Vienna (AUT) vs AEK Athens (GRE) (1800)

Group EApollon Limassol (CYP) vs Everton (ENG) (1800)

Atalanta (ITA) vs Lyon (FRA) (1800)

Group FFC Copenhagen (DEN) vs Sheriff Tiraspol (MDA) (1800)

Zlin (CZE) vs Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS) (1800)

Group GFCSB (ROU) vs Lugano (SUI) (2005)

Hapoel Beer Sheva (ISR) vs Viktoria Plzen (CZE) (2005)

Group HArsenal (ENG) vs BATE Borisov (BLR) (2005)

Red Star Belgrade (SRB) vs Cologne (GER) (2005)

Group IVitoria Guimaraes (POR) vs Konyaspor (TUR) (2005)

Marseille (FRA) vs Salzburg (AUT) (2005)

Group JHertha Berlin (GER) v Ostersund (SWE) (2005)

Zorya Luhansk (UKR) v Athletic Bilbao (ESP) (2005)

Group KVitesse Arnhem (NED) vs Nice (FRA) (2005)

Zulte Waregem (BEL) vs Lazio (ITA) (2005)

Group LReal Sociedad (ESP) vs Zenit (RUS) (2005)

Vardar Skopje (MKD) vs Rosenborg (NOR) (2005)

EUROPA LEAGUE

Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco during the Champions League match at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy on Tuesday.

Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud during training on the eve of their Europa League match against Borisov.

31THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER 2017 SPORT

Badminton: Sadhvi notches a double at Qatar tournamentThe Peninsula

Sadhvi Krishna Sunil of New Vision Badminton Academy notched a double at the Star

Sports Aeroplane Qatar Open Badminton by clinching the Under-15 and Under-17 titles at the four-day championship held at the Gems American Academy, Wakra.

Sadhvi edged Joan Mary Tho-mas, also a trainee of New Vision Badminton Academy, in both the categories. In the Under-15 final, Sadhvi defeated Mary 21-14, 21-11 and in the Under-17, she got past her opponent with a scoreline of 21-19, 21-4.

A host of players from New Vision Badminton academy shone in different age categories.

In the Under-9, New Vision Badminton Academy trainees finished as second runners up in both boy’s and girls singles.

In the Under-11, New Vision Badminton Academy took the second runner-up spot in the boy’s singles and runners-up in girl’s singles. In the Under-13, the second runner-up in the boy’s

singles went to the academy cadets while in the Under-15 girls final featured both the academy trainees.

New Vision Badminton

Academy coaches Manoj Sahibjan and Kesit Sutrisno were delighted with the performance of their players in the tournament.

The two coaches, who have been into coaching for the last two decades, reiterated that the suc-cess of players would not have been possible without the sincere

co-operation of parents. “It’s New Vision’s Badminton Academy objective to ensure that new tal-ents are groomed to international standards ensuring quality and

utmost attention at their coach-ing facilities in Cambridge School in Abu Hamour and American Academy in Al Thumama,” said Manoj.

Sadhvi Krishna Sunil of New Vision Badminton Academy winner of the Under-15 and Under-17 girls titles at the Star Sports Aeroplane Qatar Open Badminton tournament held at the Gems American Academy, Wakra. Right: The podium winners at the tournament.

The Peninsula

Qatar Shell and Qatar Football Association (QFA) celebrate this year’s Qatar National Day at Darb

El Saai with their award winning initi-ative Koora Time, offering an open football pitch and activities for all ages.

Over the course of the 12-day cel-ebration, Koora Time will host a traditional Tembah tournament for local youth, with 96 students partici-pating from sixteen different primary schools across Qatar. There will also be open play football for all age groups and a majlis with a virtual reality goal keeper game and other activities for younger children.

Former and current football play-ers are also set to participate in the Tembah tournament which will be held in the morning and the evening time. The involvement of the players will have great impact on the school chil-dren as they will get a chance to learn the positive values of non-competitive football.

The sixteen teams were divided into two categories: the first category con-sisting of third and fourth graders, while the second group consisting of fifth and sixth graders. Matches are set to start on December 9 and will run until December 17.

Two teams from the two catego-ries will qualify to the knock-out stage

and winners will be crowned on December 17.

Tembah is the name of the original and traditional-type football that was played in Qatar and the Gulf region in the past. Children get to play in the sand, barefoot and dress in traditional Qatari clothes.

The main objective of organising the Temba tournament is to spread the culture of football among young peo-ple and to encourage them to follow healthy and active lifestyle through football.

Koora Time is a ten-year sustain-able initiative designed to improve the

health and wellbeing of Qatar’s youth through football. The initiative facili-tates access to an additional 72 hours of physical activity over its 18-week duration and more opportunities and spaces to play football.

In recognition for its positive impact on the health of youth, Koora Time has been the recipient of numer-ous awards including the 2014 & 2016 ‘Sports Industry Award’ for Best CSR Initiative, the 2015 ‘CSR Award Qatar’ for Best CSR Impact Initiative, the 2014 ‘Dar Al Sharq Corporate Social Responsibility Award’ for the Best Sports Initiative, the ‘2014, 2016 and 2017 AFC Dream of Asia Award’ in the area of social responsibility and the 2017 ‘QFA Awards’ for Best CSR Programme.

In addition to the Temba tourna-ment, a variety of activities will also be available to cater to all ages and gen-ders including a Koora Time Majlis which features a virtual reality goal-keeper game, a coloring area, and a seating area.

Khalid Al Kuwari, Director of Mar-keting and Communications at QFA said: “It is a great opportunity to have Koora Time take part in the country’s national day, as it allows us to intro-duce this great initiative to the wider local community and give them the chance to be part of a successful pro-gramme which focuses on the

importance of a adopting a healthy life-style through football. Koora Time has received great positive feedback both locally and regionally”.

He added: “The activities of Koora Time this National Day witnessed var-ious new activities and ideas in line with the vision and objectives of the initiative, a football tournament was organised for different schools, in addi-tion to a football-related activities and training opportunities for the public which were under the supervision of coaches.

He also said: “Our participation in the major events of the country is not limited to this participation, we have developed a work strategy that is entirely different from the past which we are in the process of implementing. We will be organising more activities in the coming period.”

Al Kuwari expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to all those involved in the organising of Darb Al Saai for their efforts and stressed that this event undoubtedly gives everyone motivation to work together and reach the goals we all seek to achieve.

Since its launch in March 2013, the programme has benefitted over 17,500 children across Qatar. Last year’s pro-gramme saw a significant reduction in Body Mass Index (BMI) by 80% of par-ticipants. BMI is a measure of body fat based on height and weight.

Qatar Shell and QFA to celebrate National Day at Darb El Saai

Children playing Tembah, a traditional-type football that was played in Qatar and the Gulf region in the past. Children will get to play in the sand, barefoot and dressed in traditional Qatari clothes at the National Day celebrations at Darb El Saai.

Elite Football tourney for youth teams on December 29 in DohaThe Peninsula

Elite Football, a tournament which seeks to promote healthy lifestyle among the youth in Qatar, will be held on Decem-

ber 29 and 30, organisers of the event announced yesterday.

The tournament will be held in 13-14, 15-16 and 17-18 age group categories.

From the quarter-final stage, teams from different age group categories will be drawn to play against a team from a different age group. All the matches will be of twenty min-utes duration.

The winners will receive a cash prize of QR1000 and the runner-up QR750 and the third-place finisher QR250.

Teams wishing to take part in the tour-nament can contact Dan Jose Jinoy on 55394849 or Aidan Roche 50073810 through whatsapp or get in touch with the organisers through Elite Football League facebook page.

Interested teams can download the entry form from the facebook page of the orgnaisers.

Rahul Madula is the Director of Publica-tions of the tournament.

The last date to submit the entries is December 20.

Al Duhail aim to extend unbeaten runArmstrong Vas The Peninsula

Al Duhail will aim to con-tinue their unbeaten run when they take on Al Sai-lilya today at Alhi Stadium in the Week 11 action, the

last round of the first leg of the QNB Stars League.

The league leaders are the only unbeaten side in the 12-team compe-tition and have 28 points against their name from nine wins and one draw.

“Al Sailiya, despite losing their last two matches, are a very good side. They had been performing at a high level and getting the deserved results. They have a distinguished coach in Sami Trabelsi,” Djamel Belmadi (pic-tured) said on the eve of the match.

“However, we will play to win as we are keen to continue our unbeaten run. We have never lost a game in this season’s league competition. We respect Al Sailiya, but we have the players to achieve our goal,” he added.

“We are doing continuous work with the players and we want to fin-ish the first phase in the lead position. Respect for the rivals makes us

prepare for each match specifically,” said Belmadi.

Al Duhail goakeeper Khalifa Abu-bakr said, “This is going to be a tough game, but we have the desire to win it and we will take the field with a win-ning mentality. I feel very stressed because I play under pressure, but this positive pressure brings the best out of me. I train constantly in order to stay in good shape.”

Al Sailiya badly need a victory to regain their confidence, which has been at a low ebb, after suffering back-to-back defeats, at the hands of Al Khor

and Al Ahli. Yet, they retained their fourth place in the standings with 18 points as fifth-placed Umm Salal could not keep pace with them.

“I think the most difficult phase is behind us, having suffered back-to-back defeats despite dominating those games. We made many mistakes and had 50 per cent responsibility for these two losses. We paid heavy price for individual mistakes than the missed opportunities,” coach Sami Trabelsi said yesterday.

“The main problem was psycho-logical, rather than physical or tactical or technical. Overall, I’m not happy with our campaign in the first phase. We could’ve fared far better and col-lected more points.

“We’re trying hard to rectify the errors and we’ll play for victory against Al Duhail, who’re strong opponents. Some of our defeats happened because we played offensive and not defen-sive. That has been our strategy this season and we’ve got good results too.

“Against Al Khor, we played almost 60 minutes with 10 men following Majdi Siddiq’s send-off. That affected the players’ morale. But there’s no excuse for the loss to Al Ahli. We had

two or three solid chances and we missed them all,” said Trabelsi.

Coach Djamel Belmadi’s side’s charge to the top has been fashioned by league’s top scorer Youssef El Arabi (15 goals). Captain Youssef Msakni, South Korean playmaker Nam Tae-Hee and Ismail Mohammed have fueled the charge for Duhail.

In the other match today, Al Sadd will take on Al Kharaitiyat.

Al Sadd coach Jesualdo Ferreira appeared cautious ahead of the match.

“The matches against Al Kharaitiyat are often very difficult. We will try our best to bag full points, so we will be able to keep pace with Al Duhail and Al Rayyan. We have no option other than win-ning to achieve that aim. My players are game for it.

“We are not as strong as we were in the previous season. Injuries are our main concern. I hope we will be able to field all players always together in the second phase of the league. I also wish we put behind injuries to key players and take a shot at the title in full form. Our aim is the league title and we will go all out for it till the last round.

New Delhi

Reuters

Sri Lanka captain Dinesh Chandimal said dropping his deputy Lahiru Thir-

imanne for the third and final test against India was not an easy call but he was vindicated as Dhananjaya de Silva’s gal-lant century secured a thrilling draw yesterday.

Number three batsman Thirimanne managed a fifty in his four innings in India but was dropped for the Delhi test due to his tendency to play loose shots.

The tourists slotted de Silva in the crucial spot and the 26-year-old braved a thigh injury to score 119 and help his team eke out a draw at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.

Once he retired hurt just

before tea, debutant Roshen Silva, who followed his first innings duck with a fighting unbeaten 74, partnered Niro-shan Dickwella and batted out the final session.

“The vice-captain not play-ing, it was tough on both him (Thirimanne) and the team,” Chandimal told reporters.

“It’s a tough call but Dhananjaya and Roshen Silva deserved their opportunities, especially Roshen who has scored more than 6,000 runs in domestic cricket.”

“It’s really unfortunate for Thirimanne but Dhananjaya

and Roshen Silva grabbed their opportunities.”

Despite the pain, de Silva was decisive in his footwork against the spinners, hitting 15 boundaries and a six in his free-scoring third test century.

“It was a really good innings,” Chandimal, who smashed a career-best 164 in the first innings, said of de Silva who also bowls off-breaks. “We had full trust in him at number three. We knew he would give us some bowling option as well and he has grabbed the oppor-tunity with both hands.”

The smog-hit contest

finally saw a mostly sunny day on Wednesday but the test is more likely to be remembered for Delhi’s toxic smog which had the tourists struggling.

Chandimal said the condi-tions meant his team found it difficult to perform to the best of their ability.

“It was a tough time for us as a team. We are not used to that. In Sri Lanka, you don’t get this much pollution,” the 28-year-old said.

“After the first two days, we discussed it with the team and said we need to forget that, and we need to play the game.”

32 THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER 2017SPORT 33THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER 2017 SPORT

Adelaide

Reuters

Josh Hazlewood snuffed out Eng-land’s hopes of a remarkable sec-ond Ashes Test

triumph with two wickets in the first 16 balls of the final day as Australia wrapped up a 120-run victory in brilliant sunshine at A d e l a i d e O v a l yesterday.

England, with six wickets in hand, needed 178 runs to win the maiden day-night Ashes Test and level the series at 1-1 but fell well short of their victory target and will head to Perth 2-0 down with three matches to play.

Left-arm quick Mitchell Starc mopped up the tail with the new pink ball to take five for 88, his eighth five-wicket haul in Tests, but Hazlewood shared the plaudits after his key early intervention.

The paceman delivered a hefty blow when he removed Chris Woakes with the second ball of the day and two overs later landed a knockout punch when he had Joe Root caught behind before the Eng-land captain could add to his overnight 67.

“If I’m being honest, I was a lit-tle nervous last night,” said Australia captain Steve Smith.

“So it was very pleasing that Josh was able to come out and do what he did this morning, and obviously to get the wicket of Root really put us in a good position and I was able to breathe a little more easily.”

Root’s innings was always going to be crucial to his team’s chances of chasing down a record 354 at Adelaide Oval and although the innings limped on into a second hour, the hope raised among the English on Tuesday was gone.

The dismissal of Woakes had an element of fortune in that the feather the nightwatchman got on the ball was picked up by snicko but not the hotspot when it was referred.

Root, however, walked after he got late to a good length delivery from Hazlewood and the ball nicked off his bat into the welcoming gloves of Tim Paine.

Moeen Ali, who made two off 20 balls, used up England’s last DRS referral when he attempted a sweep off Nathan Lyon with the ball-track-ing only confirming the umpire’s lbw decision.

Starc then got to work with the new ball and Craig Overton (7) departed plumb lbw from the first delivery with it, Stuart Broad fol-lowing not so long afterwards.

Jonny Bairstow, England’s last recognisable batsman, had stood

tall for 36 in difficult circumstances but edged another Starc fizzer onto his middle stump and the tour-ists were all out for 233.

“Obviously very disappointing,” said Root. “I don’t think we did ourselves justice today.

“But we’re still massively in the series. We showed that from the way we

played yesterday.”Smith had been relying on his

bowlers to save his embarrassment after he failed to enforce the fol-low-on and England’s bowlers got them back into the game.

The hosts got 442-8 declared on the back of Man of the Match Shaun Marsh’s 126 not out before dismissing England for 227 but Smith sent his batsmen back in only for James Anderson and Woakes to bowl them out for 138.

Only one captain in the long his-tory of Test cricket had previously lost a Test after opting not to enforce the follow-on and Smith was grateful to his bowlers for get-ting him out of a hole.

“Over the last day or so I have had a few different thoughts about it and I’ve read a lot of things, but in the end we won the game so it’s irrelevant,” he said.

Although the final day’s attend-ance could not quite push the already record total for the Test over the 200,000 mark, there was no doubt that day-night Ashes cricket is here to stay.

Hazlewood strikes early as Hazlewood strikes early as Aussies take 2-0 Ashes lead Aussies take 2-0 Ashes lead

Ashes not over yet: Root Adelaide

Reuters

A defiant Joe Root insisted the Ashes series was by no means over despite England falling to a 120-run defeat in the second Test at Adelaide Oval yester-

day to go 2-0 down with three matches to play.England, swept 5-0 on their last visit to Australia, must

now win at least two of the remaining matches in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, as well as draw the other, to retain the urn they won with a 3-2 triumph on home soil in 2015.

Despite England’s extremely poor record in Perth, Root thought the fight the tourists put up on the third and fourth days in Adelaide meant the series was very much alive.

“I’d strongly disagree,” he said when asked what he would say to those who believed England were heading for another whitewash. “The way we responded with ball and bat in the second innings was outstanding (and) proved to everyone we are still massively in the series, it’s simple as that.

“We’ve shown throughout the two games in periods we can outperform Australia, just not over five days, and that’s going to be our challenge.

“If we can get that right, and perform to our ability for longer periods of time, we’ll win games. Simple as that.”

England’s late resurgence in Adelaide gave them some hope of claiming a victory with a ground record run chase of 354 but they ulti-mately withered in the face of Australia’s pace attack on Wednesday.

Root’s innings was always going to be key to England hopes but he was caught behind off a delivery that nicked the bottom of his bat before he could add to his overnight tally of 67 and the last six wickets fell for just 57 runs.

Root said suggestions that this tour would be a carbon copy of the 2013-14 visit were well wide of the mark, even if the series score was the same after two matches.

“I think we’re in a much better place than that, there’s still a lot of confidence going into that next game,” Root added. “We’re playing better cricket this time, I don’t think we’re as unevenly matched as we were last time around. You’ve seen us in control for periods of the game, whereas I don’t think that was the case last time round.”

eriiesess wwasasssa b by y nononoo g ttoo a a 1211220-00-ruruururr nn

de OOvvalal y yyeesteteeter-r-plalay..AuAusts raraalililil a,aa, m mmmuusuusu t t

atccheh s s ininin PPerrrrthththththh, , ototheheh r,r ttttoo o o rreetatatataainiinnininiiinin

mee sosoilill ininiin 2222001011015.5.55.5rdd ts s

de e

llll ddiing g vvelele yy

ees s s ininnn t nnonoot tt tt

oooooururru

oo o ouououurrr r rrrwwwiww n nn

gagaaveveveveee itthh aa a uulultii--

ppacacccee e e attttatatatatttttatatatatatackckkckckkkckckckckckckck ooooooooooo o oooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

key y toto EEngngglalall ndnddderry y y ththhaat nnniicicickkekeedd d o hhhisisi ooveeev rnnrnr igiggighthtththust 5557 rurunsnss.uld bbe a a ccacaarbrbboononnthee e e mamamarkkrkk, , , evevvvvennenenenmatatata chchheesss...annn t t thahahah t,t,t ttttheheheheheheerrererereree’s’s’sssssssxtttt g g g gamammmamame,e,e,ee ”” ” RoRoRoRoRoRRoRRRRRooRoototototootoooot

me, , , , I I I dodoood n’n’n’n’n’n’t t t t thththththhhththhhthhhinininnink k kkkkkkk kkkkst tt titititiiimememmeee aaaaaarorrororrrrrrr unununununnnnunnunund.dd.dd.d.d.dddddee ggggaamamamme,e,e,eee aaaastststs t t ttimimimimmmmme eeeee

Adelaide

Reuters

Cricket’s Decision Review System

(DRS) was in the spotlight in the

Ashes Test between Australia

and England in Adelaide as both cap-

tains had to make quick decisions

time and again on whether to chal-

lenge the umpire’s call.

No less than 17 decisions were

referred to the DRS technology for

the third umpire to review, of which

seven were successful in having the

original call overturned, while on 10

other occasions the umpire’s origi-

nal decision was upheld.

Captains are allowed two unsuc-

cessful reviews per innings, after

which the on-field decision cannot

be challenged.

The reviews are used mainly for

leg before wicket decisions or when

the batsman has been caught after

getting a thin edge.

Australia captain Steve Smith

could have rued his impetuousness

in the second innings, when he burnt

his two appeals relatively early and

had to live with the umpire’s deci-

sions thereafter.

Smith acknowledged the diffi-

culty of having to make more or less

instant decisions whether to review

decisions that are often decided by

millimetres.

“It’s a tough one,” he told report-

ers after Australia beat England in

the second Test yesterday.

“I certainly think my thought

process around it has changed a lit-

tle bit (whether to risk calling for a

review early in an innings). Some-

times it’s more hope.

“It’s something I can in particu-

lar continue to work on and try to

get as consistent as I can.”

England captain Joe Root, mean-

while, said decision-making was

tough on both the umpires and

captains.

“It’s easy to criticise the umpires

and make excuses but it’s a very dif-

ficult job and just like players you

have good or bad days,” he said.

Root looked at the bigger pic-

ture of the DRS technology, and

whether it somehow could be

improved.

DRS uses technology that tracks

the path of ball and predicts what it

would have done for lbw decisions.

It also uses audio and infra-red

imaging for catch decisions to detect

temperature changes as the ball

strikes bat or pad.

“Is the tech in

the right place,

could it be

b e t t e r ? ”

Root said.

“We are

where we are

with it. If we

use it as an

excuse it’s not going

to help us.”

Captains struggle with DRS

Adelaide

Reuters

Australia captain Steve Smith admits he took a sleeping pill as he

dealt with a bout of nerves on the eve of the final day of the second Ashes Test after his decision not to enforce the follow-on had given England a sniff of victory.

It all worked out in the end with Australia canter-ing to a 120-run victory to take a 2-0 lead in the series on Wednesday but Smith conceded he might have had a sleepless night if he had not had a bit of phar-

m a c e u t i c a l assistance.

“I had to have a sleep-

ing pill last night. It has been a p r e t t y tough 24 hours if I’m being honest ,” he said.

“It’s all part of being cap-tain of your c o u n t r y . You have to

make difficult decisions and

sometimes you’re going to make the wrong decision.

“I’ll think back and reflect over the

next day or so and think what I could have perhaps done differently and could have done better, and areas that I can continue to improve in my leadership.”

Only South Africa cap-tain Dudley Nourse against Australia in 1950 had pre-viously lost a Test after failing to enforce the fol-low-on, and Smith could have joined him if England had managed 178 runs yesterday.

Smith said he was still undecid Smith said he was still undecided whether it was a good decision or not but that he had expected Australia to back it up by batting a bit better than they did by making just 138 runs in their second innings.

“I guess my rationale was that we’re 215 runs in front of the game, if we bat reasonably well then we should be getting up over 400,” he said.

“All we needed is one good partnership and the game is dead and buried. We didn’t get that partnership.

“Over the last day or so I have had a few different thoughts and I’ve read a lot of things but in the end we won the game so it’s all irrelevant.”

Another factor had been keeping his pace bowlers fresh and tiring out the Eng-lish seamers.

“We know it’s a long summer and I think the bowlers we’ve got are very valuable,” he said.

“It’s part of an Ashes series, it’s long. And if we can tire their bowlers early in the summer it can make a big difference at the back end.”

Smith, whose 141 not out was the difference between the sides in the first Test in Brisbane, con-tributed 40 and six runs in his two innings in Adelaide.

James Anderson said on Tuesday that he thought England had got to Smith with their sledging. Smith disagreed.

“I think the opposite. I think they switched me on to be perfectly honest,” he said.

“I think when it got me in my little bubble. I have my little idiosyncrasies. It got me going. They can think what they like but from my point of view it got me going.”

De Silva’s ton helps Sri Lanka force a draw as India seal series New DelhiReuters

Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva struck a heroic hun-dred and Roshen Silva

made a gallant unbeaten 74 to help secure a morale-boosting draw in the final test against India, who won the three-match series 1-0 yesterday.

Playing his first match in the series, de Silva braved a thigh injury to score 119 before retiring hurt.

Debutant Silva and Niro-shan Dickwella then batted out the final session as the tourists secured their second draw of the series at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.

The tourists, who finished on 299-5, could not chase down the 410-run victory tar-get but battled suprerbly to salvage some pride after being outplayed in the series.

India’s ninth straight test series triumph puts the world number one side into an elite club with Australia and England.

“When you’re not able to finish off in the second innings after having them three down on day four is disappointing,” India captain Virat Kohli said a t t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n ceremony.

“But they played well, they showed composure and confi-dence,” added the batsman who was given the man-of-t h e - m a t c h a n d man-of-the-series awards.

Resuming the final day on a precarious 31-3, Sri Lanka

lost Angelo Mathews early in the morning session but de Silva and Dinesh Chandimal resisted India for two hours as the smog-hit test finally saw a mostly sunny day.

India tasted success in the sixth over of the day when Mathews was caught in the slip off Ravindra Jadeja for one.

Dropped three times in his first innings knock of 111, Math-ews was not so lucky in the second, given out on a no-ball which went undetected by umpire Joel Wilson.

Jadeja bowled Chandimal, then on 24, with a drifted, sharply-turning ball but replays confirmed the left-arm spinner had marginally overstepped.

Nimble-footed de Silva scored freely, especially against the spinners, while Chandimal looked content playing second fiddle.

Ashwin ended the 112-run partnership when he lured Chandimal out of the crease and spun the ball past his bat to hit the stumps.

The Sri Lanka captain, who

smashed a career-best 164 in the first innings, made 36.

Ashwin had a chance to catch de Silva, then on 110, off his own bowling but the off-spinner spilled the full-blooded drive.

By then, de Silva was strug-gling with his thigh injury and the 26-year-old eventually hobbled off the field, passing on the baton to Silva, who proved equal to the challenge.

De Silva’s third test century contained 15 boundaries and a six off Ashwin.

Silva and Niroshan Dick-wella (44 not out) raised 94 runs, denying India a wicket in the final session, before the teams shook hands.

“It was a really good series, apart from the second one (test). We learnt a lot,” Chan-dimal said.

“Dhananjaya and Roshen batted really well in tough con-ditions against some great bowlers... Dickwella played a totally different brand of cricket. (I’m) happy with the way we played today.”

Colombo

AP

Sri Lanka cricket board (SLC) has com-plained to the sport’s

governing body about the poor air quality in which its players have been compelled to play a Test match in the Indian capi-tal New Delhi.

Sports Minister Daya-siri Jayasekara said Sri Lanka Cricket made the complaint on Tuesday to the International Cricket Council, saying “we can’t play like this as four play-ers had vomited” due to the pollution.

He said the ICC had informed them that it will take necessary steps. However, it is not certain what action ICC had taken.

Sri Lanka and India play their third and final Test which ends yesterday at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.

Sri Lanka’s cricketers wore face masks during the match and the bowl-ers complained of shortness of breath.

SLC complainsto ICC on air pollution at Delhi Test

Skipper Chandimal relieved as Dhananjaya move pays off

the path of ball and predicts what it

would have done for lbw decisions.

It also uses audio and infra-red

imaging for catch decisions to detect

temperature changes as the ball

strikes bat or pad.

“Is the tech in

the right place,

could it be

b e t t e r ? ”

Root said.

“We are

where we are

with it. If we

use it as an

excuse it’s not going

to help us.”

Adelaide

Reuters

ustralia captaiSmith admits a sleeping pil

dealt with a bout of on the eve of the finof the second Asheafter his decision enforce the follow-given England a svictory.

It all worked ouend with Australia cing to a 120-run victake a 2-0 lead in theon Wednesday butconceded he mighhad a sleepless nighhad not had a bit o

m a c e u tassistance.

“I hhave a

ing pnightbeep rtouhoI’mhohe s

parbeintain oc o uYou h

make ddecision

sometimesgoing to mawrong decisi

“I’ll thinand reflect o

Follow-on decision left Smith sweating

India (I innings): ......................... 536-7 dec Sri Lanka (I innings): .............................373India (II innings): ......................246-5 dec.Sri Lanka (II innings): D Karunaratne c Saha b Jadeja ............................ 13

S Samarawickrama c Rahane b Shami .................5

D de Silva retired hurt .......................................... 119

S Lakmal b Jadeja ......................................................0

A Mathews c Rahane b Jadeja ................................1

D Chandimal b Ashwin ..........................................36

R Silva (not out) ...................................................... 74

N Dickwella (not out) ..............................................44

Extras (B5, LB1, NB1) .............................................. 7

Total (5 wkts) ....................................... 299Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-31, 3-31, 4-35, 5-147,

5-205 (De Silva - ret hurt)

Did not bat: D Perera, L Gamage, L Sandakan

Bowling: I Sharma 13-2-32-0, Shami 15-6-50-1,

Ashwin 35-3-126-1, Jadeja 38-13-81-3 (nb1), Vijay

1-0-3-0, Kohli 1-0-1-0

Result: Draw

Series: India win the three-match series 1-0

SCOREBOARD

Australia (I innings): ................ 442-8 decl.England (I innings): .............................. 227 Australia (II innings): ........................... 138England (II innings):A Cook lbw b Lyon ...................................................16

M Stoneman c Khawaja b Starc ........................... 36

J Vince c Handscomb b Starc ................................. 15

J Root c Paine b Hazlewood ..................................67

D Malan b Cummins ...............................................29

C Woakes c Paine b Hazlewood .............................5

M Ali lbw b Lyon ........................................................2

J Bairstow b Starc ................................................... 36

C Overton lbw b Starc ............................................... 7

S Broad c Paine b Starc .............................................8

J Anderson (not out) ................................................ 0

Extras (B7, LB5) .....................................................12

Total (all out; 84.2 overs) .................... 233Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-54, 3-91, 4-169, 5-176,

6-177, 7-188, 8-206, 9-224, 10-233

Bowling: Starc 19.2-3-88-5, Hazlewood 20-7-

49-2, Cummins 20-6-39-1, Lyon 25-6-45-2

Result: Australia won by 120 runs

SCOREBOARD

Australia’s Josh Hazlewood (centre) celebrates with team-mates after taking the wicket of England’s captain Joe Root during the fifth day of the second Ashes cricket Test match at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide, Australia yesterday.

Indian cricketers pose with the trophy after winning the Test series against Sri Lanka 1-0 at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in New Delhi yesterday.

Austraia’s skipper Steve Smith.

England captain Joe Root walks off the ground

after being dismissed on the final day

of the second Ashes cricket

Test match in Adelaide yesterday.

It’s all part of being captain of your country. You have to make difficult decisions and sometimes you’re going to make the wrong decision: Smith

34 THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER 2017SPORT

35THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER 2017 SPORT

Russia ban must be analysed before taking action, says Kremlin Moscow

Reuters

Russia will have to carefully analyse the International Olympic Committee’s

decision to ban the country from the 2018 Pyeongchang Games before taking any measures, the Kremlin said yesterday.

The IOC banned Russia on Tuesday from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games after evidence emerged of an “unprecedented systematic

manipulation” of the anti-dop-ing system.

The door was left open, how-ever, for Russians to compete as an “Olympic Athlete of Russia” as long as they satisfy strict condi-tions that show they have a doping-free background.

“Now, of course, we need to cast aside emotions and quite seriously analyse the decisions taken by the IOC regarding our country before making any judgment on this matter,” Krem-lin spokesman Peskov told

reporters on a conference call.Peskov, who said earlier this

week that Russia had no plans to boycott the Pyeongchang Games if the IOC imposed restrictions on its participation, added Moscow wanted to main-tain ties with the IOC.

“Once again we repeat that the situation is serious and requires deep analysis,” he said. “It wouldn’t be right to give in to emotions.”

Before Tuesday’s IOC deci-sion, more than 20 Russian

athletes who competed at the 2014 Sochi Games were banned for life from the Olympics for having allegedly violated anti-doping rules.

The bans came as a result of an IOC investigation into allega-tions of widespread doping among Russian athletes and tam-pering with samples by laboratory and security officials at Sochi.

The Kremlin declined to say whether officials involved in organising the Sochi Games would be reprimanded.

They include Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, the former sports ministry who was banned from the Olympics for life as part of the IOC decision.

Reprimands “can’t be para-mount,” Peskov said.

“The priority is defending the interests our Russian athletes. And to defend their interests, we need to completely focus all our efforts, and everything else should come in second.”

Mutko, who has yet to address the ban against him

publicly, did not answer Reuters calls on Tuesday and yesterday.

The Russian authorities have vehemently denied state involvement in doping and pledged to work with interna-tional sports bodies to curb the use of banned performance-enhancing drugs in the country.

Russia’s athletics federation, Paralympic Committee and anti-doping agency RUSADA remain suspended over doping scandals.

NBA: Westbrook bags another triple double as Thunder win Los Angeles

AFP

Russell Westbrook bagged a second con-secutive triple double as the Oklahoma City Thunder staged a late

rally to sink the Utah Jazz on Tuesday.

Westbrook, who had guided the Thunder to a victory over San Antonio on Sunday with his sev-enth triple of the season, bagged his eighth of the campaign in a 100-94 win at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The reigning NBA MVP fin-ished with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 14 assists as OKC improved to 11-12 in the Western Confer-ence standings.

Paul George had 21 points and New Zealand center Steven Adams 20 while Carmelo Anthony added 14 for the home side.

Donovan Mitchell led the scoring for Utah with 31 points while Joe Ingles had 16 points.

Westbrook’s virtuoso per-formance helped dig the Thunder out of a hole after Utah raced into a 28-19 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Utah led 47-39 at half-time and jumped out to an 80-68 lead heading into the final quarter.

But with Utah seemingly poised for victory, the Thunder exploded in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Jazz 32-14 to win.

“Russell Westbrook, the MVP of the league, got going,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said.

“I thought in the third quar-ter he gave them a lot of energy and gave them points.

“I thought we ran out of steam a little bit just emotionally.

“We’ve got to be able to play through that, but I thought all in all, obviously you want to win, but there’s a lot of good things that we did.”

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Devin Booker’s scintillating run of recent form came to an unhappy end as the Phoenix Suns prodigy was car-ried off the court in his team’s defeat to the Toronto Raptors. Booker, who had scored 46 points on Monday and 38 points on Sat-urday, was helped away at the end of the fourth quarter after bagging 19 points.

Toronto claimed a 126-113

win to improve to 15-7 as Phoe-nix fell to 9-17. Kyle Lowry was the key figure for the Raptors, finishing with 20 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.

The Raptors were in control throughout, leading by 18 points heading into the fourth quarter. Phoenix rallied to cut the lead to 10 with 8min 44sec to play, but

Lowry pushed Toronto back in front by 14 with a three-pointer with just over five minutes left.

DeMar DeRozan was also influential for Toronto, bagging 20 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Serge Ibaka had 19 points, while OG Anunoby (16), C.J. Miles had (15), Jakob Poeltl (13), Fred VanVleet (13) also made double figures.

“I think it makes it a lot eas-ier, which makes it a lot more fun,” DeRozan said.

“Everybody gets a chance to touch the ball, you don’t neces-sarily have to work so hard and

it’s fun. ... With that, we still missed a lot of shots but it’s something we’re still learning,” he said.

Phoenix team officials mean-while later said Booker appeared to have suffered an adductor strain.

“I don’t know how serious, or when we’ll be able to evalu-ate,” Suns interim coach Jay Triano said. In Tuesday’s other game, the Washington Wizards (13-11) defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 106-92 after a dazzling 51-point display from Bradley Beal.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook

(left) dribbing the ball over San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills (8) during the second quarter of their

NBA game at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Monday.

Westbrook guided Thunder to win against Utah Jazz on

Tuesday.

Washington 106 Portland 92

O’ City 100 Utah 94

Toronto 126 Phoenix 113

NBA RESULTS

Smith-Schuster, Iloka banned over dangerous hits Los Angeles

AFP

Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and Cincinnati

Bengals safety George Iloka were both hit with one-game bans for incidents in Mon-day’s bruising divisional showdown, the NFL said.

Smith-Schuster was given a suspension after a brutal block on Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who left the game on a stretcher follow-ing the hit.

The Steelers receiver fol-lowed his hit by standing over Burfict and taunting him as he lay stricken on the turf.

Jon Runyan, the NFL vice president of football opera-tions, wrote in a letter to Smith-Schuster that the Steel-ers rookie had “celebrated” hitting a defenseless player.

“Your conduct following the hit fell far below the high standards of sportsmanship expected of an NFL player,” Runyan wrote.

Iloka meanwhile was sanctioned for hitting Anto-nio Brown in the head and neck area after the Steelers receiver scored a touchdown with 3:55 remaining.

“On a play which began with 3:55 left in the game, you violently struck a defenseless receiver in the head and neck area,” Runyan wrote.

“The Competition Com-mittee has clearly expressed its goal of ‘eliminating flagrant hits that have no place in our game’ and has encouraged the League office to suspend offenders for egregious viola-tions such as the one you committed last night.”

Pittsburgh won the game 23-20 after a last second field goal.

Marian Gaborik of the Los Angeles Kings skates with

the puck during the second period against the Minnesota Wild during their NHL game

at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

NHL: Gaborik stars as Kings claim big victory over Wild New York

Agencies

Marian Gaborik scored two third-period goals, the second representing

the 400th of his NHL career, and the Los Angeles Kings came from behind to win their sixth consecutive game, 5-2 over the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.

Jake Muzzin had a goal and an assist, Drew Doughty had three assists and Jonathan Quick made 19 saves for Los Angeles. Gaborik scored the first goal in Wild history and remains the franchise leader in several categories.

Lightning 6, Islanders 2Yanni Gourde scored twice

in 94 seconds to snap a 2-2 tie

as Tampa Bay defeated New York in a matchup of the league’s top scoring teams.

Brayden Point, Andrej Sustr, Vladislav Namestnikov and Chris Kunitz also scored for the Lightning, who have 100 goals this season -- one more than the

Islanders. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves to earn his league-leading 18th victory.

Rangers 4, Penguins 3Pavel Buchnevich scored the

tiebreaking goal with 8:48 left as New York halted Pittsburgh’s four-game winning streak.

Buchnevich attempted a pass across the slot, but the puck hit the stick of the Penguins’ Kris Letang and sailed over the glove of Tristan Jarry (25 saves) to break a 3-3 tie. Ondrej Pavelec, who was pegged to start in net when Henrik Lundqvist devel-oped a flu-like illness, stopped 41 shots for the Rangers, who have won six of their past seven and 12 of 15.

Patrik Hornqvist scored for the fourth consecutive game for Pittsburgh.

Vancouver 3 Carolina 0

Las Vegas 4 Anaheim 3

Los Angeles 5 Minnesota 2

Buffalo 4 Colorado 2

Nashville 5 Dallas 2

NY Rangers 4 Pittsburgh 3

St. Louis 4 Montreal 3

Detroit 5 Winnipeg 1

Tampa Bay 6 NY Islanders 2

New Jersey 4 Columbus 1

NHL RESULTS

36 THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER 2017SPORT

China star Wu Lei hails Qatar’s cooling systemThe Peninsula

China’s star forward Wu Lei has joined his equally high-profile team-mate Zhang Linpeng in showering praise on the pioneering stadium

cooling technology developed by Qatar. In September, the 26-year-old

winger had first-hand experience of the cooling system used at Khalifa Inter-national Stadium, the first completed 2022 FIFA World Cup™ tournament venue.

Lei, who was a nominee for this year’s Asian Player of the Year, exclu-sively told www.sc.qa that the innovative technology was a major fac-tor in his team’s second half comeback in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Qatar.

“I had a great experience at Khal-ifa Stadium,” said Lei, who was speaking at the AFC Annual Awards in Bangkok.

“So too did my team-mates. The cooling was really nice and it helped our physical conditioning and gave us greater stamina. It is a blessing for players.”

The match was played in 24C, despite the mercury tipping 38C out-side the stadium. The temperature was maintained inside the venue for the benefit of players and fans throughout

the 90 minutes.It was the first international to be

played at the redeveloped facility, which was inaugurated in May this year ahead of the Emir Cup final between Al Sadd and Al Rayyan. Plastic nozzles blow cold air into the Khalifa Interna-tional Stadium

Shanghai SIPG attacker Lei came on as a substitute in the 56th minute.

He set up China’s equaliser before lash-ing home the winner nine minutes from time to secure a 2-1 win for his country.

“The cooling created the perfect match condition for players and fans, and added to the grandeur of the rede-veloped stadium,” said Lei, who has won 48 caps for China.

“The redevelopment work was on the verge of completion when I was in Doha in January with my club for pre-season training. I thought then that I would love to play in the completed sta-dium. The icing on the cake was that I scored the winner when I did.”

However, Lei has not had his fill of playing in the venue, which will also host the 2019 World Athletics Championships.

“Though we did not qualify for Rus-sia, I am confident China will feature in the 2022 World Cup and I look for-ward to coming back to the stadium and continuing my good form,” he added with a smile.

Should China qualify for Asia’s sec-ond FIFA World Cup – after being part of the continent’s first tournament in 2002 – Lei will embark with no doubts whatsoever on the range and quality of Qatar’s football infrastructure.

“The training ground at Aspire Zone is one of the best I have been to,” he said.

“The pitches and facilities at Aspire Academy are of a high quality. Aspire has a great hotel and a shopping mall nearby which helps players to unwind. So Qatar has a perfect atmosphere for a player to both train and relax,” the star forward added.

China’s Wu Lei at the AFC Annual Awards 2017 in this file photo. Courtesy: AFC

I had a great experience at Khalifa Stadium. So too did my team-mates. The cooling was really nice and it helped our physical conditioning and gave us greater stamina. It is a blessing for players: Chinese star forward Wu Lei

Al Ghariya Triathlon set to take place on Saturday The Peninsula

Over 250 participants including 50 Qatari nationals are expected

to take part in the eagerly-anticipated Al Ghariya Triathlon which will be held at Al Ghariya Resort on Saturday.

The Al Ghariya Triathlon is being organised by the Qatar Olympic Committee in conjunction with Qatar Tria-thlon Federation, Tri Club Doha, and with participation Qtri, Mad Triathlon and Fit Q.

Triathlon - the challenge of three sports rolled into one event - is one of the fast growing sports in Qatar. The basic format is a swimming, cycling and running.

Dr. Mohammed Jaham Al Kuwari, President of Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Feder-ation, expressed his great pleasure in organising this event saying: “We, as Qatar Triathlon Federation mem-bers, are proud to be in a partnership with Qatar Olym-pic Committee in organising such a huge event, that raises awareness of the need to adopt a healthy lifestyle amongst members of the Qatari society, in addition to the solicitude of Qatar Olym-pic Committee to adopt new sports and to introduce it to Qataris and expats”.

Dr. Nasser Al Mohannadi, Triathlon director at Qatar Triathlon Federation said, “We are very happy to cele-brate our first ever National Triathlon Point Series in this lovely new location for Tria-thlon at Al Ghariya Resort.”

Junior Individual Distances

Mini-Kids (3-7) Free Duathlon or running event

(100m run, 100m bike, 100m run)

Kids 1 (7-9) 100m swim, 3km bike, 1.25km run

Kids 2 (10-11) 100m swim, 3km bike, 1.25km run

Kids 3 (12-13) 200m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run

Junior (14-15) 200m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run

Adult Individual Distances

Beginners

200m swim, 5km bike, 1.25km run

Super Sprint 200m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run

Sprint 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run

Team Relay Distances(2 or 3 members per team)

Team Relay

750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run

RACE DISTANCES

Aspire Academy wows rugby sevens legend SereviThe Peninsula

Renowned international Fijian Rugby Sevens leg-e n d , W a i s a l e

Tikoisolomoni Serevi, toured Aspire Academy yesterday dur-ing his visit to Doha.

During the exclusive tour, the two-time Rugby World Cup Sev-ens champion was given a tour of Aspire Academy’s state-of-the-art facilities and received an in-depth briefing on its services and programmes.

Speaking on the sidelines of his visit, Serevi said: “I am really amazed by what l have seen here. I have been playing rugby for 21 years and have been all over the world, but I have never seen an Academy like this in my life. It is really a privilege.”

After wishing them luck in their academic and sporting careers, Serevi shared words of wisdom with Aspire Academy’s student-athletes, advising them to have faith in their ability, believe in themselves and work hard, adding: “Always set out to be better than the day before, let this be your attitude especially in your training and one day you will reach your goal and be the best in your sport.”

Since opening its doors in 2004, Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence has become one of the foremost national sports academies in the world.

Working as part of the Aspire Zone Foundation - an interna-tional sport destination – Aspire Academy is at the heart of a sporting revolution currently

taking place in Qatar and around the region.

The Academy is conceiving, promoting and implementing game-changing excellence in sports training and elite athlete development that is enabling an entire generation of talented, disciplined and committed indi-viduals, both Qataris and internationals to pursue their sports dreams.

Together with the other members of the Aspire Zone Foundation (Aspire Logistics and Aspetar Qatar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital), the Aspire Academy is devel-oping sports champions, promoting healthy lifestyles and galvanizing the sports economy of today, and the future. www.aspire.

Over 350 fencers to take part at Qatar GPFawad Hussain The Peninsula

Over 350 fencers representing 45 countries will take part in this year’s edition of Qatar Fencing

Grand Prix starting tomorrow at the Aspire Dome.

Revealing details of the tourna-ment at a press conference yesterday, Tournament Director Abdullah Al Maa-deed informed that as many as 14 Qatari fencers including four female fencers will also be seen in action in the three-day event which will con-clude on Sunday.

The event, which is being held since 2004, is rated as one of the major tour-naments in the International Fencing Federation calendar.

“ We are happy to host this event again and we look forward to deliver-ing another successful competition,” said Al Maadeed.

“ Like every year, this edition will also feature leading fencers of the world in both the men’s and women’s categories.”

“Delegations from different coun-tries have started arriving in Doha. We

would like to thank our sponsors for supporting us in hosting this important event,” he said before adding that event will be telecast live on television.

Fencers from Tunisia, Algeria and Kuwait will be among the countries who will be participating in the event.

Tunisia’s star fencer Sarra Besbes, who claimed the women’s title at the 2016 edition of Qatar Grand Prix will be returning to Doha to defend her title. Youngjun Kweon of Korea hoisted the trophy of men’s event last year.

Al Maadeed said as per the instruc-tions of International Fencing Federation, the event will be supervised by 19 officials from other countries besides 10 Qatari officials.

He said for the first time, both the men’s and women’s finals will be held at the same time.

“The finals will be contested between 5pm to 7pm on Sunday. The preliminary rounds will start on Satur-day after the opening of the event on Friday (tomorrow),” he said.

According to International Fenc-ing Federation website, the event is offering a total prize money of US$ 30,000.

Tournament Director Abdullah Al Maadeed (centre) along with other officials reveals details of the Qatar Fencing Grand Prix at a press conference in Doha yesterday. The event will start tomorrow at Aspire Dome.

Renowned international Fijian rugby sevens legend, Waisale Tikoisolomoni Serevi (right) during his visit to Aspire Academy yesterday.