Tuesday 8 November 2016

SPORTMourinho hits out at United's 'problem players'

PAGE | 28 PAGE | 31

Ghebreslassie wins, Keitany defends at NY Marathon '

Team Qatar train under the watchful eyes of coach Jorge FossatiQatar football players take part in a training session ahead of their friendly match against 2018 World Cup hosts Russia which will be played on Thursday in Doha. RIGHT: Head coach Jorge Fossati giving instructions to a player. The team will fly out to China for their 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying game on November 15.

World Champion Gawad leads star cast at Qatar Classic 2016The Peninsula

Recently-crowned World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad will be hoping to con-

tinue his superb form in the upcoming Qatar Classic Squash Championships 2016 which will take place in Doha from November 13 to 18.

The draw for the tourna-ment was unveiled yesterday and the line-up includes some of the world’s greatest players, spearheaded by champion Gawad.

The players will battle it out for crucial points on the PSA Road to Dubai Standings - which is topped by World Number-one Mohamed El Shorbagy - with a place at the lucrative season-ending Dubai PSA World Series Finals up for grabs for the top eight.

Gawad, the 25-year-old star from Giza, Egypt, lifted the sport’s most prestigious title at the Wadi Degla PSA Men’s World Championship last week in Cairo, beating three-time winner Ramy Ashour to add to the Al Ahram Squash Open NEW-GIZA title earlier this season.

The World Number-three will meet a qualifier in round one, and is seeded to contest an exciting semi-final with 2015 World Champion Gre-gory Gaultier, who will hope to be fully recovered from the

ankle injury he sustained dur-ing the World Championship. Defening champion El Shor-bagy is also in action as he looks to bounce back from a semi-final defeat to Gawad in Cairo.

The hard-hitting Egyp-tian’s title-winning exploits at the Delaware Investments US Open catapulted him to the top of the PSA Road to Dubai standings ahead of Gawad and he will aim to strengthen his grasp on top spot with a third successive

Qatar Classic crown.ElShorbagy opens up

against Australian Number-one Cameron Pilley - the player who ended his charge during the 2016 Dubai PSA World Series Finals - and could meet Ashour in an explosive quarter-final clash, which would act as the lat-est chapter in their long-running rivalry.

The winner of 2009 tournament Nick Matthew, 2015 World Championship runner-up Omar Mosaad and

World Number-six Ali Farag are just some of the other big names included in a world-class draw, with Mosaad taking on the tournament wildcard, Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi, in round one.

The qualifying stages of the 2016 Qatar Classic will take place on November 11-12, while the main draw begins a day later, with the final taking place on Friday November 18 - entry to the tournament is free of charge.

[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) v Cameron

Pilley (AUS)

Tarek Momen (EGY) v [Qualifier]

James Willstrop (ENG) v Chris Simpson (ENG)

[Qualifier] v [8] Ramy Ashour (EGY)

[5] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [Qualifier]

Gregoire Marche (FRA) v Mohamed

Abouelghar (EGY)

Saurav Ghosal (IND) v [Qualifier]

[WC] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) v [3]

Omar Mosaad (EGY)

[4] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v [Qualifier]

Tom Richards (ENG) v Zahed Mohamed (EGY)

Max Lee (HKG) v Ryan Cuskelly (AUS)

[Qualifier] v [7] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY)

[6] Ali Farag (EGY) v [Qualifier]

Cesar Salazar (MEX) v Omar Abdel Meguid

(EGY)

Simon Rösner (GER) v [Qualifier]

Daryl Selby (ENG) v [2] Gregory Gaultier (FRA)

2016 QATAR CLASSICFIRST ROUND DRAW

Qatar to host GCC Rowing Championship this weekendQNA

The Qatar Sailing and Marine Sports Federa-tion (QSMF) will be hosting the 1st GCC Rowing Championship 2016 at the Doha Cor-

niche from November 11 to 12.The tournament, which will be held under the

auspices of the GCC Sailing and Rowing

Federation, will involve the participation of all the GCC member states Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and host Qatar, according to Qatar Olympic Committee.

Participants will compete in four disciplines including Women's Solo (CW1X), Men's Solo (CM1X), Men's Double Sculls (CM2X) and Men's Coxed Quad-ruple Sculls (CM4X+) during the two-day event.

QSMF President Khalifa Mohammed al Sewaidi said "Qatar is proud to host the maiden edition of this event. The competition will further help in developing the sport in the region besides fostering brotherly fraternity. As organisers, every hands are already on the deck to ensure a very suc-cessful outing and we believe the athletes will have a wonderful time in Doha."

QSL starsjet off for national dutyThe Peninsula

Eleven Qatar Stars League (QSL) inter-national stars will be joining up with their national sides hoping to aid

them in qualification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

In Asia it’s the third and final qualifi-cation round, and four QSL players will be hoping to make the difference for their sides in group A.

Current QSL player of the month Nam Tae Hee of Lekhwiya and Kooky Han of Al Gharafa have been called up for the Taegeuk Warriors. The South Koreans who are currently third in qualification will take on second place Uzbekistan in Soul, along with a friendly match against Canada.

The South Korean duo is likely to face a familiar opponent in Sardor Rashidov of El Jaish who has been chosen by head coach Samvel Babayan, for the crunch group A match-up. Al Sadd defender Morteza Pouraliganji has joined up with the Iranian national team ahead of their two matches including a friendly against Papa New Guinea and a World Cup qual-ification match up against Syria. Team Melli are currently sitting atop group A and will be looking to maintain their position at the top of the table.

Finally Al Sailiya attacker Faouzi Aaish has been called up by the Bahrain national team for their two friendly matches against the United Arab Emirates and Kyrgyzstan, which are due to take place on the 9th and 15th of November. Over in Africa and qual-ification for the 2018 World Cup in Russia is in its second round with two QSL play-ers set to take part. DR Congo has called up two QSL stars for their World Cup Qual-ification match up against Guinea. Al Ahli striker Firmin Mubele and Al Kharaitiyat man Jeremy Bokila have been called up by head coach Florent Ibengé, the Leop-ards are currently top of group A.

Al Sadd striker Bagdad Bounjah's good form has been rewarded with a call up to the Algerian national team. The Fennecs are set to take on Nigeria away from home in Russia 2018 World Cup Qualification.

European qualification for the 2018 World Cup enters its third match day and three QSL players will be representing their countries. Al Gharafa winger Vladimir Weiss has been called up for the Slova-kian national team for their World Cup Qualifier against Lithuania, along with a friendly match up against Austria.

Al Sailiya defender Dragoș Grigore will be a part of the Romanian set up for their upcoming games. Romania will entertain Poland on the 11th of November, along with a friendly clash against Russia just four days later.

World Champion Karim Abdel Gawad of Egypt in action in this file photo.

27TUESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT

Mavs end skid, Lakers stay hot

Los Angeles

AFP

The Dallas Mavericks put the worst start in franchise history behind them on Sun-day, downing the

Milwaukee Bucks 86-75 in over-time for their first win of the NBA season.

The Mavs had opened the season with five straight defeats, a skid that billionaire owner Mark Cuban said was "driving me nuts."

With a first win in the books the Mavs can now, perhaps, begi n fulfilling Cuban's aim of build-ing momentum, even with longtime star Dirk Nowitzki still sidelined by injury.

With Nowitzki looking on, Harrison Barnes scored a career high 34 points and Juan Jose Barea added 21 -- including five in overtime.

"It's definitely good to get that monkey off our backs," said Barnes, who connected on 13 of 26 shots and pulled down eight

rebounds.In Los Angeles, the Lakers

survived a second-half scare en route to a 119-108 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

The victory moved the Lak-ers to 4-3, and a perfect 3-0 at home. It's the first time the once-proud club has had a winning record through seven games since a 4-3 start in 2011-12.

Lakers coach Luke Walton had voiced concern that his team would feel an "emotional hang-over" after an upset of the Golden State Warriors on Friday.

But the Lakers were far from flat, taking the lead midway

through the first quarter and leading 54-43 by halftime.

Phoenix responded in the second half, out-scoring the Lak-ers 9-2 in the first two minutes of the third period.

They narrowed the gap to 93-92 in the fourth period before the Lakers regained control.

Jordan Clarkson drained a jump shot, and after Nick Young was fouled making a three-pointer and made the free-throw to complete the four-point play the Lakers were up 99-92, and the Suns wouldn't get any closer.

"It was really important," Clarkson said of the victory. "We always could have some

hangover from the last win. What we did was we came in next day, worked and washed that out of our heads."

The Lakers were without for-ward Larry Nance after the first quarter.

He hit the court chasing a loose ball and was diagnosed with a concussion that will likely sideline him for Tuesday's home game against the Mavericks.

Portland guard C.J. McCol-lum matched his career high of 37 points -- 16 of them in, yes-reday the fourth quarter -- to lead the Trail Blazers to a 100-94 victory over the Grizzlies in Memphis.

McCollum connected on 13 of 23 shots, including six of 12 from three-point range. He scored 10 of Portland's last 11 points in the game.

The Grizzlies led by four at halftime and took a 61-51 lead in the third quarter, but Portland managed to respond.

"They made a run and we kept our composure," said point guard Damian Lillard, who con-tributed 19 points, seven assists and six rebounds. "We kept guarding. We were proactive, locked in on the scouting report."

Chandler Parsons, who inked a four-year, $94m contract with Memphis, made an inauspicious debut after off-season knee sur-gery. He missed all eight of his attempts from the floor and didn't score a point.

Gordon Hayward made a much better showing in his first outing of the season, scoring a team-high 28 points as the Utah beat the Knicks 114-109 in New York.

In Toronto, Rudy Gay scored 23 points to lead Sacramento to a 96-91 victory over the Raptors that ended the Kings' four-game losing streak.

Philadelphia 76ers forward Dario Saric (9) reaches for a loose ball against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second quarter at Wells Fargo Center. The Cleveland Cavaliers won 102-101.

Hayward shines as Jazz beat KnicksNew YorkAFP

Utah's Gordon Hayward made a triumphant NBA return from a

fractured finger on Sunday by scoring 28 points to lead the Utah Jazz over the host New York Knicks 114-109.

The 26-year-old forward missed the first six games of the season with a broken left ring finger but Hayward, who led Utah last season with 19.7 points and 3.7 assists a game, made the most of his season debut in a Madison Square Garden matinee.

"First off, it felt great just to be out there," Hayward said.

"You work all summer to be able to play, and so to have the injury was definitely unfortunate, but it's good to be out there with the guys.

"It's a little awkward playing with the splint for sure, but it's not going to stop me from getting out there on the court when it's time to play."

Rodney Hood scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Jazz (4-3) out-scored New York 36-29 in the last 12 minutes.

George Hill added 23 points and nine assists for Utah.

Raiders bust Broncos to seize division leadLos AngelesAFP

Latavius Murray rushed for 114 yards and a career-high three touchdowns on Sun-

day as the Oakland Raiders downed the Super Bowl cham-pion Denver Broncos 30-20 to seize the NFL's AFC West divi-sion lead.

The Raiders, off to their best start since 2001, improved to 7-2, while the Broncos fell to 6-3, in third place behind Kansas City who improved to 6-2 with a 19-14 win over Jacksonville.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr completed 20 of 31 passes for 184 yards. Denver's Trevor Siemian completed 18 of 37 passes for 283 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.

But the real difference was on the ground, with the Raiders producing 218 rushing yards compared to Denver's 33.

Murray's three TDs included a one-yard plunge with 6:09 remaining.

Two plays later, Denver run-ning back Kapri Bibbs caught a screen pass and weaved his way through the Raiders' defense for a 69-yard TD that cut the lead to 30-20.

But Oakland's Reggie Nelson sealed the win with an intercep-tion with two minutes to play.

" W e n e e d e d t h i s

one," Murray said. "We're going forward. This is a new team, a new mindset. We're only

halfway there." Fans at Oakland Coliseum, who have endured 13 straight dismal seasons, were energized by the team's first Sunday night game in more than a decade.

With Las Vegas angling to lure the Raiders away from the Bay Area, a plane towing a sign reading "VEGAS, IF YOU BUILD IT WE WON'T COME" circled the stadium prior to kick off.

The Baltimore Ravens seized a narrow AFC North lead with a 21-14 victory over Pittsburgh that spoiled the return of Steelers

quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The Ravens snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 4-4, taking the lead over the Steelers -- also 4-4 -- atop the division.

Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco connected with Mike Wallace on a 95-yard touch-down pass late in the first quarter -- the longest pass in Ravens history.

It was 21-0 before the Steel-ers got on the board on Roethlisberger's 23-yard TD pass to Antonio Brown with 8:38 to

play. "I just think I need to be better," said Roethlisberger, who had been sidelined since surgery to repair a torn meniscus on October 17.

"Give them credit -- there were times I was going to make throws and their guys jumped in front of things... I just need to be better."

In Minneapolis, a tackle-breaking, leaping touchdown by Golden Tate lifted the Detroit Lions to a 22-16 overtime tri-umph against the Minnesota Vikings.

Tate caught a pass from Lions quarterback Matthew Staf-ford and spun away from Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes, who dived at Tate and missed. Tate then got away from safety Har-rison Smith along the sideline and jumped into the end zone.

The Lions had sent the game into overtime with a 58-yard field goal with two seconds left in regulation.

"Our guys have been able to do it," Lions coach Jim Caldwell said of his team's five game-win-ning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime this season. "It's a tough situation to be in, but they don't flinch."

The Dallas Cowboys's explo-sive offense scored three touchdowns in the first half enroute to a 35-10 victory over the winless Browns in Cleveland.

Ducks fly past Flames, Oilers edge WingsNew York

Reuters

Ryan Kesler scored two power-play goals, and Ryan Getzlaf and Corey

Perry each added three assists to lead the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Sunday.

The Ducks set an NHL record for most consecutive victories at home against one team, beating Calgary in Ana-heim for the 24th consecutive time. The Philadelphia Flyers held the previous mark by defeating the Pittsburgh Pen-guins 23 successive times between 1980 and 1987.

Getzlaf now has 531 career assists, tying Teemu Selanne for the franchise record. Andrew Cogliano scored his team-leading fifth goal, Clayton Stoner contrib-uted his first of the season, and goalie Jonathan Bernier stopped 25 shots for the Ducks, who won for the third time in four games.

Alex Chiasson scored the only goal for the Flames, who sustained their fourth loss in five games.

Meanwhile, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' power-play goal late in the second period broke a tie, and Edmonton defeated Detroit. It was the Oilers' sec-ond win in less than 24 hours and the Red Wings' fifth straight loss.

Tyler Pitlick also scored for Edmonton, which beat the New York Islanders 4-3 in a shootout Saturday night on the road.

Oakland Raiders running back Latavius Murray (28) is tackled by Denver Broncos free safety Darian Stewart (26) during the fourth quarter of their NFL game at Oakland Coliseum on Sunday.

Ravens top rusty SteelersLos Angeles

AFP

Baltimore shut out Pitts-burgh for more than three quarters in a 21-14

NFL victory that lifted the Ravens to their division lead and spoiled the return of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

The Ravens snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 4-4, taking the lead over the Steelers -- also

4-4 -- atop the AFC North. Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco connected with Mike Wallace on a 95-yard touch-down pass late in the first quarter -- the longest pass in Ravens history. Chris Moore's 14-yard return of a Buck Allen blocked punt coupled with Steve Smith's two-point con-version reception made it a 21-0 game early in the third quarter. The Steelers finally got on the board on Roethlis-berger's 23-yard TD pass to

Antonio Brown with 8:38 to play. But Roethlisberger, who underwent surgery to report a torn left meniscus on Octo-ber 17, got off to a slow start. "I just think I need to be bet-ter," Roethlisberger said after completing 23 of 45 passes for 264 yards with one touch-down and one interception. "Give them credit -- there were times I was going to make throws and their guys jumped in front of things... I just need to be better."

Denver Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian (13) throws a pass against the Oakland Raiders in the first quarter at Oakland Coliseum on Sunday.

LA Lakers 119 Phoenix 108

St Louis 5 Colorado 1

Edmonton 2 Detroit 1

New Jersey 4 Carolina 1

Chicago 4 Dallas 3

NY Rangers 5 Winnipeg 2

Anaheim 4 Calgary 1

NHL RESULTS

Baltimore 21 Pittsburgh 14

Dallas 35 Cleveland 10

Kansas City 19 Jacksonville 14

Miami 27 NY Jets 23

NY Giants 28 Philadelphia 23

Detroit 22 Minnesota 16

Carolina 13 Los Angeles 10

New Orleans 41 San Francisco 23

San Diego 43 Tennessee 35

Indianapolis 31 Green Bay 26

Oakland 30 Denver 20

NFL RESULTS

Utah 114 NY Knicks 109

Portland 100 Memphis 94

Sacramento 96 Toronto 91

Dallas 86 Milwaukee 75

Denver 123 Boston 107

LA Lakers 119 Phoenix 108

NBA RESULTS

First win of season

Dallas put the worst start in franchise history behind them to down the Bucks 86-75 in overtime for their first win of the NBA season.

1. (1) Jason Day (Australia) 12.20

2. (2) Rory McIlroy (Britain) 10.61

3. (3) Dustin Johnson (US) 10.53

4. (4) Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 8.82

5. (5) Jordan Spieth (US) 8.48

6. (7) Adam Scott (Australia) 6.82

7. (6) Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 6.70

8. (8) Patrick Reed (US) 5.85

9. (9) Bubba Watson (US) 5.57

10. (11) Rickie Fowler (US) 5.44

11. (10) Danny Willett (Britain) 5.37

12. (12) Paul Casey (Britain) 5.18

13. (13) Justin Rose (Britain) 5.16

14. (14) Sergio Garcia (Spain) 5.01

15. (15) Branden Grace (South Africa) 4.62

GOLF WORLD RANKINGS

28 TUESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT

Pacquiao has unfinished business with Mayweather Las Vegas

AFP

Floyd Mayweather accepted an invite to watch Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao's

WBO title fight on Saturday, leav-ing many wondering if a request to step back in the ring would be next.

Mayweather had a front row seat at the Thomas & Mack Center to watch Pacquiao easily beat former champion Jessie Vargas with a unanimous decision victory.

Pacquiao said on Sunday that he is eager to avenge his 2015 loss to Mayweather and he doesn't feel the contract negotiations would be nearly as acrimonious as they were for the first fight, which became the richest in box-ing history.

"Not only for myself, but the fans of boxing want the rematch then why not?" Pacquiao told a group of reporters at his luxury suite at the Wynn hotel and casino. "We can easily talk about that it is not a problem.

"Because we now have direct contact to them it would be

easier to talk about when there will be a rematch."

Pacquiao looked impressive Saturday and even showed his power with a second-round knockdown as he reclaimed the WBO welterweight title -- the same belt he lost to Mayweather.

Pacquiao made sure the retired Mayweather was there to witness him win it back on Sat-urday night. Pacquiao said he found out on Friday that May-weather would be attending the fight.

"I met with his manager I told him I would invite Floyd and they said OK," Pacquiao said.

There are no talks scheduled between the two and Pacquiao has no idea whether he can entice Mayweather to come out of retirement in 2017.

"We don't have any discus-sions as for now," said Pacquiao who will fly back to the Philip-pines so he can be there when the Senate reopens on Tuesday. "It is not in my mind right now for the next fight.

"I want to go back to the Phil-ippines and work at my next job,"

the first-year Senator said.Even when he has something

to say, Pacquiao will never put all his cards on the table.

Saturday he fought like a boxer who didn't want to spoil a good thing as his comeback from a brief retirement could have eas-ily been derailed by a carelessly getting caught by a punch from the bigger and heavier Vargas.

But Mayweather's appear-ance at ringside Saturday has stirred talk of a Pacquiao-May-weather 2.

Mayweather did not speak to reporters after Saturday's fight and has shown no signs of want-ing to come out of retirement.

Pacquiao's last two victories have been impressive, showing that he has recovered from the shoulder injury which hampered him in his fight against May-weather in May 2015.

"I believe if there is a rematch, or if it happens, I want to make sure the fans will love it and I will give everything to get back their trust," said Pacquiao.

Asked why he didn't call off the Mayweather fight because of his shoulder injury, Pacquiao said he didn't think before the fight that the shoulder would be a problem.

"I have no regrets because I felt good one week before the fight. In that kind of fight I hurt my shoulder," he said.

Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum said Saturday he doesn't know if he can entice May-weather to fight again.

"Floyd Mayweather is retired. As far as we're concerned he's retired and we respect that," Arum said.

New York AFP

Reigning world marathon cham-pion Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea won the

40th New York City Mara-thon men's crown on Sunday while Kenya's Mary Keitany took her third consecutive women's title.

Ghebreslassie won his New York debut in an offi-cial time of two hours, seven minutes and 51 seconds -- only five seconds off his personal best set in London.

"Winning the New York Marathon is one of my best dreams," Ghebreslassie said. "I'm really proud of my vic-tory. Nobody from Eritrea has won this marathon before. I'm really proud."

Eight days shy of his 21st birthday, the prodigy accel-erated at the halfway mark and pulled away to become the first men's champion since 2010 from outside Kenya.

Kenya's Lucas Rotich was second in 2:08:53 with 39-year-old American Abdi Abdirahman third in 2:11:23 and Japan's Hiroyuki Yamamoto fourth in his first marathon outside Japan, another 26 seconds adrift.

In the women's race, Keitany also pulled away to an overwhelming victory, the 34-year-old mother of two winning in 2:24:26.

"I feel good," Keitany said. "I'm very excited. Win-n i n g t h r e e t i m e s consecutively means a lot to me."

Keitany, the second-fastest woman in marathon history behind Britain's Paula Radcliffe, has the longest New York women's win streak since Norway's Grete Waitz took five in a row from 1982-1986.

Kenya's Sally Kipyego was second in 2:28:01, 12 seconds ahead of American Molly Huddle, third in her marathon debut. Kenya's Joyce Chepkirui, third in Boston this year, was fourth in 2:29:08.

Each champion over the 26.2-mile distance took home a top prize of $100,000.

Ghebreslassie's triumph came after fourth-place fin-ishes at London and the Rio Olympics.

At the halfway mark, Ghebreslassie, Kenya's Lucas

Rotich and Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa, last year's Boston Marathon champion, pulled away.

In the 20th mile, Ghe-breslassie surged away from Rotich and Desisa, acceler-ating ahead to leave behind his last threats. The Eritrean shared a high five with Rot-ich, running back down the course to greet him before the finish.

"I wanted to shake hands w i t h h i m , " s a i d Ghebreslassie.

Abdirahman was thrilled to make the podium after a previous best showing of sixth in New York.

"I was a believer any-thing could happen," he said. "I did what I was supposed to do. I did what I could con-trol. I was ready to run."

Kenya's Stanley Biwott, last year's New York cham-pion, was out before the halfway mark in another disappointment.

Biwott dropped half-way into the Rio Olympic marathon, saying he was given the wrong water bot-tle and that caused stomach issues.

With plenty of time to prepare for her Big Apple run after not being selected to compete at Rio, Keitany

outclased the field. In a pack of 14 after five miles, Keit-any picked up the pace and by the 10-mile mark had trimmed the lead group to herself, Chepkirui and Ethi-opia's Aselefech Mergia. By mile 12, Mergia was falling back and at 15 miles, Keit-any had opened a 10-second lead.

By mile 16, Chepkirui's gap was 33 seconds back and growing as Keitany surged to the finish alone.

"I started to run my own race at 15 miles and started to follow my tactics and continue with my race," she said.

Ghebreslassie wins, Keitany defends at NY Marathon

Pampling wins by two strokes in Vegas, ending long droughtLas Vegas

Reuters

Australian Rod Pampling ended a decade-long drought on the PGA Tour when he won the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open

by two strokes from American Brooks Koepka in Las Vegas on Sunday.

The seasoned 47-year-old made a hat-trick of birdies from the 13th hole on his way to a six-under-par 65 at TPC Summerlin in the Nevada desert.

He stamped his third PGA Tour victory by sink-ing a 30-foot birdie at the last to clinch his first tour win since the 2006 Arnold Palmer Invitational.

"Winning Arnold Palmer's event is still on top (of career highlights) but coming back from what we have the last few years to get a win, it's phe-nomenal, amazing," Pampling said in a greenside interview, before thanking his family for support-ing him through a series of lean years.

"To win this magnificent event, it's fantastic, a great feeling."

Pampling, ranked 451st in the world, is the oldest winner on tour since Davis Love III won in Greensboro in Aug., 2015.

He looked like frittering away victory when he three-putted the 10th hole and dropped another shot at the 12th after missing a four-footer.

But he steadied the ship with clutch putting, sinking birdie putts from 13 feet, 18 feet and 11 feet respectively over the next three holes.

He was tied with American Glover with two holes left, before the American bogeyed the 17th to open the door.

Glover also bogeyed the last to fall to third, three shots back of Pampling, who finished at 20-under 264.

"It seems the Australians are starting to kick it in again," said Pampling, the fifth player from the country to win on tour this year after Jason Day, Adam Scott, Aaron Baddeley and Greg Chalmers.

"We were dormant for a little while there. Jason and Scotty have kicked it on, so just glad to grab one of those spokes and be part of the big wheel."

In 2006, Pampling had thought he was on the road to more victories after winning the late Palm-er's event.

"In '06 I still thought there were a few more really quickly, but that's golf," he said.

The Filipino's last two victories have been impressive, showing that he has recovered from the shoulder injury which hampered him in his fight against Mayweather in May 2015

Pacquiao made sure the retired Mayweather was there to witness him win it back on Saturday night

Men1. Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (ERI) 2hrs, 7mins 54 secs, 2. Lucas Rotich (KEN)

2:08:53, 3. Abdi Abdirahman (USA) 2:11:23, 4. Hiroyuki Yamamoto (JPN)

2:11:49, 5. Shadrack Biwott (USA) 2:12:01, 6. Tadesse Yae Dabi (ETH)

2:13;06, 7. Moses Kipsiro (UGA) 2:14:18, 8. Tyler Pennel (USA) 2:15:09, 9.

Ben Payne (USA) 2:15:46, 10. Patrick Smyth (USA) 2:16:34

Women1. Mary Keitany (KEN) 2:24:26, 2. Sally Kipyego (KEN) 2:28:01, 3. Molly

Huddle (USA) 2:28:13, 4. Joyce Chepkirui (KEN) 2:29:08, 5. Diane Nukuri

(BDI) 2:33:04, 6. Aselefech Mergia (ETH) 2:33:28, 7. Lanni Marchant (CAN)

2:33:50, 8. Neely Gracey (USA) 2:34:55, 9. Sara Hall (USA) 2:36:12, 10.

Ayantu Dakebo Hailemaryam (ETH) 2:37:07

NEW YORK CITY MARATHON RESULTS

Ghirmay Ghebreslassie of Eritrea celebrates as he crosses the finish line to finish first in the Professional Men's Division during the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon in Central Park on in New York City on Sunday.

Champion Mary Keitany (centre) of Kenya, second-place finisher Sally Kipyego (left) of Kenya and third-place winner Molly Huddle of the US celebrate with their medals after the Professional Women's Division of the 2016 New York City Marathon on Sunday.

WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao

29TUESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT

Rabada fires South Africa to win

Perth

Reuters

Paceman Kagiso Rab-ada took 5-92 as South Africa completed an emphatic 177-run vic-tory over Australia in

the first Test at the WACA on Monday after dismissing the hosts for 361 just before tea on the final day.

The tourists claimed a third successive victory at the WACA after 2008 and 2012 triumphs and a 1-0 lead in the series, which continues in Hobart on Saturday and concludes with a day-nighter at Adelaide Oval.

Australia's batsmen were unable to cope with Rabada's pace and swing as the 21-year-old took his fourth five-wicket haul in his ninth Test, making light of the absence of South Afri-ca's injured pace spearhead Dale Steyn.

It was Australia's first Test defeat at home since that 2012 loss at the WACA and there was more bad news at the end of the day when it was confirmed that opener Shaun Marsh had bro-ken his finger and would not play in Hobart.

South Africa declared on 540-8 after lunch on Sunday,

leaving Australia with an impos-ing 539-run victory target or more realistically almost five sessions to bat out for a draw.

It was a remarkable turna-round after Australia, having dismissed South Africa for 242 on day one, were 158 without loss before collapsing to 244 all out.

"We had some harsh words at the end of day one, we were very disappointed with how we played, and we wanted to come back and put in a real solid per-formance," said South Africa

captain Faf du Plessis. "The way we responded was quite ridicu-lous, it was incredible the way we turned it around and we backed it up on day three. Since day one, it's just been unbelievable."

Australia had resumed on 169-4 yesterday and Usman Khawaja, Mitchell Marsh and Mitchell Starc were dismissed before lunch with Peter Siddle following after the break.

Peter Nevill, who finished on 60 not out, and Josh Hazlewood stalled the march to victory with

a dogged partnership of 65 before Australia's number 10 batsman was dismissed for 29 to give Temba Bavuma his maiden Test wicket.

Nathan Lyon extended the tail further with a 21-ball eight before he was trapped in front by debutant spinner Keshav Maharaj to conclude the match.

"Disappointing," said Aus-tralia captain Steve Smith. "We need to try and let this perform-ance go and come out in Hobart and try and turn it around.

"We're going to have to play

better cricket against a quality South African team if we're going to do it." Khawaja had provided the most spirited resistance for much of the innings and after he fell lbw to JP Duminy's part-time spin three runs shy of his fifth Test century, Australia's already tough task looked all bar impos-sible. Man of the Match Rabada accounted for Mitchell Marsh (26) and Starc (13), both lbw, to take his match tally to seven wickets. Bavuma, whose brilliant run out accounted for opener David Warner on Sunday, almost claimed another key victim with his first delivery in Test cricket.

Khawaja, on 84, was plumb lbw after the ball hit a crack and thudded into his front pad but the 26-year-old had overstepped the mark and umpire Nigel Llong called a no-ball.

England face trial by spin against IndiaMumbai

Reuters

Alastair Cook's England seem to have neither the form nor the

resources to repeat their 2012 heroics against an Indian team determined to cement their top Test rankings in a five-match series starting at Rajkot tomorrow.

England's two-Test series in Bangladesh was meant to be a dress rehearsal for their batsmen who are likely to be subjected to relentless spin on similarly turning tracks in India.

Instead, Cook and his men landed with bruised egos, having lost the second Test in Dhaka inside three days to settle for a 1-1 share of the series against the world's ninth ranked Test team.

They did not look very convincing in their victory in the Chittagong Test either but bigger shocks awaited them in Dhaka where they lost 10 wickets in a session, expos-ing their frailties against spinners on turning wickets.

The last time England toured India in 2012, Cook's side suffered a thumping loss in the opening Test at Ahmedabad but then turned the tables on the hosts to win the four-match series 2-1.

Since then, India have not lost a Test at home, blanking Australia and West Indies, crushing South Africa and whitewashing New Zealand in September.

Cook accepted his team would go into the series as the underdogs.

"It's a big challenge," the 31-year-old told reporters in Mumbai. "Any time you play the number one or the number two ranked team in their backyard, who are very comfortable in their condi-tions, it's a huge task for us.

"It's a huge challenge to these guys who have not played a huge amount of cricket in the subcontinent as a group."

That showed in Bangla-desh where teenage off-spinner Mehedi Hasan claimed 19 wickets in his debut series, with 38 of the 40 English wickets claimed by the slow bowlers. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who took 58 wickets in India's last seven home Tests against South Africa and New Zealand, will be licking his lips at the prospect of bowling against the English batsmen.

Koora Time invites fans to play football for free across QatarThe Peninsula

The Qatar Football Association (QFA) and Qatar Shell celebrated the start of the football season by organising a

pop-up football match at Sealine Beach. Open to the general public, the event was

promoting the YallaNal’Ab programme which facilitates access to more opportuni-ties and spaces to play football for free across Qatar.

With 8 different venues around Qatar, YallaNal’Ab makes playing football as easy as possible. Access is open and free to any-one who wants to have an informal kick about in a non-competitive environment.

The programme includes venues dedi-cated to females. Females account for over 36% of participants of the programme, prov-ing that football is not just a boy’s game.

‘YallaNal’Ab’is part of the award-win-ning Koora Time initiative developed by the

QFA in partnership with Qatar Shell. The ini-tiative is designed to improve the health and wellbeing of young people in Qatar through football. Since its launch in March 2013, the programme has benefitted over 17,500 chil-dren in Qatar.

In recognition for its positive impact on the health of youth, Koora Time has

been the recipient of numerous awards including the ‘Sports Industry Award’ for Best CSR Initiative, ‘CSR Award Qatar’ for Best CSR Impact Initiative, the ‘Dar Al Sharq Corporate Social Responsibility Award’ for the Best Sports Initiative, and the ‘AFC Dream of Asia Award’ in the area of social responsibility.

Sri Lanka batsman Asela Gunaratne in action during the second day of the second Test match against hosts Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports club, yesterday.

South Africa (I innings): 242Australia (I innings): 244South Africa (II innings): 540/8 declAustralia (II innings):S Marsh c du Plessis b Rabada 15

D Warner (run out) 35

U Khawaja lbw Duminy 97

S Smith c de Kock b Rabada 34

A Voges c de Kock b Rabada 1

M Marsh lbw Rabada 26

P Nevill (not out) 60

M Starc lbw Rabada 13

P Siddle lbw Philander 13

J Hazlewood c Elgar b Bavuma 29

N Lyon lbw Maharaj 8

Extras (B-13, LB-11, NB-2, W-4) 30

Total (all out) 361 Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-52, 3-144, 4-146, 5-196,

6-246, 7-262, 8-280, 9-345, 10-361.

Bowling: K Rabada 31-6-92-5 (w-3); V Philander

22-7-55-1; J Duminy 17-1-51-1; K Maharaj 40.1-10-

94-1 (w-1); S Cook 2-0-16-0; T Bavuma 7-1-29-1

(nb-2).

SCOREBOARD

South African bowler Kagiso Rabada (centre) is embraced by team-mates after taking his fifth wicket on day five of the first Test match in Perth, yesterday.

Five-star paceman

Pacer returns with figures of 5-92 as visitors complete an emphatic 177-run victory over Australia in the first Test at the WACA.

Zimbabwe rally after losing early wicketsHarare

AFP

An unbroken century stand between Brian Chari and Craig Ervine gave Zimba-

bwe a solid start after Asela Gunaratne's maiden Test hun-dred had carried Sri Lanka to 504 on the second day of the sec-ond Test at Harare Sports Club yesterday.

Playing just his second Test, Gunaratne scored 116 to marshal the tail to good effect and frus-trate the Zimbabwean bowlers, before his dismissal brought the end of the Sri Lankan innings on the stroke of tea.

When Rangana Herath opened the bowling and grabbed the wickets of Tino Mawoyo and Hamilton Masakadza to reduce Zimbabwe to 17 for two, the hosts

looked to be embarking on one of their trademark batting collapses.

But Chari and Ervine added 109 for the third wicket without being parted, taking Zimbabwe to stumps on 126 for two with both batsmen closing the day on 60 not out.

"We would have liked to have a few more wickets down but hopefully we can grab a few early on tomorrow," said Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford.

"We've seen Rangana turn some deliveries this evening, so once he gets a few going he becomes more of a factor."

The tourists began the day on 290 for five, with Gunaratne on 13, and despite losing centu-rion Dhananjaya de Silva they were able to make rapid progress during the morning session.

De Silva was caught and bowled by leg-spinner Graeme Cremer for 127, before Gunaratne added 54 for the seventh wicket with Dilruwan Perera at a swift rate.

Perera was then trapped lbw

by Cremer for 34, but Gunaratne went to lunch on 64 having helped Sri Lanka add 124 runs in the session.

After lunch the 30-year-old increased his rate of scoring fur-ther in a 75-run stand for the

eighth wicket with captain Ran-gana Herath, who made 27.

Seamer Donald Tiripano had Herath caught behind and then bowled Suranga Lakmal, but No. 11 Lahiru Kumara held on long enough for Gunaratne to reach three figures and carry the score past 500.

It was the fifth straight Test match in which Zimbabwe, who trail 1-0 in the two-match series, had conceded 500 runs in an innings.

Under pressure after two failures in the first Test, Chari not only put up stern resistance, but also took the attack to Sri Lanka.

The right-hander became the first Zimbabwean Test player to hit his first ball for six as he lofted Herath over long-on - then repeated the stroke to go to his maiden Test fifty.

Sri Lanka (I innings):D Karunaratne c Williams b Masakadza 26

K Silva lbw Mpofu 37

K Perera c Mumba b Masakadza 4

K Mendis c Moor b Tiripano 26

U Tharanga c Masakadza b Cremer 79

D de Silva c&b Cremer 127

A Gunaratne st Moor b Williams 116

D Perera lbw Cremer 34

R Herath c Moor b Tiripano 27

S Lakmal b Tiripano 0

L Kumara (not out) 7

Extras (B-9, LB-8, W-2, NB-2) 21

Total (all out) 504Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-66, 3-84, 4-112, 5-255,

6-342, 7-396, 8-471, 9-471, 10-504.

Bowling: Mumba 23-4-80-0; Tiripano 32-4-91-3;

Mpofu 23-4-92-1; Masakadza 13-4-34-2; Cremer 40-1-

136-3; Williams 8.4-1-31-1; Waller 5-0-23-0.

Zimbabwe (I innings):T Mawoyo lbw Herath 3

B Chari batting) 60

H Masakadza c de Silva b Herath 0

C Ervine (batting) 60

Extras (B-2, LB-1) 3

Total (for 2 wkts) 126Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-17.

Still to bat: S Williams, M Waller, P Moor, G Cremer, D

Tiripano, C Mumba, C Mpofu

Bowling: Lakmal 9-1-23-0; Herath 11-1-44-2; Kumara

6-0-24-0; D Perera 6-1-23-0; Gunaratne 2-0-5-0; De

Silva 1-0-4-0.

SCOREBOARD

30 TUESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT

Messi reaches 500-goal markMadrid

AFP

Lionel Messi, with his 500th Barcelona goal, and Luis Suarez saved the Spanish champions from a second defeat in

six days as they came from behind to win 2-1 at Sevilla on Sunday. Victory keeps Barca just two points adrift of Real Madrid, who were 3-0 victors over Leganes thanks to a double from Gareth Bale.

Messi inspired a spirited Barca fightback fresh from a 3-1 defeat at Manchester City in the Cham-pions League on Tuesday after a first-half dominated by Sevilla.

"There is no one like him and our objective as a team is to look for Leo as much as possible," said Barca boss Luis Enrique after the game.

"The capacity Messi has to play in any position and interpret what is happening on the field is laudable."

With the cast of the Game of Thrones among those watching on in Seville, the game got off to a frantic start.

The hosts had two shots on goal inside 50 seconds, but from a Sevilla corner Barca broke forward at lightning speed and Suarez's effort from Neymar's layoff was brilliantly saved by Sergio Rico.

Sevilla remained on the front foot for most of the first-half and

got their reward on 15 minutes when Pablo Sarabia's pass bam-boozled Sergi Roberto and Vitolo charged through to open the scoring.

Sarabia passed up a great chance to make it two when he took the bizarre decision to back-heel the ball towards the edge of the area when he had just Marc-Andre ter Stegen to beat.

Barca made Sevilla pay with another brilliant counter-attack to level two minutes before half-time as this time Messi curled Neymar's pass into the bottom cor-ner. The goal was Messi's 500th for Barca including friendlies, but he should have had more after the break as only a brilliant block from Mariano and save from Rico pre-vented the Barca captain turning the game around.

Messi turned provider for the winner just after the hour mark as he teed up Suarez to drill the ball low past Rico.

Van Persie says his eye is 'undamaged' after scare Istanbul

AFP

Dutch striker Robin Van Persie yesterday-calmed fears for his

eyesight after an ugly injury picked up playing for his Turkish club Fenerbahce at the weekend had sparked concern.

After colliding with a defender during Sunday's clash with Akhisar Belediye-spor the 33-year-old was stretchered off the pitch with a plaster covering his blood-ied left eye.

But in his first comment after the injury, the former Manchester United star said that he had suffered a torn eyelid but the eye itself was unharmed.

"I have a little tear in my eyelid and after the tests in the hospital I can say that my eye itself is undamaged so all is good!" Van Persie said in a message on his official Facebook page.

"These things happen in football," he added in the E n g l i s h - l a n g u a g e statement. Van Persie said he was delighted with Fenerbahce's 3-1 win in the match -- another step in its revival under Dutch manager Dick Advocaat -- and suggested he intended to play in the looming November 20 Istanbul derby clash against arch rivals Galatasaray.

The injury at sparked alarm over the condition of his eyes, with the British tabloid The Sun headlining on its website that Van Per-sie "will never see again".

But Fenerbahce's team doctor Burak Kunduraci-oglu said in a statement that the injury was "nothing sig-nificant" and the footballer's condition was "good".

Barcelona vs Seville

Messi's equaliser is his 500th for Barca including goals from friendlies.

Barca are just two points adrift of Real Madrid in La Liga table.

New boys RB Leipzig want bigger stadium Berlin

AFP

RB Leipzig are neck-and-neck with Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundes-

liga table, but the new boys are already thinking big with plans for a new stadium.

Leipzig earned their place in Germany's top flight with four promotions in seven years and are on a Bundesliga record run for a newly-promoted club by

going ten games unbeaten to draw level on 24 points with Bay-ern. But according to daily newspaper Bild yesterday, RB Leipzig, who are sponsored by Austrian energy drink giants Red Bull, have had plans rejected for a new 70,000-capacity stadium outside the city centre in the exhibition district. RB Leipzig currently play at the Red Bull Arena -- an impressive stadium, renovated for the 2006 World Cup -- which is a short walk from

the city's railway station.However, it's capacity for

45,000 fans is already deemed too small by club bosses who want more hospitality boxes and seating.

City officials were delighted that Leipzig's Zentralstadion, now renamed the Red Bull Arena, is finally being regularly full for German league games and four of the five Bundesliga games so far have been sold out.

But Leipzig's mayor

Burkhard Jung has said the club can not build elsewhere in the city and can only use the area of land they currently occupy for a new stadium. The post of 'RB commissioner' is now being cre-ated in the town hall administration to act as a direct contact with the club for all sta-dium questions. RB Leipzig want to make a final decision on plans for a new stadium, or a renova-tion of the current one, decided by the beginning of December.

Paris

AFP

African Footballer of the Year Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put a mini-suspension behind

him to strike four Bundesliga goals for Borussia Dortmund at the weekend.

Other African goal poachers in top form included Egyptian Mohamed Salah in Italy and Ivorian Salomon Kalou in Germany, who scored hat-tricks.

ENGLANDSadio Mane (Liverpool)The Senegalese international con-

tinues to shine for the rampant Reds, breaking the deadlock with a stun-ning header. He stooped low at an angle to beat Watford 'keeper Heu-relho Gomes with some force. Sane added a second, a simple tap-in, in the second half for his fifth goal in five Premier League home appear-ances for the club.

Victor Moses (Chelsea)He has flourished this season

under Antonio Conte's tutelage after a few seasons where it looked his undoubted talent might be frittered away as he was sent out on loan. The 25-year-old Nigerian gave a sparkling performance in the 5-0 dismantling of Everton and was unfortunate not to get on the scoresheet with a half-volley that struck the post.

Victor Anichebe (Sunderland)Never the most prolific of scor-

ers, the Nigerian striker brought a rare smile to beleaguered Sunderland boss David Moyes's face with a goal to bring them level with Bourne-mouth. "He's (Moyes) the one who has been getting the blame, even though we are the ones on the pitch," said Anichebe.

ITALYMohamed Salah (Roma)Salah stole the show at the Sta-

dio Olimpico with a hat-trick in a 3-0 romp over Bologna. Salah's only

previous hat-trick came for Egypt in a World Cup qualifier against Zim-babwe in 2013, but the former Chelsea midfielder claimed his maiden triple in league football. Salah's second-half strikes, took his goals tally to eight this season.

KEita Balde (Lazio)Senegal's Balde says Lazio don't

know how far they can go this sea-son, but his equaliser -- the fastest in Serie A this campaign -- helped grab a share of the points in a gutsy 1-1 draw at Napoli, who dominated throughout at their San Paolo stadium.

GERMANYPierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Borussia Dortmund) The Gabon striker netted four

goals as Borussia routed bottom side Hamburg 5-2 away to make amends for his midweek Milan indiscretion. Aubameyang had been suspended by coach Thomas Tuchel for one game after he flew to Milan in a private jet

with friends with out the club's per-mission. But 'Auba' needed just 27 minutes to score his first three goals and hit his fourth after the break, and celebrated his first with Tuchel on the sidelines.

His quartet of goals leave him joint top scorer, alongside Cologne's Anthony Modeste, in Germany's top flight with 11 goals

Salmon Kalou (Hertha Berlin) The Ivory Coast striker hit a hat-

trick in Hertha's 3-0 win at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach. The 31-year-old welcomed his first goals since losing his father in August, two weeks before his aunt also passed away.

"It's a relief with all the difficult situations I've had to deal with," he admitted.

Nabil Bentaleb (Schalke 04)The Algeria midfielder scored his

fourth goal in four Bundesliga games in Schalke's 3-1 win against Werder Bremen.

African stars shining in European Leagues

Magical Messi hailed as 'extraterrestrial'Barcelona

Reuters

The day before his side hosted Barcelona, Sevilla coach Jorge Sampaoli joked that Lionel

Messi's supremacy necessitated two Ballon d'Or competitions, "one for Messi and one for everyone else."

"When a player like him takes a game seriously it's very difficult for his opponents," said Sampaoli, whose side's perfect home record in La Liga and the Champions League was broken.

"Messi is a world class player and when the game opens up there's little you can do to stop him, nor his team mates because they can really punish you if you give them any space."

Sevilla's Vitolo added: "I'm not going to tell you anything new about Messi, for me he's the best of all time."

Sevilla president Pepe Castro lamented his side's inability to fin-ish Barcelona off but was also in thrall to Messi.

"We couldn't take our chances in the first half. They have Messi, we do not, He is an extraterrestrial."

Veteran Evra back for France Paris

AFP

France coach Didier Deschamps has recalled Juventus left back Patrice Evra after Paris Saint-Germain star

Layvin Kurzawa's weekend injury. Evra was captain of France at the South Africa World Cup in 2010 but at 35 years of age has finally fallen down the pecking order to the extent he was excluded from recent squads.

With seven points from three games France are level top of Group A with

Sweden, who they host at the Stade de France on Friday.

Rennes 'keeper Benoit Costil was also called into the squad after PSG stopper Alphonse Areola was also injured at the weekend.

France squadGoalkeepers: Benoît Costil (Rennes),

Hugo Lloris (Tottenham/ENG), Steve Mandanda (Crystal Palace/ENG)

Defenders: Sébastien Corchia (Lille), Lucas Digne (Barcelona/ESP), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal/ENG), Patrice Evra (Juventus/ITA), Adil Rami (Seville/ESP),

Djibril Sidibé (Monaco), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona/ESP), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid/ESP)

Midfield: N'Golo Kante (Chelsea/ENG), Blaise Matuidi (PSG), Dimitri Payet (West Ham/ENG), Paul Pogba (Manches-ter United/ENG), Adrien Rabiot (PSG), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham/ENG)

Strikers: Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich/GER), Ousmane Dembele (Dort-mund/GER), Nabil Fekir (Lyon), Kevin Gameiro (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Olivier Giroud (Arsenal/ENG), Antoine Griez-mann (Atletico Madrid/ESP)

Didier Deschamps

RB Leipzig's players celebrate after scoring the second goal against MAinz 05 during their Bundesliga in Leipzig, Germany on Sunday.

Barcelona's Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Sevilla FC during their LA Liga match at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium in Sevilla, Spain on Sunday.

Dortmund's Pierre-Emerick

Aubameyang runs with the

ball during their Bundesliga

football match against Hamburg

in Hamburg, Germany, on

Saturday.

31TUESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT

Leicester fighting for survival London

Reuters

Leicester City man-ager Claudio Ranieri spent the first half of last season talking

about reaching the 40-point threshold to avoid relega-tion before his side galloped away with the title.

That was mainly in jest but if Leicester's Premier League results do not improve soon the Italian will be taken more seriously if he starts trotting out the same old line.

While it is far too early to panic, 12 points from their first 11 games has left the Foxes two points above the bottom three and any talk of defending the title, or even claiming a top-four spot, are long gone.

Instead, Leicester find themselves in the more familiar position of jostling with the likes of Hull City, B o u r n e m o u t h a n d Sunderland in the bottom half.

Former Leicester striker Emile Heskey said they need points soon to settle the nerves.

"I think they're probably

concerned now, but it's very tight at the bottom so one win can take you to mid-table and you look relatively okay, but then two losses can get you sucked back in again," he said.

"Knowing the owners and some of the backroom staff, I know last year they were looking to get to 40 points, but they kept on winning games. Really deep down they should be looking at the 40 points and then taking it from there."

Until Sunday's 2-1 defeat by West Bromwich Albion, Leicester's home form had continued in the same vein as last season with three wins and two draws. Worryingly, however, West Brom easily nullified

Leicester's counter-attacking style as they inflicted a first home league defeat on Ranieri's men since September 2015.

With an appalling away record of one point from 15 this season, the last thing Leicester need is a home slump.

Against West Brom they failed to register an attempt on target in the first half while at the back they were guilty of worrying lapses, none more so than Danny Drinkwater's errant backpass that allowed Matt Phillips to score the winner.

Riyad Mahrez, last year's PFA player of the season, has failed to shine while Jamie Vardy's goal have dried up to such an extent that he was on the bench on Sunday.

Leicester are also clearly missing the industry and guile of N'Golo Kante, the unsung hero of their title charge who is now a key cog in the Chelsea team.

After the international break Leicester have games against Watford away, Middlesbrough at home and Sunderland away - offering the chance to climb the table.

The Fallen Champions

12 points from their first 11 games has left the Foxes two points above the bottom three

West Brom inflicted a first home league defeat on Ranieri's men since September 2015.

Irrepressible Zlatan excited about 25,000 EPL goalManchester

Reuters

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (pic-tured) was back to his irrepressible, boastful

best on Sunday as he joked about the landmark 25,000th Premier League goal that sig-nalled a change in his fortunes.

The Swede ended his two-month Premier League goal drought by scoring twice in Manchester United's 3-1 win at Swansea City and had a lovely, typical Zlatan response on learning that the first of them had been a land-mark in the League's 24-year annals.

"Ah, no I wasn't," he responded thoughtfully after being asked on Sky Sports if he had been aware of the fact that he had just scored the 25,000th Premier League goal.

"I thought that was only me who had scored 25,000!"

Only Ibrahimovic could have come up with such a mischievous response after finally ending his most bar-ren patch in front of goal for a decade.

With his second goal, the 35-year-old 'Ibra-Cadabra' could also celebrate the 400th club goal of his magi-cal career, which has taken in a host of Europe's biggest clubs like Ajax, Juventus, Bar-celona, the two Milan giants and Paris St Germain.

Without a league goal since September, Ibra was asked if he had been worried about his lean spell. "No, as long as you create the chances -- which I have been doing -- the goals will come. But the most important thing is the win," he said.

Mourinho hits out at United's 'problem players' who lack the right attitude Swansea

AFP

Jose Mourinho has taken a swipe at the Manchester United players he fears

might not have the right atti-tude to guide his side back into the Premier League title race.

Mourinho saw first half goals from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba help United to only a second league victory in eight games as his side cruised to a 3-1 success at Swansea on Sunday.

However, in the wake of the win, Mourinho spoke openly about the need for players to play through the injury pain barrier.

"We have players with problems, but we also have players on the pitch who have problems," he said.

"And that is what I mean, because in every sport, and I know that because I have friends from other sports, playing at the highest level. How many times do they play when they are not 100 per cent?

"It is a cultural thing, for some. That's not my culture."

Asked if players needed to change to play for him, Mour-inho said; "Exactly, but more than me, Man United. More than me, Man United."

Despite Mourinho's blast, he could have no complaints about the overall United per-formance on Sunday.

"After the draw against Burnley we needed points," he said.

"We put in a great per-formance against Burnley, but only came away with one point. We needed three points today, more than the perform-ance. But we got both.

"A striker who doesn't score goals, but does every-thing else, is a very important player for the team. When Zla-tan was not scoring goals, he was doing everything else."

While Ibrahimovic was calling the tune in the final third, it was veteran Michael Carrick who was dictating the pace of the game in front of his back four.

Mourinho added; "I would

love Michael to play every game, but that is not possible.

"He can't play in every game for the same reason I can no longer go to the gym every day. But he started today and he played very, very well."

Not even a 69th minute headed goal from Mike van der Hoorn could bring a smile to the face of Swansea manager Bob Bradley, whose side are stuck in the relegation zone.

"We are in a tough spot, there is no two ways about that. We understand very clearly where we are and there is no hiding from that. But we understand all the areas where we need to be better," Bradley said.

"We kept giving the ball back too quickly. I don't think we showed enough commit-ment to close people down. We cannot take solace from playing a little better in the second half.

"There is only one way to win the support of the fans and that is to play well and to win games."

Manchester United's manager Jose Mourinho arrives for their Premier League match against Swansea City at The Liberty Stadium in Swansea, Wales on Sunday.

City 'in different league': Gundogan Berlin

AFP

Ilkay Gundogan opted to join Pep Guardiola at Manchester City because they are 'in a different

league' compared to Germany's top clubs, he explained in an interview published yesterday.

Gundogan signed a four-year contract with City in June after five years with Borussia Dortmund and the midfielder is in goal-scoring form.

"When I drive to (City's) training centre by car, it's already something very impressive," the Germany mid-fielder told Kicker magazine.

"You can't even compare it to a club like Bayern Munich, it's in a dif-ferent league.

"You can see that you have arrived at a world-class club, which has big plans and wants to really develop in the next few years.

"That carries additional pressure and responsibility for the individual

players, it's very different to Dortmund.

"It's obvious here that one must strive to reach the highest level."

Gundogan netted twice against Barcelona in City's stunning 3-1 home Champions League win last week, having also scored twice in a 4-0 Premier League drubbing of West Bromwich Albion four days before.

The 26-year-old is relishing working under ex-Bayern coach Guardiola, who he had only previ-ously known as an opposing coach.

"He doesn't leave anything to chance and knows what to tell his players in every situation, especially in terms of tactics," said Gundogan.

"You have the feeling that 99 percent sure isn't enough for him, he wants to be 100 percent that what he has thought out will fit perfectly to the game and the opponent.

"For example, against Barcelona he changed the formation after half an hour from a 4-1-4-1 to a 4-4-2.

"He gave us a totally different feeling and we suddenly had the game under control.

"It's unique the way he does that, but players from Bayern and Barce-lona had already said that about him.

"And the success he has had hasn't come by accident.

"Although Borussia managed to beat him from time to time, it was impressive for my team-mates and I how he always managed to find solutions for every situation.

"I am now experiencing that for myself and it's really bringing me along."

Gundogan missed Germany's 2014 World Cup triumph in Brazil and was ruled out of Euro 2016 in June with injury. And a dislocated knee injury he suffered while play-ing basketball in training with Dortmund ruled him out of Euro 2016. He has been called up for Fri-day's 2018 World Cup qualifier away to San Marino and friendly in Milan against Italy four days later.

Southgate to check on Kane fitness Burton-on-Trent, England

AFP

England's interim manager Gareth Southgate will check on the fitness of

Harry Kane before deciding if the striker can start Friday's World Cup qualifier against Scotland, he said yesterday.

Kane, 23, made a goal-scoring return from a seven-week lay-off with ankle ligament damage in Tottenham Hotspur's 1-1 Pre-mier League draw at Arsenal on Sunday.

"I think the first thing we have to do with Harry is check how he is after yester-day, it was great to see him back and scoring and with a smile on his face at the end of the game," Southgate said.

Ilkay Gundogan

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri

Ranieri backs Okazaki Leicester

AFP

Leicester manager Clau-dio Ranieri admits that Japanese international

striker Shinji Okazaki is his preferred option for Premier League outings rather than England star Jamie Vardy.

Vardy was left on the bench for the second succes-sive Premier League fixture on Sunday as the champions were beaten 2-1 by West Brom. Okazaki partnered Islam Slimani who scored Leicester's only goal.

Vardy, last season's lead-ing scorer, made little impact after stepping off the bench at half-time.

"In this moment we play better with Shinji Okazaki," said Ranieri.

"Today, we didn't, but often we do. I didn't play Islam Slimani in the Champi-ons League and I wanted to give a rest to Vardy.

"But it wasn't right, they didn't do what I asked so in the second half I introduced Vardy to attack the defensive line."