Thursday 22 December 2016

SPORTCousins scores 55 points in his return from ejection

Is Cook's goose cooked before Christmas?

PAGE | 26

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QSL: Record 10-0 win puts Lekhwiya on topThe Peninsula

Four time Qatar Stars League (QSL) champions Lekhwiya trounced Al Shahaniya yesterday evening, notching a QSL

record of a 10-0 scoreline. Four goals in the first half, fol-

lowed by six in the second, saw the Red Knights make light work of Jose Fernando’s Oryxes. Lekhwiya ran rampant in the game which saw Yusef El Arabi grab a hat-trick along with braces for Moez Ali and Yusef Msakni.

Barely two minutes had passed and Djamel Belmadi’s team had registered their first goal of the game. South Korean star Nam Tae Hee curled in a fine freekick which landed on the head of defender Chico Flores and promptly looped into the back of the net for the Spaniards first goal of the season. Twenty minutes later, they dou-bled their advantage thanks to Yusef El Arabi, who notched his fif-teenth goal of the season.

Four minutes later, Lekhwiya had a third from Yusef Msakni who registered his fourth goal of the season. Moez Ali added fur-ther to Al Shahaniya’s misery, picking up the fourth goal for his side on the 38th minute. Al Sha-haniya tried to steady the ship in the second half, but the goals still came for Lekhwiya. On the 64th minute, Shahania keeper Khalifa

Al Dossari was caught with the ball which was promptly passed to Yusef El Arabi who grabbed his 16th and possibly easiest goal of the season.

It was one way traffic and on the 70th minute Lekhiwya scored a sixth, with Yusef Msakni grab-bing his second of the night.

Moez Ali grabbed his brace moments later as Lekhwiya notched their seventh of the game, tapping in from close range from a Yusef El Arabi cross.

Two goals of quality in two minutes, further cemented Lekhwiya’s dominance. On the 78th minute, Nam Tae Hee smashed in from close range fol-lowing a neat back heel from Msakni. Substitute Ali Afif produced a bicycle kick to notch his sides ninth of the game moments later.

Lekhwiya notched a 10th, and a QSL record in the process when Yusef El Arabi hit a shot from out-side the box which flashed past Khalifa Al Dossari with 83 min-utes on the clock.

Qatar Stars LeagueYesterday's Results

Lekhwiya 10 - 0 Al Shahaniya

Al Wakrah 5 - 1 Al Sailiyah

Al Khor 2 -1 Al Rayyan

Today's Fixtures Al Arabi vs Umm Salal (16:05)

(Grand Hamad Stadium)

Muaither SC vs Al Ahli (16:05)

(Thani Bin Jassim Stadium)

Al Gharafa vs Al Kharaitiyat (18:15)

(Thani Bin Jassim Stadium)

El Jaish vs Al Sadd (18:15)

(Abdullah Bin Khalifah Stadium)

25THURSDAY 22 DECEMBER 2016SPORT

New York Reuters

DREAM TEAM

In 1992, global interest in basketball

soared as a star-laden US team of NBA

players arrived at the Summer Olympics

in Barcelona and cruised to a gold

medal with what is considered the most

dominant squad ever assembled in any

sport with the likes of Michael Jordan

and Magic Johnson.

MICHAEL JORDAN

With basketball at a crossroads in the

United States and tepid interest aboard,

Jordan helped turn that around with his

signature (Air Jordan) line of shoes, ap-

parel, unique logo and resounding suc-

cess on the court that made him a huge

commercial hit and one of the most

recognized Americans in the world.

SHOT CLOCK

Pace of play sometimes slowed to a

crawl in the early years when a team

holding a lead could pass the ball end-

lessly to kill time off the game clock. In

1954, the Syracuse Nationals tried a

24-second timer at a scrimmage, figur-

ing 60 shots a team made for an enjoy-

able game and dividing 120 into 48

minutes of play. The NBA adopted the

24-second clock from the 1954-55 sea-

son.

GLORY ROAD

At the height of the civil-rights era in

1966 the Texas Western Miners became

the first team with an all-black starting

lineup to win a national title in US men's

college basketball. The Miners, who de-

feated an all-white Kentucky team, in-

spired the book and film 'Glory Road,'

which explores racism, discrimination,

and student athletics.

WIZARD OF WESTWOOD

Peerless U.S. college basketball coach

John Wooden became known as the

"Wizard of Westwood" while leading

the University of California, Los Angeles

to a record 10 national championships.

YAO MING

The towering center triggered NBA-ma-

nia in China when he was selected first

overall by the Houston Rockets in the

2002 draft and is widely considered re-

sponsible for basketball's growth and

popularity in his homeland.

He became a national icon and a game

featuring Yao against fellow Chinese

player Yi Jianlian in 2007 in China drew

200 million television viewers in one of

the most watched games in NBA history.

MassachusettsReuters

A game drawn up to occupy some bored boys as win-ter approached at a

Massachusetts gymnasium cel-ebrated its 125th anniversary yesterday and basketball's sta-tus as the world's second most popular sport.

Basketball began on December 21, 1891 at the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) gym in Springfield with rules made up by Canadian physical education instructor James Naismith.

Last year more than one billion people watched National Basketball Association pro-gramming, said NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, who helps preside over the world's preeminent 'hoops' league.

Yesterday, Springfield's Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame marked the anni-versary with celebrations including a Birthday of Basket-ball college doubleheader featuring Auburn, Boston Col-lege, Fairfield and Oklahoma at

Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut.

Naismith recalled the sport's primitive beginnings in a New York radio interview in 1939.

"I called the boys to the gym, divided them up into teams of nine and gave them a little soccer ball," he said.

"I showed them two peach baskets I'd nailed up at each end of the gym (about 10 feet above the floor), and I told them the idea was to throw the ball into the opposing team's peach bas-ket. I blew the whistle, and the first game of basketball began."

Running with the ball was not allowed, only passing or directing it with the hand

toward a team mate or the bas-ket. Dribbling and other developments came over time.

The new game quickly caught on after Naismith's 13 initial rules were spread by the YMCA's newsletter. By 1894 basketball was being played in France, China, India and more than a dozen other countries.

It became a favorite in schools, college campuses and playgrounds, and at the Olym-pics and in professional leagues across the globe.

"NBA games and program-ming can be seen in 215 countries and territories in 49 languages, and last year more than 1 billion people watched NBA programming," NBA Dep-uty Commissioner Mark Tatum said.

In 1898, an alumnus of the University of Kansas, where Naismith became its first bas-ketball coach, paid $4.3m at auction for the two pages of typewritten rules that launched the sport. Kansas built a $21.7m facility that connects to the Allen Fieldhouse to house the original two-page document and a student centre.

'Hoops' celebrates 125th birthday

I blew the whistle, and the first game of basketball began: James Naismith

The life-sized statue of Dr. James Naismith

which was unveiled in his hometown of Almonte, Ontario,

Canada in July, 2011.

NBA to open academy in AfricaNew York AP

The NBA will open an academy in Africa next year, its latest move to unearth talent from outside the

United States and extend the league's reach into new territories.

The African academy will be based in Thies, Senegal, and follows similar NBA projects opened this year in China, which has three academies, and Australia. Another academy in India is set to start operating in April. The NBA aims to open the Senegal academy, its sixth, in May.

A record 26 international players were selected in the 2016 NBA draft. Along with the new players, the NBA's push into Asia and Africa, specifically, provides signifi-cant new audiences and marketing opportunities for the league.

The NBA has made two big plays in

Africa over the last year-and-a-half, hold-ing an exhibition game in South Africa in August 2015, the first on the continent, and signing a new trans-African broadcast deal in April.

The new academy in Senegal will focus on elite talent development, said Amadou Gallo Fall, NBA vice president and man-aging director for Africa. For the last 15 years the NBA has laid the foundation, using its international Basketball without Borders camps to develop the game at a grass-roots level in Africa and elsewhere.

Those Basketball without Borders camps have already provided nine NBA players from Africa, including Luc Mbah a Moute of the Los Angeles Clippers, who is from Cameroon.

The NBA will begin scouting for the African academy's first class of 12 young players this week, Fall said.

Cousins scores 55 points in his return from ejection Los AngelesAFP

DeMarcus Cousins finished with a season-high 55 points and a three-point play with 35 sec-

onds left, following a short-lived ejection, lifting the Sacramento Kings to a 126-121 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday.

The Kings forward scored on a driving layup and then appeared to receive his second technical foul when he shouted at the Portland players and his mouthpiece flew toward the Blaz-ers' bench. Cousins sprinted off the court into the locker room, but returned moments later.

He came back to applause, made a free throw, then blocked a Portland shot to help the Kings clinch the victory.

Cousins' 55 points fell one shy of his career high and came during his first home game since a controversial run-in with a Sacramento sports reporter landed him a $50,000 fine.

Cousins became the first player in Sacramento history to have multiple 55-point games.

Elsewhere in Milwaukee, LeBron

James hit a 33-footer with 24 seconds left in overtime en route to a 34-point night as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Milwaukee Bucks 114-108.

James moved past Moses Malone into eighth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list with 27,442 points. Malone had 27,409 points.

The Cavaliers also got 28 from Kyrie Irving and 15 off the bench from Channing Frye. Jabari Parker led Mil-waukee with 30 points, while Giannis Antetokounmpo added 25.

Cleveland's J.R. Smith scored six points on a pair of three-pointers, but left the game late in the second quar-ter after sustaining an injury to his right thumb.

In Houston, Patty Mills hit a three-pointer with 12 seconds left as the San Antonio Spurs erased a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit en route to a 102-100 win over the Houston Rockets.

Houston had its 10-game winning streak snapped amid eight fourth-quarter turnovers. The Rockets also missed 31 of 38 three-point attempts. The Rockets' streak of games with at least 10 three-pointers made ended at 27.

Rose shines as Knicks overcome Pacers New YorkAgencies

When the New York Knicks acquired point guard Der-rick Rose in the offseason they envisioned a playmaker who could accelerate to the rim and

become a secondary scorer to Carmelo Anthony.The only question was could the injury-plagued Rose, a

former MVP with the Chicago Bulls, hold up to the rigours of a full season?

After missing three of the Knicks last four games with back spasms, Rose provided the Knicks with the ingredients they have been missing in the backcourt over the Gorgui Dieng. last several seasons.

Rose poured in 24 points and dished out six assists in the Knicks 118-111 win over the Indian Pacers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. His layup with 1:37 left gave the Knicks a 116-107 lead.

Rose looked sharp early and often in his 36 minutes. Rose and Anthony, who matched his season high with 35 points, led a fourth-quarter comeback by scoring 11 points apiece in the final frame.

The Knicks (15-13) were down by as many as 81-66 with 4:45 left in the third quarter, before staging their biggest comeback of the season. Anthony got it started with a step-back jumper.

Anthony drained seven-of-11 three-point attempts. He was 13-of-25 from the floor overall.

Joakim Noah added 11 points and 11 rebounds for his sec-ond double-double this season and Porzingis contributed 21 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots. New York sank 13 of its 23 three-point tries, matching its most of this season. Myles Turner and Thaddeus Young paced Indiana (15-15) with 21 points apiece. Al Jefferson scored 18 points off the bench, and Jeff Teague registered 17 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds.

Significant moments in basketball history

New York Knicks Derrick Rose drives to the basket past Indiana Pacers' players during their NBA game at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York, US, yesterday.

Cleveland Cavaliers LeBron James (top) reaches for a rebound against Milwaukee Bucks' players during their NBA game at BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, yesterday.

26 THURSDAY 22 DECEMBER 2016SPORT

Tokyo 2020 organisers slash budget to $17bn TokyoAFP

Tokyo Olympics organis-ers unveiled a smaller budget of up to $17bn

yesterday after coming under pressure to cut ballooning costs.

The figure, down from last month's pledge to cap spend-ing at $17.78bn, follows warnings that the bill for the 2020 Games could soar as high as $30bn.

Organising committee chief executive Toshiro Muto said the entire Games budget would be between ¥1.6 trillion and ¥1.8 trillion, which he put at

$15-16.8bn. Under the latest exchange rate, the same yen figure is worth $13.6-15.3bn. This year's Rio Games cost $12bn, while London 2012 came in £8.77bn or $13.7bn under the exchange rate at the time.

Yesterday's figure, the most complete budget yet for Tokyo 2020, comes after offi-cials scrambled to slash the costs of building some venues.

It was revealed at talks between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Tokyo and national gov-ernments, who are meeting regularly to try to cut costs.

"This does give the overall

picture," IOC vice-president John Coates said by videolink from Sydney.

"We are pleased with the progress you are continuing to make," he said, adding: "We think that we can work with you to find... more savings."

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who was elected this year vowing to bring down costs, said some ¥40 bn would be saved after a review of the canoeing, volleyball and swim-ming venues.

"The three-party meeting by the committee, the central government and the Tokyo government, will get to work on specifics early next year," Koike told reporters, with "cost-sharing" on the agenda.

"I want to strictly check

who will pay for what as swiftly as possible."

In the battle to cut costs, she had proposed moving the canoeing venue 400 kilome-tres north of Tokyo to Miyagi prefecture, one of the areas hardest hit by Japan's 2011 tsu-nami disaster.

But the idea faced resist-ance from the organising committee, which argued that changing sites was impracti-cal and could end up costing more.

Koike dropped the plan last month and announced that canoeing would stay in Tokyo but with the venue built at a sharply reduced cost.

She also said then that Tokyo would build a new aquatic centre with 15,000 seats, smaller and cheaper than the original plan for a 20,000-seat facility.

And last week Koike said the volleyball venue would stay in the capital but be built at a lower cost.

In a meeting last month, Muto said the organising com-mittee's working budget was capped at less than ¥2 trillion ($17.78bn) and officials were committed to pushing it lower.

But Coates refused to accept the figure and said overall costs would have to come down significantly.

Record prizepurse for 2017Australian Open Melbourne Reuters

The Australian Open has increased its total prize purse by 14 percent to a record

A$50m ($36.19m), with A$3.7m up for grabs for the winners of the sin-gles tournaments, organisers said yesterday.

The prize money for the season's opening grand slam has more than tripled since 2001, and risen A$10m since 2014.

Tournament director Craig Tiley said in a statement that organisers were focused on increasing compen-sation for players in the early rounds and qualifying, with first round los-ers set for an A$50,000 windfall, up 30 percent from last year.

Similarly, second round prize money has risen 29 percent to A$80,000, with third and fourth round losers to earn A$130,000 and $220,000 respectively. Total prize money for the quarter-finals, semi-finals, runners up and winner is up 9 percent.

The Australian Open starts on January 16 in Melbourne.

Kvitova is "feeling good" after surgery, says spokesman Prague Reuters

Two-time Wimbledon tennis champion Petra Kvitova is "feeling good" following sur-

gery on her playing hand after she was attacked in her apartment by a knife wielding intruder, her spokesman said yesterday.

The Czech world number 11 suf-fered injuries to the fingers on her left hand in the attack on Tuesday morning.

"Petra is feeling good after the surgery, a routine check confirmed that the operation was successful," Karel Tejkal said in an emailed statement.

Kvitova was not expected to make any further comments her-self on Wednesday, Tejkal said. She said on social media on Tuesday she was fortunate to be alive after the attack in the city of Prostejov, about 260 km (160 miles) southeast of Prague.

The hard-hitting left-hander rose to number two in 2011 when she won the first of her two Wim-bledon singles titles. Tejkal said on Tuesday surgeons saw no reason why she could not return to play-ing tennis.

The 26-year-old slipped in the rankings this year but showed improved form in recent months, winning the Wuhan Open title in October and the season-ending WTA Elite trophy in November.

Is England captain's goose cooked before Christmas?

Chennai AFP

England captain Alastair Cook heads home for Christmas with calls for his resignation ringing in his ears after

what turned into an embarrass-ing subcontinental tour.

Cook flagged his possible departure before the five-Test tour of India and it was a ques-tion that became more pointed after England's capitulation on the final day in Chennai.

England lost six wickets for just 15 runs in a final-session col-lapse to lose the series 4-0, after they also finished the preceding tour of Bangladesh by folding in the final Test.

Cook's England threw away 10 wickets in a single session as they slumped to their first Test defeat to the hosts in Dhaka.

Cook admitted it had been a "frustrating" year as he was left ticking off the low points of his captaincy following the defeat in Chennai.

"I think Australia 5-0 (2013-2014) was as low as I could go and Sri Lanka as well at Head-ingley (2014). We could list a few if you really want," he said.

"I can't fault the effort in the dressing-room. We've stayed together as a team. Naturally when things go badly, things can break up. But the guys have been brilliant in committing to the cause. We just haven't been good

enough to put India under pres-sure for long periods."

Many now expect Cook to relinquish the captaincy in favour of fellow batsman Joe Root, with England heading into a five-month Test break and an Ashes series in Australia loom-ing at the end of next year.

"End the speculation. He is telling us that the captaincy has tired him out mentally and he has had enough," said former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott.

"If that is the case then he should go, which would give Root seven Test matches in Eng-land to get used to the job before taking the team to Australia."

Cook led England to a 2-1 series win in South Africa early this year against a team then ranked number one in the world, but things went downhill from there. England were held to a 2-2 draw against Pakistan at home in August and then lost in Dhaka to split the series 1-1 with Bangladesh.

But India proved the nadir as England twice lost by an innings after posting more than 400 in their first innings.

"It's been a frustrating year and to lose that many times with the players we've got is disap-pointing," said Cook.

"Played some good cricket at times and played some pretty average cricket. We haven't been very good when we've been behind in games," said Cook.

England slipped from second to fifth in the latest world rank-ings led by India, but Cook believes it's not all "doom and gloom".

"I think everyone can see we are suited to playing in seaming conditions. There's no point hid-ing behind that fact. These conditions have tested us to our limits," said Cook.

England will soon have more opportunities to practise in Indian condi-tions, when they return for a limited-overs series in January.

Du Plessis loses ball-tampering appeal Dubai Reuters

South Africa cap-tain Faf du Plessis has lost his

appeal against a ball-tampering conviction, but

will be free to play in the first Test against Sri Lanka start-ing on Boxing Day.

Du Plessis was found guilty by match refe-

ree Andy Pycroft of changing the con-

dition of the ball after appear-

ing to use s a l i v a tainted by

a mint in h i s m o u t h

t o s h i n e

it during the second Test against Australia in Hobart last month.

South Africa won the test and the series 2-1, but the vic-tory was overshadowed by what Du Plessis felt was an unjust targeting of him.

The skipper was fined his entire match fee and had three demerit points added to his record.

If a player accumulates four-to-seven demerit points within a two-year period they are converted into two suspension points, which brings a ban for one test or two one-day internationals or Twenty20s.

Du Plessis appealed against his punishment on Monday, questioning whether his actions changed the

condition of the ball at all. The Chair of the ICC's Code of Conduct Commission, Michael Beloff, upheld the verdict, but stopped short of increasing the sanction to an automatic one-match ban which would have been within his remit.

International Cricket Council (ICC) chief executive officer Dave Richardson wel-comed the decision.

"It is the duty of the ICC to ensure fair play on the cricket field," he said in a statement yesterday.

"Although it was not picked up by the umpires at the time, when the incident came to our attention subse-quently, we felt it was our responsibility to lay a charge in this case because the ICC

can't let such an obvious breach of this Law pass with-out taking any action.

"We are pleased that both the match referee and Mr Beloff QC have agreed with our interpretation of the Laws and hope that this serves as a deterrent to all players not to engage in this sort of unfair practice in the future."

Du Plessis, 32, was last week confirmed as South Africa's new permanent cap-tain after AB de Villiers resigned having missed three test series in a row due to an elbow injury.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) accepted the decision.

"We are satisfied with the matter being given due con-sideration," it said.

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Cook flagged his possible departure before the tour of India.

England struggle

Cook flagged his possible departure before the tour of India.

England lost six wickets for just 15 runs in a final-session collapse to lose the series 4-0 against India.

Cook's England threw away 10 wickets in a single session as they slumped to their first Test defeat to the hosts in Dhaka in October.

England's captain Alastair Cook

South Africa's captain Faf du Plessis

27THURSDAY 22 DECEMBER 2016 SPORT

MilanAFP

CEO Adriano Galliani was left fuming after AC Milan were prevented

from flying to Qatar on Tues-day for the Italian Super Cup final against champions Juventus.

Milan, who lost the Ital-ian Cup final to Juventus last season, are set to face the double winners in Doha on Friday. But a technical fault grounded their plane in Lon-don, leaving the squad stranded in Milan.

Although Milan arrived yesterday, Galliani was already crying foul.

"We've suffered a serious sporting disadvantage," Gal-liani said in comments widely reported in Italy.

"Juventus are already relaxing in the heat, tomor-row (yesterday) they'll be training in temperatures 20 degrees higher than at Milanello (Milan's training complex).

"We'll arrive at night-time and only have one day to prepare."

Juventus’ Italian Super Cup final plans took flight yesterday morning as the team underwent a light train-ing session at the Aspire Academy, the same facility that hosted them just two years ago.

Watched by supporters and sponsors, the Juve play-ers took to the field and put through their paces in a brief stretching session under the watchful eye of coach Massi-miliano Allegri.

The Italian champions were treated to a special Qatari reception.

A traditional tent was erected on one side of Aspire’s lush playing surfaces to give the Bianconeri a taste of the local culture.

Allegri’s charges returned to train in the evening session behind closed doors with the focus expected to shift from fitness to tactics as Friday’s final against Milan begins to loom large on the horizon.

It is the second time in the last two years that the Italian Super Cup Final will take on a Qatari flavour when cham-pions Juventus meet Italian Cup runners-up AC Milan.

Milan cry foul over Super Cup plane delay

Marchisio targets more silverware for JuveArmstrong Vas The Peninsula

Italian midfielder Claudio Mar-chisio is looking forward to provide an intriguing finale to a stunning 2016 by winning more silverware for Juventus

in the Italian Super Cup final in Qatar tomorrow.

“We want to end the year in style with more silverware. I want to win my third trophy of 2016 on Friday,” said the 30-year old while speaking to journalists at Aspire Academy training pitch before the Biancon-eri’s first training session in Doha, yesterday.

In Qatar, Juventus are looking to pick their third title of the year in Friday’s Italian Super Cup final in a rematch of May's Coppa Italia final in Rome.

“Our focus at the moment is on preparing ourselves as best we can by getting used to the playing sur-face and the climate here; finals always come down to the smallest details,” he added.

The Serie A defending champi-ons, started the year by winning their fifth consecutive Scudetto title

and capped it with a record 11th Coppa Italia crown, and a win on Friday at Al Sadd Stadium will make it a hat-trick and provide a perfect silver lining for 2016.

“As a team, we’ve had a remark-able 12 months, posting incredible figures and breaking records all over the place. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved but now it’s all about Fri-day and returning home with the Super Cup trophy in our arms.”

Although Bianconeri are leading the Serie A standings Marchisio feels his team-mates will encounter a Milan side which is ‘hungry for revenge’.

“Our league defeat to Milan

taught us that we must not under-estimate anyone. If you are not keeping pace against any side at this level, you always risk losing, not least in a game like this where one mistake can cost you the trophy,” said Marchiso, who was part of the Italian squad which finished run-ners up in Euro 2012.

“It’s a one-off fixture against a team that has made a very good start to the season so we will need to be at our very best to come out on top.

“Milan will be dangerous for two reasons. First, they will be hungry for revenge after the Italian Super-coppa final which Juventus won 1-0 and secondly, they are coming here on the back of a very positive first half of the season.”

Marchiso said AC Milan, who are in the third place, behind second placed Roma, are in good form in the Serie A.

“They were not in the title race last time out but they have begun in the best way possible so far mixing experience with the desire of their younger players to good effect. We’re expecting a difficult 90 min-utes; they will be here to win and seize the trophy from our grasp.”

We want to end the year in style with more silverware. I want to win my third trophy of 2016 on Friday: Marchisio

Juventus player Patrice Evra poses with a falcon after a training session in Doha, yesterday. [right] Juventus players attend a training session in Doha, yesterday, two days before the Italian Super Cup final match against AC Milan in the Qatari capital.

ayayayayayayayJuventus in Qatar

Qatar International Show Jumping: Stage set for three-day championshipThe Peninsula

The three-day Qatar Interna-tional Show Jumping Championship kicks off at

Qatar Equestrian Federation's (QEF) Outdoor today.

The annually-staged four-star event will see riders from across the globe and the region as they compete in different classes.

Riders from neighboring Saudi Arabia will be joined by entries from Australia, Egypt, France, Greece, Jordan, Kuwait, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey and the United States besides hosts Qatar.

The FEI-sanctioned event will be followed by another top-class tournament - the Al Rayyan Inter-national Championship from December 29-31, organisers said yesterday.

Two days ago, the QEF General Assembly held its annual meeting to elect Hamad bin Abdulrahman Al Attiyah for another four-year term.

The meeting - that also named a list of new Board Members - was held on Monday in the presence of a delegation from the Qatar Olym-pic Committee (QOC)

The four-year term of the new

Board Members will continue until the end of the next Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo in 2020.

In his opening remarks, QEF President Al Attiyah underlined the support received from H H the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, H H the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and H E Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al Thani, President of QOC, in developing the hugely popular equine sport.

Al Attiyah said the support of 'QOC has enabled Qatari riders to grab international headlines in recent years'. The QEF President thanked Khalid bin Safar Al Hajri for his efforts to promote eques-trian sport in Qatar.

"We saw our team feature in Rio Olympic this year. That was a great achievement by our riders," Al Attiyah said.

The new QEF board is made up of: Hamad bin Abdulrahman Al Atti-yah as the President, Saeed bin Mohammed Al Shafi as the Secre-tary General, Sheikh Mohammed bin Nasser Al Thani as Member, Ali bin Youssef Al Rumaihi as Member and Amer bin Mohammed Al Hamidi as Member.

Show jumping schedule

22/12/2016 01 Two Phases 274.5.3 120cm

QR 30,000 CSI4*-W

22/12/2016

02 Table A 238.2.1a 135cm

QR 35,000 CSI4*-W

22/12/2016

03 Two Phases 274.5.6 145cm

QR 122,100 CSI4*-W

23/12/2016

04 Table A 238.2.2a 120cm

QR 35,000 CSI4*-W

23/12/2016

05 Table A 238.2.2a 135cm

QR 45,000 CSI4*-W

23/12/201606 Table A 238.2.1a 145cm

QR 270,000 CSI4*-W

24/12/2016 07 Table A 238.2.1a 135cm

QR 40,000 CSI4*-W

24/12/2016 08 Winning Round 276.2 145cm

QR 122,100 CSI4*-W

24/12/201609 WC 2 Rounds 273.4.3 160cm

QR 650,000 CSI4*-W

Hamad bin Abdulrahman Al Attiyah (fourth right), the President of QEF board poses for a photo with the new board members during the annual QEF meeting held in Doha, yesterday.

A file Picture from last year's event.