Sunday 11 December 2016

SPORTBeckham faces deadline on Miami MLS franchise

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In-form Kohli puts

India in the leadmi

Saeed, Al Marri emerge winners of National Day Endurance Ride

Saeed Hamad Saeed Juma (left) astride LP Hara, winning the 100km CEIYJ* event of the National Day Endurance Ride, organised by the Qatar Endurance Committee at Endurance Village, Sealine, Mesaieed yesterday. CENTRE: The winner of the 120km CEI** event, Hamad Towaim Al Marri receives the trophy from Minister of Culture and Sports H E Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali.RIGHT: Minister of Culture and Sports H E Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali presents the winner's trophy to Saeed Hamad Saeed Juma during the presentation ceremony.

LCSC offers exclusive facilities for ladies The Peninsula

Losail International Cir-cuit will open its doors twice a month for ladies

only, enabling them to exer-cise in an outdoor facility with privacy.

This was revealed during a press conference, attended by Abdulrahman Al Dosari, President of Qatar Sports For All Federation (QSFA), Saud Al Attiyah President of Losail Circuit Sports Club (LCSC), Dr Abdulaziz Al Kuwari of Qatar Cyclists and Mrs. Haya Al Ghanim of Qatar Cyclists and Oola Sports.

QSFA and Qatar Cyclists Centre with the Losail Circuit Sports Club, continue to focus on hosting physical activities that aim to maximize the full potential of the facilities and the goal is to provide the com-munity with a safe and comfortable environment to exercise in.

In addition to the Wednes-day training days, the track will now also be open exclusively for ladies only on selected Tuesdays of every month.

“I have been President of the circuit for a year now and in this year, we have been able to use the facility the most we can, but still we can do more work in community engagement and use it to its full potential. Today I am happy to launch this new event with Qatar Sports for All Federation and Qatar Cyclists. We are here to provide all we can from the circuit to cyclists in the community,” said LCSC President Saud Al Attiyah.

QSFA President Abdul-rahman Al Dosari said that his federation is very concerned and focused on encouraging the community to be more physically active and live a healthier lifestyle.

‘As a part of this focus, we launched a Women’s Com-munity Sport activities that will take place in four differ-ent schools on a weekly basis where we open the recreation centres of those schools to all

the females interested in hav-ing a comfortable atmosphere for them to come and exer-cise. To continue this and to focus on physical activity, we will be launching this new event, Ladies Training Days, as part of this continuous effort to make our commu-nity live a healthier life,” Al Dosari said.

Dr. Abdulaziz Al Kuwari said that Qatar Cyclists is very proud to announce this launch in collaboration with Qatar Sports for All Federa-tion and Losail International Circuit under the slogan “Activity is wellness”.

“I would like to send a special thank you to the Qatar Sports for All Federation for their continuous efforts in providing activities for the Qatar community. I would also like to thank all those in Qatar providing activities to the public, especially to Min-ister of Culture and Sports H E Salah bin Ghanem Al Ali for his continuous support,” Al Kuwari said.

Speaking on the occasion, Mrs. Haya Al Ghanim said; “The privacy that is provided to us by the Losail Interna-tional Circuit is very helpful and we appreciate it greatly. We will be providing the cycles and gear, so people wouldn’t have to find ways to bring their personal cycles from home all the way here. We will also have special trainers to provide yoga les-sons, mini bootcamp, walking, and other activities. After the success we had in April, I am optimistic that we will have a great turnout.”

The first Ladies training days will be on Tuesday and the next days will be on December 20 and 27. The track will be open from 5.00pm to 8.30pm with the registration on the same day and free of charge. There will be an abaya and bag check in station at the entrance and no men will be allowed inside the track with the CCTV system monitored by female staff only.

Ma Long sets date with Zhengdong in Doha finalThe Peninsula

The top two players on the planet - Ma Long and Fan Zhengdong - will clash for the ITTF World Tour Grand

Finals title today after they posted contrasting wins in the

semi-finals yesterday. In the first semi-final yesterday, world number, Ma Long of China crushed Jeoung Youngsik of Korea in straight games to reach the final of the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.

Playing with authority that helped him reach the title clash

with absolute ease, Ma Long look in imperious form as he won 11-9, 11-8, 11-8, 14-12. Ma Long has lost only two games in this tourna-ment so far.

In the final today, Ma Long will play compatriot and arch-rival Fan Zhengdong who crushed compatriot Xu Xin 5-11, 11-5, 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9.

It was a pleasing win for the 19-year-old player who won the Star Point award on Thursday. Zhengdong, ranked two in the world, has lost only five games in Doha.

Earlier China’s Zhu Yuling, the no.3 seed, yesterday beat Kasumi Ishikawa, the no.2 seed, 16-14, 11-3, 11-8, 11-7 to seal her place in the women's singles final.

In the first semi-final at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena, Ger-many's Han Ying, the no.11 seed, eased past Miu Hirano, the no. 10 seed, in four games.

Han Ying won one-sided clash 11-2, 11-4, 11-3, 11-5.

“Today I had a good balance between attack and defence, I felt confident. Last time when we played in Kuwait, I won the first three games but then Miu Hirano

played much stronger than today. I was prepared for a tough match, I’m surprised that I won so eas-ily,” Han Ying said.

German coach Jie Schopp said Miu Hirano wasn't fresh enough for a better fight.

"Miu Hirano and Mima Ito are both tired, they have been trav-elling such a lot, to South Africa for the World Junior Champion-ships; neither of them were 100 percent fit and it was difficult for them to find motivation," Schopp said yesterday.

Ma Long of China in action against South Korea's Jeoung Youngsik during the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals at Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena in Doha yesterday. Ma Long won 11-9, 11-8, 11-8, 14-12.Pictures by: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

Fan Zhengdong of China in action against Xu Xin. Zhengdong won 5-11, 11-5, 11-5, 6-11, 11-6, 11-9.

Today I had a good balance between attack and defence, I felt confident. I was prepared for a tough match, I’m surprised that I won so easily: Han Ying

London AFP

There were growing calls yesterday for Russia to be banned from the Winter Olympics and other

major international events after the latest startling revelations of state-sponsored doping across Russian sport.

Richard McLaren described on Friday how Russia "hijacked" sport by involving more than 1,000 athletes in an "institutional conspiracy" to win by mass dop-ing at the Sochi 2014 Winter and London 2012 Olympics and other global competitions.

The Canadian lawyer, who detailed in a previous report how Russian security services were involved in the nefarious scheme, said in a second report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that at least 30 sports were implicated and that salt and instant coffee were used to manipulate Russian samples.

Russia's sports ministry -- said to be central to the ruse to cheat its way to success over several years -- again denied state backing for doping, saying that it "will continue the fight against doping with zero tolerance".

Russia's track and field team was already banned from inter-national competition for doping and was barred from the Rio Olympics in August, but there is now growing pressure -- not to mention anger -- for more sanctions.

The United States, Britain and Germany all swiftly con-demned Russia, while the

International Paralympic Com-mittee, which banned Russia

completely from the Rio Paral-ympics in September, called the M c L a r e n f i n d i n g s "astonishing".

Liz Nicholl, chief executive of UK Sport, which is tasked with helping Britain to Olympic suc-cess, said that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) should exclude all Russian competitors from the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea in 2018.

"Absolutely. Until there's evi-dence that Russian athletes are competing clean," The Daily Tel-egraph quoted her as saying.

"All the evidence that we've got is that they're not likely to be doing so. So, yes, I think the IOC should be taking a very strong stance and should be excluding Russia until such time as they've

put their house in order."Clemens Prokop, president

of the German athletics federa-tion (DLV), called for a total ban on all Russian competitors.

"Russian sport should be excluded from all interna-tional competitions, including the Olympic Games, until its credibility is restored," said Prokop.

"This is a fundamental attack against the Olympic movement when the values of the move-ment are dragged through the mud by a country."

The IOC responded to McLaren's latest damning report by announcing it would reana-lyse all 254 urine samples taken from Russian athletes at Sochi.

The report, the IOC declared, showed that there "was

a fundamental attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and on sport in general".

Several major international sporting events are on the cal-endar in the coming months, including the IAAF (athletics) World Championships in Lon-don in August next year.

The Winter Olympics take place in Pyeongchang in Febru-ary 2018 and Russia is due to hold the football World Cup that summer.

McLaren identified doping as being rife in Russian athletics and weightlifting, but his report found evidence of banned sub-stances being used in football too.

"We didn't really have a chance to look at Russian soccer across the board, to look at

different teams and what's going on," McLaren said after present-ing his report findings in London.

"I think there are 33 football-ers listed in the report. Not all of those are Russian by the way -- some are foreigners."

That led British MP Damian Collins to question whether Rus-sia was fit to host the 2018 World Cup.

"FIFA now have to look very seriously at the way in which the World Cup is going to be staged," Collins, of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, told the BBC.

"How can Russia give confi-dence to FIFA and to the world that there will be proper anti-doping measures in place during the World Cup?"

27SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2016SPORT

Sports 'hijacked'

Canadian lawyer says Russia hijacked international sport by using more than 1,000 athletes in an 'institutional conspiracy' to win medals at the Sochi and London Olympics and other global events.

The IOC responded to McLaren's latest damning report by announcing it would reanalyse all 254 urine samples taken from Russian athletes at Sochi.

McLaren report shows vast reach of Russian doping

Russian Sport Ministry denies state-run dopeprogrammeMoscow IANS

The Russian Sports Min-istry has denied the existence of a govern-

ment-sponsored doping system in response to the "institutionalised doping con-spiracy" allegation from an investigation report released by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Canadian sports law expert Richard McLaren on Friday published the second part of an investigation report on Russian doping, noting that an institutional conspir-acy existed across summer and winter sports athletes who participated with Rus-sian government officials.

According the report, over 1,000 Russian athletes com-peting in summer, winter and Paralympic sport, can be identified as being involved in or benefiting from manip-ulations to conceal positive doping tests. The Russian Sports Ministry said in a state-ment on Friday that there is no state-run doping pro-grammes existing in Russia, and Russia is ready to coop-erate and collaborate with international organisations to improve its anti-doping programmes.

The first part of the inves-tigation report was published in July, in which Russia was accused of running a state-wide doping programme and a number of athletes routinely used drugs to enhance per-formance at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

WADA said in a statement that summaries of the report will be provided to the International Olympic Committee.

French national anti-doping laboratory in Chatenay-Malabry, outside Paris shows urine samples in the same bottles used to analyse Russian athletes urine at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in this file photo of December 15, 2015.

Westbrook's heroics can't save ThunderLos Angeles AFP

Russell Westbrook's sev-enth straight triple-double put him in rare company,

but it couldn't lift the Oklahoma City Thunder past the Houston Rockets on Friday.

Westbrook scored 27 points, handed out 10 assists and pulled down 10 rebounds to become the first player since Chicago Bulls icon Michael Jordan in 1989 to notch seven consecu-tive triple-doubles.

But the Rockets spoiled the party in Oklahoma city, with James Harden scoring 21 points with 12 assists and nine rebounds in Houston's 102-99 triumph.

Guard Eric Gordon came off the bench to score 17 points and Ryan Anderson chipped in 14.

Patrick Beverly grabbed 12 rebounds for the Rockets, who held a 52-46 advantage over the Thunder on the boards.

Beverly embraced the chal-lenge of slowing down Westbrook, matching up with the Thunder guard in the wan-ing seconds when Oklahoma City had reduced a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to one.

Beverly harried Westbrook as he dribbled and unleashed a three-point attempt that ended up an air-ball.

"We just tried to show bod-ies and force him into a crowd," Beverley said of Houston's plan for containing Westbrook.

"Make it real tough for him. We were fortunate. He's a really, really, really good player. We were fortunate to come up with a stop." There was no late-game stand required in Cleveland, where the reigning champion Cavaliers thumped the Miami Heat 114-84.LeBron James scored 27 points with eight rebounds and eight assists against his former team. That saw him move into ninth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list with 27,315 points -- two more Elvin Hayes, who starred for Houston and Washington in the 1970s. Kevin Love defied back spasms to score 28 points with 15 rebounds for the Heat. Kyrie Irving chipped in 23 points, but coach Tyronn Lue said that

improved defense was the key to the Cavs' current three-game winning streak, which followed a rare three-game slump.

Friday's win was Cleveland's second straight by a margin of 30 points. They held the Heat to 34.8 percent shooting from the field -- a season low for a Cav-aliers opponent. The victory solidified Cleveland's hold on top spot in the Eastern Confer-ence. They're followed by the Toronto Raptors, who roared back in the second half to beat the Celtics 101-94 in Boston. Kyle Lowry scored 21 of his 34 points in the second half and DeMar DeRozan poured in 16 of his 24 after the break as the Raptors erased a 10-point third-quarter deficit.

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook (0) attempts to steal the ball from Houston Rockets forward Montrezl Harrell (5) during the second quarter of their NBA game at Chesapeake Energy Arena on Friday.

Feng clinches record fourth Dubai Ladies MastersDubai AFP

Defending champion Feng Shanshan won a record fourth Dubai Ladies Mas-

ters title yesterday following a brilliant eight-under par final round 64.

The 27-year-old from China started the day five shots behind overnight leader Felicity John-son of England. But she claimed back-to-back titles finishing on a 10-under par total of 206 as the leaders fell by the wayside on a windy day at the Majlis course of Emirates Golf Club.

Feng, the highest ranked player in the field at world No4, was chased home by England's Charley Hull second at eight-under par following a 65.

India's Aditi Ashok signed off a brilliant season tied for third place with England's Florentyna Parker at six-under par 210 in the tournament that was reduced to 54 holes following the death of caddie Maximilian Zechmann on the opening day Wednesday.

American Beth Allen won the LET Order of Merit crown, while Ashok was the Rookie of the Year. Feng made the most of the early holes playing down-wind, making four birdies in a row from the second onwards, and then had another fantastic stretch from the difficult par-4 ninth onwards, as she added three more to her tally.

"I'm really happy that I actu-ally brought out my 'A game' today," said Feng. "I knew that

it was going to be windy and I knew that playing in the wind is one of my strongest parts. So even though I was five behind, I always thought that maybe I would still have a chance to win this week and I tried my best. Eight-under was a pretty good

score." Hull, who won her first LPGA Tour title three weeks ago at the CME Group Tour Cham-pionship, had a similar story to Feng. After two quiet days, the 21-year-old from Woburn caught fire and posted a bogey-free 65.

Feng Shanshan of China poses with her trophy after winning the final round of the 2016 Omega Dubai Ladies Masters at the Emirates Golf Club in Dubai yesterday.

28 SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2016SPORT

In-form Kohli putsIndia in the lead Mumbai AFP

Captain Virat Kohli smashed a sensational unbeaten 147 to propel India into the lead on the third day of the fourth

Test against England in Mumbai yesterday.

The Indian skipper, who has enjoyed a remarkable and record-breaking year, hit 17 fours as India reached 451-7 in their first innings at stumps.

"He played exceptionally well today and you have to take your hat off sometimes and just accept it," England's Joe Root said of Kohli afterwards.

"The amount of runs Kohli has scored this series, if you take those away it's a completely different series," added the 25-year-old Root, whose England side must win if they are to keep the contest alive.

Batsman Kohli crossed 1,000 Test runs for the year and 4,000 for his career during his 241-ball knock to ensure India take a 51-run lead with three wickets remaining into day four.

The 28-year-old entered the fray early in the morning session after Cheteshwar Pujara (47) was bowled out by Jake Ball on just the second ball of the day at the Wankhede Stadium.

Kohli, who has hit two double centuries in 2016, held fort at one end, crossing the century mark mid-way through the final session.

It marked the Indian captain's second century of the series after his stunning 167 in the second Test at Visakhapatnam.

K o h l i ' s unbeaten cen-tury came after Indian opener Murali Vijay smashed 10 fours and three sixes on his way to a magnificent 136 after starting the morning on 70.

Vijay was sent packing shortly after lunch when spinner Adil Rashid caught and bowled the right-handed batsman.

"It's very hard to bowl against guys when they're in that sort of form. They deserved the scores they got," said Root, who grabbed two wickets. "The most important thing is we look forward to tomor-row and we take those three early wickets when we get the opportunity.

"Then when it comes to batting we look to put pressure back on them. If we can do that well then we have a really good game on our hands," added Root. Kohli excelled at the crease with some exquisite shot-making as the wickets of Parthiv Patel (15) and Ravichandran Ash-win (0) fell to Root.

Rashid grabbed his second wicket of the day when Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed for 25 but Jay-ant Yadav stood firm and was batting on 30 with Kohli when stumps were called.

"Any lead is gold on this wicket," Vijay told reporters.

"During tea-time we just thought get close to their target but now the way Virat and Yadav are batting I think we're in a pretty good position."

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hedthreeway to

nt 136 after starting the70.s sent packing shortlywhen spinner Adil

ght and bowled thed batsman.hard to bowl against

f hey're in that sort ofdeserved the scoresid Root, who grabbed "The most important

ook forward to tomor-take those three earlyhen we get the

hen it comes e look to putck on them.o that well

ave a reallyon our hands,"Kohli excelled at thesome exquisite shot-he wickets of Parthivd Ravichandran Ash-o Root.grabbed his second e day when Ravindrasmissed for 25 but Jay-stood firm and was30 with Kohli whene called.ad is gold on thisy told reporters.

tea-time we just close to their targete way Virat and batting I think

a pretty good

Pakistan crush Cricket Australia XI by 210 runs Cairns, Australia AFP

Opener Azhar Ali hit an unbeaten 82 and spinner Mohammad Nawaz took three wickets as Paki-stan thrashed a modest Cricket Australia XI by 210

runs in Cairns yesterday.The tourists declared their second innings at 216 for

six and then polished off the CA XI for 109 off 27.3 overs to win early on the final day of their three-day day-night game ahead of next week's first Test against Australia in Brisbane.

Pakistan set the CA XI a target of 311 run but the inex-perienced home side never got within range with left-arm spinner Nawaz snaring three for 31 and pacemen Moham-mad Amir and Rahat Ali each capturing two wickets.

Ali added 38 to his overnight score and struck three of his seven fours and two sixes on the final day before the Pakistan declaration to set up the result.

Nawaz was unbeaten alongside Ali on 36 off 47 balls, with Sarfraz Ahmed the only man to be dismissed on Sat-urday, bowled for 39.

SCORES:PAKISTAN: 208 (Y. Khan 54, S. Ahmed 39; C. Valente

4-36, M.Steketee 3-47) and 216-5 declared (A. Ali 82 not out, M. Nawaz 36 not out; R. Lees 2-28)

CA XI: 114 (J Winter 39; M. Amir 3-15, R. Ali 3-26, W. Riaz 3-28) and 109 (A. Nair 42; M. Nawaz 3-31) by 210 runs.

England (I innings): ............................... 400India (I innings):L Rahul b Ali ................................................................24

M Vijay c&b Rashid ................................................. 136

C Pujara b Ball ............................................................ 47

V Kohli (batting) ....................................................... 147

K Nair lbw Ali ............................................................... 13

P Patel c Bairstow b Root ......................................... 15

R Ashwin c Jennings b Root ......................................0

R Jadeja c Buttler b Rashid ..................................... 25

J Yadav (batting) ........................................................ 30

Extras (B-5, LB-7, W-2) .............................................14

Total (for 7 wkts) ..................................... 451Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-146, 3-262, 4-279, 5-305,

6-307, 7-364.

Bowling: Anderson 15-5-43-0; Woakes 8-2-34-0;

Ali 45-5-139-2 Rashid 44-5-152-2; Ball 14-5-29-1;

Stokes 8-2-24-0; Root 8-2-18-2.

SCOREBOARD

Bangladesh keen tocarry home success over to series abroad DhakaIANS

Bangladesh limited-overs captain Mashrafe Bin Mor-taza wants to carry their home success over to series abroad as the team gears up to face New Zealand

in a bilateral cricket tour.Bangladesh are set to play a bilateral series abroad

after more than two years, reports bdnews24.com.The team management had set a target of 80 percent

success rate going into the string of series following the 2015 World Cup.

Bangladesh then embarked on an One-Day Interna-tional (ODI) series-winning run and sealed six straight series before losing to England this October. They also earned a historic Test win over the English side.

The New Zealand series will begin later this month. Bangladesh will then play a one-off Test against India before taking on Sri Lanka in a complete series.

Bangladesh will then travel to Ireland for a tri-nation series in May next year. The Champions Trophy is sched-uled for June in England before the team head for South Africa in October.

The packed schedule begins with a training camp in Australia and Bangladesh will fly there in two contin-gents. One group has already left the country on Thursday night and the other is set to fly out on Saturday with Mortaza.

"Two years ago we targeted winning 80 percent matches at home. Thankfully we have been successful at that. Now the challenge is different, playing abroad," Mor-taza said at a press briefing on Friday.

The 33-year-old Mashrafe is looking forward to the conditioning camp in Sydney.

After the camp, the team will travel to New Zealand on Dec 18 and play a warm-up match there on Decem-ber 22. The ODI series will begin on December 26.

Andrew, Puts spring surprises at Short Course Worlds Montreal AFP

US teenager Michael Andrew and Jesse Puts of the Netherlands

were upset winners on Friday at the Short Course World Swimming Championships in Windsor, Canada.

The 17-year-old Andrew, whose age-group success has seen him tipped as a multi-medal threat in the mold of Olympic superstar Michael Phelps, won the 100m indi-vidual medley in 51.84sec.

He edged Japan's Rio Olympic bronze medallist Daiya Seto, who took silver in 52.01 with Japan's Shinri Shioura earning bronze in 52.17.

World record holder Vladimir Morozov settled for equal sixth, shortly after anchoring Russia to victory in the men's 4x50m freestyle relay.

Aleksei Brianskii, Nikita Lobintsev, Aleksandr Popkov and Morozov clocked 1:24.51

to claim gold ahead of the United States and Japan in the sprint relay that opened the evening's action.

Their triumph came on the same day as another damn-ing report on state-backed doping in Russia.

Canadian investigator Richard McLaren released a new report in London saying that more than 1,000 Russian athletes were involved in or benefitted from efforts to con-ceal positive tests.

Amid renewed calls for banning Russia from interna-tional sports, the country's swimmers stuck to business in Windsor, bookending the night with a victory in the men's 200m freestyle relay.

Mikhail Dovgalyuk, Mikhail Vekovishchev and Artem Lobuzov had Russia lying fourth when anchor Ale-ksandr Krasnykh hit the water. He powered to the front for a victory in 6:52.10, with the United States second in 6:53.34 and Japan third in 6:53.54.

Puts pulled off the upset in the men's 50m freestyle, pulling away in lane seven to win in 21.10sec and edge Rus-sia's Morozov by four one-hundredths of a second.

Lithuania's Simonas Bilis settled for bronze in 21.23.

Hungarian Katinka

Hosszu's gold medal binge continued with a triumph in the 100m individual medley -- her fifth gold of the championships.

Hosszu clocked 57.24 to take the gold ahead of Aus-tralian Emily Seebohm (57.97) with bronze going to Jamai-

can Alia Atkinson (58.04).Swimming's "Iron Lady,"

winner of three gold medals at the Rio Olympics, added another crown to those she had already earned this week in the 200m butterfly, 100m and 200m backstroke and 400m individual medley.

MEN4X50M FREESTYLE RELAY1. Russia (Aleksei Brianskii, Nikita Lobintsev, Aleksandr Popkov,

Vladimir Morozov) 1min 24.32sec, 2. United States 1:24.47, 3.

Japan 1:24.51

100M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY1. Michael Andrew (USA) 51.84, 2. Daiya Seto (JPN) 52.01, 3.

Shinri Shioura (JPN) 52.17

50M FREESTYLE1. Jesse Puts (NED) 21.10, 2. Vladimir Morozov (RUS) 21.14, 3. Si-

monas Bilis (LTU) 21.23

50M BACKSTROKE1. Junya Koga (JPN) 22.85, 2. Jeremy Stravius (FRA) 22.99, 3.

Pavel Sankovich (BLR) 23.03

4x200m freestyle relay

1. Russia (Mikhail Dovgalyuk, Mikhail Vekovishchev, Artem Lobu-

zov, Aleksandr Krasnykh) 6:52.10, 2. United States 6:53.34, 3.

Japan 6:53.54

WOMEN50M BUTTERFLY1. Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) 24.92, 2. Kelsi Worrell (USA) 25.27, 3.

Rikako Ikee (JPN) 25.32

100M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY1. Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 57.24, 2. Emily Seebohm (AUS) 57.97, 3.

Alia Atkinson (JAM) 58.04

400M FREESTYLE1. Leah Smith (USA) 3:57.78, 2. Veronika Popova (RUS) 3:58.90,

3. Chihiro Igarashi (JPN) 3:59.41

SC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS

India surge ahead

Virat Kohli crosses 1,000 Test runs for the year and 4,000 for his career during his 241-ball unbeaten knock of 147.

India take a 51-run lead with three wickets remaining into day four in the fourth Test against England in Mumbai.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli celebrates after scoring a century on the third day of the fourth Test against England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai yesterday.

Michael Andrew of the United States competes in

the 100m Individual Medley final on day four of the

13th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) at the WFCU Centre in

Windsor, Ontario, Canada on Friday.

29SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2016 SPORT

United and Spurs in exciting scramble to stay in touch LondonAFP

The threat of a long, dark winter hangs over Jose Mourinho's Manchester United as they prepare to wel-

come Tottenham Hotspur to Old Trafford in the Premier League today.

Without a home win in four league games, United trail fifth-place Tottenham by six points and will be left with a chasm to bridge just to secure a Champi-ons League place if they lose.

Their preparations have been disturbed by Thursday's Europa League trip to Ukraine, where they beat Zorya Luhansk 2-0 to secure a last 32 slot, but Paul Pogba says it cannot serve as an excuse.

"When you're playing those competitions, you're playing every three days," the France midfielder told MUTV.

"We have the team to change and be ready. We have to be ready for those games. When you prepare in pre-season, it's to play

those games every three days.Although its transport impli-

cations have provided unwelcome complications for Mourinho, the Europa League has given United some rare moments of positivity in recent weeks.

It has been particularly kind to Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who temporarily disappeared from view following his close-season switch from Borussia Dortmund.

The Armenian playmaker shone in the 4-0 win over Fey-enoord and opened his account for the club with a fine goal on Thursday, having inspired United to a 4-1 League Cup win over West Ham United in between.

With United having scored just seven goals in their last eight league games -- a run that has yielded a solitary win -- he seems increasingly integral to Mourinho's hopes of salvaging the season.

"We know how good he is," Pogba said. "You just have to be confident and now he's playing more, he has more games in his legs.

Having recently endured a sequence of one victory in 10 matches in all competitions, Tot-tenham can sympathise with United's struggles.

Their sticky patch ended their Champions League cam-paign before it had really begun and saw them slip seven points below leaders Chelsea in the title race. But they will travel north energised by two handsome vic-tories, having crushed Swansea City 5-0 last weekend before sinking CSKA Moscow 3-1 in mid-week to join United in the Europa League.

The stunning form of Mour-inho's former club Chelsea under Antonio Conte has only deep-ened the gloom surrounding the Portuguese, but Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino remains an ardent admirer.

"For me, he is the Special One and will always be the Spe-cial One," said Pochettino, who saw his side outclass United 3-0 at White Hart Lane when the teams last met in April.

"For me, he was a reference when I started my career at Espanyol. He was always very kind to me and opened his door.

"I always assess my col-leagues and try to be objective. I really believe he is one of the best.

"Sometimes you struggle a bit. It's not easy to arrive at a new club, set up ideas and philoso-phy, but for me he was, is and will be one of the best managers in football history."

Pochettino will once again be without winger Erik Lamela, who remains in Argentina attending to his hospitalised brother, while striker Vincent Janssen has an ankle injury.

But defensive lynchpin

Toby Alderweireld is in line to make his first start in eight weeks following a knee prob-lem, having come off the bench against CSKA at Wembley on Wednesday.

United are also expected to welcome back a key central defender after Eric Bailly made his return from a knee injury in Ukraine.

Bailly's centre-back partner Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw remain out, but Michael Carrick and Antonio Valencia could fea-ture after being rested for the trip to Odessa.

Frustrated Beckham faces deadline on Miami MLS franchise TorontoReuters

Major League Soccer fired a warning shot across the bow of David Beckham's

plans for a franchise in Miami on Friday, with the MLS chief saying the clock was ticking down on time to get a deal done.

"There is a deadline on the Miami deal," MLS commissioner Don Garber said in his annual state of league address ahead of Satur-day's MLS Cup final between Toronto FC and Seattle Sounders.

Garber, abiding by a confiden-tiality agreement between the league and Beckham's group, declined to say what exactly that deadline is but confirmed Miami will be on the agenda when the MLS board meets next week to dis-cuss expansion plans.

Beckham's Miami team is

slotted in to become the league's 24th franchise following Atlanta and Minnesota United, who are set to start playing next season fol-lowed by a second team in Los Angeles scheduled to begin oper-ations in 2018.

"I have said before we need to resolve the Miami situation so we can go forward with our expan-sion plans from 25 to 28 because they are team 24," said Garber.

"If they are not going to be team 24 there are going to be a lot of things that need to move around.

"We all know how teams evolve in certain markets and the challenges of getting stadiums built, we try to do everything we can to ensure we have the right recipe for success."

Beckham, who obtained the rights to buy into an MLS franchise at a discount as part of the deal he signed to play for the Los Angeles

Galaxy, has been frustrated in attempts to secure a home for his team.

The former England captain and his partners in Miami Beck-ham United (MBU), agent Simon Fuller, Bolivian billionaire Marcelo Claure and Tim Leiweke, who mas-terminded the midfielder's move to the Galaxy in 2007, recently pur-chased a parcel of land in the Overton area of Miami.

MBU, however, is facing fur-ther delays, according to a report in the Miami Herald, as the group searches for new investors to help fund the building of a stadium and the purchase of additional land.

The MLS board is due to meet on Thursday in New York to dis-cuss the process, timetable and fees for bringing on board four new franchises to take the total number of teams to 28.

At least 10 markets are

looking into joining the MLS, including Austin, Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, Raleigh, Sacra-mento, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa.

Interest in the league has sky-rocketed, Garber said.

For the sixth time in seven sea-sons the league smashed total and average attendance records with almost 21,700 fans per game, which Garber said put the MLS sixth among global soccer leagues.

Merchandise sales rose 25 per-cent over last season, while franchise evaluations have jumped 80 percent from 2013.

"We're continuing to evolve and develop and remain focused on building a league that can be among the top leagues in the world," said Garber. "It seems there is no city in America where you can't have a viable professional soccer team."

United vs Spurs

Without a home win in four league games, United trail fifth-place Tottenham by six points.

Spurs travel to Old Trafford energised by two handsome victories, having crushed Swansea City 5-0 before sinking CSKA Moscow 3-1 in mid-week.

Mourinho thinks inferior teams are ahead of United in EPLManchesterReuters

Manchester United manager Jose Mour-inho has labelled it

unfair that teams he believes are inferior to his side are higher in the Premier League table.

"I find it unfair," the Por-tuguese told Sky Sports on Friday. "I find that we should have many more points than we have because when you look at the table it looks like other teams are better than us which in my opinion is not true.

"In so many draws we deserved victories. If you could transform these draws into victories we would be very close to the top.

"I am just a bit disap-pointed... because I see teams in the Premier League that are not comparable to us in terms of the quality of their game and they have many more points than us.

"That is not something United fans and owners want, that is not something I want for this project."

Nacional to honour Brazilian Chapecoense at Club World Cup OsakaAP

Colombia's Atletico Nacional arrived in Japan for the Club

World Cup yesterday still dealing with the trauma of the recent airplane crash that caused the cancellation of the Copa Sudamericana final.

Atletico was to play Bra-zilian club Chapecoense in the final but the plane carry-ing the Brazilian team to the game crashed, killing almost all on board.

Nacional qualified for the Club World Cup by winning the Copa Liberdatores in July and vowed to honor the memory of their rivals when they face either South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns or Japanese cham-pions Kashima Antlers on Wednesday. The directors of Atletico Nacional asked the governing body of South American football to award Chapecoense the Copa Suda-mericana championship.

West Ham's Bilic praises Sturridge before Liverpool tripLiverpoolReuters

West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic has admit-ted his team need to

improve in front of goal and praised Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge who has been linked with a move to the Premier League strugglers.

West Ham, who travel to Anfield tomorrow, are 17th in the Premier League table, having scored 15 goals in 14 matches so far.

"The strikers didn't score enough goals or as many as we

expected but it is not only down to them," Bilic told British media.

"I never want to divide the team into strikers and the rest. Although it is the strikers' job to score goals, it is also the responsi-bility of the whole team."

West Ham have been linked with a move for Sturridge in the January transfer window, and Bilic said he admired the England inter-national's natural ability.

"He's one of the biggest talents, he's a great player," the manager said.

"The talent is there, the touch, the finishing, everything is great. The only thing that's stopped him

being regular for club and coun-try are the injuries."

Sturridge, who has lost his starting place to Brazilian Roberto Firmino under manager Juergen Klopp, will sit out Sunday's match with a calf injury, and Bilic would not confirm if he would bid for the striker in January.

"He's just a player that has been linked with us, basically, and we've been linked with almost every player," he said.

"All the clubs are thinking about him because he is that kind of player. Unfortunately for Eng-land and for Liverpool and especially for him he's injured."

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino

Daniel Sturridge

David Beckham

30 SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2016SPORT

Messi double brings Barca relief MadridAFP

Lionel Messi struck twice as Barcelona recorded their first win in four La Liga

games to close to within three points of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga with a 3-0 win at Osasuna yesterday.

Barca should have killed the game off in the first half as Luis Suarez and Messi missed two big chances each against La Liga's bottom side.

However, Suarez rounded off a fine team move to break the deadlock just before the hour before Messi's double in the final 17 minutes moved him ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo as La Liga's top scorer with 11 for the season.

Barca were in desperate need of a lift after conceding in the last minute to Real in last weekend's El Clasico.

The Catalans' upturn in per-formance since captain Andres

Iniesta's return from a six-week injury layoff continued in the first half at Osasuna, but Barca were in danger of paying for their profligacy in front of goal.

A brilliant pass from Messi freed Suarez inside the area just eight minutes in, but the Uru-guayan pulled his shot inches wide of the far post. Suarez then hit the woodwork as he spun inside the area.

Osasuna remain five points off safety and it was easy to see why they are still without a home win all season as the hosts were opened up at will.

Suarez turned provider for Messi, but Nauzet Perez rushed from his goal to block.

And the goalkeeper frus-trated the five-time World Player of the Year again moments later by just raising a hand in time to divert Messi's attempted chip behind.

Osasuna briefly threatened to cause a huge upset either side of

half time as firstly Oriol Riera just couldn't stretch to tap home a dangerous cross at the back post.

Sergio Leon then gave Barca a scare when his brilliant lob over Marc-Andre ter Stegen came back off the underside of the bar.

Barca created fewer chances in the second half, but were more clinical.

Sergio Busquets and Messi combined to release Jordi Alba on the left and his low cross was rolled into an unguarded net by Suarez despite Osasuna calls for offside.

The second goal came about in similar fashion 13 minutes later as Alba again got to the by-line and his cross was volleyed home by Messi at the near post.

And Messi didn't need any help for his second in stoppage time as he wriggled clear of three Osasuna defenders and left Perez on the floor before lift-ing the ball high into the net.

Osasuna's Oriol Riera (left) vies for ball possession with Barcelona's Lionel Messi during their La Liga match at the Reyno de Navarra (El Sadar) Stadium in Pamplona, Spain, yesterday.

Ozil guides Arsenal to the top Over-exposure will 'kill' players, says Guardiola LondonAFP

Manchester City boss Pep Guardi-ola warned that

plans to increase the World Cup to 48 teams as well the global saturation of football is going to "kill" players.

Guardiola said he wants to see rules changed to allow for up to six sub-stitutes to be used in a game rather than the three at present as a means to prevent burn-out of top stars.

"It's just three substi-tutions now, why can you not make four, five or six?," said the Spaniard.

"All the players are involved more than before, the coaches can use different tactics. Less injuries, more open games. Everything would be better."

The City boss was speaking after FIFA pres-ident Gianni Infantino expressed his desire to increase the number of teams playing at the World Cup from 2026.

But he fears that such demands will push play-ers to breaking point.

"It's not just English football, it's all around the world. Now they talk about a World Cup of 48 teams -- we are going to kill the players," he said.

"FIFA will decide and we accept the decision and if we are not happy we go home. They are focusing on more and more and more -- it affects the quality. I am thinking just for the play-ers. They need to breathe, to (have a) break, to enjoy.

"This kind of thing is impossible because we are going to finish (the sea-son), then after one week the World Cup then after three weeks we go to the pre-season, we go to China, the States, Australia.

"You play against Milan, Juventus, Madrid and you have to win, peo-ple demand you have to play good. No prepara-tion then you come back and it's 11 months again and it's the European Cup."

LondonAFP

Mesut Ozil's crafty header inspired Arsenal to a 3-1 comeback victory over Stoke City yes-

terday as Arsene Wenger's side supplanted Chelsea at the Premier League summit.

Charlie Adam's penalty put Stoke ahead at the Emirates Sta-dium, but Theo Walcott equalised before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain teed up Ozil to float a header over Lee Grant in the 49th minute.

Alex Iwobi completed victory to lift Arsenal top on goal differ-ence above Chelsea, who go in search of a ninth consecutive win against West Bromwich Albion today.

Third-place Liverpool enter-tain third-bottom West Ham United today also.

Arsenal went into their meet-ing with Stoke on the back of one-sided wins over West Ham and Basel, but the first half hour of the match suggested their luck might be about to turn.

First, Shkodran Mustafi was forced off by injury, which saw Hector Bellerin make an earlier than expected return from an ankle problem as a substitute.

Then, in the 29th minute, Adam celebrated his 31st birthday by giv-ing Stoke the lead from the spot after Granit Xhaka had caught Joe Allen with his elbow.

The decision drew a furious reaction from Arsenal manager Wenger, who appeared to push the fourth official.

But Arsenal levelled in the 42nd minute when Walcott neatly converted Bellerin's cross at the near post for his 10th goal of the season before Ozil put the home side in front.

Arsenal needed a two-goal win to claim top spot and the crucial third goal duly arrived 15 minutes from time when Nigerian winger Iwobi gathered Alexis Sanchez's pass before drilling home.

Italian striker Stefano Okaka scored his first Watford goals as Walter Mazzarri's side came from behind to beat Everton 3-2, leav-ing Ronald Koeman's men with one win from their last 10 league games.

Romelu Lukaku netted twice for Everton, bookending the scor-ing, but Okaka's double -- the first a brilliant volleyed flick -- and a Sebastian Prodl header earned the hosts victory.

Watford leapfrog Everton to seventh place, level on points with Manchester United, who host

fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur today.

Swansea City climbed off the foot of the table at Sunderland's expense with a 3-0 home win over David Moyes's side in which Spain international Fernando Llorente scored twice.

Gylfi Sigurdsson broke the deadlock with a 51st-minute pen-alty, awarded for handball against Jason Denayer.

Sigurdsson's corner set up Llorente to add a second and the former Athletic Bilbao striker made the game safe from Jefferson Montero's cross to propel Bob Bra-dley's men clear of the bottom three.

Wilfried Zaha starred as Crys-tal Palace rescued a point in a topsy-turvy 3-3 draw at fellow strugglers Hull City.

Robert Snodgrass's 27th-minute penalty put Hull ahead, but Zaha won a spot-kick that Chris-tian Benteke converted before dancing past Tom Huddlestone and Sam Clucas and slamming home to give Palace the lead.

Adama Diomande equalised and Jake Livermore gave Hull an 78th-minute advantage, only for Zaha to tee up Fraizer Campbell for a headed 89th-minute equaliser.

Jeff Hendrick's brilliant 13th-minute volley set Burnley on the path to a 3-2 home win over Bournemouth.

The Irishman netted from 25 yards and further goals from Stephen Ward and George Boyd secured victory despite Benik Afobe and Charlie Daniels netting for the visitors.

Lewandowski lifts Bayern back to top as Leipzig loseBerlinReuters

Champions Bayern Munich reclaimed top spot in the Bundesliga after crushing

VfL Wolfsburg 5-0 yesterday as RB Leipzig slumped to their first loss of the season -- a 1-0 defeat at Ingolstadt.

Arjen Robben put the dom-inant hosts ahead with a trademark move down the right and a superbly curled left-footed shot in the 22nd before Robert Lewandowski tapped in for a two-goal lead four minutes later.

The Pole replicated his move on the hour to turn in a Thomas Mueller shot before the attack-ing midfielder then turned scorer, finally breaking his goal drought this season.

Douglas Costa completed the rout in the 86th minute

Bayern move up to 33 points, ahead of Leipzig on goal

difference, while Wolfsburg are just a point above the relegation zone in 15th place, without a win in their last four matches.

Promoted Leipzig's sensa-tional start to the season came to a halt when Brazilian Roger's glancing first-half header earned struggling Ingolstadt only their second win of the campaign.

The hosts had to endure an hour of pressure as Leipzig sought the goal that would have kept them top, and Emil Fors-berg missed a golden chance in the 88th minute to equalise from four metres out.

Ingolstadt were reduced to 10 men in stoppage time after the dismissal of Mathew Leckie.

Borussia Dortmund contin-ued their erratic domestic form and needed another late goal from Marco Reus, who brought his side back to 2-2 at Real Madrid in midweek, to snatch a 1-1 draw at Cologne.

Premier League

Charlie Adam's penalty put Stoke ahead at the Emirates Stadium, but Theo Walcott, Mesut Ozil and Alex Iwobi fired back.

Okaka's double help Watford leapfrog Everton to seventh place, level on points with Manchester United. who host Tottenham Hotspur today.

Arsenal's Mesut Ozil runs for the ball

during their Premier League match against

Stoke City at the Emirates Stadium

in London, England yesterday.

(From left) Bayern Munich's Javi Martinez, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, David Alaba and Robert Lewandowski celebrate their first goal against VfL Wolfsburg during their Bundesliga match at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany yesterday.

Yesterday Arsenal 3-1 Stoke

Burnley 3-2 Bournemouth

Hull 3-3 Crystal Palace

Swansea 3-0 Sunderland

Watford 3-2 Everton

Today (GMT)

Chelsea vs West Brom (12:00)

Man United vs Tottenham (14:15)

Southampton vs Middlesbrough

Liverpool vs West Ham (16:30)

PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS

31SUNDAY 11 DECEMBER 2016 SPORT

Representatives of Theeb Al Shaqab, podium winner of Class 2 Colts Foals at the Qatar National Arabian Horse Show, receiving the trophy from officials.

Qatar National Arabian Horse Show

Wounded Al Rayyan aim to bounce back

The Peninsula

Round eleven of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) season will kick off today with four games involving sides

targeting all three points. All eyes will be on the final

game of the day which will see the QSL champions Al Rayyan visit a Al Wakrah side who picked up their first win of the season against Al Khor.

Lions supremo Michael Laudrup is expecting a big reac-tion from his players who lost 5-0 to Al Sadd in the Qatar Clasico.

Laudrup expects his side to bounce back.

“After the game like the other day, it’s important to have a reaction and knowing my play-ers they will show this against Al Wakrah.”

“Wakrah come into the game with plenty of confidence as they haven’t lost in four games. It is a good thing that the game comes very quickly we need to put the defeat against Al Sadd behind us. We cannot think about the league title at the moment we just have to focus on the game that is ahead of us” Added the Danish head coach.

Al Rayyan’s stirikers have been misfiring in recent weeks, however Laudrup belives they will soon find their form. “I am happy that the performances with the strikers and I know they are upset at not scoring but i

know that with strikers they will get one goal and then more will come and I hope in this moment they will do this,” he added.

Laudrup stressed that his central midfielders will need time to get back to full fitness. “Daniel Goumou has been play-ing well at the moment, you cannot be away from playing matches for so long and not drop off physically. We are in a run of games now and naturally he is going to drop off i am expecting that. Likewise for Caseres he will need two months to get back to his best when he returns, that is football.”

Al Wakrah head into their match off the back of their first win of the season against Al Khor and coach Kais Yâakoubi stressed on the quality of his opponents.

“We look to the table, we know there is a big gap in qual-ity between us and Al Rayyan. Regardless of the negative results in the next few weeks from them.”

“Our target is to start pick-ing up points. We picked up our first win and we need to continue on this path if we are going to avoid relegation this season,” added the Tunisian coach.

Yâakoubi also revealed he will be without some key play-ers heading into the game; “The atmosphere is good in the squad after the win, but we only have 72 hours to prepare for this game it is important .Maher Yusef and Ahmed Fadel will be absent for this game, despite the missing names we are aiming to get a positive result.”

The Tunisian revealed it’s an ideal moment to play the QSL champions.

“It’s a good opportunity to take advantage of the defeat Al Rayyan had against Al Sadd. We don’t need to give the players

motivation when they play the best teams in the QSL. It’s a appropriate time to play Al Rayyan.”

Todays action will see top of the table El Jaish take on Muaither. Sabri Lamouchi will be looking to get back to winning ways after falling to their first defeat of the season against rivals Lekhwiya.

As for Muaither they are now on a three game losing streak in the QSL, and have dropped into the relegation zone.

Head coach Phillipe Birol will be hoping that leading goalscorer Alain Dioko will be fit in time for this game.

The second game of the day will see Al Ahli take on a Al Sha-haniya side who have been quietly picking up points, boost-ing their survival.

Later in the day, Al Sailiya welcome an inform Al Gharafa side to Al Ahli Stadium.

Qatar Bowling Open kicks off in DohaThe Peninsula

The 2016 Qatar Bowling Open - the 16th and last stop of the 2016 European

Bowling Tour and also the 6th and last event of 2016 World Bowling Tour - kicked off in Doha here yesterday.

The EBT “Platinum” tour-nament, the highest of four categories, will end on Decem-ber 16, at the Qatar Bowling Center, a 32-laner in Doha.

The tournament offers total prize fund of $155,000 with $40,000 going to the winner, $20,000 to the runner-up and a last-to-cash payout of $1,200 for 43rd place.

Total 43 players will advance to the finals on December 16 including the top 34 in the overall qualifying standings, of the next two days and the top 3 of the Desperado Squad. The top 10 qualifiers will receive a first-round bye. The other 33 finalists will bowl six

games scratch with the top 18 advancing to the second round. Those 18 and the 10 qualifying leaders will roll another six-game block from scratch to cut to the top 4, who will advance to the semifinals.

Youngjun Kweon of Korea, winner of the Qatar Grand Prix poses for a group picture with officials of Qatar Fencing Federation at Aspire Zone yesterday. Kweon defeated Bardenet Alexandreof France 15-13 in the final. In the semi-final, Kweon defeated Nikolai Novosjolov of Estonia 15-13, while Bardenet got the better of compatriot Lucenay Jean-Michel 15-12. Today the final of the women's event will take place at the same venue. RIGHT: Kweon celebrates.

Fencing: Kweon wins Qatar Grand Prix

Cameron Weier, last year's winner of Qatar Open.

QSL Round XI

After the game like the other day, it’s important to have a reaction and knowing my players they will show this against Al Wakrah. We need to put the defeat against Al Sadd behind us.

Al Rayyan coach Michael Laudrup addressing a press conference on the eve of the Qatar Stars League match against Al Wakrah in Doah yesterday. RIGHT: Al Wakrah coach Kais Yâakoubi.

QATAR STARS LEAGUEToday’s matches

El Jaish vs Muaither SC at Lekhwiya Stadium, 4.00pm

Al Ahli vs Al Shahaniya at Al Ahli Stadium, 4.00pm

Al Sailiya vs Al Gharafa at Al Ahli Stadium, 6.10pm

Al Wakrah vs Al Rayyan at Al Wakrah Stadium, 6.10pm