Friday, December 17, 2021Jumada I 13, 1443 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

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Pakistan sweep West Indies 3-0 in T20Is aft er Covid scarePage 2

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Infantino praises Arab Cup as example of competition to help develop global footballPresident Gianni Infantino has ac-claimed the global reach of the FIFA World Cup in a meeting with ambassa-dors to Qatar, advocating collaboration between a wide range of stakeholders to maximise the impact of the tourna-ment and optimise its social impact as the world comes together in Doha in 2022. The success of the ongoing FIFA Arab Cup in Qatar was also highlighted as FIFA look for new models to make football truly global.Infantino was joined by FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC (Q22) Chief Execu-tive Off icer Nasser al-Khater and FIFA Chief Tournaments & Events Off icer Colin Smith in delivering updates to Embassy representatives on several matters related to the organisation of next year’s competition, pausing also to reflect on the unifying impact of football, illustrated during the ongoing FIFA Arab Cup.Key topics on the agenda ahead of Wednesday’s semi-final between Qatar and Algeria were the sustainability strategy for the tournament, work-ers’ welfare, legacy programmes and mutual engagements with Doha-based Embassies that can be previewed on the road to FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. In total, a network of 93 Embassies now liaise with Qatari authorities with a view

to the FIFA World Cup since launching their interaction in 2014. “It is a pleasure to be together with the Embassies ahead of this unique FIFA World Cup which will bring the global community together in the Middle East next year”, enthused Infantino. “At this FIFA Arab Cup, we have seen

how this international competition has captivated people in the participating countries and across the world and viewing figures for this tournament have been higher in those countries than for major club competitions.“We are working to make football truly global,” added the president. “Foot-

ball is the number one sport, but when we scratch beneath the surface, we see that top football is very much con-fined to a small group of countries. It is our job – and that of all your countries to help us – to narrow this gap. For that reason, we organise competitions such as this FIFA Arab Cup. And we are

thinking about other competitions as well, we are thinking about increas-ing the world cups and make it every two years instead of four, and maybe something else, we will see what comes out of the consultation process we are currently in”.“We also look ahead to a unique and

special FIFA World Cup here next year, where people will get the chance to learn about the Middle East and its cul-ture. Here, we will welcome the world and your citizens to this country and to this region, in a tournament where teams will not have to travel and where players will be at peak performance.”

From left: FIFA Chief Tournaments & Events Off icer Colin Smith, FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura, FIFA President Gianni Infantino and FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC CEO Nasser al-Khater during a FIFA World Cup meeting with ambassadors to Qatar in Doha on Wednesday. FIFA President Gianni Infantino with ambassadors to Qatar and other off icials after the meeting.

I cannot blame I cannot blame players for semis players for semis defeat: Qatar coachdefeat: Qatar coach‘IT WAS A VERY CHALLENGING TASK BUT THE TEAM SHOWED GREAT FIGHTING SPIRIT’By Sports ReporterDoha

After Qatar suff ered a heartbreaking loss to Algeria in the FIFA Arab Cup semi-fi nals

on Wednesday night, head coach Felix Sanchez praised the spirit of his players.

Qatar had fought back from 1-0 down with Algeria scoring their winner in the 17th minute of second half stoppage time at Al Thumama Stadium. Algeria will play Tunisia in tomorrow’s fi nal with Qatar taking on Egypt in the third-place playoff .

The match between the reign-ing Asian and African champi-ons kicked off with Qatar looking to make it their fi fth consecutive win but neither side could fi nd a breakthrough in a tight fi rst half.

Algeria, however, started the second half with more vigour and took the lead in the 59th minute with Djamel Benlamri putting them ahead.

Qatar poured forward in search of the equaliser and were given hope when nine minutes of stoppage time were added and the home fans erupted in joy when substitute Mohamed Muntari rose highest to nod home the equaliser in the 97th minute.

A VAR review added more minutes and Algeria capitalised at the very end, with Mohamed Belaili scoring off the rebound after his penalty had been saved

in the 18th minute of stoppage time. “We did the diffi cult thing by coming back into the match with a late goal. It was a very challenging task but the team showed great fi ghting spirit,” Sanchez said. “I cannot blame the players as they made every eff ort in the match. An individual mistake cost us the penalty. I will tell them better luck,” he added.

The Qatar coach thanked fans for showing support for Al An-nabi throughout their matches.

“We thank the fans who stood behind us and supported us in the match and all the matches we played in the tournament. I am disappointed because we disap-pointed our fans. Now we will focus on the third place match and give our best eff ort to fi nish the tournament on a high note,” Sanchez added.

Qatar’s Ismaeel Mohamed apologised to fans and said the team will give their best in third-place play off . “We played a great

match but luck was not on our side. We were desperate for a victory in front of our fans. The support we received from them is indescribable and we apolo-gise for the defeat,” the mid-fi elder said.

Qatar defender Bassam al-Rawi said the team lacked luck in the dramatic semi-fi nal. “We did our best during the match, but we were not lucky in the last moments,” said al-Rawi.

The defender, however, hoped

his team will come back stronger in the future challenges. “We were unfortunate but it is part of foot-ball. We will have to forget the de-feat and move forward by learning from our mistakes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Algerian coach Madjid Bougherra was thrilled to get past a tough opponent like Qatar. “I am very happy to reach the fi nal. It was a tough chal-lenge from the home team but we knew it will be a diffi cult match,” said Bougherra.

The coach played down a spat among players from both the sides following Muntari’s goal in stoppage time. “It was a diffi cult match for both the teams. Such things are normal in football giv-en its sensitivity, diffi culty and importance,” he said.

The 39-year-old said his team is focusing on tomorrow’s fi nal against Tunisia, who edged past Egypt after a last-gasp own goal. “Our last three matches were very tough. We played tough matches against Egypt, Moroc-co and Qatar. The team showed great determination in those demanding matches. It is going to be another tough match for us and we will prepare for that well,” he said.

“Our recent experience of playing against top sides of the tournament will help us,” Bougherra added. Algeria’s Djamel Benlamri said: “It is a huge match because both teams will be eyeing glory. It is another tough test for us but we will pre-pare for it appropriately.”

Qatar coach Felix Sanchez. (Reuters)

Qatar’s players react after conceding second goal against Algeria in the FIFA Arab Cup semi-final at Al Thumama Stadium in Doha on Wednesday. (AFP)

FOCUS

November 30 – December 18

Gulf Times Friday, December 17, 20212

Aussie top order thwart England aft er Cummins joltSteve Smith has become Australia’s third captain in three back-to-back TestsReutersAdelaide

David Warner fell short of his century but Marnus Labuschagne remained on course for a hundred

as they put Australia, missing regular skipper Pat Cummins, in a strong position against England in the day-night second Ashes Test yesterday.

Australia fi nished day one on 221-2 despite being jolted before the start of the match at Adelaide Oval with Cummins forced out after being identifi ed as a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case.

With fi ve overs remaining, Jos Buttler dropped a regulation catch off the bowling of James Anderson to off er a reprieve to Labuschagne, who remained not out on 95.

Buttler had earlier spilled a tougher chance behind the stumps when Labuschagne was on 21.

Australia’s stand-in skipper Steve Smith was on 18, becoming his country’s third captain - after Tim Paine and Cummins - in the last three Tests.

England dominated the fi rst session though they blew two re-views trying to get Warner, who made 95, dismissed.

Warner said nothing could de-ter him from going out to face the old enemy despite the injury to his ribs sustained in the fi rst Test in Brisbane, which left him un-able to pick up his children.

“I didn’t feel great,” he said. “I had a couple of painkillers and a local (injection) this morning. You have got to put your best foot forward.”

Stuart Broad, recalled along with Anderson, removed Marcus Harris for three runs early on via a cracking catch from Buttler as

a stuttering Australia failed to convince.

The fi rst 10 overs yielded just 11 runs but slowly, the scorecard began to fi rm up with Warner forging a 172-run stand with La-buschagne.

But as England captain Joe Root brought himself into the at-tack to provide rest to his quicks, Warner appeared eager to up his scoring rate, an approach adopt-ed equally by Labuschagne.

Broad proved Warner’s nem-esis once more but this time as

catcher, holding onto a slashed shot at cover off Ben Stokes.

England did not bowl badly but their fi ve-man seam attack looked increasingly insipid as solid containment gave way to more hurried scoring from Aus-tralia before 32,328 fans at Ad-elaide Oval.

England assistant coach Gra-ham Thorpe found nothing wrong with their bowling eff ort.

“I thought we stuck at it well. They played particularly well in those fi rst few sessions,” he

said. “The run-rate didn’t go too far but we‘d love to have more wickets down. They defended straight and every time we went fuller they punched us down the ground.”

Buttler would need to put the catches he dropped behind him, Thorpe said. “We put a couple of catches down. Jos is going to hurt tonight but we are going to have to come again tomorrow.” For Australia, pace bowler Michael Neser made his Test debut re-placing Cummins.

SCOREBOARDAustralia Ist inningsD. Warner c Broad b Stokes 95M. Harris c Buttler b Broad 3M. Labuschagne not out 95S. Smith not out 18Extras: (lb1, nb7, w2) 10Total (2 wickets; 89 overs) 221Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Harris), 2-176 (Warner) Bowling: James Anderson 18-9-29-0, Stuart Broad 16-5-34-1, Chris Woakes 15-5-36-0, Ollie Robinson 16-7-34-0, Ben Stokes 13-1-50-1, Joe Root 11-1-37-0.

Australia’s David Warner plays a shot on the day one of the second Ashes Test against England in Adelaide yesterday. (AFP)

AFP Karachi

A one-day interna-tional series be-tween hosts Pakistan and the West Indies

starting this weekend was called off yesterday because of a Covid-19 outbreak among the visitors, offi cials from both sides said.

Five members of the West Indies squad - including three players - tested positive for Cov-id yesterday, in addition to four cases reported at the weekend.

The three-match series, which was due to start tomor-row, is part of the qualifying round for the 2023 World Cup.

The matches will be resched-uled for June next year, a state-ment from offi cials said, adding the decision was taken to pro-tect players and acknowledge the limited resources left in the West Indies squad.

Despite the outbreak, a third Twenty20 match between the two sides went ahead yes-terday, with a depleted West Indies winning the toss and electing to bat.

Pakistan, who won the fi rst two matches with ease, yes-terday posted their third suc-cessive win after clinching the fi nal game by seven wickets.

The cancellation of the ODI series is a huge blow to Pa-kistan, which has seen tours by New Zealand and England called off in recent months on security grounds.

West Indies offi cials said the latest positive test results in the squad came from wick-etkeeper-batsman Shai Hope, left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein, all-rounder Justin Greaves, as-sistant coach Roddy Estwick, and physician Akshai Mans-ingh.

Left-arm pace bowler Shel-don Cottrell, and all-rounders Roston Chase and Kyle May-ers, tested positive for Covid on Saturday along with a team offi cial.

Offi cials said those who tested positive will have to iso-late in Karachi before being al-lowed to travel home.

In October New Zealand quit their fi rst tour to the country in 18 years shortly before the opening match was due to start, following a secu-rity alert. That was followed by England’s decision to with-draw visits by their men’s and women’s teams scheduled for October.

Pakistan offi cials were furi-ous with the cancellations, ar-guing security measures were lock-tight.

The cricket-mad nation endured a long spell without a visit from an international team following a terror at-tack on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in 2009.

Pakistan were forced to play their home international matches abroad - mostly in the United Arab Emirates - un-til 2015, when normal service tentatively resumed.

Pakistan-WI ODI series called off over Covid cases

AFP Johannesburg

The Indian cricket team arrived in Johannes-burg yesterday and headed straight for

their bio-secure base at the start of a curtailed South Af-rica tour.

India will play three Tests and three one-day internation-als despite a surge in coronavi-rus cases in South Africa, but four planned T20 internation-als have been dropped from the original schedule.

“Indian team has arrived safely in Johannesburg,” tweet-ed Cricket South Africa board chairman Lawson Naidoo. “All set for Friendship Series start-ing on Boxing Day.”

The offi cial CSA twitter ac-count posted pictures of the players arriving and then boarding a bus which took them to a bio-secure location within easy reach of the venues of the fi rst two Tests, Centurion and Johannesburg.

The first Test starts on De-cember 26, the second on Jan-uary 3. The Indian team will then fly to Cape Town for the third Test starting on January 11 and will stay in the same accommodation in the city for the one-day games in Paarl and Cape Town.

The Indians fl ew on a char-tered aircraft and will be con-fi ned to their hotel and the cricket grounds in a country which has had a rapid rise rate

of Covid infections following the identifi cation of the Omi-cron variant.

The country’s Department of Health reported 26,976 new cases on Wednesday but Crick-et South Africa medical offi cer Dr Shuaib Manjra is confi dent that the series will not be af-fected by the pandemic.

Dr Manjra said on Tuesday that new guidelines had been agreed by CSA and the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

Because all the squad mem-bers are fully vaccinated, any-one testing positive during the tour will be able to isolate in their hotel room instead of hav-ing to leave the “bubble”, unless they have severe symptoms. Close contacts will be able to continue training.

The tour is of crucial impor-tance to the cash-strapped host body, which announced about $13.8m loss at its annual meet-ing in October.

Although the T20 games were earlier this month cut from the original schedule, the India tour is expected to earn CSA about about $37.5m in broadcast fees and other in-come.

It is not yet clear whether spectators will be able to attend matches.

The South African gov-ernment currently allows a maximum of 2,000 people for outdoor gatherings but re-vised regulations are expected to be announced soon follow-ing the recent surge in coro-navirus cases.

Indian cricketers touch down for South Africa tour

India’s Cheteshwar Pujara is seen on the team’s arrival in Johannesburg, South Africa, yesterday. (@BCCI)

AFP Karachi

Pakistan pulled off their highest Twenty20 international run-chase in a seven-wicket win over the West Indies yesterday to com-

plete a 3-0 series sweep in Karachi.Mohamed Rizwan smacked 87 off 45

balls and captain Babar Azam made 79 as the opening pair put on 158 to help Paki-stan reach a target of 208 in 18.5 overs in a match that was nearly called off because of Covid cases.

The match was eventually given the go-ahead despite fi ve members - including three players - of the West Indies squad

testing positive yesterday. That took the total of positive cases in the tourists’ camp to nine after three players and a staff mem-ber tested positive on Saturday.

West Indies skipper Nicholas Pooran hit a career-best 37-ball 64 with six sixes and two fours as his side fi nished on 207-3. Pa-kistan won the fi rst match by 63 runs and the second by nine runs, both in Karachi.

This is their seventh 3-0 whitewash in Twenty20 international cricket, and their third against the West Indies.

Rizwan, who overturned a fi rst-ball leg-before decision against him, and Babar took the attack to the West Indies bowlers with a stand of 158 in 15 overs.

Babar, who hit nine fours and two sixes in his 53-ball knock, holed out to long-off .

Babar and Rizwan registered their sixth century stand in Twenty20 internation-als - all this year - the most by any pair in the format. India’s Rohit Sharma and K L Rahul have fi ve century stands in T20I cricket.

Rizwan, who blasted 10 fours and three sixes, fell to a miscued shot off Dominic Drakes with just 24 to win.

Rizwan fi nished with 1,326 runs in 29 matches in the calendar year - the most by any batsman in T20 internationals.

“This win is a great sign for me as a cap-tain,” said Babar. “We all know runs keep going more in T20I cricket, and the way we are scoring is the best thing for us.”

Rizwan also became the fi rst player to surpass 2,000 T20 runs in a calendar year

across domestic and international match-es. He scored 2,036 runs in 48 T20 games.

“The way Rizwan has played through 2021, the way he has improved his batting, is a great learning for youngsters,” added Babar.

The hosts fi nished 2021 with six wins in eight T20I series, winning 20 of the 29 matches - a T20I record in a calendar year. Pakistan’s previous highest run chase was 204, against South Africa at Centurion in April this year.

BRIEF SCORES:West Indies 207 for 3 (Pooran 64, Brooks 49, King 43, Wasim 2-44) lose to Pakistan 208 for 3 (Rizwan 87, Babar 79, Smith 1-34) beat by seven wickets

Pakistan sweep West Indies 3-0

Pakistan players celebrate with the trophy after winning the third and final Twenty20I against West Indies at the National Stadium in Karachi yesterday. (AFP)

SPOTLIGHTASHES

FOCUS T20 SERIES

ReutersLondon

Lewis Hamilton may never get over the pain of being ‘robbed’ of a record eighth Formula

One title, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said yesterday in comments that raised doubts about the driver’s future in the sport.

The Austrian, speaking to re-porters for the fi rst time since Sunday’s race in Abu Dhabi and after Mercedes dropped plans to appeal, said he and Hamil-ton would not be attending the FIA’s gala awards in Paris that evening.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will be handed his trophy at the ceremony and the top three drivers are obliged to attend the prizegiving under article 6.6 of the Formula One sporting regulations. Hamilton lost out to Verstappen after the Dutch

driver overtook him on the last lap at Yas Marina, benefi ting from a sudden change to the safety car procedure that al-lowed racing to resume.

“It’s going to take a long time for us to digest what has hap-pened on Sunday. I don’t think we will ever come over it, that’s not possible,” said Wolff . “And certainly not him (Hamilton) as a driver. I would very much hope the two of us and the rest of the team we can work through the events... But he will never over-come the pain and the distress that was caused on Sunday.”

Hamilton spoke briefl y after Sunday’s race to 2009 world champion Jenson Button before the podium ceremonies but did no media post-race and has not spoken publicly since.

He also avoided saying any-thing after being knighted at Windsor Palace on Wednesday.

Asked directly whether Ham-ilton, who turns 37 in January and has two years remaining on

his contract, would be back next year, Wolff indicated that was not a certainty. “I would very much hope Lewis continues racing because he is the greatest driver of all time,” he said.

“As a racer his heart will say I need to continue because he’s at the peak of his game,” he added. “But we have to overcome the pain that was caused upon him on Sunday. He is a man with clear values.”

Mercedes won the construc-tors’ title for an unprecedented eighth year in a row and Wolff said technical head James Alli-son would be in Paris to collect the trophy on behalf of all the workforce. “I won’t be there be-cause of my loyalty to Lewis and because of my own personal in-tegrity,” he said.

Wolff was confi dent Mercedes could have won a legal battle but there was “a diff erence between right and obtaining justice.”

He said every decision was taken with Hamilton.

“It was tremendously hard for him and for us as a team to withdraw the appeal, because we were wronged,” he added. “My soul and my heart cries with every bone that this should have been judged in the right way.”

Wolff said there had been no contact with race director Michael Masi, who made the safety car decision, since Sun-day.

“I’m not interested in hav-ing a conversation with Michael Masi,” he said.

“The decisions that have been taken in the last four minutes of this race have robbed Lewis Hamilton of a deserved world championship. He won the start and he never gave the lead away again.

“Robbing him on the last lap of the race is unacceptable... my values, my sense of integrity, just isn’t compatible with the decisions that have been made on Sunday.”

3Gulf Times Friday, December 17, 2021

November 30 – December 18

Wolff casts doubt on Hamilton future, both to shun FIA gala

Man United, Spurs games off as Covid wreaks havoc on EPL AFPLondon

The Premier League yes-terday postponed two more matches due to the worsening corona-

virus pandemic but said it in-tended to “continue its current fi xture schedule where safely possible” as calls for a circuit break intensifi ed.

Manchester United’s week-end game against Brighton was called off shortly after Leices-ter’s scheduled match against Tottenham yesterday was post-poned - bringing the total to fi ve top-fl ight fi xtures scrapped in the past week.

Britain is battling record numbers of Covid-19 cases as the Omicron variant runs riot, with fears growing that the crisis could derail the football season.

“Regarding Manchester United’s game on Saturday, the club continues to have an ongo-ing Covid-19 outbreak within their squad, which has left them unable to fi eld a team for the match at Old Traff ord,” the Pre-mier League said in a statement.

“A signifi cant number of Covid-19 cases led to their game against Brentford FC be-ing called off earlier this week, and today additional positive tests have been confi rmed.”

United are believed to have had only seven senior players available because of Covid and other injuries for the Brighton game. Leicester and the Pre-mier League earlier confi rmed the cancellation of Thursday’s game between the Foxes and Spurs, who have been badly hit by virus postponements.

“The club has an insuffi cient number of fi rst-team players available to fulfi l the match,” Leicester said in a statement.

Brentford manager Thomas Frank said he would like to see a

break to help manage the situa-tion across the Premier League.

His team’s fi xture against United, scheduled to take place on Tuesday, was postponed and the club now have their own Covid infections to tackle.

“We think we should post-pone the full round of Premier League games this weekend,” he said. “Covid cases are going through the roof at all Premier League clubs. Everyone is deal-ing with it and having problems.

“To postpone this round and also the Carabao (League) Cup

round would give everyone a week at least, or four or fi ve days to clean and do everything at the training ground so every-thing is clean and you break the chain.”

But the Premier League said it planned to press ahead with its schedule as the busy festive season approaches.

“While recognising a number of clubs are experiencing Covid-19 outbreaks, it is the league’s intention to continue its current fi xture schedule where safely possible,” it said in

a statement. “The health and wellbeing of

all concerned remains our pri-ority.” It added: “The (Premier League) board assesses appli-cations to postpone matches on a case-by-case basis, based on existing rules and Covid-19 postponement guidance issued to all clubs.

“It will assess a number of factors, including the ability of a club to fi eld a team, the status, severity and potential impact of the Covid-19 outbreak at the club, and the ability of the play-ers to safely prepare for and play the match.”

The number of postponed weekend matches across England’s top four divisions reached double fi gures yester-day, with the English Football League announcing stricter Covid protocols including in-creased testing.

The EFL, which runs the second, third and fourth tiers, said it was encouraging all eli-gible players and staff to get fully vaccinated and also book a booster jab to “help protect col-leagues and minimise the risk of fi xtures being postponed”.

November’s fi gures showed 75 percent of players across the EFL had been either fully vac-cinated, had a single jab or in-tended to be vaccinated.

The total of double-vaccinat-ed players was just 59 percent.

‘The club has an insuff icient number of first-team players available to fulfil the match’

Rising Stars Red’s Zeb scores 94 in U-19 tieBy Sports ReporterDoha

Mohamed Hassan Zeb blasted 94 to fash-ion a massive 142-run victory for Ris-

ing Stars Red against Warriors ‘Green’ during a QCA Under-19 Cricket Tournament.

In another match, Stallions Maroon pulled off a contrasting four-run triumph over Rising Stars ‘Green’.

Rising Stars Red, batting fi rst, piled up 200 for two thanks to a superb 69-ball knock by Zeb, who smashed 10 boundaries as well. He also reeled off 170 runs for the second wicket with Mo-hamed Zaland Saeed, who hit a six and fi ve fours in 73 not out off 45 balls. Mohamed Qasim got both the wickets. Warriors Green could respond with only 58 for 8 and suff ered a heavy de-feat. Mohamed Hamza Zaziri got the highest 22 not out. Haroon Shaheen impressed with three 14 in his fi ne four-over spell.

Jack Joeman picked two cru-cial wickets to power Stallions ‘Maroon’ to a thrilling four-run win against Stallions Green. His two for 23 restricted the rivals at 169 for seven while they were chasing a 174-run target. Mo-hamed Hamza and Ameer Ka-zim were the main scorers with 39 (with six fours) and 21 (four boundaries), respectively.

Earlier, Asad Iqbal and Shaikh

Zayed batted well to post 37 (three fours) and 35 (fi ve fours). Hetual Patel added 28 off as many balls to lift the team to 173 for seven, despite Mohamed Jameel’s good bowling (four for 22).

In another match, man of the match Ronik Singh slammed 47 and took two catches to fi re Stal-lions Maroon to a comfortable 43-run win Stallions Blue. He cracked seven fours and one six in his 30-ball innings to push his team to 177 for four in 20 overs. Their rivals could manage only 134 before getting all out in the last over. Sarvana (three for 16), Lukman (two for 27) and Rayan (two for 28) were the main wick-et-takers.

BRIEF SCORES Stallions Maroon 173 for 7 in 20 overs (Hetual Patel 28, Shaikh Zayed 35, Asad Iqbal 37; Moham-ed Jameel 4/22) bt Rising Stars Green 169 for seven in 20 overs (Hamza 39, Ameer Kazim 21; Jack Joeman 2/23) by 4 runs.Rising Stars Red 200 for 2 in 20 overs (Mohamed Hassan Zeb 94, 3 off 45; Mohamed Qasim 2/37) bt Warriors Green 58 for 8 in 20 overs (Hamza Zaziri 22 not out; Haroon Shaheen 3/14) by 142 runs.Stallions Gold 179 for 4 in 20 overs (Ronik Singh 47, Amrit 32, Ishwar 28; Mustafa 2/15) bt Stallions Blue 134 in 20 overs (Muzammil 36; Sarvana 3/16, Rayan 2/38, Lukman 2/27) by 43 runs.

Minister of Sports and Youth HE Salah bin Ghanem bin Nasser al-Ali presented the Late Sheikh Jassim Bin Mohamed bin Thani Trophy (Qatar National Day Trophy) to Shaqab Arabian Racing Manager Khalfan bin Mohamed al-Suwaidi after Mwarid clinched the feature race at the Al Rayyan Racecourse yesterday. RIGHT: Jockey Soufiane Saadi guided the Alban de Mieulle-trained Mwarid to victory in the feature race. PICTURES: Jujhaim

Shaqab Arabian Racing’s Mwarid clinch Qatar National Day Trophy

No great expectations for Nadal on returnAFPAbu Dhabi

Rafael Nadal returns to competition in Abu Dhabi today for the past six months - forcing him

to miss both Wimbledon and the US Open.His fi rst event in four months is the Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition where the Spaniard will face an-other former world number one Andy Murray or Dan Evans today.

Nadal is guaranteed to get two matches under his belt in the UAE capital, which will help him assess the progress he has made with regard to his foot.

“It’s not about pain. Pain I had a lot of times in my career, almost all the time. It’s more about hav-ing the chance to have a pain that I can manage to compete well,” Nadal told reporters in Abu Dhabi yesterday. “Let’s see, I need to try it in competition. I know the comeback will not be easy, I don’t have big expectations now.

“But the early expectation is to be here, to play in front of a great crowd again, to feel myself com-peting again against great play-ers and then enjoy. I really hope that the foot is going to get better and better to be again at the way and the level I want to be.”

Nadal explained that it has been a “tough period” for him but he is no stranger to injuries and lengthy breaks from compe-tition and insists he still has the fi re to achieve more in the sport.

Injured Nadal fi nished 2021 ranked No.6 in the world after picking up two titles in Barcelona and Rome and making the semi-fi nals at Roland Garros and the quarters at the Australian Open. With the 2022 Australian Open just over four weeks away, Nadal is keen to test his foot in Abu Dhabi and work towards making the trip Down Under in healthy conditions.

“You never know honestly,” he says when asked about his expectations for Melbourne. “In sport, my experience says that things change very quick. What today seems impossible or al-most impossible, nobody knows what can happen in one month.

Nadal has been practising hard back home in Mallorca. “I have been doing a great job at home, practising well with the right attitude, intensity, work-ing a lot on my fi tness, so if I’m able to do all these kind of things because the foot allows me, you never know what’s going on,” said the 35-year-old.

“I know it’s going to be super diffi cult for me. If things are go-ing well, I’m going to be play-ing only one tournament before Australia and these two matches here, so the amount of hours on court at the competitive level be-fore such a tough and demanding tournament like Australia will be not much. But the main thing is still always the same, to be healthy. If I’m healthy, I still have the interior fi re to keep going and to fi ght for my goals.”

Mercedes’ British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton poses with his mother Carmen Lockhart and the medal after receiving Knighthood from Britain’s Prince Charles during a investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle in London on Wednesday. (AFP)

Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli celebrates scoring a goal against West Ham during the Premier League match in London on Wednesday. (Reuters)

MOTORSPORT

FOOTBALL TENNIS

CRICKET

Winning title is Algeria’s sole goal: Bedrane

Generation Amazing Youth Festival unites young people from Arab world

England drawn against Italy and Germany in Nations League

‘We experienced lot of pressure during the match against hosts Qatar’

Last night’s semi-fi nal between Alge-ria and Qatar at the FIFA Arab Cup served up a wonderfully dramatic fi -

nale. Having taken the lead courtesy of a Djamel Benlamri header, Les Fennecs sat back and invited pressure from Al Annabi, who fi nally levelled proceedings in the 97th minute through Mohamed Muntari, much to the delight of the home support at the Al Thumama Stadium.

After the match, FIFA.com caught up with Algeria’s defensive stalwart Abdelkad-er Bedrane, who spoke about that thrilling climax. “We experienced a lot of pressure during the match, because we were play-ing against Qatar, the tournament hosts . It wasn’t an easy match at all, but our team’s togetherness made the diff erence at the end,” he explained.

With the match seemingly headed for extra time, Algeria were awarded a pen-alty, which Youcef Belaili converted on the rebound after his initial effort was saved by Alsheeb.

Asked if they doubted they would win after Qatar’s equaliser, he said: “Although we conceded a late goal, we believed in our chances, as we know we can score at any moment. We weren’t emotionally aff ected by that goal, and we continued to play with confi dence. We told each other the game was still up for grabs and that we could win and make the fi nal.”

SPECIAL ENCOUNTERBedrane has been plying his trade with Tu-nisia’s Esperance since 2019 and will be fac-ing several team-mates in what is sure to be a special fi nal for him.

“It’s true that I play in the Tunisian league, but here I’m representing Algeria, so it goes without saying that I’ll be defending my country’s colours,” he explained. “When we play for the national team, there’s no room for emotions. The game against Tu-nisia will be diffi cult. We know each other very well but we’ll do all we can to win,” the defender added.

Algeria have continued their successful run at this Arab Cup, and Bedrane believes that any team that can stay undefeated against Egypt, Morocco and Qatar deserves the ulti-mate prize. “Reaching the fi nal and then win-ning it have been our main goals here in Qatar. Our campaign hasn’t been easy. We’ve played against big teams such as Egypt, Morocco and Qatar, all of which were very physically de-manding games,” he explained.

“We’ve achieved our fi rst goal, so now we’ll rest a bit and then focus on the fi nal.

Winning the title is now our sole objective,” he insisted.

THOUSAND-MILE JOURNEY STARTS WITH SINGLE STEP

That saying perfectly sums up Bedrane’s career. The 29-year-old got his fi rst taste of professional football with USM Blida, playing in the second and third divisions in Algeria, before moving ES Setif and then Es-perance of Tunisia.

Bedrane’s sustained development caught the attention of Algeria coach Djamal Bel-madi, who has made him a mainstay for Les Fennecs’ defence alongside Benlamri and Aissa Mandi during FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.

Speaking about his career and the secrets of his success, Bedrane said: “Since com-ing to Tunisia, I’ve been doing well tech-nically, physically and mentally, and all the hard work is paying off. I should also mention that I learned a lot during my time with SM Blida and ES Setif. My goal was always to play for the national team, and I’ve achieved that now.”

Before singing off, Bedrane wanted to send a message to the Algerian fans, who came out to support them against the hosts “We’re very happy to have made the final, and we dedicate this milestone to the Algerian people living in Qatar and those who came to support us from other parts of the world,” he concluded.

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England, Italy and Ger-many were placed in the same group in the draw for the next edition of the

UEFA Nations League yesterday, a competition in which France will defend their title. Hungary will complete Group A3, the pick of the groups for the competition which will be played between June next year and June 2023.

The draw means England will renew acquaintances with two sides who they faced at this year’s European Championship – Gareth Southgate’s team de-feated Germany 2-0 at Wembley in the last 16 before losing to Italy on penalties in the fi nal.

England also played Hungary twice in qualifying for the 2022

World Cup earlier this year, win-ning 4-0 in Budapest and draw-ing 1-1 at home.

“It’s a good group, it will cer-tainly be fun,” remarked Italy coach Roberto Mancini.

Germany and Italy have met at nine major tournaments, most recently at Euro 2016 when the Germans won on penalties in the quarter-fi nals. Italy, who must come through play-off s next March to avoid missing a second straight World Cup, are also due to go to London on June 1 to face Copa America winners Argentina in a new intercontinental fi nal.

The fi xtures are not yet known but Hungary are due to play their next two home UEFA competi-tion games behind closed doors as a punishment following “dis-criminatory behaviour” by sup-porters at Euro 2020, when in-cidents of homophobic chanting

and racial abuse were alleged to have occurred during several of their group games.

France won the last edition of the Nations League, beating Spain 2-1 in the fi nal in Milan in October.

The reigning world champi-ons were drawn to face Denmark, Croatia and Austria in Group A1.

Portugal, victorious as hosts in the inaugural Nations League fi -nals in 2019, will come up against Spain, Switzerland and the Czech Republic in Group A2.

Belgium, who are the top-ranked team in the world, will play neighbours the Netherlands, Poland and Wales in Group A4.

The Nations League, intro-duced to replace meaningless friendly matches with more competitive games, splits all of Europe’s 55 member nations into four leagues.

The third edition of the Genera-tion Amazing Youth Festival has attracted young people from across the Arab world.

Held during the FIFA Arab Cup, the event has united youth from all 16 competing nations.

Generation Amazing is a FIFA World Cup legacy programme that uses the power of football to deliver positive so-cial change in disadvantaged commu-nities around the world. It has benefi t-ed more than 725,000 people over the past decade and aims to reach 1 million people by the time Qatar 2022 kicks off .

This year’s festival took place at Ox-ygen Park in Education City and was organised in collaboration with stra-tegic partners, Qatar Foundation (QF). The event celebrated Arab unity under the theme ‘All In’, which emphasises the role every young person has to play in improving their communities.

“We wanted to celebrate the spirit of togetherness that the Arab Cup is nurturing by bringing together young people from the very same region that is hosting the tournament,” said Nass-er al-Khori, Generation Amazing Pro-grammes Director.

“The power of football extends into our communities and has the ability to empower young people, girls and boys, across the world to become better citi-zens.”

“As an organisation committed to youth empowerment and opportunity, it’s wonderful to see so many young leaders from Qatar and the region gathering at Education City to learn, build their skills and make their voices heard on important issues through the platform of football,” said Alexandra Chalat, Director, Community Engage-ment and World Cup Legacy, QF.

“We are grateful that so many enti-ties from across QF have participated in making this festival such as success as

it once again demonstrates Qatar’s love of sport and the vibrancy, energy and agency of the nation’s youth. The fes-tival also refl ects the close relationship between Generation Amazing and QF, and we look forward to the many ways we will collaborate over the year ahead as we build towards the World Cup.”

Qatari student Fajr al-Boainain was one of the delegates. She believes Generation Amazing off ers a critical space for young people to fulfi l their potential. “Young people have the ability to bring about transformative change in their societies, and through Generation Amazing – and events like this festival – young people are able to learn leadership and communication skills that can be used in their respec-tive communities,” said al-Boainain.

Another delegate, Ali Fakhroo, con-tributed to various workshop discus-sions about Arab unity and football’s power to build bridges and break down stereotypes.

“In the same way that football unites the world, so does Generation Amaz-ing. Through this festival, we are able to celebrate diversity and work towards

ensuring that young people have the necessary skills to break down social barriers,” said Fakhroo.

During the build-up to the festival, delegates took part in a series of exer-cises delivered online and in-person. One of the mentors – and an avid sup-porter of the programme – is Qatar Legacy Ambassador and Australian football legend, Tim Cahill. “I partici-pate because I want to empower boys and girls,” said Cahill, who represented his country at four FIFA World Cups.

“I like to go to the training grounds and talk about my journey, but also listen to their journeys. Through Gen-eration Amazing, Qatar is able to share its resources with countries and com-munities that need support through football. It is empowering to see the journey that these young people have taken, and to be here at the festival to meet them in person is really special.”

The festival included a host of events which illustrated Generation Amaz-ing’s achievements since 2010. Foot-ball for development workshops were also held while details were shared of the recently-announced ‘One Goal

Arabia’ programme – which Genera-tion Amazing launched in collabora-tion with Aurora for Training and Development, the Asian Football Con-federation and the Confederation for African Football.

The ‘All In Football for Development’ tournament will be held on Friday and Saturday, with the event designed to maximise social skill development outcomes. Participants will then at-tend the FIFA Arab Cup fi nal between Algeria and Tunisia at Al Bayt Stadium.

This year’s festival was organised in collaboration with QF and supported by FIFA Foundation, Qatar Airways, Qatar Football Association, Qatar Mu-seums, QLM and beIN Sports (offi cial media partner).

Delivery partners were WISH, Auro-ra for Training and Development, Doha Debates, WISE, VISA, CONCACAF, Generations for Peace, FC Zenit, Thimun, Coaches Across Continents, Sports for Live, 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum, streetfootball-world, Street Child United, Right to Play, Save the Dream, Sherborne, KAS Eupen and B4Development.

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November 30 – December 18

Gulf Times Friday, December 17, 2021

Generation Amazing is a FIFA World Cup legacy programme that uses the power of football to deliver positive social change in disadvantaged communities.

The third edition of the Generation Amazing Youth Festival took place at Oxygen Park in Education City and was organised in collaboration with Qatar Foundation.

Doha: The Ordinary General As-sembly meeting of the Arabian Gulf Cup Football Federation (AGCFF) was held in Doha yesterday.

The meeting was presided by AGCFF president HE Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmad al-Thani with chiefs of the other Gulf federations. During the meeting, many uses related to the future of Gulf football were discussed, most notably finalis-ing the date of the Gulf Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Iraq in January, 2023. AGCFF Secretary-General Jassim al-Rumaihi said federation is keen to host the tournament in Iraq.

Minister of Youth and Sports and Iraq Football Federation president Adnan Darjal said

Iraq is ready to host the Arabian Cup in 2023. “We have provided all the requirements to hosting the 25th Gulf Cup, including stadiums and hotels. There are some small details that will be resolved in the coming period and before the deadline set on June 30 to meet the require-

ments to conduct the champi-onship .

Regarding lifting the ban on Iraqi stadiums, Darjal said: “We are waiting for the ban on hold-ing matches in Iraqi stadiums to be lifted at the beginning of next year, so that Iraqi football will return to its normal state.”

Arabian Gulf Cup Football Federation General Assembly held in Doha

Algeria’s Abdelkader Bedrane (left) vies for the ball with Qatar’s Mohamed Muntari during the FIFA Arab Cup semi-final at the Al Thumama Stadium in Doha on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Arabian Gulf Cup Football Federation president HE Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmad al-Thani and other off icials pose after the Ordinary General Assembly meeting in Doha yesterday.

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