Wednesday, November 4, 2020Rabia I 18, 1442 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

Brady shines as Tampa Bay Buccaneers hold off Giants

Roglic wins time-trial to take overall lead in Vuelta

CYCLINGCYCLING | Page 4 NFL | Page 5

FOOTBALL

Blow for PSG as injured Mbappe to miss Leipzig clashPage 2

Elias in last 16 with win over al-Tamimi

Gladbach hammer Shakhtar with Pleahat-trick

QATAR CLASSIC SQUASH FOOTBALL

World No 1 Ali Farag kicks off his title defence with a 3-0 win over Richie Fallows

ReutersKyiv

Striker Alassane Plea scored a hat-trick as Borussia Moenchenglad-bach crushed their hosts

Shakhtar Donetsk 6-0 to take over from them at the top of their group in the Champions League.

Gladbach, who conceded late equalisers in their previous group matches against Inter Mi-lan and Real Madrid, scored four in the fi rst half, with two coming from the 27-year-old Plea, to kill off the game and eventually earn one of the largest away wins of the competition.

They are now top of Group B on fi ve points from three games, one point ahead of Shakhtar.

Gladbach, now on an eight-game unbeaten run in all com-petitions, caught Shakhtar by surprise with a two-pass counter attack and Stefan Lainer fi nding space down the right to cut back for Frenchman Plea, who scored with a crisp fi nish in the eighth minute.

They doubled their lead nine minutes later when Christoph Kramer’s shot from outside the box took a defl ection from Valer-iy Bondar to send Shakhtar keep-er Anatoliy Trubin the wrong way.

A Plea missile from 25 metres put the game beyond the hosts before Ramy Bensebaini added a fourth a minute before the break.

Lars Stindl made the most of a Trubin error to put his team 5-0 ahead in the 65th, before Plea beat the off side trap to complete his hat-trick with a fi ne fi nish. In Moscow, Atletico Madrid were held to a 1-1 draw at Lokomo-tiv Moscow in their Champions League Group A match after the home team’s goalkeeper Guil-herme pulled off a string of su-perb saves to keep the Russian side in the hunt for a last-16 berth.

The result left Atletico second in the group on four points from three games, two behind Bay-

ern Munich who were playing Salzburg away later on Tuesday. Lokomotiv have two points and Salzburg one.

Centre back Jose Gimenez fi red Atletico ahead in the 18th minute with a fi ne header from 13 metres after an inch-per-fect cross by Hector Herrera, a minute after Guilherme kept out a Saul Niguez shot.

The home side levelled in the 25th after a lengthy VAR check deemed Herrera to have handled the ball in the penalty area and Anton Miranchuk sent Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak the wrong way with a perfect spot-kick.

Angel Correa hit the crossbar for the visitors with a curling shot from 25 metres on the half-hour and Atletico continued to pile on the pressure after the break as Guilherme twice denied Joao Felix.

Koke headed against the woodwork in the 66th minute with Guilherme beaten but Luis Suarez saw his rebound ruled out for off side as Lokomotiv hung on desperately in front of a noisy contingent of home fans.

A last-gasp intervention by Murilo Cerqueira denied Felix a sitter in the 80th minute, with Lokomotiv struggling to keep possession and barely able to break out of their own half.

Atletico swarmed all over the hosts in the last 10 minutes but Lokomotiv’s packed defence somehow held on, punting long balls upfi eld whenever they could to run the clock down.

Atletico Madrid have signed midfi elder Geoff rey Kon-dogbia from Valencia, the two clubs announced yesterday.

Kondogbia, who has played internationally for France and the Central African Republic, has signed a contract until 2024, Atletico said in a statement.

La Liga rules allowed Atletico to buy outside the transfer win-dow after Arsenal activated Tho-mas Partey’s 50 million euro ($58 million) release clause on the last day of the summer transfer win-dow.

By Sports ReporterDoha

Peru’s World No 7 Diego Elias reached the last 16 of the Qatar Classic after defeating home

hope Abdulla Mohamed al-Tamimi 11-9, 11-4, 11-8 in the third round yesterday.

The Peruvian had never got the better of al-Tamimi in their previous three meetings but that changed yesterday with too many “tins” in the fi rst game from the Qatari player.

Elias was much more com-fortable in the second, fi nding

his accuracy and length well to quickly double his advantage with al-Tamimi struggling with his movement.

It all went wrong for al-Tami-mi in the third after he slipped whilst retrieving the ball in the front left and required physio treatment. He came back onto court to see out the match, but it was simple for Elias to close out with al-Tamimi unable to move smoothly due to a hamstring strain.

Elias will face Colombia’s Miguel Rodriguez for a place in the quarter fi nals of the PSA Platinum event.

“We’ve played all of our lives,”

said Elias following the match.“I think the fi rst time we

played I was 14 and he was 16. We played a couple of times in juniors and he beat me there also, it’s the fi rst time I’ve beat him here. He is really hard to play, he has so many diff erent shots from the front and I never know what he’s going to do.

“It’s really hard for me, we’re really good friends too, so I’m really sad for what happened and I hope he has a quick recov-ery.”

Egypt’s World No 1 Ali Farag kicked off his title defence with a 3-0 win over England’s Richie Fallows.

The 28-year-old, who recap-tured his place at the top of the rankings this month, was chal-lenged by Fallows in the opening two games with the 25-year-old fi nding some good shots and making the scoreline close in each. However, Farag was able to remain clinical towards the end of each game to take a 2-0 lead.

Farag then looked completely at ease in the third, taking the ball in well on the cold court to close out 11-9, 11-8, 11-3 in 28 minutes.

Up next for Farag is Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng for a place in the quarter fi nals after he defeated England’s Declan James earlier in the day.

“We’ve never played before, but I know how talented Richie is,” said Farag afterwards.

“This is a unique court in a good way in that it takes the ball in very easily, so any bad shot and you’re penalised im-mediately. All credit to Richie he played really well. In the fi rst two I couldn’t really fi nd my range and in the third I was hap-py I was able to fi nd the corners I was intending to.

“Another guy I’ve never played before up next. What a promising talent he is, World Junior champion and has been knocking on the door for a while now. He is based in Bristol and is playing well, you could tell from his win today against a great player like Declan James, so I will have to watch his match and hopefully I will be ready. “We need nothing here, the Qatar Squash Federation always does a

great job of making us feel com-fortable and there is nothing else you need other than thinking about your squash.”

Meanwhile, England’s former World No 1 James Willstrop overcame Scotland’s World No 22 Greg Lobban 11-7, 13-15, 11-7, 11-7 to reach the last 16.

Willstrop, who is featuring in his 17th Qatar Classic event and has won the trophy before in 2005, was at his accurate best in the fi rst game to take a one game lead.

Willstrop will face the winner of Tarek Momen vs Youssef Soli-man in the next round.

Borussia Moenchengladbach’s French forward Alassane Plea (L) scores past Shakhtar Donetsk’s Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin at the Olympiyskiy stadium in Kyiv yesterday.

World No 1 Ali Farag of Egypt lunges for the ball during his match against Richie Fallows in the second round yesterday.

Qatar’s Abdulla al-Tamimi (R) watches World No. 7 Diego Elias play a shot during their second round match in the Qatar Classic yesterday.

RESULTS Eain Yow Ng (Mas) bt Declan James (Eng) 3-0 (13-11, 11-7, 11-8) (42m)Lucas Serme (Fra) bt Tom Richards (Eng) 3-1 (9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-6) (57m) [8] Joel Makin (Wal) bt Mo-hamed Abouelghar (Egy) 3-0 (11-7, 11-3, 11-6) (33m)Miguel Rodriguez (Col) bt Shahjahan Khan (USA) 3-0 (11-3, 11-3, 11-6) (44m)James Willstrop (Eng) bt Greg Lobban (Sco) 3-1 (11-7, 13-15, 11-7, 11-7) (59m) [2] Ali Farag (Egy) bt Richie Fallows (Eng) 3-0 (11-9, 11-8, 11-3) (28m) [5] Diego Elias (Per) bt Ab-dulla al-Tamimi (Qat) 3-0 (11-9, 11-4, 11-8) (43m) [3] Tarek Momen (Egy) bt Youssef Soliman (Egy) 3-1 (13-11, 9-11, 11-1, 11-5) (56m)

FOOTBALL2 Gulf Times

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

I have no problems managing Messi: coach Koeman

SPOTLIGHT

AFPMadrid

Ronald Koeman has denied sug-gestions Lionel Messi is diffi cult to manage, insisting he has a good relationship with Barce-

lona’s captain. In an interview published in El Pais on Sunday, former Barca coach Quique Setien said he found it hard to handle Messi during his brief spell in charge last season.

“There are players that aren’t easy to manage, and Leo is one of them,” Setien said. “I can’t do anything if those at the club have accepted him for how he is and haven’t changed him for years.”

But Koeman defended Messi when Set-ien’s comments were put to him in a press conference yesterday. “Everyone has their opinion and I respect that but I can only say that Messi is a very, very good player, the best in the world. I see his am-bition, his character but he is not a player I have diffi culty managing.

“Every coach is diff erent but for me he is the captain and I talk to him every week about things in the dressing room and on the pitch and there is a good relationship. I don’t agree (with Setien) but I respect his opinion and what he has experienced.”

Barcelona face Dinamo Kiev today in the Champions League, where their strong start in Group G has brought some relief from their poor form in La Liga. Koeman’s side sit top of the group after beating Juventus and Ferencvaros but in La Liga, they are 12th, having not won any of their last four games. “I understand the criticism. Two points from the last four games is not good and it is normal for criticism to come. I accept it and keep working to improve things,” said Koeman.

Koeman also said goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is in contention to re-

turn after recovering from a knee injury. “He’s been training with us for almost a week. He looks well,” said Koeman.

Dinamo Kiev have taken only a point

from their fi rst two Champions League games and could be weakened at Camp Nou, after six players tested positive for coronavirus on Monday. “It infl uences

their quality but we saw last week that Shakhtar (Donetsk) came with players out and they beat Real Madrid,” said Koe-man. “We can’t expect them to be im-pacted too much.”

BARCELONA TARGET CHRISTMAS ELECTIONS AFTER

BARTOMEU DEPARTUREBarcelona are aiming to hold presidential elections in the festive season, the La Liga giants said Monday, as they try to rebuild following the resignation of previous chief Josep Maria Bartomeu.

In a press conference interim president Carles Tusquets said that the club was hoping for the vote to take place “towards the coming end-of-year celebrations”. Tusquets added that Barca intended to hold the elections within the next three months as per the club’s statute.

Bartomeu stepped down last week along with his board of directors follow-ing mounting pressure from fans and his public falling out with Lionel Messi. His six-year tenure saw a decline in on-pitch performances and his management of the club led to Messi, the club’s greatest ever player, trying to leave the club for free in the close season.

Tusquets also said that the club want-ed to hold salary talks with the players, pointing out that the club’s fi nancial sit-uation in the wake of Bartomeu’s depar-ture was “highly worrying”. He estimates that some 300mn euros ($349mn) needs to be found in order to balance a budget devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

“We want to continue to reduce spend-ing in the short term and the most nec-essary measure is salary renegotiations. We hope to reach an agreement with the players and the non-playing staff ,” he said. “We don’t want to take money from anyone, we just want to pay what needs to be paid when it will be easier to pay it.”

Former Barcelona coach Quique Setien said he found it hard to handle Messi

Lampard praises ‘low-maintenance’ Mendy ahead of Rennes reunion

Blow for PSG as injured Mbappe to miss Leipzig clash

Diego Maradona to undergo surgery for blood clot on brainReutersBuenos Aires

Argentine football great Diego Maradona will undergo surgery for a subdural haematoma, a

blood clot on the brain, his per-sonal physician told reporters yesterday, after he was admitted to hospital a day earlier.

The operation was expected to begin within hours to address the condition, which is a pool of blood, often caused by a head injury, that can put pressure on the brain. Leopoldo Luque, Ma-radona’s personal physician, said the procedure was a “routine surgery”.

“We are going to operate to-day. He is lucid, he understands, he agrees with the intervention,” Luque said. Luque added that Maradona will be transferred to Olivos Clinic in Buenos Aires province. Maradona, 60, was ad-mitted to the Ipensa clinic in La Plata, Argentina on Monday for anaemia and dehydration.

When he does leave hospital, he will need long-term outpa-tient care for anaemia, the doc-tor said, adding that because of a gastric bypass Maradona un-derwent in 2005 to lose 50 kilos, his body has diffi culty retaining iron, leaving him prone to the

condition. The doctor had ruled out any link to the coronavirus pandemic, which is ravaging the South American country, much of it still under confi nement.

Maradona, who has a history of drug and alcohol abuse and poor health, is considered at high risk of coronavirus complica-tions should he be infected. He has suff ered two heart attacks in the past and contracted hepa-titis. Though he has recovered from a well-documented addic-tion to hard drugs, Maradona takes medication in the form of tranquillisers and anxiolytics.

Maradona, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986 and is widely considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, coaches local club Gimnasia y Esgrima.

He last appeared in public on his 60th birthday last Friday before his side’s league match against Patronato. Dozens of fans of Gimnasia y Esgrima have converged on the hospital since Monday evening, waving fl ags and holding posters with mes-sages of support as they waited for news of Maradona’s health.

“What we want the most is for Diego to get out of all this. He can, he is the greatest, the great-est in the world,” said Diego Ber-mudez, 41, a Maradona fan wait-ing outside the hospital.

BOTTOMLINE

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

FOCUS

AFPLondon

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard said yesterday “low-mainte-nance” goalkeeper Edouard Mendy can get even better

despite keeping fi ve consecutive clean sheets for his new side. The Senegal stopper will face former club Rennes in today’s Champions League clash at Stamford Bridge in a speedy reunion following his September arrival.

The Blues will be looking to extend their unbeaten start in Group E against the Bretons following their goal-less draw with Sevilla and 4-0 romp in Krasnodar. Mendy, who has dis-placed Kepa Arrizabalaga as Lampard’s number one, has started his career in London in style, conceding just once in his fi rst six matches.

Lampard has been impressed by the 28-year-old’s attitude and application but believes his best is yet to come. “I think what he’s shown so far has been very complete,” Lampard said. “Those clean sheets have shown big parts of his game. He’s made saves in moments in games that have certainly helped us,

where if the goal had gone in the games could have gone another way. He’s very low maintenance, he works hard, wants to work more, and he’s eager to engage with teammates and myself — he has a smile on his face and has played well.”

Lampard said his goalkeeper had “given off a sense of calm” and he had lived up to his reputation. “I think there is going to be a lot more to come, and with his attitude, which is key,” he add-ed. “I’ve seen how he wants to work and how he wants to be, and the humility in him. I think he can go much further, in many departments.”

“All the feedback (before he joined the club) was that he had a very strong personality in the dressing room,” he added. “And everything that I heard, he’s been that.”

Lampard said Christian Pulisic’s hamstring injury is not serious but the American winger will miss today’s match. Pulisic, who had returned in early October from a two-month injury layoff , pulled up his hamstring during the warm-up for the match at Burnley on Saturday, with Timo Werner replac-ing him on the left wing in Chelsea’s 3-0 victory at Turf Moor.

“Christian had a scan yesterday

which showed a very minor injury to his hamstring. He’s already back outside (on the training pitch),” Lampard said.

“He made the right decision on not at-tempting to play the game. It is clearly a relief that he will be back very soon be-

cause he’s an important player for us.”Lampard said Chelsea have been

looking to manage Pulisic’s workload to

avoid another lengthy injury-enforced absence. “We were looking at ways of managing Christian and being proac-tive and hopefully not getting too many injuries,” Lampard added.

“It is something he’d previously ex-perienced with his career at (Borussia) Dortmund as well. We are all working on the same direction on that one to try and get him as fi t as regularly as possible because we know the talent (he has).”

Meanwhile, Werner said he joined Chelsea to win the Champions League and believes the congested nature of this season’s competition could benefi t them. Werner’s former club RB Leip-zig progressed all the way to the semi-fi nals of last season’s competition, but the German believes he can go even further with Chelsea.

The compact nature of this season’s Champions League had added a new challenge, which striker Werner hopes may help Chelsea’s chances. “Every team now that plays in Europe, plays every three days,” said Werner. “Every team - not only us - plays Wednesday-Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday, it’s diffi cult. But we have a big squad of good players. We have so many players and so many good players.”

AFPLeipzig, Germany

Paris Saint-Germain announced yesterday that Kylian Mbappe has suff ered a hamstring injury and will miss their Champi-

ons League game at RB Leipzig. The French World Cup -winning forward’s last-minute defection is a signifi cant blow for PSG with Neymar and Mauro Icardi already ruled out of today’s game in Germany. Thomas Tuchel’s side take on Leipzig playing catch-up in Group H after losing to Manchester United in their opening game. Mbappe scored a penalty in the league win over Nantes on Saturday before being withdrawn and heading straight down the tunnel clutching his right hamstring.

At the time Tuchel was unconcerned about the 21-year-old’s fi tness for the Leipzig game. “It is just fatigue. It’s not

an injury,” the PSG manager said after the 3-0 win. But medical tests have subsequently confi rmed that the player is suff ering “a right hamstring muscle problem”, PSG said.

Today’s game is a rematch of Au-gust’s Champions League semi-fi nal in Lisbon which PSG won 3-0 before los-ing to Bayern Munich in the fi nal.

Meanwhile, RB Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann said injury to Neymar and Mbappe gives his side a slight advan-tage. “Of course it’s not a disadvantage that Mbappe and Neymar won’t play - they are fantastic players - but PSG have other very good players that many teams in Europe would like to have in their ranks,” Nagelsmann said.

“It’s defi nitely not the worst time to face them, but we also have several in-jured players.”

Leipzig, who sit third in the group, are eager to bounce back from their 5-0 hammering at Manchester United last

week. PSG are second in the section but level on three points with the Bun-desliga club. “With these two players (Neymar and Mbappe), PSG would be a bit stronger, but we also are missing players,” said Nagelsmann, who must do without midfi elders Lukas Kloster-mann and Konrad Laimer due to knee injuries. “After the defeat in Manches-ter, fatigue was noticeable - it’s hard to come home without a point, but that’s part of the job.”

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES

GROUP E: Chelsea vs Rennes; Sevilla vs FK Krasnodar

GROUP F: Zenit St Petersburg vs Lazio; Club Bruges vs Borussia Dortmund

GROUP G: Barcelona vs Dynamo Kyiv; Ferencvárosi TC vs Juventus

GROUP H: Istanbul Basaksehir vs Man-chester United; RB Leipzig vs PSG

Kylian Mbappe scored in the league win over Nantes on Saturday before being withdrawn and heading straight down the tunnel clutching his right hamstring. (AFP)

Barcelona’s Dutch coach Ronald Koeman. (AFP)

Goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has started his career with Chelsea in style, conceding just once in his first six matches. (AFP)

Diego Maradona was admitted to the Ipensa clinic in La Plata, Argentina on Monday for anaemia and dehydration. (Reuters)

FOOTBALL3Gulf Times

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Super sub Brahimi scores brace to give Rayyan fi rst victory

PREMIER LEAGUE

By Sports ReporterDoha

Substitute Yacine Brahimi’s brace propelled Al Rayyan to a hard-fought 2-0 win over Al Ahli in Round 4 of the Ooredoo Cup at

the Al Arabi Stadium yesterday. Rayyan moved on to four points in

Group B with their fi rst victory, while Ahli remained on one point as they crashed to their third defeat.

Rayyan wasted a number of chances before Brahimi converted a penalty in the 85th minute and then produced a deft fi nish for his second goal of the match a minute later. Rayyan’s Yohan Boli re-ceived a long cross from the fl ank as early as the third minute, but the striker missed an easy tap into the net from close range when he took the shot on the volley.

In the next 10 minutes, two close chances went waste when Ahli’s Hazem Shehata unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the box and his shot kissed the crossbar and fl ew away. Moments later, Rayyan’s Ibrahim Masoud also muffl ed a shot from close range as Al Ahli goal-keeper quickly moved in to kill the angle of the shot.

Soon after the fi rst water break on the half-hour mark, Boli produced a snap-header from close range, but his defl ec-tion was smartly blocked by Al Ahli goal-keeper Yazan Naim.

On the hour mark, Abdulrahman al-Harazi was benched and in walked Bra-himi. In the 65th minute, Franck Kom produced a neat slip pass to Brahimi, who failed to outduel his marker within strik-ing range of the Ahli goal.

Nine minutes later, Ahli skipper Omid Ebrahimi curled in a spectacular shot from the edge of the box, but Rayyan goalkeeper Saoud al-Hajri was alert to the situation and dived to his left to col-lect the ball.

Then came Brahimi’s goals. The pen-alty was awarded when he was brought down by Fahad Ahmed. The Algerian at-tacking midfi elder scored his second goal with a surprise shot.

In another Group B match, Ilyes Hameed struck in the 87th minute as Umm Salal snatched a 2-1 win over Al Kharaitiyat. Evan Menssah had opened the scoring for Kharaitiyat in the 61st minute, before Umm Salal equalised through Adnan Mustafa four minutes later. The game looked to be ending in a stalemate before Hameed’s stunning long-range strike stunned Kharaitiyat.

Umm Salal now have four points, while Al Kharaitiyat stood on six points.

Meanwhile, Al Gharafa and Al Arabi were involved in a drab goalless draw. The result saw Al Gharafa drop points for the fi rst time in the tournament. They are now on 10 points, whereas Al Arabi have eight points.

HOLDERS SADD FACE AL KHOR, SEEK FIRST WIN

Today, the Group A matches will be held with holders Al Sadd facing Al Khor, while Al Duhail take on Qatar SC and Al Sailiya face Al Wakrah.

Reigning champions Sadd are placed fi fth in the group with only one point that they earned from their 4-4 draw with Sailiya in Round 3. The Wolves lost their opener 2-3 against Qatar SC in Round 2, after leading by two goals.

The Al Sadd vs Al Duhail game in Round 1 was postponed owing to both teams’ campaigns in the 2020 AFC Champions League. It has now been scheduled for this Saturday.

Al Khor had started off their campaign in grand style by beating Al Sailiya 5-1, but they suff ered a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Al Wakrah in Round 2. However, The Knights bounced back with a 2-0 win over Qatar SC in Round 3 to be placed second in Group A with six points.

Meanwhile, Sailiya are fourth in the group with four points. Although The Peregrines have the same number of points as Qatar SC, the latter are placed above on goal diff erence.

Wakrah have two victories to their credit. They beat Al Khor 2-1 in Round 2 and Al Duhail 3-1 in Round 3, having opened their campaign with a 1-1 draw against Qatar SC.

Reigning QNB Stars League champions Al Duhail are lying last in the group. They are yet to open their account.

Hameed strikes in the 87th minute as Umm Salal snatch a 2-1 win over Kharaitiyat

Struggling Man United have leaders, insists Maguire

Rodgers jokes ‘I got lucky’ aft er masterminding Leicester City’s win against Bielsa’s Leeds

SPOTLIGHT

AFPLondon

Manchester Unit-ed skipper Harry Maguire yesterday rejected former cap-

tain Roy Keane’s assertion the team lacks leadership and heart after a terrible start to their Pre-mier League campaign. Ole Gun-nar Solskjaer’s side are languish-ing in 15th spot in the table with just a single point from their four home games.

That is in sharp contrast to their form in the Champions League, with a 2-1 win against last season’s fi nalists Paris Saint-Germain and a 5-0 thumping of RB Leipzig already under their belts. Sunday’s 1-0 loss to Ar-senal meant United had failed to win any of their opening four top-fl ight games at Old Traff ord for the fi rst time since 1972/73.

Keane, who is now a TV pun-dit, was scathing in his assess-ment of his former club, saying he did not “see guys you want to be in the trenches with, guys you trust” and that the team lacked leaders. But Maguire rejected those comments as the players prepare to fl y to Turkey for to-day’s Group H match against Is-tanbul Basaksehir. “I can for sure say there are a lot of leaders in the squad,” said the England inter-national. “I am the captain and I’ve got a lot of leadership around me as well, staff and players, so, for sure, there’s a lot of leaders in this squad.”

Solskjaer was also asked about Keane’s remarks but avoided criticising his players or former teammate. “Roy has always been outspoken and I’m very glad that I’ve got the players that we have here with us,” said the Norwe-gian boss.

“We’ve got diff erent jobs and Roy’s job is to give his opinion and I always listen to Roy. But we move on here with a great group

of players, strong group of play-ers, and I’m sure we’ll see a re-sponse.”

Last week’s win against last season’s semi-fi nalists was a memorable Champions League debut for Maguire — he missed the opening game against PSG — who has had a troubled season on and off the pitch.

The 27-year-old was handed a 21-month suspended prison sen-tence by a Greek court following an incident during a pre-season break to Mykonos. The defender denies the charges against him and launched an appeal.

Maguire has not been at his best since returning to action with United and was sent off for England in last month’s Nations League loss to Denmark but the central defender said he was fully focused. “My mind’s fully fo-cused on football,” he said. “Ob-viously I had a diffi cult period in the summer but, no, I am fully focused. I come into training each day, work as hard as I can.”

Maguire is confi dent United are on the right track after de-fensive problems earlier this sea-son that resulted in a 6-1 home hammering by Tottenham. “I feel like since the international break defensively we have been really good, we haven’t conceded many chances at all,” he said.

Solskjaer also defended Paul Pogba’s recent struggles on the pitch, saying the Frenchman re-mains on the right path to fi nd-ing his best form at Old Traff ord. Pogba, who tested positive for Covid-19 at the start of the sea-son, conceded a penalty for a foul on Hector Bellerin on Sunday before Pierre-Emerick Aubam-eyang converted the spot-kick for the visitors.

“Every player is frustrated af-ter the defeat. We need consist-ency from every one of our play-ers,” Solskjaer said. “Paul has had a diffi cult period with injury, with Covid, so I think we have seen plenty of positives.”

AFPLondon

Brendan Rodgers joked he does not get the credit he deserves because he is not a glamorous foreign man-ager after outwitting Marcelo Bielsa

to take his Leicester side second in the Pre-mier League. Leicester are a point behind Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool after their 4-1 win against Bielsa’s Leeds at Elland Road on Monday night.

Rodgers, 47, has also masterminded vic-tories this season against other vaunted tacticians, Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and Man-chester City boss Pep Guardiola. Leicester have made their joint best-ever start to a top-fl ight campaign, even better than when they won the title in the 2015/16 campaign.

“Because I’m a British manager, I got lucky, that’s the way it works in these games,” said Rodgers, who comes from Northern Ireland. “But the players were brilliant and got their rewards.”

Jamie Vardy is leading Leicester’s charge, with seven goals so far this season. Rodgers called the 33-year-old “world class” on the eve of the game and the former England man ran Germany international Robin Koch rag-ged throughout. At the back, the former Liv-erpool and Celtic boss had to re-jig his de-fence due to a series of injuries, with Caglar Soyuncu, Jonny Evans and Daniel Amartey out of action. “They were outstanding,” said Rodgers, who came agonisingly close to winning the title with Liverpool in 2014. “We’re missing top international players.”

Rodgers, whose team missed out on a Champions League place after a late col-lapse last season, is not entertaining title thoughts despite Leicester’s outstanding

form. “It’s so early that it’s not really worth talking about,” he said.

Harvey Barnes and Youri Tielemans put Leicester two up before half-time at Elland Road. Stuart Dallas got one back for Leeds but Vardy’s eighth goal of the season and a late Tielemans penalty wrapped up Leices-ter’s fourth successive away league win. Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa said: “In the fi rst 30 minutes we defended poorly and after we didn’t create enough danger. That is one of the main responsibilities of the manager.”

Leicester made the perfect start in the third minute. A poor back-pass from Rob-in Koch was intercepted by Vardy and he rounded keeper Illan Meslier before squar-ing for Barnes to tap into the empty net.

Leicester didn’t have to wait long to dou-

ble their lead in the 21st minute. Marc Al-brighton’s cross picked out Vardy at the near post and his diving header was unconvinc-ingly pushed out by Meslier to Tielemans, who slotted home from close range.

Dallas gave Leeds a lifeline in the 47th minute when his cross evaded everyone and looped past the fl at-footed Schmeichel. Leeds had the momentum and Pablo Hern-andez almost equalised with a curling strike from the edge of the area.

But Leicester weathered the storm and Vardy struck in the 76th minute with a close-range fi nish after Cengiz Under fl icked James Maddison’s pass over Meslier. Belgian midfi elder Tielemans got the fourth with a stoppage-time spot-kick after Ma-teusz Klich’s foul on Maddison.

PREMIER LEAGUE

Manager Giggs to sit out three Wales matches amid assault allegations

ROUND-UP

Wales coach Ryan Giggs and the Football Associa-tion of Wales (FAW)

have “mutually agreed” that he will not take charge of upcoming internationals after he was ar-rested on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend. The 46-year-old former Manchester United star was later bailed.

He has denied “all allega-tions of assault” and is coop-erating with police, according to a statement released by his representative. But he will not be at the helm for a friendly against the United States on November 12 and Nations League games against Ireland and Finland

“The Football Association of Wales and Ryan Giggs have mutually agreed that he will not be involved in the upcoming in-ternational camp,” said an FAW statement. “Our agreed immedi-ate priority is preparing the team for the upcoming international matches. Robert Page, with Ryan’s support, will take charge for the next three matches.”

Wales had been due to an-nounce their squad yesterday for the three games but those plans were shelved as news broke of Giggs’s arrest. “The Cymru squad for these upcom-ing matches will be announced on Thursday 5th November,” the FAW said.

Reports said police were called to Giggs’s home late on Sunday and he was arrested and ques-

tioned on suspicion of actual bodily harm and assault. Giggs was appointed Wales boss in 2018 after a stellar playing career in which he won 13 Premier League titles and two Champi-ons Leagues. He was capped 64 times by Wales.

ATLETICO SIGN VALENCIA’S KONDOGBIA

Atletico Madrid have signed midfi elder Geoff rey Kondogbia from Valencia, the two clubs an-nounced yesterday. Kondogbia, who has played internation-ally for France and the Central African Republic, has signed a contract until 2024, Atletico said in a statement.

La Liga rules allowed Atletico to buy outside the transfer win-dow after Arsenal activated Tho-mas Partey’s 50 million euro ($58 million) release clause on the last day of the summer transfer window. Kondogbia will cost Atletico around 10 million euros, according to reports in the Span-ish press, with a further 2 million euros due in variables. Valencia will also take 10 per cent of any future sale.

Thomas had been one of Atletico’s most important play-ers but the club have attempted to fi ll the void with the signing of Kondogbia, as well as Arsenal’s Lucas Torreira who joined on loan. Valencia, though, will not be able to replace Kondogbia and letting the 27-year-old go con-tinues the club’s drastic selling

policy, which has been hugely unpopular with the fans.

VILLARREAL UP TO

THIRD IN LA LIGAVillarreal climbed to third place in La Liga on Monday with a 2-0 victory at home to rock-bottom Real Valladolid that left Unai Emery’s side two points off top spot. Nigeria winger Samuel Chukwueze bagged his fi rst goal of the season with a classy left-foot fi nish on 21 minutes and Pau Torres added a second before half-time.

Villarreal are unbeaten in seven games in all competitions since a 4-0 defeat by Barcelona on September 27. Real Sociedad occupy fi rst place in Spain with Real Madrid a point back in sec-ond. Atletico Madrid are another two points behind but have two games in hand on the leaders.

SCHALKE WIN FIRST GAME SINCE FEBRUARY

Struggling Schalke enjoyed their fi rst win since February yester-day when they came from behind to beat fourth-tier minnows Schweinfurt 4-1 in a re-arranged German Cup, fi rst round match.

Schalke are winless in 22 Bundesliga games, dating back to January, and their previous win in any competition was a German Cup tie the follow-ing month. Schalke head coach Manuel Baum got his fi rst win on his fi fth game in charge despite Schweinfurt taking a early lead.

Yacine Brahimi came off the bench to score twice as Al Rayyan beat Al Ahli 2-0 in the Ooredoo Cup at the Al Arabi Stadium.

Manchester United defender Harry Maguire. (Reuters)

Al Gharafa and Al Arabi played out a goalless draw.

Leicester City’s manager Brendan Rodgers. (Reuters)

SPORT4 Gulf Times

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Roglic wins time-trial to regain overall lead

CYCLING

AFPMadrid

Defending Vuelta a Espana champion Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic claimed victory in a tough time-trial yesterday to

regain the lead in the overall classifi ca-tion with fi ve stages remaining.

Roglic took back the leader’s red jer-sey from Ecuador’s Ineos captain Rich-ard Carapaz with the pair having played cat-and-mouse for most of this Tour, while Britain’s Hugh Carthy sits third ahead of the race’s climax on Sunday.

Few had expected anything other than Roglic winning this tough 33.7km individual race against the clock on stage 13 and the Jumbo-Visma rider is now the clear favourite to defend his ti-tle this weekend in Madrid.

But his advantage gained over Cara-paz and Carthy was not as signifi cant as it might have been and a surprise cham-pion remains possible, with the chasing pair still within a minute of the lead. Carapaz is 39 seconds behind Roglic and EF Pro’s Carthy is 47 seconds back.

Ireland’s Dan Martin is further adrift, almost two minutes off the front. “Bet-ter to be 39 in front than 39 behind,” said Roglic. “We need to keep focus, the guys are really strong and we will fi ght for it.”

Roglic’s strong fi nish on the summit of the severe slopes of the Mirador de Ezaro might have disappointed those wondering if fatigue might kick in for the 31-year-old this week. “It’s beauti-ful,” added Roglic. “It’s been a long time since I won a time-trial. It’s a super nice day. I feel strong, surprisingly.”

Roglic led the Tour de France this season only to let the lead slip from his grasp on the penultimate day during a long and tricky time-trial as he was overtaken by Tadej Pogacar. “We all know it’s not really a fun thing to do a time-trial but today I had the legs and I could do a nice time trial.”

VUELTA PELOTON GETS COVID ALL-CLEAR

Meanwhile, the Vuelta a Espana peloton got the Covid-19 all-clear with no posi-tive cases detected in the latest round of testing from the Grand Tour’s “bub-ble”, organisers announced. The fourth

round of controls for coronavirus was conducted on Monday. “In total, all the 681 tests conducted on the second rest day were negative for Covid-19,” a Vuel-ta statement reported.

Riders, team offi cials and organis-ers were subjected to an initial round of tests on their arrival at the “race bubble” in Irun, in the Basque country, two days before the rescheuled Tour of Spain started. Further tests were carried out just before the October 20 start with a third batch conducted on the fi rst rest

day on October 26.Two Bahrain-McLaren team offi cials

and two from Sunweb were found to be positive on the eve of the race getting under way, but no rider has been de-tected with the virus that is currently sweeping Europe in a second wave of the pandemic and which caused the scheduled opening three days in the Nertherlands to be cancelled. The pan-demic also forced organisers to reroute the sixth stage after border restrictions ruled out the planned ascent of the Col

du Tourmalet in France.

STAGE RESULTS

1. Primoz Roglic (SLO/Jumbo) 46mins 39sec, 2. William Barta (USA/CCC) at 1sec, 3. Nelson Oliveira (POR/MOV) 10, 4. Hugh Carthy (GBR/EF1) 25, 5. Bruno Armirail (FRA/FDJ) 41, 6. Mattia Cattaneo (ITA/DEC) 46, 7. Richard Carapaz (ECU/INE) 49, 8. Remi Cavagna (FRA/DEC) 58, 9. David De la Cruz (ESP/UAE) 59, 10. Jasha Sutterlin (GER/SUN) 1min 07sec.

OVERALL STANDINGS

1. Primoz Roglic (SLO/Jumbo) 49hrs 16min 16sec, 2. Richard Carapaz (ECU/INE) at 39sec, 3. Hugh Carthy (GBR/EF1) 47, 4. Dan Martin (IRL/ICA) 1min 42sec, 5. Enric Mas (ESP/MOV) 3:23, 6. Wout Poels (NED/BAH) 6:15, 7. Felix Grossschartner (AUT/BOR) 7:14, 8. Alejandro Valverde (ESP/MOV) 8:39, 9. Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS/AST) 8:48, 10. David De la Cruz (ESP/UAE) 9:23

‘It’s been a long time since I won a time-trial. It’s a super nice day. I feel strong, surprisingly’

Former US Open winner Cilic still striving to reach peak

Wawrinka ready for one ‘last push’

ReutersParis

Marin Cilic has won a Grand Slam and reached a career-high ranking of third

but the 32-year-old Croatian feels he is still striving to play his best tennis even after spend-ing 16 years on the professional tennis circuit. Cilic, who won his maiden Grand Slam title in 2014 at the US Open, reached the Wimbledon fi nal in 2017 and the title round of the Australian Open the following year to climb to his highest ranking.

He has currently slipped to 43rd in the rankings but Cilic, who is six foot and six inches tall, is still considered by top players as a tricky opponent with his big serves and heavy groundstrokes. “I feel that I haven’t reached my peak still,” Cilic told reporters

after defeating Felix Auger-Ali-assime 6-0 3-6 6-3 in his open-ing round of the Paris Masters on Monday.

“Peak meaning that I feel the best on the court physically, mentally, technically, that I play my best tennis. I would like to reach that peak and feel that, ‘okay, I have done that. This is what I was working for, and I can relax my mind now and go into retirement’. I feel defi nitely, I wouldn’t say disappointed, but just, that maybe I haven’t reached my peak and accom-plished what I could have ac-complished.”

While the 2020 tennis season was left ravaged by a lengthy shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the break proved timely for Cilic, who became a parent for the fi rst time in Janu-ary. The stop-start season al-lowed him to spend more time at home, something professional

players cannot aff ord to do nor-mally, and Cilic feels parenthood has helped him as a player.

“I’m feeling very happy on the court, off the court,” he said. “This just gives me a little bit more stability in playing. And when I’m fi nishing tournaments, if I’m losing, I’m happy to go home.”

Cilic was given a bye to the third round after Frenchman Corentin Moutet tested positive for coronavirus and withdrawn from the Paris Masters. The 21-year-old Moutet had been set to face Cilic in the second round.

“After confi rmation of a posi-tive Covid-19 test on November 3, Corentin Moutet has been re-moved from the draw and placed in isolation,” the ATP said in a statement. Several French play-ers have tested positive for the virus in recent months, including Benoit Paire, Lucas Pouille and Fiona Ferro.

AFPParis

Stan Wawrinka said he is hoping to produce a “last push” in his career to challenge for tennis’ biggest ti-tles again, after beating Britain’s

Dan Evans to reach the Paris Masters second round yesterday.

The 35-year-old won the last of his three Grand Slam titles at the 2016 US Open but was then hit by multiple injuries and is now ranked 20th in the world. But the Swiss thinks he can still rediscover past glories in his fi nal years on the ATP Tour.

“I’m close to the end of my career,” he said after beating Evans 6-3, 7-6 (7/3). “But I also believe I have one last push that I really want to, again, one more time push myself to the limit, make the sacrifi ce that you need to make to be at my top, and I’m trying to do that. “I’m going to try to even push it more during the off -season and see what next year brings.”

Wawrinka, whose only Masters title came in 2014 at Monte Carlo, has not won an ATP event for more than three years. “I think in general my form has been going okay. It’s been going well. I’m playing well,” he added. “I still need to work on many, many aspects.”

Wawrinka will face either Frenchman Gilles Simon or the US’ Tommy Paul next. Former Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raon-ic also booked a second-round place, beat-ing Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-2, while Richard Gasquet won a match for the fi rst time since the US Open by edging out Taylor Fritz in three sets.

On Monday, the Paris Masters got un-derway at a near-empty Bercy Arena amid France’s second coronavirus lockdown, with former champion Karen Khachanov being knocked out in the fi rst round. Rus-sian Khachanov was beaten 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 by Spanish qualifi er Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Tournament organisers had expect-ed to welcome 1,000 fans a day to the event, but instead had to refund the tickets when French President Emmanuel Macron an-nounced France would reenter lockdown last week. The prize money on off er has been cut by more than 2mn euros ($2.33mn) from last year, when Novak Djokovic won the title.

In front of 15,000 vacant seats, the hum of the air conditioning was often the loud-est noise on the main court, with even the

players only allowed to have two members of their usually large entourage in attendance.

Khachanov, the only former winner in the draw with Djokovic absent, bowed out tamely to bring a disappointing season to a close. Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez set up a second-round clash with top seed Ra-fael Nadal — back in Paris just weeks after lifting a record-extending 13th French Open title — by beating Serbian Filip Krajinovic 7-6 (13/11), 6-1.

Pablo Carreno Busta was another Span-iard to progress, seeing off home wildcard Hugo Gaston 6-3, 6-2. Carreno Busta is bid-ding to fi nish an excellent season personally on a high, having also reached the US Open semi-fi nals and Roland Garros last eight.

Frenchman Ugo Humbert beat in-form Norwegian Casper Ruud in three sets, while there were also wins for US Open quarter-fi nalist Alex de Minaur and Croatian 15th seed Borna Coric.

RESULTS (X DENOTES SEEDING)

Second round: Marin Cilic (CRO) bt Coren-tin Moutet (FRA) — walkover

First round: Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) bt Pablo Andujar (ESP) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2; Stan Wawrinka (SUI x12) bt Dan Evans (GBR) 6-3,

7-6 (7/3); Richard Gasquet (FRA) bt Taylor Fritz (USA) 6-0, 3-6, 6-3; Lorenzo Sonego (ITA) bt Alexander Bublik (KAZ) 6-1, 6-4; Kevin Anderson (RSA) bt Laslo Djere (SRB) 5-2 -- retired; Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA) bt Tennys Sandgren (USA) 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4); Milos Raonic (CAN x10) bt Aljaz Bedene (SLO) 6-3, 6-2; Feliciano Lopez (ESP) bt Filip Krajinovic (SRB) 7-6 (13/11), 6-1; Jordan Thompson (AUS) bt Federico Delbonis (ARG) 6-2, 6-3; Borna Coric (CRO x15) bt Marton Fucsovics (HUN) 7-6 (7/5), 6-1; Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP x9) bt Hugo Gaston (FRA) 6-3, 6-2; Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) bt Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 6-4, 6-2; Norbert Gombos (SVK) bt Marco Cecchinato (ITA) 6-2, 7-6 (7/2); Radu Albot (MDA) bt Hubert Hurkacz (POL) 7-5, 6-7 (5/7), 6-4; Benjamin Bonzi (FRA) bt Federico Coria (ARG) 6-2, 6-1; Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP) bt Karen Khachanov (RUS x11) 6-3, 2-6, 6-2; Alex de Minaur (AUS x16) bt Stefano Travaglia (ITA) 6-4, 6-4; Marcos Giron (USA) bt Albert Ramos-Vinolas (ESP) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1; Marin Cilic (CRO) bt Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN x14) 6-0, 3-6, 6-3; Corentin Moutet (FRA) bt Salvatore Caruso (ITA) 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3; Ugo Humbert (FRA) bt Casper Ruud (NOR) 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7/1)

TENNIS SPOTLIGHT

Okolie gets world title

shot on Joshua undercard

London: Lawrence Okolie will fight Poland’s Krzysztof Glowacki for the vacant WBO cruiserweight title on the un-dercard of Anthony Joshua’s bout with Kubrat Pulev in London next month, promot-ers announced on Monday.

British boxer Okolie will bid for a maiden world title in his home city on Decem-ber 12 when Joshua puts his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight belts on the line against Bulgaria’s Pulev at the O2 Arena.

The 27-year-old Okolie, unbeaten in 14 professional fights including 11 knockouts, won the European cruiser-weight title with a seventh-round stoppage of Yves Ngabu in October last year.

“It has been a long and hard road to get here,” said Okolie in a statement issued by promoters Matchroom Boxing.

“I’m very excited and blessed to have this oppor-tunity. I’ll be grabbing it with both hands. I will become Britain’s next world champion on December 12.”

Okolie added former two-time world champion Glow-acki was a “great fighter” who is going to be my “biggest test on paper as a profes-sional”. “I have to be on my A game, and I will be,” Okolie insisted.

RUSSIAN HEAVYWEIGHT POVETKIN IN HOSPITAL

WITH COVID-19A WBC interim heavyweight rematch between Alexander Povetkin and Britain’s Dillian Whyte has been postponed to January after the Russian boxer was admitted to hos-pital with Covid-19, promoter Eddie Hearn announced yesterday.

‘Body Snatcher’ Whyte was knocked out by 41-year-old Povetkin, the 2004 Olympic super-heavyweight gold med-allist, in the fifth round of their fight in London last August.

The rematch was sched-uled for Nov 21 behind closed doors at London’s Wembley Arena.

Povetkin fought Britain’s Anthony Joshua for the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles at Wembley stadium in 2018 and was stopped in the seventh round.

Team Jumbo rider Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic competes during the 13th stage of the La Vuelta cycling tour of Spain in Dumbria yesterday. (AFP)

Croatia’s Marin Cilic beat Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Paris Masters. (AFP)

Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka returns during his first round match against Britain’s Daniel Evans at ATP Paris Masters in Paris yesterday. (AFP)

Brady throws for two scores as Buccaneers hold off GiantsReutersLos Angeles

Tom Brady threw two second-half touchdown passes as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rallied from an early 11-point defi cit to post a 25-

23 victory over the New York Giants on Monday night at East Rutherford, NJ.

Brady completed 28 of 40 passes for 279 yards as Tampa Bay (6-2) won its third straight game and moved a half-game ahead of the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South. Rob Gronkowski and Mike Evans caught touchdown passes, and Ryan Succop booted four fi eld goals.

Daniel Jones connected on 25 of 41 passing for 256 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for the Giants (1-7), who dropped to 1-3 at home. Wayne Gall-man rushed for a touchdown while Dion Lewis and Golden Tate caught scoring passes for New York. The Giants pulled within 25-23 on Jones’ 19-yard scoring pass to Tate with 28 seconds left. Antoine Winfi eld Jr. broke up the two-point con-version pass to Lewis, and Justin Watson covered the ensuing onside kick to seal the Buccaneers’ victory. Tampa Bay went ahead to stay on Brady’s 8-yard scoring pass to Evans with 9:02 left in the game.

The diving grab in the right corner of the end zone gave the Buccaneers a 22-17 advantage, and Succop added a 38-yard fi eld goal with 3:41 remaining. The two touchdown passes raised Brady’s total to an all-time leading 561, one ahead of Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints.

Carlton Davis and Sean Murphy-Bunting notched interceptions for the Buccaneers, who were outgained 357 yards to 344. Tampa Bay moved ahead at 15-14 on Brady’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Gronkowski with six minutes left in the third quarter. A two-point conver-sion pass for Evans was incomplete. The score marked the 93rd time - counting the postseason - that Brady and Gronkowski teamed up for a touchdown, moving the duo into second place on the all-time list, ahead of the San Francisco 49ers’ combo of Steve Young and Jerry Rice.

The leaders are the Indianapolis Colts pair of Peyton Manning and Marvin Har-rison at 114. The Giants went back ahead at 17-15 on Graham Gano’s 33-yard fi eld goal with 15 seconds left in the quarter. Ear-lier, Jones threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Lewis in the fi rst quarter, and Gallman scored on a 2-yard run with 1:46 left in the second as the Giants held a 14-3 lead.

Succop connected on a 40-yard fi eld goal - his second fi eld goal of the fi rst half - with seven seconds left before intermis-sion as Tampa Bay cut its defi cit to eight points. Succop added a 43-yard fi eld goal with 10 minutes left in the third quarter as the Buccaneers moved within 14-9.

The Bucs were being hailed as the best team in the NFC and easily could have been looking ahead to Sunday’s NFC South showdown against the Saints. “Coach (Bruce) Arians talked to us about it last night. Assume nothing,” Brady said before the game. “Any team in the NFL, regardless of their record, has incredibly talented players. They’re going to come out fi red up. It’s Monday night football and we’re expecting their best game and we’re going to have to fi nd a way to score points in some tough weather conditions.”

NFL

‘Any team in NFL, regardless of their record, has incredibly talented players’

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady throws the ball before being hit by New York Giants defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson during the second half of their NFL game at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA. (USA TODAY Sports)

SPORT5Gulf Times

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Indians’ Bieber leads awards fi nalistsReutersLos Angeles

Cleveland Indians right-hander Shane Bieber, who won the pitching Triple Crown in 2020,

was announced as one of three fi nalists for the American League Cy Young Award.

The fi nalists for each of the top honors handed out by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America - Most Valuable Player, Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year for the AL and the National League - were revealed Monday.

Bieber’s AL Cy Young com-petition consists of Minnesota Twins right-hander Kenta Mae-da and Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu.

Bieber topped the majors in the abbreviated 60-game sea-son with a 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts, and he tied for fi rst

with eight wins. He fi nished 8-1 in 12 starts, walking 21 in 77 1/3 innings.

New York Mets right-hand-er Jacob deGrom is up for his third consecutive NL Cy Young Award, a feat last accomplished when Randy Johnson won four in a row for the Arizona Diamond-backs from 1999-2002.

The only other pitcher to win three or more straight Cy Young Awards in either league was Greg Maddux, who captured four straight, in 1992 with the Chica-go Cubs and then 1993-95 with the Atlanta Braves.

DeGrom went 4-2 with a 2.38 ERA and an NL-leading 104 strikeouts (in 68 innings).

Cincinnati Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer (5-4, league-best 1.73 ERA, league-best two shut-outs) and Cubs right-hander Yu Darvish (8-3, 2.01 ERA) are also fi nalists for NL Cy Young.

Braves fi rst baseman Fred-die Freeman (.341, 13 homers, 53

RBIs in 60 games) leads the NL Most Valuable Player fi nalists. Freeman led the majors with 51 runs and 23 doubles.

Los Angeles Dodgers right fi elder Mookie Betts (.292, 16 homers, 39 RBIs in 55 games) and San Diego Padres third baseman Manny Machado (.304, 16 hom-ers, 47 RBIs in 60 games) are also in the mix for NL MVP.

Chicago White Sox fi rst base-man Jose Abreu (.317, 19 homers, major-league-best 60 RBIs), New York Yankees infi elder DJ LeMahieu (major-league-lead-ing .364 average, 10 homers, 27 RBIs in 50 games) and Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez (.292, 17 homers, 46 RBIs in 58 games) are the AL MVP fi nalists.

The AL Rookie of the Year candidates are Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm (.338 average, four hom-ers, 23 RBIs in 44 games), San Diego Padres infi elder Jake Cro-nenworth (.285, four homers, 20

RBIs in 54 games) and Milwaukee Brewers right-handed reliever Devin Williams (4-1, 0.33 ERA, 53 strikeouts and nine walks in 27 innings).

Finalists for AL Rookie of the Year are White Sox center fi elder Luis Robert (.233, 11 hom-ers, 31 RBIs in 56 games), Seat-tle Mariners centre fi elder Kyle Lewis (.262, 11 homers, 28 RBIs in 58 games) and Houston Astros right-hander Cristian Javier (5-2, 3.48 ERA in 12 games, includ-ing 10 starts).

Kevin Cash, who guided the Tampa Bay Rays to the AL East title and eventually the league pennant, is one of three fi nal-ists for AL Manager of the Year. The Rays fi nished with the best record in the league, 40-20. Cash’s competitors are Charlie Montoyo, who led the Toronto Blue Jays into the postseason even though they had to play their home games in Buff alo, and Rick Renteria, who parted

ways with the White Sox after the season even though the club posted its best winning percent-age since its 1985 World Series championship season.

Two rookie skippers who led their clubs to the postseason, the Padres’ Jayce Tingler and

the Cubs’ David Ross, are fi nal-ists for NL Manager of the Year along with the Miami Marlins’ Don Mattingly.

The Marlins reached the play-off s despite a Covid-19-altered campaign that saw the team shut down for a week and led to 61

players getting on the fi eld. The Rookie of the Year winners will be announced November 9, fol-lowed by the Manager of the Year winners November 10, the Cy Young Award winners November 11 and the Most Valuable Player winners November 12.

MLB

Dallas Cowboys QB Dalton still in concussion protocol

ReutersLos Angles

The Dallas Cowboys were hoping they would only have to rely on rookie Ben DiNucci

for one spot start, but Andy Dalton is not yet ready to re-turn to practice, coach Mike McCarthy said on Monday.

Dalton missed the Cowboys’ 23-9 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday after he sus-tained a head injury on an ille-gal hit from Washington line-backer Jon Bostic in Week 7.

“Andy hasn’t offi cially cleared the protocol,” McCa-rthy said. “Once we make it through that, we’ll announce it to you.”

Dallas owner Jerry Jones previously stated that he hoped to have Dalton back in the lineup in time for the Cowboys’ visit from the un-defeated Pittsburgh Steelers this Sunday. Dallas (2-6) aver-aged 32.6 points per game with Dak Prescott at the helm be-fore Prescott sustained a sea-son-ending leg injury during

a Week 5 win against the New York Giants.

In the three games since Prescott’s injury, the Cowboys have netted a combined 22 points.

Dalton, 33, struggled after taking over for Prescott. On the season, he has completed 61.2 percent of his passes for 452 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions in four games, two starts, this season.

DiNucci, who fi nished his college career at James Madi-son, hit on 21 of 40 passes for 180 yards in his fi rst NFL start against the Eagles. He didn’t throw a touchdown pass or an interception but lost a pair of fumbles and was sacked four times.

Dallas remains in the hunt in the lacklustre NFC East, where it trails Philadelphia by 1 1/2 games for the division lead. But fi xing the stagnant off ence won’t be easy without the reg-ular QB, McCarthy said.

“No. 1, it starts with Dak,” McCarthy said. “Anytime an off ence loses its starting quar-terback ... I mean, he was play-ing at a high level.”

FOCUS

NFL mulling 16-team playoff fi eld if games lost to pandemicThe NFL has not yet lost any scheduled games because of the ongoing coronavi-rus pandemic. But the league is constant-ly preparing in case it does.The latest evidence is a plan that poten-tially could adjust this season’s playoff format to a 16-team field, with eight teams in each conference qualifying for the postseason, ESPN reported on Monday.The fall-back option was discussed on a conference call conducted by the NFL competition committee on Monday, with the purpose to soften some of the league’s financial blow in case multiple games are eventually cancelled and bye

weeks are lost due to Covid-19.NFL sources were cited describing the idea that would hypothetically increase the numbers of playoff teams by two to 16, with one additional team each from the AFC and NFC. This postseason was already slated for a two-team playoff spike, with one more wild-card team in each conference, after the league approved the switch in March.If approved and instituted, the seeding system would include no byes for division champions and instead rank each team by conference from No. 1 through 8. In the opening round, the top seed - the division champion with the best overall record -

would face the wild-card team with the worst record as the No. 8 seed. Then the second seed would face the seventh seed, with No 3 versus No 6 and No 4 against No 5 in the opening weekend. The league off ice has reportedly re-mained steadfast in its hopes to avoid any schedule changes that could threaten its current Super Bowl LV date, currently slated for February 7, 2001 in Tampa.In case of major postseason scheduling changes, the NFL’s likely first move would be to eliminate the week off scheduled between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. (Reuters)

Darnold has MRI, will play with ailing shoulder

Even with his New York Jets a league-worst 0-8 midway through this season, starting quarterback Sam Darnold has decided to play through a nagging shoulder injury that he aggravated onSunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.NFL.com reported on Monday that Darnold underwent a precautionary MRI one day after his team’s 35-9 road loss, with a source saying he aggra-vated his prior right shoulder injury - a sprained AC joint - that caused him to miss two games in October.“I’m focused on playing and not missing any games,” Darnold said on Monday. “I just want to play every game I’m capable of playing. If I miss a game and I’m capable of playing in it, that’s my worst nightmare and I don’t want to do that to this team.”Jets coach Adam Gase said, “Sam wants to be out there, he wants to be out there, that’s a big part of it, too, and that’s why we’re making sure that everybody’s aligned on this. And we need him out there, he gives us the best

chance to win on Sundays and he knows that.”Darnold, 23, completed 18 of 30 passes for 133 yards on Sunday against the Chiefs while running four times for 21 yards. The 2018 first-round pick from Southern California returned to the lineup a week earlier to oppose the visiting Buff alo Bills, who beat New York 18-10.The undermanned Jets have continued to struggle even after his return, scoring a combined 19 points over the past two games.The Jets went 0-2 under veteran backup Joe Flacco in Weeks 5-6, scoring a total of 10 points over defeats to the Arizona Cardinals and the Miami Dolphins.Darnold has completed 58.6 percent of his passes for 1,045 yards with three touchdowns and six interceptions in six starts. He has rushed 18 times for 138 yards and one score and has been sacked 19 times.The Jets will next host the 2-5 New England Patriots next Monday night before New York has a bye in Week 10.

SPORT

Gulf Times Wednesday, November 4, 20206

‘Don’t show us your medals’ – UK switches focus to participation

ReutersLondon

After years of administrative chaos, UK Athletics (UKA) pub-lished a 12-year strategy docu-ment on Monday that shifted

emphasis from a lottery-funded chase for Olympic medals to a rejuvenation of the sport at grass-roots level.

In a sport long-riven with internal and regional disputes, the new document has been delivered in co-operation with the governing bodies of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after con-sultation with more than 5,000 athletes, coaches and offi cials.

In May, UK Sport delivered a damning report on athletics’ governance after a se-ries of resignations, scandals and fi nancial failings, saying the organisation “couldn’t get any worse”.

Joanna Coates, who became UKA chief executive in March, took those criticisms on board and has spent much of the sum-mer trying to rebuild trust in the organi-sation and set out a transparent plan for the future.

At the heart of the new strategy is a three-goal approach to running the sport, one of Britain’s most successful in the Ol-ympics but which has been suff ering at club level despite the huge popularity of the volunteer-led parkrun movement.

The fi rst goal is that by 2032 the Brit-ish team will have a representative at every discipline in all senior international events and that 95% of the Paralympic team will reach their fi nal.

The second is to develop an infrastruc-ture of athletics and running clubs that will have 250,000 registered athletes across the UK by 2032.

The third goal is to have nine million people running and “pushing” – the new

term for wheelchair propulsion – within 12 years.

BACK TO FRONTThere is no mention of medal targets in the new approach, which potentially puts UKA at odds with UK Sport, whose fund-ing model is based on the statement that “success is measured by medals won and the systems in place to fi nd and sup-port the most promising future champi-ons.”

Coates suggested on Monday that it was a back to front approach and there was now a “clear departure from previous focus areas.

“You don’t write a strategy for the sport based around funding, you write a strat-egy for the sport and the bit that UK Sport or Sport England fund you for is the bit that they fi nd attractive within your strat-egy,” she said in a statement.

“I’m writing a 12-year strategy so that

the sport survives. It’s a diff erent mindset.“This is a signifi cant opportunity for

the sport and the fi rst time that all fi ve governing bodies have come together as equal partners to build a united strategy for athletics in the UK,” Coates said.

“The co-development of a long-term strategy and framework agreement for athletics across the UK, with an ethical decision-making culture and a new com-munications strategy, will ensure that we address the sport’s long-term issues.”

Sally Munday, CEO of UK Sport, de-scribed the new plan as “an important milestone for the sport in enabling it to fl ourish at all levels.”

She added: “We remain committed to supporting UKA and the Home Country Athletics Federations as they progress in their work to deliver on all aspects of the Change Plan for the sport, which fol-lowed the independent review earlier in the year”.

ATHLETICS

‘This is a significant opportunity for the sport and the first time that all five governing bodies have come together as equal partners to build a united strategy for athletics in the UK’

ReutersLondon

Formula E has become a minority sharehold-er in Extreme E, the electric off -road se-

ries due to start next year with six-times Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton a team owner, the two sides an-nounced yesterday.

No fi nancial details were provided for what was de-scribed as a strategic invest-ment.

Formula E, a city-based all-electric single-seater champi-onship, counts Liberty Global and Discovery Communica-tions as major shareholders.

The series were both found-ed by Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is chair-man of Formula E and chief executive of Extreme E.

Formula E chief executive Jamie Reigle will have a seat on the Extreme E board but the businesses will be independ-ent of each other.

Agag, who also owns a stake in Formula E, told Reuters that he would be the majority shareholder in Extreme E.

“What it gives is clearly the

backing of Formula E to Ex-treme E and also the backing of the Formula E shareholders, so Liberty Global and Discovery have backed this investment,” said the Spaniard.

“To have the backing of those two companies for Ex-treme E gives a very strong fi -nancial peace of mind.”

Reigle said there was a per-ception already that the two series had common equity, due to Agag’s involvement in both, and the move provided clarity.

There was also an ‘indus-trial logic’ to accelerate the use of electric vehicles.

“We’re an electric motor-sport, we’re not a venture cap-ital fund,” he said. “So we’re not making this investment because we’re responding to shareholders. It’s really a stra-tegic alliance.”

Extreme E aims to highlight climate change and promote sustainability with races in some of the world’s most re-mote and harsh environments that are already suff ering from global warming and pollution.

Nico Rosberg, the 2016 For-mula One champion, also has a team while other entries in-clude US-based Ganassi Rac-ing and Andretti Autosport.

Formula E takes minority stake in Agag’s Extreme E

FOCUS

General view during the women’s 1 Mile run during the London Anniversary Games in London on July 9, 2017. (Reuters)

Being major champion doesn’t make PGA Tour any easier: Morikawa

Winning the PGA Championship in August has been the highlight of Col-lin Morikawa’s short career but the American said being a major winner does not automatically make things easier on the PGA Tour.The 23-year-old, who turned pro last year, triumphed at TPC Harding Park for his first major title but failed to make the cut at the US Open and Shrin-ers Hospitals for Children Open in his first two starts on the 2020/21 Tour.“I’ve realised over the last couple of weeks... that this is without question a new PGA Tour season,” Morikawa wrote in a PGA Tour blog.“I can use all those positives that came from my breakthrough victory at the PGA Championship, but that doesn’t necessarily mean things are automati-cally going to come my way now.“Sure, I may be a Major winner now, but I still have to play good golf, and everyone out here is really good at golf, too. That’s what makes the PGA Tour awesome, is that any week anyone can win.”Morikawa, whose father is of Japanese descent, tied for 50th at last month’s Zozo Championship, an event he has

fond memories of having travelled to Japan last year to be part of the tourna-ment’s unveiling.“I may be American, and obviously I represent the United States, but it was so cool going to Japan last year and seeing people recognising me,” he added.“I’m American and I fully embrace that but it’s cool to see other people look at me - even as a role model... and use that to their inspiration, I hope.”

Rahul, Ali win QGL 196 golf tournamentR

ookie Golfer Rahul Kumar teamed up with Anwar Ali to play fl awless golf to de-feat 40 players paired into

20 teams playing a Two-Person Texas Scramble Format, and win QGL 196, a monthly tournament, organised by the Qatar Golf Lovers at the Doha Golf Club Academy Course over the weekend.

Young husband and wife team of Saad and Shazia Kazi narrowly missed winning the title and ended up as runners-up with a nett score of 30. The team of Sanjeev Gupta and Amit Nagpal also scored a nett 30, but fi n-ished third on countback.

Special prizes went to Rukkaiyya Pachisa for ‘Closest to rope’, Michael Saretsky for ‘Longest Putt’, Fazal Kazi for ‘Nearest to Pin’, and Nada Mir for ‘Longest Drive’.

QGL hosted a prize distribution dinner for all golfers, where chief guest Indian ambassador to Qatar Dr Deepak Mittal and QGL president Manoj Megchiani gave away the priz-es to all the winners.

QGL vice president Sanjay Jain wel-

comed new members who also par-ticipated in the event, and acknowl-edged the presence of students who are currently being coached by QGA

professional golf instructors with les-sons organised by QGL. The highlight of the event was the launch of QGL’s new website “MYQGL.COM”, cer-

emoniously inaugurated by ambassa-dor Mittal. QGL 197 is scheduled for November 27. Those interested can contact QGL via the new website.

SPOTLIGHT

Johnson says he faces ‘steep’ IndyCarlearning curveReutersToronto

Jimmie Johnson may be one of the most decorated champions in stock car racing but

on Monday the seven-times NASCAR champion admitted he faces a steep learning curve ahead of his IndyCar debut next year.

The 45-year-old Johnson, whose full-time NASCAR Cup Series career will end on Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway, said learning the nuances of an In-dyCar are made tougher given he will only have a handful of test sessions before his March debut.

“Practice sessions are going to be less next year even if we have a traditional style week-end,” Johnson said on a con-ference call from an open test event at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

“It’s a bad time to be a rook-ie. Even a 45-year-old rookie with all the years I have in racing, to learn these cars and tracks it’s going to be a real steep learning curve for me.”

For Johnson, who said he has fi ve or six tests lined up before the 2021 season opener in St. Petersburg, the test event at Barber marked the fi rst time he stepped into the Carvana No. 48 that he will pilot for Chip Ganassi Racing next year.

Johnson said he has a good sense for the slow and techni-

cal parts of the track but that the biggest challenge is how exactly to attack the high-speed sections where faster vehicle speed creates more downforce.

“I’m just not used to that environment and used to trusting that from all the years that I have spent in those big heavy NASCAR vehicles with-out much downforce,” said Johnson.

“That’s really the challenge right now is to carry a bit more speed in, use a lot less brake and just let the vehicle create the grip and the downforce through the corner itself.”

Johnson described getting into an Indy Car cockpit a “re-ally tight squeeze” compared to what he is used to in NAS-CAR and that the demands of the driver do not end there.

“Inside the car there are many more adjustments and knobs that the team needs you to work on a course of a lap and over the course of a run,” said Johnson. “Just a lot of diff erent procedures that take place and far diff erent and in a very com-pact area.”

MOTORSPORT

Winners of the QGL 196 tournament pose with Indian ambassador Dr. Deepak Mittal (third from left) and QGL off icials.

Twilight Payment wins Melbourne Cup marred by tragedy

HORSE RACING

‘There’s so many emotions, it’s such a big moment, it’s a miracle’

ReutersSydney

New Zealand are likely to make sev-eral changes from the side that secured the

Bledisloe Cup last weekend for their Tri-Nations clash with Australia on Saturday, assist-ant coach John Plumtree said.

The All Blacks thrashed the Wallabies 43-5 at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium to retain the Cup, the symbol of trans-Tasman supremacy, for an 18th successive season.

They travel to Brisbane on Saturday for their fourth game in a row against Australia and while the focus is still on win-ning the Tri-Nations Plumtree said they wanted to freshen things up and give some play-ers who had impressed in Su-per Rugby the chance to show what they can do at test level.

“There will be some chang-es,” Plumtree told reporters from Sydney on a conference call on Tuesday. “We have got some players knocking on the door.

“There has been some awe-

some competition for spots, and we can expect some changes to freshen players up and we also want to see, as selectors, players that have performed really well during Super and got this opportunity to play in the jersey.”

Plumtree gave nothing away in terms of what the changes may look like, but said the coaching staff had been im-pressed by the squad members who had played the roles of the Wallabies in contested train-ing sessions over the last two weeks.

“The ultimate reward for them is to give them a crack,” he said. “I’m not saying it will happen for all of them but it is something that will be seri-ously considered.”

Plumtree added there was only one real injury concern, with prop Joe Moody still go-ing through concussion pro-tocols and his chances of play-ing this weekend were “pretty remote”.

Captain Sam Cane, who broke a bone in his neck two years ago and came off with a head injury in Sydney, was “good to go”.

All Blacks likely to make changes for Brisbane Test: assistant coach

RUGBY

SPORT7Gulf Times

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

AFPMelbourne

Irish raider Twilight Payment won the coveted Aus$8.0 million (US$5.5 million) Melbourne Cup yesterday

in a race run without spectators and marred by the death of Eng-lish Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck.

With Jye McNeil in the saddle, the eight-year-old gelding held off a charging Tiger Moth and Prince of Arran in a thrilling fi n-ish to the gruelling 3,200-metre (two mile) handicap, considered the ultimate test of stamina and staying power.

But Anthony Van Dyck, one of the pre-race favourites at Flem-ington, broke down with a leg injury and was later put down - the seventh Melbourne Cup horse to perish on race day since 2013.

McNeil, one of the rising stars of the sport, triumphed in his maiden Melbourne Cup, which was held behind closed doors for the fi rst time because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“There’s so many emotions, it’s such a big moment, it’s a miracle,” said McNeil.

“It’s very overwhelming. There was a lot of hard work

getting to this stage and I couldn’t be more impressed with how everything played out today.”

“I’ve been dreaming about this since before I could ride,” he added.

“It was a very surreal feeling crossing that line.”

Veteran owner Lloyd Wil-liams’ seventh Melbourne Cup win came against a top-quality fi eld heavy with overseas run-ners, mostly Irish and British, despite the coronavirus pan-demic.

Racing out of barrier 12, the Joseph O’Brien-trained Twi-light Payment led for much of the race with Ireland’s Tiger Moth charging late alongside Britain’s Prince of Arran, last year’s runner-up ridden on Tuesday by female jockey Jamie Kah.

‘STRANGE FEELING’

First staged in 1861, the Mel-bourne Cup has been run on the fi rst Tuesday of November since 1876, and the winning horse in-stantly becomes a household name in Australia.

It is the highlight of Aus-tralia’s racing calendar and or-dinarily up to 90,000 colour-fully dressed and boozy punters would be trackside.

But despite Melbourne emerging from months of Cov-id-19 lockdown last week, or-ganisers decided it was too soon to allow fans and just jockeys, trainers, security and operations staff were on site.

It meant that instead of Flem-ington erupting in cheers to the sound of popping champagne corks on a glorious, sunny day,

the only sound was the thunder-ing of hooves across the turf.

There was drama before the race with the Williams-owned French gelding King of Leogrance, winner of the Ad-elaide Cup this year, scratched after showing signs of lameness, reducing the fi eld to 23.

The death of Ireland’s Antho-ny Van Dyck, from the stable of trainer Aidan O’Brien, then cast a shadow over the event.

“The horse received immedi-ate veterinary care, however he was unable to be saved due to the

nature of the injury sustained,” said Racing Victoria’s Jamie Stier.

He added that research was underway aimed at the early de-tection and prevention of bone injuries in thoroughbred race-horses.

Social media reacted in horror to the death and animal rights activists, demonstrating outside Flemington, were outraged.

“He was pushed well beyond his limits and that’s why he is dead,” the Coalition for the Pro-tection of Racehorses said of An-

thony Van Dyck. “This isn’t a surprise, horse

racing kills horses.” Pressure has been building

on the racing industry in recent years over cruelty concerns.

Ahead of last year’s race, damning revelations emerged about the brutal treatment and slaughter of retired racehorses on an “industrial scale”, sending shockwaves through the indus-try. While the Melbourne Cup was not linked to the abattoirs involved, it is often targeted by protesters.

Jockey Jye McNeil returns to scale after riding Twilight Payment to victory in race 7 during Melbourne Cup Day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia, yesterday. (Reuters)

Keen contest on cards in Amir Cup fi nalBy Sports ReporterDoha

Al Sadd and Al Arabi will clash in the fi nal of the 2019-20 Amir Cup basketball tournament

today as both teams continue their resurgence on the domestic scene after years of domination by Al Rayyan and Al Gharafa.

It’s the last chance for ei-ther team to end the season with some silverware after Al Shamal won the league and Al Wakrah claimed the Qatar Cup. The match will be held at the Al Gharafa Indoor Hall at 6pm.

Both teams appear to be of similar strength pointing to a keenly-contested game.

Al Sadd will rely mostly on the trio of Faisal Abu Issa, Ba-bacar Dieng and Omar Saad, in addition to the professionals, Vladmir Dasic and Konstantinos Vasileiadis.

Al Arabi will bank on captain Fahd al-Darwish, Khaled Sal-man, Khaled Rushdie and the prolifi c Sammy Monroe.

Al Sadd coach Vasilieios Brat-siakos was in no doubt that the

match would be a thriller.“Both teams are strong so it’s

natural that the match would be tough,” Bratsiakos said at a press conference.

“But we have done a lot of hard work this season and the players are also very determined to win the prestigious champi-onship,” the Greek added.

Al Sadd’s star player Faisal Abu Issa echoed the coach’s views, saying the players are rar-ing to go.

“They are very ambitious and that is the reason we reached the fi nal. We now hope to go all the way and claim the trophy,” he added.

Al Arabi coach Hatem Mam-louk said both teams have play-ers who can turn the match on its head.

“It’s obvious that the team that makes fewer mistakes will win. It’s important therefore to be at your best,” Mamlouk said.

Al Sadd have won the Amir Cup two times, while Al Arabi have won it only once.

Al Rayyan are the most suc-cessful team with nine titles in the 21-year history of the tour-nament.

BASKETBALL

Basketball off icials and coaches pose with the Amir Cup trophy ahead of the final.

Wallabies prop Slipper in line for 100th Test on Queensland return

Australia prop James Slip-per is in line to celebrate his 100th Test cap in Saturday’s second Tri-Nations game against New Zealand, a milestone that was far from his thoughts when frozen out by the Queensland Reds two years ago.Slipper was handed a two-month ban after testing positive twice for cocaine at the start of the 2018 season, leading to him falling out with the Reds’ disciplinarian coach Brad Thorn.Battling depression at the time, Slipper was never selected for the Reds again despite having represented the provincial side in over 100 Super Rugby matches.The ACT Brumbies threw Slipper a lifeline after the 2018 season and he took the chance with both hands, working his way back into the Wallabies frame the following year to play a third Rugby World Cup under Michael Cheika.“I wasn’t thinking about hitting 100 (Test) caps, that couldn’t have been any further away from my thought process at the time,” the 31-year-old Slipper told reporters on Tuesday.“Thinking back when I had the change, going to the Brumbies I just wanted to play consistent rugby.“That was my one goal, I just wanted to contribute to what-ever team I was playing for

and I feel like I’ve done that.”Under new Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, Slipper has started in all three Bledisloe Cup matches against the All Blacks, and is likely to picked again for Saturday’s clash at Lang Park, the Reds’ home ground.He said last week’s record 43-5 drubbing by the All Blacks in Sydney had made it hard to reflect on an inter-national career that began with a run off the bench and a 27-17 win over England in Perth in 2010.“It’s been a bit of a tough cou-ple of days to get my head back in the game and make sure I’m ready to play this weekend - whether I get the selection or not,” said Slipper.“To play 100 games, it’s obviously an honour and all those things. If I’m playing and everything goes my way I want to win the game more than anything.”

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

GULF TIMES CRICKET

Muzarabani gives Zimbabwe thrilling win over Pakistan

THIRD ODI

AFPRawalpindi, Pakistan

Paceman Blessing Muzarabani took career best fi gures of 5-49 as Zimbabwe beat Pakistan in a thrilling super over fi nish in the

third and fi nal one-day international yesterday.

The actual match fi nished in a tie after Pakistan skipper Babar Azam hit the fi nal delivery of the 50th over from Richard Ngarava for a boundary to level the scores at 278.

But man-of-the-match Muzarabani dismissed Iftikhar Ahmed and Khushdil Shah for two runs on four balls in the su-per over which Zimbabwe scored off just three balls without any loss.

Despite the defeat Pakistan won the three-match series 2-1.

Azam, who fi nished with a run-a-ball 125 with 13 boundaries and a six, led Pa-kistan’s fi ghtback and stood fi rm after Pakistan were set a daunting 279-run target.

He added a match turning 100 for the seventh wicket with Wahab Riaz who made 52.

With 28 needed Riaz held out off Mu-zarabani, Babar took the fi ght by smash-ing a six in the 49th over to reduce the target to 13 off the fi nal over.

When he fi nally got the strike off the last ball, Pakistan needed fi ve which re-sulted in a boundary. Muzarabani’s pre-vious best fi gures of 4-47 came against Afghanistan at Bulawayo two years ago.

The series gives Pakistan 20 points and Zimbabwe ten in the One-Day Su-per League, the qualifi cation process for 2023 World Cup in India.

Pakistan won the fi rst match by 26 runs and the second by six wickets, also in Rawalpindi.

Zimbabwe’s total of 278-6 was built around a fi ghting unbeaten 118 by Sean Williams who helped his team recover from paceman Mohammad Hasnain’s best fi gures of 5-26.

The win broke Zimbabwe’s sequence of ten consecutive defeats and gave them only their fi fth win over Pakistan in 62 ODIs.

Zimbabwe’s pace trio of Muzarabani, Ngarava (2-62) and Donald Tiripano (2-39) left Pakistan snaring at defeat with the score at 6-151.

Debutant Khushdil scored 33 and add-ed 63 for the sixth wicket with Azam.

Earlier, Williams’s 135-ball knock for

his fourth ODI hundred lifted Zimbabwe from a precarious 22-3 after they won the toss and batted.

It was 20-year-old paceman Hasnain who shook the tourists by removing Zimbabwe skipper Chamu Chibhabha (nought), Craig Ervine (one) and Brian Chari (nine) in his fi rst four overs of hos-tile fast bowling.

Williams added an invaluable 84 runs for the fourth wicket with Brendon Tay-lor (56) and another 75 for the fi fth with Wesley Madhevere (33) to stage a fi ght-back.

Dropped three times on 73, 75 and 81, Williams fi nally reached his hundred with a couple off paceman Wahab Riaz, much to the jubilation of the Zimbabwe dressing room.

He hit 13 boundaries and a six in his knock. Taylor, who scored a century in the fi rst game on Friday, hit eight boundaries before falling to a miscued cut off Hasnain.

Hasnain, who had fi ve wickets in his

fi rst fi ve matches, had Madhevere caught off his own bowling to improve on his previous best of 2-52 against Australia in Dubai last year.

Williams and Sikander Raza — who made a 36-ball 45 — cut loose in the fi nal overs adding 96 runs for sixth wicket, piling on 46 in the last fi ve overs.

The teams will now play three Twen-ty20 internationals on November 7, 8 and 10 — all in Rawalpindi.

SCOREBOARD

ZimbabweB. Chari b Hasnain ..............................................................9C. Chibhabha c Ahmed b Hasnain .............................0C. Ervine c Rizwan b Hasnain ........................................1B. Taylor c Khushdil b Hasnain .................................56S. Williams not out......................................................... 118W. Madhevere c and b Hasnain ................................33Sikandar Raza b Riaz .....................................................45D. Tiripano not out .............................................................1Extras: (lb5, nb1, w9) ......................................................15Total: (50 overs; for six wkts) ................................278Did not bat: R. Ngarava, B. Muzarabani, T. Chisoro

Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Chibhabha), 2-4 (Ervine), 3-22 (Chari), 4-106 (Taylor), 5-181 (Madhevere), 6-277 (Raza)Bowling: Afridi 10-1-42-0 (w3), Hasnain 10-3-26-5 (1w), Musa 10-0-80-0 (2w), Riaz 10-0-65-1 (2w), Ahmed 10-0-60-0 PakistanImam-ul-Haq b Muzarabani ..........................................4Fakhar Zaman lbw b Ngarava ......................................2Babar Azam c Taylor b Muzarabani ......................125Haider Ali lbw b Ngarava ..............................................13Mohamed Rizwan b Tiripano .....................................10Iftikhar Ahmed b Tiripano 1...........................................8Khushdil Shah c Taylor b Muzarabani ..................33Wahab Riaz c Williams b Muzarabani ....................52Shaheen Shah Afridi c Raza b Muzarabani ............2Musa Khan not out ..............................................................9Mohamed Hasnain not out .............................................3Extras: (lb1, nb1, w5) ...........................................................7 Total: (50 overs, for nine wkts) ..............................278Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Imam), 2-6 (Zaman), 3-20 (Haider), 4-51 (Rizwan), 5-88 (Ahmed), 6-151 (Khushdil), 7-251 (Riaz), 8-266 (Afridi), 9-266 (Azam)Bowling: Muzarabani 10-1-49-5 (w3), Ngarava 9-0-62-2, Chisoro 7-0-48-0, Tiripano 7-0-39-2 (2w) Raza 10-0-42-0 (1nb), Williams 7-0-37-0Result: Match tied, Zimbabwe win on Super Over

Muzarabani’s previous best figures of 4-47 came against Afghanistan at Bulawayo two years ago

Tendulkar urges ICC to make helmets must for batsmen

FOCUS

AFPDubai

Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar yesterday urged cricket’s world body to make helmets “mandatory” for

batsmen at all times during a match.

Tendulkar was reacting to an Indian Premier League inci-dent when Sunrisers Hyderabad batsman Vijay Shankar took a blow on the helmet by a throw from Kings XI Punjab’s Nicholas Pooran.

“The game has become faster but is it getting safer? Recently we witnessed an incident which could’ve been nasty,” Tendulkar wrote on Twitter with a video link of the action.

“Be it a spinner or pacer, wear-ing a HELMET should be MAN-DATORY for batsmen at profes-sional levels. Request @icc to take this up on priority.”

Batsmen usually wear a hel-met when facing a fast bowler

but take the head gear off when a spinner comes on to bowl.

Shankar fell to the ground af-ter taking the hit but escaped in-jury in the IPL league game last month.

Head injuries in the game were back in focus after Austral-ian batsman Phil Hughes’ tragic death in 2014 due a hit on the neck just below the helmet.

The International Cricket Council has since improved hel-met standards with equipment companies adding extra protec-tion in the neck area to prevent serious injuries.

Tendulkar, 47, also recalled a blow to current India coach Ravi Shastri during an exhibition game in his playing days.

“@RaviShastriOfc, this also reminded me of the time when you got hit after top edging a full toss bowled by Mr. (Sunil) Gavaskar during an exhibition game,” Tendulkar tweeted.

“That could’ve been a grave injury too but thankfully wasn’t!”

Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani (L) celebrates after taking the wicket of Pakistan’s Imam-ul-Haq (2R) during the third one-day international (ODI) in Rawalpindi yesterday.

AFPDubai

Skipper David Warner struck an unbeaten 85 as Sunrisers Hyderabad sealed the fi nal play-

off spot in the Indian Premier League with a 10-wicket win over Mumbai Indians yesterday.

Warner put on an unbeaten opening stand with Wriddhi-man Saha, who made 58, to drive home Hyderabad’s chase of 150 in 17.1 overs in Sharjah and knock Kolkata Knight Rid-ers out of the Twenty20 tourna-ment with a better run rate.

Hyderabad won their third straight league match to fi n-ish third in the table ahead of Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore with the two teams scheduled to meet in the elimi-nator.

The result of the last league game was disappointing for Mumbai’s returning captain Rohit Sharma who said he was “fi t and fi ne” at the toss after missing four games due to a hamstring injury.

“Not the day we want to re-member. Probably the worst performance of the season for us,” Sharma, whose number one

team will meet second-placed Delhi Capitals in the fi rst quali-fi er tomorrow, said after the loss. On his return after the in-jury break, Sharma said: “I was happy to be back. It has been a while. I was going through some tough times. I am looking to play a few games here and see what happens.”

Sharma, who was left out of India’s squad for the upcom-ing tour of Australia, added the hamstring is “absolutely” fi ne.

He was out early after facing just seven balls, falling to pace-man Sandeep Sharma for four. Mumbai though went on to score 149 for eight after a cru-cial 41-run cameo from Kieron Pollard. In reply, the left-right batting combination of Warner and Saha took the attack to the opposition who had rested their top pacemen in Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah.

“I pride myself on giving the team a great start. That is my duty and responsibility,” Warn-er who hit 10 fours and one six in his 58-ball knock, said.

“Fortunately we haven’t had to chase a big total.”

The winner of the eliminator will then meet the loser of the fi rst qualifi er to fi ght for a place in the fi nal on November 10.

Warner powers Hyderabad to play-off s, Kolkata crash out

IPL

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Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has de-cided to retire from all cricket after Chennai

Super Kings failed to reach the Indian Premier League playoff s, a team member told AFP yester-day.

The 39-year-old has made nothing public but told his Chennai teammates of his deci-sion in an “emotional” speech after their last IPL game on Sun-day.

Tributes have already been made to the former stalwart of the Australian Test side.

“The curtain closes on a re-markable IPL career. Congratu-lations mate you’ve done your-self proud and made every team you’ve played in so complete,” wrote another former Australia all-rounder Tom Moody on Twitter.

Watson quit international cricket in 2016 but kept playing in Twenty20 leagues such as the IPL. He retired from Australia’s Big Bash last year.

He has played more than 700 international and domes-tic matches, scoring more than 25,000 runs with his big-hitting style and claiming in excess of 600 wickets with his pace bowl-ing.

Watson won the inaugural IPL in 2008 with the Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals and se-cured a second with Chennai in 2018.

He has scored 3,874 runs and taken 92 wickets in the world’s richest cricket tournament, where he has played 145 matches for Chennai, Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Banga-lore.

Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has warned the three-time champions will be making major changes after fail-ing to make the playoff s for the fi rst time. Watson is expected to be the fi rst of many veterans to leave.

Watson was to make a formal announcement on his retire-ment on his return to Australia from the United Arab Emirates, where the IPL has been held be-hind closed doors because of the coronavirus.

Australia’s Watson set to end career

SPOTLIGHT

Shane Watson...remarkable career

England rest Archer and Stokes for S Africa ODIs

London: England’s Jofra Archer, Ben Stokes and Sam Curran will be rested from the one-day international leg of the 50-over world champions’ tour of South Africa, it was announced yesterday.But with the 2021 T20 World Cup on the horizon, the three players were all included in the squad for the three Twenty20s, which start later this month, ahead of the three-match ODI series.Players will be confined to bio-secure bubbles during the tour as they were during the English international season.Archer, Stokes and Curran have all been in a new bubble while taking part in the Indian Premier League tournament, which is being staged in the United Arab Emirates due to the coronavirus.

England T20 squad: Eoin Mor-gan (Middlesex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jofra

Archer (Sussex), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Chris Jordan (Sussex), Dawid Malan (Yorkshire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Reece Topley (Surrey), Mark Wood (Durham).England ODI squad: Eoin Morgan (Middlesex, captain), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Sam Billings (Kent), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Tom Curran (Sur-rey), Lewis Gregory (Somerset), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Olly Stone (Warwickshire), Reece Topley (Surrey), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire), Mark Wood (Durham).Reserves across both formats: Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Tom Helm (Middlesex).

Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha and David Warner walk off the field after Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Mumbai Indians by 10 wickets in Sharjah yesterday.