Al-Attiyah extends lead in Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge

Tuesday, November 9, 2021Rabia II 4, 1443 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

India win Kohli’s last game as T20 skipper

Verstappen takes huge stride towards fi rst title

CRICKET CRICKET | Page 2 F1 F1 | Page 3

SPOTLIGHT

AgenciesAbu Dhabi

Qatar’s ace rally driver Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah strength-ened his lead at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, the

fi fth and penultimate round of the 2021 World Cup for Cross Country Rally Championship, after winning the sec-ond stage yesterday.

Partnered by co-driver Mathieu Baumel in a Toyota Hilux, al-Attiyah won the 333.43-km second stage in a time of 4 fours 33:09 seconds. Poland’s Jakub Przygonski, accompanied by his German navigator Timo Gottschalk, came in second place with a time of 4:36:16 hours in a Mini John Cooper Works Buggy.

In third was Argentinian driver Lu-cio Alvarez with Spanish navigator Armand Monleon in a time of 4.42.51 hours, while Saudi driver Yazid al-Rajhi and his British navigator Michael Orr came in fourth with a time of 4.50.52 hours, in two more Toyotas.

Al-Attiyah leads the overall stand-ings after the second stage with a total time of 7.55.16 hours, followed by Przy-gonski with a time of 8.01.23 hours. Alvarez is third with a total time of 8.12.09 hours.

While this may look comfortable, al-Attiyah knows from previous experi-ence that a lapse in concentration can blow a much bigger advantage in this event.

The 2008 and 2016 champion ad-mitted at the fi nish: “It was not an easy day because we took more than four hours driving through the desert. But it was a good experience and we learnt a lot. We are excited about the next three days, and we hope to do our best to stay at the top.”

The Qatari added: “The competition was strong and the track was diffi cult and needed focus and a person with full experience in navigation and I thank navigator Mathieu Baumel who made a great eff ort. We did our duty and wid-

ened the diff erence between us and the closest competitors and this gives us great comfort.”

Botswana’s Ross Branch, the over-night bikes leader, saw his victory hopes damaged virtually beyond repair,

while new FIM cross country rallies champion Matthias Walkner lifted his prospects of a fi rst Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge win.

Branch suff ered a heavy crash on his Yamaha 10km from the end of yester-

day’s stage. He is still in fourth place, fi ve minutes 36 secs from new leader Walkner, but said: “With so much dam-age to the bike, I think the rally is over for me. I’m so glad to be in one piece.”

Adrien Van Beveren on another

Yamaha took the stage honours on the day, but second fastest was enough to give Austrian KTM star Walkner a 2 mins 38.8 secs advantage over the Frenchman.

Finishing the day fi fth overall, Amer-ican Austin Jones and Brazlilian Gus-tavo Gugelmin in a CAN-AM Maverick lead the FIA T4 category which has fi ve cars in the top ten.

Russia’s Pavel Lebedev and Ki-rill Shubin in a CAN-AM Maverick now lead the FIA T3 category while the Czech Republic’s Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka in a Ford Raptor RS Cross Country have a huge advantage in the class for 2022 specifi cation cars. Argentinian Manuel Andujar has a big lead over the UAE’s Abdulaziz Ahli in the quads, while Roy Bartov and Guy Biton in a CAN-AM Maverick X3 still set the pace in the FIM SSV 3 category.

LEADING POSITIONS STAGE 2 1. Nasser al-Attiyah / Mathieu Baumel (QAT/ AND) / Toyota Hilux; Time: 7:55:16.0; 2. Jakub Przygonski / Timo Gottschalk (POL / DEU) / Mini John Cooper Works Buggy; 8:01:23.0; 3. Lucio Alvarez / Armand Monleon (ARG / SPA) / Toyota Hilux Over-drive; 8:12:09.0; 4. Yazeed al-Rajhi/ Michael Orr (SAU / GBR) / Toyota Hilux Overdrive; 8:20:56.0; 5. Austin Jones / Gustavo Gugelmin (USA / BRA) / BRP CAN-AM Maverick; 8:36:55.0; 6. Marek Goczal / Lukasz LASKAWIEC (POL / POL) / BRP CAN-AM Maverick; 8:39:17.0; 7. Eugenio Amos / Paolo Ceci (ITA / ITA) / BRP CAN-AM Maverick; 8:39:53.0; 8. Mansour al-Helei / Abdulla Dakhan (ARE / ARE) / BRP CAN-AM Maverick; 8:47:36.0; 9. Denis Krotov / Konstan-tin Zhiltsov (RUS / RUS) / Mini John Cooper Works Buggy; 8:48:56.0; 10. Kees Koolen / Mirjam Pol (NLD / NLD) 8:54:27.0

FOOTBALL

Qatar to inaugurate two stadiums during Arab CupPage 4

‘It was not an easy day because we took more than four hours driving through the desert. But it was a good experience’

The Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) yesterday launched a campaign across its social media channels to en-

gage the community in motorsports in Qatar and urge fans to buy the last re-maining tickets for the 2021 Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix.

The ‘Losail Star Power’ campaign taps into Qatar’s deep reservoir of local and international stars from across the world of sport and entertainment for a head-to-head fastest lap contest at the Losail International Circuit.

The stars include Qatari Olympic Gold medallist Mutaz Essa Barshim, three-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah, and French football World Cup winner Marcel Desailly.

Videos of the competition will be posted all week at the @losailcircuit and @QMMFoffi cial accounts on Twit-ter and Instagram before the winner with the fastest time is declared.

In just two weeks from now, the lights at the Losail International Circuit will turn green for the 2021 Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix.

The race weekend, which runs from November 19-21, will include three days of racing, an airshow, a dedicated fanzone with activities, catering op-tions for every taste, plus a range of other entertainment options, which will be revealed at later stage.

QMMF’s Executive Director Amro al-Hamad, said: “This campaign is all about seizing the opportunity we have

with F1 to promote motorsports in Qa-tar and generate excitement before the race action begins on November19. Formula 1 is one of the most popular sports in the world, and to host a race in Qatar further cements Qatar’s position as a world-class venue for global sport-ing events.”

Commenting on the ‘Losail Star

Power’ campaign, al-Hamad said: “I’d like to thank all of our guests for tak-ing part in this campaign. We want to involve our local community in F1 through our social media platforms, where they can learn more about For-mula 1, the upcoming race, and motor-sports in general. There are still limited F1 tickets available at the Losail Inter-

national Circuit website for people who want to come and enjoy the race.”

Qatar is hosting a Formula 1 race for the fi rst time, after stepping in at short notice to ensure a full F1 race calendar for the 2021 season.

There will be no race in 2022 as it co-incides with Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. The race will return

to Qatar in 2023 and take place for the next 10 years until 2032.

Tickets are available at the Losail International Circuit website: https://tickets.circuitlosail.com/.

The full list of talent competing in the ‘Losail Star Power’ campaign in-cludes: Qatari Olympic high jump gold medallist Mutaz Barshim; Three-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser al-Attiyah; Al Jazeera anchor Ola al-Fares; Former

France footballer and World Cup win-ner Marcel Desailly; Australian foot-ball legend and Aspire Academy Chief Sports Offi cer Tim Cahill; Al Duhail striker and Qatar forward Almoez Ali; Qatari Olympic rower Tala Abujbara; Racing driver and motorsports infl u-encer Archie Hamilton; Former Neth-erlands footballer and BeIN Presenter Nigel de Jong and Egypt football icon Mohamed Aboutrika.

Stars come out in force as Qatar gears up for F1 race weekendOOREDOO QATAR GRAND PRIX

Losail International Circuit will host the Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix from November 19-21.

Qatar’s Olympic high jump gold medallist Mutaz Barshim (right) and 3-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (left) will take part in the ‘Losail Star Power’ campaign, a head-to-head fastest lap contest, at the Losail International Circuit.

Nasser al-Attiyah set the fastest stage time for a second day running alongside Mathieu Baumel in a Toyota Hilux at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

CRICKETGulf Times Tuesday, November 9, 20212

AFPDubai

India hammered Namibia by nine wickets to give Virat Kohli a winning farewell in his last match as Twenty20

captain and fi nish their disap-pointing World Cup campaign on a high yesterday.

India, who bowed out of the tournament on Sunday, rode on a 86-run opening stand be-tween Rohit Sharma, who hit 56, and KL Rahul, who made an un-beaten 54, to reach their target of 133 in 15.2 overs in Dubai.

India, the 2007 champions, fi nished the tournament with three wins from fi ve Super 12 matches but missed out on the semi-fi nals.

“I know we have not gone far in this World Cup, but we have had some good results in T20 and enjoyed playing together,” said Kohli, who lost the toss in both of India’s defeats by Paki-stan and New Zealand.

“It’s a game of margins, T20 cricket. You talk about two overs of cricket with intent in the fi rst two games and things could have been diff erent.

“We were not brave enough,

as I said. We are not a team that will give (the) excuse of tosses.”

Namibia signed off with a sin-gle win in their fi rst appearance in the Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup.

Indian spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ash-win took three wickets each to set up the victory after they kept Namibia to 132 for eight.

David Wiese scored 26 off 25 balls and lifted Namibia from a precarious 94-7 to a respectable total, but it was not enough to challenge a powerful Indian bat-ting line-up which came good towards the business end of the tournament.

Rohit, who remains the front-runner to take over the T20 du-ties from Kohli, hit his second half-century of the competi-tion.

Rohit fi nally fell to Jan Frylinck’s left-arm medium pace but only after he smashed seven fours and two sixes in his 37-ball knock. Rahul kept up the pace to make his third consecu-tive fi fty and struck the winning boundary.

Suryakumar Yadav hit an un-beaten 25 off 19 balls.

India had only managed to post 151 and 110 in their opening two losses against Pakistan and New Zealand that dented their

chances of making the semi-fi nals.

New Zealand beat Afghani-stan on Sunday to eliminate In-dia from the competition and join Pakistan as the teams into the fi nal four from Group 2.

In the fi nal Super 12 match, the Indian bowlers took con-trol after pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah sent back Michael van Lingen for 14 to end a 33-run opening stand.

Jadeja struck three times with his left-arm spin and off -spin-ner Ashwin also rattled the Na-mibian middle and lower order with fi gures of 3-20.

Wiese put on 23 for the eighth

wicket with Frylinck, who made an unbeaten 15, to add useful runs in the fi nal few overs.

“Only once we go back we’ll be able to realise we played an awesome level of cricket,” said Namibia captain Gerhard Eras-mus.

“We can take a lot of positives individually and as a team we’ll take this experience as a whole. Good foundation for us if we want to make the next step.”

BRIEF SCORESIndia 136 for 1 (Rohit 56, Rahul 54*) beat Namibia 132 for 8 (Wiese 26, Ashwin 3-20, Jadeja 3-16) by nine wickets.

India beat Namibia in Kohli’s last game as T20 skipper

REPORT

‘We were not brave enough, as I said. We are not a team that will give (the) excuse of tosses’

Kiwi kings of swing Boult and Southee eye fi nalFOCUS

AFPAbu Dhabi

Trent Boult and Tim Southee are New Zealand’s kings of swing, unstarry but deadly with the new ball and looking to inspire

the Black Caps to the T20 World Cup title.

They face England in tomorrow’s fi rst semi-fi nal in Abu Dhabi where the two veteran seamers will be key to slamming the brakes on opposing openers Jos But-tler and Jason Roy.

Left-armer Boult has 11 wickets at the tournament from fi ve games, second only to Sri Lanka leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga’s 16 in eight.

Southee, also 32 years old, has seven wickets with his pinpoint right-arm seam. Such is their dependability, New Zealand have only had to summon six bowlers at the tournament.

The other four have 14 wickets com-bined; eight of those have gone to spin-ner Ish Sodhi.

“We complement each other with the left-arm, right-arm,” said Southee who is also no slouch with the bat.

When he made his Test debut back

in 2008 against England in Napier, he smashed 77 off 40 balls with nine sixes, batting at 10. He had also taken 5-55 with the ball.

“Our strength is to swing it. When it swings, it’s dangerous,” added Southee.

Boult and Southee have been the foundation for New Zealand being able to strangle opposition batsmen at the World Cup.

They made the semi-fi nals with four wins in fi ve. In three of those wins, mighty India were limited to 110, Na-mibia limped to 111 off their 20 overs and Afghanistan managed just 124.

Boult relaxes between matches by playing the guitar and has become used to “being instrumental” headlines.

He was a relatively late arrival to T20 cricket, only making his international debut in 2013.

Since then he has collected 57 wickets in 39 games to go along with his 292 Test victims and 169 in ODIs.

At the IPL, he was the leading wick-et-taker in 2020 with 25 victims as the Mumbai Indians claimed the title in Dubai.

The 2021 IPL was also played out in the UAE and Boult is now thriving in what have become familiar conditions.

“I’d say these conditions here are a big challenge, to be honest. They can change drastically across the many weeks that we’ve been here,” he said.

“But in terms of our side, and I sup-pose the tools we have in our shed is a lot of experience we have guys that can perform on certain wickets.”

Of bowling in the heavy evening hu-midity of the Gulf, he added: “You’ve just got to take your time and make sure you’ve got a good grip on the ball and just be as accurate as you can.”

Southee, a veteran of fi ve IPL fran-chises, has had fi ve more years as an in-ternational T20 player than Boult.

In 88 matches, he has taken 106 wickets to sit alongside his 314 in Tests and 190 in ODIs.

At the 2015 50-over World Cup, his 7-33 against England in Wellington was ranked as Wisden’s top ODI spell of that decade.

“We’ve played a lot of cricket togeth-er since the age-group days,” Southee told thecricketmonthly.com of his rela-tionship with Boult.

“We played for the same domestic sides. We have formed a friendship, which goes a long way in understanding each other out in the middle.”

Australia to tour Pakistan for fi rst time in 24 yearsAFPLahore

Australia will tour Paki-stan for the fi rst time in 24 years in March-April, the Pakistan

Cricket Board said yesterday, de-spite England and New Zealand recently pulling out of matches there. Australia will play three Tests, as many one-day inter-nationals and a single Twenty20 international.

“Australia are one of the high-performing sides and them play-ing in our backyard for the fi rst time after a gap of 24 years will be a special treat for the fans,” Pakistan Cricket Board chair-man Ramiz Raja said in a state-ment. The tour will be a huge boost for Pakistan, which was hit hard when New Zealand aban-doned its tour over a security alert just as the two teams were due to kick off their fi rst match in September.

England pulled out a week lat-er and there had been fears Aus-tralia would do the same.

“Cricket Australia is excited about the prospect of touring Pakistan next year for what will be a highly anticipated series in a country so incredibly pas-sionate about the game and their national team,” said Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley, according to the PCB statement.

“The safety and welfare of our players and staff remains our number one priority and we will continue to work with the PCB and relevant agencies to ensure that appropriate and suffi cient arrangements are put in place for the tour.”

Pakistan had gradually re-turned to the cricket map as hosts of international matches following a six-year hiatus in the wake of attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009. During their cricketing isolation, Pakistan were forced to play their home matches on neutral venues, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Cricket Australia’s delega-tion will visit Pakistan to meet with PCB offi cials and Pakistani authorities to discuss and fi nal-ise matters relating to team op-erations, logistics, security and Covid-19 protocols.

The fi rst Test will be held in Karachi, while Rawalpindi will host the second and Lahore the third. All white-ball matches will be held in Lahore.

The Tests will be played as part of the ICC World Test Championship. The ODIs will be connected to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League – a 13-team event from which the seven highest-placed sides and the hosts, India, will qualify directly for the event in 2023.

The last time Australia toured Pakistan, Mark Taylor led them to a 1-0 series victory.

Pakistan staged the last four series with Australia off shore in Sri Lanka, England and the UAE.

SPOTLIGHT

England opener Roy out of World Cup with injuryAFPAbu Dhabi

Opening batsman Jason Roy has been ruled out of the rest of the T20 World Cup, the England and Wales Cricket Board an-

nounced yesterday.Roy, 31, suff ered a calf injury and col-

lapsed to the ground while chasing a quick single in Saturday’s 10-run loss to South Africa.

Despite their fi rst defeat of the tour-

nament, Eoin Morgan’s side advanced to the semi-fi nals and Roy will be replaced in the squad by James Vince ahead of England’s last-four match against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi tomorrow.

Roy has joined left-arm fast bowler Tymal Mills on the injured list in another blow to England, who lost to the West In-dies in the fi nal of the 2016 tournament.

“I’m gutted to be ruled out of the World Cup,” said Roy in an England statement. “It is a bitter pill to swallow.”

“I will be staying on to support the boys and hopefully we can go all the way

and lift that trophy,” added the Surrey star, a key member of the England side that won the 2019 50-over World Cup.

“We’re all gutted for you @Jason-Roy20,” said a tweet on the England Cricket account.

“We will carry on playing in the posi-tive spirit that you embody. If anyone can come back stronger, it’s you.”

Roy had made 123 runs in fi ve innings at an average of 30.75 and a strike-rate of 138.2 in a tournament at which his open-ing partnership with Jos Buttler has often provided England with an ideal launch-

pad. There are a number of options for a

replacement opening partner alongside Buttler including Jonny Bairstow, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan and Moeen Ali.

England arrived in the Gulf without the injured Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Sam Curran before Mills broke down with a thigh strain.

Morgan’s side are bidding to become the fi rst men’s team to hold cricket’s two major global limited-overs titles simul-taneously.

BOTTOMLINE

India’s Rohit Sharma (left ) and KL Rahul in action during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup match against Namibia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai yesterday. (AFP)

ENGLAND CRICKET CHIEF FLIES TO PAKISTAN TO RESTORE RELATIONS

English cricket’s top administra-tor has flown to Pakistan in a bid to repair relations damaged by the cancellation of October’s Twenty20 tour.A spokesperson for the England and Wales Cricket Board told AFP in London yesterday that chief executive Tom Harrison had travelled for meetings with Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja. Former Test batsman Raja said he felt “humiliated” when the ECB announced in September it was calling off the tour. England, who last played in Pakistan 16 years ago, are due to play a Test series there in 2022. The ECB cited “increasing concerns about travelling to the region” in cancelling October’s tour, just days after New Zealand also pulled out of a tour to Pakistan over security concerns.However, the British High Com-missioner to Pakistan, Christian Turner, confirmed the decision was taken by the ECB on the grounds of player welfare.The first trip by the England men’s side to Pakistan since 2005 was only meant to last four days, with two Twenty20 matches in Rawalpindi on Octo-

ber 13 and 14. Two women’s T20 matches were scheduled on the same days as double-headers, with three women’s one-day internationals to follow in the same city.Pakistan travelled to Eng-land last year at a time when Covid-19 infection rates in Britain were among the highest in the world for a three-match Test series and T20 series that saved the ECB millions in televi-sion rights deals. Consequently, there was a bitter reaction in Pakistan when England called off the October fixtures. “It’s the feeling of being used and then binned,” Raja told reporters in September. “One feels slighted, one feels humiliated because withdrawal doesn’t have an answer,” he added. Harrison’s visit to Pakistan is expected to be brief as he is due in the United Arab Emirates later this week for an International Cricket Council chief executives’ meeting. The confirmation of his trip came on the day that Cricket Australia announced plans for a tour of Pakistan starting in March 2022 that would be their first visit to the country in 24 years.

PCB chairman Ramiz Raja.

TRENT BOULT TIM SOUTHEE

SPORT3Gulf Times

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

Bold Verstappen takes huge stride towards fi rst F1 title

MOTORSPORT

AFPParis

Red Bull’s Max Verstap-pen took a huge stride towards a fi rst Formula One title on Sunday by

winning the Mexico City Grand Prix with a start that showed all his bravery, skill and aggression.

With four races remaining, the 24-year-old Dutch driver surged 19 points clear of Mercedes sev-en-times world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Running three abreast on the long run down to the fi rst corner, Verstappen displayed precision and nerves of steel as he braked late and took the two Mercedes cars around the outside to seize the lead. “I knew the start was going to be really important and we went three wide towards turn one and it was all about who was going to brake the latest,” said the 24-year-old, who started third on the grid. “Basically that made my race because after that I could just do my own pace and control it from there.

“There was not much they could do. They were already side by side and I just went three wide,” added Verstappen, who now has nine wins for the season to Hamilton’s fi ve.

He took the chequered fl ag a hefty 16.555 seconds clear of Hamilton, who was only 1.197 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s lo-cal hero Sergio Perez and might have lost a place had they gone another lap.

The points haul left resurgent

Red Bull just one point behind defending champions Mercedes in the constructors’ standings.

They would have been equal had Valtteri Bottas not snatched the fastest lap from Verstappen right at the end, denying Red Bull the bonus point.

“Today’s been a massive day, a fantastic drive by Max. The most important part was the start. He nailed the start,” said team boss Christian Horner. “I thought Max had missed his braking be-cause he was so late on the brakes

at turn one but he made it stick and from there really controlled the race. It was a very straight-forward race for him.”

Despite the points gain, Ver-stappen was still refusing to get carried away. “There is a long way to go. It’s of course looking good but also it can turn around very quickly but I’m looking for-ward to Brazil (the next race),” he said. “I have also very good memories there.”

Lewis Hamilton said his Mer-cedes was no match for Red Bull

after his dream of a record eighth Formula One championship slipped further from his grasp.

“Their car was far superior this weekend and there was nothing we really could do about it,” Hamilton said after fi nish-ing second, the gap between him and his Dutch rival extended to 19 points. The champion said he gave all he had, holding off Red Bull›s Sergio Perez at the fi nish with the Mexican chasing a team one-two. Giving everything was still not enough, however, on a

day when teammate Valtteri Bot-tas started on pole position but was hit and spun on the opening lap, ending up out of the points.

“I naturally feel I need to be winning every race, because we need those extra points, not to lose those points, to try and re-gain, that was the goal going into the last race and the race before that and before that and here this weekend,” said Hamilton.

“But ... they’re just too quick. So (we were) giving it absolutely everything we’ve got but unfor-tunately it’s not enough at the moment to compete with them.”

Verstappen has now won nine races to Hamilton’s fi ve and the next, in Brazil, should also play to his car’s strengths before three fi nal races in the Middle East.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said it had been a question of dam-age limitation for Hamilton in the championship race, and hailed the Briton for driving “a brilliant race with the equipment he was given”.

“You have to congratulate Red Bull because the pace was just on another level. I don’t think we could have won the race even if we would have stayed ahead in the fi rst corner,” said the Aus-trian. “As for the constructors’ (battle), Valtteri spinning out at turn was just very painful.

“It’s worse than we had hoped but you have to take it on the chin... overall it’s a day to forget for us.”

Mercedes, winners of the past seven drivers’ and constructors’ standings, are now just one point ahead of Red Bull.

‘Their car was far superior this weekend. There was nothing we really could do about it’

662409823Adds

‘Rules come fi rst’ — Xavi lays down the law aft er unveiling as Barca coachAFPMadrid

Xavi Hernandez said Barcelona’s players will have to play by his rules and raise their stand-

ards as the club’s new coach laid down a fi rm message at his un-veiling yesterday. Xavi was pre-sented in front of almost 10,000 fans at Camp Nou before signing his contract on the pitch, along-side his family and Barca presi-dent Joan Laporta.

The 41-year-old, who has returned to the club where he won eight La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues as a player, walked out to chants of “Xavi, Xavi” from his adoring support-ers. Laporta said: “Today will be an historic day for Barca.”

Despite club debts of more than 1bn euros ($1.16bn), Xavi is tasked with returning Barcelona to Europe’s elite and recovering a style of play most associated with Johan Cruyff and Pep Guar-diola. But in a press conference after the presentation ceremo-ny, Xavi’s main theme was less

about style and more about sub-stance, the Spaniard emphasis-ing the fi rst priority is to restore order.

“In the fi rst moment it’s im-portant we put rules in the team, that’s the fi rst point,” said Xavi. “Then we talk about values — respect, attitude, eff ort — if we don’t have these values, we don’t have a team. And then we can look at models of play, how we defend and attack, but the rules come fi rst.”

Barcelona are ninth in La Liga and unlikely to be able to make signifi cant signings any time soon. “I know that it is a diffi cult time, both economically and on the pitch,” said Xavi. “But I will ask the players to have high standards because we are Barca, the best club in the world.”

Asked if his message meant he was going to be hard with the players, Xavi said: “It is not about being hard, but about or-der and rules, and the rules must be followed. When I had rules in the dressing room, things went well. Without rules, things have not gone so well. It is not about discipline, it is about order.”

Xavi’s instrumental role in Guardiola’s iconic Barcelona side has many at the club hop-ing that he can now follow in Guardiola’s footsteps. “Being

compared to Guardiola is a vic-tory, for everything he has given to football and Barca. For me he is the best coach in the world,” said Xavi.

Xavi brushed over whether he would like to coach Lionel Messi. “Of course,” he said. “And all the others, (Samuel) Eto’o, Ronald-inho. Leo sent me a message and

wished me luck. We joked a bit and I wish him the best, he is the best player in the history of the club. But he’s gone. We have the players we have and we have to work with them,” he added.

The most notable praise was reserved for Ousmane Dembele, the France forward who has suf-fered a string of injury prob-lems in recent years and whose contract expires next summer. “He can be the best player in the world in his position,” said Xavi. “But we have to work with him and demand it. It depends on him, on his mentality.”

There will also be scrutiny on the highly-paid and experienced players like Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets. Xavi suggested he will rely on his vet-erans, many of whom he played alongside. “The ones I know are the ones I’m going to push the most,” Xavi said. “I see it as an advantage, I know Gerard and Busi and Jordi and (Marc-Andre) Ter Stegen and Sergi (Roberto), they are the ones that have to pull the wagon.”

Xavi took over as coach of Al Sadd in Qatar in 2019 and said

he has since turned down an approach from the Brazilian na-tional team. He said there had been three occasions when he decided against coming back to Barca. “The fi rst two times it was in January and we didn’t feel it, both as a family and personally, I needed more time,” Xavi said. “Then it was in the summer but there was the presidential elec-tion in between, and there was a lot of uncertainty, it was not the moment.”

Xavi’s priority this term will be to ensure Barcelona qualify for next season’s Champions League by fi nishing in La Liga’s top four.

They also face a fi ght to make the last 16 of this season’s tour-nament, with a crunch game away to Benfi ca to come later this month.

Laporta indicated Xavi would be given time to turn things around. “I would have liked to give him a better squad than the one we have,” said Laporta. “He will have our support if things go wrong and if they get worse, he will have our support until they go better.”

FOOTBALL

Tusker, Warriors stay unbeaten

By Sports ReporterDoha

A stellar all-round dis-play from man-of-the-match Prem Sa-gar (four for 24 and 50

runs) engineered a facile fi ve-wicket victory for Tusker Club over strong Asian Club in the popular Qatar Airways Cricket Tournament for Premier Divi-sion teams.

Asian Club failed to resist the bowling of Sagar and Bipin (two for 34) at the West Bay Grounds and collapsed at 251 in 43.2 overs. Tariq Wal and Jasim tried in vain to hold the innings together. Wal cracked one six and 13 boundaries in his 44-ball 67 and Jasim chipped in with 42 with four boundaries.

Tusker Club had an initial setback at 18 during the chase but 57-run stand for the sec-ond between, shared by Deepu V (32 with three fours) and Waleed (38 with a six and seven fours) placed them fi rmly on the way to the target. This was followed by a 45-run alliance for the third wicket between Sagar and Waleed.

After Waleed was out, Sa-gar and Shakir joined hands and added 59 runs for the next wicket. Shakir, who blasted fi ve fours in his 74-ball 60 not out, got another good partner in Ri-fai (26 off 20 balls) to complete the victory more than 11 overs before the fi nish.

Galfar Al Misnad, chasing a modest 199-run target against Commercial Bank Qatar, got themselves deeply into the hot waters. But Dharmang Patel and Sammy revived the in-nings from fi ve down for 55 to 123 before helping them clinch their second triumph in three matches.

Commercial Bank got a small 198 in 46 overs with Mohamed Nadeem (four for 23) and Na-deem (two for 20) causing them the biggest damage. However, Rusharat Ali, who smashed 11 boundaries in 69 off 83 balls, and Zaheeruddeen’s 43 with fi ve fours saw them close to 200-mark.

The bank men hit back while defending the total and re-

moved half the rival team for just 55. Patel and Sammy staged a superb recovery and carried the score to 123. The sixth-wicket stand later proved the springboard for their victory which came off in 43.2 overs.

Patel smashed a six and eight fours to get 66 in 73 balls, while Sammy’s 58 in 52 balls included a six and seven hits to the rope. Philip was the pick of the bowl-ers with three for 41. Nayeem, Zaheeruddeen, Abdulla and Rafay got a wicket apiece.

Adnan Mirza fi red a six and a dozen boundaries in 72 to lead defending champions War-riors Club to a comfortable six-wicket triumph over Royal Stars Club in another match of the day. This was the second win for Warriors Club, while Royal Stars suff ered third loss on the trot.

Chasing a modest 207-run target, set up mainly by Yousef (44 with seven fours) and Mu-dassar (43 with seven fours), Warriors Club got an encour-aging start through man of the match Mirza and Kamran Khan. They collected 89 runs in 13 overs.

Then Imal Liyanage contrib-ute 30 in 26 balls before an un-broken sixth-wicket partner-ship of 52 runs, put up by Amir and Aneesh, had them racing to the victory in 28.5 overs. Amir’s unbeaten 47 was studded with four sixes and three bounda-ries.

BRIEF SCORES Tusker Club 252 for 5 in 38.2 overs (Shakir 60 not out, Sa-gar 50, Waleed 38; Jamil 2 for 33) beat Asian Club 251 all out in 43.2 overs (Wal 67, Jasim 42; Sagar 4 for 24, Bipin 2 for 34) by 5 wickets.Galfar Al Misnad 201 for 6 in 43.2 overs (Patel 66, Sammy 58, Philip 3 for 41) beat Com-mercial Bank 198 all out in 46 overs (Ali 69, Zaheeruddeen 43; Nadeem 4 for 23, Himan-shu 2 for 20) by 3 wickets. Warriors Club 211 for 4 in 28.5 overs (Mirza 72, Amir 47 not out, Khan 35, Liyanage 30; Inam 3 fro79) beat Royal Stars 206 all out in 46.5 overs (Yousef 44, Mudassar 43; Owais 3 for 31) by 6 wickets.

QATAR AIRWAYS PREMIER DIVISION CRICKET

Prem Sagar (left) of Tusker Club and Adnan Mirza of Warriors Club

‘Djokovic’s greatness will be recognised eventually’AFPParis

The tide is turning in ten-nis legend Novak Djoko-vic’s favour in gaining the respect he deserves

from followers of the sport but he may have to wait for years post-retirement to be fully ap-preciated, says Daniil Medvedev.

World number two Medvedev was speaking after Djokovic had come back from a set down to beat him 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the fi -nal in Paris for a record-breaking 37th Masters 1000 title on Sun-day. This came a day after the 34-year-old Serbian won his

semi-fi nal to assure himself of another milestone – season-ending world number one for a seventh time. In doing so he ended Medvedev’s slim hopes of toppling him, two months after the Russian dashed Djokovic’s dreams of a Grand Slam sweep in the US Open fi nal.

Djokovic has spoken of the love he felt from the US Open crowd that day which has not always been the case elsewhere – in the Wimbledon fi nal this year he was riled on several occasions by spectators siding with oppo-nent Matteo Berrettini.

For many years too he has been seen as the odd one out of the three great rivals who have won

20 Grand Slams apiece. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are generally loved but the intense, deep-thinking Serbian provokes lukewarm sentiments.

Medvedev, though, believes the man he calls “his friend” will eventually get the recognition he deserves for his achievements.

“I have the feeling that people start more and more to respect what he has done in tennis,” said Medvedev. “Because, well, he continues to beat the records.

“I feel like unless they are real haters, which are not real fans, people start to see what he’s done and to see that he’s able to do more.”

Medvedev says this com-

prehension of just how great a player Djokovic is will not reach full bloom quickly. “I think that maybe ten years after he retires, because there is going to be peo-ple who will start watching ten-nis who will not have seen him play,” said Medvedev.

“Just like me, I didn’t see (Pete) Sampras play, I was too young but I heard he was amaz-ing - it’s going to be the same.

“There are going to be new people coming to tennis who are just going to read in Wikipedia what were the results.

“Who was the World No. 1 for most weeks, for most times in the end, and they are going to see Novak everywhere. “That’s

when people are going to start to understand, Okay, that’s amaz-ing what he has done.”

Djokovic has a stock reply to questions as to how he rates his achievements.

“Of course, when I surpass one of the past champions, par-ticularly someone that I looked up to when I was a kid like Pete Sampras (prior to Saturday he was tied with the American on six for fi nishing season-ending world number one), it means the world to me,” said Djokovic.

“It’s kind of a surreal feel-ing. But, yes, I mean, in gen-eral terms, it’s just diffi cult for me to refl ect fully on what was achieved.”

TENNIS

Milan derby draw allows Napoli to keep top spot

MILAN: AC Milan missed the chance to go top of Serie A on Sun-day after a 1-1 derby draw with Inter Milan which allowed Napoli to maintain their place at the summit. Stefano Pioli’s unbeaten side are level with Napoli on 32 points after a Stefan de Vrij own goal cancelled out Milan old boy Hakan Calhanoglu’s 11th-minute penalty for Inter in a tense, exciting encounter at the San Siro. Milan will be ruing a missed opportunity to claim first place after Napoli could only manage a 1-1 home draw with Verona earlier in the day. Neither side will be happy with the derby point as they both had opportunities to win the match in front of 57,000 fans, with Alexis Saelemaekers striking the post late for Milan.

FC Barcelona coach Xavi waves to fans during his unveiling ceremony yesterday. (Reuters)

Tuesday, November 9, 2021

GULF TIMES SPORT

Qatar set to inaugurate two stadiums during Arab Cup

FOOTBALL

AFPLondon

Newcastle ended their long wait to hire a new manager yesterday, un-veiling former Bourne-

mouth boss Eddie Howe as the man to lead the Magpies into a new era under wealthy Saudi ownership. Howe, 43, takes charge of a side languishing second from bottom of the Pre-mier League, fi ve points adrift of safety, and without a win all sea-son. He replaces Steve Bruce, who left the club by “mutual consent” on October 20, two weeks after the Saudi-led takeover propelled the club into the ranks of the super-rich. Newcastle said Howe had been appointed as the “new head coach on a contract until sum-mer 2024”.

Howe said it was a “great hon-our” to take the helm at a club with the stature and history of Newcastle, who have not won a

major trophy since 1969 despite a huge and passionate fanbase. “This is a wonderful opportuni-ty, but there is also a lot of work ahead of us and I am eager to get onto the training ground to start working with the players,” he said.

Newcastle’s new owners had to pivot towards Howe af-ter Villarreal boss Unai Emery

turned down an approach to be Bruce’s succes-sor. The former Arsenal manager was reportedly wary of joining the project in its infancy without a clear structure of how to make their new wealth pay on the fi eld.

Newcastle — now one of the richest clubs in the world — are expected to invest heavily in the January transfer market. But they have another nine league games to navigate before then, including daunting clashes with Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United.

Telecommunications company Ooredoo has been unveiled as the Offi cial Middle East & Africa Telecommunications Operator of

the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and the upcoming FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021.

The Qatari operator’s agreement strengthens the company’s long-stand-ing commitment to FIFA’s leading events. Ooredoo was also a National Supporter of the 2019 and 2020 editions of the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar.

Nick Brown, FIFA’s Director of Com-mercial Revenue, said: “We are delighted that Ooredoo has returned, this time as a Regional Supporter, for these two amaz-

ing tournaments in Qatar. With Ooredoo by our side, we are looking forward to hosting memorable events that will connect followers of the beautiful game in Qa-tar and across the globe.”

Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser al-Thani, the Chief Commercial Offi cer at Ooredoo, said: “We are beyond proud to be working with FIFA again, this time as a key sup-porter of the biggest sporting event in the world and of the biggest football event in the region.”

“All eyes will be on Qa-tar over the next couple of months and in 2022 as our country is propelled onto the global sporting stage. This is an opportunity for Ooredoo to cement our leadership in innovation and telecommunications, pro-mote our country as a major sporting hub, and celebrate football, the most popular

sport in the world,” he added. “We are honoured to be supporting our country in providing an unrivalled fan experience for all, and we look forward with great ex-

citement to some incredible football.”Ooredoo delivers mobile, fi xed and

broadband internet services that are tai-lored to the needs of consumers and busi-nesses. As a community-focused com-pany, Ooredoo is guided by its vision of enriching people’s lives and its belief that it can stimulate human growth by lev-eraging communications to help people achieve their full potential.

The FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 will fea-ture 16 of the region’s top national teams from November 30 to December 18, 2021 and will serve as a dress rehearsal for next year’s World Cup, which will take place from November 21 to December 18, 2022.

Matches during the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 will be played at six stadiums, with two ven-ues set to be inaugurated dur-

ing the tournament. This is the fi rst pan-Arab international tournament to be held under the FIFA umbrella and will involve the best 16 teams from the region.

The tournament is seen as a golden op-portunity to test preparations for the FIFA World Cup 2022, which will take place in a similar time slot next year. The two ven-ues to be unveiled during the event will be Al Bayt Stadium and Ras Abu Aboud Stadium. Both will be inaugurated on 30 November – the opening day of the tour-nament. The FIFA Arab Cup will take place over 19 days, with the fi nal taking place on 18 December.

There will be 32 matches and fans will have the opportunity to attend more than one match per day – just like during the FIFA World Cup.

Here are more details about the six FIFA Arab Cup stadiums.

AL BAYT STADIUMCapacity: 60,000Inauguration date: November 30, 2021Designed to replicate a giant tent struc-ture historically used by nomadic people in Qatar and the region, the stunning Al Bayt Stadium will host the opening match, where it will be inaugurated with a spe-cial opening ceremony. The venue, which will be the largest stadium used during the FIFA Arab Cup, will also stage the fi nal on 18 December.

RAS ABU ABOUD STADIUMCapacity: 40,000Inauguration date: November 30, 2021Constructed using shipping containers and modular blocks, Ras Abu Aboud Sta-dium will set a new standard in terms of sustainability for mega-event hosts. The venue will stage six matches during the FIFA Arab Cup, including the fi rst game of the tournament and the third-place play-off . It is the fi rst fully-demountable stadi-um in FIFA World Cup history. After 2022,

its parts will be repurposed into sporting facilities in Qatar and overseas.

AL THUMAMA STADIUMCapacity: 40,000Inauguration date: October 22, 2021Inaugurated during this year’s Amir Cup fi nal, Al Thumama Stadium will host matches up to the semi-fi nals stage during the FIFA Arab Cup. Its design is inspired by the ‘gahfi ya’ – a traditional head-piece worn by men across the region. The 40,000-capacity stadium is the fi rst FIFA World Cup venue to be designed by a Qa-tari architect – Ibrahim M Jaidah.

AHMAD BIN ALI STADIUMCapacity: 40,000Inauguration date: December 18, 2020Home to Al Rayyan SC, Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium is located adjacent to the Mall of Qatar. It was inaugurated last year, when it hosted the 2020 Amir Cup fi nal. The 40,000-capacity venue will host group stage matches during the FIFA Arab Cup.

EDUCATION CITY STADIUMCapacity: 40,000Inauguration date: June 15, 2020Surrounded by the region’s top universi-ties, Education City Stadium will benefi t the needs of students and faculty as part of its legacy plan. The venue will host match-es up to the quarter-fi nals stage during the FIFA Arab Cup. Earlier this year, the stadium hosted the FIFA Club World Cup fi nal between Bayern Munich and Tigres UANL.

AL JANOUB STADIUM Capacity: 40,000Inauguration date: May 16, 2019Designed by the late Zaha Hadid, Al Janoub Stadium’s facade was inspired by traditional dhow boats, which were tra-ditionally used for pearl diving, a former cornerstone of the Qatari economy.

Located in Al Wakra, this architectural gem will host matches up to the

quarter-fi nals stage during the FIFA Arab Cup.

The tournament is seen as a golden opportunity to test preparations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Newcastle appoint Howe as new manager

Ooredoo signs up as regional supporter of 2022 FIFA World Cup and Arab Cup 2021

PREMIER LEAGUE

SPOTLIGHT

Qatar Airways signs sponsorship deal with Volleyball Federation of Russia

FOCUS

Qatar Airways has ex-panded its diverse sporting sponsorship portfolio with the ad-

dition of the Volleyball Federa-tion of Russia (VFR) in a two-year sponsorship deal as offi cial airline partner. The agreement will see the VFR become the fi rst Russian sports federation to en-ter a partnership with the Qatari airline, ensuring Qatar Airways logo is displayed on all regional and international tournament uniforms, as well as across all courtside spaces.

As part of the new partnership, events sponsored by Qatar Air-ways include the women’s and men’s editions of the Russian Volleyball Championships which started in October 2021, and the women’s and men’s fi nals of the Russian Volleyball Cup com-mencing in December 2021.

The VFR has a number of in-door and beach volleyball tour-naments lined up for both the Men and Women’s categories in 2021/22. All matches in 2021 will be played in Anapa; one of Rus-sia’s most popular resorts, and home to a world-class sports and health complex – Volley Grade.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive HE Akbar al-Baker

said: “We look forward to in-vesting in the progress of this increasingly popular sport and amplify our visibility in the Rus-sian market to cement our ever-growing Qatar-Russia ties. The Volleyball Federation of Russia actively hosts a number of inter-national and regional volleyball events, which Qatar Airways is excited to play a part in. We are confi dent that this partnership will be a welcome addition to our extensive partnership portfolio and support our vision of bring-ing people together through the power of sports.”

Volleyball Federation Russia President Stranislav Shevchenko, said: “VFR will be the fi rst Rus-sian sports federation to sign a sponsorship agreement with Qa-tar Airways, and we thank our partner for their trust. We will do our best to make our relationship as eff ective as possible.” The part-nership with VFR coincides with the airline moving its services to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Inter-national Airport (SVO), and the introduction of the famous Qsuite on the route. The daily service will be operated by the airline’s mod-ern Boeing 777-300 featuring 42 seats in Business Class and 312 seats in Economy Class.

Accessibility tickets for FIFA Arab Cup 2021 on sale

Disabled fans and fans with lim-ited mobility wishing to witness the best Arab football nations duelling for the title of the first FIFA Arab Cup champions, can book accessibility tickets via FIFA’s ticketing portal.

Accessibility tickets are a dedicated allocation of tickets for which disabled people and people with limited mobility can apply, and are off ered in the following types:

Wheelchair User: for users of wheelchairs and mobility scooters designed for trans-porting disabled people and people with limited mobil-ity. Such users must bring their own manual or electric wheelchairs, as they will not be provided at the stadium.

Easy Access Standard: for people with limited mobility who do not need a wheelchair-user place but require seating with minimal step access that is close to accessible amenities (e.g. accessible toilets).

Easy Access Amenity: for people with limited mobility who do not use wheelchairs but are unable to bend their knees or need more room to access their seats using a walking aid or crutches. Amenity seats also provide extra space for disabled people with assistance dogs. Whenever possible, these seats have minimal step access.

Easy Access Extra-Width: for people with a BMI that is equal to or exceeds 40kg/m2.

With the sole exception of Easy Access Extra-Width tickets,

successful applicants for ac-cessibility tickets will receive one complimentary companion ticket. The companion will be seated as close as possi-ble to the accessibility ticket customer. However, FIFA said it cannot ensure that the com-panion’s seat will be adjacent to that of the accessibility ticket customer.

As part of the ticket ap-plication process, customers who apply for accessibility tickets are required to submit proof-of-eligibility documents that are commonly and widely accepted in their country of res-idence. Such proof of eligibility must also be presented upon ticket collection (if applicable) and, upon request, at the en-trance to the stadium.

Permits for accessible park-ing will not be accepted as valid proof.

During this last-minute sales phase, which will run until the end of the tournament, Acces-sibility Tickets will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and confirmed immedi-ately after payment.

Currently, tickets for all 32 matches are still up for grabs, including the stadium curtain-raisers at Al Bayt (hosts Qatar v. Bahrain) and Ras Abu Aboud (UAE v. Syria) on November 30.

Tickets can also be pur-chased over the counter at the FIFA Venue Ticketing Centre located at the Doha Exhibition Centre (near Al Qassar metro station).

Al Bayt Stadium (left) and Ras Abu Aboud Stadium will be inaugurated on November 30 – the opening day of the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar.

Action during the Ooredoo Cup Group B match between Al Gharafa and Al Sailiya at the Al Wakrah Stadium yesterday. Al Gharafa won the match 3-1 after goals from Cheick Diabate (42nd minute) and Sofiane Hanni (70th minute). Al Gharafa were also helped by an own goal by Ghanem Al Qahtani in the 61st minute. Mohamed Mudathir gave Al Sailiya the lead with a strike in the 27th minute. In other Group B match at Al Khor Stadium yesterday, Al Arabi beat Qatar SC 4-1. Rami Suhail (17th minute), Abdulaziz al-Ansari (57th-minute penalty and 90+4) and Ibrahim Nasser (74th minute) scored the goals for Al Arabi, who moved on to six points with their first victory. Khaled Waleed scored in the 72nd minute for Qatar SC.

Gharafa, Arabi win in Ooredoo Cup