Buttler’s fi ne fi ft y leavesIndia with tough chase

Raikkonen smashes record; Ferrari lock front row

CRICKET CRICKET | Page 3 FORMULA 1 FORMULA 1 | Page 5

Sunday, September 2, 2018Dhul-Hijja 22, 1439 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

BOXING

India’s Panghal stuns Olympic champion for goldPage 2

Qatar’s Abdulla storms into T2 lead at Baja Poland

Korea win football gold as Son avoids military term

MOTORSPORT ASIAN GAMES

Qatari is attempting to narrow a 23-point gap on al-Shegawi to go top of the table

AgenciesSzczecin, Poland

Qatar’s Adel Abdulla delivered an impres-sive performance on the second 220km

selective section of Columna Medica Baja Poland, round nine of the 2018 FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies, to lead the T2 category by 5min 29sec yesterday afternoon.

The Nissan Patrol Y62 driver is attempting to narrow a 23-point gap on Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed al-Shegawi at the top of the T2 championship standings and, de-spite ceding seven seconds to his rival on the opening super spe-cial stage on Friday evening, the QX Rally Team driver and French navigator Jean-Michel Polato hit back with the quickest time when it mattered.

Abdulla said: “We fi nished the fi rst of the longer stages. It was really hard and bumpy, and tough for our cars. Maybe it’s too tough for the T2. We won the stage. I was fi ghting with Ahmed. Maybe I caught him af-ter 25km from the start. I passed him and he passed me until the last 70 or 100km. Then I started to push. The navigation was also

tricky in some places. I think we did a good time. I am happy with the good start we have made.”

Crews tackled the 7.08km super special stage on Friday evening. Al-Shegawi posted the

quickest time of 7min 37.6sec to edge into a seven-second lead over Adel Abdulla.

The T2 series rivals were in a class of their own and Poland’s Piotr Sawicki was around 13 sec-

onds slower than the Qatari. To-masz Baronowski and Laurentiu Claudiu Barbu were classifi ed in fourth and fi fth.

The meat of the action began yesterday morning with the fi rst

of two runs through a selective section of 220km on the military training ground at Drawsko Po-morskie. Abdulla was in superb form and the Qatari romped to the stage win by the margin of 5min 36sec to lead the T2 category by 5min 29sec heading into a repeat of the special. Sawicki and Bar-onowski were third and fourth.

Abdulla’s challenge for T2 honours this season is being supported by the Qatar Mo-tor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF), Ooredoo Qatar and Nissan Qatar.

Action concludes today with a pair of runs through two shorter Krekowo and Lubieszyn off -road stages in the nearby Dobra municipality before the ceremo-nial fi nish in Szczecin.

2018 BAJA POLAND T2POSITIONS (TOP 4)1. Adel Abdulla (QAT)/Jean-Michel Polato (FRA) Nissan Patrol Y62 3hrs 13min 43sec2. Ahmed Al-Shegawi (SAU)/Alex-ei Kuzmich (RUS) Toyota Land Cruiser 3hrs 19min 12sec3. Piotr Sawicki (POL)/Jakub Mo-liter (POL) Toyota Land Cruiser 3hrs 22min 07sec4. Tomasz Baronowski (POL)/Grzegorz Konczak (POL) Toyota Land Cruiser 3hrs 32min 15sec

Qatar’s Adel Abdulla and co-driver Jean-Michel Polato in action during the second selective section of Baja Poland yesterday.

Qatar’s Adel Abdulla (right) and co-driver Jean-Michel Polato seem pleased with their drive over the second selective section of Baja Poland.

AFPJakarta

Tottenham Hotspur for-ward Son Heung-min is set to be spared almost two years of military

service after leading South Korea to Asian Games gold yesterday.

The defending champions beat Japan 2-1 after extra time in steamy Cibinong, West Java as Lee Seung-woo and Hwang Hee-chan scored the goals that will allow 26-year-old Son to see out his new fi ve-year deal with Spurs.

A late header from Ayase Ueda gave South Korea an almighty fright, but they saw out a nerv-ous last few moments to win a record fi fth Asian Games title.

Korean captain Son, substi-tuted in the dying seconds to buy precious time, sprinted from the bench to embrace goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo, sobbing tears of joy as they rolled on the turf to-gether.

The Koreans dominated the fi nal but wasted several decent opportunities before substi-tute Lee broke the deadlock by smashing a left-foot shot into the roof of the net three minutes into extra time.

Son delivered a free kick for Hwang to ram home a tower-ing header eight minutes later, before Ueda’s goal triggered late drama.

South Korea could have been three goals up by halftime, with Lee Jin-hyun blazing just over from distance and Son bundled over in the box for what replays

suggested was a clear penalty.Hwang Ui-jo went close as

the Japan-based striker went in search of his 10th goal of the tournament before Japan captain Koji Miyoshi forced a sharp save from Jo.

Roared on by thousands of fl ag-waving “Red Devils” fans, the Koreans continued to press as Hwang rippled the side-net-ting just after the hour mark but both sides wilted in the sapping conditions as the game went on.

Failure to win gold could have been disastrous for Son’s career as the multi-millionaire footballer faced swapping his tracksuit for a camoufl age kit and 21 months of national service, compulsory for South Korean men.

Spurs only released their for-ward to compete as one of three permitted over-age players at the far-fl ung, regional under-23 tournament because he pleaded with the London club.

Nearly every able-bodied South Korean male is required to perform their military service before the age of 28, although the government rewards Asian Games gold medals and Olympic medals of any colour with an ex-emption.

Son was selected to play at the 2014 Asian Games but his former club Bayer Leverkusen refused to release him — and the Koreans scooped gold.

His tears after South Korea’s quarter-fi nal defeat by Honduras at the 2016 Rio Olympics melted hearts, and thousands off ered to do double their own military service in an online petition if Son could be pardoned.

South Korea’s players toss their teammate Son Heung-min in the air after the victory ceremony for the men’s football competition at the 2018 Asian Games in Bogor, Indonesia, yesterday. (AFP)

ASIAN GAMES

Gulf Times Sunday, September 2, 20182

India’s Panghal stuns Olympic champion

Indonesia to bid for 2032 Olympics aft er Asiad success

Iran retain title with 3-0 victory over Korea

SPOTLIGHT

BOTTOMLINE

VOLLEYBALL

22-year-old boxer takes gold with victory over Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusantov

AgenciesJakarta, Indonesia

Iran successfully retained their title in the 18th Asian Games volleyball competi-tion with a big straight sets

3-0 (25-17 25-22 25-21) victory over Korea while Chinese Taipei managed to wrest bronze from Qatar in the playoff in Jakarta yesterday.

Iran had four players who joined the team in the Incheon Games including Milad Ebadi-pour, Amir Ghafour and Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Eraghi.

In the third-place playoff , Chinese Taipei managed to pull off a 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 17-25, 25-16) victory over the strongly-built Qataris, who had landed their maiden AVC Cup title in Taipei last month.

Mubarak Hammed led Qatar with 20 points from 16 attacks, 3 solid blocks and one ace. Team-mate Nikola Vasic produced the fastest serve — an incredible 105km/h — while both sides won 20 points each through their op-ponents’ errors.

Chen Chienchen chipped in with 16 points for Chinese Tai-

pei, while Wu Tsunghsuan and Liu Hungmin also kept good company to add 15 and 14 points respectively.

In the fi nal, Iran and Korea made a solid start to trade ag-gressive attacks from the very beginning of the fi rst set, but the Iranians proved their class in the middle of the set. As Iran were leading 23-17 for good, Morteza Sharifi scored the team’s last two points through his lightning-fast spikes for the easy 25-17 win.

In the second, Korea, which fielded nine players who com-peted in Incheon, counter-attacked excellently. How-ever, the Iranians continued their superb run with effective blocks and attacks for the hard-fought 25-22.

There was a glimmer of hope for Korea in the third set when Jung Jiseok and Jeon Kwangin produced a superb off ensive combination to make the team hot on the tough rivals’ heels. However, straight off the mark, Sharifi and Amir Ghafour were on target and the Koreans strug-gled as they were being picked apart by the high-fl ying hit-ters. Iran took the set 25-21 and match.

AFPJakarta

Amit Panghal pulled off a massive upset to out-box the 2016 Rio Ol-ympic champion and

win gold for India yesterday, but it was Uzbekistan who became new lords of the Asian Games ring.

Kazakhstan had been the dominant force four years ago in Incheon winning six titles, but they handed the baton to Uzbekistan who had boxers in all seven men’s fi nals and took home fi ve golds.

Amit, 22, kicked off fi nals day in pulsating fashion with the performance of the Games, edg-ing a 3-2 split decision to take revenge on Uzbekistan’s Has-anboy Dusantov for defeat in last year’s World Championship light fl yweight quarter-fi nal.

Amit kept his distance from the reigning Olympic and Asian champion and 2017 world sil-ver medallist, picking off the Uzbek and never allowing him to get in close where his quick hands and inside work are most dangerous.

“The strategy worked, I thank my coaches,” Amit told AFP af-ter the bout.

“The defence and counter was perfect. I will now go for an Olympic gold for my country in Tokyo. Winning a gold for India, I am happy.”

Amit, India’s only fi nalist at these Asian Games, lost a unan-imous decision to the Uzbek a year ago in Tashkent but is ma-turing fast as a boxer and gave a hugely disciplined performance.

“Yes I have taken revenge. It proves India is second to none. I felt pressure because all our boxers had lost (before the fi nal) but I did well.”

Uzbekistan underlined their supremacy in Asian boxing, after winning nine golds at last year’s continental championships.

They got off the mark with gold in the next bout when fl y-weight Jasurbek Latipov was ahead on points when Rogen Ladon of the Philippines was stopped because of a cut in the second round.

The unlucky Ladon, who had nursed his wound above the left

eye through the quarter- and semi-fi nals, was examined by the ringside doctor who deter-mined he could not continue and Latipov took it 3-1, with one card level.

The Uzbek gold march was halted, temporarily, when Mon-golia’s Erdenebat Tsendbaatar earned lightweight gold on a 3-2 split decision over Shunkor Ab-durasulov.

But Ikboljon Khodarov re-peated his 2017 Asian Champi-onship light welterweight fi nal win over Mongolia’s Chinzorig Baatarsukh on a unanimous 5-0 decision.

Uzbekistan’s Bobo Usmon Baturov (welterweight) and Is-rail Madrimov (middleweight) rounded off their fi ve-gold haul.

INDIA BAGS GOLD IN BRIDGEIndia bagged gold in the men’s bridge pair competition at the 2018 Asian Games yesterday.

The Indian pair comprising Pranab Bardhan and Shibhnath Sarkar scored 384.00 points to fi nish in the fi rst place.

China’s Gang Chen and Lixin Yang bagged silver, while Henky Lasut and Freddy Eddy Mano-ppo of Indonesia settled for the bronze medal.

India’s women’s squash team got a second successive silver medal in the Asian Games as it lost to Hong Kong 0-2 in the fi -nal here yesterday.

The Indian women’s team of Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pal-likal, Sunayna Kuruvilla and Tanvi Khanna, lost their fi rst two singles matches.

Kuruvilla lost 1-3 (8-11, 6-11, 12-10, 3-11) to Ho Tze-Lok as Hong Kong led 1-0 in the fi nal. Sunayna had defeated Tze-Lok during a Pool B clash but in the fi nal, the 19-year-old was un-able to deliver under pressure. Kuruvilla was fi elded ahead of experienced Pallikal due to the latter’s physical toll during Fri-day’s win over Malaysia in the semi-fi nals.

Then veteran Chinappa lost 0-3 (3-11, 9-11, 5-11) to Annie Au Wing Chi, who had won by a similar margin during the Pool B clash against the Indian.

Joshana said: “She (Annie) put pressure on me right from the start. I played well in patches but it was not enough).”

Goals by Akashdeep Singh and Harmanpreet Singh helped India defeated Pakistan 2-1 in the bronze medal playoff of the men’s hockey event.

Akashdeep scored in the third minute, before Harmanpreet doubled India’s lead in the 50th minute. Mohamed Atiq pulled one back for 2014 edition run-ners-up Pakistan two minutes later.

Though in the dying minutes of the match Pakistan kept the ball possession for longer spell, the 2014 edition champions In-dia did everything they could to defend the lead and win.

Medals tally (top 20)

G S B T

1. China 132 92 65 289

2. Japan 74 56 74 204

3. South Korea 49 57 70 176

4. Indonesia 31 24 43 98

5. Uzbekistan 21 24 25 70

6. Iran 20 20 22 62

7. Chinese Taipei 17 19 31 67

8. India 15 24 30 69

9. Kazakhstan 15 17 44 76

10. Korea 12 12 13 37

G S B T

11. Bahrain 12 7 7 26

12. Thailand 11 16 46 73

13. Hong Kong 8 18 19 45

14. Malaysia 7 13 16 36

15. Qatar 6 4 3 13

16. Mongolia 5 9 11 25

17. Vietnam 4 16 18 38

18. Singapore 4 4 14 22

19. Philippines 4 2 15 21

20. UAE 3 6 5 14

ReutersJakarta

Buoyed up by the success of hosting the ongoing Asian Games, Indonesia will bid for the 2032 Ol-

ympics, President Joko Widodo said yesterday.

Since August 18, the Southeast Asian country has been holding the biggest multi-sport event outside the Olympics and, apart from some long-running ticket-

ing diffi culties, the Games, which conclude today, have gone fairly smoothly.

“With the experience we have in running the Asian Games, we are sure we can host an even bigger event,” Widodo said in a statement after meeting the heads of the International Ol-ympic Committee (IOC) and the Asian Olympic Committee.

“Therefore, Indonesia plans to immediately submit itself as a candidate to host the Olympics in 2032.”

IOC president Thomas Bach said Indonesia’s Asiad success would serve as strong foundation for their Olympic bid.

“The IOC really appreci-ates Indonesia’s candidature for 2032,” the German said.

“With the great success of the Asian Games, Indonesia has demonstrated it has all the ingredients to organise Olym-pic Games in a very successful way.”

“It’s a great decision which gives the youth of this young

country a vision for the future and capitalises on the success of the Asian Games.”

Should Indonesia get the op-portunity to host the Summer Olympics, it would become the fourth Asian country to do so, after Japan, China and South Ko-rea.

Tokyo will host the next Sum-mer Olympics in 2020, with Paris holding the 2024 Games and Los Angeles confi rmed as hosts for four years later.

The head of the Asian Games

organising committee Erick Tho-hir said Widodo had had a fruit-ful meeting with the IOC presi-dent who is expected to attend today’s closing ceremony.

“Our president asked the president of IOC Thomas Bach if it was possible for Indonesia to become one of the candidates for Olympic 2032,” Thohir told re-porters in Jakarta.

“Bach accepted Indonesia as one of the host candidates. We are going to send a letter to the IOC after the Asian Games.”

Indonesia stepped in to stage the Asian Games after original host Vietnam pulled out in 2013 citing cost concerns.

Thohir admitted the Games had not been “100 percent” suc-cess but said the organisers did their best to solve the problems.

“If we are going to host the 2032 Olympics, we are going to try to be the best host.

“We’ll face a lot of hurdles. We don’t know the bidding process. After the Asian Games, we’ll sit with the Indonesian govern-

ment.”The country should host more

international events to be ready for 2032, he said.

“We will host the FIBA (bas-ketball) World Cup in 2023 with the Philippines and Japan. Many of our venues are actually world class. So we should try to host more world-level events.”

Indonesia have exceeded their own expectations in their second Asiad at home, claiming 31 gold medals so far to lie fourth in the medals table.

Amit Panghal (right) of India celebrates winning gold medal while Uzbekistan’s Hasanboy Dusantov, his opponent in the men’s Light Fly (49kg) boxing final, congratulates him during the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, yesterday. (Reuters)

Qatar shines at Asiad

Abderrahman Samba won men’s 400m hurdles gold.

Quartet of Abderrahman Samba, Mohamed Mohamed, Mohamed Abbas and Abdalelah Haroun won 4x400m relay gold. Tosin Ogunode won 100m silver.

Salmeen al-Suwaidi, Sheikh Ali bin Khalid al-Thani, Hamad al-Attiyah and Basem Mohamed won equestrian jumping team bronze.

Abubaker Abdalla took bronze in men’s 800m. Hamad al-Marri took double trap bronze.

Fares Ibrahim won weightlifting silver.

Yaser Bagharab won 3000m steeplechase silver.

Sheikh Ali bin Khalid al-Thani won jumping individual silver.

Qatar beat Bahrain to win men’s handball gold.Ahmed Janko and Cherif Samba won beach volleyball.

Ashraf Elseify won hammer throw gold. Abdalelah Haroun won 400m.

Buttler’s fi ne fi ft y leaves India with tough run chaseAFPSouthampton, United Kingdom

Jos Buttler’s well-judged 69 helped to leave India facing a record run-chase if they were to win the fourth Test

against England at Southampton and so level the series.

England were 260 for eight in their second innings, a lead of 233 runs, at stumps on Satur-day’s third day.

The most India have made to win in the fourth innings of a Test in England is 174 at The Oval in 1971. That match also saw them achieve their fi rst Test win on English soil.

Sam Curran, fresh from his Test-best 78 in the fi rst innings, was 37 not out after adding 55 for the seventh wicket with Buttler. Adil Rashid (11) was caught behind off a Moham-med Shami leg-cutter off what became the last ball of the day.

The paceman led India’s at-tack with three wickets for 53 runs from 13.5 overs.

Last week saw Buttler dis-play a well-judged mixture of aggression and defence during his maiden Test century, albeit one made with India well on the way to a 203-run victory that left them 2-1 down in this fi ve-match series. Those same qual-ities were on display in South-ampton, where Buttler made 85 on his Test debut, also against India, four years ago.

They were needed after Eng-land slumped to 92 for four -the 33rd time in 64 Test innings they had been four wickets down for 100 or fewer runs.

Shami took two wickets in two balls separated by the lunch break before running out Eng-land captain Joe Root for 48 with a direct hit.

England resumed Saturday on six without loss. They were then 21 runs behind, after Cheteshwar Pujara’s excellent 132 not out, his maiden Test century in England, had guided India to a fi rst-in-nings total of 27. Alastair Cook, England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer, and fellow left-handed opener Keaton Jennings both needed runs.

But Cook fell for 12 when, drawn into a loose drive off fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah, he got an edge that second slip KL Ra-hul clung onto at the third at-tempt. England were now 24 for one and that was soon trans-formed into 33 for two.

Moeen Ali, promoted to

number three instead of Root, became the latest victim of Is-hant Sharma’s excellent bowl-ing to left-handed batsmen from around the wicket when an edged drive saw him superbly caught low down by Rahul for nine.

- Bairstow gamble backfi res - It had looked as if Jennings,

under pressure for his Eng-land place after a fi rst-innings nought, would bat through the morning until Shami, from round the wicket, had him lbw for 36 with what became the last ball before lunch.

England had decided to play Jonny Bairstow as a specialist batsman even though he was nursing a broken fi nger suff ered in the fi eld at Trent Bridge last week that meant he could not keep wicket. Buttler, as he’d

done at Nottingham, took over the gloves. It was a move that did not pay off , with Bairstow suf-fering a second nought in three innings when he extravagantly

tried to drive a Shami inswinger off the fi rst ball he faced imme-diately after lunch. Root hads struck six fours when, called for a risky single by all-rounder Ben

Stoke, he failed to beat Shami’s direct hit from mid-on.

Stokes, as he’d done at Not-tingham, showed plenty of grit with the bat in making 30 off 110 balls. His innings ended when he edged a well-fl ighted deliv-ery from off -spinner Ravichan-dran Ashwin to Ajinkya Rahane at slip. Buttler achieved a more even tempo, going to fi fty by cover-driving an Ashwin full-toss for his fi fth four in 96 balls.

India took the new ball at a sun-drenched Ageas Bowl with England 223 for six off 82 overs.

It had the eff ect they wanted when Buttler, aiming across the line, was lbw to Sharma.

But 20-year-old left-hander Curran struck Bumrah for two fours in as many balls, including an elegant cover-drive.

FOURTH TEST

Buttler helped England seize the initiative against India on another pulsating day

CRICKET3Gulf Times

Sunday, September 2, 2018

AFPNew Delhi

India’s selectors yesterday rested prolifi c skipper Virat Kohli for the upcoming Asia Cup one-day cricket tourna-

ment in the UAE where arch-ri-vals Pakistan are also competing.

Batsman Rohit Sharma will lead the 16-member squad in Kohli’s absence during the re-gional six-team competition to be held from September 15-28.

“Considering the workload, we have given him (Kohli)

rest,” chairman of selectors M S K Prasad told reporters in Mumbai.

“He has been playing contin-uously for quite some time. He’s on the road since the IPL (Indian Premier League)... we need to preserve some of the precious players, who are playing in all three formats.”

Kohli, 29, is currently lead-ing the Indian side in a fi ve-Test series in England where he has scored 486 runs so far including two centuries.

The England series ends on

September 11, four days before the start of the Asia Cup.

And in less than a week after the Asia Cup fi nal, India are set to play against the West Indies in a home Test series.

Before the England series, Kohli was forced to miss out on a stint with Surrey due to a neck injury and in the Lord’s Test he suff ered a lower-back strain.

The selectors also picked 20-year-old uncapped left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed who has impressed in the shorter formats

of the game.Middle-order batsmen Am-

bati Rayudu, Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav were brought back after missing India’s ODI series against England.

Pacemen Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were

also included with the duo having recovered from their

injuries.Among those who missed out

were batsman Suresh Raina and bowler Umesh Yadav.

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Af-

ghanistan are the other teams in the fray in the 50-over contest. The sixth team will be decided through a qualifi er being held in Malaysia.

SQUAD: Rohit Sharma (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, K L Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, M S Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Cha-hal, Axar Patel, Shardul Thakur, Khaleel Ahmed, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah.

India rest Kohli for Asia Cup, Rohit to leadANNOUNCEMENT

Windies reveal dates for ‘biggest’ England tour in a decadeAFPSt. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda

Cricket West Indies an-nounced the dates for what they said was the “biggest” England tour

in a decade.The all-format two-month

visit by England, which begins in January, will see them face the West Indies in three Tests, fi ve one-day internationals and two Twenty20 internationals.

A CWI statement said it would be “the biggest international home series between the two teams since 2009”.

All the fi xtures will take place in the eastern Caribbean, with Barbados, Antigua and St. Lucia staging the Test matches.

Meanwhile Barbados, Gre-nada and St Kitts will share the ODIs with the Twenty20s split between St Lucia and St Kitts.

The last Test series between the two sides in the West Indies ended in a 1-1 draw in 2014/15, with England retaining the Wis-den Trophy on home soil thanks to a 2-1 success last year.

That was despite an impres-sive West Indies fi ve-wicket win in the second Test at Headingley where Shai Hope (147 and 118 not out) became the fi rst batsman to score hundreds in both innings of a fi rst-class match at York-shire’s headquarters.

The one-dayers will act as warm-ups for next year’s World Cup in England, with the West

Indies looking to underline their status as World Twenty20 champions in the shortest for-mat fi xtures.

“England coming to the region is always a special occasion for cricket fans and we are pulling out all the stops for a successful series on and off the fi eld,” said Johnny Grave, the English chief executive of CWI.

“West Indies fans create a unique spectator atmosphere and not only do England fans add to this, they bring in a signifi cant tourism boost to the region as thousands will travel here to en-joy the cricket and experience the unique Caribbean culture and hospitality,” he added.

FIXTURESJan 23-27: 1ST TEST, Kensington Oval, BarbadosJan 31-Feb 04: 2ND TEST, Sir Viv-ian Richards Stadium, Antigua Feb 09-13: 3RD TEST, Darren Sammy Stadium, St LuciaFeb 20: 1st ODI, Kensington Oval, BarbadosFeb 22: 2ND ODI, Kensington Oval, BarbadosFeb 25: 3RD ODI, National Cricket Stadium, GrenadaFeb 27: 4TH ODI, National Cricket Stadium, Grenada Mar 02: 5TH ODI, Darren Sammy Stadium, St LuciaMar 05: 1ST T20, Darren Sammy Stadium, St Lucia Mar 08: 2ND T20, Warner Park, St KittsMar 10: 3RD T20, Warner Park, St Kitts.

FOCUS

Rohit Sharma (left) will lead India in the Asia Cup as regular skipper Virat Kohli (right) has been rested.

England’s Jos Buttler in action during the third day of the fourth Test against India at Ageas Bowl yesterday. (Reuters)

Bangladesh’s Sabbir faces six-month ban

Bangladesh cricket authorities yesterday proposed banning batsman Sabbir Rahman from international cricket for six months for multiple discipli-nary breaches, an off icial said.The announcement comes as the batsman, who was recently axed from the Bangladesh squad for the Asia Cup this month, completed a six-month ban from domestic cricket in June for assaulting a fan during a match. “We have recommend-ed (a) six-month suspension for Sabbir from international cricket,” Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) director Ismail Haider told reporters after a disciplinary hearing in Dhaka.“We will now send the recom-mendation to our president. Subject to his approval, the ban will be eff ective from tomorrow (September 2),” he said. Haider said the authorities proposed a ban because of Sabbir’s “overall behaviour” after the board received several allegations against him.The recently concluded domes-tic ban against the 26-year-old player saw him stripped of his national contract and fined two million taka (around $24,000) for the off ence in December last year.But he was back in the news soon after, for hitting teammate Mehedi Hasan during a Twen-

ty20 series against Afghanistan in June and abusing a fan on Facebook in July. In 2016, the batsman was fined 30 percent of his contract money of the Bangladesh Premier League Twenty20 tournament for tak-ing a female guest into his hotel room. Yesterat, the BCB also called batsman Mosaddek Hos-sain for talks after his wife filed a lawsuit against him alleging that he harassed her for dowry. BCB director Haider said they warned Mosaddek over his off -field behaviour but did not recommend any punishment for him because the matter was pending court investigation. “He was told to be cautious about his behaviour in future. His case is a family matter. We have to wait until the court gives a decision,” he said.Mosaddek is the third Bangla-desh cricketer to be slapped with a lawsuit by their wives or girlfriends in recent years.Paceman Rubel Hossain was detained in 2015 after being charged in a rape case filed by an actress claiming to be his lover. Left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny spent several months in jail last year after a woman accused him of opening a fake Facebook account in her name and posting “intimate photos” which she found “off ensive and defamatory.”

ENGLAND 1st Innings 246 INDIA 1st Innings 273

ENGLAND 2nd Innings(overnight: 6-0)

A. Cook c Rahul b Bumrah 12

K. Jennings lbw b Shami 36

M. Ali c Rahul b Sharma 9

J. Root run out (Shami) 48

J. Bairstow b Shami 0

B. Stokes c Rahane b Ashwin 30

J. Buttler lbw b Sharma 69

S. Curran not out 37

A. Rashid c Pant b Shami 11

Extras (b7, lb1) 8

Total (8 wkts, 91.5 overs) 260

Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Cook), 2-33 (Ali), 3-92 (Jennings), 4-92 (Bairstow), 5-122 (Root), 6-178 (Stokes), 7-233 (Buttler), 8-260 (Rashid)

Bowling: Ashwin 35-7-78-1; Bumrah 19-3-51-1; Sharma 15-4-36-2; Shami 13.5-0-53-3; Pandya 9-0-34-0.

Scorecard

Sri Lanka recalls Malinga for Asia Cup

Sri Lanka’s cricket selectors yesterday recalled fast bowler Lasith Malinga after an year in limbo and included him in a 16-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup tournament.The injury-prone 35-year-old had been largely ignored since his last ODI appearance in Sep-tember last year against India in Colombo when he took just one wicket for 35 runs. Sri Lanka lost the match by

six wickets. However, off icial sources said he had impressed selectors during an ongoing domestic Twenty20 series and has now been included in the one-day squad for the Asia Cup tournament opening in the United Arab Emirates in two weeks.Malinga has taken 301 ODI wick-ets giving away 8,705 runs since his ODI debut in July 2004. In the shortest form of the

game, he has taken 90 wickets conceding 1,780 runs.

SQUAD: Angelo Mathews (Cap-tain), Kusal Perera, Kusal Mendis, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chan-dimal, Danushka Gunathilaka, Thisara Perera, Dasun Shanaka, Dhanajaya de Silva, Akila Dan-anjaya, Dilruwan Perera, Amila Aponso, Kasun Rajitha, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera and Lasith Malinga.

Keys locks up last 16 spot with victory over Krunic

AgenciesNew York

Madison Keys, vying to return to the US Open fi nal, was back in the last 16 after a

4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Ale-ksandra Krunic yesterday.

Keys, the 14th seed, sounded a little relieved after surviving an error-strewn performance to improve to 4-0 in US Open third-round matches.

“I was defi nitely a little nerv-ous and she came out playing really well and put a lot of pres-sure on me from the start,” said Keys, whose pre-match aim of getting comfortable on Arthur Ashe Stadium “clearly didn’t happen.”

“I’m happy to be in the next round,” said the 23-year-old American who will face either Wimbledon champion Angel-ique Kerber or Slovakian Do-minika Cibulkova for a place in the quarter-fi nals.

Australian John Millman reached the US Open last 16 for the fi rst time with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Kaza-khstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin.

In early results, 19-year-old Czech Marketa Vondrouso-va won a roller-coaster bat-tle against 13th-seeded Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 7-6 (4), 2-6, 7-6 (1) to continue her best ever Grand Slam showing.

Late on Friday, world number one Rafael Nadal battled his way into the fourth round, defeating Karen Khachanov in a four-set thriller lasting nearly four and a half hours.

The top seed and crowd fa-vourite sent Khachanov pack-ing with a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) win, his fi fth in as many matches against the 22-year-old Russian.

The Spaniard had diffi culty from the start defending against the 1.98-metre-tall Russian’s powerful game, including 22 aces. Nadal, 32, lost the fi rst set 7-5 and came under serious

threat of losing the second, but evened the score at 5-5 after play was suspended for 12 min-utes to close the roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium because of light rain. He went on to win the set 7-5 but denied that the break benefi ted him, saying it didn’t

impact the match at all.“I escaped a very tough situa-

tion,” he said.Nadal goes on to play Nikoloz

Basilashvili of Georgia in the round of 16 today.

The evening match between third-seeded Juan Martin del

Potro of Argentina and Fern-ando Verdasco of Spain ended with a win in del Potro’s col-umn.

The 2009 US Open cham-pion won 7-5, 7-6 (6), 6-3 and faces 21-year-old Borna Coric of Croatia in the fourth round.

“It was a really nice fi ght for both,” del Potro said. “We played three really good sets.”

In other men’s matches, 2017 US Open fi nalist Kevin Ander-son of South Africa, the fi fth seed, beat Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, and Dominic Thiem, seeded ninth, held off American Taylor Fritz to ad-vance to the round of 16 for the third straight year 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-4.

A much-anticipated block-buster between Venus Williams and Serena Williams ended with Serena coming out on top 6-1, 6-2. It was the 30th career match between the two in their reluctant rivalry, which began in 1998.

US OPEN

‘I was definitely a little nervous and she came out playing really well and put a lot of pressure on me’

ReutersRaleigh, North Carolina

A late string of birdies helped Jus-tin Rose to the lead and he held off fast closing Russell Knox and Abraham Ancer for a one-stroke

advantage after the opening round of the Dell Technologies Championship on Friday.

Englishman Rose, a certain pick for the European Ryder Cup team, birdied three of his fi nal four holes for a six-under-par 65 in breezy conditions at TPC Bos-ton as the FedEx Cup playoff s moved to the second round. That temporarily gave him a two-stroke lead before Scot Knox and Mexican Ancer closed with match-ing 66s.

Americans Chris Kirk, Beau Hossler, Keegan Bradley and Gary Woodland were a stroke back while Tiger Woods endured an up-and-down round of 72 to sit seven shots off the lead.

The Englishman missed the cut at last week’s Northern Trust but his steady play soon had him on top on Friday. He backed up a pair of birdies on the front nine with four more in his fi nal nine for a bogey free round. “I guess just keeping the card clean made the birdies really count for something,” Rose said.

“I looked at the pins last night, and

I thought there was an opportunity to make some birdies.”

But he said Friday’s wind made things a bit more diffi cult.

“I felt clearly it was trickier than I thought last night. It was windier today, a cool breeze, just enough to swirl around and make it tricky.”

Knox also missed last week’s cut but surged from even par after his second bo-gey of the day at the 12th to collect three birdies and an eagle at the par-four 15th in six holes coming home.

Ancer, playing the back nine fi rst, sank four birdies in his last six holes to stay bo-gey free.

Woods had trouble from the start.The 14-times major champion picked

up a bogey at his fi rst hole, the 10th, and racked up two more for a three-bogey start before fi nally getting a birdie on the board at his eighth hole.

He wound up with four bogeys and three birdies but was not blaming his putting for the shots he dropped.

“I putted beautifully today, I really did,” Woods, who brought out a new putter, told Golf Channel. But other parts of his game let him down.

“When I did miss it, I missed it in bad spots and didn’t have very good angles,” Woods said.

“Couldn’t quite get the momentum going. The front side, my back nine,

thought if I felt momentum going, I could have fi nished under par today.”

World number one Dustin Johnson was in a group who shot 68s while FedEx Cup points leader Bryson DeChambeau shot a one-under 70, one better than Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy. Billy Horschel, the 2014 FedEx Cup champion, withdrew with sinus problems.

LEADING SCORES 65 - Justin Rose (ENG)66 - Russell Knox (SCO), Abraham Ancer (MEX)67 - Chris Kirk, Beau Hossler, Keegan Bradley, Gary Woodland68 - Adam Hadwin (CAN), Xander Schauf-fele, Marc Leishman (AUS), Dustin John-son, Webb Simpson, James Hahn, Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP), Brian Harman69 - Pan Cheng-tsung (TPE), An Byeong-hun (KOR), Jordan Spieth, Kevin Chap-pell, Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Charles Howell III, Henrik Stenson (SWE), Alex Noren (SWE), Kevin Kisner, Cameron Smith (AUS), Austin Cook, Tony Finau, Brooks Koepka, Paul Casey (ENG), Tommy Fleet-wood (ENG), Peter Uihlein, J.B. Holmes

SELECTED:71 - Rory McIlroy (NIR), Hideki Mat-suyama (JPN)72 - Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson.

Rose leads Knox, Ancer by one with Woods seven backGOLF

Hall takes three-shot lead in OregonAFPLos Angeles

England’s Georgia Hall surged into a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the LPGA Tour’s

Cambia Portland Classic Friday, fi ring a nine-under-par 63 on another day of low scoring in Oregon.

The 22-year-old newly minted British Open champion played fl awlessly in a bogey-free round which included nine birdies and nine pars at the Columbia Edge-water Country Club.

Hall, who had shot a six-un-der-par 66 on Thursday, made her move on the back nine, un-furling a string of fi ve consecu-tive birdies from the 12th hole to vault up the leaderboard.

At one stage Hall was 10 shots clear of her playing partners, and she later admitted she had been determined to keep building her advantage as a series of long putts kept dropping in for birdie.

“I just thought, I just want to keep going. I want to get as far ahead of the others as I can,” Hall said.

“I love this golf course. It’s very nice to play. It’s in great condition, so I look forward to the weekend and seeing what I can do.”

Hall’s scintillating round left her on 15 under heading into the weekend, three shots clear of her nearest rival, Australia’s Minjee Lee, who carded a four-under-par 68 to stay in touch.

Lee’s round might have been better had it not been a pair of bogeys on the back and front nine which checked her progress.

Four off the pace on 11 un-der are Megan Khang and fi rst round leader Marina Alex. Alex had lit up the opening day with a majestic 10-under-par 62 but found the going harder on Friday with a one-under-par 71.

“It was just not as exciting as yesterday,” Alex said.

“I just really didn’t make any-thing. They weren’t bad strokes or putts, they just didn’t go in.”

Canada’s Brooke Henderson, fresh from her victory in the Ca-nadian Open last weekend, also found the going harder following her opening 64.

Henderson went round in 71 to stay at nine under, six shots off the lead. Henderson dropped shots early on with back-to-back bogeys in the early part of her round before clawing her way back under par with four birdies and only one more bogey.

“Kind of got off to a shaky start, two bogeys right back-to-back and I just kind of fought the rest of the day to kind of get it under par,” she said. “So I’m happy with one under.”

SCORES AFTER SECOND ROUND29 - Georgia Hall (ENG) 66-63132 - Minjee Lee (AUS) 64-68133 - Megan Khang 68-65, Ma-rina Alex 62-71135 - Su Oh (AUS) 66-69, Brooke Henderson (CAN) 64-71136 - Brittany Marchand (CAN) 69-67, Beatriz Recari (ESP) 68-68, Ayako Uehara (JPN) 68-68, Angela Stanford 67-69137 - Charley Hull (ENG) 68-69, Robynn Ree 65-72, Anna Nor-dqvist (SWE) 67-70138 - Christina Kim 69-69, Lee Mi-hyang (KOR) 67-71, Brittany Lincicome 67-71.

FOCUS

SPORT

Gulf Times Sunday, September 2, 20184

Justin Rose of England plays his shot from the 15th tee during the first round of the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts. (Getty Images/AFP)

Westwood leads in Denmark, Olesen closing in on Ryder Cup spotRyder Cup vice-captain Lee Westwood moved to the top of the Made in Denmark leader-board after overnight leader Christiaan Bezuidenhout strug-gled badly in yesterday’s third round.Westwood carded a five-under 67 to lead by one shot on 16 under from fellow Englishman Steven Brown who roared into contention with a sizzling 63. Home favourite Thorbjorn Olesen remained in prime position to secure the last automatic qualification for the Ryder Cup with a solid 67 which left him in a share of 30th spot, nine shots behind Westwood. Matthew Fitzpatrick is the only player with a realistic chance of overhauling Olesen on the World Points list – one of the criteria for Ryder Cup selection. Fitzpatrick, who needs to win the title and see Olesen finish outside the top seven, was on 10 under going into Sunday’s final round after a third-round 6. Eddie Pepperell, the only

other player who began the tournament on the Silkeborg Ry course with a chance of catching Olesen, dropped out of contention after a damag-ing 74. Westwood made five consecutive birdies from the 10th but he undid some of his good work with a double-bogey six on the 18th. South African Bezuidenhout’s problems began with a double-bogey six on the third hole and he never really recovered. Olesen, looking to seal a debut in the Ryder Cup, bogeyed the second but hit back with six birdies. He is favourite to join British Open champion Fran-cisco Molinari of Italy, English trio Justin Rose, Tyrrell Hatton and Tommy Fleetwood, Spain’s Jon Rahm, Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and Swede Alex Noren in the European team to take on the United States at Le Golf National in Paris from Sep-tember 28-30. Captain Thomas Bjorn will complete his 12-man team with four wildcard picks.

Madison Keys of the United States celebrates victory over Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia in the third round of the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York yesterday. (Getty Images/AFP)

Serena Williams of the USA in action against Venus Williams of the USA during their third round match of the 2018 U.S. Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

Raikkonen smashes record as Ferrari lock out front row in Italy

ReutersMonza

Kimi Raikkonen put Ferrari on pole posi-tion for their home Italian Grand Prix

with Formula One’s fastest lap ever yesterday.

Unhappy teammate Sebas-tian Vettel completed the front-row sweep for today’s race, with championship leader and 2018 winner Lewis Hamilton a close third for Mercedes.

Vettel is 17 points adrift of Hamilton in the standings with eight rounds remaining and can expect Raikkonen to give him every assistance when race day comes. Raikkonen’s stun-ning lap of one minute 19.119 seconds, at an average speed of 263.587kph, smashed the track record of 1:19.525 set by Colom-bian Juan Pablo Montoya for Williams at Monza in 2004.

“I couldn’t think of a better place to be on pole,” said Raik-konen, who appeared to benefi t from an aerodynamic tow after running behind his teammate on track. Vettel ended up 0.161 slower. It was the Finn’s fi rst pole position since Monaco last year, the 18th of his career and Ferrari’s fi rst at Monza since 2010, when they last won at the track outside Milan.

The 38-year-old, who has not won since he was at Lotus in 2013, also became the oldest pole-sitter since Britain’s Nigel Mansell in 1994.

Ferrari’s last front-row lock-out at Monza was in 2000, when Michael Schumacher and Bra-zilian Rubens Barrichello were fi rst and second on the grid.

Vettel thought he had the pole and exclaimed ‘Yes!’ as he crossed the line only to be told he was second fastest to the team-mate following behind. “We speak later,” he said. “Clearly

I wasn’t happy but I don’t tell you why,” explained the German when asked by reporters later what he planned to discuss.

“To be honest it was not a tidy lap and I think the other laps were actually better ones,” said Vettel. “I lost time pretty much everywhere.

“It was just not a good lap and not good enough. (I’m) lucky to get second and not third.”

Hamilton, who was booed by some of the Ferrari fans with their banners and fl ags domi-nating the main grandstand, had been fastest after the ses-sion’s fi rst fl ying laps – also with a record time – and congratu-lated Raikkonen. “We knew they had the pace this weekend and it was going to take something special to catch them. It’s gener-ally been that gap all weekend. It was amazing how intense it was and that’s how racing should be,” said the Briton.

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri

Bottas joined him on the second row, with Red Bull’s Max Ver-stappen fi fth and Romain Gros-jean sixth for Haas. Canadian Lance Stroll, whose billionaire father now owns the Force India team, gave struggling Williams their best qualifying of the sea-son with 10th place.

“We didn’t expect that, we ex-pected a much more challenging situation but the car felt good, we managed to get a good tow throughout qualifying and that helped us,” said the teenager.

“It was one of those days when it all clicked.”

McLaren’s Belgian Stoff el Van-doorne, whose team mate Fern-ando Alonso clashed on track with Haas driver Kevin Magnus-sen in the second phase of quali-fying, could not say the same af-ter setting the slowest time.

He will avoid starting at the back of the fi eld, however, with Red Bull’s Australian Dan-iel Ricciardo, Renault’s Nico

Hulkenberg and Sauber’s Mar-cus Ericsson all having grid penalties.

Ericsson escaped unscathed from a huge crash on Friday.

Danish driver Kevin Magnus-sen accused McLaren’s Fern-ando Alonso of behaving ‘like a god’ during the qualifying and said he could not wait for the Spaniard to leave Formula One.

Double world champion Alonso had tried to pass Mag-nussen’s Haas round the out-side of the fi rst chicane during the second phase of qualifying at Monza and then made light of the incident over team radio.

“Magnussen wanted to race into Turn One,” he told his en-gineer.

The Dane, who failed to progress to the fi nal top 10 shootout, was not amused.

“I’m not going to let him pass me, and sacrifi ce my own lap. No way. I know he thinks he’s a god, but no way,” he told reporters.

F1

Raikkonen on pole at Monza, Vettel second as Hamilton qualifies third

SPORT5Gulf Times

Sunday, September 2, 2018

AFPBrussels

Diamond League trophy winners Chris Cole-man and Noah Lyles have confi rmed their

places at the forefront of a new generation of sprinters, the US duo dominating the 100 and 200m on track and fi eld’s elite circuit this season.

The retirement of Jamaican legend Usain Bolt last year left a massive gap for athletics to fi ll, with organisers and spectators alike worried over who would fi ll his rather large pair of golden spikes.

While the eight-time Olym-pic champion played a foot-balling cameo in a friendly for Australia’s Central Coast Mari-ners, Coleman went some way to etching his name among the sprinting greats at the season-ending meet in Brussels.

The 22-year-old upstaged fancied American teammate Ronnie Baker in the 100m, clocking an impressive winning time of 19.79 seconds.

It was the fastest 100m run since Bolt won the 2015 world title in Beijing and only the Ja-

maican, his former teammates Yohan Blake, Asafa Powell and Nesta Carter, and the US duo of Tyson Gay and Justin Gatlin have gone quicker.

Illustrious company indeed for a confi dent Coleman, who has battled back from a ham-string injury sustained after he set a world record when winning the world indoor 60m title in Birmingham in March.

“The sky’s the limit, I’m just excited about that,” said Cole-man. “I think I can go much low-er. This race feels better than any other accomplishment. It feels crazy, honestly.

“Growing up, you dream of moments like this, you dream of running the best time in the world and having people talk about you saying he’s the fastest man alive.”

Just 24 hours previously, Lyles had wrapped up the 200m Dia-mond trophy.

Lyles was one of the headline acts in Zurich and the 21-year-old made no mistake as he won in 19.67sec, just two-hundredths off his personal best set in Mo-naco last month.

It was Lyles’ fi fth win on the Diamond League circuit this season.

“I came here for the win and I did it, I’m very happy,” said Lyles, who has also clocked a personal best of 9.88sec over

100m this season.The wannabe rap star, how-

ever, does not believe that he and Coleman will enjoy a domi-

nance similar to Bolt’s time on the track.

“I don’t think that it’s going to be one of those sports where

it actually is going to be domi-nated by one person,” he argued in Monaco.

“I think we’ll actually have a

lot of very fast runners, I don’t think there’ll be one dominant runner, but I do want to be the forefront runner of those domi-nant people!”

Along with the likes of Cole-man and Rai Benjamin, Lyles said he was part of what he dubbed a “very strong moment that’s happening right now”.

“We’re watching a lot of peo-ple shifting over, younger guys taking over from the older veter-ans,” said the Florida native, who set a 300m indoor world record of 31.87sec at last year’s US in-door champs.

“It’s something exciting to be part of it because I’ve been watching this happen for a few years, and I felt like there was a gap when that didn’t happen and now it is really happening.

“I’m really happy to be one of the forefront runners of that generation that’s pushing to be the best.”

Coleman echoed those sen-timents, saying: “I’m looking forward to competing against these guys for the next couple of years.

“You’ve just got to stay up there, continue to keep on that ‘A’ game, and keep getting better to make sure I stay on top!”

Coleman, Lyles the new kids on sprinting blocksATHLETICS

Valverde sprints to stage eight win on Tour of SpainAFPAlmadén, Spain

Spanish veteran Alejandro Valverde kept his com-posure on a tricky fi nish to claim an unexpected

victory on the eighth stage of the Tour of Spain yesterday.

Frenchman Rudy Mollard, of the Groupama team, held on to the race leader’s red jersey after fi nishing safely among the pelo-ton.

Mollard will start today’s hilly ninth stage, a 200-kilometre ride from Talavera de la Reina to the ski station of La Covatilla with a 37sec lead on Valverde and a 51sec lead on fourth-placed Briton Simon Yates.

Organisers had added spice to the fi nale of the 195.5km race from Linares, the peloton forced to practically turn back on itself after negotiating a roundabout inside the fi nal kilometre.

But Valderde held his nerve to stay in sprint contention and proved strongest in a tight, uphill fi nish to pip three-time world champion Peter Sagan to the honours.

Sagan, of the Bora team, fi n-ished third with Dutchman Dan-ny von Poppel (LottoNL-Jumbo) in third place.

The Slovakian had secured a record-equalling sixth green jersey for the points competition

and won three stages at the Tour de France in July, but appears to be paying for those eff orts.

After a third-place fi nish on Monday, Sagan edged closer to a stage win on Friday where he fi n-ished second behind Frenchman Tony Gallopin.

On a fi nish that should have been to Sagan’s liking yesterday, the Slovakian was left count-ing his losses again as Valverde came from out behind his wheel to claim his second stage win of this edition.

“I was told how diffi cult the fi nish was and that I could even lose time there,” said Valverde, who claimed it had not been his plan to win the stage.

“As a result, I’d planned not to try and go for the stage win but just not to lose time.

“But then I followed Sagan’s wheel and in the end overtook him. I know I’m on form, but I even surprised myself.”

Although 38 years old, Val-verde said: “My age doesn’t re-fl ect my physical form or my mentality.”

And on today’s stage in the high mountains, he will be hop-ing to show his younger rivals he can remain in overall victory contention. “It’s a real mountain stage tomorrow (Sunday),” said Valverde.

“We should really see who has what it takes to make the podium of this Tour of Spain.”

CYCLING

Thomas ready for Tour of Britain challenge

Team Sky’s Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas launches his Tour of Britain campaign today after finally coming back down to earth following the wild celebrations of his triumph in July.Thomas is the first Welshman to win the Tour de France and he was welcomed back to Cardiff by more than 8,000 jubilant fans in July.The 32-year-old will be cheered on once more by local support-ers when the Tour of Britain’s first of eight stages begins in Pembrey Country Park, Car-marthenshire this weekend.“After the support I had, it’ll be nice to race on home roads. The homecoming was insane, I didn’t know what to expect, I was fearing it just being my wife and the dog,” Thomas told the BBC. “But it was just phe-nomenal – if the support at the

Tour of Britain is anything like that, it’s going to be a pretty special eight days of racing.”Thomas expects to spend much of his time on the road in a support role following a hectic August.“There has been a lot of travel-ling and a few nights out as well so my form is certainly not what it was in France but I still should have decent enough legs to be in the race and hopefully at the front doing something,” he said.Beyond Thomas, Team Sky’s line-up includes six-time Grand Tour winner Chris Froome, Ian Stannard, Dutchman Wout Poels, Lukasz Wisniowski of Poland and Belarusian rider Vasil Kiryienka.The tour ends in Newport, the site of Wales’ National Velodrome, which is set to be renamed in Thomas’ honour.

Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde celebrates after winning the eighth stage of the 73rd edition of La Vuelta yesterday. (AFP)

Ferrari’s Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen (centre) celebrates winning the pole position next to second-placed Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel (left) and third-placed Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton after the qualifying session at the Autodromo Nazionale circuit in Monza yesterday. (AFP)

US athlete Christian Coleman celebrates after winning the men’s 100m final of the Memorial Van Damme athletics event, the last meeting of the IAAF Diamond League competition in Brussels. (AFP)

Noah Lyles of the US dances as he celebrates winning in the men’s 200m race during the IAAF Diamond League athletics meeting at the Letzigrund stadium in Zurich. (AFP)

FOOTBALL6 Gulf Times

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Atletico slide to surprise loss at Celta

Nainggolan breaks Inter duck to seal fi rst win

Goretzka scores fi rst Bayern goal in stroll against Stuttgart

LA LIGA SERIE A

BUNDESLIGA

ReutersVigo, Spain

Atletico Madrid suff ered their fi rst major setback of the season as they lost 2-0 at Celta Vigo

after defender Stefan Savic was sent off midway through a miser-able second-half performance by Diego Simeone’s side yesterday.

Celta’s Uruguayan striker Maxi Gomez put the Galicians ahead straight after the break when he pounced on a slip by compatriot Diego Godin and Iago Aspas doubled the lead in the 52nd minute with a header the day after being dropped from the Spain squad by new coach Luis Enrique. Things got worse for Atletico after 70 minutes when their Montenegro defender Savic was dismissed for a second booking and a minute later they thought they had conceded again when Gustavo Cabral scored but

the goal was ruled out for off side after consultation with the video assistant referee (VAR).

Atletico have four points from their opening three games and could slip fi ve behind Real Ma-drid, who were hosting Leganes late last night, and Barcelona, at home to Huesca today, if their rivals win their respective week-end fi xtures.

SPANISH LA LIGA RESULTS

Celta Vigo 2 (M. Gomez 46, Lago

Aspas 52) Atletico Madrid 0; Rayo

Vallecano v Athletic Bilbao — post-

poned

Played Friday: Getafe 0 Real

Valladolid 0 Eibar 2 (M. Cardona

26, Charles 90+1) Real Sociedad

1 (Willian Jose 15-pen) Villarreal 0

Girona 1 (C. Stuani 54)

Playing Sunday: Levante v

Valencia (0900 GMT), Alaves v Es-

panyol (1415), Barcelona v Huesca

(1630), Real Betis v Sevilla (1845)

AFPMilan

Radja Nainggolan scored on his debut as Inter Milan claimed their fi rst three points of the Serie A season with a 3-0 win

in Bologna yesterday. Nainggolan missed the fi rst two games of the campaign with injury following his summer move from Roma. But the 30-year-old Belgian midfi elder made amends on his league debut, opening his and Inter’s account at the Stadio Dall’Ara after 66 minutes. Italy midfi elder Antonio Candreva and Croatia’s World Cup runner-up Ivan Per-isic added two quickfi re goals in the fi nal ten minutes to seal all three points.

The win gives Luciano Spalletti’s side four points from three games, equal on points with Roma who lost 2-1 at AC Mi-lan on Friday. Filippo Inzaghi’s Bologna are stuck on one point, without a single goal scored in three games.

Inter captain and striker Mauro Icar-di tried, unsuccessfully, to shake off a muscle strain by warming up before be-ing compelled to watch from the stands, along with Lautaro Martinez. It left Keita Balde as Inter’s sole striker, but with Nainggolan, Matteo Politano and Perisic in support.

Perisic nodded into the side-netting early with Roberto Gagliardini also fi r-ing over for the visitors before Bolo-gna threatened, Filip Helander’s header cleared off the line by Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic.

Nainggolan missed a chance to open the scoring just before the break with a powerful half-volley from the edge of the box fl ying over. But the Belgian made no mistake after the break, controlling Poli-tano’s cross to fi re past his former Roma teammate Lukasz Skorupski. Candreva replaced Keita on 79 minutes and three minutes later turned in a low cross from Perisic, the Croatian sealing victory two minutes later. Champions Juventus were playing at Parma late last night with Cris-tiano Ronaldo looking to open his scoring account in Serie A while runners-up Na-

poli play Sampdoria in Genoa today. On Friday, Substitute Patrick Cutrone

scored a last-gasp winner to give AC Mi-lan their fi rst win of the season at their San Siro stadium with a 2-1 victory over Roma. Franck Kessie had gotten AC Milan off the mark after 40 minutes with Cu-trone sealing victory fi ve minutes into in-jury time to hand Roma their fi rst defeat in over three years at the San Siro.

Defender Federico Fazio had pulled Roma level 1-1 on the hour mark. Roma’s World Cup winner Steven Nzonzi and AC Milan’s Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain both had goals disallowed. Both sides had been looking to put stuttering starts to the season behind them with Gennaro Gattuso’s Milan losing 3-2 at Napoli last week despite leading by two goals. Milan’s opening game against Genoa at the San Siro had been post-

poned because of the bridge disaster in the western port city. “There were huge regrets over the defeat to Napoli,” said Gattuso. “But it’s only the second match of the season. I can’t talk about a turning point after two games. I know how our lads work and that we still need to be-come a team in some areas.”

Roma counterpart Eusebio Di Franc-esco made several changes from the side that drew 3-3 with Atalanta in Rome last Monday, but he conceded his tactics did not work. “We lacked sharpness,” said Di Francesco. “We’re conceding too many goals, make too many bad choices on the fi eld and it’s something we have to work on in training.”

The match was also watched by the club’s former Brazilian star Kaka along with new directors Leonardo and Paolo Maldini, also former club legends. “It’s

only right that there is enthusiasm for those who wrote the history of Milan, but we mustn’t think that the current squad should shoulder all that,” said Gattuso.

“We must fi nd our motivation by our-selves, on the training fi eld every day. We can play good football this year, work with greater calm than last season and do good things.”

ITALIAN SERIE A RESULTS

Bologna 0 Inter Milan 3 (Nainggolan 66,

Candreva 82, Perisic 85)

Played Friday: AC Milan 2 (Kessie 40,

Cutrone 90+5) Roma 1 (Fazio 59)

Playing today: Fiorentina v Udinese (1600

GMT); Atalanta v Cagliari, Chievo v Empoli,

Lazio v Frosinone, Sampdoria v Napoli,

Sassuolo v Genoa, Torino v SPAL (all 1830)

AFPBerlin

Leon Goretzka scored his fi rst goal for Bayern Munich as the Bundesliga champions cruised to a 3-0 win over southern ri-

vals VfB Stuttgart to go top of the table yesterday. The Germany international had several chances in a hard-fought fi rst half, eventually curling the ball into the bottom corner on 37 minutes.

Bayern took control after the break, and Goretzka was involved again as Robert Lewandowski doubled Bay-ern’s lead just after the hour mark. The Polish striker arrowed in a superb shot from the edge of the area to maintain his perfect scoring record in all com-petitions this season. Fifteen minutes from time, Lewandowski linked up beautifully with Thomas Mueller, who lashed in Bayern’s third.

Earlier in the day, Adam Szalai scored twice as Hoff enheim came from behind to win 3-1 against Freiburg, while Bayer Leverkusen collapsed to a second defeat in their second game of the Bundesliga season.

Julian Nagelsmann had criticised VAR after defeat to Bayern last week, and the Hoff enheim coach looked on furiously as the video assistant cor-rectly denied his team an early goal against Freiburg. Nagelsmann’s mood darkened further when Dominique Heintz prodded Freiburg in front on 36 minutes, but Szalai saved Hoff enheim with a brilliant second-half brace.

Szalai capitalised on a defensive mix-up to draw Hoff enheim level just after the break, before turning a Nico Schulz cross into the net on 63 minutes. Andrej Kramaric sealed vic-tory on the counter-attack in stop-page time. An abject defensive per-formance saw Leverkusen go down 3-1 at home to Wolfsburg, after Leon Bailey had given them the lead with a brilliant fi rst-half strike. Leverkusen keeper Ramazan Ozcan allowed Yan-nick Gerhardt’s equaliser to beat him at the near post on 36 minutes, and

Bayer’s defensive nightmare contin-ued after half-time. An unmarked Wout Weghorst headed Wolfsburg ahead on 55 minutes, before Renato Steff en broke through the back line to seal Leverkusen’s disastrous start to the season. “We travel to Bayern Mu-nich next week, so we have to cross our fi ngers and grit our teeth,” Ozcan said. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Milot Rashica’s brilliant free-kick saw Werder Bremen steal a dramatic late win against ten-man Eintracht

Frankfurt. Japanese international for-ward Yuya Osako’s opener for Bremen was given by VAR on 22 minutes, and Frankfurt looked dead and bur-ied when Jetro Willems was sent off before half-time. Sebastien Haller’s penalty drew the home side level after the break, but Rashica broke Frankfurt hearts with a vicious, curling free-kick deep into stoppage time.

Elsewhere, there were 1-1 draws be-tween Borussia Moenchengladbach and Augsburg and Nuremberg and

Mainz. Michael Gregoritsch put Augs-burg ahead with a fi ne half-volley on 12 minutes, before Alassane Plea came off the bench to head Gladbach level in the second half.

New signing Jean-Philippe Ma-teta headed Mainz in front midway through the fi rst half, before Mikael Ishak drew the home side level with a net-bursting shot just after the break.

BUNDESLIGA RESULTS

VfB Stuttgart 0 Bayern Munich 3

(Goretzka 37, Lewandowski 62, Muel-

ler 76); Hoff enheim 3 (Szalai 50, 63,

Kramaric 90+4) Freiburg 1 (Heintz

36); Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Bailey 24)

Wolfsburg 3 (Gerhardt 36, Weghorst 55,

Steff en 59); Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Haller

54-pen) Werder Bremen 2 (Osako 22,

Rashica 90+6); Augsburg 1 (Gregoritsch

12) Borussia Moenchengladbach 1 (Plea

68); Nuremberg 1 (Ishak 48) Mainz 1

(Mateta 25)

Played Friday: Hanover 96 0 Borussia Dortmund 0

Brazilian Ronaldo close to buying Spanish club

World Cup winner Ronaldo has reached a deal to buy 51% of La Liga club Val-ladolid a regional daily reported, citing “sources close to the operation.” El Norte de Castilla, which is based in Valladolid said Ronaldo was paying 30mn euros ($34.8mn) and would com-plete the deal next week.“The Brazilian star reached an agree-ment with Carlos Suarez, owner of more than 60 per cent of the shares of the company, on Thursday evening,” the newspaper wrote. Ronaldo’s press sec-retary, David Espinar, said that he was not prepared to comment on the story.

Dembele to join Lyon aft er Celtic accept bid

Celtic’s Moussa Dembele is set to join French side Lyon after the Scottish champions accepted an off er for the un-settled striker. Hoops manager Brendan Rodgers had insisted the former France Under-21 international would not be sold during the transfer window.But Dembele arrived for training on Friday after spending much of the morning on social media outlining his frustration at Celtic denying his wish to join Lyon. The 22-year-old walked off the field after about 15 minutes following a discussion with Rodgers. Aware that they were in danger of being stuck with an unhappy player, Celtic decided to accept Lyon’s reported £18mn off er.

Szalai nets twice as Hoff enheim come from behind to win 3-1 against Freiburg

Lyon’s Depay devastated aft er burglary

Lyon’s Dutch forward Memphis Depay had his house burgled during Friday’s Ligue 1 home loss to Nice with the thieves reportedly getting away with a massive 1.5mn euros haul ($1.75mn). Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas said the player was distraught, but thought the police had good leads to go on.“He’s beside himself, he had a great deal of valuables in his home,” said Aulas al-though Lyon police said it was too early to say exactly what the 23-year-old had lost during the break in. There has been a string of burglaries that have hit the French football com-munity including Arsenal manager Unai Emery when he was at PSG last season.

Cahill joins Indian Super League side Jamshedpur

Australia’s record goal scorer Tim Cahill has joined Indian Super League (ISL) side Jamshedpur FC, the 38-year-old striker announced. Cahill struggled for playing time at club level last year and left A-League side Melbourne City in December to return to Millwall — where he first came to prominence 20 years ago — before being released by the Championship club. Jamshedpur did not specify specific details of the contract that the former Everton player had signed. Cahill, who scored 50 goals for Australia in a career spanning 14 years, retired from international duty after playing in his fourth World Cup in Russia earlier this year.

Stuttgart’s Christian Gentner (top left) and Bayern Munich’s Leon Goretzka go for a header during the Bundesliga match in Stuttgart, southern Germany. (AFP)

Inter Milan’s Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan celebrates after scoring against Bologna in the Serie A yesterday. (AFP)

Atletico Madrid’s Angel Correa (left) goes down after a challenge from Celta Vigo’s Facundo Roncaglia. (Reuters)

FOOTBALL7Gulf Times

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Liverpool, Chelsea cruise, Man City maintain chase

PREMIER LEAGUE

AFPLondon

Liverpool and Chelsea maintained their perfect Premier League starts after four games yesterday as champions Manchester City

edged past Newcastle to remain two points behind the early leaders.

A huge error from £65mn ($84mn) goalkeeper Alisson Becker threatened to halt Liverpool’s early season charge, but Jurgen Klopp’s men held out for a 2-1 win at the King Power in another dem-onstration of their new-found defen-sive solidity to go with the fi repower of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mo-hamed Salah. Chelsea had to wait un-til 19 minutes from time to break down Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge before the in-form Pedro Rodriguez opened the scoring and Eden Hazard sealed the points in a 2-0 win.

City bounced back from a rare slip-up at Wolves last weekend thanks to goals from England internationals Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker in a 2-1 suc-cess to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Sheikh Mansour’s takeover that has transformed the club.

At the other end of the table it was an-other afternoon to forget for West Ham, who remain the only Premier League side without a point, as Adama Traore snatched a 1-0 win for Wolves in stop-page time at the London Stadium.

On a rare off day for Salah, who was substituted 20 minutes from time, Mane and Firmino stepped into the breach to give Liverpool a 2-0 half-time lead at Leicester. But that was a more comfort-able cushion than they deserved as for the third straight game the Reds failed to produce their free-fl owing best.

Alisson more than played his part in registering clean sheets against West Ham, Crystal Palace and Brighton, but the Brazilian number one was caught trying to dribble past Kelechi Iheana-cho and the Nigerian squared for Rachid Ghezzal to set up a grandstand fi nish. “It’s only positive that he is that good a footballer. But we all have to learn to use it in the right way still,” said Klopp of Alisson’s propensity to take risks. “That was a mistake — no goalkeeper in the world should dribble in that situation.”

While Liverpool were expected to challenge City for the title having spent more than any other team in the league over the summer, Maurizio Sarri’s per-fect start at Chelsea has surprised even the Italian himself. Sarri’s imprint was again clear to see as the blues dominated possession, but were made to work to infl ict Bournemouth’s fi rst defeat of the campaign. “They were very organised

and they defended very well but usu-ally in this match you have to be patient because you can win in the last 20 min-utes,” said Sarri.

City also had to be patient as a combi-nation of poor fi nishing and Martin Du-bravka in the Newcastle goal prevented a rout at the Etihad after Sterling fi red the hosts into an eighth-minute lead. Newcastle enjoyed barely 20% posses-sion, but made it count to level on the half hour mark when DeAndre Yedelin turned home Salomon Rondon’s cross.

For all the intricate play and chances

created by Pep Guardiola’s men, it re-quired some force to get the job done eventually as Walker hammered home a strike from 25 yards for the match win-ner seven minutes into the second-half.

West Ham would love any type of goal at the moment as a near £100mn in-vestment in the transfer market is still to yield any return. “I don’t think it is a bad start, it is a very bad start,” admitted manager Manuel Pellegrini, whose side also lost on the road to Liverpool and Arsenal, and at home to Bournemouth.

“We can’t lose six points here at home

like we have. Playing away against Liv-erpool and Arsenal and you don’t play so well is understandable. Here at home to lose we must be very worried.”

Everton’s fi ne start to life under Marco Silva was tempered by a 1-1 draw at home to Huddersfi eld. The points were also shared in a 2-2 draw between Brighton and Fulham, while Southamp-ton claimed their fi rst victory of the sea-son 2-0 at Crystal Palace.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS

Leicester 1 (Ghezzal 63) Liverpool 2

(Mane 10, Firmino 45); Brighton 2 (Mur-

ray 67, 84-pen) Fulham 2 (Schurrle 43,

Mitrovic 62); Chelsea 2 (Pedro 72, Hazard

85) Bournemouth 0; Crystal Palace 0

Southampton 2 (Ings 47, Hojbjerg 90);

Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 36) Hudders-

field 1 (Billing 34); Manchester City 2

(Sterling 8, Walker 52) Newcastle 1 (Yed-

lin 30); West Ham 0 Wolves 1 (Traore 90)

Playing today: Burnley v Manchester

United (1500 GMT), Cardiff v Arsenal

(1230 GMT), Watford v Tottenham (1500

GMT)

West Ham remain the only Premier League side without a point after defeat to Wolves

Ozil dilemma poses early test for Emery Klopp urges Alisson to learn from mistakes

SPOTLIGHT FOCUS

AFPCardiff , United Kingdom

Unai Emery is just a handful of games into his reign at Arsenal, but already he is facing

up to the problem that Arsene Wenger never satisfactorily re-solved. Mesut Ozil’s arrival at the Emirates Stadium from Real Ma-drid fi ve years ago was meant to usher in a new era for Arsenal, yet Wenger spent more time than he would have liked rebutting criti-cism of the Germany midfi elder’s contribution.

And just three weeks into the new season, Wenger’s replace-ment as Gunners manager has already discovered that getting the best out of Ozil could prove to be no easy task. If Emery can do successfully do that, his task of securing a top-four fi nish and a Champions League place will become an awful lot easier.

Fail, and like Wenger before him, he will not be able to avoid continuing scrutiny of the play-er’s performances. Wenger al-ways defended the player, high-lighting Ozil’s more understated qualities such as the timing and delivery of passes to teammates.

The playmaker agreed a new, three-and-a-half year con-tract in January worth around £350,000 per week. But Ozil’s Arsenal career remains unful-fi lled and Wenger’s approach to getting the best out of a player who has rarely dominated games for his club in the way he has of-ten done for his country has un-derstandably been questioned.

Emery appears to have taken a diff erent stance and has already

been forced to deny any rift with Ozil after the German missed the home victory over West Ham be-cause of an illness. It was claimed Ozil had stormed out of a training session when Emery urged him to try harder to adapt to his high-tempo pressing game.

But, with the player’s cold now over, Emery confi rmed Ozil is back in contention to line-up at Cardiff today. “He’s train-ing normally with the group, in every session this week,” Emery said. “We started on Tuesday and every day he has been training with the group. He’s OK. Also I’m looking at him well every day.”

What is clear, however, was

that Emery had wanted more from Ozil during the recent 3-2 defeat at Chelsea. Having used Ozil in a wider position in the defeat to Manchester City, Em-ery moved the German inside into a more central role at Stam-ford Bridge before replacing him with Aaron Ramsey in the 68th minute. Explaining the move af-ter the game, Emery said: “I took him off to stop Chelsea progress-ing easily with the ball.”

Clearly, Emery wanted a more formidable presence in that part of the fi eld and while physicality has never been a major part of Ozil’s game, the Spaniard would not be the fi rst person to be-

lieve the 29-year-old could off er more.

It certainly seems as though Emery is taking a fi rmer approach than Wenger, whose light-touch approach to a number of squad issues drew criticism during his fi nal seasons at Arsenel Emery, though, will know his handling of Ozil is key.

He must get the club’s best player on board as he attempts to make his mark at his new club. Many manager’s would like build a team around a fi t and in form Ozil. The coming months will provide a telling test of the Span-iard’s ability to draw the best from the German.

AFPLeicester, United Kingdom

Jurgen Klopp said he was glad Alisson com-mitted a howler as Liverpool were making their best start to a league season since 1990-91 because that should help the goal-

keeper avoid a more costly repeat. The Brazilian gifted Leicester a lifeline yesterday when he tried a Cruyff turn on the byline after Virgil Van Dijk’s back pass, only to give the ball to Kelechi Iheana-cho, who crossed for Rachid Ghezzal to score.

First-half goals from Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino had put the Premier League leaders on course and they ultimately secured a hard-fought 2-1 win at the King Power Stadium yesterday.

“It needed to happen so that it will not happen again, if that makes sense? I think that day was today,” Liverpool manager Klopp said. “No goal-keeper in the world should dribble in that situa-tion. If Alisson would have cleared it with his fi rst touch, everything would have been fi ne, but for some reason, he didn’t. But I said to him that this was the best game to do it in because we still won. We have ticked that box now. As a team we’re still in that period where we have to adapt to each oth-er. Last week he did what he did and when every-body spoke about it, it was clear one day we would concede a goal because of that.”

Klopp refuses to accept that Alisson’s desire to take risks on the ball means the close-season sign-ing from Roma has a style of goalkeeping that will cause problems. “No. It’s only a positive that he’s that good a footballer but we have to learn to use him in the right way,” he said. “That means pass the ball, yes, but at the right moment, but imme-diately make an off er to him, open some passing options, whatever.”

Liverpool’s fourth straight league win saw them maintain their perfect start to the season. The way they started the game, they bore the look of champions, not just leaders. Kasper Schmeichel, making his 300th appearance for Leicester after

signing a new contract in midweek, saved his side within the fi rst three minutes.

Mane benefi ted from a ricochet off Harry Maguire from Andrew Robertson’s cross to give the Reds a 10th-minute lead, driving home left-footed. But if that was a moment of fortune, then there was no mistaking some of Liverpool’s play, which was a delight as they carved Leices-ter open at will early on. Liverpool doubled their lead two minutes before half-time. Salah forced Schmeichel to push his shot around the post, and from their second successive corner, Firmino met James Milner’s fl ag-kick with a fi rm header from 10 yards. Leicester’s persistence was rewarded in the 63rd minute when they deservedly pulled a goal back thanks to Alisson’s mistake. It was the fi rst goal Liverpool had conceded in 418 minutes of Premier League football going back to May 6 and the fi rst Alisson had allowed in club football since last season’s Champions League semi-fi nal when he was playing for Roma, against Liverpool.

Naismith gives ill Hearts

boss Levein perfect tonic

Glasgow: Steven Naismith’s first-half hat-trick maintained Hearts’ perfect start to the Scottish Premiership season in a 4-1 thrashing of St Mirren yesterday and provided some comfort to unwell boss Craig Levein. The former Scotland manager was rushed to hospital on Monday and was unable to take his place in the Tynecastle dugout as he is recovering at home.

The hosts, though, ensured it wasn’t a nervous afternoon for Levein watching from afar despite Jimmy Dunne’s own goal cancelling out Naismith’s opener from the spot. Naismith set up Olly Lee to restore Hearts’ lead and then added two more in two minutes before the break.

With Celtic and Rangers facing off in the first Old Firm derby of the season at Celtic Park on Sunday, Hearts now enjoy a five-point lead at the top of the table as Edinburgh rivals Hibs and Aberdeen fell to their first defeats of the season.

Livingston’s decision to dispense with the services of Kenny Miller after just two league games as player-manager already appeared justified as they came from 1-0 down to beat Hibs 2-1 and register a second straight win under Gary Holt.

Aberdeen were forced to play with 10 men for 85 min-utes after Michael Devlin saw red early on against Kilmar-nock. And the visitors took full advantage at Pittodrie through Eamonn Brophy’s free-kick and former Aber-deen forward Greg Stewart.

Miller was snapped up as a player by Dundee this week but they remain without a point as his debut ended in a 3-1 loss to Motherwell. St John-stone were also 2-1 victors at Hamilton. Celtic, who have failed to qualify for Champi-ons League group stage, will face arch rivals Rangers in the first Old Firm derby of the season today.

SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP RESULTS

Aberdeen 0 Kilmarnock 2 (Brophy 44, Stewart 69); Dun-dee 1 (Kallman 71) Motherwell 3 (Johnson 56, Bigirimana 68, Campbell 86); Hamilton 1 (Bingham 69) St Johnstone 2 (Alston 37, McMillan 45+1); Hearts 4 (Naismith 4-pen, 41, 43, Lee 30) St Mirren 1 (Dunne 19-og); Livingston 2 (Byrne 58, Pittman 70) Hibs 1 (Horgan 52)

Playing today: Celtic v Rang-ers (1100GMT)

Mesut Ozil (left) and Unai Emery.

Liverpool’s goalkeeper Alisson looks dejected after conceding a goal against Leicester City’s in the Premier League yesterday. (Reuters)

Chelsea’s Pedro (third left) celebrates with teammates after scoring against Bournemouth in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge in London yesterday. (Reuters)

Sunday, September 2, 2018

GULF TIMES FOOTBALL

Mbappe scores and sees red as PSG beat Nimes

LIGUE 1

AFPParis

Kylian Mbappe scored the decisive goal but was later sent off as Paris Saint-Germain survived a ma-jor scare, and the concession of a

VAR-awarded penalty, to win 4-2 at Nimes in Ligue 1 yesterday.

Neymar and Angel di Maria, the latter di-rect from a corner, had PSG two goals up at the Stade des Costieres, only for their new-ly-promoted opponents to haul themselves level heading into the fi nal 20 minutes.

But Mbappe struck in the 77th minute, his fourth goal in three appearances since win-ning the World Cup, to break Nimes hearts before Edinson Cavani completed the scor-ing in injury time. However, there was still time for Mbappe to be sent off right at the death following a clash with Teji Savanier, who was also dismissed, in a remarkable fi n-ish to the game. PSG have now won all four Ligue 1 games this season under new Ger-man coach Thomas Tuchel. They are three points clear of surprise package Dijon, who can join them at the summit if they beat Caen late last night. “It was a great victory. The atmosphere here in Nimes is crazy. The pitch was terrible,” Tuchel said. “We knew Nimes would put up a lot of resistance, but we responded. I liked the reaction from my team at 2-2, It was top.”

Future opponents of Liverpool in the Champions League, Paris had been busy in the transfer market before the European window closed on Friday night, completing the surprise signing of Cameroon forward Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting.

The 29-year-old joined on a free trans-fer after leaving Stoke City, and agreed a two-year deal to follow Spanish left-back Juan Bernat, signed from Bayern Munich. Neither player featured here, however, and Tuchel’s other summer recruits, Gianluigi Buff on and German defender Thilo Kehrer, started on the bench.

Nimes, the former club of Eric Cantona and Laurent Blanc, are back in the top fl ight this season after a 25-year absence and stunned near neighbours Marseille in their last home outing. However, PSG looked to be on course for a comfortable victory af-ter Thomas Meunier played a one-two with Mbappe before crossing low for Neymar to score in the 36th minute. It was a fourth of the season for the Brazilian, and was fol-lowed before the interval by Di Maria net-ting direct from a corner, curled in from the right and helped on its way by the Nimes goalkeeper Paul Bernardoni.

Nicknamed the Crocodiles, Nimes bit back after the restart as substitute Antonin Bobichon sent a fi rst-time shot high into the top corner in the 63rd minute, and they were level soon after. Thiago Silva’s clumsy, late challenge on Theo Valls was not ini-

tially spotted by referee Jerome Brisard but he gave a penalty after consulting with the Video Assistant Referee, new in Ligue 1 this season.

Savanier scored from the spot, and Nimes nearly went in front when Sofi ane Alakouch struck the top of the bar. With PSG on the ropes, Mbappe rescued them 13 minutes from time as he controlled Presnel Kim-pembe’s long ball forward and blasted home on the volley.

All that was missing was a goal from the other member of Tuchel’s all-star front line and Cavani duly delivered at the death as he converted from a Julian Draxler as-sist. Mbappe marred his and his team’s af-ternoon, though, when he violently shoved Savanier to the fl oor in anger at a foul by the Nimes player, as both teams ended the game with 10 men. The 19-year-old, who could previously do no wrong this summer, will now miss PSG’s next Ligue 1 game against Saint-Etienne in a fortnight.

FRENCH LIGUE 1 RESULTS

Nimes 2 (Bobichon 63, Savanier 71-pen) Paris

Saint-Germain 4 (Neymar 36, Di Maria 40,

Mbappe 77, Cavani 90+2)

Playing today: Saint-Etienne v Amiens (1300

GMT), Rennes v Bordeaux (1500 GMT), Mo-

naco v Marseille (1900 GMT)

Played Friday: Lyon 0 Nice 1 (Marcelo 51-og)

‘It was a great victory. The atmosphere here in Nimes is crazy’

Rayyan edge out Kharaitiyat; Arabi rout Umm SalalBy Sports ReporterDoha

Al Rayyan scored a 2-1 victory against a resur-gent Al Kharaitiyat in the QNB Stars League

at the Al Sadd Stadium yesterday. Goals for Al Rayyan came through Gonzalo Viera in the 40th minute and Rodrigo Tabata in the 49th. Al Kharaitiyat pulled it back in the 54th through Abdulhadi al-Amin. The win helped Rayyan surge to second in the table with eight points from four games, although both Duhail and Al Sadd can over-take them today.

In another match, Al Arabi thrashed Umm Salal 5-1 at the Al Sadd stadium. Both the sides were coming off victories into yes-terday’s match, and it was Arabi who kept their winning run go-ing. Mohamed Salah (14th minute and 90th) scored a brace for Arabi, while Jasser Yehia Medany (20th) Franco Arizala (66th) and Mail-son de Farias (90th) found the net once apiece. Yannick Sagbo scored a consolation goal for Umm Salal

in the 58th minute.Going by form and strength, Al

Rayyan should have had it easy against Al Kharaitiyat. But instead they were made to work hard for victory. Despite a brave show, Al Kharaitiyat are the only team yet to open their account having lost all their matches. They are taking the fi eld for the fi rst time under new coach Aziz al-Amri who replaced Nassif al-Bayawi.

Former Al Sadd striker Jugurtha Hamroun made his debut for Al Kharaitiyat, while Argentinian striker Jonathan Menendez was left out by Rayyan even though as his paper works from old club In-dependiente have been completed.

Al Kharaitiyat started the match with the intention of upsetting the odds and were nearly rewarded for their early endeavour, but Al Rayyan goalkeeper Omar Barri pulled off a couple of fi ne saves from Valentin Lazar and debutant Jugurtha Hamroun. The Lions were not fearful of the early pres-sure and started to make headway into the game. Sebastian Soria saw his shot brilliantly saved by the opposition goalkeeper and the re-

sulting corner saw Daniel Goumou miss a close-range header.

Al Rayyan were able to break the deadlock just before half-time as Tabata’s lofted free-kick from the left was found by Viera who evad-ed his marker and headed home. Minutes into the second half and Al Rayyan doubled their lead when Tabata struck an imperious free-kick from the left that dipped, swerved and curled its way into the far corner from 25 yards out.

Al Rayyan were expected to run out comfortable winners from here. However, Al Kharaitiyat got themselves back into the game pretty quickly. After winning back possession in midfi eld, they were able to attack on the counter, with Lazar running into the box on the left and pulling the ball back to Abdulhadi who calmly passed the ball into the net. Late in the match, they were nearly rewarded again for their positive approach when Abdulla al-Anzi ran in on goal, but he chipped his eff ort over the goalkeeper. They were unable to get back into the game, but will be buoyed by a very positive per-formance.

QNB STARS LEAGUE

Al Sadd, Al Duhail seek return to winning waysBy Sports ReporterDoha

Al Sadd and Al Duhail will hope to get back to win-ning ways in the QNB Stars League today.

The two big guns both dropped points in the Week 3 as Sadd were held by Al Gharafa, while Al Du-hail drew with Al Rayyan.

Al Sadd continued to top the standings ahead of Al Duhail on goal diff erence, both teams hav-ing seven points. The Wolves have a goal diff erence of +15 compared to The Red Knights’ +9. Naturally, Al Sadd and Al Du-hail will defi nitely look to be back on the winning path.

Both Al Sadd and Al Duhail won their fi rst legs in the AFC Champions League quarterfi -nals against Iranian sides, which should hold them in good stead for today’s league matches.

Duhail face the challenge from Qatar SC, who will be looking to bounce back into the tournament after losing their last two match-es that followed their opening-round victory over Al Gharafa.

Duhail coach Nabil Maaloul believes his team will have a tough task against Qatar SC. “It will be an important match for us as Qatar SC will be keen to com-pensate for their loss in the last round against Sailiya. They have in their ranks Samuel Eto’o, who is capable of making a diff erence in their remaining matches,” said Maaloul yesterday.

The Tunisian said his team has been working hard in training to improve their off ensive game. “We have been working hard. We succeed in creating oppor-tunities and there is a problem in translating them into goals, so we worked to address this problem so that we could take advantage of the opportunities that come by,” he said.

Duhail only hold a one-goal advantage going into their sec-ond-leg AFC Champions League clash against Persepolis in Te-hran, and Maaloul felt his side

need prepare well. “Our game against our next rivals will be a strong preparation for the Perse-polis encounter in the second-leg quarter-fi nal of the AFC Cham-pions League,” said Maaloul.

Meanwhile, Qatar SC coach Abdulla Mubarak said his team was ready to pose problems for Al Duhail. “Facing Al Duhail is a tough challenge for us. We worked very hard for almost two weeks and we are prepared for the game. I only wish my play-ers stay highly concentrated throughout the match,” he said.

“Each game needs a diff er-ent strategy and this one is no diff erent. We will try to strike a balance between defence and at-tack, and everyone is looking for results. We began well by defeat-ing Al Gharafa, but lost the next two games. But if you look at our stats in the matches where we lost, they were in favour of us. We attacked a lot too. I believe in the ability of my players. The at-mosphere in the team is good and the team spirit is high,” he added.

Mubarak was hoping Cameeron legend Eto’o and Syr-ian striker Osama Omari will de-liver for Qatar SC.

On the other hand, Al Sadd should have it easy against pro-moted side Al Shahania, who

did well to hold Al Khor to a 1-1 draw to be on four points. In the process, they also jumped to the eighth position in standings.

Al Sadd coach Jesualdo Fer-reira said the aim is to win and stay on top of the standings. “Our goal is to score full points because we want be on top of the league. We have more chances. We will not repeat the mistakes that we committed during our match against Al Gharafa,” Fer-reira said yesterday.

“We have advantage on paper, but Al Shahania is a strong team and will do their best to win the game. Things will get tough as the QNB Stars League progress-es, but we will work to improve further,” the Portuguese added.

Al Shahania coach Jose Murcia wasn’t worried about Al Sadd’s reputation and said his team was going all out for victory. “We have a big game against Al Sadd. We will try to fi eld a competent team. And we can win this game. Why not?,” Murcia said.

“All our players are confi dent especially after our drawn match with Al Khor. We are ready to face Al Sadd, who are a big club. We will try to grab the opportu-nities that come our way. I have full confi dence in my players,” he added.

PREVIEW

PSG make surprise move for free agent Choupo-Moting as transfer window shuts

Paris: Paris Saint-Germain made a surprise move to sign the Cameroon forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting late on Friday night just before the transfer window closed around Europe. Choupo-Moting, 29, has signed a two-year deal with the French champions as a free agent after leaving Stoke City, who were rel-egated from the English Premier League at the end of last season.

It is an intriguing move, and a world away from the blockbust-er deals of August 2017 when PSG committed the two biggest transfer fees in history to sign Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

But Choupo-Moting provides an extra option in attack for coach Thomas Tuchel and has plenty of experience at the top level in Germany, where he played for Hamburg, Mainz and Schalke 04. Choupo-Moting’s

arrival follows that of Spanish left-back Juan Bernat, signed for 15mn euros ($17.4mn) from Bay-ern Munich late in the window for PSG, who are under pressure to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.

The early closure of the

transfer window in England this year, and in Italy, meant a less chaotic final day of August than usual this year. There were still notable moves elsewhere in France, though, with Lyon spending 22mn euros on Celtic’s France under-21 international striker Moussa Dembele.

Meanwhile, Monaco signed Belgium midfielder Nacer Chadli from West Bromwich Albion on a three-year deal for a fee of 12mn euros. Monaco have sold several leading players this summer, most notably France winger Thomas Lemar, who joined Atletico Madrid for 72mn euros.

That was one of the biggest deals anywhere in Europe, al-though Cristiano Ronaldo’s 100 million-euro move from Real Ma-drid to Juventus in July eclipsed everything else.

Al Rayyan players celebrate after Gonzalo Viera (second right) scored against Al Kharaitiyat in the QNB Stars League at the Al Sadd Stadium yesterday. PICTURE: Noushad Thekkayil

Al Duhail coach Nabil Maaloul (left) and his Al Sadd counterpart Jesualdo Ferreira speak to the media yesterday.

Paris St Germain’s Kylian Mbappe (right) scores against Nimes in the Ligue 1 yesterday. (Reuters)