25SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018 SPORTI’m almost dead. The feeling in my muscles is gone and I don’t feel my ankle anymore

Nadal eyes last-8 stage

as Australian Open

continues.

Sri Lanka face Zimbabwe in

Tri-Nation Series in Mirpur,

Bangladesh.

TENNIS CRICKETWorld No.1 Simona Halep after surviving a titanic struggle against American Lauren Davis

TODAY’S ACTION

Federer, Djokovic sail as Kerber beats Sharapova AFP

MELBOURNE: Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic kept up their relentless march towards a semi-final meeting at the Australian Open yesterday as Maria Sharapova suffered a crushing defeat by Angelique Kerber.

The two greats of the game – who have won 11 Australian Opens between them – could meet in the last four if they main-tain their winning ways.

Defending champion Fed-erer was never troubled by France’s Richard Gasquet, who has failed to take a set off him since 2011, as he steamed into the last 16 with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win.

“The second set was tight, the match was close and I had to focus to the very end,” said the Swiss 19-time Grand Slam winner, who next plays

little-known Hungarian Marton Fucsovics for a place in the quarter-finals.

He added: “So far, so good.” Djokovic was equally con-

vincing in his 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 rout of Spanish 21st seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas, although there was concern when he sought a medical timeout for treatment to his lower back.

“It was straight sets but I had to earn my points,” insisted the Serb, who is on his way back after six months out with right elbow trouble.

“Obviously for me it’s taking it one match at a time but I have to be more humble with my expectations as I haven’t played in the last six months.”

He next plays South Korea’s Chung Hyeon, who shocked fourth seed Alexander Zverev.

With the temperatures a manageable 26 Celsius (79 Far-enheit) at Melbourne Park after two days of oven-like conditions, Zverev was beaten in five sets.

He has been hailed as the leader of the tennis new guard but has now failed to go beyond the fourth round in 11 Grand Slams, admitting he has “some figuring out to do”.

In a glamour evening tie, Sharapova was no match for Kerber, flopping 6-1, 6-3.

The pair are both 30, former

world number ones and were the only two Australian Open winners left in the women’s draw, but there was only one player in it.

“This court is special for me and I was trying to enjoy every point,” Kerber said of Rod Laver Arena, where she beat Serena Williams in the 2016 final.

Kerber is in scintillating form, having won the lead-up Sydney International, and will face Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei for

a place in the quarter-finals.For Sharapova, who is

looking to rediscover her best on her way back from a 15-month drugs ban, it is back to the drawing board.

“I think there are a lot of things that I need to get better at and improve on,” she admitted.

World number one Simona Halep is lucky to be still in con-tention after surviving three match points in a titanic struggle

against 76th-ranked American Lauren Davis.

She looked out for the count at one point but finally got over the line 4-6, 6-4, 15-13 in a gru-elling 3hr 44min epic that took its toll.

“I’m almost dead,” the tena-cious Romanian said after the incredible battle, in which Davis lost a toenail and Halep served for the match four times.

The former quarter-finalist will now play Naomi Osaka after the Japanese star beat Austral-ia’s Ashleigh Barty.

Sixth seed Karolina Pliskova also had a tough test, beating fellow Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6 (8/6), 7-5.

In contrast, US Open finalist Madison Keys was in fine touch as she benefits from the guidance of former great Lindsay Davenport.

Flying under the radar, the 17th seed has surrendered just 16 games on her way to the fourth round after beating Romania’s Ana Bogdan 6-3, 6-4.

She will next face French eighth seed Caroline Garcia, who was too strong for Belarussian Alaksandra Sasnovich.

Among the men through was Austrian fifth seed Dominic Thiem and veteran Tomas Ber-dych, along with American Tennys Sandgren, who had never won a Grand Slam match before this year’s Australian Open.

Christian Coleman

Coleman breaks 60m indoor world record REUTERS

LOS ANGELES : Double world silver medallist Christian Coleman was keen to keep his name in the spotlight after a breakthrough campaign and the American sprinter ensured that was the case with an astonishing dash on Friday.

The 21-year-old sprinter continued his meteoric rise to the upper echelons of global sprinting when he shattered a two-decade old 60 metres world record with a blazing time of 6.37 sec-onds at Clemson South Carolina.

“Great start to my career,” tweeted Coleman, in his first full year as a professional athlete.

The time, if ratified by global governing body IAAF, shaves 0.02 seconds off the mark countryman Maurice Greene initially established in 1998 and then matched in 2001.

“I’m in disbelief,” Cole-man’s coach Tim Hall commented.

“This was his season opener. It was totally unexpected.”

The two had chosen the small meeting at Clemson University to see where the talented sprinter stood in terms of upcoming competi-tions, including next month’s Boston Indoor Grand Prix and March’s world indoor cham-pionships in Birmingham, England.

“So we got through the prelims and felt pretty good since he backed off a little before the finish and still ran 6.47,” Hall said.

The time was the fastest in the world this year and 0.02 seconds slower than Coleman’s personal best.

“So we talked a little bit more before the final,” Hall said.

“And like I always tell him, I said: ‘Relax, no pressing and allow the run to happen.’

“That was the result.”Coleman’s tag as Ameri-

ca’s next sprint hope was established last year when he clocked a world-best 9.82 seconds in the 100m at the US collegiate championships before he edged the legen-dary Usain Bolt for silver at the World Championships.

He went on to claim a second silver medal in London as the American quartet were edged out by hosts Great Britain in the 4x100m relay.

“We have been having some great practice sessions,” Hall said.

“And he has been improving his strength devel-opment, so I guess it is all coming together.”

Men’s singles (3rd round)

Dominic Thiem (AUT x5) bt Adrian Mannarino

(FRA x26) 6-4, 6-2, 7-5

Tennys Sandgren (USA) bt Maximilian Marterer

(GER) 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, 7-6 (7/5)

Marton Fucsovics (HUN) bt Nicolas Kicker (ARG)

6-3, 6-3, 6-2

Fabio Fognini (ITA x25) bt Julien Benneteau

(FRA) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3

Chung Hyeon (KOR) bt Alexander Zverev (GER

x4) 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0

Tomas Berdych (CZE x19) bt Juan Martin Del

Potro (ARG x12) 6-3, 6-3, 6-2

Novak Djokovic (SRB x14) bt Albert Ramos (ESP

x21) 6-2, 6-3, 6-3

Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Richard Gasquet (FRA

x29) 6-2, 7-5, 6-4

Women’s singles (3rd round)

Karolina Pliskova (CZE x6) bt Lucie Safarova

(CZE x29) 7-6 (8/6), 7-5

Madison Keys (USA x17) bt Ana Bogdan (ROM)

6-3, 6-4

Simona Halep (ROM x1) bt Lauren Davis (USA)

4-6, 6-4, 15-13

Caroline Garcia (FRA x8) bt Aliaksandra Sas-

novich (BLR) 6-3, 5-7, 6-2

Naomi Osaka (JPN) bt Ashleigh Barty (AUS x18)

6-4, 6-2

Barbora Strycova (CZE x20) bt Bernarda Pera

(USA) 6-2, 6-2

Angelique Kerber (GER x21) bt Maria Sharapova

(RUS) 6-1, 6-3

Hsieh Su-wei TPE) bt Agnieszka Radwanska

(POL x26) 6-2, 7-5

AUSTRALIAN OPEN RESULTS

Novak Djokovic (left) and Roger Federer celebrate their wins yesterday.

Angelique Kerber celebrates after winning against Maria Sharapova. INSET: Sharapova reacts after the loss.

Indian duo Paes and Raja stuns former champions REUTERS

MELBOURNE: Indian doubles great Leander Paes (pictured) has had 119 playing partners in his 27-year career and it appears his latest union could be a prof-itable one after he and compa-triot Purav Raja knocked out former champions Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares yesterday.

Paes, 44, and Raja saved a match point in a near three-hour thriller before winning 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(6).

Journeyman Raja, who only took up tennis properly aged 17, was approached last year by Paes, who has won 18 Grand Slam doubles titles including the mixed event, and they joined forces for the US Open where they lost in the second round.

After working together in

the off-season, however, Paes, the oldest man left in the tour-nament, is happy with his choice.

Raja, 32, saved a match point at 6-5 in the tiebreak with a sensational reflex volley and then sealed victory over Briton Murray and Brazilian Soares with a backhand winner, to the delight of the Indians in the crowd.

“I think we earned some street cred today as a pair, we

were playing grand slam cham-pions today and they kept on showing their class,” Paes said.

“The way Purav played at the end, people have seen me do that, but he earned street cred today in the locker room.”

Asked whether it would be a long-term arrangement, Paes said: “Come back to me in six months.” Raja, whose has earned only $380,000 as a pro-fessional and is ranked 68th in doubles, said his skills may not be the usual kind seen on Tour but his silky shots were certainly effective.

“I don’t bomb the serve down at 200kph but I like to... catch players in my web,” the Millfield School-educated Mumbai resident told Reuters. “I like to put my style out there and believe in what I do.”

Zverev baffled over Grand Slam failures AFP

MELBOURNE: Another Grand Slam has come and gone for Alexander Zverev (pictured) and the young German star can’t figure out why.

The world No.4 was dumped out of the year’s opening Grand Slam by 58th-ranked South Korean Chung Hyeon in five sets yesterday after leading by two sets to one.

Chung claimed the scalp of his first top-five ranked oppo-nent with a 5-7, 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory in 3hr 22min on Rod Laver Arena.

It continued Zverev’s frus-trations at again failing to go beyond the fourth round in 11 Grand Slams.

He has been touted as the leader of the tennis new guard but he has not beaten a top-50

player in a best-of-five sets match. “I have some figuring out to do, what happens to me in deciding moments in Grand Slams,” Zverev said.

“It happened at Wimbledon. It happened in New York. It happened here.

“I don’t think I played bad. I think I played really bad the fifth set, but apart from that, you know, in the first four sets, I think this was the best he can play,” he said.

26 SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018HOME

27SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2018 SPORT

Ali urges ‘complete focus’ for semis

Sainz survives dunes to win Dakar Rally; Nasser thirdAFP

CÓRDOBA, ARGENTINA: Spanish veteran Carlos Sainz clinched overall victory in the 2018 Dakar Rally yesterday finishing the 14th and final stage around Cordoba in Argentina for his second win in the race.

The 55-year-old ended atop the overall standings ahead of a pair of Toyota drivers, two-time winner Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and South African Giniel de Vil-liers in third.

Finishing ninth on the day Sainz retained a huge 43 minutes 40 seconds advan-tage on arrival at the finishing line of the 40th edition.

The former world rally champion became the oldest

winner in the history of the event after starting as an out-sider only to lead right through the second week of his 11th participation.

It is also a third win in four races for Peugeot, who have said they will not race next year. Having only fin-ished the rally once since his first win in 2010 Sainz put in a steady performance on the sand dunes explaining “the strategy was to take it easy there” before powering into a clear lead on the high speed stages.

Meanwhile, Austria’s Matthias Walkner wrapped up his maiden Dakar Rally bikes title on Saturday by fin-ishing safely in eighth place on the final day in Cordoba, as home favourite Kevin

Benavides won stage 14.KTM rider Walkner took

a 20-minute lead into the last day in Argentina, and had lit-tle trouble in negotiating the 286-kilometre ride to go one better than when he finished second to team-mate Sam Sunderland 12 months ago.

Argentinian Benavides had to settle for second over-all, 16 minutes and 53 seconds adrift.

Australian Toby Price, the 2016 winner, completed the final podium after following his penultimate-stage victory with a second-placed finish to Benavides.

Austrian team KTM have now won 17 consecutive Dakars, but Walkner is the first Austrian to win the race.

THE PENINSULA

CHANGZHOU: Qatar’s star striker Almoez Ali has urged his team mates to give their best in their AFC U-23 Asian Cup semi-finals on Tuesday, saying the players must have ‘complete focus’ on the last-four clash.

On Friday, Ali struck twice (32 and 34) while team-mate Hashim Ali (53) became the youngest player to score a goal in the U-23 tournament as Qatar beat Palestine 3-2 to seal their semi-finals berth.

Palestine tried to come back into the match through Oday Dabbagh (60) and Mohamed Darwish (87) but Qatar survived the nervy last few minutes.

“It is a satisfying result for us,” Ali said yesterday.

“Although we won but we need to stay focused through-out the 90 minutes of a match,” he urged. “Thank God for the victory. Palestine played well but overall we stood out because of our spirit. We managed to win adopting a step-by-step policy,” he said.

“Clearly we were the more determined side out of the two teams in the quarter-finals,” the star Qatari forward said.

“We are delighted to have won our quarter-final. The win is a very important step in our journey in this tournament. The 3-2 win gives us a great boost as we prepare for the semi-finals stage. Like I said, we will be going step-by-step,” he added.

“Now we will start focusing on the semi-final because it will be very different from the pre-vious matches.I hope we continue in the same way so that we don’t give up until the last minute,” the striker said.

Goalkeeper Mohammed Al

Bakari said his team ‘deserved to win’ the tense clash on Friday.

“We bow our head in thanks to the Almighty. We deserved to win considering the hard work put in. That’s what helped us get the desired result,” Al Bakari said yesterday.

“The determination from our side against a never-say-die Palestinian team was there for everybody to see, We played spirited football in both the halves. Thank God we managed

to hold them well in the later part of the match,” he added.

“There were many oppor-tunities for us to score. We could not exploit those chances but we did impose our style of play for most of the match. I hope we perform even better in the semi-finals as we seek to reach the final,” he added.

In the second semi-final, Uzbekistan will meet South Korea while Qatar take on Viet-nam. The 16-team tournament ends on January 27.

High intensity in Qatar camp delights Al HajriTHE PENINSULA

CHANGZHOU: High intensity levels from his players have delighted Qatar defender Salem Al Hajri ahead of Al Anabi’s semi-final clash at the AFC U-23 Asian Cup.

On Friday, Ali struck twice (32 and 34) while team mate Hashim Ali (53) scored the third goal as Qatar beat Pales-tine 3-2 to seal their semi-finals berth.

“My team-mates were so keen to do well in the match. Their heart in was giving their best. We faced a strong team in Palestine but the Qatar play-ers made sure we emerged victors,” Al Hajri said after a training session yesterday.

“Qatar have performed well in this tournament. The complete support of the tech-nical staff was evident in the way we played in all of our matches. There was high intensity from our side in the entire match against Palestine also,” the 21-year-old added.

“I hope we continue in the same way. Entire Qatar would be watching us on Tuesday,” he said.

Fellow defender Sultan Al Brake, also 21, said yesterday: “Our first target has been met. It feels great to have qualified for their semi-finals. The effort from our players was there for everybody to see.”

He added: “Al Anabi has

won against one of the stronger teams in the champi-onship. We played a friendly against them in Doha and they had done extremely well against us then. It is important that we go all the way.”

Captain Ahmed Moein said yesterday: “The team has done well as a unit. Thank God for our win yesterday (Friday). It was a great effort. I must say I am a little disap-pointed to see our performance in the last few minutes of the match. We must stay focused.”

Defender Tarek Salman, 20,

said after yesterday: “The game was not easy at all especially as we faced a strong opponent who were at the top of their game. However, we managed to over-come the challenges we faced and we achieved our first goal from this tournament.”

He added: “Al Anabi is moving step by step towards the title. The past four matches are history. Now we are look-ing at the next stage of the tournament. It will be another difficult game for all the play-ers. We are ready.”

The 16-team tournament ends on January 27.

Arsenal rout Palace; Man United winAFP

LONDON: Arsenal showed their was plenty of life after Alexis Sanchez as they beat Crystal Palace 4-1 in the Premier League yesterday without the Manches-ter United-bound Chilean forward.

With Sanchez moving slowly but surely towards a £35m transfer to Premier League rivals Manchester United, Gun-ners manager Arsene Wenger left him out of his matchday squad.

Any fears Arsenal would struggle up front without Sanchez proved groundless as they surged into a 4-0 lead inside 22 minutes at the Emir-ates Stadium.

It took Arsenal just six min-utes to open the scoring, an unmarked Nacho Monreal head-ing in from a corner.

Things didn’t get any better for a Palace side managed by former England boss Roy Hodgson.

Monreal turned provider for

Alex Iwobi before Laurent Koscielny scored Arsenal’s third goal.

Palace’s defence gave way again when a sweeping move involving Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere ended with the onrushing Alexandre Lacazette firing home from 12 yards.

But Luka Milivojevic’s vol-ley 12 minutes from time denied Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech a clean sheet.

Elsewhere, Manchester United moved to within nine points of runaway league lead-ers Manchester City with a 1-0 win at Burnley.

City, however, will restore their 12-point lead if, follow-ing a 4-3 defeat by Liverpool last week that ended their unbeaten league run, they beat struggling Newcastle in yester-day’s late kick-off at the Etihad.

Reiss Nelson in action with Crystal Palace’s Bakary Sako (right) during the English Premier League match at Emirates Stadium, London, Britain yesterday.

Real Madrid’s Vallejo out for up to six weeksAFP

MADRID: Real Madrid defender Jesus Vallejo could be out for as long as six weeks after picking up a muscle injury in the Copa del Rey on Thursday, the club announced yesterday.

“Following the tests car-ried out today on our player Jesus Vallejo at the Sanitas La Moraleja University Hospital, he has been diagnosed with a muscular injury to his right hamstring,” wrote Real.

Central defender Vallejo picked up the injury during Real’s scrappy 1-0 win at Leganes in the Copa del Rey,

Qatar’s star striker Almoez Ali celebrates scoring a goal at the AFC U-23 Asian Cup.

Qatar’s Salem Al Hajri in action at the AFC U-23 Asian Cup.

English Premier League results yesterday:

Arsenal 4 (Monreal 6, Iwobi 10, Koscielny 13,

Lacazette @22) Crystal Palace 1 (Milivojevic 78)

Brighton 0 Chelsea 4 (Hazard 3, 77, Willian 6,

Moses 89)

Burnley 0 Manchester United 1 (Martial 54)

Everton 1 (Niasse 70) West Bromwich Albion 1

(Rodriguez 7)

Leicester 2 (Vardy 39-pen, Mahrez 90+1) Wat-

ford 0

Stoke City 2 (Allen 53, Diouf 69) Huddersfield

Town 0

West Ham 1 (Hernandez 73) Bournemouth 1

(Fraser 71)

Playing tomorrow (1600 GMT)Southampton vs Tottenham

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

Peugeot’s Spanish driver Carlos Sainz (right) is congratulated by Toyota’s Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah, after winning the Dakar Rally 2018, at the end of the last stage in and around Cordoba province in Argentina yesterday.

SPORTSunday 21 January 2018

Sainz survives dunes to win Dakar Rally;

Nasser third

Arsenal rout Palace; Manchester United win

PAGE | 25 PAGE | 27 PAGE | 27Federer, Djokovic

sail as Kerber beats Sharapova

s ester

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatar defeated Saudi Arabia 30-20 to stay unbeaten as they topped Group D during the ongoing 18th Asian Handball Championships in Suwon, South Korea yesterday.

Their impressive win came after a col-lective effort from Hamza Zouaoui who scored eight goals and Rafael who added five. Mahmoud Hassaballa also had a good game, scoring four goals.

Qatar team dominated the game from the start and Al Annabi was leading 21-10 in the first half.

Yesterday’s win was Al Annabi’s third con-secutive win in the tournament and takes their points tally to six ahead of Saudi Arabia, China and New Zealand.

Both Qatar and Saudi have qualified into the next round.

Qatar had earlier beaten beat China by a margin of 34-19 .

On Thursday, the defending champions, Qatar opened its campaign in the 14-team Championship on high note, defeating New Zealand in their opening match of the tournament.

The championship acts as a qualifier to the Handball World Cup which will take place in Denmark and Germany in 2019.

Qatar defeat Saudi Arabia to top Group D

CHINTHANA WASALATHE PENINSULA

DOHA: Qatari rider Awad Al Qahtani yesterday was the star of the day as he guided his 15-year-old stallion Cassander Van Het Bremhof to a flaw-less routine to secure the top prize as another leg of the hugely popular Hathab Series came to a close.

At the state-of-the-art Al Shaqab Arena yesterday, Cassander Van Het Bremhof completed a round against the clock (jump off) over 130/140cm in 35.62 seconds to win the feature event of the day.

Al Qahtani won the top prize of QR7,500. He enjoyed double delight after guiding his 12-year-old mare Gerenice Of Colors to clock the third fastest time in the same event.

Beyonce, with Rashid Towaim Al Marri in the saddle, was the second fast-est and posted 35.66 seconds. Al Marri won QR6,000 while Al Qahtani’s sec-ond prize was worth QR4,500.

Zorro Z, ridden by Salman Moham-med Al Emadi and Desperadito, with Saeed Nasser Al Qadi in the saddle, completed the top five.

Earlier in the Medium Tour, a host of big names were in contest to capture honours but it was Mohammed Khalid Al Qashouti who prevailed. Al Qashouti won the top prize of QR5,000 when he guided his favourite mare Goldan in a flawless routine. Goldan completed his round in 67.75 seconds.

Viking D, with Mubarak Yousuf Al Rumaihi in the saddle, clocked 68.13 seconds to finish the same task as he was placed second ahead of Belucci Van ‘T Vleminkhof, guided by Jaber Rashid Al Amri. Al Rumaihi got richer by QR4,000 while Al Amri who clocked a time of 68.88 seconds, bagged a prize cheque worth QR3,000.

Numero Uno T, ridden by Moham-med Sultan Al Suwaidi clocked the fourth fastest to win QR2,000 as Con-cordiva VH Wilgenhof, with Ghanim Nasser Al Qadi in the saddle, rounded up the top five in the event which offered QR20,000 in total.

The day’s proceedings started with the dressage competitions.

In Dressage Level 1, Saeed Hamad Al Rashdi made his mark with his 14-year-old gelding Graffiti De Lully CH, scoring 71.667 to bag top honours. He won QR2,750 in prize money. Wait And See ZE, with Iris Nijboer in the sad-dle, scored 71.042 to book the second spot on the podium while Leslie Ann 2, guided by Ali Mohammed Al Marri, scored 70.417 to complete wrap up the top three.

In Dressage Level 2, Saoud Ahmed Al Boinin put up an impres-sive show with Champion’s Prince to score 67.778 and baghed the top prize of QR1,650. Toberlina T with Mia Kardos in the saddle was the sec-ond best while Mennatallah Hesham Mourad, with Quick Dance nabbed the third place.

Al Qahtani corners Hathab glory

Comp. (3) Dressage Level 1 - Test A, Prize Money 10.000 QAT Date 20/01/2018

Rank/Horse Rider Score Prize money

1: Graffiti De Lully CH Saeed Hamad Al Rashdi 71.667 QR2,750

2: Wait And See ZE Iris Nijboer 71.042 QR2,250

3: Leslie Ann 2 Ali Mohammed Al Marri 70.417 QR1,500

Comp. (4) Dressage Level 2 - Test A, Prize Money 5.000 QAT Date 20/01/2018

1: Champion’s Prince Saoud Ahmed Al Boinin 67.778 QR1,650

2: Toberlina T Mia Kardos 65.556 QR1,325

3: Quick Dance Mennatallah Hesham Mourad 65.000 QR900

Comp. (5) Medium Tour - Table A, One round against the clock Art. 238.2.1,

120/130 cm, Prize Money QR20,000

Rank/Horse Rider Time Prize money

1: Goldan Mohammed Khalid Al Qashouti 67.75 QR5,000

2: Viking D Mubarak Yousuf Al Rumaihi 68.13 QR4,000

3: Belucci Van ‘T Vleminkhof Jaber Rashid Al Amri 68.88 QR3,000

Comp. (6) Big Tour - Table A, One round against the clock with Jump Off Art.

238.2.2, 130/140 cm, Prize Money QR30,000

1: Cassander Van Het Bremhof Awad Alqahtani 35.62 QR7,500

2: Beyonce Rashid Towaim Al Marri 35.66 QR6,000

3: Gerenice Of Colors Awad Alqahtani 36.29 QR4,500

Hathab Equestrian Tour 2017/2018 Results

The winner of the Big Tour, Awad Al Qahtani receiving his trophy during the presentation ceremony at Al Shaqab Arena yesterday.

Top teams set for action as Al Kass International Cup kicks offTHE PENINSULA

DOHA: The seventh Al Kass Inter-national Cup gets under way at Aspire Zone today with 12 top Under-17 (U17) teams from around the world competing for top honours.

The Technical meeting with offi-cials from all 12 teams took place yesterday at The Torch hotel in Doha. Aspire Academy will add local flavour to the tournament, which was last year won by Real Madrid (Spain), who are once again com-peting for the title.

Other participating teams include AC Milan (Italy), Aspire Foot-ball Dreams (Qatar), Espérance de Tunis (Tunisia), Fenerbahçe SK (Tur-key), Guangzhou Evergrande (China), Kashiwa Reysol (Japan), Paris Saint Germain FC (France), SL Benfica (Portugal), Tottenham Hotspur FC (England), and Wydad AC (Morocco).

Official tournament sponsor Al Kass TV will broadcast all the games live with both Arabic and English commentary.

Live streaming of all the matches will available on http://internation-alcup.alkass.net.

Officials of participating teams and members of the organising committee pose for a photograph during the technical meeting held at the Torch Hotel in Doha ahead of the seventh Al Kass International Cup yesterday.

Sneijder nets maiden goal as Al Gharafa pick up points

THE PENINSULA

DOHA: Dutch start Wesley Sneijder yesterday scored his first goal for former champions Al Gharafa who fought off a spirited Umm Salal for a 4-2 win at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium.

Playing on home soil, Al Gharafa rarely looked in trouble after goals by Ahmed Alaaeldin (32), Othman Alawi Al Yahiri (45) and Sneijder (61).

However, Umm Salal substitutes Yannick Sagbo (69) and Ibrahima Nadiya (81) scored two goals in the sec-ond half to raise visions of a draw but a late strike by Amro Seraj (94) sealed the win for Al Gharafa.

It was only Al Gharafa’s fourth win of the season but their second in suc-cession after Sneijder joined the Leopards some 10 days ago. Umm Salal, despite the fight back, could not add to their five wins in the season.

The two teams kicked-off proceed-ings on a slow note as neither of the

sides could manage to penetrate the defenses at each end. Despite the cagey start, Al Gharafa dominated the pro-ceedings in the first 15 minutes enjoying a massive 62 percent of the ball pos-session in the round 13 clash. Close to the half-hour mark, Alaaeldin nearly opened the scoring from close range but the Al Gharafa striker tapped a loopy ball over the Umm Salal cross-bar with goalkeeper Baba Malick well

beaten. However, a couple of minutes later, Al Gharafa jumped to a 1-0 lead thanks to some quick-thinking by Alaaeldin.

Fresh from scoring a brace in Al Gharafa’s previous clash, Alaaeldin lunged forward to head home a low-ball cross from Alawi Al Yahiri on the right flank in the 32nd minute.

Seconds into injury time, once again it was Alaaeldin-Alawi

combination that helped the home team double their lead. Alaaeldin, fol-lowing a neat dribble near the Umm Salal box, spotted Al Yahiri just a few meters away. After intercepting the cross, Al Yahiri charged into the box and then quickly slotted the ball past goalkeeper Malick who had stepped out of his territory to stop the move.

In the 63rd minute, Sneijder scored his first goal for his new employers as he drilled one into the net from the edge of the Umm Salal box following a cross from the flank.

Umm Salal reduced the deficit in the 69th minute when Sagbo converted a penalty kick. In the 81st minute, Nadiya found the net from close range after a cross from Mahmoud Kamal. Seraj flicked an easy ball into an empty net in injury time for Al Gharafa’s 4th goal.

Earlier, at Al Sadd Stadium, Al Sadd cruised to an imperious 6-0 victory against Al Sailiya. Goals came from Jugurtha Hamroun (32nd and 37th min-utes), Hamed Ismail (64th), Hassan Al Haydous (66th and 80th-min penalty) and Ali Asad (68th).

Al Sadd players celebrate after scoring one of their six goals against Al Sailiya during their QNB Stars League match played at Al Sadd Stadium yesterday.Picture: Kammutty VP/ The Peninsula

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Al Gharafa’s Dutch star Wesley Sneijder in action against Umm Salal during the QNB Stars League match played at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium yesterday.