SPORTFriday 10 March 2017

Miracle at Camp Nouas Barcelona stun PSG 6-1

Preparations on track for FIG

Challenge Cup

PAGE | 21 PAGE | 22 PAGE | 23 Williamson leads fightback by injury-hit New Zealand

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March 2017

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Tabata extends Al Rayyan contractChinthana Wasala The Peninsula

The reigning Qatar Stars League (QSL) champions Al Rayyan will continue to receive the serv-

ices of their talismanic captain Rodrigo Tabata for two more years.

The club officials yesterday confirmed that the 36-year-old playmaker will now be under contract with the club till the summer of 2020, following a two-year contract extension.

There is no doubt that the Qatari International striker’s continuation with Al Rayyan will be a major boost for the

team and Tabata has already proved he is one of the best forwards in the country.

Regarded as one of the most consistent players in recent years for Al Rayyan, the star striker is already the leading contributor for the club, having scored 16 goals.

The two-time QFA Player of the Year, Tabata was the driving force behind the success of Al Rayyan last season, becoming the joint-highest scorer with a tally of 21 goals as they went on to lift the QSL Falcon Shield.

Having secured Tabata’s service, Al Rayyan began prepara-tions for their upcoming AFC

Champions League clash against Tehran-based Persian Gulf Pro League leaders Perse-polis. The match will be played

at the Al Sadd Stadium on T u e s d a y , March 14 and Taba-ta’s men head into the game after a

splendid 4-0 win over Al Wak-rah in round 23 of the QSL.

Al Rayyan are currently placed third in the QSL stand-ings, having collected 47 points for their 14 wins and five games which they man-aged to draw.

Lekhwiya are on top of the table, having collected 56 points. They won 17 games and lost only one. They man-

aged to d r a w f i v e g a m e s

and are closely fol-

lowed by Al Sadd who are placed second

with 54 points after the 23rd round.

Meanwhile, Lekhwiya are also heading to meet their Iranian counterparts next week. The Qatari side will be looking to impress when they meet Esteghlal Khuzestan in their other AFC Champions League clash which will take place on March 14.

But the clash will be a stern test for Djamel Belma-di’s Red Knights as their meeting with the Persian Gulf Pro League side will be an away game. Esteghlal are currently top of B after pick-ing up two wins from their opening two games of the campaign, but the QSL lead-ers will be no easy target for the Iranians.

Tabata stays with Al Rayyan

Rodrigo Tabata will now be with Al Rayyan till the summer of 2020, following a two-year contract extension.

Regarded as one of the most consistent players in recent years for Al Rayyan, the star striker is already the leading goal scorer for the club.

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Rabat back on track in QatarThe Peninsula

Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider

Tito Rabat will return to action during this week's third and final MotoGP preseason test, set to get under-way today at Losail I n t e r n a t i o n a l Circuit.

R a b a t , w h o crashed at Sepang, Malaysia in the first preseason test, was forced to sit out the recent sessions at Phillip Island due to injuries sustained in Malaysia. The Spaniard suffered a distal fracture of the radius, a fracture of the fifth metacarpal in the right hand, a fracture to the distal phalanx in the right foot and a severely lacerated left knee when he crashed at Turn 11.

The former Moto2 World Champion has completed an extensive four-week rehabili-tation program, including an initial stay in hospital to ensure against infection, and is look-ing forward to resuming his preparations for the 2017 sea-son this week in Qatar.

Commenting on the task ahead, Rabat said: "The last four weeks have been all about rehabilitation, working with the physiotherapist to recover from the injuries and also the surgery.

I am still not back to full fit-ness but I'm fit to ride and

although we'll need to take the injuries into account in Qatar, this won't stop us from enjoy-ing a productive test. This test isn't about pushing for a lap time, it's about working with my crew, rebuilding my confi-dence with the bike and ensuring we are as well pre-pared as it's possible to be when we return to the Losail Inter-national Circuit for the first race of the season."

His team-mate Jack Miller heads to Qatar looking to build on yet another successful test in Phillip Island, where the Queenslander finished inside the top ten and less than a sec-ond from the top.

Miller will test with the lat-est evolution engine in his Honda RC213V for the first time in Qatar and he is confident that this will allow him to further close the gap to the current

frontrunners ahead of the opening race of the season.

Miller said that he is also looking forward to keep up the pace at Losail Circuit.

"I'm feeling really good after the tests in Sepang and Phillip Island and I'm looking forward to carrying that momentum into the final pre-season test in Qatar, where we'll be testing the latest spec-ification Honda engine for the first time," Miller said.

"It's been a good preseason so far; we've found some improvements and, step-by-step, we've managed to go faster, finishing inside the top ten last time out at Phillip Island. Now we're heading into the final test before the season gets underway and the aim is simple; to make sure we're fully prepared for when the lights go out for the first time in 2017."

Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc

VDS rider Tito Rabat in action.

Al Rayyan captain Rodrigo Tabata

Troubled Al Kharaitiyat only looking up the tableThe Peninsula

Al Kharaitiyat defender Mohammed Salam (pic-tured) insists that his side is

looking forward to the final three games of the Qatar Stars League (QSL) season as a good opportu-nity for the Thunders to pull further away from the relegation zone.

Speaking to QSL, Salam stressed that his side are firmly aiming to push further up the QSL standings.

“We have two big objectives, from the last games of the season the first of which is staying in the Qatar Stars League, while the sec-ond is to finish as high as possible in the QSL standings.”

“Kharaitiyat has suffered this season for a number of reasons, the main reason has to be the change of our professional play-ers, who have failed to settle properly at the club” noted the defender when asked about his sides form in the league.

The QSL is taking a three week break for international football, and Salam is sure that can only benefit his side. “The break will help the side, it gives us a chance to rest and refocus for the last push in the league. It’s also a good opportunity for us to make sure

all of our players are fit and fresh for these big three games.”

“We are still one of the teams in the bottom of the league table, but we are all very confident that we can get away from trouble, now we need to double our efforts in the final games of the season. I feel that our confidence, along with high levels of concentration will help us beat the drop” added the defender.

Salem concluded the interview noting that this QSL season has been tough on all the sides in the league; “ This has been the most difficult season for the club since joining the QSL, many sides are battling for relegation and the fact the league is being reduced by 12 has added extra pressure for everyone.”

Qatar play Azerbaijan in friendly

Coach Jorge Fossati reacts during Qatar's friendly match against Azerbaijan which was played at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium yesterday. RIGHT: Players vie for the ball. BOTTOM: Qatar's Akram Afif (centre) vies for the ball possession with two Azerbaijani players during the friendly. Azerbaijan won 2-1 yesterday.

21FRIDAY 10 MARCH 2017SPORT

Kamran and Shahzad called in Pakistan camp for Caribbean tourFawad Hussain The Peninsula

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) selection committee yesterday

recalled opening batsman Ahmed Shahzad and experi-enced wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal (pictured) as it named 31 probables for a training camp ahead of the team's six-week tour of the West Indies.

Pakistan will play three Tests and as many ODIs during their tour to the Caribbean from March 26 to May 14. The tour also includes four T20s.

The Test probables will be announced later, the PCB said while announcing the names of the 31 players.

For many, Kamran’s career seemed over after he was dropped from the Pakistan team in April 2014.

But since then, the 35-year-old has been the leading run scorer in all forms of the game in domestic tournaments.

The veteran opener and wicket-keeper was the leading run-scorer in the recently-con-cluded Pakistan Super League’s second edition, scoring 353 runs from 11 games with event win-ners Peshawar Zalmi.

According to a PCB official, Kamran’s fitness will be

monitored during the training camp which will be held from March 11 to March 17.

“Kamran has been in supreme batting form and he can be included for the limited overs series,” the official told The Peninsula.

“There has been some fit-ness problems with him in the past and that is what the coach-ing staff would be monitoring,” the official added.

However, it is unlikely that Kamran who is one of Paki-stan’s most experienced wicket-keepers, would be given the duty behind the stumps in presence of first-choice gloves-man Sarfraz Ahmed who recently replaced Azhar Ali as Pakistan's ODI captain.

Meanwhile, Shahzad dubbed as the best opening batsman in the country, has also been called up to attend the camp.

The 25-year-old, who last played for Pakistan in March 2016, was dropped from the team for ‘disciplinary reasons’.

Shazad smashed three half-centuries in 10 games during PSL 2. The right-handed opener was also the top scorer of National One Day cup for departments this season with 653 runs in 9 innings.

Ahmad Shahzad, Muhammad Hafeez, Fa-

khar Zaman, Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Babar

Azam, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Asif Zakir,

Saad Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed, Kamran Akmal,

Fahim Ashraf, Hussain Tallat, Ammad Butt,

Muhammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz,

Rahat Ali, Rumman Raees, Sohail Khan, Ju-

naid Khan, Sohail Tanveer, Muhammad Ab-

bas, Usman Shinwari, Usama Mir, Imad

Wasim, Muhammad Asghar, Shadab Khan,

Muhammad Nawaz, Yasir Shah

PROBABLES

Australia respect captain Kohli despite 'offensive' claims New Delhi Reuters

Australia retain respect for Virat Kohli despite the India captain's "absurd"

and "offensive" allegations against counterpart Steve Smith, assistant coach David Saker said on yesterday.

The four-Test series between the world's top two teams witnessed considerable acrimony after Smith gestured to his dressing room for assist-ance on whether to review an

umpire's lbw decision against him in the second Test at Bengaluru.

Smith, who did not review, later admitted to the "brain fade" but his team dismissed Kohli's charge that they had repeatedly resorted to the prac-tice in the match won by India to level the four-match series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

"It's really offensive," Saker told reporters. "It's probably the worst thing you can be called is cheats, that's an offensive thing.

"We've never done anything like that and we never will."

The former England bowl-ing coach said the Australian dressing room was surprised when Smith made the gesture.

"It's pretty much absurd I think. When Steven Smith did look up, we were more horri-fied than anyone else because we'd never seen that before," Saker said.

Australia batsman Peter Handscomb, who advised Smith to seek dressing room input from non-striker's end, blamed

the fiasco on his own inexperience.

"(I was) just completely una-ware that you couldn't do that," the 25-year-old said of his sug-gestion that goes against Decision Review System (DRS) protocols.

Despite the row, the Inter-national Cricket Council (ICC) opted not to level any charge against either Smith or Kohli, whose public outburst could also have been considered a breach of code of conduct.

The teams renew their

rivalry when the third Test gets underway at Ranchi on March 16 and Saker dismissed sugges-tions that Kohli had gone down in Australia's estimations.

"We respect him as a player, he's an amazing player and his passion and the way he wanted to get his team up was quite evi-dent out on the ground," the 50-year-old said.

"There are times when you think he might have crossed the line, but a lot of teams have done that, and leaders have done that."

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, however, criticised the ICC for not taking action against Smith.

"It can't be that some coun-tries get favourable treatment and some countries do not get favourable treatment," Gavaskar told NDTV channel.

The Border-Gavaskar Tro-phy was named in honour of the 67-year-old, the first batsman to amass 10,000 runs in Test cricket, and former Australia captain Allan Border, who was the second.

Williamson leads fightback as Black Caps show promise Dunedin

AFP

South Africa made Kane Williamson their number one target as the battling New Zea-lander ensured his side

prospered despite a crippling injury to Ross Taylor on day two of the first Test yesterday.

Williamson led a charmed life at the crease, surviving three edges and a run-out attempt to be 78 not out at stumps with New Zealand 177 for three, 131 runs behind South Africa's first innings total of 308 in Dunedin.

While New Zealand were sweating on the fitness of sen-ior batsman Taylor, who was on eight when he limped off with a calf injury, South African bowl-ing coach Charl Langeveldt said Williamson's wicket was their chief concern.

New Zealand's chief destroyer Trent Boult, with four for 64 in unhelpful bowling con-ditions, said they would not know until Friday if Taylor could resume playing, but the pros-pects were not good.

"It's a shame to see him limp off like that. He's big player for us," Boult said.

Taylor was injured running a single during a fiery spell by Morne Morkel, who two balls earlier had hit him on the head.

In his first Test following in a year after a long-injury lay off, Morkel sent down a lively 10 overs for 26 and showed no sign of discomfort.

New Zealand wrapped up the South African innings five overs after lunch, with the last six wickets falling for only 56 runs.

It was a rapid end to an innings where the wicket offered

little for the bowlers and Dean Elgar, with his 140, had the tour-ists well placed at 252 for four.

South Africa removed Tom Latham early, caught behind off Vern Philander for 10, before Williamson and Jeet Raval sparked the innings with a 102-run stand before Raval went for 52.

Williamson survived four close calls during his knock. Kes-hav Maharaj found the edge when he was on 10, and again on 40, but on both occasions the ball fell fractionally short of Hashim Amla at first slip.

On 72, Williamson was sent back by Henry Nicholls and he made his ground by the slimmest of margins. Four runs later an edge off Philander failed to carry to the slip cordon.

South Africa resumed day two on 229 for four and added a cautious 23 in 12 overs before Neil Wagner claimed the crucial

wicket of Dean Elgar to end his 104-run partnership with Temba Bavuma.

It was the beginning of the end for South Africa as Quinton de Kock fell for 10 to his neme-sis Patel, dismissed by the off-spinner for the third time in as many innings on this tour.

Patel also bowled Kagiso Rabada while Trent Boult claimed Bavuma for 64, Maha-raj for five and finished the innings bowling Philander for 21.

Boult was the sharpest of the New Zealand bowlers with four for 64, while Wagner took three for 88 and Patel finished with 2-85.

Sri Lanka's Dilruwan Perera celebrates after he dismissed Bangladesh batsman Mehedi Hasan during the third day of their opening Test in Galle yesterday.

Spinners put SL in control on rain-hit day Galle

AFP

Spinners Rangana Herath and Dilruwan Perera shared six wickets between them to help

Sri Lanka take command of the first Test against a struggling Bang-ladesh on a rain-hit day three in Galle yesterday.

The visitors, replying to Sri Lanka's first innings total of 494, were all out for 312 on the third day, trailing the hosts by a mas-sive 182 runs.

Herath took the final wicket just two balls into the last session before rain stopped play, finish-ing on 3-72. Off-break bowler Perera chipped in with 3-53.

Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim made a dogged half-cen-tury and shared 106 runs for the seventh wicket with Mehedi Hasan, ensuring the visitors avoided the follow-on.

Herath bowled his Bangladesh counterpart Mushfiqur on the stroke of the tea break for 85 after the latter took their score past the 300 mark.

Perera broke Mushfiqur's stub-born partnership with Mehedi when he trapped the young all-rounder plumb leg-before for 41 runs.

The spinner also took the wicket of Taskin Ahmed off the next ball with a successful review after his appeal for lbw was turned down by umpire Marais Erasmus.

Mushfiqur and Mehedi's efforts came after Bangladesh lost four wickets in the opening session that had threatened to derail their innings completely.

"Our boys stuck to the plan extremely well and came out well this morning with the determina-tion to try and win that first session, which they did well," said

Sri Lanka coach Graham Ford. "Unfortunately this rain came and we may lose about 20 overs out of the match. It is quite a lot when you are pressing for a result on what seems to be a pretty good batting wicket."

Fast bowler Suranga Lakmal took the key wicket of opening batsman Soumya Sarkar for 71 after Bangladesh resumed the day on 133 for two.

Bangladesh lost their first wicket when overnight batsman Sarkar top-edged Lakmal's rising delivery to Lahiru Kumara at fine leg.

Soumya added just five runs to his overnight 66, his 137-ball knock containing eight fours and a six.

Shakib Al Hasan contributed 23 rapid runs off 19 balls before flicking a sliding delivery from Sandakan down the leg side where wicketkeeper Niroshan

Dickwella completed the catch. Mahmudullah (8) and wicket-keeper-batsman Liton Das (5) also threw their wickets away with loose shots.

Sri Lanka (I innings): .................... 494Bangladesh (I innings):Tamim Iqbal (run out) ...................................57

Soumya Sarkar c Kumara b Lakmal ........... 71

Mominul Haque lbw Perera .......................... 7

Mushfiqur Rahim b Herath..........................85

S Al Hasan c Dickwella b Sandakan ...........23

Mahmudullah b Kumara ................................8

Liton Das c Gunaratne b Herath ................... 5

Mehedi Hasan lbw Perera ...........................41

Taskin Ahmed lbw Perera ..............................0

Subashis Roy (not out) ...................................0

M Rahman c Mendis b Herath ......................4

Extras (LB-6, W-3, NB-2).............................. 11

Total (all out) ................................. 312Fall of wickets: 1-118, 2-127, 3-142, 4-170, 5-184,

6-192, 7-298, 8-298, 9-308, 10-312.

Bowling: S. Lakmal 14-0-42-1, L. Kumara 16-1-

70-1 (w3), D. Perera 19-4-53-3 (nb1), R. Herath

26.2-4-72-3, L. Sandakan 22-5-69-1 (nb1).

SCOREBOARD

South Africa (I innings):S Cook lbw Boult ......................................................... 3

D Elgar c Watling by Wagner ............................. 140

H Amla b Wagner ........................................................1

J Duminy c Taylor b Wagner ......................................1

F du Plessis c Boult b Neesham ............................52

T Bavuma c Watling b Boult .................................64

Q de Kock c Wagner b Patel ...................................10

V Philander b Boult ..................................................21

K Maharaj c Neesham b Boult .................................5

K Rabada b Patel ........................................................4

M Morkel (not out) .....................................................0

Extras (B-4, LB-1, W-2) ............................................. 7

Total (all out) ......................................... 308Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-20, 3-22, 4-148, 5-252,

6-265, 7-279, 8-298, 9-308, 10-308.

Bowling: Boult 32.4-12-64-4 (2w); Wagner 31-8-88-

3; Patel 33-12-85-2; Santner 18-5-32-0; Neesham

8-2-34-1.

New Zealand (I innings):T Latham c de Kock b Philander ............................10

J Raval c Elgar b Maharaj .........................................52

K Williamson (batting) ............................................78

R Taylor (rtd hurt) .......................................................8

H Nicholls c Amla b Maharaj .................................. 12

J Patel (batting) ...........................................................9

Extras (LB-6, NB-2)....................................................8

Total (for 3 wkts)....................................177Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-117, 3-165.

Bowling: Rabada 14-3-46-0, Philander 14-4-37-1

(2nb), Morkel 10-3-26-0, Maharaj 16-3-57-2, Duminy

1-0-5-0.

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand's captain Kane

Williamson bats during day two of first Test against

South Africa at the University Oval in

Dunedin yesterday.

22 FRIDAY 10 MARCH 2017SPORT

Miracle at Camp Nouas Barca stun PSG 6-1 Barcelona

AFP

Sergi Roberto scored in the fifth minute of stop-page time as Barcelona capped a sensational Champions League

fightback to thrash Paris Saint-Germain 6-1 and reach the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

"I threw myself at it with eve-rything," Roberto told BeIN Sports Spain as his outstretched leg turned home Neymar's cross.

Despite Luis Suarez's early opener, a Layvin Kurzawa own goal and Lionel Messi's penalty, Barca, who lost the first leg 4-0, looked down and out when Edi-son Cavani volleyed home what seemed to be the vital away goal for PSG.

However, Neymar restored Barca's belief as he firstly fired home a sensational free-kick two minutes from time and then con-verted from the penalty spot.

And Roberto capped the big-gest comeback in Champions League history when he stretched to turn home Neymar's dinked cross to the delight of a near 100,000 at a rocking Camp Nou, making the score 6-5 on aggregate.

PSG coach Unai Emery accepted his side lost their com-posure in the closing stages as he

suffered a 12th defeat in as many visits to the Camp Nou.

"The truth is we have let a huge opportunity get away and we are aware of that. In the last two minutes we lost everything we had recovered in the second-half. Barcelona are capable of this in their stadium. In the last few minutes they played all or noth-ing and they have beaten us," said Emery.

Barca also enter the record books by reaching the quarter-finals for a 10th straight season.

PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi was blunt in his summary.

"It's a nightmare for every-one. Three goals in seven minutes is very difficult. Everybody is upset but now is not the time to talk about it."

Enrique warned the French champions on Tuesday that his side were capable of scoring six and they needed the full 95 min-utes to pull of a miracle revival.

No side had ever come back from a 4-0 first leg deficit in the Champions League, but after much pre-match hype of a his-toric turnaround, Barca truly believed when Suarez opened the scoring after just three minutes.

The PSG defence was station-ary as Marquinhos headed Rafinha's cross high into the air and Suarez nipped in ahead of the flapping goalkeeper Kevin Trapp to nod in despite Thomas Meunier's best efforts to clear off the line.

Barca's hopes were further raised five minutes before the break thanks to more shambolic PSG defending.

Andres Iniesta reached Sua-rez's hopeful through ball and his backheel provoked Kurzawa into shanking the ball into his own net on his weaker right foot.

The second period started just as the first ended as Barca edged closer to the history books when Neymar was clipped by the prone Meunier and, after consul-tation with one of his assistants, German referee Deniz Aytekin pointed to the spot.

Messi made no mistake with the penalty to rifle home his 11th

Champions League goal of the season.

Only when 3-0 down did PSG begin to come out in search of the crucial away goal and were rewarded just after the hour mark when Kurzawa made amends for his earlier error by heading down a free-kick and Cavani connected sweetly on the volley to register his 38th and seemingly most important goal of the season.

PSG were then to rue to huge missed chances by Cavani and Angel di Maria to put the tie com-pletely beyond Barca.

Just when Barca looked down and out Neymar restored hope when he curled home a sensa-tional free-kick high into the top corner.

And as the match entered stoppage time, Barca were awarded a second controversial penalty when Suarez tumbled under a challenge form Marquinhos.

Neymar this time took responsibility to send Trapp the wrong way.

And the Brazilian also showed a cool head amongst a mad final minute when he cut inside before chipping into the box for substitute Roberto to extend his right leg just enough to beat Trapp and leave PSG floored.

Ba rcelona

AFP

First came the "mourning" then the opportunity for revenge, claimed vindi-

cated outgoing Barcelona coach Luis Enrique after over-seeing the greatest comeback in Champions League history by thrashing Paris Saint Ger-main 6-1.

Despite Barca's galaxy of stars, it was the boss who was first in the firing line when the Catalans were torn apart 4-0 in the first leg in Paris three weeks ago.

"Firstly we had to go through the mourning," said Enrique.

"It was hard, especially on one person. I don't read it, but I am aware of it all."

In the aftermath, Enrique confirmed the long held sus-picion that he won't remain as coach next season after three highly successful years in charge.

The timing of the decision - made public in his post-match press conference following another 6-1 win just seven days previously against Sporting Gijon - took most by surprise.

However, in removing the tension around his future, Enrique changed the narra-tive and gave his team the freedom from which they made the seemingly impossi-ble, possible.

"This victory is dedicated especially to the Barca fans that had faith even after one day in which the team was outplayed as was the case in Paris," added Enrique.

Barcelona

Reuters

Paris St Germain coach Unai Emery cursed his side for switching off in

the final minutes of their 6-1 defeat at Barcelona which sent the French champions out of the Champions League before the quarter-finals for the first time in five years.

Barca scored three times in the final seven minutes to pull off a barely believable comeback after losing the first leg at Parc des Princes 4-0, making PSG the only team in the competition's history to squander a four-goal advantage.

"In the last few minutes we lost everything we had worked so hard for, and there's no explanation for what happened in the final minutes, it was all or noth-ing," Emery told reporters.

"We have to accept that we had an opportunity to grow after playing so well in the first leg and gaining a lot of confidence and we didn't take it."

"You learn from negative experiences in the future and this is a very negative expe-rience for the players, for me and for the staff."

Luis Suarez headed Barca into the lead in the second minute, spurred on by an electric atmosphere which Luis Enrique said was the best he experienced in his three years as coach and eight years as a player.

"In the first half we were affected by the atmosphere. We did ourselves no favours as we couldn't continue our good work from the first leg, we wanted to show more character and presence but we conceded two early goals," Emery said.

Emery aired his com-plaints about decisions of German referee Deniz Aytekin, who gave two pen-alties to Barca in the second half and turned down PSG's appeals when the ball struck the arm of Javier Mascherano.

Emery

blames PSG

players for

losing focus

Enrique

turns

'mourning'

into miracle

LA Galaxy make record Zlatan bid Los Angeles

AFP

The Los Angeles Galaxy have made a bid to lure Zlatan Ibrahimovic to

Major League Soccer in a record deal, Sports Illustrated reported on its website on Wednesday.

The magazine's soccer correspondent, Grant Wahl, reported that "multiple sources" had confirmed the Galaxy's move to pry the striker away from Manches-ter United.

Ibrahimovic joined the Premier League giants last year on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain, signing a one-year contract with an option for a further year.

Reports in British media recently have said the 35-year-old Swedish star is keen to negotiate a new deal at United. Orlando City's Bra-zilian former world footballer of the year Kaka is the highest paid player in the history of the league, commanding a salary of around $7.2m. Ibrahimovic is currently reported to be paid a salary of around 300,000 pounds ($365,000) per week by United, or just under $19m a year.

Aubameyang hat-trick leads Dortmund into last eight, City fail to fire against Stoke Dortmund

Reuters

Pierre-Emerick Aubam-eyang grabbed a hat-trick as Borussia Dortmund

crushed Benfica 4-0 on Wednesday to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals 4-1 on aggregate.

The Gabon international, who endured a dreadful evening in the 1-0 first leg loss in which he missed a hatful of chances and had a penalty saved, was back at his lethal best.

He struck either side of a Christian Pulisic goal and added another late in the game as the German side, European cham-pions in 1997, made the last eight of the competition for the third time in 10 years.

It was the third straight

match in which Aubameyang scored at least twice as Benfica, aiming to reach the last eight for third time in six seasons, con-ceded their first goals from open play in more than 700 minutes and ended their seven-game winning run.

The hosts, missing injured Mario Goetze and Marco Reus, took only four minutes to bring the tie level with the Bundesli-ga's leading scorer heading in at the far post after Ousmane Dembele floated in a corner.

Benfica needed time to recover and free themselves from the hosts' constant press-ing game.

They made their first seri-ous foray into the German half after half an hour with Luisao seeing his header saved by keeper Roman Buerki.

The 27-year-old Aubam-eyang was twice denied by keeper Ederson early in the sec-ond half but the Brazilian could do nothing when American teenager Pulisic, replacing injured Marco Reus, dinked the ball over the keeper on the hour for his maiden Champions League goal.

Aubameyang grabbed his second of the evening and a club record 24th goal in the compe-tition this season only three minutes later and completed a hat-trick from close range in the 85th to kill off the tie.

Meanwhile, Manchester City failed to fire in a frustrating 0-0 home draw with Stoke City on Wednesday that dealt a damag-ing blow to their Premier League title hopes and left them 10 points adrift of leaders Chelsea.

Dortmund's Gabonese forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates after scoring one of his three goals during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16, 2nd-leg football match against SL Benfica in Dortmund, western Germany on Wednesday.

Barcelona's midfielder Sergi Roberto (third left) scores the victory goal during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg football match against Paris Saint-Germain FC at the Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona on Wednesday .

Champions LeagueSergi Roberto scores in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Barcelona reach Champions League quarter-finals.

In the biggest comeback in Champions League history, Barca make the score 6-5 on aggregate.

23FRIDAY 10 MARCH 2017 SPORT

Preparations on track for FIG Challenge Cup Rizwan Rehmat The Peninsula

With less than two weeks to go before the start of the 10th FIG World Challenge Cup, Qatar Gymnastics Federa-

tion (QGF) President Ali Al Hitmi yesterday met with members of the Organising Committee that has been assigned to stage the high profile event from March 22-25.

Abeer Ali Abdullah Albuainain, the Assistant Secretary General, QGF, and Anis Saoud, Director of the Tournament, were also present during the meeting as were the rest of the members of the committee.

"The eagerly-awaited event is just

a few days away and we called thismeet-ing to assess our readiness for the top event," Al Hitmi told the assembled media.

Al Hitmi confirmed that the cham-pionship will be held at Aspire Academy in what will be the 10th edition of the tournament.

"More than 240 gymnasts will fea-ture in the 10th edition. We have confirmed entries from more than 30 countries," Al Hitmi said.

"The distinct change in this year's edition will be the participation of gym-nasts from five Arab nations including Qatar, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Algeria," Al Hitmi said.

"This tournament is a great oppor-tunity for us to test our readiness for the World Championships that will be held in 2018," Al Hitmi said.

"The global gymnastics family - the FIG - has great appreciation for our events. We have to continue to work

hard in delivering an amazing tourna-ment this month and in the future," he said.

The sub-committees also provided their reports on the work completed so far.

"We discussed matters that needed my attention. We have some work to do but overall we feel all logistical matters have been finalised," he said.

"Our marketing committee is also busy promoting the championship," Al Hitmi said.

"The other main point we discussed was the assembly and work chart of the volunteers. We know that we need to give our group of volunteers the right amount of first-hand experience since Qatar will host the World Champion-ships next year," he said.

"You will see a lot more volunteers this time around as we have already started preparing for the 2018 World Championships," Al Hitmi said.

"We will closely monitor the per-formances of the volunteers since this is a great chance for us to shake off the cobwebs, if at all," Al Hitmi said.

"I have addressed the heads of the committees working to complete our preparations for the March 22-25 cham-pionship. I have underlined the work that needs their attention. They know for continued success, we have to work together and round the clock," the QGF President pointed out.

"Professionalism is at the core of our efforts. My teams knows this well," Al Hitmi said.

QGF President Ali Al Hitmi

Qatar’s Ahmed Al Dayani in action at last year’s FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup Series at Aspire Academy in Doha.

Ali Al Hitmi, President of the Organizing Committee, Abeer Ali

Abdullah Albuainain, Mohammed Abdullah Maraghi, Abdul

Rahman Majid Al Qahtani, Anis Mustafa Sauod, Aisha Al Naima

Al Janah, Adel Abdulaziz, Medhat Hassan Moussa, Kamal Abdel

Azim, Bahaa Abdel Azeem, Saleh Jaafar, Mohammed Sabri,

Ahmed Cahora, Cyril Zamora Mazen Taha, Samira Said, Hani Ibra-

him and Darwish

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Qatar 2022 important for globalisation of football, says Mikael SilvestreThe Peninsula

Former France defender Mikael Silvestre believes Qatar hosting the 2022

FIFA World Cup will be a sig-nificant milestone in the process of globalisation of foot-ball, of which he is both a staunch proponent and a beneficiary.

Silvestre – who was part of the France squad that reached the 2006 FIFA World Cup final – first made his mark on the international stage in 1997 at the FIFA World Youth Cham-pionship in Malaysia, and wound up his decorated pro-fessional career in 2014 with a season-long stint in the inau-gural edition of the Indian Super League.

During a visit this week to the offices of the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Leg-acy (SC), the 39-year-old former Manchester United and Arsenal player also said the passion for football in the host nation of what will be the first ever FIFA World Cup in the Middle East has impressed him during his regular visits as guest speaker and media pundit.

“The 2022 FIFA World Cup is very important for the glo-balisation of football, as an Arab country will be hosting it

for the first time ever,” the five-time English Premier League winner said in an exclusive interview with www.sc.qa.

“The entire Arab world will be making an important state-ment if Qatar delivers the best ever World Cup from an organ-isational point of view. I am happy to see that a lot of effort is going into the preparations to ensure the competition will be a success.”

The 2008 UEFA Champi-ons League winner also reminisced about his interna-tional tournament bow in Malaysia, to underpin

the strategic importance of awarding hosting rights of major tournaments to countries outside Europe.

The man with 40 interna-tional caps and 361 appearances in a decorated nine-year career with Man-chester United said Qatar, like Malaysia, is equally passionate about football.

“As a regular visitor to Qatar, I am amazed to witness the rich football culture in Doha concentrated in a compact geo-graphical space,” said the Frenchman.

“I have been here in 2013

as a speaker at the Doha Goals event and visit the country periodically as a media pundit for beIN’s live football broad-casts, and whenever I am here I admire the overwhelming passion for the sport.”

Silvestre, who moved to Arsenal from Old Trafford in 2008 and spent two seasons at the north London club, also dwelt on his experiences in a third Asian country – India – which is close to his heart.

“Playing in India for Chen-naiyin FC was a very enjoyable experience as the country has a fast-growing football scene,” he said. “In addition to being the defensive partner of player-manager Marco Materazzi, I did a lot of Italian-to-English trans-lation for my Indian teammates at the club,” he said with a smile.

Silvestre said that the bond he shared with Italy’s 2006 FIFA World Cup winner Mat-erazzi underscored football’s role in bringing people together.

“The incident between Marco and ‘Zizou’ in the 2006 final was unfortunate, but despite that I was able to have a great relationship with Marco in India. This shows that foot-ball is bigger than politics and war,” he said.

Former France footballer Mikael Silvestre during his visit to a Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) office in Doha recently.

Action from the GCC Club Volleyball Championship match between Qatar's Al Rayyan and Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia at Ali bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena yesterday. Al Rayyan won the match 3-1 with scores of 18-25, 30-28, 25-18 and 25-18. The home side is defending their title which they won last year. Al Arabi is the second Qatari team taking part in the competition. Pics: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula

GCC Volleyball: Al Rayyan beat Al Hilal

The top three shooters in air pistol event at the 5th GCC Women's Games pose for a picture yesterday.

GCC Women's Games: Rich haul of medals for QatarThe Peninsula

Qatari athletes continued their fine run at the 5th GCC Women's Games by win-

ning several medals on second day in various disciplines in Doha yesterday.

Qatar's shooter Aldana AlMubarak reigned supreme over her opponents to win gold medal in the air pistol event.

Another gold medal for the hosts came when Zhu Chen won the Rapid Chess.

In the final match, Zhu Chen defeated Wafia Al Moamary of the

United Arab Emirates while Amna Al Noaman of Oman finished third.

Zhu Chen also clinched the silver medal of Blitz event follow-ing her final match defeat against Wafia Al Moamary of the United Arab Emirates who took the gold medal.

On the other hand, Qatar’s Fatima Marhoon won the silver medal of Epee Fencing event on Wednesday.

In the final match, Marhoon suffered a 8-9 defeat against Al Anoud Mabrook Al Saadi of the United Arab Emirates.

Qatar’s Hanadi Al Yafai and Wadha Al Abdullah took the bronze medals.

In handball event, Qatar defeated United Arab Emirates 21-15 at the indoor hall of the Qatar Women’s Sport Committee.

The prestigious Games are bringing together 891 athletes representing four Gulf countries, including Bahrain, Oman, UAE and the host country, Qatar to compete in a fair and friendly environment.

The event will conclude on March 17.