SPORTTuesday 14 November 2017

Roger Federer dismisses Nadal’s claim

Vettel wins Brazilian GP as Hamilton finishes fourth

PAGE | 30 PAGE | 32-33 PAGE | 36

Moeen fit to return ahead of opener

Vett

Qatar set to host FIFA referee courses next year

The Peninsula

Qatar, hosts of the FIFA 2022 World Cup, has been named to stage four key referee workshops early next year, it has emerged.

Hani Ballan, the Deputy Chair-man of the FIFA Referees Committee, said the four courses will be attended by dozens of officials from around the world in late January and for most part of February.

Ballan, who is also the Chairman of the Qatar Football Federation’s (QFA) Referees Committee, was talk-ing to media along with Naji Al Juwaini, Executive Director of the Ref-erees Department.

The first workshop will be held from January 30 to February 2 with attendance of more than 100 officials.

Ballan said: “FIFA’s choice of Qatar for such a number of sessions clearly reflects FIFA’s confidence in Qatar and the strong relationship between them, especially with respect to the development of referees worldwide.”

The second workshop will be held with 37 referees featuring in it from February 5 to 9. The second session will see FIFA announcing the final list of referees and video officials who will take charge of 2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia.

The third round of courses - Feb-ruary 12 to 16 - will see the attendance of female referees (80 in total) who will managed matches at the 2019 Women’s World Cup to be held in France.

Ballan said the fourth workshop will be held from February 19 to 22 that will bring together more than 100 lecturers.

“World governing body FIFA will bear all financial costs in all respects

of the said courses,” Ballan informed. “The role of the QFA is to provide logistical support,” he said.

Al Juwaini said that it is the first time in the history of FIFA that a sin-gle host country has been accorded four workshops within such a short span of time.

“This is a moment of pride for QFA as we continue to develop refe-rees in the country and around the region as well as the Asian continent,” Al Juwaini said.

“However, I would like to add that it won’t be the first time that Qatar will be hosting FIFA referees refresher courses or workshops. QFA’s relationship with FIFA on how to develop the field of refereeing started long back. Qatar hosted training courses for the referees of the 2014 FIFA World Cup that was held in Brazil,” he said.

“We are honoured that FIFA has entrusted QFA with such important

meetings. QFA will ensure that eve-rything runs smoothly,” Al Juwaini said. “From our side, QFA have completed all preparations as we look forward to hosting four key meetings set to be attended by doz-ens of participants,” he said.

He pointed out that the Qatari referees will benefit from the train-ing sessions as attending such meetings give insight to the fast-developing world of refereeing,” he said.

Al Juwaini thanked QFA Presi-dent HE Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani for his ‘great support to the referees committee which was one of the reasons why Qatar is set to host these courses.’

“I would also like to thank the Qatar Sports Club, which will host the training of participants in the courses, as well as the ASPETAR and the Aspire Academy,” Al Juwaini said.

Football is a global sport and its rules must be interpreted and applied with absolute consistency wherever the game is played. FIFA, therefore, has a policy of ongoing training for its referees to ensure that refereeing standards continue to improve and the Laws of the Game are applied the same way everywhere: FIFA

FIFA’s choice of Qatar for such a number of sessions clearly reflects FIFA’s confidence in

Qatar and the strong relationship between them,

especially with respect to the development of referees

worldwide: Hani Ballan

QEF revs up preparations for Qatar

and Al Rayyan Championships DohaQNA

Qatar Equestrian Fed-eration (QEF) is preparing to organ-

ise Qatar and Al Rayyan International Show Jump-ing Championships at the QEF outdoor arena in Al Rayyan, with prizes reach-ing up to QR1.7m.

The two competitions are classified under

the four stars cat-egory under the supervision of the Interna-t i o n a l Federation for E q u e s t r i a n

Sports, and is among the rounds

of the Arab League qualifying for the next World Cup.

The Qatar Interna-tional Championship will be held on from November 16 to 18, fol-lowed by the Al Rayyan

Championship which will be held from November 23 to 25.

The Qatari team has been preparing very well for this tournament in order to achieve the best results, especially after its long training in the out-door camp in Europe.

Qatar successfully hosted the final round of the Longines Global Champions Tour, which concluded two days ago at Al Shaqab, which hosted the final round of the tour-nament over three days with the participation of the world’s best riders. Qatar’s Bassem Hassan Mohammed won the first place in the competition, becoming the first Arab, Gulf and Asian rider to win the biggest prize in the championship’s history.

QEF Secretary-Gen-eral Badr Mohammed Al Darwish said that the t w o internat ional

championships will wit-ness the participation of the best riders in the region, adding that the Federation has prepared well to make these two championship competi-tions a success.

Al Darwish noted that the popular “Hathab” equestrian series, organ-ised by the QEF in cooperation with Al Shaqab, will continue dur-ing the two international tournaments by holding the fourth and fifth rounds.

Hathab is an initiative of President of the Qatar Olympic Committee HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani. It is aimed at improving the standard of horse riding among Qatari youths while encouraging the involvement of private stables and individual horse owners to grow awareness of horseman-ship as part of Qatars history and tradition.

Dimitrov marks

debut with

narrow win

London Reuters

Grigor Dimitrov made a winning start to his maiden ATP Finals

when he outlasted Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 in a gripping afternoon duel at the O2 Arena yesterday.

The opening match in the Pete Sampras Group produced a feast of stylish backhands from both players but it was Dimitrov, the first Bulgarian to qualify for the tournament in its 48-year-old history, who overcome some late jitters to prevail.

Dimitrov served for the match at 5-4 in the decider but was broken to love before two consecutive double faults by Thiem gave him another chance to close it out.

Again Dimitrov wobbled, squandering two match points at 40-15 with a double-fault and a forehand error, but he finally bagged the win when Thiem looped a backhand long.

Yesterday’s ResultsAl Gharafa drew with

Al Kharaitiyat 1-1

Al Duhail beat Al Sailiya 2-1

Qatar SC drew with Al Khor 0-0

QSL CUP

The Peninsula

Al Gharafa made their way to the semi-finals while Al Duhail came

back strongly to defeat Al Sailiya 2-1 as round four of QSL Cup came to a thrilling conclusion yesterday evening.

At Al Ahli Stadium, Al Gharafa were searching for a victory to make it to the semi-finals of the tournament with ease.

But Abdullah Al Anzi scored for Al Kharaitiyat in the 10th minute to trouble Al Gharafa in the early stage of the match.

Al Gharafa’s Chilean mid-fielder Luis Jimenez scored the equaliser in the 28th minute.

Both teams failed to score in the second half. However, despite yesterday’s draw, Al Gharafa assured of a berth in the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, at Al Wakrah Stadium, Al Duhail’s Yousef Al Arabi scored twice in their 2-1 win against Al Sailiya.

Mirgani Al Zain gave Al Sailiya the lead in the 40th minute before the scored were levelled by Yousef Al Arabi five minutes later, making no mistake off a pen-alty kick.

Al Arabi scored the win-ner the 90th minute.

Al Gharafa through to semis; Al Duhail win

30 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT

Moeen fit to return ahead of opener

Townsville

AFP

England’s Moeen Ali says

he has overcome his side

strain and is ready to play

his first Australian tour

match in Townsville this

week.

The Worcestershire all-

rounder missed England’s opening

two games in Perth and Adelaide

but is available for the final Ashes

warm-up game against a Cricket

Australia XI starting tomorrow.

“I am good,” he told report-

ers yesterday. “It’s just a slight

strain on my side from throwing.

“It was a bit frustrating but

also not a bad thing, you get a lot

more work done.

“I feel like I am ready to play

and I can’t wait to spend time in

the field. We have got four days

of cricket ahead.

“I can get a bit of game time

in my system and then be ready

to play, hopefully, at the Gabba.”

The four-dayer in north

Queensland is England’s last game

before the Ashes series-opener in

Brisbane starting on November 23.

“It’s about being ready for

that first ball when it’s delivered

in Brisbane,” he said.

Moeen, on his first Ashes tour

Down Under, says he is ready for

the intensity of the series.

“I’ve heard a lot about Bris-

bane,” he said. “It’s something you

have to block out. You have to

focus on your game and the situ-

ation that the team is in.

“I’m prepared the best I can.

When you’re out there you rely

on your instincts. I know it will be

tough, but

I’ve always

backed my

ability.”

England head

into their third tour match on the

back of a comprehensive 192-run

win over a CA XI in a day-night

encounter at Adelaide Oval, the

venue for the second Test which

gets underway on December 2.

Moeen, usually England’s

number eight in Test cricket, is

likely to move up the order in the

absence of star all-rounder Ben

Stokes, who remains at home after

being arrested on suspicion of

actual bodily harm.

Stokes is awaiting the out-

come of a police investigation into

his involvement in a fight outside

a Bristol nightclub in

September.

“With the Stokesy situation

I’ve probably got to go up the

order by one, but my aim as a

cricketer is to get up the order

as high as I can, maybe push into

a role at five or six,” said the

all-rounder.

“Obviously that’s a bit further

ahead. Firstly I have to do the job

at number seven.”

I feel like I am ready to play and I can’t wait to spend time in the field. We have got four days of cricket ahead, says Moeen Ali

England’s Moeen Ali

celebrates a wicket

in this file photo.

England call-up Garton extends Sussex stay London AFP

England call-up George Garton (pictured)has

signed a new two-y e a r c o n t r a c t extension with Sussex that will keep him at the south coast county until the end of the 2020 season, it was a n n o u n c e d yesterday.

Left-arm pace-man Garton is one of the rising stars of the English game and, despite having played just nine first-class matches, he was drafted into England’s Ashes squad in Australia for their final warm-up as cover for the injured Jake Ball.

The 20-year-old recorded his best first-class figures of three for 20 in Sussex’s penultimate County Championship match last season against Durham in September.

“I’m delighted to have signed an extension at Sussex,” said Garton.

“Having come through the system since the Under-10s, it’s great to be part of such a great club and a very strong squad which can hopefully push for trophies in the next few years.”

Sussex director of cricket Keith Greenfield added: “George has pace, which is a valuable asset, and his white ball skills are developing quickly.

“He has come through our system since he was a young lad and we want to make sure he continues to grow and fulfil his potential and crick-eting aspirations with us.”

Australia paceman Starc hails ‘genius’ Hazlewood Melbourne Reuters

Australia’s Josh Hazlewood (pictured) is a “genius” with line and length and

will have no trouble being ready for next week’s Ashes opener against England despite having had only a single warm-up match, fellow seamer Mitchell Starc has said.

Hazlewood, Starc and Pat Cummins have been rested for the third round of the domestic Sheffield Shield to preserve them for the November 23 Test in Brisbane.

In rampaging form, pace spearhead Starc and Cummins had two first class games for New South Wales, but their team mate Hazlewood just had the one, against Western Australia, after making a delayed come-back from a side strain.

It was an impressive return for Hazlewood, who claimed six wickets and earned gushing praise from Australia captain

Steve Smith. Starc, too, was among the admirers and is rel-ishing the prospect of all three New South Wales bowlers steaming in at England’s bats-men at the Gabba.

“(Hazlewood) was straight back into his test form after one over of Shield cricket,” Starc told local media yesterday.

“He’s a bloody genius with line and length, it allows Pat and I to be aggressive and that’s how I bowl.

“We can unleash from the

other end, bowl as quick as we can and attack.

“(Hazlewood) takes his wickets with line and length and Pat and I come in and try and blast teams out, try and attack the stumps and really intimidate.

“We complement each other really well.”

Having poached 17 wickets from his two Shield matches, Starc’s form has raised home hopes he might prove to be Eng-land’s new left-arm nemesis, four years after Mitchell John-son dominated in a 5-0 whitewash.

“I think we have an attack that is gelling well,” Starc said.

“It doesn’t have to be one guy who stands up, if someone has a Mitchell Johnson-type series fantastic.

“But if we win the Ashes it doesn’t matter who gets all the wickets. “Hopefully we can stay together as a group and do something special over the next few years.”

Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal to retire from all cricket Karachi AFP

Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal announced his retirement from all forms

of cricket yesterday, two years after losing his wicket-taking bite with a remodelled bowling action that was twice deemed illegal.

During a successful but con-troversial career, Ajmal was once celebrated as the world’s number one bowler in one day interna-tionals (ODIs) and Twenty20 cricket, and was almost as suc-cessful in Tests.

He famously captured 24 wickets in three Tests against England in 2012.

But his time in the limelight was cut short after a temporary ban for chucking saw him return to the sport in 2015 without the same form.

He took just one wicket in two ODIs and a Twenty20 in Bangladesh, his first matches after being cleared to bowl, and was never selected for the national team again.

“I am quitting all forms of cricket after the current National Twenty20 tournament,” Ajmal

said. “It was a highly satisfying career in which I achieved what-ever goals I set for myself and helped the team win matches.”

Ajmal took 178 wickets in 35 Tests, the last of which was at Galle in Sri Lanka in 2014, where his bowling action was reported for a second time. It was first

reported during an ODI series against Australia in the UAE in 2009. He finished with 184 wick-ets in 113 ODIs, and 85 in 64 Twenty20 internationals.

But in spite of his early suc-cesses, Ajmal said the last two years of his career had been frustrating.

“Ban over action left me frus-trated and hurt,” he said.

“More hurtful was that cur-rent player Stuart Broad questioned that and his com-ments hurt me no end. But I have forgiven everyone.”

Ajmal took a swipe at the process of calling bowlers out for illegal action.

“It seems that the process was meant for me and (Moham-mad) Hafeez, all other bowlers with questionable actions are still playing,” he said.

Ajmal said he will concen-trate on coaching in the future.

I am quitting all forms of cricket after the current National Twenty20 tournament. It was a highly satisfying career in which I achieved whatever goals I set for myself and helped the team win matches, says Saeed Ajmal

Saeed

Ajmal

India toil hard for SL series Kolkata IANS

India’s premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who was out of international

cricket for the past three months, was yesterday seen practising wrong ‘uns while skipper Virat Kohli played a lot of bouncers bowled at him with coloured balls during India’s first practice session ahead of the three-match Test rubber against Sri Lanka.

Sans Saurashtra players Ravindra Jadeja and Cheteshwar Pujara who played their round five Ranji Trophy match against Gujarat, the entire Indian team sweated it out for nearly two and a half hours in the afternoon.

The batsmen also played a lot of reverse sweeps at the nets, with Ajinkya Rahane spending the most time with the bat.

“It’s how you react to a particular ball. It’s not that we have planned differently for a particular bowler. There’s no compulsory shot like that,”

wicketkeeper-batsman Wrid-dhiman Saha told reporters on the sidelines of India’s first practice session at the Eden Gardens here.

Besides Kohli who was given throwdowns with a yel-lowish ball by batting coach Sanjay Bangar, other batsmen also played a lot of bouncers.

Saha said the focus is not on South Africa and they want to win this series first. Pujara had said a few days back that this would present a good opportunity for the No. 1 side to prepare for the Proteas challenge. India will play three Tests, six ODIs and three T20 internationals against the Pro-teas. The first Test is on January 5 in Cape Town.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas, captain Dinesh Chandimal and the other team management staff inspected the Eden Gardens wicket.

Batting coach Thilan Samaraweera, bowling coach Rumesh Ratnayake and team manager Asanka Gurusinha

had a good look at the 22-yard strip which had a lot of grass on it, which was later removed on the instructions of the India team management.

Cricket Association of Ben-gal (CAB) pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee and East zone cura-tor Ashish Bhowmick were seen having a chat with the home team coach.

“The pitch looks good but there is a lot of grass on it,” Pothas told reporters while leaving the stadium.

Chandimal was seen in a relaxed mood in denims and shorts. The tourists cancelled their training this morning after playing a two-day warm-up game against Board President’s XI. The match ended in a tie but four Lankan batsmen notched up half centuries.

Chandimal and co were blanked 9-0 across all formats by India in their own backyard in August this year. They won 2-0 against Pakistan in the longest format of the game in the UAE but lost all limited overs matches.

31TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 SPORT

This file photo taken on January 09, 2017 shows Real Madrid and Portugal’s forward and winner of The Best FIFA Men’s Player of 2016 Award Cristiano Ronaldo posing with partner Georgina Rodriguez and his son Cristiano Ronaldo Jr following The Best FIFA Football Awards 2016 ceremony in Zurich. Ronaldo announced on Sunday that he had become a father for the fourth time after girlfriend Rodriguez gave birth to a baby girl, Alana Martina.

Real Madrid star Ronaldo becomes father for 4th time

Croatia qualify for World Cup

Piraeus AFP

Croatia qualified for the 2018 World Cup on Sunday by hold-ing Greece to a 0-0 draw in the second

leg of their play-off in Piraeus for a 4-1 win on aggregate.

Zlatko Dalic’s men will be playing in their fifth World Cup in Russia next year, having only once failed to qualify in 2010.

“We had a good match in Zagreb but it was difficult here. If we had won 1-0 (in the first leg) it would have been very difficult tonight,” said Croatia coach Dalic, who only took over from the sacked Ante Cacic last month.

“We are a very good team and it would not be just for us not to go to Russia.”

A strong defensive per-formance, especially in the second half, was enough for Croatia to leave the Karaisiakis

Stadium with a comfortable victory over the two legs after winning 4-1 on Thursday.

“It was a tough match for us. We did not play at our level, but more important is the result,” said Real Madrid mid-fielder Luka Modric.

“Greece played a good game tonight, it pushed us, but there was no serious opportu-nity (of a comeback).”

Greece coach Michael Skibbe dropped half of his play-ers from the disastrous first-leg showing in Zagreb, and the return of Roma defender Kos-tas Manolas kept Croatia striker Nikola Kalinic in check.

“Unfortunately we had a very bad performance in Zagreb three days ago and we paid for it,” said German Skibbe.

“We then made too many mistakes. Tonight we were excellent and Croatia were not good. The previous match hap-pened the other way around.”

For the first 30 minutes Greece were in control, but despite two good shots from Borussia Dortmund defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos and AEK Athens forward Anasta-sios Bakasetas, the home team failed to get the much-needed early goal.

Greece came close to scor-ing four minutes before half-time when a cross from Kostas Mitroglou found mid-fielder Zeca, who headed the ball in front of the Croatian goalmouth, only for goalkeeper Danijel Subasic to tip the ball away with Panagiotis Retsos

ready to head in. But the visi-tors nearly put the tie to bed when a left-footed blast by Inter Milan winger Ivan Peri-sic hit the post in the 43rd minute, after Barcelona mid-fielder Ivan Rakitic had earlier curled a free-kick over the crossbar.

Greece continued to enjoy more of the ball in the second period but when it came to fin-ishing off an attack, either a pass would go astray or a defender would step in. A shot on the turn by Mitroglou from just outside the penalty area just missed the post with an outstretched Subasic unable to reach it.

Greece did put the ball in the net in the 79th minute, but substitute Dimitris Pelkas was correctly called offside.

Bologna defender Vasilis Torosidis’ shot was blocked by Subasic with just three minutes left, denying Greece even a consolation strike.

The 28 nations that have already booked their place for the 2018 World Cup in

Russia, after Switzerland and Croatia qualified on Sunday:

Europe: Belgium, England, Germany, Iceland, Poland, Russia (as hosts), Serbia,

Spain, France, Portugal, Switzerland, Croatia

Africa: Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia

Asia: Iran, Japan, Saudi Arabia, South Korea

North, Central America and Caribbean: Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama

South America: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Colombia

The four remaining places will be decided by tomorrow.

They will go to:

*The two winners of the European play-offs: Sweden vs Italy, Denmark vs Republic

of Ireland

*The two winners of intercontinental play-offs: Peru vs New Zealand, Australia vs

Honduras.

QUALIFIERS FOR 2018 WORLD CUP

Croatian players celebrate after drawing the match against Greece which

ensured their place in the 2018 World Cup at Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus,

Greece on Sunday.

Neymar rifts cloud Brazil’s final assignment of 2017 London AFP

It is with a raincloud hover-ing above the head of their talisman Neymar (pictured)

that Brazil are gearing up for their final assignment of 2017 against England at Wembley today.

Though Neymar has scored 11 goals in 12 games since his world-record move to Paris Saint-Germain from Barcelona, recent weeks have yielded sto-ries of rifts with his team-mates and disagreements with coach Unai Emery.

He cut a fragile figure in the press conference that followed Brazil’s 3-1 win over Japan in a friendly in Lille on Friday, wip-ing away tears as national coach Tite spoke out in his defence and then hurriedly leaving the room.

“When you are an idol, an example in the eyes of so many people, you have to be perfect and very often I am not,” Ney-mar said before his abrupt departure.

“I am a young man of 25 with a lot to learn in football.”

Neymar has generally daz-zled in Ligue 1 since completing his 222m euros ($259m) trans-fer from Barcelona, but his recent performances have betrayed signs of unease.

He was sent off in PSG’s 2-2

draw at Marseille after being shown a second yellow card for reacting angrily to a foul by Lucas Ocampos.

Although he scored (and squandered a penalty) against Japan, he was also booked for cuffing Hiroki Sakai -- who, coincidentally, plays for Mar-seille -- on the back of the head.

More worrying yet for PSG’s fans have been the reports ema-nating from Brazil that Neymar has already expressed regret about leaving Barcelona.

He has returned to Barce-lona at least twice since the start of the season, twice being pic-tured on social media with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, and is even reported to have asked them how they would feel if he came back for good.

Neymar aside, Brazil have had a little else to worry about, having finished 10 points clear

in the South American qualify-ing tournament for next year’s World Cup following the dyna-m i s i n g m i d - c a m p a i g n appointment of Tite as coach.

Tite is expected to rotate his starting XI from the Japan game, with Neymar’s PSG colleagues Dani Alves and Marquinhos, as well as Philippe Coutinho and Diego, among the players tipped to come into the starting XI.

England will approach the game in a positive frame of mind after an inexperienced and injury-depleted side produced an encouraging display in a 0-0 draw against Germany on Friday.

Everton goalkeeper Jor-dan Pickford and Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who is on loan at Crystal Palace, both impressed on their debuts as manager Gareth Southgate gave five players a first taste of international football.

There could be more debuts in the offing against Brazil after Bournemouth midfielder Lewis Cook and Liverpool forward Dominic Solanke were drafted into the squad, along with young Manchester City goalkeeper Angus Gunn.

“I think we did well against a well-oiled machine in Germany,” said Tottenham Hotspur’s Eric Dier, who captained England against the Germans.

Australia’s Cahill fit for Honduras showdown Sydney AFP

Veteran talisman Tim Cahill said yesterday he had

recovered from an ankle injury and was fit to play for Australia in this week’s World Cup play-off with Honduras in Sydney.

The country’s all-time leading scorer remained on the bench during the goalless first leg in San Pedro Sula on Friday but said he was expecting to make an appearance in tomor-row’s do-or-die match to qualify for Russia 2018.

And the 103-cap for-ward said he would be ready to start if called upon by coach Ange Postecoglou.

“If I had to play in Honduras I definitely would have made a con-tribution,” Cahill said.

“That’s what it’s all about, putting your body on the line and sacrific-ing for these two games, for such a big occasion for our country to qual-ify for a fourth consecutive World Cup.

“I’m feeling really good. It was awesome to train in Honduras and get two sessions in so I feel great. I feel like I’m going to be involved and it’s all about Wednesday night.”

Cahill, at 37, remains an indispensable mem-ber of the Socceroos. His two headed goals earned Australia a 2-1 victory over Syria in Sydney last month to set up the intercontinental play-off with Honduras.

Attacker Mathew Leckie has also declared his availability for the Sydney return leg.

Russia vows to improve stadium transport after complaints Moscow AFP

Russian authorities said Monday they would improve Luzhniki sta-

dium before next year’s World Cup after fans at the Russia v Argentina friendly complained it took two hours to walk to the nearest metro station after jams at exits.

Spectators said that after the final whistle on Saturday they were forced to stay in the stands for 30 minutes in the stadium that will host next year’s final.

The bottlenecks were caused by ongoing works at the station, said Vladimir Chernikov, the head of Mos-cow’s security department, in comments carried by the Interfax news agency.

The number of shuttles from the stadium to the sta-tion would be increased in the near future, he said.

“Security of the spectators was adequately managed,” Chernikov said.

Russia’s deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko, who is also president of the coun-try’s football federation, said the match had been a key test for the World Cup organisers and lessons would be learned.

32 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT 33TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 SPORT

Federer dismisses Nadal’s claim LondonAFP

Roger Federer has dis-missed Rafael Nadal’s claim that it would be fairer if the ATP Tour Finals were played

on clay courts. As the world’s most formi-

dable player on clay, Nadal has in the past suggested it would be better if the season-ending Tour Finals at least occasionally took place on his preferred surface.

The prestigious season-end-ing event has never been held on clay since its inception in 1970 and it’s a tournament

which Nadal has yet to conquer.

It has mostly been played on an indoor hard-court, with other stints on carpet, grass and out-door hard-courts when it was staged in various cities before setting up home in London in 2009.

Federer has always thrived on the indoor hard-court used at the O2 Arena, as he showed once again by kicking off his bid for a seventh title at the event with a 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) win over Jack Sock on Sunday.

Asked about the world number one’s desire for a clay finale to the season, Federer insisted the current surface was a good choice given the prepon-derance of other events on the crushed earth.

There are currently three Masters 1000 events held on Nadal’s favoured clay, with none on the faster grass that Federer prefers.

Of the Grand Slams, only the French Open -- won 10 times by Nadal -- is on clay, while Wim-bledon, where Federer has triumphed eight times -- is the grass-court major.

“’Fair’? I’m not sure if it’s the right word. I think it’s right and fair that it’s indoors, as well,” Federer said.

“There is no Masters 1000s on grass. There is one Masters 1000 indoors: Paris. So I feel like indoors also deserves its place.

“Could it be switched up to clay once in a while? Yeah, maybe. Could we have more 1000s on grass?

“Yeah, we could have that, t o o .

Could we have less on clay, more or hard courts? Could we have more or hard courts, less on clay?

“Yes, it’s all debatable. I think it’s not the time of the year for clay, so there you have it.

“You can do indoor clay, I guess, but that’s a bit silly. But I get his point.”

Federer has enjoyed a remarkable renaissance this year, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon, as well as five other titles.

Despite that stunning return to form, the 36-year-old won’t finish the year on top of the world rankings.

Nadal wrapped up that hon-our when Federer opted out of the recent Paris Masters.

If world number two Federer had played and won in France, he could have kept the race going into the Tour Finals -- where he and Nadal are the leading con-tenders for the trophy.

But he was adamant he had no worries about missing out on pole position.

“He was better throughout the year. He played more tour-naments. He was incredibly successful throughout,” Federer said.

“So, no, I don’t have any regrets because I feel like in my stage of my competition, my age, either it comes to me or it doesn’t.

“He had more gas left in the tank than I did. I couldn’t play as much as I’ve wanted, or I over-

played anyway. “My only regret was I would

have loved to be in contention through the Montreal finals, Cincinnati, US Open.

“But things evaporated very quickly after he won the US Open. That’s when he made his final push, was in Asia. That was it for me really.

“In some ways I’m happy he clinched it because he deserves it. I can focus on playing the tour-nament, and not having to talk about that at the same time.

“But, sure, I would have loved to be it, but you can’t be it with that many tournaments, so it’s no problem for me.”

Swiss star has no regrets at finishing year number two

crushed earth. 1000s on grass?“Yeah, we could have that,

t o o .

If world number two Federer had played and won in France,he could have kept the race goinginto the Tour Finals -- where he and Nadal are the leading con-tenders for the trophy.

But he was adamant he hadno worries about missing out on pole position.

“He was better throughout the year. He played more tour-naments. He was incredibly successful throughout,” Federersaid.

“So, no, I don’t have any regrets because I feel like in mystage of my competition, myage, either it comes to me or itdoesn’t.

“He had more gas left in the tank than I did. I couldn’t play as much as I’ve wanted, or I over-

played any“My on

have lovedthrough tCincinnati

“But thquickly afOpen. Thafinal push, it for me re

“In somclinched itit. I can focunament, anabout that

“But, suto be it, buthat manyno problem

London Reuters

Roger Fed-erer says he does not regret passing up

the chance to topple great rival Rafael Nadal from the top of the world rankings at the ATP Finals in Lon-don this week.

It could be argued the 36-year-old Swiss has enjoyed a mar-ginally superior year to the Spaniard, hav-ing won seven titles including the Austral-ian Open and Wimbledon.

But Nadal, winner of the French and US Opens, was guaran-teed finishing the year as number one for the first time since 2013 after Federer with-drew from the Paris Masters to rest his body.

Nadal was pre-sented with the year-end award immediately after Federer began his quest for a seventh ATP Finals title by beating Jack Sock 6-4, 7-6(4) at the O2 Arena on Sunday.

“He was better throughout the year. He played more tour-naments. He was incredibly successful throughout. So, I don’t have any regrets because I feel like in my stage of my competition, my age, either it comes to me or it doesn’t,” Federer told reporters.

“He had more gas left in the tank than I did. I couldn’t play as much as I’ve wanted. My only regret was I would have loved to be in contention through the Montreal finals, Cincinnati, US Open,” added Federer, who struggled with a back injury during the North American hardcourt swing.

“But things evaporated very quickly after he (Nadal) won the US Open. That’s when he made his final push.

“That was it for me really.”While 31-year-old Nadal,

who plays his first match on Monday against David Goffin,

is the oldest end-of-year number one, Federer is the oldest to finish number two.

“In some ways I’m happy he clinched it because he deserves it. And like this, I can focus on playing the tourna-ment, and not having to talk about that at the same time,” Federer said.

“Sure, I would have loved to be it, but you can’t be it with that many tournaments, so it’s no problem for me.”

After proving his fitness with a close-fought victory over Sock, Federer, who has not won the ATP Finals title since 2011, will also face new-comer Alexander Zverev, the world number three, and Marin Cilic in the Boris Becker Group.

“I’m happy that I was able to come out today and had actually good energy,” Federer, the oldest man to qualify for the ATP Finals since 1970, said.

“This is the best I’ve felt since the (Juan Martin) del Potro final (in Basel). Now there’s no more turning back. Just full steam ahead every match that comes.”

ATP TOUR SINGLES STANDINGS

1: Rafa Nadal(Spain) 10645 2: Roger Federer(Switzerland) 9005 3: Alexander Zverev(Germany) 4410 4: Dominic Thiem(Austria) 3815 5: Marin Cilic(Croatia) 3805 6: Grigor Dimitrov(Bulgaria) 3650 7: Stan Wawrinka(Switzerland) 3150 8: David Goffin(Belgium) 2975 9: Jack Sock(U.S.) 2765 10: Pablo Carreno(Spain) 2615 11: Juan Martin del Potro(Argentina) 2595 12: Novak Djokovic(Serbia) 2585 13: Sam Querrey(U.S.) 2535 14: Kevin Anderson(South Africa) 2480 15: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(France) 2320 16: Andy Murray(Britain) 2290 17: John Isner(U.S.) 2265 18: Lucas Pouille(France) 2235 19: Tomas Berdych(Czech Republic) 2095 20: Roberto Bautista(Spain) 2015 21: Nick Kyrgios(Australia) 2010 22: Kei Nishikori(Japan) 1885 23: Albert Ramos(Spain) 1845 24: Milos Raonic(Canada) 1795 25: Gilles Muller(Luxembourg) 1695

Zverev downs Cilic on impressive ATP Finals debut London Reuters

A few hours after old master Roger Federer reminded everyone of his enduring

magic, Alexander Zverev, the man leading the next generation of men’s tennis, dazzled on his ATP Finals debut.

The 20-year-old German, ranked three in the world, was hot and cold against Croatia’s Marin Cilic but, when it mattered most, he produced his best tennis to win 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Zverev, the youngest qualifier for the season-ender for nine years, appeared to be fading after a dazzling start, but surged back in style to join Federer on top of Boris Becker Group.

“It is different walking on here than any other stadium. The crowd, the atmosphere is amaz-ing,” Zverev, who revelled on the big stage, told reporters after the late-night finish.

“There were a lot of nerves involved in my first match. Obvi-ously I’m happy that’s behind me. I’m happy that I won.”

Zverev possesses huge power off the ground, yet it was his finesse at the net which earned him a break in the opening game, picking off a low drop volley that gave Cilic no chance.

His forehand wavered at times as Cilic cleverly tried to take the pace off the ball with some floaty slices, but Zverev closed out the first set with an ace.

Cilic, back in London since his traumatic Wimbledon final defeat by Federer when he broke down in tears as blisters wrecked his big day, then took control.

The big Croat upped his serv-ing and forehand power to level the match and then led 3-1 in the third set.

At 3-2, he was 40-15 up on serve but Zverev, wound-up by an erroneous over-rule, forged back to break with an exquisite lob.

Cilic then dropped serve to love at 4-5 to lose for the sixth time in seven matches at the year-ender.

Zverev, bidding to become the first German to finish the year in the world’s top three since Boris

Becker in 1994, will face a mouth-watering clash with Federer tomorrow.

Six-times champion Federer had earlier beaten Jack Sock.

“I think anyone beating Fed-erer in this group has a good chance of (reaching the semi-finals),” Zverev, who beat the Swiss to win this year’s Montreal title, his second Masters 1000 title of the year, said.

“But he’s the favourite defi-nitely in all of the matches he plays. But I enjoy playing in front of big stages, big crowds.”

United States ends 17-year drought with Fed Cup win MinskAFP

The United States claimed their first Fed Cup title for 17 years as Shelby Rogers

and CoCo Vandeweghe beat Bela-rus pair Aryna Sabalenka and Aliaksandra Sasnovich in a decid-ing doubles rubber in the final on Sunday.

Vandeweghe and Rogers won 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) to give the Ameri-cans a 3-2 final victory and an 18th Fed Cup crown.

“I’m just really thrilled for all four players,” said US captain Kathy Rinaldi.

“CoCo (Vandeweghe) came out and just played unbelievable. Shelby (Rogers) stepped up and Sloane (Stephens) -- my heart was broken for her, but she bat-tled this whole weekend, she battled all the way to the end. I’m so proud of all four of them.”

Earl ier on Sunday, Vandeweghe put the USA 2-1 up by beating Sabalenka 7-6 (7/5), 6-1, while Sasnovich battled back from a set down to beat Sloane Stephens 4-6, 6-1, 8-6 to draw Belarus level at 2-2.

The 19-year-old Sabalenka and Sasnovich, 23, dropped a serve apiece in the first set and the Americans surged in front after just 26 minutes.

The Belarus duo replied pos-itively and broke both Vandeweghe and Rogers in the second to move 5-2 ahead but the visitors then broke back twice to level at 5-5.

In a tense conclusion, the hosts broke Rogers again but the American pair would not buckle despite the intense atmosphere of a Minsk crowd desperate to see a first home Fed Cup triumph.

Sabalenka dropped serve again to send the set to the

tiebreak where the experienced US duo triumphed.

In Sunday’s early match Sabalenka and Vandeweghe both played with confidence under the watchful gaze of Belarus presi-dent Alexander Lukashenko on the hard-court at the packed Minsk Chizhovka 8,000-seat arena.

The 25-year-old American took the opening set after 50 min-utes winning it in a tiebreak.

In the second Sabalenka, who is 78th in the world, suddenly lost her nerve allowing Vandeweghe to break twice before she took the set and the match sealing her vic-tory with an accurate backhand.

“I knew if I just kept giving myself opportunities and getting my nose in front in her service games, I’d keep getting opportu-nities and she’d eventually break down,” Vandeweghe said.

“She did what she’s supposed to do and did what I expected her to do - just swing and pray for it to go in and she did. So you just got to recover and keep fighting.

“And then it showed in the second set, she withered when I kept the pressure on her, and then I just closed it out.”

Later Sunday, US Open cham-pion Stephens, 24, broke her rival’s serve early in the opening set to lead 1-0 after 42 minutes.

But in the second Sasnovich broke twice to level at one set all after one hour 10 minutes on court.

In the deciding set, Stephens led 5-2 before Sasnovich, 23, roared back with four straight games before eventually closing it out 8-6 as Stephens suffered her sixth straight defeat since winning her maiden Grand Slam title in New York in September.

“It was one of the most tense matches in my life,” Sasnovich said.

“I gave everything I have for the win, the god of tennis was on my side today. The support of the crowd helped me to stay concen-trated throughout the game. It was a fantastic match.”

On the opening day Vandeweghe put USA into the lead with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sas-novich, while Sabalenka beat Stephens 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to pull the scores level at 1-1.

Belarus were without former world number one Victoria Aza-renka who was forced to remain in the United States to fight a cus-tody battle over her baby son.

PerthAFP

World No.15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will replace Svetlana

Kuznetsova in the Russian team at the Hopman Cup mixed teams event in January, organisers said yesterday.

World No.12 Kuznetsova has

withdrawn from the tournament but said she is still hopeful she will be fit enough to start her sea-son in Australia.

"I've had a procedure on my left wrist and have withdrawn from the Hopman Cup as a pre-caution," Kuznetsova said.

"I am recovering very well and I should be completely okay. I hope to be ready to go

for the rest of the Australian summer."

Pavlyuchenkova will partner Karen Khachanov for Russia when she makes her Perth debut in January.

Roger Federer, Alexander Zverev, Jack Sock and David Gof-fin are among those confirmed to play in the Hopman Cup, starting in Perth on December 30.

Pavlyuchenkova replaces Kuznetsova at Hopman Cup

US AT FED CUP FINALS

2017 US beat Belarus 3-2 2010 Italy beat US 3-1 2009 Italy beat US 4-0 2003 France beat US 4-1 2000 US beat Spain 5-0 1999 US beat Russia 4-1 1996 US beat Spain 5-0 1995 Spain beat US 3-2 1994 Spain beat US 3-0 1991 Spain beat US 2-1 1990 US beat Soviet Union 2-1 1989 US beat Spain 3-0 1987 West Germany beat US 2-1 1986 US beat Czechoslovakia 3-0 1982 US beat Germany 3-0 1981 US beat Britain 3-0 1980 US beat Australia 3-0 1979 US beat Australia 3-0 1978 US beat Australia 2-1 1977 US beat Australia 2-1 1976 US beat Australia 2-1 1974 Australia beat US 2-1 1969 US beat Australia 2-1 1967 US beat Britain 2-0 1966 US beat West Germany 3-0 1965 Australia beat US 2-1 1964 Australia beat US 2-1 1963 US beat Australia 2-1

The Peninsula

Romania’s Simona Halep finishes the year on the top of the rankings, while

CoCo Vandeweghe made her way into the top 10 for the first time according to the latest WTA Rankings.

Spanish star Garbine Mugu-ruza is ranked second, followed by Danish Caroline Wozniacki, Czech Republic’s Karolina Plisk-ova and Venus William of the

US who completed the top five.Former World No.7 Belinda

Bencic is the biggest climbers as she continued her comeback from injury by winning the WTA EA Hua Hin Championship. Ben-cic rose 45 places in the rankings.

The Swiss star is now the World No.120 - and has now won two of the four tournaments in which she has competed since her five-month layoff due to injury.

WTA T OUR SINGLES STANDINGS

1: Simona Halep (Romania) 6175 2: Garbine Muguruza (Spain) 6135 3: Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6015 4: Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 5730 5: Venus Williams (US) 5597 6: Elina Svitolina(Ukraine) 5500 7: Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 5010 8: Caroline Garcia (France) 4420 9: Johanna Konta (Britain) 3610 10: CoCo Vandeweghe (US) 3258

Halep tops WTA Rankings

ATP TOUR FINALS RESULTSSINGLES

Group Boris BeckerRoger Federer (SUI x2) bt Jack Sock (USA x8) 6-4, 7-6 (7/4)

Alexander Zverev (GER x3) bt Marin Cilic (CRO x5) 6-4, 3-6,

6-4

DOUBLESGroup Eltingh/Haarhuis

Ryan Harrison/Michael Venus (USA/NZL x8) bt Henri

Kontinen/John Peers (FIN/AUS x2) 6-4, 7-6 (10/8)

Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut (FRA/FRA x6) bt Jean-

Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau (NED/ROM x3) 1-6, 7-6 (9/7), 10-8

There is no Masters 1w000s on grass. There is one Masters 1000 indoors: Paris. So I feel like indoors also deserves its place: Roger Federer

Could it be switched up to clay once in a while? Yeah, maybe. Could we have more 1000son grass? Yeah, we could have that, too. Could we have less on clay, more or hard courts? Could we havemore or hard courts, lesson clay? Yes, it’s all debatable: Roger Federer

Germany’s Alexander

Zverev in action

during his ATP World

Tour Finals group

stage match against

Croatia’s Marin Cilic

at the O2 Arena

in London, Britain

on Sunday. Zverev

shocked Cilic win a

6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win.

The Members

of the US team

celebrate with

the trophy

after defeating

Belarus in

the Fed Cup

Final at the

Chizhovka

Arena in Minsk,

Belarus on

Sunday.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer

in action during his ATP

World Tour Finals group

stage match against Jack

Sock of the US on Sunday.

S i m o n a

Halep

34 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT

35TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017 SPORT

Horford leads the way in Celtics winBoston AFP

Al Horford scored a team-high 21 points in his return as the Boston Celtics played without Kyrie Irving

but still managed to hang on for their 12th straight victory on Sunday.

The Celtics had to dig deep into the depths of their roster, as they have done throughout their winning streak, to defeat the Toronto Raptors 95-94 in front of a crowd of 18,600 at the Bos-ton Garden.

Horford missed two games due to a concussion and his

return was welcome news after all-star Irving suffered a facial fracture in Friday’s win over Charlotte when he was acci-dently struck in the mouth by a teammate.

Horford led five Celtics in double figures on Sunday as Jaylen Brown scored 18 points, Terry Rozier scored 16, Marcus Smart 14 and rookie Jayson Tatum delivered 13 points and seven rebounds.

The Celtics are the first team in NBA history with a double-digit win streak while having more than four rookies on their roster. Tatum is the most prom-inent of the six rookies contributing to the team’s

remarkable early season success.

“It’s unbelievable ... we are playing good teams too,” Rozier said.

The Raptors had a chance to win the game in the final seconds as DeMar DeRozan went one-on-one with Brown but his shot

at the buzzer clanged off the rim. Boston held on despite not

scoring a basket over the final 86 seconds.

Guard Irving could return soon as he spent the weekend visiting a specialist to be fitted for a playing mask to protect the facial fracture which has been described as minor. Doctors say there is no sign of a concussion, said coach Brad Stevens.

“The good news is thus far that’s the only point of pain in his face or head or neck or anything else,” said Stevens.

Irving scored a then-career-high 41 points the last time he wore a mask in December 2012 while playing for the Cleveland

Cavaliers. DeRozan led the Rap-tors, who fell to 7-5 on the season, with 24 points for his seventh straight 20-point game.

“They are the best team in the NBA right now and they are playing unbelievable,” Toronto’s Kyle Lowry said. “Everybody is picking up slack.”

Lowry scored 19 points and dished out seven assists and CJ Miles was the only other Raptor in double figures with 10 points.

Lowry passed Andrea Barg-nani to move into fourth place on the Raptors’ all-time scoring list.

Elsewhere, James Harden had 26 points and a season-high 15 assists to lead the Houston

Rockets to a 118-95 rout of the Indiana Pacers. Harden hit nine of 21 shots from the field, fellow guard Eric Gordon chipped in with 21 points, and centre Clint Capela contributed 20 points and a team-high 17 rebounds.

It was the sixth consecutive victory for the Rockets, who led throughout.

Victor Oladipo led the Pac-ers with 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field.

In Detroit, Tobias Harris led five players in double figures with 25 points to help the Pis-tons earn a 112-103 win over the Miami Heat and finish unbeaten on the five-game homestand.

Resurgent Rams roll over Houston TexansLos Angeles AFP

Jared Goff threw for three touchdowns as the resurgent Los Angeles Rams overpow-

ered the Houston Texans to maintain their push towards the postseason on Sunday.

Rams quarterback Goff amassed a career-high 355 passing yards as the league’s most potent offense took their time before pulling away for a 33-7 win at the Memorial Coliseum.

The victory was the latest stop on a season of renais-sance for the Rams, who are now 7-2 at the top of the NFC West after finishing last year at 4-12.

A tight first half saw the Rams held to a 9-7 lead with Bruce Ellington scoring a touch-down for the Texans.

However the Rams cut loose in a dazzling third quarter, with Goff hurling a 94-yard

touchdown pass to Robert Woods from inside the Los Angeles end zone to launch a 21-point scoring blitz.

Goff then picked out Sammy Watkins for a 17-yard touch-down before hitting Woods once more for a 12-yard score.

The victory keeps Los Ange-les on course to reach the postseason for the first time since 2004.

Elsewhere on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys lost further

ground on NFC East pace-set-ters the Philadelphia Eagles (8-1) after slipping to a 27-7 loss against the Atlanta Falcons in Georgia.

Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott rushed for a first quar-ter touchdown to give Dallas the lead but ultimately suffered a miserable day, being sacked eight times.

Falcons defensive end Adrian Clayborn was responsi-ble for six sacks as the Cowboys offense, missing the suspended Ezekiel Elliott, failed to fire. Dal-las are now 5-4 in the NFC East, making it increasingly likely their best hope of reaching the playoffs is going to be via a wild-card slot.

In early games on Sunday, Chris Boswell drilled a last-sec-ond field goal to give the Pittsburgh Steelers a comeback 20-17 win over the Indianapo-lis Colts. The victory saw the Steelers move to 7-2 at the top of the AFC North.

Los Angeles Rams linebacker Samson Ebukam (50) hits Houston

Texans quarterback Tom Savage (3) during the second half at

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sunday.

San Jose 2 Los Angeles 1

Tampa Bay 2 Anaheim 1

New Jersey 7 Chicago 5

Washington 2 Edmonton 1

NBA RESULTS

Sane Jose 2 Los Angeles 1

Tampa Bay 2 Anaheim 1

New Jersey 7 Chicago 5

Washington 2 Edmonton 1

NHL RESULTS

New England 41 Denver 16

Atlanta 27 Dallas 7

San Francisco 31 NY Giants 21

La Rams 33 Houston 7

Green Bay 23 Chicago 16

Detroit 38 Cleveland 24

Pittsburgh 20 Indianapolis 17

Jacksonville 20 LA Chargers 17

New Orleans 47 Buffalo 10

Tampa Bay 15 NY Jets 10

Minnesota 38 Washington 30

Tennessee 24 Cincinnati 20

NFL RESULTS Lightning beat Ducks; Capitals down OilersNew York Reuters

JT Brown scored the deci-sive goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves

as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 on Sunday night at Honda Center .

The Lightning (14-2-2) tallied once on the power play to complete their California sweep with their fourth win in a row while extending their road win streak to six games. Tampa Bay avenged a 4-3 loss to the Ducks at home on October 28.

Meanwhile. TJ Oshie scored the only goal during the shootout to give Washing-ton the win over Edmonton.

Ayayayayayayay

Ayayayayayay

Dig deep

Celtics had to dig deep into the depths of their roster to defeat Toronto Raptors in front of a crowd of 18,600 at Boston Garden.

Houston Rockets guard James

Harden (13) passes the ball

while Indiana Pacers players

defend in the first half of

the game at Bankers Life

Fieldhouse on Sunday.

36 TUESDAY 14 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT

Vettel wins Brazilian GP as Hamilton finishes fourth

Sao Paulo AFP

Sebastian Vettel bounced back from his world championship disap-pointment in fine style on Sunday when he

won a sunlit Brazilian Grand Prix for Ferrari.

The four-time champion took the lead at the start and, apart from a period after his pit-s t o p , c o n t r o l l e d a n incident-packed race to finish 2.8 seconds ahead of pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 champion, resisted late chal-lenges from newly-crowned four-time champion Lewis Hamilton to hang on to third ahead of the second Mercedes driver, who had started the race from the pit lane.

Dutchman Max Verstappen came home fifth ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Australian Daniel Ricciardo and retire-ment-bound local hero Felipe Massa, a rousing seventh for Williams in his final home city race.

The Brazilian emerged tri-umphant in his own private scrap to the line with two-time champion Fernando Alonso of McLaren Honda, who finished eighth.

Sergio Perez finished ninth for Force India and Nico Hulken-berg 10th for Renault.

It was Vettel’s first win in eight outings since the Hungar-ian Grand Prix in July and his fifth of the season. It was also Ferrari’s first win in Brazil since 2008.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks for us, but it’s nice to get both cars on the podium here,” said Vettel.

“I had a good getaway and then I had wheelspin, so I thought I missed my chance but I think Valtteri had the same so I surprised him.

“I wanted to pull out a gap and then to control the race from there and it worked out.”

Bottas admitted: “My goal was to win so it was very disap-pointing. We lost it in the start. After that it was very close. I tried to put some pressure on

Sebastian, but it didn’t happen. Lewis did a great comeback to score points.”

Raikkonen admitted: “Lewis got close to me at the end, but it’s impossible to overtake here if you have close speed between the cars.”

Massa gave the home crowd something to cheer about as the Williams driver heads to retirement.

He won the race at Interla-gos in 2008 when he was pipped to the title by Hamilton.

“I feel so emotional today,” admitted Massa. “All you guys, thank you very much for every-thing that we passed together and for all the support and energy.”

On a hot blue-skied day, with a track temperature of 60 degrees Celsius, the key action took place on the first lap when, following a multiple collision at the first corner, the Safety Car was deployed.

This incident saw Ricciardo spin on a kerb, hit luckless Bel-gian Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren and, in turn, Dane Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.

The latter two were forced to retire as, in a separate inci-dent, Frenchman Romain Grosjean lost control of his Haas and slid into compatriot Esteban Ocon’s Force India, taking the pair of them off into a gravel trap.

It was the first retirement of Ocon’s career after 27 races and Grosjean was handed a 10-sec-onds penalty.

In the chaos that ensued, Hamilton took advantage and rose to 14th before the Safety Car pulled off and racing resumed.

The world champion, who had clinched his fourth title two weeks earlier in Mexico, made the most of his rebuilt car, pow-ered by a new engine, following his crash in qualifying on Satur-day. While Vettel pulled clear by 1.9 seconds ahead of Bottas, it was Hamilton setting the fastest laps as he sliced through the field. By lap 21, of the 71, follow-i n g a n i m m a c u l a t e demonstration of speed and passing moves, he was up to fifth before settling for fourth place.

“It was fun,” said Hamilton. “Just like my karting days when I started from the back. But I messed up yesterday and I know I was quick enough to win from pole to flag, but I made the job a lot harder.

“When I woke up this morn-ing my goal was to do the team proud and score points. I tried, but ran out of tyres at the end.”

Brazilian Grand Prix results on Sunday:1. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari) 1hr 31min 26.260sec, 2. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Mercedes) at 2.762, 3. Kimi Räikkönen

(FIN/Ferrari) 4.600, 4. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 5.468, 5. Max Verstappen (NED/Red Bull-TAG Heuer)

32.940, 6. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull-TAG Heuer) 48.691, 7. Felipe Massa (BRA/Williams-Mercedes) 1:08.882,

8. Fernando Alonso (ESP/McLaren-Honda) 1:09.363, 9. Sergio Pérez (MEX/Force India-Mercedes) 1:09.500, 10. Nico

Hülkenberg (GER/Renault) 1 lap, 11. Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Renault) 1 lap, 12. Pierre Gasly (FRA/Toro Rosso-Renault) 1

lap, 13. Marcus Ericsson (SWE/Sauber-Ferrari) 1 lap, 14. Pascal Wehrlein (GER/Sauber-Ferrari) 1 lap, 15. Romain

Grosjean (FRA/Haas-Ferrari) 2 laps, 16. Lance Stroll (CAN/Williams-Mercedes) 2 laps

Retired: Esteban Ocon (FRA/Force India), Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL/McLaren-Honda), Kevin Magnussen (DEN/Haas),

Brendon Hartley (NZL/Toro Rosso)

World championship standings

Drivers1. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 345 pts (champion), 2. Sebastian Vettel (GER) 302, 3. Valtteri Bottas (FIN) 280, 4. Daniel

Ricciardo (AUS) 200, 5. Kimi Räikkönen (FIN) 193, 6. Max Verstappen (NED) 158, 7. Sergio Pérez (MEX) 94, 8. Este-

ban Ocon (FRA) 83, 9. Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP) 54, 10. Felipe Massa (BRA) 42, 11. Lance Stroll (CAN) 40, 12. Nico

Hülkenberg (GER) 35, 13. Romain Grosjean (FRA) 28, 14. Kevin Magnussen (DEN) 19, 15. Fernando Alonso (ESP) 15,

16. Stoffel Vandoorne (BEL) 13, 17. Jolyon Palmer (GBR) 8, 18. Pascal Wehrlein (GER) 5, 19. Daniil Kvyat (RUS) 5

Constructors1. Mercedes-AMG 625 pts (champions), 2. Ferrari 495, 3. Red Bull 358, 4. Force India 177, 5. Williams 82, 6. Toro

Rosso 53, 7. Renault 49, 8. Haas 47, 9. McLaren-Honda 28, 10. Sauber 5

BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX RESULTS

Vettel celebrates on the podium with the winners trophy

at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Sunday.

Sao Paulo AFP

Felipe Massa paid an emotional tribute to his home city fans at Inter-

lagos on Sunday after a battling drive to finish sev-enth in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The 36-year-old local hero, who will retire at the end of the season, was sur-rounded by his family and friends as he bade farewell from the podium during an interview with his friend and fellow-Paulista Rubens Barrichello.

Barrichello was his early mentor in Formula One and his predecessor at Ferrari earlier in his career.

Massa fought to hang on to his seventh place for Wil-liams in a final scrap with two-time champion Fern-ando Alonso of McLaren Honda.

“It’s so difficult to explain my feelings,” said Massa, who had retired in 2016 but

returned for another year with Williams after Valtteri Bottas left to join Mercedes in January.

“I felt so emotional when I finished the race. It was a very difficult race for me. For me the race was like many victories that I took. I drove a perfect race from the begin-ning to the end, I managed the tyres, managed every-thing around the car with the pace I had. Today it was def-initely like a victory.”

Massa waved a Brazilian flag aloft from his car on the slow-down lap, as well as receiving a message from his son, Felipinho, over team radio. Race officials then invited Massa up onto the podium.

“It’s so amazing to finish the race and feel the emo-tions of the people after such an amazing race,” he said.

“Last year, I had so much love and emotion from the people, but I didn’t finish the race like I wanted. Today I finished the race like I wanted.”

Seventh feels like victory for retiring Massa

Williams’ Brazilian driver Felipe Massa (left) is interviewed

by Brazilian former racing driver Rubens Barrichello after

his final race at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel

celebrates after winning the Brazilian Formula

One Grand Prix, at the Interlagos Circuit in Sao

Paulo, Brazil, on Sunday.