Sport

OLYMPICS | Page 5
CRICKET | Page 11
‘Sluggish’
Bolt does
enough in
100m heats
Younis and
Shah take
Pakistan to
brink of win
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Dhul-Qa’da 11, 1437 AH
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SWIMMING
TIMES
Super Schooling
upsets Phelps to
win butterfly gold
Page 2
SPOTLIGHT/ QATAR ROUND-UP
Medals tally
Denmark edge
Qatar in thriller
Haroun advances in 400m, but Ogunode fails to qualify in 100m
Country
G
United States
S
B
T
Country
G
S
B
T
21 14
17 52
Romania
1
1
2
4
China
3
11
17 41
Belgium
1
1
1
3
Great Britain
8
10 6
24
Slovenia
1
1
1
3
15
0 2
Germany
8
4
3
Belarus
1
1
Japan
7
3
14 24
Colombia
1
1
0 2
Australia
6
6
7
19
Slovakia
1
1
0 2
0 2
South Korea
6
3
4
13
Vietnam
1
1
Russia
5
9
8
22
Czech Republic
1
0
4
5
1
0
2
3
France
5
8
5
18
Chinese Taipei
Italy
5
7
4
16
Ethiopia
1
0
1
2
1
0
1
2
2
Hungary
5
3
3
11
Greece
Spain
3
0
2
5
Indt. Ol Athlts
1
0
1
New Zealand
2
6
0 8
Argentina
1
0
0 1
Canada
2
2
6
10
Fiji
1
0
0 1
Kazakhstan
2
2
3
7
Iran
1
0
0 1
Netherlands
2
2
3
7
Kosovo
1
0
0 1
Thailand
2
1
1
4
Singapore
1
0
0 1
Croatia
2
1
0 3
South Africa
0
4
1
5
0
2
2
4
3
Switzerland
2
0
1
3
Denmark
Sweden
1
3
1
5
Ukraine
0
2
1
0
2
0 2
North Korea
1
2
2
5
Azerbaijan
Brazil
1
1
2
4
Indonesia
0
2
0 2
Poland
1
1
2
4
Cuba
0
1
1
2
STAR OF THE DAY
Joseph Schooling of Singapore
Qatar’s right back Zarko Markovic (R) vies with Danish players during their men’s Group A handball at the Future Arena in Rio de
Janeiro yesterday.
Agencies
Rio de Janeiro
M
ikkel Hansen found the
target with seconds remaining to help Denmark
edge Qatar 26-25 in a
thrilling Group A handball match at
the Olympic Games yesterday.
With precious little to choose between the two teams, it was anybody’s
game until the last moment, but it
was Denmark who held their nerve to
clinch their third win in four matches
to take their points tally to six.
Qatar, on the other hand have only
three points from four matches, having lost two, won one and drawn one
and will need to beat Argentina in their
last group match in order to secure a
spot in the quarter-finals.
Qatar held the early advantage, albeit by not more than two points at any
given moment but Denmark displayed
remarkable grit and determination to
tie14-14 at half-time.
Late in the second half, Qatar
trailed 20-23, but caught up and even
went ahead 25-24 thanks to a goal
from Rafael Capote, before Mensah
Larsen equalised with 51 seconds remaining to hand Denmark the advantage.
And sure enough that proved to be a
key moment as a great assist by Rene
Toft found Hansen and he drilled the
ball into the middle of the Qatari goal
much to the joy of the Danes.
Meanwhile Croatia stunned world
champs France 29-28 thanks to a last
second penalty save by goalkeeper
Ivan Pesic. Croatia started stronger
with two goals scored before France
added two of their own to equalise,
but the EHF EURO 2016 bronze medallists showed they were ready to play
when they allowed the level score line
to exist only temporarily, opening up
the two-goal advantage with a counter attack goal from Manuel Strlek
just after the five-minute mark (4:2).
But then it was France’s turn to
score two consecutive goals, and they
levelled with two goals in the seventh
courtesy of Mathieu Grebille then
Michael Guigou. Neither side could
find the goal after that, with great de-
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah, who won a bronze at the London Olympics in 2012,
crashed out of the skeet competition yesterday after finishing 31st in a 32-man field.
fence and goalkeeping at both ends
of the court that meant the score remained the same at the 10-minute
mark when Croatia coach Zeljko
Babic requested the first time-out of
the game.
Marko Kopljar was the next on the
board, breaking the scoring drought
of three minutes to put Croatia in
front at 5:4, but after that Guigou
scored two more goals – to tally four
by the time the clock showed 15 minutes – and earned France their first
lead of the game at 6:5.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s Abdelalelah
Haroun was the lone bright spot for
the Qatari contingent yesterday as
he qualified for the men’s 400 metres
semi-final.
Haroun finished his heat in second
place with a time of 45.76 seconds,
behind US athlete LaShawn Merritt,
who took first place in 45.28s, while
Botswana’s Isaac Makwala came
third place in 45.91seconds.
Qatar’s Femi Ogunode, the Asian
100m champion, however failed to
make it to the next round, finishing
fifth in his heat.
Meanwhile, Qatari weightlifter
Faris Ibrahim finished 8th in the
men’s 85kg weightlifting after lifting 158 kilograms in snatch and 203 in
clean and jerk, giving him a total of
361 kilograms Iran’s Kianoush Rostami recorded 396 kilograms to give
Iran their first gold medal.
The silver went to China’s Tian Tao
with 395 kilograms while the bronze
was claimed by Romania’s Gabriel
Sincraian with a lift of 390 kilograms.
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah finished 31st, only ahead of countryman
Rashid Hamad, who came last, in the
men’s skeet shooting event at the Rio
Olympics yesterday.
Al-Attiyah, who boasts an impressive CV of motorsport feats including
11 Middle East Rally Championships
and two Dakar Rally titles, had won
bronze medal at the London 2012
Games. In Rio, al-Attiyah was not at
his best as he scored 109 points, with
Hamad securing just 109 points.
The gold medal went to Italy’s
Gabriele Rossetti, who beat Marcus
Svensson of Sweden 16-15 in the final.
Kuwait’s Abdullah al-Rashidi, who is
competing as an Independent Olympic Athlete, took bronze.
The Star of the Day is Singapore’s Joseph Schooling, who
beat swimming great Michael Phelps to win his country’s first
Olympic gold medal and became an instant millionaire in the
process.
“Its been a hard road, I’ve done something that no one in our
country has done before. I’ve received a lot of support and
that’s phenomenal,” Schooling told reporters.
Watched by his mother and president Tony Tan in the stands,
the 21-year-old beat Phelps, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos
and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh in the 100 metres butterfly final
on Friday, to grab the gold while the others completed a
remarkable three-way dead-heat for silver. Singapore has
spent millions trying to win more medals at the Olympics,
including offering a Foreign Sports Talent programme which
grants promising foreign athletes citizenship, as well as a
S$1mn ($743,494.42) prize for gold medals. Schooling left the
country at 14 to train in the United States and now studies at
the University of Texas in Austin, whose programme is led by
two-time US Olympic men’s head coach Eddie Reese.
2
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
SPOTLIGHT
DELIGHT
Super Schooling
stuns Phelps to win
Singapore’s first gold
‘Its been a hard road, I’ve done something that no one in our country has done
before. I’m not going to lie, the first guy through the wall, it’s always bloody’
Singapore celebrates
first Olympic gold
Singaporeans watch Joseph Schooling competing at the Rio Olympics at the OCBC Aquatic Centre.
AFP
Singapore
S
ingapore exploded in celebration Saturday after
homegrown swimming
hero Joseph Schooling
beat US legend Michael Phelps in
the 100m butterfly in Rio to win
the tiny republic’s first ever Olympic gold.
The 21-year-old Asian champion set a new Olympic record
of 50.39sec as he edged out his
American idol Phelps, who ended
in a sensational dead heat for silver
alongside South Africa’s Chad le
Clos and Laszlo Cseh of Hungary.
In Singapore cheers broke out
across housing estates and social
media erupted in celebration as
Schooling won in Brazil.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
and President Tony Tan, who was
in Rio to cheer Team Singapore,
led an outpouring of congratulations for Schooling, whose mixed
European and Asian heritage has
resonated in the immigrant society
of 5.5 million people.
“It is an incredible feat, to compete among the world’s best, stay
focused, and emerge victorious,”
Lee said in a Facebook post.
Schooling will receive Sg$1.0
million ($743,000) for his gold
medal as part of a programme
aimed at encouraging studious
Singaporeans to excel in sport.
“It’s amazing that Singapore
finally has a gold medal at the
Olympics, I don’t think anyone thought this was possible,”
Madeleine Lim, 62, told AFP.
“Schooling winning shows
that even homegrown athletes
can win an Olympic medal and I
think it’s a good example for our
youth that sporting greatness is
possible,” said real estate agent
Michael Tan, 35, who cheered
on Schooling at a coffeeshop in a
residential estate.
In a country where people are
obsessed with the lottery, tick-
Singapore’s Joseph Schooling smiles after the men’s 100m butterfly final during the swimming event at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
I
n just one performance, Singapore’s
Joseph Schooling beat swimming
great Michael Phelps, took home his
city state’s first Olympic gold medal
and became an instant millionaire.
Known at home for smashing national records and taking multiple titles
in regional competitions, Schooling had
held the hopes of Singapore, a Southeast
Asian island nation of less than six million, which had only won two silvers and
two bronzes since it joined the Olympic
fold in 1948.
“Its been a hard road, I’ve done
something that no one in our country has done before. I’ve received a lot
of support and that’s phenomenal,”
Schooling told reporters.
“It’s been a tough road, I’m not going
to lie, the first guy through the wall, it’s
always bloody,” he said.
Watched by his mother and president
Tony Tan in the stands, the 21-year-old
beat Phelps, South Africa’s Chad Le Clos
and Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh in the 100
metres butterfly final on Friday, to grab
the gold while the others completed a remarkable three-way dead-heat for silver.
Singapore has spent millions trying to
win more medals at the Olympics, includ-
Five facts about giant-killer Schooling
Singapore’s Joseph Schooling (right),
in a photograph taken in 2008 with
Michael Phelps.
ing offering a Foreign Sports Talent programme which grants promising foreign
athletes citizenship, as well as a S$1 million
($743,494.42) prize for gold medals.
Schooling left the country at 14 to train
in the United States and now studies at
the University of Texas in Austin, whose
programme is led by two-time U.S. Olympic men’s head coach Eddie Reese.
He was inspired to aim for the Olympics as a six-year-old after a dinner con-
Joseph Schooling (right) and Michael Phelps pose with their medals.
versation with his grand-uncle, Lloyd
Valberg, a former national high-jumper
who was also Singapore’s first Olympian,
according to local media reports.
“This moment is not about me, it’s all
about my coaches my friends my family
that believed that when I was a six year
old kid that I could do it,” he said.
Schooling won Singapore’s first medal
at last year’s World Championships in
the 100 butterfly.
He also broke two Asian records.
On Friday he set a new Olympic record
of 50.39 seconds.
Like many of his contemporaries in
Rio, who grew up idolising Phelps, he
keeps an old photo of himself as a bespectacled teenager with the American
that was taken at a meeting in Singapore
after the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“I’m excited just to see how much faster he goes,” Phelps told reporters about
Schooling. “It’s up to him where he wants
to take it. As big as he wants to dream, as
hard as he wants to work, to do whatever
is in his head.”
BOTTOMLINE
Phelps not un-retiring, says ‘I’m done!’
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
M
ichael Phelps emphatically ruled out
a U-turn on his decision to quit swimming after the Rio Olympics following a shock defeat Friday in
his final individual race.
After being denied a fifth gold
of the Games by Singapore’s
Joseph Schooling in the 100m
butterfly, and dead-heating with
Chad le Clos and Laszlo Cseh
Phelps for silver, Phelps was inevitably asked the six million
dollar question.
Cutting in before the journalist had finished, the American
shook his head and smiled.
“Nope, done,” he said. “I’m
not going four more years. I’m
standing by that. I’ve been able
to do everything I’ve ever put my
ets for Schooling’s winning time
“5039” sold out by late morning
while others called for a public
holiday to celebrate the win.
On the internet Pokemonthemed
memes
celebrated
Schooling’s evolution from fanboy to champion, while schooling puns abounded.
Schooling met Phelps when
the US Olympic swim team visited Singapore in 2008, and the
American helped inspire the
young Singaporean to move to
the United States for extensive
training at 14.
Schooling is now based at the
University of Texas.
He pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Rio, interrupting
the 31-year-old Phelps’ quest for
what would have been his fifth
gold in Brazil and 23rd Olympic
gold of his career.
Schooling’s father Colin, who
hosted a viewing party at his
home in Singapore, wept when
his son won. “If I cry in front of
all of you all, it’s because I have
nothing to be ashamed of,” he
told reporters.
“My love for my son is nothing
I can describe to you all.”
In 2014, Colin Schooling dismissed stubborn speculation
that his son was a “foreign talent” because of his surname —
declaring that Joseph, a thirdgeneration Singaporean, was a
true son of the republic.
A programme to import sporting talent into Singapore has
proved controversial, despite
helping the country to win medals in regional and international
competitions.
Chinese-born female table
tennis players who were naturalised by Singapore won a team
silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and an individual bronze in
London 2012.
Singapore’s first Olympic
medal was won by weightlifter
Tan Howe Liang, who bagged a
silver in Rome in 1960.
Silver medallist USA’s Michael Phelps waves during the medal ceremony of the men’s 100m butterfly final.
mind to in the sport — 24 years
in the sport.
“I’m happy with how things
finished,” added Phelps, who
will retire as the most decorated
athlete in Olympic history with
27 medals, a staggering 22 of
them shiny gold.
“That’s why I came back after
‘12. I didn’t want to have a whatif 20 years later. Being able to
close the door on this sport the
way I wanted to, that’s why I’m
happy now.”
Phelps, 31, had flirted with
retirement after London and his
career threatened to end in humiliation two years ago when he
was arrested for drunk driving.
But he had looked unstoppable in Rio, at least until Asian
champion Schooling floored him
in the 100m fly, an event he had
won at the past three Games.
“I’m ready to retire and I’m
happy about it,” said Phelps, looking forward to marrying girlfriend
Nicole Johnson later this year and
spending more time with his baby
son Boomer, who was in Rio to
watch his dad race.
“I’m in a better state of mind
this time than I was four years
ago. I’m ready to spend some
time with Boomer and Nicole
and watch the little dude grow.”
There was even a tinge of
bro-mance in the air between
Phelps and fierce rival le Clos
following a war of words between the two swimmers since
London, where the South African pipped Phelps for gold in
his pet race, the 200m fly.
Phelps, who exacted crushing
revenge on le Clos in Rio, held
hands with Cseh and his bitter
foe as the three men perched
awkwardly together on the same
step of the podium.
“I think it was a bit long we
were holding hands,” smiled le
Clos. “It was about three minutes. We were on the podium
and it just happened — it almost
felt like a relay!”
1 - Singapore had never won
an Olympic gold before
Schooling’s breakthrough.
The country first entered the
Olympics in 1948.
Singapore’s first medal was a
silver in weightlifting at Rome
in 1960. Singapore waited 28
years before winning its next
medal, a silver in table tennis
at Beijing in 2008.
In London, Singapore won two
bronze medals in table tennis.
2 - Schooling met Michael
Phelps by chance when he
was 13 and had his photograph taken with him.
Phelps was in Singapore preparing for the Beijing Olympics and was training at one
of the pools where Schooling
also practised.
Schooling said Phelps was his
idol growing up but had no
regrets about beating him in
his final race.
3 - To further his swimming career, Schooling left Singapore
when he was 13 and moved to
Florida to train at the Bolles
School, living in a boarding
house with older boys.
He regularly fought with his
coach Sergio Lopez, the Spaniard who won a bronze medal
in breaststroke at the 1998
Olympics, but credits him for
his success.
4 - It is mandatory for Singaporean men to perform two
years of National Service after
finishing school.
Schooling competed at the
2012 London Olympics, and
a year later the government
agreed to defer his enlistment
for three years to let him
continue training in the United
States for the Rio Olympics.
5 - Schooling bears a tattoo on
his back, depicting the head
and horns of a Longhorn, a
breed of Texas cattle, and the
emblem of sporting teams at
the University of Texas, where
he studies and trains.
Underneath the cattle horns
are the words, “Come and
Take It.” Schooling had to convince his parents before they
allowed him to get the tattoo.
Ask Joe some questions, says Phelps
When your name is Michael
Phelps, it’s hard to play second
fiddle. During the press conference he was peppered with
questions as gold medallist
Singapore’s Joseph Schooling
sat alongside him.
Gracefully, the American tried
to ease out of the spotlight.
“Joe should be getting most of
the questions,” he told reporters, laughing. “This kid just won
a gold medal, guys. Let’s ask
him some more questions.”
When a journalist obliged by
asking Schooling how it felt to
become “the go-to butterflier
in the world right now”, the
21-year-old hesitated and
glanced to his left at Phelps.
“That’s for you bro, don’t look
at me,” Phelps told him.
“That sounds like a lot of
pressure. I don’t think I’m
anywhere close to these three
guys next to me,” he said.
“Today just happened to be a
good day for me.
“I think Chad, Michael and
Laszlo should still be the face
for butterfly. This is like my
first gold medal it’s not like
I’ve won 22 or 23.”
Phelps shot back: “It’s a pretty
good one to win, though.”
A good one indeed.
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
SPOTLIGHT
3
JOYOUS GOOD BYE
Ledecky smashes
800m record to
win freestyle treble
‘I have to wait another four years to have this moment and I just wanted to enjoy it all
and put my very best swim out there’
DiRado bows out
with backstroke gold
USA’s Madeline ‘Maya’ Dirado celebrates next to second-placed
Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu after she won the women’s 200m
backstroke final at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
M
aya DiRado of the
United States won
the women’s 200
metres backstroke
in her final race before quitting swimming on Friday, coming from behind to deny Katinka
Hosszu a fourth gold medal at the
Rio Olympics.
The American reeled in the ‘Iron
Lady’ from Hungary in the last 50
metres, the pair swimming neck
and neck in adjacent lanes before
DiRado touched first to win by sixhundredths of a second.
Canada’s Hilary Caldwell won
bronze. For DiRado, who is leaving
the sport to take up a job in management consultancy, it was the
perfect way to exit after a week in
which she has now won two gold
medals, one silver and one bronze.
“It’s indescribable. That is just
pure joy and surprise and excitement,” she said. “That was my
last race ever and I just won a
gold medal.”
She spent part of the day
emailing her new employers to
take care of the formalities before starting work on Sept. 9, but
far from being a distraction it
served to help her.
“I read through, like, how to do
expense reports, which was nice
to kind of take my mind off the
final tonight.”
Hosszu blamed her loss on a
poor final touch but said she was
pleased with her week’s work,
having won three golds after
leaving with no medals at all
from three previous Olympics.
“I haven’t been on the podium
before, and I was able to be on the
podium four times and three times
on top, so I don’t think I could have
done any better,” she said.
Hosszu had led from the start,
reacting fastest from the block, but
DiRado shadowed her the whole
way, drawing level in the last 25
metres and then touching first in
two minutes, 5.99 seconds.
Turning to look at the scoreboard and see the number one
against her name, her eyes widened and she clapped her hand
to her mouth as if she could not
believe the result.
Hosszu had already won the 100
backstroke and the 200 and 400
individual medleys in Rio, breaking the world record in the latter.
DiRado added to her gold in
the 4x200 freestyle relay, silver
in the 400 individual medley and
bronze in the 200 IM.
PERSISTENCE
USA’s Katie Ledecky poses with her gold medal after winning the women’s 800m freestyle at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
K
atie Ledecky of the United
States finally succumbed to her
emotions on the podium after
destroying the field in the 800
metres freestyle on Friday and smashing
her own world record to complete a rare
Olympic swimming treble.
Ledecky led from the start and inexorably stretched out the gap over her opponents to finish in eight minutes, 4.79
seconds, beating her previous mark of
8:06.68 set in Austin, Texas in January.
Britain’s Jazz Carlin won her second
silver medal in 8:16.17, and Boglarka Kapas of Hungary took the bronze.
Ledecky, defending Olympic champion at the distance, added to her golds
earlier in the week in the 200 and 400
freestyle and the 4x200 freestyle relay,
plus a silver in the 4x100 relay.
The only previous woman to win
the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle at the
same Games was American Debbie Meyer in 1968.
USA’s Katie Ledecky (C) crosses Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu (top) and Canada’s Hilary
Caldwell during the Women’s 800m freestyle final.
“I have to wait another four years to have
this moment and I just wanted to enjoy it
all and put my very best swim out there,”
Ledecky said after her final race in Rio.
She said that Meyer had sent her a
video message of support via her mother
before the race.
“I try not to think about the history of it
much, but just to be mentioned in the same
sentence as her is incredible,” she said.
Ledecky sliced 1.89 seconds off her
own record in the longest event of the
women’s swimming programme.
It was the seventh world swimming
record of the Rio Games, and the second
by Ledecky, who achieved a similar feat
in winning the 400 freestyle.
Since winning the 800 in London four
years ago, she has been invincible, and
anything but a victory for the 19-yearold would have been one of the biggest
shocks of the Games.
Carlin and Kapas fought a dogged
struggle for second, with Spain’s Mireia
Belmonte Garcia challenging them for
much of the way.
Ledecky, who cried during the postrace media conference, said she and
coach Bruce Gemmell had also burst into
tears after the race.
Ledecky is moving to Stanford University later this year.
“Bruce doesn’t cry very often but it
was a very happy moment and it’s been a
pleasure to share this journey with him,”
Ledecky told the media conference, saying she would be setting ambitious goals
once at Stanford.
“It’s been a great four years and I know
I can have another great four years and I
know that I will have a lot of people supporting me.”
BOTTOMLINE
Ageing rebel Ervin becomes
oldest swimming champion
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
A
merican veteran Anthony Ervin won surprise
gold in the men’s 50m
freestyle in Rio on Friday
to become the oldest swimmer
ever to win an Olympic title.
The 35-year-old, who has
overcome personal demons on
his return to the sport, stormed
to victory in 21.40 seconds to
repeat his success at the Sydney
Olympics in the same event 16
years ago and reclaim the title of
the world’s fastest swimmer.
Ervin edged France’s defending champion Florent Manaudou by just one-hundredth of a
second, with fellow American
Nathan Adrian taking his second
bronze, after finishing third in
the 100m.
Manaudou had looked in
Anthony Ervin (R) reacts next to second placed France’s Florent
Manaudou after he won the men’s 50m freestyle final.
control until Ervin’s late flourish denied the Frenchman, the
veteran American celebrating by
clenching both fists and letting
out a throaty roar to the delight
of the Brazilian crowd.
Ervin sold the gold medal he
shared after dead-heating with
fellow American Gary Hall Jr at
the 2000 Sydney Games to raise
money to aid relief work after
the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
But the one-time rebel swimmer, who got fired from a tattoo
parlour during eight years out
of the sport between 2003 and
2011 and played the guitar in a
band called Weapons of Mass
Destruction, insisted he would
hang on tight to his Rio gong.
“Well, I’m keeping it for now,”
said Ervin, who battled drink
and drug addiction and even attempted suicide after his Sydney
success. “Who knows what the
future holds.
“I didn’t imagine being on the
50 free podium before I was 19
either,” he added. “It’s surreal,
kind of absurd.
“When I touched and turned
around and saw the one next to
my name I kind of smiled and
laughed.”
At first, Ervin looked as stunned
as Manaudou at the result.
“You don’t think about getting your hand on the wall first,”
said the American after getting
a victory hug from his younger
brother Derek.
“You just think about trying to
swim the race that you imagine
you can do, the one that you’ve
been practicing, the one that
starts as a dream and it’s a plan.”
Manaudou hinted that he may
retire after defeat.
“I came here to win but sport
is also about losing,” said the
world champion. “I don’t know
if I will keep swimming, I need
a break.”
Ervin was humble in victory.
“It just so happened that I
got my hand on the wall,” he
said. “One one-hundredth of
flow and you know, you can’t
control that. All I control is
how I do things.”
Veteran Alshammer
competes in her
sixth Olympics
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
T
herese
Alshammar
(right) told herself at the
1996 Atlanta Olympics,
when she made her debut
in the pool as a teenager, that it
would probably be a one-off.
The Swede, who will be 40
next year, was back on Friday —
competing in her sixth Games
and racing swimmers half her age
to reach the 50 metre freestyle
semi-finals in an impressive
24.73 seconds.
Simone Manuel, the 20-yearold who won a shared 100m freestyle gold for the United States
on Thursday, was only a fraction
faster in 24.71.
Alshammar smiled when
asked whether she accepted the
adage that you are only as old as
you feel, and if so what her competitive age might be.
“How old do I feel? It varies
from day to day, I have to say,”
she replied. “Some days I feel like
I am way past my age and some
days I feel younger.”
The 38-year-old — she turns
39 on Aug. 26 — became the oldest female swimmer to win a world
championship in 2011 with gold in
the 50m free and placed sixth at
the 2012 London Olympics.
A double freestyle silver medallist at the 2000 Sydney Games,
her presence in Rio made her the
first female swimmer to compete
at six Olympics.
But it nearly did not happen.
“Basically my season was cut
short, I couldn’t race much during the winter period because I
had a back issue and two discs
out of place. So my preparation
wasn’t ideal.”
She was still in pain in London,
but as that subsided she found a
rhythm and better pace.
Being back in the athletes’ village was exciting but different.
“When I was at my first Olympics I remember (thinking) this is
probably it. So six later, and I am
still happy.”
Training with buzzers could boost
times for swimmers, claims study
Swimmers who train with buzzers rather than their coach’s
voice could shave milliseconds
off their times, a critical difference at the elite level, an Australian researcher has found.
While swimmers dive off
platforms at the sound of a
starting buzzer, many still
train using their coach’s
voice, University of Sydney
researcher Chris Papic said.
But in a trial involving top Australian swimmers, Papic found
that when drilled with starting
buzzers, swimmers could cut
an average of 0.012 seconds
off their times — which at
elite level could be enough to
mean the difference between
a gold or silver medal.
“Even at the elite level, most
swimmers aren’t training with
the buzzer,” said Papic. “A hundredth of a second can make a
difference... definitely more so
in the short-distance events.”
For his research, Papic created
a “force plate” that measures
the reaction times of swimmers.
“We had them doing regular
diving training like they usually would and all we changed
was the stimulus they were
reacting to,” Papic said.
“In the end when we did our
testing... the group without
the buzzer sound had slightly
slower reaction times, while
the group with the buzzer
sound went slightly faster.
“A lot of it comes down to...
your brain gets used to a certain frequency of sound and
processes it a lot faster if it’s
used to that specific sound.”
4
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
SPOTLIGHT
Shot put ‘Diva’ Carter
puts up golden show
The 30-year-old is trained by her father Michael, who won silver at the 1984 Games
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
T
hirty-two years after her father
won a silver medal for shot put
in the 1984 Olympics, Michelle
Carter can now claim family
bragging rights after going one better and
striking gold here on Friday.
The 30-year-old from California
stunned two-time champion Valerie
Adams of New Zealand in a dramatic
shot put final at Rio’s Olympic Stadium,
recording a personal best with her last
throw of 20.63m.
It was a sensational victory for Carter,
a professionally qualified make-up artist
who also campaigns to improve attitudes
towards body image via a sports-confidence camp called “You Throw Girl.”
Carter is trained by her father Michael,
who went on to have a successful career in
American football with the San Francisco
49ers after switching from track and field
following his silver in the 1984 Games.
“I’ll be going around the house saying
‘Yeah daddy — I got you!’. It feels awesome,” a delighted Carter said. “Me and
him have a running joke. I’ve won more
high school championships, he’s won
more college championships. I always
told him it’s going to take the cake if I
win the Olympic gold, and today it’s happened.”
New Zealand star Adams, winner in
2008 and 2012, finished with silver after
a best throw of 20.42. Adams looked to
be firmly on course for gold after taking
the lead on her second attempt. No other
woman in the field had broken 20m until
Carter conjured up a monumental final
effort to take the lead.
She then faced a nerve-wracking finale as Adams attempted to regain the
lead with her last throw. Adams broke
20m again but her effort of 20.39 was not
enough.
Adams had been aiming to become
the first woman to win three consecutive golds in an individual event following
wins in 2008 and 2012. But while she remained disappointed she was gracious in
defeat, and took satisfaction from making the podium after battling back from a
litany of injuries.
HARTING KEEPS DISCUS
GOLD IN THE FAMILY
Rio de Janeiro: Germany’s
Christoph Harting saved his
best for last to win gold in the
men’s discus yesterday to carry
on a proud family tradition.
Harting, whose brother and
defending Olympic champion
Robert failed to qualify for
the finals after sustaining a
strained back, managed a personal best of 68.37 metres on
his sixth and final attempt.
Poland’s Piotr Malachowski
took silver with 67.55m and
Harting’s teammate Daniel Jasinski bronze (67.05). But Harting was reticent to answer any
questions about his brother or
offer any deep insight on his
Olympic experience.
And the gold medallist’s
press conference came to an
abrupt end when a journalist
made the gaffe of addressing
a question to Robert Harding.
“Holy Jesus! Holy Jesus! That’s
it, you can leave,” Robert’s little
brother stormed.
Before he walked out he had
told his audience: “I’m so happy
to be here but would be happy
to make a short statement. I
don’t like answering questions.
I’m an athlete not a PR man at
all. I enjoy the stadium, it’s my
stage. Everything else I leave to
other people.”
When asked about his final
winning throw, Harting said:
“You have moments in your life
when you focus completely.
I said to myself that no one’s
going to take that victory away
from me.” Malachowski, the
three-time world champion,
congratulated Harting, saying:
“It was a great day for Christoph, he did a good job. But I
didn’t lose to him but myself
because I didn’t throw as well
as I should have done.”
Harting admitted that in his
excitement he had dropped the
boxed momento handed to him
as he received his gold medal.
“Unfortunately it broke but I
got a new one. I couldnt’ stand
still,” he deadpanned, pulling
out and fingering the new
souvenir of the Rio Games.
But he added: “I’m an introverted guy. I feel like I’m so
much put on the spot (before
media) and I feel embarassed.
I don’t have to produce a show.
I’m the Olympic champion and
now I want to celebrate with
my family and friends.”
Michelle Carter of the United States stunned defending champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand with her very last throw to win
the gold medal in the women’s shot put on Friday night at the Olympic Stadium. (AFP)
“It’s tough but it’s sport. You have
to take it on the chin,” Adams said. “At
the last moment I was like, ‘Okay, shit,
I’ve got to pull out something here. And
I came up short. I have to take it and reflect back on the road that I’ve had. It’s
been a tough road for me to even be here,”
said Adams, who has had five surgeries in
the last three years. To make it to the final
and get a medal is pretty awesome. I left
my heart out there. I cannot ask for more
than that.”
Adams was also looking forward to receiving her medal in front of a stadium
last night. She was presented with her
gold from 2012 a month after the Games
in a private ceremony after it emerged
that Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus had
failed a dope test. “It will be nice to be on
the podium and to look around and for it
to feel legit,” Adams said.
ATHLETICS ROUND-UP
Germany’s Christoph Harting celebrates on the podium after
winning the discus throw gold yesterday. (AFP)
DOPING
Ennis-Hill loses heptathlon
lead to Belgian rival Thiam
Sole Russian athletics competitor
Klishina suspended from Games
Agencies
Rio de Janeiro
ussia’s sole track and field competitor at
the Rio Olympics has been suspended
from the Games, a source told Reuters
yesterday. No details of the suspension
were immediately available, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport said it had received an appeal
from the long-jumper, against an IAAF eligibility
issue. Russian officials in Rio and Moscow were
not immediately available to comment.
R
B
elgian pretender Nafi Thiam
snatched a five-point lead over defending champion Jessica Ennis-Hill
after the second day’s opening long
jump yesterday.
Thiam leaped a best of 6.58 metres to leave
her up front on a total of 5,018 points. British
star Ennis-Hill only made 6.34m for 5,013 to
increase the pressure going into the final two
disciplines of the gruelling event.
Ennis-Hill’s teammate Katarina JohnsonThomspson also leapfrogged up the standings with a long jump best of 6.51m, leaving
her just 46pts off her compatriot in the push
for the podium. Ennis-Hill started the day
with a 72-point lead after what she dubbed a
“mixed bag” in Friday’s first four events at the
Olympic Stadium.
The 30-year-old, who became a mother
last year, is bidding to become only the third
woman to retain an Olympic athletics title
after giving birth. Hurdler Shirley Strickland
achieved the feat in 1952 and 1956 before triple jumper Francoise Mbango Etone emulated
it with victories in 2004 and 2008. The heptathlon was to resume late last night with the
javelin and the 800m.
Jamaica’s Fraser-Pryce embarks
on triple quest
Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
launched her bid to become the first woman
to win three Olympic 100 metres titles by
booking her place in the semi-finals with a
time of 10.96 seconds. The 29-year-old, who
won gold in Beijing and London, cruised to an
easy win in her heat in Rio, qualifying in first
place and posting the only sub-11 seconds
time of the night.
Fraser-Pryce, sporting yellow-and-green
hair, was one of few athletes to elicit a cheer
from the meagre crowds at Rio’s Olympic
Stadium on the first day of the athletics competition. Trinidad and Tobago’s Michelle-Lee
Ahye won her heat in 11 seconds flat to qualify
in second place.
Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast,
aiming for her country’s second Olympic
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
STEPANOVA RECORDS ILLEGALLY
ACCESSED AFTER WADA HACK
Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova’s electronic account at the World Anti-Doping Agency
has been illegally accessed, WADA said yesterday.
The anti-doping body said a “perpetrator” had
illegally obtained the password for the middledistance runner’s account, and accessed details
which would normally include her registered
whereabouts.
“The World Anti-Doping Agency confirms that
Yulia Stepanova’s password for WADA’s AntiDoping Administration and Management System
(ADAMS) was illegally obtained, which allowed
a perpetrator to access her account on ADAMS,”
WADA said in a statement.
Stepanova, in hiding in North America, helped
reveal the biggest state-backed doping programme in Russia and was forced to flee the country with her husband for fear of her life. As a result Russia’s track and field team has been banned
from the Rio Olympics while all Russian competitors in other sports had to prove they were clean
by meeting several criteria in order to be eligible
to compete in Brazil.
FOCUS
Felix purrs through to semis
Belgium’s Nafissatou Thiam competes in the women’s heptathlon long jump. (AFP)
medal in track-and-field, ran 11.01 to go
through in third.
Nursing a toe injury, Fraser-Pryce’s qualifying time was only her second sub-11 seconds race this season and she faces some stiff
competition to reach the top of the podium.
English Gardner and Tori Bowie, both hoping to end the United States’ 20-year gold
medal drought in the event, qualified fifth
(11.09) and sixth (11.13).
Elaine Thompson, whose 10.70 at the national championships this year equalled
Fraser-Pryce’s Jamaican record and was joint
fourth on the all-time list, won her heat in
11.21 but was overshadowed by local sprinter
Rosangela Santo. The Brazilian delighted the
smattering of spectators left in the stadium
with a second place finish and time of 11.25.
London long jump champ
Rutherford scrapes into final
Defending Olympic long jump champion
Greg Rutherford scraped into the Rio Games
final on Friday, finishing 10th out of 12 qualifiers after the Briton flirted with disaster by
fouling on his first two jumps.
Rutherford, who holds the Olympic, world,
Commonwealth and European titles, won
gold at London 2012 in what British media
later dubbed Super Saturday when three British athletes topped the podium in the space of
an hour. He looked in danger of an early exit
in Rio, however, making two foul jumps before recording a distance of 7.90 metres on his
last attempt.
The 29-year-old will now defend his title
against challengers including China’s Jianan
Wang and Jeff Henderson of the United
States, who qualified in first and second place
with jumps measuring 8.24m and 8.20m.
Another likely contender is Team USA’s
Jarrion Lawson, who jumped 8.58 metres at
the U.S. Olympic trials and in July was the
first man to win the 100 metres, 200 metres
and long jump since 1930s track-and-field
star Jesse Owens at the US collegiate championships.
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
A
llyson Felix may not be competing in her
favourite race at the Rio Games, but the
US track star insisted she was wholly focused on adding 400m gold to her impressive haul of major championship medals.
Felix, the reigning 200m Olympic champion,
finished fourth in that discipline at the US trials,
missing out on an Olympic berth to Jenna Prandini by one-hundredth of a second.
The loss ended Felix’s hopes of becoming only
the third woman in history to win both the 400m
and 200m at the same Olympics after Valerie
Brisco-Hooks of the US in 1984 and Marie-Jose
Perec of France in 1996.
But the reigning world 400m champion said
she was just happy to get on the blue track of the
Olympic Stadium after coasting through her first
round outing. Likely rivals moving into today’s
semi-finals, with the final slated for tomorrow,
include teammate Natasha Hastings. Hastings
eased off to win her heat ahead of Britain’s former
Olympic, world and Commonwealth champion
Christine Ohuruogu.
Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas also looked in
fine form, along with American Phyllis Francis,
whose heat-winning time of 50.58sec was the
fastest, and Jamaican Stephanie Ann McPherson.
Second and third fastest in the heats were Bahrain’s Nigerian-born Oluwakemi Adekoya and
Salwa Eid Naser.
‘King’ James in 400m romp
Defending champion Kirani James blasted into
the semi-finals of the Olympic 400m on Friday.
The 23-year-old from Grenada arrives in Brazil
four years after a stunning gold medal in London
when he blew away the opposition at the tender age of 19. James looked in superb form in the
opening heats, qualifying for the semis with the
fastest time of 44.93sec. Although way outside
the season’s best — LaShawn Merritt’s 43.97sec
— James was in cruise control over the final 30m
of his heat and clearly has plenty in the tank.
James was a bronze medallist at the world
championships in Beijing last year when he made
the podium after a blistering fast final which saw
the top three dip below 44 seconds. The winner of
that race, South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk eased
into the semis on Friday with a time of 45.26. US
star Merritt, the silver medallist in Beijing, was
similarly imperious, winning his heat in 45.28.
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
ATHLETICS
‘Sluggish’ Bolt does
enough in 100m heats
‘Good vs Evil’ again as Bolt, Gatlin ready for tonight’s 100m duel
Jamaica’s Usain Bolt
(second left) sprints to
victory in the 100m heats
at the Olympic Stadium in
Rio de Janeiro. (AFP)
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
J
amaican Usain Bolt won his 100
metres heat after what he called
a ‘sluggish’ start yesterday, but
looked pained after the race as
he prepared to fend off the challenge of
American Jason Gatlin for the Olympic
crown. Bolt, who turns 30 on the final
day of the Games, is aiming high in what
he has said will be his final Olympics,
bidding to continue his streak of gold
in the men’s 100m, 200m and 4x100m
relay, the unprecedented “triple-triple”.
He qualified in a leisurely 10.07 seconds, picking up the pace after lumbering from the blocks and looking stiff in
his warm-up. “It wasn’t the best start,
I feel kind of sluggish. I think it’s the
fact that it’s the morning. I’m not usually running this early in the morning,”
Bolt told reporters after the race which
began at 12:42 pm local time in warm
sunshine.
“Hopefully, tomorrow I’ll feel much
better,” he added of today’s action when
the semis and final take place late in
the evening. He batted back questions
about his leg, saying he was “good”.
Gatlin, 34, produced the fastest
time of the morning, 10.01 as the 2004
champion seeks to become the oldest
man to win a medal in the 100m and the
first to do so after serving two doping
bans. “I am just staying focused, I went
out there and executed my race in the
first round and cruised to finish line,”
Gatlin said.
Asked if the race felt more special,
given that it is likely to be his last Olympics, Gatlin replied: “Every Olympics is special but as you get older you
understand the importance of running
at Olympics.”
Ben Youssef Metie, 29, of the Ivory
Coast, notched the morning’s secondfastest time of 10.03, edging US
hopeful Trayvon Bromell’s 10.13,
which was still fast enough to qualify.
Canada’s Andre de Grasse, a 21-yearold who only took up running seriously
three years ago after an early focus on
basketball, ran 10.04.
Twelve months ago, when Bolt vanquished Gatlin in the World Championship 100m final, many suggested the
Justin Gatlin came home in 10.01 secs,
the fastest time of the heats. (Reuters)
Jamaican sprint king had “saved” his
sport from a bruising reputational body
blow. The prospect of 2004 Olympic
champion Gatlin — twice found guilty
of doping during his career — was too
much to stomach for many in athletics.
Yet the notion that Bolt’s victory in
Beijing had set track and field on a road
to redemption turned out to be woefully
premature. In the 12 months since, athletics has been left reeling by a corruption scandal involving top-level administrators and revelations over Russian
doping that plunged the sport into the
worst crisis in its history.
It means that today’s 100m final at
Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic Stadium, set
for 10.25pm local time (4:25am Monday
Qatar time) will inevitably once more be
framed as a battle of ‘good versus evil’ —
Bolt vs Gatlin.
In a global audience of hundreds of
millions, many fans, including International Association of Athletics Federations chief Sebastian Coe, may be
tempted to watch through their fingers.
Gatlin, 34, wearily rejects a narrative he
sees as unfair, adamant that his story
is far more nuanced than the bald, oft-
applied label — ‘two-time dope cheat’
— implies.
His first doping suspension in 2001
arose from the use of a drug to treat attention deficit disorder that he had been
prescribed since childhood. The US
panel hearing that case found he ‘was
certainly not a doper.’
A second positive in 2006 — for excessive levels of testosterone — was
more problematic. Gatlin blamed the
results on sabotage by a therapist but
was banned for eight years, later reduced to four on appeal.
Gatlin may find it hard to escape the
opprobrium, however, if he defeats Bolt
today to deny a fairytale swansong for
the sport’s greatest showman.
Bolt has endured a frustrating season, repeatedly bothered by a hamstring
problem that has required extensive
treatment and forced him to cut short
his appearance at Jamaica’s trials in
Kingston in July.
The likeliest challenge to Bolt and
Gatlin could come from the next generation of sprinters led by Trayvon Bromell of the United States and France’s
Jimmy Vicaut.
CYCLING
5
Lilly who?
Gatlin hits
back at
swim ace
after 100m
romp
Rio de Janeiro: Justin Gatlin
hit back at US swimmer Lilly
King yesterday after breezing
through his opening 100m
heat at the Rio Games to
remain on an collision course
with Usain Bolt.
Teenage star King made
headlines this week when she
said athletes like teammate
Gatlin who had previously
failed dope tests should be
barred from the Olympics.
But Gatlin, 34, who has
twice been convicted of
doping offences, gave King’s
comments short shrift here
Saturday after coasting
through his opening heat in
10.01sec.
“I don’t even know who Lilly
King is — she does swimming,
not track and field. I’m not
worried about that,” Gatlin
told reporters after his race.
Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic
champion, insists that his role
as the pantomime villain of
athletics is wide of the mark,
adamant that he has paid his
dues after serving a four-year
ban for the second of his two
doping offences.
“I have confidence in the
policies. USADA (United States
Anti Doping Agency) has done
a great job, WADA (World AntiDoping Agency) has done a
great job,” he said. “I’ve come
back and done what I need
to do. I’ve worked hard to
get back to here, I’ve been
tested like everyone else and
I believe in the system like
everyone else.”
Gatlin’s time was the fastest
of the morning, with Jamaica’s
defending champion Bolt
fourth quickest after clocking 10.07sec in warm sunny
conditions. The 30-year-old
world record holder, greeted
with acclaim by the large
crowd, will also bid to defend
his 200m and 4x100m relay
golds for the third time later in
the week.
The second fastest time
of the morning session was
posted by the Ivory Coast’s
Ben Youssef Meite, with
10.03sec. Canada’s Andre De
Grasse also impressed, the
21-year-old posting 10.04 sec.
Chinese sprinter Xie Zhenye
was fifth fastest, winning his
heat in 10.08. The semi-finals
of the 100m take place on tonight with the final scheduled
for 10.25 local time (4:25am
Qatar time Monday).
FOCUS
‘Sir Wiggo’ leads Britain to pursuit gold China win track
gold after 2012
heartbreak
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
B
radley Wiggins fired Britain to
track cycling team pursuit gold
in a titanic final battle with Australia at the Rio Games on Friday,
etching his name into the record books as
the most decorated British Olympian of
all time.
The icing on the cake for the quartet of Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke
and Owain Doull was breaking the world
record twice in the space of a few pulsating hours at Rio’s velodrome. They
blasted round the boards in a new best
time for the 4,000m endurance event
to crush New Zealand in the first round,
then went even quicker to beat battling
world champions Australia, who had
squeezed past Denmark to reach the final.
The Danes took the bronze medal.
Britain’s third consecutive Olympic
team pursuit title was never the forgone
conclusion some expected it to be as
the Australian quartet of Alexander Edmondson, Michael Hepburn, Sam Welsford and Jack Bobridge ran them close.
The Australians made a terrific start and
were leading for three quarters of the race
before Britain roared back to win by 0.743
seconds in a time of 3:50.265.
Former Tour de France champion Wiggins, affectionately known as ‘Sir Wiggo’
after receiving a knighthood for his exploits, ran across the steeply banked track
to celebrate his eighth Olympic medal,
one more than Chris Hoy, with his wife
Catherine.
British fans chanted ‘Wiggo Wiggo’
after the podium ceremony at which
Wiggins, ever the entertainer, poked out
his tongue during the anthem, causing
chuckles from his team mates. “Hats off
to the Australians — they’re the reason we
get up in the morning. It’s a relief,” he told
reporters.
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
F
Britain’s Owain Doull (from left), Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Bradley Wiggins on the podium with the gold medals after winning
the track cycling team pursuit gold on Friday night. (Reuters)
“Eighteen months ago there were
doubts that I could come back and do
this. It was gold or nothing for this team.
We’re going out now. I’ll be hung over tomorrow.”
After Britain were beaten by Australia
at the world championships in London
this year, Wiggins promised that Britain
would reverse the result in Rio. He proved
right. “Training camps at altitude, early starts and late finishes. Cycling on
Christmas Day. It was all for this and
we’ve done it. These three guys here are
amazing,” Wiggins said before confirming this would be his last Olympics.
“My kids need a proper dad in their
lives. My wife needs a proper husband,”
he said. “I wanted to go out on top, and
it was one of the best finals ever.” While
few expected Britain to be pushed so
hard, Australia had not read the script
and launched a furious attack which had
them 0.695 seconds ahead by halfway.
Wiggins, leading from the front, then
put the hammer down and the tide turned
with the crowd roaring as the split times
showed Britain slicing into the deficit.
“We knew going into the race we had a
small chance,” Australia’s Hepburn told
reporters. “We decided to go full from the
line. Ride fast schedule, put them under
pressure and hopefully we can hold on.
We rode faster than we’ve ever done.”
Wiggins now has five golds, one silver
and two bronzes, although fellow cyclist
Hoy’s collection includes six golds. One
of Wiggins’ golds was in the London 2012
road time trial, weeks after winning the
Tour de France.
Despite problems in the British Cycling
camp in the lead-up to Rio, including
Wiggins’ old mentor and team director
Shane Sutton standing down after a discrimination controversy, Britain’s dominance on the boards continues.
They won seven of the 10 track cycling
events in London and already have two
after two days in Rio following the men’s
team sprint triumph on Thursday when
Jason Kenny took his Olympic gold medal
haul to four.
our years late maybe, but
Gong Jinjie and Zhong
Tianshi claimed China’s
first Olympic track cycling gold medal on Friday when
they outpaced Russia in the final
of the women’s team sprint.
The Chinese broke the world
record in qualifying for the final
and while the victory margin was
only 0.294 seconds in the final
they were always too strong for
Russians Anastasia Voinova and
Daria Shmeleva.
Germany’s Mirian Welte and
Kristina Voegel beat Australian
duo Anna Meares and Stephanie Morton for bronze, denying
Meares a sixth Olympic medal. It
was a joyous moment for China,
and Gong especially.
Four years ago in London,
riding with Guo Shuang, she
was celebrating victory over
Germany in the final only to be
disqualified for an illegal lane
change. Gong and Zhong were
also denied a world championship gold in March when they
were demoted to silver behind
Russians Voinova and Shmeleva
because of another technicality.
That decision left coach Benoit
Vetu so furious that he broke his
hand smashing it against a table.
This time there was no mistake and he was pumping his fist
in happiness as his charges raced
home. “We are like old warriors who have kept fighting. This
medal is not just for the two of
us, because there are many people behind us who have worked
very hard,” Gong, whose helmet
was adorned with a Chinese doll
mural, told reporters.
“We achieved a dream as cyclists and Chinese people as well.
We wanted to conquer the world
record and win the gold medal.”
Gold medallists China’s Gong Jinjie (left) and Zhong Tianshi. (AFP)
6
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
TENNIS
Murray to face del
Potro for gold medal
Sania-Bopanna enter
mixed doubles semis
Murray beat Nishikori, while del Portro overcame Nadal in the semis
Andy Murray of Britain celebrates after winning
his semi-final match against Kei Nishikori of
Japan at the Rio Olympics. (Reuters)
India’s Sania Mirza (left) and Rohan Bopanna during their win
over Britain’s Heather Watson and Andy Murray in the mixed
doubles quarter-final in Rio de Janeiro. (AFP)
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
B
ritain’s Andy Murray advanced
to the men’s Olympic final with a
straight sets victory over Japan’s
Kei Nishikori yesterday, securing
a chance to defend his title and become
the first player to win two singles golds
at the Games. In a commanding performance, the Wimbledon champion and
number two ranked player broke Nishikori’s serve early on, breezing through the
first set 6-1. Murray served aggressively
and quickly closed out the match 6-1 6-4,
never giving Nishikori a single chance to
break back. “I think I played really well,”
Murray told reporters after the match. “I
didn’t give him any opportunities on my
serves and I was very aggressive when I
was returning.”
Asked about the prospect of winning
a second straight Olympic gold, Murray
said: “It would mean a lot.
It’s obviously not an easy thing to do —
that’s why it has not been done before.”
Though Nishikori’s speed allowed him
to punch back against Murray’s blazing
ground strokes, the Japanese player was
plagued by too many unforced errors.
In today’s gold medal match, the
29-year-old Briton will face Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro, who beat
Spain’s Rafael Nadal in a slug-fest 5-7,
6-4, 7-6(5). In the second men’s semifinals yesterday, Nadal took the first set
7-5 but lost the second 4-6. The third set
went into a tie-break, where del Potro
prevailed. Murray won gold at the 2012
London Games where he defeated Switzerland’s Roger Federer in the final.
But the Briton will have his work cut
out for him today. Del Potro, the bronze
medallist in London, has drawn energy
from boisterous crowds of fans from
neighbouring Argentina at the Games.
He pulled off an upset by defeating world
number one Novak Djokovic in the first
round in Rio.
Nadal, who has been beset by a wrist
injury, will play Nishikori in the bronze
medal play-off today. Nadal, however,
will leave Rio with a gold medal for Spain,
after he partnered Marc Lopez to clinch
the doubles title on Friday night.
Nadal was aiming to become the first
man ever to win two Olympic golds in
singles, after winning the title in 2008 at
Beijing. Nadal skipped the London Games
due to a knee injury. The Spaniard also
had a chance to become the first player
since 1924 to win a gold medal in both
men’s singles and doubles at a Games.
Later last night, in the women’s singles
Olympic final, Monica Puig of Puerto Rico
was to face off against Germany’s Angelique Kerber for gold. Twenty-two-yearold Puig, ranked No. 34 in the world and
the underdog in the match, has a chance
medal, the ninth ever won by island nation Puerto Rico, a US territory.
But Kerber, the world’s No. 2 female
player who is known for her aggressive
counter-attacking style, has delivered
consistently dominant performances
so far in Rio. The 28-year-old won the
Australian Open earlier this year, while
Puig has never made it to the final eight
in a Grand Slam tournament. Also yesterday, Kvitova of Czech Republic defeated
Madison Keys of the United States to win
the bronze medal in the women’s draw in
three sets, 7-5 2-6 6-2.
Rio de Janeiro: The star Indian
duo of Sania Mirza and Rohan
Bopanna entered the semifinals of the mixed doubles tennis event at the Rio Olympics
by defeating Andy Murray and
Heather Watson of Britain in
straight sets on Friday night.
The Indians won their
quarter-final match 6-4, 6-4 in
one hour and seven minutes at
the Olympic Tennis Centre. The
fourth seeded Indian duo dominated their British opponents
with both Sania and Bopanna
coming with some fine work at
the net and excellent returns
of serve.
Sania and Bopanna were
playing US team of Venus Williams and Rajeev Ram in a late
last night match, for a place
in the final. Williams and Ram
defeated Italians Roberta Vinci
and Fabio Fognini 6-3, 7-5 in
two hours and 22 minutes.
Murray was clearly struggling with his fitness after
having played a gruelling men’s
singles match earlier on Friday
and both Sania and Bopanna
admitted that containing him
was the key to winning the
match. “We saw Andy’s match
last night and our game plan
was to try and take him out of
the game as much as possible
and play to his weakness, if he
has a weakness.”
“It was also to take the ball
as much as possible to Heather.
Andy was serving and volleying and for me that’s a good
target,” Sania said after the
match.
“The conditions today were
favourable. It was not so windy
even though Andy Murray
was playing amazing tennis..
The only way to win the game
was to keep Andy away from
the ball. And Sania hit the ball
very well and helped me move
well too. I also served very
well today. Luckily we got a
clean match in straight sets,”
Bopanna said.
“Andy missed a few first
serves and we capitalised on
it. There was a lot of pressure
on Andy since he was covering
three-fourths of the court.
You can’t say there were weak
points with Heather. What we
had to do was keep away from
the strong man,” he added.
Safarova and Strycova clinch
women’s doubles bronze
Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic
defeated Madison Keys of the US to
win the bronze medal. (AFP)
to win Puerto Rico’s first ever gold medal
at a Games.
By reaching the final, and defeating
two-time Wimbledon champion Petra
Kvitova in the semi-finals along the way,
Puig has already guaranteed herself a
Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova won
women’s doubles bronze yesterday with a
7-5, 6-1 victory over compatriots, Andrea
Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka. Safarova and Strycova had defeated three-time
champions Serena and Venus Williams
in the first round but were beaten by
Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova and Elena
Vesnina in the semi-final.
Hlavackova and Hradecka had been
just two points from victory over Martina
Hingis and Swiss teammate Timea Bacsinszky in their semi-final on Friday. But
Hlavackova was accidentally hit in the eye
by Hingis and her challenge fizzled out as
a result. Hingis and Bacsinszky will face
Makarova and Vesnina for gold today.
Rafael Nadal (right) described his second Olympic gold as
‘unforgettable’ after marking his return from his latest injury misery
by partnering close friend Marc Lopez to the men’s doubles title in
Rio. The 30-year-old Spaniard added the 2016 doubles crown to his
2008 singles gold in Beijing by defeating Romania’s Florin Mergea
and Horia Tecau 6-2, 3-6, 4-6 on Friday night. (AFP)
FOCUS
Lalita enters steeplechase final to raise India’s hopes
IANS
Rio de Janeiro
L
ong distance runner Lalita Babar kept
India’s hopes alive yesterday by qualifying for the women’s 3,000 metre
Steeplechase finals while rower Dattu
Bhokanal topped the Final C to finish 13th overall in another dismal day which saw the women’s hockey team’s quarter-final dreams dashed
by Argentina.
Two more Indian runners - Sudha Singh and
Nirmala Sheoran - alongwith the women’s badminton doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa and shooters Gurpreet Singh and
Mairaj Ahmad Khan also flunked to add to India’s misery at the 31st Olympic Games.
Disappointed Indian fans can however, take
solace from Lalita’s performance, who shattered
the national record in the women’s 3,000 metre
Steeplechase to qualify for the final round.
She finished fourth fastest, clocking 9 minutes 19.76 seconds in the Round 1 Heat 2 at the
Olympic Stadium to end overall seventh among
the 15 qualifiers. She qualified as a lucky loser,
managing to squeeze in among the next top
eight fastest outside the top two of each heat
who qualified directly.
Lalita also became the first Indian woman to
qualify for an individual Olympic track event final since PT Usha did so in 400m hurdles in the
1984 Games. She had finished fourth in the final.
The performance by the 2015 Asian Championship gold medallist was all the more praiseworthy as she had suffered a fall early in the race
before putting in a stupendous effort to position
herself in the leading group and even wresting
Lalita Babar (left) clocked a national record time of 9:19.76 to finish fourth in the heats of the 3,000m steeplechase, becoming the first Indian woman
to qualify for the finals of a track event at the Olympics since PT Usha’s 1984 feat. (AFP)
the lead at one stage. But Sudha failed to qualify
for the final round after finishing a distant 30th
in the overall rankings. She clocked 9 minutes
43.29 seconds in Round 1 Heat 3.
In women’s 400 metre, Nirmala Sheoran finished overall 44th among 57 athletes to crash
out. The Haryana athlete clocked 53.03 seconds
in the Round 1 Heat 1 event at the Olympic Sta-
dium, to be placed sixth among seven athletes in
her heat.
Rower Dattu also impressed one and all by finishing on top of Final C in men’s single sculls. He
finished 13th overall. Already out of medal contention, Dattu topped the final ranking race in
6:54.96 minutes, which was best timing among
the four races he participated in the Games.
But it was the performance of the women’s
hockey team, which conceded five goals in a single quarter to further douse the spirits.
A higher-ranked Argentina thrashed the Indians 5-0 as Sushila Chanu’s side suffered its
fourth consecutive loss in Pool B to end their
chances of a quarter-final berth.
In the must-win game for both the teams, Ar-
gentina sealed the match in the second quarter
which yielded them five goals in a mesmerising
display of attacking hockey. Martina Cavallero
(16th and 29th minutes), Maria Granatto (23rd),
Carla Rebecchi (26th) and Agustina Albertarrio
(27th) scored for the world No. 2 side.
With this loss, India remained in the sixth
spot, while the United States, Britain, Australia
and Argentina made it to the quarters.
Shooters continued their dismal show in
Rio, as Gurpreet failed to qualify for the finals
of men’s 25 metre Rapid Fire Pistol qualifying
event while Mairaj crashed out of men’s Skeet
qualification round after a shoot-off for the final two spots. Gurpreet finished seventh, just
outside the six qualifying spots, with a cumulative 581 points with 24 inner 10s at the Olympic
Shooting Centre.
Gurpreet, who was ranked 10th, scored 289
points with 10 inner 10s after the first qualifying
stage. He scored 292 points in the second stage.
In Skeet, Mairaj shot a total of 121 along with
four other shooters, requiring a shoot-off for
the final two spots to reach the semi-finals at the
Olympic Shooting Centre.
The 40-year-old found himself out of the
race after managing to shoot a +3 to drop to the
ninth place. Shuttlers Jwala and Ashwini added
insult to injury after losing their inconsequential Group A match against Puttita Supajirakul
and Sapsiree Taerattanachai of Thailand to bow
out of the Olympic Games.
Already out of the quarterfinal race, Jwala
and Ashwini lost 17-21, 15-21 against Puttita and
Sapsiree. With this loss, the Indian pair ended
the Group A campaign with three consecutive
losses. The Thai pair managed a win but it was
not enough to take them through.
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
JUDO
7
BASKETBALL
Unstoppable Riner
powers to another
Olympic gold
‘I am proud and happy, because I did not give up in the final, I did not give up in the
preparation and I did not give up on the Olympics, despite the injuries, all the doubts...’
NBA stars rattled but
rally to beat Serbia
USA’s Demar Derozan tussles with Serbian players during their match.
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
T
he vaunted USA basketball squad survived a lastsecond scare from Serbia
on Friday to win 94-91 in a
Rio Olympics contest that exposed
their potential vulnerability for a
second straight game.
With a historic upset brewing, Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic
missed a three-pointer with two
seconds left to hand the defending champions a grind-it-out
victory and plenty to ponder
about the fast-flowing international game.
Kyrie Irving’s 15 points led
six Americans in double figures
in a contest that at first looked
like a rout thanks to a swarming USA defence. But Serbian
big men Nikola Jokic — the only
team member to earn a living in
the NBA — and Miroslav Raduljica brought the underdogs back as
the Serbian offence kept finding
ways to penetrate.
USA guard Paul George admitted that the high-priced American talent — who only began
playing as a unit a few weeks ago
— were still adjusting to international play.
“We relied on natural talent to
get us over this one,” George said.
“That’s why these international
guys are special in our league.
They really know how to move.”
The USA has won the last three
Olympic gold medals and 14 in
total. Now at 4-0 in group play,
they were already guaranteed of a
spot in the knockout phase starting next week.
But a loss would have been a
stunning first in the Olympics
since 2004, and first internationally in a decade.
The Serbs came even closer to
an upset than medal hopefuls Australia, who two days earlier pushed
the champions throughout much
of a 98-88 American win.
The USA defence smothered
the Serbs early, forcing eight
first-quarter turnovers to jump
out to an 18-point advantage.
Three straight slam-dunks, two
on alley-oops by US centre DeAndre Jordan, made it 23-5 late in the
first period, and it appeared NBA
showtime had started.
But American mental miscues
and sloppy passes prevented them
from putting the hammer down as
action became disjointed.
The Serbs closed to 50-41 at
halftime thanks to 14 first-half
points inside by Raduljica, who
finished with 18.
The 2.09-metre (6-foot-10)
Jokic, who is just 21 but expected
by many to emerge as a star for the
Denver Nuggets, took over in the
second half, repeatedly eluding his
markers en route to 25 points.
USA coach Mike Krzyzewski
called Jokic “spectacular.” “He
played with the poise of a player much older. He had a great
game,” Krzyzewski said.
BEHIND THE SCENES
France’s Teddy Riner celebrates after defeating Japan’s Hisayoshi Harasawa during their men’s +100kg judo contest gold medal match.
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
H
e won by the smallest of margins, but judo heavyweight
Teddy Riner became one of
the giants by winning a second
straight 100kg gold medal in Rio but it
has been like climbing a mountain.
Riner, 27, is one of the most popular
people in France, according to polls, and
is unbeaten on the judo mat since 2010.
But he had to battle injuries, his weight
and find a new desire to win to get from a
gold at London in 2012 to a new title in Rio.
“I am proud and happy, because I did
not give up in the final, I did not give up in
the preparation and I did not give up on
the Olympics, despite the injuries, all the
doubts and the way I have felt,” he said
after collecting the latest in a glorious
line of titles.
The 2.04 metre (6ft 8in) colossus secured gold by beating Japanese rival
Hisayoshi Harasawa.
Riner only gave away one penalty, Harasawa two for defensive posture and false
attack. There were none of the decisive
ippon throws for thrill-seekers.
But the win capped a great day for
French judo as Emilie Andeol also claimed
gold in the women’s 78kg category.
TOKYO DOUBTS
Riner said he had a feeling at the start
of the day that he would meet Israeli Or
Sasson in the semi-final and 24-year-old
Harasawa in the gold medal clash.
“I knew these were going to be tough
bouts. These two fighters were strong.
Today they showed it, these are very big
adversaries and in the future I will have to
watch for them.”
Riner has not been beaten since 2010
and that was a referees decision. He has
not lost by a throw for nine years.
But he senses that invincibility is diminishing. Despite his defeat, Harasawa
said: “I don’t think he (Riner) is unbeatable, I will continue to challenge him when
I get a chance. Each tournament is hard,
despite the prizes I have won,” said Riner.
“People sometimes say there are no rivals, but now they can say there are rivals.
“It’s not always a party, not all the time
ippons in all directions. The others are as
hungry as I am and they are looking for
ways to to the throw. It is getting harder
to find the solution.”
Riner said it would be nice to go on to
Tokyo 2020 and compete in judo’s homeland. But now holidays take priority.
As after London, the big man has to rediscover his will to win and how to control his hunger.
In the weeks after his London triumph,
Riner’s weight ballooned to 165 kilos (363
pounds) as he indulged in his favourite
food. The kilos kill the speed and mobility that is a mark of his combat.
He brought it down to 139 kilos (306
pounds) for Rio. But Riner also had an
operation on a shoulder and other injuries that caused doubts.
Despite having eight world titles, and
two Olympic golds and a bronze (from
Beijing 2008), getting up to go to the office has not always been easy.
“Its exhausting always being the last
fighter,” he said of his mood stressing
how much he believes he deserves his
gold medal holiday. Sasson and Rafael
Silva of Brazil bounced back from defeats
to Riner to claim bronze medals.
With the judo finished, Japan topped
the medals table overall with three golds,
one silver and eight bronzes.
File picture of Fiji coach Ben Ryan (C) speaking to his players.
BOTTOMLINE
Record and gold for Iran’s Rostami
Tian came desperately close to
being eliminated.
While
Rostami
cruised
through his first two lifts, Tian
failed at 173kg, went up by 5kg
for his next attempt and missed
that too.
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
K
ianoush Rostami broke
his own world record to
win gold in the men’s
85kg
weightlifting
at the Rio Olympics on Friday
and clinch Iran’s first medal of
the Games, before promising it
would not be the last.
Rostami, 25, a bronze medallist in the same category in London four years ago, made 217kg
with his final clean and jerk for a
total of 396kg, beating his world
record by one kilogram.
Tian Tao of China took silver
with 395kgs despite making only
two of his six lifts, while Romania’s Gabriel Sincraian, who
lifted a total of 390kg, secured
bronze after edging out Kazakhstan’s Denis Ulanov.
Rostami looked supremely
confident throughout, though
he said he was not as sure as he
looked when he went for the
winning lift.
“I have lifted 225 in training,
but that 217 was a challenge,”
the Iranian told reporters. “Anything can happen.”
When he made his first two
snatches with apparent ease,
English coach Ryan
helped Fiji rugby
rediscover flair
Kianoush Rostami (IRI) of Iran celebrates winning the gold medal.
Rostami bowed and gestured to
the crowd.
However, he missed his third
attempt and finished the snatch
only 1kg ahead of his main rival,
Tian. Earlier, the 22-year-old
FINALLY FOUND STRENGTH
On his third snatch, also at
178kg, he looked beaten, wobbling on his right knee and then
on his left before he finally found
the strength to make the lift.
Tian missed his first two clean
and jerks too, evoking memories of the IWF world championships in Houston, Texas last
November when he missed all
three attempts, having led after
the snatch.
“I was too confident and
didn’t keep calm in the world
championships,” Tian said. “Tonight I always thought I would
make the third one.
“I offer my congratulations
to the winner and hope we have
many more chances to compete
against each other. I am confident I can beat him.”
Rostami coaches himself, a
point he made several times to
the reporters after sealing gold.
“The Iranian coaches are
good but I want to make my own
“All the time I train alone,
just me in a training camp.
Nobody sees me. It can
make your mind go a
bit crazy, but I will be
here again the next time
(at the 2020 Games in
Tokyo) for sure”
decisions,” he said. “Nobody
thought it was possible to come
to Rio without a coach but here
I am.
“All the time I train alone, just
me in a training camp. Nobody
sees me. It can make your mind
go a bit crazy, but I will be here
again the next time (at the 2020
Games in Tokyo) for sure.”
MORE GOLD FOR IRAN
Rostami predicted more weightlifting gold for Iran in Rio as the
country has favourites in two of
the remaining three men’s medal events, Sohrab Moradi in the
94kg and Behdad Salimikordabiasi in the super-heavyweights.
“We will see more gold medals, and more world records for
Iran,” said Rostami.
“Now that I have won, I’m
sure others will win too.”
Now to see whether Rostami
can prove to be an inspiration for
his compatriots.
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
F
iji captain Osea Kolinisau
credited English coach Ben
Ryan with helping the Pacific islanders rediscover
their traditional rugby flair after
they became the first Olympic
men’s sevens champions at the Rio
Games on Thursday.
Fiji has produced some of the
greatest players ever to have
played the shortened version of
the game, such as Waisale Serevi and William Ryder, and their
success has allowed the country to wave its flag on the global
sporting stage.
Since the introduction of the
world sevens series in 1999, however, the team have often struggled with consistency, romping
through one tournament only to
crash out early in the next.
Ryan, a former England coach
who helped develop many of the
players that face the Fijians in
Thursday’s final, arrived in Suva
three years ago to rectify that.
Since then, the Fijians have
won the last two world series
and in Rio they produced a string
of sevens masterclasses, going
through the tournament unbeaten to claim their country’s first
Olympic medal.
“We are really blessed that he
came and coached Fiji,” Kolinisau told reporters with Ryan sitting next to him at the post-final
news conference.
“He brought out the real Fiji.
For years we tried to get back the
Fijian flair and when Ben came,
he brought that out and brought
a real consistency to our game.”
BABIES AND POP SONGS
The evidence of the rediscovery
of that flair had been laid out for
all to see at the Deodoro Stadium
on Thursday evening, when the
Fijians produced an awesome
seven-try demolition of Britain
to clinch the gold medal.
It was a sensational and hugely
popular conclusion to the first
rugby tournament at the Olympics since 1924.
Kolinisau, who scored the first
try with a burst down the left
wing, said he was still struggling
to digest the fact he was an Olympic champion.
“I told the boys when we were
up at the podium: is this even
happening? Are we gold medal
winners?” he said.
“I never dreamt of being an Olympian let alone being a medallist,
let alone being a gold medallist.”
Ryan, who is such a popular
figure in Fiji that he has had babies named in his honour and
pop songs written about him, is
out of contract after the Olympics and has said he would take a
break before deciding on his next
challenge.
“Hopefully, after his break he
decides to stay with Fijian rugby
a little longer,” said Kolinisau.
8
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Ethiopia’s Etenesh Diro got tangled up with two other runners in yesterday’s 3,000m women’s Olympic steeplechase and stopped to tear off her damaged right shoe and sock, but she kept on running to finish seventh. Diro, a 25-year-old who placed fifth
in the event at the 2012 London Games, broke down in tears after finishing in 9 minutes 34.7 seconds, more than 20 seconds off her personal best. But it did not mark the end of her Rio Olympics after officials granted her a spot in tomorrow’s final. The
International Association of Athletics Federations also cleared Ireland’s Sara Louise Treacy and Jamaica’s Aisha Praught to run in the final after reviewing video replays of the race following protests by their teams. (Reuters / David Gray)
Mariel Zagunis of the US cuts a lonely figure after
losing the women’s team sabre fencing semi-final at the
Carioca Arena 3, yesterday. (AFP / Kirill Kudryavtsev)
Palestine’s Mohammed Abukhousa reacts in pain after competing in the 100m heats at the Olympic Stadium. (AFP / Olivier Morin)
Germany’s Sonke Rothenberg on Cosmo grimaces after his horse hit a groom (second right), who suffered
a cut in his head during the victory ceremony of the Equestrian’s Dressage Grand Prix at the Olympic
Equestrian Centre in Rio de Janeiro yesterday. (AFP / John Macdougall)
An overview shows the match between China’s Chen Long (top) and Poland’s Adrian Dziolko during their
men’s singles qualifying badminton match at the Riocentro stadium in Rio. (AFP / Antonin Thuillier)
Tania Calvo Barbero of Spain (right) falls after colliding with Olivia Podmore of New Zealand during the women’s Keirin first round track cycling
event at the Velodrome during the Rio Olympic Games. The crash occurred on the final lap of the sprinting event when French rider Virginie
Cueff used her shoulder to push Dutch rider Laurine van Riessen on to the outer wall and nearly into the stands. That caused Podmore and
Barbero crash behind them. (AFP / Greg Baker)
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
9
OLYMPICS
FOOTBALL
USA blast Swedish
‘cowards’; Brazil
survive Marta miss
‘We played a bunch of cowards. The better team did not win today. I strongly believe
that. I think you saw American heart. You saw us give everything we had today’
Germany rout ends
Portugal’s perfect 2016
A
rsenal’s Serge Gnabry became the Olympics’ topscorer as Germany ended Portugal’s hopes of adding gold to a glorious 2016
with a 4-0 thrashing to reach the Rio 2016 semi-finals yesterday. Victory takes Germany one step closer to a mouthwatering rematch with
hosts Brazil in next Saturday’s final two years on from smashing the
five-time world champions 7-1 on home soil at the 2014 World Cup.
Brazil resume their quest for a maiden football gold medal in a
South American grudge match with Colombia in Sao Paulo later
in the evening. Next up for Germany is a semi-final with Nigeria
or Denmark in Salvador on Wednesday as they exacted revenge
for a 5-0 hammering at the hands of Portugal in last year’s under-21 European championships.
The world champions greater experience told with the Portuguese
squad ravaged by clubs not releasing players for the Games and a
number of their stars from the under-21s having gone onto win Euro
2016 with the senior side in France last month. Gnabry has been a
player reborn in Brazil after a couple of years blighted by injury and
lack of first-team opportunities at Arsenal. The 21-year-old scored his
sixth goal in four games when he coolly slotted home Julian Brandt’s
inch-perfect pass to open the scoring in first-half stoppage time.
Mathias Ginter is the only member of the Germany team who
was also part of the World Cup-winning squad two years ago,
having showed his commitment by flying 20,000km from Borussia Dortmund’s pre-season tour in China to Brazil for the Games.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
AFP
Rio de Janeiro
All I wanted was a
free meal, says Kenya
sprint coach Anzrah
O
utspoken USA women’s goalkeeper Hope Solo labelled Sweden “cowards” after the world
champions’ bid for a fourth
straight Olympic gold ended, whilst Brazil
edged past Australia in a marathon penalty
shootout despite a miss from star Marta in
Friday night’s quarter-finals.
Sweden progressed to their first ever
Olympics semi-final 4-3 on penalties after
a 1-1 draw in Brasilia as Sweden coach Pia
Sundhage ousted the US team she led to
gold in 2008 and 2012.
“We played a bunch of cowards,” Solo
fumed. “The better team did not win today. I strongly believe that. I think you saw
American heart. You saw us give everything we had today.”
Star striker Alex Morgan and substitute Christen Press missed penalties before Lisa Dahlkvist converted the winning
spot-kick despite Solo’s best efforts to put
her off by changing gloves to delay Dahlkvist’s effort.
“It is ok to be coward if you win,” Sundhage shot back. “What she did was an act
of panic,” added Swedish goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl of Solo’s time-wasting tactics
before the final penalty.
USA coach Jill Ellis tried to diffuse the
row. “They executed her game plan very
well. It’s a matter of knowing how to use all
the resources you have,” said the Englishwoman. “And finally the most important
thing is the result, not how to play.”
Elsewhere, the 120 minutes of high
drama in front of a near capacity 60,000
crowd in Belo Horizonte produced no goals
between Brazil and Australia. Both teams
then found the net with their first four penalties, but Brazil’s bid for a first gold medal
looked lost when national hero Marta saw
her effort saved by Lydia Williams.
The five-time World Player of the Year
was on her knees in tears of relief seconds
later, though, as Barbara parried Katrina
Gorry’s spot-kick to keep the hosts alive.
Another five penalties were scored before
Barbara produced more heroics to turn
Alanna Kennedy’s shot behind for a 7-6
win and spark wild scenes of celebration.
“I didn’t want to be the focus of attention in that way,” said Marta. “I leave (the
attention) to Barbara.”
Next up for Brazil is a rematch with Sweden, who they beat 5-1 in the group stages,
in Rio’s iconic Maracana on Tuesday.
Sweden inflicted America’s first defeat
in 15 games at the Olympics and only their
third ever in Games history having won four
golds and a silver since women’s football
was introduced to the Olympic programme.
Reuters
Nairobi
K
Brazil’s Marta (fourth from left) covers her face after missing a penalty during the shoot-out against Australia in their Rio Olympic
Games women’s football quarter-final match in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on Friday. Brazil won 7-6 to make the semi-finals. (AFP)
Morgan looked to have saved America’s
blushes when she swooped 13 minutes from
the end of normal time to cancel out Stina
Blackstenius’s opener just after the hour
mark. But the world’s number one ranked side
failed to break down Sundhage’s well-organised Swedes in extra-time, who also had a perfectly good goal from Lotta Schelin wrongly
ruled out for offside in the final minutes.
“I don’t think they’re going to make it
far in the tournament. I think it was very
cowardly,” added Solo. “We had that style
of play when Pia was our coach.”
Sundhage insisted she had full faith the
Swedes could pull off a massive upset de-
spite scoring just twice in three matches as
they sneaked into the last eight as one of the
two best third-placed sides from the group
stages. “When I looked at my players before
starting the extra time and penalties and I
was so confident in my players,” she added.
Solo’s Games has been dogged by controversy as she received chants of “Zika”
from fans across Brazil for Twitter posts on
her elaborate precautions against the virus.
Canada, meanwhile, maintained their
perfect record in Brazil to set up a semi-final with Germany in Belo Horizonte thanks
to Sophie Schmidt’s winner in a 1-0 win
over France. Germany overcame 10-man
China in Salvador with Melanie Behringer
netting the winner 14 minutes from time.
Results (Quarter-finals)
US 1 (Morgan 77) Sweden 1 (Blackstenius 61)
(Sweden won 4-3 on penalties)
China 0 Germany 1 (Behringer 76)
Canada 1 (Schmidt 56) France 0
Brazil 0 Australia 0
(Brazil won 7-6 on penalties)
Semi-finals Line-up (Tuesday)
Brazil vs Sweden
Canada vs Germany
enyan sprint coach
John Anzrah had
only one thing on
his mind when dope
testers came calling at the Rio
Olympics athletes’ village — a
decent, free meal.
Instead of a fry-up, however, he found himself impersonating 800m runner Ferguson Rotich and being told
to pee in a cup before drugs
testers finally discovered the
52-year-old could not possibly
be a world class athlete, ready
for the biggest race of his life.
“On Wednesday, Ferguson
Rotich gave me his card to use
for breakfast,” Anzrah told a
throng of reporters upon landing at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta
International Airport from Rio
on Friday. “If I had an accreditation card, this would not
have occurred. I did not steal
the card, so I could not have
impersonated anybody.”
The former runner said
hunger had led him and other
coaches to using the athletes’
accreditation to enter the offlimits athletes’ village where
the dining hall is a feast for the
senses with a vast variety of
foods on offer, from Asian to
Italian and Brazilian.
“We were operating in Rio
like beggars, cooking for ourselves in a private house, but
our athletes always helped us
get food. We were only being
given ordinary one-day passes. It was a shame,” he said.
He had just flown back from
Rio after being expelled from
the team and he could now
face possible criminal charges
at home. Anzrah said it was
pure coincidence that the testers came calling when he was
about to have breakfast.
“I was confronted by three
anti-doping guys, who demanded to know my nationality. They checked their list and
confirmed Ferguson was due
for random testing.”
“I told them I was not Rotich, but they would hear none
of it. They led me into a room,
demanded my urine sample
but I declined, asking my colleague to alert Ferguson. He
came with his passport to
prove the card I used was his. I
was then released.”
But the incident, instead
of ending there, set in motion a chain of events that saw
the coach being sent home
instantly in disgrace and the
International Olympic Committee looking into the affair
and threatening with possible
sanctions.
“I did not give urine sample.
I am challenging them (Kenya
officials) to prove that claim,”
Anzrah said. “But I signed
documents just to buy time
for the athlete to arrive at the
dope-testing centre. I did that
in the interest of the athlete.”
The IOC since has confirmed Anzrah was not tested
and Rotich was tested a little
later and was cleared to compete in his athletics event later
on Friday.
ROUND-UP
Eagles help Rose edge ahead after Van Zyl ace
Reuters
Rio de Janeiro
B
ritain’s Justin Rose, the player who hit the
first Olympic hole-in-one in 112 years this
week, edged ahead in the Olympic men’s
golf tournament yesterday after a blistering start.
Rose, the world No. 12, fired eagles on the third
and fifth holes to take a one-stroke lead over Australian Marcus Fraser who had been sitting atop
the leaderboard since Thursday. Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, the British Open champion, was also
threatening the lead at two strokes back, tied for
third place with France’s Gregory Bourdy.
The Americans, who had more players in the
field of 60 than any other country, finally showed
signs of life on a sunny day in Rio with forgiving
conditions.
Rickie Fowler, who has been in Rio over a week
and has been spotted all over the athletes’ village
celebrating his Olympic debut, shot a blistering
seven under-par 64 that he said would give him
some much-needed sleep.
“After playing well today I got myself some
more sleeping time with a later tee time, so I’m
looking forward to it. It’d be nice to get off to a
good start and give myself a chance to possibly
podium,” Fowler told reporters.
Fowler’s teammate Bubba Watson also worked
his way up the standings and was tied for fourth
with a couple of holes to go.
Earlier, South African Jaco van Zyl fired the
second ace in Olympic history in yesterday’s third
round. Van Zyl aced the 173-yard, par-3 eighth
hole and played the front nine in one-under to
stand on two-over for the tournament.
Polish weightlifting brothers Tomasz,
Adrian thrown out of Rio for doping
P
olish weightlifter Tomasz
Zielinski and his brother
Adrian have been thrown out
of the Rio Olympics after testing
positive for banned substances, the
Court of Arbitration for Sport said
yesterday. CAS also said Chinese
swimmer Chen Xinyi was provisionally suspended.
Tomasz, who like his brother, was
down to compete in the 94kg category, tested positive for performance-boosting anabolic steroids.
“The athlete is declared ineligible to compete in and is excluded
from the Olympic Games,” CAS
said. “His accreditation shall be
withdrawn.”
Earlier on Friday, the Polish Anti-Doping Agency said Adrian, an
Olympic champion in weightlifting four years ago in London, had
also been sent home after testing
positive for nandrolone.
Adrian failed a test in Poland before the Games, Michal Rynkowski,
director of Poland’s Commission
Against Doping in Sport, told reporters in Warsaw.
“I can clearly confirm that a
urine sample taken from Adrian
Zielinski gave a positive result for
nandrolone. Its concentration
was nearly twice the permissible
norm,” he said. “Today we have
received confirmation. The athlete
faces a four-year suspension.”
Adrian won gold in the 85kg
category in London and had moved
up to the next weight category,
94kg, for Rio.
Chen finished fourth in the
women’s 100m butterfly final on
Sunday and was scheduled to swim
in the 50 freestyle heats on Friday
in Rio. She tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide, CAS said.
“The athlete accepted a provisional suspension on a voluntary
basis,” CAS said. “The procedure
will continue and the CAS... will
issue a final award before the end
of the Games.”
CAS also confirmed the disqualification of Bulgarian runner Silvia
Danekova who tested positive for
blood-boosting EPO.
The 33-year-old, who was due
to compete in the women’s 3000m
steeplechase tomorrow, has been
suspended after failing an outof-competition test on August 1,
the Bulgarian Olympic Committee
(BOC) has said.
Landmark trampoline silver a Page-turner for Britain
B
ryony Page carved out a slice of
trampoline gymnastics history
at the Rio Games on Friday when
she became the first British woman
ever to win a medal in the event.
Holding back tears, the 25-yearold appeared shocked at her success
as the judges revealed their scores and
the realisation finally dawned that she
would be taking home the silver.
Page and her teammate, Kat Driscoll, were Britain’s first women’s trampoline gymnasts to reach an Olympic
final in a sport that has been dominated by Chinese athletes in recent years.
However Page, the 2015 British
champion, looked determined to buck
this trend from the moment she first
stepped onto the trampoline. Opening
her set routine with a floating threequarter front somersault, a technically simple skill that requires extreme
physical control, she appeared to hang
momentarily in the air, weightless.
A slightly weaker performance in
the voluntary round pushed her into
seventh position, yet her composure
was unaffected.
With the scoreboard set to zero
heading into the final round, the Sheffield University graduate visibly oozed
confidence. “If I want to get a medal,
if I want to do my best, I have to give it
absolutely everything with no holding
back,” she said.
There was certainly no reserve
in evidence. A booming piked triple front somersault with half twist,
known as a triff, kicked off an elegant
and powerful routine packed with
strong lines and tight shapes.
Pinned to the central cross, her
natural power made a 14.400 difficulty routine look effortless.
The top spot was hers and she successfully defended it against Chinese
attacks from world champion Li Dan
and 2008 Olympic gold medallist He
Wenna before Canada’s Rosie MacLellan rose to the occasion and became the first trampoline gymnast to
win back-to-back golds.
“I was really happy with my routine
in the final,” Page, who finished seventh
in qualifying, told reporters. “It was the
best routine I could have done. “Finding out I’d got a medal, I couldn’t hold
my legs up. I just collapsed and I was
crying my eyes out. When I found out I
got the silver, I was just shell-shocked.”
10
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
SPORT
RALLYING/ HUNGARIAN BAJA
Qatar’s Adel Hussein holds on to third position
Agencies
Veszprem (Hungary)
N
issan’s Adel Hussein Abdulla did his quest for glory
in the FIA T2 World Championship no harm at all by
holding third position in the category
after two special stages of the Hungarian Baja, round six of the FIA World Cup
for Cross-Country Rallies, yesterday.
The Qatari driver and French navigator
Jean-Michel Polato headed into the remaining two stages of the event knowing
that they needed to overhaul Saudi Arabia’s Yasir Saeidan and Poland’s Mariusz
Wiatr to snatch the outright championship lead and take outright victory in the
three-day Veszprém-based event.
Adel Hussein, who is currently just
two points behind the leader of T2 in
the points’ standings, is running a Nissan Patrol with support from Nissan
Middle East and the Qatar Motor and
Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) on one
of the most demanding rounds of the
European Baja calendar.
“The car stopped for three minutes
inside the stage and we lost time and
that has dropped us to third in T2,”
said the Doha-based driver. “It was a
tiny problem with the cable on the fuel
pump. Saying that, it is still early days
in the rally and we are still determined
to fight for the win.”
The Qatari carded a time of 9min
11sec through the opening 10.31km
super special stage that followed the
official start in Veszprém’s Old Town
Square on Friday evening. That impressive time catapulted the Qatari 15
seconds in front of his T2 series leading
rival and well clear of the remainder of
his rivals in the category for FIA Series
Production Cross-Country vehicles.
The meat of the action got underway
yesterday morning with the first of
two runs through a demanding selective section of 170.24km that wound
its way through some of the remotest
Hungarian countryside. Adel Hussein
passed one of the official split time
checkpoints in 1hr 50min 09sec and
went on to finish the special in a time
of 2hrs 14min 57sec. That put him just
4min 27sec behind Saudi Arabia’s Yasir
Saeidan at the midday break.
Mariusz Wiatr slotted into second
position and Adel Hussein was closely
followed by the Polish driver Jaroslaw
Kazberuk in fourth. Qatar’s Mohammed al-Harqan held fifth place.
Teams will tackle a fourth and final
stage of 170.72km today morning.
Positions after SS2 (T2 class)
1. Yasir Saeidan (SAU)/Alexei Kuzmich
(RUS) Toyota Land Cruiser 200
2hr 19min 41sec
2. Mariusz Wiatr (POL)/Artur Szczygel
(POL) Mitsubishi Pajero 2hr 21min 09sec
3. Adel Hussein Abdulla (QAT)/JeanMichel Polato (FRA) Nissan Patrol
2hr 24min 08sec
4. Jaroslaw Kazberuk (POL)/Robin
Szustkowski (POL) Ford Raptor
2hr 24min 27sec
5. Mohamed al-Harqan (QAT)/Nasser
al-Kuwari(QAT) Toyota Land Cruiser
2hr 26min 27sec
6. Tomasz Piec (POL)/Daniel Dymurski
(POL) Nissan Navara 2hr 26min 45sec
BASEBALL
MOTO GP
Rodriguez double
in Yankee farewell
‘Retirement is synonymous with old. I am 41. I am not that old. I try not to use it that much. I
still think I can do some work, but I am not there right now. I am just going to enjoy tonight’
Rodriguez missed all of 2014 while on
suspension for PED use in connection with
baseball’s Biogenesis scandal.
“I worked hard at trying to comeback,”
said Rodriguez. “If you look at my 22 years,
if you look at the last two seasons this ending is what I am most proud of.”
Rodriguez is four home runs shy of 700
for his career.
He has two homers since June 3, leaving
his career total at 696. He trails only Barry
Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe
Ruth (714) on the career list.
Rodriguez announced in March that he
intended to retire at the end of 2017. Instead
of waiting, the Yankees forced his hand as
part of their ongoing a roster overhaul.
Rodriguez has a $20 million salary this
year and is owed $20 million more in 2017,
the final year of a $275-million, 10-year
contract that was the baseball’s largest
when he signed it.
His release will end a legendary but
controversial career with the Yankees
which saw him repeatedly embroiled in
controversy since arriving in New York in
2004 from the Texas Rangers.
Much of the Yankees failures in his first
few seasons with the team was placed on
Rodriguez’s shoulders. In the eight years
before he came to New York, the Yankees
won four World Series and six pennants.
In Rodriguez’s first five years with the
Yankees, they failed to reach the World Series even once. They also became the first
major league team ever to blow a 3-0 lead
in a best-of-seven series in 2004.
AFP
New York
M
other Nature couldn’t put a
complete damper on Alex
Rodriguez’s going away party
yesterday as he revelled in his
final New York Yankees game and possibly
the last of his contentious career.
Thunder and lightning cut short a pregame tribute but the ageing slugger provided the first fireworks of the night for the
Yankees by smacking a RBI double in his
first at-bat as New York beat the Tampa
Bay Rays 6-3.
“It is going to be tough to top that. This
is a memory I will own forever,” an emotional Rodriguez said.
But after the double, he went zero-forthree the rest of the night, displaying the
batting struggles that led the Yankees to decide to release the former star in the middle
of the 2016 Major League Baseball season.
After refusing Rodriguez’s request to
start at third base, manager Joe Girardi allowed him to make a cameo appearance in
the ninth inning. He then brought him out
after one out as the sold-out Yankee Stadium crowd stood and cheered.
“Some people think I wanted to make
negative decisions,” Girardi said.
“But I have a huge heart. This is the last
time he plays. I wanted it to be something.”
“I hope this is a good as it gets for him.
He’s not going out a champion and he’s not
going out on a 30-home run season. That’s
my wish for every player that they get to go
out the way they want,” Girardi added.
The 41-year-old Rodriguez will now
be officially released, ending the Yankees’
playing career of one of the most successful yet controversial players of American
baseball’s steroid era.
“I put the fans through a lot. I disappointed a lot of people but this feels good,”
Rodriguez said after the game.
Rodriguez’s final game caps a tumultuous five days that started with an
emotional news conference last Sunday,
when it was announced he would be released as a player.
He was given the option — and said yes
— to becoming special adviser which starts
next spring training.
Results (Home team in CAPS)
Rodriguez said he doesn’t like to use
the word retirement and he hasn’t rule out
playing again but said it is unlikely.
“Retirement is synonymous with old,”
he said. “I am 41. I am not that old. I try
not to use it that much. I still think I can do
some work, but I am not there right now. I
am just going to enjoy tonight.”
Rodriguez’s final game with the Yankees
was put on a one-hour hold because of a
heavy downpour.
Minutes after Rodriguez’s pre-game ceremony began, the clouds opened up and
thunder, lightning and driving rain sent officials, players, fans and Rodriguez’s family
members scurrying for cover.
The ceremony began with a short video
tribute of his career highlights as Reggie
Jackson, Mariano Rivera, owner Hal Steinbrenner and his mother and daughters
joined him on the field.
Rodriguez chuckled while standing with
his daughters as the cloudburst boomed
overhead. As a parting gift, Hal’s sister
Jennifer Steinbrenner presented Rodriguez with a base signed by his teammates.
Rodriguez, who has twice admitted using performance-enhancing drugs, waved
to the crowd but did not get a chance to
speak as the downpour raged.
CHICAGO CUBS 13............ St. Louis 2
Atlanta 8 ............................... WASHINGTON 5
PHILADELPHIA 10 ............ Colorado 6
NY YANKEES 6 ................... Tampa Bay 3
Houston 5 ............................ TORONTO 3
BOSTON 9 ............................ Arizona 4
Chicago White Sox 4 ...... MIAMI 2
CLEVELAND 13 .................. LA Angels 3
San Diego 8 ......................... NY METS 6
TEXAS 8 ................................ Detroit 5
Cincinnati 7 ......................... MILWAUKEE 4
Kansas City 7 ...................... MINNESOTA 3
OAKLAND 6 ........................ Seattle 3
Pittsburgh 5 ........................ LA DODGERS 1
Baltimore 5 .......................... SAN FRANCISCO 2
Rodriguez says he is at peace with Yankees exit
A
lex Rodriguez, one of
Major League Baseball’s
greatest sluggers, said
yesterday before his last game in
pinstripes that he was “at peace”
despite the abrupt nature of his
exit from the New York Yankees.
“When you start playing as a little boy, you don’t think about the
end,” said 41-year-old Rodriguez,
who learned from Yankees owner
Hal Steinbrenner last week that
he was going to be released after
yesterday’s home game against
the Tampa Bay Rays.
The stunning announcement
was made at a news conference
last Sunday following a dismal
campaign in which Rodriguez has
struggled to a.199 batting average with just nine home runs.
“Baseball has a funny way to
tap you on the shoulder when
you least expect it and tells you
it’s the end. I’m at peace,” the 22year MLB veteran said.
“This is a happy day for me and
my family,” he added.
Rodriguez has had an extraordinary career, with towering
highs and humiliating lows on
his way to becoming fourth on
MLB’s all-time home run list with
696 blasts, trailing only Babe
Ruth (714), Henry Aaron (755) and
Barry Bonds (762).
After winning the American
League most valuable player
(MVP) award with the Yankees
in 2007, Rodriguez exercised
his right to opt out of a 10-year,
$252-million deal he signed with
the Texas Rangers in 2000, a
record at the time.
In order to keep him in the
Bronx, the Yankees rewrote the
record books by giving him a 10year deal worth $275 mn.
Before the start of the 2009
season, Rodriguez admitted to
taking steroids during his seasons
with Texas after results of a confidential doping test taken in 2003
were revealed.
The man popularly known as ARod began being hearing taunts
of “A-Roid” and “A-Fraud”, but
won local fans over by helping
the Yankees win the World Series
crown in 2009.
Injuries began to take a toll
on Rodriguez and he hit rock
bottom late in 2013 when he was
implicated in a steroids scandal
that led to him being banned for
the entire 2014 season.
Yet Rodriguez, a three-time
American League MVP and 14time All Star, stormed back by
hammering 33 home runs as a
39-year-old to lift the Yanks into
the 2015 playoffs.
The Yankees owe Rodriguez
for the rest of 2016 and another
$20mn for next season.
He will pocket the money
regardless, but with his release as
a player he is free to join another
MLB club.
Just four home runs shy of the
magical 700-mark going into his
final game, Rodriguez said he
was not thinking about a return
to the diamond. “After all of this,
I’m going to need a long nap
and recover and see where life
takes me. It’s been a great run, an
incredible journey,” he said.
Asked about being tantalisingly close to the 700-home run
mark, Rodriguez said the fact
that the Yankees had asked him
to serve as an adviser and tutor
for younger players next season
meant even more to him.
“Hal has given me an opportunity to stay involved with the
organization (despite) all my
screw-ups and how badly I acted,”
Rodriguez told the pre-game
news conference. “The fact that
I’m walking out the door and Hal
wants me as part of the family,
that’s (like) hitting 800 home
runs for me.”
Iannone pips Rossi
to Austrian pole
AFP
Spielberg, Austria
W
orld
championship
leader Marc Marquez
recovered from a crash
in practice to qualify for the
Austrian MotoGP in fifth place,
as Ducati rider Andrea Iannone took pole position.
Italian Iannone came out on
top in a thrilling duel with compatriot Valentino Rossi to claim
pole for only the second time in
his MotoGP career. He posted
a fastest lap of one minute and
23.142 seconds on the Red Bull
Ring circuit, with nine-time
world champion Rossi just
over a tenth of a second down.
Iannone’s teammate Andrea
Dovizioso finished third to
make it an all-Italian front row.
Honda’s Marquez leads the
riders’ standings by 48 points
after winning last time out in
Germany, but there were concerns surrounding the 23-yearold when he crashed heavily at
turn three during third practice
while trying to avoid teammate
Dani Pedrosa.
The four-time world champion was given the all-clear to
race after a quick trip to hospital despite dislocating his
shoulder, and took advantage
by securing a place on the second row.
Rossi, 37, is currently third
in the standings behind the
Spanish pair of Marquez and
Jorge Lorenzo, but will have an
excellent chance to claim his
third victory of the season from
second on the grid. Defending
champion Lorenzo was 0.219
seconds slower than Iannone
and had to settle for fourth.
Qualifying results
1. Andrea Iannone (Italy) Ducati 1:23.142
2. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Yamaha 1:23.289
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Italy) Ducati 1:23.298
4. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Yamaha 1:23.361
5. Marc Marquez (Spain) Honda 1:23.475
6. Maverick Vinales (Spain) Suzuki 1:23.584
7. Cal Crutchlow (Britain) Honda 1:23.597
8. Scott Redding (Britain) Ducati 1:23.777
9. Aleix Espargaro (Spain) Suzuki 1:23.813
10. Hector Barbera (Spain) Ducati 1:23.822
IN BRIEF
Dettori reaches landmark of 3,000 winners
Frankie Dettori claimed his 3,000th winner on Friday, becoming the sixth
jockey to reach the landmark in British Flat racing. The 45-year-old Italian
achieved the milestone on the John Gosden-trained Predilection, his second victory of the day at his local track Newmarket. “It’s special. I’m very
emotional because my family are here as well,” triple champion Dettori
told reporters. “I’m very pleased for it to have happened at Newmarket because this is where I landed 30 years ago. It’s not a big meeting, it’s not a
Royal Ascot, it’s a mundane Friday night with 20,000 people. I’m relieved
and very humble.” Dettori joins Gordon Richards, Pat Eddery, Lester Piggott, Willie Carson and Doug Smith on reaching 3,000 Flat race winners.
Cavaliers confirm new deal for LeBron
The Cleveland Cavaliers made it official on Friday, announcing they
have signed superstar LeBron James to a multi-year contract. “We are
very fortunate to have a championship group together, one that has
grown organically to trust and sacrifice for one another, on and off the
floor,” Cleveland general manager David Griffin said. “At the core of that
group is LeBron. His leadership, passion and tireless commitment are the
hallmarks of our success and have inspired our entire franchise.” James,
who announced the new deal on Thursday on the website Uninterrupted,
posted a picture on his Instagram account on Friday of him apparently
signing the paperwork. “Committed!!” he wrote under the photo. The
Cavaliers did not release details of the contract but US sports broadcaster
ESPN reported that it was for three years, was worth $100mn and would
pay James $31mn in the first year and $33mn in the second, making him
the league’s highest-paid player for the first time in his career. James has
signed a pair of one-year deals with the Cavaliers over the past few years.
Gulf Times
Sunday, August 14, 2016
11
SPORT
CRICKET
SCORECARD
India thrash
Windies to
secure series
Ashwin declared man of the match for his allround show
AFP
Gros-Islet, Saint Lucia
I
ndia routed the West Indies to complete a series-clinching victory by
the comprehensive margin of 237
runs just before tea on the final day of
the third Test in St Lucia yesterday.
West Indies were set the improbable
target of 346 to win at the Darren Sammy National Stadium after the Indians
declared their second innings at 217 for
seven 40 minutes into the day’s play.
Only Darren Bravo with 59 displayed
any form of meaningful resistance with
the visitors’ potent mix of pace and spin
proving too much for Caribbean batsmen technically and temperamentally illequipped to cope with the challenge.
And in the end they gave yet another
inept batting display, being bowled out
for 108, their second-lowest total ever in
a Test against India.
Seamer Mohamed Shami spearheaded
the assault in taking three for 11 but all
the bowlers made key contributions in
consigning the West Indies to defeat.
It not only gave India a 2-0 series lead
with one match left in Port of Spain next
week, but also represented the first time
ever that they had won more than a single
Test match in 11 series in the Caribbean
dating back to their first visit to the region
in 1952. “We’ve done quite a few firsts in
the last year as a Test team,” said Indian
captain Virat Kohli in acknowledging his
team’s historic achievement.
“Credit goes to the entire squad because we recognised where we went
wrong in Jamaica and corrected those
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3L) of India celebrates the lbw dismissal of Kraigg Brathwaite
(L) of West Indies during the 5th and final day of the 3rd Test at Darren Sammy
National Cricket Stadium yesterday.
things here.”
In the lone bright spot for the West
Indies on the day, fast-medium bowler
Miguel Cummins reaped a bountiful harvest in the morning, taking all four wickets as India pushed for quick runs to facilitate a declaration.
Cummins finished with innings figures
of six for 48 for a nine-wicket match haul.
Ajinkya Rahane kept the runs flowing
as the wickets tumbled around him in
reaching an unbeaten 78.
Frustrated by rain and West Indian defiance in settling for a draw in the second
Test, the Indian strike bowlers put the
home side immediately on the back foot
at the start of their second innings with
both openers prised out by the fifth over.
Leon Johnson departed without scoring, fending a lifting delivery from Shami
into the hands of Rohit Sharma at forward
short-leg. His opening partner, Kraigg
Brathwaite, fell in the very next over as
an inswinger from first-innings destroyer
India 1st Innings: 353 (R Ashwin 118, W
Saha 104, L Rahul 50)
West Indies 1st Innings: 225 (K
Brathwaite 64; B Kumar 5-33)
India 2nd Innings: (overnight 157 for 3)
L. Rahul c Brathwaite b Cummins............ 28
S. Dhawan lbw Chase............................................. 26
V. Kohli lbw Cummins ................................................4
A. Rahane not out .......................................................78
R. Sharma lbw Cummins .....................................41
W. Saha c Dowrich b Cummins ....................14
R. Jadeja c Samuels b Cummins ................16
R. Ashwin c Brathwaite c Cummins 1
Extras: (b-1, lb-2, nb-6) 9
Total: (48 overs, 7 wkts declared) ..........217
Fall of wickets: 1-49 (Rahul), 2-58 (Kohli),
3-72 (Dhawan), 4-157 (R. Sharma), 5-181
(Saha), 6-213 (Jadeja), 7-217 (Ashwin)
Did not bat: I. Sharma, M. Shami, B. Kumar
Bowling: S. Gabriel 3-0-19-0 (1nb), A.
Joseph 4-0-23-0 (2nb), M. Cummins 11-1-486 (3nb), J. Holder 9-1-50-0, R. Chase 11-1-41-1,
K. Brathwaite 10-1-33-0
West Indies 2nd Innings:
K. Brathwaite lbw Kumar ......................................4
L. Johnson c R. Sharma b Shami................ 0
D. Bravo c R. Sharma b Shami.................... 59
M. Samuels b I. Sharma ........................................12
R. Chase b I. Sharma............................................... 10
J. Blackwood st Saha b Jadeja........................ 1
S. Dowrich c Kohli b Shami............................... 5
J. Holder run out ............................................................1
A. Joseph c Shami b Ashwin ..........................0
M. Cummins not out............................................... 2
S. Gabriel c Kumar b Jadeja ............................11
Extras (lb-2, nb-1):........................................................ 3
Total: (47.3 overs, all out) .................................108
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Johnson), 2-4
(Brathwaite), 3-35 (Samuels), 4-64 (Chase),
5-68 (Blackwood), 6-84 (Dowrich), 7-88
(Holder), 8-95 (Bravo), 9-95 (Joseph), 10-108
(Gabriel) Bowling: B. Kumar 12-6-13-1, M.
Shami 11-2-15-3, I. Sharma 7-0-30-2 (1nb), R.
Ashwin 12-2-28-1, R. Jadeja 5.3-1-20-2
Toss: West Indies
Result: India won by 237 runs
Umpires: Nigel Llong (ENG), Rod Tucker
(AUS)
Match Referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SLK)
Bhuvneshwar Kumar trapped him legbefore.
Ishant Sharma then took two important wickets either side of the lunch interval, uprooting Marlon Samuels’ offstump and also comprehensively bowling
Roston Chase, the man whose maiden
Test hundred on the last day in Kingston
was fundamental to the West Indies saving that fixture.
Ravichandran Ashwin, named man of
the match for his hundred with the bat
and contribution with the ball, consigned
Alzarri Joseph to the indignity of a pair
on debut before Jadeja claimed the final
wicket of Shannon Gabriel to trigger the
Indian celebrations.
COLOMBO TEST
Ton-up De Silva, Chandimal steer Sri Lanka to 214-5
AFP
Colombo
D
hananjaya de Silva scored his
maiden Test century yesterday
to steer Sri Lanka’s revival from
a precarious position to 214 for
five at stumps against Australia on first
day of the final Test in Colombo.
De Silva and Dinesh Chandimal put
together an unbeaten 188-run partnership for the sixth wicket to thwart the
Australian bowling attack after Sri Lanka
were reduced to 26 for five while batting
first in the third Test.
De Silva continued his gritty innings
by reaching 116 at close, with strong support from Chandimal, who scored his
11th Test half-century, batting on 64.
Australia’s Mitchell Starc and Nathan
Lyon shared five wickets between them
to decimate the Sri Lankan top-order before lunch but failed to make further inroads in the remaining two sessions.
After settling at the crease, De Silva
and Chandimal counter-attacked against
an aggressive Australian onslaught who
SCORECARD
Sri Lanka 1st innings:
K. Silva c Smith b Starc............................................................ 0
D. Karunaratne b Starc.............................................................. 7
K. Perera c Smith b Lyon .....................................................16
K. Mendis c Smith b Starc..................................................... 1
A. Mathews c Starc b Lyon................................................... 1
L. Chandimal not out............................................................ 64
D. de Silva not out...................................................................... 116
Extras (b4, lb5) ...............................................................................9
Total (5 wickets, 90 overs) ..........................................214
kept pushing hard by rotating their bowling options.
De Silva’s 240-ball stay was laced with
16 boundaries while Chandimal has so far
hit four boundaries.
The 24-year-old De Silva, who made
his debut at the start of this series, survived a dropped catch on 104 by Shaun
Marsh at cover with Starc being the unlucky bowler.
But the batting duo ensured Sri Lanka
go into the second day with their tails up
against the Australian attack that seemed
to have lost its way after the initial burst.
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Silva), 2-21 (Perera), 3-23
(Karunaratne), 4-24 (Mathews), 5-26 (Mendis)
Bowling: Starc 18-7-47-3, Hazlewood 11-3-27-0,
Lyon 34-9-72-2, Holland 21-5-34-0, M. Marsh 5-020-0, Smith 1-0-5-0
Umpires: Chris Gaffaney (NZL) and Sundaram
Ravi (IND)
TV umpire: Richard Kettleborough (ENG)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG)
Reserve umpire: Ruchira Palliyaguruge (SRI)
Medium-pacer Josh Hazlewood, leftarm spinner Jon Holland and allrounder
Mitchell Marsh have so far returned
wicketless during their spells.
The visitors had dominated the morning session with Starc striking early to
have Kaushal Silva trudging back to the
pavilion after a 15-ball duck.
Lyon, who had had been criticised for
failing to utilise the turning conditions,
also proved effective at the Sinhalese
Sports Club ground with his two wickets.
The spinner seemed to have learnt
his lessons on these pitches after getting
Sri Lanka batsman Dhananjaya de
Silva (R) is congratulated by teammate
Dinesh Chandimal after scoring a century against Australia at The Sinhalese
Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo
yesterday.
Kusal Perera caught at first slip and then
the prized wicket of Sri Lankan skipper
Angelo Mathews, who was out for just
one.
HORSE RACING
Dahham wins Al Rayyan Cup
WBy A Correspondent
Deauville, France
T
he Sheikh Mansoor bin Zayed
owned colt Dahham imposed
himself in the Al Rayyan Cup –
Prix Kesberoy (Gr1 PA) yesterday
in Deauville, France.
After cantering at the very back of the
field led by Azhar at first and then Sabih
Alreeh, the horse came back on the outside
to impose himself surely in front of Azhar.
The winner is trained by French trainer Didier Guillemin and was ridden by Alexandre Gavilan.
Guillemin explained: “We had a little
doubt concerning the distance, because it
was the first time he ran over 2,000 meters.
So I had asked the jockey to take his time.
At Chantilly, he had also won by coming
from behind, so let’s not change something
that works! He is a good colt, but I think
that the 2,000m are too long for him. Now,
he should run at Saint-Cloud, on the Friday of the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe,
then at Toulouse, for the Breeders’ Cup
races, which is the program we had set for
Mabrooka last year.”
Azhar, trained by Damien de Watrigant, managed to keep the second place in
front of HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifa
al-Thani’s Ebraz, who secured his place on
the podium at the very end, by coming up
on the inside.
The Royal Cavalry of Oman owned
mare Sylvine Al Maury imposed herself in
the Doha Cup – Prix Manganate (Gr1 PA),
yesterday at Deauville. After cantering in
fourth position, in a race led by Reda at a
slow pace, Sylvine Al Maury came up in
the middle of the track to easily take the
advantage over her rivals. The lot travelled
in a line until the start of the home straight,
in which HH Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa
al-Thani’s Majeed, followed by the future
winner in his acceleration, taking the second place of the competition. HH Shiekh
Mohamed bin Khalifa al-Thani’s Gazwan
is third just in front of Djelamer, fourth.
Sylvine Al Maury had won for her return
race in Newbury on the 24th July. This is
her seventh Group success and fifth win in
a row. Trainer Elizabeth Bernard said: “For
her return at Newbury, after six months
without running, she had showed a sensational performance. We were lucky that
the mare went up a level again after this
race and today, she was at 100%, which
was not the case in Newbury. She won’t
run the Prix Dragon and will go directly to
the Qatar Arabian World Cup, on agreement of the owner. She is a wonderful
mare, it is rare to have such a filly on one’s
career.”
SPOTLIGHT
Qatar’s al-Tamimi
wins Australian
Squash Open
QNA
Melbourne
Q
atar’s Abdulla alTamimi
captured
the 2016 Australian
Squash Open after
beating New Zealand’s Campbell
Grayson 3-1 in the final.
The Australian Open began
on August 6 in Melbourne amid
participation of several major international players.
Al-Tamimi started his tournament with victories over Daehoon Jeong and Mohd Syafiq
Kamal, and followed up by recovering from a game down to
beat Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu
and Joel Makin in the quarterfinal and semi-final respectively.
Going one game down at the
start of the final game, al-Tamimi recovered and took the next
three games in succession to
claim a hard-fought 6-11, 11-9,
11-7, 11-5 win and lift the title.
OVAL TEST
Younis and Shah
take Pakistan to
brink of victory
AFP
London
Y
ounis Khan’s superb
double century and
three wickets from Yasir Shah left Pakistan
eyeing a series-levelling win after they dominated the third day
of the fourth Test against England at The Oval yesterday.
Younis’s 218 was the centrepiece of Pakistan’s first-innings
542 all out. His sixth innings of
200 or more in Test cricket was
a dramatic way for the 38-yearold to end a run of low scores.
Younis had managed just 122
runs in six previous innings this
series, with a best of 33 in Pakistan’s first Test win at Lord’s.
Leg-spinner Shah then took
three wickets for four runs in 22
balls as England, in their second
innings, slumped to 88 for four
at the close — still runs 126 behind.Gary Ballance was four not
out and Jonny Bairstow 14 not
out. England now needed something remarkable if they were to
deny Pakistan victory with two
days left in the game.
If the four-match series ends
2-2, Pakistan could go top of the
world Test rankings but England
must avoid defeat at The Oval
to keep their hopes of replacing
Australia at the summit alive.
England, 214 runs adrift on
first innings, suffered a setback
early in their second knock
when captain Alastair Cook
(seven) was squared up by a lifting Wahab Riaz delivery and
debutant Iftikhar Ahmed, going
to his right, held a good catch at
first slip.
Joe Root, one of England’s key
batsmen along with Cook, then
fell for 39 when he played back
to a quicker Shah delivery and
Pakistan’s Younis Khan in
action against England at
the Oval in London yesterday.
was lbw. England, perhaps because it was Root, reviewed but
it was another wasted challenge
and the hosts were 74 for four,
with Shah’s stumps figures of
three for 15 in seven overs a testament to his effectiveness.
Pakistan resumed on 340 for
six after Asad Shafiq (109) and
Younis (101 not out) had both
compiled impressive centuries.
Sarfraz Ahmed, 17 not out
overnight, was the initial aggressor yesterday and his typically brisk 44 meant there was
no problem in Younis taking 13
balls to add his first run.
Younis later received excellent support from Mohamed
Amir in a ninth-wicket stand
of 97 as the tailender frustrated
England with a Test-best 39 not
out.
Younis completed his double
hundred in style when he advanced down the pitch to drive
Ali for a fourth six in 281 balls.
OVAL SCORECARD
England 1st Innings : 328 (M
Ali 108, J Bairstow 55; Sohail
Khan 5-68)
Pakistan 1st Innings (overnight: 340-6)
Sami Aslam lbw b Broad .....................3
Azhar Ali c Bairstow b Ali ...............49
Yasir Shah c Root b Finn................. 26
Asad Shafiq c Broad b Finn...... 109
Younis Khan lbw b Anderson 218
Misbah-ul-Haq c Hales b Woakes
15
Iftikhar Ahmed c Ali b Woakes ..4
Sarfraz Ahmed c Bairstow b
Woakes 44
Wahab Riaz st Bairstow b Ali ........4
Mohamed Amir not out................. 39
Sohail Khan c Broad b Finn ............2
Extras (b18, lb6, w3, nb2) .................29
Total (all out, 146 overs, .................650
mins) 542
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Aslam),
2-52 (Shah), 3-127 (Azhar), 4-277
(Shafiq), 5-316 (Misbah), 6-320
(Iftikhar), 7-397 (Ahmed), 8-434
(Riaz), 9-218 (Younis), 10-542
(Sohail)
Bowling: Anderson 29-10-78-1;
Broad 29-5-99-1 (1nb, 1w); Finn 301-110-3 (2w); Woakes 30-8-82-3; Ali
23-1-128-2 (1nb); Root 5-0-21-0
England 2nd Innings:
A. Cook c Iftikhar Ahmed b Wahab Riaz .........................................................7
A. Hales lbw b Yasir Shah ........12
J. Root lbw b Yasir Shah ...........39
J. Vince c Misbah-ul-Haq b Yasir
Shah 0
G. Ballance not out........................... 4
J. Bairstow not out ..........................14
Extras: (b4, lb5, nb3)................. 12
Total: (4 wkts, 31 overs, .......126
mins) 88
To bat: M Ali, C Woakes, S Broad,
S Finn, J Anderson
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Cook), 2-49
(Hales), 3-55 (Vince), 4-74 (Root)
Bowling: Amir 10-3-30-0; Sohail
8-2-18-0; Riaz 4-0-15-1 (3nb); Shah
7-1-15-3; Iftikhar 2-1-1-0;
Match position: England are
126 runs behind with six wickets
standing.
Toss: England
Umpires: Bruce Oxenford (AUS),
Marais Erasmus (RSA).
Sunday, August 14, 2016
GULF
FOOTBALL
TIMES
U-TURN
Messi back for Argentina after reversing decision
Reuters
Buenos Aires
L
ionel Messi has announced that
he will play on for Argentina,
reversing his decision in June to
retire from international soccer.
The Barcelona forward had said he
would not play for Argentina again
after the team lost to Chile in the final of the Copa America in the United
States. However, in a statement on Friday, Messi explained that he wanted to
continue representing his country as
he preferred “to help from within”.
“I consider there to be a lot of problems in Argentine football and it’s not
my intention to create another one,”
the 29-year-old said. “There are a lot
of issues that need to be resolved in
Argentine football but I prefer to help
from within and not to criticise from
the outside.”
“A lot of things went through my
mind on the night of the final and I gave
serious thought to quitting but my love
for my country and this shirt is too
great,” the player added.
A few hours later Messi was named
in new coach Edgardo Bauza’s squad
to face Uruguay and Venezuela in 2018
World Cup, South American qualifiers
to be held in the first week of September.
Bauza, who replaced Gerardo Martino after he quit in July over the FA’s
failure to prepare a strong under-23
team for the Rio Olympics, was in Barcelona on Thursday for a meeting with
his team captain.
Messi, who has scored a national
record 55 goals in 113 appearances, has
lost four major finals with Argentina,
three in the last two years including
the 2014 World Cup final to Germany
in Brazil.
The June reverse in New Jersey was
the second successive Copa America
penalty shootout defeat by Chile in 12
months.
Messi, unhappy with the Argentine
FA’s running of the team, planned to
speak out after the Copa final but felt
he could not after they were beaten.
His return will be a relief for the
FA, mired in an economic and man-
agement crisis and administered by
a so-called regularisation committee
appointed by world soccer’s governing
body FIFA.
Messi’s decision in June sparked
demonstrations in Buenos Aires and
calls for him to change his mind. “I
send my thanks to all who want me to
continue playing for Argentina, I hope
we’ll be able to give them something to
cheer about soon,” he said.
Argentina are third in the 10-nation
South American qualifying group with
11 points from six matches, two behind
Uruguay and Ecuador. The top four
after 18 games advance to the Russia
finals while the fifth-placed team goes
into an intercontinental playoff for one
more berth.
Bauza included two uncapped strikers in a 27-man squad, Lucas Alario of
River Plate and Lucas Pratto of Brazil’s Atletico Mineiro. He surprisingly
omitted Gonzalo Higuain, a player he
praised at the beginning of the month
for his club form in Italy but who
missed chances in Argentina’s last
three final defeats.
PREMIER LEAGUE
LIGUE 1
Hull stun Leicester,
winning start for
Man City’s Guardiola
Three months on from their 5,000-1 fairytale title triumph, Leicester fall to Scottish winger
Snodgrass’s 57th-minute strike after Mahrez had cancelled out Diomande’s opener
spot in the 47th minute after Tom Huddlestone clipped Demarai Gray from behind, although replays showed the foul
occurred outside the box.
But 10 minutes later Hull secured victory when Danny Simpson could only
partially clear Ahmed Elmohamady’s
cross and Snodgrass thrashed the loose
ball home.
After trophy-laden spells with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Guardiola is expected to bring major silverware to City.
The Spaniard quickly put his stamp
on the team with debuts for new signings
John Stones and Nolito and a surprise decision to replace goalkeeper Joe Hart with
Willy Caballero.
Guardiola’s debut began in ideal fashion when Raheem Sterling won a fourthminute penalty after a foul by Patrick van
Aanholt. Argentina forward Aguero drove
in the spot-kick, but Sunderland equalised in the 71st minute.
Jack Rodwell slipped a pass through the
heart of the City defence to Defoe, who
slotted past Caballero.
Meanwhile, Erik Lamela equalised
to earn Tottenham—last season’s thirdplace team—a 1-1 draw at Everton.
AFP
London
L
eicester City’s Premier League title defence got off to a dismal start
as crisis-club Hull clinched a 2-1
win over the champions, while
the Pep Guardiola era at Manchester City
started with a dramatic 2-1 victory against
Sunderland on yesterday’s opening day.
Three months on from their 5,000-1
fairytale title triumph, Leicester fell to
Scottish winger Robert Snodgrass’s 57thminute strike after Riyad Mahrez had cancelled out Adama Diomande’s opener.
Leicester’s stumble was followed by an
equally gripping encounter at Eastlands,
where new City manager Guardiola enjoyed some good fortune in his first Premier League match.
Sergio Aguero’s early penalty for City
was erased by Jermain Defoe’s secondhalf equaliser before an 87th minute own
goal from debutant Paddy McNair gifted
the points to Guardiola’s side despite their
inconsistent display.
Leicester are the first defending English champions to start the campaign with
a defeat since 1989, when Arsenal lost at
Manchester United, and boss Claudio
Ranieri admitted it was a sign of the tough
campaign ahead.
“I told my players this season will be
harder than last season,” said Ranieri,
whose side lost only three times last season. “For this reason I told them we must
be very strong together because last season we showed ourselves as a very good
team and we need to repeat that.”
Leicester went behind in first-half
stoppage time at the KCOM Stadium
when Kasper Schmeichel parried Curtis
Davies’s header and Diomande and Abel
Hernandez launched themselves at the
Kurzawa winner
helps PSG past Bastia
AFP
Paris
L
ayvin Kurzawa scored
a second-half winner
as four-time reigning French champions
Paris Saint-Germain began the
defence of their Ligue 1 crown
with an unconvincing 1-0 victory at Bastia on Friday.
Unai Emery’s side demolished Lyon 4-1 last weekend
in the Champions Trophy, but
PSG were forced to wait until
the 73rd minute at the Stade
Armand Cesari before Kurzawa
volleyed home the decisive goal.
“It wasn’t the match I’d
hoped for, but the players had
warned me of what it would be
like to face Bastia,” said Emery. “We didn’t play like we did
against Lyon but it was a different game. It was a bit like the
friendly against West Brom, a
very defensive team who play
on the counter-attack.”
He added: “We were a bit
more aggressive (in the second half). We had four, five,
six chances...but you have to
score, and it’s always difficult
getting the first goal.”
After finishing an incredible 31 points clear at the top
last season, Paris are the early
league leaders in France as
Monaco rallied from two goals
down to draw 2-2 at home to
Guingamp in their opening
game of the campaign.
Hatem Ben Arfa was the only
one of five close-season signings named in PSG’s starting
line-up in Corsica, with Jese
Rodriguez and Thomas Meu-
nier both named on the bench
and Grzegorz Krychowiak left
out altogether after playing for
Poland at Euro 2016.
PSG were also again without
captain Thiago Silva and Edinson Cavani through injury,
while Adrien Rabiot replaced
Benjamin Stambouli in midfield with the latter reportedly
on his way out of the club.
Neither side produced a
chance of note in a gritty opening 45 minutes, while Brazilian
winger Lucas crumpled to the
ground midway through the
second half after he appeared
to be struck by an object as he
lined up to take a corner.
The referee briefly halted
play as stewards restored calm
in the stands, and just a few
minutes later Kurzawa delivered the vital goal after Jese, put
through by Angel Di Maria, had
seen his effort blocked by Bastia
goalkeeper Jean-Louis Leca.
Marco Verratti and Blaise
Matuidi made late appearances
off the bench for PSG, with a
robust challenge from the latter sparking a fractious finish
to the match.
Monaco, who travel to Villarreal on Wednesday for first leg of
their Champions League playoff, recovered from 2-0 down
against Guingamp to salvage a
point at the Stade Louis II.
Yesterday, new Bordeaux
coach Jocelyn Gourvennec saw
his side hold off a late SaintEtienne fightback to win a
thrilling encounter 3-2. Gaetan
Laborde, Uruguayan international Diego Rolan and Brazilian youngster Malcom all netted for the hosts.
Results
Sergio Aguero celebrates with teammates after scoring the first goal for Manchester
City in their Premier League match against Sunderland yesterday. (Reuters)
loose ball.
Both men attempted an overhead volley; Hernandez made contact first, but
the ball flicked off Diomande’s foot and
flashed into the net.
Mahrez equalised from the penalty
Burnley 0 lost to Swansea 1 (Fer 82); Crystal Palace 0 lost to West Brom 1 (Rondon
74); Everton 1 (Barkley 5) drew Tottenham
1 (Lamela 59); Hull 2 (Diomande 45+1,
Snodgrass 57) beat Leicester 1 (Mahrez
47-pen); Manchester City 2 (Aguero 4-pen,
McNair 87-og) beat Sunderland 1 (Defoe
71); Middlesbrough 1 (Negredo 11) drew
Stoke 1 (Shaqiri 67); Southampton 1 (Redmond 58) drew Watford 1 (Capoue 9)
Playing Today
Bournemouth v Manchester United (15:30)
Arsenal v Liverpool (18:00)
Bastia goalkeeper Jean Louis Leca (left) clashes with PSG’s Layvin Kurzawa during their French Ligue match on Friday. (AFP)
SCOTTISH PREMIER LEAGUE
Rangers claim first win since Premiership return
AFP
Dundee
R
angers earned their first win of
the Scottish Premiership season as they ground out a 2-1
victory over Dundee at Dens
Park yesterday.
The off-balance Harry Forrester
scored a superb opener for the Glasgow
giants as he fired past Bain in the 14th
minute, before veteran striker Kenny
Miller doubled their advantage with a
fine finish 25 minutes later.
Rangers were on top but their defensive frailties were exposed by Dundee
when Mark O’Hara powered home a
header from a corner two minutes before the break.
Dundee improved dramatically in
the second half but were let down by
their finishing as Rangers held on to
claim the three points.
Rivals Celtic’s game against Partick
Thistle was postponed to allow the
Hoops to play a friendly against Inter
Milan in Ireland.
“The last half hour of the first half I
thought we were very good. We created
chance after chance and in truth we
should have been out of sight,” Rangers manager Mark Warburton said. “I
was pleased with that but in the second
half we dipped a little bit and were a bit
hesitant and nervous.”
Dundee manager Paul Hartley felt
there were encouraging signs despite
defeat. “I felt the second half was really
good and we got close to them,” Hartley
said. “I thought we looked quite comfortable but the two goals we lost were
really sloppy.”
Rangers made three changes to the
side that drew with Hamilton as Danny Wilson returned from suspension
and Jordan Rossiter and Forrester were
handed starts.
Forrester had made the difference
last weekend as he came off the bench
to set up his side’s equaliser and the
forward made an instant impact against
Dundee as he grabbed the opener.
Dundee’s Cammy Kerr failed to clear
the danger with a weak header and Forrester showed great reflexes and agility
to arrow a shot into the top corner of
the net, leaving goalkeeper Scott Bain
with no chance.
Forrester fired a shot just over before
coming close with a header from James
Tavernier’s cross as he looked in the
mood to add to his tally. A superb move
ended with Miller increasing Rangers’
lead in the 39th minute.
McKay floated a wonderfully
weighted pass down the left flank for
Wallace, whose cut-back fell to Miller
and the 36-year-old fired a left-foot
shot high past Bain. Miller should have
added another moments later when he
was played clean through on goal by
McKay but his touch was poor and Bain
was able to save at his feet.
Rangers looked in control but Dundee pulled one back a minute before the
break as they took advantage of their
opponents’ vulnerability at set-pieces.
O’Hara peeled away from marker Joey
Barton to thump a header beyond Foderingham from a Danny Williams corner.
Results
Dundee 1 .............................Rangers 2
Aberdeen 0 .......................Hearts
Hamilton 1 ..........................Kilmarnock
Inverness 1 .........................Ross County 3
Motherwell 1 .....................St. Johnstone 1