SPORTMonday 16 October 2017

Mourinho hails ‘magical’ Paris Saint-Germain

Timeless Federer prevails

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Rizwan Rehmat The Peninsula

Former champions Al Rayyan yesterday wel-comed back star striker Rodrigo Tabata by crush-ing bottom-placed Al

Markhiya 4-1 in their round-four clash of the QNB Stars League in what turned out to be a lop-sided affair.

Playing under lights at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Al Rayyan - who had been missing Tabata for the start of the season following an injury and subsequent surgery - saw the Bra-zilian-born striker score in the second half.

Coached by Michael Laudrup, Al Rayyan picked up easy points after goals by Abderrazak Hamdallah (2), Mahmoud Attiya (own goal, 26), Tabata (71) and Sebastian Soria (79).

Al Markhiya striker Kwame Amponsah Karikari reduced the def-icit in the 80th minute.

With star striker Tabata on the bench at the start of the game, Al Rayyan - coming off a 5-3 loss against Al Duhail in round 3 - wasted little time in scoring the opening goal.

Hamedallah produced a superbly taken direct freekick, hitting the Al Markhiya net in just the second minute of the match. It was Al Rayyan striker’s third goal of the season.

In the 9th minute, Al Rayyan added a bit of bite into their attacks this time through Mohammed Ali who produced a bullet from the edge of the Al Markhiya box but his shot was palmed away by goalkeeper Mohammad Khuroob.

In the 26th minute, Al Rayyan jumped to a 2-0 lead thanks to a run of play that favoured the boys in red. Veteran striker Soria - captain for the day - tried to control an aerial cross inside the Al Markhiya box but the ball got knocked into the net by Mahmoud Attiya resulting in an own goal.

Al Markhiya’s Mohammed Shaban Barakat received a yellow

card for debating the linesman’s call to allow the goal to stand in favour of Al Rayyan.

In the 36th minute, Al Rayyan’s rising U-23 star Ali charged into the Al Markhiya box but his shot from inside the box hit the crossbar and the ball landed away from the attacking Al Rayyan strikers.

Some 20 minutes into the sec-ond half, Soria produced a snap-header on a long cross but his close-range deflection inside the box was pouched by Al Markhiya goalkeeper.

A couple of minutes later, Ham-dallah charged into the Al Markhiya box but his short was swiftly blocked by Khuroob.

Tabata, who was brought in at the start of the second half, com-pleted Al Rayyan’s dominant play by scoring his team’s third goal in the 71st minute after a cross from Hamdallah.

Eight minutes later, Tabata spot-ted Soria in the Al Markhiya box and the tall striker clipped the ball into the top of the net for Al Rayyan’s 4th goal.

Karikari tapped the ball into the net from close range after Al Rayyan goalkeeper failed to grab the ball in the 80th minute.

T abata strikes on return as 4-star Al Rayyan hammer Al Markhiya

Al Sadd’s Morteza Mohammad scores their first goal against Qatar SC during their QNB Stars League match played at Al Sadd Stadium yesterday.

AL RAYYAN:Abderrazak Hamdallah: 2’

Mahmoud Attiya (OG): 26’

Rodrigo Tabata: 71’

Sebastian Soria: 79’

AL MARKHIYA:Kwame Karikari: 80’

GOALS

El Arabi sparkles in big Al Duhail winThe Peninsula

Youseef El Arabi struck four times as football giants Al Duhail yester-

day beat Al Ahli 6-1 following a fast-paced contest at Abdul-lah Bin Khalifa Stadium.

El Arabi (25, 55, 64 penalty and 68), Youseef Msakni (39) and Nam Tae-Hee (90’+1) scored the goals as Al Duhail posted their fourth win of the season. Christian Nazart (47) scored for Al Ahli.

With popular coach Djamel Belmadi giving instructions from the stands, Al Duhail kicked off the proceedings with pace and fire in their attacks.

In the 6th minute at Abdul-lah Bin Khalifa Stadium, captain Msakni hoodwinked his marker

but his clip from inside the Al Ahli box sailed past the goal-post without causing any damage.

In the 11th minute, Al Duhail’s Luiz Martin Junior fired a bullet from the edge of the Al Ahli box but his power-ful shot was punched away by goalkeeper Naim Husein.

Eight minutes later Martin Junior attempted a similar shot - this time with his right foot - but the ball once again narrowly missed the goalpost.

Al Ahli defenders Abdullah Taleb and Mashek Mubarak held fort in admirable fashion for the first 20 minutes of the game. In the 20th minute, the duo combined well to thwart a dangerous move by Al

Duhail’s feared striker Nam Tae-hee as the South Korean striker took aim for the Al Ahli goalmouth.

Four minutes later, Al Duhail went 1-0 up as Arabi produced the near-perfect snap-header off an indirect corner kick cross by Tae-hee. It was El Arabi’s 5th goal of the new season.

With the game picking up incredible pace, referee pulled up Al Ahli stalwart Abdullah with a yellow card for bring-ing down Martin Junior with a reckless tackle in the 26th minute.

Six minutes from the first half whistle, Al Duhail jumped to a 2-0 lead with Mskani fir-ing a 29-metre bullet for his side’s second goal.

Nazart reduced the deficit for Al Ahli with a spectacular shot in the 46th minute but Al Duhail raced to a 3-1 lead when El Arabi found the net six minutes later.

El Arabi completed his hat-trick in the 64th when he converted a penalty kick.

El Arabi headed one home from close range following a near-perfect cross from Tae-hee.

Elsewhere, at Al Sadd Sta-dium, hosts overcame Qatar SC by 3-1.

Morteza Mohammad (24’) and Baghdad Bounedjah (62’) and Hassan Al Haydos (86’) scored for Al Sadd while Mohamed Tayebi (59’) was the sole scorer for visiting Qatar SC.

Al Rayyan beat Al Markhiya 4-1

Al Sadd beat Qatar SC 3-1

Al Duhail beat Al Ahli 6-1

QSL: YESTERDAY’S RESULTS

Al Rayyan’s star striker Rodrigo Tabata (second right) handles the ball during their QNB Stars League match against Al Markhiya at Al Sadd Stadium yesterday.Pictures: Abdul Basit / The Peninsula

30 MONDAY 16 OCTOBER 2017SPORT

Young riders, slick show light up Hathab opener Rizwan Rehmat The Peninsula

Organisers of the Hathab show-jumping series are thrilled with the outcome of the

new QR1m series, saying Qatar’s riding landscape looks promising.

A total of six competitions were held over the weekend at Al Shaqab’s Indoor Arena where riders as young as 12 years old regaled fans with their routines watched by showjumping fans from across the country.

Hamad Nasser Al Qadi, astride SIEC Lonnie, grabbed the top spot in the feature com-petition of the opening round of the 12-leg series on Saturday.

“Everything went smoothly. The participation particularly was very impressive from the young riders. They were not that many but what pleased us (the organisers) that they put out great routines,” Ali Al Rumaihi, Executive Director of the event, said.

“This is exactly what we were thinking about when we set plans for the new series. I think we had 12 young riders and they got a great outing in

terms of competition and other relevant matters,” he said.

“You will know that you can’t force your horses to go full throttle so early in the sea-son. The riders did really well, keeping the right pace while competing. The course was well laid out. Al Shaqab is also setting things up for the new season,” Al Rumaihi explained in a chat with The Peninsula.

Al Rumaihi, a member of Qatar’s equestrian squad that featured at the Rio Olympic Games last year, said he expects more riders queuing up for entry.

“I am sure in the next round - to be held in about two weeks’ time - we will see more young entries coming in. I say that because there were so many

people seeking information from us during these two days of competition,” Al Rumaihi said.

“They wanted to know more about the series and how they could have their children present in competitions.

“I must say I did not expect such an overwhelming response from fans in Qatar. The showjumping fans want more from us. We will be hav-ing dressage competitions in the next rounds and now we expect more people coming in.

“Now we will get ready for the Champions of Champions tour next week and that will be followed by the second round of competition in the Hathab series.

“I can see this

championship growing in weeks and months to come. This is a sport that is close to our culture of horse riding,” Al Rumaihi said.

“This was an international event for the young riders, for the organising team and even the judges. Like I said the enthusiasm of participation was just great. Just by announc-ing the details of this new series we have attracted the inter-ested riders. Everyone involved with jumping and dressage will come in and compete in the coming rounds,” he said.

When asked about his Rio Games show, Al Rumaihi said: “It was fantastic experience. It was my first time competing with the best at the Games. As a team we did really good. In the individual run, I ended in the 16th spot. Small faults cost us but overall it was just amaz-ing being there.”

He added: “Being at the Games is a target for any rider in the world. The difficult thing was to qualify for the Games. That was more tough actually. When you reach the Games, you know what to do and how to go about your competition. I will try to continue but it is difficult (smiles). Officially I haven’t ridden for a long time but I can resume anytime.”

Everything went smoothly. The participation particularly was very impressive from the young riders. I am sure in the next round - to be held in about two weeks’ time - we will see more young entries coming in: Olympian Ali Al Rumaihi

Losail Circuit ready for another vibrant seasonThe Peninsula

Losail Circuit Sports Club kicks off tomorrow with another exciting season of international and

national championships, track days and training days.

In partnership with Qatar Sports For All Federation and Qatar Cyclists, Losail Circuit Sports Club has reopened again the track for ladies only train-ing days on Tuesdays and training days for all public every on Wednesdays. Both training days will start at 5:00pm until 8:30pm and you can go for walk, run, cycle or even go rollerblading.

On ladies only training days, for the kids, there will be a group ride with

a kids’ trainer for guidance. Also, bike rentals are available from Qatar Cyclists from 5:00pm to 7:00pm with a cost of QR35 for the first hour and QR40 for the second hour.

For those wanting an adrenaline rush and test their bike or cars at the track, the Open Track Days are sched-uled October 19 and 20. October 19, there will be a Night Car Track day with the track open from 8:00pm to 11:00pm. It will be a turn of the bikes to hit the track, the following day from 2:30pm until 7:00pm.

October will end up with the prep-arations of another exciting round of World Superbike Championship at Losail. For the fourth year in a row,

Losail International Circuit will host the finale of the WorldSBK from November 2 to 4 under the floodlights of the track.

The grandstand ticket is QR100 for the 3-day event with free access to the Paddock and all spectators can win the possibility to access the Grid and to the Pit Wall Canopy for WorldSBK races.

Following the great success of last year, the 2017 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship Prize Giving Show will be again at the Paddock after the Podium Ceremony of the WorldSBK Race 2 and the first 2,000 guests with grandstand ticket will have the honour to share this important moment with the championship winners.

AyAyAy. Pic: Qassim / The Peninsula → See also page 26

ayayayayayayay

Golfers pose after the conclusion of Qatar Golf Lovers (QGL) tourney held last weekend at the Doha Golf Club. Don MacInture emerged victorious in the event which was organised by QGL. Akbar Boghani was declared runner-up in the tournament which saw as many as 40 golfers in action. Jamie Davis won the ‘longest drive’ award while Prakash Iyer won the ‘closest to rope’ award.

MacInture wins QGL tourney Nicholas clinches top honourThe Peninsula

David Nicholas clinched win in category A at the first stage of Air Maroc

League, organised by Qatar Cycling & Triathlon Federation (QCTF) last weekend at Losail Technical Zone.

Individual Time Trial was the first race of the series of 10 sponsored by Royal Air Maroc. A total of 117 riders participated in the competition of 18.9 kms, which kicked off at 7am.

One lap distance was 9.45 km, every rider was supposed to finish two laps in Indiviaual Time Trial race.

The race had three catego-ries for men (A, B and C) and two for women (A and B).

Nicholas finished with a time of 27:25.2 and secured the first place with gold medal and trophy.

Whereas, Jonathan Parker from Team Bottrill HSS Hire,

took second place with silver medal. Tom Whateley from Velostar finished at third position.

Jaco Anderson finished in

30:52.3 and won gold medal, Andrew Tangonan from Pinoy Roadies Qatar took second posi-tion and silver medal whereas, Mashel Al Naimi was third with

bronze medal in the category B.Saleh Al Muhannadi from

Losail Team clinched the first position and finished at 31:48.4, Ronald Balorio from PCCQ was second and Zaid Hamza from Qatar national junior team was third and finished with a time of 32:24.9 in the third category (C).

In women category A, Julie Melville from #AndyBrownPro-Racing won gold medal and finished with a time of 32:24.5.

Isora Sosa Caballero from TriClub Doha took second place and Jennifer Gibbons from #AndyBrownProRacing grabbed third position.

Kathrine Gomez from Tri-Club Doha finished in 37:03.6 and won gold medal while Car-mel Lord representing #AndyBrownProRacing took second position and silver medal. Helena Corby was third with bronze medal in the women category B.

Riders pose on the podium after the first stage of Air Maroc League last weekend at Losail Technical Zone.

A young rider competes during the opening

round of Hathab at Al Shaqab’s Indoor Arena

on Saturday.

Motegi AFP

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso stunned world champion Marc Marquez on the final lap to win

a rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix and blow the MotoGP title race wide open yesterday.

The Italian pipped Mar-quez’s Honda by 0.25 seconds in a classic dogfight at Motegi to record his fifth victory of the season, cutting the Spaniard’s championship lead to 11 points with three races left.

Dovizioso made a blister-ing start from ninth on the grid as he joined Marquez in chas-ing down early leader Danilo Petrucci.

The title rivals sped past Petrucci’s Ducati midway through the race before going wheel-to-wheel in a nail-bit-ing game of cat and mouse as rain made track conditions treacherous.

Twice Dovizioso roared past Marquez -- and twice Mar-quez produced daring lunges to recapture the lead, the triple world champion entering the penultimate lap in front.

But just when it looked as though Marquez would hang on for his third successive victory, the Spaniard suffered a last-lap wobble, allowing Dovizioso to pounce for the race-winning pass at turn 11.

As Dovizioso flashed by to snatch a breathtaking win, it triggered wild celebrations in the Ducati garage.

“I knew I had a last chance at the back straight, turn 11, but he was pushing and the tyres were finished,” said Dovizioso.

“I did a perfect corner at turn 10 and he made a mistake so I was able to catch him.”

Marquez still kept coming but Dovizioso kept his cool to take the chequered flag, sug-gesting he could take the title race down to the wire.

“I knew that in the last two corners anything could hap-pen,” said the Italian. “Marc was

behind me but I closed the door and made it very difficult for him to overtake me. Fighting Marc is always big tension,” he added. “But this was important for the championship. I know it will be very difficult to win the title but we will try right to the end.”

Marquez, chasing a fourth world title in five years, paid tribute to the winner.

“It was amazing today, I enjoyed the battle,” said the Spaniard. “The two guys that are fighting for the champion-ship fighting until the last corner.” “I made a few mistakes -- Motegi is one of the circuits where I have struggled a lot for some years,” added Marquez, already looking ahead to next week’s race in Australia.

“I knew the Ducati was faster on the back straight, even in the braking point. At this cir-cuit I knew he would be very, very strong. But now we go to other tracks that I normally enjoy more.”

Petrucci finished third, ahead of Suzuki’s Andrea Ian-none and Alex Rins with former champion Jorge Lorenzo’s Ducati sixth and Aleix Espar-garo seventh on his Aprilia.

French rookie Johann Zarco finished back in eighth for Yamaha after a dismal start from pole, while Maverick Vinales now trails Marquez by a daunting 41 points after fin-ishing ninth and realistically looks out of it.

Seven-time champion Val-entino Rossi, who is continuing his return from a double leg frac-ture, dumped his Yamaha in the gravel on lap six, ending his race.

31MONDAY 16 OCTOBER 2017 SPORT

J apanese Grand Prix

Results

Leading results from the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi on Sunday:

MotoGP (24 laps)1. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/

Ducati) 47 minutes, 14.236 sec-onds 2. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) at 0.249, 3. Danilo Petrucci (ITA/Ducati) 10.557, 4. Andrea Iannone (ITA/Suzuki) 18.845, 5. Alex Rins (ESP/Suzuki) 22.982, 6. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Ducati) 24.464, 7. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 28.010, 8. Johann Zarco (FRA/Yamaha) 29.475, 9. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 36.575, 10. Loris Bas (FRA/Ducati) 48.506

Moto2 (15 laps)1. Alex Marquez (ESP/Kalex)

32:08.901, 2. Xavi Vierge (ESP/Tech3) at 1.465, 3. Hafizh Syahrin (MAL/Kalex) 3.134, 4. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Kalex) 5.415, 5. Mat-tia Pasini (ITA/Kalex) 5.618, 6. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) 6.163, 7. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 7.597, 8. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/Kalex) 11.400, 9. Dominique Aegerter (SUI/Suter) 11.572, 10. Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA/Kalex) 14.310

Moto3 (13 laps)1. Romano Fenati (ITA/Honda)

29:22.278, 2. Niccolo Antonelli (ITA/KTM) at 4.146, 3. Marco Bez-zechi (ITA/Mahindra) 5.013, 4. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN/Honda) 8.767, 5. Aron Canet (ESP/Honda) 12.827, 6. Philipp Ottl (GER/KTM) 14.865, 7. Fabio Di Giannantonio (ITA/Honda) 15.482, 8. Jakub Kornfeil (CZE/Peugeot) 15.625, 9. Bo Bend-sneyder (NED/KTM) 15.947, 10. John McPhee (GBR/Honda) 16.216

One big rival!

Fighting Marc is always a big tension. Marc was right behind me but I closed the door and made it difficult for him to overtake me, says Andrea Dovizioso

Boxing: Santa Cruz stops Avalos to keep crown Los Angeles AFP

Mexico’s Leo Santa Cruz retained his World Box-i n g A s s o c i a t i o n

featherweight title on Saturday night by stopping American Chris Avalos, setting up a title rematch next year with former world champion Abner Mares.

Santa Cruz unleashed a pun-ishing flurry of powerful punches to the head of Avalos that set the stage for the fight being stopped by referee Thomas Taylor after 94 seconds of the eighth round.

“I did what I could. I tried to give a great show,” Santa Cruz said. “I got him with good shots. I said sooner or later they are going to stop it.”

Dominating from start to fin-ish, Santa Cruz improved to 34-1-1 with his 19th victory inside the distance. Avalos fell to 27-6.

Santa Cruz and Mares had already agreed to terms for a rematch early next year for the same 126-pound division crown Santa Cruz won over Mares by majority decision in 2015.

“Let’s get it on with Mares in the beginning of the year, as soon as possible,” Santa Cruz said.

“Now we’re ready for Mares.”The WBA championship

rematch was contingent upon both winning Saturday and Mares did his part by taking a unanimous decision over fellow Mexican Andres Gutierrez.

“I’m ready for that rematch,” Mares said. “Let’s bring it on. March or April, I’m ready for it.”

Santa Cruz, 29, was impres-sive in his first fight after avenging his only loss in Janu-ary by downing Britain’s Carl Frampton to reclaim the WBA throne. Avalos was stopped by Frampton in 2015 in his only prior world title fight.

Mares, 31, won a fight stopped after 10 rounds due to an accidental clash of heads that opened a bloody gash over Guti-errez’s left eye.

Mares, in only his second bout since losing to Santa Cruz more than two years ago, improved to 31-2 with one drawn after his 16th triumph inside the distance.

Gutierrez fell to 35-2 with one draw after two judges scored the fight 99-91 for Mares and the other had it a perfect 100-90.

“I thought it was a great per-formance,” Mares said. “After close to a year layoff, I felt like I

performed really well. No rust at all. I felt fast. I felt great.”

Meanwhile, i t was announced yesterday that Aus-tralia’s Jeff Horn will defend his WBO welterweight title against England’s Gary Corcoran in December before a potential blockbuster bout with UFC star Conor McGregor.

Horn stunned Manny Pac-quiao in a unanimous 12-round points decision in July, with the Filipino great pulling out of a planned rematch later this year.

This has opened the door to Corcoran, with the bout set for December 13 in Brisbane as part of a two-fight deal inked with the Queensland state government, the Brisbane Courier-Mail said.

“Corcoran is 26, so he’s three years younger than me -- he’s very fit, strong and hungry,” Horn told the newspaper.

“He’s a dangerous guy. I know what it’s like to be a deter-mined underdog just like he is going into this fight.

“This is his golden opportu-nity to do what I did against Pacquiao but there are millions of dollars on offer for me with big fights in 2018 so I can’t let this guy come to my home town and wreck all my good work.”

Known as “Hell Raiser”, Cor-coran has 17 wins and one defeat to Horn’s 17 wins and one draw.

He told World Boxing News earlier this month he was keen to face Horn in the biggest fight of his career.

“Horn is there to beat, I can beat him. I’ve sparred with some world class fighters in this

country, I can win a world title,” Corcoran said.

If he wins, Horn then hopes to fight mixed martial arts cham-pion McGregor, who made his boxing debut in a money-spin-ning defeat to Floyd Mayweather in Las Vegas in August.

Charismatic Irishman McGregor performed creditably

and said afterwards he was open to boxing again, potentially plac-ing him on a collision course with his Ultimate Fighting Champi-onship paymasters.

Promoter Dean Lonergan told state broadcaster ABC he was working on a second event in Brisbane before June 30 next year.

Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso of Italy leads Honda rider Marc Marquez of Spain during the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix at Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Motegi, Tochigi prefecture yesterday.

Dovizioso wins Japan thriller to cut Marquez’s points lead

Terrell Gausha and Erislandy Lara exchange punches during their WBA Junior

Middleweight Title bout at Barclays Center of Brooklyn in New York City.

32 MONDAY 16 OCTOBER 2017SPORT 33MONDAY 16 OCTOBER 2017 SPORT

Mourinho hails ‘magical’ PSG ParisAFP

Jose Mourinho will always seek new experiences and will one day move on from Manchester United to coach elsewhere, he told weekly French television show Telefoot in

an interview aired yesterday.The former Porto, Chelsea, Inter

Milan and Real Madrid coach refused to be drawn directly when asked if he would soon be working at Qatari backed Paris Saint-Germain however.

"What I can tell you is that I'm a coach with concerns, with ambitions

and desires to do new things," the 54-year-old Portuguese said in slightly halting but fluent French.

"I'm sure that I will not end my career here (at Manchester United)," he said.

"The other day my son decided to go and watch a match in Paris rather than Manchester. Why Paris?

"Because right now Paris has some-thing special. There's a magic about the place, youth and quality. It's fantastic."

Paris Saint-Germain secured the services of Brazil's Neymar and new French wonderkid Kylian Mbapppe this summer and boast a star-studded line

up thanks to their Qatari backing.The Parisians experienced some-

thing of a hiccup last season, letting slip a first leg 4-0 lead to Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and having to watch Monaco romp to the French title.

While many thought their Basque coach Unai Emery would be fired the club kept faith in him, but his contract runs out in June.

Mourinho, who once worked at Bar-celona as coach Bobby Robson's interpreter, has a contract with United until June 2019, which he said in Sep-tember he would run down rather than renew.

What I can tell you is that I’m a coach with concerns, with ambitions and desires to do new things. I’m sure that I will not end my career here at Manchester United: Mourinho

Suarez earns Barca point MadridAFP

Luis Suarez saved Barcelona’s unbeaten La Liga record this season by salvaging a 1-1 draw

at Atletico Madrid on Saturday in a match laced with political tension amid Catalonia’s drive for independence.

Saul Niguez’s spectacular strike had given Atletico an early advantage.

However, Barca’s dominance for large spells paid off when Suarez finally got the better of the outstand-ing Jan Oblak to level nine minutes from time.

“Everyone knows Atletico defend very well and have a great goal-keeper, but we did enough to believe we deserved more in the second half,” said Suarez.

A share of the points allows Real Madrid to move up to second, five points behind Barca, as Cristiano Ron-aldo struck an 85th-minute winner - his first league goal of the season - to grind out a hard-fought 2-1 win for the European champions at Getafe.

Atletico move up to third but remain six points behind the leaders.

“It was a great game between two teams with very different character-istics,” said Atletico boss Diego Simeone.

A backdrop of Spanish flags and chants of “Viva Espana” (long live

Spain) met Barca on their first visit to the Spanish capital since a Catalan independence referendum marred by violence and deemed illegal by the Spanish government on October 1.

However, both managers lauded the atmosphere.

“The stadium was marvellous,” added Simeone.

“I loved the stadium, the fans, (jeers for the opposition) are normal, but it was a great night of football for everyone,” said Barca boss Ernesto Valverde.

The 68,000 crowd at Atletico’s new Wanda Metropolitano were nearly silenced inside 30 seconds by Lionel Messi.

The five-time world player of the year rescued Argentina’s floundering World Cup qualifying campaign with a stunning hat-trick in the altitude of Quito, Ecuador tomorrow to ensure his presence at next year’s showpiece in Russia.

And Messi nearly had another brilliant solo effort to add to his 17 goals for club and country this sea-son as he weaved past a series of Atletico challenges before firing into the side-netting.

“Messi was extraordinary. Every time the ball went through him there was danger,” added Simeone.

Barca defender Gerard Pique, an outspoken supporter of Catalonia’s right to self-determination, was loudly jeered every time he touched the ball.

However, Antoine Griezmann was also driving Pique to distrac-tion as he nutmegged the Spanish international to bear down on goal only to be denied by a stunning stop from Ter Stegen.

The German stopper was helpless on 21 min-utes when Saul cut inside onto his supposedly weaker right foot before unleash-ing a drive into the bottom corner from 20 yards.

Barca went onto dominate pos-session, but had to wait until 10 minutes into the second half to force Oblak into a save when Suarez stung the Slovenian’s palms from outside the box.

Seconds later Messi sent a curl-ing free-kick off the outside of the post and then fired his best chance of the match wastefully wide 19 min-utes from time.

However, after another outstand-ing Oblak save to deny Suarez, Barca’s pressure was rewarded when Sergi Roberto picked out an unmarked Sua-rez at the back post and his downward header had too much power for Oblak.

And Suarez should have won the game two minutes from time when he failed to connect with Andre Gomes’s teasing cross.

ever, Antoine Griezmanndriving Pique to distrac-nutmegged the Spanish

onal to bear down on y to be denied by a stop from Ter

erman stopper ess on 21 min-

hen ut

ntosedly right

e unleash-ive into the bottom om 20 yards.

went onto dominate pos-but had to wait until 10 nto the second half to force o a save when Suarez stungnian’s palms from outside

ds later Messi sent a curl-kick off the outside of the then fired his best chance tch wastefully wide 19 min-time.

ver, after another outstand-save to deny Suarez, Barca’swas rewarded when Sergiicked out an unmarked Sua-back post and his downward

had too much power for

uarez should have won theo minutes from time when to connect with Andre easing cross.

Guardiola applauds City’s magnificent seven Guardiola applauds City’s magnificent seven ManchesterAFP

Pep Guardiola believes Man-chester City produced the best performance of his reign

in their swaggering 7-2 thrashing of Stoke City on Saturday.

Kevin De Bruyne was out-standing, producing two assists and playing a part in three more goals as City scored seven goals for the first time since Guardiola took charge in July 2016.

It was the first time City had scored that many in a league match since defeating Norwich 7-0 in November 2013, with Gabriel Jesus scoring twice, and further goals from Raheem Sterling, David Silva, Fernandinho, Leroy Sane and Ber-nardo Silva.

Victory put City two points clear at the top of the Premier League, and left Guardiola strug-gling to find fault, although he was disappointed that his side con-ceded goals either side of half-time, with Stoke’s first from Mame Biram Diouf, and the sec-ond a Kyle Walker own goal.

“You can always do better but I cannot deny that today was the best performance since I arrived here. We played a good 45 min-utes, and maybe more than that,” he said.

“Except for two actions which

we have to learn more about, we produced a really good perform-ance from everybody.

“After the international break, it can be a bit complicated, but we did really well. So we played quick because we played simple.

“Everybody helped to give us an extra pass, and after the qual-ity for the people in the middle, our wingers and strikers made the difference.

“I’m very pleased because we won, and especially with the way we won.”

De Bruyne’s performance was complimented by both Guardiola and Stoke manager Mark Hughes, who described the Belgium mid-fielder as the best player currently in the Premier League.

“Kevin didn’t score today, but he is a guy who is so dynamic. He understands the game. Normally, that kind of player doesn’t do the actions to be aggressive, win the ball, and make the right pass and the right tempo,” he said.

“After that, when he has the ball in the positions close to the area, the wingers, strikers and attacking midfielders move because they know the ball is coming.

“He’s a talented player, and he produced a good performance today.”

Hughes was disappointed with

his team’s defending, particularly in the first half, but did find time to express his admiration for De Bruyne.

“This result isn’t going to define our season. We came up against an exceptional City side and we’ve been found wanting, in terms of physicality and the ability to get close to them,” he said.

“They’ve got genuine world-class players within their ranks. Kevin De Bruyne is head and shoulders above any player in the Premier League in my view, given the level of performance and the way he can dictate and affect the game.”

Hughes defended his decision to give a debut to 18-year-old right-back Tom Edwards, who endured a torrid afternoon against Sane, although he did create Stoke’s second goal before an ankle injury forced him off.

“We didn’t have too many options,” said Hughes. “He was due to play. He’s deserved his chance.

“If he hadn’t got an injury in pre-season, he would have played before now, because that’s how well he was doing.

“It’s unfortunate for him, but it’s a learning experience, not only for him, but for everybody today. He’ll be better for it.”

Wenger believes ‘scandalous’ penalty reason behind 2-1 loss WatfordAFP

Arsene Wenger believes a “scandalous” penalty was the main reason why his Arsenal

side ended up losing 2-1 at Watford on Saturday.

The result lifted Marco Silva’s Hornets into fourth place in the Pre-mier League on a day when Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea also all dropped points.

Arsenal led at half-time through a rare goal from Per Mertesacker, the Germany defender, but the game changed in the second half when Mesut Ozil failed to convert a simple chance to double the lead.

Within a minute Hector Bellerin was adjudged to have impeded Richarlison at the other end for a penalty that the Arsenal manager was convinced was the result of a dive to deceive referee Neil Swarbrick.

Measures are in place this sea-son for the authorities to punish simulation retrospectively and it will be interesting to see if action is taken against the Brazilian.

“It’s a scandalous decision but what can we do? Nothing,” Wenger complained. “I believe that we had many many danger situations where we could have scored but didn’t.

“We were unlucky with the pen-alty it was a bit ridiculous. Then we panicked. And we stand there with defeat.

“We dropped the level a bit in the second half. We lost our fluency a little. We had the chances to score two and three.”

Richarlison could be handed a two-match ban if found guilty of diving, a decision that would be made by a three-man panel con-sisting of a former match official, a former manager and an ex-player, and would have to be unanimous.

Former Premier League referee Graham Poll certainly felt there was a case to answer. “It is as clear an example of diving as you can see,” he said. “I wouldn’t blame Swar-brick. I would blame Richarlison for diving and deceiving.”

The penalty was converted by Troy Deeney, a Watford substitute, and set the platform for midfielder Tom Cleverley to win the game deep into added time.

Deeney was convinced Swar-brick had got the controversial penalty call correct. “I know Hec-tor, he’s a good lad but that’s a penalty and the other way round he’d be screaming for a penalty,” he said.

The season may only be eight league games old but there is no

denying that Watford have made a fine start under new manager Silva, apart from a 6-0 home loss to Man-chester City last month.

“It’s not bad but it means noth-ing now,” Deeney said. “We’re just taking it game by game. I believe we’re building something really good.

“With late goals it shows we have belief and how fit we are. All the lads coming in are making the impact.”

Silva, who almost kept Hull City up last season on the back of strong home form, revealed he had been critical of his players at half-time.

“It was a very good second half,” he said. “I didn’t like the first. We were playing a very good team and we played scared and without confidence.

“We spoke at half-time and I told them not to be shy. The second half we played very well and with our attitude we could change the result.”

“Massive credit has to go to the manager,” Deeney added. “It’s called a half-time team-talk but that was a roasting.

“He told people to believe. We had a great start to the season and wanted to carry on against the big-ger teams.”

FIFA grants ex-tra day for New Zealand vs Peru play-off

MelbourneReuters

Australia will brace for another World Cup cliffhanger in Syd-ney, with FIFA confirming the

second leg of the Socceroos’ intercon-tinental play-off against Honduras will be played at the city’s Olympic Sta-dium on November 15.

Australia defeated Syria 2-1 in a nail-biting second leg of their Asia playoff last week at the same venue, keeping their hopes of a fourth con-secutive World Cup appearance alive.

Australia need to overcome Hon-duras, who booked their place in the intercontinental playoff by finishing fourth in the North, Central American and Caribbean qualifying, to secure a berth in the finals in Russia next year.

The first leg of the playoff will be in Honduras on November 10 but the time and venue have yet to be con-firmed, Football Federation Australia said in a media release yesterday.

Prior to joining the Asian Football Confederation, Australia competed in Oceania qualifying and had to beat Uruguay in a playoff to qualify for the 2006 finals in Germany, their first World Cup appearance since their 1974 debut.

Australia defeated Uruguay in a penalty shoot-out in the second leg at the Olympic stadium to secure their 2006 ticket, sparking wild celebra-tions across the country.

“Following last week’s dramatic play-off victory over Syria it comes down to these last two matches to see who will get the final berth at the 2018 FIFA World Cup,” FFA chief executive David Gallop said.

“There hasn’t been a more impor-tant match played in Australia since our last intercontinental playoff against Uruguay 12 years ago, and for all of us who were there it was truly a very special moment in Australian sporting history.

“With a place at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia at stake we’re calling on all football and sports fans to rally behind the ... Socceroos as they aim to qualify for their fourth succes-sive FIFA World Cup.”

WellingtonAFP

New Zealand and Peru’s intercontinental World Cup play-off will begin in Welling-ton on November 11 with an extended

four-day break before the return match in Lima, according to dates released yesterday.

The two-legged play-off has been extended by a day to take into account the huge distance between the two countries.

The delayed second leg means the playoff between the Oceania champions and the fifth placed team from South America will determine the 32nd and final qualifier for next year’s World Cup in Russia.

With time differences taken into account, the two legs will be played almost five days apart.

The first match will be played in the New Zea-land capital Wellington with the return fixture in Lima.

New Zealand Football Chief Executive Andy Martin said preparations can begin in earnest now that dates have been confirmed.

“We have been waiting for this confirmation for some time so we are pleased we can start building towards hosting Peru on November 11,” Martin said.

“Now it is confirmed we can complete our preparations and look forward to one of the big-gest sports events in New Zealand.”

Martin said FIFA agreed to extend the gap between the two legs after considering requests from both national teams to take into account the long-haul travel involved.

“With what is at stake - a place in the FIFA World Cup - we are pleased that FIFA have extended the window by a day and ensured that both teams will have a chance to travel, recover from their jet-lag and be at their best for a home and away qualifiers,” he said.

New Zealand, who have never played Peru before, have been to the World Cup on two occa-sions, in 1982 and in 2010, while Peru have qualified for four finals but not since 1982.

Aussies brace for another World Cup cliffhanger

Allardyce rules out Scotland job LondonAFP

Former England manager Sam Allardyce has ruled himself out of contention to be the new Scotland coach.

Allardyce was one of the bookmakers’ favour-ites for the role after Gordon Strachan was dismissed on Thursday following Scotland’s fail-ure to qualify for the World Cup.

Although Allardyce is out of work after leav-ing Crystal Palace at the end of last season, he isn’t interested in a return to international football.

The former West Ham boss, who has Scottish ancestry, was axed by England after only one game in charge when he was caught in a news-paper sting last year.

“My parents and sister were all born in Scot-land, I have heritage from there, there’s no doubt about that,” Allardyce told BBC 5 Live’s Sports-week yesterday.

Asked if the job interested him, he added: “Not at this moment in time because I’m enjoying not being involved at the front end of football at the moment.

“I think David Moyes would probably be my choice for that one. It’s very tempting, but no.”

Former Cardiff boss Malky Mackay has been placed in interim charge of Scotland while the Scottish Football Association search for a perma-nent appointment.

Watford’s Troy Deeney scores their first goal against Arsenal from the penalty spot during their

English Premier League match at Watford, Britain on Saturday.

Paris Saint-Germain’s Belgian

defender Thomas Meunier

(centre) celebrates with his

team-mates after scoring a

goal against Dijon (DFCO)

during their French L1 football

match at the Gaston Gerard

Stadium in Dijon, central

France on Saturday .

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola

Barcelona’s Uruguayan

forward Luis Suarez

celebrates after scoring a

goal during the Spanish

league football match

against Club Atletico de

Madrid at the Wanda

Metropolitano Stadium in

Madrid on Saturday.

Washington AFP

LeBron James (pic-tured) will have an overhauled Cleveland Cavaliers supporting cast this season as he

tries to reach an eighth consec-utive NBA Finals and again dethrone Golden State as champion.

Four-time NBA Most

Valuable Player James won two titles in four seasons with the Miami Heat and begins his quest to match the feat with Cleveland tomorrow when the 2017-18 campaign opens against visit-ing Boston and ex-Cavs team-mate Kyrie Irving.

The Cavs lost to Golden State in the 2015 finals but took revenge by winning the 2016 crown, James fulfilling his vow to bring a title to Cleveland, only

to watch Golden State add Kevin Durant and roll to the title last season with a 16-1 playoff mark.

Several clubs made roster changes designed to challenge the Warriors, with the Cavs adding experience and talent at the risk of becoming an older team with injury concerns.

But in the end, they remain powered by “King” James, whose finals streak is unlike

anything seen in the NBA in half a century.

“We all know who the big dog is, so everybody else has got to get in where they fit in,” Cavs guard JR Smith said.

New Cavs guard Dwyane Wade, 35, was the 2006 NBA Most Valuable Player and is an ex-Heat teammate and long-time James pal while new backcourt partner Derrick Rose, 29, was the 2011 MVP but has

been nagged by knee injuries for years. Wade averaged 18.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists with Chicago last season.

“I think he brings another championship DNA, champion-ship pedigree,” James said of Wade.

“He brings another play-maker who can get guys involved and make plays and also just has a great basketball mind.”

Former Cavs guard Irving, who averaged 25.2 points and 5.8 assists last season, was traded to Boston in a deal that brought over starting forward Jae Crowder and guard Isaiah Thomas, who isn’t expected to play before January due to an injured right hip.

Shifting roles have meant Kevin Love taking a centre spot rather than serving as a forward and two more returning stand-outs, Smith and forward Tristan Thompson, have been relegated to reserves.

“It’s not about who starts the game,” said Thompson.

“It’s about who is in the game in the fourth and who is finishing it.”

The Cavs, who also added 36-year-old Spanish guard Jose Calderon, must now blend the talent into a team over an 82-game campaign to peak for the playoffs.

“You’re a part of a team and you’re going to have to sacrifice something to be here,” Wade

said. “This is all about winning.

It’s comforting. No matter what everyone’s role is, when you’re on the floor you figure it out. And we’ll be fine.”

Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue is confident his revamped ros-ter can mystify rivals and b e c o m e f o r m i d a b l e offensively.

“With the starting lineup, they all can push it out on the break if they rebound the bas-ketball,” Lue said.

“Guys who can make plays, good cutters, good slashers. We also can space the floor. We have a lot of weapons. We’ve just got to put them all together so they all play well together.”

James compared the versa-tility of the rebooted Cavaliers to his Heat squads.

“We have the versatility and the ability to fly around with the athleticism that we have and the IQ we have as well,” he said.

“We can do a few different things defensively. When things break down, when you have versatility and you have speed, it allows you to cover for mistakes.”

Wade snubbed several other offers to play again alongside James, saying they go together “like peanut butter and jelly.”

“I look forward to playing alongside my brother LeBron,” he said.

“We’ve already won two championships together and I hope we win a third.”

34 MONDAY 16 OCTOBER 2017SPORT

James eyes finals with new-look Cavs

Four-time NBA Most Valuable Player James won two titles in four seasons with the Miami Heat and begins his quest to match the feat with Cleveland tomorrow when the 2017-18 campaign opens against visiting Boston and ex-Cavs team-mate Kyrie Irving.

De kock, Amla craft 10-wicket win for SA Kimberley AFP

Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla shared a record partnership as

South Africa cruised to a "ruth-less" ten-wicket win in the first one-day international against Bangladesh at the Diamond Oval yesterday.

De Kock (168 not out) and Amla (110 not out) put on an unbeaten 282 to overhaul Bang-ladesh's 278 for seven with 7.1 overs to spare.

The South African openers overshadowed the feat of Mush-fiqur Rahim, whose 110 not out was the first century by a Bang-ladesh batsman against South Africa in any international match. Bangladesh's total was their highest in one-day games against South Africa.

Mushfiqur's innings came with a price. He appeared to suf-fer a hamstring injury and he watched the De Kock-Amla part-nership from the players' balcony, adding to injuries which kept two other key players, Tamim Iqbal (thigh) and Mustafi-zur Rahman (ankle) out of the match.

"We have to keep fighting," said Bangladesh captain

Mashrafe Mortaza about the injuries.

Mashrafe said that although Bangladesh had posted a good total, "we knew we had to take wickets. If you can stop the runs at both ends the pressure will bring wickets. But we couldn't apply pressure."

South African captain Faf du Plessis praised what he described as another "dominating" performance.

"As a team you want to be ruthless. Today was a very, very good example of that. When you're bossing the game and you are 150 for no wicket it's easy to throw wickets away, but the guys are hungry to put in massive

performances,” said the captain. De Kock made his runs off 145 balls with 21 fours and two sixes. Amla had less of the strike, fac-ing 112 balls and hitting eight fours. Their partnership was the highest for any wicket for South Africa and the joint sixth highest in all one-day internationals.

Mushfiqur made his runs off 116 balls with 11 fours and two sixes.

Shakib made a quiet return after resting during a two-match Test series. He made 29 and con-ceded 48 runs in eight overs. But he became only the fifth player to complete the one-day inter-national 'double' of 5000 runs and 200 wickets.

Warner gears up for Ashes battleMelbourne Reuters

Australian opener David Warner has fired a salvo ahead

of the Ashes against Eng-land, likening the series to a “war” and saying the hosts would work up some “hatred” for their oppo-nents to get in the right frame of mind.

Warner also said he did not regret comments he made during the first Ashes Test at the Gabba in 2013 about England having

“scared eyes”, adding that he fully expected more words to be exchanged during the coming series.

“As soon as you step on that line it’s war,” Warner said on ABC Grandstand.

“You try and get into a battle as quick as you can. I try and look in the oppo-sition’s eyes and try and work out ‘how can I dislike this player, how can I get on top of him?’

You have to delve and dig deep into yourself to actually get some hatred about them to actually get

up when you’re out there. History is a big part in this and that is what carries us onto the ground.”

The five-Test series starts in Brisbane on November 23 and Warner said the battle would begin in earnest on day one of the first encounter at the Gabba.

“Four years ago, during that first test I made some statements in the media and at the time I thought it was a great thing to come out and speak what I said,” he added, in reference to

his comments during the last Ashes held in Australia, which the hosts won 5-0.

“I have no regrets about that and I think that could have played a little bit of a role in the back of their minds.

“At the moment I’m not going to put any vibes out there or get into a verbal stoush... but come day one when we walk out there, there will definitely be some words exchanged. I think the subtle approach these days is how it is and how it goes.”

Malik wants

selectors

to trust in

youngsters Abu Dhabi AFP

Pakistan’s experienced batsman Shoaib Malik believes youngsters

should be given the chance to carry a winning momentum into the second day-night international against Sri Lank in Abu Dhabi today.

Malik’s swashbuckling 61-ball 81 and a return to form 103 by Babar Malik lifted Pakistan to 292-6 in the first one-day in Dubai on Friday before they kept Sri Lanka to 209-8 for a 83-run win.

The match was Pakistan’s first since winning the top eight nation Champions Tro-phy in England in June this year.

Malik said youngsters are developing fast.

“It’s important to give youngsters consistent chances and by doing that we develop them and the team does well,” said Malik, declared man-of-the-match on Friday.

Malik said Pakistan has a potent bowling attack.

“We have good fast bowl-ers and the way they took wickets in the middle overs during the Champions trophy it helped us beat top teams and here too they bowled well and got us wickets we needed,” said Malik.

Fast-rising paceman Hasan Ali -- declared player of the Champions trophy with 13 wickets -- finished with 3-36 while left-armer Rum-man Raees took 3-49 to derail Sri Lanka.

Pakistan will retain the same combination despite opener Ahmed Shehzad fail-ing to score in the opening match on Friday.

Bangladesh

Imrul Kayes c De Kock b Pretorius ....................... 31

Liton Das c Du Plessis b Rabada .......................... 21

Shakib Al Hasan c Amla b Imran Tahir ............... 29

Mushfiqur Rahim (not out) ............................... 110

Mahmudullah c Miller b Pretorius....................... 26

Sabbir Rahman c Paterson b Rabada .................19

Nasir Hossain c Amla b Rabada ............................11

Mohammad Saifuddin c Paterson b Rabada.... 16

Extras (LB5, W10) ................................................. 15

Total (7 wkts) ........................................ 278

Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-67, 3-126, 4-195, 5-237,

6-253, 7-278

Bowling: Rabada 10-1-43-4 (5w), Paterson 9-0-69-0,

Imran Tahir 10-0-45-1, Pretorius 10-0-48-2 (1w),

Phehlukwayo 10-0-60-0 (4w), Duminy 1-0-8-0

Did not bat: Mashrafe Mortaza, Rubel Hossain, Taskin

Ahmed

South Africa

Q de Kock (not out) ............................................. 168

H Amla (not out) ................................................... 110

Extras (W4) ..............................................................4

Total (0 wkts) ........................................ 282

Bowling: Rubel Hossain 6-0-37-0, Mashrafe Morta-

za 8.5-0-50-0, Taskin Ahmed 8-0-61-0 (1w), Shakib

Al Hasan 8-0-48-0 (2w), Mohammad Saifuddin 5-0-

46-0, Nasir Hossain 5-0-29-0 (1w), Mahmudullah

2-0-11-0

Did not bat: F. du Plessis, A. de Villiers, D. Miller, J.

Duminy, D. Pretorius, A. Phehlukwayo, K. Rabada, D.

Paterson, Imran Tahir

Result: South Africa won by ten wickets

SCOREBOARD

Australian opener David Warner in action against Pakistan in this file photo.

South Africa’s Hashim Amla (right) and Quinton de Kock walk during the first ODI against Bangladesh in Kimberley, South Africa yesterday.

35MONDAY 16 OCTOBER 2017 SPORT

Perez clinches Classic trophy Kuala Lumpur AFP

Pat Perez fired a three-u n d e r - p a r 6 9 yesterday to win the CIMB Classic in Malaysia by four

strokes, firmly eclipsing two-time defending champion Justin Thomas to claim just his third career title.

Perez finished with an aggregate score of 264 at par-72 TPC Kuala Lumpur, ahead of second-placed Keegan Bradley with Xander Schauffele and Kang Sung-Hoon seven off the pace in joint third.

Perez ended a seven-year trophy drought at last year’s OHL Classic and now, in his 403rd start on tour, the 41-year-old American becomes the CIMB’s oldest winner.

But there was disappoint-ment for Thomas, the PGA Championship title-holder and 2017 PGA Tour Player of the Year, who finished tied for 17th despite a 67 in the final round of his title defence.

Perez, who shot rounds of 66, 65, 64 and 69, relished his latest victory, particularly as he did not play for months at the start of 2016 while recovering

from shoulder surgery. “I was so excited to come back after, you know, being out for so long,” he said.

“I did not think I was going to win this week... I putted unbe-lievable really. I didn’t hit it that great.”

In sweltering conditions, Perez, who led since Friday’s second round, birdied three of the first four holes on Sunday to maintain his four-shot overnight lead. He seemed surprised by the turn in fortunes so late in his career, describing himself as a “late bloomer”, but vowed he would not change his lifestyle.

Thomas said he “ran out of gas” after coming into the tour-nament off a superb season.

“I was definitely low on gas. It’s been a great but a long year,” he said.

The 24-year-old American had a breakthrough season in 2016-17, racking up five wins including his maiden major victory.

Other favourites at the CIMB also fared poorly, with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama finishing tied for fifth and India’s Anirban Lahiri tied for 10th.

Perez gets the $1.26m prize purse and 500 FedEX Cup points for his win.

Pat Perez of the US lifts the trophy after winning the 2017 CIMB Classic golf tournament in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

264 - Pat Perez (USA) 66-65-64-69

268 - Keegan Bradley (USA) 65-71-65-67

271 - Xander Schauffele (USA) 65-67-67-72,

Kang Sung-Hoon (KOR) 67-68-65-71

272 - Cameron Smith (AUS) 64-71-73-64,

Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 70-68-63-71

274 - Danny Lee (NZL) 73-65-68-68, Paul

Casey (ENG) 77-63-69-65, Lucas Glover

(USA) 71-67-68-68

275 - Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP) 67-70-69-69,

Peter Uihlein (USA) 73-68-65-69, Anirban

Lahiri (IND) 67-73-64-71

276 - Nick Taylor (CAN) 70-74-67-65, Luke

List (USA) 70-70-68-68, Brendan Steele

(USA) 67-71-70-68, Stewart Cink (USA) 72-

68-67-69

277 - Chez Reavie (USA) 68-74-69-66, Ca-

milio Villegas (COL) 72-68-70-67, Justin

Thomas (USA) 70-71-69-67, C.T.Pan (TPE)

70-70-69-68

278 - Kyle Stanley (USA) 71-67-70-70, David

Lipsky (USA) 69-71-68-70

CIMB CLASSIC SCORES

I did not think I was going to win this week... I putted unbelievable really. I didn’t hit it that great: Pat Perez

Los Angeles Dodgers draw first blood in Cubs rematch Los Angeles AFP

Yasiel Puig homered and drove in another as the Los Angeles Dodgers ral-

lied to beat the World Series champion Chicago Cubs 5-2 to open their Major League Base-ball (MLB) play-off series.

The Dodgers, sent packing by the Cubs in last year’s National League Championship Series, took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven NLCS with game two set at Dodger Stadium.

The winner of the series will play either the Houston Astros or the New York Yankees for the major league crown.

The Astros took a 2-0 lead in the American League Cham-pionship Series with a 2-1 win over the Yankees in Houston on Saturday.

The Dodgers received a pre-game blow when a back injury to Corey Seager forced the All-Star shortstop off the NLCS roster.

But they managed fine with-out him, with homers from Puig and Chris Taylor.

Puig homered to lead off the bottom of the seventh, sending the Dodger Stadium crowd in to a frenzy.

“He loves the big stage, and his only focus is helping us con-tinue to win baseball games,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the mercurial Cuban. “So right now he’s playing at a high level, and not only the fans, but his teammates are feeding off of it.”

Charlie Culberson followed with a double, and after Taylor singled, raced home on a single from Justin Turner.

Culberson was ruled out at home plate, but that call was overturned on review, with major league officials saying Contreras violated the home plate collision rule by illegally blocking his path to the plate.

Incensed Cubs manager Joe

Maddon burst from the dugout to argue and was promptly ejected.

Maddon said Wilson had no choice but to move toward the baseline to catch the ball.

“His technique was abso-lutely 100 percent perfect,” Maddon said. “I could not disa-gree more with the interpretation of that.”

Taylor, who started the sea-son in the minor leagues, had put the Dodgers up 3-2 in the sixth with a homer off Cubs relief pitcher Hector Rondon.

Albert Almora’s two-run homer off Clayton Kershaw in the fourth inning had staked the Cubs to a 2-0 lead.

The Dodgers responded in

the fifth. After Cubs starter Jose Quintana gave up back-to-back walks to Logan Forsythe and Austin Barnes, Puig doubled to score one run and Culberson’s fly scored Barnes.

Kershaw lasted five innings, giving up four hits with four strikeouts. He retired the last six batters he faced before the Dodgers went to their bullpen.

Kenley Jansen recorded the last four outs for the save.

In Houston, Carlos Correa followed a homer with a walk-off double for the Astros.

Correa’s ninth-inning effort ensured the Astros capitalized on a stellar performance from starting pitcher Justin Verlander.

Correa smacked a 3-ball, 2-strike fastball from Aroldis Chapman into the right center-field gap to score Jose Altuve from first base.

Altuve raced around the bases, scoring when Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge made his relay throw toward the mid-dle of the infield and catcher Gary Sanchez couldn’t grab the subsequent throw to home.

Verlander worked nine innings, allowing one run on five hits with one walk and 13 strikeouts. He threw 124 pitches -- 93 of them for strikes -- and held off the Yankees to give the Astros a chance to rally.

“He was exceptional in every way,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said of Verlander.

In the fourth inning, Correa turned a 99-mph (159.33 Km/h) fastball from Luis Severino for a home run to right.

The ball barely eluded Judge, and a young fan in the first row of seats deflected it into the stands.

Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Yasiel

Puig hits an RBI double against

the Chicago Cubs in the fifth inning

during game one of the 2017

NLCS play-off baseball series at Dodger Stadium

in Los Angeles on Saturday.

MLB Play-off series: Dodgers take lead

The Dodgers take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven NLCS. The winner of the series will play either the Houston Astros or the New York Yankees for the MLB crown.

NFL: Langi hospitalised after car accident

Crosby stars as Penguins edge out Panthers

New York AFP

New England Patriots reserve rookie line-backer Harvey Langi

and his wife were hospital-ised after their car was rear-ended by another vehi-cle, the NFL team announced on Saturday.

The three-car chain reac-tion accident took place on Friday night, with the Patri-ots listing the 25-year-old as out for Sunday’s game at the New York Jets with a back injury.

“We are aware of the traf-fic accident involving Harvey Langi and a passenger last night in Foxborough,” the Patriots said in a statement. “The two were stopped at a traffic light when they were rear-ended by another vehicle.

“They were both trans-ported to a local hospital with injuries and are receiv-ing medical attention. Our thoughts are with Harvey, the Langi family and those who sustained injuries in last night’s accident,” he said.

New England Sports Net-work and ESPN reported the i n j u r i e s w e r e n o t life-threatening.

Langi cracked the Super Bowl champions’ 53-man roster as an undrafted player from Brigham Young University.

Meanwhile, The San Francisco 49ers released line-backer NaVorro Bowman after the veteran expressed displeasure at coming out of last week’s game.

The team agreed to the 29-year-old Bowman’s request to be released after trade scenarios were inves-tigated, according to general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan.

New York Agencies

Sidney Crosby scored twice, including the win-ner when he batted the

puck out of the air in the third period, as Pittsburgh downed Florida.

Patric Hornqvist and Greg McKegg also scored and Kris Letang added two assists for the Penguins, who are 8-0-2 in their past 10 games against the Panthers with five wins in a row at home.

Matt Murray made 43 saves for Pittsburgh.

Jonathan Huberedau scored twice, Aaron Ekblad also tallied and Evgenii Dado-nov had two assists for Florida.

The Panthers’ James Reimer stopped 29 shots.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Maple Leafs snapped a 14-game losing streak against the Montreal Canadiens with a 4-3 overtime victory.

Auston Matthews scored his second goal of the game and fifth of the season 48 sec-onds into the extra session to give Toronto its first win against Montreal since Janu-ary 18, 2014.

Los Angeles 4 Buffalo 2

NY Islanders 3 San Jose 1

Calgary 5 Vancouver 2

Ottawa 6 Edmonton 1

Boston 6 Arizona 2

Chicago 2 Nashville 1

Dallas 3 Colorado 1

Columbus 5 Minnesota 4

Winnipeg 2 Carolina 1

Toronto 4 Montreal 3

Tampa Bay 2 St. Louis 1

New Jersey 3 NY Rangers 2

Philadelphia 8 Washington 2

Pittsburgh 4 Florida 3

NHL RESULTS

36 MONDAY 16 OCTOBER 2017SPORT

Timeless Federer prevails over Nadal ShanghaiAFP

Roger Federer said he “saved the best for last” after he beat great rival Rafael Nadal

for the fifth time in succes-sion to win the Shanghai Masters yesterday.

The surprisingly one-sided 6-4, 6-3 victory over the world number one from Spain brought a 94th title for the Swiss legend, drawing him level with the great Ivan Lendl.

Nadal, who admitted afterwards that he had been defeated by the better man on the night, was ahead in their overall head-to-head record going into the clash -- 23 wins to Federer’s 14.

But this time he was up against it almost right away.

Number two Federer put the Spaniard under the cosh in breaking him in the first game, to roars of approval from the majority inside the arena.

Another break to 36-year-old Federer in the fifth game of the second set put him in reach of a second Shanghai Masters crown -- and a sixth title in 2017.

Federer, who has been managing his schedule to wring the best out of his age-ing body, said he had improved as the week went on and felt he hit peak form just when it mattered.

“It’s been a tough week, five straight matches is always a test and a challenge for anybody’s body, espe-cially with the pressure rising,” he said.

“I felt I was playing well all week and that settled my nerves because I was return-ing well from the match here against (Diego) Schwartz-man (in his opener).

“The serve only got bet-ter and I saved the best for last -- I played some great matches, against (Juan Mar-tin) del Potro in sets two and three and now these two sets here today.

“In a way not surprising because I felt good all week... I was ready.”

Federer, fondly known as “Cow” in China for his laid-back personality, started the better in grabbing the break and then rattled through his own service game for 2-0.

Federer, a 19-time Grand Slam champion, was in full flow under the Qizhong Ten-nis Center roof, which was closed because of down-pours in Shanghai.

Nadal, 31, fresh from winning the US Open and China Open, groaned while lashing many of his shots while Federer was all quiet efficiency.

Somewhere in the sta-dium somebody rattled a cow bell and Federer responded by making it 4-2 with two booming aces in a row.

In contrast, Nadal -- a 16-time Grand Slam winner who has never won the Shanghai Masters -- was labouring through his serv-ice games.

There were suggestions that Federer might not be

quite as fresh as his younger foe, having been pushed to three sets a day earlier in the second semi-final against Juan Martin del Potro.

The timeless Federer rubbished that notion as he seared his way to a 5-3 first-set lead.

Nadal sent down his fourth ace for 5-4, only for Federer to seal the set with his seventh ace of the match.

There was little between the great rivals in the early exchanges of the second set until the fifth game.

Nadal saved the first break point but could not survive the second one, to put Federer in touch of the title.

Nadal’s defeat sees Fed-erer close the gap at the top of the world rankings as the year approaches its climax. But the Spaniard has never-theless enjoyed a remarkable season of his own.

His triumph in Beijing last weekend was also his sixth of the year as he con-tinues to defy doubts about his fitness following repeated injuries.

The Spaniard called it “an emotional year”.

“I could maybe have done some things better,” said Nadal.

“Of course was not the best match of the week for me... but when someone plays better than you in most of the things that really mat-ter in this sport, then it’s tough.”

He declined to say if he had been hampered by a problem with his right knee, which had a bandage on it during the match.

“I don’t want to talk about that now, sorry,” Nadal said.

“After losing a final it’s not the moment.”

Shanghai Masters

The surprisingly one-sided 6-4, 6-3 victory over the world number one from Spain brought a 94th title for the Swiss legend, drawing him level with the great Ivan Lendl.

Swiss legend ‘saves the best for

last’ to beat great Spanish rival

for the fifth time in succession to

win the Shanghai Masters

Sharapova lifts first title since ban TianjinAFP

Five-time Grand Slam win-ner Maria Sharapova was made to fight by 102nd-

ranked teenager Aryna Sabalenka at the Tianjin Open yesterday before winning her first title since her 15-month doping ban.

The former world number one, who returned to action in April, came from behind in both sets and needed four champion-ship points in the tie-breaker before beating the 19-year-old 7-5, 7-6 (10/8).

Sharapova clasped her hands to her chest in delight as she absorbed the feeling of winning

her 36th tour title and first in more than two years since the 2015 Italian Open.

Sharapova, 30, was contest-ing the seventh tournament of what has been an injury-plagued and controversial comeback since testing positive for the banned substance meldonium in early 2016.

She exchanged 11 breaks of serve with the Belarusian, who has yet to win a WTA trophy, before finally clinching it in the tie-breaker when the teenager put a forehand return long.

In a tight final of high-deci-bel shrieking, Sabalenka was broken in the opening game but any expectations that she would roll over quickly dissolved when

she won four games in a row to go 4-1 up.

Sharapova’s coach Sven Groeneveld urged her to use the body serve, and momentum immediately shifted as she held the next game and then edged a nine-minute game seven to wrestle it back on serve.

Sabalenka angrily slammed her racquet down as she double-faulted to be broken for a third time and with Sharapova serv-ing at 6-5, the Belarusian overcooked a forehand to hand over the set.

The second set followed a similar pattern and Sabalenka was 5-1 up before Sharapova reeled her in, breaking three times -- and saving a set point

along the way -- before serving for the match at 6-5.

But a double fault from the Russian took it to a closely con-tested tie-break, where Sharapova held championship points four times before finally sealing it after two hours and five minutes.

Sharapova, whose ranking has dropped to 86, has been playing on wildcards this sea-son. Her return has proved divisive, with some rivals insist-ing she shouldn’t be back on tour at all.

She now heads to next week’s Kremlin Cup in Moscow for the first time since 2007, after also being given a wildcard to play in what is her home tournament.

Strycova wins Linz title Linz, AustriaAP

Barbora Strycova ended a six-year wait for her sec-ond WTA singles title

yesterday by defeating Magdalena Rybarikova of Slo-vakia 6-4, 6-1 at the Ladies Linz.

Having won 20 doubles tournaments, the 26th-ranked Czech player improved to 2-6 in career singles finals after winning her maiden title in Quebec City in 2011.

Strycova lifted the trophy at the Austrian indoor event with former seventh-ranked player Barbara Schett looking on. Schett helped the Czech at the start of her professional career in 2003.

“I would like to thank my mentor. When I was 17, she was my mentor and she was still playing, it’s Babsi,” the 31-year-old Strycova said after the match.

“And we are still standing here all together and it’s really something special for me.”

Strycova broke the top-seeded Rybarikova in the opening game and held on to the advantage to take the first set.

Strycova added three more breaks to take a quick 5-0 lead in the second as Rybarikova looked hampered by a right thigh injury.

Strycova dropped serve for the only time in the match but broke back immediately and converted her first match point on Rybarikova’s serve to close out the victory.

The 28th-ranked Rybarik-ova, who lost in the semifinals at Wimbledon this year to eventual champion Garbine Muguruza, was after her fifth career title and first since 2013.

She is now 1-4 against Stry-cova, having beaten her only when they met for the first time 10 years ago.

Roger Federer of Switzerland poses with his trophy after beating Rafael Nadal of Spain in the men’s singles final match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai yesterday.

Winner Maria Sharapova of Russia (right) and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus pose

with their trophies after the women’s singles final

of the Tianjin Open in Tianjin, China yesterday.

Barbora Strycova of Czech Republic in action in this

file photo. Strycova ended a six-year wait for her second WTA singles title yesterday

by defeating Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.