FIG WORLD CUP: TODAY’S FINALS

SPORTSaturday 23 March 2019

PAGE | 17 PAGE | 19Osaka

advances; Nishikori falls

in Miami

Kohli vs Dhoni as RCB meet CSK in IPL opener

My preparation

for this event was

not good enough

which is why I am

very happy to win

a gold. I had some

little injuries that

prevented me

from doing other

competitions. But

now I am really

happy to be back

on the podium.

I wasn’t really

anxious as I was

comfortable out

there and I knew

I could do it. I just

did what I usually

do in training:

Nina Derwael

YESTERDAY’S RESULTS

Derwael, Carey strike gold in DohaFAWAD HUSSAIN THE PENINSULA

Nina Derwael and Jade Carey yesterday stole limelight on the first day of finals at FIG ART Indi-vidual Apparatus World Cup in Doha, winning gold medals to consolidate their chances of qual-ifying for Tokyo Olympics.

Five gold medals were decided at the Aspire Dome yes-terday, which saw a full house of fans backing their favourite gym-nasts. Secretary-General of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain, Qatar Gymnastics Federation President, Ali Al Hitmi and Qatar Swimming Association President, Khaleel Al Jabir were among the spectators.

Belgium’s Derwael, as expected, won gold medal in uneven bars after claiming 15.033 points. It was a typical Derwael performance as she kept things dangerous and doing them com-fortably. The gold medal helped the Belgian leapfrog to third position in overall rankings of uneven bars with 60 points.

She is now behind Chinese pair of Lyu Jiaqi (75) and Fan Yilin (65) in race to getting Olympic berth in the discipline.

Derwael, who will turn 18 on Tuesday, was delighted with her third triumph of her career in Doha.

“My preparation for this event was not good enough which is why I am very happy to win a gold,” Derwael, who also won a gold at World Championships in Doha last year, said.

“I had some little injuries that prevented me from doing other competitions. But now I am really happy to be back on the podium. I wasn’t really anxious as I was comfortable out there and I knew I could do it. I just did what I usually do in training,” she said.

The teenager hailed Doha as one of her favourite venues, saying she will return from the Qatari capital with m o r e g o o d memories.

“I am really happy to be back here, I have won gold thrice now in Doha. I am going to prepare for the European champi-onship now,” said Derwael.

“I am very excited a b o u t T o k y o Olympics. The Belgian team

still needs to qualify as a team so we are going to do try and do that at the World Championship in Stuttgart this year,” she added.

Yilin (14.933) took the silver medal while Russia’s Anastasiia Iliankova (14.700) secured bronze medal in the event.

Meanwhile, American star Carey clinched gold to make it a brace of victories in vault within a week. Carey, who had won both vault and floor gold at the Baku World Cup last week, maintained her top form to complete her hat-trick of gold medals.

The 18-year-old controlled her landing perfectly to top score with 14.833 points, finishing ahead of Russian Maria Paseka (14.766) and Frenchwoman Coline Dev-illard (14.549).

Yesterday’s win boosted Carey’s World Cup series ranking points to 85, putting her first in the vault race for Olympics qualifications.

“I think it was a really good performance”, the ever smiling Carey said.

“It is cool to be in Doha, after missing last year’s World Cham-pionships. I am happy that I made both vaults, especially the first one, because it is the first time I have tried it in competition. I am looking forward to final on the floor”.

The 43-year-old Oksana Chusovitina finished fifth with 13.866 points. The Uzbek, who has competed in seven Olympic Games, is gunning for her eighth appearance as she looks to book her place at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Chih-Kai claims gold; heartbreak for China’s

Ruoteng

In men’s pommel horse final yesterday, world bronze medallist

Lee Chih-Kai of Chinese Taipei pipped former world

champion Kohei Kam-eyama of Japan on

basis of superior difficulty scores, after both earned 15.400 points apiece. Kameyama’s

countryman Kaito Ima-

bayashi took bronze after

tallying 15.333 points.

China’s Zou Jingyuan, the reigning Asian Games gold med-allist, missed out on a medal after he missed his hand placement and came off early on. He also tumbled for a second time to finish seventh 12.866.

However, China also received a gold medal, yesterday when Xingyu Lan emerged as the undisputed winner with 15.100 points. The Armenian duo of Artur Tovmasyan and Vahagn Davtyan were second and third respectively.

Earlier, Alexander Shatilov of Israel was the first winner of the day, earning first place on the floor with 14.633 points with Spain’s Rayderley Zapata coming on second place with 14.333 points.

The World Championships bronze medalist, Philippine’s Carlos Yulo was only third (14.266), after his impressive p e r f o r m a n c e i n t h e qualification.

The Chinese star Xiao Ruoteng disappointed his fans, since he managed only seventh place in the

competition after a fall and a couple of mistakes on his programme.

Derwael, Carey eye brace of gold in Doha

Today five more finals will be played bringing an end to the four-day event, which is being held for the 12th consecutive year

in Doha. Epke Zonderland will be seen in action on horizontal bar as the Dutch star hopes to repeat his gold medal-winning per-formance in Doha after his triumph in World Championships last November.

Derwael will vie for second gold as she will compete in balance beam while Carey will feature in the floor exercise final.

MEN

PARALLEL BARS

Ferhat Arican (Turkey) Mitchell Morgans (Australia) Vasili Mikhalitsyn (Belarus) Matteo Levantesi (Italy) Jingyuan Zou (China) Vladislav Poliashov (Russia) Andrei Likhovitskiy (Belarus)

Phuong Thanh Dinh (Vietnam)

HORIZONTAL BAR

Alexey Rostov (Russia) Randy Leru (Cuba)Hidetaka Miyachi (Japan) Milad Karimi (Kazakhstan) Epke Zonderland (Netherlands) Shudi Deng (China) Carlo Macchini (Italy) Tin Srbic (Croatia)

VAULT

Jorge Vega Lopez (Guatemala) Christopher Remkes (Australia) Wei-Sheng Tseng (ChineseTaipei)Giarnni Regini-Moran (Great Britain) Hakseon Yang (Korea) Artur Davtyan (Armenia) Igor Radilov (Ukraine) Marian Dragulescu (Romania)

WOMEN

BALANCE BEAM

Nina Derwael (Belgium) Marine Boyer (France) Adela Sajn (Slovenia) Hua-Tien Ting (Chinese Taipei) Yumika Nakamura (Japan) Qui Li (China) SoyFinalska Hanawa (Japan) Aneta Holasova (Czech Republic)

FLOOR Coline Devillard (France) Vanessa Ferrari (Italy) Kim Bui (Germany) Varvara Zubova (Russia) Marta Pihan-Kulesza (Poland) Lara Mori (Italy) Jade Carey (USA) Marine Boyer (France)

MEN’S FINALS

FLOOR EXERCISE

1.Alexander Shatilov (Israel) 14.6332.Rayderley Zapata (Spain) 14.4333.Carlos Yulo (Philippines) 14.266

POMMEL HORSE

1.Chih Kai Lee (Chinese Taipei) 15.4002.Kohei Kameyama (Japan) 15.4003.Kaito Imabayashi (Japan) 15.333

STILL RINGS

1.Xingyu Lan (China) 15.1002.Artur Tovmasyan (Armenia) 14.8333.Vahagn Davtyan (Armenia) 14.825

WOMEN’S FINALS

VAULT

1.Jade Carey (USA) 14.8832.Maria Paseka (Russia) 14.7663.Coline Devillard (France) 14.549

UNEVEN BARS

1.Nina Derwael (Belgium) 15.0332.Yilin Fan (China) 14.9333.Anastasia Iliankova (Russia) 14.700

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Gold medallist Jade Carey (centre) poses along with silver medallist Maria Paseka (left) and bronze medallist Coline Devillard after the medals ceremony for women’s vault event, yesterday.

4

Qatar Gymnastics Federation President Ali Al Hitmi (centre, front), along with QGF officials poses with medal-winning gymnasts of men’s still rings event.

Nina Derwael celebrates with her gold medal.

Lee Chih-Kai of Chinese Taipei (centre), Kohei Kameyama (left) of Japan and his compatriot Kaito Imabayashi pose with their medals.

17SATURDAY 23 MARCH 2019 SPORT

Qatargas Chess: Gowtham clinches Rapid title as Indian players shineTHE PENINSULA DOHA

India’s Gowtham Ramamoorthy yesterday clinched the Qatargas Rapid Chess Tournament title, scoring a brilliant score of nine points from as many rounds at Al Mirqab Mall in Doha.

Building on his overnight lead, which the U-10 chess star shared with his compatriot Anupama Sumith Aman after three rounds on the opening day of the event, Gowtham went on to sweep all five of his games yesterday to top the standings.

Rayyan Firdaus of Malaysia collected eight points out of eight games to win the second place ahead of Indian U-12 player Chris Mathews, who bagged seven points to finish third.

India’s Gireesh Shivapriya secured fourth spot ahead of De Joya Yuri Evgeni from the Phili-phines who booked the fifth place.

Jayachandran R. Madhav, Benov Anith, Allen Tom, Biju Adithya and Sharvesh Balagi com-pleted the top 10 standings as India accounted for eight out of the 10 best players of the tournament.

Ali Al Saadi, Abdulla Al Homaid and Taleb Saeed Dahman were adjudged the Best Qatari Boys of the tournament while

Rawda Qassabi, Layan Qassabi and Aisha Al Khelaidi were named Best Qatari Girls.

The Rapid Chess Tournament for youth (U-16) was part of the 6th Qatargas Chess Championship, organised by the Qatar Chess Association.

Today, the Qatargas Open Blitz Tournament will take place at the same venue, starting at 10.30am and will be carried out over nine rounds.

The Blitz Open Tournament will be conducted according to the Swiss System, same as the junior event, consisting of nine rounds.

The closing ceremony and the award presentation will begin at 6.30pm.

QATARGAS RAPID CHESS TOURNAMENT

FINAL RANKING 1: Ramamoorthy Gowtham (IND)2: Firdaus Rayyan (MAS)3: Mathews Chris (IND)4: Gireesh Shivapriya (IND)5: De Joya Yuri Evgeni (PHI)6: Jayachandran R. Madhav (IND)7: Benov Anith (IND)8: Allen Tom (IND)9: Biju Adithya (IND)10: Sharvesh Balagi (IND)

Qatar down Afghanistan in opener THE PENINSULA DOHA

Qatar got off to a flying start at the AFC U-23 Championship Thailand 2020 qualifying, defeating Afghanistan 2-0 in their opening game in Doha, yesterday.

The Qatari players looked in good form at the Aspire pitch as they led their opponents right from the start to claim win, which took Al Annabi on top of Group A.

Two goals in the opening 35 minutes proved insurmountable for Afghanistan, as the Qataris made a successful first step in their bid to return to the Finals, where they finished third in 2018.

Boasting a strong line-up featuring AFC Asian Cup-winning stars Bassam Al Rawi and Tarek Salman, Qatar were in the ascendancy from the beginning, and they took lead after a marauding run from Abdurahman Moustafa set up Hassan Ahmad Palang for a close range finish in the 13th minute.

Albert Caballeria’s men con-tinued to pile on the pressure, and they doubled their lead when Al Duhail’s Abdullah Al Ahrak converted a penalty kick

10 minutes before half-time.Afghanistan fought valiantly

after the break, but they were unable to make any inroads on the scoresheet, and they suffered

a late blow when captain Aman-ullah Sardari was shown a second yellow card in the third minute of stoppage time.

Qatar will look to continue

their strong start against Nepal tomorrow, while Afghanistan need a result against Oman to keep their qualification hopes alive.

Earlier, Oman got their qual-ifying campaign up and running, securing three points with a 1-0 win over Nepal in their opening Group A clash in Doha,

yesterday. While an early goal from Yousuf Al Malki proved decisive, Oman squandered a number of chances to extend their lead, particularly in a dom-inant second half display.

The Omanis came into the tie as warm favourites, and took the lead when an overlapping Al Malki found space on the left hand side before beating Nepal goalkeeper Arpan Karki with an accurate low finish on 13 minutes.

Nepal held their own in the minutes that followed, although Oman came closest to finding the net before half-time, with Zahir Al Aghbari hitting the upright in the 34th minute. After the break Oman assumed full control of the tie, but they were persistently thwarted in their search for a second goal, with Karki making a save to deny Muhsen Al Ghassani and then Al Aghbari, while Al Malki sent a thunderous long-range effort into the crossbar.

Qadhafi Al Mahruqi wasted another opportunity when he missed a free header in the dying minutes, but it had no impact on the end result, as Oman ensured they will go into Sunday’s meeting with Afghanistan with three points under their belt.

Qatar U-23 players celebrate a goal against Afghanistan yesterday.

Two goals in

the opening 35

minutes proved

insurmountable

for Afghanistan,

as the Qataris made a successful

first step in their

bid to return to

the Finals, where

they finished

third in 2018.

Osaka advances; Nishikori falls in MiamiAFP MIAMI

World number one Naomi Osaka of Japan opened her campaign at the WTA and ATP Miami Open yesterday by outlasting Yanina Wickmayer 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1.

Since winning her second consecutive Grand Slam title in January at the Australian Open, Osaka has failed to go deep in Dubai or Indian Wells.

But she appeared in sold form against 141st-ranked Wickmayer, digging deep after the Belgian forced a third set.

“I had to work hard out there,” Osaka said.

“In the second set, I got really emotional, so in the third, I just tried to shut off my feelings,” she added.

Osaka advanced to a third-round matchup against Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei, who defeated American Alison Riske 6-2, 7-5.

Osaka broke twice for a 3-0 lead in the first set and blitzed through the final set as well to capture her first match in two hours and nine minutes after an opening-round bye.

On the men’s side, there was

disappointment for her compa-triot Kei Nishikori. The fifth seed lost to Serbian Dusan Lajovic 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic take the court in later matches.

Meanwhile, Canadian teenage sensation Bianca Andreescu pulled off a Miami Open great escape by fighting back from a set and match point down to beat a dazed Irina-Camelia Begu 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 in the first round on Thursday.

The 18-year-old who stunned the Tennis world last week by winning her first career title at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells raised eyebrows again with a gritty and spirited comeback that underscored her status as a rising star.

“The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory,” Andreescu told reporters.

“I have gained a lot of expe-rience from today, but hopefully I don’t have to actually be down match point to win matches.

“Maybe I needed to almost lose to wake up. That’s obviously what happened today. I’m really grateful how I managed.”

Naomi Osaka of Japan in action against Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium (not pictured), yesterday.

PAKISTANImam-ul-Haq c and b Lyon ........................ 17Shan Masood b Coulter-Nile ......................40Haris Sohail not out ...................................101Umar Akmal c Finch b Coulter-Nile .........49Shoaib Malik b Maxwell ................................11Faheem Ashraf c Stoinis b Maxwell ........ 28Imad Wasim not out .................................. 28Extras: (lb1, w 5) ..........................................6Total: (for five wkts; 50 overs) 280

Did not bat: Mohammad Rizwan, Moham-mad Amir, Yasir Shah, Mohammad AbbasFall of wickets: 1-35 (Imam), 2-78 (Masood), 3-176 (Umar), 4-190 (Malik), 5-239 (Ashraf)Bowling: Richardson 8-1-65-1 (1w), Coul-ter-Nile 10-0-61-2 (1w), Lyon 10-0-38-1,

Maxwell 10-0-57-1 (2w), Zampa 10-0-44-0, Stoinis 2-0-14-0 (1w)AUSTRALIA

Usman Khawaja c Malik b Ashraf ............ 24A. Finch c Rizwan b Abbas ....................... 116S. Marsh not out ............................................91P. Handscomb not out ................................ 30Extras: (b4, lb8, w8) ...............................20Total: (for two wkts; 49 overs) .281

Did not bat: P. Handscomb, G. Maxwell, M. Stoinis, A. Carey, N. Coulter-Nile, J. Richard-son, N. Lyon, A. ZampaFall of wickets: 1-63 (Khawaja), 2-235 (Finch)Bowling: Amir 9-0-59-0, Abbas 10-0-44-1, Imad 10-1-50-0 (7w), Ashraf 9-0-50-1 (1w), Yasir 10-0-56-0, Malik 1-0-10-0

SCOREBOARD

Finch century leads Australia to comfortable victory over PakistanAFP SHARJAH

Aaron Finch’s fine century drove Australia to a convincing eight-wicket win over a new-look Pakistan in the first one-day interna-tional yesterday.

The Austraian skipper scored 116 off 135 balls for his 12th one-day international century that helped his team overhaul the 281-run target in 49 overs on a flat Sharjah stadium pitch.

The win gives Australia the lead in the five-match series and has come on the back of their 3-2 series win in India earlier this month.

Finch’s match-winning knock overshadowed Haris Sohail’s maiden one-day hundred (101 not out) which helped Pakistan to 280-5 in their 50 overs.

The 32-year-old smashed Shoaib Malik for a huge six towards deep mid-wicket to complete his century -- his first since June last year against England at Chester-Le-Street -- off 120 balls.

Finch, who knocked four sixes and eight boundaries, added an innings-building 172 runs for the second wicket with Shaun Marsh who scored an unbeaten 91 off 102 balls with four bound-aries and two sixes.

With 46 needed Finch became Mohammad Abbas’s maiden wicket but Peter Handscomb hit 30 not out to help Marsh cross the line.

Finch and Marsh came together after opener Usman Khawaja fell for 24 to medium pacer Faheem

Ashraf, the only other success Pakistan’s new-look bowling attack could achieve.

Pakistan rested six of their key players including regular skipper Sarfraz Ahmed in order to keep them fresh for the World Cup starting in UK from May 30.

But the young and inex-perienced Pakistan led by Malik proved no match for Australia, who are on a roll after their win in India earlier this month.

Left-hander Sohail, who reached 1,000 runs in his 27th one-day international when on 40, anchored Paki-stan’s innings, adding 98 for the third wicket with Umar Akmal who made a 50-ball 48 in his first international match for two years.

Sohail took a single to complete his hundred in the last over, finishing with six boundaries and a six.

Pakistan had handed one-day debuts to opener Shan Masood and Abbas -- who have played 15 and 14 Tests respectively.

Masood put on 35 in an opening stand with Imam-ul-Haq (17) before off-spinner Nathan Lyon dis-missed Imam in the seventh over, caught and bowled.

Masood, who hit five boundaries in his 62-ball 40, was then bowled by paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile who finished with 1-38 in his 10 overs.

Umar smashed three sixes in one Jhye Richardson over but fell one short of his half century.

Malik fell for 11 and Ashraf and Imad Wasim scored 28 each.

The players taking part in Youth U-16 event at Qatargas Chess Championship at Al Mirqab Mall yesterday

Liverpool as champions the stuff of nightmares for RooneyNEW YORK REUTERS

Former Manchester United and Everton forward Wayne R o o n e y ( p i c t u r e d ) has said he cannot b e a r t h e

thought that old foes Liverpool might win the Premier

League title this season.Rooney, who began

his career with Liver-pool’s Merseyside rivals Everton before moving

to Manchester U n i t e d ,

said he

would rather defending cham-pions Manchester City won the league instead.

Liverpool are top of the table with two points more than second-placed City, who have a game in hand.

“It’s a great reason to be out the country when those two are going head-to-head for the title,” Rooney, who now plays for Major League Soccer side DC United, told talkSPORT.

“I hope Man City get over the line before Liverpool. I couldn’t

bear to see them win it, it would be a nightmare for any Evertonian.

“I remember in 2005 (Liv-erpool) won the Champions League and they’re still talking about it now so it would be another 10 or 15 years of that,” he said.

Liverpool have not won a league title in 29 years and ending that drought this season would allow them to move to 19 title wins in the English top flight, one behind United’s record.

18 SATURDAY 23 MARCH 2019SPORT

Els in the hunt for Maybank Championship titleAFP KUALA LUMPUR

South African Ernie Els surged into contention at the halfway stage of the Maybank Championship yesterday after he posted a 70 to sit two shots behind leader Thomas Pieters.

Joint overnight leader Nacho Elvira lies one shot away from Pieters, with Spaniard Elvira sharing tied second with rank outsider Indonesian Danny Masrin.

But it was Els who got the crowd’s

attention at the Saujana Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur with a consistent display under sweltering conditions to sit tied fourth at six-under par 138.

Els, a four-time Major winner, was happy with his position despite the testy conditions.

“It is quite difficult because the winds are swirling a bit. But I happy with my game. Hopefully it’s not too far away tomorrow,” he told reporters.

“Even if you are three or four shots

by Sunday, you have a chance so I am looking forward,” Els added.

Pieters, who started the day in sixth, finished with a three-under par 69 for the slim advantage courtesy of four birdies. Despite the lead, big-hitting Pieters said it was not his best day.

“I struggled off the tee early on, at the end it was a lot better. It didn’t feel like a good day to me, I made the best of what I had,” he said.

Indonesian underdog Masrin, ranked 1,000 on the world rankings, refused to get carried away despite

finishing the day with a 68. “I don’t want to think too much about the scale of the event. I was able to stay focused and my game plan and I did that well.”

American David Lipsky also put himself in the running by ending on tied fourth alongside compatriot Paul Peterson.

Malaysian favourite Gavin Green did well to make the cut after he fin-ished tied-55.

The US$3m event is co-sanctioned by the Asian and European tours.

136 - Thomas Pieters (BEL) 67-69 137 - Nacho Elvira (ESP) 65-72, Danny Masrin (INA)

69-68 138 - David Lipsky (USA) 72-66, Dean Burmester (RSA) 68-70, Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 66-72, Ernie Els (RSA) 68-70, Paul Peterson (USA) 70-68, Lucas Herbert (AUS) 69-69, Maximilian Kieffer (GER)71-67

139 - Shubhankar Sharma (IND) 71-68, Scott Hend(AUS) 69-70, Prom Meesawat (THA) 68-71, Zach Mur-ray (AUS) 68-71, Masahiro Kawamura (JPN) 69-70

MAYBANK CHAMPIONSHIP SCORES

F1: Mick Schumacher happy to be compared to his fatherREUTERS BERLIN

Mick Schumacher (pic-tured, above) says he has no problem with people comparing him to father Michael as he prepares for a Formula Two debut in Bahrain next week.

The 19-year-old German is already part of the seven-times world champion’s old Formula One team Ferrari, having joined their driver academy in January.

One rung below Formula One, he won the European F3 title last year.

“Being compared to my father was never a problem for me. It is pretty simple,” he said in a video released by his Prema team, who won the 2017 F2 title with current Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

“Being compared to the best driver in F1 history is the goal you want to achieve and to have that as my idol and my father is something very special,” he added.

“I feel honoured to be compared to him because I can just learn and try to improve.”

Michael Schumacher, now 50, has not been seen in public since he suffered a serious head injury in a skiing accident in France in 2013.

The German won five of his titles with Ferrari, the sport’s most glamorous team, between 2000 and 2004 and still holds the record of 91 race wins.

“I can learn so much from Ferrari because they have so much experience,” said Mick.

Being compared to the best driver in F1 history is the goal you want to achieve and to have that as my idol and my father is something very special: Mick Schumacher

I hope Man City get over the line before Liverpool. I couldn’t bear to see them win it, it would be a nightmare for any Evertonian: Wayne Rooney

Belgium and Croatia battle to wins as 2020 qualifying startsAP LONDON

The stars of last year’s World Cup had to dig deep as European Championship qualifying began on Thursday.

World Cup finalist Croatia nearly dropped points against Azerbaijan, only to be saved by a fine curling shot from Andrej Kramaric for a 2-1 win. Belgium needed two goals from Eden Hazard to defeat Russia 3-1 after a costly Thibaut Courtois error allowed the Russians back into the game.

The Netherlands failed to qualify for the last two major tournaments but showed no sign of nerves in a 4-0 win against Belarus. Memphis Depay gave the Dutch an early lead and fin-ished with two goals and two assists.

Even with Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne missing through injury, Belgium took a big step toward qualifying by beating Russia, its main rival in Group I.

Youri Tielemans’ early goal for Belgium was cancelled out when a Courtois gave away the ball in a rare blunder which allowed Russia’s Denis Cheryshev to score.

A new-look Russia team struggled to track Hazard and when defender Yuri Zhirkov tried, he ended up tripping the Belgian and giving away a

penalty which Hazard converted. Belgium could have scored more but for Michy Batshuayi hitting the post and having another shot cleared off the line.

Far away in Central Asia, perennial outsider Kazakhstan celebrated a rare win over an established football nation, beating Scotland 3-0.

Cyprus routed San Marino 5-0 in the third Group I fixture.

Ever since losing to France in the World Cup final, Croatia has struggled to replicate the form of its greatest ever tour-nament showing.

Relegation in the Nations League last year was followed on Thursday by a come-from-behind win over lowly Azerbaijan in Group E.

Azerbaijan - by far the lowest-ranked of all next year’s 12 European Championship hosts - took the lead with a fine solo goal. Ramil Sheydaev sprinted down the right flank in the 19th before striking the ball over the goalkeeper.

Azerbaijan then sat back to defend, frustrating Croatia, who came close with headers from Andrej Kramaric and Luka Modric.

Croatia finally leveled in the 44th thanks to Borna Barisic’s quick reactions to jab the ball in on a rebound.

A moment of skill from Kra-maric finally cracked the tena-cious Azerbaijan defense as he cut in from the left flank and curled the ball in at the far post.

“It was difficult, more than we expected,” coach Zlatko Dalic said.

“We were patient, persistent and deserved this win.”

There was violence ahead of the other Group E game as vis-iting Hungarian fans clashed with Slovakian supporters and police. Slovakia beat Hungary 2-0.

Memphis Depay needed just 50 seconds to score as the Neth-erlands continued its fine form from the Nations League with a straightforward win over Belarus in Group C.

The Dutch failed to qualify for the 2016 European Champi-onship and 2018 World Cup, but are now unbeaten in five games including Nations League wins over the last two World Cup champions, Germany and France.

Depay backheeled a pass from Denzel Dumfries for Georginio Wijnaldum to score in the 21st, then converted a penalty in the 55th. His cross for Virgil van Dijk to make it 4-0 in the final minutes capped a dominant display.

The defender has now scored three goals in his last four games for the Netherlands.

Northern Ireland ended a four-game winless run by beating Estonia 2-0 in the other Group C game. That helps its chances of reaching the European Championship for the second time ever, following a run to the last 16 in 2016.

After a poor 2018 for Poland, its first game of 2019 offered fresh hope in a tight 1-0 win over Austria in Group G.

Poland arrived at last year’s World Cup fresh off a dominant qualifying campaign, but went on to finish bottom of both its World Cup and Nations League groups.

Krzysztof Piatek scored the winner in the 69th minute as Austria failed to clear the ball from its penalty area. That ended a six-game winless streak for Poland, including friendlies.

Also in Group G, Israel drew 1-1 with Slovenia and North Mac-edonia beat Latvia 3-1.

There are a few key differ-ences to European Champi-onship qualifying this time. The top two teams in each group qualify automatically, but third place no longer means a shot at qualifying through the play-offs.

That safety net is now for the 16 teams who performed best in their Nations League tiers last year but who don’t end up with automatic spots.

That means Scotland is assured of a second chance to qualify in March 2020 even though a top-two finish now seems unlikely following its sur-prise opening-day loss to Kazakhstan.

Group C In Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Netherlands 4 (Depay 1, 55, Wijnaldum 21, Van Dijk 86) Belarus 0

In Belfast

Northern Ireland 2 (McGinn 56, Davis 75-pen) Estonia 0

Group E In Zagreb

Croatia 2 (Barisic 44, Kramaric 79) Azerbaijan 1 (Sheydaev 19)

In Trnava, Slovakia

Slovakia 2 (Duda 42, Rusnak 85) Hungary 0

Group G In Vienna

Austria 0 Poland 1 (Piatek 69)

In Skopje

North Macedonia 3 (Alioski 11, Elmas 29, 90+3) Latvia 1 (Isajevs 87)

Group I In Nicosia

Cyprus 5 (Sotiriou 19-pen, 23-pen, Kousoulos 26, Efrem 31, Laifis 56)

San Marino 0

In Nursultan

Kazakhstan 3 (Pertsukh 6, Vorogovskiy 10, Zainutdinov 51) Scotland 0

In Brussels

Belgium 3 (Tielemans 14, Hazard 45-pen, 88) Russia 1 (Cheryshev 16)

EURO 2020 QUALIFYING RESULTS

NEW YORK REUTERS

Former Manchester United and Everton forward WayneR o o n e y( p i c t u r e d )has said he cannot b e a r t h e

thought that old foes Liverpool might win the Premier

League title this season.Rooney, who began

his career with Liver-pool’s Merseyside rivals Everton before moving

to Manchester U n i t e d ,

said he

Belgium’s forward Eden Hazard (rear centre) scores a penalty kick past Russia’s goalkeeper Guilherme during their Euro 2020 qualifying match at the Roi Baudouin Stadium, in Brussels on Thursday.

IANS NEW DELHI

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is back and the 12th edition of the cash-rich league couldn’t have hoped for a better start as defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are all set to take on the star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the opening game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai today.

Cricket might be a team game, but today, it will be all about CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni versus Virat Kohli, captain of the RCB.

He might be the former skipper of the Indian team, but for his legion of fans, Dhoni is no less than god. Add to that the home factor, and there are no points for guessing that Chennai will be all yellow on the night of the opening game.

Kohli, on the other hand, might be a demi-god himself for his fans, but when it comes to fighting it out against Dhoni, he might just come out second best.

For the record, RCB have lost six of the seven games they have played so far at the Chidambaram Stadium and the numbers are again pitted heavily in favour of CSK. Overall, in 22 meetings between

CSK and RCB, the Bengaluru outfit have managed only seven victories.

In fact, the last time these two teams met -- in Pune last season -- Chennai were all over Bengaluru and it was a cakewalk for Dhoni’s boys. But a lot has changed since then and the senior most team in the IPL -- CSK -- have grown a year older.

The positive for RCB is the fact that AB de Villiers is fit and

raring to go after resting his back during the last stretch of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). They also have a young power hitter in Shimron Hetmyer of the West Indies to add to the arsenal. But CSK have the experience to tackle the swashbuckling batsmen in the RCB ranks.

If Harbhajan Singh was the stand-out bowler for CSK last season, Deepak Chahar too showed great maturity to earn

an India cap on the basis of his IPL performance. Not to forget the tactical acumen of part-time spinner Suresh Raina and Kedar Jadhav.

In the batting department too, if RCB have a run-machine in Kohli, Dhoni too is coming on the back of an outstanding pre-vious season when he showed why he is still one of the best in the business.

In fact, Dhoni has scored 710

runs against the RCB, the most by any batsman against the franchise.

The IPL might not have an opening ceremony this time around as the fund budgeted for the same is being handed over to the families of the Pulwama martyrs, but one couldn’t have asked for a more blockbuster start to the 12th edition of one of the most followed domestic T20 leagues in the world.

19SATURDAY 23 MARCH 2019 SPORT

This August 30, 2018 file photo shows a freeze

frame from the fourth Test

between England and India at

the Ageas Bowl in West End,

Britain.

ICC gives green light to nameand jersey number in TestsIANS NEW DELHI

In a bid to further popularise Test cricket the International Cricket Council (ICC) has allowed players to have their names and numbers on the back of their shirts starting with the World Test Champi-onship from August 1.

The Ashes series between England and Australia will be the first instance when the players will sport these jerseys.

“They will come into force on August 1 as part of the World Test Championship,” ICC General

Manager Claire Furlong said.The ICC in recent times has

already taken major strides in the direction to highlight Test format -- the introduction of the World Test Championship was in this line.

The championship will start from July 15 and go on till April 30, 2021, with the final being played in June 2021.

With an aim to attract more fans to the game, the ICC has approved the idea of having players’ names and numbers on their shirts even in the longest format of the gentleman’s game.

The World Test Championship,

whose calender was released in June 2018, is being seen as a tool to make bilateral ties more contextual.

The move to introduce jerseys with the name of players and their numbers will only make it more exciting for the fans who seem to be more interested to follow the shorter formats of the game.

Commenting on the fixtures of the Test championship, ICC CEO David Richardson had said: “The agreement of this FTP (Future Tours Programme) means we have clarity, certainty and most importantly context around

bilateral cricket over the next five years.

“The World Test Champi-onship will get underway next year with the ODI league kicking off in 2020 as part of the quali-fication towards the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.

“Bringing context to bilateral cricket is not a new challenge, but with the release of this FTP, our members have found a genuine solution that gives fans around the world the chance to engage reg-ularly with international cricket that has meaning and the possi-bility of a global title at the end.”

Kenyans lament Diamond League scrapping 5,000mAFP NAIROBI

Kenya’s Commonwealth and world junior 5,000m champion Edward Zakayo expressed concern yesterday over the future of distance runners following the axing of the event from the Diamond League.

Last week the International Association of Athletics Feder-ation (IAAF) announced the over-hauling of its lucrative track and field series by dropping the 5,000m, reducing the number of events from 32 to 24 and leaving the 3,000m as the longest race in the Diamond League programme.

“I took great offence with the announcement to remove all the distance races from the Diamond League, since the decision means most of the distance athletes like me will not get the chance to make a smooth progress from one event to another,” said the

talented 17-year-old high school student Zakayo, who is also the reigning African 5,000m champion.

“Since the Diamond League is not offering the 10,000m, and both events having been dropped from the World U-20 athletics championships, we have no alternative but to drop to the road races and the marathon, which will very hard for the younger runners like me.”

Both Kenya and Ethiopia have criticised the decision as “illegitimate” and even accused it of being made to “target African nations” which have dominated the distance events.

Olympic and world mar-athon record holder Eliud Kip-choge has also voiced his disap-proval, saying the 5,000m had been crucial to his career, and helped him to be runner that he is.

“I believe in long term careers where track and field can

result into a great marathon career,” said Kipchoge, who stormed the 5,000m field when he defeated Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele and Moroccan great Hicham El Guerrouj to win the

world championships title in Paris in 2003.

Described as the greatest marathon runner of the modern era, Kipchoge set a new a world record time of 2:01:39 at the 2018

Berlin Marathon, and breaking the previous record by 1 minute and 18 seconds.

While the 5,000m will no longer be an official event on the Diamond League programme,

individual meetings will still, however, have the opportunity to stage a 5,000m race outside of the 90-minute international broadcast window.

“The decision to reduce the Diamond League international broadcast window from 120 minutes to 90 minutes came after consultation with both current and prospective Diamond League broadcasters, the majority of whom requested a faster, sharper and slightly more concentrated product,” said IAAF CEO Jon Ridgeon.

“In addition to the 90-minute international window, please be aware that the Diamond League meetings will also offer a further 30 minutes of additional cov-erage to their own domestic broadcaster, which will include extra events. If deemed to be of sufficient quality, this additional coverage will also be offered to t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l broadcasters.”

Kohli vs Dhoni as RCB meet CSK in IPL opener

Chennai Super kings batsmen take part in a practice session ahead of their opening match of the IPL against Royal Challengers Bangalore, which will be played at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai today.

Athletes compete in the men’s 5,000m event during the IAAF Athletics Diamond League meeting at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich, Switzerland in this file photo.

Choi fires 65 in return to LPGA tourAFP PHOENIX

For Choi Na-yeon a boozy round of practise golf may not be what the doctor recom-mended, but it served its purpose at the time given the pressures involved in returning from a back injury.

“I tried to drink some beer and get a little tipsy and playing golf,” Choi said of an early round in her slow and steady comeback from the injury. “Because we always play golf in serious mode. I just like to play with more fun.”

That’s something the 31-year-old South Korean would never have thought of when she stopped playing on the LPGA Tour in April 2018 because of nagging back problems.

“I just kept playing golf and my swing got worse and worse and hitting my ball going left and right,” said Choi, who fired an opening round 65 in her first round in 11 months on Thursday at the LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup.

“My mentally was like totally broken, so I just needed my body get ready first.”

After she stopped, the first part of her recovery was to take a two week vacation to Europe, forget about golf for a while and get a fresh per-spective on life.

“I didn’t think about golf,” Choi said. “I didn’t set the alarm every day. I just wake up whenever I wanted and I just ate whatever I want.

“It was a different life. I was kind of a robot when I was growing up and then playing golf well in LPGA Tour. I was living in the box. I couldn’t do anything besides golf. Only golf, only golf. Like 100 percent focused on golf.”

The 2012 US Women’s Open champ is one shot behind leader Celine Boutier of France -- which is a big surprise con-sidering her lack of tour-nament action over the past year.

“Golf is really funny game. I didn’t expect any good scores today because this is first day,” said Choi.

Boutier finished her round of 64 with a four-foot birdie putt on the par-four ninth hole. She captured the Vic Open last month in Australia for her first LPGA Tour title.

Alana Uriell, Charlotte Thomas, Ko Jin-young and Nanna Koerstz Madsen joined Choi at 65.

Top-ranked Park Sung-hyun, Jenny Shin, Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum and Cheyenne Knight shot 66.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli (left) and Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.