THE PENINSULA MUSCAT

Influential Qatari defender Abdulkarim Hassan (pictured) will be eyeing the biggest honour to come his way at the AFC Annual Awards Muscat 2018 today.

The Al Sadd star was one of three nominees announced by the Asian Football Confeder-ation (AFC) last week along with Kashima Antlers’ Yuma Suzuki and Kento Misao.

The Japanese stars played key roles for J League side’s first-ever AFC Champions League title triumph earlier this month.

“It is a great honour for me and my club to be part of the three nominees at the AFC Awards,” Hassan said last week. “I want to thank my coaches and my team-mates for sticking with me over the years,” the 25-year-old added.

The stage is set for a dazzling night of celebration today at the Oman Convention and Exhi-bition Centre.

AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said in a statement posted on the www.the-afc.com website: “The AFC brings the stars of Asian football together for a cele-bration of their outstanding per-formances in a season which again has promoted the ever-improving standards of our game across this great continent.”

“Everyone who has been nominated for an award – whether it be a Member Associ-ation, a coach or a player – pro-vides inspiration for the next generation in their field and leaves a legacy of excellence and achievement.

“And there is no better time to mark another successful year in Asia than now as we are just a few weeks away from the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 – which will be the biggest and best Asian Cup ever held.

“Asian football, thanks to our continued unity and strength, again has shown the world that our standards are rising.

“The AFC Champions League

final between eventual winners Kashima Antlers and finalist Persepolis once again captivated the world as a record 100,000 fans showcased the undeniable passion for football in Asia. Those exploits and the stars of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in Jordan feature on our list of nominees.

“I thank them all and offer my congratulations to our 2018

winners and those who were shortlisted. We should all applaud their achievements,” the AFC President said.

“Finally, I must extend my heartfelt appreciation to our won-derful hosts – the Oman Football Association - for the spirit of generosity, unrivalled hos-pitality and working dil-igently towards

staging a spectacular cer-emony – one truly befitting of

another remarkable year of progress for Asian football.”

The ceremony will be attended by FIFA Pres-ident Gianni Infantino, QFA chief S h e i k h Salman b i n Ibrahim A l

Khalifa and Sheikh Saad bin Mohammed bin Said Al Mardhouf Al Saadi, Minister of Sports Affairs of Oman, it has been confirmed.

Football officials from 46 member countries of AFC along with digni-taries from Oman will also be attending. QFA officials will also attend the a w a r d s ceremony.

SPORTWednesday 28 November 2018

PAGE | 07 PAGE | 10‘Big 3’ finish the year on

top of the ATP rankings

Yasir’s 14-wicket haul sinks NZ as Pakistanlevel series

Al Sadd star Hassan eyes Asian glory

THE NOMINEES:

MENKento Misao

(Kashima Antlers and Japan)

Yuma Suzuki (Kashima Antlers and

Japan)Abdelkarim Hassan (Al Sadd and Qatar)

WOMENSamantha Kerr

(Australia)Wang Shuang (China)Saki Kumagai (Japan)

HASSAN’S KEY STATS:

Abdulkarim Hassan played 36 games this year

Spent a total of 3968 minutes on the pitch

Was part of 23 wins and 7 losses with 6 draws

Scored 4 goals and managed 9 goal-scoring assists

Helped Al Sadd reach the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League

THE AWARD CATEGORIES:Diamond of Asia AwardMember Association of the Year (Aspiring, Developing and Inspiring)President Recognition Awards for Grassroots Football (Aspiring, Developing and Inspiring)AFC Coach of the Year (Women)AFC Coach of the Year (Men)AFC Futsal Player of the YearAFC President’s Special Recognition AwardAFC Player of the Year (Men)AFC Player of the Year (Women)

The following award categories will be announced at the gala event in Muscat:AFC Referees Special Award 2018AFC Youth Player of the Year (Women)AFC Youth Player of the Year (Men)AFC Asian International Player of the Year

The last Qatari player to win the award was striker Khalfan Ibrahim who bagged the prestigious Asian trophy in 2002.

Abdulkarim Hassan, an integral part of Qatar football plans, has been seen in top form and fitness in the last few years.

He has rarely missed a Qatar international home or away.

The 25-year-old, who plays for QNB Stars League giants Al Sadd, was the captain of the national side that finished fourth in the AFC U-23 Championship held in Qatar.

Hassan is expected to play a key role in Qatar’s 2019 Asian Cup campaign to be held in the UAE.

Muscat gets ready for AFC Annual Awards 2018

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Awards 2018

Real, Roma through to last 16 as CSKA loseREUTERS MOSCOW

Holders Real Madrid and AS Roma reached the Champions League knockout stages before kicking a ball yesterday after CSKA Moscow lost 2-1 after suffering a late collapse at home to Viktoria Plzen in Group G.

CSKA had to win to have any chance of reeling in the top two who met later yesterday in Rome, and took the lead after 10 minutes with a Nikola Vasic penalty after Lukas Hedja had tripped Georgi Shchennikov.

The Russian defender then con-ceded a penalty at the other end just before halftime for a foul on Radim Reznik. However, Russia’s World Cup goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev dived to his right to save Roman Proc-hazka’s weak effort.

Prochazka made up for that miss by beating Akinfeev with a miscued finish into the top right corner 10 minutes after the break before Hedja got redemption of his own by heading in a cross from Patrik Hrosovsky to complete Plzen’s comeback.

CSKA’s first defeat by Czech opposition at home meant that Plzen join them on four points in the group, intensifying the battle for third place and a Europa League spot.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUEYESTERDAY’S RESULTS

Viktoria Plzen 2 - 1 CSKA Moskva Ajax 2 - 0 AEK Athens

TODAY'S MATCHES

Atlético Madrid vs Monaco (8.55pm) Lokomotiv Moskva vs Galatasaray (8.55pm)

Borussia Dortmund vs Club Brugge (11.00pm)

PSV vs Barcelona (11.00pm) ) Tottenham Hotspur vs Internazionale

(11.00pm) PSG vs Liverpool (11.00pm)

Napoli vs Crvena Zvezda (11.00pm) Porto vs Schalke 04 (11.00pm) )

Ajax’s Dusan Tadic celebrates after scoring their first goal against AEK Athens during their UEFA Champions League Group E match played at the OAKA Spiros Louis in Athens, Greece yesterday.

Ajax qualify for knockouts REUTERS ATHENS

Ajax Amsterdam reached the Champions League knockout stages for the first time since 2006 after a Dusan Tadic brace gave the Dutch side a 2-0 win over 10-man AEK Athens in Greece on Tuesday.

The result left former European Cup winners Ajax top of Group E on 11 points from five games, one ahead of Bayern Munich who are at home to third-placed Benfica (four points) in the 2000 GMT kickoff. Tadic fired Ajax ahead with a 68th-minute penalty and sealed the win four minutes later after the visitors, who have won four titles in Europe’s premier club competition, dominated their subdued rivals. Although they enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession, Ajax failed to create any chances before midfielder Donny van de Beek hit the post in the 63d minute after tadic’s clever cut-back from the left.

English referee Michael Oliver awarded Ajax a penalty after Livaja handled a free kick and sent off the Croatian with a second yellow card for the offence before Tadic calmly converted the spot kick. With AEK reeling, the visitors delivered the killer blow as substitute Klaas Jan Huntelaar squared the ball to Tadic and the Serbia forward made no mistake from eight metres after home keeper Vasilios Barkas was caught out of position.

08 WEDNESDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2018SPORT

Wizards shoot down RocketsAFP LOS ANGELES

John Wall scored six of his 36 points in overtime as the Wash-ington Wizards outlasted the Houston Rockets 135-131 in overtime on Monday despite James Harden’s season-high 54 points.

Bradley Beal equaled his season-best with 32 points and Markieff Morris finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Wall had two baskets in overtime and dished out 11 assists.

Harden scored 12 points in the first quarter, 11 in the second and 21 points in the third quarter. His career high is 60 points.

He started the fourth quarter on the bench then added six more as the teams remained deadlocked 125-125 at the end of regulation.

Harden missed five of his seven shots in the fourth. In overtime, Harden was one of two from the field and had two free throws. He had 11 turnovers, including three in overtime.

“It’s not even about myself,” Harden said.

“It’s about our entire team. We had a really good start to the game and kind of let our guard down.”

Harden played a season-high 47 minutes and Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said he knows he is asking a lot of his superstar.

“We’re asking you know what? Play (47) minutes, make every play,” D’Antoni said. “There are going to be periods where he’s just gassed.” Wall said Beal enjoys the challenge of facing Harden.

“It’s what you dream of,” Wall said. “It’s what you live for, to be on the big stage, a big moment, going against a guy like that.”

Eric Gordon scored a season-high 36 for the short-handed Rockets, who played without Chris Paul for the second straight game.

Washington’s Otto Porter opened the scoring in overtime with 4:47 to play and the Wizards maintained the lead the rest of the way.

Elsewhere, Kevin Durant continued his hot streak, scoring a season-high 49 points Monday as the two-time defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors beat the Orlando Magic 116-110.

Durant’s explosive evening

came just two nights after he torched the Sacramento Kings for 44 in a 117-116 Warrior victory.

“You not born with anything, you have to craft your skill and your game,” said Durant. “I feel like I am relaxed in those moments and it is all about getting the best shot I can get.

“If I focus on getting the best shot from the start of the game to the end of the game then I feel comfortable in the fourth quarter when my team needs me.

“Tonight one of my favorite shots came to me at the end I was able to knock it down.” On

Monday, Durant gave the War-riors the lead on a three-point play with 79 seconds remaining before nailing another from beyond the arc with 22 seconds to go. Golden State’s deep talent pool was on display as they were without stars Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.

Durant got help from his supporting cast. Klay Thompson finished with 29 points, including six three pointers and 19 points in the fourth quarter.

The past three games, Durant has scored 125 points and Thompson 91. They were the only two Warriors in double

figures on Monday. Durant became the seventh player in franchise history to post consec-utive 40-point games, joining Curry, Thompson, Rick Barry, Wilt Chamberlain, Antawn Jamison and Purvis Short.

Nikola Vucevic had 30 points, 12 rebounds and six assists for the Magic, who are coming off a victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Warriors now embark on a five-game road trip that begins Thursday against the league-leading Toronto Raptors in which they hope to have Curry back in the lineup.

Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) shoots the ball as Houston Rockets centre Clint Capela defends in the third quarter of their NBA game at Capital One Arena on Monday.

Marner, Andersen shine in Maple Leafs victoryAP NEW YORK

Josh Leivo scored on a power play late in the second period to break a tie, Frederik Andersen stopped 38 shots and the Toronto Maple Leafs topped the visiting Boston Bruins 4-2 on Monday night.

Travis Dermott, Igor Ozh-iganov and Zach Hyman also scored goals for the Maple Leafs, and Mitch Marner added three assists. David Pastrnak scored twice for Boston, with Torey Krug and Brad Marchand each notching two assists. Jaroslav Halak saved 27 shots for the Bruins.

Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller was hit in the throat area by a first-period shot from Toronto’s John Tavares, and he was taken to a local hospital.

“Looks like X-rays are neg-ative, got it in the throat. They’re going to keep him overnight for observation, make sure his breathing stays normal. Hopefully he’s able to fly back tomorrow, that’s the plan,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy told the media.

“I don’t know if there’s a timeline, if he’s back in Thursday, if it’s that simple. But right now he’s out of any danger from what we’ve heard.”

Capitals 4, Islanders 1 Tom Wilson scored two goals

and added an assist to lead visiting Washington over New York, com-pleting a reunion-filled evening.

The Capitals earned their sixth straight win hours after Islanders head coach Barry Trotz, who left for New York after coaching Wash-ington to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup last season, received his championship ring prior to the first game of the season between the Metropolitan Division rivals.

Trotz gave an emotional speech to his former players inside the visiting locker room at Barclays Center. Former Capitals assistant coaches Lane Lambert and Mitch Korn, who accompanied Trotz to New York, also were presented with their rings Monday afternoon.

Rangers 4, Senators 2 Lias Andersson and Chris

Kreider scored less than five minutes apart early in the third

period to extend New York’s success on home ice with a win over Ottawa. Andersson snapped a 1-1 tie 3:26 into the third by tipping a wrist shot from Ryan Strome into the net for his second career goal. His goal was upheld after Ottawa challenged it, con-tending Andersson committed goaltender interference.

Marc Staal and Mika Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers, who improved to 8-1-0 in their past nine home games and 10-4-0 overall on home ice. Staal’s goal was his first in 95 games since Oct. 7, 2017.

Blue Jackets 7, Red Wings 5 Pierre-Luc Dubois scored two

goals and added an assist as Columbus held off host Detroit.

Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists, while Josh Anderson, Markus Nutivaara, Boone Jenner and Seth Jones also scored for the Blue Jackets. Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves.

Anthony Mantha had two goals and an assist for Detroit, which has lost three straight. Gustav Nyquist, Dennis Cholowski and Mike Green had the other Wings goals.

Panthers 4, Devils 3 Jonathan Huberdeau scored

the tying goal with 1:29 left in the third period, and Mike Hoffman scored 88 seconds into overtime to lead Florida past New Jersey in Sunrise, Fla. Huberdeau also had two assists on the night, including on the game-winner. His goal was his fifth of the season and 100th of his career. Hoffman’s goal was his team-high 12th of the season.

Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov had one goal -- his eighth of the season -- and one assist. Teammate Evgenii Dadonov had two assists. Florida also got a goal from third-line center Jared McCann. McCann just has four goals this season but has tallied in two straight and in three of his past five contests.

Washington Capitals defenceman Dmitry Orlov (9) gets called for a penalty on New York Islanders centre Valtteri Filppula (51) during the second period of their NHL game at Barclays Center.

Japan’s national rugby team head coach and the super rugby Japan team Sunwolves’ general manager Jamie Joseph (left), head coach Tony Brown (centre), and Sunwolves CEO Yuji Watase pose during a press conference to announce 2019 season team players at a hotel in Tokyo yesterday.

Robertson eyes All Blacks job after Schmidt exits raceREUTERS WELLINGTON

Canterbury Crusaders coach Scott Robertson will wait for New Zealand counterpart Steve Hansen to make a decision on his future before taking a “good look” at the All Blacks role.

Hansen, who guided New Zealand to a World Cup triumph in 2015 and is con-tracted until the end of next year’s tournament in Japan, is expected to announce his long-term plans in the coming weeks.

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt was widely touted as a potential successor to Hansen but the New Zealander announced on Monday that

he would quit coaching after the Japan World Cup to focus on his family.

Robertson, who guided the Crusaders to back-to-back Super Rugby titles in the last two years, is out of contract at the end of 2019 and seen as a strong candidate to replace Hansen, along with Wales coach Warren Gatland and All Blacks assistant Ian Foster.

“The All Blacks job doesn’t come up too often. When it does, you have to have a real good look at it,” Robertson, who has coached New Zea-land’s under-20 side, told local media on Tuesday.

“The decision from Steve (Hansen) will play a really big part of it.

“The biggest thing for me,

that’s served me well, is the patience side of it, and the ability to get your timing right.

“I’ve got a great job at the moment and I’ve got a big decision in the next three or four months -- what’s going to happen in 2020, and I’ll just see where the cards fall with other coaches and just see what opportunities there are.” Schmidt has transformed second-ranked Ireland into genuine World Cup con-tenders and a team without fear of the All Blacks, who they beat 16-9 in Dublin earlier this month.

However, former All Blacks loose forward Rob-ertson sympathised with Schmidt’s decision to bow out after Japan.

Braves sign Donaldson to 1-year dealREUTERS MIAMI

The Atlanta Braves on Monday night announced the signing of third baseman Josh Donaldson to a one-year, $23m contract.

A three-time All-Star and the 2015 American League MVP, Donaldson missed 110 regular-season games in 2018 because of a calf injury and hit.246 with eight home runs and 23 RBIs. Injuries have cost Donaldson 159 regular-season games the last two seasons.

Donaldson, who turns 33 on Dec. 8, finished the 2018 season with the Cleveland Indians, who acquired him from the Toronto Blue Jays despite the calf injury. He is a career.275 hitter with 182 home runs since breaking into the league with the Oakland Athletics in 2010.

He joins what should be one of baseball’s best infields, along with Freddie Freeman at first, Ozzie Albies at second and Dansby Swanson at short.

The Braves, who went 90-72 last season to win the NL East, also announced they are bringing catcher Brian McCann back on a one-year, $2m contract.

The 34-year-old McCann was a seven-time All-Star for the Braves between 2005 and 2013.

The Minnesota Twins claimed first baseman/desig-nated hitter C.J. Cron off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays.

09WEDNESDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2018 SPORT

Pakistan’s Yasir Shah celebrates his bowling figures against New Zealand.

Yasir’s 14-wicket haul sinks NZ as Pakistan level series

AFP DUBAI

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah fol-lowed his extraordinary first

innings performance with a six wicket haul as Pakistan

beat New Zealand by an innings and 16 runs in the second Test in

Dubai yesterday to level the series 1-1.

The 32-year-old, who took 8 - 4 1 o n Monday, had figures of 6-143

in the second innings for a

match haul of 14-184.

N e w Zealand -- following-on after being dis-m i s s e d for 90 in the first innings --

were

bowled out for 312 soon after tea on the fourth day.

“I came to know yesterday (about Imran Khan’s record) so it’s an honour that my name will come with him,” said Yasir.

“I haven’t bowled as well as this, especially with the pitch offering turn and bounce like it did. We wanted to put the disappointment of the first Test behind us and set up the series.”

Yasir’s figures are the second best match return ever for Pakistan in Test cricket, bet-tered only by former captain and current Prime Minister Imran Khan who took 14-116 against Sri Lanka in Lahore in 1982.

They are also the best by a Pakistani bowler against New Zealand, beating Waqar Younis’s 12-130 in Faisalabad in 1990.

Medium-pacer Hasan Ali was also at his best, taking 3-46 as Pakistan gained a measure of revenge for losing the first Test by four runs in Abu Dhabi last week.

Resuming on 131-2 and needing a further 197 to make Pakistan bat again, the New Zealand batsmen, led by Ross Taylor (82), Henry Nicholls (77) and Tom Latham (50), dug in to make things tough for the Pakistani bowlers.

Taylor smashed Hasan’s first ball of the day to the cover

boundary to reach his 29th half century in Tests, a welcome return to form having scored just 21 runs in the three innings of this series.

Latham completed his 15th Test fifty but was dismissed the following ball, a little edge behind off Hasan, television umpire Ian Gould confirming that Sarfraz Ahmed had taken the catch cleanly.

Harry Nicholls came to the crease and set about frus-trating the Pakistan bowlers, adding 52 with Taylor for the fourth wicket and 57 with BJ Watling for the fifth.

Taylor tried to take the attack to the bowlers, hitting seven boundaries and a six in his 82 but grew impatient after being tied down. An attempted sweep off Bilal Asif ended in a top edge that looped to deep backward square leg where Yasir took a comfortable catch.

Yasir trapped Watling leg before for 27 to end another frustrating the stand and get into the Kiwi tail. De Grand-homme made just 14 and Sodhi was bowled behind his legs for four, unwisely trying to sweep Yasir from well outside off-stump.

Nicholls stood firm amid the wreckage, striking Bilal Asif for a straight six, before Yasir nipped one between bat and pad to bowl him for 77.

It was a brave stand from Nicholls but as skipper Kane Williamson later admitted, the damage had been done in the first innings when New Zealand lost all 10 wickets for just 40 runs in 14 overs.

The end came swiftly as Yasir picked up the last two wickets in the space of four balls, Neil Wagner caught at midwicket -- another man trying to sweep -- and Trent Boult feathering an outside edge to Sarfraz behind the stumps.

The third and final Test starts in Abu Dhabi from Monday.

PAKISTAN, Ist innings 418-5NEW ZEALAND, Ist innings 90NEW ZEALAND, second inningsJ. Raval st Sarfraz b Yasir ....................................... 2T. Latham c Sarfraz b Hasan ................................50K. Williamson c Sarfraz b Yasir ...........................30R. Taylor c Yasir b Asif ..........................................82H. Nicholls b Hasan ............................................... 77BJ Watling lbw b Yasir ......................................... 27C. de Grandhomme b Hasan ............................... 14I. Sodhi b Yasir ........................................................4N. Wagner c Hasan b Yasir .................................. 10Ajaz Patel not out ................................................... 5T. Boult c Sarfraz b Yasir ........................................0Extras: (b 9, lb 2) ..................................................11Total: (all out; 112.5 overs) ........................ 312Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-66 3-146, 4-198, 5-255, 6-270, 7-285, 8-301, 9-311Bowling: Abbas 15-7-29-0, Hasan 19-7-46-3,

Yasir 44.5-9-143-6, Hafeez 3-1-6-0, Asif 27-5-

61-1, Sohail 4-0-16-0

Result: Pakistan won by an innings and 16 runs

SCOREBOARD

Angry Mithali opens fire over snub from World T20 semi-finalAFP NEW DELHI

Indian cricket heroine Mithali Raj (pictured) has furiously accused cricket leaders of bias for dropping her for last Friday’s World Twenty20 semi-final, which India lost to England.

Raj, the highest run scorer in the women’s international game and still India’s one-day captain, wrote a furious letter of complaint and met Board of Control for Indian Cricket (BCCI) leaders on Monday to vent her anger.

“For the first time in a 20 year long career, I felt deflated, depressed and let down,” said the 35-year-old in the letter.

Raj questioned whether “my services to my country are of any value to a few people in power who are out to destroy me and break my confidence.”

Raj singled out BCCI committee of administrators member Diana Edulji and national coach Remash Powar for dropping her from the team beaten by eight wickets by England.

“The brazen support of a COA member is a clear sign of bias and also that a stance has already been taken against me,” said Raj, who has played 197 one day inter-nationals, 85 T20 matches and 10 Tests for India since making her 50-over debut in 1999 against Ireland.

Raj hit two straight half-centuries at the World T20 in the West Indies before missing India’s last league game against Australia with a knee injury.

She was declared fit on the eve of the England semi-final but the selectors stuck with the team that beat Aus-tralia. T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur said selectors had stuck to a “winning combination”.

“I would also like to point out that I have nothing against the T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur except for the fact that her call to support the decision of the coach to leave me out of the eleven was baffling and hurtful,” Raj wrote.

“I wanted to win the World Cup for my country and it hurts me because we lost a golden opportunity.”

England lost to Australia in the tournament final. “Never did I think she (Edulji) will use her position

against me, more after hearing what all I had to go through in the Caribbean as I had spoken to her about it.”

The BCCI did not immediately comment on Raj’s tirade.

Big appeal: India’s Kohli pulls in the ad dollars despite verbal slipsREUTERS NEW DELHI

Being the highest profile athlete in the world’s second most pop-ulous country, India cricket captain Virat Kohli (pictured) has built such a formidable brand across the spectrum that even his occasional brash and indiscrete comments fail to tarnish it.

Watches, cars, sports shoes, motorbikes, clothes, ride services, tires, snacks, health foods, head-phones - even toothbrushes -- they have all had the Kohli mar-keting treatment.

The 30-year-old cricketer with tattooed arms and coiffured hair currently endorses 21 brands including Tissot, Audi, Puma, Uber and Hero, pushing him into the Forbes’s 2018 list of the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes.

Coming in at No. 83 on the back of his estimated $24m income over the previous 12 months, Kohli is the world’s top earning cricketer and comes in ahead of other high-profile ath-letes such as Novak Djokovic and Sergio Aguero.

It is unlikely he would ever be able to challenge the likes of current Forbes’ No.1 Floyd May-weather or No. 2 Lionel Messi due to cricket’s appeal being mostly tied to a small batch of predom-inantly Commonwealth countries.

However, he could soon eclipse Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the highest earning Indian sportsman ever. Former India cricket captain Dhoni earned $31m in 2015 as he promoted a series of brands. He wed actress Anushka Sharma last year to create a marriage between cricket and Bol-lywood, India’s two biggest obsessions, helping give him a ‘family

man’ image that can appeal to a middle class audience - and harness its spending power.

“The youth of the country - and more than half of India’s pop-ulation are under 25 - can identify themselves with the man living their dream,” said Kohli biog-rapher Vijay Lokapally.

Kohli has a strong social media presence with over 37 million fans on Facebook and is followed by more than 25 million on Instagram and 27.1 million on Twitter.

His sponsors have had a bumpy ride at times.

When a cricket fan recently described Kohli, the world’s top ranked Test batsman, as “over-rated” and said he would rather watch Aus-tralian and E n g l i s h batsmen than “ t h e s e Indians”, Kohli responded with b o t h

barrels.“ Y o u

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said in a video posted on his personal telephone app, which he uses to interact with fans and sell merchandise.

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country and loving other coun-tries? I don’t mind you not liking me but I don’t think you should live in our country...”

Kohli later said he was “all for freedom of choice” and while the episode burnished his reputation as being touchy about criticism it did little to damage his brand.

Quite the opposite, said Tuhin Mishra, managing

director of sports marketing firm

Baseline Ven-tures. “Such

frankness c a n

actually boost the brand, pro-vided it aligns with the brand’s

message,” said Mishra, whose firm manages

other Indian crick-eters including Ravindra Jadeja and Prithvi Shaw.

According to Forbes, $20m of his

total comes from endorsements and $4m

from salary and so-called “win-nings”, which would include prize money.

Kohli’s earnings could con-tinue to increase thanks to India’s strong growth - it is the fastest growing large economy in the world and that should mean many more marketing dollars -

and the obsessive interest in cricket here and across the Indian diaspora.

He has smoothed out some of his rough edges. He does not endorse soft drinks or

skin-lightening cream anymore, advocates a healthy lifestyle, and comes across as a family man and a leader.

He fights for salary hikes for his players, demands that players’ partners be allowed on tours, and seeks to influence who is appointed team coach.

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Kohli could soon eclipse Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the highest earning Indian sportsman ever. Former India cricket captain Dhoni earned $31m in 2015 as he promoted a series of brands.

According to Forbes, $20m of Kohli’s total comes from endorsements and $4m from salary and so-called “winnings”, which would include prize money.

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I came to know yesterday (about Imran Khan’s record) so it’s an honour that my name will come with him: Yasir Shah

10 WEDNESDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2018SPORT

FAWAD HUSSAIN THE PENINSULA

Star Qatari pair of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan Janko will open their title defence against Thailand at the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Aspire Beach Volleyball Qatar Master 2018 that gets under way today at Aspire Park.

The Cherif-Tijan side, given the top seed in the 16-team event, has been placed in Pool A along with Japan (A), Thailand and Oman (A).

Australian pair of Cole D u r a n t a n d D a m i e n Schumann, who are seeded second are expected to give tough competition to the leading Qatari duo in the three-day competition are bracketed among Thailand, Kazakhstan (A) and Qatar (B) comprising Assam Mahmoud Tamer Abdelrasoul, in Pool C.

The second Australia outfit – seeded 3rd – is leading Pool C, which also has 4th seeded Iran (A), Kazakhstan (B) and third home side - Qatar (C) comprising upcoming players Nasser Ahmed Al Meer and Hamad Al Kuwari. The Pool D involves Iran (B), Japan, Oman (B) and New Zealand.

Top two teams from each pool will enter tomorrow’s quarter-finals, after the round-robin group stage. The semi-finals and final are scheduled to be held on November 30.

Qatar’s Cherif and Tijan, who

are currently ranked World No.10, will start as firm favourites after their title-winning performances at Asian Beach Volleyball Championship in Satun, Thailand, last Sep-tember and a gold medal in August’s Asian Games in Indonesia.

“We have been good in this season and for us this Qatar Masters is all about keeping the same level,” Cherif told The Peninsula on the eve of the opening day.

“We are not thinking about our title defense, there is no pressure. All we are looking for is to maintain our good per-formance,” the lanky player said

before predicting thrilling battles in the next three days. “All the teams are good and must have come after some good prepara-tions. There will be very good matches in the next three days. We are happy and excited to play in front of home spec-tators,” he added.

After meeting Thailand pair, the top Qatar team is scheduled to meet Japan’s Yuya Gottsu and Ageba Ishijma in their second match today.

Meanwhile, leading Australia pair of Australian Cole and Damien will open their cam-paign against a Kazakhstan side before taking on a Thai duo.

“We had a lot of preparation

for this event in Adelaide,” Damien said. “It is going to be a good contest with best Asian teams taking part. We are very excited about the event,” the Aussie said before terming Qatar A as the ‘team to beat’.

“Both these players ( Cherif and Tijan) are having an amazing year. They have won Asian Games and Asian Champion-ships, and a bronze medal in Vienna. They will be a team to beat in the tournament,” said Damien.

The organisers, who have made special arrangements for the event, are expecting a turnout of over 12,000 fans during all days of action.

11WEDNESDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2018 SPORT

Al Khor aim to bounce back against Al SaddTHE PENINSULA DOHA

Al Khor will aim to bounce back from the last round defeat against Al Duhail when they take on Al Sadd in the QNB Stars League Stars League rescheduled match, which was postponed from Week 5 because of the latter’s AFC Champions League fixture.

The kick-off is at the Al Khor Stadium today at 6:30pm.

Al Khor coach Bernard Casoni is aiming to lift the morale of his boys ahead of the key clash.

“We are focused on boosting the players’ morale, especially since we went down fighting narrowly to leaders Al Duhail in the last round. We weren’t lucky in that match and wasted many opportunities.

“We’ll face a strong com-petitor that has players of great technical ability. We’ll play with the same spirit that we displayed in the Al Duhail match, where we provided a good level and were close to a drawn result. We must put in more efforts against Al Sadd.

“Iraqi professional player Ahmed Yassin regularly trains with the team and is ready to play.

“I’m seeking stability and consistency in our performance. I haven’t been thinking about relegation or play-off. Our aim is to collect maximum points and the best possible ranking in the table. We don’t even think of play-off,” said Casoni.

Al Sadd on the other hand announced that Spanish player Gabi Fernandez was ready to play against Al Khor.

Gabi, who got injured in his ankle towards the end of their QNB Stars League Week 13 game against Al Arabi which they won 3-0 last week, was back in

training. At the same time, Gabi’s compatriot Xavi Hernandez is still nursing a muscle tear he sustained during their QSL Cup Round 3 drawn match against Al Sailiya recently.

Abdulkarim will be absent as he has to attend the AFC Player of the Year award cer-emony in Muscat today. The left-back has been nominated for the honour along with Yuman Suzuki and Kenti Misao of Kashima Antlers.

Meanwhile, Al Sadd’s star Algerian striker Baghdad Bounedjah received his

top-scorer award in the 2018 AFC Champions League. He had scored 13 goals, matching the record for the top scorer in a season. Al Sadd had played out a fighting 1-1 draw with Iran’s Persepolis in the second leg of their AFC Champions League semifinal clash, but lost out 1-2 on aggregate, having lost the first leg 0-1 in Doha.

Meanwhile, Al Arabi have started preparations for their QNB Stars League Week 14 home game against Al Kharaitiyat, to be played on December. 1 The kick-off is at 6:30pm.

The players resumed their training without injured Abdulla Marafy, Ahmed Ibrahim and Franco.

While Marafy is having a long injury layoff with a knee lig-ament problem, Ahmed Ibrahim and Franco are likely to recover fast. The duo had missed their Qatar Derby match against Al Sadd last week.

Tunisian coach Hatem Al Moaddeb’s men are keen to put it across Al Kharaitiyat and thus get back to winning ways. The Dream Team are ninth in the standings with 15 points.

Barca top global sports pay league: ReportAFP LONDON

Barcelona are the best-paid team in global sport and the first to have average basic annual pay of more than £10m according to a global survey published on Monday.

The Spanish giants return to the top of the pay rankings in the ninth edition of Sporting Intelligence’s Global Sports Salaries Survey (GSSS) for the first time since 2012.

The average annual basic first-team salary at the Camp Nou was more than £10.45m in late November of the 2018-19 season, the British-based researchers said.

Barcelona are well clear at the top of this year’s list but domestic rivals Real Madrid have climbed to second place. Average basic pay at the Bernabeu is just over £8 m per year.

In third place are last year’s number one team, basketball’s Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA (£7.85million).

The metric used by the GSSS is average first-team pay. It looks solely at earnings for playing sport, not for endorsements or other extra-curricular activities.

“In last year’s list, Barcelona were the world’s best-paid football team but it has still taken an extraordinary combination of new contracts and signings to lift their average basic pay this time above £10m from £6.6m a year ago,” the report said.

“Foremost among those contracts was the biggest pay deal in Barcelona’s history awarded to (Lionel) Messi, widely regarded now as the best footballer of all time. His gross basic (pre-tax) annual Barca pay tops £50m per year, including guaranteed image rights fees.” Six of the top 10 payers in this year’s GSSS are NBA teams - an ongoing consequence of a huge new TV deal in the NBA that kicked in before the 2016-17 season, the report said.

As recently as the 2015 GSSS, there were eight football teams in the top 10 but there are just four this year -- Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United.

Barcelona midfielder Arturo Vidal looks on during a press conference at the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven on the eve of their UEFA Champions League Group B match against PSV Eindhoven.

The players of Al Khor celebrate after scoring a goal in this file picture.

FROM LEFT: Roberto Reggiani. beach volleyball technical expert at Qatar Volleyball Association (QVA), Srinivasan, Technical Supervisor, Abdul Salem Al Kuwari QVA official and Ahmed Hussain, referee delegate during the technical meeting of the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Aspire Beach Volleyball Qatar Master 2018 tournament yesterday. PIC: ABDUL BASIT/THE PENINSULA

Qatar ‘team to beat’ as AVC beach volleyball show gets under way

Asian Volleyball Confederation

(AVC) Aspire Beach Volleyball Qa-

tar Master 2018 Pools

Pool A: Qatar (A), Japan (A), Thailand,

Oman (A)

Pool B: Australia (A), Thailand, Kaza-

khstan (A), Qatar (B)

Pool C: Australia (B), Iran (A), Kaza-

khstan (B), Qatar (C)

Pool D: Iran (B), Japan, Oman (B), New

Zealand

Venue: Aspire Park

Final; November 30

QATAR MASTER 2018

Qatari pair of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan Janko in action in this file picture.

SPORT 07WEDNESDAY 28 NOVEMBER 2018

It is a great honour for me and my club to be part of the three nominees

at the AFC Awards. I want to thank my coaches and my team-mates for stick-

ing with me over the years.

Al Sadd’s Qatari midfielder Abdulkarim Hassan U

EF

A C

HA

MP

ION

SL

EA

GU

E Atlético Madrid vs MonacoLokomotiv Moskva vs Galatasaray

Borussia Dortmund vs Club BruggePSV vs Barcelona

Tottenham Hotspur vs InternazionalePSG vs LiverpoolNapoli vs Crvena ZvezdaPorto vs Schalke 04

TODAY’S ACTION

Woods-Mickelson showdowndeemed ‘huge success’ by AT&TBLOOMBERG NEW YORK

A pay-per-view showdown between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson turned into a high-profile stumble for AT&T Inc.’s Turner division after glitches forced the company to offer the event for free.

But the matchup was ultimately a breakthrough, Turner President David Levy said in an interview on Monday. That’s because it helped the WarnerMedia division, now part of AT&T’s sprawling media-and-telecom empire, build its brand and show that the concept could work.

“This was a huge success,” he said. “This worked extremely well as a pay-per-view event.”

AT&T, which acquired Time Warner

in an $85bn deal this year, put on the competition to show that it could apply the time-honored pay-per-view model in sports outside of boxing and with online distribution. It set out to charge $20 for the show, called “The Match,” which aired on Friday.

Instead, it turned into another dem-onstration of how hard it can be to stream live sports on the internet. On Friday, after some customers couldn’t get past the paywall on the company’s B/R Live platform, Turner decided to make it available for free. Once that happened, many cable providers that had charged for the event -- including Comcast Corp. -- offered refunds. Turner then also extended refunds to its customers who had already paid.

Putting aside the money aspect, the event drew 750,000 unique video views

on B/R Live, Levy said. That added up to 55 million

minutes consumed on the l ess - than-year -o ld

platform. While final figures on paying customers across all platforms aren’t yet available, Levy said that those numbers are going “to exceed all of our expectations.”

WarnerMedia reportedly paid $10m for the rights to the event. Levy said it was worth it, despite the money lost to refunds.

“We’re going to be impacted on the distribution revenue for sure, but that was only one of the r e v e n u e streams,” he said. “We also had a tre-m e n d o u s amount of d e m a n d

from our a d v e r -

tisers and corporate sponsors, which by the way, every single one of them wants to come back in.”

Turner is likely to stage additional events with the same format, Levy said.

“We now know that formula works,” he said. “We know that ‘The Match’ is now a franchise brand. Can we do it for golf? Can we do it for other sports? The answer is probably yes.”

As for the technical problems, Levy said he doesn’t expect they will damage consumer confidence in new streaming platforms -- since everyone was able to watch the event once the paywall was down. He attributed the problems to insufficient memory, server capacity and the high volume of consumer access requests in a short time.

“It had a little to do with us -- it had a little to do with our Amazon cloud partners,” Levy said. “It was also Black Friday on top of everything else. They had a lot of incoming stuff coming through Amazon as well.”

‘Big 3’ finish 2018 on rankings summitAP LONDON

The Big Three is the year-end top three, something that last happened in 2014.

With Novak Djokovic at No. 1, Rafael Nadal at No. 2 and Roger Federer at No. 3 on Monday, that trio of tennis greats leads the season’s final ATP rankings for the seventh time.

This is the first time, though, that each of those three men spent some time at No. 1 during the same year.

The seven changes there were the most since 1999, when there were eight.

Djokovic won Wimbledon and the US Open in 2018, while Federer took the Australian Open, and Nadal earned the title at the French Open.

They accounted for Nos. 1-3 in the final rankings in 2007-11 and 2014, too.

For Djokovic, it marks the fifth time he has closed a year in the top spot, following 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. Only Pete Sampras, with six year-end No. 1 finishes, did it more often.

The 31-year-old from Serbia is also the oldest man to be No. 1 at season’s end and the first to finish atop the rankings after being outside the top 20 during the year - or outside the top 10 at the end of the previous year (he was No. 12 in 2017).

Simona Halep ended the season at No. 1 in the WTA rankings for the second con-secutive year; she clinched that spot more than a month ago.

Angelique Kerber was No. 2 among women, followed by Caroline Wozniacki, Elina

Svitolina and Naomi Osaka.Djokovic overtook Nadal

three weeks ago; the Spaniard did not compete anywhere after stopping because of a painful right knee during his US Open semifinal in September against Juan Martin del Potro. Nadal had arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle this month.

Nadal concludes a season at No. 1 or No. 2 for the 10th time, trailing only Federer’s 11.

Federer, meanwhile, is in

the year-end top three for a record 14th time. The 37-year-old from Switzerland has won 20 Grand Slam singles cham-pionships, the most by a man, followed by Nadal with 17, then Djokovic and the retired Sampras with 14 apiece.

The rest of the ATP top 10 for 2018: No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No. 5 del Potro, No. 6 Kevin Anderson, No. 7 Marin Cilic, No. 8 Dominic Thiem, No. 9 Kei Nishikori and No. 10 John Isner.

Del Potro was the runner-up at the US Open, Anderson at Wimbledon, Cilic at the Aus-tralian Open, and Thiem at the French Open.

Neither Anderson nor Isner ever had finished a year in the top 10, while del Potro is back in that group for the first time since 2013.

ATP SINGLES RANKINGS RANKING/PLAYER POINTS

1: Novak Djokovic (SRB) 9,045 2: Rafael Nadal (ESP) 7,4803: Roger Federer (SUI) 6,4204: Alexander Zverev (GER) 6,3855: Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) 5,3006: Kevin Anderson (RSA) 4,710 7: Marin Cilic (CRO) 4,2508: Dominic Thiem (AUT) 4,0959: Kei Nishikori (JPN) 3,59010: John Isner (USA) 3,15511: Karen Khachanov (RUS) 2,83512: Borna Coric (CRO) 2,48013: Fabio Fognini (ITA) 2,31514: Kyle Edmund (GBR) 2,15015: Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) 2,09516: Daniil Medvedev (RUS) 1,97717: Diego Schwartzman (ARG) 1,88018: Milos Raonic (CAN) 1,85519: Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) 1,83520: Marco Cecchinato (ITA) 1,819

WTA SINGLES RANKINGS RANKING/PLAYER POINTS

1: Simona Halep (ROU) 6,9212: Angelique Kerber (GER) 5,875 3: Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 5,586 4: Elina Svitolina (UKR) 5,350 5: Naomi Osaka (JPN) 5,115 6: Sloane Stephens (USA) 5,0237: Petra Kvitova (CZE) 4,630 8: Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 4,465 9: Kiki Bertens (NED) 4,335 10: Daria Kasatkina (RUS) 3,415 11: Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 3,240 12: Elise Mertens (BEL) 3,165 13: Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) 3,145 14: Julia Goerges (GER) 3,05515: Ashleigh Barty (AUS) 2,985 16: Serena Williams (USA) 2,97617: Madison Keys (USA) 2,976 18: Garbine Muguruza (ESP) 2,910 19: Caroline Garcia (FRA) 2,660 20: Qiang Wang (CHN) 2,485

ing wstic

with me over the yearing with

With Novak Djokovic at No. 1, Rafael Nadal at No. 2 and Roger Federer at No. 3 on Monday, the trio of tennis greats leads the season’s final ATP rankings for the seventh time.

Tiger Woods plays his shot from the first tee during the Tiger vs Phil golf match at Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas, USA in this November 23 file photo.

Croatia’s DavisCup winners get hero’s welcomeAFP ZAGREB

Thousands of Croatians gathered in Zagreb’s main square on Monday to embrace their returning Davis Cup team, who routed hosts France in the final to clinch the trophy for the second time.

“Croatia, Croatia!” chanted both the crowd and the players, led by world number seven Marin Cilic, who were standing on an improvised stage in Ban Jelacic square.

Behind them a giant screen replayed their matches from the Davis Cup final in Lille, France.

“We are delighted to become world champions and bring this trophy to Croatia,” Cilic told the crowd, many of whom were wrapped in Croatia’s red-and-white cheq-uered flags.

The victory has been celebrated as a sweet revenge for Croatia’s loss to France in the World Cup final in July.

It is the second time the Balkan nation of 4.2 million has won the Davis Cup, the first time being in 2005.

Cilic, 30, secured the 3-1 victory by beating Lucas Pouille on Sunday and giving his country an unassailable lead.

On Monday the Croatian press crowned it a “miraculous year” for the country’s athletes.

“Happy and proud again!” read the headline on the daily Vecernji List.

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who attended the event in Lille, is expected to decorate the players with medals later Monday.

World’s top three men’s singles tennis players,

(from left) Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger

Federer.