Al Sadd, Al Duhail Dash Into the Quarter-Finals
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Topsy Turvy gallops to Al Wajba Cup victory PAGE 13 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2020 Attiyah opens with Super Special Stage win at MERC Oman Rally TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK Irish co-driver Derek O’Brien protagonists took to the stage. MUSCAT (OMAN) finished the stage 10.9 seconds The Omani guided his Subaru ahead of Oman’s Zakariya Al- Impreza STi to a time of 3min Ace Qatar rallyist, French co-driver Baumel NASSER Saleh al Attiyah and Ofi, who was second in MERC 2 57sec to take a lead of 8.7 sec- French co-driver Matthieu and fifth overall, behind fourth- onds over Ghaith al Qassimi cruise to fastest time in the rst stage Baumel cruised to the fastest placed Qatari Nasser Khalifa al into the night halt. time of 3min 25.6sec on the Attiyah and his Italian co-driver After official scrutineering, opening 3.55km super special Giovanni Bernacchini. 11 started the FIA event and stage of the Oman Interna- The Lebanese duo of Henry seven were permitted to take tional Rally, round one of the Kahy and Rony Maroun began part in the National Rally. 2020 FIA Middle East Rally the driver’s defence of his ERC 3 Teams face two loops of Championship (MERC), on title in solid style by holding the three special stages on Fri- Thursday afternoon. two-wheel drive advantage in day (February 7th), starting After the ceremonial start their Skoda Fabia. Kuwait’s Jas- with the first pass through at the Oman Automobile Asso- sim al Muqahwi brought up the the 19.20km of Al Misfah at ciation, teams tackled the first rear of the field after incurring a 09.59hrs. The 16.1 km of Saal FIA stage in Oman for five years jump-start penalty. follows at 10.32hrs and pre- before the action switches to the Zakariya al Amri claimed cedes Madinat Al Irfan (11.6km) famous sinuous gravel trails in the fastest time in the National from 11.20hrs. The stages are the Al Hajar mountains on Fri- Rally that ran before the FIA repeated in the afternoon. day and Saturday. Attiyah guided his Volkswa- 2019 Oman International Rally gen Polo GTI R5 to an overnight lead of 5.9 seconds with Oman’s Positions after SS1 Abdullah al Ruwahi, partnered 1. Nasser Saleh al Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 3min 25.6sec by Jordanian navigator Ata al 2. Abdullah al Ruwahi (OMN)/Ata Hmoud (JOR) Ford Fiesta R5 3min 31.5sec Hmoud, getting to grips with 3. Meshari al Thefiri (KWT)/Derek O’Brien (IRL) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 3min 35.0sec his Ford Fiesta R5 for the first 4. Nasser Khalifa al Attiyah (QAT)/Giovanni Bernacchini (ITA) Ford Fiesta R5 3min 42.4sec time to snatch second place. 5. Zakariya al Ofi (OMN)/Ammar Al-Balooshi (OMN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 3min 45.9sec Kuwait’s Meshari al Thefiri continued his recent domina- 6. Jarah al Tauqi (OMN)/Issa Al-Wardi (OMN) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII 3min 48.7sec tion of the MERC 2 category 7. Khalid al Manji (OMN)/Rony Bou Abdo (LEB) Subaru Impreza STi 3min 54.1sec into a new season with the third 8. Abdullah al Zubair (OMN)/Emad Juma (JOR) Subaru Impreza STi 3min 54.2sec fastest time and the lead in the 9. Faisal al Rashdi (OMN)/Waleed al Rashdi (OMN) Subaru Impreza STi 3min 59.7sec showroom section in his Mit- 10. Henry Kahy (LEB)/Rony Maroun (LEB) Skoda Fabia 4min 05.8sec subishi Lancer Evo X. He and 11. Jassim al Muqahwi (KWT)/Thamer al Mutairi (KWT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 4min 10.6sec Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel in action during the rst stage of Oman International Rally on Thursday. 48TH AMIR CUP FOOTBALL Al Sadd, Al Duhail dash into the quarter-nals bore fruit late in the match Wolves beat as Afif provided the assist for Bounedjah to tap home from Chief Executive Ofcer of Tokyo Olympics Toshiro Muto (2nd R) and Al Kharaitiyat 3-1; close range. Craig Spence (2nd L), Head of Communications of the International Red Knights blank “I’m happy to win and Paralympic Committee (IPC) attend the IPC project review meeting for qualify after playing an or- the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo on Wednesday. (AFP) Muaither 4-0 ganised team. We made some changes in the team, with our AYENI OLUSEGUN thoughts on the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics DOHA Champions League game,” Xavi said after the match. AL Sadd held off a strong chal- On the injury of midfield- organisers blast virus lenge from Al Kharaitiyat to er Salem al Hajri, Xavi said: clinch a spot in the Amir Cup “Salem suffered an Achilles 2020 quarter-finals after a tear and will be absent for a rumours, say Games 3-1 win at the Abdullah Bin long time. The season is over Khalifa Stadium (Al Duhail) for him. He is an excellent on Thursday. player and he was at his best will go ahead Meanwhile, defending levels recently. We will miss champions Al Duhail crushed him a lot.” AFP Muaither SC in a routine 4-0 Al Duhail’s Han Kwang TOKYO victory to also book their last Song bagged his first two goals eight spot. for the club to lead the reign- TOKYO 2020 Olympics or- It is important to remain Baghdad Bounedjah ing champions to a comfort- ganisers said on Thursday the scored twice for the Wolves as able victory on Thursday. Games would “go ahead as objective and cool-headed. the record winners matched Almoez Ali and Moham- planned”, slamming misinfor- We don’t want to alarm the on against the leaders of the med Muntari were also on the mation over the new coronavi- public. The infection is still second division. scoresheet as Walid Regragui rus for triggering panic. limited and there is no Abdelkarim Hassan put Al claimed a first win as Al Du- Chief Executive Officer problem staging the Sadd ahead just a minute in, hail coach after losing his first Toshiro Muto revealed that heading in Hashim Ali’s cross match in charge to Al Rayyan organisers have set up a task Olympics based on the from the right. in the QSL. force to combat the fast- current situation. But Al Kharaitiyat were Phillip Birol’s Muaither spreading disease that has – Tokyo Olympics soon handed an opportunity held off the champions’ on- killed over 560 people and to level the scores in the 14th slaught but were undone with infected at least 28,000 – the CEO Toshiro Muto minute, when the referee three quick goals from Han vast majority in mainland awarded a penalty for a foul by and Almoez just before the China – but promised that the Only 191 of the total cases are Hamed Ismail in the box. half time whistle. Games would be not derailed outside mainland China, so let’s Rachid Tiberkanine saw Al Sadd players celebrate one of their three goals against Al Kharaitiyat in their Amir Cup matc played at The North Korean’s first from their July 24 start date. put things into perspective. his spot kick crash off the post, the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium on Thursday. goal came in the 42nd minute “The Olympics will go “If you compare those rates a chance the Thunders will with a first time shot from in- ahead as planned,” he told re- with the common flu, they are come to rue later in the game. side the box after Almoez had porters after a project review still relatively small numbers,” However, six minutes lat- Results played him through. of the Paralympics, which are added Spence. er, the Belgian-born Moroccan He bagged his second two scheduled to take place after “The World Health Or- made up for his penalty miss Al Sadd 3 (Abdelkarim Hassan 5’, minutes later, this time Mo- the Olympics. ganization (WHO) has not when he sent a beautiful free- Baghdad Bounedjah 26’ & 82’) bt hammed Moussa the provider. “It is important to remain declared this a pandemic. We kick up and over the wall and Han received the ball from objective and cool-headed. We dealt with the Zika virus in Rio past the outstretched Meshaal Al Kharaitiyat 1 (Rachid Moussa and easily turned don’t want to alarm the public. and in these matters we need Basham, who managed to get Tiberkanine 14’) his marker before drilling The infection is still limited to rely on the experts.” a hand to it. his effort hard and low and there is no problem stag- Japanese Prime Minis- The Wolves were back on Al Duhail 4 (Han Kwang Song 42’, past the goalkeeper. ing the Olympics based on the ter Shinzo Abe on Thursday top just before the half hour 44’, Almoez Ali 45+1, Mohammed Almoez made it three on current situation.” pledged that preparations for mark as Bounedjah arrived Muntari 69’) bt Muaither SC 0 the stroke of halftime as his International Paralympic the Olympics would proceed ahead of Al Kharaitiyat kep- cross from a swift cornerkick Committee (IPC) spokesman as normal. “The coronavirus per Shehab Mandouh to head caught the Muaither defence Craig Spence complained that is beginning to have an impact home Ali Asad’s cross. napping. scare-mongering had created on tourism,” he said. “But the Just after the break, Sa- Al Duhail created chances an “info-demic” that could government will continue to lem al Hajri had the ball at the Al Duhail’s Han but had to wait till the 69th skew public perception in the steadily prepare for the Games back of the net for Al Sadd but Kwan Song (in red) minute for their fourth.