TENNIS | Page 6 FOOTBALL | Page 7 Murray hails Messi’s fi rst tour win enduring talent since surgery as marks him out ‘toughest’ as The Best Wednesday, September 25, 2019 RUGBY Muharram 26, 1441 AH Fidow fi res Samoa GULF TIMES to bruising win over Russia SPORT Page 4 WEIGHTLIFTING Qatar’s Faris clinches silver at IWF World Championships By Sports Reporter The gold medal went to The Pattaya Worlds is a sig- peting at the World Cham- ships, winning a silver medal Doha China’s Tian Tao, who lifted nifi cant qualifying event for pionships, which will end on in the clean & jerk and plac- 410kg (230 clean and jerk and Tokyo 2020 with the points September 27. ing fourth overall. In the 2018 180 snatch). Anton Pliesnoi going towards the Olympic Faris had fi nished eighth Worlds he won a bronze med- atar’s weightlifter took bronze for a total lift of ranking list. in the 85kg event at the 2016 al in the clean & jerk in the Faris Ibrahim el- 394kg. Thirteen out of the 14 com- Summer Olympics in Rio but new 96kg category. Bakh won a silver Faris holds the junior world petitors in each weight class at was updated to seventh after Faris had won gold at the medal at the IWF record in the clean and jerk Tokyo 2020 will be determined the original bronze medal- 2017 and 2018 Junior World QWorld Championships in (225kg) and total (397kg) in by the rankings on 30 April list Gabriel Sincraian failed a Championships, as well as Pattaya, Thailand, yesterday. the 96kg division. And yes- 2020 with the top eight quali- drug test in October of that bronze in the 2016 edition in The 21-year-old lifted a total terday, he once again showed fying automatically subject to year. the 85kg category. The Qatar of 402kg – 224 in the clean he is one of Qatar’s best bets a maximum of one athlete per In 2017 he moved up to the lifter also has a silver medal jerk and 178 in the snatch – in to pick up a medal at the country. A record 606 athletes 94kg category and competed from the 2018 Asian Games in the 96kg category. Tokyo Olympics next year. from 100 countries are com- at the World Champion- Jakarta. ATHLETICS Qatar star Samba in a cracker with Warholm and Benjamin Since June last year, all three have run a sub-47 seconds time in 400m hurdles ‘Unprecedented level’ of drug By Sports Reporter snared a European silver medal testing around athletics Worlds Doha last year. Another with a strong pedigree is Commonwealth champion and arlier this year, at the two-time Diamond League ti- Asian Athletics Cham- tle holder Kyron McMaster. The pionships, the test event British Virgin Islands athlete has ahead of the IAAF World a season’s best of 48.33 and can EAthletics Championships Doha also contend. 2019, Qatar’s Abderrahman The US challenge is garnished Samba won the men’s 400m hur- by the presence of T J Holmes, dles gold in a time of 47.51 sec- the 2017 World Championships onds at the Khalifa International fi fth-place fi nisher, who fi nished Stadium. second behind Benjamin at the Samba had begun 2018 with a US Championships. Amere Lat- time of 47.9 seconds and ended tin, the 2016 world U20 110m the season with the then second hurdles silver medallist, com- fastest time in the event — 46.98 pletes the US men’s 400m hur- — in Paris. dles team, boasting a season’s At the Asian meet in April, best of 48.66. Samba said, he wanted to repeat Alison Dos Santos of Brazil that feat this year. “I am doing had enjoyed a breakout season, what I did last year. I started the winning the Pan American and season with 47.9, and ended with World University Games titles. 46.98. This time, I have started The World Championships rep- with 47.51,” the 23-year-old said resents a big step up in class for at the press conference, and with In this June 30, 2018, picture, Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba (right) leads Norway’s Karsten Warholm (left) the teenager but the 48.45 per- a smile fl ashing across his face during the men’s 400 hurdles event at the Diamond League competition in Paris, France. (Reuters) former will be hunting a place in added, “I hope to fi nish with the fi nal. His compatriot Marcio 46.5.” Karsten Warholm and US sensa- nal in Zurich to climb to second he has continued to impress this Teles set a season’s best of 48.60 He followed it up with yet tion Rai Benjamin have risen to on the world all-time list behind season. Besides his stunning to take the Brazilian title and another blistering time at the the occasion in the run up to the world record holder Kevin Young 46.98 time in Zurich, he also could also feature. Shanghai Diamond League event Worlds, and the trio are promis- (46.78). claimed the US title and Dia- Other names competing in- — 47.27 seconds — well on course ing to throw up a contest for the Finishing just 0.06 seconds mond League wins in Stanford clude France’s European Team A sign of the doping control is pictured at Khalifa International for his stated goal. ages. adrift of the dynamic Norwe- and Rome. Championships runner-up Stadium ahead of the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships The Qatari runner had fi red Warholm, who is aiming to join gian in Zurich — to himself el- There is an ocean of time be- Ludvy Vaillant, who made a in Doha yesterday. (Reuters) the warning shot, and there was an exclusive club, containing Ed evate himself to joint-third on tween the lead three athletes in big breakthrough this year to no one who would risk not taking Moses, Felix Sanchez and Ker- the world all-time list — is Ben- the world and the rest but few run 48.30, Poland’s 2015 World DPA athletes from 209 countries. him seriously. ron Clement, as back-to-back jamin. would discount Yasmani Copello Championships fi nalist Patryk Doha Member federations with the However, injuries have re- world champions in this event, Benjamin made a huge break- from a podium spot. The Turkish Dobek, and 2016 Olympic fi nalist highest risk of positive tests stricted his outings since then. blasted to a European record of through when running 47.02 to athlete scooped world silver in Rasmus Magi of Estonia. must ensure their selected But defending champion 46.92 at the Diamond League fi - take the NCAA title in 2018 and 2017, 2016 Olympic bronze and (With inputs from IAAF) he world athletics champi- athletes go through several onships starting on Friday out-of-competition tests in the Twill see an unprecedented run-up, the AIU said. anti-doping programme with All samples are tested outside around 1,200 tests overall and all Qatar as a “proactive measure” samples examined outside the to avoid conflict of interest. host nation of Qatar. “The athletes competing in The Athletics Integrity Unit Doha will have gone through (AIU), responsible for the an unprecedented level of test- anti-doping programme of ing and education,” AIU chair- the ruling body IAAF, says it is man Chris Howman said. conducting some 700 blood “We hope that our initiatives give tests ahead of the Doha cham- clean athletes the confidence to pionships for the biological go out there and discover how passports of athletes to detect good they really can be. blood doping or the use of Hu- “Public confidence in the man Growth Hormone. integrity of a sporting event is An additional 500 tests, paramount and we do not want mostly urine, will be conduct- to leave any stone unturned ed during the 10 days of com- to ensure this is achieved for petition until October 6 which the biggest athletics event,” features more than 2,000 he said. A general view of Khalifa International Stadium, the venue for the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships, in Doha yesterday. (Reuters) Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, September 25, 2019 ATHLETICS FOCUS Coe set for IAAF re-election, to continue athletics changes DPA The new independent Athletics tries to regain popularity to stay phy was simple and important,” October onwards when the Doha Integrity Unit which deals with relevant. Coe told the BBC last week. IAAF (International Association all doping-related matters high- Corruption from the Diack era The president and federation of Athletics Federation, former- lights internal changes, just as the and doping issues tainted the have been as fi rm in the long- ly International Amateur Ath- ebastian Coe stands un- fact that half of the members of image of the IAAF. standing intersex debate around letic Federation) will transform opposed for re-election the powerful IAAF Council are to The federation in November Semenya and other athletes sus- after more than 100 years to the at the ruling athletics be women by 2023. 2015 suspended the Russian as- pected of hyperandrogenism, snappier World Athletics. body IAAF today, having Coe is a former middle dis- sociation over allegations of insisting that intersex athletes While Coe has received plenty Scompleted a busy fi rst four-term tance running great and double wide-ranging doping practices must reduce their testosterone of praise on how he steered the with sweeping internal changes Olympic 1,500 metres cham- in the country and stuck to this level in certain events to ensure IAAF out of the muddy Diack and major challenges including pion.