NBA | Page 6 GOLF | Page 7 King James Spieth has To Advertise here Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 rules at come a long Kobe's fi nale way in short in Cleveland period Friday, February 12, 2016 FOOTBALL Jumada I 3, 1437 AH Prince Ali says GULF TIMES FIFA politics aff ected fi xtures SPORT Page 10 FOOTBALL Zola says several Qatar clubs interested in Terry 'I believe the Qatari league is a league that wants to grow bigger so I believe there might be interest not only from Al Arabi but there might be interest from all the Qatari league Al Arabi coach Gianfranco Zola (top) played alongside John Terry (L) at Chelsea years ago. AFP “I believe the Qatari league is a peared for Chelsea more than 200 Doha league that wants to grow bigger times. so I believe there might be inter- Both players were in the squad est not only from Al Arabi but there which won the FA Cup in 2000 and ohn Terry is a “big name” might be interest from all the Qatari the side that secured a top four fi n- player who would attract in- league.” ish for Chelsea, coached by Claudio terest from several club sides Terry, 35, announced at the end Ranieri, in 2002/03. in Qatar, his former Chel- of January that he would leave the Press speculation has linked Terry Jsea teammate Gianfranco Zola said London club in the summer when to a big money move to Al Arabi, who yesterday. The Italian was speaking his contract expires, claiming there are fi fth in the Qatar Stars League, publicly for the fi rst time since his would be no “fairytale ending”. one place behind Al Sadd, the team current side—Al Arabi—was linked However, Chelsea have also held for which Xavi Hernandez plays. to the Chelsea captain following out some hope to the centre-half Qatar is eager to get more big Terry’s announcement last month that they may off er him a new deal names to play in its domestic league that he would leave the English “in the coming months”. in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup. champions at the end of the season. Terry is just three games away However, Zola, 49, warned it would But Zola said it would not only from playing his 700th match for not only be Qatari clubs after Terry. be his team in the Gulf who would Chelsea in a career stretching back “He’s been linked not only to Qa- want to sign the potential free agent to October 1998 when he made his tar, he’s been linked also to the MLS, Terry. debut against Aston Villa. to China.” And competing for top “When we talk about John Terry, In that time, Terry has won four names with the Chinese might prove we are talking about a big player, Premier League titles, fi ve FA Cups, tough, even for the Qataris. big name and I believe a player of three League Cups, the 2012 Cham- “It’s more diffi cult for any league this stature is not of interest only pions League and the 2013 Europa if there is a league like China which for the team, but also for the whole League. has invested so much money. It will league,” said Zola at a Doha press At the beginning of his career be more competition for Qatar, for conference. he played alongside Zola, who ap- leagues in Europe.” PREVIEW Arabi expect strong reaction from Lekhwiya By Sports Reporter Zola also noted that the game will high pressure, and I am confi dent we “This week we are playing a side “You only have to look at Al Khor who Doha give his side the chance to leapfrog Al can get a good result.” in a similar position to us. We have made limited changes in the winter, Sadd and get into the top four. “We Oliveria is taking care of the side not achieved a win in three matches and they have improved drastically. have spoken with the squad about our whilst head coach Djamel Belmadi now, and we need to win and change Whilst Al Gharafa have changed play- l Arabi boss Gianfranco Zola aim for the season. They know that serves a match ban, handed to him our way against Al Kharaitiyat,” he ers, and not won yet, it is important is expecting Lekhwiya to if we win we will put pressure on Al in the wake of his sending off against said that you strike a right balance with bounce back strongly from Sadd, which is important for the over- Sailiya in round 17. Despite the Red Talking about his current position your team. Hopefully we can archive their defeat to Al Sailiya all aims of the side.” Knights being without their coach on in the league Osim said; “Right now this against Al Ahli.” Awhen they clash in the Qatar Stars The Italian said he expected his side the pitch, Oliveria believes the sus- we are in 12th place and some would Ahli head coach Yousuf Adam ad- League today. to cope with the suspension of Ashkan pension will make little diff erence. say we are fi ghting for survival. This is mitted that facing Al Kharaitiyat will Lekhwiya, the defending champi- and Ali Jasmi. “Belmadi leads the team, but the a chance for my side to get a result and be a tougher challenge than facing Al ons, found their already slim hopes Zola concluded by giving an update squad is mature enough to win with- we will be looking to do that against Al Sadd in round 17. of retaining the title vanish after the on his team ahead of the Lekhwiya out him. I believe we have the confi - Ahli. “Our match this week will be a dif- shock 3-2 defeat by Al Sailiya al- game. “We will be without Ashkan dence to win, they know what is re- “Our team cannot sign big play- ferent challenge for us as we are play- lowed runaway leaders Al Rayyan to and Ali Jasmi for this match as they are quired of them. ers because of certain circumstances; ing a rival. In many ways we have had consolidate their advantage at the suspended. However we will fi nd ways Oliveria concluded the press con- some members of our squad have been to change our mentality and give our top. Al Rayyan now have 48 points to cover these players in our squad. ference to address the rumours around here for a long time. When developing best in order to archive a positive re- while third-placed Lekhwiya have The return of Paulinho to training will Youseff Msakni who has been linked a side you need to have patience, our sult. only 34. help us for this match.” with a number of sides in China. “Ru- side will emerge stronger and develop “The players have to prove them- “Lekhwiya are coming off the back Lehwiya’s assistant coach Bruno mours like this always chase big play- in the second half of the season” the selves again just like they did against of a loss to Al Sailiya, they will be look- Oliveira put on a brave face, saying his ers. Msakni is happy and Lekhwiya is Bosnian tactician remarked when Al Sadd. The match against Al ing to win again,” Zola, the former West side can return to winning ways af- happy with Youseff .” asked why his side was struggling this Kharaitiyat is one against a rival and Ham coach noted at his side’s pre-match ter their morale-shattering loss to Al Meanwhile, Al Kharaitiyat head coach season.” my squad has prepared well for this press conference yesterday morning. “I Sailiya. Amir Osim has stressed the importance Osim concluded his conference not- challenge.’ The Qatari coach respond- think we can build on the good perform- “We will face a good side his week, of his side’s match against Al Ahli in ing that changing professional players ed when asked about his sides 1-1 Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi is ance we had against Al Gharafa.” but Lekhwiya is used to playing with round 18 of the Qatar Stars League. does not aff ect the mentality of teams. draw with Al Sadd. serving a one-match ban Gulf Times 2 Friday, February 12, 2016 CRICKET ICC U19 WORLD CUP SPOTLIGHT Richards backs Windies set up title West Indies stars in World clash with India T20 dispute West Indies beat hosts Bangladesh by three wickets in the semi-final AFP Twenty20 would miss all these Dubai guys.” Sammy claims that players have been off ered just $6,900 per match iv Richards (pic- in India with around $27,600 to be tured) yesterday threw made if a player features through- his support behind the out the tournament. West Indies squad who In their 2012 title winning Vare locked in a bitter pay dispute campaign, however, the cap- which is threatening their partici- tain said payments ranged from pation in the World Twenty20. almost $60,000 to more than The West Indies Cricket Board $135,000. (WICB) could be forced to send a But WICB chief executive second string to the prestigious Michael Muirhead has refuted tournament in India next month claims that the contracts of- if the 15-man squad refuses to fered represent a fee reduction sign contracts before Sunday’s of as much as 80 percent from deadline. that obtained prior to the latest “In these modern times in- agreement.