17 SATURDAY, JULY 7, 2018 sports

Philippines Ambassador Serena advances as congratulates Loman seeds keep falling Roger Federer cruises into third round at Wimbledon

AFP | London

erena Williams boosted her chances of winning an eighth SWimbledon and 24th Grand Slam by making the fourth round at the All England Club on Friday as big sister Venus fell victim to the curse of Philippines Ambassador Alfonso A Ver with Stephen Loman the seeds. Serena, seeded a modest 25 this year, enjoyed a 7-5, 7-6 (7/2) win over TDT | Manama the growing relationship between France’s Kristina Mladenovic to set up Bahrain and Philippines. a last-16 duel with Russian qualifier -- hilippines Ambassador Alfonso A The growing economic and cultural and fellow mother -- Evgeniya Rodina. PVer, hailed the successful title de- relationship has also resulted in Mo- Victory on Centre Court, sealed fence of Stephen Loman in the United hammed Shahid, President of Brave with a 13th ace, came 20 minutes af- Kingdom. Combat Federation hinting a possi- ter Venus, a five-time champion, had Loman is the youngest champion ble event to be hosted in Philippines. slumped to a 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 8-6 loss to Roger Federer celebrates winning in Brave Combat Federation and the The Kingdom of Bahrain is host to a Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands over only champion from Philippines to sizeable expatriate community from on Court One. usual for defending men’s champion Federer took his consecutive sets make a historic title defence in the Philippines. Only two of the top 10 seeds remain Roger Federer who enjoyed a 6-3, 7-5, won at Wimbledon to 29 in what was United Kingdom. Loman successfully “I join the Filipinos in Bahrain in in the women’s draw -- number one 6-2 win over Germany’s Jan-Lennard his 200th career grass court match. defended the championship against rejoicing and celebrating the victory Simona Halep, who plays her third Struff. The eight-time champion will face IMMAF gold medalist, Frans Mlambo. of Stephen Loman. He won his Cham- round match on Saturday, and seventh Venus, 38 and the runner-up last French 22nd seed Adrian Mannarino He was crowned as the champion pionship Belt in Bahrain and thus we seed Karolina Pliskova who came back year, was worn down by Dutch 20th on Monday for a place in the quar- of the bantamweight division of Brave consider him our own champion. We from 1-4 down in the second set to seed Bertens who next faces Pliskova. ter-finals. Combat Federation by His Highness are now doubly glad that he was able defeat Mihaela Buzarnescu 3-6, 7-6 “It means a lot. It was such a tough “I was happy to stay clam and finish Sheikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa. to defend his title and even if the fight (7/3), 6-1. match and such a big fight so I’m really off the job. I thought I did very well The initiative by the Kingdom of was not in Bahrain, we were all ral- While the women’s draw was being happy that I won this one,” Bertens today,” said the 36-year-old 20-time Bahrain to give a global platform for lying and hoping that he wins,” said blown wide open, it was business as said. Slam winner. fighters had a positive impact towards A Ver.

England square T20 Vettel leads, Verstappen series with India Brave CF athletes among crashes at Silverstone top ranked in Germany TDT | Manama Ottman Azaitar is currently the champion of the lightweight division thletes from Brave Combat Fed- of the Brave Combat Federation. Both Aeration gets featured among top athletes have last appeared in Brave 9: ranked fighters selected by German The Kingdom of Champions hosted by sports magazine GNP. Alan Omer and Bahrain in November, 2017. Ottman Azaitar were featured among Ottman is heavily expected to make top 5 ranked lightweight fighters his return at Brave 14 to defend his based in Germany. championship. Rohit Sharma in action

AFP | Cardiff, United King- dom Wheeler hinted to make a lex Hales kept his nerve Awith 58 not out to see England home and square comeback at Brave 14 Championship leader was fastest in second practice for the British Grand Prix the international T20 series against India 1-1 with one to TDT | Manama face Mohammed Fakhreddine from Raikkonen traded fourth and fifth plac- play in Cardiff yesterday. Lebanon during Brave 13 hosted in the Reuters | Silverstone, England es while , winner in Set 149 to win off their 20 merican welterweight sensation, United Kingdom. Austria for , was sixth in the overs England needed 12 off ASidney Wheeler is expected to However, Wheeler had to withdraw errari’s Sebastian Vettel pushed morning but crashed after lunch without the final over and Hales put make his return at Brave 14 hosted from the event due to illness during FFormula One title rival and home setting a time. Bhuvneshwar Kumar out in Tangier, Morocco on 18th August, his weight cut. This marks the second race favourite Lewis Hamilton off the The 20-year-old Dutchman had ended of the Cardiff ground off 2018. fight for Wheeler in Brave Combat top of the British Grand Prix practice the first session early after he was told the first ball and the second Wheeler was earlier scheduled to Federation. timesheets yesterday while Max Ver- to stop the car. for four. stappen crashed. Haas’s had a heavy A single followed and Da- Hamilton, winner for the past four crash at the fast first corner, slamming vid Willey hit Kumar for the years at Silverstone, had started the day into the tyre barriers after failing to winning runs to set up the by leading a Mercedes one-two in the close the drag reduction system (DRS), decider on Monday. sunny opening session. in the morning and did not take part in Hales made his runs from Vettel, who leads the Briton by a point practice two. 41 balls with four fours and in the championship after nine races, put “The car is destroyed,” the French- three sixes to get his side in a lap of one minute 27.552 seconds in man, who was unhurt in the impact, over the line when they the afternoon to end the session 0.187 said over the radio. “I’m very, very sorry were faltering. faster than his fellow-four-times world guys. I think it was the bump. I missed England’s big hitters at champion. the (DRS) button.” the top of the order Jos That was still slower than Hamilton’s Team boss Guenther Steiner said the Buttler and Jason Roy were at Seef District too morning time of 1:27.487, however, with team needed to rebuild the chassis. both out cheaply trying to Vettel third then and half second slower. Grosjean’s team mate Kevin Magnus- get the early run rate up to Um al Hassan +973 17728699 Hamilton’s Finnish team mate Valtteri sen and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso Umesh Kumar. Seef District +973 17364999 Bottas, with a new engine in his car after were called to see stewards for a “po- Roy made 15 and Buttler last weekend’s mechanical retirement tentially dangerous manoeuvre” after just 14 before they were in Austria, was second and third fastest an incident between them early on but both dismissed by Umesh respectively in the two sessions. stewards ruled there was no further Yadav but Hales kept Eng- Australian Daniel Ricciardo and Kimi action needed. land in the game.