12 Established 1961 Sports Sunday, December 24, 2017 Austria’s Hirscher closes in on Tomba World Cup mark Hirscher moves 29 points ahead of Kristoffersen in overall standings

MADONNA DI CAMPIGLIO: Austria’s Marcel great honour to be just behind Tomba,” said Hirscher, Hirscher recovered from a mid-race wobble to claim his who had not won in the Italian resort of Madonna since 49th World Cup win in the night slalom at Madonna di 2012. Hirscher moves 29 points ahead of Kristoffersen Campiglio in Italy on Friday to go top of the overall in the overall standings but Kristoffersen leads the standings. The six-time overall World Cup winner fin- Austrian in the slalom standings despite having not yet ished just ahead of world champion Luca Aerni of won a race this season with six podium finishes. and Norway’s , winner It was Hirscher’s fourth win of the Winter Olympic of the previous two editions. season, coming on the legendary Canalone Miramonti In the Dolomites resort, Hirscher had the fastest time slope where he had a narrow miss two years ago when in the first run and man- a drone camera fell from aged to hold a 0.04sec the sky as he was coming advantage on Aerni with down the piste. Kristoffersen at 0.05, The 28-year-old was allowing the Austrian to an Olympic slalom silver reclaim the overall World Hirscher fought medallist at Sochi in Cup lead from the 2014, and with the 2018 Norwegian. back after from Games just over a month Hirscher fought back away from February 9 to after from two major two major errors 25, he looks like the man errors mid-way down the to beat at Pyeongchang. second run which could In an extremely com- have cost him victory. petitive race The experienced Switzerland’s Daniel Yule Austrian-whose prepara- finished fourth at 0.07, tion for the season was hampered by a fractured left ahead of other outsiders such as Austrian Manuel Feller : Austria’s (C), winner, Switzerland’s Luca Aerni (L), second, and ankle last August-managed to find a way to regain his and Britain’s Dave Ryding. The World Cup tour next Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen celebrate on the podium of the FIS Alpine World Cup Men’s Slalom in speed. He moves just one win away from legendary heads to Bormio in the Italian Alps for the downhill on Madonna di Campiglio, Italian Alps. — AFP Italian Alberto Tomba’s 50 World Cup victories. “It’s a December 28 and combined the following day. — AFP

lenging test track at the Lotus Alghanim Lotus Headquarters in Hethel, Norfolk at a scintillating six seconds faster than pre- vious models. sponsors The new Lotus Evora 400 is one of the latest pure and focused supercars Gulf Run engineered by Lotus, combining high performance with the legendary Lotus benchmark handling, making it the idea Karting Race car for young adults and everyday fast cars fans. KUWAIT: Sponsoring the GulfRun Adding to the exclusive experience of Karting Race held this season at Sirbb driving the hand-built Evora 400, manu- Circuit and attended by thousands of factured in a limited number each year, racing cars and karting fans, Alghanim Alghanim Lotus provides customers with Lotus introduced its latest iconic car, the a superior customer service from the 2018 Evora 400, in a unique display purchase of the car to the after-sale which also gave visitors and enthusiasts services, ensuring that each customer is the chance to experience the fastest and provided with the highest quality of most luxurious car in the world in a vir- quality, professionalism and luxury tual reality (VR) simulation. which position Lotus cars as leaders in In addition to an unprecedented the automotive market. experience of driving a true sports car Also as part of its commitment to and one that has redefined the meaning adding value to customers, Alghanim of advanced engineering and fast driv- Lotus unveiled an exclusive and compet- ing, Alghanim Lotus provided an Evora itive financing solutions to own the luxu- 400 as the race pace car, fully branded rious Evora 400 with monthly install- with the Gulf Run colors and announcing ments starting from KD 625, in addition the start of the race. to the three-year unlimited mileage war- Ranked as the fastest car to be manu- ranty which includes three years of free factured by Lotus this century, Evora service and a one-year full coverage 400 generates a maximum speed of 300 insurance policy for free. Car enthusi- Zain’s representative awarding one of the winning teams. kilometers per hour, and an acceleration asts can also be the first to know what is of 0-100 kilometers in 4.2 seconds. The new by following Alghanim Motors on new Evora was also able to lap the chal- Instagram at @AlghanimLotusKW Zain awards winners of GulfRun Karting Endurance Race

KUWAIT: Zain, the leading telecommunica- tions company in Kuwait, awarded the win- ning teams of GulfRun’s Karting Endurance Race as part of its main sponsorship of the region’s most popular motorsport activity. Zain’s main sponsorship of the latest edi- tion of this unique motorsport event comes in line with the company’s strategy to support the youth and sports sectors, as well as part of its belief in the importance of encouraging the various initiatives that cater to Kuwaiti sports on local and regional levels. GulfRun 12 commenced with the Karting Endurance Race, which followed international regulations and was supervised by certified marshals who flew in from France to regulate the race in accordance to FIA regulations. Over 20 teams participated in the 12 - 24 hours non- stop endurance races in a highly competitive and safe environment. GulfRun activities will continue to include GulfRun’s organizers honoring Zain for its sponsorship. the sport cars show that will take place soon at Murooj, where participants will showcase their sport cars and thrill visitors. GulfRun will participants’ motorsport skills. drivers, every year. Through GulfRun, motor- also include the race to be held at Bahrain GulfRun is considered an ideal and safe sport enthusiasts are able to showcase their International Circuit in the Kingdom of alternative to street racing, which threatens talents within professional and certified Bahrain, which is considered as a true test of the lives of many people, many of them young grounds.

diate plans to replace Como, who began ed by injury when he began working with Woods splits working with the 14-time major champion Como, and he has made just 12 US PGA Tour in November of 2014. starts since then. He missed all of the 2015-16 “Since my fusion surgery, I have been season, and after yet another back surgery in with swing working hard to relearn my own body and April was sidelined until the Hero World golf swing,” Woods tweeted. “I’ve done this Challenge in the Bahamas in November — his coach Como by primarily relying on my feel and previous first tournament in 10 months. years of hard work with Chris. Woods, who said he was finally playing LOS ANGELES: Tiger Woods will press “For now, I think it’s best for me to contin- without pain, finished tied for ninth in the field on with his comeback in 2018 without the ue to do this on my own. I’m grateful to Chris of 18. Woods’s performance in the Bahamas aid of a swing coach, announcing on Como for his past work, and I have nothing had his tour colleagues looking forward to his Twitter on Friday that he is splitting with but respect for him.” return to regular competition, but he has yet Chris Como. Woods says he has no imme- Woods’s career had already been disrupt- to announce his schedule for 2018. — AFP