SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021 12

Bahrain earn play-off berth in FIBA Esports Open Mercedes dominate practice in Imola Max Verstappen crawls to a halt in second practice session

Bahrain’s players line-up on screen after their win against Lebanon • Mercedes’ Valtteri The other play-off match-up Bottas was quickest Bahrainis among will be between Lebanon and in the first practice 60• national teams Saudi Arabia. session at Imola Emilia The play-offs are scheduled to Romagna Grand Prix from around the world continue today and tomorrow. taking part in online Bahrain’s squad features six AFP | Imola tournament, featuring members, including guards Jassim Ali, Hussain Albanna, NBA 2K21 platform Salman Sharaf and Ali Show- ercedes drivers Valterri aikh, power forward Ahmed MBottas and Lewis Hamil- Bahrain win both Shareeda and centre Yaqoob ton produced the quickest times preliminary• round Seyadi. in practice on Friday for the games, first against In their win over Lebanon Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix but yesterday, the team’s character Max Verstappen and Charles Lebanon and then named “kampoop” led the team Leclerc both ran into trouble in against the UAE with 24 points, 12 rebounds and the second session. Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas four assists. Teammate “Black- Bottas was quickest round the Mercedes. limited or no communications TDT | Manama Cobra_Z” contributed 23 points legendary Imola circuit in both The first session was also with their teams at the time. marked by two red flags. “Both drivers agreed that nei- and 11 assists, while “Clutch- sessions but only just, 0.01 sec- BETTER ahrain powered through 69Gamer” had 16 points and onds faster than his teammate A collision between Red Bull’s ther was at fault.” to the first round of the “||-Rodman-||” chipped in with Hamilton. Sergio Perez and the Alpine of They were both back in busi- play-offs in the FIBA Es- 15. The pair were followed by Esteban Ocon, which escaped ness for the second session with B KNOW ports Open III, which got un- Bahrain overcame the AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and the cameras, resulted in both Perez clocking the sixth fastest derway online yesterday with 44-point effort of Lebanon’s the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and cars off the track. time. the participation of 60 national “||Yenchy||”, while “CantBeat- Leclerc who crashed into a wall Perez, who was on a “flying” The second red flag of the teams from around the world. TheGrind” added 36 points and at the end of the second session, lap, according to his team boss A collision between morning came just before the The Bahrainis, who are com- 15 assists. prompting a red flag and the Christian Horner, had a dam- Red Bull’s Sergio Perez end of the session after Haas peting in Group Two of the com- The online tournament, decision not to restart. aged rear-left tyre while Ocon, rookie Nikita Mazepin went too petition’s Middle East Confer- which features the NBA 2K21 There was bad news for Red on a “slow” lap, had a broken and the Alpine of wide into a corner and spun. ence, won both their games in video game, features six re- Bull too as Verstappen pulled front right. Esteban Ocon, which It was another unfortunate in- the preliminary round. They gional conferences. Six teams up with a mechanical problem. The drivers were called to escaped the cameras, cident for the 22-year-old Rus- first defeated their counterparts are battling it out in the South “Something snapped on the the stewards to explain the in- resulted in both cars sian. He failed to complete the from Lebanon 84-80, and then East Asia, Africa and Middle rear,” Verstappen told his team. cident but no further action was off the track opening lap in Bahrain and has beat the UAE 20-0. East Conferences; while North The Dutchman, who finished taken. been tagged with the nickname The nationals are thus and Central America have eight second behind Hamilton in the “The two cars reached the ‘Mazespin’. through to the play-offs, where sides apiece. South America season-opening Bahrain Grand apex at the same time, and just hearing that it was an unfortu- The third practice session they are set to take on Kuwait, have seven teams while 28 are Prix, had earlier clocked the barely touched wheels,” said the nate miscommunication of tim- starts at 0900 GMT on Saturday who finished with a 1-1 win-loss playing in the Europe Con - third-fastest time in the open- stewards’ report. ing between them, not helped with qualification taking place record in Group One. ference. ing session behind the two “Both drivers agreed in the by the fact that both drivers had from 1200 GMT.

Roma line up Europa League semi with Riffa title celebrations put on hold United, Arsenal cruise into last four Manama were 1-0 winners League leaders Riffa over Malkiya last night as they AFP | London • moved to second place on the held to 1-1 deadlock by table, nine points behind Riffa oma lined up a blockbuster bottom-of-the-table with three matches remaining REuropa League semi-final club Busaiteen for each team. clash with Manchester United Al Najma and Budaiya played on Thursday after holding Ajax Manama defeat to a 1-1 stalemate in yesterday’s to a 1-1 draw to go through to • third game. the last four 3-2 on aggregate. Malkiya 1-0 to move Riffa’s Mahdi Humaidan, right, In Riffa’s draw, skipper Ko- Edin Dzeko’s strike 18 min- second; Najma and battles for possession of the ball mail Al Aswad opened the scor- utes from time ensured the Budaiya play to 1-1 dr.aw with Busaiteen captain Mohamed ing in the match in the 37th min- draw and passage for Paulo Saleh Sanad ute. His came following a Fonseca’s side, who were on A win would have put Riffa corner kick from teammate Mo- TDT | Manama the back foot for most of the in position to seal the hammed Marhoon, which was match, and a showdown with season’s crown by tonight, if poorly cleared by the Busaiteen United who strolled into the iffa will have to wait a little chief rivals East Riffa drop any defence. The ball went straight semis 4-0 after a 2-0 win over while longer before kicking points against Al Ahli. into the path of Alaswad, and Roma’s Bosnian forward Edin Dzeko (R) scores an equalizer past Ajax Dutch R La Liga outfit Granada at Old off their title celebrations in the But a share of yesterday’s he sent home a left-footed strike goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg Trafford. 2020/2021 Nasser bin Ham- points with Busaiteen means from just inside the penalty The other semi-final will see Lopez. ad Bahrain Premier Football East Riffa and Manama are still box past opposing goalkeeper Arsenal face Villarreal, coached However after Dusan Tad- League, after being held to a with a mathematical chance to Ahmed Abdulrasool. by former Gunners boss Unai ic’s strike for the away side six 1-1 draw by bottom-of-the-ta- steal away the title from Riffa, Al Aswad’s goal was fitting for Emery. If you look at the minutes later was ruled out for ble club Busaiteen last night in who have been the runaway the occasion, as he had earlier “I’ve never got to a semi-final overall tie we were a foul on Henrikh Mkhitaryan their Week 15 fixture. leaders all season long. this week signed a contract ex- before, so I’m very proud, es- the better side, but in the build up, Dzeko tipped tension with Riffa. The terms of pecially as we are representing that doesn’t mean the tie in Roma’s favour. Standings his deal were not disclosed, but Italy right now,” said Fonseca, The Bosnian was on hand to it is reported to be the richest in who has been under pressure anything tap home the leveller which put P W D L GD Pts the history of the Bahrain pre- following a disappointing Serie AJAX’S DAVY KLAASEN Roma a goal ahead on aggre- Riffa 15 12 2 1 15 38 mier league. A campaign. gate after ’s Manama 15 9 2 4 10 29 Busaiteen, however, were able “It’s a source of pride for Their European campaign low cross was deflected into East Riffa 14 9 1 4 10 28 to level the proceedings in the Roma and we are all very hap- looked in danger when Ajax his path. Muharraq 14 5 5 4 6 20 second half with a header from py.” teen Brian Brobbey was intro- With Ajax needing to score Hidd 14 5 3 6 0 18 substitute Sultan Mansoor Sul- Italy’s only remaining repre- duced for Antony at the break again to take the tie into ex - Al Ahli 14 4 5 5 -6 17 tan off a corner kick. sentative in Europe came into and the striker made an in - tra-time the hosts were galva- Al Najma 15 3 5 7 -9 14 The result was only the sec- the clash at the Stadio Olimpi- stant impact, racing onto Perr nised and managed to fend off Malkiya 15 2 6 7 -11 12 ond draw for Riffa in 15 matches, co with a slender lead but two Schuurs pass three minutes Erik ten Hag’s outfit, who will Budaiya 15 2 6 7 -11 12 while Busaiteen earned their away goals from last week’s first after the restart and nipped have to wait until next season Busaiteen 15 1 7 7 -4 10 seventh deadlock but remained leg in Amsterdam. the ball past an onrushing Pau for a shot at European glory. Al Malkiya 3 0 1 2 -6 1 in last place.

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