RUGBY | Page 6 TENNIS | Page 7 Hansen leaps Svitolina, to defence Pliskova storm of under-fi re into WTA Cheika Finals semis Friday, October 26, 2018 FOOTBALL Safar 17, 1440 AH Real Betis stun GULF TIMES Milan, Arsenal win in Lisbon SPORT Page 2 SPOTLIGHT ‘Qatar Gymnastics Federation has made a wonderful garden in the middle of the desert’ By Sports Reporter Watanabe, who was dressed in couraging even more Qatari Doha a thobe, and Ali al-Hitmi. residents to become involved, Addressing the audience, whether participating or being Watanabe said, “Qatar Gym- a spectator,” he said. he 48th edition of FIG nastics Federation has made a Al-Hitmi added: “President Artistic Gymnastics wonderful garden in the mid- Watanabe and FIG family, thank World Champion- dle of the desert. For ten days you for the trust that you have ships Doha 2018, the from today, with the power of placed in us. We are so grateful Tfi rst such event to be staged in our gymnasts, we’ll see the for the support and co-opera- the Middle East, was launched beautiful and strong fl owers tion that you have provided as with a grand opening ceremo- (of gymnastics) bloom at the we aim to forge a path for future ny at the magnifi cent Aspire Aspire Dome. I wish all gym- athletes, inspire new gymnasts Dome yesterday morning. nasts good luck.” and grow this sport in Qatar.” On the occasion, the Presi- Al-Hitmi welcomed the Qatar’s female gymnast, dent of Qatar Gymnastics gymnasts and offi cials from 16-year-old Jana al-Kiki then Federation and Executive Di- various countries. “Hosting took an oath on behalf of the rector of the Organising Com- Qatar Gymnastics Federation president Ali al-Hitmi (left) and this prestigious event in Qa- athletes as did coach David mittee Ali al-Hitmi thanked International Gymnastics Federation president Morinari Watanabe. tar has given us the opportu- Kikuchi of Canada and judge His Highness the Amir Sheikh nity to take gymnastics to new Han Yoon-Soo of South Korea. Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani The opening was attended tee, Jassim al-Buainain, Secre- many, among others. heights in our country and to This was followed by Qatar’s for his guidance and interest in by several distinguished guests tary-General of Qatar Olympic The championship was of- drive the passion and engage- national anthem. sport, which he said is an in- and included Dr Thani al-Ku- Committee, and Sheikh Saoud fi cially declared open by In- ment for the sport amongst A Chinese acrobatic show tegral part of Qatar’s National wari, Second Vice-President bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, ternational Gymnastics Fed- our communities; expand- then entertained the audience. Vision 2030. of the Qatar Olympic Commit- Qatar’s ambassador to Ger- eration President Morinari ing gymnastics reach and en- World has trust 48TH ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS DOHA 2018 in Qatar, says Sheikh Saoud By Sports Reporter Doha Russians excel in atar’s ambassador to Germany, Sheikh Saoud Qbin Abdulrahman al- Thani, who graced the opening of 48th FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships Doha 2018 qualifying on Day 1 at the Aspire Dome yesterday, termed the successful launch of the event as a fruition of Qatar’s hard work and the trust it has Nagornyy, Dalaloyan lead the Russians in the men’s team event built over the years. “The trust that Qatar has from the By Sahan Bidappa International Gymnastics Federa- Doha tion hasn’t come by chance. It has come with the long experience that they have with Qatar and ussian men made a which has built over the years with steady start in their its history of sport,” said Sheikh pursuit for fi rst team Saoud while speaking to the medal since 2006 as Rthe World Artistic Gymnas- media soon after off icial opening of the event. tics Championships began in “Over the last decade and a half, Doha yesterday. Qatar has organised several world At the Aspire Dome after championships in various sports fi rst day’s qualifi cations, Rus- and now we have the gymnastics sians were sitting pretty atop Doha Worlds. Next year we will be the leaderboard ahead of the hosting the IAAF World Champi- Netherlands and Switzerland. onships for athletics and then we Nikolai Kuksenkov, Artur have the 2022 FIFA World Cup Dalaloyan, Nikita Nagornyy, Qatar coming up, and we have David Belyavskiy and Dmitrii many more after that. Lankin combined for Russia’s Russia’s Artur Dalaloyan in action during the Rings apparatus “So this shows and explains total score of 258.402, which at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Doha the trust international sporting should be enough for them to yesterday. PICTURES: Thajudheen Qatar’s Mosa Ahmed does his routine in pommel horse. bodies have in Qatar and what make it to the fi nal as one of we can deliver. The facilities that the eight qualifi ers. Reigning (From left) while on the comeback trail, we possess and the organisa- champions Japan will open Qatar Olympic he ripped a rib muscle. He is tional abilities of Qatar help gain their campaign today, so will Committee certainly well-placed to once confidence, and the trust in the USA, Great Britain and China. (QOC) again challenge for a spot on people who are conducting the Despite their barren run at secretary- the podium. events,” he explained. the World Championships, general Jassim Meanwhile, Qatar’s Ahmed Sheikh Saoud said the FIG was Russia won team silver at Rio al-Buenain, al-Dayani was placed 57th, confident of Doha Worlds’ 2016 and are also reigning Eu- FIG president while Mosa Ahmed was lying success well in advance. “In ropean team champions. With Morinari in 102nd position in the Pom- gymnastics, we have been host- only two athletes per country Watanabe and mel Horse. It was a below-par ing the Word Cup series over the advancing to the individual QOC second performance from the young years and the FIG now knows the all-around fi nal, there was vice-president Qatar gymnasts, who are up people behind the events here fi erce competition within the Dr Thani against World class gymnasts. in Qatar very closely. They were Russian squad. al-Kuwari at The second and fi nal day confident that the first gymnas- Nagornyy was the most the opening of men’s team and individual tics world championships of the consistent performer yester- ceremony. qualifi cations will be held Middle East in Qatar would be a day and led the all-around from 9am today. The two days success much before the start of standings with a total of in the future. On the pommel Championships top three – no safe way. I wanted to do one of women’s qualifi ers will take the event in Doha,” he said. 87.098, ahead of Dalaloyan horse, we made a few mistakes Zonderland, Tin Srbic and more release, but I was so tired. place tomorrow and on Sun- He credited Qatar’s growth as who tallied 84.572. Dala- but they were silly mistakes. Bart Deurloo – in Horizontal I don’t know why I wasn’t re- day. Only top eight teams will the capital for major sports loyan’s fi ne performances on Pommel horse is an event Bar eased their way towards covered from Parallel Bars.” qualify for the fi nal. The best events to the vision of Qatar’s the parallel bars and the fl oor where we should be getting a the top of the leaderboard Srbic had high praise of 24 gymnasts from qualifi ca- leaders and their belief in sports saw him fi nish more than lot of points,” said Nagornyy. yesterday. Zonderland and said he was tions will qualify for the All- being an investment for future 1.000 ahead of third-placed The Netherlands had an Zonderland and Croatia’s just pleased to compete with around fi nal with a maximum generations of the nation. Belyavskiy. overall exceptional perform- Srbic were separated by just the Dutchman. “I have been of two gymnasts per country. “Our passion and love for sport Nagornyy was happy with ance as a team, fi nishing with one-hundredth of a point, looking at him since I was 10 For the apparatus fi nals, has come from the belief of our the team’s performance, but a 245.663 team total to pro- with the former leading. The years old,” said Srbic. “He is only eight best gymnasts can leaders that investment in sports added there was scope for im- visionally move into second pair remained on top of the maybe the best gymnast on make it to the medal round, means in investment in the provement especially in pom- place behind Russia. Epka standings for the rest of the High Bar of all time and I am with a maximum of two gym- Chinese future generations of our nation. mel horse, where both Kuk- Zonderland led his team on day with Dalaloyan in third, proud just to be in the same nasts per country. More than acrobatic show Qatar looks to sport as a vehicle senkov and Dalaloyan slipped. both events, scoring a 14.633 just ahead of Deurloo. arena competing with him.” 500 gymnasts from 76 nations entertains the to achieve the vision of His “It was overall quite good. I on parallel bars and a 14.4 “Today I did a safe routine,” The Croat has had a tough are taking part in the World audience during Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim made a few mistakes but we (with a huge 6.2 diffi culty Zonderland, the London 2012 run-up to defending his title.