Says Federer Former England Skipper Doesn’T Believe It,” Said Swann, Lead 5-4
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 3 NNBABA | Page 5 Hat-trick hero Masked-man Jedinak fi res Irving leads Australia into Celtics to 13th World Cup win in a row Thursday, November 16, 2017 TENNIS Safar 27, 1439 AH Federer beats Zverev GULF TIMES to reach last four at ATP Finals SPORT Page 4 IBSF WORLD BILLIARDS CHAMPIONSHIP Russell wins all-England fi nal for IBSF long-up title Multiple time champion beat Robert Hall 1500-1284 in the final for his first IBSF billiards title since 2011 By Sports Reporter Doha fter missing out on the 150- Up title a couple of days back, England’s Mike Russell put up a strong display against com- Apatriot Robert Hall in yesterday’s fi nal to win the IBSF World Billiards Long- Up Championship at Al Arabi Sports Club Indoor Hall. Russell had lost the fi nal of the short- er version of the game on Sunday to In- dia’s Pankaj Advani, but there seemed to be no remnants of that loss yester- day, when he beat Advani in the semi- fi nals in the morning, before account- ing for 33-year-old Hall in the evening. In the race-to-1500 fi nal, 48-year- old Russell, who had last won an IBSF title in 2011, stitched together massive breaks of 344, 169, 260, 197, 107 and 149 for a 1500-1284 victory over his younger compatriot, who had beaten Myanmar’s Nay Thway Oo in the semis for a spot in the decider. Earlier in the day, Russell outclassed the 150-Up champion Pankaj Advani of India with some big breaks for a spot in the fi nale. In the race-to-1250 semi- Long-Up champion Mike Russell (background, centre) and runner-up Robert Hall (background, second from left) pose with fi nal, Russell exacted some sweet re- their trophies, Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation president Mohamed Mubarak al-Ramzani, International Billiards and venge of his 150-Up fi nal loss beating Snooker Federation (IBSF) president Mubarak al-Khayarin and other off icials at the IBSF World Billiards Championship prize his 32-year-old rival 630 points with distribution ceremony at Al Arabi Sports Club Indoor Hall yesterday. PICTURES: Ram Chand the scoreline at 1250-620. Advani made a solid start with the Initially both, Hall and Nay Thway, initial breaks of 112 and 291 to take a lead shared close points before the English- of nearly 400 points but when Russell man accelerated to take a chunky lead returned to the table, he explored with of more than 300 points. a few good shots and an excellent top- However, Nay Thway controlled the table fl oating-white game, albeit with situation scoring two worthy breaks of a white cue. He then stitched together 195 and 97, and eliminated the lead. the tournament’s fi rst 500-plus break. The Myanmar player even crossed However, at 551, the ball kicked and he Hall’s score to get really close to wrap- missed the red pot. ping up the match, but he fell short on After exchange of few shots, Rus- position after baulk-line crossing. He sell crafted another break of 189 to tried a recovery but missed on 1239 af- strengthen his lead. Though Advani got ter two shots. Hall made full use of that a chance to make a comeback but he opportunity and scored the required 20 rested after a 130-point break. points to make it to the fi nal. Russell, however, posted another break of 447 to reach 1250 points and QBSF president Mohamed Mubarak won the match. al-Ramzani (left) presents the winner’s Hall made it to the all-England fi nal trophy for 150-Up to Pankaj Advani with a thrilling 1250-1239 win over My- as IBSF president Mubarak al-Khayarin anmar’s Nay Thway Oo. looks on yesterday. England’s Mike Russell in action during yesterday’s long-up final. FOCUS QFA president meets Oceania Football Confederation chief By Sports Reporter parties and will ensure the develop- He also praised the current infra- Doha ment of football at all levels locally, re- structure development in Qatar in gionally and internationally. preparation from the 2022 FIFA World Bilateral relations concerning football Cup and applauded the commitment he Qatar Football Association and ways to enhance and develop them shown by Qatar for wanting to show- (QFA) president, Sheikh Ha- further in the future were also discussed. case a tremendous and memorable mad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al- There were talks about the possibility of event. Thani met with the president signing a co-operation agreement between He said: “Qatar has a high-level of Tof the Oceania Football Confederation the two parties, which will enhance rela- sports infrastructure, which enables (OFC) David Chung yesterday at QFA’s tions and further develop them. The com- it to host the most important sporting headquarters. ing period will focus on ways to develop the events and championships. Hosting big QFA vice-president Saoud al-Mo- co-operation between the two sides and sports events and tournament leaves hannadi, QFA general secretary Man- ways to share knowledge and experience the country and the region as a whole a soor al-Ansari, and Executive Director between them. lasting legacy that benefi ts the present of the QFA president offi ce Ali Dawood They also discussed matters of mu- and future generations of Qatari citi- also attended the meeting. tual interest and the importance of zens and residents in Qatar.” The visit of the OFC president repre- developing them in the coming period The OFC president also wished New sented a new beginning for Qatar-Oce- in Qatar and the OFC and means to en- Zealand the best of luck for today’s ania relations and signalled potential hance the co-operation between the qualifying match against Peru for the collaboration opportunities between two organisations. 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia which if the two parties in the near future. The OFC president thanked the QFA they win, would be their third appear- During the meeting, both parties president for the warm welcome and ance in the global event and would re- discussed ways of supporting football gracious hospitality extended to him fl ect positively on football in the Oce- system, which will be of benefi t to both during his visit to Qatar. ania region. QFA president Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani (right) with OFC president David Chung. Gulf Times 2 Thursday, November 16, 2017 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT Italy coach Ventura axed aft er World Cup disaster AFP tion president (Tavecchio) informed partici- football by sacking the coach. If not, we’ll keep Milan pants at the (crisis) meeting... of the impossibil- stirring the same soup which has proved indi- ity for him to resign,” a FIGC statement read. gestible to so many.” “(Tavecchio) will have the responsibility (to Ventura had defended his leadership as “one ian Piero Ventura was sacked as Italy submit to the federal council) a series of propos- of the best records in 40 years” despite failing to coach yesterday after the four-time als on which the members of the council will be lead the 1934, 1938, 1982 and 2006 winners to champions failed to reach the World called upon to give their opinion,” the statement their 19th World Cup. “I lost only two games in Cup fi nals. The veteran coach’s fate added. A new coach is expected to be named at two years,” he had told Italian television show Le Gwas sealed after a crisis meeting of the Italian the FIGC federal council’s next meeting on No- Iene in a brief interview. Football Federation (FIGC) in Rome. vember 28. Earlier, Damiano Tommasi, the head In fact, since the former Torino coach took The 69-year-old had refused to resign de- of the Italian Players’ Union, stormed out of the over in July 2016, Italy have lost three matches spite a 1-0 aggregate play-off defeat to Sweden FIGC meeting just minutes after Tavecchio re- — against France in Bari (3-1), Spain in Ma- on Monday saw Italy miss the World Cup for the fused to quit. drid (3-0) and Sweden in the World Cup fi rst- fi rst time in 60 years. “As of today Gian Piero “There doesn’t appear to be the mood for leg play-off in Solna (1-0) — winning nine and Ventura is no longer the coach of the national change,” the former Roma midfi elder told jour- drawing four. team,” the FIGC said in a statement. nalists. “Tavecchio has decided not to resign Former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss Carlo But FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio will re- and continue with his offi ce. The others haven’t Ancelotti has been touted by the Italian press as main in his position despite pressure on him to taken a position and said they’d decide in the the favourite to replace Ventura, as the 58-year- also resign after a defeat dubbed in the national future. We need credible elections, with new old is free since being sacked by Bayern Munich press as an ‘apocalypse’ for Italy. “The federa- people, we won’t solve the problems of Italian at the end of September. FRIENDLY I want another go at coaching Argentina: Maradona London: Diego Maradona criti- has had an inconsistent start to cised the faltering Argentina his tenure since taking charge team yesterday and appealed in June, winning four of his first Stindl denies France, for another chance at manag- eight games, but only one of ing the national side.