SPORTS TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2013

Chamakh, Toure score in England, double for Diouf in Germany

PARIS: In-form Marouane Chamakh scored his penalty spot. and came close twice to hitting the net. European league without a win this season. third goal in three games for Crystal Palace before they lost 2-1 to Chelsea, while Yaya Toure was inspi- Ahmed Elmohamady (Hull City) Brahima M’baye (Livorno) Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang rational in Manchester City’s 6-3 demolition of Egyptian winger Elmohamady came as close as Senegalese M’Baye has had a mixed (Borussia Dortmund) league leaders Arsenal. Salomon Kalou and Jean- anyone to breaking the deadlock in his side’s 0-0 first season in so far for promoted Livorno, The Gabon left winger scored his ninth goal of Daniel Akpa Akpro were both on the scorecard in draw at home to Stoke City. He had a dipping half- and the trend continued for the 19-year-old-on- the season as Borussia Dortmund fought back from France, while in Germany Mame Diouf scored two volley tipped over the crossbar by visiting goal- loan from -in a 2-0 defeat to old rivals two-goals down to draw 2-2 at Hoffenheim. goals in the last five minutes to rescue a 3-3 draw keeper Asmir Begovic in the first half and also saw Lazio. Faced with an uphill climb for the second Dortmund pulled a goal back just before the break for Hanover at home to Nuremburg. the Bosnian international push away a second-half half, Livorno coach made double when Hoffenheim goalkeeper Jens Grahl failed to header. substition immediately after the restart, with deal with a corner and Robert Lewandowski ENGLAND M’Baye replaced by Nahuel Valentini. stabbed the ball towards the empty net for Yaya Toure (Manchester City) Sebastien Bassong (Norwich City) Aubameyang to tap it home. Toure was a key driving force as City overpow- Norwich centre-back Bassong was involved in FRANCE ered Arsenal 6-3 at the Etihad Stadium to close to an unfortunate incident during his side’s 1-1 draw Salomon Kalou (Lille) SPAIN within three points of the leaders. with Swansea City that left opposition winger The former Chelsea striker broke his eight Youssek El-Arabi, Yacine Brahimi (Granada) The powerful Ivorian was at fault as Theo Walcott Nathan Dyer with a suspected fractured ankle. match scoring drought with two goals in five first- El-Arabi produced a contender for miss of the scored a first-half equaliser for Arsenal after tamely Dyer’s ankle buckled following an aerial challenge half minutes to help Lille defeat Bastia 2-1. The season as he somehow contrived to strike the post conceding possession in midfield, but he atoned with the Cameroon international on the halfway Ivory Coast man who is set to head to the World from close range when presented with an open by helping to tee up a goal for Alvaro Negredo. He line and he was stretchered off before being taken Cup next June gave Lille the firepower to solidy goal from Brahimi’s pass in Granada’s 2-0 win at also claimed City’s sixth goal from the penalty spot to hospital. their third place in Ligue 1 which lifts them back to Rayo Vallecano on Saturday. Luckily for the after Wojciech Szczesny tripped James Milner. within four points of leaders Paris Saint-Germain. Moroccan, his blushes were spared as Fran Rico put ITALY the Andalusians ahead shortly afterwards before Marouane Chamakh (Crystal Palace) Saphir Taider (Inter) Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro (Toulouse) Brahimi teed up Riki to seal the points two minutes Chamakh scored his third goal in three games Taider was back in Inter’s starting line-up for a The 21-year-old right back scored a 77th minute from time. for Palace at Chelsea, converting Joel Ward’s left- trip to Napoli which became more urgent after winner for Toulouse as they surprised fifth placed wing cross with a deft volley in the 29th minute to Fiorentina dislodged the Nerazzurri from fourth Nantes in Brittany. The French-born Ivory Coast Nabil El-Zhar (Levante) cancel out Fernando Torres’s opener. The Moroccan place earlier in the day. The Algerian, however, defender helped his side climb to 10th spot in Moroccan winger El-Zhar helped Levante come striker has won praise from new Palace manager made little serious impact in a busy first half which Ligue 1 and in the hunt for European places with a from behind to beat Elche 2-1 Tony Pulis, but he finished on the losing side in a 2- saw Napoli take a 3-2 lead at the interval. Inter goal that gave Toulouse a valuable 2-1 win. on Friday as he provided the cross for the first of 1 defeat after Ramires restored Chelsea’s lead. coach Walter Mazzarri replaced Taider on the hour striker David Barral’s two goals as they snapped a mark with Mateo Kovacic to no avail as Napoli GERMANY four-game losing streak. Steven Pienaar (Everton) scored a fourth. Mame Diouf (Hanover 96) South African midfielder Pienaar claimed two The Senegal striker scored two goals in five min- Alex Song (Barcelona) assists as Everton beat Fulham 4-1 to strengthen Kwadwo Asamoah (Juventus) utes just before the final whistle to rescue a point Song started for just the sixth time in the league their claim to a top-four place. He teed up Leon On their first match since a Champions League as Hanover 96 came from three-goals down to this season in Barca’s 2-1 win over Villarreal on Osman for Everton’s opener in the 18th minute and exit in midweek, Juve put four unanswered goals draw 3-3 at home with Nuremberg on Saturday. Saturday. The Cameroonian played for just over an then cut the ball back for Seamus Coleman to past struggling new boys Sassuolo, and Asamoah Diouf netted the 92nd-minute equaliser as hour before being replaced by Xavi as the Catalans restore the Toffees’ lead with 17 minutes remaining should have had his name on the scoresheet. The Hanover scored three goals in the last half an hour went in search of a winner with the score at the after Dimitar Berbatov had equalised from the Ghanaian played a deeper forward role than usual to leave Nuremberg as the only team in a major time tied at 1-1. — AFP Penner’s late goal lifts Ducks past Oilers, 3-2

ANAHEIM: Dustin Penner scored the game-winning goal late in the third period as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Edmonton Oilers 3-2. Penner, with an assist from Ryan Getzlaf, delivered with 3:17 remaining in the game. For Getzlaf, it was the 14th consecutive contest in which he recorded a point. Anaheim right winger Corey Perry had his string of seven straight games with a goal snapped, but that mattered little to the Ducks, who extended their unbeaten run in regulation at home to a franchise- best 13-0-2. The Ducks (23-7-5) remain the Khaled Al-Mudhaf lone club without a home loss in regula- tion. They also defeated the Oilers (11-21-3) for the fifth consecutive time and 10th in Al-Mudhaf in Gulf 12hr the past 11 meetings. with McLaren 12C GT3 Blackhawks 3, Kings 1 Marian Hossa, Kris Versteeg and Patrick Test of endurance for Kuwait’s Khaled Sharp scored goals, while goalie Antti NEW YORK: Carl Hagelin #62 of the New York Rangers tries to carry the puck up ice against Kris Raanta stopped 21 shots as the Chicago Russell #4 of the Calgary Flames at Madison Square Garden on Sunday in New York City. — AFP Blackhawks defeated the Los Angeles Kings Kuwait’s most prominent racing driver, ing the first hour of the race. 3-1. With the win, Chicago improved to 24- Khaled Al-Mudhaf had a most challenging Jordon Grogor took the start of the race 7-5. The victory also moved Chicago coach and testing time in the Gulf 12hr at 9:30am and swapped over to Khaled Joel Quenneville into a tie with Pat Quinn NHL results/standings Endurance race that saw several technical after one hour. Khaled took over as car was (684) for fourth place on the NHL’s all-time and mechanical challenges for the drivers running in 7th place overall. He completed coaches win list. Scotty Bowman, now a Washington 5, Philadelphia 4 (So); Tampa Bay 3, Detroit 0; Florida 2, Montreal 1; NY Rangers 4, Calgary and crew in the first few hours. Racing the 24 laps in the car during his first stint, and special assistant for the Blackhawks, holds 3 (SO); Chicago 3, Los Angeles 1; Anaheim 3, Edmonton 2. McLaren 12c GT3 carbon chassis 3.8ltr V6 had some close battles with the top run- the record with 1,244 wins, followed by Al twin turbo was a first for Khaled and ning GT3 cars trying to make some way up Arbour (782) and Dick Irvin (692). Western Conference Eastern Conference Mohammed. A technical masterpiece in its the grid. Pacific Division Atlantic Division W L OTL GF GA PTS Boston 22 9 2 92 70 46 own right this high tech race car was intro- Rangers 4, Flames 3 (shootout) Anaheim 23 7 5 111 89 51 Montreal 20 12 3 88 75 43 duced to the racing world only in 2012, it Khaled’s pit stop Benoit Pouliot scored the game-winning utilizes some of the latest technology during the race Los Angeles 22 8 4 94 68 48 Tampa Bay 19 11 3 90 80 41 goal in a seven-round shootout to lead the San Jose 20 7 6 108 82 46 Detroit 15 11 9 89 94 39 derived from the McLaren F1 team. “After an hour in the car, I was done, New York Rangers to a win over the Calgary said Khaled. It is so tough I don’t mind Vancouver 20 10 5 98 83 45 Toronto 17 14 3 97 99 37 The three Dragon Racing drivers each Flames. Derek Stepan, Carl Hagelin and took a qualifying session of 20 minutes in admitting I was totally drained, the heat Phoenix 18 9 5 104 100 41 Ottawa 13 15 6 96 111 32 Chris Kreider scored in regulation for New the grueling 35∞c heat, but Khaled’s ses- inside that car was torture by the end, it Calgary 13 15 5 86 106 31 Florida 12 17 5 78 109 29 York, who ended a four-game losing streak. sion was cut short after just 5 laps with a was about 65∞c inside the cockpit and I Edmonton 11 21 3 93 120 25 Buffalo 7 23 3 55 96 17 Goalie Henrik Lundqvist stopped 18 of 21 loss of power. think I must have lost 3 kilos in sweat. I was Central Division Metropolitan Division shots. Pittsburgh 23 10 1 105 74 47 “I was on a fast lap after scrubbing in very comfortable with the car and I was Chicago 24 7 5 135 101 53 Washington 18 12 3 105 97 39 new tires, and while on the back straight setting good lap times, but after an hour at Mikael Backlund, Curtis Glencross and St. Louis 22 6 3 110 73 47 Sean Monahan scored during regulation Colorado 21 9 1 88 73 43 Carolina 14 13 7 79 94 35 on full throttle I lost all power, it felt like I this pace, I couldn’t do more, I was glad to NY Rangers 16 17 1 76 91 33 time for Calgary, who fell to 13-15-5. Karri Minnesota 19 11 5 81 81 43 had run out of fuel so I had to pull over handover to Mohammed,” commented Columbus 14 15 4 85 92 32 Ramo made 20 saves for the Flames. Dallas 15 11 5 90 93 35 and stop. I had to be towed back to the Khaled after his stint. Philadelphia 14 15 4 76 91 32 pits and later we found it was an electronic The car had a refuel and new tires, Nashville 16 14 3 77 92 35 Capitals 5, Flyers 4 (shootout) New Jersey 13 15 6 78 85 32 problem. I’m a little frustrated as I didn’t ready for Mohammed Jawa to take his first Winnipeg 14 15 5 90 100 33 NY Islanders 9 19 6 83 118 24 get a chance to get a good fast lap time in stint in the car. Immediately as he joined Alex Ovechkin scored his league-leading 27th goal with 48 seconds remaining in Note: Overtime losses (OTL) are worth one point in the standings and are not included in the loss col- to help our team average in the final quali- the track and on his first outlap, disaster umn (L). fying, it was close against the clock to get struck as the car lost all drive. Mohammed regulation to send the game into overtime the repair done but I’m glad it was ready in had to be towed back to the pit garage for and Nicklas Backstrom netted the game- time for Mohammed Jawa to get out and inspection of the car. It was later found to winner in the shootout, leading the set some laps too. Our grid position is be a drivetrain failure which could not be Capitals to victory. San Lorenzo clinch determined by the average of all three repaired in time for the remainder of that The Caps (18-12-3) fell behind 4-1 in the drivers best time, so we managed to quali- part of the race. The team then had the dif- third period, but responded with long- fy in 14th,” commented Khaled after quali- ficult decision to retire completely from range goals by defensemen Mike Green fying. the remainder of the race. and Dmitry Orlov, setting the stage for Argentine title “I’m obviously disappointed for the Ovechkin’s equalizer. Claude Giroux, Mark Team work team, they tried so hard to fix the issue but Streit, Jakub Voracek and Sean Couturier BUENOS AIRES: San Lorenzo won the Argentine clash at the Marcelo Bielsa stadium, Newell’s looked set Endurance racing is all about team sometimes these things cannot be solved scored for the Flyers (14-15-4). league title on Sunday with a 0-0 draw at Velez to take the title race to a playoff against San Lorenzo on work, and communication between drivers and also I feel bad for Mohammed because Sarsfield as outgoing champions Newell’s Old Boys Wednesday before substitute Jorge Pereyra Diaz head- and the pit crew is crucial. Any small prob- he didn’t get to enjoy the race, yesterday I Lightning 3, Red Wings 0 were held 2-2 in Rosario. The Saints, coached by former ed Lanus’s equaliser 15 minutes from time. lem can become a crucial element in the had an technical issue and today he had a Ben Bishop made 28 saves to register his Barcelona and Spain striker Juan Antonio Pizzi, topped Newell’s, who won the Final championship under overall performance of the entire team, technical problem, its just one of the sixth career shutout, and the Tampa Bay the Inicial championship with 33 points from 19 match- Gerardo Martino last season, failed to win any of their each driver relaying on the others to keep things you have to accept in this sport, it’s Lightning beat the Detroit Red Wings. Tyler es, two more than Velez, Newell’s and Lanus. last eight matches and garnered only five points during the pace and look after the car. Tire man- no ones fault, that’s racing as they say, but Johnson, J.T. Brown and Alex Killorn scored It was San Lorenzo’s 12th league title in the profes- the slump. They managed to take the race down to the agement is always challenging and with I want to mention a big thanks to the pit third-period goals for Tampa Bay (19-11-3). sional era and first since the 2007 Clausura champi- wire because of the inconsistency of their challengers. the mandatory Avon ZR5, the drivers crew for stripping the car and battling for Petr Mrazek stopped 24 shots for Detroit onship. “We were one of the teams that most tried to All four goals came in an absorbing second half on found it a difficult option to manage. over 4hours to find a solution.” comment- (15-11-9), who lost their fifth in a row and play (good football) and among those that did it best,” Sunday, with good football from both Newell’s and “Tires are so crucial in endurance racing ed Khaled after the race. fell to 5-8-6 at home. said forward Ignacio Piatti, San Lorenzo’s top scorer Lanus, who won the regional Copa Sudamericana on and managing them in this extreme hot The sister Dragon Racing Ferrari 458 with eight goals. Wednesday. Midfielder Pablo Perez put the home side “We deserved this, the Cup and all,” he added refer- ahead in the 54th minute when he found a small gap environment is not an easy task, but it’s GT3 also has a few surprises during its race Panthers 2, Canadiens 1 ring to qualifying for next year’s Libertadores Cup, between goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin and the post. the same for everyone. Just when I start to and finally enjoyed taking the chequered Florida Panthers right winger Jesse get comfortable in the car and get in some flag in 10th place in GT3 class. South America’s top club tournament. “We won a very A minute later, Lanus centre back Paolo Goltz Winchester and Nick Bjugstad scored goals even tournament of a very high standard... leaving the equalised with a header from a free kick, though video fast laps suddenly I have to go into tire “We have to take the positives from the 2:27 apart in the second period, goalie two biggest clubs with the two top coaches by the replays suggested he had strayed into an offside posi- saving mode, it’s not flat out sprint racing race and apply it to our next big challenge Scott Clemmensen made 17 saves, and the wayside,” said Pizzi, referring to Boca Juniors and River tion. Newell’s went ahead again with an own goal from style like I’m used to although we are try- for Dubai 24hrs next month when we will Panthers extended their winning streak to Plate. San Lorenzo made hard work of getting over the defender Carlos Izquierdoz. Milton Casco’s angled shot ing to go fast we are at the same time try- all be racing the Dragon Racing Ferrari 458 three games. Montreal (20-12-3) left winger line with two scoreless draws in their last two matches. looked off target but the ball hit Izquierdoz full in the ing to save and protect the tires too by GT3, a new car for me and a fresh chal- Alex Galchenyuk scored a power-play goal A home win over Estudiantes two weeks ago would chest and went in. being gentle on the car. And then the tires lenge. I want to also congratulate the Team 2:28 into the third period to spoil have settled the championship. There was time for more drama and Pereyra Diaz start to drop in grip level by the end of an Abu Dhabi Black Falcon Racing team for Clemmensen’s bid for his first shutout in On Sunday, they were indebted to goalkeeper headed home at the near post to make it 2-2, sparking hours racing and the car it gets a bit their impressive win. over two years. The Panthers (12-17-5) have Sebastian Torrico for two brilliant saves that kept them celebrations by San Lorenzo fans in the capital as the twitchy to drive,” commented Khaled dur- won five of six. — Reuters in the match at Velez’s Fortin ground. In an exciting news came through. — Reuters