Samba, Haroun Hope to Wow at Home in Season-Opener Team Qatar Athletes Are in Good Form Coming Into the First Diamond League Meet of the Year on Friday

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ATHLETICS / DOHA DIAMOND LEAGUE

Samba, Haroun hope to wow at home in season-opener

Team Qatar athletes are in good form coming into the first Diamond League meet of the year on Friday

He had ﬁnished behind South Af-

By Mikhil Bhat

Doha

rican Wayde van Niekerk and Steven Gardiner of Bahamas. From thereon, Haroun has been on bderrahman Samba had been progressing well through the 400m hurdles heats and semi-ﬁnals at the World an impressive run of results, winning 400m gold and 4x400m relay silver at the Asian Indoor Games in Ashgabat in September, and two golds — 400m and 4x400m — at the Asian Indoors in Tehran in February this year.
“Right now the form is good. I had training camps in Brazil and Turkey. I ran 45.41 in Brazil earlier this month. It’s ok, not a bad timing to build on. I also did 200m in 21.16,” the 21-year-old said. Haroun then had a bit of a hamstring niggle in his right leg. “It tightened up,” he explained. “But it’s ok now. I have moved to the track too now and the feeling is good.”

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Championships in London in August of last year. In the final, running in lane 6 between Norwegian Karsten Warholm and T J Holmes of the US, the 21-yearold had been gaining well when he hit the final hurdle, struggling for balance, before he had to settle for a seventh place finish. Nonetheless, the sport that he is, Samba walked up to Warholm, Turkey’s Yasmani Copello and Kerron Clement of the US after they locked the top three spots respectively to congratulate them.
A motivation for the 2016 Under-20 world champion and 2016 world Indoors silver medallist is also performing in front of the home crowd.

“God always has plans,

I

ﬁrst

thought,” Samba said, on the sidelines of a press conference ahead of the 2018 Doha Diamond League, which takes place on Friday at the Qatar Sports Club stadium. But perhaps, as is with every athlete, Samba played and re-played his performance in his head, and after a few days it hit him. “I could not believe it. I could have been the world champion, which was a dream for me. I had been
“In front of my family and friends, I am looking forward to it. I have a feeling we will do good this season,” he said. “Gold is the target.” Gardiner will be back in Doha to defend his crown, with Botswana’s Isaac Makwala joining the competition. Even as the Diamond League opener is just around the corner, Haroun deﬁ- nitely has next year’s World Championships at home and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo on his mind.

working hard,

I

had many training

camps. It’s not easy,” he said.

“It would be good to get one (gold)

here, especially with the 2019 World

“But that maybe gave me more mo-

tivation to do better at the next oppor- Qatar Athletics Federation secretary-general Mohamed Essa al-Fadala and other oﬀicials pose with Team Qatar athletes Abdalelah Haroun, Abderrahman Samba, Jamal Championships coming to Qatar. There tunity. I hit the last hurdle, and missed Hairane and Mohanad Khamis during a press conference ahead of the Doha Diamond League yesterday. PICTURE: Thajudheen

out on a medal. But I will be ﬁghting for the medal in the future.
“It’s time to forget that and look for- beaten Rio champion Clement by over said. ward.” a second. And coming into this year’s He is priming himself well for what honours in the Diamond League, the is already some amount of nervousness because the work starts now. This

hope I don’t get any injury, stay safe and year we have to work hard, focus on our

In the last year’s edition, Samba had something amazing for me,” Samba Kevin Young’s 1992 mark of 46.78.

“This year, my goal is to ﬁght for healthy, and go step by step.”
A day before Samba’s medal miss dreams, and next year it’s a big chance.
“For 2019 and 2020, the preparations
‘Forward’, for now, is Friday, when opening leg, he already ran a world- seems like a busy schedule up ahead Asian Games and the World Cup. I want in London, fellow Team Qatar athlete and pressure begin now. These are two Samba will be in familiar surroundings, leading time of 47.90 at Potchefstroom this year. “I have been training hard to participate in all the competitions,” Abdalelah Haroun had notched the very important years now.”

gunning to top the season-opening in South Africa, where he was training and I have big dreams (for the future). he said.

country’s ﬁrst medal of the 2017 World

Samba and Haroun are among 16

Diamond League event for the second for almost three months.

World Record in 400m hurdles (per-

The plan for the Asian Games, he said, Championships, a bronze in the 400m Team Qatar athletes that will take part

straight year.

“(Running world leading time) was haps),” Samba referred to American was “for sure the gold medal,” adding, “I event.

in the athletics extravaganza.

Doha all set for Diamond League extravaganza

be 2017 world champion and Diamond League champion Barshim, reigning Olympic, world, European and Diamond League champion Stefanidi, reigning world champion and Olympic silver medallist in the 5,000m and Doha Diamond League record holder in the 3,000m Obiri, two-time Olympic champion, three-time world champion and six-time Diamond League champion Christian Taylor of the USA, reigning Olympic champion Thomas Rohler of Germany, who last year wowed the crowds as he broke the meet record and moved to second on the all-time list with a huge throw of 93.30m. In the men’s 1,500m, 17-year-old rising star George Manangoi of Kenya, who is the Under 18 world champion and talented younger brother of world champion Elijah, could be the one to watch out for. Last year George won the U18 title by over a second, despite having only trained seriously for a little over a year, and this year he has already run a new personal best time of 3:36.20 suggesting a very promising future for the youngster. He will be up against many more experienced athletes including Bethwell Birgen, the 2018 world Indoor bronze medallist also of Kenya, and Abdelaati Iguider of Morocco, the 2012 world Indoor champion, London 2012 bronze medallist and 2015 world bronze medallist.

By Sports Reporter

Doha

nticipation is rising with just five days to go until global superstar athletes go head-to-head in a thrilling Diamond

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League season-opener at Qatar Sports Club on Friday. While the likes of Qatar’s 2017 IAAF World Athlete of the Year Mutaz Barshim, Kenya’s 3,000m world champion Hellen Obiri and Greek pole vault star Katerina Stefanidi are already lined up for the Friday event, further athlete announcements were made yesterday with a thrilling showdown anticipated in the men’s 200m. Reigning world champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey will go up against Olympic silver medallist Andre De Grasse of Canada, 2017 Diamond League champion Noah Lyles of the USA, and world bronze medallist Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago. However, the biggest surprise could come from Omar McLeod of Jamaica, the Olympic and world champion in the 110m hurdles, who will be trying his hand at the 200m in Doha in an intriguing switch. Speaking ahead of the 2018 Doha Diamond League, Qatar Athletics Federation president Dr Thani Abdulrahman al-Kuwari, said, “We are so excited to welcome so many of the world’s biggest athletics stars back to Doha for what promises to be a phenomenal Diamond League opening meeting of the 2018 season. The Doha Diamond League is the only IAAF Diamond League meeting in the Middle East and is one of the most exciting and unmissable sporting events hosted annually in Qatar. It is our ambition to use this event to engage and

Qatar’s high jump icon Mutaz Barshim speaks at the City Center mall event ahead of the 2017 edition of the Doha Diamond League. The press conference and panel session, which is

open to public, will be held this year too.

Reigning 200m world champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey will be at the Doha meet this Friday.

Team Qatar will be represented in the Diamond League by a total of 16 athletes, including Abdellelah Haroun, who is the 2017 world bronze medallist in the 400m, Abderrahman Samba, who recently ran a world leading time of 47.90 in the 400m hurdles, and Ahmed Bader, who is the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games champion in the javelin. inspire our nation through athletics and we are very pleased to be able to give the public this exclusive chance to meet Olympic and World Champions ahead of their competitions. We encourage everyone to come down and not miss out on this unique opportunity.” am at City Center Mall, which will also be open to the public.
Simpson of the USA, who is the reigning 1500m world silver medallist and Olympic bronze medallist, and will be competing in the longer distance of 3000m in Doha, and 200m sprinter Nathaneel Mitchell-Blake from Great Britain, who is the world 4x100m champion and 2013 U20 champion in 200m.
The repeat of last year’s hugely successful press conference will enable the public to be at the centre of the action, hearing from the athletes first hand as well as being able to get

selfies and autographs afterwards.

Al-Kuwari was referring to the press confer-

ence and panel session on Thursday at 11:30
Tickets for the event can be bought online at

https://bit.ly/2GVnHqN.

The event will be hosted by athletes MCs Jenny

Joining them on stage for the panel session will

Gulf Times

2

Monday, April 30, 2018

FOOTBALL

SPOTLIGHT

FOCUS

Ancelotti turns down oﬀer to coach Italy

Celtic rout Rangers to secure another

have been without a permanent coach since November when

Reuters

Milan

Gian Piero Ventura was sacked following their failure to qualify

arlo

Ancelotti

has

for this year’s World Cup in Rus-

sia. Luigi Di Biagio took charge of the team for their friendlies against Argentina and England in March on an interim basis. turned down an oﬀer to coach Italy, leaving Roberto Mancini as fa-

C

vourite for the job, Italian media

reports said yesterday.

Ancelotti,

a

former mid-

The 58-year-old, sacked by Bayern Munich in September, held talks with Italian federation (FIGC) oﬃcials in Rome last Monday, according to reports published in several newspapers

including Corriere dello Sport and Gazzetta dello Sport.

ﬁelder, is one of Europe’s most successful coaches, having won the Champions League with AC Milan and Real Madrid, plus domestic league titles with Chelsea, AC Milan, Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich.

‘The performance was really pleasing, under the pressure

Scottish title

and given the game’

Mancini is currently coach of Russian side Zenit St Petersburg. Former Chelsea, Roma, Juventus, Inter Milan and Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri, now at Ligue 1 club Nantes, was also reported to be in the running but was considered an outsider.
One of the reasons given was that Ancelotti believes he can get a job with a leading European club. The FIGC could not immediately be reached for comment. Italy, currently at an all-time low of 20th in the FIFA rankings,

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Zidane calls on fans to create best atmosphere ever against Bayern

“I don’t know if what hap-

Reuters

Madrid

pened against Juve and Bayern will help us, all I know is we have to produce a massive perform-

ance,” Zidane added.

eal Madrid coach Zin-

edine Zidane called on his club’s supporters to be at their noisiest
“But we’re prepared and we’re determined. We’ll have to play like we never have before this year: we need concentration, determination, commitment, to win battles.
“We need to do everything you can think of in football and give everything to reach our objective which is to reach the ﬁnal.”

Zidane heavily rotated his squad against Leganes in preparation for the game with Bayern, leaving out a host of regular starters including top scorer Ronaldo, captain Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Luka Modric and Marcelo and starting without Toni Kroos and Marco Asensio.

R

against Bayern Munich at the Santiago Bernabeu tomorrow as the Spanish side aim to reach the Champions League final for a third year in a row. Real rode their luck in the Allianz Arena and lead 2-1 in the semi-final tie after grabbing a crucial victory in the first leg and Zidane expects another demanding game from the Bundesliga champions in the return fixture.

“We’re going to have to produce a huge performance so I ask the fans to make more noise than they’ve made in the club’s history because we’re going to need them to get to the ﬁnal,” Zidane told reporters after beating Leganes 2-1 in La Liga on Saturday.

“It’s our game of the year and the supporters know it. We want the fans to be behind us from the ﬁrst minute to the 90th.”

Double Champions League holders Madrid were also ahead of Bayern by the same scoreline in last year’s quarter-ﬁnal but lost the return leg 2-1 at the Bernabeu and needed extra-time to ﬁnally knock the Germans out.

Celtic players celebrate after winning the Scottish Premiership in Glasgow yesterday. (Reuters)

in Glasgow in 2016 - a run made up of nine wins and two draws. The Northern Irishman is also just a Scottish Cup ﬁnal win over Motherwell away from guiding Celtic to an unprecedented second successive domestic treble.
“The performance was really pleasing, under the pressure and given the game,” Rodgers told

Sky Sports.

“You have to play football and today we did the basics really well,” he added. “We were outstanding and could have had more goals...It’s been a brilliant season by the players.” Rangers goalkeeper Jak Alnwick made his Old Firm debut in place of the injured Wes Foderingham.

the wall for Rangers, with Ed-

the player’s action and have

spoken to the club who will deal with the matter internally,” said a Police Scotland spokeswoman.
“There will be no further police action taken.” It was the closest any Celtic player came to getting into trouble all game. Barely had the second half got underway before Rogic made it 4-0 from the edge of the box and McGregor added a ﬁfth goal after he was played in by Edouard. There was still plenty of time left in the game for Celtic to surpass their biggest win over Rangers - a 7-1 success back in 1957 - and the only surprise was that they didn’t add to their tally of goals.
Rangers. The Hoops’ title party started early as they went 3-0 up before half-time.

AFP

Glasgow

ouard opening the scoring in the 14th minute when he turned in a Kieran Tierney cut-back from close range. It looked like Rangers might head into the break just a goal behind but that hope was dashed four minutes before half-time.
Gareth Bale scored the opening goal against Leganes after not playing against Bayern, while Borja Mayoral made the
Odsonne Edouard gave Celtic an early lead before Edouard and James Forrest added two more goals late in the opening period. Two minutes after the break, Tom Rogic made it 4-0 with Callum McGregor scoring Celtic’s fifth goal in the 53rd minute. Defeat did little for Rangers caretaker manager Graeme Murty’s hopes of holding onto his job, amid speculation the Gers are set to appoint Liverpool great Steven Gerrard as their new permanent boss. Rodgers, who was Gerrard’s manager at Liverpool for the latter part of the celebrated midfielder’s Anfield career, is now unbeaten in 11 games against Rangers since he arrived eltic hammered arch Glasgow rivals Rangers 5-0 to secure a seventh successive Scottish ti-

most of

a

rare start by scor-

C

ing the second goal right before halftime. Darko Brasovic pulled one back for Leganes in the second half. tle with an emphatic Old Firm

victory yesterday.

Rangers’ Graham Dorrans

lost possession and Forrest sent Edouard clear into the visitors’ box, where he drove a low shot past Alnwick and into the far corner. And there was still time for Celtic to extend their lead prior to the end of the first half when Forrest struck from 10 yards. During the celebrations for that third goal, Celtic’s Mikael Lustig courted controversy when he stole a policeman’s hat.
“We are disappointed with
This win, achieved in front of their own fans at Celtic Park, gave Brendan Rodgers’ side an unassailable 10-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table over Aberdeen, who can only take a maximum of nine points from their three remaining league games.
Real midfielder Isco returned to training earlier than anticipated yesterday 48 hours before the Champions League semifinal second leg against Bayern Munich.
They also suffered an almighty scare in their last European home game in the quarter-finals falling 3-0 behind to Juventus before
Defender Nacho, who had been out since the start of April with a thigh problem, also took part in the light session.
Rangers are three points further back in third place. Celtic are now just two shy of the record of nine Scottish titles in a row they already share with
Celtic fans, however, were more than happy with a final scoreline of 5-0.

a

last-gasp, disputed penalty

Isco injured

a

shoulder in

Alnwick made

a

couple of

scored by Cristiano Ronaldo sent

them through 4-3 on aggregate. the ﬁrst leg in Munich last

Wednesday.

saves but the writing was on

LA LIGA

Gameiro penalty secures Atletico win at Alaves

Reuters

Madrid

tletico Madrid earned their ﬁrst away win in La Liga for over two months by snatching a 1-0 win at Alaves yesterday thanks to a late penalty con-

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verted by French forward Kevin Gameiro after
Fernando Torres had spurned an earlier spot-kick. Atletico coach Diego Simeone left talisman Antoine Griezmann midfielder Saul Niguez, defender Jose Gimenez and first-choice goalkeeper Jan Oblak at home for the trip to the Basque country to keep them sharp for Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Arsenal, with the tie poised at 1-1. Diego Costa made his first start after over two weeks out with a muscle problem, although Atletico’s most dangerous player was winger Vitolo, who hit the post in the second half and later earned the first penalty which Torres squandered when he was pushed over by Ghana midfielder Mubarak Wakaso. Torres’s shot was beaten away by former Real Madrid goalkeeper Fernando Pacheco in the 71st minute but Atletico were soon awarded another penalty when Wakaso was again penalised, this time for blocking a shot by Torres with his arm. Gameiro had only been on the pitch for 15 minutes and took penalty-taking responsibilities from Torres to break the deadlock in the 78th minute. Atletico’s Argentine winger Angel Correa was sent off deep in stoppage-time for picking up two successive bookings, one for a foul and the other for protesting at the decision. Atletico are second in the standings on 75 points, four ahead of third-placed Real Madrid although they have played one game more and eight behind runaway leaders Barcelona, who will clinch a 25th Liga title if they get a draw or a win at Deportivo La Coruna later.

Atletico Madrid’s French forward Kevin Gameiro (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the La Liga match against Deportivo Alaves at the Mendizorroza stadium in Vitoria yesterday. (AFP)

Gulf Times

3

Monday, April 30, 2018

FOOTBALL

PREMIER LEAGUE

SERIE A

Simeone hat-trick buries Napoli as

Fellaini header condemns Wenger

Juve close in on title

AFP

Milan

alidou Koulibaly was sent oﬀ early as Napoli’s title hopes took a

K

severe knock yesterday with a Giovanni Simeone hattrick giving Fiorentina a shock 3-0 win which allows Juventus to close in on the Serie A title.

to Old Traﬀord loss

With just three games left, Juventus have a four-point lead

Arsenal field weakened side ahead of Europa League match against Atletico Madrid

Reuters

and could wrap up

a

seventh

straight league title next weekend. Koulibaly, the hero who

Manchester

scored the last-gasp header that kept Napoli’s ambitions alive rsene Wenger’s final match at Old Trafford as Arsenal manager ended in defeat as a stoppagewith a 1-0 win over Juventus in Turin last week, was sent off after just eight minutes.