ARAB TIMES, SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2021 SPORTS 14

Italian team face Britain’s INEOS Team UK in best-of-seven race Luna Rossa beat American Magic 4-0 in Prada Cup semifinal WELLINGTON, New Zealand, Jan Terry Hutchinson said. “It would have 30, (AP): American Magic’s ill-fated been easy to stop. America’s Cup campaign ended ”It’s obviously disappointing. Saturday not with a bang but with a There’s not a person inside our team whimper, dogged by mechanical fail- that likes losing, so in that you have ure as it lost twice to ’s Luna 135 Type A personalities all pushing Noël gets 1st slalom win Rossa which swept the best-of-seven for the same goal, the same result.” challengers semifinal 4-0. Both Saturday’s races were sailed in The New York Yacht Club team’s light winds - mostly around 10 knots involvement in the regatta might have – and it didn’t seem appropriate that ended two weeks ago when their race such a dramatic campaign should end boat Patriot capsized and came close on such a balmy, sun-soaked afternoon to sinking during a round-robin race on Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf with lei- against Luna Rossa. That Patriot was sure boats and children in racing din- of season on home snow saved, then returned to the race course ghies framing the course. for the semifinal series was a triumph universally applauded by its rivals. But there the comeback ended. SAILING Trailing Luna Rossa 2-0 after two races sailed in boisterous winds on the first day of the semifinal series, with Luna Rossa will now face Britain’s the possibility of another boat-break- INEOS Team UK in the best-of-seven ing accident always present, American race Prada Cup final and the winner of Magic was never in a good position. that series will go on to race defender When Patriot left its base near Team New Zealand in the 36th downtown Auckland on Saturday, America’s Cup match in March. sailing under a giant American flag “We are sniffing revenge on and raucously cheered by family and INEOS,” Luna Rossa helmsman fans, the American team knew unless Francesco Bruni said. “We are very they could win one race Saturday this happy obviously. I’m very proud of was the final day of their campaign. the team because we made some huge It wasn’t to be. Luna Rossa showed steps forward compared to last week- outstanding tactical judgement and end. In five days the boat is completely sailing ability to win the third race by transformed, we are sailing better. The 33 seconds and a cruel mechanical whole team is at a different level.” failure cost American Magic any The British team has held a slight favor- chance of winning the fourth race with itism after winning the Prada Cup round- the series at match point. robin series with an unbeaten record. But “I just have the highest praise for Luna Rossa has made great improvements the whole American Magic team for since that series and showed its versatility what we did to get the boat back out on in the semifinals by winning races at both the water,” American Magic skipper ends of the wind range. Pakistan win by 7 wickets in 1st Test against South Africa KARACHI, Pakistan, Jan 30, (AP): Spinners Nauman Ali and Yasir Shah rattled South Africa to help Pakistan win the first Test by seven wickets inside four days. Nauman, a 34-year-old left-arm spinner making his Test debut, returned 5-35 and Shah took 4-79 to Switzerland’s Noel Von Grueningen speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men’s World Cup slalom, in Chamonix, on Jan 30. (Inset): Noel cel- dismiss South Africa for 245 in the ebrates on the podium after winning an alpine ski, men’s World Cup slalom. (AP) second innings before lunch on day four.

Gut-Behrami speeds to third straight super-G victory CRICKET

CHAMONIX, France, Jan Feller, who previously led the slalom The Canadian, wearing bib No. 29, It set up a small target of 88 and standings, failed to finish for a second bumped Sofia Goggia off the podium. despite Anrich Nortje’s (2-24) twin 30, (AP): Clément Noël got straight race. Feller earned his first The Italian, who is on a four-race win- strike in one over, Pakistan reached his first World Cup win in career win in Flachau two weeks ago ning streak in downhill, finished 90-3 before tea in 22.5 overs. Pakistan’s Abid Ali is bowled by a year on Saturday, tri- but has recorded a 17th place and two fourth, ahead of ’s Christine Azhar Ali remained unbeaten on 31 South Africa’s Anrich Nortje during DNFs since. Scheyer and Olympic super-G cham- while Fawad Alam raised the victory the fourth day of the first cricket umphing in the penulti- Overall World Cup leader Alexis pion Ester Ledecka. with a boundary off left-arm spinner Test match between Pakistan and mate slalom before the Pinturault finished 0.89 behind in Gut-Behrami was seven-hundredths Keshav Maharaj. South Africa at the National eighth. Schwarz climbed to second of a second behind Lie at the first split It was only Pakistan’s fifth victory Stadium, in Karachi, Pakistan, on world championships. Jan 29. (AP) The French skier won three slaloms place in the standings, trailing the but charged down the Kandahar in 27 Test matches against South Frenchman by 266 points. course, sticking to the ideal race line in Africa, which had won at the same in each of the last two seasons but had Maharaj had Babar (30) trapped leg been waiting for another victory since a clean run. venue when it last toured in 2007. prevailing in Chamonix in February. Gut-Behrami previously won three Nauman and Shah shared 14 wick- before wicket when only two needed Returning to the same course SKIING consecutive World Cup super-G ets in the match as South African bats- for victory. Saturday, Noël improved from third events in the 2016-17 season, when men struggled against spinners in both Pakistan had been in control since position after the opening leg as the she was the defending overall cham- innings. taking a 158-run first-innings lead, top two lost time in similar mistakes , who won the pion. The win also earned Babar Azam when its lower order rallied from 27-4 halfway through their final runs. slalom season title for a second time She has won silver and bronze in success in his first Test as Pakistan to reach 378, helped by Alam’s gritty On a course softened by persistent last year, continued his disappoint- super-G at previous world champion- skipper. Babar was due to lead the side century. rain, first-run leader Marco Schwarz ing campaign, skiing out after a few ships but is lacking a gold medal. in the last series in New Zealand but South Africa resumed Friday on dropped to third, 0.19 seconds behind seconds into his opening run as the Several racers were sitting out the missed it because of a fractured thumb. 187-4 and things immediately got worse Noël, while Ramon Zenhäusern Norwegian straddled the second races in Germany in order to prepare Nortje clean bowled Abid Ali (10) for the tourists when fast bowler Hasan remained in second and trailed by The winner, Switzerland’s Lara gate. for the worlds in Italy, most notably and then had Imran Butt (12), playing Ali bowled night-watchman Maharaj 0.16. Gut-Behrami celebrates on podium Another slalom is scheduled for Mikaela Shiffrin and Michelle Gisin. his first Test, caught behind before with the first delivery of day four. Schwarz had been fastest in a tight reacts after completing an alpine Sunday. opening run, leading Zenhäusern by ski, women’s World Cup super-G In Germany, Lara Gut-Behrami 0.02 and Noël by 0.03. race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, won her third straight World Cup Casey eagles 18th for 64, leads by 1 at Dubai Desert Classic Zenhäusern’s Swiss team-mate Germany, on Jan 30. (AP) super-G on Saturday, 10 days before posted the fastest time in the world championship race in the DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan before finishing birdie-eagle for the because there are always errors,” the the final run and climbed from 29th iconic venues in Wengen and discipline. 30, (AP): Paul Casey hit a 3-iron to 10 low round of the day that lifted him 43-year-old Casey said of his round, position to fourth. Kitzbühel the following year. The Swiss skier confirmed her dom- feet and holed the eagle putt to com- “but it was very controlled. I’ve said The result marked Noël’s seventh Schwarz, who leads the discipline inance with another clear victory, a plete a bogey-free 8-under 64 in the many times this week I’m enjoying career win in his fifth season on the standings ahead of Sebastian Foss- week after she won her home race in third round of the Dubai Desert Classic GOLF my golf and that was an example World Cup tour. Solevåg of Norway, was on the podi- Crans Montana by 0.93 seconds. on Saturday, giving the Englishman a today.” The French slalom specialist had his um in seven of this season’s eight sla- On Saturday, Norway’s Kajsa one-stroke lead as he seeks a 15th win And nowhere was that more evident breakthrough when he claimed gold at loms and remained the only skier to Vickhoff Lie trailed by 0.68 in second on the European Tour. above Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre than on the approach to the par-5 18th the junior worlds in 2018, and he have won more than once. and Marie-Michele Gagnon came 0.93 Casey made four birdies in his first (67) onto 15 under par overall. hole, which Casey called “one of the started winning on the top level at the His Austrian teammate Manuel behind in third. seven holes at Emirates Golf Club “You can never say it was flawless, iconic shots in golf.”