CRICKET | Page 9 FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 11 Late double ‘Qatar is my strike keeps second home, To Advertise here New Zealand I want to be Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 on course there in 2022’ Wednesday, August 10, 2016 Dhul-Qa’da 7, 1437 AH SPOTLIGHT Australia clinch TIMES inaugural women’s sevens gold Page 5 FOCUS Medals tally Country G S B T 1. United States 5 7 8 20 Have faith, it’s getting cleaner, says Bolt 2. China 5 3 5 13 3. Australia 4 0 4 8 4. Italy 3 4 2 9 Reuters back in action after two doping bans. and it would be better for my sport if it 5. Japan 3 0 8 11 Rio de Janeiro Asked if fans could believe they were is clean.” watching a clean race when the two, if The Jamaican superstar, who turns 6. Hungary 3 0 0 3 all goes to plan, face off in the 100 me- 30 later this month, confi rmed that this sain Bolt waltzed in to sprin- tres fi nal next Sunday, Bolt was a touch would be his fi nal Olympics but said the 7. Russia 2 5 3 10 kle a bucket of stardust over more diplomatic. lure of the big championships remained 8. South Korea 2 2 1 5 Rio on Monday, and while “In life nothing is guaranteed,” he strong and in the fi nal weeks of build-up, 9. France 2 2 0 4 there were Samba smiles and said. “But I never worry about drugs. he really felt focused on the tasks ahead. Udancing girls, the biggest name at the That’s for WADA, the IAAF and the He has certainly had some work to do 10. Thailand 2 1 1 4 Olympics could not escape the ever- IOC. I go out and compete and wow the as, having missed the 200 metres in the 11. Great Britain 1 1 2 4 present spectre of doping. crowd and entertain people.” Jamaican qualifi ers because of a ham- 12. Brazil 1 1 0 2 Bolt is seeking to secure a “triple- He did say, however, that he support- string strain, he found himself lagging triple” in the 100 metres, 200 metres ed the governing body’s decision to ban behind where he wanted to be in his 12. Germany 1 1 0 2 and 4x100m relay and was his usual Russian track and fi eld athletes because preparations. 12. Sweden 1 1 0 2 show-stopping self as top billing in an of the country’s extensive state-spon- He did manage to fi t in a 200 metres 15. Chinese Taipei 1 0 2 3 eye-catching Jamaican team news con- sored doping. at the London Diamond League three ference at Barra’s massive Cicada des weeks ago but though he won in 19.89 16. Belgium 1 0 1 2 Arts theatre. MAKING A STATEMENT seconds, it was hardly a smooth per- 17. Argentina 1 0 0 1 But he also had to face up to ques- “I think they want to make a statement formance. tions about how and why fans could and that’s why they really need to show “I really want to run under 19 sec- 17. Colombia 1 0 0 1 have any faith in athletics after the bat- 4x100m golds at the last two Olympics. and I look forward to that.” people that if you cheat this is what’s onds, that’s my focus. It will be a little 17. Croatia 1 0 0 1 tering it has taken on the doping front “We are weeding out the bad ones Last year, Bolt edged out American going to happen,” Bolt told Reuters. bit hard because I missed out on a few 17. Kosovo 1 0 0 1 in the last 18 months. and I personally think we are on the Justin Gatlin to win the world champi- “So, for me, if making a statement is weeks of training, but you never know,” “I think we are going in the right right track. We have had to go through onship 100 metres fi nal in a race widely going to help the sport, then I will sup- said the man who set the world record 17. Netherlands 1 0 0 1 direction. People should have faith,” a rough time before the good times. But billed as “good v evil”, with the Jamai- port it because this is what I do. This is of 19.19 in 2009. “Going through the 17. Vietnam 1 0 0 1 said Bolt, who won 100m, 200m and in a few years, the sport should be clean can ‘saving’ the sport from an athlete my sport and I really enjoy competing, rounds of the 100 always helps my 200.” HANDBALL STAR OF THE DAY Qatar fall short Sukanya Srisurat of Thailand Sukanya Srisurat lifted an Olympic record 110kg in the snatch and 130kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 240kg, comfortably beating compatriot Pimsiri Sirikaew to in World C’ship first place in the women’s 58kg weightlift- ing contest. She broke the previous snatch record set by China’s Li Xueying at London After close first half, 2012 by 2kg. “I practised so hard. This is my first Olym- France win 35-20 pic Games and I’m really delighted,” the rematch 21-year-old said. She was one of seven young Thai weight- lifters found to have violated anti-doping rules during youth and junior weightlifting championships five years ago. “I felt so sad when I was banned but I never gave up to get back and now every- thing has been repaid,” she said following her triumph in Rio. Qatar’s Nasreddine Megdich (right) challenges France’s Nikola Karabatic during the men’s preliminary round Group A handball match at the Future Arena in Rio de Janeiro yesterday. (AFP) rance opened round two of the rabatic (3:3), after which Qatar’s Hassan his fi rst time-out of the match. The 2016 Olympic Games men’s Mabrouk was sent off for two minutes. Asian champions could not decrease handball competition with a During his time on the bench, France the score line and as the last 10 min- 35:20 victory against their 2015 moved ahead to hold a 6:4 advantage af- utes of the half began Nikola Karabatic FWorld Championship fi nal opponents ter 10 minutes, before Qatar came back added his second goal to take the score Qatar yesterday. to level the score at 6:6 by the 13th. to 12:9. Excitement was palpable, especially France maintained a steady one to With Qatar’s Zarko Markovic out on after a close January 2015 fi nal in Qa- two-goal advantage as Michael Guigou a suspension, France kept their three- tar. scored a penalty against Danijel Saric goal lead thanks to Luc Abalo as the The fi rst half yesterday delivered on to earn France a two-goal lead at 9:7 buzzer for the half-time break sound- those expectations, but in the second just after the 15-minute mark, before ed, and when the match resumed period France stormed home to the fi - Marko Bagaric responded and the dif- France really began to open up the ad- nal whistle keeping Qatar to only seven ference returned to one (8:9). vantage. With 15 minutes left on the goals in those 30 minutes. That was the closest Qatar would clock the reigning Olympic champions The opening of the game was level come to a victory, however, and when had created a 25:16 lead, and the two as Thierry Omeyer made a save in the France reached an 11:8 advantage in points were clearly safe in the hands of eighth converted to a goal by Nikola Ka- the 19th, coach Valero Rivera called Les Experts. (IHF) Qatar in BOXING: Men’s 64kg: Thulasi Tharumalingam BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Men’s Pool F: Qatar vs action today (QAT) vs Chinzorig Baatarsukh (MON) Austria Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, August 10, 2016 WEIGHTLIFTING Thailand’s women leave men in shade with 58kg one-two Reuters contest on Monday. Sukanya Srisurat won from so these girls are like my own children. I would families and they all work hard.” Rio de Janeiro Pimsiri Sirikaew, with Kuo Hsing-Chun of Tai- never do anything to harm them. They have all TAWA is backed by the national electricity wan taking the bronze. been tested many times before coming to Rio.” authority for 16mn baht (less than $500,000) a Both medallists attributed Thailand’s suc- Srisurat’s doping off ence was caused by her year for the four-year Olympic cycle. hailand’s women weightlifters have cess to Boossaba Yodbangtoey, the president club, Boossaba said, not the national associa- “We don’t have government support,” said made it two golds and one silver from of the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association tion. Srisurat was one of seven Thai teenagers Boossaba. “The power authority is our main three attempts. (TAWA) whose husband, Intarat, is vice-pres- who tested positive at youth events in 2011. sponsor and we have other supporters from the They have been helped by the ex- ident of Thailand’s Olympic committee and of There have been no positives since then. private sector.” Tclusion of doping cheats from other countries, the International Weightlifting Federation. Thailand has won fi ve gold medals in weight- The state does provide Olympic medallists but the driving force behind their success is a Srisurat had tested positive at a youth event lifting, all by women.