FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 2 NNFLFL | Page 4 Leeds stunned Brady leads by Crawley, as Bucs to Chelsea, Man win over City advance Washington Monday, January 11, 2021 JUDO Jumada I 27, 1442 AH Judokas vie for GULF TIMES Olympic spots, glory at Doha Masters SPORT Page 6 DAKAR RALLY Sheikh Joaan takes Covid-19 vaccine Peterhansel extends lead but al-Attiyah in hunt Qatari star is second overall, seven minutes 53 seconds off lead HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani, President of Qatar Olympic Committee, took the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine yesterday. He shared an image on Instagram, saying: “I took my first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine today... Thanks to the Ministry of Health. Thank you for the White Army. We wish all citizens and residents safety and wellness.” TENNIS Zhang upsets ninth seed Donskoy on Day 1 of Australian Open qualifi ers By Sports Reporter Doha Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and his co-driver Matthieu Baumel of France in action during stage seven of the Dakar Rally between Saudi Arabia’s northern cities of Hail and Sakaka yesterday. (AFP) he qualifying rounds of the men’s event of the AFP He added that the race is very In the motorbike category, Baumel (QAT/FRA/Toyota) +2:48 2021 Australian Open Sakaka, Saudi Arabia tight despite Peterhansel’s lead. champion Ricky Brabec took the 5. Jakub Przygonski/Timo began at the Khalifa In- “There’s a long way to go still seventh stage win in a time of Gottschalk (POL/GER/Toyota) Tternational Tennis & Squash yes- in the rally. It’s a tight race, but 4hr 37mins 44sec. +12:00 terday with the event recording atar’s Nasser Saleh al- we will see,” said the Qatari ace, The American, winner of the 6. Yasir Seaidan/Alexey Kuzmich its fi rst upset. Attiyah maintained who also praised his main rival prologue, came in 2mins 07sec (KSA/RUS/Century) +14:43 In one of the most exciting his overall second Peterhansel. clear of Honda’s Chilean rider 7. Cyril Despres/Michael Horn matches of the day, Russian ninth position in the Dakar “It’s very diffi cult to beat Jose Ignacio Cornejo, the new (FRA/SUI/Peugeot) +17:06 seed Evgeny Donskoy crashed to QRally as Toyota’s Saudi driver Stephane but we will do our overall leader. 8. Mathieu Serradori/Fabian Lur- a shocking straight sets 7-5, 6-3 Yazeed al-Rajhi took the mara- best.” But only by one second from quin (FRA/BEL/Century) +17:53 defeat at the hands of Chinese thon seventh stage honours Peterhansel, 55, fi rst com- Toby Price (KTM) with Sam 9. Vladimir Vasilyev/Dmitro World No. 169 Zhizhen Zhang. yesterday, the home hope deny- peted in the Dakar in 1988, the Sunderland, the British 2017 Tsyro (RUS/UKR/Mini) +20:59 Meeting for the fi rst time at ing Stephane Peterhansel, who year leader Ari Vatanen’s Peu- champion, in third at 2min 10. Nani Roma/Alexandre any tournament, the 30-year- Viktor Troicki of Serbia in action during the first round of the Australian nevertheless stretched his lead in geot 405 was infamously stolen 11sec. Winocq (ESP/FRA/Brx) +22:53. old Donskoy, ranked 122, was no Open Men’s qualifiers against Jurij Rodionov (not pictured) of Austria pursuit of his record-extending in Bamako, with a ransom for its Overnight leader Xavier de Overall standings (top 3) match for the 24-year-old Zhang at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex yesterday. 14th title. return demanded. It turned up Soultrait slipped to fourth, 2min 1. Stephane Peterhansel/Ed- who fi red six aces and six winners (Tennis Australia) Mini driver Peterhansel was eventually, but too late for Va- 34sec off the pace. ouard Boulanger (FRA/FRA/ to Donskoy’s two respectively as on target to cross the line fi rst tanen. Brabec is up to eighth, but Mini) 26:36:50 (1min pen) he raced to victory in less than an against Switzerland’s Marc-An- at the end of the arduous 453km Since then Peterhansel has still almost 15mins behind. 2. Nasser al-Attiyah/Matthieu hour on Court 1. drea Huesler, the 27th-seed, who timed special featuring sand made motorsport’s tough- “There’s fi ve days left and Baumel (QAT/FRA/Toyota) +7:53 In another surprising result earlier posted a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win mountains between Ha’il and est test an annual pilgrimage, we’re gonna try just to fi nish in 3. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (ESP/ of the day, India’s Ramkumar against wild-card entrant Akira Sakaka. and with 13 wins on both two the top 7 every day and see if we ESP/Mini) +41:06 Ramanathan, the World No. Santillan of Australia. But al-Rajhi had other ideas, and four wheels he has rightly can make up a little bit of time,” 188, dispatched 10th-seed and Ulises Blanch of the US ac- and with the benefi t of his ex- earned his nickname ‘Monsieur he said. Bikes (top 10) 125-ranked Facundo Bagnis of counted Russia’s Andrey perienced co-driver Dirk Von Dakar’. Botswanan Ross Branch suf- 1. Ricky Brabec (USA/Honda) Argentina 7-6 (6), 7-5 to set up a Kuznetsov in straight sets (6-4, Zitzewitz, an 18-Dakar vet- He now has six podium fi n- fered a spectacular spill from his 4:37:44 penultimate round clash against 6-1) while Serbia’s Viktor Troicki eran, he took command around ishes in seven stages in 2021 Yamaha early in the stage but 2. Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo Chinese Taipei’s Tung-Lin Wu, won 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 against 23rd- 100km out. and will be hoping to get his thankfully escaped uninjured. (CHI/Honda) +2:07 ranked 247, who defeated United seeded Jurij Rodionov of Austria. He secured his fi rst stage win fi rst win of 2021 on the board The seventh stage was com- 3. Skyler Howes (USA/Ktm) +2:19 Kingdom’s Jay Clarke in straight The four-day tournament, in the event since 2015 and his on Monday’s eighth stage which ing to a close as the death was 4. Sam Sunderland (GBR/Ktm) sets 6-2, 6-4. which ends on January 13, fea- Dakar debut with 48sec to spare sees the Dakar travelling circus announced of Hubert Auriol, +2:52 This was the second encounter tures 128 players fi ghting for the over Peterhansel, with Carlos heading west from Sakaka to the the fi rst man to win on both mo- 5. Daniel Sanders (AUS/Ktm) between the 26-year-old Ram- 16 slots available for the qualifi - Sainz third at 1min 15sec. Red Sea resort of Neom. torbikes and cars. +3:14 anathan and the Rosario-born Zhizhen Zhang of China returns ers of the season-opening Grand “We did our best, although He was left ruing not being Auriol, 68, who died after a 6. Xavier De Soultrait (FRA/ Argentine. The last time they to Evgeny Donskoy (not pictured) Slam scheduled for February we suff ered two punctures. We able to infl ict further damage on long battle with heart disease, Husqvarna) +3:57 met at the semi-fi nal stage of the of Russia yesterday. 8-21 in Melbourne. still managed to push hard,” said his closest pursuers for the 2021 went on to manage the Dakar 7. Toby Price (AUS/Ktm) +5:05 2015 US Open qualifi ers, luck was The ticket-free tournament is al-Rajhi. crown. from 1995 to 2004. 8. Luciano Benavides (ARG/ on the side of the 30-year-old 6-4, 6-4 exit of Argentine Marco open to all, and spectators will In fourth came Qatari Nasser “I hit a rock with 40km to go Husqvarna) +5:49 Bagnis as he defeated his younger Trungelliti on Court 6 earlier be allowed in on a fi rst-come, al-Attiyah, who is now 7min and broke a rim,” Peterhansel STAGE 7 RESULTS 9. Joaquim Rodrigues (POR/ opponent in the tie-breaker. yesterday. fi rst-served basis as only 30 per- 53sec behind Peterhansel in the reported. Cars (top 10) Hero) +5:55 Playing on Court 1, tourna- With the win, the 27-year-old cent stadium capacity is allowed overall standings with last year’s “We spent a long time chang- 1. Yazeed al-Rajhi/Dirk Von Zitze- 10. Franco Caimi (ARG/Yamaha) ment’s fi fth seed, Taro Daniel of Florida-resident Daniel, who ex- in line with the essential health champion Sainz over 40 min- ing the wheel, it was quite hard. witz (KSA/GER/Toyota) 4:21:59 +6:46 Japan, staged a comeback to beat ited in the second rounds of last protocols and guidelines occa- utes adrift in third. It’s a pity because we were going 2. Stephane Peterhansel/Ed- Overall standings (top 3) Dominican Republic’s Roberto year’s Australian Open, extended sioned by the prevailing global “We had a fl at tyre that af- quite fast at the intermediate time ouard Boulanger (FRA/FRA/ 1. Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo Cid Subervi 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. Dan- his win-loss stat to 50-79. Covid-19 pandemic. The tourna- fected our chances in the stage checks and we could have put Mini) +00:48 (CHI/Honda) 28:51:31 iel advance to the second round Meanwhile, Elias Ymer of Swe- ment is being overseen by 64 line but we took good care of the care more time into our rivals today, 3.