15 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020 sports Guram relishes bout against home country hero Guram Kutateladze is set to meet Cleiton “Predator” at BRAVE CF 35 in Brazil TDT | Manama

uram Kutateladze is weeks away from the Gfight of his life, as the Always going to be BRAVE CF Lightweight contend- er gets ready to take off to Brazil an underdog, the for BRAVE CF 35, where he will hungriest animal, have the chance to dethrone the hungriest lion, Players in action during the match reigning world champion Clei- the hungriest wolf, ton “Predator” in the champ’s the hungriest own backyard on March 28th. warrior, call it Bahrain come up And “The Georgian Viking” is eager to make an impression whatever you want. and get out of Brazil with his I love this challenge, short against Morocco win streak intact and a shiny fighting a Brazilian new world title belt of his own. on his own soil in Through his social media, Ku- Brazil in Arab Cup U20 tateladze has pledged all respect GURAM KUTATELADZE TDT | Manama which features 12 teams in all. for the country of Brazil but Bahrain are in Group B with claimed he was the “hungriest ahrain’s junior national Morocco, Madagascar and fighter” and deserved to walk Abu Dhabi, and then creden- Bfootball football team suf- Djibouti. They dropped to the away with the belt. tialed himself for a title shot fered a 2-4 defeat to Moroc- bottom of their division stand- “Always going to be an under- by brutally knocking out Felipe co yesterday in their opening ings with yesterday’s result, dog, the hungriest animal, the Silva at BRAVE CF 29, in Bahrain. game of the Arab Cup U20, while the Moroccans rose to hungriest lion, the hungriest Now, he faces Cleiton “Pred- being played in Riyadh. first place. wolf, the hungriest warrior, call Guram Kutateladze reacts after a bout (file photo) ator” for the title in the main The Bahrainis fell behind Group A includes Tunisia, it whatever you want. I love this event of BRAVE CF 35, which is 0-2 to their opponents at the Mauritania, Kuwait and Iraq; challenge, fighting a Brazilian worked for it more than anyone, contender by beating two of the fifth trip of the fastest-grow- half but roared back into the Group C features hosts Saudi, on his own soil in Brazil. With I sacrifice more than anyone, I Brazil’s biggest fighters inside ing organization in the world to match to equalise with goals Palestine, Algeria and Egypt; all the respect to Brazilian peo- got a stronger purpose and I got the BRAVE CF roster. He made the spiritual home of MMA, after just seven minutes apart. while Groupd D is comprised ple, but I’m coming for that belt, bigger why”, cried out Guram. his debut and beat Erick “Indio two shows each in Curitiba and But the Moroccans regained of Sudan, Libya, the UAE and I deserve it more than anyone, I The challenger became a top Brabo”, back at BRAVE CF 16, in Belo Horizonte. control and scored twice in Senegal. the final 20 minutes to seal Bahrain are back in action the win. against Madagascar on Thurs- On target for Bahrain were day, after which they play their Sayed Jawad Alawi in the 56th final group game on Sunday minute and Salem Salem from against Djibouti. Only the top RCB rally past Black Feather in CBA Div D the penalty spot in the 63rd. two teams from each group TDT | Manama The game was the first for following a single round-robin both sides in the competition, move on to the quarter-finals. owfal’s all-round perfor- Nmance helped RCB to beat Black Feather by 74 runs in CBA Division D 25 overs League. Langer backs Warner, Smith to RCB won the toss and elected to bat first. Opener Shan scored cope with baiting a quick 48 runs in 27 balls to give a good start to RCB. The middle Reuters | Town in March 2018. order batmen return to pavilion Australia banned with low runs, then the bot - ustralia coach Justin Warner and former Ali - Nelofar Events Noufal - RCB Prasanth - Super Kings tom order batsman Nowfal (60) ALanger believes dis - Smith from taking part in scored a brilliant half century overs (Zeeshan 51, Abbas 5/15) (Ruvinda 44, Kumara 38, Sal- beat RUCT CC155/7 (Faizal 44, graced and domestic and international that helped RCB to put a total of beat Shafiq XI 156/8 (Murtaa 59, man 3/25) beat Santy Excava- Sohaib 2/10) by 73 runs are ready for a matches for a year, though they 223 runs at the end of 25 overs. Zeeshan 2/32) by 3 tion 155/8 (Satheesh 38, Lalith Tornado A 188/8 in 24.5 overs hostile reception from South have since made a successful In the second innings, Nowfal’s Indian Delights 303/3 (Vipin 4/26) by 3 wickets (Nithin 50, Naveen 43, Rishabh African supporters when they return to the team and remain four wickets for 28 runs in his 81, Shyju 50, Shiju 46, Sadakath Hyderabad Boys 165/10 3/36) beat Young Blasters 187/7 play in a three-match Twen- key figures in the line- four overs spell helped RCB to 47) beat Salmaniya Eagles 149/8 (Tohid 34, Ali 3/30) beat Koth- (Thirumal 58, Uzair 34, Athul ty20 International series up. restrict Black Feather for 149 (Mirshad 36, Liju 2/17) by 154 ambawala 42/10 (Naim 12, Sami 4/25) by 2 wickets starting in Johannesburg on Langer says the players, and runs and win the match by 74 runs 5/9) by 123 runs Falcon CC 159/0 in 19.4 overs Friday. the team, have “moved on” runs. Gladiators 149/6 in 22.5 Super Kings 140/7 in 23.4 (Arjun 80, Sujeendran 67) beat The duo were central to from the scandal, but acknowl- RCB 223/10 (Nowfal 60, Shan overs (Anu 43, Akhin 30, overs (Prashanth 55, Deepu 24, Bahrain Hawks 157/8 (Sohail 49, the ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal edges that South African fans 48, Ahsan 3/47) beat Black Majeed 4/29) beat Masters Umar 4/16) beat Jinnah CC137/7 Shubham 33, Harshad 4/23) by where, along with batsman might have not. Feather 149/10 (Shami 33,Now- CC145/8 (Majeed 41, Shuihab (Ateeq 30, Anis 3/26) by 3 wick- 10 wickets Cameron Bancroft, they were “There was a brilliant re - fal 4/28, Pradeep 2/33) by 74 30, Akhin 3/27, Anup 3/30) by 4 ets Nelofar Events 202/5 (Saeed found guilty of conspiring to integration before they came runs wickets Karnataka Strikers 228/4 77, Ali 59, Shiji 3/38) beat Kerala cheat by altering the state of back into the team,” Langer Spartans CC 157/7 in 24.1 AF Bahrain 156/7 in 21 overs (Anil 73, Jilani 47, Osman 37) XI 148/9 (Ravi 48) by 54 runs the ball in a test match in Cape told reporters yesterday.

Du Plessis steps down as South Africa captain in all formats AFP | Johannesburg De Kock led the team in re- The announcement clears team as a batsman and senior tough and other times a lonely cent one-day and Twenty20 the way for De Kock to lead player. road, but I would not replace af du Plessis announced internationals against Eng- South Africa at the T20 Du Plessis captained South the experience for anything, Fyesterday that he was land while Du Plessis was be- World Cup in Australia in Africa in 112 matches across because it has made me the stepping down as South Afri- ing rested. October and November and all formats, including 36 man that I am proud to be to- ca’s cricket captain with im- It was announced last possibly to lead the Test Tests. day.” mediate effect. month that De Kock would team in a two-match series He said his time away from He said the decision to step Du Plessis, 35, said he need- be South Africa’s long-term in the West Indies in July and cricket since the end of the down was one of the toughest ed to take “a step back” from one-day captain but in yes- August. Test series against England decisions he had made but the captaincy in order to help terday’s statement, Du Ples- In a statement issued by last month had given him “a he said he was committed to the emergence of the next sis said he was also relin - , Du Ples- lot of perspective”. supporting De Kock, coach generation of leaders under quishing the Test and T20 sis said he wanted to concen- Du Plessis added, “It has and the rest of plays a shot (file photo) . captaincy. trate on contributing to the been a rewarding, sometimes his team-mates.