SPORT Thursday 6 April 2017 PAGE | 25 PAGE | 26 PAGE | 27 Johnson and McIlroy Ibrahimovic saves Talented Qatari start as favourites for United as Leicester aathletes grab the Masters glory down Sunderland spotlight QSL: Lekhwiya to go all out for victory Fawad Hussain The coachch informed that key Lekhwiya's Chico Flores (left) vies for the ball possession QSL STANDINGS AHEAD OF ROUND 25 The Peninsula defender Chicoico Flores will not be with an Al Ahli's player during an earlier match of the Qatar available forr ththee crucialcrucial matchmatch as Stars League in this file photo. ekhwiya may be the front-runners well as for thehe Champions League Pos. Club Matches Win Lose Draw Points to lift the Falcon Shield but the Red game. 1 Lekhwiya 24 18 1 5 59 LKnights' boss Djamel Belmadi is not “We are takingaking it day by day with 2 Al Sadd 24 17 1 6 57 taking anything for granted as they head him at the momentoment with the iinjurynjury 3 Al Rayyan 24 14 5 5 47 for their final two games of the Qatar Stars to his calf,” hee said. 4 El Jaish 24 13 5 6 45 League (QSL). Meanwhile,ile, Al Ahli, who have The top title-contenders will take on just recorded one victorvictoryy from their 5 Al Gharafa 24 11 9 4 37 Al Ahli in their penultimate game of this last five outings,ngs, are lookilookingng to concon-- 6 Umm Salal 24 8 7 9 33 edition at their own backyard today and clude the leaguegue on a high note with 7 Al Kharaitiyat 24 8 12 4 28 Belmadi will not accept any result other their second winwin ofof thethe season over than a win from his team. Lekhwiya. 8 Al Ahli 24 7 11 6 27 They are leading the points table with “This willl be a key game for us, 9 Al Sailiya 24 7 11 6 27 59 points, two points ahead of fired-up we need the threehree points to pull awayaway 10 Al Arabi 24 8 13 3 27 Al Sadd who thrashed champions Al from trouble.. We tend to play well 11 Al Khor 24 6 12 6 24 Rayyan 4-1 in their last game and Bel- against the biggerigger teams in the QSL, madi is aware of the threat. and I hope thatat we have a repeat 12 Al Shahania 24 3 10 11 20 The Lekhwiya coach has warned his performancece againstagainst 13 Muaither SC 24 4 15 5 17 ranks of complacency despite their 5-1 Lekhwiya likee we did in the 14 Al Wakrah 24 2 14 8 14 rout over El Jaish in their previous clash first half of thee season,” AAll as they take on strugglers Al Ahli at Ahli coach YusefYusef AdamAdam Lekhwiya Stadium. said. QSL: WEEK 25 FIXTURES “Maybe we have one hand, but not “We will havehave to be at two hands on the trophy. We have to focus full concentrationation if wewe areare TODAY on our own performance and just con- to get the resultesult we need centrate on the game,” Belmadi told against one ofof the best sides Lekhwiya vs Al Ahli reporters in a pre-match press confer- in Qatar. Wee lost the last At Lekhwiya Stadium (6.20pm.) ence yesterday. game at the veryvery end last Al Sadd vs Al Sailiyah “We have two games left for this sea- time so we hhaveave to be At Al Sadd Stadium (6.20pm.) son, our aim is clear against Al Ahli that focused,” he added. Al Rayyan vs Al Arabi we have to win both games to achieve our Adam wass confidentconfident At Al Sadd Stadium (8.30pm.) target of lifting the league title” said the his team, whichich is cur- Al Gharafa vs El Jaish Algerian coach. rently placedced on Belmadi reposed confidence on Edgar eighth posi-i- At Al Gharafa Stadium (8.30pm.) Da Silva predicting a key role for the new tion, will nott signing who scored on his debut against be pulled TOMORROW El Jaish. into a rele- Al Khor vs Al Shahania “Edgar will have a key role with us in gation At Al Khor Club (6.20pm.) the league and the cup competitions. I hope dog-fight. Al Wakrah vs Umm Salal he will improve game after game, he has “The resultslts are not following the At Al Wakrah Stadium (6.20pm.) shown plenty of desire in training. He performances at the moment, the play-play- made a good impact against El Jaish and ers are doing well and putting plenty Muaither SC vs Al Kharaitiyat he will give us another option towards the of effort in. We areare notnot concernedconcerned At Al Gharafa Stadium (6.20pm.) end of the season.” about being relegated,”elegated,” hehe said.said. QATAR SQUAD Sunrisers Qatar look to excel at ICC World Inam ul Haq (Captain), Mohammed Rizlan (Vice- Captain), Awais Malik, Iqbal Hussain, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammed Nadeem, Kamran Khan, Hyderabad Taimoor Sajjad, Zaheeruddeen Ibrahim, Muhammad Tanveer, Noman Sarwar, Dharmang Hasmukh, win IPL Cricket League qualifiers Muhammad Khadeer. Coach: Abdul Rahman opener Rizwan Rehmat "I would say we have high The Peninsula hopes of Muhammad Tanveer. The Peninsula He could be the key for us. Over- atar's cricket team will all our strength is we have hasing Sunrisers be aiming to top the power-hitters with batting all- Hyderabad’s 207 group and advance to rounders down the order," Cfor 4 wickets, Royal the next stage of com- Ahmed said. Challengers Bangalore Qpetitions when they "Mohammed Rizlan is fell short of 35 runs in the arrive in Thailand for the ICC another player who keeps wick- opening T20 match of IPL World Cricket League Division I ets and can open the batting. He 2017 yesterday. qualifiers later this month. is a very useful hand for us," Half tons by Moises Qatar cricketers and team Ahmed said. "I would say it was Henriques (52) and Yuvraj officials leave for Bangkok on fairly tough for us to see who was Singh (62) propelled Sun- April 16, a week ahead of the April going to be picked who would get risers Hyderabad to a 22-May 1 tournament that has dropped," Ahmed said. formidable total of 207. attracted teams from Saudi Ara- The final practice match for In reply, Royal Chal- bia, Kuwait, Maldives, Bahrain, Qatar will be played at the Asian lengers were all out for Bhutan, Iran, China and Myanmar Town Cricket Stadium, Industrial 172 with two deliveries besides hosts Thailand. Qatar national cricket team players and officials pose for a photograph ahead of their tour Area, with starting time fixed for remaining. to Thailand. 5:00pm, Ahmed informed. For Sunrisers, Rashid The Qatari delegation will be The match is a 50-over-a- Khan took two wickets on headed by Eisa Ali Ghanem, the tournament and advance to the show in Thailand. I am saying that we have prepared really well," he side contest and many cricket debut. Bhuvneshwar Chief Executive Officer of the Division 5." because we have a quality bunch added. board members are expected to Kumar (2 for 27) and Ash- Qatar Cricket Association (QCA). "It is a moment of pride for us of players who have a lot of expe- "I am very confident we will witness the game. ish Nehra (2 for 42) also Manzoor Ahmad, Operations as Qatar has been invited by the rience," Ahmed said yesterday. win our key games and qualify for "Two warm-up matches have shared two wickets each. Manager, will also accompany the International Cricket Council (ICC) "We will be playing our final the next stage of this competition been arranged for Qatar against Brief scores: national squad. to participate in the ICC 2017 practice match on April 9 against which is Division 5," Ahmed said. Thailand (18th April) and Bhutan Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abdul Rahman is the head World Cricket League Division 1 a select XI comprised of players "Among the key players in our (20th April), prior to the start the 207 for 4 (Moises Hen- coach while Mohammad Jahangir qualifier," Ali Ghanem said. from HBKS and Galfar Al Misnad squad is Inam Ul Haq who has tournament," Ahmed said. riques 52, Shikhar will go with the squad as the team “An encouraging performance teams. It will be a good way of experience of playing first-class Dhawan 40, Yuvraj Singh trainer while Shamas will perform of the Qatar National Team may ending our long preparations for cricket in Pakistan. He is a batting 62) his duties as assistant coach. improve the rankings and we’re this tournament," Ahmed told The all-rounder with good credentials QATAR 'S FIXTURES: Royal Challengers Peninsula Ali Ghanem said yesterday: quite optimistic about having a . of leading the side," Ahmed said. April 22: Qatar vs Kuwait Bangalore: 172 in "We have played a number of good showing in the ICC tourna- "As you can see we have final- "Then we have Taimoor Saj- 19.4overs (Chris Gayle 32, April 23: Qatar vs Bhutan practice matches to fine-tune our ment,” he added. ised our squad of 14 players. We jad who is a quality all-rounder. Kedar Jadhav 31, Travis preparations for the upcoming Ahmed said the Qatar squad expect a good fight against Saudi He has been with QCA teams since April 25: Qatar vs Thailand Head 30; Ashish Nehra 2 important event. The players are was a blend of youth and Arabia and Kuwait, two teams his Under-13 days. He has played April 26: Qatar vs Bahrain for 42, Bhuvneshwar fit and look primed to put in their experience.