NNHLHL | Page 5 FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 6 Capitals Politically knock off divided Spain Stars 4-3 in united by El overtime Clasico rivalry Thursday, December 21, 2017 CRICKET Rabia II 3, 1439 AH Chahal claims four GULF TIMES wickets as India see off Lanka in 1st T20 SPORT Page 2 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT PSG to arrive in Qatar head to Kuwait Qatar today for with aim of retaining winter camp Gulf Cup title Senior pros Hassan al-Haidous (L) and Abdelkarim Hassan. Below, coach Sanchez. By Sports Reporter Doha efending champions Qatar will leave for Kuwait today to take part in the 23rd Gulf DCup football tournament be- PSG players training ginning tomorrow. in Qatar during Qatar, who have won the event three their visit last year. times since it began in 1970, will open their campaign with a match against Yemen on Saturday before meeting Iraq on December 26. They play their last Group B match against Bahrain on December 29, hop- ing to qualify for the semi-fi nals where Promising youngsters like Akram tough opposition awaits in the form of Afi f, Ahmed Moein and Mohamed either hosts Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the Muntari also form part of the squad, All Paris Saint-Germain’s players will be participating in the tour, UAE or Oman. coached by Felix Sanchez. With most of the teams focusing on Sanchez has also added Al Shamal which marks a fantastic beginning to the winter football season youth, Qatar have a really good chance forward Ali Fereydoun, while Montari of retaining the trophy with coach Felix is making a comeback to the squad af- Sanchez announcing a balanced side. ter almost a year out due to injury. By Sports Reporter Hassan al-Haidous, Abdelkarim Doha Neymar (R) and Kylian Mbappe, Hassan, Karim Boudiaf and goalkeeper Qatar squad the new additions to PSG, will also Saad al-Sheeb are some of the experi- Saad al-Sheeb, Youssef Hassan, make their first visit to Qatar. enced players in the team. They have Mohamed al-Bakari, Pedro Miguel, aris Saint-Germain players played plenty of international matches Assim Madibo, Akram Afif, Hassan and staff will arrive in Doha over the past three years as part of Qa- al-Haidous, Almoez Ali, Ahmed Yasser, today for their annual mid- tar’s qualifying campaign for the Asian Mohamed Muntari, Hamed al-Abidi, season Qatar Winter Tour Cup and next year’s World Cup in Rus- Ahmed Fathi, Abdelkarim Salem al-Ali, Ptraining camp. sia. Mehdi Ali, Bassam Hisham, Abdullah All Paris Saint-Germain’s play- Although Qatar didn’t make the cut al-Ahrak, Ahmed Moein, Othman al- ers will be participating in the tour, for Russia, the experience of those Yahri, Karim Boudiaf, Ismael Moham- which marks a fantastic beginning to matches will certainly help them tackle ed, Musab Kadir, Abdelkarim Hassan, the winter football season. The Qatar their Gulf rivals. Ali Fereydoun Winter Tour is a great opportunity for Qatari fans to meet and greet the Paris Saint-Germain’s players and for Qa- GULF CUP SCHEDULE tar to promote the country as a global tourism destination. As well as training at the world- class Aspire Zone facilities, several of French club’s players will be able to try spearfi shing which is a popular local sport, enjoy a tour of Msheireb Mu- seums, as well as go on a desert safari to Qatar’s magnifi cent Inland Sea; all man at QTA added, “We are delighted A further aspect of this partnership AZF, said: “This is Paris Saint-Germain organised by Qatar Tourism Authority to be hosting the Paris Saint-Germain aff ords QTA the continuous presence at FC’s fi fth annual winter training at As- (QTA). squad in Qatar once again. We hope the Paris Saint-Germain’s home stadium in pire Zone Foundation, which is a testa- Nasser al-Khelaifi , Chairman and players will enjoy exploring what our Paris where thousands of football fans ment to Aspire Zone’s capabilities to CEO of Paris Saint-Germain, said: “We country has to off er, from state-of-the experience a fl avour of Qatari culture attract and impress elite international are excited to return to Qatar for this art sport facilities to authentic tourist and hospitality through interaction teams year after year. new winter tour, and to benefi t from experiences.” with Qatari cultural and heritage off er- “We provide world-class services training in the country’s warm winter Since 2012, QTA and Paris Saint- ings. and facilities that match, and some- weather, and its remarkable facilities Germain have worked on a strategic “Our partnership with Paris Saint- times even exceed, their expectations. in Aspire Zone. Our team always enjoys partnership to promote Qatar’s sport Germain has been invaluable to our Aspire Zone’s state-of-the-art facili- visiting Qatar, experiencing fi rst hand and leisure tourism off erings. QTA has promotion eff orts, helping us spread ties give it its unique ‘all-in-one-place’ the culture, visiting various sites and hosted several tours for PSG teams, in- understanding of Qatar and its off erings approach, with the training pitches, witnessing the developments in its in- cluding the Qatar Handball Tour 2014 in France and even beyond our tradi- medical facilities, youth development frastructure and off erings since our last and 2015, the Qatar Ladies Tour 2015 tional markets,” continued al-Ibrahim. and hospitality services being found visit.” and the Qatar Winter Tour in 2013 and Meanwhile, Ibrahim al-Hilal, Head under the umbrella of one organisa- Hassan al-Ibrahim, Acting Chair- 2015. of Federations and National Teams at tion.” Gulf Times 2 Thursday, December 21, 2017 CRICKET IND VS SL, 1ST T20 INTERNATIONAL COMMENT Four-day Tests a Sharma hails wrist boost for smaller nations: Streak Reuters spinners aft er India’s Cape Town imbabwe coach Heath Streak is unsure if four- day matches are the fu- ture of Test cricket, but Zsays they will help to level the biggest T20 victory playing fi eld between the so- called bigger nations and the minnows. South Africa host Zimbabwe Chahal returns figures of 4-23, Yadav chips in with two wickets in 93-run win in the fi rst offi cial four-day Test at St George’s Park in Port Eliza- AFP beth on Boxing Day, a fi xture that Cuttack, India will also be played as a day-night “When the two teams aren’t game. ranked that close together, There will be 98 overs in a the game will move that much kipper Rohit Sharma yesterday day, eight more than in fi ve-day quicker, it will be good to watch,” lauded the wrist spinners for their matches, and the follow-on tar- he said. wicket-taking abilities after Yuz- get has been reduced from 200 “What a lot of the so-called vendra Chahal powered India to to 150. bigger teams do (in fi ve-day Stheir biggest Twenty20 win, as the hosts Streak believes the playing matches) is bat the other team outplayed Sri Lanka by 93 runs in the fi rst conditions will force teams to right out of the game because match on Wednesday. take more risks to engineer a re- they know they have the bowlers Chahal returned impressive fi gures of sult, playing into the hands of the to bowl them out twice. 4-23 with his leg-spin to help dismiss underdogs. “So now what I think the big- Sri Lanka for 87, in 16 overs, while chas- “In terms of higher and lower ger teams will do is probably try ing 181 as the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the ranked (teams), it is much harder and score a bit quicker, and give three-match series. to bat a team out (of the game) the lesser team a lot more oppor- Left-arm unorthodox bowler Kuldeep because in doing so you might tunity to get wickets.” Yadav also chipped in with two wickets make it harder to win the Test,” The four-day format has not while paceman Hardik Pandya claimed Streak told reporters. been met with the same enthu- three to fl atten the Sri Lankan batting in “It is a challenge, though the siasm by South Africa captain Faf Cuttack. 98 overs in a day does make it a du Plessis. India’s previous biggest T20 triumph four-and-a-half day Test. It will “I believe some of the great in terms of runs was their 90-run win be interesting and exciting to be Test matches have gone to the over England in the 2012 World Cup part of, hopefully it is something last over on day fi ve and that is group match in Colombo. that does work out for the future what is so special about fi ve-day “Those two guys (Chahal and Kul- of Test cricket.” cricket,” he told reporters re- deep), if you look at their careers over the It is a point backed up by Zim- cently. last few months, they have always been babwe captain Graeme Cremer, “Four-day or fi rst-class crick- a wicket-taking option in the middle,” who feels his side will be in with et does feel a bit easier, whereas Sharma said of the spin duo. a better chance of winning Tests for fi ve days bowlers have to bowl “It’s important to understand what the as it will force opponents to be a lot more and batters have to team expects of them and they’ve deliv- more daring.