14 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2018 sports

KHK MMA fight team ready for Brave 17 Wang downs Svitolina, TDT | Manama

HK MMA Fight Team will Kfeature three athletes in Muguruza to reach final the first ever International Mixed Martial Arts event to AFP | Hong Kong The 26-year-old Chinese was take place in Pakistan. serving for the match at 5-2 in The fight team found by hina’a number one Wang the second set when the heav- HH Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Qiang staged an out - ens opened Friday evening. Al Khalifa is also preparing Cstanding comeback yes- Svitolina is still in the running to compete in the 2018 Uni- terday to defeat former Wimble- for one of the three remaining fied IMMAF - WMMAA World Abbas Khan don champion Garbine Mugu- places at the WTA Finals in Sin- Championships 2018. 2017 IM- ruza 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-5 and reach gapore later this month and she MAF Gold Medalist, Gamzat vision. Abbas Khan will be her first final. now faces an anxious wait to see Magomedov and Ahmed Amir featured in an amateur bout The world number 24 had if a quarter-final finish will be will be competing in profes- which will also be the opening already seen off enough to secure qualification. sional bouts while Abbas Khan bout for the night. He will face just hours earlier in a rain-de- Wang had grabbed headlines will be taking part in an ama- Sikandar Badar from Pakistan. layed quarter final -- Wang’s at the with her teur bout during the fight card. Brave 17 will be hosted on highest-ranked top 10 scalp this straight-sets demolition of Ve- Ahmed Amir will face John 27th October at Nistar Sports year -- despite admitting she nus Williams, offering a hint Brewin in the lightweight di- Complex in Lahore, Pakistan. had been shaking with nerves of what was to come, and later ahead of the restarted match. overcame Karolina Pliskova in Wang now faces unheralded both Beijing and Wuhan. Dayana Yastremska in today’s fi- She said she knew little about nal, after the Ukrainian teenager “I had nothing to lose against third set playing incredible ten- the 102-ranked Yastremska, KHK MMA’s IMMAF medallist dumped out China’s number her -- she’s a very good player,” nis,” the Spanish world number who powered to a 7-5, 6-4 vic- two in the earlier Wang said. 13 and fourth seed said. tory over Zhang to reach her to face wrestling champion semi-final. “I just tried to be more patient first WTA Tour final. TDT | Manama Buys is a South African nation- In a see-saw contest strewn and if I had a chance then to go ‘Nervous from the first ball’ The 18-year-old -- who ear- al wrestling champion and the with jaw-dropping rallies and for it.” The ex-Wimbledon and lier this year became the first amzat Magomedov from EFC bantamweight champion. breaks of serve, Wang, 26, saved She then clawed her way back French Open champion still player born this millennium to GKHK MMA Bahrain will The bout will be challenging three consecutive set points in from a 1-4 deficit, with Muguru- has two more tournaments to break into the top 100 -- ap - compete his second profes- and will feature contrasting the first set tie-break before za --appearing exhausted and play this season, which she said peared overwhelmed after the sional fight at Brave Combat styles of action. eventually succumbing 5-7. out of ideas by the end of the she was happy with despite her win, lying on her back in Centre Federation. Magomedov be- In preparation leading to She then recovered in dra- match -- losing her final service Grand Slam highlight being a Court to soak up the cheers of came the gold medalist at the the bout Gamzat is current- matic style, coming down from game with two unforced errors. semi-final finish at Roland Gar- the crowd. 2017 IMMAF World Champi- ly training at the KHK MMA 0-40 down at 5-4 to clinch the The sixth seed sealed the ti- ros. “I was nervous from the first onships hosted in Bahrain. Bahrain under the head coach second set. tanic win with an ace. Wang had earlier needed just ball,” Yastremska said. Magomedov has a currently and lightweight fighter, Eldar Down 0-3 in the third set, A disconsolate Muguruza 10 minutes to wrap up her vic- “After match point I fell on professional record of three Eldarov. The bout will take Wang admitted she was think- paid tribute to her opponent. tory against world number five the floor because I felt so re - wins and no losses. place on 27th October at the ing of going home before a pep “I think she played very well and top tournament seed Svit- laxed, that was my instinct to go Magomedov will be facing Nistar Park Sports Complex in talk from her coach stiffened especially in the important mo- olina, again sealing the 6-2, 6-4 and lie because I needed to put JP Buys from South Africa. Lahore, Pakistan. her resolve. ments, she came back in the win with an ace. it away, the emotions.

Novak Djokovic holds talks with Gerard Pique over Davis Cup flap AFP | Shanghai, China Djokovic, a prominent mem- ber of the ATP Player Council, ovak Djokovic was to on Thursday said he is commit- Nhold talks with Barcelo- ted to the rival ATP World Team na football star Gerard Pique At least in my Cup, set to take place weeks yesterday in Shanghai in a bid after the Davis Cup at the start to find a resolution over the opinion, there is of 2020. controversial new-format Davis no room for two Yesterday, moments before Cup. big events. It might heading off to meet Pique, the Under a plan proposed by happen for (a) 14-time Grand Slam champion Pique’s Kosmos group and year, two or three, reiterated that the two tourna- adopted by the International but sooner or later ments “cannot coexist on a high Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) board member, chairwoman of the women’s sport committee and head of the Federation, the com- it has to be only level, especially as they are so women’s committee at the Union of Arab National Olympic Committees (UANOC) Shaikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al petition will bring together 18 one close to each other”. Khalifa chaired a consultative meeting of the Arab Women’s Sports Tournament’s supervising committee in Manama. nations for a week at the end of The 31-year-old Barcelona The meeting was attended by members of the supervising committee including UANOC general secretary Saud bin the tennis season for a champi- NOVAK DJOKOVIC defender Pique is at the Shang- Ali Al Abdulaziz, assistant general secretary Saad bin Saleh Al Sufyani, Executive Committee chairwoman Nada Al onship finale. hai Masters because there is an Naqabi, supervising and follow up committee member Khalid Al Hussain, member Dr Bassil Al Shaer and coordinator In November 2019 and 2020 Roger Federer have suggested international break in the foot- Mohammed Al Zayad. Bahrain’s efforts in the development of women’s sports in the Arab region was highly commended that will be Madrid, but top ten- they will not take part because ball season and he has retired at the meeting. nis stars including Djokovic and it is at the end of a long season. from Spain duty.

France’s Pinot wins Tour of Lombardy AFP | Milan Italy’s defending champi- on Nibali (Bahrain) finished rance’s Thibaut Pinot second at 30secs behind, Fdethroned two-time with Belgian Dylan Teuns winner Vincenzo Nibali to (BMC) third at 43sec. finish his season on a high “To win here in front of at Seef District too in the Tour of Lombardy, Vincenzo, I couldn’t have the fifth and final ‘Monu- dreamed of better!” said the ment’ of the one-day clas- 28-year-old climbing spe- sics season yesterday. cialist, who also won the Pinot, of the Groupa - Milan-Turin semi-classic in ma-FDJ team, soloed over midweek. the finish line at Lake Como He becomes the first to win the 241 km-long French winner of the race Um al Hassan +973 17728699 Seef District +973 17364999 ‘Race of the Falling Leaves’, since Laurent Jalabert 21 which began in Bergamo. Thibaut Pinot and Vincenzo Nibali ride near the end of Il Lombardia years ago.