Tennis Centre Needing an Aerial View of the Rio 2016 Velodrome Last-Minute Work
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CRICKET | Page 5 FFOCUSOCUS | Page 9 Gujarat Brazil receives down Delhi Olympic in pulsating fl ame for clash Rio Games Thursday, April 28, 2016 FOOTBALL Rajab 21, 1437 AH Bale fails to shine GULF TIMES in draw that leaves Real the happier SPORT Page 2 VOLLEYBALL / QATAR CUP Rayyan aim to foil Jaish’s quest for double today Eight-time champions Rayyan will look to El Jaish juggernaut that has already taken out defending champions Al Arabi El Jaish players Robertlandy Simon and Oreol Camejo, and Al Rayyan’s Osman Ajab and Zbigniev Bartman pose with the (From left) El Jaish’s representative Khalid al-Kaabi, Qatar Volleyball Association (QVA) executive director Ahmed al-Shabani, Al Qatar Cup trophy at a press conference yesterday. PICTURES: Nasar TK Rayyan’s representative Nasser al-Malki and QVA’s Dr Ali Mustafa Taha at a press conference yesterday. By Yash Mudgal Al Arabi. But, Rayyan captain Osman Arabi, he said: “They played well nament, was all praise for the club. Simon scored 28 points, while the played against Arabi, we can win any Doha Ajab says his side has won the title eight against Arabi, but in my opinion Arabi “I am enjoying my time at Rayyan 29-year-old receiver Camejo scored match. We’ll try to win against Rayyan out of 20 times, and is capable and con- lost because they have a problem in Club. The atmosphere is amazing and I 22 in their win against Arabi in the as well. Al Rayyan is a very good side. fi dent of winning the fi nal regardless of their reception, while in our case we am getting all the support needed here playoff . We’ll have to do our best again and we’ll an El Jaish upset the eight- the opposition’s form. have the best reception in the tourna- from my club,” he said. “We had done our homework well. try to do it,” the former Cuban captain time champions Al Rayyan’s “It will be another big game. We are ment.” This is the second fi nal for Jaish, who I think we have fantastic guys and all said. applecart at the Ali Bin Hamad used to the situation and I think all the Ajab’s teammate Zbigniev Bartman had lost to Al Arabi in the 2013-14 sea- played like a strong family. People think The winners will get QR300,000, Al Attiya Arena today? pressure will be on them. We like to fi n- also sounded confident as he said: son, when the competition’s name was that we’ve nothing. But we showed while the runners-up will be richer by CThe armymen are on a roll, having ish the fi nal in straight sets,” Ajab told “I am expecting a tough game. I saw changed from the Heir Apparent Cup to what we can do. This made our big vic- QR150,000. already defeated defending champions Gulf Times yesterday. their game against Arabi, they are the Qatar Cup. tory possible,” Simon said, while talk- and newly-crowned Qatar Volleyball He also said the mood in the Rayy- playing well. They have two fine Cu- If coach Zuhair Belhaj’s boys have to ing about the playoff win against Arabi. RESULTS League champions Al Arabi 2-1 in the an camp, after defeating Police in the ban players in their side, but I hope we repeat the trick they performed against Simon played for the Cuban nation- Semi-final playoff (best-of-three) semi-fi nal playoff of the Qatar Cup on playoff 2-0, is good ahead of the fi nal. will put a good show tomorrow and the 15-time winners Arabi today, their al team for fi ve years and was a silver Al Rayyan bt Police 2-0 Tuesday, and are raring to win their “I am sure they won’t take us lightly, win the Cup.” professional Cuban players Oreol medallist in the 2010 World Cham- El Jaish beat Al Arabi Club 2-1 second trophy of the season. but they will come at us. And we are re- Polish star Bartmann, who joined Camejo and Robertlandy Simon have to pionships. He also bagged the bronze TODAY’S SCHEDULE El Jaish had earlier won the season- laxed and ready for that,” he said. Croatian coach Igor Arbutina’s side as be in their best form. medal in the 2005 World League. Final: Al Rayyan vs El Jaish at Ali Bin opening Federation Cup, also defeating Talking about Jaish’s victory over their professional player for the tour- The 28-year-old middle blocker “If we continue to play the way we Hamad Al Attiya Arena (6:30pm) Qatar win GCC Women’s Junior Handball Tournament Qatar players celebrate with the winners’ trophy after winning the inaugural GCC Junior Women Handball Tournament 2016 yesterday. Bahrain finished as runners-up, while the United Arab Emirates were the second runners-up. The prestigious week- long event was hosted by the Qatar Women Sport Committee, in collaboration with the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and Qatar Handball Association (QHA) under the supervision of the GCC Women Sport Organizing Committee. PICTURE: Othman al-Iraqi Gulf Times 2 Thursday, April 28, 2016 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Bale fails to shine in draw that leaves Real the happier Bale was the Spanish side’s galáctico on the pitch in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and he only flickered into life against City By Barney Ronay in Manchester The Guardian n the end Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t make it out on to the pitch at the Etihad. He wasn’t the only one. Midway through the second half on a still, clear, occasionally fretful Inight Zinedine Zidane split his trousers on the sidelines early in the second half. This is un- likely to have been a symptom of excessive ex- citement. Three things of interest happened here. First Ronaldo declared himself hors de combat, al- though with the regal caveat that if this had been a truly big game he would have played. After which these semi-fi nalists played out a messy 85 minutes of slow-simmer fi rst-leg football. Finally Joe Hart produced a brilliant all-or-nothing block with his chest at the feet of Pepe, an entirely misleading moment of excite- ment for any latecomer TV viewers. At the end of which Real Madrid will have left the Etihad happier at a 0-0 draw that slants this tie their way, if not decisively. City will perhaps rue a missed opportunity. A nil-nil home draw at home is, so Champions League lore goes, generally a pretty decent result. And yet this al- ways seemed City’s best chance of nosing ahead against a team without a clean sheet away from home in the league since November. City did see off for 90 minutes Madrid’s key Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale (centre) tries to poke the ball through challenges from Manchester City defenders Nicolas Otamendi (left) and Bacary Sagna during the UEFA Champions League galáctico who was on the pitch, a semi-absent semi-final first leg at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, northwest England, on Tuesday. The match ended in a 0-0 draw. (AFP) Gareth Bale. Relief at which seems to have stilled their own attacking instincts. They never in town, a club that travels like a Tudor royal reads Bale, Suárez, Hazard, Mahrez: from the a marvellous curling cross at full sprint by the and Ramos: it is hard to imagine a more infuriat- did drive properly at this slightly depleted Real household, on the march with the full hand of stellar to the worthy). corner fl ag. Later he appeared suddenly strid- ing pair of velvet glove hatchet men. team, or attack with the same confi dence they hounds, pigs, footmen in tow. Here the press Bale came here in a happy place. He is cur- ing though midfi eld, top knot jouncing rakishly, Bale crept vaguely back into the game towards showed at times against Paris Saint-Germain in rooms thronged with hangers-on, wonks, glad- rently the only real superstar British footballer drawing a body check from Vincent Kompany. the end. Madrid hit the bar from a corner. Bale the previous round. handers and media foot soldiers of every na- out there, the undoubted top gun when Eng- After which Bale entered standby mode as the paused theatrically before punting a promising But then there is a disorientating glare about tionality, desperate for a sliver of white-shirted land play Wales in France in seven weeks’ time. game became a little snarky and messy. There a free -kick into the wall. From the corner Bale playing Madrid. Not least at this stage in the glam. And yet here he was a fl ickering presence, as he were the usual shenanigans from the hilariously headed down and Hart produced that wonder- competition, a tie styled as a meeting of old and With Ronaldo reduced to strutting about in can be sometimes, menacing in possession but villainous Pepe, tugging back Kevin De Bruyne ful save. new, royals versus parvenus. Madrid remain in- the warm-ups and then retreating grandly out glimpsed only rarely, shut down by some excel- then lunging straight through him and drawing And that was that, a white-out. City’s own separable from this competition, from the early of sight, the spotlight fell naturally on the next lent pressing from City’s midfi eld double bolt, an overdue booking. It would be tempting, with galácticos, David Silva, Sergio Agüero, De Bru- golden era, the fi rst incarnation of the big mon- in line.