Al-Attiyah Snatches World Cup Lead with Victory in Kazakhstan
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MMOTOGPOTOGP | Page 5 CRICKET | Page 6 Rossi leaves Captain Sarfraz hospital aft er confi dent motocross of Pakistan’s accident chances Saturday, May 27, 2017 FOOTBALL Ramadan 1, 1438 AH Wenger seeks GULF TIMES solace in quest for seventh FA Cup SPORT Page 2 FIA CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY Al-Attiyah snatches World Cup lead with victory in Kazakhstan Poland’s Przygonski takes second spot in his Mini All4 Racing, while Domzala comes in third place for Toyota Agencies dulla was his closest rival in eighth overall, but Aktau City, Kazakhstan the Nissan Patrol driver lost chunks of time with wiring loom issues early in the race and further time losses in the sand dunes hampered his atar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah and progress. The Doha driver reached Aktau 3hrs French co-driver Matthieu Baumel 17min 14sec behind Saeidan in the overall clas- emerged unscathed from yesterday’s sifi cation with French co-driver Sébastien De- 147.94km sixth stage of Rally Kaza- launay. Qkhstan to secure the overall victory by the mar- The experienced Czech Miroslav Zapletal and gin of 7min 43sec and the outright lead in the his Slovenian navigator Marek Sykora recovered FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. well from fourth stage suspension issues south After moving into the lead on day two of the of Zhanaozen to fi nish ninth overall in his Ford 2,500km event across south-west Kazakhstan, F-150, although they were the fi rst of several the Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux duo were crews to claim at least 100 hours of time penal- never able to rest on their laurels on demanding ties. Mohammed Abu Issa capped a thoroughly special stages laid on across the Central Asian miserable week – where a multitude of problems country’s Mangystau oblast. The quickest time had cost him time – by rolling his Mini All4 Rac- on the fi nal stage was suffi cient for al-Attiyah to ing gently on the last stage, although the Qatari seal his third win of the season after victories in and navigator Xavier Panseri did reach the fi nish Dubai and Qatar. in 15th position. A triumphant al-Attiyah said: “A great result The fi nal selective started 35.45km north of for us. We played it smart from the very start. Aktau and included parts of the opening stage. We pushed when we had to and had the right The timed action ran for 147.94km and includ- strategy. It was a really enjoyable rally, fantastic, ed repeat runs over the scenic tracks along the and I am sure many more drivers will come in shores of the Caspian Sea run in the opposite the future. Thanks to my team, Overdrive, and direction. After the torrential rain that had bat- it was nice to win the last stage. Now we lead the tered the area on Wednesday night, rally offi - championship and try to keep on like this.” cials sent a recce crew to drive through the stage Poland’s Jakub Przygonski and Belgian co- again on Thursday. driver Tom Colsoul delivered a second succes- The next round of the FIA World Cup for sive runner-up position on a long-distance Cross-Country Rallies will be the Italian Baja round of the FIA World Cup and pressurised al- from June 15th to 18th. Attiyah hard throughout the six days. They led after day one and never gave the Qatari the op- 2017 RALLY KAZAKHSTAN POSITIONS portunity to ease his pace. Przygonski climbs to 1. Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel third in the championship standings. (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 1hr 24min 58sec “The last stage was not easy,” said Przygonski. 2. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Mini “There was a lot of water in the last part and it All4 Racing 1hr 26min 34sec was hard to go fast but we are happy. We were 3. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SLO) Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (right) and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel celebrate after winning the Rally Kazakhstan yesterday. pushing from the beginning to the end and it Hummer H3 Evo VII 1hr 26min 50sec was a nice fi ght with Nasser. We enjoyed the race 4. Yazeed al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Mini and the terrain in Kazakhstan. It has everything John Cooper Works Rally 1hr 28min 14sec that is necessary in cross-country.” 5. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Yazeed al-Rajhi and German navigator Timo Hilux Overdrive 1hr 28min 50sec Gottschalk won three of the event’s six selective 6. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Vitalyi Yevtyekhov (KAZ) sections but an accident and broken suspension Hummer H3 Evo VIII 1hr 30min 02sec on day one put paid to the Saudi challenging for the overall victory. He delivered an impres- OVERALL POSITONS sive performance in the new Mini John Cooper 1. Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel Works Rally nonetheless and reached Aktau in (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 19hrs 00min 20sec 11th overall. 2. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Colsoul (BEL) Mini Aron Domzala and new co-driver Maciej All4 Racing 19hrs 08min 03sec Marton enjoyed a successful fi rst appearance 3. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota in Kazakhstan and managed to bring the sec- Hilux Overdrive 19hrs 26min 37sec ond of the Overdrive Toyotas to the fi nish in 4. Yuriy Sazonov (KAZ)/Vitalyi Yevtyekhov (KAZ) third to round off the podium places. The Pole Hummer H3 Evo VIII 20hrs 38min 34sec threatened Przygonski’s hold on second overall 5. Yerden Shagirov (KAZ)/Dmitro Tsyro (UKR) for a couple of days before losing 10 minutes Toyota Hilux 21hrs 36min 04sec on the penultimate leg. Seventh-placed Yasir Saeidan of Saudi Arabia teamed up with Russian FIA WORLD CUP FOR CROSS-COUNTRY navigator Alexey Kuzmich at the 11th hour and RALLY STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 5 the decision was a good one. The Toyota Land 1. Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (QAT) 150pts Cruiser driver dominated the T2 category from 2. Khalid al-Qassimi (ARE) 105pts start-to-fi nish to extend his lead in the FIA T2 3. Jakub Przygonski (POL) 84pts standings after fi ve rounds. 4. Aron Domzala (POL) 76pts Qatar’s defending FIA T2 champion Adel Ab- 5. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT) 68pts Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah drives through the shores of the Caspian Sea during the Rally Kazakhstan. QATAR STARS LEAGUE Al Shahania made to rue draws aft er being relegated By Sports Reporter the QSL, and only missed out by sur- bilised again, picking up crucial points Doha vival by losing a relegation playoff . against their opponents. However with Shahania made a solid start to life in 11 draws, it’s hard not to think that just the QSL, putting together an impres- one victory could have seen Shahania l Shahania were relegated sive four-game unbeaten streak, which pull away from trouble all together. to the Qatar Gas league af- saw then head Coach Jose Fernando Despite this, a 2-2 draw at the end of ter their 12th place fi nish in pick up the coveted coach of the month the season against champions Lekhwi- the recently concluded Qatar award. While defeats to the top sides ya ensured a relegation play-off against AStars League. It was a bitter pill to swal- in the league followed, Shahania had a Qatar SC. However during the rel- low for Oryxes as they suff ered a heart- knack of drawing with the sides around egation play-off the Oryxes were just breaking 0-1 defeat to Qatar SC in the them giving the promoted side a chance edged out by the Kings who returned to relegation play-off . of beating relegation. the QSL at the fi rst time of asking with In truth, many people would not That all came crashing down just a 1-0 victory. have given Shahania much of a chance before the new year when Shahania Head coach Stimac had been eager to of beating the drop, seeing that tradi- suff ered a humiliating 10-0 defeat to praise the eff orts of his players in train- tionally most newly-promoted sides Lekhwiya. Fernando was promptly re- ing and during games. The Croatian often end up back in the Qatar Gas lieved of his duties and replaced with coach will be hoping that his side can League after one season in the top former Croatian national team coach repeat their winning ways that could fl ight. However, Shahania proved to be Igor Stimac. return them to the QSL at the fi rst time Al Shahania failed to beat the drop after losing a relegation play-off to Qatar SC. a real challenge for many of the sides in Under the new coach Shahania sta- of asking. Gulf Times 2 Saturday, May 27, 2017 FOOTBALL PREVIEW Sevilla reach deal would always be remembered with Argentine FA for for his eff orts to try to keep Sampaoli the club in the top flight after replacing Mike Phelan on a Jorge Sampaoli moved a short-term deal in January. step closer to taking over the Former Sporting and Olympia- vacant position as Argentina kos Piraeus coach Silva, who coach yesterday as the Argen- had signed a contract at Hull Wenger seeks tine Football Association (AFA) until the end of the season, met reached a deal with his club the club’s owners on Wednes- side Sevilla. day and was expected to quit. “Sevilla and AFA have reached “Marco was off ered the oppor- an agreement in principle to tunity to continue the work he release coach Jorge Sam- has done in the four-and-a-half paoli..