MMOTOGPOTOGP | Page 4 RUGBY | Page 6 Dovizioso Springboks clinches stretch victory at winning run to Silverstone fi ve matches Monday, August 28, 2017 BOXING Dhul-Hijja 6, 1438 AH Fifty and out as GULF TIMES Mayweather stops brave McGregor SPORT Page 7 ATHLETICS Qatar’s Barshim ends season on a high Agencies mained together up to a height of 2.2m. At 2.24m Eberstadt, Germany Ilya Ivanjuk and Michael Mason exited. All the other nine, tackled the 2.27m. Except for Qatar’s Hamdi al-Amin, the winner of the U-23 jump- atar’s world champion high jumper ing on Friday, who had made the fi eld, Maksim Mutaz Barshim ended his season on Nedasekau and the co-favoured Robert Grabarz a high, jumping 2.40m to win the an- also made it over the bar. nual Hochsprung-Eberstadt compe- Danil Lysenko, who also started under a neutral Qtition in Germany yesterday. fl ag, was the fi rst to attack the 2.30m mark. He was About 2,000 spectators were treated to some also the only one to make it in the fi rst attempt. high class action at the event exclusively for high He fi nished second in the second to Barshim, jumpers, where for the fi rst time in the history of followed by local competitor Mateusz Przybylko. the meeting, two jumpers cleared 2.38 metres. For the Mexican Edgar Riviera, the Polish Barshim, who won the World Championships Sylwester Bednarek and the Syrian Majd Eddin title in London earlier in August and later went on Ghazal the bar was too high at 2.30m, even if to dominate the Diamond League events in Bir- they had previously delivered fantastic jumps. mingham and Zurich, mastered 2.40m and even So there were still three jumpers left. Howev- attempted 2.44m, missing the mark narrowly. er, the double-skirmish quickly became a duel, But his outstanding show fetched him a bo- as Lysenko and Barshim fl ew over 2.33m in the nus 1,500 euros for equalling his best jump of fi rst attempt. Przybylko also scored the third in the year. the third attempt. “It was great today. It is the best meeting in What Lysenko and Barshim provided in the se- the world here, the weather was very good, there Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim jumped 2.40m to win the annual Hochsprung-Eberstadt competition in Germany yesterday. (Twitter) quel was enthralling. First, both mastered 2.36m was a really good atmosphere in the stadium. – Lysenko in the second, Barshim in the fi rst try. There were great and hard duels, that spurs me carries me ever higher up. I wanted the arena Neutral athlete Danil Lysenko bolstered his “I did not expect two personal records. The Then both sailed over 2.38m in the fi rst try. on,” the Qatari champion said. record and also the world record I had in mind, personal best by four centimetres to jump 2.38m World Championships have not been so long Now the bar was at 2.40m. Barshim mastered He added that pressure only motivates him to but I was too excited and also somewhat tired by and took the third place, while Mateusz Przyb- and I have not practised so much at the end, so I the height in the third attempt. Lysenko made do better. “When I have pressure and a competi- that whole trip this season. But, I am very satis- ylko of Germany with 2.30m came third. was surprised to see the results.” three mistakes and was second in a competition tor with whom I have to fi ght, that I love, which fi ed with the result.” Lysenko was delighted with his performance: The fi eld, consisting of eleven athletes, re- at a higher level than the Worlds in London. FORMULA 1 Hamilton marks 200th race with victory in Belgium Vettel finishes second but has his championship lead cut down to seven by Briton; Ricciardo completes podium Reuters the second time bringing out the safety Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium car when Ocon — who fi nished ninth — tried to get past on the run down to Eau Rouge and was almost squeezed into ewis Hamilton celebrated his the wall. 200th Formula One race in style “I can accept the fi rst one — perhaps yesterday with a pole-to-fl ag he couldn’t see me but the second one Belgian Grand Prix victory for was ridiculous. He was risking our lives. LMercedes that halved Sebastian Vettel’s He risked my life,” said a furious Ocon. championship lead to seven points. Debris from his car’s broken front The Briton’s fi fth success in 12 races wing littered the track while Perez’s this season, and 58th of his career, came right rear tyre was punctured, leaving a day after he equalled Michael Schu- him limping back to the pits on a rim. macher’s all-time record of 68 pole “It looked like Sergio squeezed Es- positions. teban into the wall and came out the “Sebastian put a great fi ght on but loser of that scrap,” the team’s chief this is what I said I was coming to do so operating offi ce Otmar Szafnauer told I did it,” Hamilton told the crowd from Sky Sports television, warning that the the podium. team would read the riot act. Vettel fi nished second for Ferrari, 2.3 “We’ve let them race up until now. seconds behind, after pushing his rival If they can’t do it in a manner which is all the way without being able to get good for the team, then they won’t be close enough to make a move stick in racing any more,” he said. what amounted to a two-horse race of Spaniard Fernando Alonso was also relentless pressure. an unhappy man in the McLaren, the “It was really intense because every double world champion making a lap I was waiting for Lewis to do a mis- storming start but his Honda-powered take. He didn’t,” said Vettel, whose next car’s lack of speed leaving him with an race is Ferrari’s home Italian Grand Prix impossible task and increasingly frus- at Monza. trated before retiring. “He was probably waiting for me to “Embarrassing, embarrassing,” he make a mistake. I didn’t,” added the had said earlier. German, who set a race lap record of one minute 46.577 seconds in the clos- BELGIAN GP RESULTS ing stages. 1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:24:42.820 With eight races remaining, four- 2. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) +2.358 times champion Vettel has 220 points 3. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) +10.791 and Hamilton 213. 4. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +14.471 Australian Daniel Ricciardo took 5. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) +16.456 third place for Red Bull after a storm- 6. Nico Hulkenberg (Renault) +28.087 ing re-start following a late safety car 7. Romain Grosjean (Haas) +31.553 period that had closed the gap to the 8. Felipe Massa (Williams) +36.649 frontrunners and triggered a fl urry of 9. Esteban Ocon (Force India) +38.154 pitstops. 10. Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso) +39.447 Ricciardo, on fresh ultra-soft tyres, passed Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri DRIVERS STANDINGS Bottas to surge into the top three, with 1. Sebastian Vettel (GER) 220 pts the Finn also losing out to the Ferrari of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates his Belgian Grand Prix win on the podium at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit yesterday. (AFP) 2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) 213 compatriot Kimi Raikkonen as he ran 3. Valtteri Bottas (FIN) 179 wide. MAX RETIRES sheer frustration after eight laps. said Verstappen, whose orange-clad plenty of action further down the fi eld Germany’s Nico Hulkenberg fi nished “It’s pretty much for all the Dutch here, It was his sixth retirement in 12 races. compatriots accounted for a majority with the Force India duo of Mexican CONSTRUCTORS STANDINGS sixth for Renault, Romain Grosjean was so thanks for hanging around,” said Ric- “There are so many fans paying a lot of the crowd. Sergio Perez and Frenchman Esteban 1. Mercedes 392 pts seventh for Haas and Brazilian Felipe ciardo, whose teenage teammate Max for the tickets and you fi nish like this. While Hamilton and Vettel played Ocon playing a starring role. 2. Ferrari 348 Massa took eighth for Williams. Verstappen retired shaking his head in That cannot happen with a top team,” out their own private duel, there was The simmering pair clashed twice, 3. Red Bull 199 Gulf Times 2 Monday, August 28, 2017 FOOTBALL QATAR PREPARE FOR WORLD CUP QUALIFIER AGAINST SYRIA Qatar players underwent training at the Khalifa International stadium in Doha yesterday ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Syria. Felix Sanchez’s side will play the Syrians in Malaysia on Thursday before returning home to take on China in the last league match on September 5. Ahead of the qualifiers, Qatar held an extensive training session in the United Kingdom, where they also played friendly matches against Andorra and other English clubs. On return last week, Sanchez’s men also hosted Turkmenistan in a friendly. Team captain Ibrahim Majid will not be available for Syria game because of suspension. BUNDESLIGA SERIE A Icardi brace sees Werner double helps Inter stun Roma AFP Two minutes later, even Icardi Milan appeared surprised to see Anto- nio Candreva’s smart threaded pass land at his feet. But the Ar- Leipzig fl oor Freiburg auro Icardi scored a gentine swivelled to send a low second-half brace as shot past Roma keeper Alisson.