14 Sports Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Photo of the Day Kuwait cycling team makes two achievements By Abdellatif Sharaa

KUWAIT: Kuwait cycling team returned home after making two achievements in two championships held recently in the UAE. Kuwait’s delegation included Kuwait Cycling Club Secretary General Abdullah Al- Shimmari and three cyclists, who were able to attract the attention of fans with their performance during the first championship in the 157 km ‘elite’ race, which was held under the patronage of Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the partici- pation of cyclists from 37 countries. Kuwait’s Khalid Al-Khalifa finished in fourth place, and Abdelhadi Al- Ajmi finished in 15th place. Meanwhile, Khalifa ended in first place in the “Deerat Dubai Nakhla race” for 80 km. The team dedicated this win to His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al- Sabah, His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and the government. He also thanked the Public Authority for Sport and Kuwait Olympic Committee for their support.

KUWAIT: Kuwait Cycling Club Secretary General Abdullah Dmitry Sotnikov of Team KAMAZ-Master races during Rally Dakar in Saudi Arabia. — Photo taken from www.redbullcontentpool.com Al-Shimmari (center) with Kuwaiti cyclists Khalid Al- Khalifa and Abdelhadi Al-Ajmi. Harden, Durant lead Nets past Bucks, Warriors hold off NBA champion Lakers Hawks debut special black jerseys on MLK Day

NEW YORK: James Harden scored 34 points and despite struggling from three-point range. Kelly Kevin Durant’s 30 included the go-ahead three- Oubre Jr added 23 for Golden State, his driving layup pointer in the final minute as the NBA’s new-look with 3:10 remaining knotting the score at 108-108. Brooklyn Nets beat the Milwaukee Bucks 125-123 on Draymond Green followed with a layup to give the Monday. Harden, playing his second game for Warriors their first lead of the night, one they would Brooklyn since arriving in a blockbuster trade from not give up as Green added another layup and Curry the Houston Rockets, added 12 assists. added just his third three-pointer of the night to push Durant added six assists and nine rebounds as the the Warriors’ lead to five. Nets held off two-time defending NBA MVP Giannis LeBron James missed a three-pointer at the buzzer Antetokounmpo and the Bucks in a clash of Eastern and the Lakers’ five-game winning streak ended. Conference powers. Antetokounmpo scored 34 points Dennis Schroder led Los Angeles with 25 points and with 12 rebounds and seven assists for Milwaukee. James added 19. “Tonight we just found a little Khris Middleton added 25 points — but couldn’t get resilience,” Curry said. “Everybody chipped in and a potential game-winning three-pointer to drop in the weathered the storm against an amazing champi- final second. onship-caliber team. So it was a big win for us.” In a back-and-forth fourth quarter, the Nets trailed At Madison Square Garden, Julius Randle scored 122-123 when Harden missed a three-pointer but seven of his 21 points in the final 93 seconds as the managed to corral the rebound and get the ball to New York Knicks held off Orlando 91-84. Randle shot Durant, who drained a three-pointer to put Brooklyn only 5-of-19 from the floor but added 17 rebounds, up 125-123 with 36.8 seconds remaining. After while R.J. Barrett had 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Middleton missed a three-point attempt, Durant Knicks, who ripped Boston on Sunday, won on con- turned the ball over to give the Bucks one more secutive days for the first time in 41 tries over more LOS ANGELES: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors reacts as he drives between LeBron James #23 and Dennis chance, but Middleton missed again. than three years. The Knicks led 19-13 after the first quarter and boosted the margin as high as 14 points Schroder #17 of the Los Angeles Lakers during a 115-113 Warriors win on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Staples Center on Warriors edge Lakers early in the fourth. The Magic made a late charge but Monday in Los Angeles, California. —AFP In Los Angeles, the Golden State Warriors rallied came up short in their sixth straight defeat. from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the special black jerseys with the initials MLK on the games, improved to 6-7 despite 24 turnovers, while reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers 115-113. Hawks wear King jerseys front in a 108-97 victory over visiting Minnesota. the Timberwolves fell to 3-9 with their ninth loss in Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 26 points, In King’s hometown, the Atlanta Hawks debuted The Hawks, who had lost six of their prior seven 10 games. —AFP

Yan Bingtao: failed to show form, especially in Kuwait lose the first half of the match that took place at Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium, and was not to Palestine in able to reach the Palestinian net. prodigy whose In the last 20 minutes of the sec- int’l friendly ond half, the Palestinian team family risked it all scored the only goal in the match via Sameh Maraiya. This is the SHANGHAI: Bingtao has risen from a KUWAIT: Kuwait’s national foot- first win for the Palestinian poor working-class background and play- ball team lost 0-1 to Palestine in national team over Kuwait, as the ing to support his cancer-stricken mother an international friendly on two teams have faced each other to become China’s latest sporting prodigy. Monday as part of the preparation nine times before, in which Kuwait The 20-year-old snooker star stunned for the resumption of the Asian have won seven and drawn twice. four-time world champion 10- Qualifiers for the FIFA The Kuwaiti team is scheduled to 8 to claim the prestigious title on Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup face Iraq in a friendly game on Sunday at England’s Milton Keynes, China 2023. The national team January 27. — KUNA becoming the tournament’s youngest win- ner in 26 years. It was world number 11 Yan’s first major title and he is just a year older than Ronnie O’Sullivan was in 1995 when he won the BANGALORE: This file photo taken on November 29, 2014 shows China’s Yan Bingtao playing a Masters at 19, also beating Higgins. “I’ll be shot against Pakistan cueist Mohammad Sajjad during the men’s finals of the IBSF World very surprised if he doesn’t win at least one Snooker Championship in Bangalore, India. — AFP or two world titles,” O’Sullivan, a six-time world champion, told Eurosport. Nicknamed “The Chinese Tiger”, Yan’s snooker dreams in Beijing. “To save money ‘Never give up’ roaring triumph in his Masters debut is the my father and I rented a room in the sub- At 13, with his reputation on the rise, culmination of a long struggle which at urbs with just a bed and desk, costing 280 Yan began competing as a wildcard at pro- times seemed destined to end in a heart- yuan ($45) a month,” Yan said, comments fessional events. A year later, in 2014, Yan breaking whimper. He was born in , in that were widely regurgitated following his became the youngest winner of the World China’s eastern province of , on Masters feat. Amateur Snooker Championship. He has February 16, 2000 and his first taste of They could not afford heating and it was been on a sharp upward trajectory since, holding a cue was on a rickety outdoor bil- so cold that they wore their coats indoors, turning professional in 2015, moving to liards table when he was seven years old. Yan once told Chinese media. Father and England to further his career and capturing “I remember that it was uneven, there son struggled to make ends meet and they his first ranking title in Riga, Latvia in 2019. were leaves in the corners and the white admitted defeat, returning home to Zibo. Sheffield-based Yan collected ball went in a strange way,” the state-run According to some accounts, the family £250,000 ($340,000) with his Masters People’s Daily quoted him as saying last sold most of their possessions to fund Yan’s triumph — the biggest payday of his fledg- year. But Yan had talent and hoping that career. In 2013 they were plunged into cri- ling career — and is widely praised for his his boy had a future in the sport, his father sis when Yan’s mother, the family bread- dedication and hard work. He is prime Yan Dong quit his job at a pharmaceutical winner, was diagnosed with rectal cancer among a number of upcoming Chinese factory. and needed an operation. Earning the mon- players and touted in domestic media as KUWAIT: Kuwait and Palestine national teams in action during an international ey to fund his mother’s recovery motivated the successor to 33-year-old , Against the advice of friends and family, friendly match at Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium on Monday. — KUNA the pair left home and Yan quit school aged him to enter “more and more” tournaments, who has long been the country’s best play- eight or nine so they could pursue his the People’s Daily said. er and an inspiration to Yan. —AFP