NNBABA | Page 5 TTENNISENNIS | Page 6 Harden hits Sharapova heights as falls to Garcia in Rockets soar Stuttgart over Wolves fi rst round Wednesday, April 25, 2018 FOOTBALL Sha’baan 9, 1439 AH Unstoppable GULF TIMES Ronaldo the sole survivor of ‘BBC’ SPORT Page 3 FOCUS Impressive medal haul for Qatar at Arab athletics By Sports Reporter (Shot Put and Discus) in the recent On the last day of competition, Doha GCC Championship held in Kuwait, Rashid al-Suwaidi added a bronze student athlete Mohamed Ibrahim medal for his exploits in long jump and Moaaz maintained his fabulous form Team Qatar picked up their last medal, spire Academy student ath- to repeat the feat in the same events a bronze, thanks to the blistering pace letes led Qatar’s charge for in Amman. of Jaber Hilal al-Mamari in the 200m medals at the 18th Arab It was a similar tale with rising star sprint. Junior Athletics Champion- athlete, Muhand Saifeldin, who like Team Qatar’s athletes were among Aships held from April 19-22, 2018, at Mooaz, matched his two gold medal 423 competing at the 18th Arab Junior the Baccalaureate School in Amman, haul from the GCC Championship but Athletics Championships that featured Jordan. this time round also added a 800m win athletes from 16 countries across 44 The team brought home a total of in place of the 1,500m he won in Ku- events. seven medals on the back of some im- wait. His fi rst gold came in the 3,000m pressive performances that ensured steeplechase. among other achievements, world jun- Saoud al-Humaidi went one bet- Team Qatar’s athletes, members of the ior qualifi cation standard, a new na- ter than his performance at the GCC delegation and other off icials at Doha’s tional record as well as individual per- Championship when his time of 14.06 Hamad International Airport after their sonal bests. sec secured a silver medal, setting a arrival from the 18th Arab Junior Athlet- Straight on the back of double gold World Junior standard time. ics Championships in Amman, Jordan. FOOTBALL / EMIR CUP CRICKET / ICC WORLD T20 ASIA QUALIFIER A Qatar beat Al-Neel, Pereira Saudi Arabia shine in Markhiya’s for their third victory By Sports Reporter balls to spare. win over Shamal Doha In other matches of the day, the United Arab Emirates beat Maldives by 43 runs to maintain Rachid scores a brace in Kharaitiyat’s 3-1 win over Shahania disciplined bowling ef- their position at the top of the fort followed by cau- standings with four wins in as By Sports Reporter hamed Montasser Khrub. tious batting down many matches, while Kuwait de- Doha However, Markhiya needed the order ensured that feated Bahrain by 23 runs. only four minutes to restore the AQatar held their nerves in a few Qatar’s team manager Gul lead. Saleh Badr al-Yazidi played edgy moments to register their Khan Jadoun was palpably fter being relegated a through ball to al-Neel, who third victory in the ICC World pleased after his team’s triumph. from the QNB Stars calmly slotted in the ball from T20 Asia Qualifi er A in Kuwait “This was a very important League this season, Al four yards. City yesterday. match for us. By God’s grace, Markhiya had a rea- While Shamal went all out for At the Sulabiya Cricket we won by four wickets and are Ason to smile yesterday as they their second goal and equaliser, Ground, Qatar limited Saudi Ara- now in line for a No 1 spot playoff outclassed Al Shamal 4-1 in the Markhiya added their third. The bia to 135 for seven in the allotted against the UAE. Emir Cup fi rst round match. impressive Pereira, who had led 20 overs after putting them to “The entire team worked hard At the Grand Hamad Sta- his team’s attack, struck in the bat fi rst. Qatar’s Nouman Sarwar for the victory. We bowled well to dium, Markhiya dominated the 65th minute. In the 85th minute, and Mohamed Nadeem picked contain Saudi Arabia to a mod- game throughout to run away de Souza made it 4-1 after con- up two wickets each. est total. Our batsmen applied with easy victory. In the second verting a penalty as he shot to In reply, Qatar opener Faisal themselves well on the turn- round, Markhiya will take on Al the top right corner. Javid Khan gave a quick start ing track and held off the oppo- Khor on April 28. In the second match of the yet again with an eight-ball 18 nents,” he added. The Qatargas League outfi t Al day, Al Kharaitiyat beat Al Sha- but fell in the third over with the “Our next match is against Shamal struggled to keep pace hania 3-1. Tiberkanine Rachid score at 27. The same over skip- Bahrain on Thursday. We’ll try with Markhiya, who were led scored a brace, while Mohamed per Inam-ul-Haq (8) too was to use the rest day (Wednesday) superbly by attacking midfi elder al-Yazidi struck a goal for the sent back to the pavilion. Kamran for preparing a good strategy so Eric de Oliveira Pereira. winners. For Shahania, Vasquez Khan was sent back in the fi fth that we stay focussed and on the The Brazilian scored in the Luciano Vlaudio scored the over with the scoreboard reading track to be either No 1 or 2 in the 65th minute and he also assisted lone goal. Kharaitiyat will play 39 for 3. event,” Jadoun said. Mohamed Salah al-Neel’s open- against Umm Salal in the next However, Tamoor Sajjad and ing goal in the 30th minute. Al- round on April 29. Zaheer Ibrahim, both scoring 27- BRIEF SCORES: Saudi Arabia Neel was also impressive on the On Sunday, Al Wakrah and ball 35, stitched together a 60- 135 for 7 in 20 overs (Shahbaz day as he collected his second Mesaimeer had sealed their run partnership before the latter Rasheed 36, Faisal Khan 29; Nou- goal in the 54th minute, before passage into second round with became fi rst three quick wickets man Sarwar 2 for 21, Mohamed Leonardo Henrik de Souza con- wins over QNB Stars league that fell for just 10 runs, slowing Nadeem 2 for 37) lost to Qatar verted a penalty to complete an sides. Wakrah scripted a sen- down the fl ow of runs. 136 for 6 in 18.5 overs (Tamoor emphatic victory for Markhiya. Action from the Emir Cup first round match between Al Markhiya (in maroon) and Al Shamal (in white) sational comeback to edge out However, an unbroken sev- Sajjad 35, Zaheer Ibrahim 35; For Shamal, Mohamed Hares yesterday. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil Qatar Sports Club 3-2, while enth-wicket alliance between Imran Arif 3 for 33) by 4 wickets. equalised in the 50th minute Mesaimeer beat Al Ahli 3-1 on Khurram Shahzad and Sarwar Man of the Match: Tamoor Sajjad but their hopes for victory was penalties. Wakrah set-up a sec- saw them through with seven (Qatar, 1 wicket for 29, 35 runs) quickly snuff ed out by Shamal’s ond round clash with Al Arabi, attacking display. while Mesaimeer will face Al Markhiya had a point to prove Sailiya. coming into the match. They The Emir Cup is the most had fi nished last in the QNB prestigious domestic football Stars League this season, and tournament and brings down fi nd themselves in the second the curtains on the nine-month division. long football season in Qatar. So it was obvious that Adel The event off ers a chance for Sellami’s side were keen to make lower division teams to test their up for their failure in the league mettle against the big guns as with some impressive perform- they bid to qualify for the fi nal at ance in the Emir Cup. And they the Khalifa Stadium on May 19. did show how lethal they can be The top four teams in the QNB yesterday. Stars League – Al Duhail, Al After coming close on couple Sadd, Al Rayyan and Al Gharafa of occasions, Markhiya fi nally will kick off their campaigns found the net in the 30th minute. directly from the quarter-fi nal Pereira played a delicious pass to Al Kharaitiyat players celebrate a goal during the match against Al Shahania yesterday. stage of the competition, where al-Neel, who controlled the ball they will be joined by four other skilfully and placed his header Markhiya continued to apply Shamal started the second half received a cross from Mubarak teams who will have to work above Al Shamal goalkeeper pressure but al-Neel and Pereira brightly and equalised in the Saleh al-Rashidi and volleyed it their way up from rounds one Chehab Salah al-Deen. failed to add to the scoreline. 50th minute. Mohammed Hares past Markhiya custodian Mo- and two. Qatar’s Tamoor Sajjad (right) was adjudged Man of the Match. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, April 25, 2018 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT FOCUS Panathinaikos banned from Europe for Italy confi rm Ancelotti three seasons Reuters Athens talks, say no front-runner ormer Greek champions Panathinaikos have been banned from European competition for three Ancelotti was sacked by Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich last September seasonsF after failing to meet fi - nancial requirements, European AFP — was appointed to fi nd a successor football’s governing body UEFA Milan to Ventura and insisted the deadline Carlo Ancelotti is set to be given said yesterday.