NBA | Page 6 CRICKET | Page 5 King James In-form To Advertise here returns Kohli guides Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 with 33 as India to Asia Cavs win Cup fi nal Wednesday, March 2, 2016 Jumada I 22, 1437 AH FOOTBALL Don’t rush United GULF TIMES gem Rashford, warns Van Gaal SPORT Page 3 BASKETBALL Dominic shines as Rayyan capture 17th League crown ‘More than a team we are like one family where we back each other to the hilt’ By Sports Reporter ‘Dominic was outstanding, Doha but so were Alban and the rest of the guys. Al Sadd played very well but we stayed in the game ominic Davon starred with a and fi nally pulled it off ’ match-high 25 points as Al Rayyan captured the Qatar the fi rst fi ve minutes before Al Rayyan Basketball League title for the pulled up their socks and forced a 18-18 D17th time by sweeping to their second fi rst quarter tie. consecutive win in their best-of-three Al Sadd, however, were off the mark fi nals against Al Sadd. quickly in the second quarter and After their crushing 48-78 loss in the scored a whopping 16 points in the fi nal fi rst game of the series last weekend, Al fi ve minutes while restricting Al Rayy- Sadd produced a much better perform- an to just six. ance yesterday but still failed to make That gave them a 40-34 cushion but most of their 40-34 second quarter Al Rayyan fought back gamely to lead advantage before crashing to a 71-62 53-48 after the third quarter before defeat against Qatar’s most dominant their seven-point streak in the fi nal side over the years. session tilted the game in their favour. Davon, who played the full duration For Al Sadd, Khalid Suliman Abdi of the match, was defi nitely the man of was the top scorer with 16 points, while the moment for Al Rayyan as he scored Saeed Erfan Ali and Deba Kone had 15 at crucial times to help his side take and 14, respectively. control, especially during the third and Al Rayyan coach Koufos Stergios fourth quarters when they were under credited the victory to team spirit. tremendous pressure. “More than a team we are like one Trailing by six points after the second family where we back each other to the quarter, Al Rayyan clawed their way up hilt,” Stergios said after the match. thanks to Davon and Alban Ngombo “We were under a great deal of pres- who took the fi ght to the opposition. sure during the fi nal but it was this The turning point of the match came team spirit and our never-say-die at- when Al Rayyan hit a rare purple patch titude that helped us turn the tide and and produced seven consecutive points win the championship. after the teams were tied 58-all to lead “Dominic was outstanding, but so 65-58. were Alban and the rest of the guys. Al Davon had scored three of those sev- Sadd played very well but we stayed in en points which helped Al Rayyan de- the game and fi nally pulled it off .” liver the killer blow from which Al Sadd The coach said his team’s focus will never recovered. now shift to the Cup tournaments. Ngombo was not far behind for Al “We will celebrate our win for two- Rayyan, scoring 22 points, while Salem three days and after that we will focus Abdullah had 15. on the Qatar Cup and the Emir Cup be- The match started in dramatic fash- Qatar Basketball Federation chief Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and other off icials applaud as Al Rayyan captain Yaseen ismail Musa holds aloft the Qatar sides the regional tournaments that are ion with Al Sadd taking a 10-5 lead after Basketball League trophy after their win over Al Sadd yesterday. due.” FOOTBALL Lekhwiya hold Zobahan to pick up fi rst point AFC Isfahan El Jaish hope to consolidate Zobahan’s Hadi Mohammadi (C) AFC, Doha: Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic “We also missed many scoring atar Stars League champi- heads the ball clear during their wants major improvements from chances in the first match against El ons Lekhwiya picked up their Asian Champions League match his side in their return meeting with Jaish and we should try to work hard fi rst point of the 2016 AFC against Qatar’s Lekhwiya at the Qatar’s El Jaish in the AFC Champi- and score from any chance that we Champions League campaign Foolad Shahr Stadium in the ons League Group D encounter the will create in Wednesday’s game. Qas Djamal Belmadi’s side secured a 0-0 Iranian city of Isfahan yesterday. Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium today. “El Jaish will try their best to stop us draw with Iran’s Zobahan in Group B In their continental opener at home in the attack and they are also capa- yesterday. to the same opponents last week, ble of creating chances and causing Zobahan had won last week’s meeting Dalic saw goals from Abderrazzaq us problems like they did previously.” between the two teams thanks to a soli- Hamedallah and Romarinho con- Opponents El Jaish took advantage tary goal by Mehdi Rajabzadeh, but Bel- demn his side to a 2-1 defeat despite of Lekhwiya’s heavy 5-0 defeat to Qa- madi’s side held fast at the Foolad Shahr Douglas’ penalty 25 minutes from tar Stars League leaders Al Rayyan Stadium to claim their fi rst point of this time. to move into second place in the year’s continental campaign. And the Croatian coach is likely to domestic standings with a 1-0 win The home side were on the front foot be without midfielder Yaser Matar over Al Wakra on Saturday. from the fi rst whistle and, with less than who was withdrawn in the Matchday “We played against Al Wakra in the two minutes on the clock, Lekhwiya One meeting and Colombian Danilo local league and it was a chance to goalkeeper Ivan Rodrigues was forced Asprilla who is still recovering from a prepare the players for the match to dive at full stretch to push Kaveh Re- recent injury. against Al Ain,” said El Jaish coach zaei’s shot to safety after the Iranians hit “We are looking to make a good Sabri Lamouchi. quickly on the break. comeback after losing the opening “We will concentrate hard and And, just four minutes later, Golmo- match although this game will be hopefully we can get another win to hammadi’s side went closer still as Ali very hard for us. After losing the strengthen our position in the group. Hamam’s header came back off the cross first meeting, we have tried to fix the “After the opening win, we didn’t cel- bar before being hacked to safety. mistakes that we made, especially ebrate too much because we know Lekhwiya took time to fi nd their in defence,” said Al Ain coach Dalic, that we still have a long road to go. rhythm, with Alain Dioko going closest who saw his team qualify for the “The match on Wednesday will not for the visitors when his shot on the turn quarter-finals of the UAE President’s be easy because our opponents will from outside the area was saved by Mo- two defenders on the fl oor only for the before setting up Ismail Mohamad, but his weak eff ort rolling ever closer to the Cup following a 4-0 win over Al It- try to avenge their defeat and this hammadrashid Mazaheri. South Korean to shoot high over the bar his eff ort from inside the are was hope- line, Chico Flores was just quick enough tihad Kalba on Saturday. will make things harder for us.” With seconds remaining in the half, after a perfect lay off . lessly off target. to sprint back and clear to safety. Nam Tae-hee should have done better Ten minutes after the restart, it was A minute later, Zobahan came within At the other end, Nam tried his luck with his eff ort when he had the time and Lekhwiya who again looked the most inches of opening the scoring as Rezaei again, this time with a low side-footed With 11 minutes to go, Morteza Tabrizi him and space in the penalty area to pick space to pick his spot after Luiz Junior’s likely to open the scoring as Yousef Msa- outpaced Rodrigues to the ball on the eff ort from the edge of the area that was presented with the best chance of his spot, only to panic and send his at- tricky run down the right saw him leave kni surged towards the Zobahan defence edge of the Qatari side’s area but, with curled away from Mazaheri’s goal. the game when he found himself with tempt high and wide of the target. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, March 2, 2016 FOOTBALL QATAR STARS LEAGUE BUNDESLIGA Guardiola dismisses Dortmund talk Rayyan on verge before Mainz of winning title with lots to spare None of the title contenders, including reigning champions Lekhwiya, El Jaish and Al Sadd, have come close to challenging Rodrigo Tabata and Co Pep Guardiola. AFP Leverkusen 3-1 at home on Sun- Munich day with goal-scoring midfi elder Yunus Malli netting twice to leave them fi fth and challenging ayern Munich could for a Champions League place Rodrigo Tabata: Al Rayyan move closer to an histor- next season.