14 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2018 sports

Sports achievements a Pochettino comfortable result of King’s support: with speculation over BOC future TDT | Manama Kohli undaunted by AFP | Madrid he support of His Maj- ottenham manager Testy King Hamad bin TMauricio Pochettino Isa Al Khalifa to the Bah- said yesterday he will never rain Olympic Committee get bored of stories linking (BOC) and all national sports Ashwin, Sharma injury him to other clubs because federations has made key it means he is doing some- contributions to the sports thing right. achievements in the King- Ashwin is receiving Fresh speculation about dom of Bahrain • Pochettino’s future has Supreme Council for treatment for a left- emerged this week follow- Youth and Sports assistant sided abdominal strain ing the club’s qualification secretary general and Bah- to the knockout stage of the rain Olympic Committee Sharma jarred his Champions League, with (BOC) secretary general Ab- back• while fielding reports suggesting the club dulrahman Askar said His are braced for interest from Majesty’s praising the youth in Adelaide Manchester United and and sports sectors’ achieve- Real Madrid. ments in the so-called ‘Gold AFP | Perth, Australia “This type of news I think Year Only’ 2018 is a great does not upset or bore peo- honor for both sectors. ndia skipper Virat Kohli was ple,” said the Argentine, who “I would like to extend undaunted yesterday de- signed a five-year contract our great gratitude to His Ispite losing prolific spinner in May and has constantly Majesty the King for his Ravichandran Ashwin and bats- spoken about how happy he appreciation to the sports man Rohit Sharma to injury as is in north London. achievements of the King- he looks to twist the knife in the “I prefer that newspapers dom’s heroes and champi- second Test against Australia. talk about things like this ons in various international The visitors went 1-0 in the than talk about ‘Tottenham competitions,” said Askar. four-Test series after a tense, is going to sack me’, or ‘peo- “Our athletes have made 31-run win in Adelaide earlier ple are tired of me’, or ‘we tremendous efforts in ful- this week -- their first victory are in a difficult situation’. Indian cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin (L) teammate Rohit Sharma (R) and Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli (C) filling aspirations of HH in Australia in a decade. “Of course, if I choose celebrate after the dismissal of a Sri Lankan cricketer (file photo) Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad But India, who are searching one situation I choose this Al Khalifa by taking 197 gold for their first series win in Aus- was “recovering well” but was inaugural Test at the new Perth the first Test, while Sharma hit one. I am not bored of it, of medals in different sports”. tralia, suffered a setback when still undergoing treatment. Stadium, which has replaced the scores of 37 and one. They were course.” Askar stressed that the Ashwin and the experienced However, Kohli was bullish city’s venerable WACA Ground the notable absences in India’s Pochettino has steered support of His Majesty to Sharma were declared unavaila- about India’s prospects in the as its premier cricket venue. initial 13-man squad. Spurs into the last 16 of the sports sector was the ble for the second Test in Perth, “We are definitely confident All-rounder Hanuma Vihari the Champions League most prominent factor be- starting today. of the percentage of chances we is expected to slot in for Shar- and to third spot in the hind these achievements. Ashwin is receiving treat- have and we want to build on ma, with the final spot a toss-up Premier League in spite The BOC secretary gen- ment for a left-sided abdominal that,” said Kohli at a pre-match between pacemen Bhuvnesh- of several challenges this eral added that initiative strain, while Sharma jarred his press conference before the in- war Kumar and Umesh Yadav season, including having to of HH Shaikh Nasser, His back while fielding in Adelaide, jury problems were announced. or Ravindra Jadeja, who has play their home games at Majesty’s representative for the Board of Control for Cricket “Obviously Australia is go- taken 185 Test wickets with his Wembley. Charity Works and Youth in India said. 185 ing to be a strong team in their left-arm spin and also averages And he is relieved that Test wickets have been Affairs, Supreme Council Also missing, as expected, taken by Ravindra home conditions and on a wick- 32.44 with the bat. most of the focus is on Man- for Youth and Sports Chair- will be exciting young open- Jadeja et like Perth, which probably The Test will be the first at chester City and Liverpool. man, and BOC President, has er Prithvi Shaw, who suffering offers you more than most oth- the new 60,000-capacity Perth “We are there, we are in inspired Bahraini youth to ligament damage in a warm-up er pitches in Australia. But we Stadium, whose wicket is likely a good position of course,” achieve more honourable match ahead of the Adelaide have an equal chance.” to be fast and bouncy like the old he said. “It is normal that results for the country. Test. The BCCI said Shaw, 19, Ashwin took six wickets in WACA, just over the Swan River. the perception is different. ”

Shahzad Zafar rally past NIA Kerala India’s Sindhu stuns no.1 Tai in TDT | Manama Other Match results

hahzad Zafar beat NIA ACL Red Mountain badminton Tour Finals SKerala XI by 5 wickets 145/5 in 18.1 overs (Ars- in a CBA Division C T-20 lan 65) beat Bassali Tigers AFP | Shanghai, China League match. 144/5 (Numair 66, Imran Kerala XI won the toss 2/26) by 5 wickets ndia’s PV Sindhu pulled off and elected to bat first Alyousuf Exchange Ia shock at the badminton with opener Nideesh scor- 139/6 in 18 overs (Suresh World Tour Finals yesterday ing 42 runs. Shahzad Za- 30, Nadeem 2/22) beat as she defeated top-ranked far’s bowler Farhan took Fateh Curtain 138/8 Tai Tzu-ying of Taiwan in four wickets in his 4 over (Anas 30, Anil 3/26) by three thrilling games. spell and restricted Kerala Arslan - ACL Farzan - Mumbai Riders 4 wickets Sindhu sank to her knees XI to 150 runs in 20 overs. G4S Legends 131/5 in at the end of an exhausting Chasing the target skipper Brief Score: 20 overs (Ismayil 33, Abid 26, 14-21, 21-16, 21-18 victory in Khalid scored a quick 43 runs Shahzad Zafar 153/4 in 19 Shezan 2/11) beat EURO Bahrain 61 enthralling minutes in the to give a solid start for Shahzad overs (Khalid 43, Majid 41, Abi 99/10 (Sharaz 26, Sabir 4/6) by Chinese city of Guangzhou. Zafar, which was well carried 2/26) beat NIA Kerala XI 150/10 32 runs. The 23-year-old, a silver by Majid who scored 41 runs to (Nideesh 42, Farhan 4/29) by 6 LuLu 138/8 in 20 overs (Biju 28, medallist at the Rio Olympics help them reach the target in 19th wickets. Pradeep27, Sami 3/13) beat Pak in 2016, faces Zhang Beiwen over. Panthers 31/10 (Sami 7, Twinkle of the United States today 2/15) by 107 runs. Mumbai Riders 117/6 in 15.5 PV Sindhu of India plays a shot overs (Farzan 54, Danny 2/9) looking to make it three wins world champion Kento Mo- beat Central Café 111/7 (Inam out of three in Group A. mota of Japan. 28, Farzan 3/15, Furkan 2/21) by It was a disappointing day He is in ominous form as 4 wickets. for Taiwan. he looks to put the seal on Smile Mart 134/6 in 15 overs KNOW WHAT As well as Tai going down a breakthrough year and (Zeeshan 47, Mohsin 3/16) beat to the sixth-ranked Sindhu, swatted aside Thailand’s Pak CC 130/8 (Imran 30, Zubair men’s world number three Kantaphon Wangcharoen 21- 26, Asif 2/17) by 4 wickets. Chou Tien-chen also lost, 15, 21-7 for a second win in a Azeem CC 104/5 in 13.3 overs PV Sindhu won the this time in the men’s draw. row. (Jamil 47, Bhasker 2/17) beat silver medal at the Rio Chou was on the end of an China’s Shi Yuqi, one of Falcon CC 103/10 (Sohail 28, 18-21, 21-11, 21-14 defeat to the main threats to red-hot Zeeshan 2/12) by 5 wickets Olympics in 2016 South Korea’s buoyant Son Momota, was even more em- at Seef District too Tornado A 139/9 in 20 overs Wan-ho. phatic in dismissing Anthony (Gigin 33) beat Rebel 113/10 (Vai- There was no such trouble Sinisuka Ginting of Indone- Um al Hassan +973 17728699 Seef District +973 17364999 bhav 53) by 26 runs. for men’s number one and sia, 21-8, 21-19 in 37 minutes.