CRICKET | Page 4 Upbeat Australia battle to build lead over India Monday, December 17, 2018 FOOTBALL Rabia II 10, 1440 AH Shaqiri strikes twice GULF TIMES to sink United and send Liverpool top SPORT Page 2 FOCUS Qatar on right track to host amazing World Cup: Xavi ‘Qatar national team and country both are ready... Everybody is surprised by the way Qatar is organising everything’ By Sahan Bidappa everything,” said Xavi on Satur- won’t be diff erent. The only dif- The most beautiful thing is it is Doha day at the design launch event for ference is that you can now watch so compact. You can see three Lusail Stadium, the venue for the three games in the same day. So games in one day. The most im- opening and fi nal matches of the all these kind of things are an ad- portant thing is that you can feel aving spent the last 2022 FIFA World Cup. vantage. Let’s take for example that there is a World Cup going three years in Doha The 38-year-old also felt that Brazil, South Africa and Russia, it on,” the former Inter Milan man- playing for Al Sadd, Qatar’s national team is heading was impossible to travel to watch ager said. midfi eld maestro Xavi in the right direction and praised all the games in three days. Now “In Russia, they did a great job His convinced Qatar will be ready coach Felix Sanchez’s side for you have this advantage and for but it is so spread out that you well ahead of time to host the their recent performances in the sure the organisation will be per- don’t really feel that a World Cup 2022 World Cup. Xavi was part of friendlies against higher-ranked fect,” said Sneijder is going on. A World Cup should Spain’s four World Cup squads, teams, Switzerland and Iceland. “The changes that I have seen be for the fans. What I experienced including the triumphant one in “I think they are preparing very over one year, it’s amazing. The in South Africa, in Johannesburg 2010, and knows a thing or two well but it’s too early to make a roads, the parks that they are where so many teams were togeth- about what it takes to host the prediction. The team are in a good building, they are really making er and fans celebrating the World biggest sporting spectacle in the way, they are doing well. They have Qatar better and ready for the Cup. We are going to experience world. a very good coach in Felix Sanchez. 2022 World Cup,” he added. this even more,” he added. And from what he has seen He is a brilliant coach so they can Former Netherlands and Ajax His twin brother, Ronald de from close quarters, the former compete. Let’s see how they do international Frank de Boer said Boer, who lived in Doha for seven Barcelona star believes Qatar at the Asian Cup in January. They (From left) Barcelona’s French defender Samuel Umtiti, Dutch former player Ronald de Boer, Al Sadd’s Span- the weather will not be an issue at years, said Qatar is a football-crazy should have no problem hosting have a culture of football. They are ish midfielder Xavi, Mainz’s Dutch midfielder Nigel De Jong and Dutch former player Ruud Gullit attending the 2022 World Cup and backed nation and that the World Cup has the showpiece football event. ready to compete. Everybody can the unveiling of the Lusail stadium’s design (below) on Saturday. Qatar to outdo Russia, which come to the right place. “People “I am the ambassador of Su- see that in the last games they won hosted the most recent edition here adore football. There (is) still preme Committee and I think against Switzerland and drew with Qatar coach in 2022. He is in his “I am preparing as a coach, who is currently plying his trade earlier this year. lots of miscommunication in the they are ready. The Qatar na- Iceland. So they are ready and they fi nal year of his contract with Al maybe next season I will start as a for Qatar Stars League club Al “I don’t see any problem with world, so it’s a great opportunity tional team and country both are have time four years more,” Xavi Sadd and the midfi elder spoke on coach. At the moment, I am still a Gharafa, said the World Cup in the weather. Right now outside to show the world what Qatar is ready. You can see such amazing said. what he intends to do in future player at Al Sadd,” he said. Qatar would be an experience in it is 18-25 degrees Celsius, which all about,” said Ronald, who played stadiums. Everybody is surprised Xavi, who won 133 caps for once he decides to hang up his Meanwhile, former the Neth- itself for fans across the world. is perfect for playing football. for Al Rayyan and Al Shamal in the by the way Qatar is organising Spain, has been tipped to be the boots. erlands star Wesley Sneijder, “It (The World Cup in Qatar) So I am not worried about it. mid 2000s. SPOTLIGHT Badminton gold at last for ‘proud’ Sindhu, Shi stuns Momota AFP ships and was runner-up in last world championship decider in Shanghai year’s season fi nale. August. But she put all that heartbreak On that occasion, the 22-year- behind her in the Chinese city of old Shi — the new star of Chinese n emotional P V Guangzhou, beating the fi fth- men’s badminton — was well Sindhu finally got her ranked Nozomi Okuhara of Japan beaten by Momota. hands on gold at bad- 21-19, 21-17 in the women’s fi nal But roared on by the crowd in minton’s season-end- in just over an hour. Guangzhou, Shi got revenge in Aing World Tour Finals yesterday Sindhu, who was always in emphatic fashion, beating the while in the men’s decider Chi- control of the match, sealed the tournament favourite 21-12, 21-11 na’s Shi Yuqi exacted stunning championship with a forehand in a surprisingly one-sided en- revenge over number one Kento smash, before collapsing to the counter for the biggest win of his Momota. court fl oor on her hands and young career. The 23-year-old Indian Sind- knees, physically and emotion- Significantly, it was the first hu has suffered a series of near- ally exhausted. time Shi has beaten Momota, misses in recent years, winning “I’m really proud, the year has 24, the outstanding player this silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics, ended on a beautiful note,” said year. and again at the Asian Games Sindhu. “I’m thrilled as I’d never and Commonwealth Games this “People have been asking me PV Sindhu of India poses with the winner’s trophy after winning the beaten Momota and to do it on year. the same question, I think the women’s singles final at the 2018 BWF World Tour Finals in Guangzhou, Shi Yuqi of China celebrates his victory over Japan’s Kento Momota this stage is very special,” said The world number six, re- question won’t come again — China, yesterday. (AFP) (not pictured) in the men’s singles final yesterday. (AFP) Shi, who has overtaken Olympic nowned for her never-say-die asking why I always lose in the champions Chen Long and Lin attitude, has also twice lost in fi nal. asking me about losing so many why I was losing. The men’s final, a mouth- the two top-ranked players in Dan to become China’s leading the fi nal of the World Champion- “It was good that people were fi nals because I had to ask myself “Finally I got the answer.” watering showdown between the world, was a re-run of the male player. Gulf Times 2 Monday, December 17, 2018 FOOTBALL PREMIER LEAGUE Shaqiri strikes twice to sink United and send Liverpool top Liverpool move a mammoth 19 clear of United, who remain in sixth and are now 11 points off the top four AFP clean sheet in the league since Septem- Liverpool ber never looked capable of holding out like they had in their two previous visits to Anfi eld. wo defl ected Xherdan Shaqiri Mourinho’s men were fi nally strikes handed Liverpool vic- breached when Mane controlled Fab- tory over Manchester United in inho’s chipped ball into the box on his the Premier League for the fi rst chest and volleyed past the onrushing Ttime in nine attempts as Jurgen Klopp’s De Gea. However, Liverpool’s momen- men moved back to the top of the table tum was punctured by an Alisson gift 12 with a 3-1 win at Anfi eld yesterday. minutes before the break. United manager Jose Mourinho The Brazilian was Liverpool’s hero claimed ahead of the game that the with an injury-time save to secure the league leaders have had luck on their Reds’ place in the last 16 of the Champi- side this season, but while there was ons League against Napoli on Tuesday. fortune in substitute Shaqiri’s two But he spilled Lukaku’s simple cross goals in the fi nal 17 minutes, the visitors into the path of the grateful Lingard to did not deserve anything more than a bundle the ball into an unguarded net. fi fth defeat of the season.