CRICKET | Page 2 NNBABA | Page 7 Kiwis and Cavaliers rally To Advertise here Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 Aussies at to beat Pacers loggerheads in overtime over wicket thriller Wednesday, February 3, 2016 FOOTBALL Rabia II 24, 1437 AH Under-fi re Neville GULF TIMES faces daunting Cup SF against Barca SPORT Page 6 SHOOTING Qatar’s Rashid and Vitaliy qualify for Olympics By Sports Reporter However, since bin Futtais had already Doha earned his spot during last year’s World Cup, Habib grabbed the fi rst of the four Olympic quota slots up for grabs in this wo shooters from Qatar have qual- event. ifi ed for the Rio de Janeiro Olym- Two more shooters from the United pics later this year bringing much Arab Emirates battled for the second quota cheer to the country that was reel- for Rio 2016 where Saeed al-Maktoum beat Ting from the disappointment of its football his teammate Mohamed Ahmad 15-14. team narrowly missing the cut. The third and the fourth Olympic quota Yesterday, Rashid Saleh Hamad and Vi- places thus went to Qatar’s Hamad and In- taliy Dovgun clinched quota berths at the dependent Shooting Participant Abdullah Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament al-Rashidi. in New Delhi. Incidentally, the event in Dovgun, meanwhile, fi nished fi fth in the Indian capital off ered the last chance the Rifl e 50m 3 Positions with a total of for shooters from Asian countries to book 416.9 to grab a quota place. The competi- their tickets to Brazil. tion was won by South Korea’s Kim Jong- Rashid fi nished fi fth in the skeet compe- hyun, while Yuri Yurkov of Kazakhstan tition, but still clinched the berth because and Toshikazu Yamashita of Japan fi nished he had achieved the minimum qualifi ca- second and third respectively. tion score. He hit 14 out of 16 targets in the The Qatar shooting and Archery Federa- competition, which was won by two-time tion expressed its happiness at the shoot- ISSF World Cup medallist Saif Bin Futtais ers’ achievement. of the UAE. “We congratulate them on their success In the gold medal shoot-off after both and hope they will do well at the Olym- had tied with 16 in regulation, bin Futtais pics,” the federation said. bested Independent Shooting Participant Qatar’s handball team have already Saud Habib 13-12. qualifi ed for the Olympics. Rashid Saleh Hamad (left) and Vitaliy Dovgun clinched quota berths. QATAR INTERNATIONAL RALLY It’ll be a tough MERC season: QMMF prez ‘Chances of a Qatari driver to win this rally are great’ By Sports Reporter Jordanian champion Hossam Salem Doha and his co-driver Nancy al-Majali will also make a return to MERC with par- ticipation in Group N. atar Motor and Motorcycle Talking on behalf of the team, who Federation president Nass- were absent from the series owing to er Khalifa al-Attiyah lack of fi nancial support, al-Majali (pictured) has said that the said, “ We have come here not only to Qnew season of the Middle East Rally compete but to win.” Championship (MERC) will be one of Salem added, “I hope to add Qa- the toughest so far with participants tar International Rally to my career. coming not only from the Arab region I would like to thank QMMF offi cials but Europe and Turkey as well. for their hospitality since we arrived Talking ahead of the 34th edition of at Qatar. A positive result for me in the Qatar International Rally, which Qatar Rally would be beginning of a will run this weekend, al-Attiyah said, road map for me and my wife-cum- “We are so excited about the open- co-driver Nancy for the remaining ing of the 2016 MERC season with the have a number of QMMF drivers in rounds of the championship. I am Qatar International Rally. Once again order to encourage the Qatari talents quite optimistic about achieving a we welcome all the participants in this in the Group N, including Abdullah good result in the event.” round. This season is expected to be al-Kuwari, Khalifa bin Saleh al-Atti- On the home front, Misfer Rally an exceptional one with participants yah and Rashid al-Naimi. I think the champion Abdullah al-Kuwari said from Europe besides the Arab region chances of a Qatari driver to win this that he is physically and mentally fi t and Turkey as well. The competition rally are great due to their knowledge and hopes to return with a good re- is going to be very hard this season. of the Qatari landscape. sult. “I am happy about participat- Best of luck to all.” “We have also scheduled a super ing in Qatar International Rally once He added that the organising com- special stage at Doha Corniche, which more and would like to thank QMMF mittee behind the season-opener is the closest the audience can get to president Nasser al-Attiyah for his were ready for the event. “We have the action because it’ll be within the confi dence and trust. I have prom- been ready for this event for a long boundaries of the city. We are happy ised him to do my best. I am fi t and time now. The working committee to provide such an opportunity to can score a good result in spite of the and the members of the board have see the champions closely. Moreo- presence of many champions in the been working well for this event. I ver, such action would also encourage line-up. I know the Qatar geography would also like to appreciate the role tourism in Qatar.” well and I have a specifi c strategy for played by the Clerk of the Course The Qatar rally will witness Leba- all the stages,” al-Kuwari said. Marwan Musabeh.” nese participation after a long ab- He added: “Qatar Rally sees some “Qatar International Rally is con- sence with Radoulf Asmar participat- really good organisation and hos- sidered to be one of the most impor- ing in a Mitsubishi Evo 9. Asmar will pitality, besides the organisers are tant rallies in the region. We are al- team up with co-driver Joseph Mattar. focussed on safety aspects with the ways focussed on performance of the The team is expected to continue in presence of safety facilities and cam- organisation and to off er maximum the remaining MERC rounds too. eras for monitoring.” rest to our guests and participants, “I would like to thank QMMF, FIA-MENA co-ordinator Emad besides following safety procedures headed by Mr Nasser al-Attiyah, for Lahoud will arrive in Doha today to as per the standards of FIA is our top all the facilities provided. It’s the fi rst monitor the Qatar International Rally. priority time for me to participate in a desert He will be in charge of all technical Talking about the competition in rally. It’s something totally new for me and administrative issues. As a FIA the season-opener, he said, “There and would also give me a special expe- offi cial, he will also monitor safety are Nasser bin Saleh, Abdulaziz al- rience ahead of the coming rounds,” procedures, in addition to the envi- Kuwari, Khalid al-Suwaidi, and we Asmar said. ronmental aspects and the logistics. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, February 3, 2016 CRICKET PREVIEW Spot-fixers Butt, Asif could play in Caribbean Twenty20 league Spot-fixing convicts Salman Asif was also keen to feature Butt and Mohammad Asif in the league. yesterday said they could “The league will give me a feature in the fourth edition of better opportunity to improve the Caribbean Premier league my rhythm with world class Kiwis and Aussies in July. players in the teams,” said Asif. This would be the first interna- The Caribbean league was tional outing for the two play- initiated in 2013 on the pattern ers after they were relieved of of lucrative Twenty20 league their five-year spot fixing ban in India. in September last year. While Amir returned to inter- They along with young pace- national cricket in Pakistan’s man Mohammad Amir were Twenty20 and one-day series at loggerheads charged of taking illegal money in New Zealand last month, in return for arranging deliber- Butt and Asif were left to ate no-balls during the Lord’s play national one-day cup at Test against England in 2010. All domestic level. three were also jailed in UK. Butt scored 536 runs in the However, Butt said he now seven one-day cup matches has permission from Pakistan which ended last week, with a Cricket Board (PCB) to play in hundred and four half centu- over wicket the Caribbean League. ries while Asif managed seven “When our bans were lifted wickets in as many games. in September last year, the However, neither Butt nor Asif ‘Brendon has been a terrific player and leader for a long time. No doubt they’ll want PCB had cleared us to play in were included in the Pakistan any league around the world, Super League (PSL) due to to send him off in the best way possible. It’s up to us to make that not happen’ so I am eligible to play in the start in Dubai from Thursday. Caribbean league which will Amir, whose ban was relaxed give me a good opportunity in April last year on the re- to regain my place in the na- quest of the PCB, will feature tional team,” Butt told AFP.