TENNIS | Page 4 NBA | Page 5 Nadal beats Thunder, Celtics Goffi n to earn crucial enter Monte wins, Clippers Carlo fi nal stun Jazz Sunday, April 23, 2017 FOOTBALL Rajab 26, 1438 AH Matador Cavani GULF TIMES sends PSG top of the table SPORT Page 3 QATAR CROSS-COUNTRY RALLY Al-Attiyah, Sunderland and Sonik clinch victories ‘We had a few problems. After that, we did some good navigation and caught everybody. It was important to win here. Everybody had some small problems today but this is a good result for my championship and it’s always nice to win at home’ By Sports Reporter Losail atar’s Nasser Saleh al-Atti- yah, Dubai-based Sam Sun- derland and Poland’s Rafal QSonik claimed outright vic- tories in the car, motorcycle and quad categories after a gruelling fi ve-day Qatar Cross-Country Rally drew to its conclusion at Losail yesterday. Al-Attiyah and French navigator Matthieu Baumel began the fi nal day with a lead of 5min 58sec over South Africa’s Leeroy Poulter and the Qatari pushed hard from the outset to catch the South African. The two Toyota Hilux drivers reached the fi nish in fi rst Sam Sunderland celebrates his win in Qatar. and third overall, Poulter’s position be- lying the fact that he had never before egory. Making up for his disappointing Kazakhstan where I can get my chal- competed in the Middle East and even run in Abu Dhabi recently, the Pole duly lenge back on track.” though he got stuck in the last dunes on confi rmed his fourth win in Qatar and Frenchman Claude Fournier was the a lump of camel grass and missed out his fi rst on a Yamaha. sole entrant in the FIA T3 section and on second. Peru’s Alexis Hernandez recovered reached the fi nish with navigator Loic The fi nal stage of 343.32km started from a 40-minute time penalty, road Minaudier in a Polaris RZR 1000. near the fort at Al-Zubara on Qatar’s book scrolling issues and a heavy land- north-west coast and headed down the ing in a hole on Friday to clinch the Overall Standings west of the country before turning in- runner-up spot from Dutch rider and land to fi nish on Sealine beach, south former CEO of Booking.com, Kees CARS of Doha, after a series of dune cross- Koolen. Guatemala’s Rodolfo Schip- 1. Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Baumel (FRA) ings near the end. Victories on the last pers was fourth and Italy’s female rider Toyota Hilux Overdrive stage fell to Poland’s Jakub Przygonski, Camelia Liparoti was fi fth. 2. Jakub Przygonski (POL)/Tom Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla and Peru’s Saudi Arabia’s Yasir Saiedan extend- Colsoul (BEL) Mini All4 Racing Alexis Hernandez in the car, bike and ed his lead in the FIA T2 championship 3. Leeroy Poulter (ZAF)/Dirk von quad sections. with victory in the section for series Zitzewitz (DEU) Toyota Hilux “Today we tried to be careful,” said Qatar’s Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah celebrates with the winner’s trophy during the podium ceremony yesterday. production cross-country vehicles. He 4. Khalid al-Qassimi (ARE)/Khaled al-Attiyah. “We had a few problems. and French navigator Laurent Lich- al-Kendi (ARE) Peugeot 3008 DKR We tried to fi x and continue and then, hauled Poulter by 28 seconds to snatch about the rest of the season. I will go the podium places, despite a late push tleuchter fi nished 1hr 13min 44sec in 5. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT)/Xavier in the last part, in the dunes, we had a second place, with al-Qassimi nearly away and think about it, because I also by last stage winner Pablo Quintanilla front of Abu Dhabi Racing’s Mansour Panseri (FRA) Mini All4 Racing puncture and we didn’t have the jack slipping behind Qatar’s Mohammed have WRC commitments.” of the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna al-Helai, who lost time on Friday with Selected Results working. We put the car on a small hill Abu Issa over the closing kilometres Sam Sunderland, the winner of Team. Ride to Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed suspension issues. 10. Mohammed al-Mannai (QAT)/Kamal and we managed to change the wheel after losing his way. The Peugeot driver this year’s Dakar Rally and Abu Dhabi al-Balooshi reached the fi nish in Losail Adel Abdulla set several fastest times Khoder (QAT) Chevrolet Buggy but it took around four minutes. After maintains his lead in the FIA World Cup Desert Challenge, completed an em- in eighth place. in his QMMF and Ooredoo-backed that, we did some good navigation and championship standings, but doesn’t phatic hat-trick of victories by stay- “It’s been a good race and it’s been as Nissan Patrol, but the Qatari incurred BIKES caught everybody. It was important to yet have a programme of events in place ing out of trouble over the fi nal stage tough as always here in Qatar with the massive time penalties after a troubled 1. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM win here. Everybody had some small to continue the season. to with the Qatari event for the second navigation,” said Sunderland. “I felt second desert stage in the sand dunes, 2. Paolo Gonçalves (PRT) Honda problems today but this is a good result Al-Qassimi said: “I was struggling. I time. His winning margin was 7min good and the bike was perfect and the south of Sealine. Ahmed al-Shegawi, 3. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM for my championship and it’s always lost around 10 minutes today, yesterday 42sec on a Red Bull KTM 450 Rally. team did a great job. We have a bit of a Mohammed al-Harqan and Ahmed al- 4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL) Husqvarna nice to win at home.” maybe fi ve and so on. It’s just very dif- The Dubai-based Briton was fi rst on break now before the next one, Ataca- Malki rounded off the top fi ve. 5. Kevin Benavides (ARG) Honda Przygonski and Abu Dhabi Racing’s fi cult navigation here, especially when the road this morning and benefi ted ma, so I have time to recharge the bat- “We had bad luck again today and Sheikh Khalid al-Qassimi battled hard I am new in this game. You keep hoping from a canny fi ve-day strategy to con- teries and refocus after three rallies in that has cost me a potential stage win,” QUADS for the fi nal podium position. The Emi- someone will pass and you can follow. fi rm the win. Monster Energy Honda just over a month.” said Adel Abdulla. “I have lost points 1. Rafal Sonik (POL) Yamaha rati began the day trailing by 1min 53sec I am still learning this game. You need team rider Paulo Gonçalves was second Rafal Sonik survived a fourth stage again, but the championship still has a 2. Alexis Hernandez (PER) Yamaha in his Peugeot 3008 DKR and Przygon- to know a lot of detailed, tough naviga- and Sunderland’s KTM colleague Mat- suspension arm breakage to clinch a long way to go and we have a new cross- 3. Kees Koolen (NLD) Barren Racer One ski pulled clear and eventually over- tion. I got lost today. I’m not sure yet thias Walkner of Austria rounded off comfortable victory in the quad cat- country rally coming up next month in TENNIS Foul-mouthed Nastase expelled from Fed Cup tie AFP — whose room number he’d asked for at about his comment fi rst broke. The match was suspended as Kon- London the press conference — and Konta. “We are aware of alleged comments ta burst into tears, although the BBC He was reported to have described made by Romanian captain Ilie Nastase claimed it appeared that was provoked the British duo as “f****g b*****s”. and have begun an immediate investi- by abusive remarks from a spectator. omanian tennis legend Ilie Nastase had also been riled by the gation so that we have the full facts of Romania star Simona Halep ap- Nastase was expelled from umpire appealing to the crowd for calm the situation before taking further and pealed to the crowd to calm down and the Fed Cup tie with Britain with the Romanian captain interject- appropriate action.” the rubber was able to resume with Ryesterday for “serious mis- ing: “It’s not the opera, what’s your Konta shrugging aside the upset to level conduct” after a foul-mouthed rant f*****g problem?” ‘YOU’RE STUPID, UGLY’ the tie at 1-1 as she prevailed in straight compounded a controversy caused by After a lengthy delay to proceedings, Nastase, who won two Grand Slams in sets 6-2, 6-3. racist remarks aimed at superstar Ser- Nastase was banished to the stands his career, didn’t take kindly to the ini- Nastase, who had a reputation as a ena Williams. before being fi nally kicked out of the tial press reports of his comment and playboy during and after his playing ca- The 70-year-old was heard to say tournament. “His accreditation was lambasted a Press Association tennis reer, also made a number of inappropri- about Williams’s pregnancy at Friday’s removed and he will play no further correspondent in the press room prior ate remarks to Keothavong ahead of the press conference ahead of the World part in the tie,” said the International to the start of the tie. weekend tie between the two countries.