BOXING | Page 3 MLB | Page 5 Champ Joshua Kipnis’ walk-off says Wembley slam lift s return a Indians over ‘blessing’ White Sox Friday, September 21, 2018 FOOTBALL Moharram 11, 1440 AH Mourinho upbeat as GULF TIMES Pogba points way for United in Europe SPORT Page 7 ASIAN TEAM SNOOKER CHAMPIONSHIP China on a roll; two Pakistan teams in semis By Sports Reporter 76-point break, before Junxu won March this year, made it to the 3-2 in yesterday’s quarters. eventually the title, the two have Doha the second frame 74-1. semi-fi nal stage nonetheless Cheung, 19, gave Hong Kong to take on China’s Yize and Junxu Patience paid off as the hosts with a 3-0 sweep of Thailand in the lead taking the fi rst frame in today’s semis. duo managed to stay in the game the quarters. against Ali, before Bilal restored Yesterday, Ehsan Heydari espite a resolute per- in the doubles frame with a close Chandra held off Passakorn Su- parity beating Fung. The Paki- Nezhad gave Iran a blockbuster formance in the doubles 64-43 win. wannawat in the fi rst frame, be- stani duo then took the lead with start in the quarter-fi nal with frame, the campaign of In the fourth, even as al- fore a 64-point break by Advani a doubles frame victory before breaks of 48 and 51, blanking Qatar 1’s Ahmed Saif Obaidli pushed Yize, the latter took the second frame away from Cheung forced a decider with a Masih 104-0. Dand Ali al-Obaidli came to a halt eventually sealed a 57-43 win for Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon. win over Bilal. However, Asif restored parity at the quarter-fi nals stage of the a spot in the semis. Advani’s 99-point break in the Ali stayed calm against the beating Amir Sarkhosh 72-24. In Asian Team Snooker Champion- Yize-Junxu combine have doubles frame gave the Thai duo more experienced Fung to take a nerve-racking doubles frame, ship yesterday. dropped just three frames from no chance to stay in the game. his team into the semis. Nezhad and Sarkhosh eked out a The Qatari duo were up against their four matches so far, includ- Both the teams from Pakistan Pakistan 1’s Mohamed Asif and 69-59 win. the unbeaten Chinese teenaged ing a 3-0 sweep of India 1, com- made it to the last-four stage, Babar Masih would be hoping Pushed to the corner, both team of Wu Yize, 14, and Pang prising Pankaj Advani and Man- with Pakistan 2’s Mohamed Ma- to make amends from the IBSF- Asif and Masih came away with Junxu, 18, for a spot in the last an Chandra, in the group stages jid Ali and Mohamed Bilal set to ACBS World Team Snooker Cup close wins in their reverse singles four at the Qatar Billiards and on Wednesday. play the Indians in semis today six months ago, having fi nished frames to make it to the semis. Snooker Federation Hall. The experienced Indian team, afternoon. runner-up in the March 2018 The semi-fi nals will be played Yize took the fi rst frame against who had won the IBSF-ACBS They beat Hong Kong’s Che- tournament. today at 1:30pm, before the fi nal China’s Wu Yize in action during the Asian Team Snooker Championship Saif 107-6 after putting together a World Team Snooker Cup in ung Ka Wai and Fung Kwok Wai However, to reach the fi nal and at 5:30pm. quarter-final against Qatar 1 yesterday. PICTURE: Nasar T K FOCUS CRICKET Birthday boy Rashid stars as Afghanistan Russian athletes upset Bangladesh Scorecard AFGHANISTAN M. Shahzad c Hider b Shakib 37 to return as WADA I. Janat c Mithun b Hider 8 R. Shah b Hider 10 H. Shahidi c Das b Hossain 58 A. Afghan c and b Shakib 8 S. Shinwari b Shakib 18 M. Nabi lbw b Shakib 10 lift s doping ban G. Naib not out 42 R. Khan not out 57 WADA would be given access to former Moscow laboratory data and samples Extras (b 5, nb 1, w 1) 7 Total (for 7 wkts; 50 overs) 255 AFP ti-doping agencies around the Fall of wickets: 1-10 (Janat), Victoria, Seychelles world, who have accused WADA AFP 2-28 (Shah), 3-79 (Shahzad), of caving in to pressure from the Abu Dhabi 4-101 (Afghan), 5-139 (Shen- International Olympic Commit- wari), 6-150 (Shahidi), 7-160 he World Anti-Doping tee. (Nabi) Agency (WADA) yester- Leading athletes signed a joint alented spinner Rashid day lifted a ban on Rus- letter this week against the plan Khan celebrated his Bowling: R. Hossain 6-1-32-1, sia’s anti-doping agen- to reinstate Russia saying WADA 20th birthday by scoring Hider 9-1-50-2 (1w), Hasan Tcy, paving the way for Russian “owe it to all clean athletes to be a half century and taking 8-0-21-0, Mortaza 8-0-67-0 athletes to return to competition the guardians of clean sport”. Ttwo wickets as Afghanistan up- (1nb), Shakib 10-1-42-4, M. Hos- across all sports. Jim Walden, the lawyer of set Bangladesh by 136 runs in the sain 4-0-18-0, Haque 3-0-15-0, “Today, the great majority of Russian doping whistleblower Asia Cup yesterday. Riyad 2-0-5-0 WADA’s Executive Committee Grigory Rodchenkov, led the Rashid scored a rapid unbeat- decided to reinstate RUSADA as fi rst wave of outcries at yester- en 32-ball 57 with eight fours and BANGLADESH compliant with the World Anti- day’s decision. a six to lift Afghanistan to an im- L. Das lbw b Alam 6 Doping Code subject to strict “WADA’s decision to reinstate posing 255-7 after their captain conditions,” WADA president Russia represents the greatest Asghar Afghan won the toss and N. Hossain c Alam b Mujeeb 7 Craig Reedie said. treachery against clean athletes decided to bat at Sheikh Zayed Shakib lbw b Rashid 32 Reedie said the decision “pro- in Olympic history,” said Wal- Stadium. M. Haque c Shahzad b Naib 9 vides a clear timeline by which den, whose client lifted the lid Rashid, who fi nished with WADA must be given access to on Russia’s doping scandal in 2-13 in nine overs and eff ected M. Mithun b Naib 2 the former Moscow laboratory 2015. a run out, claimed the prized M. Riyad b Rashid 27 data and samples”. wickets of Shakib Al Hasan (32) M. Hossain not out 26 He said that if the commit- and Mahmudullah Riyad (27) as In its landmark M. Hasan c Shahidi b Shah 4 ment was not met, WADA would meeting today, WADA Bangladesh were bundled out for reinstate the ban on the Russian sent one clear message 119 in 42.1 overs. M. Mortaza c Alam b Nabi 0 anti-doping agency. to the world: we put the It was Afghanistan’s second A. Hider run out 1 The decision was taken at a ‘ upset in the tournament fol- wishes of a small handful R. Hossain b Mujeeb 0 meeting of WADA’s Executive of sports administrators lowing their 91-run win over Sri Committee in Victoria, capital A journalist films the sign on the RUSADA (Russia’s anti-doping agency) building in Moscow yesterday. (AFP) above the rights of millions Lanka which sent the islanders Extras (w5) 5 of the Indian Ocean island of of clean athletes and the crashing out in the fi rst round. Total (all out; 42.1 overs) 119 Seychelles. letes and the dreams of billions dreams of billions of sports Afghanistan next take on Paki- Fall of wickets: 1-15 (N. Hos- The Russian government ap- of sports fans,” USADA CEO fans stan in the double-header Super sain), 2-17 (Das), 3-39 (Haque), plauded the decision to lift RU- Travis T Tygart said in a state- — Travis T Tygart, Four game in Abu Dhabi on Fri- 4-43 (Mithun), 5-79 (Shakib), SADA’s three-year suspension, ment. day while title holders India meet USADA CEO 6-90 (Riyad), 7-100 (Hasan), saying it was the result of “enor- WADA suspended RUSADA in Bangladesh in Dubai. 8-110 (Mortaza), 9-119 (Hider), mous work” by Russian authori- November 2015 after declaring it Afghanistan rocked the Bang- 10-119 (R. Hossain) ties to improve their procedures. to be non-compliant following RUSADA’s reinstatement ladesh top four for just 43 runs “We welcome WADA’s deci- revelations of a vast Russian- could have far-reaching impli- before Shakib and Riyad added Bowling: Alam 5-1-11-1 (3w) sion,” Deputy Prime Minister backed scheme to avoid drug cations across the sports world. 36 but they were not spared by Mujeeb 8.1-1-22-2, Naib 6-0-30- Olga Golodets was quoted by testers. Most significantly, it re- Rashid, who became the fastest 2, Nabi 10-1-24-1 (w2), Shinwari Russian news agencies as saying. A WADA report by Canadian moves a key obstacle to lifting bowler to 100 one-day wickets in 2-0-12-0, Khan 9-3-13-2, Shah “Russia confi rms its adher- lawyer Richard McLaren ac- the suspension of Russia by the 44 games earlier this year. 2-1-7-1 ence to the principles of clean cused Russian authorities of International Association of This was Bangladesh’s low- RESULT: Afghanistan won by sports competition,” she said.