FOOTBALLFOOTBALL| Page 2 NBA | Page 5 Jedvaj’s Surging double gives Clippers hold Croatia off slumping dramatic win San Antonio Saturday, November 17, 2018 TENNIS Rabia I 9, 1440 AH Zverev sets up GULF TIMES Federer clash in ATP Finals semis SPORT Page 4 RALLYING FOOTBALL Al-Attiyah storms Swiss win augurs well to lead, poised for for 2022 World Cup another Qatar title hosts Qatar ‘It is better to make a good start now because tomorrow will not be easy. We did our best. The stages have dried completely now after the rain last week’ By Sports Reporter Losail asser Saleh al-Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel held a com- fortable lead of 2min 00.1sec Nover Czech rival Vojtch Štajf and his female navigator Veronica Havelkova after the opening four special stages of the Manateq International Rally of Qatar yesterday. Al-Attiyah said: “It was a good start and we are quite happy. It is better to make a good start now because tomor- row will not be easy. We did our best. The stages have dried completely now after the rain last week.” The Ford Fiesta R5 driver won all four shortened timed specials, but there was a fascinating battle for supremacy in the Star in the making: Akram Afif MERC 2 category behind third-placed Adel Abdulla and his Lebanese naviga- AFP players into the national team tor Ziad Chebab in the third of the more Doha and try and develop Qatari-born powerful R5 cars. players rather than “natural- Making his debut in an R5 car, Adel ised” foreign stars. Abdulla said: “The fi rst two stages were atar’s eye-catching The average age of Qatar’s very diffi cult for me. I was learning the victory over Swit- starting line-up in Switzerland speed of the gear ratios and my speed in zerland in an inter- was 24 years and 195 days, two the corners. We only tested for a short national friendly on years younger than the Swiss time the same day as scrutineering for QWednesday has made the foot- team, according to pan-Arab half an hour. We are close behind second ball community sit up and take statistics platform, Mundial11. position. I will push a bit tomorrow if I notice. The country’s still all-time feel more comfortable in the car.” It may only have been a top scorer, Sebastian Soria may Kuwait’s Saleh bin Eidan laid down the friendly, but undeniably the 1-0 have been born in Uruguay, but gauntlet with the fastest MERC 2 time win — in Lugano, Switzerland as many as nine of those players in the opening stage but he was over- — was a landmark and symbolic who started in Lugano were born taken by Abdullah al-Kuwari on the sec- result in many ways for the Qa- in Qatar. ond special that saw the end of MERC 2 tari team. And 13 of the 23 players in champion Meshari al-Thefi ri’s challenge It was the fi rst time Qatar had Wednesday’s squad were Aspire after navigator Saff ah al-Thefi ri felt un- Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah powers through the Qatar desert during the Manateq International Rally of Qatar yesterday. beaten a European team in their graduates. well. own country. Promoting younger players Bin Eidan suff ered transmission issues to snatch third place in MERC 2 and sixth with a time of 10min 37.1sec. ceremonial fi nish at Souq Waqif from Switzerland, who reached the was helped by making Spaniard of his own, however, and completed the overall. Al-Thefi ri’s troubles cost him a fur- 17.35hrs. last 16 of the 2014 World Cup Sanchez the national coach. last of the stages with fi fth gear. Over- MERC 3 champion Henry Kahy duly ther minute to his rivals in the showroom and are currently eighth in FIFA’s He has worked at the Acad- night MERC 2 leader and fourth-placed reached the end of the day in seventh category, although all 10 FIA cars sur- Positions rankings, are also the highest- emy, and with the Qatari U-19, Abdullah al-Kuwari said: “I have a prob- overall with Rashed al-Mohannadi vived the opening challenge. Oman’s Saif 1. Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu ranked side ever beaten by Al- U-20 and U-23 teams. lem on the fi rst stage. I had new brakes rounding off the FIA survivors in eighth Abdullah al-Harthy topped the times Baumel (FRA) Ford Fiesta R5 31min 51.6sec 2. Annabi (the maroons), ranked 88 It’s been a good few weeks for and I forgot. The second stage was better, position. amongst the National runners on a stage Vojtĕch Štajf (CZE)/Veronica Havelkova (CZE) places lower. Aspire, as Qatar’s U-20 team but I had no power really for the next two Oman’s Saif Abdullah al-Harthy held where the 1993 MERC champion Sheikh Škoda Fabia R5 33min 51.7sec 3. Adel Hussein And for good measure the have just qualifi ed for next year’s stages. I think there is a problem with a a lead of 7min 44sec over Oman-based Hamed bin Eid al-Thani retired with tur- Abdulla (QAT)/Ziad Chehab (LEB) Ford Fiesta 86th-minute winner was scored World Cup. pipe or something with the turbo. In the Shaun McGonigal in the National cat- bo charger issues. R5 35min 16.9sec 4. Abdullah al-Kuwari (QAT)/ by Akram Afi f, the fi rst Qatari Sanchez, 42, is a friendly yet slow corners there was no power. We will egory. The event concludes today with two Nasser al-Kuwari (QAT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo to play in Spain’s La Liga and a shy person, who appears to want work on the car now so it is ready. Action began with the 15.87km of the runs through three special stages in the X 38min 43.6sec 5. Saleh bin Eidan (KWT)/Alexei product of Aspire Academy, an to do his work out of the media “I get a problem with the gearbox and revised Eraida special stage on the north- northern deserts. Action starts in the Kuzmich (RUS) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX 39min expensively-built Doha training spotlight, which suits Qatar. I only have one gear, fi fth,” said bin Eidan eastern coastline. Al-Attiyah clocked north with a shortened stage of 13.20km 49.4sec 6. Mohamed al-Meer (QAT)/Ahmad centre which seeks to hothouse Many expect him to be re- at the end of the leg. “It was diffi cult at the target time of 8min 59.6sec and that at Al Khor and this precedes the un- al-Fares (KWT) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 42min local talent. placed by a “big name” come the starts and in the hairpins and into the pushed the Qatari into a lead of 48.9 sec- changed 21.16km of the Al Ghariyah 42.6sec 7. Henry Kahy (LBN)/Musa Djiyerian The victory, almost four years 2022, possibly Xavi, who has 90s (corners), everywhere, but we have a onds over Štajf. Co-driver illness before special and the modifi ed 14.22km of Al (JOR) Škoda Fabia 1.6 46min 39.6sec 8. Rashid to the day before the 2022 World admitted he would be “open” to spare ‘box. Tomorrow is a long day and the start meant that al-Thefi ri was run- Ruwais. al-Mohannadi (QAT)/Yousef Juma (JOR) Mitsubi- Cup begins, is a sign that Qatar taking charge. we hope to have it back in one piece.” ning eight minutes late for his due start After a return to the Qatar Handball shi Lancer Evo IX 56min 52.8sec is catching up with more estab- And 2019 is a big year for Oman’s Abdullah al-Rawahi was the best time and was awarded 1min 20sec in road Stadium for a service and regrouping, the 2018 Manateq Qatar National cars: 1. Saif lished football powers. Sanchez and his team. of the rest in MERC 2 until he stopped his penalties, as Adel Abdulla completed his stages are repeated in the early afternoon Abdullah al-Harthy (OMN)/Salim Al-Abri (OMN) “We are in a good way,” Xavi In January they play in the Subaru Impreza WRX before the third fi rst ever stage in an R5 car in a time of with the last stage at Al Ruwais scheduled Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X 40min 04.8sec 2. Hernandez, who earned 133 caps Asian Cup, a sensitive assign- stage with engine problems. That opened 10.14.6sec and Kuwait’s Saleh bin Eidan to start at 14.14hrs. Teams will then head Shaun McGonigal (OMN)/Nathan Marriott (OMN) and a World Cup winners’ medal ment for Qatar given that it is the door for Qatar’s Mohammed al-Meer moved to the front of the MERC 2 section into downtown Doha for the televised Subaru Impreza WRX STi 47min 48.8sec with Spain, told AFP referring to hosted by the United Arab Emir- Qatar, where he now plays. ates, one of the Gulf countries “We have many talented play- currently locked in a bitter dip- ers and it means that [coach] Fe- lomatic dispute with Doha. lix Sanchez is doing a really good Next summer they will take job. on the might of Argentina and “We must keep going like that. Brazil, as well as others, as Qa- It’s a big win, of course.” tar improbably plays in the Copa Sanchez said the result would America. make the country “very proud”.