FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 4 TENNIS | Page 7 USA beat Djokovic Jamaica to hopes to imitate clinch sixth take-a-break Gold Cup Federer Friday, July 28, 2017 CRICKET Dhul-Qa’da 5, 1438 AH Philander at the GULF TIMES double as Cook defi es South Africa SPORT Page 2 FOCUS Qatar athletics team preps Barshim, Elseify, Bader, Haroun, for London Worlds Samba focused on the big event QNA ers for the event. Doha He announced himself on the elite scene in his next performance at the XL Galan in February 2015 by running an ith a week to go before the Asian indoor record of 45.39 seconds, IAAF World Champion- which was also the third fastest ever by ships in London, the Qa- a junior category athlete and the fastest tar national athletics team ever indoor debut. Wcontinues its preparations for the event Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) that will see over 1,900 athletes from general secretary Mohamed Issa al- over 200 countries vie for glory. Fadala said, “Qatar’s athletes are de- The Qatar team for the event that termined and will put in all their eff orts runs from August 4-13 includes Rio to achieve what we all hope for and take Olympics silver medallist high jumper podium positions. Mutaz Barshim, two-time world junior “We will work hard to boost the suc- gold medallist hammer thrower Ashraf cess of Qatari athletics, especially as Elseify; javelin thrower Ahmed Bader, Qatar will host the 17th edition of the world indoor 400m silver medallist IAAF World Championships in 2019 Abdalelah Haroun and 400m hurdles and then participate in the 2020 Tokyo athlete Abderrahman Samba. Olympic Games.” National and Asian record holder For his part, QAF board member and Barshim, who jumps off his left foot Ahmed Bader is first-ever Qatari to compete in javelin throw at Olympics. national team head Khalifa Abdulmalik using the Fosbury Flop technique, has said that the team will head to London won all four Diamond League events he next week after completing their Euro- has participated in this season with a pean camps, while Abdalelah Haroun, best of 2.38m in Oslo. who is currently training in Doha, will Barshim’s personal best is 2.43m, join them there. which he jumped in Brussels in Sep- Abdulmalik said that the athletes’ tember 2014. He followed up his bronze participation in the IAAF Diamond in 2012 London with a silver medal in League has only added to their confi - Rio last year. dence and performance. Bader’s qualifi cation for the Rio Veteran athlete, QAF board member Games was remarkably his fi rst-ever and head of the Qatari delegation at the senior participation and he was the World Championships, Talal Mansour youngest competitor in the discipline. said that Qatar athletics has always He also became the fi rst-ever Qatari to strived to off er joy to the people of Qa- compete in javelin throw at an Olympic Qatari high jumper Mutaz Barshim has topped all four Diamond League events he tar thanks to their superior perform- Games. has taken part in this season. ances in major tournaments and Olym- The young javelin thrower proved to pic Games. be a formidable competitor after quali- 2014 edition of the championships with onds, while American Kerron Clement Mansour, who has never been absent fying for Rio with an incredible throw an 84.71m throw. (49.40) and South African L J van Zyl from Qatar’s national athletics since of 84.74 metres. He has since fi nished second at the (49.49) came in second and third. he was 14 years old when he started his He recently qualifi ed for the London 2015 Asian Championships in Wuhan, Samba cruised to victory in the Sas- career as an athlete, pledged that Qatar 2017 World Championships during the China, and third at the Islamic Solidar- ol-NWU International athletics meet- will win three medals at the 2019 World 16th GCC Athletics Championship. ity Games in Baku this year. ing earlier in March in South Africa Championships in Doha. Qatari hammer thrower Elseify, an Another Aspire Academy gradu- with 48.31 seconds. Abdalelah Haroun, who specialises in 400 metres, is the 2015 Asian champion in QAF board member Khalid Rashid Aspire Academy graduate, impressed ate, Samba claimed top honours in Haroun, who specialises in 400 the event. al-Marri too praised the athletes and many after his 2012 world junior cham- the 400m hurdles event at the Doha metres, is the 2015 Asian champion in added that the federation has been pionship eff ort of 85.57m, which is a Diamond League this year, power- the event and holds the Asian indoor His fi rst recorded performance was a 2014, which placed him among the moving ahead according to plan as has world junior record. He then topped the ing to victory in a time of 48.44 sec- record. time of 45.74 seconds in Doha in April world’s most promising young sprint- been shown by recent performances. CRICKET India leave Sri Lanka reeling at 154-5 in fi rst Test AFP Mukund, fi elding at silly point, also Hardik Pandya struck a half-century A. Mukund c Dickwella b Pradeep 12 Galle, Sri Lanka took a fi ne one-handed catch off Ravi- on debut as India’s last two wickets C. Pujara c Dickwella b Pradeep 153 chandran Ashwin to send back Niro- added a quickfi re 83 runs in 71 balls to V. Kohli c Dickwella b Pradeep 3 shan Dickwella (eight) and reduce the lift the side from 517 for 8. A. Rahane c Karunaratne b Kumara 57 ndia’s bowlers tore through the Sri hosts to a shaky 143-5. Shami hit Rangana Herath for three R. Ashwin c Dickwella b Pradeep 47 Lankan top order to put the visitors Yadav gave his side an early break- sixes while Pandya lofted Pradeep for W. Saha c Perera b Herath 16 fi rmly on top on the second day of through after the Indian lower-order as many sixes in an attacking batting H. Pandya c sub (de Silva) b Kumara 50 the fi rst Test in Galle yesterday. batsmen scored at a quick pace despite display by India’s lower order batsmen. R. Jadeja b Pradeep 15 IPaceman Mohamed Shami picked losing wickets at regular intervals. Ajinkya Rahane (57) looked solid M. Shami c Tharanga b Kumara 30 two wickets in the same over and Yadav had Karunaratne trapped leg but was sent back to the pavilion after U. Yadav not out 11 Umesh Yadav got rid of opener Dimuth before and although the batsman went Karunaratne dived for a low catch on Extras (w6, nb3, lb5, b2) 16 Karunaratne after India posted a com- for a review, the decision was upheld his right off fast bowler Lahiru Kumara. Total (all out; 133.1 overs) 600 manding 600 all out, their biggest total after replays showed the ball pitching Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha FoW: 1-27 (Mukund), 2-280 (Dhawan), in Sri Lanka. on the middle stump. struck back with a sixth-wicket stand 3-286 (Kohli), 4-423 (Pujara), 5-432 Former captain Angelo Mathews was Shami, making his Test comeback of 59, but India’s counter-attack un- (Rahane), 6-491 (Saha), 7-495 (Ashwin), batting on 54 with Dilruwan Perera on after an injury layoff , then dismissed ravelled as Sri Lanka dismissed the duo 8-517 (Jadeja), 9-579 (Shami), 10-600 six when stumps were drawn for the debutant Danushka Gunathilaka for in the space of six balls. (Pandya) day, with Sri Lanka still trailing by 446 16 and Kusal Mendis for a duck in the Ashwin (47) fell short of a well-de- Bowling: Pradeep 31-2-132-6, Kumara runs with fi ve wickets in hand. space of four balls. served half-century while Saha (16) 25.1-3-131-3, Perera 30-1-130-0, Herath Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, became the fi rst victim of skipper Her- 40-6-159-1, Gunathilaka 7-0-41-0 who struck a solid 153, said he was pleased PRADEEP HEROICS ath (1-159). Things got worse for Sri that India had lived up to its billing as the Earlier, paceman Nuwan Pradeep Lanka, with a statement from the na- SRI LANKA 1st inns number one Test side in the world. clinched his maiden fi ve-wicket Test tion’s cricket board saying that doc- D. Karunaratne lbw b Yadav 2 “We would like to maintain that haul, putting the brakes on India’s free tors had confi rmed all-rounder Asela U. Tharanga run out 64 standard. We have scored enough runs, scoring. Pradeep (6-132) dismissed Pu- Gunaratne was out for the remainder of D. Gunathilaka c Dhawan b Shami 16 and we’ve got fi ve wickets today. We are jara for 153, triggering a batting collapse the Test series with injury. A. Mendis c Dhawan b Shami 0 very well poised at this stage. which saw the tourists lose four wickets Gunaratne suff ered multiple frac- A. Mathews not out 54 “I think the key for us, even in the in a lively fi rst session after resuming tures on his left thumb while trying to N. Dickwella c Mukund b Ashwin 8 last season, was that we’ve bowled re- the day at 399-3. take a catch off Shikhar Dhawan on the D. Perera not out 6 ally well. Our bowlers are bowling good “Though I didn’t start well, I thought India captain Virat Kohli (second from right) and Ravichandran Ashwin (right) fi rst day of the match Wednesday.