NBA | Page 7 BADMINTON | Page 10 Warriors Japan ace To Advertise here overcome Momota Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 Grizzlies for axed for 71st victory gambling Monday, April 11, 2016 FOOTBALL Rajab 4, 1437 AH Spurs stun GULF TIMES Man United with six-minute blitz SPORT Page 2 FOOTBALL Iajour grabs hat-trick as Ahli shock Lekhwiya 5-4 El Jaish beat Umm Salal 2-1; Al Rayyan and Al Sadd play out 2-2 draw on Qatar Stars League’s penultimate match day By Sports Reporter Doha ouhssine Iajour’s superb hat-trick helped Al Ahli stun Lekhwiya 5-4 at the death in a high-scoring Mthriller at Al Ahli Stadium yester- day. Lekhwiya unexpectedly dropped points due to breath-taking counterat- tacking football headed by lajour who scored twice in the fi nal 10 minutes. Despite scoring four goals in the tie, it wasn’t enough for Djamel Belmadi’s side who will need to register a victory on the fi nal day of the season to assure Qatar Cup qualifi cation. Lekhwiya opened the scoring through striker Nam Tae-hee who hit a powerful volley from inside the Al Ahli box. Clumsy defending by Al Ahli’s Fred Dabanka helped Nam defl ect time shot from Iajour beat Amine Le- equaliser just after the hour mark. A home an easy volley for his team’s fi rst comte at the near post. well placed Sanzhar Tursunov cross goal in the 9th minute. Lekhwiya looked nervy and missed picked out Mounir El Hamdaoui who Five minutes later Iajour registered the calming infl uence of Spanish de- nodded in from close range. his fi rst of the tie thanks to an assist fender Chico Flores. However it was Umm Salal where growing in confi - from captain Meshal Abdulla. The a major goalkeeping error from Qa- dence, by against the run of play Jaish Qatari international’s smart through tari international Amine Lecomte that took a decisive lead from the penalty ball found Iajour who slipped the ball came in handy for Al Ahli. Lecomte spot. Yasser Abou Baker was scythed past Lekhwiya stopper Amine Le- failed to control a routine back pass, down in the penalty area, and the ref- comte. and his heavy touch allowed Mohsin eree pointed to the spot. Hamadullah Lekhwiya edged back into the lead al-Yazeedi to nip the ball off him and made no mistake from the spot scoring on the 30th minute in fortuitous cir- poke home from close range, making past Eysa Shaaban, again slotting into cumstances. A speculative header from the tie 4-4. the bottom left hand of the goal, for his Mohammed Muntari trickled into the Momentum was fully with the 20th goal of the season. back of the net after a horrendous error Brigadiers and Yusef Adam’s side took Umm Salal tried hard to push for by Ahli keeper Yazan Naeem. Lekhwiya sealed a famous win in stoppage time. an equaliser, but where knocked back consoldated a few minutes from half- Mumbele’s fi ne through ball found a time and again by the Jaish rear guard time young midfi elder Ahmed al-Saadi unmarked Iajour who tapped in at the as Sabri Lamouchi’s side held on to latched onto a Karim Boudiaf past to back post to seal a 5-4 victory for the register the win. As for Umm Salal they slot in from close range the fi rst half Brigadiers. still can make the Qatar Cup competi- ended 3-1 to Lekhwiya. Meanwhile, a double by Abdulraz- tion providing that they can beat rel- Ahli rallied in the second half and zaq Hamadallah helped El Jaish seal a egation threatened Al Kharaitiyat and clawed their way back into the tie on 2-1 win over top-4 chasing Umm Salal. Lekhwiya drop points at already rel- the 63rd minute. Congaleese striker Hamadallah scored two goals from egated Mesaimeer. Mubele scored from close range after a the penalty spot in either half to help El In a late match, Al Rayyan wasted a good pass from Iajour. Just ten minutes Jaish post their 14th win of the season. 2-0 cushion as late goals from Hassan later, Lekhwiya restored their two goal El Jaish opened the scoring through al-Haydos gave Al Sadd a 2-2 draw. cushion courtesy of Mohammed Mun- the Moroccan on the 18th minute, The high-profi le match, dubbed as tari. A well timed leap and header was calmly cavorting past Eysa Shaaban Qatar’s version of La Liga’s Clasico, enough to creep past Yazan Naeem in and slotting into the bottom left-hand saw goals by Sergio Garcia in the 55th the Ahli goal. corner. Despite being behind, Umm and 71st minute give champions Al Despite being two goals down, Al Salal rallied and looked dangerous on Rayyan a 2-0 lead. Ahli sprung into life and scored three the break, however El Jaish stood fi rm But Al Sadd were not fi nished as al- goals in the fi nal ten minutes to seal a and the fi rst half ended 1-0 to the Sol- Haydos struck in the 89th minute and Al Ahli players Ali Ahmed Ghaderi (L) and hat-trick hero Mouhssine Iajour (R) congratulate Mohsin Yazeedi (C) after he famous win. Iajour grabbed his second diers. put his team on level terms with his scored his team’s fourth goal against Lekhwiya yesterday. Picture on right shows El Jaish fans cheering their team during of the tie to make it 4-3. A tidy knock- Umm Salal slowly improved in the second goal a minute later to give his their match against Umm Salal. down from Meshal Abdulla and a fi rst second half, and grabbed a deserved team an unlikely draw. GOLF Spieth pars fi rst hole as Masters drama unfolds AFP ies to early starters, a possible hint of things to and Nick Faldo as the only players to win back- Augusta come for contenders. The 13th and 15th were to-back Masters titles. And he can become the playing as the easiest holes on the course with fi rst to do so in wire-to-wire fashion, his seven the par-4 14th only a notch tougher, a sign back- consecutive rounds with the outright lead al- ordan Spieth opened his quest for a sec- nine eagles could be on off er. ready a Masters record. ond consecutive wire-to-wire Masters A bogey-double bogey fi nish by Spieth in Sat- World number two Spieth can also overtake triumph with a par yesterday to keep a urday’s third round left the 22-year-old Ameri- top-ranked Jason Day of Australia to retake the one-shot lead as an intense fi nal-round can clinging to a one-stroke lead at three-under top spot if he wins and the Aussie, who shared Jdrama began to unfold at Augusta National. par 213 -- the fi rst defending champion with the fi fth on level par 216, ends outside the top fi ve. Germany’s 58-year-old Bernhard Langer, outright 54-hole lead since 1954. Sharing third as the day began were Germa- Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, debutante Smylie “I know I have to shoot a signifi cant under par ny’s Langer, poised to pull off one of the great- Kaufman and four-time major winner Rory round (Sunday) in order to win this tournament,” est shockers in sports history and become golf’s McIlroy also were in the hunt for history as well Spieth said. Kaufman, a 24-year-old American oldest major champion, and Hideki Matsuyama, in a shootout under the Georgia pines. Jordan Spieth of the United trying to become the fi rst Masters debutante to a 24-year-old who was low amateur at the 2011 Gusting winds that wreaked havoc with golf- States and caddie Michael win since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, played alongside Masters and who placed fi fth a year ago. ers the fi rst three rounds had calmed to merely Greller line up a putt on the Spieth in the fi nal round. He stood second on 214 But both opened with a bogey, each missing breezy, but the 7,435-yard layout and its light- first green during the final after 54 holes in his second major, having missed the fi rst green with his approach and failing on a ning-fast undulating greens remained a formi- round of the Masters in the cut at the 2014 US Open. 15-foot par putt. dable test for the world’s top shotmakers. Augusta yesterday. Kaufman lipped out on a four-foot birdie putt Langer won the Masters in 1985 and 1993, the Awaiting the winner is the green jacket sym- at the fi rst hole that would have tied Spieth for latter title coming three months before Spieth bolic of a Masters champion as well as the $1.8 the lead, instead settling for par to stay one back was born, and his eff ort aroused memories of million top prize from $10 million in prize money. after Spieth made a routine par. Tom Watson’s epic 2009 British Open run at Augusta’s par-5 holes were surrendering bird- Spieth can join Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus Turnberry, where he settled for second at age 59. Gulf Times 2 Monday, April 11, 2016 FOOTBALL SPOTLIGHT Coach Pochettino hails ‘perfect’ Spurs display Tottenham Hotspur man- was a fantastic job. Beating ager Mauricio Pochettino said Manchester United 3-0, you that his side had produced have to be happy.