Sport TUESDAY 12 JANUARY 2021 AlA Duhail, Al Sadd clash in QSL blockbuster AlAl DuhailD are a team that has the mentality of winning all the cchampionshipsha like Al Sadd, and this means that the match will be veryvery difficult like the last matches we played against them and it waswas really difficult but Al Sadd were the best, and we have to con- tinuetinu this way, and we are mentally prepared to compete as always. XaviXaX Hernandez Sport |11 QATAR BASKETBALL LEAGUE: Al Gharafa (N. Muslic 20, F. Session Jr. 19) 92-80 Qatar Club (Miroslav Todic 20, Baden Jaxen 16) Doha Masters 2021: South Korean men excel on opening day Brilliant Buchard and Krasniqi strike gold FAWAD HUSSAIN RESULTS THE PENINSULA Men -60 kg French star Amandine Buchard G: Jin Won Kim (Kor) and World No.1 Distria Krasniqi S: Yang Yung Wei (Tpe) of Kosovo bagged gold medals B: Albert Oguzov (Rus) while South Koreans Jin Won -66kg Kim and An Baul won the men’s G: An Baul (KOR) finals at the IJF World Judo S: Baruch Shmailov (Isr) Masters Doha 2021 - a Tokyo B: Aram Grisoryan (Rus) Games qualifying event - which B: Margvelashvili (Geo) kicked off at the new-look Lusail Women Multipurpose Hall, yesterday. -48 kg As many as five titles were G: Distria Krasniqi (Kosovo) decided on the opening day with S: Funa Tonaki (Japan) judokas from Kosovo, France B: Urantsetseg (Mgl) and Japan grabbing top honours -52 kg in female events besides the G: Amandine Buchard South Korean duo of Kim and (France) Baul, who won gold medals in S: Ai Shishime Ai (Japan) men’s events. B: Astride Gneto (France) With no fans allowed, strict B: Elemendi Majlinda (Kos) health safety measures were Secretary General of the Qatar Olympic Committee, Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain poses with podium winners of women's -48kg category. -57 kg witnessed on the opening day of G: Tuskasa Yoshida (Japan) three-day competition, which is S: Sarah Leonie Cysique featuring 399 athletes including Committee, Jassim bin Rashid Al Yesterday, Buchard was at defeating reigning Olympic (POR) and Melanie Clement (France) 215 male and 184 female judokas Buenain also attended action on her best yesterday proving that champion, Majlinda Elemendi (FRA), winning two of her con- B: Nora Gjakova (Kos) from 69 countries. Secretary the first day and handed medals she will be one of the favourites in the preliminary round. frontations by ippon. MEDALS TABLE General of the Qatar Olympic to the winners. for the Olympic title after The 25-year-old then In Women -57 kg, Japan’s (Gold, Silver,Bronze) defeated Japan’s Ai Shishime Ai Tuskasa Yoshida clinched gold Republic of Korea 2, 0, 0 after a tough final, which ended medal after defeating Sarah Japan 1, 2, 0 with a third penalty against the Leonie Cysique of France, with France 1,1,1, Japanese, handing a gold medal Kosovo’s Nora Gjakova securing Kosovo 1, 0, 2, to the Frenchwoman. the bronze medal. Chinese Taipei 0, 1, 0 “Physically, it was a difficult South Koreans shine in match. So I did a very tactical men’s field fight in the final. I kept attacking Kim bagged the Men’s -60 Garrigos (ESP), Sharafuddin hard and that helped me take kg gold after a thrilling final Lutfillaev (UZB) eliminated in the win,” Buchard said after her against Yang Yung Wei of the opening stages. win. Chinese Taipei. Meanwhile, the 2015 world “This will be a reference It was an evenly poised title champion Baul brought the match for me ahead of the clash in the first three quarters second gold medal for South Olympic Games. It’s been a dif- before the South Korean finally Korea after defying a challenge ficult period after coronavirus, succeeded in throwing Yang from Israel’s Baruch Shmailov but this a new year and new strongly, with speed and on his in the men’s -66kg final. experience and I’m happy to back with control, for a mag- It was another close final start it off on a positive note,” nificent counterattack. during inaugural day’s pro- she added. Wei praised South Korean ceedings as after a long period World No.1 Distria Krasniqi Kim after losing the final. of golden score and two pen- of Kosovo, already a winner of “It was a tough game. It was alties from both the fighters, the Masters in 2019, started the a top quality final and I am Baul succeeded in throwing his French star new season with a gold medal happy what I have achieved in opponent using a dropping eri- Amandine in women’s -48 after defeating Doha,” said the Chinese Taipei seoi-nage to seal gold medal. Buchard (right) Japan’s Funa Tonaki in the final. player. Earlier in the event, Italy’s top in action She entered the final after a The event earlier saw seed Manuel Lombardo yesterday. flawless run against Marusa favourites like Robert Mshvi- crashed out in the preliminary Stangar (SLO), Catarina Costa dobadze (RUS), Francisco round. PL records Dakar Rally: Qatar's Al Attiyah wins 36 new virus cases Stage 8 to cut Peterhansel's lead REUTERS – LONDON REUTERS – SAKAKA DAKAR RALLY 2021: OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 8 overall,ll 3838 minutes andd 55 secondsd The Premier League said 1: (FRA) Stéphane Peterhansel, (FRA) Edouard Boulanger X-Raid Mini Jcw Team 29H 36' 49'' off the lead. yesterday that a total of 36 Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah won the 2: (QAT) Nasser Al Attiyah, (FRA) Matthieu Baumel Toyota Gazoo Racing + 00H 04' 50'' In the motorcycle category, Chilean individuals tested positive for eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi 3: (ESP) Carlos Sainz, (ESP) Lucas Cruz X-Raid Mini Jcw Team + 00H 38' 55'' Jose Ignacio Cornejo extended his over- COVID-19 in two rounds of Arabia yesterday to claw back more 4: (POL) Jakub Przygonski, (DEU) Timo Gottschalk Orlen Team/Overdrive + 01H 38' 08'' night lead with his first stage win of the tests conducted last week. than three minutes from leader 5: (ESP) Nani Roma, (FRA) Alexandre Winocq Bahrain Raid Xtreme + 02H 19' 59'' 2021 event. Since the new season Stephane Peterhansel in the car The Honda rider started the day kicked off, 207 individuals in category. with a one second lead over Australian the English top-flight have The Toyota Hilux 4x4 driver, STAGE 8: HA'IL TO SAKAKA (709KM) Toby Price and ended it one minute tested positive for the novel 1: (QAT) Nasser Al Attiyah, (FRA) Matthieu Baumel Toyota Gazoo Racing 02H 56' 56'' chasing his fourth Dakar title, domi- 2: (ESP) Carlos Sainz, (ESP) Lucas Cruz X-Raid Mini Jcw Team + 00H 00' 52'' and six seconds clear. Price was second coronavirus in 21 rounds of nated the 375km eighth stage from 3: (FRA) Stéphane Peterhansel, (FRA) Edouard Boulanger X-Raid Mini Jcw Team + 00H 03' 03'' with defending champion Ricky Brabec testing. Sakaka to Neom with Frenchman 4: (ARE) Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi, (FRA) Xavier Panseri Abu Dhabi Racing + 00H 12' 44'' of the United States third, moving up The league, which is now Peterhansel third and his lead cut to 5: (FRA) Cyril Despres, (CHE) Michael Horn Abu Dhabi Racing + 00H 12' 49'' to sixth overall. conducting tests twice a week, four minutes and 50 seconds. French Husqvarna rider Xavier De did not name the people who It was Al Attiyah’s fifth stage win of better traction and big wheels, less of the Dakar with victories on two Soultrait, who led after Wednesday’s tested positive but said they this year’s event, including the pro- punctures,” he said, with four stages wheels and four, made some mistakes fourth stage, crashed out of the rally will self-isolate for 10 days. logue, and 40th of his career. remaining. in his X-Raid Mini JCW buggy. and was flown to hospital in Tabuk for “Between Monday 4 “It’s difficult to say (about the “From the start until now, we have Spain’s defending champion X-rays. January and Thursday 7 chances of winning the event) because had eight flat tyres, so it’s not easy.” Carlos Sainz, Peterhansel’s team Organisers said he remained January, 1,538 players and club the buggies are more comfortable, Peterhansel, a record 13 times winner mate, finished second and lies third conscious. staff were tested for COVID-19. Of these, there were 27 new positive tests,” the league said in a statement. Earlier, tomorrow's Aston Villa’s home game with Tot- Qatar's Nasser tenham Hotspur was post- Al Attiyah poned after the Midlands club races during asked the league to rearrange Stage 8, the game due to a number of yesterday. players and staff either testing positive for COVID-19 or being placed in isolation. The United Kingdom has recorded more than 3 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 81,000 deaths, as per a Reuters tally. TUESDAY 12 JANUARY 2021 SPORT 11 Top-seed Barrere advances, Gulbis crashes out in Doha AO qualifiers THE PENINSULA – DOHA QUALIFIERS France's Gregoire Barrere MEN'S SINGLES 2ND ROUND returns the ball to Zdenek Tournament’s top-seed Gregoire At Khalifa International Tennis and Barrere of France withstood an unex- Squash Complex from 10.30am Kolar during their round 1 pected pressure from Czech Repub- ORDER OF PLAY match of the Australian Open lic’s Zdenek Kolar to power home to Court A 2021 Men’s Qualifiers at the victory in straight-sets 7(7)-6(5), 6-3 C. Stebe (11) vs R.