FFORMULAORMULA 1 | Page 4 NNBABA | Page 5 ‘Four titles Last-gasp will not make Griffi n helps me better Clippers stay than Senna’ unbeaten FOOTBALL Saturday, October 28, 2017 Safar 8, 1439 AH Spurs can thrive without Kane GULF TIMES against United, says Pochettino SPORT Page 3 FOOTBALL/QNB STARS LEAGUE SQUASH Al Rayyan sound World No 1 Gauliter takes warning with 2-1 on Salazar in opener By Sports Reporter hope Abdulla Mohamed al-Tamimi ‘Clasico’ victory will be looking to start strong in front Doha of his home crowd as he comes up against Egypt’s Fares Dessouky in Al Sadd goalkeeper Saad al-Sheeb excels with several saves but orld No 1 Gregory Gau- round one. liter of France will begin Other strong contenders in the Al Rayyan have the last laugh in key fixture of the local football season his quest for a second men’s draw include England’s former Qatar Classic title with a World No.1 Willstrop, who last won the Wfi rst round clash against Mexico’s Ce- tournament in 2005. The Yorkshire- By Sports Reporter Doha sar Salazar at the Khalifa International man faces a tough ask in round one as Tennis and Squash Complex tomorrow. he takes on Peru’s Diego Elias, who has The 34-year-old missed Septem- been one to watch on the Men’s Tour so ot for nothing it’s called the ber’s NetSuite Open in San Francisco far this season – defeating England’s ‘Qatar Clasico.’ and last week’s Chicago Open because Matthew at the NetSuite Open and With the best crowd of the of an ankle injury and has been handed Marwan ElShorbagy at the US Open. current QNB Stars League a tough draw where he will run into The younger ElShorbagy brother Nseason in attendance creating a lively Egyptian ace Mohamed ElShorbagy in will begin his tournament against New ambience, the players must have felt the semi-fi nals if both come through Zealand’s World No 10 Paul Coll. they had an extra obligation to deliver. their preceding rounds. The Qatar Classic marks the second And deliver they did – a thriller, no But getting past Mexico’s Salazar World Series event of the season for less, at the Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad could also prove a tough ask for the the Men’s Tour and presents another Stadium – as Al Rayyan buried their re- Frenchman, whose only title in Qatar chance for players to earn points for cent run of misfortunes against famed came in 2011 when he defeated Eng- the World Series Standings as they bid rivals Al Sadd with highly entertaining a lishman James Willstrop in the fi nal. to qualify for the season-ending PSA 2-1 victory, with Abderrazzak Hamdal- He also fi nished second twice in Qa- World Series Finals – with only the top lah and Koh Myong-Jin fi nding the net tar – in 2007 when he lost to Egyptian eight players on the men’s standings in the second half. Amr Shabana, and in 2015 when he was earning a coveted berth at the lucrative The win helped Michael Laudrup’s beaten by ElShorbagy. tournament. Lions to go level on points (15) with Al Whether he has made a full recovery Sadd and Al Duhail after six matches, from his ankle injury will be clear to- Round one – draw (top-half) although they are in third position on morrow in the opener where Chicago October 29 goal diff erence. Open champion Salazar could push [1] Gregory Gaultier (FRA) v Cesar Baghdad Bounedjah had earlier given him to his limits, although the Mexican Salazar (MEX) Al Sadd a 12th minute lead, taking ad- is ranked 9th in the World Series. Zahed Mohamed (EGY) v Gregoire vantage of the empty spaces in the pen- Egyptian former World No 1 ElShor- Marche (FRA) alty area heading home from close. bagy has had a strong start to the sea- Daryl Selby (ENG) v [Q] Al Rayyan had suff ered some of their son, which has seen him claim titles at Diego Elias (PER) v [7] James Will- most humiliating defeats against Al the NetSuite Open and Channel VAS at strop (ENG) Sadd last season, but although they Al Rayyan were inspired by their supporters who waved banners saying “We trust you” and “fight”. Picture: Noushad St George’s Hill and a runner-up fi nish [5] Ali Farag (EGY) v [Q] didn’t match the sensational margins Thekkayil at the US Open. ElShorbagy will open Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) v [Q] of victory of the Wolves, it was good against a qualifi er in round one. Fares Dessouky (EGY) v [WC] Abdulla enough to ease their pains and put them US Open champion and current Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) in a better frame of mind for the match- leader on the World Series Standings, [Q] v [3] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) es ahead. Ali Farag, will look to continue his pur- The Qatar Football Association had ple patch as he also opens against a Round one – draw (bottom-half) fl own in Serbian referee Milodad Mazic qualifi er in round one. October 30 for the match and the players took full Elsewhere, defending champi- [4] Nick Matthew (ENG) v [Q] advantage of his offi ciating. on, Karim Abdel Gawad – who beat Mathieu Castagnet (FRA) v [Q] Thanks to his liberal outlook – he ElShorbagy 3-0 in the 2016 fi nal – Cameron Pilley (AUS) v [Q] waived several minor infringements re- opens against Spain’s Borja Golan at Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v [8] sulting in a free-fl owing game – players 19:30 local time on October 30. Tarek Momen (EGY) were able to express themselves fully on Also in the bottom half of the draw, [6] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Paul the fi eld. three-time World Champion Nick Coll (NZL) Al Rayyan escaped going down Matthew – who beat Egypt’s Karim Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL) v Omar by a goal in the very fi rst minute but Darwish in the 2009 Qatar Classic fi - Mosaad (EGY) Bounedjah’s shot was pouched by Omar nal – will start his tournament against Simon Rosner (GER) v [Q] Barry. a qualifi er in round one. Borga Golan (ESP) v [2] Karim Abdel A couple of minutes later Pedro Cor- Tournament wildcard and home Gawad (EGY) reia’s shot hit the goalpost after taking a defl ection, much to Al Rayyan’s relief. But they didn’t have to wait long for the opening goal, Bounedjah fi nd- ing himself in perfect position to head home a pass from Musab Kamal. Al Rayyan pulled up their socks af- ter that and came close to levelling the scores a couple of times. In the 26th minute, Al Sadd goal- Koh Myong-Jin (R) is congratulated after he scored the winner for Al Rayyan. keeper Saad al-Sheeb – who had an excellent match with several key save – ria in the 29th minute added some ex- opportunity. With Xavi and Hassan al- found a way through the Al Khor de- got to the ball a fraction of a second ear- tra spark to the Al Rayyan forwardline Haydous hardly making their presence fence, thanks to some good attacking lier than Hamdallah to prevent a certain and heightened tensions in the Al Sadd felt for Al Sadd, Al Rayyan marginally play down the left. Left-back Rami goal. camp. looked the better team. Shamalah’s cross inside the area found The introduction of Sebastian So- The Qatar international was barely And sure enough they got the winner, Mohamed El Sayed who fi rst looped the on the fi eld for two minutes when he got Korean Koh doing most of the work on ball over the defender before scoring a chance to equalise, but his perfectly the left before scything past the Al Sadd when in on goal at the second attempt. RESULTS (HOME taken header off a 40-yard free-kick defence and scoring in the 71st minute. Sagbo did have a chance to fi nish off from Rodrigo Tabata was again saved by Earlier, Umm Salal got back to win- the game late on as he latched onto a TEAMS FIRST): al-Sheeb. ning ways in the QNB Stars League, through ball over the top, but was un- Al Sadd 1 (Baghdad Bounedjah 12) Al The Al Sadd goalkeeper was in the thanks to a nervy 1-0 victory over Al lucky to see his volley on the turn go Rayyan 2 (Abderrazak Hamdallah 55, thick of the action in the fi rst two min- Khor at the Al Gharafa Stadium. over the bar. Koh Myong-Jin 71) utes of the second half, saving a shot Needing to start the game well, Meanwhile, Al Ahli and Al Arabi Umm Salal 1 (Mohamed Gedo 49) Al from Hamdallah and beating Soria to the home side looked well organised played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Khor 0 the ball to keep his slate clean. against Laurent Banide’s Al Khor. the Al Ahli Stadium. Al Ahli 2 (Fareed Ibrahim 50, Me- However, Al Rayyan fi nally got onto However, they were largely restricted Under-23 player Farid Ibrahim (50th shaal Budawood 85) Al Arabi 2 (Am- the scoresheet in the 55th minute when to shots from distance in the fi rst half. minute) and defender Meshaal Mubar- mar Jemal 21, Mardik Mardikian 64) Hamdallah scored from close after the Danger man Yannick Sagbo went close ak (85th) scored for Al Ahli, while cap- ball was relayed to him via Tabata and on two occasions, fi rst shooting wide tain Ammar Jamal (21st) and Mardek TODAY’S MATCHES: Soria.