BBADMINTONADMINTON | Page 4 GGOLFOLF | Page 6 India’s Sindhu Fleetwood, to take on Thomas and Spain’s Marin Poulter set pace in world fi nal in 2nd round Sunday, August 5, 2018 FOOTBALL Dhul-Qa’da 23, 1439 AH Neymar returns GULF TIMES as PSG thrash Monaco in China SPORT Page 3 QNB STARS LEAGUE Hussein’s double as Qatar Sports Club beat Al Gharafa Both teams created chances, but it was The Kings, who ended up 10th last season, who had the last laugh Hussein Ali was the star of the match, his 71st and 90th minute goals seeing them through after captain Ali Awad had put them ahead in the 51st minute. Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi scored Al Gharafa’s sole reply in the 87th minute. Both teams created many chances, but it was The Kings, who ended up 10th last season, who had the last laugh. Qatar SC played under same coach from last season, Abdulla Mu- barak, while Al Gharafa took the fi eld under Frenchman Christian Gourcuff , who replaced Turk Bulent Uygun. Al Gharafa were on the attack straightaway, with Dutch star Wesley Sneijder and Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi moving forward. On the other hand, Qatar SC mostly resorted to counter-attacks and one such move saw Syrian spearhead Os- ama Omari miss a sitter in the 34th minute. Slovakian midfi elder Vladimir Weiss, who played his fi rst competi- tive match after a long injury layoff , was the live-wire in the Al Gharafa ranks, whereas new recruit Sandro gust 10 and Al Gharafa take on Al Saili- from close range, but the ball hit the Ferreira pulled the Qatar SC midfi eld ya the following day. far goalpost and bounced back into together. Meanwhile, Al Arabi kicked off the play without causing any anguish for After changing ends, Ali Awad, who season with a hard-fought 1-0 win Al Arabi backline. assisted Osama in the attack, deserv- over Al Khor at the Khalifa Interna- After Al Arabi’s Brazilian forward ingly put Qatar SC ahead with a plac- tional Stadium. Diego Jardel curled in a well-taken ing shot to an open goal. Al Khor started off with quick free-kick that was palmed away by After Abdelaziz Hatem hit his shot moves, but it was Al Arabi who scored Al Khor goalkeeper for a corner, well- over the bar, Qatar SC’s Rami Fayez the only goal in the 22nd minute built Franco gave a spectacular fi nish Hussein Ali, (L) celebrates with teammates after his two goals helped Qatar Sports Club beat Al Gharafa yesterday. made a goalline save. through new recruit Franco Arizala, to an indirect corner kick by sending At right, Al Arabi players celebrate their win over Al Khor. PICTURES: Ram Chand and Anas Khalid Then came new recruit Hussein’s with the Colombian striker heading in a loopy cross into the rival net. twin-goal eff ort on either side of a home from close range. In the third match of the day, Ab- By Sports Reporter of their rivals, made a sensational start eight-times champions’ last title came consolation goal by Al Gharafa’s Tare- Al Khor’s Salem Khalifa produced a dulqader Bakoor’s brace helped Al Doha to their QNB Stars League campaign way back in 2003 after which they had mi off a cross from Weiss. powerful shot from inside the rival box Sailiya defeat Umm Salal 2-1. yesterday when they outclassed Al run off steam. Hussein fi rst found the mark af- in the very fi rst minute, but the ball Bakoor struck the winner in the Gharafa 3-1 on the opening day of the Yesterday, however, they gave an ter he latched on to a through pass by bounced off the goalpost. Four min- fourth minute of injury time after Yan- atar Sports Club, once a for- tournament yesterday. early indication of a possible turna- Omari. The wily striker was at it again utes later, another attempt at goal by nick Sagbo had equalised for Umm midable team but now in a Qatar Sports Club’s dominance in round with a commanding display just before the fi ve-minute stoppage Tunisian Adel Sellimi’s boys proved in Salal in the 81st minute. seemingly perpetual strug- the late 60s and early 70s earned them that left Al Gharafa, the fourth-placed time began to make it 3-1. vain. Al Khor’s Brazilian striker Diego Earlier, Bakoor had put Al Sailiya Qgle to stay in step with some the sobriquet of “The Kings”, but the team last season, stunned. Qatar SC next play Al Ahli on Au- da Silva then produced a snap-header ahead in the 45th minute. SPOTLIGHT SWIMMING Kolesnikov sets Qatar bowling team top in 50m backstroke world record World Youth Championships onds. “I said to myself to keep Reuters Glasfow calm. I realised I could win af- QNA ter the semi-fi nal yesterday but Washington I didn’t think much about the liment Kolesnikov world record,” Kolesnikov said. of Russia set a world Kolesnikov, who has long atar’s bowling team won two gold medals to top record for the 50 me- been tipped to lead the new the 2018 World Youth Championships which tres backstroke while generation of talented Russian concluded in Detroit, Michigan on Friday. The Kwinning the European Cham- swimmers, had already enjoyed Qmedals came in the teams’ competition and the pionship title in Glasgow yes- a stellar career since earning all-event. terday his fi rst international call-up in Ghanem Abu Jassoum won the gold medal of the All- The teenager clocked 24.00 2016 for Russia at the European Event leading the 132 players in the general rankings. Abu seconds to take 0.04 seconds Junior Championships. Jassoum scored a total of 1,428 point in the singles, 1,353 off the record set by Britain’s Meanwhile, Adam Peaty points in the doubles competition and 1,360 points in the Liam Tancock at the world added more lustre to his repu- teams’ competition to top his peers and claim the gold championships in Rome in tation as perhaps the world’s medal. 2009. most dominant swimmer when The Qatari team won their second gold medal in the Kolesnikov, who had been he smashed his own 100 me- teams’ competition where the bowlers Ghanem Abu Jas- part of Russia’s 4x100 metres tres breaststroke world record soum, Jassim Mohamed al-Muraikhi, Mohamed Hamad freestyle gold medal-winning in 57.00 seconds while winning al-Muraikhi and Jassim Ibrahim al-Theyab put up a for- quartet on Friday, powered the European Championships midable performance. They are coached by Pedro Merani. down the length of the Toll- gold medal. The runners-up were the Swedish team who won one cross International Centre pool The 23-year-old English- gold and two bronze medals, while the Danish team took to earn his second gold just a man knocked 0.13 seconds off the third place with a single gold medal. month after turning 18. his own record set at the Rio de The president of Qatar Bowling Federation Abdulsalam His performance was so Janeiro Olympics in 2016 — the Abdullah, congratulated the the team on their victory. He dominant that he beat Roma- fourth time he has set a new attributed it to the wise leadership of the state. He said the nian silver medallist Robert- mark in the discipline in which players will be motivated by this success which will help Andrei Glinta, a former world he has been unbeaten for four them in their future endeavours. junior champion, by 0.55 sec- years. Gulf Times 2 Sunday, August 5, 2018 FOOTBALL QNB STARS LEAGUE Duhail open campaign today as Maaloul plots another title Two other big guns, Al Rayyan and Al Sadd will also be in action today By Sports Reporter Doha l Duhail new manager Nabil Maaloul will have a huge legacy to leave up to, as the defending QNB Stars ALeague champions kick-off their cam- paign today. Maaloul, who has taken over from Duhail’s long-serving and highly suc- cessful coach Djamel Belmadi, did not have a great to start to his tenure. The Tunisian’s fi rst match in charge ended up in a defeat to Al Rayyan in the Sheikh Jassim Cup on Wednesday. Al Duhail have been handed an easy fi rst league match against minnows Shahania today and Maaloul will be desperate for a victory. Under Belmadi, Duhail won three trophies last season, eased into the AFC Champions League quarter-fi nals and are a formidable force in Asia. For Maaloul, the chal- lenge will be to ensure the Qatar cham- Duhail’s new coach Nabil Maaloul. pions leave up to the high standards set by his Algerian predecessor. “We also have games against Al Khor Winners of the Qatar league title six and Al Rayyan before our AFC Champi- times in the last few years, Al Duhail ons League quarter-fi nal against Iran’s will be a massive force in the new sea- Persepolis. We will try to build on our son as well. But they are expected to strengths and take the positives that we have fi erce battles with Al Sadd besides had in the previous seasons, to our ad- former champions Al Rayyan and Al vantage,” he added. Gharafa. Captain Karim Boudiaf, who sus- The Red Knights’ star-studded squad tained an injury in the Sheikh Jassim consists of Moroccan striker Yousef el Cup, will miss out for today’s match.