FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 2 NBA | Page 5 Atletico aim Thomas ignores for European tragedy, lost revenge against tooth to fi re Real today Boston Tuesday, May 2, 2017 CRICKET Sha’baan 6, 1438 AH Stokes smashes GULF TIMES century to set up Pune victory SPORT Page 7 ICC WORLD CRICKET LEAGUE - ASIA QUALIFIERS Qatar top qualifi ers for World Cricket League spot National team create history by making it to Division Five with a win over Saudi Arabia in a low-scoring aff air Qatar’s Mohamed Nadeem (right) was the tournament’s top bowler with 20 wickets. for 9 after 40 overs. The captain then 25 and Qatar were soon 64 for 4 after 13 brought back Awais Malik to bowl at overs and well ahead on the run-rate Hammad Saeed, who was injured dur- required. ing the match against Thailand and was There was another twist in the match still eff ectively batting one-handed. as Zaheer was out bowled by Imran There was suddenly more drama as Arif, with 30 runs to win and fi ve wick- By Sports Reporter tie with their opponents at 10 points of fi rst-class cricket in Pakistan, had to bowled in tandem against Mohamed Nadeem was forced off the fi eld with ets left. Doha each but top the tournament on net retire hurt while batting when suff ering Afzal and Mohsin Shabbir. a cramp after bowling one ball of his The end came quickly thanks to Ta- run-rate. from cramp. Qatar’s Mohamed Nadeem was al- ninth over but Inam-ul-Haq took moor Sajjad (28 not out, 2 fours, 1 six) It was Bahrain who fi nished third on After Saudi Arabia won the toss and ready the leading wicket-taker in the his third wicket to end the innings as and Dharmang Patel (15 not out, 3 fours) atar created history yesterday eight points as they defeated Bhutan batted fi rst, Qatar’s formidable fast tournament and it didn’t take him long Mohsin Shabbir was stumped by Rizlan as Qatar shocked pre-tournament fa- making it to the International by 55. There had been heartbreak for bowler Awais Malik struck with the to make an impact with his left-arm for 23. vourites Saudi Arabia by beating them Cricket Council (ICC) World Thailand when they lost to Saudi Ara- third ball of the match as he had Abdul spin. Saudi Arabia were bowled out for 94 by fi ve wickets as they reached 96 for Cricket League for the fi rst bia on Saturday but delight today when Waheed lbw for nought. He was close to having Afzal caught and Qatar were required to achieve the fi ve in 18.1 overs. Qtime with a win in the Asia Qualifi ers in they beat Kuwait by seven wickets. Ku- Saudi Arabia lost their second with behind as he tried to cut but soon got target in less than 25 overs to gain the Having topped the high-octane Chiang Mai, Thailand. wait fi nished fourth in the table on six the score on 13 as Mohamed Tanveer him stumped by impressive Rizlan. advantage on net run-rate. tournament, champions Qatar will Qatar national team defeated Saudi points just ahead of hosts Thailand who had Saudi captain Shoaib Ali caught He followed by getting Imran Arif With a match and a competition to progress into Division Five of the ICC Arabia, who had stayed unbeaten in the also won three out of six matches and behind by wicket-keeper Mohamed Ri- caught and bowled for 5, and Saudi win, Qatar found batting diffi cult as World Cricket League. tournament coming into yesterday’s competed well in the tournament. Bhu- zlan for two from 16 balls. Arabia were precariously placed on 62 medium pacer Ibrar ul Haq took a wick- Qatar Board for Cricket, Rugby and game, by fi ve wickets in a low-scoring tan fi nished sixth and China seventh in Awais claimed his second wicket as for 6 after 25 overs. et in the fi rst over as he bowled Kamran Hockey president Yousef al-Kuwari aff air at the David Buck Oval to claim a a tournament that provided plenty of Shahbaz Rasheed was caught at second Nadeem was spinning the ball away Khan for nought. Tanveer fell in the congratulated the team for their excel- place in the sport’s main global struc- competitive cricket for the seven Asian slip by Iqbal Hussain and worse was from the right-handers at a good pace next over lbw to leg-spinner Imran Arif lent performance in the tournament ture for the fi rst time. teams. to follow for the Saudi team as opener and was proving diffi cult to play. He for one. It was 10 for 3 in the third over and for their achievement. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia had “This is a dream come true as we Inayat Saeed could no longer restrain took his third wicket when he also re- when Ibrar removed Qalandar Khan The Qatar national team had trav- clinched their fi fth victory in the tour- have been thinking for a long time himself and was caught at mid-off by moved Omar Imtiaz caught and bowled lbw for one. Ibrar followed with his elled to the tournament with assistant nament with a dramatic win over the about playing cricket at a higher level,” Qatar captain off Mohamed Tanveer. for 5. third wicket in a quality spell as Rizlan general secretary of the federation Eisa hosts with two balls to spare, and had Qatar captain Inam-ul-Haq told ICC- The advantage was with Qatar as Nadeem had 3 for 11 in 7 overs and was caught behind for 8. Ali Ghanem and Operations manager almost secured the promotion. Cricket.com after the match. they had Saudi Arabia in trouble at 22 Saudi Arabia were 74 for 7 in 33 overs. Qatar were reeling at 24 for 4 with Manzoor Ahmad. But yesterday, Qatar were able to “Luck was on our side as Saudi Ara- for 4 after 10 overs. Qatar were now looking favourites captain Inam-ul-Haq retired hurt so “It was an encouraging performance bowl out Saudi Arabia for 94 and bia chose to bat fi rst when we wanted to After Awais and Tanveer had claimed to win the match and possibly even to they were very much on the back foot. by the Qatar national team and we’re despite losing their first four wick- bowl. This gave us a great opportunity two wickets each in their opening win the tournament as captain Inam- Zaheer Ibrahim and Tamoor Sajjad quite optimistic about putting up a ets with only 24 on the board, they and the team did their job.” spells, two more medium-pacers, ul-Haq claimed two wickets with his stitched together a partnership for the good performance in the ICC tourna- achieved the target in just 18.1 overs to The captain, who has played 15 years Kamran Khan and Iqbal Hussain, off -spin to leave Saudi Arabia on 87 fi fth wicket. Zaheer hit fi ve fours in his ment,” Ahmad said. FOCUS Top NBA offi cial says pre-season game in Qatar a possibility By Anil John But despite the popularity of the past. This region is next on the agenda.” will be affi liated to an NBA team to give Doha NBA, fans in the region have never seen But there is good news for fans in the kids a sense of belonging and re- the stars of the game up close and per- Qatar even before they get to see a live sponsibility. sonal while those in Europe and South game here as Morel announced the “By involving the kids in the NBA atar could be the fi rst coun- America have had several opportuni- opening of an exclusive NBA store in they will learn how to win, how to try in the Middle East to get ties. Morel said this something the NBA Doha by the end of this year. lose and learn the core values of the a pre-season game involving would like to change in the near future “There is great demand for NBA mer- sport,” said Morel, adding that he has teams from the NBA, a top “The Middle East and the Gulf is one chandise and we plan to open a number had meetings with the Qatar Olympic NBA’s Ben Morel Qoffi cial has said. region that has not yet had a chance of stores in the region with Doha the Committee and other bodies in Qatar to Ben Morel, NBA’s Managing Director to have an NBA game. In two or three fi rst city to have one,” he added. The discuss these proposals. and Senior Vice President for Europe, years we should be able to get a game store will come up at the Doha Festival NBA academies, along the lines of Middle East and Africa, was speaking here. It’s not easy but we are looking at City Mall. the ones in Africa and Australia are also to the media on his visit to Qatar last ways to make it happen,” Morel said. Other initiatives include pro- in the pipeline. week during which he outlined a host While several cities in the Gulf like grammes to involve kids in the region so “I visit Qatar quite often and have of initiatives that would be undertaken Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have top that they take up the sport of basketball been involved in such discussions,” he as part of plans promote the game of class sporting facilities, the Qatari cap- seriously.