-
The Peninsula
India’s Aditi Ashok clinched her second consecutive title at the
history-making Qatar Ladies Open (QLO) after a day of drama in the
Ladies
European Tour (LET) at Doha Golf Club yesterday.
The 18-year-old shot a closing round of 69 to claim the trophy
on 15-under, her second professional win, just a fortnight after
she became the first Indian player to win on the LET at her home
event, the Hero Women’s Indian Open.
Swede Caroline Hedwall fired a superb 67 in tough conditions to
finish as joint runner-up with Lydia Hall on 12-under, while
overnight co-leader Nanna Koer-stz Madsen dropped to fourth on
11-under after a one-over par round of 73. England’s Annabel
Dimmock secured a top-five fin-ish, carding 10-under for the
tournament.
Ashok’s magical triumph came after morning thunderstorms hit the
course, resulting in a stoppage of play and uncertainty of when it
would resume as dark clouds shrouded the Doha skies.
However, a birdie on the eighth after the restart and a
dou-ble-bogey from Madsen on the ninth put Ashok four shots ahead
at the turn, and it was then when the Indian star began to
take control of the tournament. Her biggest threat on the
back
nine came from Hedwall, who treated fans to a feast of birdies
and made a late surge up the leader board, but ultimately it was
not enough to catch Ashok, who ended her magnificent week sink-ing
a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th green.
Ashok said: “It’s been a great few weeks. I won my home event in
the Indian Open, which was my first win. To win back to back events
feels really good.
“It was really difficult at the start because of the rain. Then
we stopped for more than an hour and a half and when we got back it
was really windy, so that was difficult, but I guess it was the
same for eve-rybody. I was trying to hit greens and make pars. I
made a birdie on the last and it was good.
“The first win was special, because I won in India, but I felt I
played really well here and had to play well every day and
shoot
sub-par rounds. I think my game was better this week and
obviously to win in the Qatar, the golf course is the same as the
men’s, so I know it’s challenging and to win here feels good.”
Despite a bogey on 18 finish-ing her title hopes, five-time
winner on tour Hedwall came away with positives from a week that
saw her match her best per-formance of the season.
The dramatic day was a fitting end to the inaugural Qatar Ladies
Open, a historical event as the country’s first professional
wom-en’s golf tournament. Even the rain failed to dampen the
spirits of the crowds, who swept through the gates and avidly
followed the final day leaders around the course.
Hassan Nasser Al Naimi, Pres-ident of the Qatar Golf
Association, said: “The Qatar Golf Association is proud to
celebrate the resound-ing success of the inaugural Qatar
Ladies Open. With an action-packed week of world-class golf,
culminated by today’s thrilling finale and deserving winner, these
LET stars have proved that this event is one of the most important
women’s tournaments on the international golf tour."
Sunday 27 November 2016
SPORTHamilton on pole for title decider
PAGE | 28 PAGE | 29Bairstow helps
England rally after top order fails
LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR: QATAR LADIES OPEN LEADERBOARDPosition
Player R1 R2 R3 R4 Total Score 1 Aditi Ashok (India) 70 66 68 69
-15 273T2 Caroline Hedwall (Sweden) 71 67 71 67 -12 276T2 Lydia
Hall (Walse) 67 68 72 69 -12 2764 Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Denmark) 69
66 69 73 -11 2775 Annabel Dimmock (England) 69 67 70 72 -10 2786
Nicole Garcia (South Africa) 69 70 71 69 -9 279T7 Georgia Hall
(England) 72 72 68 68 -8 280T7 Becky Morgan (Walse) 69 70 66 75 -8
280T9 Florentyna Parker (England) 73 68 72 68 -7 281T9 Malene
Jorgensen (Denmark) 72 67 70 72 -7 281T9 Marta Sanz Barrio (Spain)
70 69 70 72 -7 281T9 Linda Wessberg (Sweden) 71 67 70 73 -7 281T9
Jade Schaeffer (France) 72 71 65 73 -7 281
Bennani, Tarquini excel in Doha as Muller signs offThe
Peninsula
Mehdi Bennani (pic-tured) beat Thed Bjork to his first Main Race
victory on a highly emotional night at WTCC DHL Race of Qatar at
the Losail Interna-tional Circuit on Friday.
The night also saw Yvan Muller signing off from his
record-breaking FIA World Touring Car Championship career with two
top-six fin-ishes to secure the runner-up spot behind champion Jose
Maria Lopez in the final points.
Mehdi Bennani soaked up big pressure from Thed Bjork to win the
Main Race in Qatar, the final round of the 2016 FIA World Touring
Car Championship.
Starting from his maiden outright pole position, Bennani kept
the lead at the start in front of Jose Maria Lopez, who passed the
Volvo of Bjork. Behind that there was some fraught racing, with
separate incidents between Tom Chilton and Robert Dahlgren and the
LADA pair of Nicky Catsburg and Hugo Valente triggering a safety
car.
After the restart, Bjork pulled off an impressing pass-ing move
on Lopez and caught Bennani, looking to take a sec-ond win in as
many events for Polestar Cyan Racing. The Moroccan kept the Swede
at bay however with an error-free run to the chequered flag for his
second win of the year.
Lopez signed off from his multiple title-winning stint in the
WTCC with Citroen with a podium finish in third. Norbert Michelisz
passed Yvan Muller for fourth.
That was until Monteiro also found a way by Muller on the last
lap to grab fifth, rewarding his Honda mechan-ics who did a great
job to repair the Portuguese racer’s Civic after Opening Race
dam-age. Muller finished his final race in the WTCC before his
retirement in sixth ahead of Opening Race winner Gabri-ele Tarquini
and Rob Huff.
Tom Coronel and James Thompson took WTCC Trophy podiums behind
winner Bennani.
Earlier, Gabriele Tarquini won the Opening Race for LADA, while
Bennani’s
triumph for Sébastien Loeb Racing gave Citroën WTCC win number
50. Tarquini scooped the TAG Heuer Best Lap Tro-phy but it was a
frustrating night for Tiago Monteiro whose bid for second place in
the end-of-term rankings fal-tered following Opening Race contact,
although he still man-aged to hang on to third in the overall
standings.
LADA’s Gabriele Tarquini scored a convincing WTCC win number 22
in the Opening Race.
The race had to be red-flagged following a first-lap off for
Tiago Monteiro, whose Honda sustained broken rear suspension when
Hugo Valente was unable to avoid clipping the wayward Civic.
At the restart, pole-sitter Chilton defended the inside line
from Tarquini but ran deep, enabling the LADA driver to get
ahead.
Taking the WTCC Trophy win, Chilton spent the rest of the race
defending from Honda driver Rob Huff, who went from fifth to third
with an attacking start. Yvan Muller was fourth.
Nicky Catsburg and Lopez recovered to finish eighth and ninth,
the Dutchman having lost ground on the first lap after contact from
behind from Mehdi Bennani, who was handed a drive-through pen-alty
and finished 16th. James Thompson finished 10th and second in the
WTCC Trophy.
Sebastien Loeb Racing completed a perfect afternoon in the
Middle East as its three drivers secured victory for Team Citroen
in the FIA World Touring Car Championship’s Manufacturers Against
the Clock (WTCC MAC3) at WTCC DHL Race of Qatar.
For the season finale, Cit-roen nominated the three SLR
privateer drivers Mehdi Ben-nani, Tom Chilton and Gregoire
Demoustier to take part in the Tour de France-inspired team time
trial. Fresh from claiming his maiden WTCC pole position in
qualifying, Bennani led his team-mates Chilton – who ear-lier
clinched Opening Race pole – and WTCC MAC3 debutant Demoustier to a
time of 4m13.756s around two laps of the Losail International
Circuit.
Brilliant Ashok wins Qatar Ladies Open
Qatar Ladies Open champion Aditi Ashok poses for a photograph
with Ladies European Tour CEO Ivan Khodabakhsh (left), General
Secretary of QGA Fahad Nasser Al Naimi (third left), Sheikh Faisal
bin Qassim Al Thani (third right) and other officials during the
presentation ceremony at the Doha Gold Club yesterday. Pictures by
Kammutty VP / The Peninsula
Qatar jump three spots in FIFA rankings The Peninsula
Qatar have jumped three spots in the latest FIFA World Rankings,
a signif-icant improvement in October following a few weeks of
slide.
Qatar, coached by Jorge Fossati, are ranked 88 follow-ing a
hard-fought win against Syria in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying
game in Doha.
Fossati's side has 408 points, just a notch below Armenia (412)
who are at 87. Kenya with 397 points are 89.
Qatar are ninth in Asia headed by Iran a South Korea.
Japan (45) are third, Aus-tralia fourth (48) Saudi Arabia fifth
(56), Uzbekistan (62) sixth, the UAE (64) seventh and China (83)
are in eighth place. Syria are in 10th spot in Asia.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Super Eagles have moved 10 places up in the
November FIFA World ranking, to 50th.
Argentina remains top for November. Brazil, Germany, Chile and
Belgium complete the top-5.
e ye
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-,
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Ladiees Openn. WWith an acction-ppackked week of woorld-claass
golff, culmmiinated by tooday’s thrrillinng finnaale andd
deserrving wwinnner, tthese LLLET starss have provedd thhat thhis
eveennt is onee of thee mostt immporrtant wwwomen’ss tournnamentts
onn thee interrnnationaal golf toour."
Aditi Ashook posses for a phoottographh O Ivan Khhodabaakhhsh
((left), GGeneraal er Al Naimmi (thiird leftft), Sheeiikh hird
rightt) and otther on ceremmony aat
y. eninsula
Champion AshokThe 18-year-old, Ashok seals the trophy with a
score of 15–under par, just two weeks after she won the Hero
Women’s Indian Open.
Qatar Ladies Open champion Aditi Ashok
BEngl
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27SUNDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT
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28 SUNDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT
Shaky Proteas hang onas late wickets tumble Adelaide AFP
South Africa lost skipper Faf du Plessis amid a clatter of late
wickets as the match pendulum swung deci-sively towards Australia
in
the third day-night Test in Adelaide yesterday.
The Australians, who led by 124 runs on the first innings,
reduced the Proteas to 194 for six with the prized wicket of du
Plessis for 12 coming late on the third day.
At the close, South Africa were holding on and just 70 runs
ahead of Australia heading into the fourth day. Opener Stephen Cook
was in sight of his second Test century and was unbeaten on 81 off
199 balls with Quinton de Kock yet to score.
Australia, bidding to prevent South Africa from carrying off a
series clean sweep after huge defeats in the opening two Tests,
took major strides on Saturday with Usman Khawaja leading the way
with his near eight-hour epic.
Mitchell Starc captured the big
wicket of du Plessis. He attempted to drive Starc only to get an
outside edge to newcomer Peter Hands-comb, who took a brilliant
diving two-handed catch in the gully.
It was a major moment in the course of the Test given the
ability of du Plessis to play out long match-saving innings,
memorably his defiant 376-ball unbeaten knock of 110 to deny
Australia victory in Adelaide four years ago.
Starc started the ball rolling, removing Dean Elgar with the
fourth ball of his opening over for a duck and fellow paceman
Josh
Hazlewood had Hashim Amla caught behind for 45.
Spinner Nathan Lyon tightened the screws with three late
wickets.
Duminy played across the spin-ner and was bowled for 26 and
Temba Bavuma fell three overs from stumps, caught off his gloves by
Steve Smith sweeping Lyon for 21.
Lyon removed nightwatchman Kyle Abbott leg before wicket for a
duck in the day's final over.
South Africa's chances of post-ing a competitive lead hinge on
Cook and de Kock producing a big stand.
Khawaja earlier top scored with 145 with the last four wickets
add-ing 100 runs to put the home side in command.
His 308-ball vigil finally came to an end when he was trapped
leg before wicket by Vernon Philander.
Khawaja left the field to a standing ovation following his
sec-ond-highest Test score, amassed over three days, ranking only
below his 174 against New Zealand in Bris-bane last year.
It was the Pakistan-born bats-man's fifth Test century, all
posted over the last 12 months.
Khawaja's epic knock was also the first century by an Australian
in the South Africa series and he has now scored 314 runs at 62.80
in five innings.
Starc clubbed his seventh Test half-century with a 91-ball 53
before he was caught and bowled by Kagiso Rabada.
Abbott was the best of South Africa's bowlers with an
economi-cal three wickets for 49 off 29 overs with young gun
speedster Rabada claiming three for 84.
Bairstow helps England rally after top order fails Mohali
Reuters
Jonny Bairstow's composed 89 helped England survive some poor
top order shot-making and reach 268 for eight at the close on the
first day of the third Test against India yesterday.
Alastair Cook won an impor-tant toss but the tourists conceded
much of the advantage and would have been in deeper trouble but for
India's poor catching and Bairstow's dogged resistance.
The keeper-batsman featured in 50-plus partnerships with Ben
Stokes and the recalled Jos Buttler to revive England, who are 1-0
down in the five-match series.
Adil Rashid was batting on four at stumps with Gareth Batty,
replacing the injured Zafar Ansari, yet to open his account.
"We were obviously, after win-ning the toss, disappointed at
losing those wickets, especially early," Bairstow told
reporters.
"We're fighting, we are in the battle. It can go up to 290-300,"
he said about a possible first-innings total.
Wary of batting fourth on a spinning track, Cook asked the hosts
to bowl but his top order were unable to vindicate the deci-sion at
the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium.
Paceman Umesh Yadav drew first blood when he got Haseeb Hameed
caught for nine at gully with a delivery that kicked up off a
length.
Home captain Virat Kohli
introduced spin in the 13th over and Jayant Yadav responded by
dismissing Joe Root for 15 in his second over. England's batting
mainstay fluffed a pull shot across the line and was trapped
leg-before to a perfectly innocuous delivery from the
off-spinner.
Cook, meanwhile, led a charmed life with Ravindra Jadeja failing
to pouch an edge and Rav-ichandran Ashwin spilling a sitter.
Mohammed Shami was the luck-less bowler on both occasions.
Ashwin redeemed himself with his very first delivery, which Cook
edged to wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel. Cook made 27 but his
dis-missal came from a rash shot chasing a wide ball.
Shami finally tasted success when he bounced out Moeen Ali for
16 but Bairstow and Stokes steadied the innings with a 57-run stand
before another batsman threw his wicket away.
Stokes, on 29, marched down the pitch to Jadeja only to miss the
ball and Patel, replacing the injured Wriddhiman Saha behind the
stumps, had all the time in the world to whip off the bails.
Bairstow teamed up with But-tler to add 69 runs for the sixth
wicket in a more productive sec-ond session for England.
Buttler fell for 43, when he chipped Jadeja to Kohli at extra
cover in yet another soft dismissal.
The right-hander missed his half-century but still scored 25
more runs than Ben Duckett, who he replaced in the side, amassed in
his three innings in India.
Bairstow got a reprieve when Patel dropped him off Yadav but the
off-spinner trapped the bats-man lbw with the very next
delivery.
England reviewed the decision but Bairstow's 260-minute vigil,
during which he faced 177 balls and hit six boundaries, was
over.
Chris Woakes, replacing the injured Stuart Broad, made 25.
India's catching was poor but paceman Yadav did not read much
into it.
"It's an aberration, happens to all teams," he said. "You catch
some and you drop some. The idea is not to lose heart and try to
get your opponents out."
Three-star Southee creates havoc in Pakistan ranks Hamilton
AFP
Tim Southee captured three quick wickets to put New Zealand in a
commanding position in the second Test against Pakistan
yesterday.
Neil Wagner also bagged two wickets as Pakistan col-lapsed to 76
for five at stumps on day two, still 195 runs behind New Zealand's
first innings total of 271.
Babar Azam was not out 34 at the close of play at Hamil-ton's
Seddon Park with Sarfraz Ahmed unbeaten on nine.
New Zealand, chasing their first series win over Pakistan in 31
years, had been in trou-ble at 5-119 before BJ Watling's 49 not out
anchored a tail-end revival that lifted the home team to a
competitive total.
"We could have been bowled out for 200-210," said Watling after
coaxing the tail order to extend the innings as long as possible on
a wicket offering encouragement to the seamers.
But what the non-recog-nised New Zealand batsmen achieved, the
Pakistan top order failed to do as Southee enticed them into making
a string of rash shots, seaming the ball away with a mixture of
short and full-length deliveries.
In his third over, the New Zealand quickly removed opener Sami
Aslam for five and Azhar Ali for one.
Then, in his fifth over, he dismissed the veteran Younis Khan
for two as Pakistan slumped to 12-3.
Azam and Shafiq briefly steadied the innings with a 39-run
partnership before Wagner's double strike.
He bowled Shafiq for 23 then followed up with a short ball to
debutant Mohammad Rizwan which he hooked to Matt Henry on the
boundary for a golden duck on his test debut.
Ahmed took a single off the next ball to deny Wagner the hat
trick.
Pakistan speedster Sohail Khan described it as a
"disap-pointing" effort by their senior batsmen.
At the close, Southee had figures of three for 26 while Wagner
had 2-15.
But with three days remaining, Sohail held hope Pakistan could
recover.
Resuming on 77-2 after rain washed out most of the first day,
New Zealand lost three early wickets. Ross Tay-lor went for 37,
adding eight to his overnight score before he was caught
flat-footed by Sohail and edged the ball to wicketkeeper Ahmed.
Opener Jeet Raval benefit-ted from two dropped catches by Aslam,
progressing to 55 when he nicked Imran Khan to Rizwan who had taken
over at first slip.
Henry Nicholls (13) edged Wahab Riaz to Ahmed to have New
Zealand 119-5 when Watling went to the crease.
He added 51 with Colin de Grandhomme to lift New Zea-land to
170-5 by lunch, only for de Grandhomme to fall to Imran on the
first ball after the
resumption of play for 37. Mitchell Santner contrib-
uted 16 to a 33-run stand for the seventh wicket before edg-ing
Sohail to Younis Khan in slips.
Southee engaged in an intriguing battle with Riaz which saw the
swashbuckling New Zealander ducking, weaving and slashing through a
barrage of short-pitched deliveries.
He reached 29 off 28 balls before he misjudged a slower ball
from Sohail and was bowled.
New Zealand were all out in the third over after tea when
Watling ran out of partners and was left stranded one run short of
a half-century.
For Pakistan, Sohail took 4-99 and Imran 3-52.
South Africa (I innings): ......................259/9
declAustralia (I innings):U Khawaja lbw b Philander
............................................. 145M Renshaw c Elgar
b Abbott .............................................10D Warner c
Elgar b Abbott
..................................................11S Smith (run
out)
.................................................................
59P Handscomb b Abbott
..................................................... 54N Maddinson
b Rabada ........................................................0M
Wade c de Kock b Philander
...........................................4M Starc c&b Rabada
............................................................53J
Hazlewood (not out)
..........................................................11N Lyon
c Amla b Shamsi
..................................................... 13J Bird c du
Plessis b Rabada
.................................................6Extras (B-3,
LB-9, W-2, NB-3) ...........................................
17Total (all out)
...................................................383 Fall of
wickets: 1-19, 2-37, 3-174, 4-273, 5-277, 6-283, 7-327, 8-357,
9-370, 10-383.Bowling: Philander 29-5-100-2 (3nb); Abbott
29-11-49-
3; Rabada 25.1-4-84-3 (2w); Shamsi 29-4-101-1; Duminy 6-0-25-0;
Elgar 2-0-11-0; Bavuma 1-0-1-0.South Africa (II innings):S Cook
(batting)
....................................................................81D
Elgar c Smith b Starc
..........................................................0H Amla c
Wade B Hazlewood .......................................... 45J P
Duminy b Lyon
...............................................................26F
du Plessis c Handscomb b Starc
....................................12T Bavuma c Smith b Lyon
...................................................21K Abbott lbw
Lyon
.................................................................0Q
de Kock (batting)
................................................................0Extras
(LB-6, NB-3)
................................................................9Total
(for 6 wkts) ............................................194 To
bat: V Philander, K Rabada, T Shamsi. Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-82,
3-131, 4-154, 5-190, 6-194.Bowling: Starc 19-4-71-2 (1nb);
Hazlewood 16-8-22-1; Bird 16-3-42-0 (2nb); Lyon 17-4-48-3; Warner
1-0-5-0.
SCOREBOARD
New Zealand (I innings):J Raval c Rizwan b Imran
.....................................55T Latham c Aslam b Amir
......................................0K Williamson c Ahmed b
Sohail ..........................13R Taylor c Ahmed b
Sohail................................... 37H Nicholls c Ahmed b
Riaz ...................................13C de Grandhomme c Ahmed b
Imran ............... 37B Watling (not out)
.............................................. 49M Santner c Younis
b Sohail ................................ 16T Southee b Sohail
.................................................29M Henry c Sohail
b Amir .......................................15N Wagner c Younis b
Imran ..................................1Extras (W-5, NB-1)
..................................................6Total (all out)
........................................271 Fall of wickets: 1-5,
2-39, 3-90, 4-113, 5-119, 6-170, 7-203, 8-239, 9-270, 10-271.
Bowling: Amir 19-2-59-2; Sohail 25-6-99-4; Imran 20.4-5-52-3
(1nb); Riaz 18-4-57-1 (1w); Azhar 1-0-4-0.Pakistan (I innings):Sami
Aslam c Raval b Southee ............................. 5Azhar Ali c
Watling b Southee ...............................1Babar Azam
(batting) ..........................................34Younis Khan c
Watling b Southee........................ 2Asad Shafiq b Wagner
.........................................23Mohammad Rizwan c Henry
b Wagner .............0Sarfraz Ahmed (batting)
........................................9Extras (LB-1, NB-1)
.................................................. 2Total (for 5
wkts) 76Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-8, 3-12, 4-51, 5-51.Bowling:
Southee 11-3-26-3; Henry 9-2-13-0 (1nb); de Grandhomme 4-2-21-0;
Wagner 5-1-15-2.
SCOREBOARD
England (I innings):A Cook c Patel b Ashwin
.......................................... 27H Hameed c Rahane b U
Yadav ................................9J Root lbw J Yadav
...................................................... 15M Ali c
Vijay b Shami..................................................16J
Bairstow lbw J Yadav
.............................................89B Stokes st Patel b
Jadeja .......................................29J Buttler c Kohli b
Jadeja .......................................... 43C Woakes b U
Yadav ................................................. 25A Rashid
(batting)
........................................................4G Batty
(batting)...........................................................0Extras
(B-8, LB-2, NB-1) ............................................11
Total (for 8 wkts) ................................... 268Fall of
wickets: 1-32, 2-51, 3-51, 4-87, 5-144, 6-213, 7-258,
8-266.Bowling: Shami 20-5-52-1; U Yadav 16-4-58-2; J Yadav
15-5-49-2; Ashwin 18-1-43-1; Jadeja 21-3-56-2.India: V Kohli
(capt), M Vijay, K Nair, C Pujara, A Ra-hane, P Patel, R Ashwin, J
Yadav, R Jadeja, M Shami, U Yadav.
SCOREBOARD
England's Jonny Bairstow drives the ball during the Third Test
against India at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, India
yesterday.
New Zealand's Neil Wagner (right) celebrates the wicket of
Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan during day two of the second Test
against Pakistan at Seddon Park in Hamilton, New Zealand
yesterday.
Australian captain Steve Smith (foreground) takes a catch to
dismiss South Africa's Dean Elgar (right) during their third Test
cricket match in Adelaide yesterday.
Major blow Du Plessis' dismissal was a major moment in the
course of the Test given the ability of him play out long
match-saving innings, memorably his defiant 376-ball unbeaten knock
of 110 to deny Australia victory in Adelaide four years ago.
-
29SUNDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT
Hamilton on pole for title decider
Abu Dhabi Reuters
Lewis Hamilton lapped in a league of his own to seize pole
position for the title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
yesterday but Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg remained
championship favourite with second place on the grid.
Rosberg has a 12-point lead and can afford to let Hamilton win
today's day-to-night race, knowing a podium finish at Yas Marina
will bring him a first For-mula One championship to match Finnish
father Keke's 1982 triumph.
Hamilton, who now has 61 career pole positions and 12 for the
season as well as four in a row, has to be in the top three to have
a chance of becoming Brit-ain's first four-times world
champion.
He gave himself the best shot under the floodlights, setting a
series of fastest sector times that left little doubt about his
determination to try to beat the overwhelming odds against
him.
"It's been such a privilege driving this car," he said. "This
weekend so far I've got the car in a real sweet spot...and yeah,
I'm in a perfect position for tomorrow.
"I feel amazing, I feel ener-getic, I feel confident - confident
of what I've been doing in the car," added Hamilton. "I have
everything to gain tomorrow...
super-excited about it." His time of one minute 38.755 seconds
was a real statement of intent, the champion a mighty 0.303 faster
than Rosberg's best effort.
It was the first time Hamil-ton had out-qualified his team mate
in Abu Dhabi with Rosberg on pole in the last two years, but it
could all come to nothing with the title outcome out of the
Brit-on's hands.
"I'm not ecstatic by today.
Lewis just did a great job and was a couple of tenths quicker,"
said Rosberg, who has now qualified 27 times in a row in the top
two with barely any reliability problems.
"It just wasn't possible for me to do that time today...for
sure, I'll try to go and win.
"It was feeling good out there, I had a good balance and
everything so I was quite pleased. As qualifying went on it got
better and better. I got a good lap in at the end of Q3 (the
final phase of qualifying) but not good enough."
Hamilton could end the sea-son with 10 wins to Rosberg's nine,
and needs rivals to get between him and his team mate, but Rosberg
will be reassured that Mercedes again looked in complete
control.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified in third place for Red
Bull, with a lap more than half a second off Rosberg's pace, and
will share the second row with Ferra-ri's 2007 world champion Kimi
Raikkonen. Hamilton reminded Ricciardo of the Australian's
'win-ner, winner chicken dinner' catchphrase and said he wanted to
hear it today - but with the Red Bull driver one of those behind
him and ahead of Rosberg.
"I think it's going to be fun tomorrow," Ricciardo said.
"Obviously, there's the title on the line with these guys here, so
it's going to be interesting.
"Hopefully, it's fun through-out the pack and we can do
something to make it even more exciting than it already is."
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who secured his first champi-onship
against the odds at the circuit with Red Bull in 2010, starts in
fifth place with Red Bull's Max Verstappen sixth.
Britain's Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion, will line up
for his farewell race in 12th position for McLaren.
"A bit of understeer lost me
a bit of time but to be fair, it's not a bad place to be in my
last race," said Button, who will be hand-ing over to Belgian
Stoffel Vandoorne after his 305th start.
Brazilian Felipe Massa, also leaving after Abu Dhabi, quali-fied
10th for Williams.
The starting grid for today's Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix
following final qualifying at Yas Marina Circuit yesterday:-
1st rowLewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes)Nico Rosberg
(GER/Mercedes)
2nd rowDaniel Ricciardo (AUS/Red Bull)Kimi Raikkonen
(FIN/Ferrari)
3rd rowSebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari)Max Verstappen (NED/Red
Bull)
4th rowNico Hülkenberg (GER/Force India)Sergio Perez (MEX/Force
India)
5th rowFernando Alonso (ESP/McLaren)Felipe Massa
(BRA/Williams)
6th rowValtteri Bottas (FIN/Williams)Jenson Button
(GBR/McLaren)
7th rowEsteban Gutierrez (MEX/Haas)Romain Grosjean
(FRA/Haas)
8th rowJolyon Palmer (GBR/Renault)Pascal Wehrlein
(GER/Manor)
9th rowDaniil Kvyat (RUS/Toro Rosso)Kevin Magnussen
(DEN/Renault)
10th rowFelipe Nasr (BRA/Sauber-Ferrari)Estéban Ocon
(FRA/Manor-Mercedes)
11th rowCarlos Sainz Jr (ESP/Toro Rosso)Marcus Ericsson
(SWE/Sauber)
ABU DHABI GRAND PRIXTouch and goRosberg of Mercedes has a
12-point lead over team-mate Hamilton and will win the championship
if he finishes in the top three, regardless of other results.
Mercedes' Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain
celebrates pole position after qualifying session at the Abu Dhabi
Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, yesterday.
Discover Tennis with Aspire training camp concludesThe
Peninsula
The Discover Tennis with Aspire train-ing camp successfully drew
to a close on Friday. Organised by Aspire Zone Foundation,
the camp was attended by 30 youngsters between the ages of six
and nine. The camp ran from October 2 to November 25 and took place
on the Outdoor Tennis Courts in Aspire Zone.
On the final day, participating children showcased all that they
had learned as they took part in seven exciting games in front of
their parents. After the games, Ms. Lolwa Al Marri, Head of Events
at Aspire Zone Foun-dation congratulated the children on their
progress and awarded them certificates of participation.
Al Marri commented: “Aspire Zone Foun-dation is committed to
providing the local community with the opportunity to take part in
various sporting events. We run activities for every member of the
family in our state-of-the-art facilities. We're very happy with
the success of this training camp. The best measure of this is how
engaged and positive the children have been. Having their par-ents
support them by attending their classes made the experience even
more enjoyable. The training camp perfectly supports Aspire Zone
Foundation’s aim to promote sporting activities among the local
community and encourage a healthy lifestyle for all.”
The training camp was received very positively by parents of the
participants, many of whom are from countries around the world.
Commenting on her sons' involvement, Qatari mother of six
year-old Mohammed and five year-old Saleh Saeed Malhiya, said:
“All our family are tennis fans so my chil-dren really enjoyed
themselves by taking part in this training camp. It was
recom-mended to us by my brother who encouraged our children to
participate. It was a great extracurricular activity for them. The
tim-ing was also ideal as it motivated them to finish their
homework early so that they could attend the training. It’s great
to see Aspire Zone organise fun family activities that help bring
parents and children closer together.”
Mariam Ghaddar, mother of eight year-old Joelle and six year-old
Maya, and originally from Lebanon added: “My daugh-ters benefitted
a lot from this training camp.
Not only did it improve their tennis skills, but also their
overall coordination. They also made good friends with a number of
other children of similar age. They were really excited to take
part in every class.”
Pakistani father of nine year-old Hamza and six year-old Hidaya,
Mr. Junaid Rah-man, said: “Our friends participated in this
activity previously and encouraged us to reg-ister our children. It
was great to take part with my children. The fact that it took
place in the afternoon meant I was able to attend their classes
after work. Aspire Zone has done a great job promoting sporting
activi-ties among young children.”
The “Discover Tennis with Aspire” train-ing camp provided an
opportunity for the 30 young amateur tennis players to develop
their potential and train under the close supervision of three
certified tennis experts. Participating children were divided into
two age groups – ages six to seven, and ages eight to nine. This
enabled participants to play alongside peers with the right level
of expe-rience and aptitude.
The training camp is the latest exam-ple of Aspire Zone
Foundation’s continued efforts to promote physical activity in
Qatar and to provide mem-bers of the community with the opportunity
to practice their favourite sports and take part in a range of
sport-ing events.
By providing community members with access to state-of-the-art
venues and facil-ities, all family members are encouraged to
participate in various sports activities offered by Aspire Zone
Foundation. It is through programmes and activities such as these
that Aspire Zone has become the preferred sports destination in
Qatar.
Qatar Rugby Federation (QRF) Yousef Al Kuwari receiving the Fiji
team at the Hamad International Airport in Doha on Friday.
The Peninsula
Fijian rugby team, the reigning World Rugby Sevens Series
Champions and Rio Olympic Games gold medalist arrived in Doha on
Friday on a three-day visit. The islanders rugby team which gave
the country's first medal
in any event are in Qatar as guests of Qatar Rugby
Federation.The Fijians thrashed Britain 43-7 to win the inaugural
men's
rugby sevens final in Rio, Brazil this year.Fiji has won the
Hong Kong Sevens a record twelve times since
its inception in 1976 and also won the Rugby World Cup Sevens
twice in 1997 and 2005.
“Hosting the Fijian squad in Doha would serve as an honor and
place Qatar in high esteem as a sporting nation. The fact that the
World Champions want to visit Doha is a great privilege within
itself considering the amount of requests they receive from nations
around the world,” QRF President Yousef Al Kuwari said.
“Fiji is a class act and we can achieve much from their
pres-ence. Already we have five Fijian players participating in our
domestic league and we hope to increase that over the years. This
rare visit by Fiji is hoped to improve our rugby ties and develop a
special bond with the champs” the QRF president added.
Fiji rugby sevens master class captain Osea Koliniseu who was
recently piped for the World Rugby Sevens player of the year by
South Africa’s Seabelo Senatla said: “Doha has impressive
cre-dentials as a sports nation and our stop here next week
hopefully will be a start of a long lasting relationship with Qatar
Rugby Federation.”
“Doha also has one of the best facilities in treating injured
ath-letes it would beneficial for us to be here. It would great if
we can meet and acclimatize here instead. We would also like to
help Qatar Rugby develop” the captain said.
The Qatar stop comes ahead of the Emirate Dubai 7s which begins
on December 1.
The Fijian team wish to acclimatize to the region ahead of the
Dubai event.
Fiji to train in Doha ahead of Dubai 7s
-
30 SUNDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT
AyAyAy. Pic: Qassim / The Peninsula → See also page 26
ayayayayayayay
Argentinean football legend Gabriel Omar Batistuta, nicknamed
Batigol, poses for a photo with a glove, signed by FIA World
Touring Car Champion Jose Maria Lopez, during the WTCC DHL Race of
Qatar at the Losail International Circuit on Friday. Batistuta
played his last two seasons in Qatar with Al Arabi before retiring
in 2005.
Argentinean star Gabriel Batistuta in Qatar Doha and Aspire all
Set to host Soccerex Asian forum 2016
Impressive RB Leipzig cement top spot BerlinAFP
RB Leipzig continued their stun-ning start to life in the
Bundesliga on Friday with a 4-1 win at Freiburg that saw them move
six points clear of Bayern Munich at the top of the table.
Timo Werner scored twice for the visitors at the Schwarzwald
Sta-dion in between goals by Naby Keita and Marcel Sabitzer, with
Florian Niederlechner replying in vain for the home side.
RB Leipzig's record-breaking start to a season for a
newly-pro-moted side sees them still unbeaten after 12 games. They
have won their last seven matches in a row and this latest success
means they are cer-tain to end the weekend clear at the summit once
again.
Ralph Hassenhuettl's men can do no wrong at the moment and they
opened the scoring in the Black For-est inside two minutes when
pocket-sized Guinean midfielder Keita skipped away from
Nieder-lechner and unleashed a superb shot that arrowed beyond the
reach of goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow and into the top-right
corner.
Mid-table Freiburg, who had won four of their previous five home
games this season, drew level out of nowhere on the quarter-hour
mark when Niederlechner headed past Peter Gulacsi in the Leipzig
goal fol-lowing a right-wing cross by Borussia Dortmund loanee
Pascal Stenzel.
Freiburg had come up with Leip-zig from the second tier last
season, finishing five points clear of the Red Bull-backed club as
they won the
title. They had taken four points off them in league meetings,
but Leip-zig are a different proposition in the top tier and they
went back in front before the midway point in the first half.
Former VfB Stuttgart forward Werner was played onside by Marc
Torrejon as he latched onto a ball over the top and slotted in
after a rather weak attempt by Schwolow to stop him.
Werner netted again for his seventh of the season 10 minutes
before the break after a superb pass by the ever impressive Emil
Forsberg took Nicolas Hoefler out of the game.
The victory was secured as Leip-zig made it 4-1 with 11 minutes
left when Swedish international Fors-berg set up Sabitzer to
side-foot home at the near post.
Bale faces lengthy spell on sidelines, says
ZidaneMadridReuters
Real Madrid coach Zin-edine Zidane (pictured)expects to be
without the services of Welsh forward Gareth Bale for a long period
of time.
Bale damaged tendons in his right ankle during Tues-day's 2-1
win at Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League and he will undergo
surgery next week in London.
"It's tough to see a player out injured," said Zidane.
"Bale is going to be out for a very long time."
Bale has been key all sea-son for Real, who lead the La Liga
standings and have qual-ified for the Champions League round of
16.
The 27-year-old has scored seven goals and set up three more in
16 starts in all competitions.
Real are also without Ger-man midfielder Toni Kroos, who is out
until next year due to a broken foot, and Spanish forward Alvaro
Morata who is sidelined with a torn hamstring.
French defender Raphael Varane, who scored Real's opener in
Tuesday's victory in Lisbon, will rest as a pre-caution ahead of
next week's Clasico in Barcelona.
"Varane had a knee prob-lem and we don't want to risk him,"
Zidane said.
"We just need to hold out and wait until they recover. The
important thing is that we focus on the things that we are doing
well."
They will be boosted by the return of defender Pepe and
midfielder Casemiro from injury.
DohaQNA
Doha has completed all technical and mana-gerial arrangements to
host the prestigious Soccerex Asian Forum
2016, taking place at the Grand Hyatt Doha from December 5-6,
2016.
The forum will provide the global football industry with unique
insight, and access to the key development projects ahead of the
2022 FIFA World Cup.
With more than 30 large scale infrastructure and stadia related
ten-ders currently open ahead of this ground breaking tournament,
the Asian Forum - supported by the Supreme Committee for Delivery
and Legacy - will allow delegates to hear from, and connect with,
the decision makers directly responsi-ble for their fulfilment.
Soccerex, the globally renowned football business event
provider, has signed its first part-nership agreement with Aspire
Zone Foundation and its member
organizations, Aspire Academy, Aspetar and Aspire Logistics, for
the upcoming Asian Forum taking place in Doha from December
5-6.
The Asian Forum will offer insights into topics such as major
event delivery, player performance and development and sports
mar-keting from the football industry’s most senior figures.
The Forum, taking place at the Grand Hyatt Doha, will gather
over 1000 senior decision makers for two days of knowledge sharing,
and business networking.
As part of this partnership, Aspire Academy and Aspetar will
provide expert speakers to share their insights and expertise, on
top-ics such as innovations in sports performance and best practice
in injury prevention and recovery.
The new partnership with Soc-cerex is an extension of Aspire
Zone Foundation’s ongoing efforts to sup-port the Qatar National
Vision 2030.
To-date, the Foundation has hosted numerous major interna-tional
events, including the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, as well as world-class
training camps for top tier
football clubs such as Manchester United, Bayern Munich and
Paris Saint-Germain. Aspire Zone Foun-dation has three member
organisations under its umbrella, all of which contribute to the
development of sports in Qatar.
Aspire Academy is a sports academy that provides training and
education to students with sporting potential. Among its
achievements, Aspire Academy has produced the entire Qatar U19
national squad that won the AFC U-19 Championship in 2014 and
London 2012 bronze medallist and Rio 2016 Olympic silver-medallist
Mutaz Barshim.
Aspire Logistics promotes sports culture and is one of the
world’s foremost campuses for athletes in training and hosts global
events such as the 2016 FINA Airweave Swim-ming Championship.
Aspetar, a world leading special-ised orthopaedic and sports
medicine hospital.Aspetar was awarded the ‘FIFA Medical Centre of
Excellence by F-MARC in 2009 and "Platinum Level" by the
Accreditation Canada International (ACI) in 2015.
Hoeness - German football saint and tax sinner back to lead
Bayern BerlinAFP
Uli Hoeness has been re-elected as Bayern Munich's president,
returning to lead Germany's top club despite a spectacu-lar own
goal which landed
him in jail.After 21 months behind bars, Hoeness
was released in February from Landsberg prison, where Adolf
Hitler wrote 'Mein Kampf', after being convicted of evading at
least €28.5m ($31.5m) in taxes.
His stint in jail saw the outspoken character endure public
humiliation as a fallen role model and newspaper mock-ery as a
hypocrite who "preaches water and drinks wine".
His comment, "criminals have no place in football", uttered when
it emerged in 2000 that ex-Bundesliga coach Chris-toph Daum had
used cocaine, has regularly come back to haunt him.
"I know this is stupid, but I pay my taxes in full," told to
Bild in 2005, was another Hoeness statement which received plenty
of air time.
But such is his popularity at Bayern that he has been welcomed
back with open arms by his beloved club, which he helped turn into
a European powerhouse and global brand, despite his public fall
from grace.
Hoeness was born in post-war Ger-many in 1952 into a
conservative Catholic middle-class family, living in a humble flat
above his father's butcher's shop in the town of Ulm.
The teenager's passion was football
which, by some accounts, he practised until he dropped from
exhaustion. His dis-cipline and athletic talent were noted early
and he joined Bayern Munich at age 18. Since then, Hoeness has come
to per-sonify the club and never tolerated criticism of his beloved
Bayern, giving many a reporter who dared to slight the team an
unforgiving tongue-lashing.
As a young star player, Hoeness, alongside the legendary Franz
Becken-bauer and goal-scoring ace Gerd Mueller, was at the heart of
the team which won the European Cup three times in 1974-76.
When a persistent knee injury forced him to retire at just 27,
the club made him their youngest-ever general manager. And when
Beckenbauer stood down as Bay-ern president in 2009, Hoeness was
ready to succeed him after a 30-year apprenticeship.
Ever since, Hoeness has been the driv-ing force behind the rise
of the club, which now boasts a massive membership,
state-of-the-art stadium and huge profits.
While Hoeness is a hard-nosed busi-nessman, he also drove a
culture of helping teams in financial trouble by stag-ing
friendlies, and in 2005 lent near-bankrupt Borussia Dortmund €2m
($2.8m) to pay their players.
Hoeness has gone out of his way to support players in distress:
he made sure the retired Mueller was treated in a clinic when he
was battling alcoholism. Muel-ler later became a reserve team coach
at Bayern.
In the close-knit elite of conservative Bavaria, Hoeness has
been a confidant of top state politicians, He told one TV show that
a higher tax burden will mean "the rich will go to Austria and
Switzerland ... we need to keep the rich here so we can keep
milking them".
He long presented himself as an hon-est businessman Unknown to
the wider public, he was already obsessively gam-bling millions on
stocks and currencies via his Swiss bank accounts.
Uli HoenessWhen a persistent knee injury forced him to retire at
just 27, Bayern made him their youngest-ever general manager.
Hoeness helped financially troubled teams and in 2005 lent
near-bankrupt Borussia Dortmund €2m ($2.8m).
RB Leipzig's forward Timo
Werner celebrates after scoring
a goal against SC Freiburg during their
Bundesliga match at Schwarzwald
Stadium in Freiburg,
Germany, on Friday.
The former and new president of
FC Bayern Munich Uli Hoeness
speaks prior his new election
during the team's shareholders
meeting in Munich, Germany,
on Friday.
-
31SUNDAY 27 NOVEMBER 2016 SPORT
Jeonbuk beat Al Ain to claim AFC Champions League 2016 title
The Peninsula
Al Sadd left it late to secure derby day glory defeat-ing bitter
rivals Al Arabi 3-2 at Grand Hamad stadium yesterday evening.
Two goals in two second half minutes swung the tie in favour of
the Wolves who have captain Xavi Hernandez and Bagdad Bounjah to
thank for securing the win. Arabi fought back with a goal to set up
a grandstand finish, but couldn't score an equaliser to settle a
spicy Doha Derby match.
With just two minutes on the clock, centre back Mous-tapha Sall
bundled down Jugurtha Hamroun in the pen-alty box and Sadd where
promptly awarded with a penalty.
Algerian attacker Bagdad Bounjah stepped up and knocked the ball
past Rajab Hamza to give his side a dream start in the Doha
Derby.
Indeed Al Sadd could have doubled their lead minutes later
through the ever lively Bagdad Bounjah. In truth, Al Sadd where the
better side for most of the first half, taking Al Arabi on the
counter attack. Again Bagdad Bounjah missed a key chance to further
extend his sides lead. Sadd captain Xavi found his team-mate with a
accurate through ball, however Bounjah’s shot failed to trouble
Rajab Hamza.
Against the pattern of play, Al Arabi found an equalizer with
twenty five minutes on the clock. Summer signing Luis Jiménez
notched his first goal of the season with a opportun-istic header
after a lofted cross from midfielder Mohammed Shaaban found
Jiménez
unmarked at the far post. Growing in confidence, Al
Arabi finished the first half on a high note, and could of
headed into the break 2-1 up.
Al Sadd started on the front foot in the second half, and
cre-ated their first chance of note just minutes after the restart.
Captain Xavi found himself fur-ther forward however his header flew
just over the bar.
The Qatar interntaional produced a fantastic goal line clearance
to deny Jugurtha Hamroun to score for Al Sadd. Jesaldo Ferriera’s
side where slowly putting pressure on their opponents, and with the
game heading into the final ten min-utes they stepped up to win the
derby.
With 83 minutes on the clock Al Sadd struck through captain
Xavi. Latching onto a loose ball in the Arabi box, Jugurtha Hamroun
had the piece of mind to pick out Xavi, who stroked the ball into
the back of the net.
Sadd all but sealed their victory just sixty seconds later when
Bagdad Bounjah grabbed his second on the evening. Cap-tain Xavi won
the ball in midfield and calmly put through Bounjah who then
chipped the ball into back of the net from close range to give Sadd
a 3-1 lead.
Immediately after the restart Al Arabi went on the attack and
found their way back into the tie with Luis Jiménez’s second goal
of the game. The Chilean knocked the ball on from close range after
a neat assist from substitute Ahmad Khalfan. Arabi desper-ately
pushed for a equalzer, but Sadd held on for all three points and
Doha derby bragging rights.
The Peninsula
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors were crowned the 2016 AFC Champions
League winners yesterday night as a 1-1 draw with inaugural
cham-
pions Al Ain earned Choi Kang-hee’s side a 3-2 aggregate victory
and a place at Decem-ber’s finals of the FIFA Club World Cup.
Han Kyo-won gave Jeonbuk the lead on the night, and extended the
K League Classic side’s advantage following their 2-1 first leg
win, in the 30th minute before Lee Myung-joo levelled for Al Ain
four minutes later.
But a missed penalty by Bra-zilian striker Douglas in the dying
minutes of the first half and a resolute defensive show-ing in the
second half by the 2006 winners was enough to seal Jeonbuk a second
AFC Champions League crown.
Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic made one change from the team that
lost the first leg, bringing in Douglas in place of Mohamed
Abdulrahman while Jeonbuk made two changes, with Lee Dong-gook
replacing Kim Shin-wook and Lim Jong-eun making way Cho
Sung-hwan.
Trailing by a goal from the opening game in Jeonju, it came as
little surprise that Al Ain started aggressively, Caio nar-rowly
failing to connect with Danilo Asprilla’s low cross before Omar
Abdulrahman’s header minutes later was saved at point blank range
by Kwoun Sun-tae.
Midway through the half Douglas’ speared effort from dis-tance
was pushed away by Kwoun and the Brazilian was again caus-ing
problems in the 28th minute when his overhead attempt fol-lowing
Caio’s cross flew back across the face of goal to safety.
Despite their dominance, however, Al Ain went a goal behind on
the half hour mark. Han Kyo-won, an early substi-tute for the
injured Ricardo Lopes, side footed the ball home from close range
following Lee Jae-sung’s corner to send the Jeonbuk bench into
raptures.
But four minutes later Al Ain were level when Lee
Myung-joo’s scuffed volley bounced into the turn before beating
Kwoun to his right.
The goal gave the home side a boost and it seemed it was only a
matter of time before Al Ain would add to their tally. Kwoun again
saved from Douglas before Lee’s weak effort from the edge of the
area rolled through to the Jeonbuk keeper.
With two minutes remaining in the half, Al Ain were given a gilt
edged opportunity to take the lead on the night and level the
scores on aggregate when Asprilla was brought down in the area by
Kim Hyun-gil only for Douglas to stroke his penalty over the bar.
To
make matters worse, Dalic was sent to the stands by referee
Ryuji Sato soon after.
Al Ain kept pushing for the goal that would level the scores
across the two games as the sec-ond half played out: Ismail Ahmed
headed over the bar, Caio shot just wide and Asprilla forced Kwoun
into action while, 15 minutes from time, Douglas’ shot was pushed
away by the Jeonbuk goalkeeper.
Kwoun was his side’s saviour again nine minutes from time when
he kept out Ibrahim Diaky’s close-range drive, and Jeonbuk closed
out the game to take the trophy back to Korea Republic.
Aguero lifts Man City, Liverpool winLondonReuters
Substitute Divock Origi and James Milner struck to send
Liverpool top of the Premier League as both they and Manches-ter
City continued their hunt for the top spot with victories.
Sergio Aguero scored two scruffy goals as City won 2-1 at
Burnley and Liverpool followed suit by downing Sunderland 2-0 after
losing Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho to a worrying
injury.
Swansea City claimed an extraordinary 5-4 win over strug-gling
Crystal Palace, while champions Leicester City narrowly avoided a
seventh defeat of the campaign in a 2-2 draw with
Middlesbrough.
Having seen City prevail at Turf Moor in the early game,
Liv-erpool were under pressure to produce the goods against a
Sun-derland team who had won their two previous matches.
Former Liverpool captain
Steven Gerrard was watching on at Anfield, two days after
announc-ing his retirement from football.
But he could only look on with concern as the influential
Coutinho was stretchered off with his right ankle in a brace after
hurting him-self in a challenge by Didier Ndong.
Origi took the Brazil interna-tional's place and he gave
Liverpool reward for their domi-nance in the 75th minute with his
first league goal of the season.
Jordan Henderson picked the Belgian forward out on the left and
he cut inside onto his right foot and swept a shot inside the far
post.
Milner completed victory from the penalty spot in the first
minute of injury time.
Burnley took a shock 14th-minute lead against City at Turf Moor
when Dean Marney met Nicolas Otamendi's headed clear-ance with a
thumping 25-yard volley that nestled in the bottom-left corner.
But Aguero equalised in the 37th minute, stabbing home after
Burnley failed to clear a corner,
and the hosts' luck continued to desert them as both Marney and
Johann Berg Gudmundsson went off injured.
A defensive mix-up allowed City to net the decisive goal in the
hour, with Fernandinho's cross striking Aguero and going in after
Ben Mee and Stephen Ward had got in each other's way.
"We are so satisfied for the points and the performance,
espe-cially two days after the Champions League," said City manager
Pep Guardiola, whose side host Chelsea next weekend.
Swansea upped the pressure on Palace manager Alan Pardew by
condemning the south London club to a sixth straight defeat in a
madcap game that gave Bob
Bradley his first win since becom-ing manager.
Palace led 1-0, fell 3-1 down, fought back to go 4-3 up, but
even-tually succumbed courtesy of a remarkable brace of injury-time
goals from Spanish striker Fern-ando Llorente.
The victory took Swansea off the foot of the table, where they
were replaced by Sunderland, and left Palace above the bottom three
on goal difference.
Leicester reached the Cham-pions League last 16 in the week and
they were almost brought down to earth with a bump by Middlesbrough
at the King Power Stadium.Alvaro Negredo twice put Boro ahead, but
Riyad Mahrez cancelled out his first goal with a 34th-minute
penalty and Islam Sli-mani rescued a draw with another spot-kick in
the fourth minute of added time.
Elsewhere, Gareth McAuley's header was cancelled out by Michael
Dawson as West Brom-wich Albion were held to a 1-1 draw at Hull
City.
Ronaldo double extends Real lead over Barcelona MadridAFP
Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice as Real Madrid were thankful to a
late missed penalty from Duje Cop to open up a seven-point lead
over Bar-celona at the top of La Liga with a 2-1 win over Sporting
Gijon.
Madrid looked set for an easy afternoon as Ronaldo opened the
scoring from the penalty spot before he headed home a second inside
20 minutes.
However, Carlos Carmona halved Sporting's deficit 10 min-utes
before half-time and the struggling visitors were handed a huge
chance for an unexpected point 12 minutes from time when
Nacho brought down Victor Rodriguez.
Yet, Cop sent his penalty high and wide as Real held on amidst a
torrential downpour to extend their unbeaten run to 31 games in all
competitions.
Barca can cut the gap back to four points when they travel to
Real Sociedad today ahead of the first Clasico of the season
between Spanish football's two giants at the Camp Nou next
weekend.
Fresh from netting a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid last
weekend, Ronaldo continued his return to scoring form with a quick
fire double to move ahead of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez as La
Liga's top scorer.
Sporting had the first big
chance to go in front when Car-mona fired wide with just
goalkeeper Keylor Navas to beat.
However, they were quickly behind when Lucas Vazquez was naively
chopped down by Ser-gio Alvarez on five minutes and Ronaldo
emphatically converted the resulting spot-kick.
The Portuguese's second fin-ish was even more impressive as he
buried Nacho's cross from the left with a powerful header that left
Diego Marino no chance in the Sporting goal.
Ronaldo should have com-pleted his hat-trick late on as he broke
clear on goal, but his low shot was too close to Marino as Real had
to see out a nervy final few minutes to secure a sixth straight La
Liga win.
Al Sadd strike late to take derby spoils
YesterdayBurnley 1 - 2 Manchester City
Hull City 1 - 1 West Bromwich Albion Leicester City 2 - 2
Middlesbrough
Liverpool 2 - 0 SunderlandSwansea City 5 - 4 Crystal Palace
PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS
Manchester City's Sergio Aguero celebrates after scoring their
first goal against Burnley during their Premier League match at
Turf Moor in Burnley, England, yesterday.