SPORTMonday 13 November 2017

NBA: Warriors force their way past Sixers

PAGE | 32-33 PAGE | 35 PAGE | 36

Mighty Federer back in the groove at Tour Finals

QSL Cup: Al Rayyan edge past Umm Salal to storm into semis

Advani wins World Billiards Championship title in DohaThe Peninsula

Ace Indian cueist Pankaj Advani yesterday clinched his 17th world

title after he thrashed his arch-rival Mike Russell of England in the IBSF World Billiards Cham-pionship in Doha yesterday.

Advani beat Russell 6-2 (0-155, 150-128, 92-151, 151-0, 151-6, 151-0, 150-58, 150-21) to defend the 150-up format title he had won in Bengaluru last year. The Indian did not have an ideal start to the best-of-11 sum-mit clash as Russell drew first blood with a well-crafted break of 155.

Advani drew parity in the next frame but still seemed to be looking for his best to arrive. The Englishman bounced back with breaks of 84 and 67 to win what was going to be the last frame to his name in the final.

From the fourth frame, the Indian was a transformed player. Advani, the winner of a maximum number of world

titles in any sport by an Indian, increased his total by one more as he dominated the remain-der of the final. He clinically constructed lethal breaks of 151, 151, 151, 145 and 110 to completely dismantle his long-standing rival.

Earlier in the tournament, Advani had overcome fellow

Indian Rupesh Shah in the sem-ifinals 5-2, while Russell got the better of Singapore’s Peter Gil-christ 5-1.

Advani will be eyeing a ‘Grand Double’ as the lengthier format (long-up) of the IBSF World Billiards Championship 2017 commences today at the same venue here.

beIN set to broadcast top cricket action The Peninsula

Cricket is set to reach its biggest ever audience in

the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) fol-lowing a deal signed today by Cricket Aus-tralia and broadcaster beIN media group.

This is the first time cricket will be show-cased on beIN sports and signals the entry of the beIN media group into broadcasting cricket for the first time.

The deal is the big-gest ever cricket board rights deal for the region and will bring the best of Australian and international cricket to a growing MENA audience over the next six years.

beIN has won the right to show the upcoming Magellan Ashes Test Series, with coverage start ing November 23.

beIN will screen pre-mium cricket clashes including South Africa’s 2018 tour of Australia, India’s 2018-19 tour of Australia, and both the KFC Big Bash League and Rebel Women’s Big Bash League – Australia’s men’s and women’s domestic T20 cricket leagues.

All games will be available in HD via sub-scription channels and online and with the recent launch of the beIN media group’s 4K chan-nel, cricket fans in MENA can look forward to watching selected games from their favourite sport in Ultra HD over the coming years.

The six-year deal will cover all international tests, one day and T20 cricket matches for the men’s and women’s Aus-tralian national team in its home country. beIN will broadcast cricket in more than 24 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Morocco.

Commenting on the award, Yousef Al Obaidly, Deputy CEO, beIN media group, said:

“It is important that we deliver on our promise to broadcast the very best global sports and events, and this is yet another sig-nificant milestone on this journey.”

“We are delighted that Cricket Australia has chosen to partner with beIN and we will guar-antee cricket fans across the region access to high quality cricket coverage,” he added.

The Peninsula

Football giants Al Rayyan yesterday overcame Umm Salal 1-0 after a battling contest to enter the semi-finals of

QSL Cup at Al Arabi Stadium. It was Al Rayyan’s fourth

consecutive win in the coveted tournament after Abderrazzaq Hamedallah struck the only goal of the match in the 80th minute.

In the 10th minute, star striker Rodrigo Tabata attempted a bicycle shot but Umm Salal goalkeeper Basel Zaidan tipped the ball over the crossbar. In the 13th minute, Umm Salal’s Rami Fayez launched a fierce left-footed shot but the ball was stopped by Al Rayyan goalkeeper Mubarak Al Khater.

In the 21st minute, Adil Rehali of Umm Salal was booked with a yellow for a reckless tackle on Tabata near his own box. Six minutes later, veteran Al Rayyan forward Sebastian Soria sneaked into the Umm Salal box but his clip from close range narrowly missed the far goalpost.

Eight minutes later, Umm Salal’s Mahir Yusuf Issa fired a bullet from outside the Al Rayayn box but goalkeeper Al Khater was alert to block the shot stand-ing on the goalline.

Soon after resumption of play, Umm Salal’s Mubarak Al Beraik got booked for a rough tackle on Mohsine Moutouali of Al Rayyan. After 65 minutes of play, Al Rayyan enjoyed 59 per-cent of ball possession against 41 by Umm Salal.

In the 80th minute, Hamedallah just about managed to flick one from close range fol-lowing a long ball from the

midfield. Two minutes later, Rehaili picked up his second yel-low of the match and was ordered off the pitch.

Al Arabi 5 beat Al Sadd 4Goal-hungry Al Arabi yester-

day won a nine-goal thriller against Al Sadd, ending their round 4 clash 5-4 at Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium.

The fans barely settled into their seats at Hamad Bin Khal-ifa Stadium when Al Arabi found the net in the second minute of the match with a quick-footed drive by Yousef Ahmed past Al Sadd goalkeeper.

Three minutes later, Doha

giants Al Sadd produced the equalizer through Hamroun Jugurtha with an easy shot past Al Arabi goalkeeper Mahmoud Zarayi.

In the 14th minute, Al Sadd took the lead for the first time in the match after a neat 1-2 between Yasser Abubaakar Essa and Rami Suhail Ali. Essa spot-ted Ali in the Al Arabi box and a neat ball towards the national U-19 team player proved to be a master stroke as latter easily deflected the ball into the net despite being marked by Abdul-lah Alawi.

Three minutes later, Al Arabi

converted an indirect corner kick into their second goal as Tarek Hamed Abdelmagid produced a deft left-footed drive that sailed above the head of Al Sadd goal-keeper Jehad Hudib.

Al Sadd surged into lead one more time as Hatem Kamal fired one in the 29th minute after an indirect free-kick. But four min-utes later, Al Arabi equalized through Yusuf Ahmed who flicked one from outside the Al Sadd box after picking up a lose ball.

Mohammed Atif gave Al Arabi the lead with a neat goal in the 71st minute. Hamroun equalised for

Al Sadd in the 76th minute with a spectacular direct free-kick. Min-utes later Al Arabi managed their fifth goal through Hamid Ismail (81) off a penalty kick.

Al Markhiya draw with Al Ahli 0-0

Experienced Al Ahli yester-day were held to a goalless draw by newcomers Al Markhiya in their round 4 clash of the QSL Cup at Al Wakrah Stadium.

yesterday’s draw was the second for Al Markhiya in Group C. For Al Ahli, it was their second draw as well.

After a goalless draw in the first half when both teams failed to construct meaningful moves, Al Makrkhiya nearly pulled off a goal in the 60th minute. Striker Abdulqadir Ilyas of Al Markhiya, lurking inside the Al Ahli box, failed to convert a relatively easy close-range opportunity.

After the game petered out to a goallesl draw, Al Makrkhiya dominated the stat-sheet, man-aging 7 corners against just three by Al Ahli. Al Markhiya were marginally better in ball posses-sion, tilting the scale at 51 percent.

Al Rayyan topple Al Ahli

Action from Qatar Men’s Basketball League game between Al Rayyan and Al Ahli at Al Gharafa Stadium yesterday. Al Rayyan won 97-81. Sherwood Brown (30 points), Phillip Rowers (26) and Mohammed Abdul Aziz (17) were the top three scorers for Al Rayyan. Nemanja Besovic (26 points) and Nenad Zivčević (24) were Al Ahli’s best players.

Al Rayyan players celebrate a goal against Umm Salal suring their QSL Cup match at Al Arabi Stadium yesterday.

Yesterday’s resultsAl Rayyan beat Umm Salal 1-0

Al Arabi 5 beat Al Sadd 4

Al Markhiya draw with Al Ahli 0-0

Today’s fixturesAl Gharafa vs Al Kharaitiyat at Al

Ahli Stadium, 16:05

Al Duhail vs Al Sailiya at

Al Wakrah Stadium, 18:15

Qatar SC vs Al Khor at

Al Shamal Stadium, 18:15

QSL CUP

Indian cueist Pankaj Advani clinched his 17th world

title in Doha yesterday.

Marquez joins greats with fourth MotoGP

world title

30 MONDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT

Jake Ball is available for Ashes openerTownsville

AFP

England seamer Jake Ball is expected to be fit and available for the first

Ashes Test against Australia later this month, coach Trevor Bayliss said yesterday.

Nottinghamshire’s Ball sprained his ankle while bowling in last week’s tour game against a Cricket Aus-tralia XI in Adelaide and is unlikely to play in Wednes-day’s next tour game in Townsville.

Bayliss said he does not expect Ball will be out of action for long and believes the quick could be in the run-ning for the Ashes series opener in Brisbane starting November 23.

“There could be a possi-bility he would be right for the next game but we will prob-ably let him go there and make sure he is right for selection for the first Test,” Bayliss told reporters in Townsville.

“At least he will be avail-able for the first Test. Whether we pick him or not, we have got to make that decision once we get closer.

“He should be right in that 7-10 day time frame, he’s fairly confident.”

England rolled the CA XI for 75 to wrap up an emphatic 192-run victory in the four-day warm-up game in Adelaide on Saturday.

“I thought we got our lengths a lot better in this game,” Bayliss said. “In Perth (against a Western Australian XI) we bowled a lot of half volleys and a lot of long hops.

“In this match we got the length a lot better and put pressure on the opposition. We will certainly have to do that during the Test series.”

James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes appear to be England’s front-line pace attack heading into the series but Ball and Craig Overton are pressing their claims.

Overton boosted his Test prospects by taking three for 15 in the CA XI second innings.

“It’s the first time I have seen him up close over a number of overs,” Bayliss said.

“He is not necessarily quick but he bowls a heavy ball and good lengths. He is consistent with that length, which you need at the top level.”

All-rounder Moeen Ali, who missed the Adelaide match because of a side injury, is expected to return for Wednesday’s four-day game against CA XI in Townsville.

Bayliss also played down doubts over former skipper Alistair Cook’s form.

“I’m sure he would have preferred to have scored a few, but a guy with that expe-rience has been through periods (like that) before,” he said.

Coach Bayliss feels England’s batting collapses not helpingMelbourne

Reuters

England coach Trevor Bayliss is concerned by his batsmen’s ten-dency to collapse and says starts will need

to be converted into centuries if the touring side are to win the Ashes series against Australia.

England’s batsmen are yet to score a hundred in their first two warm-up games since arriving in Australia but cruised to a 192-run win over a weak Cricket Australia XI in a tour match in Adelaide.

Yet in a worrying sign for England, the match also wit-nessed the Ashes holders lose four wickets for three runs and seven wickets for 47 during the second innings.

“Sixties aren’t enough,” Bayliss said yesterday. “We need 160s. “Batting collapses have been a concern for us for a little while. We have games like that, where we lose wick-ets like that, and it is a concern.

“The batsmen realise they have got to do better and they are working hard to do that.”

England’s batsmen will have another opportunity to get some big runs under their belt in the final warm-up match against a Cricket Australia XI in Townsville, in far northern Queensland state, from Wednesday before the first Test in Brisbane’s Gabba from Nov. 23.

“By all accounts the wicket in Townsville is a pretty good one. It’s quite flat,” Australian Bayliss said. “Hopefully that will help our batters make some big scores. Not just spend time in the middle, but make 100s. That’s definitely what we will need throughout this test series.

“It would be great if we could have some hundreds, that’s for sure. Obviously once

the Test series comes around, the intensity of that competi-tion, hopefully that really kicks our batters into gear.”

Former captain Alastair Cook’s lean tour has continued with scores of 15 and 32 in Adelaide after a duck in Perth in the first warm-up match.

“I don’t have too many con-cerns about Cooky at the top of the order. It’s probably fair to say he always looks a bit rusty. He’d be the first to admit that,” the 54-year-old said.

“He would like to be scor-ing a few more runs, but he’s played almost 150 Tests, I’m sure he’s been through this before. He’s hitting plenty in the middle of the bat in the nets.”

Bayliss was encouraged by the form showed by England’s bowlers in the four-day game and said he expected paceman Jake Ball, who suffered an ankle ligament strain during the Adelaide match, to be avail-able for selection in the opening test.

“He should be fine in seven to 10 days,” Bayliss said.

Bayliss said he encouraged by the improvement shown by the bowlers in Adelaide.

While he seems bemused by the apparent epidemic of injuries to bowling options - he admitted that Mark Wood, Tom Helm and Liam Plunkett might all have been selected ahead of George Garton as cover in Townsville - he was optimistic about Jake Ball’s recovery and impressed by Craig Overton.

“We got our lengths a lot better here,” Bayliss said. “In Perth, we bowled a lot of half-volleys and a lot of long-hops. In this match we got the lengths better and put pressure on the opposition. This is the first time I’ve seen Craig up close over a long period of overs. He’s not necessarily quick but he bowls a heavy ball and good lengths. And he’s consistent with that.

“Jake is fairly confident. It

is possible he could be fit for the game in Townsville but we will probably rest him there and make sure that he is right for selection for that first Test. He should be fine in seven to 10 days.

“Why did we call-up George Garton? Because he’s fit. Wood and Helm were our first two choices. They are coming out with the Lions but aren’t quite up to game speed. They have only been bowling in the nets for a week or two so we were a bit concerned about

Warner to Renshaw: Avoid newspapers !Melbourne

Reuters

Australia vice captain David Warner has urged his under-pressure opening partner Matt Renshaw to

avoid reading newspapers this week and score some runs in the Sheffield Shield ahead of the opening test of the Ashes.

The 21-year-old Renshaw has aver-aged 36.64 from his 10 Tests in a positive start to his international career but has had a tough Shield campaign for Queens-land, failing to surpass 20 runs in his four innings.

Neither coach Darren Lehmann nor any of Australia’s other selectors have queried the youngster’s spot in the Test side but his poor run of form has attracted

plenty of scrutiny from local media in the leadup to the Gabba Test starting Novem-ber 23.

Warner will be on the opposite side when Renshaw pads up against New South Wales at Brisbane’s Adelaide Bor-der field from tomorrow but wished the opener well.

“I want him to score runs this week. He’s been under a bit of pressure this week, there’s been a bit of talk in the media,” Warner told local media yesterday.

“You have to keep putting the num-bers on the board.

“As a youngster I would be steering clear of newspapers this week.”

Renshaw’s task has been made eas-ier, with New South Wales resting their

trio of Test bowlers, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, who were superb in defeating Western Australia in the previous round.

Renshaw enjoyed a fine home sum-mer against South Africa and Pakistan, but since stroking 60 against India in Ben-galuru in March, he has not scored a half-century in nine test innings.

“I want him to do well. I am a mate of his and wish him success,” Warner said. “He’s got to keep playing well.

“When I see that at the other end it brings a spark to my eye because you know your partner is on as well.”

Halfway across the country, England’s crushing 192-run win over a weak Cricket Australia XI in the tour match in Adelaide came with a warning from former test

paceman Ryan Harris. “I think it is (vul-nerable), especially with no Ben Stokes,” Harris, who coached the home side, said about the tourists’ batting.

England’s bowlers performed well in the four-day game but former captain Alastair Cook’s lean tour continued with scores of 15 and 32.

“I think (Cook) looked a bit rusty, I guess,” added Harris.

“I’m sure he’ll look forward to another hit next week. But we all know what he can do.

“You don’t score over 10,000 runs and not be any good.”

England play their final warmup match against a Cricket Australia XI in Townsville, in far northern Queensland state, from Wednesday.

Peshawar Zalmi owner Javed Afridi (second left) is seen with franchise President and former Test captain and batting star Zaheer Abbas during a club ceremony. Retired batting star Younis Khan (right) and Mohammed Akram, both linked with Zalmi, are also seen.

Karachi in line to stage PSL finalKarachi

Agencies

Karachi is in line to host the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final next year in

what would be the city’s high-est-profile game in nearly a decade.

PCB chairman Najam Sethi revealed at the league’s draft in Lahore, that they have “made a commitment” to hold it in Kara-chi. If it does happen, it would be the second year in a row the

final of the league is held in Pakistan - the second season final was held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in March this year.

“We have made a commit-ment to try our best to have it in Karachi,” Sethi said. If that sounds a little less than a firm commitment, it is mostly because the National Stadium in Karachi, one of Pakistan’s oldest and most established ven-ues, is currently undergoing extensive renovation work that

has been direly needed for some time now,” Sethi said.

There has been talk that the stadium may not be ready in time, though Sethi felt reason-ably confident. “As we speak, the National Logistics Cell (a gov-ernment body involved in the renovation) is working over-time,” Sethi said.

“I talked to the [official] in charge and he has promised me that he will get Karachi stadium ready to host the final in March,” the PCB chairman said.

Daniel Fallins of Cricket Australia XI loses his balance

after being hit on thehelmet by a delivery

from England’sCraig Overton.

RIGHT: England’sfast bowler Overtonwears a poppy for

Remembrance Day inAdelaide.

31MONDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2017 SPORT

Five-star Spain thrash Costa Rica in friendly

Málaga

AFP

Spain’s stunning form under coach Julen Lopetegui continued as David Silva scored twice in a 5-0 friendly

thrashing of Costa Rica in Malaga on Saturday.

Andres Iniesta, Jordi Alba and Alvaro Morata also netted in a one-sided display from the 2010 world champions.

The only negative for Spain was the sight of local hero Isco being asked to be substituted after being hit with a tough tackle from Costa Rica defender Kendall Waston, who was immediately hauled off after being booked for the challenge.

The Real Madrid

midfielder, who is from Malaga and spent two impres-sive seasons playing at La Rosaleda before moving to Madrid, was given a standing ovation as he left the pitch.

Lopetegui opted to rest Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea, instead hand-ing a first team debut to Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, but other-wise played a familiar-looking team to the side that swept to the top of their World Cup qualifying group.

Silva, Isco and Iniesta combined to stunning effect throughout the game, with the Manchester City midfielder laying on the pass for his former Valencia teammate Alba to thrash past Costa Rica’s stand-in goalkeeper Danny Carvajal in the sixth minute.

Carvajal was deputising for the injured Real Madrid goalkeeper Keylor Navas and had a torrid night.

He spilled a Silva shot into the path of Morata for Spain’s second midway through the first half. Silva’s tidy finish from a narrow angle made it 3-0 early in the second half, before shots from distance by Iniesta and Silva again sealed the rout.

Spain next travel to World Cup hosts Russia tomorrow.

David Silva scored twice while Andres

Iniesta, Jordi Alba and Alvaro Morata

also netted in a one-sided display from

the 2010 world champions

The only negative for Spain was the

sight of local hero Isco being asked to be

substituted after being hit with a tough

tackle from Costa Rica defender Kendall

Waston

MALAGA DRUBBING

Spain’s midfielder David Silva (right) celebrates with defender Alvaro Odriozola after scoring during their international friendly against Costa Rica at La Rosaleda Stadium in Malaga on Saturday.

Neymar not immune to criticism: Mbappe Paris

AFP

Kylian Mbappe insisted his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Neymar (pic-

tured) is “human like everyone else” after the Brazilian was reduced to tears on Friday by the controversy that has followed him since his arrival from Barcelona.

A tearful Neymar pleaded with the media to stop the “false stories” about his alleged frosty relations with PSG coach Unai Emery and fellow striker Edin-son Cavani following Brazil’s 3-1 international friendly win over Japan in Lille.

The 25-year-old said he was

“hurt” by the issue, before add-ing that he was “really happy” in P a r i s f o l -low-i n g h i s

world-record 222-million-euro ($264m) transfer in August. Mbappe, Neymar and Cavani

have linked up to d e v a s t a t i n g

effect this season, with the trio combining to score 24 g o a l s

through PSG’s first 12 league

matches.B u t

Mbappe c o n -ceded N e y -m a r

was just

as susceptible to criticism as anyone else.

“It just simply proves that he’s human like everyone else. He’s like us, he has two arms, two legs, a heart, so he can be affected by the criticism he is subjected to,” Mbappe told French television channel TF1 yesterday.

“From the outside he gives off a certain image, he doesn’t appear to be affected... But when you’re on the inside, he opens himself up to you, he shows he’s a normal person.

“He’s incredibly strong on the pitch that you think he’s just as strong off it, but away from it he remains a normal guy,” he added.

ing that he wwawwww s really happy” in P a r i s f o l -low-i n gh i s

($264m) transfer in AuguMbappe, Neymar and Cava

have linked upd e v a s t a t i n

effect thseason, wthe trcombinito score g o a l

through PSGfirst 12 leag

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Mbapc o ncedN e ym a

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Morocco, Tunisia take different paths to Cup Johannesburg

AFP

North African nations Morocco and Tunisia took contrasting routes on Sat-

urday as they qualified for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Morocco scored twice within five minutes through Nabil Dirar and Medhi Benatia during the opening half to triumph 2-0 in the Ivory Coast and win Group C.

The “Atlas Lions” are going back to the tournament for the first time since 1998 after finish-ing with 12 points, having not conceded a goal during the six-match group campaign.

Ivory Coast, who never looked like recovering from the first-half blows, came second with eight points followed by Gabon with six and Mali with four.

Morocco coach Herve Renard revealed after the match that Moroccan King Mohammed VI had called to congratulate the team.

“I thank His Majesty for

calling me. It’s a huge honour,” said the Frenchman.

“He wanted to talk to us to pay tribute to everyone. Tonight we are proud of the Moroccan shirt, proud that the Moroccan flag returns to the World Cup. This is the fifth qualification so Morocco is not a small (football) country.”

Tunisia could not break down neighbours Libya in Rades on the outskirts of Tunis and had to settle for a 0-0 draw that was just enough to see them first over the finishing line.

With second-place Demo-cratic Republic of Congo netting twice in stoppage time to defeat Guinea 3-1 in Kinshasa, only one point separated the top two.

Unbeaten Tunisia collected 14 points to book a first World Cup appearance since 2006, DR Congo had 13, Libya four and Guinea three.

Senegal sealed a place in Russia on Friday by winning 2-0 in South Africa and the other two African qualifiers, Nigeria and Egypt, secured slots last month.

Ivory Coast had the first chance at a packed 35,000-seat Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny but veteran Gervinho blazed over with only the goalkeeper to beat from inside the box.

It was to prove a costly miss for the home side, who had to win after beginning the match one point behind a Moroccan team coached by former Ivorian handler, Frenchman Herve

Renard. The first blow came when an intended cross from Dirar went over an Ivorian defender and a Moroccan attacker and slipped past goal-keeper Sylvain Gbohouo into the far corner.

Rattled Ivory Coast fell fur-ther behind as they failed to cut off a corner and Juventus defender Benatia struck a first-time shot into the net.

Belgian coach Marc Wilmots tried to revive the lacklustre Ivo-rians by introducing Ghislain Konan at half-time and Maxwel Cornet and veteran Salomon Kalou during the second half.

But Morocco comfortably contained the hosts in a match that threatened to boil over at times with Dirar and Crystal Pal-ace flyer Wilfried Zaha wrestling each other to the ground.

Tunisia dominated posses-sion at the Stade Olympique, but unpredictable Libya defended resolutely, creating an increas-ingly tense atmosphere.

Had Tunisia lost, they would have ceded top place to DR Congo, who finished strongly to overcome Guinea 3-1 at the Stade des Martyrs.

Guinean Ousmane Sidibe con-ceded an own-goal after 61 minutes and Keita Junior levelled just three minutes after coming off the bench. Jonathan Bolingi put the Congolese Lions ahead again two minutes into additional time and Neeskens Kebano added a third goal almost immediately.

Ivory Coast’s Wilfried Zaha (left) vies with

Morocco’s Nabil Dirar

during their FIFA World Cup 2018 Group C

qualifying match in

Abidjan on Saturday.

England call up 3 more youngstersLondon

Reuters

England coach Gareth Southgate has called up three

more youngsters for the team’s home friendly a g a i n s t B r a z i l tomorrow.

Southgate, who gave five players their inter-national first-team debuts against Germany on Friday, has added goalkeeper Angus Gunn, defender Lewis Cook and striker Dominic Solanke to the squad for Wem-bley encounter.

All three were in action on Friday for Eng-land’s under-21 side in Ukraine -- and the latter two featured in the under-20s’ World Cup-winning campaign earlier this year.

World Cup play-off: Ireland hold Denmark to first-leg stalemate Copenhagen

AFP

The Republic of Ireland and Denmark played out a drab 0-0 draw in the first

leg of their World Cup play-off in Copenhagen on Saturday.

The closest either side came to a goal was when Pione Sisto fired wide in the first half for the hosts, while Yussuf Poulsen saw a 90th-minute header saved by Darren Randolph.

Both sides will be satisfied with the result, as Martin O’Neill’s Irish now know vic-tory in Dublin on Tuesday would secure a first World Cup appearance since 2002, but an away goal for the Danes could prove decisive after this clean sheet.

“A draw has always got to be seen as a positive result. Although we could have done with scoring an away goal,” Ire-land midfielder Harry Arter told Sky Sports.

“It (the World Cup) feels a bit closer than it did before the game. If before the campaign, we’d have been offered a one-off game against Denmark to qualify for the World Cup, we’d have bitten off your hands for it.”

Denmark coach Age Hareide left striker Nicklas Bendtner on the bench in favour of Feyenoord’s Nicolai Jorgensen.

Irish manager O’Neill made just one change from the team that beat Wales 1-0 to snatch second place in qualifying

Group D last month, bringing in Bristol City midfielder Cal-lum O’Dowda to replace the suspended David Meyler.

The hosts started strongly and could have taken the lead in the 11th minute when Ran-dolph saved Danish left-back Jens Larsen’s volley, before quickly getting back to his feet to hold onto Andreas Cornelius’ follow-up effort.

Sloppy defending from Ire-land skipper Ciaran Clark gave the ball straight to Christian Eriksen and West Ham United keeper Randolph could only palm the midfielder’s effort back into the middle, but Sisto fired the rebound wide with the goal gaping.

But the visitors grew into the game as the first half wore on and Cyrus Christie was denied by the onrushing Kasper Schmeichel after bursting into the area with an enterprising run from full-back.

Ireland continued to sit deep and frustrate Denmark, who finished second to Poland in Group E, after the break.

Hareide threw on former Arsenal man Bendtner with less than 20 minutes to go as the home side went in search of a lead to take to Lansdowne Road.

The Danes had a late rally, with RB Leipzig forward Poulsen drawing a save from Randolph after climbing above the away defence to power a header towards goal, but Ire-land held on.

Denmark’s Peter Ankersen (foreground) in action with Republic of Ireland’s James during their World Cup play-off in Copenhagen on Saturday.

32 MONDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT 33MONDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2017 SPORT

Cool Chung stuns Rublev to claim Next Gen trophy Milan

AFP

South Korea’s Hyeon Chung kept his cool to upset top-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev and claim his first title at the Next Gen ATP finals in Milan on

Saturday.The bespectacled 21-year-old ral-

lied from a set down to see off Rublev, the world number 37 who reached the US Open quarter-finals this year, 3-4 (5/7), 4-3 (7/2), 4-2, 4-2 in just under two hours.

Chung, ranked 54, sealed victory on his third match point after Rublev had saved two at 3-1 down in the fourth set of the final at the season-ending, eight-player tournament.

“After losing the first set, and down one break in the second, I was really nervous, really angry, but I tried to have a poker face,” said Chung.

“I’m trying to create an image of being really strong mentally and I start-ing playing better and better,” he said.

The former student of the Nick Bol-lettieri Tennis Academy in Florida -- who turned to a mental coach to help

him deal with the pressure of tennis -- received $390,000 dollars (335,000 euros) but no world ranking points for winning the under-21 tournament.

Chung revealed that his mind train-ing had helped him in Milan, just days after he had suffered a first-round exit in Paris to Rafael Nadal.

“The coach says all the time, first try to stay calm and in control, to have a chance to play better and better.”

It was Chung’s third victory over Rublev. He beat the Russian earlier in the week and also at Winston-Salem on the ATP Tour in August.

The Russian said he had let his emo-tions take control.

“I was playing much better than him. I was dictating the match, and then just because I let my emotion out and everything changed, because Chung, he was always there,” said Rublev.

“He was always focused. He was always in the match.

“No matter if something goes wrong, he was still fighting. And me, from a little thing, I just lose my control and that’s it. I just lost because of my head.

“Mentally he’s really strong.”The sixth-seeded Chung won all

three matches in group play, including a straight-sets win over Rublev, and defeated Russian Daniil Medvedev in the semi-finals.

The momentum swung his way in the third set as Rublev’s frustration broke through at his inability to wear down Chung.

He becomes the first South Korean to lift an ATP World Tour singles tro-phy since Lee Hyung-Taik won in 2003 at Sydney.

Medvedev took third place after Croatia’s Borna Coric pulled out injured from a play-off.

The ATP used the inaugural tour-nament to test a number of innovations with the promising young players of the season competing in the round-robin format with the first to four games in each set winning -- a tie-break is used when the scores reach 3-3.

Changes also included no line judges with all calls made using Hawk-Eye Live, no lets, sudden-death points at deuce and a shot clock to ensure a 25-second rule between points to keep play ticking along briskly.

After losing the first

set, and down one

break in the second, I

was really nervous,

really angry, but I tried

to have a poker face.

I’m trying to create an

image of being really

strong mentally and I

starting playing better

and better: Hyeon

Chung

Hyeon Chung from South Korea and Andrey Rublev (right) from Russia pose after the final of Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan on Saturday.

Hyeon Chung from South Korea celebrates his victory in the final of Next Generation in Milan

on Saturday.

Mighty Federer back in the groove at Tour Finals London

AFP

Roger Federer made a strong start to his bid to cap his golden year with a seventh ATP Tour Finals title as the Swiss star

defeated Jack Sock 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) yesterday.Four months after winning Wimbledon for

a record eighth time just a few miles across London, Federer is back in the English capital aiming to cap a remarkably successful spell by lifting the silverware at the O2 Arena.

When Federer missed last year’s Tour Finals through injury, it seemed possible he would never recapture his former glories.

He came into 2017 having missed half of last season due to fitness problems and was without a Grand Slam title since 2012.

But the 36-year-old has enjoyed a stun-ning renaissance, winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon among seven titles -- more than other male player over the last 11 months.

Federer hasn’t triumphed at the season-ending Tour Finals since 2011.

But after seeing off Sock in his group opener, the world number two has now won his last 11 matches.

That dominant streak has already earned him titles in Shanghai and Basel, and he hopes to maintain that hot streak all the way to the Tour Finals crown next weekend.

With defending champion Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka all absent from the Tour Finals due to injury, Federer and Rafael Nadal are the unquestioned headline acts.

Having won the French and US Opens this year, Nadal has matched Federer’s unexpect-edly dominant run as the old rivals hoovered up all four of this year’s Grand Slam crowns.

Nadal is already guaranteed to finish as the year-end world number one for the first time

since 2013, making the 31-year-old the oldest man to earn that honour. But Nadal’s hopes of finally winning the Tour Finals for the first time could be hampered by injury.

Nadal, twice a Tour Finals runner-up, is due to open his campaign against David

Goffin on Monday, however the Spaniard admits he is still struggling with the knee prob-lem that forced him to pull out of the recent Paris Masters.

While Nadal fretted over his fitness, Fed-erer was back in the groove against Sock, who had grabbed the last Tour Finals berth by win-ning his first Masters title in Paris earlier this month. Even the 25-year-old, yet to make it past the last 16 at any Grand Slam, was caught off guard by his climb to a career-high ninth in the rankings.

He was forced to cancel a scheduled round of golf at Augusta as he instead prepared to face Federer.

A relaxing stroll around that famous course might have seem preferable to facing Federer, who hadn’t lost a set in their three previous meetings and quickly took charge with a break in the first game.

That was all the advantage Federer needed as the 19-time Grand Slam champion swept through the first set with 10 winners and four aces.

Federer didn’t have it so easy as Sock found some rhythm in the second set, but the Swiss held his nerve to take it in a tie-break.

Fans hoping for some young blood to chal-lenge Federer and Nadal will get a glimpse of a potential future star when Germany’s Alex-ander Zverev makes his tournament debut against Croatia’s Marin Cilic later on Sunday.

Zverev is the youngest Tour Finals quali-fier since Juan Martin del Potro in 2008, the towering 6ft 6in 20-year-old having under-lined his emergence with five titles this year.

The US team celebrates after Coco Vandeweghe (foreground) defeated Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during their Fed Cup

final in Minsk, Belarus yesterday.

Fed Cup final: Sasnovich wins to force decider Minsk

AFP

Aliaksandra Sasnovich battled back from a set down to force the deciding fifth rubber in yesterday’s Fed Cup final with a victory over Sloane Stephens of USA to draw Belarus level at 2-2.

Earlier yesterday CoCo Vandeweghe put USA 2-1 up beating the Belarus teenager Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/5), 6-1.

Sasnovich, 87th in the world, prevailed 4-5, 6-1, 8-6 in two hours six minutes to chalk up her second win over Stephens, who has lost every match since winning the US Open title in September, in as many meetings.

“It was one of the most tense matches in my life,” Sasnovich said. “I gave everything I have for the win, the god of tennis was on my

side today. The support of the crowd helped me to stay concentrated throughout the game. It was a fantastic match.”

Both players produced a catalogue of unforced errors in the open-ing set but the 24-year-old Stephens broke her rival’s serve to lead 1-0 after 42 minutes. But in the second Stephens, ranked 13th in the world, suddenly ran out of gas allowing Sasnovich to break twice to level at one set all after one hour 10 minutes on court.

In the deciding set the rivals traded breaks twice before Sasnov-ich, 23, produced the deciding break in the 13th game minutes before she took the set and the match.

In yesterday’s early match Sabalenka and Vandeweghe both played with confidence from the start on the hard-court at the packed Minsk Chizhovka 8,000-seat arena, holding their serves until the 11th game when Vandeweghe broke.

But Sabalenka broke back immediately under the watchful gaze of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko to force a tiebreak, which the 25-year-old American won to take a one-set lead after 50 min-utes on court.

In the second Sabalenka, who is 78th in the world, suddenly lost her nerve allowing Vandeweghe to break twice for a commanding 5-0 lead minutes before she took the set and the match sealing her victory with an accurate backhand.

“I knew if I just kept giving myself opportunities and getting my nose in front in her service games, I’d keep getting opportunities and she’d eventually break down,” Vandeweghe said.

“She did what she’s supposed to do and did what I expected her to do - just swing and pray for it to go in and she did. So you just got to recover and keep fighting.

“And then it showed in the second set, she withered when I kept the pressure on her, and then I just closed it out.”

On the opening day Vandeweghe put USA into the lead with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, while Sabalenka beat Stephens 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to pull the scores level at 1-1.

Federer and Nadal urge caution over rule changes London

AFP

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal said they welcome innovation in tennis but

warned the game’s administra-tors not to tamper too much with the current format.

A series of rule changes and innovations were trialled at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, featuring the world’s top 21-and-under singles players.

They are aimed at creating a high-tempo, TV-friendly prod-uct geared towards attracting new and younger fans.

Rule changes include a shorter format with first-to-four-games sets (tie-break at 3-3), a shorter warm-up, a 25-second shot clock used between points, no line judges, player coaching and no doubles lines on the court.

Federer, in London for the ATP Finals, said he had enjoyed watching the matches on TV but urged caution.

“We need to think, take seri-ously all these rule changes if ever you’re going to do it because once you do it you don’t want to bounce back and forth with changing something and then you don’t like it later on,” said the Swiss world number two.

“I don’t see that much wrong with our Tour right now that it needs that much fixing, espe-cially the shorter sets. I know it can be somewhat intriguing but at the same time the longer sets allow you to stretch a lead, it’s more comfortable at times.

“You can try different things. You can work on stuff, whereas if every point counts so much... there’s no room for anything any more. There are positives and negatives to it but I don’t want to see anything change on the Tour that much to be honest.”

Top-ranked Nadal, bidding to win the ATP Finals for the first time, said it was good to try new things.

“There are a couple of things that I like and a couple of things I don’t like but nothing is perfect. We are in a sport where we have a big tradition -- not many

changes have been made in all of its history.”

The Spaniard used the exam-ple of net height, which has stayed the same despite taller players in the modern era.

But the 16-time Grand Slam champion, who looks likely to play in London despite an injury scare, said he was happy with how things are.

“If you asked me ‘do you want changes?’ I will say ‘no’,” he said.

“I am number one in the world, I have achieved a lot of things but if the game needs something to be more attractive for the fans, that’s the way that the game will move forward.”

“It’s not my job,” he added. “The people who run the sport have to look around and take the right decisions to make our sport even more interesting than it is today. I’m happy with how it is but maybe in the future you need to do something.”

Spain’s World No.1 Rafael Nadal during practice ahead of the ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 Arena in London on Saturday.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich of

Belarus reacts after defeating

Sloane Stephens of the US yesterday.

Poutchek honoured with Award of Excellence

Minsk

Agencies

Belarusian tennis star Tatiana Poutchek yesterday was pre-sented with the Fed Cup Award of Excellence by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Hall of Fame (ITHF) at the 2017 Fed Cup Final in Minsk.

Poutchek competed in 45 Fed Cup by BNP Paribas ties for Belarus. She was a key competitor for the nation every year between 1997 and 2011, compiling a record of 28-7 in doubles and 9-8 in singles. She has competed in more ties representing Belarus than any other player and holds the record for most total wins for Belarus and most doubles wins. She was also a member of the Belarusian Olympic team in 2008.

The award was presented on court ahead of the second day of play at the 2017 Final at Minsk’s Chizhovka Arena by ITF President David Haggerty and 2010 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee and Australian tennis star Mark Woodforde, who represented the Hall of Fame.

As a competitor on the WTA Tour, Poutchek was one of Belarus’ most accomplished players. She attained a career high singles rank-ing of world No. 55 and a doubles ranking of world No. 25, winning 8 doubles titles.

Poutchek has stayed highly engaged in Belarusian tennis since ending her playing career. She served as captain of the Belarus Fed Cup team from 2012-15, leading the team to win 10 out of 14 ties in that time, a run which propelled the team into World Group compe-tition. Poutchek is currently the head of women’s tennis for the Belarus Tennis Federation.

“I am extremely honoured to have represented my country in Fed Cup, first as a player and then as captain,” Poutchek said. “To there-fore win this award means so much to me, particularly when the world is taking notice of Belarus tennis. We have a great opportunity to grow this amazing sport in our country and I will continue to help do that however I can.”

Tatiana Poutchek (centre) receiving the award yesterday.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer returns to Jack Sock of the US during their men’s singles tennis match on Day One of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, yesterday.

Nadal gets World No.1 trophy

Spain’s Rafael Nadal poses with his ATP

World Tour No. 1 trophy which he received during

the opening day of the ATP

World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London

yesterday.

34 MONDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT

35MONDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2017 SPORT

Warriors force their way past SixersLos Angeles

AFP

The Golden State War-riors delivered a message on Saturday that the defending league champs are

back on form with a dominating 135-114 victory over the Phila-delphia 76ers.

Philadelphia had won five of its last six, but found itself hope-lessly outgunned in the second half against the Warriors, who extended their winning streak to six games.

All six wins have been by 17 or more points, the longest such streak in franchise history.

Forward Kevin Durant returned from a one game absence to lead all scorers with 29 points. Klay Thompson had 23 and Stephen Curry 22 for the Warriors, who shot 58.5 percent from the field. Durant sat out

Wednesday’s game against Min-nesota with a sore left thigh.

J.J. Redick finished with 17 points, French guard Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot came off the bench to score 15 and forward Dario Saric added 14 for the 76ers.

The 76ers have now lost nine straight against Golden State.

They had a chance to take a lead at the end of the second quarter, but Kevon Looney blocked Ben Simmons under-neath the rim. Looney got the ball which led to a three-pointer from Thompson to put Golden State up 65-64 at the half.

The Warriors had a scare in the first 24 minutes when they lost Curry for a few minutes after Simmons’ knee banged into Cur-ry’s right thigh.

Curry headed to the locker room after a few seconds but was only gone a brief time. Once back, he wasted no time getting

on the scoresheet again. Else-where, Bradley Beal and Markieff Morris combined for 37 points as the Washington Wizards defeated the Atlanta Hawks 113-94.

Beal tallied 19 points and Morris 18 as the Wizards improved to 7-5 on the NBA season.

Kelly Oubre also had 18 points for the Wizards, who won back-to-back games for the first time since opening the season 3-0.

Morris said he is

now looking forward to the next couple of weeks when they face teams like Toronto and Miami that are higher in the standings.

“Not to take credit away from the (Los Angeles) Lakers and the Hawks, but they’re not the best offensive teams. Once we get to those good teams, then we’ll be able to measure what we have,” Morris said.

Washington shot 53.8 per-cent from the floor and led by as many as 25 points in the first meeting with Atlanta since win-ning last season’s first-round playoff series.

Washington’s defence kept the Hawks’ at bay. Atlanta shot 41 percent from the field and had 24 turnovers, resulting in 39 points for the Wizards.

Taurean Prince scored 19 points and Marco Belinelli 15 for the Hawks, who dropped their third game in a row and second

in as many days. Dennis Schro-der, who was superb against Washington in the playoffs, missed all eight of his field goal attempts in the first half Satur-day and finished with seven points on two-of-16 shooting.

“It wasn’t my night,” said Schroder.

John Wall skipped the team’s morning practice due to illness, but dressed for the game and scored 10 points in the first half as Washington led 49-42.

In Houston, James Harden scored 38 points as the Houston Rockets beat the Memphis Griz-zlies 111-96.

Harden made 11 of 25 shots, including six three-pointers. Eric Gordon also hit six three-point-ers and added 26 points for the Rockets.

Reserve Tyreke Evans led the Grizzlies with 22 points. Marc Gasol added 15 while Mike Conley was held to 12 points.

NFL: Hurricanes extend winning streak to 14 gamesMiami Gardens

AP

Miami is getting cham-pionship rings when this season is over.

Maybe, just maybe, the biggest kind.

The Hurricanes sent two very clear messages to the College Football Playoff com-mittee Saturday night — that they’re worthy of being a national title contender and that Notre Dame is not. Travis Homer ran for 146 yards, Deejay Dallas had a pair of touchdown runs and No. 7 Miami dominated No. 3 Notre Dame 41-8 to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 14 games.

“I never would have pre-dicted what happened,” Miami coach Mark Richt said of the rout. “But it happened.”

Malik Rosier threw for a touchdown and ran for another for the Hurricanes (9-0, No. 7 CFP), who forced four turnovers for the fourth consecutive week and handed the Irish their sec-ond-worst loss in the history of the Miami-Notre Dame series.

Only the 58-7 Miami romp in 1985 was more decisive.

“We didn’t see this com-ing,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. “Obviously, we felt we were prepared to play at a high level. We did not.”

And it came on the day that Miami clinched its first trip to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game. The Hurricanes wrapped up the Coastal Division title about an hour before kickoff when Virgin-ia’s loss to Louisville went final, giving Miami a berth against Clemson in the ACC title matchup on December 2 at Charlotte.

“It’s a tremendous win,” linebacker Shaquille Quarter-man said. “It’s a tremendous moment.”

Alize Mack caught a 14-yard pass from Brandon Wimbush for the lone touch-down for Notre Dame (8-2, No. 3 CFP), which hadn’t played a road game against the Hurricanes since 1989.

“We are back,” former Florida governor and Miami fan Jeb Bush tweeted during the game.

The swagger sure seems like it’s back.

Ottawa top Colorado to sweep Sweden gamesStockholm

AP

Mike Hoffman scored two goals to help the Ottawa Senators beat the Colo-

rado Avalanche 4-3 on Saturday for a sweep of their two regular-season games in Sweden.

Mark Stone and Johnny Oduya also scored for Ottawa, which trailed 3-2 after two peri-ods. Defenseman Erik Karlsson had two assists, giving the cap-tain 17 points in 11 games this season.

Oduya, a Stockholm native, drove a slap shot by Jonathan Bernier at 7:01 of the third, tying it at 3 and delighting the crowd of more than 13,000. Hoffman got the game-winning goal on a one-timer on a power play with 6:37 left.

Alexander Kerfoot and Sven Andrighetto each had a goal and an assist for the Avalanche, who have dropped three in a row.

Bernier finished with 36 saves.The two games in Stockholm

were part of the 2017 NHL Glo-bal Series. It was the fifth time the NHL has played regular-sea-son games in Europe, but the first since 2011.

The Senators beat the Ava-lanche 4-3 in overtime in the opener on Friday.

In Philadelphia, Jason Zucker scored his sixth goal in three games and Devan Dubnyk

made 32 saves for his second straight shutout, leading Minne-sota to the victory.

Zucker has scored Minneso-ta’s last six goals, extending his team record when he banked in a rebound off Brian Elliott 1:06 into the third period.

Dubnyk kept Minnesota in the game with several strong saves through two scoreless periods and then withstood Phil-adelphia’s late charge with an extra skater as the Wild finished a 2-2 trip.

Elliott stopped 26 shots, and the Flyers were blanked for the fourth time this season.

In New York, Rick Nash scored twice, leading New York to its season-high sixth straight win. Pavel Buchnevich also scored for the Rangers, and Michael Grabner added an empty-netter with 1.4 seconds remaining. Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves, and Mats Zuc-carello picked up two assists.

Connor McDavid and Jesse Puljujarvi scored for the Oilers, who lost to the Rangers for the fourth consecutive time. Cam Talbot made 30 saves.

In Nashville, Filip Forsberg scored the shootout winner to lift Nashville past Pittsburgh in a rematch of the Stanley Cup Final. The Predators won for the fourth straight game and handed Pittsburgh its fourth loss in five games.

Kyle Turris had a goal and an assist in his Predators debut, after arriving from Ottawa in a three-way trade earlier in the week. Forsberg and Kevin Fiala scored for the Predators in the shootout, with Sidney Crosby scoring Pittsburgh’s lone shoot-out goal.

PK Subban, Craig Smith and Calle Jarnkrok also scored in regulation for Nashville. Bryan Rust, Phil Kessel, Jake Guentzel and Brian Dumoulin countered for Pittsburgh.

Winnipeg Jets right wing Patrik Laine (29) skates the puck against Arizona Coyotes right wing Christian Fischer (36) during the third period at Gila River Arena on Saturday.

Denver 125 Orlando 107

Phoenix 118 Minnesota 110

Cleveland 111 Dallas 104

Milwaukee 98 LA Lakers 90

San Antonio 133 Chicago 94

Golden State 135 Philadelphia 114

NY Knicks 118 Sacramento 91

Houston 111 Memphis 96

Washington 113 Atlanta 94

New Orleans 111 LA Clippers 103

NBA RESULTS

Outgunned

Philadelphia found

itself hopelessly

outgunned in second

half against Warriors,

who extended their

winning streak

to six games.

Golden State Warriors forward David West (3) passes the basketball against Minnesota Timberwolves guard Tyus Jones (1) and forward Nemanja Bjelica (8) during the second quarter at Oracle Arena on Saturday.

San Jose 5 Vancouver 0

Winnipeg 4 Arizona 1

NY Islanders 5 St Louis 2

Nashville 5 Pittsburgh 4

Toronto 4 Boston 1

Montreal 2 Buffalo 1

Columbus 2 Detroit 1

New Jersey 2 Florida 1

Minnesota 1 Philadelphia 0

Chicago 4 Carolina 3

Ottawa 4 Colorado 3

NY Rangers 4 Edmonton 2

NHL RESULTS

36 MONDAY 13 NOVEMBER 2017SPORT

Marquez joins greats with fourth MotoGP world title

Results from the Valencia motorcycling Grand Prix yesterday:MotoGP

1. Dani Pedrosa (ESP/Honda) 46min 08.125sec, 2. Johann Zarco (FRA/

Yamaha Tech3) at 0.337, 3. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 10.861, 4. Alex

Rins (ESP/Suzuki) 13.567, 5. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 13.817, 6.

Andrea Iannone (ITA/Suzuki) 14.516, 7. Jack Miller (AUS/Honda) 17.087,

8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Honda) 17.230, 9. Michele Pirro (ITA/Ducati)

25.942, 10. Tito Rabat (ESP/Honda) 27.020

Overall standings1. Marc Marquez (ESP/Honda) 298 points, 2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/

Ducati) 261, 3. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Yamaha) 230, 4. Dani Pedrosa

(ESP/Honda) 210, 5. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Yamaha) 208, 6. Johann Zarco

(FRA/Yamaha Tech3) 174, 7. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Ducati) 137, 8. Danilo

Petrucci (ITA/Ducati) 124, 9. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Honda) 112, 10. Jonas

Folger (GER/Yamaha Tech3) 84

Moto21. Miguel Oliveira (POR/KTM) 43min 15.843sec, 2. Franco Morbidelli (ITA/

Kalex) at 2.154, 3. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 4.181, 4. Francesco Bagnaia

(ITA/Kalex) 11.181, 5. Alex Marquez (ESP/Kalex) 12.146, 6. Hafizh Syahrin

(MAL/Kalex) 14.595, 7. Takaaki Nakagami (JPN/Kalex) 18.446, 8. Fabio

Quartararo (ITA/Kalex) 22.188, 9. Simone Corsi (ITA/Speed Up) 23.592,

10. Dominique Aegerter (SWI/Suter) 23.751

Moto31. Jorge Martin (ESP/Honda) 40min 02.193sec, 2. Joan Mir (ESP/Honda)

at 3.760, 3. Marcos Ramirez (ESP/KTM) 3.877, 4. Romano Fenati (ITA/

Honda) 3.953, 5. Enea Bastianini (ITA/Honda) 3.999, 6. Juan Francisco

Guevara (ESP/KTM) 4.940, 7. Dennis Foggia (ITA/KTM) 4.735, 8. John

McPhee (GBR/Honda) 5.071, 9. Aron Canet (ESP/Honda) 5.218, 10. Ka-

zuki Masaki (JPN/Honda) 6.462

VALENCIA GRAND PRIX RESULTS

Cheste, Spain

AFP

Spanish ace Marc Mar-quez clinched a fourth MotoGP world title yes-terday to join an elite club of riders after fin-

ishing third at a tense season-ending Valencia Grand Prix.

Honda’s Marquez held a commanding 21-point lead in the championship from Ducati rival Andrea Dovizioso, and was guar-anteed the title with a top-11 finish or if Dovizioso failed to win the race.

Dovizioso’s fate was sealed when the early season pace-set-ter crashed out five laps from the end as Marquez ultimately won the championship by 37 points.

Marquez’s Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa won the race from France’s Johann Zarco in second.

At just 24, a highly mature Marquez is the youngest ever rider to win four premier class world titles after just five seasons in MotoGP -- adding to two other world championships at lower levels.

He drew level with British trio Mike Hailwood, Geoff Duke and John Surtees, and American Eddie Lawson as one of just five riders to triumph four times at

the top level. Only three men -- Giacomo Agostini (eight), Valentino Rossi (seven) and Mick Doohan (five) -- have won the premier category championship

more often than Marquez.Starting from pole, Marquez

waved Zarco through on the fourth lap to rule out any chance of an untimely early crash.

However, he couldn’t resist an attack on the Frenchman to try and win the championship in style with eight laps to go and ran wide as his team held their

breath, surviving but dropping down to fifth.

“During the race I was trying to be calm and control the situ-ation, but then I thought now it is time to push because I felt really good,” said a buoyant Mar-quez, who defied 27 crashes during the course of the season to win the title.

“In turn one I lost concentra-tion on the break point, I broke too late and you know (it was) Marquez-style until the end.”

Yet, Ducati’s hopes of usurp-ing Marquez were quickly undone as Jorge Lorenzo and then Dovizioso both crashed out

as they paid the price for push-ing at the limit for the whole race.

“We were over the limit the whole race so we both made mistakes,” said Dovizioso.

“I want to say thank you to the whole team, all the sponsors because we had a great season.”

However, he admitted see-ing Marquez fly off the track precipitated his own mistake as he pushed even harder.

“It’s a standard thing for Marc. I didn’t have the speed to attack the rider in front of me so when I saw that I thought ‘ok, this is good’ but I tried even harder and I was already push-ing 100 percent until that time.”

Up front Pedrosa and Zarco were left to battle it out for the race win in a pulsating final few laps. Ultimately, though, the Spaniard came out on top on home soil to deny Zarco his first MotoGP win and round off a per-fect day for the Honda pair.

“At the end I could see the race was there and I had to go (for it),” said Pedrosa.

“Johann was very strong all the race and it was very difficult because he was going into the corner very fast.

“At the end I tried a few dif-ferent times, but I made mistakes and finally into turn one I could make it stick.”

From left: Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s French rider Johann Zarco, Repsol Honda Team’s Spanish rider Dani Pedrosa and Repsol Honda Team’s Spanish rider Marc Marquez celebrate on the podium of the MotoGP race of the Valencia Grand Prix at Ricardo Tormo racetrack in Cheste, near Valencia yesterday. Marquez sealed his sixth world championship and fourth in the premier MotoGP category with third place at the Valencia Grand Prix. Marquez’s Honda teammate Pedrosa won the race ahead of Zarco in second.

During the race I

was trying to be

calm and control

the situation, but

then I thought now

it is time to push

because I felt

really good:

Marquez

Bottas on Brazil pole as Hamilton crashes outSao Paulo

AFP

Valtteri Bottas secured the third pole position of his career on Saturday after

his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton had crashed in the opening minutes of an incident-filled qualifying session for the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The Finn clocked a best lap time of one minute and 8.322 seconds in the final seconds to outpace his nearest rival four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari by 0.038 seconds.

Hamilton, who clinched his

fourth title in Mexico two weeks ago, lost control and hit the bar-riers on his first flying lap after only two minutes.

He was unhurt and is expected to start the race from the back of the grid.

“I’m okay. It happened really quickly. I tend to just look at it as challenges are what makes life interesting and overcoming them makes life meaningful,” Hamilton told Sky Sports.

“I just need to take what-ever bubble of negativity comes from that experience and move forwards and try and grow from it.

“It’s very unusual from me but it shows we are all human and things happen.”

Hamilton’s crash and Bot-tas’s pole completed a roller-coaster on Saturday for the world champion Mercedes team after it was revealed some of their staff had been robbed at gunpoint late Friday as they left the Interlagos circuit.

Bottas said he felt a respon-sibility to the team after Hamilton’s shock early exit.

“It feels good,” said Bottas, who also took pole at the Azerbaijan and Austrian Grands Prix earlier this season.

Mercedes’ Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas (right) and Ferrari’s German driver Sebastian Vettel chat after taking the first and second place at the starting grid for the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix in the qualifying session at the Interlagos Circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Saturday.

Starting grid from the Formula One Brazil-ian Grand Prix at Autodromo Jose Carlos

Pace. 1. Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Mercedes

2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari

3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari

4. Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull - TAG

Heuer

5. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India - Mercedes

6. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren

7. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Renault

8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Renault

9. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams-Mercedes

10. Esteban Ocon (France) Force India - Mercedes

11. Romain Grosjean (France) Haas - Ferrari

12. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) McLaren

13. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) Haas - Ferrari

14. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull - TAG

Heuer

15. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany) Sauber - Ferrari

16. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber - Ferrari

17. Lance Stroll (Canada) Williams-Mercedes

18. Brendon Hartley (New Zealand) Toro Rosso -

Renault

19. Pierre Gasly (France) Toro Rosso - Renault

20. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes

BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX