BBASKETBALL Page 2ASKETBALL NFL Page 5 Kaepernick

2y ago
15 Views
2 Downloads
1.19 MB
8 Pages
Last View : 15d ago
Last Download : 2m ago
Upload by : Jewel Payne
Transcription

BASKETBALL Page 2NFL Page 5Davon andMacklincombine tocrush Qatar SCKaepernickleads Niners tocomeback winover RamsMonday, December 26, 2016Rabia I 27, 1438 AHTo Advertise hereCall: 444 11 300, 444 66 621FOOTBALLGULF TIMESSPORTConte, Guardiolabrace for BoxingDay baptismsPage 3FOCUSEven in chess you need to beon right side of age: AnandBy Yash MudgalDohaFive-time world chess championViswanathan Anand has had amixed 2016.He won the Leon Chess Rapid Masters tournament and had a verygood Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, TalMemorial tournament and the LondonChess Classic.He lost the Candidates tournamentwhere, despite beating eventual winnerRussia’s Sergey Karjakin, Anand endedup joint second. He finished fourth in the2016 Grand Chess tour, resulting in himnot securing a direct qualification for theGrand Chess tour of 2017.And at the age of 47, he is in no mood torelent.“My ambitions are high. I’m going toplay a lot of chess,” Anand said after theLondon Chess Classic recently.Anand, who became a Grandmaster at18, was called Lightning Kid then.The former No.1 ruled the world from2007 to 2012 as the undisputed king, withhis famous wins coming against RussianVladimir Kramnik in 2008, Bulgaria’sVeselin Topalov in 2010 and Israel’s BorisGelfand two years later, all at the WorldChampionships.In fact, Carlsen even helped Anand prepare for the finals against Kramnik andTopalov.Anand is now considered just off hispeak and is a generation older than hisNorwegian rival, who is 21 years youngerto him. Carlsen had beaten the Indian forhis first world title in 2013 in Chennai andthen again in the 2014 final in Sochi.Before the Chennai event, Anand had a6-3 win-loss record in 29 matches againstthe Norwegian, but Carlsen comfortablydethroned Anand, winning 6.5-3.5.But does age matter in chess?“In general, age is no criteria for a chessplayer, but yes, age has an impact on critical thinking and overall game. I would loveto be younger,” Anand, who will play theWorld Rapid and Blitz championship inDoha starting today, said.Carlsen, 26, who is on an upswing andwill be taking part in Doha event, also echoed Anand’s view.“I agree with Vishy. It’s a combinationof youthful energy and knowledge. It iseasier to deal with pressure when you areyoung because the lack of experience iseasier to deal with, as compared to lack ofenergy and motivation, which is a part ofolder age,” the young champion said.Talking about his recent performancesand the targets for next year, the IndianGM said, “I have had a reasonably good2016, nothing spectacular, but I have mymoments. There are positives to take outfrom 2016.“Next year I am not playing much in thefirst quarter of the year, but rest of the yearis hectic. I hope to perform better nextyear,” said Anand, who has been a part ofall the world championship finals since2007.This is Anand’s third trip to Doha and heis excited to explore the new sights in thecountry.“I am coming to Doha after a gap ofaround 21 years and I can see the changesin the country’s landscape. It has a sizeable number of Indians and I am lookingforward to visit a new place during my stayhere,” he said.

Gulf TimesMonday, December 26, 20162SPORTFIDE WORLD RAPID AND BLITZ CHAMPIONSHIPSCarlsen, Anand to headlineRapid and Blitz Worlds‘The high calibre of players who have indicated their interest is a testimony to the quality of organisation of our past events’By Yash MudgalDohaThe Fide World Rapid and BlitzChampionships should satisfythe appetite of chess loverswho have been craving for bigger events in Qatar after two successfuleditions of Qatar Masters.The twin world championship featuring more than 400 players from 75countries, including world championMagnus Carlsen of Norway and formerworld champion Viswanathan Anandof India, will start today at the Ali BinHamad Al Attiyah Arena.The Rapid and Blitz format is not asprominent as the classic one, but presence of title holders and former champions are a big boost for the championship.“Rapid and Blitz are for enjoyment.It is touch and go. You make one mistake and you are gone,” Carlsen saidduring a pre-event press conferenceyesterday.Carlsen’s World Championshipchallenger Sergey Karjakin (Elo 2785)of Russia will also have an opportunityto avenge his tie-breaker defeat to theNorwegian in the FIDE World Championships in New York recently.Anand (Elo 2779), who missed outon a World Championship match thisyear, will get a chance to lock hornswith Carlsen, who will be looking todefend his Rapid title.The top-seeded Norwegian (Elo2853) will also face tough challengesfrom France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2811), Armenia’s Levon Aronian(2795) and USA’s Hikaru Nakamura(2779) in his bid to defend the title.The young champion is aware of thetough battle ahead and said it wouldnot be easy as many former worldchampions would be breathing downhis neck in Qatar.“Yes, Vishy and many others will bea hurdle for me. Though I can’t pinpoint any specific names, who will be athreat to me here,” said Carlsen.The world No. 1 would be looking fora ‘double’, eyeing the Blitz title he hadlast won in 2014.Anand, who was also present for thepress conference, said the field looksstrong.“It will be a tough one,” the 47-yearold Indian GM said.The Chennai-born, who became agrandmaster three decades back, saidhe has come back to Qatar after a gap of26 years and over the years the countryhas undergone drastic changes.The Grandmaster said he was confident the hosts will deliver an excellentchampionship.“I have known (Qatar Chess Association general secretary) Mohamed(al-Medhaiki) for many years and I amsure that the organisation of the championship will match the high standardsthey have set over the years.”In the women’s Rapid event, defending champion Kateryna Lagnoof Russia is once again the favourite,while Ukraine-born Anna Muzychukis expected to defend her Blitz title shewon in Khanty-Mansiysk.“I am happy to be in Qatar, this is myfirst trip to the country and hopefully itwill be a memorable one,” the GM, whoplays for Slovakia said.Al-Medhaiki, for his part said, “Weare happy to host this tournament inQatar. This is the second time an eventof such magnitude will be hosted inthe Middle East. The high calibre ofplayers who have indicated their interest to come to Doha is a testimonyto the quality of organisation of ourpast tournaments, especially the QatarMasters.”Qatar is hosting the championshipsfor the first time.“It’s going to be another big occasion for us. We’ll live up to our expectations as a good host. The QatarMasters was a classic tournament, butRapid and Blitz events will give fanssomething different to look forward to.We need such big tournaments to educate the parents and kids. The chessactivity improved a lot over the lastthree years with many new studentsenrolled in QCA training centres,” theQatari GM said.The Rapid event will be held overthree days (December 26-28) at a timecontrol of 15min 10s and the BlitzChampionships will be run on the nexttwo days (December 29-30) at a timecontrol of 3min 2s. Both the eventswill be Swiss pairings tournaments.The Blitz will have 21 rounds in openchampionship and 17 rounds in thewomen’s championship, with a single game for each round of the Swissevent.On the other hand, the Rapid will be of15 rounds for Open and 12 rounds for thewomen’s championship, with a singlegame for each round of the Swiss event.The total prize fund for the tournament is 400,000 with 40,000 forthe winner of each championship and 80,000 in the women championshipswith 10,000 for the winner of eachchampionship.World Blitz champions, three-timewinner Alexander Grischuk (2006,2012, 2015), Vassily Ivanchuk (2007),Leinier Dominguez (2008), LevonAronian (2010), world Rapid championShakhriyar Mamedyarov (2013) andother top players are also taking part inthe tournament.In the women’s section formerworld Rapid champions Alexandra Kosteniuk, Antoaneta Stefanova, AnnaUshenina, Zhu Chen, 2014 world Rapidchampion and 2010 world Blitz champion Katerina Lagno, 2012 world Blitzchampion Valentina Gunina, FIDEGrand Prix Series winner Ju Wenjunand other top players also feature inthe participants list.Qatar Chess Association general secretary Mohamed al-Medhaiki (left) poses with women’s Blitz champion Anna Muzychuk (second from left), world champion MagnusCarlsen and former world champion Viswanathan Anand (right) at a press conference yesterday. PICTURES: Shemeer RasheedSCHEDULE26 Dec: Day 1 – Rapid27 Dec: Day 2 – Rapid28 Dec: Day 3 – Rapid29 Dec: Day 1 – Blitz30 Dec: Day 2 - BlitzQatar Chess Association president Khalifa al-HitmiQATAR BASKETBALL LEAGUEDavon-Macklin combine crushes Qatar SCBy Sports ReporterDohaWith 72 points betweenthem, Dominic JamesDavon and Vernon LeonMacklin sealed the fate ofQatar Sports Club as El Jaish registereda dominating 108-85 victory in the Qatar Basketball Federation Men’s Leagueat Al Gharafa Sports Club yesterday.In the first match of the day, QatarSC started slow as Jaish took a 5-1 lead.However, a nine-point run saw QatarSC wrestle a 10-5 lead. However, by theend of the first quarter Jaish was back inthe front at 28-23.The second quarter was largely aneven affair after both the teams dunked26 points each, with the half-timescore at 54-49.Moments into the final quarter, withthe scoreline at 82-71 in Jaish’s favour,a 13-point haul by Jaish players completely decimated Qatar SC’s confidence, and the latter were soon staringat a mammoth task.Jaish pressed on, even extendingtheir lead to 29 points at 106-77, beforeending the game at 108-85.Davon and Macklin dunked 37 and35 points respectively, while MohamedYousef Mohamed and Fadi Hani Abilmo-na adding 14 and 11 points respectively.James Edward Justice Jr’s matchleading haul of 41 points for QatarSC ended up in vain eventually, whileteammates Quinton Meddrick Doggett(14 points) and Abdirahman IbrahimGiama (12 points) were the other players to get into double digits.Al Gharafa brushed aside Al Arabichallenge with a big 93-59 win yesterday.While Arabi did lead in the first fewminutes of the game, thereafter it wasGharafa all the way.A 15-point scoring run by Gharafameant that they had the upper handtowards the end of the first quarter.Gharafa’s biggest lead was 47 points at75-28.Sammy Monroe Jr. II was the topscorer for Al Gharafa with 25 points,while Wayne Alexander Arnold Jr, Khalid Abdulla Adam and AbdulrahmanMohamed Saad added 16, 12 and 10points respectively.Adamu Saaka scored 19 points forAl Arabi while teammates EmmanuelOsaro Adako and Fahad Abdulla AbuFaisal added 12 points each.Action in the league returns tomorrow, with Al Sadd taking on Al Ahliin the first match at 5:15pm, while AlRayyan and Al Shamal facing off witheach other at 7:15pm.El Jaish’s Dominic James Davon (right) in action against Qatar SC during theirmatch yesterday. Davon scored 37 points in the match. PICTURES: Anas KhalidAl Arabi’s Adamu Saaka (left) was the top-scorer for his team in the match againstAl Gharafa yesterday. Gharafa won 93-59.

Gulf TimesMonday, December 26, 20163FOOTBALLEPLSPOTLIGHTConte, Guardiolabrace for BoxingDay baptismsMourinhofeeling rightat home inManchesterAnother victory will leave Chelsea one win from equalling Arsenal’s 2002 record forsuccessive wins in the same campaign, which they extended to 14 the following seasonAFPLondonChelsea’s Antonio Conte and hisManchester City counterpartPep Guardiola are among thePremier League managers whowill sample England’s Boxing Day football extravaganza for the first time today.While the rest of the population gorgeson Christmas turkey dinners and knocksback festive drinks, 16 teams will be gearing up for matches as part of a custom thatstretches back over 150 years.With Chelsea six points clear at thesummit and chasing a 12th consecutivewin, which would set a new club record,Conte is approaching the visit of Bournemouth with a spring in his step.“This is the first experience for me andmy family, to work, to play football (at thistime of year),” said the Italian. “It can be,and I hope it will be, a fantastic experience.The atmosphere we find in this period isvery difficult to find in another period. It’sfantastic.”Chelsea have registered 11 consecutivewins within the same season for the firsttime after winning 1-0 at Crystal Palacelast weekend.Another victory will leave them one winfrom equalling Arsenal’s 2002 record forsuccessive wins in the same campaign,which they extended to 14 the followingseason.But Conte will be without both topscorer Diego Costa and midfield lynchpin N’Golo Kante after they picked upsuspension-incurring bookings at Palace.Guardiola, too, is full of festive cheerfollowing his side’s 2-1 comeback winover Arsenal last weekend, which left Cityseven points below Chelsea in third place.While the former Barcelona and BayernMunich coach appreciates the novelty ofChristmas football, he is preparing for hisside’s match at bottom club Hull City bypretending it is a regular fixture.“This is my first year here and people say that at Christmas you have to befocused, because at home you celebratewith dinner and lunch, and we have to beprepared,” Guardiola said.“We are going to train on the 25th in theafternoon and travel to Hull to play on the26th.We will prepare for the game as if itwas not Christmas time or Boxing Day.”Arsenal slipped to fourth, nine pointsoff the pace, after their loss at the EtihadStadium, which followed hot on the heelsof a 2-1 defeat at Everton.Arsene Wenger’s side welcome WestBromwich Albion to the Emirates Stadiumon Boxing Day and centre-back Gabrielsays his side cannot afford to be distractedby seasonal excitement.“I think all players just want to be focused on the game, rather than celebrating,” the Brazilian told the Arsenal website.“If I do have some time, I’ll organise adinner with my friends to make the mostof the short time off. Then, I have to beCHELSEA IN NUMBERSAntonio Conte is the firstPremier League managerto win 14 of his opening 17matches. He has managed56 victories over his past 66league games with Juventusand Chelsea – an 84.8 percent success rate.Diego Costa has scored 20Premier League goals in 2016;only Sergio Aguero (27) andHarry Kane (21) have hit more.No team has conceded fewerPremier League goals thanChelsea (11).Chelsea have the best goaldifference ( 24), three betterLiverpool.Since the change to a backthree defence, Chelsea havewon all 11 Premier Leaguegames, scoring 25 goals andconceding two.In Europe’s top-five leaguesthis season, only BayernMunich (nine) have concededfewer goals than Chelsea (11).Eden Hazard (54) and DiegoCosta (46) are the two mostfouled players in the PremierLeague this term.ready and focused again.”Jose Mourinho has long been an avowedadmirer of England’s Boxing Day traditions and with his Manchester Unitedteam chasing a fourth straight win, he isrelishing the prospect of Sunderland’svisit. “I love it!” Mourinho told MUTV.“I know that the family miss somethingfrom us, but the family loves us.“They know us, they know our nature,they know that we are happy playingfootball, giving all of the people that lovefootball something really special in a period when almost no country has footballfor the fans.” Sunderland manager DavidMoyes will return to Old Trafford for thefirst time since he was sacked by United inApril 2014.Champions Leicester City will hopeto give their supporters some Christmascheer when they host Everton in a repeatof the fixture that preceded last season’stitle coronation.Top of the table last Christmas, ClaudioRanieri’s men are three points above therelegation zone after winning just one oftheir last eight games.Two points back in 17th place, Palacebegin life under new manager Sam Allardyce — appointed as the successor toAlan Pardew on Friday — with a trip toWatford.Liverpool, second, host Stoke City tomorrow, with fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur visiting Southampton the followingday.No sooner have those games finishedthan preparations for the breathless turnof-the-year schedule — 20 games in sixdays — will begin.FixturesToday: (1500 GMT unless otherwisestated):Arsenal v West Brom, Chelsea v Bournemouth, Hull v Man City (1715 GMT),Leicester v Everton, Man Utd v Sunderland, Burnley v Middlesbrough, Swansea vWest Ham, Watford v Crystal Palace (1230GMT)Tomorrow (1715 GMT):Liverpool v StokeWednesday (1945 GMT):Southampton v TottenhamBOTTOMLINEVeteran Lampard open toChelsea return as playerAFPLondonFrank Lampard admitted on Saturday he would relish a return toChelsea as a player and is keen torejoin the Premier League leadersin some capacity even if he is not offereda deal.The former England midfielder isChelsea’s all-time leading goalscorerand is keeping his options open afterleaving New York City FC following atwo-year spell with the MLS side.Appearing alongside Blues captainJohn Terry on Sky Sports, Lampardsaid: “Myself and John are Chelseathrough and through so whatever happens, in some capacity I will be at Chelsea.“Whether it’s with my season ticket,watching them, I don’t know yet, I’llhave very close contact. Whether I’llhave the role (as a player), it’s not all inmy hands so I can’t go any further onthat.“I’m very relaxed about it, whichis a nice place to be. If the right thingcomes, I’ll take it.Obviously Chelsea, I’d love that, butit doesn’t work that way always.”The 38-year-old left StamfordBridge in 2014 after scoring 211 goals ina 13-year spell at Chelsea, briefly playing for Manchester City before headingto the United States.He scored 15 times in 31 appearancesfor New York City and has yet to decidewhether he will retire or not.“I feel fit, I’m fresh in the mind,”Lampard added. “I understand whenyou get even past 30, you start to understand things are different.“What I would say is, if I was to carryon playing, it would have to be perfect.I’m not being snobby and handpicking what I want to do but perfectfor my family, for me and all thosethings.”AFPManchesterManchesterUnited manager JoseMourinho says hehas started to feel“really at home” at Old Traffordand believes foundations are inplace to bring success back to theclub.Mourinho endured a difficultstart to life in Manchester after succeeding Louis van Gaal,but the Portuguese’s impact hasstarted to be felt in recent weeks.United head into their BoxingDay fixture against Sunderlandon the back of three consecutive Premier League victoriesand with the Champions Leagueplaces almost within reach.“What I can say is that in hereI felt people with open arms. Avery calm, and intelligent, boardand owners.They know what they want,”Mourinho said.“They have big experience already. Very calm, very pragmatic, giving me good conditions towork and the players and peoplethat surround me.“I felt (aware of) some sadnessbecause people that love football, they want to be successfuland everybody tries to help to goin the same direction.“For me it was easy to come.Adifficult job, but easy now to feelat home.“Easy to feel good in the club,easy to feel that the club wantsto progress, the people want tobe happy again and I felt goodimmediately.“So five, six months here, butreally feeling at home. For me itwas quite easy.“Obviously expectations arehigh, results up and down, weare in a position that is not theposition where we want to be.“But in terms of passion formy work, passion for my newclub, feeling really happy here,yes.”Mourinho is again set to startwith striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic against Sunderland, the35-year-old having taken hisUnited tally to 16 goals with abrace in last weekend’s 2-0 winat West Bromwich Albion.He paid tribute to the endur-ance of the former Sweden international and his ability tocope with the rigours of Englishfootball despite his advancingyears.“I think 35 for him is the sameas 25,” Mourinho said.“He scores goals, plays well,I’m really happy for him becausehe will end his career on high,not in America or China.He’s ending his career at thetop. His record is good.He canimprove. With no penalties, thatis amazing too. Normally otherguys that are top scorers have alot of penaltie

2016 Grand Chess tour, resulting in him not securing a direct qualifi cation for the Grand Chess tour of 2017. And at the age of 47, he is in no mood to relent. “My ambitions are high. I’m going to play a lot of chess,” Anand said after the London Chess Classic recently. Anand, who b

Related Documents:

2017 NFL SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED Available on NFL.com, NFL Now and NFL Mobile from Verizon The NFL announced today its 17-week, 256-game regular-season schedule for 2017, which kicks off on Thursday night, September 7 in New England and concludes on Sunday, December 31 with 16 division games.

NFL Films and NFL Media have combined to create an unprecedented amount of original content. These pieces will be distributed across the NFL Network, NFL Digital and the league’s social-media platforms, traditional media an

Study of Retired Professional Football Players University of Michigan 2 Institute for Social Research 2. Life in the NFL Playing in the NFL is a unique experience few achieve. NFL players are elite athletes of the highest order. One of the goals of the study was to assess retirees' experiences with the NFL and

In the 2015 season, the NFL had approximately 29 official corporate partners,a which collectively paid the NFL more than one billion dollars annually.1 While there are many other companies that might advertise on television during NFL games or around other NFL events, the business

NFL FLAG Football Middle School Curriculum 1 NFL FLAG Football . This NFL FLAG Football curriculum was created for use in middle school physical education classes. The activities in this curriculum are appropriate for use with students between grades 6

ŷ predicted salary of 2009-2010 top paid NFL quarterback in x total number of touchdowns in 2009-10 of top paid NFL quarterback It is important that students use ŷ instead of y for the response variable and define it to be the predicted salary of a 2009-2010 top paid NFL quarterback in . Correlation r: r 0.5954

“Football’s Greatest: Ranking the Top 10 Quarterbacks in NFL History,” Sports Illustrated , n.d. www.si.com. Elliot Harrison, “Top 25 Quarterbacks of All Time: Patriots’ Tom Brady

Although adventure tourism is rapidly growing South Africa, research on the subject in this region is relatively limited. A few studies have examined issues and challenges facing the adventure tourism industry as a whole. Rogerson (2007) noted some of the challenges facing the development of adventure tourism in South Africa. One was the lack of marketing, particularly marketing South Africa .