Friday cover: South Africa and England fight for control

The National’s Sport cover for the Friday, January 15 issue, featuring South Africa and England as they embarked on the third Test in Johannesburg.

English bowlers put in a good spell on the first day, led by Steven Finn and Ben Stokes:

“When you lose a toss and you have the opposition seven down you’ve done all right,” bowling coach Ottis Gibson said.

“We struggled early on to find the right length I think, and then after that I thought Finny was outstanding the way he bowled and we had to keep going.

“They played quite well, they left well in the first 20 minutes, half an hour. Perhaps we didn’t find the right lengths but as the day went on we got better and better.”

On Day 2, England finished off the hosts for 313 before the Proteas struck back for two wickets by Lunch.

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Horse racing in focus: Richard Mullen does not have to teach an old Reynaldothewizard new tricks

There is plenty left in the tank of old stager Reynaldothewizard.

That is the opinion of jockey Richard Mullen, who is looking forward to the 10-year-old sprinter making his return to the racecourse in the Dubai Stakes at Meydan Racecourse on Thursday.

Reynaldothewizard has been off since he denied old rival Krypton Factor by a neck in a driving finish to the Al Shindagha Sprint in February, with Speed Hawk back in third.

All three renew rivalry in the $US150,000 (Dh550,900) dirt event on Thursday night, although Speed Hawk enjoys race fitness after he was left for dead on turf by the impressive Ertijaal last week.

Reynaldothewizard was forced to miss the opportunity of reclaiming his 2013 title in the Dubai Golden Shaheen in March because of an abscess on his throat.

Trainer Satish Seemar considered running him in the $US2m dirt dash, but estimated at the time that at 80 per cent fit his charge would not have done himself justice.

Horse racing in focus:

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As a result Reynaldothewizard has enjoyed the time off and is fresh as a veteran of his vintage can be ahead of what could transpire to be a battle royal with Muarrab, who he beat by nearly four lengths in the Listed contest 12 months ago.

“He may be ten years of age but he still thinks he is a two-year-old,” Mullen said.

“I ride all of his fast work and he looks well, moves well and is bucking and kicking, which is all you need to worry about.

“When you see him in the mornings you would never pick him out as a Group 1 winner, and we deliberately work him with the lesser lights in the yard to give him confidence.

“As he isn’t the best work horse there is a concern then that he may not be as good as before, but the only way we are going to find out is by racing him.

“He does have a good record fresh and he obviously will improve for the run.”

This will be Reynaldothewizard’s 18th run at the UAE’s leading racecourse, and such is his renown that last month Philip Parham, the British ambassador, paid a visit to Zabeel Stables and was granted an audience with the bay gelding.

He is one of only a handful of horses left running in the yellow and red silks of Zabeel Racing International after the death of Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed last year.

Surfer ran fifth in the first round of the Al Maktoum Challenge last week, while Tiz Now Tiz Then also runs tonight in the Mina Rashid. Spin Cycle has yet to be seen this season but is also a ten-year-old.

Reynaldothewizard faces a a tricky draw in gate eight, two in from Krypton Factor who is the other former Golden Shaheen winner in the field and who is drawn widest in gate 10.

Muarrab, who has won eight of his last nine starts for Musabah Al Muhairi and is reportedly better than ever, is perfectly placed to emerge from the second gate.

Seemar’s other runner, Indianapolis, ran Shared Belief, one of America’s best thoroughbreds in 2014, to within three lengths when trained by Bob Baffert.

Prior to that run, Indianapolis was sluggish at the start to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita two seasons ago.

He clearly has talent, but needed the run badly when thrashed by Muarrab last month over course and distance.

Dark horse status is conferred on Swedish raider Let’sgoforit, who has won his last three on the dirt of Jagersro Racecourse and makes his debut in Dubai for first-time trainer Bodil Halencreutz.

Blog Source: http://www.thenational.ae/sport/horse-racing/horse-racing-in-focus-richard-mullen-does-not-have-to-teach-an-old-reynaldothewizard-new-tricks

Kidney for sale: Indian squash player offers vital organ to raise Dh43,902 before South Asian Games

MUMBAI // An Indian squash player has taken the unusual step of putting his kidney up for sale to raise funds ahead of next month’s South Asian Games, according to local media reports.

Ravi Dixit, who will turn 23 this week, is part of the home squad for the event taking place in northeast India and has used social media to offer up an organ for an asking price of 800,000 rupees (Dh43,902) due to a lack of sponsors.

His father’s employer, the Dhampur Sugar Mill, has provided financial assistance in the past but according to Dixit, the funds were no longer enough to support him.

“I need at least Rs 1 lakh to participate in the South Asian Games but have not been able to find any sponsor,” Dixit was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times newspaper on Tuesday.

“So, I have decided to sell my kidney for Rs 8 lakh so that I can participate in other tournaments as well for the rest of the year.”

Cricket is an obsession for many Indians and around 90 percent of advertising revenue targeted at sports goes to the country’s most popular game, analysts say.

When contacted by Reuters, the governing Squash Rackets Federation of India, did not immediately respond for comment.

Dixit’s attempts to sell the kidney, forbidden by law in India, is also a cause of concern for his parents.

“I have spoken to Ravi. He is in Chennai right now but I spoke to him on the phone. His mother and I are imploring him not to take the step,” Ravi’s father, Ramkailash, told the Times of India newspaper.

“Together, we will figure out a way to deal with this crisis. This way, he will ruin both his life and career.

“I funded my daughter’s wedding with Ravi’s winnings. Since he has to support the family as well, he cannot use much of what he gets for himself.”

Blog Source : http://www.thenational.ae/blogs/kit-bag/kidney-for-sale-indian-squash-player-offers-vital-organ-to-raise-dh43902-before-south-asian-games

‘The goals will come’: Kenwyne Jones vows to fire Al Jazira up the AGL table

DUBAI // Kenwyne Jones is confident Al Jazira have the talent to turn around their season having seen enough positives during his debut on Friday.

The Cardiff City striker joined the club last week on loan until the end of the campaign and has been tasked with scoring the goals to lift Jazira from their current position of 10th in the Arabian Gulf League.

Jones did not find the net in his first match although he played a key role in the 2-2 draw at Al Wasl, helping create his new side’s second goal. The Abu Dhabi club, who also had coach Henk ten Cate in the dugout for the first time, twice took the lead despite being largely outplayed by their fourth-placed hosts, but showed enough fight to suggest they can soon climb the table.

Jones agrees, with the Trinidad and Tobago captain sure Jazira possess enough ability to improve upon what has been a hugely disappointing season.

Transfer talk: Thiago Neves determined to prove himself at Al Jazira despite Saudi interest

“I see enough room for progress, I don’t see any problem for this team,” he said. “They can progress easily. We just need to tighten up a few things and we’ll be fine.

“It’s like anywhere in the world. You have moments where you lose a bit of concentration and don’t do things to stay on top of the game. But it’s OK — I believe 100 per cent in this team, we have a lot of talent.”

Jones cited the need for Jazira to be stronger in defence, with the capital club conceding from two set pieces against Wasl. They have been breached 29 times in 14 league matches this campaign — a problem that extends back to last season even though Jazira eventually finished runners-up to Al Ain.

That places more emphasis on Jones to excel up front. The former Premier League forward will carry much of the goalscoring brunt, but has Ali Mabkhout, fellow new signing Angel Lafita and either Thiago Neves or Jefferson Farfan in support.

Jazira are willing to listen to offers for Neves, while Farfan is recovering from an ankle injury. Jones, though, is convinced he can repay the faith the club have shown in him.

“I hope so, that’d be nice,” he said. “Wasl was my first time getting used to the team, the players and who we’re playing against. I feel quite positive and I’m hopeful in the next 12 to 13 games the goals will come.”

Jazira now have almost two weeks until their next match, a time in which Jones says he will use to smooth the transition to UAE football.

“It’s beautiful,” he said. “It’s important for me and the team. We have one or two injuries coming back now so the team will get stronger over the next two weeks and then we can push forward again.”

Blog Resource: http://www.thenational.ae/sport/arabian-gulf-league/the-goals-will-come-kenwyne-jones-vows-to-fire-al-jazira-up-the-agl-table

Federer and Raonic to meet in Brisbane final, Kyrgios leads Hopman Cup triumph

Roger Federer reached his third successive Brisbane International final Saturday when he crushed Dominic Thiem in a lopsided semi-final.

Federer took just 60 minutes to down the eighth-seeded Austrian 6-1, 6-4 and said afterwards it was the best he had played all week.

“I’m getting used to conditions, which is usually the case after a couple of matches,” he said.

“You understand the speeds more and you’re more comfortable. Plus I’m definitely also feeling a bit better now.

“I was very pleased with how I played. I think it was the best match of the week so far, or most consistent maybe.”

The first set lasted just 22 minutes as a shell-shocked Thiem struggled to match the 17-time Grand Slam champion on Pat Rafter Arena.

Thiem, 22, settled into the match in the second set and took the fight to his 34-year-old opponent, but a lapse in the seventh game saw him drop his serve and Federer easily held on to book a place in the final.

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Federer lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the 2014 title-decider and beat Canadian Milos Raonic to win the title last year.

Sunday’s final will be a rematch of 2015 after the huge-serving Raonic edged local hero Bernard Tomic in two close sets.

“I played some tough matches (against him) in the last 16 months or so,” Federer said of Raonic.

“I thought he played really well against me here and Indian Wells last year.

“So he’s been looking good. Clearly with a serve like that things are always complicated.”

The big-serving Raonic hit 13 aces on his way to a 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/5) win in one hour, 47 minutes. Tomic had his chances against Raonic, and had four break points in the fifth game of the first set.

But Raonic served his way out of danger and neither man was troubled on his own serve thereafter.

With such a huge serve Raonic was always favoured in the tie-breaks and he opened a 5-1 lead on both occasions. Tomic fought back to 5-5 twice but in the end Raonic closed out the match with a lunging backhand volley.

Raonic pushed Federer in three close sets in 2015 and although he said he was playing better now than 12 months ago, he conceded facing the Swiss great was always difficult.

“He can do a lot of things differently,” Raonic said. “You know what you want to do against him and what you should do (but) he can just make this part difficult for you.

“Each time he can come out playing in different ways and he’s able to do a lot of different things.

“But what I need to do is very clear for myself. So that’s what I’m going to strive for and try to play it on my terms as much as possible, rather than his.”

Azarenka marches on

Victoria Azarenka displayed the kind of form that could lead her to a hat-trick of Australian Open titles later this month by brushing aside German fourth seed Angelique Kerber 6-3 6-1 in the Brisbane International final on Saturday.

The former world No 1 has been plagued by injury over the last two years but the world No 22 showed little sign of rust this week on her way to a second Brisbane crown.

The Belarusian dropped only 17 games over five matches during the tournament and claimed her first title since the Cincinnati Masters in August 2013.

Azarenka, 26, won her maiden Brisbane title in 2009, and took control of the match against world No 10 Kerber after an early trade of breaks in the first set and then peppered the court with her powerful groundstrokes.

Article Resource : http://www.thenational.ae/sport/tennis/federer-and-raonic-to-meet-in-brisbane-final-kyrgios-leads-hopman-cup-triumph

Here is what is in store in the coming week

Ahead of a busy week of sport across the globe, Graham Caygill highlights five of the leading events going on over the coming seven days.

1. NFL: Wild card play-offs, today and tomorrow, OSN Sports

 Business picks up in the NFL as the play-offs begin this weekend. Today’s action sees the Houston Texans host the Kansas City Chiefs followed by the Cincinnati Bengals hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers. Tomorrow’s first game has the Minnesota Vikings go up against the Seattle Seahawks, who are bidding for a second Super Bowl victory in three years and a third successive appearance in the event. The Green Bay Packers complete the weekend’s busy schedule as they travel to the Washington Redskins.

2. Cricket: Australia v India, first ODI, 7.20am, Tuesday, OSN Sport 

The current world champions in the 50-over form of the game go up against the previous winners in what should be an entertaining five-match series, with the action beginning in Perth on Tuesday. Steve Smith leads Australia into action fresh from guiding them to a 2-0 Test series victory over the West Indies, and he will be hoping for a repeat of the last time they met in an ODI, which was the World Cup semi-final in March last year, when his 105 helped his side win by 95 runs.

3. Premier League: Liverpool v Arsenal, midnight, Wednesday, beIN Sports 

Leaders Arsenal travel to Anfield with a two-point lead at the top of the table, but while Liverpool have failed to find much in the way of consistency this season, they will still be a dangerous prospect for the London side. Jurgen Klopp’s men have played some of their best stuff against the bigger named teams in the division. The 4-1 win at Manchester City in November was one of the performances of the season and Arsene Wenger would do well to be way of the Merseyside club.

4. Cricket: South Africa v England, third Test, 12.30pm, Thursday, OSN Sport 

The teams head to Johannesburg with England still having the advantage at 1-0 in the four-match series. If Alastair Cook’s men can win at the Wanderers Stadium for the first time since 2005 they will clinch the series. The pressure is on the Proteas, who have AB de Villiers taking over as captain after Hashim Amla stepped down from the role following the drawn second Test in Cape Town last week.

5. Motorsport: Dubai 24 Hours, Thursday to Saturday 

The 11th staging of the annual endurance race takes place at the Dubai Autodrome next weekend. The teams will begin arriving in the UAE early in the week for the event, which not only tests driver speed, but the ability of their car to last for 24 hours of racing. Last year’s event was won by the Black Falcon team of Abdulaziz Al Faisal, Hubert Haupt, Yelmer Burrman and Oliver Webb, and Faisal, Haupt and Buurman are back again, this time with Bernd Schneider and Michal Broniszewski. Qualifying is on Thursday, with the race beginning at 2pm on Friday and finishing at the same time on Saturday.

Blog Source: http://www.thenational.ae/sport/here-is-what-is-in-store-in-the-coming-week

Sebastian Tagliabue twice on target for Al Wahda in Arabian Gulf League win over Dibba

ABU DHABI // Al Wahda got their New Year and second half of the Arabian Gulf League off to a positive start on Thursday evening.

Sebastian Tagliabue was on target either side of half time while Jorge Valdivia added a third in between as Wahda overcame an own goal from Sultan Al Ghafri to record a 3-1 victory over Dibba at the Al Nahyan Stadium. Dibba ended the game with 10 players after Ali Mohammed was sent off seven minutes from time after collecting a second yellow card.

Tagliabue’s double took his season’s tally to 15 from 13 league games. The Argentine, unmarked at the far post, opened the scoring on 24 minutes with a neat header off a cross from Mohammed Bargash but the lead was shortlived, Al Ghafri’s sliding effort to intercept a Sanad Ali cross only succeeded in knocking the ball past his own goalkeeper with 38 minutes on the clock.

Valdivia restored Wahda’s lead midway through the second half. The Chilean play maker launched a curling shot that bounced awkwardly in front of Humaid Abdullah before nestling in the far corner of the net. Tagliabue made sure of the result nine minutes from time, collecting a pass from the second-half substitute Khalil Ibrahim and knocking in his second of the match.

Man of the match

Valdivia not only scored but played an influential role in creating space to put the Dibba defenders under pressure throughout. He did it despite being heavily marked and withstanding some harsh tackles.

What the managers said

Javier Aguirre, the Wahda coach: “We didn’t start the game in a good way but we saw a better second half, but we could have won much better than we did.

“We have lost about 10 players, four of them – Mohammed Al Shehhi, Abdullah Al Noobi, Mohammed Saif and Fahad Al Dhanhani – are in the military services; four of them – Mohammed Al Akbari, Ahmed Rashid, Salem Sultan, Sultan Saif – are in the UAE Olympic team, and a couple of injuries.

“However, I expect every player in the squad when provided with the opportunity to play to their true potential because our objective is still to finish in the top four in the league.”

Theo Bucker, the Dibba coach: “For a small club like Dibba it was an OK performance. It will take a while for us to reach the level of a team like Wahda. We have to play within our limited resources and when up against stronger opponents, as in most cases, there is not much we can do.”

When asked if they the club were on the lookout for new signings during the transfer window, Bucker said: “I have recommended some changes to the squad but this is not in my hands.”

The National’s verdict

Wahda looked a bit rusty after the mid-season break but are clearly a side on the up with a victory that keeps them fifth in the AGL table. They enjoyed both possession and territory for the majority of the game, and could have won more convincingly at the end had they not been so

Blog Resource : http://www.thenational.ae/sport/arabian-gulf-league-match-reports/sebastian-tagliabue-twice-on-target-for-al-wahda-in-arabian-gulf-league-win-over-dibba