Public warned of rising fraud - Oman Daily Observer

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013
SPORT
27
Barca favourites despite injuries: Xavi
Barcelona’s Xavi Hernandez shoots to score a penalty during the Champions League quarterinal irst leg
match against Paris Saint-Germain in Paris last Tuesday. — AFP
MADRID — Xavi Hernandez believes
that Barcelona were still favourites in
their Champions League quarterinal
against Paris Saint-Germain despite a
Classy Kohli
carries
RCB to easy
victory
BANGALORE — Skipper Virat
Kohli struck a blistering 93 not out
and carried the Royal Challengers
Bangalore (RCB) to a splendid
seven-wicket win over Sunrisers
Hyderabad in the Indian Premier
League (IPL) tie here yesterday. It
was Sunrisers' irst defeat in three
matches in IPL-6.
Kohli's classy batting (47b, 11x4,
4x6) saw RCB making light of Sunrisers'
161 for six. The Hyderabadis'
total was made possible courtesy a
44-ball 80-run partnership between
Thisara Perera (40, 24b, 1x4, 4x6)
and Cameron White (52, 34b, 3x4,
3x6). The hosts, thanks to Kohli, replied
with 162 for three in just 17.4
overs.
The evening certainly belonged
to Kohli, who blasted his way in
style while also exposing the bareness
of the Sunrisers' bowling that
simply fell away when the RCB skipper
went hell for leather to notch his
highest score in the IPL.
Such was Kohli's onslaught that
the early departure of Chris Gayle
(13) was hardly felt as he galloped
from 51 to 93 in a mere 15 deliveries
as he added 66 runs for the
uninished fourth wicket with Moises
Henriques, who contributed just
seven. RCB thus avenged their Sunday
night super over defeat while
also recording their second win in
three outings.
ROYALS OUTPLAY KKR
Late on Monday, in Jaipur,
Rajasthan Royals put up a gritty performance
to beat defending champions
Kolkata Knight Riders for their
second straight win.
Brad Hodge (46 not out) took
Rajasthan to 144 for six and then
the bowlers did well to restrict a
powerful Kolkata batting line-up to
125. Siddharth Trivedi and Kevon
Cooper struck thrice for the home
team as Eoin Morgan's splendid innings
of 51 went in vain.
Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad
161 for 6 in 20 overs (P Patel 20, K Sangakkara
23, C White 52, T Perera 40, R P
Singh 3/27, Vinay Kumar 1/43, M Muralitharan
1/23, M Kartik 1/21) lost to
Royal Challengers Bangalore 162 for 3
in 17.4 overs (M Agarwal 29, C Gayle 13,
V Kohli 93 n.o., AB de Villiers 15, Ishant
Sharma 1/30, T Perera 1/35, C White
1/14).
Rajasthan Royals 144 for 6 in 20
overs (A Rahane 36, R Dravid 17, S
Binny 14, B Hodge 46 n.o., D Yagnik 16,
B Lee 1/20, S Narine 2/28, R Bhatia
1/21, Laxmi Shukla 1/14) beat Kolkata
Knight Riders 125 all out in 19 overs
(G Gambhir 22, M Tiwary 14, E Morgan
51, S Sreesanth 1/25, S Tait 1/29, Rahul
Shukla 1/28, K Cooper 3/15, S Trivedi
3/23).
number of key injuries in defence and
the possibility that Lionel Messi could
also miss the second-leg.
The irst leg ended 2-2 in Paris
last Tuesday thanks to Blaise Matuidi's
last minute strike for the hosts
but the biggest blow for Barca was
the injuries suffered by Messi and
Javier Mascherano.
Four-time world player of the year
Messi still has a chance of returning
for today's clash at the Camp Nou but
Mascherano's knee injury will see him
miss the majority of what remains of
the season.
But Xavi said that two away goals
and home advantage should still be
enough to see Barca into their sixth
consecutive Champions League semi-
inal.
"We have 90 minutes left at home
and we will play in front of our fans,
who showed the top level of devotion
in the game against Milan," he was
quoted as saying in an interview on
uefa.com published on Monday.
"The shame has been the injuries,
Mascherano's just as much as
Leo's. We are going to see how Leo is,
Mascherano it seems will miss four to
six weeks and they are important absences.
But we have a good result, we
are favourites, playing at home and
there are 90 minutes to play."
The tie promises to be another
special night at the Camp Nou after
Barca produced a stunning comeback
to reverse a 2-0 irst-leg deicit to beat
AC Milan 4-2 on aggregate in the last
round.
Xavi pinpointed that match as a
key moment in the Catalans' season
as they target a third Champions
League triumph in ive years.
"I think that was a turning point
because we had just lost in the semi-
inal of the Copa del Rey against Real
Madrid which was a real blow for us.
"But the team recovered well, returned
to being intense and we returned
to seeing perhaps the best version
of Barca in attack.
"The high pressing that we had
lacked in the previous games also returned.
We pulled our socks up and
managed to comeback against a great
team like Milan."
The loss of Mascherano only compounded
an already tricky situation
for Barca at the back with captain
Carles Puyol and Adriano also injured,
whilst Eric Abidal has just returned
from 14 months out of action after
undergoing a liver transplant.
Marc Bartra started Saturday's
5-0 win over Mallorca alongside Gerard
Pique and is expected to keep his
place against the French league leaders,
although moving Alex Song back
into central defence remains an option
for manager Tito Vilanova.
Cesc Fabregas is also likely to start
should Messi not be it after scoring
the irst hat-trick of his career at the
weekend, whilst Pedro will return
after missing the last three games
through injury.
PSG meanwhile have defensive
concerns as they look to match their
best ever run in Europe's premier
club competition, when they beat Barca
to reach the semiinals in 1995.
Captain Thiago Silva missed Saturday's
2-0 win over Rennes due to
a knee injury but will travel with the
squad along with Thiago Motta who
hasn't played since the second-leg of
the last-16 tie against Valencia due to
an abductor problem.
Matuidi is suspended so Marco Veratti,
who was surprisingly dropped
in favour of David Beckham for the
irst-leg, seems set to regain his place
in midield. — AFP
Doctor hails Abidal
recovery as a ‘miracle’
MADRID — One of the surgeons who
performed Barcelona defender Eric
Abidal's liver transplant yesterday
hailed his miraculous recovery, assessing
that it broke new ground for
the surgery.
Juan Carlos Garcia-Valdecasas
helped carry out the 33-year-old's
transplant a year ago and has said
that to see him return to playing topclass
professional sport was unprecedented.
"My irst objective was that he
would continue to live and enjoy a
high quality of life with his family," he
told Catalan radio station RAC1.
"Now we can say that the recuperation
has been a miracle, an extraordinary
case, because precedents like
his don't exist.
"The majority of patients can live
a normal life, even 90 per cent have
an extraordinary quality of life, but
his case is not normal.
"Medicine continues to set new
goals and Abidal has marked another
one for us going forward."
The Frenchman returned to the
pitch for the irst time in 14 months
towards the end of Barca's 5-0 win
over Mallorca on Saturday.
Garcia-Valdecasas said he believed
that if required, the player was in the
right physical shape to take part in
Barca's crucial Champions League
quarterinal second-leg against Paris
Saint-Germain.
Swimming
Australia
appoints
new chief
MELBOURNE — Swimming Australia
(SA) has appointed a new chief
executive and high performance director
as the governing body seeks
to rebuild the sport in the wake of a
dismal 2012 Olympic campaign and
scathing reviews of its administration.
Mark Anderson, currently CEO
of Hockey Australia, will take over
from interim CEO Jeremy Turner,
who stepped in after Kevin Neil resigned
in the wake of the London
Games, where Australia slumped to
its worst show in the pool.
Michael Scott, who stepped down
as performance director of British
Swimming in November, will take
up the high performance role.
"We've gone through an exhaustive
process to ind the right people
to lead our sport and we know Mark
and Michael have the skills and acumen
to take the organisation forward,"
SA President Barclay Nettlefold
said in a statement yesterday.
SA has endured a storm of criticism
in recent months with allegations
of bullying, drunkenness and
the abuse of prescription drugs
leading to a scathing external audit.
The 'Bluestone' review released
in February said slack management
had allowed a "toxic" environment
to develop in Australia's Olympic
swim team which reaped a solitary
gold medal and no individual titles
at the London Games.
Buffon goes from OAP to VIP in Bayern’s esteem
TURIN, Italy — Juventus goalkeeper
Gianluigi Buffon has gone from bumbling
pensioner to goalkeeping great
in the eyes of Bayern Munich as the
Bavarians attempt to make up for last
week's gaffe by honorary president
Franz Beckenbauer.
Former West Germany captain and
coach Beckenbauer, commenting on
the match for German television, criticised
36-year-old Buffon last week
over Bayern's irst goal in the last
week's Champions League quarterinal
irst leg.
Beckenbauer said that Buffon
moved like a pensioner after he was
caught cold by a long-range shot by
David Alaba which took a slight de-
lection and bounced in front of him
as it lew into the net after just 25 seconds.
Bayern, who clinched the Bundesliga
title on Saturday with six matches
to play, went on to win 2-0.
"Look at his positioning, he seemed
like a pensioner," said Beckenbauer in
an off-the-cuff remark during the halftime
interval, adding that Alaba shot
WELLINGTON — Waikato Chiefs coach Dave Rennie
is conident standout centre Sonny Bill Williams
will eventually return to rugby union from
the rival league code, perhaps in time to play at
the next World Cup in 2015.
Williams helped New Zealand win the World
Cup in 2011, and the Chiefs last year's Super Rugby
title, before honouring a commitment to return
to Australian rugby league with the Sydney
Roosters this year.
The 27-year-old has been in excellent form
since returning to the code where he made his
name but Rennie said the prospect of helping the
All Blacks defend the rugby World Cup in England
might help lure him back to the Chiefs.
"We're working pretty hard in that area and
we are pretty conident we can maybe lure him
back here at some stage," Rennie told Australian
Associated Press yesterday.
"He made a real commitment to league and he
might be there for a couple of years yet. There's
no guarantees about that but he's certainly committed
there this year.
"(With 2015) being a World Cup year, hopefully
that will be attractive to him."
While Rennie would welcome Williams back
with open arms, Canterbury Bulldogs fans are
unlikely to roll out the welcome mat when he
lines up against their team for the irst time on
Friday.
Williams controversially walked out on Canterbury
18 months into a ive-year contract in
2008 to play rugby union in France with Toulon.
A small group of fans in Canterbury colours
held aloft a banner reading "SBW we will never
"from 120 metres away."
"He should have kept that shot
out," added Beckenbauer. "Perhaps
Gigi didn't think that Alaba would
shoot from so far."
The comments brought an angry
reaction in Italy, and especially at Juventus,
where 2006 World Cup winning
goalkeeper Buffon is regarded as
almost untouchable.
Beckenbauer later apologised and
Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes, possibly
trying to build bridges before his side
visit the Juventus stadium for today's
return, heaped lavish praise on Buffon
yesterday.
"Buffon is one of the greatest and
best goalkeepers in football history,"
said Heynckes, remembering that Buffon
stayed with Juventus when they
were demoted following a match-ixing
scandal in 2006.
"When Juventus were in Serie B, he
showed himself to be faithful to the
team, it was a great gesture," added
Heynckes.
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer
also trod carefully when talking about
his opposite number.
"He's a great goalkeeper and the
Juventus defence in general is very
dificult to get past," said Neuer. "Maybe
that shot took a delection and we
have to remember that he stopped us
from winning 3-0."
Bayern's players showed a certain
amount of disquiet after Juventus forward
Mirko Vucinic was quoted as using
the word war to describe today's
match.
"Obviously, they want to give
everything but it's maybe not the
right word for a football match," said
Neuer.
Winger Arjen Robben added: "War
doesn't belong on a football pitch, we
will simply give everything and we
must be prepared. We have enough
experience to deal with this kind of
situation."
"That sort of vocabulary should not
be used in football," added Heynckes.
"Obviously, they want to correct
what happened in the irst leg, but
that's not the right way of expressing
it." — Reuters
Chiefs coach conident Sonny Bill
will return to union
forget" at the Sydney Football Stadium in Williams'
irst match back last month, and he can expect
a hostile reception at the same stadium on
Friday.
Passions among Bulldogs fans have been running
so high that Canterbury captain Michael Ennis
was moved to appeal for calm.
"I wasn't here so I can't comment on what the
fans are feeling, but our focus is about winning
the game and not Sonny Bill," he said yesterday.
"Personally I hope that our fans travel out
there and watch a good game of footy and there's
nothing silly going on.
"It should be a great game, they are coming off
a loss and we need to win. We don't need any distractions
from that." — Reuters
Juventus’ goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon kicks the ball during their CL
quarterinal irst leg match against Bayern in Munich, last week.
"He is a Barcelona player and is in
the squad. He wants to be there, he
wants to play and therefore I don't
think we should treat him in a different
manner.
"I didn't have any idea he was going
to return this Saturday, although
I knew that sooner or later he would
return to playing. I haven't spoken
with him but he could perfectly well
play against PSG."
Garcia-Valdecasas also conirmed
that Abidal's statement at the weekend
that he would like to continue
playing for a couple more years was
perfectly attainable.
"If everything goes well, he could
continue for two more years." — AFP