36 <strong>Gulf</strong> <strong>Daily</strong> <strong>New</strong>s Wednesday, 20th February 2013Email: gdnsport@batelco.com.bhBAHRAIN SPORTTeams urged to meet deadlineTHE registration deadlinesfor the third GCC Women’sGames, set to take place inBahrain from March 3 to13, is due today, the executivecommittee announcedyesterday.Bahrain delegation directorDr Mayam Mirza saidthat any of the GCC teamswishing to make any registrationor withdrawals should submit their requeston the tournament website, gwg13.bh.She called upon all sports federations in the <strong>Gulf</strong>countries to meet the deadline in order to providethe final statistical number of participants for all theHala and Sitrawin with e<strong>as</strong>eROYAL Knight CricketTeam (RKCT), under thementorship of B Sudhir,created history by winning theprestigious Golden Cup T20Championship in their debutse<strong>as</strong>on with Bahrain CricketLeague. No other team since 1981have achieved this milestone.Batting first, RKCT made133 in their 20 overs withSantosh (24) and Harpreet (16)being the main contributorswhile Imtiaz (3-25) and Ashiq(2-12) were the main wicket takersfor Alfa Fire Services, UK.In reply, Alfa Fire waged <strong>as</strong>pirited battle but in the end fellshort by three runs and lost thematch under dramatic circumstances<strong>as</strong> they were bowled outfor 131 with four balls to spare.n Shaikha Hayat chairs the executive committee meetingZAIN BASKETBALL CUPGROUP ‘A’P W L PtsManama 3 3 0 6Al Hala 3 3 0 6Muharraq 3 2 1 5Al Hidd 3 1 2 4Al Ettihad 3 0 3 3Bahrain Club 3 0 3 3GROUP ‘B’P W L PtsAl Ahli 3 3 0 6Isa Town 3 3 0 6Sitra 3 2 1 5Nuwaidrat 3 1 2 4Al Najma 3 0 3 3Samaheej 3 0 3 3AL HALA and Sitrawere both victoriousl<strong>as</strong>t night in the ZainBahrain B<strong>as</strong>ketball Cup,being played at Zain Arenain Um Al H<strong>as</strong>sam.Hala maintained their winningways with a convincing83-57 victory over Al Ettihadin their group ‘A’ encounterof the competition’s ongoingpreliminary round.Sitra, meanwhile, bouncedback from a setback earlier thisweek with a 75-51 triumph overlowly Samaheej in group ‘B’.Both winning teams remainin contention for a spot in theknockout semi-finals. Only thetop two from each group after <strong>as</strong>ingle round-robin in the preliminariesmake it to the l<strong>as</strong>t four.In Hala’s big win, the boysin orange were in control fromthe opening tip. They poweredahead 20-7 at the end of thefirst quarter, and then extendedtheir comfortable advantage to39-17 heading into half-time.Despite already enjoying a virtuallyinsurmountable lead, Halaturned it up a notch in the third,nearly doubling their rivals’ outputin the period (32-17) to makeit 71-36 with only the final quarterto play. With the victory inthe bag, Hala cruised in the finalperiod with their bench.The victors were led in thegame by always-dependableAmerican professional CarlGalloway, while Bahraini talentsAhmed Ali, Ahmed Mirzaand Abb<strong>as</strong> Jawadi all had majorcontributions <strong>as</strong> well.In Sitra’s game, the victorshad to overcome a poor start inorder to bounce back a crucialfirst loss on Friday to Isa Town.Sitra faced a 14-23 deficit atthe end of the opening quarter,but a red hot second period thatsaw them clamp down defensivelyhelped them surge aheadto a 39-29 lead at the break.Royal Knight triumphSajid (50) and K<strong>as</strong>hif (27)were the main scorers whilePradeep claimed four wicketsfor 15 runs for RKCT.At the beginning of the 19thover, Alfa Fire needed just fiveruns to win with three wicketsin hand but Santosh did thestar turn claiming two wicketsfor just two runs.Alfa Fire needed three runsof the final over with one wicketin hand, but Arun clinchedthe match for RKCT havingthe l<strong>as</strong>t man caught behind.SEMI-FINAL RESULTS:RKCT 118 in 20 overs (Sheshadri27, Prak<strong>as</strong>h 20; Zohaib 4-18) bt GodFather 102 in 18.4 overs ( Zohaib26, Shakeel Jr 20; Prak<strong>as</strong>h 3-20)by 16 runs.ACL 109 in 19.1 overs (Waq<strong>as</strong>Sitra continued their fineplay coming out of the lockerrooms, extending their advantageto 57-39 after three quarters,before comfortably strollingto the win in the final canto.Mohammed Quwayed andMahmood Abdulnabi werethe stars for Sitra, <strong>as</strong> wereMohammed Abdulla, AzizAbdulbaqi and US importJamal Holden, who did wellanchoring the middle.Sitra claimed their secondwin in three outings followingyesterday’s result, whileSamaheej dropped their thirdsuccessive game.Cup action continues onMonday with another pair ofgames on the cards. At 6pm,Ettihad will look to bounceback from yesterday’s defeatwhen they take on BahrainClub.It will be followed at 7.45pmby Samaheej looking to breakend their winless streak againstAl Najma.The preliminary round endson March 3. The semi-finalswill be played on March 5 and6, with the winners moving onto the best-of-three championshipseries which tips off withgame one on March 9.41; Orang Zaib 3-19, Asiq 2-17)lost to AFS UK 113 for eight in 19.5overs (Ashiq 38; Noman 3-29, Jan2-13) by two wickets.OTHER AWARDS:Man-of-the-match (final): Santoshn The victorious Royal Knight team members(RKCT). Best fielder-in-final: Harpreet(RKCT). Man-of-the-match (firstsemi-final): Prak<strong>as</strong>h (RKCT). Man-ofthe-match(second semi-final): AsiqHussain (AFS, UK). Best batsmanof the tournament: Ananda Krishnan(Kids and Teen). Best bowlers ofthe tournament: Ali Shafaqat, AsgharAli. Best all-rounder-of-the-tournament:Asmar Mohammed (RCB).Most wicket-taker in the tournament:Nabeel Murtazha (AFS, Qatar).working committees to dotheir work to the fullest.This statement w<strong>as</strong>announced during the executivecommittee’s most recentmeeting, held at the LateEyad Hamza Sports Hall inRiffa and chaired by committeehead Shaikha Hayatbint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa.It w<strong>as</strong> also attended bycommittee deputy head Noaman Al H<strong>as</strong>san, coordinationcommittee head Jaleel Assad and secretariatcommittee head Mohammed Al Balooshi.At the beginning of the meeting, ShaikhaHayat lauded the cooperation from all sportsfederations taking part in theGames, and urged the sportscompetitions directors to submittheir technical, administrativeand financial needs toallow the executive committeeto address them at the earliest.The committee h<strong>as</strong> alreadyreceived confirmation from 920participants coming to Bahrainnext month for the Games. Then Al Hala’sAhmed Aligoes for anuncontestedlay-up intheir winagainst AlEttihad.Picture byK P JOSEPHcombined delegations include578 athletes and 342 officials.There will be 291 representativesfrom Kuwait, the largestdelegation for the Games. Asfor the remaining delegations,the UAE will be sending 178members, hosts Bahrain willbe spearheaded by 175 athletesand officials, 160 from Qatarand 116 from Oman.Shaikha Hayat also attendedanother coordination meetingwith representatives of thehealth and interior ministriesto discuss the special preparations.Arrangements were madewith the health ministry to providean ambulance and nursesin all competoensurep r o p e rmedicaltreatmentfor the athletes.Meanwhile,B a h r a i nO l y m p i ctition venuesCommittee antidopingcommitteehead Dr HussainAl Haddad presenteda seminaron anti-doping, aimed to spreadawareness among athletes, andways to conduct blood tests randomly.A booklet with all theinformation they will need w<strong>as</strong>given away to the attendees.Present at the meeting werevarious representatives from thenational sports <strong>as</strong>sociations takingpart in the Women’s Games,including Mohammed Al H<strong>as</strong>sanand Fir<strong>as</strong> Al Halwachi (volleyball),Abdulla Khalil (b<strong>as</strong>ketball),Ahmed Hamada and YousefAhmed (athletics), MohammedNami (disabled sports),Mohammed Al Khaja and KhalidAl H<strong>as</strong>san (martial arts), AhmedAl Nuaimi (bowling), EbrahimSiyadi (table tennis), Dawood AlManea and Ebrahim Al Binali(shooting).Following the cancellationof the football tournament, thetotal number of sporting eventsh<strong>as</strong> been reduced to eight.They are b<strong>as</strong>ketball, volleyball,table tennis, bowling, athletics,shooting, taekwondo and athleticsfor the disabled.The table tennis, taekwondoand b<strong>as</strong>ketball will all take placeat the Shaikh Isa Sports Citypremises in Riffa. The KhalifaSports City facilities, b<strong>as</strong>ed inIsa Town, are to host athleticsand athletics for disabled.Shooting competitions willbe held at the shooting rangein Sakhir, while Sitra Mall’sOzone Entertaining Centre isscheduled to hold the bowlingevent.
Email: gdnsport@batelco.com.bhAbdulrahmanlifts MuharraqBy PATRICK SALOMONMAHMOOD Abdulrahmanbl<strong>as</strong>ted in a 30-yard rocket to seala late 1-0 victory for Muharraql<strong>as</strong>t night against Busaiteen inan exciting top-of-the-table cl<strong>as</strong>h in theBahrain Premier League.Abdulrahman hit the match-winner twominutes from full time after coming on <strong>as</strong>a substitute just five minutes earlier. Hisinsertion proved to be a genius move byMuharraq’s Tunisian head coach SameerShammam, <strong>as</strong> Abdulrahman would soondeliver an end-game stunner that coulde<strong>as</strong>ily be regarded <strong>as</strong> one of the finest goalsof the se<strong>as</strong>on.The result earned Muharraq their seventhwin in 10 tries while handing leagueleaders Busaiteen their second successiveloss after winning their first eight games.Only a single point now separates thetwo sides at the top of the standings.Busaiteen, coached by respected Bahrainitactician Khalifa Al Zayani, are barelyhanging on to first place with 24 points.Yesterday’s contest marked the end ofthe 10th round of action in this year’sleague. Games resume on February 28.Abdulrahman’s strike came when thematch looked almost certainly headedtowards a furious stalemate. But being nostranger to late-game heroics, the ace midfielder,popularly known <strong>as</strong> “Ringo”, savedhis team yet again.Abdulrahman’s left-footed screamer flewstraight into the top-right corner of goal, wellbeyond the reach of a leaping Busaiteen goalkeeperHussain Haram. The brilliant shot w<strong>as</strong>precisely on target, leaving Haram no chanceand sending Muharraq’s band of faithful supportersinto frenzy.Busaiteen were reduced to 10 men at thatpoint, following the sending-off of influentialmidfielder Abdulwahab Ali in the 78thminute. Ali had taken down Muharraq’sFaouzi Aaish to earn him his first yellown Al Salehi, right, receives the sponsorship from Akbarn Muharraq’s Hussain Alibattles for possession withBusaiteen’s Mahmood Zatara.Picture by AHMED AL OJAIMYcard, and after harshly challenging the referee’sdecision, w<strong>as</strong> shown a second yellowand then given his marching orders.Muharraq quickly took advantage of beingone man up and in the 85th minute, defenderEbrahim Al Meshkh<strong>as</strong> could have found thenet off an Aaish corner. Meshkh<strong>as</strong> rose abovehis markers, but his header w<strong>as</strong> poorly hit andw<strong>as</strong> well off the mark.After Abdulrahman scored, Muharraqcould have doubled their advantage inthe second minute of stoppage time whenNigerian striker Oshesh w<strong>as</strong> picked outunmarked in front of goal by teammateAbdulla Al Dakheel.Oshesh rushed his shot, however, andhis lightly hit attempt w<strong>as</strong> parlayed by adiving Haram.The very next possession, Busaiteen couldSPORThave silenced the Muharraq party and stunnedtheir rivals with an equaliser, but came upshort. Looking for a quick counterattack,Sami Al Hossaini drew the defence on theright and then sent a low cross into the penaltybox towards hard-charging teammateMahmood Zatara of Jordan. But the p<strong>as</strong>sw<strong>as</strong> just a little too strong <strong>as</strong> Zatara couldnot make contact with the ball, and it breezedacross the face of goal before being clearedaway from danger.Both sides also had chances earlier in thesecond half. In the 51st minute, Aaish hit aleft-footed attempt from inside the area justwide of the left post. Later, Al Hossainihad arguably Busaiteen’s best opportunityat scoring, but his strong header bouncedoff the crossbar after beating Muharraqgoalkeeper Ashraf Waheed.Ahmed and Mohammed reach finalTOP seeds Ahmed Mohammed The title match will be played tomorrowSix champions have already beenand Mohammed Fazli willstarting at 5pm at BTC. It will be crowned in this year’s edition of thebattle for the Boys’ Under-14 followed by the tournament’s closing annual tournament, which h<strong>as</strong> attracted aSingles title in the 18th BBK ceremony, to be attended by high-ranking record of more than 150 entries of differentJunior Open Tennis Championship at officials from BTC and sponsors BBK.nationalities.Bahrain Tennis Club (BTC) in Juffair. Prior to tomorrow’s grand finale, Those to have already captured theirBoth youngsters booked their tickets to another title will be decided today with division championships are Ayman Jaffarthe group final after convincing victories the Boys’ Under-12 Singles final takes in the Boys’ Under-18 Singles, Rayyanin their respective semi-final matches yesterdayplace.Al Falaij in the Boys’ Under-16 Singles,against unranked opposition. Set to face off for the crown are top Mert Ekici and Ahmed Mohammed inNumber one seed Ahmed ousted fellow-Bahrainiseed Yousif Dhaif and second-ranked the Boys’ Under-14 Doubles, Q<strong>as</strong>sim AlAli Dawani 6-4, 6-1 in their Rahul Jaideep. Yousif advanced after Obaidan in the Under-10 Open Singles,round of four meeting, while Mohammed beating unranked H<strong>as</strong>san Al Qattan, while Isa Al Isa in the Under-8 Open Singles,took care of Canadian Etienne Oshinowo Rahul secured his spot in the final after and Q<strong>as</strong>sim’s older sister Sarah Al6-1, 6-1 in their cl<strong>as</strong>h.beating fourth-seed Mahmood Dhaif. Obaidan in the Girls’ Under-14 Singles.EBRAHIM K Kanoo (EKK)h<strong>as</strong> signed on <strong>as</strong> sponsors of thesixth N<strong>as</strong>ser bin Hamad FootballChampionship, scheduled to take place onthe second week of next month.The sponsorship deal w<strong>as</strong> presented byEKK executive general manager sales IsmailAkbar to Shaikh N<strong>as</strong>ser’s media and informationoffice director Tawfeeq Al Salehi.Al Salehi conveyed the greetings andthanks of Shaikh N<strong>as</strong>ser, who is theSupreme Council for Youth and Sportschairman, Bahrain Olympic Committeepresident and tournament patron.A<strong>Gulf</strong> <strong>Daily</strong> <strong>New</strong>s Wednesday, 20th February 201337Slumping Francefavourites forWooden Spoon!head of the2013 SixNationsChampionship,I never thoughtI would seeFrance losingtheir openingtwo fixtures. Thedefeats makeAl Salehi affirmed that Shaikh N<strong>as</strong>ser ishighly appreciative of the significant roleof EKK board chairman Fuad Kanoo insponsoring the sixth edition of the tournament,which h<strong>as</strong> been a major attraction forBahrain’s youth.GestureHe noted that the company’s generousgesture will certainly contribute to the successof this tournament and live up to the<strong>as</strong>pirations of the Bahrainis.On his part, Akbar expressed appreciationtowards the significant steps made byFrom theSidelinesBy Mohammed Hamzah(Follow me on Twitter: @FootballMH)France on course for what can be their first SixNations Wooden Spoon (a title given to the teamthat gets the lowest number of points in the SixNations).France’s first defeat came against Italy, whohave the record number of Wooden Spoons inthe Six Nations (since Italy joined the competitionin 2000). The defeat w<strong>as</strong> France’s secondloss against Italy in the Six Nations; and it w<strong>as</strong>also the second defeat in three years.Taking nothing away from the Italians and theinspiring performance from their captain, SergioParisse, but France’s approach to the matchlacked the charisma of match winners.One of the apparent problems w<strong>as</strong> the shortof the traditional French “flair”; where even intheir previous defeats they usually gave thefans something to cheer about.The same slump in form continued whenFrance came against Wales (a side that w<strong>as</strong> stilllooking for a win after eight times of <strong>as</strong>king),and the outcome w<strong>as</strong> a home defeat right inFrance’s backyard, the Stade de France, one ofthe most intimidating rugby venues.The defeat exposed the disunity between theplayers, where there w<strong>as</strong> no cohesion, and attimes it seemed <strong>as</strong> if the players were followingdifferent tactics.One can argue that w<strong>as</strong> because of the poorkicking from the fly-half. Overall, the Frenchplayers committed too many individual errors,and needless ones. As w<strong>as</strong> the c<strong>as</strong>e with theperformance against Italy, there w<strong>as</strong> no flair andno inspiration in the French side.Even the might of B<strong>as</strong>tareaud did not seem tomotivate the French to get a grip on the match!The current French side looks a shadow ofthe team that I once saw defeat the mighty AllBlacks in the quarter-final of the 2007 RugbyWorld Cup. A match I attended with ex-WelshBowls International, Ross Davies, in Cardiff’sMillennium Stadium.I remember it being a resilient French squad,with the likes of Chabal terrifying any oppositionhe came against.Looking back, I am not too surprised at thecurrent poor performance by the French, for theinconsistency h<strong>as</strong> been a trend for quite a while.The thing that intrigues me the most is whyFrance are so dominant at club level yet soinconsistent on the international scale. On aclub level, the Heineken Cup final had a Frenchside involved in 11 of the l<strong>as</strong>t 16 finals.That figure presents the strength of Frenchclubs and their dominance when it comes toclub rugby.As when I saw them in the Rugby WorldCup; on their day France can give the likes ofthe All Blacks a tough time. The French needto learn from the consistency of the SouthernHemisphere teams in order to build on a successfulclub setup, and continuously challengefor rugby’s top prizes.For now though, France need to change dr<strong>as</strong>ticallyto avoid a disappointing run in the SixNations.E K Kanoo supports N<strong>as</strong>ser championshipShaikh N<strong>as</strong>ser towards the development ofyouth and sports in the kingdom.Meanwhile, two stadiums will be hostingthis year’s tournament, one of which is theKhalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town.The other venue is yet to be announced.Like in the previous editions, 16 teamswill be taking part this year, including thetop eight teams who reached the quarterfinalsfrom l<strong>as</strong>t year’s event.Each team have been allowed to introducea resident player during this editionof the cup, which is also to be known <strong>as</strong>“N<strong>as</strong>ser 6”.
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