The Muslim News - Sport in Brief

Issue 246, Friday 30 October 2009 - 12 Dhu al-Hijjah 1430

Sport in Brief

By Elham A Buaras & Zeeshan Akhtar

Football
Sulaiman al Fahim’s reign as Portsmouth owner ended as the consortium backed by Saudi property magnate Ali al Faraj assumed control of the club. The takeover, which was finalised on Oct 5, will result in Al Fahim will retaining a 10 % stake in the club.
The first Kuwaiti sports team to play in Iraq since Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion celebrated its return with a victory. Rogério de Assis Silva scored in the 79th minute to give Kuwait Sports Club a 1-0 win over Irbil on Sept 30, to win the AFC Cup quarterfinals. The first leg ended in a draw in Kuwait. Authorities brought in extra security before the match, but there were no reports of violence.
France, a mainly Muslim non-league French side said they could take on a side consisting of gay players after all, four days after snubbing them in what the former on Oct 10 insisted was a “misunderstanding”. Paris Foot Gay (PFG) were set to play Bebel but Bebel called it off a day beforehand, sending an email in which they regretted they could not play as doing so was “against their principles”. Bebel director Zahir Belgharbi insisted there had been “a misunderstanding” and sent out a statement indicating they were indeed ready to play. “We had rejected playing this match not on the grounds of homophobia, as we have been accused of doing, but simply because the name of the club (PFG) did not seem to us to reflect our vision of sport,” said Belgharbi, saying his club believed no ethnic or religious slant should be placed on footballing matters.
2010 World Cup who’s going to South Africa?
Europe - Den, Eng, Ger, Ita, Ned, Srb, Slk, Esp & Sui. Play-offs (Po): BIH, Fra, Gre, Por, Irl, Rus, Slo & Ukr. Po: 1st leg Nov 14.
Africa - Gha & CIV- to be decided: Alg, Cmr, Egy, Gab, Ngr & Tun. S. America - Arg, Bra, Chi & Par.
N. & Central America - USA, Mex & Hon Po: CRC & Uru 1st leg Nov 14.
Asia - Aus, Jap, Kor & PRK Po: NZl v Bah -1st leg finished 0-0; 2nd leg Nov 14.
Liverpool co-owner George Gillett’s talks with a Saudi investment firm to sell part, or all, of his stake in the Anfield club are “on hold” despite his visit to the Middle East. Gillett travelled to Riyadh with a view to continuing discussions over the possibility of the F6 investment vehicle – backed by Prince Faisal and the Saudi businessman Majed al-Hugail – taking a minority stake in Liverpool.

Boxing
Amir Khan has begun training earlier than usual as he prepares for the first defence of his WBA light welterweight crown against Ukrainian Dmitriy Salita. Khan beat Andreas Kotelnik in July to win the title and will meet Salita in Newcastle on December 5. “I had a long break after Kotelnik and wanted to get back earlier,” said Khan. “Every fight I’m getting better. But Salita is tough and durable and he wants to take the title off me. That’s making me train twice as hard.” Khan has travelled to the US to team up with his trainer Freddie Roach for his training camp and he says he is training as hard as ever as he bids to continue his rise up the boxing ladder.
Danny Williams escaped being stripped of his British heavyweight title, but must next face the winner of the forthcoming fight between Sam Sexton and Martin Rogan. Williams, 36, lost a three-round points decision to Carl Baker in the recent Prizefighter Series after being floored twice in the first round. But, despite his being beaten for the second time in a year in a non-title fight, the British Board of Control opted not to strip Williams. Commonwealth champion Sexton faces Rogan in Belfast on November 6.Bernard Hopkins will return to the ring in his hometown of Philadelphia on December 2 against fringe contender Enrique Ornelas. The former middleweight champion will have his 56th fight just a month before his 45th birthday in what is little more than a warm-up for the proposed match-up with fellow future Hall of Famer Roy Jones Junior. Despite losing his aura of invincibility to Jermain Taylor and suffering a narrow points defeat to Joe Calzaghe, Hopkins proved he remains one of the best at around 170lbs with a dominant victory over the previously undefeated Kelly Pavlik last time out. Jones is widely considered to be past his best despite two comeback wins this year following the defeat to Calzaghe last November. Soon to turn 41, Jones will give both he and Hopkins one last big payday providing he gets past Green, who has never been stopped and has taken 24 of his 27 wins by knock out. Hopkins lost to Jones in 1993 and the pair went their separate ways - the former lording it over the middleweight division for more than a decade while Jones stepped up to dominate the super-middle and light-heavyweight divisions.
David Tua could fight former heavyweight world champion Hasim Rahman after the American’s proposed fight with compatriot Ray Mercer will not go ahead. Both Rahman and Tua are now looking for an opponent and the two could meet for a third time after Tua’s controversial knockout victory in 1998 and a draw in 2003. 36 year old Rahman’s last fight was a loss in December to Wladimir Klitschko in a WBO and IBF title fight.

Cricket
Shane Watson’s second successive century ensured Australia held on to the Champions Trophy with a six-wicket win over New Zealand at Centurion Park.
Younus Khan will discuss his future with the Pakistan Cricket Board after tendering his resignation as captain over match fixing allegations. He offered to go after Jamshed Dasti, National Assembly committee chairman, alleged the team deliberately under performed at the ICC Champions Trophy. “The allegations hurt me and my family. We are honourable people,” said Younus. Younus made his decision to quit after Dasti, the chief of the National Assembly standing committee on sport, said he would investigate reports that Pakistan had deliberately under performed in their games against Australia and New Zealand, although the committee cleared the team of any match-fixing charges. Having already booked their place in the last four before losing to Australia in their final group game, Pakistan lost to New Zealand in the semi-finals. Dasti later claimed his remarks had been misunderstood and that he had never intended to suggest match-fixing by players. PCB Chairman, Ijaz Butt, who rejected Younus’s resignation, said he hoped to persuade him to change his mind..

Tennis
Marat Safin and his sister Dinara Safina both made emotional departures from the China Open this week. Safin, 29, has decided to hang up his racket at the end of the season after 12 years as a professional and organisers of the Beijing event held a special farewell ceremony for him after his entertaining defeat to Rafa Nadal in the quarter finals. Nadal had found himself in the unusual position of having fans cheering for his opponent as the Russian former world number one continued to reap the dividends of being the first China Open champion back in 2004. Safina, by contrast, left the centre court in tears after suffering the ignominy of the worst upset for a number one in the history of the rankings at the hands of 226th ranked Chinese wild card Zhang Shuai. The defeat, which followed early upsets at the US Open and Pan Pacific Open in preceding tournaments, means Serena Williams will end the Russian’s controversial 25 week reign as world number one.
Sania Mirza’s Japan Open ended in a semi-final mauling by world No 26 Francesca Schiavone on Oct 17. Mirza’s 2-6; 1-6 defeat meant that she has now lost all three encounters against her Italian friend. Mirza had beaten Shahar Peer ISR and Marian Bartoli FRA en route to semi-final. It was for the third time in the season that Mirza had made the singles semi-final. The Indian earned 130 ranking points and $10,200 as prize money for her effort. Mirza lost her semi-final within an hour. Mirza saved a breakpoint in the first set but the Italian still broke her twice to race away with the lead. In the second set Schiavone broke Mirza twice to book her place in the final.

Squash
Karim Darwish EGY extended his lead at the top the new world rankings. Darwish’s appearance in the climax of the Sky Open in Cairo marked his second final appearance since becoming No 1. Amr Shabana EGY and Ramy Ashour EGY, remain at 3 and 4. Pakistani did not do so well, Aamir Atlas Khan who jumped to career best rankings at No14 fell four places down to 18th. Farhan Mehboob also fell two places down and now occupies 23rd spot. Yasir Butt slumped 7 places down to No 55; Waqar Mehboob maintained his career best at No 69. Khwaja Adil Maqbool fell two places from 73rd spot. Shahid Zaman jumped 2 places up and sits at No 84. Arshad Iqbal Burki maintained his last month’s ranking at No 98.

Athletics
European indoor 3000m champion Mo Farah will compete at the Bupa Great South Run on October 25. It will be the first time the 26-year-old, a former European cross country champion, has competed over 10 miles at international level.
The International Olympic Committee has delayed its verdict on five athletes who failed dope tests at the Beijing Olympics. The IOC announced on Oct 5 that it would not make a decision on the positive tests until December. Bahrain’s Olympic 1,500m gold medallist Rashid Ramzi, who could have his medal stripped, and four other athletes tested positive for the blood booster Cera.
16th Arab Athletics Championships (Oct 6-9): Morocco finished top of the medal table at the games winning 28 medals. Bahrain was 2nd with 16, while Egypt placed 3rd , a total of 12 medals. Saudi Arabia ranked 4th in collecting 11 medals with Algeria and with the host country next. The men’s 1500m was won by Amine Laalou of MOR followed closely by Bilal Mansour Ali BAH and Imad Taouil ALG. The men’s 400m was won by Rabbah Mohamed Hassan SUD who won his duel with the Mohamed Achour LIB. In the Long jump, Yahya Berrabah, MOR picked the silver medal (8.09m) just 1cm behind Aissam Nima ALG.

Sailing
BMW Oracle Racing are asking that a New York court reject Ras al-Khaimah, UAE, as the venue for the America’s Cup, citing “grave safety concerns” for their US crew because of the proximity to Iran. Defending champions Alinghi SUI picked the port as the site for the race. The American team said the venue is “unsuitable” because the proposed racing area is within 17 m of islands occupied by Iran in a current territorial dispute with the UAE. They would like the race scheduled on Feb 8 to be replaced with Valencia, Spain.