KT 3-4-2013_Layout 1 - Kuwait Times

Pizarro dethrones Messi in
AP global football rankings
PARIS: It takes something extra special
to dethrone Lionel Messi. So that’s
exactly what Bayern Munich striker
Claudio Pizarro did, scoring four goals
in a 9-2 demolition of Hamburg to
knock the Barcelona superstar into second
place in the latest Associated Press
global football rankings.
The fact that the Peruvian striker
hadn’t even scored a league goal since
the final day of last season made his
achievement even more spectacular.
“He’s the symbol of team which
totally dominated its subject, where
pretty much every player deserved a
place in the Top 10,” said Cedric
Rouquette of Eurosport in France.
Pizarro collected 133 points to
Messi’s 99, with Dutch winger Arjen
Robben pulling in 71 points to move
into third spot by contributing two
goals - one a sublime chip from the
edge of the penalty area - as Bayern
taught Hamburg a lesson.
In the team rankings, Bayern earned
148 points from a possible 150 after its
scintillating display of attacking football.
“They were in completely different
stratosphere,” said James Thorogood of
Bundlesliga.com in Germany. “The
Bundesliga’s runaway leaders carved
the Red Shorts apart like they were a
Sunday league team, and arguably
should have broken the double-digits
mark.”
Filip Bondy of the New York Daily
News noted that Bayern is now only
really tested by other teams in Europe.
“They’re leading the table by 20 points
and now they score nine goals in a single
match. Is it too late to apply for
admission to La Liga?” Bondy joked.
“Because it sure looks as if Bayern has
outgrown the Bundesliga.”
Juventus’ consistency contrasts with
the glitzy football played in Munich, but
Antonio Conte’s team took another
decisive step toward the Serie A title by
winning 2-1 at Inter Milan with a performance
as determined as Bayern’s
was swaggering.
Juventus totaled 119 points to rise
from third to second, with Manchester
United, Napoli and Paris Saint-Germain
tied for third place. PSG and United
enjoy commanding leads in their
domestic leagues and moved closer to
wrapping up the titles with 1-0 wins,
KUWAIT: An enterprising knock of 63
runs by opener Jagath Roshantha
paved way for Ahli United Bank
recording their first victory over Gulf
Bank in the ongoing Kuwait Banks
club league trophy organized by
Kuwait Cricket. Winning the toss and
electing to bat first, Jagath, the
stocky right handed batsman gave a
positive impetus by launching into
the attack right from the word go
and consolidated his team’s position
with a 88 runs second wicket partnership
with Saud Qamar.
Getting into his rhythm and coming
down the track, Jagath clubbed
some handsome looking strokes to
score 63 runs which had 5 boundaries.
Saud Qamar struck a quick 32
runs and Sajid who followed next
was more enterprising as he hit 3
fours & 3 huge sixes to score 38 runs
in just 12 balls to bring the AUB total
to a mammoth 175 runs in 20 overs.
away to Sunderland and at home to
Montpellier, respectively.
Juve’s march to the title is perhaps
the ultimate example of teamwork,
considering that top scorer Fabio
Quagliarella has managed only eight
league goals this season.
That puts him light years behind
Messi’s astonishing mark of 43. Yet the
veteran forward - who has never managed
more than 13 league goals in a
Serie A season - is pivotal in his team’s
setup for his tireless running and battling
qualities.
Meanwhile, Gareth Bale added
another excellent strike in an outstanding
season to take his league tally to 17
goals. The Welshman climbed to fourth
spot with 57 points, while Napoli striker
Edinson Cavani jumped two places to
fifth after scoring twice in the 5-3 win at
Torino.
Although Napoli is nine points
behind Juventus, it remains two points
clear of AC Milan in the race for second
place.
Cavani only played the last 25 minutes
but still did enough, Rouquette
said, to “help the Neapolitans turn a
crazy match in their favor” and take his
season’s haul to 22 league goals and 71
in 97 career matches for the club.
Just behind PSG, Napoli and United
in the team rankings is Manchester City.
While unlikely to cut United’s 15-point
lead at the top with eight matches left,
City bounced back to form with a 4-0
thumping of Newcastle - just in time for
next Monday’s trip to United.
Having received full marks in the
previous rankings, Barca dropped to
seventh spot with 38 points after a 2-2
draw at Celta Vigo in which Messi
scored for an unprecedented 19th
straight league game.
“Scoring in 19 consecutive matches
and against every team in the league is
a Lionel Messi record that will probably
never be beaten, unless he breaks it
himself,” panelist Mike McGrath of
England’s Sun newspaper and Wardles
news agency said.
In a reflection of their respective seasons,
Barca’s draw was still enough to
keep it ahead of Real Madrid, which
dropped from second place to 10th following
a lackluster 1-1 deadlock at Real
Zaragoza.—AP
Jawad, Rafat & Bilal bowled well for
Gulf Bank taking a wicket each.
Gulf Bank, chasing almost 9 runs
an over had an early set back as they
lost both the openers with 24 runs on
board but skipper Rafat Khan &
Tanveer stood firm to counter attack
the AUB bowlers with a determined
stand of 45 runs for the fourth wicket.
Sensing the need to have a further
breakthrough, AUB skipper
Mahmoud Bastaki introduced himself
from the garden end and immediately
struck by having Rafat Khan caught
at sweeper cover by Fahad Bastaki for
15 runs.
Mahmoud Bastaki exhibiting his
years of experience maintained a
steady off & middle stump line to run
through the Gulf Bank middle order
batting line up to have an impressive
bowling figure of 4-14 in 4 overs.
Tanveer who fought a lone battle was
run out after making a valuable 31
runs with 2 huge sixes. Gulf Bank
scored 91 runs in 15 over, thus leaving
AUB victorious by 84 runs.
Mahmoud Bastaki was rightly presented
with the Player of the match
award for his skillful bowling performance.
In the second match of the day,
Burgan Bank notched a 43 runs victory,
over Kuwait International Bank.
Batting first on a beautiful batting
strip, Burgan kept a steady run flow
as Dilip (17 runs) & one drop Arthur
played sensible cricket to add 40 runs
for the second wicket. Striking the
cherry with awesome power, Arthur
hit a breezy 58 runs in just 39 ball
with 6 fours and 3 sixes.
The introduction of wily off spinner
and veteran of many battles,
Robin Lasarado from the garden end
put brakes on Burgan scoring. The
masterly bowler Robin (2-16) spun a
web around the talented Burgan
SPORTS
batsmen and skipper Manoj Mishra
(2-31) operating from the co-operative
end restricted the scoring flow to
a great extend. Efficient and athletic
in the field, Ali Asghar of KIB took
three stunning catches to support
the effort of the KIB bowlers.
Waheed’s late onslaught of 26 runs
enabled Burgan to post a decent
total of 162 in 20 overs.
Kuwait International Bank openers
Khurshid Ali & Ali Asghar launched a
promising start to add 42 runs for the
opening partnership and the duo
batting with perfect timing gave a fitting
reply to the run chase. Reading
the pitch condition, Syed Ejaz Ali, the
Burgan skipper who led commandingly,
introduced left arm spinner
Asharaf who removed the potentially
dangerous opener Ali Asghar for a
well struck 21 runs and squared up
Nadeem to have the middle stump
uprooted.
On a slow & bouncy pitch, the
Burgan spinners were literally
unplayable as Manohar, Waheed &
skipper Ejaz Ali bowled superbly to
skittle the KIB team to 119 runs. KIB
opener Khurshid Ali remained
unbeaten with a patient 31 runs &
skipper Manoj Mishra scoring 14 runs
were the main contributors for KIB.
Asharaf (2-19), Manohar (3-24),
Waheed (2-9) & Syed Eijaz Ali (3-22)
bowled well for Burgan Bank. Mr.
David Thorpe, General Manager,
Finance & Planning, Kuwait
International Bank presented the
Player of the match award to Arthur
for his excellent batting display.
In the third match of the day,
Kuwait Finance House (KFH) chalked
out an easy 8 wicket victory over Ahli
Bank of Kuwait (ABK). ABK won the
toss and elected to bat first and soon
were in deep trouble as they lost
their star batsman Pervaiz in the very
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2013
QPR closer to the drop
after defeat at Fulham
Fulham 3
LONDON: Fulham withstood a fierce
fightback from Queens Park Rangers
to beat their west London rivals 3-2
on Monday and push Harry
Redknapp’s side closer to Premier
League relegation.
Dimitar Berbatov’s double and an
own goal put the hosts 3-0 up in the
first half but Rangers, adrift in the
bottom three, stormed back and the
home team were forced to cling on
after midfielder Steve Sidwell was
sent off 11 minutes from time.
Two errors from Rangers centre
back Christopher Samba, signed for
an undisclosed club record fee from
Anzhi Makhachkala in January,
helped Berbatov fire 10th-placed
Fulham into a two-goal lead midway
through the first half.
Samba tripped Ashkan Dejagah
just inside the box and Berbatov
scored from the penalty spot after
eight minutes. The Bulgarian doubled
Fulham’s advantage with his 13th
league goal of the season after
Samba dwelt in possession on the
edge of his own area and the former
Manchester United striker seized on
the loose ball to shoot past keeper
Julio Cesar.
Samba was not the only Rangers
defender to suffer, Clint Hill putting
through his own net on 41 minutes
when John Arne Riise’s cross hit him
and flew in.
Adel Taarabt gave the visitors a
lifeline with a well-taken goal just
before halftime and soon after the
restart Loic Remy’s penalty, awarded
after Taarabt was tripped by Giorgios
Karagounis, was saved by Mark
Schwarzer.
Remy quickly made amends when
Kuwait International Bank team Burgan Bank team
Ahli United Bank, Burgan Bank & KFH win
Kuwait Banks Club Cricket League — 2013
he smashed the ball home just minutes
later from Stephane Mbia’s
through ball and Rangers had other
chances to take at least a point after
Sidwell was shown a straight red card
for a rash challenge on Armand
Traore. Rangers, who have seven
matches to play, are seven points
adrift of safety. They remain 19th on
23 points, the same as bottom club
Reading. Aston Villa are 18th on 30
Ahli Bank Kuwait team Ahli United Bank team
Kuwait Finance House team
QPR 2
LONDON: Queens Park Rangers Cameroonian defender Stephane Mbia (left) vies for the ball with Fulham’s
Costa Rican forward Bryan Ruiz (right) during the English Premier League football match.—AFP
points with Wigan Athletic just above
the relegation places, also on 30 having
played one game fewer.
“We’re not giving up,” QPR manager
Redknapp told Sky Sports television.
“We’ve got to beat Wigan on
Sunday now.
“We’ve got to keep going. We
need another 14 points and we must
make sure we win four games and
draw two.”—Reuters
National must stay unique — Aintree chief
LONDON: Safety and welfare should
always be a priority in jumps racing
but the Grand National must remain
a test of horse and jockey and not
lose its unique character, according
to Aintree racecourse chief John
Baker. The deaths of two horses during
last year’s race and two in 2011
brought equine safety into focus and
prompted an official inquiry amid
calls by animal welfare groups for the
National, first run in 1839 and now
with an estimated global television
audience of 600 million, to be
banned.
A number of modifications were
subsequently recommended, with
the organisers making alterations to
iconic fences such as the notorious
Becher’s Brook.
“They (the National fences) still
need jumping, they still need respect
and it remains a challenge for horse
and jockey which is what it should
be,” Baker, overseeing his first
National on Saturday, told Reuters.
According to British Horseracing
Authority figures, 10 horses have
been fatally injured in the Grand
National since 2000.
“We have made some hugely significant
changes in terms of safety
and welfare of the Grand National
and we need to be saying: ‘We are
proud of what we have done’,” Baker
said. “This is the greatest race in the
world, those fences still need to be
respected...we’ve maintained that,
we’re very strong in that the distance
of the race is unique, the number of
runners is unique and we need to
retain the character of the Grand
National. “We have to get the balance
right from protecting that uniqueness
and character and moving with
the times and trying to make sure
that safety and welfare is on top of
our agenda.”—Reuters
first over. Soon after Balwant &
Sunder fell to some brilliant catches
held by Zahed & Fazal and the hostile
pace bowling of KFH never let the
ABK batsmen to go on top.
It was left for Abishek to stand
amongst the ruins to steady the ship
and along with John who scored a
painstaking 19 runs, which helped
ABH to score 98 runs. Faraz 2-10,
Abdulla 2-12 & Zahid 2-28 were the
main wicket takers for KFH.
KFH team started the chase in a
belligerent mood, plundering 63 runs
in just 4 overs, Zahid was at his very
best scoring 38 runs of 18 balls and
Abdulla the other opener hammered
a stroke filled knock of 43 runs in
just 20 balls. KFH reached their target
in the 8th over loosing two wickets
and ABK’s Sunder claiming both of
them. Abdulla of KFH was declared
Player of the match for his all-round
performance.