Sports

AMMAN — Teams return to local football action on Friday when the 17th week of the Jordan Football Professional League resumes after a two-week break for national team’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup qualifiers.

During the break Jordan beat Hong Kong 4-0 in a friendly before opening Asian Cup qualifiers with a 7-0 home win over lowly Cambodia.

Before heading to break Wihdat led the standings after scoring an important 3-0 win over 4th placed Manshieh. Jazira dropped to second after they were held 1-1 with Hussein, while Faisali remained third after a 0-0 draw with That Ras.

Wihdat will next play Ahli who lost 3-0 to 7th placed Shabab Urdun and dropped to 8th, while Baqa’a, who have managed to move out of the relegation zone for now, take on Jazira.

Baqa’a moved from last to 10th after their second consecutive win beating 9th placed Sahab 3-1, while That Ras remained 11th joining Sarih who dropped to last in the relegation zone. Ramtha are fifth after beating Sarih 2-1 and next play 6th placed Hussein.

Wihdat also lead their AFC Asian Cup Group C after they beat Oman’s Saham 2-1. They earlier scored a 1-0 win over Lebanon’s Nijmeh and held Bahrain’s Muharraq 1-1.

Representing Jordan in the Asian Cup for the first time, Ahli are now third in Group A after they held Oman’s Suweiq 0-0. They earlier held Iraq’s Zawra 1-1 and lost their opening match 1-0 to Syria’s Jeish. 

Wihdat, who exited the Asian Champions League, are looking to win their fourth consecutive and 16th overall league title, while Faisali have not won the league in the past four years and eyeing their 33rd record title.

Joining the top three this season is Manshieh who joined the league alongside Sahab. Former Jordan Cup champs That Ras are now in the relegation zone, while Baqa’a, a usual top five team is also struggling in the lower half of standings. Jazira’s Syrian pro Mardig Mardigian has maintained his scoring proficiency and leads the top scorers list with 12 goals followed by Wihdat’s Munther Abu Amara with eight.

DHARAMSALA, India — Lokesh Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane steered India to an eight-wicket win in the fourth and final Test against Australia as the hosts secured a 2-1 series victory at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on Tuesday.

Rahul made 51 not out and Rahane added a rapid unbeaten 38 to help India chase down the modest 106-run victory target with more than five sessions to spare, the opener completing his sixth fifty of the series when he scored the winning runs.

Wrapping up the win appeared a formality for India when its openers walked out at the picturesque venue nestled in the shadows of the Himalayas needing just 87 runs to seal the series with all 10 second innings wickets intact.

Josh Hazlewood, however, seemed determined to make sure India would need to work for the win and the paceman struck Murali Vijay’s pad with consecutive balls in the first over, but both leg-before wicket appeals were turned down by the umpire.

At the other end, Rahul was showing his fluency against spin, driving and sweeping Steve O’Keefe for a couple of boundaries in the left-armer’s second over of the day.

Pat Cummins then came on to inject some brief excitement to proceedings when two Indian wickets fell in the paceman’s second over of the morning.

First he dismissed Vijay, caught behind for eight with his first delivery, and five balls later, Cheteshwar Pujara, normally a good judge of singles, was run out without scoring when he attempted a risky run.

Glenn Maxwell did an excellent job at point, where he collected Pujara’s push and threw down the middle stump at the non-striker’s end with the batsman well short of crease after a mix-up with Rahul.

Leading the side in the absence of injured skipper Virat Kohli, Rahane played with uncharacteristic aggression, hitting Cummins for back-to-back sixes at a stadium marking its debut as a Test arena.

Seventh heaven

“We want to be scoring big runs and taking big wickets but at the end of the match, we want to standing behind that board that says ‘champions’,” Rahul said afterwards, calling it the best series he had ever played in.

“The way Jinks [Rahane] came out and started hitting Cummins for sixes was excellent. He came out with a clear mind and said ‘let’s not play this out, let’s attack’ and I said ‘okay’.”

The victory sealed India’s seventh series win in a row, dating back to its triumph in Sri Lanka in August 2015.

“Magnificent series,” Australia captain Steven Smith said. “One of the best I have been a part of. Credit to India, it is a fantastic cricket side, particularly in its backyard.”

The win also brought a successful end of India’s 13-test home season, in which it won 10, drew two and had the lone loss to Australia in the opener in Pune.

“To come back from 1-0 down against the Aussies, when you could see there were tired bodies out there was just brilliant,” India coach Anil Kumble said.

“It was a tough game and after losing Virat through injury, it was really important that the team stood up. Rahane led the team brilliantly,” the former captain added.

AMMAN — The women’s national football team leaves for Tajikistan on Wednesday for Group A qualifiers for the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Football Championship.

Starting April 3, Jordan will be playing Bahrain, the UAE, Iraq, Tajikistan, and the Philippines as 21 teams divided into four groups start their quest for four slots to the 2018 AFC Women’s Championship, which will be held in Amman grouping the continents top eight teams. 

Jordan will be the first country in the west Asia zone to host an AFC women’s championship. 

The delegation, headed by Jordan Football Association board member Rana Husseini, seeks to make good use of the qualifiers as a competitive chance with the inadequacy of friendly matches ahead of the qualifiers apart from hosting Algeria in two matches winning 2-1 and losing 3-2. 

Jordan has already secured a slot in the competition, as host country, but seeks to benefit from competitive chances as the top team from each group will move to the championship which includes Japan, Australia, China and host Jordan which has automatically qualified. If Jordan tops its group, the runner-up will also advance.

The competition, held every 4 years, for 15 times, has been won by China eight times. Japan is reigning champ. 

Jordan recently lost its FIFA Rankings, after it was 52nd and 11th in Asia, after 18 inactive months. The last time the senior team competed regionally was in 2015, when they exited the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a winless record. 

The team is eagerly anticipating qualifiers for the 2018 AFC Women’s Championship after the U-17 team competed in the FIFA Under 17 Women’s World Cup in 2016 where they were eliminated from the first round after playing Spain, Mexico and New Zealand.  Jordan beat bids from Uruguay, South Africa, Ireland and Bahrain and was the only Arab team at the U-17 World Cup after Egypt and Morocco were eliminated from the qualifiers.

The U-17 FIFA World Cup, the first of its kind to take place in the Middle East, was a big boost not only for the Kingdom but women’s sports in the region.

Willie Cauley-Stein scored on a putback with 1.8 seconds remaining, allowing the Sacramento Kings to stun the Los Angeles Clippers 98-97 at Staples Centre on Sunday.

Darren Collison scored 19 points to lead the Kings, who trailed by as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter. Kings rookie guard Buddy Hield, who hit two clutch three-pointers in the rally, and forward Anthony Tolliver each had 15 points.

DeAndre Jordan collected 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers, while Chris Paul had 17 points and nine assists.

The loss prevented the Clippers from pulling into a tie with the idle Utah Jazz for the fourth seed in the Western Conference.

Celtics 112, Heat 108

Boston held off a late Miami charge and moved into a virtual tie for first place in the Eastern Conference with a victory over the Heat.

The win moved Boston to just four percentage points behind the idle Cleveland Cavaliers for the top seed in the conference. The teams meet April 5 in Boston.

Isaiah Thomas, the league’s leading fourth-quarter scorer, tallied eight points in the final 4:58 after the Celtics, who rallied from a 15-point first-half deficit, blew a nine-point fourth-quarter lead and trailed by two with 4:13 remaining.

Pacers 107, 76ers 94

Paul George scored 21 points to lead seven Pacers in double figures as Indiana beat Philadelphia at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Myles Turner contributed 17 points and a team-high 16 rebounds. Also in double figures for the Pacers were Jeff Teague (16 points) and Al Jefferson (14). C.J. Miles, Monta Ellis and Aaron Brooks each scored 10 points.

Jefferson suffered a leg injury with 9:43 left in the fourth quarter. He was taken to the locker room in a wheelchair.

Indiana snapped a two-game losing streak and moved into a three-way tie with Atlanta and Milwaukee for the No. 5 spot in Eastern Conference.

Hornets 120, Suns 106

Kemba Walker had 31 points and nine assists to lead Charlotte.

The Hornets pounced on the Suns quickly, racing to leads of 17-1, 22-3 and 30-7 before eventually leading 38-18 after one quarter. The Hornets went on to lead by as many as 25 in what was their second wire-to-wire victory of the season.

Charlotte has won four of its last five and continues to hang around in the Eastern Conference playoff race with nine games remaining.

Nets 107, Hawks 92

Veterans Jeremy Lin and Brook Lopez combined for 42 points to help Brooklyn outlast short-handed and struggling Atlanta, handing it a seventh straight loss.

Lopez had 23 points and seven rounds and Lin scored 19 points, his most since getting a season-high 24 on March 14. Lin added eight assists, two steals and four rebounds for the Nets.

Brooklyn have won three of their last four, improved to 8-8 in March and broke a five-game losing streak in Atlanta.

Rockets 137, 

Thunder 125

Lou Williams paced a quartet of 20-point scorers for the Rockets in their win. Williams finished with 31 points on 11-of-15 shooting, hitting 7 of 8 3-pointers to help carry the Rockets to their third win in four meetings with the Thunder this season.

Aid came in the form of guards James Harden (22 points, 12 assists) and Eric Gordon (24 points on 4-of-9 3-point shooting), and forward Trevor Ariza, who made 9-of-11 shots while also chipping in 24 points. Houston shot a robust 63.3 per cent from the floor.

Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook recorded his league-leading 36th triple-double. He finished with 39 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists.

Bulls 109, Bucks 94

Nikola Mirotic hit six three-pointers and scored 28 points on 11-of-14 shooting for the Bulls.

Jimmy Butler scored 20 points while adding 14 of the Bulls’ 33 assists. Robin Lopez and Rajon Rondo each scored 18 points for Chicago, with the latter adding nine rebounds and nine assists.

Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with 22 points.

Pelicans 115, 

Nuggets 90

Anthony Davis scored 31 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in only 28 minutes to lead New Orleans to a victory over Denver.

Jrue Holiday and Jordan Crawford each scored 13 points, and the bench contributed 49 as the Pelicans earned their sixth win in eight games. New Orleans is now four games behind the Nuggets for the eighth spot in the Western Conference.

The Pelicans won without DeMarcus Cousins, who sat out due to an ankle injury. Cousins got hurt Friday during New Orleans’ 117-107 loss to the Houston Rockets and was still sore at the Sunday morning shootaround.

Warriors 106, 

Grizzlies 94

Stephen Curry contributed two three-pointers to a 14-5 fourth-quarter run that enabled Golden State to pull away from Memphis en route to a victory.

Curry finished with 21 points and Klay Thompson a game-high 31 for the Warriors, who extended the league’s longest active winning streak to seven games while squaring the season series 2-2 with the Grizzlies.

Mike Conley had 29 points and a team-high six assists for Memphis, which lost ground in its pursuit of the fifth and sixth play-off spots in the West.

Trail Blazers 97, 

Lakers 81

Damian Lillard led the way with 22 points, and Portland cruised past Los Angeles at Staples Centre.

Allen Crabbe added 18 points and CJ McCollum contributed 13 as the Trail Blazers beat the Lakers for the 12th consecutive time. Portland has won seven in a row over Los Angeles at Staples. The win allowed the Trail Blazers to tie the Denver Nuggets for eighth place in the Western Conference race.

D’Angelo Russell led the Lakers with 22 points.

AMMAN — Jordan hosts Cambodia on Tuesday in their opening Group C qualifier for the 2019 Asian Cup.

The 6:00pm match, against the 173rd ranked team at King Abdullah Stadium in Quweismeh, should provide a positive start for the qualifiers ahead of playing Vietnam and Afghanistan. Group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals, as well as the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Teams already having qualified include Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and hosts the UAE.

The qualifiers, which will start March 28 and end on March 27, 2018, will see teams playing in six groups. Jordan is the top ranked team in Group C with, but head coach Abdullah Misfer said his squad does not underestimate any opponent. “ We will seek to lead the group and advance and be competitive in the Asian Cup.”

The national team has not had very glistening results or preparation period. It was a year of overhauling the team as the squad had inconsistent results and a change of five coaches as Jordan was eliminated from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. 

As the team slid further down to 115th in the latest FIFA Rankings and is still out of the Asian top 10, it also did not get the chance to play leading teams and settled for playing 142nd ranked Hong Kong whom they beat 4-0 ahead of the qualifiers. They also beat 126th ranked Georgia 1-0 in the first match under the new head coach. 

Now, the team aims to get pats Asian qualifiers and advance to the Asian finals. Group C teams Vietnam is ranked 136th, Afghanistan 156th, Cambodia 173rd. 

After the Cambodia match Jordan is slated to play two friendlies with Iraq on June 2 and Hong Kong on June 7 again before their Vietnam qualifier. 

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reached the Championship three times. The pinnacle was at the 13th Asian Cup when they lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best ever FIFA rank of 37th in August 2004. The lowest ranking was 152nd in 1996.

They also reached the Asian Cup finals n 2011 and 2015.

The Kingdom had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013, eventiually losing to then World’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying match for a place in the 2014 World Cup.

Roger Federer continued his impressive 2017 campaign with a straight-sets, second-round victory at the Miami Open in Florida on Saturday.

But it was far from a cakewalk for Federer, who came within two points of losing the first set before breaking twice in the second for a 7-6(2), 6-3 triumph over American teenager Frances Tiafoe.

Next up for Federer is Juan Martin del Potro, who beat Dutchman Robin Haase 6-2, 6-4 in a night match at Crandon Park.

Federer has a 15-5 career record against del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion.

“I would love to play against [del Potro],” Federer said, speaking before knowing who his next opponent would be. “We’ve had some epic matches against each other. I’m sure the crowd would love to see it.”

Tiafoe provided a good competitive workout for the 35-year-old Swiss maestro in his first match since he won the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Sunday.

Tiafoe broke in the first game of the second set, but fourth seed Federer broke straight back with a sizzling backhand winner and another break was all he needed to clinch his 1094th career victory at tour level.

Tiafoe, ranked 101st in the world, has only four career victories, but he showed enough to suggest he will add to that number sooner rather than later.

Federer could be on course for a semifinal showdown with compatriot Stan Wawrinka, less than two weeks after they met in the Indian Wells final.

Top seed Wawrinka defeated Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in 65 minutes, firing seven aces in a 6-3, 6-4 victory in less than favourable morning conditions.

“I’m really happy with the match today,” Wawrinka told reporters. “It’s quite tough conditions, raining and really windy today. It’s really windy on the court, so it’s never easy.

“I’m happy with the way I was moving, the way I was playing and my attitude in general was really positive,” he added. “So it’s a great match.”

Austrian No. 6 Dominic Thiem was the only high seed to suffer a loss on Saturday. 

Thiem fell to 20-year-old Croatian Borna Coric, who overcame an embarrassing brain freeze in the final game to win 6-1, 7-5.

Serving for the match, Coric stopped in the middle of a rally, challenging a line call, only to be reminded by the chair umpire that he had no challenges left.

Volatile Australian Nick Kyrgios won his match, and also received a code violation warning from the chair umpire for swearing at a spectator who called out during a point.

Kyrgios, the 12th seed, dropped his first two service games, but roared back to beat Damir Dzumhur 6-4, 6-3.

AMMAN — Lebanon’s Rachid Akl held off a strong final day chase from compatriot Sheikh Mouss El Zein to win the 27th Jordan Open on Saturday, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

Played at the Greg Norman-designed Ayla Golf Course in Aqaba, the Open saw Akl lead from day one and eventually took the title with a three-round total of 241.

But his winning margin was only two shots after Zein mounted a strong final day chase.

Third went to Bilal Ataya of Palestine and Salim El Zein was fourth. Jordan’s 13-year-old Shergo Kurdi led the home nation’s challenge in fifth, while the former reigning champion, Amer Radee of Iraq, was sixth.

AMMAN — Ra’fat Haroun on Friday was crowned champion of the 2nd round of Jordan Drift Championship held with the participation of 36 drivers from Palestine, Egypt and Jordan at SOFEX racetrack.

Haroun in his Toyota GT 36 collected 395 points in front of more than 4000 fans, followed by Omar Kukhen in his BMW A30 with 393 points, and Hesham Asem in his BMW A30 with 388 points. Abdullah Abu Hussein won the fourth place in his BMW A46 with 385 points, and Mujahed Baitamoni secured fifth place in his BMW A36 with 377. 

The best 13 drivers witnessed Haroun’s determination to win the event especially when Asem, who led the first and second heats, retreated to the third place.

The winner of the first round Othman Takriti retiring after his car faced some mechanical issues. Last year’s champion Mohammed Kukhen was out of luck and did not show his experience in the event as a power to be reckon with.

AMMAN — Lebanese players have dominated the first day of the Jordan Golf Open, which is being played at the Greg Norman-designed Ayla Course in Aqaba, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

Nemer Saad, of Lebanon, shot a fine one-over 73 to take the overnight lead, one shot clear of compatriot Rachid Akl in second. Palestine’s top player Bilal Ataya carded a four-over 76 to sit in third spot while Lebanon’s Sheikh Mouss Al Zein (79) is fourth.

Jordan’s young Shergo Kurdi lies eight shots off the pace following his 81 while three-time reigning champion Amer Radee, of Iraq, is a further shot back with both players looking to pick up early shots on Day Two. 

The tournament is being run over three days for the first time in its 27-year history and has attracted some of the best players from across the region. 

AMMAN — The second round of Jordan Drift Championship kicks off on Friday with the participation of 38 drivers from Palestine, Egypt and Jordan at the SOFEX Racetrack in Marka.

Last year’s champion Mohammed Kukhen and his brother Omar will face a challenging second round after having had technical problems in the first round.

The burden will be on the winner of the first round Othman Takriti, who in his BMW E46 registered 373 points after winning the first, second and the best 13 cars’ heats.

Takriti is heading the standings with 25 points followed by Fuqaha (22) and Abu Hussein (20). 

Mohammed Fuqaha came second in his BMW E30 with 370 points and Abdullah Abu Hussein settled in the third place in his BMW E30 with 366 points.

“We expect a lot of competition and challenge as drivers will be trying to win this crucial round and head to the third one with ease, which will not be easy. We have one driver from each Palestine and Egypt and this might create another challenge,” Othman Naseef, Jordan Motorsport CEO told The Jordan Times.

Drivers will be judged according to speed, angle and perfect track line (90 points), showmanship (5 points) and smoking tyres (5 points).