Sports

AMMAN — Jordan’s swimming sensation Khader Baqlah has won his second gold medal on Sunday at the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The 18-year-old followed up Saturday’s 400m freestyle gold by winning the 200m in a time of 1:49.85 minutes, almost half-a-second ahead of Turkey’s Erge Gezmis on 1:50.31 minutes with another Turkish swimmer, Doga Celik in third in 1:50.44.

Meanwhile, late Saturday, Bashar Al Najjar won a superb gold in the 67kg karate contest. Najjar beat Algeria’s Abdelatif Benkhaled in the final having earlier defeated Saudi Arabia’s Fahed Al Qattami, Syria’s Mohammad Darweesh, and Egypt’s Ali Al Sawi.

AMMAN — Khader Baqlah sliced more than three seconds off the national record on his way to winning Jordan’s first gold on Saturday at the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.  The University of Florida student won the 400m freestyle in 3:55:37 minutes.

Meanwhile, Jordan’s judo Olympian Ibrahim Khalaf carried the Kingdom’s flag on Friday at the spectacular opening ceremony.

Jordan have taken a delegation of nearly 80 athletes to compete in 12 sports over the next 10 days and they joined 51 other countries at a glorious ceremony held in the country’s Olympic Stadium.

Prior to the opening ceremony, Olympic boxer Obadah Al Kesbeh put on a masterclass as he booked a place in the quarter-finals of the 64kg category.

Kesbeh breezed past Pakistan’s Soleman Baloch, 3-0, ito book a last eight match-up with Turkmenistan’s Volcan Gokcek on Tuesday.

His teammate Mohammad Abu Jajeh missed out in the 60kg weight, losing 3-0 to Turkmenistan’s Hursand Imankuleve.

BARCELONA — Up against a baying Vicente Calderon crowd and a battle-hardened Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid could not produce the same dominant display as in their 3-0 win in the first leg, but reached another Champions League final on Wednesday thanks to their experience.

Goals from Saul Niguez and an Antoine Griezmann penalty inside 16 minutes gave Atletico tangible hope of pulling off the latest of a sensational set of comebacks in this season’s Champions League, but Real could not be intimidated.

The 11-times European champions, who were playing in their seventh consecutive semifinal and targetting a 15th final berth, waited for Atletico to run out of steam and Isco delivered a knockout blow before halftime to make it 2-1, putting them 4-2 up on aggregate.

“We knew Atletico were going to start well and they had a bit of luck in scoring the two goals, but we knew that if we scored it would kill them,” Cristiano Ronaldo told reporters.

“We’re Real Madrid and we showed that we have more experience,” added the prolific Portuguese, whose hat-trick at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg had given Real a huge advantage in the tie.

Unlike last season’s relatively straightforward run to the final, when they faced Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City before beating Atletico on penalties, Real have had a bruising path to the final to face Juventus in Cardiff on June 3, knocking out Napoli and Bayern Munich as well as Atletico.

Their talent-packed squad has allowed coach Zinedine Zidane to pick different starting line-ups from one week to the next and still be able to call upon 11 internationals, such as the side that swatted Granada aside 4-0 last Saturday.

“We have a great squad, it’s very complete, and we show that in every game,” added Ronaldo, who drew a blank in the second leg after scoring eight times in the previous three Champions League games.

“No-one said it was going to be easy, but we achieved our objective which was to get through,” said captain Sergio Ramos.

“I’m proud of this team for showing character when we were 2-0 down and go looking for the goal.”

Real are now chasing a first league and European Cup double since 1958 and could become the first team to defend the Europe’s biggest prize in the Champions League era, which began with the change in format in 1992.

“I’m delighted to be in a third Champions League final in four years,” added Ramos.

“Tomorrow we have to reflect on how huge an achievement this is after spending 11 years without playing the final. This group has a lot of hunger.”

MANAMA — FIFA President Gianni Infantino has failed to change the way the organisation is run, according to HRH Prince Ali, a former candidate for world football’s top job.

Infantino replaced Sepp Blatter at the helm of the sport’s global ruling body in February 2016, with Prince Ali among the defeated candidates.

At FIFA’s annual congress on Thursday, Infantino declared “New FIFA is a transparent organisation… it is a deeply honest organisation.”

But shortly after the end of the congress, which included little debate about a series of issues and unopposed electoral slates of committees elected by over 95 per cent of the delegates, prince Ali told reporters that the organisation remained in deep trouble.

“I think it is fairly obvious that a lot of things have not changed,” Prince Ali said.

“I am not going to judge anyone but what I will say is that the system, the way business is conducted is the same. I don’t see the refreshing change, the openness, the transparency that everybody talks about really taking effect on the ground,” said the prince, who is president the Jordanian Football Association.

On Tuesday, the FIFA Council opted against renewing the mandate of its two leading ethics officials who had handled the expulsion of a series of officials involved in corruption allegations.

The pair were replaced at congress with two nominations made by the FIFA Council, headed by Infantino.

Prince Ali said that move had been a mistake.

“Obviously, their term ran out but, having said that, they are in the middle of conducting their cases and what this is going to do is delay the process.

“To be honest if it not broken, don’t fix it. There seem to be many reasons we are hearing about why it is done but we were not given an explanation and that is the basic right of congress to know what the reasons are behind the changes — that reminds me of things that have happened in the past,” he said.

Asked whether, with US and Swiss authorities still investigating the body, Infantino’s actions represented a danger to FIFA, Prince Ali said: “I think so. It has already lost the battle of public opinion, we had a good chance to rebuild that and we need to, this is the world we live in — things cannot be conducted behind closed doors, everyone wants to know what is going on.”

Prince Ali is also concerned about the tone taken by Infantino over the ethics case and other issues.

“We are in a crisis, you can’t have a FIFA president who says everything is fine, as we have heard before, when obviously it is not,” he said. 

“Every other week something new comes to light and there are very serious allegations.”

TURIN — Juventus defender Dani Alves produced an inspired display capped by a stunning volleyed goal in a 2-1 win over AS Monaco on Tuesday that took the Italians into their second Champions League final in three years.

Brazilian Alves crossed for Mario Mandzukic to net the first goal in the semifinal, second leg and then scored the second through an explosive strike which, with Juve leading 2-0 from the first game, effectively finished off the tie by halftime.

Juventus were coasting until Monaco’s exciting 18-year-old forward Kylian Mbappe pulled a goal back in the 69th minute, ending a run of six successive clean sheets in the competition for the Serie A side and veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.

Tempers then flared when Monaco defender Kamil Glik appeared to stamp on forward Gonzalo Higuain, although the referee took no action against the Pole, leading to a bad-tempered final 20 minutes as Juve ran out comfortable 4-1 winners on aggregate.

They will face either Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid, who meet in the other semi at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday with Real leading 3-0. The showpiece match is in Cardiff on June 3.

“I’m very happy with the way the lads played,” said Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri, whose side lost 3-1 to Barcelona in the 215 final. “It wasn’t easy to play in the Champions League and they deserved to get to the final.”

Monaco started brightly as they began the thankless task of trying to breach the Juve defence and the home side’s 39-year-old keeper Buffon flapped at Bernardo Silva’s cross in the first minute, although nobody was on hand to take advantage.

Mbappe then hit the inside of the post from a narrow angle, though he was flagged offside, and Radamel Falcao drove over from long range as the visitors pressed forward.

But Juventus always seemed to have too much guile and Higuain had already squandered one chance, with a failed attempt to dink the ball over goalkeeper Danijel Subasic, before Mandzukic put them ahead after 33 minutes.

The move started with Alex Sandro breaking out of defence to charge 50 metres down the left and the ball eventually found Alves who lofted a high cross over from the right.

Mandzukic’s header was brilliantly saved by Subasic but the keeper could do nothing as his fellow Croat fired home the rebound from close range.

Both teams had further chances as the game ebbed and flowed, but Juve were sharper in attack and struck again just before halftime.

Alves, who in the previous attack had played in Paulo Dybala with a precision pass, met Subasic’s punched clearance with a full-blooded volley from 25 metres and the ball flew into the net with the goalkeeper out of position. 

Juventus were able to drop the pace in the second half and neither Mbappe’s goal nor Glik’s tackle were anything more than mild annoyances as the reigning Italian champions cruised into next month’s final.

BARCELONA — Atletico Madrid have built a reputation for gargantuan achievements under coach Diego Simeone and have not given up hope of a remarkable turnaround against Real Madrid in Wednesday’s Champions League semifinal second leg.

Last week’s chastening 3-0 defeat at the Bernabeu left Atletico needing a repeat of their sensational 4-0 win over their fierce local rivals in La Liga in 2015 to prevent a fourth straight European defeat by Real side who have not lost by more than one goal this campaign.

Real have also scored in each of their last 60 games in all competitions, increasing the likelihood of an away goal which would oblige Atletico to win by four goals to reach the final.

Real thrashed Granada 4-0 on Saturday despite Zinedine Zidane making nine changes from the team that beat Atletico so convincingly, while Simeone only rested one player in his side’s 1-0 victory over Eibar.

With Real feeling fresher and their confidence soaring as they remain on track to win the domestic title, all signs point to the 11-times European champions piling more misery on their neighbours who they beat in the 2014 and 2016 finals.

Simeone, however, offered a typically defiant message ahead of the second leg, alluding to his side’s remarkable title win in 2014 and their Champions League successes over the likes of Barcelona, Chelsea and Bayern Munich.

“On Wednesday we have an extremely difficult game which for some would be impossible, but not for us,” Simeone told reporters.

“After the last game I told the players it was very tough, that we’re facing the best team in the world that scores in every game but we can do it. I’m convinced we can, if I wasn’t I wouldn’t say so.”

Captain Gabi, meanwhile, is taking inspiration from Barcelona’s record-breaking comeback from a four-goal deficit against Paris St Germain this season.

“Of course we can do it, look at Barcelona, and they had an even more difficult result,” he said.

“We’re convinced we can do it, we’re going to fight for it and if not we can at least go out with our heads held high.”

Atletico were boosted on Sunday by the return of defender Jose Gimenez to training although they are still without right backs Juanfran and Sime Vrsaljko, who they missed badly in the first leg as they struggled to cause Real’s defence any problems.

Real have won only one of their last eight league games against Atletico but have found the magic formula against their rivals in the Champions League, which winger Lucas Vazquez said was due to their history in the competition.

“Real Madrid have a special connection with Europe and the fans feel the same way. Playing in a Champions League game for Madrid gives you goosebumps,” he said.

“Every game against Atletico is difficult because they are a great team but we know how to beat them.”

TORONTO — The Cleveland Cavaliers remain undefeated in their first eight play-off games this season.

That does not mean it has been easy, even though they were able to complete a four-game sweep of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Sunday afternoon with a 109-102 victory over the Toronto Raptors after giving up the lead in the fourth quarter.

“We understand it’s never easy especially in a close-out game,” said Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, who scored 11 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and added nine assists. “There’s desperation at their end and desperation at our end.”

LeBron James scored 35 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had six assists to lead the Cavaliers, who won the NBA championship last season and will play either the Boston Celtics or Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference finals.

“Winning close-out games is always tough,” Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said. “Give credit to [Raptors coach Dwane] Casey, he had them ready to play, they came out and competed. They made threes today, it was tough on us.”

The Raptors were playing without point guard Kyle Lowry, who sustained a sprained left ankle in Game 2 on Wednesday. He was in uniform for Game 3 but did not play and was scratched from Game 4.

“They have good players, even without Kyle,” Lue said.

Casey said, “It’s tough because we know we can play better than we did in the first two games, and we didn’t. Today, I thought the players laid it on the line. I thought the guys played with grit, toughness, togetherness. ...

“[The Cavaliers] present so many problems offensively, they have so many weapons. ... The way they were making shots, and they were well-guarded, you’re going to have to score 117-118 points a night to beat them.”

Cleveland had a 12-point lead after the first half and entered the fourth quarter ahead by five.

The Raptors took a 93-92 lead with 6:38 to play when Serge Ibaka made a free throw to complete a three-point play.

Irving put the Cavaliers back on top with a 3-pointer and with 5:34 to go and made two free throws to make it a four-point lead.

Irving’s layup with four minutes remaining had Cleveland ahead by eight points.

“In that fourth quarter, I just went to [isolations] for Kyrie,” Lue said.

“We needed that spark,” said James, who hit a 3-pointer with just under three minutes left to put the Cavaliers ahead by 11.

“They went to him on isos,” Raptors point guard Cory Joseph said. “I tried my best... but he made some tough shots.”

“A lot of the offence was on LeBron’s shoulders,” said Irving, who was willing to share the load.

James had nine points in the fourth quarter.

Kyle Korver added 18 points, including 4 of 6 on 3-point attempts, for the Cavaliers off the bench, and Channing Frye contributed 10 points.

Ibaka scored 23 points for the Raptors, DeMar DeRozan had 22 points and eight assists, Joseph scored 20 points and added 12 assists, P.J. Tucker had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Norman Powell scored 10 points.

“You have to give them credit, they are a heck of a 3-point-shooting team,” DeRozan said. “They get hot, one of the best shooters in the league in Kyle Korver. They do a great job of getting him going and it showed tonight.

“They’re a hell of a team for a reason. They have one of the greatest players of all time. It’s something that we great experience with playing these guys two years in row [in the play-offs, including the Eastern Conference finals last year] and we just have to figure it out. ... It’s going to be a long summer.”

Toronto led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter that ended tied at 28. DeRozan left the game briefly with 8:07 to play in the second quarter after he was inadvertently kicked in the midsection while guarding Iman Shumpert.

The Cavaliers opened a 14-point lead on Korver’s 3-pointer late in the first half.

Cleveland led 61-49 at the intermission with James and Korver leading the scoring with 16 points apiece. Korver, who did not play in the first quarter, was 6 of 8 in the second quarter, including his four 3-pointers.

The Cavaliers got their lead up to 16 points in the third quarter before the Raptors chipped away to reduce the lead to seven points on Ibaka’s 3-pointer from the corner with 4:44 to play.

Tucker closed out the scoring in the third quarter with a 3-pointer from the corner to cut Cleveland’s lead to 85-80.

Tucker opened the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to slice the deficit to two points. The Raptors trimmed the lead to one point early in the fourth on a 3-point shot by Fred VanVleet but James answered with a 3-pointer.

Wizards 121, Celtics 102

Bradley Beal scored 29 points and Washington reeled off 26 straight points in the third quarter to beat Boston in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

John Wall finished with 27 points after missing his first nine shots and 12 assists for the Wizards, who evened the best-of-seven series 2-2 after Boston won the first two games at home.

Washington shot 52.4 per cent from the field and outscored Boston 42-20 in the third quarter. Wall, Beal and Markieff Morris combined for 34 points in the period.