Sports

AMMAN — The 23rd LG Dead Sea Ultra Marathon kicks off today under the theme “Run to the lowest point on Earth” with thousands of local, regional and international participants.

The event, which is held under the patronage of HRH Prince Firas, chairman of the Board of Run Jordan, aims to highlight sports as a way for a better healthy-living. 

Lina Kurd, general manager of Run Jordan, told The Jordan Times that the event will witness high-level runners from around the world in the 50km Ultra Marathon, 21km Half Marathon and the 10km Fun Run. 

“The 50km Ultra Marathon will begin opposite the Amman Tourism Beach. The route will go up towards the service road and the hotel area, and will turn left onto the Skydive access road. Runners will then make a U-turn in the Skydive area and return to the service road, where they will then take a left turn towards the baptism site intersection,” she said.

Runners will take the road towards the baptism site and then take the right-hand fork along the secondary road leading to the King Hussein Bridge going through the farm area. Runners will then make a U-turn then double back towards the baptism site intersection, going down to the service road. They will turn left to enter the Skydive area, make a U-turn towards the service road, and reach the finish line, which is also the starting point, at the Amman Tourism Beach.

“The 21km Half Marathon starts approximately 1km north of the security checkpoint on the main road. Runners will take the second entrance on the left into the service road, and at this point, they will turn left into the Skydive area. The runners will make a U-turn in the Skydive area and go back to the service road, where they will take a right turn to run back towards the finish line at the Amman Tourism Beach,” she added.

The 10km race starts 2km south of the baptism site intersection. Runners will go downhill along the main road to the hotel area and then onto the finish line at the Amman Tourism Beach.

The LG Dead Sea Ultra Marathon has received the Bronze Label by the International Association of Ultrarunners, backing up Run Jordan’s assurance that it meets the highest international standards.

“The Bronze Label was awarded to the 50km race, granting participating runners international accreditation for their finishing times, which will help them acquire new experiences, as the race will witness wide participation from well-known local and international runners,” she said. 

In 2016, the ultramarathon went through some serious changes that required it to be rescheduled to 2017. 

As part of its support to local societies, Run Jordan will support the participation of 50 runners from the Autism MENA Society.

AMMAN — The women’s national football team ended its Group A qualifiers for the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Football Championship with an unbeaten streak after five consecutive wins in the matches held in Tajikistan.

In the last match, Jordan beat the Philippines 5-1, complementing earlier wins over hosts Tajikistan 10-2, Iraq 10-0, and the UAE and Bahrain 6-0.  As Jordan has already technically secured a slot as host of the 2018 AFC Women’s Football Championship, the Philippines who came in second in the group clinched the qualifying slot from the group.

Asia’s top 8 teams will be competing for the Women’s Football Championship. The qualifiers had 21 teams playing in four groups with the top team qualifying: the Philippines moved from Group A, South Korea from Group B, Thailand from Group C while Vietnam moved from Group D to join teams who have automatically qualified:  reigning champs Japan, Australia, China and hosts Jordan. 

MILAN — After years of watching teams from other countries battle through the closing stages of the Champions League, Serie A can once again claim a place at Europe’s top table thanks to Juventus.

The Turin side’s 3-0 destruction of a waning Barcelona on Tuesday — where everyone shone, from 39-year-old goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon to precocious forward Paulo Dybala — showed they are as good as anything on offer in this season’s competition.

The victory left Juventus as firm favourites to advance to the semi-finals, unless Barcelona can pull off a repeat of their previous round’s comeback against Paris St Germain when they lost the first leg 4-0 but won the second 6-1.

After Inter Milan won the Champions League in 2010, Italy endured four successive seasons without managing to get a team beyond the quarter-finals — a far cry from the days when its clubs routinely dominated European competition.

With clubs unable to compete with the television revenue of their English counterparts, stadiums falling into disrepair and attendances slumping, Serie A fell into a downward spiral.

Juventus, who themselves spent a season in Serie B after being relegated in the wake of a match-fixing scandal, were quickest to react.

They demolished the over-sized, windswept Stadio Delle Alpi and replaced it with the compact, atmospheric Juventus stadium, becoming in the process the first Serie A club to own their own arena.

Its opening heralded a new era of domestic dominance with Juventus winning five successive Serie A titles from 2011/2012 onwards. Even so, they still seemed to be a long way from Europe’s elite.

After being comprehensively outplayed by Bayern Munich in their 2012/13 quarter-final, then-coach Antonio Conte warned that it would be a very long time before a Serie A club won the Champions League.

“Here in Italy, we have to work with what we have got and we need to have the humility to realise that things are not the same as they were in the past,” he said at the time. “But we are only interested in ... futile things, about gossip and creating controversies with referees.”

Conte left in 2014, having achieved domestic dominance, and was replaced by Massimiliano Allegri, who saw Europe as the one area he could outdo his predecessor.

Allegri replaced Conte’s hell-for-leather approach with a more controlled style that worked well in Europe, and in his first season led Juventus to the Champions League final, beating Real Madrid on the way.

Although they were ultimately outclassed by Barcelona 3-1 in Berlin, Juventus have continued building since.

They snapped up Gonzalo Higuain, Serie A’s most prolific marksman, when he fell out with Napoli at the end of last season, placing him alongside Dybala, 23, the most exciting player to come out of Argentina since Lionel Messi.

Another key signing was Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanic, whose ability to play long passes over opposing defences has given Juventus a new dimension.

“We’re still in the process of growing,” Allegri said after Tuesday’s memorable win. 

“We’ve made important steps forward over the last few years. Juventus have respect for Europe and, above all, are respected in Europe. That is the greatest result of my three years here.” 

MADRID — Neymar was sent off as Barcelona suffered a shock 2-0 defeat at Malaga on Saturday that scuppered their hopes of going top of La Liga and handed control of the title race to leaders to Real Madrid. 

Zinedine Zidane’s Real were held to a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid in the capital derby earlier in the day, giving Barcelona the chance to go top on goal difference, but Luis Enrique’s side squandered the opportunity and now sit three points behind Los Blancos, who have played a game less.

Former Barcelona striker Sandro Ramirez opened the scoring for Malaga with a breakaway goal in the 32nd minute before Jony added a 90th-minute second for the hosts.

Neymar was shown his second yellow card and dismissed midway through the second half.

Luis Enrique was angry with several of referee Gil Manzano’s decisions, including the award of a free kick rather than a penalty after Charles fouled Sergi Roberto in the box.

“It’s curious that a team like us that doesn’t usually kick people gets so many yellow cards in such an incomprehensible manner,” he said.

“There was some very ugly tackles from behind from their team which didn’t see them get booked and others committed by us which were given yellows.

“The rules are there to be interpreted, but equally for everyone. I don’t understand how the foul on Sergi Roberto was given outside the area, but we are used to it.”

After the Madrid derby ended in a draw a victory at La Rosaleda would have sent Barcelona level with Madrid on 72 points.

Barcelona started well but Juankar’s long ball caught the visitors off guard and Sandro beat Jeremy Mathieu for pace before finishing past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Neymar was booked in the first half for tying his laces in front of a Malaga player trying to take a free kick and received his marching orders for a late tackle on Diego Llorente in the 65th minute.

Adalberto Penaranda put the ball in the net for Malaga but his effort was incorrectly ruled out for offside.

Malaga grabbed a second at the death, however, with the excellent Pablo Fornals unselfishly teeing up Jony.

Earlier on Saturday, Madrid handed their arch-rivals the chance to depose them at the top of the table, as Antoine Griezmann grabbed an 85th-minute equaliser for Atletico.

Pepe opened the scoring for Real with a looping header in the 52nd minute and it looked like the hosts would earn a victory, until the Frenchman intervened late on, reaching Angel Correa’s through ball and slotting home.

Madrid coach Zidane put the dropped points down to a lapse in concentration.

“It was a great performance [from Real], but we just lost concentration for five minutes,” he said.

“I can’t say that Atletico played well. We didn’t get the second goal and we suffered.”

AMMAN — The women’s national football team plays host Tajikistan on Monday in its fourth Group A qualifier for the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Football Championship.

Jordan has so far scored three consecutive wins in the qualifiers held in Tajikistan. The squad leads the group on goal difference after they beat Iraq 10-0, and the UAE and Bahrain 6-0. 

In other matches, second placed Philippines beat Tajikistan 8-0, Iraq and UAE 4-0, Bahrain which beat Tajikistan 4-0 is third, UAE is fifth after it held Bahrain 1-1, and Iraq is last after they lost 1-0 to Tajikistan.

North Korea and Uzbekistan lead Group B, Thailand qualified from Group C while Vietnam and Myanmar top Group D.

Technically, Jordan has already secured a slot as host of the 2018 AFC Women’s Football Championship, but seeks to benefit from the qualifiers, where 21 teams are playing in four groups for the top four slots with Asia’s top 8 teams competing for the title.  Reigning champs Japan, Australia, China and host Jordan have automatically qualified. If Jordan tops its group, the runner-up will also advance.

In 2016, Jordan hosted the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, the first of its kind to take place in the Middle East. Now, the Kingdom will be the first country in Western Asia to host the AFC Women’s Football Championship, which is held every 4 years, and has been won by China a total of 8 out of 15 times. 

Following 18 inactive months, Jordan’s women team recently lost its FIFA ranking, after it was world’s 52nd and 11th in Asia. 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.

LONDON, April 8 — Dele Alli added another dazzling entry to his showreel with a sublime opening goal in Tottenham Hotspur’s 4-0 rout of Watford on Saturday as comparisons with England’s so-called golden generation stacked up.

The 20-year-old took his Premier League tally for the season to 16, six more than he managed in the 2015-16 campaign, when he burst on to the scene, having joined from MK Dons.

Last season’s PFA Young Player of Year has now been involved in 40 Premier League goals in his short top-flight career — more than Frank Lampard, David Beckham and Steven Gerrard combined before they had reached their 21st birthdays.

Alli still has a long way to go to emulate the feats of that trio but should he continue his current form and Tottenham reel in Premier League leaders Chelsea he would be a favourite for the Player of the Season award.

“The world is at his feet and he is 20 years old,” former Liverpool great Graeme Souness, summarising for Sky Sports, said.

“He doesn’t look out of place, he is a star in the Premier League. How far could he go? There are two things that will determine how far he can go — if he gets a bad injury and gets unlucky or if he stops turning up everyday wanting to learn.

“He strikes me as someone whose feet are on the ground. There is a steely determination there.”

Yet only a few weeks ago, Alli’s temperament was being questioned after being sent off for an atrocious knee-high tackle on Gent’s Brecht Dejaegere during a Europa League match.

It was a reminder of the ruthless streak that many of the world’s best players have possessed and that occasionally landed Beckham and Gerrard in hot water.

Since that rush of blood, Alli has been a model of calm in Tottenham’s impressive chase of Chelsea, scoring six goals and helping create several others in seven appearances.

On Wednesday, it was Alli who popped up in the 88th minute to equalise against Swansea before Tottenham went on to win 3-1.

Three days later, he produced a goal that would have had Europe’s biggest clubs drooling.

After a neat interchange of passes with Christian Eriksen, Alli jinked to his right and curled a 25-metre shot past Watford’s helpless goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes.

AMMAN — Jordan went up five spots  to 110 in the latest FIFA rankings issued on the weekend.

The squad is still out of the Asian top 10, trailing Iran (28), South Korea (43), Japan (44), Australia (50), Saudi Arabia (52), Uzbekistan (60), UAE (74), Syria (80),  China (81), Qatar (89) and India (101). 

Brazil, which booked a slot to the 2018 World Cup, took over World rankings at No.1, followed by Argentina, Germany, Chile, Columbia, France, Belgium, Portugal, Switzerland and Spain. African semi-finalist Egypt is the top ranked Arab team at 10th, followed by Tunisia 42nd, Morocco 53rd and Algeria 54th.

During the past month, Jordan beat Hong Kong 4-0 in a friendly game before opening the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers with a 7-0 win over lowly Cambodia. 

Jordan is slated to play Hong Kong again on June 6 before its second Asian Cup qualifier on June 12 against Vietnam, in the group which also includes Afghanistan.

Asian teams in the qualifiers are playing in six groups with group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) advancing to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals as well as the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Teams which already having qualified include Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and host the UAE.

Jordan was eliminated from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers and now aims to advance to the Asian finals.

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 quarterfinals and jumped to the best ever FIFA rank of 37th in August 2004. They also reached the Asian Cup in 2011 and 2015.

Jordan had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013 when it lost a possible chance to play at the World Cup for the first time and advanced to play then world’s 6th ranked Uruguay in an intercontinental qualifying tie for a place in the 2014 World Cup.

It lost the home game 5-0 and held the former World Cup champs 0-0 in the away match. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in the qualifiers in 1985. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past 7 times in the qualifiers since 1986. 

Jordan’s best FIFA ranking was 37th in 2004 while the lowest ranking was 152nd in 1996.

AUGUSTA, Georgia — Dustin Johnson will try to extend his stellar run at this week’s US Masters where Rory McIlroy hopes to complete the career grand slam and Jordan Spieth seeks revenge after last year’s epic meltdown.

The year’s opening major, which began Thursday at Augusta National, is always the most heavily anticipated of the four and, with a myriad of compelling storylines bubbling during the tournament buildup, this year’s edition is rich with promise.

Johnson, who is looking to become the first golfer not named Tiger Woods to win four consecutive PGA Tour starts since Ben Hogan in 1953, is the man to beat along with McIlroy and Spieth but many challengers are ready to pounce should they falter.

“I’ve got a lot of confidence in my game right now, especially with the way I’ve been playing the last few tournaments,” said Johnson, who took over as world number one in February.

The 32-year-old American has all the tools necessary to tame the Augusta National layout, most notably his prodigious length off the tee which could ultimately be a difference maker on a course that has been softened by rain.

World number two McIlroy, who won the last of his four major titles in 2014, had a quiet start to the year after sitting out six weeks with a rib injury but is upbeat having played 99 holes at Augusta National the last two weeks.

“I’ve realised that the more I can get comfortable with this golf course ... and the more I can get comfortable in the environment and the surroundings, the better,” the 27-year-old Northern Irishman said.

McIlroy needs a victory at Augusta National, where he has top-10 finishes in each of the last three years, to complete the career grand slam of golf’s four major titles.

Twice major winner Spieth, 23, already has a Green Jacket and perhaps should probably have another if not for a disastrous sequence at the par-three 12th.

But the unflappable Spieth, who has a win and two runner-up finishes in his three Masters starts, is eager to move on.

“I’m excited about the opportunity ahead, which is now I can go back and really tear this golf course up,” said Spieth.

Other contenders include gallery favourite and three-time winner Phil Mickelson, red-hot Spaniard Jon Rahm and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama who is trying to become the first Japanese man to win a major.

AMMAN — The women’s national football team plays Iraq on Friday in their third Group A qualifier for the 2018 AFC Women’s Football Championship.

In the qualifiers held in Tajikistan, Jordan leads the group after they beat the UAE and Bahrain 6-0. In other matches Bahrain beat Tajikistan 4-0, Philippines beat Iraq 4-0, Tajikistan beat Iraq 1-0 and the Philippines beat the UAE 4-0. 

In 2016, Jordan hosted the U-17 FIFA World Cup, the first of its kind to take place in the Middle East. Now, the Kingdom will be the first country in the west Asia zone to host the AFC Women’s Football Championship which is held every four years, and has been won by China a total of eight of 15 times. 

As host nation Jordan has already technically secured a slot in the competition, but seeks to benefit from the qualifiers where 21 teams are playing in four groups for top four slots to the 2018 AFC Women’s Championship where Asia’s top eight teams will compete. Reigning champs Japan, Australia, China and hosts Jordan have automatically qualified. If Jordan tops its group, the runner-up will also advance.

Following 18 inactive months, Jordan recently lost its FIFA ranking, after it was world 52nd and 11th in Asia. 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. 

AMMAN — It’s becoming an interesting season for football fans with teams in pursuit of the Jordan Professional Football League title which started Week 18 on Thursday.

Shabab Urdun beat That Ras 2-0 on Thursday.

Last week, Jazira retook the lead from Wihdat after a 3-1 win over Baqa’a while titleholders Wihdat could only manage a 1-1 draw with Ahli.

Faisali maintained third position after an important 5-0 win over Shabab Urdun while Manshieh are fourth after a 2-1 win over Sarih. Ramtha held on to fifth after a 2-0 win over Hussein Irbid while That Ras scored an important 2-0 win over Sahab to move from 11th to 9th.

This week, Wihdat play all time rivals Faisali on Saturday, Jazira play 10th placed Sahab, Ahli have a chance to improve when they play Sarih, Ramtha play Baqa’a and Manshieh take on Hussein.

During the week, Wihdat were held 1-1 with Oman’s Saham in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup but maintained their Group C lead after they earlier beat Saham 2-1, scored a 1-0 win over Lebanon’s Nijmeh and held Bahrain’s Muharraq 1-1.

Playing in the AFC Cup for the first time, Ahli scored a vital 2-1 win over Oman’s Suweiq to boost qualifying chances to the Round of 16.

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 are eyeing their 33rd record title.

Joining the top three this season is Manshieh who joined the league alongside Sahab. Former Jordan Cup champ That Ras are at the lower end of the standings, while Baqa’a, a usual top five team, is also struggling in the relegation zone. Jazira’s Syrian pro Mardig Mardigian has maintained his scoring proficiency and leads the top scorers list with 13 goals followed by Wihdat’s Munther Abu Amara with eight.