Sports

Dion Waiters hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key in the final second, giving the lowly but suddenly hot Miami Heat a 105-102 upset of the NBA’s best team, Golden State Warriors, on Monday night at American Airlines Arena.

Waiters matched his career high with 33 points for the second consecutive game.

Golden State’s Kevin Durant tied the score with 11.7 seconds left on a baseline dunk, setting the stage for Waiters’ heroics with six-10ths of a second left.

The Warriors (38-7) had their seven-game win streak snapped. It was only Golden State’s fifth loss in regulation this season.

The Heat (15-30) have a season-best four-game win streak, as they completed a 4-0 homestand.

Clippers 115, Hawks 105

Things are looking up for Los Angeles, which won for the first time since losing Chris Paul to thumb surgery and is on the verge of getting Blake Griffin back.

Austin Rivers scored 27 points and Jamal Crawford helped hold off a comeback bid by Atlanta in the fourth quarter as the Clippers defeated the Hawks 115-105 on Monday night.

Crawford, who had been in a slump, hit a 3-pointer after Atlanta had pulled within 102-98 with three minutes left and followed with two more late baskets as he scored 14 of his 19 points in the second half.

Kings 109, Pistons 104

DeMarcus Cousins powered for 22 points and 14 rebounds, and Sacramento snapped a five-game losing streak with a victory over Detroit at The Palace.

The Kings own just two wins in their past 10 games, both against Detroit. Sacramento also ended a six-game losing streak at The Palace. Its last victory in Michigan occurred February 10, 2010.

Ty Lawson tied his season high with 19 points off the bench for the Kings. Sacramento also had four other players in double figures: Willie Cauley-Stein and Darren Collison supplied 12 points apiece, Garrett Temple chipped in 11 and Matt
Barnes added 10.

Spurs 112, Nets 86

Patty Mills scored 10 of his 20 points late in the first half when the short-handed Spurs took control, and San Antonio rolled to a rout of Brooklyn.

Mills missed five of his first six shots, and he returned to action when the Spurs trailed by one with about 5 1/2 minutes remaining in the second quarter. Mills helped the Spurs surge ahead to a 52-42 halftime lead in differing ways.

The reserve guard sandwiched two 3-pointers in a span of 2:15, and San Antonio’s lead never dipped into single digits again. Mills finished three shy of his season high by shooting 7 of 13 and making four 3-pointers.

Wizards 109, Hornets 99

John Wall scored 24 points and Markieff Morris added 23, and Washington rolled to a victory over Charlotte at the Spectrum Centre.

Wall outplayed Charlotte’s Kemba Walker in a head-to-head battle of All-Star hopeful point guards. He had 18 points in the first half, helping the Wizards pull out to a 12-point halftime lead. Walker scored 21 points but struggled, going 7 of 24 from the field.

The Wizards have now won five of their last six. They were in control throughout the game, leading by as many as 16 points in the third quarter and 15 midway through the fourth.

Bucks 127, Rockets 114

A late 11-0 run helped Milwaukee hold off Houston and a snap a five-game losing streak with a victory at the Bradley Centre.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points and Jabari Parker had 28 to lead the Bucks, who shot 58.2 per cent from the floor and made 11 of 23 3-point attempts.

Houston shot 50.6 per cent, making 39 of 76 shots, 14 of 35 3-point tries. Patrick Beverley (18 points) knocked down four from long distance, while Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon added three apiece.

Thunder 97, Jazz 95

Russell Westbrook drilled a jumper to break a tie with 1.4 seconds left as part of his 22nd triple-double of the season and lifted Oklahoma City to a victory over Utah.

Russell Westbrook had 38 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. Oklahoma City snapped Utah’s six-game winning streak.

Knicks 109, Pacers 103

Carmelo Anthony hit a baseline jumper with 23.4 seconds remaining, and Courtney Lee sank four consecutive free throws during the final 15.1 seconds, leading New York to a victory against struggling Indiana.

Anthony led the Knicks with 26 points, Derrick Rose had 20 points and six assists, Indianapolis native Lee added 14, Willy Hernangomez scored 14 and Justin Holiday had 13.

Paul George led Indiana with 31 points and seven rebounds, Myles Turner had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Al Jefferson added 13 off the bench.

Pelicans 124,
Cavaliers 122

Terrence Jones, subbing for the injured Anthony Davis, tied his career high with 36 points and guard Jrue Holiday added a season-high 33 points and 10 assists to overcome a 49-point effort by Kyrie Irving and spark New Orleans to a victory over Cleveland at the Smoothie King Centre.

The Pelicans led by 20 points at halftime and by 17 two minutes into the fourth quarter, but they had to hold on for the victory as Irving led the Cavaliers back with 35 second-half points.

The loss was the sixth for the Cavaliers in their last 10 games.

MELBOURNE — Rafa Nadal returned to the Grand Slam big-time by weathering a furious Gael Monfils fightback to win 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and reach the Australian Open quarter-finals on Monday.

Former champion Nadal had not reached the last eight in a major since the 2015 French Open, so he celebrated wildly after closing out the two-hour 56-minute clash at a packed Rod Laver Arena.

It was not the most convincing of wins for the 30-year-old Spaniard, who became rattled when sixth seed Monfils rallied brilliantly in the third set and went up 4-2 in the fourth.

But Nadal summoned the resilience of his halcyon days to win four straight games and keep his pursuit of a 15th Grand Slam title alive.

Novak Djokovic may be absent after his shock second-round elimination, but third seed Milos Raonic looms as a massive roadblock to Nadal’s hopes of a First Grand Slam semifinal since winning his last french Open in 2014.

“For me, it means a lot because I really start the season playing quarter-finals in a Grand Slam again, especially on a hard court [and] after a couple of years without being in this round is great news,” ninth seed Nadal told reporters, still bathed in sweat after his work on a muggy evening.

“Very happy with an important victory against a very good opponent.

“When you lost the third [set], you are down 4-2 in the fourth, you are not under control, no. That’s the real thing.”

Monfils came into the match with a 12-2 losing record against Nadal and the flamboyant Frenchman started as if weighed down by the history.

He was broken early in each of the first two sets and made his plight worse with some bizarre shots and mystifying decision making.

He hammered a pair of blazing winners to save set points in the second set but threw it away with a dismal drop shot.

Nadal appeared on course to coast to a comfortable win but he came unstuck at 4-4 in the third set, double-faulting to hand Monfils a free point then pounding a forehand over the baseline.

Monfils clinched the set with a blazing forehand winner and strutted back to his chair with an index finger pointed at his temple.

Saving two break points and survived a marathon fourth game, an inspired Monfils pounding away at Nadal’s serve like a heavyweight boxer.

Nadal fired back with interest and it took a low blow for him to be broken when an unlucky net cord gave him no chance.

The Spaniard leapt to his feet to break back in the eighth game, however, pulling Monfils wide across court before slamming a two-hand backhand into the vacant corner to level at 4-4.

The roar from the crowd almost lifted the stadium’s closed roof and Nadal jumped high and pumped his fist in triumph.

The moment felt like a turning point and so it proved.

Monfils promptly crumbled on serve, bowing out on the second match point with a huge backhand that flew just wide of the line.

AMMAN  — The draw for the final round of qualifiers for the 2019 Asian Cup was held on Monday and put Jordan in Group C, alongside Vietnam, Afghanistan and Cambodia.

The rest of the groups are:

Group A: Kyrgyzstan, India, Myanmar and Macau.

Group B: North Korea, Hong Kong, Lebanon and Malaysia.

Group D: Oman, Palestine, Maldives and Bhutan.

Group E: Bahrain, Turkmenistan, Taiwan and Singapore.

Group F: Philippines, Tajikistan, Yemen and Nepal.

After putting behind elimination from 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Jordan is hopeful it will overcome the upcoming Asian qualifiers and 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 it 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.

The qualifiers which will start March 28 and end on March 27, 2018 will see teams playing in six groups with group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) advancing o the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals as well as the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + one slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup. 

Teams which already have qualified including Australia, China, Iraq, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Thailand, Uzbekistan and host the UAE.

The Kingdom’s national team, now in its final week of a training camp in the UAE, went down to 107th is the last FIFA Rankings. They are set to play 121st ranked Georgia in the first match under new head coach Abdullah Misfer.

Following the camp, players will head back to clubs for the restart of the Jordan Professional Football League and Jordan Cup, as well as, regional competitions for Wihdat and Ahli.

The national squad last played three friendlies in which they lost to Uzbekistan 1-0, held Iraq and Lebanon to a goalless draws. Earlier it lost to the Moroccan second tier team 2-1, drew 1-1 with Oman, 0-0 with Bahrain, 1-1 with Lebanon and lost to 3-2 to Qatar. The squad’s last tournament was the King’s Cup, an international football tournament organised in Thailand where Jordan beat the UAE 2-1, but lost 2-0 to the host in the final.

Observers have been scrutinising the national’s team’s plan over the past period as Jordan was eliminated from 2018 World Cup qualifiers. It has been a combination of inconsistent results and five coaches leading the vital qualifying process in crucial qualifiers. 

The Kingdom had the most memorable World Cup qualifying journey in 2013 when they 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 champ 0-0 in the away match. Jordan had never reached that far in World Cup qualifying since taking part in the qualifiers since 1985. Round 3 had been the furthest Jordan reached in the past seven times in the qualifiers.

MELBOURNE — Roger Federer showed his 35-year-old legs may yet still carry him to a long-awaited 18th Grand Slam title as he overhauled fifth seed Kei Nishikori in a five-set slog to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals on Sunday.

Having issued a reminder of his class in the 90-minute rout of Tomas Berdych, Federer flaunted his endurance by prevailing 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 after a three hour and 26 minute battle under the lights at Rod Laver Arena.

After six months out of the game to recover from a knee injury, Federer’s fairytale return will continue against giant-killing German Mischa Zverev, who sensationally ousted top seed Andy Murray on the same centre court only hours before.

Since winning Wimbledon in 2012, Federer has gone close to adding to his major tally, but with each passing year, the doubts have only piled higher.

Yet with Murray and six-times Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic sent packing from Melbourne Park, the Swiss master finds himself with his best chance in years and revelled in his physical condition when taken deep by Nishikori.

“I felt great in the fifth [set], I must say,” the 17th seed told reporters. “Great energy. Even deep into the fourth I thought, ‘Yeah, fifth, here we go, no problem for me’.

“I’m feeling good about my chances.

“But tonight was special, no doubt about it. Going five against Kei here on Rod Laver Arena with the comeback, it’s definitely very special.”

The match threatened for a time to be anything but special as Asia’s first men’s Grand Slam finalist stormed to a 4-0 lead before weathering a huge Federer recovery to take the first set on a tiebreak.

The Swiss hit back quickly, belting a huge return to break Nishikori in the seventh game of the second.

Federer served out the set to love when Nishikori hit a return into the tramlines and the old master threw a steely gaze at his player’s box, pumping his fist.

Rattled by the pressure, Nishikori became twitchy, his fidgeting between points betraying the nerves as Federer roared through the third set in 26 minutes.

The Swiss looked to be coasting to victory but he suffered a rare wobble at 2-2 in the fourth, shanking a straightforward smash and then netting a volley to give up two break points.

The door ajar, Nishikori barged through it with a stinging passing shot as Federer rushed the net with more hope than design.

Nishikori served out to love, the match back to level terms as Federer’s suddenly misbehaving backhand saw him put a return just wide of the line.

Nishikori took a medical time-out between sets, with a trainer working hard on his legs, but it was Federer who appeared in greater need of a massage as he was thrown around the court by the Japanese.

But the Swiss held on grimly, and grabbed his chance in the second game when Nishikori netted to offer two break points.

The Japanese saved the first and fired a huge serve on the next that should have settled the argument. But Federer somehow made the return with a desperate backhand lunge.

Nishikori came in for the kill with an open court spread before him but dumped the ball into the net, triggering thunderous cheers from a crowd heavily favouring the Swiss.

From there, Federer rode the momentum to the finish, serving out the match strongly and savouring another huge ovation after having defied father time once again.

A fourth-round elimination by an unfancied player was a disappointing end to Angelique Kerber’s defence of her Australian Open title on Sunday but the top-seeded German had never appeared comfortable in her skin at Melbourne Park.

Kerber left head bowed from Rod Laver Arena after a 6-2, 6-3 defeat by 35th-ranked American Coco Vandeweghe, her final stand ending meekly in 68 minutes.

It was a far cry from the magical night 12 months before, when Kerber rose up like a blonde Valkyrie to fell Serena Williams in a three-set classic, clinching a maiden grand slam title that set a platform for the brilliant season to come.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Rafael Nadal held back time, for one tournament at least, when he rallied for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-2 win over German teenager Alexander Zverev to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open.

The 14-time major winner is on the comeback after an extended injury lay-off, yet he finished stronger in the 4-hour, 6-minute match on Rod Laver Arena as Zverev tightened up with cramping and nerves.

“I enjoyed a lot this great battle. I was losing the last couple of times in the fifth set and I said to myself, today’s the day,” said ninth-seeded Nadal, who had lost eight of the previous nine times he had trailed 2-1 in a best-of-five set match.

His 30-year-old legs, conditioned by 236 Grand Slam matches, carried him all the way.

Zverev’s creative shot-making in the first set and during the tiebreaker in the third gave the 19-year-old a confident start. But Nadal, the champion here in 2009, did not let him get too far in front.

In an exchange of breaks in the fifth set, Nadal broke to open, then dropped his own serve, before breaking Zverev again.

Nadal attributed his comeback to two important things.

“Well, fighting — and running a lot,” he said. “I think you know, everybody knows how good Alexander is — he’s the future of our sport and the present, too.”

Nadal, who had two months off with an injured left wrist at the end of 2016, will get another veteran next — either Philipp Kohlschreiber or Gael Monfils.

In another gripping five-setter, but on an outside court, wild-card entry Denis Istomin followed his upset win over defending champion Novak Djokovic with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Pablo Carreno Busta.

No. 8 Dominic Thiem beat Benoit Paire 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to set up a fourth-round match against No. 11 David Goffin, who ended Ivo Karlovic’s run 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Serena Williams reached the fourth round without dropping a set, staying on course in her bid for a record 23rd Grand Slam title.

Williams beat fellow American Nicole Gibbs 6-1, 6-3 and did not face a break point until she was serving for the match.

Dropping serve in that game was her only lapse in a match that then extended just beyond the hour — to 63 minutes to be precise.

“I don’t have anything to prove in this tournament here. Just doing the best I can,” Williams said. “Obviously I’m here for one reason.”

Williams started the tournament with difficult assignments in the first two rounds, but also got through those — against Belinda Bencic, with a career-high ranking of 7, and Lucie Safarova, a French Open finalist in 2015.

“She makes the court feel very, very small,” Gibbs said. “I was definitely feeling a lot of tension from early on in the match and it was showing in my serve and my forehand. I was catching the net a lot — the net felt 10 feet high today.”

Williams will next play No. 16 Barbora Strycova, who beat No. 21 Caroline Garcia 6-2, 7-5.

Ekaterina Makarova led by a set and 4-0 but had a mid-match fade, needing three sets and almost three hours to finally beat WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

“An amazing fight,” Makarova said of her first win over sixth-seeded Cibulkova, the 2014 finalist at Melbourne Park. “I got, to be honest, a bit tight at 4-0 in the second set. But I’m still here.”

She will now take on last year’s semifinalist Johanna Konta, who beat former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 6-1, in a rematch of their fourth-round encounter here last year.

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni continued her unlikely run with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Maria Sakkari, and so did American qualifier Jennifer Brady.

Before this week, the 34-year-old Lucic-Baroni had not won a match at Melbourne Park since her debut at the Australian Open in 1998. The 19-year gap in between match wins at a Grand Slam tournament broke the record set by Kimiko Date-Krumm.

Lucic-Baroni, a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 1999, next plays No. 116-ranked Brady, who had never played in the main draw of a major before she qualified for this week.

The 21-year-old American had a 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over 14th-seeded Elena Vesnina on Show Court 2.

AMMAN — The draw for qualifiers the 2018 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Football Championship was held on Saturday with 21 teams divided into four groups and vying for four slots to the final.

Jordan was drawn in Group A along the Philippines, Bahrain, Iraq, the UAE and Tajikistan. 

Other groups are:

Group B: South Korea, Uzbekistan, Hong Kong, India and North Korea.

Group C: Thailand, Taiwan, Lebanon, Palestine and Guam.

Group D: Vietnam, Myanmar, Iran, Syria and Singapore.

“The Jordan Football Association hosted a fantastic FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup last year and I would like to congratulate them again for this wonderful achievement” AFC President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said on the AFC website before the draw.

“I have no doubt that the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in the country next year will be every bit as professionally and passionately delivered. It is an occasion I and the whole continent looks forward to.”

The top team from each group will move to the championship which includes Japan, Australia, China and hosts Jordan who have automatically qualified. Jordan asked to participate in the qualifiers. If Jordan tops its group, the runner-up will also advance.

The women’s team, now 52nd in the latest FIFA rankings, is eagerly anticipating qualifiers for the 2018 AFC Women’s Championship starting in April after the U-17 team participated in the Kingdom’s inaugural appearance in FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2016 where they were eliminated from the first round after playing Spain, Mexico and New Zealand.  

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. They are now 11th in Asia behind leaders Australia, Japan, and North Korea.

The 2018 AFC Women’s Championship will include the continents top eight teams. The event, held every four years, has been won by China a total of eight of 15 times. Japan are reigning champs.

It will be the first time a west Asia zone country hosts the AFC Women’s Championship. That comes after Jordan successfully hosted the U-17 FIFA World Cup in 2016 — a big boost not only for the Kingdom but women’s sports in the region. The event, was the first of its kind to take place in the Middle East, as Jordan beat bids from Uruguay, South Africa, Ireland and Bahrain. Jordan was the only Arab team at the U-17 World Cup after Egypt and Morocco were eliminated from the qualifiers. 

Jordan’s women’s football teams have been competing in all age divisions in the Asian zone. In 2007, the Kingdom qualified to the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship as the only Arab team but in 2014 and 2016 the team was eliminated from the qualifiers.

MELBOURNE — A deflated Novak Djokovic blamed a bad day at the office for his stunning second-round elimination by Uzbek wildcard Denis Istomin which condemned the Serb to his earliest Grand Slam exit in nearly a decade.

A strangely off-colour Djokovic bowed out 7-6(8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena, the court where he won his sixth title last year and was widely tipped to clinch a record seventh in 10 days’ time.

As the match slipped beyond the second seed’s control, Djokovic could conjure little emotion to rally in the fifth set but he denied that his competitive fires were lacking in the stunning upset.

“There was intensity, of course,” he told reporters.

“We played four-and-a-half hours. It’s just that, you know, it’s one of these days when you don’t feel that great on the court, don’t have much rhythm, and the player you’re playing against is feeling the ball very well.”

“So, you know, that’s sport.”

“I started the season very well. Again, it’s a tennis match. On a given day, you can lose. I mean, nothing is impossible.”

“What can I do? I did try my best till the last shot, but it didn’t work.”

After winning his maiden French Open to complete a sweep of grand slam titles, Djokovic’s form fell away in the second half of last season, prompting queries about his motivation leading into the new season.

Those queries looked to be put to bed after he opened his season with victory at the Qatar Open, having beaten world number one and long-time rival Andy Murray in the final.

He opened his Australian Open campaign with an impressive straight sets win over Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco, who knocked out compatriot Rafa Nadal in last year’s first round at Melbourne Park and had held five match-points over the Serb in Doha.

But the manner of Djokovic’s exit in Melbourne, where he has reigned supreme for most of the last decade, raised fresh doubts about the Serb’s mindset.

He said he had not had time to reflect on his mental state but conceded that it was not his physical fitness that wanting against Istomin on a mild afternoon at Melbourne Park.

“Of course, four-and-a-half hours is not easy on the body. But still, I don’t think that has affected neither me or my opponent,” he said.

Still raw from the loss, Djokovic gave short shrift to a query about his playing schedule.

“At the moment I just want to go home, spend time with my family, and that’s all,” he said, adding that the defeat was hurting him as much as any in the past.

“Of course. I’m not used to losing in Australian Open second round. I’ve always played so well,” he said.

“Throughout the last 10 years, I’ve won six titles here. This court has been so nice to me. I enjoyed it very much.

“Of course, it’s disappointing. But the end of the day I have to accept it.”

AMMAN — The year 2017 promises to be something special for one of Jordan’s rising sports stars, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

At 18, Mohammad Sarraj has proved himself in squash at the junior level and despite still qualifying for the age group competitions, he has already announced himself on the senior stage with two victories at the tail end of 2016 on the Professional Squash Tour.

The first in his home city of Amman in November was followed up by a second in Slovakia. A runner-up in Germany and a semifinal spot in France were sandwiched in between.

That form has already seen him rise to 148 in the world, just one place behind his 21-year-old brother Ahmad.

“I am from a sporting family which encouraged me to play sport from a very young age,” said Sarraj. “My father was a football player and my mother was a volleyball player. I was always playing with my brother Ahmad to have fun and to stay away from the streets or anything else that could affect us negatively.

“It was clear that we had talent for the sport at a young age so we got serious with our training and started to compete in tournaments.”

A step up to the professional tour though takes much more dedication and Sarraj revealed that he now trains three times every single day, except Fridays.

“I start my first session at 5am, followed at 12pm and then a final session at 5pm or 6pm,” he said.

“It sounds tough but I have a lot of fun playing squash. I always make sure, though, that I strike the right balance and have time to spend with my friends, so I have a life away from sport.”

So with strong foundations in place, Sarraj is ready for an assault on the world rankings in 2017. But first there is one last target in the juniors.

“I will participate in the Juniors World Championships in New Zealand in July for the last time. I really believe I can win it before I fully move on to the seniors.

“But my main goal for this year is to improve my world ranking in the men’s level. I believe I can reach the top 40 if I stay injury free as I am entering a number of tournaments,” Sarraj said.

Sarraj will launch his year by competing in the 18th Asian Junior Team Championships in Hong Kong from February 1-5 before moving on to Egypt for the Arab Championships and then join the professional tour with an event in Sweden.

AMMAN — Jordan National Rally Champion Asem Aref has confirmed that he will compete in the opening round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship in Qatar from February 3-4, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The five-round series was announced last week with Jordan following Qatar from May 4-6 and then Cyprus, Lebanon and Iran completing the shortened 2017 calendar. Aref and co-driver Musa Djiyerian are looking to challenge for the RC3 category.

AMMAN — Jordan’s young table tennis stars are heading to Oman to take part in the Al Amal International Championships for players under the age of 12, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The tournament takes place from January 21-26 with Kareem Zayadeen and Dana Al Khateeb looking for honours. They will be coached by Ayman Hadeed.

Meanwhile, all age category teams are preparing to participate in West Asian Championships which will be held in Aqaba from February 8-12.