Sports

AMMAN — Hussein are six points ahead and atop the Professional Football League as teams head into week 13 on Friday.

The competition resumed in the past two weeks with postponed matches preceding Leg 2 after a long halt due to the  national team’s participation at the 2023 Asian Cup where Jordan lost the final to Qatar and settled for second place.

With fans elated following the Asian Cup, football returned to the local scene with a series of changes to coaching staff and players hoping for lucrative new contracts, after Mousa Ta’mari, now playing in the French League and Yazan Nue’imat, now playing in Qatar, becoming household names alongside other teammates playing in the Gulf.

The highlight of week 13 matches will see  Faisali facing Ramtha while leaders Hussein play Salt after standings remained mostly unchanged following week 12 apart from Wihdat stumbling with a draw and tying Faisali on points.

Hussein scored an important 1-0 win over Shahab Urdun and took their lead further after Ahli held Wihdat to a goalless draw as the latter dropped to third while Faisali went up to second after they beat Salt 3-0.

Both Wihdat and Faisali still hope to catch up with leaders Hussein in their fight for the league title after they failed to advance beyond Round at Asian competitions: Faisali were ousted from the Champions League Round Robin stage, while Wihdat were hoping to qualify as second best from the AFC Cup group but were eliminated.

So far in the season, Wihdat beat Faisali to winthe Jordan Super Cup for their 15th time as they try to beat Faisali ‘s record 17-time wins. Reigning Pro League champs Faisali won their 9th Jordan Football Association Shield, while the Jordan Cup is still underway.

MANAMA — Max Verstappen on Wednesday brushed aside suggestions his bid for a fourth consecutive world title may be affected by speculation around his Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

Horner’s future with the outfit was thrown into doubt after he was accused of alleged controlling and improper behaviour by a female Red Bull team member, a claim that initiated an independent investigation.

“It doesn’t affect me,” Verstappen said before this weekend’s season-opening Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain.

“I’m very focused on the car and on myself and, hopefully, it is resolved very soon,” he added.

Horner denied all the claims and continued to work as usual in the build-up to the new season while the probe was completed.

It has been reported that the outcome is due to be made public on Thursday.

The 26-year-old Dutchman kept his responses brief to questions from reporters at the Bahrain International Circuit where he won last year’s race for the first time. “It’s a whole team effort and everyone sticks together,” he said.

“And we all work for success and that’s why it should be resolved very soon.” Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes, the most successful driver at Sakhir with five wins, said the investigation into Horner’s behaviour was “hanging over the sport” and that the outcome was important for the future.

 “It’s a difficult one to answer,” said Hamilton, who announced earlier this month he will leave Mercedes and race for Ferrari in 2025. “I think we always have to do more to try and make the sport, and the environment that people work in, feel safe and inclusive.

“Any allegation has to be taken very seriously.

“Obviously, we don’t know everything that’s going on, but it does need to be resolved as it is hanging over the sport.”

‘Role models’ 

Hamilton added it would be “interesting” to see how the Horner case could change Formula One in future.

 “It’s a very important moment for the sport to make sure that we stand true to our values.”

His words echoed those of Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff.

“We are a global sport and one of the most important sport platforms in the world and we are role models,” Wolff said.

The investigation was conducted by a British lawyer whose dossier was due to be submitted to the Red Bull parent company in Austria on Tuesday.

Verstappen was unruffled by the discussion about Horner and remained calm and focussed on his job.

“I feel very comfortable in the car,” he said of the RB20, a car which marks the team’s 20th birthday at a circuit this weekend which itself celebrates two decades on the Formula One calendar.

“But only time will tell how we do and if we are successful.

“We had some good testing days and I felt good in the car. It looks promising, but you never really know in advance where you stand.”

Horner, who is married to former Spice Girl pop singer Geri Halliwell, was not expected to attend Wednesday’s media day in Bahrain, but to be at the circuit on Thursday for opening practice.

 The race takes place late on Saturday under floodlights instead of Sunday to accommodate Ramadan, which starts on March 10, in the early-season schedule.

AMMAN — Jordan took top spot as window 1 of Group Dqualifiers for the 31st-FIBA-Asia Cup 2025 ended with the Kingdom scoring two wins.

Jordan tipped off the qualifying journey with a 73-46 win over Palestine before they upset their hosts Saudi Arabia 79-64 in Monday’s match. In other results, Iraq managed a 75-72 win over Palestine as  Saudi Arabia beat Iraq 64-58.

It took a concerted effort of defence with personal fouls mounting for Jordan to beat Saudi Arabia. The result could have gone either way.

Halftime was 39-38, but the third quarter proved to be the tipping point as Jordan gradually took control of the pace as  Freddie Ibrahim carried the team scoring 24 points, including 3 consecutive three pointers in addition to free throws to give Jordan the lead.

Naturalised pro Rondae Hollis-Jefferson had 19 points and Ahmad Duweiri 17.

Most observers concur it was not Jordan’s impressive teamwork nor cohesion that allowed them to score expected wins in both matches.

The match against Saudi Arabia saw the team relying on  individual efforts of key players, with fouling out being a major concern with no bench support.

The team’s upcoming matches will be in November against Iraq and Palestine, however, most point out that the team needs to gradually build a stronger bench and not just rely on pros as a solution to create a competitive lineup and future plan for the team.

WASHINGTON — Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 30 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and passed off nine assists to lead the dominant Milwaukee Bucks in a 119-98 NBA victory at Philadelphia on Sunday.

New Bucks coach Doc Rivers collected a victory over his former club, the 76ers having fired Rivers last May after three seasons guiding the franchise. Milwaukee hired Rivers last month to replace fired Adrian Griffin.

Damian Lillard added 24 points, nine assists and seven rebounds while Malik Beasley added 20 points as the Bucks hit 43-of-79 shots from the floor (54.4 per cent) and kept the Sixers to 36-of-97 (37.1 per cent) shooting.

Milwaukee, coming off a victory on Friday at Western Conference leader Minnesota, seized a 69-48 half-time lead and stayed in command to the finish despite some second-half stumbles.

“We did a good job of just carrying over from the win we had over Minnesota,” Antetokounmpo said.

“We came out and played hard in the first two quarters. In the third quarter we were a little bit sloppy. We turned the ball over a lot of times. But going into the fourth quarter I think we did our best job just finding one another, making the right plays offensively.

“Defensively the group was there all night. They made some tough threes but whenever they were in the paint we were jumping up clean and we would get the rebound and go the other way.”

The Greek star, a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player, hit 10-of-17 from the floor and leads the NBA with 27 30-point, 10-rebound performances this season.

Milwaukee improved to 37-21, third in the Eastern Conference, and Antetokounmpo likes what he sees from the team these days as the Bucks chase a second NBA title in four seasons.

“We’ve got to keep on playing better, got to keep building good habits and just keep playing hard,” he said. “These last two games we’ve played them hard and that’s who we are. When we don’t play hard, we don’t look like the Bucks.”

The Sixers, playing without injured reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid, were led by 24 points from Tyrese Maxey.

At Phoenix, Grayson Allen scored 24 points and Kevin Durant added 22 to lead the host Suns over the Los Angeles Lakers 123-113.

Devin Booker had 21 points, Royce O’Neale added 20 and Jusuf Nurkic contributed 18 points, 22 rebounds and seven assists for the Suns, who improved to 34-24.

LeBron James led the Lakers with 28 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds while Anthony Davis had 22 points and 14 rebounds and D’Angelo Russell added 20 points.

Before playing host to Orlando later Sunday, the Atlanta Hawks announced that leading scorer Trae Young has suffered a torn ligament in his left pinkie finger and will undergo surgery on Tuesday to repair the injury, sidelining him for at least the next four weeks.

At 24-32, the Hawks rank 10th in the Eastern Conference.

AMMAN — Jordanian national football team’s coach Hussein Ammouta has confirmed that he will continue with The Nashama until the end of the World Cup qualifiers.

Unnamed source knowledgeable of the matter were quoted in Al Rai Arabic daily as saying that the Jordan Football Association (JFA) has received a “clear-cut answer” from Moroccan coach Ammouta regarding his commitment to remain with the national team until the end of his current contract.

Ammouta has recently made controversial comments on a Moroccan TV channel in which he announced his intention to resign from the national team within three months for personal family reasons.

Under Ammouta’s leadership, the national team (The Nashama) achieved an unprecedented feat by reaching the final of the Asian Cup, which was recently held in Doha. 

The Nashama’s remarkable achievement was met with widespread praise and admiration for the team’s exceptional performance throughout the tournament.

AMMAN — Jordan plays an away match against Saudi Arabia in Jeddah on Monday in the Group D of qualifiers for the 31st FIBA Asia Cup 2025.

Jordan tipped off the qualifying journey with a 73-46 win over Palestine on the weekend as  Saudi Arabi beat Iraq 64-58 in the other match.

National team coach Wisam Al Sous acknowledged the match and performance were not convincing. “It was a slow start and shooting percentage was low. However, I’m satisfied with young players who joined the team. The process of building Jordan’s future team will be gradual as the lineup will eventually group the best available,” he said.

The coach and players have come under fire as the team scored an expected win over Palestine while scoring only 14 of 33 free shots awarded. Observers noted relying on Pros Ahmad Duweiri and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is not viable nor serves creating a competitive lineup with both played abroad and chances of injuries and missing the lineup a big possibility as Jordan starts the long qualifying process.

A total of 24 teams are playing Round 1 qualification matches for the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup in three windows in February and  November 2024 and February 2025. Meanwhile, teams will also battle for qualifyingspots for 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup alongside hosts Qatar who automatically qualified. The top two teams of each group qualify for the final tournament and the six third-placed teams will play another qualifying tournament for the final four places.

AMMAN — The Jordan Football Association (JFA) has announced a support of JD500, 000 to the country's 12 Pro League clubs.

In a statement on Saturday, JFA said that JD15,000 will to each club as a first payment, while the remaining JD320,000  will be distributed to the/other clubs, each according to their players’ contracts and expenses.

The association said that the support came after the historic achievement of the Jordanian national football team (The Nashama) AFC Asian Cup.

The Nashama reached the final of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup for the first time in its history and clinched the runner-up spot following a 1-3 defeat to Qatar. It was Jordan’s 5th time at the Asian Cup with its previous best past performance reaching the quarterfinals in 2004 and 2011.

In line with the directives of His Majesty King Abdullah, the government has announced recently a financial support of JD1.5 million to the JFA.

Following their historic achievements in the Asia Cup, Jordan shot up to 17 spots to 70th in the latest FIFA rankings issued on Thursday.

The 12 Pro League clubs are: Al Hussein Irbid, Al Wehdat, Al-Faisaly, Ramtha Club, Al Aqaba SC, Maan FC, Shabab Al-Ordon, Moghayer Al- Sarhan, Al Salt, Al Jalil, Al Ahly, Sahab SC. 

DUBAI — Anna Kalinskaya snapped Iga Swiatek’s seven-match winning streak and ended the World no.1 bid for a rare Gulf title double with a commanding 6-4, 6-4 victory in the Dubai Open semi-finals on Friday.

The 40th-ranked Kalinskaya was contesting her first WTA 1000 semi-final, and is into the first tour-level final of her career, where she faces Italian Jasmine Paolini.

Kalinskaya defeated Paolini last month at the Australian Open to reach her first Grand Slam quarter-final. They will square off once again on Saturday in another career-defining showdown.

Top seed Swiatek came into the semi-finals having won 25 of her last 26 matches and looking to follow up her title run in Doha last week with a first-time triumph in Dubai.

Kalinskaya had to battle through the qualifying rounds and has won seven matches in total this week in the emirate, including three top-10 victories over Jelena Ostapenko, Coco Gauff and now Swiatek.

“She’s a great player. I knew if I didn’t stay calm and I didn’t stay aggressive she is going to destroy me. So that was my plan, to stay aggressive, to move her a lot,” said the 25-year-old Kalinskaya.

“I’m happy I won, she’s unbelievable. I’m happy I had the chance to play against her and I’m sure we’ll play a lot in the future.”

From 2-4 down, Kalinskaya won four games in a row to snatch in 53 minutes.

The Russian saved six of seven break points during that set, drawing 11 unforced errors off Swiatek’s racquet.

Swiatek took a toilet break between sets but it didn’t change the momentum as Kalinskaya clinched a fifth consecutive game on a loose forehand from her opponent.

Swiatek threw her racquet in frustration as she lost a sixth game in a row, falling behind 0-2 early in the second set.

Kalinskaya claimed a second break of serve in game seven and served for the match at 5-2 but Swiatek wasn’t ready to fold just yet and put pressure on the Russian by narrowing her deficit.

But even when she was staring down two break points while serving for the match for a second time, Kalinskaya didn’t flinch, saving both and completing a milestone victory on the one-hour 41-minute mark.

Earlier on Centre Court, Paolini overcame Romanian big-hitter Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 7-6 (8/6) to reach her first WTA 1000 final and become just the fourth Italian to make it that far at a tournament of this calibre on the women’s tour.

The 28-year-old has pulled off some impressive wins this week in Dubai, knocking out 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, former US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez, eight seed Maria Sakkari before Friday.

Paolini’s reward is a place in the world’s top-20 when the new rankings are released on Monday.

“I’m really happy. It’s something that if somebody would have told me before this week, I wouldn’t believe maybe. But yeah, now I’m in the final, so let’s enjoy,” said Paolini.

On Friday, two breaks of serve were enough for Paolini to take a one-set lead in 41 minutes.

But things got more complicated in the second set as Cirstea kept striking back each time Paolini inched ahead.

Cirstea had come back from 2-6, 1-5 down in her previous round against Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, saving six match points along the way.

When she wiped a 2-4 deficit against Paolini, saved a match point in the 10th game, and served for the second set at 6-5, it looked like Cirstea was on her way to another come-from-behind victory.

Paolini held her nerve though, saving five set points to force a tiebreak, and she closed out the win on her second opportunity in just under two hours.