Sports

AMMAN — Jordan joins Asian teams in the 14-nation race with the aim to qualify to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-19 Women’s Championship in 2017.

The national team left for Nanjing, China on Sunday to play Group A qualifiers in which Jordan will face the Northern Mariana Islands on November 4 and Australia on November 6. The top team from each group moves to the championship in 2017. 

The top four teams in the 2015 edition of the AFC U-19 Championship — champions Japan, North Korea, South Korea and China — received a direct qualification to the tournament leaving the 14 teams above to battle it out in the qualifiers. The winner from each group (total four teams) will qualify to the finals (eight teams in total).

The participating nations are:

Group A: Australia, Jordan and Northern Mariana Islands.

Group B: Uzbekistan, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong and Tajikistan.

Group C: Thailand, Myanmar, Palestine and Kyrgyzstan.

Group D: Iran, Vietnam and India.

This year, the U-16 women’s national football team failed to advance past Group A qualifiers for the 2017 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship. They scored their only win over Guam and lost to Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

Jordan’s squad had a tough task with the line-up missing players who were on the recently concluded U-17 Women’s World Cup line-up. Jordan was eliminated from the first round losing 5-0 to New Zealand, 4-1 to Mexico and 6-0 to Spain in the Kingdom’s inaugural appearance in the U-17 World Cup, and also Jordan’s first appearance at any level at a FIFA World Cup.

For the past decade, Jordan has been competing in all women’s age divisions in the Asian zone. In 2014, Jordan was eliminated from Group A qualifiers for the 2015 AFC U-19 Women’s Championship after qualifying as the only Arab team in 2007. The U-16 girls’ team also failed to qualify to the 2015 AFC U-16 Women’s Championship after qualifying in 2013. In 2015, the women’s national team also exited the AFC Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament with a winless record.

MADABA — Khaled Juma’ on Friday captured the Jordan Rally Championship title after winning the final round of the championship — the Mount Nebo National Rally — held with the participation of 11 drivers in an event that was dedicated to the late Ahmad Zidan, who passed away from a heart attack last week.

Zidan’s son Abdullah, with a sign written saying “We will never forget you”, gave the start signal for the rally which witnessed a short video on the life of Zidan, who was a dedicated rally driver with a passion to learn and give.

Khaled Juma’ and co-driver Imad Juma’ clocked 40m21s in their Mitsubishi Evo 10 followed by Ihab Shurafa and co-driver Hazem Ateyat with 42m38s in their Mitsubishi Evo 9, while Salameh Qamaz and co-driver Gaith Wraikat settled in third place with 42m49s in their Mitsubishi Evo 5.

Asem Aref and co-driver Musa Jehrian came fourth with 48m 22s in their Renault Clio.

The event witnessed the retirement of Basheer Azar, Sami Flaifel, Amar Qaisi, Ahmed Shaban and Fares Tell while Amjad Sheikh did not start the rally.

With this win Juma’ topped the standings with 137.5 points followed by Qamaz with 87 points and Shurafa in the third spot with 67.5 points.

Meanwhile, Imad Juma’ won the co-driver champion for the 2016 season with 100 points, followed by Ateyat with 70.5 points and the late Zidan in third place with 69 points.

After the event, Juma’ expressed his happiness for winning the last round but said that this win was clouded by the death of one of the best drivers in Jordan.

“I am happy that I won the title but at the same I am sorry for the loss of one of our friends and colleagues. I thank everyone who took part in this year’s championship and my condolences to Zidan’s family,” he said.

“The last rally saw the retirement of several drivers and this might give us the edge to apply more pressure and win the rally. Next year we will continue to develop our participation and hopefully everything will go as planned,” he added.

Drivers had to cover Bahra (9.76km), Kroum (5.00km) and Ghernata (6.08km) three times each with a total distance of 185.86km including 64.11km of special stages.

AMMAN — The 8th edition of the Samsung Amman Marathon, organised by Run Jordan, concluded on Friday with the participation of 10,000 local and international runners in all 42km, 21km and 10km Fun Run Race categories.

The event witnessed a new record registered by Kenyan Benjamin Serem in the 42km marathon after clocking 2h18m15s.

Kenyan Victor Kimeli came second with 2h19m57s and Jordan’s Ahmad Muheisen settled in third place with 2h29m48s.

Female overall 42km went to Ethiopia’s Yeshumie Ejigu who clocked 2h47m10s, followed by Kenyan Rebecca Tallam in second place with 3h04m33s and Jordan’s Safa Hasan in third place with 3h36m40s.

Meanwhile, in the Male Jordanian Category Ahmad Muheisen came first in the 42km race with 2h29m48s, followed in second place by Methqal Al Abbadi with 2h32m15s and Bashar Raheel in third place with 2h35m16s.

In the 42km Female Jordanian Category Sharefah Alsaqqa came first with 3h38m47s, followed by Sabreyeh Al Maradat in second place with 3h42m05s and Hadeel Omar in third spot with 3h56m39s.

In the Visual Impaired 42km Male Category Suhail Nashash won by finishing in 3h28m15s.

In the 21km Male Category Kenyan Eprahim Kimata came first with 1h07m19s, followed in second place by Jordan’s Ahmad Samour with 1h08m02s and his countryman Ayman Sardi in third place with 1h12m40s.

Female Overall 21km first place went to Scotland’s Georgia Cottle with 1h22m52s, followed in second place by Sudan’s Hanoia Hasaballa with 1h24m09s and in third place came Ethiopia’s Gedmnesh Yayeh with 1h32m27s.

Male wheelchair 21km First place went to Ali Al Sawalmeh with 1h13m06s, followed in second place by Bilal AbuMansi 1h31m26s and in third place Kamal Al Twalbah with 1h58m18s.

May Abu Nakhleh won the Female Wheelchair 21km in 2h42m25s.

Nabeel Al Maqablah won the Male Visual Impaired 21km in 2h04m45s, followed in second place by Abdulraouf Khateb with 1m26m21s.

Awad Al Shorofat won the Male Overall 10km in 31m20s, followed in second place by Ibrahim Salah with 31m27s and in third place by Hamzeh Alashosh with 32m02s. 

Amal Al Matary finished first in the 10km category after clocking 38m33s followed by Naheda Al Bawat in the second place with 45m03s and in the Third place Abeer Zakaria with 48m02s. 

Mahmoud Abu Rizeq won the 10km Male Wheelchair in 42m05s and Hasan Tayem finished first in the 10km Visually Impaired Male with 52m13s, while Nowara Hamad won the 10km Visually impaired Female 10km with 1h34m46s. 

HRH Prince Firas, who is also Run Jordan chairman of the board, participated in the 10km Fun Run race.

The marathon was followed by the prize awarding ceremony held at the Roman Amphitheatre down town where Prince Firas expressed his pleasure at this year’s marathon’s resounding success, both in terms of the level of participation and the organisational aspects. 

Lina Kurd, Run Jordan general manager, said: “The Samsung Amman Marathon is a remarkable event.”

Kurd highlighted this year’s event which was unique in the organisation and linkage with a marathon in China.

“We are happy that this year and for the first time the Samsung Amman Marathon was linked online to a marathon in China through the website CODON online; around 150,000 runners from China ran the marathon distance at the same time that the Samsung Amman Marathon took place,” she stated.

AMMAN — An impressive list of international runners will join Jordanians in the 8th edition of the Samsung Amman Marathon which kicks off on Friday with the participation of thousands of amateurs and professional runners.

“We are happy that we have professional runners from Kenya and Ethiopia joining our runners in the 8th version of the marathon as this will give it a very exciting edge and challenge,” Lina Kurd, Run Jordan general manager, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“We have Eprahim Kimata, Victor Kimeli, Benjamin Serem and Rebecca Jerotich Tallam from Kenya and Gedemnesh Yayeh and Yeshumie Ejigu from Ethiopia who have registered excellent timing in various events around the world,” she added.

Kimata is the winner of the Tripoli half marathon in 2016 and has personal best time of 1h04m32s while Yayeh won the women half marathon in Amman in 2015 and in Tripoli in 2015 and 2016 and has the best time of 1h14m04s.

Kimeli won the Verona Marathon in 2012 and has the best time of 2h13m38s while Serem won Amman marathon in 2010 and has the best time of 2h13m45s and Ejigu won the fourth place at Copenhagen Marathon in 2015 and has the best time of 2h39m27s.

Kenya’s Tallam came second in Amman Marathon in 2015 and has the best time of 2h35m56s.

Kimata told The Jordan Times that he is happy to be here again.

“I am really excited to start the race and win it as I am here to register a new record. Amman Marathon has always been challenging and interesting especially it is done in very nice touristic spots,” he said.

The event will have three races: 42km Full Marathon, 21km Half Marathon and a 10km Fun Run.

Norrie Williamson, IAAF course measurer, A Grade technical consultant for Run Jordan, the organiser of the event, said that this year the course is better.

“The route is basically the same but the roads are better and the surface gives better grip for runners. Also the weather will be fine with 13 degrees Celsius which is perfect for runners,” he said.

Jordan runner Ahmed Samour said that he is ready for the challenge.

“Thanks to Run Jordan I had several training camps in Kenya and I believe I am ready for the challenging route and will try to break the record,” he said. 

Kurd told The Jordan Times that the event aims at promoting society’s awareness to the importance of sports.

“This event which so far has more than 6,000 runners registered is open for everyone from professional runners to amateur athletes. The Marathon has proved itself to be a magnet to all who love sports,” she said.

“This year we tried our best to make everything perfect and we have unannounced checkpoints to make sure that everything goes smoothly as possible,” she added.

According to Kurd, the marathon which carries the slogan “Run to the Heart of the City of Amman,” has cash awards for winners and for those who break the record.

“One last thing we need to check is the winter time change in Amman which I believe all runners should notice,” she concluded.

Last year, more than 8,000 runners took part in the event with Ethiopia’s Tilahun Tarikuwon winning the 42km men’s race after clocking 2h18m01s, followed by Kenya’s Henry Kibet (2h22m53s) and Jordan’s Yousef Khalaf (2h41m40s).

Sarah Kerubo of Kenya won the 42kn women’s race in 2h46m51s, followed by teammate Rebecca Tallam (2h53m08s) and Samah Al Najjar of Jordan (3h23m12s).

AMMAN — The 2016/17 Jordan Professional Football League season kicks off on Friday after much anticipation of the new season that was delayed as Jordan hosted the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.

Last season saw Wihdat retain the title in the final week. Therefore, fans anticipate Faisali — as well as Ahli, Jazira and Shabab Urdun, who took last year’s top five spots — to fight it out for the title. Ramtha, Hussein, Baqa’a, That Ras and Sarih will be joined by newcomers Sahab and Manshieh, who were promoted from the First Division. 

The season opened with Ahli making history when they beat reigning league champs Wihdat 2-1 to win the 34th Super Cup — the first major competition on the 2016/17 football calendar. Although they are a founding member of the game in Jordan, they had never won the Super Cup. They were relegated to Division 1 in 2004 for the first time in their history and were back among the Professional League clubs in 2014, finished 5th in 2014/15 and third in 2015/16 in the league when they were also the best overall team.

The Jordan Football Association Shield — back on the calendar after four seasons — was won by Shabab Urdun, who scored a major 5-1 win over Faisali. It was Shabab Urdun’s second Shield title after they first won in 2007.

There has been a big transfer of coaches during the summer. Wihdat have former national team coach Adnan Hamad, while Faisali started off with Olympic team coach Jamal Abu Abed before he resigned and Ta’er Jassam took the helm. Ahli still have coach Maher Bahri, under whom they won the Jordan Cup and Super Cup while Shabab Urdun have Jamal Mahmoud. 

Ramtha are led by Akram Salman, while Hussein have Bilal Lahham. That Ras are led by Adel Atrash while Sarih have Abdullah Ammarin. Sahab have Islam Diyabat and Jazira are coached by Nizar Mahrous. Baqa’a have signed Ammar Zurieqi while Manshieh are led by Osama Qasem. Syrian and African stars will be among team line-ups as well with Mardig Mardigian, who hails from a long tradition of veteran footballing family in Syria, topping the list at Jazira.

The Jordan Cup preliminary round is slated to kick off December 4.

AMMAN — Mount Nebo National Rally, the last round of the Jordan National Rally Championship, kicks off on Friday with the participation of 11  drivers.

The rally will be dedicated to the late Ahmad Zidan, who succumbed to a heart attack last week.

Before his sudden death, Zidan was in the second place in the co-driver Championship Standings with 69 points.

Othman Naseef, Jordan Motorsport CEO told The Jordan Times that a great friend will be honoured.

“We will honor our friend Zidan and dedicate the last rally to his accomplishments and memory. He was a dedicated sportsman and placed his skills in the service of this sport,” he said.

Zidan made a strong presence in the 90s along great Jordanian and regional drivers. He secured third place at the Rumman Hill Climb in 2012 in addition to others. 

Meanwhile, the road seems clear for Khaled Juma’ who is currently topping the standings with 112.5 points, followed by Salameh Qamaz (69) and Ihab Shurafa (52.5).

Juma’, winner of last year’s Jordan Rally Championship, told The Jordan Times that it will not be that easy to win the championship.

“The final round is always a very critical event as everyone wants to end the championship on a high note. I feel confident that I will take the title, but I also want to win the final round,” he said.

Juma’ won the first and third rounds and came fifth at the Jordan Rally.

“I am sure that I will face a lot of challenge for other drivers,” he added.

Meanwhile, Shurafa must win the final round or have Qamaz retire to secure second spot, meanwhile, Qamaz has to finish the rally to keep his second place.

AMMAN — Jordan Fencing Federation President Khaled Atiyat has been re-elected as secretary general of the Fencing Confederation of Asia (FCA), one of four Jordanians taking up key posts, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

Atiyat, who is also vice president of the Jordan Olympic Committee, was asked to remain in his post by the FCA General Assembly at its annual general meeting being held on the sidelines of the Asian U-23 Fencing Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

He will be joined on the continental level by Eyad Al Maghayreh, who was named as referees committee president, Jalal Khateeb, who will become a member of the media and marketing committee, and Waseem Hammad who will join the organising, equipment and preparations committee. 

The announcement continues a fruitful 18 months for Jordan Fencing following the opening of its state-of-the-art headquarters in Al Hussein Youth City last year, a facility developed with support from the JOC. 

It has succeeded in opening up the sport to more youngsters, including the implementation of a schools’ programme, with Atiyat saying earlier this year that more than 200 fencers were practising regularly at the facility.

In 2011, Jordan also hosted the FIE Junior and Cadet World Fencing Championships which received widespread praise for its organisation from the game’s governing body as well as the participating nations.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Formula One (F1) could be on its way out of Malaysia after the country’s sports minister said “we should stop hosting” the Grand Prix (GP) and the chief of the Sepang International Circuit, inferred the dominance of Mercedes had stripped the sport of its excitement.

There is a contract to hold an F1 race at Sepang through 2018 but the prospects of continuing beyond that are diminishing. An early exit could possibly be negotiated as F1’s new ownership seeks to expand its presence in the United States without extending the season schedule.

Amid falling ticket sales and television viewership, SIC Chief Executive Razlan Razali told local media that “maybe it will do Malaysia good to take a break” from hosting F1.

“The product [F1] is no longer exciting. It’s being dominated by one team,” Razali was quoted as saying.

This criticism is despite Malaysia’s state oil company, Petronas, being both the major sponsor of the Mercedes team and the naming-rights sponsor of the local Grand Prix.

Malaysian Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin agreed with the SIC’s suggestion of taking a “break” from F1.

“I think we should stop hosting the F1. At least for a while. Cost too high, returns limited,” he tweeted.

“When we first hosted the F1 it was a big deal. First in Asia outside Japan. Now so many venues. No first mover advantage. Not a novelty.”

Jamaluddin said the ticket sales were declined, TV viewership is down, foreign visitor numbers have decreased because of competition from races in Singapore, China and the Middle East and “returns are not as big”.

The opinion of the sports minister is significant given the Malaysian race, like many others on the F1 calendar, is partially bankrolled by the government.

His tweets were met with agreement on his feed, while some questioned why Malaysia’s F1 crowds continue to diminish while those at the neighbouring Singapore Grand Prix are much higher.

“[Singapore is a] Night race in the city. Novelty. Nowhere else in the world. Even then ticket sales are down. It’s a hot race during the afternoon vs Singapore night race in the heart of city w/ no restrictions on concert acts,” Jamaluddin said. “Cost of lighting up SIC prohibitive. We looked into it.”

The Sepang circuit will host Moto GP this weekend, and tickets sales for that event have consistently been much higher than for F1.

Jamaluddin said Sepang should continue to host Moto GP and add other race series that do not have the huge hosting fees which F1 commands.

The Malaysian GP has been a permanent fixture on the F1 calendar since 1999 and was included in the provisional 2017 calendar issued last month.

AMMAN — Former FIFA presidential candidate HRH Prince Ali is concerned about the pace of reform in world football’s governing body and says new president Gianni Infantino has “no time to lose” in bringing transparency to the organisation.

Infantino was elected in February with the task of leading FIFA into calmer waters after a series of corruption scandals plunged the governing body into its worst crisis.

Prince Ali told Reuters in an interview that Infantino should focus on implementing reforms rather than issues such as proposals to expand the World Cup.

“I can only speculate as a new president he first has to look at his own administration and see what’s going on in there,” he told Reuters in Jordan, which hosted the 2016 Women’s U-17 World Cup.

The tournament is the first FIFA organised female World Cup in the Middle East and is considered a significant milestone for women in the region, long constrained by cultural and religious conservatism.

“Everybody is looking at FIFA and the direction it is going and again it’s critical time, there no time to lose.”

Football’s global governing body is attempting to recover from the worst graft scandal in its history which has seen 42 people, including former FIFA executive committee members, indicted in the United States since May last year.

Criminal investigations are also under way in Switzerland, where FIFA has its headquarters.

An investigation was also opened into FIFA’s decision to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 tournament to Qatar, a small, wealthy desert country with no real football tradition.

Prince Ali, who is also president of the Jordanian Football Association, said that as someone who had “stuck to my guns in terms of really supporting football and having a clean organisation”, he knew how urgent it was to speed up investigations and tackle improper business practices.

“You really need to have a clean FIFA to be able to trickle down to our national associations,” said Prince Ali, highlighting ongoing problems such as matchfixing.

“… the reality is putting aside the big ideas in the World Cup, the real issue is the organisation and cleaning it up for me I wish it will be more streamlined, more open and that’s what I am hoping will take place,” he added.

‘Shame on the game’

Prince Ali said the proposal to enlarge the World Cup could backfire if not properly planned out, citing problems that faced in Brazil and South Africa.

“When it comes to FIFA, at the moment there are other priorities really... my only concern is that it’s maybe more political and about pleasing people than what is best for the game,” he said.

There are concerns that enlarging the World Cup beyond the current 32 teams would make tournaments less manageable and result in a drop in quality.

Prince Ali again criticised FIFA’s decision to dissolve its anti-racism task force.

FIFA wrote to members in September to say it was disbanding the task force set up by then boss Sepp Blatter in 2013, and declaring that it had “completely fulfilled its temporary mission”.

“To say the work is done and to move on is not the case... racism and discrimination is everywhere and really needs to be a staple part of FIFA mission for the future,” he added.

“I see racism and discrimination is prevalent in a lot of places and that’s a shame on the game and FIFA has a responsibility to tackle it in every way it can...”

“Combating it is not about slogans it’s about real work...,” he added. 

Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by a growing number of Chinese Super League clubs in 2016, Guangzhou Evergrande continues to dominate, winning a sixth straight title on Sunday.

Luiz Felipe Scolari made it two championships since arriving in June 2015 as the club was held 1-1 by Yanbian Funde but moved seven points clear of Jiangsu Suning in second with two games remaining.

Guangzhou have dominated most of the season, helped by Brazilian internationals Paulinho, who scored against Yanbian, and Ricardo Goulart, the league’s leading scorer, as well as a number of top Chinese players.

“Guangzhou are a worthy champion for sure,” Mads Davidsen, assistant coach at fourth-placed Shanghai SIPG, told The Associated Press. “This is the sixth title in a row, so no doubt they are still the strongest team in China.”

Despite the dominance, the signs are promising for the Chinese Super League. The overall average attendance is set to finish close to the 25,000 mark this season, up from just over 22,000 in 2015. Once again, it is the highest in Asia,

“The fever here for football is something I have not seen before,” Choi Yong-soo, the South Korean coach of Jiangsu, was quoted as saying by FIFA. “The stadium and the fans, it’s all huge.”

Chinese clubs such as Guangzhou, Jiangsu, Shanghai SIPG and Hebei CFFC spent over $400 million in the winter transfer window on stars such as Alex Teixeira, Ramires, Jackson Martinez and Ezequiel Lavezzi. In the summer, Shanghai spent more than $60 million on Brazilian striker Hulk.

Choi believes that all the investment will make a difference.

“The infrastructure is well-established and the management system of the club is well-organised,” he said. “They essentially have laid out the groundwork for further growth. It is an indisputable fact that Chinese football is developing at an unprecedented pace.”

The season also saw a number of prominent foreign coaches depart and arrive. Former AC Milan and Juventus boss Alberto Zaccheroni and ex-Brazil head coach Mano Menezes were fired in the first half of the season by Beijing Guoan and Shandong Luneng, respectively. Menezes was replaced by former Bayern Munich boss Felix Magath, while ex-Real Madrid and Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini took over Hebei CFFC in August.

Scolari, who has lost just three league games in his time in China, is one of three coaches in the running to be named Chinese Super League coach of the year, along with Spaniard Gregorio Manzano of Shanghai Shenhua and Henan Jianye’s Jia Xiuquan.

“I want to say thank you to the players for their efforts and the fans for supporting us so well,” said Scolari. “This win was not easy. The league is getting tougher all the time and so it is very satisfactory to win the title once again.”

Davidsen agrees that standards are rising. “We now have six or seven quite equal teams as Jiangsu, Shenhua and Hebei has stepped up this season,” said the Dane, adding that big-spending Tianjin, promoted from the second tier with coach Fabio Cannavaro, will continue to invest in the top tier ahead of 2017. “Tianjin will probably finish in the top half as they have massive finances.”

Scolari is expected to leave Guangzhou at the end of the season though the Brazilian refused to comment on his future on Sunday. Marcello Lippi, who led Guangzhou to three championships from 2012 to 2014, had been set to return before it was announced on Saturday that the Italian had been appointed as the national team head coach.

The appointment was warmly received as an up-and-down year for the national team enters its final weeks. In March, China made the third round of qualification for the 2018 World Cup for the first time since 2002. One point from the first four games in Group A triggered the resignation of Gao Hongbo on
October 11.

Lippi will take control of China for the first time against Qatar on November 15. His first activity as the national team boss was to go and watch former club Guangzhou secure yet another title.