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Doha: Yesterday, veteran Qatari rider Saeed Nasser Al Qadi led Andreas SPB Z to win in the Major Tour class as he warmed-up in style for the feature event of the Amir Sword Equestrian Festival. Saeed and his 12-year-old stallion Andreas SPB Z were in brilliant form at the outdoor arena of the Qatar Equestrian Federation as the pair secured the victory in the 145cm division with a time of 84.79 seconds after admitting one mistake. During the three-day Amir Sword Equestrian Competition,

Doha: Bowerman, the only overseas runner in the region, won the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup (QA Gr 2) yesterday, on the second day of the Amir Sword Festival in Al Rayyan Park. The Adrian McGuiness-schooled gelding had Ronan Whelan in the Max Recall Racing Club colours in the saddle, starting big from Gate 13, and the pair had to deal with traffic early on. They continued going up the order, before racing for the end on the home stretch, as Whelan settled his

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) said on Thursday that The finals of the Billie Jean King Cup, the redesigned Fed Cup which was scheduled to be held from April 13-18 in Budapest, has been deferred once more due to COVID-19 guidelines in Hungary. The opening ceremony 12-nation finals was at first scheduled to take place in March last year before the COVID-19 outbreak obligated authorities to put it back a year. The ITF and the Hungarian National Sports Agency (NSA) said that the

MELBOURNE: Naomi Osaka clinched her fourth Grand Slam title on Saturday (Feb 20) after beating American Jennifer Brady at the Australian Open. The 23-year-old became the first women's player to win her first four Grand Slam finals since Monica Seles in 1991. Here, AFP describes how her two US Opens and two Australian Opens were won: US OPEN 2018 Osaka, 20, became the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title by beating her idol Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4 in a

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Saturday (Feb 20) the Group of Seven leaders gave unanimous support for his bid to hold the Tokyo Olympics this summer, as the country struggles to contain the coronavirus and to inoculate its citizens swiftly. "I told the meeting that I want to realise a safe and secure Olympics as testimony that human beings will have won the battle with the coronavirus," Suga told reporters following a virtual G7 summit meeting held on Friday. The

MELBOURNE: Confidence is king and Daniil Medvedev has plenty of it, with the affable Russian morphing into not just one of tennis's best players and premier athletes, but among the smartest. Standing at a lanky 6 ft 6 in and pencil-thin, he has emerged at the forefront of the next wave looking to smash the 'Big Three' monopoly of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. After reaching the 2019 US Open final, where he lost to Nadal, he has worked hard on

NEW DELHI: Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli has revealed that he struggled with depression and felt like the "loneliest guy in the world" after failing with the bat during a tour of England in 2014. Kohli, one of the highest-paid athletes in the world with a net worth of US$26 million, also said that a chat with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar helped him through the mental-health crisis. The 32-year-old batsman made the revelations on a podcast with English commentator and former cricketer Mark

The Premier League has revealed the official match ball that will be used to play out the remainder of the 2020-21 season. With just a few months of the campaign left to play, the new Nike Flight will be used across all games from Friday, Feb. 19 -- starting with Leeds United's trip to take on Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. The Flight ball has been in use in the Premier League all season, with 634 goals being scored using its two previous designs

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) postponed the majority of the upcoming Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023. "Taking into consideration the existing travel and quarantine restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic across the Continent and following a process of close consultation with Asias Member Associations, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and FIFA have jointly agreed to postpone the majority of the upcoming Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian

ROME: Bukayo Saka earned Arsenal a 1-1 draw against Benfica in the first leg of their Europa League last-32 tie on Thursday. The youngster slotted home from close range in the 57th minute just after Benfica grabbed the lead with Pizzi's penalty. A draw was the least Arsenal deserved as they carved out some great chances in Rome's Stadio Olimpico, which was hosting the game for Benfica because of COVID-19 travel restrictions between Portugal and the UK. Saka could have scored again while

MELBOURNE: Second-seeded Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka swept past Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova to clinch their maiden Australian Open doubles crown on Friday (Feb 19). The Belgian-Belarusian combination proved too strong for the third-seeded Czech pair, winning 6-2, 6-3 at the Rod Laver Arena after sealing the match on their fourth championship point. "It's been a tough couple of weeks, so thank you to everyone involved. Glad to have fans back," said Mertens. It was their second Grand Slam success as a

MELBOURNE: Jennifer Brady spent two weeks in hard quarantine gathering mental strength for her tilt at a maiden Grand Slam title, and will hope there is plenty in reserve when she takes on Naomi Osaka in Saturday's (Feb 20) Australian Open final. While some of those in hard quarantine complained about not being able to train before the Grand Slam, Brady likened it to a long decompression session that probably helped her bulldoze through the draw against better-prepared players. Now the rising 25-year-old

LONDON: Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur built hefty leads with emphatic away wins in their Europa League last 32 first-leg matches but AC Milan were held to a 2-2 draw at Red Star Belgrade as the competition resumed on Thursday. United crushed Real Sociedad 4-0 in a game played in Turin because of COVID-19 restrictions between the UK and Spain with Bruno Fernandes again proving pivotal for his side with a brace. The Portuguese midfielder opened the scoring after 27 minutes with his

Martin Braithwaite has taken to Twitter in the wake of Barcelona’s defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last 16. The Denmark international, who played the last five minutes against the French champions, doesn’t seem to have given up hope yet despite Barca losing the first leg 4-1. Barca players have unsurprisingly been pretty quiet since the match and were given two days off by manager Ronald Koeman. Sport have reported that the dressing room was “hurt” and “full of doubts” after

Reigning champions Al Sadd beat Al Rayyan 1-0 to reach the final of 2021 Qatar Cup. Santi Cazorla scored the only goal of the feisty semifinal contest by converting a penalty kick in the 84th minute at the Al Duhail Stadium on Thursday. He was declared the Man of the Match for his brilliant allround show in what was a pulsating clash. The start of the much-awaited clash was exactly how fans expect in matches involving the two sides - plenty of action

Naomi Osaka ended Serena Williams’ bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title with an imperious 6-3 6-4 win on Thursday, a victory that booked her spot in her second Australian Open final and left the American great in tears. In a rematch of their tumultuous 2018 U.S. Open decider, Osaka underlined her status as the new queen of women’s tennis and soaked up the cheers from the Rod Laver Arena crowd as fans returned to the Grand Slam after a five-day lockdown.

England fast bowler Mark Wood has asked to withdraw from Thursday's Indian Premier League auction in order to spend more time with his family. Wood, 31, has just rejoined England on the tour of India after being rested for the first two Tests of the series. If he had been selected by one of the eight IPL teams, he could potentially have been away from home until June. Sixteen English players will be in the auction, while another eight have been retained by

Curry scored eight of the final 11 points, including a superb late three-pointer, to finish with a 25-point haul and complete a remarkable comeback San Francisco: Steph Curry sealed a stunning late fightback to help the Golden State Warriors to a 120-112 overtime victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday. Curry scored eight of the final 11 points, including a superb late three-pointer, to finish with a 25-point haul and complete a remarkable comeback at San Francisco's Chase Center. The Warriors had looked

Dubai: The International Cricket Council (ICC) will launch a series named #CWC11Rewind on Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of India's 2011 World Cup triumph at home. The series will look back at tournament's iconic moments through 100 posts. Some of the contents will include a five-min highlights of every match released on the ICC website on the day the match occurred, player-focused highlights from each match across ICC social channels, daily Instagram Reels content targeting a younger demographic, and interviews with key

Daniel Ricciardo says he is "excited" about his prospects at McLaren, as the team launch their new car and driver line-up for the 2021 season. The Australian has signed a three-year contract with McLaren, who are switching from Renault to Mercedes engines in 2021. Ricciardo, who joins after two years at Renault, said: "Everything I have seen excites me about where McLaren is heading. "I really believe in the personnel." He added: "They are doing what it takes to be a real contender