Ammar storms into boys final BAHRAIN SPORT 29

BAHRAIN SPORT
Ammar storms
into boys final
Email: sport@gdn.com.bh
Gulf Daily News Friday, 17th October 2014
n Allaf, left, and Sherif during their boys doubles semi-final clash. Right, Emelie, left, and Luciana after booking a place in the girls doubles final
THE Sixth Bahrain ITF
Junior Tennis Championship yesterday witnessed
upsets of tsunamic proportions at the Bahrain
Tennis Club Courts in Juffair.
Unseeded players in the girls section
and a wild card entry in the boys made a
mockery of the seedings system causing
major upsets.
Saudi Arabia’s Ammar Alhogbani,
a wild card entrant, upset second seed
Sherif Makhlouf of Egypt 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
to move into the final where he will meet
top seed Kareem Allaf of Syria.
The 16-year Ammar, who is based in
the US and regularly plays at the academy level, has been a revelation in this
championship and surprising has lost
just one set so far.
Peak
In the other semi-final, Kareem, who
has also been in peak form and yet to
lose a set, beat fifth seed Omark Elkadi
of Egypt 6-1, 6-2.
There were more dramatic results in
the girls section as unseeded Viktoria
Morvayova of Slovenia set up a title
clash with another unseeded player Lara
Bitter of Turkey.
Viktoria, who had upset third seed Lu-
ciana Rabines of the US in the second
round and seventh seed Nancy Fawxy of
Egypt in the quarter-finals, had to sweat
it out to continue her giant-killing act.
This time, Viktoria went after the
top seed Sanjana Sudhir of India and
had to dig deep to book a place in the
final with a exhausting 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4)
victory.
Lara, on the other hand, made
short work of sixth seed Emelie Luisa
Schwarte 6-2, 6-3. Lara is yet to lose a
set in the championship and has already
send three seeded players crashing.
The girls doubles and boys doubles
final will be played today evening at
3.30pm followed by the girls singles final at 5.30pm.
Results:
Boys doubles (semi-finals): Kareem Allaf
(Syr) and Sherif Makhlouf (Egy-1) bt Seif Adas
(Jor) and Mousa Alkotop (Jor) 6-4, 4-6 (10-7);
Kushaan Nath (Ind) and Edoardo Sardella (Ita2) bt Amer Mohammed Abdo (Yem) and Samer
Thabit (Yem) 6-4, 6-2.
Girls doubles (semi-finals): Luciana
Rabnes (US) and Emelie Luisa Schwarte (Ger3) bt Nancy Fawzy (Egy-2) and Sanjana Sudhir (Ind) 6-3, 6-3; Lamis Alhussein Abdel Aziz
(Egy-1) and Rikeetha Pereira (Ind) bt Nariman
Abo Bakr (Egy-4) and Aheim Shawkat (Egy)
6-1, 6-1.
29
Awali Gents
score over
Asma CC
AWALI Gents scored
a facile seven-wicket
victory over Asma CC
in the Cricket Bahrain
(BCL-CBA Division) Premier
League T20 Tournament.
Batting first, Asma were
restricted to 130 for seven
in their 20 overs. Ashid top
scored with 33 while David (427) and Vijay (2-18) were the
successful bowlers for Awali.
In reply, Awali reached the
target losing three wickets and
in 12 overs. Jaber led the way
with a 32-ball 74 while David
contributed 20. Aftab claimed
one wicket for 14 runs for
Asthma.
Other results:
Alpha Fire Bahrain 104-9 (Thilina 37; Chadra 4-13) lost to Enoc
Karnataka Royals 105-4 in 18 overs
(Janardhan 40*, Shiva 23; Sampath
2-25) by 6 wickets.
Global Remote 140-8 in 20 overs
(Shaji 42*, Shergy 24; Imran 2-2)
bt PAK CC 76 all out (Shoaib 38;
Mahesh 5-7) by 64 runs.
Combined White 140-7 in 18.2
overs (Nasir 37, Faisal 36; Rejesh
2-16) bt Tornado CC 136-5 (Anoop
38, Sreejesh 31) by 3 wickets.
Awan CC 188-4 in 20 overs
(Yasser Nazir 87, Faizal Nazir 40,
Waheed 29) bt Bahrain Indians 1316 (Praveen 36*, Hari 21; Sameer
2-30) by 57 runs.
Fateh Curtain 133-7 (Rana 30,
Raja 29; Awad Khan 3-33) lost to
BOC Under-25 134-2 in 16.5 overs
(Faiz 51, Waleed 36, Obaid 23) by
8 wickets.
Indian School Parents 56 all out
(Hari 14*; Sunder 4-18, Rasaak 2-9)
lost to Strikers 57 for no loss in 5.3
overs (Asif 35*, Satheesh 22*) by 10
wickets.
Alpha Fire and Safety 153-6
in 20 overs (Rashid 38, Imran 25;
Nadeem 2-29) bt Niazi CC 105 all
out (Imran 25; Assam 3-27, Waleed
2-21) by 48 runs.
Time to quit
was right
says Swann
LONDON: Graeme
n An injured Mohammed Hussain watches from the sidelines his team’s match against Saudi Arabia. Right, Al Assomi watches the match
Bahrain team set for crucial Kuwait showdown
BAHRAIN take on Kuwait in
a crucial clash at 5.30pm in the
third round of the 14th GCC
Basketball Men’s Championship in Dammam.
Bahrain are on top of the table
with four points with victories over Oman
86-35 and hosts Saudi Arabia 101-92.
They are on par with defending champions Qatar who also have four points with
wins over Kuwait 78-53 and Oman 75-49.
But Bahrain top the table on points difference.
Defending
Kuwait lost their opening match against
defending champions Qatar but came back
strongly to beat UAE 81-75.
Bahrain’s key players will again be Hussain Shaker, Younis Kuwayyed, Mohammed Qurban, Mohammed Hussain and the
giant Vladan.
Other team members are Sayed Kathim
Majid, Ahmed Abdulaziz, Ahmed Najaf,
Bader Abdulla, Mohammed Kuwayyed,
Abdulrahman Ghali and Subah Hussain.
But Bahrain suffered a setback during
their clash against Saudi Arabia with star
player Mohammed Hussain injuring his
right ankle.
He is still doubtful for tonight’s clash.
In other matches, defending champions
Qatar take on the UAE at 3.30pm while
hosts Saudi Arabia clash with Oman at
7.30pm.
Meanwhile, Bahrain Basketball Association president Adel Abdulrahman Al Assomi has ordered to increase the number of
buses carrying Bahraini fans for tonight’s
match.
Al Assomi thanked Bahraini fans for
their support during the match against Saudi Arabia and wished the team all success
in their bid to win this title for the first time.
Swann has insisted he
did the right thing quitting midway through
England’s 5-0 Ashes series
thrashing despite Graham Gooch
calling the decision “criminal”.
England great Gooch,
the team’s batting coach on
their woeful 2013-14 tour of
Australia, told Britain’s Daily
Telegraph on Wednesday that
the former off-spinner’s decision
had been highly damaging to
the team.
“It made us a laughing stock,”
said Gooch, one of England’s
most successful opening
batsmen. “I cannot understand
why he couldn’t stick it out until
the end of the trip. It left a bad
taste.”
Swann quit, with England 3-0
down, in December 2013 after
deciding a longstanding elbow
injury meant it was no longer
possible for him to spin the ball
properly.
“I understand (what he is
saying),” Swann told several
British newspapers. “Goochy is
very old school.
“Perhaps if he had gained my
perspective on it he might have
seen the reasons why I did it.
I think he is a bit misinformed
thinking I just left because
of form. It wasn’t because of
form.”