30 WORLD SPORT Gulf Daily News Monday, 13th October 2014 Email: [email protected] Kolkata beat Mumbai in new Indian league opener KOLKATA: Atletico de Kolkata earned a convincing 3-0 victory over Mumbai City in the inaugural match of the Indian Super League, which began with an impressive opening ceremony yesterday. Ethiopian striker Fikru Teferra put the hosts ahead in the 27th minute from the top of the penalty area, with Spanish duo Borja Fernandez and Arnal Llibert adding goals in the 69th and 90th to ensure an easy win. The Kolkata team, which is partly owned by Atletico Madrid and has several Spanish players, dominated the match throughout and could have scored more goals but for some good goalkeeping by Mumbai’s Subrata Paul. Mumbai failed to impress in the absence of Swedish midfielder Freddie Ljungberg, who missed the match due to a calf injury, and French striker Nicolas Anelka, who is serving a ban for a controversial goal celebration in 2013. Earlier, the ISL saw a colourful start with a grand opening ceremony attended by several Indian cricket and film stars, some of whom have stakes in different teams. The ISL is particularly depending on cricket stars to help market the tournament. India cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni part owns Chennaiyan, retired superstar Sachin Tendulkar co-owns Kerala Blasters, and former captain Sourav Ganguly and batsman Virat Kohli have stakes in Atletico de Kolkata and Goa. Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and North East United are the other sides in the eight-team league, organised by IMG-Reliance in collaboration with Rupert Murdoch’s Star India group and the All India Football Federation. The ISL, which will see veteran stars like Alessandro Del Piero, Robert Pires, Luis Garcia, and David Trezeguet in action, faces a tough challenge as it has to compete with European league matches that are beamed live across the country on satellite channels. The tournament, which has raised expectations of single-handedly raising the standard of football in this country of 1.2 billion that is 158th in Fifa rankings, also has to contend with several franchise-based leagues run in India including in cricket, field hockey and kabaddi. Rooney free kick flattens Estonia TALLINN, Estonia: Wayne Rooney EURO 2016 QUALIFIERS n England’s Rooney celebrates scoring against Estonia struck with a 73rd-minute free kick to give England a 1-0 win over Estonia in Euro 2016 Group E yesterday and move to within six goals of Bobby Charlton’s record tally of 49. Rooney curled home a shot from the edge of the box after Raheem Sterling was fouled and although goalkeeper Sergei Parelko got his hands to the ball it went in off the post. The England skipper, playing his 99th international, has now scored 43 times for his country, one behind Jimmy Greaves who is third on the all-time list. Diego Costa scored his first goal for Spain in seven appearances to help the defending European champions ease to a 4-0 win at Luxembourg and rebound from their first qualifying loss in eight years. The placid victory put Spain back on track to qualifying for the 2016 European championship three days after their 34game unbeaten streak in qualifying ended in a 2-1 upset at Slovakia. Skipper Alexandru Epureanu’s equaliser earned Moldova a precious 1-1 Euro 2016 qualifier draw against Russia in Moscow. Estonia were reduced to 10 men for the second successive qualifier when their captain GROUP C 1 Macedonia 0 (Sydorchuk 45+2) Belarus 1 Slovakia 3 (Kalachev 79) (Hamsik 65, 84, Sestak 90+1) Luxembourg 0 Spain 4 (Silva 27, Alcacer 42, Costa 69, Bernat 88) Ukraine GROUP E 0 England (Rooney 73) Lithuania 0 Slovenia (Novakovic 33, 37) Estonia 1 2 GROUP G 1 Montenegro 0 (Okotie 24) Russia 1 Moldova 1 (Dzyuba 73-pen) (Epureanu 74) Sweden 2 Liechtenstein 0 (Zengin 34, Dumaz 46) Austria Playing today: (starting at 9.45pm, Bahrain time, unless stated) GROUP A Kazakhstan v Czech Republic (Starting at 7pm, Bahrain time) Iceland v Netherlands Latvia v Turkey GROUP B Andorra v Israel Bosnia v Belgium Wales v Cyprus GROUP H Croatia v Azerbaijan Malta v Italy Norway v Bulgaria Ragnar Klavan was sent off for a second yellow card after 49 minutes, but they frustrated England for long periods before the visitors scored to maintain their perfect start to the campaign with a third successive win. Estonia’s best chance fell to Sergei Zenjov in the first minute when his deflected shot hit Joe Hart’s side netting, and apart from a few isolated raids, most of the match was played in the hosts’ half. England, though, lacked accuracy in front of goal and pace in attack until Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sterling were introduced in the second half and although they dom- inated the match, it was a far from memorable match or victory. Rooney had a great chance to equal Greaves’s tally in stoppage time but shot straight at Parelko. Loew demands Germany fightback against Ireland WARSAW: Joachim Loew has demanded world champions Germany respond to their shock defeat to Poland by beating Ireland tomorrow to get their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign back on track. The World Cup winners find themselves fourth in their qualifying group after being beaten 2-0 at Warsaw’s National Stadium on Saturday, suffering an historic first defeat to neighbours Poland in 19 matches. Ajax striker Arkadiusz Milik gave the hosts the lead on 51 minutes before substitute midfielder Sebastian Mila netted a late second to inflict Germany’s first defeat in a qualifier for seven years. The Republic of Ireland’s 7-0 drubbing of minnows Gibraltar in Dublin earlier in the day means Germany are now fourth in Group D with Poland top, Ireland second and Scotland third. Loew’s Germany has the chance to bounce back when they host Martin O’Neill’s Ireland in Gelsenkirchen tomorrow, the same night Poland host Scotland. Germany’s lack of finishing is of particular concern to Loew as his team enjoyed 62 per cent possession, yet could not finish any of their 22 attempts on goal compared to just four by Poland, who scored from their first real chance. Disappointed “We are obviously disappointed, you can’t really criticise the team apart from saying we were too reckless with our chances,” admitted Germany’s head coach. “Our structure was good and we created a few opportunities, but Poland took their chances and scored from their first shot on goal. “We have to focus on Tuesday now, react well against Ireland and gather our strength.” Poland fans partied into the night after their historic win. “We are delighted, you could see that the supporters have been waiting a long time for this victory,” said Poland defender Lukasz Piszczek. “Our counter-attack game worked really well and we took our chances, that was the difference as the Germans didn’t use theirs. “It means a lot for the country, but we need to stay focused and concentrate on our next game on Tuesday.” Germany have struggled since winning the World Cup in Brazil in July. They were humbled 4-2 by Argentina in an August friendly, then laboured to a 2-1 win over Scotland last month in their opening Euro 2016 qualifier. They had their proud record of 33 qualifiers without defeat – dating back to a 3-0 loss to the Czech Republic in October 2007 – abruptly ended. n Marquez claims second MotoGP title MOTEGI, Japan: Spanish sensation Marc Marquez retained his MotoGP championship by finishing runner-up behind countryman Jorge Lorenzo at the Japanese Grand Prix yesterday. Marquez, who last year became MotoGP’s youngest world champion, celebrated in flamboyant fashion, accepting a ceremonial sword from a samurai warrior and a golden helmet from a kimono-clad beauty emblazoned with his number 93 and “world champion”, which he wore on his lap of honour. Lorenzo won at Motegi on his Yamaha as he did last year, finishing in 42 minutes 21.259 seconds to back up his victory at Aragon two weeks ago, with Marquez behind him and Valentino Rossi third for Yamaha. Marquez’s second place gave him an unassailable gap of 82 points from Rossi and Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa with three races remaining this season. n Levy lifts Portugal trophy VILAMOURA, Portugal: France’s Alexander Levy claimed a second career title yesterday when he won the Portugal Masters after the third and final round had to be abandoned due to heavy rain in Vilamoura. In a tournament already reduced to 54 holes by lightning and heavy rain, another deluge left parts of the course unplayable shortly after the final group had teed off at 1pm. The result was then called at 36 holes. Levy, 24, carded rounds of 63 and 61 to finish with an 18 under par total having been just one of six players to complete their second rounds on Friday. His title yesterday came after winning the China Open in April. Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts was in second place, three shots off the lead. n Bae takes four-shot lead NAPA, California: South Korean Bae Sang-Moon eagled the parfour 17th and birdied the final hole to earn a four-stroke lead after the third round of the Frys.com Open in Napa, California on Saturday. In just two holes, Bae turned a tenuous advantage into a commanding lead at the PGA Tour season opener at Silverado Country Club north of San Francisco. He carded 65 for 16-under-par 200, while American Zac Blair shot 69 for second place on 12-under with his compatriots Matt Kuchar (66), Brooks Koepka (67) and Scott Langley (69) tied for third at 11-under with Scot Martin Laird (71). n Feng triumphs KUALA LUMPUR: China’s Feng Shanshan ripped four birdies and an eagle through the final eight holes to shoot an eight-under 63 and overtake Pornanong Phatlum for victory at the LPGA Sime Darby Malaysia yesterday. Feng, 25, notched a three-stroke win over the Thai, who cooled down the stretch just as Feng was heating up, giving the 2012 LPGA Championship winner her fourth Tour win. Feng punctuated her strong finish with an eagle on the par-five 16th hole at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club, eventually finishing the tournament at 18-under 266 and taking home the $300,000 first prize. n Kipchoge wins in Chicago CHICAGO: Kenyans ruled the Chicago Marathon yesterday, with Eliud Kipchoge leading a 1-2-3 men’s sweep and compatriot Rita Jeptoo repeating as the women’s winner. Kipchoge pulled away over the last two miles for his first major marathon victory, finishing in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 11 seconds. He was followed by Sammy Kitwara in 2:04:28 and Dickson Chumba in 2:04:32.