BAHRAIN SPORT Ammar storms into boys final Email: [email protected] 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.”
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