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1 Umm Salal seek to continue winning form against Qatar SCBy Sports ReporterDohaThe in-form Umm Salal will look to continue their winning run when they take on Qatar SC in the QNB Stars League today at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadi-um. The Orange Fortress, who are fi fth with 25 points from 16 matches in-cluding six wins and seven draws, have been in scintillating form this season. Wesam Rizik s men in their previous two matches have defeated Al Gharafa 3-1 before thrashing Umm Salal 6-0 to ignite top four hopes. Against Qatar SC, who are ninth with 16 points from 15 matches, Umm Salal will fancy another victory. How-ever, Rizik felt Qatar SC may be strug-gling in the league but they have a tal-ented side. Qatar SC are one of the strong and organised teams, and we worked for the game with utmost importance because it is a big match against a re-spected team, Umm Salal coach told a pre-match press conference yesterday.

2 I know Qatar SC are good and their results do not refl ect their excellent performance. We underwent strong training and all players were in full concentration in order to achieve sat-isfactory results in view of the hectic schedule, he said his players are fresh af-ter a break in the QSL, saying all of his team s focus is on fi nishing the league on a good position. It was also an op-portunity for the players and technical staff to correct mistakes, so that we can fi nish the season in a good posi-tion. Every player takes into account the great importance of the matches, especially since the upcoming rounds will of course be diffi cult for all teams because each team seeks to improve its position in the table. From here, all matches will be diffi cult for the teams and we hope to continue our good form, he said.

3 Meanwhile, Qatar SC coach Youssef Safri said his team is targeting a posi-tive result in the match. The results are the most important factor in foot-ball, and this will not be achieved without great work from the entire system. That is what we are doing on the ground and what we need are only positive results, as we have been do-ing in the last four or fi ve matches. We have presented distinct technical lev-els, he said. In another match today, sixth-placed Al Arabi will meet Al Shamal at the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium, hop-ing for maximum points to raise their points tally of 23 from 16 games. Al Shamal are placed 10th with 13 points. Also today, Al Ahli will host Al Khor in Round 17 clash. Tomorrow, leaders Al Sadd will take on Al Gharafa at home.

4 The defend-ing champions Al Sadd top the table with 40 points with two matches in hand against Qatar SC and Al Rayy-an which were postponed, while Al Gharafa are fourth in the table with 26 points. Al Gharafa and Al Sadd are in great form, having beaten Qatar SC (3-2) and Al Arabi (4-2 in Qatar Derby) respectively in their last match. Sadd, under Spaniard Javi Gracia, are the only unbeaten team in the tournament. Sadd will welcome the return of South Korean international Jung Woo-young, who rejoined the squad after his national team s 2022 World Cup qualifying games, which ended in his side booking their spots in the fi nals in Qatar. Sadd will hold their fi nal train-ing session today, at the end of which the coach Gracia will announce the list of players for the game.

5 The biggest match of the weekend is though between Al Rayyan and Al Duhail, with both teams seeking im-portant wins. Al Duhail, under Por-tuguese Luis Castro, are second in the table from 16 matches with 33 points. Six points separate them from leaders and champions Al Sadd. The Red Knights, who have regis-tered 10 victories, three draws and as many defeats, have struggled for con-sistency with their title ambition slip-ping away from them. Duhail suff ered further setback in their title hopes when they were beaten 4-0 by Al Wak-rah last Rayyan, coached by Laurent Blanc, are placed seventh with 17 points from 15 matches. The Lions, who were held 1-1 by Al Ahli in their last match with Blanc running out of time for a top four fi nish.

6 Also tomorrow, Al Wakrah face Al Sailiya. Al Wakrah have been in good form and are placed third with 28 points from 16 matches. They scored an impressive win over Duhail before succumbing to a heavy 0-6 defeat to Al Sadd on Monday. However, The Blue Wave, under Spaniard Marquez Lopez, are in a good position to fi nish in top four. Al Sailiya, coached by Tunisian Sami Trabelsi, did well in Week 15 by holding Al Duhail to a 1-1 draw. But The Peregrines, who played out a 1-1 draw with Al Khor in Week 16, have only one victory, four 17 FIXTURES Today: 4:35pm: Al Ahli vs Al Khor at Al Ahli Stadium; 4:35pm: Al Arabi vs Al Shamal at Qatar SC Stadium; 6:45pm: Umm Salal vs Qatar SC at Qatar SC Stadium Tomorrow: 4:35pm: Al Wakrah vs Al Sailiya at Al Ahli Stadium; 4:35pm:Al Sadd vs Al Gharafa at Al Sadd Stadium.

7 7:05pm: Al Rayyan vs Al Duhail at Al Sadd StadiumTomorrow, leaders Sadd will take on Gharafa, while Rayyan face Duhail in the biggest match of the weekendFriday, February 4, 2022 Rajab 3, 1443 AHSPORTGULF TIMESFOOTBALLMane and Senegal break Burkina Faso hearts to reach AFCON fi nalPage 3days to go290290 QNB STARS LEAGUEBy Sports ReporterDohaTrainer Mohamed Hamad Khali-fa al-Attiyah and Al Jeryan Stud scored a hat-trick of wins yes-terday as Qatar s AJS Berline landed the Al Jumail Cup in Qatar Rac-ing and Equestrian Club s 12th Al Uqda Meeting at the Al Uqda feature Local Purebred Arabian Plate (Fillies & Mares only) race for Al Jumail Cup over 1400m on turf set up a nice contest but jockey Sczepan Ma-zur made AJS Berline move up mid-way and break past the others towards the 400m marker to stay steady till the fi nish to ease to a one-and-three-four lengths triumph also gave trainer al-Attiyah third successive win in the fi nal three races of the day with his other horses Latamah and Hajaj winning the Local Thoroughbred Conditions and Thoroughbred Handicap (Class 3) respectively.

8 For Mazur it was a quick-fi re double after he had ridden Latamah to win. QREC Racing Manager Abdulla Rashid al-Kubaisi honoured the winners of the Al Jumail , the penultimate race saw Al Jeryan Stud s Latamah prevail by one and three-fourths length under Mazur in the Local Thoroughbred Conditions for above three-year-old s over 1400m. The fourth race of the day for above three-year-old s Thoroughbred Hand-icap over 1400m was claimed by Al Jeryan Stud s Hajaj. The Mohamed Hamad Khalifa al-Attiyah-trained horse was saddled to a comfortable win by three quarters of a length by jockey Alberto Sanna. In-jaaz Stud s Tembel De Pine also went one better on Thursday by winning the 1400m turf race for Purebred Arabian Maiden Plate (four to six-year-old). The Mohamed Ghazali-trained fi ve-year-old horse was ridden to a neck length win by jockey Marco Casamen-to.

9 Soon after, it was another quick-fi re double for Injaaz Stud and jockey Mar-co Casamento in the third race on the card, the Julian Smart-schooled Had-jira De Flauzins stayed on gamely to win the 1400m Purebred Arabian Handicap (0-85) by a neck trainer-jockey duo of Zuhair Mohsen and Soufiane Saadi picked up where they left off yesterday as they teamed up with Al Ghariya Racing s Ponderosa to win the opening race of the Al Jumail Cup Day, the 2100m Thoroughbred Maiden Plate by half a , Trainer, Jockey1. Al Jumail Cup Local Purebred Arabian Plate (Fillies & Mares only)AJS Berline (QA); Mohamed Hamad Khalifa al-Attiyah; Szczepan Mazur2. Local Thoroughbred ConditionsLatamah (QA); Mohamed Hamad Khalifa al-Attiyah; Sczepan Mazur3. Thoroughbred Handicap (Class 3)Hajaj (IRE); Mohamed Hamad Khalifa al-Attiyah; Alberto Sanna4.

10 Purebred Arabian HandicapHadjira De Flauzins, Julian Colin Smart, Marco Casamento5. Purebred Arabian Maiden Plate Tembel De Pine, Mohamed Ghazali, Marco Casamento6. Thoroughbred Maiden Plate (Class 6)Ponderosa (IRE); Zubair Mohsen; Soufiane SaadiHat-trick for trainer al-Attiyah as AJS Berline triumphsHORSE RACINGS czepan Mazur rides AJS Berline to Al Jumail Cup victory at the Al Uqda Racecourse yesterday. PICTURES: JuhaimConnections of AJS Berline celebrate after winning the Al Jumail Salal, who are fifth with 25 points from 16 matches including six wins and seven draws, have been in scintillating Times Friday, February 4, 20222 Cummins fails to endorse Langer getting new dealAustralian Test captain says cricket board is conducting an evaluation processCRICKETR eutersMelbourneAustralia Test captain Pat Cum-mins praised Justin Langer for doing a fantastic job as head coach but said it was only fair for Cricket Australia to conduct an eval-uation process before making a decision on renewing his , whose contract is set to expire mid-year, is hoping for an extension de-spite no players endorsing him publicly to continue in the role.