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WORLD SPORT
Gulf Daily News Monday, 2nd February 2015
France win record fifth world handball title
DOHA: France became the first
team in handball history to
win five world championships
when they beat surprise finalists Qatar 25-22 yesterday.
The win means France’s
are now world, European and
Olympic champions, emphasising their current dominance of
the sport. It was the country’s
first world title since 2011.
The victory should have
been far more comfortable
than it was, but a dogged Qatar
side ensured that France were
pushed all the way to the finish
line, ensuring a nervy finish.
The game ultimately proved
one match too many for the
hosts, who, for the first time in
the tournament, found themselves outclassed for large parts
of the game, particularly in the
first 30 minutes.
However, there was honour
in defeat for the Qataris as lesser teams would have been swept
away by France’s performance.
Instead, a resolute Qatar side
even at one stage in the final 30
WORLD HANDBALL
Final
France
25 Qatar
3rd place play-off
Poland
29 Spain
22
28
minutes threatened to overturn a
six-goal deficit. But the French
were – just – able to hang on,
leaving Qatar with the consolation that their performance
in the final and throughout the
tournament has confirmed the
tiny Gulf state’s status as one of
the sport’s new powers.
Ironically, given the fuss
about Qatar’s foreign legion
playing for the national side, it
was France’s Serbian-born Nikola Karabatic who dominated
the game, especially in the first
half. His power allowed France
to exert control early on and
give them a platform for victory.
Karabatic scored three times
in the first 17 minutes as the
pre-tournament favourites established a four-goal lead.
He then set up two more,
forced a fine save from Danijel
Saric and drew a tackle which
saw Qatar defender Hassan
Mabrouk sin-binned for the
second time in the opening exchanges. Karabatic was at the
heart of everything. In the 23rd
minute, he gave the French a
six-goal lead as Qatar found
it impossible to stop him controlling the match.
Even his expulsion for two
minutes for a foul on had little
impact because as soon as he
returned to the field of play, he
scored his fifth.
Ivory Coast book
berth in last four
l Atsu hits double as Ghana sink Guinea
MALABO, Equatorial Guinea: A brace of headers
from Wilfried Bony helped take the Ivory Coast into
the last four of the Africa Cup of Nations early this
morning with a 3-1 win over Algeria.
The recent Manchester City signing was quiet during the group
stage in Equatorial Guinea but came to life to help the Elephants
to victory in this quarter-final showdown. He got his first goal of
the competition on 26 minutes to put the Ivorians in front and then
headed in the crucial second goal midway through the second half
after Hilal Soudani had equalAFRICA CUP OF NATIONS
ised for Algeria.
Quarter-finals:
Gervinho made sure of the win
Ghana
3 Guinea
0
at the death as the Ivory Coast ex(Atsu 4, 61, Appiah 44)
acted revenge for their dramatic
Ivory Coast 3 Algeria
1
defeat to Algeria in extra-time at
(Bony 26, 68, Gervinho 90+4)
the same stage of the 2010 Cup
(Soudani 51)
of Nations in Angola.
SEMI-FINALS
Herve Renard’s side will
On Wednesday:
now take on DR Congo in the
At Bata
semi-finals in Bata on WednesDR Congo v Ivory Coast
(Starting at 10pm, Bahrain time)
day as they chase their first conOn Thursday:
tinental title since 1992, with
At Malabo
the winner of that facing either
Equatorial Guinea v Ghana
Equatorial Guinea or Ghana in
(Starting at 10pm, Bahrain time)
the final itself.
Meanwhile, Christian Atsu take Ghana through to a lastscored twice as Ghana beat four showdown with the hosts
Guinea 3-0 in Malabo to ease on Thursday.
into their fifth successive Africa
While Avram Grant’s side
Cup of Nations semi-final.
keep alive their hopes of a first
Atsu set the Black Stars on continental crown since 1982,
their way to a comfortable Guinea’s Cup of Nations adquarter-final victory when he venture ends without them winopened the scoring in the fourth ning a game at the finals.
minute in Equatorial Guinea’s
They also ended the match
capital, before Kwesi Appiah with 10 men after goalkeeper
increased their advantage a Naby Yattara was sent off just
minute before the interval.
before the final whistle.
And Atsu, the winger on loan
The Syli Nationale only
at Everton from their English made it into the knockout stage
Premier League rivals Chelsea, at Mali’s expense via a drawing
then saw his cross-cum-shot of lots after drawing all three of
find the net on 61 minutes to their group games, and Michel
Scotland’s
Martin Laird shot a
three-under-par 68 to
hold off some charging
youngsters on Saturday and
take a three-stroke lead into
the final round of the Phoenix
Open.
Laird sank a pair of 10-foot,
par-saving putts at the 16th and
18th holes to finish his 54 holes
in 13-under-par 200 at TPC
Scottsdale.
Those shots helped keep
him ahead of 22-year-old Japanese Hideki Matsuyama, who
birdied the last four holes in a
bogey-free 63, and 24-yearold American Brooks Koepka,
who fired six birdies for 30 on
the back nine in his 64. Former
Masters champion Zach Johnson (67) joined them in a tie for
second.
“My short’s game’s been really good this year so far, and
n Celtic barge into
League Cup final
GLASGOW: Celtic cruised into the
Scottish League Cup final with a
comfortable 2-0 victory over rivals
Rangers in the first Old Firm derby
in nearly three years yesteday.
It wasn’t the record rout that many
predicted before the match, but
it was an entirely uneven contest
with the Scottish Premiership
leaders lauding it over their city
rivals to claim victory in the 400th
competitive outing of one of the
world’s fiercest rivalries.
Leigh Griffiths headed home the
opener after just 10 minutes and Kris
Commons, one of four Celtic players
in the starting 11 who had featured
in the fixture previously, rifled home
a second in the 31st minute as the
Hoops threatened to run riot.
Celtic will now face Dundee United
in the final on March 15 while
Rangers, who are still plagued by
financial problems and boardroom
battles, will refocus their attention on
trying to catch Hearts in the race for
the Scottish Championship.
n Di Santo lifts Werder
BERLIN: Argentine Franco Di
Santo scored two sublime goals
to lead Werder Bremen to a 2-0
home victory over Hertha Berlin
yesterday and lift them further
away from the relegation zone.
The 25-year-old forward struck
just before the break, after
Werder dominated but had failed
to convert several good chances,
curling a shot from a tight angle
past goalkeeper Thomas Kraft.
He then killed off Hertha’s
growing momentum in the
second half with a sensational
volley in full flight in the 69th
minute for his eighth goal of the
campaign as Werder moved up
to 12th on 20 points, three above
the drop zone.
n Palace sign Souare
LONDON: Crystal Palace announced
via their website yesterday that they
have signed Senegal left-back Pape
Souare from French side Lille on a
three-and-a-half-year contract for an
undisclosed fee.
The 24-year-old graduated
from Lille’s youth academy and
represented Senegal at the Africa
Cup of Nations in Equatorial
Guinea. His arrival is contingent
on the granting of a work permit.
Souare becomes Palace’s fourth
signing of the January transfer
window after midfielder Jordon
Mutch, former Newcastle United
striker Shola Ameobi and striker
Yaya Sanogo, who has joined on
loan from Arsenal.
n Tunisia FA head quits
BATA, Equatorial Guinea: The
n Ghana’s Atsu, centre,
advances with the ball past
Guinea’s Baissama Sankoh
and Guinea’s defender
Djibril Paye, right
Dussuyer’s side never looked
like causing an upset here.
Ghana took the lead from their
first attack, working the ball into
the area from the left before An-
dre Ayew’s backheel allowed
Atsu to apply an easy finish.
The onus was now on Guinea to try and find a way back
into the match, but they created
next to nothing, with stand-in
captain Ibrahima Traore unable
to influence proceedings from
the right flank as he had in the
group stage.
Laird takes three-shot lead going into final
PHOENIX:
29
the putter especially today,”
Laird told reporters.
“This course yields loads of
birdies and low scores, like the
guys behind me showed today,
so if I go out tomorrow and
keep firing and keep putting the
way I did, hopefully I can get
it done.”
Three players were tied at
nine-under, including amateur
Jon Rahm of Spain and Arizona
State University. Playing on a
sponsor’s exemption, Rahm shot
a 66 for a 204 total that he shared
with Americans Ryan Palmer
(68) and Justin Thomas (69).
Another stroke back was a
large group that included Italy’s Francesco Molinari, who
had the stadium crowd of over
15,000 surrounding the parthree 16th in a frenzy with a
hole-in-one.
Molinari’s ace helped him to
a seven-under 64 and triggered
a wild celebration in which fans
threw their beer cans to virtually cover the slopes leading up
to the green.
“We don’t see a reaction
in golf like that too often,” he
said.
The ace, the first at the Phoenix Open since Tiger Woods
drained one in 1997, helped
Molinari shoot 64 for the day,
finishing the round eight-under
and five shots back of Laird.
head of the Tunisia Football
Federation has quit as a
member of the African Cup’s
organising committee in the
wake of his country’s contentious
quarterfinal loss to host
Equatorial Guinea.
The federation didn’t give a
reason, but Jary quit a day
after Tunisia was eliminated by
Equatorial Guinea after a hotlydisputed refereeing decision
turned the game.
With Tunisia leading
1-0, Mauritian referee
Rajindraparsad Seechurn
awarded the home team a
highly questionable penalty in
the last minute of normal time.
Equatorial Guinea equalised
from the spot-kick and went on
to win 2-1 in extra time.
n Costa ‘won’t change’
LONDON: Describing himself as
“no angel,” Chelsea striker Diego
Costa insists he won’t change his
aggressive and confrontational
playing style in the wake of his
three-match ban for stamping on
an opponent’s leg.
Costa missed Chelsea’s 1-1 Premier
League draw with Manchester City
on Saturday after failing to overturn
a charge of violent conduct for
treading on the ankle of Liverpool’s
Emre Can during the League Cup
semi-final on Tuesday.