28 BAHRAIN SPORT Gulf Daily News Wednesday, 28th January 2015 Email: [email protected] Ali enters quarters BAHRAIN’S Ali Nabeel Dewani excelled on the opening day of the GCC Tennis Youth and Juniors Championships (U-18, U-14) being held in Kuwait. Ali defeated Kuwait’s Ali Al Gallaf (6-0, 6-3) in the first round and later went on to flatten Qatar’s Abdulla Shenan 6-1, 6-0. Dewani will take on Saudi Arabia’s Faisal Al Reedi in the quarter-finals. Ali along with teammate Hamad Essam Abdula’al won the first set of their doubles game against Kuwait’s Talal Kamal and Rasheed Bader 6-3 before the Kuwaiti team withdrawn from the match. Bahrain set for Al Ain challenge Meanwhile, Bahrain’s Elyas Abdulredha was knocked out of the championship. Elyas, who had won his first match against Kuwait’s Rasheed Al Bader 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 in a thriller, lost his second match against Saudi Arabia’s Omar Ahmed Fahmi 0-6, 1-6. Another Bahraini, Hamad Essam Abdula’al, was not lucky in the singles competition, losing his first clash against Saudi’s Musaed Al Azzam 2-6 and 3-6. His teammate Yousif Ashraf lost to Kuwait’s Talal Kamal 0-6, 2-6. In the doubles, both Yousif Ashraf and Elyas Abdulredha lost to Kuwait’s Faisal Bu Grais and Ali Gallaf 0-6, 1-6. BIC offers F1 GP ticket discount MOTORSPORT fans have just over two weeks remaining to take advantage of Bahrain International Circuit (BIC)’s Early Bird Discount and get reduced prices on tickets to the 2015 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. The Early Bird Discount offers up to 15 per cent off on tickets to the highly anticipated night race, happening over the weekend of April 17 to 19 at BIC, “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”, in Sakhir. The offer is now running in its second month following the huge demand for an extension from its original discount period. The price reduction is now available until February 15, 2015. The 15 per cent discount covers tickets to both the Main Grandstand and the Turn One Grandstand – two of the most exciting places around the world-class desert circuit to watch the floodlit Bahrain Grand Prix. A three-day ticket to the Main Grandstand now costs BD128, down from its original price of BD150; while a Turn One Grandstand ticket costs BD85 from BD100. Aside from the 15 per cent reduction, n Ali, right, with other Bahrain team members also on offer is a 10 per cent discount on tickets to the Batelco Grandstand, University Grandstands and Victory Grandstands. Batelco Grandstand tickets now cost BD108 after being reduced from the original price of BD120; while tickets to the University Grandstands and Victory Grandstands are just BD54 each from BD60 after discounts. Outlet Tickets can be purchased at the BIC sales outlet located on the ground floor of Bahrain City Centre. Alternatively, they can be purchased online at bahraingp.com or by calling BIC Hotline 17-450000. The 2015 Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix will be the fourth round of this year’s FIA Formula One World Championship. The big night race will be complemented by other top international racing series taking place during the weekend, along with plenty of fun family entertainment off the track. For further information on the Early Bird Discount or to make a booking for tickets to the Bahrain Grand Prix, visit bahraingp.com or call the BIC Hotline on +973-17-450000. n There will be plenty of fun family entertainment off the track Khalifa wins Captain’s Prize Al Khayyat and Isa reach second round n Winners of Captain’s Prize at Awali Golf Club MOHAMMED Khalifa won the overall winner’s prize with 44 points in the Captain’s Prize competition held at Awali Golf Club. Khalifa was three points clear of runner-up Abdulrahman Amin. Abdul Elah Fakhroo, the club’s first Bahraini captain, sponsored the event with an impressive array of prizes for the worthy. Nearly one hundred players took advantage of Abdul Elah’s generosity, one or two of whom demonstrated some fine golf as shown by their stableford scores, assisted perhaps by glorious golfing conditions. Prizes were presented on behalf of the captain by Mel Fakhroo. RESULTS: 1st Mohammed Khalifa (44), 2nd Abdulrahman Amin (41), 3rd Jo Pawson (40), 4th Adnan Al Sowaidi (40), 5th Vidhu Mittal (40), 6th Essa Al Qutami (40), 7th Mohammed Khalifa Al Fudhala (40), 8th Rashid Al Qutami (40), 9th Ariette Paul (40), 10th Jeff Paa, Yong Back Kim and Ahmed Al Noaimi losing on countback. ABDULLA Isa and Hussain Al Khayyat qualified for the second round of the billiards competition in the Bahrain Billiards and Snooker League. Both Abdulla and Hussain made it to the second round after qualifying from Group A. Other players who made it to the second round from various groups are Hassan Sabah, Ahmed Khelaif, Mohammed Sanad, Fares Abdulkarim, Raed Ahmed, Hussain Al Sisi, Ali Hassan, Sayed Ali, Ali Abdulkarim, Mohammed Khalil, Ahmed Yousif, Omar Al Haram, Fahad Khalaf and Sayed Ahmed Al Alawi. In the snooker competition, Talal Jassim and Sadiq Abdulghani made it to the second round by qualifying from Group B while Yahya Hassan and Abdulla Mjerain qualified from Group G. The event, organised by Bahrain Billiard and Snooker Federation and sponsored by Bapco, is being held at the federation’s premises in Al Najma Club. Over 60 players are competing in the event which will conclude on February 10. Of these, 38 players are competing in the snooker competition, while 30 are taking part in the billiards competition. Bapco, the sponsor of this season’s league, has set a total prize of $8,000 for the top winners in both billiards and snooker competitions. BAHRAIN’s Arabian Celts Gaelic football teams are off to Al Ain this weekend for their first competitive outing of 2015 in the resuming Sperrin Middle East League. Despite a two-month gap since the last tournament, the Bahrain teams remain in high spirits after the Arabian Celts men captured the club’s first ever senior cup title in Abu Dhabi at the end of November. That victory has moved the Celts to second place in the league standings behind heavy favourities Abu Dhabi A but with that success they have also lost much of their underdog status and so Friday’s group rivals Dubai A, Abu Dhabi B and Qatar B will be out to take them down a peg or two. Thankfully, most of the squad from that famous day remains intact as Jason McNamara, Terry Kehoe, James McGrath, Seamus Corry, Joe Melia, Liam Trigg, Alan Burke and Frank McCarthy are all named to travel. Joe McCullough has recovered sufficiently from illness while captain Martin Scannell is also included after a recent knee injury. The only changes to the panel see new signing James Finn taking over from the departed Shane O’Brien and Brian Cafferty, who was originally selected but forced to pull out of the squad in Abu Dhabi, replace the unfortunate Paddy McCloskey. Familiarity is something of an unusual luxury afforded to the Arabian Legends (men’s second team) squad on this occasion as McCloskey’s inclusion, which offsets the substantial loss of injured playmaker Tom Hanratty, is one of only two changes from the previous round. James Egan, Kieran Gallagher, Dave McClelland, Rich Ryan, Brian Kelleher, Conor Wallace, John Doherty, Joe Dalton, Brian Kelleher and Andrei Bazgan are all back in harness, while former captain and club legend Brendan Stafford makes a welcome return to the fray as they take on Clann na hOman, Oman GAA and Sharjah. In the ladies draw, the Celts have what could be regarded as the toughest possible group but thankfully, they can call on the services of Orla Reilly, Randi Wilkinson and Shelly Mohi, who all missed out on the Abu Dhabi tournament. Niamh Creighton and Deena Rahman are unavailable this time round but Hannah Ryan and Joy Napier are included for their first senior appearance of the season, while Christina Rowan will make her club debut after impressing at training since the new year. Naseeb returns INTERNATIONAL Referees Committee member and Arab Referees Committee Chairman Jaffar Naseeb has returned after taking part in the referees and international rules committee meeting held in Lausanne, Switzerland last week. The meeting confirmed the International referees’ nominated list which comprises 84 referees, including three from Bahrain – Sayed Jaffar, Sayed Hussain and Mohammed Abas Yousif.