Swiatek to Face Pegula in Final

Doha: Curtain will fall tomorrow on the 21st edition of the Qatar TotalEnergies Open Tennis Championship with the final match between world number one and defending champion Polish Iga Swiatek and the second seed American Jessica Pegula. Tomorrow's final between Swiatek and Pegula will be the seventh match between them in their professional career, as the Polish won 4 of them, while her American rival won two matches. The two players had faced each other for the first time in the round of 16 of the Washington tournament in 2019, which Pegula won with two sets to one. Swiatek achieved four consecutive victories over her opponent in the matches that took place between them in 2022.  On the other hand, The all-American duo of Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, the tournament top-seeds, successfully defended their title after defeating Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the second-seeded pair, at the end of an electrifying final match held on Friday.  Pegula and Gauff overcame their opponents 6-4, 2-6, 10-7 in 1 hour and 20 minutes to lift the champions’ trophy. They also smiled to the bank with the $40,100 in winners' prize money and 470 WTA points for their efforts. Kichenok and Ostapenko, on the other hand, earned $24,300 as well as 305 points for reaching the final.   With their feat on Friday, Pegula and Gauff became the eighth member of the exclusive list of two-time doubles winners, who have either won with the same or different partners in Doha.   "We are extremely delighted with the victory, and we are happy to have successfully defended our title. It’s been an amazing week of great tennis, and we are proud to be leaving Qatar as champions once again. I would like to thank our fans and everyone for their support," Gauff said during her post-match interview.

Defending champion Swiatek to face Kudermetova, Pegula up against Sakkari in semis

Doha- No.8 seed Veronika Kudermetova stunned No. 4 seed Coco Gauff 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 in 2 hours and 4 minutes to secure a semifinal clash against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who received a walkover into the semis after No. 7 seed Belinda Bencic, her opponent in the quarterfinals, withdrew from the tournament due to fatigue. The 25-year-old Kudermetova, who started playing tennis at the age of eight, has yet to win a set from Swiatek, the defending champion, in two previous encounters. Their semifinal clash is sure to make for an interesting watch as Swiatek is two matches away from joining the ranks of the few two-time winners in Doha, with Kudermetova momentarily standing between that dream and its reality. Meanwhile, world No. 4 and second seed Jessica Pegula had a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia to secure a last-four encounter against Maria Sakkari, the No. 5 seed, who knocked out third seed Caroline Garcia 6-2, 6-7, 7-6 at the end of an exhaustive 2 hours, 41 minutes of battle that ended just after midnight. Pegula needed just 85 minutes to beat Haddad Maia in their first meeting, and the world No. 4 is through to her second career semifinal at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open, having first done so as a qualifier in 2021.

Suradit leads International Series Qatar

Doha: Thailand’s Suradit Yongcharoenchai shot a solid opening four-under-par 68 in difficult windy conditions to take the clubhouse lead in the $2.5mn International Series Qatar at the Doha Golf Club on Thursday. Canadian Richard T Lee, Sangmoon Bae from Korea and Thailand’s Phachara Khongwatmai came in with 69s, while South Africans Charl Schwartzel and Darren Fichardt and Travis Smyth from Australia shot 70s – in the third event of the season on the Asian Tour and the second of the year’s International Series tournaments. Australia’s John Lyras and Todd Sinnott, Andy Ogletree from the United States, Indian Jyoti Randhawa, Malaysian Ben Leong, Filipino Miguel Tabuena, Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant, Nitithorn Thippong and Gunn Charoenkul, and Saudi Arabian Saud al-Sharif all carded 71s. Suradit finished late in the day, unlike the three trailing him in second who played in the morning, and took the outright lead with a birdie on his last hole, the par-four ninth, having started his round on the back. The 24-year-old Thai, a winner once before on the Asian Tour at the 2019 Mercuries Taiwan Masters, made five birdies and dropped one shot. In hot pursuit is Lee a two-time winner on the Asian Tour who came close to winning two International Series events last year in Singapore and Morocco before finishing runner up on both occasions. “I made a few good long putts in my round and just kept it in play, windy conditions so you have to keep it in the fairways and get it on the green to have putts that can go in,” said the Canadian. “I think I converted that pretty well even though I had two bogeys out there, I’m looking forward to tomorrows round.” It was an encouraging round, made up of five birdies and two bogeys, for Lee considering he had to retire from last week’s International Series Oman as he was feeling unwell. He added: “Yeah I’m feeling about 70% healthy again and hopefully the next three days I can hold up and play the round I played today.” Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion, was happy to make a good start considering the difficult conditions, which saw the wind reach gusts of 35 kilometres per hour. He said: “Yeah, I thought teeing off early we would get a little bit of benefit with the wind, but we didn’t, so spent most the day in pretty strong conditions and thought I played really well. You always feel like when you played well you always feel like you could have left a few out there but in these conditions two under will be good.” Smyth was equally as happy to come in under par while battling the breeze. “I feel awesome, I was joking around saying it’s just another day back where I’m from, it’s super. super windy in Sydney,” said the Australian. “I just embraced it and felt like I got some control of my golf ball so just tried to use the wind to my advantage and yeah everything kind of went my way. I hit a few loose shots and found my ball and was able to scramble for pars. I got a little lucky combined with some good golf, so I’m stoked.” Indians Gaganjeet Bhullar and Shiv Kapur and American Dru Love, the son of PGA Tour star Davis Love III, are in a group of players on 72. A total of nine players will resume their rounds at 6.40am today with the second round scheduled to start at 6.20am as planned.

HH The Amir Sword Showjumping and Dressage Championship gets underway

Doha: Maryam Ahmad Al Boinin continued with her fine show this season topping the C 1 Dressage-Medium event on the opening day of the HH The Amir Sword Showjumping and Dressage Championship, which kicked off at the Qatar Equestrian Federation’s (QEF) Main Arena yesterday. Pairing up with QEF-owned Silvan, Al Boinin, who is leading overall ranking in the competition at Longines Hathab, earned 66.707 points to finish ahead of Maryam Ahmed Alsemaittm, who emerged runner-up after winning 65.952 points with San Francisco. Jessica Waldon, who was on Givenchy Utopia, claimed 65.232 to take third position. Givenchy Utopia, meanwhile, teamed up with her owner Sheikha Aljohra Al Thani to top the C 2 Dressage – Prelim (Level 2) Freestyle To Music after winning 67.320 points. Khalid Sanad Al Nuaimi, astride Medea Vd Donkhoeve took second position with 66.920 points while Angel Tonya, who rode Almajd secured third position in the event with 66.360 points. Maryam Ahmad Al Boinin astride Silvan in action on the opening day of HH The Amir Sword Showjumping and Dressage Championship at the QEF Main Arena yesterday. The showjumping competitions in three categories today will start with the Small Tour (100-120cm), followed by the Medium Tour (120-135cm), and the Big Tour (135-145cm). The final day tomorrow will see competitions for the title of the prestigious HH The Amir’s Sword as well as the two rounds for future riders. Prominent Qatari rider Hamad Nasser Al Qadi won back-to-back Big Tour titles in the last two editions. Al Qadi won the prestigious award producing an error-free round with stallion Andreas SPB Z last year to receive the Golden Sword from the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Nasser Jassim Al Ghazali and Muhammad Khalifa Al Baker finished second and third respectively behind the victorious 27-year-old rider at last year’s equestrian feature. The H H The Amir Sword Showjumping and Dressage Championship is the most prominent annual event in the calendar of tournaments organised by the Qatar Equestrian Federation, and it is conducted in conjunction with the H H The Amir Festivals for Horseracing and Endurance Championships.

HH the Amir's Sword Showjumping and Dressage Championship Starts Thursday

DOHA,  February 16, 2023- The three-day 13th  edition of HH the Amir's Sword Showjumping and Dressage Championship will kick off Thursday at Qatar Equestrian Federation's main racecourse. The competitions will start on Thursday with two rounds of dressage and then continue on Friday with three showjumping rounds, the first small round at a height of 100 - 120 cm, followed by the medium at a height of 120 - 135 cm, and the grand round at a height of 135 - 135 cm. On Saturday, the final day of competitions will start with a small round at a height of 100-120 cm, then the second grand round on the golden sword from two rounds at a height of 135-145 cm, followed by the medium round and conclude with two rounds for future riders. HH the Amir's Sword Showjumping and Dressage Championship is the most prominent annual event in the calendar of the QEFMP for 12 years, and it comes in conjunction with HH the Amir's Festival for horse racing and endurance. Registration for participating in the championship was closed today, and it is expected to witness strong competitions over three consecutive days in showjumping, dressage and future riders competitions, which are being arbitrated according to the regulations of the International Equestrian Federation.  

Egyptian Azmi wins skeet gold in Qatar Open Shotgun Championship

DOHA , February 16, 2023 – Azmi Moheilba of Egypt claimed the gold medal of men’s skeet final on Wednesday at the 11th  edition of the Qatar Open Shotgun Championship being held at Lusail International Shooting Complex until February 20, 2023. Egypt’s Azim Moheilba took advantage to win the  men’s skeet gold ahead of Ben Llewellin of Britain who settled in the runner up place, while the third place went to Qatar star,  Masood Saleh Al Athba. At the medal ceremony, Dr Thani bin Abdulrahamn Al-Kuwari, the Second Vice-President of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and Mr. Mishaal Ibrahim Al Nasr, the President of Qatar Shooting & Archery Association (QSAA) crowned the top winners. This event is organized by the Qatar Shooting & Archery Association (QSAA) until February 20,  brings together 156 shooters from 52 countries , among them 30 world and Olympic champions.