Fan claims men’s singles title at Qatar Open

Doha, March 9, 2020- China's Fan Zhendong overcame England's Liam Pitchford to win the 2020 ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open men's singles crown for the second time here on Sunday.Fan, who pocketed 14th men's singles title on the ITTF World Tour, won the contest 11-9, 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7 to complete a double for his country following the women's singles crown.Featuring a number of highlight reel worthy rallies, game five proved an exciting watch for spectators as Pitchford reduced the game deficit to one.However, the Englishman couldn't hold out any longer as Fan won the match on a fortunate edge shot but huge credit to Pitchford who delighted fans with his incredible journey in Doha.Pitchford enjoyed the most fortune when taking the game to Fan, troubling the top seed with his pace and the rise in tempo pays off as the Englishman claimed third game 11-8.But the Chinese used his incredible power to respond immediately 11-4 to move two games in front yet again.On the other hand, China's Chen Meng lived up to her top billing by beating Japan's Mima Ito in five games to win the ITTF World Tour Platinum Qatar Open title here on Sunday afternoon.Chen, world's number one, won 3-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7.

Campillo wins Commercial Bank Qatar Masters title

​Doha, March 9, 2020- Jorge Campillo almost threw it away with a double bogey on the 17th hole before finding his range in the play off to edge David Drysdale for his first Commercial Bank Qatar Masters title on Sunday.The Spaniard, who played the most consistent golf in the final three days at the Education City Golf Club in Doha, was in a comfortable position with a two-shot lead with just two holes to play, but a double-bogey allowed Drysdale to catch up and take the fight to the play-off.Campillo then pulled off two exquisite birdie putts to keep himself in the battle as it was all square in the first four play-off holes.The 2019 Trophee Hassan II winner then had another birdie in the fifth hole and this time Englishman Drysdale failed to match him, handing the 33-year-old the beautiful Mother of Pearl Trophy and his second European Tour win."I'm just so proud with the way I played in the play-off," said Campillo."I hardly missed a shot and I was able to make some putts."I hit some good shots in the middle of the round but you have to be patient, you have to try hard. I knew I was going to make some putts. It was a tough win but I'm glad I pulled it off," he said.Earlier, Jeff Winther of Denmark had put himself in contention with two birdies in a flawless front nine but three bogeys, in the 12th 16th and 17 holes ended his hopes.Winther finished tied third with 12 under par 272 along with Swede Niklas Lempke, who made a big move on Sunday with a six-under-par 65, and Finlands Kalle Samooja.Alexander Bjork of Sweden finished a shot behind in 6th while five players - Pablo Larrazabal of Spain, Englishman Chris Paisley, South African George Coetzee, Nino Bertasio of Italy and Marcus Kinult of Sweden - took a share of the seventh position.Last year's champion Justin Hardin of South Africa finished with six-under-par 278 for joint 28th with 10 others including India's SSP Chawrasia while Danish teenager Nicolai Hojgaard, who led on the opening day with a dazzling 64 never came anywhere close after that and finished joint 53rd on 282.

World Class teams arrive in Doha for Katara Beach Volleyball Cup

Doha, March 7, 2020- World Class teams from Canada, France Norway, Italy, Gambia, Switzerland, Belgium and Slovenia were arrived on Friday in Qatar's capital city of Doha to participate in the 2020 edition of Katara Beach Volleyball Cup to be organized by the Qatar Volleyball Association (QVA) in cooperation with Katara.The event will be held from March 9-12 with participation of 64 from 28 countries including Qatar, Oman, Turkey, USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Austria, the Netherlands, England, Gambia, Sweden, Germany, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine, Latvia, Slovenia, Hong Kong, France, Estonia, Chile and Iran.Qatar's squad: Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan, Saif/Zeyad and Mahmoud/Mahdi.The competitions of the prestigious Katara Beach Volleyball Cup will run from 9-13 March at Katara beach.​

Sullivan, Campillo surge ahead at Commercial Bank Qatar Masters

DOHA, March 7, 2020 - Qatar: Jorge Campillo and Andy Sullivan shared the lead heading into the weekend at the 2020 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters but they had a host of European Tour winners breathing down their necks at Education City Golf Club.​Sullivan took advantage of the low winds in the morning to fire a second consecutive 66 and get to ten under and it looked for a long time as if the Englishman would not be caught at the top of a congested leaderboard. But Campillo went blemish-free in posting a 66 of his own to also get to double figures and join Sullivan in top spot.Swede Alexander Björk carded the lowest round of the week and his European Tour career with a 63 to sit at nine under alongside countryman Marcus Kinhult, England's Oliver Fisher, Frenchman Romain Langasque and Dutchman Joost Luiten.Sullivan has been one of the European Tour's most consistent performers in recent seasons but has not quite hit the heights that made him a three time winner in 2015, with one top ten so far this season.“I've got it under lock at the moment," he said. "I feel like I am in control of myself, which is the most important thing for me, I really felt like I took my time a little bit more on shots and stuff.“I feel like I have grown up a little bit now on the golf course. I think that having a laugh on the golf course is all well and good, and I still enjoy it but, for me, I have really had to knuckle down the past two days to keep myself in check because there are times when I find myself wandering."It has been difficult and it is something new for me, trying to keep focused for so long, normally I drift in and out a little bit but it's been really good and positive signs as the golf has been really good."Last season Campillo claimed his maiden European Tour win at the 229th time of asking at the Trophée Hassan II as he secured five top fives in six starts, but he has had just one top ten since."I've worked on a few things over the last week and in Oman," he said. "It's working out good and I'm putting great as well - I've been putting awfully lately - and it's been a great two days."It's a nice position to be in going into the weekend, hopefully I can play like this and if I do I'm going to have a good chance to win on Sunday."Sullivan birdied the tenth and the 13th and when he made another gain on the 14th, he led alone.His solo spell at the top was brief as he dropped a shot on the next but a ten footer on the first and another birdie on the next briefly put him two ahead. He would not be there for long, however, as Kinhult birdied the tenth, 12th and 14th and, while he bogeyed the next, he birdied the first and eagled the par five second to share the lead.A 25 foot putt on the fourth edged Kinhult ahead but Sullivan joined him from similar range on the eighth before the reigning Betfred British Masters champion rolled off the same green to surrender a bogey. In the afternoon, Campillo made birdies on the second, sixth, seventh and 11th, getting down in two from off the green at the par five 13th to share top spot.Björk made birdies on the second, fourth, fifth, seventh, 12th, 14th and 15th and a long putt on the 17th left him one back.Langasque picked up six shots in as many holes from the ninth including a spectacular eagle from a fairway bunker at the 12th in a 64, while Luiten made birdies on the fourth, 12th and 15th in a blemish free 68. In the penultimate group of the day, Fisher matched Langasque's 64, making eight birdies and a bogey in his lowest round of the season so far.Danish trio Nicolai Højgaard, Benjamin Poke and Jeff Winther, South African Darren Fichardt, Scotland's Scott Jamieson and England's Jack Senior were three shots off the lead.Meanwhile former world No.1 Martin Kaymer carded a one-under-par 70 which however proved not enough for the German to make the cut.Qatar Open amateur champion Michael Young, the winner in the professional category Mathiam Keyser, Qatar's Saleh Al Kaabi and al Al Shahrani also missed the cut.

Guery gallops to win in thrilling speed class at LGCT Doha

DOHA, March 7, 2020 - Belgian Jerome Guery and his mount Eras Ste Hermelle pulled off an incredible 71.59s to take the overall win in the third CSI5* class at the stunning Longines Arena at Al Shaqab in Doha on Friday.Friday's events were attended by HE Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the President of Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC).The 1.50m speed class had 34 starters, and riders really had to keep their foot to the floor and ensure pinpoint accuracy to make their mark in this competitive class, testing their speed ahead of Saturday’s LGCT Grand Prix of Doha and GCL Doha final.There were only 7 clear rounds over Frank Rothenberger’s 1.50m course featuring a testing double of tall uprights. Johan Sebastian Gulliksen (NOR) was first into the ring with the experienced Gin Chin van het Lindenhof, and the combination were looking to build on their win in Thursday's two-phase class and set the tone on Friday. However, it wasn’t to be for the pair today finishing with a total of 5 faults. Next to tackle the testing course was Maikel Van Der Vleuten (NED) with Edinburgh, a horse new to the LGCT circuit. They achieved a great clear round in a time of 78.18s, which proved to be a time that could be caught.Shortly after, as Guery (BEL) entered the arena, all eyes were on him and his mount. Jerome cut all the corners to pull off an incredible fast clear round. Two riders after Jerome, Pius Schwizer (SWI) took to this twisty speed class, and gave it his all with Quatro Robin, but couldn’t quite catch Jerome’s time, taking fourth spot in 73.23s. Henrik von Eckermann (SWE) entered the ring on Best Boy with it all to do if he was to beat Jerome’s time. He was the first rider to attempt a difficult inside turn, and while it paid off, he finished agonisingly close to Jerome in second, only 0.04s behind. Denis Lynch (IRL) looked to be on flying form with his bold bay Cristello but midway round he got a little too deep into a wide oxer dropping him right down the order. Jane Richard Philips (SWI) and Kenia van ' T Laerhof produced the fastest round of the day on the clock but an unlucky pole at fence 10 put them out of contention. The Flying Frenchman Roger Yves Bost (FRA) had a sensational run and was covering the ground rapidly on Castleforbes Talitha. They took third place overall in a time of 71.79 seconds.​

Barrow, Abdulmajeed qualify to World Athletics U20 Championships

Doha, March 6, 2020-Qatar's Owaab Barrow and Ammar Obaid Abdulmajeed qualified to the 2020 edition of World Athletics U20 Championships to be held in Nairobi, Kenya in July. Owaab Barrow qualified to 110m hurdles event after clocking at time of 13.93 seconds in a local tournament held in Doha recently. For his part, Ammar Obaid Abdulmajeed secured his spot in the world championship after claiming a time of 51.74 second in 400m hurdles event during ACNW League in South Africa. In August 2019, Ammar Obaid Abdulmajeed took the silver medal of 400m hurdles event at the 3rd West Asian Junior Athletics Championships held in Lebanon with a time of 53.42 seconds. ​