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DEAD SEA — Mohammed Kukhen on Friday was crowned champion of the first round of Jordan Drift Championship with the participation of 44 drivers at the Service Park of the Dead Sea area.

Kukhen in his BMW A46 ended the round, with 168 points, followed by Othman Takriti in his BMW A46, with 153 points, and Munir Hattar in the third place, with 149 points, in his BMW A30.

Around 4,000 fans crowded the area and watched three heated rounds with the best 13 drivers battling it for the win in the third and most competitive round.

Takriti surprised everyone when he captured the first race after collecting 153 points leaving Mahmoud Jabali in the second place with 148 points and Hesham Issam in the third place with 147 points.

Kukhen came from behind in the second race and collected 168 points forcing Takriti to slide into the second spot with 153 points and Hattar in the third place with 149 points.

The 13 best results moved to the third race with Kukhen taking the lead in this challenging first round. 

Jordan Motorsport CEO Othman Naseef told The Jordan Times that the excitement could not be measured.

“It was absolutely amazing especially seeing this huge number of fans coming and watching their favourite drivers marking their win in the first round,” he said.

“The event witnessed the participation of drivers from Egypt and several new faces which shows that this sport is increasing in popularity year after year,” he added.

Drifting is a kind of driving technique used by drivers through oversteering and causing a loss of traction whether in the rear wheels or all tyres while controlling a certain entry to exit of a corner.

Drivers are judged according to speed, angle and perfect track line (90 points), Showmanship (5 points) and smoking tyres (5 points).

ZURICH — The five men vying for the leadership of world football made their final eve-of-vote pitches on Thursday, outlining competing visions for the future of governing body FIFA as it tries to recover from the worst corruption scandal in its history.

Delegates from more than 200 countries will elect a new president on Friday to succeed Sepp Blatter of Switzerland, two days after Blatter and European football chief Michel Platini lost their appeals against bans for ethics violations.

Whoever takes over from Blatter, who ran FIFA for 17 years like a globe-trotting head of state, will inherit a very different job with a focus on crisis management.

"The world is waiting and watching — this is the biggest milestone in the history of FIFA. It will decide if FIFA goes ahead as we want or if it spirals down," said candidate HRH Prince Ali.

South Africa's Tokyo Sexwale described FIFA as "broken" and a damaged brand, though he also referred to some of those felled in the scandal as "friends we have lost".

Swiss candidate Gianni Infantino repeated his promise to offer each of FIFA's members $5 million to invest in the sport over a four-year period — more than double the $2.05 million per federation provided from 2011-2014. He said this could be achieved "easily" by tackling the cost structure of FIFA.

Bahrain's Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who along with Infantino is seen as a front runner, was more cautious, speaking of a “realistic” increase in funding.

"For me, if the numbers are right, we can increase — but I am not ready to mortgage FIFA's future in winning an election."

French outsider Jerome Champagne took a shot at Infantino's globe-trotting campaign by saying the election had been "unbalanced".

"I did not have a private jet to visit you, take a photo and then tweet and say I have got the endorsement," he said to laughter from delegates.

The two favourites were both upbeat.

"I am feeling good and very positive. The support I am receiving fills me with confidence," Infantino told Reuters in an e-mail while travelling between meetings.

A spokesman for his Bahraini rival said: "Sheikh Salman is very confident about tomorrow's vote."

Corruption probes 

FIFA was plunged into turmoil last year when several dozen current and former officials were indicted in the United States for corruption after an investigation spanning dozens of countries into wire fraud, money laundering and bribery. Switzerland has also launched a criminal investigation.

The probes have focused extensively on the awarding of lucrative broadcast and marketing rights to the world's most popular sport. They are also examining the process by which FIFA awarded the next two World Cups to Russia and Qatar.

Acting FIFA President Issa Hayatou appealed to FIFA members in what he called one of the most important weeks in the history of global football, urging them to support a package of reforms on governance. These include introducing term limits for top officials and requiring them to disclose their earnings.

"I urge each of you to support the reforms in full here this week, and then to implement them to their entirety at home," Hayatou said in an address aimed at the six confederations that run football around the world.

"This will send a strong message that we have listened and that we are taking the action necessary to give football the foundation, and protection, it needs for the future."

ZURICH — The African leader prevented from going for FIFA's top job, after failing an integrity check, says delegates must reject proposed reforms at football's scandal-hit global body as they would leave the president powerless.

Liberian FA chief Musa Bility, one of the most outspoken leaders in African football, also predicted half of the continent's votes in Friday's FIFA presidential election would go to HRH Prince Ali rather than Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain.

FIFA's 209-member national associations (FAs) each hold one vote in the poll that will choose a replacement for Sepp Blatter who has been banned for six years due to ethics violations.

Before the election at a special congress, the FAs will also be asked to pass a detailed package of reforms, including term limits for top officials and disclosure of earnings, aimed at preventing a repeat of a graft scandal that has plunged FIFA into the worst crisis in its 112-year history.

Bility, wearing a red and white-hooped Liberia national team shirt under his jacket, said FIFA was putting the cart before the horse.

"These reforms send a very wrong signal... that we will have a president who will not have all the authority of the president of FIFA," he told Reuters.

"Let us focus on choosing the right person, someone we trust, someone we believe in, and entrust the organisation to that person and then let that person lead the reform.

"We must not make the mistake of choosing wrong people and correcting that wrong by putting laws that will impede the authority of the president," added Bility.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has said it will back Sheikh Salman. Voting is secret and it cannot force the 54 African FAs to follow its lead but Bility said they would not vote as a block.

"I'm sure of 27 votes for Ali from CAF and [Swiss candidate] Gianni [Infantino] is making a very good effort in Africa, his people are here," said Bility.

Be strong

Despite openly contradicting CAF, Bility said he did not fear reprisals.

"So far nobody has come to me to say, 'why are you doing this'?" he added. "You just have to be strong and do good work in your federation because this is where your power is.

"If you don't do that then you have to depend on people to protect you."

Bility added he did not want aid cash from FIFA.

"We don't want money to be given to us like that every year, we want a system just like Europe where every nation will have a league which creates funding for them," he explained.

"Africa has huge companies, they have massive investments. CAF needs to have a relationship with corporations to create leagues in Africa that allow players to play at a professional level and make money on the continent."

Bility's plans to stand were foiled in November when FIFA's electoral commission said he failed an integrity check but he said he did not understand why he was barred.

"I didn't have any exchange with them," he added.

Asked what the integrity check consisted of, Bility said: "Nothing, just newspaper clips. They were afraid, they wanted control over Africa and they were afraid of me, that was it".

He pointed out he had not been found guilty of any ethics violations. "Why am I at FIFA conventions, why am I participating?" he said.

FIFA's electoral commission could not be reached for immediate comment.

AMMAN — The first round of Jordan Drift Championship kicks off on Friday with the participation of 47 drivers at the Service Park of the Dead Sea area.

Jordan Motorsport CEO Othman Naseef told The Jordan Times that the first round, of four rounds this season, is always special.

“We have all the enthusiasm and challenge mixed in the first round. That is why we believe it will carry a lot of signs on the coming events regarding level of competition and seriousness of drivers,” he said.

 “The event will consist of three rounds with the third dedicated for the best 13 results of drivers. Drivers will have to own a special drift driving licence and they will be judged by a committee of experienced drivers,” he added.

Last year’s champion Mohammed Kukhen will be defending his title against his brother Omar, Munir Hattar, Rafat Haroun and others.

Kukhen clocked 1m 27.55s in his BMW A46 and collected 519 points followed by his brother Omar Kukhen (1m 29.45s, 506 points) in his BMW A36 and Othman Takriti (1m 22.58s, 490 points) in his BMW A30.

“We have an impressive list of drivers who will give the event a strong sense of competition. We hope that the event on Friday will attract fans of this popular sport. Last year, only 31 drivers took part in the first round while today, we have 47,” he said.

“Drifting is a kind of driving technique used by drivers through oversteering and causing a loss of traction whether in the rear wheels or all tyres while controlling a certain entry to exit of a corner,” he said.

 Drivers will be judged according to speed, angle and perfect track line (90 points), showmanship (5 points) and smoking tyres (5 points).

LONDON — Barcelona’s Lionel Messi broke free from Arsenal’s shackles to score two late goals and put the Champions League holders on the brink of the quarter-finals with a clinical 2-0 victory at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

The irrepressible Argentine, along with strike partners Luis Suarez and Neymar, had been subdued for most of the last 16, first-leg tie but came alive late on, clinically finishing off a lightning counterattack and then dispatching a penalty.

“They are 95 per cent through to the quarter-finals certainly,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, whose side had defended solidly for 71 minutes until crumbling, told reporters.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get any satisfaction because we put everything into it.”

Luis Enrique’s Barca side extended their unbeaten run to 33 matches and, barring something extraordinary in the return at the Nou Camp next month, will take their place in the last eight for the ninth season in a row.

“I liked everything we did tonight,” the Spaniard told reporters.

Messi has proved a thorn in Arsenal’s side on each of the last two occasions the teams have met in the Champions League.

In 2010, he scored four times in the last 16 second leg to send Barca through and a year later he struck twice in a 3-1 win in Spain after Arsenal had edged the first leg.

Messi, Suarez and Neymar had scored 91 goals in all competitions this season heading into Tuesday’s game but none of the feared trident managed an effort on target in the first half as Arsenal’s fans cranked up the decibel levels.

Arsenal were patient and should have gone ahead midway through the first half when Hector Bellerin’s scuffed shot fell for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain but he scooped his effort straight into the arms of keeper Marc-André ter Stegen.

The Catalans began to move through the gears though and either side of halftime wasted two glorious chances.

Suarez, who has 41 goals in all competitions this term, headed Dani Alves’s dinked cross wide with the goal gaping before Neymar was denied by goalkeeper Petr Cech after being played in by Andres Iniesta.

Starved of the ball for long periods, Arsenal still posed a threat and Ter Stegen did well to keep out Olivier Giroud’s close-range header from a Mesut Ozil cross.

Arsenal grew in belief but it cost them dear as they committed players forward and got stung on the break.

With 19 minutes left they lost the ball near Barca’s goal and Suarez and Neymar combined in devastating fashion, the Brazilian unselfishly picking out Messi who steadied himself before beating Cech for the first time in his career.

Suarez then hit the post when he should have scored before Messi scored again, this time with a calmly struck penalty after substitute Mathieu Flamini had tripped him.

In the night’s other match,  Juventus staged a superb comeback from two goals down to rescue their Champions League hopes and secure a 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich.

Thomas Mueller pounced on a deflected cross to put the visitors ahead in the 43rd minute and Dutchman Arjen Robben doubled the lead early in the second half before goals from Paulo Dybala and substitute Stefano Sturaro drew the hosts level.

Bayern had looked to be cruising to their third straight win at Juventus with close to 70 per cent possession in the first hour.

Yet last season’s finalists, who have been in superb form in recent months, refused to surrender, and staged a scintillating second-half comeback to leave the tie open after a frustrating finish for the Germans.

Bayern, the 2013 champions, shot out of the blocks in search of a quick goal and were almost rewarded when former Juve player Arturo Vidal’s powerful volley forced 38-year-old keeper Gianluigi Buffon to palm his effort round the post.

Mueller then missed an excellent chance when he failed to tap in from two metres out after Robert Lewandowski had set up his teammate with a superb assist.

The Germany international, however, proved why he is such a prolific goalscorer, when he was in the right place to slot in from 10 metres for his sixth goal in seven Champions League matches this season, after Juve failed to clear a ball in the box.

Robben doubled their lead after the break with his first goal of the year.

Sturaro beat Neuer’s marker to slide in and level in the 76th minute.

ZURICH —  FIFA presidential candidate HRH Prince Ali’s request for Friday's election to be postponed because of an issue with the voting booths has been rejected by sport's highest tribunal.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said in a statement that it had rejected Prince Ali's request for provisional measures and that "the full order with grounds will be communicated in a few days”.

Prince Ali, whose request for transparent booths was rejected last week by FIFA, is unhappy with the arrangements for a vote expected to set a new tone of transparency for an organisation mired in the past in secret dealings.

He wanted the transparent booths to ensure delegates do not photograph their ballot papers. This would prevent delegates coming under pressure to produce evidence of their vote to interested parties.

"I regret that the system let us down," said Prince Ali, who had asked for the election to be postponed if the booths were not used.

"The only positive aspect of today's ruling is it that the election will now go forward as planned, and the media will be closely watching for any evidence that anyone is photographing their ballot," he said in a statement.

“It is now imperative that voters abide by the ban on mobile phones and cameras in the voting booth. I look forward to Friday’s vote and remain as committed as ever to the goal of reforming FIFA.

”Meanwhile, FIFA's appeal committee has upheld bans on long-time President Sepp Blatter and European football head Michel Platini for ethics violations but reduced them to six years from eight, it said on Wednesday.

"The FIFA appeal committee, chaired by Larry Mussenden [Bermuda], has partially confirmed the decisions taken by the adjudicatory chamber of the independent ethics committee on 17 and 18 December 2015 regarding Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini respectively, whose bans have been reduced from eight to six years," it said in a statement.

The committee said that the contribution of both men to football over the years should have been taken into account as a mitigating factor, but applied them only in reducing the length of the ban. The only remaining route of appeal for Blatter, who is 80 next month, and Platini, 60, is with the CAS in Lausanne.

Blatter and Platini were banned over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.03 million) made to the Frenchman in 2011 by FIFA with Blatter's approval for work done a decade earlier.

The decision not to overturn the bans against the two highest-profile elected men in world football completes a shameful treble for the sport following the 12-year ban imposed on Jerome Valcke, who was sacked as FIFA's secretary general last month.

AMMAN — The 15th week of the 64th Jordan Professional League kicks off on Thursday with Wihdat still in the lead, with minimal changes in the standings.

During the week, most teams took a break as Faisali and Wihdat played the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup. Faisali were held 0-0 with Turkmenistan’s Istiklol Dushanbe in Group B while Wihdat started off with a 2-0 win over Bahrain’s Hidd in Group A making up for their elimination from the Asian Champions League — the premier Asian competition — when they lost 2-1 to Saudi Arabia’s Ittihad Jeddah. 

Locally, Wihdat now aim to secure their lead with their upcoming match against Hussein Irbid. Shabab Urdun held the leaders to 0-0 draw to stay second on points ahead of their match against Faisali who are third after a 1-1 draw with last-placed Asala.

Ahli are fourth after a 1-0 defeat to That Ras and next have a tough one with Jazira who are fifth after a 1-1 draw with Baqa’a. Ramtha are sixth after a 4-2 win over Sarih and next play That Ras. Kufrsoum lost 2-0 to Hussein Irbid and are now 10th ahead of their match against Baqa’a who are 11th.

During the past two weeks, Ahli downed Faisali 2-1 in league play and also advanced to the Jordan Cup final after they beat Faisali 1-0 on aggregate. In the other semi-final, two-time winners Shabab Urdun eliminated Jazira winning 1-0 on aggregate.

A long-time veteran and founder of the game in Jordan, Ahli were relegated to Division 1 in 2004 for the first time in their history. They were back among the Pro-League clubs in 2014, and finished 5th in 2015. Ahli are now back in the headlines and will play the Jordan Cup final against Shabab Urdun on May 5.

So far this season, Jordan Cup titleholder Faisali beat league titleholder Wihdat 1-0 to win the 33rd Super Cup. Apart from conceding the Super Cup, and elimination from the Jordan Cup, Wihdat now only have the league title up for grabs. The team has been league champ for the past two consecutive years.

Standings  
(Previous position in parenthesis)

Manchester City must put a potentially ruinous fortnight behind them as they seek to reboot their faltering season with a big performance in their Champions League last-16, first leg trip to Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday.

With their English Premier League title hopes badly dented by successive home losses to fellow contenders Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur, City received heavy criticism for fielding a second-string team in Sunday’s embarrassing FA Cup capitulation at Chelsea.

Suddenly, the lavishly funded team who had been campaigning for a “quadruple” of titles finds their season in danger of careering off the rails with manager Manuel Pellegrini brought to task by a former England great over his moans about the club’s fixture congestion.

Alan Shearer, the Premier League’s all-time leading scorer, criticised City’s approach, telling the BBC he could not understand Pellegrini’s decision to start six teenagers in the team which was thrashed 5-1 at Chelsea.

“Barcelona played on Saturday and they face Arsenal in the Champions League on Tuesday. It’s the same amount of time [between games] as City, but they didn’t rest any players,” Shearer said.

“I don’t get the talk of resting players. City are — and want to be — a very big club on the global stage.

“They’ve got more resources than anyone. I never see Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo wanting to be left out.”

Pellegrini responded to the criticism by saying he should not have to defend his selection. City, he explained, had been struggling with injuries and he was forced to prioritise in a crucial week featuring not just the Kiev game but also Sunday’s League Cup final against Liverpool.

City had written to the Football Association to complain about the scheduling of the Chelsea game, having wanted it played on Saturday.

All this turmoil plays into the hands of outsiders Kiev, who have reached the knock-out stages for the first time since they were beaten by Bayern Munich in the 1999 semifinals.

This will be the Ukrainian champions’ first official match after a two-and-a-half-month winter break, during which they have tried to maintain sharpness in a series of friendlies.

Kiev’s key concern is the physical shape of winger Andriy Yarmolenko, who spent two months on the sidelines with a knee injury suffered in the final game of the group stage against Maccabi.

They have also made a plea to their fans to behave during the game after the club had initially been ordered by UEFA to play the tie in an empty stadium following incidents in the match against Chelsea in October.

However, UEFA reduced the sanction on appeal.

Clean sheets domestically

PSV Eindhoven will miss striker Luuk de Jong when they entertain Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 on Wednesday.

Philip Cocu’s side won all their home games in the group stage but must take on 2014 runners-up Atletico without the suspended De Jong who has scored 17 goals this season to help lift PSV to the top of the Dutch championship.

Cocu, though, will be encouraged by the return of influential Mexican midfielder Andres Guardado following a hamstring injury.

PSV have kept clean sheets in their last three domestic league games to edge one point ahead of second-placed Ajax Amsterdam.

“I thought we were defensively a lot stronger,” Cocu told reporters after Saturday’s 2-0 home win over Heracles Almelo. “The last line and the midfield worked well together and the players put in a lot of work.

“On Wednesday, we’ll need to bring the same work and intensity. We gave Heracles too much space in the second half and made the field too big.

“We can’t do that on Wednesday because Atletico are deadly on the counterattack,” said Cocu.

Second-placed Atletico slipped eight points adrift of Barcelona after Sunday’s 0-0 draw at home to Villarreal but will also take heart from a consistent rearguard that has conceded 11 goals in 25 La Liga games this season.

Coach Diego Simeone said his team were still on course to achieve their targets.

“If you look at the objectives we set at the beginning of the season we are on the right track and, apart from Barcelona who are different to all the rest, it’s hard for all of us,” explained Simeone.

Atletico won 13 points out of 18 in the Champions League group stage and will hope to repeat the 3-0 win they recorded in Eindhoven in the 2008-09 Champions League when the two clubs were in the same first-round section.

The return match in Madrid is on March 15.

AMMAN — The 16th West Asian Clubs Championship concluded in Amman late Monday with no Jordanian teams qualifying to the Asian Basketball Confederation (ABC) Champions Cup.

Orthodoxi lost 87-80 to Iraq’s Shurta as Iran’s Petroshemi, Lebanon’s Riyadi and Shurta advanced from the zonal qualifiers.

Orthodoxi appeared below form compared to the other teams, losing all four matches 96-66 to Iran’s Azad, 87-80 to Lebanon’s Champville, and 11-75 to Riyadi. Former champs Syria’s Wihdeh and Yemen’s Sana’s declined this year.

Petroshemi won the title after they scored four wins, the last over Riyadi 70-68. Azad beat Champville to finish third, while Champville finished fourth but Shurta qualified as the competition regulations stipulate that the top three teams, provided they represent different countries, qualify to the ABC Champions Cup.  Zain were the only Jordanian team to win the Champions Cup in 2006.

In the last edition in 2014, then league champs Applied Science University (ASU) finished third while Jordan’s other representative, Ittihad Schools, bowed out of the quarters. Iran’s Mahram beat compatriot Petroshemi to win the title for the fourth time. Mahram, ASU and Iraq’s Kahraba moved to the Asian Champions Cup. 

Orthodoxi were the only Jordanian team to win the title in 1999, but runners-up to the event were Jazira in 1998, Orthodoxi in 2001 and 2002, Arena in 2003 and Zain in 2009.

AMMAN — Teams return to local competition in the Jordan Basketball League on Wednesday after a week-long break for the West Asian Basketball Championship hosted by Orthodoxi.

Teams will start Leg 2 of Round 2 before the final two teams moving to best-of-five play-offs for the title are decided.

Riyadi ended Leg 1 matches atop the standings after they beat Awdeh 86-61 to score their third straight win. They overcame Round 1 unbeaten team Hurrieh 73-67 and Orthodoxi 73-65. 

Riyadi reversed their Round 1 form and despite the injury of centre Wisam Sous, who is out for the season, the team now needs to keep their focus in Leg 2 of the competition to play for the title.

Orthodoxi need to put pick up the team from the West Asian slump and try to repeat their wins over Hurrieh 78-58 and Awdeh 86-82 in Leg 1.

Awdeh seem to have lost their grip after they were the only team that managed to beat Round 1 leaders Hurrieh 65-61 earlier in Leg 1. 

At the other end of the standings in the battle to avoid relegation Kufr Youba and Jalil held on to their spots pushing Ghazzet Hashem and Nashama to be relegated to Division 1.

Hurrieh had finished Round 1 with an unbeaten record, while Orthodoxi were second after they beat Riyadi. With teams like Applied Science University, Ittihad, Wihdat pulling out of the competition, Awdeh joined the top four. 

Following two legs of matches in the current Round 2, final standings from 1-4 will be decided to determine who advances to the final play-offs for the title.

The season started with Orthodoxi winning the Jordan Cup and aiming to retain the league title which they won for the record 23rd time last year.

Apart from Riyadi and Orthodoxi, leading clubs abandoning the game this season leading to major changes in the league. After winning the league four times, the last being in 2013 and 2014, both ASU and Ittihad disbanded their teams over differences with the Jordan Basketball Federation which led to a sharp decline in the game locally and Jordan’s regional competitive chances.