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AMMAN — He began the event as the firm favourite, but Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah was in devastating form to completely dominate the FIA Jordan Rally in his new Autotek-run Ford Fiesta R5 Evo 2, according to the Jordan Rally News Service.

The 12-time regional rally champion won all the special stages for the second successive year and reached the finish at the Dead Sea with a winning margin of 16min 09.3sec.

It was the perfect result for the Qatari and French navigator Matthieu Baumel after their retirement in round one in February, and keeps the Qatari in the hunt for a 13th title, despite the fact that he still trails Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri by seven points in the unofficial championship standings. The victory was Attiyah’s 64th in MERC history; Baumel has now taken 13 as a co-driver.

“The car was fantastic, no issues at all and I was able to control my pace and take no risks,” said Attiyah. “The future of this championship is important to me and Jordan as a rally is one of the strongest anywhere with its organisation and important to a great many people. It has a proud tradition and deserves a strong future.”

The all-Jordanian crew of Marouf Abu Samra and navigator Malik Hariri returned to the Jordan Rally for the first time since 2014 and settled in superbly, despite only running a brief pre-event test on the old Turki stage. They produced an impressive career-best performance to seal second position and victory in MERC 2.

Abu Samra’s feat marked the first time in 36 years that a Jordanian driver had finished second in the Jordan Rally – the late Nabil Dirani completed the event behind Lebanon’s Michel Saleh at the wheel of a Renault 17 Gordini in 1981.

Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri began the event in strong contention for both the MERC and MERC 2 titles and third overall did the Mitsubishi Lancer driver’s chances no harm at all. He now leads the MERC 2 Championship outright by an unofficial 21 points and heads to Cyprus as the outright MERC leader.

Khaled and Emad Juma closed the gap on the Kuwaiti over the closing stages on Friday afternoon, after overcoming an exhaust-related fire, but a broken turbocharger for two and a half stages through Saturday morning’s loop cost the Jordanians any chance of snatching a podium finish. They eventually retired with mechanical problems on the second run through Shuna.

Saudi Arabia’s Rakan Al Rashed used the Rally 2 ruling to regain fifth place after clutch woes, and he and Finnish co-driver Jarkko Kalliolepo moved up to fourth in his Mahara Racing-run Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX before retiring on the road section to the final stage with fuel pump issues.

Jordan’s Ihab Al Shorafa and Asem Aref rounded off the FIA finishers in fourth and fifth places after Kuwait’s Essam Al Nejadi and Salem Al Thefiri retired their Mitsubishis with mechanical issues after SS13.

Ahmad Shaban rolled out of the 2nd National Rally in the unlucky 13th Jordan River stage and was unable to challenge the eventual runaway winner Salamah Al Gammaz. The Jordanian reached the finish 13min 04.3sec clear of the father and son crew of former Arabic teacher Ziad Miqdad and his son Hassan. Nasser Khanfar and Burhan Abu Gura were third.

Cars were flagged over the finish podium by HRH Princess Ayah, the daughter of HRH Prince Feisal, chairman of Jordan Motor Sport.

The event ran thanks to a huge national effort supported by the Jordanian government and its security and safety services.

All nine FIA cars and four runners in the 2nd National Rally began the opening 15km Shuna stage that preceded runs through the Jordan River and Baptism Site stages and the return to service at the Dead Sea. The opener was slightly delayed while some spectators were relocated, and Attiyah increased his lead to 9min 49.6sec.

Thefiri managed to fend off a struggling Juma to strengthen his hold on third place heading to the 31.01km of the renowned Jordan River stage. Attiyah just missed out on breaking the 23-minute barrier for the longest timed section of the event and another fastest time pushed the Qatari 11min 37.9sec in front of Abu Samra, who had sustained a flat tyre three kilometres into the Shuna stage.

Ongoing turbo charger issues wrecked Juma’s chance of threatening AThefiri’s hold on third. Ahmad Shaban rolled his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI out of the 2nd National Rally and enabled Salamah Al Gammaz to take a massive lead into the remaining five stages.

Attiyah reached service with a lead of 12min 14.5sec and there were large gaps between drivers inside the top six after Juma dropped another three minutes to Thefiri through Baptism with his turbo charger woes. “We had to complete two-and-a-half stages like this,” groaned the Jordanian.

The road section between Jordan River and Baptism spelt the end of the line for Essam Al Nejadi (overheating) and Salem Al Thefiri (mechanical).

Attiyah survived the second loop of stages and a repeat of Thursday night’s super special to secure the victory, while Abu Samra and Al Thefiri did enough to consolidate second and third overall. Juma was sidelined on the stage after service with mechanical problems and his demise lifted Rashed to fourth, only for the Saudi to retire within sight of the finish with fuel pump issues.

The third round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship takes place in Cyprus on June 16-18.

AMMAN — Qatar’s Nasser SalehAttiyah and French navigator Matthieu Baumel cruised into a lead of 11.3 seconds at the FIA Jordan Rally after the opening two-kilometre Samarah super special stage on the shores of the Dead Sea on Thursday evening, according to the Jordan Rally News Service.

The late arrival of his support truck meant that the 10-time winner of the Hashemite Kingdom’s premier motor sporting event had been unable to test his new Ford Fiesta R5 Evo 2 until after scrutineering on Thursday morning. It was, therefore, a cautious Qatari who carded the fastest time of 1min 51.5sec over a stage that was held in near darkness adjacent to the ceremonial start

“We made a little test today, maybe 35km, with the car on a section of gravel track that was used in the WRC from the old Turki stage and the car felt great,” said Attiyah. “I need to finish this rally. The championship is short and the problems in Qatar mean that maximum points are important here. I have been driving Fords for many years, so I know the cars well. This car has a little more power.”

The best of the rest and the leader in MERC 2 was Jordanian driver Marouf Abu Samra at the wheel of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Khaled Juma finished third, 3.1 seconds behind, and Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri and Saudi Arabia’s Rakan Al Rashed rounded off the top five

Asem Aref was given the honour of running first on the road in his little Renault Clio and he and navigator Musa Djiyerian carded the target time of 3min 05.7sec. Cars were flagged away from the start ramp by HRH Prince Feisal, chairman of Jordan Motor sport.

“We have looked at the entry and I guess we should be targeting second place and at least a place on the podium,” said Abu Samra. “I intend to be careful, take no risks and make sure that we give ourselves the chance of a good finish. I considered using the Skoda, but it was impossible to get a part I needed to ensure I could use it.”

Abu Samra’s navigator Malek Hariri is a commercial pilot with Royal Jordanian and won the 2014 World Masters Jujitsu Championship in Brazil.  He has co-driven for numerous drivers, including Abu Samra, Michel Saleh, Amjad Farrah and Bashar Al Bustami, and is trying to piece together an exciting deal to tackle the Dakar Rally for the first time in January 2018.

Khaled and Emad Juma are competing in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and younger brother Khaled has replaced Emad in the driving seat. “I started rallying as a driver in the Jordan Rally in 1992 and switched to co-driving in 2002. I can pass on that experience to my younger brother now,” said 50-year-old Imad, who finished second on the opening round of this year’s National series after the duo won the series in 2016

Emad Juma has competed with a wide range of drivers, including Faris Hijazi, Maen Tantash, Faris Bustami and Yasmin A Hilli. His best MERC result as a navigator was a fine second overall with Bustami.

Seven of the nine cars in the FIA event were permitted to start with advisory messages issued by rally officials in connection with the lack of suitable protective roll cage padding, as per 2017 FIA appendix J of the technical regulations. There were three other minor issues (tinted windows, no external trigger and no external circuit breaker) that contravened appendix J, but all nine cars were permitted to start by rally stewards.

Ziad Miqdad dropped down into the National Rally to join Ahmad Shaban, Salamah Al-Gammaz and Nasser Khanfar — all four are driving Mitsubishi Lancers.

The event is running thanks to a huge national effort supported by the Jordanian Government and its security and safety services.

It is also being supported by the private sector with the Hilton Dead Sea Resort & Spa, Dead Sea Touristic & Real Estate Investment (Samarah), Vestel, CCI — Creative Concepts Industries, Radio Hala and Bliss FM all playing a key part.

Tomorrow (Friday), teams will tackle two loops of five stages in the Dead Sea and Jordan Valley areas. Runs through Panorama, Syagha, Rama, Bahath and Suwayma start at 09.09hrs and will be repeated in the afternoon from 13.03hrs after a return to the Dead Sea Service Park at midday.

AMMAN — This year’s FIA Jordan Rally, round two of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship, gets under way with a two-kilometre super special stage on the shores of the Dead Sea, according to the Jordan Rally Media  Service.

Traditionally based at the lowest point on the earth (at over 400 metres below sea level), the former round of the WRC is seen as the toughest round of the regional rally series and has a proud tradition in regional motor sport.

Thirteen cars and competitors from six nations will start Jordan Motor Sport’s flagship event of the year, with Qatar’s 12-time regional rally champion, Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, starting as the overwhelming favourite to clinch his 64th MERC rally win in a new M-Sport-built Ford Fiesta R5 Evo 2 being driven on an international event for the first time.

Attiyah and French co-driver Matthieu Baumel have endured a difficult start to a season that has been a roller coaster from the start. Radiator damage prevented the Qatari winning his home round of the MERC in February and victories in the Dubai International Baja and Qatar Cross-Country Rally were overshadowed somewhat by crashes at the Dakar and Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

Attiyah arrives at the Dead Sea lying third in the MERC’s points’ standings and fresh from a skeet shooting competition in Cyprus. He tested the new Ford Fiesta for the first time on Wednesday afternoon.

In the absence of Khalid Al Suwaidi, Attiyah faces no competition in the RC2 class for R5 cars and attention focuses on what promises to be a close tussle for success in MERC 2 between eight Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution drivers entered in the NR4 group for showroom production vehicles.

Kuwait’s Meshari Al Thefiri holds second in the regional series and a similar position in MERC 2 after his runner-up finish in Qatar and could well challenge for overall title honours this season.

He and Qatari navigator Nasser Al Kuwari lead an MERC 2 field that includes fellow Kuwaitis, Essam Al Nejadi and Salem Al Thefiri, Saudi Arabia’s Rakan Al Rashed and the Jordanian quartet of Khaled Juma, Marouf Abu Samra, Ihab Al Shorafa and Ziad Miqdad.

The Jordanian duo of Asem Aref and Musa Djiyerian will be aiming to conquer the demanding gravel stages of the Jordan Valley in their little Renault Clio, the sole entry in the RC3 class for two-wheel drive cars.

Three Jordanian crews will run behind the FIA entrants in a second National Rally. Ahmad Shaban, Salamah Al Gammaz and Nasser Khanfar will drive three older Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions.

The event is being pulled together thanks to a huge national effort supported by the Jordanian government and its security and safety services.

On Thursday cars will be scrutineered for FIA eligibility and the official timetable of events gets under way with the official pre-event press conference with leading drivers at the ceremonial start location from 5:20pm.

The ceremonial start then takes centre stage from 6:20pm and crews head into the opening two-kilometre Samarah super special stage at 7:30pm

The bulk of the action takes place on Friday and Saturday over gravel tracks and a further 17 timed special stages in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas.

AMMAN — Jordan will play a test match against Saudi Arabia later this month, with two selection matches being held over the next two weekends to decide the final line-up, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

It is exciting times for the sport here and this latest announcement will enable officials to run the rule over the current level of the national team ahead of bigger things to come.

A match this weekend will be between two “Barbarians” sides of players hoping to secure a spot in the national team. It will kick off at 10am at the Petra University pitch on the Airport Road.

This will be followed by a second “Barbarians” match next week before the final line-up is named by head coach, Graeme Forbes, for the Saudi Arabia match on May 19.

James Harden powered the Houston Rockets to an epic rout of San Antonio in their second-round play-off opener on Monday.

Harden had 20 points and 14 assists while Trevor Ariza scored 23 points and Clint Capela contributed 20 points and 13 rebounds as the Rockets dumped the host Spurs, 126-99, to start their best-of-seven Western Conference series.

“It’s just one win,” Harden said. “It’s a good win but we’ve got to be ready for game two. They’ve got a lot of fight in them. We missed a few shots. We’ve got to play better in game two.”

The Rockets sank a team play-off record 22 3-pointers on 50 attempts, inflicting the most three-pointers allowed by the Spurs in play-off history.

San Antonio trailed by as many as 39 points in the team’s largest game-one defeat in play-off history. The Spurs 69-39 half-time deficit was their worst in play-off history.

“We lost and they won and they played better,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We competed but I don’t think we executed in a very wise manner.”

The Spurs and Rockets, in their first play-off meeting since 1995, were two of the three winningest teams in the NBA this season, both trailing Golden State, which opens the second round Tuesday against Utah.

A 15-2 run to open the second quarter put Houston ahead 49-25. The Rockets had 30 assists on 40 baskets, their passing and fast pace humbling the veteran Spurs.

“There are no individual efforts here,” Harden said. “I’ve been proud of that all year.”

The Rockets went 12-of-27 from three-point range in the first half, already hitting more shots from beyond the arc than in any first-round contest.

Kawhi Leonard led San Antonio with 21 points and 11 rebounds but the Spurs made only 31-of-84 shots from the floor.

Cavaliers 116, 

Raptors 105

LeBron James scored 35 points, and Cleveland continued its play-off dominance of Toronto with an easy win in Game 1 of an Eastern Conference semifinal.

James added 10 rebounds and four assists. He also tied Kobe Bryant for second place in league history with his 88th play-off game scoring at least 30 points.

Kyrie Irving had 24 points and 10 assists for Cleveland. Tristan Thompson contributed 11 points and 14 rebounds, and Kevin Love finished with 18 points and nine rebounds.

The Raptors, who were bounced by the Cavs from the Eastern Conference finals in six games last season, were led by 20 points from Kyle Lowry and 19 from DeMar DeRozan. P.J. Tucker finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, Serge Ibaka added 15 points, and Lowry had a game-high 11 assists.

AMMAN — The Jordan Football Association (JFA) has announced the appointment of Michael Dickey on Monday as the new head coach of the Jordan Women’s National Team, in a statement.

President of JFA HRH Prince Ali welcomed Dickey in Amman last week where they signed the 2-year contract. “I’d like to welcome Mr Michael Dickey as the newest member in our football family. His experience, background and methodology are very much in line with our aspirations and ambitions, I am very optimistic about his potential with our Nashmiyyat,” Prince Ali noted.

Dickey began his coaching career in 1996 and has since then took on a number of directorial, scouting, instructional and technical advisory posts with several clubs and teams mostly within the USA. Between 2005 and 2010, he served as assistant coach for a number of US women’s national teams. His career as a head coach began with the USA U-14 women’s team in 2005 and then proceeded to coach the USA U-15, U-16 and U-17 women’s teams in later years. In 2009, he worked with the India senior women’s national team as a guest head coach.

His experience in 2010 with the USA U-17 women’s national team has been remarkable with notable wins over Germany, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Denmark and China. 12 of the players he coached have since advanced to play for the USA senior women’s national team.

Dickey continues to be a member of the US Football Federation as national coaching education staff and national training centre Liaison, as well as the technical director of the Kentucky Fire Football Club.

“I am thankful to the Jordan Football Association and Prince Ali for providing me with this opportunity. I will do everything I can as a coach to help lead the women’s national of Jordan to the World Cup. I have met many of the players and watched them train,” Dickey said.

“They are very talented and also dedicated to winning. We will have a very busy schedule leading up to the World Cup qualifications. I look forward to all the support that the people of Jordan will have for their women’s national team.

“A special thanks goes out to my football club and club owner here in Louisville, Kentucky as well, Wayne Estopinal and the Kentucky Fire Juniors,” he added.

AMMAN — The Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) on Tuesday launched its awareness campaign that highlights the efforts and sacrifices that the Kingdom’s athletes go through to become champions, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service. “You Are A Champ” will be splashed across Jordan over the coming months utilising both traditional and social media channels to ensure it inspires the next generation of champions.

The launch video focuses on the challenges that athletes face in their daily lives and how much effort it takes for them to reach the podium. “It’s very important that people know about these athletes and what they go through to represent Jordan,” said JOC Secretary General Nasser Majali. During the launch, Majali also unveiled the new JOC logo which is a modernised version of the traditional logo used for the past 12 years. 

AMMAN — Jordan has a new Asian champion after Odai Abu Hasweh won gold at the Asian Kickboxing Championship on Sunday in Turkmenistan, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

Abu Hasweh clinched the 63kg category after beating host fighter Sabayev Sanjarbek 2-1 in the final.

“He was up against it but came through in front of a crowd that was of course cheering on their home player,” said Issa Abu Nasser, Abu Hasweh’s coach. 

“It was a tough fight. Odai had to dig deep and was clever enough to take gold and bring glory for Jordan. We are extremely proud of him.”