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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
SPORTS
Caffari’s return boosts Al Thuraya Women’s Team prospects at SATT Caffari is now intent on raising the
Their story is about so much more than just a yacht race. These girls are literally moving barriers and changing people’s opinions of Arab women
women’s game in in EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour and driving women’s sailing forward in Oman and the GCC region
MUSCAT: The Oman Airports-Al Thuraya Women’s Team is back in EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour (SATT), with Dee Caffari resuming her role as skipper following a four-year absence. Caffari who skippered the first women’s entry in EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour in 2012 has more ocean racing miles on her clock than any other woman on the planet having raced around the world five times — twice on her own, twice with crew and once two-handed.
Dee Caffari
Al Thuraya Women’s Team skipper
She is now intent on raising the women’s game in in EFG Sailing Arabia — The Tour and driving women’s sailing forward in Oman and the GCC region. Her crew for the 2016 race, who have added Oman Airports Management Company to their growing list of backers, was carefully
selected for that purpose, Dee Caffari explains. Quite demanding “I have got a team together based on who I feel would be able to help the Omani girls develop whilst racing,” said the former PE teacher who took part in the last Volvo
Ocean Race on all women’s boat Team SCA. “We are coaching and racing at the same time so it can be quite demanding and we want the Omani girls to feel as if they have moved forwards in their skills and understanding of sailing by the end of the event.”
Some of her crew have sailed with the programme before including Ibtisam Al Salmi, one of the Middle East’s first professional female sailors. “I remember the first event that Ibtisam took part in and she only did the in port races and not the offshore,” recalls Caffari. “Now some years on she is the leader of the group. That shows how far she has come in a short space of time. We also have Marwa Al Khaifi and Tamadher Al Balushi who work as instructors for Oman Sail so they will bring fresh ideas.” Focus on development Joining Caffari as fellow coaching and racing experts are Stacey Jackson from Australia, Annemieke Bes from the Netherlands and former Oman Airports-Al Thuraya skipper Mary Rook from Great Britain. With their experience in the Volvo Ocean Race, Extreme Sailing Series, Olympics, Mini Transat and Artemis Academy, the girls on Oman Airports-Al Thuraya Women’s Team make for a highly competitive and formidable team but the focus, says Caffari will be on developing skills rather than on results. “It is always testing but so long as the girls continue to learn and try
their best all the time I will be happy. Obviously we will be racing to win as there is an incredible competitive spirit within the girl’s team. “The women’s team is all about changing perceptions of women in the Middle East. These girls are out there doing the same thing as the guys, sailing the same boats on the same water in the same conditions. “They are competitive and developing their skills. Their story is about so much more than just a yacht race and sometimes we forget that but these girls are literally moving barriers and changing people’s opinions of Arab women.” Caffari’s sailing specialism is upwind sailing having completed a record breaking circumnavigation on her own against prevailing winds and tides so leg 2 from Abu Dhabi to Doha is a challenge she is relishing along with the downwind epic on leg 3. “The change of route really does mix things up a little - it will be interesting and involve some hard upwind sailing to really test the competitors. Leg 2 looks like it will be a long upwind leg and then leg 3 is a really long leg and this will exhaust the girls, so they will have to dig deep to keep going to the end of the race. “We shall take each day as it comes.”
CRICKET
India face depleted Sri Lanka in Twenty20 series opener PUNE: Boosted by their 3-0 clean sweep of Australia Down Under, a confident India would seek to continue their winning momentum when they take on a depleted and new-look Sri Lanka in the first of three Twenty20 Internationals in Pune. After the comprehensive series triumph in Australia, these three matches would certainly act as the springboard for the hosts to begin their preparations for the Asia Cup T20 Championship which is beginning in Bangladesh later this month and the World T20 in March-April in India. India will also look to win the T20 series to retain their number one position in the ICC T20I Championship table, which they achieved after sweeping aside Australia last week. The hosts will definitely miss their Test captain Virat Kohli who was in glorious form in the T20 series in Australia, as well as in the preceding ODI series Down Under which India lost 1-4. Even in the absence of a top shot like Kohli, who has been rested by the selectors before the more important Asia Cup and the World T20 events, the home team’s batting strength looks pretty formidable for the new-look attack of Sri Lanka, the defending World T20 Champions. In Rohit Sharma, who was also in top form in Australia, and
Shikhar Dhawan — who took time to get going Down Under, the home team has a set of right-left openers who have repeatedly given the side great starts and they could be a handful for the largely inexperienced Lanka bowling attack on the Indian batting tracks. The riches are evident in the rest of the batting order with the likes of Suresh Raina, captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the recalled Yuvraj Singh, present along with the fit-again Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey who played a match-winning knock in the final ODI in Australia but did not figure in the subsequent T20s. In fact, Pandey would be very eager to stamp his class in the T20 format too ahead of the Asia Cup and World T20 events for which he has not found a place in the squad. In bowling too, the same attack that figured in the series in Australia, including Bhuvneshwar Kumar who is not part of the Asia Cup or World T20 squad, would be seen although he may not be among the first choice for seam-up stuff in the presence of Ashish Nehra and Jasprit Bumrah, who had impressed with his unorthodox action and extra pace in Australia. With the matches being held in conditions favouring the slow bowlers more than the pace men, India are expected to go in with their regulars Ravichandran Ash-
win and Ravindra Jadeja, along with the vastly experienced Harbhajan Singh who did not make the playing 11 in the three games Down Under. Also left-arm spinner Pawan Negi, the highest Indian buy in the IPL auction, is also in the squad and he would be itching to make the playing XI. Sri Lanka to miss the services of Dinesh Chandimal, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Malinga Dilshan ruled out On the other hand, the visitors, who are being led by batsman Dinesh Chandimal, will be without their regular T20 captain Lasith Malinga and Test skipper Angelo Mathews for the entire series as they are nursing a knee injury and a groin strain respectively. Experienced all-rounder Tillakaratne Dilshan has also been ruled out of the opening game due to a hand injury. Also absent from the visitors’ line-up are seasoned bowlers — pacer Nuwan Kulasekara and spinner Rangana Herath — to make the attack appear a bit thin on paper. This will be the first time the two sides face each other in the shortest format since the final of the 2014 World Twenty20, which Sri Lanka won in April, 2014. The venue, which acquired Test status last November, is to host only its third International match, and only its second T20I. - PTI
OCEAN XI WIN MARKAZ AL BAHJA CRICKET CROWN
Ocean XI defeated Rising Star by four wickets to win the title at the Markaz Al Bahjasponsored Rising Star Cricket tournament. Batting first, Rising Star scored 67 for six runs in eight overs. Ocean XI successfully chased the total with three balls to spare and four wickets in hand. Jineesh Scaria of Rising Star was adjudged the player of the tournament, Ajmal of Ocean XI was named the best batsman, Vijeesh of Ocean XI took the best bowler prize and Iliyas of Rising Star emerged the best wicketkeeper. Markaz Al Bahja General Manager Prasant, Technical Manager Anil, Trust Oil Field captain Sudheer Shan distributed trophies. — Supplied photo
WORLD T20
Pietersen won’t be selected: Morgan LONDON: Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen will not be recalled for this year’s World Twenty20 in India, captain Eoin Morgan was quoted on Monday as saying. Pietersen, 35, has not played for England in any format since 2014 but has been in good form recently in club Twenty20 tournaments in Australia and Pakistan. “That door is completely shut,
Kevin will not be picked. That’s from me,” Morgan told Daily Mail. South African-born Pietersen, a former England captain and member of the side that won the World Twenty20 in 2010, was dropped in 2014. England director of cricket Andrew Strauss explained the decision at the time by saying there was a “massive trust issue” with Pietersen. The pair had fallen out
over text messages sent by Pietersen to South African players during a 2012 test series when Strauss was captaining the team. Pietersen responded to Morgan’s comments on Twitter. “Interesting he’s saying it’s HIS call! Very interesting! Hmmmmm,” said Pietersen, who is England’s second highest run-scorer in Twenty20 internationals. - Reuters