Sports

RIYADH: Egypt’s national team were crowned the winners of the 2023 Arab Beach Football Championship after defeating Oman 4-2 in the final on Saturday in Saudi Arabia. The Egyptian players received the championship trophy and gold medals in the presence of the Arab Football Federation’s Vice President Hani Abu Raida, Secretary-General Dr. Rajaa Allah Al-Solami and Prof. Mohamed Rarawah in Jeddah. Hosted by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, the competition began on May 11.

BARCELONA, Spain: Carlo Ancelotti says he will finish his contract with Real Madrid despite their defeat in the Champions League semifinals and with rumors swirling that Brazil would love the Italian to become its next coach. “I have a contract until June 2024 and the club has already guaranteed I will see out my contract. Everyone knows that’s exactly what I want to do,” Ancelotti said on Saturday in his first news conference since he spoke immediately after Manchester City routed his Madrid 4-0 this week to reach the final 5-1 on aggregate.

TABUK, Saudi Arabia: Yazeed Al-Rajhi teamed up with German co-driver Timo Gottschalk to get the defense of his Saudi Toyota Rally Championship title underway with a comfortable victory at the new Tabuk-NEOM Rally in northern Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

LOS ANGELES: Jimmy Butler led a fourth-quarter fightback as the Miami Heat stunned the Boston Celtics 111-105 to take a 2-0 lead in their NBA Eastern Conference finals series on Friday. Miami talisman Butler finished with 27 points as the eighth seeds grabbed a second straight victory at Boston’s TD Garden to leave the Celtics with a mountain to climb if they are to reach the NBA finals. Miami had trailed by 11 points early in the fourth quarter and the Celtics led by as much as nine with under seven minutes of the final frame remaining.

FREIBURG, Germany: With a slice of luck and a goal from a retiring fan favorite, Freiburg beat Wolfsburg 2-0 in the Bundesliga on Friday to stay in contention to qualify for the Champions League for the first time. Playing his last home game before retiring at the end of the season, striker Nils Petersen came off the bench to score in the 75th minute to take the game away from Wolfsburg — his first goal of the season — after Christian Günter gave Freiburg the lead with a fortunate deflected shot that looped over the goalkeeper.

TABUK: Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German co-driver Timo Gottschalk stormed into a comfortable 19 min 28 sec lead after the opening 205 km stage of the Tabuk-Neom Rally on Friday. The Toyota Hilux crew carded a time of 1 hr 58 min and 57 sec for the scenic passage through desert terrain without hitting any problems during the course of the morning.

NEWCASTLE: Newcastle United head coach Eddie Howe still refuses to admit the job of Champions League qualification is done, despite the Magpies taking a giant leap toward a top-four Premier League spot with a home victory against sixth-place Brighton & Hove Albion on Thursday. Howe’s side is within touching distance of a place of Europe’s premier club competition for the first time since the 2003/04 season thanks to a 4-1 win over their fellow high-fliers.