Majan to represent Oman in Brazil
MUSCAT: The Neymar Jr’s Five National Final crowned Team ‘Majan College’ as the champions on Saturday, as the team battled for first place at Hillat Al Zabadiyah, Muttrah.
Only 16 of the country’s best teams were selected to compete in the National Final of Neymar Jr’s Five, which was held in Oman for the second year.
The competition took place after the footballers were selected from 8 different qualifiers, which took place in Bausher, Darsait, Maabeilah, Mussanah, Sohar, Shinas, Nizwa and Salalah with a total of 1932 players.
Immediately after being announced as the winners, the team captain Mazin al Harthy said: “Last year we won the tournament in Oman and we are protecting our title! We have players from Muscat, Bausher and Amerat who will be representing Oman.”
Talking about how the team came together, he said: “It’s our coach who managed to bring us together again. We all play for the college and have been playing together for a couple of years.”
The main twist to the five a-side football tournament is that it was played with no goalkeepers and each time a player scored a goal a player from the opposing team was eliminated. Each match went on for 10 minutes until the whole team was eliminated.
In Oman, the Red Bull Event is being held in partnership with Instituto Neymar Jr, Oman Ministry of Tourism, Salam Air, HiFM, Hala FM, Al Zabadiyah Sports Club and Millennium Resort Mussanah.
The event spans across six continents and more than 50 countries with tens of thousands of players from around the world competing in the hope of making it all the way from their regional qualifiers to their national final and on to the World Final at the Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr in Praia Grande, Brazil.
The institute’s aim is to offer extracurricular educational and sporting activities to the most socially disadvantaged children and families to promote social inclusion and encourage participation in the community. The Instituto Projeto Neymar Jr was opened in 2014 and is the second ‘FutbolNet’. NEW YORK: Matt Barnes contributed seven points and two assists to a secondquarter explosion that took the Golden State Warriors to go past the Milwaukee Bucks 117-92 on Saturday night.
Stephen Curry scored a game-high 28 points on 9-for-13 shooting as the Warriors shot 60 per cent in completing a perfect 3-0 homestand.
The Warriors (55-14) moved 2 1/2 games ahead of San Antonio (52-16), a loser on Saturday at Memphis, in the race for top seeding in the Western Conference play-offs. CLIPPERS 108, CAVALIERS 78 Blake Griffin scored 23 points and collected eight rebounds in three quarters, as the Los Angeles Clippers snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday at Staples Center.
DeAndre Jordan had 13 points and 17 rebounds and JJ Redick scored 16 points for the Clippers (41-29), who have a half-game lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder for the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference. Jamal Crawford also had 13 points while Chris Paul was held to five points on 0 of 8 shooting.
Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue decided to sit LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love against the Clippers to rest them. However, all three are expected to play Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers. ROCKETS 109, NUGGETS 105 James Harden had 40 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, notching his 19th triple-double in the Rockets’ victory.
Harden has 11 games of 40 or more points and did it this time after scoring 41 on Friday. Clint Capela had 16 points for the Rockets (48-22), who won despite a season-low in 3-point attempts (24) and makes (five). Gary Harris had 17 points, Nikola Jokic 16 and Jameer Nelson 15 points and 11 assist for the Nuggets, who now lead Portland by 1 1/2 games for the No. 8 seed.
GRIZZLIES 104, SPURS 96 Mike Conley scored 19 points, Zach Randolph added 18 and Marc Gasol finished with 16 as Memphis extended its winning streak to four games.
The Grizzlies (40-30) led for all but 48 seconds in the second half to hand the Spurs (52-16) their ninth road loss this season. San Antonio, which had won 11 of its previous 13 games, got 22 points from Kawhi Leonard and 21 from LaMarcus Aldridge.
BULLS 95, JAZZ 86 Jimmy Butler scored 23 points and distributed seven assists to help Chicago end a two-game losing streak.
Bobby Portis scored 22 points in 30 minutes off the bench for the Bulls. Rookie Denzel Valentine joined Portis off the bench to post his first career double-double, with 11 points and 12 rebounds. George Hill led the Jazz with 18 points to go along with seven rebounds. Gordon Hayward added 14 points on 5-for-16 shooting.
Utah (43-27) lost for the second straight game and the third time in the past five contests. The Jazz were swept by the Bulls in a two-game season series. TRAIL BLAZERS 113, HAWKS 97
The Trail Blazers snapped a fivegame losing streak to the Atlanta Hawks as they continued their quest to overtake the Nuggets for the final play-off spot in the Western Conference.
Portland led by 23 points just 10 minutes into the game and rolled to victory behind 27 points from Damian Lillard and 22 from fellow guard CJ McCollum.
THUNDER 110, KINGS 94 Thunder guard Russell Westbrook scored 28 points to go along with 10 assists and eight rebounds, leaving him two rebounds shy of his 36th tripledouble. Doug McDermott came off the bench to score 21 points on 8-of-9 shooting for the Thunder, which won its fifth straight game. HORNETS 98, WIZARDS 93 Cody Zeller scored 19 points on 8of10 shooting, and the Hornets snapped a three-game losing streak. The Hornets trailed at halftime but built the lead up to as many as nine midway through the fourth quarter and then held on down the stretch.