Al Attiyah aims for 18th title as Jordan Rally flags off

Dead Sea, Jordan: The Jordan Rally roared into life at the HoverUp park by the Dead Sea yesterday evening, with Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah bidding for an 18th victory in the Hashemite Kingdom.

Seventeen crews competing in the third round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC) were joined at the start ceremony by another 10 teams solely tackling the second and third rounds of the Jordan national series. They all will tackle a dozen gravel special stages today and tomorrow in the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea areas. truewildslot.com

The new Hover-Up Park, nestled in the sandy valley to the north of the Dead Sea, provided the perfect back drop to the start of the Jordan Rally. Al-Attiyah is partnering with Spanish co-driver Candido Carrera with one eye on the Drivers’ Championship, and currently trails his cousin Nasser Khalifa Al-Atya by 12 points.

Al-Attiyah said: “It’s nice to be here again. It’s a difficult race and one of the most beautiful. After winning Oman, we went back to Qatar and were leading until we had a problem with a wheel rim. It was a mistake by the manufacturer. We lost a lot of points but we are here and well prepared. I have won here 17 times. I enjoy my life and I enjoy this event a lot. The stages are nice and the new Rawda stage will be new for everyone. It’s also easy to get a puncture there.

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“We need to be clever to get full points because we don’t know what will happen with Lebanon and Cyprus and then the last race will be in Saudi Arabia. This is part of the WRC and more points will be available at that race. Winning here will make it easier for us at the end of the year.”

Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi was the fastest on the shakedown stage.

Oman’s Abdullah Al-Rawahi has consistently matched the Qatari on stages in recent seasons and he too needs as many points as possible after a difficult start to the year. Al-Rawahi is currently 19 points off the championship lead.

The Omani said: “It’s always a good feeling to be back to the place where I actually started rallying in the Middle East championship. These are some of the toughest stages in the region, very technical and the competition is high. We have been close to him (Al-Attiyah) for the last two years. We have taken another step forward and have been working really hard with the team to get the best set-up."

Al-Rawahi was the first driver to post a time in yesterday’s morning’s 4.83km Shakedown stage. He stopped the clocks in 3min 05.0sec, 12.4 seconds quicker than Hamza Bakhashab on his first of a maximum of two runs. Both drivers were markedly quicker on their second passes with Al-Rawahi topping the times by 5.2 seconds with a run of 2min 58.8sec.

Al-Attiyah and Al-Atya both sat out the shakedown opportunity but Sheikh Bader Al-Fayez and Bassel Abu Hamdan took advantage to finalise the set-up on their Škoda Fabia RSs.

The two QMMF-entered Peugeot 208 Rally4s were closely matched with Rashid Al-Muhannadi getting the better of young Mohammed Al-Marri by just 1.3 seconds, although Al-Marri did improve more on his second pass to set the fifth quickest time. Al-Muhannadi teamed up with French co-driver Florian Barral as a late replacement for Szymon Gospodarczyk.

Only 11 of the 17 FIA crews took advantage of the shakedown opportunity.

Leading Jordanian hope Shaker Jweihan knows that his only realistic hope of a podium is if several of his Rally2 rivals hit problems over the course of the next two days. He is dominating the FIA MERC2 category and is relishing the challenge of achieving a hattrick of category wins.

Competitors will tackle two passes through three stages today. The first run through Shuna (15.25km) gets proceedings underway at 09.49hrs and this is followed by rapid-fire sprints through Baptism (11.24km) from 10.39hrs and Ma’in (16.87km), starting at 11.30hrs.

After a return to the Dead Sea for a midday service and regroup, the three stages are repeated in the afternoon from 13.49hrs, 14.39hrs and 15.30hrs.

Brussels, Belgium: Belgium coach Rudi Garcia named Romelu Lukaku in his World Cup squad on Friday despite saying Belgium's all-time record goalscorer was "out of shape".

Lukaku, who has scored 89 goals in 124 international appearances, has struggled for form and fitness at Serie A club Napoli this season.

The 33-year-old former Inter Milan and Chelsea forward has only played 69 minutes of first-team football in 2026 and is currently sidelined by a hip injury.

"Romelu has recovered, but he's out of shape, and I'm not sure he'll be able to start the matches. But he's our best striker, Belgium's all-time leading scorer," Frenchman Garcia told reporters.

"We have five weeks to get him back to full fitness so that little by little he can help the team."

Lille forward Matias Fernandez-Pardo was given a maiden call-up after opting to switch nationality, having previously played for Spain's Under-21s.

Lois Openda, who has played 33 times for Belgium, is a notable absentee after scoring just once in 24 Serie A appearances this season on loan at Juventus from RB Leipzig.

There are few other surprises in Garcia's 26-man squad, with Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Jeremy Doku all included.

Belgium kick off their World Cup campaign against Egypt in Seattle on June 15, before taking on Iran and New Zealand in Group G in Los Angeles and Vancouver respectively.

The Red Devils crashed out of the 2022 World Cup in the group stage, plagued by infighting as the 'golden generation' failed miserably in their final bid for a major title.

Hamza Abdelkarim said he is settling well at La Masia and developing physically, mentally, and tactically in the youth setup at Barcelona.

Egyptian forward Hamza Abdelkarim said he is adapting well at La Masia and believes his time with Barcelona is helping him improve physically, mentally, and tactically.

Speaking in an interview with beIN Sports, he said he benefits from every training session and every match. Hamza Abdelkarim added that each minute in Barcelona gives him a chance to develop.

The young forward said scoring goals remains important, but it does not define his full development. He said he must improve other parts of his game to become a more complete player.

The youngster also pointed to Barcelona’s collective style. Abdelkarim said the team must play as one unit, describing football at the club as highly collective. He added that he is gradually adapting to the team’s playing model.

Notably, he said Barcelona’s staff understand his strengths and work with him to sharpen them. Abdelkarim added that his teammates help him show those qualities during matches.

His comments came after he scored in Barcelona youth’s 2-0 win over Tenerife. He played 81 minutes in the match.

Barcelona signed Abdelkarim from Al Ahly on loan until June 30, 2026. The agreement includes a purchase option at the end of the season.

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New Delhi: India batting great Virat Kohli said in a podcast released on Friday he would consider playing in the 2027 ODI Cricket World Cup if he can still "add value" to the team.

The 37-year-old Kohli, regarded as one of the most accomplished batsmen of his generation, is a hero to hundreds of millions of Indian fans.

"If I can add value to the environment that I'm a part of, and the environment feels like I can add value, I'll be seen," he said in the podcast posted by his IPL franchise team, Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

"If I'm made to feel like I need to prove my worth and my value, I'm not in that space."

Kohli, who now only plays in the 50-over format for India, is the second-highest scorer in international cricket.

But his India contract was downgraded from the top tier by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) this year.

"I want to play cricket and I want to carry on," he said. "Playing a World Cup for India is amazing."

Kohli bounced back from two consecutive ducks to hit an unbeaten 105 and lead defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a crucial win in the Indian Premier League this week.

It was his ninth hundred in the IPL, but his first this season

"After operating like this, if I have to be in a place where I have to prove my worth and value, that this is not meant to be for me," he said.

Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket in 2025, having struggled for form since retiring from T20 internationals after India's 2024 World Cup win.