Dinesh Warnakulasuriya, a 28-year old waiter at the Ristretto Café in Golden Tulip Al Thanyah, beat off stiff competition at the first ever TIME Hotels Dubai Waiters Race, which took place on 20 November 2015.

Co-ordinated by Festivities Dubai, the starting point for the inaugural race was the TIME Oak Hotel & Suites in TECOM, with the 35 eager participants racing around a set 1.5-kilometre course.

Runners faced a unique challenge with speed and dexterity the order of the day as they were required to complete the run carrying a loaded tray containing two full glasses and a bottle of water.

Sponsored by Fresh Farm, Pepsi, Pan Outdoor Media and Green Leaf Air conditioning services, the 8am start didn’t deter entrants with a total of seven competing hotels, each fielding a waiters-only team of five runners.

Speed, agility and balance were challenged at every turn as they raced as fast as possible along the 1.5-kilometre course, with participating hotels including TIME Hotels, Atana, Golden Tulip, Gloria Hotel, Boutique 7, Auris and First Central.

Commenting on his win, Dinesh Warnakulasuriya said: “it was great to win, we train every day as it is our job to provide good quality service, so it is always fun to put our skills to the test and compete against other peers in the industry.”

The waiters were judged on the amount of water lost, waiter standards (posture, grooming, smile) and timing.

“The Waiters’ Race really brought the community together, overall it was a great success and we are already receiving entries for next year’s event; so we look forward to making it an even bigger, better and more competitive race,” said Mohamed Awadalla, CEO, TIME Hotels.

The Individual Race was won by Golden Tulip, with Atana taking second place, and TIME Hotels coming in third. The Relay Race was won by Atana, followed by Golden Tulip, with Gloria Hotel in third place.

Jeje Lalpekhlua struck twice as Chennaiyin FC produced a stellar display to thrash Delhi Dynamos FC 4-0 in an Indian Super League (ISL) clash at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Tuesday evening. Jeje found the net in the 40th and 54th minutes after Mendoza Valencia (17th minute) and Bruno Pelissari (21st) had given the hosts an early 2-0 lead. Chennaiyin, who were lying at the bottom of the ISL table a couple of matches ago, have now climbed to the fourth spot with 16 points from 12 games. Delhi on the other hand, missed the chance to go top of the table as they continue to lie at the third spot with 18 points from 11 matches. Both teams made a cautious start, but the hosts were seeing more of the ball in the opening stages. It was the visitors, however, who had the first big chance of the game when Adil Nabi played Florent Malouda through on goal in the 13th minute.

But the Frenchman shot wide of the target. Chennaiyin took the lead shortly after. A long ball from Jeje saw Delhi goalkeper Toni Doblas rush out of his line hoping to clear the threat posed by a rampant Mendoza who was chasing down the ball alongside Souvik Chakraborty. Doblas’ headed clearance fell straight to Mendoza who side-footed the game’s opener into an open net. Pelissari almost made it 2-0 soon after, but he couldn’t keep his effort on target. The Italian though, had a second bite at the cherry in the 21st minute after Lalpekhlua had his initial shot saved by Doblas. The rebound came directly at Pelissari who made no mistake this time around as he scored Chennaiyin’s second past three Delhi defenders in goal. Robin Singh tried to pull one back for Delhi in the 29th minute courtesy of another defence-splitting pass from Malouda. His shot was tipped behind for a corner by Apoula Edel who looked resolute in the Chennaiyin goal. Things got worse for Delhi Dynamos FC before half-time. Rafael Augusto found Mendoza brilliantly with space on the left.

The Colombian then played the perfect low cross to find Lalpekhlua in the box who calmly finished to make it 3-0 for the hosts five minutes before the break. Delhi’s marquee player-cum-coach Roberto Carlos responded by bringing on Richard Gadze for Nabi before the interval. The speedy Ghanaian tried to inject some impetus into Delhi’s attack but the score remained 3-0 at the half-time interval. The game was put beyond any reasonable doubt nine minutes into the second period when Lalpekhlua got his second of the night. It was Mendoza again who caused havoc in Delhi’s penalty box as a flustered Dynamos defence somehow kept out his shot. Lalpekhlua, however, was in the right place at the right time to make it 4-0 after the ball dropped to him in the midst of chaos inside the penalty area. But the Dynamos to their credit, never stopped trying to find a way back into the game. But Chennaiyin’s huge lead proved to be too big a deficit to overcome.

(24 Nov) Johannesburg : World number three Roger Federer will not retire at least till 2017 as the Swiss maestro has signed a two-year deal to play at the Stuttgart grass-court tournament, which will be played on grass. Expressing his happiness, the 34-year-old said that he always wanted to play Stuttgart and is eagerly looking forward to it, Sport24 reported. The 17-time Grand Slam champion admitted he loves playing on grass, adding that his aim will be to clinch the title. Federer said that although Wimbledon and Rio are big event, Australian Open is his number one priority at a moment. Earlier, Federer became world number one Novak Djokovic’s last victim of the year as the Serbian claimed a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the finals of the ATP World Tour Finals. But Federer, who has recently been awarded with the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award, managed to bring Djokovic’s 23-winning streak to an end in the robin-round group clash.

BERLIN: The German federal prosecutor’s office has launched a probe after the football match between Germany and the Netherlands was cancelled in Hanover due to a terror alarm, the media reported.The investigation surrounded the suspicion of a terrorist organisation being formed, Xinhua quoted a spokesman for the office as saying on Thursday.According to the media report, there was evidence of detailed plans for terrorist attacks at the international football match in Hanover.The report said five terrorists had placed explosives in the stadium and targeted a train station in Hanover.According to the report, the warnings were based on information from a foreign intelligence service, which said bombs would be detonated in the stadium during the game.The football match between Germany and the Netherlands was cancelled by German authorities on Tuesday shortly before kick-off due to safety reasons.However, no suspects have been arrested so far and no explosives were found.

David Beckham played football with Nepalese children in a city which was devastated by April’s earthquake.

The former England captain visited a school in Bhaktapur to kick a ball around with youngsters.

Classes at the Shree Padma Higher Secondary School are currently being held in sheds after the tremor seven months ago.

Beckham, who was in Nepal to shoot part of a documentary, also took the time to chat with students in their classrooms.

One student said: “This is the best day of my life. I am so, so happy.”

The earthquake took place on 25 April this year killing 9,000 people and injuring more than 23,000.

It triggered an avalanche on Mount Everest which claimed 19 lives, making it the deadliest day in the mountain’s history.

Hundreds of fans gathered to watch, and police used batons to control the crowd.

(9 Nov) Fuzhou (China): Saina Nehwal and K Srikanth will look to shrug off the recent dip in form and put the best foot forward when they begin their campaign as defending champions at the USD 700,000 China Open Super Series Premier starting with the qualifiers here tomorrow. The top seeded Indian will take on China’s Sun Yu in the opening round. Even though Saina has a 4-1 record against the Chinese with the only defeat coming in the 2013 China Open in Shanghai, the World No. 11 might prove to be a formidable opponent. In men’s singles, Srikanth too had been troubled by injury and poor form ever since he stood on the podium at the Indian Open in New Delhi. The Hyderabadi had to skip the Asian Championship because of a pain in shin and then he made early exits at Japan, Korea, Denmark and France. H S Prannoy, who had scripted the downfall of two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan at the French Open, will open his campaign against a qualifier, while Korea Open finalist and Dutch Open winner Jayaram will square up against top seed Chen Long of China in his opening match at the Haixia Olympic Sports Center. In women’s doubles, Commonwealth Games silver medallists Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will play against Japan’s Naoko Fukuman and Kurumi Yonao in the opening round. The men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy withdrew from the event.

Chennai, Nov 5: Leo Moura and Jonatan Lucca fired home from the penalty spot as FC Goa notched up a 2-0 victory over Chennaiyin FC in an Indian Super League (ISL) encounter here on Thursday to jump to the top spot of the points table. Moura converted a penalty in the 64th minute and Lucca scored in the 74th as Goa took their tally to 14 points from eight matches, one point ahead of second-placed FC Pune City.

Chennaiyin on the other hand, suffered the fourth loss of their campaign and are placed fifth with 10 points from eight matches. To make matters worse for Chennaiyin, their midfielder Harmanjyot Singh Khabra was sent off in the 89th minute, the second time he has been shown the red card in this edition of the ISL. Chennai had defeated Goa 4-0 in their first leg clash in Panaji and it was not surprising to see the visitors opt for an extra man in defence. The five-man defence made it difficult for Chennaiy in to break them down, although Stiven Mendoza had several chances to open their account. The best chance for Chennai fell at the feet of Mendoza in the 35th minute. Elano Blumer’s free kick missed all the Goa defenders and fell nicely for Mendoza, but the Colombian striker’s right-footed attempt from close range sailed wide of the target. Goa did not have too many clear chances at the rival goal but Brazilian striker Rafael Coelho, playing for the first time, showed promise. He twice managed to speed his way down the left flank, but did not cross well enough and Thongkhosiem Haokip came close in the 45th minute, but Mehrajuddin Wadoo somehow managed to push the ball out for an abortive corner.

Goa turned things around in the second session with two spot kicks, both of which were converted with ease. The first was in the 64th minute when a long, hasty clearance by Goa defender Luciano saw Rafael race into the Chennaiyin penalty area only for Mendy to bring the Brazilian striker down. The referee awarded a penalty which Moura converted by sending Karanjit the wrong way. Goa won the second penalty when Moura pulled a ball back from inside a crowded goalmouth for Rafael whose shot was headed towards goal. But Wadoo blocked it with his knee only for the rebound to strike his own hand. Another penalty and this time and Lucca stepped up to double the visitors’ advantage. Chennaiyin finished the match with 10 men after Khabra, who was playing his first match after serving suspension for a previous red card, was sent off for a tackle on Moura.

For the second time in six months, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has slapped a notice summoning Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in connection with the valuation of shares of his co-owned IPL cricket team, Kolkata Knight Riders, sources said here on Tuesday. The ED is investigating whether the shares of the team were allegedly undervalued as it could be violative of the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Earlier, the ED had served a notice to the team in May this year but Shah Rukh had not appeared before the agency.

Prior to that, Shah Rukh was quizzed in 2011 for allegations that KKR had received illegal money transferred from certain foreign tax havens. The company Knight Riders Sports Pvt Ltd, which runs the KKR team, is jointly owned by Shah Rukh, actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta.

It is alleged that five million shares of KRSPL were sold to Mehta’s company, Sea Islands Investments Ltd, based in Mauritius in 2008 and were reportedly undervalued. Shah Rukh is away on a film shooting assignment and sought time to appear before the investigating agency which has not set any time-frame on the issue. In 2011, Shah Rukh was directed to provide relevant documents including the purchase of players, revenues, advertising details and the team’s shareholding pattern.