Excitement Mounts As Lazio And Sampdoria Line Up For The Upcoming Copa Italia Title

The 2009 Copa Italia Title is poised at an interesting stage as the live final match hits the screens of football enthusiasts on 13th May 2009. Live coverage of the matches will be broadcast on ART SPORT 4 available to Firstnet Premium and Pehla Gold & Silver subscribers in Dubai and the entire Middle East and North African (MENA) region.

With the final match underway football enthusiasts can gear up to watch the two major teams Lazio and Sampdoria square off for the 2009 Copa Italia title. The match will be telecast live on May 13 2009 at 5.00 GMT (9 AM UAE time), according to an announcement today by Arab Digital Distribution (ADD), the region’s largest pay TV platform Management Company.

This year’s game saw strong teams like Juventus, Inter Milan & AC Milan’s exit quiet unexpectedly. Lazio reached the final of the Copa Italia after beating Juventus 2-1 in Turin for a 4-2 aggregate win in the semi-finals. Sampdoria saw a strong comeback to the finals despite losing the second leg 1-0. Intermilan, stung by a 3-0 defeat in the first leg, gave themselves hope when Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck midway through the first half but Sampdoria held on to clinch a 3-1 aggregate win and a place in the final against Lazio. Lazio are still in the 10th place with 47 points from 35 games played and with Europa League qualification six points away whereas Samprodia have climbed up to 12th place with 44 points from 35 games played.

The sixty-first season of the tournament started on 9 August 2008 and will end on 13 May 2009. The winners earn a spot in the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League 2009–2010.

The 2007–08 Copa Italia final was played, like the three previous editions, between Internationale and Roma. The match was held at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on May 24, 2008 and ended with a 2-1 win for Roma. This time around the two teams Lazio and Sampdoria are extremely enthusiastic to go out onto the field and play their final round as Lazio has been winless in 5 years (last winning the Copa Italia in 2004), while Sampdoria haven’t lifted a trophy in 15 years (last winning the Copa Italia in 1994).
 

Fly Emirates Stars Lead Denmark Demolition

The UAE National team, spearheaded by three Fly Emirates players, destroyed Denmark yesterday at the Cricket World Cup qualifying tournament in South Africa.

Amjed Javed, with an amazing innings of 164 from 117 balls – including 17 fours and eight sixes – kept alive the UAE’s dream of reaching the 2011 Asia showpiece by leading them to an emphatic 112-run victory.

The result eased the Emirates Cricket Board into the Super Eights stage alongside Kenya and the Netherlands, with all three teams on six points with one Group B match remaining.

Javed’s man-of-the-match display inspired the UAE to a mammoth total of 379-6 off 50 overs, with skipper Khurram Khan smashing 56 off just 37 balls.

The duo – along with Arshad Ali – who chipped in with a handy 35, including six fours – prepared for the tournament playing for Fly Emirates against a host of top English County sides in the Emirates Airline Pro ARCH Trophy.

Remarkably the trio, who juggle cricket with busy workloads at the Dubai-based airline, were in the Fly Emirates side which inflicted a morale-sapping defeat on the UAE ahead of the trip to South Africa.

However, the players learned from the experience of facing English stars like Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard and shocked tournament favourites, the Netherlands, with a terrific two-wicket win in their second match.

The UAE had it much easier against the Danes, who put in a brave effort to reach 267 all out from 44.4 overs, with Frederik Klokker (77), Michael Pedersen (60) and Carsten Pedersen (58) leading the scoring, while Javed and Khan got in on the act again with a wicket each.

The UAE – who bounced back from a nine-wicket loss to Kenya to add a win over the Dutch to a four-wicket victory over Bermuda – take on Afghanistan on Wednesday in their final group match before the Super Eights gets under way on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Fly Emirates claimed another victory over the UAE at the weekend, beating the under-19 side in Dubai, with Lalith Dhanayake, Saby Fernandes, Nigel Fernandes, Muhammed Iqbal and Yasin Sikander all making valuable contributions.