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FIFA World Cup winners share their thoughts on Al Thumama Stadium

Thursday, October 21, 2021Rabia I 15, 1443 AH

SPORTGULF TIMES

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Tomorrow, Al Thumama Stadium will become the sixth FIFA World Cup Qa-tar 2022 venue to be inaugurated by the Supreme Committee for Delivery &

Legacy (SC) when it plays host to the 49th Amir Cup fi nal between Al Rayyan and Al Sadd.

The 40,000-capacity stadium, which will also play a prominent role during the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 later this year, is an ideal setting to stage this year’s edition of Qatar’s most pres-tigious domestic football competition.

Ahead of the big match, the head coach of each fi nalist met at Al Thumama. Al Rayyan boss Laurent Blanc, a FIFA World Cup winner with France in 1998, and Al Sadd coach Xavi Hernandez, a champion with Spain in 2010, toured the venue and gave their thoughts on the stadium. For ex-Barcelona star Xavi, the match will have a sense of familiarity, as the former midfi elder will be taking part in his fourth Qa-tar 2022 stadium inauguration. He played for Al Sadd during the inaugurations of Khalifa In-ternational and Al Janoub before coaching the team for the opening of Ahmad Bin Ali.

The 41-year-old, who is also a Qatar Legacy Ambassador, spoke highly of Al Thumama’s de-sign and construction. The stadium resembles the ‘gahfi ya’ head cap worn by men and boys

across the Arab world. Its architect is local man Ibrahim M. Jaidah.

“This stadium is wonderful,” said Xavi. “For the fans, the players, for me as a coach, this is spectacular. I’m proud to be part of the open-ing of this stadium. We previously did this for Khalifa International, Al Janoub, Ahmad Bin Ali and now Al Thumama. This stadium also re-fl ects something very traditional for Qataris in the gahfi ya head ware.”

Xavi continued: “I feel proud and honoured to be part of the opening of this stadium and I’m so happy to be part of another Amir Cup Final. It’s an honour for me and for fans of Al Sadd.”

Aiming to win his fi rst piece of silverware in Qatari football, Blanc would be delighted to earn that achievement in Al Thumama with Al Rayyan. “It is a very beautiful stadium, like all the ones that have been built for the World Cup. Sincerely, they are exceptionally beautiful,” said the former centre back. “When you see these stadiums, you want to play again. Unfortunate-ly, my playing days are over.”

Tomorrow’s match involves two of Qatar’s most popular clubs, with the clash between Al Rayyan and Al Sadd dubbed the ‘Qatar Classico’. In pursuit of a record 18th Amir Cup title, Xavi and his Al Sadd squad are expecting a challeng-

ing contest. “For us, it is very important, as I am sure it is for Al Rayyan,” Xavi said. “It is the big-gest competition in the country, and it means a lot to the Qataris. We have to be better than Al Rayyan to win the game, to control the emo-tions, because the stadium is going to be packed and there will be a lot of nerves and tension.

Let’s not forget it is a derby; it is like Barcelona against Real Madrid, so it is going to be a really good atmosphere.”

With just over a year to go before football’s showpiece event takes centre stage, both Blanc and Xavi reminisced about becoming FIFA World Cup winners with great fondness. While

Xavi’s experience came in South Africa, Blanc lifted the trophy on home soil 23 years ago. “To win a World Cup in your own country is really a fantastic experience,” Blanc said. “You still think about it ten, 20, even 30 years later. Even if you don’t think about it, people make you think about it. Qatar is about to experience the World Cup and I hope there are lots of people that come to see it.”

Xavi believes momentum is building ahead of the FIFA World Cup. “We are so close to the start of the World Cup and you can breathe the football atmosphere,” Xavi said. “You can see more football people are here and the Amir Cup Final will be full of fans. I can see people’s ex-citement for the World Cup is growing.”

CRICKET

Hasaranga, Nissanka help Sri Lanka storm into WC Super 12sPage 2

Al Sadd coach Xavi Hernandez and his Al Rayyan counterpart Laurent Blanc visit Qatar 2022 venue

Ooredoo has announced the signing of a sponsorship renewal agreement with the Qatar Football Association (QFA), under which Ooredoo will be the offi -

cial telecommunications partner for the tourna-ment’s fi nal. The Amir Cup fi nal is set to be held tomorrow at the Al Thumama Stadium.

The Amir Cup is a much-anticipated competi-tion featuring all the teams from Qatar’s fi rst and second division. Knockout early stages deter-mine which teams face each other in a battle for the trophy; this year, Al Sadd and Al Rayyan, both of which have succeeded in previous rounds, will step onto the pitch aiming for glory.

Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser al-Tha-ni, Chief Commercial Offi cer at Ooredoo, said: “We are proud to sponsor the Amir Cup Final, a sponsorship that represents a continuation of our support for the Amir Cup tournament and our keenness on its success.

“We are particularly proud to be associated with such a special match; it is to be held at the new Al Thumama World Cup Stadium, and it will be the fi rst post-pandemic match in Qatar to be

held with a full-capacity crowd at the stadium. Ooredoo is a staunch, longstanding supporter of football in Qatar, based on the company’s strate-gy and its commitment to supporting local sports in general. We look forward to seeing a successful fi nal on all fronts and hope everyone enjoys such a hotly anticipated match.”

Mansour al-Ansari, Secretary-General of the Qatar Football Association, said: “The partner-ship between Ooredoo and the Amir Cup is a long-standing, mutually benefi cial. Our presence refl ects the importance of the ongoing co-opera-tion between the two entities, and we are looking forward to extending the scope of our joint work, especially with the services Ooredoo is providing during this event, which will add value to the fi nal match from a commercial, marketing and media perspective.

“We thank Ooredoo for their support in The Amir Cup fi nal match. We are delighted to be continuing this partnership, which creates an excellent platform to connect with people across various segments who are passionate about Amir Cup and football in general.”

Qatar Airways will be the offi cial airline sponsor of the 49th Amir Cup fi nal between Al Sadd

and Al Rayyan tomorrow at the Al Thumama Stadium. The high stakes clash fea-ture two of the country’s biggest clubs, marking little over a year until the start of the FIFA World Cup.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive HE Akbar al-Baker, said: “The Amir Cup fi nal will give us more than one reason to celebrate by uniting fans and acknowledging how close we are towards hosting the fi rst ever FIFA World Cup in the Middle East. The Al Thumama Stadium is an architectural mas-terpiece and will serve as the per-fect venue for us to mark the occa-sion in the presence of a thrilling

atmosphere. We are excited to play a role in this celebration

and leave our mark by uniting people of all ages and back-

grounds together.”The airline sponsored

the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup and the UEFA Euro 2020, and has an extensive global sports partnership portfolio that includes FIFA, CONCACAF and

CONMEBOL. As FIFA’s Offi cial Partner, Qatar Air-ways has sponsored mega events including the 2019

and 2020 editions of the FIFA Club World Cup, and will sponsor the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Qatar Airways also sponsors some of the world’s top football clubs includ-ing Al Sadd SC, Boca Juniors, FC Bayern Munich, KAS Eupen, and Paris Saint-Germain.

Ooredoo signs agreement with QFA to be offi cial telecommunications partner of Amir Cup fi nal

Qatar Airways to sponsor Amir Cup fi nal

SPOTLIGHT FOCUS

Chief Commercial Off icer at Ooredoo Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser al-Thani (right) and Secretary-General of the Qatar Football Association Mansour al-Ansari pose after signing the sponsorship agreement.

Al Sadd coach Xavi Hernandez (right) and his Al Rayyan counterpart Laurent Blanc pose at the Al Thumama Stadium, the venue for the Amir Cup final, yesterday.

Al-Athba to referee Amir Cup fi nal

The Referees’ Department of the Qatar Football Association (QFA) appointed Abdullah al-Athba as the main referee for HH The Amir Cup final, which will be played between Al Sadd and Al Rayyan at the Al Thumama Stadium tomorrow. Al-Athba will be assisted by linesmen Ramzan al-Nuaimi and Yousuf Aref. Mohamed Ahmed al-Shammari has been appointed as the fourth off icial. Also, the department appointed Mishary al-Shammari as VAR1 referee, Khaled al-Nabit as VAR2 referee, and Khaled Ayed, VAR assistant referee.

FOOTBALL

HE the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) President Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad al-Thani visited Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum (QOSM) yesterday. During the visit, HE Sheikh Joaan toured the diff erent exhibition halls, which highlights the history of the world’s sports, the Olympic Games, the world’s best athletes, the history of Qatari sports and the most important sports events held in the country. HE Sheikh Joaan expressed his admiration for the museum, and lauded the eff orts made by the Qatar Museums Authority under the leadership of HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Chairperson of the Qatar Museums Authority Board of Trustees. The QOC President, who was accompanied during the visit by the QOC Secretary-General HE Jassim bin Rashid al-Buenain, QOSM President of the Advisory Committee HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdullah al-Thani and the Director of Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum Abdulla Yousef al-Mulla, was delighted with the Museum’s collection.

SHEIKH JOAAN VISITS QATAR OLYMPIC AND SPORTS MUSEUM

SPORTGulf Times Thursday, October 21, 20212

‘Awesome’ Wiese gives Namibia fi rst T20 World Cup win

FOCUS

AFPAbu Dhabi

Wanindu Hasaranga and Pathum Nis-sanka hit half-cen-turies as Sri Lanka

thrashed Ireland by 70 runs yesterday to reach the Super 12 stage of the Twenty20 World Cup.

Hasaranga, who smashed 71, and Nissanka, who made 61, put on a key stand of 123 to guide Sri Lanka to 171 for seven after be-ing in trouble at 8-3 in the fi rst round match in Abu Dhabi.

“Of course it was a con-cern at eight for three, but they (Hasaranga/Nissanka) put on an awesome partnership,” skipper Dasun Shanaka said.

“Hasaranga at fi ve is a plan coming in at the World Cup and it worked well for us,” he said of the all-rounder, who was named player-of-the-match.

Sri Lanka’s bowling attack, led by spinner Maheesh Theek-shana who returned fi gures of 3-17, dismissed Ireland for 101 in 18.3 overs despite a valiant 41 from skipper Andy Balbirnie.

Hasaranga stood out with his maiden T20 international half-century and economical fi gures of 1-12 as Sri Lanka remained top of Group A with four points after their second successive win.

Put into bat, Sri Lanka stum-bled to 8-3 in the second over before the pairing of Hasaranga and Nissanka set about the re-covery.

Paul Stirling claimed the wicket of Kusal Perera for nought with the second ball of the innings and Josh Little took two in two the following over to remove Dinesh Chandimal and Avishka Fernando. Hasaranga, an all-rounder who bowls leg

spin, took the attack to the op-position with four straight boundaries off spinner Simi Singh to lay the foundation for Sri Lanka’s challenging total.

He reached his fi fty in 38 balls and kept up the charge to pun-ish the Ireland bowlers, blast-ing a towering six before fall-

ing to Mark Adair. Nissanka was equally effi cient and also recorded his fi rst fi fty in the shortest international format as he hit six fours and one six in his 47-ball knock.

Little returned impressive fi gures of 4-23 – his T20 best – including Nissanka’s wicket

from his four overs of left-arm pace. Adair claimed his 50th T20I wicket before Sri Lanka skipper Dasun Shanaka fi nished the innings with a six and a four in his unbeaten 21 off 11 balls.

Earlier in the day, Namibia beat the Netherlands, who have lost both their matches, to keep

their Super 12s hopes alive along with Ireland.

BRIEF SCORESSri Lanka 171 for 7 (Wanindu Hasaranga 71, Nissanka 61, Little 4-23) beat Ireland 101 all out (Balbirnie 41, Theekshana 3-17) by 70 runs.

Hasaranga, Nissanka help Sri Lanka storm into WC Super 12s

CRICKET

‘Hasaranga at five is a plan coming in at the World Cup and it worked well for us’

AFPAbu Dhabi

David Wiese bludgeoned an unbeaten 66 as Na-mibia stayed alive at the T20 World Cup

yesterday with a six-wicket tri-umph over the Netherlands.

In a sweltering Abu Dhabi, where temperatures soared to 36 degrees, former South Africa international Wiese hit fi ve sixes and four boundaries as Namibia chased down their target of 165 with six balls to spare.

It was Namibia’s fi rst ever win at the World Cup and kept alive their hopes of making the Super 12 stage. In their opening game on Monday, they had crashed to 96 all out and lost by seven wick-ets to 2014 champions Sri Lanka. “It’s awesome,” said man-of-the-match Wiese. “It means a lot to me to be in a World Cup. To be on the international stage is special and to put in a big per-formance for Namibia, I’m glad to get this opportunity to play international cricket.”

Defeat almost certainly means the Dutch, who lost their opener to Ireland, also by seven wickets, will be eliminated. Even a win over Sri Lanka in their conclud-ing Group A game tomorrow may not be enough. Wiese, the 36-year-old all-rounder who played for his native South Af-rica in the 2016 T20 World Cup, set Namibia on their way with a half-century off 29 balls. He

was well-supported by captain Gerhard Erasmus who contrib-uted 32 off 22 balls with the pair putting on 93 for the fourth wicket.

In a desperate attempt to stop the barrage, Dutch skipper Pieter Seelaar employed seven bowlers.

“It’s a special moment in Cricket Namibia history, fi rst win on the World Cup stage,” said Erasmus. Earlier, opener Max O’Dowd made a second successive half century to lead Netherlands to 164-4 after being put into bat. The New Zealand-born O’Dowd batted for virtually the entire innings, making 70 off 56 balls with one six and six boundaries. He was eventually run out off the third ball of the fi -nal over after a knock which fol-lowed on from his 51 in his side’s opening loss to Ireland.

Colin Ackermann also played a solid role with the bat as the South African hit 35 off 32 balls.

Scott Edwards added a quick-fi re, unbeaten 21 from 11 balls to give the Dutch innings added extra impetus. “Namibia bowled well, not entirely great but we were worse,” said Seelaar. “If Ireland beat Sri Lanka (later Wednesday) then there’s hope but otherwise we go back with a performance that hasn’t been good enough.

BRIEF SCORESNamibia 166 for 4 (Wiese 66*, Erasmus 32) beat Netherlands 164 for 4 (O’Dowd 70, Ackermann 35, Frylinck 2-36) by six wickets.

Aussie quick Pattinson retires from Test cricket ahead of Ashes

Australian fast bowler James Pattinson announced his shock retire-ment from Test cricket yesterday, just weeks before arch-rivals Eng-land arrive to battle for the Ashes. The 31-year-old right-arm quick, who has notched 81 career Test wickets, has struggled with injury in the lead-up to the highly anticipated series.“I really wanted to give the Ashes a crack,” he said in a statement, lamenting injury had made adequate preparation impossible.“If I was to be part of the Ashes, I would need to do myself and my teammates justice,” he added. “I didn’t want to be in a position of battling with my body when you need to be 100 percent fit and ready to go at any time. That would not be fair to myself or the team.” Pattinson has struggled with back injuries in recent years and gradually been eclipsed by the likes of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. Pattinson played 21 Tests and 15 one-dayers for Aus-tralia over a decade.

Namibia’s David Wiese plays a shot during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup match against the Netherlands in Abu Dhabi yesterday. (AFP)

We are fully focussed to beat Wakrah: Duhail coachBy Sports ReporterDoha

Al Duhail will take on Al Wakrah in the QNB Stars League at the Al Wakrah Stadium today, with a victory for the Red Knights putting them on par

with leaders Al Sadd. Duhail have an all-win record like reigning

champions Al Sadd, but have played a game less than the reigning champions.

Duhail’s game against Wakrah was post-poned due to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the squad. The former champions continued from where they left off when the league resumed after a short break last week and blanked Al Rayyan 3-0 in a high-voltage clash, with Pau-lo Edmilson Junior, Almoez Ali and Michael Olunga scoring the goals.

Coach Luis Castro said his team was fully focused on the match, warning his players to be wary of Wakrah’s counterattack. “We will play the match with full focus and my task is to help the players to be in good shape. Wakrah have a very good coach and we must beware of the quick counterattacks of Al Wakrah. We know that they have a good forward line, which will make it a tough match for us. They are strong opponents at home and away,” the Portuguese said.

“Our duty is to work to achieve victory in every match and one of the most important factors for winning is focus on the fi eld. There must be mental and physical compatibil-ity during the course of the match. Al Duhail can go far in any tournament and the mental work is very diffi cult. I respect the views of the management and work with the players, and I think we have a special plan that can go far with the team,” added Castro.

Al Wakrah are also on a high, having jumped one position to fi fth in the table with eight points following their 1-0 victory over Al Sailiya last week. Spaniard Marquez Lopez-coached Al Wakrah have two victories, as many draws and one defeat against their name. Lopez was hoping a for ‘surprise result’ against a very good Duhail team.

“Duhail are a strong team, of course. Al Sadd and Al Duhail are at another level, they win easily in matches, but it is possible for Al Wakrah through good work to achieve a sur-prise result,” he said.

“The recent victory over Al Sailiya has given the team a boost and this is of course a good thing for everyone. This is football, when you win everyone becomes happy and everything is good, but situation can change. At this mo-ment, the team is happy and we are preparing for the next match with great focus and high morale,” added Lopez.

FOOTBALL / QNB STARS LEAGUE

Al Duhail players during a training session yesterday.

Former Australia batsman Slater charged aft er domestic incidentReutersMelbourne

Former Australia crick-eter Michael Slater has admitted himself into care for “health

and mental issues” after being charged by police following a report of a domestic violence incident in Sydney.

Slater was taken into custody at a police station in Sydney’s

northern suburbs yesterday and declined to comment to report-ers after his release.

“Michael’s got nothing to say, he’s exercising his right to silence,” his lawyer James McLoughlin said.

New South Wales (NSW) police said they had started an investigation on Tuesday into reports of a domestic violence incident last week.

“Following inquiries, detec-tives attended a home at Manly

about 9:20am and spoke with a 51-year-old man. He has since been arrested and taken to Manly police station,” NSW Po-lice said in a statement.

“He was... charged with use (of a) carriage service to men-ace/harass/off end and stalk/intimidate.”

Slater’s manager Sean An-derson said his client was suf-fering health problems.

“Michael has been privately battling health and mental is-

sues for some time now,” he told Reuters in a text message.

“He has now admitted him-self into care in order to con-tinue his treatment. “He is also receiving legal advice in relation to today’s charges.”

Opening batter Slater played 74 tests from 1993-2001 and 42 one-day internationals before becoming a fi xture on Austral-ian TV screens as a cricket com-mentator for 15 years.

Slater was dumped from the

Seven Network’s cricket com-mentary team last month after three years with the Australian broadcaster. The 51-year-old caused controversy in May after a furious tirade against Austral-ian Prime Minister Scott Morri-son on social media. Slater said Morrison had “blood on (his) hands” after the government temporarily banned Australians from returning home from In-dia as the Asian nation battled a major Covid-19 outbreak.

SPOTLIGHT

Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga in action during the ICC Twenty20 World Cup match against Ireland at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday. (AFP)

SPORT3Gulf Times

Thursday, October 21, 2021

Pique keeps Barca hopes alive in Champions League

FOOTBALL

AFPBarcelona

Gerard Pique sparked Barcelona’s fl ailing Champions League campaign into life on

yesterday by scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv, a victory that was witnessed by a half-empty Camp Nou.

The attendance was recorded at 45,968, with several blocks of seating fi lled by only a handful of supporters for a game coach Ro-nald Koeman said the team had to win to have any chance of reach-ing the last 16.

After losing both of their opening games in Group E 3-0 to Bayern Munich and Benfi ca, Bar-celona needed victory to resusci-tate their chances of progress and avoid the embarrassment of go-ing out in the group stage for the fi rst time since 2000.

Pique at least ensured the job was done in that regard, his close-range fi nish towards the end of a dreary fi rst half enough to get Barca up and running, with a crucial game away in Kiev now to come in two weeks’ time.

Before then, they face Real Madrid in the fi rst Clasico of the season on Sunday, when another win would make it a hugely posi-tive week for Koeman, whose fu-ture looked bleak when the team lost to Atletico Madrid before the international break.

That game will also be at Camp Nou and it remains to be seen if the number of Barcelona fans in attendance improves. An early kick-off may well not have helped and there is undoubtedly still some nervousness lingering from the Covid-19 pandemic,

both locally and among travelling supporters.

But it is hard not to conclude fans are also less enthused by a team that lost Lionel Messi in the close season and had lost their last three Champions League matches in a row at home, as many as they managed in the previous 74.

Pique’s goal made him Bar-celona’s oldest ever Champions League goalscorer at 34 years and 260 days old but the most excite-ment these days surrounds the 18-year-old Ansu Fati, who is expected to ease fears around his future by signing a new contract on Thursday.

Fati, whose deal currently ex-

pires at the end of the season, is still being eased back into action after 11 months out with injury. He came on as a substitute after starting against Valencia on Sun-day and, presumably, with great-er involvement planned against Real Madrid this weekend.

Barcelona could have been ahead inside two minutes but

Sergino Dest, playing on the right of the front three instead of right-back, nodded over from a yard at the back post.

Luuk de Jong also headed over the kind of chance he is in the team to score but Barca hardly deserved the lead, their play stunted and hesitant, lacking any of the fi zz expected of a side try-ing to stay in the competition.

The crowd were as fl at as the team, neither one really encour-aging the other, until the sight of Fati emerging down the touch-line to warm up suddenly raised the fans from their stupor.

The players felt it too, the buzz reaching them on the pitch, and within moments Pique was left free at the back post to meet Jordi Alba’s cross on the half-volley, the ball fl ying in.

Fati came on with Philippe Coutinho at half-time and should have scored.

He earned the chance by rush-ing Dynamo goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan but had his back to goal when Memphis Depay hooked it back to him. Fati could have laid back to Coutinho but instead scooped the ball up and fl icked wide.

The game drifted and without a second goal, Barcelona briefl y grew anxious. A better opponent might have turned the screw in the latter stages but Dynamo never created the decisive chance and Barca sealed a much-needed win.

Meanwhile Striker Noah Oka-for scored twice as RB Salzburg claimed a precious 3-1 Cham-pions League victory over VfL Wolfsburg at the Red Bull Arena yesterday to steam ahead in Group G and stay on course for the knockout rounds.

Pique’s goal made him Barcelona’s oldest-ever Champions League goal scorer

UAE to host next Club World Cup in early 2022: FIFAAFPParis

The United Arab Emir-ates will host the next Club World Cup early in 2022, FIFA president

Gianni Infantino announced yesterday.

The latest edition of the tournament - which features the champions of the six con-tinental confederations along with the top team in the host nation - was due to be played at the end of this year in Japan before it pulled out as host be-cause of the pandemic.

The Club World Cup is usu-ally played in December but this is the second successive year in which it has been de-layed - the 2020 edition in Qa-tar was played in February this year.

“The Club World Cup will be played in early 2022. There are no precise dates yet, but the host will be the United Arab Emirates,” Infantino said at a

press conference following a FIFA Council meeting.

A February start date seems most likely given the Africa Cup of Nations will be staged in Cameroon from January 9 to February 6.

Chelsea will be Europe’s representative after winning last season’s UEFA Champi-ons League, while Al Ahly of Egypt are also confi rmed par-ticipants.

South America will be rep-resented by either Palmeiras or Flamengo, with the Brazilian duo meeting in next month’s Copa Libertadores fi nal.

Bayern Munich won the most recent edition of the Club World Cup, which has been held in the UAE on four previ-ous occasions, most recently in 2018 when Real Madrid were the winners.

A lucrative, revamped 24-team Club World Cup, includ-ing eight sides from Europe, was due to be played in China this year before the pandemic put that project on hold.

FOCUS

Barcelona’s Spanish defender Gerard Pique celebrates after scoring a goal during the UEFA Champions League Group E match against Dynamo Kyiv at the Camp Nou Stadium in Barcelona yesterday. (AFP)

‘Djoko will need to be vaccinated to play Australian Open’ ReutersCanberra

Novak Djokovic will not be able to enter Australia to defend his Australian Open title

unless he is fully vaccinated for Covid-19, the country’s immi-gration minister said yesterday, putting the Serb’s Grand Slam record bid in doubt.

World number one Djokovic, who is level with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal on 20 Grand Slam titles, has declined to re-veal his vaccination status, and said he is unsure if he will defend his Australian Open crown.

Clarifying Australia’s visa re-quirements, Minister for Immi-gration Alex Hawke said foreign players would need to have had two vaccination shots to play the Grand Slam at Melbourne Park in January.

“You’ll need to be double vac-cinated to visit Australia. That’s a universal application, not just to tennis players. I mean that

every visitor to Australia will need to be double vaccinated,” Hawke told Australian Broad-casting Corporation radio.

“I don’t have a message to Novak. I have a message to eve-rybody that wishes to visit Aus-tralia. He’ll need to be double vaccinated.”

Apart from Serbian Djokovic, who has won nine of his Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and the last three in suc-cession at Melbourne Park, the rule could exclude scores of players from the tournament.

More than a third of profes-sional players remain unvacci-nated, according to recent media reports.

Both the men’s ATP and wom-en’s WTA tours have urged play-ers to get vaccinated but some have voiced reservations.

Russian men’s US Open champion Daniil Medvedev and German world number four Alex Zverev have expressed scepti-cism, although their vaccination status remains unknown.

Greek world number three

Stefanos Tsitsipas said in August he would only get vaccinated if it became mandatory, though later said he planned to have shots by the end of the year.

Tennis Australia, which or-ganises the Grand Slam, said it was working with authorities on conditions for players, fans and tournament staff .

“Our understanding is that the details around international visitors entering the country are yet to be decided and we hope to have more information soon,” the governing body said.

Australia’s health minister Greg Hunt said the country’s rules were about protecting Aus-tralians.

“They apply to everyone

without fear or favour. It doesn’t matter whether you are number one in the world or you are any-thing else,” he told a media con-ference yesterday.

Australia has shut its interna-tional borders to non-citizens and non-permanent residents for 18 months, though there have been some high-profi le excep-tions.

International travel is ex-pected to begin for Australian citizens within weeks, but non-citizens are expected to be shut out until early-2022.

Authorities in Victoria state, which hosts the Australian Open, said they would not make special deals with unvaccinated athletes to allow them to com-pete even if they secured visas.

Melbourne, Australia’s sec-ond largest city, has been locked down since August due to an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant but will begin to open up tomorrow, when 70% of the adult population in Vic-toria is expected to be fully vac-cinated.

TENNIS

BRITISH CYCLING CARRIED OUT PRIVATE TESTING: WADABritish Cycling carried out its own drug-testing of riders using a private laboratory in violation of international rules, an inves-tigation by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has confirmed.WADA said in a statement on Tuesday that investigators found that United Kingdom Anti-Doping (UKAD) had allowed British Cycling to screen athlete samples for banned substances at a private facility.The WADA investigation - named “Opera-tion Echo” - found that the illicit testing took place in 2011 as part of a study into potential contamination of supplements, a statement said. “British Cycling collected samples from elite riders and screened these samples for the androgen and ana-bolic steroid, nandrolone,” WADA said.“Contrary to the rules laid down by the

World Anti-Doping Code and the relevant International Standard, the samples were collected by British Cycling staff rather than doping control off icers, analysed by a non-WADA-accredited laboratory, and provided by the athletes on the basis that UKAD would never know the results.”WADA said “at least one UKAD employee” was aware of the British Cycling study and that samples could be collected and analysed at a non-WADA-accredited laboratory.The agency said UKAD had “no record of ever receiving the analysis results and emails that would have showed UKAD’s real-time knowledge of key events.”“’Operation Echo’ confirmed potential wrongdoing by individuals in both British Cycling and UKAD at that time,” WADA’s

independent Intelligence & Investigation (I&I) director Gunter Younger said.A copy of the WADA investigation’s find-ings has been provided to WADA’s compli-ance, rules and standards department for consideration as well as the International Cycling Union (UCI).WADA’s statement stressed that Operation Echo had not made “corrective recom-mendations”, noting that the individuals involved in the 2011 events were no longer employed by UKAD, which had already put safeguards in place designed to pre-vent a repeat occurrence.“It is important to acknowledge that WADA I&I received the full cooperation and transparency of British Cycling and UKAD throughout our investigation,” WADA said. WADA said it had found no evi-

dence of allegations made earlier this year that UKAD had released individual athlete biological passport data to British cycling in 2016. In a statement, UKAD welcomed the investigation’s finding, noting that the WADA probe had made “no recommenda-tions for UKAD to follow.”“WADA’s report focuses on matters from 2011 and on the involvement of one individual, who is no longer employed by UKAD,” UKAD said in a statement. “We acknowledge that these matters would not take place today. “The report from WADA makes clear that the results of the testing carried out by British Cycling were all negative and notes the negative results from UKAD’s own ex-tensive testing of British Cycling athletes at that time.”

Clarifying Australia’s visa requirements, Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke said foreign players would need to have had two vaccination shots to play the Grand Slam at Melbourne Park in January

FIFA’s Infantino seeks consensus over World Cup plans

FIFA president Gianni Infan-tino said yesterday he wanted to seek consensus over plans for a biennial World Cup and changes to the international match calendar after facing fierce criticism from European federations. FIFA’s ruling coun-cil agreed to hold a global summit yesterday to discuss the proposals for a World Cup to be held every two years rather than every four years.However, Infantino did not commit to hold a binding vote on the plans - after UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin warned against it, saying there would be “terrible consequences for football in general” if he pushed ahead.FIFA will now wait for the results of a feasibility study and also an economic analysis of the financial impact of the extra World Cup, which are ex-pected to be delivered before the summit.A meeting between ‘technical groups’ of FIFA and UEFA is also scheduled for next week.Ceferin has said UEFA would boycott an additional World Cup and his opposition to the plan has been echoed by European clubs and leagues.Infantino noted the debate

had been “heated” but said that it was a sign of change within FIFA that such a wide-ranging consultation was being held.“We will continue with the ob-jective of reaching a consen-sus with solutions that work for everyone’s benefit. By hosting a global summit later this year, we will now have the opportunity to present one plan and to provide feedback to all our FIFA member asso-ciations,” said Infantino.There was, however, no strong attempt to sell the idea of a biennial World Cup from Infantino, who instead empha-sised that his role was to listen to all viewpoints. “We have to see how we can approach the diff erent opinions of diff erent parties,” Infantino told a news conference.“We need to look at sport-ing and economic merits, then we can have a reasoned discussion about World Cups and perhaps other competi-tions. I do not know what the outcome will be,” he said.FIFA will hold its next full con-gress in Doha, Qatar, on March 31, ahead of the draw for the finals of the 2022 World Cup in the Gulf country.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaking during a council meeting in Zurich. (AFP)

Thursday, October 21, 2021

GULF TIMES SPORT

Momen, Asal set up mouth-watering quarter-fi nal clash

SQUASH / QATAR QTERMINALS CLASSIC

FINA Swimming World Cup Doha 2021 will begin today with exciting races on the cards during the third meet of the World Cup (25m) series

at the Hamad Aquatic Centre.Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) has

wrapped up the preparations and is set to host the elite line-up of swimmers, which includes many Olympic and World champi-ons. Doha has been hosting the World Cup meet every year since 2012 except for the last year when the event was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rising South African star Matthew Sates, who has been in phenomenal run in this World Cup series, said he was looking for-ward to continue his brilliant form in Doha.

“The last two legs have been very good. My mindset is that I want to do my best that’s how I started this World Cup series. Doha is a really beautiful place and I love to compete here,” he said yesterday. “After a break due to the pandemic, we are happy to be back in action and I am thankful to FINA

for making this happen,” Sates added. The South African athlete is currently

the overall ranking leader in men’s fi eld in the ongoing series, ahead of second-placed Tom Shields (USA). Dutchman Arno Kam-minga, Kyle Chalmers of Australia, Russians Vladimir Morozov and Anton Chupkov and Lithuanian Danas Rapsys are among the star swimmers competing in Doha.

Meanwhile, Dutchwoman Kira Toussaint, who is second behind Australian star Emma McKeon in women’s overall ranking, hoped for better performance in Doha.

“This is my third time in Doha for the World Cup. It is so nice to be here. I am very excited to take part in the competition and I am looking for an improved performance in Doha,” she said.

Apart from Toussaint and McKeon, Aus-sie swimmers Madison Wilson and Holly Barratt besides Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa, Hungarian star Zsuzsanna Jakabos and Ranomi Kromowidjojo of the Netherlands the Netherlands will also be

seen in action in the women’s events. As many as 13 swimmers will represent

the host nation in the three-day meet, which is being held under strict Covid-19 safety protocols. A total of 35 races will be held during the three days of action at the Hamad Aquatic Centre. The races will be held in two sessions daily, morning heats starting at 10am, with fi nals kicking off at 6pm.

Meanwhile, FINA President Husain al-Musallam hailed the role of FINA’s longtime partner city in promotion of the sport in the region. “I am very happy to be here in Doha for the third leg after the Berlin and Buda-pest meets. It is very nice to see the athletes back in action after diffi cult times of Cov-id-19 [pandemic],” the FINA president said.

“Doha is hosting this event since 2012 and on behalf of FINA; I would like to thank the QSA, Qatar Olympic Committee and the Qatari government for hosting this event. Doha has developed as a modern dynamic city because of sports,” said al-Musallam.

The fi rst of the horse show events to be organised by the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC)

in the 2021-2022 horse show sea-son will be launched tomorrow.

The renewed horse show sea-son programme keeps pace with Qatar’s global leadership in this long-established discipline and refl ects the strong relationship, which goes deep into history, between the people of Qatar and the Purebred Arabian horse as well as the equestrian sport in general.

In fact, horses and equestrian activities enjoy wide popularity and great passion in Qatar, as one of the most important legacies, which have been associated with Qataris since ancient times. The QREC management, led by HE Issa bin Mohamed al-Mohan-nadi, QREC Chairman, was keen that the new season programme expresses the QREC’s vision of promoting Qatar as a leader in the pure Arabian breed.

The new horse show season programme is marked by a spike in both the number and the di-versity of events. The programme comprises 12 national and inter-national shows and events.

The fi rst of these will be the 1st Qatar Arabian Horse Breeders Cup. The two-day show will kick off tomorrow at the Longines In-door Arena of Al Shaqab. It will be immediately followed, over the two days and at the same venue, by the 1st Qatar Arabian Horse Show for Local Bred. Both events are new shows to be held for the fi rst time in Qatar.

Ahead of the start of the new horse show season, QREC Chair-man al-Mohannadi commended the new programme and the im-provements it has received. “It has been a priority for us, based on our assessments of the pre-vious seasons, to pursue the successes and achievements at-tained in organising the most prestigious national and interna-tional shows,” he said.

“And to introduce new shows and events. Our aim is to pro-vide more opportunities for show horse owners and expand the participation base, which, in turn, will contribute to introduc-ing new champions and stars, so that these shows will be a start-ing point for them towards global victories to continue and confi rm Qatar’s global leadership in this discipline.”

Badr Mohamed al-Darwish,

QREC acting CEO, stated that all preparations for the new horse show season have been complet-ed. “Preparation for the new sea-son began several months ago,” he said. “Both in terms of preparing the programme and distributing it accurately throughout the sea-son. During that period, we held a number of meetings with horse owners to listen to their opinions and feedback, which were taken into account while developing the programme.

“We were keen to make this season a distinguished one, re-fl ecting our vision of continu-ous development, both for the prestigious shows already or-ganised by QREC or through the new ones, which will undoubt-edly open the door for many new names to shine in this discipline on both the local and the inter-national arenas.”

By Sports ReporterDoha

Just two weeks after their pulsat-ing fi ve-game battle in the fi nal of the US Open, Egypt’s Mostafa Asal and Tarek Momen will face off in

the quarter-fi nals of the Qatar QTermi-nals Classic. In that contest in Philadel-phia, Momen held a two-game advantage but Asal came fi ghting back to claim his a maiden major title, winning the match 3-2. They will meet again in the last eight of the PSA Platinum level tournament in Doha this week.

World No 4 Momen made his way through to the last eight after a rapid-fi re 29-minute clash with England’s Tom Richards, one which saw quick rally after rally with plenty of winners and unforced errors across the three games.

The pair had previously met six times with Momen having won fi ve of those, but in each of those wins, the Englishman had taken a game. However, that was not to continue in this contest.

The majority of the action took place in the front of the court and Richards was close to taking both of the opening two games, only for Momen to fi nd that extra bit of quality to build up a 2-0 lead. Momen made no mistake in the third game, taking it 11-5 to continue his run in Doha, the scene of his PSA World Cham-pionships victory two years ago.

“I honestly didn’t know what to ex-pect, but I knew Tom is capable of giving me a hard time on court,” said Momen. He did today, he played really well. I can’t say I’m really happy with my performance today, I’m not so pleased with it, but I’m happy I got through in three games.

“I remember in the last 16 [of the World Championships he won] I almost got knocked out by Abdulla al-Tamimi. It wasn’t a smooth ride to the fi nal but I felt like we were a bit unlucky with the ball today, we played with the worst ball that was ever made. We both had to deal with it and he managed to adapt a bit better, but towards the end of each game I man-aged to close it out.

“I’m expecting a tough one [against Asal]. Two weeks ago I had the right tac-tics and I was just a bit unlucky not being able to close it out in the end. I’m hoping to repeat my performance again and I’ll try to get through this time and get the win.”

World No 9 Asal came through against another Egyptian Youssef Ibrahim, with the latter having to retire from their third round match through injury. The match was shaping up to be a captivating af-fair, with Asal prevailing in a 33-minute fi rst game on the tie-break. Soliman re-ceived some treatment from the physio in between game-breaks, but did not look himself as the match went on.

The World No 19 continued into the second game, and had his chances to push Asal all the way, but the ‘Raging Bull’ was able to take it, while Soliman constantly tried to keep the pressure off his injured hamstring.

The match ended prematurely in the third game as Soliman shook hands with Asal, unable to continue through the in-jury. The World No.9 continues his un-beaten run, stretching it to seven match-es, going back to the start of his campaign in Philadelphia.

Fellow Egyptian Mohamed Abouelghar also made his way through to the quarter-fi nals in Doha, reaching the last eight of a Platinum event for the fi rst time since the British Open in 2019. He defeated Adrian Waller, and will now face New Zealand’s World No 3 Paul Coll in the quarters, after the Kiwi got the better of France’s Bap-tiste Masotti.

THIRD ROUND RESULTS [3] Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Tom Richards (ENG) 3-0: 13-11, 13-11, 11-5; [7] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt Youssef Soliman (EGY) 3-0: 13-11, 11-8, 2-1 retired; Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-3, 11-6; [2] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Baptiste Masotti (FRA) 3-0: 11-9, 11-4, 11-9

QUARTER-FINAL FIXTURES Mazen Hesham (EGY) v [8] Joel Makin (WAL); [6] Diego Elias (PER) v Raphael Kandra (GER); [3] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [7] Mostafa Asal (EGY); Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) v [2] Paul Coll (NZL)

‘I can’t say I’m really happy with my performance today, but I’m happy I got through’

FINA Swimming World Cup from today Qatar Arabian Horse Breeders Cup to open season tomorrow

FOCUS HORSE SHOW

Texas triumphs in Asherij Cup

HORSE RACING

By Sports ReporterDoha

Texas with Marco Casa-mento in the saddle was tough to beat in last night’s third meeting as

the Al Bida Stud’s entry landed the Asherij Cup title, winning the Local Purebred Arabian Con-ditions at Al Rayyan racecourse.

A victory in yesterday’s fea-ture race – worth QR100,000 – was also second of the night for jockey Casamento. Texas is trained by Zuhair Mohsen, who also bagged his fi rst win of the season along with Al Bida Stud.

Owaida Salem al-Hajri-trained Ghanayem, guided by Anas al-Seyabi, was second in the 1,200m race while AJS Ber-line fi nished third with Szczepan Mazur in the saddle.

Also yesterday, Khalifa bin Sheail al-Kuwari’s Hidalgo Du Croate started the season on a bright note, sealing a dominant 8¼ length victory to win the PA Conditions over 1700m . With the victory, the Mohamed Hus-sain Afroz-trained four-year-old colt, guided by Casamento com-pleted a double in the event.

Onaiza Racing’s Tilaawah was also impressive yesterday, claiming his third Thoroughbred Handicap (0-90) victory. Lu-kas Delozier guided the Hamad al-Jehani-trained three-year-old colt to a 2-length win in the 1100m run.

In Thoroughbred Handicap

(0-75), Angelic Queen, helmed by Qais al-Busaidi, was vic-torious while Al Mukhadram, Queenshala, Hope Cove and Suheal Qatar also clinched titles last night.

WINNERS Horse, Trainer, Jockey 1 - Asherij Cup - Local Purebred Arabian Conditions (Fillies & Mares)Texas (QA), Zuhair Mohsen, Marco Casamento2 - Purebred Arabian ConditionsHidalgo Du Croate, Mohamed Hussain Afroz, Marco Casa-mento3 - Thoroughbred Handicap (Class 3)Tilaawah, Hamad al-Jehani, Lukas Delozier4 - Thoroughbred Handicap (Class 5)Angelic Queen, Mohamed Ghazali, Qais al-Busaidi5 - Local Thoroughbred Novice PlateAl Mukhadram, Ibrahim Saeed al-Malki, Tomas Lukasek6 - Purebred Arabian Maiden Plate (4yo only)Queenshala, Alban Elie De Mieulle, Soufiane Saadi7 - Thoroughbred Handicap (Class 6)Hope Cove (GB), Mohamed Ghazali, Qais al-Busaidi8 - Local Thoroughbred Maiden Plate (3yo only)Suheal Qatar, Abdulaziz Hamad al-Marri, Rashid Ali al-Marri

Egypt’s Tarek Momen (right) and England’s Tom Richards in action during their third round match of the Qatar QTerminals Classic at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex yesterday.

QREC acting CEO Bader Mohamed al-Darwish (centre) QREC Racing Manager Abdulla Rashid al-Kubaisi (right) with the winners of the Asherij Cup at Al Rayyan Racecourse yesterday.

Jockey Marco Casamento rides Texas to victory in the Asherij Cup.

FINA president Husain al-Musallam (second right), Qatar Swimming Association president Khaleel al-Jabir (second left), swimmers Matthew Sates (left) of South Africa and Dutchwoman Kira Toussaint at a press conference yesterday.

The new horse show season programme is marked by a spike in both the number and the diversity of events.