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Al Wakra’s Omar Ali scores the first goal giving a lead dominating Al Sailiya by 3-0 in the first semifinal of 2020-21 tournament of the Ooredoo Cup that was held at the Al Sadd Stadium on Saturday. Al Wakra’s Omar Ali, who scored the first goal in the game in 26th minute gave his side the much needed lead, followed by Mohamed Benyettou, who scored the 41st minute doubling the advantage with a spot kick in the first half and again Omar Ali

India's Elavenil Valarivan and Divyansh Panwar clinched the gold medal in 10m air rifle mixed team event of ISSF Shooting World Cup at the Karni Singh Shooting Range, Delhi. Together they racked up a total of 16 in the gold medal match and edged ahead of Hungary’s Istvan Peni and Eszter Denes. Valarivan and Panwar shot a 10.4 each in the final shot to secure the yellow metal while the Hungarian pair got 10.7 and 9.9. Before that, the Indians more or less

SILIGURI, India - Batting great Sachin Tendulkar is convinced Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan are good enough to be in the India squad when the nation hosts the Twenty20 World Cup later this year. Both the top-order batsmen made their India debut in the ongoing T20 series against England, with Kishan smashing an incendiary fifty in his first match. Yadav, who plays with Kishan for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, had to wait until his second match to get a bat

Alexander Zverev has coped with the pressure of a Grand Slam final and not even an earthquake could jangle the nerves of the German youngster during his Mexican Open semi-final against Dominik Koepfer on Friday. The 5.7 magnitude quake with an epicentre around 60 kms southeast of San Marcos, a two-hour drive from Acapulco, sent tremors through the stadium for about 30 seconds with Koepfer serving in the opening game of the second set. “I didn’t know what happened. Neither did Dominik,” said

LONDON - Fulham’s Premier League survival hopes suffered a damaging blow after a 2-1 home defeat by Leeds United on Friday left them mired in the relegation zone with games running out. Scott Parker’s side had the chance to escape from the bottom three with a win but goals by Patrick Bamford and Raphinha earned Leeds the points at Craven Cottage. Joachim Andersen had cancelled out Bamford’s goal before halftime but Fulham ultimately paid the price for defensive mistakes and missed opportunities. For

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo was named Serie A’s Player of the Year for the 2019-20 season at the Gran Gala del Calcio on Friday. Ronaldo won award, which is voted by the Italian Footballers’ Association, after helping Juventus to a ninth successive Serie A title last season “It was a strange year, a year that no one would have wanted, but on a personal and team level, it was positive, because we won the championship,” Ronaldo told Sky Sport Italia. “At the beginning,

The FIFA Council officially approved on Friday the Arab Cup Qatar 2021, during the 15th meeting of the Council held at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. The President of FIFA Gianni Infantino, confirmed that the Council's approval of the Arab Cup Qatar 2021 was among the events that the State of Qatar will organize in preparation for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Infantino said, in a press conference after the FIFA Council meeting, that the aim of the Championship, which will be held

The South African heads teammate McPhee as Petronas Sprinta Racing take the desert by storm Day 1 of the Official Moto2™ and Moto3™ Qatar Test at Losail International Circuit saw Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) go fastest in the lightweight category, putting in a best of 2:05.750 on the combined timesheets. It was incredibly close though, with the South African hitting back late on against teammate John McPhee as the Scot was forced to settle for second but only 0.026 back. Filip Salač

The Australian beats the Spaniard out the blocks as the pace starts hot in Doha, with Roberts slotting into third Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) starts 2021 where he’ll want to go on: at the top. The Australian put in a 1:59.074 to go fastest on Friday at the Official Moto2™ and Moto3™ Qatar test, pipping Aron Canet (Inde Aspar Team) to the post as he took over late on. Canet ends the day second and 0.269 down, with Joe Roberts (Italtrans

MUMBAI - Holding Grand Slams in costly bio-bubbles may not be sustainable for a second season despite the financial edge the majors enjoy over other tournaments, ATP chief Andrea Gaudenzi has told. The sport’s big four tournaments have not been immune to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Wimbledon cancelled for the first time since World War II last year and the most recent editions of the other three held in bio-secure environments. “Most of them run a federation as well so

AHMEDABAD, India - India captain Virat Kohli has called for changes to the ‘soft-signal’ rule for outfield catches after team mate Suryakumar Yadav was controversially dismissed in Thursday’s Twenty20 International against England. Yadav smashed 57 before his pull shot sailed to deep square leg where Dawid Malan took a tumbling low catch. As England celebrated, on-field umpire K N Ananthapadmanabhan gave the soft signal of ‘out’ before sending the decision to TV umpire Virender Sharma. On-field umpires give a ‘soft signal’ based on

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard has called on UEFA to take action after midfielder Glen Kamara complained of being racially abused by a Slavia Prague player in Thursday’s 2-0 Europa League defeat in Glasgow. Kamara was furious after Slavia centre back Ondrej Kudela leaned into his ear and said something while covering his mouth, sparking a melee in the final stages of their last-16 tie. The Scottish champions, who were reduced to nine men after Kemar Roofe and Leon Balogun were sent off, crashed

HE Sheikh Iman Bint Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al-Thani's OFF HE GOES (Casino Prince x Perfectly Stunning) entered the winner's circle for the third time in four races this season when the Julian Colin Smart trained gelding landed THE LATE YOUSEF AL ROMAIHI CUP (Far Bend) (Class 2 THOROUGHBREDS) in a thrilling finish at the Al Rayyan Park's turf track on Thursday. In the 3,200m battle, Tomas Lukasek and his partner Off He Goes, fourth in the event two years ago, were locked in

PARIS: Guinea coach Didier Six said he has "negotiated with Liverpool" and secured the release of Naby Keita for one of two upcoming African Cup of Nations qualifiers. With two rounds left in the qualifying pools, Guinea are second in Group A, two points behind Mali. They host the leaders in Mali in Conakry on Mar 24 and then go to Namibia, who have won one game, on Mar 28. Six, a former France international, told AFP on Wednesday that Liverpool had agreed

LONDON: Arsenal endured a nervous night as they lost 1-0 to Greek side Olympiakos on Thursday (Mar 18) but progressed into the Europa League quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate. After a 3-1 victory in Athens last week and reaching halftime unscathed in the return, Arsenal looked comfortable. But when Youssef El Arabi's deflected shot left Bernd Leno wrong-footed early in the second half it gave the visitors hope and increased the tension among the home ranks. Arsenal wasted several late chances to ease the

LONDON: Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins and West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone received their first England call-ups on Thursday (Mar 18) ahead of three World Cup qualifiers. England manager Gareth Southgate has named a 26-man squad for this month's triple-header against San Marino, Albania and Poland. Leeds striker Patrick Bamford had been widely tipped for a call-up but Southgate has turned to Watkins, who has impressed since joining Villa from Brentford last year. "Bamford was very close. There's a number of positions in

MILAN: Manchester United reached the Europa League quarter-finals after a brilliantly-taken Paul Pogba goal earned them a 1-0 win at AC Milan to secure a 2-1 aggregate victory in their last-16 tie on Thursday (Mar 18). Pogba came off the bench at halftime to make his first appearance for United since Feb 6, and the France midfielder made an immediate impact as he turned the tie in his side's favour three minutes after the break with a fine goal. Former United striker Zlatan

TOKYO: Southampton's Takumi Minamino and eight other Europe-based players were on Thursday (Mar 18) named in Japan's squad for next week's friendly against South Korea in Yokohama. Minamino, who has scored two goals in six games since joining Southampton on loan from Liverpool in January, is part of a 23-man squad to take on the Koreans on Mar 25 in Japan's first home game since the coronavirus pandemic began. South Korea have named a full-strength squad that includes Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min.

KUALA LUMPUR: China's Jiangsu FC have withdrawn from the Asian Champions League following their financial collapse, officials said on Thursday (Mar 18), in another sign they are on the brink of being disbanded. Jiangsu won the Chinese Super League for the first time in November, but ceased operations last month after their struggling owners pulled the plug. The shock news provoked hand-wringing about the state of football in China, and prompted calls for a major rethink from top to bottom. Their Champions League

PARIS- Paris St Germain forwards Mauro Icardi and Kylian Mbappe fired them to a 3-0 win over Lille on Wednesday to reach the French Cup quarter-finals. Argentine Icardi put the holders in front by bundling the ball into the net in the ninth minute and France striker Mbappe doubled their advantage from the penalty spot shortly before halftime. Lille, who lead PSG at the top of the Ligue 1 standings by three points, were awarded a penalty in the second half which would