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SATURDAY 20 MARCH 2021 Yadav’sYadav’s controversialcont dismissal sparks ‘soft signal’ debate WhyWhy can’t there be an, ‘I don’t know’ call from the umpire?. Why dodoese it have to be conclusive? These things sometimes can really changecha the course of a whole game. You want these things ironed ooutut as much as possible, keep this game simple, keep it linear, hhaveav one set of rules which are not grey areas. ViratVi Kohli InIIndia skipper Sport | 15 VOLLEYBALL: AMIR CUP QUALIFIERS: Al Khor beat Al Shamal 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-18); Al Gharafa beat Al Sadd 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-21)

A US-Mexico FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 : European qualifiers merged league would Team Qatar departs for Hungary be the 'best', THE PENINSULA – DOHA Qatar's Hassan Al Haydos and says Infantino The 29-member Qatar squad, team-mates REUTERS – MANCHESTER coached by Spaniard Felix moments before Sanchez, yesterday left for boarding an FIFA President Gianni Hungary ahead of the European aircraft ahead of Infantino says a merger qualifiers for the FIFA World their departure for between Mexico’s Liga MX and Cup Qatar 2022. Hungary yesterday. Major League Soccer (MLS) Ahead of their departure, RIGHT: Abdelkarim would be seen positively by the squad underwent training Hassan the game’s governing body at Aspire Zone under the and could produce “the best watchful eyes of the coach as league in the world”. they prepared to face the There has been specu- European heavyweights in the lation that MLS, which includes qualifiers. clubs from the United States The reigning Asian cham- Qatari players on-board and Canada and who coop- pions, Qatar, being the FIFA their flight to Hungary. erate with Liga MX in several World Cup 2022 host nation, PIC: TWITRTER / joint competitions already, have already qualified for the BASSAM@BASAM_97 could eventually form a new tournament, but they are tri-nation league. taking part in the European FIFA has, in the past, ruled stage with the hope of getting out regional championships, match practice in the lead up insisting that national struc- to the global football tures remain the best format spectacle. The second match will be against QATAR SQUAD: for leagues but they have sof- At the European qualifiers, Azerbaijan on March 27. Pedro Miguel, Salem Al Hajri, Tariq Salman, tened that stance since Al Annabi will join Group A – They will face Ireland on Abdelkarim Hassan, Boualam Khokhi, Hassan Al Infantino took charge at the alongside UEFA Euro 2016 March 30. Haydos, Youssef Abdel-Razzaq, Ahmed Suhail, governing body in 2016. winners Portugal, Serbia, The last time Qatar played Musab Khader and Muhammad Waad (Al Sadd). “I think the potential in the Republic of Ireland, Luxem- against a European side was in United States and Mexico is Salah Zakaria, Bassam Al Rawi, Asim Madibu, bourg, and Azerbaijan. 2018, when they forced a 2-2 enormous, each country by Mu`zahin, Karim Boudiaf, Ismail Muhammad, Qatar will play their ‘home’ draw against Iceland in a itself. But of course if you could fixtures on European soil in friendly encounter which took Muhammad Muntari, and Abdullah Abd Al Salam (Al bring those two together that order to facilitate shorter travel place at the Kehrwegstadion in Duhail). Ahmed Ala Al Din, Humam Al Amin, Muayyad would be incredible and that times for their group Eupen, Belgium. Hassan and Tamim Al Muhaizeh (Al Gharafa) Ahmed could quite well be the best opponents. Qatar will play their first Fathi and Mahmoud Abu Nada (Al Arabi) Abdul Aziz league in the world,” Infantino Qatar take on Luxembourg three matches at the Nagyerdei Hatem (Al Rayyan) Khaled Munir (Al Wakrah) said during an online news in their first match on March 24. Stadion in Hungary. COACH: Felix Sanchez conference. PSG to take on Bayern, Real to meet Liverpool in CL quarters

REUTERS – NYON Paris St Germain’s Kylian Mbappe celebrates scoring their first goal Holders Bayern Munich will during the Champions League face the team they beat in last Round of 16 second leg match year’s Champions League final against Barcelona in this March 10 in this season’s quarter-finals file photo. after being paired with Paris St Germain in yesterday’s TISSOT to title draw. In the other standout tie of the last eight 13-time cham- pions Real Madrid face six- sponsor Grand time winners Liverpool in a CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER- repeat of the 2018 final won by FINALS, SEMI-FINALS DRAW the Spanish club. Prix of Doha Runaway Premier League QUARTER-FINALS leaders Manchester City, First Leg MOTOGP – DOHA creates incredible timepiece and seeking their first Champions April 6 watch collections that take League title, will play Borussia Manchester City (England) vs. Borussia The Official Timekeeper of inspiration from the world of Dortmund with the winners to Dortmund (Germany) MotoGP will take top billing at MotoGP, all designed to reflect face Bayern or PSG in the Real Madrid (Spain) vs. Liverpool (England) the second event at Losail Inter- the shared passions of excel- semi-finals. April 7 national Circuit in 2021. lence, accuracy and precision. There is also the prospect and will provide a formidable Juventus in a thriller and the Porto (Portugal) vs. Chelsea (England) Dorna Sports, the com- Sylvain Dolla, CEO of of an all English semi-final barrier. Liverpool’s Premier Portuguese side will take that Bayern Munich (Germany) vs. Paris Saint- mercial rights holder for TISSOT, said: “Tissot is proud to after Chelsea were drawn to League title defence crumbled belief into their clash with the Germain (France) MotoGP, yesterday announced celebrate the twentieth anni- play Porto with the prize for long ago but if anything can London club. Second Leg that TISSOT, the Official Time- versary of the partnership with the winners a clash with Real rouse the Anfield club it is a Should Chelsea and Liv- April 13 keeper of the FIM MotoGP MotoGP. As Official Timekeeper Madrid or Liverpool. clash with Real Madrid in the erpool both progress it would Chelsea (England) vs. Porto (Portugal) World Championship, will be of the most breath-taking races PSG came tantalisingly Champions League. be the fourth time they have Paris Saint-Germain (France) vs. Bayern the title sponsor of the Grand around the world we are close last season when they Juergen Klopp’s side are met in the Champions League Munich (Germany) Prix of Doha next month. looking forward to another reached the final only for Bay- languishing in sixth place in the semis. Manchester City’s Abu April 14 The event, which is the season of exciting emotion ern’s Kingsley Coman to break Premier League, 25 points Dhabi owners have made Borussia Dortmund (Germany) vs. second to be held at Losail Inter- ahead of us, with the TISSOT their hearts with the only goal behind Manchester City, and winning the Champions Manchester City (England) national Circuit this season, Grand Prix of Doha.” in Lisbon. with no guarantee of a top-four League the priority in their Liverpool (England) vs. Real Madrid (Spain) takes place from April 2-4 and Pau Serracanta, Managing Since then manager finish they might need to win masterplan and will feel this will be named the TISSOT Grand Director of Dorna Sports, added: Thomas Tuchel has gone and a seventh European crown just could be their year. SEMI-FINALS Prix of Doha. “We’re delighted to see TISSOT been replaced by Mauricio to get back in the After a sluggish start to the First Leg: April 27-28 Founded in 1853, Swiss title sponsor another Grand Prix Pochettino who took Tot- competition. season Pep Guardiola’s side Bayern Munich-Paris Saint-Germain winner luxury watchmaker TISSOT this season. As Official Time- tenham Hotspur to the 2019 Chelsea, unbeaten in 13 have dominated the Premier vs. Manchester City-Borussia Dortmund became Official Timekeeper of keeper and Watch of MotoGP, Champions League final where games since Tuchel replaced League and with that title vir- winner MotoGP in 2001 and has TISSOT are a vital part of the they lost to Liverpool. Frank Lampard, may feel they tually in the bag will be able to Real Madrid-Liverpool winner vs. Porto- become a longstanding partner sport and I’m proud to add Pochettino now faces a have got the easier option in focus on Europe. They sealed Chelsea winner of the sport. Over more than two another agreement to our long- daunting task if he is to deliver Porto who they have beaten in a fourth successive quarter- decades of collaboration, TIS- standing partnership. This Second Leg: May 4-5 the prize the Parisian club five of their eight previous final berth with a 4-0 SOT’s expertise has taken on an season marks 20 years since our Manchester City-Borussia Dortmund winner desire so badly. meetings. aggregate win over Borussia ever more vital role as compe- collaboration began and to see vs. Bayern Munich-Paris Saint-Germain Bundesliga leaders Bayern Yet while Chelsea’s clinical Moenchengladbach and have tition reaches new heights and TISSOT take top billing at the winner reached the quarter-final for defeat of Atletico Madrid in the not conceded a goal in the mere thousandths of a second Grand Prix of Doha makes for Porto-Chelsea winner vs. Real Madrid- a record 19th time by cruising last 16 was impressive, so was competition for 11 hours 35 separate hero from zero. As part a perfect celebration of these Liverpool winner past Lazio 6-2 on aggregate the way Porto knocked out minutes. of the collaboration, TISSOT also two decades together.” Sport SATURDAY 20 MARCH 2021 15 Tokyo Games likely to ban fans from abroad

AP – TOKYO

Tokyo organisers and the International Olympic Committee are poised to make it official that most fans from abroad will be prohibited from attending the postponed Olympics because of the coronavirus. The announcement is expected to come after “five-party” talks this weekend with the IOC, local organisers, the Jap- anese government, the Tokyo metropolitan government and the International Paralympic Committee. Sponsors with tickets who wish to attend are expected to get some type of exemption. About 4.5 million tickets have been sold to Japan residents. About 1 million have been sold abroad. Before the postponement a year ago, organizers said a total of 7.8 million tickets would be available for the Tokyo Games. There is widespread skepticism in Japan about holding the Olympics, and particularly about admitting fans from Action during the Amir Cup Volleyball Tournament qualifying matches at the Qatar Volleyball Association Hall yesterday. In yesterday's qualifiers, abroad because of the coronavirus. Al Khor beat Al Shamal 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-18) while Al Gharafa defeated Al Sadd 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-21). The Olympics are scheduled to open on July 23. The Par- alympics follow on Aug. 24. Yadav’s controversial dismissal sparks ‘soft signal’ debate REUTERS – AHMEDABAD England’s Sam Curran reacts India Virat Kohli has called for after taking the changes to the ‘soft-signal’ rule for outfield of India’s catches after team mate Suryakumar was controversially dismissed in Thursday’s Yadav during International against England. fourth Yadav smashed 57 before his pull shot Twenty20 sailed to deep square leg where Dawid Malan International in took a tumbling low catch. As England cel- Ahmedabad, on ebrated, on-field umpire K N Ananthapad- Thursday. manabhan gave the soft signal of ‘out’ before sending the decision to TV umpire Virender Sharma. On-field umpires give a ‘soft signal’ based on their intuition when there is a tight call, making a decision before asking the TV umpire to look at it again from different angles in slow motion. TV umpires must uphold the soft signal decision unless they have conclusive evi- dence to overturn it. Replays of Thursday’s incident suggested the ball might have touched the grass but Qatari para-athletes Abdulrahman Abdulqader and Mohamed Al Sharma was not fully convinced and upheld Kubaisi posing for a photograph during the World Para Athletics Ananthapadmanabhan’s decision. Grand Prix - Tunis International Meeting in Tunisia where they Kohli said during the presentation cer- claimed two silver medals, setting new records. The meeting acts emony it was impossible for an on-field as a qualifying event for this year's Tokyo Paralympics, which will umpire to clearly see whether a catch taken be held from August 24 to September 5. in the deep was clean or not. Krishna, Yadav, Pandya get maiden “Why can’t there be an, ‘I don’t know’ call from the umpire?” Kohli said after India levelled the five-match series at 2-2. India call-ups for England ODIs United short of forwards “Why does it have to be conclusive? These things sometimes can really change REUTERS – NEW DELHI impressed with a blistering half-century for FA Cup tie: Solskjaer the course of a whole game. in the fourth “You want these things ironed out as Fast bowler M , spin- against England on Thursday. much as possible, keep this game simple, all-rounder and KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant are the REUTERS – MANCHESTER keep it linear, have one set of rules which top-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav two wicketkeepers in the squad. are not grey areas.” received maiden call-ups to India’s Newly-wed has been Manchester United are facing the prospect of playing their FA Former India test player VVS Laxman one-day squad yesterday for their three- rested, while fellow quick Mohammed Cup quarter-final against Leicester City without forwards Marcus wondered what was the point of “... watching match series against England, which Shami continues to recover from a wrist Rashford, Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani, manager Ole so many replays using top class technology begins next week. injury sustained in Australia in December. Gunnar Solskjaer has said. and still go by the soft signal ...” “I think this Captain Virat Kohli has been Pune hosts all three matches with the While Rashford was replaced at halftime on Thursday after rule needs to be revisited and changed,” impressed by Krishna’s pace and bounce first ODI on Tuesday. he felt a “little twinge” during their Europa League victory over Laxman tweeted. and the 25-year-old gave a good account INDIA SQUAD: Virat Kohli (captain), AC Milan, Martial and Cavani were not in the lineup. Former England spinner Graeme Swann of himself in both the Indian Premier , Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Martial is recovering from a knock to his hip. Solskjaer said called it a “stinking decision” while seamer League (IPL) and domestic Vijay Hazare Gill, , Suryakumar Yadav, Rashford was “most unlikely” to recover for Sunday’s trip while Stuart Broad echoed Kohli’s view. Trophy. , Rishabh Pant (wicket- Cavani’s participation would depend on the Uruguayan’s progress. “It’s the ‘soft signal’ which is odd. Hard Pandya, who has played 18 Twenty20 keeper), KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Yuz- “Edinson has worked really hard and joined in training ses- for off field umpire to overturn ...” Broad Internationals, was included in the squad, vendra Chahal, , Krunal sions. Towards the end he needs to top it up to feel 100% ready tweeted. which also includes his brother Hardik. Pandya, Washington Sundar, T Natarajan, for the game and hasn’t really got there yet,” Solskjaer told India and England play the decider at Yadav has built a reputation as a for- Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, reporters. Ahmedabad today. midable power-hitter in the IPL and M Prasidh Krishna, . Three young Qataris in action at Asia Talent Cup Top seed out THE PENINSULA – DOHA as Russian Three young Qatari riders, players fill namely Yousif Al Darwish, Saad Al Harqan and Hamad Al Sohoti are in action at the St Petersburg ongoing pre-season test for 2021 Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup, semi-finals which kicked off yesterday at the Losail International Circuit. AP – ST. PETERSBURG This season, the pre- season test for the Talent Cup Margarita Gasparyan upset the is sharing the days with Moto2 top-seeded Ekaterina Alexan- and Moto3, with each class drova 6-2, 7-5 yesterday, when getting their own sessions Russian players filled the semi- across the three days as they finals of the St. Petersburg gear up to head back out and Ladies Trophy. compete. The 126th-ranked Following the cancellation Gasparyan saved three of the of last year’s edition of the six break points she faced and Cup, the 2020 riders were broke Alexandrova six times for automatically given the chance a last-four clash with Vera to continue in the Idemitsu Zvonareva. Zvonareva dis- Asia Talent Cup and most patched qualifier Anastasia accepted. Gasanova 6-3, 6-1. The Qatari riders will be The fourth-seeded Svetlana competing for five rookie spots Kuznetsova rallied to beat the to join the grid, replacing those only non-Russian in the quar- who have graduated or elected terfinals, Romania’s Jaqueline not to return. Cristian, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, and The first two rounds of the will next face Daria Kasatkina. Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup will Kasatkina also had to fight take place at the same venue hard, coming back to beat prior to the Qatar and Doha Veronika Kudermetova 1-6, Grand Prix MotoGP events on 6-1, 6-2 in the last March 26-28 and April 2-4. quarter-final.