Dec. 16, 2020 French midfielder Paul Pogba is likely to stay at Manchester United until next summer as it would be “difficult” to sort out a move in January, said 11 his agent Mino Raiola, BBC Sport reported.

Persepolis ‘will surprise’ Asian football: ’s wrestler Saravi wins bronze Ex-Reds manager Qotbi at Individual World Cup Sports Desk every manager. the 2002 World Cup. Sports Desk Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. third-spot finish of the weight class – “Yahya and Persepolis will surprise When asked about the Reds’ opponent On Monday, Saravi, representing the alongside Czech wrestler Artur Omarov. ormer Persepolis manager Af- the Asian football with their determina- in the final, the Iranian said, “Ulsan is a Iranian Greco-Roman wrestler Moham- country in the men’s 97kg contests, out- Russia’s two-time world champion shin Qotbi believes the Asian tion in the final.” great team going forward, with some mad-Hadi Saravi claimed a bronze medal muscled Bulgaria’s Kiril Milov – a world Musa Evloev, who beat Saravi 5-3 in the Ffootball will be surprised by the Insisting that Persepolis has “the heart quality players in the midfield and front- at the inaugural Individual World Cup in silver medalist in 2018 – 3-0 for a joint- semifinal, overcame Alex Gergo Szoke of passion and endeavor of the Iranian of the lion”, ex-Iran manager said, “This line, and, of course, the players’ pace is Hungary in the final showdown. side’s players at the AFC Champions team has shown a lot of character on the the strength of the South Korean foot- The Iranian had beaten Indian Hardeep League final. way to the final, and the absence of key ball.” Hardeep 9-1 in the first round, before a The Iranian Reds will take on South players won’t affect its performance. Ulsan Hyundai is on an eight-game 2-1 triumph over Italy’s Nikoloz Kakhel- Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai, which beat Jap- has been an excellent re- winning streak in reaching the final, hav- ashvili sent him into the last-four clash anese club Vissel Kobe against Evloev. 2-1 in the semifinal on Earlier in the competitions, Hossein Sunday, in the final show- Nouri, the other member of Iran’s two- piece at the Al-Janoub man team, had settled for a fifth-place fin- Stadium in Al-Wakrah, ish in the men’s 87kg class. Qatar, on Saturday. Russia dominated the Greco-Roman Yahya Golmoham- event, collecting seven of the 10 gold madi’s side will have to medals. do without key frontline Iranians Rahman Amouzad and Amir- players , Mohammad Yazdani will take part in the Ehsan Pahlevan, and Issa freestyle event in the coming days. Al-e Kassir due to suspen- The Individual World Cup was intro- sion, and not to mention duced by the United World Wrestling first-choice center-back in November to replace the 2020 World Shoja’ Khalilzadeh parted Wrestling Championships after the inter- ways with the club to join national wrestling body was forced to call Qatari side Al Rayyan fol- off the event due to “many nations rein- lowing the last-four vic- stating travel restrictions in response to tory over Saudi Arabia’s IRNA the COVID-19.” Al Nassr last October. However, Qotbi, who led the Reds to a sensa- tional Persian Gulf Pro Thiem breaks ‘Big Three’ hold on League title in 2007, is confident that Persepolis theasiangame.net is still capable of beating Grand Slams in virus-hit 2020 the South Korean side for the trophy. placement for in ing settled for a single draw on the first “Yahya fielded his side without the trio goal. Seyyed has been a day of the group stage FC Tokyo (1-1) – Tennis welcomed a first men’s Grand and Davis Cup finals also fell prey. 17th Slam. in recent [domestic league] games and true captain in defense, and even Mehdi before the competition was halted due to Slam champion from outside the ‘Big The five-month shutdown stopped The Serbian, who was criticized for the team put in great performances. I’m Abdi was great when he was called in to the coronavirus pandemic last February. Three’ since 2016 in Dominic Thiem lower-level players from earning a liv- organizing an exhibition event in June sure the replacements will fill in perfectly replace Al-e Kassir against Al Nassr.” “I still believe the two sides have equal during a 2020 campaign with compel- ing, presenting an opportunity for the during which he and several players for the absentees,” Qotbi told IRNA. Qotbi was first introduced to the Asian chances in the final,” Qotbi said. ling storylines despite the COVID-19 fractured tennis world to come togeth- tested COVID-19 positive, also creat- “The Iranian players embody the pas- football as an assistant coach to Dutch “Persepolis players’ endeavor and pandemic wiping out almost half the er and work in unison to raise funds for ed a breakaway players’ body that met sion in football and they can do the im- manager Guus Hiddink, when he led solidarity will play to their advantage in season, including Wimbledon. those on the circuit in need of financial strong opposition from some athletes possible on the pitch, which is a gift for South Korea to a fourth-place finish at the final.” The women’s tour also found new assistance. and administrators. young champions in American So- In August, the season resumed in Djokovic, however, recovered fia Kenin and Iga Swiatek of Poland, Italy amid strict health measures and strongly from his ignominious exit in while world No. 1 Ash Barty’s season controlled ‘bubbles’, a blueprint that New York to win the Rome Masters A third of Japanese want came to an abrupt halt in February as allowed the US Open and the resched- and also reached the French Open fi- she opted not to travel out of Australia uled French Open to be held. nal, where he went down to archrival Tokyo Games canceled: NHK poll for the rest of the year because of the It was at the fanless Flushing Mead- Nadal. He ended the year as the men’s pandemic, Reuters reported. ows that Thiem ended the iron-grip of number one for the sixth time. Organizers breathed a sigh of re- the triumvirate of Rafa Nadal, Novak Nadal’s 13th crown at Roland Gar- lief when fears of disruption to the Djokovic and Roger Federer on Grand ros was his 20th major and tied him Australian Open from bushfire smoke Slams, the first major won by a player for the most men’s titles with Federer, receded just before the year’s first outside the trio since Stan Wawrinka’s who played the Australian Open be- Grand Slam but less than two months 2016 triumph in New York. fore two knee operations ended his later they faced a much more complex season. problem. Djokovic default While Djokovic and Nadal showed The professional tennis circuit, they will continue to be leading which requires players to jet around Thiem’s triumph was, however, contenders in 2021, Thiem, Daniil the world, was forced into shutdown aided by the absence of Nadal, who Medvedev and US Open finalist Al- in early March as countries went into did not defend his title due to COV- exander Zverev underlined their po- lockdown and closed their borders to ID-19 concerns, while Djokovic lost tential. contain the spread of the novel coro- his fourth-round match by default after Thiem’s first major win in his fourth navirus. inadvertently hitting a line judge with final was followed by Russian Med- The grasscourt major at Wimble- a tennis ball. vedev’s victory in the season-ending don was the biggest casualty as it was That ended a 26-0 winning run in ATP Finals, which was held for the fi- canceled for the first time since World 2020 for Djokovic that included an nal time in London before moving to War II while the revamped Fed Cup eighth Australian Open title for his Turn in Italy for the next five years.

AFP A third of Japanese residents want the number of infections and deaths seen in “The Japanese public and Tokyo res- Tokyo Olympics to be scrapped amid many other countries across the world, idents are looking at the current condi- fears that an influx of foreign arriv- a recent resurgence in cases has forced tions,” Koike said Tuesday. als may cause a further spike in CO- the government to reintroduce steps “We are preparing for the future.” VID-19 cases, a poll by public broad- such as requesting bars and restaurants A further postponement to the caster NHK showed on Tuesday. to close early. Games has been ruled out by Olympic The Japanese government and In- Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on and Japanese officials, and Koike said ternational Olympic Committee (IOC) Monday suspended a much-criticized “there are no circumstances” under decided in March to postpone the 2020 travel subsidy program to help contain which she could envisage the Olympics Olympics by a year due to the novel mounting case numbers as his approval being canceled. coronavirus pandemic, with the global rating plummets over his handling of “Citizens of the world are seeing the showpiece now slated to take place the pandemic. Tokyo Games as a symbol that human- from July 23-Aug. 8, Reuters reported. ity will have defeated the coronavirus But as Japan grapples with a third Olympics symbol that will lead to the Beijing Winter wave of infections, the NHK poll, Games and then the Paris Games after conducted from Dec. 11-13, showed Meanwhile, Tokyo’s governor said that,” she said. 32 percent of respondents wanted the she can see “no circumstances” under “Unless Tokyo takes full efforts Summer Games to be canceled en- which the Olympics will be canceled. against the coronavirus, then what will tirely. In an interview with AFP, Yuriko happen to Paris four years from now?” Only 27 percent said they should go Koike warned that the fate of the Tokyo she said. ahead as scheduled while 31 percent fa- Games would impact future Olympics, “I think we have to make Tokyo a vored another delay. including the 2022 Winter Games in success first, otherwise it will leave a According to an NHK poll in Oc- Beijing and the 2024 Summer Games serious impact on Paris.” tober, 40 percent said the Olympics in Paris. Regarding the NHK poll, Koike be- should be held as planned with only She acknowledged that a majority of lieves those views would change. 23 percent favoring cancelation and the Japanese public now opposes host- “I am convinced that people will 25 percent preferring further postpone- ing the Games next year, but said she come to see hope again, once coronavi- ment. was convinced those concerns could be rus measures are firmly implemented,” PAUL CHILDS/REUTERS While Japan has avoided the vast overcome. she said. Austria’s Dominic Thiem is in action at the 2020 ATP Finals in London, Britain, on November 15, 2020.