Lewis Hamilton smashes Bahrain track record to take 98th pole page 14 SUNday, NOVEMBER 29, 2020 Saad does the star turn as beat Syria in FIBA Asia Cup 2021 qualifier

Qatar’s star guard Abdulrahman Saad (right) shapes up to make a basket during the the FIBA Asia Cup 2021 qualifier clash against Syria at the Al Gharafa Sports Club on Saturday. Saad scored 23 points with 7 rebounds and 3 assists. The Qatar team celebrates their win with officials after the match at the Al Gharafa Sports Club on Saturday. Three-pointer in the corner from Erfan Ali Saeed with 11 seconds left to go saw the hosts eventually clinch the match at 79-72

Tribune News Network fense of George Kell III, who to his usual form of 23 points, Arabia, 71-64. That seemed to wake Iran was making his national team 7 rebounds, and 3 assists after Iran came in as the big up as they broke away with a debut. Kell ended up with 35 a subpar first window. time favorites against Saudi 9-0 run sparked by Yakhchali Hosts Qatar claimed their points to go with 6 rebounds He’ll continue to be a player Arabia, but the win didn’t and Mohammad Jamshidi. first win in the Group E action and 6 assists. to watch from Qatar in the re- come as easy as expected. They That was enough to build a in Window 2 of the FIBA Asia It was not enough to hold maining games of the qualifiers. jumped out to a good start and cushion for Iran to hold on to Cup 2021 qualifiers as they back a determined Qatar team The win was much cel- led 22-12 at the end of the first until the final buzzer. spoiled the debut of a new-look that came charging back with ebrated by the team as it quarter on the stellar play of Yakhchali shined with a Syria 79-72 at the Al Gharafa a 27-14 fourth quarter run. ended a draught of victories Behnam Yakhchali, but Saudi game-high 27 points, 11 of Sports Club on Saturday. Qatar coach Miodrag Peri- that dates back to July 2, 2018 Arabia wouldn’t bow down to which were scored in the fi- Qatar bounced back as sic sprung a full-court press when Qatar beat at the the three-time Asia Cup cham- nal quarter. He also displayed they rallied to beat Syria in that forced 19 turnovers out same venue during the World pions so easily. his playmaking skills with 9 a match that was close from of Syria which were converted Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers. Saudi Arabia pushed the assists on only 2 turnovers. start to finish, though Syria into 25 points for Qatar. It doesn’t get any easier for pace and heightened the level Jamshidi had 19 points as the were able to build a lead up A three-pointer in the cor- Syria as they will face Iran in of energy, allowing them to other Iran player to reach dou- to as much as 10 points in the ner by Erfan Ali Saeed with the first game of Group E on chip away at Iran’s lead little ble digits in this game. third quarter. 11 seconds left in the game to November 30. Qatar coach Miodrag Perisic sprung a full-court press that forced 19 by little. Early in the 4th quar- Saudi Arabia coach Ali Al- The Qasioun Eagles under give Qatar a 78-72 lead was the That will be followed by a turnovers out of Syria which were converted into 25 points for Qatar. ter, Saudi Arabia finally tied the sanhani got contribution from new head coach Joe Salerno shot that sealed the deal. rematch between Qatar and game up for the first time since his team with five players scor- were pushing the pace to build The 24-year-old star guard Saudi Arabia with both teams performances on Saturday. undefeated with a hard- the first quarter on a three- ing at least 7 points, but it just their lead, relying on the of- Abdulrahman Saad returned high in confidence from their Meanwhile, Iran remained earned victory against Saudi pointer by Khalid Abdel Gabar. wasn’t enough in the end. UEFA preliminary draw for FIFA World Cup 2022: Seeded teams confirmed Draw to be held in Zurich on Dec 7 FIFA Zurich

As excitement mounts ahead of the UEFA preliminary draw for the FIFA World Cup 2022™ that is due to take place on 7 December at 18:00 CET as a virtual event in Zu- rich, Belgium were on Sat- urday confirmed as the top- seeded team in Pot 1 following the publication of the FIFA/ Coach Sanchez names Qatar Coca-Cola World Ranking. The Red Devils will be joined in Pot 1 by the other squad for Bangladesh qualifier top-placed European teams in the ranking: France, England, QFA during the year 2020 after the istan (4 points) and India (3 Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Georgia and Luxembourg 2021. The ten group winners DOHA approval by FIFA and the Na- points) are the other sides in Denmark, Germany and the Pot 5: Armenia, Cyprus, will qualify directly for Qatar tional Federations. the group. Netherlands. Faroe Islands, Azerbaijan, 2022, with the ten runners-up Coach Felix Sanchez on Sat- Although Qatar national The Squad: Meshaal Barshim, Based on the ranking, the Estonia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, advancing to the play-offs. urday named 23 players for the team has booked a direct Tariq Salman, Abdel Karim remaining 45 UEFA member Lithuania, Latvia and Andorra Besides the ten runners- upcoming match against Bang- qualification ticket to the 2022 Hassan, Boualam Khokhi, associations will be allocated Pot 6: Malta, Moldova, up from the group stage, the ladesh in the joint 2023 AFC FIFA World Cup as the host Hassan Al Haydous, , as follows: Liechtenstein, Gibraltar and play-offs will also include the Asian Cup and the 2022 FIFA country, the team is compet- Musab Khidr, Muhammad Waad Pot 2: Switzerland, Wales, San Marino two best group winners from World Cup qualifying match. ing to obtain qualification for and Youssef Abdel Razzaq Poland, Sweden, Austria, The teams drawn will be the UEFA Nations League The forthcoming match the 2023 AFC Asian Cup as it (Al Sadd); Almoez Ali, Karim Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, Slo- allocated to a group in alpha- 2020-2021 overall ranking will be held on December 4 at aspires to defend the title that Boudiaf, Ismail Muhammad, vakia and Romania betical order, from Group A by the draw constraint pro- that did not qualify directly Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium it won in 2019. Abdullah Abd Al Salam, Muham- Pot 3: Russia, Hungary, to Group J (i.e. the first team gramme. for the FIFA World Cup 2022 (the home venue of Al Duhail Qatar is top of Group E (13 mad Imad Ayesh and Abdel- Republic of Ireland, Czech drawn will be allocated to As Pot 6 will only contain and did not enter the play-offs Sports Club). points from five matches) while Rahman Fahmy (Al Duhail); Republic, Norway, Northern Group A, the second team to five teams, these teams will be as runners-up. The 12 teams The December 4 match is last-placed Bangladesh has one Ahmed Alaael Din, Humam Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Group B and so forth). When drawn into the sixth position will be split into three play-off the first this year after football point from four games. Ahmed, Muayad Hassan (Al Greece and Finland a draw constraint applies or is in groups F to J. paths, which will feature sin- action resumed a few weeks ago. The previous encounter Gharafa); Ahmed Fathy, Jasim Pot 4: Bosnia and Herze- anticipated to apply, the team All teams within a group gle-leg knockout matches in The Round 8 match sched- between the two teams saw Jaber, Mahmoud Abu Nada (Al govina, Slovenia, Montene- drawn will be allocated to the will play each other twice in March 2022 to determine the uled will be the first of the Qatar winning 2-0 in Dhaka. Arabi); Abdelaziz Hatem and gro, North Macedonia, Alba- first available group in al- a home-and-away format be- last three European nations to Asian qualifiers to be held Oman (12 points), Afghan- Fahd Younis (Al Rayyan). nia, Bulgaria, Israel, Belarus, phabetical order as indicated tween March and November book a place in Qatar.