Sport WEDNESDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2021 WorldW number two Daniil Medvedev reachesr third straight US Open semi-final JustJ want to do a little bit better than last two times anda get this last step, which is the toughest one aactually. Daniil Medvedev Sport | 15 QATAR 2022: ASIAN QUALIFIERS Syria 1-1 UAE, Oman 0-1 Saudi Arabia, China 0-1 Japan, Vietnam 0-1 Australia, S. Korea 1-0 Lebanon Paralympic medallist Abdulqadir receives rousing welcome Secretary-General of the Qatar Olympic Committee, Jassim bin Rashid Al Buenain welcoming Abdulrahman Abdulqadir upon the para-athlete's arrival at Doha's Hamad International Airport, yesterday. Abdulqadir won a bronze medal for Qatar in the men’s shot put F34 class at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games with a season's best of 11.36m in the final. It was his second Paralympic medal following his silver at Rio 2016 Games. RIGHT: Abdulqadir posing for a photograph with his team members and officials. FIFA opens investigation Homam earns draw for Qatar into abandoned Brazil-Argentina match in thriller against Luxembourg REUTERS – LONDON World soccer’s governing body FIFA has opened disci- THE PENINSULA – DOHA plinary proceedings into Sunday’s Brazil v Argentina World Cup qualifier which was abandoned after five Homam Ahmed cancelled out an minutes amid farcical scenes. early goal scored by Luxembourg Brazilian health authorities invaded the pitch to teenage debutant Yvandro Borges stop the game after accusing four of Argentina’s English Sanches as Qatar signed off from Premier League players of violating the country’s the second stage of the European COVID-19 quarantine rules. World Cup Qualifiers with a Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and Tot- one-all draw yesterday. tenham Hotspur duo Cristian Romero and Giovani Lo The draw means Felix Celso were on the Neo Quimica Arena field as part of Sanchez-coached Asian cham- Argentina’s team when officials from Brazil’s health pions now have a record of two regulator Anvisa halted the match. wins, two draws and two losses “Following the analysis of the official match reports after playing six matches in Europe related to the FIFA World Cup qualifier match between this year. Brazil and Argentina, FIFA can confirm that disciplinary In the European Qualifiers, proceedings have been opened involving both member Qatar had beaten Luxembourg in associations,” FIFA said yesterday. their ‘home’ match at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, Hungary, earlier in March before overcoming Azerbaijan 2-1 and English clubs led the way drawing 1-1 against Ireland. However, in the second leg of in spending on players the qualifiers, the luck was not on Qatar’s side as they lost to Serbia this year, says FIFA 0-4 and former European cham- pions Portugal 3-1. REUTERS – LONDON Following two defeats inside Qatar's Homam Ahmed (right) celebrates with team-mates after scoring a goal against Luxembourg in their a week, Qatar team took a stronger English clubs spent the most money on players among European Qualifying match played at Stade de Luxembourg, yesterday. approach to yesterday's match, FIFA’s member associations in the transfer window looking to get back to winning which ran from June to August, world soccer’s ways before completing the trip At the newly built Stade de The second half saw both cruised to a 3-0 victory over hosts governing body said yesterday. to Europe. Luxembourg, playing in his first teams trying to grab the lead, but Azerbaijan in World Cup quali- FIFA’s International Transfer Snapshot report said They almost scored through match for the country, the Borussia none succeeded. fying to move top of Group A. English clubs shelled out $1,146.6m on players in the skipper Hassan Al Haydos who Mönchengladbach U-19 player Afif and Ali Asad shot at the Portugal were without Cris- window, which was more than the next two countries received a clever pass from Akram shot from the centre of the box to goal in the 88th and 90th minutes, tiano Ronaldo, who was sus- -- Spain ($473.8m) and France ($428.9m)-- put Afif in the 10th minute, but the the high centre of the goal after but Qatar had to settle for the draw pended after picking up a yellow together. attempt was blocked. receiving the ball from Edvin at the end. card while celebrating his second English clubs also topped the table for incoming Thereafter, the hosts tried to Muratovic. Qatar are ranked 42 in the goal in their last-gasp 2-1 victory transfers, down from 485 last year to 380, while out- open scoring on several occasions, However, Qatar did not let world, whereas Luxembourg – over Ireland last week, but his going transfers fell from 524 to 494. with Mica Pinto, Olivier Thill, Luxembourg go into the half time coached by Luc Holtz – are ranked absence was not felt as first-half German and French clubs -- $462.7m and $457.3m Maurice Deville and Laurent Jans break with a 1-0 advantage. 96th. strikes from Bernardo Silva and respectively -- were ahead of England ($409.8m) in all looking to beat the Qatari cus- Homam struck in the 43rd Al Annabi players will now Andre Silva plus a Diogo Jota terms of income from transfer fees, with the top five todian Yousef Hassan, but failed minute. He shot from a difficult return to Doha where they will join header secured victory. rounded off by Italy ($408.2m) and Spain ($260.2m). to beat the Al Gharafa player. angle on the left to the centre of their respective clubs ahead of the The victory takes Fernando The report added that total fees in the international However, the 17-year-old the goal following an assist by kick off of the new Qatar Stars Santos’ side to the top of Group A transfers of players amounted to $3.72 billion, a decline Sanches succeeded in the 31st Bassam Al Rawi as Sanchez' men League (QSL) season. with 13 points - three ahead of of 7.5% from last year and just over 60% of the record minute. levelled the scores. Earlier, in Baku, Portugal their qualification rivals Serbia. set in 2019. Asian Qualifiers: Japan bounce back with win over China in Doha; Australia, South Korea grab full points AFC – DOHA disappointing performance on with a low effort after his neat responsibility of keeping the home soil against Branko Ivank- give-and-go with Osako Chinese guessing, Japan con- Yuya Osako scored the only goal ovic’s side tomorrow. unlocked the defence. tinued to carry a threat. as Japan bounced back from their The Chinese were unfor- The Mallorca man was Kubo’s turn left substitute Luo surprise loss to Oman in Group B tunate to lose key defender Zhang involved once more seven Guofu in his wake before the of the AFC Asian Qualifiers for Linpeng to a hip injury in the sixth minutes from the break when the playmaker surged into the area FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 with minute and Li’s team were con- Japanese hit the woodwork again, and cut the ball back for Wataru a 1-0 win over China at Doha’s stantly on the back foot. Osako’s this time starting the move that Endo to side-foot his attempt Khalifa International Stadium early shot on the turn was ultimately saw Osako hit the post across Yan Junling’s goal. yesterday. deflected wide for a corner by Ai when he should have scored from Gaku Shibasaki looked set to Hajime Moriyasu’s team had Kesen and Kyogo Furuhashi’s close range. add a second for Japan five few concerns on their way to a curled effort was off target. The Vissel Kobe man, though, minutes from time with a victory over a Chinese side that Japan, though, stroked the redeemed himself two minutes swerving effort from distance but, offered little threat despite an ball around and through the later with an accomplished finish. while Yan Junling tipped the ball improved performance in the Chinese midfield, with Yuto Junya Ito seared past Wang over the bar, Moriyasu’s team second half, and Li Tie’s side Nagatomo and Sei Muyora Shenchao before sending over the held on to take the win. remain without a point having pushing forward to keep the waist-high cross that Osako In other Asian qualifiers also lost their opener against Aus- defence penned in and allow little expertly volleyed home. played yesterday, Australia beat tralia last week. respite. China PR improved after the Viet Nam 1-0 in Group B at My Japan pick up their first points Midway through the half interval, with Wu Xi heading wide Dinh Stadium while South China’s Jin Jingdao and Japan’s Gaku Shibasaki vie for the and the win will have lifted some Takefusa Kubo showed the added as less of the game was being Korea defeated Lebanon 1-0 at ball at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, yesterday. of the pressure that was growing dimension his creativity brings played inside their own half, but a saturated Suwon World Cup on head coach Moriyasu after the to Japan’s attack, striking the post with Kubo taking on the Stadium. WEDNESDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 2021 SPORT 15 Qatar set to host West Asia Rugby Championship QNA – DOHA October 7 to 10. Five men's teams have of the West Asian Rugby Championship confirmed their participation in the for men and women. Qatar has been officially selected to host tournament, namely Qatar, Iran, UAE, He noted that the preparations to the next edition of the West Asian Rugby Lebanon and Palestine, in addition to host the event is on track and looked Championship for men and women, six women teams - Qatar, Iran, UAE, forward to host a best edition of this which will be organised next October, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.