SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015 SPORTS Qatar World Cup head protests of ‘clear bias’ DOHA: The Qatar 2022 World Cup head said. “I can’t say if there is a prejudice The Garcia Report looked into allega- Qatar and Russia. Al-Thawadi also told Al-Thawadi. Qatari officials are to meet has complained of “clear bias” against against Qatar but what I can say is there tions of corruption in the bidding Al-Jazeera that Qatar could still host the with bosses of football’s world govern- Doha following the Garcia Report into is a clear bias,” Al-Thawadi said in the process for the World Cup to be hosted tournament in the summer despite con- ing body FIFA later this month in Doha alleged corruption in the bidding interview to be aired late yesterday on by Russia as well as the tournament cerns over the country’s climate. to finalise a date, with many believing process to host football’s biggest tourna- Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television. being held in Qatar four years later. Temperatures top 40 degrees Celsius the tournament will instead take place ment. “All the reporting on Michael Garcia, Qatar’s bid has been mired in contro- (104 Fahrenheit) in Qatar at the time in the winter. In his first interview since publication the description was, the focus was on us, versy, facing allegations over corruption when the tournament is traditionally On workers’ rights, Al-Thawadi said of the report’s summary last year, Hassan on Qatar, and that was inaccurate. The and lack of workers’ rights, and this has played in June-July. reforms to protect tens of thousands of al-Thawadi, secretary general of the simple fact was the investigation was on been compounded by events surround- But Qatar has long argued it has the migrants helping build facilities for the World Cup 2022 Committee, said Qatar all bidding nations, 2018 along with ing the Garcia Report. technology for the games to be played 2022 World Cup would require “time to was not the only bid being investigated. 2022.” American lawyer Michael Garcia, in stadiums with cooling technology. be implemented”. But the spotlight has fallen only on He added: “And yet nevertheless, FIFA’s ethics investigator, quit his job in “Since the first days of the bid we’ve However, a Human Rights Watch the Gulf country and not on Russia, somehow, the focus still seems to be on disgust after an “erroneous” summary of always said a summer World Cup is feasi- report earlier this month accused Qatar which is hosting the 2018 World Cup, or us and I think that, if nothing else, clearly his 430-page report was published in ble in Qatar, but whatever the football of not moving “far or fast enough” on the other countries with failed bids, he shows there is a bias.” November, which effectively cleared community decides, we will fulfill it,” said labor reform.—AFP Celtic go clear of pack GLASGOW: Celtic extended their lead at fielder who juggled the ball superbly the top of the Scottish Premiership to six before lashing it beyond the helpless points as they held off a late comeback to Mannus. secure a 2-1 victory over St Johnstone at Out of nowhere St Johnstone managed McDiarmid Park. to haul themselves back into the match The Hoops made what is fast becoming through O’Halloran. Celtic stopper Gordon a trademark explosive start when they took blocked Kane’s shot from Brian Easton’s just 35 seconds to breach the St Johnstone cross but the rebound fell to O’Halloran defence as Leigh Griffiths fired past ‘keeper who expertly rifled it into the roof of the Alan Mannus. net. Only an incredible double save from The Scotland international then spurned Gordon kept Celtic in front. The ‘keeper three chances to add to his tally as Mannus made a one-handed save to stop Brian kept him at bay before he produced an Graham’s header before he managed to excellent save to stop Gary Mackay-Steven. push Dave Mackay’s close-range volleyed However, the ‘keeper couldn’t do any- rebound over the bar.—AFP thing to stop Celtic from increasing their lead in the 52nd minute when Stefan Johansen showed great skill to finish a well-executed move. Matches on TV The Scottish champions appeared to be strolling to a comfortable victory before (Local Timings) Michael O’Halloran fired past Craig Gordon in the 72nd minute to reduce the deficit as England FA Cup Celtic conceded a goal for the first time in Aston Villa v Leicester 15:30 816 minutes of football. beIN SPORTS 1 HD Celtic had ‘keeper Craig Gordon to thank beIN SPORTS 11 HD with two late superb saves as the Hoops Arsenal v Middlesbrough 19:00 held on to secure their eighth victory in a beIN SPORTS 1 HD beIN SPORTS 11 HD row before they head into Thursday’s cru- beIN Sports Max 4 cial Europa League last 32 clash with Italian giants Inter Milan. Spanish League “I think the players worked hard for 90 Malaga v Espanyol 0:00 minutes and at 2-0 it seemed quite com- beIN SPORTS 2 HD fortable,” Celtic manager Ronny Deila said. beIN SPORTS 14 HD “Then we conceded a goal and every- beIN SPORTS 2 HD GERMANY: Bayern’s Thomas Mueller (center), Hamburg’s Johan Djourou from Switzerland (left) and Hamburg’s goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny thing turned around. They were very Valencia v Getafe 14:00 from the Czech Republic challenge for the ball during the German First Division Bundesliga soccer match. —AP aggressive and direct and we needed to beIN SPORTS 2 HD Barcelona v Levante 19:00 defend well in the end.” beIN SPORTS 2 HD St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright beIN SPORTS 14 HD Bayern thrash Hamburg 8-0 picked the positives from his players’ per- Rayo v Villarreal 21:00 formance. “Celtic had a lot of chances in the beIN SPORTS 9 HD game but you’ve always got a chance and it beIN SPORTS 14 HD BERLIN: Bayern Munich claimed the biggest a run by his captain Bastian Schweinsteiger on placed Borussia Moenchengladbach and eight was a tremendous double save from beIN SPORTS 2 HD Bundesliga win for 30 years to warm up for their 55 minutes. Lewandowski got on the scoresheet points behind leaders Bayern. Gordon that probably denies us a point,” Celta v Atletico 23:00 Champions League away match to Shakhtar to make it 6-0 barely a minute later when Gladbach claimed a 1-0 win at Cologne as Wright said. beIN SPORTS 2 HD Donetsk with yesterday’s 8-0 thrashing of Robben’s pass found Mueller, who had all the Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka headed their 91st- “I thought, particularly in the second beIN SPORTS 14 HD Hamburg. time in the world to roll his pass to the Polish minute winner. Werder Bremen’s remarkable run half, we played extremely well against Italian Calcio League Stars Arjen Robben, Thomas Mueller and striker’s feet. continues as they picked up their fifth straight them and I’m proud of the players and how AC Milan v Empoli 14:30 Mario Goetze all netted twice as Bayern ran riot France winger Franck Ribery came off the win which has taken them from bottom of the they responded.” beIN SPORTS 3 HD at Munich’s Allianz Arena before Tuesday’s last- bench to add to Jaroslav Drobny’s misery in the table to eighth and the verge of a European Celtic had needed just 38 seconds to beIN SPORTS 14 HD 16, first-leg clash against Shakhtar in Lviv. Hamburg goal on 69 minutes before Goetze place. Ex-Chelsea and Wigan striker Franco di open the scoring against Partick Thistle on beIN SPORTS 2 HD Just over two years after their 9-2 drubbing at claimed his side’s eighth two minute from time. Santo netted a penalty to leave him with four Wednesday and made a similar quick-fire Udinese v Lazio 17:00 Munich’s Allianz Arena, Hamburg were again Having gone 3-0 up away, Wolfsburg survived goals in three league games in their 3-2 win at start in Perth. Griffiths was the only change beIN SPORTS 5 HD made to suffer having also been drubbed 3-1, 5- a spirited fight-back to win 5-4 at Bayer Augsburg, who drop to fifth. from the midweek win and the Scottish Torino FC v Cagliari 17:00 0 and 6-0 on their last four visits to Bavaria. Leverkusen, for whom Son Heung-Min scored a VfB Stuttgart stay bottom of the table after striker made an instant impact when he beIN SPORTS 6 HD Bayern stay eight points clear after racing hat-trick while Wolves’ Bas Dost claimed four their 2-1 defeat at Hoffenheim, thanks for Atalanta v Inter 17:00 into a 2-0 lead with 23 minutes gone as Mueller goals. Sebastian Rudy’s 93rd-minute winning goal. netted after 35 seconds. beIN SPORTS 7 HD Nir Bitton’s long-ball from the Celtic half beIN SPORTS 14 HD slotted a penalty, then his Germany team-mate Leverkusen finished with ten men after Late yesterday, Schalke 04 host Eintracht split the St Johnstone defence and Griffiths beIN SPORTS 2 HD Goetze added a second. Arjen Robben danced Bosnia defender Emir Spahic was sent off late on Frankfurt in the Royal Blues final warm-up nipped in to stroke the ball past Mannus. AS Roma v Parma 17:00 through their defence, then curled home a 36th- for a second yellow card.