ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021 SPORTS 14 West Ham squeeze past non-league Stockport Man United and Liverpool to meet in 4th round of FA Cup STOCKPORT, England, Jan 12, (AP): West Ham Best of the Rest staved off potential embar- rassment in the FA Cup by scoring an 83rd-minute goal Aguero to miss match: Man- to see off non-league Stock- ager Pep Guardiola has confirmed Sergio Aguero is not available for port 1-0 in the third round. Manchester City’s match against A game that was briefl y paused Brighton in the English Premier in the 15th minute because of a fi re- League on Wednesday. The Argentina striker missed works display near Edgeley Park the FA Cup third-round win over failed to light up as West Ham strug- Birmingham on Sunday after being gled to cope with a cut-up, boggy asked to isolate as a close contact of fi eld and driving rain against an op- someone who has tested positive for ponent from the fi fth tier. COVID-19. It was left for Craig Dawson to save the “Quaran- visitors as the game approached a period of tine, isolated extra time, the center back timing his late - the rules. run into the penalty area to perfection fol- After nine or lowing a quickly taken corner to meet an 10 days he inswinging cross by Jarrod Bowen and will be back,” head the ball into the bottom corner. Guardiola said at a news conference. SOCCER It is yet an- other setback Aguero for Aguero, whose return from knee It earned West Ham a home match surgery this season has already been against third-tier Doncaster in the fourth complicated by further pain in the round. joint and a hamstring injury. Aguero Stockport were looking to follow fel- has not started a game since Octo- low non-league team Chorley, which ber but had been expected to fea- eliminated second-tier Derby on Satur- ture last weekend. (AP) day, in humiliating a side from the lead- ❑ ❑ ❑ ing divisions, and included John Rooney - the brother of Derby manager and for- Handball Champ’ship begins: mer Manchester United striker Wayne The 2021 IHF World Men’s Hand- Rooney - in their lineup. ball Championship, will kick off The northwest team matched West tomorrow in the Egyptian capital, Ham for large parts of the game, and Cairo, with the participation of 32 gave up few clear-cut chances. teams behind closed doors amid Meanwhile, Manchester United were health restrictions due to the CO- drawn to host Liverpool in the fourth round VID-19 pandemic. of the FA Cup, pitting English soccer’s two The Championship will be biggest teams against each other. played in four venues in Alexan- It means the fi erce rivals will meet on West Ham’s Mark Noble (right), tries to block a shot from Stockport County’s Liam Hogan during the English FA Cup third round soccer match between dria, Cairo, Giza and the New Ad- Stockport County and West Ham United at Edgeley Park in Stockport, England, Jan 11. (AP) successive weekends, with Liverpool ministrative Capital. hosting United in the Premier League on The 32 teams are divided into Jan. 17, followed by their FA Cup match eight groups of four teams. Each at Old Trafford on Jan. 23 or 24. Australian GP postponed venue hosts two groups of the pre- They are currently the top two in the liminary round, which is played Premier League. Between them they from 13 to 19 January. have won 19 FA Cups. Group A: Germany, Hungary, Another highlight of Monday’s FA Uruguay and Cape Verde. Formula One season to start in Bahrain Group B: Spain, Tunisia, Brazil Cup draw was sixth-tier Chorley, which stunned second-tier Derby in the third LONDON, Jan 12, (AP): The start of There is a vacant slot May 2, with the the potential to reschedule the race lat- back-to-back in three-week blocks, and Poland. round on Saturday, getting a home the Formula One season has been de- putting heavy strain on team staff. Group C: Croatia, Qatar, Japan Portimao circuit in Portugal among the er in the season if possible.” F1 said in and Angola. match against Wolverhampton Wander- layed a week and will start in Bahrain leading candidates for that weekend. a statement. There is no obvious back- Postponing the Australian GP al- ers of the Premier League. Group D: Denmark, Argentina, after the Australian Grand Prix was “Discussions with the promoter and up date in the calendar. Races in the ready means pushing back the end of Bahrain and Congo. Manchester City and Tottenham were postponed from March to November authorities in China are ongoing with second half of the season are organized the season in Abu Dhabi by a week also given away matches against lower- Group E: Norway, Austria, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. to Dec. 12. The calendar stays at 23 France and USA. division sides. City will take on fourth- The Australian race in Melbourne, races, the most ever. Group F: Portugal, Algeria, tier Cheltenham and Tottenham play initially set to open the season on March Martin Pakula, the minister for tourism Iceland and Morocco. Wycombe, which are in last place in the 21, has been rescheduled to Nov. 21 with and major events in the Victorian state Group J: Sweden, Egypt, Czech second-tier Championship. F1 organizers citing “the ongoing situa- government which backs the Melbourne and Chile. FA Cup Fourth Round Draw tion regarding COVID-19”. The Chinese race, said it was a sensible decision which Group H: Slovenia, Belarus, Cheltenham vs. Man City Grand Prix has also been postponed but potentially could mean international fans South Korea and Russia. B’mouth vs. Crawley no new date has been set for the race. attending. That’s only if Australia’s bor- The top three teams of their re- Swansea vs. Nott Forest Strict travel restrictions for the pandemic spective preliminary round groups Man United vs. Liverpool ders re-open in time. make Australia and China among the “This is the right decision and we thank move on to the main round (January S’mpton or S’bury vs. Arsenal 20-25), while the teams ranked last Barnsley vs. Norwich hardest countries for F1 teams to enter. Formula 1 management for their co-oper- ation in setting a new schedule,” he said. in their preliminary round groups Chorley vs. Wolves play the President’s Cup. The 24 Millwall vs. Bristol “The Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix is MOTOR RACING one of the great events in the world and main round teams are divided into Brighton vs. Blackpool four groups of six teams each. Wycombe vs. Tottenham we’ll make sure it can be run safely and The top two teams of the main Fulham vs. Burnley The season will start with the Bah- successfully in November.” round groups advance to the knock- Sheff Utd vs. Plymouth rain Grand Prix on March 28 at Sakhir, The pandemic has disrupted the F1 out stage, which starts with the Chelsea vs. Luton less than four months after the same In this March 17, 2019 file photo, Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas of Finland, season two years running. Last year’s quarter-finals on Jan 27, then contin- West Ham vs. Doncaster venue held two races as part of the (bottom), leads his teammate Lewis Hamilton of Britain and the rest of the race in Australia was canceled after one ues with the semi-finals on Jan 29. Brentford vs. Leicester 2020 season. pack during the start of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne, team member tested positive for the coro- On the final day, Jan 31, the match Everton vs. Sheff Wed A race has been added at the Imola Australia. The start of the 2021 Formula One season has been delayed navirus. Fans were preparing to enter the for third place and the gold-medal Note: Matches will be played on Jan track in Italy on April 18, a week after after the Australian Grand Prix was postponed because of the coronavirus circuit for Friday practice when organiz- match are played. (KUNA) 23-24 the scheduled date for the Chinese GP. pandemic. (AP) ers announced the cancellation..