14 CLASSIFIEDS WEDNESDAY 16 JUNE 2021 Sport WEDNESDAY 16 JUNE 2021 15 Ashwin, Jadeja named in FIFA Arab Cup: Stadiums to provide platform for exciting India squad for WTC final atmosphere at qualifiers REUTERS — LONDON INDIAN SQUAD Tendulkar calls for World THE PENINSULA — DOHA Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Cup in Tests to be held Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vi- every four years Fourteen Arab nations will contest play-off matches as they seek to qualify for the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 – which will take place in Qatar later this (pictured) and Ravindra Jadeja hari, Rishabh Pant, Wriddhiman Saha, Ravichan- year. From 19-25 June, the final seven places at the tournament will be confirmed when qualifying matches are held at two venues: Khalifa In- were both named in India’s Batting great Sachin Tendulkar dran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, ternational Stadium and Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium. 15-man squad for the inaugural has said WTC should be held Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, The winning teams will book their place at the finals, which will take place from 30 November to 18 December. The tournament will support World Test Championship (WTC) every four years on the lines of Mohammed Siraj Qatar’s preparations for the FIFA World Cup and showcase the region’s passion for the beautiful game. As per the FIFA Rankings, the following nine teams final against New Zealand, which the World Cup in the shorter have already qualified for the tournament: Qatar (hosts), Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates and Syria. begins on Friday. formats of Cricket, Khalifa International Stadium Jadeja, along with being named in the preliminary "Maybe to generate even more The first tournament-ready venue for Qatar 2022, Khalifa International Stadium will host the opening match of the qualifiers between African Mohammed Shami, Hanuma 20-man squad. interest, it could become like a rivals Libya and Sudan on 19 June, followed by Jordan versus South Sudan on 21 June. Lebanon and Djibouti will then meet on 23 June before Vihari and Umesh Yadav, all of Washington Sundar, Shardul World Cup. A World Cup is not whom sustained injuries during Thakur and Mayank Agarwal played all across the globe. World Gulf rivals Bahrain and Kuwait contest the final qualification match on 25 June. the tour of Australia in December were also left out. Cup is played in just one or two Khalifa International is no stranger to staging major football and sporting events. The Asian Games, Arabian Gulf Cup and AFC Asian Cup have all and January, return to India’s Test Earlier yesterday, New countries," Tendulkar said in a tel- taken place in the 40,000-capacity stadium. In 2019, it hosted the IAAF World Athletics Championships and the FIFA Club World Cup™. During squad after missing the home Zealand captain Kane Williamson ephone interview. Qatar 2022, the stadium is set to host eight matches up to and including the third-place play-off. series against England earlier this and wicketkeeper BJ Watling "We need to decide which are Built in 1976, the stadium underwent an extensive redevelopment in order to prepare it for the World Cup, with the new-look venue inaugu- year. were declared fit to play the final the countries where you can host rated on 19 May 2017 when it hosted that year’s Amir Cup final. The redevelopment included the addition of innovative cooling technology, a Left-armLeft-arm sspinnerpinner afterafter thethe pairpair missedmissed the eight- Test championship. And within new tier that added 12,000 seats and a new façade. A new LED lighting system was also incorporated in the venue to boost the fan experience. AxarAxar Patel,Patel, whowho wicketwicket victoryvictory over EnglandE at possibly those two months, you Situated in the heart of Aspire Zone – Qatar’s centre of sporting excellence – Khalifa International was the first Qatar 2022 venue to achieve starredstarred in the 3-1 EdgbastonEdgbaston due to injuries.inju just play Test championship. Global Sustainability Assessment System certification when it received a four-star design and build rating for its redevelopment. TestTest seriesseries win TheThe WTC was launchedlau in "If you are playing one match Following Qatar 2022, Khalifa International will continue its long tradition as a top sporting venue by serving as Qatar’s national stadium. againstagainst England,England, 2019 to create a pinnaclepinn event against each other, then to play Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium andand batsmanbatsman KL forfor five-dayfive-day internationalinternation cricket, final just as a one-off game also The home of Qatar Stars League side Al Rahul,Rahul, whowho followingfollowing thethe successessu of makes sense. But if you allow eve- Sadd, Jassim Bin Hamad will stage three underwentunderwent thethe TwentTwenty20y and ryone to play entire series and Arab Cup qualifiers, starting with Oman Khalifa International Stadium. surgerysurgery forfor 50-over worldwor cups. then just play one game as final, versus Somalia on 20 June. Mauritania appendicitisappendicitis AustraliaAustra and then continuity is not there," he will take on Yemen on 22 June before inin May, EnglandEngland wwere in the said. Palestine face Comoros on 24 June. missedmissed race beforebe India Critics have pointed out that the cut,cut, andand NewNe Zealand the final should have been pro- Built in 1974, the 12,946-capacity sta- afterafter pulledpulled ahead to moted more heavily as there has dium was redeveloped for the 2004 grabgrab thet top two been barely any buzz created for Arabian Gulf Cup. The venue has also spotsspots in the Friday's contest, which was been home to the Qatar national team final.final. switched out of Lord's due to and staged many top-level matches. TheThe champi- COVID-19 protocols. This included the final set of games in onshiponship deciderdecid will be "You need to shorten that Group E of the Asian zone qualifiers for playedplayed at thethe Rose Bowl window and compress the whole Qatar 2022 earlier this month. in Southampton.SouthampSouthamp thing," Tendulkar added. .