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Japan target fifth Asian title after World Cup heartbreak

Japan target fifth Asian title after World Cup heartbreak
Japan’s head coach Hajjime Moriyasu, Japan Football Association President Kozo Tajima, right and captain Maya Yoshida attend a press conference upon their team’s return from Qatar on Wednesday. (AP)
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Updated 07 December 2022
AFP

Japan target fifth Asian title after World Cup heartbreak

Japan target fifth Asian title after World Cup heartbreak
  • The Blue Samurai were eliminated from the World Cup on penalties by Croatia
  • The defeat did not stop hundreds of fans from travelling to an airport near Tokyo to welcome the players and coach Hajime Moriyasu
Updated 07 December 2022
AFP

NARITA, Japan: Japan will put their World Cup heartbreak behind them and focus on becoming Asian champions for a fifth time, captain Maya Yoshida said after the team returned home on Wednesday.
The Blue Samurai were eliminated from the World Cup on penalties by Croatia in the last 16 on Monday, denying them a first-ever place in the quarter-finals.
But the defeat did not stop hundreds of fans from traveling to an airport near Tokyo to welcome the players and coach Hajjime Moriyasu back from Qatar.
“We won’t stop here,” Yoshida said at a news conference after arriving.
“We will aim to become the best in Asia,” he added.
“Our fight will continue. As long as we keep playing football, we must keep fighting.”
The Asian Cup will also be held in Qatar after original host China dropped out due to its strict anti-Covid policies.
The tournament was set to be held in June and July 2023 but is now likely to be postponed until early 2024 to avoid Qatar’s fierce summer heat.
Japan won the most recent of their four Asian Cup titles the last time Qatar hosted the tournament, in 2011.
The Blue Samurai could not find a way past Croatia in the last 16 of the World Cup, but they stunned former champions Germany and Spain to top their first-round group.
“We couldn’t reach new heights but my players showed us a new era, and this is just the beginning,” said Moriyasu.
Among the crowd of fans waiting to welcome the team home at the airport was 55-year-old Takamichi Masui.
He said the wins over Germany and Spain were proof that “Japan has become a soccer powerhouse.”
Another fan, 37-year-old Takahiro Ichikawa, said that like captain Yoshida, he is only looking ahead.
“For now, I hope the national team will focus on pulling off a solid performance in the Asian Cup in Qatar,” he said.

Topics: World Cup 2022 Japan Hajjime Moriyasu

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Medvedev, Kvitova win in semis at Miami Open

Medvedev, Kvitova win in semis at Miami Open
Updated 01 April 2023
AP

Medvedev, Kvitova win in semis at Miami Open

Medvedev, Kvitova win in semis at Miami Open
  • Medvedev will face the winner of the other semifinal match between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
  • Kvitova will face the red-hot Elena Rybakina, who Rybakina, who beat Jessica Pegula in straight sets
Updated 01 April 2023
AP

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida: Daniil Medvedev hasn’t won a title in the United States since capturing the 2021 US Open, when he turned away Novak Djokovic’s bid for a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Now the Miami Open’s No. 4 seed is one victory from a fresh American title, beating fellow Russian Karen Khachanov 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3 in the semifinals Friday, the same day Wimbledon announced Russians will be allowed back — with conditions.
The other men’s semifinal is Friday night between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. If Alcaraz wins, it’ll set up a rematch of the Indian Wells final; Alcaraz beat Medvedev 6-3, 6-2 on March 19.
Also Friday, No. 15 seed Petra Kvitova beat unseeded Sorana Cirstea 7-5, 6-3 in the second women’s semifinal. Kvitova will face the red-hot Elena Rybakina in the final.
Medvedev has won 23 of his last 24 matches — the lone loss to now-world No. 1 Alcaraz — and is in his fifth straight final.
Medvedev has been friends with the 14th-seeded Khachanov since childhood, and they’re each fierce baseliners, with one rally lasting 31 shots.
Medvedev needed a tiebreaker to win the first set, serving it out with the first of 13 aces in the match. Proving a little more consistent in the second set, Khachanov forced a third by breaking Medvedev’s serve early to go up 2-0.
But Medvedev owned the third, surviving an early breakpoint when Khachanov hit a loose backhand into the doubles alley for a rare unforced error.
Medvedev broke Khachanov in the next game to go up 3-1 and a won a wondrous 26-shot rally on match point. Khachanov picked up a drop shot, then retrieved a shot from the baseline between the legs before his friend put away the winner.
In the women’s match, the lefty Kvitova rallied from a 5-3 hole in the first set, facing two set points at 15-40 before willing herself back. She won six straight games in all, taking the first set and going up a break and 2-0 in the second.
Rybakina, who has won 13 straight matches, including the Indian Wells title last week, beat Jessica Pegula in straight sets in a rain-delayed match that ended late Thursday night.
 

Topics: Miami Open Daniil Medvedev Petra Kvitova

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French referees told not to pause matches during Ramadan

French referees told not to pause matches during Ramadan
Updated 31 March 2023
AFP

French referees told not to pause matches during Ramadan

French referees told not to pause matches during Ramadan
  • Unlike England's Premier League which allows it, the practice does not comply with the French Football Federation's statutes
  • It said it had been brought to the federation's attention that matches were being interrupted following the breaking of the Ramadan fast
Updated 31 March 2023
AFP

PARIS: France’s football federation has told referees they must not pause matches to allow Muslim players to break their fast during Ramadan, media reports said Friday.
Unlike England’s Premier League which allows it, the practice does not comply with the French Football Federation’s statutes, several media reported the body saying in an email sent to referees Thursday.
It said it had been brought to the federation’s attention that matches were being interrupted following the breaking of the Ramadan fast.
“The idea is that there is a time for everything. A time to do sport, a time to practice one’s religion,” Eric Borghini, head of the federal referee commission at the Federation, told AFP.
He said that the federation had learned that “a certain number of amateur-level meetings have been stopped to allow players observing the fast to hydrate.”
This is not permitted in the regulations, he said, highlighting they included the strict respect of the principle of secularism in football.
English football has taken the reverse decision and will permit matches of the Premier League to pause during the holy month of Ramadan, during which Muslims abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset. It is being observed this year from March 22.
Asked about the issue, Nice coach Didier Digard said Friday that several Muslim players in the team observed Ramadan without any problems.
Although he said it would be good if France allowed the breaks, he added “nobody cares that they don’t do it. Because we are not in a Muslim country. You have to accept the country you live in,” he told reporters.

Topics: Ramadan 2023 France French Football Federation referees

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Racism claims against ex-England captain Vaughan ‘not proved’

Racism claims against ex-England captain Vaughan ‘not proved’
Updated 31 March 2023
AFP

Racism claims against ex-England captain Vaughan ‘not proved’

Racism claims against ex-England captain Vaughan ‘not proved’
  • The Cricket Discipline Commission said it was "not satisfied on the balance of probabilities" that Vaughan had used the alleged words
  • In its concluding remarks the CDC report said: "This is not a case which necessitated a conclusion from the panel that anyone has lied or acted out of malice
Updated 31 March 2023
AFP

LONDON: Former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan has been cleared “on the balance of probabilities” of using racist language before a Yorkshire match in 2009.
The 2005 Ashes-winning captain was alleged to have used the term “you lot” when referring to a group of four Yorkshire team-mates of South Asian ethnicity, including Pakistan-born Azeem Rafiq.
In a report released on Friday, the Cricket Discipline Commission said it was “not satisfied on the balance of probabilities” that Vaughan had used the alleged words.
It pointed out “significant inconsistencies” in how the two key witnesses — Rafiq and England bowler Adil Rashid — had recalled the wording that Vaughan allegedly used.
But it added that its findings “do not in any way undermine the wider assertions” made by Rafiq, who told lawmakers in November 2021 that English cricket was “institutionally racist.”
In its concluding remarks the CDC report said: “This is not a case which necessitated a conclusion from the panel that anyone has lied or acted out of malice.
“Far from it. The panel had to consider whether the case as presented to it by the ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board), in light of all the evidence, was sufficiently accurate and reliable, on the balance of probabilities, to rule out mistake. It was not.”
Vaughan, who appeared in person at a CDC hearing earlier this month to answer the charges brought by the ECB, said the process had taken a “toll” on him and his family and it had been “upsetting to hear about Rafiq’s experiences.
“The outcome of these CDC proceedings must not be allowed to detract from the core message that there can be no place for racism in the game of cricket, or in society generally,” the 48-year-old said in a statement on social media.
The former batsman, who has worked as a TV and radio pundit since his retirement added: “I have never wanted to do anything that runs contrary to genuine efforts to clean up the game of cricket.
“I truly hope people can understand why, on a personal level, I could not just accept, or apologize for, something which I know I did not do.”
Yorkshire accepted in September 2021 that Rafiq, now 32, had been the victim of racial harassment and bullying during his time at the club.
But they subsequently confirmed nobody would be disciplined, a decision that was greeted with widespread incredulity.
The scandal sparked an exodus of senior boardroom figures and 16 members of the club’s coaching and backroom staff were dismissed.
Former off-spinner Rafiq, who had two spells at Yorkshire, told a British parliamentary committee in December 2022 that the abuse he and his family had faced had forced him to leave the country.
The CDC panel upheld charges against five other former players and coaches, including England Test stars Tim Bresnan and Matthew Hoggard, in relation to the use of racist and/or discriminatory language.
None of the five attended the CDC hearing in London, with Hoggard saying the ECB’s disciplinary procedures had “failed everybody.”
Former Yorkshire and England player Gary Ballance, who now plays for his native Zimbabwe, admitted using racist and/or discriminatory language prior to the hearing.
Yorkshire admitted four amended charges against them, with the panel to disclose any sanctions against the club and the individuals at a later date.
In a statement on Twitter, Rafiq pointed out that charges against seven of the eight defendants had been upheld.
“This comes in addition to the other reports, panels and inquiries that found I and others suffered racial harassment and bullying while at Yorkshire,” he said.
“The issue has never been about individuals but the game as a whole. Cricket needs to understand the extent of its problems and address them.
“Hopefully, the structures of the game can now be rebuilt and institutionalized racism ended for good.”
ECB chairman Richard Thompson said cricket must learn from an “incredibly challenging period” to make the sport more inclusive.
“When Azeem Rafiq spoke out about his time in cricket, he exposed a side of our game which no one should have to experience,” he said. “We are grateful for his courage and perseverance.”

Topics: Michael Vaughan Yorkshire cricket Azeem Rafiq racism

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Haaland a doubt for Man City’s match against Liverpool

Haaland a doubt for Man City’s match against Liverpool
Updated 31 March 2023
AP

Haaland a doubt for Man City’s match against Liverpool

Haaland a doubt for Man City’s match against Liverpool
  • The 22-year-old Haaland withdrew from the Norway squad for their European Championship qualifiers against Spain and Georgia
  • City manager Pep Guardiola said Friday he would make a decision on Haaland’s availability after the team’s final training session
Updated 31 March 2023
AP

MANCHESTER, England: Erling Haaland is a doubt for Manchester City’s match against Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday as the striker recovers from a groin injury.
The 22-year-old Haaland withdrew from the Norway squad for their European Championship qualifiers against Spain and Georgia during the international break. His father, Alf-Inge, was quoted by Norwegian TV saying his son had traveled to Barcelona for treatment.
City manager Pep Guardiola said Friday he would make a decision on Haaland’s availability after the team’s final training session.
The team will definitely be without England winger Phil Foden, who underwent appendix surgery last weekend.
Guardiola said doctors told him that Foden would be out for “two-to-three weeks.”
Haaland’s fitness is more important, given he has scored 28 goals in the Premier League and 42 in all competitions during a prolific first season in English soccer.
City are second in the league, eight points behind Arsenal but with a game in hand.
The team have a busy April, including home-and-away games against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and an FA Cup semifinal match against Sheffield United, as it looks to remain in contention for three trophies.

Topics: Manchester city Erling Haaland Premier league

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Jaguar’s Mitch Evans says new race cities are growing Formula E

Jaguar’s Mitch Evans says new race cities are growing Formula E
Updated 31 March 2023
Arab News

Jaguar’s Mitch Evans says new race cities are growing Formula E

Jaguar’s Mitch Evans says new race cities are growing Formula E
  • Crowd of 23,000 saw the 28-year-old make history by winning the inaugural Sao Paulo E-prix in Brazil
Updated 31 March 2023
Arab News

RIYADH: Jaguar TCS Racing driver, Mitch Evans, believes racing in more new locations around the world will help boost the popularity and profile of Formula E following his victory in the Sao Paulo E-Prix.

The 28-year-old made history by clinching an enthralling victory to become one of the first winners at the inaugural race in Brazil which was watched by more than 23,000 fans. The Kiwi held off Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing) and teammate Sam Bird to top the podium after the trio finished just half a second apart.

Sao Paulo was the latest new city that the drivers were competing in after Hyderabad and Cape Town were added to this season’s ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Evans, a runner-up in season eight, says racing in new locations around the world is key to attracting new fans and believes one would in future be held in his home country New Zealand.

“Formula E is a relatively young championship so it’s still in its growing phase. The more we can reach wider markets, increase the fanbase and take the championship to different parts of the world, the better it would be for the championship.

“Europe is definitely a home for motorsports and most of the big races take place there but other markets are also crucial for the competition’s growth. There have already been some new locations such as Sao Paulo, Cape Town and Hyderabad which were really exciting races.

“I do think there are markets that the championship can still reach. I would like to see a race happen in Australasia and if it was in New Zealand, it would be incredible. I’m sure that would come eventually.”

The win in Brazil is Evans’ first of the season and after disappointing results earlier in the season, he is happy to secure his first victory and hopes he can push for a title challenge. He is 47 points adrift of leader Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein.

He added: “I felt the win should have come a little bit earlier in the season as I was in positions where I felt I could win a race before in the season. Winning was a relief but not a surprise. I felt I needed a big result with a win or podium and super happy to have won the race. There are enough races in the championship to catch up to the other drivers and I feel we have the team to build on this.”

Topics: Formula E Motorsport

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