Qatar stun Japan with 3-1 win to be crowned Asian Cup champions

Agencies
February 2, 2019

Abu Dhabi, Feb 2: Qatar stunned Japan 3-1 to win their first Asian Cup on Friday sparked by a moment of magic from record-breaker Almoez Ali and after nail-biting late drama.

Sudan-born striker Ali scored with an acrobatic bicycle kick after just 12 minutes before Abdelaziz Hatim curled in a superb second and Akram Afif converted a VAR-assisted penalty to give the 2022 World Cup hosts a famous victory in Abu Dhabi.

Qatar survived a scare at 2-0 when Takumi Minamino pulled one back on 69 minutes, only for Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov to award the Maroons a penalty on review for a handball by Japan captain Maya Yoshida.

Ali became the first player to score nine goals at a single Asian Cup after only being cleared to play just hours before kickoff following a United Arab Emirates protest over his eligibility.

The Qataris had been pelted with plastic bottles and shoes during the 4-0 semifinal thrashing of hosts United Arab Emirates over the Gulf blockade of the tiny, energy-rich state.

Emirati football officials subsequently lodged a formal protest over the eligibility of Ali and Iraqi-born defender Bassam Al-Rawi, which has been thrown out by the Asian Football Confederation. Qatar had never before gone beyond the Asian Cup quarterfinals but they scored 16 unanswered goals coming into the final and kept a record six clean sheets.

Japan, meanwhile, had never lost an Asian Cup final, winning the last of their record four titles in 2011. But the Blue Samurai were soon chopped down to size by Ali’s outrageous opener, taking him past Iran legend Ali Daei’s record tally of eight goals at the 1996 tournament.

Cleverly found by Afif, Ali flicked the ball up to himself before launching into an overhead volley that left Japan goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda helpless as it flew in off the post. Ali almost scored again within a minute, only to be denied by a desperate block from Yoshida.

However, Qatar doubled their lead in the 27th minute after yet another Afif assist -- his 10th of the tournament -- as Hatim bent in a sumptuous left-foot shot from the distance.

Japan, whose only previous Asian Cup defeat by Qatar came 31 years ago, mustered little of note, much to the chagrin of their colourful fans among a crowd of 36,000 -- several sporting fancy dress, including one hardy soul in an inflatable sumo suit.

That all changed when Minamino breached Qatar’s defence for the first time this tournament with a delicate chip after Hatim had blazed over from close range.

But moments later Afif ended Japan’s resistance from the spot to complete a fairytale triumph for Qatar.

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News Network
January 28,2020

Gibraltar, Jan 28: Young Indian Grand Master R Praggnanandhaa pulled off a huge upset, beating former world champion Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the 18th Gibraltar chess festival to record his fifth straight win here.

The 14-year-old Chennai lad needed just 33 moves to put it across the Bulgarian. He had started with a loss against compatriot P V Nandhidhaa but since then he has been on a winning spree.

Praggnanandhaa, who recently won the world under-18 title, said: "It was very tough to prepare against him."

He is in second spot on five points with six other players and will take on Chinese GM Wang Hao in the seventh round.

Seventeen-year-old Russian GM Andrey Esipenko jumped to sole lead with 5.5 points with a win over Georgia's Ivan Cheparinov

The Russian player would be unpaired in the seventh round as he decided to take a bye.

A bunch of players including Indians — B Adhiban, K Sasikiran, Shardul Gagare, Karthikeyan Murali, SL Narayanan — are in joint third place with 4.5 points.

Adhiban beat Gabriel Flom, while D Gukesh, the world's second youngest Grand Master ever, defeated Martin Percivaldi to move to four points.

Also winning were Karthikeyan Murali against Qi B Chen and Gagare over France's Maxime Lagarde.

Top-seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's moderate run continued as he was held to a draw by GM Aryan Chopra.

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News Network
March 19,2020

Mar 19: Amidst spiralling cases of COVID-19 in the country, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Thursday advocated "absorbing sunlight" as a possible precaution against coronavirus that has claimed over 8,000 lives globally.

Speaking to reporters outside parliament, Choubey said 10-15 minutes in the sun would build immunity as sunlight provides Vitamin D.

"From 11 am to 2 pm the sun is shining brightly. We should spend at least 10-15 minutes to absorb sunlight so that we get vitamin D which improves the immunity of our body and also kills such viruses. All should be aware of (this fact)," he said when asked about the spread of coronavirus.

COVID-19 cases in India climbed to 169 on Thursday after 18 fresh cases were reported from various parts of the country, according to the Union health ministry.

The cases include 25 foreign nationals -- 17 from Italy, 3 from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia and Singapore.

The figure also includes three deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra so far.

According to the World Health Organisation, the novel coronavirus has killed over 8,000 people globally and infected more than two lakh.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Melbourne, Jan 23: Sania Mirza's return to her first Grand Slam after a two-year break was cut short on Thursday when the former world number one was forced to retire midway through her first round match in women's doubles at the Australian Open due to a calf injury.

India's Mirza, who won six Grand Slam doubles titles, took a break from the game after the China Open in October 2017 and gave birth to her son a year later.

The 33-year-old made a winning return to the WTA Tour at this month's Hobart International with Ukrainian Nadiia Kichenok, picking up her 42nd WTA doubles title and the first since winning the women's doubles in Brisbane in 2017.

Mirza said she strained her calf muscle in her right leg during the Hobart final.

"It just got worse in the match. It was bit of a bad strain, but I had a few days off," she told reporters. "So I obviously had to try to do whatever I could to try to get on the court.

"It felt okay when I went on the court, but it was tough to move right. I just felt like I'm gonna tear it or something pretty bad."

Mirza won her first Grand Slam in mixed doubles at the Australian Open in 2009 and also bagged the women's doubles in 2016.

Mirza always believed there was tennis left in her which inspired her comeback, she told Reuters on Sunday.

She had already pulled out of the Australian Open mixed doubles, where she was to partner compatriot Rohan Bopanna.

Mirza and Kichenok were trailing the Chinese pair of Xinyun Han and Lin Zhu 6-2 1-0 on Thursday when the Indian had to call it quits due to the injury.

"As a tennis player you want to compete, it is the Grand Slam. If it's any other tournament, you would probably take a call and be like 'I don't want to risk it'," she said.

Mirza, who is married to former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik, said she would take two weeks to recover and was hoping to play at next month's Dubai championships.

"When you play a professional sport, injuries are really part of it. And it's something that you have to accept," she said. "Sometimes the timing is really not ideal, it's tough that it happened in a Grand Slam, or just before a Grand Slam."

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