THE PENINSULA – DOHA

Dr. Thani bin Abdulrahman Al Kuwari, Second Vice President of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) and President of the Qatar Athletics Federation (QFA), yesterday said the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) is ready to host the Doha round of the 2021 Diamond League.

The Second Round of the 2021 season will be held tomorrow at the track and field venue of the Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Dr Al Kuwari said that the Doha Round will witness par-ticipation of world champions and Olympic Games stars besides athletes who sparkled at the 2019 World Athletics Championships that were held in Doha 2019.

He said the medals winners at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 will also be warming up in Doha for this summer’s Games in Tokyo.

“The Doha Round is a major event that will be watched by millions of people around the world especially in light of these exceptional circumstances that the world is going through due to the outbreak of the COVID-19,” Dr Al Kuwari said.

The QAF President said the LOC is ready to conduct the event providing safety to ath-letes, officials and fans.

“Doha is ready to host this global sporting event, and God willing, we will fulfil this chal-lenge through great cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and the relevant state authorities in the country. We are fully committed to keep athletes and fans safe during and after the event,” he added.

“We are following all health protocols underlined by MOPH and state authorities. We want to deliver a safe and best version of a Diamond League round. It is possible to do that especially

since we decided to subject all participants to be part of a bubble environment and that will help us conclude a suc-cessful event,” the first VP of QOC said in an interview posted on Al Kass website.

Khalifa Abdul Malik, Deputy Director of the Meet, said: “All things are going well at Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium. The presence of some of the world’s best athletes here this week reflects how Qatar remains one of the most popular destinations for sports events in general and

athletics in particular. We have taken special care of the ath-letes from the moment they landed at the Hamad Interna-tional Airport from where they reached the accommodation and now they have access to top training facilities.”

Khaled Rashid Al Marri, Director of the Championship and a member of the Board of Directors of QAF, said Qatar will be represented in the Diamond League and sup-porting events by Tossin Ogunode, Femi Ogunode,

Owab Barrow (100m), Jamal Hairane, Abdi-rahman Saeed Hassan, Mahdi El Hafez, Musaeb A b d u l r a h m a n B a l l a , R a b i M o h a m o u d M u b a r a k (800m), Abder-rahman Samba, Doudai Ismail Bakar, Amor

Ebed Abdalmujied, Ashraf Hussen Osman, Muhand Khamis Saifeldin (400m hurdles), Mohamed Moussa Abdulrahman, Hussein Ibrahim Issaka, Abdel Madjid Mohadjir Ammar Ismail Yahia Ibrahim (400m),Musab Adam Ali, Hamza Driouch, Mohamed Al Garni (1500m) and Yaser B a g h r a b ( 3 0 0 0 m Steeplechase).

Al Marri said Olympic and world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim will feature in the high jump competition.

NBA RESULTS: Brooklyn Nets 130 - 108 Boston Celtics; Los Angeles Lakers 109 - 102 Phoenix Suns; Dallas Mavericks 127 - 121 LA Clippers

THURSDAY 27 MAY 2021

Nasser aims to rewrite his own history at Jordan RallyI have a lot of nice memories here. My start of racing was here in Jordan in 1989 in the Desert Challenge. We are ready and are so happy to see our friend Hamed Al Wahaibi come back to do the race and to compete in the Middle East Championship. I hope all the drivers con-tinue to come back each year.

Sport | 19

Nasser aims to

Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah

Sport

The Doha Round is a major event that will be

watched by millions of people around the world

especially in light of these exceptional circumstances

that the world is going through due to the outbreak

of the COVID-19: Dr. Thani bin Abdulrahman Al

Kuwari, Second Vice President of the Qatar Olympic

Committee and President of the Qatar Athletics

Federation

Doha: Five thingsto look out for

DIAMONDLEAGUE – DOHA

Mutaz Essa Barshim, Sha’Carri Richardson and Timothy Cheruiyot are among the athletes with their eyes on a first Wanda Diamond League victory of 2021 when the season continues in Doha tomorrow.

The second Wanda Diamond League meeting of the 2021 season begins at from 17:58 (GMT+3), with a number of inter-national stars and Diamond Trophy holders taking their first step on the Road To The Final. Here are five things to look out for:

Barshim and Samba on home soilDoha wouldn’t be Doha without Mutaz Essa Barshim. The

high jump superstar is Qatar’s most successful athlete on the Diamond League circuit, with three Diamond Trophies under his belt. After taking it easy last year, he now returns to action on home soil this Friday.

He will be joined by another local star in Abderrahman Samba. The 400m hurdler wowed the word when he broke the Diamond League record four times in five appearances in 2018, and will be looking to reassert himself at the top of the pile alongside world champion and Diamond Trophy holder Karsten Warholm this season. Tomorrow, Samba will line up against a testing field which includes Rai Benjamin and double Diamond Trophy winner Kyron McMaster.

Richardson after first Diamond League win

After kicking off her season with a strong second-place finish in Gateshead, US sprint prodigy Sha’Carri Richardson will be hoping to pick up her first ever Diamond League win when she lines up in Doha.

Beaten by Dina Asher-Smith at the season opener last week, the 21-year-old faces a strong field in the Qatari capital, with Diamond League veterans such as Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Blessing Okagbare and Murielle Ahouré also looking to notch up their first wins of the season.

Pole vault championsJust under two years ago, the world’s best female pole

vaulters did battle in Doha at the World Athletics Champion-ships, with Anzhelika Sidorova (gold) beating Sandi Morris (silver) and Katerina Stefanidi (bronze) to the ultimate prize.

The three-way rivalry will be resumed tomorrow. Ste-fanidi, Sidorova and Morris lead a high-quality pole vault field as they once again vy for superiority in the Qatari capital.

It is a battle which is too close to call. Stefanidi has dom-inated the series and held the Diamond Trophy since 2016, but has not won in Doha since 2017. Both she and Morris have already jumped 4.80m this year, while Sidorova has form in Doha with her World Championship triumph.

Walsh and Cheruiyot launch Diamond Trophy defence

With three Diamond League titles since 2016, Tom Walsh remains the man to beat in the men’s shot put, and the New Zealand star faces an in-form field in Doha. As well as world junior record holder Konrad Bukowiecki, Walsh faces two athletes - in Filip Mihaljevic and Armin Sinancevic - who have thrown further than he has this yea.

Also launching his title defence on Friday is 1500m master Timothy Cheruiyot, who has held the Diamond Trophy for the last three years. This year, he may face a challenge from rising star Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who got his campaign off to a winning start in Gateshead.

Obiri aiming for Doha quadrupleHellen Obiri has fond memories of Doha. The city was the

scene of her second successive 5000m gold medal in the World Athletics Championships in 2019, and the two-time Diamond Trophy winner has also clocked up three victories in the Doha Diamond League, in 2014, 2019 and 2020.

The Kenyan star will looking to get her campaign off to a winning start as she looks to regain her Diamond League title from Sifan Hassan this season.

Qatar ready to host Diamond League round: Dr. Al Kuwari

Doha's Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium is ready to host the second round of the Diamond League.

Qatari players cool themselves down during a practice session as they gear up for their FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Asian Cup 2023 Qualifiers Group E matches against India and Oman to be played next month. Qatar will play India on June 3 before meeting Oman four days later. Both the matches will be played at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium. RIGHT: Goalkeeper Youssef Hassan during a practice session.

Qatari players prepare for next month'sjoint Qualifiers against India and Oman

AFC – KUALA LUMPUR

The Asian Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 are set to return with the spotlight shining brightly on Group F leaders and centralised host Japan who will take on Myanmar on Friday at the Fukuda Denshi Arena in Chiba.

The COVID-19 pandemic restricted the Asian Qualifiers to just four matches since November 2019, but after much anticipation, the stage is set for 57 matches to be played over 19 days of thrilling action as the race to qualify for the final rounds of the Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 reaches its climax in eight centralised venues across the Continent.

The attention will shift to the Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre on Sunday when Group A centralised host China PR take on Guam in an all-or-nothing battle for the home side who will be looking to reduce the eight-point deficit with leaders Syria.

Nepal and Chinese Taipei will kick off the action in Group B on June 3, which also marks the return of qualifying action with 11 riv-eting battles taking place across the rest of the groups.

Leaders Australia, who boast an unblemished record of four victories in as many matches, are also in action on the same day in what promises to be an epic contest against host Kuwait.

Meanwhile, the June 3 action continues in Group C with Asian powerhouses Islamic Republic of Iran and fourth-placed Hong Kong facing off at the Al Muharraq Stadium at 5:30pm (local

time), before centralised host Bahrain take on Cambodia at the Bahrain National Stadium in Riffa two hours later.

Just 400-odd kilometres away, Saudi Arabia will provide the backdrop for Group D’s only match of the night when Palestine take on Singapore at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh at 9pm, with both sides needing a victory to remain in the running for a

spot in the final round of the Asian Qualifiers.

FIFA World Cup 2022 and Group E host Qatar are in action against India with Bangladesh slated to take on Afghanistan in Doha where all eyes will be on the West Asians, who could open up a passage to the final round of the qualifiers for the fifth best second-placed team should they emerge as leaders on the final match day on June 15.

The quest for supremacy remains wide open in Group G with just five points sepa-rating the four teams still in contention for top spot. Vietnam remain in pole position but victory for either Malaysia or host United Arab Emirates in their battle on Thursday could change the dynamics of the standings as Thailand prepare to face Indonesia in a gripping contest that could also see the Blue Elephants ascend to the top.

Meanwhile, the Group H action returns on Saturday, June 5, with host Korea Republic fancying their chances of extending their record of nine consecutive FIFA World Cup appearances to double figures, but the Taeguk Warriors will face tough opposition against an inspired Turkmenistan side equally determined to carve out their place in Asian football history.

19THURSDAY 27 MAY 2021 SPORT

Barty excited for Games debut in TokyoREUTERS – SYDNEY

Winning a Grand Slam is the ultimate goal for most tennis players but Ash Barty says there is no greater honour than representing your country and the world number one sees the Olympic Games as the pinnacle of sport.

Barty, the 2019 French Open champion, cannot wait to pull on Australia’s green and gold colours when the Tokyo Games begin in July after the event was postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tennis is normally an individual sport though women players also have the oppor-tunity to represent their country at the annual Billie Jean King Cup.

“The green and gold for me is always the pinnacle,” Barty told Olympics.com.

“I’ve had a very small taste of it, but I think the Olympics is the pinnacle of every sport. It’s a remarkable place to be able to test yourself against the best in the world. All of the best athletes in the world come together in one place, which is quite special.

Barty was not even 5-years-old when Cathy Freeman, wearing a green, white and gold bodysuit, won the 400m gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but the indig-enous track star made a lasting impression on her.

“I remember her outfit ... and, not really knowing a lot (else) of what was happening being such a youngster,” said Barty, who is the first indigenous Australian since Evonne Goolagong Cawley to top the world rankings.

Suarez Navarro heads to Paris after recovering from cancerREUTERS – PARIS

Former world number six Carla Suarez Navarro has confirmed her participation at the French Open, which starts on Sunday, a month after she said she had been cured of cancer.

The 32-year-old Spaniard said in Sep-tember that she was diagnosed with early-stage Hodgkin’s lymphoma and would need to go through six months of chemotherapy.

“It makes me tremendously excited to be able to participate in Roland Garros,” she said on the website of the Spanish tennis federation.

“I have been working these last few months to give myself the opportunity to compete one last time in Paris.

“I am looking forward to jumping on to the court and feeling again how special this tournament has always been for me.”

Suarez Navarro, who is currently ranked 118th in the world, returned to practice in December and said last month she had com-pleted her treatment and was cured.

Nasser aims to rewrite his own history at Jordan RallyTHE PENINSULA – DEAD SEA, JORDAN

The 2021 edition of the world-renowned Jordan Rally, round two of this year’s FIA Middle East Rally Championship, gets underway at the Dead Sea today.

Record-breaking Qatari rally driver Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah will be aiming to rewrite his own history and win the event for a 14th time as he bids for a 17th regional rally title and a 78th victory on a round of the cham-pionship since 2003.

Speaking during the recce Al Attiyah said: “We are really happy to come back here to Jordan after the rally was can-celled last year because of COVID-19. Thanks to the

organisers and Prince Feisal to make this happen. It is very important for our region. Me and Mathieu (Baumel) are excited to be here.

“I have a lot of nice memories here. My start of racing was here in Jordan in 1989 in the Desert Challenge. We are ready and are so happy to see our friend Hamed

Al Wahaibi come back to do the race and to compete in the Middle East Championship. I hope all the drivers continue to come back each year.”

The Jordan event has attracted 13 entries in the FIA category and competitors from nine nations. They completed their two days of stage recon-naissance yesterday before cars pass through the mandatory FIA technical checks on this morning.

Several drivers, including Abdullah Al Rawahi and Hamed Al Wahaibi of the Oman Rally Team, also managed to fit in a shakedown of their cars at the start of the week to iron out any last minute issues.

Meshari Al Thefiri is bidding to continue his remarkable run of successes in the MERC2 cat-egory with his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X. The Kuwaiti said: “Eve-rything is excellent. We tested

the car on Monday in the Pan-orama stage before we went to the recce. We did a 30-kilometre test to fine tune everything and the plan was to do another test today. The stages look good. The organisers have done a really good job of planning. We have won the Group N category in the last three years and, of course, we want to finish the rally without problems.”

Several of the leading drivers will attend the official pre-event press conference on the podium before the first car crosses the Dead Sea start ramp from 16.20hrs on this afternoon

The competitive action will then take place over 10 gravel special stages tomorrow and Saturday.

Second round of 2021 FIA Middle East Rally Championship flags off today

Foakes to miss Tests after tearing hamstringREUTERS – LONDON

England wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes has been ruled out of next month’s two-test series against New Zealand after tearing his left hamstring, the country’s cricket board (ECB) said yesterday.

Foakes, 28, was set to play in what would have been his first home series before sustaining the injury when he slipped in the dressing room after Surrey’s County Championship game against Middlesex.

He is expected to be out for at least three months.James Bracey is now due to make his debut

behind the stumps at Lord’s, with England coach Chris Silverwood calling up Kent’s uncapped Sam Billings as Foakes’s replacement.

Children barred from second England vs New Zealand TestREUTERS – LONDON

Children will not be allowed to attend England’s second Test against New Zealand at Edgbaston next month after the match was chosen as one of the British government’s pilot events to allow bigger crowds.

The June 10-14 test will be the first event in the second phase of the government pro-gramme assessing the risk of COVID-19 transmission at mass participation events.

Edgbaston will now be allowed around 18,000 spec-tators a day, or 70% of capacity, but all ticket holders must be aged 16 and over.

The same rule will apply to the Royal Ascot horse racing from June 15-19, which has also been selected in the second phase.

An Edgbaston spokesman told Reuters just over 2,000 tickets, out of around 70,000, had been sold to under-16s across all five days before the ban which he confirmed was down to medical consent issues.

“We would have loved to have under-16s, it’s an unfor-tunate downside of the pro-tocols,” he added. “You want as many children as possible to see test cricket.” Purchasers would be offered full refunds,

upgrades of child tickets to adult ones or amendments to their bookings.

Under-16s will get in free to T20 cricket later in the year, however.

Royal Ascot said 12,000 people would be admitted each day.

“It is an opportunity to demonstrate how racing events are perfectly suited to safely hosting spectators in greater numbers as we progress through the government’s roadmap for the easing of lockdown restrictions,” said British Horseracing Authority chief executive Julie Harrington.

Asian Qualifiers set for epic return and decisive battles

Action from FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and Asian Cup 2023 qualifying match between India and Qatar at the Al Sadd Stadium in Doha in this September 10, 2019 file photo.

Morocco's RS Berkane players, the winners of the CAF Confederations Cup, during a practice session

in Doha, yesterday ahead of the CAF Super Cup 2020-21. They will take on Egypt's Al Ahly, the CAF Champions League winners at Jassim Bin Hamad

Stadium in tomorrow's title clash.

RS Berkane gearing up for CAF Super Cup showdown

Qatari driver Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah on his way to win the Jordan Rally in this file photo.

REUTERS – TOKYO

Japanese newspaper publisher Asahi Shimbun, an official partner of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, called for the Summer Games to be cancelled in an editorial yesterday, citing risks to public safety and strains on the medical system from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several polls have shown the majority of the public is opposed to holding the Games this summer, concerned about tens of thousands of athletes and officials descending on a country where vaccinations have proceeded slowly.

Doctors’ associations have protested holding the Games, investors have talked up the benefits of shelving them, and mav-erick businessmen such as Masayoshi Son have called for cancelling the games.

“We ask Prime Minister (Yoshihide) Suga to calmly and objectively assess the situation and decide on the cancellation of the event this summer,” said the paper, a left-leaning daily often critical of Suga’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

“We are far from a situ-ation in which everybody can be confident they will be ‘safe and secure’,” the paper added, invoking the government mantra about the Games.

In a statement later yes-terday, the Asahi Shimbun said it remained committed to being an official partner of the Tokyo 2020 Games and that its editorial division had its independent mission.

The company would “continue its activities as an official partner while mon-itoring the COVID-19 situ-ation,” the statement said.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto shrugged off the editorial, saying that “it is only natural for all sorts of media organisations to have all sorts of opinions” about the issue, at a news briefing held yesterday evening following a Tokyo 2020 executive board meeting.

He said the board did not discuss the possibility of a cancellation or post-ponement, instead dis-cussing the importance of communicating how safe the Olympics would be to the public.

Olympic organisers have insisted that the Games can go ahead as planned.

Speaking ahead of the board meeting, Tokyo 2020 President Seiko Hashimoto said only one coach tested positive for coronavirus over the course of four test events with almost 7,000 visitors from some 50 countries.

The events “are evi-dence that our current

coronavirus precautions are effective”, she said.

“Even baseball matches are being held currently with spectators. Why not go ahead with the Games?,” Kozo Yamamoto, a heavy-weight politician of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said in an interview with Reuters.

Although Japan has been spared the coronavirus

ravages of overseas nations, it has struggled to control a fourth wave of infections across the country.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike said yesterday she will ask that the current state of emergency, origi-nally set to be lifted at the end of May, to be extended for “about another month,” mere weeks before the Games is scheduled to start on July 23.

Just over 5% of the nation has received vacci-nations, and it has recorded about 719,000 infections and 12,394 deaths.

Although the majority of the population remains unvaccinated, the Japan Olympic Committee is expecting to start inocu-lating the Japanese Olympic delegation from June 1.

The Australian softball team is set to arrive in Japan on June 1 for a pre-Olympic training camp in Gunma, a prefecture about 150 km northwest of Tokyo.

18THURSDAY 27 MAY 2021Sport

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro

Muto shrugs off the

editorial, saying that “it is

only natural for all sorts of

media organisations to have

all sorts of opinions”

Tokyo 2020 President Seiko

Hashimoto said only one

coach tested positive for

coronavirus over the course

of four test events with

almost 7,000 visitors from

some 50 countries.

Official Tokyo 2020 partner urges Games cancellation

NBA: Mavericks take 2-0 series lead over ClippersAGENCIES – LOS ANGELES

Luka Doncic blew past Los Angeles defenders for 39 points, seven assists and seven rebounds, leading the visiting Mavericks to a 127-121 victory over the Clippers on Tuesday and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference first-round play-off series.

Doncic’s second straight 30-plus-point game leaves the Mavericks in a commanding position as the best-of-seven series heads back to Dallas for Game 3 on Friday and Game 4 on Sunday.

Tim Hardaway Jr. added 28 points, Kristaps Porzingis 20 and Maxi Kleber 13 for Dallas.

Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 41 points. Paul George contributed 28 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, and Reggie Jackson added 15 points.

Nets 130, Celtics 108 Kevin Durant scored 26 points and

Joe Harris added 25 as Brooklyn seized control early and cruised to a 2-0 series lead over Boston in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.

Harris hit seven of 10 3-point tries to tie the franchise record for 3-pointers in a playoff game set by Deron Williams in 2015. Durant added eight rebounds, five assists and four blocked shots and made 8 of 12 shots as the Nets shot 52.3 percent and hit 17 3-pointers.

James Harden contributed 20 points

and seven of Brooklyn’s 31 assists. Former Celtic Kyrie Irving finished with 15 and Blake Griffin chipped in 11 as no Brooklyn starter played more than 29 minutes.

Lakers 109, Suns 102 Anthony Davis amassed 34 points,

10 rebounds and seven assists as Los Angeles held off host Phoenix to even the first-round Western Conference playoff series at one game each.

LA Clippers guard Paul George dunks the ball during the second quarter of game two against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.

Carolina Hurricanes centre Martin Necas reacts after scoring a goal against the Nashville Predators in game five of the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Play-offs at PNC Arena on Tuesday. Hurricanes clinched a 3-2 come-from-behind victory on Tuesday night, pushing Carolina to a 3-2 lead in the first-round series.

The logo of Tokyo 2020

Olympic Games is

seen behind a traffic sign

at Tokyo Metropolitan Government

Office building.