Australia start WC qualifier ‘campaign’ against Kuwait
Son eyes 10th straight WCup spot Bridge Results
KUWAIT CITY, Sept 9 (AP): Australia start its campaign with a tricky trip to Kuwait, which trounced Nepal 7-0 in the opening game of Group B. Iran travels to Hong Kong for its first game, while 2022 World Cup host Qatar will be coming off a 6-0 win over Afghanistan when it takes on India, which lost its opening game at home to Oman
Son Heungmin has called for his South Korea teammates to step it up as their campaign to qualify for a 10th successive World Cup kicks off on Tuesday in Turkmenistan.
The last time the South Koreans did not qualify for the World Cup was in 1982, an unbroken streak only bettered by Brazil, Germany, Argentina and Spain.
A 2-2 draw in a warmup game against Georgia last week in Istanbul concerned Son, the Tottenham forward who is captain of the South Korean team.
“If we play like we did against Georgia then we will not qualify for
Son RESULTS of the Bi-weekly Bridge Tournament played on Sunday, Sept 8, 2019.
1. Numan Al-Turki / Bader Al Rafaee; 2. Abdul Salam Ibrahim / Ahmed Alruaweh; 3. Ahmed Ramadan / Khaled Al-Oubaidi; 4. Siobhan Doran / Shahla Mohamed; 5. Nabeel M. Al Hussaini / Sood Al Tatan; 6. Nancy Hajjaj / Alia Aidi.
We conduct duplicate Bridge tournament every Sunday and Wednesday at 19:30 hours at ‘the Graduates Club’, next to Kuwait Engineering Society. Interested Bridge pairs or individual players please contact Mohammed Merchant. Tel: # 24815622 / 24841158 / 99612287.
qualifying.
China are also set to open their campaign Tuesday, with newlynaturalized Brazilian-born player Elkeson hoping to contribute to a win over Maldives in Group A.
The Guangzhou Evergrande striker is now also known as Ai Kesen after receiving Chinese citizenship last month.
Becoming the first player of nonChinese heritage to be called up by the national team, the former Botafogo star has divided opinion in the country. But if he can score the goals to take China to a first World Cup since 2002, the doubters may be silenced. Most importantly, he has the full support of China’s head coach Marcello Lippi.
“I spoke to Lippi some time ago about the possibility of playing for China and I’m very happy the day has come,” Elkeson said, adding that he has been made to feel very welcome by his teammates. “I want to play my part for China.”
Japan, aiming for a seventh successive World Cup appearance, warmed up for their Group F opener against Myanmar with a 2-0 home win over Paraguay in Kashima.
Only four players on Japan’s 23man roster are based in the domestic league.
“We have more players going overseas and playing in tougher environments, and I think that’s a good thing,” said Yuto Nagatomo, who plays for Galatasaray in Turkey. “Without players who can have success at the bigger clubs then Japanese soccer won’t grow stronger.” Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo is blocked by Czech Republic players during a match at the FIBA Basketball World Cup at the Shenzhen Bay Sports
Center in Shenzhen on Sept 9. (AP)
SHENZHEN, China, Sept 9, (AP): The Czech Republic and the United States completed the field on Monday for the quarter-finals of the basketball World Cup.
The Czech’s did it the hard way. Despite losing to Greece 84-77 in the second-round group game, the Czech Republic (3-2) advanced after the United States defeated Brazil a few hours later 89-73 – also in Shenzhen, China.
Greece (3-2) needed to beat the Czechs by 12 points or more and then wait and hope that the United States defeated Brazil. In the end it didn’t matter.
In Monday’s other key game, Australia (5-0) beat France (4-1) 100-98.
United States’ Myles Turner reaches for the ball near Brazil’s Vitor Benite (right), during a match at the FIBA Basketball World Cup at the Shenzhen
Bay Sports Center in Shenzhen on Sept 9. (AP)