India hold Asian Cup champions Qatar 0-0
NEWDELHI:INDIA fought with determination and defended by the skin of their teeth to hold Asian champions and World Cup hosts Qatar to a goalless draw in their Group E game of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualifying event at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, on Tuesday. India, who were without their talisman Sunil Chhetri, had lost their opening game against Oman 2-1 after taking the lead in Guwahati last week. Chhetri was recovering from a fever. On Tuesday, India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was the hero of the match pulling off spectacular saves as Qatar players looked frustrated.
BARTY QUALIFIES
World number one Ashleigh Barty has become the first player to qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals in Shenzhen, the WTA Tour has said. The 23-yearold, who won her maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open this year, will be making her singles debut in the Oct. 27-Nov. 3 Finals, which offer $14 million in prize money. “It’s been a goal from the very start of the year to qualify for the WTA Finals,” Barty, Australia’s first women’s number one since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1976, told the WTA website.
“I’m proud of the work my team and I have put in to get to this point, and I’m honoured to be among the top eight players of the season.” Barty will be the first Australian to compete at the season-ending tournament since Samantha Stosur in 2012.
MATOS HANDED LIFE BAN FOR MATCH-FIXING
LONDON: Brazil’s Diego Matos was given a life ban from professional tennis and fined $125,000 after being found guilty of match-fixing on Monday. An anti-corruption hearing found Matos contrived the outcome of 10 matches played in 2018 at ITF level tournaments in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Portugal and Spain.
The 31-year-old was also found guilty of not cooperating with a Tennis Integrity Unit investigation as he refused to comply fully with requests to provide his mobile phone for forensic examination and failed to supply financial records. Matos has been ordered to repay $12,000 he received from tournaments in Ecuador. He had been provisionally suspended from tennis since December 2018.
ALL ENGLAND CLUB TOP EXEC TO STEP DOWN
LONDON: Former British Davis Cup player Richard Lewis said on Tuesday he will step down as chief executive of the All England Club at Wimbledon after next year’s Championships. “It has been an immense privilege to be chief executive of the club and to play a part in the continued evolution of the club and The Championships,” Lewis, 64, said in a statement on Tuesday.