Women’s U-17 WC to be held in Feb-mar 2021
women’s Under-17 World Cup, due to be held in India in November, has been postponed for three months, FIFA said on Tuesday, adding to a growing list of events hit by the pandemic.
The tournament, to be played in five cities across the country, will now start February 17, football’s governing body said.
India is looking to boost its international standing as a host of top sporting events after holding the men’s Under-17 World Cup in 2017. “All the host cities have put in a lot of effort and commitment so far, and we are happy that the new dates will allow them to make up for the lost time and provide momentum going forward,” the local organising committee said after the FIFA announcement.
FIFA also unveiled new dates for this year’s U-20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica and Panama. It will now be played from
January 20 to February 6, 2021. The 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania has been pushed back to September 12 next year.
Meanwhile, the 70th FIFA Congress, which was due to be held in Addis Ababa, will be run as an online event on September 18.
SERIE A SET FOR TEAM TRAINING ON MAY 18
A clubs can return to team training from May 18 if they make adjustments to medical protocols, the Italian government has announced.
The Italian Football Federation
(FIGC) met with the government’s technical scientific committee (CTS) last week to discuss details for a return to group training as the country emerges from a two-month lockdown.
Italy’s sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora and health minister Roberto Speranza said in a joint statement on Monday that the CTS had largely accepted the FIGC protocol for a resumption of group sessions.
“The opinion requested by the government from the Technical Scientific Committee confirms the line of prudence,” the ministers’ statement said.
CAGLIARI PLAYERS GIVE UP MONTH’S SALARY
top-flight club Cagliari has announced that their first-team squad have agreed to forego their salaries for the month of April.
Club president Tommaso Giulini thanked the players “for their sensitivity in wanting to contribute to protecting the club in a particularly complicated and difficult to predict period”.
“As also requested by the signatories of the document, this transaction will contribute to a drastic reduction in layoffs of club employees,” the Sardinian club added.
WITSEL, CAN TO MISS BUNDESLIGA RESTART
Former Liverpool star Emre Can and Belgian international Axel Witsel will miss Borussia Dortmund’s derby with Schalke 04 on Saturday as German football makes a tentative comeback.
As with all other fixtures in the rest of the Bundesliga season, it will be played behind closed doors with the players quarantined for a week before kick-off.
Because Can and Witsel both need treatment to muscle strains, they have had to leave the team’s quarantine ‘bubble’ so cannot play on Saturday.known as the Ruhr derby, Dortmund versus Schalke is a key fixture as German
football blazes a trail for Europe by resuming two months after it was halted.
BALBIR SINGH SR REMAINS CRITICAL
Hockey legend Balbir Singh Sr on Tuesday suffered a cardiac arrest and his condition remains critical, his grandson Kabir said in a medical update.
The 96-year-old, a triple Olympic gold medallist, was hospitalised in Mohali on May 8.
“Nanaji was admitted on Friday, 8th May in a very serious multi-organ affected state. His condition had improved slightly but was and is still critical now.
“Doctors will be continuously assessing his condition over the next 24-48 hours, before any further statements about his condition are issued. He continues to be on ventilator assistance,” said Kabir. Last year, Balbir Sr was discharged from PGI after spending 108 days in the hospital, where he underwent treatment for bronchial pneumonia.