Tag: Qatar

DOHA - Bruno Metsu has been sacked as Qatar's football coach less than a week after the end of the Asian Cup where the hosts failed to get past the quarter-final stage, it was announced on Thursday. Metsu's original contract was to have run until 2014. The Frenchman, who took over the reins of the Gulf side in September 2008 from Uruguayan Jorge Fossati, has had a tough time in Doha with the national team failing to make a mark on the international stage.
A late surge of

DOHA - Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam on Saturday ruled out any games during the Qatar 2022 World Cup being played in neighbouring countries. His comments followed UEFA president Michel Platini saying this week that he was in favour of distributing the tournament among several Gulf countries to help better develop football across the region.
Bin Hammam, himself a Qatari and instrumental in bringing the World Cup to his desert homeland, said it that as far as he was

DOHA - Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam has praised Qatar's hosting of the Asian Cup, calling it the perfect rehearsal for the World Cup in 2022. Bin Hammam, himself a Qatari, who was instrumental in helping bring the World Cup to his homeland, also hailed the quality of football on show at the continental showpiece.
"It's been an extremely well organised event by Qatar," said the Asian Football Confederation president, who has not ruled out running against FIFA boss Sepp

DOHA - Uzbekistan coach Vadim Abramov set the scene for his team's Asian Cup quarter-final with Jordan on Friday by calling them dangerous, but lucky. The Uzbeks have been impressive in reaching the last eight, beating hosts Qatar 2-0, overcoming Kuwait 2-1 and drawing 2-2 with China as they seek to make the semi-finals for the first time.
Jordan also held their own, drawing with three-time champions Japan, then beating Saudi Arabia and Syria as they too look for a maiden last

DOHA - Qatar coach Bruno Metsu is wary of Gulf Cup champions Kuwait in their must-win clash at the Asian Cup on Sunday, knowing they are desperate to salvage their reputation after two defeats. The host nation go into the game at Al Khalifa Stadium on three points in Group A, alongside China, with Uzbekistan on six points and Kuwait on none.
If they beat Kuwait and China either lose or draw with the Uzbeks, then they will be through to the knockout rounds.
Like Kuwait, they

DOHA - Roger Federer hammered out his determination to hang on to his Australian Open title when he brushed aside Nikolay Davydenko to regain the Qatar Open crown on Saturday.
Last year the Russian beat the Swiss master on the way to the title.
This time world number two Federer overwhelmed the defending champion, who had put out top seed Rafael Nadal in Friday's semi-finals, 6-3, 6-4 to complete the capture of the trophy without dropping a set. He was assertive,

DOHA - Second seed Roger Federer reached the Qatar Open quarter-finals on Wednesday with a 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 win over compatriot and close friend Marco Chiudinelli.
The 2005 and 2006 Doha champion fought back from a 4-5 deficit in the tie-break and then saw qualifier Chiudinelli lead 3-1 in the second set before he recovered to eventually take victory with a smash. French third seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga, making his comeback from a left knee injury, moved into the last eight with a

DOHA - Roger Federer began the season which he hopes will see him add to his record 16 Grand Slam titles with a fighting win and a finish which took the roof off in the first round of the Qatar Open.
The tennis legend was forced to save three successive set points to get past Thomas Schoorel, an enterprising 21-year-old qualifier from The Netherlands, but then concluded the match amidst laughter and tumultuous applause for a shot which should get endless on-line video replays.

LONDON - England coach Fabio Capello said on Wednesday that he believes it would make sense to run the 2022 World Cup in Qatar in January, given the soaring summer temperatures in the Gulf state.
Capello feels that the summer conditions in Qatar would make it difficult to keep players relaxed between matches.
"It will not be easy for the players to stay all day in the hotel - you can't run around the hotel," explained the Italian.
"It's a big problem, not only for the

LAHORE: Pakistan's young tennis player Iman Qureshi outplayed her Indian opponent in a marathon quarter-final match of the Qatar Asian Junior Tennis Championship in Doha and has also reached the doubles final. Iman, one of the few Pakistani girls on international tennis circuit, surprised everyone when she beat her much superior opponent from India Rakeetha Pariera in a three hour long match.
Iman stunned the tournament's top seed and Asian Junior champion Rakeetha Pariera in

LAHORE: A consumer count on Saturday summoned Qatar Airways for reconciliation with an aggrieved handicap person who along with his wife and two minors had been allowed traveling towards Ecuador without visas by the airlines.
The court while fixing the December 15, summoned Qatar Airline through its manager, during the hearing of an application filed by Imran Ali, his wife Humaira Ali and minors Shayan Ali and Shaheera Ali.
In the application filed though Nasir Mahmud

ZURICH: Russia and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar were awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups Thursday after an acrimonious bidding war marred by allegations of corruption and illegal deal-making.
In a historic conclusion to two years of frenzied lobbying, world football supremo Sepp Blatter revealed the winners following a secret ballot of 22 FIFA executive committee members in Zurich.
The announcement means the World Cup will be staged in two countries which have never hosted