■INDONESIA
Cup bid dropped by FIFA
Indonesia has been dropped from the race to host the 2022 World Cup because of a lack of government support, FIFA said in Zurich on Friday. “We have informed Indonesia that because they failed to provide a number of documented guarantees by the deadline, Indonesia is no longer a candidate for 2022,” FIFA secretary-general Jerome Valcke told reporters. “They are out of this process.” The announcement leaves Australia, England, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands/Belgium, Russia, Spain/Portugal and the US as candidates for the 2018 or 2022 finals, while Qatar and South Korea are bidding for the finals in 2022 only.
■IRAQ
FIFA lifts suspension
FIFA on Friday lifted its suspension on the Iraqi Football Association (IFA) after a solution was found to a spat over alleged government interference, officials said. “Iraq is fully back as a member of FIFA,” governing body president Sepp Blatter said. The IFA was suspended in November after police seized control of its offices and its governing board was dissolved on charges of links to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. FIFA had called for the members of the association’s executive committee to be reinstated. It said on Friday that the Iraqi national Olympic committee and the International Olympic Committee had helped restore the IFA’s “full authority.”
■TURKEY
Kurdish team to stay up
The Turkish Football Federation on Friday ruled against relegating Diyarbakirspor, the only Kurdish team in Turkey’s top league, after the team’s last two matches ended in fan violence. The case had become a matter of state, with politicians across Turkey’s fractious political spectrum and even the powerful military warning that penalizing Diyarbakirspor could harm Turkey’s national unity and radicalize Kurdish fans. The federation said on its Web site it had ruled against handing a second default defeat to Diyarbakirspor after a match against Istanbul’s Buyuksehir Belediyespor was abandoned in the 87th minute when fans invaded the pitch. The federation had already penalized Diyarbakirspor with a 3-0 default defeat to Bursaspor, after their match earlier this month was abandoned in the 17th minute because of crowd violence.
■FRANCE
Charges filed in PSG case
Preliminary charges of murder have been filed against three men suspected of taking part in an attack on a Paris Saint-Germain fan who died earlier this week. The three suspects, who were part of a group of four people arrested last week, have been freed under judicial supervision, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Friday. The 38-year-old PSG fan died late on Wednesday after spending weeks in a coma following an attack by rival PSG supporters.
■GERMANY
Maniche nets to grab point
Maniche scored a spectacular equalizer to earn Cologne a 1-1 draw at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Bundesliga on Friday. The Portuguese midfielder collected a pass from Zoran Tosic before firing into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area in the 79th minute. Marco Reus had put Borussia ahead in the 56th minute, running past three Cologne players and driving a low shot into the corner of the net. Cologne are without a win in seven games and Borussia in five, with both teams just above the relegation zone.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
LONG TIME COMING: With the addition of Marcus Smart, the Washington Wizards finally held a team to under 100 points, the last team this season to do so The Detroit Pistons on Monday won their seventh straight game in the NBA with in-form Cade Cunningham making 32 points and grabbing nine rebounds in a 106-97 win over the Los Angeles Clippers. The Pistons, who are in the playoff position, moved to 32-26, their best record at this stage of a season for 17 years. It was an all-round effort from Detroit with Tobias Harris adding 20 points and Jalen Duren making 19 rebounds along with his 12 points. It was a tight contest until Detroit pulled away late in the third quarter to tie their longest winning streak since the 2014-2015
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
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