FC Goa placed in Group E of ACL
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27: Indian Super League team FC Goa was on Wednesday clubbed with the last edition’s runners-up Persepolis FC of Iran, Qatari heavyweights Al Rayyan SC and one yet-to-qualify side in Group E in the prestigious AFC Champions League (ACL). The group stage draw of the continent’s top-tier league involving 40 teams was held online here. . FC Goa had become the first Indian club to directly qualify for the group stage of the ACL by virtue of finishing on top of the points table at the end of the league phase. (PTI)
AFC Cup: ATKMB in Group D
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27: Indian Super League team ATK Mohun Bagan was on Wednesday clubbed with Bangladesh’s Basundhara Kings, Maldives’ Maziya S&RC and one yet-to-qualify side in the Group D of this season’s AFC Cup. The group stage draw of the continent’s second-tier club competition involving 39 teams — an increase of three from 2019 — was held online here. Fellow ISL side Bengaluru FC could be the yet-to-qualify side as they face the winner of the play-off preliminary round one clash between Nepal Army Club and Sri Lanka Police in the preliminary round two on April 14. (PTI)
Buffon in blasphemy probe
ROME, Jan 27: Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was reported to an Italian soccer federation court for allegedly using a blasphemous expression. The federation on Tuesday said Buffon uttered the words — which they did not specify — while shouting at teammate Manolo Portanova in the 80th minute of Juve’s 4-0 win at Parma last month. In Italy, blasphemy is considered among the worst type of swearing. (AP)
Arsenal signs Odegaard on loan
London, Jan 27: Arsenal has signed Norway midfielder Martin Odegaard on loan from Real Madrid for the rest of the season, the latest step in the career of a player who is looking to fulfill the promise he showed after making his international debut as a 15-year-old. Odegaard has been at Madrid since 2015 — when he joined at the age of 16 — but failed to establish himself at the Spanish giant and has had loan spells at Heerenveen and Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands and then at Real Sociedad last season. (AP)
Kagawa signs for Greek club PAOK
Thessaloniki (Greece), Jan 27: Former Manchester United midfielder Shinji Kagawa signed with Greek club PAOK Thessaloniki on Wednesday. The club, which won the Greek title in 2019 for the first time since the mid-1980s, said the Japan international signed an 18-month contract. (AP)
Murray in challenger event in Italy
ROME, Jan 27: Andy Murray has entered a lower-tier challenger tournament in Italy next month after withdrawing from the Australian Open with the coronavirus. Murray is listed to play an indoor tournament in Biella starting Feb. 15, the Italian Tennis Federation said Wednesday. (AP)
Two tennis players banned for life
LONDON, Jan 27: Two Russian tennis players were banned from the sport for life on Wednesday for match-fixing, including incidents when they played together as doubles partners. The International Tennis Integrity Agency said Alija Merdeeva was found guilty of two counts of match-fixing. Sofia Dmitrieva was found guilty on six counts of match-fixing and was also charged with failing to cooperate with an investigation. (AP)
IOC, Tokyo Olympics to unveil rule bookfor beating pandemic
TOKYO, Jan 27: Remember the word: Playbook. This is the rule book that the IOC and Tokyo organizers are set to roll out next week to explain how 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes and tens of thousands of others will try to safely enter Japan when the Olympics open in just under six months. Organizers and the International Olympic Committee are finally going public with their planning, hoping to push back against reports the Olympics will be canceled with Tokyo and much of Japan still under a state of emergency with COVID-19 cases rising. (AP)
National Racing Championship: Nongrum finishes 3rd
New Delhi, Jan 27: Ahura Racing’s Anushriya Gulati scored a rare double in the JK Tyre FMSCI Indian National Racing Championship, claiming the LGB-4 Rookie crown as well as the women’s category title over the weekend in Coimbatore. Anushriya held off a strong challenge in the women’s category too, pipping Mira Erda and Phoebe Nongrum of Shillong to the title. (PTI)