Qatar staged high-profile sports action last week with the final two FIFA World Cup Play-offs in Al Rayyan grabbing the limelight. Apart from the two exciting matches, Qatar also staged a major gymnastics event by hosting leading athletes of Asia and world’s young basketball talent.
The play-offs played at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium – one of the eight Qatar 2022 venues - on June 13 and 14 produced exciting action. In the penultimate play-off, Australia defeated Peru 5-4 in penalty shootout after a goalless draw, with substitute goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne – introduced in the final moments of the match – stealing the show with his dancing-on-the-line style to distract Peru’s penalty-takers.
Redmayne succeeded with his antics seeing one of Peru’s strikes hitting the post before he blocked the sudden-death spot kick to confirm Socceroos fifth consecutive World Cup appearance. Australia’s qualification meant Asia will have record six teams at the World Cup also including hosts Qatar, Iran, Japan, Korea Republic and Saudi Arabia.
Costa Rica completed the 32-team line-up after edging New Zealand 1-0 in the last play-off, thanks to a third-minute goal by former Arsenal player Joel Campbell. Qatar 2022 will be last World Cup edition featuring 32 teams as the tournament will be expanded to 48 nations from the 2026 edition to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
While congratulating the qualifying nations, FIFA President Gianni Infantino reiterated that Qatar 2022 will be the best World Cup edition ever. “In a few months time, we will celebrate the best World Cup ever,” Infantino said in his message for the 32 teams and their fans.
Meanwhile, Doha’s state-of-the-art Aspire Dome hosted the 9th Senior Asian Artistic Gymnastics Championships, which concluded yesterday. Over 135 male and female gymnasts representing 21 countries were seen in action during the four-day event, which kicked off with a colourful opening ceremony. The Qatar Gymnastics Federation, which hosted the 2018 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, received huge praise for their wonderful organisation of the championships.
Also, Qatar is staging the FIBA U-16 Asian Championship with participation of 13 teams including Australia, Bahrain, India, Iran, Lebanon, Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Kuwait, South Korea, New Zealand and Kazakhstan besides the home team at the Al Gharafa Club Hall. The event which will conclude today is witnessing huge fans attendance. The Qatar Basketball Federation is eyeing to build strong Qatar team by hosting such tournaments featuring the youngsters.
