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  • Bahamas top Finland 96-85 in Olympic qualifying tournament opener, Slovenia fall to Croatia


Bahamas top Finland 96-85 in Olympic qualifying tournament opener, Slovenia fall to Croatia

Spain's guard #02 Lorenzo Brown drives against Lebanon's guard #10 Ali Mansour during the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament basketball match between Finland and Bahamas in Valencia, on July 2, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 03 July 2024
AP
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Bahamas top Finland 96-85 in Olympic qualifying tournament opener, Slovenia fall to Croatia

  • The tournaments in Spain and Greece were two of four that started on Tuesday to determine the last four spots in the men’s basketball field for the Paris Olympics
  • Group play at all four sites continues through Thursday, with semifinal games Saturday and four games with Olympic berths on the line set for Sunday
Updated 03 July 2024
AP

LONDON: Buddy Hield and the Bahamas are a step closer to the Paris Olympics. Luka Doncic and Slovenia are now facing an uphill battle to get there.

Hield scored 24 points, Valdez Edgecombe Jr. added 20 and the Bahamas beat Finland 96-85 on Tuesday in the first game of the Olympic qualifying tournament at Valencia, Spain.

“We grinded it out. Grinded out a win today,” Hield said. “Staying together, figuring it out. Game of basketball is a game of runs. First half, we didn’t quite figure it out.”

The tournaments in Spain and Greece were two of four that started on Tuesday to determine the last four spots in the men’s basketball field for the Paris Olympics. Other tournaments are being held in Latvia and Puerto Rico, both of them also starting on Tuesday. Group play at all four sites continues through Thursday, with semifinal games Saturday and four games with Olympic berths on the line set for Sunday.

The Bahamas closed the game on a 44-21 run over the final 17 minutes, erasing what was a 12-point second-half deficit.

But for Slovenia, there was no comeback. At Piraeus, Greece, Croatia led by as many as 29 points and rolled to a 108-92 win. Doncic had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for Slovenia, while Croatia had a its own triple-double — 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists — from Dario Saric, along with 21 points from Goran Filipovic and 18 points in 19 minutes from Ivica Zubac.

Croatia can qualify for the semifinals on Wednesday with a win over New Zealand. Slovenia must beat New Zealand on Thursday to have any chance of keeping their Olympic hopes alive.

“Croatia played great,” Doncic said. “They outplayed us. ... I’ve got to play way better than this and we’ve got to play with way better energy.”

Doncic was dealing with injuries during the NBA Finals when Dallas lost to Boston, and he was clearly laboring at times on Tuesday as well. But he insisted he would keep going.

“It’s an honor for me to play for my country,” Doncic said. “A lot of times, there’s going to be injuries. But I just see a big honor for me to play for my country. We’re 2 million people and to represent my country, it means everything to me.”

Deandre Ayton scored 19 and Eric Gordon added 16 for the Bahamas, who can advance to the qualifier’s knockout round by beating Poland on Wednesday. It is an interesting mix for the Bahamas; three starters are NBA players, but the starting point guard is Lourawls Nairn — a former Michigan State player and now the associate head coach at Bowling Green.

“He’s a coaches’ dream and I think the players love playing with him,” Bahamas coach Chris DeMarco said. “He definitely belongs and he could be doing this for a living, but he pursued a different career.”

Mikael Jantunen and Edon Maxhuni each scored 20 for Finland, which faces Poland on Thursday.

Spain 104 Lebanon 59

At Valencia, host Spain rolled behind 17 points from Santi Aldama, 15 from Usman Garuba and 14 from Jaime Pradilla. Spain can wrap up a spot in the semifinals with a win over Angola on Wednesday.

Youssef Khayat scored 20 for Lebanon, which faces Angola on Thursday.

Brazil 81 Montenegro 72

At Riga, Latvia, Brazil trailed for most of the game but outscored Montenegro 29-16 in the fourth quarter to pull off the comeback.

Bruno Caboclo had 25 points and nine rebounds for Brazil, while Marcelinho Huertas added 17 points.

Nikola Vucevic led Montenegro with 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Montenegro must beat Cameroon on Wednesday to keep hopes of reaching the semifinals alive. Brazil faces Cameroon on Thursday.

Latvia 83 Georgia 55

At Riga, host Latvia outscored Georgia 28-11 in the second quarter to take complete control and rolled to the opening win.

Arturs Strautins scored 18 points on 5-for-5 shooting to lead a balanced Latvian scoring attack, while Mareks Mejeris scored 11 (also shooting 5-for-5) and Rolands Smits finished with 10.

Sandro Mamukelashvili led Georgia with 14 points.

Latvia can clinch a semifinal spot by beating the Philippines on Wednesday. Georgia and the Philippines play on Thursday to close the group round.

Dominican Republic 90 Egypt 77

At Piraeus, Jean Montero scored 17 points, and the Dominican Republic used a 14-0 run spanning the end of the second quarter and start of the third quarter to pull away.

Chris Duarte scored 14 points, Victor Liz had 12 and Angel Nunez finished with 11 for the Dominican Republic.

Ahmed Metwaly led Egypt with 24 points.

The Dominican Republic can clinch a semifinal spot if they beat Greece on Wednesday. Egypt play Greece on Thursday and must win to have any hope of advancing to the semifinals.

Italy 114, Bahrain 53

At San Juan, Puerto Rico, Danilo Gallinari and Nicolo Melli each scored 14 points and Italy finished with seven players in double figures.

Ahmed Hajji scored 12 points to lead Bahrain, which gave up the game’s final 19 points.

Bahrain must beat Puerto Rico on Wednesday to have any shot at the semifinals. Italy play Puerto Rico on Thursday.

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Berlin’s Turks stoked for Euros quarter-final ‘home game’

Updated 57 min 17 sec ago
AFP
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Berlin’s Turks stoked for Euros quarter-final ‘home game’

  • “The atmosphere will be like a home game for us,” said Muhammet Ali Sevilmis
  • With emotions expected to run high at the match, Berlin police have said they will deploy more officers, classifying Saturday’s quarter-final as a “high-risk game“
Updated 57 min 17 sec ago
AFP

BERLIN: Members of Berlin’s large Turkish community have vowed to paint the town red when their team comes to the German capital to play the Netherlands in Euro 2024 on Saturday.
“The atmosphere will be like a home game for us,” said Muhammet Ali Sevilmis, 36, who runs a phone repair shop in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district.
There will be “mainly Turks in the stadium,” predicted Sevilmis, who himself forked out 500 euros ($540) for a ticket after Turkiye’s victory over Austria to reach the quarter-finals.
“For us Turks, it doesn’t really matter whether it’s 100 euros more or less. The main thing is that we’re in the stadium celebrating on the day,” he told AFP.
Sevilmis will be joined in Berlin’s Olympiastadion by Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkish leader has announced his attendance amid a spiralling diplomatic row over an alleged ultra-nationalist hand sign made by Turkish defender Merih Demiral during his team’s win over Austria.
UEFA on Friday banned the player for two games over the hand gesture which it said flouted the “rules of decent conduct,” prompting fury from Ankara which blasted the decision as “unfair and biased.”
Turkiye had already been riled by Berlin’s condemnation of the hand gesture, with the Turkish foreign ministry calling it “xenophobia.”
Ambassadors of both countries were summoned in tit-for-tat moves as the episode once again laid bare the political tensions that often engulf Germany’s Turkish community.
With emotions expected to run high at the match, Berlin police have said they will deploy more officers, classifying Saturday’s quarter-final as a “high-risk game.”
But fans shrugged off the concerns, saying they are just looking forward to a nice party.
Berlin is home to the largest Turkish community outside of Turkiye, many of them the descendants of “guest workers” invited under a massive economic program in the 1960s and 70s.
Some 200,000 people with Turkish roots live in the city, or around six percent of the total population.
The Kreuzberg district in particular has become a hub for Turkish culture and restaurants serving the famous doner kebab.
Kavurma-Kofte, a small Turkish eatery with a terrace on one of the main streets running through the neighborhood, will be showing the match on a big screen on Saturday.
“It is special because many Turks live in Berlin and we will be the hosts,” said owner Kemal Salis, 64.
The restaurant is fully booked for Saturday, Salis said.
“We have not seen the Turkish team in such good form for a long time. It’s an atmosphere we have missed,” he said.
At Imren, another Turkish restaurant nearby, the excitement was tangible.
Ibrahim Filikci, 29, was still hoarse from celebrating the team’s win against Austria on Kurfuerstendamm, one of Berlin’s main shopping avenues where thousands of Turks gathered on Tuesday night.
Arrests were reported at a previous gathering on the street, but Filikci said the mood was peaceful.
“(The street) was completely blocked off. Police were there but everything was fine. No problems, no fights, everything was great,” he said.
Tahsin Yilmaz, 53, said he will be supporting both teams on Saturday, wearing half red and half orange, as his father worked in the Netherlands.
“I like the Netherlands and I want to party with them, drink with them, etc. The Dutch are very nice and friendly. You can have a nice time with them, dance and have fun,” he said.
Dutch fans have brought a lively atmosphere to the tournament, filling German cities with their bright orange shirts.
But Sevilmis believes they will be no match for the Turks in Berlin.
“We know the Oranje. It won’t be a competition. You’ll understand what I mean on the day,” he said.
Turks living in Germany have sometimes come under fire for their continued loyalty to the Turkish team, despite Germany fielding several players with Turkish roots — including captain Ilkay Gundogan.
Sevilmis, who was born in Berlin, pointed out that if all goes well for Turkiye, they could eventually face Germany in the final.
Would he still support Turkiye then?
“Of course.”

Topics: Euro 2024 Turkiye Merih Demiral Turkish fans Netherlands

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Vertonghen quits international football as most-capped Belgian

Updated 05 July 2024
AFP
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Vertonghen quits international football as most-capped Belgian

  • The 37-year-old former Tottenham player holds the Belgian record with 157 caps
  • He made his debut against Portugal in Euro qualifying in July 2007
Updated 05 July 2024
AFP

BRUSSELS: Veteran Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen, whose own goal knocked Belgium out of Euro 2024, announced his international retirement on Friday.
The 37-year-old former Tottenham player holds the Belgian record with 157 caps. He made his debut against Portugal in Euro qualifying in July 2007 and played his last match in the 1-0 loss to France in the Euros round of 16 on July 1.
“First one, last one. Thx for all the memories. I lived my dream,” Vertonghen wrote on Instagram alongside photos of him lining up before his first cap and last caps.
Euro 2024 in Germany was Vertonghen’s sixth major tournament. He scored 10 international goals.
“Thanks for everything, Jan!” wrote the Belgium Football Association on their website, adding on Instagram: “From the training ground to the pitch, you showed us what it was to be a true Red Devil. We’ll miss you, Jan.”
Vertonghen started his club career with Ajax, spent eight years at Spurs and moved to Benfica before returning to Belgium to play for Anderlecht last season.

Topics: Euro 2024 Belgium Jan Vertonghen

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Turkiye’s Demiral banned for two games, England’s Bellingham fined

Updated 05 July 2024
Reuters
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Turkiye’s Demiral banned for two games, England’s Bellingham fined

  • UEFA said Demiral was being punished “for failing to comply with the general principles of conduct”
  • Bellingham’s fine and suspended one-match ban were “for violating the basic rules of decent conduct,” UEFA said
Updated 05 July 2024
Reuters
BERLIN: UEFA suspended Turkiye player Merih Demiral for two matches on Friday for making a controversial gesture at the European Championship, an incident that has led to a diplomatic row between Turkiye and Germany.
The ban rules Demiral out of Turkiye’s quarterfinal against the Netherlands on Saturday, and the semifinal, should Turkiye progress.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to attend Saturday’s game. He scrapped plans to attend a meeting in Azerbaijan and decided to attend the match instead to support the team.
UEFA said it banned Demiral “for failing to comply with the general principles of conduct, for violating the basic rules of decent conduct, for using sports events for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the sport of football into disrepute.”
Demiral scored both goals Tuesday in a 2-1 win over Austria to earn Turkiye’s place in the quarterfinals and celebrated with a hand sign associated with an ultra-nationalist group.
After scoring the second goal he made a sign with each hand that is used by Turkish nationalists and associated with the Turkish ultra-nationalist organization Ulku Ocaklari, which is more widely known as the Gray Wolves.
Demiral defended the gesture afterward, saying it was an innocent expression of national pride and that he was hoping he’d have “more opportunities to do the same gesture again.”
It was condemned by German interior minister Nancy Faeser and other German politicians, leading to a harsh rebuke from Turkish authorities and the summoning of the German ambassador.
Turkiye’s Foreign Ministry slammed UEFA’s investigation as a politically motivated reaction “to the use of a historical and cultural symbol” and said German authorities’ statements about Demiral’s gesture “themselves contain xenophobia.”
UEFA launched its investigation into Demiral’s gesture on Wednesday. The Turkish camp had until Friday to state its case. There was no immediate reaction from the Turkish soccer association to the ban.
Demiral was previously one of 16 Turkiye players reprimanded in 2019 for making military-style salutes at games at a time when the country was conducting a military offensive in Syria.
The Gray Wolves group was founded as the youth wing of Turkiye’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, which is currently in an alliance with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, the Justice and Development Party.
In the decades following its founding in the 1960s, the group was accused of involvement in politically motivated violence, mostly against leftist groups.

Palestinian soccer team plans to play World Cup qualifiers in the West Bank

Updated 05 July 2024
AP
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Palestinian soccer team plans to play World Cup qualifiers in the West Bank

  • The football association has proposed playing games in the third stage of its Asian qualification campaign in the West Bank
Updated 05 July 2024
AP

After advancing further than ever in World Cup qualifying, the Palestinian soccer team is determined to host a game for a change.
The football association has proposed playing games in the third stage of its Asian qualification campaign in the West Bank and already has support from a number of its opponents, starting against Jordan on Sept. 10.
The Palestinian team progressed through the second round of continental qualifying for the first time in its history in June but, because of the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, staged its ‘home’ games in nearby Kuwait and Qatar.
“Playing at a neutral venue isn’t permanent and was never meant to be so,” Susan Shabali, the PFA’s deputy president, told The Associated Press. “Faisal Al-Husseini is ready to host.”
The 12,500 capacity Faisal Al-Husseini International Stadium is situated in the West Bank town of Al Ram. In 2019, it hosted the team’s last competitive home game, a World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia that ended 0-0.
“We hope that all goes well,” Shalabi said, adding that there’d been “no objections” from FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, or the Asian Football Confederation.
Israel launched a major offensive in Gaza in response to an Oct. 7 Hamas attack into southern Israel in which around 1,200 people were killed and another 250 people were abducted.
The Israeli offensive has killed more than 38,000, according to health officials in Gaza, who don’t say how many were civilians or militants. The war has caused vast destruction across the territory, displaced most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million — often multiple times — caused widespread hunger and raised fears of famine.
The Palestinian team’s success has been remarkable amid the ongoing war and the fact it has played dozens of games on the road since 2019, and the players have had to move for safety and seek overseas contracts.
While there is little soccer currently being played in the territory, most players in the Palestinian roster belong to clubs in foreign leagues. The most recent roster saw coach Makram Daboub select players based in countries including Sweden, Belgium, Libya, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan.
Mohammed Rashid, who plays club soccer for Bali United in Indonesia, told reporters in Perth last month ahead of the second-round finale against Australia that the hardest part of competing in international competition was not being able to play at home.
On June 27, the Palestinian team, currently ranked No. 95 in the world, was drawn in Group B of the third round which contains South Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman and Kuwait.
The top two from each of the three groups of six qualify automatically for the 2026 World Cup.
After the opening game in South Korea on Sept. 5, the Palestinians return to West Asia to take on Jordan five days later.
The Jordan Football Association issued a statement this week to “affirm its position in support of the Palestinian Football Association’s right to hold its home matches on its land and among its fans.”
“Jordan is proud to be the first team to face our Palestinian brothers in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers on Palestinian territory,” the statement said.
The Oman Football Association also said it supported the PFA’s “legitimate right to hold official national team matches in front of its fans on home soil.” Kuwait earlier issued its support.

Topics: War on Gaza FIFA World Cup qualifiers

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Pakistan play Thailand today in Asian snooker championship final in Riyadh

Updated 05 July 2024
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Pakistan play Thailand today in Asian snooker championship final in Riyadh

  • Duo of Asjad Iqbal and Awais Munir beat Hongkong in semis, India in quarter-finals
  • Asian 15-Red Men’s Team Snooker Championship 2024 taking place in Saudi Arabia
Updated 05 July 2024
Hasaan Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan snooker team has qualified for the Asian 15-Red Men’s Team Snooker Championship 2024 finals and will play Thailand today, Friday, after the duo of Asjad Iqbal and Awais Munir beat Hong Kong in a match-winning 3-1 semifinal performance in Riyadh.
The Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports (ACBS), which governs non-professional snooker and English billiards in the Asian region, has organized the international snooker tournament. The ACBS, previously known as the Asian Billiards and Snooker Federation, was officially inaugurated in 1984.
“Pakistan has qualified for the final of Asian 15-Red Men’s Team Snooker Championship 2024 beating Hong Kong in Saudi Arabia,” state-run Radio Pakistan said on Friday. “In the semifinal, the Pakistani team defeated Hong Kong by 3-1 in Riyadh.”
The Pakistani team played arch-rival neighboring India in the quarter-finals, beating India’s Sarav Kothari and Hussain Khan by 3-0 with frame scores of 63-35, 75-22 and 70-06. Earlier, Pakistan also defeated Myanmar 3-0 with frame scores of 87-39, 72-45, and 71-25.
The Pakistani team has already secured the silver medal in the Asian snooker championship by reaching the semifinals. The championship comprises 18 teams divided into six groups, with the top four teams in the round matches qualifying directly for the quarterfinals. 
Last year, Pakistani snooker player Mohammad Asif stunned seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry 4-2 in the qualifying round of the British Open.

Topics: #riyadh Pakistani snooker player

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