Soccer: Another issue with another soccer event. Africa Cup of Nations version 33rd came back, and this time in Cameroon between Jan9, till Feb6. The championship had 24 teams divided into six groups; each group had four teams. In Group A: Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Ethiopia. Group B: Guinea, Senegal, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Group C: Morocco, Gabon, Ghana & Comoros. Group D: Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan & Egypt. Group E: Ivory Coast, Algeria, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea. Group F: Gambia, Mali, Mauritania and Tunisia. As of writing this article, Jan 15th. Groups A, B, and C played two rounds out of three, while the other three played only one match. The current standing is as follows: Group A: Cameroon with the full mark of 6 points, Burkina Faso and Cape Verde 3 points each, while Ethiopia has 0 points. Group B: Guinea and Senegal have 4 points, Malawi has 3 points, and Zimbabwe has 0 points. Group C: Morocco has a full mark with 6 points, Gabon comes second with 4 points, Ghana with 1 point, and Comoros with 0 points. Group D: Nigeria has 3 points, Guinea-Bissau and Sudan have 1 point, and the surprise is that Egypt has 0 points. Group E: the same order as group D: Ivory Coast 3 points, Algeria, and Sierra Leone 1 point each then Equatorial Guinea with no point. Last group F: Gambia and Mali have 3 points each while Mauritania and Tunisia have no points. Based on the current results, Morocco is the earlier team that reserved their spot in the next stage of the championship.
A big Scandal happened during the match between Tunisia and Mali. The referee Jani Sikazwe ended the match at the 85th minute, which is 5 minutes before the original time of the game. The score was Mali 1 – 0 Tunisia. The Tunisian coach Munther El-Kabir, staff and players objected to the ruling, and they legally forced the referee to resume the match. Then again, the referee ended the match at the 89th minute, which is one minute before the original time, ignoring the extra time he was supposed to add. Again, the Tunisian team objected to his decision, but the referee refused to listen to them this time, and he insisted on removing the two teams and referees from the field/stadium. After a couple of minutes, the fourth referee Helder Martins decided to resume the match without the main referee because he knew that they did not play the full time of the match, but the Tunisian team rejected and left the stadium with the plan to file an objection to the Confederation of African Football. The answer came back from the African Confederation with a rejection of the objection submitted by the Tunisian team without explaining the reasons. By the next issue, we will know the champion of the 33rd version of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Tennis: Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic was placed under administrative detention, Saturday, Jan 15th, in Australia, as he was on the way to play in the Australian Open. Australia cancelled Djokovic’s visa for the second time within a few days. The reason behind it is that Djokovic did not receive any of the COVID 19 vaccines, which is against the Australian protocol of travel. Australia explained later that if they give exemption to Djokovic, this may encourage the anti-vaccine people in Australia. The decision means that Djokovic cannot apply for any entry visa to Australia for the next three years, except in exceptional circumstances. The main question that came to my mind is why a professional tennis player like Djokovic did not receive his vaccine yet. Since he did not receive his first shot, that means he is not planning to get vaccinated at all. Does the vaccine have side effects on the athletes? Is he the only athlete who did not receive the vaccine? And many other questions about it. I am 100% with the decision of the Australian government, no exemption in this regard and all the countries should follow in Australia’s footsteps.
Rally: The Qatari racer Nasser Al-Attiyah received a lot of official and popular congratulations from official and popular people, after winning the Dakar Rally in the car category for the fourth time in his life career, after the 12th and final stage in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Jan 12th.
For its part, the Qatar Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, through its official account on Twitter, congratulated the Toyota driver, where it published a picture of his victory celebration and wrote, “We congratulate our hero Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah for winning first place in the 2022 Dakar Rally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” The Qatar Rally Champion received the congratulations of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation in a tweet posted on his official account on Twitter, “Congratulations to Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah for winning the fourth Dakar Rally, and for our hero Yazid Al-Rajhi for taking the podium in third place.” Sports federations also celebrated Al-Attiyah’s fourth victory, the Qatar Football Association, and the Qatar Swimming Association.
Soccer: Another issue with another soccer event. Africa Cup of Nations version 33rd came back, and this time in Cameroon between Jan9, till Feb6. The championship had 24 teams divided into six groups; each group had four teams. In Group A: Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde and Ethiopia. Group B: Guinea, Senegal, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Group C: Morocco, Gabon, Ghana & Comoros. Group D: Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan & Egypt. Group E: Ivory Coast, Algeria, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea. Group F: Gambia, Mali, Mauritania and Tunisia. Up to the date of writing this article, Jan 15th. Groups A, B, and C played two rounds out of three, while the other three played only one match. The current standing is as follows: Group A: Cameroon with the full mark of 6 points, Burkina Faso and Cape Verde 3 points each, while Ethiopia has 0 points. Group B: Guinea and Senegal have 4 points, Malawi has 3 points, and Zimbabwe has 0 points. Group C: Morocco has a full mark with 6 points, Gabon comes second with 4 points, Ghana with 1 point and lastly Comoros with 0 point. Group D: Nigeria has 3 points, Guinea-Bissau and Sudan have 1 point, and the surprise that Egypt has 0 point. Group E: the same order as group D: Ivory Coast 3 points, Algeria, and Sierra Leone 1 point each then Equatorial Guinea with no point. Last group F: Gambia and Mali each have 3 points while Mauritania and Tunisia have no points. Based on the current results, Morocco is the earlier team who reserved his spot in the next stage of the championship.
A big Scandal happened during the match between Tunisia and Mali. The referee Jani Sikazwe ended the match at the 85th minute, which is 5 minutes before the original time of the game. The score was Mali 1 – 0 Tunisia. The Tunisian coach Munther El-Kabir with the staff and players objected to the ruling and they legally forced the referee to resume the match. Then again, the referee ended the match at the 89th minute, which is one minute before the original time, ignoring the extra time he was supposed to add. Then again, the Tunisian team objected to his decision, but the referee refused to listen to them this time, and he insisted on removing the two teams and referees from the field/stadium. After couple minutes, the fourth referee Helder Martins decided to resume the match without the main referee, because he knew that they did not play the full time of the match, but the Tunisian team rejected and left the stadium with the plan to file an objection to the Confederation of African Football. The answer came back from the African Confederation with rejection of the objection submitted by the Tunisian team, without explaining the reasons. By the time of the next issue, we will know the champion of the 33rd version of the Africa Cup of Nations.
Tennis: Novak Djokovic, the Serbian tennis was placed under administrative detention, Saturday, Jan 15th. in Australia, as he was on the way to play in the Australian Open. Australia canceled Djokovic’s visa for the second time within a few days. The reason behind it is that Djokovic did not receive any of the COVID 19 vaccines, and this is against the Australian protocol of travel. Australia explained later that if they give exemption to Djokovic, this may encourage the anti-vaccine people in Australia. The decision means that Djokovic is not allowed to apply for any type of entry visa to Australia for the next 3 years period, except in exceptional circumstances. The main question came to my mind is why a professional tennis player like Djokovic did not receive his vaccine yet, and since he did not receive his first shot even, that means he is not planning at all to get vaccinated. Does the vaccine have side effects on the athletes? is he the only athlete who did not receive the vaccine? And many other questions mark about it. I am 100% with the decision of the Australian government, no exemption in this regard and all the countries should follow in Australia’s footsteps.
Rally: The Qatari racer Nasser Al-Attiyah received a lot of official and popular congratulations from official and popular people, after winning the Dakar Rally in the car category for the fourth time in his life career, at the conclusion of the 12th and final stage in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Jan 12th.
For its part, the Qatar Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, through its official account on Twitter, congratulated the Toyota driver, where it published a picture of his victory celebration and wrote, “We congratulate our hero Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah for winning first place in the 2022 Dakar Rally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” The Qatar Rally Champion received the congratulations of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, in a tweet posted on his official account on Twitter, “Congratulations to Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah for winning the fourth Dakar Rally, and for our hero Yazid Al-Rajhi for taking the podium in third place.” Sports federations also participated, celebrating Al-Attiyah’s fourth victory, the Qatar Football Association, and the Qatar Swimming Association.
