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sports Diasabra 27 Maart 2021

Japanese PM Suga expects to invite Biden to Tokyo Olympics

(AP) — Japanese Prime course, I expect we will.” 80-90 accompanying staff
Minister Yoshihide Suga will receive two doses of a
said Friday he expects to The Tokyo Olympics open coronavirus vaccine before
invite President Joe Biden on July 23. They were post- the trip, officials have said.
to the Tokyo Olympics poned a year ago because of Biden and all the White
when he visits the United the coronavirus pandemic. House staff they will meet
States next month. Organizers said a few days have already been vaccinated.
ago that fans from abroad will North Korea and its nuclear
Suga, who is expected to visit not be allowed to attend. and missile development
the White House on April programs will be among the
9, has also said he is willing The Olympics and Paralym- top agenda items when the
to meet with North Korean pics will involve 15,400 ath- two leaders meet in Washing-
leader Kim Jong Un and is letes, and tens of thousands ton next month, Suga said.
open to meeting his power- of officials, judges, VIPs,
ful sister, Kim Yo Jong, if she dignitaries, media and broad- Suga said he would do every-
visits Japan during the Tokyo casters. thing he can to resolve the
Games. Suga, however, did issue of abductions of Japa- a Japan-U.S.-North Korea the Olympic torch relay be-
not say if he will invite either Suga is expected to be the nese citizens decades ago by summit, Suga declined to an- gan in the northeastern pre-
of them. first foreign leader that Biden North Korea, a main issue di- swer. fecture of Fukushima, as a
meets with in person since he viding two countries without threat to Japan’s peace and
Suga was asked by a lawmak- took office in January. diplomatic ties. Suga condemned the North’s safety and a violation to the
er in Parliament if he would test-firing of two ballistic United Nations Security
invite Biden. He replied: “Of The prime minister and all Asked about a possibility of missiles Thursday, the day Council resolutions.

Serie A domestic rights assigned to DAZN streaming service

(AP) — Serie A is going all co-exclusively on another ellite provider Sky Italia —
in for streaming games on provider. the longtime holder of the
the Internet. bigger rights package — of-
The vote among the league’s fering 70 million euros ($80
The Italian league’s domestic 20 clubs was 16-4 in favor of million).
TV rights were assigned to DAZN over a less lucrative
streaming service DAZN on deal from Sky. Genoa, Cro- If the Sky deal is accepted,
Friday for 840 million euros tone, Sampdoria and Sassuo- the total of 910 million euros
($1 billion) per season. lo were the only clubs voting ($1.07 billion) would be less
to stay with Sky. than the 973 million euros
For the next three seasons, ($1.15 billion) that Sky and
DAZN can stream all 10 Negotiations are still ongoing DAZN paid for the previous
matches each weekend, while for the package of the three deal expiring at the end of
three of them can be shown co-exclusive games, with sat- this season.

UEFA removes 2 soccer officials linked to criminal cases

(AP) — A Croatian soccer official their respective UEFA standing com- terfinals game against Russia. In the
sentenced to prison in a corrup- mittees,” the European soccer body Despite the turmoil, Modrić cap- same row of seats were then-Prime
tion case linked to a Luka Modrić said Friday of Vrbanović and Kozeka. tained a Croatia team with Lovren in Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev
transfer was removed from a defense to the World Cup final, los- and Croatia’s then-president Kolinda
committee overseeing the Euro- In the Croatian case, the conviction ing 4-2 against France. Modrić was Grabar-Kitarović.
pean Championship, UEFA said was also upheld for Dinamo Zagreb voted FIFA best player in the world
Friday. coach Zoran Mamić, who resigned for 2018. FIFA later said there was no restric-
two days before his team beat Tot- tion on Vrbanović because his con-
Damir Vrbanović lost an appeal last tenham last week to reach the Europa Vrbanović made headlines at the tour- viction was not final while under ap-
week against his conviction and a League quarterfinals. nament when, as the convicted direc- peal. UEFA said in 2018 it was await-
three-year sentence in a ruling by the tor general of Croatia’s soccer body, ing developments in the case before
supreme court of Croatia. The case related to millions of dollars he sat in the VIP section at the quar- taking action.
embezzled from transfers abroad of
Vrbanović, a former executive at Dinamo players, including Modrić to
Dinamo Zagreb and the Croatia soc- Tottenham in 2008 and Dejan Lovren
cer federation, had been reappointed to Lyon in 2010. Both players testi-
by UEFA to its National Team Com- fied in court in 2018 and had been ac-
petitions Committee in 2019 while cused of perjury.
awaiting his appeal against the con-
viction the previous year. The embezzlement trial in Croatia
led to verdicts one week ahead of
UEFA also removed former Serbia the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Soc-
soccer president Slavisa Kozeka from cer federation vice president Zdravko
its committee overseeing the 55 Eu- Mamić fled to Bosnia-Herzegovina
ropean member federations. before being sentenced to 6½ years in
prison.
Kozeka resigned as head of Serbian
soccer on Monday after being linked Mamić was a close ally of federation
to a fan group with alleged ties to or- president Davor Šuker, the former
ganized crime. Dinamo and Real Madrid forward
who has been a member of UEFA’s
“They are no longer members of executive committee since 2015.