Page 32 - bon-dia-aruba-20210505

A32 sports
Diaranson 5 Mei 2021

Italy to vaccinate its athletes South Korea: North Koreans

for Tokyo Olympics pull out of World Cup

ROME (AP) — The Ital- and staff members — and qualifying
ian Olympic Committee is even athletes still attempt- Athletes traveling to Japan
making arrangements to ing to qualify — will begin for the Tokyo Olympics will SEOUL, South Korea North Korea's Olympic com-
vaccinate its entire team receiving vaccines on Friday, be required to stay within a (AP) — South Korean of- mittee also said last month it
for the Tokyo Games. CONI said. "bubble" consisting of the of- ficials say North Korea decided to drop out of the
ficial accommodation, ven- has told soccer's Asian Tokyo Olympics to protect
About two-thirds of the Ital- As of Tuesday, 237 Italians ues and training areas and governing body it will not its athletes from coronavirus
ians qualified for the games had qualified for the Olym- will be tested for the corona- participate in World Cup infections.
have already been vaccinat- pics, which open on July 23. virus before and during their qualifiers next month be-
ed against COVID-19 be- stay, but there is no require- cause of coronavirus con- An official from South Ko-
cause they are affiliated with Australia also recently an- ment to be vaccinated ahead cerns. rea's Unification Ministry,
the military. The remaining nounced plans to vaccinate of competition. which deals with inter-Ko-
athletes, as well as coaches its Olympians. Kim Min-soo, an official rean affairs, said Seoul still
from the Seoul-based Ko- has hopes that the North will
rean Football Association, on participate in the World Cup
Tuesday said the Asian Foot- qualifiers in South Korea,
ball Confederation has asked saying they would provide a
North Korea to reconsider its rare opportunity for sports
decision. He said the North exchanges amid a bad time in
notified the AFC last week of bilateral relations.
its intent to drop out of the
matches. "We will wait until the AFC
completes its internal discus-
South Korea is scheduled sions and notifies our gov-
to host North Korea, Turk- ernment of the final result,"
menistan, Lebanon and Sri said the official, who spoke
Lanka in Group H qualify- on condition of anonymity
ing matches from May 31 to during a background briefing
June 15. The group matches to reporters.
are being played in hubs be-
cause of delays in continental The North has virtually
qualifying for the 2022 World stopped all cooperation with
Cup caused by the pandemic. the South and resumed test-
ing of short-range weapons.

Spanish league to probe Messi's

barbecue for teammates

BARCELONA, Spain VID-19 protocols were bro- match next weekend.
(AP) — The Spanish ken during the gathering on
league said Tuesday it will Monday. Barcelona can move into first
investigate a gathering of place on Saturday if it beats
Barcelona players at Lio- Spanish media said Messi league leader Atlético Madrid
nel Messi's home. invited his teammates and at the Camp Nou Stadium.
their partners for a barbecue
Local authorities are also ex- to help the squad bond ahead The barbecue came a day
pected to check if any CO- of a decisive Spanish league after Barcelona defeated Va-
lencia 3-2 to stay within two
points of Atlético with four
rounds to go.

Local media said players
could be heard chanting
"campeones (champions)"
from inside Messi's house.

Barcelona did not immedi-
ately comment.

Sanctions against players and
the club are possible but not
likely to be severe.