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sports Diaranson 23 Maart 2022

World Cup draw seedings skewed by war, pandemic

(AP) — Next week’s World nearly all national team soc-
Cup draw will have some cer outside Europe in 2020
of its seedings skewed be- and causing the interconti-
cause of Russia’s war with nental playoffs to be delayed.
Ukraine and the COV- Those playoffs are scheduled
ID-19 pandemic. to be played in Qatar on June
13-14. An Asian team will
FIFA outlined the procedure play a South American team,
Tuesday for the draw in Qa- and the Oceania representa-
tar on April 1. Only 29 of the tive will play a team from the
32 teams in the draw will be North American region.
known by then because of the
war and global health crisis. World Cup draws are bal-
anced to separate teams from
The three remaining places the same continent. The 13
will be decided in June, one European nations will be al-
from Europe in matches in- located so that none of the
volving Ukraine and the oth- eight groups has more than
ers from the intercontinental two teams from that conti-
playoffs. nent.

At the draw in Doha, the 29 The World Cup is sched-
qualified teams will be put uled to be played from Nov.
into four pots according to 21-Dec. 18 in eight stadiums
their FIFA ranking, which is around the Qatari capital of
based on national team re- Cup champion, has been plete their games as originally Doha.
sults and will be updated the ranked outside the top 10 for scheduled. Ukraine was scheduled to
day before the draw. more than three years and play at Scotland on Thursday The host nation is currently
will be in Pot 2. Besides Ukraine, Wales and with the winner advancing ranked No. 52, the lowest of
Host Qatar is in Pot 1 along Colombia are among the to play either Wales or Aus- the teams already qualified.
with defending champion FIFA resolved the uncer- teams that could be affected. tria on March 29. Ukraine That is higher than 2018 host
France, Belgium, Brazil, Ar- tainty around how to seed Each of the three, if they asked for a postponement be- Russia, which was ranked
gentina, England and Spain. the three undecided entries were to qualify, would likely cause it was not possible for No. 65 when the groups were
The final top-seeded team by creating placeholder spots have been in Pot 3. home-based players to train drawn four years ago.
will likely be either Italy or in Pot 4. The teams affect- and travel during the Russian
Portugal, who are in the same ed could land in a tougher Only 15 teams have so far invasion. FIFA removed Russia from
playoff bracket. World Cup group than their qualified for the World Cup the qualifying playoffs this
ranking merits simply be- ahead of more games around The pandemic also created a month as punishment for in-
Germany, the 2014 World cause they could not com- the world over the next week. backlog of games, wiping out vading Ukraine.

Nadal out injured at least 1 month in lead-up to French Open

(AP) — Rafael Nadal will Nadal also won titles in Mel- ways had this fighting spirit final against Fritz and after- discomfort, saying it was
be sidelined for four to bourne and Acapulco. and what I’ll do is be patient ward said the problem began “painful” and “very uncom-
six weeks because of a rib and work hard after recover- the night before during the fortable” when he tried to
injury, putting in jeop- “I was getting to a very impor- ing.” semifinals against Alcaraz. breathe.
ardy his preparations for tant part of the season feeling
the French Open in two well and with good results,” The 35-year-old Nadal was Nadal had said he was not Nadal’s winning streak to be-
months. Nadal said. “But well, I’ve al- treated by a trainer during the sure what exactly caused the gin 2022 included his record-
breaking 21st Grand Slam
Nadal said Tuesday he un- title at the Australian Open
derwent exams after arriving in January.
in Spain from the United
States and results showed he The third-ranked Nadal will
has a stress fracture on one of try to win a record-extending
his left ribs. 14th French Open title at Ro-
land Garros this year. He lost
The injury was sustained in to eventual champion Novak
the semifinals at Indian Wells Djokovic in the semifinals
against Carlos Alcaraz. Nadal of last year’s tournament in
then lost in the final to Taylor Paris.
Fritz in two sets on Sunday.
Nadal’s participation at the
“This is not good news and I Madrid Open at the end of
didn’t expect it,” Nadal wrote April will likely depend on
on Twitter. “I’m devastated how his recovery progresses.
and sad because it comes af- The Spaniard is a five-time
ter a great start to the season.” champion in Madrid. He is
not likely to play in the Mon-
Nadal was 20-0 to begin the te Carlo Masters and the Bar-
season, including winning celona Open next month.
the Australian Open, before
losing to Fritz 6-3, 7-6 (5) Nadal had already decided to
at the hard-court tourna- skip this week’s tournament
ment in California. It was the in Florida and head home to
third-best start to a season Spain to prepare for the clay-
since 1990 on the ATP Tour. court season.