Iraq to appeal FIFA ban

Iraqi authorities said their lawyers are working on appeal after FIFA banned the team from international participation. “The Olympic Committee will present and explain to FIFA the imperative reasons for disbanding the administrative body of the IFA and the financial, legal, and administrative irregularities that have accompanied its work for five years,” government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

Sethi reaches quarters

Geet Sethi pulled off a comeback win over Chuchart Trairattanapradit of Thailand to enter the quarter-finals of the ONGC-IBSF World Snooker Championship in Hyderabad. Sethi bounced back from 3-1 down to win 4-3. In the men’s event, India’s R Girish outclassed 2007 Indoor Asian games gold medallist Mohd Shehab of UAE to reach the round of 32.

Indian challenge over

Indian challenge at the Asian Table Tennis Championships in Lucknow is over. A Sharath Kamal and Sourav Chakraborty lost 3-1 to Jiang Tianyi and Tang Peng of Hong Kong in the pre-quarterfinals, Soumyadeep Roy and Jubin Kumar fell to the Chinese duo of Wang Liqin and Zhang Jike 3-0, and Poulomi Ghatak and Mouma Das lost 3-1 to Jiang Huajun and T Ya Na of Hong Kong.

Jeev moves up; Shiv slips

Jeev Milkha Singh shot a four-under 68 to move nine places up to tied 15th at the Dubai World Championship with a six-under total. In Siem Reap, Shiv Kapur shot a two-over 74 to slip to tied sixth after the third round of the Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open with a five-under 211.

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