Category: Sports

The Iraqi Olympic football team qualified for the AFC U-23 Cup finals, which will be held in Qatar 2024, as champion of its group, by tying with Kuwait with two goals each./End

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Samsung has started adding cloud-based gaming apps to older versions of their smart TVs via their Gaming Hub software.

The Korean company expanded support for smart TVs for cloud gaming services to include relatively old 2020 releases, as well as other newer versions made in 2021 and beyond.

Samsung released a gaming service software titled ‘Samsung Gaming Hub’ over a year ago, which enables users to sign in their own accounts for different games on the cloud, similar to Microsoft’s XBOX interface, NVIDIA’s GeForce Now, Amazon’s Luna, and others. In addition, users can have access to other apps like YouTube, Spotify, and Twitch.

According to Samsung, the Samsung Gaming Hub, in collaboration with other cloud-based games, allows access to over a thousand games directly and quickly, and without the need for additional devices unlike the traditional controller to enjoy games on the TV screen.

Notably, cloud-based games work through the internet, without the need to download the software, and these games run on specialized servers where the image is broadcasted on the device online. They can be accessed through different devices such as computers, smartphones, tablets, or even smart TVs, as well as specialized gaming devices, provided that there is a fast internet connection to enjoy the special gaming experience.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Al Duhail began their 2023-2024 season Ooredoo Cup title defense with a 2-1 win over Al Shamal in the first round match of Group B at the Grand Hamad Stadium on Sunday.

The Red Knights were challenged several times in the absorbing tie before the defending champions prevailed by the slender margin.

All the goals came in the first half of the match. While Fares Said (22nd minute) and Isaac Lihadji (33rd minute-penalty) scored for Al Duhail, Mohsen Al Yazidi scored Al Shamal’s only goal in the 38th minute.

With this result, Al Duhail gained three points, while Al Shamal remained without a score.

At the end of the round, Al Markhiya came from three goals down to play out a 3-3 tantalizing draw with Al Gharafa at the Saoud Bin Abdulrahman Stadium.

Al Gharafa’s goals came off the boots of Ahmed Al Janhi (eighth minute) and Yohan Boli (11th and 45+3 minutes), while Yusupha Njie (52nd minute penalty and 68th minute) and Talal Ali (65th minute) scored for Al Markhiya.

This result gave each team one point.

Source: Qatar News Agency

HE Ambassador of the State of Qatar to French Republic Sheikh Ali bin Jassim Al-Thani presented the trophies to the winners of Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at ParisLongchamp, on Monday.

CEO of France Galop Olivier Delloye was in attendance.

The Qatar Arc Trials Day, sponsored by Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club (QREC) since 2008, included 10 group races, three of them were preparatory for Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The renewed partnership between the QREC and France Galop highlights the pioneering Qatari efforts to support and promote horse racing, at the local and international levels.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) conducted the eighth edition of the AFC Elite Club Coaches Forum 2023, providing an opportunity for the Continent’s coaches to hear from some of the most renowned experts ahead of the AFC club competitions kicking off in less than two weeks’ time.

Featuring a star-studded line-up comprising legends such as former Manchester United and current West Ham Head Coach David Moyes and Tottenham Hotspur Manager Ange Postecoglou, the forum was an excellent example of the Confederations resolve in working towards ensuring that Asian teams continue to excel on the world stage, the AFC website reported.

The highly informative workshop kicked off with AFC Technical Director Andy Roxburghs opening address following which the two English Premier League coaches shared their insights on subjects such as leadership and management, based on their experience of coaching in leagues across nations and continents.

In the second half of the program, the attention shifted to the latest developments in the Asian game where the participants received updates on the changes that will be incorporated in the upcoming AFC Champions League and AFC Cup 2023/24 editions, such as the shift to the Autumn-Spring calendar, and the removal of the away goal advantage.

Additionally, the discussion also touched upon the revamped three-tiered structure comprising the AFC Champions League Elite, the AFC Champions League 2, and AFC Challenge League, along with the pathbreaking AFC Womens Champions League that are all set to commence in the 2024/25 season.

In the final segment, the coaches revisited the performance of teams in the last edition of the AFC Champions League as well as the 2022 edition of the FIFA World Cup and exchanged notes to help identify trends that have become increasingly common, which include the affinity to build from the back, play a higher pressing game and score from counter attacks.

Furthermore, it was also noted that in the case of leagues in countries such as Australia and Japan, the persistent trends among teams depend heavily on the weather.

Source: Qatar News Agency

The President of the Qatari Basketball Federation, Mohammed Saad Al Mughaiseeb, considered the handover of the World Cup ball to Qatar as the kickoff towards hosting the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Al Mughaiseeb, who received the ball yesterday on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the 2023 Basketball World Cup in the Philippine capital, Manila, expressed in a statement to the Qatari News Agency the hope to fulfill the aspirations of the international basketball community and the Qatari people in organizing an exceptional championship befitting Qatar’s great reputation in hosting major sporting events worldwide.

He further explained that during the inspection visit conducted by the Qatari delegation to Manila to attend the World Cup, numerous meetings, joint workshops, and field visits were held with the organizing committee and International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to transfer the experience and lessons learned from the event ground to 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

The President of the Qatari Basketball Federation added that they are looking forward to organizing an exceptional championship in accordance with Qatari standards, which are considered among the best standards for organizing sporting events worldwide.

FIBA announced Qatar’s victory in hosting the 2027 FIBA Basketball World Cup during its meeting held on April 28, 2022, in the Philippine capital, Manila.

Qatar will host the World Cup for the third consecutive time in Asia, following the 2019 edition in China and the 2023 edition in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Detailed in SoccerNet: A Gated Recurrent Unit-based model to predict soccer match winners – an article published in esteemed academic journal PLoS One – the team trained SoccerNet utilizing data from Qatar Stars League (QSL) matches between 2011 and 2022. Built on a Gated Recurrent Unit framework, the AI model analyzed players’ performances during football matches in real-time and revealed detailed insights into their individual impact on the pitch.

SoccerNet achieved an 80 percent accuracy rate in predicting match winners based purely on analysis of player data. It also revealed the collective influence that the teams’ forwards, midfielders, and defenders had on any given football match, and also underlined that the last 15-30 minutes were the most impactful on any game’s outcome.

“Our dedication to utilizing Artificial Intelligence across various domains, including sports, for Qatar’s advancement remains steadfast. This research endeavor aims to assist the football team in strategizing and enhancing crucial aspects that could contribute to their success in professional matches,” said Dr. Mounir Hamdi, Founding Dean, CSE.

Al Mulla – who is enrolled in the PhD in Computer Science and Engineering program at HBKU’s CSE – and Dr. Alam observed that while similar computational methods already existed, they were designed with foreign football leagues in mind. With the support of the Qatar Football Association (QFA) and Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), the duo aim to bring such a technology to the country to better support QSL players and coaching staff and assist their overall development.

“We are grateful to QNRF for their unwavering support of this critical and valuable study. Thanks to them and the QFA, we were able to lend our expertise toward strengthening professional football in Qatar,” said Al Mulla.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study focusing on players’ performance to predict the winning team based on deep learning techniques in any MENA region football league. The proposed machine learning model will support players, coaching staff, and team management in Qatar to focus on specific performance metrics that may help them win football matches,” said Dr. Alam.

HBKU’s CSE engages and leads in research disciplines of national and global importance. The College seeks to innovate and find solutions to pressing issues in Qatar and beyond, equipping students with the tools and skill-set to lead in their own fields and innovate.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Our national football team won the 49th King of Thailand Cup after defeating its Thai counterpart in the final match on penalties.

Regular time for the Iraq-Thailand match ended in a positive draw with two goals for both teams.

Source: National Iraqi News Agency

Kuwait’s Olympic football team kept on putting out a steady performance, securing its second win at Group F’s AFC U23 Asian Cup Qatar 2024 Qualifiers on Saturday, beating Macao 3-0.

The match, hosted at Jaber Stadium, made a MVP of Salman Al-Awadhi, who scored a hat-trick on minutes 48, 50 and 95 (from a penalty kick).

By this win, Kuwait is breathing down Iraq’s neck – each six points from two wins – due to goal difference. Iraq, which outplayed Timor-Leste 6-0 in another match earlier in the day, have squashed Macao 13-0 last Wednesday, while Kuwait defeated Timor-Leste 4-0, awaiting its final bout against Iraq for the Group’s reign.

Top seeders of each of the 11 groups will automatically qualify to the Cup finals, in addition to best four second placers.

Source: Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)

Chairperson of Kuwait Winter Games Club Fhaid Al-Ajmi announced on Saturday that the club joined the Association for the Development of Ice Hockey of Islamic Countries.

In remarks to KUNA, Al-Ajmi said the club’s joining of the association, headquartered in the city of Kazan, capital of Tatarstan, would be helpful for promoting the relations between the two sides as well as the game itself at the national level.

Source: Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)

The Kuwaiti woman weightlifter Al-Zahraa Kamshad ranked 10th in the 64-kg competition of the Women World Weightlifting Championship held in Saudi Arabia.

Kamshad made the score today (Saturday). She also ranked the 21st according to international criteria.

Source: Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)

The Qatar Stars League (QSL) has made an amendment to the schedule of 2023-2024 season Ooredoo Cup due to Al Sadd club’s inability to play in this season’s tournament.

Al Sadd SC withdrew from the tournament, and submitted an official request to the Qatar Stars League stating that it would not participate in the tournament because 21 of the team players have been called up by their national teams and that a number of its players suffered injuries that require long treatment.

QSL reprogrammed the matches of the second group, which included Al Sadd along with the teams of Al Duhail, Al Gharafa, Al Markhiya, Al Rayyan and Al Shamal, so that the number of teams in the group was limited to five compared to six teams in the first group, which includes: Al Arabi, Al Wakrah, Qatar SC, Al Ahly, Umm Salal and Muaither.

Source: Qatar News Agency