A 96th-minute penalty that sparked a punch-up, a sending off and a pitch invasion has led the Iraqi Football Union to order a national league match to be replayed, an official said on Sunday.
The game between league leaders Dohuk from the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq and visitors Electricity Club of Baghdad was poised at 0-0 when the referee decided on the spot-kick, enraging the visiting team.
An Electricity player who refused to allow the penalty to be taken was left needing hospital treatment after he was attacked with an iron bar.
“In the 96th minute the referee awarded a penalty to Dohuk when the match should have been over,” Electricity Club official Majid Hamid said. “Only five minutes of extra time had been awarded, but it was extended to six minutes.”
Electricity player Ali Wahib was red-carded for protesting the penalty, but he refused to leave the field and would not let the spot-kick be taken.
“One of the Dohuk club’s people then beat Ali Wahib on the head with an iron bar and he had to be taken to hospital. We then decided to withdraw our team from the field to protect them from Dohuk’s supporters,” Hamid said.
Stakes were high in the match as home side Dohuk are leading the league and Electricity are fighting relegation.
“The referee gave a penalty in extra time that led supporters to attack the players,” said Dohuk soccer chief Khalil Hassan, who denied his players or staff were involved in the melee.
An official of the Iraqi Football Union told reporters it has ordered that the game be replayed behind closed doors at a neutral venue.
The visitors, who are supported by the Electricity Ministry, have lodged an official complaint to the Youth and Sports Ministry, demanding an investigation.
The Electricity Ministry waded into the row over what it termed the “inexcusable assault” and demanded compensation for acts of violence by security staff assigned to protect the visiting team.
“An opposition player hit the player when he was unconscious,” it said in an official statement. “The team was then assaulted by guards that the Dohuk governor had assigned to accompany them to their residence and who also smashed the windows of the team bus.”
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB