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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- After a few days of reflection, Luis Suarez acknowledged what millions saw on TV -- he did bite an opponent during a game at the World Cup. In addition, he said hes sorry about it, and promised it will never happen again. Ending a unified protest in Uruguay by everyone from Suarez to teammates, fans and even the countrys president that the star striker had done nothing wrong, the Liverpool player on Monday offered an apology to Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini. "I deeply regret what occurred," Suarez said in a statement posted on Twitter. "I apologize to Giorgio Chiellini and the entire football family. ... I vow to the public that there will never again be another incident like (this)." The Uruguay striker was banned for four months from all football by FIFA for biting the shoulder of Chiellini during the teams 1-0 win over Italy in their group-stage game in Brazil. The incident was not spotted by the referee, and the Uruguayans victory sent them through to the second round while Italy was eliminated. It is the third time Suarez has been banned for biting an opponent, after similar incidents at both Ajax in the Dutch league and Liverpool in the English Premier League. Chiellini responded on Twitter shortly after Suarez posted his statement, accepting the apology. "Its all forgotten," the Italian wrote in English. "I hope FIFA will reduce your suspension." Suarez had originally denied wrongdoing in a written response to FIFA, and had been staunchly defended by teammates and Uruguayan officials. His apology could be taken into account by FIFA when it considers an appeal of the ban, which the Uruguayan federation has said it will file. "After several days of being home with my family, I have had the opportunity to regain my calm and reflect about the reality of what occurred during the Italy-Uruguay match," the statement said. "(The) truth is that my colleague Giorgio Chiellini suffered the physical result of a bite in the collision he suffered with me." Suarez was also suspended from Uruguays next nine international matches -- the first of which was a 2-0 loss to Colombia in the round of 16 on Saturday. Suarez had already returned home to Uruguay by then, and has received an outpouring of support from Uruguayan fans and even the countrys president, who blasted FIFA over the ban. President Jose Mujica referred to FIFA as "bunch of old sons of whores" as he welcomed Uruguays team back from the World Cup on Sunday. He also referred to FIFAs stiff ban as "fascist," though he said that Suarez could have been sanctioned with a lesser sentence. Suarez was named the player of the year in the Premier League this past season after scoring 31 goals to lead Liverpool to a second-place finish. 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Yaya Toures seeming discontent Tuesday may complicate that, as does the little issue of Financial Fair Play.BANGKOK - The 2022 Winter Olympics will remain in the traditional February time slot and will not be moved to make way for a rescheduled World Cup in Qatar, the head of the worlds national Olympic committees said Thursday.FIFA is currently considering moving the World Cup to avoid the summer heat in Qatar, including a possible shift to January-February — a period that would clash with the Olympics.Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, president of the Association of National Olympic Committees, said the Winter Games arrangements are already locked in and the onus is on the World Cup to avoid clashing with the Olympics rather than the other way around.Sheikh Ahmad, a powerful IOC member who also heads Asias Olympic association, said the World Cup timing is an issue for FIFA and not the International Olympic Committee.The Olympics should be maintained, Sheikh Ahmad said. The IOC will maintain their time because we already have been committed, the organizers have been organized, the broadcasting, the marketing partners.The IOC has repeatedly said that it has assurances from FIFA President Sepp Blatter that the two events will not clash.FIFA said Monday it was targeting two options for moving the World Cup — January-February and November-December. The January-February option is favoured by FIFAs confederations. European soccer clubs prefer April-May.Sheikh Ahmad said he is confident that FIFA will ensure that the World Cup and Olympics do not overlap.They are the best two events in the world, he told a small group of reporters on the sidelines of ANOC meetings in Bangkok. (FIFA) will analyze this and they will try to come up with the best solution how they will make it without touching each other, achieving the interest of each.Somebody is talking about January and February before the games, somebody speaking about October and November and others asking to maintain in August. Let thee commission do their homework, but I am 100 per cent confident they will never be at the same time.ddddddddddddBeijing and the Kazakhstan city of Almaty are the only two remaining bidders for 2022 after several cities dropped out of the running. They will give formal presentations to the ANOC assembly on Friday.The opposition to the World Cup being hosted in Qatars summer heat had also been regarded as diminishing the chances of a Middle East country hosting the summer games in 2024 or beyond.Sheikh Ahmad, who is from Kuwait, said that was an issue that will be addressed as part of the IOCs Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms. The reforms will be voted on at a special IOC assembly in Monaco next month.The ANOC chief said there needs to be more flexibility over the timing of the Summer Olympics to broaden the list of candidate cities. He cited Dubai and Doha as examples of Middle East cities that could host the 2024 Games.(Dubai) is capable. They dont have to do anything, only the sporting facility, Sheikh Ahmad said. They have the airport, the hotel, the accommodation, the name, the tourism. We have capable cities in our region which can bid for the games whenever they want.This is something we have to discuss in the 2020 agenda. We have to respect the south zone of the world. When we did it in Sydney, we did it in October. We have to put two periods of time: one achieves the north and one achieves the south.He said Doha, which bid for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics but failed to make the list of finalists both times, could be successful next time.The last time (Dohas bid failed) I dont know why it was, because they had almost all the federations accept the time change. Only maybe one federation gave disapproval, Sheikh Ahmad said. In any case, Doha is now in a position better than the last few years. If ever they will go again, I think they will be on the short list. ' ' '