Soccer-Key Qatari defender Bilal ruled out of Asian Cup

CANBERRA, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Qatar's hopes of resurrecting their Asian Cup campaign have suffered a big blow with key defender Bilal Mohammed being ruled out for the rest of the tournament through injury. The towering centre-half, who has won over 100 caps for his country, suffered an injury in training ahead of Sunday's Group C match and his absence was sorely felt by the Gulf Cup winners, who slumped to a 4-1 defeat to the United Arab Emirates. "Bilal Mohammed got an injury in the last training session, he will be out for the whole tournament," Qatar coach Djamel Belmadi told reporters after the loss in Canberra, without revealing the nature of the problem. Qatar next face Iran, who opened with a 2-0 success over Bahrain, in Sydney on Thursday with defeat possibly ending their campaign at the first hurdle. (Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; Editing by Peter Rutherford)