6 September 11, 2019 B-Ballers Beat Philippines to Iran Thrash Hong Kong at Qualify for 2020 Olympic Games 2022 World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup. qualifying for the FIFA World Cup Sardar Azmoun and Karim Ansari- Qatar 2022 where they will be divid- fard scored for Iran in the match on ed into two groups of six. The two Tuesday at Hong Kong Stadium. top teams of each group bring home Iran are in Group C of the quali- the quota for FIFA World Cup while fications round alongside Iraq, Bah- third teams will compete for a play- rain, Hong Kong and Cambodia. off match against a yet-to-be-deter- Team Melli will next host Cam- mined team from another continent. bodia on October 10 before facing The second round of qualifications Bahrain on October 15. started on September 5, 2019, and In this stage, 40 teams are divided will wrap up on June 9, 2020. (Dispatches) - The Iranian their peak against a Philippine side, into eight groups of five teams to The next best 24 teams from the basketball team have qualified for the who will return home empty handed play home-and-away round-robin second round of the joint qualifiers 2020 Olympic Games after cruising past after 5 defeats. Helped by Haamed matches. The eight group winners will compete in a separate compe- the Philippines 95 to 75 in the classification Haddadi’s 19-point performance, Iran and four best runners-up will ad- tition for the remaining 12 slots in phase of the FIBA World Cup in China. dictated the terms right from the get- TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Iran’s victory over Hong Kong in their first vance to the AFC Asian Cup China the 24-team AFC Asian Cup China The win, coupled by a 73 to 86 de- go and opened up such a massive lead national football team gained a 2-0 game at qualifiers of 2022 World Cup 2023 Finals and the final round of 2023. feat for China at the hands of Nigeria, that not even a slight slump in the final confirmed Iran’s ticket for Tokyo as quarter could hinder their advance. USA Continue FIBA World Cup Unbeaten Run, Serbia Suffer First Loss the best-ranked team from Asia. The Iranians wrapped up their tour- The Iranians, who improved with ev- nament with 2 wins and 3 losses and a GUANGZHOU (Xinhua) - or hoping the Philippines could ery game after the disappointing start point difference of plus 7 as opposed Team USA continued their un- beat Iran. to their World Cup campaign, needed to China’s minus 10. beaten run while Serbia lost However, there was no mira- a win with a big margin to have any Iran national basketball team fin- their first match of the tourna- cle, as China lost to Nigeria de- chance of progression. ished in 23rd place in the 2019 FIBA ment against Spain in the second spite Yi’s game-high 27 points, And they duly showed up, hitting World Cup. round of the 2019 FIBA World and Iran crushed the Philippines Cup. to take Asia’s sole qualifying Despite the best efforts of spot for the 2020 Tokyo Olym- Nadal Wins U.S. Open NBA MVP Giannis Antetok- pics. ounmpo, who scored 15 points Despite being the top team in Thriller for 9th Grand Slam and had 13 rebounds, the USA FIBA’s Power Rankings, Serbia beat Greece 69-53 in Group K, suffered their first loss of the putting Greece on the brink of tournament, going down 81-69 elimination. to Spain in their final second The USA smashed Brazil 89- round game. This means Serbia 73 in their final second round Despite shooting just 36 percent, Team USA moved to 4-0 in the FIBA World Cup. will now face a tough quarter- game, while an 84-77 win over final match against Argentina, the Czech Republic were not also left the World Cup disap- tion round. with the possibility of a semifi- enough to keep Greece in the pointed. Although the host nation edged nal clash against the USA. competition, as they had need- China were defeated by Po- South Korea 77-73 in their first Spain have won all five games ed a 12-point winning margin. land and Venezuela in the first classification match, China’s in the tournament so far, and Like Antetokounmpo, China’s round, seeing it drop into the hopes of Olympic qualification now face Poland in the quarter- leading shooter Yi Jianlian, tournament’s lower classifica- rested on either beating Nigeria finals. Netherlands Defeat Estonia, Germany Beat Ireland in Euro 2020 Qualifier Rafael Nadal won his fourth U.S. Open on Sunday. TALLINN (Dispatches) -- Estonia On Oct. 10 of the matchday 7, lost to the Netherlands 4-0 in Group Estonia will play away against Be- NEW YORK (Dispatches) - Ra- U.S. Open final. C of Euro 2020 qualifiers here on larus in Minsk, while the Nether- fael Nadal has won his 19th Grand Nadal’s victory moves him with- Monday at Estonia’s national sta- lands will face Northern Ireland in Slam title after holding off Russian in one of Swiss rival Roger Feder- dium A. Le Coq Arena. Rotterdam. Daniil Medvedev’s exhilarating er’s all-time leading tally of men’s The Dutch team forward Ryan And, Northern Ireland’s Euro fightback in one of the greatest U.S. Grand Slam victories. Babel scored his first goal in the 2020 qualifying hopes suffered a Open finals. “It has been one of the most 17th minute of the first half, while major setback as they lost 2-0 to Spain’s Nadal, 33, won 7-5 6-3 emotional nights in my tennis ca- the home side defended resolutely Germany in a pulsating qualifier at 5-7 4-6 6-4 against the fifth seed in reer,” Nadal said. “It has been an and the tally was kept the same till Windsor Park. New York. amazing final. It has been a crazy half-time. Marcel Halstenberg’s stunning Nadal, seeded second, was cruis- match.” Babel completed his brace after half-volley early in the second half ing at two sets and a break up, only After taking his third match the break, while Lyon’s winger and a stoppage-time goal by Serge for Medvedev to force a decider. point, Nadal collapsed to the court Memphis Depay also found the net Gnabry gave Joachim Low’s men But Nadal stopped his momen- in celebration, covering his face as at the 76th minute. Georginio Wi- victory. tum to clinch a thrilling win in four he contemplated another famous jnaldum added another one in the Germany go top of Group C, hours and 50 minutes - just four victory which epitomised his fight- 87th minute to lock down the score above Northern Ireland on goal Conor Washington squandered home side and Stuart Dallas also minutes shorter than the longest ing spirit. at 4-0. difference. two gilt-edged chances for the went close. Brilliant Leclerc Beats Fuglsang Claims Vuelta Stage as Roglic Extends Overall Lead MADRID (AFP) - Dane Jakob Fuglsang has soloed to a summit-finish win Mercedes in F1 Italian GP on stage 16 of the Vuelta a Espana as Slovenian Primoz Roglic extended his advantage at the top of the overall standings. Fuglsang, 34, broke away late on the final climb into the thick clouds at 1,600m altitude in northern Spain. Promising 24-year-old Briton Tao Geoghegan Hart of Ineos came close for a second straight day, digging in to finish second on the third stage in the spectacular Cantabrian Mountains. Protecting a sizeable overall lead, Roglic ended up stretching his ad- vantage by 23 seconds over his closest challenger Alejandro Valverde to 2min 48sec with just five stages to go. The former ski-jumper took advantage of a last-climb struggle for the Team Astana rider Denmark’s Jakob Diemer Fuglsang crosses the finish best young rider’s white jersey between Miguel Angel Lopez and Tadej line of the 16th stage of the 2019 La Vuelta cycling Tour of Spain. Pogacar who are also fourth and third in the overall standings. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc wins the 2019 Italian Grand Prix

BEIJING (AP) - Charles Leclerc become an epic duel with Hamil- has held off a race-long challenge ton. The Mercedes appeared quick- Report: Schumacher Treated in Secrecy in Hospital from the Mercedes duo of Lewis er at various points on the circuit, PARIS (AP) — Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher has been admitted to a Paris hospital to be treated Tuesday with cutting-edge Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to win but Leclerc always seemed to have the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, enough in hand to keep the Briton stem-cell therapy, according to a French newspaper. scoring Ferrari’s first F1 victory at at arm’s length through the cru- The Paris hospitals authority, citing France’s strict medical privacy rules, said it could not comment on the report in Le Parisien that Schumacher Monza for nine years. cial Parabolica right-hander, with was admitted under tight guard Monday to the Georges-Pompidou hospital for transfusions of inflammation-reducing stem cells. Starting from pole position, Hamilton never close enough to The newspaper said the 50-year-old German, who suffered a near-fatal brain injury in a 2013 skiing accident in the French Alps, was expected to Leclerc held onto his lead at the the Monegasque to mount a seri- be discharged on Wednesday. start and settled into what would ous challenge.