June 2, 2021 Aguero agreement Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero will join Barcelona on a two-year contract when the Argentine’s current contract expires at the end of June, 7 BBC reported. Sports Taremi’s Chelsea strike shortlisted Iran finishes decent Asian boxing campaign with four medals for UCL Goal of the Tournament Sports Desk The final day of the Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Dubai, the UAE, saw Iranians claim two silver medals. On Monday, Daniyal Shah- bakhsh and Meysam Qeshlaqi, who were making a first final bout appearance by any Iranian in 11 years, came short in tak- ing the one last step and settled for a couple of runner-up fin- ishes in their respective weight classes. Shahbakhsh went down to Erdenebat Tsendbaatar of Mongolia – a world bronze medalist in 2019 – in the men’s 60kg final, while Uzbekistan’s Dilshodbek Ruzmetov beat Qeshlaqi for the 81kg gold. The event was also the first in 16 years that two Iranians aiba.org made it to the final bout, af- Iran’s Daniyal Shahbakhsh (red), seen in action against Indian Varinder Singh in the semifinal, won ter Noureddin Chegini and the men’s 81kg silver at the Asian Elite Boxing Championships in Dubai, the UAE. GETTY IMAGES Rouhollah Hosseini won two Porto’s Mehdi Taremi (L) scores during a 1-0 victory over Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League at Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan silvers in Ho Chi Min City, the last Iranian to win a gold, petition. bronze medals. Stadium, Seville, Spain, on April 13, 2021. Vietnam, in 2005. in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in Seyyed Shahin Mousavi Iran finished fifth in the However, the country’s gold 2007. (75kg) and Pouria Amiri combined medal table, follow- Sports Desk The UEFA’s list also features some of the big names in drought will extend beyond 14 Monday’s results took Iran’s (+91kg) had finished their ing champion Kazakhstan, Uz- the European football. years, with Ali Mazaheri being medal count to four in the com- campaigns with a couple of bekistan, Mongolia, and India. ranian Mehdi Taremi’s overhead strike against Chel- Kylian Mbappé’s curling effort during a last-16 4-1 sea was picked among the candidates for Goal of the victory over Barcelona for PSG, as well as Lionel Mes- ITournament in the newly-finished UEFA Champions si’s screamer for the Catalans in the reverse fixture were League (UCL) season. named among the contenders. The UEFA’s official website has asked its viewers to Real Madrid duo Karim Benzema and Luka Modric Fellow athletes rally around Osaka pick their favorite strike from a 10-goal shortlist. also made the list for their goals against Chelsea (semifi- Porto striker’s spectacular goal in the dying seconds of nal, first leg) and Shakhtar Donetsk (group stage) respec- a last-eight second-leg encounter led the Portuguese club tively. after French Open withdrawal to a 1-0 victory over the Premier League side in Seville, Another bicycle kick on the list belongs to Chelsea Spain. frontman Olivier Giroud, whose goal led the London club Leading figures in tennis and sport rallied to support Naomi Billie Jean King echoed comments from fellow women’s The win, however, proved too little, too late for Porto to a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in the round of 16. Osaka after the women’s world number two withdrew from tennis trailblazer Martina Navratilova about the importance as Chelsea won the tie 2-1 on aggregate before going all Neymar’s strike from behind the box – in a 5-1 rout of the French Open in a row about post-match media duties, of mental health. the way to lift the trophy by beating Manchester City in Istanbul Basaksehir – also earned PSG’s Brazilian a place saying she had been suffering from depression and anxiety. “It’s incredibly brave that Naomi Osaka has revealed her Porto’s Estadio do Dragao on Saturday. on the list. One of the biggest names in sport, Osaka stunned the ten- truth about her struggle with depression,” King wrote on so- Taremi, now with the national team ahead of the World Mönchengladbach’s Alassane Plea, Manor Solomon nis world when she pulled out of the Grand Slam after being cial media. Cup qualifiers in Bahrain, enjoyed a memorable debut of Shakhtar, and RB Leipzig’s Angelino completed the fined and threatened with expulsion for refusing to show up at “Right now, the important thing is that we give her the season with Porto, scoring 23 goals, coupled with 18 as- shortlist for their respective goals against Shakhtar, Real an obligatory news conference on Sunday, Reuters reported. space and time she needs. We wish her well.” sists, across all competitions. Madrid, and Basaksehir. There were also mes- sages of support posted on social media from athletes in other sports, with golf’s Michelle Wie, NFL play- ers Russell Wilson and Persepolis banned by AFC Tyler Lockett as well as multiple Olympic sprint over Instagram post champion Usain Bolt of- fering their backing. Ethics Committee of the Asian Foot- “You shouldn’t ever ball Confederation (AFC) over an In- have to make a decision stagram post. like this – but so damn The Iranian club was also fined impressive taking the $17,500 for the post, which made con- high road when the pow- troversial comments about India while ers that be don’t protect the -based Reds were in the their own. Major respect,” South Asian country for their Group E GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE/REUTERS wrote NBA All Star Steph campaign in Goa in mid-April. Curry. The post, which referred to a his- The four-time Grand Slam champion had signaled her in- There was some criticism of Roland Garros organizers for toric incident involving Iran and In- tentions to skip her media duties to protect her mental well- their handling of the matter. dia, was immediately deleted from being on social media and returned to Twitter on Monday to French Tennis Federation president Gilles Moretton read a the Reds’ official Instagram account announce her withdrawal. prepared statement on Monday offering Osaka their support before the club issued an apology to “I think now the best thing for the tournament, the other but the irony of him not taking questions, given the context of FC Goa. players and my well-being is that I withdraw so that everyone the row, was not lost on some. Persepolis had said “the club was can go back to focusing on the tennis going on in Paris,” she “So the FFT handled the Ms. Osaka mental health con- unaware of the post as its media wrote. cerns without empathy or sensitivity. Then the FFT President team was in the flight to India when While her original stance had earned little backing from refuses to take questions at a presser. An own goal,” wrote it was launched.” her fellow professionals, most of whom saying that dealing former Australian tennis official Richard Ings. Persepolis dominated the group to with the media was part of the job, her withdrawal triggered a Japan’s Osaka, who according to sports business website progress to the last-16 round, where wave of support from around the sporting world. Sportico earned $55.2 million over the past 12 months, is ex- The-afc.com it will play Istiklol of Tajikistan. “So proud of you,” multiple Grand Slam winner Venus pected to be one of the biggest attractions at the Tokyo Olym- FC Goa (orange) and Persepolis are in action during an AFC Champions League encounter in The Tajik club has been named the Williams posted on Twitter. “Take care of yourself and see pics in July and August. Goa, India, on April 23, 2021. host of the single-leg tie in Septem- you back winning soon!” The 23-year-old concluded her statement by saying she ber, unless the Asian football’s gov- Williams’s sister Serena and younger American players would be taking some time away from tennis and organiz- Sports Desk will have to play a home game at the AFC erning body decides to go with a cen- Coco Gauff and Sloane Stephens also chimed in with mes- ers of that already troubled event will be desperately hop- Champions League without supporters tralized format for the knockout stage sages of support as the focus shifted from Osaka’s responsi- ing she will be back on court long before the Games get club Persepolis due to a ruling by the Disciplinary and due to the COVID-19 pandemic. bilities to her wellbeing. underway.

Westbrook helps Wizards beat 76ers to keep playoff series alive

Russell Westbrook scored a triple-double to help the teams were at the other end of the floor before being Bradley Beal scored a game-high 27 points for the Washington Wizards beat the Philadelphia 76ers and tackled by security at the Capital One Arena. Wizards, while Westbrook’s 12th career triple-dou- keep their playoff hopes alive. “He will be banned from the arena and charges are ble in the playoffs moved him into third place on the Westbrook scored 19 points, 21 rebounds and 14 being pursued,” said Monumental Sports and Enter- all-time list. assists in a 122-114 victory, BBC Sport reported. tainment, who own the Washington arena. “I have never been down 3-0 so I’ll be damned if I The 76ers, who lost Joel Embiid to a knee injury in It is the latest in a string of incidents involving fan get out of here without a win,” said Beal. the first quarter, now lead the best-of-seven series 3-1. misbehavior in the NBA over the past week. Meanwhile, in the Western Conference top seeds The game also saw a fan run on to the court during Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving said fans in Utah Jazz beat the Memphis Grizzlies 120-113 to the third quarter, with Wizards owners saying he will NBA arenas are treating players “like they are in a move into a 3-1 lead in their playoff series. AP be banned and face possible criminal charges. human zoo” after a spectator was arrested for throw- Donovan Mitchell top scored for Jazz with 30, Wizards’ Russell Westbrook (L) goes for a basket during an NBA victory over 76ers at The fan jumped up and hit the backboard while the ing a water bottle at him on Sunday. while Rudy Gobert added 17. Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C., on May 31, 2021.