April 5, 2021 Half marathon record Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich smashed the world half marathon record on Sunday, clocking a time of one hour, four minutes and two seconds at the 7 N Kolay Half Marathon, Reuters reported. Sports Persepolis, Esteghlal title charges Iranian wrestlers seeking Olympic berths at Asian qualifiers

hit by untimely draws Sports Desk Six Tokyo Olympics quotas will up for grabs when Irani- an wrestlers take part at the three-day Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tour- nament in Almaty, Kazakh- stan, starting Friday. A place in the final bout of every weight class will secure a spot in the Summer Games for all participants. Mohammad Bana’s three- man squad – comprising Mohammad-Reza Ger- aei (67kg), Hossein Nouri (87kg), and Mohammad- Hadi Saravi (97kg) – will battle at the Greco-Roman contests, with Amir-Mo- hammad Yazdani (65kg), Younes Emami (74kg), and Mohammad-Hossein IRNA Mohammadian (97kg) rep- Mohammad-Hossein Mohammadian (blue) will represent at the men’s 97kg contests of the Asian Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament in Almaty, Kazakhstan. resenting Gholam-Reza Mohammadi’s team at the Iranian sensation Has- and Yadollah Mohebbi paigns in Nur-Sultan with a freestyle event. san Yazdani secured the (125kg) making it to Tokyo couple of bronze medals and Iran has already booked slot by winning the gold at with last-four finishes in the will be present in the Games, five tickets for next July’s the 2019 World Wrestling world meet. while in the 130kg divi- Games, which were post- Championships in Nur-Sul- Alireza Nejati (60kg) sion Amir Qassemi Monjezi poned by a year due to the tan, the capital of Kazakh- and Mohammad-Ali Geraei reached the semis to qualify MOHAMMADREZA ABBASI/MEHR NEWS AGENCY coronavirus pandemic. stan, with Reza Atri (57kg) (77kg) finished their cam- for Tokyo. Esteghlal midfielder (top) goes up for a header during a goalless draw against Paykan at the at the , , Iran, on April 3, 2021.

Sports Desk The result in Mashhad was enough for Yahya Gol- French Open postponement mohammadi’s men to go top of the table with 38 points, ehran-based archrivals Persepolis and Esteghlal were however, a victory at Saipa today for Sepahan will see the held to draws against Padideh and Paykan respectively Isfahan-based club go two points clear of the Reds. a possibility: Sports minister Ton their return to the Persian Gulf Pro League action. Elsewhere on Saturday, second-half goals by Hossein Persepolis midfielder scored with 20 minutes from nor- Zamehran and substitute Reza Dehqani sealed a massive French Sports Minister Roxana Mara- within professional sports.” The director-general of the French Ten- mal time to cancel out Amin Qasseminejad’s first-half 2-0 victory for struggler Nassaji Mazandaran at Naft Mas- cineanu said it was possible the French President Emmanuel Macron said on nis Federation, Gilles Moreton, said earlier opener for the home side. jed Soleyman. Open could be postponed for the second Wednesday that he was expecting to re- this week that he could not imagine the Esteghlal, meanwhile, missed out on the chance to close In Isfahan, Zob Ahan beat San’at Naft Abadan 1-0, cour- year amid the COVID-19 crisis. open the country in mid-May. Grand Slam tournament being canceled. the four-point gap on its city rival as its three-game winning tesy of a 38th-minute free-kick by Farshad Mohammadi- France entered a third nationwide streak under new manager Farhad Majidi was snapped fol- Mehr, with Tractor and Mes Rafsanjan sharing the spoils lockdown on Saturday to contain the lowing a goalless result at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium. after a goalless draw in . coronavirus spread, although profes- sional sports have largely been spared. An exception is cycling’s -Rou- baix one-day race, which has been postponed from its original April 11 Burroughs out of Olympics slot, Reuters reported. The French Open, which last year was postponed by four months and took place in front of limited crowds, is after defeat at US wrestling trials due to start this year on May 23. “We are in discussion with them (the French Tennis Federation, which or- ganizes the event) to see if we should change the date to coincide with a pos- sible resumption of all sports and major events,” Maracineanu told France Info radio late on Saturday. “Today, although high-level sport has been preserved, we try to limit the risks of clusters, of spreading the virus AFP Carabao Cup final between Spurs, City to have 8,000 fans in Wembley The Carabao Cup final between Tottenham and Manches- and great performers need us to find ways to get bums back ter City will have 8,000 fans in attendance after it was con- on seats safely. firmed as a pilot event to test the return of big crowds in the “This science-led pilot program will be the springboard United Kingdom. in getting the buzz back of live performance. We’ve sup- A proportion of tickets will be made available to both ported the sports and arts with unprecedented sums, but clubs for the game at Wem- it’s now time to make that bley Stadium on April 25, Great British Summer of BBC Sport reported. live events a reality.” TOM PENNINGTON/GETTY IMAGES The rest will be given to It had already been con- Kyle Dake (R) consoles after beating him in a freestyle 74kg match at the US Olympic Wrestling Trials at local residents in Brent and firmed that the FA Cup Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, TX, US, on April 3, 2021. NHS staff. final and semifinal would Rick Parry, chair of the be test events but Sunday’s Kyle Dake ended Jordan Burroughs’ decade of dominance in pionships or Olympics every year since 2011. English Football League announcement confirmed American wrestling, making the Olympics for the first time “It just sets in that a run is over for me,” he said. “It’s hard. (EFL), said it was an “im- the number of fans to be with a sweep in the men’s freestyle 74kg finals at the US It will be hard for a while. There’s always more things you portant milestone”. permitted and the potential Olympic Wrestling Trials. can do that you reflect on. I’ll lean on my family and God’s On April 18, the FA Cup use of COVID passports. Dake posted 3-0 and 3-2 decisions over the 2012 Olympic grace and move on with confidence and hope the future is semifinal between Leices- The Carabao Cup final gold medalist and four-time world champion who had domi- bright for me.” ter City and Southampton was rescheduled from Feb- nated his weight division. Burroughs gave no indication he planned to retire. will have 4,000 fans while MARC ASPLAND/THE TIMES ruary with the objective of As time ran out in their second bout, Dake patted a stunned “I’ve got a lot to think about moving forward,” he said. “At the final on May 15 will having “as many support- Burroughs on the shoulders and chest and put his arm around this moment you take it all in stride and try to continue to be welcome 21,000 spectators. ers in attendance as possible.” his neck. confident in your abilities.” Those games may also trial a COVID passport scheme, Mark Bullingham, the FA’s chief executive, said, “We “I just thanked him,” Dake said. “I told him I appreciated Meanwhile, J’den Cox, the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist where passes would show if a person had been vaccinated, are delighted to be hosting three test events at Wembley and him. He’s pushed me to levels that I did know I had in my- and two-time world champion, said he was working on an had a recent negative test, or natural immunity. are confident we can offer a safe environment. self. There were a lot of times I wasn’t coming out with the appeal to USA Wrestling after being disqualified from trials The matches are three of nine events across sports and “This is an important first step towards getting fans back, victory and that was tough. He’s a great champion, and my for not making weight Friday. He said legal action also was the arts which will be used to provide “key scientific data with the end goal of full stadia – hopefully by the end of the goal is to bring home an Olympic gold medal. Tokyo, here being considered. and research” into how events can safely reopen to fans in men’s Euros [in July]. We would like to thank all authori- we come.” Cox told NBC his coach, Kevin Jackson, told him the line with the roadmap out of lockdown in UK. ties for their support throughout this process.” Kyle Snyder will defend his gold medal at 97kg in men’s wrong time for weigh-ins. Cox was to compete in men’s free- Researchers at the events will “gather evidence associat- Football in England has been played behind closed doors freestyle after 10-0 and 5-1 decisions over Kollin Moore. As style at 97kg. ed with different settings and approaches to managing and since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, a 20-year-old in 2016, Snyder became the youngest Ameri- “If you’ve ever seen me wrestle or heard about my life,” mitigating transmission risk.” with the exception of a number of test events before the can wrestler to win Olympic gold. Cox said, “I’m all about the fight. If you want a brawl, then Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said, “Our sports stars second lockdown later in the year. Burroughs, 32, had represented the US at the world cham- we can do it.”