'Hard Work Begins' for Iran's Kiani After Securing Olympic
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May 24, 2021 Third seed Casper Ruud claimed his second career title on the ATP Tour after beating Denis Shapovalov 7-6(6), 6-4 in the final of Geneva Open, 7 Reuters reported. Sports Desk lowed by a hectic schedule for Skocic’s men, who will have to play Bahrain on June 7 and then face Cambodia ran will resume its qualification campaign for the 2022 four days later, before the decisive final day sees Iran World Cup in 11-day time, when Dragan Skocic’s square off against Iraq on June 15. Iteam takes on Hong Kong in Group C of the qualifiers, Iran is third in the group with six points, trailing Iraq and which also features Iraq, host of the group Bahrain, and Bahrain by five and three points respectively, albeit with a Cambodia. game in hand. The Croatian manager is to name the squad for the four Under then manager Marc Wilmots, Iran got off to a fly- games on Tuesday – after the conclusion of three Persian ing start in its bid to secure a third successive berth in the Gulf Pro League fixtures – and the team will begin prepa- World Cup finals, beating Hong Kong 2-0 before thrashing rations a day later. Cambodia 14-0 in Tehran. Iran will head to Kish Island – which resembles the However, back-to-back defeats against Bahrain (1-0) muggy weather of Bahrain – on Thursday for a training and Iraq (2-1) left Iran’s chances of advancing to the next camp before flying to the Persian Gulf country on May 31. round hanging in the balance, leading to the Asian power- All players and coaching staff of Iran will receive vac- house parting ways with the Belgian manager. cines against COVID-19 during their stay in Kish. Eight group winners plus four best runners-up will prog- GETTY IMAGES The June 3 encounter against Hong Kong will be fol- ress to the final round of qualifiers. ‘Hard work begins’ for Iran’s Kiani Top trio leads Nets after securing Olympic taekwondo berth to win over Celtics at NBA Playoffs Kevin Durant recorded 32 points and 12 re- Conference first-round playoff series. 13 assists, CJ McCollum scored 21 points, and Sports Desk “I’m so happy to have won the berth to bounds to help the Brooklyn Nets notch a 104- Game 2 in the best-of-seven is scheduled for visiting Portland beat Denver in Game 1 of take part at the biggest sporting event in the 93 victory over the visiting Boston Celtics in the Tuesday, also in Los Angeles. their Western Conference first-round series. Iran’s Nahid Kiani said the hard work “has world. From now on, I’ll put in all my efforts opening game of the NBA Eastern Conference Hitting four of his five three-point attempts, Jusuf Nurkic had 16 points and 12 rebounds, just begun” for her after securing a place in for the Olympic medal. The hard work has first-round playoff series on Saturday night. Finney-Smith finished with 18 points, while Carmelo Anthony scored 18 points, Anfernee the taekwondo competitions of the Tokyo just begun,” Kiani said after her triumph in Kyrie Irving scored 29 points and James Luka Doncic had a game-high 31 as part of a Simons had 14 and Norman Powell scored 10 Olympics. Amman. Harden added 21 points, nine rebounds, eight triple-double and Tim Hardaway Jr. 21 for the for the sixth-seeded Trail Blazers. The Iranian sealed the spot in Tokyo after Iran head coach Mahro Komrani was full assists and four steals for the second-seeded Mavericks, who won the season series 2-1 over Nikola Jokic had 34 points and 16 rebounds, reaching the final bout of the women’s -57kg of praise for Kiani, saying, “Kiani was pit- Nets. The contest was just the ninth in which the Clippers. Michael Porter Jr. finished with 25 points and weight class at the Asian Qualification Tour- ted in the harder half of the draw and had Durant, Harden and Irving played together, Re- nine rebounds, Aaron Gordon tallied 16 points nament for Tokyo 2020 in Amman, the capi- to overcome some tough opponents. Thank uters reported. Trail Blazers 123 Nuggets 109 and eight boards, and Monte Morris finished tal of Jordan, on Saturday. God, months of training and preparations Jayson Tatum scored 22 points for seventh- added 10 points off the bench for third-seeded Kiani overcame the host’s Natali Hamaidi eventually paid off.” seeded Boston but he was just 6 of 20 from the Damian Lillard finished with 34 points and Denver. 4-2 in the semifinals to win a third taekwon- A thrilling contest had seen the 22-year- field. do quota for the country, following Armin old Iranian beat the 2019 world champion Marcus Smart scored 17 points and Kemba Hadipour and Mir-Hashem Hosseini, IRNA Phannapa Harnsujin of Thailand 18-16 in the Walker added 15 for the Celtics. Robert Wil- reported. quarters. liams III contributed 11 points, nine rebounds and nine blocked shots, with the rejections fall- ing just one shy of the NBA postseason record. Bucks 109 Heat 107 Khris Middleton’s pull-up jumper with 0.5 seconds left in overtime lifted host Milwaukee over Miami in Game 1 of their Eastern Confer- ence first-round series. Middleton led the Bucks with 27 points, six rebounds and six assists while Giannis Ante- tokounmpo had 26 points, 18 rebounds, five assists and three steals. The Heat had one final chance after Jimmy Butler took the inbound pass from Goran Drag- ic, but could not get his shot off thanks to tight defense from Jrue Holiday as time expired. Mavericks 113 Clippers 103 Dorian Finney-Smith hit two late three- pointers, one triggering a 7-0 burst that broke DENNIS SCHNEIDLER/USA TODAY SPORTS ISNA a tie and propelled visiting Dallas over fourth- Nets forward Kevin Durant (R) shoots a jump shot during a victory over Celtics in the first round of the seeded Los Angeles in Game 1 of their Western 2021 NBA Playoffs at Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY, US, on May 22, 2021. Atletico upsets the odds to beat Real and Barca again Atletico Madrid’s players ran through the stadium and out into the car park Saturday to This year is only the second in 17 that neither Barcelona nor Real Madrid have won the More to come celebrate with fans they had not seen all season after their La Liga title was finally se- title, the other when Atletico last clinched the league in 2014. cured. It is the first time neither Madrid nor Barca have won either La Liga or the Champions Atletico spent €126 million on Felix in 2019 but since Simeone took over in 2011 Three thousand supporters had gathered outside Jose Zorilla Stadium on Saturday, cor- League since 2004. the Madrid club’s net spend on transfers has been around €50 million. Real Madrid’s doned off and surrounded by police, AFP reported. Simeone has never hidden from Atletico’s historic inferiority, instead reveling in it to amounts to more than €200 million and Barcelona’s close to €600 million. They watched on their phones while Atletico fell behind to 19th-placed Real Vallado- cast his team as underdogs punching above their weight, without pressure and with the Atletico’s revenue is half that of Real Madrid and Barca’s while its wage bill last sea- lid, only to come back to claim a 2-1 win and the championship thanks to Luis Suarez’s benefit only of hard work and belief. son came in at €231 million, compared to Real Madrid’s 385 million and Barcelona’s 485 58th-minute winner. million. Atletico’s goalkeeper Jan Oblak was hoisted onto shoulders and a scarf was draped When Simeone took over, Atletico was 10th. In the decade since, the club has never round the neck of the 20-year-old Joao Felix. finished outside the top three and after going 18 years without the title, they have now Central defender Jose Gimenez formed a conga and long after the crowds had dis- won it twice in seven. persed, left winger Yannick Carrasco returned to check on one fan who had been hurt and And there could be more to come. Simeone linked his team’s success to unusual cir- had to stay lying on the concrete. cumstances but celebrating does not have to be a one-off. Atletico should not have to wait Almost an hour earlier, the final whistle had blown to leave Atletico two points ahead another seven years for the next one. of Real Madrid, whose last-gasp victory over Villarreal proved irrelevant. Real Madrid and Barcelona could both start next season with new coaches and with a Some Atleti players piled onto each other and others fell to the ground with exhaustion remit to overhaul squads seen as too old and too expensive. and relief. At the same time glamorous signings are unlikely this summer as both clubs continue After being top since December and after almost throwing away a 10-point lead in to suffer the dreadful financial consequences of the pandemic. February, the title was finally theirs. Atletico, meanwhile, has a settled team with a coach it can trust. The champion Manager Diego Simeone said Atletico’s success was a triumph for strength in adversity has adopted a more assertive style in La Liga, even if it was unable to find it in and that, in a season when nothing was normal, his team had adapted better than the rest.