6 January 8, 2018

Kyrgios Beats Harrison Iranians Pay Homage to to Win Brisbane Wrestling Icon Takhti International Tennis Title Gholam Reza Takhti at his grave in the country’s capital city of Tehran. President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Wrestling Federation (IRIWF) Rasoul Khadem and a number of serving and retired Iranian sports officials were also in attendance at the ceremony held at Ibn Babawayh Cemetery in southern Tehran on Sunday. Takhti, the most famous wrestler in the Iranian history, died on January 7, 1968. The Iranian nation was stricken with deep grief, when the news of Takhti’s death broke. Seven people reportedly even committed suicide because of unutterable sadness. The legend was known for his chivalry and sportsmanship Nick Kyrgios of plays a shot in his final match against Ryan and continues to symbolize the essence of sports to the Iranian Harrison of the U.S. during the Brisbane International tennis people. tournament in Brisbane, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018. Takhti claimed the gold medal in Melbourne 1956 Olympic BRISBANE, Australia (AP) He closed with his 17th ace. Games, overcoming Boris Kulayev from the Soviet Union in the -- Nick Kyrgios won an ATP Kyrgios had trouble with his final contest of the 87-kilogram weight section. title on home soil for the first left knee during the tourna- He also claimed two Olympics silver medals in 1952 Helsinki time with a commanding 6-4, ment, and needed to change and 1960 Rome. 6-2 victory over Ryan Harrison the tape on the joint late in the Takhti won two World Championships gold medals in 1959 at the Brisbane International on first set of the final. After that, Tehran and 1961 Yokohama as well. Sunday night. he appeared to move more The Islamic Republic of Iran Wrestling Federation hosts an in- It was a fourth title for the freely and didn’t expect it to ternational wrestling tournament in memory of the legendary enigmatic 22-year-old Austra- trouble him at the Australian lian, and his first since 2016. Open beginning Jan. 15. Late legendary Iranian freestyle wrestler Gholam Reza Takhti wrestler every year. Harrison had five breakpoint His best run at an Australian The 37th edition of Takhti Cup is scheduled to be held in Iran’s TEHRAN (Press TV) - Thousands of Iranians from various chances in the first set but Open was a quarterfinal exit northeastern shrine city of Mashhad between January 19 and walks of life and sports enthusiasts have commemorated the 50th couldn’t convert, and third- in 2015. Kyrgios is hoping to death anniversary of late legendary Iranian freestyle wrestler 20, 2017. seeded Kyrgios bounced back improve on that after a confi- to get the decisive break in the dence-boosting performance seventh game and took con- in Brisbane, where he beat Olympic Champ Shiffrin Dominates Slalom for 40th Career Win trol with a mix of unorthodox defending champion and No. KRANJSKA GORA, Slo- career slalom podium with- shot-making and pure power 3-ranked Grigor Dimitrov in venia (AP) -- Olympic cham- out winning - a World Cup on his serve. the semifinals. pion Mikaela Shiffrin domi- record. nated a women’s World Cup Petra Vlhova of , Curry Propels Warriors slalom on Sunday for her the only skier to beat Shiffrin 40th career win. in a slalom this season, was The result put the American 2.18 behind in fourth. Past Clippers level with Sweden great Inge- Her two wins this weekend mar Stenmark for the number easily earned Shiffrin the of World Cup victories before Golden Fox Trophy, which turning 23. adds the slalom results to Only Annemarie Moser- those of Saturday’s GS. Proell won more races (41) It was another confirmation at that age, but Shiffrin can that Shiffrin, initially excel- ’ Mikaela Shiffrin competes during an alpine ski, women’s match the Austrian great’s ling in slalom, has become World Cup slalom in Kranjska Gora, , Sunday Jan. 7, 2018. record at night slalom in a consistent winner in both Flachau on Tuesday. the win by taking first-run a second, a huge margin in a technical disciplines. ‘’I have so much fun skiing lead of a 1.47 seconds over sport often decided by hun- Shiffrin has won 20 of the today,’’ said Shiffrin, who has Frida Hansdotter of Sweden dredths of a second. last 25 slaloms she competed won seven of the last eight in what the American called Shiffrin posted the third- in, and finished on the po- Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, pictured in races, including all four in ‘’maybe the best run of slalom fastest time in the final leg dium in four of the other five November 2017, made a career-high 15 of his 16 free-throws against 2018. I have ever done in a race.’’ and beat Hansdotter by 1.64 races. Her 29 slalom wins in the Los Angeles Clippers A day after winning a giant It was the fourth straight sla- seconds, while Wendy Hold- total leaves her six short of LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Ste- Leading by nine at halftime, the slalom on the same hill, Shif- lom race where Shiffrin held ener of was 1.87 the record set by ’s phen Curry scored 45 points and Warriors out-scored the Clippers frin positioned herself for a first-run lead of more than behind in third for her 13nd Marlies Schild. the Golden State Warriors cruised 39-21 in the third quarter, ex- to a 121-105 NBA victory on Satur- panding the lead to as many as 30 day over the Los Angeles Clippers, points. Al-Attiyah Takes Dakar Opener, Loeb who lost star Blake Griffin to a con- For the Clippers, it was more cussion in the first quarter. than a demoralizing defeat. Finishes Without Brakes Curry, on fire since returning Griffin was hurt in a frightening from an 11-game injury absence, incident with less than three min- to victory on the open- down in 29th place. connected on eight of his 16 utes left in the first quarter. ing stage of the 9,000km Dakar ’s Bernhard Ten three-point attempts, made a ca- He was driving to the basket and Rally. Brinke (at 25 sec behind Atti- reer-high 15 of his 16 free-throws, seemed to slip before Warriors re- The Qatari driver, who took yah) and ’s Nicolas Fuchs, pulled down six rebounds and serve center JaVale McGee, trying the title in 2011 and 2015, swept in a (34 sec) filled handed out three assists while sit- to cut Griffin off, inadvertently across the short 32km Peruvian out the podium. ting out the entire fourth quarter. caught him in the forehead with desert stage between and , who swept the po- In the four games since his re- an elbow. Pisco in 21 min 51 sec. dium in 2017 with Stephane turn, Curry has averaged 36 points Griffin collapsed to the court, while shooting 65.6 percent from shaking as he held his head in his However, it was a miserable Peterhansel taking a 13th over- the field, 53.8 percent from three- hands. first day for nine-time world all title, endured a day to forget point range and 89.6 percent from He remained down for several rally champion Sebastien Loeb with their cars struggling in the the free-throw line. minutes before he was helped up who is bidding for a maiden sand and wind of the desert. Curry’s all-around performance and walked carefully to the locker Dakar win. Peterhansel, who has won the Toyota’s Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (right) and co-driver French meant the reigning NBA cham- room. The Frenchman’s hopes were pilot Mathieu Baumel are pictured at the podium during the start of last two car titles, lost 2 min 15 pion Warriors hardly missed for- Griffin, a five-time All-Star, the 2018 . hit when his Peugeot developed sec and is 11th overall while ward Kevin Durant, who was has already missed 14 games this DAKAR (AFP) - Two-time stunned defending champions brake problems which left him teammate is 2 again sidelined with a right calf season with a sprained knee liga- winner Nasser Al-Attiyah has Peugeot when he steered his 5 min 37 sec off the lead and min 36 sec behind and in 15th. strain. ment.