6 January 24, 2021 Clippers Dominate, Beat ’s Taftian Ranks 1st in French Thunder 120-106 Indoor Athletics Championships (Dispatches) – Iranian sprinter Hassan Taftian managed to win first place in the French Indoor Athletics Championships. Hitting the record of 6.68 sec- onds, Hasan Taftian, the Iranian sprinter won the championship in the French Indoor Athletics Cham- pionships and stood at the first place. After Taftian, Ryan Zahzeh and Marvin René, both from the host country, came in second and third Los Angeles Clippers guard Paul George (13) shoots between with a time of 6.70 seconds. Oklahoma City Thunder players, including forward Luguentz The Olympic runner has been Dort (5), during the fourth quarter of an NBA basketball game training in France for a few days to Friday, Jan. 22, 2021, in Los Angeles. prepare for the Asian Champion- ships and the Tokyo Olympics. LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 36 points in the first quarter In last September, Taftian, led by Kawhi Leonard scored 31 and 34 in the second on 63% his French coach Ontanon points, Paul George added 29 shooting. They had scoring Guy, competed in the Dia- and the Los Angeles Clippers runs of 21-2 and 11-4 in the mond League and won the quota beat the Oklahoma City Thun- first. to participate in the 2020 Tokyo der 120-106 on Friday night for They opened the second 2020 with a time of 10.3. their sixth straight win. quarter with a 19-10 spurt, Serge Ibaka had 17 points including George’s steal and and 11 rebounds to help the dunk followed by his consecu- PSG Thrash Montpellier to Open Three-Point Lead in Ligue 1 Clippers improve to 12-4, ty- tive 3-pointers, for their larg- PARIS (Reuters) - Paris ing the back of the net after ing the Lakers for the NBA’s est lead of 27 points. Saint-Germain scored three Montpellier keeper Jonas best record. From there, the Thunder put goals in a four-minute blitz Omlin was sent off early Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led together a 25-15 surge, hitting in the second half as they in the opening half. the Thunder with 30 points five 3-pointers, to trail 70-53 demolished 10-man Mont- The win put PSG, who and eight assists against his at halftime. pellier 4-0 on Friday to go welcomed coach Mauri- former team. Lu Dort added The Thunder worked to re- three points clear at the top cio Pochettino back on the 19 points. duce a 23-point deficit to 10 of Ligue 1. bench after he was forced ‘’He was amazing. He had points in the third. They out- Kylian Mbappe bagged a to spend a week in isola- some great moves, great fin- scored the Clippers 15-2 dur- double for his first goals of tion following a positive ishes around the basket as al- ing one stretch, helped by the year with Neymar and COVID-19 test, on 45 ways,’’ teammate Mike Musca- eight points from Dort and Mauro Icardi also find- points from 21 games. la said of Gilgeous-Alexander. Muscala’s first 3-pointer after ‘’He makes the game easier for he missed four attempts in the everybody on the court.’’ first half. Goggia Wins 4th Straight World Cup Downhill to Match Vonn The Thunder were in catch- But Leonard quickly put the Goggia’s teammate Elena Cur- Goggia was runner-up three up mode most of the way be- Clippers ahead 91-75, toni was third, 0.60 back, end- times and also topped the fore dropping their second off six in a row. Muscala hit ing Breezy Johnson’s streak season-long downhill stand- straight and fourth in five another 3-pointer that left the of four third-place finishes in ings. Goggia also won the Py- games. They were just 14 of Thunder trailing by 13 going downhill. eongchang Olympics downhill 42 from 3-point range and into the fourth. Johnson was fifth, 0.89 be- in February 2018 when Vonn only got to the free throw line George scored 11 points in hind Goggia, giving the United took bronze in South Korea. 13 times. the fourth against his old team, States its most consistent threat Goggia is one of the sport’s The Clippers grabbed con- when Gilgeous-Alexander had in downhill since Vonn’s stellar most flamboyant skiers and per- trol in the first half, scoring 10 for the Thunder. career ended two years ago. sonalities though her reaction to Vonn’s best streak in World an impressive run Saturday was British Tennis Star Murray to Cup downhill was six straight quiet satisfaction in the finish ’s Sofia Goggia speeds down the course during an alpine ski, wins in 2009-10, according to area. Miss Australian Open women’s World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, the ski-db.com database. That She blew kisses to the camera Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. matched her childhood idol and raised both arms in the air CRANS-MONTANA, Swit- 2018. They are the only women ’s run in 1995. with just a little smile. Goggia’s zerland (AP) -- Olympic cham- to achieve the feat in the last 25 Vonn won four straight World 11th career World Cup win was pion Sofia Goggia is dominat- years. Cup downhills from January to her eighth in downhill. ing the World Cup downhill The Italian star finished 0.27 March 2018. They were the last Runner-up to Goggia on Fri- season like no woman since ski seconds faster than Lara Gut- of Vonn’s 82 career World Cup day, Ester Ledecka was on great . Behrami as both thrived on icy victories, more than any other course for a fast time when her Goggia won her fourth straight snow slicker than in Friday’s woman on the circuit that began run was ended by a nasty-look- downhill on Saturday to tie a race at Crans-Montana also in 1967. ing crash that sent her spinning World Cup streak by Vonn in won by Goggia. During Vonn’s winning run, down the hill in the safety net.

Qatar to Host Group B Matches for FIBA Asia Cup 2021 Qualifiers (Dispatches) - The FIBA Asia Cup 2021 qualifiers will be (Xinhua) -- Three- had expected to make his jour- changed to , Qatar for Group B games in the upcoming February win- time Grand Slam winner Andy ney on a later date while the dow, the FIBA Regional Office Asia confirmed on Saturday. Murray has withdrawn from this Australian Open starts on Febru- Tokyo was previously announced as hosts for the group games. But due year’s Australian Open after fail- ary 8. to restrictions imposed by the Japanese authorities, the location is now ing to find a “workable quaran- Due to a lingering pelvic injury, moved to Doha. tine” due to a positive test for CO- Murray missed several competi- Group B includes China, Japan, Chinese Taipei and Malaysia. VID-19 earlier this month. tions in the past two years and Doha will also play host to matches of Group E, which comprises of Murray, 33, planned to take a the former world number one is Qatar, Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia. chartered flight to Melbourne currently 123rd in the latest ATP Top two teams in each of the six groups at the end of the qualifications last week but had to go into world ranking. will qualify directly for the tournament. quarantine instead after receiv- As a five-time runner-up of The FIBA Regional Office Asia added that the third and last window ing a positive test result for CO- the Australian Open, Murray will also be organized as protected environment tournaments in order to VID-19 ahead of his trip. was awarded a wildcard for this ensure health and safety of all participants. Despite the setback, Murray year’s competition.