June 24, 2021 UEFA-UK agreement More than 60,000 fans will be allowed into Wembley for the semi-finals and final of Euro 2020 after a deal was struck between the UK government 7 and UEFA, the Guardian reported. Sports Basketball captain Nikkhah Bahrami named Messi, Barcelona yet to agree over extension Iran’s flagbearer at Tokyo Olympics as contract enters final week AFP Barcelona and Lionel Messi are in talks but have yet to Messi, meanwhile, remains focused on the Copa Ameri- agree on a contract extension. ca, where he is currently competing with Argentina. Messi’s deal at Camp Nou is set to expire at the end of The 33-year-old’s priority is not economic. Instead, he is June, meaning he will be a free agent in just over a week, looking for assurances Barcelona can put a more competi- goal.com reported. tive team on the pitch around him as he enters the twilight Though Barcelona remain optimistic over Messi signing of his career. an extension, no breakthrough on a new deal appears to be Barca won the Copa del Rey last term, but fell short in imminent. the Champions League and La Liga. Though the outline of a formal proposal continues to be Despite Barcelona enduring a disappointing 2020-21 discussed, Goal understands that the Blaugrana have yet to season, Messi was once again the top scorer in La Liga. make an official offer to Messi. He netted 30 goals in 35 appearances in the league - seven Barcelona president Joan Laporta and Jorge Messi, the more than nearest challenger Gerard Moreno. player’s father and agent, remain in constant dialogue over He also scored five times in the Champions League and fiba.basketball a new deal. three in the Copa del Rey. Sports Desk Record participation he National Olympic Committee of Iran picked bas- Alinejad also added Iran would likely be represented by a ketball skipper Samad Nikkhah Bahrami as the coun- record number of athletes at the Games. Ttry’s flagbearer at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo “We have already sealed 63 spots for the Games, and a Three-time Olympic champion Sun to miss Olympics. couple of more quotas are all but guaranteed for the country, The Games – postponed by a year due to the coronavirus which means Iran will be present at the Olympics with the pandemic – will kick off in the Japanese capital on July 23. most participants ever,” the Iranian official said. Tokyo Games after CAS ruling This will be the second occasion Nikkhah Bahrami, 38, Iran will be granted a ‘universality quota’ by the world will carry Iran’s flag at the opening ceremony, having done swimming’s governing body, FINA, despite the Iranians’ China’s three-time Olympic cham- ing by FINA, the swimming fed- His first offence had seen him the honor at Beijing 2008. failure at the Belgrade Trophy in Serbia last week, which pion Sun Yang has had an eight-year eration, in January 2019. served a three-month suspension in Three-time Asian gold medalist and a winner of two Asian also served as the Olympic qualifiers. doping ban reduced to four years But after an appeal by the World 2014 for taking prohibited stimu- Games silvers with the country, the Mahram player also led Additionally, Mehdi Pirjahan will also be handed a place and three months by the Court of Ar- Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to lant Trimetazidine. the Iranian delegation at the 2010 Asian Games in Guang- at the 400m hurdles contests when the World Athletics re- bitration for Sport (CAS). CAS that decision was overturned. CAS said that “the new panel zhou, China. leases the new world rankings on June 27. The ban is backdated to 28 Feb- Switzerland’s highest court set found to its comfortable satisfac- “Congratulations to Nikkhah Bahrami for such a great The Iranian hurdler currently sits 29th in his respective ruary, 2020 and means the swim- the ruling aside and the case was tion” that, when it came to anti- honor. He was picked for his experience and career at the category, with the top 40 securing a ticket for Tokyo. mer will miss this summer’s Olym- once again heard by CAS but with doping rule violations, Sun was Olympics and the Asian Games. He has also won medals at Iranian athletes will compete at volleyball, basketball, athlet- pics in Tokyo, BBC Sport reported. a different panel in place. guilty of “evading, refusing or the Asian Games,” said Mehdi Alinejad, the deputy sports ics, shooting, freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling, archery, failing to submit to sample collec- minister for professional sports. cycling, taekwondo, saber fencing, karate, boxing, table tennis, tion by an athlete” and “tampering Iranian archer Zahra Nemati was the flagbearer at Rio 2016. canoe and rowing, weightlifting, and swimming events. or alleged tampering with any part of doping control by an athlete or other person”. It added: “The new panel con- sidered that the circumstances sur- Suns sink Clippers rounding the sample collection of 4-5 September 2018 merited a pe- riod of ineligibility at the lower end of the range: namely the addition of with last-gasp Ayton dunk in see-saw thriller the three-month period (from 2014) to the four-year ban applicable in Deandre Ayton made the this second case.” go-ahead catch and dunk Sun’s lawyer Zhang Qihuai has with one second left and claimed his client is a “victim of a bloodied Devin Booker political posturing”. scored 20 points as the Writing on Chinese social media Phoenix Suns shocked AFP on Wednesday, Zhang said: “I can the Los Angeles Clippers only say forever: Sun Yang did not 104-103 in game two of A new CAS panel held the latest Sun had told an appeal hearing in violate the rules and there were no their NBA playoff series. hearing after a Swiss Federal Tribu- November 2019 that he missed the violations detected in the results Booker shook off a cruel nal ruling. doping test because testers failed to [from doping tests]. clash of heads that left him The 29-year-old missed a dop- prove their identity when they ar- “Unfortunately for China and bloodied and bruised, re- ing test in September 2018 and was rived at his home. even the world, such an excellent turning to the game as the given an eight-year ban for his sec- He also denied a vial containing athlete has fallen into the hands of Suns took down the Clip- ond offence. his blood samples was smashed international organisations manipu- pers in a see-saw fourth He was first cleared of wrongdo- with a hammer. lated by some people. quarter to win their ninth straight and seize a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals, AFP reported. Settlement reached “It was like a Muham- mad Ali fight with haymak- er after haymaker going in suit over Bryant helicopter crash back and forth,” said Suns CHRISTIAN PETERSEN/AFP guard Cameron Payne, Phoenix Suns’ Deandre Ayton (22) dunks the ball during the fourth quarter of an NBA victory over The families of Kobe Bryant and who finished with a career- Los Angeles Clippers in Phoenix, AZ, US, on June 22, 2021. others who died in a 2020 helicopter high 29 points. crash reached a settlement in a law- Ayton scored the eventual game winner in a thrilling Booker returned to power his team to victory with anoth- suit targeting the late pilot’s estate finish as the Suns perfectly executed on their final pos- er superb offensive performance. and the company that owned and op- session of the game. “They put a lot of pressure on D-Brook. I hope his nose erated the helicopter. The play started with an inbounds pass by Suns for- isn’t broken,” said Ayton. Kobe Bryant’s widow, Vanessa ward Jae Crowder who lobbed it directly to the front of Payne raised the bar to make 12 of 24 shots from the Bryant, was among those suing the the basket where a leaping Ayton was waiting. He caught field and had nine assists with no turnovers. He was start- estate of pilot Ara Zobayan as well as and then dunked the ball in one motion to give to give the ing at guard for the second straight game with Chris Paul Island Express Helicopters filed a no- Suns a 104-103 lead with 0.7 seconds left. out after reportedly testing positive for Covid-19. tice in court that read, “Plaintiffs and Clippers Paul George then put up a desperation shot George scored 26 points and Reggie Jackson added 19 for Defendants jointly report that they at the buzzer but it hit the front of the rim and bounced the Clippers, who also fell behind 2-0 in their previous series have agreed to settle their claims in the harmlessly away to end the game in front of the crowd of against the top seeded Utah Jazz before rallying to win. above-entitled action,” multiple media 16,600 at Phoenix Suns Arena. George missed a pair of free throws with 8.2 seconds left outlets reported, according to Reuters. “Jae made a great pass,” said Ayton, who finished with that could have put the game out of reach for the Clippers. No details of the settlement were 24 points and 14 rebounds. “I am glad it counted. We just “We had a chance to win the game,” said Clippers head revealed. The court still must approve wanted to finish the game strong.” coach Ty Lue.