6 February 23, 2020 Four Iranian Wrestlers Claim Two Historic Silvers Advance to Semifinals in 2020 of Asian Championships MELBOURNE (Dispatches) our athletes faced many challenges – Iranian athletes on Saturday ahead of being dispatched to the snatched two silver medals in In- games,” she said, referring to Aus- ternational Gymnastics Federation tralia’s delay in issuing visas for World Cup in Melbourne. Iranian athletes which were eventu- Saeedreza Keikha won the sil- ally resolved through the coopera- ver of men’s pommel horse with tion of Iran Foreign Ministry and a score of 15.033. Stephen Nedo- Olympics Committee. roscik of the USA gained the gold The 2020 FIG World Cup circuit with 15.400 while Kohei Kameya- in is a series of ma finished third. competitions officially organized The other silver was collected by and promoted by the International Mahdi Ahmad Kohani in rings with Gymnastics Federation (FIG) in a score of 14.500. 2016 Olympics 2020. All three of the Apparatus champion Eleftherios Petrounias World Cup series competitions, in NEW DELHI (Dispatches) – of the old continent began compet- of won the gold while the Melbourne, Baku, and Doha, will Four Iranian wrestlers defeated all ing in the first five weight catego- bronze went to Ali Zahran of . serve as opportunities for gymnasts their rivals on Saturday to advance ries. Zahra Inche Dargahi, President to earn points towards Olympic to the semi-finals of the Asian Free- Four Iranian wrestlers: Amir- of Iran’s Gymnastic Federation, qualification through the FIG Ar- Iran’s Saeed Reza Keikha and Ahmad Kohani booked two silver medals at the 2020 style Wrestling Championship un- Hossein Maqsoudi, Amir-Hossein International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) World Cup on Saturday. praised the results as ‘historic’. tistic Gymnastics World Cup series derway in New Delhi, . Hosseini, Ali SavadKouhi and “These medals are invaluable since route. The 33rd Asian Wrestling Mojtaba Gelich advanced to the Championships opened in the In- semifinal games of 65-kg, 70-kg, dian capital earlier Saturday when 79-kg and 97-kg weight categories Pelicans Rout Blazers 128-115 in NBA wrestlers from different countries respectively. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Zion Williamson Blazers. hears the accolades but insists he’s still getting Williamson, who played just one season at comfortable in his new job. Duke before going pro, went into the game Lewandowski Scores Late, Keeps He had 25 points for his seventh straight game against the Blazers averaging 22.1 points and 7.5 with at least 20, and the New Orleans Pelicans rebounds. beat the short-handed Portland Trail Blazers 128- His streak of games with 20-plus points is the Bayern on Track in Bundesliga 115 on Friday night. longest among NBA rookies this season. And he The No. 1 draft pick was playing in just his 11th was the first player since Michael to have game after a right knee injury sidelined him for 20 or more in eight of his first 10 NBA games. the first half of the season. The Pelicans, who led At just 19, he’s the youngest player in league by as many as 22 points, have won four of their history with 20-plus points in seven straight last five games. games. Even his teammates are impressed. “He just fits in,” Gentry said about his emerg- “He definitely takes us to another level,” Jrue ing star. “It’s not like we call a bunch of plays for Holiday said. “He’s so hard to guard and hard to him. Our guys do a good job in the flow of our stop, so for him to be doing that 10 or 11 games offense trying to find him.” in is impressive.” Lonzo Ball’s 3-pointer put the Pelicans up 29- The Blazers, who have lost three straight, were 17 in the opening quarter. But the Blazers closed without Damian Lillard, who is expected to miss within 40-38 early in the second on Whiteside’s three or more games because of a groin injury dunk. It was as close as Portland could get, and that occurred in Memphis last week. It kept Lil- Williamson’s dunk gave New Orleans a 54-46 lard out of the All-Star Game and the 3-point lead. contest last weekend. Williamson’s layup pushed the Pelicans’ ad- Lillard is averaging a career-high 29.5 points vantage to 65-50 and New Orleans led 73-63 Robert Lewandowski and 7.8 assists. His absence hurts the Blaz- going into halftime. He led all players with 19 MUNICH (AP) - Robert Lewan- the ball in the net, but Paderborn ers, who went into the game 3.5 games back of New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson goes points. dowski scored late for leader Bay- striker Streli Mamba was clearly up for a dunk in front of Portland Trail Blazers forward Memphis for eighth in the Western Conference Consecutive jumpers from Carmelo Anthony ern Munich to get a head start on offside and the linesman waited standings. Trevor Ariza during the first half of an NBA basketball and Whiteside’s dunk pulled Portland within 80- its Bundesliga rivals after a hard- before raising his flag to rule out And it’s not just Lillard: Portland had only nine game in Portland, Ore., Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. 75 in the third quarter. The Pelicans pulled away fought 3-2 win over bottom side his third-minute goal. players available for the game. with a 12-0 run to head to the fourth with 102-83 Coach Alvin Gentry said he’s treating the last 27 Paderborn on Friday. Paderborn defended well, keep- CJ McCollum took over as point guard and fin- lead. games like a college season. The Polish striker scored twice ing Bayern at bay until Gnabry ished with 27 points and 10 assists. Hassan Whi- “We want to play to get into a tournament. We Portland closed the gap a bit in the fourth when teside added 19 points and 12 rebounds. back-to-back 3-pointers from Trevor Ariza and and took his league-leading tally found a way through with two want a high seed. Those are the things that we’ve to 25 with the winning goal in the touches after Lewandowski perse- “Overall I thought we competed, we just didn’t talked about. Obviously, we have to play good McCollum got the Blazers within 114-105. Holi- 88th minute, set up like his previ- vered to win the ball back in the play well enough defensively to win,” McCol- basketball,” Gentry said. day’s 3 and Ball’s layup extended New Orleans’ ous goal by Serge Gnabry, who 25th. lum said. The Pelicans also won the previous three meet- lead again and fans at the Moda Center headed The Pelicans were among four teams, along ings this season with Portland. Earlier this month for the exits. scored the opener in the 25th. A mistake from Manuel Neuer with the Blazers, fighting for those last play- in New Orleans, Williamson had 31 points and Holiday finished with 20 points and nine as- Bayern (49) stretched its lead to allowed Dennis Srbeny to equal- off berths with just a third of the season left. nine rebounds in a 138-117 victory over the sists. four points ahead of the rest of the ize a minute before the break. The 23rd round, with rivals Leipzig Bayern goalkeeper emerged from (45), Borussia Dortmund and goal in typical fashion but failed Borussia Monchengladbach (42 to clear and Srbeny eluded three Zubcic Storms to Giant Slalom World Cup Win in each) all playing on Saturday. helpless defenders before shooting place after the first run at Yuzawa Nestvold-Haugen went on to fin- The visitors were first to have to the unguarded net. Naeba but stormed to the best com- ish fourth with Kristoffersen fifth, bined time of two minutes, 37.25 followed by another Norwegian, Sergio Pérez Fastest Early on Second seconds, edging out ’s overall World Cup leader Alek- Marco Odermatt by seven tenths sander Aamodt Kilde sixth. with American Tommy Ford tak- Kilde, who captured his first vic- Day of F1 Testing in ing third. tory of the season in last week’s MONTMELO, Spain(Dispatches) — Racing Point’s Sergio Perez has set “It was a difficult race, the qual- Super-G at Saalbach, tops the the fastest time early on the second day of Formula One preseason testing, ity of the snow wasn’t good,” Zub- standings on 1,022 points with with Lewis Hamilton having another solid session for Mercedes. cic told reporters. Kristoffersen on 948 and ’s “I made a big mistake on the first Olympic bronze medallist Alexis Hamilton led the time charts and had the most laps in the morning ses- run, but I was able to get it back Pinturault a further 50 points be- sion on Thursday, though he was only seventh fastest among the 10 driv- on the second without having to go hind. ers who went to the track. for too much in the turns.” ’s Zan Kranjec, current- Perez was four tenths of a second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of Renault ’s Henrik Kristoffer- ly leading the giant slalom rank- at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit. Alexander Albon was third with Red sen, who took silver in the giant ings, finished ninth. Bull. Marco Odermatt, Filip Zubcic and Tommy Ford after the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World slalom at the 2018 Pyeongchang The Japanese leg was held de- Perez had been third fastest on Wednesday, behind Hamilton and Mer- Cup Men’s Giant Slalom in Yuzawa Naeba, western Japan. Olympics, led after the first run, spite fears over the deadly corona- cedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. NAEBA-San, Japan (AFP) - leg of the men’s World Cup giant clocking 1:16.63 ahead of coun- virus that forced the cancellation Hamilton ran 106 laps on Thursday morning, 58 more than Perez. ’s Filip Zubcic produced a slalom on Saturday. tryman Leif Kristian Nestvold- of the men’s downhill in Yanqing, The Mexican driver’s time was nearly a second quicker than the Day 2 sizzling second run to win the Japan The 27-year-old trailed in 12th Haugen. last weekend. time set by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc last season. Serb Player’s Parents Fired After He Joins Kosovo Under-19s TIRANA, (AP) -- The to play for the Kosovo Under-19s. meters (6 miles) from the capital club. eration called on Kosovo authori- sport.’’ Kosovo Football Federation has Ilija Ivic, aged 17, an ethnic Serb Pristina, was selected by coach The federation said after Ivic ties, as well as UEFA and FIFA, Kosovo joined UEFA and FIFA complained that local authorities in resident in the Gracanica com- Ramiz Krasniqi for the national agreed to play for the national to react and stop such ‘’discrimi- in 2016. an ethnic Serb commune fired the mune which is mostly populated youth team. under-19s, his parents working at nating attempts’’ which were ‘’a does not accept Kosovo’s parents of a footballer who agreed by ethnic Serbs and was 9 kilo- Ivic plays with KF Flamurtari the commune were fired. The fed- clear intervention of politics into 2008 declaration of independence.