April 27, 2021 La Liga leader Atletico Madrid’s 2-1 defeat at Atletico Bilbao threw the title race even further open with only three points separating the top four 7 in the table with five games remaining, BBC reported. More tests, no quarantine in updated rules for Tokyo Olympics Tokyo Olympics organizers and the International Olym- fans at all at Olympic venues. pic Committee (IOC) are to unveil new plans this week Taro Kono, the minister in charge of vaccination in Ja- to explain how 15,400 Olympic and Paralympic athletes pan, suggested earlier this month that empty venues were can compete in Japan when the Games open in three a probable option. months in the midst of a pandemic. IOC president Thomas Bach last week said his plans to The rollout of the second edition of the so-called “Play- meet the torch relay in Hiroshima on May 17-18 are still books” – an IOC guidebook explaining how the games can not confirmed. Bach’s arrival would be just days after the be pulled off – comes as Tokyo, Osaka and several other latest state of emergency ends on May 11. areas have been placed under a third state of emergency Opposition lawmakers in Japan’s national legislature as coronavirus cases surge, The Associated Press reported. have suggested Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga sched- Japan, which has attributed about 10,000 deaths to uled the state of emergency to accommodate Bach. COVID-19, has also been slow with local vaccination The government and the IOC have said the precautions with about 1% so far getting shots. are in place specifically for Japan’s “Golden Week” holi- Organizers are expected to announce daily testing for day, which begins on Thursday. athletes. They are also expected to drop a 14-day quar- The torch relay, which began on March 25 in Fuku- antine requirement, allowing athletes to train when they shima in northeastern Japan, has been detoured several arrive. Athletes will be required to stay within a “bubble” times this month and was forced to run in an empty city consisting of the Olympic Village on Tokyo Bay, and park in Osaka. It was also rerouted in Matsuyama City venues and training areas. Ehime prefecture. MOHAMMAD BABAEI/IRNA Sports Desk total standings. Davoudi’s victory was a statement performance ahead li Davoudi brought the curtain down on Iran’s cam- of July’s Tokyo Olympics, where the world junior record paign at the Asian Weightlifting Championships in holder for the snatch and total, will be among the favorites ATashkent, Uzbekistan, by making a clean sweep of – along with Armenian Gor Minasyan – to challenge Geor- the gold medals at the men’s +109kg contests. gian sensation Lasha Talakhadze for the +109kg medals. Davoudi’s triumph took Iran’s medal count to 15 in total Earlier on Sunday, Iranian Kia Qadami took the clean & – including seven golds – as the country finished second to jerk bronze of the 109kg weight class. China in the medals table. Rio 2016 gold medalists Kianosh Rostami and Sohrab China dominated the competitions by clinching 49 med- Moradi had won six medals in the 89kg and 96kg contests als, while Chinese Taipei stood third with six. respectively, despite failing to secure spots for the Games On Sunday, Davoudi tallied 196kg to claim the snatch in Tokyo. gold, finishing above Syrian Man Asaad (195kg) and Eishi- Iranians also dominated the 102kg class as Rasoul AP ro Murakami (190kg) of Japan. Mo’tamedi scooped the clean & jerk and total golds as well The Iranian went on to lift 239kg for a top-spot finish of as the bronze of the snatch category, where his compatriot Japan’s Kyodo News, citing unnamed sources, said It will be banned altogether this weekend on the Oki- the clean & jerk category, which also saw him win the total Reza Dehdar finished on top. athletes and staff will have to be tested twice within 96 nawa island of Miyakojima. The small island has only gold with on overall tally of 435kg. In the men’s ranking based on tallied points, Iran finished hours before leaving home. They will also be tested upon one hospital. The relay will run through other locations Assad (238kg, 433kg) and Murakami (225kg, 415kg) had fourth with 600 points, following Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, arrival in Japan. on Okinawa. to settle for the same color of medals in the clean & jerk and and China. The Playbook for athletes is to be updated on Wednesday, The heavily sponsored relay is a caravan of more than with Playbooks for media and others unveiled on Friday. A a dozen cars and other vehicles festooned with advertis- final edition of all Playbooks will be published in June. ing from major sponsors like Coca-Cola and Toyota. Resistance to the Olympics in Japan is still running Torch runners – there are 10,000 in total – typically bring high with 70-80 percent opposed in recent polls. Fans up the rear amid blaring music and banter. from abroad have already been barred, and organizers The relay is scheduled to end at the National Stadium Barcelona test a platform to success have put off until as late as June a decision on having any on July 23 for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Games. in claycourt season: Nadal ‘This is what you dream of’: Tuchel on Real Madrid tie Thomas Tuchel has told his young Chelsea squad to em- brace the experience of facing Real Madrid in the Champi- ons League semifinal today. Chelsea has not reached the last four of Europe’s elite com- petition since 2014. The Lon- don Blues also have a squad that’s stocked with new sign- ings and academy players that have yet to reach this stage, goal.com reported. Meanwhile, Madrid has won the Champions League three times under manager Zinedine Zidane, with many of those Eu- ropean champions in the current squad. Tuchel believes his men can compete but wants them to JULIAN FINNEY/AFP learn over two legs versus Los ALBERT GEA/REUTERS Blancos. very happy to arrive at this level. This is what you dream Rafael Nadal celebrates with the Barcelona Open trophy after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final in Barcelona, Spain, on April 25, “Zidane has an incredible record, especially in the of as a little boy, to play international games against Real 2021. Champions League, which he won three times in a row Madrid, there’s no doubt about it.” which is pretty much impossible to do,” Tuchel told re- Chelsea’s only likely absentee is former Madrid mid- World number two Rafael Nadal said his grueling 6-4, 6-7(6), At three hours and 38 minutes, it was the longest best-of- porters. “We arrived in the semifinal and on the highest fielder Mateo Kovacic, who suffered a hamstring prob- 7-5 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Barcelona Open final three-set ATP Tour final since statistics started being tracked in level, we will play Real Madrid and it cannot be harder. lem in training last week. could prepare him for long battles ahead in the European clay- 1991, the governing body of men’s tennis said. “That’s because they are the most experienced team The Blues go into the match after wins against Man- court season. “I haven’t been able to play a lot of competitive matches for in this competition. They will play these games with full chester City and West Ham allowed them to reach the FA The 34-year-old, who claimed a record-extending 12th Bar- the past couple of months. It’s true that matches like today make confidence and awareness. They are on a very good run Cup final while also building a three-point lead in their celona title, suffered a back injury in Melbourne earlier this year me feel better physically and more ready for long battles,” Nad- at the moment. Sixteen or so games unbeaten. I am sure efforts to finish fourth in the league. before he was beaten by Tsitsipas in the Australian Open quar- al told reporters. we will arrive with confidence and true inner belief. Tuchel is delighted with how his team is shaping up for terfinals, Reuters reported. “I think I’ve been able to play better and better during the “We have now crucial matches in the FA Cup, Premier the make-or-break final month of the campaign. Following a spell out on the sidelines, the 20-time Grand whole week in every single match and today was a bit better League and Champions League after performing and get- “We closed the gap very early when it clearly was not Slam champion returned to action at Monte Carlo this month, than yesterday. I have room to keep improving. I wasn’t perfect. ting good results. I hope we can play adventurous foot- in our hands so we closed it early because the other teams going out in the quarters. “I really believe I can play better than what I’m doing on clay ball. We can play aggressive and intense football. We didn’t have the results when we had the results,” he added. But the Spaniard, who will be looking for a 14th French Open and I hope that the victory is going to help me to raise a little bit my will fight them hard and let’s see who gets the win out of “Since last week, it was in our own hands because we crown when the claycourt Grand Slam begins on May 30, showed level that I need to fight for the next couple of events that I’m going these two games.