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WEDNESDAY 08•02•2017
SPORTS
THE MORUNG EXPRESS
LeBron jaw-dropper, Irving's grit spark Cavs thriller NBA win
C M Y K
WASHINGTON, FEBRUARY 7 (AFP): LeBron James sank an astonishing 3-pointer to force overtime and Kyrie Irving sparkled late as the Cleveland Cavaliers outlasted Washington 140-135 on Monday in an epic NBA thriller. A game featuring playoff-level intensity from tipoff to last shot saw the defending champions rally in overtime after James had fouled out while the Wizards, who saw their 17-game home win streak snapped, served notice they will be a formidable foe when the playoffs arrive. "It was an instant classic -- a great basketball game by two really good teams," Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. On the same night the New York Daily News reported unnamed sources saying James was pushing for the Cavs to trade Kevin Love to New York for former Olympic teammate Carmelo Anthony, Love scored 39 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, making major plays late to doom the Wizards. "Thirty-nine and 12? We're going to trade him tonight," Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue told reporters with a grin after the game before adding, "He's not going anywhere."
LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers goes for a dunk against the Washington Wizards during the game on February 6, 2017 at Verizon Center in Washington, DC. (Getty Images)
James said of the report: "That's trash." With the Wizards leading 118-117 and 12 seconds remaining, James drove the length of the court but missed a layup, setting up two John Wall free throws for a 3-point Washington lead with 3.4 seconds remaining. "It was a point-blank layup and I missed it," James said. "I was blessed to (get) in position where I could make up for it." Love hurled a long pass to James along the right sideline and the four-
time NBA Most Valuable Player banked in a shock fadeaway 3-pointer over Washington's Bradley Beal to deadlock the game at 120-120. "LeBron made a heck of a shot that he would probably make one out of a million times," Wall said. James, who also made three consecutive 3-pointers for Cleveland late in regulation, fouled out seconds into overtime trying to defend a shot by Beal, who scored a game-high 41 points, the last of them on a 3-pointer that put Wash-
ington ahead 133-131. Irving answered with a baseline jumper and a 3-pointer to put the Cavaliers ahead to stay. Marcin Gortat pulled the Wizards within 136-135 but Irving and Love each hit two late free throws to seal the victory, snapping a seven-game Wizards win streak, their longest in 12 years. "(We won) by executing at a high level," Irving said. "I'm glad we pulled it out -great win. Motivating." James scored 32 points and passed out a careerbest 17 assists, Irving
scored 11 of his 23 points in overtime and Tristan Thompson added 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers. "I think they respect us. That's the most important thing," Wall added. "Throughout the game LeBron said, 'You all are playing some hell of a basketball right now.'" There was bad news in the triumph for Cleveland. Starting guard Iman Shumpert, filling in for injured J.R. Smith, suffered a left ankle sprain and missed most of the contest. The Cavaliers improved to 35-15, best in the Eastern Conference, while Washington fell to fourth in the East at 30-21 -- positions that would set up a possible second-round playoff meeting between them. "We're definitely going to see them down the line," Beal said. - Miami's win streak hits 11 Goran Dragic scored 33 points, including a careerhigh seven 3-pointers on his first seven shots from beyond the arc, and Miami's win streak reached 11 games with a 115-113 victory at Minnesota. DeMar DeRozan returned after missing seven games with a sprained an-
kle and scored 31 points to lead Toronto over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers 118-109. Marcus Morris had 19 points and Andre Drummond added 16 points and 17 rebounds in Detroit's 113-96 home win over Philadelphia. Paul George scored 21 points and Indiana Pacers beat visiting Oklahoma City 93-90. NBA scoring leader Russell Westbrook had 27 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists. - Cold Spurs fall at Memphis The San Antonio Spurs missed 23 of their first 25 shots in the fourth quarter in an 89-74 loss at Memphis, setting season lows for points and assists with 11. Anthony Davis scored a game-high 34 points and Jrue Holiday added 30 as New Orleans ripped visiting Phoenix 111-106. Will Barton scored a season-high 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lift host Denver over Dallas 110-87. Utah's Gordon Hayward scored 30 points and the Jazz won 120-95 at Atlanta while the Los Angeles Lakers snapped a 12game road losing streak with a 121-107 victory at New York.
NTA meeting on Feb 10 KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 7 (MExN): The Nagaland Taekwondo Association (NTA) has called an executive council meeting on February 10 at 1:00 pm at the NCSU office, near PWD junction, Kohima. All concerned executive members are requested to attend the meeting positively.
11th Open Naga Wrestling Championship from Mar 10 KOHIMA, JANUARY 7 (MExN): The 11th Open Naga Wrestling Championship is scheduled to be held on March 10 at the Kohima Local Ground. This was announced by the organisers, Nagaland Wrestling Association (NWA), in a release issued today. While announcing this, the NWA stated that the forms would be made available from February 20 onwards. In this regard, NWA requested interested wrestlers to take note of the date and prepare for the forthcoming event. Forms will be made available at NWA office, AMK Building Kohima, opposite Congress Bhavan, and the same would be made available at some shops in Kohima, Phek, Peren and Dimapur town. The total cash money for this year’s NWA Open championship is fixed at Rs. 4.60 lakhs. The champion will fetch Rs. 1,50,000 while the second, third and fourth position holders will receive Rs. 1 lakh, Rs. 70,000 and Rs. 50,000 respectively. The losing quarterfinalists will be given Rs. 10,000 each, while the losing pre-
quarterfinalists will receive Rs. 5,000 each. A major attraction for this year’s championship is that there will be a special award of Rs. 10,000 for the ‘Best tactical wrestler’. A select section of the crowd would also be allowed to vote for the best tactic wrestler. Eligible voters include all NWA officials, president and general secretary of the three NWA affiliating units - Angami Sports Association, Chakhesang Wrestling Association, and Zeliang Wrestling Association - and donor ticket holders. The voting for the best tactic wrestler will end with the quarterfinal round after which the organisers will collect the voter’s ballot slip issued before hand. The one-day event would be hosted by the Zeliang Wrestling Association, while the ground management will be taken care by the Angami Catholic Union – SFS Church, Kohima Town. The NWA expects that over 150 wrestlers from across Nagaland and neighbouring State Manipur will take part in the championship.
Delhi cricketer scores 300 in T20 Martial tells Manchester
DELHI, FEBRUARY 7 (AGENCIES): Delhi cricketer Mohit Ahlawat ripped apart the record books on Tuesday when he smashed an incredible 300 not out off just 72 balls, hitting an unbelievable 39 sixes, in a Twenty20 match at Lalita Park in New Delhi. The 21-year-old, who has played three first-class games for Delhi, was playing for Maavi XI against Friends XI in the Friends Premier League. In those three first-class matches, all of which he played in Octo- highest score of four. ished the rival bowlers with ber 2015, the youngster only A wicketkeeper-bats- 14 fours as his side put 416 managed five runs with the man, Ahlawat also pun- for two in 20 overs on the
board and won the match by 216 runs. The size of the ground and quality of bowlers however are unknown factors. With the mind-boggling innings Ahlawat has created history by becoming the first batsman to score a triple-century in a Twenty20 match at any level. He was batting on 250 at the end of 18 overs and went to score his last 50 runs in the remaining two overs of the match, including 34 off the last one. He hit five consecutive sixes
off the last five balls of the innings. Apart from Ahlawat his teammate Gaurav went on score 86 runs for Maavi XI. The highest score of Twenty20 cricket, not including club cricket, belongs to West Indies great Chris Gayle who had hit 175 not out in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013. In Twenty20 Internationals, Australia's Aaron Finch holds the record most runs in an innings when he scored 156 against England in 2013.
United fans to ignore press
LONDON, FEBRUARY 7 (AFP): Out-of-favour Manchester United forward Anthony Martial took to Twitter on Monday to tell fans to ignore speculation he could be on his way out of the club. British newspaper The Sun claimed Martial, 21, could join Paris SaintGermain at the end of the season after struggling to convince manager Jose Mourinho of his worth. But the France international told his close to 800,000 Twitter follow-
ers: "Dont listen (to) the papers it's wrong thanks. Come on United." Martial joined United from Monaco in September 2015 in a deal with a reported potential worth of up to £58 million ($72 million, 67 million euros). He was United's top scorer last season with 17 goals in all competitions, but has found the net only six times this season and has not featured in the club's last three Premier League games.
Mourinho hit out at Martial and his entourage in December after the player's agent, Philippe Lamboley, said the former Lyon youngster was a target for Sevilla. "Anthony has to listen to me and not his agent," Mourinho said. "With Martial, every day I read the newspaper. 'Martial goes to Sevilla', 'Martial goes on loan', 'Martial is not happy'. Martial has to listen to me. He is a player with amazing conditions to be a top player."
Russia banned from London World Athletics Championships CAP-D'AIL, FEBRUARY 7 (AFP): Russia will miss August's World Athletics Championships in London after their doping ban was extended on Monday, world governing body president Sebastian Coe said. Coe said Russia, whose 15-month ban from athletics was prolonged at the IAAF's Council meeting in Cap d'Ail near Monaco, could not be reintegrated into the sport before November. Double Olympic 1500-metre champion Coe was speaking after the IAAF Council approved the Taskforce's recommendation that Russia was "not ready for reinstatement". Russia has been barred from international competition since November 2015 following a damaging report alleging that state-sponsored doping was rife in the country. The ban had already been extended in March and then June 2016, preventing Russia's athletes from competing at the Rio Olympics. The Taskforce, which was set up to oversees Russia's reintegration into international athletics, produced recommendations detailing a roadmap to reinstatement. But while "acknowledging several positive developments" at recent meetings in Moscow with RusAF, the Russian Athletics Federation, and new Russian Sports Minister Pavel Kolobkov, the Taskforce also "pointed to some negative developments" including "unhelpful public comments recently made by some Russian sporting officials". It said that RusAF "continues to face practical and legal difficulties in enforcing provisional doping bans and there continues to be very limited testing of Russian track and field athletes at the national level as well as troubling incidents at what testing is taking place". The roadmap to reinstatement specifies that "testing of Russian athletes must take place without further incidents or difficulties" and that RusAF takes "demon-
strable objective and practical steps to cultivate the clean sport movement". - 'Badly let down' Coe meanwhile reiterated the IAAF's commitment to giving clean Russian athletes the possibility to compete as neutrals, providing they are not tainted by the Russian doping system. "Our priority is to return clean athletes to competition but we must all have confidence in the process," said Coe at the IAAF's Council meeting in Cap d'Ail, France. "Clean Russian athletes have been badly let down by their national system. We must ensure they are protected and that those safeguards give confidence to the rest of the world that there is a level playing field of competition when Russians return." So far in 2017, 35 Russian athletes have applied to compete as neutral athletes in international competition, the statement added. Last week, RusAF revealed the names of 31 of its athletes to have made applications, including both world and Olympic champions. Ivan Ukhov, Olympic high jump champion in 2012, 2015 world 110m hurdles champion Sergei Shubenkov, 2015 world high jump champion Maria Kuchina, and 2014 world indoor triple jump champions Lukman Adams and Yekaterina Koneva, were all named on the list. More than 60 Russian athletes have been added to the IAAF's international testing pool which, although not guaranteeing those athletes reinstatement, Coe said it does mean the world governing body has a greater "guarantee they have undergone a long term recognised, independent and fully WADA Code-compliant drug-testing programme." Upon the Taskforce's recommendation, the Council also approved the participation of Russian under-15 athletes to compete in international competition, including at July's European Youth Olympic Festival in Hungary. Published, Printed and Edited by Dr. Aküm Longchari from House No. 4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur at Themba Printers and Morung Publications , Padum Pukhuri Village, Dimapur, Nagaland. RNI No : NAGENG /2005/15430. House No.4, Duncan Bosti, Dimapur 797112, Nagaland. Phone: Dimapur -(03862) 248854, Fax: (03862) 235194, Kohima - (0370) 2291952
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