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sports Diasabra 12 Juni 2021

Chinese official dies during probe into marathon deaths

(AP) — A Chinese county Reports said about $150,000
official appears to have in compensation has been
jumped to his death dur- offered for each victim, but
ing a probe into the deaths some family members had
of 21 runners last month rejected the amount, saying
when freezing rain and that many who died were
gale-force winds hit the breadwinners and at the top
mountain on which they of their sport. Among those
were competing in an ul- who died was well-known
tramarathon, state televi- runner Liang Jing, who had
sion reported Friday. won a 100-kilometer (62-
mile) race in the Gobi Des-
CCTV said police were no- ert.
tified Wednesday that a man
had jumped from his apart- While the race has been held
ment and died. Upon inves- several times before, runners
tigation, he was found to be were apparently caught off
Jingtai County Communist guard by the cold weather
Party Secretary Li Zuobi. and difficult conditions on
Homicide has been ruled steep unpaved paths com-
out, it said. posed of a mix of stones and
sand.
On Friday, the Gansu provin-
cial government in western Amid freezing rain and gale-
China handed down punish- istrative punishments, demo- 100 kilometers (62 miles), force winds, about 50 of the
ments to 27 officials, post- tions, warnings and demerits. The organizing committee partly along an extremely more than 170 competitors
humously exempting Li but A report issued by the prov- failed to implement its pro- narrow mountain path, at were given shelter in tradi-
sacking his deputy, Zhang ince found a lack of adequate tocols for managing the race altitudes up to 2,000-3,000 tional cave dwellings main-
Wenling, CCTV reported. planning for the event and a and was guilty of being "over- meters (6,500-9,800 feet) in tained by shepherds. An all-
Two other lower-ranking of- failure to respond effectively ly formalistic and bureaucrat- the Yellow River Stone Forest night rescue mission brought
ficials were detained pending once weather conditions de- ic," the report said. tourist site in Gansu's Baiyin most of them to safety, al-
a further investigation, while teriorated drastically during city. though several had to be hos-
the others were given admin- the May 22 race, it said. Competitors were running pitalized.

Tsitsipas tops Zverev in 5 at French Open for 1st Slam final

(AP) — Stefanos Tsitsipas already I went through," said Tsitsipas, a going thanks to a combination of and clay-court wins (22) in 2021.
had given away all of a two-set 22-year-old from Greece. "So at the more solid returning by him and a Three of his seven career tour-level
lead in his French Open semifinal end, it was just such a big relief I was succession of groundstroke unforced titles came on clay, including a pair
when he double-faulted to trail able to close it in such a good way. It errors from the sixth-seeded Zverev, this year — at the Monte Carlo Mas-
love-40 in the opening game of was just exhausting." a 24-year-old from Germany. ters and Lyon.
the fifth.
He is the youngest man in the French "I started to play proper tennis in the Zverev's loss makes him 0-10 against
Get broken there, and Friday's match Open final since Rafael Nadal won third set. Against someone like Stefa- members of the Top 10 at Grand
might completely slip from his grasp. the 2008 title shortly after his 22nd nos, it might be too late," said Zverev, Slam tournaments, an especially
birthday. the 2020 U.S. Open runner-up. "If I confounding statistic when viewed
Tsitsipas steeled himself to win five break him the first game of the fifth in contrast to his 31-30 mark against
consecutive points, including one On Sunday, Tsitsipas will face 13- set, maybe the outcome would be dif- such opponents in any other setting.
with a cross-court forehand pass- time Roland Garros champion Nadal ferent."
ing shot he celebrated by shaking his or top-seeded Novak Djokovic for "I'm not at a stage anymore where
racket as the crowd chanted his last the trophy on the red clay. Nadal and This is not some out-of-nowhere great matches are something that I'm
name. That hold pushed Tsitsipas Djokovic faced each other for the ascension for Tsitsipas. He has been satisfied with," Zverev said. "I lost. I'm
back in the right direction and into 58th time later Friday. building toward this over the past not in the final. Was it a good match?
his first Grand Slam final, thanks to couple of seasons, reaching three ma- Yeah. But at the end of the day, I'm
a late surge that produced a 6-3, 6-3, Tsitsipas regained control of his semi- jor semifinals in a row and leading going to fly home tomorrow. There's
4-6, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Alexander final on a cloudy afternoon in the late the ATP in total match wins (39 now) nothing positive about that."
Zverev. He hadn't faced a seeded player en
"I'm someone who fights. I was not route to the semifinals, including two
willing to give up yet. I think I did matches against qualifiers and a quar-
few things right that worked in my terfinal victory over 46th-ranked Ale-
favor," said the fifth-seeded Tsitsipas, jandro Davidovich Fokina.
who entered the day 0-3 in major Tsitsipas, meanwhile, was a facing a
semifinals. fourth consecutive seeded foe, after
wins over No. 2 Daniil Medvedev,
"It was a breath of fresh air, that first No. 12 Pablo Carreno Busta and No.
game," he said. "I felt revitalized." 31 John Isner.
Tsitsipas broke to go up 3-1 with
plenty of help from Zverev, who dou- Speaking before the Nadal-Djokovic
ble-faulted, then missed a backhand, semifinal was over, Tsitsipas looked
followed by a forehand and another ahead to facing a fifth seeded oppo-
backhand. Zverev winced and Tsit- nent over these two weeks.
sipas raised his right fist. Eventually,
Tsitsipas served out the biggest win of "Both of them, it will have to be
his career, ending it after more than physical. Both of them, attention to
3 1/2 hours on his fifth match point. detail, full concentration," Tsitsipas
"It was a match full of emotions, said. "There isn't much difference be-
full of so many different phases that tween those two."