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A32 sports
Diaranson 9 Juni 2021

Unseeded Tamara Zidansek reaches semifinals at French Open

The French Open is the only Garros. up in the net.
remaining Grand Slam where In perfect weather condi- Badosa trailed 4-2 in the sec-
tiebreakers are not played in tions, both players pulled off ond set after a series of un-
the last set. Wimbledon re- some spectacular winners but forced errors but Zidansek
cently installed tiebreakers at also hit a lot of unforced er- could not build on the mo-
12-12 in the final set. rors. mentum and struggled with
her serve, too.
After splitting the first two Badosa applied pressure from
sets, Badosa violently threw the start with a flurry deep The Spaniard rallied, made
her racket in anger at the groundstrokes from the base- the decisive break in the
changeover after Zidansek line. The strategy worked as ninth game at love and sealed
held for a 6-5 lead in the Zidansek dropped her first the set with a big forehand.
third. She regained her com- service game and then trailed
posure but Zidansek then 3-0. But an error-strewn The 23-year-old Zidansek
saved three break points to game from Badosa gave her opened this year's tourna-
take a 7-6 lead and converted rival a break and a boost. ment by upsetting seventh-
(AP) — Before the French ment. her second match point with seeded Bianca Andreescu in
Open, Tamara Zidansek a big forehand in the next Zidansek started to return the first round for her first
had never advanced past Spurred on by the vocal sup- game. better and went for her shots, career win over a top-10 play-
the second round at any port of her coaching team linking attacks with bold er. In that match, she was two
Grand Slam. on Court Philippe Chatrier, Zidansek, a three-time na- moves at the net to even the points from defeat in both
the 85th-ranked Zidansek tional junior snowboarding score at 3-3. Badosa saved the second and third sets.
The former snowboarder has defeated Spanish rival Paula champion in Slovenia, will a set point in the 12th game
now become the first woman Badosa 7-5, 4-6, 8-6 Tuesday face either Elena Rybakina or with a forehand attack but Zidansek reached a career-
from Slovenia to reach the at the clay-court tournament. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for could not fend off the second high ranking of No. 56 in
semifinals at a major tourna- a spot in the final at Roland as her poor drop shot ended June 2019.

US defender Mark McKenzie targeted with online racial abuse

(AP) — United States de- just ain't it," McKenzie, who whistled for a handball in the
fender Mark McKenzie is Black, wrote on his Insta- 119th minute. Ethan Hor-
was subjected to racial gram Stories late Monday. vath then saved the penalty
abuse on social media fol- to preserve the win.
lowing his team's 3-2 vic- The posting included an ex- McKenzie joined Genk from
tory over Mexico in the ample of the abuse. the MLS' Philadelphia Union
CONCACAF Nations in January.
League final. The 22-year-old McKenzie,
who plays for Genk in Bel- Sunday's match in Denver
"The amount of racial abuse gium, had a giveaway Sun- was paused for about three
and personal attacks on my- day night that led to Jesús minutes in second-half stop-
self and family from 'sup- Corona's goal for Mexico af- page time because of dis-
porters' and 'non supporters' ter only 63 seconds and was criminatory fan chants.

Refugee team of 29 athletes picked for Tokyo Olympics

(AP) — The refugee team The team selected by the In- Alizadeh is based in Germany and we welcome you with
for the Tokyo Olympics ternational Olympic Com- Kimia Alizadeh is among after she defected from Iran open arms." IOC president
has 29 athletes compet- mittee on Tuesday was drawn them five years after she be- and criticized wearing the Thomas Bach told the ath-
ing in 12 sports, including from 55 athletes who fled came the first Iranian women mandatory hijab headscarf. letes when announcing their
a medalist at the 2016 Rio their home countries and got to win an Olympic medal. selection, adding they would
de Janeiro Games who left scholarships to train for the She took bronze in taekwon- "I have a great feeling to have "send a powerful message of
Iran citing institutional games in a new home coun- do at age 18. made a decision for my life solidarity, resilience and hope
sexism. try. that would definitely change to the world."
my future," she told reporters The team will be managed
in Germany in January last in Tokyo by officials from
year. the IOC and the United Na-
tions' Geneva-based refugee
The 29 athletes — a rise from agency, the UNHCR.
10 in the inaugural refugee
team at the 2016 Rio de Ja- "Surviving war, persecution
neiro Olympics — are also and the anxiety of exile al-
originally from Afghanistan, ready makes them extraordi-
Cameroon, Congo, Repub- nary people," UNHCR High
lic of Congo, Eritrea, Iraq, Commissioner Filippo Gran-
South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, di said in a statement, "but
Venezuela. the fact that they now also
excel as athletes on the world
They will compete in swim- stage fills me with immense
ming, athletics, badminton, pride."
boxing, canoeing, cycling, The refugee athletes will
judo, karate, shooting, tae- compete against 206 national
kwondo, weightlifting, and teams with identifier EOR,
wrestling. for the French acronym of
the team name. The Tokyo
"You are an integral part of Olympics are from July 23-
our Olympic community, Aug. 8.