Oslo (Euronews) The thrilling rivalry between Stefan Kraft and Andreas Wellinger continued this weekend in Oslo

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March 15, 2017

OSLO (Euronews) -

 The thrilling 

rivalry between Stefan Kraft and 

Andreas Wellinger continued this 

weekend in Oslo.

Just as it was at the recent world 

championships in Lahti, the 

Austrian and German produced an 

entertaining battled for top honors.

In the end it was recently crowned 

double world champion Kraft who 

got the better of his rival.

Kraft has been almost 

unstoppable since the end of 

December and continued his fine 

form with victory in an individual 

event a day after helping his nation 

win the team competition at the 

same Norwegian resort.

With his ninth victory of the 

campaign the 23-year old has 

taken over at the top of the world 

cup standings ahead of Poland’s 

Kamil Stoch, who disappointed 

with a 22nd place finish on the 

day.

With five individual rounds to go 

Kraft now leads Stoch by a slender 

31 points.

Wellinger has been hot on the 

heels of Kraft over the past few 

weeks.

He finished runner up to his 

rival in both the normal and large 

hill events at the recent world 

championships in Finland and on 

Sunday he once again had to settle 

for second best.

It marked his sixth second place 

finish of the season, which also 

includes one win and two third 

places for the 21-year old.

Fellow German Markus 

Esienbichler rounded out the Oslo 

podium in third.

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) - 

The 

Malawi soccer association says it 

will withdraw from the qualifying 

competition for the 2019 African Cup of 

Nations because it can’t afford to fund 

its team’s campaign.

The Football Association of Malawi 

says it still needs to officially inform 

the Confederation of African Football 

of its intention to withdraw. It says it’s 

also pulling out of next year’s African 

Nations Championship.

Malawi is likely to face financial 

penalties and could be suspended from 

future tournaments.

The FAM says in a statement 

it is “fully aware of the negative 

implications” but the situation “cannot 

be avoided looking at the current level 

of desperation.”

Malawi also put on hold a search for 

a new head coach. Former Liverpool 

goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar was one 

of the candidates.

BAKU (Euronews) -

 It was the 

turn of the heavyweights on the third 

and final day of the Baku Grand 

Slam.

Guusje Steenhuis of the 

Netherlands was the standout 

female athlete of the day.

She started and ended the day with 

ippon-winning performances.

The world number one upset the 

Azerbaijan crowd with a ten-second 

opening round victory over Gunel 

Hasanli.

In the final she beat compatriot and 

former world champion Marhinde 

Verkerk.

After just under three minutes 

Steenhuis threw her teammate for 

a waza-ari and then held her down 

for the required 20 seconds to score 

judo’s equivalent of a knockout.

It was her fifth career Grand Slam 

title.

Steenhuis said she is only targeting 

the main events this season in order 

to be in top form for the world 

championships in Budapest, where 

she is favorite for a maiden gold.

She said: “I plan to do all the 

Grand Slams this year and of 

course the European and world 

championships, just to get a good 

peak (of form) and not do everything 

and then get really tired, because I 

want to be at my best for the World 

Championships, of course.”

Guram Tushishvili had a 

breakthrough day in Baku.

The 22-year old Junior European 

champion was in a league of his own 

on Sunday and emerged victorious 

from all four of his +100 kg division 

contests courtesy of an ippon.

He set the tone for the day with 

a round one defeat of home hope 

Aykhan Jafarov.

The Georgian youngster then 

defeated top seed and double 

Olympic bronze medallist Rafael 

Silva before besting another of the 

host nation’s judokas in Ushangi 

Kokauri to reach the final.

The Showpiece fight was a high in 

quality and short in duration.

Tushishvili dispatched the more 

experienced Barna Bor of Hungary 

by ippon just one minute into the 

final to celebrate his first career 

Grand Slam title.

After an impressive day on the 

tatamis, he said: “It’s the first 

medal for me at such a high-level 

tournament, at a Grand Slam. Of 

course I’m very happy and in the 

future I will try to get more medals 

in high level tournaments on the IJF 

tour.”

Also on the third and final day in 

Baku, Michael Korrel continued 

his fine form of late by winning the 

-100kg title.

The Dutch Judoka, who won 

Bronze in Dusseldorf in February, 

beat Azerbaijan’s Elmar Gasimov 

in a lung-busting final that needed 

a golden score to seperate the pair.

An exhausted Gasimov blinked 

first and was penalized for passivity 

after four minutes of added time to 

leave Korrel with the gold.

The Dutch team was in a rich vein 

of form in Baku.

Tessie Savelkouls joined in on the 

gold-medal winning celebrations 

for her country when she beat 

European champion Kayra Sayit by 

Ippon to claim the +78kg category 

title.

Savelkouls scored a waza-ari first 

before forcing her Turkish opponent 

to tap out.

It was the first major success of 

her career.

The Netherlands finished top of 

the medals table with three gold and 

one silver.

CHICAGO (Dispatches) -

 The 

Chicago Bulls have unleashed a 

barrage of 3-pointers in a 115-109 

victory against the Charlotte Hornets 

at the Spectrum Center.

The Bulls made 14-of-40 

3-pointers, including 5-of-12 from 

forward Nikola Mirotic, handing 

the Hornets (29-38) their second 

consecutive home loss. It also 

seriously jeopardized the playoff 

hopes of the Hornets, who remain 

entrenched in 11th place in the 

Eastern Conference, four games 

out of eighth place with 15 games 

remaining.

The Bulls (32-35) had four 

players who scored 20 or more, 

led by Mirotic (25), Jimmy Butler 

(23), Dwyane Wade (23) and Rajon 

Rondo (20).

Chicago’s hot 3-point shooting 

was symptomatic of the Hornets 

season-long defensive problems, 

especially late in games.

“We play with no discipline 

defensively,” coach Steve Clifford 

said. “We’re learning the hard way. 

It’s not hard to see, yet the problem 

hasn’t been fixed.”

The Bulls, taking advantage of 

the hot 3-point shooting, led by as 

many as 16 points in the second 

quarter. The Hornets cut the lead to 

58-48 by halftime, then continued 

to put the pressure on during the 

third quarter.

A drive by Frank Kaminsky tied 

it 69-69 with 5 minutes, 20 seconds 

left in the third quarter, but the Bulls 

outscored the Hornets by 10 points 

the rest of the quarter.

LONDON (AFP) - 

Antonio Conte 

slammed Manchester United’s 

attempts to “intimidate” Chelsea in his 

side’s bitter FA Cup quarter-final win 

but Jose Mourinho hit back at his rival 

by insisting he remains the Blues’ best-

ever manager.

While the Chelsea crowd taunted 

Mourinho as a “Judas”, Chelsea boss 

Conte was furious with United’s no-

holds-barred approach.

Ander Herrera was sent off for two 

fouls on Eden Hazard in Monday’s 

1-0 victory and Marcos Rojo escaped 

a red card for a spiteful second-

half stamp on Hazard. The United 

defender is likely to face a ban if the 

Football Association retrospectively 

look at the offence.

Video of the stamp erupted on 

social media as did images of Conte 

embroiled in a touchline row with 

United boss Mourinho that ended 

with the rivals being separated by the 

fourth official.

Asked what he made of United’s 

tactics, Conte said: “My players want 

to play football, but for 25 minutes it 

was impossible.

“I think only that Eden got a lot of 

kicks. I don’t think I’m crazy. He 

started the match receiving kicks and 

he finished it receiving kicks.

“This is the truth and I don’t think 

one person can say this didn’t happen. 

It’s not football for me.

“It could be United’s tactic. 

Sometimes when you play against 

players with great talent you try to 

intimidate them.

“The referee must try to protect 

these type of players because they can 

go out with a bad injury.”

It was a chastening return to west 

London for former Chelsea boss 

Mourinho, who endured his old club’s 

fans calling him “Judas” and chanting 

“you’re not special anymore”.

Mourinho responded to the jibes by 

holding up three fingers to the crowd 

to remind them how many Premier 

League titles he won in his two spells 

with Chelsea.

And, determined to have the last 

word, Mourinho, sacked by the Blues 

last season, took the opportunity 

to remind Conte and Chelsea’s 

supporters that they have a long way 

to go to match his achievements at the 

Bridge.

Although Conte and Mourinho 

didn’t shake hands at full-time, the 

Italian insisted he had done nothing 

wrong in their touchline clash.

“It was hard work for the fourth 

official but I controlled my emotion 

very well today,” Conte said.

“It’s normal for the manager to push 

his players. What happens outside the 

pitch is just a circus.”

Conte saluted Hazard for refusing 

to be intimidated by United’s 

bullying as N’Golo Kante’s superb 

second-half winner gave the Premier 

League leaders a Wembley semi-

final showdown with London rivals 

Tottenham next month.

“For sure, he showed strong 

character. After the first 25 minutes, 

every player would have a fear of 

being kicked. It’s very dangerous to 

receive a kick from the back,” he said.

Inevitably, Mourinho refused to 

accept blame for his team’s approach 

and turned the focus on referee 

Michael Oliver’s decision to send off 

Herrera for what was one of the less 

vicious tackles on Hazard.

TEHRAN (Press TV) - 

Iranian 

professional football club Esteghlal 

Tehran have moved to the top of 

Group A of the 2017 Asian Football 

Confederation (AFC) Champions 

League with a win against Uzbekistani 

football club PFC Lokomotiv 

Tashkent.

On Monday evening, the Tehran-

based team, which plays in the 

highest level of the Iranian football 

league system – the Persian Gulf Pro 

League, pummeled Railroaders 2-0 

in a match played at all-seater Azadi 

Stadium in western Tehran.

Esteghlal manager initially 

fielded goalkeeper Mehdi Rahmati, 

defenders Khosro Heydari and 

Róbson Januário de Paula, Leandro 

Padovani and Milad Zakipour, 

midfielders Omid Ebrahimi, Omid 

Noorafkan and Farshid Esmaeili in 

addition to forwards Ali Ghorbani, 

Behnam Barzay and Kevah Rezaei.

The hosts started the game in a 

dominant fashion, but Lokomotiv 

could bring the match under control 

as the time passed.

Uzbeks even went close to score 

the opener but did not manage to 

find the net.

The golden opportunity for 

Lokomotiv Tashkent came in the 17th 

minute, when Esteghlal goalkeeper 

sought to hack the ball away from 

the penalty area, but just slipped.  

Lokomotiv player, however, spoiled 

the chance and mishit the target.

Esteghlal finally took the lead in the 

37th minute, with Esmaeili receiving 

the ball and firing it through a crowd 

of players from 16 yards towards the 

visitors’ goalpost. The ball cruised 

past Ignatiy Nesterov and kissed the 

net.

Lokomotiv footballers sought to 

level the score just after the interval. 

The Persians maintained the 

composure, though, and disallowed 

the visitors to emerge.

Esteghlal was about to double its 

lead nearly a quarter into the second 

period, but Ebrahimi sent his kick 

out for a corner.

Ali Ghorbani was finally on the 

score sheet in the 84th minute to seal 

Esteghlal’s 2-0 win over Lokomotiv.

Earlier in the day, Iran’s Zob Ahan 

Isfahan handed hosted Football Club 

Bunyodkor a 0-2 Group C defeat 

at the multi-purpose Bunyodkor 

Stadium in the Uzbek capital city of 

Tashkent.

Both teams were not able to 

produce a goal in the first half,  but 

after the restart a mistake from Javlon 

Mirabdullaev allowed Honduran 

striker Jerry Bengtson to get the first 

goal for Zob Ahan.

Things went from bad to worse for 

the home side in the dying minutes 

of the match as Morteza Tabrizi 

netted a penalty in the injury time 

and secured a 2-0 win for his green-

clad Iranian squad.

Chicago Bulls Defeat 

Charlotte Hornets 115-109

Esteghlal football team of Iran earned a 2-0 victory over Lokomotiv of Uzbekistan in Group A of the 2017 

AFC Champions League on Monday.

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte (right) and Manchester United manager 

Jose Mourinho on the touchline at Stamford Bridge in London on 

March 13, 2017 

Dutch Judo Team Dominates Final Day’s 

Action in Baku

Kraft Continues Fine End-of-Season Form With Oslo Victory

Malawi Withdraws From African Cup Qualifying, Has No Money

Antonio Conte’s Feud 

With Jose Mourinho 

Boils Over

Esteghlal Ease Past 

Lokomotiv Tashkent in ACL