Iranian refugee Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin misses out on Tokyo Games medal


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Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin, the first female Iranian athlete to win an Olympic medal and who is now representing the Refugee Team at the Tokyo Games, missed out on an opportunity to clinch a medal on Sunday.

Zenoorin, 23, fled Iran to find refuge in Germany in 2020. One year later, she came close to winning the Refugee Olympic Team’s first-ever medal.

Her journey in Japan has been as incredible as the years leading up to it. In the first round of women’s -57kg taekwondo category, she had to overcome the challenge of Iran's Nahid Kiyani Chandeh on Sunday.

Zenoorin made a strong start in her quest for a second Olympic medal. She won against her former compatriot 18-9. She then defeated Team GB’s reigning double Olympic champion Jade Jones.

After a tight match with Jones, Zenoorin - bronze medallist at Rio 2016 - advanced to the quarter-finals to face Asian champion Lijun Zhou of China. The match ended 9-8 in favour of Zenoorin.

However in the semi-final, Zenoorin lost to Tatiana Minima from the Russian Olympic Committee 10-3.

While the Iranian refugee's dream of an Olympic gold ended, she still had a chance to end up on the podium. However, Zenoorin ultimately lost to Turkey's Hatice Kubra Ilgun in the bronze medal match.

Success would have been special for Zenoorin who, at the time of leaving Iran in 2020, published a long goodbye message to the people of Iran on her Instagram account. In her post, she explained why she took the decision to flee and live as a homeless, which was “harder than winning an Olympic medal”.

“I am one of the millions of repressed women in Iran who have been playing games for years,” she wrote, “I wore whatever they said. I repeated every sentence they ordered."

She ended her message saying: “But wherever I am, I will remain a child of Iran. I give back to your encouragement and I have no desire other than your trust in the difficult path I have taken."

Zenoorin took up the sport at the age of seven because her local gym back in Iran offered only one option - taekwondo. Luckily, her childhood coach saw her as a potential Olympic champion.

Success followed quickly as she won gold in Nanjing 2014 Youth Summer Olympic Games. Two years later, she made history in Rio.

“Today was a special day for the Iranian team”, said Azadeh Pikaroh, an Iranian journalist, after the match between Zenoorin and Chandeh on Sunday. “We love them both, Kimia is a national pride and Kiyani has done her best”.

According to Pikaroh, Chandeh’s current coach Mehro Kamrani was Zenoorin's childhood mentor and the person who helped her win bronze in Rio.

“They are best friends”, said Pikaroh. “It was tough for Kiyani because of this situation. It was definitely something exceptional to happen, having two Iranians compete against each other in the first round, we have mixed feelings."


In numbers

- Number of children under five will fall from 681 million in 2017 to 401m in 2100

- Over-80s will rise from 141m in 2017 to 866m in 2100

- Nigeria will become the world’s second most populous country with 791m by 2100, behind India

- China will fall dramatically from a peak of 2.4 billion in 2024 to 732 million by 2100

- an average of 2.1 children per woman is required to sustain population growth

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Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg

Rating: 4/5

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Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

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Dir: Ryan Coogler
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Five stars

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Closing the loophole on sugary drinks

As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.

The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.

Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.

Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
 

Not taxed:

Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.

ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

RESULT

Norway 1 Spain 1
Norway: King (90 4')
Spain: Niguez (47')

Tearful appearance

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

THE SPECS

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Updated: July 25, 2021, 4:40 PM`