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AMMAN — It will be a birthday to remember for the mother of Hussein and Zeyad Ishaish after they delivered on a promise to book their places in the quarter-finals of the Asian/Oceanian Road to Tokyo 2020 Boxing qualifying event on Friday in Amman, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The pair were in emphatic form, comfortably winning their bouts to take Team Jordan’s number of boxers to qualify for the last eight of their respective weights to four so far.

Odai Al Hindawi stunned 81kg No 4 seed Jolando Taala in three brilliant rounds to win a unanimous decision, while teammate Obada Al Kesbeh produced a ferocious third round to seal a passage through in the 63kg division, the day before.

“I promised our mother that we would give her a birthday present of both of us qualifying and we delivered,” said older brother Hussein, 25. “This is a big moment not only for our family but for all of Jordan. Thank-you so much for the support we will not let you down.”

World No. 8 Zeyad, and the tournament’s fourth seed, appears to be in the form of his life after recording his unanimous points win over Australia’s Jason Mallia in front of a noisy Prince Hamzeh Hall home audience.

The 21-year-old Asian Games bronze medallist was in control throughout and won all three rounds to reach Sunday morning’s quarter-final of the 69kg division where he will meet 19-year-old Marion Ah Tong, of Samoa, who beat 2017 Asian bronze medallist Sajjad Poshtiri, of Iran.

“It felt amazing to be boxing here in front of all of my family and friends,” he said. “It is so special boxing in my homeland and nothing will stop me getting to Tokyo now.”

Fourth seed in the heavyweight 91kg, Hussein, who reached the quarter-finals of the Rio Olympics four years ago, gave a masterclass against Hyeongkyu-kim, of South Korea, rocking him in the second round and forcing a standing count.

He too won all three judges’ verdicts and will fight Samoa’s Plodzicki-Faoagali next on Sunday morning, the same session as his younger brother.

“This will be Hussein Ishaish’s year,” he said. “I am feeling strong. I will fight anyone to reach Tokyo.”

The other 91kg bout saw Davlat Boltayav, of Tajikistan, beat veteran Mongolian Erdenebayar Sandagsuren to book a last eight spot against top seed Vassily Levit, of Kazakhstan.

World bronze medallist and reigning Asian Games champion, Bobo-Usmon Baturov, eased into quarter-finals of the men’s 69kg with victory over New Zealand’s Dominic Roe, and he will next meet China’s Qiong Ersun, who beat Pakistan’s Gul Zaib.

Jordan boxers ask for fans to get behind them.

“I followed the advice of my coach throughout but felt I wasn’t at my best today, I was at about 70 per cent so I can’t wait for Sunday now to show what I am capable of,” said Handawi.

“The next fight is life or death, as victory means the Olympic Games and a dream come true. I encourage all of Jordan to come down on Sunday to support me. I will do this for you.” 

Kasbeh, who will now face top seeded Bakhodur Usmonov on Monday, said: “Nothing was going to stop me in there. I felt I had all of Jordan behind me in the ring. The crowd was fantastic. He was a very strong opponent but I felt stronger as the fight went on and was landing more punches. I was very happy with my performance.” 

Elsewhere, World No. 6 and 75kg top seed, Eumir Marcial, booked his quarter-final place with a win over Kirra Ruston, of Australia. He will next fight Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar, of Mongolia who beat Syria’s Ahmad Ghousoon.

Also making their way through to the last eight were Indonesia’s Maikhel Muskita and India’s Kumar Ashish who stunned Kyrgysztan’s Omurbek Bekzhigit-Uulu, the weight’s fourth seed.

Jordan’s Reem Al Mriheel took on Sumaiya Qosimova of Tajikistan in the Women’s Fly (48-51kg) and Jordan’s Mohammad Alwadi took on Lucky Hari of Indonesia in the Men’s Feather (52-57kg) category in the evening session on Saturday. 

The qualifiers, which run until March 11, has attracted 221 of the best fighters from 35 countries with 63 Olympic spots up for grabs.

The event is being broadcasted live on the Olympic Channel website.

LONDON — Manchester City won a 20th consecutive domestic cup tie to move into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup with a 1-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday, as Tottenham crashed out on penalties to Norwich on Wednesday.

Sergio Aguero scored the only goal for the holders eight minutes into the second half as Wednesday goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith failed to get a strong enough hand to the Argentine’s low strike.

A solitary goal was scant reward for the dominance of Pep Guardiola’s men as the Catalan was rewarded for naming a strong line-up against the Championship side.

Riyad Mahrez and Gabriel Jesus missed glorious first half chances, while Nicolas Otamendi and Benjamin Mendy hit the woodwork before Aguero finally made the breakthrough.

Despite failing to add to their tally, City maintained hopes of a cup treble after lifting a third consecutive League Cup on Sunday and beating Real Madrid 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.

“He is a good manager and crazy,” said Aguero of Guardiola’s relentless demand to keep winning.

City will travel to Newcastle in the quarter-finals.

Norwich will host Derby or Manchester United in their first quarter-final since 1992 after seeing off Spurs 3-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

A bad night for Tottenham, who have now lost their last four games in all competitions, was compounded when midfielder Eric Dier climbed into the stands to confront supporters who had allegedly insulted members of his family.

“I think Eric did what we as professionals cannot do but when someone insults you and your family is involved, especially your younger brother,” said Spurs boss Jose Mourinho.

“This person insulted Eric, the younger brother was not happy with the situation and Eric was not happy. But we as professionals cannot do what he did.”

Jan Vertonghen headed Tottenham into an early lead, but Mourinho’s decision to hand 36-year-old goalkeeper Michel Vorm his first appearance of the season backfired.

The Dutchman spilled a long-range effort from Kenny McLean and Josip Drmic bundled home the rebound to level.

Both sides then tired badly in extra-time, but neither could find a winner and saves from Tim Krul to deny Troy Parrott and Gedson Fernandes allied to Erik Lamela’s wild attempt that flew over the bar saw another shot at a trophy for Spurs slip by.

Mourinho again blamed the absence of key personnel such as Harry Kane and Son Heung-min to injury for defeat.

“Some of my players were really in trouble and they made an incredible effort to try,” said Mourinho.

“I don’t have one single negative feeling towards my players. I can cope with negative moments in football, but I feel really sorry for my players.”

Leicester also booked their place in the last eight with a much-needed 1-0 win over Birmingham thanks to Ricardo Pereira’s late header.

The Foxes have won just one of their last seven Premier League games to stall their charge towards the Champions League next season.

Brendan Rodgers’ men were again without Jamie Vardy through injury and needed right-back Ricardo to get the only goal when he headed home Marc Albrighton’s cross eight minutes from time.

“I thought it was just a matter of time,” said Rodgers, whose side will host Chelsea in the quarter-finals.

“In the second half we dominated — lots of quick combos and the goal was coming. It was an excellent display.”

Sheffield United will host Arsenal in the other quarter-final tie.

LONDON — Jurgen Klopp insisted the best of Liverpool’s season may still be to come despite a third defeat in four games saw them crash out of the FA Cup 2-0 at the hands of Chelsea on Tuesday.

Klopp made seven changes to the side beaten for the first time in 45 Premier League games at Watford on Saturday, but still named a far stronger XI than the youthful teams that had seen off Everton and Shrewsbury to reach the fifth round.

However, goals from Willian and Ross Barkley gave Frank Lampard’s men a much-needed lift at Stamford Bridge.

“Losing 2-0 is not good, but it is relatively easy to explain. We made two massive mistakes around the goals,” said Klopp.

Liverpool remain well on course for a first league title in 30 years with a 22-point lead at the top of the Premier League, but run the risk of their competitive campaign coming to an early end once the title is sewn up unless they can overturn a 1-0 first leg deficit against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League next week.

“It is not the best three weeks of the whole season but it is a chance to make it the best three weeks now and that is the plan,” added Klopp.

“Nobody has to feel sorry for us, we will win football games and that is what we want to do on Saturday.”

A run of five wins in 16 league games and a 3-0 thrashing at home by Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie last week meant the pressure was on Chelsea to keep their hopes of silverware this season alive.

“We are not the Chelsea of different eras gone by with [Eden] Hazard and [Diego] Costa, [John] Terry and [Didier] Drogba, we’ve got younger players but we are trying to bridge the gap upwards,” said Lampard.

“I can’t ask for any more in the spirit, work ethic and quality. You have got to defend very well to keep a clean sheet against them.”

Chelsea got the lift they needed from the opening goal as Liverpool’s understudy goalkeeper Adrian undid the good work of a brilliant save from Willian within a minute.

The Brazilian was gifted possession again just outside the Liverpool box and this time Adrian could only turn his powerful drive into the bottom corner.

At the other end, Kepa Arrizabalaga, who had been dropped for the previous five games, showed why Chelsea spent £72 million ($92 million) on him just over 18 months ago as he made three reaction saves in a matter of seconds to deny Mane, Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino what seemed a certain equaliser.

Chelsea then lost Mateo Kovacic and Willian to injury either side of half-time to further deplete Lampard’s midfield options.

But that may provide the opportunity Barkley needs to kickstart his flagging career at the Bridge.

The England international doubled Chelsea’s lead in spectacular style midway through the second half as he galloped forward from inside his own half before smashing past Adrian from outside the area.

Newcastle and Sheffield United also booked their place in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.

A double from Miguel Almiron helped Newcastle to a 3-2 win at West Brom to reach the last eight for the first time in 14 years.

Sheffield United needed extra-time to see off Reading 2-1, but the Blades’ brilliant campaign continued thanks to a winner from captain Billy Sharp.

AMMAN — A thrilling opening day at the Asian/Oceanian Road to Tokyo 2020 Olympic Boxing qualifiers has drawn to a close, but the host nation’s first star in action was unable to proceed, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.  Jordan’s Hisham El Simreen went toe-to-toe with the impressive Fanat Kakhramonov in an absorbing 75kg contest that went the way of the man from Uzbekistan.

Kakhramonov will now meet third seed Jancen Poutoa, of Samoa, while Simreen will need to try his luck at the world qualifying event in June for his last shot at Olympic qualification. “I am disappointed but came up against a very good fighter, but I have to fight the best if I am to become the best,” said Simreen. “It is my dream to box at the Olympic Games and I will never give up trying.

I will need to train hard now and aim for Paris.” The event has attracted 221 of the best fighters from 35 countries with 63 Olympic spots up for grabs, and it was a stunning opening session of 11 preliminary bouts.

One of the performances of the day came from Australian Kirra Ruston who stopped Hong Kong’s Leong Kan in the second round following a couple of standing counts. It was Ruston’s first international bout and he faces a real acid test next in -75kg top seed Eumir Marcial of the Philippines on Thursday.

China’s Jun Shan was another star performer from the session, beating Iraq’s Hayder Karaawi with a second round stoppage. Syria’s Ahmad Ghousoon overcame Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Wanni-Arachchige with a unanimous judges’ decision in the -75kg class. There were wins in the women’s -57kg weight for Sri Lanka’s Krismi Lankapurayalage and Uzbekistan’s Yodgoroy Mirzaeva.

It was a good opening session for India with Kumar Ashish (-75kg) and Gaurav Solanki (-57kg) both winning their bouts. The session also saw wins for Iran’s Daniyal Shahbakhsh (-57kg), Nepal’s Sanil Shahi (-63kg), Indonesia’s Maikhel Muskita (-75kg) and Jerome Pampellone (-81kg). The event is being broadcasted live on the Olympic Channel website.

PORTSMOUTH, United Kingdom — Mikel Arteta admitted he took a risk by making nine changes for Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Portsmouth in the FA Cup fifth round, but insisted he had no choice because some of his stars were still shell-shocked after their Europa League exit.

Arteta’s side reached the FA Cup quarter-finals thanks to goals from Sokratis Papastathopoulos in first-half injury time and Eddie Nketiah six minutes after the break at Fratton Park on Monday.

It was a much-needed boost for Arsenal, who crashed out of the Europe League in a painful last-gasp defeat against Olympiakos on Thursday.

Arteta conceded that fielding such an inexperienced line-up — only David Luiz and Bukayo Saka retained their places — could have put Arsenal’s only chance of silverware this season in jeopardy.

“They fully deserve the chance and I know it is risky to play them in this competition but they are worth a risk,” Arteta said of his young side.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was in tears after missing a costly late chance against Olympiakos, and Mesut Ozil were both absent, while Alexandre Lacazette and Nicolas Pepe were on the bench.

“I assessed the team and physically some of them were knackered, some of them had issues, some of them mentally were hanging on what happened that day.

“So I tried to pick the right team knowing how they were and I made the most of it. If you win, it is okay but if we had lost obviously it would have been the wrong decision.

Focus, desire

“The energy, the focus and the willingness and desire to play in this competition is really important.”

One sour note for Arsenal came when Uruguay midfielder Lucas Torreira was taken off injured on a stretcher just 15 minutes into the game and left Fratton Park on crutches.

“He was in a lot of pain, he is in a brace at the moment,” said Arteta.

“He will be assessed in the next few days and we will know more. I don’t know if it’s the bone or ligaments, we don’t know yet.”

Portsmouth manager Kenny Jackett said Arsenal were worthy of their place in the next round after surviving an early barrage from the third-tier promotion chasers.

“I felt that we put quite a lot of pressure on them in the first half,” he said.

“We needed one of those moments to go for us but fair play to them, they got the blocks and we couldn’t make those moments tell.

“I’m disappointed with the first goal and the timing of it, we really needed to go in at half-time 0-0 and build it up for the second half,” he said of conceding deep into first-half stoppage time.

“Fair play to my players, they never gave up and didn’t buckle — Arsenal have deserved to win the game, but we are proud of what we have done in the competition and are still doing well in the league.”

AMMAN — Jordan’s boxers have been given a mixed draw for their opening fights at the Boxing Road to Tokyo Asian/Oceanian Qualifying Event which got under way in Amman on Tuesday, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

Four boxers — Mohammed Al Wadi (57kg), Obada Al Kasbeh (63kg), Ziad Ishaish (69kg) and Odai Al Hindawi (81kg) — received byes in to the last 16 of their respective weights, meaning that two victories would secure a place at this summer’s Tokyo 2020 Olympics. But middleweight hopeful Hisham El Simreen (75kg) faced a first fight against Fanat Kakhramonov, of Uzbekistan, on Tuesday’s opening day at Prince Hamzeh Hall.

Jordan’s 2016 Olympic quarter-finalist, Hussein Ishaish, who is ranked fourth in the 91kg heavyweight division, also has a tricky opening bout against Korea’s Hyeongkyu Kim on Friday.

Jordan’s only female entry is Reem Al Shammary who will fight Tajikistan’s Sumaiya Qosimova in her first round fight on Saturday evening. The event has attracted an impressive 221 fighters from 35 countries, with 63 Olympic spots up grabs consisting of 42 in the men’s and 21 in the women’s. The event will run every day until March 11.

MADRID — Real Madrid won the Clasico and might have saved their season as they ended their slump in the best way possible on Sunday by beating Barcelona 2-0 and returning to the top of La Liga. 

Vinicius Junior’s deflected finish and a stoppage-time goal from Mariano Diaz decided a frenzied contest at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Madrid found new life after a Champions League defeat by Manchester City had left them on the brink of crisis.

“It’s been a tough week,” said Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane. “We talked about how we had an opportunity this weekend and we took it.”

Victory put them one point clear at the top of the table and shifts focus back to Quique Setien’s Barcelona, who were outfought and, at times, outplayed. 

“The reality is we lost a lot of confidence with the ball,” said Setien. “We entered a nervous spell and that’s when the goal came.”

Lionel Messi’s rasping shot was saved by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in the first half but it was the Argentine’s opposing captain, Sergio Ramos, who was thrashing his arms in celebration after the final whistle. 

His reaction was an indication of the importance of this victory, not only for the effect it has on the standings but on the dynamic of the title race, which had seemed to be switching firmly in favour of Barca. 

Opportunity missed

Cristiano Ronaldo, now of Juventus, was watching from an executive box and Madrid could have done with him during a period in which they had won only one of their last five games. 

Zidane said on Saturday this match would not decide who lifted the trophy in May, but a Barca win and a five-point gap might well have been difficult to close. 

Yet, from the start Barcelona seemed keener to kill the game than win it, playing for time in the hope of keeping the contest tight, when they might have been better off attacking their opponents’ fragility. 

“The Madrid we faced in the first half was one of the worst Madrids I have faced at the Bernabeu,” said Gerard Pique. 

“I don’t say it as a criticism, we also have our problems, but we’ve missed an opportunity.”

There was more tension than creativity in the early stages as Fede Valverde crashed into Arthur Melo before fellow Spain full-backs Dani Carvajal and Jordi Alba were both booked after a disagreement. 

Madrid had the better of the play and regularly broke at speed through Vinicius down the left but constantly they failed to make the final pass, with Isco once left with his head in his hands after Marcelo opted not to pull the ball back. 

Slow Barca

Barcelona’s passing was slow and their lack of urgency obvious. At one point Messi bent to tie his bootlaces and re-spotted the ball before taking a corner. 

But the visitors also created chances as Antoine Griezmann drove over from Alba’s cutback and then Madrid had Courtois to thank for two excellent saves. 

First, Arthur held off Toni Kroos to go clear but his finish was blocked by teh foot of Courtois and then the Belgian palmed away Messi’s shot after he had skipped in behind Madrid’s defence.

Ramos was lucky to get away with an error that allowed Nelson Semedo to break past him while Alba risked a second yellow when he checked Valverde but referee Mateu Lahoz was unmoved.

Barcelona were sloppy after half-time and Madrid should have capitalised. Instead, Isco’s header beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen but not Pique on the line and Karim Benzema volleyed over after a sloppy pass from Arturo Vidal. 

Vidal was replaced by Martin Braithwaite, Barca’s emergency signing, and he sprinted in behind Marcelo twice in his first minute. 

But Madrid remained in the ascendancy and in the 71st minute they took the lead. 

Benzema came short and pointed right to encourage Vinicius to run in behind. Kroos found him and Vinicius’s shot deflected off the sliding Pique to beat Ter Stegen at his near post. 

The game opened up as Barcelona chased an equaliser. Marcelo celebrated when Messi’s surge through was stopped by Raphael Varane. Pique headed Messi’s cross over at the near post. Messi picked up a yellow card for a frustrated slide on Casemiro. 

In injury time, Ter Stegen ventured up for a late free-kick but it was Madrid that struck again. Mariano sped past Semedo and finished from the angle.

LOS ANGELES — Russell Westbrook delivered a game-high 41 points as the Houston Rockets defeated Boston 111-110 in overtime to cap a season sweep of the Celtics on Saturday.

James Harden, who made just seven of 31 baskets and had five turnovers, gained a small measure of redemption from his poor shooting night by making two late free throws in the win.

Harden’s free throws gave Houston the lead and then Rockets defence took over forcing Boston’s Jaylen Brown to miss his late shot to clinch the victory.

Harden finished with 21 points after being double teamed most of the night. Robert Covington had a double-double with 16 points and 16 rebounds for Houston, who won their sixth straight.

“We had a lot of attention on James Harden,” Celtics guard Brown said. “We forgot about the other MVP over there.”

Jayson Tatum finished with 32 points and 13 rebounds, and Brown added 22 points for the Celtics. Marcus Smart scored 26 points and Daniel Theis tallied 15 rebounds and three blocks in the loss.

Brown hit the buzzer-beating three-pointer that forced overtime. He grabbed a loose ball after Tatum missed two free throws with five seconds left and Boston trailing 104-101.

“I thought the right team won,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “I thought they were better than us — not by much, but at least by one.” 

Elsewhere, the Memphis Grizzlies, clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the NBA Western Conference, snapped a five-game skid with a 105-88 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.

Rookie Ja Morant scored 27 points and tied his season high with 14 assists for the Grizzlies, who led by as many as 22 points in the third quarter.

The victory in Memphis snapped the West-leading Lakers’ seven-game winning streak. The Grizzlies out-rebounded the Lakers 51-45 and harried Los Angeles into 16 turnovers leading to 22 Memphis points.

“They came out and played with a sense of desperation,” Lakers star Anthony Davis said. “They wanted it more than us tonight, and it showed.”

Dillon Brooks scored 24 points and Jonas Valanciunas added 22 points and 20 rebounds for the Grizzlies.

LeBron James scored 19 points and Davis added 15 with nine rebounds.

The Lakers sliced the deficit to nine points with less than seven minutes remaining, but the Grizzlies pushed the lead back to 18 and Lakers coach Frank Vogel emptied his bench for the waning minutes.

Desperate team

“We knew they were going to play with desperation,” Vogel said. “They’re currently the eighth seed in the play-offs and they lost five straight.

“Our guys have done a great job throughout most of the year playing with energy and matching the energy of the home team — we just fell short with that tonight.”

The Grizzlies went into the night two games ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

Davis said the Lakers’ road trip won’t get any easier when they arrive at New Orleans on Sunday.

“Tomorrow we’re going into another arena where a team is fighting for the same [eighth] spot, so it’s a precursor of what we’re going to see tomorrow,” he said.