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RIO DE JANEIRO -- As Alexander Massialas stood on the podium in Carioca Arena 3, Americas new silver medal-winning fencer looked to his mother, the silent force of his career, and the tears flowed.The foil is etched in the Massialas family DNA. His sister, Sabrina, is a Youth Olympian and is targeting Tokyo 2020, and his father, Greg, is a two-time Olympian -- it would have been three but for the boycott of the 1980 Games -- and is the teams coach. But behind the trio is his mother, Chwan-Hui Chen, and as Alexander stood assessing his 15-11 final defeat to Italian Daniele Garozzo, the tears returned.I saw my mom out in the stands trying to hug me from so far away, Alexander said. My mom has been the silent force behind everything I do. She hates being in the limelight but this is the one chance I have to thank her for everything she has ever done for me, driving me to practice every day, encouraging me every step of the way even when things got tough and giving me unconditional love over the 22 years I have been alive.She is the secret hero that no one really talks about and I couldnt be a prouder son to bring this back for her.Though an element of disappointment at having fallen in the final was laid bare across his emotion-worn face, there was the dominant feeling of sheer pride. For the first time since Joseph Levis feats in 1932, an individual male fencer has registered a silver medal and the message is clear from father and son: This is just the start for fencing in the U.S.It was a turbulent, draining journey to the final for the 22-year-old. In the quarterfinal he was down 14-8 to Giorgio Avola only to hit seven consecutive points to progress, and then came the 15-13 semifinal win over the in-form Richard Kruse. Yet in the final, down 14-7 at the end of the first round it proved to be a deficit too large to claw back.As Garozzo sprung off the piste having registered the gold-winning point, letting out guttural roars of celebration, Alexander slumped to the ground in desolation. It was the brutal, individualistic nature of fencing laid bare on the highest stage. But then his father walked over to him, whispered in his ear, Its OK, and suddenly the magnitude of what he had achieved sunk in.Those two words dont sound like a lot but they meant the world to me, to know that he was proud, to know that he knows I left it all out on the strip, the younger Massialas said. It meant the world to me. I dont know what I could ever do to repay my dad.His journey to the silver medal started when he was seven and after a 13th-place finish in London 2012, he came into the Olympics as the mens No. 1-ranked individual foil in the world.Alex Massialas wins silver in Individual Foil Fencing! #BackThePac pic.twitter.com/KN3UlKZLwf- Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) August 7, 2016Though the gold escaped him Sunday, he has another shot at winning the top accolade. Up next for Massialas is the team event Friday, where he is looking to go one better, and then it is back to the United States where he has a year left in his mechanical engineering major at Stanford.Hell then take some time to breathe, assess what he has achieved, complete his final year and then refocus. The chances are hell be back in Tokyo looking to be the man on top of the podium hoping to continue inspiring future generations.I know I made a lot of young fencers proud and I hope I have given a lot of young fencers an inspiration and a chance to dream big, Massialas said. A lot of people for the longest time didnt believe U.S. mens foil could bring back a medal from the Olympics and to show them yes we can and to show that if you put in hard work and always believe you can do it, hopefully I am able to inspire tons of kids to start fencing or dream big in whatever they want to do.As my dad likes to say, mens foil is probably in its golden age now in the U.S. It shows that we belong and are only getting stronger and hopefully that means in the team event in five days we can come back and win gold and get some redemption.Jeremy Lin Hawks Jersey .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team. Jeremy Lin Jersey .ca! Hi Kerry, Heres an interesting one. I know its common knowledge that all players are responsible for their sticks. 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Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory.Danny Willett was left thrilled with his performance after leaving it late to snatch a narrow victory at the Dubai Desert Classic.Willett holed a 15-foot birdie at the last to card a three-under 69 and finish 19 under par, one shot ahead of Andy Sullivan and playing partner Rafa Cabrera-Bello.Last years Race to Dubai runner-up had seen a three-shot lead disappear over his closing holes, but was pleased with how he stayed strong to hold off the chasing pack. Youd love to win by five or six every time you win, but when you win like that in that fashion, it does feel that little bit extra special, Willett told the post-tournament press conference.Its obviously a relatively daunting last hole. Im delighted with, like I say, with how I dug in and obviously found it [the 18th cup]. Willett fired six birdies and three bogeys during his final round Everything Ive done has been really good this week and mentally I think Ive been as good as I have for a long, long time. Ive stayed patient and let things happen.Victory is Willetts fourth on the European Tour and lifts him inside the worlds top 15, with the Englishman now targeting more success in what could be a packed year ahead. Willett takes Dubai title Report from the final round in Dubai Its nice to know that the stuff Im doing is working with my schedule choice, oobviously choosing not to accept a PGA Tour card and trying to stay over here in Europe, Willett added.dddddddddddd.Its good to get off to a quick start because its going to give me some key time off with Nickis [his wife] birth, and obviously were going to be well up there in the World Rankings for Rio and for The Ryder Cup.Its still early days to talk about the Race to Dubai, but weve certainly put ourselves nicely up there to fight for the top again. Sullivan narrowly missed out on Dubai victory For Sullivan, it was the second straight runner-up finish in Dubai, having finished behind McIlroy at the DP World Tour Championship in November.Fair play to Danny, that was a tough putt, Sullivan said after narrowly missing out. I didnt feel like I put him under enough pressure through the midpoint of the round I had a lot of chances and didnt quite take them. The putts towards the end kept me in it and when you hole that putt on the last, you feel youve given yourself a sneaky chance.But Danny is a quality player and you expect him to step up, and he did. It [the final round] was fantastic though, with the adrenaline and the emotions going through it, it was good fun.The European Tour heads back to South Africa next for the Tshwane Open. Watch all week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golfAlso See:Mistakes cost McIlroy in DubaiWillett claims narrow winBeem: Big year for WillettGolf live on Sky Sports 4 ' ' '