1. India Win Gold and Bronze at Rio Paralympics
The over 100 strong contingent at the Olympics may have struggled to win India medals in Rio but the Paralympians have already got India on the board on the second day of the Games.
High jumpers Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Singh Bhati grabbed gold and bronze in the Men’s High Jump T42 Finals.
Following a series of extremely competitive jumps that saw the Indians match their rivals each time, Mariyappan clinched the gold by pulling off the highest jump of 1.89 meters. USA’s Sam Grewe and Varun Bhati, with jumps of 1.86 metres each, bagged the silver and bronze respectively.
2. Dilshan Ends International Career
Glenn Maxwell equalled the fastest fifty by an Australian in Twenty20 internationals as the tourists clinched a four-wicket win against Sri Lanka on Friday that secured a 2-0 series victory.
Set a target of 129, Australia won with 13 balls remaining to spoil Tillakaratne Dilshan’s farewell from international cricket. There were no fireworks from the 39-year-old Dilshan, who was greeted with a guard of honour on his international swan-song, as the opener fell to John Hastings, cutting a short and wide delivery into the hands of David Warner at first slip for one.
Dilshan scored 5,492 runs in 87 Test matches with 16 centuries and plundered 10,290 runs in 330 ODIs with 22 centuries. In T20Is, he got 1889 runs in 80 matches including one century, which makes him one of only 11 batsmen to have scored centuries in all three formats in international cricket.
3. Indian Stars to Fight Their Own Battles in Duleep Final
The first-ever day/night pink ball series in Indian domestic cricket will reach its business end when a clutch of current national team players will have their little on-field duels with India Blue meeting India Red in the Duleep Trophy final starting today.
With Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara in the India ‘Blue’ side led by Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan wielding his willow for the Yuvraj Singh-led ‘Reds’, a run-feast can be expected at the Shahid Vijay Singh Pathik Stadium which has produced a belter during the round-robin games.
The absence of Test captain and India’s reigning superstar Virat Kohli will certainly take some sheen out of the grand finale. Kohli is on a much-needed break with a long and arduous season ahead of him.
4. Djokovic Forges Into U.S.Open Final
World number one Novak Djokovic scrapped his way into the U.S.Open final for a seventh time on Friday with a 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-2 win over Frenchman Gael Monfils.
Djokovic will take on either Swiss third seed Stan Wawrinka or sixth-seeded Japanese Kei Nishikori in Sunday’s final in his bid to become the first back-to-back winner at Flushing Meadows since Roger Federer won four straight from 2004.
5. Advani Takes Historic Bronze at 6 Red Snooker World Ch’ship
Pankaj Advani became the first cueist from India to win a medal at the prestigious Sangsom 6 Red Snooker World Championship as he settled for a bronze after losing the semifinal to China’s Ding Junhui.
In the quarterfinals, the Indian received a walkover from Michael Holt who withdrew due to personal reasons.
“Winning the first medal for India in this championship and with this level of competition means you have done well. I am an outsider in this tournament and coming this far feels very rewarding,” Advani said of his performance.
6. SAI Olympic Review Questions Athletes, Suggests Strategy
Athletes have not been spared the blame in Sports Authority of India’s review of the country’s “lacklustre” Olympic performance even as it suggested a three-pronged strategy, including a through evaluation of coaches, for an improved performance in the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The report prepared by SAI Director General Injeti Srinivas has pointed out that “some athletes showed physical fitness issues, which is a matter of concern and reflects on inadequate monitoring”.
During the Games, star shuttler Saina Nehwal was not hundred percent due to a knee injury which required surgery as soon as she came back to India.
For the complete details of the report, click here.
7. Kohli Has Been an Inspiration as Leader, says Gary Kirsten
Virat Kohli was the next big thing in Indian cricket when he was in-charge of the national team and Gary Kirsten said he was not surprised at the big strides that the Delhi lad has made at the international level both as a player and a leader.
“Virat has been a great captain for India. His talent was always unquestionable. He has led by example with his on-field performances. His leadership at the Test level has worked really well for the national team. The best part about Virat is that he looks so inspirational as a leader in the manner he walks in the field,” Kirsten, who has come to Jaipur to help the Rajasthan Cricket Academy with his expertise said.
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