Junior Digest

Mackay (Australia), Aug 30 : Skipper Manish Pandey’s valiant century went in vain as India A lost to Australia A by a solitary run in a high-scoring thriller in the Quadrangular Cricket series here today but still made it to the summit clash.

The defeat will not do any harm to the Rahul Dravid coached side as it had already qualified for the final. The win ensured that Australia A also qualified for the title clash ahead of South Africa A.

The win meant that Australia A finished on top of the table while India A came second after the round robin encounters.

Put in to bat, Australia A made a commanding 322 for six riding on twin centuries from Kurtis Patterson (115) and Nic Maddinson (118) with Varun Aaron proving to be the most expensive Indian bowler being hammered for 65 in seven overs.

In reply, India A finished at 321 for 8 in 50 overs despite Pandey’s 91-ball 110 and an attractive 74-ball 87 from Sanju Samson.

India A required 9 runs off the final over and they got 6 from the first four balls. With only 3 runs required from 2 balls, Samson was holed out by Marcus Stoinis off his former Rajasthan Royals colleague Kane Richardson’s delivery.

With 3 required off the final delivery, Richardson bowled to a perfect plan as Jayant Yadav could manage only 1 run as Shardul Thakur was run-out trying to go for a second run which would have tied the match.

Earlier, a 157-run stand for the fifth wicket between Pandey and Samson raised visions of another India A win.

Pandey especially was fluent as he has been for the better part of the tournament hitting his second century.

His innings had 10 fours and three sixes — two off leg-spinner Cameron Boyce and one off pacer Richardson.

It was the skipper’s dismissal in the 47th over that turned things as pacer Daniel Worral got him caught behind.

The momentum of the innings was lost at that stage as Samson, who also hit six boundaries and two sixes, couldn’t take the team past finishing line.

Brief Scores:

Australia A: 322/6 in 50 overs (Kurtis Patterson 115, Nic Maddinson 118, Shardul Thakur 2/50, Varun Aaron 1/65).

India A: 321/8 in 50 overs (Mike Pandey 110, Sanju Samson 87, Mandeep Singh 56).

New Delhi : “I could have died there”, said a distraught O P Jaisha as she recalled the women’s marathon event at Rio Olympics during which she claimed she was not provided any water and energy drinks by the officials despite designated stations were given for India.

“It was very hot there. The competition was at 9am, I ran in scorching heat. There was no water for us, neither recovery drinks nor food. Only once in 8kms did we get water (from the Rio organisers) which did not help at all. All the countries had their stalls at every 2kms but our country’s stall was empty,” said Jaisha who finished 89th in Rio Olympics women’s marathon event with a below-par timing of 2:47:19.

Jaisha had collapsed at the finish line after completing the marathon and had to be rushed to a hospital where her coach Nikolai Snesarev got into an altercation with one of the doctors and ended up being detained for half a day by the local police.

“We are supposed to be given drinks by our technical officials, it’s the rule. We cannot take water from any other team. I saw the Indian board there but there was nothing. I had a lot of problem, I fainted after the race. I was administered glucose, I thought I would die,” she recalled.

“My coach was very angry and he ended up arguing with the doctors. The coach thought I was dead. He pushed the doctor to enter my room because he knew he would be held responsible if anything happened to me,” she added trying to clear the air on Snesarev’s actions.

The runner claimed that she got no response from officials when she asked why water was not provided to her at the stalls.

“I asked officials why there was no water for us but I got no response. I don’t know what they were doing. There were lot of people in the Indian athletics contingent, anybody could have done this job,” Jaisha told ‘Times Now’.

“I don’t know where they were. I was in very bad shape.
My coach was blamed for misbehaving with doctor but he was told Jaisha has almost died, what could he have done?” she asked.

  Chandigarh: The Haryana Government has announced the appointment of Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik as Wrestling Director at Maharshi Dayanand University in her native town Rohtak.

Announcing this, Haryana Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Vij, also said that she will be given Rs 21 lakh out of his discretionary fund and a plot measuring 500 square yards.

Her coach Mandeep would be given promotion under special rules, Vij said today.

The Haryana Government has, in recognition of her achievement, already felicitated Sakshi Malik, who hails from Rohtak district, with a cash reward of Rs 2.5 Cr under its Sports Policy.

The sports minister was speaking at a function at Rohtak late last evening where hockey players–Savita Punia and Poonam Rani and wrestler Virender Singh were also felicitated.

Vij said that during his visit to Rio Olympics, he met players, coaches and other people of various countries to learn about different aspects of specialities of players and sports.

“By adopting Haryana’s sports model across the country, India could leave countries like the USA behind in terms of medal tally. Therefore, the policy of ‘Catch them Young’ would have to be adopted,” he asserted.

Haryana Government has already taken steps in this direction and has decided to open 20 sports nurseries in districts, for which more than 550 applications have been received, the Sports Minister said.

Apart from this, the Government has decided to construct a small sports stadium in each village, besides establishing 880 Yogshalas and Vyayamshalas at village level this year, he added.

He said that the present State Government had, for the first time, taken the initiative to establish a Sports Council in the State. Before this, there was no constitutional authority to look after sports and sportspersons or ensure maintenance of infrastructure, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Haryana’s Minister of State for Cooperation and BJP MLA from Rohtak Manish Kumar Grover, said that the State Government was preparing excellent sportspersons and coaches in a planned manner.

He also announced to give Rs 10 lakh to Sakshi s coach Ishwar Dahiya.

New Delhi :  Bitter about the administrative mess which he feels cost him a medal at the Rio Olympics, pugilist Manoj Kumar says Indian boxing is on death bed right now and desperately needs intervention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“I am sure that I would have won a medal if India was not suspended from the International Boxing Association (AIBA).

Had the first round in that pre-quarterfinal bout gone in my favour, the result would have been different,” Manoj told PTI in an interview.

The light welterweight boxer lost to eventual gold-medallist Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan. Manoj said the four-year-old logjam in administration destroyed India’s chances in Rio.

The country’s boxers could not fetch a single medal for the first time in eight years at the Games.

“I think I should have got that first round against Gaibnazarov, that would have changed the complexion of the overall result,” he said.

The 29-year-old from Haryana, a former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, was included in the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme only in June when he qualified for the Games.

Manoj said it was too little, too late for him.

“I never got the support that some others got. I have had to face so much in trying to just qualify. Nobody backed me, and by that I mean nobody. I was never considered a prospect, never given any financial support to prepare. I did everything on my own merit and the support of my elder brother Rajesh,” he said.

“Boxing is dying because of all that has happened in the last four years. I want to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to plead with him to intervene,” Manoj said.

Originally terminated in 2012, India’s national federation is still quite far from taking shape and the AIBA has warned of stern action if elections are not held by September 25.

“There has been no National Championship. Where is the next batch of boxers? Boxing has been destroyed,” he fumed.

Pallekele (Sri Lanka) : Skipper David Warner’s fluent century and a disciplined bowling effort powered Australia to a five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the fifth one-day international here as the visitors took the series 4-1 today.

Australia, who took an unassailable 3-1 lead in Dambulla on Wednesday, rode on a record 132-run partnership between Warner and George Bailey (44) to chase down 196 in 43 overs on a sluggish pitch.

Earlier pace spearhead Mitchell Starc led the visiting attack with three wickets to bowl out Sri Lanka, who elected to bat first, for a modest 195 in 40.2 overs.

But it was Warner’s 106, which came off 126 balls with the help of nine boundaries, that thwarted the Sri Lankan attack from posing any threats to the visiting batting.

Off-spinner Dilruwan Perera, who shared the new ball with pacer Suranga Lakmal, struck twice in his first spell to get the wickets of opener Matthew Wade and Usman Khawaja.

Wade was caught behind for three while Khawaja was out for six as Australia were in early trouble at 25 for two in 5.5 overs.

Warner and Bailey then got down to the grind as Sri Lanka unleashed their spin force on a slow pitch.

The left-handed Warner, who completed his seventh ODI ton in his 79th match, became the first Australian batsman to record a century in Sri Lanka.

Bailey, who remained the highest run-getter in the series with 270 runs in five matches, played the sheet anchor’s role to perfection.

But he was denied his third half-century of the series after Dilruwan Perera, who returned with figures of 3-51, trapped the batsman lbw.

Off-spinner Dhananjaya de Silva claimed two wickets including that of Warner to delay Australia’s win as James Faulkner and John Hastings saw the team through.

The ODI win comes as a welcome relief for the visitors who suffered their first series whitewash against Sri Lanka in the three Tests last month.

The two teams now head into the two-match Twenty20 series starting September 6 at the same venue.