We have heard
it so many times ~ ‘the match is not lost or won, until the last delivery is
bowled’ ! So true especially in ODI and T20s .. ..
Remember that
match between KX1 Punjab and Rajasthan Royals – as it unfolded, it felt like a
chase that defied logic in every way possible. A target of 224 - an IPL record - the scorecard
reflected one bit of cold, hard T20 logic: the team that hits more sixes
usually wins. Chasng the improbable RR promoted
Rahul Tewatia - their only left-hander - to No. 4, and the move was beginning
to look like one of the most ill-judged tactical interventions in IPL history
when he struggled to hit the ball off the square and crawled to 8 off 19 balls.
With 17 gone and 51 required off mere 18
balls - Tewatia smacked Sheldon Cottrell
for five sixes in a match-turning, match-defining 18th over, and they won !
Never celebrate
early ! .. .. even when the finishing
line is nearest !!
When Seoul
Olympics was on air live in 1988, the heart throb was Ben Johnson, born in
Jamaica but running for Canada – one of the firsts to break the 10 sec barrier.
It was indeed thrilling to watch Ben Johson finish with 9.79 seconds.
Actually closer to the finish, he turned his neck to see where his competitors
were and started celebrating with a hallmark rise of fingers. He was praised so
much and the race would remain etched in one’s memory. It is another matter that
he was snatched of the Gold in a few days due to his testing positive for the
prohibited drug - stanozolol. He
actually completed the lap in 48 strides
!!
“C’est le
sommet,” Julian Alaphilippe said softly as he glanced down at the rainbow bands
across his chest. If World Championships victory marks the summit of his
career, then his triumph on the Imola course was all about the summit of Cima
Gallisterna ~ recently a few days ago in Tour de France.
Julian
Alaphilippe is a French professional
road cyclist and cyclocross racer and 2020 UCI road racing world champion, who
currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Deceuninck–Quick-Step. He is the brother of racing cyclist Bryan
Alaphilippe. One of his challengers is - Primož Roglič, a Slovenian racing cyclist, who rides for UCI
WorldTeam Team Jumbo–Visma. Roglič
started his career as a ski jumper but then shifted to cycling.
Liège is a
major Walloon city and municipality and the capital of the Belgian province of
Liège – associated with Tour de France. The
Tour de France is an annual men's multiple stage
bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through
nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta
a España), it consists of 21 day-long stages over the course of 23 days. It has
been described as "the world’s most prestigious and most difficult bicycle
race. The race was first organized in
1903 to increase sales for the newspaper L'Auto and is currently run by the
Amaury Sport Organisation. The race has been held annually since its first
edition in 1903 except when it was stopped for the two World Wars. Traditionally, the race is held primarily in
the month of July. While the route changes each year, the format of the race
stays the same with the appearance of time trials, the passage through the mountain chains of the
Pyrenees and the Alps, and the finish on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Tour de France
runner-up Primoz Roglic won the Liège-Bastogne-Liège single-day classic on
Sunday after rival Julian Alaphilippe celebrated too soon. To add insult to injury for
world champion Alaphilippe, he was then penalised for an irregular sprint and
dropped from second to fifth. That was for swerving into the path of Marc
Hirschi during the frenetic final sprint of the 6.5-hour race.
A photo finish showed that
Roglic narrowly beat Alaphilippe after the Frenchman lifted his arms in
celebration and coasted to the line. 'It's unbelievable. It was so close,'
Roglic said. 'Just never stop believing.'
The Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe was overtaken on the line by Primoz Roglic at the end of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic
on Sunday. The loss was brought about by
Julian Alaphilippe himself, as he celebrated
too early – he was closer but not yet
finished ! Slovenian Primoz Roglic, of
the Jumbo - Visma team sneaked to cross the finish line ahead to win the Belgian cycling classic and UCI
World Tour race Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
With the result, Hirschi
moved up to finish second and Tour champion Tadej Pogacar got third. Last
month, Roglic was leading the Tour until fellow Slovenian Pogacar swiped away
the lead in the penultimate stage by winning a time trial. 'Finally I managed to win something,' Roglic
said. 'It was definitely on my wish list to win a Monument.' British rider
Lizzie Deignan won the women's edition, for her first 'Monument,' ahead of
Grace Brown of Australia.
First run in 1892,
Liège–Bastogne–Liège, also known as La Doyenne (The Old Lady),is the oldest of
the five Monuments on the European road cycling calendar. The race, like other
spring classics, was rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Interesting !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
5.10.2020
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