Turin, July 2 (IANS) Richard Carapaz grabbed the first yellow jersey of his career on Stage 3 at the Tour de France, but Monday’s finale in Turin was all about Biniam Girmay as the Eritrean created history in the sport’s biggest race. Girmay saw off a reduced bunch of sprinters in a messy finale to become the first Black African to win at the Tour, following up from his victory at the Giro d’Italia in 2022.

Biniam Girmay (Intermarche-Wanty) became the first Black African to win a stage at the Tour de France as he edged a chaotic sprint on Stage 3.

The road opened up gloriously for the Eritrean cyclist in the closing stages as he took victory ahead of Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) and Arnaud De Lie (Lotto Dstny). Girmay, who also won a stage at the Giro d’Italia in 2022, was overcome with emotion in his post-race interview.

A messy finale saw Alpecin-Deceuninck’s hopes to disintegrate when Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen’s chief lead-out rider, suffered a mechanical, while a late crash split up a host of sprint trains — including Mark Cavendish’s Astana Qazaqstan ensemble.

A philosophical Cavendish confirmed he and his teammates were uninjured, but the crash split the peloton and a lead group of around 20 riders went clear to contest the sprint — including Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) who started the stage tied on time with overall leader Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).

After starting with two hilly stages, this was the first chance for the sprinters to shine and even the intermediate sprint with well over 100km to go was hotly contested, hinting at the chaos that would ensue. Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) was first over the line there and was the first contender to open his sprint in the finale in the middle of the road with Gaviria and De Lie in tow, but Girmay stole up the right-hand side on the barriers and timed his kick perfectly as Pedersen tired.

Newly crowned Dutch national champion Dylan Groenewegen (Jayco AlUla) followed in his wake but couldn’t find a gap to launch and the Eritrean began his celebration before he crossed the line, hailing his victory as one for “all of Africa”.

Carapaz crossed the line 14 places behind and celebrated his own piece of history, becoming the first Ecuardian to don the yellow jersey thanks to a better aggregate stage finish position, though Pogacar didn’t seem too disappointed to lose the responsibility of leading the race. He remains on the same time as Carapaz, Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) and most importantly his Visma-Lease a Bike rival Jonas Vingegaard as their GC battle will recommence on the Col du Galibier tomorrow.

The frantic finish was a stark contrast to the rest of a sleepy Stage 3, the longest of the Tour de France that gave riders the chance to recover after an energy-sapping opening weekend.

–IANS

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Detroit (USA), July 1 (IANS) Akshay Bhatia three-putted on the 72nd hole and lost by one shot at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Cam Davis, starting the day one behind overnight leaders Bhatia and Aaron Rai, carded 2-under 70 with a birdie on the 17th and a par on the 18th to set a clubhouse target of 18-under.

At the 18th tee, Bhatia, in the final group with Aaron Rai, was one-under for the day and had a total of 18-under. He needed a birdie to win and a par to get into the play-off. But he three-putted from 32 feet and his par putt failed to drop from six feet for a bogey and he fell to second with 72 in the final round and a total of 17-under.

Rai had four pars in his last four holes for a 72 and at 17-under he was also in a tie for second with the other two behind Davis Thompson (68) and Min Woo Lee (69).

Bhatia said, “It sucks. No other way to put it. I mean, just sucks.”

Bhatia hadn’t made a bogey through 54 holes but broke that run on the par-4 third earlier Sunday in Motown. He got that one back immediately, draining a 32-foot birdie on the very next hole. Bhatia added a birdie on the seventh to move to 18-under and was steady enough for the next 10 holes until the par-4 finishing hole. It was his first three-putt of the week and his first miss inside 6 feet.

Bhatia was looking for his second win of the season after capturing the Valero Texas Open in April. He also won last year’s Barracuda Championship while competing on Special Temporary Membership.

This was Bhatia’s third top-10 finish of the season and second in a row after finishing T5 at the Travelers Championship. He moves from No. 15 to No. 11 on the season-long FedExCup standings.

Bhatia entered the final round as the only player in the field without a bogey through 54 holes and made two bogeys in the final round.

–IANS

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London, July 1 (IANS) Returning to Wimbledon after a gap of five years, former World No.1 Naomi Osaka came through a difficult battle before reclaiming her winning ways on the lawns of London as she got the better of the 53rd-ranked Diane Parry of France in the first round of women’s singles here on Monday.

Top 10 players Maria Sakkari and Jasmine Paolini also kicked off their campaigns with first-round straight-sets wins on Monday. But Zheng Qinwen was the first Top 10 player to suffer a defeat this fortnight, losing to qualifier Lulu Sun of New Zealand.

Playing the grass-court major for the first time since 2019, Osaka posted a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 victory over Parry. Four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka of Japan needed 1 hour and 32 minutes to hold off Parry and book her spot in the second round.

Osaka was down a break on two separate occasions in the third set before squeaking out the victory in her first career meeting with former top-ranked junior Parry. Osaka made her winning return one day before her daughter’s first birthday.

Osaka will have to wait until the end of the day to find out who her second-round opponent will be. She will meet the winner of the clash between No.19 seed Emma Navarro of the United States and former Top 15 player Wang Qiang of China.

Coming into this year, Osaka had only collected four main-draw wins at Wimbledon, her lowest total at any of the four majors. Osaka reached the third round in 2017 and 2018 but lost to Yulia Putintseva in the 2019 first round.

But Osaka, who returned to tour in January after being on maternity leave in 2023, had a solid grass-court showing ahead of this year’s Wimbledon. Osaka made the ‘s-Hertogenbosch quarterfinals three weeks ago before narrowly losing to fellow US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in a third-set tiebreak.

World No.123 Sun collected a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over No.8 seed Zheng, this year’s Australian Open runner-up. Sun took 1 hour and 57 minutes to fight back from the loss of the first set and clinch a spot in the second round.

It was a breakthrough victory for Sun in many ways. Not only was it the first Top 10 win of her career, it was her first win over a player ranked inside the Top 50. This was also her first Grand Slam main-draw victory, in just her second major main-draw appearance.

Additionally, Sun was nearly eliminated in qualifying last week. She had to save a match point in the second round of qualies before defeating Gabriela Knutson in a final-set 10-point tiebreak. The 23-year-old Sun is the first woman representing New Zealand to reach the second round of a Grand Slam since Marina Erakovic’s run to the Wimbledon third round in 2016.

Earlier, No.9 seed Sakkari of Greece clinched her spot in the second round with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over American qualifier McCartney Kessler. Sakkari needed 1 hour and 11 minutes to oust World No.119 Kessler.

It was an important Grand Slam victory for Sakkari. The Greek has already won 20 matches at the tour level this year, but she had lost in the first round at four of the last five Grand Slam events.

Sakkari is now a win away from making the third round of a Slam for the first time since the 2023 Australian Open. Her next opponent is Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands, who reached the second round of Wimbledon for the first time since 2012 by beating Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-3.

In another match, No.7 seed Paolini of Italy posted her first-ever main-draw victory at Wimbledon by defeating Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo 7-5, 6-3.

Roland Garros runner-up Paolini had lost in the first round of Wimbledon the last three years running, but she broke that duck by toppling 55th-ranked Sorribes Tormo in 1 hour and 37 minutes.

Coming into this year, Paolini had never won a main-draw match at any grass-court event on the Hologic WTA Tour. But the Italian carried her Roland Garros momentum into Eastbourne last week, where she won two matches on grass before falling to eventual champion Daria Kasatkina.

In Monday’s match, Paolini ground out a nearly hour-long first set, then built a 4-0 lead in the second set. Sorribes Tormo battled back on serve at 4-3, aiming to deny Paolini a maiden victory in London, but Paolini regrouped to win the next two games and advance.

Paolini’s next grass-court challenger will be Greet Minnen of Belgium after World No.80 Minnen ousted British hope Heather Watson 7-5, 6-4 on Monday. It will be the first meeting between Paolini and Minnen.

–IANS

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Rotkreuz (Switzerland), July 1 (IANS) Tvesa Malik’s stunning finish of 5-under in the last four holes and runner-up finish after losing a play-off at the Swiss Ladies Open, has still raised her confidence, as also her ranking on the Ladies European Tour. She had rounds of 68-68-66 and lost on the first play-off holes to England’s Alice Hewson. Tvesa is now 31st after being way behind earlier and a similar run should see her earn her card back for 2025.

The career-best runner-up finish also earned her a spot on the elite Aramco Series, which she last played in November 2022. Tvesa joins Diksha Dagar and Pranavi Urs, who took a week off. The Indian trio will be in action at the Aramco Series London, where Diksha was part of the winning team a couple of years ago.

This has been a season of resurrection for Tvesa, who at the start of 2024 won an event in South Africa on the Sunshine Tour. On the LET, this was her second Top-10 of the season after T-10 at Dormy Open in Helsingborg.

There are still more than 10 events on the LET and the trio, Tvesa, Diksha, and Pranavi, who share the same sponsor in Hero MotoCorp, are looking at picking some titles.

Tvesa, who got married to pro golfer Ajeetesh Sandhu before the start of the 2024 golfing season, is the third-placed Indian on LET this season after Diksha, who is 14th, and rookie Pranavi, who is 16th.

“I am playing well again, and this was so close to getting my first LET win, but I will take it as a positive that I fought so well at the finish in the final round with three birdies and an eagle in the last four holes. The play-off didn’t go my way, but the win is closer than ever before,” said Tvesa.

–IANS

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New Delhi, July 1 (IANS) When Anrich Nortje’s heave off Arshdeep Singh on the last ball of South Africa’s innings went to the mid-wicket fielder for a single, Rohit Sharma fell flat, with his face towards the ground and punching the grass with his hand. Hardik Pandya went down on his knees and began to tear up once the inevitable -– of India winning the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup — was confirmed a little after 2 pm at the Kensington Oval.

Soon after, the entire Indian team, and support staff running in from the dugout began the jumping and hugging of lifting a major trophy after 11 years. A full 13 years after the magical night of April 2, 2011, at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to lift the ODI World Cup and 17 years since the unprecedented evening of winning the T20 World Cup in 2007, India got to experience that feeling all over again on June 29, 2024.

The skies, which were supposed to rain during the final amidst a hurricane warning, opened and made one feel as if the weather Gods were waiting for a billion dreams and prayers to be fulfilled. Cheeks welled down the eyes of adults like Rohit, Pandya, and Virat Kohli, who broke down, as years of heartbreaks when it mattered the most finally on previous occasions made way for ultimate glory.

The theme song of this T20 World Cup was all about experiencing a moment their souls had been waiting for. It was very fitting that India got to revel in the ‘out of this world’ feeling at the end of the competition. Back home, the party began on the streets of every city and town.

India Gate in New Delhi – the hometown of Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant – was choc-a-bloc, with thousands of people coming out and unfurling flags as well as smoke guns -– some even stood atop the police van to dance and sing over the T20 World Cup coming home. The chants ranged from, ‘India, India, India’, to ‘Jeet Gaya bhai Jeet Gaya, India World Cup jeet gaya’, ‘Humara captain kaisa ho, Rohit bhai jaisa ho’, ‘Surya, Surya, Surya’.

There were some grateful people who thanked God by saying, ‘Zor se bolo jai mata di’. In Mumbai, the residences of Rohit, Pandya, and Suryakumar Yadav — it was a sea of utter jubilation filled with fans coming out in large numbers to celebrate the triumph.

In Mumbai’s local trains, people glued to their mobiles clapped in unison, while a sangeeth ceremony turned into a World Cup win celebration party. Similar scenes of ecstatic frenzy came from the streets of Ahmedabad, Nadiad, and Hyderabad – hometowns of Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, and Mohammed Siraj respectively.

“Everybody was elated and they just started jumping and shouting that ‘at last, we have got the World Cup back. The celebrations from the 2007 World Cup triumph in Johannesburg after Joginder Sharma’s last over was done were just going on through my mind when Hardik Pandya bowled the final over,” says Lalchand Rajput, the manager in India’s 2007 T20 World Cup triumph, to IANS from Mumbai.

You couldn’t fault the Indian fans for getting that sinking feeling in their mind and heart when 30 runs were needed for South Africa to win off 30 deliveries. An on-song Heinrich Klaasen took 24 runs off the last over off Axar Patel. The win predictors gave India just a 3% chance to win the final, making a South African victory a foregone conclusion.

The Indian fans, mainly Gen Z fans, had their heart rate racing with the feeling that the trophy may be missed again. A tiny part of them had the belief of the side conjuring up a miracle outta nowhere – remember how on a shining afternoon in New York, they defended 119 against Pakistan on a tough pitch?

Once Pandya took out Heinrich Klaasen, Bumrah took out Marco Jansen and Suryakumar Yadav took a ‘hang-it-in-the-louvre’ catch for ages of David Miller, it began to hit home that a World Cup win for India wasn’t far after years and years of heartbreaks and that emotion of winning a big final is something they will carry for the rest of their lives.

Seeing adults –- highly-revered professional cricketers — cry and roar in ecstasy on realising the pure joy of winning the World Cup and becoming champions, it was a pure feeling and emotion which had the entire country tear up and be happy in the happiness of their idols.

“Somewhere down the line, I had this feeling that ‘Yeah, it is ours’. So, I was very assured that India is going to win. I knew it. There was no tension. Firecrackers were burst, and people were going crazy, driving rickshaws around the colony, and blaring music. My aged father-in-law and my wife were discussing cricket till 4 a.m., and they didn’t let me sleep,” recalled Biju George, the Delhi Capitals’ fielding coach, to IANS from Thiruvananthapuram.

For many years, despite the riches and vastness of domestic structure, a major trophy eluded Indian cricket, raising questions over its ability to cross the final hurdle. Off the field, toxic fan wars, and trolling of certain players based on their religion made things horrible.

It became worse when Pandya’s incessant trolling in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 didn’t have a full stop. On social media, when cricket, IPL, and T20 World Cup action dominated headlines in posts and reels, other issues related to the common man in India also grabbed headlines. But June 29, 2024, united the entire India with an electric and genuine feeling of nothing in the country bringing people together like cricket does.

“At least cricket is one unifying force in India where we are not divided. You don’t say things like you are a Muslim or a Hindu or a Christian. We are cricketers basically, and at least that is one thing which politics has been kept away from,” adds George.

It’s already two days since the triumph was achieved at Barbados and people in the country haven’t stopped talking about the win, the runs from Kohli, Axar, and Shivam Dube. They don’t feel tired of talking about how Bumrah, Pandya, and Arshdeep Singh kept their calm in the last five overs. They can’t get over how Suryakumar unleashed the Superman and Ballerina in him to take a catch for ages.

Every time they open social media, pictures captioned with ‘woke up as world champions’, and ‘this feels so good’ gladden their feed. Algorithms are buzzing with reels of Rohit doing Ric Flair strut to lift the title, players walking with trophy aloft, Virat and Arshdeep doing bhangra while sharing this special moment with their families in person or virtually come up, reminding fans of the feeling they forgot to cherish in these 13 years.

For the next few days, months, and years, the glory moment and on-field celebrations thereafter will be played on a loop on television sets in India and social media plus YouTube screens.

Whenever it pops up, everything else will be forgotten as fans get their minds, hearts, and souls drawn to that winning emotion, serving as a sweet reminder that cricket and emotions are a great unifying force in India, which anything else can’t ever come close to replicating it in this part of the world.

–IANS

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