Djokovic is going to Tokyo, 22-year-old wins second Tour de France and more6 min read
Reading Time: 4 minutesAdithya G.
The Top Two
Djokovic goes for gold, Federer Pulls out
Roger Federer announced his decision to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics, days after being named in the Switzerland Olympics squad.
“During the grass season, I unfortunately experienced a setback with my knee, and have accepted that I must withdraw from the Tokyo Olympic Games, ” read a tweet by Roger Federer.
Tadej Pogacar Wins Second Successive Tour De France
Tadej Pogacar won a second successive Tour de France as Wout van Aert claimed the final stage on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Jumbo’s Belgian rider Van Aert went past Briton Mark Cavendish to take the 21st stage after also winning a time-trial at Saint-Emilion and a mountain stage at Mont Ventoux.
Jonas Vingegaard of Jumbo was a surprising second, while Ineos’ Richard Carapaz was third to follow his 2019 triumph on the Giro d’Italia.
Cricket
Hitwicket controversy
Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor was declared hit wicket during the second ODI against Bangladesh. His bizarre dismissal sparked controversy as many fans and pundits disagreed with the decision.
A person can be declared out hit wicket only while the ball is in play and in the time interval of when the striker is in preparation to receive the delivery to setting off for the first run.
Taylor was beaten by a short delivery. The keeper had collected the ball. The batsman then inadvertently hit the stumps. The argument for this being a wrong decision is that the ball was dead and that Taylor wasn’t attempting a run.
Check out Brendan Taylor’s dismissal below:
Bangladesh were set a target of 241 and they claimed the victory with five deliveries to spare. Shakib Al Hasan top scored with an unbeaten knock of 96. Shakib also picked up two wickets in the game which made him the highest wicket-taker for his country in all three formats of the game.
England level series against Pakistan
Pakistan shocked England in the first match of the T20I series with an extraordinary batting performance. Half-centuries from openers Mohammad Rizwan (63) and Babar Azam(85) propelled the visitors to their highest ever total – 232/6.
Despite a swashbuckling century from Liam Livingstone, England fell short by 31 runs.
England bowlers redeemed themselves with a disciplined bowling performance in the second match. Batting first, England were bowled out for 200. Their spinners Adil Rashid, Moeen Ali and Matt Parkinson picked up five wickets between them and led their team to a resounding 35-run victory.
The third and final match of the series will be played at Old Trafford, Manchester.
India’s ‘B’ team prove too strong from Sri Lanka
India 263/3 (Dhawan 86*, Kishan 59, Shaw 43) beat Sri Lanka 262/9 (Karunaratne 43*, Shanaka 39, Kuldeep 2-48, Chahal 2-52) by 7 wickets
Ishan Kishan started his ODI career on his birthday, with a six of his first ball and the second fastest fifty by an Indian debutant as Shikar Dhawan’s team beat Sri Lanka by 7 wickets and 13.2 overs to spare. The captain himself scored a steady innings of 86 to chase down the target of 263 with ease. Prithvi Shaw provided a rapid start in the powerplay that set the tone for the chase. Earlier, Chamika Karunaratne’s sparkling cameo in the final overs provided a late thrust to the meandering Sri Lankan innings. The Indian spin trio of Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav & Krunal Pandya kept the scoring rate down in the middle overs and picked up five wickets.
NBA
Bucks one win away from history
The Milwaukee Bucks claimed their third victory in a row in the NBA final Playoffs against Phoenix Suns to take a 3-2 lead in the seven-match series.
Milwaukee emerged with a 123-119 victory, pushing the Bucks to within one win of their first NBA title in a half-century.
In the fourth quarter, with very time left, the Suns had the ball and were trailing by one point. Devin Booker, who had already hit 40 points for a second straight game, was poised to push Phoenix back into the lead. However, an exceptional steal from Jrue Holiday followed by a perfect alley-oop pass that was met with precision by Giannis Antetokounmpo turned the game in the favour of the Bucks.
Watch the highlights from this game here:
Team USA beat Spain
Team USA delivered a morale-boosting win over Spain in their final exhibition game before heading to Tokyo for the Olympics.
After falling behind by as many as nine points in the first half, Team USA found their shooting touch to win 83-76.
Damian Lillard scored 19 points and Keldon Johnson added 15. The stars Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Zach LaVine combined for nine 3-pointers.
F1
Hamilton Brings it Home
Lewis Hamilton ended Red Bull’s streak of five straight victories by winning the British Grand Prix for the eighth time. He was slapped with a 10-second penalty after he collided with Max Verstappen and knocked the championship leader out of the race. Charles Leclerc grabbed the lead but Hamilton caught the Ferrari and overtook on lap 50 of the 52-lap race.
Verstappen, meanwhile, was taken to hospital “for further precautionary tests” and was later cleared.
Hamilton’s win brought down Verstappen’s lead in the championship to eight points.
Monegasque Leclerc and Finn Valtteri Bottas completed the podium.
Olympics
U.S. gymnast tests COVID-19 positive
A female gymnast, Kara Eaker, from the United States tested positive for coronavirus.
The teenage gymnast who had one close contact was confirmed to be an alternate member and her close contact was also an alternate, according to the team.
Image: India Today
(Out Actioned is a weekly sports bulletin)
Author’s note: Adithya G is a freelance writer and a sports enthusiast.
