14

Milos Roanic on Day Four of 2013 US Open
Matthew. Stockman | Getty images

lly
Glimmer of Hope for Canadian Temnis

he connecting distance between

the United States and Canada via
the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara is only
49? meters, but there are still miles to
travel for the maple leaf to raise sky
high in the US tennis open. It would not
be unrealistic to imagine the likes of
Canadian hopefuls like Milos Raonic
and Vasek Popisil to go all the way
and get glory against the likes of US

players Roger Federer, Andy Murray,
Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal.

Tennis in general, compared with

other sports, is a sport which focuses
on individuals. There are doubles and
mixed doubles, but even then the focus
is at the maximum on two individuals.
Even though it is highly necessary that
the coach, staff and players work as

a team, on the whole focus is at the
individual level. It is not a team sport
like soccer or basketball, which require
high levels of team coordination. This

is one of the reasons that the elite
league of tennis stars be it the Pete
Sampras-Andre Agassi era or the
current era of Nadal-Federer last much
longer compared to other sports. So

it wil be a great transition period for
Canadian tennis if hopes like Raonic,
Pospisil, Eugenie Bouchard and Frank

Dancevic get going at their best and
make it fo the semifinals or at least the
quarterfinals. If one of these athletes
makes it to the quarter final it may well
mark the era of Canadian tennis stars.

Everything needs a beginning. It is a
known fact that no Canadian has ever
won the US open. Thinking that way will
not take these tennis players anywhere.
Rather, thinking that Dancevic, Raonic
and Bouchard made it past the first
round gives a glimmer of hope for the
maple leaf. Pospisil’s fighting loss in a
humdinger of a match against Brazilian
qualifier Rogerio Dutra (scoreline:4-6,
3-6, 7-6 (9), 6-2, 7-6 (10)) was a
disappointment, despite discussion of
close calls going against Pospisil. It is

still a pride to lose with the head held
high and the mighty fighting spirit of the
maple leaf region.

On August 29th, Raonic took a 6-1,
6-2, 6-4 victory over Spain's Pablo
Andujar, advancing to the third round.

Let us hope the best is delivered this
year from the Canadians in action

at the US open and they mark the
glimmer of hope to start a Canadian
era at the grand slams atter the Swiss-
Spaniard (Nadal-Federer era).

Canadian Cricket on the Rise

Netherlands Outplayed

( anadian cricket seems to get
going on the right track. The

intercontinental cup 2011-2013 saw the
Canadian cricket team register their
first ever victory (over the Netherlands).
The Netherlands were outplayed

on all three departments: batting,
bowling and fielding by their Canadian
counterparts.

Netherlands were bowled out for

164 by the left-right bowling attack of
Raza-ur-Rehman and Jeremy Gordon
who took four wickets apiece. Raza-ur-
Rehman was pretty much devastating
just conceding eight runs in 8.3 overs
with four maidens and taking four
wickets.

Canada pretty much set the tone

for the entire match in the first innings
they played, posting a mammoth total
of 436. The hero of the innings was
Ruvindu Gunasekera with a knock

of 150. Gunasekera was wasting no
time scoring 150 of just 173 balls with
a strike rate of 8670. The innings
comprised of 2] fours and 2 sixes.
Gunasekera was well supported by
half centuries from Jimmy Hansara and
Salman Nazar.

With a lead of 272 runs Netherlands
were staring at a likely innings defeat
at 45/3. Then a ray of hope came in
the innings of Eric Szwarezynski and

espncricinfo.com

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a partnership with Daan Van Bunge.
There was a knock of 75 unbeaten
runs out of the blue from the tail-ender
Pieter Seelaar. Even though the
Netherlands fought well in the second
innings, all they could come up with was
a score of 336 and the Canadians

just required 65 runs to win the match,
which was achieved with much ease.

The callback to captain Ashish Bagai
to lead in the remaining World Cricket
League Championships seems to

be worthy now with this confident
victory over the Netherlands in the
intercontinental cup. Two wins were
seeming likely against the Netherlands.

Unfortunately the first match was called
off due to a wet outfield. After winning
the toss, Canada opted to field first
and the Netherlands were bowled
out for 143 in 27.5 overs missing to
play a ball in their stipulated quota of
28 overs. Canada was going strong

at 62 for | in |
cruising fo victory but the wet outfield
resulted in calling off the play. It will be

O overs and seemed

interesting to see what Canada can
come up to counter both the weather,
and the Netherlands, and bring
Canada a victory.

7 vrince GEORGE \Y
caNAba Dee
“ene Ae

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