est event, qualified for the Olympics, and returned to Rio t

West Indies batsman Darren Bravo says he was less focused on playing for a win or a draw and more driven to stay at the crease, believing either result was possible as long as he kept batting. West Indies eventually fell short by 56 runs to Pakistan in the first Test at Dubai as Bravo was seventh man out after making 116 in a near seven-hour stay at the crease in pursuit of a target of 346.Bravo faced 507 balls in the match, including 249 in the second innings on the way to scoring his eighth Test century to give hope that West Indies might make it out of the first Test without a loss and says his side did well to stay in the match after Pakistans imposing first innings total.It was a situation where I wanted to actually bat out the entire day, Bravo said. As long as I batted and spent a lot of time out in the middle, definitely going to frustrate the Pakistanis and start to dig in for us. I just wanted to bat and have a couple of partnerships and that would make it much easier.I think it was a very good batting wicket for the entire match but the thing was with the situation, if we had won the game today, we would have won the game in the last session or something like that so it was all about spending time in the middle and just waiting to launch in the end. Having said that, I think it was a tremendous effort. The guys really fought throughout the entire Test match even though the first two days in the entire Test match we were totally outplayed. The way Bishoo bowled put is in good stead to obviously come out on top.Bravo says he took a positive outlook to Azhar Alis triple-century in that it was still a good enough batting track where he could prosper as well if he focused on staying at the crease rather than thinking about the daunting challenge of playing catch up to Pakistans total.It was just a matter of spending time, Bravo said. I realized that as long as you spend time in the middle, youre going to score runs. Azhar Ali scored a triple-century, he batted a very very long time on a very very good batting wicket and I just wanted to spend time out in the middle. I didnt really concentrate on runs, I just wanted to bat for the entire day and I know as long as I do that, if not close to a hundred, Ill go past 100. I just wanted to bat for the team. I think I did that pretty okay and I just want to continue from here.Some days I probably might score faster, some days youll have to stick it out. Sometimes they say you have to remove… not always glorious shots. Sometimes you have to show that solid determination and discipline to get a job done. I tried that in this game and it worked. Who knows, next game it can be probably fluent. You never know but at the end of the day Im putting a lot of work in the nets and Im really happy to reap rewards especially in this game.Bravo also gave credit to legspinner Devendra Bishoo for keeping the team in the match with an eight-wicket haul in the second innings. Bravo says Bishoo was underutilized in the first innings and the team made a concerted effort to get him involved much earlier in Pakistans second innings, a decision which helped set up West Indies and Bravos valiant fourth-innings chase.I dont think Bishoo bowled enough in the first innings and it was a conscious effort to give him the ball in the second innings to work his magic and that is exactly what he did, Bravo said. He put us in a very very good position and Im really happy for him. Hes someone that wishes everybody well so its always good to see him reap rewards for his hard work and hopefully he can continue for the rest of the series.After coming so close to pulling off a dramatic victory in the final hour of play, Bravo says West Indies have demonstrated that they can pose a serious challenge to Pakistan in the final two Tests. However, he says West Indies cant always be playing from behind and must establish stronger positions earlier on in the match in order to have the best chance of drawing level in the next Test at Abu Dhabi beginning on Friday.We have a few days to get things right, Bravo said. Its very important that we put in our work in the nets before the start of the second Test. I think its very important that we start well in the second Test. We dont want to be behind the eight-ball playing catch up cricket which is what we had to do in this game which always makes it much more difficult.So its very important that we start well and just realize when were on top and try to carry the momentum for as long as possible. So hopefully we can get things right. We showed that we can compete in this Test match. After the first two days we were out of it and then all of a sudden we were in a position to win in the last hour of the day. So we are trying our best.Stitched Antonio Brown Jersey . Michell Burger, a woman who lives on an estate next to Pistorius gated community, said she and her husband were awoken by the screams in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14 last year, when Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp by shooting four times through a door in his bathroom. Steelers Jerseys China . Both players have lower body injuries that will keep them out of the lineup until at least January 31, which is the first game they can be activated from IR. http://www.cheapsteelersjerseysauthentic.com/ . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No. Cheap Hines Ward Jersey .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon. Wholesale Steelers Jerseys . Instead of dwelling on the negative, Oates focused on what was good about the clubs recent play. It worked.Rio -- Sania Mirzas teary eyes have just stared back at me. She does not want to be there, answering questions, digging for reasons to explain the defeat that ends her medal hopes.It has just gone half past one in Rio. Earlier in the morning, I scramble into the badminton arena in a desperate rush, only to miss the last bit of Saina Nehwals shock capitulation. She points to her heavily strapped knee and glumly exits from the facility.Wretched. Wretched. Wretched.I am at my first Olympics and I have not seen an Indian medal yet. I have seen heartbreak by the bucketful. The Abhinav Bindra near miss. The Gagan Narang implosion. The Jitu Rai stumble. The nearly there Archery girls. Today, I miss watching the hockey boys being packed off. There is just one boxer standing.Wretched. Wretched. Wretched.Look for the arena with the pink roof.Volunteers at Olympic park in Rio smile easily. They are happy to help. I am snaking my way through a stream of people towards the Gymnastics complex. I see some Swiss people raucously celebrating. One of theirs must have won a medal somewhere, I guess.Blah.My Olympics is following a consistent narrative. No medal. No joy. Little morsels of celebratory stuff, but it is turning out to be all just the same.Wretched.Gymnastics is a showpiece event at the Olympics. Tickets are priced higher than most other events. It is contested in a monstrously large arena with a ridiculously high ceiling. The flags of the competing nations in Gymnastics flutter gently off the ceiling.A journalist colleague starts to count them. I learn that 60 countries are represented by 196 athletes in the 16 events here, the grandest stage in Gymnastics. I photograph the Tri-colour at the extreme end. A 23-year-old girl from Agartala has created this space for it. She is the only Indian here. One in 196.The arena is throbbing as I make my way up towards the media seating. Two Brazilian gymnasts have won silver and bronze in the Mens floor exercise finals. There are tears and hugs. Liquid emotion is the precursor to what we have come to see. This girl, an inch short of five feet tall, is the first Indian gymnast to qualify in 52 years for an Olympics, man or woman.On the official literature of the Olympics, they describe the sport as Artistic Gymnastics. Colleague Sharda Ugra describes here why that is. As the clock ticks over to 2:47pm local time, eight women march elegantly out. An American, a Russian, a Chinese, a Swiss, a North Korean, an Uzbek, a Canadian and the girl from India.There are innocent smiles and graceful waves as they are introduced. We are all friends here, lets contest for an Olympic medal, but it is not really a fight, is it? Artistic Gymnastics, remember?Dipa Karmakar is designated as the sixth jumper. This order is decided randomly. The competition begins and I watch five girls sprint up to complete unreal contortions mid-air before landing. Some do it better than others. They do this twice each and the cumulative scores pop up on the big screen as well as in little boxes on my computer in the official scoresheet.Her time comes and Dipa is on top of her mark. She bursts off in a phalanx of energy and her first vault is what they call the Zamolodchikova. I look up, and they have scored it at 14.866.Not bad. But not awesome.And now the Produnova. As pointed out by a journalist, if Sushil Kumar introduced the Repechage to Indian sports fans at the Beijing Games in 2008, Dipa can claim credit for the Produnova making its way into our lexicon. I ask the Gold medalist Simone Biles later what it is about Dipa that impresses her: Well, I would never attempt the things she does.On Saturday, Dipas coach Bisweshwar?Nandi tells me Dipa is now comfortable executing it. Fun fact, worth repeating - only five women in the world have successfully landed the Produnova.Slow clap. The announncer is reminding a packed stadium that this is the first Indian ever in a Gymnastics Olympic final.dddddddddddd I am standing now, the nerves are shot.Whizzzzz. She boomerangs off. The Produnova is unleashed. Coach Bisweshwar Nandi would tell me later that the decision to keep her signature jump as the second one was taken because Dipa traditionally does a better first jump. By flipping it around, he wanted to maximise her score.Nandi is the tactician, Dipa the executioner. Dipa nails it and the audience swoons. I go, Wowwwww. You can hear the applause all the way from Agartala.And then we wait for what seems like an eternity. Dipas second vault takes the longest to adjudge of all the competitors. Tick tock. And then, activity on my computer screen and the big screen in front.Difficulty - 7.00Execution- 8.266The Produnova delivers 15.266. Her cumulative score is 15.066. Sweaty palms are doing the calculations. And then confirmation.Two girls left in the final. Dipa is in second spot. One of them has to make an error or not do their vaults as well as Dipa, and Indias first medal at Rio will be delivered courtesy a Gymnast. Not a shooter. Not a boxer. Not a tennis player. There is pandemonium in the hall, but Dipa is serene in her acknowledgment of generous applause the crowd gives her.I told Nandi sir then itself that I will come fourth, she tells me later. In this cauldron of emotion, she has done the math. She knows the incredible Biles is to come. And she knows Maria Paseka of Russia, who is up next, will not slip up.There is a tweeting tornado back home in India where it is nearing midnight. Dipa knows she wont leave Rio with a medal, yet she is smiling.Paseka and Biles finish things off and the podium places are determined. Yet, even as the scoresheet settles, there is an outburst of glee.I start to cry, quietly in my corner so they would not call me a wuss. But you know what this girl has done. She has lifted a rapidly descending pall of gloom. She has shut up social media know-it-alls taking pot shots at her fellow athletes.She has made the unreal believable. Not long back, two warring Gymnastics federations - not an unusual occurrence in India - demanded that Dipa compete at their nationals or else she cant go to Rio for a Test event. The good people at Go Sports foundation urged the Sports Authority of India to sort the mess.Somehow, they did. Dipa won the gold at that Test event, qualified for the Olympics, and returned to Rio to do this.At the mixed zone, where journalists are allowed in to interact with the athletes, a swarm of quote seekers hunt Dipa. She is cheery and upbeat. A veteran among us asks, Dipa, you do know that great athletes like PT Usha and Milkha Singh have finished fourth at Olympics before?Arreeey sir, she chuckles. These are very big names. Please dont compare me with them.Dipa, you are my hero, tweets Abhinav Bindra.Not just yours, Abhinav. On this day she contributes to uplifting the happiness quotient of a nation.Grandiose as that sounds, her two leaps tug at the hearts of the biggest cynics. Surely, medals alone are not a measure of accomplishments. Today, Dipa reminds her audience what sport must essentially be - a pursuit of victory yes, but also a celebration of the human spirit.In that auditorium, she is a darling. Beyond it, she is a hero. Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland, who clinches bronze records a score of 15.216. Dipa loses out by 0.15 points. Almost every other time, this sort of outcome has led to gasps of despair. Not today. It does not matter.Can she win a medal in Tokyo in 2020?, I ask Biles in the media scrum later.Sure, she chimes. You can achieve anything you put your mind to.That bit, Dipa already knows. ' ' '