Gästebuch » game, del Potro held three break points at love-40, but Na

Jalaj Saxena, the Madhya Pradesh and India A allrounder, has signed one-year contract with Kerala as a professional player for the 2016-17 season. He will join Iqbal Abdulla and Bhavin Thakkar, who moved from Mumbai to the Kerala side as professionals. A No-Objection Certificate from the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association was submitted to the Kerala Cricket Association on September 3.It was a personal decision, but a very emotional one too, Saxena, who is currently participating in the Duleep Trophy, told ESPNcricinfo. Its a one-year deal which will be reviewed after the season and will be extended if they feel my performances have been up to their expectation.Having played for Madhya Pradesh for more than a decade, to make this switch was hard but I was sure of it. I wanted a change of environment at this stage, but Im thankful to MPCA for giving me an opportunity over the years.The Kerala Cricket Association was reportedly keen on signing Saxena given his record as a batting allrounder over the last four seasons.From 2012-13 to 2015-16, Saxena racked up 2485 runs at an average of 46.89, with six centuries and 12 half-centuries, scoring more than 2000 runs as an opener. His offspin brought him 111 wickets at 26.01 in this period. He won the Lala Amarnath award for the best allrounder for the 2014-15 season, in which he scored 768 runs and took 20 wickets in the first-class format. Overall, Saxena has played 84 first-class matches, scoring 4604 runs with 195 wickets.Last season, one where they qualified for the semi-finals, Saxena finished with the second-best match haul in Ranji Trophy history, taking 16 for 154 to help MP beat Railways. At Kerala, he will likely be a part of a spin trio, alongside left-arm spinners Karaparambil Monish, the third-highest wicket-taker in Ranji Trophy 2015-16, and Abdulla.My performances over the last four years have given me immense confidence, Saxena said. But I realise I cant afford to drop my guard. As a professional, the onus is on you to perform. The self-belief is there now.Saxena said the motivation to sign with Kerala, once he was briefed on what was expected of him, stemmed from their poor record. Kerala are yet to earn a promotion from Group C since the Ranji Trophy was revamped in 2012-13 to accommodate 27 teams into three groups. This season, Chhattisgarh will be the tenth team in Group C. Saxena may have been eligible to play for Chhattisgarh except for minor issues related to nativity - he was born in Bhilai and moved to Indore - but he realised that with Kerala, the competition will bring out the best in him at this stage of his careerI looked at their performance. They were always mid-table in Group C, so if I can help them qualify to the elite groups, it will be a big achievement, he said. Maybe that could also be a way of being recognised. With the line-up weve got, Im confident we will improve this year. Joe Kelly Jersey .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Brock Holt Jersey . -- When the Florida Panthers fell behind by two goals in the first period to the top team in the NHL, it appeared they were on their way to yet another loss. http://www.theredsoxteamshop.com/Red-Sox-David-Ortiz-Kids-Jersey/ . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. Blake Swihart Jersey .4 million title. 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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Juan Martin del Potro ended Rafael Nadals bid for an unprecedented second Olympic singles gold medal in a thrill-a-minute semifinal, then celebrated as if the title were already his, kneeling to kiss the court before leaping into the stands.Del Potro, who earned a bronze for Argentina four years ago, will add a silver or gold to that after advancing to the Rio de Janeiro Games final by coming back to stun 2008 champion Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in more than 3 hours Saturday.Both of us, Nadal said, played a very high level.Using the same ferocious forehands that carried him past No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the first round a week ago, 2009 U.S. Open champion del Potro now will try to pull off a third surprise on Sunday, when he meets defending champion Andy Murray in the best-of-five-set final.It means something very, very big in my career. It would be the same as the U.S. Open. Maybe even better, said del Potro, whos fallen to 141st in the rankings after three operations on his left wrist, which he uses for a two-handed backhand.I didnt expect to reach the final, beating Djokovic and Rafa, del Potro said, but I did, and I get a medal, and its amazing for me.The No. 2-seeded Murray earned a gold in singles and a silver in mixed doubles for Britain at the 2012 London Games.Hes the favorite for sure, del Potro said. Hopefully I can run like I did today.No tennis player has won two Olympic singles golds, let alone two in a row, as Murray is attempting to achieve.It would mean a lot, obviously, Murray said after beating fourth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-1, 6-4 to stretch his winning streak to a career-high-tying 17 matches. Its obviously not an easy thing to do. Thats why its not been done before.Standing in Murrays way now will be del Potro, whose wrist problems forced him to miss 2+ years worth of Grand Slam tournaments.He showed signs of his resurgence by beating two-time major title winner Stan Wawrinka at Wimbledon in June, then used all of his 6-foot-6 frame to produce intimidating forehand after forehand that Djokovic couldnt fend off. That same formula worked against Nadal, with 18 of del Potros 19 groundstroke winners coming off his preferred wing.Its been a tough road for del Potro, who got down on his back, spread-eagle, near the Olympic logo in the main stadium after the semifinal ended with Nadal sailing a forehand wide. Moments later, del Potro planted a smooch on the dot atop the middle letter of Rio near the five rings.And to complete his rejoiciing, del Potro jumped into the front row for a group hug with some of the thousands of flag-waving, name-chanting fans who rooted so vociferously for their man.ddddddddddddWith their blue-and-white flags and national soccer team jerseys, the Argentines in the crowd supported him with choruses of Ole, ole, ole, ole! del Po! del Po! -- often drawing boos or shushes from Nadals backers. The Spaniards chimed in, too, shouting Na-dal! Na-dal!All the cacophany created occasional delays between points, prompting chair umpire James Keothavong to ask for quiet.Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam champion, earned the singles gold medal for Spain eight years ago at the Beijing Games, but sat out in 2012 because of a knee injury. He added a doubles gold on Friday, teaming with his good pal Marc Lopez. But instead of another medal of that color, he will try to go home with a bronze by beating Nishikori on Sunday -- not bad, considering Nadal missed 2+ months with an injured left wrist.Nadal got broken to trail 5-4 in the third set, allowing del Potro to serve for the match. Nadal broke right back at love, with the help of a couple of superb shots he marked with more than a half-dozen fist pumps apiece. In the next game, del Potro held three break points at love-40, but Nadal held for a 6-5 lead.In the tiebreaker, del Potro went up 5-2 with -- what else? -- a forehand winner, then earned a pair of match points with a 127 mph ace. He converted the second on a miss by Nadal, who made only six unforced errors in the first set and 25 over the last two.I gave it all I had, Nadal said, and the only thing left to do is to congratulate del Potro for his victory.The most memorable moment of Murrays straightfoward win over Nishikori came right at the end.Serving for the victory, Murray came up with a tremendous down-the-line backhand passing winner on a 23-stroke exchange, stumbling as he hit the shot and winding up sitting right there on the green court. When he realized hed won the point, he raised a fist, then stood and motioned to the crowd for more noise.That gave Murray his third match point, which he converted with a service winner. He yanked off his white hat and bellowed.Bit of a lucky shot, Murray said. I didnt even see it land, so I didnt know whether it was in or not. Thankfully, it was good.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '