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Bloemen ends Dutch dominance in PyeongChang Games speed skating
PyoengChang, Feb 15 (IANS) Ted-Jan Bloemen of Canada put an end to Dutch skaters’ dominance of gold medals in the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games speed skating competitions as the world record holder clinched the title of the men’s 10,000 metres here on Thursday evening.
Bloemen, the runner-up to Sven Kramer in Sunday’s men’s 5,000m, clocked 12 minutes and 39.77 seconds for the victory, breaking the Olympic record of 12:44.45 held by defending champion Jorrit Bergsma of the Netherlands, reported Xinhua news agency.
“It’s going to take a while for all this to sink in. It’s hard to say what’s going through my mind. It’s been very emotional,” he said. “It’s the biggest stage I’ve ever been on and to win here is the highest you can get.”
With the victory, Bloemen became the second Canadian to win an Olympic title in an individual men’s speed skating event behind Gaetan Boucher, the 1,000m and 1,500m gold medalist at the Sarajevo Games in 1984.
“We’ve worked towards this competition for so long with my team. I’m just so proud of them that we made it happen today. It’s amazing,” he added.
Bergsma took the silver in a time of 12:41.98 and Italian Nicola Tumolero came in third at 12:54.32.
Before Thursday’s race, Dutch skaters had swept all five previous gold medals on offer at the PyeongChang Games.
–IANS
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Sunil Gavaskar gives his opinion of GT allrounder Rahul Tewatia
The left-handed batsman from Haryana is garnering praise from all quarters for the way he’s finishing games regularly in the most exciting IPL season.
Gavaskar reckons Tewatia’s whirlwind knock in Sharjah (in IPL 2020) where he smashed West Indies pacer Sheldon Cottrell for five sixes in an over, gave him the confidence that he belongs to the big stage.
Speaking on Cricket Live on Star Sports, Gavaskar said, “That assault on Sheldon Cottrell in Sharjah gave him the belief to do the impossible and the confidence that he belongs here. We saw the impossible (he did with the bat) the other day as well. There’s no twitching or touching the pads (which shows a batter’s nervousness) when he bats in the death overs. He just waits for the ball to be delivered and plays his shots. He’s got all the shots in the book, but most importantly his temperament to stay cool in a crisis is brilliant.”
Gavaskar has also nicknamed the 28-year-old cricketer the ‘ice-man’ and lauded Tewatia’s ability to remain unruffled during the tense moments.