Indian rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal, who was already out of the medal reckoning, finished 13th in the overall rankings in the mens single sculls at the Rio Olympic Games on Saturday.He stood first in final C ranking race, with a time of 6:54.96, which was best among the four races he participated in the Games. Dattus 13th place finish is the best by an Indian rower at the Olympics. The previous best was Sawarn Singh, who had finished 16th in the same event in the previous Olympics in London.Like many villages in India, Talegaon Ruhi in Maharashtras Nashik district suffers from an acute scarcity of water and is regularly affected by drought. Dattu grew up there, scared of even venturing near the canals in his village. Towards the end of 2012, a 20-year-old Dattu was introduced to rowing after earning employment with the Indian Army.He remembers being gobsmacked at the idea of sports on water. It took young Dattu a year to overcome his fear of water. He learnt not just to navigate a rowing boat but also to swim. Four years on, Dattu is at the Olympic Games. As remarkable goes, his story is an apt description.Last Tuesday, Dattu stepped hesitantly out of the athletes village in Rio to speak to journalists. Earlier in the day at the bewitching Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas under the gaze of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue, Dattu finished his single sculls quarterfinal in fourth place. He completed the 2000m course in a shade under seven minutes. Though he didnt do enough to progress towards the medal rounds, by shaving off more than 21 seconds from the timing he registered in the heats, Dattu sent out a reminder of his obvious talent.In the first few times he attempted the sport, less than four years ago, Dattu was besieged by the dread of his boat capsizing. And here he was now on the biggest stage in all sport.I am satisfied with how I have performed, Dattu says in a gentle voice and with a shy smile. I had hoped for more training time. I could only train for a couple of months in the US before coming here. Had I got more time to train, I could have improved even more. No player is ever fully happy, he always feels something has been left undone.In Rio, Dattus progress was carefully monitored by Miami-based rowing coach Rajpaul Singh Mokha. After nearly 35 years in the trade, first as a competitor and now as a coach, Mokha has an intimate understanding of the sport. He was brought on board by the army in the middle of 2015 and under his watch Dattu has embarked on a steep upward curve. He won silver at the Asian Rowing championships in Beijing in 2015 and another one in the qualifier in South Korea that booked his ticket to Rio.Just for him to be here is absolutely incredible, says Mokha. You are asking a lot of any athlete to perform at this level not having had the experience. He has handled it very well and he definitely has the ability to do well. If he has proper training and support and he gets to go to two-three international competitions in a year in Europe or North America, he has a good chance of being in medal contention for Tokyo in 2020.Mokha is convinced that strictly comparing technical expertise, Dattu is already among the best rowers in the world. The challenge over the next few years is for Dattu to get a lot stronger and fitter. A rower relies immensely on his body weight and muscle mass to generate the power he needs to propel the boat quickly towards the finish line. Dattu has identified aspects such as specialised coaching, diet and fitness for him to focus on as he targets success at the next Olympics.Mokhas worry is that while he has an abundantly gifted ward, the ecosystem surrounding him may not allow him to reach full potential. There is no plan about what we are doing, how we are getting to the finish line, Mokha says. It is very random and not organised and theres no way to be successful at the Olympic level unless you have a set four-year plan, you commit to it and you have everyone supporting it 100%. Thats the only way the athletes can do it.But Dattu has already shown that he is not daunted by seemingly insurmountable challenges. The loss of his father to cancer in 2011 had forced him to take up a job at a petrol station outside his village. Once the army took him on board, he flowered, especially after moving to Pune to train at the Army Rowing Node in 2013. Within a year Dattu won two gold medals at the national games and finished fifth in the double sculls at the Asian Games in Incheon in 2014.But setbacks continued on the personal front. His mother sustained a head injury in an accident and does not recognise Dattu or his two younger brothers any more -- and is oblivious of her sons journey to the other part of the world to compete against the very best in the business. Dattu hopes that one day she will be okay and there will be enough water in Talegaon Ruhi. But for now he must step into his boat, clasp his sculls and march forward. Rio was merely a pit stop. Cheap Jerseys Free Shipping . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. Wholesale Baseball Jerseys China . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. http://www.cheapmlbchinajerseys.com/ . 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OAKLAND, Calif. -- Madison Bumgarners skills as a hitter were on full display in Thursday nights 12-6 win over the Oakland Athletics, which marked the first time in 40 years that a team intentionally used a pitcher to hit instead of a DH, but it appears his hopes of competing in a Home Run Derby are over for now.San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Thursday that the idea of having Bumgarner enter an All-Star Home Run Derby is off the table. The players union didnt want a derby slot being taken by a pitcher, Bochy said, but the plan is to review the idea of having a pitchers derby.Thats done. There will be no Home Run Derby for Madison, Bochy said. Thats been nixed. Its out for this year, but theyll revisit it next year.Earlier this month, Bumgarner, who has 13 career home runs, made a public plea to compete in the July derby by telling ESPNs Buster Olney that it was a priority for him.Bochy expressed his disapproval then and told Olney he wouldnt let Bumgarner participate.No, to be serious, I couldnt let him do it, Bochy said. We couldnt let him do it.Bochy, however, said he would love to see what Bumgarner could do in the derby.And Bum, hes convinced he could win it, Bochy said. I think he would wear himself down in the first round, hed try to hit it so hard.Bumgarner doubled off lefty?Dillon Overton?to lead off the third inning of Thursdays finale of a four-game series against Oakland. The Giants batted around, and Bumgarner ended the inning with an infield popup.He finished 1-for-4 with a run scored. Bumgarner also improved to 9-4 after allowing four runs and seven hits andd striking out four in 6? innings.ddddddddddddBochy said before the game that he had made up his mind days ago to let Bumgarner hit Thursday.This wasnt a tough call for me. The way he swings the bat, the numbers, facing a left-hander, Bochy said. All of these things came into play. Its nothing against our guys, but hes a pretty good hitter, and its a pretty good matchup. ... It keeps him in the game, the flow of his normal game being in the National League. He was all for it. And he would have been fine the other way. He didnt come to me. He didnt push for it. I went to him and said, Hey, Im thinking about letting you hit for yourself and not use the DH.The 1976 Chicago White Sox had been the last team to intentionally use a pitcher to hit instead of a DH. They allowed Ken Brett to hit in 1976. The Rays were forced to bat pitcher Andy Sonnanstine in 2009 because of a lineup card mixup.Thats a long time, As manager Bob Melvin said. I would love to have someone like that you could plug into the lineup, depending on what your roster looked like. Not too many guys like him. I dont know what that feels like. Theyre a little banged up too. Hes got some power, swings the bat well. Hes a real hitter, so hes not the kind of guy that youre consistently looking to try to get to the bottom of the order so you can walk somebody to get to him.Bumgarner is batting .182 with two homers and five RBIs in 44 at-bats this season.The Associated Press contributed to this report. 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