Dein erstes Forum » embers of the shooting contingent told its own story

ROME -- A visit to last-place Crotone was just what Napoli needed to end a three-match losing streak.Roma also won against a lowly opponent, beating Palermo to reclaim second place from AC Milan.Inter Milan, meanwhile, lost its third straight Serie A match to increase the pressure on coach Frank de Boer.Despite losing center forward Manolo Gabbiadini to a red card, 10-man Napoli won 2-1 Sunday to spoil Crotones first top-division game in its home stadium.Jose Callejon scored 17 minutes in and Nikola Maksimovic doubled the lead in the 33rd, shortly after Gabbiadini was sent off.Aleandro Rosi pulled one back for Crotone in the 89th.Gabbiadini was on the ground after being fouled by Gian Marco Ferrari and reacted by flicking his boot into the back of Ferraris leg.It was Gabbiadinis first red card in 153 career Serie A matches.Ferrari was shown a yellow.Both of Napolis goals were aided by poor defense.Callejon redirected the ball in by the far post after a cross from Dries Mertens was deflected right toward him. Recently called up to Spains national team, Callejon has been involved in a league-best eight goals this season with six goals and two assists.Maksimovic also scored near the far post, following a corner.Napoli had lost two straight in Serie A and was also beaten by Besiktas in the Champions League this week.Napoli is fourth, four points behind Juventus and two behind Roma and Milan, which beat Juve 1-0 on Saturday.Promoted to the top division for the first time in its 106-year history, Crotone played its first three home matches 600 kilometers (375 miles) away in Pescara while its Ezio Scida stadium was expanded to meet league regulations.The Calabrian club remained with one point.We did well in a situation that could have been very difficult, because Crotone was playing at home for the first time, the pitch wasnt worthy of a professional match and we were down to 10 men after a half-hour, Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri said. Im happy that the lads will rediscover some confidence.Heres a look at the rest of the action in the Italian league Sunday:---ROMA 4, PALERMO 1Mohamed Salah scored from a tight angle shortly after the half-hour mark after being set up by Edin Dzeko.Leandro Paredes made it 2-0 in the 51st with a free kick that surprised Palermo goalkeeper Josip Posavec.Dzeko added another in the 68th, finishing off a pretty series of passes with a low shot from the edge of the area for his league-best eighth of the season -- the same number of goals he scored in his 31 appearances last season.Robin Quaison pulled one back for Palermo in the 80th but Stephan El Shaarawy quickly restored Romas three-goal advantage.---ATALANTA 2, INTER MILAN 1Mauricio Pinilla scored the winner for Atalanta with a penalty two minutes from time.After Davide Santon was whistled for a foul on Franck Kessie, Pinilla drilled the spot kick into the top left corner, leaving Samir Handanovic no chance even though the Inter goalkeeper guessed the right direction.Andrea Masiello had put Atalanta in front with an early header and Eder equalized for Inter with a free kick after the break.While Inter defeated Juventus in September, its been a difficult debut campaign in Italy for De Boer, who was hired when Roberto Mancini resigned less than two weeks before the season started.The only thing we can do is work hard to get out of this situation, De Boer said. I want to see the squad have more courage with the ball. ... Its a tough time for everyone.Inter captain Mauro Icardi failed to put a single shot on target after being punished by the club for his comments about the teams hard-core ultra fans in his autobiography.Atalanta, which extended its unbeaten streak to four matches, moved up to eighth while Inter dropped to 14th.---TORINO 2, LAZIO 2Torino and Lazio remained level on points, six points behind Juventus, after a draw that was determined with a penalty kick from Torinos Adem Ljajic in added time.After Iago Falque put Torino ahead midway through the first half, Ciro Immobile equalized for Lazio against his former club in the 71st with an acrobatic effort.Substitute Alessandro Murgia scored his first Serie A goal in the 84th for Lazio before Marco Parolo was whistled for a questionable hand ball to set up Ljajics spot kick.---ALSO:Nikola Kalinic scored a hat trick and Federico Bernardeschi added two more goals as Fiorentina won 5-3 at Cagliari.Sassuolo and Bologna drew 1-1 in an Emilia-Romagna derby, Empoli and Chievo Verona played to a 0-0 draw in which Chievo protested for a goal even though goal-line technology showed that the ball wasnt fully in; and French forward Cyril scored twice for Udinese in a 3-1 win over visiting Pescara.---Andrew Dampf on Twitter: www.twitter.com/asdampfRyan Helsley . -- Nathan Pancel scored twice as the Sudbury Wolves defeated the North Bay Battalion 4-2 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Junior Fernandez . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match. http://www.custommlbcardinalsjersey.com/custom-austin-gomber-jersey-large-1411q.html . Mickelson barely made the cut but had the best round of the day with nine birdies and an eagle coupled with two bogeys to sit two shots behind leader Craig Lee of Scotland. Lee shot a 69 for a 12-under 204 total. "I just love the fact I am in contention and have an opportunity in my first tournament of the year here in Abu Dhabi," Mickelson said. Randy Arozarena . -- Stanford squashed Oregons national championship hopes again, schooling the Ducks in power football. Jack Flaherty . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula.Indias only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra, missed out on a medal by the narrowest of margins in the 10m air rifle final, finishing fourth in a tight shootout at the Olympic Shooting Centre with a score of 163.8.The gold medal went to Nicolo Campriani (206.1) of Italy, Ukraines Serhiy Kulish bagged silver with a score of 204.6, while Vladimir Maslennikov of Russia scored 184.2 to win bronze..This is the last time Bindra will be seen in a shooting competition as he has announced his retirement after Rio and leaves the sport as Indias most decorated shooter and premier Olympic sportsman.It was an excruciatingly nerve-wracking final with the hall packed to capacity. Bindra walked in slightly awkwardly and took his place on Lane C. The announcer at the venue was quite vociferous but for Bindra and the rest of the shooters in the field, it was almost as if he didnt exist. Bindra was steady but unspectacular in his first series of six shots that included two scores of 9.7.Once the field started to whittle down after the eighth shot, Bindra, the only previous gold medalist in this event among the eight competitors suddenly found his mongrel. He reeled off an impressive sequence of high tens as the arena started to throb with expectation. Each shot was met by a vociferous cheers from the Indians in the hall as even hardened journalists whove seen it all before started to entangle themselves in the moment. Bindra, impassively as always, continued to move up the field and was in medal contention as shooters started to drop off. Four fell by the wayside, leaving only four.A 9.7 on his 15th shot and 10.2 on his 16th tied Bindra with Serhiy Kulish of Ukraine. The now or never moment was here, all that training all the toil all the effort down to one shot to be an Olympic medalist, whats more Indias first medal at the Olympics. Bindra shot a 10, but his rival responded with a 10.5. The dream was over. Bindra walked back, measured and collected as ever, though a collective gasp of despair engulfed the arena. He would finish his career as an Olympic gold medalist but also as a man who came so near yet so faar.ddddddddddddAn official walking past this writer exclaimed We are having such bad luck, missing out by such small margins.That in essence is the whole point of this brutal, unforgiving sport. Fine margins between joy and agony. Bindra is only 33 but walks into the sunset perhaps with a tinge of agony of what might have been in Rio de Janeiro, where he arrived as a self-proclaimed hobby shooter and almost clinched glory.Qualifying roundIn the qualifying round, Bindra had finished 7th with a score of 625.7 to make it to his third Olympic final. Gagan Narangs campaign ended with a score of 621.7 and a 23rd place finish. There were more than a few frayed nerves at the shooting arena with a strong Indian contingent made up mostly of journalists and officials swaying on a roller coaster ride. Bindra was his usual self, serenity personified but by faltering in the fourth and fifth series, he undid some of the good work from a solid start. When the final series began, with Bindra out of the top 10, his teammate Narang had already left himself with too high a mountain to climb so hopes rested entirely on Bindra.The nervous faces of members of the shooting contingent told its own story with the results so far having been well below expectations. Bindra responded with a nerveless effort to score 105.2 and was to make the last eight on what will be his last day of competitive shooting. Abhinav reached his first final in Athens in 2004 as a 22 year old. He was to finish eighth in the Athens final, but four years later created history by winning Gold at the Beijing Olympics.As the final few shooters finished, many nails were being chewed with a bit of churn towards the lower half of the leaderboard. Once confirmed the Indian contingent broke into infectious applause. Italian shooter Niccolo Campriani finished the qualification rounds with an Olympic record of 630.2.Narang will compete in two more events in Rio - the 50m rifle and the 50m three-position. For Bindra, it was his final goodbye. ' ' '