Australia’s Usman Khawaja was pinching himself yesterday after he finally broke through for an emotional first Test century — an achievement he craved so much he once dreamed of it and woke up feeling unhappy.
Pakistan-born Khawaja, 28, who came to Australia as a young child from Pakistan, put the gloss on a dominating day with an unbeaten 102 in an imposing first-day total of 389 for two in the first Test against New Zealand.
Dashing opener David Warner set the platform with his second-highest Test score of 163, but it was the stylish Khawaja who added the icing with his maiden Test hundred off just 123 balls to put the home side in a powerful position.
Photo: AFP
Khawaja was recalled to the Australian team in the wake of several high-profile retirements, including skipper Michael Clarke and Shane Watson, after a stop-start career in his nine previous Tests back to his 2011 debut.
However, any doubts about Khawaja’s place in the Australian team were put to rest with his elegant knock of 10 fours and two sixes to justify his place at No. 3.
It was an emotional Khawaja who ran away from the pitch to raise his bat into the air in triumph and was hugged by his batting partner and captain Steve Smith nearing stumps.
“It was just elation, the biggest amount of emotional relief. I’ve wanted to get a Test hundred for Australia my whole life,” Khawaja said. “There were times over the last three or four years [I thought] it might not happen, but when it did happen, the buildup of a lot of emotions came out because it’s what I always dreamt about. I physically actually dreamt about it once, then I woke up and it was a horrible day. I’m glad it came into fruition; hopefully I don’t wake up in the next five minutes.”
Warner lauded Khawaja.
“I couldn’t be any more prouder, as a childhood friend growing up with him I know how much it means to him,” Warner said. “But it means a lot to his family. Credit to them as well. He’s had a bit of adversity there with his knee [injury] and coming back, really working hard to get back into this team. Now I think it shows he’s cemented his spot there and credit to him the way he played.”
The runs flowed easily for Khawaja at his adopted Gabba ground after leaving New South Wales to play with Queensland in 2012.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier