Israel won gold for the first time at a Maccabiah after crushing defending champions Australia 13-0 in the Men's Open final at Wingate Stadium. In the region of 2,500 witnessed history being made as Israel followed up their semi-final win over GB with a flawless performance.
Ori Abutbul put Israel ahead with a penalty and a converted try from Daniel Palma allowed the hosts to go into the break with a 10-0 advantage. A second-half penalty from Abutbul completing the scoring in a memorable competition for home fans who saw Misha Eli win the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.
Israel captain Yonatan Kaplan said: "Our team always surprises me with new amazing accomplishments."
* USA pipped Argentina to gold in the Men’s Open Basketball competition. Brad Grinberg’s troops bounced back from defeat against the Argentines earlier in the competition to run out 87-76 victors.
Andres Berman was Argentina’s star performer. He registered 31 points, with three assists and three rebounds, while Danny Rubin was the best player in the final for the USA.
* Laetitia Beck won double gold in the Ladies Golf competition, finishing nine-under, 15 strokes ahead of the next competitor at the Caesarea Golf Club. Beck, who is from Caesarea and a has taken her game to a new level at Duke University in North Carolina, shot three consecutive rounds of 69 to finish with a combined score of 207.
Portland Rosen of the United States, who goes to Duke’s NCAA league rival University of Virginia, took silver with 222.
* Israel’s Daniel Poleschuck won gold with a 3-1 victory over Albert Shoihet from Canada in the Men’s Open Squash final. All three squash finals ended with the same scoreline, with Yarden Odmak winning an all-American Women’s final against Jenny Schort, while Israel’s Tzemach Meir proved too strong forCurt Kohlberg of America.
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