Published: Saturday, August 16, 2008
OLYMPICS ROUNDUP
BASEBALL: Terry Tiffee doubled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the seventh, Brian Barden homered and tied the score with his seventh-inning double and the U.S. rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Canada 5-4. Brian Duensing retired 10 of the final 11 batters for the win as the Americans turned a one-run result in their favor for a change. They lost their opener 8-7 to South Korea and then a demoralizing 5-4, 11-inning defeat to defending champion Cuba on Friday.
MEN'S VOLLEYBALL: The U.S. team beat China in three sets, but the bigger news was coach Hugh McCutcheon rejoining the team a week after a knife attack that killed his father-in-law and wounded his mother-in-law. The woman, Barbara Bachman, arrived in her home state of Minnesota on Friday for treatment at the Mayo Clinic.
SHOOTING: American Keith Sanderson was in first place after qualifying in the men's 25-meter rapid-fire pistol, but he wound up fifth. Ukraine's Oleksandr Petriv won it. The Emmons family picked up another medal. This time, it was hubby Matt getting silver in the 50-meter prone, an event he won four years ago. His wife, Katerina, who shoots for the Czech Republic, has a gold and a silver from these games. Also, American Vincent Hancock was leading after the first day of men's skeet qualifications.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL: Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers advanced to the quarterfinals in beach volleyball with a tight three-set win over a Swiss pair. Heavy favorites to win the gold medal in their Olympic debuts, Dalhausser and Rogers have won three straight since getting upset by 23rd-seeded Latvia in their opener.
SOFTBALL: The U.S. women set an Olympic record with four homers in a 7-0 victory over Japan. Then they resumed a rain-stopped game against Canada, trailing 1-0. After being five outs from losing, they wound up winning by the lopsided score of 8-1. In other games, Australia beat Taiwan 3-1 and Venezuela beat the Netherlands 8-0.
TENNIS: American James Blake lost to Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, who blew four match points before winning 6-4, 5-7, 11-9. Gonzalez, seeded 12th, will play in Sunday's final against Rafael Nadal, who beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 to clinch his first Olympic medal. New women's No. 1 Jelena Jankovic lost in the quarterfinals to No. 6 Dinara Safina, who will play China's Li Na in the semifinals. The other semi will pit Russians Elena Dementieva and No. 9 Vera Zvonareva.
In doubles, Roger Federer and Swiss teammate Stanislas Wawrinka upset top-ranked American twins Bob and Mike Bryan and win a spot in the final. Venus and Serena Williams, won twice to reach the semifinals in doubles, but Americans Lindsay Davenport and Liezel Huber were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual, of Spain.
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL: The U.S. team, coached by former Chinese star Jenny Lang Ping, knocked off China in five sets. The Americans are 3-2 overall, in good shape to advance. China fell to 2-2. In other games, Brazil, the top-ranked team in the world, defeated Kazakhstan 3-0. The Brazilians are undefeated after four pool matches and are assured a spot in the quarterfinals.
BOXING: Sergey Vodopyanov, the world champion bantamweight, and Raynell Williams, a serious American medal contender, lost Friday night, both saying they were wronged by subjective calls. Vodopyanov was edged by India's Akhil Kumar on total punches in a fight that ended 9-all, while Williams fell behind early and never caught up to France's Khedafi Djelkhir. Four American boxers remain.
CANOE/KAYAK: Look out for the Slovaks on the whitewater course. Twins Pavol and Peter Hochschorner won their third straight gold medal in double canoe slalom and countrywoman Elena Kaliska won the single kayak slalom for her second straight gold in the event.
ARCHERY: When South Korean Park Kyung-mo got an 8 on his next-to-last shot, tying the finals, Ukraine's Viktor Ruban responded with a perfect 10. Park could've forced a shoot-off with a perfect score of his own, but he was a few millimeters wide, giving Ruban the gold. American Vic Wunderle, who took silver in 2000, didn't get a medal.
WEIGHTLIFTING: China got its seventh and eighth gold medals in weightlifting, with Lu Yong winning the fourth by a man and Cao Lei taking the fourth for a woman. Kendrick Farris set two U.S. records in the men's 85-kilogram division, but had to settle for eighth place.
CYCLING: It was a big day for Britain, with the British beating France for the gold in men's team sprint and Bradley Wiggins setting an Olympic record in qualifying for the 4,000-meter individual pursuit. American Taylor Phinney -- the 18-year-old son of 1984 gold medalist Connie Carpenter-Phinney and '84 bronze medalist Davis Phinney -- advanced in the pursuit race.
Associated Press
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