By John Cherwa, Los Angeles Times –
LONDON — Americans continued to advance on the second day of competition in beach volleyball. Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser had an easy time with Kentaro Asahi and Katsuhiro Shiratori of Japan, 21-15, 21-16.
Rogers and Dalhausser will next play Adrian Gavira Collado and Pablo Herrera Allepuz of Spain on Tuesday.
April Ross and Jennifer Kessy also had it easy with a win over Argentina’s Ana Gallay and Maria Virginia Zonta, 21-11, 21-18. Their next opponents are Marleen van Iersel and Sanne Keizer of the Netherlands, also Tuesday.
Badminton: The U.S. men’s team of Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan lost to Kien Keat Koo and Boon Heong Tan of Malaysia, 21-12, 21-14, for their second straight loss and virtual elimination from the tournament. They face Naoki Kawamae and Shoji Satoof of Japan in their last match Monday. Rena Wang, the lone U.S. singles player, will go up against Wang Xin of China on Monday.
Canoe/kayak: It wasn’t much of a day for the U.S. team. Casey Eichfeld finished 14th in the men’s single canoe and failed to make the final 12. Michael Martikan of Slovakia was the leader. In the men’s single kayak, Scott Parsons also did not advance, finishing 16th. The top 15 advance in that event. Hannes Aigner of Germany was the leader.
Cycling: Britain got its first medal of the Games when Elizabeth Armistead won the silver in the women’s road race. The race was won by Marianne Vos of the Netherlands. Olga Zabelinskaya of Russia, who traded spots with the first two for most of the last six miles, got the bronze. Shelley Olds was the high U.S. finisher in seventh. She suffered a flat tire near the end of the race, killing any chance of a medal. Other U.S. finishers were Evelyn Steven (24th), Kristin Armstrong (35th) and Amber Neben (36th).
Equestrian: Everyone came to see Zara Phillips, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II. She made a minor mistake and finished 24th of 74 riders after the first of three disciplines — the dressage. But a lot can happen with cross-country and show jumping to follow. After one event, Germany was leading, followed by Australia and Britain. The United States was seventh. In individual competition, Yoshiaki Oiwa of Japan was leading with Stefano Brecciaroli of Italy in second.
Fencing: Two U.S. men advanced to the quarterfinals of the sabre competition, but that’s where their medal dreams stopped. Daryl Homer lost to Romania’s Rares Dumitrescu, 15-13, and Tim Morehouse was beaten by Diego Occhiuzzi of Italy, 15-9. The other U.S. fencer, James Williams, was beaten early by Nikolay Kovalev of Russia. Hungary’s Aron Szilagyi won the gold by beating Diego Occhiuzzi of Italy, 15-8. Kovalev won the bronze.
Field hockey: The U.S. women’s team dropped its opening match of the tournament, 2-1, to Germany. Lauren Crandall scored the lone U.S. goal on a penalty corner. Their next match is Tuesday against Argentina, which beat South Africa, 7-1. In other matches, the Netherlands beat Belgium, 3-0; China stopped South Korea, 4-0; Britain beat Japan, 4-0, and New Zealand beat Australia, 1-0.
Team handball: In men’s preliminary action, it was Iceland over Argentina, Sweden beating Tunisia, France over Britain, Croatia stopping South Korea, Spain beating Serbia and Denmark beating Hungary.
Judo: North Korea got its first gold of the Games when An Kum-ae beat Acosta Bermoy of Cuba in the women’s 115-pound class, as the match went to overtime. Italy’s Rosalba Forciniti and France’s Priscilla Gneto won bronze. In the men’s 145-pound class, Lasha Shavdatuashvili of Georgia beat Miklos Ungvari of Hungary for that gold. Masashi Ebinuma of Japan and Cho Jun-ho of South Korea won bronze. There were no Americans in the competition.
Rowing: The U.S. women’s eight, unbeaten in six years, won its heat and advanced to the finals and a showdown with Canada. The Canadian crew was a split-second short of upsetting the U.S. in a recent World Cup regatta. The final will be held Thursday. In the lightweight men’s four, the U.S. won the repechage competition and was allowed to advance to the semifinals.
Sailing: After one day and two races, the competition started to take shape. In the men’s Finn, Jonas Hogh-Christensen of Denmark was leading, followed by Ben Ainslie of Britain. The highest ranked U.S. sailor was Zach Railey in 15th. Brazil was leading Ireland in the men’s Star racing. The U.S. boat of Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih was 10th. And, in the women’s Elliot round-robin standings, the three teams ahead were Australia, Spain and Russia. The U.S. crew of Anna Tunnicliffe, Debbie Capozzi and Molly O’Bryan was fourth.
Soccer: FIFA, soccer’s governing body, is looking into the hit to the face that U.S. player Abby Wambach suffered against Colombia. Wambach claimed to be “sucker-punched” by Lady Andrade. No action is expected before Monday. In men’s games, Senegal beat Uruguay, 2-0; Britain over United Arab Emirates, 3-1; Mexico beat Gabon 2-0; South Korea over Switzerland, 2-1; Honduras beat Spain, 1-0; and Japan beat Morocco, 1-0.
Table tennis: Ariel Hsing, the lone U.S. player left in singles competition, extended the No. 2 ranked player Li Xiaoxia of China to six games before falling. Bill Gates, a friend of Hsing, was there to watch. Earlier in the day, Hsing beat former world champion Ni Xia Lian of Luxembourg. The U.S. now has to wait until Friday to join team play, opening with Japan.
Tennis: Rain was the winner at Wimbledon as 32 matches were postponed and four suspended. But those matches scheduled on Centre Court, where there is a roof, were able to be completed. Among those winners were Maria Sharapova over Shahar Peer of Israel, 6-2, 6-0, and Julia Goerges of Germany, Britain’s Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France. Novak Djokovic, playing on Court 1, beat Fabio Fognini of Italy in three sets.
Weightlifting: Om Yun Chol of North Korea lifted more than triple his weight to win gold in the men’s 123-pound class. He set an Olympic record in the clean and jerk. Wu Jingbiao of China got the silver medal and Valentin Hristov of Azerbaijan took home the bronze. In the women’s 117-pound class, Zulfiya Chinshanlo of Kazakhstan had a world record in the clean and jerk and won the gold. She topped Hsu Shu-ching of Taiwan and Cristina Iovu of Moldova on the medal stand. There were no Americans in the competition.
