SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016 SPORTS Beaten US blast , Brazil survive miss

attention in that way,” said Marta. “I leave cancel out ’s opener just from the group stages. “When I looked at (the attention) to Barbara.” after the hour mark. But the world’s num- my players before starting the extra time ber one ranked side failed to break down and penalties and I was so confident in my REMATCH Sundhage’s well-organised Swedes in players,” she added. SOCCER Next up for Brazil is a rematch with extra-time, who also had a perfectly good Solo’s Games has been dogged by Sweden, who they beat 5-1 in the group goal from wrongly ruled out controversy as she received chants of : Outspoken USA stages, in Rio’s iconic Maracana on for offside in the final minutes. “I don’t “Zika” from fans across Brazil for women’s goalkeeper labelled Tuesday. think they’re going to make it far in the posts on her elaborate precautions Sweden “cowards” after the world champi- Sweden inflicted America’s first in 15 tournament. I think it was very cowardly,” against the virus. Canada maintained CYCLING ons’ bid for a fourth straight Olympic gold games at the Olympics and only their third added Solo. “We had that style of play their perfect record in Brazil to set up a ended, whilst Brazil edged past ever in Games history having won four when Pia was our coach.” semi-final with Germany in Belo in a marathon penalty shootout despite a golds and a silver since women’s football Sundhage insisted she had full faith the Horizonte thanks to Sophie Schmidt’s miss from star Marta in Friday’s quarter- was introduced to the Olympic pro- Swedes could pull off a massive upset winner in a 1-0 win over France. Germany Britain takes gold, finals. gramme. Morgan looked to have saved despite scoring just twice in three match- overcame 10-man in Salvador with Sweden progressed to their first ever America’s blushes when she swooped 13 es as they sneaked into the last eight as Melanie Behringer netting the winner 14 China wins women’s Olympics semi-final 4-3 on penalties after minutes from the end of normal time to one of the two best third-placed sides minutes from time. — AFP a 1-1 draw in Brasilia as Sweden coach Pia team sprint Sundhage ousted the US team she led to gold in 2008 and 2012. RIO DE JANEIRO: slowly dismount- “We played a bunch of cowards,” Solo ed his track bike for the final time, basking in the told Sports Illustrated. “The better team cheers of an adoring crowd, and was greeted by two did not win today. I strongly believe that. I of the most decorated Olympians in British history. think you saw American heart. You saw us Not the most decorated, mind you. That title now give everything we had today.” belongs solely to him. Wiggins teamed with Ed Star striker Alex Morgan and substitute Clancy, and Owain Doull to beat Christen Press missed penalties before Australia in record-setting time at the Rio Games on Lisa Dahlkvist converted the winning Friday night, winning gold in the for the spot-kick despite Solo’s best efforts to put third consecutive time and giving the former Tour de her off by changing gloves to delay France champion his eighth Olympic medal overall. Dahlkvist’s effort. That breaks a tie with retired track cyclist Chris “It is ok to be coward if you win,” Hoy and gives Wiggins two more medals than retired Sundhage shot back. “What she did was rower Steve Redgrave, long considered Britain’s gold- an act of panic,” said Swedish ‘keeper en standard. of Solo’s time-wasting tac- “It was never about that for me,” Wiggins said, his tics before the final penalty. new medal dangling from his neck. “They’re my USA coach Jill Ellis tried to diffuse the heroes in Olympic sport, and just to be in the same row. “They executed her game plan very breath as those guys is an honor, really.” well. It’s a matter of knowing how to use Britain stopped the clock in 3 minutes, 50.265 sec- all the resources you have,” said the onds to lower the world record it set in the semifinal Englishwoman. “And finally the most round. That beat the Australian team of Alexander important thing is the result, not how to Edmondson, , and play.” 120 minutes of high drama in front , who finished in 3:51.008 to earn the of a near capacity 60,000 crowd in Belo silver medal. Horizonte produced no goals between “We knew going in we had a small chance,” Brazil and Australia. Both teams then Edmondson said. “We had to try.” Denmark easily found the net with their first four penal- beat New Zealand to earn bronze. Earlier in the night, ties, but Brazil’s bid for a first gold medal the Chinese pair of and looked lost when national hero Marta saw won gold in the women’s team sprint, beating the her effort saved by Lydia Williams. Russian team of and Anastasia The five-time World Player of the Year Voinova in the finals. was on her knees in tears of relief seconds China broke its own world record in the semifi- later, though, as Barbara parried Katrina nals, beating Spain with a time of 31.928 seconds, Gorry’s spot-kick to keep the hosts alive. before knocking off the Russians to earn the nation’s Another five penalties were scored first gold medal. before Barbara produced more heroics to “We wanted to show the strength of the Chinese turn Alanna Kennedy’s shot behind for a 7- BELO HORIZONTE: Brazil’s Formiga, left, and Australia’s Chloe Logarzo fight for the ball during extra time of quarter-final match people,” said Gong, who won silver at the 6 win and spark wild scenes of celebra- of the women’s Olympic football tournament between Brazil and Australia at the Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, yes- Games. “Today we just wanted to achieve the best for tion. “I didn’t want to be the focus of terday. — AP ourselves - and conquer a world record.” The German team of and , the reigning Olympic champions, beat the Australian pair of and Stephanie Nadal hails ‘unforgettable’ return Morton to claim bronze. “We started working for this medal four weeks RIO DE JANEIRO: Rafael Nadal described his second French Open title in June. after London 2012,” Welte said. “We had so many ups Olympic gold as “unforgettable” after marking his return “Sharing these feelings with Rafa is really a dream come and downs. Last year was so hard. Now we’ve got from his latest injury misery by partnering close friend true,” said Lopez, who has now won five doubles titles with something back, a medal.” Marc Lopez to the men’s doubles title in Rio. Nadal. “All the things we have done together, I am the hap- After helping Britain win the team sprint Thursday, The 30-year-old Spaniard added the 2016 doubles piest man on earth.” Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner squeaked past their RIO DE JANEIRO: Olympics medals table after Friday’s com- crown to his 2008 singles gold in by defeating Tecau paid tribute to Nadal whose all-court skills proved opponents in the opening round of the individual petition (Gold, silver, bronze, total): Romania’s Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau 6-2, 3-6, 4-6. crucial. “You don’t see this in singles, but he volleys really sprint competition Friday night. Nadal is just the fourth player to win gold in Olympic well. He moves a lot at the net, puts a lot of pressure, Kenny broke his own Olympic record in qualifying Gold Silver Bronze Total singles and doubles after Serena and Venus Williams and defends really well,” said Tecau. before edging Maximilian Levy of Germany in the United States 20 13 17 50 Chile’s Nicolas Massu. “He can hit an angle in every shot. And he’s all over the first round, while Skinner led the whole way in beat- China 13 10 14 37 The former world number one and holder of 14 Grand court. You have to play with precision and play to win most ing Patrick Constable of Australia. Great Britain 7 9 6 22 Slam titles was playing his first tournament since May of the time. Otherwise you’re going to give him a lot of The competition continues through the semifinals Japan 7 3 14 24 when a wrist injury forced an early retirement from the shots and that’s what he likes. Then he takes control of the today. That was merely the undercard to the men’s South Korea 6 3 4 13 French Open. points.” team pursuit finals, though. Germany 6 3 2 11 “It was an amazing experience, especially doing it with The Spanish pair had cruised through the first set of the Wiggins largely retired from road cycling after Russia 5 9 8 22 one of my best friends, with Marc, it’s something unforget- final 6-2 on the back of breaks in the fifth and seventh winning the time trial at the London Games, seem- France 5 7 5 17 table for me, for both of us,” said Nadal. games. But Mergea and Tecau, giving Romania their first ingly content not only with his career in professional Australia 5 6 7 18 “To win a gold medal after two months and a half with ever Olympic tennis medal, hit back, focussing their attack cycling but also the Olympics. Yet there was a persist- Hungary 5 3 3 11 no practice, with no preparation, just working in the gym, on Lopez. ent itch to get back on the track, one he couldn’t Italy 4 7 4 15 is something that is a dream. They broke for a 3-1 lead and saved two break-back help but scratch. Spain 3 0 2 5 “The moment was unbelievable, and we had fun. We points in the ninth game to level the final on a chilly night The world hour-record holder soon dedicated Canada 2 2 6 10 fight hard.” Nadal’s participation in the Olympics was in in the Brazilian city. Mergea and Tecau, both 31 and born himself to winning more gold in the event that first Kazakhstan 2 2 3 7 doubt until the last minute but now he has one gold and within a week of each other, sensed victory when they made him a star. He formed his own road team so 2 2 2 6 the prospect of another in the men’s singles where he’s nipped ahead at 4-3 in the decider with Lopez again bro- that he could pick and choose specific events for his Thailand 2 1 1 4 reached the semi-finals. ken. But the Spanish duo regained the break at 4-4 when training, and spent long hours in the velodrome as Switzerland 2 0 1 3 Earlier Friday, he defeated Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci 2-6, Tecau was broken. Nadal then held for a 5-4 lead. the team perfected its technique. — AFP Croatia 2 0 0 2 6-4, 6-2 for his 800th career singles win. He will face Juan The Romanian pair saved two championship points in New Zealand 1 6 0 7 MartÌn Del Potro of Argentina on Saturday for a place in the the 10th game but a wild Tecau smash gave Nadal and North Korea 1 2 2 5 championship match. “It’s a dream to win for my country. I Lopez the title after two and a half hours of action. Sweden 1 2 1 4 didn’t come here just to carry the flag at the opening cere- The Spaniards’ all-out attack and rock-solid defence NBA stars rattled Brazil 1 1 2 4 mony,” added Nadal. were crucial forcing their opponents into making 46 Belgium 1 1 1 3 unforced errors and having to save 12 of 16 break points again by Serbia Romania 1 1 1 3 ‘HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH’ they faced. America’s Steve Johnson and Jack Sock defeat- Slovenia 1 1 1 3 For 34-year-old Lopez, it was a second major title of ed Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil, the Canadian seventh RIO DE JANEIRO: The vaunted USA basketball squad sur- Colombia 1 1 0 2 2016 after he partnered compatriot Feliciano Lopez to the seeds, 6-2, 6-4 to claim the bronze medal. — AFP vived a last-second scare from Serbia on Friday to win 94-91 Slovakia 1 1 0 2 in a Rio Olympics contest that exposed their potential vul- Vietnam 1 1 0 2 nerability for a second straight game. With a historic upset Chinese Taipei 1 0 2 3 brewing, Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic missed a three-point- Poland 1 0 2 3 er with two seconds left to hand the defending champions Czech Republic 1 0 1 2 a grind-it-out victory and plenty to ponder about the fast- Ethiopia 1 0 1 2 flowing international game. Kyrie Irving’s 15 points led six Greece 1 0 1 2 Americans in double figures in a contest that at first looked Argentina 1 0 0 1 like a rout thanks to a swarming USA defence. But Serbian Neutral team 1 0 0 1 big men Nikola Jokic-the only team member to earn a living Fiji 1 0 0 1 in the NBA-and Miroslav Raduljica brought the underdogs Iran 1 0 0 1 back as the Serbian offence kept finding ways to penetrate. Kosovo 1 0 0 1 USA guard Paul George admitted that the high-priced Singapore 1 0 0 1 American talent-who only began playing as a unit a few South Africa 0 4 1 5 weeks ago-were still adjusting to international play. Denmark 0 2 2 4 “We relied on natural talent to get us over this one,” Ukraine 0 2 1 3 George said. “That’s why these international guys are spe- Azerbaijan 0 2 0 2 cial in our league. They really know how to move.” The USA Indonesia 0 2 0 2 has won the last three Olympic gold medals and 14 in total. Cuba 0 1 1 2 Now at 4-0 in group play, they were already guaranteed of a Georgia 0 1 1 2 spot in the knockout phase starting next week. Lithuania 0 1 1 2 But a loss would have been a stunning first in the Belarus 0 1 0 1 Olympics since 2004, and first internationally in a decade. Ireland 0 1 0 1 The Serbs came even closer to an upset than medal hope- Kenya 0 1 0 1 fuls Australia, who two days earlier pushed the champions Malaysia 0 1 0 1 throughout much of a 98-88 American win. The USA Mongolia 0 1 0 1 defence smothered the Serbs early, forcing eight first-quar- Philippines 0 1 0 1 ter turnovers to jump out to an 18-point advantage. Three Turkey 0 1 0 1 straight slam-dunks, two on alley-oops by US centre Egypt 0 0 2 2 DeAndre Jordan, made it 23-5 late in the first period, and it Israel 0 0 2 2 appeared NBA showtime had started. But American mental Norway 0 0 2 2 miscues and sloppy passes prevented them from putting Uzbekistan 0 0 2 2 the hammer down as action became disjointed. The Serbs Estonia 0 0 1 1 closed to 50-41 at halftime thanks to 14 first-half points Kirghyzstan 0 0 1 1 inside by Raduljica, who finished with 18. The 2.09-metre Portugal 0 0 1 1 (6-foot-10) Jokic, who is just 21 but expected by many to Tunisia 0 0 1 1 emerge as a star for the Denver Nuggets, took over in the Utd Arab Emirates0 0 1 1 RIO DE JANEIRO: Gold medallists Spain’s Rafael Nadal (R) and Spain’s Marc Lopez celebrate on the podium of the second half, repeatedly eluding his markers en route to 25 men’s doubles final tennis match at the Olympic Tennis Centre of the Rio 2016 in Rio de Janeiro on points. — AFP Friday. — AFP