CHINA DAILY TUESDAY, JULY 31, 2012 olympics 3 Dominance continues for men’s squad

By ASSOCIATED PRESS the score of three-time world in London champion Kohei Uchimura on the pommel horse, the team’s When there’s gold to be had, last routine. don’t ever doubt the Chinese. While judges huddled around When it comes to silver and a video screen, Uchimura and bronze, it can get tricky. It did at his teammates sat stone-faced men’s gymnastics on Monday. while the British partied. About Th e Chinese won their sec- five minutes later, Uchimura’s ond straight Olympic title and score was revised and Japan was third in four Games, making awarded the silver while Britain anyone who wrote them off was bumped down to bronze. aft er a dismal performance in It was of little consolation to qualifying look silly. Th eir score the Japanese, who were bested of 275.997 points was more than by the Chinese yet again. four points better than Japan, Just like everybody else. which needed help from a DVR has also won the past to fi nish second. five world titles, and now has Britain was initially gone eight years without losing announced as the silver medal- at a major competition. ist, setting off raucous celebra- The Americans, hoping for tions at the O2 Arena. Th e Brit- their first Olympic title since ish don’t have a proud history 1984 after finishing No 1 in in gymnastics — they barely qualifying, lost all hopes for any have any history — and this was medal with a dismal showing their fi rst men’s team medal in a on pommel horse, their second JULIE JACOBSON / ASSOCIATED PRESS century. But Japan questioned event. Th ey rallied to fi nish fi ft h. The Chinese team holds up cutouts of gold stars as they celebrates their gold medal in the artistic gymnastics men’s team fi nal on Monday. China crushes Croatia in women’s basketball Romania’s Led by center Chen shooting Nan’s 28 points, squad cruises to second win star full of tournament of relief By XINHUA in London

Th e way Team China is playing in By BARBARA SURK the women’s basketball tournament in London suggests it is gunning for a matchup Associated Press against consensus favorite Team USA. Alin George Moldoveanu won the Aft er beating the Czech Republic 10-meter air rifl e equaled the Olym- 66-57 in its opener, China crushed pic qualifying record and collected Croatia 83-58 on Monday. China the gold medal at the London Games has opened with victories in its fi rst on Monday, making up for his nar- two games against strong opponents. row miss at Beijing four years ago. Center Chen Nan scored 28 points Th e Romanian missed a medal in to lead China and Miao Lijie add- the same event in 2008 by 2 millime- ed 17. Both are major reasons why ters. He blocked that out of his mind China has started white hot out of in London. the gates. “I just went into it and tried to The team finished fourth at the do my best like I do every time,’’ Beijing Olympics and are in the driv- Moldoveanu said. “I was calm, I did ing seat to take on Angola and Turkey not feel pressure, because I did not in the preliminary rounds before fac- know where I was. Now I am over- ing the mighty US, which it has never whelmed. It’s crazy.’’ beaten at the Olympics. Moldoveanu and top-ranked Nic- Miao also dished out 10 assists and colo Campriani of Italy shot 599 added fi ve rebounds in China’s vic- in qualifying to equal the Olympic tory on Monday. record by Zhu Qinan in 2004. Zhu, “We took the game really serious who went on to win the 2004 gold and that’s why we beat them by a and 2008 silver, qualifi ed 10th, miss- big margin,” Miao said of the team’s CHARLES KRUPA / AP ing the eight-man fi nal by a point. 25-point victory, which matched the China’s Miao Lijie (left) celebrates after scoring with teammate Song Xiaoyun against Croatia on Monday, in London. China beat Croatia 83-58. In the fi nal, Moldoveanu was just US’ margin of victory against Croatia a little more consistent, scoring 103.1 on Saturday. to Campriani’s 102.5. Croatia’s Iva Ciglar said her team Croatia started the game effi ciently China blew the game wide open Croatia committed 25 turnovers, 22 points and Andja Jelavic added Moldoveanu totaled 702.1 and had two diff erent approaches to the and led at one point in the fi rst quar- in the third quarter behind a series which China converted into 24 11, but the backcourt pair had 11 Campriani 701.5. matches against the US and China. ter. of jumpers by Chen at the top of points. China also had 25 assists for turnovers combined. Campriani felt the pressure of “Th e US were really, really strong, “Croatians are very skillful and bet- the paint. China led by as many as the game. “Th e Croatian team plays a simi- going into the fi nal as a gold favorite but we thought we could beat China. ter than us in 1-on-1. We changed the 20 points in the third. Chen Xiaoli, “We had too many mistakes and lar game to us － small, but fast. and had a tough time dealing with China played a good game, they defense to zone in the second quarter, Miao and Gao Song made three turnovers. I don’t know what’s the Today we were faster and did a bet- distractions. deserved the win. They have the which was the key to the victory,” said straight three-point plays that gave problem with our defense,” said Cro- ter job on the pick-and-roll. It’s a Campriani slipped off the lead quality to play against anyone in the China’s coach, Sun Fengwu. China a 60-40 lead with 3:04 left in atia’s coach Stipe Bralic. game of speed and preciseness,” Sun with shots in the 9-ring in the eighth world,” Ciglar said. Leading 39-31 in the first half, the period. Sandra Mandir led Croatia with said. and ninth rounds. “Th ere was a lot of pressure and of course, I am happy with a silver medal, but I am also happy to get the job done,’’ Campriani said. “It was very hard to deal with, people talking Chinese men’s duo suff ers second loss in row about what I should achieve at Olym- pics and how many medals I should win as the No 1 ranked shooter. By XINHUA in London at the net in Reckermann, the Ger- control of the second set at 14-11. Xu “Th e distraction of high expecta- mans were unable to recover. tried to narrow the gap with some tions when you still have to shoot a Xu Linyin and Wu Penggen, Chi- “It was due to the delay in play,” kills, but only to see the duo match is not ideal for a sport where na’s lone pair in men’s beach volley- said Xu. “The German guys were go up by 21-19. adrenalin is not your friend!’’ ball, suff ered their second loss at the guiding the referee, but I did not “Th ey are a good team, but we just of , who runs London Olympics on Monday. touch the ball. Th e referees do make thought we have to remain calm and a shooting academy in Hyderabad Julius Brink and Jonas Recker- mistakes and I can understand, but we have to put on more pressure,” called Gun for Glory, fi nished with mann of Germany, the 2011 World they are not allowed to discuss with said Reckermann. “We think the a 10.3 and then a 10.7 to snatch a Championship bronze medalists, the referee. I was a little bit angry tactics worked better in the second bronze medal away from China’s beat the Chinese duo 13-21, 21-19 about the decision.” set and second half of the game. We Wang Tao. and 15-8 in the preliminary match of The Germany pair came back needed longer to get going and did His compatriot, 2008 Beijing Pool C in front of 15,000 spectators at strong in the second set as they made too little at the start.” champion , fi nished the Horse Guards Parade. a series of diving saves. Th e deciding third set was defi ned qualifying in 16th place, two shots With the victory, Brink and Reck- “We are a little disappointed. We by defense and counterattack play as out of the fi nal. ermann, who also won the 2009 had a couple of chances, especially in the Germans streaked into a 7-3 lead Bindra’s gold at Beijing was India’s World Championship, guaranteed the second set. Th ey came back and and never looked back. fi rst in an individual event. And while their place in the knockout stages took a couple of crucial points and Holding only two points aft er two Narang did not match Bindra’s gold, with four points in hand. they saved the ball well. And in the matches, Xu and Wu have to win he was relieved to win the bronze. Despite a yellow card for Xu, the third set they dominated,” said Xu against Konstantin Semenov and “I guess I have a huge (weight) off Chinese pair forged ahead midway aft er the match. Serguei Prokopie from Russia on PETR DAVID JOSEK / ASSOCIATED PRESS my shoulders,’’ Narang said. “Bronze through the fi rst set and despite deft Trailing 7-10, Brink and Recker- Wednesday to keep their hopes alive Xu Linyin from China hits a ball during the beach volleyball match against is a medal, and this is an Olympic touches from Brink and a strong arm mann launched a 7-1 run to seize of making the fi nal 16 from Pool C. Germany on Monday. China’s lone pair lost the game. bronze medal, so it’s quite exciting.’’