OLYMPICS | Page 2 FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 11 China’s Wu Ibra gives sets record Mourinho To Advertise here with fi ft h gold fi rst trophy Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 in diving at United Monday, August 8, 2016 Dhul-Qa’da 5, 1437 AH SPOTLIGHT Aussie Horton TIMES burns Sun, in and out of the pool Page 5 SPOTLIGHT Rio 2016 may replace Chinese fl ags aft er furore over fl aws Rio de Janeiro: The Rio Olympic Committee is looking into replacing China’s flags being used at medal ceremonies after Chinese citizens Qatar begin handball complained about flaws, the com- mittee said. Local Chinese media re- ported that the stars on the Chinese flags raised during the swimming and shooting medal ceremonies were incorrectly positioned, leading to complaints in China. “All the flags used by the Rio 2016 campaign with a bang committee are approved by the National Olympic Committees. We are working with the Chinese delega- ‘This morning we were better prepared. We have our 100% as always and we won’ tion to find a solution to this issue,” a spokeswoman for the committee told Reuters yesterday. The Chinese Olym- After that however, Qatar began pic Committee did not immediately to create a more signifi cant diff er- respond to requests for comment. ence and when Kamil Aldin Malash During the medal ceremonies, some Rafael Capote of Qatar goes took his team in front to a four-goal Chinese internet users pointed out for the goal challenged by advantage at 8:4 just before the last that the stars on the flags raised were Kresimir Kozina of Croatia on 10 minutes of the half began, Croatia parallel with each other. The correct the opening day of the handball coach Zeljko Babic called his fi rst Chinese flag features one large star, competition at the Olympic time-out. His team were the fi rst to with four smaller stars in a semicircle Games yesterday. Qatar won score following the pause, but they tilted to point toward the larger one. 30-23. At right, coach Valero were still chasing their opponents “A flag is a country’s symbol, we can’t Rivera shouts instructions when Manuel Strlek closed the defi - tolerate any problems,” one online during the match. cit to three with a goal from left wing commentator said. (6:9 in the 23rd). Croatia’s shooting woes were not over however, with Ivan Cupic fol- lowing his right wing counterpart Zlatko Horvat in hitting the crossbar on a penalty. He managed to knock the rebound into the goal to put the STAR OF THE DAY score at 7:10 with just over six min- utes left in the half, but Qatar would soon increase their advantage again – and this time it would stick. SOPITA TANASAN OF THAILAND Saric continued to cause serious problems for Croatia, making a se- Today’s Star of the Day is Thailand’s Sopita Tanasan ries of diffi cult saves including on who grabbed the first gold medal of the weightlifting penalties and wide-angle wing shots, competition at the Rio Games and promptly dedicated which meant he fi nished the half with it to ailing Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej. a 50% save rate and contributed sig- The 21-year-old dominated the women’s 48kg, lifting nifi cantly to Qatar’s eight-goal ad- 92kg in the snatch and 108kg in the clean and jerk for a vantage at the break. total of 200kg to finish first in weightlifting’s lightest When the match resumed that category. same distance persisted at 18:10 fi ve “I dedicate the medal to our king. That is the Thai minutes into the period, and though way,” Sopita told reporters after she became the Croatia tried everything they could fourth women’s weightlifter from Thailand to win an not come closer than the near 10- Olympic gold medal. goal defi cit. When line player Bassel The 88-year-old Thai king is the world’s longest- Alrayes scored as the last 10 minutes reigning monarch and is widely revered in the country began, and Goran Stojanovic made where his frail health is a matter of public concern. a save a minute later, the score stood The 5ft 1ins Thai hoisted 8kg more than silver medal- at 25:18 to Qatar – and it was clear list Sri Wahyuni Agustiani of Indonesia, while ever- Agencies ticular. The EHF EURO 2016 bronze the match was decided. At the fi nal green Japanese lifter Hiromi Miyake took bronze with Rio de Janeiro medallists managed only one goal buzzer the score board showed that a total of 188kg. in the fi rst 10 minutes – an outside same seven-goal advantage for Qatar, jump shot from Luka Stepancic. Af- for whom it is the fi rst ever win at an he men’s handball competi- ter his goal in the fourth it took more Olympic Games in their debut ap- tion at the Games of the XXXI than six minutes for Croatia to fi nd pearance at the event. Olympiad began with a vic- the net again, until captain Marko “We expected a very hard game. tory for Olympic debutants Kopljar added the second just af- We respect Croatia a lot – it is a TQatar, who defeated EHF EURO 2016 ter the 10-minute mark. Qatar held good team with good players,” said bronze medallists Croatia 30-23 to a steady two-goal advantage as the Qatar’s Zarko Markovic following add their fi rst two points to the table. match progressed, and when Ivan the match. “But I think that this Croatia struggled immediately Stevanovic made a save in the 18th morning we were better prepared. against Qatar’s 6-0 defence, and minute the score stayed at 6:4 in fa- We have our 100% as always and we goalkeeper Danijel Saric in par- vour of the Asian champions. won.” Qatar’s Ping advances Qatar’s Li Ping cruised into the thrid round of the table tennis event at the Rio Olympics yesterday after scoring a easy win over Hungary’s Adam Pattantyus 13-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-3. Ping will next play Dimitrij Ovtcharov of Germany, with the match scheduled at 6:00pm today. Gulf Times 2 Monday, August 8, 2016 OLYMPICS WRAP China’s Wu makes history with record fi ft h diving title Wu passed Guo to become the first man or woman with seven diving medals in total be a more valuable waza-ari. Rio marks the fi rst Olympics at which athletes are competing under the fl ag of Kosovo, which proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008 and which was accepted as a member of the Interna- tional Olympic Committee in 2014. The two-times world champion, who was Kos- ovo’s fl ag bearer at Friday’s opening ceremony, rep- resented Albania at the London Games in 2012 but she went home without a medal that time. Japan’s Misato Nakamura and Russia’s Natalia Kuziutina won bronze. Earlier, fi rst-time Olympian Catherine Skinner of Australia battled to the end of a tense all-Oce- ania fi nal in women’s trap shooting to win the gold medal, edging out Natalie Rooney of New Zealand by one shot. The 26-year-old Skinner hit 12 of her 15 orange targets with her shotgun to Rooney’s 11, but she got off to a rough start by missing the first target. “I have had plenty of fi nals when I missed the fi rst shot and it went downhill from there,” said Skinner, who won her fi rst gold medal in a major international competition. After qualifying at the bottom of the six fi nalists, Skinner was a steady shot in the semi-fi nals blast- ing 14 of the 15 targets and went straight to the fi nal, prevailing over a veteran fi eld including defending Olympic champion Jessica Rossi. Rooney, also a fi rst-time Olympian, made it to the fi nal in a shoot-off with American Corey Cogdell. Cogdell, a three-time Olympian, took her second Olympic bronze medal by besting Spain’s Fatima Galvez in a shoot-off , after each woman shot 13 of their 15 targets for the medal. Earlier, Zhang Mengxue got China off the gold medal mark and gave her mum the perfect birthday Kosovo’s Majlinda Kelmendi reacts after defeating Italy’s Odette Giuff rida to win the women’s 52kg judo present at the Rio Games yesterday, the Olympic title yesterday. debutant winning the women’s 10m air pistol title. After an assured display of precision shooting AFP/Reuters her participation in Rio started and ended with the at the Deodoro range, the 25-year-old beamed: “It Rio de Janeiro 3m synchronised springboard. happened to be my mother’s birthday yesterday Wu won the event in 2004 and 2008 with Guo, (Saturday) so this will be the best gift for her.” and in 2012 with He Zi. Wu’s other gold came in the The woman from Jinan produced a perfect 10.9 hina’s Wu Minxia splashed into the Ol- 2012 3m individual springboard. on her 17th shot to comfortably hold off Russian ympic record books yesterday, passing Wu and Shi leapt to the top of the leaderboard teenager Vitalina Batsarashkina. legends like American Greg Louganis and from round one and never let up, locking it away in Cher “big sister”, compatriot Guo Jingjing, the last two rounds with exquisitely synchronised to become the fi rst person with fi ve diving gold dives that had the judges fawning.