Update from Tokyo Olympics 2020
Published: 07:07 AM,Jul 25,2021 | EDITED : 11:07 AM,Jul 25,2021
World number one Jon Rahm withdrew from the Olympics on Sunday after testing positive for Covid-19 for the second time in two months, the Spanish Olympic Committee confirmed. Rahm, who stormed to victory at the US Open in June, returned a positive sample after undergoing mandatory testing following his recent participation in the British Open. It was the latest twist to what has been a tumultuous season for the 26-year-old Spaniard. In June, he was forced to withdraw from the PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament while defending a six-shot lead heading into the final round after returning a positive test. Rahm later revealed he had been vaccinated shortly before contracting the disease. He then bounced back from that setback to clinch a stunning victory at the US Open at Torrey Pines a fortnight later, taking the championship with back-to-back birdies on the final two holes.
China's "Dream Team" diving squad launched their bid for a golden sweep at the Tokyo Olympics with a dominant victory in the women's synchronized 3m springboard final on Sunday. Shi Tingmao, gold medallist in the event at Rio 2016, and Wang Han had been hot favorites on day one of diving at the coronavirus-delayed Games. And the duo did not disappoint, leading from the first round on the way to taking the title with 326.40 points. Canada's Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu won silver (300.78 points), with Germany's Lena Hentschel and Tina Punzel earning bronze (284.97 points). It continues a strong start to these Games for China, who enjoyed golden success on Saturday in shooting, fencing and weightlifting. China underlined its vast supremacy in diving by winning seven of eight golds in Rio -- Britain surprisingly nabbed the other. But there are high hopes back home that the Chinese can go one better in the Japanese capital.
World number one Ashleigh Barty crashed out of the Olympics women's singles tennis tournament in the opening round on Sunday, losing 6-4, 6-3 to Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo. Barty, the reigning Wimbledon champion, dropped serve twice in each set as 48th-ranked Sorribes Tormo made just five unforced errors to the Australian's 27 to earn a shock win. "It's an amazing feeling, I still can't believe it," said Sorribes Tormo, who will go on to face France's Fiona Ferro in the second round. "It's something incredible for me. It's something that I've been dreaming of all my life, being here and even more so beating the world number one. I'm super, super happy." While Barty's bid to become the first Australian singles gold medallist in tennis ended prematurely, she and partner Storm Sanders are through to the second round of the women's doubles. Barty could potentially come up against Sorribes Tormo again in the quarter-finals of that competition. Sorribes Tormo and Paula Badosa are in the first-round action later on Sunday.
Two-time defending Olympic tennis champion Andy Murray withdrew Sunday from the men's singles tournament due to a muscle injury, Team GB said in a statement. Murray, 34, won will stay in Tokyo to play doubles with Joe Salisbury. The pair won their opening match of the competition on Saturday. "I am really disappointed at having to withdraw but the medical staff has advised me against playing in both events, so I have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the singles and focus on playing doubles with Joe," Murray said in a statement.
Australia shattered the women's 4x100m freestyle world record to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics Sunday, clocking 3mins 29.69 secs to better their own mark set three years ago. The team of Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon, Meg Harris, and Bronte Campbell lowered the 3:30.05 Australia set at the 2018 Commonwealth Games to reinforce their dominance of the event. Canada came second and the United States third.
Japan's Yui Ohashi set the pool alight Sunday to topple defending champion Katinka Hosszu and win Olympic gold in the women's 400m individual medley. The 25-year-old swam a scintillating breaststroke leg to take charge, touching in 4mins 32.08 secs ahead of US pair Emma Weyant (4:32.76) and Hali Flickinger (4:34.90). "I swam believing in myself. I really did not think of winning the gold," said Ohashi. "A lot of people supported me so that I could exert all my strength. I really appreciate it. I had an enjoyable race. It is still like a dream." Hungary's Hosszu, a dominant force since setting the world record at the Rio Olympics in 2016, was in touch over the first 200m but the world champion failed to deliver the killer punch she so often has before. Flickinger set the early pace, turning first after the butterfly leg with Hosszu second, and the American maintained her lead through the backstroke. But Ohashi pulled a body length clear in the breaststroke and no one could rein her in, with the battle unfolding for the minor medals.
With powerful smashes and decisive backhands, China's Chen Yu Fei and India's PV Sindhu destroyed their opponents in under 30 minutes, while a tearful Nozomi Okuhara from Japan overcame a far weaker player after a struggle. Sindhu beat Israel's Ksenia Polikarpova 21-7, 21-10, leaving her visibly frustrated and hanging her head with each lost point. "It was quite an easy match," Rio 2016 Olympics silver medalist Sindhu said at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, adding that she knows she has the hopes of a billion people behind her. Though Sindhu, who was beaten to the gold at Rio by Spain's Carolina Marin, is number seven in world rankings, she is considered a serious threat to table-toppers Chen and Taiwan's Tai Tzu-Ying. Marin withdrew from the Tokyo Games in June after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). "Tokyo is a fresh start," Sindhu said. "You can't expect to be Superman, to think that you will again be a medallist. It's not like that because everybody is going to be at their top form."
Chen Yu Fei, the second-best women's singles player, toyed with Egypt's Doha Hany, who ranks 108 and was beaten 21-5, 21-3 in about 20 minutes. Okuhara - world number three - took the stage just after Sindhu, getting off to a rocky start against Germany's Yvonne Li, the world number 22 who, surprisingly, had Okuhara cornered for most of the first game. Nonetheless, Okuhara rallied, crushing Li in the second game 21-17, 21-4.
Crying, Okuhara later said she "felt some difficulty and was suddenly scared and emotional", and that spectators may have cheered her up. Later on Sunday, men's singles world number one Kento Momota from Japan will make his long-overdue Olympic debut, after personal and professional setbacks, including contracting COVID-19. Momota was embroiled in an illegal gambling scandal months before the Rio Games in 2016, and banned by the Nippon Badminton Association.
Then world number two, Momota was stripped from the league tables and by the time he got back on the court in 2017, he was ranked 282nd. With a 39-match unbeaten streak, he clawed his way back to the top. But Momota's Olympic dreams seemed crushed again in early 2020 when he was in a car accident that left the driver dead and damaged his sight among other injuries. He had time to recover during the pandemic, making a comeback at the All-England Open in March, raising Japanese hopes he can challenge for Olympic gold.
China's "Dream Team" diving squad launched their bid for a golden sweep at the Tokyo Olympics with a dominant victory in the women's synchronized 3m springboard final on Sunday. Shi Tingmao, gold medallist in the event at Rio 2016, and Wang Han had been hot favorites on day one of diving at the coronavirus-delayed Games. And the duo did not disappoint, leading from the first round on the way to taking the title with 326.40 points. Canada's Jennifer Abel and Melissa Citrini-Beaulieu won silver (300.78 points), with Germany's Lena Hentschel and Tina Punzel earning bronze (284.97 points). It continues a strong start to these Games for China, who enjoyed golden success on Saturday in shooting, fencing and weightlifting. China underlined its vast supremacy in diving by winning seven of eight golds in Rio -- Britain surprisingly nabbed the other. But there are high hopes back home that the Chinese can go one better in the Japanese capital.
World number one Ashleigh Barty crashed out of the Olympics women's singles tennis tournament in the opening round on Sunday, losing 6-4, 6-3 to Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo. Barty, the reigning Wimbledon champion, dropped serve twice in each set as 48th-ranked Sorribes Tormo made just five unforced errors to the Australian's 27 to earn a shock win. "It's an amazing feeling, I still can't believe it," said Sorribes Tormo, who will go on to face France's Fiona Ferro in the second round. "It's something incredible for me. It's something that I've been dreaming of all my life, being here and even more so beating the world number one. I'm super, super happy." While Barty's bid to become the first Australian singles gold medallist in tennis ended prematurely, she and partner Storm Sanders are through to the second round of the women's doubles. Barty could potentially come up against Sorribes Tormo again in the quarter-finals of that competition. Sorribes Tormo and Paula Badosa are in the first-round action later on Sunday.
Two-time defending Olympic tennis champion Andy Murray withdrew Sunday from the men's singles tournament due to a muscle injury, Team GB said in a statement. Murray, 34, won will stay in Tokyo to play doubles with Joe Salisbury. The pair won their opening match of the competition on Saturday. "I am really disappointed at having to withdraw but the medical staff has advised me against playing in both events, so I have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the singles and focus on playing doubles with Joe," Murray said in a statement.
Australia shattered the women's 4x100m freestyle world record to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics Sunday, clocking 3mins 29.69 secs to better their own mark set three years ago. The team of Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon, Meg Harris, and Bronte Campbell lowered the 3:30.05 Australia set at the 2018 Commonwealth Games to reinforce their dominance of the event. Canada came second and the United States third.
Japan's Yui Ohashi set the pool alight Sunday to topple defending champion Katinka Hosszu and win Olympic gold in the women's 400m individual medley. The 25-year-old swam a scintillating breaststroke leg to take charge, touching in 4mins 32.08 secs ahead of US pair Emma Weyant (4:32.76) and Hali Flickinger (4:34.90). "I swam believing in myself. I really did not think of winning the gold," said Ohashi. "A lot of people supported me so that I could exert all my strength. I really appreciate it. I had an enjoyable race. It is still like a dream." Hungary's Hosszu, a dominant force since setting the world record at the Rio Olympics in 2016, was in touch over the first 200m but the world champion failed to deliver the killer punch she so often has before. Flickinger set the early pace, turning first after the butterfly leg with Hosszu second, and the American maintained her lead through the backstroke. But Ohashi pulled a body length clear in the breaststroke and no one could rein her in, with the battle unfolding for the minor medals.
With powerful smashes and decisive backhands, China's Chen Yu Fei and India's PV Sindhu destroyed their opponents in under 30 minutes, while a tearful Nozomi Okuhara from Japan overcame a far weaker player after a struggle. Sindhu beat Israel's Ksenia Polikarpova 21-7, 21-10, leaving her visibly frustrated and hanging her head with each lost point. "It was quite an easy match," Rio 2016 Olympics silver medalist Sindhu said at Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, adding that she knows she has the hopes of a billion people behind her. Though Sindhu, who was beaten to the gold at Rio by Spain's Carolina Marin, is number seven in world rankings, she is considered a serious threat to table-toppers Chen and Taiwan's Tai Tzu-Ying. Marin withdrew from the Tokyo Games in June after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). "Tokyo is a fresh start," Sindhu said. "You can't expect to be Superman, to think that you will again be a medallist. It's not like that because everybody is going to be at their top form."
Chen Yu Fei, the second-best women's singles player, toyed with Egypt's Doha Hany, who ranks 108 and was beaten 21-5, 21-3 in about 20 minutes. Okuhara - world number three - took the stage just after Sindhu, getting off to a rocky start against Germany's Yvonne Li, the world number 22 who, surprisingly, had Okuhara cornered for most of the first game. Nonetheless, Okuhara rallied, crushing Li in the second game 21-17, 21-4.
Crying, Okuhara later said she "felt some difficulty and was suddenly scared and emotional", and that spectators may have cheered her up. Later on Sunday, men's singles world number one Kento Momota from Japan will make his long-overdue Olympic debut, after personal and professional setbacks, including contracting COVID-19. Momota was embroiled in an illegal gambling scandal months before the Rio Games in 2016, and banned by the Nippon Badminton Association.
Then world number two, Momota was stripped from the league tables and by the time he got back on the court in 2017, he was ranked 282nd. With a 39-match unbeaten streak, he clawed his way back to the top. But Momota's Olympic dreams seemed crushed again in early 2020 when he was in a car accident that left the driver dead and damaged his sight among other injuries. He had time to recover during the pandemic, making a comeback at the All-England Open in March, raising Japanese hopes he can challenge for Olympic gold.