Germans Face Brazilians In Men’s Beach Volley Final : Murray Moves Into Last 16 At Toronto : Cawthorn Fades In 500m, Australia Snatch Olympic K4 Gold : aforadio.com
Posted in Sports on 10. Aug, 2012
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Germans Face Brazilians In Men’s Olympic Beach Volley Final
Emanuel, 39, is competing in his fifth Olympics. He won gold in Athens in 2004 and bronze in Beijing in 2008 with his former team mate Ricardo Santos.
Alison, 27, is appearing in his first Games. He and Emanuel have been playing together for three years and have been increasingly dominant, winning the last world championship.
Brink, 30, and Reckermann, 33, also had long careers with different partners but they have enjoyed their greatest successes since they came together in 2009. That year, they won the world championship and the world tour.
If the Germans win the final, they will become the first European team to take gold in Olympic beach volleyball.
In the men’s event, only the United States and Brazil have won Olympic titles, while the same two countries plus Australia have won all the gold medals in the women’s event since the sport made its Olympic debut in Atlanta in 1996.
Emanuel and Alison started the London Games as favourites, but the Germans’ presence in the final was less foreseeable.
The field was thrown open when the defending champions, Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser of the United States, were upset in the round-of-16 by Italians Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo in the biggest shock of the tournament.
The other American men’s pair, Sean Rosenthal and Jake Gibb, had also been considered strong contenders for a medal but they too were knocked out earlier than expected when they lost in the quarter-finals to Latvians Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins.
The flop of the US men’s teams was in sharp contrast to events in the women’s tournament, which culminated in an all-American final on Tuesday. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won their third straight Olympic title by beating Jennifer Kessy and April Ross.
But in the men’s event, the early exit of the Americans created an opening for teams from outside the traditional powerhouses of the sport to excel.
Smedins and Plavins in particular have achieved a sensational result for Latvian beach volleyball by reaching the Olympic bronze medal match. They will face Dutchmen Reinder Nummerdor and Richard Schuil at 19:00 local time.
The gold medal match between the Brazilians and the Germans is scheduled for 21:00 loca time.
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Murray Moves Into Last 16 At Toronto
Murray, playing his first match since his triumph at the London Games on Sunday, called out a trainer late in a 6-1 6-3 win over Italian Flavio Cipolla, which he later attributed to a change of playing surfaces from grass to a hard court.
“I feel on the grass courts the muscles get tired but the joints not so much, but on the hard courts the knees, ankles and hips take quite a fair pounding,” Murray, whose match was his first on a hard court since early March, said.
“And because I haven’t had enough days to adjust to the surface that’s probably why there were a few aches and pains.”
The Briton, who appeared to hurt himself while chasing down a forehand, occasionally rubbed his left knee and had about five minutes of massage on his left quadriceps while leading the final set 3-2.
Still, the second seed, who is scheduled to face big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic in the third round, managed to chase down drop shots and held his serve throughout the 82-minute match.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic cruised to a 6-2 6-3 win over Australian Bernard Tomic in 71 minutes, setting up a third-round match with American Sam Querrey, who upset 13th seed Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-2 6-3.
Third seed Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the highest seeded player eliminated on Wednesday, falling 6-4 7-6 to compatriot Jeremy Chardy.
Del Potro, whose Olympic semi-final loss to Roger Federer five days ago was the longest men’s three-set match played in the professional era, admitted fatigue got the better of him during a 6-4 7-6 defeat to Czech Radek Stepanek.
“It’s not easy to play after a big effort in the Olympics,” the sixth seeded Argentine said. “Now I need time to recover my body if I want to stay healthy.”
Del Potro, who was playing his first match since beating Djokovic for the bronze medal at the Olympics on Sunday, also said he had no doubt he would be ready for the August 27-September 9 US Open, where he won his sole Grand Slam in 2009.
In other action, fourth seed Tomas Berdych rallied for a 6-7 6-4 6-4 win over Julien Benneteauin a match that lasted just over three hours, while ninth seed Gilles Simon fell 6-2 6-2 to Germany’sTommy Haas.
Fifth seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia was a 7-6 6-4 winner over Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny, Croatian 10th seed Marin Cilic breezed by Greece’s Marcos Baghdatis 7-5 6-3 and German 15th seed Florian Mayer fell 6-3 6-4 to Spain’s Marcel Granollers.
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Cawthorn Fades In 500m, Australia Snatch Olympic K4 Gold
Earlier Australia fired off the start to take victory in the men’s K4 1000m final, beating the Hungarian favourites before a roaring crowd.
Cawthorn, who became the first-ever British woman to medal at both the European and World Championships in 2010, finished fast but could only manage sixth.
And Cawthorn, who was the youngest competitor in the final at just 23-years-old, was disappointed to miss out on the podium but admitted the whole London 2012 experience is something she can build on.
“It just seemed to be over so quick,” she said. “I kind of got a good start and was trying to go through my race plan.
“I was probably a bit too far down at halfway so it was too much to come back. I kind of wish I could do it again – it was alright just kind of wish I could have done better than that.
“It’s good but it seems like such a long time to wait now to have another bash at it but I can take a lot away from this whole experience – it has been amazing.
“The crowd have been incredible. I was so proud of myself after the semi-finals to be putting in these performances. I think that in the final I was probably too much like ‘I know how much this race means.”
Kozak, who also won gold on Wednesday in the women’s K4, moved through the 500m field to reel in Ukraine’s Inna Osypenko-Radomska, who was looking to defend her Beijing title.
South Africa’s Bridgitte Hartley continued her sharp rise up the standings to take bronze.
In a sport dominated by European nations, Australia’s victory in the K4 final was a particular shock.
Australia finished with a time of two minutes and 55.085 seconds at Eton Dorney in London to claim its sixth gold medal of the games.
Hungary, who had been looking to add gold to the titles they won in 2004 and 2000, took the silver and the Czech Republic collected bronze.
The Australian crew fell back into their boat and punched the water in delight at their win.
In the first race of the day, Germany’s Peter Kretschmer and Kurt Kuschela surged through the field to snatch victory in the men’s canoe double 1,000m in a thrilling final.
The duo, who took silver at the European championships this year, passed Azerbaijan in the last 200 metres to take the title.
Andrei and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich of Belarus took the silver to add to their gold from 2008, and Russia took the bronze.
Germany fired off the start to win the women’s K2 500m and deny their fierce rivals Hungary a third consecutive Olympic title.
Germany’s Franziska Weber and Tina Dietze, who won silver in the K4 on Wednesday, powered away to take a half-length lead down the Dorney Lake course.
Hungary flagged in the latter stages but held on to take the silver and Poland claimed the bronze.
