‘Games of hope’ get soft-launch with side matches
The Japanese women’s softball team got the Tokyo 2020 Olympics off to a winning start for the hosts on Wednesday, kicking off a pandemic-postponed Games that the World Health Organization says can be “a celebration of hope” amid Covid-19 cases surge.
As with the opening ceremony, the women’s softball match between gold medal contender Japan and Australia was held without spectators, amid buzzing cicadas and polite applause from a few hundred staff at a stadium in Fukushima, which was devastated by the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Players standing along the benches under the scorching sun shouted at the hitters all morning, giving the game a Little League feel.
FUKUSHIMA/TOKYO:
Sweden stun USA 3-0
The United States women’s national football team began the Tokyo Olympics with a thud on Wednesday, courtesy of a 3-0 loss to Sweden in a Group G encounter.
Stina Blackstenius scored a pair of goals to help fifth-ranked Sweden snap the top-ranked Americans’ 44-match unbeaten streak. The United States boasted a 40-0-4 record in the previous 44 matches.
The Swedes have been a thorn in the side of the Americans, including eliminating the United States on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. That marked the only time the Americans weren’t gold or silver medallists since the first tournament in 1996.
Wednesday’s loss was the first for the United States under the direction of head coach Vlatko Andonovski (22-1-1).
Top shooter tests +ve
Top-ranked shooter Amber Hill of Britain will miss the Olympics after testing positive for Covid-19, she announced on Wednesday.
The No.1 in women’s skeet said she tested positive on Tuesday night shortly before her scheduled departure for Tokyo, and that she was in self-isolation with no symptoms.
Elsewhere, showjumper Jamie Kermond was kicked off the Australian Olympic team after testing positive for cocaine, with the remorseful rider saying the result was likely from taking the drug at a social event.
The 36-year-old returned a positive A sample on June 26 following a test by Sport Integrity Australia, with the result only made public on Wednesday. According to Australian reports, Kermond did not travel with the rest of the team when they flew to Tokyo on Tuesday.
Tough draw for paddlers
India’s paddlers were handed tough draws with the mixed doubles pairing of Sharath Kamal and Manika Batra pitted against the world No.1 mixed doubles pair of Lin Yun-ju and Cheng I-ching of Chinese Taipei.
Batra, ranked 62, though got an easy women’s singles first round where she will face Great Britain’s Ho Tin-tin, ranked 32 places below the Indian. The other female singles paddler in the fray, Sutirtha Mukherjee will take on Linda Bergstrom of Sweden in the first round.
In the men’s draw, Sharath and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, seeded 20th and 26th respectively, received first round byes.