The Herald on Sunday

Digest

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BOXING

WORLD

champion Tony Yoka accused Joe Joyce of being running scared and derided the Briton as a “robot” ahead of their Olympic super-heavyweigh­t final showdown at Riocentro today.

Yoka scored a controvers­ial win over Joyce in the semi-finals of the world championsh­ips in Qatar last year, and the sharp-punching Frenchman believes it will give him the psychologi­cal edge.

“I have sparred a lot with Joe and I think he is more or less scared of me, psychologi­cally, because of what happened in the world championsh­ips,” Yoka said. “I don’t feel anything when he hits me.

“He’s just obsessed with hitting the other fighter – he’s like a robot. He is a good person and very focused and determined, but he is boxing with his muscles, and not with his head.”

Joyce had to shrug off a poor start in his semi-final against Kazakh Ivan Dychko, but came on strong in the latter part of the contest, thundering home big hooks as his opponent tired, to claim a clear decision.

Meanwhile, Yoka picked off Croatian opponent Filip Hrgovic from the back foot to win a less convincing decision on the judges’ cards, setting up today’s showdown to determine who will succeed 2012 champion Anthony Joshua.

Joshua, who was a keen observer at ringside, believes Joyce is a better fighter in many respects than he was when he completed his remarkably swift rise through the ranks to be crowned super-heavyweigh­t champion.

“Compared to the Anthony Joshua we saw in 2012, Joe Joyce could be better, so I believe he will win the gold medal,” the Briton said. “He has more experience and grounding than I had in 2012, because he has been taking his time. He has good stamina and he has got a better jab – and he can do a backflip better than me.”

BADMINTON

MALAYSIA’S

Chong Wei Lee, the world No 1, suffered a third consecutiv­e Olympic final defeat yesterday in the men’s singles. Lee lost 21-18, 21-18 to Long Chen of China, who had taken bronze at London 2012. The bronze medal this time went to Viktor Axelsen of Denmark, who beat Dan Lin of China 15-21, 21-10, 21-17.

BASKETBALL

ADOMINANT

USA team won their sixth successive women’s basketball title by crushing Spain 101-72. WNBA stars Sue Bird, Tamika Catchings and Diana Taurasi each won their fourth gold medals. Taurasi slotted a team-high 17 points for the US, mostly from three-pointers.

Spain held their own in the first quarter and were within three points with just over six minutes remaining in the second, but a 22-8 run put the game beyond their reach by halfway. Spain still go home with a first Olympic medal of any colour in women’s basketball and Alba Torrens scored a game-high 18 points.

Earlier, Serbia beat France 70-63 to claim bronze, over coming a French fightback which put the teams level at 27-27 at halfway.

CYCLING

SWEDEN’S Jenny Rissveds overtook Poland’s Maja Wloszczows­ka on the last lap to claim gold in the cross-country mountain biking yesterday. Rissveds finished in 1:30:15, with Wloszczows­ka just 37 seconds behind. Canada’s Catherine Prendel claimed bronze.

FOOTBALL

NIGERIA’S

so-called Dream Team VI claimed bronze in the men’s tournament with a 3-2 win over Honduras – their country’s first medal at these Games. The Nigerians led 1-0 at the break through a Sadiq Umar goal, then took command of the match in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, with Aminu Umar getting on the scoresheet and Umar claiming his second. Marcelo Pereira and Anthony Lozano scored late goals for Honduras.

GYMNASTICS

SPAIN

go into today’s rhythmic group all-around final as favourites after topping the qualificat­ion round yesterday. Russia, the champions four years ago, finished second, with Belarus, Italy, Japan, Israel, Bulgaria and Ukraine all doing well enough to believe they can contend for medals.

HANDBALL

RUSSIA

beat France 22-19 to win the women’s handball gold medal. The Russians led 10-7 after the first half and while France fought back to make it 14-14, their opponents were not to be denied victory in an event in which they won silver in 2008.

Norway, women’s champions four years ago, had to settle for bronze after beating the Netherland­s 36-26.

MODERN PENTATHLON

JOE

Choong missed out on becoming Britain’s first Olympic medallist in the men’s modern pentathlon. The 21-year-old Londoner started the combined running and shooting event in the silver medal position, but ended the competitio­n in ninth place.

Russia’s Aleksander Lusan took gold, Ukraine’s Pavlo Tymoshchen­ko silver and Mexico’s Ismael Marcelo Hernandez Uscanga bronze.

Jamie Cooke, who was thought to be GB’s best hope of a medal, came 14th.

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