Virginia first to bag a Rio gold medal

AMERICAN teenager Virginia Thrasher won the first gold medal of the Rio 2016 Olympics when she claimed victory in the women’s 10 metre air rifle yesterday.

The 19-year-old achieved an Olympic record score of 208.0 to edge China’s Li Du into silver by a single point, with another Chinese athlete, Siling Yi, taking bronze.

Thrasher, the world No. 23, had ranked only sixth in qualifying, with Du dominating and going into Saturday’s final as the heavy favourite for gold.

However, there was disappointment for Jen McIntosh as she failed in her attempt to reach the final.

McIntosh, a two-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, finished 15th from 51 starters, with only the top eight moving into the final at the Olympic Shooting Centre in Deodoro.

The 25-year-old Scottish shooter’s total score of 414.7 put her outside the qualifying zone, although she does have another event next Thursday.

Meanwhile, reigning Olympic champion Katherine Grainger, Team GB’s mostsuccessful female Olympic rower, and Vicky Thornley were pipped to victory in the women’s double sculls heats, finishing 0.5 seconds behind the Lithuanian boat.

Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes moved through in the men’s pair by finishing second in their heat – the same position Ireland’s Sanita Puspure finished in securing qualification in the women’s single sculls heat.

In the men’s Judo, Ashley McKenzie went out of the competition at the secondround stage after losing to Kazakhstan’s Yeldos Smetov in the men’s -60kg division.

The 27-year-old Londoner, competing in his second Olympics, made a good start with victory over Turkey’s Bekir Ozlu in his opening bout.

But a close-defeat to world champion Smetov ended McKenzie’s hopes of a first Olympic medal.