Eller 14th as early struggles are costly
RIO DE JANEIRO — Five-time Olympian Glenn Eller of Houston finished 14th in the men’s double trap shotgun qualification round Wednesday and did not qualify for the medal round.
Eller, an Army sergeant first class and member of the Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Ga., who won a 2008 gold medal, got off to a slow start in the first of six rounds of 30 targets, hitting 24. He averaged just under 27 targets over the next five rounds but totaled 131, four fewer than the total that would have gotten him into a tie for the sixth and final qualifying spot.
Teammate Josh Richmond, also a member of the Army Marksmanship Unit, was among three who qualified for the final spot in the semifinals, but he was eliminated on a tiebreaker won by Fehaid Aldeenhani of Kuwait.
Aldeenhani, who competes as an independent athlete because of International Olympic Committee sanctions against Kuwait, won the gold-medal match over Marco Innocenti of Italy. Steven Scott of Great Britain won the bronze.
Water polo has green tint, too
It looks as if the water polo pool is turning green with envy.
The men’s Olympic diving tournament resumed Wednesday in greentinged water after the diving pool at Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre turned a dark green the previous day.
A decrease in the alkaline level in the diving well Tuesday led to the green color, Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada said. He added that the pool for water polo and synchronized swimming is being affected in the same way.
“We have treated both pools during the night and the alkalinity levels have already improved,” Andrada said. “We expect the color to be back to blue very shortly.”
Odds and ends
The U.S. women’s basketball team has scored more than 100 points in third consecutive Olympic games for the first time, defeating Serbia 110-84 behind 25 points from Diana Taurasi .… Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross finished beach volleyball pool play 3-0 after beating Switzerland 21-13, 22-24, 15-12 to advance to Friday’s round of 16. …
The U.S. was eliminated in men’s rugby with a 24-19 loss to Fiji. Nate Ebner of the New England Patriots scored a try to cut the margin to five, but the conversion was missed. The U.S. would have advanced with a four-point loss. … The U.S. women’s field hockey team earned a spot in the quarterfinals as Katie Bam had three goals in a 6-1 victory over Japan. … Defending champion Mexico failed to advance to the quarterfinals in men’s soccer, losing 1-0 to South Korea. Argentina also was eliminated with a 1-1 tie with Honduras.