Tokyo Olympics LIVE updates Kookaburras triumph in tense opener Aussie rowers win heats
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Wearing sharp navy suits and marching proudly behind an Olympic flag, the second team to emerge during yesterday’s opening ceremony was unlike any other.
The Olympic refugee team joined the Games for only the second time in history, a powerful representation of the tens of millions of displaced people across the world.
The team, created by the International Olympic Committee for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, aims to give an opportunity to athletes forced to flee their home countries. Four years ago, the team had 10 members. In Tokyo, it will have 29, six of whom competed in Rio.
Yusra Mardini and Tachlowini Gabriyesos, of the Refugee Olympic Team, carry the Olympic flag during the Tokyo opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium on Friday.Credit:AP
The athletes come from 12 different countries: Afghanistan, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, the Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela. They will partake in 12 different sports, including swimming, wrestling and taekwondo.
In a memorable moment on Friday, Syrian brothers Alaa and Mohamed Maso, the first for the refugee team, the latter for Germany, embraced during the ceremony.
The Washington Post
Australia managed to stave off a defeat by mercy rule but that is just about the only silver lining out of their 7-1 loss to Canada.
Australia now have a 1-2 record in these Games, and the loss to Canada all but rules out their hopes of going for gold or silver. Today’s other two matches, between Italy and Japan and the US and Mexico, will help shape the standings.
Australia are all but out of the race for gold or silver in Tokyo.Credit:Getty
But the Aussies will have to seriously improve if they want to contest for a bronze medal.
Again they failed to score more than one run, despite loading the bases more than once.
They had starter Sara Groenewegen in trouble but once the Canadians made the change to bring in Jenna Caira in relief the Australians barely made a whimper.
That, combined with some costly errors in the field, have left the Spirit in trouble in the hunt for a medal.
The ban on fans for the Summer Olympics does not extend past Tokyo, and that means thousands of cycling fans have turned up at Fuji International Speedway to await the finish of the men’s road race.
The facility built in the 1960s but extensively renovated over the years has a grandstand capacity of 22,000 people. And with 50 percent capacity limitations due to COVID-19, that means up to 11,000 will be able to see the finish.
Road race cyclists in action at Musashiononomori Park on the first day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan.Credit:Getty
Their eagerness to see the Olympics after a year delay was clear by the way fans turned out early Saturday.
They showed up nearly seven hours before riders were expected to reach the finishing circuits, and the layout of the speedway meant they would be spending all that time in the sun on a steamy day two hours southwest of Tokyo.
Currently a break of eight riders leads the race with just under 200 kilometres to go in the 234km event. The Australian team competing in the event consists of Richie Porte, Lucas Hamilton and Luke Durbridge.
AP
Australia have one more chance in this game against Canada, after a nice double play to end the sixth inning and stave off defeat by mercy rule.
Gabrielle Plain and the Australian softball team are facing a significant deficit in their third match of the week.Credit:Getty
Michelle Cox took a nice catch in shallow right field and was able to throw out Kelsey Harshman at the plate. Harshman had tagged up at third, which is when a runner goes back to their base and touches it until the catch is made.
The ball is live at that point, so the runner can attempt to advance.
It would take a miracle for the Spirit though, they trail 7-1.
There’s been a few issues for Australian audiences trying to tune into their Olympic fix of Millmania, but cult hero John Millman has taken the first set of his first round match against Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
John Millman claimed the first set in his opening match.Credit:Getty Images
The world No. 44, who is spearheading the country’s charge after the withdrawals of Alex de Minaur (COVID-19) and Nick Kyrgios, broke Musetti late in a tight first set and closed it out 6-3 at the Ariake Tennis Centre.
Can he close it out in straight sets?
Four wins from four heats on the water in the rowing now today.
Australia are four from four in the rowing heats today.Credit:Getty
The men’s four - the latest incarnation of the most famous boat Australia has had, the Awesome Foursome - dominated their race to win in 5:54.27.
They were three seconds ahead of the Americans in second.
The Spirit gave up another run to Canada in the bottom of the fourth inning and failed to score in the top of the fifth, despite getting some traffic on the bases.
It’s been a long morning for the Australian softball team.Credit:Getty
With the score now 7-1, Canada need just one run in this fifth inning to end the game early.
The mercy rule comes into play when a team leads by 15 runs after three innings, 10 after four or seven after five.
Join the club.
Luckily, Roy Ward wrote this explainer which details everything you could possibly want to know about the new Olympic sport.
Three-on-three basketball, a variation of street basketball, has opened up the field to a much wider range of contenders than the traditional format. 3x3 â€" pronounced “three ex three†â€" needs only a portable outdoor half-court, a basket and ball and four elite players.
China and Serbia square off in the fourth 3x3 basketball match of the day at 1pm AEST.
Australia’s world champion women’s four clung on and held off a fast finishing Irish team to win their heat by just 0.23 seconds.
The four won in a time of 6:28.76.
Impressively, two of the women, Jessica Morrison and Annabelle McIntyre, backed up from winning their heat in the women’s pair just two hours earlier.
An Algerian judo athlete will be sent home after he withdrew from the competition to avoid potentially facing an Israeli opponent.
Fethi Nourine and his coach, Amar Benikhlef, told Algerian media they were withdrawing to avoid a possible second-round matchup with Israel’s Tohar Butbul in the men’s 73 kg division on Monday.
Nourine was to face Sudan’s Mohamed Abdalrasool in the opening round, with the winner facing Butbul, the fifth seed.
A volunteer works outside the Nippon Budokan stadium for judo ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics.Credit:AP
The International Judo Federation’s executive committee has temporarily suspended Nourine and Benikhlef, who are likely to face sanctions beyond the Olympics.
The Algerian Olympic committee then withdrew both men’s accreditation and made plans to send them home.
The IJF said Nourine’s position was “in total opposition to the philosophy of the International Judo Federation. The IJF has a strict non-discrimination policy, promoting solidarity as a key principle, reinforced by the values of judo.“
Nourine and Benikhlef attribute their stance to their political support for Palestinians.
AP
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