Women's Football Day 4 Preview: The quarterfinals begin

(BEIJING, August 14) -- Defending champion the United States faces a challenge from Canada as the Olympic Women's Football quarterfinals kick-off Friday.
The United States has gradually found its form after being defeated by Norway in the first match. And Canada, having made significant progress in recent years, won't be satisfied bowing down to the United States, especially after their impressive Olympic debut.
Athens 2004 runner-up Brazil will encounter Norway in another quarterfinal match. The two countries have mismatched strengths. Norway's strength lies in their physical power, while the Brazilian team is characterized by its speed, energy and brilliant players. But there is no doubt Norway will face heavy pressure from the Brazilian offensive line lead by skilled striker Cristiane Rozeira de Souza Silva.

Men's Football Day 3 Review: Brazil and Argentina advance to quarterfinals undefeated

(BEIJING, August 13) – The Men's Olympic Football preliminary concluded on Wednesday with 16 teams competing in the final round.
In one group A match, defending champion Argentina beat Serbia 2-0 and finished first in the group. Argentina finished its group stage without losing a single match.
In the other group A match, Cote d'Ivoire defeated Australia thanks to a sole goal scored by Salomon Kalou in the 81st minute. Argentina and Cote d'Ivoire went through to the quarterfinals as group A's two highest ranking teams.
In group B, the Netherlands' 1-0 victory over Japan secured the Netherlands a quarterfinal berth. Also in group B, Nigeria topped the group and advanced to the quarterfinals by beating the United States 2-1.

Football

Brazil cruises to quarterfinals after three consecutive wins

(BEIJING, August 13) -- Cote d'Ivoire and Belgium advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Australia and New Zealand in their last group matches.
Cote d'Ivoire's sole goal was scored by Salomon Kalou in the 81st minute. Belgium's only goal was scored by Faris Haroun.
Brazil and Argentina will advance to the quarterfinals after topping their groups.
Brazil smashed host China 3-0, while Argentina beat Serbia 2-0.
Brazil is the heavy favorite for the gold medal after posting three consecutive victories without conceding one goal.
In its last group match against China, Brazil started the game at a high pace, with its forwards continually outstripping China's defenders.
Brazil's opening goal came in the 15th minute when Ronaldinho kicked the ball forward to Diego who beat the goalkeeper with a solo drive.

Australia trumps Latvia in second half

(BEIJING, August 15) -- After a close first half, Lauren Jackson led Australia to beat Latvia 96-73 in a group A match in the preliminary round of the Olympic Women's Basketball tournament on Friday, August 15.
Australian caption Jackson had a monumental game, scoring 30 points including five three-pointers. Suzy Batkovic contributed an impressive 18 points and four rebounds, while Penny Taylor scored 11 points and grabbed 11 boards, the only double-double of the game.
With 22 of Australia's points coming from second-chance baskets, it is no surprise to note that the Opals out-rebounded their opponents 48 to 28. Australia also got 12 more points in the paint than Latvia.

Czech Republic trumps New Zealand in Women's Basketball

(BEIJING, August 15) -- The Czech Republic Women's Basketball team thrashed New Zealand 90-59 in a group B preliminary match on Friday, August 15.
Hana Machova of the Czech Republic was the game's high scorer, netting 23 points and grabbing three rebounds. Her teammate Eva Viteckova scored 21 points and took four rebounds.
New Zealand's Angela Marino was the second highest scorer of the game, contributing 22 points and grabbing two rebounds.
The Czech Republic set the tone of the game from the beginning, dominating the first quarter with 26 points to New Zealand's 12. The New Zealanders woke up a bit in the second quarter to grab 19 points, but fell into bad form again in the third, only scoring seven points, while their rivals netted 21. At this point, the Czech Republic women held a 27 point lead, for which however much the New Zealanders tried, they could not overcome. In spite of New Zealand's efforts to catch up in the last quarter, strong defense from the Czech Republic kept them in check. The game ended 90-59 in favor of the Czech Republic.

Basketball

Argentina ruins Croatia's perfect record

(BEIJING, August 14) -- Defending Olympic champion Argentina cruised past Croatia 77-53 in a Men's Basketball preliminary group A game on Thursday, August 14.
This was a disappointing result for Croatia, who until now had maintained a perfect record in the tournament. Argentina stayed in the lead from start to finish, and a normally hot-shooting Croatia hit just 19 of 57 field goal attempts, and three of 15 from behind the arc. None of Croatia's players scored in double-digits.
Argentina was led by Andres Nocioni with 18 points and eight rebounds, and Carlos Delfino, who knocked back 15 points and six rebounds. Ginobili had 14 points and dished out a game-high eight assists.
It was the second quarter where Croatia was most effectively contained, netting only nine points in the whole period to go to the half 40-22 in the defending gold medal team's favor. Argentina only outscored Croatia 37-31 in the second half, but the damage was done.
Now that Croatia and Argentina are both 2-1 in the tournament, the teams go to their next two games looking for straight victories to avoid a fourth-place finish in the preliminary round. Coming in fourth would send a team to the elimination-style quarterfinal to face the United States, who is the likely winner of group B.

Basketball

Men's Basketball Day 3 Review: China, Australia get one in the 'win' column

BEIJING, August 14) -- China and Australia got their first tournament wins today, while Russia and Croatia faced disappointing losses and Iran and Angola fear elimination, on day three of Olympic Men's Basketball on Thursday, August 14.

Basketball

Flash: Argentina ruins Croatia's perfect record

(BEIJING, August 14) -- Defending Olympic champion Argentina cruised past Croatia 77-53 in the preliminary round of the Olympic Basketball tournament on August 14, 2008.

Tennis Day 6 Preview: Nadal's bid for an Olympic medal strengthens

(BEIJING, August 15) -- Friday's Tennis tournament schedule has been revised due to a set of unfinished matches left over from Thursday, August 14. The Men's semifinals will take place as scheduled on Friday, August 15, but the Women's semifinals have now been postponed until Saturday, August 16.

Tennis Day 5 Review: Federer falters on wet quarterfinals day

(BEIJING, August 15) -- Multiple Grand Slam champions Roger Federer of Switzerland, Serena Williams and Venus Williams of the United States crashed out of the Men's and Women's Singles tournaments on Thursday, August 14.
Three of the four Men's Doubles quarterfinals, but only one of the two outstanding third round Women's Doubles matches were completed when play was called at 1:30 a.m. (UTC/GMT +8) on Friday morning.

Venus Williams bows out to Li Na

(BEIJING, August 15) -- Li Na of China charged into the semifinals of the Women's Singles by ousting No. 7 seed Venus Williams of the United States 7-5, 7-5 at the Olympic Green Tennis Center on Thursday night.
Li pulled back from 4-1 down to steal the first set 7-5 from the Sydney 2000 gold medallist, who served nine double faults in the opening set and was kept guessing by Li's variety of shots.
Li retained her momentum in the second set, going 3-1 up and breaking again in the 11th game to sneak ahead 6-5. On Li's second match point, Williams put a forehand service return into the net.

Flash: Nadal cruises into Tennis semifinals

(BEIJING, August 15) -- Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-0, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals of Men's Singles Tennis at the Olympic Green Tennis Center.

Flash: Djokovic enters Tennis semifinals

(BEIJING, August 15) -- No.3 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated Gael Monfils of France 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals of Men's Singles Tennis at the Olympic Green Tennis Center.

China thanks Pakistan for supporting Beijing Olympics

BEIJING: Chinese President Hu Jintao Friday thanked the international community inlcuding Pakistan for their support to the Beijing Olympics and their assistance to the country after the May 12 earthquake. Addressing a welcoming luncheon in honour of world dignitaries including Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani who are here to attend the Olympic opening ceremony, Hu said that in the course of bidding and preparing for the Games, the Chinese government and people received sincere help from governments and people of various countries, as well as strong support from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Family Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani exchanged good wishes with the world leaders on the occasion, expressing firm support of his country for peace and development, meeting the common aspirations of their people.

Olympics: Beijing to remain humid, hazy for week

BEIJING: Beijing will remain hazy, hot and humid with a possibility of showers during the first week of Olympic competition, weather reports for the capital predicted Saturday.
Meanwhile state press said meteorologists fired over 1,000 "rain dispersal rockets" into clouds over Beijing Friday night in China's biggest operation of its kind to help prevent showers ruining the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
As the first full day of competition got underway on Saturday, the city was under grey skies with temperatures expected to hit a high of 33 degrees Celsius (91 degree Fahrenheit), the state weather station said.

Chen gets China early gold

BEIJING: The Czech Republic took first honours at the Olympics on Saturday, and China also won an early gold to cap a dazzling opening ceremony.Beijing is determined to stage an awe-inspiring Games that will underline its status as an emerging superpower and would love to displace the United States on top of the medals table.The first gold of the games went to Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic in the women's 10m air rifle, the pressure getting to Chinese favourite Du Li who finished fifth and left in tears."There was pressure for all of us but for her it was even harder," Emmons said afterwards. "I'm sorry, but the Chinese press is putting a lot of pressure on Chinese athletes."

Emmons wins first gold of Olympics

BEIJING: Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic claimed the first gold medal of the 29th Olympic Games on Saturday with a convincing victory in the women's 10m air rifle event.Emmons, who met and married U.S. shooter Matt Emmons after winning bronze at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, equalled a world record score of 400 in the qualification round and was near flawless in the final round to win the gold medal with a score of 503.5 -- a new Olympic record."She did a fantastic job. I'm so proud of her," Matt Emmons said afterwards.

Brazil makes uniform change for Olympics

SHENYANG: Brazil will not wear its regular official Nike uniform in the remainder of the Olympic tournament because of concerns it could affect Rio de Janeiro's bid for the 2016 Games.Rules of the International Olympic Committee say that nations should not wear confederations' emblems on uniforms during the games, and Brazil's Nike jersey has the football confederation badge on it.

China goes for gold after dazzling opener

BEIJING: China is hoping for early Olympic gold to cap a dazzling opening ceremony as the first full day of competition got under way on Saturday.Beijing is determined to stage an awe-inspiring Games that will underline its status as a new superpower, and would love to overtake the United States at the top of the medals table.It wowed the world in a breathtaking opening ceremony at the Bird's Nest stadium on Friday and has a great chance of winning the first gold at the Games with Du Li in the 10-metre air rifle.Seven golds are up for grabs on Saturday.

Olympic Games begin in Beijing

BEIJING: An ecstatic China, an ancient nation so determined to be modern, finally got its Olympic moment on Friday night.With world leaders watching from inside the latticed shell of the National Stadium, the 2008 Beijing Olympics began with an opening ceremony of soaring fireworks, lavish spectacle and Chinese national pride.At 8 p.m. on the eighth day of the eighth month - eight being a lucky number in China - the world looked toward Beijing and the 91,000 people inside the National Stadium.

The $100 million budget for the opening ceremony, which is directed by China's most famous film director, Zhang Yimou, is only a fraction of the estimated $43 billion that China has spent in building roads, stadiums, parks and subway lines in an attempt trying to transform Beijing into an Olympic city.The elaborate production for the opening ceremony included 15,000 performers and a three-part performance focused partly on China's long history and its desire for goodwill with the rest of the world.