Sports — International

USA top Olympic medal table as delayed Games draw to close

by Talek HARRIS Eliud Kipchoge produced a marathon masterclass and the USA edged China at the top of the Tokyo Olympics medals table as the curtain fell on the biggest sports event since the pandemic on Sunday. After Kipchoge’s marathon win for Kenya, the United States scored victories in volleyball, track cycling and basketball to top the medals tally with 39 golds, just one ahead of China. The 339th and final gold medal went to […]

Counting the coronavirus cost at Tokyo’s Olympics

The pandemic affected almost every part of Tokyo’s Olympics, forcing a historic postponement, the banning of almost all spectators, and ending the dreams of more than a few athletes. As the Games wrap up, AFP looks at some questions and answers about how virus concerns played out during the pandemic Olympics. How many cases were there? From July 1 to Sunday, the final day of the Games, Tokyo 2020 says it identified 430 positive cases […]

‘Bonded for life’ – Durant revels in his third Olympic gold

SAITAMA, Japan (AFP) — Kevin Durant said he is “bonded for life” with his US team-mates after they beat France to win basketball gold Saturday, ensuring the Brooklyn Nets star joined all-time great Carmelo Anthony with a third Olympic title. The 32-year-old has been the backbone of the team for a decade, scoring more Olympic points than any player in US men’s basketball history, and he was again the standout against France. He drilled 29 […]

Ex-NBA player Jeremy Lin tests positive for Covid

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Jeremy Lin has tested positive for Covid-19 and is receiving treatment in Shanghai, the former NBA guard and first Asian-American to win an NBA title said in a social media post Saturday. Lin announced in June he was rejoining the Chinese Basketball Association’s Beijing Ducks after a failed NBA comeback. He tested positive for coronavirus on his third day in quarantine after flying to Shanghai from San Francisco, the 32-year-old posted […]

Britain’s Yafai wins flyweight boxing gold, Ukrainian KO’d by Brazil’s Sousa in middleweight

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Britain’s Galal Yafai defeated Carlo Paalam to win the Olympic flyweight title on Saturday, denying the Philippines a first boxing gold medal in the country’s history. The men’s middleweight final produced a shock as Ukrainian top seed Oleksandr Khyzhniak was knocked out in the third round of his bout by Brazil’s Hebert Sousa. The 28-year-old Yafai, a former car-factory worker, won on split points in an enthralling contest against Paalam […]

‘I’m stronger, smarter’: US boxer convinced of Tokyo Olympic gold

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Smooth-talking Keyshawn Davis said Friday that he is “bigger, stronger, faster, smarter” and will end the United States’ 17-year wait for men’s Olympic boxing gold. The 22-year-old, who has a 3-0 professional record, was deducted a point in the second round but still defeated Armenia’s Hovhannes Bachkov on unanimous points in their lightweight semi-final in Tokyo. The US, who once reigned over Olympic boxing, have seen the men’s medals dry up […]

Marcial secures Olympic bronze for PHL as Paalam keeps hope alive for another gold

  (Eagle News) – Filipino boxer Eumir Marcial gave the country its Olympic bronze medal in the Tokyo Olympics after his fight in the men’s middleweight division with Ukraine’s Oleksandr Khyzhniak. With Marcial’s bronze, the Philippines now has three medals – 1 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze – at the Tokyo Olympics. A fourth medal is assured for the country as fellow boxer Carlos Paalam advanced to the finals after an earlier win over […]

Durant-led USA storm back to beat Australia in Olympic basketball semis

SAITAMA, Japan (AFP) — Kevin Durant scored 23 points and Devin Booker added 20 to power three-time defending champions United States past Australia 97-78 Thursday and into an Olympic men’s basketball final against either France or Slovenia. The Americans were 24-18 behind after the first quarter and 45-42 adrift at halfway, but stormed back during a dominant third term to stay on track for a fourth consecutive gold medal. It was revenge for Gregg Popovich’s […]

PH boxer Paalam now just a win away from Olympic gold as he defeats Japan’s Tanaka

  (Eagle News) – Filipino boxer Carlo Paalam gave his all and defeated Japanese boxer Ryomei Tanaka on Thursday, Aug. 5 by unanimous decision, and is now just a win away from another Olympic gold medal for the Philippines. The 23-year old Paalam dominated all three rounds of the men’s flyweight division in the Tokyo Olympics, defeating the hometown favorite 27-year old Tanaka. The Filipino boxer started the first round with fists blazing, while his […]

Pacquiao vows ‘I’m not done yet’ after two-year layoff

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Former world champion Manny Pacquiao says he feels young again after a two-year layoff as he prepares to fight unbeaten world champion Errol Spence for two welterweight boxing crowns. The 42-year-old Filipino southpaw, an eight-division world champion, faces American Spence on August 21 at Las Vegas for the International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Council crowns. “I could have fought several easy opponents,” Pacquiao said Wednesday. “I picked the […]

Approaching storm could reduce Olympic women’s golf to 54 holes

KAWAGOE, Japan (AFP) — The Tokyo Olympics women’s golf tournament could be cut to 54 holes, organizers said Wednesday, because of an approaching tropical storm due to hit Kasumigaseki Country Club at the weekend. “We have notified the players that we may have to be forced to reduce to a 54-hole competition,” International Golf Federation official Heather Daly-Donofrio told a media briefing at the course in Saitama prefecture on Wednesday evening. “We will not change […]

‘She never gets tired’: Indonesian dad hails daughter’s badminton gold

KENDARI, Indonesia (AFP) — As Ameruddin Pora’s relatives gathered in his living room, shouting at the final of the Olympics badminton women’s doubles, he locked himself in his room to watch his daughter win Indonesia’s historic gold medal. Apriyani Rahayu, 23, and her veteran partner Greysia Polii picked up the badminton-mad country’s first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo on Monday, and its first-ever Olympic medal in the women’s doubles. “Everyone was screaming with joy outside, […]