Olympic highlights - 28 July 2012

Handball: Denmark off and running
Three-time Olympic women’s Handball champions Denmark opened their London 2012 campaign with a thrilling 21-18 victory over Scandinavian rivals Sweden at the Copper Box.The Danish women were level with their opponents in the Group B preliminary clash for the majority of the game, but four goals in the final few minutes took them over the winning line, with Sweden unable to match them.

Beach Volleyball: Brits lose out in opener
Steve Grotowski and John Garcia-Thompson’s bid for Beach Volleyball success began with a defeat as the British pair went down in straight sets against Canada at Horse Guards Parade.
A near-capacity crowd at the 15,000-seater arena did their best to cheer on the home favourites in their Pool F opener.
However, their opponents just had that bit more guile around the court and emerged with a solid 21-19 21-13 win.

Fencing: Vezzali denied fourth successive gold
Italian fencing star Valentina Vezzali was denied a piece of Olympic Games history after a shock defeat at the ExCeL Arena.
The 38-year-old was thwarted by compatriot Arianna Errigo in her bid for an amazing fourth consecutive Individual Foil gold at the Games.
No woman has achieved that in any individual Olympic event - and the only men to have done it are Carl Lewis in the long jump (1984-96) and fellow American Al Oerter in the discus (1956-68).

Table Tennis: Hsing has friends in high places
A meeting with the First Lady Michelle Obama inspired USA’s Table Tennis star Ariel Hsing at the ExCeL Arena.
Hsing, who is supported by American businessmen Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, with the latter potentially set to illustrate his commitment by appearing at some stage at London 2012.

Archery: Gold success for Italian archers
Italy claimed gold in the men’s Archery Team event as Michele Frangilli held his nerve to hit a 10 with the last arrow of the final against the USA.
Italy, who have never before won Team gold at the Games, were nine behind with one shot remaining when Frangilli struck centre gold.
The dramatic 219-218 win for Frangilli, Mauro Nespoli and Marco Galiazzo against Brady Ellison, Jacob Wukie and Jake Kaminski capped a day of surprises in the competition, with favourites Republic of Korea losing 224-219 to the USA in the semi-final.
USA finished with the silver, while the Koreans saw off Mexico to take bronze.

Weightlifting: Wang claims first Weightlifting gold
China’s Wang Mingjuan claimed the first Weightlifting gold medal of the 2012 Olympic Games in the women’s 48kg weight category at ExCeL.
The four-time world champion went into her first Games as the overwhelming favourite having not been defeated in international competition since winning her first world title in 2002.
The 26-year-old triumphed with a combined total of 205kg, snatch 91kg and clean and jerk 114kg.
Japan’s Hiromi Miyake claimed silver with a total of 197kg (snatch 87kg and clean and jerk 110kg). Miyake, daughter of Mexico 1968 bronze medallist Yoshiyuki Miyake, finished sixth four years ago in Beijing and ninth in 2004.

Tennis: Federer hangs on to beat Falla
Federer went into the tournament as the favourite to pick up a first Singles gold medal after his Wimbledon triumph.
His defeat of Andy Murray three weeks ago took him back to number one in the world.
The 30-year-old, who won Doubles gold four years ago for Switzerland with Stanislas Wawrinka, fought back from two sets to love down against Falla in the first round at Wimbledon two years ago.
Federer looked completely in control at a set and a break up and had three match points at 6-3 5-3 to wrap up what would have been a textbook victory.

Tennis: Williams eases past Jankovic
Wimbledon champion Serena Williams returned to Centre Court three weeks after winning her fifth title at the All England Club to play her first-round Tennis match at London 2012.
There was an illustrious name in her box in the form of US First Lady Michelle Obama as Williams played Jelena Jankovic.
She had a potentially tricky draw against the Serbian former world number one but went into the match on a run of 11 straight victories and won 6-3 6-1.
Williams, who next meets Poland’s Urszula Radwanska, was inspired by her famous guest and gave the First Lady a thumbs-up at the end of her match.

Judo: Galstyan celebrates title success
Russian Arsen Galstyan produced an upset to win gold in the men’s -60kg competition on the opening day of Judo action.
The world number five defeated double world champion Rishod Sobirov of Uzbekistan on golden score in their semi-final, before overcoming Japanese fighter Hiroaki Hiraoka in the final with a superb ippon throw after just 40 seconds.
Sobirov added another Olympic bronze to the medal he won in Beijing when he beat Sofiane Milous of France.
Brazilian Felipe Kitadai secured the other third place with victory over Italian Elio Verde.

Cycling: Vinokurov claims Road Race gold
Alexandr Vinokurov triumphed in a dramatic men’s Road Race on The Mall to claim gold for Kazakhstan.
Colombia’s Rigoberto Uran Uran claimed silver, with Norway’s Alexander Kristoff third.
Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish, the world champion, was unable to put himself in a position to attack late on as Vinokurov won the sprint for the line.
With a 12-man escape group established and rivals attacking all around them on the nine ascents of Box Hill, Britain remained calm, riding at Cavendish’s tempo on the climb and at high pace on the descents and the flat.