Al-Deihani wins men’s double trap gold; Ledecky, 20-yr-old Korean shine; Kuwait’s Alshatti knocked out

This news has been read 7861 times!

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 10, (Agencies): Kuwait’s Fehaid al-Deihani, competing at the Rio Games as an independent athlete, won men’s double trap gold on Wednesday. Marco Innocenti of Italy took silver with British shooter Steven Scott claiming the bronze. Al-Deihani, bronze medallist in Sydney and London, was forced to take part in Brazil as a neutral as Kuwait is suspended by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and other leading federations such as FIFA, football’s world body, over government interference in sport. The army officer is one of nine competing as an Independent Olympic Athlete (IOA).

He turned down an offer from the IOC to carry the neutral’s flag at last Friday’s opening ceremony, telling Kuwaiti media: “I am a military man and I will only carry the Kuwait flag. “I cannot carry the IOC flag.” Al-Deihani, who has won Kuwait’s only two Olympic medals, is the first independent to win gold at an Olympics.

Michael Phelps captured his 20th Olympic gold medal in dramatic fashion Tuesday, sealing victory with a kiss from baby son Boomer, before adding a staggering 21st before the night was over. The American crushed fierce rival Chad le Clos to regain his 200 metres butterfly title in a dust-up bristling with tension, celebrating by pointing to the sky and gesturing to the Rio crowd to “bring the noise” — an order they duly obeyed. Katinka Hosszu and Katie Ledecky struck further blows for girl power, but again it was all about Phelps, who later anchored the American 4×200 freestyle relay team to gold as the clock edged toward midnight.

Milking the acclaim of the crowd, Phelps climbed, Wimbledon tennis-style, past a bank of poolside photographers to kiss little Boomer and fiancee Nicole Johnson after an emotional medals ceremony. Entering the arena like a gladiator, his face a granite mask of concentration, Phelps dominated a grudge final le Clos had billed as “Ali versus Frazier” to become the oldest individual swimming gold medallist in Olympic history at 31. South African Le Clos, who won by a fingertip four years ago in London to rob the American of a hat-trick of titles, faded badly down the home stretch to miss out on a medal. The world record holder and most decorated athlete in Olympic history, Phelps clocked 1min 53.36sec to add to his staggering title tally as Japan’s Masato Sakai finished strongly for a surprise silver in 1:53.40. Hungary’s Tamas Kenderesi took bronze in 1:53.62.

Competing in his fifth and final Olympics, victory was twice as sweet for Phelps after clashing with le Clos in the media since losing to the South African in their epic London tussle. Still, Phelps was not done, putting the gloss on a fourth straight American victory in the 4x200m free, cruising home almost two and a half seconds ahead of Britain’s James Guy in the swimming equivalent of baseball’s home-run trot around the bases. Hungary’s “Iron Lady” Hosszu completed the individual medley double by winning the 200m final in 2:06.58, making it three golds and counting after also claiming the 100m backstroke crown. Britain’s Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took silver in 2:06.88. Bronze went to American Maya Dirado, touching in 2:08.79.

Ledecky scooped her second gold of the Games after holding off a brave charge from Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 200m freestyle. The American phenom, who won the 400m title with a stunning world record on day two, clocked 1:53.73 to win by 0.35 seconds from Sjostrom. Australia’s Emma Mckeon took bronze. Meanwhile, American gymnast Simone Biles made a flying start to her bid for a record five Rio Olympic gold medals on Tuesday as Serena Williams crashed out of what could be her final Games. Elsewhere an official media bus came under attack from either gunfire or hurled stones, in the latest security scare for the tournament.

Biles, tipped as the biggest thing since Nadia Comaneci, helped the USA cruise to women’s team victory by eight points over Russia, kick-starting her bid for an unprecedented five titles. Williams, hampered by a shoulder injury, served five double faults in one game of the second set as her own bid to reach five gold medals ended. It remained unclear whether gunfire or stones were used in the media bus attack, which smashed windows and injured one journalist, according to a report.

The incident comes after a stray bullet ripped through a media tent at the equestrian venue and a controlled explosion near the finish of the men’s cycle road race. In diving, competitors were perplexed to find the water had turned inexplicably from light blue to green overnight, although organisers insisted it was safe.

The 20-year-old South Korean sure looked like the sport’s next big star on Tuesday, dispatching more experienced and accomplished fencers on his way to a gold medal. Park stormed back to score the final five points and win men’s epee in a matchup of the youngest and oldest competitors in the field. Park missed much of 2015 with a serious knee injury that helped push his world ranking down to 21st. But he beat 41-year-old Geza Imre of Hungary Imre 15-14 after perhaps the best rally of this tournament.

Despite the loss, Imre is fencing’s oldest Olympic individual medalist since 1952 when another Hungarian, Aladar Gurevich, won the silver in men’s sabre at 42. Park dominated Switzerland’s Benjamin Steffen 15-9 to make it to the finals. American Jason Pryor’s tournament ended after just one match. He fell to Steffen 15-14. Abdulaziz Alshatti, the lone independent fencer in the Rio Olympics, was also knocked out after his first match. Alshatti is from Kuwait, whose Olympic committee was suspended by the IOC in 2015 for “undue government interference.” Because of that the ban, Alshatti’s had to qualify for Rio by winning a last-chance Asian qualifying event in April. Alshatti had the backing of a small crowd that appeared to sympathize with his plight. But Hungary’s Andras Redli survived a furious late rally from the hard-charging and flamboyant Kuwaiti, winning 14-13 in epee.

Fabian Cancellara ensured his retirement at the end of the year would be golden by reclaiming the Olympic cycling time-trial title in Rio on Wednesday. The Beijing 2008 champion, who could finish only seventh in London four years ago after being affected by a crash in the road race, was totally dominant as he beat Tom Dumoulin into second with Tour de France champion Chris Froome back in third. Known as Spartacus in the professional cycling peloton, Cancellara was long considered the best time-trialist in the world as he won four world titles.

This news has been read 7861 times!