Bury 1-2 Middlesbrough: Goals from Mario Emnes (33) and Grant Leadbitter (61) gave Boro a 2-0 lead. Mark Hughes (64) pulled a goal back but it wasn't enough. Efetobore Sodje was also sent off in injury time.
Carlisle 1-0 Accrington Stanley: Matty Robson (39) scores only goal to put Carlisle through.
Cheltenham 1-1 MK Dons AET (3-5pens): MK Dons looked in trouble when Stephen Gleeson (40) was sent off. But Dean Bowditch (45) put them in front before Kaid Mohamed (58) levelled for Cheltenham.
Crewe 5-0 Hartlepool: Goals from AJ Leitch-Smith (7), Max Clayton (13 & 39) and Mathias Pogba (34 & 90) wiped Hartlepool aside to give League One new boys a great start to the season.
Doncaster 1-1 York AET (4-2pens): League Two new boys took the lead through Michael Coulson (65). But a penalty from Michael Brown (74) forced extra time and then the dreaded penalty shoot-out.
Hull 1-1 Rotherham AET (7-6pens): Substitute Lionel Ainsworth (52) gave Rotherham the lead. But Aaron McLean (70) saved Hull's blushes before the Championship side won on penalties.
Leeds 4-0 Shrewsbury: Goals from Luciano Becchio (20), new boys Luke Varney (26) and David Norris (66) and a penalty from Ross McCormack (70) gave the new look Leeds an easy victory.
Notts County 0-1 Bradford AET: James Hanson (95) puts Bradford through with his goal in extra time.
Rochdale 3-4 Barnsley AET: Andrew Tutte (6) put Rochdale in front before John Stones (45) and Craig Davies (79) made it 2-1 to Barnsley. Ben Alnwick was then sent off for conceding a penalty in injury time which Jason Kennedy converted, forcing extra time. A brace from substitute Chris Dagnall (95 & 105) made it 4-2 to Barnsley. Rochdale pulled one back with Kennedy (105) converting a second penalty.
Sheffield United 2-2 Burton Albion AET (4-5pens): Adi Yussuf (34) put Burton ahead before Nick Blackman (51), on loan from Blackburn, forced extra time. Cleveland Taylor (97) put Burton ahead again before Neil Collins (105) equalised again. Marcus Holness (105) would the receive a second yellow card, meaning he missed out on the penalty shoot-out won by Burton.
Walsall 1-0 Brentford: Ashley Hemmings (8) scored the only goal to put Walsall through. Jake Reeves (25) was sent off for Brentford.
Watford 1-0 Wycombe AET: Chris Iwelumo (109) finally ended Wycombe's challenge to put the Championship team through.
Wolves 1-1 Aldershot AET (7-6pens): Stale Stolbakken's reign began in nail-biting fashion. Sylvain Ebanks-Blake (53) gave Wolves the lead before Michael Rankine (62) forced extra time. Wolves just about managed to overcome Aldershot on penalties.
Blackpool 1-2 Morecambe: Goals from Lewis Alessandra (6) and Andrew Fleming (56) put Morecambe 2-0 ahead. Alex Baptiste (77) pulled one back for Blackpool but the Championship side are dumped out.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
City Take First Piece of Silverware
Chelsea line-up: Cech, Terry (c), Cole, Ivanovic, Luiz, Lampard, Mikel, Ramires, Torres, Mata (Sturridge, 75'), Hazard (Bertrand, 71')
Manchester City line-up: Pantilimon, Kompany (c), Zabaleta, Kolarov, Savic (Clichy, HT), Milner, Y.Toure, De Jong, Tevez (Dzeko, 89'), Aguero, Nasri (Silva, 77')
Manchester City start this season the way they ended the last, coming from behind to win silverware. After going 1-0 down, City overcame 10-man Chelsea 3-2 to take the glory in this season's curtain raiser. With Wembley recovering following yesterday's Olympic final, Villa Park hosted the match and the fans were not disappointed.
The game was feisty throughout and this lead to a rather even first half. Carlos Tevez forced the first shot in anger which was easily saved by Petr Cech whilst new signing, Eden Hazard, was looking bright down the left for Chelsea to begin with, but he soon realised how tough the Premiership is.
The first of eight yellow cards was brandished after 11-minutes when Stefan Savic was booked for fouling Hazard, the first of many petulant fouls throughout the match. City did begin to create a few more chances than Chelsea but nothing to really panic Cech and his defence. Hazard's most notable moment of the match may well end up being an attempted back heel that caused him to fall flat on his face.
With the game seemingly to remain a stalemate as the half-time whistle approached, Chelsea found the key to unlock the three man City defence. Ramires made a great run before playing a ball into Fernando Torres' path and the Spaniard made no mistake, opening his account already for the season, five minutes before the break.
But, just two minutes later, the game would become a little more difficult when Branislav Ivanovic went in two-footed on Aleksandr Kolarov. The referee, Kevin Friend, had no choice but to give Ivanovic his first red card in a Chelsea shirt and they would now have to play the second half a man down.
City took full advantage and were level seven minutes after the restart. A James Milner cross was cleared by John Terry, but only as far as Yaya Toure. Toure smashed the ball into the bottom corner, further showing how much of an asset he is to Manchester City.
It was then 2-1 just before the hour mark as City turned the game on its head. Tevez picked up the ball on the edge of the box, made his way into a more central position with the ball before unleashing his effort past Cech. With his recent saga seemingly all sorted, how vital will Tevez be this season for City?
The game then looked to be beyond all doubt on 65-minutes when City made it 3-1. Kolarov made his way down the wing before playing the ball back across goal. Samir Nasri was only too happy to poke the ball past Cech on the volley to seemingly wrap the Community Shield up for them.
But Chelsea did give themselves a chance to comeback when Ryan Bertrand scored his first ever Chelsea goal, 11-minutes from time. The goal came about when Daniel Sturridge's shot was horribly spilled by number two keeper, Costel Pantilimon, Bertrand was the quickest to react and easily made it 3-2. Pantilimon would then keep a hold of the ball with Bertrand trying to wrestle it off him. This farcical exchange resulted in both players earning yellow cards.
The goal would only prove a consolation though as Chelsea couldn't find a third way through the Man City defence. But both teams has shown the rest of the league just what they have to offer as they both bid to win the 2012/2013 Barclay's Premier League.
Lindback Wins His First
Antonio Lindback has raced in 52 GP events and now he has won his first of them in Terenzano, Italy. It was the eighth round of this year's series and Lindback took it after the final had to be restarted. Martin Vaculik continued his dream start to life in the GP by making it into the final, but would ultimately crash out at the start. It did look a bad crash as he landed on his head and the ambulance was called onto the track. But, luckily, Vaculik did get back to his feet and walk back to the paddock to watch the restart of the final.
The Swede made a brilliant start which ultimately gave him the win in the final ahead of Emil Sayfutdinov who gained the most points in the meeting. Greg Hancock finished third, meaning that he could open a lead at the top of the standings to ten points.
Sayfutdinov won his semi-final ahead of Lindback. Nicky Pedersen and Jason Crump, second and third in the standings, finished third and fourth in that semi-final, hence why Hancock managed to open a lead. Vaculik beat Hancock to win the second semi-final ahead of Chris Holder, fourth in the standings, and Andreas Jonsson.
The night began with Lindback taking the opening heat. That was followed by Sayfutdinov beating Hancock, Nicky Pedersen and Crump to victory in the second heat. Vaculik started his night with a fourth place in heat three with Holder taking the win. Thomasz Gollob began his night in third, ahead of wildcard Nicholas Covatti, but behind Chris Harris and Kenneth Bjerre who won the heat.
Jonsson took heat five ahead of Crump, Harris and Bjarne Pedersen. Sayfutdinov then made it two heats from two with Gollob only managing to finish fourth. Nicky Pedersen responded to his third place by winning heat seven ahead of Bjerre, Lindback and Holder. Vaculik then took heat eight ahead of Hancock.
Holder took his second heat of the night in the ninth, this meant Sayfutdinov had been beaten for the first time in second, Jonsson came third with Covatti fourth. Bjerre packed up at the start of heat ten, leaving him to watch Crump take the heat from Vaculik and Lindgren. Hancock also opened his account in heat-11 with victory over Gollob and Lindback. Heat-12 was surprisingly won Peter Ljung who finished ahead of Harris and Nicky Pedersen.
Vaculik then won his second heat in the the 13th ahead of Gollob, Nicky Pedersen and Jonsson. Harris looked to continue his rise with victory in heat-14 with Lindgren second, Holder third and Hancock fourth. Lindback then took his second heat of the night ahead of Crump with Hans Andersen picking up a heat win in the 16th ahead of Sayfutdinov.
Hancock also took his second heat of the night in the 17th, finishing ahead of Jonsson. That was quickly followed up by Nicky Pedersen taking his second heat of the night with Covatti taking second. Heat-19 saw Harris his a rut in the start, this caused him to lose his bike and was subsequently excluded from the restart, a result that saw him miss out on the semi-finals via count back. Vaculik won the restart, claiming his third heat of the night, with Sayfutdinov second and Lindback third. Crump would take his second heat in the final race ahead of Holder and Gollob.
After eight rounds, Hancock stands on 111 points. Nicky Pedersen is now ten points behind on 101 while Crump sits further behind on 97. Holder is currently fourth on 94 with a ten point gap between himself and Sayfutdinov. Gollob sits a point behind the Russian on 83 with Freddie Lindgren on 77 and Jonsson completing the top eight on 70.
The win for Lindback means his challenge to get into the top eight stands at eight points on 62. The rest are quite a way behind, Harris is tenth on 46, level with Jaroslaw Hampel who is still to return. Ljung is 12th on 44 with Andersen on 43. Vaculik's fantastic performances has put him on 42 which is a point more than what Bjerre and Bjarne Pedersen have accumulated throughout the whole series.
The Swede made a brilliant start which ultimately gave him the win in the final ahead of Emil Sayfutdinov who gained the most points in the meeting. Greg Hancock finished third, meaning that he could open a lead at the top of the standings to ten points.
Sayfutdinov won his semi-final ahead of Lindback. Nicky Pedersen and Jason Crump, second and third in the standings, finished third and fourth in that semi-final, hence why Hancock managed to open a lead. Vaculik beat Hancock to win the second semi-final ahead of Chris Holder, fourth in the standings, and Andreas Jonsson.
The night began with Lindback taking the opening heat. That was followed by Sayfutdinov beating Hancock, Nicky Pedersen and Crump to victory in the second heat. Vaculik started his night with a fourth place in heat three with Holder taking the win. Thomasz Gollob began his night in third, ahead of wildcard Nicholas Covatti, but behind Chris Harris and Kenneth Bjerre who won the heat.
Jonsson took heat five ahead of Crump, Harris and Bjarne Pedersen. Sayfutdinov then made it two heats from two with Gollob only managing to finish fourth. Nicky Pedersen responded to his third place by winning heat seven ahead of Bjerre, Lindback and Holder. Vaculik then took heat eight ahead of Hancock.
Holder took his second heat of the night in the ninth, this meant Sayfutdinov had been beaten for the first time in second, Jonsson came third with Covatti fourth. Bjerre packed up at the start of heat ten, leaving him to watch Crump take the heat from Vaculik and Lindgren. Hancock also opened his account in heat-11 with victory over Gollob and Lindback. Heat-12 was surprisingly won Peter Ljung who finished ahead of Harris and Nicky Pedersen.
Vaculik then won his second heat in the the 13th ahead of Gollob, Nicky Pedersen and Jonsson. Harris looked to continue his rise with victory in heat-14 with Lindgren second, Holder third and Hancock fourth. Lindback then took his second heat of the night ahead of Crump with Hans Andersen picking up a heat win in the 16th ahead of Sayfutdinov.
Hancock also took his second heat of the night in the 17th, finishing ahead of Jonsson. That was quickly followed up by Nicky Pedersen taking his second heat of the night with Covatti taking second. Heat-19 saw Harris his a rut in the start, this caused him to lose his bike and was subsequently excluded from the restart, a result that saw him miss out on the semi-finals via count back. Vaculik won the restart, claiming his third heat of the night, with Sayfutdinov second and Lindback third. Crump would take his second heat in the final race ahead of Holder and Gollob.
After eight rounds, Hancock stands on 111 points. Nicky Pedersen is now ten points behind on 101 while Crump sits further behind on 97. Holder is currently fourth on 94 with a ten point gap between himself and Sayfutdinov. Gollob sits a point behind the Russian on 83 with Freddie Lindgren on 77 and Jonsson completing the top eight on 70.
The win for Lindback means his challenge to get into the top eight stands at eight points on 62. The rest are quite a way behind, Harris is tenth on 46, level with Jaroslaw Hampel who is still to return. Ljung is 12th on 44 with Andersen on 43. Vaculik's fantastic performances has put him on 42 which is a point more than what Bjerre and Bjarne Pedersen have accumulated throughout the whole series.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
Another Fantastic Saturday
Another Saturday, another fantastic medal haul to round off the penultimate day of the 2012 Olympics. The overall tally now stands at 62 with a fantastic 28 gold medals. Despite this fantastic achievement, Jamaica and Usain Bolt still couldn't be undermined as they once again created history in the Men's 4x100M Final. The team of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohann Blake and Bolt took the gold (Bolt's third) with a new World Record time of 36.84 seconds. Team USA finished with silver in a National Record time of 37.04, Trinidad and Tobago won bronze with 38.12.
There have already been plenty of candidates to stake their claim for this year's Sports Personality of the Year award, now steps up Mo Farah. After his fantastic 10,000M gold last week, Farah returned to the track to add the 5,000M to his collection with a time of 13:41:66. Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel took silver with a time of 13:41:98, Kenya's Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa won bronze with 13:42:36.
Cardiff's Luke Campbell also walked away with gold after beating Ireland's John Joe Nevin in the Bantam final. Campbell floored Nevin in the third round which helped him gain a 14-11 victory over the Irishman. This marks another youth prospect as the 24-year old has a glittering career in front of him.
The day began with gold today in the Men's K1 Kayak event. Britain's Ed McKeever took the 26th gold medal in a time of 36.246. He beat Spain's Saul Craviotto Rivero who took silver with 36.540 and Canada's Mark De Jonge who won bronze in 36.657.
Our final medal of the night came in the Men's 10m Diving event where 18-year old Tom Daley did his late dad proud. After squeezing through the preliminaries yesterday, Daley managed to finish fourth in the semi-final earlier today before doing battle in tonight's final. In the end, his 3.3 point dive in round six wasn't quite enough to secure gold and had to settle for bronze with a total of 556.95, and was duly belated. China's Qiu Bo won silver with 566.85 with USA's David Boudia claiming gold with a total of 568.65.
Unfortunately, the Men's Hockey team couldn't emulate the Women in today's bronze medal match against Australia. Simon Orchard put the Aussies ahead on 16:45 before a penalty corner from Iain Lewers levelled for GB on 28:39. However, they couldn't carry that momentum forward and found themselves behind again after a penalty corner from Jamie Dwyer on 47:56. The match was wrapped up for Australia when Kieran Govers made it 3-1 on 56:59.
The shock of the day was arguably seeing Brazil continue to wait for an Olympic Football gold medal. They faced Mexico in today's final and found themselves 1-0 down after just 29-seconds when poor defending allowed Oribe Peralta to score the quickest Olympic goal. Brazil looked shell shocked and their mountain became even steeper when Peralta headed his second goal home from a corner with 15-minutes left. Brazil tried to mount a comeback and did manage to pull a goal back through Hulk in injury time, but it would only prove as a consolation as Mexico walk away with gold.
There have already been plenty of candidates to stake their claim for this year's Sports Personality of the Year award, now steps up Mo Farah. After his fantastic 10,000M gold last week, Farah returned to the track to add the 5,000M to his collection with a time of 13:41:66. Ethiopia's Dejen Gebremeskel took silver with a time of 13:41:98, Kenya's Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa won bronze with 13:42:36.
Cardiff's Luke Campbell also walked away with gold after beating Ireland's John Joe Nevin in the Bantam final. Campbell floored Nevin in the third round which helped him gain a 14-11 victory over the Irishman. This marks another youth prospect as the 24-year old has a glittering career in front of him.
The day began with gold today in the Men's K1 Kayak event. Britain's Ed McKeever took the 26th gold medal in a time of 36.246. He beat Spain's Saul Craviotto Rivero who took silver with 36.540 and Canada's Mark De Jonge who won bronze in 36.657.
Our final medal of the night came in the Men's 10m Diving event where 18-year old Tom Daley did his late dad proud. After squeezing through the preliminaries yesterday, Daley managed to finish fourth in the semi-final earlier today before doing battle in tonight's final. In the end, his 3.3 point dive in round six wasn't quite enough to secure gold and had to settle for bronze with a total of 556.95, and was duly belated. China's Qiu Bo won silver with 566.85 with USA's David Boudia claiming gold with a total of 568.65.
Unfortunately, the Men's Hockey team couldn't emulate the Women in today's bronze medal match against Australia. Simon Orchard put the Aussies ahead on 16:45 before a penalty corner from Iain Lewers levelled for GB on 28:39. However, they couldn't carry that momentum forward and found themselves behind again after a penalty corner from Jamie Dwyer on 47:56. The match was wrapped up for Australia when Kieran Govers made it 3-1 on 56:59.
The shock of the day was arguably seeing Brazil continue to wait for an Olympic Football gold medal. They faced Mexico in today's final and found themselves 1-0 down after just 29-seconds when poor defending allowed Oribe Peralta to score the quickest Olympic goal. Brazil looked shell shocked and their mountain became even steeper when Peralta headed his second goal home from a corner with 15-minutes left. Brazil tried to mount a comeback and did manage to pull a goal back through Hulk in injury time, but it would only prove as a consolation as Mexico walk away with gold.
Friday, 10 August 2012
57 Medals But No More Golds Today
Team GB secured five more medals today with at least two more on the way, taking our overall tally to 57. Our first came in the final race of the Women's 470 race where Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark secured Britain's fourth silver medal in Sailing.
The pair were in a battle with New Zealand's duo, Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie, for the gold medal but could only manage ninth in the final race. The New Zealand duo scored a time of 32:34 to win the final event and secure gold with an overall tally of 53. The Brits would finish on 59 to scoop silver with the Dutch pairing, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout, winning bronze.
The first of our Male Boxing medals came for Anthony Ogogo today after losing his semi-final bout. He faced a tough opponent in Brazil's Esquiva Falcao Florentino who is bidding, along with his brother, to be the first sibling boxing gold medallists in the same games since 1976. Ogogo fought hard but eventually lost 16-9 to settle for bronze.
After narrowly losing to Argentina, the Women's Hockey team bounced back to secure the bronze medal against New Zealand. A penalties from Alex Danson (44:51) and Sarah Thomas (62:37) along with Crista Cullen's 59th minute goal put GB 3-0 ahead. A penalty from Stacey Michelsen gave New Zealand a consolation on 68-minutes but Britain ultimately came away with the medal.
Bronze continued to be the colour of the day as the controversial Lutalo Muhammad also walked away with a medal. The argument over whether he or Aaron Cook should have picked will continue to rumble on but nothing should be taken away from Muhammad. His tournament looked over when he lost 7-3 to Spain's Nicolas Garcia Hemme.
But it did put him into the bronze medal contest where faced Iran's Yousef Karami who lost to Hemme in the Preliminaries. Muhammad managed to beat him 11-7 to set up the bronze medal face-off against semi-finalist Arman Yeremyan from Armenia. Muhammad was able to beat him 9-3 to take the medal.
Our final medal of the day came in the Men's High Jump. A mark of 2.29 metres was enough for Britain's Robert Grabarz, along with Qatar's Essa Mutaz Barshim and Canada's Derek Drouin, to take the bronze medal. USA's Erik Kynard took silver with a height of 2.33 while Russia's Ivan Ukhov won gold with 2.38 metres.
But the colour may be set to change once again as two more medals are still to received. Luke Campbell will at least win silver on Saturday when he face Ireland's John Joe Nevin in the Men's Bantam Final. Campbell beat Japan's Satoshi Shimizu 20-11 while Nevin beat top seed Lazaro Alvarez Estrada of Cuba, 19-14, to set up the iconic final.
Freddie Evans has also guaranteed himself at least silver after getting through to the Men's Welter final on Sunday. Cardiff's Evans beat top seed Taras Shelestyuk of Ukraine 11-10 to set up the final against Kazakhstan's Serik Sapiyev.
The pair were in a battle with New Zealand's duo, Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie, for the gold medal but could only manage ninth in the final race. The New Zealand duo scored a time of 32:34 to win the final event and secure gold with an overall tally of 53. The Brits would finish on 59 to scoop silver with the Dutch pairing, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout, winning bronze.
The first of our Male Boxing medals came for Anthony Ogogo today after losing his semi-final bout. He faced a tough opponent in Brazil's Esquiva Falcao Florentino who is bidding, along with his brother, to be the first sibling boxing gold medallists in the same games since 1976. Ogogo fought hard but eventually lost 16-9 to settle for bronze.
After narrowly losing to Argentina, the Women's Hockey team bounced back to secure the bronze medal against New Zealand. A penalties from Alex Danson (44:51) and Sarah Thomas (62:37) along with Crista Cullen's 59th minute goal put GB 3-0 ahead. A penalty from Stacey Michelsen gave New Zealand a consolation on 68-minutes but Britain ultimately came away with the medal.
Bronze continued to be the colour of the day as the controversial Lutalo Muhammad also walked away with a medal. The argument over whether he or Aaron Cook should have picked will continue to rumble on but nothing should be taken away from Muhammad. His tournament looked over when he lost 7-3 to Spain's Nicolas Garcia Hemme.
But it did put him into the bronze medal contest where faced Iran's Yousef Karami who lost to Hemme in the Preliminaries. Muhammad managed to beat him 11-7 to set up the bronze medal face-off against semi-finalist Arman Yeremyan from Armenia. Muhammad was able to beat him 9-3 to take the medal.
Our final medal of the day came in the Men's High Jump. A mark of 2.29 metres was enough for Britain's Robert Grabarz, along with Qatar's Essa Mutaz Barshim and Canada's Derek Drouin, to take the bronze medal. USA's Erik Kynard took silver with a height of 2.33 while Russia's Ivan Ukhov won gold with 2.38 metres.
But the colour may be set to change once again as two more medals are still to received. Luke Campbell will at least win silver on Saturday when he face Ireland's John Joe Nevin in the Men's Bantam Final. Campbell beat Japan's Satoshi Shimizu 20-11 while Nevin beat top seed Lazaro Alvarez Estrada of Cuba, 19-14, to set up the iconic final.
Freddie Evans has also guaranteed himself at least silver after getting through to the Men's Welter final on Sunday. Cardiff's Evans beat top seed Taras Shelestyuk of Ukraine 11-10 to set up the final against Kazakhstan's Serik Sapiyev.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Three More Golds While Bolt Creates More History
After a medal-less day yesterday, Team GB responded with a further three gold medals, taking the tally up to 25. But the day may be remembered for the history as three 'firsts' happened. The day began with Nicola Adams becoming the first Female Olympic Boxing champion. Adams faced Ren Cancan from China in the Women's Fly Final and beat her 16-7 to scoop Britain's 23rd medal.
That was quickly followed up by Ireland's Katie Taylor gaining gold in the Women's Light, becoming the second Female Boxing Champion. Taylor faced Russia's Sofya Ochigava in the final and just squeezed past, 10-8, to gain Ireland's first gold medal in the Olympics.
GB's 24th gold medal came in the Individual Dressage in which two medals were taken. Charlotte Dujardin scooped her second gold medal on Valegro. Laura Bechtolsheimer followed up her gold with the bronze medal on Mistral Hojris. Netherlands' Adelinde Cornelissen claimed the silver on Parzival.
The world then held its breath as Usain Bolt and Yohann Blake once again came into battle. It would end up being a Jamaican affair as Bolt came home in 19.32 seconds, his season best, to record the historic reclaim of both the 100 and 200 metres gold medals. Blake came second with his season's best of 19.44 while Warren Weir claimed bronze with a personal best of 19.84 seconds.
Our final medal of the night, our 52nd overall, came from a 19-year old girl from a Welsh town called Bodelwyddan. Jade Jones made it into the Women's 57kg Taekwondo final and faced China's Yuzhuo Hou. Jones played brilliantly to overcome her counterpart 6-4, claiming GB's first ever female medallist.
It didn't end quite so well for Martin Stamper nor the Men's Hockey Team. Liverpool's Stamper had made into the Bronze medal contest against Afghanistan's Rohullah Nikpah. The Afghan managed to win 5-3 to take the bronze, Afghanistan's first medal of the 2012 Olympics.
As for the Hockey, the men, like the women, will have to battle it out for bronze after getting battered by the Netherlands. Two goals from Roderick Weusthof put the Dutch ahead before Ashley Jackson pulled a goal back. But Netherlands would then go and score a further seven goals (Billy Bakker 3, Teun De Nooijer, Floris Evers, Mink Van Der Weerden and Weusthof) before GB posted their second score from Robert Moore. The scoreline read a disappointing 9-2 and Britain will have to pick themselves up to take on Australia who were in the same group.
That was quickly followed up by Ireland's Katie Taylor gaining gold in the Women's Light, becoming the second Female Boxing Champion. Taylor faced Russia's Sofya Ochigava in the final and just squeezed past, 10-8, to gain Ireland's first gold medal in the Olympics.
GB's 24th gold medal came in the Individual Dressage in which two medals were taken. Charlotte Dujardin scooped her second gold medal on Valegro. Laura Bechtolsheimer followed up her gold with the bronze medal on Mistral Hojris. Netherlands' Adelinde Cornelissen claimed the silver on Parzival.
The world then held its breath as Usain Bolt and Yohann Blake once again came into battle. It would end up being a Jamaican affair as Bolt came home in 19.32 seconds, his season best, to record the historic reclaim of both the 100 and 200 metres gold medals. Blake came second with his season's best of 19.44 while Warren Weir claimed bronze with a personal best of 19.84 seconds.
Our final medal of the night, our 52nd overall, came from a 19-year old girl from a Welsh town called Bodelwyddan. Jade Jones made it into the Women's 57kg Taekwondo final and faced China's Yuzhuo Hou. Jones played brilliantly to overcome her counterpart 6-4, claiming GB's first ever female medallist.
It didn't end quite so well for Martin Stamper nor the Men's Hockey Team. Liverpool's Stamper had made into the Bronze medal contest against Afghanistan's Rohullah Nikpah. The Afghan managed to win 5-3 to take the bronze, Afghanistan's first medal of the 2012 Olympics.
As for the Hockey, the men, like the women, will have to battle it out for bronze after getting battered by the Netherlands. Two goals from Roderick Weusthof put the Dutch ahead before Ashley Jackson pulled a goal back. But Netherlands would then go and score a further seven goals (Billy Bakker 3, Teun De Nooijer, Floris Evers, Mink Van Der Weerden and Weusthof) before GB posted their second score from Robert Moore. The scoreline read a disappointing 9-2 and Britain will have to pick themselves up to take on Australia who were in the same group.
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
No Medals Today But It's Not Over
Today Team GB saw a drought of medals after our historic day yesterday. But it doesn't mean we have to worry as we have guaranteed ourselves another two medals which will be collected shortly. The Women's inaugural Boxing Olympic tournament sees Nicola Adams take on China's Cancan Ren in the Women's Fly Final. Adams fought India's Mery Kom in today's semi-finals and beat her 11-6 to make it into the Gold Medal bout tomorrow.
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are potentially one race away from claiming a further gold for GB. The duo are taking part in the Women's 470 Sailing event and, after finishing second in race ten, will battle it out with New Zealand in the final race on Friday.
Unfortunately, there will be no gold medal for the Women's Hockey team who sadly crashed out against Argentina in the semi-finals. A penalty from Noel Barrionuevo and a half hour goal from Carla Rebecchi put Argentina 2-0 ahead. Alex Danson tried to put GB back into the game with a goal four minutes before time but it wasn't enough to spur a comeback.
Great Britain will face New Zealand in the bronze medal match after they were involved in one of two dramatic matches that took place today. New Zealand faced Netherlands in the first of today's semi-finals and the score finished 2-2 after extra time. Kayla Sharland put New Zealand ahead after six minutes via a penalty before Maartje Pauman equalised with a Dutch penalty on 32-minutes.
Krystal Forgesson once again put the Kiwis ahead on 48-minutes before Pauman again equalised with another penalty, this time on 53-minutes. With the teams not being able to be separated after extra time, the game went into a penalty shoot-out. Naomi Van As, Eva De Goede and Ellen Hoog managed to convert their attempts for the Netherlands whereas only Stacey Michelsen could only score for New Zealand, putting the Netherlands through.
The other piece of drama came in the Men's Handball quarter-finals where France took on Spain. After going 6-0 down, defending Olympic champions France responded to pull it back to 12-9 at half-time. The score then read 22-22 with only seconds remaining on the clock. France had one final play but the initial shot was parried by the Spanish keeper, the loose ball fell to William Accambray who managed to convert the rebound just as the final buzzer was about to sound. France make it through to the semi-finals where they will play Croatia.
There's also good news for Ireland. Cian O'Connor's bronze medal in the Individual Jumping Equestrian event is so far their only medal. But that will be added to tomorrow as Katie Taylor fights for the gold medal in the Women's Light Boxing event. She faces Russia's Sofya Ochigava in the final after beating Hungary's 19-year old Mavzuna Chorieva, 17-9, in today's semi-final.
Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark are potentially one race away from claiming a further gold for GB. The duo are taking part in the Women's 470 Sailing event and, after finishing second in race ten, will battle it out with New Zealand in the final race on Friday.
Unfortunately, there will be no gold medal for the Women's Hockey team who sadly crashed out against Argentina in the semi-finals. A penalty from Noel Barrionuevo and a half hour goal from Carla Rebecchi put Argentina 2-0 ahead. Alex Danson tried to put GB back into the game with a goal four minutes before time but it wasn't enough to spur a comeback.
Great Britain will face New Zealand in the bronze medal match after they were involved in one of two dramatic matches that took place today. New Zealand faced Netherlands in the first of today's semi-finals and the score finished 2-2 after extra time. Kayla Sharland put New Zealand ahead after six minutes via a penalty before Maartje Pauman equalised with a Dutch penalty on 32-minutes.
Krystal Forgesson once again put the Kiwis ahead on 48-minutes before Pauman again equalised with another penalty, this time on 53-minutes. With the teams not being able to be separated after extra time, the game went into a penalty shoot-out. Naomi Van As, Eva De Goede and Ellen Hoog managed to convert their attempts for the Netherlands whereas only Stacey Michelsen could only score for New Zealand, putting the Netherlands through.
The other piece of drama came in the Men's Handball quarter-finals where France took on Spain. After going 6-0 down, defending Olympic champions France responded to pull it back to 12-9 at half-time. The score then read 22-22 with only seconds remaining on the clock. France had one final play but the initial shot was parried by the Spanish keeper, the loose ball fell to William Accambray who managed to convert the rebound just as the final buzzer was about to sound. France make it through to the semi-finals where they will play Croatia.
There's also good news for Ireland. Cian O'Connor's bronze medal in the Individual Jumping Equestrian event is so far their only medal. But that will be added to tomorrow as Katie Taylor fights for the gold medal in the Women's Light Boxing event. She faces Russia's Sofya Ochigava in the final after beating Hungary's 19-year old Mavzuna Chorieva, 17-9, in today's semi-final.
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