London Olympics: U.S. men’s beach volleyball team loses to Italy

LONDON — Defending Olympic beach volleyball gold medalists Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser were unceremoniously eliminated by a seemingly overmatched Italian team on Friday.

Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo of Italy were in command most of the match, winning, 21-17, 21-19. Rogers and Dalhausser fell behind, 12-7 in the second set before tying the score, 19-19, but lost the next two points.

“It’s a little bit different when you win,” Dalhausser said. “It takes about a month to sink in. When you lose, it smacks you right in the face the second the ball hits the sand.”

The U.S. pair was undefeated in pool play while the Italians were just 1-2, though they had beaten Rogers and Dalhausser twice before.

“People say, ‘They’re the young Phil and Todd,’” said Rogers, who is 38 and has said he will retire from international play after the Olympics. “I guess they ‘Phil and Todded’ us to death.”

On the women’s side, April Ross and Jennifer Kessy made it to the quarterfinals, beating Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr of Switzerland, 21-15, 21-19.

Archery: Oh Jin-hyek of South Korea won the men’s individual competition, giving his country three of the four archery golds. The only event South Korea did not win was the men’s team. Takaharu Furukawa of Japan got the silver and Dai Xiaoxiang of China the bronze. No U.S. archer made it to the second day of play.

Badminton: It was an all-Chinese final as Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei beat Xu Chen and Ma Jin, 21-11, 21-17, in mixed doubles. Joachim Fischer and Christinna Pedersen of Denmark beat Tontowi Ahmad and Lilyana Natsir of Indonesia for the bronze. Zhao has a chance for a second gold in women’s doubles.

Equestrian: After the first two days of dressage, Britain has a slim lead over Germany. The U.S. team of Jan Ebeling, Tina Konyot and Steffen Peters is in fifth. In individual competition, Charlotte Dujardin of Britain has the lead. Peters is the highest-ranked U.S. rider in sixth, followed by Tina Konyot (27th), Ebeling (30th) and Adrienne Lyle (35th).

Fencing: The U.S. team of Daryl Homer, James Williams and Timothy Morehouse couldn’t make it out of the quarterfinals of the men’s team sabre, losing to Russia, 45-33. The gold was won by South Korea, beating Romania in the championship match. Italy defeated Russia for the bronze.

Judo: As expected, Teddy Riner of France completed his collection of medals with a gold in the men’s over-200-pound class. In the final match, Alexander Mikhaylin of Russia put up little fight against Riner, prompting the crowd to boo. Andreas Toelzer of Germany and Rafael Silva of Brazil won the bronze medals. In the women’s over-172-pound class, Idalys Ortiz of Cuba beat Mika Sugimoto of Japan for the gold. Ortiz beat Tong Wen of China in the semifinals. It was Tong’s first loss since 2007. Tong and Karina Bryant of Britain got the bronzes.

Rowing: The only U.S. boat to row in a final on Friday finished sixth in the women’s double sculls. Margot Shumway and Sarah Trowbridge were no match for Anna Watkins and Katherine Grainger of Britain. Silver went to Australia and the bronze to Poland. Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand won the men’s single sculls followed by Ondrej Synek of the Czech Republic and Alan Campbell of Britain. The men’s quadruple sculls went Germany, Croatia and Australia, and the men’s pair was New Zealand, France and Britain.

Sailing: The U.S. had another unspectacular day on the water. In the 49er class, the U.S. team of Erik Storck and Trevor Moore were 10th with four races to go. Australia is in first. In the men’s 470, Stuart McNay and Graham Biehl are sitting in 11th with six races to go. Britain is leading. Zach Railey has his work cut out for him in the men’s Finn as he is in 12th with one race to go before the final. Only the top 10 boats qualify. After 10 races, Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih are in sixth place in the men’s star. Britain is on top. In the laser radial, Paige Railey is in ninth after eight races. Evi Van Acker of Belgium is the leader. The best position belongs to Sarah Lihan and Amanda Clark, who are fourth in the women’s 470 after just two races. Britain once again is in first.

Shooting: Cuba got its first-ever shooting medal when Leuris Pupo won the men’s 25-meter rapid-fire pistol competition. He beat Vijay Kumar of India by four shots. Ding Feng of China got the bronze. U.S. shooters Emil Milev and Keith Sanderson did not advance to the finals.

Table tennis: The U.S. could not get out of the first round against Japan in the women’s team competition. The team of Ariel Hsing, Erica Wu and Lily Zhang lost, 11-7, 11-7, 11-1. China is the favorite, and it dispatched Spain in its opening match.