Sport-by-sport

Badminton: Eva Lee of Orange was eliminated in the first round of the women’s singles competition by Canada’s Anna Rice, 21-15, 21-19, 21-19. She still has a chance in today’s doubles with U.S. teammate Mesinee Mangkalakiri against Senegal’s Yanmei Jiang and Yujia Li.

Basketball: It wasn’t much of a game, but the U.S. women, led by Diana Taurasi’s 17 points, scored a 97-57 win over the Czech Republic. Sylvia Fowles had 16 points and 14 rebounds in a game that was over in the second quarter. The U.S. shot 52% (37 of 71) from the field. In other games, Australia beat Belarus, 83-64; New Zealand topped Mali, 76-72; China defeated Spain, 67-64, South Korea beat Brazil, 68-62 and Russia got by Latvia, 62-57. The U.S. women play China next.

Beach Volleyball: The U.S. team of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, defending world champions and gold-medal favorites, were stunned by Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs, 21-19, 21-18. Rogers and Dalhausser, who must win twice in pool play to advance to the medal round, return to the sand Monday. U.S. women Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs started right by defeating Rebekka Kadijk and Merel Mooren of the Netherlands, 21-19, 27-25. They play Monday against Germany’s Okka Rau and Stephanie Pohl.

Boxing: The U.S. has two fighters competing today. Javier Molina, a light welterweight, will face Boris Georgiev of Bulgaria and welterweight Demetrius Andrade will fight Kakhaber Jvania of Georgia.

Cycling: The story was the weather: hot, humid and the persistent Beijing haze (read: smog). And the person who handled it the best was Samuel Sanchez of Spain, who beat Davide Rebellin of Italy and Fabian Cancellara for the gold in the men’s road race. The bad air didn’t seem to particularly bother anyone. Levi Leipheimer was the highest U.S. finisher in 11th. The U.S. had medal hopes in Christian Vande Velde, but he finished a disappointing 17th. George Hincapie was the other American, finishing 40th.

Equestrian: The U.S. stands second after the first day of the dressage competition in Hong Kong. It trails Australia and is ahead of Germany. The second day of competition is today. In the individual event, Lucinda Fredericks of Australia leads, followed by Karin Donckers of Balarus and teammate Megan Jones.

mnastics: In women’s qualifying today, He Kexin, the 16-year-old Chinese uneven bars star whose age has been questioned in several media reports, fell off the bars on an easy swing and left the floor in tears. It could cost her a spot in the individual competition.

Handball: The women’s competition started to sort itself out after the first day of play. The results were France over Angola, Hungary over Sweden, Romania defeating Kazakhstan, Norway beating China and Germany topping Brazil. Russia and South Korea played to a tie.

Judo: There were upsets in the women’s 106-pound division. Alina Dumitru of Romania won the gold by beating Yanet Bermoy of Cuba. But it was Dumitru’s win over Ryoko Tani of Japan in the semifinals that was the surprise. Both Tani and Paula Pareto of Argentina were awarded the bronze. Sayaka Matsumoto of the U.S. lost to Tani in the early rounds. On the men’s side, Choi Min-ho of South Korea won the gold in the 132-pound class. Ludwig Paischer of Austria got the silver. Taraje Williams-Murray of the U.S. upset Hiroaki Hiroaka of Japan but lost to Javier Antonio Guedez Sanchez of Venezuela.

Sailing: In a preliminary Finn class race at Qingdao, Zach Railey of the United States moved up from 14th place to finish second. It was the first of 11 races in the series.

Shooting: The U.S. didn’t medal in the women’s air rifle, but the winner was familiar. Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic finished first to win the first medal of the Games. Emmons is married to U.S. shooter Matt Emmons and lives in Colorado Springs, Colo. Lioubov Galkina of Russia picked up the silver and Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia the bronze. Jamie Beyerle of the U.S. just missed and took fourth. Emily Caruso was the only other U.S. competitor and finished 15th in qualifying. In the men’s air rifle, Pang Wei picked up a gold for China followed by Jin Jong Oh of South Korea and Kim Jong Su of North Korea. The highest U.S. finishers were Jason Turner in fourth and Brian Meaman in fifth.

Soccer: Carli Lloyd’s goal in the 27th minute was enough for the U.S. women’s team to rebound from a first-game loss with a 1-0 win over Japan. The U.S. is in second place in Group G behind Norway, which defeated New Zealand, 1-0, in its second game. In other games, Germany beat Nigeria and Sweden defeated Argentina by scores of 1-0. Brazil beat North Korea, 2-1, and Canada tied China, 1-1. The U.S., which lost to Norway, 2-0, in its first game, finishes group play Tuesday against New Zealand and will advance to the next round with a victory.

olleyball: It was a very difficult day for the U.S. players after learning about the violent death of the father of former team member Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon in Beijing. Still, they went on to beat Japan 3 games to 1. In other matches, it was Italy over Russia, 3-1, Brazil beating Algeria, 3-0, Serbia topping Kazakhstan, 3-1, Cuba over Poland, 3-1, and China shutting out Venezuela, 3-0.

Weightlifting: Chen Xiexia won the first gold medal of the Games for China, also setting an Olympic record, in the clean and jerk. She was followed by Turkey’s Sibel Ozkan with the silver and Chen Wei-Ling of Taiwan with the bronze.