Sport by sport

Archery: Vic Wunderle, the only U.S. archer remaining in the men’s competition, made it to the round of eight. He will face South Korea’s Im Dong-Hyun on Friday. The other Americans in the competition, Brady Ellison and Butch Johnson, were eliminated.

Badminton: The U.S. doubles dream ended when Howard Bach and Bob Malaythong were beaten by the second-seeded team, Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, 21-9, 21-10. It was the first time the U.S. had advanced to the quarterfinal round.

Baseball: On the opening night of play, the U.S. suffered a stinging defeat to South Korea, 8-7. In other games, Taiwan shut out the Netherlands, 5-0; Canada shut out China, 10-0; and Cuba beat Japan, 4-2.

Basketball: It was an easy game for the U.S. women, beating Mali, 97-41. The U.S. plays Spain on Friday. In other games, Russia defeated Belarus, 71-65; Spain beat the Czech Republic, 74-55; Latvia beat Brazil, 79-78; China beat New Zealand, 80-63; and Australia stopped South Korea, 90-62.

Beach volleyball: The U.S. continued to steamroller through competition as the men’s team of Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers beat Martin Conde and Mariano Baracetti of Argentina in the morning, 21-12, 21-13. In the evening, the women’s team of Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs beat Milagros Crespo and Imara Estevez of Cuba, 21-19, 13-21, 15-12. Both teams move to the round of 16 starting Friday.

Boxing: It was a good day for the U.S. In an early bout, heavyweight Deontay Wilder took a 10-4 decision from Abdeoaziz Touiobini of Algeria. He will next fight Mohammed Arjaoui of Morocco. In the only other bout involving an American, light-flyweight Luis Yanez beat Jose Kelvin de la Nieve of Spain, 12-9. Yanez next fights against Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia.

Canoe/Kayak: In women’s kayak slalom, Heather Corrie reached the semifinals and sits 10th after her first two runs. The leader is Elena Kaliska of Slovakia. In the men’s canoe double, the U.S. will not advance to the finals, having been eliminated and sitting in 11th out of 12 places. Rick Powell and Casey Eichfield were in the canoe.

Cycling: It was quite a day for the U.S. in the road cycling individual time trials. Kristin Armstrong surprised when she won the gold more than 24 seconds faster than Emma Pooley of Britain. The other U.S. cyclist, Christine Thorburn, finished fifth. On the men’s side, Levi Leipheimer of the U.S. won the bronze.

Diving: Once again, the U.S. just missed hitting the medals platform. Chris Colwill and Jevon Tarantino finished fourth in the men’s synchronized 3-meter springboard competition. The winners were from China: Wang Feng and Qin Kai.

Equestrian: After the first day of dressage competition, Courtney King and Mythilus sit in medal contention in fourth place. Heike Kemmer of Germany, Emma Hindle of Britain and Imke Schellekens-Bartels of the Netherlands are leading her. In the team competition, the Netherlands, Britain and Sweden have the top three spots.

Fencing: No medals for the U.S. on Wednesday, but there was one respectable performance. Gerek Meinhardt finished 10th in the men’s individual foil. In the women’s epee, Kelley Hurley was the lone American in 20th.

Field hockey: Three teams remained undefeated after the second game of the men’s tournament. Spain beat New Zealand, 1-0; Australia destroyed South Africa, 10-0; and the Netherlands got by Britain, 1-0, to stay without a loss. In other games, South Korea beat China, 5-2; Pakistan beat Canada, 3-1; and Belgium and Germany played to a 1-1 tie.

Handball: Norway and Romania both moved to 3-0 on the women’s side of the draw. Romania beat France, 34-26; and Norway blitzed Kazakhstan, 35-19. In other games, Russia beat Brazil, 28-19; South Korea topped Sweden, 31-23; China beat Angola, 32-24; and Hungary just got by Germany, 25-24.

Judo: Ronda Rousey made a little history by winning the first U.S. medal since the sport became official in 1992. Rousey won five matches, losing one, and was awarded the bronze medal in the 70-kg division. Irakli Tsirekidze of Georgia won the gold in the men’s 90-kg division.

Rowing: Two U.S. boats reached the last round. Michelle Guerette advanced to the women’s single sculls finals, and in the men’s pair finals Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss also advanced. In the men’s four, David Banks, Paul Teti, Giuseppe Lanzone and Brett Newlin failed to make the cut.

Sailing: The U.S. had a good day on the water, making progress in many of the divisions. In the Laser Radial competition, Anna Tunnicliffe moved into first ahead of Mateja Petronijevic of Croatia after six races. In the Finn class, Zach Railey is in second after seven races, trailing Ben Ainslie of Britain. The Yngling competition is being led by Britain and the Netherlands, but the crew of Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Deborah Capozzi hold down third. Andrew Campbell moved up to eighth in the laser division, Diego Romero of Italy and Gustavo Lima of Portugal holding down the first two spots. Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast have the fifth spot in the 49er division. Teams from Australia, Denmark and Italy have the first three spots. The U.S. is 14th in 470 women and 17th in 470 men.

Shooting: It was another medal for China in the shooting as Chen Ying won the women’s 25-meter pistol. Elizabeth Callahan of the U.S. finished 25th and Rebecca Snyder was 28th.

Soccer: Despite some respectable play, the U.S. men were eliminated from the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Nigeria. In other games, the Netherlands beat Japan, 1-0; South Korea beat Honduras, 1-0; Argentina topped Serbia, 2-0; Belgium defeated New Zealand, 1-0; Brazil beat China, 3-0; Ivory Coast defeated Australia, 1-0; and Cameroon and Italy played to a 0-0 tie.

Softball: After routing Venezuela, the U.S. team had to play a bit harder but still was the easy winner in a 3-0 victory over Australia. In other games, China beat Venezuela, 7-1; Japan beat Taiwan, 2-1; and Canada beat the Netherlands, 9-2.

Table tennis: It was a quick exit for the U.S. women’s team. Jun Gao and Chen Wang lost their opening-round singles matches against Singapore. Then, in doubles, Gao and Crystal Huang lost to Wang Yue Gu and Li Jia Wei, 3-0. They will continue to play in the Group B category.

Volleyball: The U.S. women upped their record to 2-1 with a four-set win over Venezuela. After winning, 25-17, 20-25, 25-14, 25-18, they return to play Friday against China. In other games, Italy won three sets to none over Algeria; Russia beat Kazakhstan by the same score, as did Brazil over Serbia. Also, Cuba just got by China, 3-2.

Water polo: It wasn’t the match that was hoped for, but the U.S. women’s team escaped with a 9-9 tie against Italy. It could have been worse, but goalie Betsey Armstrong rejected 10 of 19 shots. In other games, Hungary and Australia tied, 7-7; the Netherlands beat Greece, 9-6; and China beat Russia, 13-11. The U.S., now 1-1, plays Russia on Friday.

Weightlifting: Not much to speak of for the U.S. lifters. In the men’s 77-kg, Sa Jae-hyouk of South Korea won the gold. In the women’s 69-kg, Liu Chunhong of China was first. Oxana Slivenko of Russia was second.

Wrestling: There were a lot of hopes riding on Jake Deitchler, 18, in his first Olympic Games. But he lost his opening-round Greco-Roman match in the 66-kg category and then was beaten in the repechage. Steve Guenot of France won the gold medal in the 66-kg class. Deitchler finished 12th. Manuchar Kvirkelia of Georgia stepped away with the gold in the 74-kg class. T.C. Dantzler was the high American in 16th.

-- John Cherwa, Orlando Sentinel