London Olympics: U.S. archery hopes go wide of mark

LONDON — There was such hope for the U.S. archers, especially after the men’s team opened play with a silver medal.

But things dissolved fast as their best hope for an individual medal — Brady Ellison — lost in the round of 16 to Taylor Worth of Australia, 112-106. Ellison was on a roll entering the Games. He won his last eight World Cup events and finished third in last year’s world championship.

Jacob Wukie and Jake Kaminski both went out in the round of 32.

The remaining U.S. hope is on the women’s side, where Khatuna Lorig has advanced to the round of eight. She will shoot against Cheng Ming of China on Thursday.

Beach volleyball: The team of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh lost their first set ever in Olympic play but still managed to beat sisters Stefanie and Doris Schwaiger of Austria, 17-21, 21-8, 15-10. The team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal easily handled the Latvian pair of Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Ruslans Sorokins, 21-10, 21-16.

Canoe-kayak: The men’s kayak slalom singles ended with Daniele Molmenti of Italy winning the gold medal. He was 1.35 seconds faster than Vavrinec Hradilek of the Czech Republic. Hannes Aigner of German got the bronze.

Judo: The U.S. took a day off from competing for any medals, leaving the men’s 198-pound class for South Korea’s Song Dae-nam to take the gold. Asley Gonzalez of Cuba won the silver, and the two bronzes were awarded to Ilias Iliadis of Greece and Masashi Nishiyama of Japan. In the women’s 154-pound class, Lucie Decosse of France won the gold with Kerstin Thiele of Germany taking the silver and Yuri Alvear of Colombia and Edith Bosch of the Netherlands getting bronze.

Rowing: The best hope for a gold comes Thursday when the U.S. women’s eight goes against a tough Canadian boat. The U.S. boat hasn’t lost in five years. On Wednesday, the women’s quadruple scull won a bronze. Natalie Dell, Megan Kalmoe, Kara Kohler and Adrienne Martelli finished almost five seconds behind the winning boat. Ukraine got the gold and Germany the silver.The U.S. was fourth in the men’s eight. Germany, Canada and Britain filled the medal stand, in that order. In the women’s pairs, Britain won its first gold medal of the Games. Australia was second and New Zealand third. Sara Hendershot and Sarah Zelenka of the U.S. finished fourth.

Sailing: The U.S. crew of Anna Tunnicliffe, Debbie Capozzi, Molly O’Bryan Vandemoer gives the U.S. its best medal chance as it sits in fourth after 48 of 66 races in the women’s match-racing competition. They have a 5-2 record. Australia is leading. In the women’s windsurfer class, after four races, Marina Alabau Neira of Spain is in first and Farrah Hall of the U.S. is 18th after finishing 18th in Wednesday’s two races. In the women’s Laser Radial competition, after six races Annalise Murphy of Ireland is leading and Paige Railey of the U.S. is in seventh. She finished fourth and ninth in her two races. In the 49er group, Australia leads after six races and the U.S. is seventh. The crew of Erik Storck and Trevor Moore finished seventh and 12th in their races. And in the men’s windsurfer, Bob Willis is in 13th place after finishing 11th and 25th in his races. Dorian van Rijsselberge of the Netherlands leads after four races.

Shooting: South Korea picked up a gold when Kim Jang-mi won the women’s 25-meter pistol competition. Chen Ying of China was second and Olena Kostevych of Ukraine was third. The only U.S. shooter, Sandra Uptagrafft, finished 28th.

Soccer: In men’s play it was a good win for Britain as it beat Uruguay,1-0. In other games Mexico shut out Switzerland, 1-0; Brazil beat New Zealand, 3-0; Egypt beat Belarus, 3-1; and Senegal tied the United Arab Emirates, 1-1. South Korea-Gabon, Japan-Honduras and Spain-Morocco all played to 0-0 ties.

Table tennis: China took first and second on the women’s side although it was a bit of an upset. Li Xiaoxia beat Ding Ning. Afterward, Ding suggested she was subjected to overly strict calls from the Italian referee. Feng Tianwei of Singapore won the bronze. China has won 21 of 25 gold medals in this sport since it was introduced.

Weightlifting: China finished first and second in the men’s 170-pound class, Lu Xiaojun set both snatch and total world records on the way to the gold. Lu Haojie took the silver and Ivan Cambar Rodriguez of Cuba got the bronze. In the women’s 152-pound class, Rim Jong-sim of North Korea finished first, followed by Roxana Daniela Cocos of Romania and Maryna Shkermankova of Belarus.

john.cherwa@latimes.com