Tokyo Olympics LIVE updates Japanese shock as Osaka eliminated D-Day for Fox
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Australian Owen Wright leads Brazil’s Gabriel Medina narrowly in the bronze medal battle in the men’s surfing. Down to 10 minutes to go in this heat.
The two regular bugbears of competitive surfing - poor waves and questionable judging - have been imported wholesale into the Tokyo Olympics. The venue, Tsurigasaki Beach near Tokyo, has unfortunately confirmed why more than a decade has passed since Japan hosted a world surfing tour event: the chances of striking good surf here in this particular week were minuscule. So the wave quality - one-foot dribble followed by weak and lumpy chop caused by the typhoon - has been a poor advertisement for surfing.
Owen Wright.Credit:AP
That said, the world’s best surfers can make diamonds out of rocks, particularly the Brazilian male world champions Italo Ferreira and Gabriel Medina, and the reigning women’s world champion, Hawaii’s Carissa Moore, whose skills can make even the worst waves look surfable. Moore squeaked past Japan’s rank outsider Amuro Tsuzuki, who had earlier benefited from some line-ball judging to defeat Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons, to make the final against South Africa’s Bianca Buitendag.
Meanwhile Ferreira accounted for Australia’s Owen Wright in the men’s semifinal, which means that in the bronze medal surf-off Wright will have to face Medina, who was controversially eliminated in his semifinal by American surfer Kanoa Igarashi, who since 2018 has worn the Japanese flag despite being born, raised and domiciled in the United States. (On current world rankings, Igarashi would not have made the two-man American team.)
Igarashi’s narrow win over Medina managed to melt down Brazilian Twitter with cries that Medina was roubado, or robbed. The judging did look a trifle Japan-friendly, but the polarising Medina wins little sympathy outside Brazil. In any case, in conditions that are deteriorating as the afternoon wears on, Medina, fired up after his shock loss, will make it hard for Wright to win bronze.
The happy news for the sport of surfing is that the 2024 event will be held at Teauhupoo, in Tahiti, in southern California in 2028 and on the Gold Coast in 2032. So it’s only going to get better than this.
As one of the fastest qualifiers for the semi-finals she will be racing at the back end of the field.
Curiously her father, former Olympian Richard Fox, is commentating for Channel Seven. He’ll provide plenty of insight I suppose but hopefully there’s no pretense of impartiality!
It’s a bit of an anti-climax that Naomi Osaka, the face of these Games and a Japanese national hero, has been eliminated so early in the tennis tournament.
My view is that it really highlights how remarkable it was that Cathy Freeman won gold in Sydney.
Naomi Osaka was eliminated on Tuesday.Credit:Getty
To back it up on the biggest stage, against the weight of expectation of a nation and having lit the cauldron only days earlier, is very hard to do given the pressure that comes from being the poster athlete of a home Olympics.
It is no disgrace that Osaka, who has been battling some issues ahead of these Olympics, has been knocked out, but it further enhances Freeman’s legacy.
Japan’s tennis superstar is out of the Tokyo Olympics.
Naomi Osaka lost to former French Open finalist Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-4 in the third round of the Tokyo tournament.
The second-ranked Osaka, who was born in Japan and grew up in the United States, struggled with her usually reliable groundstrokes.
The 42nd-ranked Vondrousova produced a series of drop-shot winners and other crafty hits that drew Osaka out of her comfort zone.
Osaka won her opening two matches in straight sets following a two-month mental-health break. But conditions were different Tuesday with the roof closed because it was raining outside.
AP
The Matildas face an uphill battle when they face world champions USA in a crunch game in the women’s Olympic Football tournament tonight.
The Australians are expected to progress to the next round as one of the competition’s best third placed teams if they don’t win this game, but they can make sure of their own destiny if they can pull off an against the odds upset.
The Matildas celebrate one of Sam Kerr’s two goals against Sweden.Credit:Getty
The US won the last World Cup and smashed up New Zealand 6-1 in their last outing while the Matildas could only beat their antipodean cousins 2-1.
Still it is football and we have seen down the years that anything can happen.
Good afternoon. I am Daniel Cherny and welcome to our afternoon coverage of Tokyo 2020, day four.
We are waiting for Jess Fox in the semis of the K1, with the final to follow. Fox is a champion. She’s won Olympic bronze and silver. But really, a reputation as a great Australian Olympian will only be cemented if she can clinch gold in Tokyo.
Jessica Fox in action in the kayak slalom heats on Sunday.Credit:Getty
Fox is the short-priced favourite in both the K1 and C1 events. She is also carrying the hopes of Australia’s Jewish community as one of three Jewish athletes on the Aussie Olympic team.
Thank you for joining us today. This is Sam Phillips handing over to Daniel Cherny for the evening’s big moments.
Kaylee McKeown celebrates after winning the gold medal in the women’s 100m backstroke final. Credit:Getty
Here’s our coverage of the biggest stories from day four so far:
All seven of Australia’s medals so far have come from swimming. This is a breakdown of the nation’s success in the pool at the Tokyo Olympic Games after four days.
Naomi Osaka appeared to be a woman on a mission through her first two matches, breezing to a pair of comfortable wins.
Unfortunately for locals, Japanese superstar’s third round match has been anything but a breeze.
Naomi Osaka.Credit:Getty
She dropped the first set to Marketa Vondrousova 1-6 in just 24 minutes.
Osaka can play the odd dreadful set and find a way to bounce back. She’ll have to do that to reach the quarter-finals of her home Games.
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