Australia Olympic teamAustralia overcome nerves to come from a goal down and win 2-1Rugby sevens team’s dominant opening win soured by injury
Australian Associated Press
Sun 28 Jul 2024 16.17 CEST
The Hockeyroos will seek to add polish to their defensive grit after avoiding a South African ambush in a 2-1 Olympic opening win. The world No 5 Australians were caught out early by the world No 18 side and could have easily trailed by more than 1-0 at quarter-time at a sun-drenched Stade Yves-du-Manoir.
But attacking midfielder Stephanie Kershaw’s spark, a touch of fortune and then some final-quarter composure ensured they got their Paris tilt on track.
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“I think we got all the nerves out,” Kershaw said. “We didn’t step up as quickly as we wanted to but we got better. We were buzzing to get out there and trying to get rid of that nervous energy. We have a lot more in us, but we did what we needed to do.”
The Hockeyroos are three-time Olympic champions but have not reached the semi-finals since claiming their last title in Sydney, 24 years ago.
A knee injury to Kaitlin Shave cast a shadow over Australia’s dominant Olympic women’s rugby sevens start in Paris. South Africa were seeing double in a 34-5 loss to the Rio 2016 champions, Maddison Levi scoring four tries and sister Teagan adding another in a commanding first-up win on Sunday at Stade de France.
But replacement Shave’s late knee injury, rubbed in when she received a yellow card for a high tackle after the incident, soured things ahead of their second pool game against the dangerous Great Britain later on Sunday.
Sariah Paki tries to evade Libbie Janse Van Rensburg. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
European champions Spain proved too strong for Australia, beating the Sharks 9-5 in men’s Olympic water polo. Australia made an encouraging start in their opening Group B game on Sunday despite Spain taking the early lead, maintaining pressure and only trailing by one goal late in the first half. But a goal on half-time to Spain, then two more early in the second half, snapped the Australian challenge.
Australia’s dream of another medal in the team eventing competition evaporated after one of the horses went lame during the cross country section on the spectacular Chateau de Versailles course.
Kevin McNab one of the silver medal-winning team from Tokyo three years ago, took the decision to withdraw his mount Don Quidam midway through his round because he felt there was a problem. The horse is expected to make a full recovery, the AOC said.
The withdrawal of one of the team’s three horses meant there was no chance of the Australian trio of McNab, Shane Rose and Chris Burton emulating the performance in Japan as the 200-point penalty for a retirement meant the trio have no chance of a team medal in Monday’s showjumping finale.
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Source link : https://amp.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/jul/29/paris-olympic-games-2024-australia-round-up-day-two
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Publish date : 2024-07-28 14:17:00
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