Japan shocks Kiwis in rugby sevens; Sonny Bill out of Games

Japan stunned New Zealand 14-12 in their opening match of the Olympic rugby sevens on Tuesday as All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams sustained a tournament-ending achilles tendon injury.
The opening pool match upset was an echo of Japan’s famous victory over South Africa in the 15-a-side World Cup in Brighton, the biggest shock the sport has ever seen.
“It’s unbelievable, you never see a minnow team come here and beat a team supposed to be a gold medal contender. I’m still shocked, to be honest,” said Japan’s New Zealand-born playmaker Lomano Lemeki.
There was worse news to come for New Zealand with news that Williams had been ruled out with a partial achilles rupture and replaced in the 12-man squad by Sione Molia.
At a sun-kissed Deodoro Stadium, with massive support for the underdogs, Truya Goto squeezed past Rieko Ioane’s tackle to dot down in the corner to open Japan’s account.
Their lead was short-lived, however, as Gillies Kaka exchanged passes with Akira Ioane before putting in skipper Scott Curry.
Akira Ioane crossed for New Zealand’s second but Kameli Soejima scrambled over to draw the scores level, Katsuyuki Sakai’s conversion pulling the Japanese two points clear for a famous win.
Argentina edged the United States 17-14 in the other Pool A game.
In Pool B Terry Bouhraoua crossed for a hat-trick to help France to a 31-14 upset over a disjointed Australia, while second seeds South Africa, with Cecil Afrika on fire, opened their account with a 24-0 win over Spain.
Michael Jung successfully defended his Olympic individual eventing title on Tuesday to deliver Germany their first gold medal on the fourth day of the Rio Games.
Jung, riding Sam — with whom he also won at London 2012 — produced a flawless round in the concluding jumping phase at the Deodoro equestrian center.
France’s Astier Nicolas took silver, with American Phillip Dutton in the bronze position.
Defending champion Andy Murray raced into the Olympic Games last 16 Tuesday, blitzing Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 6-1, before sympathizing with long-time rival Novak Djokovic over his stunning exit.
World number two Murray is looking to become the first man to win two Olympic singles golds, a cause helped when Juan Martin del Potro put out world No.1 Djokovic in the first round.
French Open champion and third seed Garbine Muguruza was knocked out of the losing 6-1, 6-1 to Monica Puig of Puerto Rico.
Puig, the world No. 34, goes on to face Germany’s Laura Siegemund for a place in the semifinals.
China easily won its second gold medal in diving at the Rio Olympics, dominating the men’s 10-meter synchronized event while showing the rest of the world how to barely make a splash.
Chen Aisen and Lin Yue totaled 496.98 points on Monday, cruising to victory by 39.87 points.
American teammates David Boudia and Steele Johnson took silver at 457.11. Tom Daley and Daniel Goodfellow of Britain rallied to claim bronze in 445.45.
China is aiming to sweep the eight diving events in Rio de Janeiro for the first time in the Olympics. A day earlier, the Chinese won the women’s 3-meter synchro title.
Chen and Lin were especially impressive on their final two dives, totaling the most points of any team in both rounds.
China, the United States and Britain all performed the same dive in the fifth round, a forward 4½ somersaults tuck that carries one of the highest degrees of difficulty.
The Americans went first, scoring 85.47 points. China was next, with Chen and Lin putting on a clinic with a score of 106.56. They plunged into the water off the 33-foot tower with very little splash and earned a perfect 10 for synchronization.
Daley and Goodfellow went last, scoring 92.13 and good enough to move the Brits from fifth to third after the German duo of Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein performed a less difficult dive that earned fewer points and dropped them to fourth.
In the last round, the Americans and Chinese did the same dive, a back 2½ somersaults with 2½ twists pike only slightly less difficult than their previous one.
Boudia and Johnson went first, scoring 95.04 points with marks as high as 9.0.
Chen and Lin did even better, hitting the water in unison and being rewarded with 9.5s and 9.0s.
Lin earned his first gold in the event since 2008, when he and Huo Liang teamed to win synchro platform in their home country. He didn’t compete in the event four years ago in London.
With lots of Chinese flags and fans in the stands, the crowd booed heartily when it saw the judges’ marks for Chen and Lin in the fourth round. Fans didn’t think the scores ranging from 8.0 to 8.5 were nearly high enough, but it hardly mattered.

Source: Arab News