Olympic Roundup: Judoka Sanshiro Murao Grabs the Middleweight Silver

Japan's Sanshiro Murao came up short in his quest for an Olympic gold medal in the men's judo 90-kilogram final on Wednesday, July 31.

Murao scored first against Tokyo Olympic champion Lasha Bekauri of Georgia with an early waza-ari to put himself in a position to win.

But Bekauri rallied with two waza-ari of his own ― a sukui-nage (a scooping throw) and a ko-uchi-gari (a foot technique throw) ― to seal the win at Champs-de-Mars Arena.

Murao, whose mother is from the United States, was bidding to become the first Japanese to claim the title in the division since Mashu Baker did so at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

"I am really disappointed," the silver medalist said, according to Kyodo News.

He added, "I had prepared to win no matter what the situation was, so I fought with confidence."

Murao was attempting to give Japan its fourth judo gold medal of the Paris Games after Natsumi Tsunoda in the women's 48-kg weight class, Hifumi Abe in the men's 66-kg division and Takanori Nagase in the men's 81-kg weight class.

Swimming

Hanaguruma, Watanabe Place 5th, 6th in 200-Meter Breaststroke Final; Marchand Sets Olympic Record

Former world record holder Ippei Watanabe advanced to the final of the men's 200-meter breaststroke on Wednesday, July 31, but ended up sixth behind teammate Yu Hanaguruma, in the race at Paris La Defense Arena.

France's Leon Marchand won the final in an Olympic record time of 2 minutes, 5.85 seconds. Australia's Zac Stubblety-Cook took the silver in 2:06.79, while Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands earned the bronze with 2:07.90.

Hanaguruma came in fifth on 2:08.79, while Watanabe's time in sixth was 208.83.

Watanabe, who shockingly did not make the team for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, also finished sixth in the 200-meter breaststroke final in his first Olympics at the 2016 Rio Games.

"I started swimming because I admired Kosuke Kitajima," Watanabe was quoted as saying after Wednesday's final by Sports Hochi.

He added, "I achieved the goal of making the Rio Olympics and I have made a lot of efforts for eight years. Even after the frustration of Tokyo, I chose to continue to be active in the desire to stand on this stage again."

Added Watanabe, "I worked hard on this event from about the age of 20 to 27."

He then said, "I was able to grow up a lot on the Olympic stage, [and] I don't know what will happen in the future."

Table Tennis

Hirano's Spirited Comeback Falls Short in Quarterfinals

Japanese table tennis player Miu Hirano almost pulled off a comeback for the ages on Wednesday, August 1.

Hirano lost the first three sets of her singles quarterfinal match at South Paris Arena by scores of 11-4, 11-7 and 11-5 to fourth-ranked Yubin Shin of South Korea. 

After dropping the three sets Hirano, ranked No 8, then called for a timeout and went to the locker room to regroup.

When she re-emerged, Hirano seized the momentum and won the next three sets by scores of 11-7, 11-8 and 11-9 to force a decisive seventh set.

In the final set, Hirano was down 5-1 but rallied to tie the score before eventually losing 13-11.

Hirano coasted through her first three matches beating Italy's Giorgia Piccilin 4-0, Hong Kong's Chengzhu Zhu 4-0 and India's Manika Batra 4-1.

She will still have a shot at a medal when the women's team event begins on Saturday.

Basketball

Japan Women Fall to 0-2 in Paris Games

Germany defeated Japan, the Tokyo 2020 silver medalist in women's basketball, 75-64 in a Group C group phase match on Thursday, August 1 at Pierre Mauroy Stadium.

Japan dropped to 0-2 at the Paris Games.

Maki Takada led Japan with 15 points and Saori Miyazaki scored 13.

For Germany, Satou Sabally poured in 33 points.

Japan guard Saki Hayashi said her team did not handle the pressure of matching Germany's high-level performance in this game, which was held in Villeneve-d'Ascq, France.

"We failed to seize the momentum when we had the chance, and if you are unable to do that on this stage, you are not going to win," Hayashi, who had 11 points, told reporters.

Without a victory over Belgium on Sunday, to wrap up group phase play, Japan has no mathematical possibility of advancing to the Olympic quarterfinals. 

Golf

Matsuyama Builds 2-Stroke Lead in Opening Round

In the Olympic men's golf tournament, Hideki Matsuyama carded an 8-under 63 in the first round on Thursday, August 1 to take a two-stroke lead.

At Le Golf Nation, American Xander Schauffele finished with a 6-under 66, while Chile's Joaquin Niemann, Emiliano Grillo of Argentina and South Korea's Tom Kim all shot 5-under 66s in the opening round.

Japan's Keita Nakajima shot a 1-under 70.

Matsuyama, winner of the Masters in 2021, also competed at the 2020 Olympics, placing fourth in the competition.

Medal Table

Check out the latest info on Team Japan's athletes and the full rundown on medals on the official website of the Paris Games.

As of 11:30 PM JST on Thursday, August 1, Japan had collected 15 Olympic medals (eight gold, three silver and four bronze).

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Authors: Jim Armstrong, Jack Gallagher and Ed Odeven