The Netherlands upset defending gold medalists Italy 13-11 in penalty shots in the quarter-finals of the Olympic women’s water polo tournament yesterday.
Erzsebet Valkai’s first missed penalty shot in three years with the Italian national team came at the worst possible time, helping the Dutch to victory.
“Three years, no mistakes in penalties,” Italian coach Mauro Maugeri said. “Never miss. Never in European championships. Never in Olympic qualification. Never in Olympics. Never in three years. Never.”
PHOTO: AFP
The Netherlands advanced to play Hungary in the semi-finals on Tuesday. The Hungarians won the teams’ earlier meeting, 11-9 in pool play.
“It’s our duty to reset that first match, if you know what I mean,” Dutch driver Danielle de Bruijn said. “I think we have a score to settle.”
Australia and the US, the top two teams in the world rankings, will meet in the other semi-final. The Australians overcame countless mistakes to edge China 12-11 yesterday.
“We survived and we’re going to beat America next,” Australian coach Greg McFadden said.
The Netherlands, ranked ninth in the world, came to Beijing as longshots for a medal. And many gave them even less chance after they went 1-2 in preliminary play, with the lone victory coming against a Greek squad that finished 0-4 and was outscored by a whopping 17 goals.
But the Dutch outplayed Italy most of the match. The Italians trimmed a two-goal deficit in half with 2:06 remaining in regulation, then got the equalizer with 4 seconds to play.
Elisa Casanova, playing with a mask to protect her broken nose, drew a penalty shot foul around the 2m spot. Valkai was called on to make the shot, and she skipped it past goalkeeper Ilse van der Meijden. This time, Van der Meijden guessed wrong and lunged in the opposite direction of the ball.
Neither team scored in two overtime periods, and the match went to penalty shots — an alternating, best-of-five situation.
Carlos Alcaraz on Monday powered into the French Open second round with a resounding win to start his title defense, while world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and three-time defending women’s champion Iga Swiatek also progressed at Roland Garros. Four-time Grand Slam champion Alcaraz struck 31 winners in a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri and is to face Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in round two. Alcaraz is now on an eight-match winning streak at the French Open and also took Olympic silver at Roland Garros last year, losing the final to Novak Djokovic. “The first round is never
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
The horn sounded on Wednesday night to signal a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, as the Florida Panthers celebrated merely by hopping over the boards and several heading over to congratulate goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. It was a subdued celebration seemingly more befitting a regular-season win for the reigning Cup champs. “I remember a few years ago, it felt like such an accomplishment from where we were at one point,” forward Matthew Tkachuk said, adding: “It’s all business and we’ve got a bigger goal in mind.” The Panthers closed out the Carolina Hurricanes in five games, with a 5-3 victory in
RSS