Russia yesterday trounced South Africa to win the Taipei Summer Universiade women’s soccer bronze medal, while Taiwan competed against Colombia for 11th place in the consolation round.
South Africa played tough in the first half and held Russia scoreless entering halftime, but six minutes after the restart, Russia’s midfielder Anna Cholovyaga was hacked down in front of South African goal area.
The referee awarded a penalty and Russia’s Ekaterina Pantiukhina converted to take the lead 1-0.
Photo: Chao Hsin-tien, Taipei Times
That opened the floodgates for Russia, with Pantiukhina netting the ball, followed by Natalia Mashina, Marina Fedorova and Viktoriia Shkoda, as South Africa’s defense wilted, giving Russia a 5-0 win.
Taiwan lit up the scoreboard with five goals to win convincingly against Colombia and claim 11th place.
Strikers Yu Hsiu-chin and Chi Ting found the net late in the first half for the 2-0 lead.
In the second half, Chi netted another goal, before substitute Lo Shu-yun and defender Lin Ya-han fired two more past Colombia’s goalkeeper Luisa Sierra to round out the 5-0 romp.
Japan and Brazil competed in the gold medal match last night and were 0-0 heading into end of 90 minute regulation time.
In the baseball semi-finals, the US advanced into today’s gold medal game at the expense of the Czech Republic with an 8-4 win, and Japan gained berth into the final by blanking South Korea 4-0.
The US floundered early and fell behind 4-3, but rallied to score five runs in the seventh frame for the come-from-behind victory.
Outfielder Robert Neustrom had four hits and three RBIs, helping his team advance to the final.
South Korea is to take on the Czech Republic for the bronze at noon, while Japan is to face the US at 6:30pm, with both contests taking place at Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium.
In the consolation round, Taiwan clobbered Russia 7-1, and France downed Mexico 11-5.
France bashed out hits to pile on eight runs after only four innings of play, as they rolled past Mexico with surprising ease for an 11-5 result.
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