Women's Football: Sweden beat Brazil 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out after the sides were goalless following extra time last night to reach the final of the women’s football tournament at the Rio Olympics. Sweden, whose previous best showing at an Olympics was a fourth place finish in 2004, will now face the winner of the other semi-final between Germany and Canada. Lisa Dahlkvist scored the decisive penalty on Sweden’s fifth attempt after Andressa, the youngest player on the Brazil squad, saw her penalty saved by Hedvig Lindahl.
Gymnastics: Greek muscle man Eleftherios Petrounias showed off his superior power in the strongman’s event as he edged out local favourite and 2012 champion Arthur Zanetti to win the rings gold medal at the Olympics. Petrounias added the Rio Games title to the world and European crowns he holds with a score of 16.000. Zanetti lost out on the top prize by 0.234 of a point while Russia’s Denis Abliazin had to settle for bronze.
Wrestling: Greco-Roman wrestling took on some Cuban flair in Rio, as Mijain Lopez won his third consecutive Olympic gold, equalling the record set by legendary Russian Aleksandr Karelin. Lopez celebrated by doing a salsa-infused, hip-shimmy dance in the middle of the mat, sending the strong Cuban fan base and an arena full of Brazilians into ecstasy. Lopez took the gold in a dominating 6-0 win over reigning world champion Riza Kayaalp, of Turkey, to match Karelin’s feat – the Russian won golds at the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Games.
Boxing: Russia’s Evgeny Tishchenko won the Olympic heavyweight gold medal to a chorus of boos from the crowd after beating Kazakhstan’s Vasily Levit on a unanimous points decision. Levit, whose world champion opponent required medical attention for a cut in the third and final round, had to settle for silver despite seeming to land more punches and steer the fight. The bronze medals went to losing semi-finalists Rustam Tulaganov, of Uzbekistan, and Erislandy Savon, of Cuba.
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Weightlifting: Ruslan Nurudinov (picture) lived up to his billing as the ‘Pride of Uzbekistan’ with a routine victory in the 105kg category. Nurudinov, who has undergone two bouts of knee surgery in the past two years, won with an overall total of 431kg. Armenian teenager Simon Martirosyan put in a remarkable performance to take silver, the 19-year-old finishing ahead of two men who had beaten him at the European Championships in April with a career-best total of 417kg. It was Armenia’s first medal in Rio.