Olympics: Montenegro's Red Sharks taste defeat

22/08/2008

Hungary stunned European champion Montenegro in the water polo semifinals, and Serbia lost to the United States 10-5.

Goalkeeper Zdravko Radic of Montenegro attempts to block a shot in the semifinal game against Hungary in the water polo event at the Yingdong Natatorium on Friday (August 22nd). [Getty Images]

Montenegro's men's water polo team fell to Hungary in the semifinals Friday (August 22nd). The final score was 11-9 (3-4, 3-3, 3-0, 2-2). Nikola Janovic, Veljko Uskokovic and Vladimir Gojkovic each scored two goals, while Aleksander Ivovic, Boris Zlokovica and Predrag Jocic had one apiece.

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Serbia lost to the United States in its men's water polo semifinal match on Friday. Three Serbian players scored goals –Dusko Pijetlovic and Vladimir Vujasinovic with two each, and Aleksander Sapic with one. The match was tight, but the United States prevailed in the second and third quarters and then left the Serbs far behind in the fourth.

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Greece won its semifinal match up with Germany in men's water polo. Georgios Ntoskas had six goals, and the team prevailed 13-9 (3-3, 3-1, 4-2, 3-3). Greece will battle Australia Sunday for seventh place in the tournament.

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Turkey's Azize Tanrikulu won the silver medal in 57kg women's taekwondo on Thursday (August 21st). Gold went to Korea's Sujeong Lim, who beat Tanrikulu with a final score of 1-0. Meanwhile, Servet Tazegul earned a bronze in the men's 68kg category, defeating Peter Lopez of Peru. Turkey now has seven medals at the Beijing Games.

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France defeated Croatia in the men's handball semifinal Friday (August 22nd). The score was 25-23. Top scorers for the Croatian side were Zlatko Horvat and Goran Sprem, with five goals each. In women's handball, France dispatched Romania 36-34 in the 5-8 placement round.

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Kayaker Stjepan Janic of Croatia was seventh in the 1,000m men's final. The gold went to Tim Brabants of Britain. Meanwhile, Romanian canoeist Florin Georgian Mironcic finished sixth in the 1,000m final of his event.

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Elisavet Mystakidou of Greece made it into the women's round of 16 in taekwondo, 67kg category. She then lost to Asuncion Ocasio Rodriguez of Puerto Rico, 1-0. In the same category, Turkey's Sibel Guler lost to Vanina Paola Sanchez Peron of Argentina (4-0). Her compatriot Bahri Tanrikulu lost to Steven Lopez of the United States (3-0) in men's 80kg taekwondo.

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In the men's javelin throw, Greece's Ioannis-Yeoryios Smalios ended up in 13th place and did not make it out of the qualifying round. He threw the javelin 71.87m. Another regional competitor, <b>Bulgaria's</b> Neshev Kolyo, was 18th with a 66.0m effort. In the men's triple jump final, Bulgarian Momcjil Karaliev was 11th with a 16.8m leap.

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Greece's Athanasia Tsoumeleka competed in the women's 20km walk, finishing in ninth-place with a time of 1:27:54. The winner was Olga Kaniskina of Russia. She finished the event in 1:26:31. Meanwhile, Konstandina Efedaki ran the women's 1500m but finished 10th in the first heat and did not advance.

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In men's table tennis, Kalinikos Kreanga of Greece made it through the third round of the singles event. He lost in the fourth round to Ma Lin of China (4-0).

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Romanian javelin thrower Felicea Moldovan-Tilea made it to the finals of the women's event, where she finished in 12th place. She threw the javelin 53.04m.

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Serbia's Nenad Filipovic placed 30th in the men's 50km walk, with a time of 4:02:16. The gold went to Alex Schwazer of Italy (3:37:09).

(Various sources – 22/08/08)