Reuters Sports News Summary

08/13/2016 19:51

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Tennis: Puerto Rico wins first gold as Puig clinches women's title

Puerto Rico won their first Olympic gold medal on Saturday as Monica Puig clinched the women's tennis title at the Rio Games. Puig beat Germany's Angelique Kerber 6-4 4-6 6-1.

Host Brazil set to face disappointing medal count

Host Brazil is likely to miss its medal target after losses in judo, almost certainly a first Olympics without a swimming medal since 2004 and dashed hopes in tennis and archery. After registering a record number of podiums at London 2012 with 17 medals, Team Brazil set a goal for Rio of finishing in the top 10 medal winning nations.

Rio's legacy: a highway where Games buses and local anger collide

Ester Silva curses the Olympic Games as another bus rumbles over a new elevated highway that passes by her slum in Rio de Janeiro, sending a tremor through her brittle brick house. "That road ripped our little community in two," said Silva, 61, who has run a snack shop for 16 years from her home, gesturing up at a stretch of highway where an official Games bus was hit with stones this week as it traveled between venues.

Athletics: Rio gets Bolt fever, Harting snatches discus gold

Usain Bolt took the first "sluggish" steps towards his hoped-for Olympic triple-triple on Saturday when he eased through his 100 meters heat as the fans turned out in force to see the sport's superstar bring the athletics program to life. After Friday's feeble turnout on a grey, wet morning, there were enough in the 60,000-capacity stadium to attempt a somewhat ragged Mexican wave in the Saturday sunshine, although there was no shortage of excitement to keep them occupied.

Russia athletics suffers final disgrace as last competitor barred

Russian track and field suffered a final humiliation at the Rio Games on Saturday when the sport's governing body suspended long jumper Darya Klishina, removing from competition the nation's only athlete to have so far survived a blanket ban for doping. The suspension, announced three days before she was due to compete, relates to new evidence uncovered by an anti-doping probe into allegations Russia ran a systematic, state-backed cheating program, said a source familiar with the matter.

Rowing ends with thrills aplenty

In a spectacular final day of the Olympic rowing regatta on Saturday, the United States reasserted their extraordinary dominance in the women's eight, powering home to a third consecutive gold. In the men's eight, Britain overcame defending champions Germany, a result that put Britain on top of the rowing medals table with three golds.

From green pool to missing pontoon, Rio's problems won't go away

Olympics organizers battled an array of persistent problems as the Games entered its second week on Saturday, from a lurid green diving pool to competitors taken to the wrong venue and a long-distance swimming pontoon swept away by the waves. The refusal of the Olympic diving pool to return to a more appealing blue hue has baffled technicians and competitors alike after it was pumped full of chemicals since turning a cloudy green color on Tuesday.

Cycling: Britain beat U.S. to gold in women's team pursuit

Britain crushed their American rivals to win the women's track cycling pursuit title in another world record time as the two fastest teams locked horns for gold at the Olympics on Saturday with the expected close battle ending in a romp. After trailing early on, the quartet of Laura Trott, Katie Archibald, Elinor Barker and Joanna Rowsell-Shand cranked up the pace to devastating effect, winning in 4:10.236 -- nearly two seconds quicker than the world record they set in the heats.

Swimming: DiRado says 'kick-ass' role models spark U.S. women

From swimming to gymnastics, some of the biggest victories for Team USA in Rio have come from its women athletes, and swimmer Maya DiRado says having strong role models has been a key to their success. U.S. athletes like gymnast Simone Biles and swimmer Katie Ledecky have basked in the spotlight at the Rio Olympics, and DiRado thinks they in turn will become examples for the next generation.

Doping: Stepanova records illegally accessed after WADA hack

Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova's electronic account at the World Anti-Doping Agency has been illegally accessed, WADA said on Saturday. The anti-doping body said a "perpetrator" had illegally obtained the password for the middle-distance runner's account, and accessed details which would normally include her registered whereabouts.

08/13/2016 19:51