Reuters Sports News Summary

08/17/2016 19:54

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Brazil police hunt U.S. swimmer Lochte on judge's orders

Brazilian police were searching for U.S. Olympic gold medalist swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen on Wednesday after a judge issued an order preventing them from leaving the country until they clarified their accounts of how they were robbed at gunpoint. After checks at Rio's international airport, police sources said they believed Lochte had already left Brazil where he won a relay gold medal in the Olympic swimming competition that ended on Saturday.

Farah survives scare to reach 5,000m final

Briton Mo Farah survived another stumble to get through to the final of the 5,000 meters on Wednesday and remain on course for the prized Olympic distance double-double. Farah recovered from a fall to win the 10,000 gold four days ago and almost went down again in the last lap of his heat on Wednesday after being clipped by American Hassan Mead, who did fall to miss out on qualification.

Boxing: U.S.'s Shields makes sure of another medal

Reigning Olympic champion Claressa Shields of the United States made sure of another medal after reaching the women's middleweight semi-finals on Wednesday. The 21-year-old beat Russian Yaroslava Yakushina on a unanimous points decision in her first fight of the Games after receiving a bye through the opening round.

Europe's top Olympic official arrested in Rio ticketing probe

Brazilian police arrested Europe's top Olympic official in a dawn raid of his Rio beachfront hotel on Wednesday, in connection with an investigation into ticket scalping at the Olympics. The police said they had discovered evidence linking 71-year-old Irishman Pat Hickey to an international scheme to illegally pass Olympic tickets to touts who were reselling them at well above their original price.

American Reed wants Olympic golf format tweaked for 2020

As much as Patrick Reed enjoyed the Olympic experience, he would like to see the format tweaked for Tokyo 2020. The Rio men's golf competition last week was staged like a regular small-field tour event - 72 holes of stroke play with no team aspect.

Athletics: Semenya through as gender debate re-opens

Caster Semenya qualified for the Olympic women's 800 meters semi-finals with supreme ease on Wednesday and was immediately plunged into a new gender controversy after a race rival questioned whether it was fair for her to compete. South African Semenya will be hot favorite for Saturday's final but Frenchwoman Justine Fedronic, who failed to advance from the heats, said although she had sympathy for her rival's situation, her high testosterone levels meant it was not a fair fight.

Basketball: No gold but plenty of golden moments for Parker

There will be no golden end to Tony Parker's international career, nor silver or bronze either after France bowed out of the Olympic men's basketball tournament with a whimper on Wednesday falling 92-67 to Spain. It was hardly a suitable goodbye for the man considered the greatest French player ever and widely regarded as one of the top point guards of all-time - from any country.

Basketball: U.S. answers critics with blowout win over Argentina

The United States reaffirmed their status as gold medal favorites blowing away Argentina 105-78 on Wednesday to storm into the semi-finals of the Olympic men's basketball tournament. Even though the U.S. finished group play without a loss, questions about their ability to claim a third straight gold swirled after three unimpressive narrow wins to close out preliminary play.

Olympics-Volleyball: U.S. men head to semis seeking revenge

An inexperienced U.S. men's volleyball team defeated Poland in straight sets on Wednesday and moved into the semi-finals looking to avenge early upsets that almost knocked the Americans out of the Rio Games. With eight of its 12 players competing in the Olympics for the first time, the United States outplayed Poland, 25-23 25-22 25-20, ousting a team that had won the 2014 World Championship.

Water polo: U.S. women advance to gold-medal game

The U.S. women's water polo team beat Hungary on Wednesday to reach the finals at the Rio Games where they will look to become the first women's squad to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the sport. The Americans faced their first deficit in Rio when Hungary went ahead 2-1 in the first quarter but the world champions regrouped and used tight defense and superior firepower to secure a 14-10 victory.

08/17/2016 19:54