Olympics
Djokovic and Alcaraz set up golden showdown
Novak Djokovic snapped his Olympic semi-final jinx with a 6-4 6-2 defeat of Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti on Friday to set up a blockbuster battle for gold against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.
The 37-year-old Serb had lost his three previous Olympic singles semi-finals but was in no mood to suffer more heartache as he dominated a high-quality duel at Roland Garros.
Earlier on Court Philippe Chatrier, the 21-year-old Alcaraz thrashed Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1 6-1.
Djokovic needs only the Olympic gold to complete the full set of achievements in a career that has earned him 24 Grand Slam titles and the relief of reaching the final was clear as he laid on his back, arms outstretched, after match point.
“Three of the (previous) four Olympic Games I played I made semi-finals but failed to overcome that hurdle,” Djokovic, whose only medal was a singles bronze in 2008, told reporters.
“Just to secure a higher medal for my country, whatever happens on Sunday, is a huge pride and honour. I’m going for gold, but this is a big deal.”
Djokovic lost to Rafa Nadal in the semi-final in Beijing, Andy Murray in the 2012 last four in London and in Tokyo it was Alexander Zverev who blocked his path.
Musetti, bidding to emulate the Italian duo of Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani who reached the women’s doubles final, started superbly but Djokovic found another gear to break serve in the 10th game from 40-0 down and take the first set.
Djokovic, who had concerns over his strapped-up knee ahead of the match, lost his cool in the second after twice dropping his serve, and was raging after a code violation.
But he responded like the warrior he is, reeling off five games to became the oldest Olympic men’s singles finalist since tennis returned to the Games in 1988.
FORMIDABLE OBSTACLE
Second seed Alcaraz is the youngest and judging by his demolition of Auger-Aliassime he will be a formidable obstacle.
The 21-year-old, who outplayed Djokovic to win his second Wimbledon title last month, was in devastating form and needed little more than an hour to earn his shot at gold.
“It means a lot to me being in a final at the Olympic Games and giving myself the chance to fight for a gold medal for my country. It is a special moment for my career and my life,” Alcaraz, who like Djokovic has not dropped a set, said.
“I’m really happy to bring a medal to my country, and hopefully, it’s going to be the gold one.”
Auger-Aliassime, bidding to become the first Canadian to reach an Olympic singles final, was outclassed.
“In every aspect, I was dominated, there’s not much more to say,” the 23-year-old said.
Realistically, Sunday’s final is Djokovic’s last chance to scratch his Olympic itch but he said he has nothing to lose.
“Alcaraz has proved the best player in the world at the moment,” he said. “He’s definitely favourite, but it’s the Olympics, it’s anybody’s game.”
The first gold medal of the tennis event went to Czech pair Katerina Siniakova and Tomas Machac who won the mixed doubles, beating China’s Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen 6-2 5-7 10-8.
Poland’s Iga Swiatek earned some consolation for her tearful semi-final defeat on Thursday as she easily beat Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6-2 6-1 to win bronze.
“I think if I hadn’t played today I would cry for a week, so I needed to get it together,” the world number one said.
Swiatek’s conqueror Zheng Qinwen of China plays Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the women’s gold medal match on Saturday.
Italy are guaranteed their first Olympic tennis medal since 1924 after Paolini and Errani eased past Czech duo Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova 6-3 6-2 to reach the doubles final.
They will play Russians Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider, who are competing as neutrals, after they crushed Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Sara Sorribes 6-1 6-2.
Unseeded Australian pair Matthew Ebden and John Peers booked their place in the men’s doubles final with a 7-5 6-2 victory against Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. They will face another U.S. duo in Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek for the gold medal.
-Reuters
Roy Jones Jr has been handed the Olympic gold medal he was controversially denied in 1988 in an extraordinary act of sportsmanship by the South Korean fighter who beat him.
Hall of Fame boxer Jones shared a video on Wednesday from two years ago that showed Park Si-hun visiting the American’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to present him with the light middleweight gold medal.
“I had the gold medal, but I want to give it back to you. It belongs to you,” Park said in the video through his son, who translated.
Jones, who was overcome with emotion by the gesture, covered his face with his hand before saying: “Wow, that is crazy.”
Their match at the Seoul Olympics remains one of boxing’s most contentious moments as Jones appeared to dominate the fight but lost to Park by a 3-2 decision that drew instant criticism and sparked enduring controversy.
Despite losing the gold medal match, Jones was selected as the Val Barker Trophy winner as the best boxer of the 1988 Olympics.
Jones went on to become a four-division world champion and is regarded as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters of all time.
“In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Jones wrote in his Instagram post.
“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.
“I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.”
-Reuters
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U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday creating a White House Olympics task force to handle security and other issues related to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, an administration official told Reuters.
The task force, made up of members from Trump’s cabinet and government agencies, will coordinate federal, state and local government work on transportation, the official said.
It also will “streamline visa processing and credentialing for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media,” the official said in an email.
The United States will host the Olympics in Los Angeles in three years. Trump, a Republican who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, has expressed pleasure that his second term will coincide with the Olympics and the World Cup.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The president considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Monday.
Last month organizers of the Los Angeles games released the first look at the Olympic competition schedule . The city had also hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984.
“The creation of this task force marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028,” Casey Wasserman, the chair and president of LA28, said in a statement.
–Reuters
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By DAVID LEE
Home is many places for swimmer Adaku Nwandu, who was born in China, lives in Singapore and wears the Nigeria flag on her swimsuit.
And it is at her current home in Singapore that the 17-year-old is making her debut at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH).
In the second heat of the 100m freestyle at the WCH Arena, the teenager, who has a Nigerian father and Chinese mother, led at the turn before finishing third in 1min 0.89sec – she eventually placed 59th out of 82 athletes overall.
After her race, Adaku shared with The Straits Times that she was born and raised in Shanghai, and started swimming when she was eight. Interestingly, it was ice cream that kept her in the sport.
Adaku, who still has the 50m freestyle heats on Aug 2, said: “At a school competition, I didn’t do so well and I asked my dad if we could make a deal. He said if I do better, he would buy me ice cream once every week, and that’s a promise we have kept with each other. And that’s what brought me here.”
In 2023, the family moved to Singapore due to her mother’s work posting. With her fluent Mandarin and love for Asian and spicy food, it did not take long for her to pick up Singlish and enjoy local delights like chicken rice and chilli crab.
She said: “We came here mainly because of my mother’s work, and also because the swimming scene back where I lived in China was a little bit toxic, so she also thought Singapore would be a new experience and better for my swimming.”
By then, she had already committed to representing Nigeria after its aquatics association contacted her after the National Sports Festival in Asaba, where the then 16-year-old was part of the national record-breaking women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
But Singapore is where she has been honing her swimming skills, as she has set her 50m and 100m freestyle long- and short-course Nigeria national records at meets here.
Noting her improvements, Singapore swimming coach and performance director Gary Tan said: “Adaku has been participating in our system for a while, and we hope it helps her develop as a swimmer and achieve what she wants while training in Singapore with her school (German European School Singapore).”
For someone who is inspired by Olympic champions David Popovici, Caeleb Dressel and Adam Peaty for “their dedication and the way they are able to take breaks for themselves to improve and get back to the water”, qualifying for Paris 2024 on ranking points was a dream come true.
Her Olympic debut was also unforgettable as her swimsuit ripped 20 minutes before her 50m freestyle heat, but she managed to finish second in her heat and 33rd out of 78th overall in 26.62 seconds, just 0.03 of a second off her personal best.
Back in Singapore, Adaku, who is in the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme at her school, realised that she needed more of such resilience to reach her goals.
The swimmer, who also plays for the school’s volleyball team, said: “I had a lot of improvement the first year I came to Singapore. But this past year has been especially hard for me with family problems and also school. The workload in my first year of IB made it hard to balance training and school.
“Especially in the next year, I want to focus more on swimming and try to get some new personal bests because this year I just plateaued. I’m looking forward to training harder and preparing for my next competition and hopefully qualify for the next Olympics.”
-Strait Times, Singapore
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