Australia begin Olympic basketball campaign with win over Spain

Australia’s men enjoyed an encouraging start to their Olympic basketball campaign with a 92-80 win over Spain in a feisty encounter that threatened to boil over at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium in Lille.

Led by Jock Landale with 20 points, veteran Patty Mills (19) and Josh Giddey (17), the Boomers started strongly to get one over their rivals in Group A, which also contains Canada and Greece and has been dubbed the ‘group of death’.

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Giddey gave the Chicago Bulls a glimpse of what they are getting next NBA season as he also weighed in with eight rebounds and eight assists. But tempers flared in the first quarter when Josh Green and Usman Garuba exchanged words before a bit of push and shove prompted a number of Australian players to rush in.

“It is part of basketball,” Green said. “It’s about setting a tone. It’s not like I’m meaning to start anything. The guys need stuff to get going in games. It gets people fired up. Basketball is a big momentum game, so finding however I can bring momentum is what I’m going to try to do.”

The Boomers next meet Canada on Tuesday.

The men’s hockey team followed the Boomers’ lead and, after surviving a late scare against world No 6-ranked Argentina, also got off to a winning start with a narrow 1-0 victory.

Blake Govers scored the only goal of the game at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium, firing into the net from a penalty corner in the last second of the first half.

The Argentinians nearly found an equaliser right at the death, but despite a manic goal-mouth scramble the Kookaburras held firm to secure an ideal start to their campaign. Ireland are up next for the world No 4 side, before matches against Belgium, New Zealand and India follow.

The men’s rugby sevens team were left to rue missed opportunities on a memorable night at the Stade de France as theyplayed their first Olympic medal play-off, and almost pulled off a stunning victory against South Africa.

The Australians – who had lost their earlier semi-final to Fiji – appeared well beaten in the second half, down 19-7 and with captain Nick Malouf sent off for a high tackle. Out of nowhere, two late Australian tries levelled the score and a sideline conversion from Dietrich Roache missed narrowly. But the comeback ended there, and South Africa surged back up the other end for the winning five-pointer.

There was heartbreak in the diving pool as Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith narrowly missed out on a medal in the women’s 3m synchronised event, which would have been Australia’s first appearance on the podium at these Games.

The pair had won bronze in Rio and were well placed going into the final round. While eventual Chinese gold medallists of Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen were clear in first, the Australians were vying for second place with the American pair of Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon with one dive left.

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However, the pair struggled to execute the forward two-and-a-half somersault, one-twist combination after Smith botched her launch, skewing off the board at a 45-degree angle. They were consoled by their coaches upon leaving the pool and ended in fifth.

“I made a mistake on the last dive and we were probably in the hot seat to win a medal,” Smith told Channel Nine. “I’m just trying to remind myself that our entire synchro career together is not defined by this moment. It’s very disappointing to miss out on the medal, but that’s life, we’re good, we’re healthy, we will move on.”

Tennis player Matt Ebden was able to look on the bright side, despite a crushing defeat to Novak Djokovic in the men’s singles tournament. The 36-year-old, playing his first tour-level singles match for two years, narrowly avoided a double bagel in a 6-0, 6-1 win for the Serbian 24-time grand slam winner.

Ebden was able to finally get on the scoreboard, winning his first game of the match having been down 6-0, 4-0, much to the delight of the crowd who were vocal in urging him on to win at least one game. Ebden celebrated the moment like he had won a grand slam himself, stretching his arms out and pulling his shirt over his head.

“I’m sorry for Matt, he told me at the net it was his first match for two years and he’s officially retired from his singles career,” said Djokovic. “Obviously, he’s focussed on doubles so it was tough for him.”