Late afternoon in Beijing as we hurtle towards the one-thirds mark of the Games of the 29th Olympiad. Men's football gets underway, the sailing races are wrapping up for the afternoon, and tennis moves into the third round. What else is going on?
TABLE TENNIS: Meet Poland's Natalia Partyka. The picture above is not an optical illusion, her right arm really does end just past the elbow. That doesn't stop her from playing at the highest level, though -- she's one of just two athletes participating in both the 2008 Paralympics and Olympics (South African amputee swimmer Natalie du Toit is the other), and the only one with a disability that dates from birth.
The 19-year-old Pole, who won gold at the Athens 2004 Paralympics in "class 10" (players with a disability in their non-playing arm), is the world's 147th-ranked player in the able-bodied rankings, in large part due to her shock singles win over world No. 6 Li Jiawei of Singapore at this year's world championships. The national team coach added her to the three-woman squad in July, allowing her to become the first disabled table tennis player at the Olympic Games.
Poland, hardly a table tennis power, lost its first Group C women's team meeting today against the world No. 3 team Hong Kong, in three straight matches. It wasn't because of Natalia's lack of effort though. She won two games against HKG's Yana Tie in her singles match, and personally fought off two elimination points before she and teammate Jie Xu succumbed to a Hong Kong pair.
BOXING: Within the hour, unfortunately-named 26-year-old Australian boxer Brad Pitt was dismissed in the heavyweight division in a lopsided 11-6 loss to Moroccan Mohammed Arajoui. It's only after we've lost everything that we're free to do anything.
In one of the stranger bouts of the Beijing Games, American world champion flyweight Rau'shee Warren ducked and covered in the fourth round... despite the fact he was down 9-8. Coaches and fans alike tried to loudly tell him he needed to get points against 2007 world champ Lee Ok-Sung of South Korea, but by the time he realized his predicament, it was too late.
BASKETBALL: There have been a number of excellent, thrilling women's games in this tournament. But the top prize so far goes to the recently completed Latvia-Brazil match, which featured six lead changes in the final six minutes and a game-winning layup with two ticks left by Anete Jekabsone-Zogota (25 points). One-win Latvia beat victory-free Brazil, 79-78. Neither team has any realistic chance to medal, but in the preliminary round, these are more fun to watch than the multiple blowouts. This blog fears the final margin in adopted darlings Mali's matchup with the powerful United States in tonight's late game.
VOLLEYBALL: The Georgia-Russia women's beach volleyball match this morning, played out against the backdrop of a fierce armed conflict that broke out the day of the Opening Ceremony, drew major press interest. The 2-1 come-from-behind effort by Georgia was thrilling, despite the fact (as mentioned previously here) that the Georgian players were born, raised, and live in Brazil. The Russian pair made sure to let the interviewers know that.
"I look at them like they're Brazil," [Alexandra] Shiryaeva said. "I don't think they know who the president of Georgia is."In the press conference after the match -- with the four athletes sitting next to each other at the same table -- the athletes were asked if the war had an affect on the beach today. [Natalia] Uryadova responded, "If they were Georgian, they might be affected. But they are not."
A more meaningful Georgia-Russia sports battle will take place later on, when Ivan Pershin (RUS) takes on Irakli Tsirekidze (GEO) in a Table A final in men's middleweight judo. The winner will move on to the gold medal final.
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