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Olympics Tennis News: Carlos Alcaraz too good for Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semi with Matt Ebden & John Peers also on their way to an Olympic Gold Final in the doubles

by Sports Benches

What a way to finish off Friday here with two brilliant semi-final Tennis matches we’ve just saw tonight at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris coming from Stade Roland Garros where Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz was too good for Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in straight sets (6-1, 6-1) & so does our Aussie doubles pair of Matt Ebden & John Peers (7-5, 6-2) also in straight sets during the 2nd men’s doubles semi against USA’s Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz. Alcaraz will await his next opponent for Sunday’s gold medal match between the winner of the other men’s semi-final in either Serbian legend Novak Djokovic or Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti (another Wimby rematch from last month) later on while Ebden/Peers isn’t done with Team USA just yet going into tomorrow night where they will take on Austin Kraijcek & Rajeev Ram for the Men’s Doubles gold medal match.

It wasn’t Auger-Aliassime’s day today having came here off a great run up until this point including two good wins against Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round and Norway’s Casper Ruud in the Quarter-Finals the other day. However, going up against a seasoned grand slam champ is never easy to say unfortunately and that proved too good to be true other than some early head starts v Alcaraz. His time isn’t done yet with the Bronze Medal match tomorrow to hopefully give Canada another medal against whoever loses the other semi final in either Djokovic or Musetti. Looking at Alcaraz now, he’s simply unstoppable – that’s all! He too never looked out of place having dominated all two sets en route to an Olympics gold medal Final. Looks like it’s going to be another round of Alcaraz v Djokovic if Djokovic can win v Musetti again later on as the young Spaniard would love to win another major honour at the same Court Phillipe Chatrier all in the one year this time for gold.

And how good was Ebden and Peers on what has been an unreal performance to hold off Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz in straight sets. That first stage was really close where they both found a way to get out unscathed and although they had a few bumps along the way with the 1-0 lead but at least both Ebden and Peers took their time well to wrap all things up for the semi-final win. Hard luck to Paul and Fritz by the way who weren’t far off the pace of Ebden and Peers throughout the opening set but struggled mightily to stay in the game during the set, even though a couple of late saves wasn’t enough to warrant them a big turnaround from there. Now Ebden and Peers are one stop closer now to emulating “The Woodies” pair of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde from Atlanta 96′ if they can get this done tomorrow & Australia is surely right behind them.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: India def. Kookaburras at last in an Olympics match with the 3-2 win thanks to their fast start

by Sports Benches

It was a tight match just now in the last few group stage Field Hockey matches for the men’s leg between the Kookaburras v India at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir (Pitch 2) with India off to a fast start (back-to-back goals in the 1st 15) while Kookaburras only got the one goal during the 2nd x 15 min, and nothing much has changed other than a late Kookaburras surge to try and arrest India towards the end, which was unsuccessful that delighted the Indian team & its supporters with the 3-2 win.

Credit to India with their win today off the back of their dominant possession that got the Kookaburras defenders rattled where most of the goals have come from open play including another via a penalty stroke – hats off there to Harmanpreet Singh for his two goal performance. They could’ve done more when looking to convert these strikes off penalty corners but at least having a rock solid defense on top of a well-structured attack would do enough for India to stop the Kookaburras from settling the score, especially during the last few minutes when the opposition’s last-minute appeal wasn’t successful with the 3-2 win. Yes, they have finally done it v Australia in an Olympics Field Hockey match for the first time that goes way back to Munch in 1972 where they’ve last won it beforehand until now 3-1 via the Pool B group stage match. Now their next match will either be Team GB or Spain depending on the final group stage results later tonight if Team GB can beat Germany there since they finished 2nd in their Group B ladder regardless of the Argentina v Belgium result there due to goal difference.

Now the Kookaburras would be left frustrated and disappointed with their missed scoring opportunities that eventually came back to bite them when India got away with three goals before it was too little, too late. They had picked up some ball including come circle time up front, having took one penalty corner goal going into half-time where the Kookaburras weren’t far away from India’s radar for the overall lead including their second goal off a penalty stroke. It’s just a shame they struggled to match the counter-attack India has set up all game via open play and not even the ill-discipline has helped that much either. All they can hope now is for Belgium to beat Argentina later on and even Team GB to beat Germany at the same time, so the Kookaburras can avoid taking on the No.1 ranked Netherlands from Pool A in the Quarter-Finals starting this weekend.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: China not bad with their improvements after half-time but Germany was unstoppable with the 4-2 win 

by Sports Benches

Brilliant contest to watch to kickstart Friday’s Field Hockey Olympics activities at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium (Pitch 1) where China put up a great fight following a poor 1st half performance but Germany have the upper hand when it comes to the overall win by 4-2.

Commiserations to China who weren’t bad at times that puts the Germans under pressure, especially when they built a solid defensive structure on top of a good counter-attack as seen with their late charge after half-time. However, they just let themselves down when the executions aren’t there sometimes while picking up some ill-discipline that went the Germans way towards the end. All China can hope now is for the Netherlands to beat Japan early tomorrow, and they can begin their Quarter-Final preparations soon enough v the host nation France – who is currently in last right now with a 0-4 loss in Group A.

And how good was Germany with their 4-2 win, especially when their attacking performance was tip-top as always that gave the Chinese a really hard time to catch them off-guard. Not only they were really effective through open play as seen with back-to-back 2nd quarter strikes, but their winning penalties also helped the Germans added some extra points too – one off a penalty corner and another was via a penalty stroke. They better need to watch themselves out defensively though as China warned them at times via coach Alyson Annan like the Netherlands (Alyson’s adopted country) did other day with the 2-1 loss ahead of Germany’s next & final group stage match v Belgium tomorrow.

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Olympics Swimming News Day 6: Aussie Dolphins Swim Team collect the one gold having fend off Team USA & China in the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay Final

by Sports Benches

So happy to see our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team collect the one gold thanks to an excellent team relay effort in the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Final. Love seeing Mollie O’Callaghan fire off comfortably into first while the returning Lani Pallister and Brianna Throsell held onto top spot along the way before Ariarne Titmus staved off a huge threat from Team USA & China en route towards an Aussie team gold. It might not be world record which was close but at least they did so well to keep their good lead intact, with Arnie unpacking the outstanding fire she really needs like to bring it home like her team-mate Mollie O.

Looking at the swimming Olympics medal tally now, we’re still first by one gold at a total of five so far ahead of Team USA with three days to go. Shoutout also to Liz Dekkers, who might have been languishing through the mid-pack for the most part off the back of a poor start, but the way she finished off the race wasn’t bad though where she moved her way up to 4th place towards the end in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final. Sure there’s more to come from the 20-year-old to hopefully chase gold someday at future World Championships that can really translate into an Olympics gold come 2028 in Los Angeles, USA.

Now what have we got in stall to stop Team USA from winning this swimming medal tally tomorrow? We got Kaylee McKeown in the Women’s 200m butterfly Final as well as Cameron McEvoy in the Men’s 50m sprint after being the equal fastest alongside Team GB’s Ben Proud during his semi-final 2 meet earlier this morning. So two gold medals up for grabs as sure the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team can hang in there with McEvoy & our Queen of Backstroke in McKeown going into this weekend. 

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Olympics News: China’s Qinwen Zheng def. The Queen of Clay Iga Swiatek in straight sets en route to an Olympic Women’s Tennis Final

by Sports Benches

The Queen of Clay from Poland Iga Swiatek won’t be able to add another major honour other than her successive Roland Garros trophies in the Olympics gold medal this time around following her straight sets loss in the women’s singles semi-final v China’s Qinwen Zheng, who was also runner-up at the 2024 Australian Open Final back in January to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, 2-6 & 5-7. She didn’t have a great start earlier on and although she did the best possible to keep that semi alive so Iga can activate that 3rd set decider, but it wasn’t meant to be when Zheng found a way to shut her down towards the end.

I don’t know when the next Olympics tennis tournament will be on clay but probably not for another long while like for a few decades unfortunately in which she may be well and truly reaching retirement by then. What she can do though is at least finish off on a high when it comes to the Bronze Medal Match this weekend v the losing player from the other semi-final.

We’ll see how that goes between Anna Karolina Schmiedlova from Slovakia v Croatian Donna Vekic who defeated NZ’s Lulu Sun during the Wimbledon Quarter-Final last month.

And how good was Qinwen Zheng with that magnificent performance in the hope of now winning her first major title that may not be a grand slam honour just yet but at least a Olympic Games Gold Medal would be nice to take home. She had an easy first set and while she had some challenges along the way that is going to make or break when being tested against the Queen of Clay (Iga Swiatek), she too never gave up with plenty of fight to hold Iga back and that was one thing Zheng pulled off well by seeing light at the end of the tunnel on what has been another of her best plays today. Now she’s ready to bring home an Olympics gold medal for China which she could be the first one to do so as a singles player and the last time China won a medal in Tennis was Li Ting & Sun Tiantian during the women’s doubles tournament exactly 20 years back in Athens.

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Olympics Field Hockey News: Kookaburras complete 5-0 demolition win v Black Sticks

by Sports Benches

We had a Trans-Tasman rivalry this time in the Men’s Olympic Games Field Hockey tonight coming from Stade-Yves-Du-Manoir Stadium in Paris between the Kookaburras and the Black Sticks. It was a quiet and scoreless first 15 to begin with but the Kookaburras have been absolutely destructive upfront with back-to-back goals in the 2nd 15 followed by another one in the 3rd quarter before they finished the game courtesy of a Blake Govers hat-trick masterclass as the final score was 5-0. That means, the Black Sticks won’t be able to advance into the Quarter-Finals with one game to go at 1am AEST Saturday v Ireland.

It’s not been their day today from the Black Sticks on what has been a brutal 5-0 loss as they still have yet to have taken the win in this tournament, even though they came here as outsiders. Sure, they defended really well off the back through a series of Kookaburras’ missed opportunities while denying access at their own end that leads to a couple of good attempts on the counter-attack. They just couldn’t find the middle ground when it comes to these conversions unfortunately including a few winning penalties and when you lack numbers, there’s no way the Black Sticks can give themselves a fighting chance to rattle Andrew Charter where they were toothless in that attacking department alone. All they can do now is finish off on a high v Ireland who is most certainly leaving the group stages early in 5th right now and yet Ireland are also winless so far either.

And great to see the Kookaburras respond to that unfortunate 6-2 loss yesterday v Belgium with a 5-0 win v the Black Sticks with one game to go tomorrow night at 9.15pm v India. One way to describe their performance – strong and powerful. This was exactly what the Kookaburras has done every time they harried the Black Sticks defenders with a lot of ball that led to back-to-back 2nd x 15 mins goals followed by a succession of goals throughout the 2nd half including two from penalty corners before they are well and truly secure & yet they didn’t stop attacking as if they’re preparing for fightback against a top team like Belgium to see how it’s done. There’s unfinished business here having finished 2nd to them at the last Olympics tournament in Tokyo, Japan four years ago, a win v India would hopefully open up an extended run to go all the way in Paris.

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Olympics Soccer News: The Matildas campaign came crashing down early following their 2-1 loss v USWNT coupled with Canada’s 1-0 win v Colombia for the two of the best third-place teams 

by Sports Benches

So gutted to hear that the Matildas won’t be able to roar into the Quarter-Finals this time around unfortunately at Paris 2024 as they won’t be able to play any further now that the Quarter-Final teams are set without them.

It’s not the match the Matildas wanted when they were really struggling to get a grasp out of the mighty USA’s WNT side all along with a few scoring opportunities here & there to try and stay in contention off the back of their opening game loss v Germany (3-1) followed by a near scare comeback win v Zambia (6-5) the other day. Not even though a late goal by Alannah Kennedy wasn’t enough in the 92th minute to stop them from at least settling the score with the 2-1 loss before Canada’s 1-0 win over Colombia a few hours later has left the Matildas out of the cold based on the best Top 2 of 3rd-placed teams.

Oh Canada haven’t we been kind when you’ve been out there eliminating the Aussies left, right and centre across multiple sports including the Medal women’s semi-final in the Rugby 7s the other day and now it’s happening in Soccer. They too are going into the last 8 instead v the Matildas’ Group B opponents who won from the 3-1 opening game nearly a week ago in Team Germany.

Congrats to USA with the win who has been dominant across the pitch where they were able to get away of two goals out a possible 20 throughout the match v Matildas. Sure, they’re a really young side that is going to take time when a few experienced heads like Alex Morgan aren’t there to play in Paris by now head coach Emma Hayes, who coached Sam Kerr recently at Chelsea prior to her post there this summer. However, they know what it takes to go all the way before having last won gold there back in 2012 in London, as their journey continues in the last 8 v Japan at Parc De Princes this weekend.

Meanwhile, Aussie sports fans really wanted the Matildas to do well so bad based on their breakthrough run at the Women’s World Cup last year on home soil. But then no Sam Kerr when she’s out right now due to an ACL knee injury has really hit them hard that would’ve set them the difference of making into the knockout stages and having to experience elimination once the early-rounds are over like they have to go through right now.

They had a few chances on the counter-attack to try and extract some from USWNT’s missed shots towards goal but then the defense had a really tough time in the office to say for the most part including star keeper Mackenzie Arnold that allowed themselves to slipped away with two lost goals to their opponents across both halves. Plus, a few ill-disciplines and offsides didn’t help their cause much either I’m afraid that forced USA’s hand a few times and there goes that poor result & eventually their Olympics campaign that early too.

Now the Tillies better need to move onto the next task to regroup themselves from there by building on their stunning growth that won the hearts of many Aussie sports fans. The question happening right now will Tony Gustavsson be around after this as head coach who oversaw the Matildas over these last few roller-coasting years?  Time will tell, even when Sam Kerr will eventually be back from her long ongoing ACL injury at some point.

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Olympics Swimming News: Kyle Chalmers & Zac Stubblety-Cook the only two silver medalists for the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team in Day 5 at Paris La Defense Arena

by Sports Benches

Well, no gold medals on Day 5 from the Aussie Dolphins Swim Team, but at least they are still leading the Olympics swimming medal tally by just one gold medal ahead of Team USA, who currently has three in the bag with four days to go.

First of all, it wasn’t the swim both Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack wanted in the women’s 100m Freestyle Final where they finished 4th & 5th respectively. Now this is Mollie O’s first Olympics for those who wants to jump the gun on her with high expectations to walk away for the gold as she didn’t have a good start. Although she was not far towards the end of the wall when it comes to an outside shot for the Top 3, but at least nowhere near the record time ahead of everyone I guess. 

The same goes to Shayna having gone from a long, long way via her two-year doping ban before she was able to swim competitively once again a few years ago where she’s an excellent team player. She too maybe within reach at least the Top 3 at one stage especially in the 1st 50m but then she was languishing towards the back end during the last 50m half sprint.

If 1-2 medals would make you smile for the Aussies, how about “The King” Kyle Chalmers who finished 2nd in the Men’s 100m Freestyle Final sprint, as well as Zac Stubblety-Cook (also a silver medalist) in the Men’s 200m breaststroke Final.

For Stubblety-Cook, you can’t overcome winning such a strong French crowd where Leon Le Marchand won that race comfortably with the gold medal. However, at least he was within the Top 3 radar all along which wasn’t bad. The only thing he could’ve done better that Zac just couldn’t close down on the Frenchman when he was around two secs off the pace there. 

And long live King Kyle with another Olympic gold, even though he fell short to China’s Pan Zhanle who dominated this meet with the new world record time. It wasn’t an easy race when you got so many world-class swimmers alongside him, especially when he didn’t have the best of starts. He did have the best finish though where it might not be enough to catch Zhanle on time by just 1 second but boy happy to see him collect the silver.

So where to now going into Day 6? Looks like there will be two gold medal opportunities up for grabs for the Aussies in the of holding onto this Olympic swimming medal tally. One will be both Liz Dekkers and Abbey Connor in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final and the other would possibly be the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Team Relay events.

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Field Hockey: Hockeyroos continue their winning start to their Olympics run this time with a 3-0 clean sweep v Team USA

by Sports Benches

So there you have it, the Hockeyroos have continued their winning run to the Paris 2024 campaign with the 3-0 clean sweep victory against Team USA. Great to see Renee Taylor on the mark for the team’s early goal while Alice Arnott added another right on half-time & although nothing much happened in the 3rd 15, but Maddison Brooks safeguarded the match for their 3rd goal with seven mins to go.

They will be back against Argentina Friday morning at 4.15am AEST on what is going to be a top-of-the-table clash in Pool B while Team USA will be playing next a few hours beforehand against Great Britain.

So far, so good from the Hockeyroos on what has been another excellent display tonight, such as their dominant possession of the ball that fed them plenty of final third opportunities including a few winning penalties – in which was successful a few times. Plus, their defense never looked out of place all along, having protected themselves well to stop the ball from slipping away that allows them to throw towards the other end for the best opportunities possible. Now they will need to keep this up in the hope of getting over the line next against a top Argentine team.

And commiserations to Team USA with the loss off the back of their brilliant defensive play including from the keeper and the way they attack on the counter such as these brilliant breaks towards the attacking third across the pitch. One thing for sure though is if they simply lack the finishing quality needed to rattle around Jocelyn Bartram and her defenders who wouldn’t give them a free pass & that was a huge weakness they couldn’t grasp unfortunately tonight v the Hockeyroos.

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2024 Paris Olympic Swimming Day 4 Recap: MCKEOWN PULLS OFF A STUNNING REPEAT PERFORAMANCE, SHATTERING HER OWN OLYMPIC RECORD AT 100M BACKSTROKE!

by Admin

Kudos to our incredible Dolphins – your dedication and spirit shone brightly in Paris day by day!

On the fourth day of competition, 13 Dolphins fought to secure a place in the upcoming finals. The Men’s 200m Butterfly kicked off the day, but Aussie Matt Temple’s time of 1:57.72 wasn’t enough to get him into the semi-finals.

Both the Men’s and Women’s 100m Freestyle events saw Kyle Chalmers (48.07s), William Yang (48.46s), Mollie O’Callaghan (53.27), and Shayna Jack (53.40) qualify for the night sessions.

A Covid-19 diagnosis led to Lani Pallister pulling out of the Women’s 1500m freestyle event, with hopes that this will protect her health so she can compete in the Women’s 4x200m relay on Day 5.

Despite this setback, Moesha Johnson, another Dolphin, advanced to the final of the 1500m event, where she will go up against American star Katie Ledecky on Thursday morning.

Zac Stubblety-Cook’s impressive final 50m push in the Men’s 200m Breaststroke helped him secure a spot in the semi-finals as the second seed, with a time of 2:09.49.

The morning session concluded with the Australian 4x200m Freestyle Relay team, consisting of Zac Incerti, Kai Taylor, Flynn Southam, and Thomas Neill. The team qualified in fourth place (7:05.63), while defending champions Great Britain posted the fastest qualifying time of 7:05.11.

The fourth night at the Paris’ La Défense Arena began with King Kyle’s determination to regain his title in the 100m freestyle event. In the Men’s 100m Freestyle semi-final, Australian newcomer Will Yang competed alongside Chalmers, who made a stunning comeback to win with the second fastest time of 47.58s after starting in fourth place. However, Yang missed out on a spot in the final, finishing 15th overall with a time of 48.42.

The highlight of the night was when our backstroke expert Kaylee McKeown, claimed victory in the Women’s 100m Backstroke Final.

McKeown was in a close race with American swimmers Regan Smith and Katherine Berkoff, but she pulled ahead in the last 25m to defend her Olympic title, setting a new Olympic Record with a winning time of 57.33s. In the Backstroke final, up-and-coming swimmer Dolphin, Iona Anderson, put in a remarkable effort and came in 5th place.

Shayna Jack and Mollie O’Callaghan, who have already won Olympic gold in 2024, qualified for the Women’s 100m freestyle final by finishing 2nd (52.72s) and 3rd (52.75) in the semifinals, just behind Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey (52.64s).

The Men’s 200m Breaststroke Semi-Final came next, where Zac Stubblety-Cook and Joshua Yong both secured spots in the final. In the evening, Elijah Winnington took an initial lead in the Men’s 800m Final, but was quickly overtaken in the second half of the race by Irish swimmer Daniel Wiffen, who secured his nation’s first gold medal in the pool. Winnington ended up in eighth place, clocking a time of 7:48.36.

Following that, the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay event began. The youthful Australian squad secured the fourth position in the qualifications before the final.

Yet, it was Elijah Winnington who, in the third leg, consolidated the Australian team’s standing in 3rd place behind the USA and Great Britain, following his 800m final swim. Thomas Neill, the anchor of the Australian team, closely followed American Kieran Smith and won the first Bronze Medal for Australia in the games.

The Dolphins Olympic journey is only beginning, be sure to catch Day 5 as more of our Dolphins aim for the top prize!

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