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Live Olympic Games: Neymar scores fastest ever goal on road to taking Brazil to final

Associated Press Wednesday, 17 August 2016, 11:05 Last update: about 9 years ago

7:55 p.m.

Neymar scored the fastest goal in Olympic history then added a penalty kick in stoppage time and Brazil went on to beat Honduras 6-0 for a spot in the gold-medal match in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil has never won Olympic gold in the sport. They'll face the winner of Wednesday's late match between Germany and Nigeria in Sao Paulo.

Neymar scored in the first 15 seconds of the semifinal at Rio's historic Maracana Stadium but collided with Honduran goalkeeper Luis Lopez on the goal. He lay on the field for several minutes, then staggered after getting up and was stretchered off.

The near-capacity crowd at Maracana was stunned into quiet for a time, before breaking into song to encourage its superstar, who returned quickly.

Gabriel Jesus added to the drama with a pair of goals in the 26th and 35th minutes for Brazil. Marquinhos scored in the 51st minute.

Luan added a goal in the 79th minute before Neymar's penalty kick in the first minute of stoppage time.

 

7:30 p.m.

Patrick Hickey has decided to "step aside temporarily" as an IOC member and from all other Olympic positions following his arrest in a ticket scalping investigation.

Ireland's national Olympic committee said Wednesday Hickey is stepping down "until the matter is fully resolved."

Hickey was taken to a hospital Wednesday after police came to his beachfront hotel to arrest him. He is accused of plotting with at least nine others to illegally sell tickets for the Rio Olympics.

Hickey also is stepping aside as head of the Olympic Council of Ireland, president of the European Olympic Committees and vice president of the Association of National Olympic Committees.

The Irish body says in a statement that Hickey will continue to cooperate with the investigation.

7:20 p.m.

Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia have taken gold in badminton mixed doubles against Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia.

Ahmad and Natsir got to Wednesday's gold medal match in Rio by beating Olympic champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China. Chan and Goh earlier defeated London silver medalists Xu Chen and Ma Jin of China.

On Friday, the meeting of China's Lin Dan and Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei in the Olympic semifinals is a much-awaited rematch of the last two Olympic finals, which saw Lin beat Lee for gold.

Lee is top-ranked and has cruised through the tournament, while Lin faced a major struggle Wednesday in his win over Srikanth Kidambi of India.

Despite Lin's win, the tournament has been marked by the surprise crumbling of China's Olympic dominance in badminton.

China swept all five gold medals at the 2012 London Games; that will not happen at the Rio Games.

London silver medalist Wang Yihan of China was upset and some once dominant Chinese doubles and mixed doubles teams also won't be playing for gold.

7:10 p.m.

Arianna Garibotti and Italy have advanced to the women's water polo final with a 12-9 victory over Russia.

Garibotti pumped in five goals and Roberta Bianconi scored twice as Italy improved to a perfect 5-0 in Riode Janeiro. Italy won the gold medal in 2004, but slipped to sixth in Beijing and finished seventh in London four years ago.

Italy coach Fabio Conti says reaching the final is a "dream."

Evgeniya Ivanova and Ekaterina Lisunova each scored two goals for Russia, which was a surprise 12-10 winner against Spain in the quarterfinals.

Italy awaits the winner of Wednesday's second semifinal between Hungary and the United States.

6:45 p.m.

Japanese wrestler Kaori Icho is now just one win away from becoming the first woman to win an individual gold medal in four straight Olympics.

Icho throttled Azerbaijan's Yuliya Ratkevich 10-0 to reach the finals at 58 kilograms. She'll face Russian Valeriia Koblova Zholobova in hopes of clinching her 14th world title.

Azerbaijan's Mariya Stadnik, the top-ranked wrestler at 48 kilograms, pinned Elitsa Atanasova Yankova of Bulgaria to reach the finals. Stadnik's reward will be a matchup with three-time world champion Eri Tosaka of Japan.

Sara Dosho rallied late in her semifinal match against Sweden's Jenny Fransson, ensuring all three of Japan's wrestlers reached the finals. Dosho will face fourth-ranked Natalia Vorobeva of Russia.

5:30 p.m.

The U.S. State Department is encouraging cooperation with Brazilian authorities on their investigation into reports by U.S. swimmers Ryan Lochte, Jimmy Feigen and two others that they were robbed during the Olympics.

The office of a Brazilian judge confirmed in a Wednesday statement that the judge had issued an order that the passports of Lochte and Feigen be seized and that the swimmers stay in Brazil as authorities investigate. Lochte's father tells The Associated Press that his son had returned to the U.S. before the order was issued.

The State Department says it has seen the reports of the order and encourages "all parties to work with Brazilian law enforcement," referring further questions to those involved.

Lochte, Feigen and two of their teammates say they were robbed at gunpoint in a taxi Sunday morning as they returned to the athletes village from a party, several hours after the last Olympic swimming events were held.

4.15pm

Caster Semenya of South Africa cruised into the semfinals of the 800 meters, easily winning her heat to confirm her as the favorite for the Olympic title.

Semenya is at the heart of a heated debate on hyperandrogenism, a condition where a woman has much higher levels of testosterone than normal. Because of it, Wednesday's performance at the Olympic Stadium was eagerly anticipated.

Semenya was ordered to undergo gender tests when she won the world title in 2009, and wasn't allowed to compete for 11 months after the tests. The IAAF was forced to drop rules that limited testosterone levels in female athletes last year after they were challenged by another runner at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Semenya has dominated the season so far and she ran with the ease of the champion she once was. She won her heat in 1 minute, 59.31 seconds, almost 4 seconds off her season's best time.

4.10 p.m.

Reigning world champion and top-ranked taekwondo fighter Farzan Ashourzadeh Falleh of Iran has been knocked out of gold medal contention at the Olympics at Rio de Janeiro in the last second of his first-round fight by Morocco's Omar Hajjami.

Falleh had been leading throughout and scored three points for a head kick after his coach requested a video replay in the second round. Falleh is nicknamed "The Tsunami" for his whip-like spinning kicks.

Hajjami repeatedly tried to catch Falleh with various spinning techniques but often misjudged his distance. But in the last few seconds of the final round, he spun before throwing a roundhouse kick that connected in the last second, giving him a 4 to 3 victory. Hajjami knelt on the mat afterwards and clasped his hands together.

Falleh bowed and shook the hand of Hajjami and his coach before leaving the mat looking shocked.

4:10 p.m.

Mo Farah's bid for a repeat distance double is on track at the Rio Olympics after he qualified for the final of the 5,000 meters.

Farah, who won both the 5,000 and the 10,000 at the London Olympics in 2012, has already successfully defended his title at the longer distance despite being tripped and falling to the track during the final. He is a strong favorite in the 5K, advancing as one of the fastest five qualifiers in the first of two heats Wednesday.

The Somali-born British runner has won all major races over 5,000 since 2011 and finished third in 13 minutes, 25.25 minutes. Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia won the heat in 13:24.65 and Bernard Lagat of the United States progressed in fifth spot.

The 5,000 final is set for Saturday.

3:40 p.m.

Perhaps the greatest two men's badminton players of their era will play each other in the Olympic semifinals.

The meeting Friday of China's Lin Dan and Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei is a much-awaited rematch of the last two Olympic finals, which saw Lin beat Lee for gold.

For Rio, Lee is top-ranked and has cruised through the tournament, while Lin faced a major struggle Wednesday in his thrilling win over Srikanth Kidambi of India.

Lin easily won the first game, then lost big in the second to the world No. 11 before taking a close deciding game.

Despite Lin's win, the tournament has been marked by the surprise crumbling of China's Olympic dominance in badminton.

China swept all five gold medals at the 2012 London Games; that will not happen in Rio.

London silver medalist Wang Yihan of China lost Tuesday to P.V. Sindhu of India in the quarterfinals. Some once dominant Chinese doubles and mixed doubles teams also won't be playing for gold.

In women's singles, the favorites are top-ranked Carolina Marin of Spain and Li Xuerui, the defending Olympic champion from China. Both won easily Tuesday.

In mixed doubles, Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia knocked out London silver medalists Xu Chen and Ma Jin of China and will play for gold Wednesday against Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia, who beat Olympic champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China.

 

1:40 p.m.

Rio de Janeiro authorities have issued an arrest warrant for an International Olympic Committee executive accused of scalping tickets for the Summer Games.

Police said Wednesday that Patrick Hickey is accused of plotting with at least six others to illegally sell tickets for the Rio Olympics. Hickey has been part of the IOC executive board since 2012 and is president of both the Olympic Council of Ireland and of the European Olympic Committees.

An Irish executive was arrested last week in the same investigation and four other executives are wanted in the probe.

Agents have seized more than 1,000 tickets being sold for high fees and allocated to the Olympic Council of Ireland. The company suspected is British hospitality provider THG Sports, which police say was also part of an alleged ticket-scalping scheme during the 2014 World Cup, which Brazil also hosted.

12 p.m.

On Day 12 of the Rio Games, beach volleyballers will be spiking for gold, Usain Bolt heads back to the track for a 200 meter semifinal and China is aiming to pull off another gold medal sweep in Olympic table tennis.

A total of 17 gold medals are up for grabs - four of them on the track. American women are seeking a sweep in the 100-meter hurdles, and a showdown is on tap in the women's 200 meters between Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands and American Tori Bowie.

In non-medal matches, Brazilian star Neymar is aiming to turn boos into cheers and cement a place inRio's gold medal soccer match as his team takes on Honduras in the semifinals. Nigeria and Germany compete for the other final spot.

It's a win-or-go home game as the U.S. men's basketball team faces Argentina in the quarterfinals. Golfers tee off as the women's Olympic golf tournament begins and BMX racers appear at the Rio Olympics for the first time.

11:30 a.m.

Can China pull off another double Olympic sweep in table tennis?

It's sure aiming to.

China is looking to cement its domination of table tennis by repeating in Rio what it did at 2012 London Olympics: sweeping gold in both the singles and the team competitions.

The Chinese men's team faces faces off Wednesday against Japan for the gold, while Germany and South Korea play for the bronze. China's Ma Long has already taken gold in singles over fellow countryman Zhang Jike, and female player Ding Ning beat fellow Chinese player Li Xiaoxia.

China's women's team won the gold Tuesday and if the men win, as widely expected, China will have taken all the golds in play in Rio.

11:15 a.m.

On the sand and on the court, the spikes will be coming hard and fast at the Rio Olympics.

Brazilian world champions Agatha and Barbara fight for gold Wednesday against Germany's Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst in beach volleyball, a contest that starts at the stroke of midnight on the Copacabana waterfront.

Americans Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross must overcome their disappointment at not being in the gold medal match to battle top-seeded Brazilian women Talita and Larissa for the bronze. Walsh Jennings says losing on Tuesday night was "a terrible feeling."

Indoors on the men's side, the U.S. faces Poland in the quarterfinals after they reversed a poor start in pool play to win their final three matches. Host Brazil, which only advanced on the final day of preliminary play, takes on South American rival Argentina. Canada plays defending Olympic champion Russia while Italy faces Olympic first-timer Iran.

10:35 a.m.

It's time for Neymar and company to turn those boos into cheers.

Olympic host Brazil takes on Honduras in the men's semifinals of the Rio soccer tournament Wednesday. It's been a rocky road for the Brazilian team so far - starting with two draws against non-powerhouses South Africa and Iraq but following with shutout wins over Denmark and Colombia. Neymar was outstanding in the 2-0 win over Colombia despite being heavily marked.

Up until then, Brazil's top star had been jeered by hometown fans. A photo of a Brazil jersey with Neymar's name scratched off and replaced with the name of his female Brazilian counterpart Marta has gone viral.

Nigeria and Germany play in the other semifinal, with all four teams aiming for the gold medal match on Saturday.

___

9:15 a.m.

All of golf's top women have come to Rio de Janeiro, unlike the men, but they will have to work hard to produce an Olympic golf tournament matching the men's sensational performance.

Lydia Ko of New Zealand, Brooke Henderson of Canada and the top nine women in the world tee up Wednesday at the Olympic Golf Course, the first time women are playing golf in the Olympics since 1900.

Seven-time major champion Inbee Park is among four South Koreans in the 60-player field, but she has been nursing a thumb injury. The Americans have three players, including Stacy Lewis.

Even though six of golf's top 10 men did not come to Rio - some due to Zika fears - their Olympic tournament ended with high drama. Britain's Justin Rose made a birdie on the last hole to beat Henrik Stenson of Sweden, while Matt Kuchar of the United States closed with 63 to take the bronze.

 


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