The third day of the baseball competition (or honkbal as the Dutch call it) on Tuesday saw Japan and Canada remain unbeaten.

Canada beat honkbalers The Netherlands 7-0, Taiwan beat the winless Greeks 7-1, while Australia got off the mark with a 6-0 win over Italy.

Japan shot to tournament favouritism with victory over Cuba. This is the Olympic News Service report of that game:

Men : Japan holds off Cuba 6-3
ATHENS, 17 August - Power hitting and pitching propelled Japan (3-0) to a convincing 6-3 win over Cuba (2-1) at the Olympic Baseball Centre in the final game of Day 3 competition.

Japan’s ‘dream team’ of professional all-stars struck early and proved they are likely the team to beat in Athens.

With two outs in the second inning, designated hitter Kazuhiro WADA (JPN) triggered a hitting spree by smacking a two-run home run over the left field wall off Cuban starter Vicyohandri ODELIN to open the scoring.

Two innings later, back-to-back solo home runs from catcher Kenji JOJIMA (JPN) and hot-hitting Norihiro NAKAMURA (JPN), who led Japan with three hits, built up Japan’s lead and forced losing pitcher ODELIN from the game.

It was all the offence Japanese ace Daisuke MATSUZAKA needed. A standout in the 2000 Sydney Games, MATSUZAKA used a deft combination of 150-kph fast balls and off-speed curves to deceive the Cuban line up, which entered the game second only to Japan in team batting average.

MATSUZAKA, a star with Japan’s Seibu Lions, survived a vicious line drive off the bat of Yelieski GOURRIEL (CUB) with one out in the fourth, which hit the pitcher’s shoulder and sent him sprawling to the ground. After some medical treatment, he remained in the game, striking out Frederich CEPEDA (CUB) and Ariel PESTANO (CUB) to end the inning.

Cuba staged a ninth inning rally, but the two-time Olympic gold medallists were too deep in trouble to overcome Japan, which had added insurance runs in the seventh and ninth innings. Cuban catcher PESTANO did the major damage, driving a two-run double into the gap in right centre field that brought home two runs. Hirotoshi ISHII (JPN) then replaced MATSUZAKA, pitching two innings of relief for the save.

MATSUZAKA gave up three runs and struck out seven for the win in 8 1/3 innings.

The loss was only the third for Cuba since Baseball became a medal sport in the 1992 Games. Cuba won gold in the 1992 Games and 1996 Games but had to settle for silver in the 2000 Games when it lost to the USA.

ONS dr/pjg

Here is La Gazzetta dello Sport’s report in Italian of Australia’s double-drubbing of Italy in baseball and softball.

And a big cheerio to the United Arab Emirates. The country that brought you such fine cricketers as Sultan Zarawani won its first ever Olympic gold medal on Tuesday.

Shaikh Ahmed Mohammed Hasher Al Maktoum was UAE’s squash champion from 1985 to 2000, but it took trap shooting to get him into the Olympic Games, and yesterday he was an easy winner of the Men’s Double Trap competition. It was a big occasion for India as well, with Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore finishing second to become India’s first individual silver medallist ever.

See the coverage of the event by the Khaleej Times and Newindpress.com. (Note to the sub-editors of the world: the Sydney 2000 trap shoot winner was Russell Mark, not Mark Russell).

A sadder story surrounds Thailand’s first female gold medallist. Udumporn Polsak won the women’s 53kg competition on Sunday. Her family were celebrating with about five hundred friends at their home in the Nakhon Ratchasima province when one Worayuth Wonsantai is alleged to have pulled a gun and shot and killed Udumporn’s cousin, one Boy Jonkoh.

Reports of that shooting are still a bit sketchy, but controversy is raging in Bangkok after Thai deputy Prime Minister Suwat Liptapanlop took Udumporn’s gold medal, flew home to Thailand with it and showed it off to the Cabinet. Bangkok’s The Nation newspaper carries a report.

Bhutan’s most successful Olympic campaign came to an end on Tuesday. They’ve only ever competed in one sport, archery (although they are also entered in taekwondo at Athens), and this time around they got two competitors into the 1/16-elimination round - the best they’ve ever achieved. Tashi Peljor in the men’s individual, and Tschering Chhoden in the women’s, are the Bhutanese heroes.

The Phelpster picked up his second and third gold medals of the Games. First he won the 200 butterfly, then the American 4×200 freestyle crew outgunned the Australians, including the Thorpallistic Missile himself. More sobering for the US is the fact that they will not have a finalist in the men’s 100 freestyle for the first time, Moscow 1980 excepted, ever.

The Nightmare Team scraped through against Greece last night 77-71, but it is Spain who are looking the goods in the men’s basketball. Here’s a report in Spanish from El Mundo about Spain’s 87-76 win over Argentina on Tuesday night.

The Matildas gained at least some revenge for the ironically-entitled Free Trade Agreement through a shock 1-1 draw with the USA. It’s enough to get Australia into the final eight of the women’s soccer. ESPN.com carries an Associated Press report of the game, but give more column inches to an in-house profile of Kristine Lilly, who scored the American goal in the 19th minute of the game.

NBCOlympics.com invites me to join the US Olympic Fan Club, and I could “get a phone call from Janet Evans, plus other great benefits!” Hmm.

Australia’s hopes of a baseball medal in Athens had gone pretty much out the window on Monday after their second loss in two outings, done by Taiwan.

This is the Olympic News Service’s wrap on Monday’s baseball action.

Day 2: Canada, Cuba, Japan continue winning ways 17 Aug. 2004

ATHENS, 16 August - Cuba, Japan Canada continued their winning ways to remain the only undefeated teams in the preliminary round of the Olympic Baseball tournament.

TPE v AUS
In the day session’s first game Chinese Taipei (1-1) rebounded from its Day One loss with a solid 3-0 shutout of Australia. The 1992 Games silver medallists rode the steady arms of WANG Chien-Ming (TPE), a member of the USA Major League’s New York Yankees organisation, and TSAO Chin-Hui (TPE). WANG pitched seven scoreless innings to earn the win, and TSAO picked up the save with two innings of scoreless relief work.

Most of the offensive load was carried by Chinese Taipei professional league batting leader PENG Cheng-Min, who had two hits and two RBIs.

Starter John STEPHENS (AUS) allowed seven hits and three runs in 7 1/3 innings and took Australia’s win-loss record to 0-2.

CAN v ITA

Olympic debutante Canada (2-0) used its big bats to humble European qualifying champion Italy 9-3.

Italy struck first when designated hitter Jairo RAMOS GIZZI (ITA) drove in leftfielder James BUCCHERI (ITA). But the lead was short lived. Canada’s deep lineup scored nine runs in the next two innings, keyed by a seven-run second inning.

Catcher Pierre-Luc LAFOREST did the major damage, smacking a three-run homer off losing pitcher David ROLLANDINI (ITA). He led a balanced attack with four RBIs. Canada also benefitted from three Italian errors in the second and third innings.

Pitcher Jason DICKSON (CAN) had problems with his control at times, but only gave up two runs in six innings to pick up the win.

JPN v NED

Atsushi FUJIMOTO’s (JPN) two-run blast in the eighth inning broke open a tense game as Japan (2-0) turned back the Netherlands 8-3 remained undefeated.

The contest was also marked by controversy over a player eligibility dispute in the fifth inning that delayed the game nearly a half-hour and seemed to take the Dutch out of their rhythm.

The Dutch chased Japanese starter Hisashi IWAKUMA after only 1 2/3 innings, but the Netherlands’ offence was cooled off by Hiroki KURODA (JPN), who entered in the fourth inning with the Netherlands leading 3-2. KURODA pitched five scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out seven while notching up the win for the former Olympic silver medallists.

When the Netherlands attempted to bring in reliever Eelco JANSEN during a fifth-inning Japanese rally, manager Kiyoshi NAKAHATA (JPN)protested, arguing that JANSEN had not been included on the lineup card the teams exchanged before the game. It took the technical commissioners more than 20 minutes to sort out the details. They determined that all 24 men on each team’s roster were eligible and that Japan’s protest had been unfounded.

The Netherlands then protested that Japan had attempted to use tactics to shorten or delay the game. Its protest was also denied.

The delay seemed to unravel the Dutch and put the powerful team of Japanese professionals back on track.

The team of professional all-stars from Japan’s major leagues broke the game open with four runs in the eighth inning, keyed by FUJIMOTO’s two-run homer. The second baseman finished with one run, two hits and three RBIs.

CUB v GRE

The home team almost played spoiler as Greece (0-2), down 5-1 heading into the ninth inning, mounted a furious comeback only to come up short and lose 5-4 to Cuba (2-0).

With Cuba up 5-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, the Greek team, comprised of mostly north Americans of Greek heritage, never gave up and used a raucous home crowd filled with citizens of their ancestral homeland to their advantage in the ninth.

With Chris DEMETRAL (GRE) and Clayton BELLINGER (GRE) on base, Nicholas MARKAKIS (GRE) ripped a two out triple which scored the two baserunners. Nick THEODORU (GRE) singled to left centre to score a run.

The comeback ended when Pedro Luis LAZO (CUB) entered the game. LAZO struck out James KAVOURIAS (GRE) spoil the rally and Greece’s shot at victory.

ONS dr/jc/eg

The ONS expands further on the Japan-Netherlands controversy in their match report:

When the Netherlands attempted to bring in reliever Eelco JANSEN, Japanese manager Kiyoshi NAKAHATA protested, arguing that JANSEN had not been included on the lineup card the teams exchanged before the game. It took the technical commissioners more than 20 minutes to sort out the details. They determined that all 24 men on each team’s roster were eligible and that Japan’s protest had been unfounded.

The Netherlands then protested that Japan had attempted to use tactics to shorten or delay the game. Its protest was also denied.

Here is a report on the Japan-Netherlands game in Dutch. (I never knew that the Dutch word for baseball was honkbal. Well there you go!)

Graham Thorpe watched from the sidelines on Monday as Robert Key and Andrew Flintoff hit the winning runs in England’s thrilling seven-wicket victory over the West Indies in the Third Test at Old Trafford. Thorpe had broken a finger when he was struck by a ball from Fidel Edwards while batting in the first innings on Sunday.

Key and Flintoff completed the victory in time for Thorpe to be able to watch his identical twin brother, Ian, demolish King Michael of Phelps in the 200 metres freestyle in a highly anticipated clash which had already been dubbed The Race of the Century, with 96 years still remaining.

The victory gave Thorpaldo the record as Australia’s greatest ever Olympic gold medallist (it was his fifth). Phelps’ dream of eight out of eight was now pushed back to one of “six out of eight ain’t bad”.

Monday was a rest day in the soccer for both men and women. The Hockeyroos beat South Africa 3-0 while the Dutch beat South Korea 3-2. Suzanne Balogh surprised everyone by winning a gold medal for Australia in the women’s trap shoot. Just goes to show what you can achieve if you play with guns long enough.

The Aussie Spirit did it tough against Taiwan, winning 1-0. Tanya Harding (no not her) was the winning pitcher. The US and Japan were 0-0 after seven innings before the Americans scored three runs in the eighth to win.

But on the tennis court, The Poo stank. The Artist Formerly Known As Scud was beaten by 87th-ranked Olivier Rochus in three sets. Only forty per cent of your first serves were good in the third set, eh Mark?

As if the Kostas and Katerina kontroversy is not enough for you, there is the case of Iranian judoka Arash Miresmaeli who withdrew from the 66kg competition after he was drawn against an Israeli competitor. Not so, he says. He couldn’t compete because he couldn’t get his weight down. The International Judo Federation were looking into the situation. According to IJF spokesperson Michel Brousse, “We can’t penalize someone who showed up at the weigh-in… But if you’re intentionally overweight, then it is more serious.”

The NBC’s “Kleenex Moment of the Day” for Sunday was a bit short of quality candidates, what with the Dream Team losing to Puerto Rico and Phelpsy failing to win a gold. The winning moment for Day Two? Why of course, the US water polo team’s 7-6 victory over Croatia!

Finally, congratulations to Nikolaos Chatzivrettas, a 28-year-old guard with the Greek men’s basketball team, who became a father Monday when his wife, Dimitra, gave birth to a boy. According to ONS, Chatzivrettas left the Olympic Village to visit his new son.