Sunday was the last day of the round-robin in the Olympic baseball competition. Stubby Clapp went 1 for 4 as Canada beat Australia 11-0. The semi-finals on Tuesday will be Japan v Australia (6.30pm Sydney time) and Cuba v Canada (2.30am Wednesday AEST). Here is the ONS report of day seven action:

Sunday sees medal round picture clear up
ATHENS, 22 August - Today saw medal favourties jockeying for position as all teams were in action for the last day of the round robin.

TPE vs. NED

PAN Wei-Lun (TPE) picked up his second win of the tournament with six strong innings as Chinese Taipei defeated the Netherlands 5-1, at the Olympic Baseball Centre.

Taipei finished the preliminary round with three wins and four losses, good for fifth place. The Netherlands slipped to 2-5, and can finish no better than sixth.

Taipei got on the scoreboard first in the second inning when catcher YEH Chun-Chang (TPE) sliced a single to centre field off Dutch starter Patrick de LANGE to score third baseman CHEN Yung-Chi, who had doubled.

The Asian qualifying runner-ups struck again in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings, manufacturing runs with solid baseball fundamentals: timely hitting, smart baserunning and effective bunting to advance runners. They also benefitted from six Dutch fielding errors, including three on shortstop Ralph MILLIARD (NED).

GRE vs. JPN

Japan (6-1) clinched the top seed in the medal round, defeating Greece (1-6) 6-1, at the Olympic Baseball Centre in the Helliniko Olympic Complex.

In the sixth, Japan put a little cushion on its lead. A little bloop single by Yoshitomo TANI (JPN) scored Shinya MIYAMOTO (JPN) who had four hits in four at bats.

In the seventh, Japan opened up some offensive fireworks, scoring four runs, three of which came from two home runs, a two run shot by Kosuke FUKUDOME (JPN) and a solo shot by Yoshinobu TAKAHASHI (JPN).

Melet Ross MELEHES (GRE) picked up the loss for Greece while Naoyuki SHIMIZU got the win for Japan.

ITA vs. CUB

Ariel PESTANO’s (CUB) hot bat and the tournament leading Cuban pitching staff, combined to shut down Italy 5-0 and lock up second place in preliminary competition.

Cuban catcher PESTANO, second in the tournament with 14 hits, provided most of the offence for the two-time gold medallists, who are aiming to retake their place atop the podium after settling for silver in the 2000 Games in Sydney.

Cuba opened the scoring with a three-run second inning, and PESTANO did the major damage with a two-run double off Italian starter Michael MARCHESANO, that brought home 2004 Cuban league batting champion Osmani URRUTIA and leftfielder Frederich CEPEDA.

PESTANO, who finished with a team leading four hits and three RBI’s, added an insurance run in the eighth with a two-out single that drove home CEPEDA for the second time in the game.

Four Cuban pitchers combined for a two-hit shutout. Luis BORROTO (CUB), who replaced starter Vicyohandri ODELIN (CUB) in the third inning, upped his record to 2-0 with three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out six.

AUS vs. CAN

Canada entered the medal round on a high note, thrashing Australia 11-0. Canda received the third seed for the medal round while Australia will have the fourth seed.

Both teams failed to score in the first two innings of play, yet on the top half of the third, Canada put enough distance between itself and Australia to win.

Kevin NICHOLSON (CAN) was hit by Aussie starter Adrian BURNSIDE. Peter ORR (CAN) then ripped a single up the middle to move NICHOLSON to second.

Richard CLAPP (CAN) bunted, but the play was miffed by Aussie third baseman Glenn WILLIAMS as the ball bounced in and out of his glove. Even if WILLIAMS had made the play, he would have had difficulty getting the speedy CLAPP out at first base.

After a Danny KLASSEN (CAN) sacrifice fly, Andy STEWART (CAN) doubled home ORR and CLAPP to put Canada up 3-0.

Canada added to its lead in the fourth, with a Ryan RADMANOVICH two run shot to right field.

ONS dr/jc/is

And so we bid a fond farewell to the honkballers of the Netherlands. Here is (in Dutch) how De Telegraaf reported their final loss to Taiwan.

Back in the days when the Olympic Spirit meant something, there was an adage that talked about it being more important to take part than to win. (Or, if you’re Michael Phelps, it’s more important to win than to take part.) The Olympic Spirit is alive and well in Timor Leste.

Agueda de Fatima Amaral has never broken the three hour barrier in the women’s marathon. She didn’t do so Sunday either - she clocked 3:18:52 - but she was there representing a country that had such a traumatic road to independence. Amaral was the 65th runner to finish, the only athlete behind her being Mongolia’s Luvsanlkhundeg Otgonbayar who took half an hour more.

Among the sixteen not to finish was Great Britain’s world record holder Paula Radcliffe. Six kilometres to go, and in fourth place, she broke down in tears. She doesn’t really know why. See the BBC’s report which, for now, includes video of an exclusive TV interview given on Monday. Read the Seattle Times’ Ron Judd’s report on the women’s marathon.

There are questions begging to be asked here: the marathon was being run at 6pm on a Sunday in 35 degree heat. Why was it not run first thing in the morning like they used to? Bugger television! (6pm in Athens is 11am in New York.)

The most bizarre choke of the day, however, came in the final of the women’s eights. Sally Robbins in the Australian crew suddenly slumped forward in her seat about 400 metres from the finish and her boat finished last. It wasn’t immediately clear why. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph splashed the headline “How Oarful” over its front page the next day and there have been a lot of recriminations flying about. I’ll try and wrap together the best of the coverage of this amazing incident in a separate item tomorrow.

War on Error Update: Hungarian fencing referee Joszef Hidasi has been kicked out of the Olympics and suspended for two years after making six scoring errors in the men’s team foil final on Saturday. All six errors favoured Italy, who beat China 45-42 in the gold medal playoff.

Sunday was New Zealand’s big day at the Games (so far), with their first two gold medals of Athens 2004. The Evers-Swindell twins, Georgina and Caroline, won the women’s double sculls, and Sarah Ulmer won the women’s individual pursuit (incidentally ending Leontien Ziljaard-van Moorsel’s dream of outdoing Fanny Blankers-Koen). And this opened up the sore point of New Zealand’s flag being almost indistinguishable from the Australian. The New Zealand Green Party was quick to call for a referendum to change the flag.

The US regained dignity on the track on Sunday night after Yuliya Nesterenko of Belarus won a Marion Jones-less women’s 100 final on Saturday. Justin Gatlin of the University of Tennessee won the men’s 100 crown with a time of 9.85 seconds.

The Hockeyroos are out of medal contention after a 1-0 loss to the Netherlands, and probably facing the break-up of a champion team. Still on hockey, read Mervyn Fernandis’ latest Dribble Scribble.

Finally, Jana.