OLYMPIC DIGEST CanoeingHungary and Germany dominated the canoe sprint yesterday, winning three of the four events outright and claiming half of the 12 medals up for grabs.
Germany’s Sebastian Brendal won gold in the men’s canoe 1,000m race, while compatriot Max Hoff claimed bronze in the men’s single kayak, and the women’s K4 crew picked up silver in the 500 metre race.
Hungary’s performance was even more impressive. The country’s women’s K4 team won gold, while Rudolf Dombi and Roland Kokeny also took gold in the men’s double kayak.
Only Norway’s Eirik Veras Larsen could break their hegemony. He was able to win the men’s 1,000m kayak, defeating Beijing champion Tim Brabants, who finished eighth.
Obara delivers the gold
WrestlingHitomi Obara began what is expected to be a clean sweep for Japan at the ExCeL last night after she claimed gold in the -48kg wrestling.
Obara beat Mariya Stadnyk to claim the first gold in the women's wrestling at London 2012, defeating the Azerbaijani 0-4 1-0 2-0 in a thrilling fight played out in front of a raucous Japanese following.
Obara, 31, had retired twice from the sport after failing to make Japan's Olympic team at the last two Games but opted to return. In the -48kg category Clarissa Chun came through the repechage to win bronze – the United States' first wrestling medal
Chinese complete grand slam of gold medals
Table TennisChina completed a sweep of all the Olympic table tennis golds yesterday when their men stormed to victory over South Korea to clinch the team title on the closing day.
The heavily favoured Chinese defended their title by beating South Korea 3-0 to pick up the nations fourth gold and retain all the Olympic titles.
A chanting crowd was in full voice as Ma Long and men's singles champion Zhang Jike won their respective singles matches over Ryu Seungmin and Joo Saehyuk to give China a 2-0 lead.
Wang Hao, who won silver in the men's singles, and Zhang then secured the gold by trouncing Oh Sangeun and Ryu in three sets to clinch the best of five matches final.
