Japan vs Great Britain LIVE: Tokyo 2020 final score, result and reaction as Team GB reach quarter-finals
The second match of the group stage for Team GB as they continue their search for medals
Great Britain are through to the knockout stages of the Olympics women’s football competition with a game to spare after a 1-0 victory over hosts Japan. It was a professional display in a contest they bossed, though not with outright control. Similar to their 2-0 victory over Chile, they won the most important passages and, again, it was Ellen White’s name on the scoresheet. That her three goals in two games have come from just five shots says as much about her effectiveness in front of goal as it does of how Team GB have not quite been at their creative best. Nevertheless, the first part of the job is done.
For Japan, their hopes of automatic qualification take a hit, especially after Canada beat Chile earlier in the day to move to four points, with a cushion of three in second. However, they can still make it through if they defeat the South Americans on Tuesday to move to four points and, thus, qualify as the best two of the three third-place sides.
Follow all the latest updates from the Olympics and the reaction from Japan against Great Britain here:
Tokyo Olympics: Men’s cycling road race
The attacks are coming from all corners of the peloton now. Italy’s Damiano Caruso injects some pace, Belgium’s contingent give chance and the Dutch follow. The peloton is starting to get stretched now.
Tokyo Olympics: Men’s cycling road race
Greg van Avermaet is another to abandon the race in the pitlane – an unusual sentence in cycling.
Tokyo Olympics: Men’s road race
The race has taken to the Fuji Speedway track, and the gap between the big chasing bunch containing most of the main contenders and the breakaway is less than four minutes. A sad sight: Geraint Thomas pulls over near the pitlane of this track, and his race is run. He never quite recovered from that early fall.
Tokyo Olympics: Men’s road race
There are less than 70km remaining and the peloton is heading back down Mount Fuji after that long climb. The pace is high and they have successfully reduced the gap to the breakawayers to less than five minutes. More riders have been shelled from the back of the peloton, meanwhile, including Spain’s world champion Alejandro Valverde.
Tokyo Olympics: Total Covid-19 cases up to 127
The total number of Olympics-related coronavirus cases have now gone to 127, with one athlete adding to the tally.
Earlier on Friday, German cyclist Simon Geschke tested positive for the virus, a day before the men’s road race.
Athletes now account for 14 out of the 127 Covid cases reported at the Tokyo Olympics since 1 July.
Rower Finn Florijn also tested positive for the virus, announced the Dutch team officials on Saturday, adding that he is out of the Games. His positive test results, however, won’t show up in the official tally until Sunday.
Tokyo Olympics: Russian gymnast earns spot in finals despite Achilles injury
As Artur Dalaloyan completed a routine that assured him a spot in next week’s finals, he put his hands over his eyes, made his way off the podium, sat down in a chair and wept.
The 25-year-old Russian gymnast prevailed over a recent Achilles injury, clinching an unlikely spot, as he had earlier planned to sit out the events to spare his leg. He finished fourth all-round in the first subdivision of qualifications, behind compatriot Nikita Nagornyy and China’s Xiao Ruoteng and Sun Wei.
All of a sudden when the weight of his incredible recovery from a torn Achilles tendon hit him, his tears fell. “I was filled with joy that I found the strength to compete on the vault and floor,” said Dalaloyan, the 2018 world all-around champion. “But I also had feelings of frustration because I expected more of myself.”
His ranking as the second Russian gymnast means he’ll be in the all-around final next week, if his Achilles holds up.
Tokyo Olympics: Men’s road race
The peloton is on the march here, accelerating up Mount Fuji, and it is having a big effect on the race. Plenty of riders are struggling to keep hold of the back of the main bunch, while the gap to the leaders has shrunk considerably, from around 18 minutes 20km ago to just over 10 minutes now, with 97km to go in the race. Five riders left in the breakaway: Dlamani, Kukrle, Sagan, Tzortzakis and Aular Sanabria. Geraint Thomas, after a small crash earlier, is starting to toil slightly while the reigning champion Greg van Avermaet is losing touch with the peloton.
Tokyo Olympics: India in surprise badminton loss to Israel
India’s Sai Praneeth has lost his opening men’s singles badminton match to Israel’s Misha Zilberman. After a strong start for India’s favourite, Sai let the first game slip away from him and was comfortably beaten in the second. Zilberman takes the match 21-17, 21-15.
Tokyo Olympics: Men’s road race
115km to go in the men’s cycling road race and they are approaching the foot of Mount Fuji. The Fuji Sanroku climb is the longest of the day at 14.3 kilometres and an average six per cent gradient – not horribly steep but long enough to drain even the strongest climbing legs.
A breakaway has formed and they are working really well together, with a gap of more than 15 minutes on the main peloton which contains the main contenders. Included in the break is Peter Sagan, an unlikely winner on a mountain route like this one but let’s not rule out the vastly talented Slovakian.
The breakaway riders: Dlamani, Kukrle, Sagan, Tzortzakis and Aular Sanabria.
Tokyo Olympics: Seonaid McIntosh misses out
Earlier China claimed the first gold of these games, in the women’s 10m air rifle event. Team GB had high hopes for shooter Seonaid McIntosh but she failed to qualify for the final.
Here’s the full story:
Seonaid McIntosh misses out on women’s 10m air rifle final in first medal event
Scottish shooter has second medal chance later in the Games as China’s Yang Qian won the first gold medal of Tokyo 2020.
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