Nigeria Olympic team paid to avert pay strike

A pay strike that could well have seen Nigeria boycott tonight’s Rio Olympics game against Colombia has been averted after the team received part of their allowances.
It was reported that the coach Samson Siasia-led team threatened to shun the last group game against Colombia in Sao Paulo if they were not paid.
Officials said the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) paid each player $1650 being allowances to cover 11 days.
“The team camp is bubbling now after this payment,” said one of the players.
The team have been embroiled in one crisis after the other – they were stranded for several days at their training base in Atlanta, Georgia, before they landed Brazil on match day and the players led by skipper Mikel Obi had to beg Siasia not to quit after the Sweden game.
It would also be recalled that two years ago, the Nigerian government had to fly in cash to douse a pay row at the 2014 World Cup also in Brazil.
Nigeria have now qualified for the quarterfinals of the Rio Olympics with a game to spare.
They battle Colombia by 11pm Nigerian time today in Sao Paulo in their final group match.

Tennis: Murray into last-16, Keys into quarters

Defending champion Andy Murray raced into the Olympic Games third round Tuesday, blitzing close friend Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-3, 6-1.
World No 2 Murray is looking to make the most of the shock opening round exit of top seed Novak Djokovic and become the first man to win two singles golds.
The 29-year-old Wimbledon champion, who has not lost to Monaco in six years, will face France’s Benoit Paire, the 16th seed, or Fabio Fognini of Italy for a quarterfinal spot.
Murray was hardly troubled by Monaco on centre court.
The Argentine never fully recovered from a fall in the second game of the opening set where he aggravated a long-standing hip injury.
Murray reeled off five games against the world number 108 and was soon 4-0 up in the second set before going on to claim victory in just 69 minutes.
Meanwhile, American seventh seed Madison Keys hailed Serena Williams for inspiring her to reach the quarterfinals.
Keys, 21, was the first woman into the last-eight thanks to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win over gritty Spaniard, Carla Suarez Navarro.
But she gave credit to 22-time Slam winner Williams, the top seed in Rio and defending Olympic champion.
Keys, who made the Australian Open semifinals in January, will face either Italy’s Sara Errani or promising Daria Kasatkina of Russia for a place in the last four.

South African rowers through to final

Lawrence Brittain and Shaun Keeling became the first South African rowing crew to qualify for a final at the Olympic Games in Rio on Tuesday when they finished third in their men’s pair semifinal heat.
Asked before his race how he rated their chances of going through to the final, Lawrence Brittain responded: “It will be a tough but we are up to the challenge.”
By becoming an Olympic finalist Brittain (Tuks/HPC) is continuing a tradition which was started by his brother, Matthew, at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The elder Brittain was part of the “awesome foursome” that won the gold medal.
New Zealand’s Eric Murray and Hamish Bond displayed why they are at the moment one of the top rowing crews in the world when they won their heat in 6:23.36 which was the fastest time of the two heats. It was their 70th consecutive victory. The pair is the hot favourites to win the gold medal, repeating their success at the 2012 London Olympics.
Brittain and Keeling were second during most of the race but they were passed by Britain’s Alan Sinclair and Stewart Innes in the last 300 metres. Italy’s Giovanni Abagnale and Marco di Costanzo won the first heat in a time of 6:24.96.
There is a good chance that the outcome of all the finals could be influenced by a strong crosswind, but it does not seem to faze the South Africans too much.
“The key to having a good race will probably be to be very loose, not trying to fight the conditions. You have to let the boat move freely in the rough,” said Brittain.
But Keeling (Tuks/HPC) admitted that they will have to be mindful of the weather conditions in the final.
This afternoon James Thompson and John Smith (men’s lightweight double sculls), Kirsten McCann and Ursula Grobler (women’s lightweight double sculls); Lee-Ann Persse and Kate Christowitz (women’s pairs) will all be trying to qualify for their respective finals on Friday.
Smith and Thompson, who were part of the crew who won gold in 2012, set the fastest time in the heats.

US teen boxer Balderas into quarters

American lightweight boxer Carlos Balderas powered into the quarterfinals at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday, dedicating the win to his inspirational grandfather in the stands who nearly died just before the Games.
The 19-year-old Mexican-American made it two wins on the trot in Brazil as he routed the more experienced Japanese fighter Daisuke Narimatsu with an emphatic unanimous points decision.
The teenager has come through a lot to make it to Rio to represent the United States, after his grandfather and uncles left Mexico for a better life in the US, where they laboured long hours in Californian strawberry fields to barely make ends met.
Balderas was the first member of his large and deeply religious family to be born in the US, but his roots remain important and he keeps his relatives close, to the extent that he has more than 20 friends and family cheering him on in Brazil.
Among them is his frail grandfather David, who turns 84 next month and used to sleep in the fields as he toiled long hours for the financially struggling family.
Reflecting on the vital role in his life of his devoted grandfather, Balderas said: “It means a lot to me (to have him in Rio). A couple of months ago he got sick with influenza and he was really close to passing away.”