Another superb day for Japan saw the host nation surge to the top of the medal table at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Monday.
Japan now have eight golds after winning Olympic titles in three different sports, the most unexpected of which came in table tennis.
The mixed doubles team of Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito came from two games down to eventually prevail after seven games against China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen.
China won all four table tennis titles at Rio 2016 and had been expected to dominate again, only to come unstuck as Japan won the first gold in this new event.
Further joy for Japan came as 13-year-old Momiji Nishiya triumphed in the women's street skateboarding while Shohei Ono was victorious in the men's 73kg category in judo.
Second behind Japan are the United States, who took two shooting golds on day three as well as the men's 4x100m freestyle title in the pool.
China did not add to their tally of six gold medals, one fewer than the USA, having come up short in another event where they had a team of heavy favourites.
Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen were edged out in the men's 10m synchronised platform, with British divers Tom Daley and Matty Lee winning gold.
That was one of three golds for Great Britain, who moved up to fifth in the medal table thanks also to Adam Peaty retaining his 100m breaststroke title and Tom Pidcock dominating in the men's cross-country mountain bike race.
The Russian Olympic Committee sits fourth after adding three golds, the headliner being victory in the men's artistic gymnastics team all-around final.
Meanwhile, Hidilyn Diaz made history for the Philippines, become the country's first Olympic gold medallist by prevailing in the women's 55kg weightlifting.
Craig Simpson & Wendy McMaster ready to defend Rangers Sporting Clays titles
Defending champions Craig Simpson and Wendy McMaster will be gunning for top honors again at the Rangers Gun Club shoot which is set for Sunday May 6th with a 10 am shotgun start at the True Juice Complex in Bog Walk, St. Catherine.
The venue is considered to be happy hunting ground for the two defending champions. It is the venue where Simpson posted his highest score in the sport (97 out of a possible 100) and where McMaster dethroned her daughter and two-time winner Aliana, to take the top spot.
Competition for top honors will be stiff as some of the Jamaica Skeet Club's best shooters will be on the course. They include nine-time national shotgun champion Ian Banks, six-time national shotgun champion Shaun Barnes, four-time national shotgun champion Christian Sasso, other national shotgun champions like Chad Ziadie, his father Geoffrey Ziadie, Ray McMaster, Andrew Hopwood, Nicholas Benjamin and young David Wong as well as former winner Nicholas Chen.
On the female side the top contenders include two-time winner Aliana McMaster and sister Leanne, Renee Rickhi who is part of the Jamaica Rifle Association's Alpha Angels lady shooters, Marguerite Harris and granddaughter Lori-Ann Harris among others.
Shooters in various classes from A - E, Hunters or Beginners, Juniors, Sub-Juniors and Ladies will be competing hard in order to win their classes and in some cases move up to higher and more challenging classes. The event features an eighteen-station driving course.
The shooters will face targets of varying types including true pairs (birds launched at the same time), rabbits (birds released on the ground), birds in the air released at different speeds and directions as well as some targets released over gentle flowing streams on the lush green course.
The Rangers Gun Club is expecting another big field of approximately one hundred and fifty shooters to conquer the expansive driving course for a day of individual and team competition which will feature the local gun clubs. For the third year in a row four clubs will compete for that trophy. The competing clubs are Driftwood Gun Club, Rangers Gun Club, Trelawny Gun Club and defending champion - the Jamaica Gun Club.
Part proceeds from the event will be donated to the Food for the Poor organization.
The lead sponsor for the Rangers Gun Club Sporting Clays shoot is Sterling Asset Management while Worthy Park Select, National and STLSOLAR are the next level sponsors.
The club has a rich history of young business men and some of their fathers who loved shooting getting together in the mid-1980s to start the Rangers Gun Club at their Salt Gully base in St. Catherine. They initially focused on bird shooting then took on sporting clays which is currently the most popular form of the sport.
Wolmer’s completes dominant season with ISSA all-island U-19 boys' and girls' Table Tennis titles
Just as they did in the Urban Area competition, Wolmer’s completed the ISSA all-island girls’ and boys’ U-19 Table Tennis double at the GC Foster College Auditorium on Wednesday.
The girls’ team secured a dominant 3-0 win over St. Mary High to claim their third straight all-island crown while the boys’ team defeated Titchfield High 4-1.
Jamaica College defeated Titchfield 5-0 to win the U-16 boys’ title while Immaculate Conception beat St. Hilda’s 3-1 to win the U-16 girls’ crown.
For Wolmer’s Girls’ team members Gianna Lewis and Liana Campbell, this win was an excellent way to close out their respective high school careers.
“Very relieved to be closing out with the all-island title,” Lewis told Sportsmax.tv.
“My team and I knew we had to bring our A game one last time and we did so,” she added.
Campbell called securing all-island success for the final time a “surreal feeling.”
“We embodied our school’s motto, ‘Age Quod Agis.’ Whatever you do, do it well. I am so proud of the team and myself and we’ll continue to excel in this sport,” she added.
The team’s third member, reigning JTTA National Champion Tsenaye Lewis, also reacted to the win.
“I am very, very happy with this victory especially since this is my last year playing alongside Liana and my big sister Gianna,” she said.
Lewis will still be at the school next year and hopes for continued success going forward.
“This is definitely how I envisioned the end of this era but now I hope we can defend our title for my final year next year,” she added.
The Lewis sisters will now turn their attention to national duty when they represent Jamaica at the Caribbean Youth Championships in Santo Domingo next week.
“We are looking forward to competing and representing our country again,” Tsenaye Lewis said.
On this day 2013: Six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy announces retirement
Six-time Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy announced his retirement from competitive cycling 11 years ago, admitting: “I know it is the right decision.”
The 37-year-old Scot had been contemplating continuing until the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but revealed he was quitting the sport at a press conference in Edinburgh on April 18, 2013.
Hoy was Britain’s most decorated Olympian after his haul of two gold medals at London 2012 saw him surpass rower Sir Steve Redgrave’s record of five, although he was overtaken by former team-mate Sir Jason Kenny in 2021.
In explaining his decision, Hoy said: “I think in sport at the highest level you’re dealing in such small margins and you can tell when you’re good but not good enough.
“It was very emotional coming in there (to the press conference) and I was trying not to watch the video montage with the sad music.
“I don’t want it to be a sad moment.
“I want to celebrate it and be happy because I know it is the right decision.
“It’s a decision that I didn’t take lightly and I thought about it very hard.”
As well as six Olympic titles, Hoy’s 13-year career featured 11 world titles and two Commonwealth crowns.
Hoy’s final race was the Olympic Keirin final on August 7, 2012 – on the final day of the London 2012 track programme.
Following retirement, Hoy pursued his passion for motorsport, including competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours, while he has also written children’s books.
In February 2024, the 48-year-old announced he was undergoing treatment for cancer.
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