After a 12 months’s delay, the Tokyo Olympics are lastly below approach and there is already been loads of motion involving Team GB in Japan.
Sir Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury marked themselves out as medal contenders with a superb first-round efficiency within the males’s doubles on the Ariake Tennis Park.
The pair had a tricky draw in opposition to second seeds and Roland Garros champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut however they brushed the French pair apart in a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
The Tokyo Olympics are lastly below approach and there was loads of Staff GB motion already
Salisbury and Murray had by no means performed a match collectively earlier than however the former is Britain’s greatest doubles participant whereas Murray additionally has loads of expertise within the format.
Murray suffered a primary week exit at Wimbledon final month however performed some spellbinding tennis, and is wanting so as to add to his two Gold medals gained in males’s singles competitors in London and Rio.
Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski had been the ultimate British gamers on court docket for the day and so they saved a match level in a nail-biting 6-7 (3) 6-4 13-11 victory over Argentinians Andres Molteni and Horacio Zeballos.
Sir Andy Murray and Joe Salisbury laid down an early marker after beating high contenders
Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski additionally superior in a nail-biting conflict with Argentine rivals
Murray and Skupski had been common companions till the top of final 12 months, when Murray determined to rekindle his partnership with Bruno Soares, and he was a late substitute for the Olympics after Dan Evans examined optimistic for coronavirus.
Murray and Skupski discovered themselves 3-1 down within the second set and gazing an early exit, however turned the match round earlier than edging the tightest of tie-breaks.
Within the street race, Adam Yates got here closest to medalling however was outsprinted on the final, whereas Geraint Thomas was compelled to make an early exit after crashing once more.
The Welshman suffered the identical destiny in Brazil 5 years in the past and couldn’t transfer out of the best way after Staff GB team-mate Tao Geoghegan Hart’s entrance wheel got here off 70 kilometres into the race.
Geraint Thomas suffered heartbreak within the street race after crashing out on Mount Fuji
The 35-year-old bemoaned his dangerous luck after his team-mate entrance wheel fell off in entrance of him
‘All good with me. Thanks for the messages!! Assume I should have carried out one thing dangerous in a earlier life,’ Thomas tweeted to his 482,000 followers.
‘Freak crash, Tao misplaced his entrance wheel and decked it in entrance of me. I had nowhere to go, aside from the ground as nicely’.
Max Whitlock started his Gold medal defence strongly within the qualifying rounds of creative gymnastics and eased by means of to the lads’s pommel closing on his return to Olympic competitors in Tokyo.
Whitlock scored 14.9, rating him in third place within the standings within the penultimate qualifying rotation, which assured his qualification for the eight-man particular person closing.
The Briton’s two-year-old daughter Willow wished her dad ‘Good Luck’ and shouted ‘Go GB’ in a heart-moving dwelling video, recorded by his spouse Leah on the household dwelling in Essex early this morning.
Max Whitlock launched his gold medal defence with a powerful exhibiting on the pommel
Elsewhere, Britain’s title defence within the males’s eight acquired off to a rocky begin in Tokyo on Saturday, because the Netherlands scored a surprising victory to power the reigning European Champions into Wednesday’s repechage.
Making her Olympic debut, 24-year-old coxswain Eline Berger guided the Dutch males’s crew to a stellar 5:30.66 efficiency, seizing the early lead as closely favoured Britain struggled to hit their stride and completed third behind New Zealand.
It was not all doom and gloom for Britain’s rowing groups, nevertheless.
The boys’s 4, which has picked up gold on the final 5 Video games, and the light-weight ladies’s double sculls crews superior, together with two-time Olympic champion Helen Glover and group mate Polly Swann within the coxless pair, months after Glover made a shock a return to elite rowing.
‘It wasn’t our good row however I assume there’s worth in studying within the early rounds,’ mentioned Glover, 35, of their third-place end on Saturday. ‘We’re open to what is going on to come back subsequent.’
The Nice Britain males’s eight crew must race once more in Wednesday’s repechage after ending solely third of their warmth on Saturday because the Olympic rowing occasions acquired underway
Helen Glover (left) says there’s extra to come back as she launched her bid for a 3rd gold medal
Glover is bidding to win her third Olympic gold medal and clocked in behind Australia and the Russian Olympic Committee.
Charlotte Fry had an Olympic Video games debut to savour as she cruised into the person dressage closing at Tokyo’s Equestrian Park.
The 25-year-old, whose late mom Laura rode for Britain within the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, topped her qualifying group with Everdale on a rating of 77.096 per cent.
Two riders from every of six teams – plus the following six-best finishers – will contest Wednesday’s particular person closing.
And Fry’s excellent efficiency additionally meant a powerful begin to British group hopes, with Charlotte Dujardin and Carl Hester finishing a robust trio.
Charlotte Fry had an Olympics debut to savour as she cruised into the person dressage closing
Karriss Artingstall superior to the last-16 of the ladies’s featherweight competitors in boxing
The Briton defeated Keamogetse Sadie Kenosi of Botswana through unanimous determination
Karriss Artingstall made a incredible debut in boxing, advancing to the last-16 of the ladies’s featherweight competitors after defeating Keamogetse Sadie Kenosi of Botswana through unanimous determination.
Peter McGrail bowed out within the males’s featherweight event after dropping to Thailand’s Chatchai-decha Butdee in his opening match.
Paul Drinkhall eased by means of his opening spherical of the lads’s singles in desk tennis after seeing off Nima Alamian of Iran 4-1 to make it to spherical two, whereas Tin Tin Ho was eradicated by India’s Manika Batra.
Seonaid McIntosh fell quick within the ladies’s 10 metre air rifle after lacking out on qualification together with her sixtieth and closing shot off beam.
McIntosh, who will return because the favorite for the 50m three positions class subsequent Saturday, mentioned: ‘The final couple of pictures weren’t nice, however I’m happy with how I carried out. I struggled a bit with fatigue and the warmth.’
Paul Drinkhall eased by means of in the desk tennis after seeing off Nima Alamian of Iran 4-1
Seonaid McIntosh fell quick within the ladies’s 10 metre air rifle after lacking out on qualification
It was 1 / 4 closing loss for Sarah Bettles and Patrick Huston within the archery after the pair misplaced out to their Mexican opponents within the blended occasion.
In the meantime, Marcus Ellis and Lauren Smith cruised by means of of their first group sport in badminton blended doubles after defeating French pair Thom Gicquel and Delphine Delrue 21-18, 21-17.
The GB athletics group has seen a change after European 400m champion Matthew Hudson-Smith withdrew from the squad for a non Covid-related medical cause. Joe Brier has changed him within the 4x400m relay squad.
There may be lots extra to come back immediately, with Staff GB’s ladies’s group returning to motion to face hosts Japan. Steph Houghton & Co. beat Chile earlier this week and take to the sector at 11.30am BST.
Olympic champion Adam Peaty returns to the pool at 1pm BST to launch his defence within the 100m breaststroke heats. The boys’s hockey group play South Africa of their opening group sport at 10.30am BST.
There’s lots nonetheless to come back with Olympic champion Adam Peaty taking to the pool later immediately
