The Latest: Russia's 1st Rio medal goes to Mudranov in judo
By Associated Press
Aug 6, 2016 4:08 PM CDT
United States' Sam Mikulak performs on the rings during the artistic gymnastics men's qualification at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)   (Associated Press)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Latest on the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (all times local):

6:05 p.m.

Beslan Mudranov is Russia's first medalist of the Rio Olympics after beating Kazakhstan's Yeldos Smetov in a judo final between representatives of two countries recently buffeted by doping scandals.

Mudranov took gold in the men's 60-kilogram division, beating Smetov on a golden score.

Russia is competing in Rio with a team diminished by doping scandals and bans, particularly in track and weightlifting.

Neighboring Kazakhstan faces losing five weightlifting gold medals from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics after its champions' drug test samples were retested and found to contain steroids.

Japan's Naohisa Takato and Uzbekistan's Diyorbek Urozboev took the bronze medals in the 60kg division.

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6 p.m.

The first judo gold medal of the Olympic games went to Argentina's Paula Pareto, a former bronze medalist from the Beijing Games and now a qualified doctor.

The third-ranked Pareto jumped repeatedly in victory when she defeated South Korea's Bokyeong Jeong in the women's 48-kilogram division, much to the delight of a crowd packed with Argentinians waving their national flag. Pareto climbed into the crowds afterward to be enveloped not only by giddy fans, but numerous flags.

After hugging one particularly patriotic fan whose face was painted in blue and white, Pareto was left with faint traces of blue paint on the right side of her face.

The two bronze medals went to Japan's Ami Kondo and Kazakhstan's Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh.

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5:25 p.m.

Hoang Xuan Vihn's first gold medal also was Vietnam's first Olympic gold medal ever.

Hoang rallied to beat hometown favorite Felipe Almeida Wu on the final shot of men's 10-meter air pistol. Vietnam had previously won two medals, both silver, in previous Olympic games.

Wu trailed by as many as 2.3 points, but moved 0.2 ahead of Hoang with a 10.2 on his penultimate shot. The Brazilian hit 10.1 on his final shot, setting off a raucous chant of "Wu!" from the crowd, but Hoang shot 10.7 to earn gold.

Hoang raised his arms in triumph following the final shot and the Brazilian fans sent Wu off with another chant.

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5:10 p.m.

The U.S. men's gymnastics team is on top through two subdivisions in preliminary qualifying.

Led by four-time national champion Sam Mikulak, the Americans posted a score of 270.405 to move ahead of reigning world champion Japan, which topped the first subdivision with a score of 269.294.

Mikulak is currently third in the all-around despite a fall on pommel horse. U.S. team captain Chris Brooks is 14th. The top eight teams move on to Monday night's team final. The top 24 individual qualifiers move to the all-around final on Thursday night.

Great Britain is third and Brazil fourth. China and Russia are scheduled to compete in the final subdivision later Saturday.

The U.S. put up the best score during preliminaries in London four years ago but faded to fifth in the team final.

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5:10 p.m.

After a build-up dominated by doping scandals, Russia is guaranteed its first medal of the Rio Olympics.

Beslan Mudranov will leave Rio with at least a silver medal after he beat Georgia's Amiran Papinashvili in the semifinal of the men's 60-kilogram division in judo.

Mudranov will fight Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan in the final later Saturday.

Russia is competing in Rio with a team diminished by doping scandals and bans, with the entire weightlifting team banned and all but one athlete excluded in track and field.

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5:10 p.m.

Katie Ledecky has positioned herself to swim for the United States in the final of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.

Ledecky took the anchor leg in the preliminaries Saturday and posted what was by far the fastest time among the four American swimmers. Her split was 52.64 seconds, good enough to rally the U.S. to second in the heat behind the favored Australians.

Amanda Weir was next fastest at 53.60, followed by Lia Neal (53.63) and Allison Schmitt (53.72).

Abbey Weitzeil and Simone Manuel rested up for the evening final. They'll likely be joined by Ledecky and one other swimmer, with Dana Vollmer also a possibility.

Ledecky is favored to win gold in her three individual events, and she'll also be the anchor on the 4x200 freestyle relay.

That means she could leave Rio with as many as five medals.

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5:10 p.m.

Brazil's defending judo champion, Sarah Menezes, is leaving the Rio Games empty-handed.

After a loss in the quarter finals this morning, Menezes returned to the mat against top-ranked Urantsetseg Munkhbat, but failed to find the form that won her the title at the London Olympics.

The two were locked in a largely defensive match, with both judokas struggling to knock the other off balance.

In the decisive "golden score" round, Munkhbat swung her legs over Menezes head after the two fell to the ground. The Mongolian quickly applied an armbar — hyperextending Menezes' arm to the point it might break. Menezes tapped out in submission, automatically giving Munkhbat the victory.

In the men's division, Brazil's other judo medal hope on Saturday, Felipe Kitadai, was beaten by Diyorbek Urozboev of Uzbekistan, eliminating him from the bronze medal match.

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5:10 p.m.

South Korea and the United States will meet in the final of the men's team archery competition Saturday at the Rio Olympics.

The countries are the top two seeds and turned in easy wins in the semifinals. Led by new world-record holder Kim Woojin, South Korea beat Australia 6-0 in the first semifinal match at the Sambadrome.

Bolstered by the shooting of Brady Ellison, the Americans knocked off China 6-0. The United States is trying for its first Olympic gold medal in the event since 1996.

The bronze-medal match will be between Australia and China.

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4:50 p.m.

Australia has set an Olympic record in the women's 4x100-meter freestyle relay preliminaries.

The team of Madison Wilson, Brittany Elmslie and sisters Bronte and Cate Campbell were timed in 3 minutes, 32.39 seconds Saturday. Cate Campbell, the world record holder in the 100 free, swam her anchor leg in 51.80 seconds.

Katie Ledecky raced for the first time at the Rio Games, anchoring the U.S. team to the second-fastest time of 3:33.59. She was joined by Amanda Weir, Lia Neal and Allison Schmitt.

The final is Saturday night.

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4:50 p.m.

South Korea and the United States have easily advanced to the semifinals of the men's team archery competition at the Rio Olympics.

Led by new world-record holder Kim Woojin, the Koreans beat the Netherlands 6-0 and will face Australia inside the Sambadrome.

Bolstered by the shooting of Brady Ellison, the Americans knocked off Indonesia, 6-2. The Americans will meet China, which knocked off defending champion Italy.

South Korea and the Americans are the top two seeds in the tournament. Each team walked out for its match to the beat of samba music and dancers.

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4:50 p.m.

Australia's John Millman got off to a perfect start in Rio de Janeiro: The first 6-0, 6-0 men's match in Olympic tennis history.

Millman made only two unforced errors, 25 fewer than his opponent, Lithuania's Ricardas Berankis, in the 50-minute rout.

Said Millman: "I feel for him, because I've been on the end of some pretty big spankings before."

It was not easy to see this one coming, considering the players' ATP rankings: Berankis is No. 71, while Millman is No. 75.

Even Millman acknowledged: "Of course it's surprising."

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4:50 p.m.

American tennis player Jack Sock says he was diagnosed with walking pneumonia just before he left for Rio.

The 14th-seeded Sock lost his first-round match to 118th-ranked Taro Daniel of Japan 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday. He revealed afterward that he had been sick since the end of his run at Wimbledon in early July. What started as the common cold turned into a cough that just wouldn't go away.

The 23-year-old Sock says he went to his doctor the night before he departed for Rio de Janeiro but there was no way he was going to miss his first Olympics.

He still plans to play in doubles with Steve Johnson and possibly mixed doubles.

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4:50 p.m.

Australian swimmer Mack Horton is taking aim at Chinese star Sun Yang.

Horton was asked about a reported incident between the two at the practice pool earlier in the week. The Aussie says Sun "splashed me to say hello, and I didn't respond because I don't have time for drug cheats."

In 2014, Sun served a three-month suspension in 2014 for using a banned stimulant.

Horton spoke Saturday after posting the second-fastest time in the preliminaries of the 400-meter freestyle behind American Conor Dwyer.

Sun also advanced to the evening final with the fourth-best time. He's the defending gold medalist in the 400 free.

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4:20 p.m.

Vietnam's Hoang Xaun Vihn has won his first Olympic gold medal, rallying to beat hometown favorite Felipe Almeida Wu on the final shot of men's 10-meter air pistol.

Wu trailed by as many as 2.3 points, but moved 0.2 ahead of Hoang with a 10.2 on his penultimate shot.

The Brazilian hit 10.1 on his final shot, setting off a raucous chant of "Wu!" from the crowd, but Hoang shot 10.7 to earn gold.

Hoang raised his arms in triumph following the final shot and the Brazilian fans sent Wu off with another chant.

China's Pang Wei, the gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Games, captured bronze.

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4 p.m.

French gymnast Samir Ait Said's Olympics ended when he severely injured his left leg while vaulting during team preliminaries on Saturday.

Said's leg bent awkwardly as he tried to land, the sound of the injury echoing through the arena.

Said writhed on the ground in agony while medical officials tended to him. He exited on a stretcher to a standing ovation.

The injury came minutes after Germany's Andreas Toba hurt his knee during floor exercise. Toba abandoned his routine and was helped off by trainers but managed to compete on pommel horse before exiting to receive medical attention.

The U.S. men are leading halfway through the second subdivision thanks to a strong performance from four-time national champion Sam Mikulak. Great Britain, which took third at last year's world championships, is second. The top eight teams in qualifying will move on to Monday night's team final.

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3:55 p.m.

The first upset is in on Day 1 of the women's Olympic volleyball tournament.

Upstart Netherlands, back in the Olympics for the first time in 20 years since Atlanta in 1996, defeated medal favorite and third-ranked China in five sets Saturday, 25-23, 21-25, 18-25, 25-22, 15-13 at Maracanazinho arena.

"This was really unbelievable, incredible," Netherlands outside hitter Celeste Plak said.

Next up for the Netherlands will be another tough pool-play opponent for the Dutch: A matchup with the top-ranked American women on Monday.

The Dutch know their challenge to get out of pool play.

"We want to make something extraordinary not something ordinary," said fist-pumping Netherlands coach Giovanni Guidetti.

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3:55 p.m.

Yulia Efimova is officially in the Rio Olympics.

The Russian swimmer was added to the start list for Sunday's 100-meter breaststroke after initially being banned because of a previous doping violation.

Efimova has been a flashpoint in the Russian doping scandal because she not only served a 16-month suspension for doping, she tested positive again this year for the now-banned substance meldonium.

That result was placed on hold while WADA does further studies on the drug, which was added to the list of banned substances Jan. 1.

Efimova, the reigning world champion in the 100 breast, was initially banned along with six other Russian swimmers who either had positive tests on their record or were named in an investigation of the massive, state-sanctioned doping scheme.

Now, it looks like they'll all be competing in Rio.

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3:55 p.m.

Miguel Duran Navia of Spain dived in too early in his preliminary heat of the 400-meter freestyle, triggering an automatic disqualification.

He slapped the water and hung his head on the lane line, realizing he was out of Saturday's heats. He sat on the edge of the pool, his hand covering his mouth.

Duran appeared to be crying as he picked up his clothing and walked off the deck while fans applauded in sympathy.

Moments later, Duran reappeared and took his position on the starting block, having been given a reprieve.

He finished seventh in his heat.

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3:55 p.m.

Legendary cricket player Sachin Tendulkar watched the debut of rugby sevens at the Olympics on Saturday, sitting beside IOC president Thomas Bach during the women's Group A match between the United States and Fiji at the Deodoro Stadium.

Tendulkar, who retired as the most prolific scorer in cricket and remains the most famous sports person in India, could be instrumental figure in any bid cricket makes for inclusion in the Olympic sports program.

Rugby sevens was added in 2009 to the program for Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. The traditional 15-a-side rugby union was last played at the Olympics in 1924.

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3:40 p.m.

Adam Peaty of Britain has lowered his world record in the 100-meter breaststroke preliminaries at the Rio Olympics.

He qualified first in 57.55 seconds Saturday, lowering his old mark of 57.92 set in London on April 17, 2015.

Peaty and 15 other swimmers moved on to the evening semifinals.

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3:40 p.m.

WORLD RECORD: Adam Peaty of Britain lowers his world record in the 100-meter breaststroke preliminaries at the Rio Olympics.

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3:30 p.m.

Defending Olympic champion Ye Shiwen of China has failed to qualify for the final of the women's 400-meter individual medley.

Ye finished 27th among 33 swimmers in Saturday's preliminaries with a time of 4 minutes, 45.86 seconds.

Ye nearly lost her world record, too.

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary was under world-record pace for much of the race and missed taking down Ye's mark by just 15-hundreths of a second. Ye set the record of 4:28.43 four years ago at the London Olympics.

Hosszu, nicknamed "The Iron Lady" because she swims so many events, was the fastest qualifier in 4:28.58.

Also advancing to the late-night final were Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain in second, American Maya DiRado in third and Hannah Miley of Britain in fourth. Elizabeth Beisel of the U.S. was sixth-fastest to get into the eight-woman final.

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3:25 p.m.

FAILED TO QUALIFY: Defending Olympic champion Ye Shiwen of China has failed to qualify for the final of the women's 400-meter individual medley.

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3:10 p.m.

There was a scare at the Olympic Equestrian Center as a military bullet pierced the roof of the media tent and landed on the floor.

The incident occurred during the lunch break at the dressage event Saturday. The competition was not disrupted and nobody was hurt.

The bullet landed inches from one of the media tables at the end of the room where the press conferences are held, leaving a clear hole in the roof. An official statement is expected shortly.

The arena is located near a military compound.

The incident was immediately reported and the bullet collected, while Brazilian military was swiftly at the scene.

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2:55 p.m.

Lightweight Carlos Balderas has USA Boxing off to a winning start in Rio.

Balderas won a close but unanimous decision over Kazakhstan's Berik Abdrakhmanov in the opening session of the boxing tournament Saturday.

Balderas credited his successful mid-fight adjustments to U.S. coach Billy Walsh, a veteran amateur mastermind who led the Irish national team until last year.

Balderas had over 20 friends and family members in the Rio stands because he qualified in November, giving them plenty of time to buy tickets. They tried a "U-S-A!" chant during the fight, but were booed down by the rest of the crowd.

Just six American men and two women qualified for Rio.

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2:45 p.m.

Swimmer Yusra Mardini of the refugee team competing under the Olympic flag at the Rio Games won her preliminary heat in the 100-meter butterfly.

However, that result wasn't fast enough to advance Mardini to the semifinals on Saturday. Her time of 1 minute, 9.21 seconds was 41st overall.

The top 16 swimmers moved on to the late-night semifinals. By comparison, Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden had the top qualifying time of 56.26 seconds.

Mardini was a competitive swimmer in Syria until she left Damascus with her sister a year ago and settled in Berlin.

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