FIBA Under-19 World Championship, Novi Sad, Serbia
Argentina conquest has come to end after 22 points in the last five minutes guided the United States as we lost 86-112 in the quarter-final
Argentina, who had only edged into the last eight on points difference, were shown up here, although the result could have been closer had it not been for the wayward shooting from the arc of Facundo PINERO.
After trailing behind an 18 points deficit in the first period, we manage to reduce that to 11 points with 5.10 left on the clock.
Nicolas DE LOS SANTOS was unlucky to be on the losing side after chalking up 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. Argentina ends their tournament with a 3-4 record while the USA is now on an impressive 7-0 winning run.
Golf, The Open Championship 2007
It has not been that long ago that Angel “PATO” CABRERA shocked everyone by claiming the US Open it one of the most dramatic style. So what are his chances of creating the spectacular double this year?
As for now he is still much in the contention as he is currently tied in 7th place on one under with the likes of Lee WESTWOOD and double US Open winner Retief GOOSEN and trailing Sergio GARCIA behind 5 shots.
15th Pan American Games, Rio de Janeiro
Not so good news from our Senoritas Albiceleste as despite crushing Paraguay 5-2 they were still out of the semi-finals berth as the USA were surprisingly beaten by the Mexico 2-3. As a result, Mexico goes through on a better goal difference.
Tomorrow our Under-18 boy’s fate hangs in the balance as they need to beat Colombia and hope that of all teams in this World, Haiti do not win in their match against Jamaica, should we stand a chance to defend our gold medal.
I’m simply lost for word when I think of this situation (all of which are happening in the space of a week!!!) and I keep asking myself is this some Brazilian curse?
Anyway here are some other results involving the Albicelestes in various disciples on Friday, the 20th of June.
Basketball
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Women’s Preliminaries Group B
Argentina 79 Cuba 81
Field Hockey
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Men's Preliminaries Pool A
Argentina 7 Trinidad & Tobago 1
Handball
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Men’s Semifinal
Argentina 30 Cuba 29
As of now, Argentina is currently standing in eight place with 5 gold, 5 silver & 13 bronze in the medal chart.
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5 comments:
Thanks for the updates, John!
During the last couple of days I've decided to try and watch some events when I'm not working.
I've watched the baseball final between Cuba and the USA yesterday. A great game in which a more experienced Cuba team won 3-1. That lefty Mr. PALMA had 9 strikeouts and allowed only one run in 8 innings.
But the venue was horrible. It is the same place where the famous Rock in Rio concerts were hold (the most famous being in 1985 with Queen and the rest).
Now is a temporary venue for baseball and the standard is very poor. The ground was horrible, but the worst was the "roof". Plastic-made, it was full of water from the rain that fell a couple of nights before. Guess what happened!
The wind started blowing, so every journalist there had to run for their lives and try and save their laptops from the "artificial delayed rain" that was falling down on them. A Cuban commentator was live covering the game for a TV channel and all the electronic stuff and the papers in which he was writing down the play-by-play were GONE WITH THE WATER!
And the staff there, was only worried about me and my friend being sitted in an area where we were not supposed to be in.
But last night was my highlight of the PanAm Games so far!
I left the MPC (where I'm based the whole time) and went to another Pavillion (there are 5 pavillions in these gigantic convention center). The male's handball semifinal between Argentina and Cuba.
After a very even first half (in which we were trailing all the time), I arrived for the second half.
There was a very vocal group of 10 Argies (most of them athletes from other sports and a few journalists from Buenos Aires). But I stayed in another area.
I was wearing my uniform (official uniform of the organizing committee) and so I was not supposed to cheer or celebrate or anything.
The game was sensational. Argentina started coming back and with 1 minute to go the match was tied.
Cuba scored and all hope was lost. 25-24 for them and 45 seconds to go.
We took a shot and it went over the bar.
"That's it", I thought.
The Brazilian crowd thought the same! And they started singing about how we screwed up again and how we lost and they were as happy as if it was Brazil winning!
But the miracle happened!
A Cuban kept the ball for too long and Argentina was awarded with a penalty shot, with only 3 seconds to go!
We scored and took the game to extra time.
Then I thought we needed all the support we could get. And so I ran towards the "hinchada" and took out the top of my uniform. I asked one of the athletes to give me his Argentina jacket so I could be disguised and that was it! I was a part of that group of supporters!
We cheered on and on and eventually, we won!
We've got the silver guaranteed and tomorrow we'll face non-other than Brazil in the final.
Amazing night!
More PanAm Games updates:
Las Leonas, our female field hockey team, are through to the final (July 24th) after defeating The Netherlands Antilles 3-0 in the semis.
The boys are in the semis and will play tomorrow against Chile (July 22nd).
Also tomorrow we will have a go at two gold medals at 11 AM (Rio time).
The male handball team will take on Brazil while the tennis women's doubles (formed by Jorgelina CRAVERO and Betina JOZAMI) will face Colombia just across the street from my appartment! :)
Today was not a good day for our boxers as all four of the Argies that competed today, were eliminated in the first round.
So far we've got 5 gold medals, 5 silver and 16 bronze and we are still in the 8th place in the medal standings.
Oh...and our football team was knocked out after a 0-0 draw against Colombia. A poor campaign for our boys (U-17 in a tournament in which most of the teams are playing with U-20). We had 2 draws (Haiti and Colombia) and one defeat.
The good news is...Brazil was knocked out in the first round by Ecuador which defeated the hosts 4-2 in front of a packed Maracana stadium!
And they were already counting that gold medal as something sure!
Hi Seba, hi John! Question for both of you: how are Los Pumas' preparations for the Rugby World Cup going?
Thanks Seba for the follow up on all the updates from the Pan Am Games.
Its sad that our football team didn't go far but then again its good to know that the Brazilian didn't either so I guess that's fair enough :-)
Lets hope that our contingent will bring in more medal and improve our standings
As for Golf, The Open Championship
Andres ROMERO is tied at 10th place with 7 shots behind leader Sergio GARCIA while Angel CABRERA drifted even further as he is currently tied at 20th place and is on par with 9 shots behind the Spaniard.
Form the way it's looks like we might not have a chance in the Championship but then again everyone should how did PATO won the US Open. Miracle might just happen but nevertheless Mundo Albiceleste would like to give a shout “VAMOS ARGENTINA” and good luck to them on the final day
As for the FIBA Under-19 World Championship, our Little Hoops will take on Australia in the 5th - 8th place classification with the winner playing either Spain or Turkey
Today, the big one has to be Little Argentina facing the Czech Republic in the World Youth Championship Final and I'll be waking up as early as 3.00 am Monday morning to catch the game. A win here might just serve as a remedy to what has been a real tough week for all of us.
Seba, you might in a better position to answer Linda's question?
But be sure to watch this space as you might be in for a real surprise and also apart from the Rugby World Cup, we will also follow the Tall Albiceleste progress in the FIBA Americas.
VAMOS ARGENTINA!!!
Linda, before I forget, congratulation on the All Blacks Tri-Nation success. From the way it looks like the way its looks like nothing can go wrong for then at the World Cup
Thanks, John! People say that nothing can go wrong now, but everyone here is still worried - the kiwis kind of feel like we've been cursed where the World Cup is concerned. We always go in as favourites, but always manage to screw it up. It's kind of like the Albiceleste's situation, actually.
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