S'pore's Chen blames early exit on nerves

Playing the biggest match of his career so far, table tennis player Chen Feng's nerves got the better of him.

The Singaporean, ranked 117th in the world, was beaten by Finland's No. 70 Benedek Olah 11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-6 in the first round of the men's singles.

With his Olympic debut over in less than 30 minutes, Chen, 22, said: "I was too nervous and it affected my technique and ability to react quickly. But the Olympics was a good experience. I'm still young, and I'll try for the next Games in 2020."

Venus, Radwanska shocked in openers

Former Olympic champion Venus Williams was eliminated in the first round of the women's tennis competition on Saturday, defeated by Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in the biggest upset of the opening day.

Another notable casualty was fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who slumped to a 4-6, 5-7 loss to China's world No. 63 Zheng Saisai.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

US basketballers thrash Chinese

Kevin Durant scored 25 points, as the United States' National Basketball Association stars routed China 119-62 on Saturday to launch their bid for a third consecutive Olympic gold.

He added a game-high six assists for the Americans, who set an all-time US record of 33 free throws made.

Australia opened the Olympic competition earlier with an 87-66 win over France, while Serbia topped Venezuela 86-62 in the other Group A match.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Redemption for Hungary's Szasz

Hungary took its third women's gold in Olympic fencing since 2000, as Emese Szasz bounced back from a first-match loss in London to beat Italy's two-time world champion Rossella Fiamingo in the women's individual epee on Saturday.

Sun Yiwen's third-place finish helped Chinese fans ease the shock of world No. 1 and team-mate Xu Anqi's 8-15 loss to Frenchwoman Marie-Florence Candassamy in her first bout.

REUTERS