In an absolute stunner, the 2016 Rio Olympic bronze-medallist Canadian women鈥檚 rugby sevens team has crashed out of the 2020 Tokyo Games without even reaching the quarter-finals.
Throwing off a year of upheaval in their Langford base 鈥� from a COVID outbreak to a coaching change 鈥� wasn鈥檛 so easy after all. World No. 3 sa国际传媒 was defeated 26-12 by Fiji and 31-0 by France in pool play Thursday. sa国际传媒 opened with a 33-0 victory over Brazil on Wednesday, but it wasn鈥檛 enough.
The Canadians were shockingly error-prone and their defence lethally porous.
A players鈥� revolt in Langford this spring led to the departure of head coach John Tait of Mill Bay, who guided sa国际传媒 to the Olympic bronze medal at Rio 2016. Mick Byrne, a well-travelled 62-year-old Australian, assumed the role of interim Canadian head coach through the Olympics.
The quarter-finals were in the wee hours this morning with the semifinals at 7 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. tonight. The medal round is in the wee hours Saturday.
Not that sa国际传媒 has to worry about that anymore. Their task is to rebuild, amid the emotional rubble in Langford, for Paris 2024.
Elsewhere, Canadian judoka Shady El-Nahas had a chance to win sa国际传媒鈥檚 third judo bronze medal, but fell just short after losing his bronze-medal match in the men鈥檚 100-kilogram division.
The 23-year-old from Mississauga defeated Israel鈥檚 Peter Paltchik by ippon to advance to the medal round, but lost to Jorge Fonseca of Portugal by waza-ari.
鈥淥ne mistake and it ruins your whole day. That鈥檚 what 颅happened,鈥� El-Nahas said.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 women鈥檚 basketball team bounced back from an initial loss against Serbia to pull off a commanding 74-53 win against South Korea.
Bridget Carleton led the way with 18 points and seven rebounds, while her Minnesota Lynx teammate Natalie Achonwa added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Kayla Alexander chipped in with 10 points.
