Baseball, Golf Feature On Olympics' 13th Day
With Wednesday marking the 13th day of the Tokyo Olympics, the baseball competition has entered its final stretch. Japan beat the Games' last gold medal winner, South Korea, 5-2 in the semifinals.
The match-up was one of the most eagerly awaited by baseball fans. Both squads are loaded with top professional players. Hard-fought battles are expected every time the rivals face off.
On Wednesday night, Japan opened the scoring with a run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly from Sakamoto Hayato. The team scored again in the fifth on a Yoshida Masataka single.
South Korea answered back in the sixth, leveling the score at 2-2 on four singles.
Japan broke the game open in the eighth, when Yamada Tetsuto drove in three runners with a long fly that nearly cleared the fence.
Despite the loss, South Korea is still in the tournament.
If the team gets past the United States on Thursday, they will meet Japan again in the final on Saturday. Japan is aiming for its first Olympic gold in the sport.
The women's golf competition is underway at the lush Kasumigaseki Country Club near Tokyo.
Asia's recent major winners had a mixed day. US Women's Open champion Saso Yuka finished down the leaderboard in 47th on 3 over par. She is a member of the Philippines team as her mother is Filipino.
Thailand's ANA Inspiration champion, Patty Tavatanakit, ended the day even for 23rd place.
Madelene Sagstrom from Sweden leads after the first round on 5 under.
Many of Tokyo's Olympians are already heading back home. Among them are New Zealand men's footballers, who left a little something behind in the locker room.
Team Japan officials tweeted a photo of a thank-you message from the Kiwis, and it soon went viral, racking up thousands of retweets. The message ends with the words for "stay strong" in Maori.
It was New Zealand's first time in the knockout stages.
They lost to Japan on penalties over the weekend in Kashima City, east of Tokyo.
Japanese fans responded enthusiastically to their sportsmanship. Replies included, "You are the best gentlemen" and "We hope you will visit Japan again."
New Zealand Football replied, saying, "Arigatou gozaimasu," or "thank you" in Japanese, as the team made their way home.