With the cancellation of the sailing because of light winds, a lot of New Zealand attention focused on Lydia Ko today as she began her challenge for an Olympic golf medal.
Ko, 19, the world’s No 1 player, shot a 2-under 69 to leave herself within striking distance of the leaders. She began her day poorly with two early bogeys, but fought back well, with three birdies and a brilliant eagle.
Afterwards Ko was positively glowing about her Olympic experience. She said she had waited years for the chance to become an Olympian and felt a thrill when her name was called out before she teed off at the start of her round.
Lisa Carrington, fresh from her gold medal performance in the K1 200, lined up for the K1 500 today. She won her heat comfortably and was second in her semi-final, setting her up for tomorrow’s final.
In the main stadium, Christchurch athlete Angie Petty was eliminated from the 800m after finishing fourth in her heat. Petty was timed at 2min 02.40s which placed her 45th overall.
Stuart Farquhar, one of the great triers of New Zealand track and field, contested the men’s javelin qualifying round in the evening session and did not manage to qualify. He was not in top form and managed a best throw of just 77.32s.
New Zealander Trent Jones faced some hot opposition in the seeding round of the BMX competition. Jones ended up 25th of the 32 competitors. He was timed at 36.331s, which was 1.8s behind the fastest rider of the day, Joris Dauden of France.
Andrea Kilday of Christchurch bowed out of the women’s 49kg taekwondo contest after losing a tight first-round battle with Brazilian favourite Iris Sing. The bout went three rounds before Sing clinched her 7-5 victory.
The New Zealand women’s hockey team went down to Great Britain in their much-awaited semi-final match. The British made the most of their chances and won 3-0.
In the first half especially, New Zealand had plenty of opportunities and will rue their inability to convert any of their four corners in that time.
New Zealand coach Mark Hager was not overly impressed with his team’s performance, saying there was not enough emphasis on playing as a team.
New Zealand now meet Germany in the bronze medal match. The New Zealanders reached the same stage at the 2012 London Olympics, and lost to Britain to finish fourth.
“Now we either go home with nothing like four years ago or we can go home with a bronze medal,” Hager said.