Olympics-Basketball 3x3-Latvia into men's semis as U.S. women hit their stride
Updates with later games and quotes
By Benjamin Mallet
PARIS, Aug 2 (Reuters) -Defending champions Latvia locked up a semi-final direct spot in the men's 3x3 basketball tournament at the Paris Olympics on Friday while Serbia, the Netherlands and Lithuania made sure of their places in the knockout phase.
On the women's side, Germany, Spain, Australia and reigning champions the United States also secured passage out of the opening phase before their final pool games on Saturday.
The U.S. finally found their rhythm after a poor start to the tournament and sealed a third straight victory with an 18-17 victory over Canada after earlier beating France 14-13 to eliminate the host nation from the competition.
"It is like a brand-new team from the first three games. We are proud of that," said American Rhyne Howard.
"We are getting better and better every day and that is all we can ask for."
A day after the U.S. had snapped their three-game losing streak, Team USA's Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, Brittney Griner, Jewell Loyd, A'ja Wilson and Jackie Young were courtside to support them.
The U.S. men followed in the footsteps of their female counterparts by finally getting a win on the board in their fifth game of the pool stage on Friday before eliminating China with a 21-17 victory in the last game of the day.
There was late drama in three women's matches with decisive extra-time baskets in Azerbaijan's 21-19 victory over China, the U.S. win over Canada and when Spain edged Canada 22-20.
It looked like another day at the office for Latvia as the Tokyo Olympic men's champions beat France 22-20 and Serbia 21-14 to remain the only undefeated team in Paris.
Still struggling with their offensive skills, France's women were eliminated in the night session by a 14-13 loss to Germany, who top the women's pool with five wins from six games.
The top two from the pool go straight to the semi-finals and the next four teams play off for the other two spots in the last four.
The women's pool round will deliver its verdict on Saturday with one last game for each team and two knock-out clashes to decide who will complete the last four.
Reporting by Benjamin Mallet; Editing by Toby Davis and Clare Fallon
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
