Colombia’s Yeison Lopez Earns Weightlifting Silver in Olympic Debut at 2024 Paris Games

Posted on August 9, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Yeison Lopez is celebrating an Olympic medal-winning performance.

In his Olympic debut, the 24-year-old Colombian weightlifter claimed the silver at the 2024 Paris Games on Friday in the Men’s 89KG Weightlifting final.

Lopez had a final core of 390 kg.

Lopez came in second behind Bulgaria’s Karlos Nasar, who lifted 224kg in the clean and jerk to earn a new world record. He also earned a world record in the overall lift with 404 kg.

Italy’s Antonino Pizzolatto won bronze with 384 kg.

López went from selling candy to earn bus fare to the top of world sports.

Lopez had previously placed seventh in the overall in his world championships debut in 2023 (96kg).

At the youth and junior level he was undefeated in the overall competition from his debut in 2015 to 2021, winning multiple world and Pan American titles.

Rafaela Silva Wins Twice to Help Lead Brazil to Mixed Team Judo Bronze at 2024 Paris Games

Posted on August 3, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Rafaela Silva wins twice to put Brazil on the Olympics podium at the 2024 Paris Games…

The 32-year-old Brazilian judoka, the first Brazilian woman to become a world champion in judo, won the decisive match to lead Brazil to victory against Italy (4-3) on Saturday to secure the bronze medal in the mixed team judo competition.

It’s the eighth medal that the South American country has won at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Silva defeated Veronica Toniolo in the 57KG category, giving the victory to the ‘verde-amarela’ team by.

In the process, Silva became the oldest Olympic judoka to win a medal. She also has two bronze medals from the 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio Games.

Brazil quickly took a 2-0 lead, with matches won by Rafael Macedo against Christian Parlati in the -90 and Beatriz Souza against Asya Tavano.

Italy cut the lead with a waza-ari by Gennaro Pirelli against Leonardo Goncalves in the +90. Silva, in the -57, increased the lead to 3-1 by defeating Veronica Toniolo.

On the brink of elimination, the Europeans tied the duel at three, thanks to the victory of Manuel Lombardo against Willian Lima (-73) and Savita Russo against Ketleyn Quadros.

With a 3-3 tie, the draw to decide which category would dispute the last match established that it would be in the -57 category, Silva against Toniolo.

The Italian, who was injured from her previous match, conceded in just 14 seconds by a waza-ari.

Pau Echaniz Earns Men’s Single Kayak Slalom Event Bronze in Olympic Debut

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Tom Castaneda

Pau Echaniz is on cloud…

In his Olympic debut, the 23-year-old Spanish slalom canoeist crossed the finish line with an 88.87 in the men’s single kayak slalom event at the 2024 Paris Games to claim the bronze medal.

“I am very tired, I am exhausted, but that’s the price of winning a medal and I would pay it a thousand times over. I am very happy,” Echaniz said following his medal-winning performance.

Echaniz came in behind Italy’s Giovanni De Gennaro, who pulled out a sensational run in a time of 88.22 to win gold; France’s Titouan Castryck finished two-tenths of a second behind to take silver in his first Olympics,

Echaniz looked good as he opened proceedings, setting a time of 88.87 seconds that forced the rest of the field to dig deep, and despite a slew of Olympic medal winners coming in his wake, only two men proved able to beat his time.

“I knew I could be in the fight,” said Echaniz. “I was prepared, calm and knew what to do at every moment, with all my energy focused on achieving this goal.

Hailing from San Sebastian, the Spaniard won the gold in the Slalom K-1 team event at the 2023 European Games.

Alex de Miñaur Helps Lead Australia to Davis Cup Finals

Posted on November 24, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Alex de Miñaur has helped lead Australia back to the Davis Cup final…

The 24-year-old Uruguayan & Spanish Australian professional tennis player and Alexei Popyrin put Australia back into the Davis Cup final for a second straight year after winning their singles matches in a 2-0 victory over Finland on Friday.

Popyrin gave Australia a 1-0 lead in the semifinal match after beating Otto Virtanen 7-6 (5), 6-2. de Miñaur then finished off Finland by beating Emil Ruusuvuori 6-4, 6-3.

Novak Djokovic‘s Serbia will face Jannik Sinner‘s Italy on Saturday in the other semifinal match on the indoor hard court at Martin Carpena Arena in Malaga, Spain.

Popyrin edged Virtanen in the first set, saving a set point when trailing 6-5 and forcing a tiebreaker that he clinched when his opponent slapped a forehand long.

Virtanen was Finland’s hero in its upset of defending champion Canada on Tuesday, winning both his singles and doubles matches. But his serve let him down against Popyrin in the second set when his fifth double-fault cost him a break.

“(That was) probably the biggest win of my career so far,” Popyrin said. “To win a match that means so much for us is an honor and something I will never forget.”

de Miñaur converted five of 18 break chances against Ruusuvuori. He ended the match by landing a backhand winner on the sideline.

Australia has the second-most Davis Cup titles, with 28 to 32 for the United States, but its last success came in 2003.

Leylah Fernandez Helps Lead Canada to Country’s First-Ever Billie Jean King Cup Title

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Leylah Fernandez has helped Canada make history…

The 21-year-old half-Ecuadorian Canadian tennis player and her compatriot Marina Stakusic won their singles matches as Canada beat Italy 2-0 to claim its first-ever Billie Jean King Cup title on Sunday.

Stakusic, ranked 258th in the world, put Canada ahead by defeating No. 43 Martina Trevisan 7-5, 6-3 for the biggest win of her career, then Fernandez sealed the victory by beating Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-3 at La Cartuja Stadium.

The 20th-ranked Fernandez, runner-up in the 2021 US Open, was perfect for Canada in Seville with four victories, while the 18-year-old Stakusic entered the tournament without a win over a top-100 opponent but earned three of them while representing her nation in Spain.

“I’m so happy and honored that I could play this week,” Stakusic, who didn’t play a WTA main draw match this year, said on court. “This has been the best week of my life.”

Canada defeated 11-time champion Czech Republic in the semifinals, while four-time champion Italy advanced past Slovenia for its first final appearance since 2013.

The 12-team BJK Cup Finals offered a record total of $9.6 million in prize money, including $2.4 million to the champions, the same as the men’s Davis Cup.

Canada, captained by Heidi El Tabakh, is the 13th nation to win the Billie Jean King Cup and the second new champion after Switzerland‘s triumph in Glasgow a year ago.

“I don’t know what to say,” El Tabakh said. “I’m so proud of this team. These girls are incredible. It’s a dream come true.”

The Canada men’s team is the current Davis Cup champion.

The women’s teams competed in four round-robin groups, with the winners advancing to the semifinals. The United States was eliminated by the Czech Republic in a group that also included title-holder Switzerland.

The biggest team competition in women’s tennis started two days after the end of the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, which featured the top eight players on the tour — including winner Iga Swiatek.

Ruiz Leads Costa Rica Past Italy and Into the World Cup Round of 16

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Tom Castaneda

Bryan Ruiz has scored one of the most important goals of his career to help Costa Rica pull off one of the biggest upsets of the 2014 World Cup.

The 28-year-old Costa Rican footballer and national team captain’s header, the first goal World Cup of his career, in the 44th-minute cemented the team’s victory over Italy 1-0 in the Recife, Brazil.

Costa Rica showed their 3-1 win over Uruguay was no fluke as they took the game to Italy in impressive style. Los Ticos now lead Group C on six points

Ruiz’s header, the biggest goal for his team in the last 24 years, has resulted in Costa Rica’s return to the Round of 16 for the second time in its history — the first was in 1990.

“Maybe there are a lot of people who didn’t have faith in us because we were in the ‘Group of Death’,” said Ruiz in a post-game interview. “But the dead are the other ones and we’re going to the next round.”

The result also guarantees England‘s first-round exit from the tournament. It’s the first time since 1958 that England has been eliminated in the group stage of the FIFA World Cup.

Italy and Uruguay, who meet on Tuesday, each have three points but Italy’s superior goal difference means they need only a draw to go through.

Iniesta Named Euro Cup 2012 MVP…

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Tom Castaneda

Andres Iniesta is simply the best… And, he’s got the medal to prove it.

The 28-year-old Spanish futbolista has been honored as best player of the European Championship—the Euro Cup 2012—after helping Spain become the first nation to successfully defend the continental crown.

Iniesta started all six of Spain’s matches, including Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Italy in the championship game at the Olympic Stadium in which he recorded an assist.

“Iniesta deserved it. He symbolized the tournament — the creative, incisive runner, with and without the ball,” says Union of European Football Association (UEFA) technical director Andy Roxbuirgh. “We felt that he epitomized a lot of what we saw.”

Roxbuirgh says UEFA’s panel also considered Spain midfielders Xavi Hernandez and Xabi Alonso and Italy midfielder Andrea Pirlo for the award.

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