Nanthana rallies in table tennis
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Four-time Olympian Nanthana Kamwong recovered from 1-3 down to beat Lei Huang Mendes of Portugal 4-3 in the table tennis women's singles first round actions yesterday.
The 31-year-old from Lampang, who has been representing the Kingdom from the 2000 Sydney Games, put up a gutsy fight to beat the Chinese-born paddler 4-11 3-11 11-6 12-14 11-8 11-2 12-10.
After splitting the first six games, the Kingdom’s lone table tennis player in London led 9-6 before Mendes rallied to draw level at nine all in the final game. Nanthana squandered the first match point at 10-9, the veteran wrapped up the tussle when her opponent netted a forehand.
The Thai veteran was to take on Czech Iveta Vacenovskan in the second round late last night.
Clijsters defeats Vinci
Kim Clijsters won her Olympic debut at Wimbledon yesterday, defeating Roberta Vinci of Italy, 6-1 6-4.
The Belgian veteran, who has won four majors, could face fifth-seeded Samantha Stosur in the next round.
Clijsters was playing in the Olympics for the first time. She missed the Beijing games in 2008 because she was in the middle of a 2-year retirement. She plans to retire after the US Open this year.
Bourgain sticks to plan
Frenchman Mickael Bourgain became the first rider to quit the Olympic men’s road race yesterday – although it was all part of his plan.
Bourgain, a track cyclist, does not compete on the road but to qualify for his spot in the keirin he also had to be qualified for another cycling event, according to the rules.
