OS Beijing 2008 Paralympics Olympics Pekin

It seems that Yao Ming’s suffering from Chinese sports news will not be over soon, blaming the NBA center of Houston Rockets and pointing at him as a disappointing out-performer.

Chinese Nation betting on Yao’s domination under the opponent’s baskets was surprised to see their local team struggle to go through into the quarter finals, after a very bad show in the 1^st round.

Lithuania, leader of group A in preliminaries and a favorite of playing the final game didn’t have much difficulty during the 40 minutes. The European team eased itself by taking the lead since the beginning, growing a difference of 9 points at the break, and increasing it to 26 dots within the final whistle while sending the Dragons out of the tournament.

Beijing’s semi-final is Lithuania’s 5^th final 4

In a row

3rd quarter was the game’s turning point as they broke free scoring and taking advantage of 2^nd chances while the Chinese defense was unorganized at all. Despite Yao’s 19 points and 7 boards, Lithuania’s team-play on offense was bringing down the China wall of giants, not to mention the long range shots of Sarunas rimming in  5 out of 6 and leading the scoring sheet by 23.

Downtown attempts:

Lithuania averaged 42% (13/31)

China averaged 19% (4/21)

2 points trials:

66% for Lithuania

47% for China

Lithuania’s triumph today, settles a European semi-final against Spain. Spanish line up is trying to preserve its image of world champions what makes the game promising and intense. Sports news in Spain are putting a lot of pressure on their national team, that earlier in preliminaries was facing severe critics due to their humiliating loss against the USA. Lithuania’s bid will be on stopping Pau’s domination, as a key to winning while the Spaniards’ concern will be the coverage of their 3 points lane.

Odds and expectations are wide open with both teams capable of creating “bolt from the blue” and playing for Beijing’s gold! Basketball tickets are on the way of being sold out, while some grapevines mentionned black marketing!

Who saw that coming? Not even those who bet on Australia’s victory imagined this! Lithuania have already beaten the Opals many times lately, especially during the games of Athens and Sydney… these are definitely infos to affect the sports betting, betting sites and bet panels.

Boiling Lithuania, who had won all of its preliminary matches, got a clashing slap while facing the Opals. 106-75, 360 degrees in Beijing’s basketball games expectations!

Kangaroos that have already set 3 victories in face of Iran, Russia and now Lithuania, were having a pleasant game and a score that exceeded the 100 points in a festival of scoring! A Festive that was led by Andrew Bogut’s 24 points (4 of 5 field goals) and a team average of 62% from long range. This is definitely a rate that would stimulate the awareness of USA’s defense in the next clash between the Dream Team and the Kangaroos; it’s already the quarter finals in Beijing and sports news are making the basketball look like the “VIP” of games.

1 thing that Australia can bet on is their well organized defense that made Lithuania consigns 21 turnovers!

Despite the loss, Lithuanians are still hanged on to the leadership of the group, and will be facing China that had earlier lost against Greece.

This time, loser goes home, unless Aussies are hiding the best for the rest!!

As ferocious as the men’s team, ladies of the United States are showing no kindness against any team, giving everything they got to crash any opponent. This time, it was New Zealand’s time to get on knees.

96-60, a diversity of 36 points took the undefeated in group B and 3 times champion into the quarter finals in what’s expected to be a trouble-free game against Koreans.

Kiwis that were forced into 21 turnovers couldn’t stop the waves of offensive strength and smashing into their rim; 4 basketball jerseys from US ladies scored in double figures: Tina Thompson reached 15, Katie Smith 13, Seimone 12 and Catchings 11. Promising young Center Fowles added 8 points and 6 rebounds to support her team mates.

Anne Donovan, Yankees coach expressed her thrilled attitude towards her team, especially when it comes to the player’s concentration from the 1^st seconds until the last ones, despite the score’s difference. 

Looking at former results in Beijing’s Olympics, the USA looks much more trustful, and is definitely a winning bet in this game. Basketball tickets are almost sold out for the next games to come; sports news is highly contributing in sales, due to their effect on TV viewers and readers.

1996 Olympic champions are looking well determined through their games, reaching the quarter finals after their hard triumph, maybe undeserved, against a 10 men American team.

Lions of Africa were already having an additional player on the field, as America’s Orozko got red carded by referee Wolfgang Stark after hitting Nigerian Okoronkwo with the elbow, in an unjustified manner and violence.

The Yankees managed to keep on fighting; focusing on defense, but Isaac Promise opened the score in the 39^th minute, supported by another goal, by Obinna in the 79^th minute. The states team desperate for a win, attacked in the remaining time, despite the number disadvantage, and managed to set their only goal of the game, by penalty in the 88^th minute (sacha kljestan).

More than 48000 spectators attended this game, and the ambiance was fabulous despite the elimination of the blues. Africa’s heroes are now in the 2^nd round, hoping to repeat the achievement of 1996.

I wonder what the bet panels and bet sites have to say about that, especially that a team like Nigeria can not be under estimated.

o    Fri 15 Aug - 11:00 am. Quarter-finals

Brazil - Norway

USA - Canada

o    Fri 15 Aug - 02:00 pm. Quarter-finals

China - Japan

Sweden - Germany

Marta, woman football player of the year led the samba girls into a win against Korea, 2 goals to 1 in a very spectacular game. Daniella scored the leading goal, after a bad ball clearance from the Chinese goal keeper (14^th minute) and Marta added the insurance 2^nd goal 9 minutes later. Ri Kum Suk, scored to reduce the score, during injury time.

Brazil and USA (Olympic champions) qualified for the next round earning 7 points each from 2 wins and a single draw.

Brazil will face Norway   on the 15^th of August in the quarter finals. Either a part of the crowd in the stadium, or watching it on TV, it definitely is a match to be seen. Both teams are talented, are very technical offensively, and in middle field: a controlling battle will be witnessed!