February 15, 2020 5:15 AM EET
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Chinas Chen Long won gold Saturday in mens badminton, handing Malaysias Lee Chong Wei his third straight Olympic silver medal and signaling Chens place as the games new power. Walt Schupp Jersey Store .Chen fell face down on the court then rose weeping after his 2-0 victory. He then threw three rackets and his shirt into the crowd, which was largely filled with Chinese supporters, before draping himself in the Chinese flag.Lee, while old by badminton standards at 33, was world No. 1 and the favorite coming in. But he faced massive pressure not to lose another Olympic gold, and was coming off a hard-fought match a day earlier against Chinas Lin Dan, the man who beat him in the last two Olympic finals, that felt more like a gold-medal contest than a semifinal. Both Lee and Lin are considered by many to be the best players of their era, and maybe of all time.Chen is now making his place at the top.Chen led early in the first game of the best-of-three match then trailed before capitalizing on repeated Lee errors at the net to pull ahead and win 21-18. Chen then fought off an early Lee lead in the second game to power by the Malaysian 21-18.Though Lee played aggressively, often staring Chen down after winners, Chen seemed to have an answer to both Lees power, parrying his smashes, and to his touch, repeatedly finding his drop shots and lifting them safely toward Lees backcourt. Chens smashes more often found the lines for winners and his subtle net shots often had Lee flustered.The triumph of youth was also the story in the bronze medal match as Viktor Axelsen of Denmark beat two-time Olympic champion Lin 2-1 earlier Saturday.Despite Chens victory and an earlier gold for China in mens doubles, it has been a tough Olympics for China, which has lost its place as badmintons overwhelming superpower. Several top players, including medalists from past games, lost early in Rio. China swept all five badminton gold medals at the 2012 London Games.On Friday, Carolina Marin of Spain beat P.V. Sindhu of India for gold in womens singles badminton. Marin, the world No. 1 and heavy favorite ahead of the Rio Games, also beat Li Xuerui, the defending Olympic champion from China, to get to the gold medal match. Sindhu, ranked world No. 10, made a strong, surprising run through the tournament. Japans Nozomi Okuhara took bronze.---Follow Foster Klug at www.twitter.com/apklug. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/foster-klug href="https://www.chinacheapjerseys.net/tom-greene-jersey-store/" target="_blank">Tom Greene Jersey Store . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. Cedric Killings Jersey Store .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. https://www.chinacheapjerseys.net/ken-panfil-jersey-store/ ;. Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. TORONTO -- The New York Yankees ended one streak, now they must find a way to end another streak on Monday in the finale of a four-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays.They are on an eight-game losing streak at Rogers Centre.New York did score, at least, in the 4-3 loss to the Blue Jays Sunday.When Didi Gregorius led off the seventh inning with his 19th homer of the season, it ended the Yankees string of run-less innings at 33, a span that included being shut out in each of their three previous games.They avoided the embarrassment of becoming the first American League team to be blanked in four consecutive games since the introduction of the designated hitter in 1973. The Washington Senators were the last AL team to be shut out in four straight games and that was Sept. 1-5, 1964.The Yankees also looked as if they would win the game Sunday when they scored twice to go ahead 3-2 in the ninth only to have the Blue Jays score the tying run on a safety squeeze and the winning run on a two-out infield single to earn their third straight victory.The Blue Jays remain in the first wild-card spot by 1 1/2 games over the Baltimore Orioles, who start a three-game series in Toronto on Tuesday.The Yankees have lost four games in a row -- and 11 of their past 14 -- and are 5 1/2 games removed from a wild-card spot.They have lost eight games in a row at Rogers Centre.There have been few of those losses tougher to take than the one on Sunday.Its tough, its really tough, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.The loss took the Yankees one step closer to elimination from a chance to participate in the postseason.It stinks, Girardi said. Weve been fighting and fighting. You think about some of these games weve lost, theyve been really tough. Weve gotten good pitching performances, weve lost in a number of different ways. Its just been tough.The Blue Jays seem to be righting themselves. They lost nine of their first 12 games in September and now are 10-12 for the month.Marco Estrada, who did not factor in the decision Sunday despite allowing only one run in seven innings, feels the revival of the Blue Jays goes beyond the three straight wiins to open the final seven-game home stand of the season. Lamonte Hunley Jersey Store. I dont think its the last three games, I think it goes back even further, he said, referring to the series in Seattle where throngs of Canadian fans cheered the Blue Jays on to win two of three games from the Mariners. Going to Seattle and just seeing that atmosphere, seeing the fans, all the support were getting on the road, it means a lot to us. It definitely pumps us up a bit.And then coming home and seeing sold-out crowds. Its a great feeling to be a part of this team right now. Were obviously very excited to be home and this atmosphere, you just cant beat it right now.So it definitely gives us a lot of energy and it pumps us up a lot. And were playing really good baseball right now. Our pitching has been really good, especially this series. Its a tough lineup over there on the other side and were able to pitch pretty well against them.Im glad our pitching is back to what it has been all year basically and obviously our hitting has been tremendous and we were able to score a few runs at the end.The Blue Jays will have their 20-game winner, J.A. Happ, going for them on Monday against the Yankees. Happ will go for his fourth win in a row. He is 3-0 with a 2.65 earned-run average in his past three starts. The left-hander is 3-0 with a 2.39 ERA in four starts against the Yankees this season and is 6-2 with a 4.02 ERA in 13 career starts against them.The Yankees did not officially announce a starter for Monday although Girardi said it likely will be right-hander Luis Severino, who has had more success this season as a reliever.Severino is 3-0 with a 0.39 ERA in 11 relief appearances. He is 0-8 with an 8.58 ERA in nine starts this season with the Yankees. In 13 games (12 starts) at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he was 8-2 with a 3.49 ERA. He pitched three scoreless innings in one relief appearance against the Blue Jays this season. In four career outings against Toronto, including three starts, he is 0-2, 5.71 ERA. ' ' '
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