Baltic Olympics update: Aug. 11

Estonia

Fencing: Estonian women's epee team loses to China in semifinals

The Estonian women's epee team lost to China 36-45 in the semifinals of the Rio Olympics on Thursday.

The team, Irina Embrich, Erika Kirpu, Julia Beljajeva, and Kristina Kuusk, will now fight for bronze with the winner of the second semifinal.

They had advanced to the semifinals after defeating South Korea in the opening round today.

Estonian judoka Minaskin loses to ex-world champion in opening round

Estonian judoka Grigori Minaskin left the competition in the Rio Olympics by losing to Kazakhstan's Maksim Rakov in the opening round of the men's 100 kg division on Thursday.

No points were awarded for techniques in the bout, and Rakov emerged as a winner with two warnings against three warnings issued to Minaskin.

Rakov, the 2009 world champion, was defeated by Czech Lukas Krpalek in the elimination round of 16 later on Thursday. The Czech athlete is the 2014 world champion.

Rowing: Estonian men's 4 takes bronze at Rio Olympics

Estonian men's quadruple sculls team finished third in the finals of Rio Olympics on Thursday.

Gold went to Germany and silver to Australia.

The Estonian team was made up of Kaspar Taimsoo, Tonu Endrekson, Allar Raja, and Andrei Jamsa.

 

Latvia

Ribakova sets new national record in 200-metre breaststroke at Rio Olympics, but fails to qualify for semifinals

Latvia's Alona Ribakova set a new national record in 200-metre breaststroke at the Rio Olympic Games on Wednesday, however, that was not enough to get her into the semifinals.

Ribakova clocked 2 minutes and 30.82 seconds, boosting Latvia's national record by 0.7 seconds. Ribakova also held the previous national record set two years ago.

Ribakova finished in 27th place, whereas qualification for the semifinals would have required her to finish 16th or better.

 

Lithuania

Lithuanian leaders congratulate rowers on Olympic medals

Top leaders of Lithuania have congratulated the country's male and female double sculls teams on winning silver and bronze medals at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Thursday.

Double sculls male duo Saulius Ritter and Mindaugas Griskonis won Olympic silver, finishing behind Croatia, while female duo Donata Vistartaite and Milda Valciukaite won bronze after finishing behind Britain and Poland.

President Dalia Grybauskaite said sports fans had always seen the rowers as the biggest medal hopefuls, wishing them to be among the world's best.

Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius thanked the athletes and their coaches, along with the entire Lithuanian Rowing Federation.

These were the first medals won by Lithuania in Rio.

At the 2012 Olympics, Lithuania won five medals.