Baltic Olympics update: Aug. 8

Latvia

Latvian weightlifter Koha places fourth at Rio Olympics

Latvia's Rebeka Koha won fourth place in the women's 53-kilogram weightlifting competition at the Rio Olympic Games on Sunday.

Koha's cumulative total was 197 kilograms — 90 kilograms in snatch and 107 in clean & jerk. Her personal record is 198 kilograms.

Hsu Shu-ching (Taiwan) scored the gold medal with 212 (100+112) kilograms, Hidilyn Diaz (Philippines) won silver with 200 (88+112) kilograms, and Yoon Jin-hee (Korea) bronze with 199 (88+111) kilograms.

 

Samoilovs/Smedins win first Pool D match at Rio Olympics

Latvia's beach volleyball pair Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins today defeated Canada's Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk 2-1 (21:17,18:21, 15:13) in their first Pool D match at the Games.

The Latvians are set to compete against Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez (Cuba) tomorrow and Evandro Oliveira/Pedro Solberg Salgado (Brazil) on Thursday.

In the other Pool D match on Sunday, Diaz/Gonzalez unexpectedly beat Oliveira/Solberg 2-1 (24:22, 21:23, 15:13).

Smedins, playing together with Martins Plavins, won bronze at the London Olympics in 2012.

Samoilovs/Smedins closed 2013 and 2014 as the top-ranked beach volleyball duo.