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2016 Rio Olympics – Soccer – Preliminary – Men’s First Round – Group A Brazil v South Africa – Mane Garrincha Stadium – Brasilia, Brazil – 04/08/2016. Abbubaker Mobara (RSA) of South Africa and Neymar (BRA) of Brazil fight for the ball. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino Source: Reuters Home advantage, a multi-million dollar strike force and a man advantage for almost half the match could not help Brazil to a winning start as South Africa held the home side to a 0-0 draw in their opening match at the Rio Olympics on Thursday. Brazil, who have never won the Olympic gold, started with a highly rated front three of Neymar, new Manchester City signing Gabriel Jesus, and Gabriel Barbosa, the 19-year old Santos striker who is expected to head to Europe before the transfer window shuts. But the little-known South Africans matched them until they had Mothobi Mvala sent off 10 minutes into the second half. Brazil pinned the visitors down for the rest of the game but could not score. “That’s footbal...

Official Rio 2016 Olympic logo Russia has its first win of the Olympics. A total of 271 Russian athletes have been cleared to take part in the Rio Olympics, Alexander Zhukov, president of the Russian Olympics Committee, told reporters in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday. The International Olympic Committee confirmed the number in a statement issued in the evening. The news means 118 competitors of the 389-strong Russian team have been banned from competing in Rio. But it’s still a victory for a nation that the independent World Anti-Doping Agency slammed for having what it called a state-sponsored doping program. Critics had called for the entire team to be banned to show systematic cheating is unacceptable. Four years ago, Russia sent 436 athletes to London 2012. A three-person IOC panel had assessed which athletes from Russia can take part after the World Anti-Doping Agency report last month. Hundreds of Russian athletes are in Brazil for the Games, which officially begin Friday....

Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin Usain Bolt has vowed to let American sprinter Justin Gatlin “feel his full wrath” as he targets an unprecedented treble-treble of gold medals at the Rio Olympics. Bolt was given a medical exemption by Jamaican officials to compete at the Rio Games after he pulled a hamstring during the Olympic trials and Gatlin wasted little opportunity in trying to get under the 29-year-old’s skin. Gatlin said the six-time Olympic gold medallist had been given ‘a medical pass’ to compete and Bolt said that had only served to fuel his desire to shut the American up by proving himself on the track. “Yes definitely, I think they have not learned over the years that the more you talk, the more I will want to beat you,” Bolt told Reuters in Rio. “It’s one of those things, but I’m looking forward to it, should be exciting and they will feel my full wrath as always.” Bolt, who returned to action in the 200 metres at last month’s Diamond League meeting in London, said he fe...