Jankovic says she may withdraw from Olympics

BEIJING (AP)—While the No. 1 ranking is a certainty for Jelena Jankovic, her opening match at the Olympics is in doubt.

The Serbian said a sore right calf may prevent her from taking the court Sunday against Cara Black of Zimbabwe.

Regardless of whether Jankovic plays, she’s assured of climbing from No. 2 to No. 1 in the new rankings Monday. She’ll move ahead of another Serb, Ana Ivanovic, who has led the rankings since winning the French Open in June.

“Hopefully I will somehow be healthy and ready to play my best tennis,” Jankovic said Saturday. “I don’t know. I will see Sunday how everything will go. If I will not be able to do my best on the court, I will not go. I will not risk that.”

Jankovic said the sore calf has forced her to curtail her practice routine. She said the injury stemmed from a torn meniscus in her left knee that bothered her at Wimbledon, where she lost in the fourth round.

“Because I had an injury on my left knee, my right leg was working so much harder,” she said. “It was compensating. I was forcing the other muscles to work harder.

“I’m not in the best shape in the moment.”

Zabriskie, McCartney leave Olympic men’s road race

BEIJING (AP)—American cyclists David Zabriskie and Jason McCartney dropped out of Saturday’s Olympic road race after helping chase down breakaway packs and exhausting themselves.

Zabriskie, who missed this year’s Tour de France because of a broken back, dropped out about halfway through the 152-mile route. McCartney dropped out about 90 minutes later.

Zabriskie was at the rear of the peleton when the cyclists passed through the Great Wall for the first time after about 2 hours, 12 minutes and having completed roughly one-third of the total route.

He dropped farther back soon after, and abandoned the course with five laps remaining, but after helping chase down a breakaway pack to keep U.S. teammates Levi Leipheimer, George Hincapie and Christian Vande Velde somewhat near the front.

“I stayed as long as I could stay,” Zabriskie said. “Of course I wanted to stay longer and help those guys more, but 30 guys got away and we didn’t have anybody there and I tried to react as quick as possible. We were going fairly quick. It’s better to shut a group out like that fairly quick.”

After Zabriskie departed, McCartney also got involved in a chase and eventually fatigued in the arduous conditions, with 81-degree heat and 90 percent humidity.

But like Zabriskie, McCartney helped keep the rest of the peleton close.

“We didn’t have anybody in that front group and I talked to George and Levi and if we didn’t start riding right away, they would have been gone by 10 minutes,” McCartney said. “So we needed to keep it down, keep it close, keep them in contact, which we did.”

Czech shooter wins games’ first gold

BEIJING (AP)—The Emmons family is off to a fine start at the Beijing Olympics.

Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic won the 10-meter air rifle Saturday, spoiling China’s bid for the games’ first gold medal. Emmons, the wife of American shooter Matt Emmons, finished with an Olympic record of 503.5 points after shooting a perfect 400 in qualifying.

“I had a headache this morning. I felt very bad. I couldn’t imagine how I would shoot feeling this bad,” said Emmons, who won bronze in the event in 2004. “Especially since it’s the first gold medal of the Olympics, I feel amazing.”

Lioubov Galkina of Russia won the silver and Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia took the bronze. Jamie Beyerle of Lebanon, Pa., finished fourth.

The big surprise was a fifth-place finish by China’s Du Li. She won the event four years ago in Athens. Du was just a point behind Emmons after qualifying.

“As for the final, I wasn’t fully prepared for the pressure of competing at home,” Du said.

Du was greeted with a roar from the fans in the upper balcony of the shooting range when she came out for the final. She turned to face the crowd with a wide smile on her face, waved and bowed before heading over to her lane. However, she misfired immediately in the final round, scoring only 9.8 points on her first attempt. Competitors can earn up to 10.9 points per shot in the final.

Emmons was all but assured of victory with one shot remaining. Of course, her husband was in a similar spot four years ago in the three-position rifle event. He missed out on a gold medal because he fired at the wrong target on the final shot—an unthinkable gaffe.

Katerina Emmons won comfortably by 1.4 points Saturday.

“I’m more proud of her than if I was to do it myself,” Matt Emmons said.

Matt Emmons did win a gold in prone rifle in Athens, and will compete in both prone and three-position rifle this year. Katerina Emmons will compete in three-position rifle on the women’s side.

“I did my part. I mean, half of my job is done,” she said. “Matt’s going to shoot his best.”

Katerina and Matt Emmons are staying together at these Olympics—the Czech Republic team helped find them a room together. After Saturday’s event, the couple posed with a Czech flag wrapped around themselves.

“I know I would do good even if he wasn’t here, if he couldn’t be here for some reason. I know he would do great if I wasn’t here for him,” she said. “But the fact that we’re here together is awesome.”

US men lead weak gymnastics qualifying group

BEIJING (AP)—The United States, led by fist-pumping Jonathan Horton, finished atop its qualifying group Saturday in men’s gymnastics at the Beijing Olympics.

Not that beating Spain and Italy in the early subdivision is indicative of much: The Americans must wait for the heavyweights from China, Japan and Russia, plus other strong teams such as Germany, South Korea and Romania, before knowing if they will make the final eight for the medals round.

Horton led the U.S. team into the arena, then waved and pumped his arms upon seeing a U.S. flag in the audience. He had the same reaction when the team walked from rings to vault. Perhaps stoked by the support in a nearly sold-out National Indoor Stadium, the Americans put on a spirited overall performance, particularly on high bar.

They earned 365.200 points, well ahead of Spain’s 357.925 and Italy’s 355.500.

“We had a don’t-hold-back mantra today, and it lit us on fire,” Horton said. “We didn’t hold back for one moment. We competed like it was our last day.”

But was it good enough for advancement?

“We should definitely make it into team finals,” Horton said.

The Americans are without any Olympic experience after twin brothers Paul Hamm, the reigning Olympic champion, and Morgan Hamm withdrew with injuries. Sasha Artemev, who joined the squad Thursday night, and Raj Bhavsar were the replacements, and both performed well—if not quite at the level of the Hamms.

“It was one team, one dream, 100 percent,” Joe Hagerty said. “Wow.”

Artemev’s scintillating pommel horse, featuring a series of spindles in which his legs seem to fly in every direction, concluded a solid showing for the Americans. He then threw kisses toward his teammates—and the crowd, which gave Artemev a huge ovation for his ride, on which he got 15.250 points.

“I know we need that score, everyone is counting on me for pommel horse,” Artemev said. “They just told me swing big. I didn’t feel any pressure.

“I just kind of jumped in there really quick and didn’t have time to think about it. Usually I stress out a week in advance.”

Horton topped the individual competition with 91.650 points, followed by Rafael Martinez of Spain with 90.800 and Artemev at 89.725.

“There are an incredible number of all-arounders to compete against,” said Horton, who finished fourth at the 2007 worlds, missing a medal by .2 points. “But if I do my best all-around, the performance of my life, I can be right in there with them.”

The second group features overwhelming favorite China, Japan and Russia. Germany will be the spotlight team in the evening subdivision.

Gymnastics-Yemen debutant already thinking of 2012

By Sonia Oxley

BEIJING, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Nashwan Al-Harazi put down his economics books to accept a wildcard to become Yemen’s first male gymnast to compete at the Olympics and after a respectable debut on Saturday was already thinking about the next Games.

“I was surprised to get a wildcard,” the 21-year-old economics student told reporters after his qualifying session.

“In the past I never even thought about the Olympics but now I’ve got new motivation. I will do my best to get to London (in 2012) without a wildcard.”

One of the few gymnasts to stay up late to attend Friday’s opening ceremony, he was clearly determined to make the most of his trip and even made some new friends.

“I got cheered on by the Italian and Spanish teams, they really encouraged me,” he said.

Coached by his brother in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, Al-Harazi spent the last nine months preparing in China and learnt from Chinese coaches when he was younger.

Although his Games is over after relatively low scores on the three apparatus he performed on—floor, vault and pommel horse—he is staying to watch a handful of compatriots compete in their events.

But they are not as good as him. “I am the best,” he said with a smile. (Editing by Keith Weir) (For more stories visit our multimedia website “2008 Summer Olympics” at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)