THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 14 : Roundup : Smith Defeats Soviet to Win Wrestling Gold

SEOUL —  John Smith won a gold medal at 136.5 pounds, Tim Vanni lost in the bronze-medal match at 105.5 and Jim Scherr won a fifth-place match at 198 in freestyle wrestling action. Of the seven weight classes that remain unfinished, five Americans still have a chance to reach the medal round.

Smith shut out Stephan Sarkissian of the Soviet Union, 4-0, to win the gold. Simeon Chterev of Bulgaria won the bronze by beating Akbar Fallah of Iran, 5-2.

Barry Davis of the United States, the silver medalist in 1984, was eliminated Friday from the freestyle wrestling tournament after three rounds.

Davis, 27, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who finished second in last year’s World Championships at 125.5 pounds, was eliminated on a first-round pin by Bela Nagy of Hungary.

It was the second consecutive loss for Davis, who dropped an 11-5 decision to Ahmet Ak of Turkey.

The only other member of the 10-man American team eliminated from the tournament in the preliminary rounds was Ken Chertow of Penn State, the only collegiate wrestler on the team. Chertow, 21, from Huntington, W.Va., lost 2 of 3 matches at 114.5 pounds.

Canoe and kayak: Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald of New Zealand won the gold medal in the men’s K-2, 500-meter kayak event. Igor Nagaev and Victor Denissov of the Soviet Union won the silver medal, and Attila Abraham and Ferenc Csipes of Hungary took the bronze.

Zsolt Gyulay of Hungary won the gold medal in men’s K-1, 500-meter kayaking. Andreas Staehle of East Germany won the silver medal, and Paul MacDonald of New Zealand took the bronze.

Vania Guecheva of Bulgaria won the gold medal in the women’s K-1, 500-meter kayak event. The silver medal went to Birgit Schmit of East Germany, and Izabela Dylewska of Poland took the bronze.

Table tennis: Sweden’s Erik Lindh beat world champion Jiang Jialiang, and Hungary’s Tibor Klampar stopped Chen Longcan to end China’s hopes for medals in men’s singles.

Lindh upset Jiang, 3 games to 1, in their quarterfinal match at the Seoul National University gymnasium, defeating the world’s top player, 16-21, 21-12, 21-13, 22-20.

Klampar made the semifinals by winning a five-game match against Chen, ranked No. 3 in the world.

Koreans Kim Ki Taik and Yoo Nam Kyu, backed by a noisy, partisan crowd that filled the gymnasium stands, joined Lindh and Klampar in the singles semifinals.

China fared much better in the women’s singles quarterfinals. Three team members, led by No. 2 Jiao Zhimin, won in straight sets to move on to the next round.

Jiao eliminated Hong Cha Ok of Korea, 21-9, 21-9, 21-11; Li Huifen defeated Valentina Popova of the Soviet Union, 21-13, 21-12, 21-19, and Chen Jing beat Flioura Boulatova of the Soviet Union, 21-4, 21-11, 21-2.

Marie Hrachova of Czechoslovakia won the other women’s quarterfinal match, defeating the Netherlands’ Bettine Vriesekoop, 21-8, 21-15, 21-19.

Fencing: Italy defeated France to win the bronze medal in men’s team epee. The score was 8-8, and the victory was awarded on the basis of more touches delivered. Hungary was to meet the Soviet Union later in the championship match.