U.S. Water Polo Wins

The last time Brenda Villa netted the penultimate, game-leveling goal of an Olympic match, the United States came agonizingly close to a gold medal.

That was the final of the 2000 Games, when Australia responded to Villa’s goal, made inside the last 30 seconds, with a snap shot from Yvette Higgins with 1.7 seconds left for a 4-3 victory and the first Olympic women’s water polo title.

Villa was back in top Olympic form on Monday in a 7-6 victory over Hungary, scoring the first two goals in the opening three minutes of the match to help lift the Americans to a 4-1 lead in the first quarter.

Her four goals included the equalizer at 6-6 in the final quarter, after Hungary had rallied to take a 6-5 lead. This time, attacker Kelly Rulon, whose Olympic debut fell on her 20th birthday, scored the winning goal a minute later.

Villa has been integral in boosting the Americans from No. 6 to No. 1 in the world rankings and winning the 2003 world championship. Her 13 goals at the last worlds in Barcelona led the U.S. scoring.

In the other Group B match, Russian captain Sofya Konukh scored three goals in an 8-6 victory over the No. 4-ranked Canadians, who play the Americans on Wednesday.

In Group A, Australia edged No. 2-ranked Italy, 6-5, and Greece beat Kazakhstan, 8-6.

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BASEBALL

Australia Is Shut Out

Wang Chien-ming combined with reliever Tsao Chin-hui to lead Taiwan past Australia, 3-0. Wang gave up three hits and no walks in seven innings, and Tsao finished to earn the save.

Greece scored three runs in the ninth to pull within 6-5 of Cuba, the defending silver-medal winner, but Pedro Luis Lazo struck out James Kavourias to end the rally.

Canada defeated Italy, 9-3, and Japan won, 8-3, over a Dutch team coached by former Dodger manager Davey Johnson.

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BOXING

Escobedo Wins Debut

American lightweight Vicente Escobedo dominated from the opening bell and stopped Jose David Mosquera of Colombia in the third round to keep the United States undefeated through three Olympic bouts.

Escobedo started quickly and never let up against Mosquera before the fight was finally stopped 31 seconds into the third round by the mercy rule with Escobedo ahead, 30-10.

Escobedo, of Woodland, Calif., advanced to a Friday fight against Rovshan Huseynov of Azerbaijan.

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FENCING

France Takes Men’s Foil

France’s Brice Guyart rallied from an early deficit in the final to defeat Italy’s Salvatore Sanzo and win the gold medal in men’s foil. Guyart trailed, 4-0, but quickly tied the bout and won, 15-13. Andrea Cassara of Italy defeated Russia’s Renal Ganeev, 15-12, to take the bronze.

Dan Kellner of Warren, N.J., fell one touch short of reaching the quarterfinals. He upset seventh-seeded Cedric Gohy of Belgium, 15-12, in the round of 32, and led, 14-12, in his next bout but couldn’t close out the win, as Britain’s Richard Kruse rallied to win, 15-14.

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JUDO

Lee Leads South Korea

World champion Lee Won-Hee of South Korea defeated American Jimmy Pedro in the third round and went on to win the gold medal in the 73-kilogram (164-pound) class, beating Vitaliy Makarov of Russia in the final.

Pedro bounced back for a bronze, which he shared with Leandro Guilheiro of Brazil.

Pedro, a 1996 bronze medalist and four-time Olympian from Lawrence, Mass., ended Lee’s 48-match winning streak last December. Pedro retired after the Sydney Olympics before making a comeback.

After losing to Lee, Pedro had to fight his way through the repechage bracket to win the bronze medal by beating Daniel Fernandes of France.

In the women’s 57-kilogram (126-pound) final, Yvonne Boenisch of Germany beat North Korea’s Kye Sun-Hui, the two-time world champion. Deborah Gravenstijn of the Netherlands and Yurieleidys Lupetey of Cuba shared the bronze.

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SHOOTING

China’s Zhu Hits Mark

Zhu Qinan of China set a world record, winning the gold medal in 10-meter men’s air rifle.

Zhu scored 702.7, topping the mark of 702.5 set by American Jason Parker in 2003. China’s Li Jie took the silver and Slovakia’s Jozef Gonci won the bronze.

Suzanne Balogh of Australia pulled away from the field to win the gold medal in trap shooting. Maria Quintanal of Spain took the silver. American Collyn Loper of Birmingham, Ala., finished fourth, one point behind Lee Bo-Na of South Korea, who won the bronze.

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VOLLEYBALL

Americans Bounce Back

After a difficult opening draw in the women’s volleyball tournament, the United States responded to its first defeat with a four-set victory over Germany.

With Olympic rookie Tayyiba Haneef and veteran Keba Phipps leading their attack, the Americans won, 25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 27-25.

World Cup holder China, considered the gold-medal favorite, began the preliminary competition by beating the U.S. in four sets on Saturday.

The Germans staved off match point three times and took a 25-24 lead before the Americans closed with three straight to win. Haneef ended it with a kill.

Although the top four teams in each pool advance to the quarterfinals, the Americans, who have their own gold aspirations, would have put themselves in a tough spot with another loss. Haneef, who played at Laguna Hills High and Long Beach State, finished with a team-high 19 points.

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WEIGHTLIFTING

China Takes Two Golds

China swept the gold medals in two events and finished 1-2 in the men’s 62-kilogram (136-pound) class.

Shi Zhiyong, deterred neither by the pro-Greece crowd nor his own teammate, held off countryman Le Maosheng and Greece’s Leonidas Sampanis to win the men’s gold.

Le settled for silver, missing a world-record attempt on his final two lifts that would have given him the gold. Sampanis, a silver medalist in the last two Olympics, tied Le’s total of 689 pounds but settled for the bronze because of higher body weight.

Earlier, Chen Yanqing won gold at 58 kilograms (128 pounds), her first major title since winning the 1999 world championship in Athens. North Korea’s Ri Song-Hui took the silver and Thailand’s Wandee Kameaim won the bronze.

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MISCELLANY

Winds Raise Havoc

Strong winds that led to the cancellation of rowing events Monday also claimed the 49er event in sailing after sailors weren’t able to get their boats in the water.