BASKETBALL

LESLIE LEADS U.S. WOMEN OVER KOREA Lisa Leslie scored 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting, Tina Thompson added 18 points, and the United States beat South Korea, 80-57, to stay unbeaten. The Americans broke it open with a 19-2 run to start the second half.

Elsewhere, Lauren Jackson had 31 points and nine rebounds as Australia, the 2000 silver medalist, remained unbeaten by dominating Japan, 97-78.The 6-foot-5 Jackson, the WNBA’s MVP last season, score 21 points in the first 15 minutes against Japan.

BOXING

ESTRADA, VARGAS ADVANCE TO QUARTERFINALS American super heavyweight Jason Estrada and heavyweight Devin Vargas advanced to the quarterfinals, capping an impressive 6-1 run through the preliminaries for a lightly regarded U.S. team.The eight remaining Americans will fight in the next three days.

Estrada moved on to fight Cuba’s Michel Lopez Nunez, who beat Estrada for a gold medal in last year’s Pan American Games.

Najah Ali, Iraq’s 4-foot-11 light heavyweight and the country’s sole boxer in Athens, out pointed Kwak Hyok Ju of North Korea 21-7 to advance to a second-round match.

Light flyweight Rau’Shee Warren was the only American eliminated in the first round. Warren, a 17-year-old from Cincinnati, struggled against Chinese veteran Zou Shiming, losing 22-9.

SHOT PUT

BILONOG EDGES NELSON FOR GOLD Ukrainian Yuriy Bilonog took a flag-draped victory lap while American Adam Nelson stood in the shot put ring for three minutes, pointing at officials and pleading.

Nelson led the entire competition, but Bilonog’s final throw tied Nelson for the best of the day at 69 feet, 5 1/4 inches. Nelson had one last chance to win and unleashed a great toss, but was called for his fifth consecutive foul. Since Nelson had no other good throws and Bilonog had several, the Ukrainian won, leaving Nelson stunned at the ancient site that gave birth to the Olympics 28 centuries ago. Earlier, Russian Irina Korzhanenko’s won gold in the women’s event.

CANOE – KAYAK

SLOVAKIAN WINS GOLD, AMERICAN TAKES SILVER Rebecca Giddens of Green Bay, Wis., took the silver in the women’s kayaking singles slalom, while Elena Kaliska of Slovakia won the gold.

Slovakia had a chance for a second gold in the men’s draw, but Michael Martikan was denied despite the best time when it was judged that he touched a gate during his run. The penalty dropped him to second and the gold medal went to Frenchman Tony Estanguet.

FENCING

ITALIAN WOMEN FACE OFF FOR MEDALS Valentina Vezzali beat longtime teammate Giovanna Trillini 15-11 to win the gold medal in foil in a matchup of two Italian greats. Vezzali won her fourth Olympic fencing gold, equaling the most won by a woman. The silver was Trillini’s seventh medal. She also has four golds.

JUDO

JAPAN TAKES FIFTH GOLD IN 10 EVENTS Two-time defending champion Masae Ueno earned Japan’s fifth gold medal in 10 judo events, extending her three-year undefeated streak in major international competition. Ueno defeated Edith Bosch of the Netherlands.

Missing from the competition was defending world silver medalist Regla Zulueta, who could not compete after defecting to the United States last year from Cuba.

On the men’s side, Japan’s Hiroshi Izumi wound up with silver when he lost in the men’s 90kg title match by Zurab Zviadauri of Georgia.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

AMERICAN WOMEN ADVANCE, MEN ARE ELIMINATED The U.S. team of Elaine Youngs and Holly McPeak were perfect through pool play with a 22-24, 21-17, 15-12 win over Swiss pair Simone Kuhn and Nicole Schnyder. The American men’s team of Dain Blanton and Jeff Nygaard ended a dismal Olympics with a 21-16, 13-21, 15-13 loss to Swiss pair Stefan Kobel and Patrick Heuscher.

SOCCER

COSTA RICA ELININATES PORTUGAL, ITALY MOVES ON Costa Rica scored its first four goals of the Olympic soccer tournament to knock Portugal out of the competition with a 4-2 win, setting up a meeting with Argentina in the quarterfinals.

Iraq won its group despite losing 2-1 to Morocco. After Salih Sadir had given Iraq a second half lead, Morocco hit back through a Bouabid Bouden penalty kick and the game-winner from Salaheddine Aqqal.

In Group B, Italy advanced on goals scored despite losing 1-0 to Paraguay. Ghana, which lost 1-0 to Japan, finished with the same points and goal differential as the Italians, but scored four goals to Italy’s five.

SHOOTING

RHODE IS LAST EVER WINNER IN DOUBLE TRAP American Kim Rhode won the gold medal in double trap shooting, staking a unique claim as the first and last winner of the Olympic event.

Rhode won the 1996 gold when double trap was introduced at the Atlanta Olympics, and she now owns the 2004 medal in the event, which is being eliminated. She also won the bronze in 2000.

In women’s 25-meter pistol, Maria Grozdeva of Bulgaria won the gold medal, while Lenka Hykova of the Czech Republic won the silver and Irada Ashumova of Azerbaijan took the bronze.

VOLLEYBALL

DOMINICANS UPSET SLUGGISH AMERICANS A sluggish American start and some Dominican determination led to a big upset. Milagros Cabral de la Cruz had the match-winning kill in the fifth set, giving the Dominican Republic a 26-24, 22-25, 27-25, 23-25, 19-17 victory.

The Americans, who dropped to 1-2, play Russia tomorrow and Cuba on Sunday to close the preliminary round.

WATER POLO

CANADA RALLIES TO SHOCK AMERICANS Johanne Begin scored three goals, including the last-minute clincher, and Ann Dow had a pair as Canada scored five unanswered goals in the last six minutes to upset the world champion Americans. The United States led 5-1 in the second minute of the last period after captain Heather Moody scored from 2 meters.