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Sports Oakville Beaver www.aplushomes.ca Adam Campbell Broker of Record 905-844-4444 B R O K E R A G E I N D E P E N D E N T LY O W N E D A N D O P E R AT E D SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13, 2008 25 Hurd leads team into relay final Oakville swimmer Andrew Hurd and his teammates competed for gold in the men's 4x200-metre freestyle relay final today (Wednesday) at the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing. The Canadian team of Brian Johns, Rick Say, Adam Sioui, Brent Hayden and Hurd swam the final this morning (last night our time) after qualifying with a fifthplace showing in yesterday's (Tuesday's) heats. Canada rested Hayden, the world champion in the 100m freestyle, in the relay heats, but still set a national record by finishing in 7:08.04. Hurd swam the final leg in a time of 1:46.31, seven-tenths of a second faster than any of his teammates. Hurd liked the team's chances going into the final. "We are all senior athletes on this team and we can handle the pressure," he said. "We will be very competitive." Hurd was part of the Canadian team that placed fifth in the 4x200m at the 2004 Games in Athens. SWEDE IN MOTION: Canadian midfielder Diana Matheson (right) keeps a close watch on Sweden's Sara Larsson during Olympic women's soccer action yesterday in Beijing. Canada fell 2-1 in its last contest of group play, but had learned before the game that it had already advanced to the quarter-final round. Matheson and Kara Lang, the two local players on the team, will hope for a better result Friday when Canada takes on the U.S. RON PIETRONIRO / METROLAND MEDIA GROUP ON DECK OAKVILLE OLYMPIANS' UPCOMING SCHEDULE Friday, 1 a.m. EDT Qingdao Sailing OSKAR JOHANSSON Canada to face U.S. in soccer quarter-final By Doug Smith TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE Oskar Johansson and partner Kevin Stittle, ranked seventh in the world, sail first and second races in Tornado class. Friday, 6 a.m. EDT Shanghai Soccer KARA LANG Kara Lang, Diana Matheson and Canadian women's soccer team face the U.S. in quarter-final match. BEIJING -- The news reached the women of Canada's Olympic soccer team about an hour before they took the pitch to face Sweden here Tuesday: They were in the quarter-finals and step one of their goal had been achieved. But the task of winning a medal has become more difficult now after Tuesday's 2-1 loss in the final game of the preliminary round. Canada, which finishes third in Group E, will play the United States in the quarter-finals Friday in Shanghai, a game that will start at 6 a.m. eastern. Canada had a 1-1-1 record in group play and finished behind Sweden and China. "It's never boring to play them," said head coach Even Pellerud. "It's going to be another key game between two teams that know each other very well and a team that is used to winning, the U.S.A." Canada took to the pitch at Worker's Stadium in front of a crowd of more than 45,000 after learning news that Germany got an 86th-minute goal to beat Korea in a game earlier Tuesday. That took Korea out of the hunt for one of two berths available to third-place finishers in the preliminary round. "I think it'll hit me later," said Canadian defender Rhian Wilkinson. "To be frank, I'm still pretty annoyed about the loss. I didn't think we played our best soccer tonight so it's kind of this mixture of emotions right now. "I'm thrilled that we're through, I'm really excited about that, but I'll have to let the annoyedness go before I can really enjoy it." Sweden jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the 19th minute when Lotta Schelin ran onto a nice pass from Victoria Svenson and easily beat Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod. Schelin struck again in the 51st minute as Jessica Landstrom out-ran the Canadian defence to a through ball, then tipped it over to Schelin who had little more to do than nudge the ball into the net. Tancredi, who had missed the second preliminary-round game with a bad left ankle, got Canada within one in the 64th minute when she converted an Amy Walsh pass with a lovely diving header. Canada had the run of play early in the game and created a handful of good scoring chances -- including a close-in opportunity by White Oaks grad Diana Matheson in the 22nd minute, when she was thwarted by the diving Swedish keeper. Kara Lang, an Aquinas alumnus, had a decent chance in the 71st minute as well. But the Swedes, who finished 2-1 in the preliminary round -- dropping a surprise decision to China in their first game -- made the most of their chances while Canada didn't. "We played very well, it was a high-level soccer game between two very strong teams," said Pellerud. "There was more at stake for Sweden, of course, you could see they were very pumped up for the task. "We had qualified but the players kept their focus very well and as a coach, I see this as another strong performance, very consistent, a very well-focused performance. There is no complaint from my side." Monday, 3:30 a.m. EDT Shunyi Kayaking ADAM VAN KOEVERDEN Whalley routs Glace Bay in Little League title match The Whalley Chiefs concluded a dominant showing at last week's Canadian Senior Little League Championship in Oakville with an 11-1 rout of the Glace Bay Tim Hortons Antonians in Friday's final. Whalley pounded out 12 hits, six of which went for extra bases, to coast to the victory. The championship win earned the Chiefs the right to represent Canada at the Senior Little League World Series, being held this week in Maine, for the second consecutive year. Adam Quan paced the Chiefs Friday with two doubles, a home run and two runs batted in. Chris Brien belted his tournamentleading fourth homer and Nick Rohla also went deep for Whalley, with Justin Atkinson going 4-for-4. Brien's blast landed about thirty feet up the light pole beyond the left-centre field fence at River Oaks Park. Glace Bay starting pitcher Jeff Conn was the first to congratulate Brien on the mammoth shot as Brien headed home from third. Brian Wearing went the distance on the mound for Whalley in the final, scattering five hits and striking out six to earn his second win of the tournament. Conn took the loss for Glace Bay. Local kayaker Adam van Koeverden begins quest for two more Olympic medals with 1,000m heats.