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Tokyo
The Tokyo Olympics started in earnest on Wednesday, after a one-year postponement due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a Japan 8-1 win over Australia in the opening round of the women’s softball tournament.
The match kicked off at 9 am (0000 GMT) in Fukushima, the city hit hard by the tsunami-caused meltdown at the nuclear power station in 2011.
“First game is important, so I think it’s key that we were able to win,” said third base player Yamamoto Yu.
Japan won the last Olympic softball tournament in 2008. The sport was dropped at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games and will also not feature in 2024.
The softball team fared better than the nation’s women’s footballers, who were held 1-1 by Canada in Group E, where Britain beat Chile 2-0.
And in Group F there was history for Brazilian star Marta as she became the first to score in five Olympic Games by opening the 5-0 thrashing of China.
The Netherlands crushed Zambia 10-3 in the other tie - Vivianne Miedema bagged four for the Dutch while Barbra Banda struck an ultimately futile hat-trick for the Africans.
In the day’s other softball fixtures, the US beat Italy 2-0 and Canada won 4-0 over Mexico.
There are further preliminary matches on Thursday before the Games officially open in Tokyo on Friday.
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22/07/2021
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