No medals but don't worry, she'll be right mate

By GEOFF CUMMING

New Zealand may be equal last at the Sydney Olympics, but it's far too early for the wake.

At most Olympic Games, we've been in the same position -empty-handed - after the first four days.

And while we are below the likes of Belarus, Latvia and Kyrgyzstan on the medal table, at least we're keeping pace with 160 or so other nations which have yet to win a medal.

With 12 days to go, New Zealand has plenty of time to rise to its customary top-30 place on the table.

Given our population, we've been punching well above our weight since Peter Snell launched an era of track and field success 40 years ago.

But only at Atlanta in 1996 did we make an Olympian flying start, courtesy of Danyon Loader's two gold medals and a bronze for the equestrian team. Yet the final haul of six medals was our worst since the Moscow Games in 1980, which most New Zealand athletes boycotted in protest at the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

Expectations of our Olympians were raised by double-figure medal tallies at Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992.

With the Sydney Games on our doorstep, our biggest-ever team and the Government-backed Sports Foundation investing millions on our leading lights, casual fans may have taken another bumper medal harvest for granted.

But so far, some of our best prospects have disappointed. They include the unfortunate three-day eventing team, injured cyclist Sarah Ulmer and the heavily backed triathletes.

The equestrians were perhaps riding for a fall after eight medals, three of them gold, since Mark Todd won on Charisma in 1984.

It came yesterday when Blyth Tait's Ready Teddy and Paul O'Brien's Enzed were barred from the three-day event.

Then both of Andrew Nicholson's charges, Dawdle and New York, were ruled out of today's individual competition.

The White Sox women's softballers crashed, too, 10-0 to China.

But reasons for optimism can be found all over Sydney. In Penrith, the rowers are comfortably through to the final phases and Rob Waddell remains hot favourite to win gold in the men's single sculls.

Despite her injury, Ulmer is a favourite in the points race, and team-mate Anthony Peden is primed for his specialist event, the kieren. Both are tomorrow.

At Horsley Park, Tait and Todd are predicted to redeem themselves in the individual competition.

Among the yachties, boardsailor Barbara Kendall and Rod Davis' soling crew are best placed at this stage.

The women's hockey team are a medal prospect after a draw with Germany and a win over China.



In table tennis, New Zealand's Li Chunli goes into the heavyweight part of the competition at the deep end, meeting world champion and No 1 seed Wang Nan today.

China-born Li yesterday became the first New Zealand table tennis representative to reach an Olympic main draw when she made light work of Chile's Berta Rodriguez Olate to finish top in her pool.

The prospect of meeting China's Wang in the knockout seems daunting, but New Zealand team manager Murray Finch was optimistic.

"Li Chunli wants to win this tournament, so she probably had to beat Wang Nan at some stage."

So we can keep the faith - but temper it with realism. Sports Foundation chief Chris Ineson says that with the Olympics in our time zone, television viewers are seeing how competitive sport can be at this level.

"The harsh reality is, it's bloody tough out there."



POSITIVE SPIN PUT ON NZER'S DRAW AGAINST WORLD CHAMP

By Nick Brown of NZPA

Sydney, Sept 19 - A positive spin has been put on a draw which sees New Zealand's Li Chunli face world champion and No. 1 seed Wang Nan in the first knockout round of the Sydney Olympic table tennis competition.

China-born Li became the first New Zealand table tennis representative to reach the main draw at any Olympics, when she made light work of Chile's Berta Rodriguez Olate today to finish top in her pool.

The prospect of meeting Wang tomorrow might seem daunting, but New Zealand team manager Murray Finch remains an optimist.

"Li Chunli wants to win this tournament and so probably had to beat Wang Nan at some stage," he told NZPA.

"To be honest the best place to play her is in the first round. Chunli's had two singles and two doubles matches (in qualifying rounds) and is used to the conditions in the tournament hall."

As a seeded player Wang has not been allowed to play in the hall, in front of a normally boisterous crowd. Finch said Wang also had a reputation of being a slow starter.

"Two years ago Chunli beat the then world No. 1, so there's going to be mental issues for both players tomorrow and who copes with them best comes out on top," he said.

"If you're playing for a silver or bronze, this is a crappy draw, but if you're going for gold it's not so bad."

The two women have played each other only once before, three years ago in a World Cup tournament when Li lost.

Li, also a slow starter in her first Olympic singles match this week, was straight on the attack against Rodriguez Olate and only let up slightly in the third set as she cruised to a 21-7 21-4 21-3 win.

"Today I tried much harder because the singles is the only event I have left," Li, who with sister Karen was eliminated from the doubles yesterday, said.

Li served a couple of aces, rare at this level of table tennis, when she caught the Chilean off guard.

"One ball -- nobody at home," Li joked.

She had noticed that Rodriguez Olate did not receive service well on her backhand, so she stood ready to hit a forehand from her backhand side. Li served some long serves to her backhand and some fast balls to her forehand, so her opponent did not know where the serve was going.

With the Chilean stuck in the middle, Li served the ball to her backhand and often the ball returned quite high for Li to smash back the next one.

Former Aucklander Peter Jackson ended his third Olympic campaign when beaten by a clinical Petr Korbel of the Czech Republic.

Korbel, a semifinalist at the Atlanta Olympics, combined brilliant back-court defence with sound strategy against his taller opponent -- often firing the ball straight at Jackson's body.

The 11-21 13-21 15-21 loss was Jackson's second in straight sets in pool play.

"Korbel is a world class player and he was in top form. He just didn't make any mistakes," Finch said.

"I watched him in training before the match and he looked really sharp, and he turned that form through to the match itself. Peter played really well I thought, but just wasn't good enough."

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