Israel had an emotional day with many ups and downs in a number of sports.

Baruch Shmailov came close to snatching a bronze medal but just came up short after falling to Daniel Cargnin from Brazil in the Bronze Medal bout. Shmailov lost his quarterfinal matchup but was able to get himself into a medal position after winning in the Repechage. However, it wasn’t meant to be as Shmailov broke down in tears following his defeat to Cargnin.

“It’s disappointing, I gave it my all but unfortunately it wasn’t enough. I came into the bout in great shape and in my head I already saw the medal but I wasn’t at my best at the end. I was a bit hurt and that bothered me, I just wasn’t good enough and I wasn’t able to give 100%. It was enough”

Gili Cohen won her opening Round of 32 bout but fell in the Round of 16 to Charline Bel van Snick from Belgium.

Cyclist Omer Shapira surprised many and was in the lead pack of 3 in the Women’s Road Race but was caught with 4.5km to go and finished a respectable 24th.

Over in the swimming pool, Anastasia Gorbenko advanced to the semifinals of the Women’s 100m Backstroke with a time of 59:90 which was 12th out of the 16 swimmers who moved on. Gorbenko did not take part in the 100m Breaststroke that she had entered to participate in. Denis Loktev finished in 5th place overall in the 200m Freestyle qualification and was eliminated and Michael Laitarovsky was also shut out in the Men’s 100m Backstroke finishing 5th in his heat. Yakov Toumarkin who carried the Israeli Flag into the Olympic Stadium at opening ceremonies finished 6th in his heat and saw his chances evaporate in the 100m Backstroke.

In RS:X Sailing both Katy Spychakov and Yoav Cohen are in 5th place after 3 races. They will both be in action on Monday once again for Races 4,5,6. In Laser Radial, Shay Kakon is currently in 29th place after two races.

Ksenia Polikarpova lost her opening Badminton matchup while Sergey Richter ended finished 27th in 10m Air Rifle qualification and missed the finals.

In Surfing Anat Lelior made a disappointing Olympic debut and finished in 4th and last place in her first heat and then was eliminated by finishing 4th again in her second heat.

Lihie Raz, at just 17 years old finished in 46th place in Artistic Gymnastics and did not move on in the competition.

One last note, it was great to see Israeli Ronen Ginzburg who is the head coach of the Czech Republic basketball team shake hands with his Iranian counterpart after a 84-78 win.

On Monday July 26 we have a number of athletes in action in what should be another exciting day of action!
00:30 Triathlon – Ran and Shachar Sagiv
5:00 Judo – -57kg Timna Nelson-Levy v the winner of Marica Perisic/Sanda Aldass Round of 32
5:00 Judo – -77kg Tohar Butbol v the winner of Fethi Nourine/Mohamed Abdalrasool Round of 32
5:30 Badminton – Misha Zilberman
5:50 Swimming – Anastasia Gorbenko 100m Backstroke Semifinal
6:00 Sailing – Katy Spychakov RS:X Race 4,5,6
8:30 Sailing – Shay Kakon Laser Radial Race 3,4
9:00 Cycling – Shlomi Haimy
9:00 Sailing – Yoav Cohen RS:X Race 4,5,6
13:00 Swimming – Andi Murez Women’s 200m Freestyle qualification
13:56 Swimming – Anastasia Gorbenko 200m Individual Medley qualification