The Israel Baseball Team fell in dramatic fashion to South Korea 6-5 in extra innings as pitcher Jeremy Bleich hit Euiji Yang to force in the winning run. The Blue & White got off to a rough go as Taein Won struck the side in the top of the first and then starting pitcher Jon Moscot had to leave the game after just 9 pitches due to an injury, thrusting Jake Fishman into action.

The Blue & White took a 2-0 lead thanks to Ian Kinsler’s 2-run homerun driving in Mitch Glasser in the top of the 3rd, but Korea quickly evened up the score in the bottom of the 4th when Ji Hwan Oh homered to right. Israel didn’t let up as former Major Leaguer Danny Valencia singled with one out in the top of the 6th and Ryan Lavarnway added the team’s second home run of the day to put Eric Holtz’s squad ahead 4-2.

With Zack Weiss in the game, Korea hit back to back solo homers in the bottom of the 7th as Holtz kept his struggling pitcher in the game which cost Israel another run when Oh doubled home the go ahead run. However, Lavarnway who plays with Cleveland hit his second homerun of the game to knot up the score at 5-5 as the contest headed into extra innings.

Korea struck out the side in the top of the 10th and set themselves up for a chance to win in the bottom half of the inning with two men on and two outs against Jeremy Bleich. But Bleich hit Kyoungmin Hur to load up the bases and then just tagged Euiji Yang on the jersey to force in the winning run.

Israel will now get ready for the United States as they play the Americans on Friday at 13:00 Israel time.

Aviv Barzelay punched her ticket to the Women’s 200m Backstroke semifinals with a time of 2:11:13 good for 15th place and a chance to move into the final on Friday morning. “This was my first time in the water and I waited for this moment all week,” the 19-year old said. “My goal is to go as far as I can and I will consult with my coaches as to what I can do better as I prepare for the semifinals.”

The Mixed 4×100 Relay Team advanced to the finals as Anastasia Gorbenko, Andi Murez, Gal Cohen Groumi and Itay Goldfaden scored a time of 3:43:94 good enough for 8th place overall and a chance to surprise on Saturday morning.

Tomer Frankel swam the 100m Butterfly in 51:99 which placed him 21st, but was not good enough to advance to the next stage of the competition.

Peter Paltchik competing in the -100kg category crashed out of the Olympics after losing his repechage bout as the Judo contingent continued to look for their first medal in the competition. The 29-year old won his first bout over Mongolia’s Itgonbaatar Lkhagvasuren via Waza-ari in the golden score. Next up for Paltchik was the 2016 World Champion Aaron Wolf from the host nation as the two battled it out neck and neck throughout the bout. However, with time running out, Wolf scored a Waza-ari that sent the Israeli to the repechage where he would face Canada’s Shady Elnahas for a trip to the bronze medal match. Paltchik took control of the bout early on and looked to have the upper hand over the Egyptian born Elnahas but the 23-year old took the bout into golden score overtime and scored an Ippon on the Israeli ending his Olympic dream in Japan.

Inbar Lanir won her opening bout in super impressive fashion as she disposed of Mongolia’s Munkhtsetseg Otgon in a mere 18 seconds via an Ippon raising hopes that perhaps the 21-year who was making her Olympic debut had more magic up her sleeve. However, in the Round of 16, the Under-23 European Gold medalist fell to the world’s 6th ranked -78kg Judoka Mayra Aguiar from Brazil in just 20 seconds via Ippon to end her Tokyo games.

Katy Spychakov won’t be returning from Tokyo with a medal around her neck despite having an unbelievable performance in RS:X races 10, 11, 12. In race 10, Spychakov finished in 1st place and followed that up with 4th place in race 11. The last race of the day saw Spychakov once again snatch first place but also needed her opponents to falter in order to race for a medal on Saturday. However, that was not to be as Spychakov moved up to only 6th place and the best that she will be able to finish the competition will be in 4th overall.

In Men’s RS:X Yoav Cohen was also eliminated from medal contention after beginning the day in 7th place overall. Cohen, who was within striking distance of staying in the race for a medal finished race 10 and 11 in 6th and 4th places respectively. However, in the last race of the day Cohen finished a disappointing 12th and remained in 7th position after 12 races and will enter the final day without a chance to close the gap to third place.

Noya Baram and Shachar Tibi were back in action in women’s Two Person Dinghy 470 as they looked to build on their 4th place finish on their first day of competition on Wednesday. However, they got off to a rough start and ended race 3 in 14th place good for 10th overall but were able to salvage their second day of competition in the water with a 3rd place finish in race 4 which placed them 6th overall after four races. The pair will continue their competition on Friday with races 5 and 6.

Shay Kakon returned to the water after a day off in the women’s Laser radial event and finished race 7 and 8 in 34th and 39th places respectively placing her in 35th position over all as she will now ready for races 9 and 10 on Friday morning.

Friday will once again be a busy day as athletics gets underway, while 2016 Olympic Bronze medalist Ori Sasson will be in action
5:00 Judo – Raz Hershko Round of 32
5:00 Judo – Ori Sasson Round of 32
5:40 Athletics – Diana Vaisman Women’s 100m qualification
5:42 Swimming – Aviv Barzelay Women’s 200m Backstroke semifinals
6:00 Sailing – Shay Kakon Laser radial Race 9,10
6:10 Sailing – Noya Baram/Shachar Tibi Women’s 470 Race 5,6
13:00 Athletics – Selamawit Teferi 5,000m qualification
13:00 Swimming – Meiron Cheruti 50m Freestyle qualification
13:00 Baseball – Israel v USA
13:05 Athletics – Hanna Minenko Triple Jump qualification
13:24 Swimming – Andi Murez 50m Freestyle qualification