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Rugby sevens will claim much of the spotlight for New Zealand at the Olympics tomorrow. The New Zealand men’s team, having overcome the horrors of their first-up loss to Japan, faced unbeaten Great Britain in their final pool match, followed by (hopefully!) a quarter-final.

Another big one for New Zealand is the individual cycling road time trial, which features New Zealand’s world champion, Linda Villumsen. If she hasn’t taken too much out of herself with her bold effort in the road race a few days ago, Villumsen will be a strong favourite to get among the medals.

Mike Dawson was extremely impressive in the K1 slalom preliminaries and if he can continue in that form will be well worth following today.

The men’s and women’s hockey teams both face critical matches.

The men play Brazil, who are not highly ranked, and really must come away with a win to keep on target for a quarter-final berth. The women play Spain and they too need a good result to get their campaign back on track.

The sailing ramps up. Laser man Sam Meech, who lies third at present, continues his event, as does finn competitor Josh Junior, who had a forgettable first day.

Several other sailing competitions get under way – the 470 men and women, and the nacra mixed.

There may be more excitement in the equestrian centre, following the highs and lows of the New Zealand three-day eventing team over the past three days. This time it’s the dressage competition, where Julie Brougham, at 62 the oldest competitor in the New Zealand team, is in the field.

The rowers are getting nearer to the finals days. Tomorrow the men’s and women’s eights row in their repechages, and the women’s pair and lightweight double sculls race semi-finals.

It hasn’t been a great meet so far for the New Zealand swimmers. Bradlee Ashby in his favoured 200m individual medley and Corey Main in the 200m backstroke will be hoping to turn that around.


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