Sports News Roundup: Olympics-Rowing-Croatia, New Zealand triumph in pairs; Ireland, Italy take lightweight crowns; Randal Grichuk, Blue Jays top Red Sox to open twin bill and more

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Olympics-Rowing-Croatia, New Zealand triumph in pairs; Ireland, Italy take lightweight crowns

Croatia's mighty Sinkovic brothers came out on top in the men's pair and New Zealand's unstoppable crew triumphed in the women's event as Olympic rowing continued on Thursday at Tokyo's blustery Sea Forest Waterway. Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic, who won gold in the double sculls in Rio and paired world champions in 2018 and 2019 after taking on the sweep discipline, pulled away from the field almost immediately to win in 6:15.29, 1.29 seconds ahead of silver medallists Romania, with Denmark taking bronze.

Randal Grichuk, Blue Jays top Red Sox to open twin bill

Randal Grichuk hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the fourth inning and drove in three runs as the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the host Boston Red Sox 4-1 in seven innings in the first of a day-night doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon. George Springer also hit a solo home run for Toronto, which lost 5-4 in the series opener Monday. The game was a makeup of Tuesday's scheduled contest that was postponed due to inclement weather.

MLB roundup: Tigers top Twins 17-14

Willi Castro had an RBI triple and Jeimer Candelario added a two-run double to highlight an eight-run fourth inning as the Detroit Tigers bolted out to a 10-run lead and then held on for a wild 17-14 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon in Minneapolis. Eric Haase scored three runs and had three RBIs, Derek Hill went 3-for-6 with two RBIs and Candelario had two doubles and three RBIs for the Tigers, who claimed the rubber contest of the three-game series while pounding out 16 hits.

Olympics-Canoeing-Australia's Fox wins gold in women's canoe slalom

Australia's Jessica Fox won gold in the first-ever women's canoe slalom on Thursday, adding to a kayak slalom bronze earlier this week, with a near-flawless run down a challenging white water course in Tokyo. Britain's Mallory Franklin won silver, her first Olympic medal, with reigning world champion Germany's Andrea Herzog taking the bronze.

ATP roundup: Daniil Medvedev survives heat to make Olympics quarters

Second seed Daniil Medvedev battled oppressive heat and humidity that required him to take two medical timeouts on his way to beating Fabio Fognini of Italy to reach the quarterfinals of the 2020 Olympics on Wednesday in Tokyo. The heat index hit 99 degrees as the Russian fought off Fognini 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Before the third set, the 25-year-old Medvedev cooled off in the shower before returning to the court to finish off the match in two hours, 26 minutes. In the quarterfinals, Medvedev will meet the sixth seed, Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain, who defeated German Dominik Koepfer 7-6 (7), 6-3.

Olympics-Basketball-Slovenia powers past Japan to go up 2-0

Slovenia rolled over Japan 116-81 in Olympic men's basketball on Thursday, overwhelming the heroics of Rui Hachimura for the host nation. Slovenia improved to 2-0 in the group stage, scoring more than 100 in both games. Luka Doncic, who plays for the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, led with 25 points, but he got ample help in scoring from the starting five and the bench.

Olympics-Swimming-Double gold joy for American men, Chinese women

Caeleb Dressel won the blue riband men's 100m freestyle as the United States celebrated two gold medals in the Tokyo pool on Thursday while China's women responded with two golds, and a world record, of their own in another thrilling day of swimming. Alongside Dressel's triumph in the marquee event, fellow American Bobby Finke clinched the 800m freestyle with an impressive late surge.

Olympics-China pulls ahead on gold medals as American Kendricks out for COVID-19

The rivalry of economic powerhouses China, Japan and the United States played out in an Olympic swimming pool on Thursday, where a world record in the women's freestyle relay put the Chinese ahead by one gold medal at the Tokyo Games. American joy at their own double gold in the pool was tempered as pole vaulter Sam Kendricks was ruled out https://www.reuters.com/article/olympics-2020-ath-idAFL8N2P50GX of the Games due to a positive COVID-19 test, prompting members of the Australian athletics team to briefly isolate in their rooms and highlighting the ever-present risk of infection at the Games.

Olympics-Water polo-U.S. women suffer first Olympic defeat in 13 years

Reigning world champions the United States lost 10-9 to Hungary at the Tatsumi Water Polo Centre on Wednesday - their first defeat at the Olympics since 2008 and ending the longest winning streak in women's water polo at the Games at 12 matches.

Gunning for their third straight gold in Tokyo, the U.S. women last failed to win a match at the Olympics in the group stages of London 2012, when they drew with Spain in their third game.

Olympics-Volleyball-Serbia thrash Kenya, S Korea scrape past the Dominican Republic

World champions Serbia remained unbeaten in Pool A of women's volleyball at the Tokyo Olympics with a 25-21 25-11 25-20 victory over Kenya on Thursday while South Korea edged the Dominican Republic in a see-saw five-setter. Serbia, silver medallists in 2016, were in complete control throughout the match and only trailed briefly in the third when they took their foot off the gas against the winless African side.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)