OLYMPICS ROUNDUP \ Wednesday’s events

Boxing: Zou Shiming became a national hero for winning China’s first boxing medal with a bronze in Athens in 2004. The Chinese light flyweight began his effort for China’s first boxing gold medal in style with an 11-2 victory over Eduard Bermudez of Venezuela. American Deontay Wilder won his first-round match in heavyweight boxing competition with a 10-4 decision over Abdeoaziz Touiobini of Algeria. Tied after three rounds, Wilder outpointed his opponent 6-0 in the fourth and final round. He next fights Mohammed Arjaoui of Morocco. And light flyweight Luis Yanez won his opening bout with a 12-9 win over Jose Kelvin de la Nieve of Spain. His next opponent is Serdamba Purevdorj of Mongolia.

Tennis: Roger Federer, who wept after losing to Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic four years ago in Athens, avenged the loss with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) victory to reach the quarterfinals. It was Federer’s biggest victory since he lost to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last month, and the two could meet in the Olympics final Sunday after Nadal beat Igor Andreev of Russia, 6-4, 6-2. Federer will next face No. 8 James Blake, who advanced by beating No. 10 Gilles Simon of France 6-4, 6-2. Blake, the lone American to survive the first round of men’s singles, is 0-8 against Federer and has won only one of their 22 sets. Venus Williams, playing her first tournament since winning Wimbledon for the fifth time, also reached the final eight by defeating No. 12 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-2.

Baseball: The U.S. baseball team lost to Korea, 8-7, in the opening game for both teams. The Americans scored three times in the ninth to go up 7-6, but Korea scored twice in the bottom half. China lost its Olympic baseball debut to Canada, and a Taiwanese baseball player was banned from participating in the team’s first Olympic game after failing a drug test.

Diving: The Chinese made it 4-for-4 when Wang Feng and Qin Kai won the 3-meter springboard. The Americans are in danger of a second straight medal shutout after Chris Colwill and Jevon Tarantino finished fourth. The pair was in third headed into the final round, but Tarantino botched his entry.

Cycling: Kristin Armstrong became the second American female cyclist to win an Olympic gold, beating Britain’s Emma Pooley in the road time trial. Armstrong joined only Connie Carpenter-Phinney, who won the road race at Los Angeles 24 years ago, as U.S. women’s cycling gold medalists. Levi Leipheimer won the bronze in the men’s time trial to move USA Cycling within one medal of tying its haul from the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Softball: Cat Osterman pitched a no-hitter as the U.S. team extended its Olympic winning streak to 16 straight with a 3-0 win over Australia. Osterman outdueled Australia’s Tanya Harding, who has handed the U.S. program two of its four losses in the games since 1996. She struck out 13, walked just two and dominated the Aussies in a rematch of the gold-medal game from 2004 in Athens.

The Americans, seeking their fourth straight gold, posted their 14th shutout during the winning streak.

Women’s Basketball: Lisa Leslie set a U.S. Olympic record going 7-for-7 from the field as the women’s team continued its unblemished run through the Beijing Games with a 97-41 victory against Mali. The Americans won their 28th straight Olympic contest; the last loss was against the Unified Team in the semifinals of the 1992 Barcelona Games. In other games, Latvia rallied to beat Brazil 79-78, Russia held off Belarus 71-65, China routed New Zealand 80-63, Australia topped South Korea 90-62, and Spain beat the Czech Republic 74-55.

Associated Press