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Australia shines as Equestrian competitions begin Australia shines as Equestrian competitions begin in Hong Kong Updated: 2008-08-09 10:59:59 (HONG KONG, August 9) -- Lucinda Fredericks of Australia (AUS) was the star of the first session of the Eventing Dressage that opened the Olympic Equestrian Events in Hong Kong. After her test with Headley Britannia she leads the competition on 30.40 penalties. Husband Clayton Fredericks (AUS) was her closest competitor. Riding Ben Along Time he ranks second on 37 penalties. Gina Miles of the United States (USA) is in third place with 39.30 penalties. The results put the Australian team in comfortable first place, 18 points ahead of the United States. Sweden is in third place. Olympic legend Mark Todd of New Zealand (NZL) opened the Equestrian events being the first into the arena. At his sixth Olympics he collected a score of 49.40 penalties putting him in eighth place with Gandalf. The surprise result of the morning session was individual rider Pawel Spisak of Poland (POL) at his first Olympic appearance, scoring 48.70 penalties. He placed above more established riders including Daisy Dick of Great Britain (GBR) on 51.7. Favorite and World No. 1 William Fox-Pitt (GBR) had a shaky start. His horse Parkmore Ed was unsettled after spooking at the far end of the arena. A total of 25 riders from 16 NOCs participated in the first session of the three part Eventing competition at the Shatin Equestrian Venue With a start time of 6:30 a.m. (UTC/GMT +8), the Equestrian event was the first competition of the first day of the Olympic Games. The competition continues with Eventing Dressage session two starting on at 7:15 p.m. on August 9. http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/equestrian/n214520174.shtml

Weightlifting Day 1 Preview: China's Champion Chen a 48kg favorite

(BEIJING, August 8) -- The first gold medal of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games could come from the Women's 48 kilogram Weightlifting final, which starts on August 9 at 10 a.m. (UTC/GMT +8). Fourteen weightlifters from 11 countries will try to grab the first gold for their delegations.

Twenty-four-year old Nurcan Taylan was the Turkish delight at the Athens Games four years ago when she was crowned in the 48kg weight class. At those Olympics she set a new world record, lifting a total weight of 210kg and surpassing Li Zhuo of China by 5kg. However, her success has since faded and she never returned to that same performance level. Her chances of retaining the title in Beijing are low.

Taylan's decline was contrasted by the rise of Chinese weightlifters, who dominated this weight class in all major international competitions in the past four years. These lifters include 2007 World Champion Chen Xiexia, 2005 World Champion Wang Mingjuan, and world record holder for total weight (217kg) Yang Lian. China chose Chen the world record holder for the Clean and Jerk (120kg), to represent them in these Olympics. The 25-year-old has performed consistently since her emergence in 2007 as a world-class lifter.

Another rising power in Women's Weightlifting is Thailand, who chose 2007 World Championships 48kg silver medalist Pramsiri Bunphithak and bronze winner Pensiri Laosirikul to compete in Beijing. In that tournament they respectively trailed behind gold medalist Chen Xiexia by 18kg and 19kg in the total. Laosirikul was also the silver medalist at the 2006 Doha Asian Games.

Chen's best personal record is 214kg in total weight, at least 15kg more than the personal bests of her Thai competitors. She is the most favored to win in this class.

Other medal candidates are Sibel Özkan (entry total 200kg) of Turkey, Im Jyoung-Hwa (entry total 197kg) of Republic of Korea and Hiromi Miyake (entry total 195kg) of Japan.

The compete list of lifters is:

Pramsiri Bunphithak, Thailand

Chen Wei Ling, Chinese Taipei

Chen Xiexia, China

Marilou Dozois-Prevost, Canada

Marzena Karpinska, Poland

Im Jyoung-Hwa, Republic of Korea

Pensiri Laosirikul, Thailand

Hiromi Miyake, Japan

Karla Moreno, Nicaragua

Melanie Noel, France

Misaki Oshiro, Japan

Sibel Özkan, Turkey

Genny Caterina Pagliaro, Italy

Nurcan Taylan, Turkey