Still in the hunt for the first medal of Paris, Team New Zealand has a strong presence on Day 6. Men’s and women’s sailing continues, while the Black Ferns Sevens will look to build off a dominant opening day of group play before Erika Fairweather competes in the final of the women’s 200m freestyle.
With plenty of events to stay tuned to, get the full rundown of the day’s best bets and kiwis in action.
Monday, 8:00pm
Ireland were determined in their first game in Paris but were ultimately outclassed by a very good Belgium team, falling 0-2. The gap in quality between the sides was evident as the game went on, as the Irish continued their goal scoring drought. It’s now four games on the trot that they have failed to get on the scoreboard and five losses on the bounce, with another difficult assignment in front of them on Monday night.
Australia picked up a valuable 1-0 victory over Argentina on Saturday night, with Blake Govers’ 30th-minute goal proving to be the difference. A tense second half followed, with Kookaburras goalkeeper Andrew Charter making some massive saves, but the Aussies did enough to hold on for a one-goal victory. That puts them in good shape heading into game two against Ireland and with their solid defence coming up against this sub-par attack of Ireland, I can’t see this match exceeding four total goals.
Monday, 8:00pm
The second Dutch team to suit up in Paris will be Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot. Having recently won silver at the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Ostrava, the duo carry strong form into Paris.
Their first opponents of group play are Pablo Herrera and Adrián Gavira of Spain who, like Boermans and De Groot, were defeated quarterfinalists at the last Beach Pro Tour in Vienna before Paris. The Spaniards will take some confidence into Monday’s clash, given they have won their last two encounters against the Dutch duo — most recently in April of 2024 — but the recent form of Boermans and De Groot will mean that this game will go down to the wire.
Tuesday, 2:30am
The Black Ferns Sevens couldn’t have been much more dominant on day one of their tournament. First up was their clash against China, which ended in a 43-5 thrashing. Michaela Blyde scored a first half hattrick and finished the game with four tries as the kiwis scored almost at will en route to a massive win. Hours later, Canada weren’t shown any mercy either, as the kiwis ran in five tries on their way to a 33-7 victory, sending a message to the rest of the competition.
It was quite the opposite for Fiji on their opening day, going 0-2 to all but fall out of the quarterfinals equation. A 14-17 defeat against Canada wasn’t quite as close as it looks on paper, with the Fijians scoring a consolation try after the hooter, before they were thumped by China, 12-40. Despite taking an early 7-5 lead, Fiji had no answer for the structure of the Chinese, leaking six tries in the game to suffer a big defeat. Those are ominous signs as they prepare to take on arguably the best team in the world on Tuesday morning and the Black Ferns Sevens will run amok here.
Tuesday, 3:00am
Round 1 of the women’s volleyball continues on Day 6, and we are treated with what promises to be a doozy in the early hours of Tuesday morning as the fifth-ranked USA take on the sixth-ranked China. The Americans have won five of their last six games heading into this tournament, including back-to-back 3-0 victories against fellow contenders Netherlands in their last two games.
However, China also carry some strong form into the tournament, with four wins from their last five matches. Their final matchup heading into Paris did not end how they would have liked it to, losing 0-3 in the Volleyball Nations League quarterfinals to eventual runners-up Japan. But with four straight wins prior to that, plus a 3-1 win over the USA just over two months ago, I expect this game to go down to the wire, helping it go over three sets and surpass 176.5 total points.
Monday, 9:00pm
Nigeria come to Paris as sizeable underdogs in the women’s basketball tournament, being the largest outsiders, alongside Puerto Rico, at $251 odds. D’Tigress aren’t short on experience at the top of their roster, with Ezinne Kalu, Amy Okonkwo, and Promise Amukamara all having plenty of international basketball reps under their belts, but they have a tall task against them in their first game. Having suffered 63-77 and 62-70 defeats to Germany and Serbia, respectively, in their Paris warmup games, there are concerning signs for D’Tigress as they prepare to take on Australia.
The Opals are one of the best teams in the world, currently sitting in third in the FIBA rankings, and will have a point to prove after a disappointing eighth-place finish in Tokyo three years ago. Boasting a strong roster, that includes one of the greatest of all time, Lauren Jackson, as well as Ezi Magbegor, crafty guard Jade Melbourne and WNBA champion Cayla George, this is a loaded squad that has good size and defensive ability. They will be able to shut down a shallow Nigeria team and heavily limit the number of points that are scored in this game.
Monday
Veteran Angelique Kerber ended a 5-game losing streak with an upset win over Naomi Osaka and extended her career for at least one more match. She announced that she would retire following this tournament and has incorrectly been installed as favourite to progress further. Cristian beat hometown favourite Caroline Garcia in front of a packed house and will not be intimidated by an ageing former major champion. Cristian has win over Krejcikova (Wimbledon Champion), Navarro and Keys on clay this season, not to mention taking a set of both Gauff and Collins in losses on this surface. Cristian will continue to firm until the beginning of this match and may even jump favourite.
Best of the Rest:
Men’s Singles: Sets Fritz 2-0
Men’s Doubles: Fritz/Paul WIN ($1.57)
Women’s Singles: ($2.00)
Women’s Doubles: Wang/Zheng WIN ($1.83)
Men’s Shooting
7:00pm Monday: Trap Qualification
Owen Robinson
Women’s Rowing
8:30pm Monday: Coxless Pair Repechage
Kate Haines & Alana Sherman
Equestrian
9:00pm Monday: Eventing — Jumping Qualifier (Individual — Open) and Eventing — Jumping Final (Team — Open)
Clarke Johnstone, Tim Price & Jonelle Price*
1:00am Tuesday: Eventing — Jumping Final (Individual — Open)
Clarke Johnstone, Tim Price & Jonelle Price*
Women’s Sailing
10:03pm Monday: Foil Races 1-5
Veerle ten Have
10:15pm Monday: 49er FX Races 4-6
Molly Meech & Jo Aleh
Men’s Sailing
10:05pm Monday: 49er Races 4-6
Isaac McHardie & William McKenzie
10:23pm: Monday: Foil Races 1-5
Josh Armit
Men’s Cycling
12:10am Tuesday: Mountain Bike — Cross Country Final
Samuel Gaze
Women’s Tennis
1:00am Tuesday: Doubles First Round
Erin Routliffe & Lulu Sun
Women’s Rugby Sevens
2:30am Tuesday: Match 3 v Fiji
New Zealand
7:00am Tuesday: Quarter-finals
New Zealand
Women’s Swimming
7:48am Tuesday: 200m Freestyle Final
Erika Fairweather