PARIS: Women’s football took centre stage at the Paris Olympics on Thursday after a chaotic start to the sporting action at the Games in the men’s football, while preparations ramp up for an unprecedented opening ceremony.

Reigning Ballon d’Or Aitana Bonmati scored one goal and helped create another as World Cup holders Spain came from behind to beat Japan 2-1 while reigning Olympic champions Canada shrugged off a spying scandal to start their campaign with a 2-1 win over New Zealand.

Spain fell behind against Japan in the western French city of Nantes to Aoba Fujino’s early free-kick, but Bonmati soon equalised before Mariona Caldentey netted the winner in the 74th minute for a perfect start in Group ‘C’.

Canada played New Zealand in Group ‘A’ without their coach Bev Priestman after incidents of spying on their opponents’ training sessions with drones.

Canada’s assistant coach and an analyst were dismissed from the Olympics for their part in the incidents and the analyst was given a suspended eight-month prison sentence by a French court.

Assistant Andy Spence acted as coach, while Priestman, who had removed herself from the game after New Zealand’s complaint, watched it from the team hotel and saw Cloe Lacasse and Evelyne Viens score on the night in St Etienne.

It all added up to a difficult start for the football at the Games after a chaotic end to Argentina’s match against Morocco, when the men’s competition kicked off on Wednesday.

Morocco beat the two-time Olympic champions 2-1 in St Etienne, but only after a late equaliser for the South American side was disallowed and the final minutes took place in an empty stadium following crowd trouble.

Organisers said the incident — in which security staff chased fans around the pitch— had not posed a major security risk and that lessons would be learned.

“We do not minimise the events of yesterday,” Olympics security director Bruno Le Ray told reporters on Thursday, adding that additional staff and crowd barriers would be brought in for upcoming matches at Saint-Etienne, where access to the pitch is easier than at other stadiums.

Argentina’s next game will be in Lyon on Saturday against Iraq, who came from behind to beat Ukraine 2-1 in their opener.

Also on Wednesday, Israel’s footballers later drew 1-1 with Mali under the watchful eye of 1,000 police officers, with authorities erecting an “anti-terrorist perimeter” around the Parc des Princes stadium.

Hosts France made a good start to their tournament in Marseille with two goals in eight minutes after the hour mark and a late header from Loic Bade gave them a comfortable 3-0 win over the United States and Japan beat 10-man Paraguay 5-0 in Group ‘D’.

Rugby sevens continued on Thursday and evergreen winger Perry Baker scored four tries as the United States beat Uruguay 33-7 on Thursday to secure a quarter-final against Australia, who beat Argentina 22-14 to top Pool ‘B’.

Double defending champions Fiji beat France 19-12, with both sides already through from Pool ‘C’. Fiji will play Ireland and the hosts will take on Argentina.

Tokyo silver medallists New Zealand fought back to beat Ireland 14-12, earning a quarter-final against South Africa.

The men’s gold medal will be awarded on Saturday, with the women’s competition starting a day later.

US gymnastics superstar Simone Biles got her first taste of the Bercy Arena as she trained ahead of the start of the competition at the weekend.

Biles is strongly tipped to add to her cache of four Olympic golds at the Paris Games after a tumultuous Tokyo campaign, when she withdrew from most of her events as she battled the dangerous and disorientating “twisties”.

Preparations for Friday’s historic opening ceremony were in full swing, with an unprecedented security operation for the athletes’ parade along the River Seine.

Around 6,000-7,000 athletes are set to sail down a six-kilometre stretch of the river towards the Eiffel Tower, on 85 barges and boats.

The line-up of performers is a closely guarded secret but US pop star Lady Gaga is rumoured to be among them.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2024