Rio 2016

Lightweight Robson Conceicao became Brazil’s first ever Olympic boxing champion when he was given a unanimous points decision in his final against Frenchman Sofiane Oumiha.

Conceicao took the host nation’s tally of gold medals to three in Rio after he was given the verdict 30-27 29-28 29-28 in a 60kg showdown at an electric Riocentre on Tuesday.

The Salvador-born 27-year-old’s success gave Brazil a second successive night to remember after Thiago Braz da Silva claimed a sensational victory in the pole vault.

Shaunae Miller claimed a thrilling win in the women’s 400 metre final at the Rio Olympics, holding off Allyson Felix.

The Bahamian sprinter held on for the most remarkable of wins, falling over the line to take gold in 49.44 seconds on Monday.

Felix, a four-time Olympic champion, was coming from behind and looked set to catch Miller.

But Miller managed to hold on, take victory following a photo finish ahead of Felix (49.51secs) and Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson (49.85secs).

She looked certain to be caught after making a blistering start from lane seven, but the world championship silver medallist just held on.

The 22-year-old’s triumphed marked the first medal claimed by the Bahamas at the Rio Games.

David Ferrer continued his poor run of form, falling out in the first round of the ATP Western and Southern Open to Julien Benneteau.

Despite levelling in the second set, Benneteau proved too strong on the Cincinnati hard courts, while he was joined in the second round by Jared Donaldson, Kevin Anderson, Pablo Cuevas and Reilly Opelka.

Grigor Dimitrov continued his good hard court form this year, comfortably accounting for Gilles Simon, while Marin Cilic also defeated Victor Troicki in straight sets.

In the final match of the day, Nick Kyrgios also won in two sets, defeating Frenchman Lucas Pouille.

CILIC MAKES LIGHT WORK OF TROICKI

After losing to Gael Monfils in the Rio round of 16, Marin Cilic continued his US Open preparations with a comfortable victory over world number 35 Troicki, emerging victorious 6-3 6-4.

Despite losing to Cilic in the opening round in Rio, Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov was in fine touch against Gilles Simon, dictating play from the centre of the court in his 6-1 6-3 victory.

After losing to Kei Nishikori at the quarter-final stage in Toronto, the world number 34 Dimitrov will hope to finish the late-season strongly, with topsy-turvy form since making the final in Istanbul.

Fresh off winning in Atlanta, Nick Kyrgios served 23 aces on his way to dispatching Lucas Pouille in an assured 6-2 7-5 win.

Kyrgios did not look troubled on serve, eventually building pressure on the world number 26 to secure the decisive break in the 12th game of the second set and progress.

FERRER FORM SLUMP CONTINUES

Benneteau claimed the biggest scalp of the day in his 6-2 4-6 6-4 win over Ferrer – a week after the Spaniard’s disappointing exit at the Rio Olympics.

After Ferrer’s loss to world number 81 Evgeny Donskoy, it looked as though the Spaniard might be able to salvage the match against Benneteau.

However, the world number 294 regained his composure, even winning 42 per cent of points returning serve.

NEXT UP

Gael Monfils will begin his campaign on Tuesday against Pablo Carreno Busta, while Los Cabos finalists Ivo Karlovic and Feliciano Lopez take on Mischa Zverev and Juan Monaco respectively. Second-seeded Swiss, Stan Wawrinka, also begins when he faces Donaldson, who defeated Nicolas Almagro in straight sets.

Shaunae Miller says her mind went blank ahead of her dive for gold in the women’s 400 metre final at Rio 2016.

The Bahamian runner lunged for the line in an apparent desperate bid to claim top spot on the podium on Monday, pipping Allyson Felix of the United States by 0.07 seconds.

But Miller – runner-up to Felix at last year’s World Championships – was at a loss to explain her actions at a post-race news conference.

“It all kind of happened,” she said of the tumble, which some believe was accidental. “My mind went completely blank and the next thing I was on the floor.”

And Miller says it was while she was laid out on the track that a shout from her mother alerted her to her Olympic triumph.

“While I was laying on the ground, she was looking at me like, ‘Get up, get up.’ And I was like, ‘Not right now, just leave me to catch myself real quick’,” she added.

“That’s how I found out. I was laying on the ground, the results hadn’t come out yet. I heard her scream and she was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah.’ So I was like, ‘Ok, I had to have won the race’.”

Felix accepted that “rules are rules” but could not her disappointment at missing out on gold.

“I know it’s an accomplishment when I’m looking back but tonight the goal was to win and I fell short of that,” she explained.

“It hurts right now. I have to get through this moment and look back.”

Just as she had done in Beijing last year, Shericka Jackson of Jamaica took the bronze medal.

Former British gymnast Beth Tweddle has described Max Whitlock’s historic double success at Rio 2016 as “absolutely insane”.

Whitlock became the first Briton to claim an Olympic gymnastics gold with a surprise triumph in the men’s floor final on Sunday – a score of 15.633 enough for the 23-year-old to take top spot in the podium ahead of Brazilians Diego Hypolito and Arthur Mariano.

Yet Whitlock was not finished there and duly landed a second gold in the pommel horse final, as GB team-mate Louis Smith secured silver.

Reflecting on the spectacular achievement, Tweddle – a bronze medallist on the uneven bars at London 2012 – told Omnisport: “This is a huge moment for Max. For him to perform on two pieces of apparatus and become a double Olympic champion, it’s absolutely insane.

“It’s such a proud moment to be able to stand there and watch a British gymnast standing on an Olympic podium in gold medal position and hearing that anthem. I think I was more emotional watching his Olympic medal than when I actually won my own.”

Whitlock also finished third in the individual all-around competition at Rio 2016, having exceeded expectations by earning two bronze medals on home soil as a teenager four years ago, one on the pommel and one as part of the British team.

Tweddle added: “I remember Max when he was a junior and I remember watching him thinking ‘there’s something special about him’. He went to the Tokyo World Championships [in 2011], the year before London, and he was so disappointed he was picked as reserve and it made him a stronger character.

“He came back fighting. He didn’t want to be in that reserve spot so a year later at the London Olympics he got himself into that top five and what he achieved in London, I don’t think he realised how big it was and how important it would be in his career, picking up a team bronze and then a few days later picking up a bronze in the pommel final.

“Since then I think the belief within him and his coach has really grown. He’s Commonwealth champion, he’s European champion, he’s world champion, he’s British champion and now he’s a double Olympic champion, so he’s won absolutely everything.”

Britain had managed only four Olympic medals in gymnastics before doubling that tally in London. Thanks to Whitlock, Smith and Bryony Page, a silver medallist in the women’s trampoline, they have already claimed five medals in Rio.

“I’ve been involved in British gymnastics for over 20 years and to see that gymnastics has been one of those [sports] that has been celebrated the most [in Britain] .. it’s so nice,” said Tweddle.

“It’s a special moment for me to sit here on the other side of the fence and see my sport doing so well. It’s really hard to put it into words, what it means.”