Mexico take Men’s Soccer Gold

Dinesh Weerawansa - Reporting From England

Mexico pulled off an exciting two goals to one victory over Brazil in the final to win the gold medal in men's football tournament of the XXXth Olympic Games at the Wembley Stadium here last night.

It was arguably the greatest triumph in their history as Oribe Peralta wrote his name into Mexican folklore with a deadly double against the five-time world champions, who many believed were destined finally to end their agonising wait for Olympic Games glory.

Brazil had a golden opportunity of turning the match in their favour but the lady luck did not smile with them. Brazil should have staged an amazing comeback in stoppage time, Hulk racing on to a long ball from Marcelo and rifling into the net, before crossing for an unmarked Oscar to somehow nod wide from six yards.

Although Hulk pulled a goal back in stoppage time and Chelsea new boy Oscar missing a last-gasp chance, Brazil were a shadow of the attacking force that had smashed in 15 goals en route to the final.

The grand finale promised to be a goal-fest, with Brazil having scored three times in all five of their matches and their opponents netting seven in their last two. But few would have predicted the fastest goal ever in a FIFA tournament final after just 28 seconds.

Manchester United right-back Rafael's pass was intercepted by Javier Aquino and the ball broke for Peralta to race goal-ward unchallenged and fire home.

It was not the first time Brazil had been behind at London 2012 and they might have levelled in the 13th minute when Thiago Silva headed Neymar's free-kick over.

Oscar also should have done better than find Jose Corona when he was allowed to turn and shoot eight yards out. Brazil's sloppiness continued as they found it hard to penetrate a fiercely-committed opposition and made poor decisions when they did. They made an attacking change just past the half-hour mark when midfielder Alex Sandro was withdrawn for Porto team-mate Hulk.

The substitute almost caught out Corona with a piledriver from nearly 35 yards but the goalkeeper recovered well to foil Leandro Damiao's rebound.

Marcelo should have tested him again when he flashed wide from Damiao's lay-off. Hulk was making a real impact, winning a free-kick that Romulo ultimately glanced wide in first-half stoppage time.

The urgency Brazil had been lacking arrived straight from the restart and Neymar was so close to sending a screamer into the top corner. Mexico's response to the threat was to send on Miguel Ponce for Aquino. Neymar skied a good chance when the ball fell to him 10 yards out but Mexico weathered the storm and were unlucky not to double their lead in the 64th minute after another defensive mistake.

Marco Fabian tackled Thiago Silva and although Gabriel came rushing out, his save set up an overhead kick Fabian smashed against the crossbar.

Leandro Damiao had a good chance nicked off his toe and powered a free header wide from a corner before Peralta rightly had a second goal ruled out for offside. Fabian almost scored when he nodded over Jorge Enriquez's flick-on from a corner but made amends 15 minutes from time with a free-kick that Peralta netted with a bullet header.

Olympic boxing gold medals

Ukranian top seed Oleksandr Usyk won the prestigious heavyweight gold medal with a battling performance at the EXCel centre here last night. The reigning world champion showed his quality against Italy's Clemente Russo, who was looking to improve on the silver medal he won at Beijing 2008.

Russo landed a right hand for the first score of the fight and moved into a 3-1 lead after one round as Usyk failed to fire. Things changed in the second, however, Usyk initially appearing to land a knockdown with a left hook only for the referee to rule that Russo had stumbled.

There was a good exchange of blows as the second came to an end but Usyk had the better of it and took the round 7-5. He closed out a 14-11 victory in the final round as Russo, looking to force the win, missed with a series of big hooks only to be caught by his more measured rival.

It was a close fight for supremacy in the middleweight final in which Japan's Ryota Murata had a close one point win over Brazil's Esquiva Falcao Florento 14-13.

Murata was seeded second in the draw, with Florentino fourth, and the bout was as close as may have been expected from two of the medal favourites.

The pair have met before, with Murata victorious in the semi-finals of the World Championships last year - a competition where he went on to claim silver while Florentino won bronze. Murata was at his most active in the opening minutes, using his reach to penetrate and move into a 5-3 lead.

Florentino, so impressive in his win over Great Britain's Anthony Ogogo yesterday, responded impressively, dictating the tone in the second round with a consistent flurry of right jabs.

Murata was put on the back foot but his defence held firm and he remained 9-8 in front going into the final round.

Thereafter, Florentino went on the attack and briefly forced his opponent into a dangerous position on the ropes before losing his footing. Florentino made all the running but Murata was deflecting enough shots to draw the round and take the Olympic title.

At the Olympic Aquatic Centre, American David Boudia came out with an impressive display to claim gold medal in 10m platform diving final.

Great Britain's Tom Daley led by 0.15 points from world champion Qiu Bo and Boudia heading into the final dive.

But while Daley won a single score of 10 for his final back dive, it was lower on difficulty than his rivals to allow Boudia to clinch victory. Qiu finished with the silver, while Daley walked away with the bronze.

- LONDON, Sunday.