Briefs | Brazil disappoints again in men’s football

Disappointed yet again, the Brazilian fans jeered their own team and saved their applause for Iraq. Brazil, which has never won the Olympic gold medal in men’s soccer, failed to win for the second consecutive game, held to a 0-0 draw by the Iraqis on Sunday. The result leaves Brazil tied for second place in Group A. The team needs a victory over Denmark on Wednesday [Thursday, Macau time] in Salvador to advance and avoid another huge embarrassment at home two years after the 7-1 loss to Germany in the World Cup semifinals.

Djokovic out of Olympic tennis

Novak Djokovic shook his head and placed his palm over welling eyes on his way to the locker room after a first-round Olympic exit, devastated he might never realize his goal of adding a gold in singles to a substantial collection of Grand Slam titles. “I mean, no doubt, it’s one of the toughest losses in my life, in my career,” Djokovic said later, shaking his head and speaking in subdued tones. “Not easy to handle.” Djokovic’s 7-6 (4), 7-6 (2) setback Sunday night was caused in large part by ferocious forehand after ferocious forehand from a resurgent Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.

Kiwis avoid upset against US to reach Olympic semifinals

In back-to-back games, the U.S. women were within range of upset wins over Australia and New Zealand, the two leading contenders for the first rugby sevens gold medal ever awarded at the Olympics. By the end of an eventful Sunday, though, the semifinal pairings reflected the status quo in women’s sevens with the top four teams in the world series vying for medals. World series winner Australia rebounded from a surprising 12-12 draw with the United States in the last game of the pool stage to trounce Spain 24-0 and set up a semifinal match against Canada, which rallied to beat France 15-5 in the quarterfinals. Britain advanced 26-7 over Fiji and then watched as semifinal opponent New Zealand struggled to put away the Americans 5-0, the only points coming from a try by world series try-scoring leader Portia Woodman just before halftime.