Israel at the Olympics - Tuesday roundup

Swimmer Nimrod Shapira-Bar Or sets national record, finishes 100m freestyle race second. Sailor Shahar Tzuberi stays in lead for medal; Shahar Peer ousted in second round of tennis tournament

Reuters | Published: 08.12.08, 20:10

Swimmer Nimrod Shapira-Bar Or became the first Israeli swimmer to drop below the 50-second mark in the men's 100- meter freestyle.

Shapira-Bar Or ended his fifth Olympic meet at 0:49:10m, coming in second. Unfortunately, the feat was not enough to propel him to the semi-finales.

In a later competition, Israeli swimmer Tom Beeri improved his own record by nearly two seconds, as he finished the men's 200-meters breaststroke qualifications in second place, setting a time of 2:11:44. Ranking 20th overall, Beeri too was left out of the semi-finals.

Earlier, Israeli sailor Shahar Tzuberi won his third RS:X Men windsurfing competition Tuesday, cementing his status as the favorite for a medal in his class. Tzuberi still has seven sails ahead of him, as well as the medals' race on the final day of the Olympics. Tzuberi went on to finish third in his forth race and now ranked first overall.

Sailing for gold. Tzuberi (Photo: AP)

Members of the Israeli women's sailing team, Nika Kornitzky and Vered Buskila also enjoyed fair winds in their double-handed dinghy – 470 race: The duo finished forth and are ranked ninth overall.

Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer lost to the Ukraine's Vera Zvonareva, who is ranked 11 in the world. Peer lost 6:3, 5:7, 6:0 in the second round of the women's singles tournament. On Monday Peer (24) defeated Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6:3, 5:7, 6:0 in the first round of the tournament.

Later in the afternoon tennis duo Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich logged a dismal loss to France's Arnaud Clement and Michael LLodra - 6:4 6:4.

On the mats, Israeli Judoka Alice Schlesinger was unable to make in to the Olympics' quarter-final in the women's 60kg match. Tuesday's match saw Schlesinger – in her first ever Olympics – lose to two-times reigning European champion Lucie Decosse of France, after putting up a formidable fight.

Schlesinger, 20, who won the Bronze in the 2007 European championship, now hopes Decosse will make it to the semi-finales, which would automatically send Schlesinger to compete in her class' consolation match.