{"id":106343,"date":"2021-07-27T11:11:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T11:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=106343"},"modified":"2021-07-27T11:59:14","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T11:59:14","slug":"opals-slump-to-shock-defeat-in-tokyo-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=106343","title":{"rendered":"Opals slump to shock defeat in Tokyo opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Opals have slumped to a shock 85-70 loss to Belgium in their opening match of the Tokyo Olympics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Australians held a one-point lead at three-quarter time but were overpowered in the final term, with Belgium outscoring the Opals 29-13 in the last quarter of the match.<\/p>\n

Australia are ranked second in the world, and had been expected to account for Belgium reasonably comfortably, leaving a big dent in the Opals' medal chances.<\/p>\n

The positive for Australia was Ezi Magbegor, who stamped herself as the Opals' best following the Tokyo Olympics withdrawal<\/a> of Liz Cambage<\/a> – but her brilliance wasn't enough to inspire victory.<\/p>\n

Magbegor posted 20 points and eight rebounds.<\/p>\n

OLYMPICS LIVE BLOG: DAY 4 UPDATES, NEWS<\/strong><\/em><\/a> |<\/strong><\/em> TOKYO GAMES EVENTS CENTRE: SCHEDULE, RESULTS, MEDAL TALLY<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Australia's Cayla George was also strong for the losing outfit, tallying 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Katie Ebzery finished with 11 points and nine rebounds.<\/p>\n

And veteran guard Leilani Mitchell was influential in her playmaking, registering seven assists.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Roy Ward of The Age posted on Twitter: "Hope everyone is loving the play of Ezi Magbegor. We are watching our next superstar come into her own."<\/p>\n

Australian basketball content producer Benyam Kidane wrote: "Ezi Magbegor (is) unstoppable in the paint tonight. Sheesh."<\/p>\n

And Fox Footy editor Ben Waterworth wrote: "The 21-year-old is playing with a maturity beyond her years."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Belgium's best was Emma Meesseman, who racked up 32 points, nine rebounds and five assists as the Cats sprung an upset on the Opals.<\/p>\n

The women's basketball tournament at Tokyo consists of three groups of four teams, with Australia bunched in with Belgium, China and Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

The top-two teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals, along with the two best third-placed teams.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Opals have slumped to a shock 85-70 loss to Belgium in their opening match of the Tokyo Olympics. The Australians held a one-point lead […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106343"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106343"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106345,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106343\/revisions\/106345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}