Azevedo shot does trick

Tony Azevedo whizzed a last-second shot past Croatian goalkeeper Frano Vican to give the American water polo team a 7-6 victory in its tournament opener yesterday.

It was Azevedo's third goal of the game, and the horn went off almost immediately after the ball sailed over Vican's head.

After leading by three goals for most of the second and third quarters, the Americans faced splitting the competition points when Croatian driver Nikola Frankovic tied it, 6-6, with 26 seconds remaining.

US coach Ratko Rudic called a timeout with eight seconds left, and goalkeeper Brandon Brooks came out to pass for captain Wolf Wigo, who faked three times in front of the cage before unloading to an unmarked Azevedo on the left side.

Archery
American and Ukrainian archers won the first Olympic competitions to be held in Panathinaiko Stadium since the marble facility hosted the first modern games in 1896. Jennifer Nichols of Cheyenne, Wyo., defeated Rina Dewi Puspitasari of Indonesia and Tetyana Berezhna beat Greece's Fotini Vavatsi.

Bhutanese wild card Tshering Chhoden fired 159 points to upset 11th seed Lin Sang of China. Chhoden is one of the few women practicing the modern version of a sport that in its traditional form is Bhutan's national pastime and a key element of its cultural identity. The Himalayan kingdom has two competitors at the Games, both in archery.

Tennis
Reigning champion Venus Williams and men's world No. 2 Andy Roddick posted victories in a swirling, gusty wind at Olympic Stadium. Williams romped past Melinda Czink, 6-1, 6-2, in less than an hour, notching 22 clean winners against three for the Hungarian and Roddick unleashed his fearsome serve on Brazil's Flavio Saretta in a 6-3, 7-6 victory.

Martina Navratilova, two months shy of her 48th birthday, became the oldest tennis player to win an Olympic match when she and doubles partner Lisa Raymond knocked off Tetyana Perebiynis and Yulia Beygelzimer of Ukraine, 6-0, 6-2.

Miscellany
Misty May stretched for 10 digs, lunged to keep alive rallies, set partner Kerri Walsh, spiked 17 times, served 21 times without errors and collected seven kills as proof that her half of the world's top beach volleyball team has returned and the abdominal strain that has hampered her for the last three months is gone. Americans May and Walsh paired up for the first time in three weeks to defeat the 20th-ranked Japanese team of Ryoko Tokuno and Chiaki Kusuhara, 2-0, in their pool-play opener. Walsh had a match-high 17 kills on 21 attack attempts to power the US, 21-9 and 21-16, in a rally-scored match of just 35 minutes . . . The US men's doubles team of Howard Bach and Kevin Qi Han -- the sole entry in badminton -- won its opening match, 15-4, 15-1 over Dorian James and Stewart Carson of South Africa. "Any win at the Olympics is huge for USA badminton because there's not that much expectation from our country in this sport," said Han . . . Italy extended the US men's volleyball team's Olympic-match losing streak to nine, winning in four sets in preliminary competition. Clay Stanley (21 points) powered the US, trying to get back to the level of success it had in the 1980s when it twice won gold medals . . . The notorious Meltemi wind came whipping out of the north, bringing mayhem to the Olympic sailing courses on the Saronic Gulf, capsizing at least 10 boats. Americans Paul Foerster and Kevin Burnham moved up a spot to second overall in the 470 class with finishes of second and 15th . . . The first day of dressage competition in Markopoulo, Greece, ended with American Darren Chiacchia in fourth on Windfall 2 after scoring 44.6 penalty points. Germany's Bettina Hoy was first, earning 32.0 on Ringwood Cockatoo . . . A pair of American doubles teams won, 4-0, in table tennis. Tawny Banh and Jun Gao beat Luisana Perez and Fabiola Ramos of Venezuela, and Mark Hazinski and Ilija Lupulesku beat Nigeria's Monday Merotohun and Segun Toriola. Banh and Jasna Reed both lost singles matches.