New successes of gymnasts and the confrontation between Russia and China in synchronized diving: what to expect on the fifth day of the Tokyo Games

On the fifth day of the Tokyo Olympics, 25 sets of medals will be played.

The main contenders for the highest awards in the individual all-around will again be Russian gymnasts - Nikita Nagorny, who lost only to the Japanese Daiki Hashimoto in qualification, and Artur Dalaloyan.

Given the injury of the latter, the reigning world champion is still the favorite.

Although, keeping in mind the incredible performance of the entire team in the team championship, his compatriot should in no way be written off.

The possible triumph of one of the Russians may well be attributed to the category of historical.

The last gold medal in the individual all-around was won in 2000 by Alexei Nemov.

Another extremely exciting tournament on Wednesday will be the final of synchronized water diving from a three-meter springboard. On the eve of the Olympics, Yevgeny Kuznetsov lost his longtime partner Ilya Zakharov, who failed to qualify. Therefore, in Tokyo, he will perform for the first time with Nikita Schleikher. Despite this, the duo has already managed to demonstrate their competitiveness by becoming the winner of the European Championship in this type of program. And the main trump card is a complex program, which, however, will only work if both athletes cope with their nerves.

And there will be enough reasons for excitement, because several teams are competing for medals of the highest dignity.

First of all, we are talking about the Chinese Zongyuan Wang and Xiyi Xie.

The competition will also be made by the British - Olympic champion Daniel Goodfellow and recently joined him Jack Lo.

Besides, we shouldn't forget about the representatives of Germany and Mexico.

Anastasia Kirpichnikova will try to win a medal in a new swimming discipline - the 1500 m freestyle swim.

But it will not be easy for her to face the five-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecki and the winner of the Asian Games in this discipline Wang Jianjiahe.

Both athletes already at the preliminary stage demonstrated their claims for gold, covering the distance by less than 15 minutes 45 seconds, which neither of their rivals succeeded in.

And Russian men will compete for medals in the 4x200 m freestyle relay.

The main competition for them will be the Americans, who expect to win the fifth gold in a row, as well as the British, who showed the best time in qualifying, and the Australians.

Russian saber fencers will try to win the first gold since 2000 in the team championship.

In the quarterfinals Kamil Imbragimov, Konstantin Lokhanov and Veniamin Reshetnikov will meet with the German national team.

But unlike women, they do not have so many chances for success, which was also proved by individual performances, in which none of the domestic athletes went beyond the quarterfinals.

The judokas will also try to interrupt the unsuccessful series.

Mikhail Igolnikov in the 1/16 finals in the category up to 90 kg will meet with Seltus Dossu Yovo from Benin.

The two-time European champion should have no problems in this fight, although he is still not included in the list of contenders for the awards.

The favorites of the tournament are Spaniard Nikoloz Sherazadishvili, Georgian Lasha Bekauri and Dutchman Noel van 't End, so a successful result for the Russian will be reaching the quarterfinals.

Madina Taymazova will perform for women in the category up to 70 kg, but it will be extremely difficult to count on medals.

Already in 1/16 she will have to test her strength against the two-time world championship medalist Maria Bernabeu.

In boxing, the 1/8 finals stage will begin in the light and light heavyweight for men and the middleweight for women.

Imam Khatayev, who won an early victory in the previous round, will face a serious opponent - the 2019 world champion Bekzad Nurdauletov from Kazakhstan.

And Albert Batyrgaziev will enter the ring against Alexy Miguel de la Cruz Baez.

The Russian is considered one of the favorites of the Games in this category, so he must pass the Dominican who is missing the stars from the sky.

The two-time world champion Zemfira Magomedalieva, who will be opposed by the American Naomi Graham, is especially worth noting.

Interestingly, both rivals went through a difficult path to Tokyo, and began to practice boxing already in adulthood.

Cyclists will compete for awards in the time trial on Wednesday.

The Russian team will be represented by only one rider - Alexander Vlasov, however, it is hardly necessary to count on anything more than getting into the top ten, since this discipline is not his core discipline.

Also on Wednesday, the first Olympic medals in 3x3 basketball will be played.

The Russians, who have confidently passed the group stage, will face the reigning world champions from China in the semifinals.

The first match of the teams ended with a score of 19: 9 in favor of the wards of Alexander Diratsuyan.

In addition, domestic athletes came to Tokyo to write their names in history, so there is no doubt that they will go to the site with incredible motivation.

The positive mood will also be added by the fact that on July 28 the players of the national team - Olga and Evgenia Frolkiny will celebrate their birthday.

The Russian men made it through the group stage with varying degrees of success, scoring three wins and four defeats.

In a tense quarterfinal, they prevailed over the Netherlands with a score of 21:19, but head coach Vladimir Agababyan positively assessed the dynamics of the players' performance.

At the same time, in the semifinals, they will have to meet with the four-time world champions Serbs.

Earlier, a similar meeting ended with the defeat of the Russians - 10:21.

In beach volleyball, the group stage will continue.

Russians Nadezhda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina will meet with Cubans.

So far, they have only one victory, so a successful outcome of the match will ensure access to the playoffs.

Their compatriots Ilya Leshukov and Konstantin Semyonov have already completed this task, so the game with the Norwegians will be formal.

And volleyball players will try to win a third victory in the group stage against the Brazilians, who are second in Group B after the Russians.

In case of success, Tuomas Sammelvuo's charges will secure their way to the quarterfinals.

Tennis players will continue their way to the Olympic medals.

The second seeded Daniil Medvedev will have a match with the first serious rival - Italian Fabio Fognini.

However, the Russian should not have any problems, given that the enemy has not recently been marked by significant achievements.

Karen Khachanov will face Argentine Diego Schwartzman.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will meet with the strong Swiss Belinda Benchich, who can hardly be called a serious obstacle for the Russian woman who has gained good shape.

Elena Vesnina and Veronika Kudermetova will compete for reaching the doubles semifinals with Ukrainian sisters Nadezhda and Lyudmila Kichenyuk.

In addition, the mixed doubles tournament kicks off on Wednesday.

Pavlyuchenkova and Rublev will meet with Croats Daria Jurak and Ivan Dodig, and Vesnina and Aslan Karatsev got the most experienced greenhouses Kristina Mladenovic and Nicolas Mayu, seeded at the Games under the first number.