Tennis: Serena shifts focus to Olympics

Gold medal would mean a lot, says the American tennis star.

CALIFORNIA: Recently crowned Stanford champion Serena Williams has shifted her focus to the London Olympics after wrapping up the title.

The world number four is not in competition this week after winning Stanford and will soon head to Britain for the Summer Games, which open a week from Friday.

“A gold medal would mean a lot to me, but I can’t put all my hopes and dreams on just that,” said the 30-year-old Williams, who earlier this month won her fifth Wimbledon crown. “But it would mean a lot and I’d like to get one.”

Lithuania captain Javtokas to miss Olympics

Lithuania’s Olympic basketball captain Robertas Javtokas will miss his first Games since 2004 with a foot injury, confirmed the Baltic state’s basketball federation.

“It is a huge loss,” said team coach Kestutis Kemzura. “It’s difficult to describe how much we will miss him, not only on the court but also off it.”

Basketball is Lithuania’s top sport and there are high hopes that the team could add to the haul of Olympic medals won by previous squads.

Javtokas, 32, suffered pain during the Olympic qualification tournament in Venezuela this month, and Lithuanian medics discovered a stress fracture in his foot. Javtokas, who stands two metres, 11 centimetres tall, made his Lithuania debut in 2001 and has not missed a single summer with the team since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Lithuania are ranked among the top four in the five Olympic Games since the country’s independence from the former Soviet Union. Their squads won bronze in 1992, 1996, 2000 and came fourth in 2004 and 2008.

They will feature in Group A in the preliminary round in London, along with 2008 gold medallists the US, Argentina, France, Nigeria and Tunisia.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2012.