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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Carolina Marin of Spain beat P.V. Sindhu of India on Friday to take gold in womens singles badminton, a victory that signals a clear end to Chinas previous lock on the sport.Marin, the world No. 1 and heavy favorite ahead of the Rio Games, fell face first on the court, then kneeled and wept after her hard-fought 2-1 victory. Marin beat Li Xuerui, the defending Olympic champion from China, to get to the gold medal match.Earlier in mens singles Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia overcame two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan of China to advance to the finals against a younger Chinese star, Chen Long. Lee avenged his losses to Lin in the previous two Olympic finals.Sindhu, ranked world No. 10, made a strong run through the tournament, beating higher-ranked Nozomi Okuhara of Japan in the semifinals. Her silver medal makes up somewhat for the disappointing run of fellow Indian Saina Nehwal, who won bronze in London but crashed out of the Rio Games early. Okuhara took bronze in Rio.In the first game of the gold medal match, Marin cruised to an early lead, displaying her superior experience by repeatedly rushing the net and slamming winners back toward an often befuddled Sindhu. But the Indian settled down, chasing down smashes and drop shots and rallying to tie the game at 19. Then, in rapid succession, Sindhu took two points to stun the Spaniard, 21-19.The second game saw an aggressive Marin, who often shrieked and pumped her fist to celebrate winners, win 21-12. In the deciding game Sindhu came back from a deficit and tied the match at 10 after a long rally. But Marin opened another lead to win 21-15.Lees victory over Lin in the mens semifinal match was a thriller. Both men are considered by many to be the best players of their era, and maybe of all time.Lees reaction at the end -- falling to his knees, covering his face with his hands and putting his forehead on the court before leaping up in the air and pumping his fists -- made it seem more like a gold medal contest than the semifinals.Lin jumped out to a commanding early lead in the first game of the best-of-three match, and fended off a Lee rally to win 21-15. Lee, his nerves settled, came out fast in the second game and won 21-11. The deciding game was tense. Lee stretched out a small margin toward the end and was on the brink of winning, but Lin charged back, fighting off several match points to tie the game at 20. Lee then pulled away to win 22-20.Both men showed a mix of power, speed and guile, often charging the net like fencers to make lunging saves, leaping high in the air to hit powerful crosscourt smashes down the lines and, with a flick of the wrist, sending delicate drop-shot winners spinning just over the net.Lee, who served an eight month doping ban, will have to overcome Chinas Chen Long, who ran over Viktor Axelsen of Denmark 2-0 in Fridays other mens semifinal.In mens doubles, Chinas Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan beat Malaysias Goh V. Shem and Tan Wee Kiong 2-1 for gold Friday.The doubles gold and Chen Long are bright spots for China, but Lins loss reflects the nations general fall in badminton. Several top players, including medalists from past games, have lost early in Rio. China swept all five badminton gold medals at the 2012 London Games.---Follow Foster Klug at www.twitter.com/apklug. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/foster-klug Asics Clearance Shoes Australia . Roman Josi had a goal and an assist to lead the Predators to a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Asics Shoes Australia Online . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. http://www.australiaasicscheap.com/ . The Nashville Predators were glad their captain was still on their side. Weber had a goal and two assists, and Roman Josi scored the shootout winner to lift the Predators to a 4-3 win over the Flyers on Thursday night. Asics Shoes Outlet Australia . The visitors took a deserved lead in the 16th minute with midfielder Yohan Cabaye curling the ball beyond Adrian from inside the penalty area. Best Price Asics Shoes Australia . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. CINCINNATI, Ohio -- Heading into the second game of their series against the St. Louis Cardinals, manager Dusty Baker knew his struggling Reds couldnt wait much longer to break out of their week-long funk. "We need to beat these Cardinals," Baker said. "We cant have them thinking they can just throw their gloves out there and beat us." This time, the Reds applied the beating. Devin Mesoraco drove in three runs with a pair of homers, and the Reds finally broke out against a St. Louis team that has held them down all season, beating the Cardinals 8-3 on Saturday night to even their series. The Reds won for only the fourth time in 11 games between the NL Central rivals. Cincinnati had scored fewer than four runs in each of their last nine games head-to-head. "Its pretty big," left-hander Tony Cingrani said. "Weve been on a pretty rough stretch." And not just against St. Louis. The defending NL Central champions are mired in third place because their offence has gone missing, scoring four or fewer runs in each of the last seven games. Jack Hannahan singled home a pair of runs in the first inning, and the Reds were back in the swing. "That calms everybody down," Mesoraco said. "Now youre coming back, you feel good and confident." Cingrani (5-1) and four relievers contained an offence that had scored 26 runs in the last two games, allowing four hits. Jake Westbrook (7-6) gave up five runs -- all with two outs -- in five innings. Hannahan singled with the bases loaded in the first inning. Mesoracos homer in the fourth made it 4-1. The catcher hit a solo shot in the eighth off Michael Blazek for the first multihomer game of his career. Shin-Soo Choo followed with a two-run homer off Blazek. The Cardinals ended a seven-game losing streak by beating the Pirates 13-0 on Thursday, then came to Cincinnati and drubbed the Reds 13-3 on Friday night. It was the first time since 2003 that they scored 13 runs in back-to-back games. They got off to a fast start against Cingrani, making his first career appearance against the Cardinals. Jon Jay opened the game with a walk and came around on Carlos Beltrans double. Cingrani bouunced his next pitch, letting Beltran move to third, but thats all the Cardinals would manage as the left-hander escaped the 30-pitch inning down only 1-0.dddddddddddd Cingrani left after the Cardinals loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth. Grounders by Rob Johnson and pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter drove in runs that cut it to 5-3. Westbrook threw a five-hitter for a 10-0 win over Cincinnati on April 10. He lost his shutout right away this time. Westbrook gave up a hit and a pair of walks in the first, including an intentional walk to Jay Bruce that brought up Hannahan with the bases loaded and two outs. Hannahan, who was 0 for 4 career against Westbrook, lined a 2-2 pitch to centre for a 2-1 lead. "The hit of the game was the two-out hit by Jack Hannahan," Baker said. "It was nice to see some of the guys swinging that way tonight. It looked pretty good tonight." It was the second game in a row that Westbrook had trouble in the opening inning. He gave up four runs in the first inning of a 9-2 loss in Pittsburgh on Monday. "I couldnt finish off innings," Westbrook said. "Id get a couple of quick outs and I couldnt put them away. That was a subpar performance for me. I felt like I pitched better today than in my last start. I was making decent pitches." Mesoracos homer was only the fifth that Westbrook has allowed in his 16 starts this season. Westbrook walked five batters in five innings, and three of them scored. Joey Votto got the second of his three walks with two outs in the fifth and came around on Brandon Phillips double. Notes: Carpenter (0 for 20) and Reds 3B Todd Frazier (0 for 25) were out of the starting lineups. Carpenter got into the game as a pinch hitter. Frazier got in as part of a double switch. Neither got a hit. ... The Reds optioned RH reliever Curtis Partch to Triple-A Louisville a day after he struggled in the series opener. RH Pedro Villarreal was called up for the third time. ... RH Jonathan Broxton (elbow) threw 14 pitches in the bullpen without problem. Hell throw again on Sunday and could be activated off the DL next week. ... Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick threw a ceremonial pitch. ' ' '