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Thompson sprained her ankle in the second set and did not return
after she was helped off the court to receive medical attention.
The American opposite hitter, competing in her first Games, has
been their breakout star after top-scoring in their first three
wins which included a colossal 34-points effort against
defending champions China.
The 24-year-old watched on from the sidelines with tears
streaming down her face as ROC won 25-20 25-12 25-19 for the
world No. 1 ranked United States to lose their first match at
the Tokyo Games and drop to third in Pool B.
"It's not a major ankle sprain, somewhere between mild and
medium," U.S. coach Karch Kiraly said, adding that Thompson
would take an x-ray and MRI scan to know the extent of the
injury.
"I was told that we can be somewhat hopeful that she might be
back in action in a few days... I would think that probably is
unlikely for (Monday's final pool game against) Italy and maybe
hopeful for something beyond that."
Russian athletes are competing under the ROC flag at the Tokyo
Olympics as part of sanctions for several doping scandals.
Turkey got their campaign back on track after two losses when
they beat Pool B's bottom side Argentina 25-23 25-20 25-18 for a
second win in Tokyo.
Four Turkish players finished in double figures for points while
Zehra Gunes and captain Eda Dundar combined for 11 of the team's
13 blocks.
The Dominican Republic thrashed Kenya 25-19 25-18 25-10 with
Lisvel Eve (13 points and six blocks) and Prisilla Rivera (12
points) leading the way to move the Caribbean side provisionally
up to the fourth and final qualification spot in Pool A.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi in Tokyo and Rohith Nair in
Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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