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RIO DE JANEIRO -- It was a day of surprises on the first day of the judo competition at the Rio Games. Kris Letang Jersey .In the womens division, the first gold medal went not to defending Olympic champion Sarah Menezes in her home country, but to an Argentinian bronze medalist from the Beijing games, now a qualified doctor.Paula Pareto, ranked third, jumped repeatedly in victory when she defeated South Koreas Bokyeong Jeong in the womens 48-kilogram division, much to the delight of a crowd packed with Argentinians waving their national flag. Pareto climbed into the spectator section afterward to be enveloped not only by giddy fans, friends and family, but numerous flags.After hugging one particularly patriotic fan whose face was painted in blue and white, Pareto was left with faint traces of blue paint on the right side of her face. Her gold medal made her the first Argentinian woman in history to win an Olympic gold, in any sport.It is really incredible for me, I never would have thought it, Pareto said after her historic win. I was especially happy to see the Argentinian flag raised.Paretos coach Laura Martinel described her as phenomenal and credited Paretos exceptional technique and mental strength for her victory.Having split her recent fights with Jeong, Martinel said their strategy was for Pareto to go on the offensive. We knew that we could not let (Jeong) perform because she*s fast and powerful. So the idea was to let Paula attack first, we had a rough moment in the match but eventually we overcome it and she did what was necessary.Argentinian President Mauricio Macri quickly tweeted his congratulations, saying You make us all very proud.The top fighter in the division, Mongolias Urantsetseg Munkhbat, lost her bronze medal match to second-seeded Ami Kondo of Japan. The other bronze medal was won by Otgontsetseg Galbadrakh of Kazakhstan.London Games champion Menezes had been hoping to repeat her victory in front of a home crowd, but lost twice: first to Cubas Dayaris Mestre Alvarez in the quarter finals and then in the repechage competition to Munkhbat, who applied such a strong armbar that Menezes tapped out in submission.In the mens division, the 18th-ranked Russian judoka, Beslan Mudranov, pulled off one of the days biggest upsets when he defeated top seed Won Jin Kim of South Korea. Mudranov, 30, defeated Yeldos Smetov of Kazakhstan in the final, becoming Russias first gold medalist at the Rio Games.Amid the widespread Russian doping scandal, the entire Russian judo team was allowed to compete. Russian President Vladimir Putin is the honorary president of the International Judo Federation, the sports governing body; Putin holds a black belt in the Japanese martial art.Mudranov said the doping allegations havent had any effect at all on the judo team. We were sure that they wont exclude us, because excluding a whole country is firstly not fair and, it seems to me, impossible, he said.Mudranov said he was happy to be the first to win a gold medal for Russia but attributed that to the luck of the draw.The mens bronze medals were won by Japans Naohisa Takato and Diyorbek Urozboev of Uzbekistan.---Associated Press Writers Carlos A. Rodriguez and James Ellingworth contributed to this report. Chris Kunitz Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Orest Kindrachuk Jersey . The Islanders dealt Thomas Vanek to the Montreal Canadiens after less than a year on Long Island. Meanwhile, the Oilers dealt long-time sniper Ales hemsky to the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday for a fifth-round pick in 2014 and a third-rounder in 2015. https:///...jersey-penguins.html . LOUIS -- Rookie Tavon Austin has missed another day of practice, lessening the odds hell be ready for the St. MALIBU, Calif. -- Jeremy Major scored 16 points and Amadi Udenyi sank a key 3-pointer late in the second half to lift Pepperdine to a 66-65 win over Arkansas-Little Rock on Tuesday night.Chris Reyes scored six points and Udenyi hit a 3-pointer during a 9-0 run that gave Pepperdine (4-1) a 45-43 lead with 13:29 to go and the Waves didnt trail again.Little Rock (3-2) got a tip-in from Lis Shoshi with 1:46 left to tie it at 63-all, before Udenyi hit his third 3 of tthe night to put Pepperdine on top for good. Terry W. Ruskowski Jersey. Shoshi tightened the gap with a final layup but Little Rock missed three shots down the stretch.Reyes added 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for Pepperdine, which shot 51 percent from the field.Shoshi finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds for Little Rock. ' ' '