Brazil cheers, hopes, suffers as home team hunts glory (Reuters)

By Jeb Blount RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil won its first medal of the Rio Olympics on Saturday, but its hard cheering fans also suffered deep disappointment as a top gold-medal hope was eliminated from the judo competition, left in tears on the mat with a dislocated elbow. After months of criticism over construction delays, corruption, safety and polluted water, Brazilians were out in force to support their teams. Brazil’s Sara Menezes, a judo gold medalist in London in 2012, was rushed to hospital after being eliminated in a bruising match against Mongolian Urantsetseg Munkhbat to finish seventh.