Sydney, September 19: Sweden's Magnus Norman has made the Olympic tennis tournament one of his priorities this season but on Tuesday he came desperately close to making a shock early exit. Third-seeded Norman had to stave off a match point before beating gutsy Romanian Andrei Pavel 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 10-8.The Swede, a French Open finalist this year, had to fight for two hours 47 minutes before finally outlasting Pavel. The Romanian led 5-4 in the deciding set and had Norman at 30-40 on serve, only for the Swede to produce an ace and hold on.Norman is one of the favourites for the men's singles title, but admitted the pressure of playing his first Olympic contest had weighed heavily. "It is a little bit special playing at the Olympics," he said. "People are expecting a lot from me and I'm expecting a lot from myself."I saw lots of other Swedish athletes in the crowd, including some of the table tennis players I am rooming with and I didn't want to let anybody down," he said. "I've had a good year, but it is important to me to also do wel when I am playing for my country."Fancied Nigerians heldAdelaide, September 19: Defending champions Nigeria drew 1-1 with Italy to join the Italians in the quarter-finals of the Olympic soccer tournament on Tuesday. But their chances of going further were hit when defender Azubuike Oliseh was sent off after an hour of their Group A match at an 18,340 sold-out Hindmarsh Stadium. Utrecht defender Oliseh, who already had one previous yellow card to his name after being booked against Australia, picked up another after only nine minutes for a foul on Roberto Baronio.He was then shown another yellow and then the red card by Mexican referee Rizo Ramos for a blatant bodycheck on Ighli Vannucchi after 60 minutes. He will now miss Nigeria's quarter-final which is most likely to be against either Chile or Spain in Melbourne on Saturday and will probably be banned for the semifinal as well if Nigeria get that far. Nigeria will also be without their skipper, Chelsea defender Celestine Babayaro, in the quarter-finals. He was banned for two matches after being sent off against Australia, and after sitting out this match completes his ban after Saturday's game.
