South Australian boxer Callum Peters has fallen painfully short of pulling off a major upset in the biggest fight of his young career in Paris overnight.
The 21-year-old made a major statement on Olympic debut in the men's 80kg bracket, forcing the judges to a split decision after a commanding second round in his bout with 2023 amateur world champion, Kazakhstan's Nurbeck Oralbay.
Peters responded after conceding the opening round with a huge right hand and left hook to put Oralbay on notice.
With Oralbay unsettled, the Australian continued to show signs in a more even final round - rocking the Kazakhstani with another heavy right, as both fighters tried to turn the judges in their favour.
In the end Oralbay prevailed by the finest of margins on the scorecard ending Peters' games, but not without him taking plenty of pride out of the performance.
Patty Mills and Australia's men's Basketball team are tasked with beating Greece on Friday for a quarterfinals berth after a second half blitz from Canada handed them their first loss in Paris.
An impressive first half and and four-point lead gave way to a dominant Canadian outfit, with the Boomers falling short by 10 points, 83-93.
A tight Canadian defence and repeated turnovers saw Australia's halftime advantage quickly shift to an eight point deficit in the third quarter, before the Australians fought back to trail by two at the final break.
Mills couldn't add to his halftime tally of 8 points in the quarter, missing a handful of three-point attempts.
The story played out much the same in the final period as Canada took control while the Boomers, who were unable to get open looks at the hoop while struggling to contain Canada in transition.
Australia can still qualify out of the pool stage with a win over Greece on Friday.
In the 3x3 Basketball, Ally Wilson's Gangurrus were also bested by a strong Canadian outfit 22-14, hampered by a slow start.
Canada lodged six points in the race to 21 before Australia registered a score, and extended the margin to 15-2 by just after the mid-way point of allotted time.
Wilson (6 points) also had multiple assists while hitting the scoreboard in a mini fightback, before Katherine Plouffe stopped the clock with a two-pointer to claim the win for Canada..
The Gangurrus next take the court against Germany early Thursday morning before a doubleheader with China then the USA on Thursday evening (AEST).
TONIGHT (AEST)
Brooke Peris and Mariah Williams will hope to take their campaign to three straight straight wins after getting over the UK 4-nil when they face USA on Wednesday night (9:15 pm).
Abbey Connor will make her Olympic debut in the 200m butterfly from 7:45 pm.
Connor, 19, missed a medal in the discipline by 0.04 of a second at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham two years ago.
