RIO DE JANEIRO -- The three-peat is officially off for Norway in womens handball.Widely considered the worlds best team, Norways charge for a third consecutive Olympic gold ended abruptly in the semifinals Thursday with a 38-37 loss to Russia in extra time after a thrilling and bruising game.I dont have the words because when I think about the game I want to cry, said Vladlena Bobrovnikova, Russias top scorer with eight goals, sporting bruises and a long red cut across her nose. I dont feel the pain, I feel so happy because we have the final. This victory, its so crazy.Beating Norway, a team that won everything with Olympic, world and European titles, was particularly sweet. I dont know how, but we won.Russia will now play France in Saturdays final after the French beat the Netherlands 24-23 in the first semifinal.Itll be a battle between two underdogs -- France has not won a medal in its last five major championships, while Russia has been rebuilding since failing to qualify for the 2013 world championship.Russia shut down a good start from Norway with a scoring run that erased an 11-8 deficit and put the team up 15-12 midway through the first half. While Norway frequently pulled even after that, Russia did not give up the lead in the rest of regulation.The Russians were heading for a 31-30 win in regulation but Heidi Loke tied up the game with a goal four seconds from time. Norway started strongly in extra time, but a two-minute suspension for Ida Alstad interrupted the flow and let Russia control the pace. When Camilla Herrem missed a shot to tie up the game for Norway, Russia ran down the clock and celebrated a famous win.Eleven different players scored for Russia, while Nora Mork was Norways main attacking threat with 14 goals.While Russia was a silver medalist in 2008, it had not been among the top teams in recent tournaments. Unexpected success in Rio has put handball on prime-time state TV slots and given the game an increased public profile.And coach Evgeny Trefilov and his colorful outbursts at courtside have gone viral at home. After the opening group stage game, he said he had wondered whether to hang myself or to hang everyone else in the dressing room while seven goals down.Upon beating Norway, Trefilov was more restrained, paying tribute to the Scandinavians play, but also went on an extended tirade calling for all foreigners to be banned from playing at Russian clubs.For Norway, defeat was a hammer blow.Goalkeeper Katrine Lunde said there were too much negative thoughts to analyze the game, but said the Norwegian defense had never really worked at its best. Regrouping to face the Netherlands for bronze will be difficult, she added.Its hard, itll take a bit of time, she said. We have to. We really want to have a medal and it means a lot so we just have to work tomorrow again and we can take a vacation when were finished.Whoever wins Saturdays final will be a first-time gold medalist after France upset the Netherlands, last years world championship silver medalist.Overwhelming crowd support and the presence of Dutch King Willem-Alexander couldnt lift the Netherlands, who spent most of the game narrowly behind.A nail-biting finish saw a big save from French goalkeeper Laura Glauser and another shot hit the post as her team tried to hold on for the win on a Dutch power-play. On the final whistle, the French team embraced on court and jumped up and down in front of their fans.For a long time we have won nothing and now we will have a medal so its amazing, Frances Siraba Dembele said. Tom Meschery Jersey . A lawyer for MLB, Matthew Menchel, confirmed Wednesday the league dropped its case against Biogenesis of America, its owner Anthony Bosch and several other individuals. 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David Thompson Jersey .com) - Christian Ponder will get another chance to prove himself for the Minnesota Vikings, with head coach Leslie Frazier announcing Wednesday that the struggling quarterback will start this weekends game against the Green Bay Packers. Gus Williams Jersey .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team.Despite losing six of their last eight games, the St. Louis Cardinals are clinging to top spot in the TSN.ca MLB Power Rankings, just ahead of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red Sox. The Cardinals were ripe to be overtaken, but two of their closest challengers from the last weeks rankings, the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds, ran into their own troubles. Detroit lost six of their last seven games, falling from second to seventh, while Cincinnati lost seven of nine and starting pitcher Johnny Cueto was put back on the DL, so they dropped from third to eighth. Moving up this week, the Tampa Bay Rays are 8-4 in their last dozen games, thanks in part to a strong bullpen, and they climb from 16th to 12th. The Cleveland Indians had the biggest move up, seven spots from 20th to 13th, as they moved into the AL Central lead and got shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera back from injury. Having baseballs hottest hitter, secoond baseman Jason Kipnis, doesnt hurt their case either.dddddddddddd Its been a good time for baseball in Los Angeles, over the last week. The Dodgers, who have been a mess for most of the season, have won eight of nine and moved from 22nd to 16th in the rankings, while the Angels have been even worse, yet six straight wins moved them up to 22nd from 27th. The Dodgers gain stands in contrast to much of their NL west compatriots, as the Rockies (11th to 15th), Giants (12th to 19th) and Padres (14th to 21st) all tumbled. Finally looking like a competitive team, the Toronto Blue Jays are 3-5 since their 11-game winning streak, but moved up from 15th to 14th, due largely to getting shortstop Jose Reyes back from the disabled list. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '