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July 30 (UPI) -- Team USA earned three medals Friday improve its total to a 2020 Summer Games-best 41, but other countries gained ground. China, Great Britain and the Russian Olympic Committee outmedaled Team USA to tighten the race. China earned nine medals to push its total to 40 at the Games. China leads all countries with 19 gold medals.
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Japan's 17 gold medals are the second-most at the Games. Team USA ranks third in gold medals, with 14. Team USA's 16 silver medals are the most at the Olympics.
Day 7 of the Games started strong in the pool for Team USA at Tokyo Aquatics Center. Swimmers Lilly King and Ryan Murphy won silver medals, while Annie Lazo won bronze for Team USA.
King and Lazor placed in the women's 200-meter breastroke final. Murphy finished behind the Russian Olympic Committee's Evgeny Rylov in the men's 200-meter backstroke.
The Americans would not medal again Friday, but did advance to the semifinals in women's soccer and open the baseball tournament with a win over Israel.
Team USA's Grant Fisher just missed the podium in the men's 10,000-meter track final to end the day. He placed fifth behind two Ethiopians and two Ugandans.
Ethiopian Selemon Barega won gold in that event. Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo won respective silver and bronze medals.
Team USA lost two bronze medal matches Friday in Tokyo.
Italy's Lucilla Boari beat American Mackenzie Brown in an archery individual match for bronze. New Zealand's Michael Venus and Marcus Daniell also beat Team USA's Tennys Sandgren and Austin Krajicek in straight sets in the men's doubles bronze medal tennis match.
Croatia's Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic beat Coatias Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig in the gold medal doubles match.
American Felicia Stancil also just missed the podium with a fourth-place finish in the women's BMX final Friday at Ariake Urban Sports Park. Great Britain's Bethany Shriever won that event.
Team USA also finished fourth in two rowing finals.
In non-medal events, the United States Women's National Team won a thriller against the Netherlands to advance to the 2020 Summer Games semifinals.
Veteran forward Megan Rapinoe iced the game when she converted on the final attempt of a penalty kick shootout. U.S. goalie Alyssa Naeher recorded five saves and stopped three penalty kicks in the win.
The U.S. women battle Canada in the semifinals Monday in Kashima, Japan, for a chance to play in the gold medal match.
In baseball, Team USA beat Israel 8-1 in its first game of the 2020 Summer Games on Friday in Yokohama, Japan. The Team USA women's basketball team also beat Japan 86-69 in group play.
A'Ja Wilson scored a game-high 20 points, with 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocks in the Team USA basketball victory.
In boxing, Team USA welterweight Oshae Jones beat Maria Altagracia Moronta Hernandez of the Dominican Republic in a quarterfinal bout Friday in Tokyo.
Great Britain beat Team USA in a rugby sevens women's quarterfinal.
In golf, Team USA's Xander Schauffele carded an 8-under par 63 to earn the lead at the tournament through two rounds Friday in Saitama, Japan.
His overall score of 11-under par is one stroke better than second-place Carlos Ortiz of Mexico. Sixteen golfers didn't finish the second round due to inclement weather at Kasumigaseki Golf Club. Americans Collin Morikawa and Patrick Reed finished their second rounds and are tied for 25th.
Team USA's Justin Thomas did not finish the second round, but is tied for 39th.
The Americans will get several more chances to medal Saturday. Team USA could contend for medals in archery, track and field, fencing, windsurfing, shooting, swimming, weightlifting and the triathlon on the eighth day of the Games.
