BEIJING — A U.S. women’s volleyball team struck by tragedy just hours earlier beat Japan in an emotional Olympic opener marred by the fatal stabbing of an ex-player’s father.

The team took the court Saturday after learning of the stabbing death of Todd Bachman, father of former Olympian Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon. He was attacked by a knife-wielding man at a popular tourist site in Beijing.

Her mother was seriously injured by the attacker, who jumped to his death from a balcony of the Drum Tower, an ancient landmark the Americans were visiting.

“It’s hard to put it in words,” a tearful U.S. player Logan Tom said after the match. “That’s not something that’s supposed to happen.”

The killing cast a pall over the game, in which the Americans defeated Japan 3-1 (25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 25-21), in the first match of preliminary play at the Capital Indoor Stadium.

In contrast, the U.S. team was greeted enthusiastically by the Chinese fans because of coach Jenny Lang Ping, a sports icon in China known as the “Iron Hammer” during her playing days with the Chinese national team because of her powerful spikes.

Bachman McCutcheon is the wife of Hugh McCutcheon, coach of the U.S. men’s indoor team, which is scheduled to open play today against Venezuela.

American player Stacy Sykora said the team was rousted from naps on Saturday afternoon and told of the attack.

“It was a reaction that I don’t even have to describe. You have to understand what Liz Bachman is to USA Volleyball. She’s probably the nicest person in the entire world, her and her family,” Sykora said. “Her family is like our family because they traveled with us, she fought in the 2004 Olympics with us, she was my roommate in 2004.”

After the game, the players huddled on the court for several moments. Some cried, others embraced. They waved to the fans who chanted “U-S-A!” during the game, before solemnly leaving the court.

“You can’t just forget something like that,” said Tom, who also played with Bachman McCutcheon in 2004 in Athens. “It is so horrible.”

Men’s gymnastics

The U.S. men finished atop their qualifying group with a score good enough to clinch a spot in the team finals. Thus, even without injured stars Paul and Morgan Hamm, the Americans still have a shot at a medal — even if it’s a slim one.

“To make a major team personnel change, compete in the first subdivision and qualify for the team finals is a huge accomplishment, and we are looking forward to competing on Tuesday,” U.S. coach Kevin Mazeika said.

China, winner of three straight world championships and the overwhelming favorite, lived up to it by soaring to the top of the pack.

Beach volleyball

Being defending world champions, having won 21 straight international matches and getting a visit from President Bush did little for Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser. They lost their opening match to a Latvian team that was seeded 23rd in the 24-team field, which means they must win their next two pool-play matches to get into the medal round.

Women’s basketball

Diana Taurasi scored 17 points and Sylvia Fowles added 16 points and 14 rebounds to send the U.S. women strolling past the Czech Republic 97-57 in front of President Bush and the U.S. men’s team. Next up for the Americans is host China.

WNBA star Lauren Jackson led medal favorite Australia with 18 points and 10 rebounds in an 83-64 victory over Belarus that featured Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in the stands. The Opals lost the last two Olympic finals to the United States but comes into the 2008 Beijing Games as world champion.

“We’re just chipping away at a number of things — we’ve got quite a few things to work on, but I thought we executed pretty well,” Australia coach Jan Stirling said.

In other games, China beat Spain 67-64, South Korea needed overtime to beat Brazil 68-62 and New Zealand edged Mali 76-72.

Women’s soccer

So much for the U.S. women’s scoring drought. Midfielder Carli Lloyd scored on a first-half volley to lead them past Japan 1-0 in their first game since a 2-0 loss to Norway.

The Americans created a host of scoring opportunities, but were only able to capitalize in the 27th minute, when Lloyd volleyed a cross from defender Stephanie Cox just under the crossbar. Goals are at a premium for this club with scoring leader Abby Wambach out with an injury.

China tied Canada 1-1, putting the host country in position to advance to the quarterfinals. Also, two-time FIFA Player of the Year Marta scored to help Brazil beat North Korea 2-1; Sweden beat Argentina 1-0; Germany beat Nigeria 1-0 and Norway beat New Zealand 1-0.

Judo

Romania’s Alina Dumitru won the women’s 106-pound gold, throwing Cuba’s Yanet Bermoy to the mat for the prize after stunning Japan’s seven-time world champion Ryoko Tani in the semifinal. Argentina’s Paula Pareto and Tani, winner of the last two golds, won bronze.

In the men’s 132-pound class final, South Korea’s Choi Min-ho, the bronze medalist in Athens, defeated European champion Ludwig Paischer of Austria. Choi won all his bouts with match-ending throws.

Other sports

• South Korea’s Park Sung-hyun, the defending Olympic women’s archery champion, tied the Olympic record in the first day of competition.

• American sailor Zach Railey was second in an Olympic Finn race, first in a series of 11 that will determine the medals.

• American middleweight boxer Shawn Estrada beat Ezequiel Maderna of Argentina.

• Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic, who will become the No. 1 tennis player in the world Monday, said a sore right calf may knock her out of the Olympics. She’s supposed to play today against Zimbabwe’s Cara Black.

• Becky Holder rode her and her husband Tom’s Courageous Comet to fourth place after the first half of equestrian’s dressage phase of the eventing competition.

• South Korea, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, and Russia, the 2007 world champion, tied in the day’s highest-profile women’s handball matchup.

Beijing briefs

Elsewhere around the Olympic Games on Saturday:

• Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou was kicked out by the IOC today for her role in a drug-testing scandal at the Athens Games four years ago. She was to run the 100 meters.

• President Bush went mountain biking on the Olympic course, got sandy at beach volleyball, got a chalk handprint left on his back after a photo with the softball team and watched the women’s basketball team win easily Saturday. His wife and daughter went on an early tour of the Forbidden City.

• Greek sprinter Tassos Gousis was excluded from the Olympics a few days before the games after failing a doping test in his home country. The Greek national Olympic committee said the 200-meter runner tested positive for the steroid methyltrienolone on Monday. He has been sent home from a pre-games training camp in Japan after being informed of the result.

• The Chinese gymnast age issue is settled. They’re old enough, despite documents and media reports saying three athletes are as young as 14, two years less than rules allow. Chinese officials have insisted the girls are all of eligible age, and have given International Gymnastics Federation and IOC passports to back that up.

• A diesel generator used to create the underwater bubbles that formed the finish line at the rowing-canoeing park overheated, belching out black smoke during women’s pair heats, but races were not delayed.

• Brazil will not wear its regular official Nike uniform in the remainder of the Beijing Games because of concerns it could affect Rio de Janeiro’s bid for the 2016 Olympics.