Israelis got their first real ‘hurrah’ today at the London Games as swimmer Amit Ivry set a new Israeli record and advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 200-meter individual medley. Ivry clocked a time of 2:13.29 — nearly half a second faster than her personal record. She will compete later tonight (22:55 Israel time) for a place in the finals.

Swimmer Gal Nevo, on the other hand, finished the 200-meter medley in 32nd place and did not advance to the semifinals.

It was a nail-biting day for sharpshooter Sergey Richter after he missed the finals by just one point. The Israeli Olympian finished with a score of 595 out of 600 in the 10-meter rifle event. He ranked ninth out of 47 contestants, with the top eight advancing to the finals.

In judo, Iosef (Soso) Palelashvili advanced to the elimination round of 16 in the men’s U73kg competition before being knocked out by Riki Nakaya of Japan. Palelashvili defeated Sezer Huysuz of Turkey with a wazari but was pushed out of the medal run by the 2011 world champion Nakaya who scored a yuko and an ippon against him.

Israeli sailor Nufar Edelman competed in the women’s laser radial but failed to make the top 10 in the first sail round. She will compete again tomorrow.