Canada's men's basketball team secured first place in its group and a spot in the quarter-finals at the 26th Summer Universiade with an 83-50 drubbing of Hong Kong on Thursday.
The Canadians (3-1) will face Romania (3-2) Saturday night in their first match-up of the medal round.
"Winning the pool was a goal of ours when we began the tournament, so obviously we are quite happy with the win," said Canada head coach Kevin Hanson. "At this stage of the tournament, bodies are starting to break down and getting any rest is a good thing."
Warren Ward of London, Ont., led the way with a game-high 17 points while Canada out-rebounded Hong Kong 59-to-37 and forced 30 turnovers.
The women's water polo team wasn't as fortunate, losing 9-7 to Russia (4-1). Canada (0-3-1) moves to the consolation side of the draw and will now play for positions fifth to eighth, starting Friday against Mexico (1-3-1).
The women's basketball squad (2-2) suffered the same fate, dropping a 79-44 decision to 2007 Universiade champion Australia (4-0). Canada's first consolation match is set for Friday against Finland (2-2).
Meanwhile, four athletes came just shy of winning Canada's first track and field medal.
In the women's 400-metre, Calgary's Amonn Nelson and Jenna Martin of Bridgewater, N.S., finished fifth and sixth respectively with times of 52.98 and 53.11.
In the women's 800-metre, Helen Crofts of West Vancouver, B.C., ran two seconds off her semifinal time to finish in sixth with a mark of 2:04.40.
Toronto's Mark Dillon was in action in the high jump final and finished in ninth spot after failing to clear 2.20 metres.
Vancouver's Inaki Gomez completed the 20-kilometre race walk in a time of 1:26.21 to finish fifth overall.
In tennis, Phil Anderson of Halifax and Christiaan Lee-Daigle of Tecumseh, Ont., lost to David Estruch and Pablo Manuel Gimenez of Spain 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the men's doubles tournament.
The loss was tough considering the Canadians would have secured a podium-finish with a win, as bronze medals are automatically awarded to the losers of the semifinals.
On the consolation side of the men's singles draw, Carl Ho from Richmond, B.C., won 6-4, 6-4 over Ivan Anikanov of the Ukraine to advance to Friday's semifinals.
In golf, Mark Hoffman of Thornhill, Ont., shot a two-under second round of 70 to move up to 17th place in the men's standings.
Hoffman is even par heading into Friday's third round, eight shots behind Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who leads by one at the midway mark.
On the women's side, Anne Balser of Digby, N.S., is tied for 28th at 9 over following a second round of 76. Taiwan's Hsuanyu Yao is at the front of the pack at six-under.
In women's volleyball, Canada (2-2) downed Sweden (0-4) in four sets of 25-17, 21-25, 25-22 and 25-23 in its first consolation match.
In men's soccer, also on the consolation side of the draw, Canada (1-2-1) outscored Namibia (1-2-1) 5-4 on penalties to earn a 4-3 win.