RIO DE JANEIRO -- Sonny Bill Williams dedicated a season to prepare for Rio. When the Olympic rugby sevens competition finally kicked off, he spent about eight minutes on the field.Now hell be sidelined for up to nine months with an injured Achilles tendon, ruling him out for the All Blacks in 2016.The highest-profile player in rugbys return to the Olympics after 92 years carried the ball into a tackle early in the second half of New Zealands 14-12 upset loss to Japan on Tuesday, then stayed on the ground holding his left ankle before being helped from the field.A despondent Williams was taken to a hospital and medical tests showed a partially ruptured Achilles tendon, which is expected to keep him on the sidelines for up to nine months.Hes obviously shattered and disappointed, New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens said.Not long after Williams exit, his teammates left the Deodoro Stadium with their heads down, having lost to Japan for the first time in rugby sevens.A two-time Rugby World Cup winner with the All Blacks in 15s, Williams had little impact on the Olympics. His sister, Niall Williams, picked up a silver medal as part of the New Zealand team which lost the womens gold-medal match to Australia the previous night.Devastating for Sonny, to lose him so early in the tournament, New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens said, added that the shoulder injury to Joe Webber was also a major setback. Both influential players as well, got some outstanding qualities that I needed.The New Zealanders rallied to beat Kenya 28-5, but now face unbeaten Britain on Wednesday in the last Pool C game.Weve just got to get on with it, Tietjens said. The guys bounced back with a lot of character against Kenya.But theyll have to do with one man down in the squad, with only one replacement allowed. Sione Molia was called in to replace Williams.Tietjens said Japan showed against his team and in the narrow 21-19 loss to Britain that the competition was intense for the medals.Theyre a good team. They pushed Britain very closely as well -- perhaps that says it all, he said. There are no given games these days.I knew with Kenya and Britain, there was a chance we werent even going to look at the quarterfinals, so weve got a chance tomorrow to get in there.The New Zealanders were hoping to have Williams back around the team in some way during the Olympics.Hes a great professional. Very infectious. Hes certainly helps the younger players. Hes got a great work ethic, Tietjens said. For that (injury) to happen in the first game of the tournament is devastating.Weve struck an horrendous amount of injuries this year in the world series as well but theres a lot of character in this team, I can assure you.New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive told Newstalk ZB Radio that Williams would be out of action for six to nine months and selectors would have to find a replacement for the All Blacks squad to play in the Rugby Championship.Custom Athletics T-shirts . 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Brian Downing was with the Chicago White Sox at a time when I listened to every game I possibly could on the radio. That particular season the late great Harry Caray was calling the White Sox games.PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills running back Karlos Williams has been cleared for practice after passing his physical.Williams was overweight when reporting to training camp and spent the past two weeks working out individually while on the teams active/non-football injury list.Williams weight issues date to June when he reported for the teams mandatory minicamps. He blamed the weight gain on snacking with his pregnant fiancee so she didnt have to eat alone.The second-year players troubles mounted last month,, when the NFL suspended Williams for the first four games of the regular season for violating the leagues substance abuse policy.ddddddddddddWilliams made a splash as a rookie backing up starter LeSean McCoy last season. He had 517 yards rushing and scored nine touchdowns, including two receiving.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '