On a day when former movie strongman Arnold Schwarzenegger was in the house, several of the teams vying for qualifying spots in the three main events were flexing their muscles in hopes of lifting themselves to the knockout phases of their events.

Schwarzenegger, now governor of California, was in Shanghai to help promote the Special Olympics, and he attended a press conference in the convention center while 22 teams each in the Bermuda Bowl, Venice Cup and Senior Bowl were competing for the eight top spots in their respective events.

There were some strong performances, notably by Bermuda Bowl leaders USA 1 and Norway. The Norwegians socked the Netherlands 61-34 to start the day, but they were manhandled by USA 1 in the next round 48-15. The Americans maintained their lead over second-place Poland, but the margin has shrunk.

In the Venice Cup, Germany was on the move, aided by an 85-16 rout of Japan, and are closing in on the leaders, USA 1, who lost two of three matches. China Global Times, France and Denmark are all close behind.

In the Senior Bowl, Canada finished Wednesday with a flourish, defeating China 66-6 to take over the top spot, but they are only 2 victory points ahead of Italy, with USA 1 and USA 2 in hot pursuit.