Romania’s Alina Dumitru won the first gold medal in the Olympic judo competition yesterday, stunning Japanese double gold medalist Ryoko Tani in the 48kg class semi-final and then flipping Cuba’s Yanet Bermoy to the mat in the final.
South Korea’s Choi Min-ho, who won bronze in Athens, threw all of his opponents to win the men’s 60kg division.
Tani, who had not been beaten in a major international competition since the Atlanta Games in 1996, saw her hopes of a third-straight gold evaporate when judges awarded penalties to Dumitru after both failed to show much aggression.
PHOTO: AP
Looking stunned, Tani fought desperately after the final penalty call, but with only seconds left had no time to mount an attack.
She defeated Russia’s Lyudmila Bogdanova for bronze.
An underdog, Choi completely dominated his competition and defeated Ludwig Paischer, who is ranked No. 1 in the world, just seconds into their final match.
But Tani, a seven-time world champion, was the surprise of the day.
Though she won her bronze decisively — throwing the tall Russian to the mat with 2 minutes, 33 seconds left in the five-minute bout — she had to go the distance with Sayaka Matsumoto of the US in her first bout, cautiously dominating the match and winning on points.
Silver medalist Bermoy, who won the 2005 world championship when Tani sat it out to have a baby, was making her Olympic debut. She had lost only four bouts this year.
Argentina’s Paula Pareto flipped North Korea’s Pak Ok-song at the buzzer to win the second bronze. The judges initially called Pak the winner, but then gave Pareto a waza ari, which put her ahead.
Paischer, who had been the men’s favorite, easily cruised into the second round after a first match ippon throw, setting up an early showdown with Britain’s Craig Fallon, the 2005 world champion.
Fallon defeated Paischer on his home turf for this year’s Vienna World Cup title, but Paischer got his revenge on Beijing’s mats by beating Fallon — who had blood dripping off his face — with two koka points.
Paischer next took a yuko win over North Korea’s Kim Kyong-jin to earn his spot in the semi-finals against France’s Dimitry Dragin, who is ranked 23rd in the world. He pinned Dragin just as time ran out.
The bronzes went to Uzbekistan’s Rishod Sobirov and Ruben Houkes of the Netherlands.
Japan’s Hiroaki Hiraoka, the Asian champion, crashed out in his first bout, losing on points to US entry Taraje Williams-Murray.
British ice dance greats Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean returned to the rink where their remarkable journey began to help launch the first Synchro9 World Championships, bringing a new Olympic discipline to the city that shaped their careers. The inaugural championships take place from March 27 to April 4 at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena, the rink where Torvill and Dean teamed up as teenagers and where they performed their final show in July last year after skating together for 50 years. “For us, this is where it all started,” Dean said. “A lot of the skaters will start their Olympic journey out of
Influencers and content creators armed with smartphones and ring lights have featured prominently in the stands at this year’s US Open, as they try to grab the spotlight away from the on-court action at one of tennis’ marquee events. About 100 content creators were given credentials for the tournament, organizers said, with 20 of those dedicated to providing coverage of the food and beverage scene alone, where caviar-topped chicken nuggets and the famed “Honey Deuce” cocktail promise viral attention. Thousands more amateur social media hounds could be found throughout the plaza and in the stands — after shelling out for their own
BATTLING GREATS: The Williams sisters had the crowd behind them in New York in a marathon match against Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Maya Joint on Friday Two-time women’s doubles champions Venus Williams and Serena Williams rolled back the years on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open on Friday, but the sisters were unable to get past Australia’s Maya Joint and Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching, losing 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(10-7). The Williams’ duo had showed flashes of their brilliant best after recovering from losing the first set to level the match after taking the second set on a tie-break. Momentum and a raucous New York crowd appeared to be carrying them towards victory after they sprinted into a 5-0 lead in the third set tie-break. Chan and Joint fought back
Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) were dealt their first losses in their domestic leagues on Friday when Kylian Mbappe had an injury-time penalty saved in La Liga and PSG coughed up a lead in Ligue 1. Madrid fell at Real Betis 1-0 for its first defeat since the return of coach Jose Mourinho. PSG fell at home to Monaco 2-1 on the same day that coach Luis Enrique agreed to stay at the European champion through 2030. Betis stunned Madrid when newcomer Troy Parrott, an Irish striker, knocked in a ball that Thibaut Courtois did well to save from a header by
RSS