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.
FRUSTRATION: Alcaraz made several unforced errors over four sets against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, who had never made it past the third round in a major competition Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reached the fourth round of the French Open after laboring past Damir Dzumhur 6-1, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the Friday night session. The second-seeded Spaniard had never before played Dzumhur, a 33-year-old Bosnian who had never been past the third round at any major tournament. “I suffered quite a lot today,” Alcaraz said. “The first two sets was under control, then he started to play more deeply and more aggressively. It was really difficult for me.” Dzumhur hurt his left knee in a fall in the second round, and had treatment on Friday on his right leg during the
‘DREAM’: The 5-0 victory was PSG’s first Champions League title, and the biggest final win by any team in the 70-year history of the top-flight European competition Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time as Luis Enrique’s brilliant young side outclassed Inter on Saturday in the most one-sided final ever with teenager Desire Doue scoring twice in an astonishing 5-0 victory. Doue supplied the pass for Achraf Hakimi to give PSG an early lead and the 19-year-old went from provider to finisher as his deflected shot doubled the advantage in the 20th minute. Doue scored again just after the hour mark, ending any doubt about the outcome before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia ran away to get the fourth and substitute Senny Mayulu, another teenager, made it five. Inter were
The Greek basketball league finals between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos were suspended by the government on Monday following on-court scuffles involving rival security teams. The best-of-five series is at 1-1. The third game, scheduled for today, has been postponed. The owners of both clubs were summoned to meet with the country’s sports minister. They “will be asked to provide explicit guarantees that this situation will be brought to an end. If not, this year’s championship will be definitively canceled,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “There can be no tolerance for such pathological phenomena of violence and delinquency.” In online posts, the owners of Panathinaikos and
The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday defeated the Dallas Stars 6-3 to book their place in the Stanley Cup Finals, setting up a repeat of last year’s NHL showpiece against reigning champions the Florida Panthers. The Oilers, bidding to become the first Canadian team to win the NHL’s championship series since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens, head to Florida for Game 1 of the best-of-seven series set for Wednesday. Florida, who are to play in the NHL showpiece for the third straight season, won last year’s title 4-3 to extend Canada’s decades-long Stanley Cup drought. Connor McDavid led Edmonton back to the championship series on
RSS