Majlinda Kelmendi gave Kosovo their first ever judo world title on Tuesday as she beat Brazil’s Erika Miranda in the under-52kg gold medal match in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The 22-year-old — the first Kosovar judoka to win a medal at the championships since it became a state in its’ own right in 2008 — was not a shock winner as she traveled to Rio de Janeiro ranked world No. 1 in her category having won the prestigious Masters event.
For Miranda it was also her first medal at either the world championships or the Olympic Games, the 26-year-old having lost the bronze medal match in the 2007 and 2010 world championships.
Photo: AFP
It was the first time that Brazil won a medal in the women’s under-52kg category.
The bronze medals went to Germany’s Mareen Kraeh and Yuki Hashimoto of Japan — the latter Japan’s third medal in as many events in Rio.
JAPANESE SUCCESS
Photo: Reuters
The Japanese — who endured their worst showing at the Olympic Games in London last year garnering just one gold medal, with the men winning none — added two more medals to their tally in Tuesday’s second final, the men’s under-66kg category.
Japan’s Masashi Ebinuma defeated Kazakh judoka Azamat Mukanov in the final, while his compatriot, Masaaki Fukuoka, took bronze along with Ukraine’s Georgii Zantaraia.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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