Iran’s Hadi Saei won the men’s 80kg class taekwondo gold yeterday, defeating Italy’s Mauro Sarmiento.
Saei, who won the gold in a lower weight class in the Athens Olympics four years ago, went ahead in the first round, but Sarmiento hit him squarely with a head kick to make the score 4-2.
Saei landed a kick in the second round to move within a point, then another to Sarmiento’s side to tie the score at 4-4 going into the final round.
Saei came out quickly in the third, scoring another point for the lead. He then added a sixth point to seal the victory.
Steven Lopez of the US scored on Azerbaijan’s Rashad Ahmadov in the final seconds to win bronze. The second bronze went to China’s Zhu Guo, who defeated Britain’s Aaron Cook 4-1.
In the women’s 67kg competition South Korea’s double world champion Hwang Kyung-seon beat Canada’s Karine Sergerie 2-1 to claim the gold medal.
Sergerie, the world champion in the 59-63kg class, led 1-0 after the first period but the South Korean hit back to tie the score 1-1 in the second.
Hwang’s back kick caught the Canadian’s abdomen in the third round to bring South Korea their third gold medal in taekwondo on the third day of the four-day competition.
The bronze medals went to world silver medalist Gwladys Patience Epangue of France, who defeated Australia’s Tina Morgan 4-1, and Croatia’s Sandra Saric who outscored Puerto Rico’s Asuncion Ocasio Rodriguez 5-1.
Earlier in the day Sheikha Maitha bin Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, a member of the United Arab Emirates royal family made her Olympic debut in the event.
She lost 5-1 to eventual champion Hwang.
Sheikha Maitha was given a spot in the repecharge but was overpowered 4-0 by bronze medalist Saric.
Her father, UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, is a karate blackbelt and she followed him into the Japanese-born combat sport.
Four years later, she also started practicing taekwondo and won a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha. She was named the Arab athlete of the year last year.
“I love sports. I love athletes. I love what sportsmanship represents, the value of sports,” she said. “Just win or lose. It’s very fair. There’s no class, you know. Everyone is equal. You’re on your merit.”
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Jannik Sinner continued his quest to become the first man in history to win five Masters 1000 tournaments in a row with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Danish qualifier Elmer Moller at the Madrid Open on Sunday. The world leader extended his winning streak to 19 matches, a run that began early March in Indian Wells, and he has captured 24 consecutive victories at the Masters 1000 level, dating back to the Paris Masters last October. Searching for a maiden title at this level on clay, Sinner advanced to the round of 16 at the Caja Magica with a 77-minute performance against
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions — the first Western soccer team to play in the country. China was emerging from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. “All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person,” he said. “It was all bicycles,” he said. “There were very few cars to be seen.” Dwyer,
Tennis players are facing an unexpected opponent at the Madrid Open. A stomach virus or food poisoning has affected Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Marin Cilic and others, raising concerns. World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka avoided an upset by Naomi Osaka on the court on Monday and said she is trying to avoid illness by sticking to a diet of chicken breasts, rice and salad. The rumor among the players was bad shrimp tacos were to blame. Sabalenka knocked on wood for luck and said, “So far, so good. I heard that I have to avoid those tacos,” she laughed, adding “I stick to the
RSS