South Korea and Argentina won Olympic taekwondo gold medals on Friday in two dramatically different finals.
In the women’s 67kg division, Hwang Kyung-seon defended the title she first won at the Beijing Games by beating Nur Tatar of Turkey 12-5 in an action-packed final where both fighters were on the attack from the start.
On the men’s side, Sebastian Crismanich of Argentina won the country’s first gold of the London Games in the 80kg division.
Photo: Reuters
In Hwang’s bout, both fighters landed head kicks nearly simultaneously within the opening 12 seconds before Hwang took control, nailing Tatar with several more body and head shots.
The 26-year-old two-times world champion Hwang previously won a bronze in Athens and became the first woman to win three Olympic taekwondo medals.
Hwang used her speed and flexibility to dominate all of her matches on Friday.
Photo: EPA
She said there was pressure on the Korean team to bring home gold medals, since the martial art was developed there. Until Hwang’s win, Lee Dae-hoon’s silver in the men’s 58kg division on Wednesday was the country’s only medal.
“It feels like flying,” Hwang said afterwards. “I’ve done something special for the country and it makes me very proud.”
The bronze medals were won by Paige McPherson of the US and Germany’s Helena Fromm.
Crismanich defeated Spain’s Nicolas Garcia in a cautious final where both fighters seemed reluctant to attack. Crismanich ultimately managed to land a body shot with eight seconds remaining to win 1-0.
Crismanich, 26, won the Pan-American championships last year, but the gold was his first Olympic medal.
In most of his matches on Friday, Crismanich was on the attack early, catching his opponents off guard with a rapid succession of body shots and head kicks.
Several of the division’s top seeds made an early exit, including the US’ five-times world champion Steven Lopez, Iran’s world champion Yousef Karami and top seed Ramin Azizov of Azerbaijan.
The world No. 1, Britain’s Aaron Cook, was conspicuously absent after UK officials refused to choose him for the team. Cook said he felt cheated and was being punished for his decision to leave the national training program.
“I don’t think I can ever move on from what they’ve done to me,” Cook said.
The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 36 points from Tyrese Maxey and a triple-double from Joel Embiid, on Thursday beat the Houston Rockets 128-122 in an NBA overtime thriller. Cameroonian big man Embiid scored 32 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 10 assists, posting the ninth triple-double of his career to help the Sixers end the Rockets’ three-game winning streak. Rockets star Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Amen Thompson added 17, but Thompson was scoreless in the fourth quarter. Even so, the Rockets led by nine midway through the final frame, Maxey tying it at 115-115 with 40.1 seconds left. Durant missed a
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
RSS