Three African competitors claimed bronze medals in taekwondo on day three of the Tokyo Olympics.
Taekwondo
Ivory Coast’s Ruth Gbagbi, 27, matched her the bronze she won in Rio as she beat Brazil’s Milena Titoneli 12-8 in the -67kg category.
She had lost to Great Britain’s Lauren Williams in the semi-finals 24-18
Egypt’s Hedaya Wahba, 28, then claimed the other bronze on offer in the same category with a brilliant last round, which she won 14-1, to seal an overall 17-6 victory over USA’s Paige McPherson.
Wahba had also lost to Williams in an earlier round but came through the repechage to earn her shot at a medal..
Seif Eissa, 23, became the third Egyptian to an Olympic taekwondo bronze medal as he beat Norway’s Richard Andre Ordemann 12-4 in their medal bout in the men’s -80kg category.
In the same category there had been disappointment for Ivory Coast’s defending Olympic champion Cisse who lost in the very first round to Morocco’s Achraf Mahboubi.
Swimming
South Africa’s Tatjana Schoenmaker looks like the lady to beat on Tuesday for women’s 100m breaststroke gold as she qualified for the final with the fastest time.
The 24-year-old Commonwealth champion had she set an Olympic record on Sunday to reach the semi-finals.
Surfing
Bianca Buitendag of South Africa caused a shock in the opening heats of the surfing as she beat seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore of Australia.
The 27-year-old then went onto make it to Tuesday’s quarter-finals where she will face Portugal’s Yolanda Hopkins.
“That’s just the nature of surfing, sometimes the waves are there, sometimes the waves are not,” Gilmore said of her shock loss to outsider Buitendag.
Gilmore was left ruing her decision to let a promising wave pass to her opponent, with Buitendag jumping on it and notching a score of 7.10 that decided the heat.
Rugby Sevens
Africa’s two representatives in the men’s event South Africa and Kenya have both been drawn in Pool C
South Africa, who won bronze at the Rio games in 2016, began with a comfortable 33-14 win over Ireland while Kenya lost narrowly to the USA 19-14.
The South Africans then emerged victorious when they faced their African rivals winning 14-5.
The action continues on Tuesday as South Africa face USA and Kenya take on Ireland, with both sides still in with a chance to reach the quarter-finals.
Handball
Egypt’s men lost 27-32 to Denmark to follow-up a 37-31 win over Portugal on Saturday – next up are hosts Japan on Wednesday.
Hockey
South Africa’s women lost their second straight game in Tokyo on Monday losing 4-1 to Great Britain, having lost their opener to Ireland 2-0.
On Wednesday the South Africans have a tough looking game against Netherlands, who are the World Cup holders and won silver at the 2016 Games in Rio.
Source: BBC
