TOKYO: Saleh Elsharabaty fell just short of grabbing an Olympic gold for Jordan when he lost the Taekwondo men’s 80 kg final 20-9 to Maksim Khramtcov of the Russian Olympic Committee at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Tokyo.
Monday also proved to be a fruitful day for Egypt in the Japanese capital at the Taekwondo competition, with bronze medals won in both the women’s and men’s categories.
Hedaya Wahba claimed her second Olympic medal after beating Paige McPherson of the US 17-6 in the Taekwondo women’s 67 kg competition, having previously claimed a bronze in the 57 kg category at Rio 2016.
Shortly after she had confirmed her medal win, fellow Egyptian Seif Eissa defeated Richard Andre Ordemann of Norway in the Taekwondo men’s 80 kg bronze medal match with a score of 12-4.
Elsharabaty’s path to silver saw him beat Ordemann 5-4 in the round of 16, Achraf Mahboubi of Morocco 17-15 in the quarterfinal, and Nikita Rafalovich of Uzbekistan 13-11 in the semifinal.
In the final, he came up against a formidable opponent in Khramtcov, though his silver medal finish will no doubt be celebrated in Jordan.
Egypt, too, will be celebrating the achievements of its Taekwondo heroes.
Wahba, 28, beat Magda Wiet Henin of France 11-10 in the round of 16 and lost to Great Britain’s Lauren Williams in the quarterfinal. She won her repechage contest against Malia Paseka 19-0 to earn a shot at bronze.
The 23-year-old Eissa for his part beat Jack Marton of Australia 11-1 in the round of 16 and Simone Alessio of Italy 6-5 in the quarterfinal, before losing the semifinal 13-1 to Khramtcov.
