RIYADH: There was double semifinal Olympics heartbreak for Egypt’s Mohammed Ibrahim Elsayed and Mohammed Metwally as the athletes on Tuesday lost their respective last four contests in the men’s wrestling Greco-Roman competition at Tokyo 2020.
Both will return to the mat tomorrow for a chance to claim bronze.
Elsayed exited the 67-kilogram competition after a tense 7-6 semifinal loss to Ukrainian Parviz Nasibov at Makuhari Messe Hall. The Egyptian had taken a 5-0 lead and looked set to progress to the final, but a series of late mistakes saw him lose the contest in an agonizing manner.
In the 87-kg category, Metwally lost 9-2 to Viktor Lorincz of Hungary, who will now contest the final against the Ukrainian Zhan Beleniuk, who beat Croatian Ivan Huklek 7-1 in their semifinal.
Metwally and Huklek will meet in the 87-kg bronze medal contest on Wednesday afternoon.
In the earlier 67-kg semifinal, Iranian Mohammed Reza Geraei defeated Ramaz Zoidze of Georgia 6-1, and will now meet Nasibov in the Wednesday final, taking place from 12:15 p.m. Saudi time. Elsayed will take on Zoidze in the bronze medal match.
It had been a promising day for the Arab fighters until the semifinal stage.
In the early hours of Tuesday, Metwally had beaten Cuba’s Daniel Hechavarria 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the 87-kg competition after a crushing 9-1 win against Kiryl Maskevich of Belarus in the previous qualifying round.
Elsayed had a tougher time in his 67-kg matches, edging South Korea’s Hansu Ryu in his first bout, and getting another slim victory over Karen Aslanyan of Armenia in their quarterfinal bout.
