RIYADH: Medals were awarded in arm wrestling, muaythai and savate, while the muaythai and taekwondo competitions were in full swing on Saturday on day nine of the Riyadh World Combat Games.
The day concluded with 14 gold medals being awarded: 12 in arm wrestling and two in savate.
At the close of day nine, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia led the gold tally with 21, 12 and nine medals, respectively. Ukraine leads the event in podium finishes, with 48 to date.
In the women’s right arm wrestling competition, Turkiye’s Esra Kiraz secured victory for the -55 kg division, while Rebeka Martinkovic of Slovakia claimed the -65 kg title. Sweden’s Mona Ann-Sofi Reisek emerged as the champion in the -80 kg category, followed by Barbora Bajciova of Slovakia taking the +80 kg division win.
In the men’s right arm division, Armenia’s Vachagan Hovhannisyan secured victory for the –70 kg category, while Daniel Procopciuc of Moldovia claimed the -80 kg title.
Viorel Marian Dobrin of Romania emerged as the champion in the –90 kg weight class, while Kazakhstan’s Yesbolat Karzhau took the -100 kg win. Within the -110kg weight division, Croatia’s Rino Masic took the gold, and Oleg Mykhailenko took first in the +110 kg category.
In the savate competition, the winner of the women’s Canne de Combat was Nicole Holzmann of Germany, who beat Eunjung Kim of Korea with a final score of 3-0.
The gold medal for the men’s Canne de Combat was secured by Thomas Richard Dardour, an Independent Neutral Athlete, winning against Michael Vrastil of the Czech Republic with a final score of 3-0.
On the inaugural day of the muaythai competition, attendees were treated to the Wai Kru competition, where athletes perform ceremonial dances through which fighters honor their trainers and the heritage of the sport.
Saturday also marked the conclusion of the Mixed Muaythai finals, coinciding with the kick-off of the men’s and women’s weight division rounds.
With a final score of 9.50, first place in women’s Wai Kru was awarded to Malaysia’s Jia Chi Yan, while Chun Ka Mok of Hong Kong took gold in the men’s Wai Kru final with a final score of 8.87.
The mixed Kyorugi Team of the taekwondo competition also began its first round of competition on Saturday.
