Mossely Wins Lightweight Gold and Yoka and Joyce Set Up Super Heavyweight Showdown

Estelle Mossely won Olympic gold on Friday afternoon to cap a brilliant year for the French Lightweight (60kg).

Guardar

Estelle Mossely won Olympic gold on Friday afternoon to cap a brilliant year for the French Lightweight (60kg). It was a gripping final, with China’s Yin Junhua powering into an early lead before Mossely dug deep to deliver a memorable turnaround. The Chinese boxer had managed to frustrate her opponent for long periods, but as her volume of punches thrown increased, Mossely’s accuracy gradually picked up too, earning a tight split-decision victory to the delight of the French fans.

Earlier on, the Men’s Flyweight (52kg) Semi-Finals had begun the day, with Uzbekistan’s Shakhobidin Zoirov and Venezuelan Yoel Finol kicking off the action. Finol looked to come forward at every opportunity, but Zoirov waited and countered time and again, leaving a tiring Venezuelan to pick up a hard-earned bronze while the Uzbek progresses to meet Russia’s APB World Champion Misha Aloian for gold on Sunday afternoon.

Aloian was patient against China’s Jinguan Hu in the second semi, with both boxers waiting for the right openings to appear. The Russian edged the first round and then extended his lead with some clean jabs, holding off a strong finale from Hu to advance to the gold-medal match.

The last four of the Men’s Light Welterweight (64kg) competition saw Vitaly Dunaytsev of Russia face Uzbekistan’s Fazliddin Gaibnazarov in a repeat of the World Championship final last October. Beaten into second place in Doha, the Uzbek was determined not to give his rival any room to manoeuvre this time around, fending off Dunaytsev’s attacks and producing some superb combinations of his own to make the final by split decision.

He will face Lorenzo Sotomayor after an emphatic victory over Germany’s Artem Harutyunyun saw the Azeri into gold-medal contention. Sotomayor’s impressive reach was once again decisive, and as the German bronze medalist worked hard to reduce the boxing distance, he left himself vulnerable.

The Men’s Super Heavyweight (+91kg) competition rolled on towards its conclusion with the current World Champion Tony Yoka of France facing Croatia’s reigning European Champion Filip Hrgovic. The big Croat found the occasional opening in the first round, but Yoka’s extra speed around the ring gave him the advantage over the three minutes, and the Frenchman powered on through a draining final three minutes to make the final by split decision.

The second semi saw Britain’s Joe Joyce facing the man that Yoka beat in the final in Doha, Kazakhstan’s Ivan Dychko. Dychko’s plan was clearly to keep moving as he covered considerable ground in the opening exchanges, establishing an early grip on the match, but he was rocked as Joyce pressed forward in the second and found his range, and the Brit’s unanimous victory put him into Sunday’s golden final.

The defending Women’s Olympic Middleweight (75kg) champion Claressa Shields then took to the ring, with Kazakhstan’s Dariga Shakimova also vying for a place in Sunday’s final. Shields’ dominance of the competition continued with a comfortable win, and she will go for gold against Netherlands’ Nouchka Fontijn, who delivered a superb performance to win by split decision against Li Qian of China.

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only

Guardar

Últimas Noticias

Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons

Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons

Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024

She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024

Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris

Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris

Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years

The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years

Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”

The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”