Tunisian Jendoubi secures the first Arab medal at the Tokyo Olympics

Tunisian taekwondo player Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi secured a gold or silver medal in the men's 58 kg category, after qualifying today for the final by eliminating South Korean star John Jang, the 2019 world champion. The 19-year-old Jendoubi won the final total 25-19, after The first round ended in a 5-5 tie, and the Tunisian won the last two rounds in his favour, 4-3 and 16-11 against John (21 years).

Jendoubi is on the verge of winning the first Arab medal in the Tokyo Olympics, whose competitions officially started on Friday evening, after a year of delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The young Tunisian reached the semi-finals by defeating Ethiopia's Solomon Demsey in the quarter-finals due to the difference in points, with a final score of 32-9. And he managed to settle the three rounds 10-5, 9-4, and 13-0 before the match referee stopped the confrontation due to the large gap in points.

According to the international law of Taekwondo, the referee can stop the match when the difference between the players reaches 20 points at the end of the second round or at any time in the third round to avoid bodily harm. Jendoubi had moved to the quarter-finals at the expense of the Russian competitor under the neutral flag, Mikhail Artamonov, when he settled the confrontation with a final score of 25-18, after three rounds that ended 2-4, 10-3, and 13-11. Jendoubi had previously won the taekwondo bronze in the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics for the weight of 48 kg in Argentina, and the gold of the African Games 2019 in the Moroccan capital Rabat for the weight of 54 kg.

El-Jendoubi will play in the final later today, with the winner of the match between Italian Vito Delacila and Argentine Lucas Lautaro Gusman.

Among the women, Egyptian Nour Abdel Salam was defeated by Turkish Rukia Yildirim, who won the final score of 21-20 in the 49-kg weight category, despite the Egyptian’s superiority in the last two rounds (4-9, 9-8, 7-4).

In the same weight category, Moroccan Omaima Al-Bouchti was farewell by losing in the round of 16 to South Korea's Sim Jaeong 10-19.

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