On the penultimate day of the Olympics

An Arab Olympic day par excellence.. a gold, 3 silver and a bronze

• Egyptian Feryal Ashraf celebrates after winning the gold medal in karate.

  AFP

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Arab athletes lived their best day at the Tokyo Summer Olympics, after they won a gold for Egyptian Feryal Ashraf in karate, and three silvers and a bronze, yesterday, on the penultimate day of the games.

The Arabs continued to strengthen their record in the history of their participation in the Games, with five gold, five silver and eight bronze.

Karate player Faryal Ashraf Abdelaziz gave her country Egypt the first gold medal in the Summer Olympics since 2004, after winning the karate sport for the weight of +61 kg.

Faryal, 22, outperformed Azerbaijani Irina Zaretska, the 2018 world champion in the women's weight category -68 kg, with a score of 2-0.

The wrestler, Karam Gaber, was the last athlete to achieve gold for Egypt in the 2004 Athens edition. This is the second medal for Egyptian women in karate, after the bronze by Gianna Farouk, last Friday.

Feryal Ashraf finished seventh in the 2018 World Championships, and was crowned the 2019 World Junior Women's Champion -68 kg and the 2020 African Champion.

"I can't describe this moment," said Faryal, who started the sport at the age of seven and loves to read and draw.

I worked so hard to get here.”

The pharmacy student continued, "I thank my family and the coaches who worked with me. We put Egypt among the adults."

Hamdi squanders gold

The Saudi karate player, Tariq Hamdi, was on his way to gift his country the first gold medal in its history, but he made a technical mistake in the final, when the confrontation was within his reach, to be satisfied with the silver of +75 kg.

Hamdi, 23, lost the final match against Iranian Sajjad Ganjzadeh, after making a technical error "Hansouko", when he was ahead of his opponent 4-1, and this is Saudi Arabia's second silver in its history after the runner Hadi Souan, in the 400m hurdles race in the Games. Sydney 2000.

Hamidi was heading to win the gold, when he kicked his opponent and threw him to the ground, and after the referees consulted among themselves, they decided to exclude Hamdi, and award the gold to the Iranian player.

"Our ambition was gold," he said. "I got kicked out by the referee, who considered the beatings violent.

I have no comment on the ruling.

"In the near future, I will compete in the world championships in Dubai, and I will try to compensate for it with gold," Hamdi added.

modern pentagon silver

Egyptian Ahmed Osama El-Gendy, 21, won silver in the modern pentathlon competition, scoring 1482 points, five points ahead of Britain's Joseph Chung (1482), while South Korean Wongtae Jun came third (1470).

Athletes score points in fencing events (ranking round) in the 200m swimming, then an additional fencing round.

Then they engage in equestrian and pistol shooting at a distance of 10 meters and run.

The soldier had won first place in the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018, and came third in the 2021 World Championships in Cairo, knowing that he had dislocated his shoulder before that match.

"The feeling is great, the medal is heavy, I never expected it to be this heavy," the soldier said after his victory.

He previously talked about his beginnings at the age of six, “It was a coincidence.

When I was young, my mother took me to learn swimming in the club, because I was suffering from shortness of breath, and the doctor asked her to swim to improve my breathing.

He continued, "But my mother liked the idea of ​​me playing five sports, and she encouraged me to join."

He was named in 2018 and 2019 by FIFA the best young player in the modern quintet.

Bahrain's first medal

In the 10 thousand meters race, Bahrain's Kalkidan Ghihagni came second behind Dutch star Sivan Hassan, giving the Gulf state its first medal in Tokyo.

Ghizaghni, 30, an Ethiopian-born, had previously represented her mother country before obtaining Bahraini citizenship. She had not previously participated in the 10,000 meters race in a major championship, as she competed in 1500 and 5000 meters in three editions of the World Championships without significant results, before To win the gold in these two races at the Asian Games in Jakarta 2018. “The race was exhausting, especially because of the humidity,” said Ghizhegni.

In the next Olympics, I will get the gold in the marathon.”

Beach Bronze

The hardworking Qatari duo Sherif Younis and Ahmed Tejan did not leave empty handed, and they won the bronze medal in the beach volleyball competition.

Younes and Tijan beat the Latvian duo Martins Plavins and Edgars Tux 21-12, 21-18 in 41 minutes.

This is Qatar's third medal in Tokyo, after the gold medalists of weightlifter Faris Hassouna and Moataz Barshim, in the high jump.

• A technical error prevented Saudi Tariq Hamdi from crowning his country with the first gold medal in its history.

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