Naidan wins 1st Olympic gold for Mongolia
Friday, 15 August 2008
BEIJING, Aug 14 : Tuvshinbayar Naidan from Mongolia outscored Askhat Zhitkeyev of Kazakhstan in men's 100kg class judo at the Beijing Olympic Games Thursday, winning the first gold medal his country had awaited for 44 years.
Naidan, world-ranked 12th this year, defeated Zhitkeyev by waza-ari, an almost ippon victory, in the final. Before his win, Mongolian athletes had achieved 15 Olympic medals after their debut in Tokyo Games in 1964, but none of them was gold.
The 24-year-old Mongolian made his way to the final by a surprise. At the first round, he ipponed two-time world champion Japan's Keiji Suzuki. Being one of the most favorites, the Japanese changed to half-heavyweight after winning the gold medal of over-100kg category in Athens.
Naidan then gave a convincing performance by stunning Benjamin Behrla of Germany and Jang Sung-ho, Olympic silver medalist in Athens to the semifinal. He later won Azerbaijan's Movlud Miraliyev by yuko in a golden-score overtime.
Henk Grol, world-ranked No. 1, from the Netherlands, beat Georgian Zhorzholiani to win a bronze medal. He upset world champion Luciano Correa at the first round.
Miraliyev won the other bronze by outscoring Poland's Przemyslaw Matyjaszek.
Meantime, Chinese judoka Yang Xiuli won the women's 78kg gold by a referee's verdict after a tie in overtime at the Beijing Olympics Thursday, adding the second judo title to China.
In the five-minute final bout, both Yang and his Cuban rival Yalennis Castillo managed a koka which led to a five-minute golden-score duel
After a suffocating five-minute overtime, their scores were still unchanged, despite a koka was given to Castillo which was later canceled.
Then the referee and judges of the gold medal match made a final verdict which awarded Yang in blue the winner. Judge Akiko Amano from Japan raised blue flag, judge Cathy Mouette from France raised white and the referee Franc Ocko from Slovenia raised a decisive blue.
Naidan, world-ranked 12th this year, defeated Zhitkeyev by waza-ari, an almost ippon victory, in the final. Before his win, Mongolian athletes had achieved 15 Olympic medals after their debut in Tokyo Games in 1964, but none of them was gold.
The 24-year-old Mongolian made his way to the final by a surprise. At the first round, he ipponed two-time world champion Japan's Keiji Suzuki. Being one of the most favorites, the Japanese changed to half-heavyweight after winning the gold medal of over-100kg category in Athens.
Naidan then gave a convincing performance by stunning Benjamin Behrla of Germany and Jang Sung-ho, Olympic silver medalist in Athens to the semifinal. He later won Azerbaijan's Movlud Miraliyev by yuko in a golden-score overtime.
Henk Grol, world-ranked No. 1, from the Netherlands, beat Georgian Zhorzholiani to win a bronze medal. He upset world champion Luciano Correa at the first round.
Miraliyev won the other bronze by outscoring Poland's Przemyslaw Matyjaszek.
Meantime, Chinese judoka Yang Xiuli won the women's 78kg gold by a referee's verdict after a tie in overtime at the Beijing Olympics Thursday, adding the second judo title to China.
In the five-minute final bout, both Yang and his Cuban rival Yalennis Castillo managed a koka which led to a five-minute golden-score duel
After a suffocating five-minute overtime, their scores were still unchanged, despite a koka was given to Castillo which was later canceled.
Then the referee and judges of the gold medal match made a final verdict which awarded Yang in blue the winner. Judge Akiko Amano from Japan raised blue flag, judge Cathy Mouette from France raised white and the referee Franc Ocko from Slovenia raised a decisive blue.