Yang claims gold
ByReuters
Published 14/08/2008 at 11:56 GMT
Yang Xiuli claimed China's second gold medal in the judo competition, defeating Yalennis Castillo of Cuba in a marathon battle in the final of the women's 78-kg category in Beijing.
JUDO Beijing 2008 - Yang Xiuli of China, in blue, celebrates her win over Esther San Miguel of Spain at the women's judo -78kg half heavyweight division semi-finals
Image credit: AP
After a tentative start, both fighters joined the battle in earnest, tossing each other to the floor like wheat-sacks, but each unable to put the other on their back to post a score.
As the bout went into extra time, the roars from the largely Chinese crowd became deafening, and as the judokas tired, their techniques became more crude and desperate.
With neither able to score after the full five minutes of extra time, referees judged Yang the more attacking fighter and awarded her the title.
South Korea's Jeong Gyeongmi won a bronze, pinning Edinanci Silva of Brazil to the mat long enough to score ippon and win automatically.
France's Stephanie Possamai threw Esther San Miguel of Spain for a high-scoring waza ari late in their bout to claim the other bronze.
Tuvshinbayar Naidan clinched Mongolia's first Olympic gold, defeating Askhat Zhitkeyev of Kazakhstan in the final of the men's 100-kg.
The Mongolian posted three scoring throws to outclass Zhitkeyev, each time using brute strength to pick his opponent off the floor and roll him on to his back.
Conceding five inches to his opponent, Naidan played to his strengths, diving low and barrelling into Zhitkeyev's legs to force him off balance.
Two minutes into the bout, the tactic paid off handsomely, with Naidan slinging Zhitkeyev across his shoulders and tossing him on his side to post a high waza ari score.
With the wind taken out of his sails, Zhitkeyev allowed himself to be thrown twice more for low scoring uko, leaving the result beyond doubt.
Azerbaijan's Movlud Miraliyev beat Przemyslaw Matyjaszek of Poland to win a bronze, throwing him to the tatami to post a high waza ari score.
Henk Grol of the Netherlands overcame the disappointment of his narrow semi-final loss to Zhitkayev, prevailing over Georgia's Levan Zhorzholiani in the other bronze decider.
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