TOKYO: Egyptian athletes had a good day on the wrestling mat at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Tuesday morning with two wrestlers reaching the semifinals.
Mohamed Metwally beat Cuba’s Daniel Hechavarria 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the Greco-Roman 87 kg competition after a crushing 9-1 win against Kiryl Maskevich of Belarussia in the previous round.
Metwally’s compatriot Mohamed Ibrahim Elsayed had a tougher time in his 67 kg matches, edging Korea’s Hansu Ryu in his first bout, and getting an equally slim VPO1 victory over Karen Aslanyan of Armenia in their quarterfinal bout.
Both will take to the mat later in the day in their bid to reach the finals of their respective comeptions.
In other bouts, Tunisia’s Lamjed Maafi lost 11-1 to Azerbaijan’s Rafig Huseynov in the 77 kg Repechage while Korea’s Ryu had beaten Algeria’s Abdelmalek Merabet 8-0 in a 67 kg qualification match before losing to Metwally.
Aker Al-Obaidi of the Refugee Team beat Tunisia’s Souleymen Nasr 8-0 in the 67 kg category but was then defeated 10-0 by Georgia’s Ramaz Zoidze in the quarterfinals.
Algerian wrestler Bachir Sid Azara wiped out China’s Fei Peng 11-1 to reach the 87 kg quarterfinals, but then lost narrowly to Ukraine’s Zhan Beleniuk.
In the women’s freestyle quarterfinals, Sweden’s Henna Johansson overcame Tunisia’s Marwa Amri 5-1.
On the track, Lebanon’s Noureddine Hadid finished last in the 200-meter heats with a time of 21.12 and didn’t advance.