• 22-year-old beats Iryna Zaretska 2-0 to win Women’s Kumite +61 kilogram competition

Ali Khaled

DUBAI: Feryal Abdelaziz has claimed glorious gold for Egypt after beating Irina Zaretska 2-0 in the final for the Women’s Karate Kumite +61 kilogram competition at Tokyo’s Nippon Budokan arena on Saturday afternoon.

Abdelaziz fought confidently from the start, but in cagey and strategic match, there was no score going into the last minute of the three-minute bout.

She finally took the lead with less than 30 seconds left and followed it up with another almost immediately.

At the final buzzer there were scenes of joy from Abdelaziz and her team, as Egypt confirmed a stunning win.

The gold medal comes a day after Giana Lotfy claimed an Olympic bronze in karate despite losing her Women’s Kumite -61 kilogram semifinal bout to China’s Yin Xiaoyan.

The karate kumite competition does not have a bronze medal match for the semifinal losers, unlike some other Olympic disciplines, with both competitors sharing the honor of third place on the podium.

Abdelaziz’s win capped a day of six superb performances.

After only 20 seconds of the semifinal against Sofya Berultseva of Azerbaijan saw both athletes score a yuko, Abdelaziz followed shortly with another to lead 2-1 with two of the three minutes left.

The Egyptian was full of confidence and she edged closer to the final by taking a 3-1 lead halfway through the bout. All Abdelaziz needed to do was maintain her focus and at least a karate silver medal was going to Egypt.

After Berultseva pulled the score back to 3-3, Abdelaziz resounded with quick yuko to lead again, and with 22 seconds left, she went 5-3 up. Another point for her opponent could not stop a brilliant win and her progression to the final, where she was set to meet Iryna Zaretska of Azerbaijan.

In her first match of the day, Abdelaziz immediately showed her strength by beating Li Gong of China of 4-0, scoring an ippon with just under a minute left in the bout, and followed that up with another point with 22 seconds left.

And in her second match against Elena Quirici of Switzerland, the 22 year old from Cairo took a three-point lead with a superb display of skill. But with less than a minute left, the Swiss squared the match with an ippon. With the match ending 3-3, Abdelaziz won via senshu — awarded for the first unopposed score of the contest.

Abdelaziz led the standings after two matches, at least for the four competitors in Pool B.

She had a ideal start to her third match, with an ippon giving her a three-point lead after 32 seconds over Iranian opponent Hamideh Abbasali. After the match equalizing back to 3-3, another ippon gave her a 6-3 lead with just over a minute left. But the Iranian rallied and managed to pull off an impressive 9-7 win to delay Abdelaziz’s advance.

Progress to the semifinals was confirmed with a 0-0 tie with Algerian Lamya Matoub, who had lost her first three matches, a dead rubber.