TKD Results - Day 1

China, Mexico win gold
By the Associated Press
Posted Wednesday, August 20, 2008 3:36 AM ET

BEIJING (AP) -- Chinese world champion Wu Jingyu won Olympic gold in her weight class during the first day of the taekwondo competition on Wednesday, while Afghanistan got its first Olympic medal ever, winning a bronze in the men's under 58-kilogram division.

China's Wu Jingyu celebrates after earning the gold medal in the women's 49kg division.
Mexico's Guillermo Perez won gold in the under 58-kg division in a decision over Dominica's Yulis Gabriel Mercedes. Afghanistan's Rohullah Nikpai won one of the two bronzes awarded in that weight class.
Wu took the lead in the first round of the women's under 49-kg final with a chest kick to Thailand's Buttree Puedpong. She narrowly missed on a high kick to Puedpong's head late in the second round that hit the Thai in the shoulder and sent her to the mat.
Puedpong had a point deducted in the third round, putting her in negative territory, and Wu held on for the win.
Wu also cruised through the preliminaries, beating her first two opponents by 7-point margins. That set up a semifinal between Wu and the other favorite in the division, Taiwan's Yang Shu-chun, the 2007 world bronze medalist.
Wu took the lead with a solid looping head kick and a midsection kick to close the first round. Yang scored in the second round, but Wu matched that early in the third and went on to win 4-1.

Men's 58kg and women's 49kg gallery
As the first day of taekwondo kicks off in Beijing, follow the action live as images flow in from the Games. Follow Charlotte Craig, Wu Jingyu and Athens gold medalist Chu Mu Yen.
Afghanistan wins its first Olympic medal
Related Stories
Rohullah NIKPAI bio
Guillermo PEREZ bio
WU Jingyu bio
Buttree PUEDPONG bio
Charlotte Craig quick hits
Charlotte Craig bio
Venezuela's Dalia Contreras Rivero and Puedpong went into overtime in the other semifinal. Neither was able to score, and Peudpong was declared the winner by the judges.
Contreras Rivero and Cuba's Daynellis Montejo, who defeated Yang, took bronzes.
Charlotte Craig of the United States lost in the quarterfinal to Rivero.
"This is more of a learning experience," Craig said of her first Olympics. "I was lucky to make it to these Olympic Games - 2012 will be different. Even though I'm 17 years old, I'm still one of the top athletes in the world. I just have to believe in myself."
In the men's under 58-kg final, Perez had to go the distance with Mercedes.
Perez scored early, but Mercedes came back with seconds left to force the match into overtime. Neither could score in the allotted two minutes, and the judges' decision went to Perez.
Defending Athens champion Chu Mu-yen of Taiwan got off to a flying start in the preliminaries, using an airborne back kick and then a downward chopping head kick to easily best Kenya's Dickson Wamwiri, 7-0.
But his momentum ran out in the quarterfinals.
Chu was quickly forced to play catch-up after Mercedes pegged him with a body kick combination. Chu evened it up in the second round at 2-2, but fell behind again as time ran out.
World champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain, who finished fourth in Athens, also struggled in the quarterfinals, going into the third round tied with Marcio Ferreira of Brazil. He scored, then lost a point for a penalty and the match went into overtime. He won with a body kick after 20 seconds.
In the semifinal, Ramos trailed Mercedes at the start of the final round, but Mercedes lost a point on penalties, sending that match into overtime as well. Mercedes scored the winning kick with just six seconds remaining.
Nikpai defeated Ramos in the bronze medal match. The other bronze went to Taiwan's Chu.

By the Associated Press
Posted Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:29 AM ET

BEIJING (AP) -- Afghanistan won its first Olympic medal on Wednesday, when Rohullah Nikpai defeated world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain to take the bronze medal in the men's under 58-kilogram taekwondo competition.
Nikpai, a flashy kicker who has been practicing the Korean martial art since he was 10, defeated Ramos easily in their bronze medal contest, outscoring the limping Spaniard.
Nikpai placed second in the World Taekwondo Federation's world qualifying event in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam last year.
The win brings him a US$50,000 prize from a mobile phone company in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan will get another chance at a medal in taekwondo. Nesar Ahmad Bahave is competing in a heavier weight class.