Bill Kellick - USA Taekwondo
Steven Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas) became the first fighter to win five world championship titles on Wednesday when he captured the men's welterweight gold medal at the WTF World Taekwondo Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Lopez, 30, won his first world championship gold medal in 2001 and has been undefeated at the biennial event ever since, winning titles in 2003, 2005 and 2007. He has also won two Olympic gold medals (2000 & 2004) and one Olympic bronze medal (2008) in the last decade, but the world championships are often regarded as being the tougher event due to the depth of the field. It would take six straight match wins on Wednesday to claim this year's title.
Lopez began the historic day with a win by withdrawal over Israel's Roman Rusinov and then defeated Poland's Piotr Pazinski, 5-1. He reached the quarterfinals with a 4-2 win over Serbia's Radomir Samadzic.
The quarterfinal match with Iran's Farzad Abdolahi turned out to be a rough and tumble affair with Abdolahi being disqualified after incurring eight penalties including a punch that knocked out Lopez's tooth.
But Lopez was now only two wins away from history and faced a familiar foe in the semifinals in Canada's Sebastien Michaud. The two fighters met in the semifinals of the last world championships in 2007 with Lopez prevailing, 1-(-2). The outcome this time would be no different as Lopez won by a 4-1 tally to reach the gold-medal bout against Spain's Nicolas Garcia Hemme.
Lopez's quest for history would go right down to the wire in the final with Garcia Hemme. Tied at the end of regulation, the match went to an overtime period in which neither fighter was able to score. The decision would now go to the judges based on who was the more aggressive fighter during the overtime period, and they determined Lopez as the superior fighter, thereby awarding him the victory and his place in history.
The other two U.S. fighters in action Wednesday both reached the round of 16
Men's heavyweight Jason Neville (Edmond, Okla.) won his first match by withdrawal over Kenya's John Ireri and then defeated Cameroon's Pierre Nyok Nyok, 4-0. But Neville dropped a 3-2 decision to Iran's Hossein Tajik in the round of 16.
Women's welterweight Nia Abdallah (Houston, Texas) defeated Jordan's Shaden Thweib, 2-0, and then won by withdrawal over Tunisia's Khaoula Ben Hamza. She lost her round of 16 match to Norway's Nikolina Kursar 4-2.
The WTF World Taekwondo Championships continue through Sunday. The daily schedule for U.S. fighters is below:
Thursday, October 15
Men's under 58 kg - James Howe (San Ramon, Calif.)
Women's under 49 kg - Victoria Stambaugh (Pasadena, Texas)
Women's under 57 kg - Danielle Holmquist (Coral Springs, Fla.)
Friday, October 16
Men's under 63 kg - Brian Gallagher (Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
Women's under 53 kg - Danielle Pelham (Bothell, Wash.)
Men's under 68 kg - Steven Lin (Chatham, N.J.)
Saturday, October 17
Men's under 54 kg - Luis Reyes (Chatsworth, Calif.)
Men's under 87 kg - Antony Graf (Miami, Fla.)
Women's under 46 kg - Talina Le (Woodinville, Wash.)
Women's under 73 kg - Dalia Avivi (Plantation, Fla.)
Sunday, October 18
Men's under 74 kg - Mark Lopez (Sugar Land, Texas)
Women's under 62 kg - Stephanie Beckel (Miami, Fla.)
Women's over 73 kg - Lauren Cahoon (Miami, Fla.)
VIEW COMPLETE DRAW
No comments:
Post a Comment