Teenager Makayla Greenwood won a dramatic women’s under-53 kilogram
final to secure the United States' first gold of this year’s World
Taekwondo Championships before Liang Yushuai ensured China topped the
podium with men’s under-63kg success.
Published July 23, 2021, 8:00 AM
1.
EJ OBIENA (athletics) – Obiena, 25, became the first Filipino athlete to qualify to the Tokyo Olympics after hitting the Olympic pole vault standard of 5.81 meters in a Pole Vault meet in Chiara, Italy in 2019. Ranked No. 10 in the world, Obiena has significantly improved his season best to 5.87m at a Polish event early July, which also resets the national outdoor record. He finished fourth at the Bauhaus-Galan Wanda Diamond League Meeting in Stockholm, Sweden last July 4 – a tournament that served as a preview of the Olympics. He has been based in Formia, Italy for the past years, training under Ukrainian coach Vitaly Petrov.
Taekwondo jin Kurt Barbosa clinches Olympic spot visayandailystar.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from visayandailystar.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Published May 22, 2021, 4:07 PM
Photo from Pauline Lopez’s Facebook account
Pauline Lopez missed her chance of making it into the Tokyo Olympics after bowing in the quarterfinals at the Asian Qualification Tournament in Amman, Jordan Saturday, May 22.
Lopez succumbed to 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist Laetitia Aoun of Lebanon, 21-10, in the packed women’s -57kgs division that drew 12 athletes.
The 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist earlier clobbered Syria’s Aya Al-Jarayhe, 22-0, in the opening round.
Only the top 2 athletes in each division will earn Olympic berths with Arven Alcantara already out of contention Friday, May 21, after a first-round defeat in the men’s -68kgs.