Sari Ali gifted Turkey its second gold medal here on Thursday as he beat Osama Abdalrhman of Egypt in the men's under 80kg class final at the "2008 Good Luck Beijing" International Taekwondo Invitational Tournament.
The 22-year-old Sari, the bronze medalist at the 2007 Universiade Championships, hit Osama's chest to score first in the opening set and then turned to solid defense and counterattack strategy according to the direction of his coach.
While the 20-year-old Osama, who had no major international achievements before, felt a little impatient and tried to score imminently regardless of his sloppy defense, which gave the his opponent many chances in the following sets.
Sari spotted the flaws in time and make two efficient kicks to seal the victory 3-1 despite one point scored by his opponent in the third set. Turkey then reaped its second gold of the tournament after Tazegul Servet was crowned at men's 68kg class on Wednesday.
"It was a tough match today as my opponent is very strong and skillful. I contribute the victory to years of hard training which might be the key to my gold today. Thanks a lot for the well-organized tournament to give me this chance," said Sari after the championship bout.
In the third-place playoffs earlier, Zhu Guo of China and Canada's Michaud Sebastien downed their opponents to wrap up the bronze medal.
Source:Xinhua
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