TOKYO: Egyptian athletes enjoyed a productive Tuesday morning on the wrestling mat at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics with two fighters reaching the semifinals.
Mohammed Metwally beat Cuba’s Daniel Hechavarria 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the Greco-Roman 87-kilogram competition after a crushing 9-1 win against Kiryl Maskevich of Belarus in the previous round.
Metwally’s compatriot Mohammed Ibrahim Elsayed had a tougher time in his 67-kilogram matches, edging South Korea’s Hansu Ryu in his first bout, and getting another slim victory over Karen Aslanyan of Armenia in their quarterfinal bout.
Both will take to the mat later in their bid to reach the finals of their respective competitions.
In other bouts, Tunisia’s Lamjed Maafi lost 11-1 to Azerbaijan’s Rafig Huseynov in the 77-kg repechage while Ryu defeated Algeria’s Abdelmalek Merabet 8-0 in a 67-kg qualification match before losing to Metwally.
Aker Al-Obaidi of the refugee team beat Tunisia’s Souleymen Nasr 8-0 in the 67-kg category but was then defeated 10-0 by Georgia’s Ramaz Zoidze in the quarterfinals.
Algerian wrestler Bachir Sid Azara wiped out China’s Fei Peng 11-1 to reach the 87-kg quarterfinals, but then lost narrowly to Ukraine’s Zhan Beleniuk.
In the women’s freestyle quarterfinals, Sweden’s Henna Johansson overcame Tunisia’s Marwa Amri 5-1.
On the track, Lebanon’s Noureddine Hadid finished last in the 200-meter heats with a time of 21.12 seconds and did not advance.
