Ariel Torres won the first karate medal in US history at the Olympics and took bronze in the men’s kata on Friday.
Japan’s Ryo Kiyuna won the gold medal, defeating Spaniard Damian Quintero in the final as the sport made its Olympic debut.
Kiyuna received a score of 28.72 for his demonstration of karate forms. His score exceeded the 27.66 of Quintero, who took first place in the final.
Ali Sofuoglu from Turkey also won bronze.
In the men’s 75-kilogram kumite, Italian Luigi Busa defeated Azerbaijani Rafael Aghayev 1-0 in the physical final and won the gold medal.
Aghayev’s silver is the first non-bronze medal in Tokyo for Azerbaijan, but he didn’t win his nation’s eighth Olympic gold at all.
Gabor Harspataki from Hungary and Stanislav Horuna from Ukraine won bronze.
In the 61-kilogram women’s kumite, Serbian Jovana Prekovic defeated Chinese Yin Xiaoyan by Hantei after a goalless final and won the gold medal.
Neither karateka could score a point in the three-minute fight, but Prekovic was named the winner by three of the four judges on the tatami.
The 25-year-old Prekovic won the world championship in 2018 with 61 kilograms. Her gold medal is the second of the Tokyo Olympics for Serbia.
Giana Lotfy from Egypt took bronze after narrowly losing her semi-final 1-1 against Yin on Hantei. Merve Coban also won bronze and won Turkey’s third medal in karate in the first two days.
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