July 26, 2021 - Croatia taekwondo national team member Matea Jelić is close to winning a medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in the category up to 67 kilograms!
The world champion in this category advanced to the semifinals with a 30-0 victory against Brazilian Milena Titoneli, reports HRT.
Jelić started the fight well, leading 7-1, only for Titoneli to return to 7-6 by the end of the first round. However, in the second round, the 23-year-old from Knin dominated, got to 20-9, and in the third round, increased her advantage to the final 30-9.
Jelić will have the first opportunity to secure a medal in the semifinals at 9:00 Croatia time, when she will fight against American Paige McPherson in the semifinals. In case of defeat in the semifinals, Jelić will have a chance to win bronze in the rematch in the afternoon.
Toni Kanaet in the category up to 80 kg failed to reach the semifinals, losing to Russian Maxim Hramchev in the quarterfinals who led 22-0 after two rounds. The duel was interrupted due to too large a difference in points. After the first round, it was only 3-0 for the Russian, but at the beginning of the second, the Russian very quickly won eight points and practically finished.
Kanaet is now left to hope that Kramchev will qualify for the finals and thus offer him the opportunity to win bronze through the repechage.
In other Olympic news, Croatian canoeist Matija Marinić failed to qualify for the wildwater slalom finals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Marinić achieved the 11th time in the semifinals, and the fight for the medal includes the fastest 10. Marinić missed the placement in the finals by 2.12 seconds.
Croatian boxer Nikolina Ćaćić was defeated in the round of 16 in the 57-kilogram category. Canadian Caroline Veyre was better.
Croatian table tennis player Tomislav Pucar said goodbye to the Olympic tournament after losing to Slovenian Bojan Tokić 0-4 (9-11, 8-11, 9-11, 10-12).
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