Italy’s Lenzi stuns top-seeded US boxer Edwards

Chinese shooter Sheng Lihao bags his second gold by winning men’s 10-metre air rifle

PARIS:

American super heavyweight Joshua Edwards was eliminated from the Paris Olympics after losing to Italy’s Diego Lenzi, while Australia’s Harry Garside and Tyla McDonald also suffered defeats on Monday.

Top seed Edwards, one of the favourites to win a medal in the super heavyweight competition, tried to use his range and keep Lenzi at bay with his jab, but the Italian connected with a couple of powerful right hands in the first two rounds. The American, who was given a point deduction in the second round, just about edged the third, but it was too little too late. Australia, who have the largest boxing contingent at the Games with 12 boxers, got off to a difficult start on Monday. Garside, a Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, fell short against Richard Kovacs after the Hungarian took charge of the lightweight bout in the second round and showed great flair to down the Australian by unanimous decision. Kovacs next faces either Rio Olympics silver medallist Sofiane Oumiha of France or Jordan’s Obada Alkasbeh. “He made the adaptations that he needed to in that second round. All credit to him,” Garside said.

“I just wasn’t able to make the adjustments quick enough. I really envisioned myself winning that gold medal for Australia.” In the women’s lightweight category, McDonald was also outclassed by her Ecuadorian opponent Maria Jose Palacios, who clinched a unanimous points decision. The taller Palacios found it easy to break through McDonald’s guard and was comfortably ahead on the judges’ scoresheets. In Monday’s opening bout, Asian Games champion Yang Wenlu of China comfortably beat Vietnam’s Ha Thi Linh. China’s Sheng Lihao gunned down his second gold of the Paris Olympics by winning the men’s 10-metre air rifle event with a nerveless display at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre on Monday. Compatriot Huang Yuting, however, was denied the same feat by South Korean Ban Hyo-jin, who won the women’s competition by beating the Chinese via a shoot-off. Ban also become the youngest female Olympic shooting champion at 16 and the teenaged trio’s sparkling form in Paris offered a glimpse into the future of rifle shooting.

World record holder Sheng has been in sensational form of late and an early indication came when the 19-year-old combined with Huang to win the mixed team gold for China on Saturday.

Sheng, 19, topped qualification for the individual event on Sunday and won the gold with an Olympic record tally of 252.2 ahead of world champion Victor Lindgren (251.4) of Sweden. “I’m very pleased to have won two gold medals in Olympics,” said Sheng, who had claimed silver in the event in Tokyo. “I hope these medals will boost other Chinese athletes in Paris.” Miran Maricic won the bronze for Croatia.

Earlier on Monday, South Korea’s Ban clinched a battle between teenagers with Huang, who eventually settled for silver. The Korean had a 1.3-point cushion with two shots to go in the gold medal contest when her accuracy briefly deserted her.

Her final two shots of 9.9 and 9.6 opened an unlikely door for Huang whose 10.3 and 10.5 helped the 17-year-old draw level at 251.8 and force a shoot-off. Huang scored a decent 10.3 but Ban signed off with a 10.4 to prevail by the barest of margins.

The relief was evident as she came out wiping tears before regaining her composure. “I did not expect for the last two shots to be that close but after the last two shots I thought this was a great chance for me to prove I could get a gold medal,” Ban said.

“So I focused very intensely on the last shot.” Huang missed a second gold but became the first multi-medallist shooter of the Paris Games. “It is a pity to finish with a silver after a shoot-off with the eventual champion,” she said. “I was not very good in the qualification yesterday but I just told myself to keep focused and do what I need to do to get into the right mentality for today.” Audrey Gogniat’s bronze was Switzerland’s first medal in Paris.