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Page last updated at 13:42 GMT, Wednesday, 20 August 2008 14:42 UK

Perez claims Mexico's first gold

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Guillermo Perez won Mexico's first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics with victory in the men's -58kg taekwondo.

Perez defeated Yulis Gabriel Mercedes of the Dominican Republic in a decision after the bout ended 1-1.

Wu Jingyu won China's first taekwondo gold of the Games in the women's -49kg, beating Thailand's Buttree Puedpong.

Wu scored with a side-kick in the opening round and comfortably protected her lead as her 17-year-old opponent was deducted a single point.

The 21-year-old delighted the home crowd as she took the contest to the surprise Thai finalist, who never looked like upsetting the odds.

Wu's narrow one-point lead was never in danger and victory was secured when Puedpong was deducted a penalty point after being cautioned twice for passivity.

606: DEBATE
Men's champion Perez, who defeated Great Britain's Michael Harvey to reach the quarter-finals, scored early against Mercedes who left it late to respond, scoring seconds before the bell as he connected with a back kick.

Neither could add any final score in overtime and the judges declared Perez as the winner.

Rohullah Nikpai won Afghanistan's first Olympic medal as he claimed bronze, defeating world champion Juan Antonio Ramos, while the other bronze went to the defending champion Chu Mu-yen of Taiwan.

Chu's hopes of a historic defence of his title in Beijing were ended by Mercedes who won their quarter-final clash 3-2.

Taiwan is seen as a renegade province by China, which considers the island to be a part of its own country, but they can compete under the compromise name Chinese Taipei and Chu had been warmly received by the home crowd.

Relations between China and Taiwan have thawed in recent months and the prospect of Chinese Taipei's neutral white flag being hoisted in the event of a Chu victory would have been politically significant.

Chu, known as the 'War Lord of Taiwan', was seen as his island's best medal hope at this year's Olympics and he was cheered on by fans waving Chinese Taipei flags as he won his opening bout.

The crowd chanted "China" as he easily outclassed his Kenyan opponent Dickson Wamwiri, while one or two chants of "Taiwan" could also be heard.


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Sunday, 24 August 2008 10:17 UK
RankCountryGoldSilverBronzeTOTAL
1also show each event results forSouth Korea4004
Men's Over 80kg100
Men's Under 68kg100
Women's Under 57kg100
Women's Under 67kg100
2also show each event results forMexico2002
Men's Under 58kg100
Women's Over 67kg100
3also show each event results forChina1012
Men's Under 80kg001
Women's Under 49kg100
4also show each event results forIran1001
Men's Under 80kg100
5also show each event results forUSA0123
Men's Under 68kg010
Men's Under 80kg001
Women's Under 57kg001
6also show each event results forTurkey0112
Men's Under 68kg001
Women's Under 57kg010
7also show each event results forCanada0101
Women's Under 67kg010
8also show each event results forDominican Rep0101
Men's Under 58kg010
9also show each event results forGreece0101
Men's Over 80kg010
10also show each event results forItaly0101
Men's Under 80kg010
11also show each event results forNorway0101
Women's Over 67kg010
12also show each event results forThailand0101
Women's Under 49kg010
13also show each event results forChinese Taipei0022
Men's Under 58kg001
Men's Under 68kg001
14also show each event results forCroatia0022
Women's Under 57kg001
Women's Under 67kg001
15also show each event results forAfghanistan0011
Men's Under 58kg001
16also show each event results forBrazil0011
Women's Over 67kg001
17also show each event results forCuba0011
Women's Under 49kg001
18also show each event results forFrance0011
Women's Under 67kg001
19also show each event results forGreat Britain0011
Women's Over 67kg001
20also show each event results forKazakhstan0011
Men's Over 80kg001
21also show each event results forNigeria0011
Men's Over 80kg001
22also show each event results forVenezuela0011
Women's Under 49kg001

see also
Afghans win first Olympic medal
20 Aug 08 |  Taekwondo
Brave Harvey loses to top Mexican
20 Aug 08 |  Taekwondo
BBC Olympics blog
15 Aug 08 |  Olympics
Beijing 2008
14 Feb 08 |  Olympics


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