Tunisia’s Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi won Africa’s first medal of the 2020 Olympics when taking silver in the men’s taekwondo 58kg category on Saturday.
Jendoubi was guaranteed silver as he took on Italy’s Vito Dell’Aquila, who secured the gold, in the final.
The bout went right to the wire and was tied 10-10 with around 15 seconds left before Dell’Aquila scored decisively.
Earlier, 19-year-old Jendoubi breezed to a surprise victory over Ethiopia’s Solomon Demse in the quarter-finals with a 23-point gap.
He followed that up beating top-ranked gold medal favourite Jang Jun of South Korea, who took one of the two bronze medals.
Jendoubi can celebrate becoming only the second Tunisian to win silver, after long-distance runner Mohammed Gammoudi who won two silvers.
The very first of those came in Tokyo as well, back in 1964, and contributed – like Jendoubi’s in the Japanese capital on Saturday – to Tunisia’s overall tally of 14 Olympic medals.
Tunisia can look forward to the rest of Tokyo 2020 after winning three bronze medals at Rio 2016.
