Jumana misses out on taekwondo medal

Manama : Jumana Mohammed missed out on adding to Bahrain’s medal tally yesterday in the Fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan after losing 17-10 to Kirstie Elaine Alora of the Phillipines in the women’s taekwondo quarter finals under-73kg category.  

On the inaugural day of taekwondo, Jumana showed some outstanding technic.  The 18 year-old Bahraini started her medal quest at the Taekwondo DanceSport Arena after defeating Thai opponent Kanjana Sukeewas of Thailand in the Round of 16, who was disqualified for committing so many illegal kicks and getting warnings and deduction penalties from the judges.

In the quarter finals, Jumana took on Alora and looked for a final four place which would have granted her at least a bronze medal.

She put up a brave show and was level at 6-6 after the first round, but lost the second round 5-0 to her much more experienced opponent and despite a gusty performance in the third round went down 6-4.

Bahrain remain on two medals thanks to Ali Monfaradi and Ahmed Shebeeb, who took the men’s under-77kg gold and bronze medals, respectively on Monday.

The taekwondo bouts were closely followed by Bahrain Royal Equestrian and Endurance Federation president and Bahrain chef de mission Shaikh Faisal bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Bahrain Olympic Committee general secretary Abudlrahman Askar and other delegation officials.

Taekwondo action continues today when Juwana Mohammed, the younger sister of Jumana, will start her campaign against Nguyen Ha of Vietnam in a Round of 16 fight round fight in the under-62kg weight category.

Bahrain’s third team member Walaa Al Doseri heads into her opening women’s under-57-kg fight tomorrow when she clashes with Chimi Dolma of Bhutan.

The trio of Bahrainis are coached by Tawfeeq Nuwaiser of Jordan, who earlier had described the event as a golden opportunity for his young athletes to acquire more experience, improve their skills and boost their rating globally.

Bahrain’s only entrant to come is in wrestling when Adam Batirov (70kg freestyle) a former Asian champion and coached by Mahmood Magomedov is in action on September 25.