Nguyen Thi Ngoan wins milestone gold medal at world tournament in Germany

Ngoan defeated Jumaa Haya of Canada in the final of the women’s 61kg category by a score of 3-1. Ngoan led 1-0 after the first two rounds. Haya received three points in the third set to lead 3-1, however, the Canadian athlete made four mistakes during the match, which was enough for the referee to announce that she was the loser, according to rules of karate.

Previously, the Vietnamese athlete was exempt from the the first round matches. She then went on to claim convincing victories over her four rivals from Turkey, Switzerland, the US, and France, to make her way to the semi final.

In the semi final, Ngoan produced a shock as she triumphed against current World champion Alisa Buchinger of Austria to qualify for the title-deciding bout.

The Karate1-Premier League is one of the most important tournaments that athletes participate in to collect points to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The 2017 event attracted the competition of more than 1,380 athletes from 87 countries around the world.

                                               Source: NDO