Ganjzadeh wins karate Olympic gold as opponent disqualified

The final bout of karate’s historic debut at the Olympics ended in an uproar when Saudi Arabian Tareg Hamedi’s high kick to Iran’s Sajad Ganjzadeh’s neck saw him disqualified and his motionless opponent awarded gold in the men’s over-75kg final.

Hardly a minute in, Hamedi looked dominant, having scored a three-point “ippon” in the ninth second and he was leading 4-1 before the bout on Saturday came to an abrupt end.

Hamedi’s final kick sent Ganjzadeh to the tatami mat and the Saudi into celebration mode before the mood in the Nippon Budokan arena turned. Medics rushed to Ganjzadeh’s side, placing an oxygen mask on the Iranian and removing him on a stretcher.

After a few minutes of discussion among the officials on the sidelines, the referee called the match for Ganjzadeh by disqualifying Hamedi for an unchecked attack, which is not allowed under karate’s Olympic rules.

Ganjzadeh returned later for the medal ceremony, walking normally. Both he and Hamedi were expressionless as they stepped up to the podium and collected their medals.

They appeared to harbour no hard feelings towards each other, however, as they hugged and posed for photographs together.

“I’m happy about the gold medal but I’m sad that I had to win it like this,” Ganjzadeh told a news conference.

Hamedi took the loss in his stride, saying he was unhappy with the judge’s decision but satisfied with how he fought.

Turkey’s Ugur Aktas and Japan’s Ryutaro Araga took the bronze medals in the men’s +75kg kumite category.

The women’s gold medal in the +61kg category went to Egypt’s Feryal Abdelaziz, who won her country’s second gold medal since 1948 by beating Azerbaijan’s Iryna Zaretska in the final. Kazakhstan’s Sofya Berultseva and China’s Gong Li took the bronzes.