London 2012: Judoka Emmanuel Nartey makes history for Ghana on Day 3 of Olympic Games
Team Bath judo player Emmanuel Nartey made a piece of history today (Monday) by becoming the first judo player to represent Ghana at an Olympic Games.
Emmanuel came up against a tough opponent in his round of 32 contest in the under-73kg class in the shape of Holland’s Dex Elmont. The Dutchman arrived at the London 2012 Olympic Games with an impressive track record winning silver at both the 2010 and 2011 World Championships and bronze at this year’s Europeans.
The Team Bath judoka was penalised twice early on and as he tried to take back control of the fight, the Dutchman achieved a match-winning Ippon shoulder throw with a minute of the contest remaining.
Juergen Klinger, head judo coach at the University of Bath who has been coaching Emmanuel at the Games, said some poor refereeing decisions put Emmanuel on the back foot.
“He was really confident when he stepped on the mat and he tried to control the fight, but he was given two penalties early on and that can change the whole attitude of a fight,” he said. “It was really difficult and he lost control of the fight more and more.
“It was very disappointing, but at the end of the day he lost by an Ippon shoulder through against a very strong competitor.”
In badminton, Hadia Hosny El Said’s London 2012 challenge also came to an end, but not without another battling performance. The Egyptian, who is studying for an MSc in Medical Biosciences at the University of Bath, played her second match of her second Olympic Games against number 16 seed Hongyan Pi.
The Frenchwoman is ranked 25th in the world – 88 places above Hadia – and established a 12-4 lead in the opening game. Hadia battled back to 16-9 but ultimately went down 21-9.
The pair exchanged points early on in the second game, then Pi opened up an 8-4 lead. Hadia pulled the score back to 8-7, but the 16 seeded proved too strong, stretching away to close out the second game 21-9 and take the match.
