Saudi Arabia bags first Olympic silver medal since 2000
Although an Olympic silver is still a stunning achievement for the 23-year-old, he will be distraught at losing a gold that was agonizingly within reach. The match was awarded as a default 4-0 win for the Iranian.
Within nine seconds of the start, Hamdi had scored an ippon to lead 3-0, and followed shortly with a yuko to stretch his lead to four points. The Saudi was heading to glorious gold but there would be a final, agonizing twist in the tale with penalty and disqualification.
Saudi fans were ready to celebrate a historic moment in the sport’s history of the Kingdom with the first Olympic gold medal in sight, but one move, in the end, proved decisive.
Hamdi had beaten Japan’s Ryutaro Araga 2-0 in the semifinal with a stunning performance.
He started his participation with a loss against the 2018 world champion Croatian Ivan Kvicic 2-3, before beating American Brian Air 4-1, and tied with the Iranian with the 2016 world champion in the weight of +84 kg Ganjzadeh zero-0, then beat the Canadian Daniel Gaisinsky 10-3.
