Yang takes first gold at Tokyo Oly
Krasniqi wins Kosovo’s second-ever Olympic medal as Foroughi sets shooting record
TOKYO, July 24, (AP): Yang overtook Anastasiia Galashina of Russia to win the first gold medal of the Tokyo Games in the women’s 10-meter air rifle Saturday. Her last shot was her worst of the finals but still rallied her past Galashina with an Olympic-record score of 251.8. Switzerland’s Nina Christen took bronze.
“It’s unbelievable that I can be here,” Yang said through an interpreter. “I was really nervous. The competition was really tight, but I’m so happy that I could win.” Galashina led Yang by 0.2 points when they fired almost simultaneously on their last shots. The limited crowd at Asaka Shooting Range let out gasps as the scores posted a split second later.
OLYMPICS
Yang, a 21-year-old who qualified sixth of the eight medal competitors, missed the innermost circle on her final shot, a 9.8 that she figured would cost her gold.
She looked up to see Galashina missed the two center rings. The Russian’s 8.9 meant IOC President Thomas Bach would present Yang the gold medal on a tray — per pandemic protocols — instead of Galashina.
Naohisa Takato won Japan’s first gold medal at its home Olympics, beating Taiwan’s Yang Yung-wei in the men’s 60-kilogram judo final.
Takato won his final three bouts in sudden-death golden score, but took the final a bit anticlimactically after Yang committed too many fouls.
The charismatic Takato’s success in Japan’s homegrown sport could pro
vide a much-needed jolt of excitement for a nation still feeling profoundly ambivalent about these Olympics and discouraged by the scandals and coronavirus setbacks surrounding them.
An San and teenager Kim Je Deok