Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi celebrates with his coaches after claiming a bronze medal. Getty Images
Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi celebrates with his coaches after claiming a bronze medal. Getty Images
Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi celebrates with his coaches after claiming a bronze medal. Getty Images
Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi celebrates with his coaches after claiming a bronze medal. Getty Images

Tunisia's Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi wins bronze in taekwondo at Paris 2024


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Tunisia's Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi went through his full repertoire of tricks to seal bronze in the men's taekwondo -58kg category at Paris 2024 on Wednesday.

Remarkably, Jendoubi, the silver medallist at the same weight from the Tokyo Games, now has two Olympic medals in his collection at just 22 years old. He also won bronze at the 2022 World Championships and is the reigning African champion.

He was denied a shot at gold – or another silver – by defeat to Park Tae-joon of South Korea in the semi-finals.

Instead, he found himself in the bronze medal match against the second seed Adrian Vicente of Spain, who had earlier beaten Palestine's Omar Ismail in the Round of 16.

Vicente edged in front with a punch to lead 1-0, but Jendoubi responded in emphatic fashion and led for the remainder of the contest.

Two scoring head kicks, one awarded after review, along with two body kicks and a penalty saw him take the first round 11-3.

The second round was initially closer but Jendoubi edged 2-0 in front with a scoring kick to the trunk.

A head kick, followed by another scoring shot to the trunk, stretched his advantage to 7-0 and all but sealed the win.

At that point he showcased all his skills as he put on a show in the closing stages to seal a 12-1 victory in the round – and with it a bronze medal.

It was Tunisia's second medal of these Games following fencer Fares Ferjani's superb silver in the men's individual sabre.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's Dunya Abutaleb narrowly missed out on a historic bronze in the women's -49kg category.

Iran's Mobina Nematzadeh, left, and Saudi Arabia's Dunya Abutaleb compete in the taekwondo women's -49kg bronze medal bout. AFP
Iran's Mobina Nematzadeh, left, and Saudi Arabia's Dunya Abutaleb compete in the taekwondo women's -49kg bronze medal bout. AFP

Abutaleb, who was bidding to become the Kingdom’s first ever female Olympic medallist, lost 2-0 in the bronze medal contest against Iran's Mobina Nematzadeh.

The Iranian sneaked the first round 3-0 with a head kick with just seconds left on the clock.

Abutaleb, 27, thought she was on course to level the match but her appeal for a head kick of her own wasn't upheld in the second round.

Nematzadeh then contorted impressively to land a scorpion kick and seal her bronze medal in style.

Earlier in the day, Palestine's Ismail was defeated in the men's -58kg Round of 16 – but not before pushing the experienced Vicente close.

UAE-based Ismail, who lives in Sharjah, was seconds away from taking the match into a deciding round.

After losing the first round 8-3, Ismail led the second 6-3 with 10 seconds remaining, but a head kick from Vicente in the final exchanges turned the contest back in the Spaniard's favour.

Considering the pedigree of his opponent – Vicente won bronze at last year's World Championships – Ismail, 18, proved he can challenge the best in the sport.

Ismail had earlier made a winning start to his campaign with a 2-0 victory over Hadi Tiranvalipour of the Refugee Olympic Team.

Ismail won the first round 4-3 to take an early lead and followed it up with a 5-0 second-round victory to book his place in the Round of 16.

The BIO:

He became the first Emirati to climb Mount Everest in 2011, from the south section in Nepal

He ascended Mount Everest the next year from the more treacherous north Tibetan side

By 2015, he had completed the Explorers Grand Slam

Last year, he conquered K2, the world’s second-highest mountain located on the Pakistan-Chinese border

He carries dried camel meat, dried dates and a wheat mixture for the final summit push

His new goal is to climb 14 peaks that are more than 8,000 metres above sea level

Islamophobia definition

A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.

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Milestones on the road to union

1970

October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar. 

December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.

1971

March 1:  Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.

July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.

July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.

August 6:  The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.

August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.

September 3: Qatar becomes independent.

November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.

November 29:  At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.

November 30: Despite  a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa. 

November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties

December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.

December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.

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French business

France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.

Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi

Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe

For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.

Golden Dallah

For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.

Al Mrzab Restaurant

For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.

Al Derwaza

For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup. 

How to improve Arabic reading in early years

One 45-minute class per week in Standard Arabic is not sufficient

The goal should be for grade 1 and 2 students to become fluent readers

Subjects like technology, social studies, science can be taught in later grades

Grade 1 curricula should include oral instruction in Standard Arabic

First graders must regularly practice individual letters and combinations

Time should be slotted in class to read longer passages in early grades

Improve the appearance of textbooks

Revision of curriculum should be undertaken as per research findings

Conjugations of most common verb forms should be taught

Systematic learning of Standard Arabic grammar

Updated: August 09, 2024, 9:11 AM