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Widad Bertal screamed with delight after her razor-thin victory over Thailand’s Jutamas Jitpong secured the Moroccan boxer a place in the quarter-finals of the women’s 54kg category at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
The last-16 bantamweight bout was dead even heading into the third and final round where Bertal was adjudged to have eked out a 3-2 victory over Jitpong.
The Thai fighter had claimed the opener with her judicious counters impressing the judges. One clean right hand clearly made its mark as swelling began to appear under the left eye of Bertal.
But to her credit, Bertal, 24, bounced back to decisively win the second thanks to a series of scoring right hands.
That meant it was all on the last, a far scrappier affair than the previous two sessions and one that could easily have gone either way.
When the verdict was announced, Bertal, a gold medallist at both the 2023 African Games and Arab Games, let out a huge scream before dropping to her knees and kissing the canvas as she celebrated her progress to the last eight.
She will now face North Korea’s Pang Chol-mi after a one-sided 5-0 victory over Uzbekistan’s Nigina Uktamova.
The winner of that bout will earn a place in the last four and a guaranteed bronze medal.
Morocco are represented in the ring on Wednesday by Khadija El Mardi, who is scheduled to face Chantelle Reid of Great Britain in the last-16 in the women's 75kg division.
Jordan’s Hussein Ishaish was eliminated in the last 16 of the men’s 80kg division after he was out-pointed by Croatia’s Gabrijel Veocic.
Despite plenty of effort and aggression from Ishaish, the taller Veocic impressed the judges with his cleaner punching, especially his right hand, and came away with a 5-0 victory.
By stepping into the ring, Ishaish, 28, made Olympic history by competing in a third successive Games all in different weight classes.
The Jordanian southpaw started with plenty of bluster but Veocic was able to get the measure of him with the right hand, to head and body, as Ishaish looked to close the gap.
Veocic won the first round by a 4-1 split and the pattern continued at the start of the second. However, Ishaish landed his best shot of the fight – a sweeping right hook – and the Croatian also had a point deducted for use of the head.
The double setback seemed to stir Veocic into action though and he finished the second round on top.
Knowing he needed a strong finish, Ishaish pressed the action in the third but Veocic was able to spoil and tie him up as the time ebbed away.
Ishaish’s younger brother, Zeyad, carries on the family name on Wednesday.
Zeyad made the perfect start to his medal bid in the 71kg division with a stunning victory over Kazakhstan's gold medal favourite Aslanbek Shymbergenov on Sunday.
The 25-year-old fighter next faces Japan's Sewon Okazawa, the 2021 world gold medal winner at welterweight, for a place in the quarter-finals.
Should he get that far then he will meet either Lewis Richardson of Team GB or Serbia's Vakhid Abbasov.
Ishaish and Okazawa have met three times previously with the Japanese fighter leading the head-to-head 2-1. He won their first fight five years ago but Ishaish has improved markedly since then. Their two most recent bouts were shared one win apiece and both settled by split decision.
In shooting, Lebanon's Ray Bassil resumes her bid to qualify for the women's trap final on Wednesday.
Bassil, competing in her fourth Olympic Games, was down in 13th place with a score of 71 after the first three rounds at the Chateauroux Shooting Centre.
Rounds of 23 sandwiched a perfect 25, but with only the top six advancing to the final Bassil, the reigning Asian champion and former world No 1, has it all to do to if she hopes to secure Lebanon's first Olympic medal since the 1980 Games.
Egypt's Maggy Ashmawy, meanwhile, lagged in 27th place after rounds of 23, 21 and 22.
