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Tunisia's Firas Katoussi captured Olympic gold as he deservedly defeated Iran's Mehran Barkhordari in the final of the men's -80kg taekwondo competition on Friday night.
Katoussi, 28, won the decider two rounds to nil having nicked the opener 4-2 and then showing poise and control to clinch the second 5-1.
The Tunisian found himself trailing 2-0 going into closing stages of the first session, but produced an inspired spinning back kick to the body for a four-point score to steal the round from the stunned Iranian.
It felt pivotal and so it proved. Katoussi masterfully nullified his increasingly desperate opponent and then punished him with a head kick to move to the brink of glory.
The tall Tunisian punched the air as time ebbed away and he knew gold was secure.
His victory follows Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi's bronze in the -58kg class making this a very fruitful taekwondo competition for Team Tunisia.
Earlier in the day, Katoussi, the African champion and a former world bronze medallist, had shown sensational form as he powered into the final.
He had too much for USA's Carl Nickolas 2-0 in the semi-final as he ensured a medal for his nation. Before that Katoussi had eased past Denmark's Edi Hrnic in the quarter-final, which came after a dominant win over Australia's Leon Sejranovic in his opener.
Meanwhile, there was disappointment for Jordan's Julyana Al Sadeq in the women's -67kg division as she lost her quarter-final to Jie Song of China.
Al Sadeq, the no 2 seed, had hopes of going all the way but came up short in a tense last-eight battle that went the full three rounds.
She made Song battle for every point but lost the second and third rounds by scores of 3-2 and 2-1.
The 29-year-old had earlier showcased her ability with a dominant victory over Fiji’s Lolohea Naitasi in her opening contest.
Elsewhere in the women's -67kg division, Egypt's Aya Shehata was also defeated in the last eight. Shehata lost to Belgium's Sarah Charri 2-0.
There was a further blow for a Jordanian team who had begun the day on a high after Zaid Kareem's silver medal the night before.
Saleh El Sharabaty, silver medallist at the Tokyo Games, suffered a shock defeat in his Round of 16 -80kg match against Brazil's Henrique Rodrigues Fernandes.
El Sharabaty lost the opening round 4-1 and was at one point 11-1 down to his Brazilian opponent in the second before making it slightly more respectable at 12-5.
In the same weight class, hopes of a first taekwondo medal for the Refugee Olympic Team were dashed after Farzad Mansouri also lost at the Round of 16 stage.
Mansouri narrowly lost the first round 10-7 to second seed CJ Nickolas. The next round proved a much lower scoring affair with the American taking it 3-1 after Mansouri had an appeal for a head kick rejected.
Mansouri, who was Afghanistan’s flag bearer at the Tokyo Olympics, has settled in the UK having fled the Taliban in 2021.
THE%20HOLDOVERS
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The biog
Hobby: Playing piano and drawing patterns
Best book: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
Food of choice: Sushi
Favourite colour: Orange
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Places to go for free coffee
- Cherish Cafe Dubai, Dubai Investment Park, are giving away free coffees all day.
- La Terrace, Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai, are serving their first 50 guests one coffee and four bite-sized cakes
- Wild & The Moon will be giving away a free espresso with every purchase on International Coffee Day
- Orange Wheels welcome parents are to sit, relax and enjoy goodies at ‘Café O’ along with a free coffee
Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
More on Quran memorisation:
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Pakhtoons 137-6 (10 ov)
Fletcher 68 not out; Cutting 2-14
Sindhis 129-8 (10 ov)
Perera 47; Sohail 2-18
Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt
Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure
Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers
Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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BRIEF SCORES:
Toss: Nepal, chose to field
UAE 153-6: Shaiman (59), Usman (30); Regmi 2-23
Nepal 132-7: Jora 53 not out; Zahoor 2-17
Result: UAE won by 21 runs
Series: UAE lead 1-0
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
'Saand Ki Aankh'
Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
RESULT
West Brom 2 Liverpool 2
West Brom: Livermore (79'), Rondón (88' )
Liverpool: Ings (4'), Salah (72')
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
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Key facilities
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