Kimia Alizadeh, an Iranian defector, qualified for Tokyo as a refugee athlete and won her first three matches to go to the edge of a historic bronze medal taekwondo bout before falling to Hatice Kübra lgün of Turkey.
By bringing home the bronze for Iran at Rio de Janeiro, Alizadeh made history as the country’s first female Olympian. She attempted to win a historic medal after defecting to Germany at the beginning of last year, but she was beaten twice in a row.
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N. Kiyani Chandeh Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
The 23-year-old Alizadeh, who won her first match Sunday in Tokyo against Iran’s N. Kiyani Chandeh 16-12, startled two-time Olympic gold medalist Jade Jones, the British champion, by defeating Jones, 16-12.
In the quarterfinals, she defeated China’s Zhou Lijun 9-8 with a thrilling final-minute rally, but in the semifinals, she was defeated by Russia’s Tatiana Minina 10-3.
In the match between Alizadeh and lgün, Alizadeh held a slim lead after the first round but was unable to score again until it was too late.
Despite competing in two Olympic Games since its 2016 inception, the refugee team has yet to bring home a medal for the victims of political persecution and war. It sent ten athletes to its first Olympics in Rio, and it will send 29 to Tokyo, including three taekwondo competitors who all train in Germany.
At the age of 18, Alizadeh became an Iranian icon thanks to her Olympic triumph. However, she eventually defected, citing institutional misogyny and the requirement to wear the hijab headscarf as reasons.
In a fiery message announcing her defection on social media, she harshly criticised Iran for exploiting her for propaganda reasons, describing her decision as “harder than achieving Olympic gold.”
Having defeated former teammate N. Kiyani Chandeh in her debut bout, Alizadeh went on to win bronze for Iran at the 2016 Rio Olympics before escaping to Germany in 2020.
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She eventually advanced to the quarterfinals, when she beat China’s ZHOU Lijun but fell short of the silver medal round.
after suffering a semi-final defeat at the hands of Tatiana Minina in their 57-pound match. The ROC’s Minina eventually took home the Thanks for reading our article N. Kiyani Chandeh Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
