Jones gives Britain first Taekwondo gold

Jade Jones won Great Britain's first Olympic taekwondo gold medal and Servet Tazegul earned Turkey's first gold of this Games on Thursday.

Teenager Jones gained revenge on double world champion Hou Yuzhuo of China with a 6-4 success in the final, making up for her reverse to the world number two at the same stage of last year's World Championships.

And Tazegul added Olympic gold to the world title he won last year by beating the same man again in Iran's Mohammad Bagheri.

It was Turkey's first gold and only their second medal of any colour at these Games.

But it was 19-year-old Welsh lass Jones -- who claims to be so superstitious that she has lucky knickers and socks -- who raised the roof with a smart performance to beat her more decorated foe.

She proved she has been maturing steadily having twice taken bronze at the European Championships as well as a world silver over the last two years.

After a scoreless first round in the women's under-57kg final, Jones started wracking up the points with sneaky kicks to the midriff.

Hou, 24, never managed to get into the bout and was left frustrated as twice she earnt a penalty point, helping her opponent keep her nose in front.

"It feels crazy. It's amazing and the crowd's amazing," said the new champion.

"Before I came out I thought, I'm not letting her beat me here in front of the home crowd. To be the first athlete to win Olympic gold is amazing."

Hou admitted she had been tactically out-fought.

"I'm happy with the silver, but I'm of course a bit disappointed for not getting gold," she said.

"I couldn't fight the way I was supposed to. I had to change my strategy because after a while I couldn't apply it to the fight."

The bronze medals were won by France's Marlene Harnois and top seed Tseng Li-Cheng of Taiwan.

There was no surprise in the men's under-68kg final as the top two seeds reached it.

Bagheri was world champion in 2009 but had lost to Tazegul by a single point at last year's worlds.

And it was the same story here as he went down 6-5.

Tazegul dedicated his win to his mother, who died recently.

"I have worked for this since 2008 when I got the bronze medal. I've reached my goal," he said.

"This medal is in memory of my mother. I lost her not long ago.

"This is Turkey's first gold medal in these Games and this is for the Turkish people."

Tazegul had opened up a two-point lead at the end of the second round after a flurry of activity and he held on in the third for the win despite a last-gasp Iranian challenge.

Bagheri's coach had claimed Tazegul stepped off the mat, which would have incurred a one-point equalising penalty, but the challenge was rejected and the Turk was champion.

Terrence Jennings of the United States won bronze thanks to a last-second challenge.

The bout against Brazil's Diogo Silva had finished level at 5-5 but Jennings's coach successfully claimed he had scored with a head-kick, which was given on review.

Having won Afghanistan's first ever Olympic medal with a bronze at under-58kg in Bejing four years ago, Rohullah Nikpah repeated the feat here, but in doing so he denied Britain's Martin Stamper a gong.

"I'm very happy because this medal is very important for my country," said Nikpah.

"Of course, getting a medal is very important to all the countries in the world, but especially for Afghanistan. I love Afghanistan."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/briton-jones-reaches-taekwondo-final-raise-roof-173625088--oly.html

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