Safwan Khalil’s Tokyo Olympic campaign is over, defeated 23 points to 7 in the first round of the 59kg Taekwondo competition.
The Sydneysider was always on the back foot against his Thai opponent Ramnarong Sawekwiharee, trailing by 10 points to 4 at the end of the first two-minute round, and by 18 points to 5 at the end of the second.
Khalil came out firing at the start of the final round, desperate to close the points gap, but in the end was outclassed by his tenth seeded opponent, who dominated the bout with a series of spinning kicks assuring scoreboard dominance.
“It just got away from me,” a disappointed Khalil said.
“It took me a long time to switch on and you just can’t do that,” he added.
The 35-year-old remained a chance to fight for a bronze medal through the repechage system, however his Thai conqueror was defeated in the quarter finals by Italian second seed Vito Dell’aquila, ending Khalil’s third Olympic campaign, having represented Australia in both London and Rio.
While Khalil refused to blame a lack of international competition over the last 18 months, he did concede he’d missed the opportunity to test himself against the world’s best.
“It’s been really hard not having access to competition, but I just had to be ready for today,” he lamented.
14th seed Stacey Hymer will be Australia’s Taekwondo representative on day two of competition, when she takes on Canadian third seed Skylar Park in her first bout in the 57kg class.
Damian Kelly
