Hayder's Story
Hayder Shkara made his Olympic debut at the Rio 2016 Games after being just one win from qualification for London 2012. Shkara won the -80kg division at the Oceania Olympic Qualification Tournament against New Zealand’s Vaughn Scott who he had lost to at the same point four years earlier. The victory came off the back of Shkara’s best form of his career having won bronze medals at each of the 2015 Polish, Russian and Serbian Opens while also claiming gold at the Pacific Games in the same year.
He took on Lutalo Muhammed of Great Britain in the first round going down 14-0 to the eventual silver medallist. Shkara got another chance in the repechage where he took on dual Olympic Champion Steven Lopez of the USA. After the three rounds went scoreless the match entered golden score. Neither fighter was still able to score a point as Lopez secured the win by having more non-scoring hits than Shkara.
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