Mossely earns historic birthday gold

Omnisports

August 19, 2016 7:54 AM

A wonderful birthday for Estelle Mossely saw the lightweight claim a landmark gold medal as her fiance reached an Olympic final.

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Estelle Mossely made history on her birthday by becoming the first woman to claim an Olympic boxing gold for France, as fiance Tony Yoka reached the men's super heavyweight final at Rio 2016.

Mossely, who turned 24 on Friday, recovered from a poor start in the women's lightweight final on Friday to edge out China's Yin Junhua on a tight decision.

"I didn't expect to lose the first round and second round but it happens," said the victor.

"I spoke to my coach and he said, 'You've trained hard for this, you're setting a good pace, you have good cardio,' and he urged me on. So from there it was just all instinct, trying to give more and more and more. And it worked."

Yoka, meanwhile, got the better of Filip Hrgovic and will face Joe Joyce for super heavyweight gold after the Briton beat Kazakhstan's Ivan Dychko - a bronze medallist at London 2012

Claressa Shields is one win away from defending her women's middleweight title following victory over Dariga Shakimova. Netherlands' Nouchka Fontijn awaits the American.

Russia's Misha Aloyan - another bronze medallist four years ago - will face Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan in the men's flyweight final.

In the men's light-welterweight division, Fazliddin Gaibnazarov gained revenge for his loss to Vitaly Dunyatsev in last year's World Championship final. Gaibnazarov will face Lorenzo Sotomayor in the gold medal bout.

HIGHLIGHT

Mossely produced a rousing fightback against Yin, who had appeared firmly on course for victory after opening up a healthy lead by the halfway stage.

QUOTES OF THE DAY

"The victory is for her birthday. It was necessary for her to be confident for the fight coming up," Yoka, who fought before Mossely on Friday, played his part in boosting the confidence of his loved one.

"He’s a cousin of my dad. I didn't see him today, but he has motivated me. He doesn’t know much about boxing. He’s a jumper. He’s just told me to keep focused to fight my style of boxing and to always look forward," Lorenzo Sotomayor talks about his relative, Cuban high jumping great Javier Sotomayor.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Three finals take place at Riocentro - Pavilion 6 on Saturday. Great Britain's Nicola Adams defends her women's flyweight title against Sarah Ourahmoune of France, while the men's bantamweight and middleweight titles will be decided.

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