Nigeria’s sole representative in Taekwondo at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics, Elizabeth Anyanacho exited the competition in the Round of 16 after losing 12-7 to Turkish fighter Nur Tatar in the women’s under-67kg category.
Despite being seeded 13th behind her much-accomplished opponent (4th). Anyanacho, the African Games Bronze medallist put up a good fight in the opening round as she held Tatar to a tie at the end of Round 1.
A penalty deduction (Gam-jeom ) in the second round cost Anyanacho as Tatar went on to win 2-1, and riding on the wave of consecutive wins, she rounded up the victory with a 9-5 victory in the last round.
Anyanacho, who is the first female Nigerian taekwondo athlete to qualify for the Olympics in 16 years after Princess Dudu at Athens 2004 will take a lot of positives from the outing knowing fully well that her coach and mentor, Chika Chukwumerije got knocked out at the same round in 2004, before going on to win Bronze at the Beijing 2008 games.
