AL MASATFA INTO WORLD LEAGUE FINAL
Apr 22, 2022
Olympic medallist Abdul Rahman Al-Masatfa has booked his place in the final of the -67kg competition at the second round of the World Premier League, Matosinhos, Portugal.
Al-Masatfa, who won bronze at Tokyo 2020, will now fight for gold on Sunday against Frenchman, Stephen Da Costa, the reigning Olympic champion and World No 1.
The Jordanian opened his account with a win over Algerian, Fouad Benbara, 5-2, before moving past Saudi Arabia’s Fahd Al-Khathami to qualify for the quarter-finals as his group winner.
In the last eight, Al-Masatfa beat Swiss fighter Noah Besino, 10-1, before booking his spot in the final with a confident 5-2 win over Said Obaya, of Morocco.
Meanwhile, in the -75kg competition, Hassan Maasarwe, who won bronze in the last round in Fujairah, UAE, exited in the group stage despite two wins, a draw and a defeat.
In the -60kg weight, Abdullah Hammad, who won gold in the last round, started by defeating Ukrainian, Nikita Filippov, 8-2, and then beat David De Falcao, of Italy, 8-0, before losing to Moroccan, Osama Al-Derei, in his last fight, 4-1.
Jordan’s participation will continue on Saturday with Mahmoud Al-Sajjan (-84kg) drawn in the same group as Hussain Zadeh, from Azerbaijan, and Michel Martina, of Italy.