In the category up to 67 kg of Taekwondo, Milena Titoneli beat Haitian Lauren Lee, from Haiti, by 26 to 5 this Monday (26), in the first match of the repechage. Thus, the Brazilian guaranteed a place in the dispute for the bronze medal. Now, she faces Ruth Gbagbi (Ivory Coast), bronze in Rio-2016 and world champion in 2017, in combat scheduled for 8:30 am (GMT).
The fight started with the Brazilian soon landing two blows in a row. Added to a penalty and another blow to the chest, Titoneli won by 3-0 with 30 seconds of fight. Soon, she landed a kick to the head and opened 7-0 just before Lauren Lee scored her first two points.
In the final minute of the first round, Milena Titoneli landed another sequence of good punches, took another punishment for the Haitian and ended the first two minutes showing superiority, winning by 12 to 2.
In the second round, soon the Brazilian landed two kicks to the head, opening 18 to 2 even before the 30 seconds of the round. Afterwards, both exchanged blows, and the score went to 20 to 4. Before the end, the Brazilian still landed another kick to the head, a blow to the chest and was punished for leaving the venue: 24 to 5.
At the beginning of the third round, Milena Titoneli scored two points right away, scoring 26 to 5. Thus, the fight was ended before the end of the round due to the advantage of more than twenty points.
Way to the recap
Milena Titoneli started her career in the Tokyo Olympics against the Jordanian Julyana Al-Sadeq and soon encountered difficulties. In a complicated fight, the Brazilian drew on points with the opponent, 9 to 9, but was declared the winner in the “superiority” criterion, who evaluates that she was better throughout the fight.
In the quarterfinals, Titoneli was defeated by Croatian Matea Jelic 27-9, guaranteeing a spot in the repechage after Jelic’s victory over US Paige McPherson by 15-4 in the semifinals. The regulation provides a second chance for anyone who is defeated by a finalist.
Pan American Champion
This is the 22-year-old Brazilian fighter’s first participation in an Olympic Games edition. The paulista gained prominence in 2019 by winning the bronze medal at the World Taekwondo in Manchester (England) and the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Lima, when beat American Paige McPherson in the final. The Brazilian was elected athlete of the year by the Brazilian Taekwondo Confederation that year.
In 2021, Milena won the Pan American of the modality held in Mexico and also won the gold medal at the Taekwondo Open – also held in Mexico. She arrived at the Olympic Games as the 8th place in the world ranking.
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