A kick to the head, by a European taekwondo champion has put Tonga’s Malia Paseka out by TKO in the first round of her -67kg bout at the Makuhari Messe Hall in Tokyo this afternoon.


The referee stopped the contest in the first round, after three times European champion Lauren Williams delivered a turning kick to the head of her opponent, to score 5 points. This followed William's 3 points by body punches.


A TKO or technical knock out means the ending of a fight by the referee on the grounds of a contestant's inability to continue (because of injuries), the opponent being declared the winner.

Later, in a facebook post Malia said she was fine and told her family not to worry.


Malia (21) from Fua'amotu, is Tonga’s first female Olympian in Taekwondo. She qualified last year by winning gold in the women's -67kg division a the World Taekwondo Oceania 2020 Olympic Qualifications tournament, in Australia.

She was ranked 14 of the 16 competitors in the -67kg heats.

The bout started at 5:30pm Tongan time and was scheduled to go three rounds before the win by Referee stopped the contest at 1:11 on the clock.

Lauren Williams (Great Britain) was ranked 3 of the 16, has been a kickboxing youth world champion and won her first world title at age six. The three times European Champion in her weight division, who trains in Manchester, has an ambition to win gold at Tokyo 2020.

Repêchage


If Lauren Williams gets into the final this will give Malia another chance to compete in the repêchage for the bronze medal competition, said taekwondo coach, Master Paul Sitapa.

He posted a video on his facebook page this evening after Malia had competed medical tests following the bout.

“Don't worry, she's really good 100%,” he said.

Master Paul said Malia did really well at the beginning against the seeded no. 3 in the world, going to plan, but then got caught with a spinning kick to the head.

“She handled it really well,” he said.

“Don't worry she's really happy to get the experience.”

”Yeah, I'm good, ready to go again,” Malia said. “Love you Mum. I'm good nothing happened.”

Latest:

Lauren Williams (GBR) has won a slot in the final tonight.

This means that Malia goes into the repêchage for the bronze medal competition. At 19:30 in Japan (11:30pm Tonga time) she will fight the Egyptian, Hedaya Wahba (28), who was the bronze medalist in the -57kg category at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.