Taekwondo-Italy's Dell Aquila bows out to first-time Olympian in semi-finals

PARIS - Italy's taekwondo champion Vito Dell Aquila bowed out to first-time Olympian Gashim Magomedov in the men's flyweight semi-finals at the Paris Games on Wednesday, blaming injury for his poor performance.

Azerbaijan's Magomedov, who ranked fifth in flyweight in the world championships of 2022 and 2019, easily beat the Tokyo gold medallist Dell Aquila 9-4 11-1.

Magomedov is the only athlete representing his country at the 2024 Olympics.

"I want to say alhamdulillah (praise be to God), dreams come true," Magomedov, the only Azerbaijani in the taekwondo, told Reuters after the match.

"I'm in (the) finals," added Russia-born Magomedov, 24. "Many years I think about this, but I don't know. I'm speechless, brother. I'm speechless. I can't understand, brother. I go in the final."

Dell Aquila was one of Italy's best hopes for a medal in taekwondo in Paris. He told reporters a left-adductor injury had prevented him from chasing the fast-moving Magomedov.

"I was very prepared, I was in top physical shape because I was training a lot ... but I fought like a broken man," Dell Aquila told reporters.

"I got by in the first two matches, because I hadn't hurt myself too much. But he was tough because ... you had to chase him with your legs and I can't do that at the moment."

Magomedov is set to fight South Korea's Park Tae-joon in the final later on Wednesday. REUTERS