Rohullah Nikpai

Rohullah Nikpai 2012

Rohullah Nikpai (also Rohullah Nikpah , Persian روح‌الله نیکپای ; * June 15, 1987 in Wardak ) is an Afghan Taekwondoin . He belongs to the Hazara ethnic group and is the first athlete in his country to win medals at the Olympic Games.

Athletic career

Nikpai landed his first international success in 2006 at the Asian Games in Doha when he reached the round of 16 in the weight class up to 58 kilograms. With a second place in the Asian WTF qualification tournament, he secured himself participation in the Summer Olympics in Beijing in November 2007 . In April 2008 he celebrated his greatest sporting success to date with the bronze medal at the 18th Asian Championships.

On his Olympic debut, he won the bronze medal in the category up to 58 kilograms. This was the first ever medal for Afghanistan at the Olympic Games. In the first round he had defeated the reigning European champion Levent Tuncat from Germany, in the battle for the bronze medal then the two-time world champion Juan Antonio Ramos (Spain).

At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Nikpai competed in the up to 68 kg category. He advanced to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by the later finalist Mohammad Bagheri Motamed with four to five points. In the hope round he prevailed against David Boui with 14 to two points. The opponent in the battle for the bronze medal was the Briton Martin Stamper , whom he defeated with five to three points. Thus Nikpai won an Olympic bronze medal for the second time.

Web links

• Portrait on the website of the IOC ( Memento from March 16, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ London 2012 Olympics: 'Men's -68kg-Rohullah Nikpah - Events and results. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 13, 2012 ; accessed on September 10, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.