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Israeli athlete Asaf Yasur won a gold medal for taekwondo at the Paris 2024 Paralympics on Thursday. Yasur, who lost both his arms when he was accidentally electrocuted retrieving a lost ball at the age of 12, beat Turkey’s Ali Can Ozcan 19-12 in the final of the men’s under 58kg weight class, bringing home Israel’s first gold medal in this year’s Paralympic Games. Following the win, Yasur was draped in the Israeli flag and swarmed by a group of well-wishers.
He told Israel’s broadcaster: “An Olympic gold. Nobody is happier than me. [I went in] knowing the gold is mine and I want the gold.
I’m going to fight for the gold, nobody will take it from me.” Israeli gold medallist Asaf Yasur celebrates with fans after his victory against Ali Can Ozcan of Team Turkey (not pictured) in the Men's K44 -58kg gold medal contest on day one of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games at Grand Palais on 29 August, 2024 in Paris, France. (Photo: Getty Images) The 22-year-old from Jerusalem had won his quarter-final and semi-final matches 23-6 and 16-6, respectively.
In 2020, Yasur narrowly missed out on qualifying for the Tokyo Games, but subsequently won the World Para Taekwondo Championships in 2021 and 2023 and entered the Paralympics this year as the world’s top-ranked competitor in his weight class. According to the , Yasur said after the match that three of his brothers who had served in the IDF over the past year “gave me strength”. “With everything my country is going through.
.. this is the least I could do for my country,” he said, adding that he hopes for the return of the hostages, an end to the war and for “all the soldiers to return home healthy and whole”.
reported that President Isaac Herzog spoke to Yasur after his win and reminisced about the first time he had spoken to Yasur following his accident in 2015, which made national headlines: “Since then you have been a source of inspiration for me,” President Herzog told him. “Today you gave a huge gift to the State of Israel, a huge gift to many of those wounded in the war and wounded in the horrible terror attack. You gave them hope,” he said.
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