Barbosa thankful for Olympics experience, vows to return
MANILA, Philippines — Kurt Barbosa may have ended his Tokyo Olympics journey on Saturday, but for the 22-year-old jin, this is just the beginning.
Posting on Instagram shortly after his exit, Barbosa thanked fans and supports for helping him reach the Olympic arena and promised a return.
TRACKER: Kurt Barbosa at the Tokyo Olympics
"This may not be our time but I promise that I won't stop fighting and trying because I believe that losing is part of the game and it is where we learn and get the courage to fight again. We are just getting started, I will surely apply all of my experiences on my next games and I hope you are all still with me until we get that victory." wrote Barbosa.
"We don't lose hope, if we believe that we can achieve something, then we will and my next goal is to work hard for my next fight, gain more experience because we still have much to learn. The show must go on, our time will come."
TRACKER: Team Philippines at the Tokyo Olympics
Barbosa lost his opening match at the Taekwondo Men's -58kg against World Champion Jun Jang from South Korea Saturday morning.
Despite this, there was still a chance for Barbosa to have a podium finish with the repechage, the competition for bronze for those who lost to the two eventual finalists.
But Jang suffered an upset against 12th seed Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi from Tunisia in the semifinals later that day, thus ending the hopes for the Filipino.
Jenboudi eventually took home silver while Jang settled for bronze.
Though far from his ideal outing at the Olympics, Barbosa says it was an honor to don the Philippine flag, and he promises to be back soon.
"At sa mahal kong Pilipinas, ikinararangal kong dalhin ang pangalan mo sa isang malaking patimpalak, hanggang sa muli. Hindi ako susuko. Salamat mga kababayan, babawi tayo, tiwala lang," he said.
Monitor major updates as we follow developments in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
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Bolt, 35, tells AFP that it was frustrating to watch the delayed 2020 Games from his home in Jamaica as his male countrymen flopped and Italy's Lamont Jacobs claimed a shock victory.
"I really missed it. I was like, I wish I was there," he says in an interview at the Dubai offices of his sponsor PepsiCo on Sunday.
"Because for me, I live for those moments. So it was hard to watch." — AFP
US broadcaster NBC says its Olympics coverage garnered strong ratings on television and streaming despite declines from viewership in prior years.
The NBCUniversal unit says the average television audience for the Tokyo games was 15.1 million. The figure was below that of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The media group says the Tokyo event was "the most streamed Olympics ever" with some six billion streaming minutes and 2.9 billion impressions on NBC's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. — AFP
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Olympic officials have been predictably bullish, saying the Games offered hope and uplifting moments, and went off without any major coronavirus outbreaks.
"These Olympic Games have been a powerful demonstration of the unifying power of sport," International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach says at his closing press conference. — AFP/Sara Hussein
Greece's Olympic Games water polo team on Sunday said it would donate half the prize money they will receive from Olympiakos football team owner Vangelis Marinakis to wildfire victims throughout the country.
"We want to thank Mr Marinakis from the bottom of our hearts for his generous move. We consider it our duty to help by donating half of the amount to the wildfire victims," team captain Giannis Foundoulis announced in a statement released by the Greek Olympic Committee.
Greece lost the Olympic Games water polo final in Tokyo to Serbia.
Marinakis said he would award the team with 200,000 euros, an announcement from Olympiakos said. — AFP
Ukraine's Khyziak flattened by Brazil's Sousa in just a minute for the middleweight gold.
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