China’s Yin Junhua and France’s Estelle Mossely will fight for the women’s lightweight boxing gold medal Friday afternoon in Rio. It’s been an exciting run up to the gold medal match for Junhua and Mossely, who have already clinched their first Olympic medals.
2016 Olympic boxing schedule: Time, TV coverage, live stream for women’s lightweight final and more
Claressa Shields fights in the semifinals and Yin Junhua and Estelle Mossely go for the women’s lightweight gold in boxing on Thursday.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Mossely won her semifinal match against Russia’s Anastasia Belyakova in interesting fashion. Belyakova had eliminated American Mikaela Mayer in the quarterfinals and looked like a real contender. But in the first round against Mossely, Belyakova took a hook that appeared to break her left arm. She began screaming in pain, the referee stopped the match and the Russian boxer was soon escorted out of the arena. Mossely was awarded the victory by technical knockout.
It was a surprising end to an eventful time in Rio for Belyakova, whose victory over Mayer led to the U.S. coach openly complaining about the judging of the match. Belyakova narrowly won the quarterfinal on points and leaves Rio with a bronze medal.
On the other side of the bracket, Junhua beat Finland’s Mira Potkonen to earn a spot in the gold medal match. Potkonen still comes away with a bronze, which is Finland’s only medal in the Rio Games so far. She also defeated Ireland’s Katie Taylor, the defending Olympic champion, in the the quarterfinals to upset the gold medalist and clinch her own medal.
That’s not all the boxing action on Friday, either. There will also be semifinal matches in women’s middleweight and men’s flyweight, light welterweight and super heavyweight. American Claressa Shields will look to continue her run towards the gold medal with a semifinal against Kazakhstan’s Dariga Shakimova in one of the most anticipated matches of the day.
In the quarterfinals, Shields had no trouble taking down Russia’s Yaroslava Yakushina to start her run in Rio. A win on Friday would at least clinch a bronze medal for the defending Olympic champion.
2016 Rio Olympics boxing coverage for Friday, August 19
All times Eastern
Afternoon session (NBC Sports live stream)
1 p.m. - Men’s flyweight semifinals
1:30 p.m. - Men’s light welterweight semifinals
2 p.m. - Men’s super heavyweight semifinals
2:30 p.m. - Women’s middleweight semifinals
3 p.m. - Women’s lightweight gold medal match
See More:
