Kurt Barbosa saw his hopes of competing in the repechage of the 2020 Summer Olympics spoiled hours after falling to world no. 1 Jang Jun.
Jang, the heavy-favorite to at least make it in the finals, suffered a 19-25 upset at the hands of Mohamed Khalil Jendoubi in the semifinals of the men’s flyweight division, Saturday at the Makuhari Messe Hall A.
Jang needed to make the gold medal match in order for the Filipino to compete in the loser’s bracket.
The match was tight in the early goings, with the opening round ending in a tie at 5-all.
However, things got interesting in the final round. Two kicks from Jendoubi connected to Jang’s trunk and scored, pushing the lead to four at 13-9, 1:18 left in the match.
From there, the defending African champion smelled blood and continued to attack relentlessly. It pushed the Korean into catch up until the match ended.
