China's Wu Jingyu defends Olympic title

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China's Wu Jingyu celebrates after winning Brigitte Yague Enrique of Spain during women's -49 kg taekwondo gold medal match at London 2012 Olympic Games, London, Britain, Aug. 8, 2012. Wu Jingyu won the match 8-1 and won gold medal in this event. [Liu Dawei/Xinhua]

Wu Jingyu lifted women's -49kg title at London Olympic Games on Wednesday, successfully defending her victory on the same day when the Beijing Games opened four years ago.

Wu capitalized on her expert axe kicks to crush Spaniard Brigitte Yague Enrique 8-1. The 25-year-old Chinese girl became the first defending champion in the category since the sport was introduced into the Olympics in 2000.

It was Wu's second win in their three meetings after Wu beat Enrique in the semifinal at last year's world championships on her way to the title.

"I was especially calm and relaxed in my matches today. Back in 2008 I wasn't so mature but in the past four years I have grown so much," said Wu.

"Now I know exactly what I need to do in the competition," she added.

Wu dominated the final as she took the lead in the first round 4-0 with a head kick and a kick to the body, built it to 7-1 in the second round and scored a final point in the last period.

Enrique Yague, 31, earned the first Olympic women's taekwondo medal for Spain.

Chanatip Sonkham of Thailand beat Elizabeth Zamora Gordillo from Guatemala 7-0 for the bronze before Croatian Lucija Zaninovic won by sudden death point over Jannet Alegria Pena of Mexico for another bronze.

In the men's competition, world champion Joel Gonzalez Bonilla brought Spain the second gold medal at London Olympic Games when he won in the -58kg category.

Gonzalez Bonilla gave Lee Daehoon a bleeding nose when he clinched an overwhelming victory over Lee 17-8, dashing the South Koreans' hope to repeat their four-gold feat in Beijing. Each NOC can enter a maximum of four athletes in taekwondo competition at an Olympics.

Lee, 20, rose from obscurity to international fame when he triumphed in 2010 before he took the world title in 2011 in the -63kg.

In bronze medal contests, Oscar Munoz Oviedo of Colombia overcame Pen-Ek Karaket from Thailand and Alexey Denisenko from Russia defeated Safwan Khalil of Australia.

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