Mohsen Rezaei, the captain of the country’s national taekwondo team, won bronze on Sunday after losing in the semi-final to Jang Jun from South Korea.
Rezaei won the first round against world champion Jang Jun with a close score of 7-5 but lost 14-12 in the second round and settled for a historic and valuable bronze medal.
Reports indicate Rezaei broke his hand in the first stage of the competition, but still managed to register the first medal for Afghanistan at this year’s Games.
According to officials of the Taekwondo Federation, Afghanistan won bronze by defeating opponents from Tajikistan, Japan, and Kazakhstan and South Korea.
Early in the day Afghanistan’s national rugby team lost in its last match.
After beating Nepal, the team went through to the next round and faced the United Arab Emirates. However the team suffered a defeat, despite their best efforts.
Other Afghans were also unlucky on Monday, including swimmer Fahim Anwari who took part in the 50m freestyle and 100 m breaststroke but failed to qualify for the next rounds.
Afghan boxer, in the 71kg weight division Mohammad Khyber Nooristani also fell out following an injury during his bout against his Mongolian opponent.
