Tokyo Olympics: Ruth Gbagbi, Hedaya Wahba and Seif Eissa all win taekwondo bronze

Egypt's Hedaya Wahba won bronze in the women's -67kg category in taekwondo with a 17-6 victory over USA's Paige McPherson

The highlights for Africa on day three of the Tokyo Olympics were three bronze medals in taekwondo.

Taekwondo

Ivory Coast's Ruth Gbagbi, 27, matched the bronze she won in Rio as she beat Brazil's Milena Titoneli 12-8 in the -67kg category.

She had lost to Great Britain's Lauren Williams in the semi-finals 24-18.

In Rio, Gbagbi became the first Ivorian woman to win an Olympic medal and she has now become the first Ivorian overall to win two medals.

Egypt's Hedaya Malak Wahba, 28, then also claimed her second Olympic bronze having won one in Rio as well. This time she moved up a category from -57kg to claim the other bronze on offer in the same category as Gbagbi in Tokyo.

Wahba produced a dominant final round, which she won 14-1, to seal an overall 17-6 victory over USA's Paige McPherson.

She had also lost to Williams in an earlier round but came through the repechage to earn her shot at a medal.

"It was very hard for her fighting at -57kg. It was not good for her to be always dieting, it's not safe," her Mexican coach Salazar Blanco said after the fight.

"So it wasn't hard to move to -67kg; she just stopped the diet. But we had to build muscle to resist the kicks and we had to work hard on distance because of the taller athletes (in the 67kg class).

"She had to start from the beginning, get all the points again and move up the rankings. But she doesn't have anything to prove.

"She had Covid in November and she is still not 100%. She has been very, very tired. For her the postponement was very tough. Every day, every year it is harder, she is 28. She has a family."

Seif Eissa, 23, became the third Egyptian to win an Olympic taekwondo bronze medal as he beat Norway's Richard Andre Ordemann 12-4 in their medal bout in the men's -80kg category.

In the same category, there had been disappointment for Ivory Coast's defending Olympic champion Cheick Cisse who lost in the very first round to Morocco's Achraf Mahboubi.

"I feel destroyed. I didn't expect that at all. I think there was just too much pressure. I am feeling so bad, of course, because I wanted to defend my title," Cisse admitted after his loss.

Swimming

South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker looks like the lady to beat on Tuesday for women's 100m breaststroke gold as she qualified for the final with the fastest time.

The 24-year-old Commonwealth champion had set an Olympic record on Sunday to reach the semi-finals.

Surfing

South African surfer Bianca Buitendag in action at the Tokyo Olympics

Bianca Buitendag of South Africa caused a shock in the opening heats of the surfing as she beat seven-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore of Australia.

The 27-year-old then went onto make it to Tuesday's quarter-finals where she will face Portugal's Yolanda Hopkins.

"That's just the nature of surfing, sometimes the waves are there, sometimes the waves are not," Gilmore said of her shock loss to outsider Buitendag.

Gilmore was left ruing her decision to let a promising wave pass to her opponent, with Buitendag jumping on it and notching a score of 7.10 that decided the heat.

Rugby Sevens

Africa's two representatives in the men's event, South Africa and Kenya, have both been drawn in Pool C.

South Africa, who won bronze at the Rio games in 2016, began with a comfortable 33-14 win over Ireland while Kenya lost narrowly to the USA 19-14.

The South Africans then emerged victorious when they faced their African rivals, winning 14-5.

The action continues on Tuesday as South Africa face USA and Kenya take on Ireland, with both sides still in with a chance to reach the quarter-finals.

Handball

Egypt's men lost 27-32 to Denmark to follow a 37-31 win over Portugal on Saturday - next up are hosts Japan on Wednesday.

Hockey

South Africa's women lost their second straight game in Tokyo on Monday, losing 4-1 to Great Britain, having lost their opener to Ireland 2-0.

On Wednesday, the South Africans have a tough-looking game against the Netherlands, who are the World Cup holders and won silver at the 2016 Games in Rio.

Volleyball

Tunisia's men lost by 3 sets to 0 against France on Monday having lost by the same scoreline to Brazil in their opening match. They face USA on Wednesday.

Triathlon

South Africa's Henri Schoeman, who won bronze at the 2016 Rio Games, did not reach the finish line as an existing ankle injury forced him to abandon the race midway through the run phase of the event.

Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt claimed the gold ahead of Great Britain's Alex Yee with Hayden Wilde of New Zealand clinching bronze.