TOKYO — Galal Yafai won Britain’s first boxing gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, beating Carlo Paalam of the Philippines 4:1 in the flyweight final Saturday.
Yafai, the 28-year-old younger brother of two professional boxers from Birmingham, is a two-time Olympian who had an impressive run in Tokyo. He finished by knocking down Paalam in the first round of the gold medal bout and going on for a comfortable win.
“Being Olympic champion is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m Olympic champion now and I’m over the moon,” Yafai said. “I’ve worked hard, I took up boxing and thank god it worked out for me.
“I trained hard, gave it everything, and it just shows that if you work hard, you can get the rewards.
“I don’t know if, at every moment, I knew or believed that I was going to be Olympic champion.
“My friends, family, brothers will be over the moon. Everyone back in Birmingham, the support I’ve had has been ridiculous, I just want to say a big thanks to everyone who has supported me.”
Britain’s powerhouse team has won two silvers and two bronzes to go with Yafai’s gold in Tokyo. Middleweight Lauren Price fights Sunday for another gold.
Paalam fell just short of winning the first Olympic boxing gold medal in the history of the Philippines after knocking off defending gold medalist Shakhoibidin Zoirov on his way to the final. The Filipino team is still heading home from Tokyo with two silver medals and a bronze after winning just five boxing medals in their entire previous Olympic history.
Ryomei Tanaka of Japan and Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan won bronze medals. Yafai beat Bibossinov in a thrilling semifinal.
