Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Competing in the men’s judo -66kg division, Bouchard, who is ranked 16^th in the world, was declared the winner by Ippon with Uchi-mata.

Ippon is the highest score a fighter can achieve while Uchi-mata in judo is an inner thigh throw.

Ovinou was apologetic in defeat, feeling he had let the nation down.

The Canadian Bouchard went on to fight for the bronze medal in the -66kg division.

Ovinou is PNG’s first judo athlete to compete at an Olympics.

Katua will face off against his more experienced Russian opponent, Adlan Abdurashidov, who has been competing since 2009.

The Russian from the Akhmat Fight Club mentions chess as one of his hobbies but it will be Katua looking to checkmate the Russian in their first round bout.

The twenty-six year old, Abdurashidov qualified for the Rio Games as a highly ranked APB competitor and is a quality orthodox boxer with a high level of skill and experience.

The news was announced today by Chef de Mission, Emma Waiwai at the farewell for Team PNG at the Taurama Aquatic and Indoor Centre, Port Moresby.

Waiwai described Pini as a great ambassador for sports in PNG saying he is the only PNG athlete to compete in the finals at an Olympic Games.

“Ryan is well recognized in PNG and the Pacific. Among many other achievements and awards include Member of the British Empire, Order of the Logohu, Best Male Athlete of the 2015 Pacific Games and winning the SP Sports Awards Male Athlete of the Year five times.