Tsirekidze retains gold in mid-weight judo

Ilias Iliadis (blue) of Greece competes against Mark Huizinga of Netherlands during their men 90kg preliminary of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Judo event at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Mark Huizinga won the match.(Xinhua PhotoChen Jianli)

Eduardo Santos (in blue) of Brazil competes during the men's 90kg preliminary of judo against He Yanzhu of China at Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Eduardo Santos of Brazil won in the match.(Xinhua Photo/Chen Jianli)

Irakli Tsirekidze (blue) of Georgia competes against Amar Benikhlef of Algeria in men's 90kg final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Judo event in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Irakli Tsirekidze won the match and claimed the gold of men's 90kg of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Judo event.(Xinhua Photo/Chen Jianli)

Irakli Tsirekidze (blue) of Georgia reacts after beating Amar Benikhlef of Algeria in men's 90kg final of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Judo event in Beijing, China, Aug. 13, 2008. Irakli Tsirekidze won the match and claimed the gold of men's 90kg of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Judo event.(Xinhua Photo/Wu Xiaoling)

BEIJING, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Irakli Tsirekidze from Georgia beat his Algerian opponent Amar Benikhlef with a slim advantage in the 90kg-class judo final, preserving the Olympic title for the Middle Asian country.

The 26-year-old Tsirekidze had not given any flaw in his defence against Benikhlef in the final and scored a koka by a penalty to his opponent for being negative, which led to the gold medal of the men's middleweight judo at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Ranked No. 1 in the world, the Georgian judoka proved his world title last year by giving a convincing performance throughout the competition. He managed two ippons and only surrendered one koka to his rivals.

In the five-minute showdown lasted to the end, Benikhlef nearly twisted the Georgian for a come-from-behind victory at the last a few seconds. However, the Algerian failed to make a historical gold medal for his country and the whole Africa.

Nevertheless, Benikhlef who ranked 25th this year still achieved the best judo result at the Olympic Games with the silver medal for African people, following a bronze medal gained by his compatriot Soraya Haddad in women's 52kg category.

The bronze medals went to Hesham Mesbah, another African judoka from Egypt. He ipponed Frenchmen Yves-Matthieu Dafreville.

Sergei Aschwanden of Switzerland also made an ippon victory over Ivan Pershin from Russia to receive the other bronze medal.

Olympic Games award two bronze medals respectively to winners of bouts between semifinal losers and repechage winners.