Rohullah Nikpai

Rohullah Nikpai (also Rohullah Nikpah, Persian روحالله نیکپای; born June 15, 1987 in Wardak ) is an Afghan Taekwondo. He belongs to the ethnic Hazara, and is the first athlete of his country, who won Olympic medals.

Sporting career

A first international success landed Nikpai at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha with reaching the Round of 16 in the weight category up to 58 kg. With a second place in the Asian qualifying tournament WTF he secured in November 2007 to participate in the Summer Olympics in Beijing. In April 2008, he celebrated with the bronze medal at the 18th Asian Championships its biggest sporting success.

In his Olympic debut he won in the category up to 58 kg bronze medal. This was the first medal for Afghanistan at the Olympics at all. In the first round he had the reigning European champion Levent Tuncat from Germany, in the battle for the bronze medal then the two-time world champion Juan Antonio Ramos ( Spain) conquered.

At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London Nikpai entered in the category up to 68 kg. He advanced to the quarterfinals, where he lost to the later Mohammad Bagheri Motamed finalists with four to five points. In the repechage, he sat down against David Boui by 14 to two points. The enemy in the battle for the bronze medal was the Briton Martin Stamper, whom he defeated with five to three points. Thus Nikpai won for the second time an Olympic bronze medal.