Paris Olympics: Saudi Arabia's Dunia Abu Talib Beats Israel's Avishag Semberg In Taekwondo Quarter Finals (Instagram image@ dunyaabutaleb)

Saudi Arabia’s Dunia Abu Talib defeated Israel’s Avishag Semberg in the quarter finals of women’s taekwondo -49 kg category. Talib is the first woman from Saudi Arabia to qualify for Olympics on her own. Semberg is a bronze medallist in the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Talib started to learn taekwondo, the Korean martial art, at the age of eight. Her father introduced to it, at a time when girls were not allowed to exercise in schools in Saudi Arabia. She trained at a private club with her brother until she was 13, when she was prohibited from participating due to her gender.

Talib continued to train at home with her brother’s coach. She officially joined the Saudi Taekwondo Federation in 2015. She represented Saudi Arabia at the 2022 World Taekwondo Competition in Mexico. She was the only female athlete on the team. She also competed in the 49 kg category under the coaching of Kurban Bogda from Russia.

Talib secured third place in her category at the 2022 Asian Games.

Talib marks history by becoming the first Saudi woman to qualify for an Olympic spot on merit alone, after passing through the Asian qualifiers. Earlier,  all female athletes from Saudi Arabia had been included as part of national quota allocations.