BEIJING (AP) -- Afghanistan won their first Olympic medal Wednesday, when Rohullah Nikpai defeated world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain to take the bronze in the men's under 58-kilogram taekwondo competition.

Flashy kicker Nikpai, who has been practicing the Korean martial art since he was 10, defeated Ramos 4-1 in their bronze medal playoff, outscoring his limping opponent.
Nikpai was placed second in the World Taekwondo Federation's world qualifying event in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam last year.
The Games medal brings him a $50,000 prize from a mobile phone company in Afghanistan.
Mexico's Guillermo Perez won the gold in a decision over Dominica's Yulis Gabriel Mercedes.
China's world champion Wu Jingyu won the women's under 49-kilogram class on the first day of the taekwondo competition with victory over Thailand's Buttree Puedpong having beaten Taiwan's Yang Shu-chun, the 2007 world bronze medalist, in the semifinals.
Venezuela's Dalia Contreras Rivero and Puedpong went into overtime in the other semifinal. Neither was able to score, and Puedpong was declared the winner by the judges.
Contreras Rivero and Cuba's Daynellis Montejo, who defeated Yang, took the bronzes.
Mexico's Guiliermo Perez had to go the distance with Mercedes in the men's final.
He scored early, but Mercedes came back with seconds left to force the match into overtime. Neither could score in the alloted two minutes, and the judges' decision went to Perez.
Russian Buvaysa Saytiev won a record-tying third Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medal on Wednesday having fought his way back into the national team two just months ago by beating the reigning world and European champion.
Saytiev matched his golds of 1996 and 2004 by defeating Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan 0-1 1-0 3-1 in the 74 kilograms (163 pounds) finals.
The only previous three-time freestyle gold medalist was the former Soviet Union's Alexander Medved in 1964 1968 and 1972, but Saytiev is the first to win his three golds over four Olympics.
The bronzes were won by Murad Gaidarov of Belarus and Kiril Terziev of Bulgaria.
After his come-from-behind gold-medal win, one achieved by two point-producing single-leg takedowns in the third period, Saytiev invoked former American gold medalist Rulon Gardner's on-mat retirement in Athens.
Then, Gardner took off his shoes and left them in the middle of the mat; this time, Saytiev carefully placed the Russian flag he wore during his victory celebration at center mat as hundreds of Russian fans chanted “Sy-tee-ah! Sy-tee-ah!”
What a way to go out, too, against a rising, 24-year-old wrestler who appeared to have the edge against a tiring Saytiev after winning the first period.
Saytiev, who fell to eighth in the world in 2006, regained his Olympic spot after defeating world and European champion Makhach Murtzaliev in the Russian nationals in June.
Aksana Miankova of Belarus has won the gold medal in the women's hammer throw in an Olympic record.
Miankova, who entered the games with the third best throw of all time after two Russians who were either banned or under investigation for anti-doping violations, set the record with her next-to-last mark of 250 feet, 5 inches on Wednesday.
Two-time world champion and Athens 2004 silver medalist Yipsi Moreno of Cuba hit the lead briefly at 245-1 in the fifth of six rounds. She finished with silver at 246-8.
China's Zhang Wenxiu had the crowd on its feet and roaring louder with each of her six attempts, the world championship bronze medalist finishing third at 243-10.
Middleweight James Degale beat former Olympic champion Bakhtiyar Artayev of Kazakhstan 8-3 in a quarterfinal bout Wednesday to clinch Britain's third medal, while Vijender Kumar earned the first boxing medal in India's history.
Cuba's last two fighters also reached the semifinals with one-sided victories, guaranteeing a whopping eight medals for the sport's now-unquestioned power.
Flyweight Andris Laffita earned a marquee meeting with Russia's Georgy Balakshin, while middleweight Emilio Correa emulated his medal-winning father with a win over Uzbekistan's Elshod Rasulov.
But nobody looked better than Degale in his stunning upset of Artayev, the Athens welterweight champion who beat vaunted Russian Matvey Korobov in his last fight.
In the evening's last bout, Vijender Kumar entered the ring to a chant of “Jia You India!” from his Mandarin-savvy fans, and the 22-year-old middleweight thoroughly controlled his bout with Ecuador's Carlos Gongora, winning 9-4.
India had never won a boxing medal in 12 Olympics beginning in 1948, and the notoriously underachieving team only won its first individual gold earlier in these Olympics in shooting.
With heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko watching from the stands, Ireland clinched its third medal of the games with middleweight Darren John Sutherland's 11-1 thrashing of Venezuela's Alfonso Blanco.
Sutherland will fight Degale next, and the two already have a lengthy history of at least five competitive bouts. Degale already began a bit of rubbish-talking, claiming that “with the skill I've got, I should beat him every day.”
With British light heavyweight Tony Jeffries also fighting Ireland's Kenny Egan on Friday, Workers' Gymnasium should be hopping with British Isles partisanship -- and hopefully with a few extra security guards as well.
Italy's Vincenzo Picardi left the arena on his coach's shoulders after beating Tunisia's Walid Cherif to clinch a medal.