After winning his preliminary fight on Wednesday morning, the Democratic Republic of the Congo refugee faced top-seeded South Korean Donghan Gwak in the second round of the men's 90-kilogram division. With the crowd shouting "Popole" and clapping to cheer him on, he fought aggressively to get a strong grip on Gwak's uniform and tried several times to throw him or wrestle him to the ground.

But after about four minutes, Gwak — the current judo world champion — scored an automatic ippon victory. Misenga said afterward that it was an honour to fight a world champion and that he was proud to have lasted four minutes against him.

He said he was sure his family in Congo had seen him on television and that he "was sending them a kiss wherever they are."

Misenga won his first-round match in the men's division of judo's 90-kilogram division in a competitive contest against India's Avtar Singh, Misenga managed to score one point with a throw that landed Singh on his side — but it was ultimately enough to win. In a crowd dotted with Brazilian flags, the cheers for Misenga's victory were deafening.

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Misenga, who hasn't seen his family in Congo for 15 years, settled in Brazil three years ago, after coming to compete in the world championships. He trains at the judo school run by renowned coach Geraldo Bernardes, the coach of Brazilian judoka Rafaela Silva — who won the country's first gold of the Rio Olympics on Sunday. In his next fight, Misenga faces top-seeded Donghan Gwak of South Korea.

'Happy for the chance to fight'

In the women's 70kg divisiion judoka Yolande Bukasa, the refugee Olympian from Congo, lost in the first round but said it was significant just to be able to fight on sport's biggest stage.

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Bukasa fled her war-torn country years ago after being separated from her parents. On Wednesday, she faced off against Israel's Linda Bolder, the 11th seed. In their first-round fight, Bolder quickly took control and managed to throw Bukase once and then held her down for 20 seconds, scoring an automatic victory.

After the match, Bukasa said that she was "happy, because I had the chance to fight at the Olympics." She said her message for family back home was that she was continuing to fight, "not just for judo, but for my life." And that they should do the same.

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