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USA's McPherson reaches taekwondo semi v No. 1 seed Jelic

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Paige McPherson's quest to return to the podium is going well, but is about to get quite difficult.

The American taekwondo competitor, 30, won bronze in 2012 but fell in her first bout of the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

The No. 5 seeded welterweight posted an 8-5 win over Azeribaijan's Farida Azizova in the Round of 16, moving on to face No. 4 competitor Nur Tatar of Turkey.

That quarterfinal was tight and low-scoring, a 3-1 win for McPherson to set up a semifinal berth and the guarantee of a medal match.

McPherson's draw in the semifinal is a huge challenge in the form of  European champion seed Matea Jelic.

The Croatian is the No. 1 seed and won her quarterfinal by an astounding 30-9.