Sanshou (≤52 kilograms), Women

Sanshou, also known as sanda, is a combative form of competitive wushu, based in traditional Chinese boxing, involving kicks and grappling techniques. In comparison to the World Championships, only two out of seven weight classes were held for women.

The top finishers of the 2007 Worlds qualified for the event, and they were seeded accordingly. Because of this, it was not a major surprise that the final results were essentially the same. World Champion Qin Lizi of the host nation defeated Mary Jane Estimar of the Philippines for the title, as Nguyễn (Vietnam) and Dehghani collected bronze as losing semi-finalists. Estimar barely made it to the final, suffering from an ankle sprain in her semi-final bout against Dehghani, but she recoved in time to fight in the final. Dehghani, meanwhile, made Olympic history by becoming the first ever Iranian woman to be on an Olympic podium, albeit for an exhibition event.