Jade Jones suffers shock first-round taekwondo loss at Paris Olympics, Team GB's Bradly Sinden withdraws from bronze
Updated 08/08/2024 at 20:25 GMT+1
There was disappointment for Great Britain's two-time gold medallist Jade Jones as she was beaten in the first round of the women's -57kg taekwondo. Jones lost a tight contest against North Macedonia’s Miljana Reljikj. Elsewhere, Team GB's Bradly Sinden reached the semi-finals as he beat Papua New Guinea’s Kevin Kassman and then Croatia's Marko Golubic.
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Video credit: TNT Sports
Two-time gold medallist Jade Jones suffered a shock first-round taekwondo exit at the Paris Olympics.
Great Britain's Jones, Olympic champion in 2012 and 2016 but also beaten at the first hurdle in Tokyo 2020, lost against North Macedonia’s Miljana Reljikj in the women’s -57kg.
The first two rounds of a tight contest were shared, but Jones lost a tied decider on superiority – most registered hits in the round.
Elsewhere, GB’s Bradly Sinden was beaten in the men's -68kg semi-finals and was forced to withdraw from the bronze medal match due to injury.
Sinden opened with an impressive win over Papua New Guinea’s Kevin Kassman in just one minute and four seconds, and then beat Croatia's Marko Golubic 2-1.
He was defeated 2-1 by Jordan's Zaid Kareen in the last four and was denied a second successive Olympic final.
But the 25-year-old from Doncaster later revealed he had ruptured his MCL against Golubic and took the tough decision to pull out.
Jones could still have a shot at a bronze medal via the repechage if her opponent reaches the final, but a historic third gold medal is no longer possible.
Jones led 2-0 and 5-4 in the first round of her clash against Reljikj, but the 21-year-old battled back to win, landing a head kick with five seconds remaining.
Jones started better in the second and held onto an early lead to level the contest.
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There was nothing to separate the pair in a 1-1 third round, so it was decided by superiority – the amount of hits landed – and Reljikj won.
Sinden, meanwhile, said he was "disappointed" to withdraw, but also "privileged" to compete at his second Olympic Games.
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Bradly Sinden
Image credit: Getty Images
"I'm disappointed," said Sinden. "Not about losing, but in the sense of not being able to give it my all in the semi-finals because I thought if I was injury free, I had a good chance of getting gold today.
"But I've got to realize that I'm also privileged to be here. Not everyone becomes an Olympian, especially getting to my second.
"It's been a hard few years with taekwondo, with rules changing, different systems so there were times where I did fall out of love with it."
Sinden finished both rounds early against Kassman to advance, winning the first round 12-0 and the second 15-3 to reach the quarters.
Against Golubic, who won gold at last year's World Championships, Sinden took the first round 8-6 but lost the second 11-9 after being 9-2 ahead.
Sinden moved 5-0 up in the deciding round and held off another fightback from Golubic to win 18-10.
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