19th May 2019

➡️UPDATE: Intense QF finish for @Chotimetkd

He goes out to Maicon Siqueira 🇧🇷 on golden point.#KickingForGlory pic.twitter.com/6GhUOANf8P

— GB Taekwondo 🇬🇧 (@GBTaekwondo) May 19, 2019

Mahama Cho suffered an unwanted case of déjà vu on the final day of competition at the World Championships in Manchester.

The GB heavyweight, competing in the +87kg division, was looking to win the host nation’s fifth medal.

Instead, he lost on golden point to Brazilian Maicon Siqueira, the man who denied him a bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

Cho deployed the ‘Mahama hammer’ punch to good effect throughout the contest and battled back in the final round to force their bout into overtime.

But it was 26-year-old Siqueira who struck decisively to seal his place in the last four.

Cho, a world silver medallist in Muju four years ago, put on a brave face after his unwanted exit.

“This is taekwondo, someone has to lose and unfortunately this time it was me,” he said.

“I went out there with the intention to bring home another medal but it wasn’t to be.

“I gave it everything. I don’t have any excuses. I left everything on the mat and tactically he did a better job than me.

“Credit where credit is due.  He fought well though was neck and neck to the end.

“I am disappointed with the loss but happy with the performance.

“I just hope I can carry on and end the season well and qualify for the Olympic Games next year.”

“Taking defeats here is going to make me stronger when it comes to the Olympics,” added Cho who defeated Canada’s Marc Andre Bergeron 17-5 in the last 16 and stopped Guan-Ting Lin of Chinese Taipei with a first-round knockout.

Siqueira’s bid for gold ended in the semi-finals when beaten by Cuban Rafael Alba.

Newly crowned World Champion, Jones was also voted the tournament’s ‘Most Valuable Female Player’, whilst GB collected 4th ‘Best Male Team’ and 3rd ‘Best Women’s Team’.