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McNeish Siblings Prove Double Trouble for French Open Rivals

20th November 2017

Brother and sister, Christian and Isobella McNeish, achieved podium places as GB Taekwondo stars enjoyed a successful outing at the French Open in Paris.

Christian was one of three Manchester trained fighters to claim gold, recovering from the disappointment of his first round defeat at last month’s World Taekwondo Grand Prix in London.

Fighting in the -74kg division, the 20-year-old from Plaistow defeated Portugal’s Julio Ferreira in the final to secure his sixth medal of the year and second gold.

Sibling Isobella, who joined the GB Academy through the Fighting Chance talent ID initiative earlier this year, competed at -57kg; the weight category dominated by Britain’s double Olympic champion, Jade Jones.

And she proved her credentials with a battling bronze medal before losing to eventual silver medallist, Jolanta Tarvida, from Latvia.

Joining Christian as a golden star were Yorkshireman Bradly Sinden and Jade Slavin from Consett, County Durham.

Sinden defeated McNeish on his was to a Grand Prix silver medal at the Copper Box Arena a month ago. And the 19-year-old from Doncaster continued his superb form by winning the -68kg title.

Sinden defeated twice World Championship medallist, Jose Antonio Atencia of Spain, to collect his latest title.

Slavin was looking for a big finish to the year and she duly delivered at +73kg. Opposing her in the final was home favourite and experienced French star, Maeva Mellier.

However, Slavin, who celebrates her 25th birthday next month, produced a great performance to win the tournament and add to her Dutch Open victory from earlier in the year.

The 13-strong squad ended their French trip with a total of six medals. Heavyweight Mahama Cho has enjoyed his most consistent season to date and again demonstrated his high level of performance by reaching the +87kg final.

The popular Londoner fought Abdoul Issoufou for gold in a re-match of their World Championship clash earlier this year. And it was Issoufou from Niger, the 2016 Olympic silver medallist, who came out on top again.

Damon Sansum was Britain’s sixth and final medallist. A winner in Paris in 2013 and 2014, the big Scot collected bronze in the -80kg division won by Michel Fernandes of Portugal.

Comments
  • Patrick McChrystal
    Reply

    Another fantastic day for GB Taekwondo. Big congratulations to all involved. I’m already looking forward to the Grand Prix events in 2018 and 2019 plus the World Championships.

    I went out to Rio to watch last year which was fantastic and will be in Tokyo to support GB Taekwondo in 2020.

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