Home / Bradly Sinden / ‘Superior’ Jones retains European title as McNeish strikes gold too in Russia

‘Superior’ Jones retains European title as McNeish strikes gold too in Russia

11th May 2018

Jade Jones and Christian McNeish produced golden performances as GB Teekwondo athletes took its medal tally to four at the European Championships in Kazan, Russia.

With two days of competition remaining, including double world champion Bianca Walkden’s appearance in the heavyweight division, British fighters have already matched its medal tally from the 2016 Euros.

Double Olympic gold medallist, Jones, was pushed all the way in the final of the -57kg weight division by Turkey’s Hatice Kubra.

Even after sudden death, gold point the pair couldn’t be separated. However, the defending champion received the judges’ verdict on superiority and later beamed: “A win is a win.

“When I won it was like a better feeling than ever before because it was so close,” added the 25-year-old Welsh star.

“So, I feel on top of the world. I did really well in my first two fights but the third one was a bit iffy.

“I was losing going into the last round and managed to pull it back,” she added of a 17-14 semi-final success against Poland’s Patrycja Adamkiewicz.

“I just kept saying to myself, ‘I cannot lose this, I have got to do it and thankfully I did.”

Londoner McNeish, 21, protected his unbeaten record in 2018 and extended his winning run to five tournaments with a superb display at -68kg while team mate, Bradly Sinden, secured bronze at -63kg.

“I am happy but I am glad the day is over,” he confirmed after a 28-21 success over home favourite, Sarmat Tcakoev. “It was a long day but I can’t complain.

“I felt good in the final because there wasn’t any pressure on me. I told myself to go and enjoy it and happy for me it went my way.”

Yorkshireman Sinden was involved in a points fest of a semi-final against Hakan Recber before losing 46-39 to his Turkish rival. Sinden reached the last four with a 27-13 victory against Belgium’s 2015 world champion, Jaouad Achab.

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