10th May 2018

GB Taekwondo starlet Jordyn Smith won her first senior European Championship medal in Kazan, Russia and then went off to prepare for a different kind of test.

The 17-year-old Scot, who recently captured a Junior World title in Tunisia, won three fights before narrowly missing out on a place in the final of the -49kg weight division.

“I am not going to celebrate yet because I have my English exam coming up,” revealed Smith. “So, I am going to celebrate by studying,

“I was a bit disappointed at first,” added the promising teenager from Carronshore.

“But after speaking to my dad and to my coach (Michael Harvey) I feel a lot better.

“To come away with a bronze medal is a good achievement.”

Smith opened up with a 13-7 win over Lucija Anramovi from Croatia before ousting second seed, Kyriaki Kouttouki of Cyprus, 14-12 on golden point.

Jordyn continued to leave her supporters on the edge of their seats by recording another sudden death finish to her quarter-final against Ozlem Guruz of Germany.

But her last four encounter against Dina Pouryounes of Holland proved a match too far and she went out 8-5.

“I knew it was going to be a tough fight,” said Jordyn of her semi-final bout. She was a strong opponent and managed to stop me getting inside.

“I kept trying to get into the contest but the points kept going up. At the time I was disappointed but overall it was a good day.”

However, there was no podium places for three other GB Taekwondo athletes on the opening day of competition.

Jordyn’s fellow Scot, Hassan Haider, went down 35-15 against Azerbaijan’s Gashim Magomedov while Yorkshire based prospect, Mason Yarrow, lost 20-14 against Magomed Gagiev.

There was disappointment too for karate convert, Maddison Moore, narrowly beaten in the opening round of the -49kg event by Germany’s Ela Aydin 8-6.

The schedule is:

Friday:

-63kg: Bradly Sinden (Doncaster)

-68kg: Christian McNeish (Plaistow)

Saturday:

-74kg: Peter Longobardi-Radford (Rye)

-80kg Damon Sansum (Elgin)

Sunday:

+87kg: Jack Spall (Attleborough)

Female

Friday:

-57kg: Jade Jones (Flint)

Saturday:

-62kg: Rachelle Booth (Wigan)

-67kg: Lauren Williams (Newport, Gwent)

Sunday:

-73kg: Jade Slavin (Consett)

+73kg Bianca Walkden (Liverpool)