17th June 2018

Peter Longobardi Radford was tired but delighted after adding another gold medal to his collection at the Luxembourg Open on Saturday, June 16.

And the competition proved a successful one for GB Taekwondo fighters with five teammates also climbing the podium, including Longobardi Radford’s -68kg teammate, Bradly Sinden.

The duo fought their way to the final and then produced an epic battle before the champion ran out a 23-21 winner.

There were silver medals also for Lutalo Muhammed, his third in a row this year, and Scottish prospect, Hassan Haider. Heavyweight Jack Spall pounded his way to bronze as did World Junior champion, Jordyn Smith.

But it was Longobardi Radford who achieved top spot after a gruelling recent schedule that also saw him take gold at the inaugural Europe Open Multi Games.

“It was a hard day,” admitted the new champion who edged his semi-final against Israel’s Liel Haimovits only on golden point.

“I came back from Bulgaria last Sunday having fought four times.

“Here, I have done five and I could feel my body was very tired.

“But I just focused and took it fight by fight. It’s all about putting your mind in the right place and trying to smash it!

Longobardi Radford, 23, from Rye had defeated another teammate, Jacob Barnett, on his way to his Multi Games triumph. This time Barnett went out to fellow Yorkshireman Sinden in the last eight.

And he confirmed the difficulty of opposing a fellow Brit. “It was intense fighting Bradly but it was good because I can always learn some new things from him,

“He is a good fighter. But I always say – in the ring, we are not friends but outside everything is fine.

“You just have to go in and do your job which is to win.”

Rio 2016 silver medallist Muhammad is edging closer to his debut win of the year.

He fought well to reach the final at -87kg only to lose 9-6 against Russia’s Yury Kirichenko, a recent bronze medallist at the European Championships.

There was silver too for 20-year-old Haider. Competing in the -58kg division, he lost 12-4 in the final to Frenchman Killyann Bonnet.

Hassan’s run to the final included a thrilling 22-20 semi-final success over highly-rated Irishman and Rio Olympian, Jack Woolley.

Teenager Smith, a recent Senior European Championship bronze medallist, lost 9-4 in her -46kg semi-final against Spaniard Iñiguez Rodriguez while Spall from Attleborough in Norfolk went down 12-2 against Ukraine opponent Mykhailo Shelest at +87kg.