6th March 2023

Golden girls, Jade Jones (left) and Bianca Walkden (right) after their fights.

Bianca Cook, Jade Jones and Bradly Sinden struck gold as GB Taekwondo fighters won five medals to finish top team at the Bulgaria Open in Sofia.

For Cook, formerly Bianca Walkden, and Jones, the competition marked their first titles of 2023.

Sinden, after winning the WT President’s Cup event in Turkey at -68kg last month, stepped up to -74kg to achieve his latest podium finish.

Rebecca McGowan took silver after losing to team mate Cook in the +73kg final while Mohammed Nour finished runner-up to Turkey’s Omer Dayioglu at 58kg.

Britain’s five medal haul, including the hat-trick of gold standards, enabled the Manchester trained squad to edge out Turkey for the overall team prize.

High Performance Coach, Martin Stamper and Bradly Sinden.

Double Olympic champion Jones, who celebrates her 30^th birthday later this month, won the two opening rounds to defeat Turkish rival, Hatice Ilgun in the – 57kg final.

Sinden progressed to first place as both of his opponents withdrew from the competition, Belgian’s Badr Achab in the semi-final followed by Nedzad Husic, the 2021 European Under 21 champion from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

GB Taekwondo’s development squad also left its mark on the tournament. Dantrell Knight-Mitchell won gold and Denis Singh-Digwa silver while eight athletes picked up bronze medals: Neve McPhillie, Emily Mills, Alex Sherratt, Lucie Roberts, Tomi Makanjuola, Owen Blunt, Skye Taylor and Zak Angell.