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Golden Peter claims European Multi Games success

10th June 2018

 

Peter Longobardi Radford has secured GB Taekwondo’s first ever gold medal at the World Taekwondo Europe Open Multi Games in Bulgaria.

There was also bronze for Damon Sansum while Amy Truesdale claimed silver at the Para-Taekwondo European Championships.

Longobardi-Radford’s success in the -68kg weight division is another sign he’s back to his best form after a recent bronze medal at the European Championships in Russia.

To capture his first title since the US Open in Las Vegas last October he defeated Russian rival, Sarmat Tcakoev 13-7 after knocking out Konstantinos Chamalidis of Greece in the last four.

Longobardi Radford, 23, also defeated team mate Jacob Barnett in the quarter-finals.

“Medalling at the Europeans was a big thing,” he agreed. “It was a different weight so I wasn’t expecting much.

“I just wanted to go and have fun and I did get a bronze medal so that helped me to believe in myself and keep working hard. I did feel very sharp and focused on each fight.”

Longobardi Radford admitted tackling Yorkshireman Barnett wasn’t easy. “It is not good to face your teammate because we are training every day and we know each other.

“It would have been better to fight at the final but sometimes things don’t go as you expected.

“The only thing I can say is inside the ring we are not friends and outside we still have a good relationship. The best thing we can do is not take it personal and support each other.”

Bearded Scot Sansum clearly enjoys competing in Bulgaria. The 31-year-old former World Championship bronze medallist earned a podium finish at the Sofia Open earlier this year and he now has another bronze.

It might have been a higher grade of metal but Sansum lost 2-1 on golden point in the -80kg semi-finals to Belgium’s Nicholas Corten.

Fellow Scot Hassan Haider narrowly failed to make the semi-finals of the -58kg event.

After forcing Greek rival Georgios Simitsis to the golden point round, the Falkirk prospect missed out on a ‘superiority’ verdict from the judges.

Amy Truesdale’s search for a fifth Para European title ended against a familiar foe. She reached the K44 -58kg final after a 14-4 victory over Turkey’s Nurcihan Ekinci only to lose 9-2 against Aynur Mammadova of Azerbaijan.

Fellow para athletes, Joseph Lane and Matt Bush went down 27-7 and 29-9 in their respective competitions to Mexican Juan Diego Garcia Lopez and Recep Ozdemir of Turkey.

 

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