22nd May 2022

Jade Jones’ bid to retain her European title ended in disappointment for the double Olympic champion in Manchester today. (Sunday)

The Welsh star, roared on by a partisan home crowd at the Regional Arena was stunned by a third-round comeback from Poland’s Patrycja Adamkiewicz.

And Jones’ bronze medal after a heartbreaking 27-24 semi-final defeat was of little consolation for the home favourite.

However, it ensured GB Taekwondo finished with nine medals from four days of competition.

“When you get to the top you always want that gold medal. But sometimes it is all part of the journey towards that gold medal in Paris.

“Taekwondo is hard to constantly get gold medals. I just appreciated having a crowd back with all my family and friends.

“I thought I performed really well at the start of the day,” added Jones who defeated Latvian Inese  22-0 in the last 16.

“But you always have to be on your toes. There are so many young ones coming up, you can’t switch off for a second.

“I just try to be the hardest worker in the gym; always pushing. Just because I have got gold medals it doesn’t mean I can train less, I have to train more.”

You’re still the champ in our eyes @jadejonestkd 💙#Taekwondo | #Euros pic.twitter.com/Tlb7bubmL9

— GB Taekwondo 🇬🇧 (@GBTaekwondo) May 22, 2022

Jones wasn’t alone in wondering what might have been. There were agonising late quarter-final defeats also for Nottingham’s Cameron Booth at -74kg and Chloe Roberts from Stoke on Trent.

Booth, 22, an opening fight winner against Greek rival, Dimitrios Peltekis, came from behind to force golden point against Turkey’s Muhammad Yildiz.

But it was Yildiz who progressed leaving the young Brit frustrated at missing out on a guaranteed bronze.

“It is hard to deal with but I went out there and did my best,” said Booth. “The fans were amazing.

“They got me through in that last round because I was trailing. It could have gone either way in golden point and I thought I’d got it.

“I saw the score flicker but unfortunately, they scored a punch against me.”

 

Roberts from Stoke on Trent led 8-6 in the closing stages of the final round against Jone Magdalene only for her Spanish opponent to edge the final score 9-8.

“It’s not how I wanted to go at all,” she said. “But it can’t always go your way.

“I don’t think you can ever be certain you have got it (the win) because taekwondo is so up and down.

“But I think I could have done more to keep it. I am not disappointed with how I fought, there were different things I could have done. So, I can take a lot of learning from the day.”

The penultimate medal was won by para newcomer Keira Forsythe collected a bronze medal on debut, losing at -52kg against Turkey’s Meryem Cavdar.

However, that ensured all the four-strong Para squad collected medals with gold for Beth Munro and Joe Lane plus a bronze for Amy Truesdale.

Yorkshire prospect Aaliyah Powell, a world bronze medallist three years ago, suffered a 12-8, last 16 defeat against Italy’s Giada Al-Halwani.