12th December 2022

Saudi silver for classy Cook as Paralympic duo also shine in Grand Prix final

Bianca Cook ended a frustrating year with another career highlight, taking a silver medal at the World Grand Prix finals in Saudi Arabia.

And it was a case of girl power throughout the GB Taekwondo squad as Paralympians, Amy Truesdale and Beth Munro, also medalled in the Middle East.

Liverpool heavyweight Cook was forced to withdraw from last month’s World Championships due to injury.

But ‘Queen B’ showed her class on her return to action in Riyadh, reaching the +67kg final only to lose a best of three show down against Turkey’s up and coming prospect, Sude Yaren Uzuncavdar.

“It has been such a difficult year for me with so many injuries, not being myself and missing out on the World Championship,” said the 31-year-old.

“But I ended the year with a silver medal at the World Grand Prix final. Now it is time to rebuild completely mentally and physically.”

Cook beat Turkey’s former European champion, Nafia Kus, in the semi-finals and GB team mate Rebecca McGowan in the last eight.

Bradly Sinden was potentially six minutes away from a bronze medal but had to withdraw from the contest as a precaution due to minor injury concerns.

The 2019 world champion fought his way through to the semi-finals where he suffered an unwanted case of déjà vu against Uzbekistan’s Ulugbek Rashitov.

The 20-year-old beat Sinden for gold at Tokyo 2020 and Rashitov again got the measure of his British opponent in two straight rounds.

That put the Doncaster fighter, who knocked out South Korea’s Ho-jun Jin 2-1 in the quarters, into the bronze medal repechage but he couldn’t take his place for a consolation shot.

Double Olympic champion Jade Jones’ bid for a fourth Grand Prix final title ended in the quarter-finals, beaten by Morocco’s Nada Laaraj in a deciding third round.

Veteran Amy Truesdale again displayed her class and durability by finishing runner-up in the K44+65 kg category.

“There were some great performances all day, some valuable ranking points secured so I am really pleased to achieve a silver medal,” said Truesdale after losing to Uzbekistan’s Guljonoy Naimova, Paralympic champion in Japan at +58kg.

Munro collected her latest K44/-65kg medal in the repechage. Joe Lane lost 20-13 in the semi-final to Asadbek Toshtemirov. He then entered the bronze medal draw but lost 6-3 against Nurlan Dombayev of Kazakhstan.