Bradly Sinden has taken silver in Tokyo after losing to Uzebekistan’s Ulugbek Rashitov in the men’s 68kg taekwondo final.
Rashitov beat Sinden 34-29 at the Makuhari Messe Hall on Sunday, narrowly missing out on Team GB’s first gold of the Games.
Sinden, the reigning world champion, from Doncaster, was guaranteed a silver medal after beating China‘s Zhao Shuai in the semi-finals earlier in the day.
But despite his 19-year-old opponent being seeded 17th in the world, he was overtaken in the final few seconds of the match.
Appearing tearful afterwards, the 22-year-old spoke of his “disappointment”.
“It was my gold medal to give away,” he said. “I made a few mistakes, but that’s taekwondo.”
The silver win follows huge disappointment for British taekwondo earlier in the day when double Olympic champion Jade Jones lost in the first round.
Jones, 28, was vying to become the first ever British woman to secure three golds at three consecutive games.
But she was denied even a bronze in the repechage when the Refugee Team’s Kimia Alizadeh – who beat her – lost out in the semi-finals.
Team GB came second only to the USA in the medals table at Rio 2016 and is hoping for a repeat performance this year.
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