European taekwondo champion Williams suffers emotional World Championships exit
BySportsbeat
Published 27/06/2017 at 08:44 GMT
European champion Lauren Williams was reduced to tears in Muju but has vowed to come back stronger after her early defeat at the World Taekwondo Championships.
Eurosport
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The 18-year-old had been tipped as a medal prospect heading to South Korea, and things were looking bright as she reached the quarter-finals in the -67kg weight division.
But, one bout away from guaranteeing a medal, the Welsh teenager missed out with a 31-22 defeat to China's Mengyu Zhang, soon after beating Athanasia Mitsopoulou on golden point.
The defeat left Williams noticeably emotional after losing in a flurry of points, though she is confident this can be an experience to learn from in the coming years.
"I am very disappointed. I came to Korea expecting to do really well and to lose in the quarter-finals is not good enough for me. I put too much pressure on myself to win," said Williams, who had led with ten seconds to go.
"But taekwondo is a sport of fine margins and today I am on the wrong side of those margins.
"However, I know with time I will get over this disappointment and come back even stronger. I am only 18, this was my first World Championship and I will learn the lesson – as harsh as it seems at the moment."
There was also disappointment for fellow Brit Peter Longobardi-Radford, as he too fell at the quarter-final stage to Yu-Jen Huang of Chinese Taipei.
Up until then he had yet to lose in 2017, keen to emulate the bronze medal display from Martin Stamper at the 2011 World Championships.
But having defeated Arven Al Cantara from the Philippines and Morocco's Faical Saidi in quick succession, the time between the contests hampered Longobardi-Radford, as he lost out to the teenager in South Korea.
"I was very tired going into the fourth match because I had only just finished my previous fight about 10 minutes earlier," he said.
"I had never fought him before so I didn't know anything about him. This time he beat me, the next time he is not going to beat me.
"All champions lose but they bounce back. And I am sure I will bounce back."
Bianca Walkden and Max Cater are among those taking to the mat for the start of their respective campaigns, on Tuesday.
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