Jade Jones misses out on chance to make Olympic history after opening bout loss
Jade Jones' bid to become the first British woman to win gold medals at three consecutive Olympics came to a disappointing end at the Makuhari Hall in Tokyo.
Jones was beaten in her first bout by Refugee Team athlete Kimia Alizadeh with her medal hopes then shortly over after Alizadeh lost her semi-final match to Tatiana Minina of Russia.
Jones, 28, who had ended a long wait for her first world title in 2019, held a two-point lead after the opening round but could not sustain her advantage and eventually fell to a 16-12 defeat.
Speaking after the contest, Jones said she was "gutted" and that she would take some time out before deciding on where the future may lead.
"I'm absolutely gutted. It's not how I planned the day to go and just really frustrated with myself, I wasn't the best today so I just have to take it on the chin and congratulate the other girl," she said.
"It was a tough draw and I didn't know who I was going to be fighting until two hours before but no excuses.
"I just felt I put too much pressure on myself going into it and I really did feel it more than I expected on the day and not having my family there to push me out of that fear zone really did affect me and I'm just gutted I couldn't have done more on the day.
"Obviously it's easy to say woulda coulda shoulda because champions adapt and I didn't adapt, but for me I do love a crowd and my family being there so for me it was a struggle and I did miss them being there.
"It's going to take a while for the emotions to sink in so I'll probably take a bit of time out and work out what happens next."
For an opening bout it was as tough as they come against Alizadeh, who became the first Iranian woman to win an Olympic medal when she took bronze in Rio behind Jones.
Alizadeh, also a two-time world medallist who beat Jones in the 2015 event in Russia, subsequently left her homeland to train in Germany, a decision which led to a period of inactivity that meant she was not seeded in the women's -57kg category.
Coincidentally, Alizadeh had beaten Iran's Nahid Kiyani in the opening round of the contest, for which top seed Jones had received a bye.
Two three-point head kicks had given Jones the advantage at the end of the opening round but the taller Alizadeh used her extra height to her advantage, scoring twice to the body to turn the contest in her favour at the end of the second.
Jones hauled level in the final round but a strong trunk kick from Alizadeh sent her four points clear with 20 seconds remaining, and when a subsequent appeal from Jones was denied by the jury, her fate was effectively sealed.
Jones was left to wait to discover if she will get a chance to compete for a bronze medal through the repechage. However, that was dependent on Alizadeh going on to reach the final, which she failed to do.
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