Great Britain’s Bradley Sinden was forced to pull out of the under 68kg taekwondo competition before he could fight for the bronze medal.
The fighter, who had missed out on gold in Tokyo in the last seconds of the final, again suffered outrageous misfortune in an event he had been widely tipped to win. This time he tore the ligaments in his left knee midway through his quarter final, still managed to win it, then fought his semi final on one leg. Some guys get none of the luck.
“I felt my knee go, my MCL, I felt unstable, couldn’t do the kicks I wanted,” he explained, once the tears had subsided. “I did what I could do, it was just unfortunate my body had other plans for me.”
In his quarter-final against Marco Golubic of Croatia he had won the first round and looked to be cruising in the second, picking off the kicks and was nine points up in the second when he felt his knee go.
Given he had suffered a similar setback in his right knee he did not need extensive medical diagnosis: he knew he was in trouble. Suddenly he went into reverse.
The Croatian came back to win the round against all the assumptions of those watching, requiring Sinden to dig deep even to qualify for the semi-final. He had time between bouts to attend to his injury. But still he approached the semi against Zaid Kareem of Jordan in significant pain.
‘My knee wobbled and that was that’
“I had to change my game plan,” he explained. “I couldn’t go for kicks I would normally would have done. My knee just wouldn’t let me.”
Even on one leg, by skilled application of defence, he took the first round. In the second, however, the Jordanian seemed to sense there was opportunity. And he went on to win.
“He knew I’d changed my game,” said Sinden. “I took a few lower blows to the knee, my knee wobbled and that was that. But I have no complaints. It is what it is.”