Two-time Olympic taekwondo champion Jade Jones was stunned in her opening bout of the Paris Games.
Jones had come into the competition ranked third and was drawn against the No14 Miliana Reljikj in the round of 16.
But she fell behind in a scrappy contest, losing the first round 7-6 and, while she levelled the scores by edging the second 5-4, the two fighters could not be separated in the decider.
That ended level at 1-1 and her North Macedonian opponent created a massive upset by virtue of landing more blows throughout the contest than her opponent.
Jones had had a tumultuous build-up to the Games but was still expected to be among the medal favourites in the women’s -57kg division.
She had been in danger of missing Paris over a missed drugs test. But she was later found to have committed a no-fault doping violation on confidential medical grounds, with the UK Anti-Doping Agency describing her situation as “very exceptional circumstances”.
There was better news for Bradly Sinden, who was eight seconds away from winning Olympic gold at the last Games in Tokyo.
In his first bout in Paris, he needed barely 60 seconds to go well clear of his first-round opponent Kevin Kassman.
Sinden had hoped to be Team GB’s first gold of the last Olympics but was denied at the death and arrived in France as one of the favourites in the men’s -68kg category.
Sinden started with a kick to the trunk and then head, which required medical treatment for the athlete from Papua New Guinea. He was 12-0 up in the first round, enough to bring it to an early conclusion.
It took less than 30 seconds to achieve the same 12-0 lead in round two to give him the easiest of passages into the last eight later on Thursday.
An athlete labelled ‘Mr Consistent’ by his team-mates has made no secret of the fact that he has come to Paris for redemption.
