Taekwondo fighter Lutalo Muhammad is adamant he will be taking plenty of positives away from the Manchester Grand Prix despite having to settle for silver.
The 2012 Olympic bronze medallist was aiming to follow in the footsteps of Jade Jones on Saturday by clinching gold in front of the home crowd.
He had already disposed of fellow compatriots Tom Smith and Damon Sansum before enjoying an emphatic 9-5 semi-final victory against Iranian world number one Mahdi Khodabakhshi, who had previously only lost five registered fights in his career.
That set up a -80kg gold medal match against Tunisia’s Oussama Oueslati, although Muhammad was quickly having to make up ground after falling behind early on.
In the end it proved beyond him as he lost out 16-6 although Muhammad, who overcame a knee injury earlier this summer, believes the defeat will only make him stronger. “I’m slightly disappointed to get the silver medal as I really wanted the gold but I can take a lot of lessons from this and improve for next time,” said Muhammad, who nevertheless still boosted his chances of qualifying for Rio 2016 by gaining valuable ranking points.
“Certainly from where I’ve come from, coming from injury, I guess I should be happy that I could make this Grand Prix and be able to compete in front of this home crowd.
“I had some slightly different tactics from what I did last time and it was working to an extent.
“I wasn’t able to beat him with it but I’m going to improve my weaknesses and strengthen my strengths and I know I’ll be better next time.
"Khodabakhshi is world number one and world champion and I was able to beat him, so I’m very happy and that’s one of the positives to take from that.”
Sportsbeat 2015