Bradly Sinden urged to 'stand proud' after defeat in Olympic final

Lutalo Muhammad, the only other British male to medal in taekwondo at the Olympics, said Sinden should “stand tall and stand proud” and backed the Doncaster man to win gold in the future.

Reigning world champion Sinden was critical of himself in the immediate aftermath of his dramatic 34-29 defeat to Uzbekistan teenager Ulug Rashitov, stating “it was my gold medal to give away”.

The 22-year-old twice came from behind in the third round to lead with eight seconds remaining but the impressive Rashitov – who had to come through a qualification contest to reach the round of 16 – pulled off a dramatic head kick and then hung on for gold.

"He didn't give it away. He was so brave today and he fought his absolute best,” Muhammad, an Olympic bronze and silver medallist, told BBC Sport.

“I love that he gave credit to his opponent because his opponent fought very well.

“He said he made some mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. He's human.

“I didn't even feel like that was the issue, I just felt he was against a very good opponent.

“It's very unfortunate for Team GB and Bradly that he wasn't able to get the gold but what a close fight, what an Olympic final and what a performance from Bradly Sinden.”

Sinden, who blitzed his way to the final with three high scoring performances, had targeted the gold medal and was visibly distraught after losing in such devastasting fashion.

"I fully empathise with him, I know exactly what he's going through,” said Muhammad.

“We all thought he'd won it right there at the end, it was so close, it was a hotly contested match.

“Bradly's represented himself and his country very well today. He should stand tall and stand proud.

“To be only the second male to ever get an Olympic medal in the sport of taekwondo, I hope he holds his head up high.

“This is going to be painful now, it'll hurt now but overall he should be happy with what he's done today.

“He's the reigning world champion and now Olympic silver medallist. It just hurts because he was so agonisingly close to becoming the Olympic champion which is what he's been training his whole life for.

“But his age is a bonus, he will come again, and after today's performance I think it's pretty safe to say Olympic gold will come in the future.”

Sinden had coasted through his first two matches in impressive fashion earlier in the day before a hard fought win against China's Zhao Shuai in the semi-final.

He trailed 19-12 in the final round against Shuai, a gold medallist in the lighter -58kg category in Rio in 2016, but produced a stunning late onslaught to win 33-25.

Sinden eased to a 53-8 victory against New Zealand’s Tom Burns in the round of 16 before a 39-19 win over Turkey’s Recber Hakan in the quarter-finals.