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- Jade Swaps Tears For Smiles After Striking Gold In Manchester
Jade Jones lived ups to her tag as favourite as she won gold for Britain on the final day of the Taekwondo World Grand Prix in Manchester.
The double Olympic champion won the -57kg final against Chinese teenager, Lijun Zhou., to help boost GB’s medal tally to five.
And it completed a golden double for Welsh fighters after Blackwood’s Lauren Williams won the -67kg category on Friday.
“What a lot of people don’t know is I was in tears at the start of the day because I was so nervous,” said the Flint fighter after her impressive 11-4 final success.
“It is hard because everyone expects you to win all the time. But when I come out and everyone is screaming for me, it’s impossible not to go for it. Now, I am full of smiles.
“This event one is always special to me because it’s in the city where I train and all my family friends get to see me. It is an amazing feeling.
“It is a long journey to Tokyo 2020 and this is the start for me. I am aiming to be the very best me in Tokyo so there will be a few bumps on the way.
“However, I feel in good shape and I am constantly improving.”
Jones proved far too strong for another of her up and coming challengers, Skylar Park, in the penultimate round.
Canada’s 2016 junior world champion was brushed aside 17-4 as the world number one moved closer to a seventh Grand Prix gold medal.
Jones, who received a first round bye, opened her campaign with a 10-5 win over Chinese Taipei’s Chia-ling Lo.
Next up was a re-match of last month’s Chinese Taipei Grand Prix clash against Inese Tarvida but the ‘Headhunter’ duly avenged her 5-3 defeat against her Latvian opponent.
