Shkara Just Shaded for Medal Chance

NSWIS athlete Hayder Shkara has just missed out on the chance to fight for the bronze medal in the 80kg division of the taekwondo competition.

Up against the dual Olympic gold medallist from Sydney and Athens, Steven Lopez of the USA, Shkara was bundled out in the repechage round.

In the closest contest of these Olympics, the bout was scoreless at the end of three and was forced into an extra round.

It remained that way and Lopez was awarded the fight on superiority.

He had earlier been outclassed in his opening round bout by Great British fighter Lutalo Muhammed.

In his first fight as an Olympian, Shkara lost 14-0 to the London 2012 bronze medallist.

The fight was stopped at the end of the second round with Muhammed well clear in the points.

He then had to wait to see if the Brit made it through to the gold medal match to know if he had earned a place in the repechage round.

“I’m absolutely gutted,” Shkara told the AOC website.

“I felt good it’s just I didn’t follow the game plan, I played to his game and it wasn’t a good performance by me.”

“He went over the top and it’s something that I’m not used to at all as he is such a tall opponent. I just couldn’t keep up.”