Walkden stays on title course
GREAT Britain’s Bianca Walkden remained on course to defend her World Taekwondo Championship title by making the semi-finals in Muju, South Korea, where she is guaranteed at least a bronze medal.
The Liverpool heavyweight, who won bronze at the Rio Olympics last summer, moved into the last four of the over-73kg category following three victories in the preliminary rounds, culminating in a 10-2 quarterfinal success against Russian Olga Ivanova.
Walkden will next face South Korea’s Asian champion An Sae-bom on Wednesday for a shot at the gold medal match.
“So far so good. It is a nice feeling being in the semi-finals,” Walkden said.
“I would much rather it all be over in one day, but it isn’t bad knowing I am through. Hopefully, I can do the business tomorrow.
“It is going to be tough, but deep down I have got more confidence now in what I can do and how we train.”
Chinese fighter Zheng Shuyin, who defeated Walkden en route to claiming the Olympic over-67kgs gold in Brazil, will take on American Jackie Galloway in the other semifinal.
Elsewhere, GB Taekwondo’s Max Cater lost in the last 16 of the men’s under-58kgs to Korean Jeong Yun-jo.
On Wednesday, Olympic silver medallist Lutalo Muhammad will also be in action in the under-87kgs, while Mahama Cho fights at heavyweight and Jade Slavin will represent Britain at the under-73kgs middleweight division. ■■Dame Kelly Holmes has warned youngsters who dream of becoming sports stars: “If you want success, you have to work.”
The middle-distance runner told of her own tough rise to the top, having joined the army aged 17, before becoming the first British woman to win double Olympic gold in the same Games.
But the 47-year-old said members of the younger generation who want to follow in her footsteps are lacking the same work ethic.
“Many young people definitely want it easy, they want fame, but they don’t want to fight for it,” she told the Sunday Times.
“They want to be a sports star but they don’t see all the hours lying on the massage table being pummelled, the injuries, the traumatic ups and downs - all the stuff I experienced.
“We have to explain realities to them, that if you want success, you have to work.”
Holmes, who won both the 800m and 1500m races at Athens in 2004, now works to inspire young people from deprived areas by having them mentored by retired athletes through the charity she founded nine years ago.
She said the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust’s teenagers, who arrive “slouching, in hoodies”, get a lot out of the experience, adding: “By the end they’re standing up straight in suits, saying, ‘My life has begun.”’