Harvey 'gutted' after narrow defeat
British teenager Michael Harvey admitted he was "gutted" to have lost in the first round of the flyweight taekwondo competition.
Last Updated: 20/08/08 6:36am
British teenager Michael Harvey admitted he was "gutted" to have lost in the first round of the Olympic flyweight taekwondo competition.
The 18-year-old's brave fightback against World Championship runner-up Guillermo Perez proved to be in vain in the under-58kg category on Wednesday.
Harvey recovered from a two-point deficit to force an extra, fourth round.
But despite briefly believing he had scored the winning point, it was the Mexican who took the sudden-death win.
Harvey said: "I caught his pad but obviously it wasn't hard enough or the judges missed it. I thought I had a good chance going into that last round but obviously it didn't go the right way.
"I did well because I was up against the world silver medallist but he was there to be beaten and I'm a bit gutted that I've lost. It's great experience for London 2012 but I wanted to go a bit further."
Great Britain's Cuban head coach Nelson Miller praised Harvey's performance and said his whole experience of being part of the Beijing Olympics would stand him in good stead for his home Games in four years' time.
Miller said: "I think Michael performed quite well in his first major tournament. He was quite nervous at the beginning of the first round but it's one of the best performances from Michael.
"Michael is only 18 years old so while we expected a good performance this is about his preparation for 2012. Michael will be a very big surprise in 2012 and we will have a very strong team."
Harvey was left to hope Mexican Perez won two more fights to advance to the final. If so, the youngster would re-enter the competition in the repechage and face two more contests himself with a bronze medal at stake.
