Muhammad suffers defeat
Lutalo Muhammad lost his quarter-final against Nicolas Garcia Hemme of Spain.
Last Updated: 10/08/12 5:18pm
Britain's Lutalo Muhammad lost his quarter-final against Nicolas Garcia Hemme of Spain in the taekwondo under-80kg event at ExCeL.
Muhammad was a controversial selection for the Olympic squad ahead of world number one Aaron Cook, but after a slow start beat Tajikistan's Farkhod Negmatov 7-1 in the first round.
The Londoner was again roared on by a partisan home crowd, which saw Wales teenager Jade Jones battle all the way to gold in the under-57kg on Thursday night.
Muhammad, European champion earlier this summer at the under-87kg, tested his range with some head kicks in the opening round, which ended scoreless.
Hope
Both fighters picked up penalties, which saw a tense second round end 1-1.
A head shot from Hemme, upheld on appeal, put the Spaniard 4-1 up with 90 seconds left.
Despite a rally from Muhammad, there was no way back as he lost 7-3 and he must now hope the Spaniard progresses to the final for the repechage later.
Italian Mauro Sarmiento, silver medallist in Beijing, had pulled off a shock when he edged past top seed Ramin Azizov 2-1.
