Teenage taekwondo sensation Lauren Williams vowed to learn a valuable lesson after suffering late defeat in her World Championship quarter-final.
Williams, from Blackwood, lost 31-22 to Mengyu Zhang at the World Taekwondo Championships in Muju, South Korea on Monday June 26.
The 18-year-old led with just ten seconds remaining, but a late charge from her Chinese opponent put paid to Williams’ hopes of adding to her European and Junior World titles in the -67kg class.
A tearful Lauren said: “I am very disappointed. I came to Korea expecting to do really well and to lose in the quarter-finals is not good enough for me.
“I put too much pressure on myself to win, but taekwondo is a sport of fine margins and today I am on the wrong side of those margins.
“However, I know with time I will get over this disappointment and come back even stronger. I am only 18, this was my first World Championship and I will learn the lesson – as harsh as it seems at the moment.”
Williams opened her tournament with a dominant 29-7 victory over Marie Federique Ekpitini of the Ivory Coast, before squeezing through her last-16 bout with a golden point win over Greek fighter Athanasia Mitsopoulou.
Last year was a breakthrough year for 18-year-old Williams, as she became senior European champion and won the Greece and Polish Open competitions during a spectacular 2016.
Just two weeks after retaining her World Taekwondo Federation Junior World Championship title, Lauren was named as Young Sportswoman of the Year at the BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality 2016 ceremony in Cardiff on Monday December 5.