Olympics Rio 2016: GB’s Jade Jones through to taekwondo final to defend title

Updated 18/08/2016 at 20:39 GMT

Jade Jones fought her way to the final of the women’s -57kg taekwondo event on Thursday to guarantee herself a gold or silver medal.

Jade Jones (GBR) of Great Britain celebrates winning her taekwondo bout in Rio

Image credit: Reuters

Jones shot to fame in 2012 when she won gold in the -57kg event, aged just 19, to become Britain’s first ever taekwondo gold medalist.

She now has the opportunity to defend her title and potentially take home Britain's second taekwondo gold early on Friday morning.

The 23-year-old from Flint, Wales, set up a semi-final meeting with Sweden’s Nikita Glasnovic after beating Belgium’s Raheleh Asemani 7-2 earlier on Thursday.

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Both competitors made an aggressive start to the fight, with Jones landing the first kick to the body to give herself a 1-0 advantage at the end of the first of the three rounds.

Jones looked to be the aggressor going into the second round and took another few points with push kicks but the Swede landed a blow to the head to narrow the margin 4-3 to Jones.

Into the final round, Jones nabbed another two points before landing a mighty head kick to finish with a strong 9-3 victory and secure her place in the final to make history once again.

The final takes place at around 02:00 UK time on Friday.

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