JACK WOOLLEY faces an anxious wait to see if a back-door route to a potential bronze medal opens up for him. Woolley was defeated by Gashim Magomedov in his last 16 taekwondo clash. In his second Olympics, the Tallaght man lost the first two rounds against his opponent from Azerbaojan, who had also beaten him in the European Championships earlier this year.
But if Magomedov advances to fight for the gold medal Woolley will take part in a repechage round later today involving anyone who lost to the two eventual finalists at the last 16 or quarter-final stage. Woolley said: “The fact that he is a good opponent is good for me because if he makes it to the final I can get back in and go for a bronze medal but that’s out of my hands now. “I don’t want to dwell on that too much.
"I’ll be ready to go back into the ring when I have to.” Magomedov won the first round 7-4, helped by a video review which went in his favour that he had caught Woolley with a head-kick. But Woolley said: “His appeal for a headshot around the back - I didn't feel anything.
"I don't really see what the camera picked up. "They looked at that a lot compared to a lot of the other fights where it was just like, 'OK yeah, that hit, or that didn't hit'. “They were like, ‘Did it or did it not?’ I think it was like a big toenail.
"Like, realistically, I didn't feel anything. But that's the game.” A review for Woolley at the end of the second round went against him as he lost 12-7.
He said: “I.