TAEKWONDO exponent Elaine Teo waited almost eight hours for her chance to fight again after losing her opening round women’s below 57kg match to Turkey’s Azize Tanrikulu in the morning.

But her wait proved in vain as she failed to get the better of American Diana Lopez in the repechage rounds at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium.

Elaine had to beat Lopez to advance to the bronze medal bout. But the lanky American used her height to emerge victorious.

The 1.85m tall American won 3-0 to end Elaine’s hopes of a glorious outing in Beijing.

This is the second time Elaine has lost to Lopez, who eventually secured the bronze later.

Elaine had lost 0-5 to Lopez in the Good Luck Beijing tournament early this year.

In yesterday’s first-round match, Elaine lost 4-7 to Tanrikulu.

The 26-year-old Elaine, was satisfied with her opening round performance, but not the repechage.

“Although I lost, I gave my best and managed to take points off Tanrikulu. I was more frustrated with my performance in the repechage against the American,” said Elaine.

“I could not find way to land my kicks on her. I also had to adjust my distance.

“If I had gone in too fast, she could have kicked me because she had longer reach,” added the Korat SEA Games gold medallist.

Malaysia’s hopes of a medal in taekwondo now falls on the shoulders of Che Chew Chan.

The Asian Championships silver medallist will compete in the above 67kg category tomorrow.

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