JAMIE Kidd, battling the pain barrier as he recovered from a broken foot, still won two bouts in reaching the quarter-finals of the Cadet European Championships in Bucharest.

The 14-year-old from Silsden had to alter his strategy to take into account his injury, but defeated Bosnia's Jusuf-Ali Rasidagic and Greece's Dimosthenis Sindros before bowing out in a controversial bout against experienced Russian Maxim Emelkin.

Ilkley Grammar School pupil Jamie started a little nervously against Rasidagic, but eventually won 14-7, chiefly courtesy of punches.

Against Sindros, Jamie got off to a great start, with successful head kicks and punches establishing an 11-1 lead, but he was later grateful for that lead as he only went through 14-13.

Emelkin had already competed in the Cadet European and World Championships previously but seemed to underestimate Jamie after establishing a 4-2 first-round lead.

The Cobbydaler then stepped up the gears and it was 14-12 to the taller Emelkin after the penultimate round in the Romanian capital.

The final round was a masterclass of taekwondo, with both competitors going for it to the end, with Emelkin edging through 23-19.

However, that score came into question when Jamie not only suffered multiple fouls to the groin, which hampered his ability to compete, but also his two clear head kicks were not counted by the judges, all of which could have resulted in a Great Britain victory.

Emelkin won his semi-final 13-0 against Aylan Hamami of France, and the final 1-0 against Samuele Baliva of Italy.

Jamie’s personal coach Rick Simpson said: “Jamie had a fantastic tournament – he manned up and fought through the pain and did his country proud.

"Emelkin won his matches 20-2, 23-19, 13-0 and 1-0, which goes to show just how strong Jamie was as nobody else scored more than two points on him and Jamie hit him with 19.”

Jamie, who trains at Horizon Taekwondo Academy, has his next outing this weekend at the British National Championships in London, where he is defending a title.