KEIGHLEY international star Leah Moorby suffered heartbreak as she went out of the Junior Taekwondo World Championships in Canada after a controversial, bruising second-round encounter against Serbian Nadja Savkovic.

Competing in the female minus-63kg category, the British junior and senior champion had started the Vancouver event in great style with a superb 14-9 victory against Saham Almahmoud of Jordan.

But the 17-year-old lost an extremely close quarter-final against Savkovic 5-3 in a contest that could have gone either way right up until the final few seconds.

After a cagey first-round ended scoreless, a similar second round saw the Serb take a controversial lead when she scored with a point that appeared to hit the GB fighter on the chin. She was even given time to gather herself by the referee, yet the point was allowed to stand to end the round 1-0 in the Serb's favour.

The final round was just as close as Savkovic scored first, only for Moorby to respond with a body shot to bring the score to 2-2 with 60 seconds on the clock. Both fighters scored further single points and, with 16 seconds remaining, the Oakbank student was behind at 4-3.

Further controversy was to come as the Keighley teenager looked to have scored twice with head shots that did not register in the final seconds of the bout, while the Serbian fighter landed a punch and body shot to end the fight with a 5-3 triumph to move into the semi-finals where she won a bronze medal.

Moorby's dad Gary, who was supporting her at the event, said: "Leah was desperately unlucky not to go through into the semi-finals. However, it was not to be - there is always controversy around the scoring in Taekwondo, no matter what the level.

"It's the same for everybody, but with the margins being so close very often, the only sure way to ensure clear victory is to build a good lead. Leah gave away height and weight to her opponents but fought bravely and well.

"She will learn from this experience and take it into next year where she will compete on the senior circuit at national and international level."

Moorby's first-round victory over Jordanian Almahmoud saw her take the opening round 1-0 with a solid performance.

The fight opened up in round two when the Keighley black belt opened up with a head shot to extend the lead at 4-1. The Jordan fighter hit back to briefly take back the lead 5-4 before Moorby scored a superb reverse turning head shot to finish the round 8-5 in front.

The final round saw no let-up as both fighters fought hard to take full control. Again, Moorby opened the scores with a solid body punch and followed up with her third head shot and two body shots to extend the lead to 14-5.

Almahmoud pulled four points back but it was not enough.