Silver for Cook at French Open

Isle of Man taekwondo fighter Aaron Cook finished his year with silver in the French Open in Paris at the weekend.

The medal brings his total tally to seven finals for his first year under the Manx flag.

It has been an huge medal haul with five golds coming in the Swedish, Belgian, Spanish, Pan American and Costa Rica Opens and a further final at this year’s Dutch open alongside his bronze medals at the Grand Prix and Swiss Open.

Cook has only failed to make the finals on two occasions out of eleven.

He is expected to rise to be inside the top three in the rankings at the end of the month, but a reduction in the four-year non-rolling system will bring significant change in the final two years before Rio qualification is decided in December 2015.

There will be a race for ranking points over the next two years as the Brit in the top six in the world qualifies for Rio under the rules brought in by the world body after Cook’s controversial non-selection for London 2012.