DORCHESTER athlete Aaron Cook admitted he was “devastated” to have been knocked out of the opening round of the men’s -80kg taekwondo event in Rio.

The county town fighter, now representing Moldova after he was not selected for London 2012 by Team GB in place of Lutalo Muhammad, suffered a heavy 14-2 loss to Wei-Ting Liu of Chinese Taipei yesterday.

Cook’s hopes of going through the bronze medal repechage ended when Liu was beaten in the quarter-finals.

“I’m devastated,” Cook said.

“I made the switch from GB after the devastation of missing London 2012 and not feeling I had a way back.

“Moldova gave me a chance and had such high hopes.”

Muhammad, a bronze medallist in London, had his gold medal dream dashed in the final second of a dramatic final at the Rio Olympic Park.

Ivory Coast’s Cheick Sallah Cisse swung a last-gasp head-kick which snatched an 8-6 win just as the final buzzer sounded.