Guo Qing took silver for China in the women's 49kg taekwondo in the early hours of Thursday, losing to Panipak Wongpattanakit of Thailand in the Olympic final.

Guo opened strongly in the final at the Grand Palais, scoring an early head kick before conceding a penalty point, or gam-jeom, and kicks to the head and the body, losing the first round 6-3.

The Chinese athlete made more of a contest of it in the second round, scoring with a punch and a body kick but conceding two gam-jeom to take a 3-2 win.

Knowing that any mistake could cost them the title, the two fighters started the final two-minute period cautiously, with the first score coming Panipak's way with just 29 seconds left, care of a head kick adjudicated by video replay.

Fifteen seconds later, the Thai athlete did the same again, scoring another kick to the head care of a video ruling. Two gam-jeom late in the round put Guo on the scoreboard, but there was no way back for China's representative.

There's more taekwondo interest on Thursday, when Lo Wai-fung becomes the first athlete to represent Hong Kong, China in the sport. He's in men’s under 68kg action.