Great Britain's Martin Stamper has vowed to make the most of his late call-up to the taekwondo squad for the 2015 European Games in Baku.
Stamper was initially not named in the seven-person squad for the inaugural edition of the multi-sport competition, but an injury to Ruebyn Richards in his final training session before flying out to Azerbaijan resulting in Stamper's last-minute inclusion.
The 28-year-old finished fifth at the London 2012 Olympics, but suffered through a loss of form and injury for a large chunk of last year.
However, he told Sports Mole that he now feels back on track going into the men's -68kg event in Baku, which starts on Wednesday.
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Does being such a late replacement to the team affect your preparation for the tournament?
"A little bit. My preparation was towards the Australian Open which now I'm flying straight from here to Australia. But it's only a week's difference - basically I took out my weight training and concentrated more on a bit of speed, bit of reaction. I'm feeling good now that I'm here. Training's gone well.
"I'm as on schedule as I can be for the last minute, but I think as a professional athlete, you're always fit and ready to go. Like I said, it's just tapering that training to the perfect way it should be."
Do you feel like you've got a point to prove having missed out on the original squad?
"I'm trying not to think of it like that. I was unlucky not to be selected for the World Championships. It was a close thing between three of us in -68kg. Obviously Reubyn was selected.
"I was only two points in the rankings off being selected for here, so you could say was say I was a bit unlucky there not getting the top spot. But I just see it as an opportunity.
"For me, it was going to be really tough to be in that top eight for that end-of-year grand prix. Getting here has made it that little bit easier. It's a great opportunity to put in a great performance and hopefully pick up a medal and a lot of points with it."
Looking further ahead, it is also an unexpected boost for your Olympic hopes next year...
"Definitely. Like I said, after missing the Worlds, that was the big one. The way the points worked, even if you got knocked out first round you were getting 12 points. Most times you have to get five, six fights for a G1, to get 10 points.
"It was massive points at the World Championships and a big miss for me, but now with this and we have three grands prix before the end-of-year grand prix, so hopefully this will push me back into the top 32.
"We've got the Australian Open next week as well, which is a G2. So I've got a lot of fighting to do, a lot of points to gather, and hopefully by the end of the year I'll be there."
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You got to the quarter-finals of the Austrian Open at the end of May...
"Yeah, that was the last one. I actually felt alright. I had the first two pretty easy, then I fought one of the guys from the academy. It went to sudden death, a really close fight, and just lost on sudden death.
"But I've felt good this year and the end of last year - I think I made four finals, and the competitions I've lost have been really close - one point or sudden death - so I'm feeling like my performances are getting there. I just need to keep that consistency going."
So you're back on the right track after a frustrating 2014?
"Definitely, early 2014 was the worst stage of my career. We were out in Dubai, Egypt and Bahrain competing and I tried to go down to a lower weight, which affected me a bit. Then my performances dropped. I didn't know what I wanted to do.
"Then I came home, got injured as well, so I was out for four months with a bad ankle injury. It was a bit of a nightmare. Missed out on the Euros, but then got my act together at the end of 2014. Got silver in the Commonwealths, gold at Turkish Open and then silver at the US Open earlier this year. So I feel like my training is back on track. I'm feeling good and my performances are showing."
You're one of the more experienced members of the team, while at the other end of the spectrum there is 17-year-old Max Cater. Is part of your role to advise the younger athletes in multi-sport competitions like this?
"Yeah, Max is a quiet lad but yeah. Even on the team back home, I'm the oldest and I've been on the academy since the start. My aspiration is to be a coach as well so I'm always willing to give advice and if anyone asks me, I'm not afraid to share my experience, good or bad."
A few of the athletes from Team GB have compared this Athletes' Village to the one in London three years ago - do you agree with that?
"Obviously taekwondo is not a massive sport, so we don't go to many multi-sport games. The World Championships for us is basically a venue and a hotel, so it's not like a massive athletics [event]. But this is definitely the closest to London I've seen.
"The village is really good, I'd just say on a little bit of a smaller scale. Obviously London was an Olympic Games, and a home Games for us, so it was massive. But it's pretty impressive."
Barney Corkhill
