Great Britain have announced that Ruebyn Richards will be unable to compete in the taekwondo at the upcoming inaugural European Games in Baku because of a foot injury.
Richards suffered the injury in training and will be replaced by London 2012 Olympian Martin Stamper in the -68kg weight category.
"I'm absolutely devastated to have to pull out through injury," Richards said. "I was really looking forward to Baku having competed well there last year."
Stamper revealed that he has had to leave his eight-months-pregnant fiancee to travel to Azerbaijan.
"It's a great opportunity for me and I'm feeling excited and ready to grab it with both hands," he added.
"It's been a crazy 12 hours I only found out at around 8pm last night that it had been confirmed I could compete. It's been a mad rush but I'm glad to be on the plane to fly out with the rest of the team.
"I'm lucky I have a very understanding fiancée even with her being nearly eight months pregnant, so I'm hoping we have two things to celebrate soon."
The opening ceremony for the Games takes place tomorrow.
Pascal Lemesre
