Krista Dyer and Kaelin Cox suffered defeats in their first-round bouts at the World Wushu Championships in Shanghai, China, this week.

Dyer, a medal hopeful, lost 2-0 to Saidi Dagostino, Algeria, in her women’s 65kg match, while debutant Cox was also beaten 2-0 by Taron Ayvazyan, of Armenia, in the men’s 65kg division.

Garon Wilkinson, the Bermuda Sanshou Association president, said: “Krista had a really close fight. She gave up two points at the end of the first round when she got caught by a head kick.

“Up until then it was dead even. It was that one head kick that made the difference in the first round. The second round was still pretty close. She just got edged out.”

Dyer was hoping to become only the second Bermudian to medal at the World Wushu Championships. Jermal Woolridge won bronze in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2013, having also claimed silver in Ankara, Turkey, in 2011.