She might have lost her only fight but Featherston's Eseta Manesa came home from the Muay Thai world championships in St Petersburg, Russia, with a bronze medal to show for her efforts.
One of five entries in the junior women's 63.5kg division, Manesa had the misfortune to draw the eventual gold medallist from Thailand first up.
And while she impressed with the manner in which she took the battle to her opponent throughout the first of the scheduled three rounds, the fight was stopped in the second after the experienced Thai, who had 70 bouts behind her, got in some telling knees to the ribs.
Manesa's coach Kelly Davis, who was also in Russia as an assistant coach with the Kiwi contingent, said the decision to stop the fight was in line with what occurred at world championships where officials tended to err on the side of caution when young fighters were under that sort of pressure.
"It would very probably not have been stopped in New Zealand but that's the way it goes at the worlds and you have to accept it."
