Euan Burton knocked out of Worlds in second round

Britain's top-ranked judoka Euan Burton has crashed out of the second round of the World Championships at Bercy Stadium in Paris.

Burton lost to Srdjan Mrvaljevic of Montenegro after picking up two defensive penalties which equated to a yuko against the Scot.

Ranked sixth in the world in the under-81kg category, Burton was GB's biggest medal hope in the competition.

He told BBC Sport: "I don't think it does my Olympic chances any damage."

The Scot, 32, won bronze medals in the world and European Championships in 2010 but has yet to replicate that success this year.

Judo scoring system

• The highest scoring move is ippon, for 10 points, which can be executed by throwing an opponent flat on their backs with control and force, holding them down for 25 seconds or forcing an opponent into submission through an armlock or stranglehold.
• Below ippon is waza-ari, for five points, which means throwing an opponent on their back without the force or control of the ippon. Alternatively, holding a rival down for 20-24 seconds.
• The yuko, for one point, is awarded for throws where the opponent doesn't land flat on their backs (i.e. on their side), or a hold for 15-19 seconds.

Burton continued: "I don't think winning the World Championships would have made me any more likely to be Olympic champion next year, and going out in the first rounds won't make me any less likely to be Olympic champion.

"It's not really a major setback. Judo is massively competitive and there are masses of guys who can finish up on the podium."

Burton, competing in what could be his last World Championships, looked energetic in his first fight, attacking his Kazakhstan opponent Islam Bozbayev from the off and within a minute, Burton strangled Bozbayev into a submission to be awarded the highest score of ippon.

But the 32-year-old was more defensive in his next contest against Mrvaljevic as the referee penalised Burton for backing off his rival, which proved costly.

"He's one of my bogeymen," Burton said. "That one individual gives me a lot of problems. I've got to go away and look at how I can beat him."

Britons Sarah Clark and Faith Pitman were also knocked out in the preliminary rounds.

Clark faced a tough battle with the explosive world number two Gevrise Emane and she could not overcome the reigning European champion, who threw Clark on her back to be awarded an ippon.

Pitman fell to Turkey's Busra Katipoglu as she was penalised for defensive play and had a yuko awarded against her.

Thursday's performances leave GB still in the hunt for a podium finish. On Friday, GB are represented by Winston Gordon (-90kg) and Sally Conway (-70kg).

Follow Olympic sport reporter Jessica Creighton on Twitter for updates throughout the tournament.