Britain are still searching for their first judo gold medal at the Olympics after bantamweight Craig Fallon was beaten by his old adversary, Ludwig Paischer of Austria, in the second round.

Since the loss, Fallon has been eliminated by an Israeli opponent in the repechages, one round out from the bronze medal fight.

Although he won his first bout comfortably enough, throwing Yann Siccardi of Monaco, Fallon was lacklustre against Paischer, whom he has beaten in five of their seven bouts, including today’s contest.

As the Briton, who was the 2005 world and 2006 European Under 60 kgs champion, admitted afterwards he found it hard to concentrate in the build-up and, during the bout, the Austrian repeatedly attacked him before Fallon was able to try a throw of his own.

Fallon conceded a knock-down early on and then was chasing the contest, although his frustration was evident when he even conceded a passivity score.

Although Paischer was also penalised for passivity with less than a minute remaining, Fallon failed to get in a decisive score in the rest of the five minute bout, during which he once again suffered one of his frequent cut-eyes, which have plagued his career.

It was a disappointing performance from the Briton, as he accepted, saying “He had a good day; I had a bad day.” Fallon lacked the persistent aggression and sharpness against an opponent whom he beat on his home ground as recently as March in the Vienna Open.

In 2006, Fallon held both the European and world titles, something that no British male has achieved since Neil Adams in 1983, but since then he has suffered series of injuries and only returned to top-class competition last September.