TOM Reed admits his pride took a knock as he once again lost out on gold to Commonwealth Games tormentor Owen Livesey at last weekend’s British Championships.

The 28-year-old, from Devizes, was beaten by England team-mate and Games roommate Livesey in the U81kg final in Glasgow last summer and when the two both ended up at the business end of their weight class at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield on Sunday, Reed had to settle for silver for a second time.

Reed, who trains at the University of Bath, is still ranked second in the British rankings behind Wigan’s Livesey and his second-placed finish at the nationals has secured his place in next year’s Great Britain squad.

“As a result, it’s not going to affect my plans for next year at all because it’s not an international competition but I was pretty disappointed really – I’m not going to lie,” he said.

“It hurt to lose. When you go to the British Championships, you want to try and win it because it’s about bragging rights and beating your rivals.

“We did think that it might end up being me and Owen. I think after what happened last time (Livesey won 3-2 on penalties in a cagey encounter at the Commonwealths), we both decided to go for it a bit more and the final started off really aggressive.

“I lost because he countered me when I was going for it, which is a shame. I know that I can beat him but it doesn’t really count unless it’s a competitive win.

“Getting a medal does mean that you’re back in the British squad but that was the minimum I was aiming for, really.”

Reed missed out on a spot at the London 2012 Olympics and says that the volume of competition is set to increase next year as he begins his push for Rio in just over a year-and-a-half.

He said: “I’ve got a training camp in Austria for a week on January 7 and then I’m going to be busy doing internationals right through until April.

“I’ve got a clear plan of what competitions I’m doing and it’s going to be really busy.”