A STUNNING performance from Leah Grosvenor earned her the gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth Games for England in Nassau in The Bahamas.

Fifteen-year-old Grosvenor, who trains at Kidderminster’s Samurai Judo Club and is a black belt, competes in the under 57 kilos weight category and had players from India, Scotland, Bahamas, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and Barbados in her category.

Her first contest was against the girl from Barbados and it took her less than ten seconds to score with a major throw and follow down to the ground. Only a few more seconds were needed to secure the win on the ground and take Grosvenor into the semi-finals after a total of just 17 seconds.

Here she was up against the Australian, and from the start Grosvenor dominated the contest. It was attacking from her all the way through, with the Australian just managing to get enough attacks in to avoid a penalty but nothing which troubled her.

In the end the inevitable happened and Grosvenor secured a groundhold for maximum points and a place in the final.

In the final she was up against Scotland’s Emma Forrest. These two had already met twice this year, most recently in the final of the Northern Ireland Open, and the Kidderminster girl had won both times, so she was very confident and once again was on the attack straight away.

The contest was similar to the semi-final, and Forrest received a penalty for not attacking. Grosvenor is equally strong both on her feet and on the ground, and in the end she took the match to the ground, first threatening an armlock and then moving neatly into a groundhold to secure the win and the gold medal.

This is the latest in a series of excellent recent successes for Grosvenor, who has won the Scottish, Northern Ireland, London and Midlands Opens so far this year and finished ninth in her first European Cup event in Portugal, despite only being in her first year in the cadet age band.

Her next event is the UK School Games in Loughborough at the beginning of September.