SAMURAI star Olivia Turner stretched her lead at the top of the Worcestershire judo medals table for 2016 with the gold medal at the British Open Special Needs Championships at the iconic Stoke Mandeville Stadium.

It was a good day for the Wyre Forest club at the event as Luke Mole clinched a bronze.

Turner, the reigning European SN champion at both junior and adult level, had recently won the British Schools SN Championships, and was defending champion at the British Open.

Now 15-years-old, this year she elected to compete in the adults section rather than the under-16s section, to give herself more of a challenge.

Most of that challenge came from foreign opponents, but two useful Dutch players were quickly disposed of and in the final a German woman gave the samurai member her toughest test but she was also eventually thrown and then held for maximum points to give her the gold.

Turner’s clubmate and training partner Mole, who only started judo a little over a year ago, started well with an excellent win against a British player.

He then faced another Brit in the semi-final who had beaten him in their previous meeting.

Mole showed how much progress he has made by dominating the contest, but lost to a minor score from a counter.

However, he came back well in his last contest to earn the bronze. This competition is growing each year, with entrants this year from Holland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Romania and Hungary. With just four months to go, Turner looks to have an uncatchable lead at the top of the county judo medals table, with 16 medals including her two British and three European medals.

Mole is in second place with 10 medals, followed by Laura Dangerfield on eight and then a chasing pack on seven, all of whom come from the samurai club, which dominates Worcestershire judo.

Anyone who wants more details about Samurai Judo Club can call Andrew Haffner on 07761 122977 or visit www.samurai.org.uk