SAMURAI starlets Darcie Hancocks and Leah Grosvenor demonstrated their ability at the display side of judo as they won gold at the British Kata Championships in London.

Kata is the formal display side of the sport, where precision, timing and position are assessed as players seek to give the perfect demonstration of a judo technique.

Over the years, Kidderminster-based Samurai has excelled at display and the pair continued that tradition.

The duo were in action in both the standing throws and ground work categories and were up against the best young performers in the country.

In the groundwork kata, with Grosvenor taking the role of attacker, they just missed the gold, with the judges deciding by a 2-1 majority to award the gold to a pair from Plymouth.

However, this left them with the silver, comfortably ahead of their nearest rivals who scored 140.

But they bounced back in the throwing section taking the gold with an excellent display.

For Hancocks, this means that she now has the special distinction of winning the British Championships both in contest judo and also in kata.

Only one other junior player has ever achieved this double which was another Samurai member, Tom Walker, a decade ago.

Grosvenor herself was close, having taken a silver at the British contest judo championships last year and bronze this year. To be so highly skilled in both forms of judo is very rare.

For details about Samurai can call 07761 122977 or go to samurai.org.uk