COMPETITORS from Wyre Forest Taekwondo Club secured success at the Welsh National Championship.

The event, run by the Taekwondo Association of Great Britain (TAGB) last Sunday, saw 18 members from Wyre Forest join thousands of others in Cardiff.

Wyre Forest TAGB took part in a variety of events, including individual sparring, team sparring, patterns and destruction events.

The standard was extremely high as the national organisation prepares to host the World Championships this July. The hard-working competition squad managed six trophies in their events; two bronze, two silver and two gold.

Eight practitioners performed in the patterns event, where students demonstrate their skill in choreographed sequences against imaginary opponents.

Only Abalena Byetheway was able to secure a place in the top three of her division and took homesilver.

Two bronze trophies were won by local dads Richard Perks and Karl Perks. Karl was making his debut in the tough blue belt heavyweight division after many years away.

The big wins of the day came from Helen Giles, who won the gold trophy for her individual sparring division.

The squad's youngest competitor, Charlie Collyer, was unlucky to miss out on medals in his first two events but came out smiling with a gold medal from his team sparring.

The final win of the day was for newly qualified black belt Arti Shah who entered the power test event and beat many to the top for the silver medal.

Next up in the club calendar is the coloured belt grading and the World Championships. For more information contact Katie Billingham on 07885 293088 or visit WyreForestTaekwondo.com