RISING Samurai Judo Club starlet Sarah Biles strengthened her position a growing force in British judo by winning a record number of medals at the London International Open Championships and the British Kurash Championships Competing in the under-20s age section, Biles started in the Kurash event at the 02 Arena.

Kurash is a form of Eastern European wrestling from Uzbekistan with similarities to Judo, and Biles soon made easy work of her opponents to win gold.

In the senior group, Biles saw off a judo fourth dan and World Masters Champion on her way in the semi-final.

Victory over an Uzbek fighter in the last four secured a spot in the final, where gold was secured with another victory over an Eastern European.

The Samurai fighter then took part in the London International Championships and she had to adjust her thinking back to judo.

Fighting in the under-20s category again, she took on the all the best British cadet and junior players.

Biles was impressive throughout, showing excellent tactical skills, an area of her game which is really improving, and controlled each match in turn.

She never conceded a score and won all five contests comfortably to take her third gold in one day.

Several other Samurai players have in the past taken three medals in a day, perhaps most notably the late great Bev Price, but never at such high level events and never three golds.

Moving up to the seniors section, Biles powered to the final with four wins out of four to face Emma Luxford, who is based with Samurai's Kate Walker at Britain's Olympic squad venue in Dartford.

After a hard fought contest, Biles felt the affect of her efforts and in time added on could not resist a Luxford counter-attack to finish a tremendous few days with three golds and a silver.

So far this year, Biles has won 18 medals, half of which are golds, all at high level British or European events.

Her nearest rival Charis Hancocks is going well but has just half of that, on nine medals.

Bryony Griffiths and Brendan Crummy lead the chasing pack with eight, with Darcie Hancocks snapping at their heals with seven.

Biles has topped the medals table for three years running before slipping to second place last year after a year interrupted by several injuries, but this year it seems nothing can stop her regaining top spot, and it looks likely to be an all-time high tally.

Meanwhile, Rob Alloway finished an excellent weekend by taking a bronze medal in the masters section of the Open, taking his own medal tally for the year so far to four.

In the Kurash tournament, Samurai also had several men in action. Matt Dutton had a good go but found the going hard, while Alloway gained a bronze medal with some good work Tom Walker produced some spectacular throws on his way to the final, where he was only just edged out by a strong Uzbek opponent.