TALENTED judo player Darcie Hancocks had double success in the GB Junior and Senior Judo Championships at the National Institute of Sport in Sheffield, the pinnacle of the British Judo calendar.

Having completely dominating her own cadet age category, the 16 year old from Kidderminster ended the year as the GB number one ranked player.

In the under-21 Junior competition, Darcie had seven fights comfortably winning her way through the rounds with most of her fights being won by maximum knockout (ippon).

In the final stages she was narrowly beaten by the under-21 top seed and eventual gold medallist. Darcie then won all of her remaining contests to take a fantastic bronze medal.

The following day Darcie fought in the GB Senior Championships against some of the best adult players in GB despite being the youngest fighter in the competition.

The senior competition followed a similar pattern to the pervious day with Hancocks beating top international adult players on her way to the final stages.

In the final round she was eventually beaten by the gold and silver medallists who are both in their 20s leaving her with another incredible bronze medal. Both of these performances confirms her place on the GB senior and junior squads for 2019. In total she had an incredible 13 fights over the two days.

She was also recently voted Cadet Female Player of the year for 2018 at the annual Judo awards ceremony in Nottingham, ending the year as Cadet British Champion and winning several medals in Europe contributed to her winning this prestigious award and capping off a great year.