STUDENTS from the Cadoxton Schools of Taekwondo joined more than 400 competitors from all over the UK at the Global Taekwondo International English Championships.

Held in Cheltenham, the championships comprised six areas running continually throughout the day and opened with pattern categories- the largest - which featured Cadoxton's Cody Jacobsen, Joel Wells, Jake Quigley and Cian Allen. Cody took second spot, with Cian third.

Competing in the pee wee point sparring category were Maddison Allen and Thea Cunningham, who both fought their way into the finals where the latter emerged victorious and Maddison finished third.

In the girls' lightweight point sparring, Cadoxton's Jessie Blackley and Ellie Osborne faced each other for third place, with the former taking bronze, and, in the middleweight division, Lucia Cunningham took silver after battling through to the final.

In the boys' middleweight continuous sparring, Cian Allen finished third after several early successes and, in the lightweight division, Cody Jacobsen, Joel Wells and Jake Quigley just missed out on a podium place.

Competing in only his second event and giving a good account of himself, Kurtis James went out in the first round of the boys' middleweight point sparring and, in the heavyweight category, Mason Blackley lost out to the eventual winner.

Competing in both the girls’ black belt heavyweight point and continuous sparring categories, Jasmine Sullivan gave a good account of herself but lost out to more experienced competitors.

Successfully doubling up to capture two golds were Lucy Newman (girls' middleweight black belt point and continuous sparring) and Keita Enfield (women’s lightweight point and continuous sparring).

Dominating the boys’ middleweight black belt point and continuous sparring categories were Bradley Halford and Matthew Bennett. Matthew and Bradley took gold and silver in the the point category, while the placings were reversed in continuous sparring.

The day ended on a special note for the local club when Lucy Newman, Keita Enfield and Matthew Bennett were named as winners of the GTI 2012/13 Black Belt Grand Prix rankings, with Keita and Lucy retaining their titles. The prestigious awards were presented by three times undefeated world heavyweight champion Master Tony Sewell.