FARNHAM School of Tae Kwon Do’s tournament squad has followed its recent success at the GTI British Open Championships with a tremendous performance at the PUMA International Open Championships, yielding a return of eight medals.

Staged over two days, the PUMA tournament attracts Tae Kwon Do competitors from all four home nations as well as some overseas competitors, including strong representation from the Netherlands.

The tournament opened on the Saturday with black belts competing in patterns, sparring and power testing. Farnham’s 14-year-old first degree black belt, Daisy Johnson, despite defeating the eventual champion in the early rounds, missed out on the gold medal by the most slender of margins, winning a hugely creditable silver medal for the second successive year.

Sunday saw the coloured belts engaged in some fierce competition in patterns and sparring. The girls from the Farnham squad were early visitors to the podium; Nicole Oxley winning gold in patterns, with her sister Melissa and the youngest squad member, eight-year old Tyla Nawrattel, each winning bronze.

Will Oxley then claimed another silver for Farnham in the over-36 men’s patterns. Will later went one better to win the gold in men’s over 36 sparring, putting his axe kick to good effect against tough opponents who brought the best out of him.

More success came for Farnham in sparring, with 13-year-old Kenzie Power winning her second gold medal in a matter of weeks, adding a PUMA title to her GTI British title. Archie Riley, 14, came up against some very technically accomplished and more experienced opponents but battled bravely to earn a bronze medal.

The standard of competition was high and coach, Tim Ayres-Townshend, said: “The tournament was, as always, very enjoyable and exciting. All credit to the squad members for competing, and congratulations to each of them for their success. However, of greater value in the long run, will be the lessons each of us has learnt in terms of how we have to improve in order to compete at this level consistently.”