A RELATIVELY inexperienced squad from Farnham School of Tae Kwon Do was in action at the GTI British Open Championships in Cheltenham.

Comprising eight children aged eight to 16 and one adult, the squad competed across the disciplines of patterns and sparring, returning home with no less than eight medals between them.

Eleven-year-old Melissa Oxley and her dad, Will, achieved bronze medals in their respective patterns divisions, with Melissa narrowly out-pointing her younger sister in a play-off for bronze.

Patterns are a technical aspect of Tae Kwon Do, comprising a set of attacking and defensive movements in a logical sequence.

Will Bryan, 14, and Dimitri Perricos, 16, were both making their tournament debuts and followed up a good showing in patterns with gutsy performances in point-stop sparring.

Dimitri’s dogged determination took him to a hard-earned silver medal. Kenzie Power, 13, again impressed at this tournament, winning two of her three encounters to also land a silver medal.

There was more success for the Oxley family in the sparring, with nine-year-old Nicole showing considerable courage in winning bronze and then older sister Melissa winning silver in their point-stop sparring division.

Will Oxley later battled his way to his second medal of the day, silver in his continuous sparring division.

Oliver Contreras, 13, added a bronze medal to his impressive medal tally of the past two years with his efforts in a fiercely contested continuous sparring

division. Young Ollie Verrian also impressed against a very accomplished opponent. Mention should also go to eight-year-old Tyla Nawrattel who was competing in her first national tournament.

Club coach Tim Ayres-Townshend, said: “All our competitors should be proud of themselves. Some were competing for the first time and others were stepping up a level. All showed competitive courage and all impressed us with their exemplary sporting behaviour, whatever the result.”