DESPITE their squad being depleted by injury and illness, members of Farnham School of Tae Kwon Do were in action last week at the first tournament of 2017.

Estelle Eltham, Harry Collins, Oliver Contreras and Ryan Millane all competed at the GTI English Open Championship in Cheltenham.

There were some outstanding performances from the youngsters, both in traditional patterns and sparring.

Estelle and Harry both narrowly missed out on a medal in their patterns division but 13-year-old Oliver added to the bronze medal he won in patterns at last year’s GTI British Open by impressing the judges to win the gold medal in his patterns division.

Patterns are a technical aspect of Tae Kwon Do, comprising a set of attacking and defensive movements executed in a logical sequence. The judges looks for correct technique, focus and power.

Estelle and Harry both performed with skill and bravery in the senior grade continuous sparring but were outfought in the early rounds.

Ten-year-old Ryan fought with tenacity through to a bronze medal in his junior grade point-stop sparring division.

Oliver, looking to improve on the silver medal he won in sparring at the GTI British Open just three months ago, showed composure and some very effective kicks to out point each of his opponents on his way to his second gold medal of the day, enhancing his reputation as his club’s most prolific junior competitor of the past 12 months.

The coaching team, led by Tim Ayres-Townshend, will not let the young martial artists rest on their laurels - they are training hard in preparation for the PUMA International Open in just two weeks time.