THERE was reason to be cheerful at Phoenix Martial Arts at the PUMA Open International Taekwondo Championships as 10 medals were scooped from a squad of eight fighters.

Leading Phoenix’s charge was 13-year-old Lee Barnard, who only started training with the central Swindon club six months ago.

The teenager delivered a series of outstanding performances to win two gold medals, defeating all opponents in both sparring and patterns disciplines to become a double European Champion.

Elsewhere, Richard Lane was successful in defending the title he won the previous year – beating all competition in the senior men’s heavyweight division to become European Champion. Lane also gained a bronze medal on the day for his patterns performance.

Junior black belt Cody O’Bey, who has been training since turning seven, fought extremely hard to secure silver medals in both patterns and sparring against tough opposition.

There were also silver medals for Jasmine Roux-Nel and Imogen Lane, both showed determination in their performances to come away with a silver medal each.

Christine O’Bey fought very hard to secure a silver medal in senior ladies sparring.

Like her son, Cody, Christine has been on a long journey with Phoenix, dropping from 22 stone to 14 stone since joining.

Lastly, seven-year-old Oscar Cronin completed the medal tally by scooping bronze for an impressive pattern performance, 10 months after signing up with Phoenix.

Harry Chase, 10, was in the largest category of the competition, only narrowly missing out on a medal with an inspirational performance.

For further information about Phoenix Martial Arts, visit www.phoenix-ma.co.uk or call 07828 273055.