Zak Spencer of Baildon was the star performer as Horizon Taekwondo Academy students won 12 medals, six of them gold, at the City of Liverpool Open Championships.

The nine-year-old red belt student, who has been training with coach Rick Simpson since he was five, won his first gold medal at advanced level in style.

He beat black-belt opponents in the quarter-finals and semi-finals and then British National Championships bronze medallist Oliver Ball in the final.

The event hosted around 300 entrants in front of a crowd of 800 spectators at Kirby Sports College.

Horizon competitors included 2013 British national silver medallists Thomas Henley (Harrogate) and Ellie Bowden (Cullingworth), 2012 British national gold medallist Karl Harris (Cottingley), Great Britain’s 2010 World Junior Championships competitor Kieran Young (Bradford) and five-time international champion Jamie Simpson-Kidd (Silsden).

Horizon results – Gold: Zak Spencer (Baildon), Ellie Bowden (Cullingworth), Kieran Young (Bradford), Hannah Perry (Bradford), Huseyn Mikayilov (Rochdale), Sean Chester (Halifax); Silver: Karl Harris (Cottingley); Bronze: Mikayil Mikayilov (Rochdale), Gary Watt (Greengates), Terri Lumb (Halifax), Chris Cocker (Halifax), Luke Cassere (Baildon); Quarter-finals: Harry Blundell (Ilkley), Jamie Simpson-Kidd (Silsden), Adam Cassere (Baildon), Richard Rathod (Halifax).