2:57pm Thursday 19th July 2007
By Sports Desk
lkley Karate Club has welcomed three new members to its ever-increasing group of black belts.
Seventeen-year-old Maria Corless is the second adult member of the club to gain the status of second degree black belt (second dan).
Fellow club members William Coates, aged just 11, and Giles Blackburne also successfully completed their grading to the rank of first degree black belt (first dan).
SKU national kumite champion Coates scored the highest pass mark in the boy's junior cadet category.
Blackburne now holds five black belts in three different martial arts and following his latest one, he said: "They really set the bar high, it's good to know that the Shukokai dan grades are really hard won, it gives an extra sense of achievement".
A week earlier, six young members competed in the Cumbrian Open Karate Championships. Elly Field, aged eight, was successful in the girl's kumite event and took a well-deserved silver medal to add to her now vast collection.
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