Keighley’s Leah Moorby had a fantastic international debut, bringing home a bronze medal for Great Britain in the European Cadet Championships.

Leah, who is the daughter of former Cougars head coach Gary, led the team as captain for the event in Bucharest, Romania and was one of four members to make the podium.

She came within a golden point of making the final and GB development manager Dean Leek was full of praise for her achievement.

He said: “Leah had a fantastic international debut. She scored a staggering 76 points in her first three matches, which is amazing by any standards, and was desperately close to reaching the final.

“She will take huge confidence from this from this experience and has the ability to look forward to a very bright future within the sport.”

Competing on day three of the championships – which featured over 40 teams from across Europe – the Holy Family School pupil (pictured with her medal) beat Czech opponent Kadlckova in her first match.

Leah had faced the Czech in the final of the Parc Pokal Championship in Stuttgart last year and won following a golden-point win.

But she outplayed her opponent this time, scoring with what has become her trademark high-section head shot.

The fight was stopped at the end of round two with Leah 22-4 in front.

Next up was Antoniov, of Cyprus, who brushed aside with another flurry of head shots on her way to a 33-6 win.

In the quarter-final, Leah fought back from 5-3 down to lead 6-5 lead before taking command in the second round to win 20-9.

This took Leah into the semi-final where she faced Griskova, of Russia, who had also looked strong in the earlier rounds.

In a cagey contest, the Keighley girl took the only point of the first round to take a 1-0 lead.

The second round saw the Russian finish 3-2 up before the final round ended 6-6, which set up a golden-point finish (next point wins).

It went the Russian’s way and she went on the win the gold medal.

Her dad Gary said: “I am so proud of Leah. She was hearbroken to miss out on the final but she produced a real “captain’s knock” and led the team by example.

“Leah has cemented her place as the number three in Europe and is now looking to confirm her No 1 status in the UK in the British National Championships at Manchester Velodrome on September 7-8.”

The GB team’s medal haul – one gold and three bronze – was their highest ever and Leek added: “The morale within the team was the best I have seen in my time with Taekwondo and believe that this really did inspire the team to perform well.”