A teenager from Lakelands Academy has retained the title of Tae Kwon Do British champion for the second year running.

Just days after attaining his black belt First Dan, Dylan Ashley was entered by into the Black Belt Lightweight Continuous Competition for his height category, at the British Tae Kwon Do championships, held at the Birmingham Barclaycard arena.

The Year 8 student fought four bouts in all, within a knockout competition against other black belt First Dan contenders, to retain his title.

“The first round felt fairly easy, as I was more competitive and I think I wanted to win more”, said Ashley, who competes with Ady Jones Martial Arts. “The second fight was a bit more difficult though, as my opponent had also already won a bout, and so like me, was feeling more confident.”

After this success, he competed in his third bout, against an international competition winner on the Welsh Tae Kwon Do squad: “I got a much higher points score in this round, as I managed to get in some good head height kicks and managed to get him outside of the ring.”

“I was really nervous about the fourth fight and this one was against someone from the English squad but I’d got this far, so I was really determined,” Dylan added. The bout ended time on a drawer, so was extended for a further 30 seconds in which Dylan asserted his dominance and again gained the higher points score, re-crowning him the Tae Kwon Do GB Association champion.