THE Shin Gi Tai Martial Arts Academy team from Basingstoke enjoyed great success at the National All Style Open Martial Arts Competition in Reading.

Their first success came from Louis Kelly (10) in her first competition, the 10/11 years Kumite, where she got a bronze medal.

Not content with one medal, Kelly followed that up with a second bronze in the 12/13 years Kumite.

Jess Muller (15) had a field day, winning bronze in the 16/17 years Kata, silver in the 14/15 Kumite and three golds in the 16/17 years Kumite, 15/17 years continuous fighting and 14/15 Kata.

Emma Baldry (14) won a silver medal in the 16/17 years Kumite, beating her team mate Rebecca Halil (14) who picked up a bronze.

Harry Cronk (12) won his first ever individual gold medal in fine style in the points sparring.

Not content with that, he convincingly won and dominated his next event, the 12/14 years continuous fighting event, with some very strong punches and kicks.

Husband and wife team Emma (33) and Rob McDade (34) had a successful day.

Emma scored first blood with a gold in the Ladies Black Belt Open Kata.

Rob followed that up with two golds, one for the points Kumite and one for the continuous sparring, both in categories higher than his current karate grade.

In his first event, Bob Wilson won a bronze in the Points Kumite and he learned some valuable pointers on how to improve for next time.

Matheus Alves-Sanchez, competing in his second competition, won two bronze medals.

The first was in Kata and the second in Points Kumite.

In a different division, he also won a silver medal in Points Kumite.

Mark Nevola also had a very successful day in between coaching the squad.

He somehow made time to win gold in the veterans’ Kata and silver in the continuous sparring before going on to claim further golds in the veterans’ Kumite and the black belt open Kata.