BASINGSTOKE kickboxer Graham Nickless is celebrating after being awarded a First Degree Black Belt in Whu Shu Kwan.
Nickless took up kickboxing almost 30 years ago but, after a long hiatus, he returned to the sport in 2012 determined to become a black belt.
On the day, he had to produce the high quality forms (a series of co-ordinated moves), free fighting, and three different performances of destruc-tion.
This includ-ed punching through eight normal roof tiles stacked on top of each other, side kicking two blocks of wood and chopping through a normal house brick.
Graham said: “I’m over the moon with what I have achieved. You really have to earn the black belt and I could not have done it without the support I received.”
Nickless’s instructor, Kelly Dodds added: “Graham is a fantastic student. He listens to critique in a positive way, he always trains hard and his determination saw him overcome the challenges he was faced with.”
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