Under any normal circumstances, a club coming away from a competition with eight medals would be seen as a triumph, but Barrow Karate have been setting themselves higher standards of late.

Chief instructor Lee Smith believes his squad could have had even better results during the South Tyneside Open at South Shields last Sunday, with the end of the half-term break seemingly having an effect.

Nonetheless, they will still be having four of their young fighters competing at the WKC World Championships in Manchester during October.

The pick of their performers in the North East was 12-year-old Brad Oldfield, who goes to St Bernard’s School and claimed their only gold medal of the tournament in South Shields in the under-12 category, while also winning silver in the under-14s.

Oldfield said: “I’ve been doing both for quite a while because at this club we generally do our own age group and then we do the higher one.

“In general, they aren’t too many changes and usually there are a couple of guys who come up from your previous group, but then there are the older kids who are quite a bit bigger.

“It’s been made - I’ve competed in Germany last year and came third in that after having a tough group.”

Oldfield’s fellow St Bernard’s pupil Tamzin Logan, 15, is another who will be competing in Manchester in the autumn and she picked up a bronze medal at the under-17 category in the North East last week.

Logan said: “I’m really excited for that. It’s a big opportunity, particularly at my age where not many people have that opportunity and I’m really proud of it.

“I’m pleased they’re in Manchester - I went to a competition in Germany and won that, but I don’t like flying, so it’s good that they’re in this country and not abroad.”

There are also two Dowdales School pupils taking part on the international stage in Jack Kyle and Hollie Pascoe, who are both 12 years old.

There were three other silver medallists from Barrow Karate at the South Tyneside Open, in 11-year-old Cohen Seffl, eight-year-old Charlie Nevinson and Charlie Saunderson, who was competing in her first-ever competition and managed to overcome her nerves on the day.

Logan and Pascoe were also among the medals, as they both claimed bronze in their respective categories, while Benji Kyle was also third on the rostrum in his competition.