Onna Ju-Jitsu Club members bagged two gold medals, four silvers and two bronzes on their debut in the British Ju-Jitsu Association National Championships at Walsall Sports Centre.

Club loyalties were split in the female senior continuous fighting, where both Pam Hardy and Sensei Mumtaz Khan reached the over 62kg final.

Constant high pressure attacks had won them their first-round contests before both figured in epic second-round battles.

Taekwondo expert Hardy, 39, was up against reigning champion Catherine Cook, while Khan, 41, faced Hannah Furey, the runner-up from last year.

While Khan used close-quarter tactics to avoid the notoriously fast kicks of Furey, who also trains in taekwondo, Hardy managed to quieten the noisy Cook fans within 20 seconds of their contest beginning.

Good friends Hardy and Khan were both prepared to be aggressive, strong and focused as they slugged it out toe to toe in the final, with Hardy emerging as champion.

Khan, meanwhile, was overjoyed with silver and just glad that she received no more than a yellow card, rather than being disqualifed outright, in her semi-final against Furey.

Hardy also took gold in the empty hands kata (Kyu grades), while Khan, who recently won the sports category in the Bradford Inspirational Women’s Awards, took another silver in the empty hands kata for 3rd Dan and above.

Runner-up placings also came for Shayfa Ishtiaq in the under-62kg ladies’ continuous fighting (to the experienced Megan Douglas) and 6ft 4in 18-year-old Vlad Vovk in the men’s continuous fighting.

Bronze medals went to Adeeb Hussain in the empty hands kata (Kyu grades) and Shabnam Mahmood in the under-62kg ladies’ continuous fighting.

Now Onna Ju-Jitsu Club are looking forward to their second competition at Southend-on-Sea next Saturday (May 17).

Onna Ju-Jitsu Club have also recently held a gradings event, with over 40 Belle Vue Girls’ School pupils girls achieving their white belt as part of a project that has been funded by West Yorkshire Sport. More than 50 junior black belts also achieved a Gold Tab ranking.