FIVE more Horizon Taekwondo Academy members have been upgraded to black-belt status.

The successful candidates were 12-year-old Gary Watt, from Greengates, 16-year-old Charlotte Banks (Silsden) and Jon Cassere (Baildon), who all earned first dan black belts, and fellow 38-year-old Rachel Salt (Manchester) and 24-year-old Jethro Cooke (Cullingworth), who were awarded third dan black belts.

The upgrades occurred at the 101st dan promotion test with British Taekwondo, which is the national governing body for Olympic (WTF) taekwondo in the United Kingdom.

Rick Simpson, who is Horizon's chief instructor, said: "These candidates have worked really hard towards this milestone in their taekwondo career.

"Gary has put in an incredible training performance this year to get himself ready. He's been training five times a week every week religiously and his reward was getting his black belt at such a young age.

"He's a member of our sparring team too and this black belt will give him further confidence on the competition scene.

"Charlotte started taekwondo when she was 12 and hasn't looked back. It's great to see teenagers in our club getting black belts and she's a pleasure to teach.

"She's in our competition team as well and it's great to see more girls showing success in taekwondo than ever before."

Simpson added: "Jon Cassere ended up having a go at taekwondo because his sons, who train, wanted him to join in – and now he's a black belt too, again showing that parents can take up this great sport.

"His sons are in our competition team and Jon can help them and everyone else in our team with his knowledge and experience.

"Jethro Cooke has been training for ten years. He's a top referee in this country and needs to move through the dan grades to be considered as an international referee with the WTF, so this is a great step for him.

"I'm confident that Jethro will be one of the leading referees in the country in the next few years and hopefully will set up a club one day, if that is what he wants.

"And Rachel's a multi-British champion and has represented the Great Britain national team in major championships three times. She did her first black-belt grading before I even started doing taekwondo myself but had some time out and has come back with such enthusiasm to teach and train herself."

The candidates were tested by a dan grading panel led by experienced British Taekwondo Masters. The tests included free sparring (full contact), patterns (pre-defined movements), self-defence against an unarmed opponent, knife defence (third dan candidates only) and destruction (breaking boards).

Horizon Taekwondo Academy are offering free lessons to beginners for a limited period only.

If anyone is interested in taekwondo and would like to join a club or have any general queries, they can do so by contacting Simpson on 07977-065357 or info@horizontaekwondo.co.uk.