World Champion, Bianca Walkden recently said that, “The future of Taekwondo is in great hands” and boy was she right!

GB’s cadet squad have once again proved they were a force to be reckoned at the ETU Cadet 2015 European Championships which took place in Strasbourg, France from 3rd-5th July.

Day one of the competition took off to a great start thanks to Matthew Guest’s first major medal in the form of a bronze. The young cadet, from Lion TKD, achieved impressive wins over Slovakia and the Netherlands before bowing out to Germany’s Ranya Drebes 7-1 in the -41kg semi-final.

That wasn’t all for the day, as Matthew’s medal was swiftly followed by team-mate Jordyn Smith’s Gold!

The teenager from Central, fought her way to the top accomplishing wins against the likes of Azerbaijani Minaya Akbarova 4-1 in her preliminary round, Lara Petek (CRO) 8-6 in the quarters and Italian Sofia Zampetti 8-3, before progressing into the -33kg final and beating Shayna Guerra (ITA) 6-2.

Upon winning Jordyn said, “I can’t believe I am European champion I am so over whelmed! In the third round I was getting beat 2-0, with only a few seconds left I knew I didn’t want silver and just went for it, finishing the score 6-2.”

She continued: “It’s such a magical feeling for me, I’m now going to be focusing on my next competition which is the Cadet World Championships.”

As for the other cadets that competed, both Ismail Hussain (Gurumu) and Mason Yarrow (Ultimate) made it to their quarter final rounds before missing out on the chance to medal whilst Tegan O’May and Amrou Greenridge lost during their first and second rounds.

Following on from the first day’s success, Holly Kelly from Jeon-Sa managed to win her first ever medal at a major event on day two.

The youngster battled her way through Spain during her preliminary round, followed by Panagiota Kouttouki of Cyprus 8-4 in her quarters – which secured her a medal, before losing to Germany’s Vanessa Beckstein 14-7 in her semi-final making it a bronze finish.

More great performances were seen on the mats, from the likes of Johnathan Alpha (Kixstar Dragon) who made it to his quarters and Lauren McKinlay from Central fought to her second round. Both Liverpool-based Holly Hankin-Wray and Sienna Limbu Lingden of Gurumu both lost during their first rounds.

All in all, it was a good effort from all at the event, although no further medals were won on the final day of the competition. Maria Asef of TKD Machine lost out to Poland during her second round whilst fellow cadet Vivienne Wilkes (South Hamms) made it to her quarters before narrowly missing out on a medal.