STEWART Wilson has become the latest member of Kidderminster's Samurai Judo Club to earn his black belt after good performances at a series of gradings.

Wilson, 17, travelled to Bedford for his final grading and won all of his contests to gain the coveted grade of 1st dan.

Having come through the club's junior ranks, and with a history of competitive success, his groundwork in particular helped him to win the 10 contests against other top brown belts needed to move to black belt. He had already completed the theory requirements.

Wilson's older sister, Sarah, gained her black belt three years ago, making them the third current Wyre Forest family to have two black belts, all from the Samurai club.

Another of those families is the Jones family after Richard followed his father to black belt last month. Jones junior went Bedford with Wilson and very nearly gained his second level black at his first attempt.

He defeated two other black belts to qualify for a line-up of three more, and beat the first two before the third held him to a draw. This leaves him with 40 points out of the 200 he currently needs.

On the competition scene, the London International Open is one of the toughest in the British calendar. Kelly Edwards predictably made her way to the final, but in the final she could not get going and, although she took an early lead, was unable to finish the contest off. Unfortunately, with less than half a minute to go she conceded a higher score against the run of play and was unable to equalise. This led to her first defeat in a year in her own weight group and she had to settle for the silver medal.

Tom Walker and Ryan Pitcock put in good performances and Carrie-Anne Beddow did extremely well to finish fifth.

In a busy weekend for the Samurai club, their veteran men performed at the High Wycombe Masters, the second toughest veterans event in the British calendar.

Rob Horner came highest, finishing fifth and losing the bronze on a narrow margin, while there were also good wins for Rob Young and Paul Moss.