A FENCER from Bromsgrove fought off her jet lag to be crowned a national champion.

Naomi Taylor, aged 17, won the U18s epee title at the England Youth Championships in Telford on Sunday, November 2.

Success also guarantees her a place in the England U18s girls epee team for the junior four nations event in April next year.

Naomi, a pupil at Bromsgrove School, lost just one match in the group stages en route to victory despite suffering from jet lag having returned from America, where her parents live, the day before.

Following the group stages, Naomi, British U17s champion last year, was seeded second and received a bye through the first round of the knockout stages.

In a close semi-final, Naomi came from behind to narrowly defeat Katie Dolan of Maidstone 15-14.

The final against Megan Lomas of Thameside, Naomi's sole conqueror earlier in the day, started badly with Naomi 3-1 down in the first minute. But she fought back to 8-8 and eventually secured a 15-11 victory.

Naomi, who has three brothers who also fence, said: "I was very tired from travelling back from the USA but I decided I was going to win and put in everything I had."