KELLY Edwards disposed of the best young judo players in western Europe to take the gold medal at the Dutch Cup.

The Samurai Judo Club starlet easily coped with the champions of France, Germany, Belgium, Holland and neighbouring countries and added the gold medal to the one she won at the Spanish Open two weeks ago.

Now she is preparing to take on eastern Europe at the Polish Open in a few weeks time.

These three tournaments, the most major ones for cadet players (players under 16 years at the start of the year), are the warm-up for the European Cadet Championships, to be held in Malta this year.

Edwards finished fifth at the Europeans last year, but with a year's extra experience and development there are high hopes she will be into the medals this year.

A month later she may also have the European Youth Olympics place as well.

"In Poland, Kelly will be up against the Russians and ex-Russian states, and they fight very differently to the western Europeans," said Samurai coach Andrew Haffner.

"If Kelly can do as well there as she did in Spain and Holland, she should be one of the favourites for the European Championships."

Edwards' long-term aim is to take part in the London 2012 Olympics.

Another Samurai Olympic hopeful, Kate Walker, finished a creditable ninth at the Moscow Under 20s Open.

The 17-year-old lost to a Russian on a decision the referees later admitted was incorrect, but it was too late to re-fight the contest.

However, she did well on the training camp the following week, drawing with the eventual gold medallist and defeating most of the other players in her weight group.

Two more Samurai players, Grant Jones and Nicola Haywood, have just returned from an international training camp in Belgium, their first taste of European judo.