DONCASTER tae kwon do star Aaron Cook has become Britain's first ever male WTF world junior champion.
The 17-year-old Scorpions athlete fought his way to a gold medal in the 78kg category yesterday in Izmir, Turkey.
Beating Yeong Rae of Korea 12-8 in the final, he is likely to have won a place on Team GB for the Beijing Olympics.
"I knew I was in good form from my earlier rounds, but my match against the Korean felt a breeze," said Cooke.
"Going into the final round at 10-8, I decided not to hang around and managed to score two points quickly to take it to 12-8. I automatically won and the fight stopped early."
The junior European title holder forced early-round stoppages against opponents from Russia and Afghanistan, and beating a Chinese rival.
"China and Korea are traditionally the two strongest nations so to beat them in the semis and final is an absolute dream - I can't stop smiling."
Scorpion fighters Scott Atkinson and Stella Whitehead represented Great Britain.
Sarah Stevenson, of Doncaster All Stars, is in the British squad for Beijing.
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The full article contains 284 words and appears in Doncaster Star newspaper.