THOMAS Rochford, a member of Keighley-based Strike Taekwondo, was responsible for the comeback of the day at the England Open Autumn Championships in Manchester last weekend.

The eight-year-old was ten points behind after the first round of his kyorugi (sparring) bout but caught up at 11-11 before winning on the golden point with a strong turning kick to the body.

Thomas' reward for battling back was to then take the gold medal by a clear margin, and gold also went to Catherine Wossick, Mark Ainley and Master Lisa Winteridge in the poomsae (patterns) triples.

Performing Taeguek Chil Jang, they bettered the bronze that they took in the spring.

Meanwhile, Strike's youngest competitor, eight-year-old Layla Smith, defeated three opponents to retain her Kyorugi girls' peewee category.

Silver went to Caden Peel, nine, in the cadet (nine to 13 years) red-belt poomsae, and he also took bronze with Winteridge in the pairs.

Bronzes also went to Ainley in the red belt, and Winteridge in the very competitive black-belt category as Strike Taekwondo were joint third alongside Stevenage in the team standings.

The other Kyorugi medal went to ten-year-old Oliver Smith with third in the cadet (nine to 13 years) section.

Other Poomsae competitors were Ty Greenwood, Lucy Farrar, Elizabeth Ferguson, Zoni Nawaz, Sienna Lewis and Ben Kitcheman, most of whom were taking part for the first time.

Additional Kyorugi competitors were Adam Thompson (juniors) and cadets Caden Peel, Riley Turner and Ehsan Siddique.