Bangor teenager Neil Bailie who trains with the Carnalea Karate Club topped of a brilliant weekend of karate on Sunday at the prestigious North of Ireland Open Championship.

At the recent Carlow International Neil had narrowly lost out in the final to a great Romanian fighter. This time he proved once again he has what it takes to be a world karate star by beating the top English fighter, G Raryah in the final of the under 16 event. National coach Jeff Hills commented “Neil is currently training with the Northern Ireland squad for the Junior World Championships in Hungary next October and, as this result proves, progressing extremely well.”

Neil went on to lead the Carnalea under 16 years team (Kurtis Kane and Glen Bailie) and the senior kata team (Claire McPeake and Glen Bailie) to another two silver medals.

The junior kata team of Sarah Brashaw, Levi Kane and Victoria Lindsay collected bronze in their event. Newcomer Kate Keenan, in her first international competition grabbed a superb bronze in the Under 12 years kata event. This was matched by Andrew Wilson who also picked up bronze in the same event for children under the age of ten.

In the individual sparring events Sean and Sarah Keenan, also in their first international came home with a super silver and bronze respectively. Curtis Shaw's first international saw him collect another bronze for the Carnalea team.

There were also great performances from Craig Brashaw, Conor Porter, Rihannon Wells and Courtney Majury.

Coach Kevin Lewis added, “ All the parents and friends supporting at the tournament were so proud of the Carnalea team's performance. This is probably the toughest tournament in Ireland to win medals. Competitors from all different styles compete together and as our style of Wado Ryu is not so dynamic as styles like Shotokan it makes kata medal particularly hard to come by. This is a great start to the Carnalea squad's preparation for next year's World Championships.”

The event, held in Ballysillan Leisure Centre and was supported by Belfast City Council, saw 400 competitors from all over Ireland and England compete in twenty eight events. Medalists had the added bonus of receiving their prizes from local world karate champions Cathy McAleer and David Brashaw. Cathy added “This was a superb tournament run by the Ulster Karate Council. It really demonstrated the quality of our local competitors, the professional management of our events and the superb hospitality we can show in Northern Ireland .”