EIGHT South Hams Martial Arts School students are celebrating after bagging 11 medals at the UK International Tae Kwon Do Federation's British Championships.

The event, held in Reading, was held over two days, with junior and senior categories held on the first day.

The second day involved teen and adult categories.

Kingsbridge TKD's Joe Berry took bronze in the boys' red belt patterns category on the first day, while teammate Yanni Barnett also achieved great things.

She took part in the girls' red belt sparring and patterns and claimed the gold medal in the sparring section.

And whatever Yanni could do, so could her mother Sophie, who claimed gold in her patterns event and silver in her age category.

Sophie's medal haul comes more than a year after she became a world champion and won two medals in Korea.

Corinne Sri Widada, also a world champion, matched Sophie's feat in her own appearance on the British stage.

On day two, further medals were added to the South Hams' students' collections.

Adam Pratt,from Kingsbridge, won silver in patterns, while the Totnes members brought back three silvers and one gold between them.

Claire Pote, now recently married and nee Roughley, returned to competition for the first time since last year.

She certainly showed off her great talent at each round and, after a tough and exhausting set of rounds, eventually took gold in the ladies' black belt 3rd degree patterns.

Lauren Jerred, who trains at Totnes Pavilions in both kickboxing and TKD, took part in her first competition for several years and proudly won silver in the coloured belt girls sparring.

Jo Gendall, also from Totnes, took part in her first-ever competition and brought back silver in her patterns event and silver in Sparring.

The rest of the club are now looking forward to a few lower-key competitions, with the next one being in Plymouth in November.

Meanwhile, martial arts legend Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace recently visited the South Hams students as part of a UK-wide tour.

'Superfoot' retired as the undefeated Professional Karate Association (PKA) Middleweight Champion after defeating Bill Giggs in a 12-round bout in June 1980.

He is simply known as Superfoot because of his awesome left-leg kick, which once clocked in excess of 60mph.

Despite his retirement from competition, 'Superfoot' continues to be one of martial arts most popular figures.

He is the author of several kicking and stretching books, and also has been active in the martial arts film industry, filming alongside Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, John Belushi and Mickey Rourke.

Event organiser, Lesley McGhie, herself a 4th degree in tae kwon do and 3rd degree in kickboxing and chief instructor at South Hams Martial Arts, said: 'Bill was a genuinely nice guy, who spoke to everyone and helped each person on their techniques who attended the event.

'It was a truly intimate and valuable experience for all of us.'

So popular was the visit that 'Superfoot' is set to return to the club next year.