DORCHESTER can boast a Jiu-Jitsu European Champion after Wojciech Zbikowski came out victorious at the European IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu Championships in Portugal.

Zbikowski, who is based in Dorchester, has been in training for three years with Dorchester Martial Arts.

Head instructor at Dorchester Martial Arts Luke Mannion said: "It is fantastic news, it is great for Chez (Wojciech).

"He was over the moon, he has just become a European Champion in his sport so he was very very happy."

He has since arrived back in England and is back in training.

When asked how Zbikowski has taken back to his Jiu-Jitsu routine Mannion said: "He is fine, he took a week off or so which I think he deserved but he is back into it now."

The team at Dorchester Martial Arts had confidence in his ability prior to the tournament but Mannion explains: "We expected him to do well but with a sport like Jiu-Jitsu it only takes one mistake and you lose your match so you can never be 100 per cent confident but we expected him to do well and he did extremely well."

When asked what he said to Zbikowski when he arrived back, Mannion explained: " I said congratulations, we will be going for a beer shortly.

"We train hard but we do not want to take it overly seriously."

Zbikowski is a blue belt and Mannion said that he has had success in local tournaments so he decided to enter into the championships, which were held in Lisbon.

Mannion explained the difficulty involved in learning the martial art: "With Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu it normally takes three or four years to get your blue belt, with most other martial arts you have got a black belt by then so it is a lot harder in Jiu-Jitsu it takes about 10 years to get to a black belt."

In future for Zbikowsi will be aiming for his purple belt before training starts to get his brown belt and then going onto to try and get to black belt and Mannion expects it to be another six or seven years before he achieves his black belt.

Dorchester Martial Arts also teach Muay Thai and Boxing as well as martial arts sessions for kids and more information for Dorchester Martial Arts can be found on their website at: https://dorchestermartialarts.com/.