WEYMOUTH’S Thomas Carney has won gold at the Chungdokwan National Kurugi Championships in Bracknell after a 20-10 win in the final.

Carney, 16, was representing Weymouth and Dorchester and was the first sparring competition he had entered in five years and he is now the Chungdokwan national champion in the -68kg juniors after his performances.

Carney said: “It was really good to get one after five years out.”

He explained the decision to take the time out to focus on Poomsae, which is more focused on set patterns and routines.

Carney said: “The competition was just a side one to see if I wanted to try it out again.

After his success he confirmed that he will be doing further Kurugi competitions.

When asked if he was expecting such a result after taking time out, Carney said: “No, I was not expecting to get anywhere now to be honest. I was just trying it to see if I liked it. I won the first one and then got through to the second and I thought I would be alright with a silver medal and then I got a gold one, I managed to win.”

“It was sort of surreal at the same time, I really was not expecting it. For the clock to go down to 0 and for me to win it was a bit of a shock.

“I was just really happy. I put my fist in the air, I put my arm up for the win.”

When asked what is next Carney said: “I am still going to focus on Poomsae, but I am going to work on sparring and Kurugi as well. I am hopefully going to work my way up and go to bigger competitions.”

The level he won at was the Chungdokwan nationals, which Carney described as like a build up to the other competitions.

Asked if he was expecting the competition to spur a feeling of wanting to do more of it Carney said: “I was not too sure to be honest. I did not think it would make me want to do it this much but it has put loads more fire in me, loads more motivation to get myself better and keep myself up there.”

The Weymouth youngster is also in the great British Taekwondo Poomsae squad and has been for three years now and is training this weekend.

Carney is currently looking for sponsors for his Poomsae training, which involves travelling to Manchester and London once a month.