Keighley’s Leah Moorby has continued her stellar year by becoming British champion last weekend in Manchester, just two weeks after picking up a European medal for Great Britain.

The 13-year-old was successful at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester in what is the biggest domestic competition in the country, attracting over 600 competitors.

Leah, pictured, won silver last year in her first attempt at the British title, but the teenage black belt has made rapid strides since then, becoming Spanish Open champion in May, and making her international debut and captaining her country in last month’s Cadet European Cham-pionships in Ro-mania.

Competing in the advanced cadet 51kg category, Leah dominated to confirm her status as Britain’s No 1.

In her semi-final against Chloe O’Sullivan Healy, of St Katherines Taekwondo Club of London, Leah took control from the start, flattening her opposite number with a thunderous back kick within the opening seconds.

The Keighley girl looked unstoppable, throwing a barrage of high-section head shots that her opponent could not deal with, the fight being stopped in the second round with Moorby 21-0 ahead.

In the final, Leah faced fellow Great Britain squad member Neleeney Nithi-raja, from the Gurumu Club of London, and it started less dramatically but finished just as convincingly.

Leah built up a 4-0 lead in the first, but stepped it up in the next round to establish a 14-1 advantage, which gave Leah the win and the British title, having built a scoreline of over 12 points which ends the fight.
“Leah was in fantastic form – she was in a totally different class to her opposition – and to back up her Euro-pean medal with a British Champion-ship is a great achievement,” said her coach Kathy Hook.
“Leah has a great future in taekwondo.”
She will move up to the junior 14-17 year-old category next year.