Richard Jones has become the latest member of Kidderminster's Samurai Judo Club to gain his black belt.

He took part in a grading at Walsall where he defeated two brown belts to qualify for a line-up, then three more in the line-up, all by maximum points.

He then passed his theory at the Samurai's annual black belts theory course where he was examined by the Midland Area Chairman and Director of Examiners.

Richard, 18, comes from a judo family. Father Paul is a fifth level black belt, mother Vanessa is a green belt, as is younger brother Grant, while older brother Chris is top brown.

Kerrie Pitcock also passed her black belt theory on the course, as did Stewart Wilson recently, but both still have to complete the contest requirements.

At the Bushido Open Championships, also at Walsall, the Samurai returned with four gold and five bronze medals, with Bewdley Judo Club also taking a bronze.

Katherine Lloyd Jones took an excellent gold medal in the girls heavyweights. Her final ended dramatically. She was a narrow score down to a London player who beat her in the London Open last month, before gaining a high score in the last second.

Ryan Pitcock also took a gold medal in the boys' middleweights with a superb performance, beating a top player in the final with an impressively controlled tactical battle after some good early wins.

Kelly Edwards took gold in the girls' light-middleweights, but then also entered the senior ladies, at 14 years of age making her debut at senior level, and won again there. Her unbeaten record in her own weight category now stretches to almost a year and she has not conceded a single score in 2005 so far.

Emily Watson had some good early wins to reach the semi-final of her category, where she looked comfortably in command but was then caught in a groundhold against the run of play. She came back to win a bronze.

Sarah Biles and Becky Holmes added more bronzes, with Becky continuing to improve, and Katherine Lloyd Jones added a second bronze in the girls open category.

Rachel Moon had the misfortune to come up against Kelly, but then won a series of contests before just missing out on a medal, finishing fifth. Rosie Tramontana also finished fifth in the same category after several good victories.

Daniel Watson had a good go in the boys' lightweights, finishing fifth. Tom Walker had a series of emphatic wins but unfortunately lost against the run of play in his semi-final. However, he came back well to win the bronze play-off. Bewdley's David Sullivan, in Tom'a category scored one excellent win and Bewdley got into the medals with Russell Nutland in the heavyweights, showing plenty of courage and determination on his way to the bronze.

1st dan black belt: Richard Jones (Samurai).

Bushido Championships (Samurai): Gold: Katherine Lloyd Jones, Ryan Pitcock, Kelly Edwards (twice). Bronze: Emily Watson, Sarah Biles, Becky Holmes, Katherine Lloyd Jones, Tom Walker.

Bushido Championships: (Bewdley): Bronze: Russell Nutland.