SAMURAI Judo Club's Kelly Edwards started 2005 in style by taking gold at the Welsh Open Championships.

The 13-year-old has not lost a contest in her own weight category in Britain since last May.

During that time she has won every major event including the British Cadet Championships, the British Junior National Championships and the Heart of England.

At the Welsh Open, held at the National Sports Centre in Cardiff, she never looked like losing and all her main rivals could hope for was to keep the score down.

Even in the final, the British number two knew that Kelly would beat her even before they stepped onto the mat, and so it proved.Kelly lives in Telford and is also a member of Wrekin Star Judo Club, who have close links with Samurai.

Meanwhile, on the same weekend Kate Walker was in Eindhoven, Holland, competing in the Dutch Cup. The 15 year-old was trying out her new weight band of under-63 kilos for the first time, which made life difficult at a tough event with around 1,000 European entrants.

However, she had a good win by maximum points in her first contest before losing to the eventual silver medalist by a single score against the run of play. This put Walker against the current British number one in her new weight, and she disposed of the girl with a superb throw to immediately stake a claim for the British top place.

Unfortunately, in her next contest she was caught by surprise with an early attack and this eliminated her from the competition.

This weekend sees the first local judo event of 2005 as the Samurai organise a charity low grades event to help the Rhydd Covert Appeal.

Several local clubs have indicated they will take part in large numbers, which will swell the coffers for a new scout hut to replace the one that was burnt down last Autumn.