Jodie Cooper takes gold in a taekwondo hat-trick

Cooper scooped a hat-trick of medals on the day, claiming the gold in the tag team sparring, whilst winning bronze in both the team patterns and individual sparring events.

Jodie’s dad Dave, who claimed bronze in the black belt team sparring, is also his daughter’s instructor at Kingswinford Taekwondo and he was full of praise for her performance.

“She performed very well,” he said. “She trains very hard. We were expecting her to get a medal but to get the gold medal was an added extra.

“The sparring is her favourite event. It’s the second time she has won gold in the event, following her success at the same Championships last year.

“In the individual discipline she faced some very tough fights. So bronze was a good result and the medal in the team patterns, her least favourite, was a bonus.”

However, Dave was quick to play down his role in his daughter's success and instead praised the contribution made by Katie Billingham’s Wyre Forest Taekwondo club.

“I have to say it isn’t just down to the club where I instruct but we also travel to other clubs in the area," he said.

“We do it so we have variation in the training, and learn different sparring techniques. We train at Katie’s club on the weekends.

“Training for events has really stepped up recently. Katie has an elite group of fighters. Every Sunday there is a training group with the goal of preparing for the World Championships next year.”

Billingham teaches all aspects of taekwondo, sparring, patterns and destruction. The Wyre Forest instructor believes the forming of the group is helping students, like Jodie, excel.

“We’re a close network of schools, we share a lot of skills and training,” she said.

“With martial practitioners, there are a lot of hobby practitioners, who got haven’t quite got the same ambition and aspirations as some of our other members.

“The aim of the extra session is trying to bring everyone together, who wants to be more, do more and achieve more.

They’re free of charge, who have that extra passion. It’s about improving technique and control, it’s for those who want to go up another gear.

“The worlds are in 18 months’ time, so we have time to prepare and build the fundamental skills, to get them (the fighters) to where they need to be.”

Wyre Forest enjoyed success of its own at the Championships, as mother and daughter duo Helen and Jessica Giles came away with silver medals.

Amy Perks achieved bronze in the ladies red pattern event whilst Charlie Collyer also won bronze in a power test event.