Published: Wednesday, 14th July, 2010 9:30am

Gold for town's karate kid

A BARRHEAD sports star is top of his game after battling back against injury to triumph in a national competition.

Young karate master Johnathan Gilmour walked away with the gold medal in the individual kumite fighting contest at Sunday's British International Open Karate Championships after a fantastic performance on the mat.

The youngster, who has just finished at Carlibar Primary, beat off participants from 11 other countries to claim first place in the age 12-13 category in the showdown at Glasgow's Kelvinhall.

Keen to prove he could be the best in the country, the 12-year-old managed to snatch his epic victory from the jaws of defeat after becoming injured during one of his team fights.

Suffering a previous blow to the stomach, a winded Johnathan struggled on for his last individual challenge - fighting against the pain to pick up the coveted golden prize.

The talented athlete also bagged himself three bronze medals at the event by showing off his skills in both individual and team kata as well as team kumite.

Chuffed mum Elizabeth is thrilled for her son, who has been practising karate since he was three.

She said: "It's a great achievement.

"Absolutely fantastic.

"We weren't sure he was even going to make it through that fight, but we tried our best to pep him up for it and it must have worked because he came back to win the gold.

"Johnathan was absolutely ecstatic.

"He was completely over the moon.

"This kind of thing is what you work towards."

Next on the cards for Johnathan, who trains four times a week with Shitokai Karate Club, are the British Championships in September and the school pupil is desperate to use it as a springboard make the grade for the national team.

Proud Elizabeth added: "He goes to all the competitions and he's won several medals at previous Scottish championships.

"He's striving to get into the Scottish team.

"You have to be 14 before you can get into that and he's desperate to get to the 2012 world championships in Japan.

"He's trying to win as much as he can and get as much competition experience as he can so that he can get into the team."

Johnathan and his family would like to thank his main Sensai, Terry Connel, and his competition coaches British Kata champion Sensai Stephanie Connel, and British Kumite champion, Sensai Martin Douglas.

Take a look at this week's sport for more good news on the club.