Waterside Taekwondo Club star Ella Barnes has celebrated winning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Taekwondo Championships.

The 14-year-old travelled to Scotland for the competition, where she reached the final of the cadets female A +59 category.

She was welcomed back to Waterside this week in a special event, with her instructors and clubmates honouring her achievement.

Ella started off by producing a 17-9 quarter-final victory against Australia’s Chelsea Hobday, who had narrowly missed out on a medal in the Cadet World Championships this year.

She then defeated England’s Andrea Pires 9-8 in a gripping semi-final.

That booked a showdown with Vivienne Wilkes, who had beaten Ella by a single point in both of their last two competitions.

Ella started brilliantly in the first two rounds, leading by a single point each time, but in the last moment of the third round she was pipped by her opponent.

The performance was all the more stunning, though, given that Ella has not yet gained her black belt – something she hopes to do next month – and was fighting against opponents up to 2nd Dan level.

Waterside instructor Master Colin Graves said: “Ella has trained so hard over the summer by working on her leg conditioning in the New Forest every day.

“The results have been impressive for so many of the students at Waterside, as they are competing against the best in the country.

“Only in October, Millie Green, aged 10, from Hythe, won her maiden gold medal, at the Yorkshire Open, which comes on top of Tegan Paynter, aged 10, from Totton, gaining the gold medal at the Nationals event, in Manchester.”

For more information on the club, who are currently looking for a small place to train permanently in the Waterside area, visit watersidetaekwondoclub.co.uk.