Islington club Shotokan Karate London recorded a 100 per cent pass rate at the grading examinations for colour belts in Stevenage.

The club submitted 16 students for the exams and all of them passed, with two displaying such good technique that they were invited to take double grading.

Douglas Croll and Ellie Anderson (both 8th kyu) moved up from white belt to red, where they joined fellow students Laura Davis, Farhana Khanor and Gabriel Bontu.

Three members of the group – James Ousseidik, Adrian Timmins and Veronica Vaca – passed 1st kyu brown belt and are now in line to take their black belt exams within the next year.

Robin Lewis reached 3rd kyu brown belt, with Stephanie Foster and Mia Chkaibane passing 4th kyu (purple belt) and Maruf Aripdjanov and Katie Harrison qualifying for 7th kyu (yellow belt).

And three other SKL students – Michael Ghebrehiwet, Luca Warby and Aidyn Komua – all achieved 9th kyu (orange belt) to round off a successful day for the club.

SKL chief instructor Sensei Antonio Telmo said: “Congratulations to all participants for showing true karateka spirit and thank you so much to Stevenage SKC for receiving us.”

The exams were organised by the English JKA (Japan Karate Association), whose chief instructor is 7th dan Sensei Yoshinobu Ohta.

SKL students have been particularly busy in the run-up to Christmas – they also featured in a TV advert for the Halifax bank and took part in a karate demonstration at the HyperJapan Christmas Market held in east London.

For more information about the club, who train three times each week, call 07707 661 162 or email shotokankaratelondon@gmail.com