Tower Shukokai Karate Club sent just one athlete to the AMA National Championships this year – but he did the club proud.

Darwen's Philip Wan carried the Tower flag at the two-day event held at Leigh Sports Village .

The AMA is the largest multistyle Martial Arts group in the UK, and the nationals sees competiors compete in jiu jitsu, judo, kickboxing and oriental weapons – as well as the two karate disciplines of kata and kumite.

Wan, 36, a second dan black belt, entered the individual Senior kata event in the style division of ‘Shito Ryu’, and the multi style veterans kata too.

In the veteran kata, he won through to the final but was unable to make the podium.

In the senior kata, competitors are divided into ‘style’ groups. as each traditional Japanese style emphasises different aspects of the art and it is therefore deemed fair to judge stylists from the major schools against competitors from the same style.

Veteran Wan competed against younger athletes and secured second place, winning a silver medal.

Coach Martyn Skipper observed: “We are all delighted for Phil. Over the last year or so his training regimen has been relentless, training with us at Tower, with neighbouring clubs, the National Squad, and in one to one sessions with myself and senior instructor Andy Allwood. The result is Phil’s reward for all that hard work.”