FIVE years dedication to the all-action world of Thai kick-boxing have paid off for a teeanger who battled his way to a title double and narrowly missed out on a third!

The success story of 16-year-old Paul Middlehurst, of Church Road, Haydock, began when he won the British championship in his age group at Northampton, and he followed that in lifting the Commonwealth crown in Liverpool.

A member of Haydock Kick Boxing Club, Paul then jetted to Beirut to compete in the world open-age event, where he fought hard to earn a bronze medal, and was defeated by the eventual winner, a Lebanese fighting before his own crowd.

Multi-skilled in both the full-contact and leg-kicking disciplines of the sport, mighty atom Middlehurst attributes much of his success to his totally committed coach Alby Bimpson, who recognised Paul's potential when the joined the club at the age of 11.

A former pupil of Haydock High School, Paul is on an A-level course at Carmel College but, with studies completed for the day, Paul needs no second asking to don the kick-boxing kit and and head for another work-out at the local leisure centre!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.