Witham Taekwondo Club’s Matt Clark has been selected to join the England squad for the Taekwondo Association of Great Britain to represent his country at the World Championships in Birmingham in July.

The 23-year-old, who lives in Wickham Bishops, has been training with the club since he was 15 and has won many national titles since he started training at all different coloured belt divisions.

Since he gained his black belt a couple of years ago, Clark, who is a former Great Totham Primary School pupil, has been competing against many other top national squad members and reaching finals at major tournaments.

However, it was his win last November at the British Championships when he was in the final against and beat another member of the England squad that he really caught the eye of the national team coach and captain.

After Clark’s British win, they approached him to go along and train with the squad which is in Loughborough every Saturday and he has been working hard ever since, training up to four times a week.

That dedication has now been rewarded with him being handed the honour of a place on the England team.

Clark said: “It was good just to get noticed and get to go along to the squad training so to get selected, I’m really thrilled.

“I’ve been competing since about 2007 and was just looking to do it for fun, but since I’ve been a black belt something like this has been more on my mind.

“I didn’t think I’d be good enough to be in the team, but this year, it’s become more of a reality.

“I’m now training four times a week and it does take over your life a bit, but that’s the sort of sacrifice you have to make and you get out what you put in.”