A RECENT University of Chester graduate achieved notable success in several high-profile Taekwondo competitions, coming home with a whole range of podium medals.

Rich Edwards, 23, came to Chester to work on a degree in Sports and Exercise Science and, simultaneously found his way to sporting triumph.

After taking up karate at the age of 13, Rich, from Llandrindod Wells, had worked all the way up to black belt status but, at 18, he found he needed to give it up, having left school after his A levels to begin a full-time job as an architectural technician.

Already familiar with the city of Chester, he decided on attending the university as he found the city was “just right”.

One of these activities was the Wirral and Chester School of Taekwondo, at the Northgate Arena.

With his strong martial arts background already in place, Rich decided to try his hand at the Korean discipline and soon discovered he was well suited to it.

Then, through a fellow member of this club he also discovered that the university itself had a Taekwondo club and began to dedicate a lot of his free time to training.

Rich said: “At the club in Northgate, I studied the technical side of Taekwondo, learning all the correct forms and ‘patterns’.

“Then, through the uni club,I was able to work on competitive sparring, so, overall I developed all the tools I needed to compete in tournaments.”

By the time he graduated in November, Rich had managed to accumulate a silver medal in the World Championships, a gold in the British Championships, gold and silver in the English Championships, as well as silver and bronze medals in the West Midlands Championships.

Following his graduation, Rich has now returned home and currently can’t participate in any competition due to an injury but he hopes to come back to Chester to develop his post-university career and continue building on his previous Taekwondo success.

Rich said: “I really liked my time in Chester, and enjoyed it at the university. All my lecturers were so open and helpful, the facilities were great, especially the library and I’ve made some very good friends, who I will continue to be in touch with after my time there.”