A WORLD-renowned martial artist has joined the team at a Widnes fight school in a bid to train youngsters for the 2012 Olympics in London, writes Ian Cheveau.

Paul O'Brien, a Liverpool tae kwon-do expert who has trained hundreds of top fighters in Sri Lanka, has come on board at PK Sports UK Free-style Martial Arts School.

Paul will be putting youngsters and adults through their paces in tae kwon-do - just about the only discipline Paul Lund and Kirsty Currier don't currently teach at the school!

Lund said: 'To have someone like Paul to teach under the PK banner is a real coup for us.

'Paul has trained some of the best Sri Lankan martial artists and he is an expert in tae kwon-do.

'We have some excellent young students and it is our goal to get them to the Olympics and, under Paul O'Brien's tuition, we think we can do it.'

Lund, an experienced and qualified martial artist himself, has even decided to learn from the Liverpudlian as his techniques are 'unique'.

He added: 'Paul O'Brien has a huge background in martial arts and tae kwon-do and I want to learn off him.

'You can always keep on learning even though you may have been doing martial arts for years and years.

'That applies to me - and for my students and I to learn from Paul is a big honour for us as he has been trained by the masters in Asia and that takes some doing.'

PK Sports UK already have one trophy to their name after Lund's business partner Kirsty Currier scooped first prize in a recent tournament with a unanimous decision in her debut bout.

Now Lund says two of his other students, Vikings' Under-21s player Alan Carr and 'best-disciplined student' Ste Hankin will fight full contact in a forthcoming meeting.

'I am expecting big things from these two,' said Lund. 'They are very good kickboxers and they are ready for full contact. They have been training hard and won't let anyone down.'

Meanwhile plans are in the pipeline for a tournament between clubs from all over the North West at Kingsway Leisure Centre, Widnes.

Lund added: 'We have been looking at the possibility of putting a tournament on in Widnes as there are some very exciting fighters out there.'