Benenden School pupil Jemima Yeats-Brown and Judd School student Dean Garlick have both produced outstanding performances in their chosen sport of judo recently.

Thirteen-year-old Jemima, who trains at Tonbridge Judo Club, has not only been selected for the national judo cadet squad, but has won a gold medal at her first international competition in Spain.

She travelled at the weekend to Alicante for the Spanish Junior B Band Open Championships, a highly regarded tournament open to children born in 1995-6, which welcomed competitors from France, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Georgia.

When coach Chris Bowles saw that Jemima had been drawn to fight against the Spanish number one in her first fight (-57kg), he said: "I thought that this would be a real test for this young fighter who has been doing competitive judo for only one year.

"However, she systematically destroyed the Spanish number one in her first contest in about 20 seconds.

"This led her blazing a trail to the final where she really put the foot on the gas and showed that she is a prospect for the European and World Championships as a C band player next year."

Yeats-Brown won all five of her fights with maximum points to take the gold medal. As a member of the national squad she can now be selected for various international tournaments throughout the year.

Meanwhile, club-mate Dean Garlick travelled to the Peterborough under-20 Championships where he came away with a gold medal, despite being only 16 and a newcomer to a competition in this weight and age band. Garlick, also a member of the national squad, was fighting at –55kg for the first time, so was under no pressure to come away with gold.

However, with encouragement from coach Dick Marcroft, he won all five of his contests. In the final he met a well-drilled fighter from Willesden JC, and the fight went to golden score, when the first player to score, wins. Garlick secured an arm-lock and gained the maximum score of 10 points.

His preparation has now started for the Heart of England and National Championships in September.

The Tonbridge club now have eight players on the national cadet squad.

The three latest recruits are Jemima Yeats-Brown, Andrew Panayi (16) and George Cullum (13).

They join James Martin (16), Paul Crouch (16), Michael Musker (14), Dean Garlick and James Sparks (15).