ROWAN Cooper was a golden boy on his first outing in competitive taekwondo.

The Horwich teenager won his class at the Ultimate 1-1 competition in Barnsley.

He was a convincing 15-5 winner and impressed his coach, former Great Britain champion Rachel Salt.

"Rowan excelled and showed he has what it takes to enter these open competitions," she said.

"Rowan has the ability to take the skills we teach and apply them at the right time when in the ring. I am very proud to see how far he has come in such a short space of time."

The Ultimate 1-1 is a grassroots competition where all the opponents are matched like-for-like in terms of ability, belt level, weight and height in the Olympic sport of taekwondo.

It is a precursor for many athletes who are entering the ring for the first time in order to test themselves before entering open competitions which are seeding events at regional level for the British National Championships which will be held next month.

Rowan, aged 16, started training with Kicks Taekwondo in Horwich in January inspired by the success of his friend, Matthew Brindle, aged 16, who has been assisting with coaching.

Matthew, also aged 16 and from Horwich, competes at international and national level and training for the nationals.

Kicks Taekwondo have clubs in Chorley and Adlington and compete nationally and abroad.