MARTIAL arts club Red Star Sambo Sunderland continued their rise by winning three medals and narrowly missing out on two more in the British Open Sambo Championships.

Head coach Barry Gibson had in the past competed on his own at such events, but at the championships in Folkestone members of the growing club, based in Roker Avenue, won gold, silver and bronze medals.

Entries came from as far afield as the Ukraine and Tajekistan for the event, regarded as the busiest competition of the year for sambo, a Soviet martial art similar to judo.

Ryan Richardson, 28, took a hard earned bronze, losing only to a French fighter and then a Russian sambist.

He was out of his comfort zone as it was sport sambo this weekend and not combat sambo - the difference being sport sambo relies on grappling only, similar to judo, whereas combat sambo involves striking also - which he much prefers.

In winning bronze, Richardson qualified for the senior world championship in Turkmenistan later this year.

Steve Taylor, 52, took gold in his division with some hard fights, grinding out points wins and pinning or submitting his way to victory.

After placing fifth in the World Masters last year, Taylor qualifies this year for the World Masters and hopes to better that performance.

Gibson took silver in the Masters division, losing out to good friend and mat nemesis Georgi Georgiev from Bulgaria.

En route to that final he suffered a knee injury which meant he had to withdraw from the senior event, ending his day with silver.

He also qualifies for the Worlds Masters Championships in Holland later this year.

Two of the club’s less experienced sambists also just missed out on medals. Liam Connell, recently with Darlington FC and now back at South Shields, took part in his first ever sambo competition and beat strong opposition, only to come unstuck in his bronze medal match against a more experienced wrestler.

Mark Stuck, 35, also had a long day and showed his experience against a mix of judo players and sambists, losing by a very narrow margin.

The day was capped by Gibson being awarded a Master of Sport from John Clarke, President of the British Sambo Federation.

Gibson said: “The day was a bittersweet experience. The injury, however, was massively eclipsed by the club successes and the award. It’s awesome to see sambo growing and improving. I wish to say a massive well done to my team who came with me to Folkestone.”