ANDOVER’S Fighting Falcons kicked off their 2016 competition season with an impressive medal haul at the Watford Open Nationals.

The Falcons took a total of 18 fighters to the competition and swooped a total of 15 medals, including one gold, five silvers and nine bronze medals.

The competition, which attracts some of the top international teams as well as some of the best fighters in on the UK kickboxing scene, took place on Sunday, January 31.

The Falcons travelled to the competition with one eye on the upcoming World Association of Kickboxing Organisations (WAKO) Great Britain Nationals, which are just two weeks away.

CJ Passmore was one of those to impress on her debut for the team.

She managed to bring home a Bronze medal despite only training for a short while.

However she already shows the dedication and hard-working attitude of a champion. Another to impress was Tom Kynaston who, in the eyes of the club’s travelling support, was the fighter of the day.

Kynaston has been a member of the club for a while but had previously not been an active competitor making this particular competition a strong test of his ability.

Kynaston showed great timing and courage making it to the semi-finals in a division, despite suffering a reach disadvantage.

He finished the day with a bronze medal narrowly going out to the current GB national champion.

Kynaston is now a Junior Leader helping out with the training of our young Peregrines and it is very likely that he will soon be the latest addition to the SBAT-sponsored Team Falcons Select. Finally Brandon Prince was also in top form, bringing home a silver medal against top-flight competitors.

Prince had an outstanding day beating world champion Roland Veres by a point in the team events and narrowly losing by a point to multiple WAKO world champion, Hungary’s Richard Veres.

Prince is currently in the Top Ten UK senior squad and is hoping to make his debut as a senior with WAKO GB.