Quest Taekwondo are celebrating success at the Dutch Open Championships and have a trio of Huddersfield players heading to the President’s Cup in Germany at Easter.

Aaliyah Powell struck gold in Holland while Charlotte Simpson won silver, and they will be joined in Germany by Caden Cunningham, who won gold in the Children’s International Championships to win a place in the European team for the Children’s Taekwondo Union Europe/Asia Challenge in the Autumn.

At the 43rd Dutch Open Championships, over 1,000 took part and Quest had seven athletes competing in Cadet, Junior and Senior categories.

Aaliyah, 13, from Kirkburton Middle School, was in the Under 41kg Cadet competition and provided great excitement in her matches against Poland, Netherlands, Serbia and Germany.

She won every game in the last seconds with a head shot and displayed maturity in playing the ultimate waiting game, and her winning kicks were fast and accurate.

It was an impressive gold medal performance and coach Mike McKenzie said: “Aaliyah’s was one of the most outstanding performances at what is the best competition in Europe.

“Officials and other international coaches were all talking about her matches.”

Charlotte, also 13 and from Rastrick High, had two matches in the Under 59kg class in what was only here second competition following an injury-plagued last year when she has received help from Gary Slade of Therasport in Huddersfield.

Her first match was against Egypt, who she swept away scoring devastating head shots and solid body shots, scoring 20 points.

This led to Charlotte stopping her opponent in the second round.

Her second match and the final and was against Poland.

Charlotte was competitive and comfortable during the first two rounds, but in the third round she took an illegal kick to the head after which she slipped onto the floor, stunned.

The referee gave a warning, but it proved to be the turning point of the match. Charlotte lost by a small margin on points, but the silver medal was reward for a strong, spirited return to form with her new club and coach.

Caden, the 12-year-old student from King James High, was in the Under 45kg Cadets and looking to build on his candidacy for the Cadet Team for the European Championships.

An unlucky first-round draw put him up against an older, more experienced athlete, but Caden played a strong, attacking game, demonstrating his determination.

He went behind early on to the Hungarian international who went on to medal, but, in the second round, he got some points back.

Chasing, however, always exposes the athlete to the counter and that’s what happened to Caden.

It was still a good learning experience for an athlete who is just getting better all the time.

“Winning medals is excellent but what was most impressive, was the performance of the entire team, every one of them international class,” said McKenzie.

Aaliyah, Charlotte and Caden will now face a stern test in the President’s Cup in Germany, as it’s one of the toughest G2 taekwondo tournaments in the world.